What did you say?

For years now my family has joked about my hearing loss. It’s not a profound loss by any means, but it does lead to a lot of frustration on everyone’s part. Too many times someone will ask me to get them a drink and I’ll respond with “Why would we build a rink?”

I’ve had my hearing tested a few times in the past, so I had a baseline when I went in a few weeks ago for another test. I was missing out on a lot more conversations lately, having to get people to repeat themselves more and just generally noticing the loss more.

Hearing loss is measured in decibels from 0-130. Normal hearing is considered anywhere in the 0-20 range and complete deafness starts around 90. It’s also measured across several different frequencies. You can have more of a loss with high pitch frequencies or low, deep frequencies.

My hearing test looks something like this:

I have a mild hearing loss in the higher frequencies. Compared to my last test from 2 years ago, I’ve lost about 10 decibels over all. My hearing also tested worse if there is any sort of back ground noise.

It was time to discuss solutions. I’m already using as many “tricks” as possible. I keep people on my right when we are walking and talking; I make sure that I can see a person’s face when we are in conversation; the phone is turned up as loud as it will go and we’ve used the close captioning on our TV for years. I’ve even used the closed captioning devices at the movie theater. After some discussion with the audiologist, I decided to try hearing aids. Since my hearing loss is fairly even in both ears, I would need 2 to keep things balance. Luckily they offer a 30 day, no money down, trial period.

They are so small!

I didn’t expect to find a lot of difference with the hearing aids in. After all, my hearing loss is minimal. But what a difference they have made! The first thing that Hilary noticed was that I wasn’t talking as loud as I usually do. When you can’t hear yourself, you naturally increase your volume. Conversations have been easier and clearer. I’m not missing key information from dialogue on TV. At work I was able to participate in a group conversation, where I would normally have just sat back, smiled, nodded occasionally and laughed when everyone else did because I couldn’t follow what was being said by everyone.

It’s been less than a week but I can already say that the trial is a success. I will see the audiologist again next week to check in on how it is going. And then I will have to make the big decision on whether or not I keep them. They are a significant financial investment, and while they are wonderful and do make a difference to how I hear, I’m not sure I’m ready to fork over that much cash right now.

The Next Chapter

The chapters of my working life can be measured in decades.

The first 10 years, starting when I was only 14, were spent in a variety of jobs from kitchen staff to nurse’s aide and bartender to shooter girl. Then, quite by accident, I landed what was supposed to be a throwaway job that turned into a 10 year career with that company. It is thanks to that job that Hilary and I ended up moving to Halifax. After 10 years though I was ready for a change. As luck would have it a new opportunity came along and I was able to move on – still on the same career path, doing the same type of work, just for a new company.

And now with my 10 year anniversary with this company just 2 months away, I am moving on again. 

I start a new job Monday morning.

Once more I am on the same career path, doing that work that I do. Will I stay with this company for a full decade, keeping my working streak? Who knows. That timing would make things interesting, leaving me with just one more decade after that before I would be of age to retire. I think only having 4 major job changes over a lifetime of working would be a pretty good way to end things. But then again, maybe I’ll spend the next 20 years at this new job.

Who knows, my future isn’t written yet.

Shared Interest

Sometimes I wonder if Hilary feels like she lives with TWO 11 year old boys.  Liam and I have quite a few common interests.  Our current obsession interest is Star Wars, and more specifically Star Wars Lego.

I love Lego.  I had it growing up, but of course back then it was simple rectangle pieces in 4 primary colours.  Now sets come with such oddly shaped pieces, that I can't tell which way is up.  The new sets are pretty awesome though.  Liam and I have been coveting some of the bigger Star Wars sets for a while now.

Last week we headed out so that Liam could spend some money that he got for Christmas.  He really, really, really wanted the Millennium Falcon set, but only had half the money needed.  So he started his sales pitch.  "Mama, you love Star Wars as much as I do."  "Mama, wouldn't it be fun to work on this together?" "Mama, haven't you always wanted this set too?"  "Mama, don't you have some Christmas money that you got?  You could put it towards the Millennium Falcon."  I'm pretty sure this kid is going to grow up to be a con artist... he can talk his way into a lot of things.

So I pooled my Christmas money (and then some) with his and we came home with a 1200+ piece Lego set.  We worked a lot on it on Sunday, and surprisingly, we finished it tonight!  Now the only question is where to keep it.  It needs to be played with (check out the detail!) but we don't want it to get smashed or broken.  Hilary doesn't seem to keen on my suggestion that we box up some of our antique tea cups and use the sideboard as a Lego display case..... I'm not sure why, it seemed like a perfect solution to me!

I did DO

Last year at this time, I selected a word to aspire to for 2013.  My word was DO.  Looking back over 2013 I did DO many things that are important to me.


Things I did in Tae Kwon Do: 

1. Liam and I passed our Yellow Belt TKD tests
2. I won a Silver Medal 
3. We passed our next test for our Green Stripes

Things I learned to cook:

1. Cheese
2. Perogies
3. Yogurt
4. Meatballs
5. Gnocchi

 Things I did for me:

1. I treated myself to a French Manicure
2. I had my eyebrows waxed for the first (and probably last) time
3. I got a new tattoo
4. I learned to run and ran my first 5k race

Things I did for others:

1.  I shaved my head to raise money for Cancer Research
2. I ran in the Run for the Cure 5k race
3. I ran in the Food Run race to raise money and donations for Feed Nova Scotia
4. I started a running group

2013 was a pretty good year overall.  Now I need to come up with my word for 2014.  If you had to pick one word to aspire to for a whole year, what would it be? 

It hurts to be cheap

I'm not always cheap.  I'm more than willing to pay $6.00 for a Chai Tea Latté with Lactose Free Milk at least once a week.  But in most other aspects of my life I look for bargains.  Why buy fancy expensive shampoo when my hair is less than a 1/4 in long?  Designer or brand name clothes?  Who needs them.  So when I found no-name brand low-end razors on sale, I scooped them up.  A razor is a razor, right? Do I really need triple blade, pivoting action with aloe gel strips?  Of course not.  I'm just going to shave my legs.  I've been doing this for 30 years now.  It's not that hard.

Let this be a cautionary tale to women every where. Spend the extra $$ on the fancy razors, lest you end up looking like this:

I actually had to remove a piece of skin from the razor blades.  I screamed in the shower when the water hit the open gaping wound.  24 hours later it started bleeding again when I changed the band-aid.  

It's a good thing the weather has cooled off, as I don't think I'll be shaving again till next summer!

It wouldn't be a birthday without it

I don't know when Hilary first got the recipe book that included Chocolate Irish Potato cake, but ever since then almost every birthday has been celebrated with it.  We even made it as a wedding cake for friends of ours, they loved it that much.

So of course Hilary spent the day slaving over a hot stove making it for my birthday.  We've never had a dome shaped one but it cooked up evenly and just as delicious as always!

Its a great way to start off being 43!  And there is lots left over for breakfast!

Pampered

I decided to pamper myself this weekend.

First I had a manicure:

Then I had a pedicure:

Then for the first time ever I had my eyebrows waxed:

For the record, having your eyebrows waxed hurts 1000% times more then getting a tattoo!

And Hilary is going to cut my hair.  I feel like a new woman!

Silver!

On Saturday I entered my first ever  Tae Kwon-Do tournament.  Liam had been in this same tournament last year, so I had an idea of how it would run and what to expect.  Liam had no desire to enter it this year. He did come along and helped carry my gear, cheer me on and took some pictures for me on the Ipod.  I also ran into a co-worker from years ago who borrowed my camera to take pictures of his kids and also got some great shots of me.

The tournament consisted of 2 competitions - patterns and sparring and I took Silver in both.  There were only 3 adult women in my division, so we only had to compete against each other.  We did patterns in the morning.  I wasn't at all nervous until I finished my pattern and was waiting for the judges decision.  Then my legs started to shake.  Luckily, they didn't take long and I was able to hold it together.

For my first sparring round I went up against Ashley who was a powerhouse! She came out swinging and I have the bruises to show for it today.  Unfortunately she seriously hurt her wrist blocking one of my kicks and had to withdraw from the match.  It turned out to be just a bad sprain and not broken.  I then sparred against Amanda, who I often practice with at my Dojang, so it made for a pretty even match, but she took the gold.  The fact that both of these women are 20 years my junior made me feel pretty dang good about myself.

All in all I'm glad I went and I'm pretty sure I'll do it again.  Here are some shots from the day.

Patterns

 Sparring

Tats

When I was just a young thing in my twenties I got a tattoo.  A very nice, multi-coloured Celtic knot on my shoulder.

I loved it so much that I went back the very same day and got another one!  This one is the old man on the moon with stars in a sky of blue

I've been wanting to get another tattoo for awhile now.  I actually have 2 in mind.  My plan is to reach a certain weight loss goal and then I'm going to treat myself to my next tattoo.  I'm hopefully only a few weeks away from it!!  Stay tuned to find out what it is.

A trip down memory lane

I needed to find some old photos for another project.  Here is 18 year old me and my horses:

 "April"

"Susie" and "T.J."

My treat to me

An impossibly long list

These are the things I have to do, in no particular order, in the next 40 hours.

1. Find the Christmas stockings
2. Wash and dry 2 loads of laundry
3. Put away the 2 loads of laundry that's already clean
4. Get the suitcases out of the attic
5. Find the Christmas pickle
6. Pack clothes for 3 people
7. Pack all the Christmas gifts we are taking with us
8. Go out an buy Christmas gifts for:
• My 90 year Grandmother
• Hilary 
• Kavya
• Divya
• our tennants
9. Buy table presents for 6 people
10. Charge 3 iPods
11. Charge the tablet
12. Pack laptop and all cords
13. Download audio books onto everyone's iPods
14. Charge the camera
15. Find the cords for the camera
16. Go to Liam's Fair at school
17. Work 2 full 8 hour shifts
18. Pack everyone's meds (last count was 10+ bottles)
19. Get to the pharmacy to fill Liam's prescriptions
20. Clean the house
21. Get to the vet for heavy duty flea killing stuff
22. Bathe 5 cats and douse them with heavy duty flea killing stuff
23. Get in touch with the house/cat sitter and make sure she can still come
24. Teach the house/cat sitter how to feed the gecko live crickets
25. Make a back up plan if I can't get in touch with the house/cat sitter
26. Finish 2 batches of marshmallows
27. Empty out the fridge of compost
28. Clean the cat litters out
29. Take out the garbage
30. Remember to pack tea
31. Pay bills

Wish me luck!

Funky

 

I now have reading glasses on a chain!  At least they are funky.

Celebrating in style!

I’m Aging like Fine Wine … I’m getting Complex and Fruity!”

41 isn't looking too bad so far thanks to my gift of fine wines from my MIL!

10 ways to have a CRAPTASTIC vacation

1. Have 2 teeth pulled 5 days before you leave.  Make sure one ends up being a "complicated surgical extraction".
2. Go to a location that is planning rain for the entire time of your visit.
3. Forget to pack long pants, a jacket and socks.
4. Have so much pain from the 2 pulled teeth that no amount of OTC pain killers will help.
5. Find a walk in clinic.  Ensure that it's a clinic that requires you to register in person 3-4 hours before your appointment time.
6. M.O.S.Q.U.I.T.O.E.S.
7. Rent a cabin close to the beach.  Ensure that it's a beach that has a strong sulfur smell of rotting seaweed at low tide.  Coincide your week with low tide being in the middle of the day.
8. Get a prescription for Tylenol 3 with Codeine.  Take 2.  When they don't seem to be making you drowsy foolishly think it's okay to have wine with dinner.  Spend some time lying on the bathroom floor trying not to throw up and waiting for the room to stop spinning. Go to bed early.
9. Travel with a 9 year old who does not do transitions or changes to plans well. 
10. Stay in the middle of nowhere that requires a minimum 40 minute drive to get anywhere.

I did it!

After bitting my nails for {cough, cough} 35+ years, I have finally stopped!  And stopped to the point that they are long and I can make them pretty!

I got all sorts of lovely colours in my Easter basket last weekend.  I'm working my way through them!

Such a cute little girl

I recently reconnected with my God-Sister Charlene (her parents are my God Parents) on Facebook.  She sent me some pictures that she had that her Dad had taken when I was little.  It's fun to walk down memory lane!

My first communion.  Yes, it was the '70s and I wore a peach coloured dress (I had been a flower girl in a wedding just before this, so my Mom just recycled the dress)

It's hard to tell because of the exposure, but there is a bird on my head!  I had completely forgotten that my God Parents had a bird, and I now have vague recollections of being scared of it.  I certainly do not look thrilled to have it on my head!

My God-Sister Charlene and I. I'm guessing I was about 2 years old.

My God-Mother, Lena, Charlene and I at my 3rd (?) birthday.

Our winter project

I used to be very crafty - knitting, crocheting, cross stitch.  But then my Raynaud's got worse, and I find doing things with my hands to painful.  But I miss having a project to work on (other then scrap booking, which I'm woefully behind in).  I've never been much of a sewer (is that how you spell that?  It looks suspiciously like the thing the toilet is connect to) but Hilary sews.  I've helped in past projects but usually just cutting and ironing. 

We decided that we needed new quilts for our bed, and since we take a European approach to bed clothes, we are making 2 twin size quilts.  We picked out fabrics that complement each other, but are very different.  And I've decided to do my quilt all by myself!

 My quilt will be stripped blocks in oranges, pinks and greens.

Hilary's quilt will be blocks of smaller squares in blues, purples and pinks.

Hopefully we get them finished before winter is over!

My school picture

So for those anxiously waiting.... this is me:

Long(ish) hair, a dress and panty-hose! I hated smiling for pictures then as much as I do now!

By the way, the Virginia is for Lovers kid in the back row (for those who thought is was me) is a boy!

Today we celebrate

Today is my 40th birthday.  I really don't have anything else to say about that.