sleepy time blues

 We have to find a new old tv show

    Jackie likes to have the tv on when she goes to bed.  Me, not so much.

    While she drifts off to sleep to the tv, I play spider solitaire and read.  Not at the same time.  I play, then read for 15-20 minutes to ready my mind for bed.

    We tune in to Peacock at 10:30 or so.  She has gone through the complete series of Fraiser, maybe twice.  Now, I do like that show, but it does get a little tiring.

    After finishing Frasier, she went to Cheers.  I like Cheers and sometimes I watch a show or part of a show at bedtime.

    But last night we went to Peacock and...... no Cheers!   Plus, no Frasier!

    Evidently on May 1 they went to new programming.

    Now we don't have anything to watch.  It has to be a comedy, 30 minutes, and one she likes.  No Office, or Parks and Rec.  It could be difficult at night around here.

    Incidently, Sunday night on Cheers it was Woody's wedding.  Woody is a clueless farm boy from Indiana and he is marrying Kelly, a socialite whose parents don't like Woody.

    Sam, Carla, and Rebecca are in the kitchen helping with food when Woody comes in and says,

    "Say, has anyone seen a plunger?"

    "What's a matter Woody, somebody plug a toilet?" Sam asked.

    "Naw," Woody replies.  "Uncle Joe wants to dance and he left his leg on the bus."

        For some reason I found that hysterical.  

        I did a Google search and although Cheers is listed as available on Prime, Prime lists it as available on Paramount Plus, which we don't have.

    In a world of mass shootings, wars, pandemics, a divisive political climate, I know our problem isn't anything.

    But I think we will lose sleep over it.

Peace and Love

one down

 The bathroom closet is clean

    I figured it would take an hour or so.  But 3 hours later, I am happy to say it is almost 100 percent completely cleaned and organized.

    I checked expiration dates on some creams we had.  The oldest was 2002. Several were 10 years old and they all went into the trash.

    When I had a cold a few months ago I went out and bought some nasal strips to help in breathing.  Well, I bought 1 box and found 3  packages in the closet.  All are opened with some strips taken out.  Go figure.

    I also went through some more cds.  I hgave no idea who Jesus Jones is, but I have a cd of his.  And from Panjabi MC, who is also unknown to me.  And never a big AC/DC fan, I am wondering how I ended up with 2 of theirs.  I also have an unnamed cd that just has a huge smiley face on it.

    Yes, I remember buying the Enya cd, but for some reason I have 2 of Chuck Berry's greatest hits.    I do like him, but 2?

    Progress is slow in my world.  But I did get the closet done and most of the cds dealt with.

    If I wasn't so tired, I would feel pretty good about that.

Peace and Love

Great Expectations

 No, this has nothing to do with Charles Dickens

    But it could have been the title of this weekend.

    I have a list:   put cds away, advertise cabinet, move out porch furniture, organize bathroom closet...to name a few tasks.

    Great Expectations!

    Except nothing got done.  

    The rain put the kibosch  (or is it kabosch?) on the porch furniture, lack of a plan affected the cds, and I took a nap, which knocked out the organizing.  I just did not advertise the cabinet.

    When we bought our new entertainment center, we had to figure out what to do with the old one.

    It is beautiful,  an armoir made in Amish country by Amish.  It looks brand new.  But it does not hold a big tv, and most of the people today want a big tv.  It would be ideal in a den or guest room, but it is not ideal in our bedroom.

    Unfortunately the new cabinet does not have the same storage capacity as the old. So I have lots of cds that won't fit.  I have culled them, but that is no help.  There are still a lot.

    Sometimes I wonder why I have a particular cd.  I know the Cowboys at the Smokehouse Cafe was from a trip out west and beer was involved.  When I volunteered at WNIJ they always had a box of free cds for volunteeers to take, so I have several blues and classical cds that I don't think I have ever listened to.

    I habe about 15 "relaxation" music cds I used to play in school.  But it has been 14 years and I have not listened to those since then.

    The bathroom closet?  A royal mess.  I just stick stuff on the shelves, willy nilly, and now it is obvious something has to be done.  I bet I have 10 insect repellants and sun screen lotions......none of which are probably still usable.  

    I thought a rainy day would spur me to action, but all it did was make me sleepy.

    So I put some Steve Goodman on my cd player and took a nap.

    I do have Great Expectations for tomorrow, however.

Peace and Love

egads

 The last few days have been busy

    I seem to do a lot of little errands.

    Today I went to DeKalb to pick up a shower chair for Jackie.

    When I went to order it online, they said 2 days.  Knowing we had a doctor appointment last Wednesday, I waited until Monday to order it.  Wednesday would be 2 days.  It would be easy to pick up the chair after the doctor.

    But this time it took 3 days, which meant it would not be in until Thursday.  I had plans Thursday, and Friday, so I went today.

    I also dropped off a campaign sign, checked out our  booth at Pickin' Station, (we had a good month!)  and went to the butcher for some meat.  It was just a lot of driving around.

    The butcher usually has  cooked bar b que ribs but they sold out by the time I got there.  By then, I was determined to have ribs for supper, so in Sycamore I stopped at Portillo's.  I did not realize it was a 20 minute wait for ribs.  Oh well.  They were good.

    On the way to Creston and the butcher, there was a big pick up truck that was riding up on people's tails.  He changed lanes a couple of times and was really exceeding the 45 mph speed limit.  When I got to my destination, the same truck (I memorized the first 3 numbers of the plate) was parked in front of the butcher and was still running.

    I went in and saw the only person that could have been the driver.  I decided to reserve my comments on his driving skills based on his youth, muscular body, overall  appearance, and scowly face.  But I silently made fun of him.

    I think I grow a little more intolerant of people every day.  

Peace and Love

just walkin'

I took Dog Beth on a walk today 

    This was our second experience on a leash.  I don't know how often she had gone on walks as a puppy mill dog, but I am guessing it was not a common experience.

    Our first walk ended 3 houses away.

    Today we made it to the end of the block, which is about 1/2 mile, give or take a couple hundred feet.  

    I have never seen a dog pee as much as she did!

    Normally she seems to go every 5 or 6 hours.  But today she squatted 5 times and then I think she just ran out.

    I spent a lot of time untangling myself from the leash.  

    We met two neighbor dogs, who came charging out of the house when someone opened the door.  Now, Corki would have barked and growled but Beth just sniffed and was sniffed by Willow and Buster.  Their owners were right behind the dogs, getting them back home and apologizing, but it was all pretty ok.

    Three houses down from home, she slowed considerably.  My guess is she is not used to walking long distances.  But she will work up to the distance by the end of the summer.

    I did see something that has me concerned though.

    We had a hail storm a couple of weeks ago.  Pea sized hail.  We may have had 2 or 3 instances when it hailed.

    Nine houses in our subdivision have signs from a roofing company in their yards!  These are not old houses either, although most of them are older than ours.  Now I wonder if our roof was damaged. 

    The skeptic I am says not to ask a roofing company if we need a new roof....but I do wonder.

    One more thing for me to worry about at night.

Peace and Love

come on!

Today was a bit frustrating 

    I made a run to Rockford and had 5 stops to make.

    Jackie ordered some clothes from Macy's, but they did not fit.  So I had to return them.

    We always think it is easier to take them back to the store rather than ship them, but that is not always  true.

    They no longer put an order slip in your order.  So, when you take the items back to the store you have to have the order number or the credit card on which you charged the items.

    I had neither.

    I called Jackie, but she can't get up and get anything.  So she texted Julia, who was on a work call.

    So I waited.

    As I waited, I thought I could access the original order on my phone by connecting to the e mail account.

    Not so fast.  What I thought was the password was not.  So I asked for a reset, but I could not figure out the reset procedure.   I kept getting the same message and a new code to enter.  

    Meanwhile, Julia gets Jackie's credit card and reads the number to me.  In my haste, I write a 7 that looks like a 5.  So when the really nice lady enters the number, nothing shows because I can't read  my own writing.

    So Julia searches for the order number, which is on the e-mail.  However, I delete orders once they are received so she had to look in the trash.

    She  finally found it, and once the clerk entered the numbers, which I had written clearly, all was well.

    But it took at least 20 minutes.

    My next stop was buying bird seed, then I went to get my oil changed.  The dealership operates on a Fast Express basis, which means you can't schecule an oil change.  You can only schedule major repair work.

    So I asked the guy at he service counter how long a wait.  He said 90 minutes until I was on the  road again.  He said if I came back at 2:15 the backlog they had from the morning would be eased and I would not have to wait as long.

    But since my last stop was the grocery store, where I would buy frozen items and dairy products, I said I would wait.

    Lo and behold, 45 minutes later I was on the road!  It was a pleasant surprise.

    But the grocery store just tires me out.  I love going there because there is a choice.  Instead of 2 types of olive oil, there are 20.  So it is better going there as long as it is not the only reason for you trip.

    I was a little hungry, which may explain some of the items in the cart that were NOT on the list.  

    Thankfully Julia made supper.  I even had some time to go out and do a little weeding.  Every time I bent over, a certain dog came up and licked my face.  I did not get a lot done.

    At least the day was beautiful.  Hopefully this was the start of warmer weather.

Peace and Love

yummmm

 Food always gets me in trouble

    It makes me fat.  I spill  it on my clothing.  I eat too much of it.  I eat the wrong foods.

    And I eat at the wrong time.

    Today there was a grants reception for the Rochelle Area Community Foundation.  I am on the board.  I don't know how, but I am.

    Anyway, about 2 months ago I went to a check presentation where an organization gave money to the foundation.  I was in the picture.  When the picture was published in the paper, I was embarassed.  My belly looked humungous.

    Granted, I was about 205 at the time.  Yes, that is overweight.  Either that or I am 6 inches shorther than I should be.

    So, the picture inspired me.  Cut down on pop, french fries, candy, cookies, potato chips.  Exercise.

    So I did.

    At the doctor's appointment last week I was 193.7.  

    This week I have taken a beating.  Fries two nights, walked only once, pop a couple of times.

    But this afternoon was the worst!

    Our new interim police chief was there.  I was chatting with him and noticed the table next to us had a bowl of candy. 

    I saw Dots, which I loved as a kid.

    So I picked up a box and popped three in my mouth.

    I then realized why I loved them as a child and not as an adult.  They stick to your teeth.  It makes it difficult to talk because your teeth are stuck together.  And I had 3 of the suckers in my mouth.

    I mumbled an apology and went off to find a corner where I might not be noticed sticking fingers into my mouth to pry the Dots off my teeth.

    There were also some delicous looking cookies.  I took one, took a bite, chewed, swallowed, took another bite, chewed, swallowed and put the rest of the cookie in my mouth.

    That was when Dave, the fire chief, said, "Hi Terry.  How's it going?"

    He expected an answer and all I could do was hold up a finger and continue chewing, for what seemed like an hour.

    After finally swallowing, we had a nice but brief conversation.

    Julia asked if I could stop in town for supper.

    I said yes, then looked at my texts and saw one that said, "I am leaving now..."

    I asked her where she was going.  But she wasn't going anywhere. I had texted her when I left the house and was reading my text.

    I don't always do well with technology.

    So.  Today I did not walk.  I had french fries and pop.  I ate candy and cookies.  I feel like a beached whale.

    I need to put today behind me and start over again tomorrow.

    But no more Dots!

Peace and Love