Gwennaford's Journal

[Bethann]

How difficult that must have been, CQ!
....and such a shock!
Unimaginable!
With my brother, he fell asleep at the wheel (which was difficult enough).

Life can be so difficult!
How is the family doing now? .... and how are you? Was this a long time ago?

Love and prayers, 
Bethann  

[CodingQueen]

Bethann,

It happened twenty years ago. My step brother would have been 50 this year. He was only 30 at the time and my niece and nephew were 6 and 8.

It pretty much destroyed our family. In fact, my father had to take my step mother's pistol away from her because he was afraid that she'd show up at the court house and unload it on the kid. My father has since died and my step mother has never been the same. Unfortunately, she still has three other children that need her (she had a total of four children from a previous marriage).

The only good thing that really came out of it was another one of my step brothers is an alcoholic and it pretty much shook him up enough to get help. Prior to that he'd already totaled eight cars almost killed himself twice. I think it made him realize how lucky he'd been by not involving anyone else in his accidents.

And, yes, you're right. Life can be difficult. I just keep telling myself that God will not put more on my plate than I can deal with at one time.

CQ

[Bethann]

Dear CQ,
I believe that is true! [quote]that God will not put more on my plate than I can deal with at one time.

I am so glad you had such a sweet Grandfather! I don't remember my Grandfathers but I was close to my Grandmother, such a blessing she was and such a comfort to know she is in heaven.

I have done this quote thing incorrectly....my apologies .... and I can't figure out how to correct it! 

[CodingQueen]

Bethann,

I'm sure Gwen can educate us both on how to undo things like this. I'm so not computer savvy.

CQ

[Gwennaford]

I'm very sorry for your tragic losses.  It's all part of our human experiences, yes?


When you are reading someone's post and you want to quote a part of it, you click on the "quote" tab at the top.  you already know that.

Then when you look inside at the white box at the bottom, you will see brackets surrounding the word "quote" followed by the screen name of the person being quoted, followed by all the words they wrote in their post.  then after the end of their signature is another set of brackets with a "\" before the word "quote".  that signifies the end of what they wrote.

To edit the quote that you want to appear in your post, you simply delete all the text between the beginning & ending quote brackets.  In order for it to work correctly, you need to delete only what they typed, not any of the codes in brackets.  

Then when you want to add your comments outside of the quote box, you scroll down to the end of the quote and position your cursor outside the ending quote brackets.  I like to hit enter once or twice to leave some space between the quote and my subsequent comments,

you know you can edit or delete something you have already posted by clicking on the appropriate tab about the post, right?

The typos and lack of capitalization and punctuation are due to a new set of pink & white nails to which I treated myself before the funeral.  It's too much trouble to go back & redo it.  The professional typist & executive assistant part of me objects to this negligence, but the new Gwennie partof me says, "Who cares?  You wanna make a big deal of it? Go tell someione who cares."  

[CodingQueen]

The typos and lack of capitalization and punctuation are due to a new set of pink & white nails to which I treated myself before the funeral.  It's too much trouble to go back & redo it.  The professional typist & executive assistant part of me objects to this negligence, but the new Gwennie partof me says, "Who cares?  You wanna make a big deal of it? Go tell someione who cares."  

I needed a good laugh. I can relate to the nail problem.

By the way, the Jazz Festival is free and is on April 24 in beautiful downtown Clearwater at Coachman Park. Spencer Day is going to be one of the performers. I told my husband if he wanted me to remove the ball and chain so he could go hunting this fall, he'd better take me...

If you can go let me know and we'll meet you somewhere. We usually park across the street from the library.

CQ

[Gwennaford]

...the Jazz Festival is free and is on April 24 in beautiful downtown Clearwater at Coachman Park. Spencer Day is going to be one of the performers. I told my husband if he wanted me to remove the ball and chain so he could go hunting this fall, he'd better take me...

If you can go let me know and we'll meet you somewhere. We usually park across the street from the library.

I put it on my calendar.  What time does it start?  Isn't this like a 2-3 day event? Or is that only in the Fall? Sorry, I guess I could look online.

If hubby doesn't want to go, you come & meet me there & we'll make a day of it.  Or you can swing by my house near Countryside Mall for Let's Do Lunch first and we can ride together to save parking problems.  I get h/c parking preference. 

[Gwennaford]

25 more posts & I'll have 1,000 hits on this thread.  Talkative, ain't I?

[Joyful Friend]

So glad you're back and active. JF

[Gwennaford]

thanks!  Currently accepting all  ,  ,  , AND 

[patns]

Just noticed your stats. Incredible!!!!

[CodingQueen]

You know Gwen...you and I would probably have more fun without the old man....LOL...actually, he told me that he'd check to see if he had to work that weekend. I'll let you know about the time. In the past it's always been about 2 o'clock or so.

CQ

[LINDA RN]

Just posting to boost your stats, but wondering about your wheelchair. Are you able to get out and walk at all? And if so, with all the pounds you have discarded so far, just wondering when you think you will be able to discard the scooter for some joggin shoes, LOL. It would be so inspiring to hear you gave it away, or gave the chair a funeral! 

[wendysgoodnews]

My best friend who i grew up with from early grade school has crippling arthritis.  She had many surgeries in our earlier years and is very deformed in her legs, feet and hands.  But she is an inspiration to me through her Godly strength and tenacity to keep going.  When we go to big stores she rides a cart other wise she still walks. We all are so proud of her and we walk slow so she does not fall behind. 

She is just now getting weaned off of years of prednesone so she can try some newer medication that is supposed to help.  She did gold treatments for years and when that quit working she went to low doses of chemo.  Now she is just starting another treatment that she said immediately helped her so she has high hopes for pain relief and less stiffness. 

How many years have you suffered with the arthritis?  I pray you are not always in alot of pain.

[Gwennaford]

Did the prednisone, did the chemo, did all the narcotic pain relievers.  The only thing that worked was Let's Do Lunch!

If you look in the gallery at one of my earlier pictures I have a gigantic moon face from steroids.  I look like Jabba the Hutt!

I was diagnosed with rheumatoid and degenerative arthritis in 2001.  I had been losing weight and was very fit.  I worked out at with weights and water aerobics every day.  Then I just woke up with it one day, out of the blue.  Went from cane to walker to manual wheelchair within 4 months.  Then when I was no longer able to use my hands, insurance bought me a power chair, which I still use.  I was in hideous torment for several years and nothing would touch the pain.  I eventually gave up on life and began to eat myself into a stupor.  I gained up to 410 pounds, which was where I was when Let's Do Lunch found me in January 2008.  Made my first batch of Pizza Soup, and immediately I started losing weight, feeling better, reducing meds and eventually pain abated to the point that I missed doses of the narcotic without noticing!  The rheumatoid is now totally in remission, the nodules on my fingers have disappeared and I have full use of hands & wrists again, totally without pain.  The degenerative osteo in my knees is more problematic, because the joints are gone and the bones are fused into a sitting position.  I was fast-tracking my knee replacement when Neil started getting really bad and my recovery had to go on the back burner in favor of keeping him alive.

Now I'm getting back up to speed.  Every day I practice walking with the rolling walker, trying to rebuild all those atrophied muscles in my legs so I will be strong for recovery from getting new knees. 

Please please introduce your friend to Let's Do Lunch for its therapeutic benefits and relief from arthritis pain. 

[LINDA RN]

Thank you for sharing your story, Gwen. I have a coworker that became so crippled with rheumatoid arthritis, had to have surgery in her hands to keep working. She told me she had gone on a whole foods diet and all the pain and degeneration stopped. Now that you have mentioned it, I ought to go back and ask for specifics on how she found her plan. She did mention that the Lord was the one who led her to it. She did not really need to loose alot of weight except the weight from the steroids which she has lost. I think I will share your post with her.

[wendysgoodnews]

Thank you so much for the information on your pain & LDL.  With her being thin it never dawned on me to tell her about LDL to help in her pain management.  I will email right now and try to get her interested in reading the boards. 

I am just 3 months past my knee replacement surgery and I am so happy I had it done.  I pray you can get yours done soon, it has made such a difference in my whole outlook on recovery of health.

[Gwennaford]

OOOHH!  Tell me all about it.  I want all the details.

And please let me know how your friend does with her pain mgt.

[Gwennaford]

OK - so right after I finished making my 6 quarts of veggie cabbage soup and 10 quarts of red & white beans, I noticed a small river of water on the floor coming from the refrigerator....  yep, it's dead..  *scyth*

That's okay... it matches the small river of water coming from the washing machine.  The plumber said, the good news is it may not be the washing machine.  Bad news, it may be from corroded pipes under the slab.  He said, "Don't worry, I have a jackhammer in my truck."

So then I took all the defrosted slushy fruit from the freezer to make myself a big breakfast smoothie with a few ice cubes I fished out the water in the ice maker.  Got the container all loaded up and started whizzing away ... stripped the gears in the immersion blender ...    :bomb:

Well, cry me a river LOL.  (pun intended)  


Veggie bean soup, anybody?  Slushy fruit & ice soup for dessert.   Any takers?  If I had lemons I would make lemonade!


This looks like a good day for a soup & fruit flush.

[crickadoodle]

Oh, Gwen, when it rains it pours -- but surely there is so much good coming your way.  I love your attitude in the midst of it all.  I'm praying for God's abundant blessings to flow and push that river back to where it came from!

Your story is so inspiring and I know you help so many people by sharing.  I like hearing you are preparing for knee surgery.  Mom had both knees done when she was in her 70s and she spent time preparing beforehand.  She did lots of swimming to have her muscles ready for the surgery.  She recovered very well and did better than lots of the younger people having it done.  She has regular arthritis.  She actually had both knees done at the same time, although many doctors don't want to do that on someone with diabetes.  She did great, though.