NEEDING THE VICTORY

GETTING SOME FRESH AIR.  On some mornings I open the front door and walk onto the porch, sit on an old chair that's out there and breathe in some fresh air.  I only stay a minute or so as it is bitter cold outside.  -6 degrees this morning.  Wind advisories are being predicted which will make the wind chill factor -40.  That's dangerously cold.  

There will be more snow.  Best to stay HOME and enjoy the wonderful world of our cozy COTTAGE's warm interior.

With SPRING coming, I imagine the time I spend on the porch will increase.  The lot across the street is presently vacant, but builders are planning to build a duplex.  With this happening, the noise level will increase and so will the traffic.  Right now gazing at an open lot is fine.  I'd rather look at it the way it is then what will be coming.  I regret that we didn't buy the lot.    

My Husband will not like the noise when it building begins to take place.  This will be a challenge for us both.  Something we will have to adjust to?

On Friday before dark, I went to the Dollar Store driving very slowly due to the slick roads to pick up some crackers and bottled water with electrolytes.  I believe if I had been drinking this kind of water while I was taking diuretics, I would have felt better.  I discontinued the water pill about 9 days ago.  I have no plans of returning to use them.  Instead I will consume foods and beverages that are diuretics taking 200mg of Vitamin B6 daily that helps with water retention.

Hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ) has been linked to developing skin cancer, increased blood glucose, increased lipids.  While using it, I developed diabetes, my cholesterol increased and have a precancerous place on my eyelid.  My own doctor said that it's my body when I didn't want to take statin drugs.  He's right.  I do have some say so in what meds I take.  I am watching my blood pressure and water retention known as edema.  

If you have diabetes you are not suppose to take HCTZ.  Isn't that something.  I am T2 diabetic and my doc prescribes this med to me.    

With diuretics, electrolytes are washed out of the body leaving one depleted of them.  The doctors are suppose to check one's blood work to make sure the potassium doesn't get too low. I am checked once a year at my physical having been within range. What I know about ranges now is that they have come from the averaging from sick people.  I have lost my mojo concerning what is said about being within range.  That powerful word OPTIMAL comes to mind. I can always use WALK IN LAB to have blood work done which does not require a doctor's ok. Just  get a lab order via computer, pay and go.  Results via computer.

TODAY, to help with edema, I will fix a smoothie made with CELERY, CUCUMBER, Kale, Spinach, Blueberries, and Pineapple.  If I had some fresh mint I'd throw some in as it is a natural diuretic.  Think I'll fix some this morning to tide me over until LUNCH TIME.  Green tea is a diuretic so I shall drink it..

COLD WEATHER SHUFFLING PLANS are taking place in my head.  I have a large Schefflera plant in a large, pretty fish bowl that sits on a circular wood stand that I want to move away from a heater vent.  It'll be moved over beside Grandma's hutch/sideboard, but to make that happen, I have to shuffle so much stuff.  The old Parlour Chair will go across the room.  Again much has to be shuffled.  Update:  DONE.  VICTORY.  I managed to get the stuff shuffled.  

Some exercise took place moving these things.  Heave-ho.  The end results is welcomed.  There's a wider pathway to walk through the Dining room.    

The truth about getting settled here is that there is a LOT of heave-ho going on.  Downsizing is still soaking in as this sometimes seems like we're on vacation and will return to the big house later.  I will wake up and we'll still be living in the main house.  Then the reality of we have actually moved and we are already HOME comes to the forefront of my thoughts.  I know it is an adjustment when ever moving.  It takes some time to get use to it.

ON SATURDAY, I tuned in to a live stream of funeral for one of my classmates.  She lived in OKLAHOMA.  Knowing that she made her peace with GOD through our Savior JESUS ushered her into heavenly bliss.  She is healed and whole.  I had left a comment on our High School Facebook page a few days ago about I was so envious of Nancy's Go-Go boots she had when we were in the same 6th grade class in Liberal, Kansas.  Her daughter mentioned the comment in the service that she liked this as her Mom was a FANCY NANCY.  It is sobering to have so many friends and relatives that have died.  I know fewer and fewer people each day.  SO the thought comes to mind once again, how do I want to live my LIFE in the present?  

How should I change and do better for God's glory?  I'm in prayer about this quest.  To sit in the quiet of my small COTTAGE and be able to pray is precious.  IT'S A VICTORY and I need it.

Tis the wk-end and I have hopes of getting much done.  Hubby has been painting the wood paneled bathroom door with white paint.  It looks beautiful.  It will be even better when it is hung back on the hinges and we return to having a real door to open and close.  He is determined to have the door hung this wk-end.  UPDATE:  DOOR IS UP and we have privacy in the Necessary Room when it's necessary.  That's another  VICTORY.

I will dive into going through boxes in the Dining room this wk-end.  I need the VICTORY of getting it done.  I frequently tell myself this.  I want the VICTORY and I need the VICTORY.  It will be my reward for staying the course and getting things done that might seem like a small affair to others who have never been through this as an older person with health ailments and illnesses that seem to want to stay too long.  The illnesses wear out their welcome. STILL, I work at getting something done when I can.  It blesses my soul.  Pacing myself and allowing the fact that it will take more time than usual is part of the journey.  I am a tortoise instead of a hare, but then we know how that story ended.  

I NEED THE VICTORY,

~d

 

I WANT THE VICTORY!!!

MAKING THE COTTAGE OUR HOME requires muscle and sweat.  I changed my mind... which meant I now have to use more muscle and sweat to make our cottage our HOME. That happened.  I want the victory.    

AS I SCOOTED A HEAVY WASH STAND across the carpeted bedroom floor into the living room into the other bedroom, sweat was dripping from my forehead onto the top of the stand.  My old body had heated up and I told myself, "I want to get this piece in place before I leave for the day."

I wanted the VICTORY of having done this feat by myself.  Whaalaah.  I got the wash stand in place and placed the Victorian lamp and pitcher with wash bowl back where they belonged.  Like I have said before we move things around until it is where we like it.  Seems like a lot of work getting everything just so-so.  The satisfaction is comforting.

Already the BEDROOMS have been switched and we have not moved in yet.  ha-ha.  Got to thinkin that the front bedroom is really a tad bit larger than the pink room so with that in mind I stood at the door looking into the room and imagined where the pieces could go.  It clicked. They needed switched.  Visited with my DATE and he agreed.  So I began the switching of furniture pieces while he was working in the garage.

TODAY, we will load boxes into the cars and I will finish switching the furniture we have in the rooms already.  It will be another full day of making this reality of downsizing and MOVING a real thing.  May I be VICTORIOUS. 

YESTERDAY, I was busy in TOPEKA getting labs done for a surgical procedure I will be having later in the month so nothing was done in COTTAGE as I was zonked after I got HOME.  The results will be in the health portal.  Did some shopping after medical appointment.

DAY TIMER:
*MEDICAL APPOINTMENT.

*FOOD.  Starbucks Green Tea and a Chef Salad at the Hospital.  Intermittent fasting hit a wall and I needed something quick.  Sat on a stool at Starbucks in house enjoying something in my stomach. 

*GOD's STOREHOUSE.  Found a turquoise ring for $14 and a $2 Indiana Depression glass plate/dish Pineapple and Floral!
https://retroartglass.com/about-depression-glass/

*MORTGAGE PAYMENT.

*HOME DEPOT

*SAMs

*SUGARCREEK for lunch.

*DROVE HOME in the rain.

*HOME to rest.

BECOMING A COUCH POTATO.  Not only did we eat BAKED POTATOES, but we became one. After SUPPER we watched some television exhausted from a full day.  JACK RYAN.  Forget about it.  I won't be finishing the series.  Too much KILLING and foul language.  I found the episode a bit dull and it seems like I have seen all this before.  Getting paid 2 million dollars AN EPISODE?  Actor JOHN KRASINSKI is paid $2,000,000.00 an episode.  Now how did he maneuver this one?  2 million.  Unreal.  He knows how to play the Hollywood game doesn't he? Hollywood.  I can hear the tune in my head.  Money, money, money...it's a rich man's world?  

The messages that Hollywood sends out is full of corruption that is easily imitated.  Isn't that part of the plan?  It's fuel for wrong thinking.  You see and hear enough of it and it soaks into your thought life activating wrong ideas.  The F-BOMB seems to be the number one word of choice in shows today.  Over KILL on this.  F this and F that are spoken over and over.  

The powers that be have given permission for the scripts to be full of foul language, sexual perversion, smoking, ungodly lifestyles that lead to destruction and ruin.  I know that we can be more selective in the choices of shows we watch.  Have I learned my lesson yet?  Detoxing from it all is a lifestyle change for sure.

Flirting with foul language becomes a flaw.  If I want the victory as a woman of godly character then I cannot continually watch such garbage on the television screen.  I'm guilty of watching way too much TV through the years.  I did basically all my informative years through this present day watch television.  The quality of the programming has gone from Captain Kangaroo and Mister Roger's kindness with Mayberry's moral small town with Petticoat Junction's innocence verses the 2020s The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel's strippers and foul mouth dialogue holding hands with Downton Abbey's upscale living.

Times have changed haven't they?  But it's not the first time.

Through the years, I have done well with having the television off during the daylight hours.  No Soap Operas or game shows.  NO TV, but I can't say that about time spent on the computer.  I'm not a frequent visitor on my cell phone playing games.  Pat myself on the back.  There was LIFE before TV, computers and phones.  Stepping back in time may take some doing.  Spending time landscaping and gardening will advance in my schedule.  Walks and nutrition will be a priority.  I want to be VICTORIOUS.  

BACK TO RELOCATING.  I stacked over twenty moving boxes by the back door which Hubby will transfer to the cars.  We'll rest a spell and drive over to unload, take a break and shuffle furniture making the rooms more like a HOME instead of a warehouse.  I want to be VICTORIOUS TODAY instead of sitting all day in front of the computer and TV.  Sometimes when exhausted it seems like all I can do is what I am doing.  QUIET TIME thinking and praying is an option.  

Sometimes I am too tired to read.  Puts me to sleep.  Sitting outside under a shade tree shouldn't be overlooked.   

Are you VICTORIOUS?

~d