Lexa Cain's Blog

My birthday was this week, and I forgot about it! I have so many things to figure out (trying to get to stores, bank problems, in-law problems, lawyers & legal papers...) that I literally forgot to celebrate on the actual day. But my friends came through with a birthday call -- and then a second kitten!! The one kitten they got me before just seemed a bit lonely in the flat with this confused old lady, so I asked my friends for another. The new one's a bundle of energy and fights with the other one, but I figure they just have to get used to each other, grow up a bit, and feel secure in this old lady's home. 'Don't worry, kids, there's enough food to go around!' I'm sure they'll be best buddies soon.

Things look better on the legal front with my (very expensive) lawyer reaching a deal with the in-laws. There were another couple of small properties and it looks like they'll take those and leave me with the main flat that Sherif and I bought 20 years ago, which is what I wanted. 

I'm still super sorry my friends are moving away, but I have hope that good things are coming. In my life, good things usually follow on the heels of disasters, and heaven knows I've been through enough disasters this past year and am overdue for some relaxation and happiness for a change. Come on happiness -- get over here, dagnabbit!!


My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



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** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

My best friends here in Egypt, Lucy and Alaa, got me the cutest gift ever! They were worried about me -- afraid I was feeling sad and alone in my flat -- so they got me a kitten!  She's an adorable little brown tabby with blue eyes, which I've never seen on a tabby before. She's only about 4 months old, and she's a bundle of energy. I can barely keep up with her! 
It's absolutely impossible not to smile when you have an adorable little ball of fluff purring or playing near you. So I have to hand it to my friends -- BEST GIFT EVER!!


My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:


** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

Not sure which of the girls in the photo resembles me the most. Of course, I'm definitely older than both of them, but after my stroke, walking has been as hard as if I were a little kid walking on shifting sands. Whether I'm on a street or even in my flat, I have to think about every step and compensate for chronic dizziness.  

But I've never fallen, and I am improving, getting stronger and more stable, slowly but surely, and that's worth celebrating!

My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:


** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

Pretty much every facet of my life is hard now, but that's why I need to find any kernel of good and trumpet any accomplishment, which is what we do on 'Celebrate'.

This week, I went shopping all by myself for the first time in over 9 months. Last July, I was hospitalized, and for the following 3-4 months, I was too sick to leave my bed. Then I got a bit better and hubs started driving me out and about. But he worried about me and followed me around in stores like a scared puppy. After his sudden death (on March 3), my friends just brought what I needed, or I walked to the tiny shops in our neighborhood. However, they have only very basic stuff (food & drinks), and these days I need unusual things, like notebooks, binders, folders, and pens to write notes to myself. (I have a hard time remembering things unless they're written down due memory impairment caused by arteriosclerosis).

But finally, the piles of 'to-do' notes myself, important info (like how to get on Blogger), and the lengthy medicine schedules were all over the couch, and the chaos was working my last nerve! I needed folders to organize things. So I got in a taxi and went to the mall -- all by myself.  

Then what do I find? The biggest store in the mall that had anything you could want (clothing, shoes, hair products, stationary, notebooks, etc.) was shut down, all windows covered up, and no people anywhere around! I don't know if it's permanent or what, but dang that was a shock! Everything else at the mall is clothing stores or restaurants...

Then I remembered a place at another shopping strip and got a taxi to take me there. After getting what I needed, I had to get home. But money is running short with me these days, so I decided to walk. It's probably about one and a half miles. Not so much for a normal person, but quite a challenge for sick, chubby, out-of-shape, and rather pitiful me. :P

But I did it! I literally walked home -- through other neighborhoods, on sandy stretches beside highways where there's no sidewalk, and even squeezed past overgrown, thorny bushes that I had to disentangle from my clothes -- ouch!

The doctors tell me that exercise is important, but sit-ups/push-ups, etc. is hard and too painful (since I have chronic back & knee problems) -- but at least I finally did something! It's time for me to be brave and do difficult-but-necessary things, right? 

I'm a little bit proud of myself. ;)


My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:


** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

Sorry that my post went up late today. With all the problems in my life right now, I consider it a minor miracle if I remember to post at all. (Or if I remember how to access Blogger in the first place...)

In the middle of the difficulties in my life atm, two people are always by my side, ready and willing to help in any way they can: Lucy and Alaa. They got a lawyer to take me to a government office so I could register my husband's death, they went with me to my bank so I could work out some difficulties (cancel cards, get new cards), they call every day to see if I need anything, and if I do, they immediately schedule a time when they can come pick me up and take me where I need to go. I truly don't know how I'd manage without them. Their kindness and loyalty will remain in my heart forever.

Friends are the BEST!!

My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:


** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

One of the things the doctors said I'm supposed to do to get healthy again is exercise. However, with a permanent slipped disk and chronic knee problems, not to mention my frequent dizziness (due to arteriosclerosis and brain clots), typical exercise is off the table. And besides, yucko!

However, I enjoy cleaning. Well, not really the physical labor so much -- who likes that? -- but I love looking at a clean house and being proud of the work I did to get it "ship shape." So my way of exercising is to clean rooms, plus I cook almost every day, and then do all those darn dirty dishes, of course!

And let me tell you, there's plenty to clean around my house since I spent so many months in bed, and my late husband was never very good in the "housekeeping" department. 

Plus, I now have new spackle, paint, and a roller. Yay! I'm just waiting another month or two till I feel steady enough to climb a ladder, then WATCH OUT disgusting, dirty walls -- I'm gonna get you!

My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:


** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)
  

I'm very, very sad to report that my husband died this week. He was only 50, and he didn't have anything wrong with him. He was literally fine one day and gone the next.

I'm afraid I wonder whether it may have been due to the stress of taking care of me for the last 8 months. While I'm not very ill, my memory is quite shaky...  I have good long term memory, like I remember everything before the last 5 years pretty clearly, but my short term memory is defective due to my arteriosclerosis and the hemorrhages in my brain that occurred 8 months ago. The hemorrhages are lodged in the area of short term memory and that makes it difficult to me to recall the details of day-to-day living. Every day I wake up and only remember a few of the things (mostly very big/unusual things) that have happened in the past weeks/months. The 'regular stuff' of daily living just seems to vanish overnight.  This is obviously hard for me to handle and it was hard for him, too. 

It's very sad that he's gone, but at least he's at peace now and has no more problems to worry about. 

I'm still here, but I wish my life would get easier. I still have to take a bunch of meds every day because of the brain problems and must now try to deal with everything on my own.  Please send me your wishes for good luck and improvement -- Lord knows I need as much of both of those as I can get.

My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:


** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

While I can't exactly celebrate my "illness" (brain clots and short term memory loss), there are some benefits I've discovered! Last week, I celebrated that hubs bought a new flatscreen TV for us, and it's much easier on the old eyeballs than the old TV set. Yay! Now I've noticed that there are no such things as "repeats." You know -- that movie or sitcom episode that was great the first time, but gets annoying when it comes on again and again? Well, the upside to my condition is that all TV programs are new to me! That Seinfeld episode that I'm sure has been on plenty of times before, now totally makes me giggle and laugh like it's the first time I've seen it. Same with movies. Yes, the movies that get repeated several times on a channel before the network puts on new ones -- no problem here! I can watch that sucker fifty times and won't remember it in detail the next time it comes on. 

Overall, I'm in pretty good physical health, have a great husband, wonderful friends, and a new TV. What more could I ask for? :)

  

My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:


** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

Does this squinting-at-things happen to you too?

On our old TV, the screen was getting fuzzier and more distorted and unstable, and that was a big strain on our senior eyeballs. But hubs went to a department store having a sale and got us a new flat screen! It's not a giant, wall-hanging one or anything, but the screen is almost twice as big as our old TV's screen, and I can't tell you what a relief that is -- no more squinting at the TV shows. Yay!

I'm probably preaching to the choir, since I bet most people have flat screen TVs by now, but my old TV was a Sony and very good quality, so we just kept it, and kept it ... and kept it ...

But no more! Now we have a great new one that I can see without squinting!! Woohoo!!


My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:


** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)

Sometimes I think I hit the "off" switch on my darn brain, and it's taking a long time to reboot. Among the things that are the most difficult are passwords. You know... those things you need in order to get onto practically any account on the net.  I got spoiled coz my PC had all those passwords in its memory and supplied them whenever I opened the corresponding page. But my PC crashed (for about the 5th time) and this time it wasn't reparable. Bummer. :(

On the good side, hubs bought me a new PC. Yay! But there are no passwords in its memory, and the sites I frequent don't recognize the new PC and don't supply my password. Ack! So, I've been trying to change my passwords to all the sites I frequent, and I write down the new ones in a notebook (which I specifically made for this current situation). 

But somehow I don't write the passwords down correctly or I capitalize something when I shouldn't -- and next time I visit I can't get in! Password-protected sites are very particular... 

At a glacial pace, I'm going to all the sites I used to frequent, and since the new PC won't supply the password, I have to hit the sites' "Change Password" button. Things don't get much simpler than that ... but it takes a lot of time. 

Also (like that's not enough), my mobile phone died. On the good side, hubs gave me an extra one he had. On the bad side, I cannot seem to remember how to use the different menus and the various commands. Yup, I'm pretty pitiful...

So send me your good luck vibes coz I need all I can get!!


My kind and wonderful co-hosts of Celebrate the Small Things are:
L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge
Tonja Drecker @ Kidbits Blog

Celebrate The Small Things Linky:



Grab the Linky html-code here:


** To see who’s posted for the hop look at my Celebrate The Small Things Blog Roll, left sidebar bottom **


  Celebrate the Small Things . To be part of this blog hop, all you have to do is visit the Celebrate page on Lexa's Blog for the rules, and then post every Friday about something you're grateful  for that week.  It can be about writing or family or school or general life.  This is the funnest and easiest blog hop ever! (Originated by VikLit)