Update

Below is one of the photos I took today, and I liked how it turned out so I am sharing it here. It's the corner of First and Union of a particular town we went to, and I took it on the diagonal, so don't feel too stupid if you tilt your head to see the photo straight-on. :-)

Old brick building on First and Union

 This has been an incredibly long week for me, as I'm sure any regular readers can understand.

My mom was released from the hospital yesterday; she was just tired and needed sleep. She got 12 hours since yesterday, so that is an relief.

My dad is still in the VA Hospital, because his blood won't thin "fast enough." He has to be tested twice a day because of the strength ("industrial strength") of the medications. The talk with this latest doctor to see him revealed that my dad's lost 50-70% of his lung capacity to the blood clots, and that this has been going on at least a year. So that means, for at least a year (possibly since his heart surgery to stop the clots from going to his brain where they caused him brain damage and a stroke) he's been operating on about 30%-50% lung capacity! That's even before he retired, which provides info as to why he's so easily tired and winded. His night sleep apnea also contributes to oxygen deprivation; whether night or day, he hasn't been getting enough oxygen to his organs, muscles, and most importantly, his brain. For now, all that is known is that he'll be in the hospital until Monday-- and then it will depend on the blood work as to whether or not he gets to go home.

On a more positive note, yesterday and today have been very enjoyable days for me. Yesterday was sunny and beautiful, and I got to wear my favorite "sundress," which a lime-ish green flirty number that's not typically seen. I always get compliments on the dress, and I've only had it for a month! So, since I hadn't been out of the house, much less off the property for a while, I decided to go to the near-by antique store before going to the big hardware store in town to see about a clothes drying unit that I've been pondering for a while. I have seen quite a few designs that appealed to me (online), but they cost too much and looked pretty flimsy. I wanted something that could be "out of the way" when not in use (with little effort), but not something that had to be moved every time-- something that would be small enough to hang on the wall, but large enough to keep clothes away from the wall while they're drying. I figured I'd just make what I wanted, because I couldn't find precisely what I wanted for a budgeted cost.

The visit to the antique store paid off very favorably. One, going there provides for a social interaction that is very enjoyable and comfortable. The other was I found exactly what I was looking for. . . other than that it needs a lot of work done on it before it will be usable. And better still was the price. I got it, and a couple of other very useful shelves for specific items (I'm sticking with getting only what particularly suits what I want and my taste), for about the same price as the brackets that I was going to buy in order to make what I could 'suffice' with. Joy, joy! I'm very excited about this project, because the thing is already in such awful shape that I won't feel like I can ruin it! :-)

Below are pictures. First one is of the little spot on the wall where I want to hang the rack, and to the right is evidence of why I need an actual rack (because I'd like to put things away on that big metal shelf unit!). The second pic is of the drying rack when it's closed-- it hangs on the wall, so it would be long up and down. The third picture shows the drying rack open, and the third is when it's extended-- the 'arms' would be at the top. Very exciting project that's going to take time to complete, but I'm looking forward to it.

Spot for hanging the drying rack

Drying rack closed

Drying rack open

Drying rack open and extended

Today Hubby and I celebrated our 15th anniversary (which was actually yesterday). We went to a great little bakery up the next town over, which serves 'homecooked' meals. You don't leave that place hungry, and that includes my pig-butt Hubby and children! Today was just Hubby and I, however. Great customer service, delicious food, local shop. Best of all worlds. With full and expanding bellies, we headed in the opposite direction (towards home, but not to home), to go to another town over where there's the "Antique Capitol" of the state (county?)-- which is also where the gallery is located that is trying to get my . . . heheheheh, "art". . . as part of their selling collection.

We got to enjoy a trip to the bookstore (took books in, came out with antique books in Italian, which yes, I do intend to read; and a Katherine Hepburn biography, and some paperbacks for Hubby) and a t-shirt (on the front it reads "Word Nerd" and on the back it's for the store). The owner was running the store that day, and was a very nice gal, probably about our age or younger. Very personable. I also left with an offer to crochet book bags, which her customers could buy (and she's looking up how get labels for her store that I would sew onto the bag-- nice business arrangement) and re-use (incentive is they'd get a discount for bringing in a re-usable bag), as she won't use plastic bags and would love to have something made by a "local." What a great change of pace, and doors of opportunity that are opening to me-- seems to be the right time for it.

Then we made our way up to the Arts Gallery, where I have the potential to join the local artists and sell my work through the Gallery, so that I could show my work to whomever was working today. So happened it was the president of the committees (who "avoids going to the meetings"), and an artist herself. Nice older gal, and she asked if I'd mind leaving the items there so she could let the members committee president know (that's the person who called me this past week to ask for a showing of my 'art') and thus at the meeting everyone can see what work I do and whether or not I could contribute to the overall mission of the Arts Gallery. This will give a better idea to all concerned, I think, of whether or not to give this opportunity a "go." I'm nervous and excited about the possibility, and even if it doesn't work out (for whatever reason), to even be considered is an honor.

After that, we stroll up and down the street, going into the different stores; but when I went into another clothes store, Hubby grumbled about wanting to look at antiques, so we split up for a bit to do our own thing. I looked through a few places (I wore a shirt today that I'd gotten at one of those stores, and it's a shirt that I get complimented on every time I wear it-- not to mention a lot of head-whips-arounds), gazed over the river from a high railing for a bit, snapped a few photos, and then finally met up with Hubby at the agreed upon place. We took our time to sip some delicious root beer (gluten free), and I had a salad to follow up from the large lunch and lots of walking.

Well, now it's time for me to go pack for my out of town trip. It's not the 'usual' R&R type of trip, this one is sort of 'business', but I'm sure it'll still be a pleasant trip and I've been looking forward to it for a while.

That's the update for now. Though there's been incredibly stress and anxiety this week for us, we're doing all right and handling it quite well. There's a sort of peace, I suppose. Not something I can really describe. Sort of a "right place, right time, right person/people" kind of thing.

Living and Learning,
~Cedeham~

p.s.
This makes the 100th post for this blog! That's cool, right?