Well, it's Memorial Day.  I walked down to the Avenue to watch the parade - by myself, as it doesn't seem like it is important enough for the spouse to do anything outside of our house lately. I took a few pictures with my phone. I saw kids that I've watched grow up in the library, vets that have gotten older every year and sirens that seem to have gotten louder, if that's possible. The walk was not hard on me. I'm not wheezing because I've walked uphill anymore.I find I'm breathing easier, thank goodness. Jimi and Elysha came by this morning and said that their lost snake, Harley, the albino corn snake, had come back. Apparently whatever she was subsisting on since she disappeared in December had been finished off - Jimi found her in with the mice. Hungry, I guess.
        I got the lawn mower fixed, so Steve mowed the back yard - one of the "important" things he needed to do this morning. It's a beautiful day- it would be nice to sit outside , but I have no chairs anymore. Elysha loaned them out a few years ago for a graduation party for one of her friends and never got any of them back... It's only on pretty days like this that I miss them.

        It may rain all week, so  I may go out and sit in the grass and read or nap or something. The sunshine makes me feel happy. Well, more or less...

Another week

Well, it's been a long week. Monday started at 4 am. Got up, got dressed, read most of my e-mail nad went to St. Barnabas Medical Center. Registered in the Short Stay Center at 5:30 am and went in for my septoplasty and turbinectomy at 7:30. I was in recovery for a while, not sure how long...  I had a little oxygen mask that fit over my chin. A nurse had me blowing into a little thing called an AirLife® Volumetric Incentive Spirometer (although I didn't know what it was  then - I just now looked it up) because they discovered I have diminished lung capacity.  So I need to exercise my lungs. I got home around 2pm, had a little bit of jello and ice pops an d my anti-biotics, then Tylenol with codeine and sleep. Found out Tuesday morning that both I , and the hospital, hadn't done a lot of the post-operative care procedures that were supposed to be done in the first 24 hours. It doesn't seem to have made a lot of difference, but who knows? I slept on and off a lot until today. The pain is not real bad, but it is annoying. The pain meds helped me sleep. I was so foggy headed that I really  needed the sleep, even if it was catnaps. Woodgie has been my nurse. She won't leave me alone for long.  She and I cat nap together. Today I feel pretty good. I felt great on Tuesday, but lousy on Wednesday. So how I'll be tomorrow is anybody's guess. I go in for my post-op appointment with my doctor on Monday.  We'll see what he has to say then.

Wednesday

Thank goodness for Wednesdays. I'm doing laundry - delicates and whites, mostly, since the washer takes forever... It's a nice day out. It's one of those winters where this week in February is the nicest of the winter. I'm hoping that doesn't mean blizzards in March...I sent some things to Blogger from a show at B.B. Kings  on Saturday from my cell phone, but I guess it didn't get here. Davy Jones is finally showing his age. I am not entering any more contests to see him. His jokes were  very bad and his voice , although strong, doesn't seem to sound as good anymore. Maybe I'm just getting older in my mind... I think he shortened some of the Monkees' songs - maybe his memory is going? His wife wasn't in this show though, which was a blessing. One doesn't want to be reminded of a teen idol who has married a gal half his current age. Had Monday off for Presidents' Day - it's always nice to be home at 6 for dinner. Yesterday was extremely busy though, so it's hardly worth it when you have twice as much to do the next day.

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Whoa. The time is going by pretty quick. I am scheduled for a surgical procedure in March to fix my deviated septum and "turbinates" in my nose. The doctor asked me  if I'd already had a rhinoplasty. When I went Huh?, he asked if I'd had a nose job recently. I said my nose was the one I was born with, other than the times I've broken it and pushed it back into place. He said my nose is very narrow and with the deviation of the septum and the turbinates, it is a little crowded when I'm congested.  have to get an EKG done pre-surgery, but other than that, there's nothing else to do but sniffle along and wait.   I hope it'll help me breathe a little better, although it isn't guaranteed.  If my septum is straightened out, I may be able to use the CPAP pillow masks better. That would be easier on my forehead. 
I'm just hoping for the best. 

First Friday

Well, it's the end of the first week in January and I'm already fed up with it. I' m ready to quit here at the library. I've applied for a position as a receptionist at a lawyer's office in Montclair. We'll see what happens with that. I work 9-5 again tomorrow, so it's going to be a long weekend, too. I'm sitting upstairs on my break while one of my colleagues is having her lunch in the break room and the twit is doing my job. Would that  I were paid what he is, since he doesn't do a lot more than I do - or could do given the opportunity. See? I'm off complaining already. But I did not resolve to do otherwise and complaining is what I'm good at. Hee,hee,hee...

Just another new year

2012.

It's been a long time since I've just written in my blog. I spend way too much time on Facebook. I'm off tonight (the union gets days adjusted for weekends and holidays bumping into each other). 2011 seemd like a very long year when we were in the middle of it. Now I can hardly believe it's 2012.After receiving my first "senior discount" without asking, I feel a lot older now than then... Everyone in the family seems to be doing pretty good, although Mom and Greg are on their own since Kerry passed on. Kerry was a good dog, in spite of the barking at everything. We'll miss her, bless her little heart.

Woodgie seems to be doing okay this year so far. We found one of her favorite toys from her kitten years under the oven and washed it up. It is a glue-on wing from an Easter duck egg. There were two, but one of them was not salvageable.  

The one on the left was when it was new - and when Woodgie was, too. She still crazy about it. Even if it isn't a real cat toy... Sigh. I've bought her some great toys and she still likes the wing better.

I'm going to start throwing stuff out that I've just hung on to because somebody might be able to use it someday. I think I'm beginning to realize that's a hopeless reason.

Well, tomorrow's gonna be another day - I will be working then... More later.

I'm about to pull my hair out!

The damned server is gone at the library. All the catalog is gone, the check-in and out is gone and we are writing things down so people can check things out. The check-in things will sit until somebody scans them all in - and I bet we're not going to get to close because of that either. 4+/- days of returns. It's going to be a long day tomorrow. Unfortunately, it is my long day. Sigh.

Long Time

It's been  long time since I've written here. I've been playing a lot of games on Facebook, entering lots of contests there and on Twitter. I won a washer and dryer combo on Twitter from Sears and Whirlpool. It's a front loader, high efficiency and I am real excited about it. I only have to put detergent in one time and it'll do a lot of laundry!  I also won a terrific book (no kidding! It's on the NYT best-seller list @ #2) called A Discovery of Witches. It's 500+ pages long, but I'm almost done. I shall donate my copy to the library when I finish it. We aren't past the keeping of comics and toys, although Steve did sell a few things on eBay. I still live amongst boxes and books - lots of boxes and books...Everybody's working and well, thank goodness. I can barely wait till Summer. It's been a long very cold Winter... Forget Spring, bring on the heat!

It's November?

Seems like it was not that long ago that it was 2009... But it's November and there's news. First - Elysha has a new pet - a snake named Harley (that is also sharing her room) ; Third - tradition is changing for Thanksgiving, if only slightly - the Pocmont seems to have gone out of business. We tried making reservations at their still existing website and phone number - neither would work. So we're going to the Fernwood, where we go for lunch on Thanksgiving anyway. Not much else - Elysha is still working in Caldwell - at a different veternarian's office; Steve's still a teacher in Lodi and a tutor at Sylvan here in Verona; and I am still plugging away at the library, where I am, with Blue, my trusty netbook, right now. Still only part-time, but somebody on my level has to retire sometime.

Tired

I've been on Facebook more than here lately and haven't been posting much anywhere. Today I've got a cold and feel miserable, but not coughing or any of that - just very, very tired.
In the past couple of weeks, I've gone to a funeral home with Elysha to visit an old boyfriend of her's sister's viewing (that was sad - the poor girl was shot for trying to help a man who had been shot by his brother); had a monitor lizard warming up in my bathtub (she managed to survive) and an iguana in the spare room (she's okay, too);last night was a bearded dragon. The cold I have has gone through all of the family and the boyfriend, except for Woodgie - as far as I can tell.
Woodgie is doing okay. She went to work with Elysha once - Elysha now works at a veternary office as a receptionist (great use of her college education), part time. She doesn't play well with others however and may not go again until she has to as a patient. She's Gramma's girl. Even if she's not so nice to me all the time.

August15,2010

Been a long summer. Elysha and I took our yearly road trip to my Mom's house and managed to get there and back with zero tickets this year. We had cruise control in a Ford Taurus from Avis. It had great airconditioning, which was a good thing because it was soooooo hot  in Louisville. One day we went shopping for Kara's school clothes (we didn't do much else because of the heat - nobody wanted to go  swimming because we aren't big on crowds) and passed a time/temp sign. I was in the back seat with Kara and said,"Wow, it's 114° out there!" Jenni looked down at the "exterior temp" gauge on the dashboard and said, "No, it's not, it's 115°." Anyway, we ate out a lot and had a good time. Saw my brother John's new house - a beauty on a lakefront property.  We picked up Jimi in Pennsylvania and stopped at the outlets there. Elysha got a new Coach purse and walllet and I avoided getting one, instead finding a nice pair of the softest jeans and a silk sweater at Coldwater Creek's outlet. We took Jimi to find him a suit and found one for $80 at a clothing outlet near Willowbrook.The pants needed to be hemmed though. But so do my lovely jeans... Woodgie was glad we were home. After registering Kara for school the day we left for home, it was good to be home. Kara started school on the 11^th. She's in 7^th grade now...

Not much going on here lately. Gone back to work, Steven's in a class that's supposed to show him an easier, more efficient way to do lesson plans - a big joke. He's supposed to get paid for taking the class - that, too, is a big joke. I'm not looking forward to working on weekends again.
Going to try to clean up around here a bit more... Steve put a bunch of stuff in the garage - of course, none of it was his, but... Anway, it's been a long,hot summer. Maybe I'm just getting old, but it doesn't seem as nice to be summer as it used to be....

Mother's Day

Elysha took me to a restaurant that is across from where she used to work. We had to park in the lot there. Seeing her old place of employment made us both almost cry, but seeing the line at Segovia's almost did, too. She used her old boss' name to get a table before families of five to ten, but the service went downhill from there. The place was packed and some old geezer that was at a table beside ours blew his nose three times before they left... The chorizo (Grilled Spanish Sausage) was good. That was why we went there - but it was not good enough to pay $12 for and suffer all the wait and other indignities. I had a full meal - shrimp in garlic sauce. The garlic was very strong, the vegetables were sparse (carrots , squash and green beans - you could count the pieces of each vegetable on the fingers of one hand ), the rice was only good with the chorizo mixed in, and the "potatoes" they listed on the menu were potato chips- handmade, granted, but just 9 or 10 of them. The salad was something you'd get at a fast food joint- iceberg lettuce and shredded carrots , with a quarter of a tomato and drenched in oil and vinegar - which I got all over me. It was just this side of pathetic and she left a $5 tip... The whole tab, counting that $5 was $45. I was embarassed - and the waiter gave me the check! We stopped at a Dairy Queen on the way home and I had a dipped cone which more than made up for dinner! I love my daughter!

Still trying to get used to the cold and the rain...

View from the plane

Sugar Mill at the resort

Flowers by our room

Lobby mirror

Mermaid CafeFront of the Great House

Sigh. Seems like St. Croix was years ago - it's so cold and cloudy here. I've been meaning to write a bit and put up some of my pictures, but that makes me a bit depressed, Anyway, I have sorted them out. Here's some of them.                                                            

View from our room

Up to the Great House and Terrace Restaurant from our room

Pelican statue at Mermaid Cafe

Out front of our room, looking up to the Great House

Sunset from the dinner table at the Terrace

Our room. Almost ready to leave... Sigh.

Spring is here!

How's about by you? It's 72° here.  I'm at work and Elysha is here doing her homework, so she won't get as distracted as she does at home. Of course, the head of the Biology Dept. at MSU came in and she had a heart attack. He's the guy (she used some unfortunate language to describe who he was) who gave her such trouble about taking human biology at Worcester. It's been kind of slow, but it is a twit day. Not as bad as yesterday when it was down to just me and the Witch at 2 o'clock. Everybody who could, besides her, was off - even the director. Esentially, I was in charge, 'cause I have seniority. :-) I'm not too good at being assertive though. The witch tends to walk on her co-workers... And I happen to be a good mat. She gave the evil eye to Elysha who came to pick me up... Well, it's nearly time for a break. Later. Hope all have a good weekend!

At Work, with Blue

It's a dark and stormy.... Well, actually it's just drizzly now and driving my sinuses nuts. At least it isn't snow. Work is literally making me sick. I get so queasy here at the library. Some folks just make me nauseated... Unfortunately, they all seem to be here this morning...
I have nothing to read and It's difficult to type a lot on here. Nothing much on Facebook, to speak of. I can't play the games well, with Blue - it's got a sloooooow wi-fi connection.
I have to work 9-5 tomorrow, but the nauseating co-workers won't be here, at least... Wish I could find another job, but as DH continually reminds me - times are tough. So onward with doing the best I can for as long as I can. :-)

Long “Weekend”

Well, I’ve had three days vacation since my usual Wednesday off. It snowed like crazy on Thursday – the library closed early and I, yes, work 5-9 on Thursday. Woke up this morning and looked out the window at about 12” or more of snow and it was still coming down. I went back to my nice warm, cozy bed. The phone rang, but nobody answered it – Steven said it was my boss, but he left no message. I’m hoping they weren’t stupid enough to open because the Twit would walk to work. I’m not that stupid. I could barely get to the newspaper (bless our carrier’s little heart). Snow was nearly up to my knees. I haven’t trudged through snow like that since Jenni was a baby.

Here are the shrubs out front yesterday afternoon.

Here they are today in the afternoon. The guy across the street loaded snow into his pickup and drove it away from the drive to unload it. The plow had undone all the shoveling he did this morning when it was still snowing. Steven cracked up watching him shovel it away cause he knew the plow would come by and push it right back in front of his drive. 

I’m a little tired of staying in, although it’s been a good couple of days to not have to go anywhere. Since I don’t go much of anywhere anyway, I don’t get cabin fever. :-) And the fridge was stocked up well and I had made a pot of soup on Wednesday.

Woodgie keeps watching the door. If she can’t see any grass when it opens, she steps back, as if to say ”I’m not going out in that stuff.”

We’re all anxious for Spring. Hope y’all have a good weekend – a real one. 

Any lucky Day giveaway

Out of the Blue Delivered is now offering the Card Cubby. This unique card organizer looks like a wallet but is actually designed to hold your business cards, credit cards, debit cards, gift cards or store rewards cards or loyalty cards. Visit AnyLuckyDay for a chance to win one today!
I'm trying to win one of these, but I may break down and buy it...

I'll be posting more on life, the universe and everything later - I'm just home for dinner tonight.

Magic Carpet Ride

Like I said in my previous post, I've been on a tour of a lot of beautiful blogs in the past few days. The ldies and gentlemen who craft and blog have uch gorgeous pages that I'm embarassed to be blogging. Not that I have done much lately. I'm going to put a few more of my England pictures on today, just because some of those nice, artistic people are visiting. ☺

Random museum shots

London

Worcester post boxLondon post boxSnow in London

This is a broken plate  - above mended, below, showing the breaks Worcester Porcelain

Fire juggler - Birmingham

Cats under glass British Museum

Birmingham - ElyshaInformation office London

I'm back -too much Facebook lately...

I've been on Facebook way too much lately. That's how boring things have been around here. So boring that I overimagined a pain in my chest wall to be something that was going to kill me. Not so. I had a stress test and sonogram at a cardiologist's and my heart is good. I'm "out of condition", according to the doctor, but I'm healthily out of condition. The pain is not sharp, more an ache and is probably a variation on the sort I've had before, which is gravity pulling on certain fatty tissues and stretching the muscles... Sigh.

Winter has been very odd so far this year - more like a very cold Spring, with thundershowers instead of blizzards. But it did snow night before last, although not much. Today it's sunny and cold and there's murmurings of more snow headed this way.

I've been on a Magic Carpet ride lately - through a Whimsical Bohemian's site. The Magic Carpet goes to a lot of the most beautiful crafting blogs I've ever seen! The crafters are giving away prizes relating to their crafts and some of them are so beautiful! I wish I had the patience to do something besides sit here at the computer anymore. That is why I'm "out of condition" also...

Elysha is back in school at Montclair State. She brought her boyfriend, who lives in Pennsylvania, back here for a few days (he shoveled the snow we got - good boy!), and got the Li'l Guy (our Scion xA) sideswiped by a semi on the way over to get him. It just smashed the passenger side mirror and scuffed the door. Apparently, the truck driver didin't even notice. She didn't get any information - a bit too stunned to notice the truck name or anything until it was too late. There's not much she could do since the truck went on going, probably 70 mph or better...

That's about all the exciting stuff that's happened lately. We've been trying to clean up a little lately, but with the obsessive compulsive collector's stuff, it's difficult. Well, difficult is putting it mildly - more like impossible. Things just seem to walk away, too. Although that could be Woodgie. Who is doing well, as you can see.

Happy New Year!

We're off to a roaring start. I haven't blogged much in a long time. I've been wasting way too much time on Facebook. I played Vampire Wars for months, then gave it up. I got into Farm Town and Farmville, which took way too much time. I gave up on Farmville and kept Farm Town, but eventually decide it wasn't worth the time or effort - especially after a real-life farmer friend of mine teased me about my virtual farming....I was playing with FishWorld, but my PC wouldn't load it half the time, so I ditched it, too. I wasn't good about keeping the fish fed. And my farmer friend also is a real-life fisherman, too, so I figured telling him about my green snappers would get me more teasing. Haven't gotten any e-mails from him lately, so have thus far avoided remarks about virtual life.


Real life has been interesting - London, Birmingham and Worcester were all fascinating.

All my pictures are on Facebook, but here's one I clipped and saved - it's me mailing postcards to the States from a Letter Box in London. Most of the cards were from the British Museum and Worcester, although I bought a couple from a 7-11 type store...Did not see a lot of England - not touristy stuff, except for the Museum and the cathedral in Worcester (lots of dead people, including, according to the material I read - King John of Magna Carta fame- in the crypt and the upper cathedral itself). I took mostly bad videos of the Cathedral. I have one shot of the River Severne (never the other way around - that's American rivers) with the Worcester Cathedral in the background.

Anyway, there's a link to the London album on Facebook if you click on the title. I'll try to write more from home where there are more pictures and video available to share easily!