Sunday, February 28, 2010

How quickly three weeks pass...

The Olympics are officially over tonight with closing ceremonies to prove it.
Will you be watching?

To be honest we have watched more highlights than actual competitions. The fact is that so many networks’ regular programs have been running repeats or worse being pre-empted. And I truly wonder how the world feels about that, now on the possibility of being accused of blasphemy, the assumption that we on the whole, plethora of human beings, from all walks of life prefer to watch sports 24/7? Remember what assume means folks? For those naive ones, separate the word into three syllables, nah that doesn’t work, when someone says that they actually mean that ‘assuming’ is to make an ass of you and me, got that? Now if network programming can also get that point for future reference.


I personally would appreciate that, although they have stated in the media that the games have beaten out American Idol in the ratings for these last three weeks. Wow, did you think that would be earth shattering by changing the earth’s axis?

Haven’t Idols ratings been going down anyway these last few years? That’s why they are playing with using a switch around of musical judges, ha I made a funny! And for next year have decided, along with Simon’s input, to let him move on?
Ellen was supposed to create the part of filling of the void after the departure of Paula with her sweetness and light in handling people, identical twins, right, LOL? Are they going to continue to do well or not this week with the games finally over and no one to blame but themselves if those ratings still aren’t what they had hoped for? Only time will tell.
For their sake I hope all goes well, it’s a great entertainment show, and gives the people what they need in these hard times, free laughs and cries, and a reason to have hope for the underdog, and to cheer on the real talent and have a meaningful say on the outcome by voting more than once! Too bad we can’t do that in elections. LOL although many have tried, oops, did I say that? Not me of course…

Anywho, Canada just won the gold in men’s hockey against the USA the score 3-2, if anyone was to beat us in the US at least it was the one who was expected to, and besides we have enough metals anyway! And they are our friends. TA DA!

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

PS I recommend the James Patterson book that I am nearly done with, just 23 more pages that I am savoring until tomorrow morning, Trial, its powerful and poignant; read it you won’t be sorry.

Saturday, February 27, 2010

Don't touch your dial...

Imagine your worse nightmare gone bad…
And the one you love is really not who you think they are…
They are two people in thought and deed…
One the charmer you fell in love with and the other a cold repulsive monster with no heart at all who feels that you are this mirror image.
Hold on to your mouses folks you are about to enter the ‘Dusk Sector’, a time of the day, make that night where everything has a different glow to it…the ones you care about have no idea who you are or even themselves…
Your reality has been quantified into a realm of unfamiliarity.

Terror tonight consists of your world turning topsy turvy, or more precisely upside down, and all that you hold near and dear no longer exists… for this is the ‘Dusk Sector’ where night betrays your reality into an unnatural way of un-unified synopsis of negativity of mystery and havoc.

Think carefully about what that would mean to you. No more love from your one and only… no more trust, suspicion becomes the norm, distrust is your way of life, mean cruelty in word and deed and daily angry words spewing in the conversations and it is the only way to endure your life from now on, scary, eh? (Decided to continue to use that Canadian ditty, sounds better than huh, eh?) Hold onto your love potions folks all is not lost, hope is not forsaken, and change of that reality is possible, but is it?
Fear is your pre-requisite of unwholesomeness of your survival; whatever you say or do to try to change this non loving environment has failed terribly and you are at your wit’s end on what to do, what to do?
You wish unrealistically that you can turn the clock back to a calmer gentler more loving time, but no, that is not possible…
Closing your eyes does not work to make it all go away to change it back to a time where it was all alright.
Screaming and pinching yourself has proved not to be the answer either.
Bringing the outside world into this hopefully parallel world of unjust turmoil has proven to not to be helpful.
So what is the answer you all ask?
WAKE UP!
As I started this whole little methodical story that I said it was JUST A ‘NIGHTMARE’ FOLKS!
Now don’t you feel so much better?

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

EYES WIDE OPEN….ha, ha, ha…BOO! LOL!

Friday, February 26, 2010

How nice is that?

You betcha! Now you are all asking yourselves; what the heck… is Tobi talking about?
Recognition, my friends and that rhymes with cognition, which doesn’t mean a thing for what I am discussing this evening, but it is all that any of us really want or need which is validation that we are being heard, and yesterday I finally got it, hooray, I say!

A gentleman from Batteries Plus, batteriesplus.com that is, noticed my Blog and that I had mentioned his company, which by the way is a Fortune 500 one!
He took the time to put me on his Facebook page: just copy and paste and you will see it too: http://www.facebook.com/BatteriesPlus#! with a link to my site about what I had said, how nice is that?

Enough already! I could go on and on, on and on about how genuinely thankful I am for the great heads up for my mentioning them.
Let’s get back to basics, and I truly believe that I am all done gushing…
Due to the reasonable batteries that Hubby acquired at the afore mentioned above local company store we had the ability to pick up where we had left off just yesterday due to a bum set of dual batteries that came with my mobility scooter from the manufacturer that had fried and cut our outing sadly too short, and yes they had reached their end of their life cycle being over a year old and being used quite often.
So today we journeyed with the gas chariot to conquer the world of literary masterpieces that are on loan from our county library, and we did succeed on this, some may call an ordinary mission, but without any glitches this time…due to our Battery Plus batteries doing their job at an economical price to boot! Ooops another gush, sorry!
You are very welcome again company of the Fortune 500 genre!

Some times we think or over-think things and we are all guilty of that; why that could be my mantra. But when some one does something nice for me without expecting anything in return I take it for what its worth, generosity, at least I hope so…LOL

And yes, Hubby and I both found novel novels in the type we do enjoy, mystery and sci-fi. After that we took a short lunch break too, since our library is connected to our cultural center. Hubby just reminded me that we were breaking bread with Republicans at the center’s cafeteria, but were unaware until this evening’s news came on the air. You see it seems that our Governor Crist will be speaking there tonight, he’s running for the senate, and they were all setting up for him. PS we are registered as non-partisans, in case you were wondering; which means we don’t get annoying phone calls during the election season and we can vote for whomever we so desire, whenever we care to, so long as we go to the proper election booths and there is an election going on that is, got that?

Anywho, we did have a pleasant day without any unnecessary bumps in the day which is always triple A in my book… enough with the battery references already!

And so on that note of positivity I will bid you all a very good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Batteries come and batteries go...hopefully!

Today we decided to go to the library, and it was a chilly day again perfect for spending time inside reading. The day, starting off in the mid forties, brrr, and only highs expected in the sixties again. So Hubby and I loaded into the chariot of transport and onward we drove…to the book-land! Everywhere we go Hubby has to take out my mobility scooter and put its lightweight pieces together that usually takes him less than five minutes. You see, we chose this particular model for that very reason; no necessity for an electronic lift, which could cost a thousand dollars or more. Hubby did his usual assembly and brought my cart to my door where I transfer on to it, I put my purse and water bottle in its basket and put the key in the battery ignition, but the juice fuel line was still in the red zone, and Hubby insisted he had recharged it over-night. So this concluded our tour for our outing, back into our gas ignited chariot to boogey onward towards home. Trying to pull the disappointment out of the day Hubby suggested grabbing a bite of lunch at our local sports restaurant on our way to our home, and so with my walker also amongst our arsenal of walking assistance tools in the vehicle; it is used for short distances and narrow spaces where I get to point A to B and will most likely having a seat waiting, like restaurants and narrow doctors offices. And so we grabbed a quick bite, and then went home to try and figure out if the batteries were gone for good or maybe then it could be the charger, the less expensive of the two to replace, only $60 for the charger compared to the $140 that the manufacturer wanted for the dual new batteries. Well, it was the dual twelve volt batteries; they apparently fried, in actuality they melted into their holder!
Hubby had a better more cost effective idea for replacement, Batteries Plus: batteriesplus.com, retail chain just up the road a piece still in our village so to speak. And so he called them, and sure enough they had our batteries in stock, and for considerably less at $44.99 each plus tax of course, total of $96.28, with a warranty and everything a wee bit of a savings, hooray! And the trip was on for Hubby, this time he made the trip solo and my scooter is now ready for our next outing without any hitches, yes!

I also received my A1c, diabetes test results today, at 6.3 I am still a pre-but will be closely monitored now and re-tested more often. Also agreed upon was the contacting the nutritionist, but that will be in April after Hubby’s Mom’s visit is well over; since she too enjoys eating out, and to tell the truth it is easier on me to do than cooking these days.

I hope that things here are not so boring for you all, but to be honest whose life isn’t most of the time? And this IS my life.

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

The day started out with a very nice pleasant renewal of hearing from another old friend, but things changed

Why did the day change, you ask?
Well, in the very welcoming email my dear old friend sent was the comment that she had tried to Google me, hmmm ordinarily that would bring most to this site here at my Blog or even to my Facebook site, no problems there… But since I hadn’t Googled myself in quite some time, and so I tried it and was deeply disturbed by what I found.
And what was that you ask?
A site that spewed hatred of people with lists that determines race/ religion by surnames, and having a newer greener way to teach hating of people of those particular religions and races, just horrific!
Apparently, it was my own quote that got me into this dilemma, but I am still proud of what I said and will not take it back because I do believe it is true and that their site actually proves my point that, “Hate is a crime of stupidity.” There, I have said it again.
I would truly like for the person who put me on this, ”list” to know that although freedom of speech is a right they do have they should also know that using others’ quotes and names without their permission I believe is not, especially when utilized to promote hatred of surnames of those people who they do not even know!

Speaking of hatred, you know my father felt that word ‘hate’, which is a four letter word, by the way in case you didn’t notice, was an extremely powerful word, and it should never ever be used. He would say, when I as a difficult teen and would say that I hated this one or that one; he would always correct me and say to me that I do not hate anyone and should never ever. But my hate was always directed at a situation or verbal disagreement I was not happy with; never a person for their differences from me in race or religion.

My biggest fear of being part of too many minorities these days, my religion, my being an older woman and now being shorter, obese and disabled is that people will not see me for me, and the fear of invisibility or the inner me.
How many times have you heard people say that first impressions are how most are judged? I too was guilty of that. Well, with all the other problems in the world this is my true fear, and the only way I seem to be able to combat it is by talking too much, and smiling sometimes too often or inappropriately when out. I think I took my own quote to heart, “smiling fools the brain”, well it really does.
Now you ‘haters’ see what you can do with that one!

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Traveling hither and yon...whoa... a busy sort of day, great really!

As days come and go I do feel that we did accomplish quite a bit today, really!
Oh so you want me to express or show you some tangible evidence of that, eh?
Oh how Canadian of me, but I am an American just speaking some Canadian, sorry the Olympics’ influence I suppose, really, and doesn’t eh sound so much better than huh, huh, you say, but I am confusing you all, so sorry eh?

Any-who, today we did do quite a bit, we started out by going over to the doctors’ office to pick up my prescription to have another A1c test, diabetes test, but this time at a lab, so another payment, another Vampira! You know what I mean, the ones who stick you to remove the staff of life from you; phlebotomist I believe is the actual name of the job, and she did remove quite a bit more than what the others had in a so-called similar test. All the previous ones just did the finger stick, but this was inner arm worthy, and big guns, tubes I mean but in reality only one cylinder was filled to the brim with my gorgeous ruby nectar. See it is inside what counts, Mom was right! And I did know somewhere I was still beautiful, even though you wouldn’t know from my outside, oh well...

I got ahead of myself since I went out of sequence with our actual day, you see our second stop was NOT the lab at all, it was our county library, but Hubby could not find a parking spot, and so he just pulled up to the book return and put the due back book in there. We did have intentions of going inside but it was crazy there, as if they were giving things away for free, oh wait, they are! LOL

Our third stop was the lab and although the crowd was small, and I barely had a chance to make friends/conversation etc. with the usual waitees since I was called fairly quickly for my turn. Sadly they also had a magazine in the waiting room that I enjoyed for once and I had no time to finish, an architectural one. I so enjoy looking at those sorts of things interior design and such. The report will be ready in twenty-four to forty-eight hours or so, and I will more than likely have to make another appointment to get that with another paid office visit, oh posh, why does this always have to be money, money, money for this? I so enjoyed the days when we could just call to get our test results before all this so-called privacy protection, NOT! Why you say? Because it all goes into the C-O-M-P-U-T-E-R, but of course you all know that.

Our fourth stop was a frivolous one, we received one of those gotcha ads to win a new car if your scratch off with a key attached area on the literature sent to you and that supposedly opens something, the scratch off says you are a winner, and of course they all are, but this time we thought eh we would go see what’s up with that, after all it was an ad campaign at the dealership where we originally bought our current vehicle. Hubby went in alone, since getting out my scooter would be rather time consuming and we really felt he wouldn’t be there too long. Yep he did win a scratch off ticket, and it was a bummer one, a no good loser! Should’ve known better; no one should expect something for nothing! On our way back we stopped at that Irish Deli we tried way back in the fall, and had a healthy lunch, a chicken roll-up, and Greek salad for me, and Hubby had a lesser health oriented Cuban Panini, but we both enjoyed our choices.

Last stop was our grocery for my prescriptions, and some more of this and that grocery items, and finally home sweet home!

I bet you all have to admit that was a pretty busy day?
Well, Hubby’s Mom’s neighbor called just before dinner tonight to say Mom was over there and sad and lonely and upset, we all took turns calming her and had her laughing by the time we hung up, sweet small rewards are what blessings are made of, and if you think a bigger or better this or that is what makes you better then you are way off!

On that joyous note of a warm inside good feelings, making someone else feel better is the best gift in life! Good night to all and to all make your blessings by making someone laugh, and feel better for that’s the true meaning of giving, and we will count our blessings with you too!

Monday, February 22, 2010

Halleluiah!

Hubby’s Mom has finally made arrangements to come on down next month, yeah!
Now we can get on with other things, you betcha.

My letter to the editor appeared again in the local newspaper. I do believe this was my twentieth or more published by them over the years, I lost track, actually.
This time I was agreeing with a previous letter from another reader commenting on the length of time that the debate has been going on about health care reform, and how it is really costing us more, not less not being there for the uninsured masses. Think about cost over-runs for hospitals, doctors’ offices, etc. that they find themselves having to absorb. Maybe this analogy will help you all, shop-lifting, think about this now when people steal merchandise from retail stores the only way the stores can make up for their losses is to charge the rest of the consumers more for their products, got it? It is really that simple. When the uninsured have medical emergencies and can’t pay their way the populace therefore the insured pay higher premiums, doctors have to charge more to make up their differences, so you see, having a universal health care system would save everyone money! TA DA!

I bet most of you thought it all stems from Hilary’s trying way back in the 1990’s during her Hubby’s administration, well that was its elderly period, actually you would have to go back much, much further than that, would you believe a few centuries ago?
Yes, the idea or seed what-have-you was initially planted by of all people, Teddy Roosevelt around the turn of the twentieth century, and his Cousin continued to try for a resolve during his presidency as well, that is FDR of whom I am speaking, and on and on, but still nothing. Those wheels of progress do slow down sadly in the bureaucracy we laughingly call our government. I do have faith in it though the right for eighteen year olds to vote took many, many years too way back in FDR’s time, before it was passed in 1972, but by then I was 22, and had been voting for a year!

My main concern expressed in that letter was how our age for life expectancy is diminishing in length, instead of increasing, shocking! We should all be appalled at that revelation, which is available to any who wish to look it up. There are too many countries that are ahead of us in that avenue of longevity. I am though, referring to the next generation, not the elderly ones now or even their children who would be us, but the grandchildren the offspring of us 'Baby Boomers', our children’s children, and isn’t that just horrific?

My resolve is simple hire an ‘ombudsman’ to negotiate all written policy prospectives, and usher them through the house and senate. He or she could work sort of like a mediator, which they really are, to keep the sanity and to create something we can all care about.

On those thoughtful ideas I will wish you all a very good night and tell you all to count those blessings and we will too!


PS Happy Birthday to my Mom, up there in heaven; where I do know you are! Today would have been her 99th!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Do you like money?

Tell the truth, I know you do.
Who doesn’t like money?
Notice I am using the lesser infatuating verb, ‘like’ instead of the all too overused, over the top, excessive one, ‘LOVE’.
Although, I am sure there are many of you out there who really do ‘LOVE M-O-N-E-Y.’
Come on people, in this day and age of greed causing such a public outcry when used inappropriately and of ruining our worldwide economy; do you all still have that need to be so wealthy that you have too much of it all, and have no idea what to do with any of it?
Does anyone out there really know the meaning of the word, E-N-O-U-G-H?
Let’s dissect that word, enough, it truly does mean: what you have meets your needs of your requirements, nothing more or less, got that?
Simplicity at its finest, I do think.

The best way to realize that an over abundance is disgustingly harmful and vulgar is to go volunteer with people who have less than you. I thought it was a great experience when I had the privilege of working on the 1990 Census in the Daytona Beach area, what a wakeup call. I met millionaires who were unhappy and a single mother with three children living in small apartment and managing on just ten thousand dollars a year. OK, that was then, and this is now, and that is way below our current poverty level, but you may be able to get my point? Fast forward two years mind you, Hurricane Andrew hit south Florida, Hubby and I, and our sons all went down to help those people, and you know what they said about their materialistic losses… they were still alive everything else they could live without, although many did mention the photos of family that blew away, but that’s not monetary, although most would consider priceless! Folks these were people whose homes were flattened in front of their very own eyes, with some of them still in them!
Talk about having a unique perspective of what really matters!

Contrary to public wisdom money does not bring happiness or health. Most recent example is Ted Kennedy with the health issue; he could afford the best doctors in the world but still he died from his brain tumor.

People some days I feel like slapping you all silly!
I grew up without wants or needs with everything being provided for me, very fortunate; I do now realize as an adult and get mystified by others greediness.
No, really, what is it that you really need in life to get that elusive satisfaction of enough?
If you can be honest with yourself and your loved ones, now I am talking people, people, not the almighty dollar, yen, euro or what have you, but I mean the flesh and blood living species that you are tied to by blood, take those dearest ones and discuss what is really important. And I bet, no, I absolutely know that your lives will change for the better by having come to terms of what is your, ‘ENOUGH’. Look up the true meaning and start there; it is only a suggestion but then I am full of it, as you all know! LOL

Provocative, I hope, making us all rethink what is truly important at the minimum, and so on that note of my motto to live by with my personal, ‘enough’, goodnight to all and to all think exactly what you’re counting when you do count those blessings and we will too!

PS: Ooops, I almost forgot last night we watched…Duplicity! Ta Da!

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Movie Night

What we have here is Duplicity, Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, with The Surrogates as the topper.
That sentence almost made sense; ya think?
Actually, those are all titles of the movies we have for tonight’s viewing pleasure if we so desire.
I know, I know you were all thinking something else…let’s breakdown why that is… the title, ‘Duplicity,’ makes one think of contradiction of thought, deed, or speech, yep that’s what it means.
Now we all do know Beyond a Reasonable Doubt, you get my point?
‘The Surrogates’ throws a wrench into the flow of what I was trying hard to create here. A motif of entertainment for the evening, although those three 2009 cinematic treasures would keep us up all night, since they are, in order of discussion: 125, 105 and 89 minutes long! That’s like over five and half hours or is it days, sometimes I get confused, NOT!
Yes, I do know it could be done.
But my attention span isn’t that long anymore; isn’t it funny how we go backwards when we get older? Neither is my constitution to stay awake for all those hours, staring at the TV monitor.
So what we have to do is chose…hard stuff here, but the good thing is we have them for as long as we so wish. Now ‘Duplicity’ is a spy movie with Julia Roberts and Clive Owens, and ‘Beyond’ is a remake of a 1956 movie, but this one is with Michael Douglas, and the last ‘The Surrogates’ is a sci-fi sequel with Bruce Willis, what to see, oh, oh what to see decisions, oh my?
Wouldn’t life be great if that was the hardest thing we had to do; decide on what movie to watch?
Guess I will have to make that difficult conclusion up with Hubby’s in-put, later on tonight…don’t worry, if I remember I will notify all of you on what that was tomorrow night, OK? LOL
After last night’s journal of unending prose I have decided to be kinder and gentler tonight and close this with less than a thousand words, and no dramedy.

I know dear followers, and I use that term loosely, since only one fesses up as my only, but that your hearts are broken on how you enjoy my overdone drivel, and we all must take baby steps even in the momentary flowing of this specter of flowery text, too much too soon may spoil you all, LOL.

How I do love to be silly!
Good night to you all and to all of you count those blessings and we will too!

PS many may have noticed that I have entered the age of Norm Crosby writings, but his is on purpose and mine is not, only by accident, or is that occidental? He was a master of malapropism, me too? LOL

Friday, February 19, 2010

Tonight I have my 'dramedy', the 411 on upcoming new stuff plus much much more

I will be trying hard to inform my readership as much as possible.
How many of you are aware of the new credit laws that will be going into affect on February 22, 2010, this coming Monday?
Well, I was savvy enough to find it, save it and so I thought I would share the site to steer you right on what is going on, so just copy and paste this site: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/credit/banks-and-credit-card-companies-finding-clever-ways-around-card/19353882/

Next for you PC users, we all know that my computer has become rather finicky lately and dare I say slowing down if you can relate to this dilemma… well, this information will help us all out, how to do your own speed cleaning up for your PC, just copy and paste this one too: http://daol.aol.com/articles/pc-performance?icid=main|htmlws-main-n|dl8|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fdaol.aol.com%2Farticles%2Fpc-performance

Today we did have some excitement…NOT! Unless you are a flea on a shelter dog this was rather a tame, too much quiet day. It did start out with much anticipation for we, Hubby and me were going to go to the Grecian Festival right here in our hometown, sounded like fun and enjoyment; a bit of Mediterranean fanfare without hopping on a plane or boarding a ship, Ompa! The new church that is still under construction was quite impressive I truly did not know we had such a large congregation of Greek Orthodox people in our community, an education for me.
Perhaps it was our fault for arriving so early, since they were still setting up, but the newspaper said it started at eleven A.M. and it was only a few minutes to, maybe they all were on Grecian time, but that would be several hours ahead not behind.

Anywho, it did appear to be a festival with the appropriate amounts of balance of food and rides for the kiddies that is, since we no longer ride, and did I mention we no longer have kiddies, not even the next generation…
They also had handouts that stated their programming which appeared to start mostly in the evening, accept for the two man band in the band tent who were playing instruments, and singing but their mouths were not moving, how odd?
I asked them about that and they laughed still no answers…mmmmmm they must have been, sure they were lip-sinking, mu-zac, elevator music, huh hmm.
Anyway Hubby stopped a buxom brunette in a rather tight fitting t-shirt that said on the back that she was part of a dance team, and so he asked her when they would be dancing, and she said the children get out of school at four that’s when! So the children were the dancers?
Never found out, we decided to have some Gyros and a Greek salad for me too for a lunch, it all was yummy and then since we had seen it all and it was only just around twelve-ish we left, but when we paid the two dollar donation each when we arrived we had been told that our tickets were good all weekend, and so come back anytime, maybe, maybe not…
As we were leaving we saw signs saying that there was a Senior Palooza at our Cultural Center, whatever that was, and we said, why not? And we were on the road trip to there, oh what fun!

Sure enough it was a senior doohickey event for assisted living or independent living, diabetes info, healthy foods and beverages, hearing aids, eye checks you name it they had it for whatever ails you, but I did not know those were all exclusive to the seniors, since we have a lot of that stuff and the only ones who say we are seniors is AARP!
Information and handouts were rampant, good for Hubby and me, lots of places to tell his Mom about and one table with anything I needed to know about diabetes, pre, one or two! I was given a great recipe diet book with an in-depth explanation of carbs, what more could a scaredy-cat be happier to see and read!

Almost bumped into a person I did not want to see. She appeared well, much better than her dire health a few years ago… where she needed assistance with nearly everything, and I lost my usefulness, how sad, we had been good friends I thought but again I was wrong, since I was only a friend when I could do whatever she needed, and as soon as I couldn’t the heck with you! Bitter! I know I sound that way, but it does seems that many people just have you there to serve their needs and when you no longer can, good bye and good luck! Unfortunately, I am a sap in that arena, many have done that to me, and that is why I am careful who I chose as friends… had been stung too many times! I know what you all are saying right now: Tobi it’s not nice to wallow in self pity… I know, I just feel that some take advantage of my good nature, which can be unrelenting at times, and then when I had to say no to them, they said fine, goodbye to you lady. As I have said before many feel their problems are worse than yours.
Plus this woman has made it over a year past my Mom’s age with similar ailments when she had died at only seventy, and I suppose I was worried she would die, but now she hasn’t, and its best we are no longer ‘friends’ since I have been known as a jinx, and I suppose we really weren’t since after her surgery, and she needed help being driven around so I drove her, she would introduce me as her driver, not her friend! Sorry I am no Morgan Freeman, I’m too feminine, short and pale, but I do love the man! And she was no Miss Daisy either, too poor! That is NOT a friend, and I wasn’t getting paid a red cent, by the way; I did it purely out of friendship, stupid me. Same with other situations, like when I took her in the wee hours of the morning for eye surgery two weeks after our home had been devastated by Hurricane Charley, because I had promised before it all happened. Oh well, old news…venting, and I was going to try and keep this light and humorous I will try to do better tomorrow night I promise, OK?

I better say good night before I start again on another tangent, did I mention because of that early bumping into her we left the place without seeing everything? It was my fault entirely on that and I take full responsibility.
All of you please count those blessings and we will too!


PS Tiger it was about time to own up to your mistakes, and now maybe the media will leave you and Elin alone, now it should be private between you two.

Thursday, February 18, 2010

The cooler WEATHER does continue but...

Can we really complain to the rest of the country?
Hubby says YES!
Why, you ask? Because this is not the rest of the country; this is F-L-O-R-I-D-A!
Forties at night and sixties during the day, it just aint right, ya know?
It is at least fifteen degrees below normal for this time of the year.

But there is hope at the end of this tunnel of chills and thrills, NOT!
Where was I?
Oh, yes H-O-P-E this weekend we should be seeing mid-seventies again…Halleluiah my friends, yep right here in River City, well not actually, but you know what I mean… W-A-R-M-T-H and that rhymes with, what does that rhyme with …cough?
Nah, warmth does not cause a cough it causes health and wealth because it means more tourists will spend their dough which rhymes with ho, no that should be hoe for the land will be swell and we all won’t go to hell…O, because we can sell all of our stuff, like homes and condos and furnishing and food in the dear sweet restaurants and our people will thrive with jobs abundant and on and on and on… you all know the way that goes…on and on and on again, oh peace and joy for all!

Now back to reality, yes the weather here does play a major part on our tourist industry, but that’s nothing new. Why after those two years of hurricanes you couldn’t give tickets away to most of the amusement parks without initiating a legit refund promise situation.
Fortunately that’s old news and part of our darker history, sorry I brought it up that was five and six years ago! Old wounds take time to heal though.

I was amazed and slightly shocked to see something that threw me, tourists on the news in bathing suits and in our sixty-three degree temperature Gulf water! What are they crazy?
That’s hypothermia water, isn’t it?
I guess when you pay for the trip down here you want to do whatever it takes to take advantage of the sunshine, which I must admit is back, and quite beautiful as it always is with our crisp blue skies, but I hope they all have great health insurance because I think what they are doing may be dangerous or injurious to their well-being.
It seems so long ago that we were once them as well… oh the days of non-residency, how truly sad. Now, at least we have the time and patience to wait the weather in-appropriates behavior out without concern of having to leave at any particular time restraints. We are fortunate to be here and watch it as it all comes back to where it should be sunny and so warm it literally knocks your socks off! And it does matter since its warm enough for that, and sandals, or barefoot or bathing suits or nothing at all if you so choose…LOL
The true unadulterated F-L-O-R-I-D-A, wait in that outfit …adults only please! LOL
Or and make sure it’s allowed wherever you go or you could be arrested!

Silliness is back folks and I will continue to try to maintain the standard, and I hope you enjoy…Good night to all and to count those blessings and we will too!

Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Freezing up!

Not the weather here… got you!
Nope, it was our computer as I tried to bring up the word program.
And now I am writing this in the ‘safe mode”.
I do think, hush, hush not too loudly please; it might hear me but I do think that we are nearing the end of its lifecycle.

Moving on… in the Mom concerns…her neighbor called and said that she had insisted that she couldn’t come down when on the date we had all agreed on; because she had a free luncheon she would be going to, huh? I hate to bully anyone but I said to her on the phone that we miss her and haven’t seen her in over two years and so she should come on down! And she is returning her hearing aids for the third time, and I said to her that I think you are doing that just because you want to have something to do, and she laughed, I got her number all right!
She did agree to speak to her kindly neighbor who would make all the reservations online for her, and if she doesn’t we will be very disappointed.

Any-who, she needs a little bit of a push since because she can’t see her daughter who tried putting her away also with her grandchildren, who by the way, are all in their twenties, the eldest nearly twenty-eight, by no means babies! Two out of the three were in cahoots with their Mom and Dad to do the dirty deed. Contrary to what Hubby’s sister says about her and her husband not being involved anymore and that she seethes around him! And that they are married only for dual properties and she has no desire to work or lose her home, and that is why she hasn’t divorced him! And she won’t let her kids leave and have lives of their own, because she refuses to live alone with him, crazy!

Anyway, we got Mom to promise once again to make arrangements with her neighbor’s help, and if she doesn’t we will be notified, exhausting!

Interestingly enough last night I received an email note from my cousin the retired teacher’s wife. It was pleasant and brief stating how apparently her hip surgery was not so successful since she is on heavy doses of pain medication. Geez and I thought that is why she was getting the surgery to fix the problem! I guess it’s time to look for a new doctor! I know I would by now, this is her third surgery!
This last one was nearly two months ago!
I was also informed that my cousin himself has taken care of my uncle’s significant other by putting her in an independent living situation, not unlike what we are trying to do for Hubby’s Mom down here too, if she ever does come down!
He also now has the home to resell since it is empty again, and he is preparing that too.
Not once were we asked how we were, but she did mention that they were sorry they missed our anniversary. It always amazes me how people you ask how they are go on and on but often forget to ask you! I do both, that is I ask and I also go on and on…so whose right, neither I suppose?
But they are not really interested or we would have heard from them sooner, since we had mentioned about Hubby’s Mom’s problems way before my Uncle had died.
Some believe that their problems are the only problems.
I have written emails to them sent cards etc. but this is the first I have heard from them in months, and that is why I am annoyed. And during that time we also had lots of things going on too, but I found the time in spite of that.
You know it’s not nice to say but I have a theory about people who don’t want children or pets and that theory is because they are too selfish to share, mind you it is only a theory, but unfortunately I have been proven right over and over again.That’s not to say that people who have kids and pets aren’t selfish too, because many are.

On that note of negativity I will say good night to all, and pray I don’t get struck by lightening… its not the rainy season here so it’s pretty safe that won’t happen, and I will suggest that you all count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Meter me, meter you...

I have been getting wacko numbers on my glucose meter and so today we went into the pharmacy where we purchased it and had the pharmacist check it, and oddly enough it was right.

Hubby used the book and test strips following the directions at home and yet it was difficult to understand, now, we are not stupid people; we have both been to college and can read, but it was way too non-simplistic, and all I could think of is all those elderly people trying to figure it out and I said to myself whoa, how on earth could they know if theirs was working right?

The reason we went in is because I have been getting numbers like 230 at night two hours after dinner and 154 in the morning on a fasting stomach, and so I got concerned more so, because I do know those are not pre-diabetic…they are outright diabetic numbers or so I thought! But the pharmacist assured me that having a big meal the night before or even just one glass of wine can stay in your system overnight and cause such readings, he also said that the eye drops prednisolone 1%, that I am taking could also tamper with my numbers, but the eye doctor’s office said no…now you see why I am so confused!
You know people this is still very frustrating, and I don’t know where to go to get straightened out, really. Anyone with half a brain knows what undiagnosed diabetes can lead to. If you don’t remember, let me give you a quick refresher course, blindness, gangrene, heart attack, stroke, etc, not a pretty picture, for more information go to: www.diabetes.org/

Anywho, tomorrow, for hopefully peace of mind, I will call ask-a-nurse, and then perhaps that will set my mind at ease, because as we all know stress does not help any ailment! And believe me this is scary for me, a little too much knowledge and all that.

Well, now for the remainder of the evening I will think pleasant thoughts.

Update on Charlie, the thirty year old Cockateil: he’s spending hours at a time on the bottom of his cage sleeping, yep, that’s what he is doing since whenever I think he has taken his last breath and is done for, he looks over at me, and then he does something else rather odd… he climbs up the side of his cage to sit on his highest perch, and eats and drinks like nothing is wrong at all!Why he’s eating now…LOL amazing! We will keep you posted.

And on that interesting observation we will wish you all a good night and remind you all to count those blessings and we will too!

Monday, February 15, 2010

Another generation makes my heart sing!

To be more specific have any of you wondered about the renewal of the species?
And I am not talking about just plain sex, you naughties! But how else could it happen, and so that is a given.
I don’t mean just us human beings anyway but all of the living creatures on this planet?
This evening my heart has begun to sing since our habitat of the waterway has been renourished with the advent of our newest sentry of an Anhinga that arrived and posted himself on the dock post of our finger peer, nearly in the same position of his predecessor of his species that passed away a few weeks ago.

Perhaps you all remember we had called animal control for what at the time we thought was a dead Moscovy duck, but it had turned out to be an Anhinga, a unique water fowl, long necked, with a very large wing span and that they pose with those enormous wings out to let them dry from their fishing expeditions which they do by diving for their tasty morsels; they are very interesting to watch.
Sadly it had died but we were told it was more than likely of old age.

I know that it is supposed to make us all feel better when it is said like that?
If a person dies before age fifty we say that is too young, but after ninety we seem to have the tendency to say that they had a good long life.


Did you ever once notice the look you got after you may have said that to the loved one that you had said that to that they, their loved one, that they, ‘had a good long life’?
You might as well have been speaking to them about a twenty year old who was in a car wreck, because that ninety year old to them and that they loved so dearly, they still feel a monumental loss, so much so that you can see it on they’re faces or hear it in they’re voices, so watch out what you say. I know personally suffering from foot and mouth disease. Better to send a condolence note.

Babies to me, are our human replenishing of life, I know everyone thinks that way or did; times they are a changing.
To me that makes sense.
Enough already about matters of life and death!

I got some interesting feedback on my Valentine’s Day Blog from yesterday, very happily positive. Those two women who responded are both from the world of writing, one is a translator of books, my birthday twin cousin, and the other is my dear old friend, a retired college English professor, and so whatever I get back from them means a lot to me. But make sure you get me right on this I do enjoy hearing from each and everyone of you too!


And no, we did not go out to celebrate we ordered in and picked up at curbside, a dinner from one of those chains that serve everything from comfort food to healthy salads, and so we were both happy with our choices.


Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Happy Valentine's Day!

By the time you all read this you have either had a very lovely and wonderful Valentine’s Day or not one you wish to discuss.
It all boils down to expectations and your history of how your acceptance is of the endless changes that occur as time marches on.

Having some surprises are very sweet, and the ability to be a realist when these holidays arise and their importance to you as an individual or of a pair, in a partnership with your significant other makes the main difference in how you perceive these occasions, which mostly last only ONE DAY.

Subjectively we all have our own somewhat reasonable or not so reasonable ideas of how the day should go, which notoriously can be the cause of disappointment.

Personally after forty two of them with the same man, and married for thirty-nine of them, my emotions have been known to fluctuate.
You see, today is also our wedding anniversary, as I indicated above, our thirty-ninth.
To many a milestone in many cultures in this day and age of a more than fifty per cent divorce rate, and miraculous by most standards.
To say that these years were smooth sailing would be a complete lie, and dishonesty is not something I do well.
As anybody knows anything worth having is worth the effort to work for it, right, and so that is what we do daily!
Sure we argue and complain, but as many might not realize when you marry you do not meld your brains together; you get to keep them separately with all those supposedly idealistic reasons why you first fell in love in the first place, and you get to keep those opinions of yours with them!
Of course logically this may all cause conflict, but never ever boredom.

Which brings me to how our anniversary Valentine’s Day went today, well… we decided that we will celebrate tomorrow since every year when we have tried to go out it is pure craziness, that is the waits at restaurants, and so we have finally decided to go out when it becomes a bit tamer day, like tomorrow; although the kids are off since it is President’s Day too! We will see what will be. Actually, when it comes right down to it, just being together is a celebration in itself, and for that we should rejoice.

And so to all you youngins out there just think when times get tough, always remember why you fell in love in the first place, and that you should always compromise, and for the men in the relationship… remember that she is always right! LOL
And yes, then it should last a lifetime, and of course don’t forget to laugh!

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Saturday, February 13, 2010

How long do these things last anyway?

If I told you that I have been using a computer since 1982, would you believe me?
Well, I have been, our first one was a Commodore 64, and our ten and six year old sons had to show us how to use it.
Fortunately for them that they were in a school where they learned from kindergarten on how to use them and so when we first got our own they were old pros.

In those days, let’s see… that was twenty eight years ago. We still have been basically doing the same things with our use of the half a dozen or more ones that we have owned since.
Using them for writing in the word programs, and most recently for the last dozen years for emails, and internet research; but if you asked me how it all works I would definitely be at a lost for words.
And the length of time these things last is also rather baffling too.
In the old days we had one, an AST that seemed to have lasted nearly ten years, but now they say oh no, nothing lasts that long in technology.
Sometimes it seems that every six months or so there is something new coming out that according to all claims you would be ridiculous to live your life without it and if you did then it would not be the slightest fulfilled, oh no! Our latest one is already five years old and probably on its last legs, which is if it had legs.

The one advantage we have now that we didn’t have all those years ago is that we don’t have those little voices, of our sons, in the background telling us we just gotta have it!
Most days I do miss those little voices, but not the telling us we need to get with the programs of all those new technologies. It’s really easier to do these things at our own pace and only if the thing dies a natural death with no possibility of recovery at all.

I don’t know about the rest of all you out there in the world of technophiles, but we aren’t members of that nerdy club, no way no how. We are the least technological people we know that grew up with these advantages of pure access. But do you know something?
We are still happy with what we do use our computer for, and it is for its original purpose…for solitaire and dominoes! Communication is just the icing on the cake!

It was rather cold today outside and so we stayed in, yes low sixties permeated the atmosphere that is an atmosphere that is more used to warmer and gentler temperatures than these ungodly chills that we have been getting!

Good night to you all and count those blessings and think about your gotta, wanta, need to haves and then realize that even minimalistic technologies like most of us have are quite something and we should add that into our blessings and we will too if ours doesn’t crash again or lock up again or what have you again… etc LOL!

Friday, February 12, 2010

Nice...but baffling... a good morning surprise!

With all the claims that people are hacking into different privacy guarded accounts I have been known to check our own personal bank accounts out several times a week, obsessive, no in my opinion just careful.
Since we use our debit and credit cards quite often, and they, the powers that be tell you to keep track of all that and you should, really too. Ours are quite fluid since almost as much that goes in goes out in our checking at least. The fact is that fortunately it is not too difficult to keep track of since I do it all online. We also have automatic deposit which I do think most everyone today has with the advent of mailbox robberies that started to hit the news waves years ago.

Any-who this morning I was thrilled but baffled when we did receive email notification that our electronic deposit of our tax refund had been put into our account; the only thing that seemed odd, was the fact that the amount was not correct. We had filed online through the IRS site, which is free to people whose incomes fall below a certain amount, and we qualified, and we have done so for years. But for some unknown reason sometimes we had to pay a minimal fee.
And so when I saw that the amount was not our sixty-eight bucks that I thought was coming back to us but quite a bit more; actually five hundred bucks more I just knew that they had made a mistake, and if I was dishonest and didn’t call them that they would eventually catch up with us and when we didn’t have it anymore by spending it foolishly on something like medical bills, they would ask for it back!
And so I called them to let them know.
And after I gave them all our information, and told them that we were supposed to get only the sixty-eight back they said they had made a correction on our tax form apparently we qualified for that ‘M’ form or some such thing and that the amount was correct since we had received the two hundred and fifty last spring, wow, what a nice surprise it is ours to do with whatever we so wish to do!
I see a nest-egg in our future.

I should have known that my palms don’t lie to me…oh you are wondering whatever I could be talking about, why itchy palms of course! Have you never heard of that before?
It pertains to… oh I really don’t know what it pertains to but every time it happens we seem to get money in our favor coming to us!
I know, I know it sounds silly, and I really don’t know if it is a superstition for others but to us it has been true over the years.
It seems left means in our favor and right is paying out.
Just like when a bird dies that someone that you care about will too?
I guess that one is just mine and a wee bit scary too.
Although, I do think I heard of an ancient Asian superstition that has something to also do with birds and death, but I could be wrong I have been wrong before…

On that peculiar note I will bid you all a very good night, count those blessings and we will too!



PS: GO USA in those Olympics!
PSS: And you go too Bill Clinton, happy you are doing so well!

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Results are not too bad...but confusing...

I went to the medico’s office this afternoon to see where we stand on my possible problem with being diabetic …Well; they came up with me still being a pre-diabetic and that I should stick to a healthy diabetic diet.
Hmmm I was not too upset with that, it sounded as if I can deal with that logically and discriminately, and so OK I will try that.

Meanwhile I had written to my old friend, sending her last night’s Blog where I explained my concerns about diabetes and since she was diagnosed with diabetes years ago I thought she could give me some intelligent insight. Did I mention that she is mucho intelligent since she is a retired college professor?
When we returned home this afternoon I had a return email from her, and again I was thrown, since she was told by a doctor that there is no such thing as pre diabetes, and if my numbers were what I said they are that I already did have diabetes, not pre….whew, scary!
I suppose it is true and more than likely why most poor people die, not enough money to pay for the correct diagnosis and be treated for it accordingly. What to do, what to do?
Stress elevates your glucose so I will now take a bunch of deep breaths and try to calm myself.
Dilemmas are for solving right? Right, and so I will eat healthy and keep monitoring my glucose and hope that it will temporarily recede to its former norms, and pray that we get a heat spell early in March, and the pool warms enough for me to exercise in it.
I will be getting blood work in April again and then we will be able to know more, we all know that worrying has never helped anything, it literally killed my mom. And so I will have to distract myself somehow.

Well, that’s it for now, and since it is I will wish you all a pleasant good night and ask you to count those blessings and we will too!

Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Ills getting more profound? But not so mysterious...

Last night we ate a healthy meal and again I felt rather poorly, and so for the heck of it about two hours later I checked my glucose and this time it was 206! Actually, it was higher than in the hospital when they gave me little (small amount of the insulin) injections of insulin, which did bring it down. Upset by that, Hubby suggested taking it again an hour later and so I did, and it did go down… but only to 200!
Then with Hubby’s caring suggestion he said try it tomorrow morning fasting when you have nothing left in you, and so I did and it was 124, not too bad but still not normal.

And so I started looking up when Walgreen’s was offering that free A1C test ( I do believe that it is a national offer), and wouldn’t you just know it was yesterday at the one right down around the corner and now todays would be quite a distance a way.

As a last resort and hopeful desire to have an answer to this newest health dilemma I thought well it’s a long-shot but I am using prednisone drops in the eye that had the cataract surgery, the order of administration was until it was all gone, and so I called my eye doctor’s office hoping against hope that that was all the problem was. They were very prompt and called back quickly and said no since it is only 1% saturation or some such thing and that was not enough to cause the problem like the 1000 MG of the IV drip of Solu-Medrol in the hospital, no way, no how.

Well, that just left me with one option to get to the bottom of this conundrum of a possible unhealthy disorder, and that was to make a doctor’s appointment, which I did get one for tomorrow afternoon! By then we should have our answer, one can only hope, can’t one. But not necessarily since in September I was designated as pre diabetic, and I did have a few numbers rather high in my testing kit which I was recommended to buy when this all started last April. Fortunately, I have extra testing strips so that is why I have been keeping track so diligently. I had been sent extras from the company that makes them when the first batch I had was determined to be damaged.

Tonight, again, I was eating dinner when a feeling of warmth came over me; of not the good kind. The not feeling well type and I had to stop eating, and put dinner aside. It was nothing bad either, baked chicken, baked potato and mixed steamed vegetables, baffling!

Oh well, tomorrow should help with a possible answer…if not… the truth is all I really want to know is that I have nothing to worry about and to be told to continue to eat healthy and spring will come soon and the pool should be warm enough for you to do your exercise program in, and then it will all go down to normal again, right? Right.

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Freebie, and drab weather turning...

Today we had our free visit from a heating and air-conditioning maintenance service guy.
I supposedly won his free visit from the ‘Home Show’ that we attended weeks ago for having an old 1996 system, even though after Hurricane Charley that winter of 2005 we had all new innards installed for $600 at the time, and I did tell them that. And we were happy to know that their fellow said that it is working still just fine!

At the time it was made new inside we were told it would be good for ten years, and so I guess we have five more good years left? The man was thorough and quick, he was done in a half an hour, since I didn’t interfere with his visit by chewing the fat with him like I usually do with most all of our visitors.
I made Hubby proud; I sat outside and minded my p’s and q’s, by only speaking when spoken to.

To tell you the truth I enjoy company in any form, since Hubby and I have known each other since August 31 of 1967, and have been married since February 14 of 1971, (our 39th anniversary is this Sunday) you can only imagine that conversation has gotten a bit bland since he’s been retired now for over three years and we are usually always together.
I suppose that is why I am somewhat of a motor mouth when we get an infrequent flyer in our temporary custody of our dwelling or when out in the world at stores or festivals or whatever.
This problem wouldn’t probably exist if I were still driving and could go out into the world on my own and do things I used to enjoy all alone.

Its a few reasons that I am not driving anymore for these last two years, mobility on my own, medications that cause dizziness, and my own balance difficulty of the Ataxia, and so I think not driving is safer for my neighbors and the world at large. Hubby has been home retired, and he has insisted that he would take me wherever I wanted to go, but you know how that is, I would ask him daily and I don’t think he really means that and is just being polite. No one wants to be a TAXI unless that’s what they do for a living.

New topic… our weather is taking a turn for the worse, since we were just told by local meteorologists that for the next six nights will be in the forties and days will hover around the sixties maybe some low seventies if lucky! Brrr!

I know, I know I can hear the laughter from all you snow storm culprits who are saying ‘yep. We will still be coming down if the airports open, you wimps!’ LOL

Good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Monday, February 8, 2010

I caved, and my episodic ills may not be too mysterious...

If any of you may recall a couple a days ago I received a letter attached to my monthly bill from one of the doctors I have been paying off religiously since I was initially billed and she was demanding for me to pay up $200 and save $166 or you will be put into collection by 2-12-10!
I immediately called the doctor’s accounting office and received a very cold reception, as this was the only deal that they would be giving me. In other words this paying monthly for the last seven months was no longer going to be accepted and my only deal now was the one that they wrote on my current bill, no ifs, ands or buts, and she hung up on me!
And so I called back and asked to speak to her superior which was the office manager, and that woman never called me back even after I left a call back message on her voice mail. And so this evening I caved, and wrote out a check with a copy of their letter and everything else and wrote paid in full on the check as well as asking them for a mailed receipt and Hubby was nice enough to rush it over to the post office to have them mail it out certified return receipt mail, since I was concerned about the timing involved and not using snail mail for checks anymore since I usually pay all our bills online for the last several years. And although this was not a fortune to most people a check for $200 it is a lot of money for us.
I had started trying to save for that unexpected possibility again and I had gotten all the way up to $500, but now of course this has diminished it considerably, once again, to only $300, oh well, such is life! I know I should be happy it was there for them to blackmail me into handing it over; in my opinion!

Any-who I think I also determined my weird moments of feeling poorly last night, about two hours after dinner I did something I had not done in quite some time I tested my glucose, and it was up but not high for diabetic standards but for me being pre-diabetic it wasn’t very good, at 141. Below one hundred is considered normal. It seems that every time that I have this similar feeling of headache and nausea that it has been fluctuating. Is there a correlation, who knows? But I do know when I was able to utilize our swimming pool it went way down, and so anyone who can do normal exercise should! We all know that unfortunately I can’t, with the Ataxia and my hips needing to be replaced. The one thing I enjoy so much and can’t do is walk! That would be the answer. Unfortunately, that walking caused me to be in so much pain that I could not sleep at night and since I have stomach problems I cannot take pain meds…and it goes on and on…

It was another beautiful day in paradise today, but not anywhere warm enough to plunge into the pool, darn!

On that note of acceptance of what we cannot change… good night to all and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Sunday, February 7, 2010

This may be a shorty...

For some reason I am not feeling very well right now and so I may have to call this short tonight.
It just came over me, and I did take my purple boxed stomach medicine at my prescribed time. Sometimes it is difficult keeping it all straight since I take a total of seven pills a day; somehow I do.
But unfortunately, I have a headache and nausea right now, and I did have all my shots, flu that is, way back in November.
Today was not too eventful, a hang around the house sort of day.
And so I took care of some odds and ends in the cleaning up department like throw rugs.

Hubby called his Mom and again she promised to have her neighbor make reservations for her to come down to visit, but asked he can do that when Hubby said he would do it on his computer. Hubby has told her before.
She also confessed that she is lonely without her daughter and son-in-law or grandchildren visiting, and thought that she should apologize to them all. But Hubby was adamant on whose fault it was, that they tried to put her away in a home, and steal all her monies, furnishings etc. And Mom said that she forgave them for what they did, oh well, that’s nice. Don’t know what to say about that, do you?

Well folks that’s all I got for tonight and so I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Saturday, February 6, 2010

Movie Night

Tonight we will be seeing the last episodes of “Taken”; the Sci-Fi channel, Stephen Spielberg Sci-Fi series.
For those of you who may have already seen it since you have cable and can just turn that on when you so wish, for us this is our Blockbuster at home deal for about eighteen bucks a month for as many movies as we want. Long as we can return them within that month if we so wish to have more, which works out to be about twelve in a good month.

It took them a while to figure out how to send the series; we actually had to call them a few times until they got the order right, sadly. There are five discs of the series itself and then the sixth which is the bonus disc. They sent us the bonus one first before any of the others, and then they tried sending duplicates of others. But now it has been all straightened out, and tonight is the finale of the series, number five in the disc order with the bonus disc, number six arriving just yesterday! Got that?

Am I as boring as those peeps on ‘Twitter’ who actually give you they’re every move?
I do know that you would tell me if it were the case, right?

Any-who today was a beautiful day with low humidity and in the mid-seventies all day long, and so we opened the windows for most all of it!

You do know that I have an editor for this drivel, oh you didn’t?
Well I certainly do; it’s the automatic one in the program I’m using who I argue with regularly!
Only on some topics or words or grammar that it seems to have no flexibility in at all, it just told me that this sentence was fragmented and so I have added additional content and now, to me, this seems way too long, doesn’t it to you too?

Moving on…today I was very good at accomplishing those mundane tasks that we all put off until we need something’s, like underwear, towels or whatever…in other words I did the laundry today, two whole loads. All folded and put away. What an accomplishment, huh? LOL

SNOWMEN AND WOMEN, COME ON DOWN ONCE THE ROADS CLEAR AND THE AIRPORTS OPEN, OKAY?

That nasty stuff we had last night here seems to be nothing compared to what you all are dealing with in those Mid-Atlantic States, gosh! Now I bet you all agree that if you want snow it is better to buy just a Currier and Ives picture, don’t you all think so?
But make no mistakes you were forewarned, and we have been saying to come on down for years, but nooooooooooooo, you all wanted to stay up there, not my fault…take this as a polite warning to be as sure as the day is long that if you stay up north in the months of December through, let’s say mid- March that your chances are pretty good that you just may be bombarded by that white stuff lovingly called snow until you can’t leave your dwellings or when the snowplow has piled it in front of your driveway, but still you must cherish it for some ungodly reason or you would be here now, wouldn’t you all be? Heed my warnings for any future travels, remember to leave the land of cold white stuff in early November and I do believe that April should be safe enough to return in, but May is probably better for sure, you hear?

Now I will wish you all warmth, and no outages, and a very good night to all, and count those blessings, and maybe your toes and fingers to make sure you didn’t get any of that frostbite, you hear? We will count our blessings too, yep we didn’t need any air-conditioning or heat today! Sorry about rubbing it in, but it is oh so much fun, really!

Friday, February 5, 2010

Stormy weather...oh my!

The day started out not too badly, even Hubby was able to put down the weed and feed and mow our not so long but uneven grass.
Then the storms came through with threats of 60-70 MPH winds and possible tornadoes that has caused us to be in a watch until eight P.M. tonight. Thankfully though it is usually just a watch not a warning, that’s when you have to find a safe location to go to protect yourself from imminent danger. Here in the land of no cellars or basements; it means to go to an interior room without windows, ooops we don’t have one of those either, oh wait we do, our laundry room!
Fortunately, now we are only having light rain, which we always can use, and the worst appears to be over.
This is our dry season; would you believe?
We still get weather alerts about high fire danger daily, in spite of this unusual rainfall that we have been getting this winter, which isn't the norm for our winters, definitely not these rain storms! It was very dry during our wet season, hurricane season, I suppose that was good? But it makes me wonder what we may be in for this coming summer. The latest data from the predictors that be are already saying we should expect more hurricanes or threats of them due to El Nino.

Have any of you ever had to set up a payment plan with lets say a physicians office, and paid them religiously for seven months and then received a bill with a note attached that if I pay $200 by the 12th of the month then I will not owe the remaining $166 and if I don't pay the $200 they will put me into collection? So far I have paid them $225, first fifty, which they asked for up front then the agreed upon $25 by acceptance of not returning my monies when they were paid.
Does this sound legal to you, after seven months?
I am waiting to hear back from their office manager which I left a voice mail on her extension recorder; this really upset me since I have been paying off everyone from that hospital stay last April all with payment plans and never late and monthly and now just added my eye surgery to that mix; it just doesn’t seem right, does it to you?
To me, in my opinion it seems like black mail.
I was shaking when I got off the phone the accounts person was so nasty, and hung up on me too when I thought I heard her say as she did that she would be putting me into collection! I have never been in collection, and they accepted my monthly payments so I think they are absolutely wrong.

Hubby got a call from Mom’s neighbor saying Mom is acting more confused and he has been trying to set up transportation for her to come down here, but for some strange reason she is insisting on taking the train. The only Amtrak station is hours from us and he kept trying to explain it to her, but for some reason she just isn’t getting it.
He also called to let Hubby know that he had made out the checks to Mom of what he had borrowed and was going to take her to the bank to deposit them, and sent us copies of the two checks, all on the up and up.

Meanwhile, they are supposed to be getting a heck of a snow storm!
We will be calling up there over the weekend which has become the weekly habit of Hubby’s; checking on his Mom.
Good night to all and take care, you hear, and count those blessings and we will too!

Thursday, February 4, 2010

The 'R' word is now taking on the same notorious reputation as the 'N' word!

I’m confused, Sarah Palin had stated that when her son with Down’s syndrome was called the ‘R’ word that that was as bad as using a racial slur?
Down’s is not a race and a child who has what used to be called Mongeloidism, just dreadful, which is of a people of the Chinese persuasion, but then change to the umbrella term of ‘mental retardation’, which is not considered anything other than having a very low IQ, I thought which is below the average intelligence level.

I suppose when I was selling t-shirts for the Special Olympics and a man walked by and used the ‘R’ word about the children we were trying to help. I yelled back at him that that was not politically correct and he should not say that! This happened way back in the late nineties. The man retaliated and said it was perfectly correct since he was a neurologist who cared for children with this medical chromosomal defect issue and that society had created a negative image of the word, but it was a medically correct definition.
That’s why I am so confused, you see.
I do really hope that someone will set me straight.

Because kiddingly I say to people that Hubby and I are the ‘R’ word meaning that we have retired and have slowed down. I suppose until this whole thing is clarified and set right I better watch my p’s and q’s, huh?
I do not need the wrath of any strangers coming down on me, no way, no how!
I do have enough of my own health issues, euphemistically speaking that is.
You all know my laundry list so I shall not bore you with repetition.

We had what we thought of as a dead duck floating in the canal by our dock, so yesterday Hubby called animal control to pick it up and they said that they were short handed due to cutbacks and that of course we would understand if they came tomorrow since injured animals were their first concern, sure.
This morning they called our house a eight A.M., which was fine for me but not for Hubby because since he has been the ’R’ word so to speak he does enjoy sleeping past eight, and so I told them that I could not tell if the duck was still there since I can’t get down to the dock, blah, blah, blah… and so when Hubby awoke and checked I called them back and said he made ‘a visual’ that it was still there. I have got to stop watching TV cop shows, huh? Hubby said I bet they were hoping that the tide was going to wash him out to sea, but it hadn’t.They did finally show up around three thirty in the afternoon, and when the woman who worked for animal control finally retrieved the dead water fowl it was not a duck at all it was actually an Anhinga; one of those snake necked birds that look so strange spreading their wide expanse wings to dry them.

How sad, she felt that it must have been old age.
Which reminds me our own old bird, Charlie, is still with us in this world that is, he seems fine, and has been talking to the other birds outside by his usually singing out, well I’ll be! Amazing!

On that encouraging note I will wish you all a good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Our Charlie...

This morning our 30 and a half year old cockatiel named Charlie, after Prince Charles, I know, I know everyone all these years asked where his Princess Diana was, until she died of course! And he had, ours that is had blood around his face, and I thought it was the end for him.
You see, the average life expectancy of a cockatiel is 15-20 years and so lately over the last several months he has been falling asleep and falling while asleep off of his perches.
I know, what should one do, any suggestions?
His face looks just dreadful, and we don’t know of any small domestic bird docs in this area. I think tomorrow if for some reason he looks worse, although I don’t know how he could look any worse…I did open his cage and held him to wash his face, and he has been eating and climbing all over his cage like normal? I will see if our local wildlife refuge might have a doc who could give me some tips on how to handle this; he had always been so healthy or at least seemed that way. Even right now he is sitting atop his perch just dosing again; now I know where the term ‘strange bird’ comes from.
Very odd, but some animals are just peculiar in the arena of life and death matters.
We are prepared for whatever may occur since he is considered a very old senior citizen in his species.

Another oddity occurred today while I was perched here at the computer…I did not see but guessed that our heron was in our pond again, since I saw something quite large from my peripheral vision flying up, up and away and then looked to the pond and noticed one of the pumice floating stones had fallen in and the netting had been pulled back slightly, but the count of all fishes was correct and they were all accounted for!

My genealogy historian cousin has been posting wonderful old family photos what a joy to see grandparents and aunts and uncles etc. when they were our ages! Boy, in those days they looked older than we look now at the same age! Why is that I wonder, or are we delusional on how we really look?

Any-who on that additional oddity of noteworthy awareness I will bid you all a pleasant good night and to all count those blessings and we will too!

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

What am I doing here?

Now I am starting to believe that this thing I call my daily Blog is not at all helpful to me or the world at large.

How did I come to this conclusion, you ask?
NO DAMN FEEDBACK!

Sorry about the language but you wouldn’t know I was angry if I wrote my feelings in normal sized fonts without a bit of colorful colloquialism, would you?

People need to know that they are being heard, right?
No matter what form of articulation they subscribe to express how they feel, correct?
And this just isn’t cutting it.
It was great when the numbers would turn up in my upper right hand corner on the published screen but somehow that disappeared after this computer crashed back in October.
I felt that you were reading since I could observe the numbers grinding away, and they went rather high into the thousands, and that was refreshing to see!

Fascination took over during my hospital stay in April of last year of only three days when we had over eight hundred hits in those few days, when previously I would get from twenty to thirty daily when I was home. Hubby had my back then filling in whoever was interested in on my progress of my condition for those days.

And so that’s why I seem to be flying blindly here these days. I suppose it just makes things harder to care about when you are not sure anyone out there is really listening.
Boredom overtakes all of us, and at times I guess too many who might be reading this it may seem to be an underlying constant here.

I do know that by now you all have the ability to make comments on this site below this Blog nightly, I welcome them and then I would know you are there.

Today was another dreary rainy day and so NOT what most Floridian transplants did not sign on to upon moving here permanently, and I speak from experience since this will be our twenty-fourth year here!
It was a wee bit warmer to be fair, stuck on seventy degrees all day long.

Yes, Punxsutawney Phil up in Pennsylvania saw his shadow this Groundhog’s Day, which means for them another six weeks of winter, but our Mona of Fort Myers Shell Factory fame did not and she rules here in sun country!
And so we will go with that! Agreed?
I can’t hear you! I said, I can’t hear you….I CAN’T HEAR YOU!
Oh well…

Although, in reality here we do not have winter, oh yes we did… for two whole weeks last month, whatever could I be thinking, brrr; an anomaly for sure!

Good night peeps sorry about the questioning of my existence but that’s what we all have to do to stay real sometimes; whatever that means.
Count your blessings since I am sure after you search you will find many and we will count ours too!

Monday, February 1, 2010

Eat my words, by golly!

You know I am a person who will admit when they have done something or professed to be knowledgeable in an arena of literature that I definitely have a lot to learn in and was wrong in voicing what I thought was true and right with so much stubborn gusto.
And here I am with my arms wide open with my apology in my pocket for that dear old friend that insisted that one use of a vulgar epithet was not to be assumed incorrect or more than it had been as a declaration of description in certain eras of use in that prose.

Yes, I will have to eat those words since a contemporary author who we both respect utilized that “N” word in this epic novel that I just completed ‘Duma Key’, circa 2008, the honorable Mr. Stephen King; the king of all the macabre genres of this era!

The context in which he used the, “N” word was from a character speaking it when in the 1920’s, which just so happens to be the same era of the author I found myself insulting to my friend for her use of this horrendous vicious word.
I suspect it is called poetic license when true artists in this field of literature utilize the vernacular of the circa, which seems to be up until the 1920’s, then the world grew in leaps and bounds in understanding inappropriate names for others, thank goodness!

Stephen King’s use was at the very end or perhaps with my delicate sensibilities I would have returned his book too, and missed out on a very entertaining story.
Every day I learn how stupid I truly am, and think when will I ever grow up?
One day I am so, too much a liberal in my way of thought and deed and then the next I find myself actually having narrow mindedness creeping into this not so flexible brain of mine, whew, scary! Is this part of my MS, or just a simple inability to see right away when I am so wrong?

I still cringe when I see or read the negative descriptive irritating word that I suppose I have given too much power over me, which nothing in reality should ever have, any of that.
And so I will try harder to understand more of our incredible literature with its true perspective and try to remember that it is just fiction and of a time-gone-by…

On my own enlightened noteworthy realization I will bid you all a good night and to all count those blessing and we will too!

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go?

Speaking My Mind: Which way will the war go? :   My eyesight is going again... in case you missed it... Netanyahu snaps back against growing...