title explained

Onward and upward! something that you say in order to encourage someone to forget an unpleasant experience or failure and to think about the future instead and move forward.

My e-mail: jjmiller6213@comcast.net

Tuesday, August 2, 2016

Life As It Is on Lakeview Lane.

Earlier this year, knowing that we were going to have a Class reunion coming up next year, I started renewing addresses, making sure I had every one's, and putting together some thoughts about the reunion.  I put it in file marked, "2017 Class Reunion" and--I forgot about it.  

Our class is really good about having reunions--5 yrs, 10-15-20-25, on and on and a really big one for our 50th.  I have been the one in charge of arranging it, getting the invites sent out, getting the reservation count, on and on.  For our 50th, I made a really nice book with a page for each classmate--with their "now" photo.  Then I made badges for everyone with their Senior picture on it for them to wear, helping us all to recognize each other.

We had a really good attendance that year, with the "kids" coming from all over the US.

At one of our classmates lunches, early this spring, two of the ladies made an announcement that our class and the class the year ahead of us were going to have a joint reunion.  The reason being, "because so many of us married each other, and we will have a bigger crowd."

At the time, my mind slipped off to count the "so many of us" who had married each other.  3 came to mind.  

Then I heard them discussing where it was going to be.  A real fancy banquet hall, that would cost a goodly amount to rent, with the food catered.  On August 27th, from 5:00 - 8:00.

Thankfully, I wasn't in charge, other than to make-up and mail our the invitations.  My mind slipped away from the conversation again to think of who would attend.  

Did they actually think that Jim was going to fly in from California for a 3 hour get together?  Was Bev going to drive up from Tennessee?  Were Larry and Mary, Sam and Joe going to fly or drive all the way up here from Florida for a 3 hour get together?

I kept my mouth shut!  "Sure--I'd love to make and mail the invitations."  I said and I would and I did.

One of the ladies called me yesterday.  "So far we have 18 from our class and 15 from theirs.  That includes spouses."

WOW!  That number alone won't even pay for the banquet hall rental, I don't think.

People our age and the other class a year ahead of us, are not going to drive from all over, even Michigan, for a 3-hour get together, that ends at 8:00 and they will be driving home in the dark.  So, we basically are having our usual Old Gal Pals get together, with husbands, if they want to come, but we are having it for supper instead of lunch.

Plus, they wanted me to make up a list of our deceased classmates, which I did and put it on card stock with a black border around it to sit on the picture table, for everyone to look at, but now---they want one of the girls to read off the names and dates.  What a lovely downer--don't you think?

Now--if it had been up to me, there is a restaurant where we sometimes meet for lunch that has a large room off to one side.  The room would easily hold 75-100 people.  I would have asked to set up part of this room for us and when we all got there, we could just have ordered off the regular menu.  Cheaper than the $25.00 it is going to cost each of us and we wouldn't have had to pay rent on that room.  

Other diners could be on the other side enjoying their meals, although most regular people wouldn't be in there at that time of day and there is another large dining area with booths,  and we on one side==kind of like a big family get together.  I would have had us meet earlier for chit-chat (4-4:30) and order around 5:30-6:00) and be off and home by 8:00.  Also this place, is more centrally located for most of us.  Because after all, it's just going to be us that see each other all the time anyway.

That's what I would have done, but---I'm keeping my mouth shut!!
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Dar came over.  I haven't seen her in a couple of days.  After three short weeks, (I thought it would take at least a month), Daddy is driving her nuts!  

So far he has insisted she clean out her shed and throw away everything not needed and put a bike out in front of her place, for sale.  The bike has sat there for two weeks, and no takers.  I told her I thought she should give it to her brother, who lives in a sub-division with kids, for him to sell for her.  After all,  this street only gets traffic from the people who live on it and we're all old and don't need a 14-speed dirt bike! (That she bought to bribe her grandson with and he never rode it.)

Daddy has to go out every morning for breakfast--she must drive him.  Then back home.  I guess they do have lunch at home, but at 1:00 every day, I see them leave because Daddy has to go to the park/millpond to walk and feed the ducks and the geese. (We have a nice lake at the end of our street where he could do that).  Then back home at 3:00--out they go again at 5:00 for supper and if they don't get a Dairy Queen then, and come back home, they leave again at around 8:30 for Daddy to get his ice cream, because, he has to have ice cream every day.

For the last two days, there has been a carpenter at her house, putting a new roof on her shed, because Daddy said it needed one.  Last Sunday, they had to go out looking for a fire pit, because Daddy wants to sit out by a fire and toast marshmallows.  I don't think Daddy realizes how many mosquitoes are back there by the woods.

Our Park does not allow fire pits, it has to be all enclosed.  So, they came home with what I thought was a grill at first, but no--it's a fire pit, but not a fire pit.
 Landmann Heatwave Outdoor Fire Pit and Cooking Grate
I don't know how they are going to toast marshmallows in it because, they can't open it or take off the lid.  I also don't know where they are going to get wood for it--buy it in bundles at the local Wal-Mart, I guess?

Now, Daddy is having the carpenter come back to rework Dar's back deck.  Daddy wants a screened in covered porch, gazebo.  I wonder if he intends to put the fire thingie inside the gazebo?
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I think I have been "stiffed" by one of my genealogy clients.  She contacted me really excited to find out about her family.  I "thought" she lived alone, perhaps divorced? and wondered if she could afford the normal cost, so I gave her a lower rate then I usually charge and put in a lot of hours I didn't book her for.  It was a very interesting genealogy--I even found a picture of a 14-15th great grand father of hers, who was over 100 years old in the photo.

I spent a good part of June working on it.  I mailed it to her the 7th of July.  I sent her an e-mail telling her I'd be mailing it out and she was thrilled.  I know she received it, as the Post Office notified me of the fact.  I hadn't asked for any money up front, like most of my clients pay me, but I enclosed her invoice.  

Nothing.

No check is in the mail, no response to the e-mails I have sent her--nothing.  

Maybe she has been sick?  Maybe a family member died and she has forgotten about the genealogy payment?

Disappointing to me.  

I don't use "contracts".  I trust people at their word.  I do a good job and everything in the genealogies that I do, has been researched, seventy-eleven times and I know it is factual.  I always have hours I have worked on it that I don't book my clients for. 

 Sometimes it's because I have an idea that perhaps what I found three days previously isn't correct, so I go "off the time clock" to go back and do more research to make sure.

I want everything in their book I can find--not just about their father's and mother's, but about ALL their ancestors.  I usually go off track and include facts about a distant Grand Mother, because a lot of times, the women's stories are much more interesting than the men's. LOL

Trying to connect it all can be difficult, especially when I suddenly leave Grandpa 14, to do some research on his wife, end up going up 10 more generations, and then have to come back to Grandpa 13 and tie it all in.

That's why I make up the pedigree charts.  So they can fold out the sheets, see their direct ancestor's at a glance and then go on into the book to read the research and any stories I have found about them.

Then another pedigree chart for the next family and on and on.

Any of you who have employed me, know how much time and effort I put into your book.  Usually it runs about 60 hours, that I charge for.  In reality, it is more like 100 hours.  The books have a nice cover and backing, bound with a metal like coil and will last for a very long time.  Usually 60+ double sided pages on special printing, heavy paper.

When I am done with the books, I pray over them.   I ask God to let this book somehow make my client happy in the knowledge of how hard their ancestor's worked to, in reality, bring them life. If they find surprises they didn't know about, I hope those surprises aren't depressing ones.  Then I wrap the book up really good, put them in a box and mail them out.  

These books are almost like my children!!  I have learned so much about the ancestor's--even cried as I recorded the names of the 10 or 13 children a family had then seeing the dates of the babies that died.  Three children, different ages, all on one day.  

Oh--the heartbreak that mother must have felt!!!

So--this instance makes me feel--not angry, it wasn't that much money owed, but I feel like I have had one of my children kidnapped!  Unappreciated!  

Taken once again for the trusting fool I have been all my life!  I just pray that she found something of interest and goodness in her book.
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I have no genealogies to work on now.  So if you know of someone, that would like their family history researched and made into a nice book, have them contact me via e-mail.  I think this time, I will require a $200.00 check or Pay Pal payment BEFORE I start the research.  If I find nothing, which would be rarer than rarer, I will send back the money.  

"Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, Deja Vu."

Monday, August 1, 2016

What A Mess! Or---

--what I did on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

I don't know if any of you have had this miserable computer experience, but...somewhere along the way I must have clicked on something wrong (Like Pearl does all the time) and ended up with a desktop that had NONE of my saved Favorites on it.  I have an Icon to click on that goes directly to my bank website, to my blog, to my patient portal, on and on.

DIS-TA-PEERED!!! (as my kids used to say.)

I had so many nasty, creepy, little spybots running in the background of my computer, like Ask, Bing, MySearch, Avg--they all wanted to be my search engine--at the same time.

So, I found a way to get rid of all of them.  Took me hours, but I did it.  Google was now my home page, as usual, but all my favorite icons were gone.

DIS--TA--PEERED!!

I could not even access this blog--my own blog--because, for security I have taken it off ALL search engines.  I did a really good of that too. LOL.

So I had to Face Book private message Chrissy to have her post my link so I could get into my own blog.  I'm here--but I don't know if I will ever find my way back again.  HAH!
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Good News--Pammie was here Saturday to pick up my recliner because the new one was set to be delivered this morning.

She and I got to talk about Mark.  Per Usual---when his pseudo-wife posted the late night Face Book status, she got it all wrong.  Well--she didn't actually get it all wrong, but she doesn't know how to convey what she wants to say in a concise manner, plus, usually that time of night, she is drunk.

 Her comment was,"he has decided no more chemo.  We want quality, fun time."

What that actually meant was:  per Pammie:  "Because Mark has been battling pneumonia and a gall bladder attack, when he went in for his 4th chemo treatment, the doctor told him, 'we aren't going to do that today.  You need to get your immune system built back up again.' "

So Mark DID have his shot and the normal infusion to keep his tumor at bay, but won't resume chemo for another month.

GEEZ LOUISE!!!

Pammie said, "Big Bro feels great!  He was out walking the other day. Wanted to know if I wanted to go fishing with him next weekend.  Momma, you gotta remember who posted that comment and just---ignore it.  Call me instead."

Sigh.
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I received my invitation to my grand daughter's  wedding.  It is going to be held in the back yard of their new home.  A Rabbi--very Liberal woman Rabbi--will do the honors.  They are going to have it under the Canopy and Mike will stomp on the glass, but when the Rabbi told Helene that it was traditional for the bride to walk around the groom 7 times, Helene replied, "Ah no.  I don't think we'll be doing that."
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This is what I have been sitting in since Saturday, when Pammie took my chair away.

My camping chair with an extra cushion and a kitchen chair to elevate my legs and feet.


Not exactly the most comfortable, but it worked.  The cats were confused as there was no place for them to lay.

Then, I decided to spray paint the construction grade brown floor registers, antique nickel to better match my carpeting.  They turned out great!!  Surprised myself that I managed to get the correct color paint for them.



Then I got a call Sunday afternoon that my new recliner would arrive at 11:45 this morning.  AND it did!!!

Oh. My. Gosh!  It is higher than my other one, so easier for me to get out of.  It has Seventy--Eleven positions to recline, including flat.  The chaise supports my calves and the foot rest locks in place, so if a heavy cat jumps up on the foot, it won't drop.  It has lumbar support.  I sat in it for an hour to watch my Soap, and my back ache was gone!!!

If anyone under 5'7" sat in it, they would feel engulfed, but for this 5'11" long legged person, it is perfecto!!!!!  It is smaller, width wise than my other one and not so "puffy" and it is sooooooo comfortable!!

It's a Lazy Boy!  I haven't been able to afford a Lazy Boy in 30 years!!!  AND, it will show every single cat hair, just like the last chair.  Who cares?  I've got a nice big lint roller. LOL


I told the delivery guys, "I'll probably see you again because the couch I ordered comes in at the end of the month."
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At 3:00, I got a call from Art Van.  My couch is in and will be delivered this Wednesday!!!  Oh. My. Gosh!!!

So--my living room will look like a living room again and I won't have to use my camp chair for extra seating.  HAH!

Friday, July 29, 2016

It Was A Good Day!I

I decided that I needed a treat!  My new refrigerator has been empty since it was installed the first of the month.  Except for Diet Pepsi, water, milk and cat food.  I've been eating out of the cupboards.  Soup and corn and green beans and pork and beans.

This morning, I got up late again, I think depression is trying to grab me again, but I won't allow it to set in, I checked my grocery money wallet, $30.00 left.  I called the Rich People's store and put in an order at their MAGNIFICENT deli, for me to pick up at 2:15.

When I first got to the store, I headed back to their bakery and picked up a 9x4" yellow cake with butter creme frosting loaf cake.  They make their own and they are delish.  Then over to the deli and there was my order.  A large Antipasto salad, a medium container of mac & tuna salad, a small container of Neptune salad and a small container of the best bologna sandwich spread--just like my Mother used to make with chopped up onion and dill pickles.

Total price?  $27.00!!!!!!!!!!!

I am going to be eating well this weekend!!!!!!!!!!
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It took me a year to do my family genealogy, both Mother and Father's side and made up the books for my kids.  Over the years, we have bragged about how there has never been any cancer in our family.  As I noted when I did the research, NO CANCER OF ANY KIND--EVER--all the way back.

What I find strange, and maybe I jinxed our family.  my son now has cancer and I found out today, my cousin (on my mother's side) had surgery for prostate and bladder cancer.

When asked why, with the explanation that our family does not have the cancer gene, it was explained that most cancers now are environmentally caused.  The food we eat, what we drink.  So many preservatives and just the bad stuff in the air.  It just "happens".  

That ticks me off!  Mark, my son, has always cooked and always used fresh grown vegetables and fresh caught fish or venison.  My cousin, has run in many marathons, and even after retirement, has run every day--at least 10 miles.  They are healthy people!!!

We are supposed to live until our late 80's or 90's, like our ancestor's and then die peacefully from our heart giving out, not from some poison getting inside and eating us alive!!

Well, at least no one in the family has ever had breast cancer.
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Probably shouldn't have said that.  I have a Mammogram next month!  YIKES!!


Thursday, July 28, 2016

It's Complicated

I would be very uncomfortable for Mark and I to be alone together.  If other members of the family were around or even in the next room, it would work, but just he and I, alone in his house?  He would be uncomfortable.

I haven't really 'known" Mark for several years.  He didn't like coming to family get togethers.  We'd see him on Christmas and maybe one other time during the year.  He just didn't do what he didn't want to do.  I saw him this past Christmas, alone out in the kitchen for a nice hug and that's when he told me he loved me.  I hadn't heard those words from him since he was about 4 years old.  He used to think I hung the Moon.

He was a much different young man as a teenager, very caring, expressive, easily hurt.  He was so close to my Mother, spending a lot of time with her at the Farm. When he was 10, he told me he wanted to be a minister.

Then she died suddenly and he changed.  He refused to go to church anymore.  He got in with a different crowd that drank and smoked the weed.  In six weeks time, his report card went from all A's to all D's.  He just stopped caring and then, the middle of his Senior year, he took off to California and lived there 18 months.  After that experience, he was more than happy to come back to The Farm and has lived there for the last 35 years.  On his Grandma/Grandpa/s farm.

He is a very quiet person, like his Dad.  Not one to enter a conversation unless asked a question.  He's lived life the way HE wanted to live it.  I do know that he has a gentle heart and he adores Karen and Jen's kids and the last two summers, when his sister's went up north for a sibling's weekend and MADE HIM GO--he had a great time.

Maybe I feel detached.  He and I have never gotten back the closeness we had for the first 18 years of his life.  I know he is my son, but he never calls or sends cards, or visits or comes to me at family functions, I have to make the move and I know so little of his life, that he feels almost like a cousin.  That probably sounds awful,
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I slept 10 hours last night.  Today--I did nothing!  Well, I did put out my garbage and while I was out, I did water my annuals and Pearl came down to visit, but------that was it.  It was cooler, but still, after 15 minutes outside, I was sweating from the humidity.

Tomorrow I am determined to drive into Brighton to the Rich People's store and get a couple of their own made salads and stop at Michael's for a skein of floss.


Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Is It Just Me?

Or is everyone in a state of funk these days?

The first two blog posts I read this morning, had me nearly in tears and shaking my head in agreement.

A lot of us are sad puppies right now.  Feeling depressed, or worried, or hopeless, or just plain tired!

Is it the hot humid weather?  That has a lot to do with it, for me.

Is it the state of the world?  Could be.

Is it the ugly political conventions?  Could be.

Is it the whole horrid political campaign year we have had.  Probably.

I have had to get away from ALL the political wrangling.  That has been difficult because, since I was 12 years old and watched my first Convention, I have been a political junkie.

For many months, my routine is to check out the news first thing in the morning, then get on Face Book and read every one's links and comments.  At 2:00, I'd sit down and watch an hour of CNN and an hour of FOX News.  I'd watch the National news in the evening.

For my own self-preservation, for the last two months, I have not looked at the news in the morning.  I have blocked two people on FB so I don't see their posts--one Liberal friend, one Conservative friend.  I no longer watch ANY TV in the afternoon, and if, during the National News a clip of Hillary or Donald J. comes up, I click over to HGTV until I think they are done with their rants.

I have watched a total of one hour of each Convention.  I watched part of  Donald J's acceptance speech, and last night, watched an hour of Bill Clinton.  I usually check the Fact Checker the next morning to see who lied the most.  Right now---it's a tie!
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Donald J. yells his acceptance speech and the next day, everyone is castigating him for his delivery.  Hillary yells out her speeches and the next day, no one says a word about her delivery.

Michelle Obama stands up there and says how America is great now, but 8 years ago, she said the opposite.  Bill goes on and on about he and Hillary's wonderful married life, but seems to forget ALL the mistresses he has had.  And then, there's poor Bernie!  What a nasty rap he got.

Hillary blames the Russians for leaking the e-mails instead of blaming the people who sent those nasty e-mails in the first place.  Just like she blames the gun instead of the person who used the gun.

Hillary is the first woman to be nominated for President.  Well--whoop-de-doo.  Does that qualify her to be a good President?  The DNC wants to be the first--the first Catholic President.  The first black President.  8 years from now, Michelle will run as the first black woman President.

and why...have the majority of the blacks forgotten that the Republican Party was founded on ending slavery and giving them equality?
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Too, too much of all of it this past year.  

My son is dying and I try my hardest not to think about that every single second of every day.

I feel like I am slowly wasting away and I ignore it.

I am a loudly self proclaimed Christian and my mantra every morning is, "God is good.  God is in control," and yet I know full well that the Evil One is so full of power right now.  It becomes harder and harder for me, even though I know the TRUTH, to stay unafraid and positive.

No wonder I stay in my Cave.  At least here, I can control my environment.  I can limit myself as to the  horrors I see on TV.  I can control who I talk with and the conversation (except Dar).

But today--I must go out.  I have errands to do, food to buy or the cats and I will not eat tomorrow!  

There is one hope for this day to be better.  This evening I have a pleasant visit planned.  I get to take my client's genealogy book to her!  I finally get to meet one of my Face Book/Blog buddies.

I am tired, but for a little while, this evening, life will be wonderful!!!

Tuesday, July 26, 2016

Whatever Will Be--Will Be.

My pseudo daughter-in-law  posted on Face Book last night that my son is done with the awful side effects of the poison, lovingly referred to as chemotherapy.  He will no longer take any chemo treatments.  He has been sick with pneumonia and a gall bladder episode, so maybe not in the right frame of mind to make that decision, but they discussed it and decided together.  He would rather have quality of life, instead of quantity.  I was really surprised she (Cindy) posted it on Face Book.

For the past year, ever since I was finally told the news that he had prostate cancer, I was cautioned to not say a word about it.  When Karen was over for a visit last Friday, she told me he was doing really well...as far as she knew.  Apparently not.

When I read her post, I got that funny, little, cold, wiggly thing you get in the middle of your stomach and my heart took an extra beat.  After all, he is my first born, my only son, and I still "see" him as a little boy and how cute he was and how capable at everything he tried.

Well, memories like that, scenes like that are best not to linger on.  I am Queen of De Nile on these kinds of things.  I keep hope until the last breath is taken.  He is still a very strong man and now, I am just praying that Mark will have some good weeks or months or however long there will be.  Praying that any pain he has can and will be taken care of.  I would hope that I would be brave enough to make the same decision he has made.  To never start the poison, with the awful side effects, when we all know, it rarely does anything  more than give the person a few more months of feeling ill all the time.
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I canceled my dental appointment because, I just wasn't capable of sitting in that chair for an hour, listening to that high speed drill today.  Going back in August.

Susan and check came down today and Chuck swapped out the hinges and handles on my fridge.  What a big difference it makes.  My microwave and counter are to the right of the fridge.  The doors opened up on the left.  When I took things out of the fridge, I had no place to set them down and, of course ALWAYS carrying more than I should, I'd usually drop something on the trip back around the fridge to the counter top.

Plus it had never been leveled correctly.  Chuck did that too and now the doors close on their own, instead of staying open a teeny tiny bit.

I sure appreciate having a man around the house that can do or fix anything.  Chuck is a retired electrical engineer.  He thinks things out first, even reads the instructions and then he gets to the job.  Slow and steady and when he is done, the job is done.  No having to go back and do any part of it a second time.  

Boy--if I could find one just like Chuck, a quiet Christian man, non-drinker, never says a swear word, loves to watch sports, kind to my sister--if I could find that?  I'd reconsider my penchant for wanting to live alone.  The problem is, they are a rare creature!


Monday, July 25, 2016

Expensive Lessons, Lies and Idiot Employees!



The website if you want to order any of the Norwex products or read the information on why they are different than most Micro-Fiber cloths.  This lady is a friend of my daughter Karen and is a Norwex representative.

Click here:  Norwex
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I feel kind of bad for Bernie Sanders.  His campaign was funded by 10-20 dollar contributions and right from the beginning, the DNC was out to get him.  How unfair, because many liked his message and agreed with him.  Yet the DNC let him go ahead, mile after mile of campaign stops, speeches, while all along, they knew they wouldn't allow him to have a chance at the nomination.  The Sander's people found out about it early on and demanded Wasserman be made to be fair, but.........

My Liberal friends that were chortling last week about the protests and noise at the RNC convention, have been strangely quiet since the news of the leaked e-mails has come out.  I heard tonight that the DNC will not allow Debbie Wasserman Schultz to "retire" AFTER the convention--they fired her this afternoon.
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Still really hot and humid.  Even at night, when the temperature gets down to the 60's, it is still too damp to open the windows and try and get fresh air into the house.  I did go out today--a run up to the Print Shop.  I have had no problems with the two women I have worked with up there.  They seem to understand what I need and how I want my "pedigrees" printed out.

The sheets that I have printed and then taped together--sometimes are 36" wide.  They must be 11" long so they will fit and be bound in on the left side of the book.  If they are extra long, I fold them into the book.

No problem.  The print shop has landscape paper on a continuous roll, so I get whatever width I need.

For some reason, the last two times I have been up there, the woman Office Manager thinks she needs to do my copying for me.  She has yet to get it correct--no matter how many times I explain it to her.

I had 7 pedigrees to get printed today.  Only one was on 11 x 17" paper.  The rest were 24 to 36" wide.

I went over with her what I needed.  "I need the print-out to be 11" long--precisely 11" long.  It doesn't matter how wide they are, but I have put the measurements on the post-it note for each pedigree."

She comes back with one at 11 x 17--the rest, the correct width, but the length was 20 some" inches long so they all had to be trimmed. 

I explained, "That's a lot of extra work--to trim them.  You have a copier that you can set with the correct measurements.  Eleven by whatever width you need."  Her reply, "Well on these longer ones, I would have to change the roll to a different size paper."

 Well then, change the damn roll and give me what I want!  I wanted to say, but didn't.  One of the girls I used to work with was sitting at a desk behind the Office Manager and I saw her roll her eyes.  Why can the regular employees know how to do it correctly, but the Office Manager doesn't and...won't ask for help?
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It was a frustrating day all around!  Last week, while sitting in my recliner knitting, I heard a crackling sound coming from behind my chair.  I thought it was coming from the outlet as that is all that is behind my chair.  It happened 3 times, so I pulled the plug.  The next day, I called an electrician.

He came out this morning at 9:00.  $89.95 to get in the door.  I had two GFI plugs I wanted put in.

He checked the outlet behind my chair--"not a thing wrong with it" he said.  "No burnt areas or smell, nor dampness.  It looks like new."

Then I asked if he could install the GFI plug in the outlet where my electric fireplace is going.  He wanted to know why.  "You don't need GIF plugs in any rooms other than the kitchen and bathroom.  They protect against electrical shock where water might be present."

So I explained that I had "heard" that the electric heaters used in the electric fireplaces can sometimes overheat and cause a fire.  He just shook his head "no" and went on to explain to me why there was no need.

He suggested that I get a new surge protector with a GFI built-in, if I were really concerned.  

So--a 90 dollar lesson on electricity this morning. ARGGH!  I will take my two GFI plugs back to Lowe's tomorrow and get a couple of new surge protectors.

I had a house fire back 30+ years ago caused by an electrical short, so I am always worried about things like that.
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Dentist appointment tomorrow.  UGH!!