Hearing Heart Blog

Since I'm currently between projects, I have employed myself in the useful endeavor of saving money! Shopping for an ergonomic keyboard and a new mouse followed this plan: 1. Go to Office Max and play with the display models, taking them off the shelf and tapping lightly on each one, grabbing the mouse and clicking the buttons repeatedly until I am satisfied that somehow I have learned something from these actions. 2. Go home and research the customer reviews on each model (nearly 220 of them) at Amazon.com. 3. Carefully decide my favorites and go back to Office Max to rule out the ones I don't want. 4. Write down prices to compare. 5. Go back home and put in my order at Amazon.com. I followed this very scientific procedure this week and bought a Logitech keyboard set for $44.95, including shipping. (The list price at Office Max was $129.00.) I don't think Jerry would exactly call my method scientific, but that's ok--I'm on the warpath now to find him some mossy oa

I google searched for exercises to help my tendinitis this week (elbow and wrist pain) and started right in with stretching and gingerly working the tendons that hurt. Yea, it’s helping! It’s been about 6 weeks since I left my transcription job in the LCC Health Clinic. I had basically worked myself too hard, wanting so badly to do well that I wasn’t listening to the complaints from my joints. Gripping the mouse, almost strangling the poor guy, and pounding on the keyboard to get a few more lines done before the deadline only caused more self-induced stress. Now the wrist braces are off, the elbow strap is gone, and I’ve restarted my workouts in the pool. I am so thankful for movement, thankful that I can be well again, thankful to Jesus for progress. My “word for the day” is unwind. Just like I open up my fingers and straighten them against their stiffness, I need to unwind my mind from the concerns of life. I imagine our bodies and our minds are more connected than we know. On a Sab

A bulky black wrist brace adorns each arm and an elbow strap hugs my sore right elbow. Rising out of the car is difficult until I get my legs under me, and I move about a bit stiffly at first. My knees are unsteady from a sports injury, and my wrists and elbow hurt from typing too much. But believe it or not, after my 4-year-old granddaughter Alyssa looked me over briefly the other day, she asked, "Grandma, where's your skateboard?"

Make a Smilebox greeting All that I accomplished this morning from 7:30 to 10:30 was creating this work of art - my grandson's birthday card (click on PLAY above) and cleaning up a pile of doggy poo. Guess which was more fun! (you've got to be kidding...) Thank you, Lord, for giving me children and grandchildren. Thank you for their wives who love You and are wonderful mommies! Grandma gets to celebrate, too! (doin' a silly little happy grandma dance!)

Offer a child a bucket and a cherry tree, and you've got a special day! Throw in an old friend (I found her on Facebook) and offer her daughter some chickens to supplement her existing flock. Then take the bold step to invite the whole family over to pick them up. This was the recipe I'd proposed, and they bravely took me up on my invitation, not knowing if I'd be pleasant company or not! (Her daughter had never met me, for we had parted ways shortly after her birth.) What a fun day! Tummies and cheeks full of cherries, popsicles on a stick, chickens in our Coop da Ville, a wobbly ladder, two grandmas enjoying non-stop "visitin'." My daughter Amy remarked how nice it was to have children around again. She, who had prayed and asked God for a sister when she was 5 years old but wanted to change her mind when we started collecting foster children! Ya know, we both enjoyed giving ourselves away that day. A good reminder to "live for others" instead of f