No, I Have Not Fallen Off the Face of the Earth

   No, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  We have had a lot going on here and to be perfectly honest, it has been taking a toll on me physically and mentally.  I find myself in bed almost daily, having to escape from the world, if even for an hour or two, due to physical pain and sensory overload issues.  I need to withdraw from the world to try and calm my body and mind.  That being said, I have also found myself in tears due to the pain from Fibromyalgia on several occasions and I am one to not cry from physical pain often.  I'm not sharing this to gain sympathy, rather to just document it so that I can look back and trace when I have good and bad times with this and if I can find a pattern.

   Jeff and I continue to wait and see if and when he can have his surgery to repair his knee.  His surgeon is on vacation this week and was so busy last week that he did not get a chance to call the insurance company and advocate for Jeff.  Hopefull this coming week, once he is back in the office, he can do so.

   We did go out to dinner as a special treat.  Jeff, after having a really bad week, wanted to take me out for an early Valentine's dinner and I resisted at first but then realized that he really needed to do something nice and fun.  We went to our favorite Mexican place, had a lovely dinner and yes, we did stop at the thrift store (I know, I need to stay out of those places) and found some movies for .99 each and series on dvd were only $1.99 each.  We got some fun ones to add to our collection and I used some of my cash to pay for them.

   Jeff and I have been trying to purge things in our closets and other areas of the house.  Rachel, Jaysn and Steven came out and got Jaysn's bed from his room so that Steven can have a big boy bed now that he is getting too big for his toddler bed.  Rachel donated the toddler bed to a organization that provides beds for families in need, which I think is an absolutly wonderful thing to do!  Jeff and I also ran a huge bag of old blankets to the Humane Society for them to use and thanked them for the gift of our belated cat Doofy who brought such joy into our lives.  It was our way of giving back to such a great organization that is a no kill shelter.  We also took in a box of purses and coats to the consignment store.  They took most of the coats and purses.  The girl working there fell in love with one of my vintage wool coats that fit her perfectly, so I gifted it to here.  She kept saying she could not accept it and I told her that I was giving it to her, one friend to another, because I knew that she would love it and get lots of use out of it.  The smile and her face and light in her eyes just made my day!

   On a sadder note, some dear friends are going through one of the roughest times in their lives right now and at the moment, the outcome is not looking good.  It has caused me to do some deep soul searching myself since it has brought up some issues from my past also that were life altering and that still cause me great emotional pain to this day.  My heart just aches for everyone involved and I pray that the truth will come out, good or bad, and that there can be healing and forgiveness.  At this point, all I can do is pray, be there as a listening and supportive friend and to be there to help pick up the pieces of shattered lives if things go the way that they are looking now.

   One of the hospitals in Spokane, WA has been designated at one of the top 10 hospitals in the nation to treat highly infectious diseases with those zero pressure isolation rooms.  We had 4 patients who are ill with the Covid-19 virus who were on the Princess cruise ship up there now.  They arrived today to be treated.  I really pray that they will all make a full recovery.  The hospital is well equipped and trained to deal with this, but there were some idiots at the airport who were not wearing any type of protective gear, even though the transport team was wearing full protective gear.  They were in close contact with the ill patients and I really do hope that they all go into a quarentine themselves after that stupid stunt and don't catch it and pass it on to others.  The news stations have film of it and were broadcasting it.  Way to spread fear and panic in this area when there are already people freaking out about even having the patients in the secured and locked unit at the hospital.  Honestly, I was not fearful of those patients coming for treatment but I sure am of the idiots who knowingly did something so stupid.  Time to top off the toilet paper supply since there is a good chance it is going to spread throughout Spokane and beyond now due to the stupidity of others.  Jeff's company, that he works for, does a  lot of business with companies in Spokane so there is a chance of one of the drivers getting infected from someone up there and then it spreading down here too.  People from our town, including some of my neighbors, work in Spokane.  One of them works at the hospital right next door to the hospital where the isolation rooms are and if this thing takes hold in the community, I fear she may be infected if someone comes in not knowing that they have the virus.  Several of my hanai kids also work in other hospitals up there.  This could potentially become a huge mess since it has been proven to spread fairly quickly.  UGH!

   Okay, I am going to end this on a positive note though...Bradley and Isaiah are coming to spend the night tomorrow and I am very happy about that!  We have been promising a sleepover for awhile now and it is finally happening now that the everyone is feeling better.  I would love to be able to have Steven out here too with them, but that is just too much running and yelling for this Grammie at this point in my life.  Hopefully I can get into a normal sleep pattern and out of my "dracula"(sleep in the daylight hours) mode at some point so I can have him come stay too.  We did have a fun time with Steven when he was here yesterday getting his new bed though!  Apparently G-pa is his favorite, that is until Grammie gets him chips or cheese. ;)

   Be blessed all!