Pondering the world

welcome back to the world

I've been offline for a while.  We have wireless internet at the B&B during the day but I've had no time there to use my laptop.  And when we came home in the evenings, our internet connection has been sketchy to nonexistent.  Sometimes I could be on just long enough to get a connection and it would die, which turned out to be the operative word.

I finally made a big enough fuss about it tonight when I couldn't do anything at all--check email, post to the blog, do do actual work that I've been trying to get done for a week.  We made a quick trip to Best Buy and picked up a new cable modem.  A quick installation and short phone call to Comcast later, and we're back in operation.  Hurray! 

It's amazing how out of touch I feel when I can't get on the web.  Can't look up that information I need.  Can't zip a quick email to my daughter.  Can't put an event on my calendar or send a reminder to myself.  It seems kind of trivial, but that's how we live nowadays.

I'm not quite decrepit yet

On Saturday I was able to go to a free screening for hypertension and osteoporosis.  Not that I wanted to do that, but I'm getting to that age where I'd better start paying attention...

Most of the time was spent waiting.  I filled out the forms and I waited.  Finally I got to station #1 for hypertension screening.  The assistant sat me down and put the blood pressure cuff on.  She looked puzzled and slowly said, "108 over 68..." 

I asked, "and how is that?" 

"Well....  that's actually pretty low.  I'm used to seeing numbers a lot higher than that.  Let me check that one more time....  Yep.  108 over 68.  You're good to go."

I went on to the next line and waited some more.  Height and weight measurements were taken.  I've apparently lost 1/10 of an inch over the years.

The osteoporosis scanner turned out to be like a cross between an MRI machine and x-ray.  As I lay flat on the table, the scanner slowly passed over me, with special attention on my spine and hips.  I'm guessing that's where bone problems show up first.

A little more waiting, and then I got to see the consultant and review my test results.  Good news--on a scale of -3 to +3, with zero being normal, I'm at -1, which means I'm within the range for being okay.  They don't start treating for osteoporosis until you register -2.5 or less.  I just need to remember to keep taking my Citrical every day.  I'm not very good at that. 

However, I am an anomaly--a 52-year-old woman who is taking absolutely NO prescription medications and have no chronic illnesses.  Every time I go to any doctor's office and they review my medical history, they repeat, "No medications?  For anything?  No illnesses?  No diabetes or high blood pressure?  Really?"

In this case, it's good to be different.

stuff found!

I'm going to have to clean some carpets soon and shampoo some upholstery.  Of course, when I looked for the instruction manual for the carpet machine, I couldn't find it.  Egad, it could be anywhere.

So--good news--Oreck has all of their manuals on line and I printed it out.  So now I have it again.

Better news--I found the upholstery attachment that goes with it, so now I can shampoo some upholstery that really needs it.

Now if I could just find the rest of the stuff I've been looking for...

Stephanie got married!

Our housekeeper of two years got married today.  I almost put this in the "family matters" category because she's starting to feel like a member of the family.

She was absolutely lovely and looked like she was scared to death.  Then she got teary during the ceremony.  She's just 20, but I can't say much about that because I got married when I was 19--and we're still together nearly 33 years later.  I hope that they finish growing up together as we did.  It seems like yesterday.  It seems like forever ago.

I try not to give people advice, but here's the one piece I have about getting married or being in a relationship:  It's not a 50-50 deal, hardly ever.  But it is a give-and-take relationship.  If each of the partners is always willing to give more than 50%, it will work out.  Sometimes one is going to need to take more, and the other will have to give.  But if both are willing to give more than they get, they'll do fine.

When we got married, during the ceremony the pastor said, "you won't remember much of this ceremony except that during your wedding it snowed here, and they got 21 inches in Red River."  And that night we got 6 inches of snow in Santa Fe.  He's right.  I don't remember much else.

What Stephanie and Sancio will remember is that it was hotter than blazes during the ceremony and we had a thunderstorm later on.  As I write this, it's starting to rain.  I'm guessing that pretty quickly everyone will gather up the food and the dishes and run for the house, and it will be very cozy.  But they'll also remember that they were surrounded by friends and family and the ones they love.

And they will also find it very easy to remember the date of their wedding:  8-8-08. 

Blessings to them.

An end to hot flashes?!

I entered menopause at age 42.  I've had hot flashes and interrupted sleep for the past 10 years.  Yep, it has lasted forever.....  I haven't killed anybody yet, but it's been a close call sometimes.

For a while I had been taking a supplement from Walgreens recommended by a friend.  I still had hot flashes, maybe not so bad as before.  Was it working?  I don't know, but I sure didn't want to stop taking it and find out it was working.

I ran out of those, so I decided to go to a health store and maybe talk to someone who actually knew something.  Here in Albuquerque, BK's Health Pantry is just across Central Avenue (119 San Pasquale Street SW).  As soon as I told Jan what my problem was, she chuckled and said that was easy to solve.

Royal Maca is made by Whole World Botanicals.  Maca is a root that grows in Peru.  It helps the immune system and--magically!--also works on hot flashes and those nasty little menopause special effects.

I bought a small bottle of the capsules on Jan's advice to see how it worked.  You can take as few as two a day or up to 12, depending on how it works for you.  The first afternoon I took two.  Hot flashes were practically non-existent that night.  The next day I took two in the morning, two in the afternoon.  So far the hot flashes are gone and I feel like a different person.

So if you're having hot flashes and night sweats--or live with or know a woman who does--go get yourself some Royal Maca.  NOW.  RUN.  Before you lose it and take out one of your friends or family. 

I haven't killed the orchid yet

This is the fourth spring I've had this orchid, and it blooms at least every spring, sometimes even one more time later in the year.  Right now it has these three lovely flowers on it, and it has buds for two more.

I have no "secrets" for growing orchids.  In fact, I generally have a black thumb and kill houseplants if I'm not careful.  Somehow I managed to find just the right spot for this one, only water it once a week, and have re-potted it once.  It hasn't died on me yet.

blast from the past--Sonyia's back!

After an interesting day and a tough evening (see my NaBloPoMo post here), I came home to enjoy the peace and quiet of my own home, accompanied by a glass of Kahlua and cream on ice.  I was pretty much dozing while trying to read a blog, when someone called...

Sonyia!  Sonyia's back!  Hooray!

Sonyia was our housekeeper at the B & B for almost a year.  How to describe her?  Open, friendly, speaks her mind completely, says whatever comes to her mind.  She could make me laugh as no one else ever could. 

However, she's had a difficult life with some real hard family issues (not my story to tell here), and she just dropped out of sight in May of 2006.  I figured it probably had something to do with her mother (that's "Mother" with a capital M), who is one of the ongoing issues in her life. 

The loss of Sonyia was hard.  Not only did I lose my housekeeper (had to hire another housekeeper,  dang it), but I lost a good friend as well.

So when she called tonight, I was thrilled to hear from her.  And pretty soon she had me laughing as hard as ever.

Sonyia's back--life is good! 

P.S.  I'd better be careful with that--the last time I said that out loud, a squirrel cost me $2,000.