Wellll….

It’s been quite a while since I wrote a post, so I figured I’d catch you up.

I’ve been dealing with health issues, money issues, insurance issues, and life.

It’s all really just life.

I started attending ACoA back in July 2021, I guess. The meeting folded, then was started back up. Meanwhile, I found a couple of meetings online and was afraid to attend. I can’t explain that, but I was. I read something called the “through line syllabus” and followed along without attending through maybe two 22-week cycles, and finally began attending in this cycle. So, that’s a little over a year. I can’t tell you how much I’m getting out of it!! It’s really impressive how much trauma healing can happen in this program.

I began addressing my health issues back in November 2021, when I started with physical therapy because every time I got active I hurt myself. The amazing PT, Jackie White, built up my muscle, worked on my balance, and graduated me after 6 months. I went to the gym 4-5 days a week after that and was doing really well. I lost 25 pounds, after gaining almost 18 pounds in muscle. I was feeling pretty good.

Not so fast… My doctor decided that my ankles were swelling too much (it was really loose skin and she wasn’t used to seeing it) so she changed my hypertension meds. That messed everything up. My heart rate went into the gutter, then to compensate, she put me on something that made it too responsive. After 2 or 3 months of reeling from pillar to post on that, I was put on a regimen that almost works as well as what I’d been on to begin with, but the water pill is pretty strong. So, I insisted on a cardiologist.

Took 3 months to get my first appointment. After seeing him, it took another 6 weeks to get the tests scheduled. I will be done with those at the end of October.

In the meantime, I saw a therapist to help with the Adult Child stuff, and she couldn’t get her act together. I just received a notice that I had an appointment on Tuesday, after the Labor Day holiday, but the message came in at 3am on Sunday morning. Too late to cancel, and of course, they charge you if you cancel too late. Not having it! Besides that practice being disprespectful, they also signed me up for unending co-pays with no relief. I called and canceled the first appointment anyway, and told them I thought the practice was disrespectful. I’ll discuss the situation on Tuesday with the office and then go forward with making a decision on whether to continue there or not.

On another front, I seem to have been targeted in a data breach for two of my credit cards. I began receiving suspicious emails and SMS messages referencing my cards by the last 4 digits, a certain online retailer, and a certain amount. The amount was always the same, as was the retailer. Another interesting tidbit about this was that the cards were both “locked” at the time, and the messages mentioned that, too. I contacted the retailer to ask if there was a problem. Then, I had the card issuer de-activate the cards and replace them with new ones that have new numbers, so my credit isn’t affected, but it was very strange. The emails came from a Gmail account, but the SMS messages came from a 5-digit source. I didn’t keep the messages, though I probably should have.

So, what else….

I’m still looking for another place to live. I’ve outgrown this place, and I’m madly de-cluttering so that I can pack to move. It’s quite an undertaking.

I brought my plants back to life and added to my collection. It felt good to see them grow. After my last cat ate one of my trees down to the root, I kind of gave up on them. I’ve had Casper for over a year since, and I finally re-potted that root to see what would happen. It grew! It’s almost a foot tall, now. Everything else came back, too. Mostly succulents, so they can last a while without water, but that tree was a nice surprise.

I now have five looms for weaving, and I’ve done projects on each of them. I like the tapestry loom and the Inkle loom best so far, but my little tabletop loom is buried still, so I haven’t been able to refurbish it the way I want to. I think I’ll like that one a lot. It makes a nice, tight weave at 20 EPI (ends per inch) which will make a nice fabric. The inkle loom is really dependent on the right tension, which I’m still learning to get even across the warp threads. If it isn’t even, the whole piece can be compromised. That will take more practice. Still, for plain “tabby” weave, it’s pretty fast.

The insurance SNAFU was because of the COLA at the beginning of the year. Tennessee didn’t act on it till the end of the fiscal year in July, so that’s what that was about. I wish the feds would adjust the poverty level when they hand out a COLA so seniors didn’t get penalized. We are always playing catch-up and paying penalties for ineptitude in the government. If we get as large of a COLA as they are talking about next year, a lot of folks will be hurting real bad.

I’m still crocheting like mad. I made a bunch of soap sacks this year instead of hats and scarves. They are quick and easy to make and keep all those pesky little slivers of soap in one place so you can use it up. I use 3 myself, for my three different kinds of soap. Right now I’m working on another shawl, and my next project will be to use up some acrylic yarn in yellow and green. Maybe a layette set or something.

Guess that’s a decent catch-up for now.