Changed my mind

All day I had been composing a post about a topic that is as far away from now as it can get. I am prompted to write about this. It is flat eerie about these parts lately.

As you know, G retired not all that long ago. During the time we were at the SSB, things progressed normally. I would cook, clean and load the dishwasher. Same thing as always.

The change has been in the almost week we have been home. He is doing so much more around here. He took over the kitchen Saturday night. He prepared venison stroganoff. It was delicious, and then more than that - he washed (loaded the dishwasher). Spell check is fussing at me for the name of the dish, but I don't want to go find it in a cook book. Sorry. I think you will know what it is!!

Today, he got dinner out of the freezer - while I was having a spanking new temporary crown put on my molar. Doc says it should be the last for a while. But getting back, he is going to do them outside on the grill since this will be our last chance for the week. We are going to share a bit of the weather you all have been getting hit with.

He is actually is being calm around the grandchildren, but that had its seeds in the weeks previous - Thanksgiving in fact when I told him everyone went home early because they didn't want to upset him with the noise. He is a lot more accepting now.

So thus far, living with him being newly retired has worked out well, but I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop. I expect him to get his tighty whities in a ruffle soon. I hope I am going to be surprised and this is the G I will live with around here nearly 24/7!

Peace be with you and please stay warm and dry!

Yes, I am finally back!

I was all set to bring you up to date on my exciting week in Teensy Town in the Texas hill country, but just getting to this place took at least five minutes. I have had the problem of Blogger setting the other blog - the one I was going to use for business, and I have not been there in forever - in the place of this one. I was prepared for that, but Blogger didn't want to accept all the privacy codes for this blog. It just wouldn't let me in. Well, I am here now so there - Blogger you can't keep a dedicated blogger away from her blog.

The week we were away went very well. The second day we were there, we went to forage for supplies, and that took us to the fairly big city that is also a big tourist trap. That translates into higher prices on everything. We go there for groceries because unlike Teensy Town, the grocery store smells clean - no bad meat smell in the place! They also have a much wider selection since the store is twice the size.

Our first night, we went to the community club meeting. I think there was ten of us huddled about the fire to keep warm. This place is about 130 years old. It is in need of deep repair, but as you can tell by the attendance - it ain't gonna happen from just the dues. But we enjoyed visiting.

The remaining part of the week was uneventful. My biggest problem was having no internet at all. I really hate that phone. I should have kept my feelings about Sprint being the carrier that will cover the hill country. It really doesn't. It is a rare day when all the stars and planets align, and you hold your mouth just right that you get the required signal - and then you better get your business over quickly!

Coming back was jumping into the life here. G had an appointment with our eye doc, and I went for my mammogram. The appointments were in the same "medical center." They build the office buildings about 100 yards apart. To me, that might as well be a mile. So of course, my appointment was in the original building, and his was in the new building. The timing was tight - we were a couple of minutes late to the eye doc, but she never calls us in on time. I don't mind the wait because when she sees you, she talks a lot. She makes you really feel at home and comfortable.

And so now we really begin the reality of G being retired. I said that we needed some things at the grocery store. He made a comment about cutting the grocery bill. I am just waiting to see what he brings back. My list would only fill one of our bags - and five of their plastic ones.

I am glad to be back home, but in a way I really enjoyed being in the peaceful setting. I won't say that to G because this house would be for sale in a heart beat and we would be gone. I don't like it that much!!

Peace be with you.

The retirement continues

So far so good. Knock loudly on wood!

Things are going well, and the house is flowing like a well oiled machine. But the problem is the time feels more like vacation. I don't think this can continue long.

We will be going to the SSB tomorrow. We will be staying for a week, so it will be more vacation. I don't see any changes with the - except I will be there with no hot spot from my phone, That will be the bad thing for me. This is my morning tradition.

Other things going on - now that I am on the hydrocodone a muscle relaxant was added. I thought it was just effecting my walking. Today, I really think it is effecting my brain. I can't remember anything. I really got scared yesterday That is the bad. The good is that I don't have back spasm that just about cripple me. There is still a big problem on the right, but it isn't making my whole back cramp up. I am getting very dedicated to my PT that I learned. I do the exercises every other day.

So we will be off. Seven days in the almost wilderness. The house is up where I have to climb stairs to get in - the fewest is 6. So once I get in, I don't get out except on the deck. I have the computer so that I can work on things there, but I wish I had my big machine. I took it a couple of times, but G hates it because it is so heavy. With the new trick., it doesn't fit on the floor of the backseat. Not enough room. The case isn't water-tight, so it cannot go in the back.

I am getting very bleary and cannot type well right now, as if I could ever type. I an having a problem with word recall. Shoot - I am having trouble with anything requiring thought. And this computer is doing some weird things - like erasing whole sentences. So I leave you for a while.

I will post if the phone provides my with a signal. Stupid phone! I should have gotten one like this one from AT&T. I know they work.

It's official

G retired last Thursday. But since he sometimes is off on Fridays, even though those days are usually spent traveling to the SSB. Of course he is off weekends, and today is a holiday and we are used to him being around.

Things are going remarkably well, we are in the first days of retirement for both of us. I don't know how long the smoothness of this road will last.

We stayed in town to celebrate Lady Bug's birthday. As it turns out, Daughter dropped the ball. LB had a small list she wanted to take to the hibachi grill. One of the girls couldn't go, so that stopped it for every one else.

Birthday dinner turned out to be a family deal minus SIL, who was in Wisconsin for business, and hopefully a bonus for the year. Anyway, we went to a local restaurant that Daughter and I are getting to not like, but they have a large menu, and I huge cement tree in the middle of the dining area. Can't find that everywhere!

So, before he can make anymore comments about my computer use, I will say adios for a while!

Peace be with you.

Do you watch Desperate Housewives?

I do, rather I did until I read the paper this morning. All of the stars, except Teri Hatcher, want more money. Those poor little actresses. I guess they are on rice and beans because they cannot afford better food. I guess they are on the streets living in cardboard boxes. Good thing it stays fairly warm in California.

Could you manage on a mere $400,000 per episode. Why of course not. It's inhumane to ask them to struggle on that. Why of course they need more money.

That makes me thing of the millions that sports figures make. Then they want more. What in the world are they spending it one. How can you "need/deserve more money. This boggles my mind.

To my way of thinking, they must sew it together to make sheets for the bed. Perhaps they use it to light fires or candles. I cannot imagine why millions aren't enough.

I laugh when they "fine" sports figures. The amount of that fine is like $2.00 for us. It sounds like it is so much! Ha!

This is despicable when you look at teachers salaries. They have the student's future in their collective hands. Every one talks about education, but when the rubber hits the road, these people disappear.

There are many other jobs where the worker isn't paid a living salary. But coming up with the money to pay these people who are playing a game, and putting on play there never is a problem.

OK, I'm off my soap box. It is one that I have carried for years. I can't understand someone making 400,000 a day of work (I will admit they probably had to work for that one episode, but still!!) wanting more - demanding more. Just can't wrap my mind around such "salary".

Peace be with you (and me!).

OH, NO!

The yard men are here. Yes we are that decant. We don't own a lawn mower any more. We don't own a trimmer. Even after today's big day (G retiring effective today) we won't get one either. We won't depend on either child and their spouse because we would have grass rubbing the roof - and they have their own yards.

Today is a tragedy however. Sometimes it is that way. Lupe's brother is in charge until he returns from Mexico (yes they are legal), and he decided that our yard needed to be readied for winter. I know, most people are under snow. We aren't. We are the tropics!

Anyway, they are here. I went out to give them the check. Lupe's brother was in the large flower bed. He asked me if I wanted the giant phyledron (the spelling doesn't right, but spell check doesn't have a suggestion) cut all the way down. NO, NO, NO!! I would rather it freeze down. That's making things look bad before they should.

I looked in the "yard art" G put out. It is our old wheel barrow on its side with flowers in it. He planted it in May. He chose the flowers while I was in the hospital with the last knee. He lovingly planted that wheel barrow. Summer came and roasted those plants (that were planted wrong). Some remained there and struggled to survive. Came fall and they flourished. Because of my bad memory, I cannot think of the name, but they were growing! He was proud.

Well - today they perished. They were pulled out of that wheel barrow with a rake. An plain, old, rusted wheel barrow! I haven't told him yet.

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That brings to mind my granddaughter, Doodle Bug. She went back to the dentist. Leaving the long story between her parents, she now has lost all four of her front teeth. She already had the two teeth beside the two front pulled. The front teeth were capped. She developed an infection above one of those caps, and it was still there yesterday. So to keep the infection from spotting the permanent tooth, both were pulled. I haven't seen her yet. Poor baby. But she will get a bridge soon. That is so sad.

The dentist told them the bad teeth were inherited, but cokes and juices as the only fluid certainly helped to get the kid's teeth this way. But I have to just shut up.

Peace be with you!

A follow up on my drug experience yesterday

I don't think anything is going to change anytime soon with the pharmacy. This young man is not a pharmacist, nor is he even a trained pharmacy assistant.

Let me describe the process, and you have to remember this is a pain clinic (I guess they help manage pain - I've been there a year, and the pain in my back just moves around).

After you see the doctor, you then go out the door of the waiting room and go to the next door with a red carpet in front. If you go to the third door, you will find yourself in the waiting room for the procedure - whichever you are there for, i.e. injections in various body parts.

After you walk into that middle door, there is a partial counter with a young man sitting there surrounded by small paper bags that contain your medications - that were filled in the main pharmacy that is 50 miles away. There is a courier that delivers them each day.

You once were able to just walk in and give your name to get the drugs, but now you have to show your next appointments card. This is where I have to diverse from the story. Because some pain clinics are just fronts for distributing drugs illicitly, there have been a lot of changes. Some drug dealers would "hire" the homeless to go to these pain clinics to get the drugs. So mine will regularly drug test. I personally think there are still some that get through. I saw one yesterday that I would swear on the Bible was a homeless person sent for drugs. But to go on with the post.

Once you give him your appointment card, he will give you the bag with your drugs in it. Now there are about four times I could have (or even he could) have caught the mistake. The first when he looked at the appointment card. I know what happened - he saw he card, and like I do sometime, just took it as being an appointment card. He should have noticed the name - but ... I should have caught it when he called my card in for approval. He didn't. When he was calling and gave the wrong name, I should have snapped - I thought it was, perhaps, the pharmacist.

There is a big problem with prescription drug abuse. I do not think we are alone in this. I think it is almost everywhere. There is no law covering how pain clinics work, but they are expected to do whatever has to be done to control the abuse. At one point, a "Pain Clinic" was a cover for illegal drugs. You walked in, a "doctor examined" you. He then prescribed hydrocodone, or any of these drugs, and the "patient" walked out. That was it. They were a real joke.

Back to the little guy. He doesn't really have any real contact with making up the drugs - he just has to pay attention to the name on the bag (a little closer please). When I went back, he apologized profusely. Perhaps he thought if I were really upset and went to Dr S, he would get fired. I really wasn't upset about this mistake. I just feel there could be a better way. Each time I go in, there is some woman (why couldn't it be a man - just once), who has a problem with something, and she won't go away! Then the line forms and it is a circus once again.

After going in yesterday at 3:30, I think I may just leave for a while and come back. There was no problem at all - no women with a problem clogging the works!

Peace be with you.

I think they need to fire him

I really hate to say that - especially in this time of jobs being difficult to find. I went to the pain clinic today, but that's only to set the locale. When I went to pick up my drugs, the guy picked up a packet, and told me it was $20. That is far less than I usually pay, but the amount does change. I didn't think anything of it.

I got home after the marathon appointment (2 hours). I got my lunch together, and thought I would take two of the pills like I should. I picked up the bag, and there were four bottles there. Mine is three. Then I looked at the name. It. Was. Not. My. Prescriptions!

Fortunately, or not, I have to go back at 4 for PT (I hate it that late) So I can take that poor woman"s back and get mine - IF they haven't been given to someone else.

I was surprised that VISA didn't spot it when he read the wrong name. I heard the name, but thought it could be the pharmacist's name. Didn't happen. I should have snapped to the charge. I didn't.

Every time I go to pick up the meds, it is a complete circus. Normally, there are three or more in there. He grins all the time, and I don't know how he could cause all these problems. A lot of the problems I simply don't know how he screwed up.

As I said, I think he should be fired. He doesn't seem to be able to handle it!

Peace be with you.

Here's a new one

I wanted to begin this post as a story, but there really isn't a good beginning because it never really begins nor ends. It is a true segment in these people's living. So here is just a free standing story that you, at first glance, won't believe. But it is true, sadly.

Poor SIL's dad called. He did his usual hemming and hawing. That's trouble. It means he wants money.

So he went on talking, not really getting to the point, but then it came out. Yes he needed money. He needed money to pay his AT&T UVERSE BILL of $150. Uhhhhhh - excuse me, but just when did cable television become a life need? And this isn't BASIC cable. They have more extras than we do! And our cable bill includes internet.

The more I spoke with Daughter, she said they haven't even had to pay rent yet. He has been able to (supposedly) do enough odd-jobs on the house to pay the rent. Has the owner looked at the house to see these things completed?

The real kicker tho this story is that they put out the plea for money before Christmas. So Daughter and SIL decided they would give them money ($150), and they wanted the other siblings (3) to give the money they would buy for nieces and nephews to the parents. Don't know if that happened or not, but the fact is they were given money - not even a month before.

So here is SIL between Daughter who will squeeze a penny until it yells, and parents who believe it is perfectly ok to ask for money for things that aren't absolutely necessary. With us being gone, and then the day we returned she left for a conference, I haven't heard what happened. All I know is that everyone who hears this request is first completely shocked, and then they laugh at those people's gall.

His family is so very jealous of that Daughter and SIL have. They have said it is because we bought it for them. They have called Daughter a pretentious B*tch, so I can only imagine what they call us. That family knows that Daughter and SIL make really good money, but then they have no real concept of what good money is. They know they have money saved, and certainly have that kind of money available - which they do.

So it appears that truth is really stranger than fiction. These folks will always give me a subject for my blog. G swears he is going to write a book about them, and I haven't even begun to disclose the idiocy of their actions. My, my.

Peace be with you (and Daughter too)

Well, It's a New Year

And to reflection last year, what stands out?? PT. PT for almost a year. It became all encompassing as it was at least twice a week for almost a year. When I look at my appointment calendar, PT was the appointment there most often. And you know what? It looks like it won't end soon. Dr Inject That Spine doesn 't appear like he is going to release me anytime soon. I am getting just a teeny, little sick of it. I know it is for the good and all, but really? Ok enough.

What did I do on my "vacation"? Well we had SIL and our contractor (SIL's friend as well)there for two days. They got the "skid" for our first store room built and mounted the store room on it. The thing was about to blow away. So much so that G tied a rope around it when we left earlier! They did that in the few hours SIL and I were shopping in the M Metropolis *not to be confused in the huge F Metropolis).

They also had been in the M place. That brings me to why they were there in the first place. Last year, we were inundated with goats. Big, hairy, black goats. They don't belong there, and they are not by any means, homeland goats. So Daughter only saw them when she was going up the ladder to her blind so she was in no place to shoot one. That left G last year, and he did shoot one. He hoped for another billy too, but they all ran after the first one. So this is that first billy.

He took the horns to the taxidermist in the M. We told Contractor buddy about it, and he was all revved up. He would jokingly mutter to us all Dam* G! He was acting like he could hardly wait to get there. These goats are almost as much of pests as the wild hogs that are ravaging Texas. They are able to kill young deer, pets, and they act like plows in yards in cities. On some ranches, they are dangerous and destructive. Some ranches offer hog hunts as another way of raising money to stay afloat. Daughter found some information that I haven't had time to check. They are Catalina goats that someone, some place brought over for hunting. The article she quoted to me said they could bring as much as $1800 a head to hunt.

SIL and Contractor watched them before hunting. They appeared about time for the feeder to go off, There were about 20 this time. When the feeder went off, they ate each and every kernel of corn on the ground, and then laid down to wait for the second one. When it went off, they did the same thing. This is where I say that they both got a billy of their own to mount.

This is where I also mount my soap box for a second. My rule at our place is you shoot only what you plan to eat. There are three exceptions to that rule, which I guess will be changed again sometime. The exceptions are hogs, wild(?) goats, and raccoons. The only raccoons we get are rabid. There had only been one we are aware of, and it was ready to climb 13 steps to "greet" G. They are also so very destructive.

So the trip was ok. I spent most of the time working on photos using the new (I guess) photo thingy offered by Windows 7. You know, I just might start liking this system. I was upset that the blasted phone wouldn't work, I take it back it worked 1 day, like a hot-spot for which it was bought. It did give me my g-mail accounts, but those are not what I really want.

Then again, I found the post it was supposed to make simple. Not. So Much. I just found it had not been published. So, oh well. Don't use something you don't know.

Peace be with you.

I’m back–finally

And I cannot tell you how happy I am to be here with you all! I had 9 days sans internet. That lying little piece of you-know-what that daughter talked me into did not connect one single time while at the SSB.

It will bring me new mail from my Gmail accounts. They aren’t the ones I really want – unless I am expecting something from the business account –and I certainly don’t hold my breath there. It really makes me angry to get those little musical chimes telling me I have new email when those both are nothing emails.

I cannot read blogs nor see what’s going on with Facebook. I can’t get to the sites with free machine embroidery designs. I am out of contact for nine days.

Don’t get me completely wrong. I enjoy the time we are there. I enjoy the people we visit with. I JUST WANT MY INTERNET!

This fancy-dancy phone was supposed to become a hotspot. And it does – HERE! That does me good only when Comcast might go down. That hasn’t happened in a loooong time. Up there – I have to travel 45 miles to town to find a hotspot. And I don’t know of one unless the Dairy Queen has one now., I don’t frequent them. They are on the outskirts of town – leading out of town. OK I know – the town doesn’t even rate a traffic light. When they got a stop sign at the intersection of two highways, they absolutely didn’t know what to do! So, if I travel all the way to town – I could stop in at DQ. Hey – I could have one of their little soft serve cones with the swirl on top. My weight could find some more partners to drive the numbers on the scale up more.

I did get that phone of all uses to work on Sunday,. We had to go to Austin for MIL’s 90th birthday. I understand she was happy about reaching that milestone, but I don’t know about the party. When you are dying (yes, she really is – she is in terribly bad shape – hospice type shape) you probably aren’t thrilled with a three hour party. Anyway, I took the computer and super phone to the party, and snuck out at some low point.

That is another tale of stupidity on my part. Surprise, right? When I started looking for hotspots, mine wasn’t there. I looked and looked. Nothing. Every time I tried the servers, nothing. After about five minutes I found the answer. I hadn’t turned on the hotspot part of my phone, and the smart neighbors with routers on their computers had them locked down tight. When I figured it out, I could make an appointment with the lab for my fasting blood work – on the wrong day. Sometimes I wonder about me..So the first thing I did when I got home was to change that appointment to Thursday.

Yes I am back in all my glory! I wonder how I make it through a day alive!

Peace be with you.

PS: HEY LOOK HERE!! This was written on something in a new to me Windows app. It said it published it on the 4 th. Didn't. Happen!! I am upset, but here it is

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