Sleep Continues to Be Scarce

The insomnia is continuing to bother me just about like it has been for several months now. I'm still having constipation problems, too. I've been on the Miralax continually now, but when I had to stop taking the Zelnorm, it began to gradually give me trouble again. I've been using the glycerin suppositories regularly now for the last week, but the problem isn't resolved yet. I'm already on a Metamucil capsule every day, besides the Miralax, so I hate to add any more oral medicine for it, for fear it will suddenly work too well. The only other Parkinson's thing that is going on with me right now is a very stiff neck. I have had like a crick in my neck now for several days, from a very tight muscle, that I just don't seem to be able to stretch out or limber up. I'll just have to keep exercising it, and hope for the best.

We had an absolutely glorious drizzly rain all day long yesterday, and I thank God for that. We need about a week of that kind of rain to make a dent in our drought situation, but it's better than nothing. Our grass finally looks like grass again.

They are supposed to come finish the garage tomorrow, but it looks like it might be raining. That's OK. We need the rain worse than we need the garage to be finished. We need to put another coat of water sealer down on the garage floor, anyway, before we start putting stuff in it.

Once we can use the garage for storage, we'll start bringing the furniture that our DD does not want to keep from their house down here. Also, we have stuff in our basement that we can't get to because it's in such a mess. Once we have a place to store it elsewhere, we can start emptying the basement of things and get the good stuff out of our way temporarily. Then we're going to have to make several trips to the dump!! We used to have a landfill dump here in our town, but it was moved to the other side of the county a long time ago.

That wouldn't have been so bad, but our town garbage collection rules call for household garbage only. They won't pick up anything that won't fit in a garbage bag. So, over the years, as things broke, like the washing machine, it just got stuck in the basement. Now we can hardly move down there. Oh, and the nearest Thrift Store won't pick up the appliances, either. There are certain disadvantages to living out in the boonies, that's for sure.

DH won't let me go down in the basement, as he's afraid I will trip over something or lose my balance trying to walk around all the stuff. I really do think he's being over protective, but I've done as he asked, and stayed out of it. I'm itching to get it cleaned out, though, and it bothers me that I can't just go down there and work on it if I want to. As it is, I'm stuck with his idea of when it will get done, and his timetable is a lot slower than mine LOL!! C'est la vie. That's what being married is all about - the give and take of blending two different people's habits and problem solving techniques together. I just need to work on my patience a little more, that's all.

Blue Funk Is Now Fading

I don't seem to be quite as depressed as I was a few days ago, thank goodness. The money part of the estate is finally taken care of, so the only thing left to do is sell Daddy's car and finish emptying the house of all the furniture and stuff that our DD's don't want. I say "only" like that's not a big deal, but there's a bunch of stuff to get out of our older DD's way. We did bring Daddy's car down to our house yesterday, so at least they can move things out to the garage now that are in their way. We didn't want to do that while all the construction delivery trucks and workers' vehicles were going in and out of our yard.

We put Thompson's Water Seal on the garage floor day before yesterday, and it soaked it up like a sponge. We have to wait until tomorrow for it to be cured, but from the looks of it, we'll have to put another coat on it before we put anything in the garage. Not that we can use it yet, anyway, as only half of it has been roofed. We're waiting for the other special order to come, since the builder didn't order enough of the starter strips for this particular type of shingle. It seems this pattern takes two rows, instead of the standard one, so we have half a roof at the moment. LOL

So many delays have happened with this garage that what would have had me in tears a week ago is now just funny. They don't get paid until we're satisfied, so it's to their advantage to not make all these time consuming mistakes. Go figure.

We bought a pair of trekking poles the other day, as an experiment. The one piece ones are supposed to be better, according to all I could find on the Internet. But it made more sense to try out a cheaper set of adjustable ones that both of us could use at different times, until we see if we like it. Using the walking poles is supposed to be a way to protect the knee, ankle, and hip joints, plus give the upper body a complete workout while you walk. And they are recommended as an excellent exercise tool for PWP.

We're practicing around the house right now. I'm not sure I am going to be able to use the best possible form with them, as it's kind of confusing. It involves holding them with a strap around your wrist and then letting go of the grip when the pole goes back, as you grip the other pole as you walk. Trying to keep my feet coordinated with the poles, plus remembering what my hands are doing, all at the same time, is very confusing. But I can definitely hold onto both poles all the time and do them OK. I can already tell that they are going to increase the exercise my upper arms and shoulders get. I've been walking with one pound weights every other lap now, for some time, in anticipation of trying these poles. I hope that means I'm ready for them, but I'm in no hurry to try to walk very far with them right now. I've learned that slow and easy works better for me.

We managed to salvage enough leftover sheathing and scrap 2x4's to have a good start on finishing off one inside wall of the garage, plus make some shelving, plus there is a good bit of the siding left over that they were going to take to the dump. We kept that, too, in case we ever have storm damage. I've been walking around outside the last few days with one of those magnets on a pole, picking up nails. No telling how long it will take for us to find all of them. With the drought we're having, it's not as if we need to be worrying about using the lawn mower in that part of the yard for awhile, so we should have it cleaned up before we need to be concerned with cutting the grass safely. As for cars, we're still not using the new part of the driveway or going near the garage. Tearing up a tire is just not worth it.

We're making slow headway with our eBay sales, with over 250 items listed now, so I'm hopeful that I can get back to enjoying reading everybody's blogs soon. I did manage to skim through Ruth's blog to see how things were going with her since Mick passed away, and I'm sorry to see that she's had one problem after another, due to the red tape of their national health care system. The more I read what Marion and Ruth have to say about socialized medicine, the surer I become that I pray we never get it in the USA!!

Since I'm writing this at 2 AM I think it's safe to say the insomnia is still going strong. I went to bed about 9:30PM, but I was wide awake by 12:30. I tried going back to sleep about 3:00, but didn't succeed, so I've been up since 3:30 with 3 hours sleep for the night. Counting the days until I see that sleep specialist!!