Worries

Today's high temperature was:  26 degrees

It was a Shiny Day!

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It seems I do love to worry about things I have no control over--like the weather.

Nothing will stop my day, like a predicted severe thunderstorm.  I listen to the weather channel, the local TV station and track the storm's approach on radar on my computer.  I want wind speeds and I want to know precisely where that storm is and if there are any Hook Echoes near me.  I pay no attention to the siren, because that goes off if there is trouble in any part of the County.  I want to know what is coming directly at me!!

Today, I am worrying about Flo out there in the North-East and Marcia on Cape Cod and my one reader in Binghamton, NY and Cheyenne in Pennsylvania.  I know I will get no reports from then because they are probably going to be without power.  Hurricane force winds coming into the Cape.  You take even one foot of snow and mix it up with Hurricane force winds and you are going to end up with snow drifts eight feet high.  I know people near the New Jersey shore--they are going to get it.

There are 50 million people in this storm's path.  Have you EVAH driven up I-95 into Bahston and beyond.  It is nearly impossible on a good day, but with snow of any amount?  I hope they close it down!

New York City?  I don't know anyone who lives there, but with it's heavy population.  Can you even imagine.  They are shutting off the lights on the Great White Way and and all traffic forbidden, except for emergency vehicles.

 I fear there is going to be many deaths from this storm.  They don't have the equipment to take care of something this big.  Our power company employees have already left Michigan, headed out that way to help.

I pray for my friends in that area.  Please, if you have power to read this, be careful.  DO NOT take ANY chances!!! 

Carrie, Cheyenne, Judy Frey, Julie, Marcia, and Binghamton, this means you!!!  Please let me know, as soon as you can, that you are all right.

DAMMIT!!

You're going along in life--trying to eat healthy, being kind and gentle to everyone, being a good person.  Everything is fine, you feel great, until you get the bad diagnosis.  

My blogging friend Balisha (Pat) is going through that now and I HATE IT!!!  

I love this woman, that I have never met.  I've read her blog for quite a few years now.  Read the painful experience she so bravely shared when her son died.  

She had her yearly check-up in November and all was fine.  That's the way Ovarian cancer is.  It doesn't show up in a PAP test or a physical check-up.  My BFF had it and the only way she knew...she put on a pair of slacks she had worn the month before, and she was so bloated, she couldn't get them on.  

Sure there is a special blood test you can get, CA-125, but it is costly and insurance won't pay for it until AFTER the diagnosis.  Then they do it all the time to "check your numbers."

I HATE IT!! We should all have hysterectomies when we are done with child bearing!!  

I am just asking that you all take a moment today--right now--and say a  prayer for Balisha.  She deserves only good things in life AND she will have remission--after the treatments, but it will take a while.

She has very strong faith and that will help get her through.

God, hold Pat in the palm of your hand, help the doctor's find the correct treatment and bring her to remission.  I pray this in Jesus name!  Amen.

Oh Yeah!

I am not a spontaneous person--in any way shape or form.  For some reason, the people I have lived with most of my life, were not Spur-of-the-Moment people.  I like things scheduled, prepared for--I think it is a control thing.

So, this morning at 10:30, Pearl called and said, "We want to invite you out to supper tonight, our treat.  You pick the place and the time."

I opened my mouth to make an excuse and then I said, "WOW!  Golden Door Chinese restaurant at 5:00."

She said, "We will pick you up at 5:00."

It's the same place Dar and I stopped for take-out after Maddies' ballet performance the first weekend of December.  I loved the food and had wanted to take Merle and Pearl there because, last year we went to their idea of a Chinese restaurant, a buffet place, and there was not one single thing that tasted like Chinese food on the entire buffet.

So, they picked me up and off we went up the road.  

I told them, "Now you don't have to order off the menu.  You tell the guy what you want and they will make it for you."  Then I remembered, Merle doesn't really like Chinese food--oops.  I should have suggested Bob Evans.

They were pretty adventurous however.

Pearl said, "I want shrimp with fried rice, and Won- Ton soup."

Merle said, "I want sweet and sour pork with fried rice, and Won-Ton soup.

I said,"I want beef with Chinese vegetables, steamed white rice, a small bowl of sizzling rice soup, and a pot of Oolong tea."

We had our tea--Oolong is the only kind of hot tea I like, and we had our eggs rolls--made on the premises.  

Pearl said, "These are good!  They taste so much better than that place we go to, Merle."

Merle nodded his head.

Then our dinners came--plates piled high with what we ordered--more than any of us could eat. 

Oh man--it was soooooo good.  I haven't had "real" Chinese food since I moved here.  Ernie and I used to go out once a month and have it--at a Chinese family owned place where they grew their veggies in their own garden.

Pearl ate her food with gusto, as did I--we chattered along as we ate.  I don't Merle liked his, but he did eat half. 

On the drive home, I thanked them over and over. I said, "I think it is good for me to get out once in awhile.  Did you like the food?"

Merle replied, "I liked the Fortune Cookie."

HAH.

In the Olden Days

When I was born, in the bedroom of my parent's farmhouse, there was much celebration.  I was the first girl child born in three generations.  I am sure that is the ONLY reason my father had a child--to shut up his mother and grandparents.  After all, my parents didn't have another child for 13 years and she certainly wasn't planned.

Anyway, when I was born, the next day, our old neighbor's just to the west of our farm, came up the road, leading a Holstein heifer calf.  It was their gift to my parents for having a baby.  

That sounds odd, doesn't it?  I thought it was funny when I first heard about it, but my father soon stopped my laughter with his explanation, "You don't realize how dear that animal was to our neighbor.  That calf grew into a wonderful cow, one of my best producers of milk by weight.  She in turn calved and all her calves were heifers.  She turned out to be one of the best assets we had."

What a boon to my parents the baby Golden Girl (me) was.  Too bad he didn't put the money that cow brought in, into a trust fund for me.  Eh?  Oh well, the baby Golden Girl drank the milk and grew to be tall and strong and very healthy, and at my age now, that's more important than money.

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Can you see all the squirrel tracks on my driveway?  They are such well mannered little rodents--as long as I keep the Flaming Squirrel mix on the bird feeders and corn and peanuts in the squirrel feeder.

I think I see some bunny tracks in there too.

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At Christmas, my best friend Bethie gave me a gift card to the Rich People's store and today....I went there and got myself some treats.  I do love their deli salads--Antipasto, Crab Salad and Tuna Mac, cake, plus the biggest cinnamon rolls I have ever seen and candy bars.  I also got some cat food for the fur kids and a bag of potato chips.  I didn't want to waste my gift on more sensible stuff and besides that, those salads will do me for 7 meals!!  I'll be living high on the hog for the next week!  Thanks Beth--I love you!

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A lot of my blog buddies are posting such profound words lately.  Thoughts and feelings and ponderings.  I can't come up with any of that right now.  I feel so calm and relaxed and lazy that I am hard pressed to know what to blog about.

I have had 10 days straight of perfect sleep--no dreams, no monster nightmares.  It could be the little Melatonin tab I take at bedtime, but I think it is because I have practically secreted myself away from the world.

On Face Book, if I see a link to a story about cruelty to animals, I refuse to even look at it.  The same goes for missing children/adults/pets.  I refuse to read any stories of what is going on in the East and I truly try not to read anything political.  I also have quit watching the news.  I turn it on to get the weather report, just out of curiosity because I couldn't care less if we get a snow storm or blizzard of two feet of snow, then I turn to another channel to watch a classic movie or I turn it off and read.

I have only been out in my car, four times this month and that basically was to meet with friends or family and to get food.  I filled my car with gas on December 27th, and it is still more than half full.

The most excitement I have had all month is playing games on Face Book, reading your blogs and cross stitching the baby quilt.  There has been a bit of drama on my Soap, but there's supposed to be, LOL.

My "Stay-cation" is about to end however, as next week I have a dentist's appointment, and go to the food bank and doctor appointment and blood draw coming up.

This has been the best January I have had in a long time.  

  

Good Times

Excuse me for a moment.  I don't have Flo's e-mail addy, so I have to connect with her here.

The only way you can train a squirrel is with behavior modification.  This stuff not only is mixed in with my bird seed, but I also spray it on my copper silo feeder, that is just like yours.  You can buy it on amazon.com

http://www.amazon.com/Coles-FS16-Flaming-Squirrel-16-Ounce/dp/B003XR9QWA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421877693&sr=8-1&keywords=squirrel+away&pebp=1421877681178&peasin=B003XR9QWA

Once they wrap their little squirrel lips around bird seed treated with this--they will not come back to the bird feeders.  Actually, it's kind of fun to see them, when they first get a taste, fly off the bird feeder and try to cool off their little rodent mouths in the snow!!!  It doesn't bother the birds at all--they seem to like it.  

NOTE:  Wear gloves when you use it AND wash your hands after you take the gloves off OR, you will invariably get it in your eye, nose, mouth or, when you go to the bathroom and wipe--well, it is quite warming on parts of your body you don't want warmed!!!

The squirrels will really appreciate the corn and peanuts you put out for them IN THEIR OWN SPOT.  I see my squirrels look up from THEIR feed box and eye the bird feeders nearby, then sort of shake their heads as if to say, "NOPE!  Ain't going near there ever again."

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Maddie arrived safe and sound in Guatemala--thank you God.

Karen and Mark went up to East Lansing to take Stephen out for supper and his first beer.  Karen said to the waiter, "You gotta card him to make sure he's old enough.  Today is his twenty-first birthday."

The waiter said, "Nah, he looks old enough."  Karen said she was trying to embarrass Stephen, but it didn't work.  At least he got his beer free.

Then they all went to the basketball game and Stephen sat, cheering in the IZZONE.  MSU barely beat Penn State--barely.

Karen posted this on Face Book.

Guess who's 21? Happy golden birthday golden boy! —

 with Stephen Rivard at Michigan State University.

I commented back and asked her what her excuse was for drinking a beer--"you're not 21."
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Dar came over last night.  She drove in and came in before she went home.  Semi hysterical, but more tired than anything.  I actually felt really sorry for her.  

She spent ten hours, registering her youngest son into an alcohol, drug rehab place.  I think he finally hit rock bottom, because he went in voluntarily.  He was drinking a gallon of Vodka a day!  How can you drink that much liquid--let alone alcohol?

His blood alcohol level was at 3.  When it gets to 4, I guess there is a great possibility you will die.  It's what caused his first heart attack, a year ago.

He is in a hospital for two weeks--where they give him alcohol, but taper off.  If he quit cold turkey, that could send him into cardiac arrest.

Then he will go to the rehab place for three or four months and then...he will go to live in a half-way house for a year.

She seems more relieved, than anything else.  She stopped enabling him about four months ago.  No one in the family will help him anymore--which is kind of what you have to do with people like that.  At Thanksgiving time, he had visited her brother and after he left, her brother found that an envelope he had with $600.00 cash in his desk drawer, was gone.

Her son confessed today that he stole it and used it to buy a "professional girl" for an all nighter.  He said it was a waste of money because he was so drunk he couldn't have sex so he and the girl sat up and watched TV and he fell asleep on her shoulder.  (I'll bet the girl wished she had more customers like that)!

Hopefully this time, it will work.  He has never tried total rehab before--only tried AA meetings and they did no good.

I also went up to Pearl's and got on the phone with the bank customer service and fixed it all nice and new so she can get in to check the balance in her checking account.  She was in a panic, because they get their SS today and she ALWAYS has to check and make sure the money was deposited.  

That's something I have never worried about.  I guess I just assume my SS will be in the bank when it is supposed to be in the bank.  I asked her if in 15 years it ever happened that they didn't get their money on time and she said "No."

So I wondered why she thought she has to check it out every month.  Who knows?

When I first arrived there, she and Merle were having a "discussion" about her latest on-line purchases.  So I just headed to the back bedroom where the computer is and stayed out of their way.

She's so nervous of how they are going to get along if Merle doesn't work this summer and/or doesn't get unemployment.  Instead of socking some money away, she just keeps on buying things she sees on TV or in a catalog.

I don't know and she and I have had "the talk" about her shopping, so...just like with her health--I ain't chasing those monkey's anymore.

Where Does The Time Go?

We got about 2 inches of snow during this night and this morning.  Pretty--it doesn't bother me, I like snow.  Merle quickly dispatched what snow there was on my driveway.

Here it is, 10 days until the end of January or 21 days into the new year.  Where does the time go?  How does it go by so fast.  It is all relative, isn't it?  When we are little, a year seems like such a long time--we don't even think about it, we aren't concerned with time at all.  Except, it seems a really long time between birthday presents and Christmas presents.

Even when I was married and having babies every year, it seemed time went as it was supposed to.  It didn't start flying by until the kids started graduating and leaving home--then I'd look back and wonder at how fast the years had gone by and that my kids, didn't seem old enough for all that was going on in their lives.

Now of course, the only thing that makes time drag is when something bad has happened.  It takes forever, to make it through the grief of losing someone we love.  It feels like we are in the dentist chair or the hospital for ages--when it might only be hours or a few days.  It feels to me, right now, that Jennifer has been angry with me for ten years, but it's only two years.

Then, I look at my Grand Babes and it all hits me--time has really flown by!  

This precious, funny, lovely Christian girl flew out early this morning to Guatemala.  She will be gone on a mission for three months.  Helping to build homes, create vegetable gardens, put in fresh water wells and teaching little children and helping in a medical clinic.

  Off she goes into her life and all Grandma has to worry about is: planes falling from the sky--hurricanes--earthquakes--kidnappers--rapists--snakes--typhoid--ebola and cholera!
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Today, her older brother turns 21.  He so wanted to grow taller than Grandma.  He was a chubby little kid all his life and then, suddenly at 15, he told his Mom, "I'm only going to eat when I'm hungry. I'm not going to eat snacks and stuff just because I'm bored."  By sixteen, he was lean and taller than Grandma and now, he's 6'4" and a pre-med student at Michigan State.

What do I worry about with this young man?  Not a darn thing!!!

Karen and Mark have instilled in their kids such strong Christian values.  Showed them how to always help people, by taking them to the Rescue Mission every Thanksgiving to feed people, ever since the kids were four years old.  By going into Detroit inner city and cleaning up junk filled vacant lots, every summer for the last four years.  By letting them explore and take risks.

I am truly blessed with those five Grand Babes, but boy oh boy, they sure make the swift passage of time--IN MY FACE!!!

Icy

It misted during the night, so the street out in front is a glaze with ice ruts.  We all thought this street would be clear all winter, considering the fact that the manager's parents live across the way--not so!  Just a little dab of salt would have helped tremendously.  It did get up 30 today.

At 12:45, who know who walked in my door.  

"Oh--I just remembered, you watch your program this time of day, don't you?"

"Yeah--it comes on at one."

"Well, I just had to get out of the house!"

Now usually I say, "that's okay," and I turn the TV off (because she has done this several times before).  Well, today, I was not in the mood, so I just muted the TV, as she took off her coat, lit up her cigarette and proceeded to tell me all about HER life.

At one, I clicked on my channel and un-muted the TV.  She got up and left.  and..........

I have felt guilty all the rest of the day.  It was so impolite of me and it was not at all nice!
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At two, I slipped and slide up to Pearl's to see if I could fix the mess on her computer.  She DID call the bank, and wrote down what all they told her to do, but, "I still can't get into my bank accounts."

I followed her instructions she had written down and that, of course, got me no where.  The bank was closed today, so tomorrow, I am going back and I AM GOING to be the one who calls the customer service and talks to the tech.

Merle wasn't home so Pearl and I had a chance for a long, heart-to-heart.  I have been wanting too, but afraid I would make her mad, but decided..today was a good time when he wasn't there.

"How's your new arthritis medicine doing?"  I asked.

"It started out helping, but now, it's not any better than the other one I was taking."

"How many pills do you take now?"

"Only three.  Twice a day. Celebrex, Tramadol and Advil."

"Gosh!  You are healthy as a horse!  No blood pressure medicine.  No cholesterol medicine.  Wow!"

"I'm not at all healthy!  I can hardly walk.  I will be in a wheel chair come spring!"

"Oh.  Are you looking forward to that?"

"Looking forward....what do you mean.  Why would I look forward to something like that?"

"Well, you keep saying that, like you are anticipating it and you aren't doing anything to keep from ending up there, so I just wondered.  Apparently you've made up your mind."

"What do you expect me to do?"

"Physical therapy."

"That probably would hurt."

"At first...it might, but in the long run--maybe six weeks, you wouldn't hurt as much.  The more you use those muscles and joints, the less they are going to hurt.  All you do is sit in your chair all day.  You've heard the old phrase, 'Use it or lose it'?  The less you use your joints, the more apt they are to freeze up and then you won't be able to use them at all."

"I don't just sit in this chair all day!  I get up and cook and do laundry and walk around the house."

"Do you go up and down stairs?"

"Look around.  You see any stairs?"

"I'm just telling you Pearl, because I am worried about you.  You aren't that old and yet...you've given up.  You think Merle is going to like having to take care of you?  He's not really that type of man, I don't think.  What if he were to die.  Are you going to a nursing home because you can't walk?"

"I know.  You've told me I should do therapy, but..........."

"Just ask Doc John.  He will get you a referral to a really good place.  You could go up to the hospital, I hear they have a good physical therapy office.  It's only half a mile away.  Now is the perfect time.  Go the rest of the winter and when spring comes, you will be able to get outside and exercise."

"Oh...I hate to exercise!"

"I'm not talking about going to a gym.  I'm talking about walking.  Walking is the best exercise---especially for people our age.  Start out walking twenty steps and then turn and go back home.  The next day, you walk twenty-two steps and turn around.  Every day, you add another step or two and pretty soon, you can walk down to the lake.  That's how I got my strength back after my surgery.  Remember?  I walked up here--fifty steps.  The next day you saw me go passed, fifty-five steps and then turn and come back to visit you."

"Yeah and in a month, you would walk so far that I kept looking out the window to see what was taking you so long to come back."

"I know you can't walk outside right now...it is way too slippery, but...physical therapy and then this spring....who knows."

"Yeah...I guess, but I need to lose weight first."

"You aren't going to lose weight sitting in this house all winter!"

"I might...a little."

"Physical therapy would also help you lose weight."

"Oh...I don't know."
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There are people that don't want to help themselves and there is not a dang thing you can do to help them.

I'm done.  

When the wheel chair arrives she can then say, "See, I told you so.  I was right."