Thought I was losing my mind!

But I found it again. Jeannie came over yesterday and painted some more of the kitchen, and I had taken down some cabinet fronts that I painted. I was looking at the painted fronts a while ago trying to figure out where each one goes. I stood in front of the stack of cupboards they go back on, and kept counting the spaces, walking back to the fronts and counting them. I was one short! Panic was about to set in, and I even went outside twice to where I had scrubbed the fronts with the hose and a bucket of solution.

I looked at it all one last time to figure out which one I would leave out until I could figure something out, then realized one larger front covers two shelf spaces! I'm still sane, can still count, and I'm not losing my mind! Don't ask me why I didn't figure it out sooner since one of the fronts is about double the size of the others.

Looking at the paint job done by Jeannie, I'll have to say she is really good, and it reminds me of how precise I used to be.

I finally got the results of my blood tests with a message from the doctor. Much of it is pretty good, except my blood counts. She wants me to see a hematologist, and if anyone has been through this please write and tell me what it involves. Are there additional tests they do, and how invasive are they? What might they be looking for? I googled it but didn't really find what I wanted. I certainly wasn't looking for scholarly articles with no words under 3 syllables, nor did I want articles that are too general in nature.

I used to google a lot of things, but I'm getting so paranoid about Google and the info they save on searches, email contents, etc. I did set my preferences that I did not want them to keep my information, but I don't believe that matters to them and they will find a way around it. With that in mind, I've been googling less. I remember years ago when there were many search engines, each with its own specialization, i.e., Lycos, and others. They may still be around, but way back in the shadows of Google which has grown too big in my opinion.

Earlier yesterday morning Jeannie and I took all the recycling in and both our cars were filled with bags of bottles and cans. I'm glad to get that stuff out of my way.

On Friday afternoon Susan dropped by to say goodbye as she was leaving for Arizona the following morning. I wished her the best, and according to her blog, the trip started out fine, but trouble developed in Southern CA with the 5th wheel hitch. Fortunately, her son was driving with her and got them back on the road when trouble developed with the truck brakes. I'm anxious to read her next post and hope she arrived at her destination without more trouble.

This weekend has gone by really fast, and I'm going to enjoy planning my travels. I don't want to jump the gun because weather is so unpredictable, although I have a copy of the 2012 Old Farmer's Almanac which has a pretty good forecasting track record.

I'm at it again

My daughter mentioned that she would try to get over this weekend and help me paint. I doubt she will be able to do it because of all that demands her attention on weekends, but I wanted to have something ready to paint just in case. Removed more cabinet doors and primered a whole lot! The side door is in really bad shape - the laminate is cheap and the top layer bubbles up all over the door. A big part of the door is a long narrow jalousie window, that doesn't open. I have some extra handles and tried one, but something is missing from the hardware. Maybe Steve will be able to figure it out.

There are a number of windows all over the house that can't be opened. I want to just live with it if I can, because the rest of the year I will be able to do one of three urgent replacements: 1) the windows; 2) the bathtub; and 3) the kitchen sink and countertops. I would be completely satisfied with the house if I could get these accomplished, although no doubt I'll find more things.

Regarding the comments from my blog yesterday - the one about corn sweeteners - I thank each of you who took the time to add your comments. There must be some complaints from the medical profession, no doubt, about corn syrup and hi fructose corn syrup. Last night I heard two different commercials featuring a person purporting to have done a lot of research and found that our bodies can't tell the difference between corn sweeteners and cane sugar - it's all sugar to our bodies. Well duh, we know that, but is there a NEED to add sweeteners to every type of food product sold?

I don't have a problem with sugar as I use very small amounts of organic sugar on my strawberries and in oatmeal (when I eat it). Of course if I bake I use it, and my bread recipe calls for a tbsp of sugar, which I understand is necessary for the yeast to react properly. Since I can mostly control how much added sugar is in my diet, as long as I stay away from processed and packaged foods I'm ok.

One aspect that I think has to be considered is the farmers who raise corn. With all the hunger in parts of the world, most corn goes to feed animals, and much of it goes to the companies producing corn sweeteners. Most of it is genetically modified - GMO.
I know that farming can be extremely difficult, with the unknowns such as weather - too much or too little rain, etc. If farmers didn't grow corn to be used for sweeteners, what else could they grow that would enable them to make a living. I sure don't have the answers, but like Dizzy Dick, I am always wondering about something.

Does anyone know why painting would make a person thirsty? I can't seem to drink enough water when I paint, and it happens every time.

One of the things Jeanne is going to do this weekend is to take her recyclables to a local place that buys them back. I save my cans and bottles for her, as she puts the money received into a savings account for the girls. She hasn't taken the stuff for absolutely ages - in fact the last time we went was when I fell off the tailgate, so it was at least a year ago. My beer cans are adding up, and when I meet her there with my beer cans and wine bottles she had better not make a smart-aleck remark since it's over a year's worth! Of course I can always comment on hers and Donald's marguerita mix!

If you remember yesterday I "washed my car". Well I saw same vehicle in the sunlight today, and I can't describe what a crappy job I did. It looks pretty good in the shade though.

Food choices

I just read the blog "In the Shadows", and thought I would add an experience I'm having with food. As I've written before, I rarely buy packaged foods, although you are really stuck buying such items as crackers. In her blog, Shadowmoss describes the difficulty in eating what is good for you while living in Honduras.

Upon hearing that I haven't felt well, Jeannie brought me a container of soup that Donald made, and it is so delicious and nourishing. But I like crackers with soup, and I have a box of Keeblers buttery crackers on hand. They are sort of oval shaped, and taste good with soup or slathered in peanut butter. I have avoided reading the ingredients because I knew I'd be turned off, which I certainly was.

The ingredients in these crackers include: sugar, corn syrup, and high fructose corn syrup! Is that a triple whammy or what? If a person was trying to control their weight, much less their nutrition, they would have a difficult time justifying this innocent, delicious tasting little cracker that contains basically wheat flour and sugar!

There is a brand of organic crackers that I buy most of the time, except the price is high and the amount of crackers is few, which is why I succumbed to the invitation of the Keebler Town House Light Buttery Crackers to "buy me". I will not buy Keeblers in the future, and I am contemplating writing to the company and telling them I don't understand the necessity for three different kinds of sugar in their crackers.

When Jeannie brought me the soup she said she will try to get over this weekend and help me with the painting, so I took a few more cabinet doors down and cleaned them plus a couple of short wall spaces. I should probably just do all the cabinets at once, but I just don't have a place to line them up as they are undergoing the various coats of primer and paint.

I also sort of washed off my Highlander so that I can apply the new license plate stickers. I say "sort of washed" because I am in no way claiming to do a decent job of cleaning my car. In fact, as I have noticed with the painting, I am able to be completely satisfied with a sometimes half-assed job! Chalk it up to getting older I guess - if I can't see the imperfections very well, then I'm happy.

I'm happy, I'm well, I'm healthy, I'm prosperous, I'm pretty, I'm tired!

The incessant wind

I'm getting pretty tired of it, and we don't have it as bad as some of the folks in the southwest have reported it. I was driving to the store yesterday, and noticed a lot of workmen doing road work on Folsom Blvd. It must have been a really heavy gust of wind that took one of the men's hard hat off and blew it down the road! I wonder if he had it on properly because it doesn't seem it should come off easily, but I guess that's how strong the wind can be.

I went to a local lab this morning to get blood drawn. The woman doing it was terrific - I couldn't even feel the needle. Maybe because the tourniquet around my upper arm was so tight, but I didn't mention that when I complimented her. I had asked my doctor if I might need B-12 shots because I can't shake the fatigue. The deep cough is getting better although it is aggravating in the middle of the night. The doctor ordered several things to be tested, and I should hear in a day or so.

I was corresponding with my brother in Milwaukee, and wrote this to him today:
"I've really been feeling terrible lately, but the other night I watched Wayne Dyer on PBS. He emphasized that if you go around saying you feel bad, have no energy, are too poor, etc., that is exactly what you will experience. Since then, I've been saying things like "I am well; I feel terrific; I have energy; I am prosperous, etc." I began feeling better almost immediately, although I'm still waiting for prosperous! Actually, I have learned to appreciate the abundance I have - it is everything I need, if not exactly everything I want."

So I probably could have skipped the blood test, but I guess it's just as well to have it done. It isn't going to keep me from my trip if I can drag myself into the car, and there is very little in the way of more tests or treatments that I would agree to.

A few days ago I called the hospital to see if my cousin was still there. She wasn't, so I called her cell phone and she answered, although I could barely understand her. She couldn't talk much, but I did get that she had pneumonia. If she's at home with pneumonia I don't see how she could still be alive, but I haven't heard anything yet.

So in the words suggested by Dr. Wayne Dyer, "I feel great! I have energy! I am well! I am prosperous! I am pretty!" Haha, I just thought I sneak the last one in there. If it works for well-being and energy, it might work for prosperity and pretty!

No more work today

I've done all I plan to. I hung the four cabinet fronts which gave me a bit of trouble. I numbered them with a sharpie as I took them down, but I still screwed it up and found I had a couple of the handles on the lower portion, and a couple were at the top. So I had to take down two of them and reposition them correctly. I had also attached some of the hardware in reverse. Corrected that. I also had to switch hardware on a couple of the cabinets because they didn't match the holes to attach them - the next time I guess I should number the hardware as well. You can see that some of the door catches are in need of replacing and won't stay shut correctly. That's a job for one of my sons.

I washed the big window, hung the screen - a major job in itself, got the mini blinds up and finally the curtain rod. I liked it much better with nothing at the windows, and just the light coming in to brighten the room. I can tolerate sheer or lace curtain panels, but nothing room-darkening for me. My daughter wondered about people being able to see in the windows. I've walked around this park, and can't see in anyone's house, and being that it's a 55++ crowd living here, no one is moving around outside after 9 pm anyway. If I could live on a mountaintop I might consider a glass house!

Here are the cabinets across the front of the kitchen:


This is the big window:


And here is a shot of a wall and cabinets that haven't yet been repainted. You can see a slight difference in the color of the walls - mine is a lighter shade and slightly more yellow:



Most striking to me in every room I've painted so far has been the ceiling. Covering over the darker paneling with white paint seems to open up the rooms and everything is so much brighter and cleaner looking.

I still don't feel well at all, and wonder if I'll ever be back to normal. I think I will see if my doctor will order some blood tests that I can have done at the UC Davis local clinic. I'm not driving downtown and paying an exorbitant amount for metered parking if I can help it. And I will never go back to the center with the parking garage! When I went to Lowe's just about three miles away, I noticed a new building still under construction that will be a UC Davis Medical Center. I hope I can transfer to a doctor there - free parking right in front. I might be more amenable to going to the doctor if I could just drive close by and park in front of the building.

I sure need to get traveling so I have something different to write about, but I can't even plan my route yet as the weather is so likely to change. The damage from the recent tornados is heartbreaking, and I hope calm and good weather comes to the Midwest soon.

What's happening at the grocery store?

I am feeling like absolute crap, so I decided to make a run to the grocery (a drive, actually) and get some Campbell's Chicken Noodle soup for my lunch. You remember it, the kind of soup Moms used to serve their kids, and nothing tastes better when you're not feeling up to par? I spent 10 minutes at the Campbell soup display - NO, I don't want lo-fat chicken noodle soup; I don't want Homestyle Chicken Noodle Soup; I don't want Heart Healthy chicken noodle soup! I just want the stuff most American kids have grown up on. I finally found it hidden on the bottom shelf, and I have to tell you it hit the spot for my lunch.

Then I decided I want some macaroni & cheese, so I looked in the entire row of pasta for elbow macaroni. They have every pasta known to man on those shelves, including whole wheat versions of all the pastas, quinoa versions, etc. Where's the Muellers Elbow Macaroni? I finally located a small bag of DaVinci elbow macaroni so now I can make my mac & cheese.

Some Tilamook cheddar and a 30 pack of Miller Hi Life rounded up my purchases because I felt too weak to continue. The chirpy cashier asked me how my day was going, and I said "OK". She kept pushing me until I finally told her I've been painting and am getting pretty tired of it. She answered, "So that's what the beer is about?" What a smart aleck!

It has taken me all day to clean 4 cabinet fronts and get the primer on, and I'm going to call an end to the painting for now when I get them hung back up. I'll be at a good stopping point. I hate to leave the kitchen unfinished, but it will just have to wait until I feel better, or get back from the east, whichever is sooner.

A few posts back someone asked if my mobile home requires a license plate, and the answer is "NO". I have a piece of paper that says "Registration Card", which is good until March 31, 2013.

I hope everyone has a good weekend - can't believe another one has rolled around already. Time is surely speeding up.

Giving up on power tools

I tried once more to use my power drill to attach the cabinet hardware, but the drill bit was too large. The other Philips bit I found didn't seem much smaller, so I just decided to do it the old fashioned way, by hand. I'm just giving up on power tools altogether.

Here are three of the cabinets that are finished. I think they look pretty nice, although that white is going to show every little spot or scratch. Because of the rain I haven't been able to take the other 4 cabinet fronts outside to clean them for painting, but I did get all the hardware off and it's now soaking in Pine Sol/Dawn solution.



Once in a while I watch HGTV House Hunters or Property Virgins, and always laugh about the young people sniffing in disgust at a kitchen with laminate countertops, or painted cabinets, or appliances in anything other than stainless steel. Where do these folks come from that they expect their first house to have it all. What is there left to achieve? I think wooden cabinets are truly lovely and rich looking, but I'm sort of enjoying the retro look of my place. Good thing I'm enjoying it because I sure couldn't afford much else. One thing I do look forward to getting in a few months is new countertop and stainless steel sinks. The porcelain sinks are so pitted and crappy that I can never get them to look or feel clean. The countertop is in bad shape as well, especially the burn spot next to the stove. According to Yvonne, her son fried everything he ate, and it looks like he spilled hot grease which bubbled up the countertop.

I really feel terrible, although I'm able to do a little at a time. I just hope the cough goes away so that I don't have to see a doctor.

A couple of readers have asked about the leaks, and I've been checking the areas where rain always caused drips inside. It looks like there hasn't been any water dripping, but I'll keep looking now and then. Yesterday's rain was really heavy, and today it is raining off and on. It's too overcast for me to be able to work though. You can see the hardware on the cabinets is dark, and trying to find match the screw to the screwdriver is like working in Braille. I just have to tell by how it feels. I'm not sure that problem with my eyes will ever get any better. I need lots of light, preferably sunlight, in order to see small details. Could it be old age creeping up? I'll have to write it down so I remember to ask the surgeon when I see him on the 26th of this month.

I went back a couple of hours after I wrote the first part of my blog and checked the windowsill for leaks. It isn't dripping, but there is definitely moisture on the lower right still. It's not dripping from above as it did before, but is from another source. I'm not sure what I can do about it, and it is probably not from the roof this time.