No One Noticed

One month since I escaped the hospital & I'm still living out of boxes. I did find my hairbrush, paper clips & the Payroll book. Some clothes are washed & folded into piles although the drawers in the bottom of the new bed are not put together yet. We have no pots or pans - they're still packed somewhere, I hope, but I'm too scared to go to the storage locker!! Marlow doesn't really have cooking utensils. Or dishes. The soup/spaghetti pot is outside on a barrel. Why?? Oh he was watering the grape vine .  .  .  .   I ordered a Curtis Stone flat bottomed pan with 4" sides & glass lid. It will go nicely with the two quart tall pot with the handle on one side & a spout on the other that I got just before I went into the hospital. At least I can make instant soups, noodles & stir fries until I find my big soup pot.

Running between appointments & trying to catch up with the bookkeeping left undone this past year or so .  .  .  .   seems most of my regulars knew I was sick but were  too damned chicken  hesitant to say or do anything but give me more time!  They have all remarked on my 'improvement' though. And some are still tip toeing around. Men are so silly. 


Knitting - not much knitting going on except for turning the heel on the second sock of a pair of grey striped socks. Did you think there would EVER be a time when a SOCK was not in progress??? Silly reader! I had this pair with me at the hospital. The Nurses wondered what was in the cloth bag under my left elbow that I hung onto with such fierceness. Oh yes, one wallet, my phone, my ebook, my Creative audio player, a charger for book, phone & audio player & one extra ball of yarn for the sock in progress. The sock-in-progress was in a pink bag. Nobody likes to lean on a sharp knitting needle even when they're almost dead.

Nothing Left . . .

I am moved. Well, almost - there's a couple of chairs, a plant or two & one big box of files. My biggest customer came over with his pick up & we filled it yesterday but there wasn't quite enough room for the last little things. Today we'll complete the job & I'll never go back again. Surprisingly, the neighbors came out to bid me farewell & have a friendly laugh or two. They even took home my old washer, dryer, photocopier, printer, radio, lamps, card table, file cabinet & two microwave ovens. I had a pile for the junk guy but the neighbors beat him to it.


I thought I was well & on my way to recovery when I left the hospital but boy, have I ever learned a lesson or two with all this moving. I am not recovered at all.
Monday, I had an appointment with my Respiratory Therapist at Fraser Health. Driving to Langley, being tested, walking the halls to see how long I COULD walk with the O2 machine & then driving home exhausted me. I spent almost 3 hours on the errand, came home & laid down for a nap. I slept like the dead for almost 4 hours!!!
Tuesday, I went shopping at Hen Long because I wanted fruit, juice, salad & BBQ pork & couldn't handle the Safeway. I was tired after a couple of hours, dragged myself home & did the same as Monday.
Wednesday, it was so hot we couldn't move so Marlow & I did washing & hung it all outside. Both of us slept all afternoon.
Thursday, I loaded up the car with the small stuff left at the apartment, did some banking, gassed up the car & hid under the trees with a Subway sandwich for some peace & quiet before going for a nap.
Friday, my client Dwayne loaded up all the boxes of client files etc, delivered them, rearranged the office/bedroom, told Marlow there would be so much room if he took out the Universal Gym & all the clothes hanging on it & helped him move it. I slept for most of the afternoon.
Saturday, Marlow took the Gym apart & put it all on the side of the road for the scavengers!! I missed most of it since I was out dropping off paperwork & buying more fruit & salad. Marlow got a big meat pie for dinner because he had to carry the groceries in while I went to bed.
Sunday, we went out for breakfast & generally laid about after I did a payroll & paid my client's bills.

In some ways I am very glad I moved back in with the Ex. I tire easily & when my energy runs out, it's sudden & total. Like slamming into the wall - boom, I'm done. I frequently need help because I have no strength, I'm out of breath or my balance is off. I grind my teeth & cuss under my breath a lot. It's very frustrating but most of the places I frequent know me well & have been generous with bathroom & chair. And Marlow, at 81, fetches & carries for me a lot!
In other ways, my life is upsidedown & disrupted. I can't find anything. I've had to go out & buy the necessities which are in a box marked 'Sharon's car'  & either got tossed or went to storage by someone who can't read!! Things have been thrown out that should've been saved - they tossed my houseplants!!! & two bags of wine, saved items are stuffed in a storage unit where I can't get at them, there's no closet for my clothes & I have no privacy at all.

It might've been easier to dumpster the lot & start again!

From the Frying Pan . . . .

I am just about moved. I never knew I had so much junk. Bags & bags & bags & bags & bags .  .  .  .  I think you get the message. Boxes of client files from 2003, client files for guys who have died - no wonder they never picked them up!! - & more client files from people who  dropped them off with money & never returned. I found 10 years worth of stuff dropped off by someone going to Mexico years ago who never returned.  My storage locker is stuffed, the Ex's house is stuffed & some still resides in my old living room waiting for transport in the morning. OMG. I think I have 15 boxes of canned goods, dry goods & cleaning supplies alone. I have no idea what I'll do with it all but I am going to try organizing my office first & then the bedroom next.

We couldn't get my fridge into the house. The door is non-standard - read NARROW - & impossible  to get a 32" one through. It now resides in the drive. The freezer lives next to it until help can be found to carry it around the entire yard to the garage in back. I have no bed to sleep in & can't find a bag or box with deodorant, hairbush, tooth brush or anything with all my tee shirts, shorts or pants. You can only wear black leggings so long!!

June 10 - still no bag of personal gear. Haven't combed or brushed my hair in days!! Guess it's time to hit the drugstore. It took us 4 days to put my JYSK bed together!! I tried sleeping on the floor with the mattress but I couldn't get back up to go to the bathroom!! Good thing my Ex has been lifting weights all his life because even at 81 he was able to get me up with the help of a chair. I got HIS bed & the bedroom stairs while he slept on MY mattresses on the floor. After three days, my thighs were so sore from going up those 5 stairs several times a night .   .  .   .  it's amazing what you cam do when you have to.
There's still one more load left to pick up in my old living room. All my client files are boxed & waiting. One poor plant survived not being watered or tended while all this has gone on - my Snake plant or Mother-in-Law's Tongue as some call it. It needs little care with it's long waxy leaves!! Someone took my patio table & most of the plant pots when I wasn't looking. But the 'metal' pile - washer, dryer, fridge, two microwave ovens, etc has disappeared leaving only junk. I wish I'd abandoned everything & started again .   .   .   .
Telus arrived & hooked me up once more & added two cable boxes, PVRs & every channel they sell short of Pay TV. The Ex complains there's nothing on TV. Well, he's got 130+ channels to surf now. Optik TV sure makes the pictures & colors POP. WOW.
Now to find my belongings.
Today I get my O2 tested by Vital Air to see if the extra O2 is keeping my blood oxygen high enough. Next week, Respiratory at the Hospital gets to try their procedures out. Then a Sleep Test. I wonder what they'd all say if they knew about the last week & all that moving until I was bone weary?? Occupational told me to REST, pace myself & NAP every day. Hah. But I'm almost there. I can NAP next week.

Into a Bachelor's Paradise

I haven't been in my old house in years. I mean I haven't been INSIDE my old house in years. It's an old post WWII box built for returning Service men & their families. Four rooms & a bathroom in a 40' x 40' space on a big country lot with living & big bedroom up front & kitchen & tiny bedroom behind. In the days before labor saving devices, every room but the kitchen came with a ceiling light & one plug-in. My Ex added on to the kitchen, put a 20' x 20' bedroom on the back, turned the second little bedroom into a laundry room/closet & knocked out the wall between the front bedroom & living room. Roomy for one person & cozy for two. Then he added on a carport big enough & high enough for his truck & camper to pull into. Did I mention the tiny garage/workshop out back of the carport?? And then he added on a lean-to woodshed. Eventually he closed in the carport - I made him take all his tools & batteries outside! He had a tidy little house & a nice yard with shrubs & hanging baskets when I moved out.

Twenty years later I'm being forced to move back in. One thing I didn't do was GO INSIDE before I had to move. I mean - How bad could it be???  Well .  .  . it makes me look like Housekeeper of the Year!  The musty smell just about knocked me over when I came through the door.

He covered up all the windows when he was working nights about 15 years ago so he could sleep during the day & hasn't uncovered them since. I think he closed all the windows at the same time too. I made him open all the doors & windows to let the breeze in & hoped I'd be able to sleep there.

He has so many clothes that he put a dresser in the living room, another in the laundry & hung a line of shirts & jackets across the old beam that separated the front bedroom from the old living room before he took the wall down. And why aren't they in the closet or in dressers down in the 20' x 20' bedroom???? Well, he needed a TV stand - I can identify but what's with the BIG dresser in front of the closet so you can't open the door??? It's already full, he says. I suspect the neighbors foisted their cast-offs on him or they were a 'bargain' at someone's garage sale & he couldn't get them into the bedroom by himself. I have to remind myself that he's 81 after all .   .   .   .

I can get up the ramp the boys built but their porch was a waste of money. They built HALF a porch

& the ramp is too steep but I'm hoping it will be manageable when rubberized & filled with grit. The steps down to the bedroom have been replaced but I was too tired yesterday to try them.

The kitchen is a mess. The fridge is rusted out - I'm amazed that it still works - mine will go there!! But there is room for the freezer - if there's a plug-in. If I remember correctly, we had to put it into the garage because there weren't enough plugs. OMG - tomorrow I move!!

Passion Tea Lemonade

Ahhhhhhhhhhh - Summer Time! It's so nice to be sweating out IN it instead of sweating in a hospital bed looking OUT. My basement is warm but at least I can open the door & go out for most of the day!! I think I made THREE trips to Starbucks in the past few days to get a VERY large Passion Tea Lemonade with ice. It's my favorite summer beverage & I bloody don't care if it costs more than a whole package of the powdered store bought stuff! There has to be some compensations for missing a month of your life in the hospital.

Today I pulled that washer out & put in a load of underwear & two of my favorite shirts. I'm just a little concerned about whether I can wear that underwear but maybe if I cook it a little in the dryer it will shrink. LOL  Imagine, ME wishing my clothes will shrink. I was going to hang it outside in the sun but I think I'll reserve the rack for the bigger stuff & hope to shrink the underwear instead.

                       And I really really have to file my own tax return!  

Here's a blast from the past - This is Gail's granddaughter Freya when she was just a few months old. Why is she here??? She came to Knitting on Wednesday Night with Granny, Kathy & myself 13 years ago.