Feeling crappy

I've felt kind of crappy for about two weeks. Chest pain at night and a little short of breath. I'd still been walking my 5 miles a day. I walked at least five miles a day for 20 weeks without missing a day and now my streak is broken. The pain was getting worse and going down my left arm so Saturday I went to Instacare for an EKG. It was normal.  Monday was Don's birthday and I had a blood drive planned at the classroom along with a lab day. I went in at 11 and Don was going to meet me at 6 and donate blood and then Alika and David were going to meet us at the classroom at 7:30 for dinner and birthday cake. Around 4 the pain got worse and I had a panic attack on top of the pain. I went into the office to lay down and eventually called Don. He came and picked me up and took me to the ER. They did another EKG, CXR, CT of my aorta, D Dimer and some other blood work.  They couldn't figure out what is wrong with me either.

We came home and ate the cake I made for Don's birthday.

Wednesday I was feeling crappy but trying to pretend I felt OK. I went to Kohl's and had another panic attack. I made it home and called Dr Morrill's office. I talked to a very kind nurse who helped me pull it together. I went in and saw Dr. Morrill. I've lost 8 pounds. I haven't really had an appetite for a couple of weeks. Again Morrill can't find anything wrong with me. He ordered a cardiac stress test with echo. Before I can have that I had to have a COVID test. Thursday morning we got up at 7 and were 4th in line for COVID testing. I got my results today and they are negative. I have the cardiac test scheduled for Monday pending insurance approval.  What a strange week. We were supposed to leave for Florida this morning but there is no way I can go anywhere feeling this way and the last place I want to be sick right now is Florida. Last weekend I had booked flights for Kylie and Brie to come with us. I had to undo all the trip planning. Alika and Garrett were coming too so they went on their own. The trip was my wedding present to them so it's more fun for them to be there without a crowd. Today I don't feel better but I don't feel worse. Well, maybe I feel 10% better. I haven't had any anxiety. I switched from Ibuprofen to Naprosyn. I'm not sure if that has made a difference.

Carter's house getting a needed update

The tile in Carter's kitchen and bathroom was really bad. I think it was original so it was 47 years old. I had someone come out and professionally clean it but it didn't help. It was mildewed and just nasty. Sadie has also peed on the carpet in the dining area so his house smelled bad again. I had Home Depot come out and put in new floor in the kitchen, take out the carpet in the dining area and replace it with laminate floor. I also got him a new dishwasher. His broke a couple of weeks ago. He doesn't cook so it just a couple bowls and cups. I didn't know until we were there that he had no hot water in his kitchen. Somehow it was just turned off. We got all the batteries replaced in his smoke detectors. I took all the shelves out of his fridge that would fit in his dishwasher to clean the ketchup off. I really worry about what happens to Carter when Aric and I are both dead. Who is going to go in his house every six months and make sure it's OK. He's oblivious to things like smoke detectors, running toilets, dripping faucets. If it's something that he can't work around he will tell us but otherwise he just lives with it.

Home Depot was going to charge us some ridiculous amount to pull up the old floor. They don't know how strong Carter is and how fast he can rip up a floor. He had it done in no time.

It looks so good and his house smells so much better.

I had them replace his toilet because it was running all the time and he had to pull the chain to get it to flush and it was probably 47 years old as well.

We got everything put back together today and I helped him clean for awhile. I cleaned up his stove and put new foil on it but Don didn't reconnect it because in the 18 years Carter has lived there he has never turned it on. His house just looks so great! I should have done it years ago. Now the whole place needs painted but I don't think Carter can handle the stress. Maybe I'll get that done next year. He is really happy with the outcome but having his fridge in his living room and no floor for 4 days and then strangers in his house was really stressful for him. Maybe when his dad takes him on a trip for a week I'll arrange for a painter to come. He keeps his house vacuumed and dishes and laundry done but I'm thinking about having my housekeeper go in there once every six months to clean the windows, fridge and do some deep cleaning. He's pretty neat so it doesn't have to be often.

They cut down a huge tree at Cedar Springs.

It's right by the playground where the kids used to play. We were sitting out there and I could just remember Alex and Bradly climbing on the monkey bars.

Lunch at long last (and a new I Phone)

Long drama involving getting in contact with Lynn. For 30 years he has called me every 4 to 6 weeks. About a year ago he quit calling. It was getting harder and harder to get in touch with him. His phone goes straight to voice mail, he doesn't answer text. When I get his voice mail it says call Wendy and that his mail box is full. Anytime I want to talk to him I have to call Wendy and have her ask him to call me. She usually responds with something like "I don't know why he's not answering his phone, it's right next to him." The last two times I've talked to him I've told him "I think my number is blocked." Exact same goes for Catherine. Last week Catherine wanted to stop by and see him because she was in North Ogden when she called Wendy she told her not to come. Sounds familiar to the time I tried to go see him. When she talked to Lynn she asked if Wendy was keeping him locked in the basement which started Wendy screaming at Catherine and...... .I had Don call Lynn and it didn't go to voice mail. Catherine called with *67 and Lynn answered his phone confused as to why she was calling from a blocked number. She said because my # is blocked. He kept asking her what my and her numbers were and Catherine was yelling 'the same numbers we've had for 30 years." It's sad because Lynn doesn't really get it or he doesn't want to deal with the drama of someone blocking us. At one point he asked Catherine if her "friend Wendy did it." Eventually she got Alex to look at this phone and sure enough Catherine and I were blocked, Alex unblocked us. Why Wendy would do that I really don't know. Catherine arranged for us to meet for lunch and much to my surprise Lynn showed up with Emma. I am sad to say I wouldn't have been able to pick Emma out of a line up of teenage girls. It was fun to get to know her a little. She knows all the details about their real estate, she's a smart mature kid.  It's so weird to think she is Catherine's sister. Catherine asked Emma "Did you know my and Carol's numbers were blocked on your dad's phone?" Emma looked confused and said "My dad wouldn't know how to do that." Hmm, we agree your dad would not know how to do that. It was good to see him as I have been increasingly worried about him.

Some kids built this over by the beaver pond I saw it on my walk. I've been feeling kind of crappy the past few days with chest pain and PVC's. It doesn't get worse when I walk but it has been radiating down my left arm and sometimes my chest is tight. I went in to Instacare to get an EKG tonight. My EKG was fine the Dr said he my aorta is really loud and he can hear a click. If I keep feeling weird I guess I'll go see Dr Morrill and get an ultrasound of my heart. It's weird I have this pain every evening for a couple day but I can still walk five miles a day. I have walked a minimum of 5 miles a day for 20 weeks without missing a single day.

I bought an I Phone which Sean has been helping me use. In addition to having a better camera Khloe and Vally can call me from their I pads so that's been fun.

Beach Lovely

When we have been going to Fla we have been dragging Sean's Lovely 2.0 back and forth. It's king size and takes an entire suitcase. Last night I decided to make a Lovely 4.0 using materials I had in the house. It is a little larger than a twin size.  I was up until about 2 a.m. sewing and this morning I tied it. I only had one tiny piece of original Lovely fabric so I made a little pocket with it. I have yards of the material I recovered Lovely with. I bought all the fabric I could find in the country about 4 years ago. I have enough fabric I can make little Lovely's for Sean's children someday. I think I'm going to call it Beach Lovely instead of 4.0. Sean informed me he wants to leave 2.0 at the beach and keep Beach Lovely at home. It doesn't matter to me as long as we don't have to take it back and forth each time.

All the editions of Lovely minus the Christmas stocking he calls Lovely 3.0. Poor little Lovely original is so faced and the corners are chewed off. I have recovered and patched that little blanket more times than I can remember. That is one loved blanket.

Working

We've been having some employee difficulties at work. If Claudia and I aren't there our employees sit and read, watch Netflix and chat. No matter how many times we ask/tell them they continue to leave the students alone in the classroom and sit at the desk. We've asked that they stay in the classroom. They can still chat, whatever but they can also watch the students but nope they can't do it. Short of firing long term employees Claudia and I are both frustrated. I went in Monday and threw away the chairs from the front desk. I took the computer, printer, and files from the front desk and made a desk (Sean style) in the back of the classroom. Today I stayed at the classroom from 8 until 3. Tomorrow Claudia is showing up at 8:15 and staying all day.  It's stupid Claudia and I "show up" almost every class and every time we walk in staff is sitting at the front desk and they say "oh, we just sat down." After my rearranging of furniture and supplies if I walk in and find employees sitting at the front desk we are going to have some unemployed employees.

Wore a face shield at the classroom today. Not as effective as a mask but really comfortable for teaching.

Sean is getting a bigger graphic card for his computer and he is trying to figure out if he has the power to run it.

Last day of Fla trip with cousins

Are they 12 and 17 or 3 and 8. They had a good time. Jameson never did catch his fish. We were scheduled to go on a fishing boat but the weather was to windy so it was cancelled and I was grateful.

He said he wasn't sleeping but he was.

 We went out on Jet Skis. I didn't like it at all. Jameson ended up driving us back because even though he was too young to drive he was a better driver than me. At the very end a storm came on so fast. It was so windy and the rain hurt. Catherine and Jameson were out stuck in it which was scary. The worker was in the water screaming at everyone to get the F out. Not really reassuring. It was a fun morning for the kids. Sean loved going out with Jackson who drove like a crazy person.

This is not my picture but the Milky Way and stars were beautiful. Catherine and I took a blanket out and just laid on the beach and watched the stars.

On our way home. Quickest flight you can make from Tallahassee with only a 50 minute layover.

Trying to keep cool

We ate outdoors at a restaurant in Apalachicola. The increase in mask use during our stay was remarkable. It went from us and maybe one other person in the store to most people wearing mask. That says a lot for this Trump loving, Confederate flag waving state. So many Trump flags. The kids kept going into places and asking if they had any Biden posters. I told them they were going to get beat up.

The fan broke on the air conditioner in the middle of the night. It was making a terrible racket. On Monday night a guy came and fixed it. He's going to put in a new AC while we are gone but before we get back.

The boys had so much fun riding their bikes to "the city." They would go to Piggly Wiggly, Subway and the ice cream place. Sean is going to miss the fun of his cousins when we go back without them.

Yes, he slept all night in a chair with his feet on a chest. Silly child.

Lunch with AJ and driving to Tallahassee

I didn't take a picture of AJ but I took a picture of the sign at the pharmacy. We had to take Kyle back to Tallahassee so he could stay at a hotel and catch a morning flight so it was  good time to pick up my RX from the pharmacy and take AJ some lunch. He only has 30 minutes for a lunch break so we just ate in the car but it was good to see him. It was the only time this trip that I had really been crying sad about not seeing the girls. I knew I wasn't going to see them this trip so I kind of put it out of my mind but being 10 minutes away from them and not being able to see them made me really, really sad.

I've had no trouble getting my 10,000 plus steps a day in. I am at 18 weeks of not missing a single day of over 10,000 steps.

Busy beach day

All sorts of fun on the beach today. We watched someone catch a 5 or 6 foot shark. It was an angry shark. It took awhile for them to get the hook out so they could let it go. 

Jameson caught two crabs!

There was a water spout. It has been periodically stormy. Fun day.

Day one at the beach

The boys have had fun going to the pool, the beach and riding the electric bikes to
"the city." Sean is having so much more fun with the cousins here then when he is alone. It's an entirely different vacation for him. He was pretty pale when we got here and now he has some pigment to his skin again.

I told the boys the first one to catch a lizard got five bucks. Jackson caught the lizard. (Yes that picture is Jameson not Jackson)

Jameson caught this flying lizard shot so I gave him five bucks as well.

Some computer time. Something is up with the Xbox and it is not working.

Jameson out fishing.

There were two sets of turtle tracks and newly marked nest.

I texted Beth to ask about the nest. She came out and taught the boys about turtles. She said that nest was laid after 3 am after the storm. There was an almost full moon so there were a lot of nest laid near our house this week.

Just having a good time.

Funny little car adventure

We had an uneventful trip from SLC to DFW. When we got to Dallas it was stormy and there were delays so we were 90 minutes late getting out of Dallas. It's the same as it was last month. The airports are EMPTY but the plane is FULL. They talk about social distancing on the plane which is funny! 

Eating in Dallas. All the restaurants closed at 6 pm.

The fun started when we got to Tallahassee. It was almost midnight and the rental agency didn't have a van for us. Our reservation didn't matter there was no car. Catherine had two rentals at two different agencies. Budget gave us a tiny car. There was no way we could fit 7 of us and suitcases in a little car. Catherine has 2 huge suitcases along with my and Kyle's travel size ones and a couple back packs. We were trying to get a shuttle to the hotel and were going to spend the night in Tallahassee. There was no shuttle due to COVID. There were no cars for rent in Tallahassee. We were standing around trying to figure out what to do when the agent said she had a 7 passenger SUV. She charged us $360 for a $900 SUV. We took it as we left they turned out the lights. We got to the parking lot and the SUV had an almost flat tire. Hmm, I guess cars with 3 tires are less expensive.. We were standing in the parking lot laughing and thinking about Larry in Honduras who almost made us miss our cruise ship. Always and adventure. The boys really wanted to drive to the house and not stay in a hotel so we crammed all of us and the suit cases in the car. We stopped at the first gas station and put air in the tire. It had 10 pounds of pressure. We stopped again half way and put more air and made it to St George in about an hour and 40 minutes. Just as we got past Crawfordville it started to pour and there was an incredible lightening storm. Once we got to the house everyone was happy we drove. We got in about 1:30 a.m.