later and later

It seems I am doing my blog later and later 

    It's getting close to midnight, and I am just starting.  Holy crap.

    This morning was a fun time.  Someone missed the chair on her way from the bed.   We have to work on that. No bruises, just a pain in the back to get her up again.   Luckily Julia was here.

    Went to Headon's and spent a lot of money!  Luckily I had a Kiwanis Club raffle ticket that had a 10 percent off coupon, so I also saved a lot of money.

    Our Swissy visitors were impressed with the meat selection.  Tonight Matt cooked some steaks for us and after supper  I dashed off to rehearsal.  When I got home, Nam had done all the dishes. 

    I told them they could stay an extra month.

    Tomorrow they are headed for a Cubs game........I was supposed to explain the game  to Nam but never got around to it.  I hope they have a great time...should be nice weather.  Julia is taking them out for pizza after the game.  

    I stumbled through the second act at rehearsal.  I am close on some parts, and pretty far away on others.  I hope to be right on top of things when we rehearse next.  I put a lot of pressure on myself, and that is not always good.

    I went to see a guy about finding a handicap friendly car for us, but he has been in the hospital for 2 days.  That's what happens when you procrastinate.

    I seem to have been busy the past few days.  I have not read the Tribune since Tuesday, which is unusual for me.  Hopefully I can get the house clean and spend some time catching up on the news tomorrow.

    We also Facetimed Jackie's brother in Florida.  I think our temperature was about the same as his today.  It takes several attempts because I have not figured out how to do that.  I think I ended the call three times before I realized I was disconnecting.  But we eventually talked.

    Such is my life.

Peace and Love

doctor, doctor

 We had a pretty nice day today

    Two doctor visits, Ollie's with friends, a great supper, beautiful night....it was very nice.

    But there are always buts.

    Last week Jackie's knee doctor's office called and said she was due for a follow up.

    So we made an appointment for today.

    She already had an appointment in DeKalb, so it made sense to have two.

    We are waiting for our second appointment, the nurse gets us, and she asks about pain in the knees.  Jackie says she doesn't have pain in ther knees.  Nurse asks why she is here, and Jackie says it is for a follow up.  Nurse says, ...... hmm, we don't uusally make follow up appointments like this.

    She left, another nurse comes in and apologizes.  She said she evidently made the appointment and the call, but does not remember doing so and there is no reason  to be here.  She apologized several times.  It was just weird.  They were confused, We were confused.  

    Then we met Barb and husband Rick at Ollie's and all the problems disappeared.  We sat under a tree, in the comfortable shade, and visited for almost 90 minutes.  It was a really nice time.  We had been saying for the past 100 years that we would do that, but we just never have.  

    And the Ollie's was good.  I think I had the red  hot cookie....hot fudge, strawberries, crushed cookie....very nice.  I got Jackie a junior hot fudge, which was more than enough for her.

    Julia's friends Matt and Nam brought supper from Rosita's in DeKalb and that capped off a pretty good day.

    Now, all I have to do is learn my lines and life will be great.

Peace and Love

and pictures

My native plants just don't seem to be doing as well and I expected.  Coneflowers are a little sparse and the butterfly weed does not seem very big.  Maybe it is still early.

uh oh

I tried to clean the rest of the garage today

    No easy task.

    I got it partially clean.  I discovered I have three areas to target for a deeper cleaning and a get rid of session.

    I have two spinning yard decorations in the garage.  Let me clarify:  2 broken spinning yard decorations.  I think I can fix them.  Then again, maybe I would be wasting my time and I should just toss them.

    I have 3 boxes of wood to burn at a bonfire.  We have been here 10 years and I have never burned a single piece.

    Then there are the tools.  Do I really need 4 leaf rakes?  And how many spades do I need to dig a hole?  I think I have 5!  I have a  battery operated  grass trimmer, battery operated hedge trimmers and a new system that makes the old ones obsolete to me.

    When was the last time I used my lawn roller or the core aerator?  I don't even remember!

    And despite the 7 5 gallon plastic buckets I have, I can never find an empty bucket!   They are filled with weeds, dirt, rocks, panting containers......and who knows what else.

    That's the problem when you have a hoarding gene.  I think I do.  I just can't seem to get rid of stuff.

    Part of that is my feeling that someone can use it or it should be recycled.

    But how do you recycle a fire extinguisher?  The fire department won't take them and I can't find a recycling program that will.  I guess I could box it up and mail it back to the manufacturer, and it may come to that.   It is 20 years old, not sure if it even would work.

    I tell Jackie often it is so frustrating being me.  I wish I was organized.  And that's a refrain you will hear often from me.

Peace and Love

whine time

 Sometimes I just get tired  of being me

   I wish I was the organized person, the one with all their priorities set, who knows where the important papers, or the pencil, or the charger, or the screwdriver.......you get my point.

    I am just tired of the disorder.

    I threw out a picture yesterday.  That is kind of a big thing for me.  I hardly throw out anything.

    It was a picture of my Aunt Fritz in her youth.  She was my dad's sister, and I hardly knew her since she lived in California.  But when she died, a bunch of pictures of people I don't know ended up in my basement.  They are still there.

    But I tossed out one today.  That should have been done ages ago.  Now I have to go through the others and toss them.

    I have several bottles of wine scattered around.  I have two wine racks, 8 bottles each, but that is not enough.  Why haven't I bought a wine rack for all my wine?  It is such a simple thing to do, but I leave the bottles scattered around in all sorts of spaces.

    Organized people would have done that.  Their garages would be neat, their basements tidy, their time not spent looking for misplaced items.

    In one of the boxes I found a 1935 Who's Who in baseball.  It is not in great condition, and it is kind of cool to look at.  But why do I still have it?

    I need to learn to sell on eBay and Itsy and other sites and try to get rid of some of my older  collectibles.  

    Maybe that won't get me organized, but it will get me some money for a wine rack.

  Peace and Love

one thing leads.....

Talk about under estimating a small project! 

    The goal was simple:  Clean up the porch.

    There were a lot of cobwebs, dead leaves, cobwebs, dirt, cobwebs......hopefully you are getting the idea there were a lot of cobwebs.

    So....I figured spray the walls, spray the floor. Easy Peasy.

    Except....when I sprayed the walls, I noticed dirt running down them.  So I got a rag and wiped the walls after I sprayed them.  The porch is 2 shades lighter without the dirt!

    I could not reach the top section, so I got a step stool, all the time telling myself, "Do not fall off the step stool."  I didn't.

    And I moved all the chairs off the porch to make it easier.  Then I moved the plants.  I hosed down the chairs.  I dried them off.

    I figured an hour for the job.  After 2 hours, I took a break.  After 3 hours, I took a rest.  I did finish at around 5.  Julia helped me move the chairs back, the plants are back, and it looks really nice.

    That put me a little off schedule for finishing the mulching.  I had 3 trees and a couple of areas where new plants went to mulch.  Unfortunately, I did not have enough for the trees and now face a conundrum.  Do I get a yard of mulch or just buy bags?  I am guessing 2 bags per tree, but I am not sure.  But a yard of mulch may be too much.  Decisions, decisions.

    I discovered the key to the Cubs winning is for me to not watch the games.  I have not watched lately and they seem to have won a couple.  Either it is me or just that they can play better at times.

    I told Jackie I may just sleep in my chair in the den tonight.  I love having the windows open and I can do that in there.  She can't have windows open because it affects her allergies.  It is a beautiful night.

    So....good night, sleep tight.

Peace and Love

    

trivial stuff

 I spent the bulk of my day doing little stuff

    We finished assembling the bed, I put a new shower head on the downstairs shower, went to the Saturday market and bought supper, tidied up the basement, 2 loads of laundry, sorted bags, got all the crap out of the car.

    Nothing major, just a lot ot little things.

    Julia had most of the bed together, all I had to do was tighten the nuts.  (No, Doug....not those!)

    And the shower went surprisingly easy.  I watched a video on how to do it.  Twice.  Then I did what they suggested and it went fairly well.  I do have a small drip....but I have tried three times to eliminate it, but it does not want to go away. 

    I pulled all the stuff out of the car looking for the Teflon tape needed to do the shower head.  All of it ended up in the house on the nook table, in a huge pile.

    I found the tape.  

    I took all my reusable bags and folded them, tied them, packed them into baggies and put everything into a special bag.  All the plastic bags I had accumulated went into my recycle bag bin and it is now full.  I just have to remember to take them to the store and toss them into the bag bin.

    I went to the market just in time to get poured on.  I did get some barbecue for supper and stopped for a coffee as long as I was there.  

    It was a busy day and I do have one frustration.

    Friday morning at sometime before sunrise the planets were on parade.  I did not get up to see that.  This morning I woke up at 4:15 for some reason.  If that had been yesterday, I might have seen the parade.

    Such is life.

Peace and Love

sounding off

 I very seldom touch on controversial topics

    But today's Supreme Court ruling does not sit well with me.

    Anytime someone's liberties are taken away, we are all threatened.

    Please understand.  I don't believe in abortion.  But I do believe in a woman's right to make that choice.  A woman should be in control over her body, and she should decide what course to take.

    I heard one anti-abortion backer say  that women know what causes pregnancy and they should take personal responsibility to avoid getting pregnant.   He then called abortions a "convenience."   I almost drove off the road.

    My question is:  what next?  Will same sex marriage be outlawed? Interracial marriages?  Is the court saying that we only have rights granted to us by the states?

    The while situation is upsetting.  And frightning.

    I read that one state was considering making it a crime to travel out of state to get an abortion.   Imagine that....a nation based on freedoms making it illegal for its citizens to travel.

    This November and the next presidential election would be good opportunities to express your anger at the loss of personal freedom.

    One last thing.  I believe in God.  My God is a generous, loving, forgiving, accepting God.   When the day of judgement comes, He decides....not a bunch of religous zealots claiming to be gods.

    Here endeth my political opinion.

Peace and Love