Monday, August 7, 2017

As It Happens...

It is not how busy you are, but why you are busy — the bee is praised, the mosquito is swatted. ~Author Unknown

I started this post two weeks ago and had to tweak the time references twice and I decided to break it up in subtitles to make it easier for...well, I wish I could say for my readers, but in honesty it was for me, because life is just speeding up and we are close to having it change course to a different pace again soon.

The Florida Estate
Two weekends ago was the estate sale for the Queen Mother's things and it was rather pitiful. My husband was there the weekend before it and went back the weekend after it. I was hoping we would get about twice of what we did, but summer estate sales do not do as well in Florida as when the snow birds are there. Plus most of the things were collectibles that do not sell well at all. We did sell the car for fair market value, which is very important as less would have caused us legal issues with Medicaid.

We also have a really motivated buyer for the house, which we are doing without a real estate agent. The woman buying it just finalize her divorce and from that day only has 30 days to move out. There are criminal charges against her husband for abuse, actually he choked her so there was intention to murder her, and was court ordered to buy out her half of the equity in their house. She is doing all the foot work for buying our house. My husband had to go to Florida this the last weekend in July to pick up all the things we were keeping for the Queen Mother in her closet as well as correct the title on the car because he signed it in the wrong spot and then drive back on Sunday so he could drive me to my periodontal surgery that Monday. The buyer, my husband calls her a force of nature, actually had the purchase agreement made out by an attorney and somehow had the house and termite inspectors there on that Saturday, which is unusual for them to work weekends.

The Force of Nature has a very good friend that lives across the street who can look after her ten-year-old son and her work is so close she can practically walk to it, when she had been driving for 45 minutes to an hour in traffic. We had several people seriously interested in the house even though we did not have a sign out, just word of mouth by people in the neighborhood, but she was the most motivated and she had experience with buying houses without a realtor, so she was willing to do the foot work understanding that it was difficult for us because we live out of state. Termite damage was found and so they will treat and repair it at our cost, but after talking with the Queen Mother, we now know that they had termites there years before and it was treated, but probably not repaired as there was no active termites found this time. Closing is at the end of August, but the Force of Nature may need to move in before that and we are working it out with her.

The Periodontal Surgery
The last week of July the upcoming periodontal surgery was looming in my thoughts, especially after getting the call one week in advance. During that call I was told the amount I would owe. Now I had been given two quotes previous to scheduling the surgery. One was surprisingly affordable and the other was more expensive by four times, and it was discussed as recommended but it was not said that it was absolutely needed...at least that is where I understood it be over a month back. However, having conferred with my orthodontist, they both agreed that it would be better if I had more gum material in the front of my lower teeth, especially since I would be going into braces.

I was not particularly happy about the price or the extra work and such things usually cause me to have anxiety, but as I felt that trying to settle into my nerves, I just said, "Jesus." My Lord reminded me that He is blessing me and that He has all this. I consciously decided that I was not going to worry about it and I would just deal with things as they come. I did not take any Valerian all week and I was not even nervous when I walked into the room for my surgery on Monday morning. I was actually looking forward to be lightly sedated and I was awake for much of it. In fact, the doctor was done nearly an hour earlier than expected. He said that everything was straightforward and clean. God has been blessing me as He promised.

I used my polarizers on both of my cheeks immediately afterward and went to sleep with them for most of the day and all the night. Believe it or not, I honestly had no pain and no swelling. Although I have used these polarizers for many things over the years, I am still surprised that they worked so well. I will say that the periodontist used a form fitting hard "bandage" over the two of surgery sites, but not on the one where the back tooth was removed, however I had no pain at all after the anesthetics wore off EXCEPT in one place where I did not have surgery! I mean, the doctor packed in bone grafting material where he removed the tooth not all that gently even though I was completely numb and I still had no pain at all at that site. The ONLY pain I have had is below the surgery site across the front, more like the top of the chin, and I think that is caused by the "bandage" digging into that sensitive area where the back side of below the lip meets the gum. It began hurting before I left the office and icing only made it feel worse. It still feels bruised a week later. I have my post-op appointment on Wednesday so I am thinking that I might have to deal with some tenderness at the surgery sites when that stuff is taken off, but I think my chin area will then heal.

Of course, I can only eat soft foods, which is getting old. I miss my salads! Not much in fresh foods are soft enough to not mess with the "bandages," and I have been having yogurt and/or cottage cheese at least twice a day to four times to take with the antibiotic and replenish the gut probiotics it kills off. I did a very happy dance as I took the last pill of that this morning!

The Competition
While I am still recuperating (mostly from the meds) this Sunday, my husband and my daughter were dropped off at the airport to start their trip to California for competing in the National Fine Arts Festival in Anaheim, California. They registered today and she is scheduled to play on Thursday at 2:20 p.m. Mountain Time, which is 5:20 my time.

My husband told me that they are expecting 20,000 in total attendance! Wow! I do not know how many of them are registered to compete and I do not know how many pianists are competing in classical piano, but I am hoping that the Princess shines her brightest and places well.

The Rain
I am so thankful for the rain we had here last night. My plants were just so very drought stressed and I am the only one that waters them...and I have not really felt like pulling the hoses all around the house this week. Granted, I am not in much pain, but the meds have taken their toll with my energy, plus I was advised not to do much physically so that it would hinder the healing process.

My Lord, whew! So much has been going on! But right now I want to concentrate on the next thing and that is that my daughter does well at this competition. Let her know in her heart that You are there with her.