The view I had last year....

On my way home from work...

On my way to work...

I still feel like a fish out of water

Life seems to be whizzing by at an alarming rate. Since August it seems that I've been in a constant state of upheaval. This move, so long anticipated, hasn't been the easy move that I always thought it would be. The reality of moving so far away from what has been my normal life has been a shock to the senses. For the first couple of months I felt like a fish out of water. I had no friends here. I didn't know anyone when I went anywhere. There was no one I dreaded seeing when I went shopping. Ha-Ha! But, what a difference a day makes. I signed up to take a knitting class in September, and that was the day I met my new Arkansas friends. Like me, they are all from "other" places...Memphis, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois. And each lovely and wonderful in their own way. Now I've got such nice friends up here, and I don't feel so out of place anymore. I've taken a job with home health, and have 3 patients/clients who like me as much as I like them. They are all so nice, and so much a part of what makes Arkansas, Arkansas. Well, 2 of them are, one of them is from "up north" but she's nice too, in spite of where she came from! Ha-Ha! I had to reschedule the big 5.5 hour AAPC exam (coding certification) I was to take on Nov. 1, and will take it on Dec. 6 instead. I had carpal tunnel surgery on my right hand on Nov. 4, and have taken off a couple of weeks while I recover. The left hand was done in July when I was still in Louisiana. Not sure if it is the hands, or the surgeons, but the right hand, in spite of being labeled as the worst of the two hands, has had a much easier recovery...so far. The surgeon who "fixed" my hand did a wonderful job. You'll notice I'm typing? Already!!! I was able to remove the big bulky bandage this morning, as per instructions that they sent home with me. I was told by a woman at one of the stores in Mountain View, (that's where the doctor is) that they have people who come from as far away as Little Rock to see this doctor, that he's really good. I was visiting my friend Faye at her knitting shop in Hardy, and met a woman there who had had a very complicated surgery on her hand, and she had the same surgeon. He fixed her thumb...took a tendon from her arm to make her thumb work. Everyone, from his office staff to the hospital staff, was so nice and helpful. To be fair, the surgical staff where I had my other surgery was very nice, too. I've gotten calls from my sisters Pat, and Ginny, and from a couple of my home health patients. I'll admit it was so nice to get those calls. It's always nice to feel loved and appreciated by the people I love and appreciate. I spent some time today with one of my friends, Shirley. She invited me to have lunch with her at the Methodist Church, where they were having a bazaar and silent auction. I also met a friend of Shirley's, Carol, and Carol's husband, Len. Carol had a sock book (knitting) that I wanted, and she can't see well enough to use it, so she sold me her book. The book is not sold in stores, but only online. I knew that the others had had a lot of trouble getting their book once they'd ordered it, so I was so happy not to have to go through that headache. Carol's daughter, son and grandson came to have lunch, too, and the grandson had on a Lightning McQueen sweatshirt. That reminded me of Landon. I wish all of my family had blogs so I could keep track of them and their kids. I love reading about what Amanda and her family are doing, and love the pictures. Funny how priorities change. I used to do other things first, but now I want to look at Amanda's blog first to see what new things her boys are doing. I can't let this opportunity pass without one dig to Pat...if you had a computer you could blog too! Ha-Ha-Ha! So, that's what's going on in my little corner of the world for now. Not a lot, and not a lot of it interesting, but I guess I wanted to share what is going on with me to those who might be interested in reading and knowing.