With all the focus on my blog about healthcare following my CNN.com article, I haven’t had a chance to update what ELSE is going on in my life lately. So here’s a bullet-point rundown.
- Love’s Dad was in the hospital again.
- Mom’s going on vacation to New Jersey for two weeks.
- Love and I hit a local county park to watch some fireworks for the 4th.
- Crazy weather; lots of heat and severe thunderstorms.
- Jewelry, updates, and generally plugging away at the shop.
- 9 Months Post-Op
Last Monday, July 2nd, he went to the ER late afternoon with severe pain in his lower, left abdomen. After many hours, turns out it was Diverticulitis which is when you get pouches in your intestines (typically your colon.) When it gets bad enough, you need surgery to remove them. Thankfully, he didn’t need surgery, but he was in the hospital until Saturday, July 7th. Now he has to make a bunch of drastic dietary changes to keep it from getting worse.
Poor Love’s Dad has now missed the past two Fourths of July because last year, he was in a coma from his ruptured gallbladder, going septic and eventual heart surgery. I told him next year he just needs to go away to Canada or something and ignore the holiday since it’s clearly not a good holiday for him.
On the nicer side, Mom leaves for a vacation to visit with her sister up in New Jersey for two weeks tomorrow. My sister’s husband Mom’s brother had a round-trip voucher for Southwest that he gave to my Mom, so she’s taking advantage of it and getting away for a bit. She wants to get into NYC while there too since she grew up in Queens and loves New York.
I’m thrilled she’s getting away for awhile since she can really use the vacation and totally deserves it too.
A nearby city was doing fireworks but we didn’t want to go and see them directly since it gets so congested. I had an idea to catch them from an area across the water from the launch area. Worked out great. Small crowd of people – maybe about 100 total? – and everyone just came, put down blankets, watched the fireworks and left. Simple. Plus, since we were on the water, a lot of other people were launching their own fireworks all around us, so we got to see those as well. It was really laid back but enjoyable. Definitely the way to do it if you’re not going to a big, major show directly.
It’s been crazy hot here, but of course, it’s been crazy hot in most of the country. What everyone else has been dealing with though is the kind of weather we get for about 6 months of the year without break. It’s why when I complain about the heat and humidity, I mean it! Maybe the rest of the country will be more sympathetic to how miserable it is here in the summer now.
We’ve also had some crazy thunderstorms both last week and the past couple days. We had major flooding and roads being closed from the first round. Yesterday, the lightning was intense and terrifying. (This is the “Lightning Alley” here and we have more lightening deaths than anywhere in the world which is why storms of that intensity are truly terrifying!) Today, another massive storm came in as well. Poor Love’s been having some scary drives home the past two days, especially since he has to cross a bridge to get home from work!
I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the shop lately, making new items and also remaking sold items. I premiered several new limited edition Full Moon trees to good response. I have some more supplies en route as well to create some additional versions so I can’t wait for them to arrive! Getting beading supplies is like Christmas for me. LOL I’ve been trying to take a portion of sales and reinvest it back into the business to continue to be able to grow and offer more pieces with greater variety.
It’s still not where I would like it to be in terms of consistent, reliable sales figures but it’s still steady and growing. It’s a tough time of year for sales across the board too but I’m committed to continuing to make something special out of it. I enjoy it greatly and my customers enjoy their jewelry so much that it makes it very rewarding.
July 5th marked nine months post op. Getting ever closer to the year, which is what I’m eager to arrive. Feeling good almost all of the time, though every now and then, I still get a little bit of aches and small pains. Few ibuprofen now and then but so much better than before.
Down to $300 left on my balance to my gyno so hopefully, by the end of the year, I can get that paid off. I’ve been making $50/month payments for awhile now and this month’s payment will bring it down to $250. It will be so nice when that’s done. It’s the one I want to get paid off the most. I’m also still chipping away at the rest. Slowly – VERY slowly – but still trying. Almost paid off my lab bills and close to paying off my Care Credit card too. Getting some of this paid off will not only feel good, but help free up money to put towards other bills. The less total number I’m paying off, the easier to pay them all off, you know?
And that’s about it. But at least that gives a little more of what’s been going on besides the healthcare debate and some cute, filler pics of my cats. 😉