Spring Is Coming--Honest

Today's high temperature was:  48 degrees

Sunny all day

=========================

Patches of lawn are showing up where the snow has melted.

I have Daffodil noses peeking up from the earth, where the snow has melted on my garden.

I saw a Red-Winged Blackbird today and heard him sing.

I drove into town today with my car window rolled all the way out and my elbow leaning on the opening.

Spring is on her way.

================================

Determined to unhook the VCR today.  Thank goodness Melissa Geiger e-mailed me a "how to", which made me a bit braver.  However, I was shaking so hard--scared that I'd get it all apart and then nothing would work.  I couldn't tell what was what with all the wires back there, so...I just decided to unhook the VCR and "pretend" all I had was the DVR and the Cable box and TV.  

I left the cables from the VCR attached to the cable box.  I could not get the plug for the VCR up through the back of the shelf, so...I just cut the dang thing off and put it all over on the couch.  Problem solved.

The instructions and extra cables.

I read and I went step-by-step.  Then when I thought I had it right, I read the instructions again, touched each hook-up and said, "Done" and then straightened it all out, said, "Please God" and turned on the TV and... nothing worked.  

I wailed, "GOD" and He said, "You forgot...you turned off the surge protector."

I reached in back, pushed the button on the surge protector--went around and turned on the TV and...

"Thank you God!"

It all works perfectly.

Thank you Angel Melissa!!!

Have you seen this guy on TV?

Greg Feith--ex pilot and NTSB expert

He has been interviewed on FOX and NBC, giving his

opinions on the missing Malaysian plane.

Well--I have fallen quite in love with him.  Well--perhaps not love--more like lust, but...I think he is just the most handsome man I have ever seen.  AND his voice--OMG!!!  I would like one hour with him--just one.  No wait--I will need two because the first hour I would be shaking so I couldn't speak.  But, by the second hour, after listening to his voice, I would convince him that hugging me would be in his best interest.

MY GAWD--HE IS SO HUNKY!!!!!

He even has a Face Book page, but I'm afraid to ask him to Friend me.  What if he rejected me?  Best to just dream....................HE IS SO GORGEOUS!!!

CRAP!!!  I just Googled him--born August 1957--he could be my son!  No wonder he is so pretty, he is just a kid.  DAMN!!!

==============================

I got my hair cut AGAIN--it has only been 4 weeks.  It grows so fast.  Then I went shopping for groceries at Meijer.  I used to shop at Wal-Mart, but I hate that store now.  I love VG'S, but it is so expensive, so I have been shopping at middle of the road (price wise) at Meijer--for you southern gals, it is kind of like a Publix.

One again, I needed Nestles Quik for my daily breakfast and could not find it.  Not in the coffee/tea/cocoa mixes aisle.  I asked an employee and he didn't know.  Then when I got up to the cashier, I asked her and she didn't know, so...she called the manager.  

"It's on aisle eleven.  With the baking products."

"Baking products?"

So he runs off to get me some and...comes back with the sugar free kind, but...I didn't want to tell him that was the wrong kind, so I bought it and came home and mixed it in with what I had left in the container.

Baking products?  I suppose in with the Hershey's dark chocolate powder?  I have baked for over fifty years and I have seen many a recipe and I have NEVER seen a recipe call for Nestle's Quik.  It's a chocolate powder you mix in with milk.  On the front it shows the Nestles Quik Bunny drinking out of a glass with a straw.

By the time I got home, my back was killing me from running all over that dang store and I was mad about the way they do their coupons--all electronic.  Just lower the dang prices and do away with those store coupons!  Anyway--I was so mad I sent an e-mail to the Meijer Corporation customer care and told them what I thought of their lay-out.  Must have been a man's idea to put it in with baking products.  Hrumph!!

=====================

I watched the DVD "12 Years A Slave" tonight.  It was an awful movie!!  A good movie, but awful.  It has given me a nervous feeling the rest of this evening.  

I called Pammie today to make arrangements so I can take my grand daughter Elise out next week for her 10 birthday.  Pammie can find out what day she can go and clear it with Jennifer and then, Elise and I can go shopping and out to supper.  It has been almost a year and Jennifer still is not speaking to me or attending any functions that I might be at.  <sigh>

Well--let's see what tomorrow brings--the good Lord willing.

Someone Got a Bit Feisty Today

Today's high temperature was:  38 degrees

Nice and sunny all day

==============================

Our weathermen around here always show the yearly snowfall and the records we have set.  Or the record lows we have set, or how many days we have had snow on the ground (76), but---I think they should also keep track of how many sunny days we have had since January 1st.  February always gets me down a bit, but this year, we have had so many days of sun that I didn't feel a bit depressed.  February is usually a grey, drab month, with dirty snow and mud patches, but this year, we had so much snow on the ground and new coming every other day, with the sun reflecting off it--it was a rather nice, bright month.

===========================

I got up at 9:00 and looked at my "to do" list.  Laundry, dusting, vacuuming, tidying up the kitchen, unhooking my VCR.

I had the vacuum sitting in the middle of the living room,  my chair pulled out because today I was vacuuming all floors, furniture, under and behind furniture--polishing the mirror behind my chair--on and on and....in walks Darlene.  I was way in the back filling up the washer with bedding.

"Oh," she says, "Did I catch you at a bad time?"

"I was just getting the laundry started.  I was so lazy this weekend that I need to do a lot of cleaning today.  To get ready to be lazy this coming weekend." 

"I need a favor," she says.

What's that?"

"I need you to get on-line and order one of those magnetic chair pads for me.  My back is hurting again."

I came into the study and told her to sit down in my chair in front of the computer.

"Why am I sitting in your chair?"

"I thought you wanted me to show you how to order on-line."

"Oh Honey, no.  I want you to order it and I will pay you."

<say what?>

"Why can't  you order it?"

"Well...I know you order stuff all the time on-line and...well, I don't want my information anywhere on line."

<okay--this is not happening>

"You want me to order something that you need and...charge it on my credit card and then you will pay me back.  Right?"

"Yes.  Exactly!"

"I'm not going to do that.  I am not using my credit cards anymore.  I don't want any more charges on my cards."

"But--I will pay you back."

Yeah...I know, but...I don't want to charge anything."

"Okay--then use your debit card and I will pay you back."

"No way!  I don't ever use my debit card on line.  I do not want my debit card, which is linked to my checking account information, on line either!"

"Oh."

"You don't want your information out there and...neither do I."

"Oh...okay."

"I can show you how and then you can go home and use your computer to do it."

"Nah--I'll get Sheila to do it for me.  She'll do anything for me that I ask for."

<okay>

She leaves pretty quickly after that.

OF ALL THE NERVE!!!

============================

So I seethed as I vacuumed every room and the chair and couch and behind the chair and couch and my mattress and made my bed and fumed as I ate lunch and then...calmed down as I scrubbed the washer and dryer.  

Then I called and made a hair cut appointment for tomorrow and started making a grocery list.  

Of course, the minute I got everything cleaned up and vacuumed everything, put the vacuum away and when it got quiet around here, the creator of all of the cat hair I just vacuumed up,  decided it was time to deposit a fresh coating of hair on the rocker cushion and take a nap in the sun.  

  .  

Lost Weekend

Today's high temperature was: 27 degrees

Sunny all day

===============================

Have you heard of that old movie, "Lost Weekend"?  Ray Milland--I think.  It's about an alcoholic and a weekend binge.

I did not have that kind of weekend.  I don't drink any kind of alcohol--never have --not even wine.  My weekend was lost in front of the TV.  I spent nearly every day--most of the day--watching the basketball tournaments--especially, the Big Ten Tournament.  

The University of Michigan won the Big Ten league.  They played us twice this year and we lost both times.  However, most of our best players were hurt and unable to play in both those games.  We actually came out of the season with a better record of wins/loses than they did.  

As the weekend progressed,  U of M won all their games.  MSU won all their games and today, for the first time ever, the Championship game was between two schools from the same State.  I knew it was going to be a good one for sure.

I knew all along we would win.  When all the players on my team are healthy, you cannot touch us.  It wasn't even a close game, so now--all my U of M friends who have been bragging about how they beat us this year, are strangely quiet tonight--as we won the Big Ten Championship and they did not.  YAY!!

That number 14, Gary Harris, is my favorite player.

I picked him out of the crowd last year when he was

a freshman and said, "He is going to be a great player."

and he is.

My guy with his coach.  Look at Coach Izzo's face--

think he is about ready to cry?

What makes this win so great, to me anyway, is that the first game we play in the NCAA March Madness, is played in Spokane, WA.  Our old coach, Jud Heathcote, (who Coach Izzo learned under) lives in that area, so...he will be able to attend the game in person.  Cool beans--right?

============================

I did make it to church again this Sunday--although I woke up with a stiff neck and a headache.  When I got home, I stopped at Pearl's to give them the bulletin and Pearl says, "Went to church again did ya."

"Yes, I did."

"Did you pray for us?"

"Well, during the silent prayer, I did ask God to bless all my friends, so I suppose you were in that group."

"Did you give anything up for Lent?"

"Yeah--I gave up sleeping in and staying home on Sunday mornings."

===============================

Then Dar came over and had to tell me all about her new recliner and how wonderful it is and how she and "two of my friends" went to the "Cinema" and out to supper last night.

"I just don't see how you can stay in this house all the time.  Don't you get stir crazy?"

"No..not really."

"Well, I'm a very social person and I just have to get out with friends.  I need people!"

<la dee dah>

"Oh...I'm very comfortable just with myself." I said.  "I don't need to be on the go all the time.  I actually enjoy being alone here--peace and quiet, or watching TV and cross stitching.  I just don't mind being alone.  Maybe it's because I was an only child who grew up on a farm, with no kid neighbor's nearby.  I had to learn to play by myself and use my imagination."

"I want you to come over and see my chair.  You need one and I think you'd like one just like mine.  It has heated massage."

"I don't really need that and I told you...I can't afford a new chair.  But...I will come over and look at yours---tomorrow. Okay?"

So--off she went.  Now I gotta figure out when I can walk over there for a half hour tomorrow.  I've got a lot to do tomorrow too!!!  RATZ!!

========================

Saturday was the 44 year anniversary of my Mother's death.  Beware The Ides of March--use to be one of her funny sayings--she'd say it in a deep, fearful voice.  She was so young--three months shy of her 54th birthday.  Her death completely broke our family.  My sister and I sometimes try and figure out how our family would have been if our Mother had lived.  My sister was a Senior in school--two weeks shy of her 18th birthday.  She married quickly to get away from my Dad and her marriage was not good.  My oldest--my son Mark, went completely over the edge.  He was a straight A student in his Freshman year in high school and the next report card, after his Grandma's death, he was getting C's and D's  and, he refused to ever go to church again--at one time he wanted to be a minister.  I probably would not have had my 4th child.  My Daddy wouldn't have married the next door neighbor--and we certainly would have not been left out of our intended inheritance.  

Her death is made even more difficult because we never knew WHY she died.  She had been ill off and on for a year with a low blood count.  She had to have a transfusion every three months, but most of the time, she felt well.  

They ran every test known to man (then) kidney and liver biopsies, bone marrow puncture, spinal tap--and in those days, they didn't sedate you for any of those things.  The doctor's here, sent her to Henry Ford Hospital and a special blood doctor--he could find nothing wrong with her.  She and my Dad were going on a trip to Florida--for the first time in their lives.  He had the camper backed up to the back door and they had been loading it.  She and I had been shopping for new clothes for her to take.  After they transferred her, my Daddy sat by her bed for three straight days and never left that chair.  He'd put his head on her pillow and they laid face to face, whispering to each other.  I was there the last twenty-four hours.  She was conscious until the last second and it was a very hard death.  I will never get that picture out of my mind!

Even an autopsy after her death, showed no reason for her death.  It just was not fair!!!  Only the good die young, I guess.

Today would have been my parent's 76th anniversary and, although they probably would have both been gone by now--still we wonder.  They had a wonderful marriage--a fun filled, smoochy, teasing marriage.  It rained the day of their wedding, and after the reception, my Daddy didn't want her to get her pretty wedding shoes wet, so he swooped her up and carried her out to the car.  He had called ahead and persuaded the park service to open the gate and let them into the Muskegon State Park--as it was March and not opened--and they spent their honeymoon there in a trailer her father had built.  When they got back, they had to live with his parent's until the farm up the road--the house was ready to move into.  They stayed with his parent's until late August.  I was conceived in mid September.  There was no running water or inside plumbing in the house and only a kitchen wood stove to keep most of it warm.  We didn't get an inside bathroom until I was seven.  

By the time my sister was born, 13 years after me, they had remodeled the house and had hot water heat and carpeting and all that.  I grew up with my parents.  They were already established when Susan was born.  We often talk about how they were and have discovered, we grew up with different parent's--even though they were the same people.  BUT--I got 30 years with my Mother, and Susan only got 17 1/2.

Life-sometimes it can be very hard!!  

Spring?

Today's high temperature was: 52 degrees

Sunny and nice all day

=============================

I don't have much to say (unusual as that may be.)

Nice and warm feeling today and...I can see grass in one area of the lawn!!!!!

I watched more basketball, which means I cross stitched.  I worked on the forms DHS sent me--trying to gather the "proofs" to prove I am not lying.  I know/see some people that get so much assistance from DHS.  They once gave Dar two thousand dollars to buy a car--she used it to pay off a credit card and they NEVER asked to see proof in the form of a car title.  If I tried something like that, I'd be in jail for Welfare Fraud.  Don't even get me started on the "people" who live in Detroit the big cities, have many kids with different father's and entire families have lived on Welfare for generations!!!

With me, they want to know if I have life insurance and what is the face value of that policy if I cashed it in--$50.54. 

 They want to know what happened to the $130.00 a month payment I use to get from GM.  I told her I hadn't received any payments from them for two years, but...I gotta have proof.  GM has since turned its retirement benefits program over to Fidelity, so finding that proof took me a couple of hours--but I found it on-line, found my account and payment history and printed out the pages that show the amount I got each month for 7 years and also a statement that I am no longer receiving any benefits.

I asked why they couldn't see that I was getting no direct deposit in my checking account statement, which I also have to send to them.  She said, "You may have stopped direct deposits and just continued to get checks from them that you cashed so it wouldn't show up in your checking account." That really made me feel warm and fuzzy.  BTW--the case worker was very curt and a bit snippy.  Obviously she doesn't know that GM sends retirement bennies ONLY by direct deposit. 

I had to get an affidavit from the park office that shows how long I have lived here (11 years tomorrow) and how much I pay in rent every month ($357.00).  I also had to print out the trailer title, my birth certificate, the title to my 1998 car AND they want to know how much cash I have in the house.  I think I have around $6.50 in my bottle return jug.

Then I had to sign a waiver to give them my first born if they found my information was not correct.

All  I asked for was food assistance.  I didn't request them to pay my Chiropractor bill of $117.50, nor the $30.00 a month I send to the dentist.  They won't help with house insurance, although I had to prove I have it.  Nor heat and lights, although I have to send in the last bill.  

I guess it all has to do with how much they give me in food allowance?

The cut-off on income is $2K, a month, so I qualify for that anyway!!

It actually would just be easier to die and my kids could sell this place, get my $10K life insurance and I wouldn't have to worry anymore.  

This has been very stressful for me--we shall see if it is even worth it!  I do not like dealing with government agencies!

Many Photos--Few Words

The high temperature today was:  28 degrees

Sunny all day

===============================

10:00 a.m.

12:00 p.m.

 Big Ten Men's Basketball Tournament

Days Of Our Lives

2:00 p.m.

3:00 p.m.

Pulse rate better

6:00 p.m.

9:00 p.m.

Girl cat once again will not eat supper with boy cat!

Dar did not come over today

11 hours of Big Ten Basketball

A GOOD DAY!!!

Panic Reigns Again

Today's high temperature was:  22 degrees

8 inches of snow

Sunny in the afternoon

-2 tonight

============================

I went to bed a bit late last night.  I knew there was a big snow coming and I decided to sleep in this morning.

8:00 a.m.--phone by my bed rings.

"Harow...mmph.  Hello?"

"OH MY GOD!!!  WE ARE HAVING A BLIZZARD.  THERE'S OVER A FOOT OF SNOW OUT THERE.  WHAT IS DAN'S NUMBER?"

"Just a minute.  I gotta get up and go find it.  (voice cracks.) "

"Were you still sleeping?"

"Yeah," I say as I trot to the study.  "I thought I gave you Dan's number."

"You did, but....I CAN'T REMEMBER WHERE I PUT IT! JACKIE NEEDS IT TOO."

"Jackie has it.  I gave it to her."

"OH..she does?  I should have called her instead."

<sigh>

I peeked out the window, then opened my desk drawer, where I keep all my numbers, (on a sheet of paper stock in alphabetical order) and gave her Dan's number.

"Okay.  I'm calling him because....I HAVE TO BE AT WORK AT NOON!!"

I can see why this poor woman has high blood pressure and a rapid heart rate.  GEEZ!!

I went back into the bathroom, yawned, stretched, fed the cats, made my warm cocoa, grabbed my pill box and came back into the study.

Hm-mm

Not quite a foot of snow, but probably 8 inches

     yesterday

                                                     This morning

Dan showed up at Dar's house around 10:00.  The snow was blowing back into the drive as quickly as he shoveled it out.  Then, he went over to Jackie's and did her drive.  Then he came over here around noon and I told him to shovel out other people that were in a panic and come back and do mine later, after the snow quit.

He says to me, "You know that lady down there...Debbie?"

"You mean Darlene?"

"Yeah.  She's nuts!  She acts wired doesn't she?"

"A yup."

"She wants me to get out here the minute she calls and today...when I went up to get paid, she told me she didn't have any cash!"

"Oh.  Gosh.  Don't worry, I'll pay you and then I'll get the money back from Darlene.  Okay?"

Dan walked down the drive and got in his car.  I watched as Dar backed out of her drive and managed to get stuck--she cramped the wheel too much to the right and backed into a big drift on the side of her drive--just as Dan was driving by.  He jumped out, got her unstuck and all was quiet.

I left my gas stove burners to soak over night in a sealed plastic bag of Ammonia and I took them out and put them to soak in the kitchen sink with really hot water and Dawn.  It's weird that I did not ever know that Ammonia will practically dissolve all the grease on stuff.  WHAT A SMELL!!  They sure turned out nice and clean though.

Got some lunch and just as I sat down to eat, the phone rang and my friend from Saginaw called.  "How are you coping with the blizzard down your way?"

I told her we weren't having a blizzard, just a lot of snow and wind gusts--a white out at times, but--no big deal.

I managed to eat my lunch and started to watch my Soap and the phone rang again.  It was Pearl.

"I AM DAMN SICK OF THIS!!!  MERLE SAYS WE HAVE EIGHT INCHES OF SNOW OUT THERE.  WE WERE ONLY SUPPOSE TO HAVE SIX.  OH..you're watching your show aren't you?  Bye."

Dan showed up at 2:00 and cleaned everything up and then...the sun came out, nice and bright.  

Another crisis passed.  Panic averted.  Life goes on.

I have a confession to make.  I do not know how to unhook my VCR and still have the DVD and Cable box work.  I unplugged the VCR--who needs a VCR nowadays!  I took the cables off where it connected to the TV and the DVD and then, neither would work.  I was frustrated by then, so I hooked it back up.  I guess I am going to have to go searching for a TV guy to come out and do it for me.  That ticks me off!  I know how to unhook and hook up my computer, modem, router, but I am not that good with other electronic things, ...........and I don't feel like learning now.  So.................

Let's see what tomorrow brings--Eh?

No Comment

I live where the green star is placed.

Just thought I'd let you know.

Embarrassing news--but then, I report everything on this blog, don't I.

I spent most of Saturday morning on-line, signing up for Food Assistance and Health Assistance with DHS--Michigan Department of Human Services.  I am human.  I need services.

When I got home from the Chiropractor yesterday, there was a message on my phone--from DHS.  I called this morning and left a message for the Social Worker--telling her that I would be home all day so she could call back.

I'm scared of what she might say, but more than scared, I'm deeply embarrassed.  I am also proud and do not ever ask for help--no matter what.

My family history is one of helping others.  When I was a kid, we had hired men working on our farm for my Daddy.  They usually would arrive--walking up the drive with a "work for shelter and food?" request.  We had an old trailer parked out by the tool shed that they stayed in.  Sometimes these men would stay for a week, sometimes for a couple of months.  One guy that I really liked, Mike, stayed for two years.

We had a poor family the lived nearby and over the years, all six of the girls lived and worked for my grandmother.  My grandmother even gave the youngest girl her wedding and when Grandma died, there was a thousand dollar savings account left to the girl, whose parents had died by then.

My Mother donated many things to the church and school--always anonymously.  The tall pine trees all around our church, were donated by her when I was five.  When the church added on, she donated money.  No one knew until her funeral, when the minister told everyone about it.  Every Christmas, she'd ask her friend a first grade teacher, to pick a needy family and then Mother would sew red velvet dresses for the girls and red vests for the boys and make up a package of new underwear, sox, shoes, etc.  Then Mother would go to the school's Christmas program and smile as she saw the kids dressed in their finery.

I have, at times, helped others.  Given money, opened my home.  Had friends of my kids come and live with us for a time if they were having problems at home.

So, for me to ask for help is very embarrassing.  To ask for help from the Welfare people?  It just isn't right!!!

The case worker did call this afternoon with a few questions and then said, she was sending forms for me to fill out and sign, along with a list of proofs I need to mail back.  Things like how much rent I pay, gas, electric, insurance premiums, etc.
===========================
I am really sick of talking about my financial woes on here and I am going to try really hard not to speak of them ever again.  Yes--I have them.  Yes--I probably will for the rest of my life.  Yes--it's not all my fault.  A lot of it is however,  I have made mistakes.  I also got screwed out of my inheritance, but.................

that is all in the past and I don't want to talk about it and have it continually on my mind.

===============================

Dar called this morning with a bit of good news.  The owner of this park has hired a management company to take over.  When I moved in here, 11 years ago, there was a very strict set of rules.  As the years have past, the rules have become relaxed to the point of some lots looking like trash heaps.  Some lots still contain old mobile homes that are empty.  Those will be removed.  Only manufactured homes, with "real" peaked shingled roofs and vinyl siding will be allowed to move in.  Street lights will be fixed.  Lawn maintenance will be done by the home owners or the park will do it and charge the home owner.  No dogs over 25# allowed!!  No cats allowed to roam outside!!  So, those of us who have lived by the old rules, will be happy and those people who have not, will be mad.  I'm all for it!!!

Dar also asked if I would call the Meijer phone number on the bottom of my receipt and give them a compliment about her.  "They eat that stuff up!"

I told her, "I never call a company with a compliment UNLESS I have had extraordinary service.  Like a very helpful clerk or a great, exceptional waitress."

I think she was mad because he hung up the phone pretty soon after that.

<oh my>
=====================
Pearl walked down.  The park maintenance guy was working on the icy ruts and finally got the street cleared.  You have seen pictures of my street--it is the only one in the park that hasn't been cleared--until today.  I called the office and his cell phone and left a Thank You message.

So Pearl came in and sat on the couch and not too long and Buddy was on one side of her and Maggie on the other.  They love Pearl.  When Dar walks in, they run and hide.

We had a great chat for about an hour.  The little storage unit they got on Sunday, just isn't working out in her small bedroom.  She is bound and determined to get a twin bed put in there.  This little room is about 8 x 9.  She has a desk in there, a sewing machine cabinet and lots of stuff.  She is in the process of cleaning out the closet to put in shelves so she can put her "stuff" in the closet.

She said, "I have four plastic storage boxes.  One with fabric scraps, one with trimmings, one with yarn and one with thread.  I don't make any crafts anymore, except my painting.  I don't need any of those things, but for some reason...I just can't give them away. "

"But, you need the space.  You have to keep your painting supplies, your blank canvases and all that.  If you get rid of the stuff you don't  use, you will have room to put them in the closet and make space for a bed."

"I know, but...what if I decide to make one of those Aunt Jemima dolls?  I will need the fabric scraps and trimmings."

"Store them in your storage unit.  They will be okay in the plastic boxes and close if you need them."

"I never thought of that!"

"So--why do you want to buy a twin bed for that room?"

"Because, I want to sleep in there.  I will wait until after Merle goes to sleep and then when he starts snoring and having those nightmares of his, I will get up and go into MY room and sleep."

"That would work."

"I told Merle, because he doesn't want to spend the money on a bed.  I wanted a sleeper couch, but he nixed that quick."

"So what did he say to this idea?"

"He got mad and said, 'well, I guess the marriage is over!' "

<oh my>
====================

With our last two days of 45 and 50 degrees, I can now see my back porch and the street out in front.

I wonder what it will look like by tomorrow afternoon!  
I really don't care--I have no where to go and lots of time to go there  :-)