Saturday 9-8

It was such a beautiful day weather-wise.  The sun was shining and it wasn't too hot.  We had a blue blue blue sky with puffy white clouds.  I love this time of year.  We have beautiful weather and it isn't too hot like summer or too cold in winter.

Tomorrow is the family BBQ for Tillie's birthday.  She is now 78 years old and still going strong.  I am picking up chips or pretzels or something like that for the party.  I am not sure who all will be there but I do know my uncle will be.  My uncle is helping me put back up the fireplace mantel.  I took of the one remaining hook off and wrap it up for my uncle to see.  I am not sure if Andrew will be there or not or any other cousins like Hayley or Audrey.

I had Camille and Rick's lessons today.  Camille is doing so well and really wants to go to competition in February.  I hope she does although I thought she was going to be quitting for a while because of her other after school activities so I am confused a bit.  Maybe her mother hasn't told her she is quitting, that could be it.  Rick had his lesson today instead of tomorrow since I will not be home during his regular lesson time.  I haven't been able to get a hold of Minh to find out if she could change her time or not so I will have to be home tomorrow for it.  It won't be a problem though since the BBQ starts at 12 noon and her lesson isn't until 5 or I hope it isn't a problem.

I am watching Dr. Quinn, Medicine woman right now.  It is the wedding episode.  I love this episode.  I remember when it first came on TV.  It was New Year's Day.  I had seen many previews of the show and I thought it would be something Mom and I would like.  Mom was sure she wouldn't like it but I asked her to watch at least the first 20 minutes of it and if she didn't like it, she could change the channel.  Well, Mom loved it and we rarely missed it on a Saturday night.  It was on the same night as Walker, Texas Ranger that we liked so much too.

So far, the bad headache hasn't been back for too long since the injection on Tuesday.  I did wake up a couple of days with one, but then it back down to the regular everyday headache.  I really hope that some time in the future, I will not have to consider having a headache normal.  I do look forward to that.  For now, a headache everyday is what I have to deal with.  Dr. R said that it will be a few weeks before I will know whether or not the new dosage of the new medicine will work on the everyday headaches.

I am going to read for a bit after I have some dinner.

midweek 9-5

The bad headache is gone still today.  That is a really good thing.  I still have the everyday normal headache.  I am looking forward to not having a headache at all.  I hope someday to have that happen.

I had several lesson this afternoon and evening so I am a bit tired tonight.  Tomorrow Tillie will be here rather early in the morning so I have to go to bed early.  I can go back to sleep for a nap after they leave since they will not be here very long.  They are just picking up something from here.  I will see them again on Sunday for the birthday BBQ at Tillie's.  It should be fun.  My aunt and uncle will be there too so that is good.  I love visiting with them too.  Andrew isn't sure whether or not he will be able to be there.  I do hope so though.  I have some paperwork for him to sign.

So far, all my students who have started school this week like it.  Mind you, most of them are small, only 1 teenager so far and she liked that she saw her friends.

I have decided that I will be giving up pop by the end of the month.  It is time to do this.  I like diet pop or regular pop.  The regular pop upsets my stomach but the diet stuff is so bad for you so I am giving it up.  I haven't lost as much weight as I had hope at this time, but I am eating much healthier and I am continuing to work on eating healthy.  I like that I am eating healthier because I feel better about myself.  I do, very occasionally, have a treat.  I don't feel bad about that because I do eat healthy everyday.  I hope that by next summer to be 1/2 my size.  I think I can do this.  I am working very hard at it.

Well, I am going to read for a bit before heading to bed.  I sure hope I sleep better tonight than I did last night when I fell asleep at about 4:30 in the morning.  I just couldn't sleep and my tummy was upset a lot last night.  So, not a great night but I am not super tired like I expected to be.

Injection Day 9-4

My head was really bad again this morning so I called my neurologist to see what I should do.  I left a message for the doctor and a little while later I received a call from the doctor's office.  She wanted me to come in for an injection so in between lessons, I went and got 2, yup 2, shots.  At first it made my headache way worse but then it helped the pain to go way down back to the normal, everyday headache.  So far, they seem to be helping.  I am so tired of my head aching.  I really am.

I had 2 lessons today, Sammy and Dan.  Sammy is a 15 year old vocal student and she sings beautifully.  I am really happy with her.  Dan is new to me and a rather shy pianist.  He is doing really well too since we are trying to figure out how much he remembers and what he needs to work on.  He stopped lessons about a year or so ago so right now we are assigning different levels of stuff to see where he should be.  He is very nice.

Tomorrow I need to get Eliana a new theory book tomorrow.  I meant to do it this weekend, but I forgot when I had the time plus I did have the bad headaches so I probably couldn't have gone anyway so I am going to go tomorrow.  Eliana is such a cutie pie.  She is simply so sweet and cute.  I have had 2 lessons with her so far and she is doing pretty well.  Her bass clef notes are a little hard for her as she hasn't done them very much, but I know we will work on them and she will get better at them.  I also have Bob tomorrow since Monday was a holiday.  I have a couple other students tomorrow to so it is shaping up to be an awesome day.  I am really happy about that.  With Monday being a holiday, I don't have as many as usual, not that I have that many to begin with.  I only teach part time, very part time but it is enough for me so I won't be over tired or too exhausted.

Sunday is a family event.  Tillie's birthday is tomorrow.  I must remember to wish her happy birthday.  Today is Richard's birthday.  I really wanted to call him but I didn't.  Today, it bothered me that he is not speaking to me, but often it doesn't.  I think it does because it is his birthday.  My small cousin, Elizabeth, (Danielle's daughter) has her birthday on the 20th, I believe.  Her brother, Miles, is only about 10 months old.  I got to hold and play with him at Lia's wedding.  I really liked that.  I am hoping that I will see Kayla's littlest one on Sunday too.  I have seen her in pictures but not in person so I am looking forward to that.

I have started my new headache medicine to start getting rid of the everyday headaches.  I do remember when they first started.  In March of 2003, I came down with vasculitis.  Vasculitis is the inflammation of the blood vessels and is very painful (worse than the fibro pain, believe it or not).  I got a headache from it and my nose ran continuously, and I mean continuously.  I would wake up in the night to blow my nose.  Normally, the vasculitis stays and you have flare ups start as soon as the flare goes down.  Fortunately, mine actually left me except for the headache.  The rash (which was hideous looking and all over my legs, arms, and a bit on the face) was from the blood vessels pushing up on the skin.  I did have 3 break through the skin and I now have scars from it, but considering I could still have it, I will take the scars.  I went to the neurologist and she doubled my everyday medicine.  If it is still not working by the end of September I am to call Dr. R and let her know.

I am going to read for a bit before heading to bed.

Labor Day 9-3

Tomorrow is my older brother, Richard's birthday.  We haven't spoken since July of 2011.  I was thinking about him the other day.  I was wondering how he was doing, and how his family was doing.  Since he isn't speaking to me right now, I am not sure.  My younger brother hasn't heard from him either.  I did see my younger brother, Andrew at our cousin, Lia's wedding.  We had a nice visit together, Andrew and I.

It is another bad headache day again.  I am really tired of these headaches but there isn't too much I can do about them right now.  I just have to hope that the new medicine will really work and I will not have as many as I do right now.  It is exhausting having bad headaches 4 to 5 times a week and I am exhausted enough.

Anyways, today was the annual bike parade for our neighborhood.  I took the little scooter and I went to the top of the hill to meet the participants.  I spoke to one neighbor the whole parade.  She lives across the street from me and is such a sweetheart of a girl.  Her daughter, Bella, is now 5 and oh my, has she grown.  She is not to excited to start Kindergarten tomorrow but she is starting.  She is a really nice little girl and her mom is very nice too.  Nikki is almost 26 now.  I remember when she was younger and running around the neighborhood.  Her brother, Shane, used to help mom a lot too.  He is doing well too.

It is so nice to be able to wash and dry my own hair again.  It has been about 3 1/2 years since I could do it myself because of the bursitis in my left shoulder.  It is much better now.  I still do not have a full range of motion, but hey, I can do my own hair so I am happy with the range of motion.  So I may never be able to lift the arm straight up to the sky, I don't particular care as long as I can still do my own hair.  One of the small things in life that makes my life better, that is all I can say about it.  Although, I must admit, I am exhausted when I am done drying it.  Because my hair is so long, it gets really tangled.  I thought condition would improve that, but no, it didn't.  I need detangler stuff for sure.  Oh my.  It feels like nap time.

Tomorrow is the first day of school for the rest of the kids in the area.  In Michigan, public schools cannot start until after Labor Day so since today is Labor Day, tomorrow is the first day of school.  I am looking forward to some cooler (not winter mind you) weather that I can ache less in and breathe better in.  Fall is my time of year.  I love fall.  I love spring too.  Summer and Winter, not so much.  I don't particularly do well in extreme heat or extreme cold, both are not good for Fibromyalgia not to mention asthma.

I am watching a Rizzoli and Isles marathon.  I really like this show.  Well, I am now completely exhausted so I am off for a nap.

End of August/Beginning of September

Friday -

Wow, summer is almost over.  This month has been quieter than usual with a few more absences than usual.  Only 2 students quit for the summer, but the ones that stayed had a lot of absences.  Today, I was supposed to have 4 and I only had 1.  Yesterday I had 1 instead of 5 so I am thankful fall is coming soon.  I can't wait for a regular schedule.

I am also awaiting the new season of NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles.  I love those shows.  They are so good.  I do watch some of the re-runs on the USA channel.  They also re-run a lot of the Law and Order:SVU, which I also really like.  TNT runs the regular Law and Order show a lot too.  I do have a few seasons of the NCIS but not too much of the other shows.  I have the DVDs of the show Missing with Ashley Judd.  I did see a couple of the episodes but I missed most because of choir practice.  I am planning to watch them over the weekend.

It is Labor Day Weekend this weekend.  School starts Tuesday for most of the students.  A few schools started this past Monday, but most start Tuesday.

Sunday -

I had to miss church again today because of my bad headache.  I am thankful I only had one lesson for the day though because it was a really bad one around the late afternoon.  I ended up going to bed at about 7:30 pm tonight and now I am awake for a while.  I knew this would happen so I am not surprised that I am awake right now.  My head is back to the normal headache right now.  I am also glad that I didn't have a really bad one last night.  Yesterday evening, I went to my lovely girls (the Muglia's) house for dinner and a movie.  I brought "Sound of Music", which is my Sarah's favorite movie.  We had pizza for dinner and salad too.  It was so fun and I love spending time with students outside of lessons.  The girls and I had such a good time.  Their mom has become a good friend to me.  The girls also were friends with Mom and they were upset when she passed away.  Mom taught them a bit about sewing until she couldn't anymore and then I took over.  Lydia has really taken to sewing.  The girls have 3 sewing machines between them.  Mom had bought each of the girls a travel sewing machine, but somehow 2 of them disappeared with some other stuff so there were only 2 left.  They have them now.  They also have several books about sewing that Mom and I had bought.  Mom also bought me some of the same sewing books she had, so I gave the girls Mom's books about sewing.  My friend, Star, is going to be teaching Hannah, Lydia, and Natalie art starting this month.  I have to get Star's schedule and the girls schedule to see what will be best for all of them.  I am actually really excited about them taking art as the girls are so into art.  Lydia wants to be a fashion designer and the twins, Natalie and Hannah, want to be animators.  This classical art class that they will be taking will really help them get into art school.

Minh had her lesson today and did very well.  She is coming along so nicely with reading her notes and learning to count the music.  I am quite pleased with her progress.

I think I am going to read for a bit before I head back to bed.

Neurologist Day 8-30

I went to see my new neurologist this afternoon.  I brought my MRI films for her to see.  She looked at the one envelope of films.  She is going to have her assistant get a hold of the reports from the neurology-radiologist to see what he/she thought.  So far, with a quick glance, she doesn't see anything like the anomaly that the doctors were freaking out over in 2008.  I am rather glad about that but oh my,  is all I can say about that.  She also said that she would not have me do any MRIs at this point unless she sees something or if there is something in the report that concerns her.  I told her that I would need to be knocked out totally to get another.  They are just so loud and with the headaches I already have, add that extra noise and I am even in more pain than before.  So far I don't need to have another MRI done so I don't have to worry about whether or not they will knock me out.

Tomorrow is my monthly blood test for my pro-time level.  I don't particularly like getting the blood tests, but they are important.  If my blood gets too thick, then I could get another blood clot (not an event I would ever like to repeat) or if it is too thin, I could bleed to death so it is important that it is checked every month.  Sometimes I have to get it checked every other week depending on how my blood is.

I only ended up with 1 lesson today.  I am not sure what is going on but my 4:30 and 5:00 didn't show again this week.  Then my 6 and 6:30 were also absent.  Their mom did call and they will be here next week.  Then, tomorrow I only have Acer and Calli as Emily and Natalie are absent too so it will be a quiet day.  I plan to do my hair and let it dry naturally.  I want to see how long it will take to dry naturally instead of using a dryer.

I am watching "Without a Trace" and in the episode, the character, Jack's father has Alzheimer's.  He gets very confused, more so than Mom did.  She is still on mind a lot this week.  I think it is because of the family events we have had lately.  I am still sad at times because she is not here but other times I am okay.  I think if I just knew what she wanted me to do now that she isn't here.  I would never talk about it.  I just couldn't because I knew it was coming faster than I wanted it too.  In the TV show, the dad is so much worse off than mom was as far as memory.  Mom didn't remember a lot of things, but she could still recognize me and some of the family.  The dad in the show keeps getting flash backs to earlier times.  Mom never did that, thankfully.  I tried to focus on her in the moment with things like paper for example.  She loved ripping paper so I bought cheap notebooks for her to write on or whatever.  I also had toys she could fiddle around with.  The best toy though was her musical Donald Duck.  She would play with that for hours.  You press his foot and he starts to walk and sing.  Donald is dressed up as a bunny (it was an Easter Gift).  If you hold him up by the ears, he says, "put me down, put me down".  It is just the cutest thing.  All the students seem to like him the best out of all my students.  It does make me smile each time I hear the song or the put me down that he says.

I am working on my fall schedule.  So far there aren't too many changes, just a few.  I am hoping for about 3 to 4 new students.  That would be good and it will completely fill my schedule.  I try not to schedule too many a day because I do get so tired so easily.  I think about 4 or 5 students a day is good for me.

I am going to read for a bit before heading upstairs to bed.  I am getting rather tired now but not tired enough to sleep though.

The dining room table is organized day 8-28

I know it is hard to believe, but it is true.  The dining room table has been organized and the old, ripped up vinyl table cloth is now history.  I have learned an important lesson, buy fabric tablecloths because they last longer.  These $4 ones just don't take the beating that my dining room table goes through.  I don't have a tablecloth on right now but that is okay.  The tabletop is glass so it is okay not to have a tablecloth on it right now but I do need to find a nice one that I like, only it will be fabric this time, not vinyl.

I only had 1 lesson this afternoon.  My Sammy was absent but she is making up the lesson tomorrow.  I am very glad about that.  She is such a good student.  I am very pleased with her, not to mention she is such a sweetheart!  My other girls all think she is very, very nice.  I am not surprised though because she is very nice and I knew she would get along with my students.

Dan was my only student for the day.  It was his first lesson with me.  We reviewed a few things and then I assigned him a few things to work on this week.  His sister will start next week with me.  He is a very nice young man.  He is 11 and going into 6th grade.

Tonight is NCIS night.  I just don't feel like watching Dance Moms.  I am getting a little sick of how insane the dance teacher and moms are.  I will admit that I love watching the girls dance.  They are so talented and graceful.  It does make me miss dancing.  I loved dancing so much.  In my dreams, I can dance all I want and these days, that is enough.

Saturday was my cousin, Lia's wedding as I stated in a previous post.  It was the first time that it didn't hurt as much to not have mom at a family function.  I have a hard time with family functions because mom is not there with me.  This was the first time it wasn't super bad.  Maybe I wasn't so upset because I was upset a few days earlier.  I don't know.  I have yet to figure out why I do what I do.  Maybe someday I will have  figured myself out!

I am anxious for fall as I am hoping to have a very full schedule.  (That would be an additional 2 to 3 students, not anymore than that)  I have had a lot of absences this summer but that is to be expected.  I am hoping that once fall arrives, there will be less absences.  Usually, that is what happens.

I will be having a movie day with the Muglia girls on Saturday.  I am to bring the Sound of Music and The Hunger Games, if I have it by then otherwise I will bring something else in addition to the Sound of Music.  I like watching movies with the girls.  They are a lot of fun to hang out with.

I am going to finish watching NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles now.  I hope you are having a good day.

the last several days

Thursday -

I miss Mom so much today.  She has been on my mind a lot these past few days.  I am not sure exactly why as it isn't a birthday or anniversary or any special day of hers, just a regular day.  I have so much I want to tell her and sometimes it just explodes inside my head.  Today, seems to be one of those type days.  I am much better than I used to be.  The tears and being upset or sad all the time is mostly managed.  Yes, I still cry at times but those are not so many times now like they were when she first died.  I do still some days think when I wake up, oh, time to go and get mom, and then I remember, no I don't have to go and get mom ready for the day.  She is ready for the day in Heaven.  I just want to be with her.  I have many friends who want the same thing.  It does help a lot to know I am not alone in this.  I am thankful for the friends I have because without them, it would be much harder.  I know I will see her again someday and that helps too, but like my friend, Chantal, I want it now not later!  We are both impatient to be with our mothers again.

Sunday 8-26

Well, so much for finishing the post I started on Thursday.  What can I say?  I got distracted.  Yesterday was my cousin, Lia's wedding.  She was such a beautiful bride!  It was a very nice wedding and I enjoyed myself.  I did have to leave a bit earlier that I expected too because my head was really sore by the end of dinner before the dancing started.  I wasn't planning to dance either since I can't stand up long enough to dance but overall, it was a good night.  I finally met my cousin, Danielle's little guy.  Miles is about 10 months now and I got to play with him twice.  Kayla didn't bring Phoenix so I didn't get to see her but that is okay.  I am sure I will see her and her brother, Warren, soon.  The little ones are so cute.  Andrew, my younger brother, was also there.  He seems like he is doing well.  He moved again and is very happy with his new apartment.  I was glad to see him at the wedding.

I am getting a bit tired now so I am going to read for a bit before I go to bed.

wednesday 8-22

It was a lovely day outside today.  The sun was shining and the sky was a blue blue blue with white puffy clouds, my favorite type of day.  The temperature was just right, not too hot, not too cold.  I had 2 lessons today.  Antoinette had to reschedule to Friday because her dog is sick and has to go the vet tonight.

I had lunch with my friend, Wendy today too.  It was lots of fun.  I see her every few months and we have a good time together.  I am hoping to see Jen sometime next month after school starts for her children.  Jen auditioned for her local community theatre and she got a part!  I was so happy for her.  We spent some time working together on her music so she would be ready and the hard work paid off.  I am going to see Jen in the play sometime in October.  I will be going on Sunday afternoon.  It should be a good time.  The music to the musical is rather funny.  The name of the musical is "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change".  Jen was very excited when she told me she got a part.  This past Monday was the first day of practicing for her.

My cousin, Lia, is getting married on Saturday.  I am going to the wedding.  My aunt, uncle, and several cousins will be there too.  Lia and Rick's daughter, Esther will be one of the flower girls.  My young cousin, Elizabeth will be the other one.  I hope I remember to bring my camera.  I have a tendency not to remember so I just hope that I do.  I think my younger brother, Andrew will be there also.  It will be the first time I will see Maia since she was diagnosed with cancer earlier this summer.  She has been going to chemotherapy every three weeks and will have her surgery soon.  It all depends on her MRI and how the cancer is doing.

On Friday, my aunt and uncle are supposed to come over.  I am not sure what time or anything.  They have some packages that they need to pick up and take home.  Hayley also has a package to pick up too but I am not bringing it the wedding because I don't want to pay duty on her package and when you bring packages across the border sometimes you have to pay duty.  I do have to get Lia her wedding present.  I am going to get them tomorrow.  I have to get a nice card to and then sign both mine and my brother's names since I told him I would.  I already know what I am going to get her, I just have to go and pick it up.

I am hoping that this fall I may be able to attend the support group meetings for fibro again.  I had to stop going because I was teaching at that time.  I am not sure if I will be able to or not but I will try.  I did enjoy them when I used to go.  They are on Mondays, once a month.  I think it is on the 2nd Monday of the month.  I just checked, it is.  The September meeting is about social security disability so I am not sure I will attend that one since I don't really need any new info on that.  About once a year, this firm comes in to talk about the process of getting disability and how to apply, appeal if necessary.

My new student, Eliana is 6.  She is so cute.  She more comfortable with the right hand (treble clef) than she is with the left hand (bass clef).  I need to get her the theory book that goes with the book she is using.  I am hoping that she will learn the bass clef notes down very soon.  I think she will do very well.  I also have a young man (11) going to start next week, Tuesday.  I will be calling his mom tomorrow to introduce myself to her.  Allison had her lesson today.  She is working on "On My Own" from the Les Miserables.  I simply love that musical so much.  It has been made into a movie and one of my favorite actresses is in it, Anne Hathaway.  Hugh Jackman is also in it too.  I just can't wait to see it in the movies.  Allison is also working on a song from Mary Poppins the Broadway, "Practically Perfect".  It is such a cute song.  Her Italian piece is giving her a bit of a fit right now, but I think in a week or so, she will have it down pat.  Overall, I am rather pleased with her progress.  Tomorrow I have 5 lessons, my 2 little ones, Faith, Dede, and Wama.  Dede and Wama are doing super well.  They started in January and are already in their 3rd book.

I am going to read for a bit now before I head for bed.

Tuesday 8-21

I had 2 lessons this afternoon.  My newest student, Sammy (15 and a vocalist) had her lesson and Aubrey (7 and a pianist) had hers today instead of tomorrow since they will be busy tomorrow.  David has changed his day to Saturday.  Tomorrow I have a new student.  She is 6 and has played for a bit.  I always am excited for a new student.  Then I have Allison and Antoinette.  Antoinette has moved into the level 3 books now.  We are both excited about this.

School starts next week for some of my students.  The public school students do not start until after Labor Day.  This Saturday is my cousin, Lia's wedding.  It should be interesting.  My aunt and uncle will be there as well as some cousins that I haven't seen in a while.  My younger brother will be there too.

I am watching Dance Moms as it is Tuesday and NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles are re-runs.  When fall comes, I will switch back to the NCIS and NCIS Los Angeles.  Anyways, it is amusing as ever.

My younger brother must have surgery soon.  He has a lump right next to his spine in his neck and it must be removed.  I had to read this on face book.  I have since spoken to him and he will let me know what is going on before posting it on face book.

I am reading a new book about healthy eating and how to stay with eating healthy.  So far it is good.  I think I have been doing rather well eating healthy but I want to be even better.  I rarely have cravings and usually my cravings are for milk or a Peanut Butter/Jelly or Honey sandwich.  That is what I like a lot of.  My goal is to be 1/2 my size by the beginning of next summer.  I don't think I will have any problems getting that way either.

Well, I am tired tonight so I think it is time for a bit of reading before going to bed.

The Life I Live in my Head 8-20

Sometimes I think the life in my head is better than the one I live.  In my head, I can do anything.  I can dance again, walk for long walks again, do anything I want physically, it is beautiful.  I know that I am a daydreamer and I always have been.  I would look out the window and see my beautiful dreams in the air.  My friends think it is kind of weird that I can do that, but I always have been able to.  In my dreams, I am running and jumping, flying all around.  In some ways I do live my dreams, just on a limited basis.  I have accepted (or whatever you want to call it) that I can't do stuff right now, but with the leaps and bounds the medical field is advancing, it is hard to say that I won't ever be able to dance again.  I want to be able to dance again, just a slow dance, I know ballet and lyrical (my favorite genres of dance) is out of the question but slow dancing is not.  Some day I will be able to slow dance again.  I just know it.

I also wonder if others day dream and live in their heads like I do.  I have seen some of the postings that others have put on face book about what people think they do, what they think they do, and what they really do.  Some are really funny.

I think one of the  things I discovered about living a much more mellow life since I got sick, is noticing the beauty in life.  I love to go scootering and looking at the beautiful flowers, trees, and nature in general.  Mom and I used to scooter/walk every night after dinner in the summer of 2009.  We would go different directions to see different things.  Mom was always looking at the beauty of nature.  I love gardens.  Unfortunately, I can kill a plant just by looking at it.  Mom was the green thumb of the family, not me.  I was not very good at telling the difference between a plant and a weed.  In fact, until the flowers were blooming, I didn't know what they were.  It was worse with the vegetables because I never knew when they needed to be harvested so yeah, they usually died in the garden.  I appreciate people who can garden and make things grow, I just wish I were one of them like mom and several of my friends.  When I was on vacation one year at the US Virgin Islands, I went to see some really beautiful gardens.  They are so peaceful and beautiful.  I also think that when you slow down life, the stress level may go down.  It did for me (mostly).  Unfortunately, the anxiety level didn't go down with the stress.  I have medicine for it again.  I hoping that soon I will be able to go off it again and not have high anxiety.  I was able to do that in 2008 and my anxiety wasn't so bad until the last summer for Mom.  That is when it went through the roof and I should have let my family doctor know, but I didn't.

In 2 weeks school will be starting again.  Another school year will be under way.  Soon the fall will arrive and summer will be a dream.  I am looking forward to the weather that fall brings.  So far, August has not been too hot like July.  July had many days at 100 and close to it.  I am glad that it isn't too hot at this time.  It is simply beautiful out.