Holidays and Jazz Wings....

I'm sorry it's been so long since my last real post. Time got away from me and I didn't realize how long it had been until I got a comment from Forsythia. Thank you Forsythia. I have my wonder woman gear on and I'm ready to go! So, last week I was doing some exercises which were intended to strengthen my back. I did all of them with relative ease, although there was a lot of huffing and puffing. Holly sat there instructing me and counting me down as I did them. I was quite proud that I made it through all of them. On the last exercise, I was having some difficulty because it's a partial push up and I'm not easy to push up. On the last one, I suddenly got a terrific headache and a pain in my left eye. Oops! I'm not supposed to do any heavy lifting for a long time because it can blow the veins that they are operating on in my eye. Considering I am heavier than the fridge, it was very unwise to do this exercise. I called the eye surgeon and they said they would check it out when I went in for my last operation, which was in 2 days. Crap!! Well it turns out, I did actually cause some bleeding in there, but they fixed it during the surgery. It wasn't too bad, but I'm glad it's over with. Now I have to go back in August to see if any of this has done any good. Sometimes it just doesn't work, but they won't be able to tell until then, so we'll see. I guess the alternative is that if it didn't work, I will go blind after all. Here's hoping it worked. I'm not worried. I just don't worry about this stuff. If I go blind, I know I will adjust to it and carry on being my crazy self...nothing can stop me!

Then on Monday, we had a major family crisis. The whole house was in an uproar. NAI Hubby went out to do a cleaning of our deck. He left the door open as he was dealing with some boxes that we hadn't taken down to the bin outside our apartment. Holly took the boxes and were putting them by the front door for him. Tequila's cage is near the door and the boxes startled him. He flew into the living room and right out the balcony door and was gone. Holly and I freaked, got our shoes on and went outside to see if we could find him. We have a lot of trees around and we called him for over an hour. We were heartsick and didn't want to go inside, but I knew he was long gone or he would have answered us if he heard my voice. Hesitantly, we decided to go in. There was a lot of crying and making deals with God. We knew he must have been very afraid, as Tequila is quite a big suck. We knew he could be prey for anything, and we figured he would probably die a horrible death since he had no idea how to take care of himself. On top of that, we were getting severe thunderstorm warnings for our area. Needless to say, we were in bits over it. I put flyer's in the building right away hoping someone would see him, but I didn't have much hope since I was sure he was long gone. Now get ready for the miraculous part of the story. Holly put Queenie and Gus's cage out on the balcony, hoping that Tequila may hear them and come back because they are so noisy. Four and a half hours after he was gone, we suddenly heard him outside. We'd know his peep anywhere! Holly ran downstairs to the front yard and I went out on the balcony. (we are 7 floors up) When she got there, a man was looking up a tall tree in the front yard. He pointed Tequila out to her. There he was!! Hubby and I ran downstairs. He was sitting very high on a branch and I certainly couldn't see him, but I could hear him. Now how to get him down. A lady who lived on the first floor joined us. She had actually put her cockatiel cage out to attract him and Tequila had landed on the cage but she couldn't grab him. How nice of her. Finally, the man that was there threw a stick and Tequila took off to the side of the building into a clump of trees. By then, a boy had joined us in the search. We all ran to the side of the building and looked in every tree we could but didn't see him. The lady started walking back to the front of the building and suddenly saw him sitting on a branch just out of reach. Hubby grabbed a stick and Tequila jumped on it. He carefully pulled the stick in and I grabbed him for dear life. We were so happy! Talk about finding a needle in a haystack! Thank you Jesus! We have bought a thank you card for that kind lady who did so much to help us find him. And we've learned our lesson: from now on, Tequila's wings are going to be clipped for the rest of his life! As I type this, he is sitting on the computer desk and every time I look at him I'm so grateful he's back and o.k. That was such an emotionally draining day for all of us. It just felt like the day would never end, and I can't remember crying so much for a very long time. Talk about answered prayer!

In other news, Hubby starts holidays on Saturday, which also happens to be his birthday. We will be spending it up at the love nest and Ashley, Rob and the kids will be coming up to the love nest around the 20th of July, so I'll be staying up there longer as Hubby's holidays end on the 21st. Hopefully, after that, I can talk Bambi into coming up for a weekend. She is the hardest working person I know, and this would do her good. The love nest has a way of taking away all your stresses and cares. You absolutely forget anything that may be bothering you in every day life. I love it! But, much to my excitement, we are taking my computer up there this year so I will be able to keep in touch with you all and give you a daily account of my adventures! I'm excited.

In other, other news, I am considering going back to school to be a community service worker, which is something like a social worker but the course is only about 8 months rather than 2 years. I have been talking to the people at Everett College, and things sound very hopeful. I'm just praying my fybromyalgia will co-operate as I want this with all my heart. I'm just going to put my mind to it and get it done. I have always wanted to be a counsellor and I'm good at it already. Everyone says so. Ashley has tried to get me to take the social work program ever since she started, as she says I already know most of what she's learning. I have helped her many times with her homework and she says I'm a natural at it. I feel very passionate about having a job that does some good for people, but I don't have any credentials to back me up. This would give me the credentials I need. My main area of interest is to work with abusive men and trying to make changes in them. I have experience of being an abuse victim and I could use this experience to make them see the victims side of it. Please send good thoughts or prayers that this works out and that I will be physically able to handle it. I will be going to the interview when I get back from holidays and I'm really excited about that too.

Awww, I just looked at Tequila and he is sitting there asleep with his beak tucked into his back. I'm so grateful he's safe.

Speaking of birds, when we take Queenie and Gus out for their exercises, they get so excited, they will sit on your finger and hold on tight and flap their wings for about a second. It's so cute, it's like 'jazz hands', but Holly and I call them 'jazz wings'. I have jazz wings right now for all the things I have to look forward to...holidays, seeing my grand babies and hopefully going to school.

I'm feeling very happy right now and I hope you all have Jazz Wings too!

Take care

I'm Back!!

So sorry...no, I haven't forgotten you all. I have been very neglectful of all of my friends here at blogger. I don't really have much in the way of excuses..some health issues, holidays, etc...
I hope you all had a wonderful holiday filled with family and friends and laughter. Mine was nice and quiet, but still very good all arounds.
I'll get you up to speed on my exciting and wonderful life...zzzzzz!
Actually, the most exciting thing I must tell you about is the addition to our family. Poppy has a new husband! We are trying to breed her and we went to our 'bird man' and he had a 2 year old male lovebird, a good breeder. We picked him up the week before Christmas. I must admit, I was a little nervous about putting another male in with Poppy, considering her record. But our 'bird man' assured us that he could hold his own with her. Within a very short time, they were cuddling and kissing! Holly and I were shocked. What's up with our little 'war' bird? Was she lonely all this time? Maybe even rehabilitated?! She is totally in love with him. We named him Bailey, the same name as her late husband. Why, you may wonder, would we call him this? Well, the poor late Bailey wasn't alive long enough for us to get this name out of our system and we have absolutely no imagination. Besides, we are continuously told to recycle and we wanted to do our part. Anyway, Bailey is absolutely gorgeous! He's a deep emerald green with a deep red head, face and chest. On his tail, he has a gorgeous peacock blue colour with some red and black streaks. He still doesn't trust us, so I haven't been able to get any pictures of him yet to put on the blog, but I will as soon as I can. Before Bailey, Poppy would make so much noise, well, some days I thought she'd look good on the rotisserie...but since Bailey's arrival, they are very quiet. They whisper into each other's ears. I think they are both planning our deaths at this point. Since we are very anxious to have babies, every time I walked by the cage, I'd tell them to get 'banging'...if you know what I mean. Holly and I were toying with the idea of taking pictures of Tequila in some compromising positions and hanging them in Poppy and Bailey's cage...you know...a little birdie porn to give them an incentive. Tequila refused to participate, saying he wasn't just a piece of meat. Killjoy!
Anyway, Christmas Eve, Holly is walking by the pantry and she says, 'Mom, the birds are banging! I jumped out of my chair and so did hubby. So, there we were, the three of us, watching the poor birds going at it hot and heavy. I thought to myself...nothing says Happy Holidays quite like spying on your birds mating! Since then, we've caught them a few times at it. Hubby says they've turned into nymphos...I say Hubby's just jealous! He agrees!
The result? There's an egg! I'm so excited. But Poppy isn't spending a lot of time sitting on it, so I'm a bit worried. I'll keep you posted... Also, if it hatches, I promise to take lots of pictures of the little tyke as it grows.
New pictures of Scarlett, for all of you that are interested. She is so beautiful! I miss her so much. She has 2 teeth now and is working on her next one.
I've been having a lot of problems with my eyes. Went to my eye specialist and he's sending me to another specialist. I think I have detached retinas, which will mean operations to try to save my sight. But, not to worry folks, that won't stop me from posting on here. I am an expert typist and don't need to see the keyboard. But my eyes always feel strained and I have a blank spot in my right eye and huge 'floaters' in my left eye. The biggest floater started out looking like a dragon...so I was complaining about the dragon in my eye for weeks...then it began to look more like the 'road runner' and I complained about that for awhile...now, it looks like a sperm. I don't believe it's a viable sperm, but it's a sperm, non the less. Now I complain about the sperm in my eye...nobody listens anymore...sigh...
I asked Hubby, if I go blind, does this mean I can have a big dog? He said no, that we would have 'Stevie' fitted for a halter and he can be my seeing eye bunny. That's all well and good, but Stevie is blind! He will probably lead me right into a ditch. Could be fun!
Well, that's all the news that's fit to print, folks. I'll keep you posted on all news.

Tory and the Seven Dwarfs....

As you can tell from the title of this particular blog, today's subject is of a sensitive nature...namely, hemorrhoids. I know, I know...you've read so much on the subject lately, it's like they're the new 'Brittany'! But it's an important subject that should be talked about more often. On the list of important subjects, it should be somewhere between...'Are Micheal and Janet Jackson really the same person?' and 'if we combine all the wax, collectively, from all of our ears, could it be used as a fossil fuel?'
A few years ago, I had hemorrhoids. OMG...painful!!! It's not something that one can complain about, out loud, like a cold or a headache. I had to suffer in silence when in public. Of course, at home I moaned constantly about them, sitting on only one of my two cheeks, knees crossed to give 'the seven dwarfs' more room to elbow their way around. It was like sitting on a very lumpy whoopee cushion, sans noise...well, except for the moaning. Not from the '7 dwarfs', but from me.
It's not like I could tap someone on the shoulder, sitting in front of me at church and say, 'Pray for me, when I 'pass wind', I cry!'
Some days were worse than others, but at the end, I just could hardly take the pain from them anymore. Laying on your side, cheeks spread, praying that they may be able to help take the pain away. Then I gave up on my friends and went to the Dr. about it. Then to the surgeon. They say that a hemorrhoid operation is one of the most painful operations you can have, but the post-op pain was nothing compared to the pain pre-op! I'm glad I had it done.
There, now I've brought the subject out into the open, feel free to talk amongst yourselves about it.
You're welcome!!
Take care,
Tory