FallingLEAVes of Sunshine

Now that we've gotten past the worst of the recovery process, each day feels like we're at a snail's pace. Last Monday was probably the worst day I had this week. Which is good. It was feeling like every other day was a good day then followed by a bad day. Fortunately I haven't needed to take any pain medication in the middle of night anymore. Down to two doses a day, though I will take a third if needed. Mainly taking 1000 mg tylenol and 600mg advil to manage my pain. This was something recommended when I had my gum surgery last year. I still have a bottle of generic vicodin (hydrocodone and acetaminophen) for "breakthrough pain". I was prescribed 6 pills and only took one the first morning I got home. Most days, I take one dose with breakfast and one with dinner. If needed with a mid day snack. Majority of the time, my right arm feels a sore. Sometimes if I move the wrong way, my right shoulder will hurt. Showering still takes a lot of effort and usually res...

Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow, Blessings all mine and ten thousand beside No one knows what tomorrow may hold. When you get up in the morning, the slate is wiped clean. Everything that happened yesterday is in the past. The slate is new and only what happens that day will go on it. Will it be a good day? Will it be a bad day? What does the day hold for you when you get up? My day now starts with, how bad will my pain be today? Will it be manageable? Will I feel good enough to wash my hair today? But at least, I get to get up and ask those questions. I get to attempt to do it myself without assistance from others. One of my coworkers used to call me Bright Side. Because no matter what happened at work, I would say something, "well on the bright side".  This weekend has been and up and down each day. One good day, then one bad day. Then another good day since I rested a lot on the bad day. Then a bad day because I tried to do too much when I was feeling better...

 Yesterday we moved my things from the main floor back downstairs to the master bedroom that I rent from my friend's parents. It's nice to be sitting up in a couch instead of the recliner. A lot more cushy and more comfortable. Also, now I can watch whatever I want on all the streaming services we have downstairs and not just on an iPad with earbuds on.  The best part, I get to be with my furbabies again. Evie settled right back, snuggling with me, rubbing her head against my phone. Mal just gave me a look of, "oh it's you again" and went about her business. Hans, well he's Hans. Came over to say hello and went back to doing whatever he was doing. It's nice also being a lot closer to the bathroom. The downside is we have mini fridge, so the freezer doesn't hold as many ice packs and we only have a few down here. At least I don't need the ice packs as much as I did last week.  Slept so much better on the couch than I did in the recliner. It may take...

It's been so long that I forgot I even had this page. I didn't even know it was still around. Long story short and I'm not going to go into the details of it. I had an accident at work on Thursday, February 13. I was discharged from the ER the next morning, with a broken clavicle, a couple ribs and a chest hematoma. The first few days were the hardest and by Monday morning, I felt like the worst was behind me. Had a few decent days following that. Each day felt like baby steps in the right direction, with a few steps sliding back. Today is a sliding back day. Over the last week, many people have reached out with their words of support. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. My heart is full with love and gratitude knowing how much everyone cares. A lot has changed in the 11 years between my last blog post and now. I lost my job at ScanDigital when they relocated to the midwest. Joined the post office as a city carrier assistant in October 2015. Started in Eagle Rock and be...

Maybe it's contributed to my problem with having low self esteem since I was little. But I feel like I'm always super critical of myself and my efforts. I have always found it difficult to accept compliments. Even when I know the person giving it is completely genuine. I always have this niggling shred of doubt in the back of my mind. Not the "I'm a perfectionist and it wasn't perfect like I think it should be" kind of way. Usually it's the, "I'm really just mediocre and it really wasn't that great but if you say it is, okay" kind of way. And deep down, "I really hope it's true what you're saying" kind of way. Because in certain aspects, I know that I'm not that good at things but I try really hard at it anyway. Like music. Music does not really come naturally to me. Nor do I really have a head for it. But I really love music. For example, I play the bass clarinet and have loved playing it since the first time I tr...

Remember when everyone had a blog and posted regularly? I know I dropped off the blogosphere years ago. In light of recent events, and smart phones and a blog app, I may have to jump back into blogging. Like I said once before, I forget how much I enjoy writing. It's one of my dreams to be a writer one day. Not sure what kind of writer and if I have anything worth reading. I do admit, I go through fads and phases. Some last longer then others. Some are very short. Like I've admitted recently to our new pastor, I am a bit obsessive compulsive. There was the Newsboys fad. I bought almost all of their albums within a one year span, at the time anyway. The Snoopy and peanuts gang phase, which still lingers. The love stories book series phase. Then I ran out of shelf space. The lakers phase didn't last very long. That was in the early 2000s. There was the lord of the rings phase. Like I said, I went through lots of phases. And of course, the Dodgers phase. That lasted much lo...

My mom passed away three weeks ago today from liver disease. Even before she passed away, I was already thinking, she's never gonna see me or my siblings get married, hold any of her grand kids... Like sometime else said, those lost opportunities. There are times when I think I'll never go a day without crying. I miss her everyday. Especially at night. For me, night time is always the hardest. The house is dark and quiet. I'm no longer listening for her to call out if she needs me. And its at night when I realize, I haven't seen her today and I remember she's gone. I know I haven't written I'm two years. That was shortly before I found out the first time my mom had a liver disease. She was managing it until last September when she got sick again. This time, there was no getting better. There were weekly trips, mostly in three middle of the night, to the ER. There were several long hospital stays. And finally, hospice care at home. It was three weeks ago th...

So, this is roller coaster ride that we call life... it has been quite jerky lately. My job position changed several times since my last post. Thank God, that I still have a job, and the job changes before have proven to be quite useful. Again, thank God because it blows my mind just thinking about how His hand has been all of this. I finally replaced my tires. My rear passenger side tire has been leaking air for ages. It was the one I had replaced last summer. Then yesterday morning, I noticed the rear driver side tire was low. As I was putting air in that, I noticed that there was a nail in my very balding tire! Time to replace my tires, something I had hoped to put off till tax time. No can do. On top that, even though I just got paid, I have no idea how I'm going to make my $500 payment at the end of the month, due to needing to get new tires. This also throws out going to the Dodgers' Open House and buying any mini plan of any sort. Sorry Edward. And almost exactly to the ...

Right? Tuesday I picked up my car and went to work. No sooner than I had gotten settled in that I overheard a conversation about me. It was easy enough to overhear and boy did I feel rotten. Just when I thought I was doing fine ... I get a bomb dropped on me and find out I'm not. On the bright side, at least now that I know what I'm doing wrong I can fix it. Still, not a good feeling, you know? THEN today, I felt so bad during the first part of my shift. It felt almost like I was starting all over again. The day went pretty smoothly. On the bright side, I didn't have to handle the difficult stuff on my own. I had assistance. I just hate having to have someone walk me through the stuff that I should already have down. On my way home, I had just left work and turned onto the main street to go home when I noticed my car sounded funny. I pulled into the nearest gas station and got out to check it out. The tire I just had replaced .... was FLAT! I got out the stuff to try and ch...

Right? Today started off earlier than usual for a Monday morning. I got out of the house so I could go down to the Talbots in Pasadena to shop for some jeans. It was good to see some familiar faces, though it took me a while to remember some names. By the time I left, I didn't find any new jeans. They had some jeans on sale for $25. And if you know Talbots jeans, that's a great deal! Well, no jeans. But I did get like three new tops. They were on sale and an additional 25% off. On my way out, one of the girls told me my former manager worked near by. I wanted to stop by and see if she was working so I could say hi. Well, I was going down the street and I saw that I was going to miss the drive way for the parking lot. I guess I wasn't going to miss it because when I turned to go in, I hit the curb. I mean, I really HIT the curb. When I parked, my tire was flat. I busted my tire! I tried to change it myself and then freaked out. Turns out I didn't jack it up high enough a...

So, yes, I finally gave in today and went shopping for a new digital camera before work. I found a great deal at Office Depot... and wouldn't you know it... they were all sold out! She said all the stores in the area were sold out. I asked her if that included L.A. because I am actually in the L.A./Glendale/Burbank area. She didn't go back to check. She just said it was sold out. There was a Best Buy down the street so I went there and found a cheapie one for about $65. Now I'm having buyer's remorse. I have the receipt and haven't opened it. Maybe I'll return it tomorrow if I find a better deal else. I haven't opened it yet. I can still return it, right? Why am I looking for a digital camera now? I finished that disposable camera and the photo guy at CVS said the photos may not come out well since the film is old (2008). Well, the photos came out but yeah, the quality is just ... not great. I couldn't even scan the negatives because the scanner wouldn...

Today, I got three photos taken with three different players: Rubby De La Rosa, Josh Lindblom, and Javvy Guerra. I would love to see what the photos look like ... but I used a disposable camera. I'm still adjusting to using one. I keep forgetting to wind it. I wish it was wound up when Javvy leaned in to take a picture with me. He leaned so close I felt the brim of his cap! And the camera wasn't wound! So the actual photo doesn't show how close he got the first time. BUMMER!!!

Yes, I know technically it is Wednesday. If I ever get to bed, I have to be up in about 7 hours or so. Why? I'm going to a Dodger game!!! In the middle of day? Yup. This year, the Dodgers have 6 mid-week afternoon games. I lost count, but I believe this is game 3 of 6. Game 4 is next Wednesday against the Tigers, Game 5 is in August against the Phillies, and I believe there is one more. So far in these 6 games, we are 1 - 1. The first one we won in Walk Off fashion against the Braves. The second one we lost huge to the Cubs. Who wants to guess how we do this Game 3? Don't forget... the Reds are looking to sweep the Dodgers at home... when was that last time that happened??? We lost last years home series to them, but we weren't swept... fortunately. Hopefully tomorrow will be a good day at work too. Today was much better than yesterday. I felt bad tonight because I kept accidentally hanging up on a customer. The first time, it wasn't my fault. Somehow our call got dropp...

Is there some rule that all Mondays have to be Manic Mondays? No kidding. Today was crazy busy. Then again, maybe because it's the first day after a weekend and we have to catch up from people calling and e-mailing over the weekend and our office isn't open then. The funny part is when people accuse us of not having our office hours listed when it IS listed on our website. Tomorrow is going to be interesting. I need to get my ticket for Wednesday game still. And Billy is taking my car in the morning to take his last final. Lucky for him, the gas light came on while I was driving home from work. I didn't want to drive to the 76 on Glendale Blvd so I pulled off on Manchester right off the 110. It's not exactly the neighborhood I'd like to be in at 1 AM but when you have to get gas ... I could've gassed up closer to work but it was 4.11 out by work. It was 3.95 at the one I went to. There was on person there when I pulled up by the time I got out, she was gone. The...

On most Sunday afternoons, our little group of friends (and it keeps continuing to shrink) go out to lunch after Sunday morning service, go have coffee, then go to evening service. Sometimes after evening service, we'd gather at Nina's house. We haven't done the latter very much lately. Our group ranged from 5 - 7 girls, now we're down to 5-6 girls ... and during the summer it'll range from 1 - 4, maybe 5 once Camp Meeting is over. Can you guess who the lone one will be for a Sunday or two? No big deal. I have plans for at least one of those Sundays. Maybe. Not sure yet. Today, it was going to be Angelina, Nina, and me again. It was just the three of us last Sunday and we went to Corner Bakery, KMart, Coffee Bean, Dollar Bookstore. Christianne went home and Heidi went out with Caleb. Today, it was going to be the three of us because Christianne's graduation was this afternoon. Congratulations to Christianne!!! Then Angelina couldn't come because her family w...

Do you cringe when you hear advertisements for debt relief programs? I used to. Hopefully in about two months, I can be one of those debt relief program success stories. Well, not really a success story. But, at least I will be debt free!!! About two months I ago, I called up one of my old credit cards. I had opened this account when I opened my back account. Naturally, at first I was good at paying it off and not spending to extravagantly. Well, needless to say, it got away from me eventually. It got to the point where they had charged the account off. I signed up with debt relief program and began making monthly payments of roughly a little over $100 a month. Recently, I figured I should be getting close to having it paid off. So, since I didn't have a statement or access to my online account anymore ... I called up the company and inquired about my balance. They said it was around 300. I forget the amount now. So I figured, okay two more payments through my debt management progr...

I figure I'll get one or two mean/rude customers a week. Yesterday I got two in one day. Fortunately, I only had one today and it wasn't till the end of my shift. Well, I got home and I saw I had an e-mail from Groupon advertising their special for Dodger tickets for the two day games on Wednesdays during the next homestand. I thought about it. Last time I checked it out, it came up to 13.90 just for my ticket. I coughed up the $14 for the Saturday game anyway at the Stadium. If I go to the stadium to my tickets, I can get top deck seats for $12 instead of paying $14 for the reserve ticket. The Groupon says it's $7 but there's about an additional $7 in fees you still have to pay. Plus, if I go when the team is on the road, I get to see my favorite ticket seller. While on Groupon, I noticed an advertisement for a competitor's deal. I checked out the competitor and looked at their FAQ, prices, and "reviews". Then I went on Yelp and really looked at their ...

Tonight was a 4-scoop ice cream night. When I'm having a rough day, I usually do 3 scoops. Today was extra rough, so it was four scoops. Working in CS, I know I'll get my head bit off by customers at least two or three times a week. Not in a day. No bueno! On the bright side, I went into the shipping room to ask a coworker a question. He had his back turned to the door and the music was on loud so he didn't hear me. I totally startled him. I gotta say... it was pretty funny the expression on his face. Though I'm not sure if it was a good thing or not I startled him. Am I that frightening? Still, the expression on his face and the reaction will keep me smiling for a few days till I forget about it. Woo hoo! Four posts in five days!

Long long day today. Where do I begin? First off, I had to report for Jury Duty today. As I wrote earlier. They let us go for lunch around 12. I went down to the Los Angeles Mall because there was a Carl's Jr in their food court. Line was too long by the time I got there. I even skipped taking the elevator down to the ground floor by taking the stairs instead. No wonder my calves were hurting! They still do a little. Add the new shoes that aren't the best for walking shoes plus lugging my laptop bag around... I ended up getting spaghetti that came with salad and a slice of wheat bread. Too bad I didn't walk around the food court more. I would've found the Sbarro and gotten that instead of the random little cafe type place I ended up at. I should found Ruth and asked her where she was going to lunch. Turns out, one of the ladies from church was in the same jury pool I was. She caught me during the break but when they dismissed us for lunch, she left before I could find h...

Here I am ... sitting in the jury assembly room with nothing much to do since Facebook is blocked by the wi-fi. Twitter isn't... but maybe because Twitter isn't a big distraction like Facebook is. At least I can blog. Hmmm maybe I can catch up on all those entries I'm behind on. On the downside, I'll be late for work by about an hour or two :( At least I can still go in for work since I work the night shift. Which is a good thing. I have a lot of e-mails I need to respond to. Well, even though I can't my Facebook ... at least I can access my Facebook chat list via my AIM. I thought about postponing my jury duty summons, but why put off the inevitable? Might as well serve since I'm here. And he did say technically if you receive the white postcard that notifies you that you failed to appear, you're not supposed to be able to postpone your service. The guy (Marcus) doing the orientation is pretty funny. Young guy, too, from what little I saw of him. I'm si...