Saturday, May 23, 2026

Saturday, May 23, 2026

Tonight's picture was taken in May of 2008. It is hard to believe that two months later Mattie was diagnosed with cancer. We absolutely loved going to Calvert Cliffs Park in Maryland. It is a truly unique experience, because you have to walk about a mile or so into the woods, but at the end of the trail, it leads to a beach on the Chesapeake Bay. Not just an ordinary beach either, because if you are patient and do some digging, you will find fossilized shark teeth! I can't tell you how many Mattie collected over the years! We always brought with us shovels, pails, and Ziploc bags to collect the teeth! It was an adventure that I will never forget. 

Quote of the day: FEAR has two meanings: Forget Everything And Run. Face Everything And Rise. ~ Zig Ziglar

When I say that I am very tired, it truly doesn't highlight the extent of my physical and emotion distress. In fact, I do not think there is a word in the English language that truly captures my exhaustion and depleted state. This morning, I dragged myself out of bed, because if I do not get it together, nothing in my house operates. 

After my full morning routine, I literally went back upstairs and I got in bed and rested my eyes for 15 minutes. That was as much rest as I could handle based on my level of anxiety and stress. It is very hard for me to rest, to relax, and to sit still. If I attempt to do this I can feel a complete uneasiness and tension rising in my entire body, that jolts me to move. 

From trying to rest, I popped up and continued chores, such as endless laundry. But then I decided.... I have to start exercising. I have about a month now to get my cholesterol under control, as my doctor is testing me in the beginning of July. He feels that my heightened and long term stress are contributing to these levels and therefore wants me to exercise. Sounds lovely, but he has no idea what my days look like. That said, I grabbed my sneakers today and headed to the basement. Of course Indie was in tow!

The basement has so many memories for me. The first memory is the flood in September of 2021. We had just moved into the house, and we had a rain storm. At 2am, water was flowing in from the door and rising. There was two inches of water and we worked for hours to get the water out as quickly as it was coming in. Thankfully at that time we hadn't moved anything into the basement. The previous owner had a basement door that had big cracks in it, and naturally it was the perfect entry for water! 

The second memory was when my parents moved into our house in December of 2021. Literally our basement was filled with boxes. This took months to dig out of this nightmare. 

I had such high hopes for the basement! But when I got separated those hopes, like so many others, went right out the window. As you can see the original plan was to make a media area, so we could enjoy movies together. 

Now the one who primarily loves the basement is Indie. You can see her liter boxes on the rug. That was the rug she was going on for months. Now with two boxes on the rug, she hasn't had an accident since. Yay Indie!

But here's the funny thing..... I did not know how to operate this TV! The last time my Verizon angel was over, we went down to the basement with me. We sat together, and we figured out how to get the TV on, how to access the cable, and adjust the sound. That may sound easy, but it was not, specifically because there is no cable box downstairs, so you have to get on remotely, yet I could never locate the Verizon app on the TV. It is thanks to the Verizon angel, that I was able to figure out how to turn on the TV today and of course tuned into my favorite station.... Hallmark. While watching a movie, I walked on the treadmill for twenty minutes and did 4 minutes on the elliptical. The doctor has told me to start slowly, and I have listened to his advice. It is my hope that I can continue to be motivated to go downstairs and take care of my own health.