My favorite folks ! :)

09 August 2010

Grrr . . . arrr . . . wha?

(Only because my head is weird.)

Duane is off the mountain today with a SAR in Needles.  I'm concerned, of course, because it is the desert and hot and all those things.  He was excited to be able to go, however.  It is an ATV search and he just completed that training.  Technically he isn't free to go because he is suppose to do more hours with an instructor, but they cleared him to do it because the folks he is going with have so many hours themselves.  


But this meant that he had to get up at 2.30 this morning, guess who wakes him?  Yup.  Tho even if i didn't, his leaving (unless he slept on the couch) would have woken me.  I did get back to sleep about 4.30, but i've a headache because of this sleep disturbance, so i've not done much of anything today.  Mac is beside me purring like mad.  


We had N and her family to dinner last night.  Of course, she ended up doing a lot of the cooking and clean up, but we provided the food and worked along side her.  We enjoyed it very much and especially enjoyed visiting some with the kids.  Her two older children are delightful.  Her 3 year old is a handful.  But he didn't bother me and he wasn't destructive (we do have a few things on shelves that an out-of-control kid could make a mess of).  Duane made blackened salmon (fish that desperately needed to be cooked) and even tho we didn't have huge portions, i'd bought enough that we all got some.  She and i made the GF pasta (this is the best ! made by Andeanand Alfredo sauce.  She really liked the Alfredo (i do use more cheese than the recipe calls for) and i sent the left over home with her.  We also had salad and some biscuits (not GF).   

We will probably plan to do this together once or twice a month.  I enjoyed it alot, tho i was absolutely exhausted at the end of the day.  When i asked Duane he enjoyed it too.


Duane's parents are planning to come up this weekend.  I'm a bit stressed over that.  Mostly that i won't be able to keep up physically.  Also we don't really know when they will arrive.  It wouldn't be out of character for his dad to wake up at 6.30 and decide to leave then (which means they'd be at our house about 8.30).  They actually called last Friday and wanted to come up then, but we had company and Duane had weekend plans and he tried to (nicely) suggest that the planned weekend would work better for us.  I'm planning to have N come on Friday, but she may not be able to come as early as she normally does, so that could get dicey. 

It is interesting that they are doing more research with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (also called Chronic Fatigue and Immune Deficiency Syndrome & also possibly related to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis).  One of the things that is becoming clear is that CFS has physical differences that can be differentiated from "normal" or "depressed" populations.  (Because many of us who have had this for many years have been told by medical authorities that it is "all in your head" or "you're just depressed.")  Blood flow is one of the issues, tho it apparently is hard to diagnose in a PWC (person with Chronic Fatigue), because it is not the normal restriction of blood flow most commonly seen.  Also a big part of CFS is "Post-Exertional Malaise" (PEM) which is the utter exhaustion (including some cognitive problems) that comes after any sort of physical activity, and in some cases also mental activity or stress.  In the first of these two reports, they found physical differences in the muscles of folks with CFS.  Also, i just want to mention, one of the differences between CFS and depression is that folks with CFS want to do things, they just can't.  Anyway, i simply mention it here because i want to have a place where i've got these reports.  You're welcome to check it out, however.  If you know anyone with CFS, it might help you understand it better. 


Post-Exertional Malaise: Perceptioand Reality
Post-Exertional Malaise: Causand Effect

I know i've mentioned before that in August i can always feel "fall in the air."  This is our 4th August living here, tho we had come up to visit other years.  The past 4 days the low at night has been below 40F.  Last night the low was 30.  We won't have plants living too much longer.  And we won't be able to sleep with the doors open much longer.  I think i've said before, we don't have many windows.  We have 4 sliding glass doors and 2 windows (one in a bathroom, one in the guest room) that open.  Then we have 3 windows that are like skylights in the living-room which were added when the roof was replaced. Strange to have a house with almost no windows!  I hate having to close the doors at night. 


Yesterday we found a nice eiderdown duvet at a garage sale.  It had a lot of pillow shams and 2 covers with it.  One is flannel, and Duane will be very happy for a month or so this winter when we use it.  I got all of that for $25, the duvet alone would cost upward of $250 new.  We had been using a duvet from Ikea, but they size their duvets based on European sizing which is more square and not as wide as we like.  I had one duvet already the size we like, but it is very lightweight.  So i went ahead and put both (new and old) in the duvet cover and we are now at winter weight.  Duane is happy with that; it is a bit too much for me, but i hope it means we can sleep with the door open for another few weeks.  The Ikea duvet i will save for company.  Since it is king-size (but smaller than the one we just got) it will be perfect for our double/queen guest bed.  


I finished one of the baby blankets i'm working on.  I need to get pics.  The other is a very lacy, lightweight blanket & it may be a long time before i have that finished.   

I've been needing to get the CA license for massage done and have been planning on it for a while.  I meant to do it early July, but got distracted.  Just looked it up and it could take up to 90 days plus whatever time it takes to do the testing.  Arrg!  I'm going to be stressed because i don't have that much time.  I need to get on it so i can get it ASAP.


Jazz has joined Mac on the bed and they are now snuggled down into the softness of the double duvet!  




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5 comments:

Amrita said...

Hi Kathryn, your dinner with friends sounds lovely.

Hope you have a relaxed time with your in-laws. You can do some cooking in advance if you like, or maybe eat out, so that you are not strained.

Take care.

Mrs. Mac said...

Good research here Kathryn. My folks are arriving today (8/10) for two weeks. They are good house guests as they help me greatly .. and my dad always loves helping with the garden .. and he sharpens all my kitchen knives :). Hope you can get in a relaxed state of mind and enjoy your weekend with the in-laws.

Jo said...

My gosh, you have been busy. I don't know how you do it with CFS. I had that about 20 years ago, and it knocked me for a loop and took a very long time to get rid of it.

Your duvet set sounds wonderful. Great find...! :-)

lisa said...

I love having company but I love it just as much when they leave! I get up just about every Monday morning to see the hubby off for the week and most of the time it is around 2:30 that we get up because he has a 3 to 4 hour drive ahead of him to get to work. I get to go back to sleep for a couple of hours, but it isn't the same and I wake up more tired than if I would of just stayed awake! Sounds like the cats are enjoying the duvet;)

donna said...

Always love reading your posts and what is happening in your world. I had to put my blog into private mode; you should be able to access it, please let me know if that is not the case.