Kind donations and what we bought

    
Four very generous donations were sent to us over July, ranging from R200 to almost R5000, so all in all, we received just over R7000 as a gift to us from the kind hearts of others.  If I remember it all, I would like to share with my readers what my son and I spent this wonderful blessing on.
 
Lawn mower and weedwhacker:  We urgently needed those ever since our last neighbours moved away a few months ago.  They were so kind and used to mow our lawn for us.  With our new lawnmower, we will do our best to mow our own lawn, and the neighbours whose lawn we share.  They are very old and would not be able to do it themselves.  The old man recently broke his pelvic, so we will be only too pleased to give them a hand with our brand-new lawnmower and weedwhacker, whenever possible… such joy!  A big thank you to all those who assisted us during our times without a lawnmower, and now it’s time to pay-it-forward with the greatest of pleasure.  We bought a box of extra nylon cord for the weedwhacker so that we have a supply on hand each time it runs out in the machine.  We also bought a good quality grass rake.  The cheaper ones handing next to it in the store already had teeth missing before they were even sold, so we decided against one of those!
 
Lock for our hobby room door: We were amazed to find that instead of the R500 that our handyman quoted for a new door lock for our glass doors in our new hobby room, my son was able to find one for R155.95 at our local hardware store… we were both very pleased about that!  My youngest son who has not yet proved to be in any way handy around the house, installed the locking system himself… I was so proud of him.  I’m actually very proud of all my children right now, they grew up never even being allowed to touch or hold their stepfather’s tools in their hands… we lived in squalor conditions when they were growing up, yet my older boys in particular and my daughter and children-in-laws are all very much into building, painting, improving their homes and lives and the lives of their children, etc. I cannot begin to tell you how much this means to me… and to see my youngest son doing his little bit in our home too, brings a real sense of peace and joy to my heart and mind.
 
Vacuum cleaner:  Before we got a proper vacuum cleaner, I couldn’t wait anymore, so with the gift I bought myself a Roto Clean (a kind of push vacuum that flicks dirt into a container with its rotating bristles… Even though it’s not as strong or as big as the one’s I remember from my childhood, I don’t feel it’s a waste of money, because I cannot use a vacuum due to the dust (allergens) that still escapes a vacuum when it’s running.  And sweeping also sends dust flying, so the Roto Clean is perfect for me to keep floors clean when my sister’s helper, Esnath, is not able to come help.  A lot of dust comes into our house each day.  I see gaps where our ceiling meets the wall and wonder if that’s where a vast majority of the dust is coming from… I don’t know the words for the strip that connects the ceiling panels to the wall (like the skirting board on the floor end of the wall), so will share a photo of what I’m talking about.
 
We did buy a vacuum the other day though, when we had a chance to go to the shops.  As we hadn’t bought a new vacuum in years we had no clue what would work best and ended up buying a Genisis… which Esnath will try today if she comes, and I just hope it works well.  My daughter also gave us her old one after we had bought the new… hers, being so old does have a few problems (pipe and filter falling out) and probably won’t last much longer, but will be good to do the initial vacuuming with, because it’s been a long time since we could do the job properly.  If the new vacuum works well, we might then pass the old one onto someone else in need.  (any vacuum is better than no vacuum) It will be so good to de-dust this house properly at last!
 
Garden help:  I asked Shem to come help us prepare our garden for Spring.  He came the day before yesterday to clean up our garden and dig the veggie patch and he came yesterday to finish off the walling that needed to be done to separate the veggie patches and stop flooding and soil erosion during heavy rainfall.  He will finish that job later today when the first phase brick laying has dried enough.  We bought the sand and cement with the donation gift and pay Shem R100 for each day that he helps us.  He generally only needs half a day to finish each job… and each job is well worth R100 for the immense effort he puts in.  I would need four days of his assistance this month and once the concrete is all dry, I will need him to visit another day to help fully prepare our veggie gardens for summer planting… for that we bought bags of compost, potting soil and manure as well as ferterliser to refresh the garden beds well.
 
Dusting:  Shem will also come on one day to do high dusting of our two bedrooms and the lounge.  That help is desperately needed right now.  Every now and then it’s good to make sure that the house is as dust free as possible, so I’m really grateful that he is willing to come and do that for us.  I’ll get a dust mask for him to wear when he does the job.  We have brick walls in our house, and every brick jutting out collects dust on it (Oh how I wish the walls were plastered).  Shem will even need to vacuum or sweep the walls to sort that problem out.   He works thoroughly and fast and is such a pleasure to receive help from as a result. 
 
Vitamins:  With the extra money this month, I decided to try some vitamins that I feel I could really do with, and because my far-away sister went onto vitamin D recently, I decided to give it a go also… because what’s good for her must be good for me too, because she already suffers far worse than I do with arthritis… so I bought a bottle of vitamin D3. 
 
I also bought slow release Magnesium, because I know that helped me to sleep in the past and I really struggle to sleep a lot of the time these days… and it’s really been helping since I bought it. 
 
I spoke to the pharmacist about my tummy issues and he suggested, Aloe pills called Natrelax, to help with regularity which I suffer terribly from due to no longer eating carbs, sugars, etc.  The Natrelax has been working well but has the worst taste ever for me… absolutely horrible tasting tablets that I now dread putting into my mouth… but for now, they seem to work… So for now, I don’t seem to have an option.  I’ve tried other things, and either they are too expensive or don’t work well enough.
 
A while back I bought vitamin B co to try help with stress levels causing my lips and the sides of my lips to turn red, burn and peel… it flares up for a while, looks terrible, dries and starts to peel and as it looks like it’s healing, it’s suddenly back again!  I’m self-conscious enough without that problem!
 
I’ve been taking the Vit D3 and the B co on odd days, to make it last…
 
But… the gout has been threatening since this last weekend and I’ve been wondering why… could just be stress and a few recent triggers that caused some emotional setbacks causing it.
 
So, I decided to look up the vitamins on the net… I love what I found out today which I hope will be helpful to some of you too:
 
Vitamin D3
https://vitamindwiki.com/Gout+and+Vitamin+D
The relationship of gout to calcium and vitamin D is complex. Gout is associated with insulin resistance, low vitamin D levels, and inflammation, all of which interfere with muscle synthesis. One study has found that patients with gout have lower vitamin D3 levels correlated with higher urate. Mar 14, 2018
Gout and Vitamin D | Vitamin D Wiki
 
Magnesium:
https://goutandyou.com/gout-and-magnesium/
Magnesium will lower your blood pressure making your heart work more efficiently reducing any excess strain on it. The more your blood flows smoothly in your body, the more excess uric acid your body can remove avoiding any crystallization in the joints which can cause a gout attack. Actually magnesium has been shown to be an effective treatment for acute cases of gout
 
This is good news to me, because since I put on the extra 4 ½ kg’s since May due to upsets that have unsettled my eating pattern control-ability, I found that I was waking nights with a mild headache… wondered if that extra weight was already affecting my blood pressure!  I have to get my eating under control again!  I cannot let it get anywhere near where I used to be!  I truly believe I was on deaths doorstep back then!  NEVER AGAIN!!! 
 
https://draxe.com/magnesium-supplements/
(Scroll down the page on this internet link, until you get to number 4 of the 9 important magnesium benefits section)
Magnesium helps relax muscles within the digestive tract, including the intestinal wall, which controls your ability to go to the bathroom. Because magnesium helps neutralize stomach acid and moves stool through the intestines, taking magnesium supplements is a natural way to help you poop!
 
Also, good news for me… I’m sure it will help with the IBS “pain in the abdomen” symptoms as a result!!!
 
Vitamin B complex:
Vitamin B12 | Natural Medicine Journal
https://www.naturalmedicinejournal.com/journal/2011-11/vitamin-b12
Use cautiously in patients with a history of gout, or elevated uric acid levels, as the correction of megaloblastic anemia with vitamin B12 may precipitate gout in susceptible individuals. ... Avoid in patients sensitive or allergic to cobalamin, cobalt, or any other vitamin B12 product ingredients.
 
Maybe I need to stop the vitamin B co for a while and see if these gout-threat symptoms improve what happens when I start taking them again… maybe the vit B12 in it is predisposing towards the gout.  I really don’t need that terrible acute gout agony again!  EEEEK!
 
Clothes for my son:  We still have enough donation money over to take my son shopping for new underclothes, socks and two more work shirts, so that’s next on the list and probably all that we will have money left over for.  As soon as he has time off again, we will go shopping for what he needs.  Probably the Saturday after next, because he will be having the weekend off then.
 
 
It has been such an incredible joy to be able to buy all these most needed supplies at last and get so many important things done.  We are very grateful to those who have helped us last month and over all the times before.  My older children included… and to the people who have helped me with second hand clothes also.  What a blessing you all have been… thanks you so much!
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So, all that’s left right now that we would still ask assistance with would be:
A bath to shower swap… Anything from R4000-R5000 I believe would be enough for that… also to retile the bathroom, because so many tiles have fallen off the walls and broken, so it’s not pretty to look at and reminds me of where we’ve come from… I’d rather it looked a bit more like where we’re heading.
 
I’d also like to raise at least R2000 worth of petrol money to get me too and from my home to Unisa over the time of the students’ workshops in November.
 
We’d love to have the dripping tap sorted out in the kitchen, so that might be the very next thing on our list after buying my son’s clothes.
 
And most important now, is to get my computer and printer sorted out.  I have been unable to use my printer ever since we changed the ink in it… just some setting, or something went wrong… and my computer is so slow and flashes a lot to connect to each page I try to go to… like Outlook, Word and even online… it’s so frustrating and time consuming!  It also doesn’t do some of the time saving things I used to have on my last computer, so I guess those are just settings.  I will have to take it in to the computer store sometime for help with these problems.
 
The very last thing I’d ask for after everything else, would be for money to help me get some clothes and underclothes for myself.  I really do need that, but everything else is more important for now.
 
Much gratitude to a beautiful world out there.
 
~ Panayiota