All moved in

We got to our new Arizona apartment by 10 AM Tuesday and were moved in by that night. A LOT of schlepping on my part! The RV is now about a foot higher off the ground….for real!

Yesterday was our first wedding anniversary. We celebrated by actually sleeping in the apartment instead of in the RV. I am now ready to go camping all around here :-)

Gorgeous mountains in all directions. Mt Graham has snow on it. Temps have been in the 60′s in the day time and 20′s to 30′s at night.

I’m in a McDonald’s and in a hurry to say Hi. We get internet on Monday. YIPPPPPPEEEEE!!!!!! :-) I’ll have a lot more to say then.

It was a very long drive here. Tonight will be my first night with oxygen since January 9th. I’m going to sleep well tonight even though we are on the floor!

Now I have to start the process of collecting all the same sorts of things I just gave away….bed, chairs, table, vacuum, etc. When the oxygen man delivered the o2 concentrator, he was a bit taken aback by our empty rooms with Rhett and I sitting in folding camp chairs. Snicker….

In love with headphones!

Last night when I was listening to the organic farm interview, Luke lent me his earphones to listen. I am now in love! :-)

I have rarely worn earphones. Rhett came into my life with cheapo earphones. They make my head hurt and my ears sweaty. Then I tried these! Wow….a whole new world has opened up to me :-)

At first I thought they cost over $200, but just now I looked them up and they can be had for $85. Maybe someday when I grow up, I’ll get myself a pair!

For you sophisticated types who don’t buy all your electronics at the Dollar Store, you might not understand my giddiness. I can hear ALL the parts of the music, in stereo and kinda loud :-P It is sooooooooo cool!!!!!!

Back in 2005, Heather and I bought matching Compaq laptops. Mine got hit by lightning that hit RIGHT outside my window a couple of years later on the 4th of July. That’s when a nice woman sent me her “old” Mac. Well, since I have now killed off 2 Macs, Luke and Heather fixed up the good old Compaq and now it’s mine.

Heather turned me on to Spotify. Back in Florida, Rhett and I used to listen to Pandora. Spotify is GREAT! So….here I am, addicted to Spotify, listened to through fancy headphones. Good thing we will be getting on the road today. I might get addicted to more things like the organic dairy products CHEAP from Central Market :-P

Fun in the yard

Finca Pura Vida farm’s farmer’s market table

The LDS church building near here has 3 wards in it, with sacrament meetings at 9 AM, 11:30 and 2 PM. Last week we went at 9, today at 2. That’s because Luke was off rock climbing in the morning, so Heather and I had the morning to work in the yard. After yesterday’s garden work, I was stiff and sore. After today’s, I am reduced to shuffling. No matter how weak I get or how much it hurts, it’s still fun :-) What a treat to go from below zero and snow to working in the yard amongst the garden beds. YES!

Heather put down sod in her yard a couple of years ago. I went out with the rake this morning to remove tree leaves and de-thatch the grass. Heather ran the lawn vacuum. Now the backyard looks like carpet :-) One “good” thing about myasthenia gravis is that when I get too weak to lift my arms and legs, I just have to rest and then they work again :-) That happened a couple of times while raking.

I wish rheumatoid arthritis would get better with rest! Instead, being inactive too long seems to only make it worse.

I would like to be adding my own pictures to the blog…but Fletcher was playing with my camera and Heather put it somewhere “safe”.  I hope it surfaces soon…..

I’ve been listening to an interview about a local organic farm while trying to stay focused enough to write this. I looked up Finca Pura Vida ecological farm online because I was so incredibly impressed with their food at the farmer’s market. If you get a chance, check out their web page and listen to the interview.

Another Saturday, another farmer’s market

We slept with the roof vents and windows open. Then sometime around 4 AM the cold air front came through. BRRRRR!!!!!!!! By the time we went to the farmer’s market, it was downright nasty outside. No lingering with farmers for me! We hurriedly got food. I was an IDIOT. It was cold, I was hungry, so I got a couple of tamales and a chocolate croissant. At least I shared some of mine with Fletcher. Just call Heather an enabler :-P I need someone to blame it on. Snicker….

It was OK going down, but it was nowhere as yummy as I used to think those things were. An hour later it felt like I swallowed a cannon ball.  Yuck. I guess that’s how a dummy like me learns. I’d rather eat low carb any day. It tastes better, it’s more satisfying and I feel great afterward.

Finally I took a nap to sleep off the carb stupor. When I woke up, I worked off the carbs by raking and using Heather’s  leaf grinder/vacuum. We got the front yard done :-) We only stopped because we ran out of giant paper bags to put leaves in. Heather says we filled 14 bags full, but 4 of them went in her compost.

We came in and I started cooking supper. I made rosemary orange pork chops, sauerkraut, steamed broccoli with cheese sauce and a salad with carrots, apples, raisins and pecans. The only thing I ate was a custard cup of the salad.

Heather just whipped up a batch of the chocolate pudding I used to make her…2 cups half and half with 1/2 cup chocolate buttons melted in. Mix together 1/4 cup flour and 1/2 cup sugar and whisk into hot milk. Keep whisking. When it starts to boil, whisk in 2 beaten eggs. Take off heat and add a tablespoon or two of butter and some vanilla. It’s wicked rich. You don’t eat much. This time she “made” Rhett be the one to eat carbs. I learned my lesson at breakfast.

One more full day here and then we plan to head west.

I had a poblano and cheese plus a chiapaneco. Rhett had chicken mole.

 

Silly me!

Just now I was complaining about how hot and sweaty I am. Then I turned on the computer and read an email from Vermont. Snicker…they are having cabin fever sales for people feeling cooped up in the cold. As soon as I joined Rhett in our camp chairs alongside the RV, I was blissed out again…feeling the ohhhhhhh soooooo nice breeze! :-) Ahhhhhhhhhh…..

A naked Fletcher keeps going just in front of me, lightly treading on my toes each time. He likes to keep track of what we are all doing and stop by to do patty cake with Rhett from time to time. What a life :-)

Yesterday I was too tired to write after a full day. We went to a play date with Fletcher and his friends.  It was fun meeting all the kids I regularly see pics of.  Interestingly, they had the exact same personalities that Heather captures so well with her photography.

Then we went out to eat at a Chinese buffet. It seems that all Chinese restaurants in NY and VT have the exact same stuff. This one had some interesting choices. I probably should have just “given in” and been OK with rice because there was some excellent looking sushi.

We had to stay away from Heather’s house yesterday and today during work hours because a crew was in there de-popcorning the ceiling :-P

Today we went to a REALLY nice little park with 13 freely roaming peacocks. I am so NOT a city person and going there was just what I needed to feel human again. We walked around to see all the amazing stone work and cool little pools. Watch the video! It’s almost like being there. The city caretaker, Robert, was very nice when I asked questions. He took us into a shed with all sorts of pictures and info. Places like this make cities bearable.

After walking, we were starved! Yesterday the only meal we had was the Chinese buffet and then we did not eat breakfast this morning. We went to a real Mexican restaurant. Mmmmmmm! :-) I had carne asada, served with grilled nopalitos, sliced avocado, shredded lettuce, lime, rice and beans. Not so low carb today! Rhett had a similar plate, but with chicken and no nopalitos.

We have been tweaking the inside of the RV. Heather helped us take out the obnoxious fixed table. Today I went to WalMart and bought a tray table that can be used when we need it and hidden when we don’t. The inside seems a zillion times more spacious now :-)

 

 

I was too wiped out to write

I’m thinking and certainly hoping that I’m getting better. Tuesday night/Wednesday morning were tough on me with almost constant bathroom trips. It sure was the path to quick weight loss! I lost more than 20 pounds in the last few days. My feet are now swimming in my sandals and my hands are skinny. Wow!

Wednesday I packed up the RV and Rhett and I ventured out on our own for the first time. The night before I looked at car stereos at WalMart, but just bought the installation kit. Wednesday we made the 20 mile trek to Fry’s Electronics. I bought their cheapest $40 CD/radio and sprung to have it installed. I bought new speakers, but Heather said she would put them in :-)

I am sooooooo thankful that the installation was done by someone else! It took the guy about 3 hours and he did lots to make it work. Would I ever go back to Fry’s again? NO WAY IN HECK!!!!!!!!!

The store was bigger than a super WalMart, but had no electric scooters for old, wimpy people like me. I was already going in weaker than usual. If there was a sign saying where car stereos were, I did not see it, so it took some effort to find. The store was full of employees that I was not able to catch the attention of.

I bought the radio and back speakers. I was pretty sure, but not certain that I needed 4″ speakers for the front. The guy told me I could have the tech look under the dash and let me know the size for sure. If I had known then how the rest of the afternoon was going to turn out, I would have run out the door screaming.

The waiting room was like a torture chamber. They had a TV that lost signal at least once a minute. It would pixilate and the sound would cut out. Of course it was set on Jerry Springer at FULL BLAST. That is an incredibly offensive program that I would never, ever watch. I lasted maybe 5 minutes before opening the shop door and begging the guy to tell me what size speakers I needed for the front. I told him the TV was obnoxious. He gave me a big, goofy grin and said he would call the car audio department and tell them the right size.

Rhett and I trudged in the store again, VERY glad to be away from the TV. But, I was dragging and drooping and struggling to walk. We had to go all the way back to the right department, get the speakers they insisted were right, then make the very long haul to the end of the cashier line and then be funneled in to a register. For the second time, I told EVERY employee to tell their bosses that the store needed electric scooters. A bunch of cashiers smiled, shrugged their shoulders and said they hear that a lot. Sigh….

Then back to a very, very long wait for the radio install. I felt like I was going to go INSANE from the faulty TV. You would think an electronics store could do better :-( Finally I saw the guy putting the radio back together and he opened the bay door and backed our RV out. The other installer was looking in and questioned what size speakers “my” installer had said I needed. Yup…he had called in the wrong size :-(

He said I could leave Rhett and the RV where it was. It was still a darn long walk for me. When the “bag police” checker said something, I begged him to talk to his bosses about electric scooters. I then went to the returns desk. I was kinda losing it at that point. The guy launched into giving me store credit and I needed to trek all the way back, go through the lines again, etc. I said “I’m going to cry” and burst into tears. It was all more than I could take :-( I felt like such an idiot standing there crying…but I had exceeded all tolerance levels by that point.

Suddenly someone got me a chair and supervisors appeared. THEY went and got the speakers, and claim they upgraded me to the next best speakers for free. I told the supervisor EVERYTHING. I was sooooo not happy :-(

Although I’m glad they sort of made some things right at the end, I was very NOT happy with my Fry’s experience. From now on I’m going to stick with smaller places!

I’ve been awake for 3 hours now tossing and turning and feeling distressed while thinking about all that happened. I did not describe even half of it :-( I figured I might as well sit up and write about it so I can then conk out in peace….

Epic sweats

I slept half of Monday and at least 12 hours at night. I think I broke all of my personal records for night sweats. All night long I was soaked. My king size down quilt now weighs at least twice what it should. My pillows are soaked and the memory foam is soaked through. The sheet and pillowcase are in the wash and the rest of the bedding is hanging outside to dry. Besides the incredible sweating, I peed way more than a gallon during the night. (It’s easy to tell in a porta potty.)

I came in and took a shower, but am still soaked 2 hours later. The sweating has not stopped now that I’m awake. This is one heck of an incredible detox! Rhett seems fine.

Ever since around Thanksgiving, when the nasty chemical smell started, I swelled up. That seems to me my body’s standard response. Makes me think of an environmental conference I went to in the 70′s. There was a bumper sticker that said “The solution to pollution is dilution”. My body likes to dilute the bad stuff by making the rest of me swell up :-(

I feel a zillion times better today than yesterday, but still feel icky. I wonder how long this will last? My legs look a heck of a lot better! I will be glad when I feel human again!

Scary stuff!

I have not been very hungry since I got here, then last night I had 2 servings of Swiss chard quiche. The burping started. At first I thought I was just crazy. My burps smelled like the chemical back in the Adirondack apartment. Then this morning, more of the same, along with gut melt-downs and stomach distress. At some point this morning, barfing felt inevitable.

I went out to lie down in the RV. That’s when I started to feel like a block of ice. Violent shivering commenced. The whole RV was shaking :-( My skin felt like it had been peeled off me and the nausea was intense. I shivered for a loooong time, then turned on an electric heater and fell asleep. I did NOT want to wake up. My skin was wicked bad creepy and it felt like the slightest movement would make me barf.

When I came back inside, I was burning up. Heather ran a thermometer over my forehead twice. 100.2 and 100.8. I usually have a temp around 96, so that felt pretty darn hot to me. I am still burping that chemical from my old apartment :-(  

The day I left the apartment, I saw the person I suspected all along go out to her car and “do” some substance. I hope the people there do more than just complain amongst themselves. I was sooooooo tired of being the squeaky wheel for everyone.