Fun Day

Today's high temperature was: 45 degrees

Sunny and felt like spring

Winter returns tomorrow

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Winter Weather Advisory In Effect From 10 A.M. To 4 P.M. EST Thursday The National Weather Service In Detroit/Pontiac Has Issued A Winter Weather Advisory For Freezing Rain With A Chance Of Snow... Which Is In Effect From 10 A.M. To 4 P.M. EST Thursday. Hazardous Weather...

A Mix Of Freezing Rain And Snow Is Expected To Begin By 10 Am.

Snow Accumulation Will Be An Inch Or Less But About A Tenth Inch Of Icing Is Expected Before Changing Over To All Rain During Mid Afternoon. Impacts...

Mixed Snow Accumulation And Icing Will Lead To Slippery Conditions On Untreated Surfaces. Precautionary/Preparedness Actions...

AND the Polar Vortex comes back next week.   Fun Times!!

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I got up around 9:00 this morning, fed the cats, got my hot cocoa and walked into this room.  Sun was flooding through the sparkling clean windows, warming the room.  I pulled down my new white blinds and turned on the computer.  I looked around and just sighed--I love this room!!

I "thought" I was going to the Gal Pals luncheon tomorrow, so I scheduled a hair cut for this afternoon.  My hair grows so fast--it has only been a month and yet it was long in back and on top.  Unfortunately, the only appointment time I could get was 1:45--which interfered with the watching of my Soap--oh, woe is me.

I left at twenty after one, stopped at The Salvation Army to drop off the three boxes of books and "stuff", then stopped at the post office to mail a return and then onto the beauty parlor (as we called it in the olden days.)  They had their front door open.  Now, it was only 45 degrees today--people were acting like it was summer!  In the summer, if it were 45 degrees, we'd have our houses closed up and the furnace running, but for some reason, today felt like a day to open windows and doors.

Wow--this gal is getting old!

Got my hairs cut and decided to stop at the Meijer store on the way home.  I had to get another package of the Command Stick On hooks and Diet Pepsi was on sale--10 for $10.00 with the 11th one free.  I got some Murphy's Oil Soap and another can of Pledge, and some Koegel Vienna's to put inside crescent rolls.

I knew that Dar was working so I found her cashier line and waited.  I kept my back turned in case she looked up from her other customers.  When everyone was done, I had my 11 bottles of Pepsi lined up first.  I saw her look down at them and then up at me.

"I'd like my Pepsi double bagged, please."

She started laughing.  "When I saw that Pepsi, I should have known!"

We didn't chat too much--I was afraid I might get her in trouble or make a mistake checking me out.  She is pretty slow and instead of placing items in the plastic bags, she drops them in with a loud CLUNK, but I have to give her credit.  She's 72 years old and standing on her feet 8 hours a day sure isn't easy--I couldn't do it!

As I came out of the store, I was pushing my cart toward my car.  I saw a youngish woman walking toward me, intent on her phone--texting away.  She was totally clueless to anything that was going on around her.  I noticed she was walking sort of on a diagonal--directly at me.  I pushed my cart over as close as I could get to the line of cars and she kept walking.  I could see what was going to happen so I stopped pushing my cart and BLAM, she walked right into the nose of my cart.

She looked up and gave me a dirty look, like I had intentionally ran into her and I said, "Good thing I'm not a car."  She gave me another dirty look and walked on, rubbing her left thigh where she had rammed into my cart.  I watched as she crossed the drive to the store's entrance and she didn't even look up.  Apparently she assumed any oncoming traffic would stop at the stop sign area.  She walked up to the entrance and at first walked up to the exit side, and when that door wouldn't open, over to the entrance--never taking her eyes off her phone.

I must be totally out of date--old--whatever, but it seems to me, as the years pass, people just get more and more stupid!  I did have to laugh when I got in my car, remembering her rubbing her left thigh--apparently she learned nothing from the incident.

It was nice that Dan cleared off the driveway yesterday.  When I got home today, the sun had melted all the snow--I noticed that Dar, Jackie and Pearl's driveways were still covered.

There is a lot of slush on our streets here in the park--especially this street way in the back.  Sure, the maintenance guys have plowed, but never put on any salt.  There is ice underneath all the snow and melted on top.  Coming down the street, my car kept sliding back and forth--much fun!

I am NOT going to the Gal Pals lunch tomorrow.  With the iffy weather, I don't want to be out driving 45 minutes with freezing rain and snow expected.  So, I also won't get to visit my little sister.  Haven't been up to the farm since Christmas Eve.  They live on a gravel road which will still be snow covered and worse then the street in this park.  Then of course, the spring thaw will come and they will have a mud bog on their road.  Perhaps I will get there sometime in May?

So--I had a great day and tomorrow I will start washing down the kitchen cupboards--or not.  LOL.

Spring Cleaning In Winter--Day 4--Same Room

Today's high temperature was: 35 degrees

Beautiful sunny skies all day.

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

We only got a couple of inches of snow last night--not the 3-5 predicted.  It just freshened up the old snow, so that it looks nice and clean outside.

Continuing on with the rearrangement-----

When you walk in the front door and look to your right,

this is what you would see.

I got my printer and scanner off the corner of my desk

and put them and the modem/router/surge protector plug

on the cart.  I don't really like the looks of it, but

I now have more room on my desk.

I wanted to put it on the other side of the desk, but the cords wouldn't go that far, so.....

If you stuck your head in a bit further, you would see this. 

and a bit farther--you'd see this

This is the view to my right when I am sitting at my desk.

I do not like all those binders--they are on the far end

bookcase, so they are not visible to someone entering the house.

30 years of scrapbooks/pictures.

Every now and then, I use them to find an old picture or to

check on what went on in 1987--whatever.  I should probably

buy new binders-all the same color, and put on new spine labels.

The view of the cubby when I am sitting at my desk.

I like it.

and if I turned around in my chair--this is what I see

I wish I could have painted the walls--they need it, but I couldn't move this unit, nor the desk, so I just scrubbed the walls where I could reach.  I use this area when I am putting together my albums, or wrapping gifts, or need a larger space to work

I especially like this bulletin board with all the old pictures of my family

.

So--I am done and I really feel good in this room--very comfortable.  BTW--those Command Hooks work fantastic!!  I have dry wall that doesn't want to accept a nail, unless it has an anchor drilled in the wall first.  Just stick those Command Hooks on the wall and hang the picture.

Now--the next to attack will be the kitchen--I need to get some Murphy's Oil Soap and do every single cupboard door--and do not look forward to that chore at all!!

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I gotta tell you--Dan was here to clean off the driveway and car.  Yesterday Dar called and told me to have him come and do hers too.  (She has his phone number, but apparently, I am her secretary.)  So I told him and he said, "I just stopped there and she said it was going to thaw so she didn't need me."

"Oh.  She told me last night she did."

"She's weird!"

"Oh--really?"

"Yeah--really.  Half the time I don't know what she is talking about.  You ever talk to her very much?"

"Yeah."

"Do you think she is weird?"

"Yeah."

"Okay then."

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Everyone is having problems with ice dams on the edges of their roofs.  Dan has been shoveling the snow off roofs and putting down some calcium chloride to melt the ice.  I have a 2 year old roof that had special panels laid along the edges to prevent ice dams--so far I have no problem.  When the ice and snow melts--many people are going to find they have roof leaks--not a good thing.

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Have I ever told you about Mary--the lady who lives behind me?  Last year, I saw her trimming her 6 foot hedge with small hand shears, like you'd cut flowers with, so I took my hedge trimmers and trimmed if for her.

Mary has a heart of gold, but she is the dizziest woman I have ever met!  I think she maybe forgets names because she calls everyone "Honey".  One day, I walked between her house and mine to get to the other street and noticed big balls of dust hanging out of her dryer vent--on the outside.  So, I stopped in and told her she needed to clean that out or "you might have a dryer fire."  It was apparent she had no idea what I was talking about.  So, I came home, got my big round brush on the heavy wire and went over and reamed out her dryer vent.  Then I asked if I could check her dryer and she invited me in.  I checked the lint trap, it was full.  I pulled it out, cleaned it off and then came home, got my smaller vent brush and cleaned out her vent all the way down.  It was stuffed!  I told her she needed to clean it out "often".

"Well Honey, I never knew that.  I thought something was wrong with my dryer!  I had to run the clothes through at least two cycles to get them dry...and the dryer is only two years old!  My other one quit working!"   <I wonder why.>

Mary has a beautiful, large home--at least 1,600 square feet with three bedrooms, an en suite master bedroom, an open kitchen and huge dining room, a really nice living room.  Mary's house still looks like a model home because, she vacuums every day, she cleans very week and once a month....she pulls everything out from the wall and cleans behind and under all the furniture.

So--last week Mary came over.  She is selling her place and moving into government subsidized apartment in Brighton.  The same place I first checked out, before I moved here.

"They only charge you 30% of your income for rent.  I will only have to pay three hundred fifty dollars a month."  <She now pays $360.00 here, on a nice corner lot and large home.>

"How big is your apartment?

"It's a one bedroom, living room, kitchen with a dining nook.  It's seven hundred and fifty square feet.  The laundry is just down the hall about ten feet.  I am so excited!"

"Why are you moving?"

"To save money."  <okay--she will save $10.00 a month on rent.>

"Well, you won't have such a big place to clean anyway...that will be nice."

"Oh Honey, that's not why I am moving.  I am so afraid that all of my appliances are going to quit working.  One after another.  After all, I've lived here twelve years and if they all go at once....and the furnace and hot water heater....Honey, I just couldn't afford that."   <Who's to guarantee that the appliances that come with the apartment are not going to quit?  Maybe the landlord's have to replace them?>

She paid $60,000 for her place 12 years ago.  

She has just sold it for $17,000.

She likes the quietness of living out here--she is moving into an apartment with people above, below and on both sides of her--and they aren't all Seniors.  It is going to be noisy.

She is moving from 1,600 square feet to 750.

There must be something wrong with me, but I just don't get it!

<at least she won't have to worry about cleaning out her dryer vent!>

============================== 

I don't want to sound like a snob, but...honestly...I have never met women like this--like Dar and Mary and even Pearl.  They don't act like they have a lick of common sense.  The friends I went to school with, the women I've known, they aren't like these women.  I ponder on the differences.  We all grew up in the same State--at the same time--the same kind of lifestyle--the 40's and 50's.  The only difference I can see is that, my friends and I grew up near or in a small town--a lot of us were farm kids--I suppose we learned a lot about work and had common sense.  Dar, Pearl and Mary all grew up in the city.  They didn't have the "outside" responsibilities we farm kids had.  They didn't have to work in the fields, the cow barns--they went to bigger high schools.  Their Saturday afternoons were spent going to the movie or shopping or playing with their neighbors.  

Us farm kids Saturday afternoons were spent, mowing the lawn in the summer.  Helping bale hay, bringing in the cows, helping milk them, gathering the eggs, feeding the rabbits..  My nearest "kid" neighbor lived a mile away and we didn't play on Saturday's because he was helping out on his farm.  In the winter, we didn't go or do much--except the farm chores--they always had to be done.

I don't know--but these women are very different than I am.  They can't do anything on their own--they don't even know where to begin or how to finish.  It's a wonderment how they manage to live alone.

  

Spring Cleaning In Winter--Part 2.

11:00 Sunday morning.

Prepare!

Valances down-ready to clean windows and put up new blinds

How am I going to get to that middle window?

Can't move the desk--it weighs 8 tons

Maybe I can walk along the window sill?

Stuffed dirty paper towel into wastebasket.

Broken glass in there--time out to get bandaged up.

First blind up--an inch too short! 

Concentrate on filling shelves back up

 

 Cups and saucers from Mother and GrandMother's china

Lenox porcelain birds I collected 40 years ago 

Indian doll 70 years old, other Indian art from the Four Corners

a bowl of feathers I have collected and a pile of rocks

from my trip out west, plus a bird's nest 

Scale model of my first car, wooden duck carved by old

Japanese friend--as well as Loon 

Take down lower curtains to wash--don't like them off for

too long--don't want people driving by to see my electronics 

Time out to watch this 

Lower curtains back up

Now to tackle this side of study 

Monday-10:00 a.m.

To exchange blinds

Color cartridge for printer 

Rich People's store for cake and salad 

For some artificial flowers for jug 

 Blinds installed, clean curtains all back up, driftwood dusted!!

I found I could get to the middle window by, walking along the window ledge

and then bracing my calves against the desk.

I am so tall, my head kept bumping the driftwood, so I had to scrunch down

BUT

it is done!!!

Now--to put this room back together.  I still have too much stuff, but maybe it is organized better?

Snowing like a blizzard out there--3-5 expected.  I don't care, I have enough work inside to keep me busy.

Spring Cleaning in Winter

11:00 a,m,

Address the problem!

Too much stuff!

Haul everything into the living room. 

Ponder what to do.

What if.... move all the book cases over to the other wall?

Enlist the aid of helpers.

 Measure twice, move once.

28 heavy albums must be moved

before the book case

 

All three in place--fit well.  Dusted and ready to be filled. 

Nice empty cubby hole.

What shall l put in there? 

5:00 p.m.

Collapse in chair. There's always tomorrow.

BAH HUMBUG!!

Today's high temperature was:  27 degrees

More snow, and a bit of sun.

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From a widow's perspective on Valentine's Day--Bah Humbug.  It is a day dedicated to lovers and sweethearts and since I have neither--I don't much like the observance.  I will feel the same way in October on Sweetest Day.  

Though, I do hope you had a nice day and got flowers and candy or a nice dinner out.

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I don't have much to post about--you can all breathe a sigh of relief--I have been so wordy lately.  

I keep talking about how I am going to clean up this computer room and yet I don't do a thing about it.  I have no motivation for it and it looks like---well, it is really messy and dusty and the windows are atrocious as are the tier curtains.  I would show you pictures of how it looks, but it would be a huge embarrassment to me--the normally tidy, organized woman.

Today, I feel in grief.  Ralph Waite died yesterday and it saddens me.  He was the Dad on the Walton's and my kids grew up with that show.  All of us learned lessons from watching that program--we could identify with the grandfather (much like my father-in-law), and all the chores that had to be done.  I grew up in the forties and fifties, so it reminded me of my childhood, except--I wish my Daddy had been like Daddy Walton.  For the last five years, Ralph Waite played the role of a priest on the Soap I watch, Days Of Our Lives.  He hasn't been on for the last couple of weeks and I wondered about him.  Can you believe that yesterday morning, I Googled his name and there was the notice he had died.  He once was a Presbyterian minister and later, an alcoholic.  When he was on the Walton's, he was an active alcoholic--you'd never know would you?  I watch the Walton's every afternoon at 4:00 on the INSP channel and today, it just made me sadder.

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

I called Comcast today and got a lower rate.  I had it lowered last February via a promotion, for a year, so of course, it went up this month.  So I called and talked to a really nice young ENGLISH speaking man--no promotions, so I went back to the Starter package--which has all the channels I want anyway, plus he threw in a couple more sports channels.  Cool!!

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Pearl came down today--she has a sort of Harry Potter scar on her forehead.  I told her how stunning I thought it made her look!  She refuses to go out anywhere until it heals.  So, of course, I had to tell her, "That scar will never heal girl.  You are going to be walking around looking like Harry Potter's mother for the rest of your life!"    

I wasn't being mean--we joke back and forth like that.

She threw a couple of cuss words my way and then we got to talking about the PCH Million a year for life contest that we both are in.  She sends in the mailers and I do all of my confirmations on the Internet.  The problem is that Pearl swears you have to buy the products they offer in order to have a chance.  I do not believe that because it states right on their credentials that buying a product will not give you a better chance AND a few years ago, a class action suit was brought against them for just that reason.

Pearl has now spent well over $200.00 on products!  One each time she gets the mailers in the mail.  She KNOWS she is going to win--she absolutely believes it with all her heart.  Pearl definitely has a problem with buying stuff--usually junk.  She shops at the Salvation Army store up the road, every week and she always buys something.  She is a sucker for the things sold on TV--she has recently purchased an ice cream maker (that only worked correctly once and now sits in her storage unit.)  She purchased those Ready, Set, Go Express thingies that you can cook stuff in--already she says it is too complicated to get all the stuff to cook in them. 

She now is intent on getting a queen size sleeper sofa for the living so, "I can sleep out there.  Merle drives me crazy with his snoring!"  So, this woman with a bad back, knees, and Neuropathy in her feet is going to pull that out every night after Merle is asleep (because he won't go to bed without her), and then put it all back in place in the morning?  No doubt she will get it.  She says, "It will be nice to have for people that visit overnight."

I said, "When was the last time anyone visited that stayed overnight?"

"Never...so far.  But, just in case."

She drives Merle crazy.  They are suppose to be saving money to buy a newer car--theirs is 16 years old and falling apart!  He has spoken to me about it and I told him that most likely Pearl was lacking something in her younger life and "things" make her feel better.  She did grow up very poor, living with her grandparents because her mother walked away when Pearl was six years old.

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Tonight, there was a story on the local news and I called Pearl to watch it.  A woman near Detroit got a phone call from someone who said they were from PCH and that had won a million dollars and a Mercedes.  She was told she had to pay the tax on the car and they needed $1,500 for that.  So he paid them.  Then they called back and needed a bit more money for the car--which had been loaded on a flat bed truck and was near Detroit.  Her husband wouldn't let her send any more money.  Thank goodness.

She called the police and the TV station and also PCH who informed her that they never notify anyone that they have won, nor do they ever request you BUY anything or send money.  They just arrive at your door and surprise you.

Knowing Pearl the way I do, she would have paid and kept paying!!!!!  When I called her after the piece had run on TV, she said, "Well, you have to pay the tax on the million."

I said, "They will take it out of the million and send to the IRS and you will get around $600,000."

"I want to pay my own tax next year on it."

"You won't enough left to pay the income tax.  You will forget and spend all the million and have no money left."

"Well--that's true," she said.

Lordy!!!

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

Now--I have a Dar story!!  I was going to order some Golden Fruit Blend frozen fruit from the Schwan's man.  I love it.  He only stops here if I order something on line.  Tonight, I heard his noisy truck stop at Dar's and about a half hour later, he stopped here.  I went to the door and he handed me a bay of fruit.

"This is from Darlene.  She says, Happy Valentine's Day!"

WOW!!!

I truly am a shallow, critical, gossipy, old woman! Forgive me Lord.

Flummoxed!!!

Today's high temperature was: 27 degrees!!

Sunny and bright--once again--YAY

After a couple of inches of snow tomorrow,

it might get in the 40's next week!

We are a strange breed when we get all excited 

that our temperatures

may "warm" up to freezing, LOL.

Break out the shorts and flip flops!

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OHMYGOSH--I have so much to write about today--I hope you will bear with me.

I truly am FLUMMOXED (I love that word) about the response I have received from you, my friends!!

This morning when I woke up, I ran (not really) to my computer and found Dianne had visited from Bellingham, WA!!! AND she is sister to Cari, who visited yesterday from Sun City, AZ.  I have never been able to travel to Washington--and I do so love the North West.

Than, Joan--AKA A.J. dropped in.  She is from Kingston, Ontario AND I have been there :-) and she has been visiting my blog for a really long time, but this is the very first time she has ever left a comment on any blog!!!  I am so grateful, Joan, that you did this for me!!!

Julie dropped in all the way from Woods Hole, MA--that's out on Cape Cod--where I have also traveled to--a long time ago.  Hope you are weathering the bad weather, Julie!

I still have some shy visitor's out there and wondering who they are.  PLEASE tell me?
Portland, OR
Junction City, KS
Plain View, TX
Anaheim, CA
Kenosha, WI

C'mon--please?
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You know how I can get obsessed about things?  Yesterday, as comments were coming in, I made an Excel spread sheet of every one's name and where they are from--sorted it alphabetically and have it printed out so everyday, if I forget, I can look on my side-bar, where every one's town is listed, and then, even if they don't leave a comment, I can say to myself, "Oh cool!  D was here from Happy Place, USA."

I LOVE IT--I JUST LOVE IT!!!
==================================
So, yesterday afternoon, the service garage called to say my car was ready.  I called Pearl to tell her because her hubs, Merle, told me to call and he'd take me into town.  Her phone was off, as it went right to voice mail.  I called an hour later and the same thing.  Now--we all know that Pearl has a Smart Phone, but Pearl doesn't know how to use the Smart Phone--she doesn't know how to look to see if she has any messages or missed calls.  If she isn't holding the phone in her hand when it rings--you won't get through to her.  So--I decided I better walk up to her place, but when I went outside, I noticed their car was gone.

Hm-mm...I worried a bit and then I remembered, she had an appointment with the Dermatologist on Tuesday.  I walked in and there they sat--Pearl had a huge bandage in the middle of her forehead.  Come to find out--her Dermatologist sent her to U of M Cancer center to have the small basal cell cancer removed.  That small (on the outside) little spot that looked like a small scab, turned into a crater the size of a half dollar!  

"Did you have a new memory chip installed in your brain?"  I asked

"No--I wanted to have a Third Eye," she growled.

"She looks a little like Cyclops, doesn't she?" said Merle.

We chatted a bit and then Merle said he'd be down to get me at eight this morning.  Then,, we had to bargain a bit, as I went for nine, and he for eight-thirty, then Pearl chirped in and said, "How about ten?"

"Perfect!" I exclaimed.
=============================
I no more got in the door at home and Dar walked in.

"I was up in Frankenmuth the other day and I bought a whole bunch of sweet goods from the store.  I am suppose to be on a diet, so I brought you this brownie to say "thanks" for helping me with my electrical problem."  and she handed me plastic box with a HUGE brownie, with chocolate icing, inside.

"Thanks," I said.  "I will enjoy this."

"I've gained thirty-five pounds," she said.  "I vowed I wouldn't buy any deserts when I went up there, but...I got a dozen cookies, a loaf of cinnamon bread, a piece of Pecan Pie and this brownie."

"Then when you got home you realized..................."
"Yeah."

Later, when I cut off a small slice of the brownie, it was really kind of dried out and hard.  So, I just threw it into the microwave and put on the timed defrost for 10 seconds, it came out nice and soft and warm and delish!!!
===================================
This morning, I walked down to Merle and Pearl's (aren't their names cute together?), at 9:45 and we took off.  Pearl was in a lot of pain!  They had told her to remove the bandage this morning--I requested she wait until after I was gone--please.  They also told her to take Tylenol for the pain---she, like me, does not have good results with Tylenol.  It just doesn't do a thing for pain for either of us and upsets our stomachs.  I told her to take an Advil.  

When I picked-up my car, the bill was seven dollars less then the estimate--YAY.  My car sounded so nice and quiet.  I pulled out and thought, "Hm-mm, my windshield washers have been frozen all winter.  I wonder--the car being inside all night--maybe."  So I pushed the button and lovely water sprayed out and I turned on my wipers and they cleaned off my windshield so nice and then---SPRONG--my right wiper flew off!

I got to laughing so hard I could barely drive, because you know?  That's just the way life is--one thing after another.  I drove around the block and pulled back into the service garage, walked in and Rick said, "Did the exhaust fall off already?"

"Nope--it's great.  Ah...do you sell and install windshield wipers?"  Told him what had happened and he had a guy go right out to fix it.

Rick says, "We'll just blame Jim for breaking your wipers."

"That works for me," I said. "Although, he worked on the exhaust system and I don't really think he came anywhere near the windshield, but............."

Pretty soon, Jim is back in and explains, "Those wipers don't even fit that windshield."

Me: "Oh really.  Well, "you know who", put them on three years ago.  They have always scratched the windshield and never quite wiped like they should have."

Jim:  "Three years?  It's a miracle they've stayed on that long.

Rick:  "Well, now in Fred's defense--they are hard to get on and off and..........."

"Me:  "Yeah, yeah.  Can I get a new PAIR?"

And thirty minutes I was on my way--eighteen bucks and NO labor charge.  I now have the cleanest windshield in the county as I kept putting on the washers to try them out--the new wipers actually work great and are so quiet!!!

As I left, I told Rick, "Well, if the back bumper doesn't fall off, I promise I won't be back for awhile."
======================================

Once again, I no more get in the door and Dar comes in behind me.

"How did you like the brownie?"

"It is really good.  I haven't eaten it all--just a little bit each day."

She tilts the rocking chair to dump Buddy out onto the floor and sits down

"Are you off work today?" I ask.

"Yes--thank God!  I had Tuesday and today off.  Don't have to work until eleven o'clock Thursday."

"Ah-hh...Dar...today IS Thursday..and...it's noon."

"WHAT," she screams.  Grabs her coat and flies out the door.

A few minutes later, I see her spinning her tires trying to get out of her driveway.  Poor woman!  Perhaps I should make her some of my "day reminder" cards to hang on her bedroom closet door?

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

I have been having a problem with my little girl cat, Maggie.  In the morning, I give each of them a tablespoon of wet foot.  At nine at night, I do the same.  They eat it over on the rug where their dry food and water is.  All of a sudden, Maggie refuses to eat her night time wet food next to Buddy.  She will in the morning, but at night, she just sits over under the kitchen table and not go near it.  I am now having to put her dish over by the table.  Persnickety female!!!She is such a brat!!!

Are you all enjoying the Olympics?  I feel bad for the snow boarders and skiers--it is so warm the snow is mushy, BUT, all the athletes have to compete with the same conditions...so--no crying about not winning a medal!!  

The figure skating pairs--ohmygosh.  How could you ever trust some man enough to allow him to throw you six feet in the air?  I remember when my kids were little and we watched...my son used to sit there and say under his breath, "Drop her!  Drop her!"  His sister's punched him and he'd giggle.  One time Pammie asked, "When he throws her in the air and then catches her...ah...what would happen if she was gassy and you know.....right up by his face?"  I told her that the guy would just skate on like nothing happened.  Oh--it was so much fun to hear their wonderings and mumblings.  Now when I watch--I think back. LOL

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Ann from Illinois--thank you for telling me about your husband's illness.  I'm sorry you had to go through that.  It is no fun having to make trips to the hospital all the time--trying to be there for them and sometimes they are sleeping or don't even know you are there.  I have always been really grateful that Fred went so suddenly.  It is a shock to everyone involved, including the nurses and doctor's--family especially, but it is so much easier for the one who dies.  I too went to the different widow's blogs that first year.  Widows Speak Out was the one I read every day, but then...after awhile when I read of widows that were still in active grieving after five, six, seven years--I wondered if perhaps I should quit reading and try and move on.  I found that reading that every day, kept me stuck--hearing their words kept my situation too present all the time.  Kind of like picking at a scab every day so the wound wouldn't heal?    I am so glad you are doing better because we have to....keep going onward--ever forward.

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...and so my Dear Friends--from the east coast to the west coast and every time zone in between (WOW--that just amazes me), if the good Lord gives me another day--I will see you all tomorrow.