August? Really?

So either I have had nothing to blog about, or too much.  To be honest, I'm not sure.

All that stuff about surgeries was up in the air for a while--Tricare (military health insurance) denied my surgeries, there was an appeal, and now both surgeries are back on.  Along with the hubby's shoulder replacement. 

But in addition to all that, we've decided on another move--not til mid or late 2019, but there ya go.  Because apparently we've been here too long.  So far, four years in one place is our record.  This time, we'll stay in Arizona, and only move three hours away.  Yes, we are nomads.  Either that, or this is the only way we know how to clean house.  Move, get it ready for a listing/showings, and then you know it's clean, right? 

We're looking at the Heber-Overgaard area--pine mountains with snow!  Yeah baby!  We want to buy land and build, and I get chickens!  He gets his big dog, finally, and we'll need a little tougher vehicle than my sedate sedan, because we'll likely live on a dirt road.  It's a tiny town--maybe three thousand total--in the winter.  In the summer, it quadruples with people coming up from Phoenix (and who could blame them?) so that should be interesting. 

The "Summer People" thing is prevalent where we are now, in Prescott, but here the folks seem to be more about antique shopping and festivals in downtown Prescott, so the traffic is horrible in the summer.  In Heber, the summer people are coming up because they want quiet, nature, pines and elk sightings.  An altogether different kind of traffic. 

This photo is a listing for a one bedroom cabin--and definitely not ours--but the pine forest is what we are looking for in our piece of land.  I might have to scale down the iris garden considerably, but a little cabin in the woods?  Snow at Christmas?  I think it'll be a good trade. 

We're headed that way this weekend, to scout things out, talk to a realtor, see what we see.  Maybe we'll see some elk?  It could happen.  See y'all on the flip side. 

Life, interrupted.

The Autumn wall hanging is finished, and Cat Approved. 

"Man plans. God laughs."  Isn't that how it goes?

We still have boxes of flooring planks all over the house--I insisted we get them way early last spring because it was exactly what we wanted at a price the hubs could countenance, so why not?  But it looks like we'll work around them a while longer. 

Late last summer (yes, 2017), I started having some weird issue with my hip joint.  FINALLY this June, I went to find out what is is.  Just about the time the other hip joined the party.  Turns out to be a combination of two things, one causing the other: femoroacetabular impingement (a bony growth at the hip-end of the femur) which, working in and out of the hip socket, causes a labral tear (a gasket that keeps the femur ball in the socket).  Fast forward to now, and I'm schedule for an arthroscopic surgery on each hip to fix things.  One side will be done on Sept. 11, the other on Oct. 24th.  Each is followed by two weeks of crutches and no driving, then another month or so of physical therapy.  

Hubby will be stuck doing all my work (feeding pets, scooping poop, cleaning the house, preparing meals, etc.) in addition to his for the first couple weeks of each.  I'll do my best to get as much done up ahead as I can--lots of pre-cooked frozen dinners in our future! 

But the fun has just begun.  Phil is due for another back ablation, a two-part procedure in which a doc pokes holes along his spine on one side (and then the other, on a different day) and 'zaps' the back nerves to alleviate pain of a spine looks like a stretched-out slinky.  It works great!  He had it done last year and it lasts a good long time.  But they scheduled the two parts too far apart--first of November and last of November.  In between those, he has two weeks out of town for work.  I'll still have a day or so of crutches when he has to leave, unless we can work it out otherwise.

And last but not least, he has a shoulder replacement surgery in December!  I'm not sure about the healing on that one, but he won't be doing pushups for a while, right?

So for the next four months, one of us will be gimpy and dependent on the other.  I'm glad we have each other!  So...not much getting done on the house, for sure.  But come this spring, I'll be hiking again, and he won't be in pain all the time.  It will be worth it, once we're on the other side. 

In the meantime, here's the Autumn wall hanging again, but without Willie Mae and Tater Tot.



Hope your week is swimming along as you'd want it to!

"Ideas...

sleeted down from the multi-verse, pelting his brain in a constant barrage." 

Something Terry Pratchett used to describe a character, but sometimes I feel like that.  It's not a complaint, unless I'm in a spot where I don't have the latitude to just go make stuff to see if it'll work. 

At such times, having ideas sleeting at you is not nearly as fun.

This weekend the idea that hit me was Fidget Pillows.  I know they exist, along with lap quilts--one search on Pinterest was enough to learn that.  But you know how ideas can occur spontaneously anywhere & when, so the pillow thing was one for me.

My In-Laws came up from Phoenix (hubby's brother & wife) for the day Sunday.  She has her chair by my end of the couch, and I'd put my recently finished crazy quilt pillow in her chair, knowing she likes to have something in her lap.  One side has little charms and tactile bits of embroidery, lace, buttons, etc.  The other is smooth flannel.  During our visit, she sat with the "scratchy" side down on her lap, with her arms resting on the flannel.  But at one point, her conversation ventured into an upsetting personal subject.  I noticed the pillow right side up, the little cat charm and buttons proving an outlet for restless hands.

Today is Tuesday, which (every other week) is a day I clean for a nice lady around the corner.  I clean for another one tomorrow, much larger job.  But maybe this weekend I can come up with a Fidget Pillow Pattern and see if it works. 

I hope your week is fabulous!