For the most part I don't dream but on the occasions that I do, they can be so real and so intense that they stay with me for days. (Certain movies can do that to me as well.) The one I had last night has stuck with me all day today.

I dreamt about finding my grandmother. She was a short woman (I was taller than she was by the time I finished growing) who seemed quite dainty. She never yelled or even raised her voice. There were times when my brother and I were younger (and before my grandfather retired) when she did have to be stern with us, but she never got mad. She was frugal and, in some ways, she taught me to be that way. She was a homemaker who raised 3 boys. She would sew clothes for us, especially for summer. She loved to bake pies and cakes and she taught me a lot about baking.

She died several years ago; around a couple of years after my grandfather passed away. I can see the house they lived in for most of my life as I drive down Sheridan Blvd to go shopping or to a friends house. It just hasn't felt right since it was sold and a different family live there now.

When I had the dream last night, it was like "finding" her. The hug we gave each other felt so real along with some of the other things that went with the dream. When I first woke up this morning, the feeling was still there with me like I was remembering something that happened last night. I had to remind myself at different times today that indeed she is gone.

Hmmmmm......

The 2nd MOD at school started on Monday. Instead of having our own class like we did in the first MOD, we ended up being stuck in another class that is farther along than we are.  There's three times more homework than in the first two weeks of school.  I'm still doing good in school; I'm still enjoying all that I'm learning.  But I've had some massive pain that has made it quite hard to concentrate on my studies, as well as remember anything I've read or written.  On the first day of the new MOD, we ended up getting MORE books, and I was in so much pain that others had to carry them for me.  By Wednesday, the pain had intensified to the point of making me cry and barely able to walk.  I called the clinic and was told a nurse would call me.  Rather than calling my cell phone which was all I had during school, they called the house and left a message. By then, I had to wait until 2:30 to call them back (they take long lunches) and was told once again that a nurse would call me.  I didn't hear back from anyone until the next morning. And then I get a nurse who tells me to "take a couple of ibuprofen to see if that would help".  My pain medicine wasn't even touching my pain.  I couldn't believe the gall of this woman.  In the end, I got an appointment made for Tuesday late afternoon.  Then I received a call from someone else at the clinic.  We played phone tag until we finally talked on Friday morning. I'll be seeing her as well during my appointment.

This week has been unbearable for me.  I missed school on Thursday and now I have a ton of schoolwork to do and 2 more tests to take on Monday.  Thank goodness the teacher was sympathetic to my pain.  It seems she's gone through this herself, having back surgery after an automobile accident.  She had actually told me to stay home and rest.  I didn't ask.  I would have come to school, but by that time, I didn't know much of what I needed to know to pass my tests.

Wednesday night, Talina called me and told me that Gabby was sick and wasn't allowed to go to daycare on Thursday.  She was going to take the morning off and wait until I got home from school, but as it worked out, I just had her bring Gabby in the morning. Talina wasn't feeling well either, so by noon (or thereabouts) she'd left work and came to pick up Gabby.  By Friday, both of them were feeling a bit better.  The only thing Gabby had by then was a cough and her coughing fits only came when she wouldn't settle down.

On the nights that Gabby stays, I've mentioned that I'll read her a couple of bedtime stories before the lights go out.  For the past couple of weeks, she has picked out one story that she prefers to read to me.  It's from a compilation of the Little Golden Books (about 8 or 9 stories) and this particular story is called "I Can Fly".  From the first time she ever read it, she could read most of the words, while realizing that a lot of it is rhyming. There were some other words that she had a hard time with, but now she can read the whole thing.

Gabby's also good at "independent playtime", allowing me to do some homework on occasion.  There are still some things that her and I need to work on; things that she already knows about and does around Miss Carmen and mom. With me, she will still try to get away with things she shouldn't.  I need to nip this in the bud before she starts Kindergarten. She can be really defiant when she wants to be.

The weather has been strange here for spring.  We woke up to snow on Monday even though they hadn't even forecasted it.  It will be nice and warm for a couple of days, and then rainy and gloomy for a couple of days.  It's been cloudy all day today with 60% chance of rain, yet we haven't seen but a sprinkle here and there. The same goes for tomorrow.  Why does it have to be this way on the weekends? Why can't the gloom be during the week and give us nice weekends?  Although we can always use the moisture, if it snows one more time, I'll scream so loud that anyone and everyone can hear it! (I swear I'll do it)

So, there's nothing going on here for this weekend except for studying and relaxing. (Oh yeah, laundry needs to get done too. I wear scrubs to school so I have to make sure that they're washed  and ironed by Sunday night.).

Have a great weekend everyone!

Today we had our finals for the first MOD.  It's been four weeks of massive homework and just plain hard work.  But I did it!  I passed the MOD with a 96%.  Next Monday starts the next one and there seems to be some confusion as to which MOD is next.  I was hoping to be able to get some paperwork from the future teacher of our class, but I ended up leaving school and getting home by 10 a.m.  It was much too nice to sit around school just waiting.

For the last couple of days, I've been having some major breakthrough pain.  It's getting worse and the pain meds aren't even touching it.  It's been hard for me to stand up after sitting for awhile. I feel like an old lady all bent over.  It would be great if I woke up in the morning with this particular pain gone. 

Tomorrow, of course, I have Gabby and tomorrow is her 5th birthday.  I was going to bake a cake tonight for her, but I've decided to wait until tomorrow and let her help me.  She'll love being able to frost her cake.  As far as I know, unless she's changed her mind, she wants a white cake with red frosting.  I'll let her decorate it the way she wants.  Since she'll also be spending the night, Talina and James will come by after they both get off work tomorrow for cake and ice cream.  I've also invited my brother and his partner to come over to share in the festivities.  Eddy wants to meet "this Mike guy".  It's going to fun to have them over.

The other night I called my mom because I needed some family health information for Talina.  We had a  good conversation and I was told that my mom looked forward to the next time I called.  I was quite surprised to hear that.  That's not how it usually works out.

9:00 p.m.

We just finished grocery shopping, making sure we had all the things we need for Gabby. :-D   It will be so nice to be able to sleep in for a couple hours.  Mike usually makes breakfast for her and him and sometimes they'll even let me sleep through all that.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a nice day...the last one till next week.  Maybe we'll go do something.  I'll have to think about that.

I'm off to the couch to watch tv and fall asleep.  I'm afraid I'm not too far away that right now.

Have a good Friday and a great weekend!

since I started going to school, and I've never had so much homework as I have now; more than any other time I've been in school.  It's an accelerated course, which they didn't tell several of us that's what it was (but I suppose we should have known since the course takes only eight months).  We're given our work on Thursday before we go home and everything needs to be done and turned in by Wednesday (unless otherwise specified) and on Thursdays, we have two tests.  So far, I'm holding an "A" average.  I stress every Thursday morning, worrying about whether or not I'll pass them.  Today is the first day that I've had some "free" time that doesn't require reading books.  I've gotten all my assignments done before the Wednesday deadline.  Tomorrow, it will be study, study, study!  Everything from terminology to coding.  Tomorrow we have a basic math test.  I don't think I'll have any problem with that.

So, that's about the extent of my days, including weekends and even Fridays when I have Gabby.

Gabby arrives at 7:30 in the morning with a backpack and a grin. We seem to have a lot of fun and I don't have nearly as many problems with her and rarely have to discipline her.  This summer, we're going to get her started riding a bicycle.  In the past, she's either gone with Mike in the trailer or she would ride her "big-wheel" type bike.  She has a huge fear of falling and hurting herself.  I'm hoping this summer will be a little different and she'll take the risks that come with learning to ride a bike (or roller skate--she has a pair of kids' inline skates, but doesn't use them for the same reason).  Mike has been at home for the past month (working still) and when he's not working on the projects he's doing, he'll take time with Gabby and do things with her outside.  He's so good with her and has a different disciplinary attitude than I have.  I only wished he'd shared some of these things with me before now. 

By the afternoon, she's hungry and starts getting a little cranky. When she spends the night (which has been on Fridays), she'll let me know when she's ready for bed.  She'll go do her bathroom things, come out for her "hug, kiss, and nose" and proceed to bed where she'll be read two stories out of one of her favorite books. Then she'll drink half of a small glass of water and lay down and go to sleep.  Every night she stays, I have to remind her that she's not to come out of her room until she hears Papa awake, or someone comes into her room to get her.  For the most part, she's been doing rather well. She prefers not to sleep in pajamas or even a t-shirt, but instead will place them under her pillow so that she knows where to find them the next morning when she gets up. It's amazing what daycare and Miss Carmen have done for her.  She seems to be very much a normal little girl. And I love her lots and lots!!!

Mike's been helping a lot around the house since I've started school.  He does the dishes, occasionally vacuums, cooks and scrubs the kitchen floor.  I still do the laundry and some of the cooking, depending on what day it is.  It feels good not to have to worry about all that when I have no time for anything but homework and sleep.  And of course, I've thanked him immensely for his help. But then, he knows how hard I'm working at my schooling so I can get a decent job.

If you don't find many posts from me, at least you'll know it isn't because of laziness.  I hope you all have a wonderful "rest of the week"!

After years and years of suffering from depression, whether under control or not, you'd think I'd know by now when I was having a severe depression problem. Instead of realizing it, I would shrug it off as something else---too much stress about money, medicine and the like. I'm constantly worrying about where I'll get enough money to pay for my meds or pay the bills I have. But it wasn't until I was watching a show where the doctor had restated the symptoms of depression that it dawned on me. The last one mentioned dealt with losing interest in hobbies or other things that one enjoys doing. Bang! It hit me. In the last couple of months, I've tried to get some beading done but felt such a lack of motivation that nothing was ever accomplished.

My lack of motivation and the depression doesn't stop there. I feel overly fatigued making it hard for me to get things done. I've had to push myself a lot and it hasn't been easy.

Last week I went to see the doctor to follow-up on a few things. I explained what was going on and she had me talk to a woman who could give me some resources. I had no problem with that. That is, until she told me I would have to consider myself "homeless" to be able to use these resources. It's very hard for me to explain everything without feeling I'm writing a book. In a nutshell: I'm considered "renting" a room from Mike since he's decided that he doesn't want a relationship. But I've been asked to use his income for MY services. My copay at the doctor's office, when I was making very little money working for Mike, was $7. Now that I have NO income, it went up to $15. I can't pay it.

I feel like I'm in a predicament. I'm telling everyone the truth (all those who want to know Mike's income) about my living arrangements (he supplies me with a letter stating the arrangements) and I get nothing. But if I lie and say that I'm homeless...well, that could mean a lot of trouble but I might be able to get what I need. (I've already had to pay back the State of Colorado over $1300 because I did not know all the rules. I don't want to have to do that again.)

Some people just don't understand how that could stress me out.

You'll probably be seeing me a lot more in the near future. I'll have more time and space to write. You see, today is the first day of a different life for me.

We've been talking about putting Gabby in a daycare/preschool for quite awhile now. I won't go into details as to why it's happened now, but today is Gabby's first day in a daycare/preschool setting. It's also MY first day without Gabby to babysit. It was hard at first to get used to the idea that I wouldn't have her anymore, but as I did, I started realizing how beneficial this is to Gabby. She gets to be around kids who are close to her age and gets to have fun doing it. It's also her first time being around someone else of authority (besides mom, James, Mike and I) which is something that is definitely needed for her. After all, she'll be starting kindergarten this coming September (or whenever school starts) and needs to know some of these things. Talina called me about half an hour ago and told me that Gabby was doing fine. She's had one "meltdown" but is over that now and getting along great. (The meltdown involved "authority".) I hope that she enjoys all that she does. It's going to be fun to see her now and then and notice the changes in her.

I told Mike over the weekend that, even though I wouldn't be babysitting, I doubt that I'd be able to sleep in this morning. Sure enough, I was awake at 4:45am. And I wasn't even tired. And knowing that Gabby wouldn't be here, I still found myself checking the time, [almost] waiting for Talina to call to say they were on their way. And when the call didn't come, there was no "letdown". There was no excitement either. I've been keeping myself fairly busy this morning. However, Mike is home today because it's snowing like crazy here.

Yesterday, the temperature didn't get above 14F and was supposed to get down to 0F throughout the night. It was supposed to start snowing last night but what we got were more like little bitty snow balls rather than snowflakes. It was still spitting snow this morning when I woke up but for the most part, it had ceased. A couple of hours ago, it started back up again; this time with huge flakes. We now have nearly 6 inches in the yard. It's supposed to snow off and on throughout the day and it's forecasted for a rough "rush hour" this evening. And just when all the snow we had melted....sheesh!

Now that I'm no longer watching Gabby, I'll need to find a job. I'm not sure yet just what I'll be able to do or how long I'll last with my back pain, but at least I'll be able to say "I tried" if things don't work out.

Not only that but I'll have more time to do some of the things I haven't been able to do:

• repair clothing
• work on a quilt I started before Gabby was born
• finish some "accounting" work
• fix up my bedroom
• scrapbooking
• reading
• beading

I think, except for cleaning house, I'll be calm/lazy (or whatever you want to call it) for this first week. And until the streets are cleared of all this snow, I won't be going anywhere. So, why not?

I will definitely be around more often!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

          

This is the second draft of this post. Gabby "posted" what I'd written with a jumbled subject. Sheesh!

I don't think we've had such cold weather in quite awhile. It was -17F this morning when I woke up at 6:15am. Although it's above zero now, it's still "frozen nose hair" weather, along with about 4 inches of snow. This one could stick around for awhile. I'm already tired of the snow since I have no heavy coat and we've made it a habit to smoke outside. I'll need to remind Talina to return my snowpants.

I'd been having problems with my computer and after 3 days of trying to fix it, I finally called my youngest brother to see if he could fix it. I hadn't talked with him for quite awhile and wasn't sure of the reception I'd get. The last time I went over for a visit, my brother stayed in the bedroom while Eddy and I talked. Anyway, Eddy was out of town and Glen decided he'd come over. It was 9pm and he didn't leave until midnight. But he did a grand job of fixing it right up. A few days later, Eddy called me and we arranged lunch for this coming Friday. I can't wait!

I've managed to get a few things for Gabby for Christmas. Neither Mike and I nor Talina will have a tree this year. Perhaps we'll have one next year...just for Gabby. Maybe by the end of next year, I'll feel a whole lot better physically. The doctor is suggesting surgery for my back, and in January, I get to have my first colonoscopy. I imagine it's important for me to have this test but I've been putting it off for about 8 years now. My grandmother had colon cancer although my mother tells me that's not what she had. They did radiation therapy on her for it and in the process it damaged her kidneys. In the end, it was kidney failure that took her. I've had an endoscopy a couple of times but I'm definitely not looking forward to this test. I've got a month or so to stew over it. Yikes!

Depending on if I receive any money for Christmas, I hope I can buy a new digital camera soon. I miss having a camera to take pics of Gabby!

I'm getting ready to write out my cards and send them. Hopefully, you'll receive them before Christmas. At least, this time I've started early enough.

I can't think of much else to say right now. I hope you all have a wonderful week. And, if any of you are on Facebook, look me up. If you don't know my "real" name, send me email at momlady1 at comcast dot net. I'm having tons of fun there.

...but not to this house.  Even with Gabby here, Mike has no interest in Christmas. I have no money so no Christmas present will be coming from me except to Gabby and those are things I've bought and saved.

But, I will be sending out cards. So, in the spirit of the holidays, I will do my part. However, I need your help. If you would like to receive a card from me, please comment with your name and address. All comments will be screened.

I will post again later.

Wow. This month seems to have gone by so quickly. Thanksgiving is nearly here but no plans have been made (at least not to my knowledge) about family and dinner. For the past few years, Mike, his mom and I usually go up to Central City on Thanksgiving Day, where we eat a very nice dinner in one of the casino restaurants and then go spend our money on the slot machines. But even that hasn't been discussed and I have a feeling I'll be alone on Thanksgiving Day. But that's okay with me if that's what happens. It just gives me time to think about what I'm going to do about my situation. I'm not exactly happy about what's going on, but I put up with it because I have no choice at the moment. Eventually, things will change although I don't see it happening in the very near future.

I've been a Facebook addict lately. When I first became a member, I didn't realize all the things that could be done there. It looked like one of those typical websites like "Classmates.com" where you find friends, posted photos....you know what I'm talking about. I never knew about all the apps they have until this past month; all the games, scavenger hunts, egg hunts, sending things to friends, etc. For me, it can keep me quite busy and I've found myself staying up later...the time goes by so quickly.

Gabby's had a cold since about Wednesday. It's nothing too serious--just a nasty cough and some sneezing and stuffy nose. Other than that, she's doing good. She has her days of being obnoxious, and other days when she's a perfect little angel. When Mike gets home, she gets hyper and the first thing she wants to do when he walks in the door is to play checkers. He barely has time to get his boots off and unwind before she's all over him to play a game with her. She can play a pretty good game of checkers with him. She brought her Chutes and Ladders game back here (she'd had it at home--what she calls "mommy's house"--for about 3 weeks.) It happens to be one of those type of games when the tv has to be turned off to keep her from becoming too distracted.

She still loves playing on PBSkids.org. Sometime this week, I'm going to show her how to access the website by herself by bringing up a new tab and using the pull-down menu from the web addresses I've gone to previously. My bank account and PBSkids are the first 2 to show up. It should be easy for her. She already knows how to close down the one tab, and if I ask, she'll close down the whole browser.

Here's a video I think you'll like, especially if any of you are into art or painting. I hope you'll enjoy it--



I've been trying to get the house cleaned just in case we have Thanksgiving here. It will probably NOT be worth my time. And in the end, I'll pay for it (with lots of pain).

That's all for this time. I hope everyone has a great week and a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!

The election is over and I'm glad. No more campaigning, no more news of political candidates or television ads. I've never been one to talk about politics nor have much interest of presidential campaigns or elections. I flunked Social Studies in Junior High when it came to "government". I never could understand it and it didn't seem to matter to me who was elected. This year was a little different though. For the first time in my life, I registered to vote. I received my "mail-in" ballot and voted by mail. For some reason, I became interested in the candidates this year and really had the urge to do my part by voting. I generally don't write about things like this. The last thing I want or need is to get into a conversation about it. I'm not good at it, so I usually don't talk about it. All I'll say now is "Let's see what happens now".

Things are going well except for the things that never seem to go well at any time, but I'm dealing with it. I've been having more back pain than usual, and although I've been given extra meds for the days that I need it, the doctor and I have been talking about doing something to make my back "better". We're talking about possibly surgery so that I can get off the medication I take for it. 

Gabby's doing good. She's gotten somewhat easier to deal with. I don't know if it's because she's just growing up or whether this new man in mom's life (and his daughter) has something to do with it. He's really good with her and Gabby and Rachel get along great. I've also been buying her games to play like CandyLand and Chutes and Ladders, as well as letting her play on the computer at the  PBSkids.org website. Once she's at the chair with the website up and ready, she'll put on her headphones and she's off and running. She knows the whole site and can play most of the games on the site. Most of them she's taught herself to play. And when she's done, she'll close the window and get down. One of these days I'd like to be able to get her a computer of her own.

Halloween was kind of slow this year. Each year, we never know how many trick-or-treaters we're going to have; some years there will be a lot and other years there will be only a couple. And that's what happened this year: we got about 5 kids altogether. But I made sure I bought something that would be easily eaten by Mike, Gabby or I.

Tha's all for now. I need to go pay a couple of bills while I'm thinking about it. 

HAVE A GOOD WEEKEND EVERYONE!!!

This morning, upon waking, I found that is was quite chilly outside. Lately, it's been pleasant; somewhere between 45-54 degrees outside. This morning it was 37. We've got some snow in the mountains already, and a couple of ski areas are in the race to open up first. One area has already started "making" snow. The forecast shows that, by Friday, we'll be getting into the freezing temperatures for overnight. And that means I need to get it in gear and plant some bulbs I bought not too long ago. I also intend to plant other flowers in the spring, but I'll need to get the area I'll be planting in dug up and turned before it gets too cold. I need to put some color into this yard. I'm tired of looking at the "so-called" grass and weeds.

I'd planned on making a few phone calls today to get Gabby into preschool or Head Start but I seem to have misplaced the papers with all the phone numbers. My desk is always cluttered with mail, sticky notes and books, but even so, it's organized well enough that I can usually find what I'm looking for. Not today. I can't even find the card I was given while at the doctor's office so that I can call the person who gave me all this information. I was going to call her first. I suppose I'll keep looking around whenever I think about it, but it should have been on my desk.

I've been finding myself taking short naps during the day. I can't keep my eyes open no matter how hard I try. I don't worry about Gabby because it seems that every time she sees my eyes closed, she'll come over to me, start pounding on the recliner chair and yelling at me to "wake up!" Yesterday, I put her on the computer at pbskids.org and for the most part, I got a little nap. After that, I felt great. I'm not quite sure why I'm so tired.

Gabby loves playing on the computer. She doesn't know how to "surf" the internet yet, but once I get her into PBSkids, I can let her go. She knows the whole site, inside and out, and has taught herself how to play the games. At first, it was Curious George that she would play, but now she plays at least one-third of what's on the site.  Her only problem with being on the computer is that she doesn't have much patience in waiting for a page to load up. She's learning, though.

I don't have much planned for this week unless I can find that paperwork. But I'll need to find it soon, or I'll be going back down to the Clinic to get another copy. Oi! Not exactly what I want to do.

Have a good day everyone!

Taken from friendsafire

My LiveJournal Trick-or-Treat Haul
MomLady goes trick-or-treating, dressed up as Pinnochio.
chi_cat_goddess tricks you! You get a broken balloon.
dagrrl gives you 7 pink peach-flavoured wafers.
fibro_witch gives you 19 light green passionfruit-flavoured jawbreakers.
friendsafire gives you 3 softly glowing spearmint-flavoured wafers.
hawaiianrose tricks you! You get a broken balloon.
lady_midnite gives you 12 red cinnamon-flavoured nuggets.
san_simeon_girl gives you 2 tan cola-flavoured pieces of taffy.
whitedove1 tricks you! You lose 14 pieces of candy!
wolflady26 tricks you! You lose 14 pieces of candy!
zhyndra gives you 17 pink raspberry-flavoured pieces of taffy.
MomLady ends up with 32 pieces of candy, a broken balloon, and a broken balloon.
Go trick-or-treating! Username:
Another fun meme brought to you by rfreebern.

Gabby's back from her vacation in CA. It seems like she had a great time! My father wrote me an email during her stay. Here's what he wrote (I share this because of what he wrote and how he writes):


Gabby loves to play with boxes; big boxes. Before she left, we'd taken two boxes and taped them together so that she could play inside of them. I wanted to throw it out while she was gone, but Mike wouldn't let me. (I'd put it outside once to throw in the trash but he brought it back inside.) Last week, I grabbed a coupon from Hobby Lobby and bought her a cardboard house (which took most of the afternoon to put together). It's made to be colored which we've done to parts of it. It has 2 sets of windows and 2 doors (she uses only 1 door and 1 set of windows while she's in it). Slowly but surely, we'll have it all colored. She's taking really good care of it so far.

It looks like I'll be without a car starting the first of November. We had to get an emissions test done this year, which the car failed (and not by much either). So we took it in to have it looked at and find out how much it would cost to get it fixed. That turned out to be more than could be afforded. But, I've made arrangements with Talina for borrowing her car for any appointments that Gabby or I might have. It just means I'll have to take her to work and pick her up at the end of the day. It's a good thing that she doesn't live very far away from me or from work.

Not only that but our camera has quit working. I think we just need a new battery because I just finished charging the one we've been using and put it back into the camera only to find out the camera still didn't work. I'm bummed to say the least. I still might put some recent pictures up whenever I get the time. As it is right now, Gabby just can't keep from bothering me so that I can type this.

So, I'll just go for now. Perhaps next time will be better.

Gabby, along with Talina and James, left for California on Wednesday afternoon. Since I'm not used to Gabby being taken from here until after 5pm, it felt strange to not have her in the house. Right after they left, I walked back into the house and didn't know what to do with myself. Today is the second full day without her. Yesterday morning, around 8am, Talina called to let me know they were in Sparks, Nevada having breakfast. She said she'd call when they arrived in CA, but I've not heard anything since. I'm sure that I'll eventually get a phone call from my dad so that Gabby can talk with me. She usually likes to talk with me at least once a weekend if I haven't had her on a Friday night/Saturday morning. I know I'm going to miss my girly, but I guess it hasn't quite sunk in yet.

Since she's been gone, I've been doing some things around the house that are difficult to do when she's here. Today, I'll be cleaning the bird cage, the kitchen and my bathroom (what I didn't get finished over the last weekend).

Tomorrow is the Harvest Festival Parade in downtown Arvada. The Harvest Festival happens once a year (and has for many, many years) around this time, and of all the years I've lived here, I've never been there. Even as a child, I don't recall ever going, but this year, Mike said he'd take me to the parade. However, the weather may prevent that as we had planned to ride our bikes to see the parade. Today, the weather is cold and misty, and if I didn't know better, I'd think it was going to snow. The weather should be better for the weekend; somewhere in the 70's, but we'll see.

I've also been trying to look for a job but unfortunately, there aren't many here that I can do. If I hadn't hurt my back, it would be easy to find one, but I can't lift the weight I used to nor can I stand for any length of time which most of the jobs I've seen requires. I haven't a clue what I'm going to do. If I don't get some kind of income soon, I'm going to be up a creek without a paddle.

I've been in the process of changing clinics and doctors to one that's nearby. Instead of taking 30-45 minutes to get to my appointments, it now takes 10 minutes. And since I have a new doctor, I'll have to see her once a month for a little while until she gets to know me. After that, it will be on an "as needed" basis. Hopefully, she'll be able to help me figure out what to do with my back, whether it's changing my pain medication or helping me get SSDI.

Well, that's all for now. Everyone have a wonderful weekend, ok?