Eat More Bacon?

September Journaling

1.     Our grandson is 19 months old now. Our daughter’s second pregnancy is going well. Meeting with the Women’s Ministry team to plan our movie night.

2.     Grandson and daughter are here for the long weekend. Son-in-law is in the U.S. helping record a wedding.

3.     Grandson loves the sprinkler and eating fresh mint from our garden.

4.     Grandson came to church with us today.

5.     Barbecue for the holiday today.

6.     Ostepath appointment today.

7.     Family doc appointment today to fill out insurance forms and refill prescriptions. But I felt so exhausted and in pain I almost called in sick to the doctor’s appointment, and would have if I didn’t need to fill in the forms by a certain date.

8.     Recovering from the busy week.

9.     I was told yoga should help with balance issues. We’ll see.

10.Our church picnic at Darlington Provincial Park today. It drizzled but we had a shelter. Rain does a number on my pain.

11. Church today. Back to evening services, which they cancel over the summer. Also, a dear brother from church died this morning. We visited him last week and he was assured of his salvation and at peace. I feel almost jealous that he’s not suffering and in the presence of Jesus.

12. BOTOX injections today. While not pleasant, they do work to control some of my pain for 9/11 weeks. To distract myself I counted the injections. I used to think there were about 20 but there were 70!

13.  Massage this afternoon, then this evening, we showed the movie God’s Not Dead 2 for the Women’s Ministry kickoff. We had 30 women there. Unfortunately we had technical difficulties and had an impromptu intermission. We used it for discussion. I even told a joke. It was a great movie.

14. My grandson’s first sentence at 19 months was, “Eat more bacon?” A sign of things to come.

15. So far the new medication isn’t helping my pain.

16. We’re babysitting so our daughter and her husband can go out for dinner.

17. Attended the funeral of a man from our church. Christian funerals are so much different than others. We don’t sorrow as those who have no hope. Also, the gospel was preached so powerfully. One of the speakers was an MPP he used to be a driver for. Had to come home to rest part way through and then afterwards. It doesn’t help that it’s raining, which increases my pain.

18. Lunch at my mom’s between church services. Delicious ribs. Then a long nap. Welcome to my life.

19. Chiro appointment and grocery shopping then I napped for three hours to recover. So much pain and exhaustion. Sick and tired of being sick and tired.

20. Went to a new health care practitioner for food allergy testing.

21.Visiting my grandson and family.

22. Paperwork.

23.Bought a new wall clock and a painting for the family room. Now the reno is complete, just in time for our daughter to see the transformation.

24. Our daughter is returning from Holland today after five months interning at the ICTY, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. So happy to have her home for three months. Then she has one more semester of law school.

25.Church.

26. My daughter came shopping with me for some fall clothes. Even changing clothes takes so much out of me, I was spent. But I got a few nice things.

27. Spent the day recovering from yesterday and tying up loose ends by calling. Also set up my pills for the next two weeks, 80 a day just to maintain a 50% functioning level on a good day. I am so sick of pills and supplements, but imagine how bad I’d be without them. They also cost a small fortune. I also wanted to return an unused bottle to a company but they don’t refund money, only destroy the med, and I can do that. Too bad. It was over $100.

28.Visiting my grandson and letting my daughter sleep. She’s sick with a cold. Also my youngest got to see them again for the first time since returning from Holland.

29. Naturopath appointment today. Readjusting supplements.

30.  I got a call from a place where I thought I had sent some documents, and found I had only sent a letter saying I was including some documents, and of course, I hadn’t. A concrete example of the brain fog I’m trying to show them I have. Doh! One errand and I needed a two hour nap.

New Grandbaby on the Way

August Journaling

   1. My husband’s last day of vacation until the end of August. We picked up our grandson to stay over for two nights. His babysitter is taking vacation. He’s 18 months old today

2.   My mom is coming over to help me look after our grandson.

3.   My grandson said, Belly button, then lifted my top and gave me a raspberry. I couldn’t stop laughing. How does he know to do that?

4.   Great news. Our daughter is pregnant again. She’s 13 weeks along and will be due in February so the kids will be two years apart. We’re so excited. She had a lot of morning sickness again, and our grandson mocks her. He stands over the toilet and makes retching noises. The little stinker.

5.   Bought some accessories in the accent colour for the kitchen, as well as curtains, which have to be hemmed. Just measuring and pinning them was too much for me.  I used to be able to sew and clean and decorate. Now I can barely do anything. I feel the loss of my old self every day.

6.   Bought some barstools for the island and my husband put them together.

7.   Such an encouraging message at church this morning. We know how the story ends.

8.   Watching the Olympics.

9.  Watching my grandson. No extra walking today. I tried the other day and a few blocks nearly killed me, plus their brand new building doesn’t even come with an elevator. I could cry when I look up two flights.

10. Our daughter had her second ultrasound today. The baby looks healthy and active. We won’t find out the sex till it’s born. They want to be surprised, too. I agree. That’s what we did. We stopped in a pet store and my grandson loved looking at the pets, especially the fish.

11. Sending a final appeal for CPP disability.  Also my daughter in Holland heard back about her articling interviews.

12. So far no improvement from my new medication. Our daughter’s family is here tonight because of a friend’s wedding.

13. Missing our youngest daughter who is in Holland for another five weeks. She’s starting to feel homesick, too. She’s also travelling throughout the Netherlands. She and the other Canadian interns had lunch at the Canadian embassy and met the Ambassador.

14. Naturopath appointment, then off to my daughter’s overnight.

15.  My grandson loves to dance.

16. Worn out from my grandson. Now packing to go to the Carey conference. Each year we go we try to make it more low-key. Simple meals or eating out, naps every day, no pressure to visit with people.

17. Dental appointment and haircut.

18.  Last day to pack. Also bringing my blueberry pie. The easiest pie in the world, and expected by all our friends.

19.  Baked my famous blueberry pie, using cane sugar and organic flour and butter, so I can have some, too.

20. Off to the Carey conference. Thankful my mom is going as well.

21. Great preaching, as usual, and nice to reconnect with old friends. Heard that our daughter fainted in the middle of singing on stage at church. Her husband and friend-nurse ran up to see how she was. Then her midwife came with cupcakes and checked on her bp and the baby’s heartrate. I guess the whole church knows she’s pregnant now since they had to tell everyone she’s ok, just pregnant. Her blood pressure and blood sugar were low.

22.Three hour nap today, yet I’ll still sleep eight hours at night.

23. I wasn’t able to nap today for as long as usual, so I can’t make it to this evening’s session. A friend had a medical emergency and they called me to assess her. A little hard to do since I have no equipment with me, but she was better by the time I got there and she was going into town to the urgent care centre just to be on the safe side.

24. We’re leaving early from the conference, after this evening’s session. First time in 24 years we’ve done that, but we need a day to rest and unpack before we go to visit my brother-in-law for his 50^th birthday.

25. I miss my grandson but probably can’t see him for a week, so we talked to him on the phone.

26.  Our youngest daughter is 24 today. She’s still in Holland for another month. Miss her a lot.

27.  We went up to Muskoka to see where my brother-in-law and his wife have moved to take up a Pastorate. He gave up engineering to do this. They have a beautiful house on 50 acres.

28.  We went to their church today but he wasn’t preaching as they had Compassion there instead.

29.  Went back to a pain clinic to try to adjust the dose. The first one made me hallucinate.

30. They’re painting our kitchen/family room.

31. Painting is done and looks beautiful.