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DianaK

Year 5 Appreciations…Sept/Oct 2016 😄

Here are a few of the things that have made my life beautiful during the past few weeks…

Gorgeous weather, wind, sunlight filtered through leaves, rain on the roof at night, thunder, the colors and smell of fall leaves, and sycamore trees.

Snuggle time and play time with Ida.

luna-faceplant-10-13-16Luna’s face-plant nap.

The excellent effects of using my light box in the morning.

Walks with Jeff & Tom, Sarah and Ida, Katie and Cina.

Yummy dinners with Debb, the Duncans, the Delaneys, the girls.

bullet-journal-oct-2016My evolving, fun, and oh-so-helpful bullet journal!

The return of my internet after a day without it!

Enlightening and helpful therapy, conversations with friends, dreams.

Apple picking with the Duncans, Katie, and Cina – complete with comfortable temperatures and apples as big as Ida’s head!😉 We picked 16 lbs of apples!

dennis-waterfall-painting-oct-9-2016Reconnecting with cousins at Dennis’ memorial. The chance to celebrate and remember this wonderful, sweet, funny, talented man.

Getting projects like the side steps, backyard path, and raspberry pruning done (with help from my brothers, my dad, and Mckenzie).

Getting some big work projects done.

Ingrid Michaelson concert with the girls!  So. Much. Fun!

rainbow-socksConnecting with Terri & Ellis, Sara & Rochelle, Sarah & Ida at our Friday race meeting. What a wonderful connection we made discussing our thoughts, feelings, and ideas about this complicated issue. ❤️

RAINBOW SOCKS!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.353-365

353. The hilarious Star Trek DS9 model kit David got for me. I love it! 😀 Fresh corn on the cob for dinner with the kids last night. ❤️ Legos.

bunbun walk354. Learning to nap. 😉 Lack of sleep has made things pretty challenging the past few months, so I am actively teaching myself to nap. So far, I’ve done 2 10-minute naps. It’s a start! 😛 Bunbun walk.

355. Another really helpful session with Lynne. I so appreciate her help during this crazy time in my life.

356. Wonderful afternoon and evening with Ruby! It’s always such a treat when we get a long day together. ❤️ Bedtime snuggles with Ruby. There is nothing like cuddling with a 6-year old who loves you!

357. Fun trip to Glam Doll with Katie, Cina, and Mckenzie. Fun way to start the day. 🙂 Nice neighborhood walk. Yummy dinner with the Delaneys.

358. Driving Terri & Ruby to airport today. It was so nice to see them… and to feel useful for a change! Much progress on project Duncan-Move-In. Lots of clutter upstairs, but the new space is looking better and better. 😉

359. Walk up to farmer’s market this morning. I love farmer’s market days. Finally putting paint on walls. So much prep before we actually get to start painting! Katie and Cina for knocking out the first coat on the entire basement in under 3 hours! Amazing!

farmers market haul.jpg

360. Last night’s beautiful moon lighting up my nighttime walk. 😀


361. The thrill of the hunt… for anything in my house these days! Moving all that stuff upstairs has turned my space into a giant find-the-hidden-objects game. 😉

362. Basement is looking better and better… getting closer to finishing all the tasks!

363. Amazing lightning show during late evening walk with Mckenzie. Gorgeous!


364. Phew! Got all the painting, cleaning, and moving of furniture done…just in time! Delicious brunch with the kids to reward our hard work. ❤️ I so appreciate all time and energy Katie, Cina, and Mckenzie put in to help me get this project done!


365. Move-in day! How exciting to see the newly fixed-up basement filling up with its new household! 🙂

DianaK

Appreciations 4.297-4.305

The past few weeks have been a bit of a challenge for me. Anxiety and depression (both very common after a vfib / ICD shock experience like I had in March) have made it difficult to function. I am incredibly grateful to the understanding people in my life, beautiful friends, excellent therapist and docs, and the other lovely folks I encounter when I get out of the house. 🙂

After yesterday’s visit with the advanced heart failure specialist, I am feeling a bit more hopeful, a bit less anxious, and hope to return to my optimistic, appreciative, joyful self soon. For now, one day at a time. Today is a better day — so I can finally post the appreciations I’ve at least managed to jot down during the past week or so. 😀

toby helping with tools4.297. Toby’s help with our tool sorting project.  Getting all the lumber on site for the step replacement project. Dishwasher, washing machine, and dryer!

4.298.  Rain. Thunder. My wonderful and trusted therapist, Lynn.

4.299.  Mini visit with Katie. Our fun cat water fountain. Ricola cough drops.

4.300.  Coffee with Katie – and the straw wrapper heart she made for me. Sunshine.  Cina telling me I’m rad and MVP. ❤ Time with Terri, Ellis, and Ruby. Ruby’s drawings and the flower she gave me (which is, apparently, edible and “tastes like salad!”).

4.301. Time with the kids. Painting side door. Yummy coffee.

4.302. Fun BLT father’s day party at Jeff & Laura’s. The sweet smell of sycamore trees. Puppy cuddles.

Toby lounging4.303. Weird Toby lounging on the chair. Visit with Duncan girls, my folks, and with Jeff & Laura all in one day. ❤ Bedtime rain.

Chicago mug4.304. Chicago mug. Time with Katie and Mckenzie. Encouraging doctor appointment (and Katie’s company during it!). Driving on the freeways again. Sweet texts from the awesome kids in my life. Strawberry moon on solstice.

4.305. Hope. Sunshine. Laughter.

DianaK

Appreciations 4.293-4.295

293

  • Decent sleep and no nightmares.
  • Morning coffee with Debb… just like the old days. 😀
  • Silver linings — like getting an additional 2500 steps in while looking for what we needed (including someone to help us find what we needed) at Menards.

294

  • Yummy dinner and reminiscing with Debb. Oh, what a fun visit!
  • Good hand lotion.
  • Raspberries.

295

  • Side steps demolition complete! Hot, sweaty work (done mostly by Mckenzie!), but satisfying, too. Lots of work for my right tricep! 😉
  • Levers of all kinds, especially pry bars, hammer heads, and arms!
  • WD40.
  • Ice water.
  • Air conditioning!
  • Cool showers.
DianaK

Appreciations 4.282 – surreal night, sunny day

All the many, many nights when I get to sleep before 6:30 am (and therefore get more than 2 1/2 hours of sleep)! What a surreal, strange night. It was nice to get some cleaning done during the middle of the night… and wake up having already logged more than 2,000 steps for the day. Hahaha!

Are You Sure?Today’s mindfulness reminder sign. It will be fun to play with this question and see how that affects things.

Lovely visit this morning with Sarah and Ida. Our first walk up to the farmer’s market for the season, and then chatting with neighbors and introducing them to the Duncan girls on our way home.

Another nice visit with my folks and Jeni and Jeff. We (and by we, I mean my dad and Jeff. I am too short for this project.) fixed my outside light and the guys also talked logistics of repairing (and by repairing, I mean rebuilding) my side steps. I’ll help with the labor, but I’ll leave the planning up to the engineering experts. 🙂

Okay, this one was from last year’s appreciations for today, but I am super appreciating it again! How fun in the first place, and how fun to remember it today: The guy directing traffic in the liquor store parking lot who was dressed up in pantaloons and a plumed hat, and did awesome fancy-dancy moves to direct the cars. ❤

DianaK

Appreciations 4.278-4.279

278. Progress on the “reclaim the path” project — today we finished weeding and adding pea gravel & sand between the paving stones!

Chamomile Calm Tazo Tea.

Red apricots.

279. Coffee and lunch with Cina and Kat (today’s therapy transportation). They’re so much fun to spend time with! ❤

Really helpful session with my therapist today. I keep thinking / hoping for a linear healing process… but the truth is that my PTSD journey really isn’t working out like that. So…I’m still learning to be okay with how things are, learning to be more gentle when I can’t do what I’d planned to do (like errands and a bunch of work), learning to take one day at a time. Well, in theory I’m learning these things, anyway… 😉

hedgehog headwearHedgehog headwear. 😛

Wonderful dinner and walk with the Kat and Mckenzie. We saw so many bunnies and an owl, too!

Sweet support from the kids, who kept me company while I managed more of my anxiety by getting my hospital “go bag” ready, and writing down the different scenarios so we all know when to call 911 vs. drive to the ER vs. wait and call the heart clinic during business hours. It helps me to have these things figured out — but the process of recording them triggers so much anxiety that it’s been impossible for me to do them on my own. I sure am lucky to have such understanding, supportive people around me!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.271 – roller coaster

rollercoaster-&-heartLearning to ride this roller coaster of healing — and having so much support along the way. ❤ During the past few weeks I’ve started thinking I “should” be working more and getting more stuff done now since I’m not having dizzy spells so often and I feel okay. So, then on days when I can’t seem to do much of anything or want to sleep all day, I’ve been feeling like I’m just not trying hard enough. Ouch. Fortunately, I have some intuitive, gentle, and helpful people around me to remind me that being shocked and having your heart stop are not really like having a cold… and maybe, just maybe the effects and healing will have a slightly different schedule. Thanks for the reminder, sweet people. 🙂

Trip to Menards with my dad and Mckenzie. Got some hardware that we needed to replace around the house and looked at materials for the patio project we’re contemplating. Every time I go to one of the home improvement stores, I feel so happy. So many possibilities!

More astonishingly gorgeous weather. I love every minute of it.

Tackling another project with Mckenzie. This time he cut down or pulled up the forest of volunteer trees on the north side of the house, while I bundled or bagged them. 1 more huge bag and 2 more bundles of branches ready to go. I like making progress on the yard!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.270 – backyard bliss

Miss Luna Purrsalot. So cuddly today! Every time I sat down, she jumped into my lap to say hello and purr and purr and purr. What a sweet little kitty!

Another exquisite day. I enjoy this weather so much!

Working with Mckenzie to complete our bundle-all-the-branches-from-the-past-6-years project. So much work, but so satisfying! 8 bundles of sticks and branches and 3 big bags of weeds and roots (mostly that one darn vine!!). SO happy to have that massive pile of branches gone. Next we’ll put actual plants into that spot! Maybe this will be the year we actually create a backyard we want to spend time in!

DianaK

Appreciations 4.208

The fun of running errands in pouring rain last night. Our first really rainy day of the season. How lovely to be out in it for a bit!

Finally getting some work done on the kitchen backsplash project. Hooray! It’s been in its unfinished state for sooooo long. What a relief to finally be getting it spruced up!

Remembering more sweet details of my visit with Sarah last weekend: truly gorgeous wind chimes – beautifully deep and sonorous, but somehow soft and vibrant, too; the sweet golden retriever puppy trotting up to the fence to say hello, tail awag and nuzzling our hands for petting; Ida, happily sitting on the sidewalk, taking things out of my purse one by one and handing them to me or Sarah. 💗

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DianaK

Appreciations 4.154 – choose

ChooseChoosing to color! 😀

Productive work day – two more taskies done that I’d been putting off!

Big projects done around the house, too. Got all the books moved up from the basement and organized up here! Only I don’t know what happened to my complete works of Shakespeare. Did I really give it away during the last round of eliminations?!? Fascinating. Also finally got the guest bedroom set up.

The best part of the day, of course, was dinner and a fun visit with Debb! How nice (for me!) that she sometimes has to come up to the city to work. 😉