Merry Christmas Y'all!

As another Christmas is whisking it way towards us, it gives me pause to remember all the blessings I've been blessed by this year. My van is loaded with Christmas goodies ready for my trek homeward.While I'm not looking forward to the six-hour drive tomorrow, it will be good to see everyone.

It seems of late my blog has been filled with the negative aspects of living post stroke. The blog has been a platform for me to vent rather than bless others, which is not the purpose of the blog. Sigh What can I say. Life just has been continually handing me lemons where my living post stroke life is concerned. I'll try to do better in 2019.

On the flip side while my post stroke health concerns have weighed me down, my life as a whole has been extremely blessed. Pennies from heaven continually trickle in so I can meet all our needs. I'm actually in debt ($2000) but my income continues to cover all the bills. It even allows for little extras too while I pay down my debt. With COLA due the first of the year, it meets my increases in Medicare and my BCBS supplement. This is a true blessing. I know for many, this increase of funds doesn't stretch that far. I'll even have about $13 a month of an increase.Can I hear a "Thank you, Jesus!"

With having to purchase all our firewood this winter instead of getting it for free, the budget has taken a big hit this winter. The cord and a half we put up of our own was gone in two months with the bitter cold fronts lashing us. We've even had snow already. Usually if we get any, it doesn't fall until late January or February. It's going to be a long, cold winter. The price of firewood jumped this year from $85 to $120 for a cord of seasoned firewood.We've got to figure out a way to get the fallen trees up from the ravine or next winter will break me money wise. Still burning wood in the wood stove is hands down cheaper than other fuel type furnaces. Plus I don't have to worry whether my propane runs out or the electrical grid goes down for heat.

We've gotten quite a bit done on the homestead this year. Our garden and orchard produced our needs in green beans, corn, and tomatoes. I was able to make grape jelly and 5 gallons of wine. Mel and her cat, Whirling Dervish, have already polished off a gallon. So I'll have to double the amount of wine I make next year so I have some to share next year.We should get a bigger harvest next year too. I'll be rooting the pruned canes for more Muscadine and Catawba grapes this winter. So we are blessed with a full food storage building and seeds to plant next year. If I can do that much with my AFO problems and foot fractures last year, just think of what I can do next year. I might even be able to start a few CSA shares (Community Supported Agriculture) with the abundance and make the garden and orchard pay their own way like our animals do.

As far as our animals go, we've had to buy very little chicken this year. We've culled the roosters from the straight run of chickens I bought last spring. The hens are producing enough eggs to keep themselves in feed. The rabbits also will be earning extra later this winter by producing offspring for sale. So far, we've used or sold all the fiber we've gotten from our little money makers. They have kept themselves in feed and hay since the first quarter of owning them. So in that respect, we are truly blessed.

Since there is no surgery planned in the near future except for maybe a Baclofen pump, I can go ahead and join the Y for water exercises. See for everything there is a silver lining. I owe it to me and by God, I deserve it. Or, I can search out another orthopedic surgeon who will rebuild my foot and ankle. I'd put all of this on hold for the rhizotomy that isn't happening now. I'll wait until the new year to decide which decision to go ahead with. Either way, I'll be ready for all the spring time activity here on the homestead. Either I'll build up my strength and stamina, and/or get out of this AFO permanently. I've got a few short weeks to decide. Either way is forward progress. The past year of waiting around for naught is over. Proactive Jo is back.

Nothing is impossible.