Definitely Over Did It!

Sometimes just when you think you're back to "normal," you have a small setback. In this case, it was working alongside my youngest, Kailee while we worked on my oldest daughter Caitlyn's yard. It involved removing pine cones and pine needles and some weeds from her mountain cabin in Wrightwood. It is required by the city as a way of eliminating things that can add fuel to a fire in case there is one. So with cooler temperatures and a promise of lunch at the Evergreen, we worked on her front yard and back yard. Plus we also get a chance to play with the puppies she has.

So these are the pictures of her front yard before.

And the pictures of the after.

We finished the front yard after about 3 1/2 hours but the result was worth it. It looks so much better. So Kailee and I grabbed lunch at the Evergreen Cafe again and I got a tuna melt and fries and she had the french dip and fries. I opted for lemon water over her coke. To say that we were both beat by the time we broke for lunch is an understatement.  Part of us was dreading going back to finish and the other part of us just wanted to get back and finish the job.

So with weary and tired bones, we headed back, but not before stopping to give my leftovers to Caitlyn as she met us in the parking lot as she was headed out to work. She got a tuna melt to enjoy on her way to work as a cardio echo technician in Redlands.

So now Kailee and I had the side yards and back yard to work on. These are the before pictures:

And the after:

We finished up by 3:30pm and just before we left, Kailee was asked to give a quote to do the same thing for the neighbor Heather who needed to have her pine needles and pine cones removed as well. She has yet to consider a number as estimates are so hard, but she knows it will probably take her a day with help and 2 days if she does it alone. We were so worn out and all either of us wanted was a hot shower and just some clean clothes, which would have to wait til we made the drive home, 40 minutes later. But before we left, we let the puppies out so we could play with them and let them go potty before we left. 25 bags of pine needles later, we headed home.

So today, I am beat down tired and my muscles I hadn't used in so long are aching. Since I can't take muscle relaxers with Elavil, I opted for a full Norco last night and just Advil this morning. I do feel a bit more of a flair in my IC symptoms today, but have plans to just sit back, read and do nothing to give my body a break. Now I know where my limits are and what I need to do to get back to feeling better. Hoping to get out this weekend with my hubby, but for now, grabbing some lunch and a tall glass of water. 

To Better Days and Puppy Sighs

I am so thrilled to have these better days. While I am not 100% symptom free, I am getting better day by day. My body seems to remind me these days when I make the wrong choices, that everything has its place in moderation. While I can't do full mornings with coffee to keep me going, I am learning that everything that goes in our bodies is either helpful or harmful. Some days when we are so busy as moms it is easy to forget that. Just grabbing whatever is right in front of us, or whatever we pass right by in order to make our days go better isn't exactly the right choices.

I am reminded each time I pick things up from what I drink to what I choose to eat or snack on, that it has its price on my body. I also don't want to go back to the way things were and that is keeping my mindset on staying focused on healthy food choices no matter where I go. I can have the occasional indulgence, but if I want my body to be all that I need it to be, I need to fuel it right and take good care of it.

I am glad that I am to be up and about now, instead of stuck in pain relying on pain meds to help get me to the end of the day. Prayer and keeping God in focus helps as well.

Today I got to visit with my oldest daughter Caitlyn and enjoy going out to our local place for breakfast in Wrightwood, the Evergreen Cafe. It is a quaint and charming restaurant, which is always decorated for whatever holiday is happening. I even over heard a conversation that the restaurant has been featured in some movies because it isn't your run of the mill franchise places. If you plan on checking them out anytime soon, if you go on the weekend, be prepared for a wait. There are only about 10 tables to sit at or belly up to the counter if you like, but the food is amazing, filling and you definitely get your money's worth.

It is one of those places where if you visit often enough, you get to know the people who work there like Twila and Karen and they make you feel like family. They know us so well, they know what we will generally get for breakfast or lunch. Their prices are amazing and I love being able to get away and feel spoiled whenever I go there.

Today, I also got to meet the newest member of my daughter's family, Penelope. She is half sharpei and Labrador retriever and is absolutely adorable. She is sweet and loves the attention you give her. Her wrinkles are absolutely adorable. She smells like puppy love. Of course I can't forget Corvo, a mix between a German Shepherd and Siberian Husky. I even brought them gifts, a red Kong for Corvo and a Kong pull toy for Penelope. I even managed to sneak in a few treat, Banana chips for them to enjoy. There is nothing like the expressions that they each can give you just through their eyes and of course, their wagging tales.

Welcome to the family Penelope. Next time, I'll bring you your own Kong since Corvo doesn't like to share his. And yes, just in case your wondering, Corvo is really that fluffy and super soft too!

Evacuation Orders

You know when you see disasters on the news it doesn't really impact you until it happens to you or someone you know. Then you begin to live in this alternate reality of the life you're having to deal with and the life of everyone else who is going on without you it seems. This time, it impacted us to a degree as we made plans on Tuesday, August 16th to have lunch with my oldest daughter Caitlyn who lives in the small mountain community of Wrightwood. It was her day off and like any other day, my daughter Kailee and I offered to drive up to Wrightwood to have lunch at the Evergreen Cafe.

When we arrived nothing seemed out of the ordinary until we began to hear the conversations of those around us, from the cafe owner to other customers who had just received warning of a fire off the 15 freeway and Kenwood Avenue. The chilling part came after that, that the fire is headed towards Wrightwood. Looking outside the window we could see the layer of smoke beginning to build over the treelined mountains to the east of us, and it seemed like it might be a good time to simply forgo our lunch and head to her home to begin packing up. However the employee and other customers, Wrightwood residents, didn't seem at all panicked. They offered us drink refills while we waited for our food. We opted to stay put for the time being and enjoy lunch while Caitlyn texted her fiancè who was working in Apple Valley at the time to give him an update.

After lunch we headed to her home and began the process of preparing to evacuate just in case it was needed so she wouldn't leave anything behind if she needed it and it couldn't be replaced. Since her wedding is in a few months, October, we opted to grab everything in the event the worst happens. From packing up boxes of wedding preparations, suits and accessories as well as important papers and files, pictures and other sentimental items all while the television broadcast the latest updates on the fire. Pretty intense sitting up in the mountains watching the skies to see the smoke plumes rise and darken.

She was able to reach her fiancè and his aunt who are also residents of Wrightwood and they were leaving Apple Valley headed home. Meanwhile the 15 Freeway was closed in both directions and that would mean a long detour for them without taking the freeway. So we continue to pack, watch the news and wait. We were informed we would be notified by the fire department or sheriff's office in our homes if we needed to leave or either a reverse 911 call so we continue to wait it out. After a couple of hours we got the news we dreaded to hear from a text message from a friend of mine informing me that Wrightwood was under a mandatory evacuation order and it was time to leave before the routes out of town became crowded or impassible.

So the work began of loading both my car and hers while we watched neighbors across the street and next to us begin to do the same thing. There was a sense of unusual quiet in the town that was a bit unnerving, no birds or the chatter you would normally hear. I opted to head to the village to top off my gas tank just in case we got diverted over Angeles Forest Highway into Little Rock. The line at the only gas station in town was long but everyone was extremely helpful. The owners were even outside helping people pump gas and taking gas payments so customers didn't have to go inside to pay to make the transactions run smoothly.

We finally headed out of town by around 5 pm when Steven made it home, packed up the final things and grabbed the cats in their carriers, and made our way home to the horror of seeing what you had been watching on television now become a reality. The thick wall of smoke hovered like a wall determined to keep us out as we made our way out of Wrightwood.

The smoke was so thick and black that it seemed to float over us all the way to Victorville as ash continued to rain down on us.

I can honestly say, living in the High Desert I had never seen it look so ominous in the 13 years of living here and dealing with the fires that seem to erupt every fire season in the Cajon Pass.

Now we sit at home and the waiting begins.

Will the town that has managed to remain unscathed continue to do so, or will this fire consume the small town of only about 4500 residents? Will my daughter have a home to return to? How will she start over again if they lose everything? What will happen to the wedding venue that they booked in Wrightwood? For now, we sit and watch the news. Read all the social media sites in our area and of course, pray. We pray for our first responders and the town and everyone affected who will return to some of the surrounding areas only to find out they have lost everything. If you can continue to keep us in prayer that the freeways will open so they can get to work down in Redlands, that the fire is contained for them to go home and remain safe, and for those that continue to battle this blaze whose cause yet remains unknown.