I didn’t even think about writing last week. But still, things happened and the world kept spinning. I’m into the second week and if I can remember what all went on last week I’ll write about it here!
I kept the nursery this past Sunday with my friend Joy. The children are just precious. In the picture below a few of them are listening to Joy read them a story.
One thing I can’t forget from last week was the colossal fail of the seafood gumbo I made. I never make Gumbo in the evening but did this time. It was really good too! It was still hot when I went to bed so I decided to leave it out for an hour and then put it in the refrigerator. I went to sleep without thinking of the gumbo again.
It smelled fine in the morning so I froze most of it leaving a bowl for my dinner that evening. It was rotten.
I would never have thought that would happen but all that time and money for nothing. I defrosted a container a couple of days later hoping beyond hope it was really okay but it wasn’t. So sad. This picture is before it went bad!
Thanksgiving dinner for our family was on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. We had an unusual menu of sloppy joes and potato salad. We all had a good visit and enjoyed the day. My big idea for the kids dessert was these apple turkeys with gum drops for feathers. Like most ideas that look great when someone else makes it the poor things were nothing like it was intended. Here’s how it was supposed to look.
I’ve been making Christmas ornaments from clear plastic bulbs from Dollar Tree. I’m not wild about how they came out so that will be an ongoing learning experience! Last year I made a lot of ornaments from seashells and computer disks and really like those.
Chip came over this week to put up my tree and the new lighted nativity scene in the front yard. It looks beautiful at night!
I decorated my Christmas tree with Buddy’s supervision and Christmas music blasting. Mostly hand-made decorations and kindly donated ones. Doing that by myself this year hurts my heart. All the other house Christmas decorations were picked out by both Roy and me during our travels. Each has its own memory. Last year all this didn’t bother me, perhaps I was still in shock then. This year it sucks but life goes on and eventually, hopefully, life without Roy won’t hurt so much.
Buddy joined the Chauvin family one year ago this month. His present was some new play outfits and he’s modeling one in the picture.
Only two doctor visits in these two weeks!
Six month visit with my neurologist brain doctor Dr. Zapata. Very interesting appointment this time. I shared all about the spiraling downward my brain did a couple of weeks ago and how I feel I’ve landed in my new place. He asks so many questions and it causes me to think about a lot. The takeaway from this visit was I will have an MRI next week so he can see if any additional TIAs occurred when my optical nerve had its stroke. He said I’m fine to keep driving, just never at night and not long distances. I’m also fine to continue living alone but he oddly recommended that I get a cooking timer to set while cooking so I don’t forget something is on the stove. And to walk carefully around the house so I don’t fall. I do not have to go back to him for one year which is wonderful.
A return visit to my retina specialist, Dr. Naguchi four weeks after the appointment where she identified that my optic nerve had a stroke. At this appointment, she did the same tests which included an eye angiogram. If you’ve never had one of those here’s what it is like. After they dilate your eyes you wait a long long time. Then they take pictures of the back of your eyes followed by injecting some dye in your vein and then more pictures of the back of your eyes to see more. When you leave that room everything is red and stays that way for several minutes. Really a weird feeling.
I then met with Dr. Naguchi. She’s very thorough and shows me all the images she’s looking at and explains them really well comparing them to previous ones I’ve had. She’s a little puzzled by this and wants to follow me closely to make sure it doesn’t get worse. She ordered some bloodwork to rule out some weird disease so we’ll see how that goes! She told me the name of it but I don’t remember. She’s very happy that my neurologist is doing an MRI because she was going to order one. Dr. Zapata said he will send Dr. Naguchi the report when it’s done.
You have probably noticed I haven’t talked about the Saints. Well losing isn’t something to talk about. Three losses in a row turned into four this week so there’s nothing good to share about them!
My friend Cindy V. came to visit this week. She brought me a gift of a roll of wrapping paper, a roll of scotch tape, and the cute paper attached to them that you can read in the photo below. She is just so creative!
I wrapped Christmas presents and just have a couple more to purchase!
I’m waiting to hear back from Social Security about the money they want to withhold. I guess it just being a week since I brought the packet to their office means there won’t be any news for a while. The office is closed to the public which to me is crazy. Every business, restaurant, grocery, etc. in the city is open but not that government office. I don’t feel that is right.
Something happened today, Saturday, that kinda surprised me. While looking for something else I found an old phone of mine. I charged it and when I looked through it I found all of Roy and my text message conversations from 2016 to 2018. The fun we had communicating and just loving each other hit me hard in my heart. Roy was not a man to say I love you verbally but in our texts he said it a lot. Our whole life together was fun and it showed quite brightly in our text conversations. I cried and cried while smiling and laughing as I read through them. I will never get rid of that phone now that I’ve found what is on it. The memories of our life together have begun to fade over time but having those messages on my phone to read brought it all back to me quickly. This grief is definitely not something that you get past or over. It jumps all over you when you expect it.
Well that wasn’t I would have chosen to end this post but that’s how it is! Ya’ll have a great Sunday!
BECAUSE HE LIVES 