Whassup?

What unimaginably beautiful weather we are having!!  Unimaginable because last week we were inundated with snow, gray clouds and rain every day and, none of us could imagine that spring would spring so quickly.

So my Forsythia's not going to bloom this year, and many of my Daffodils are laying face down on the ground, BUT the Tulips are just coming into bud and the Lilac bushes look like they are going to do well, and----I made it through another winter!!!!!
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Doing a bit of spring house cleaning every day--doors and windows open to the fresh breeze.  Still have to turn the furnace on at night, but................the cats do love sitting in the open windows or front door and looking at their outside world through just the screen.

I am up to my grommets in genealogy.  Probably the most extensive one I have ever done.  The only thing about genealogy that is disappointing is that, we get facts and dates, but we don't often get the family stories.  

When I did the one for my family, included in each person's "facts" on Family Tree Maker, I put in a brief description of the person, i.e., their profession, a bit of their life history.  Then, when I finally finished, I uploaded my Family Tree to Ancestry.com.  That way, anyone else looking around, will find a bit more than just facts and figures.  It's also nice to have photos of the people too.

I got up to see Pearl and Merle--well it wasn't planned, Pearl called and wanted me to tell her how to get into Face Book.  "Something went wrong.  I think I've been hacked.  I got in yesterday, but can't today."

So, up there I trotted and had her try it and found out why she couldn't get in.  She was clicking on the wrong desk-top icon!?????????????!!!!!!

Don't ask.  I don't know.  It's like her memory just flips out every now and then.  She messed up her on-line bank again, by putting in the wrong password--3 times--and got locked out.  (Sigh)

Merle is doing well with Parkinson's exercise class and riding a stationary bike and then riding his own bike around the Park.  All the new ways to combat the advancing disease.

I think I have found a way to keep Darlene out of my house.  When she was here the other night, she saw two ants climbing up the wall behind me.  She got very nervous.  I took a Kleenex and got them and disposed of them, but she had a shudder.  Then she saw another one and I just ignored it.  Apparently ants bother her a lot.  They don't bother me...so I think I will put out some sugar and invite even more inside.  LOL
<maybe I could find and train a pet spider?>

John is so funny!  He and Maizey stop in here every, single night!!  Around 9:00 nowadays.  He goes on and on, about stupid people, stupid drivers, stupid laws, stupid politicians--on and on and on!  Then, when he is all done with his rant, he looks at me, smile and says, "And how was your day?"  Because I told him once how Dar irritates me because all she does is talk about herself.

I could not live an entire day with that man!  He is not mellow in the least!  Every little thing makes him upset!  I can't bear to ride with him in the car because he rants and raves about everyone else on the road!

But he did give me 2# of sliced ham.  HAH!

Okay--I gotta get to bed so I can get up tomorrow and do something useful and see if I can find my way out of the 1500's and back to the present.  It's truly amazing how surnames change down through the generations.

There Is Only ONE Truth

I posted this on Face Book Sunday morning.  I was curious to see the comments from my "friends".

"There is only one truth.
There is no your truth.
There is no my truth.
There is only one truth.
No matter how much you want YOUR truth to be true, if it is false, you are wrong.
There is and can only be one truth.
So, my philosophical, pondering peeps--why can't we see the only one truth and agree it is the truth?"

It didn't bring many comments.
  
Some thought it was a religious question.  I hadn't intended it to be.
Some just commented, "Huh?"

Now, you know the kind of thing that wanders around in my mind.  HAH!  Aren't you glad you are sane?

This can be the kind of thing that pops into my mind, after I go to bed and I am trying to find sleep.  No wonder I have a sleeping problem!
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Do we ever really know The Truth?  Perhaps only if it is verified by proof and not just based on someone's opinion?

"The sky is blue."  Is that The Truth or is it based on the way WE see the sky--through the atmospheric layers?

"From outer space, the Earth is blue."  We've seen and verified that to be Truth.  Is it really or once again, viewed "down" through atmospheric layers.

"I will vote in the Presidential election on November 8, 2016."  That's not The Truth, there are too many variables.  I might be dead by then.

"Barack Obama is the best/worst President we have ever had."  That certainly isn't The Truth, it is based on opinion.

"I have had miracles in my life, sent from God."  The Truth? or just a coincidence that some opinions attributes to God.

"Today the sun is shining."  Now, that IS The Truth, but---only for this area.  It may very well be raining in Florida or Wisconsin.

I guess, in the long run, there IS, your truth or my truth.  I'd sure like to know what The Only Truth really is--on a much deeper level.
<Arrgh.  I have a headache just thinking about all of this>

I think, I think too much!!!!
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I gave John his genealogy book tonight and he was tickled pink.

I may not surface for a couple of days because I am working on another genealogy.  You know how I get obsessed when I am deep into 1800 census reports.  LOL

Pride Goeth Before The Fall

Well, I just thought I was the Cat's Meow!!

Quite on my own, and because I am so brilliant, I switched from 5mg Melatonin at bedtime to 10mg.  I had been having trouble sleeping through the night.

Well!  For 5 nights straight...to be at midnight and awake (before the alarm) at 8:00.  WOW.  Plus, I felt so good.

So, of course, as I tend to do, I was bragging to everybody about it.  Then the Pride Karma dude got in the way, and took me down.

Last night, I took my evening pills and climbed into bed around 11:45.  The cats settled and off to sleep---they went.  Not me.

At 1:00, I got up and took a Tylenol PM, sure to do the trick.

At 2:00, I got up and took a Benedryl.

At 3:00, I finally fell asleep.  Consequently,  I didn't wake up until 10:30.

The day half shot, plus I felt like I had been dragged through a knot-hole backwards, from all the drugs.  I had so much I wanted to get done today.  Finally, the snow and rain we have been getting for the last week, was gone.  The sun was shining brightly and it was 55 degrees!!!

I did manage to get myself in gear at 2:00 this afternoon, and made it up to Wal-Mart to get a new shower curtain liner--the one I had was opaque from all the lime, got a new filter for my air cleaner, 2 jugs of Diet Pepsi and a gallon of milk.

I was practically dragging by the time I got home.

Then--to top off my day, Dar stopped in at 6:00, just as I was about to fix myself a sandwich, sit down and watch the news.  More drama about her son and grandchildren that are living there.  Drama about her work place.  Drama about her Dad.  She was in a hyper state.

I scared her outta here at 7:00 so I could finally get my supper.

John and Maizey stopped in at 8:00.  He was limping badly and in a lot of pain.  The cast he had to wear is an air cast.  You SIT down, pull it on, lace it up and then inflate three bladders, placed at three different points on the cast.

Yesterday, he STOOD up to put it on, pressed his foot down hard in it and inflated the bladders.  Because he had put all his weight in the cast, when the bladders inflated, they kept his foot clamped in there like it was in a vise.  It hurts worse now than it did when he started with the whole problem.

I asked him if he had read the instruction manual BEFORE he put on the cast.

Of course not.
<men can be such idiots>

"I read it this morning and realized what I had done," he said.

He brought me about 2# of sliced ham, so I couldn't get too disturbed with him.
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I'm hoping I sleep well tonight so that tomorrow I can get the utility area cleaned and the humidifier emptied and cleaned up and put away.

The weather man made a promise today that are done with snow and winter.  Temperature expected to increase all week and be 70 on Sunday.  

We Michiganders are hoping.  We love snow and winter, but not in April!!!

Here and There

I haven't been very good about posting AND I haven't been very good about reading all your posts either.  I will try and do better--next week.

I should be done with John's genealogy tomorrow.  I found a newspaper clipping(s), that he told me about his Uncle who was killed in a fall at the paper company up in Munising, MI.  He is going to be surprised and happy because he told me that every time he gets up in that area, he goes to the Library and looks at reels and reels of microfiche, but never could find anything.  I also found out something about his great grandfather that is not very nice.

John told me that his grandma and her other siblings had been adopted.  Not true.  Yes, they were adopted, but not INTO the family, but taken away and adopted by other family members.  I found a newspaper account of the fact that his Great Grandfather deserted his wife and children.  Then his wife died and when he came back to Michigan, there was a warrant for his arrest.  Before the police could get him, he abused two of his daughters--John's grandma being one of them.  "They" took the children away and his grandma, at age 15, had to go and live in an Industrial School for Girls, until age 18. 

Her younger sibs were adopted by her mother's parents and aunts.  When the Great Grandpa got out of jail in Detroit, he went back to Calgary, Canada where he was born many years before.

I hope this isn't upsetting to John.  The sins of the grandparents do not reflect on him!!!

So strange and something I do not understand--as an only child for so long and now my only sib is my sister----Wednesday night, I handed him a paper and pen and asked him to write down his sisters and brothers and the years they were born, or if he didn't know that, how old they are now.

He could not remember all of them!!!!!  His parents had 13 children in 23 years.  Three of them died as babies--he remembered about that, but he had a hard time getting the names in birth order.

I can't imagine living with that many siblings!  How would you ever get any time with your Mother?  With an alcoholic father, absent a lot of the time and his mother having to work....................it makes me sad for this little, old guy.

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I had a strange and weird situation yesterday and today.

I am starting a new pattern test for Chris.  It is a vest, an unusual vest.  She got the yarn for it when she was here in September.

It is Knitting yarn #2 weight--very fine yarn.  What we have is a variegated Mohair yarn, but Chris wanted me to test crochet it in a solid color.

Yesterday, I went into Brighton to JoAnn's to find it. We had purchased the original yarn there.  I couldn't find any with that weight, so I asked a saleslady, who I have dealt with before and who is ALWAYS very snotty!

"We don't have any.  NO ONE uses that weight yarn anymore!"  and she walked away from me like I was some sort of idiot.  I looked around some more and DID find that weight by the same maker as the variegated yarn and in the right color.  I grabbed 6 skeins of the color.  It is expensive.  $44.46 for 6 skeins!!

I e-mailed Chris a picture and she responded back that she wanted me to do the test, not on this Mohair type of yarn, but just a regular acrylic, because while testing, if I had to rip it back, the Mohair is a pain.

I had to go back into Brighton today to get a couple of inkjet refills to print out John's book, so I stopped at Michael's to see if they had the yarn.  I took the JoAnn's yarn with me, thinking that if I could buy the non-mohair at Michael's. I'd take back the yarn to JoAnn's (the stores are next to each other).  

I looked and looked--up and down the yarn section aisles--two times.  Than I found a saleslady working in that section and asked her.  She replied,  "We don't carry that weight yarn anymore.  No one seems to use it," in a much nicer manner than the lady at JoAnn's.  Then, just to be sure, she got on her walkie-talkie and asked someone else if they still had some back in the storage room.

Nope.

Why I find this strange?  I have several skeins of #2 weight yarn in my stash.  In pink, blue and white.  I use it for the special baby afghan I make for people.

So, when I got home, I jumped on-line and....Mary Maxim's and Herrschners do not carry it either.  The only place I could find it was on the site of the brand of the yarn we got AND, it doesn't come in anything except Mohair.  

I just hope I don't run out of the yarn before the test vest is done or I am in deep doo-doo!

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I guess I am getting too old to keep up, nowadays.  It seems there is always some favorite something I want and it is no longer manufactured!

I plan on finishing up my bedroom spring clean tomorrow (she said with good intentions.)

My Life--Right Now At Least

Wednesday:
Cleaning the bedroom:
https://youtu.be/c7rsEa0cOhw

Thursday:
Doing a genealogy for John.
You know what happens when I get into a genealogy.
All other chores fade into the background and out of my mind.

Intentions

I have good intentions.  Unfortunately, that's all I have!

I have the list of what I need to do in each room, for the spring cleaning and sprucing up.
It continues to be below normal cold around here, with snow bands coming through every few hours.
I can't seem to get motivated to take down my winter drapes, wash windows and air out rooms when it is 30 degrees!!
So what have I done today?  Although I intended to start on the bedroom this morning?  I have done nothing!

I went grocery shopping yesterday, got home and hauled in the groceries and set them on the living room couch and floor, just inside the door, sat down to rest a bit and..............................all but the refrigerated stuff was still sitting in the bags, on the couch and floor today at noon!

I am in the dumpster, because of this stupid weather!!!!!!!

It Was A Day

It was a beautiful funeral for Mother Angelica.  I watched the entire Mass.  It may be a strange thing to day, but watching her TV show, every Tuesday and Saturday nights, has helped me grow in my own Protestant faith walk.

I gotta tell ya though, -----Catholics must be blessed with large bladders because just the Mass itself lasted for two hours.

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Have you ever been just sitting idly and casually without thinking, reach up and just ran your hand from your chin down over your neck?  I did that, while sitting in my chair and felt a hair--growing out of my neck.  I went searching for it with my thumb and index finger, found it, pulled it away from my neck.  That thing had to be nearly 3 inches long!!!!!

I wonder how many people have seen that disgraceful thing sticking out of my neck and why didn't anyone tell me?  I tried to yank it out, which didn't work, so I went into the shower room, got my razor and shaved that thing off.  It was as white and as bristly as could be.

Yes--the wonderfulness of growing old.  We women no longer have to shave our legs or under our arms. Which leaves us more time to tend to our mustaches, chin whiskers and neck bristles!!!!!

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6:00--Dar came over with the usual rant about the kids living with her.  She wants them gone and yet, when they came, she told her son she'd give him a year to get back on his feet.

8:00--Dar was still talking when John called to ask if he and Maziey could stop in.  He had just returned from his week up north and was taking Maizey for her evening walk.

9:00--John and Maizey left.  I fed the cats and at 9:30, finally was able to make myself some supper!