Happy Sunday! I am in a small town in Tennessee this morning. I stopped here last night as I make my way to Missouri for work this week to help roll out a new client. Flying on an airline is not my thing. After the last crazy flights to and from Oregon, I decided that anything that is 13 hours…
173 Days to Monson!
Happy Wednesday! Only 173 days until we hit the trail in Monson, Maine! Less than 6 months to go. Woo! It seems so close, but yet so far away. It takes a lot of planning to get to day one on the trail, so we are deep into planning mode right now. We are working out the details of each…
Eustachian Tube Dysfunction Fixed: My First Hiking Experience
Happy New Year! Yesterday, we backpacked to the summit of Mt. Jefferson to test out my new gear and my new ear. I was going to title this post, “Testing New Gear and My New Ear in the New Year,” but I refrained. Ha ha. The elevation of the summit is 4,665 ft, which is a good test of the…
A New Ear for the New Year
Happy New year! I’ve got a new ear for a new year! I got a tube put into my ear today. It was a complete surprise. I wasn’t expecting a tube when I made this ENT appointment six months ago! It’s a very weird sensation to have your ear drum numbed. It took several hours to wear off.And…..as many times…
River Update
He will be able to be neutered with a special anesthesia protocol. He does have hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.His murmur is grade IV/VI. He will stay on the blood thinner and after he is neutered, we will add a second med. They can’t tell us how fast it will progress. The second medication will help relax the heart muscle. The findings: -There…
Arrived! LiteAF Backpack: Lightweight Gear for Hiking Adventures
On the 5th day of Christmas, the postman brought to me my LiteAF backpack that I ordered back in October! I was so excited that it arrived almost one month early. It weighs in at 48 ounces and takes off 3.5 pounds from my other backpacking backpack. This will significantly help me keep my total pack weight below 40 pounds…
Caring for River: Our Journey with His Heart Condition
It’s Christmas Eve! Marty is at work tonight and I’m sitting around with the fur babies. He’s hopefully going to get off early from the nightshift to go to Midnight Mass with us. The cats got a new cat tree, some dental treats and a sardine can toy. They love the new tree! It will be shredded in a month.…
Rediscovering Christmas Cards: A Heartfelt Tradition
For the first time in 9 years, I have Christmas cards in the mail before Christmas Day! Woo Hoo! Christmas has been a struggle for me since my family was broken up. I know people don’t like to hear about that part, but it is completely normal for women to feel this way after abandonment– even 9 years later. This…
Healing Through Decluttering: Letting Go
Last month, I was sorting through a few things in our guest bedroom. Nine years ago, I shoved so much stuff in the closets to get it off the floor that the doors barely close. Some of it has just been shuffled from one shelf to another or from one closet to another. I donated boxes and boxes of books.…
Oakley Meta Glasses
What have you been reading? I’m currently reading a book on Bats titled The Secret Lives of Bats. During my recent travels for work, I also listened to what I call brain candy – a few more of the Stephanie Plum novels. I completed the 31st book. In the beginning after BD, I started reading these funny, lighthearted books just…
My Little Red Bike 