It was THIS close . . . . . Then I ended up sitting on the side of route 9 after pulling out of the Stop n Shop plaza . It seems my brake problem had decided to come back . The right front brake is seizing or something . Hubs told me before that when it happens , I should pull over and let it cool off , then it should let go and after a while I can drive some more . That 's what happened the day it took me three hours to get home from Fishkill . I had to stop three times to let the brake cool off . Thank the Goddess that yesterday I was close to home , and only had to stop the one time . I only had to wait a half an hour before trying to drive the rest of the way home . I made it ! ! While I was sitting there waiting , I got a call from my son James . He told me that he had gotten a call from a friend that I was on the side of the road , so he called to see if I needed help . That was so sweet . I told him I was just waiting for my brake to cool off . It really didn 't occur to me to call anyone for help , I knew what to do . I mean , my kids are all grown up and busy with their own stuff . And my Hubs will fix it the next day ( today ) . So in the morning , Hubs took me to James and Jessica 's house so I can watch the kids , and then he came pick me up afterwards . While I was gone , he fixed the brakes . On a positive note , I got some knitting done in the time I was sitting there waiting for the brake to cool off . See ? That 's why I always have either my nook , or my knitting with me . Sometimes both . You never know . It 's almost gotten to be a superstition with me . If I go out without at least one of those things , something bad will happen . . . . In fact , I thought the brake had a problem because I had taken the extra skein of yarn out of my bag . When I started knitting , I thought I was almost out of yarn . But I was wrong , there was plenty left . So yesterday I got almost all my errands done . I just wasn 't able to get to the pharmacy . But I have plenty of that medication and don 't need it yet . I can pick it up another day . Posted by That 's my job for today . I have a few things I have to do , and I better get them done since I will be watching the grandkids the rest of the week . I feel very privileged to watch them , to be trusted with their care . But they do exhaust me . It 's weird , it 's like they suck the energy right out of me ! But they are so awesome , it 's worth it . So let 's see , what do I have to do ? I need to get some gas for the Jeep , then I need to head to Adam 's , since we are out of chocolate truffle decaf coffee , and nearly out of regular chocolate truffle . Can 't have that , can we ? I also need meats for dinner , and more little cans of ginger ale . I have found that the meats at Adam 's are superior , and not as expensive as other supermarkets . After that , I have a scrip to pick up at the pharmacy . And hopefully I will hear from my friend Bonny . She texted me last night , but I had misplaced my phone , and didn 't find it until this morning . I sent her a text explaining what happened , but I haven 't heard back from her yet . I am still knitting away on the super secret project . I 'm pretty sure that I have enough yarn now to finish . I just have to find the time . Posted by Knitting and reading That 's me , knitting and reading . I am working on the super secret project , getting close to 25 % along . And when I 'm not doing that , I 'm reading . I read through all the books I got for my nook , and I don 't want to buy any more at this time , so I 'm rereading the whole Anita Blake Vampire Hunter series , from the beginning . All twenty two books . I started book 1 yesterday . Tomorrow I get to hang with my granddaughter for a while , while her mom takes her little brother to the dentist . I 'm looking forward to that . Can 't wait to see what she 'll want to do . When my son and his girlfriend went on their cruise , they brought mama back a bottle of Vaanilla Rum from St . Maarten . I broke into it last evening , and it 's really good ! I just poured a shot over ice and filled the glass up with Seagrams Ginger Ale . My usual treatment for alcohol , usually vanilla vodka . I 've been buying those little cans of my soda , because they are just the right size for my drinks . I was highly disappointed to discover that they are part of that whole " controlled serving size " thing that is so popular these days . But I 'll buy them anyway , because they are the perfect size for my drinks without wasting the rest of the bigger can . I have begun another super secret knitting project . I won 't say what it is , but I will say it 's from Elizabeth Zimmermann . The yarn I bought is working out well . I thought I wouldn 't have nearly enough , but it looks like I 'll only need a couple more skeins . Not too bad at all . I hope to go to Michaels tomorrow and get it . But not until after the birthday party Hubs and I will be attending . That 'll be fun ! You gotta love it when birthday parties are held in bars . Today our son Jesse stopped by on his way through and dropped off the bottle of rum he got for me when they were on their cruise . It 's Vaanilla flavored , made in St . Maartin . MMMMMM . Can 't wait to break into that ! I 'll try and check back with you all on how it is . . . . . I spent the day today watching my grandbabies . It was awesome . I give my son and his awesome wife tons of credit . They are doing an extremely good job with these two . They listen to you when you talk to them and do what you ask of them , including putting away their toys ! It 's been quite an eye opening experience . I have one more day with them , then their regular babysitter will be all recovered . I sure hope they call me to sit with the kids when they decide to have a date night ! It would be my pleasure ! Now I am completely exhausted , since they are very active . And Mason needs to be reminded that G - ma is not a jungle gym . But he is so sweet and eventually he gets it . Chloe couldn 't wait until Mason went down for his nap , so she and I could crochet together . I tried to teach her , but I 'm a lousy teacher , and I think she might be a little young yet . But she did try . We will wait until she gets a little more manual dexterity under her belt . And Goddess love her , she was willing ! Posted by Today I had my Hubs take photos of the arm warmers , which came off the needles last week . I finally crocheted the seams a few days ago . And without further ado , here they are ! ! In other news , I am thrilled to report that I am getting to spend time with my grandchildren this week ! I sat with them this morning for about three hours , and tomorrow and Friday , it will be all day . Well , until about 2 : 30 or so , when their dad gets home from work . This opportunity makes me very happy . Posted by A while ago , Hubs borrowed a metal detector from a friend . Today between thunderstorms he went down to the backyard by the creek and tried it out . I heard lots of beeping , but no cries of " Eureka ! " . When it looked like another storm was getting ready to let loose , I went down and got him to come back up . He proudly showed me what he had found . . . Truly valuable treasures , every last one . The rabies dog tag was from 2005 , we figure it 's from our former neighbors deceased Chihuahua , Chynna . I can 't wait to see what else he can find ! He wants to try closer to the creek bed next time . I hope he eventually finds something worthwhile . Posted by This morning , I finished knitting my arm warmers . I was binding them off as Kim arrived home from work . So YAY ! ! Although they still need to be either sewn or crocheted up , and I still need to take a photo . I am so very tired , I really need to go to bed . I was up at 5 : 30 this morning , and will be again tomorrow . The rest of the week I also need to get up early , just not as early . I also had trouble sleeping last night . I believe I was still awake at 1 am . And I didn 't get a nap today . So I 'm gonna say goodnight , and go to bed . There could be some exciting news in our future , but I can 't say anything yet . Posted by I had a nice visit with my expectant daughter yesterday , she came over to swim . We spent a good part of the day together . It was good to see her ! Of course , we talked a lot . And it seems I was premature in stating that the baby is a boy . The doctors are saying that " so far , it looks like a boy . " So they aren 't truly sure yet . What you can be sure of is that when we are positive , I will shout it from the rooftops ! The pool water has cooled off a little bit , it was 84 yesterday , and is still 84 again today . Believe it or not it still felt refreshing when the air temp was over 90 ! As far as the knitting goes , I 'm still working on the arm warmers . They are coming along slowly but surely . It 's just been too darn hot to think about knitting . I have been reading , however ! I 'm so thankful for my nook ! I also have a kindle fire HD , I use that for playing games , although I do have several book in it as well . Posted by With this current heat wave , we broke the pool temp record again ! ! The water in our 44 , 000 + gallon , only in the sun 6 hrs / day max , in ground swimming pool is now 86 degrees . In a way it sucks , it 's almost too warm to swim in . In other news , we held out as long as we could , but today we put in the air conditioners . There 's one each in our bedroom , the living room , and the kitchen window . I think we picked a good day for it , as the news on the radio said it could hit 100 degrees today . It didn 't take that long to install them , either . Maybe 15 minutes . Of course , the one in the kitchen is refusing to work . That one is the oldest , we got it from my mom when she moved out of her house 8 years ago . And who knows how long she had it before we got it ? The one in the living room is really cool , it 's a huge one that sits on the floor , and vents out the window . It 's pretty powerful too . It 's good to finally be cool . Posted by This has been one hell of a summer . We set a record for pool temp last week , when the water reached 83 degrees . You need to understand that our pool has NEVER gotten that warm . In fact it 's famous for being cold all summer . For most of the years we 've lived here , our pool was only in full sun for maybe 5 or 6 hours a day , from around 10 am to 4 pm , maximum . We have a wooded lot on one side , and the trees block the afternoon sun . We petitioned the owner of the property to cut down some of the trees , and they agreed . We got a little more sun , a little later in the day . Last year , we got more time when the trees blocking the morning sun had to come down . Super Storm Sandy undermined the trees roots , and they started leaning pretty badly . Taking those two trees down seems to have really helped our pool sun time . Until this year , the warmest our pool ever got was 82 degrees . it usually hovered around 76 or 78 . It only got warmer if it was really hot out and didn 't cool off at night . Well , since taking the trees extended our morning sun , we hit the previously mentioned 83 last week . Then rained some and the temp cooled off to 78 . but we were soon back up to 82 , then 83 . And then yesterday , we hit a new high of 84 ! ! Unfortunately , I preferred the pool cooler . I swim to cool off , not to feel like I 'm in a bathtub . Anyway , it was a proud moment . If you 'll excuse me , it 's time to put my suit on and go down to the pool . I 'll be taking my nook , as well as my knitting and crocheting projects . I like to mix it up . Posted by 1 . I did the long hot drive down to Fishkill this morning , and hung out with my mom . We were going to do lunch , but she didn 't feel up to it . So we hung out and talked and ate ice cream cones . In air conditioning . 2 . On the way home I stopped to visit friends , who showed off their adorable new kitteh . He 's a Munchkin , a breed I 'd never heard of before . Absolutely adorable . I want one . They are smaller than regular cats , and have little wiener dog legs . How cute is that ? I really , really , really want one now . They plan to breed theirs , and maybe we can get one of the kittens . These cats are the cutest thing I have ever seen . 3 . After that visit , I proceeded to drive home , stopping at predetermined points to run errands . I was headed north after the first of these when my brakes started acting funny . It was like the right front brake wouldn 't let go completely . After a short think , I stopped at a shopping plaza and called the Hubs . He had warned me it could happen . He couldn 't leave work , but advised me to let it sit for a while and cool off . Maybe it would let go enough for me to drive some more . I did that , although how much can it cool off when it 's nearly 100 degrees outside and there 's nowhere shady to park ? 3 . 5 . I finally got home , three hours after I left mom 's . I had to stop three times all together . Not too bad . The last time was pretty close to home , so I didn 't have to stay too long at the cigar store . 4 . As soon as I got home , I put on my bathing suit , and headed to the pool . I was dying to get cool . I finally got there ! It took a while , but I 'm cooled off now . Oh yeah , I almost forgot ! Before I went to mom 's I stopped Michaels for YARN . They didn 't have the yarns I wanted either . I was unhappy . And of course there 's no one around to ask about it . So I bought substitute yarns . And while I was at mom 's I cast on both arm warmers on the same circular needle , and knit a few rows . While I was down at the pool , I was thinking about a former LYS we had in Poughkeepise , it was called Yarns Needles and Hooks . Now to me , that " S " on the end of the word YARN is unnecessary . I believe that like the word Deer , Yarn is plural as well as singular . Think about it , and let me know if you agree . P . S . I am happy to be knitting again , even if it 's not with Jiffy . I got me some Loops and Threads Charisma , a nice bulky weight acrylic yarn . It 's knitting up nicely . I 'll get some photos posted soon . Posted by It is going to be another hot one today . I think it would be a good thing to spend it by the pool . I 'll slather myself with my Dark Tanning Oil , especially my head and ears . I won 't be nuts about sitting in the sun , I will alternate time in the sun and in the shade . I have been wondering for a long time why my hair hasn 't grown back yet . Originally when I saw the Dermatologist , he took a biopsy and the results were that this is the Alopecia that is temporary . It 's been more than four years , and I 'm ready for my hair to come back . Lately though , I 've had a revelation . There is one thing I haven 't done yet . I haven 't had the courage to go out in public without my head covered , whether with a scarf or a hat . It occurs to me that perhaps if I have the courage to breach that final taboo , the Goddess will be convinced that I have learned the lesson I needed to learn , and will allow my hair to grow back . At one point , I tried to make a deal with the Goddess , that if she let my hair grow back , I would never cut it again . That one didn 't work , clearly . Getting back to the point : if I can get my head tanned enough at least enough to match the rest of me , I might consider a public appearance sans hat . Right now , my head skin is white , with a capital W . There is a woman here in town who is also bald . I 've seen her a few times in public always without her head covered . I 've often wished I was that brave . Hang on , it could be on the way . . . All weekend , I was really looking forward to going to Kingston with Hubs . We were going to hit Walmart , Sam 's Club , Gander Mt . , and Michaels . I wanted to hit that Michaels in particular because the last time I was there , They had the yarn I want to use to make a baby thing for the new grandbaby . I didn 't buy it then because we didn 't know the sex of the baby yet and I wanted to wait until we knew for sure . So now we know it 's a boy , and I 'm ready to start knitting . We go to Walmart first , Hubs needs new jeans . Then at long last I get to go to Michaels , while he 's in Gander Mt . I search the whole fracking store . Not only do they not have the yarn they had for the baby stuff , they don 't even have any JIFFY that I want for my arm warmers . I walk over to Gander Mt , practically in tears . I tell Hubs I 'll be waiting in the truck . He is outta there in less than a minute . ( that was the low . . . ) We finally get to Sam 's Club . We got the most awesome Rib Eye steaks from there last time , they were the best steaks I 've ever made at home . We were there for more of those , as well as a few other things . As we wandered through the store , I spy with my little eye the most awesomely colorful display . I go over to it , and it 's a display of brightly colored coffee makers and toasters . They come in red , blue , bright pink , yellow , orange , purple and more ! Hubs actually let me get a coffee maker ! I am so happy that I now have a purple coffee maker . I took a couple of photos of it , on my counter , which is not cleaned off , so don 't pay attention to anything but the awesome coffee maker . . . Isn 't that cool ? Behind it is my red rice cooker that my son Jesse got me for Christmas a few years ago . He really likes sticky rice . I don 't think I 've used it since he moved out last year . I can 't wait to get the coffee maker all clean and use it . I have to read the manual yet . . . . As for the yarn , I will be making a trip to my local Michaels to look for the yarn I wanted . Maybe even tomorrow . If I can find some gas money . . . . I have good news , and bad news . The good news is that the 1st arm warmer is off the needles . I am not going to sew it up because of the bad news , which is that it 's too small for my arm . As I knitted along , I checked it , and it went around then . I tried to bind off as loosely as possible , but with Homespun I have a problem because of the multitude fibers that get all tangled up . Anyway it 's now too small . I think I might buy some of the original recommended yarn , Jiffy , and try again . This time I will do more increases towards the end of it . Look for more updates in the future . And I hope I can find a longer needle than 16 " , so I can do them both at the same time ! That 's also the best way to do sweater sleeves too , by the way ! That way you are sure they are the same length . Posted by This morning after Hubs left for work , I fell back asleep and had the weirdest dream . Now , I 'm known for my detailed dreams . At least , it amazes my Hubs when I tell them to him . I was in my " grandmother 's " house . I use the quotes , because it wasn 't really . It was actually a house I 've never seen before . Anyway , she had passed away , and I was there to clean it out , and apparently I was going to live there . I wasn 't alone , either . A younger woman was with me , and a child . They were " family " , but not anyone I recognized . The house was on a small road off the main road in whatever town it was . I had parked my truck in the middle of the road , the road was so narrow there wasn 't anywhere else to park , and there were only a couple of houses on the road . Next thing I know , the girl comes in and tells me my truck is being towed . I run around trying to find my flip flops so I can go out and talk to these guys , and stop them from taking my truck . But I can 't find my flip flops anywhere . I run outside in my bare feet . They have my truck loaded on a flatbed . I look up the road to the main street , and see it 's blocked off . It 's like they are closing the entrance to the road , and making you come from the other direction . For some reason they leave my truck , and go . The young lady and I get back to packing up the things in the house , making great headway . Now , things are blending in from my mother - in - law 's passing . The " grandmother " left me tons of jewelry , and I was telling the younger woman about some diamond rings and earrings that I got all excited about , but weren 't real . We were nearly done inside the house , and even commented about having the stained floors refinished . There was a knock at the door , and people started coming from all over . They tell me that I 'm the new " Mee - maw " , or head of the family . They came to pay their respects , and these were people I 'd never seen before . The little girl was poking around and found a hidden closet , which we pried open . It hadn 't been opened in so long , it was hard to work the knob . Inside we found a bunch of fancy baby outfits , like from Christenings . Some were old and some were newer . It 's like after the Christenings , these outfits were given to the Mee - maw to save . I 'm sure there were more details , but most are gone now . Like the little girl was blonde , and somehow all the stuff we got rid of was just gone . The house was pretty empty , except for some of the furniture we were keeping . It was a really cool house , I wish it was real . It was strange dreaming about a house I 've never personally been in . I usually dream about things happening in my mom 's old house . I have even dreamed that Hubs and I lived in her house . All women go through these three phases of our lives . Maiden means youth , inexperience , naivete . The joys of discovering the world , falling in love , and eventually becoming an adult . Motherhood is perhaps the most challenging of the phases . It certainly lasts the longest , at least it did for me . Being a mom is the best and hardest job we can ever do . To teach your children what they need to know about the world , without sheltering them from it too much . They have to experience some things for themselves . We can 't keep them protected , but we make sure we are close enough to pick them up when they fall , kiss their boo boos and tell them it 's all gonna be OK . And even then , they need the space to grow into themselves . It 's all about balance . I knew when my youngest moved out just over a year ago that my time as an active mother was at an end . We raised him well , with good values , and he has one hell of a work ethic . We let him loose on the world , and he seems to be thriving . But I was in denial about becoming a Crone . It suddenly dawned on me yesterday as I was at the Police station that the young officer I was speaking to probably viewed me as < gasp > a senior citizen . . . . . after all , I 'm nearly 60 now . And about to be a grandmother for the third time . That was a hard realization . I mean , I always had a hard time being taken seriously or even heard , but now I think it 's going to get worse . I just don 't see myself as " old " or even " older " . On another front , however , I have great news ! It has been officially confirmed that my new grandbaby will be a boy ! ! No need to trim anything in pink that 's already finished . I can 't wait to go shopping for masculine colored yarn ! ! I 'm making slow progress on the hand / arm warmers . It was so humid yesterday it felt like I was breathing water when I went outside . The air was very heavy . No wonder I got so tired . It sucks getting exhausted just from the effort to breathe . Posted by Yesterday , my friend Kim and her Cherub came over so Cherub could swim in my pool . Kim was complaining she had nothing planned to make . I brought down my two giant crochet pattern notebooks for her to look at . I didn 't bother with the small knitting pattern notebook , as she 's way more advanced than I am , and wouldn 't be challenged by any pattern I had saved . Besides , she 's really into Granny Squares right now , and I am not fond of them . AT ALL . Lo and behold , I found something ! It 's a free pattern from Lion Brand Yarn 's web site , called Greenwich Gauntlets . The pattern calls for Jiffy yarn , and I couldn 't find any in my stash . Which totally surprised me , as my stash used to almost exclusively Jiffy , since it was my very favorite yarn for a long time . The pattern called for a bulky weight yarn , so I substituted Homespun for the Jiffy . It works . I made a small swatch , and the needle size called for was too big , so I went down to a size 9 needle . I 'm gonna make the longest gauntlets in the pattern , since I want my arms warm too . The best thing about this project is it 's done flat . I am not co - ordinated enough to manage double pointed needles . I have tried more than once and failed miserably , so I 'm perfectly happy to knit this flat . There is also a really cool sweater in my knitting pattern notebook , which I would really like if someone wanted to knit it for me for my birthday , or Festivus . . . . I read the pattern and there are some things in there that I don 't understand or I would have tried to knit it by now . The colorway of this yarn is called Tudor . I had some purple also , and a few other colors , but this one called to me . It wanted to be gauntlets . As you all know , you can 't argue with the yarn . In all the years we 've lived in this house and dealt with the pool , we have had uncountable numbers of frogs in the pool . We 've had snakes in there , and a few dead baby rabbits , moles and mice . One year we even rescued a small possum who was still alive . We did what we could , he wouldn 't really let us handle him , but we left him in the sun to dry and hopefully wander off safe and sound . But it 's frogs we usually deal with most . I love swimming with the frogs . We amuse ourselves by trying to rescue them , because they will get tired and drown eventually . Until this year , I would have said that the frogs always try to get away from us when we try to rescue them . I speak for both of us when I say we 'd rather rescue a live frog than find a dead one floating in the skimmer basket . This year seems to be different . I have rescued only two frog so far , but one of them I rescued three times ! And what astounds me is that he actually swam right up to me , and didn 't try to get away . He let me rescue him , and put him gently on the pool surround facing the lawn . The second one I rescued was today , and he also let me take him out of the water . He didn 't swim right to me , but he didn 't swim frantically away either . The first frog was pretty big , and I knew it was the same one three times . I recognized him . I even asked him why he jumped in our pool again . The one today was smaller . It makes me think the big one was the Frog King , and when I saved him not once , but three times , he told the other frogs not to fear me , that I wouldn 't hurt them . Or is just my imagination ? ? ? I feel the need for a ( hopefully ) short break . For amusement , feel free to go back and re - read some old posts . Thank you for your understanding . We have a birds nest outside the gates to the pool . It 's up on the back of our bedroom , under the little balcony . It was made at the top of the thermometer we have up there . There have been a few nests up there over the years . This time I see the parents , who are little brown birds , swoop in and out of the nest , feeding the babies . It 's amusing that when Hubs and I are down there sitting at the table and chairs on the patio which is under our bedroom , the parents are very reluctant to feed their babies . They swoop from one side of the pool to the other , resting on the fence . Eventually they swoop to the nest and feed the kids . I have seen two little heads peeking out of the nest . What amazes me is that they make no sounds . You would expect baby birds to chirp constantly to mom and dad to hurry up and feed us ! But these babies are silent . I snuck out there earlier and took a few photos . In the first one you can see the thermometer . Then I got a little closer . . . I don 't know if there are three babies in there or two . If those are the babies , they are getting big enough to leave soon . I worry about that , being so close to the pool . I hope they don 't crash land in the pool while learning to fly and drown . . . . . I haven 't been knitting , it 's been too fracking hot . And we don 't have any air conditioners installed yet . Waiting for Hubs on that one . Although we did knit at the parade , as we usually sit under a nice shady tree and we were much , much cooler than those poor people who had to march in the hot sun . Posted by Huzzah ! I think I 'm saved ! Yesterday whilst digging through a stash pile , I found a WIP that I haven 't seen in a good , long time . " Perfect ! " I thought . " Now I have something to knit at the parade tomorrow ! " It 's a shawl , made with Lion Brand 's now - discontinued Moonlight Mohair . I even have someone to give it to when it 's done . One of the other karate moms wanted it , way back when I working on it at the karate school . It 's a long rectangle wrap type shawl . And it 's almost finished , as I was on the last skein of yarn that I had . This yarn is so pretty , with sparkles . But it 's a bit too scratchy for my taste . I can 't wait to see how it looks and feels after I wash it . P . S . My fellow Stitch n Bitchers Jan and Kim as well as myself , always knit as we watch the local parades every year . This will be the last parade for Jan , however , as she is moving this weekend to Portland , Oregon . I envy her so much ! I spent time there with Hubs a few years ago , and it was awesome . I would love to go back . Now we know someone who lives there , and it gives Kim and me an excuse to go . Posted by OK , I 'm still reading Lasher by Anne Rice . At least I 'm more than half done now . BUT in the meantime , the newest Iron Druid book is downloaded to my nook . And driving me even more insane , the newest Anita Blake book is also ! ! They are both there , taunting me to hurry and finish . I just want this book to be done already ! ! Since I 've made the commitment to read it , I 'm going to finish it , but I 'm finding myself skipping paragraphs , even skimming and sometimes skipping whole pages in an effort to be done with it quicker . And I still can 't find that stupid ribbon yarn . Dag nabbit . Just so you know , the title refers to " hoisted by own petard " . Posted by A long time ago , perhaps as long as 15 years , I tore my rotator cuff . In my sleep . That 's right , I went to bed just fine , and woke up the next morning in pain . I managed to ignore it for about 6 months before I nearly lost all use of my arm , and the pain could no longer be ignored . I had surgery to fix it . Fast forward about 6 or so years . Surprise ! I developed Arthritis in my shoulder joint . They tell me it 's common after joint surgery . They didn 't tell me that little fact before I had the surgery , however . I learned that I must move the joint to avoid the stiffness and pain . For a long time it worked . Then abruptly it stopped working . If I sit for long periods , like when I 'm knitting or crocheting , it really starts to hurt . The pain has even been disturbing my sleep . I 'm a side sleeper . I start out on my right side , then move to my left side . I stay there until the pain wakes me up and I have to go back to the other side . Lately it 's been so bad , I can 't even sleep on my left side . I end up laying on my back , leaning to the left a little . However , I now have some help . A few days ago , my Hubs found one of the hand weights I had purchased for P . T . after my shoulder surgery . I cleaned it up , and I 've been using it to exercise my left arm . It has really been helping . I am keeping it in the bathroom , and about every other time I go in there , I use the weight to exercise my arm , and move the joint . I hope to build the strength back up in that arm . I would be happy if it just quit hurting so much all the time . It is better already , however . Posted by We have lived in this house for almost 23 years . This coming week marks our 23rd anniversary . Anyway , I mentioned in an earlier post that we moved into this house because of the pool . Every year , Hubs and I learned more about the pool and how to care for it . This year was different . Trust Karma to throw you a curve ball when you think you know and have seen it all . As usual , the water was such a dark green that it appeared black . We 've seen this before . I should mention here that we usually don 't get the pool open before July 4th . This year , we had it open the first week of June . Anyway , back to the algae . This year , we had a carpet of yucky , slimy dark green algae on the bottom of the whole pool . As we ran the filter , It was floating up to the surface looking like jellyfish . And the green wouldn 't go away . For two weeks we battled the green slime . Hubs bought gallons of a liquid shock . and a couple gallons of a liquid algaecide . Nothing worked . All it did was create a gross foam in the skimmer basket . I was afraid to reach in there , I thought something would grab me back . Poor Hubs , we went through perhaps three 25lb bags of earth . He vacuumed . He took the filter apart and cleaned out the green slime . Over and over again . Eventually , he decided to go and get our usual shock , Power Powder from Leslies Pool Supplies . That evening , he sprinkled the pool with all six bags that he had bought . A few hours later , we went down and turned the filter off for the night . The next morning , I looked out the bedroom window , and LO the pool was no longer green ! It was still a bit cloudy , but there was no more green . I went down and completely back washed the old earth out of the filter , then recoated it through the skimmer . Ever since then , it 's been fine . YAY ! ! I actually swam in it a couple of days ago , and yesterday too . I still have to be careful , my sunburn has turned brown on my torso , but the new skin on my head is still sensitive . I am swimming once the sun is off the pool , in the late afternoon . And I promise , I will never again forget my Dark Tanning Oil . It was so cool . Saturday , my daughter Sara was here , her dad was fixing her car . She sat down by the pool with me , and peeled the dead skin off my head . It really felt weird . Some of it came off in big pieces , but some did not . I am well on the way to being healed now . Posted by