Health Problems and Getting Things Done

One of the biggest frustrations in my life these days is my bouts of illnesses that seem to come frequently and throw me off course. The most recent one had an odd silver lining. Due to a 6-day medication I needed to be on to deal with my asthma exacerbation with a bad cold/cough, I had a surprising, almost manic, burst of energy. This has not happened before on this medication. Usually the side effects are all rather unpleasant, but this energy burst - well, I took advantage of it. It happened to coincide with a week off work. I sorted, purged, organized, cleaned, got caught up on correspondence, gardened like a madwoman, made delightful plans. The medication finished, wore off, and I am back to my old self (underscore the word old!), and actually felt somewhat worse until tonight.

The frustrating thing was that I saw how efficient and productive I am capable of being. But where is that woman? Why can't she come out and play under normal circumstances? It was like getting a glimpse into a wonderful new world, but now it has gone away. The trick is to find a way to have that energy with natural means. Food, exercise, supplements? I've tried all of that. I haven't found the answer yet.

Ah well, I am enjoying my clean house, my planted garden, my sorted papers, my tidy sewing area, my much reduced things-to-do list, and so forth. Actually, this boost did help me greatly in just getting a foothold in my tasks and taking away feelings of being overwhelmed and completely disorganized. So thinking about new tasks is a little easier as I start a new week.

Memorial Day

We had a very nice Memorial Day Weekend. Tyler got to really see and appreciate our small town parade.

Waiting for the Parade

Some of our Vets, proudly carrying the flag. God Bless Them!




The Marching Band

Fire Engines! Sirens!

Enjoying A Spring Rain

On Wednesday, Kristin and I spent the early afternoon planting annuals. We had just gotten the majority in when it began to drizzle. We decided to stay and finish the job, even though we got a bit wet! But then it began to rain very hard, and for some reason Tyler got it into his head that he wanted to go outside! So Julie and he went out in the backyard and spent several gleeful minutes running around and experiencing the rain.

"If all the raindrops were lemon drops and gumdrops,

Oh what a rain that would be.

Standing outside with my mouth open wide,

Ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah ah!"

My Drenched Little Pal

Working With What You Have

Previously I had posted about making the best of things regarding my outdated kitchen. Continuing with that theme, and given these difficult economic times, Paul made a small change to the sink area of our kitchen that has made a world of difference. We were actually thinking of replacing some of the cabinets in our kitchen, but due to financial changes, that became out of the question.

Yet, something was in order, especially due to a leaking kitchen faucet. (The faucet for our kitchen sink had been replaced years ago, but had sprung a leak.) We have an old metal sink cabinet from the 50's. Again, I love 50's retro look, but this, like our old bathroom tub is in poor repair and not charming. The part I disliked the most was that the sink counter area had these drainage furrows so water can drain freely. A nice concept; however, this makes trying to set anything on it a challenge. If it is not set down just right, it falls in the furrow and tips over. It was really an unusable space:


So Paul purchased an oversized cutting board from a restaurant supply company and carefully sawed the back and side edges to make it cover the left sink counter area. Now, not only do I have a nice, flat surface to place soaps, sponges, etc., I also now have a large and wonderful cutting area. Here are potatoes, chopped and ready to go into soup:


I followed that with a big batch of strawberries from Sam's Club - Yum!

Along with this, Paul also replaced the wallpaper behind this area and just over the sink, which was torn and water damaged (lucky for us we still had some of the wallpaper, enough to refresh the bad stuff). He also installed a new faucet and sprayer to fix the leakage problem, and a new sprayer came with the set (with the old one, the sprayer kept getting stuck in the spray position which drove me insane). So now I have a new little area that gives me great joy: a great cutting area, a flat counter, a new water source and sprayer, and refreshed wallpaper. It is not a kitchen remodel, yet one can still find delight in the little things by making small changes that fit the budget.

Lobgesang and Good Friday Harp

I have been very busy musically lately which is part of why I have had no entries here in the recent weeks.

Our Church Choir (St. Joseph's Church) presented a Lenten Praise concert on March 22. We sang three works: Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo by Haydn (a Mass sung in Latin), Stabat Mater by Casciolini (also in Latin, the words depict the grieving Blessed Mother Mary at the foot of the cross), and Lobgesang by Mendelssohn (words of Scripture set to music and sung in German). The last one is my personal favorite. It is incredibly difficult, especially singing in a different language on top of it, but it is so moving. Samples sung by a professional choir can be heard here.

The coolest part is based on Romans 13, which is basically the battle between light and darkness set to music, so it gets all dramatic and tense, but then resolves beatifully and the day triumphs and is approaching (listen to a sample here):

Die Nacht is vergangen
der tag aber herbeigekommen.
So laßt uns ablegen die Werke der Finsternis,
und anlegen die Waffen des Lichts;
und ergreifen die Waffen des Lichts

Translation:
The night is departing
the day is approaching.
So let us cast off the works of darkness,
and put on the armor of light;
and seize the armor of light.

I played harp for Good Friday, a duet with a cellist and then another piece in ensemble with organ, cello, and choir. I am working on not being such a basket case before I play in public. This is a long process and is getting better. This time though there were some changes, some breakthroughs. I made inevitable mistakes, but I was able to cover them, which I can usually do anyway. But this time I was not kicking myself to the curb over the mistakes. I felt I had put in a lot of work, the result was fine to the listeners, and of course, God forgives my musical mistakes! I was able to shrug off the mistakes.

Then, God blessed me with a musical breakthrough. There is a piece I have been working on, on and off for several years. It's very, very difficult for me. I was working on it here and there during my Good Friday practicing. Today, I was able to play the first part with ease. This has never happened on this piece before. This sometimes happens in music - a person is on a "plateau" for a long time and then it all finally comes together. What helped a lot was playing block chords. Instead of playing the piece as written, with its downward cascading arpeggios (a classic sound on the harp, sounds almost like water flowing), I practiced a recommended technique for harpists, which is playing the arpeggios all at once, as if it were a solid chord. It made all the difference, I am so pleased, but I believe God had a hand in this - giving me these two gifts: Being able to be calm about mistakes and being able to finally, finally get this piece (well the beginning part at least) to an almost-ready-to-perform level. Joy!

Valentine's Day Craft Tea

Here are some photos from a Valentine's Day Craft Tea I had with my tea ladies. We had a sit-down (High) tea with a craft to follow:

The tea table, festive with reds, pinks, whites, cherubs, and chocolate scones made by Lisa.

One of the tea options I served, Harney and Sons Valentine's Tea Blend (which their website describes as a romantic brew joining chocolate tea and rosebuds). Yum!

We made Valentines from a craft kit. I won't post the name of the company because I was disappointed by their service, plus the glue in the kit was all dried up. But we managed in spite of the kit's deficiencies to put together some nice Valentine's. The one pictured above is the one I made and gave to my beloved!

Bathroom Remodel, Part III

The sink is in, the towel bar awaits its ascension into place, the woodwork for around the doorframe is being thought about, and here Paul is working on the medicine chest. The only problem is that he will have to take it out and adjust it - the backboard has the tiniest warp in the wood. It is not noticeable, but it is enough that the door won't close properly when the shelves are in, because the warp pushes the shelves forward. Paul is going to do something (I have no idea what, but since he is a fine woodworker, I trust him) to press the warp out and back. Sigh. Although really, I can't complain. I have a working bathroom that is lovely. It would just be nice to have it all finished so I can put things back and have everything "just so"!

Preparing the opening for the medicine chest installation (the tongue at the corner of the mouth is a necessary tool for proper installation!)

A trial fitting. It looks so lovely, but alas it cannot stay just yet!