Easter Dinner, etc

Me and the shingles are just not getting along!  If this is a mild case then I cannot imagine a severe case of shingles. Once I got past the stabbing, burning, searing pain, it has settled down into itching which is driving me nuts. Most of the breakout areas have faded away but there is still a big area in the middle of my back and a couple of other spots. Of course I can't reach the one on my back and every time I move, my clothes rub against it and that sets off itching. I finally sent an email to the doctor pleading for help.... They said to use a hydrocortisone cream and to take Zyrtec which is a strong allergy medicine. I have been using the cream and it works for a short time. The Zyrtec puts me to sleep and does help the itching some but I hate the "fog in the brain" feeling the next day from it. Apparently the average case lasts 2-6 weeks and I am not starting week 4.  However, I have head of people who had it for months before it all cleared up... Please God, don't let that be me.....

The family Easter Dinner was last Sunday.  There was 60-65 people there and all but 10 were related in one way or another. Usually Easter is at the home of one of Vida's daughters but there are just to many for a house so this year we used the Lion's Club building and that worked out really well. Besides all the food, there is always an egg hut for the kids.

L-R: Sheryl, Vida's oldest, Vida, Bill and Vivian, Bill's oldest. 

A portion of the food table. There was a total of 96 deviled eggs on the table and not a one was left at the end of the dinner. 

Cousins with the Easter Bunny who doesn't look too thrilled to be there. 

"Look mommy at what I found." The egg hunt organizers divide the total number of eggs by how many kids there are and then tell the parents/kids how many eggs they can each have. This year it was 20.  They use the plastic eggs and fill them with candy. Some eggs are in plain site and others are more hidden.  The older kids know to leave the easy one for the little ones. This is a 4th generation family member and she may have been the youngest one on the egg hunt although not the youngest one at the dinner. 

Fun Family Time!

And tomorrow is Spring.....

Yes it is officially spring. Yes we had snow flurries yesterday. Yes it was slightly below freezing last night but that does not discourage me after these sights on the way home from a meeting last Thursday... Of course I do have a little mixed feelings because Spring means an end to sweaters and scarfs...

These white blooming trees are everywhere - I think they are flowering crab apple trees. If you are on a light hill, you can look across and see them in medians and many yards. 

These forsythia were some of the largest I have seen in a while. 

Shingles update: I ended up going to see a nurse practitioner in my doctor's office last Monday afternoon as I had had it with the pain. She was just full of not good news.... Yes, you have a bad case. Yes, the shot may help it from getting as bad as it can get. Yes, you need some pain medication. Yes, it can take a while to get rid of the nerve paid after the "visible effects" are gone. So  I was put on prednison to get it calmed down and narcotics for the pain. At this point the breaking out is probably 60-70% cleared up. However, the nerve paid in some of the worst pain I have ever had in my life. I have had multiple surgeries so know what that pain is like plus I know what arthritis pain is like. This shooting, stabbing, burning pain is different and there is no way to get comfortable where it doesn't hurt. With the other pain, you can usually find a position where it doesn't hurt as much. I'm caught between a rock and hard place since I have to limit how much ibuprofen I can take due to only having one kidney and I don't like to take the narcotics for pain. Plus the ibuprofen only lasts a couple of hours and that is too many in a day. Oh well.....patience!

Amazon: Amazon came to the rescue again for a product I could not find in stores. About 10 years ago I got a cordless curling iron that uses a thermal cell for fuel. I got a refill while living in Tucson but now needed another refill. Five different stores here in KC did not have it and I only found one person who even knew what I was talking about because they don't make them anymore. I checked Amazon, they had a package of 2 for $7.95 and two days later they were delivered. I got 2 packs just in case which will probably last me the rest of my life....

Girl Scout Cookies: I didn't get any last year but got a box each of my favorites this year. I am very disappointed in the Girl Scouts because they are so cheaply make. The one with coconut on the top just has tiny little pieces of coconut not the full shreds that it used to have. Tradition gone.... 

Monday Misc for March 14, 2016

This weekend had some good highs and bad lows....

Sisters +2: Back when the girls got together for my birthday, they talked about wanting to get together more often just to get together and catch up.  I finally agreed to plan the events. Last Saturday we met at a place near me where you chose a ceramic piece, paint it, they fire it and you get the finished product in a couple of weeks.

Between Bill and Vida, they have 6 daughters living in the area so they make up the "sisters" and a daughter-in-law and me are the "+2". One daughter lives out of town. Two of the sisters could not make it last Saturday. Starting on the left: Toni (daughter-in-law), Cathy, Sheryl, me, Vivian and Karen. The fun thing was that we could choose what we wanted to paint so we didn't all have to do the same thing.

After painting, we came across the street to my house for an "early happy hour" with drinks, food and visiting. We planned the menu for the family Easter Dinner, talked about what to do in May when we get together again plus just catching up on what is going on in our lives.

The food was good and ranged from little meatballs to cupcakes. 

The adult beverage for the day was Mimosa Punch that was outstanding. I could easily have kept drinking it all evening.....It was sooooooo good!

Now for the low:  On Thursday I broke out with shingles. I thought that if you have the shot then you won't get it but that is not the case. You can still get it but sometimes the shot keeps it from being as bad as it can get which is what I am hoping for in my case. Every story I have heard from people about how bad it is is true. It is on my upper back, below the shoulder, and comes around over the arm down to the elbow and across the chest. At times the ache is like a severly sprained muscle and constant. It burns, tingles, itches - and is just miserable. Each breakout area seems to have it's own sensation so you can be burning in one spot and a few minutes later another spot feels like there is 100 needles being put in the skin at once. I'm on an antiviral perscription to hopefully keep it from getting too bad since we caught it right when it broke out. Not fun!  And then there is the fact that I had to cancel my cataract surgery today for the 2nd eye - very, very frustrating!  I'll just have to ride it out and hope for the best!

Monday Misc for March 7th

It's official:  I don't care what the calendar and the weathermen say, Spring is here! Yesterday morning I was sitting at the table having breakfast when I looked at the house across the street and saw yellow things in the yard. My whole mood lifted...

This morning I went for a walk and saw several robins. What more indication do you need to know that spring is here? In a little corner of my brain I know that these could have snow on then but at least not for this week.

Sunday at the zoo: I have been wanting to go to the zoo since the weather has warmed up but so has everyone else in Kansas City based on the crowds that have been there on weekends. But yesterday I went anyway. I was there when they opened and the FIRST person at the penguin exhibit. The advantage of going several times a year is that you know where things are.

The King penguins were definitely just waking up - breakfast wasn't to be for about another hour. This guy on the left is sitting in fresh snow. On each size of the exhibit, up high, is snow making machines that blow some fresh snow every few seconds. Sometimes the penguins just go set in the snow coming down.

I'm always intrigued with the jelly fish. They are so delicate and beautiful in their moves. I was watching them yesterday and realized that the little wispy hairs come out when they move - otherwise they are tucked in the edges.

As many times as I have been to the zoo over the last 3 years, I didn't know they had an indoor bird show. It is a large indoor theater and the birds are trained to fly from one spot to another by the trainers. The Arizona Sonora Desert Museum in Tucson has the raptor flights but they are outside in the open and the birds fly where trained to go. There, they can take off for Mexico or Canada but it almost never happens. Maybe the birds know they have a good thing there with housing and plenty of food.

This is the first time I have ever seen a Spectacled (not it is not misspelled) owl. They are from Central and South America. This guy is retired from the zoo's bird show.

And then there was Aramis, the blue and gold Macaw parrot. He had done his usual flights around the theater from perch to perch lured by his trainers and this was his final spot of his part. However, he was not ready to leave the stage and would not go to his handler. His perch was just above his reach. After several minutes of placing food around, he finally flew over to her as is to say "OK, I'm done now." On a Macaw parrot, his toes point in separate directions so they can hang upside down. His tail feathers are about 2 feet long and they have the intelligence of a 2 year-old child. He really was a beautiful bird when his weeks were fully open.

Spring is getting close - I hope

I know that we could still get a big snow or ice storm this spring.  However, I was at Walmart this week and this is what greeted me in front of the store.

Not only did they have the first potted plants of the year but they were unloading a semi-truck full of bags of soil, etc. and other gardening supplies were stored in the parking lot.

Politics: The political race this year has to be the best reality show on TV right now. I have actually watched a lot of the debates - at least the first hour. Again, it is just unbelievable what the Republicans say.  The Bernie and Hillary debates are dull compared to the Republicans. The Kansas Caucus is tomorrow and within the last 2 days I have got a phone call from Ted, Mark, Bernie and Donald - well it was their voice and I quickly hung up....  Last night I got a call from a survey company. I was going to hang up and then decided to do the survey just so I could give some of them my "no way" rating.

Getting ready for teaching my genealogy classes: The one for March 17th is done. I'm about half done with the one for April 14th which is on comparing a website and blog if you are going to use one for your personal genealogy. However I have not started on the one for May 9th and that will be a big one. In the May 9th class,  I am comparing the 4 most popular software programs used in genealogy to keep your information in. One of them I have used for 20+ years, 2 of them I know a little bit about and don't know anything about the 4th one so have a steep learning curve to do to get ready for it. I am certainly doing a lot more in genealogy now that I expected to do when I moved back here. Part of it is that the Society I belong is so active and involved in so many  things. And then of course there is the Quarterly that gets published every quarter..... Busy, Busy, Busy but then I do have to stay busy so can't complain too much!