Ann's Joy Thread

On second look. That tackle is there, at 3:06. It doesn't include the hugs at the end, and runs through the clip pretty quickly, but you can see how he just puts his arms around his cousin and rolls him onto the sideline.

I found it here:



That run took some stopping!

Video isn't showing for me; here's the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MBx-QgFkEe4

You know, Annie, the painting could be Daniel's Daughter.  I like it very much.
Love,
Betty

I've thought about that, Betty

It really is genius.  Do it Ann.  Love, Betty

I'm working on it.

OK.  One more time (but no promises).

This clip from an Aussie entertainment show is about promoting "The Water Diviner," but it is also a very good glimpse of the actor's roles throughout his career, and proof that he is definitely NOT the Gladiator.

Mostly, though, the interview gives you a bit of insight into the man himself.  It isn't overly long, and for many of you, the best news is that I cannot embed it, so only follow the link if you happen to be curious enough as to why I am so obsessed.

https://au.news.yahoo.com/sunday-night/features/a/25583000/russell-crowe-opens-up-about-phone-throwing-incident/

Annie

So, ut's Christmas, another year gone by, and not exactly the most joyous one I've known, but the worst of it is mostly over, and things are looking up, and I'm feeling quite merry, in a mellow sort of way.

Tonight is Lynn's and Chris's annual Christmas Eve party. Usually it's a tamale night - an SA tradition. Most years, Lynn and Chris get together with a group of friends and spend a day making homemade tamales, but the group couldn't find a weekend free, so this year it will be fajita night, with Tex-Mex fillings and sides. Susan, Jimmy, and I will go early to help put it all together. It's always a fun gathering.I've missed it for several years now. Christmas had become my time with Dave, Lyn, and Jaycie, spent on the NC Outer Banks at Popop's weekend beach house (Popop being, for newcomers, my daughter-in-law's father, and Jaycie's grandfather), but a long flight with at least one stop and terminal change along the way was just not feasible for me this year; Popop is in his mid-80's now and flights to Texas aren't doable for him anymore, and since Bev died, a few months before Jaycie was born, he lives alone; so that's the way it is right now.

Christmas Day has been a day for Daddy for the girls for some time, so tomorrow will be a quiet day at home, but I'm looking forward to this one. I'm thawing the other cornish hen from the package of two I got last week. I cooked the first one, as I think I posted somewhere here, for the Thursday dinner. Chris had to work, so one hen was enough for both of us. I'm using the same slow-cooker recipe since it turned out so well. I'm cheating on the sides - picked them up yesterday from my supeermarket's Cafe-on-the Run. I also picked up a bottle of Tempranillo - it's a modern red wine that is made from a descendent of the Spanish black grape that has been in the Hill Country since the Spaniards first brought it hundreds of years ago, and that grape was the basis for the Pineda Vineyards Roja Isabela (see my novel, Redstone's Valley. I'm drinking it as an inspiration to get my head back into working on Daniel's Daughter)

And then-and then, it seems that Starz is running an Outlander marathon - all eight of the episodes will run from 2:00 pm to 10:00 pm for a Christmas Day special, so I'm a happy camper.

Friday, Susan and Jimmy (and the dogs) are having me, Lynn, and Chris over for BBQ. They had us out there the day after Thanksgiving, and I tried to get pictures, but the sun was so bright I couldn't any decent one of their views of the hills. I don't know if I posted anything at the time, but as we were driving toward their house, which is out in some of the lovliest hills in the whole Hill Country, I noticed from the highway signs that we were only a few miles from Medina Lake and Bandera Pass (see "Incident at Bandera Pass" in Redstone Stories: An Anthology). Hopefully, this time, I will get better pics.

New Year's Eve, I will get together with my old lady-friends from St. Geprge Episcopal for a fun evening of food, wine, and sharing stories. We don't usually make it to midnight, as we are none of us gettting any younger, but these old church ladies do know how to have a joyous good time, so the year loooks to end on a better note than it began.

Annie

Dear Annie, It warms my heart and my night to read your post.  I wish I could be there with the old-lady church friends and you.
I feel a kind of glow about you in your posts.  In fact, I feel the same glow from everyone who has posted here this week.  Kind of a pinkish and golden-rosy kind of glow.  It must be the kindness of your hearts flowing out...
I do hope everyone has a lovely Christmas eve.  David and I are having fajitas and rice with pinto beans and all the other home grown stuff that goes with it. 
Love,
Betty

I'll think of you guys while I'm eating mine to night, Betty. Have fun!

Annie

So, just got in.  Food was great, company greater, even.  Had probably the longest talk with my ex since we split over 30 years ago.  It was all good.  We compared our joint ailments - he's been dealing with osteoarthritis for several years and has had back surgery and knee surgery.  We had a lot to share.

A few joyous images:

Susan, Lynn and me at Susan and Jim's last night, after eating barbecued brisket from Busby's.  Susan took time to drive the 20 minutes to Bandera for it.  Busby's is nationally known for it's BBQ.



I was going to try to get some clear pics of the hills around the house since the one's I took last month did not come out well because of the glare from the windows, but we arrived a few minutes past dusk, so I'm going to post a few of those:
The back yard picture came out the clearest, but doesn't show the surrounding hills, but it's a good pic of Waylon and the fish pond:


Another from the same day, watching the football game in the den:


That's Waylon again, in front of the fire, and Ranger on the rug.  Coover is that large black furball sitting on the sofaa with Daddy Jim.  Lynn and Chris on the lounger and Susan at the bar.

The house has so many windows.  It's great unless you're trying to take a picture through one.  The glare kind of obliterates the hills in the distance, but you can get a glimpse in this one, taken from the dining room:

And now I'm cheating, but this online picture was taken in the same area, and is extremely close to the view from Susan's dining room when the glare isn't blocking it:



I don't know what it is, but just taking a drive into the hills is an uplifting experience.  

San Antonio is at the southern end, and since the Balcones Escarpment runs through the middle of the city, only the northern half is actually in the hills.  The southern half is coastal plain.  My house sits right above the escarpment, on a low hill, but you have to drive a few miles northwest to see scenes like this one.

Sam Burgess scores his first try for Bath:

http://www.foxsports.com.au/rugby/former-souths-hero-sam-burgess-scores-first-premiership-try-of-his-rugby-union-career/story-e6frf4pu-1227181088977?nk=7897d71bcbb99352e5c38804ebbec4b1

LOL! I opened your thread to post this:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LQPXBu-0M0

Adorable!

Know how they say all clouds have silver linings? Yesterday Lynn took an afternoon off from work and we went clothes shopping. My kids all gave me gift cards for Christmas so I could get some clothes that fit. I've lost weight since the RA started, but you coudn't really tell because my clothes were too big. I was delighted to find that I've dropped a couple of sizes, and am back to the normal size I wore before I started gaining about 20 years ago.

I was quite joyous to see my image in the dressing room's mirror. I mean, I'm still 70+ years old, but I could see glimpses of the younger me. It was fun.

Annie

What a great excuse to buy new clothes!

It's nice having clothes that actuallly fit.  

This may not sound like a joyous thing, but I am happy about it.  I ordered a rollator today.  It's due to arrive in just 9 days.  I've been thinking about it for a while now.  Talked to my dr and he approved.

My joints are getting better all the time, but I've started having what is apparently a side effect of the infusions.  My legs have been getting steadily weaker.  I've started doing my grocery shopping in one of the electric carts provided by the supermarket.  Although I thoroughly enjoyed clothes shopping Thursday, by the time we were done I was shaking.  The lady checking us out noticed, and told Lynn where they keep a couple of wheel chairs.  What a relief!  It has been getting harder to do simple household chores, and standing in the kitchen to cook family dinners has been getting harder.  The one I ordered is collapsible and has a seat wirh a basket underneath it, so I ought to be able to get more excercise rather than less.

The weakness is supposed to be temporary.  My dosage may need to be adjusted, but that will take time, and in the meantime, I won't need to rely on my children to get about.

I still like being skinny again, though.

Annie

Went clothes shopping again yesterday.  I now have 6 pairs of slacks, plus 7 tops and tees that actually fit, all 2 to 3 sizes smaller than anything in my closet. 

I'm using the new rollator around the house, which means I can stay on my feet a lot longer, and get more housework and cooking done, as well as getting more exercise.  I had put off getting the rollator, thinking it was giving in, but the opposite is now proving true.

It's also helping me to be more independent, which is also a good thing.  I feel so much less stressed now, and that goes a long way with this disease.

I think it was seeing that my dr had checked the "Permanently disabled" box on my parking permit application that helped it to sink in enough to accept this condition, and that is helping develop the coping skills that I need to live more normally.

Annie

Dear Annie,
I have been thinking about you.  I am glad you have determination and a positive outlook.  Many people, when faced with some of the challenges of a malady, just give up and wallow in self pity.  I am proud of you! 
Love,
Betty

What Betty said.

Betty and Alice, I apprciate your support, but see if you can work up a little sympathy for those with RA who wallow in self-pity. It's a very easy thing to do when you wake up mornings knowing that, in order to gst out of bed, you are going to have to spend as much as an hour in excruiating pain in order to loosen your stiff joints enough to get to a sitting position much less to stand up and take a few steps. I've moved beyond that stage, now, but there were many mornings when the only reason I went through it was knowing that it wouldn't get any better if I just lay there, putting it off. I remember my first appointment with my rheumatologist. The first question he asked me was how long it took me to get out of bed in the morning, and when I said about an hour, he just nodded. He wasn't at all surprised. He then proceeded to give me cortione injection in both shoulders and both knees, to get me started. Then we talked about pain-killers, DMARDS(disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs), and steroids and their side-effects as well as their helpful properties. The steroids started helping right away, but they have the worst side effects. DMARDS take a lot longer to start being effective. When I had been taking them long enough for them to work better, but they weren't, we started the infusions. They take a longer time to take effect as well.

Today, I am so much better than I was, but I am not there yet. It only takes about five minutes to get out of bed now, and the joints are getting more limber all the time, but for about the last 6 weeks, my legs have been getting steadily weaker. I dread going grocery shopping because, even though I use one of the stores electronic carts, I still have to get the groceries from my car into the house, and it really does me in. It finally dawned on me that this problem started at about the same time that my pcp insisted on doubling the dosage on the blood-pressure medicine she insisted that I needed, even when I told here that my bp was only elevated when I was in her office. Then a couple of weeks ago I started having dizzy spells. I would take my blood pressure, and it was invariably very low. I checked the drug's side effects, and sure enough, muscle pain and weakness was one of them. I stopped taking the drug, and slowly, I seem to be getting a little stronger. I have an appointment with my rheumatologit in about 10 days. I will discusss it with him then. Meantime, I will hopefully start to get stronger. I still have not been on the infusions long enough to see their full effect.

Giving up and giving in is by far the easiest thing to do.

I fight it every day.
I, too, spend much of my time wallowing.

So I'm not so positive as you might think, but again, thanks anyway.

Annie