My Scorching HOT Summer

I took a break.  It was much needed.  After spending two months on the road, it was good to be back home.  The downside is that the temperature since we have arrived home, currently from July 1st to today (July 26), has been 110+.  Crazy, I know.  It is scorching HOT!!

Our RV trip was great, other than the engine mishap.  I saw most of my kids and grandkids.  We visited with one granddaughter, Niki, who is in college in Springfield, MO. 

We attended my grandson’s graduation from the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO.  Along with his graduation gift, he was also gifted with the quilt I had promised to him.

Spending time on the beach on the Emerald Coast (Gulf of Mexico in Florida’s panhandle) was so relaxing. 

Because of our RV mishap in Tennessee, we had to delete our visit to Galveston Island, Texas and make our way back to Tuscan, Arizona in time for Dennis to attend his American Legion state meeting.  While he attended, I hung out at the three swimming pools in the 55+ RV resort.

Last April I woke up one morning with terrible pain down my left arm.  I didn’t think I was having a heart attack, but my husband didn’t want to take chances, so he took me to the emergency room.  I was correct.  My ticker was working fine.  My shoulder, from where the pain down my arm permeated, was fine by all X-rays.  My primary care doctor thought it was probably bursitis and gave me some stretching exercises.  Then we left for two months of RVing.  My shoulder ached the first month but was getting better as I was doing nothing!  That’s the cure—do nothing! Unfortunately, that’s not a permanent possibility.

When I got home it started flaring up again.  This time I took myself to a chiropractor.  I have never done that before.  He has me doing a lot of stretching exercises.  He does an “adjustment,” whatever that is.  Such a weird thing.  I have a neck brace that I wear for a half hour every evening with a cold pack that it in it.  I still have some aching in my shoulder, but it no longer goes down my whole arm or is as painful as before.  I suppose this treatment, therefore, is successful.  

We are staying cool by pretty much staying at home.  We have a swim spa.  We have been able to keep the water temperature down in the high 80’s or low 90’s which feels really cool (but not cold) on these super hot days.  

I do not swim in the spa.  I don’t like my face in the water, so I run in the spa.  The jets get turned on, and I run against them using my arms, like swimming, to keep me in place.  Once in a while my shoulder will tell me to stop and rest.  Usually, though, I get in 30 minutes of water running.  It is funny how 30 minutes running in a pool is so much easier than trying to run on dry ground. When I am done and the jets are off, I lay on my raft and just relax for a bit.  This is pretty much a daily activity.

I completed the top of a Christmas tree skirt for my son and daughter-in law.  They selected all the designs they wanted on the skirt.  She is from Germany, so I made the Christmas tree lot, a German Christmas Market, and I found a cuckoo clock and put the words, “Frohes Fest” which means Merry Christmas in German.  I cannot post the final photos of the skirt until they receive it the end of the year, but I will post a few special blocks I made for their tree.

I am going to reorganize my sewing room.  We have decided to sell our living room sectional, and bring the couch from my sewing room to the living room and purchase some additional side chairs.  That leaves more room for me to work.  I saw a great idea of using tool boxes as table supports in the sewing room.  This solution would hold so many of the sewing and quilting supplies.  I realized the room I saw was much bigger than my room, and I have to put my tablets in an “L” shape to fit, so the configuration of tool boxes as table supports would not work. 

I have decided to purchase a larger tool box with a finished top.  It was be counter height and will fit my cutting mat.  I won’t have to bend over to cut fabrics, and that should help heal my back and shoulder.  It will go where I had the sofa, with plenty of room to still move around.  

This project will take a couple months because we have to try to sell the sectional first.  It’s only 5 years old and in excellent shape.  It’s a bit worrisome because people want to purchase furniture on the cheap.  Although it’s 5 years old, purchased from Crate & Barrel, it has only been used full-time for a but over two years because we were snowbirds before making this our permanent home.

Life has been slow this past month, and it feels good to just slow down for a bit.  I’m planning all my future projects, and will start working on them as I get plans finalized and fabrics purchased. In the meantime, I will try not to get too dehydrated in this scorching heat!