I thought everyone would appreciate that the only damage we received from Irene, was that our wild flowers are now on the ground.   I must say, these flowers have grown completely out of control.  I just planted a bunch of mixed wild flower seeds in this area, they were supposed to range in height from 6″ – 24″.  We have some that have passed 3 feet high, and are close to 4 feet.  I guess I should say, they were…now they are leaning quite a bit, and covering our walk way.  I’m so relieved that we have been spared both the tornado, and the hurricane that has come through out area in the past few months.  (Did feel the earthquake, but we used to life in California, we just thought it was weird here.)

Now…on to the story of A Pretty Good Day:

Today I woke up and was excited because Stuart mentioned if I felt alright we would go to the grocery store.

Yes…that sounds sad, but getting out of the house…heck, getting out of bed isn’t something I’ve done in a while.  As of last night, I’d been out of bed about 4-5 hours total since Aug. 22nd.  8 Days.  Wow.  (and those hours were spent on the couch.)

Well, I decided to take on much more than the grocery store, I wanted to go to Michael’s – the Arts and Crafts store.  I had the desire for new art supplies, and a new sketch pad.  Since I’ve been doing so much more art, I needed some new stuff.  I got 2 sketch pads, one has 90 lb. stock paper (this means it’s very thick and you can use watercolor on it.)  The other is just a sketch pad, about 50 -60 lb.  Not sure exactly, I found it in the Bargain Bin at Barnes and Noble.   So yes, I went to Michael’s, Barnes and Noble, Target, and Earth Fare.  We even ate at Earth Fare’s hot bar (Earth Fare is like a local…well, NC based…Whole Foods.)

I got new pencils that are so cool.  They are called Inktense by Derwent.  They are like watercolor pencils, but they are ink based.  Hard to describe, but you can draw with them just like colored pencils, then if you add water, the color gets vibrant, and very…well…I have to say it Intense.  I’ll be posting a drawing I did with them on my other blog Create to Heal.  If you are interested.

I feel like I easily walked a couple of miles today.  I over did it.  When we were walking around Target I know people thought I was drunk.  I kept losing my balance, and my words were not coming out right.  Stuart kept asking if I was alright, and I said I was….and I felt that since I understood I wasn’t quite right, then I was alright enough.  I explained this to him, and he seemed to take it in stride.  (remember, when he had his “episode” he thought he was fine, and he was…oh, so NOT.)

So great news today.  Minor nagging headache, haven’t needed to take any Diamox (the drug that lowers your pressure, and has icky side effects).  Off balance/disequilibrium a lot, but no spinning.  My hip/back/and knees all hurt….oh and so do my feet.   I’m sure the hip is going to yell at me tonight when I’m trying to sleep.  I’m going to get in a hot bath very soon.

Yesterday I published a series of photographs that I manipulated to show the intensity of my headaches.  I think some of you might like this: Translating My Headaches Into Images.

I’m sorry to see the summer coming to an end.  At the beginning of this summer, I had such hope, so many plans….and no frigging idea I’d have to have 2 CSF procedures!!  Well, look out Fall, because I’ve got a lot of making up to do!