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Catching up, Spring 2026

And here we are - another 3 years later. Again, major life disruptions have happened since my dad passed in November 2022. In a span of one year my dad, a good family friend, and my husband all passed away. To say 2022 and 2023 were rough is an understatement.  But as all who are slapped with the death of a loved one no less multiple in one year, we move forward in whatever way we can. Four months after James died, I adopted a shelter almost old dog at 6/7ish years old, Redford! Yes, after Robert. I kept the name the shelter had given. Just over two years later, he responds to that name most of the time. Small victories. Originally told he was a shar-pei mix, a recent diagnostic test revealed is is much more and the shar-pei isn't even the dominant trai! In order of how much of a breed he is the following: american it bull terrier>chow chow>pug>beagle>shar-pei>german sheperd mix. Thank you Embark for figuring that out!  What else has happened? Not much - helped ...
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My father's long and quick good bye

Oh my, I have gotten behind in my writing. Alas, I have a very good reason. Life....so much has happened in the last six months...well kinda sorta... My father passed away in late November from complications suffered after a unfortunate fall. He suffered from late stage Parkinson's so perhaps it was a blessing in disguise. The last year of his life, he was probably giving us unconscious warning signs that all sense of his prior self was gone but we somewhat refused to see it. I am still grieving and I am sure I will for life but I find myself spontaneously crying upon some memory of him almost weekly. We will hold a celebration of life in June ... no idea how well any one of us will handle that. He was an amazing man, father and husband, friend to many. Obit https://www.hillsidefhcares.com/obituary/JohnD-Kirkman My husband had surgery in November to place a PD catheter so he could do dialysis at home. Diagnosed with end stage kidney disease in April 2019, dialysis since Sept 2019 t...

Eastern Standard Time

Today, I was late to notice: 8am - My work phone was unplugged when I went to call a co-worker 3:30pm - I didn't take my morning pills (7)  3:45 - My car didn't auto change time so I was grumpy having to hit the grocery at 5pm 4:30 - I realized it was 4:30, not 5:30 4:45 - My shirt has been inside out 🤦‍♀️ all day - thru a dr appt and grocery trip Stupid time zone change. Lets see how I handle making dinner (Chipotle-like chicken rice bowls)

Remember When?

Remember when I said I would post 1-2 times a month? My brain is still in October...  We went to Tennessee (Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg ) for our 3 year wedding anniversary two weeks ago. We were originally to go there for our honeymoon but James had just been diagnosed with end stage kidney failure and had started dialysis a month before the wedding so we decided to delay the trip. Here we are three years later and he is still battling kidney failure and all the healthcare challenges that comes with a chronic illness. So we decided to bite the bullet and book the trip! The trees and weather were spectacular and while the towns are true tourist towns, it was great to get out of town and try for a bit of normalcy. Even my "everything but the kitchen sink" purse got into the story line when I helped out a bride at the Ole Smokey Distillery. Her dress was dragging everywhere and she didn't have a bustle hook so I fashion up a bustle with some safety pins. Ignore my face in t...

A Dozen Later

Okay so it hasn't been a bakers dozen of years....oh wait it has been. I can do math, yay! Anyone miss me? This blog? Guess not since even I forgot about it! Whoopsydaisy! I will eventually catch ya'll up but basically in the last 13 years I've bought a house (2011), got a new car (Jeep, 2018) and got married (2019). I also avoided catching COVID during the pandemic. The pandemic resulted me working remotly from home which resulted me to lose about 30lbs. So, I am on the downhill side of the scale. Yay! Far from my goal weight but better than I was 2 years ago! My plan is to ressurect this blog with my hopefully-still-there writing skills so I can vent out my life to readers and to entertain you at the same time so as to keep you coming back for more!

hello stranger danger ranger

i know, beat me up. its been months, literally.... i'm only doing this now b/c a friend is thinking about doing a blog and i referenced mine, so lonely as it is, and it made me feel bad for this blog that gets no attention. so here i am...giving it some attention... so yes it's been months. over the last year and half i've lost 20 lbs and i'm stuck there. so i've recently taken up this mind/body wellness program that my employer is providing for free. web coach, ph coaches and all...so far i've had two phone calls to discus my plan for a new way of life. so far they haven't been too annoying. i'm now wearing a pedometer (started 7/1)and tracking those steps (started 7/1) and tracking my weight (started 7/1) and now i'm to start a food journal (started today?). I guess we will all see how it goes. my office has been doing an internal biggest loser competition. I've been pathetic. It ends next week which I won't be here for anyway b/c I'll ...

The guilt

I wish the guilt that I carry around for various things, minor or major would magically help me lose weight but alas....it's a fairytale. I think at one time or another we all wished for that magic wand with special "tone this body part" abilities and "reduce this fat" options. While I'm not opposed to working out, it just seems boring, much as I consider, ironically, cooking, hence why I'm not a big fan of either. However in both cases, once I dive into either one of them I am quite committed at the time. I need an implant on my brain to help motivate me into either one of those....because that is all I really need, the repeat Cliff Pusher. However, the weather can be the CP at times, like for instance when we've had a long cold winter and Spring comes in with a force of 60 degree weather like we've had over the last few days. It gets everyone outside. Plus Spring indicates a new season of gardening, my favorite and preferred type of exercise. I...