A Year Ago Today

It's been one year today since my MeggieDog crossed the Rainbow Bridge. It's a gray, rainy day in my corner of the world, which I always find oddly comforting. And so, I am glad it's raining on this bittersweet day.

I've not had another pet since I lost Meg, and actually don't believe I want another one. As much as I miss the companionship and that happy greeting at the door every day, I just don't think I want to put myself through the grief of losing another precious pup. *sigh*

So, at least for now, I'll content myself with spoiling the pets of friends and family.

I miss you, Meggels.

My Life's Just Not That Fascinating

I've been a little lackadaisical about my blog posting in the last little bit. I actually HAVE been a little busy with the normal summer work-load increase at the office and getting ready for my most recent camping trip (more about that later) and getting some knitting done on some summer socks.

But the truth of the matter is, my life's just not fascinating enough to feel the need to post daily. I have a Twitter account, but honestly who has enough happening in their lives that they must share it on a minute-by-minute basis? I check in every once in awhile to read whatever Brad Paisley is posting because his posts are always amusing and often hilarious.

I have a Facebook account, but the only reason I go in there pretty often is to take turns in a few Scrabble games I have going there. Have I mentioned lately that I am a long-time Scrabble addict? I'm not good enough to play in tournaments, but I do love to play. How else would I know that "qi" is a word?

I have a MySpace page, too, but rarely post there either. The only places I post regularly are here and on my knitting blog. The only reason I keep two separate blogs is to keep from boring my non-knitting friends with my excitement over sticks and string. *LOL*

Now, on to the latest non-knitting news: I'm finally CAMPING again!! I spent last Thursday, Friday and Saturday at my all-time favorite campground, Grindstone. Mom and Dad were camping, too, and it was a lot of fun. I have to admit that I wondered how it would go, since this was my first camping trip since I had back surgery last November. Happily, I had no ill effects at all except a little soreness in my legs from using muscles I hadn't used in awhile. There were a few brief showers, but they occurred at times that didn't interfere with any camping fun.

Our friends, the Cooks, were there as well, complete with their four adorable Yorkies. I had a few nostalgic moments thinking of little Meg since it was my first camping trip without her. Another expected hurdle in the grieving process.

I really had a good time and thoroughly enjoyed listening to birdsong in the pre-dawn stillness while snuggled under my sleeping bag. I don't have words to properly express how relaxing I find that time away from all the electronics and stress of my daily life. I love that the most "high tech" thing in my camping gear is a set of circular knitting needles and self-striping sock yarn!

As soon as I came home Sunday afternoon I fired up the home computer and made reservations to go camping again next month. I could get used to this. *G*

A Practically Perfect Evening

Yesterday evening was really great. I'd worked yesterday and was a little tired, but not exhausted. I wasn't particularly hungry, so a cheese sandwich and Diet Coke was fine for supper. No dishes to wash. No household chores that couldn't wait another day.

So after checking in with Mom by phone and then making another call to deal with some items on a website for which I do a little volunteer work, my evening was mine to do with as I pleased.

I had some well-worn wicker furniture out on my balcony, and it was time to get rid of it. So, off it went to the dumpster. I resolved some time ago that since I don't have storage space for my porch furniture, I will not buy anything that can't be folded up and stored in a closet!

I pulled my Coleman chair out of its hiding place and carried it to the porch. It has a little attached side table with a drink holder, so I didn't need to pull out a table. I gathered up the cordless phone and the socks I'm currently knitting and settled in for a relaxing session of sticks and string in the warm spring evening.

Several of the residents of my apartment complex were enjoying the lovely weather. Some were walking, some were out on their little balconies talking quietly and watching the world go by.

I had a little pang of nostalgia, remembering how much MeggieDog enjoyed being "on patrol", sticking her head out from the railing around my second-story balcony and keeping tabs on what everyone was doing in HER parking lot. She'd have had a lot of things to watch last night.

I sat there in the comforting warmth of the waning light, knitting happily until it became too dark to read the pattern comfortably. I resisted going in for as long as I possibly could.

A practically perfect evening.

Day By Day

Though the quiet in my apartment is still hard to listen to, each day gets a tiny bit easier. I took some of Meg's things to Mom and Dad's house Saturday so they can use them for their Jasper. That seemed to help a little. There's still a lot of healing to do, but the process has at least begun.

As with most of the difficult times in my life, I find that staying busy helps a lot. So, when I got bored with housework over the weekend (which admittedly doesn't take long...*LOL*) I knitted a bit and spent some time on my new Wii playing Lego Indiana Jones. I know....sounds like a little kid's game, right? It's FUN.....I SWEAR!! You can shoot the bad guys, and nobody bleeds, because everyone's a Lego character. The funny thing is finding out how truly horrible I am at video games. I never was very good at them, and hadn't tried one in YEARS.

I bought the Wii so that I could use Wii Fit Plus, which I adore. I can already tell that it's helping me regain strength I lost during my illness last year. But I figured I needed a video game to play on the Wii as well, just for the fun of it. Kris told me that she plays Lego Indiana Jones on her Nintendo DS and that it was fun. She was right, as usual. I've had a blast with it so far, and it helps keep me busy. That's really important right now.

Heartbroken

My little MeggieDog is gone....and I am heartbroken. She became very ill last Friday night, and just never got better. She'd had these "spells" several times in the last couple of years, becoming violently ill for a day or two. But she'd always improved after the first 48 hours. Unfortunately, this time that didn't happen.

When she became much worse yesterday, I took her to the veterinarian and made the difficult decision to have him put her to sleep. I held her while she drifted peacefully away. She led a good, pampered life and would have been 16 years old on April 1. But knowing that doesn't make me miss her any less.

And now I'm faced with the deafening silence of my apartment with no Meggie in it. This morning I woke up in the middle of the bed for the first time in almost 16 years. (She was a notorious bed hog.)

I've been through this before, and I know that I will heal. But now, I just miss her....so much.

Relativity

It's all relative.....this morning on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being comfortable, 10 being the worst pain you can imagine) my pain is a 7, moving up to a 9 when I have to move to certain positions. But that's relatively better. Yesterday, it stayed at 8.5 to 9 with spikes to a 10 at times. When I went to bed last night, my jaw was actually tired from clenching my teeth all day.

But there IS light at the tunnel. I keep telling myself that surgery is November 11, and that will help things.

In the meantime, I'm still working every day. Lots to do before I have surgery. That's probably good, because it keeps my mind busy. Virtually every waking moment at home I keep knitting needles in my hands. That's not an exaggeration. I load the dishwasher, then get in the recliner with my knitting. I feather-dust the furniture, then get in the recliner with my knitting. I clean the bathrooms, then get in the recliner with my knitting. Three nights this week I actually fell asleep in the recliner with MeggieDog and my knitting in my lap.

Things could be worse. It's all relative.

Finally....FALL!

I love Fall....the late summer haze has disappeared, leaving everything looking sharp and crisp. You can see slight color changes on the edges of the trees. A couple of good frosts, and we'll have our colorful fall foliage to enjoy. We've had a lot of rain this season, and I'm not sure how that will affect the colors. We'll know soon. :-)

I'm completely utterly bored with my leg pain, so I'll just say I still have it and will be glad to have the surgery to get RID of it.

I've been trying to finish up some of my knitting projects so that I can start my Christmas knitting. The sad fact is that I should have started my Christmas knitting some time ago but have been addicted to knitting socks. *LOL* More on that will be posted on my knitting blog.

My sweet little MeggieDog hasn't been feeling well for the past week. I decided to increase her dosage of canine aspirin (still within the recommended dosage listed on the label) and it seems to be helping. In fact, last night she emptied her toy basket all over the living room floor and "killed" several of her favorites. It was wonderful to see her having such a good time again.

I see that this is my first post since the Friday of my vacation week. It's been a real blur of activity since then!

• Vacation Day 8 - Saturday: I honestly can't remember what I did, so it must have been knitting and watching movies and listening to my audiobook. *LOL* Speaking of audiobooks, I'm working my way through Debbie Macomber's wonderful "Blossom Street" series. I've listened to the first two and enjoyed them very much. It's nice to sit in the recliner, knitting with Meggie curled up beside me, listening to a story of women who meet in a knitting class and how their friendship develops.
• Vacation Day 9 - Sunday - The Last Day: I didn't do much at all that morning, but went to Mom and Dad's for lunch (ribs....*drool*). Then Mom and I went to a gathering of some of her first cousins at a nearby park. Mom hadn't seen these cousins in many years. It was fun to realize I had a LOT of relatives in my neighborhood and didn't even know it! They were lovely people, and we had a really nice visit.

And so, on Monday Cinderella turned back into a pumpkin and returned to her concrete cell, otherwise known as The Office. As expected, that first week back was a tough one, but I survived it.

On Tuesday, I went to Madrigal practice to turn in my music. After long consideration I finally decided that after going home from two practices in agony I just wasn't going to be able to do it. The extra three hours away from my recliner (where I can get in a relatively comfortable position) were just too painful. I was very disappointed, of course. I really, REALLY wanted to sing The Messiah. But with my luck, I'd have tortured myself all the way through the rehearsal period just to have my surgery scheduled too close to the performance date for me to be able to stand up to sing. Rats, rats, RATS. Oh well....one more thing to add to my "one of these days" list.

One of my e-mail signatures is "Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain." I have to remind myself of that from time to time. :-)

Delinquent Blogger....That's Me

I haven't INTENDED to neglect my blog, honest....but I'm still having occasional issues with the tendonitis in my leg which makes it difficult to sit at the home computer for more than just a few minutes at a time.

I had a project that was going to require several hours at the computer, and I was really beginning to wonder what I was going to do. Then it dawned on me that I have a wireless mouse and keyboard, so I was able to prop up in bed with pillows and make myself all comfy while working away on the project. What a relief!

Daddy's still battling tendonitis, too, and Mom is still recovering from her dental surgery. She's healing, but still too sore to chew "real food". We've all just kind of fallen apart all at once....*L* Hopefully things will improve soon.

I, myself, am happy that I have a four-day weekend....if my leg didn't hurt, I'd dance with joy! *LOL* I'm working four 10-hour days (every Friday off) for the summer, and Monday is Memorial Day. Ah, the unofficial start of SUMMER!

I've not been camping yet....sure hope that changes soon. I need a few days in the woods.

I've been knitting, and have a couple of pairs of socks on needles in various stages of completion. I've started working on a sweater and have knit about 7 inches on that as well. I just love relaxing and listening to the quiet "click, click" of the knitting needles as I work. Meggie likes for me to knit, too, because she knows that if I sit down with yarn and needles I'll be sitting STILL for awhile and she can catch some uninterruped nap time in my lap. *LOL*

Speaking of knitting, I think I'll close for now and work some more on my sweater while I watch the final two hours of "24". (I TiVo'd it Monday and haven't watched it yet.) Whether or not I bother to tune in next season will depend on how these last 2 hours play out. This season's Grandpa Jack (who's been dealing all season with the effects of being sick due to exposure to a bioweapon) has been a bit boring. I miss the old Jack Bauer who shot people in the thigh to make them talk and who muttered that immortal line, "I'm gonna need a hacksaw." *ROTFL*

Feeling Better...Finally!

This morning I got out of bed and was actually on my feet before I realized that I'd stood up without squealing in pain for the first time in almost 3 weeks! Hurray!

I've had a few twinges during the morning, but nothing like it's been for these past few weeks. I really believe it's been a bout of tendonitis in the back of my right thigh. The reason I think that's what it's been is that it has been the same kind of pain that I get when plantar fasciitis flares up occasionally in my right foot. Owie. Hurts just to think of it.

While I'm glad to be feeling better, I want to be careful not to get it cranked up again, so I'll be going about my weekend chores with great care.

I do have a lot of things to do this weekend, though, mainly because every night this week I've come home from work, soaked in a hot bath to relieve the leg pain, eaten a little supper, rubbed on Absorbine Jr., piled into bed with a heating pad, MeggieDog, my knitting, and a remote control. Needless to say, the household drudgery is sitting there waiting for me. *L*

Meggie's Second Sweater

I finished Meggie's second sweater this evening, sewed the buttons on it, and tried it on her....it fits! She's very pleased. :-)

Yikes! What a week....

Well, I'd actually intended to do a whole lot of nothing last weekend, but it didn't quite work out that way. On Saturday, Mom's sister and her family came up from North Carolina for a visit, so I spent most of the day with them. It was good to see them; I hadn't seen them since late last spring, so I was glad to have the opportunity to catch up.

Sunday morning, Mom called to say that she and Daddy were going to visit our friends in Marion, Joey, Beth & Amy, and wanted to know if I'd like to go, too. So I tossed my knitting in a bag (so I could show Beth & Amy the doggie sweater I'm knitting for Meggie) and away we went. We had a really lovely day. Mom & I visited with Beth & Amy while Dad & Joey worked on Joey's boat motor.

They have four of the most adorable little Yorkies you've ever seen. Amy helped me measure them so that I can knit little sweaters for them, as well. I only have a couple of rows left to knit on Meg's sweater. After I get the buttons sewn on, I'll be finished. Hopefully I'll have that completed this evening. I'll post a photo when I get finished.

I've cast on another pair of socks. I really like working on them because it's so different from everything else I've done. Knitting helps relieve the stress from work; in fact it relaxes me so much I sometimes doze off with the knitting (and Meggie) in my lap!

Meggie's Sweater

I just realized that I never posted a picture of the sweater I knitted for Meggie! It turned out really cute. She seems proud of it. *G*