Simple Woman

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Outside my window…

By Moe DW on Flickr on my NE Ohio Flickr group

I am thinking…
about my unexpected medical problems this week!  Thursday I felt a discomfort under my arm and just thought my new bra was uncomfortable.  I went to adjust it and holy cow!  There was a huge lump there! Naturally I started thinking about what it could be (i.e. breast cancer, lymphoma, bubonic plague), and just treated it with ibuprofen and hot water compresses until I got up the nerve to tell Mr. Pete and my sister about it on Saturday.  Sis promptly informed me that not facing a problem doesn’t make it go away, and while Mr. Pete drove kids hither and yon, sis went with me to the local Wellness Center where they gave me a shot of anesthetic in the arm pit (OW!) and then lanced what turned out to be an abscess!

So my underarm is now very painful, and I am on two antibiotics which are also giving me gastrointestinal problems – the kind that I had to go BACK to the Center for and which involved a gloved hand and lube – you get the picture. That turned out to be something minor (although they did say with these antibiotics it was good to get it checked out).  

To which Mr. Pete responded, sometimes when we hear hooves, it really is just horses and not zebras.

The problem of course is that I unfortunately have also met a few zebras – so now I am convinced that someday – they will find me.

I am thankful…
that my sister didn’t take pictures of me lying on my back with my arm over my head using my childbearing relaxation techniques to get that shot in my arm pit!  Overall it was really great to have her there.

In the kitchen…
We had steak tonight and Mr. Pete cooked it!  With corn and fruit salad which was delicious.

I am wearing…
Long black pants and a black T- shirt and a hot wash cloth under my arm.

I am creating…
Well.. nothing right now.  I have been running a fever off and on and I’m kind of tired from the antibiotic.  But hopefully I will be feeling better soon.  I did get a whole slew of papers signed and notarized and sent out – again.  Hoping to close on selling our property Thursday.

Last week though Izzy and Rosie created this cool desert for the Queenship of Mary.  I’ve seen this before on Pinterest using parfait glasses, but since I didn’t have any of those and they cost about $2 to $3 apiece, we used these little mason jars instead- and the whole slew of them only cost $6

I am going…

to walk every day when either Noah or Rosie is running with their cross country team, although the schedule is changing since school is starting for the public school kids and now I have to figure it all out again.

Get in a strength and cardio video at least three times. So far I am walking about three miles in an hour at least five days a week.  Haven’t had time to do any upper-body work though. Probably won’t until this arm thing heals.

I am wondering…
if I can get to mass for the Feast of St. Monica tomorrow.  I certainly am feeling closer and closer to this particular saint. Went to my son’s new apartment today, which is decorated in “early girlfriend’s taste” and I’m having some problems dealing with it.

I always had this vision of my family being there to support each other and cheer for each other.  I asked my oldest son to come to his little brother’s running meet which was practically out his back door.  He never showed.

Then I asked him to come to his baby sister’s first meet. And he never showed for that either.  I gave that kid a very generous graduation present and I helped him purchase a certain ring that is still sitting in a box somewhere.  I don’t think it’s too much to ask him to root for his younger siblings from time to time, especially since they were carted to all of his activities when he was in school!

I am hoping…

• That I can be on good terms with all of my sons. We made strides in that direction this weekend.  I am learning more and more to swallow my pride and my anger and to just accept the things I cannot change. 
• To learn that I can’t teach my grown up sons things they aren’t ready to learn.  Sometimes I think I want to spare them some of the things I went through as a young person and now I think, no matter what, some of this stuff they just have to learn the hard way. 
• That the young women my sons give their hearts to won’t break them. 
• that I have the strength to manage a homeschool group and a soccer league. 
• that all my children make good choices going forward.
• that the sale of the property I am selling from my father’s estate goes through. I’m really needing this to happen!
• that I can endure all of the things I am called to endure – through Christ who strengthens me. 

I am looking forward to…

• Watching Noah and Rosie run this week.
• a special surprise family event this fall- something new for our family.
• the start of  a new school year. 
• the Feast of St. Monica.

Around the house…
Cleaning all my hardwood floors today on hands and knees! and then cleaning up the classroom for the new school year- and yes I wrote that last week, and no, it didn’t get done.

I am learning

a lot about the beginning of the public school system in this country – and it’s something that not a lot of people seem to realize!  posting on that later.

I am pondering…
one of the goals of institutional education was to make the “masses” easier to control in the work place.  I have thought about this quite a lot of late because I spent K-2 in public school and the rest in a very secular Catholic High School.  And I knew how to play the game very well – to get good grades and then later to be a good employee.

But on a personal level, I wonder if this is what also made me a “good patient.”  I still totally believe that my first birth experience partially happened because I didn’t stand up for myself or ask a lot of questions.

And here’s the thing, I talk big, but I still don’t do that.  I went into the Wellness Center on Saturday and they had an automatic blood pressure cuff that hurt so bad I almost went into tears.  I told the nurse about it and she replied, “Well it didn’t hurt me a bit,” which meant she already knew that and wasn’t about to do anything about it.

But when I went back today they used the same cuff and it still hurt – why didn’t I stand up for myself and just refuse to have it done!! Oh – and incidentally, my blood pressure was a lot higher today – probably because I was afraid of the blood pressure cuff machine!

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A favorite quote for today…
“I think making mistakes is as inevitable as receiving disappointments.”  Loretta Young
A photo I am sharing…

My little girl’s first cross country meet.