Whew…. 2018 was a WILD RIDE of a year.\u00a0 The crazy of Presi![\"IMG_4443](\"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_4443-1.png\")
dent Cheeto (ongoing) and the anxiety of the run up to November and then the joy of the Blue Wave has left me exhausted!\u00a0 Particularly\u00a0 in California!\u00a0\u00a0 We will see how we can fix or at least STOP the Wackjob in the White House while we prepare for the desperate tactics of the GOP for the 2020 elections.<\/p>\n
I learned one thing in that political maelstrom …. I CAN<\/strong><\/em> make a difference even in my financial poverty with $1 at a time.\u00a0 Every month I gave about $10 in political donations to about 10 different politicians and the majority of those politicians won or came VERY close.\u00a0 I’m going to encourage that to ALL my poverty stricken friends, because together we will win.<\/p>\n I’m still working at IKEA and I must tell you I still love that job.\u00a0 It was a struggle there a bit as the company rolled out O4G (see the Nov 20, 2018 article businessinsider.com) and a lot of long term employees freaked.\u00a0 As a relatively new employee in a new store I<\/p>\n kind of stood there wondering what the fuss was about as most changes didn’t effect me, but come the end of the year when they “announced” they were cutting benefits & not giving raises, well, there was A LOT of union talk.\u00a0 But when the above article came out and the media coverage about it, the company “postponed” some of those employee changes and the employee noise has died down.\u00a0 Personally, I blame all this crazy bs on<\/p>\n Xmas party overspill into the kitchen!<\/p><\/div>\n IKEA USA trying to turn a good European company into a typical US Corporation.\u00a0 Better to strive to model itself after Costco than Walmart!\u00a0 And then the CEO sent us an email telling us he’d HEARD us and wanted to do what he could to keep Ikea as a great place to work.\u00a0 \ud83d\ude00<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Besides me genuinely LIKING people, and therefor loving retail, I’ve stumbled upon an amazing group of people at Ikea!\u00a0 In 2017 I had a New Year’s Eve party with some co-workers and it was so much fun I had several more parties through 2018.\u00a0 So when my fellow co-workers talked about an after party to the Christmas party, I offered my house to a few and BAM…what a crowd!<\/p>\n 2018 saw me turn 55, my Sex God turn 50, my oldest turn 21 and my youngest 17.\u00a0 There have been A LOT of emotional challenges with my kids, each in their own way, but there are successes also.\u00a0 Luke is transferring to CSUN to finish his BS, Evan has adjusted to community college life while sorting through diet & exercise to get Non-selfie stick at a concert gets you unrelated hair bombs in your shot!<\/p><\/div>\n As you can see from past posts we still go to Coachella every year and have pre-purchased our 2019 tickets and camping.\u00a0 We also saw Alesso at the Palladium, Nothing But Thieves at The Fonda (miss the El Rey but they’re getting bigger audiences!), watched the remote broadcast of KROQ’s Weenie Roast (with Nothing But Thieves!), & saw Iliza Shlesinger’s Elder Millenial tour.\u00a0 We paid for overpriced food, overpriced drinks & overpriced tickets to see Ada Vox at the Catalina Bar & Grill.\u00a0 It was a good show, but the expense!\u00a0 There were a few other minor local shows & a whole lot of Marvel movies!<\/p>\n Early in 2018 my knee was finally diagnosed with a torn meniscus & had knee surgery in June.\u00a0 I lasted 2 weeks away from work and was demanding they let me back in because I’d watched all my t.v.!\u00a0 I ended up spending months in the sit-down section of Ikea, i.e. the Restaurant begging for cash lane shifts saying it was physical therapy!\u00a0 My knee gradually healed and I was soon walking without knee pain (heel spurs still an issue but Yay<\/p>\n Day 3 after the fall<\/p><\/div>\n Cortisone!) yet I’m pretty terrified of dancing these days!\u00a0 I’m so worried I might do damage!\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, THEN on the 26th of December I fell down the last few of my stairs at home chipping a bone in my left ankle AND bruising 2 bones in my right knee!\u00a0 Both legs out, I was wheelchair bound while I tried to find doctors working through the holiday season.\u00a0 I was out of work for 30 days before going back to sit down duty at Ikea.<\/p>\n In 2017 I began to see a Urologist.\u00a0 My many UTI’s had gotten out of control and they stopped showing any bacteria!\u00a0 After a CT scan, others tests and a scope he puts me on a daily dose of “like cranberry” pills.\u00a0 The prescription one was ridiculously expensive, but he gave me an over the counter version his patients swear by.\u00a0 I tried both and stuck with the cheap one.\u00a0 And for MOST of a year I was UTI free!\u00a0 I thought, yay cured!\u00a0 But then last fall I got hit with the symptoms again.\u00a0 Sadly my Urologists staff did NOT help beyond taking a urine sample (black with blood) & sending me off\u00a0 with no symptom relief, saying they’d know the results in a few days.\u00a0 My PC doctor’s office was WAY better, phoned the doctor after looking at the sample (“are you on your period?” the nurse quietly asked me….<\/p>\n Unrelated to this section but seeing Nothing But Thieves with these people was a year highlight!<\/p><\/div>\n nope, post menopausal by 2 years) & gave me prescriptions for the symptoms.\u00a0 What “I” learned from the instance (which again came up no bacterial infection) was that the “I” in UTI for me, stands for inflammation.\u00a0 When symptoms hit, I hit back with Motrin (anti-inflammatory) & the cranberry pills & lots of water.\u00a0 My body purges everything so I’m stuck on a toilet for a good 3-4 hours, but if I keep up the Motrin\/Cranberry\/Water during the worse when it’s over, it all goes back to normal.\u00a0 What triggers it?\u00a0 My best guess is too much salt in my diet.\u00a0 I’ve always loved snacking on salty sunflower seeds and I can eat a lot!\u00a0 And if I also eat a sugary snack I think it just does something to my system to inflame a block that leads to these symptoms.\u00a0\u00a0 This theory will be strongly tested 2019!<\/p>\n I had high hopes of fixing my body in 2018 so I could fix my teeth in 2019, but with my fall down the stairs, my goals may be postponed.\u00a0\u00a0 Additionally I finally got that Mammogram done, Plus there are kid expenses planned for 2019 that I have no idea how I’m going to survive!\u00a0 2018 saw Conor getting ingrown toe surgery and his red head gene sensitivity made us have to choose general anesthesia to have it done.\u00a0 Best experience he ever had, he swears, so we’re hoping to have the toe procedure permanently done in 2019.\u00a0\u00a0 And probably sometime in the next year or so the boy is going to need his wisdom teeth out like his brothers.\u00a0\u00a0 Sigh…and if Luke goes to Northridge, he might need a vehicle for transportation!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Whew…. 2018 was a WILD RIDE of a year.\u00a0 The crazy of President Cheeto (ongoing) and the anxiety of the run up to November and then the joy of the Blue Wave has left me exhausted!\u00a0 Particularly\u00a0 in California!\u00a0\u00a0 We … Continue reading ![\"IMG_5112\"](\"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_5112-e1549139512424.jpg\")
less fat<\/del> healthier, Conor is going to test out of his last year in high school (so he doesn’t go to jail if he loses his temper on a 17 year old once he turns 18 this year) and frankly he needs to be around smarter students.<\/p>\n![\"IMG_4814\"](\"http:\/\/www.heatherbarton.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/IMG_4814-e1549139373829.jpg\")
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which led to a re-scan, which led to an ultrasound and the conclusion I have what appears to be a small cyst in a breast which they will watch with a scan every 6 months.\u00a0\u00a0 The urologist also wants another scope in 6 months and I tell BOTH of them, I cannot schedule anything until the knee Doc tells me if I need surgery on my knee!<\/p>\n