Uncertain

My Grand Nephew

It is Ohio. It is January. Let's go sliding in the snow. It is always a bit scary at first. I remember pulling the little ones and they were never ready. One good jerk on the sled and they always fell off backwards. LOL! Good times.

I cannot let the evening go by without mentioning how much my daughter and I enjoyed watching Heath in A Knight's Tale. Too tragic. Nuff said.

My day today. I have to really hand it to some folks. But, first. I can tell you honestly that when I was in my 20's I was a bit full of myself. I was cold and aloof at times. Not all the time. There were some folks that would remember me as uppity and bitchy. I am not sure where along the way I discovered that I had control over my attitude, but I found it. I can only figure that I must have been one unhappy person. And so, goes my conversation with somebody who reminded me of myself.

I called my Insurance provider to see if my daughter's upcoming surgery would be covered at the new hospital we were going to go to. At first you get an automated voice asking you questions. It wasn't long before I was transferred to a live cold-hearted human being.

Here is how that conversation went:

I dialed the toll free number.

MM automated voice : Does your membership ID have a letter in it?

Me: yes

MM automated voice: Okay. Please give me your membership ID number.

Me: 123-45-6789A

MM automated voice: I'm sorry. Can you repeat that?

Me: Speaking very distinctly. 123-45-6789A.

MM automated voice: I'm sorry I am having so much trouble. Please hold for the next available operator.

Pause (cheesy music)

MM Next Available operator: What is your membership ID number?

Me: 123-45-6789A.

MM Next Available Operator: And, your Social Security number?

Me: That is my Social security number.

MM Next Available Operator: Pardon?

Me: The membership ID is my social security number.

MM Next Available Operator: (sarcastic tone) I've never known a social security number to have a letter in it!

Me: Laughing. Without the "A" (is she an idiot?) (Am I an idiot for laughing?)

MM Next Available Operator: (annoyed tone) I didn't know that.

Me: (Still laughing. Certainly, I am an idiot.) Sorry.

MM Next Available Operator: (very annoyed tone)How may I help you?

Me: I'd like to check and see if a hospital is covered in my network.

MM Next Available Operator: What hospital would that be?

Me: Akron Children's Hospital.

pause

MM Next Available Operator: I don't see that hospital listed, ma'am.

Me: Hmmm. (a bit confused because it is very large). How about we check the surgeon's medical group?

MM Next Available Operator: Are we done checking on the hospital, because you are jumping around!

Me: (A bit taken aback). It's Akron Plas...

MM Next Available Operator: (clearly interrupting me) What is the name of your surgeon?

Me: (Really taken aback). I said the name of the surgeon, Layman.

MM Next Available Operator: First name?

Me: James.

MM Next Available Operator: Your surgeon is in your network and she named the surgeons' Practice.

Me: (Incredulously thinking to myself: Akron Plastic Surgeons to Akron Children's hospital. Big jump, there!). Okay. How about the hospital - Akron Children's Hospital?

MM Next Available Operator: What county is it in?

Me: Summit county.

MM Next Available Operator: Hold on.

Cheesy music.

MM Next Available Operator: The hospital name is Children's Medical Center of Akron. Please make sure you have the name right, or we cannot accurately look it up in the network.

Me: (Thinking to myself: JESUS H. CHRIST!) It is listed all over the Internet as Akron Children's Hospital, the website is www.akronchildrens.org (I had located it on Google while on hold).

MM Next Available Operator: (silence)

Me: So, it is covered under my network?

MM Next Available Operator: It is listed in the network.

Me: Okay. Thank-you (and I hang up.)

I mean really. Am I supposed to guess how they have the hospital listed? The surgeon told me Akron Children's. The receptionist told me Akron Children's. The Internet lists it as Akron Children's and that is what it is called all over the web page until you scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page where in tiny little letters it reads: Children's Medical Center of Akron. Good God! Maybe Medical Mutual could reference Akron Children's to Children's Medical Center of Akron. What a database!

Yes, I am ashamed to say that my uppity secretary attitude from twenty-seven years ago has come back to bite me in the ass. A taste of my own medicine.

Mr. Tibbs

He is a pain, he is a joy

He is extremely lovable. He curls up beside me whenever he gets the chance. He has to be touching me or laying over me or part of me. My daughter asks "Why does he like you so much?" I have this relationship with Casper, but Casper is content to sit next to me. Not on me.

I felt that for Martin Luther King Day I would mention "Mr. Tibbs." The older I get the more I have to come to the terms of folks who have no idea what "Mr. Tibbs" is or where I came up with that name. What do they call you up there?

Even after watching The Lion King, where Pumbaa shouts: "They call me, Mr. Pig!" Here is a little bit of trivia for you. The guy who voiced Pumbaa on The Lion King is the same guy who stripped down to nothing on the Seinfeld episode "The Subway".

I have always liked Sidney Poitier since I first saw him on screen. I have never seen "In the Heat of the Night." I think I must remedy that.

We are headed north to Akron today. Park West Center for Plastic Surgeons. The physician we are meeting with will be the one to remove the next set of moles from my daughter. They are not located on her back. They are in a more sensitive area where she will need more than just a few shots to numb the pain. We are so thrilled about this. Today is just a consultation.

She nor I had to miss work or school for this appointment. I am going to try and schedule it during her spring break so that she doesn't have to miss school. Her school is very strict about absenteeism. It is almost to the point of where she goes even if she is sick. If you miss more than 18 days in the school year it is as if you didn't go at all. No credit. My feathers are ruffled a bit. They started with me and the red in her hair at the beginning of the year and we sidestepped that issue. Now, they are on me about her attendance. Between migraines and the mole removal I am about ready to sink my teeth into some superintendent's jugular vein.

I did speak to the attendance officer about my daughter. At that time she had only missed 5 days. I think we are up to 7, now. She said that she only knew of exceptions when there was a serious car accident. I have called the director of the school twice leaving a message. I told him I was aware of the policy and there have been medical issues. He has never returned my calls, so I imagine he is not all that interested in any excuses. Huh.

The sentry

Checking me out

As I slowly drove my car along the back road, this guard dog paused and turned as if to give me a stern warning. I moved along.

It is getting cold in my neck of the woods this week-end. Extra blankets and throws are all washed and ready for use. Because of pet hair, they need washed more often than usual.

Cupboard is stocked with plenty of hot chocolate. Crock pot is full of shredded roast beef for tasty, hot sandwiches.

Tomorrow I travel. Computer work for family. That's okay. Her house is toasty warm and the last time I checked, my car's heater was working pretty good.

Check it, folks. We are in the middle of January in Ohio.

The good, the bad and the ugly

Three pictures layered together

For a sample of what my daughter does, go here.

The good:

All my sisters and brothers are on-line, now. One brother does not actually get on-line himself, his wife does. The last one - the sister closest to me in age lives out on a country ridge. It is beautiful and private, but little in the way of new technology. She went with her dish satellite. A little bumpy at first, but improving.

The bad:

Removed by the author.

The ugly:

I watched A Mighty Heart over the week-end. I can't believe that was four days ago. My time does go fast. Oh. That's right. I lost almost a complete day due to a migraine Monday. Figures. Anyway, I did want to see the movie because it is based on fact. I doubt that I will read the book. I do believe that Miss Jolie did very well in the role. I like about 2 of her movies. Three, now.

At the end when she was narrating, I did catch a very interesting point. She said that she had learned something because when somebody e-mailed her they had included an e-mail that had been sent to them. Reading that other person's email told her something, I can't quite recall what it was. I think it may have been that her husband's body had been cut up into 10 pieces. So, remember when you are forwarding email, that most of the time the one you just read will be seen by the person you are forwarding to. It is quite common for folks to read unsavory stuff this way.

I cannot even imagine the life that her son, Adam will have to lead. That video of her husband's beheading is out there somewhere for viewing. It makes me sick to my stomach. I can't even bring myself to search for it, to see for sure. I don't want to see any part of the damn thing. You can read more about Daniel Pearl at www.en.wikipedia.com and search for his name. Of course she has not viewed the video. Can you believe that a reporter asked her that question? "Did you see the video?" She replied with "Have you no decency? How can you ask me that?" Crass.

Fractured

Pretty much how my head feels recovering with a migraine headache

The background is fuzzy, but there are these spots that appear or make themselves known in blaring and obvious ways. This is how my brain feels when I have a migraine. Fuzzy, yet acute spots that hurt. Painful and piercing through the murk. Prickly blobs of abstract thoughts.

I took the medicine and after 90 minutes I was feeling great. So good in fact, I ate. I had skipped lunch and I felt hungry. Big mistake. Now I am back to sunspots. I always described eyesight during a migraine as this. When you come into the dim house after staring at sun-blinding snow. You see spots. That is what a migraine does to me. When I was 12 I stared at the chalkboard in science class. The teacher wrote a bunch of stuff across it. Letters were missing as I stared. If I looked at another area, those letters appeared and other ones disappeared. The vision speckles made me sick to my stomach. Still do.

So when I started to work on the above photo, I was feeling great. Now, not so good. I wanted to write about something, but now I don't much feel like it. Maybe later.

Paloosa

Never was one of my favorite coats on a horse.

Not so bad

This was my world today. It wasn't gray. It wasn't cold. It is unseasonably warm for January in Ohio. The sun was shining bright. The wind had whipped clouds into a frothy mix in the sky and then the wind left. The puffy clouds remained. It brought in a bit cooler weather. I think we are still above normal, though.

My drive was brief. I swapped some network equipment out. The work was brief. The school went down 3 hours after I left. I knew it. It wasn't my equipment. It was the telephone company. Usually is. They don't care. They don't have to face the angry customer. They arrange it so that they do all their work remotely. A pole in a field somewhere. Rarely do they come inside the building.

And they know they are the only game in town. But, for how long?

Iron my shirt!

Women. Keep on keepin' on! We have come a long way. Our daughters will have it better than we. Their daughters even better. Keep on keepin' on. Iron my shirt, hell. We are iron. (Giving the raspberry) Change my tire, so I can run over your ass!

Calgon bubbles... take me away!

I do not have a stressful life. Really, I don't. I play things pretty low key. I don't jump to conclusions (very often) and I don't get excited easily. I do get angry, but I did not learn how to properly address anger. That is another story.

I have had a mini vacation of sorts. Not from work, but from my co-worker. I have worked in a lot of offices. She is back one day and I am ready for the bubbles. You could say she had a melt down. I don't mind listening to how her time off helped her. It didn't. She came back pretty much the same as shortly before she left.

She is completely self absorbed.

I read something so disturbing in the paper this evening. It makes me sick to my stomach. A dog was discovered frozen to death. The guy said one of his kids gave it a bath last week and the next day he found it frozen to death. I am trying very hard to swallow the lump in my throat. Not tears but vomit. I think I'll go give my galoot a big hug and a treat.

A Christmas couple

My niece and her beau

Since my niece moved to Toledo, I don't see her very often. Here is a snapshot of her and her beau on Christmas day at my sister's house. They both go to school in Toledo and she is too far away for my liking. My nephew takes good care of her though, he is mid-way between us, near Columbus.

One of my credit card companies called today. I canceled a "rewards" program. I guess last year I agreed to a free year of a rewards program. I did not cash in my rewards. I am not exactly sure why I would have signed up for it. I don't believe in that type of business. The cost was $25.00 for one year. I had accumulated exactly $25.00 worth of points towards a Starbucks or iTunes gift card. Hmmm. I pay the credit card company $25, they turn around and give me a $25 gift card. I thought that was silly, so I called to cancel.

They didn't want me to cancel. They offered me a $50 Sears card. I have to admit, I did pause. Then I said "Nope." They canceled my rewards and removed the $25 fee from my bill. Today was the "survey" call. They wanted to know how pleased I was with the credit card service. I gave them excellent reviews. It isn't the card or the company. It's the rewards program that I have a problem with. I don't like that way of business. I shouldn't have to "pay" to be rewarded, should I?

On second thought, if you bought everything with this credit card I can see where you would rack up a huge amount of rewards points. Then just cash them in on stuff. It would have to be enough purchasing though, to compensate your lost $25. I am still not certain that using a credit card for all of your purchases is a good idea for the average American. I think the credit card company is going by the old stand by that if a buyer uses a credit card, they often purchase more than they originally intended.

My niece has a cousin that purchases all her Toys "R" Us gift cards at a certain grocery store. You get gas dollars for the gift cards. She then uses the gift cards to purchase her boys their toys and she gets a lot of free gas. I suppose that makes sense. You can only use a certain gas station, though. She happens to live very close to one. I don't. I also imagine that she just doesn't walk into this grocery store and buy the gift card. I am sure she does her grocery shopping there, too. This is what the grocery store is aiming for. Anything to get them in the door.

Another problem I have is the lottery. I just don't like the idea of it. It isn't because of a religious belief, although I think I can see where that could be considered an immoral way of life. It is a form of gambling. It is just that "get rich quick" way of thinking. Everybody wants more money, even me. Far be it from me to turn down a pay raise. But the lottery just seems evil to me.

Rolling hills of Ohio

Taken a few months back while on my way to Harrison county, Ohio.

It doesn't look this way today. We have lots of gray and white. I have heard that the temps will be warmer than normal. So we can add sloppy to the mix. I think I'll stay indoors as much as possible. It might be a good week-end to clean up. Put decorations away properly. Clean pet hair off of the carpet and furniture.

Not a lot of fun, but this is January.

My daughter is having an enormous amount of problems with her new X-box. I imagine that I will research on-line to see if others are experiencing the same issues. She has called technical support many times and she gets the "we are experiencing problems" recording. This is with the x-box "live" portion of the product. She is becoming so frustrated with the game, I am considering sending it back for a full refund.

Leftovers

Pork, kraut, potatoes and bread

One would think that kraut was German, but my research tells me it originated in China and the Germans preserved it with salt instead of rice wine. I can relate to the potato originating in Peru(by). The pumpernickel bread is German. Pork - China again. Margarine - French?

I did not eat all that is shown. My eyes were bigger than my tummy after skipping lunch today. Give me the above meal and my crossword puzzle and you won't see me for an hour. Ice cold ginger ale to top it off. I left it on the back porch and I had ginger slush. It melted quickly once brought inside, though.

The true point to this post is one of my presents. A potato ricer. A while back I was dismayed at my lumpy mashed potatoes. I researched and decided to try russet potatoes and I asked for a potato ricer for Christmas and got one. Between the two of those my mashed potatoes have been picture perfect. The second time I made mashed potatoes, I didn't even have to bother with the mixer. Another plus for Miss "Don't Like the Kitchen".

A blue bullet

One of my living room lamps. Photo taken below the lamp looking up at the ceiling.

Curled up

Mr. Tibbs has the right idea today. It was cold. After some very calm days for December we were blasted with a cold, biting wind today. It was supposed to bring in a lot of snow, but it missed us. As per usual.

New Years was wonderful. Family fun and laughs. Way too much food. We watched Transformers. It was much funnier than I expected. Then we watched the ball drop and the sisters talked about going to New York City one New Years to see the event. I'm thinking to myself "If it were warm enough, I'd go." What a sissy.

We had the traditional sauerkraut and pork at midnight. I always have shrimp cocktail. I can't believe I had enough so that people got sick of it and I had some left over. Rare!

Back to work tomorrow. Ho hum. January is my least favorite month of the year.

Dusty markers

My office marker and pen holder

Looks like things are a bit dusty at work. Not been using the hi-liters all that much, probably because most of what I read is on the computer. And the big black markers are dusty, too.

I was bit by some nasty little bug yesterday. I threw up for the first time in ages without the cause being a migraine headache. I had heartburn from not eating and when I tried to eat some toast, that resulted in a huge stomach ache. Most of my day was spent with a cold, wet wash cloth over my face and bravely trying some Advil. I did succumb to a migraine pill later in the day and by midnight I was feeling much better. My sister and I watched "Witches of Eastwick". She had not seen it before. She is a big Cher fan. (movies, not music). We laughed at Jack Nicholson.

I am slowly recovering today. Working an hour and taking a break for an hour. Every time I get up and move around (sweeping, scooping kitty litter) my stomach begins to gurgle and ache. I did eat some scrambled eggs earlier. I am going to try to make some rigatoni and sloppy jo's later. Requests by kids and sister. She will make them if I ask. She has volunteered. But, my kitchen needs cleaned up anyway.

Last week my daughter cleaned our refrigerator out. She said she feared for her food. It took her two long hours. I helped her put the food outside in a cooler and I left. Went to my brother's house. When I came home, I had one clean and sparkling refrigerator. I told her, "Hey. If it were up to me, I would just throw the refrigerator out and get a new one. It's the American way!"

I have a family get together planned for New Year's Eve. No alcohol (my sister is trying very hard). We are getting together with my brother and his wife. They always remain sober because they are part of the fire department and EMT squad in a small village. They say you can count on one run every New Year's eve. We are going to play Left, Center, Right and Tripoley. Nickels only. No big gambling, here. I took Left, Center, Right to our gathering on Christmas day and it was a huge hit. My nieces and nephews loved it. I had the most fun when we let my grand nephew roll the dice. What a ham!

Okay. My rest time is up. To the kitchen.

Boxed Titten

I went through my December photos on this blog and told myself "No more cat photos!" My nephew sent me this one and I couldn't resist. It is one of their Christmas gifts opened on Christmas eve. We got a huge laugh when my daughter opened it. It had a yellow caution tape on it and it "popped" open and startled my daughter.

Titten started vomiting foam and acting lethargic Christmas day. It continued yesterday. When my daughter told me she was vomiting again this morning, I thought to myself 'Time to call the vet.' I went to get the little thing and picked her up. She had sleepy eyes. I gave her a wadded up piece of foil to play with and she began playing. My daughter said she ate 'like a hog' this morning. That is normal for her. And, just now she attacked her brother (playfully). We call them brother and sister because they came together, but he is definitely a couple of months older than she is - so they probably are not from the same litter.

We are off today on an excursion today. I am meeting a friend at an Indian restaurant. I get to eat here about once a year and this is a treat. I talked my daughter into going. I want to make sure that the little kitten is healthy before we leave, though. I will cancel to take her to the vet's office. Whoops, never mind. The two newest kittens just bounded into my room knocking my trash can over. I chided Mr. Tibbs to be gentle with her. She is still in recovery. She is playful.

The garbage men have just picked my tree up off the curb. No lingering holiday for me this year. Hah!

Temptation

Somehow I managed to resist this dessert yesterday. There was a huge cheesecake sitting next to it, also. That I also missed out on. I was not in the least bit hungry. We ate dinner at about 4 p.m. and I didn't touch another thing after that except for a few salted peanuts. And plenty of ice water.

There were about 25 of us at my sister's house. My brother brought his favorite gift (a remote controlled fart machine - NO lie!) and we were merciless. We taped it to the bottom of the most sat in chair and as various victims came and went we tortured them with the device. What a blast!

A bunch of us played Left, Center Right (with nickels) after dinner. Almost everybody won the Center bowl of coins on each play. It was a nice, fair night. A few members of the family could not make it (my daughter spent the day with her beau's family) but we had a bunch, anyway. My niece made eggnog jello shots. I did not touch them. I heard they were a bit rubbery.

Sugarplums

While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.

Glad it's over?

Santa and Frosty atop the organ

I didn't notice when I took the picture, that the little wooden snowman was laying there. It looks like he is dead. He is just relaxing.

Is anyone else glad that Christmas is over? Well, we open our gifts on Christmas eve and everybody is whipped. Kids are playing Xbox 360. The food is put away, the dishes are either clean or in the dish washer. Candles have been blown out. Beds are made. My sister, nephew and niece were able to make it here for the holiday.

We all go tomorrow to my eldest sister's house for Christmas dinner and another gift exchange. That isn't as hectic as tonight is. We didn't go overboard in gift buying this year and we were done opening by 9 p.m. There were some duplicates, but I keep all my receipts so I will be the one exchanging them.

We had BBQ ham, creamed chicken sandwiches, appetizer meatballs, nacho dip, olives, salted mixed nuts, pickles, cheese, chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate and more chocolate.

Wow, I am beat.

A Christmas from long, long ago

1970

I was ten years old. It was the year of the Kent State shooting. I was in the fifth grade. I had one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Slates. She went to Hawaii every year and we had a luau theme party. She gave us stars for reciting things like "My Country 'Tis of Thee". She introduced me to Don Ho's "Tiny Bubbles" and "Pearly Shells". She made me want to be a better person.

Teachers like Mrs. Slates change lives.

Marmalade

We have a huge pet bed we purchased for our huge dog, Sable. She doesn't use it. The cats love it. Here is Titten (I like to call her Marmalade) stretched out. I placed the bed in front of the heater and it is a big hit.

I usually have my alarm set for 6:15 a.m. I try not to hit the snooze, but you know how it is. The other night I said "Enough" and moved the minutes to :55. I was going to start getting up at 5 minutes BEFORE six a.m. and get a head start on things. Guess who forgot to change the hour?

I snapped the alarm off and got up feeling very refreshed. Huh, I thought. This won't be so bad. I come out of my bedroom to see my daughter already in the bathroom getting ready for school. What? She decided to get up early, too? "Do you know what time it is? It's almost seven o'clock!" I realized what I had done. Ah, well. At least I am going to remember to change it before I go to bed tonight. Right? Right.

The candle is burning

My candle. Both ends.

Me = chicken. My head is off and I am running, running, running.

I drove to Columbus yesterday to go with my nephew to his cardiologist meeting. He explained the procedure to us. Words are floating through my head, such as Cardiopulmonary Bypass surgery, right atrium, short circuit, freezing, homograft aortic valve replacement, bovine valve, cadaver valve, hybrid, scar tissue... and this Internet thing is wonderful. Just a few clicks and I am reading all about what that guy said.

It was funny. When we left I told my nephew, "Well, these aren't your parents' doctors." The doctor included in one of his sentences, "pissed off" and his assistant said in one of her sentences "that sucks" and called my nephew a "smart ass" in a joking manner. LOL!

My cards from this year

Above are the cards I sent out this year. Co-workers received the green ones. Family and friends (depending on their likes) received the kitten or Ralphie in the bunny costume. Is there anybody who has not seen "A Christmas Story" with Ralphie and the Red Ryder BB gun? My co-worker had not even heard of it. It boggles my mind that with all the hoopla about the leg lamp, fragilie, and "You'll shoot your eye out!" she has never heard of the movie.

Someone told me that Bob Barker (of television fame) is the owner of the company that sells supplies to most all of the jails in the states. I just looked it up. It is Bob Barker Company, but my research tells me that it is a businessman in North Carolina. Not "Bob come on down! Barker". We were talking about this because we can only send my sister money orders. Inmates have to purchase their own toothpaste, toothbrushes, toiletries etc... I suppose there are some that are provided, but you still need a candy bar every now and then.

If you get the chance, I recommend that you try your hand playing Left, Center Right. Fun stuff.

I am off to Columbus tomorrow to meet with my nephew and his team of doctors for a Q. and A. session. I will visit a mall in the morning and my nephew and I will visit one in the afternoon. This snow storm had better be history by then!

Buttons and more

When I tour the trees on display at a museum in a town near to me, I always try and stop in to give respect to the Missus. While her husband was busy in the knife making and train carving area of business, she was an artist herself. You can read about her here.

I have a "free" day today. One where I am not obligated to be anywhere. Today is promised to no one. I can hopefully get my decorations up. My spirit has been low the last week or so. I do not have any decorations put up, save for two bright snowflake lights on our living room wall. I moved the organ to make more room and this corner is so dark. The holiday snowflake lights did the trick.

Now, I have to drink my coffee and gear up for today. So much to do. I am just not that "into" it this year. Family woes. So many are unhappy. So many are struggling. The entire economy is depressed. All co-workers and friends are feeling monetary woes this year. My sister will not be joining me for the holidays. She will be alone in a cold, dark cell. I know, I know. She brings it on herself. So everybody tells me over and over again. I know this. But, that old saying keeps going through my mind. "There but for the grace of God, go I."

We all have choices. We get up. We make the choice. I believe this with all my heart. However, I also believe that some of us live in a state of mind where we have tuned our inside voices out. Or, we no longer hear them. The little voice that is telling us to do the right thing or not do the wrong thing is no longer heard. For whatever reason we no longer listen, or we cannot listen. I believe that is where my sister is. I could be wrong.

We watched Deck the Halls last evening. Not great, not horrible. Matthew Broderick looks so different, I didn't even recognize him in some of the scenes until after he turned. When a scene changed and this guy walked out, I'd be like "Who is that?" Oh, that's Matthew. Or, maybe I am just not used to seeing him in a movie. The electricity and the light displays were a little over the top. I'll tell you one thing. Kristin Chenoweth needs to sing a lot more. That is one sweet voice.

There is no secret in the fact that I have had some difficulty with my co-worker. Most of you have heard me speak of how tedious she can be from time to time. She had a nervous breakdown and is out until the first of the year. Some folks say she will be out longer. She is addicted to pain meds although she will not admit that. She had enough drugs (oh, sorry - medication) in her on a daily basis to knock a horse out. Many people kept saying that this was going to happen.

I don't know enough about this type of medicine to know what to expect of recovery or withdrawal. Most folks are saying she is going to need rehabilitation. The only thing I know is that she had isolated her family. She did this before the medication.

In March of 2005 she did something to me so dastardly that I did not speak to her about anything but work-related topics for an entire year. I have no use for people like that. I may have had to share an office with her, but I sure as hell didn't have to acknowledge that she even existed outside of that office. I am the strong and silent type. She needs people and communication. You could say she went a little crazy. She would leave the office for hours at a time, roaming the halls looking for somebody anybody that would listen to her chat away. I was relieved. Somebody else was enduring her endless stories and diarrhea of the mouth.

She had created a life where she was in her own little world. If you didn't share her beliefs she shunned you. This is how she ended up so alone and with no support. She has bemoaned to me the fact that her daughter does not even call to see how she is doing.

Her pain began two years ago. Shortly after I stopped speaking to her. After about 12 months, I felt sorry enough for her to listen to her go on and on about her problems. She told anybody and everybody that would listen. She bragged about her pain meds. People began talking behind her back, calling her "whack-o". I saw her falling asleep at her desk. I saw how many times she left the office to pick up her meds, go to the chiropractor, go to the physical therapist, go home and sleep. She abused her work time because my managers (in our home office)never check up on us. Not on a regular basis, anyway.

I had a previous co-worker that abused the time at work, and when I mentioned it to the managers at our home office nothing happened. He was in fact, given a huge raise. I believe that I was marked as the "squealer". So, this time I figured "To hell with all of you. I am going to sit here and do my work and keep to myself." Nobody at the home office ever caught on. If they did, they never said anything to me. Nobody asked me how things were going. My co-worker was left unbridled for over two years.

Old sayings kept going through my head. "Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves". I am a wise person. Sometimes I forget and make mistakes, but for the most part I know what is coming down the pike. This will sound cold hearted, but maybe some people actually do get what they deserve. A lot of times in my life, I didn't get to see it firsthand. Just desserts, come-uppance, coup-de-grace. Whatever you want to call it. Although I know it is not healthy or proper to relish in somebody else's discomfort, I am a human being and I had about as much of her crap as any one person could take. I have sympathy for her ex-husband and can understand why he walked out.

Atypical

Before the wild hair change

We went to the family doctor and spoke with her about my daughter getting more moles excised. The doctor looked at them and agreed that they need to come out. She did agree with the dermatologist that perhaps we need to look into seeing a plastic surgeon for the job, now. Our dermatologist does not do anything fancy, she is trying to save lives.

Dysplastic nevus. Atypical. My daughter and I were wondering just how many more moles have to be removed. I read today that usually the patient has 100 or more on their body. Groan. Has hers just started? Nobody knows for sure. Another article stated that a person with dyplastic nevi has a higher risk of getting other kinds of cancer. There are certain chemicals still on the market today that can cause cancer and to stay away from them. No list was given.

Maybe there is no scientific evidence. But with the way we have been mislead before in areas were greed are concerned, it will not surprise me in the least if our products are killing us.

Weird and random

Peruby is distorted

Tabor tagged me for a Meme.

The Rules are as follows:

* Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

* Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.

Well, here goes:

1. When I look at a digital clock, I have to add the numbers together. For example, if it is 4:21, in my head I say "7". If the end result is "7", I consider it a sign of good luck. I am almost out of this stage because I am not by nature a superstitious person. It is hell in the middle of the night.

2. I speak baby-talk to all my animals. They respond very well to it.


3. I am extremely inept at housecleaning.


4. I hate marshmallow, but will eat it if covered with enough chocolate. :)


5. I am a tough sell.


6. I stayed in a house overnight where the temperature dipped to 8 degrees Fahrenheit.


7. I will inadvertently burst into song. My daughter hates this.

I must think about whether or not I am going to tag anyone, myself.

My family had a holiday get together last evening. Sixteen of us showed and there are at least 14 more of the immediate family that could have shown up. We were loud. They put us into a back banquet room. We laughed. We drank (very little) and we ate.

Today we are cleaning the living room to make room for the tree. I also fixed up two batches of cookie dough for baking later. I like to refrigerate the dough for a bit before baking. It makes it easier to work with. Christmas music is playing throughout the house. Even my daughter is tapping her toes.

I will have visitors over the Christmas break. This makes me happy. Well, I think I will have my sister. She will find out on the 11th if she gets to come home for the holiday. I don't have to worry about her imbibing because she will be wearing one of these.

I did some shopping on-line this morning. I have made quite a bit of progress. This is surprising for me this early into the month. Yesterday, on the radio, I heard the announcer say "And if you are out and about doing some last minute shopping...." Last minute? It was the 8th of December for crying out loud. Some folks don't even start shopping by that date.

If my recent order is complete and arrives on time, then this pretty much wraps it up for me. This is also dangerous because I happen to be the kind of person who will keep on buying gifts even though I am "done." I just like to give gifts. If I see something I think somebody will like, I will pick it up. It is like a fever. Everyone else in the stores are buying, I want to join in. If I can stay out of the stores, I might be okay. This is going to be hard.

I do have to get my hair done. Color and cut. I might go to a new place that is not in the mall. This way, I won't be tempted to venture out to the other stores. Hmmm.

Toweling Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs in my towel drawer

Fresh out of the dryer, folded, soft and still warm. Mr. Tibbs decides this is his little piece of heaven. Last week, I had to take all the towels out and let Titten and Mr. Tibbs play in the drawer. Titten would crawl into it, and Mr. Tibbs would jump up on the drawer from the floor and push it closed, shutting Titten in. Titten didn't mind. She continued to play with the super ball that was left in there. These two are easily amused.

I've spent the last few evenings at my brother's house adding RAM to his PC and trying to get his Word Perfect working. It just quit. It displays the splash screen, and will run in Safe mode, but in Normal mode - nothing. I have un-installed and re-installed. I have tried adding the updates for Word Perfect from the Internet. The first update went without a hitch, but the other two wouldn't load. The PC only had 256MB RAM, and the downloads were moving slow, this is why I put in 1 Gig of RAM today. Word Perfect still won't work. It came in a Corel package with Quatro Pro. QP works like a charm.

I gave them a temporary fix for now (word pad), but I have some research to do on the Internet to try and figure out what the heck is going on.

Orange on pink

Titten in the tub

I don't care for my pink fixtures in my upstairs bathroom. Someday, I'll replace them. Since we shower downstairs, the tub has become a sort of play place for the new kittens. Give them a half dozen super balls and they are entertained for hours. Except at night. They make such a racket, we have to close the door (once we make sure they aren't in there).

We had a snow day today. I baked cookies, played Christmas music and cleaned up a bit. During my cleaning I found my 4 gig Sony micro vault. Yay!

Last but not least, I shoveled snow. Ugh.

Two cats on a bed

Mr. Tibbs and Titten with red ribbon

Tis the Season. Red shiny ribbons and receipts. Cats are curious and playful. Well, the newer kittens are. My older cats are grumpy, and very sedate.

Spinning

My life is kind of spinning right now. I can't believe when I log onto blogger, that it has been days since I posted. Life can be this way at times, and I guess it's my turn. Crazy, crazy days!

Wacky Wednesday is gone

The Migraine Monkey was nice enough to wipe out a Wednesday of my life. I tried to get up and go to work. The headache said "This is not to be." Ugh. I slept most of the morning and when I finally was able to drag myself out of bed, I decided to rest and watch T.V. I caught the old movie "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" from 1947. I remember watching the T.V. version in the '60s with Hope Lange. The movie was in black and white. I also decided to clean my living room and re-arrange furniture for the tree while I watched the movie. I just feel so guilty not doing anything during the day. So much for rest. I took many breaks, but my leg muscles were sore from pushing heavy furniture around. Sigh.

Today was not much better. I finally caved in and took another migraine pill at 3:00 p.m. I was at work, but I don't know how much work I was actually able to do. This evening I felt much better. My daughter and I watched "The Fountain". Do yourself a favor and skip it.

Another tree ornament

A copper red tree was beautiful

Here is another tree from the museum display. There were so many trees and so much talent. The taller trees sold for over $800 and the smaller displays for around $400. They are out of my league, but I do like to look.

So. My apologies to Lois Gibson. For starters, it is difficult to make a sketch of a little girl with nothing to go on but a face bone. And next, I am thinking that if you are going into forensic science, art was not your major. Or, the other way around? She has been praised for her image she created and the little girl was recognized quickly.

I just thought it a little vulgar. But then again, so is the whole horrid story.

It is far beyond my comprehension and I hope that it always is. I don't say "What is the world coming to?" I believe this type of behavior has gone on forever and always. How can I wrap my mind around the fact that there is some little one being hurt right now? "There's no such things as monsters." Uh. Yes, there are. To be beaten and/or tortured by a stranger is one thing, but at the hands of your parent? My brain remains boggled. It refuses to accept that these things can happen. I cringe that I may know a child beater. That I might work with one or that my car repairman is one. They walk amongst us, these monsters. Oh, such a chilling thought.

My grand niece (with the golden hair) is only two years old. It turns my blood cold to think of anyone harming a hair on her beautiful head. Who is to say that little girl was to be born to that horrible monster of a mother and perish in such an awful ... words do not even enter my brain that can describe the incident. I have nothing in my mind that can fathom what words to use to describe such a horrible, horrible murder. I am beyond words. I am beyond sick.

The bird is in the oven!

The bird is in and the pets are just lovin' it! They sit in the kitchen in pure wide eyed amazement. Well, okay. I do not bake that often. They cannot believe that there are such aromatic odors coming from my kitchen. They look in their empty food bowls and look up at me. They don't understand.

About a year ago the Petz Place in our town moved to the southside of town. I did not follow them there. I purchase my kitty litter and food at Wal-Mart. Cringe. It isn't that I could not find them (I never looked) but the working guys there creeped me out. You just get a feel about something and I listen to my instincts.

The other day, I decided to drop in to see what their "bigger" store was like. Wow. The good thing is I didn't see the creepy guys who own the place. There were two female workers and two, young male workers. They were very polite and helpful and they didn't creep me out. The bad thing was they had 12 puppies for sale. I must never take my daughter there. Never, ever.

The second bad thing is their prices were about 20% higher than Wal-Mart. I still might switch to purchasing it there. I just want to stop my dependence on Wal-Mart. Target and K-Mart are over forty miles away from me.

And, on a completely unrelated topic, who in the hell drew the sketch of Baby Grace? Good grief!

Methinks I'll Bethink

Grand Nephew on Thanksgiving day

This little tyke is a hard one to pin down for a photograph. He tries to grab the camera out of your hand. He carries his parent's car keys around with him. And, he sets the alarm off many times. My sister (his grandmother) tells me he knows very well the difference between a toy (or dead) cell phone and the real deal. He wants nothing to do with fake imitations. This guy likes to push buttons. He is a gadget guy.

At dinner last evening my grand niece pulled my cell phone out of my purse and called my neighbor. She began jabbering away on the phone and when I got hold of it, I could hear an answering machine. I'll explain things to them the next time I see them. I am pretty sure they don't recognize my number.

I sit here this morning (my daughter and I have the day off, yeah!) and heave a big sigh at how quickly the long week-end went. It just zoomed by. The little dog arrived yesterday for us to dogsit. She is as big as our cats. The new kittens are really curious about her.

The baby (I call her Marmalade) is getting much better in the litter box area. She does miss once in a while, but it is close to the box. I check twice a day for her mistakes, but lately that has been nil.

I am cooking the bird today. As it turns out, I'll be freezing most of it. People came and went. I ran here and there. The huge bird was frozen solid and I messed up on a visiting day and so the bird awaits me. That is okay by me. I have all day. A sister and her husband may drive up for a bite. He just retired and she does not work today. I baked the pies yesterday and one is gone. I sent half of it home with a sister ( we didn't eat it all! LOL!).

I was hoping to get down to Oglebay to see the lights this year. I am going to try, but time and money do have a habit of getting in the way of plans.

Well, I am being pawed and clawed to death (cats and little visitor dog), so I am off to the kitchen to feed and water them and make myself some coffee. Oh, and drag that huge carcass out of the refrigerator, pull it's guts out and begin to prepare it. If I get adventurous, I'll charge my camera battery and take some pictures. Good grief. I need a life. Oops. The last time I sad that (out loud) I got pregnant. LOL!

Golden locks of hair

My Grand Niece

No curlers. No hair dye. This is just plain natural. This is just plain unfair. Two years old. This coming from someone who grew up with stringy, brown hair. Fine hair, they called it. I called it thin. Here is my Grand Niece at two years old. Already with hair that you might only find on Malibu Barbie.

Her Mother wanted to play the games I brought. We started with Tripoly. Nobody brought dimes and nickels so we played with chips. They all said they would bring their change on Christmas day. Same place. We moved on to electronic Catch Phrase. My head felt as though it would explode from laughing so hard.

Ten of us would plays games. Ten sat around and talked. I ate a piece of pecan pie. My first ever. When I was young somebody bought me a butter pecan flavored ice cream cone. I hated it. For forty years I've told myself I hate pecans. The pie was good, but I can live without it. I guess I am a Yankee.

Ack!

Silvery Pink Tree

Another tree from the museum. Ho Hum.

It is getting to be the time of year when the grocery store is packed, malls are packed and most of all my calendar is getting packed. Okay, not really. But, packed by my standards. I like my free time. I like a clean calendar. No doctor appointments, no animal appointments, no this, no that.

Every week-end is taken between now and Christmas. Ugh. A party here, a dinner there. I know. I should embrace it and really I do (deep down inside) but I need my breathing space. I feel like I am climbing that big, steep hill up to the holidays. Where you shop til you drop, eat til you puke and run, run, run. Sigh.

Bake, clean, clean, bake. Visitors here, company there. Clean sheets on the beds, scoop the litter boxes, wash the towels. Move, move, move!

Just unloading the groceries out of the car today sent my back into a numb tingle. Pack the refrigerator, empty the old Popsicles out of the freezer and the year old sherbet. Make room, make room!

I am getting so nervous! I work tomorrow, but then I am off until Tuesday. (Off from my paying job, that is!) Heh, heh. I'll be working aplenty. And, tell me why is it that I purchased a 20lb turkey? Why!? What was I thinking? And, a ham. The ham isn't very big. Potatoes, noodles (bag), sweet potatoes (can), stuffing (homemade), cranberry sauce (jellied and whole), pumpkin pies (store shells and Libby's canned), frozen green beans and corn.

That is just for my house (I am expecting my nephew and niece). I suppose I'll make that meal Friday or Saturday. For Thursday I go to my eldest sister's house. All the family does. I am taking a cheese ball/tray with crackers and cupcakes. I'll make and arrange that stuff Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The nice thing is, I have all the groceries purchased. I can stay home tomorrow evening and bake cupcakes, whip up a cheese ball and cut cheese! Woot! My nephew will be here. He is coming in from Boston/Buffalo. I have not seen him since his heart catheterization in early October.

Friends, Krishna and a theme tree

I think this was a Children's themed tree

I believe that is a pink pacifier near the top of the photo. If I recall, this tree was decorated in a child's theme. I have to be careful that I don't get so involved in getting photos and actually stop, take a look around me and actually enjoy the trees (or the scenery) I am taking pictures of. Warther's museum in Dover, Ohio.

Watching a movie last night "Mind the Gap" I heard this haunting song that I fell in love with. I got busy afterwards and tracked it down. It was not easy. It appears that there may be a British band titled "Mind the Gap" and when you try to look up the soundtrack for the movie, it became tedious.

I did find a You Tube with the song. Just Google "You Tube Mere Gurudev" and you should get a couple videos. I actually like the song (chant). I believe the videos lean more to those who smoke some wacky tobaccy.

And, no. You are not about to see me at an airport near you, wearing a long robe and selling paper flowers. I have listened to other chants by Krishna Das and I don't care for them.

If you have seen both the movies "Crash" and "Mind the Gap" do you see a similarity? Although, I liked both movies "Mind the Gap" was a bit grittier. It used real-looking people instead of pretty actors. No offense to the cast of MTG. I just related better to MTG. I know parts were a bit odd and out there, but they had a much tighter budget.

I'm off today to visit a very dear friend. My sister will be joining us later, also. My friend's health is not very good. She cared for her Mother for six years. Her Mother was wheel-chair bound. My friend became very ill and was admitted to the hospital. While there her Mother died. My friend was not able to make it to the funeral. It has been hard on her. She is still very ill.

Tropical Christmas Tree

Palm Holidays

This one was my daughter's favorite tree display at the museum. They had real sand and I am not sure what is in the cooler shown there. It was a very festive contrast to the warm and cozy displays of the other trees.

I received my new hard drive today. It is a Western Digital and a 500 gig (instead of 400). I ran Intel's Application Accelerator and after about 2 hours, I had my system back. Hopefully, I won't get the "Ati2diag stuck in an infinite loop" error any more. I think they may be two separate problems, but who knows? I also ran a quick fix for the diag that I found online (go Google!).

2007 Trees

Splashy orange display

We went to visit the Warther's museum trees decorated this evening. Since it is only available for a small amount of time, I wanted to make sure we got there this year. I remembered to take my camera.

I got bored so I began moving the camera as it took the photo. I was able to record some colorful (albeit blurry) shots using this technique. If you can call it a technique. Most people try NOT to move the camera.

One of my hard drives has failed and since I have RAID 1 setup, my computer crashes every once in a while, so I am typing quickly. Heh, heh. I re-boot and it comes back, but I never know when it is just going to go completely dark on me, and give me the BSOD. (Blue Screen of Death). RAID 1 is where I have two 400 gig hard drives and one mirrors the other exactly, so when one drives fails, I can still have my system - just no safety net. The tech guy said this really does not work if it is Windows that fails.

I have had my Dell since May 2004 and this is the second time a hard drive has failed. Windows has not failed once - except that time I blew it out of the water. My own fault. Stupid hacker book!

I had not backed up anything since the end of September. I didn't have much. I quickly copied it to my external hard drive. I'll receive the new hard drive in the mail in a few days and pop it in.

Whoops. The system died on me before I could post. I let it rest, and rebooted. I hate this not knowing when it is going to crap out on me again.

Keep the obey in the vows

I love her, but I never wanted to marry her

So, did you hear about the guy in India who married a dog? Yeah. Seems he stoned a couple of dogs 15 years ago and has bad luck ever since. So, he heard that if he marries a dog his luck will change. Honor and obey, hey? Nothing like a good loyal dog.

Well, if that is the case, I can't wait to see what happens to M Vick.

Both my new kittens are home. All fixed and quiet. I was able to pick up Mr. Tibbs yesterday and he walked around the house with a mournful meow most all of the night. Could have been from missing Titten, could have been pain and/or trauma. I picked up Titten today. The ordeal has barely slowed her down. She is still pretty frisky. They are both sleeping peacefully, this evening.

Veterans Day

11:11:11 To those of you lost, to those of you here, to those of you there. We salute you.

No more toys from China

The above photo was sent to me in an e-mail, that said "Another recall for a toy sent from China". It was meant to be funny. However,it is getting close to being a little bit too real if you ask me. It was before I read this:

Aqua dot beads are being recalled because it has been discovered that they are coated with a poisonous chemical coating. I am stunned.

Things are getting messy

Raging rain storm in a small town

As the holidays approach I find myself upset. Not only am I facing a drought in the financial area, it is determined that my daughter is in need of having four more moles removed. In a delicate area of her body. She was upset to say the least.

The financial drought is temporary. I was (am) very good at saving money and had a very nice sum set aside for rainy days or (heaven forbid) a loss of work. That stash has been dented. One thing after another.

Of course insurance is going to pay for the surgeries, but it is the mental burden here. Does she really need them removed? She has had about 8 removed from her back and each one has come back with the results of benign and mild. Not malignant and not melanoma. The dermatologist says "Oh!" when she sees the moles in the private areas. She said they need to come off and the sooner the better. My daughter was in tears when we left the office. (She was laughing by the time we got home - forty-five minutes later).

I can tell she is upset. I am making an appointment with our family physician and asking her opinion as to if we should keep up this body mutilation or do we take the chance of taking a break for a year or so, or do we just chuck this mole removal altogether? My Mom had a mole in her private area (I never saw it of course) but she had no problems. Is it better safe than sorry? My daughter does NOT want to be cut down there.

What is a Mother to do? I understand her frustration because I am frustrated and exasperated that each time we think "This is the last one!" more need to be removed and each time the results of the lab work are "It was a mild and benign one." Don't other people just live with their moles?

But, on the other hand Mother does NOT want her daughter to get melanoma. Or anything else for that matter! I just want to scream! Stop, Stop, Stop! This madness! This has been going on for over 2 years, now. Another one, cut, cut, cut. Snip, snip, snip! More scars.

We try to look at things in a more positive light. We are not dealing with cancer, we are not dealing with the loss of a limb, we are not dealing with burns over half of her body, etc... we do try to be thankful that we don't have anything more serious to deal with. I don't say this in front of her, I keep those thoughts to myself. In her world this is disastrous enough. She did mention that she is thankful it isn't anything worse, but she is devastated by it all. Tired of it all.

And, then there is my nephew. Is he going to have his open-heart surgery? Is it going to be this year? I am going to corner him next week while he is off on vacation. When, when, when? So I can plan. His Mother is back in prison so that leaves me to be the Maternal one. I don't care to go into detail about her, believe me it does not deserve the blog space. She is a lost cause, we sort of wrote her off years ago. She can't handle pressure so she kind of drops out of society and this is her way of doing it. As close as I can guess.

Now, what will I take for Thanksgiving dinner? Where will the money come from for Christmas shopping? Back to the little things. The daily grind. Things are indeed messy. Gray sky and stormy weather. We'll ride out the storm. We have been here before.

Just to clarify, I do not qualify for Share-A-Christmas or anything like that. I have plenty of money to pay the bills and buy groceries and get Christmas gifts. I don't mean to sound pathetic. I am just saying the savings account ain't what it used to be. Financial woes are a big stress factor and that is one of two or three I am facing this holiday season. I like to have the money before I spend it, you know what I mean? I am able to pay my charge cards off each and every month, that is how careful I am. I know that some folks are in debt up to their eyeballs, and I am thankful that I am not. I'm just not used to having such a thin safety net.

The Galoot

Sable relaxing in the grass

This photo shows the side of my dog (the big galoot) that has hair loss. The veterinarians were never concerned with it. The first one said it was hard to say what may have happened to her. She has some allergies where her skin gets dry, but this isn't spreading. It is completely contained. We always tell people we cleaned our paintbrushes off on her after painting our white fence.

Sable has been playing with the kittens. Our Casper plays with the kittens, too. They get fixed next week. The male can come home the same day, but they will keep the female overnight. I hope it isn't too hard on them. I just can't imagine having a family pet for 20 years and having to let them go like my sister and her daughter went through yesterday. 20 years has to earn some sort of family member status. I think my bird has turned 10 years old. I can't remember exactly what year we got her. It was in November, though. She had been born in late August, I believe. I think it was 1997.

The sky has turned gray in Ohio, now. My daughter and I saw spitting snow today. We are not close enough to Lake Erie to get any lake effect snow. My daughter went to the doctor for her knee. She has been complaining about it for some time. She thought the doctor would prescribe her a brace of some sort. I knew better. I figured the doctor would tell her how to exercise the knee. That is exactly what she did. I'll nag my daughter about it, but chances are that she won't do not even one set of exercises. She wants an easy and instant fix. She gets her stitches out tomorrow from the mole removal. I have been using a tooth pick to scratch under the stitches every night. The doctor leaves some long stiff points sticking out from the stitches that poke my daughter's skin and it itches like crazy.

I just realized something. Our veterinarian is female. Our general family physician is female and my daughter's skin doctor is female. Interesting.

Long, dark road

The Hollies had a song out, about 1972 called "The Long Dark Road". It was somebodies 45 in my household. It was played a lot. It haunts me sometimes.

My sister's cat died today. They had the cat since February 1988. When she sent me the photo, which I put on my web page, I was thinking "Where was I in February of 1988? Another lifetime ago. Long, dark roads.

I finished the book "Don't Leave Me This Way". It appears that the cold medicine she took a few moments before her stroke, may have been the culprit. That was 1997. They FDA didn't pull the drug off the shelves until 2000. (I think). Phenylpropanolamine.

Last month

My nephew's computer room

A month ago I was staying at my nephew's house. This is one of his rooms where he keeps his computer, stereo. The room has french sliding glass doors that open outside onto a deck. Definitely a bachelor pad. The rich browns are very nice, I think.

No word on his heart operation. He did tell me that he is planning a vacation from work in a week. Last week-end he drove to Tennessee. Just got in his car and drove. That is what he used to do about a dozen years ago. He has been all over.

The time is flying by. Thanksgiving is planned and Christmas is lurking around the corner. Have I started my shopping, yet? Hell, no. Well, yes. I did purchase one gift so far. Ugh.