Hectic

It's been hectic around here.  I keep looking at my perennials that need to be cut back, undergrowth in my Lilac/Hosta garden that needs to be cut back.  Little Maple trees growing in the midst of my Privet Hedge, that needs to be cut back.  The shed needs to be rearranged and I need to get all my porch pots put away AND paint the porch steps.  I have had the paint since April.

My client, whose genealogy I finished the last of September, wanted two books for her children.  Then a book for her cousin and a book for her niece and nephew.  Not a problem at all and such a nice thing for her to do for her family.

I had ordered black and tri-color inkjets from a place on e-bay.  They are brand new, still in their HP box and work really well.  I ran out of black ink, so up to the refill place I went.  I got a black and a Tri-color.  Got home put the black one in and the print-out was very dim.  I got back in the car and headed up to the refill place.  Mind you, this is nearly a 20 mile round-trip through town traffic.

Got my black inkjet replacement and headed home.  Two years ago, a black and Tri-color refilled inkjet cost $35.00, now they cost $53.00, still under the price of new ones at Staples, but.......

Got home, put the new black inkjet in and printed out 5 pages.  When I looked at them, the Tri-color inkjet wasn't printing.  I had to throw those pages away, at 34 cents a page for the special paper.  This time, I just drove back up to Staples, went in and found they had a sale.  Buy one, get another one for 40% off.  Two Tri-color inkjet cartridges cost me $63.00!!!

I put the new Tri-color inkjet in and off we went.  Then, I got on-line and ordered two cartridges from the e-bay seller, at $37.16--free shipping.

By then, it was supper time and I was exhausted!!!

Today, I got the two books for her children done and up to the print shop to have them bound.  I pick them up tomorrow and have her cousin's book done, so can get that bound tomorrow too.  The rest of today, I worked on printing the two books for her niece and nephew.  

I love genealogy--the research, the putting the families together, putting everything together and writing the book.  I hate the printing process!!!!!!!!!!  
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I got a letter today from the hospital where I get my mammogram.  I am considered low risk for breast cancer, so I only need a mammogram every two years---or at my age--not at all.

While this is good news, with my doc telling me the cut off time for a low-level lung CT scan is 75 years, I wonder.  Is there really a cut of time for these tests or is it that at my age, the cure wouldn't really help, wouldn't add any years, so-----I am expendable?

Who says?

When my doc says I have the blood work of a 55 year old.  When the cardiologist tells me that biologically my age is really 65 and I have the heart of a 20 year old.  Then why does the year of my age matter?  I may live to be 90+.  Why should these tests be cut off because my birth certificate says I was born in 1939 instead of 1948?

My step-mother had bladder cancer when she was 91.  They took out the tumor, radiated her for 6 weeks and she felt great for another 2+ years.

I guess some of us are living too long and not being productive enough.  Taking up space?  Best to just give us a pill to mask the problem instead of trying to cure it?  Odumba Care has made the insurance companies not want to pay for elder preventative medicine?
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Dar came busting in my house, during my Soap.  She was hysterical and crying!

"I tried to call my sister-in-law, but she didn't answer her phone.  I had to come over here so you can calm me down!"   Pacing up and down my living room, moaning and failing her arms around.

It seems she had just gotten back from a visit to an orthopedic doctor.  He gave her a Cortisone shot for her back pain, but informed her that the only relief she will get from that and her hip pain is if she gets a hip replacement.  Plus, he thinks she had a head injury when she had the accident.

"Now I know why I can't remember things!  Oh. My. God!!!  I probably have a brain tumor!!."

"Sit down.  Take a deep breath and let's talk about this."

She sat.  She grabbed a cigarette.  She rocked back and forth.

"Please, be careful you don't drop ashes on my new carpet."  I said.

She finally put the ashtray she kept reaching for, in her lap.

"Now--you had a CT scan on your head after the accident, right?"

"Yes."

"They found no problem..right?  No bleeding.  No hematoma.  No problems...right?

"Right."

"I think the reason you are having a hard time remembering things is that you have so much on your mind.  You have appointments with a different doctor nearly every day of the week.  Your Dad is having problems and needs tests.  You have tests scheduled.  You have so much in your head, that you are completely distracted.  That's why you get to the grocery store and forget half of what you wanted to buy.  That's why when you wake up, you forget what day it is.  Anyone would be that way."

"I now have 9 different doctor's.  None of them listen to me.  They just seem to pass me along to the next one.  I have to meet with the insurance doctor--my attorney is going with me and told me HE will answer all the questions and I am not to say a word."

"That's a good idea.  You do get wound up and might say something that wouldn't help your case."

"And now?  A hip replacement?"

She lights up another cigarette.  This is the woman who tells me she only smokes two cigarettes a day.  She just met her quota in half an hour!

"I'm sure the accident caused my hip problem,"

"You have osteoarthritis...right?"

"Yes."

"That alone will cause the cushion in your hip socket to wear away and it will be bone-on-bone and the only help, is a new hip joint."

"Well, I didn't have it before the accident."

"You've had arthritis for years.  Even without the accident, this would have come on and just gotten worse and worse."

She wailed and she moaned and she paced.  Finally, her phone rang--it was her sister-in-law and Dar started wailing and crying again as she told her SIL all that she had told me.

"I'm at Judy's.  I feel like I'm losing my mind!  I am going to tell you all this while I'm here so Judy can hear it all too.  I am so filled with fear!"  and on she went for 30 minutes.

90 minutes later, apparently I had calmed her down enough so she could go home and eat supper!
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Every time she comes over, the first words out of her mouth are, "I came over so you can calm me down!"

Wouldn't it be nice, if just one time, she said, "I came over to see how you're doing.  Oh, you got your fireplace.  It's pretty."

She has been here twice in the last week and hasn't even noticed the fireplace.  LOL

She's a pitiful thing.  Always bragging about how strong she is.  How religious she is.  How she relies on God for everything.  How she can tolerate pain better than anyone else.  A sort of uppity attitude, especially when she states that she relies on God for everything.

Somethings I like to remind her to "Rely on God.  Give it all up to Him and He will calm you.  You know, you have no control over any of this.  Give it to God!"

Yeah--I can be nasty person--dig, dig, dig.