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May 2, 2008

IT'S FRIDAY, MY FAVORITE DAY!!

Thank goodness for calendars! My mind has gone completely blank as far as what I did a week ago and it sure helps to be able to go back and look. That's what happens when you get old and one day feels just like the next. I'm going to have to start taking notes!

I actually was very busy this week. With about ten days to go, the Garden Club sale is rapidly approaching and there is so much more to do. A bunch of us have been meeting at Ginger's place (she is in charge of the sale) and work on getting all the plants ready. It was pouring down rain this week, but we still managed to get a lot done. Next week is the final week and there will be work parties every day until we get it done and then Friday we will haul everything over to the NCRD gym for the sale. That is the best day as the members can get first choice of the plants before we open the doors on Saturday. We are usually our own best customers!

I woke up one day last week with a very stiff neck and had nursed it all weekend before I finally decided to make an appointment with Dr. Steve, the local chiropractor. Actually, his name is Dr. Steve Taccogna, but nobody can pronounce his last name so he encourages us to call him Dr. Steve. Works for me! Anyway, I had gone to him before and he is really good. I was tired of the heating pad and taking aspirin so I gave up and went to see him. He wanted to know what gorilla I had been wrestling with because my neck was so out of sync. I couldn't even turn it without it biting me! After a session with him, I feel better now, but the muscles are still pretty sore. I may have to go back, but I'll have to wait for a while because he's not open every day. Because we live in such a small town, a lot of the medical professionals practice in two or three locations and are only open locally a day or two each week. The chiropractor lives over 200 miles away, so he's only open two days one week and three days the next.

Tuesday night, we got together with the cast members of the Riverbend Players and their spouses. After the run of this last play was over, everyone decided to thank the director and take him and his wife out to dinner at the Gower Street Bistro in Cannon Beach. It was a place we had never been before and the food was delicious. I would recommend it to anyone. There were about fifteen people and it was a very enjoyable evening.

Dave had a follow-up appointment with the podiatrist on Wednesday, so we scheduled a few other appointments since we were driving into Portland anyway. The doctor had inserted a couple of arch supports and wedges for Dave to try out and they had helped a little, but he can still feel the pain. There is nothing worse than having sore and aching feet! He recommended a physical therapist to correct his gait and so we will try that next. His first appointment with her is later today. I also had a quarterly meeting with the folks at the assisted living place about my Mom and her condition. Since she has fallen a couple of times and broke her wrist, she has to have special care getting around. She was also having problems retaining fluids and they have to keep an eye on all of that. After the meeting, I visited with her for a while as Dave had dropped me off so that he could get the oil changed in our car. When he picked me up, we stopped by to see the grandgirls for a while and also to drop off a TV. The one we had in the apartment in West Linn gave up the ghost a few weeks ago, and since I'm going to be spending a lot of time in there over the next week and a half (see below), we decided to take a television in there to keep me amused if and when I'm ever alone in our apartment. The girls usually do a great job of keeping me busy! After dropping off the TV and visiting for a few minutes, we wanted to beat the traffic out of town, so we headed home early.

But since we hadn't had any lunch and we were both a little hungry, we decided to stop at Sweet Tomatoes for an early dinner. I've talked about this place before, but it's an "all-you-can-eat" place and since there are several around Portland and they are inexpensive, we seem to go there a lot. When we got to the one on Highway 217, most of the salad bowls were empty! When asked what was going on, the cashier behind the counter said that everyone was on break! Good grief! Not that I would deny anyone a break, but couldn't they check to see that there was enough food out before they disappeared? What kind of restaurant - especially a cafeteria style - doesn't have someone on duty behind the counter all the time? They run out of food and everyone just stands there waiting for the servers to get off their break? The kid said we could get some other food and them come back for the salad, but since this is pretty much a salad place, Dave tried to explain that that's kinda what we need to get started. Dave doesn't tolerate this kind of thing well and since he was really hungry and frustrated at the same time, we left and headed for another place. The next stop was another Sweet Tomatoes over on Highway 26, and it was much better! I am almost positive that we will NEVER go back to that Hwy 217 Sweet Tomatoes again!

Well, it's the first of May and usually by now I have most of my flowers out in the yard and in planters, but not this year! Everything is still in the greenhouse because the weather has been so cold and wet. I think we watched it rain most of the week and when the sun finally made it's appearance, Dave managed to put a few more boards up on the fence that he had to replace because of the storms. You can see that one fence is done and the other is still waiting for boards. He also put up the planters, but you can see that they are still empty. We are promised a nice day on Saturday and maybe I will be able to mow the lawn again as that seems to be the only thing besides the weeds that are enjoying this weather!

Yesterday was a fairly active day. I started with my water aerobics in the morning and then at 10, had a meeting with the Parks and Recreation committee. That lasted until noon and then we had a volunteer appreciation tea to attend at Nehalem Elementary School. Since we read with kids in the SMART program once a week, we get to go and be "appreciated" by the kids and their teachers at the end of the school year. I think the teachers are a little more appreciative than the students, but it's still fun to go watch while they sing and recite memorized lines to say "thanks". The dessert is pretty good too! Dave finished the day with a Planning Commission meeting in the evening, so all in all it was a productive day. We didn't get anything done around here, but it was productive nonetheless.

Next week begins my babysitting adventure. I will be taking care of three of my grandgirls for about six weeks as Lara's maternity leave is over and she has to go back to work. She is not looking forward to that and would much rather be home with her girls. I will only be babysitting three days a week (Tuesday thru Thursday) and then come back home for the weekends.

I know some of you are used to seeing this journal the first thing on Friday morning, but with my childcare schedule, I'm not sure just when it will be posted during this next six weeks. Just keep checking back if it's not here yet. It will get posted sometime every Friday! I'm also keeping my fingers crossed that we don't have any other problems in the next couple of weeks. We're changing website hosts and the switchover won't be easy (or so my webmaster tells me). Again, be patient and we'll get all the kinks worked out soon.