A Room for Each Hobby

  

          Richard has a BA in graphic arts.  He uses his office to design cards (here) and programs. 

          He fixes watches and has a desk in the back room along with an assortment of watches, watch parts, batteries and new toys to improve his hobby (here).

          At first he was just fixing them and donating them to the homeless shelter.  But when the homeless shelter seemed to have their fill of watches and more than people, a deal was made with an artisan in Ashland in which Richard would leave his watches and the owner would price them and split the proceeds.  Richard allowed for Jaime to collect for extra spending when she was in college.

          And now for the latest hobby.  Richard had wanted to purchase some planters for our yard – only he didn’t want to spend what it cost and wondered if he could make them cheaper.  He can.  And after he built six for our yard wondered if we couldn’t sell them.  He turned my shed into a workshop.  Oh boy.  Too small for what he is doing.  It’s going to get hot.

Never Again

           The reason why Richard started making planters was because we needed planters for our yard but didn’t particularly wish to pay over 150. for each one. He thought he could make one for less.  After filling six planter boxes for ourselves, Richard wondered if we’d be able to sell them.  And so we started a business.  Or are attempting to.

          We would take our planters and other items (Richard keeps on adding small things) to farmers markets perhaps we could sell them.  We have made enough to cover our expenses but are now in a loll with spending cash only and not paying bills as we had hoped.

          His first experience was in Riddle – I think when I was sick.  He took Jaime for the afternoon – I think from 12:00 to 4:00 on Fridays.  It was not the most productive – but the least amount for set up fee.  Myrtle Creek has farmers market on Saturday from 10:00 to 2:00 and Canyonville is Wednesday from 9:30 to 1:30. 

          Thus far we’ve made sales in Canyonville and Myrtle Creek.  His first two projects were special orders custom made.  We then sold three planters in Canyonville when the weather was nice.  Not such a great turn out when it is cool or overcast.  There have been a few Saturdays that we have worn coats and we had sweaters on Wednesday.  The temperature had raised over 40 degrees for the weekend.

          Last Wednesday the girl in the booth next to ours asked if we would be doing the Summer Mega Mart coming up for Friday and Saturday (12^th and 13^th). We had never even heard of it, but Richard called the provided number and signed us up for two eight day shifts. What a waste.  Recruiters had been great and brought in vendors from Eugene. Outside spots were quite reasonable at 25 dollars for both days.  But inside vendors had to pay over 100 for their spots. 

Marketing sucked big time!  I have never seen so many vendors so bored out of their minds.  I felt horrible for all of those who had less profit than what they had spent – which looked to be the majority.  So many of the sales made were from other vendors.  I felt bad from those who had made the drive from Eugene as I heard they would have fared better if they had just stayed in Eugene.

Richard has a book called “Your Marketing Sucks” by Mark Stevens.  It was written long before this Summer Mega Mart was put on, so I guess he wasn’t talking about Seven Feathers.  But I couldn’t help thinking of that title the entire time we sat in the parking lot throughout the atrociously hot day.  I think there had been at least 24 tents set up in the parking lot on Friday.  When we returned Saturday morning there were only seventeen left.  Throughout the day that number dwindled as vendors packed up and moved out. 

We decided to pack up at 5:00.  We had only made one sale on Friday.  Nothing on Saturday.  Few people stopped to browse – but mostly guests of the hotel that might have room for small trinkets, but nothing big.  The summer mega mart was a flop in my opinion.  And this heat has made me so tired and grouchy.  But at least we did have a breeze.  Sometimes too powerful of a breeze.  Friday’s breeze was cool.  Saturday’s was less powerful and warm.

I don’t ever want to do that again.  I guess if it’s better advertised.  My guess is they have lost business with most of the vendors that were there. It's not like they have an incentive to come back.  I would suspect most people lost money. 

While Driving

 

          Whenever I go to the Medford Temple (located in Central Point Oregon about an hour and ten minutes away) I have so many thoughts enter my head on the drive there.  Yesterday I had at least four blogging ideas.  All vanished on the return home.  What’s up with that?

          I think one was a reference to policy change – which I am certain I have already mentioned but thought I’d look it up and add to it.  No.  Not now anyway.

          A couple were in reference to my mission.  The area where I currently live reminds me so much of my first area when I served my mission.  Though not as cold.  Never as cold.  Perhaps on the coast.  But the wind still does not go through you as it did in Giles county.

          I remember being in the bishops office and gazing at a board full of names.  There was a column of active members, a column for inactive members, and a column of the unknown.

          “How could they be unknown?” I thought. But I get it now.  Rural addresses aren’t always discovered.  Some are downright eerie.  Do people really live at some of the provided addresses? Or sometimes there isn’t even a physical address – just a PO Box or city.  Invalid phone number. 

          Perhaps I will go into more detail later on.  Don’t hold your breath though.

Lisinopril side effects

           An eight month cough is outrageous.  I had believed it was allergy related and looked at external possibilities – it never dawned on me that it might be something internal.

          I had a friend tell me that she had been coughing for six months straight until her doctor took her off Metformin.  That didn’t make sense to me.  I’ve been taking Metformin for over two years now.  Why would it all the sudden cause me to cough.  Perhaps she provided the wrong drug.  Lisinopril is the cause.  It not only made me cough but had made Richard cough as well.  I forgot that he had dealt with his own episode – though I do remember him coughing – I still hadn’t made the connection.  He had been on Lisinopril before I started taking Metformin.  Now neither one of us are taking Lisinopril.

          I don’t know how high the statistics are for those who need to be taken off Lisinopril due to a cough.  Apparently there are some pharmacists who give a warning.  I don’t remember if mine did or not.  If so, it obviously didn’t connect.  But if it is really that common of an occurrence, why is the drug still on the market?  There have been some medications removed due to some individuals experiencing side effects.  Why not Lisinopril?

          I realize that not every drug works the same way for every individual.  There are side effects.  There are trade-offs.  I’m not trading a preventative for a cough.  There has to be another option.  As of now I won’t be taking anything until my cough completely disappears.

          Meanwhile I still have mostly a full bottle of the nasty Buckley’s syrup.  It did work.  But I’m not going to use it to chase a side effect when Lisinopril is the problem.  I wish I would have made a connection earlier or never taken it in the first place.  Live and learn.

          Hopefully if there are others who are taking the drug and experiencing the side effects that you will not have to go through this yourself and that this blog post will help you figure out that Lisinopril is NOT the direction you would like to go.

Remembering the Meeting

          I don’t know how long my brothers had power of attorney for my mom’s welfare when she had dementia. I don’t know if it was when she was still living at home or after we put her into assisted living.  I don’t know if I can find the exact date in my file or not.  I do remember all four of her children had gone downtown for a visitation with an attorney.

          There was concern about finances and how long we would be able to keep her in assisted living and if we could rely on state contribution in the future should the money run out – and just how long would we have before the state could/would assist.  It was a first visit for me and my sister.  I don’t know if my brothers had met with the attorney before in person or if things were done over the phone.  I don’t recall – though I’m certain my youngest brother remembers the details vividly.  He just seems to have an Hyperthymesia memory.

          I remember the session was scheduled for three hours.  Apparently they do that with family members leaving them time to squabble – which was never part of our circumstances.  We agreed upon things according to our faith, our values, and respect for not only our parents but each other as well.  We did not need the full three hours.  In fact, just after the attorney sat down and gave some council and asked if we had any questions before proceeding, I spoke up.  I said it was probably out of the ordinary but could we please start off with a word of prayer.

          That in itself made a huge difference.  The attorney was taken aback to our behavior and agreement.  Being the state executor had been hard on the one brother and asked if he could turn that over to the youngest who already had power of attorney but the attorney advised that the power of attorney and executor not be the same person.  But we were okay with it.  All four of us could sign whatever had to be signed.  The attorney said that in all his years of practice that he had only gotten through one other family as quickly as with ours.

          We put mom in a facility that we could afford.  I think they were understaffed and not so much individualized as other care facilities we had looked into.  But the staff did their best and we certainly don’t cast any blame.  Quite the contrary.  We are grateful to how things were handled.

          My youngest brother researched mom’s condition.  He said there were seven stages.  He said that he believed that mom was in stage five – which was actually a fun stage – which we chose to view it as. We thought mom would live in assisted living for many years – which was a big concern when we had met with the attorney.  But she was in assisted living for only nine months before she passed.  We did not have to see her go through stages 6 or 7 which we all considered a huge blessing.

          It’s quite an odd memory that I would think about.  I just had always wondered if there was a connection between Metformin and Dementia.  There were five individuals who lived on the same street – one had Alzheimers and the other four had another form of dementia. The four that had dementia all had diabetes – though I can’t  if all four took Metforim.  I know for certain that at least one did.  The one with Alzheimers lived the longest.  I don’t know if she was diabetic or not.

          It’s just something I often think about though I would like to let it go. But sometimes it haunts me.