randomonia

this post will be a scattered rambling of recent events . . .

Hiked to Angel's Rest yesterday, which is a rock outcropping overlooking Columbia Gorge. Beautiful day, lots of people out soaking up the sunshine. A chippie tried to lure Scout to her death at the top, but in all we had a lovely hike. My knees didn't hurt at all and this time last year I thought I might have to give up my favorite sport because of the pain.

Speaking of healing, I am sleeping like a pro again! For three weeks now, I've enjoyed deep and blissful sleep without drugs or even herbal sleep aids. Even the crazy frogs in our backyard and midnight calls from Candyce don't keep me awake these days--truly a miracle! The Lord may have just gotten tired of my whining and fixed whatever was out-of-whack in my sleep-deprived body, or I may have stumbled on the "cure"--calcium! Yep, that well-known and inexpensive supplement. A friend told me to give it a try 3 weeks ago and I started taking two caps each night before bed. And voila, I'm sleeping!

I also started on a second hormone med about 6 weeks ago and my doc upped my bio-identical hormones a bit. So my sleepy wonderland could be the result of several things. I told Greg this week that my body feels more balanced than it has for years. Ahhhh, thank You, Lord!

Speaking of late-night calls from Candyce, she woke me up from a dead sleep two nights ago and we chatted for nearly 10 minutes! I'd been in such a deep state of slumber that my mind never really did kick in and I couldn't think of all the things I really wanted to ask her. But she jabbered away happily while I listened. She's in Juba and loves it (Juba is the capitol of South Sudan), she can't find her plane ticket (yikes!), she hasn't been sick at all (except for homesick). She didn't get to meet Stephen's mom yet, but did meet quite a few of his extended family members. She's heard from an itinerant evangelist that God continued healing people even after they got kicked out of the refugee camp.

Then the phone went dead, as it always does when the minutes run out, and I finally thought of all the questions I needed answered. But I fell right back to sleep and woke up the next morning wondering if it had just been a dream. But Candyce had changed her facebook status to something about Juba, so I knew I'd actually talked to my daughter . . .


Speaking of dead--NOTHING I'VE PLANTED IN THE TUB 'O GRUB OR MY YARD HAS DIED!!!!! The curse of my not-so-green-thumb has been lifted and my precious little crops have survived. I've made two salads from greens I planted in the hot tub and everything else seems to be flourishing. I've moved my plants around a bit as I've noticed them not caring much for shade or sun and they've really seemed to appreciate it. The tomatoes seem the most finicky--at first, they drooped because it was too cold for their liking, but now they are drooping because of the warmth of the sun (and we are only talking feeble a.m. sun, mind you). The tomatoes are all in pots and I've been bringing them in at night, moving them in and out of the sun, trying to keep them happy.

But it's May now and it's time for them to get with the program.

Speaking of programs, I helped Linds address her wedding invitations last night. They are beautiful, painstakingly designed and created by Lindsay, Nich and friends. Unfortunately, she spent so much time and effort on the invitations' appearance, that she overlooked vital information--like where the wedding will take place! And by the time she realized this omission, over half the invitations had already been mailed! But not to worry, she just made up little post cards that could be mailed separately or added to the invitations still waiting to be sent.

I told Linds this was actually a brilliant move. She's been so stressed about too many people at the wedding (actually, at the reception. That facility is about 1/2 the size of the church where the ceremony will take place). So why not invite people to the wedding and not tell them where it is? It kind of made sense to me.

Speaking of Lindsay, we are going to a rummage sale/craft show at a hip restaurant in Portland today. I love this crazy town! We can eat gournet mac n' cheese and rummage through other people's stuff at the same time--how awesome is that?