Caring for Yourself

On Monday my granddaughter Crystal needed to make copies of the baby shower invitation her cousin Cassadie designed.  I got a new Epson printer and couldn’t figure how to put card stock in my printer, so we went out to have it done. It felt like we were talking a different language from the woman were were talking to.  It was so strange.  In the end, we finally got it done and had to go somewhere else for the envelopes, which also turned into a big deal because of the size of the envelope. That was accomplished.  Then Crystal and I went to a Korean restaurant for lunch. She has never had food like this, but I’d like my kids and grandkids to try different foods and cultures.  I think it makes them more interesting and open with other people.  She ended up enjoying most of what we had.  I took Crystal home and she decorated the envelopes to keep her color scheme going.  So many text messages back and forth to do all that is needed for a baby shower.  Stephanie is doing the food.  Several of us are putting money in the pot, though it isn’t as big as I think they would have liked.  So now they are shopping for decorations, what is needed for serving the food, to do the games, etc.  I hope they can keep this to two hours.  If others want to stay longer, fine.  I just think it needs a start and finish time.

Tuesday there were four of us students in Carol Bradshaw’s art class.  I had made a contour drawing of my friend Barbara’s dog.  My drawing is definitely getting better.  Since then I have sent contour drawings to Barb to get feedback on what needs to be done.  The two biggest were the ears and the back legs.  She found a picture of her dog Patti when she was fairly young.  She of course, looked much better and I felt I could do her ears as Barbara would like.  I’m still anxious about the back legs.  I’m not making her a younger dog.  My picture was done not that long before she died.  Barbara had another dog too name Tavi.  She has also since died.  Her plans are to frame the pictures and put them on her wall when they are done.  So, I think I'm done with Patti, Barbara's dog.  I'm sure there is more that can be done, but I've done this at least 6 times.  There are some areas that are off, but remember she is an older dog and not just a pug.  She was much cuter young, but none of us look like we did when we were younger.

Patti is a mixed Pug/ Miniature Bulldog

My next class is to do a long haired dog.  My friend Janet’s dog also died.  His name was Josh, or Poopy (though I don’t think this had anything to do with him having accidents).  This one was a Bichon Frise.  When I first drew him, I don’t think it was very realistic, and, I really wanted to see how to do a dog with curly white hair.  I’m learning a lot about doing hair, giving it depth and curl.  I asked Janet to find a picture she really liked of Poopy.  The pictures I have were not that long before he died and if  she has a picture she would like me to dof, I would be happy to do it.  Hopefully she finds it.

My friend Vic is coming along with his book.  I find little to suggest he do.  But some things I find might make it a little better.  We ate at a Chinese restaurant where I’ve only had dinner, The Great Castle Chinese Restaurant.  My experiences have been good.  However, at lunch, there was no comparison.  They were set plates and they didn’t have the fresh taste I’m accustomed to.  Too bad, because Vic will never go there again.  I’ll stick to the dinner menu.  In the mean time, Vic rewrote his second chapter and asked me to read it.  He is getting too anxious for me to read it.  However, he thinks it helps him to be more focused in his writing and he doesn’t want me to read something he doesn’t think is that good.  Well, that makes sense, though I actually enjoyed the second chapter I read last time.  We’ll see about this.

Janet and I met at our old haunt Mexicali’s.  She had oral surgery, but she felt she would be fine with eating.  I didn’t think I would be if I had gone through that, but she was fine. If she could eat chips and salsa, she is doing pretty good. 

Barbara and I went to Chef’s Choice Noodle Bar and saw A Walk in the Woods about Bill Bryson, who has written wonderful travel books of his unique traveling trips. I've read several of his books.  The actors are Robert Redford, Emma Thompson and Nick Nolte.  Two older guys hike the Appalachian Trail, 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine.  This was a wonderful movie, maybe for us older people.  It was a feel good movie.

My daughter Shelley and I went to lunch and wine tasting with my friend Janet to Concerees Deli at Rio Bravo Ranch not far from the canyon as you go up the mountain off of highway 178.  What a wonderful experience!  Food so pleasant, but they also had wine tasting and olive oil tasting.  And, while we were there, My friend Charmaine came by.  Charmaine is a real estate agent and I think Shelley would be fantastic.  She is people oriented and a hard worker.  I think she would be fabulous and Charmaine shared some about what she did to get into this.  Shelley likes what she does, but she has hard time when people don't get treated well, which has become an issue in health care.  She has no control over this.  l highly recommend the Deli at Rio Bravo Ranch and Cheryl was the one who helped us in picking what we wanted.  Shelley and I are going to a family wedding and I wanted to pick a very good olive oil for the salad dressing for that salad we will make.  So here are Shelley, Janet and I and then later Charmaine came and I got a picture of Shelley and Charmaine.  They have a variety of olive oils and two wines.  I ended up getting a couple of wines,  Two olive oils, a balsamic vinegar and a small book about olive oil.  It was a wonderful experience and I know we will go back.

Shelley, Me and Janet

Charmaine Rowe, best real estate agent in the area and my daughter Shelley

Charmaine shared a little about her experience in becoming a real estate agent and what it entails.  Shelley is very people oriented and cares about what she does.  So hopefully this will be the nudge to get Shelley looking at this.

Well, I have issues happening at home.  I have a broken pipe where the water comes to my yard.  My block wall is showing the water coming through.  Thank goodness I got the insurance to cover this.  They say they will also have to replace the galvanized pipes which are rotting that go to my house.  It will be done Wednesday which will be a full days work. 

In addition to this, I found that my washing machine drum will not turn, so everything was filled with water. Ugh!  It is amazing how much can happen that we have to deal with when they belong to us!

Okay, I have gotten really emotional today.  Coming home, I couldn't stop crying.  I so want my daughter Shelley to be okay.  She cares for everyone else, but she doesn't get much of this in return.  I have been kind of a basket case.  Perhaps, I had too much wine.  So I'm stopping here.  I'll see you next week.          Rachel