My mom cooked the turnip greens that I picked yesterday and some fried corn bread. Now that's some real soul food. She threw in some baked sweet potatoes just to ensure that it was real soul food. Made me want to go watch some BET television for awhile!!!
I cannot believe how much stuff I managed to pack in one of those Christmas shoeboxes from the church that will be sent to a child somewhere in the world......2 t-shirts, ball cap, car, flashlight, markers, paper, games , lots of candy, toothpaste, tooth brushes, yo-yo. I went to Fred's and spent $26 and almost got it all in there. It was fun. That's what it is all about!!!
I spent all morning doing the household chores which included washing, mopping, changing the sheets...and even cleaning the baseboards. One would think a new construction wouldn't get so dirty, but it does. I also did some plant trimming outside. While I was watching All My Children, I made brownies. When that was over, I put some brownies in a container that belonged to my sister-in-law and took some to her. I was hoping my brother was in the woods hunting because he could not eat the brownies due to his gluten allergy, but he was there. I felt bad giving her the brownies. She has to cook everything gluten free, so she never gets any good stuff anymore. When I left there. I went to take some brownies to Mom and Dad. Mom was asleep in her room and Dad was asleep in his room, so I cleaned the kitchen, picked the turnip greens, mowed under the pecan trees and picked up the pecans. Damn, I have been busy. I think I'll go rest now!!!
I was invited to a costume party tonight by some members of the local Mardi Gras krewe. I am not a member of the krewe, but I have been invited to join. I was a judge of the costumes because I didn't know most of the people so I was very impartial and I didn't have to wear a costume. It was so much fun. That is really a fun group of people. The person I rode to the party with was dressed as Mama Cass and she got shitfaced. I had to drive us home. At least, I drove to my home, then another passenger got behind the wheel to take himself home, then the owner of the car was to take herself home. She didn't have far to go and Minden closes up rather early so I hope she got home OK. She is the Queen this year of the Mardi Gras Ball, which is in January. She told me that I would be getting an invitation to sit at one of the Queen's tables at the ball. Wow! I have never been to one of those and it is a formal affair, so I guess I had better start looking for something to wear!!!
Yesterday I never left the house. In fact, I never even raised the garage door. We have had two wonderful days of rain, so I just stayed home and did nothing constructive. Today I have been scrapbooking. We have wind advisories today and the wind is really fierce so I haven't ventured out yet. I'm thinking that I must go find some place to get a haircut. I hate not having my hairdresser. I have already turned down an invitation to go to lunch with the girls today since we didn't go on our usual Thursday. I was just too lazy to get dressed for lunch.
Update: I got a haircut!! Check it out!!! O My Gosh! I got me some spikes. I didn't mean to, but I do.
Don't even go there! It's the much needed rain we have been getting all night and all day. We need it so badly. I have been extremely lazy. It was so dark and dreary this morning that I just slept in. I did manage to get it together enough to go to my mom's for lunch. She cooked the turnip greens that I picked yesterday.
I came back home, put on my flannels and grabbed the remote. As soon as I got all comfy on my bed, a call came that my part for my dishwasher was in....so, I had to wait for the repair man. When he left I did a repeat of my preparation for slothfulness and spent the rest of the day sleeping.......well, except for the 15 minutes when I cooked some cookies....JUST WHAT I NEEDED!
At 10 this morning I had a coffee to go to at my next door neighbor's house. Unfortunately, for me at least, all she had was sweets. I cannot eat sweets that early in the day due to blood sugar issues. Rather than be rude, I ate a couple of small pieces and drank sugared spiced tea. After that social event, I went and found my cousin, who is visiting from Virginia, and we went to lunch. After that she brought her mother down to see my mom and dad. I was at Mom and Dad's picking turnip greens so Mom can cook them tomorrow. After that we all met at a restaurant for dinner, then I took Mom and Dad back to their house and I got home at 7P.M. Long, long day and I am FULL!!!
There's a TV show on HGTV named "I want that!" While I was out yesterday, I went to a Christmas store and found exactly what I want for my yard. It's a little pricey, so I don't know if I will spring for it or not. I have NO....ZERO.....NADA Christmas decorations, so I'm not sure how I will handle decorating for Christmas. I bought a big lighted hologram type thingy that says "Happy Holidays" that I am going to put on my privacy fence. I don't like it to say that, but I could not find anything big that said "Merry Christmas". I guess it's just a sign of the times.....unfortunately!! Here's the one I am comtemplating for the yard. It is animated. He takes his hat off.
I tested a recipe that was in the paper this week for apple dumplings.....I only made 4... thank goodness...because I have eaten 3 of them!!They are much too sweet, but quite delicious and maybe I didn't check it soon enough, but they didn't seem to do a number on my blood sugar. It's just the mornings that I cannot eat carbs. This morning I ate a mini bagel without any jam and drank a cup of coffee and it caused my BS to go to 203!! Coffee even raises my BS in the mornings, but I have read that caffeine will raise it. Diet cokes don't seem to do that, but coffee does. If I have to drink decaf, the purpose is defeated!!!! Usually, when I make coffee, that's all I have for breakfast so it really doesn't matter.
I could not light the pilot light on my fireplace by following the directions. My brother came and turned it on and stuck a lighter to it and.....hello!!!!! it's lit! He just pisses me off making me look like a doofus!! I am afraid of gas, electricity, and varmits.The remote does not work, but it has a battery that is probably dead. I'll change that before I call the fireplace people!!
After having lunch with the girls, I went to Shreveport on a mission to stock up on my beloved C2 cokes. I love those things, but the Kroger where I usually get them didn't have any and,of course, there was no one around to ask. I went to every grocery store in Shreveport and came home empty handed. I googled it and found various opinions about it being discontinued, but nothing official. What to do...what to do! I hate when I find a product I like and then it disappears. Coke never did any marketing for that drink, so if it failed it is definitely their own fault. This drink was made with both sugar and splenda and it tasted just like regular coke to me with half the calories. GGGRRRRRR!
I spent all day at my mom and dad's working in their yard. My brother saw me out there slaving away, so he went and got his chain saw and came back to help me. We are a working machine when we get together. I don't do chainsaws. That's about the only piece of equipment that I haven't used. As long as I have him, I don't need to. He is giving me grief about my age though. I asked if my doctor here would give me a flu shot and he said probably at my age he would!!!! He wouldn't give my brother one yet because he wasn't old enough to get one of the first shots available!!!That boy is looking for trouble!
Now I am dazed and confused because I stopped at a local shop to get some ryegrass seeds to overseed my yard for the winter. They quoted me $26 for 50 pounds. My sister-in-law just bought some there for $11. They told me she must have bought just rye seed instead of ryegrass seed!! WTF! They couldn't tell me the difference, so now I am on a mission to find out which one I need. My sister-in-law said hers are already coming up nice and green and it looks like ryegrass to her!
Today has been spent at the computer working on reunion stuff and scanning old pictures from the school and just generally mundane stuff! Finally, at 5 I went out and mowed the yard just to get out of the house. Got all the mowing done, but not the trimming and blowing. I'll do that tomorrow.
My garbage people pissed me off today because they didn't pick up my garbage. I guess it was because I had a couple of large, old picture frames with the glass still in them on top of the garbage. It would have been safer for them to pick them up that way and toss them in the truck because now I have broken all the glass and frames and put them in garbage bags. The glass is poking holes in the garbage bags and it will now be dangerous to pick up. As a new resident, I have never been given any kind of guidelines for what is acceptable garbage. I was never even told when the garbage days were.
Update: My neighbor just told me I got my garbage out too late. They came before 8:30 today and they usually come in the afternoon. I had it out by 9 A.M.!!!
It's one of the 7 deadly sins and today I have committed it all day long. Some days I just don't have any desire to do anything.....so I don't. Thank goodness I can do that now! We are having rain and for this part of the country, it is an event because we are suffering from a 10 inch deficit. It rained all night and all day an easy, slow rain that is most beneficial for our predicament. My grass is smiling right now. I didn't even get up until after 9, then I made some breakfast and went back to bed. I never even raised the garage door today. I did make some spaghetti this afternoon and ate that and went back to bed. I see a pattern here!! I just ate ice cream and I am going back to bed and watch some TV!!! And there are lots of "I's" in this post, so perhaps I have regressed to third grade as well!!
Today was our bi-annual school reunion of which I am a co-chair. I dread getting ready for it, but it always turns out very nicely. My co-chair does most of the work and I just do the computer stuff. There were 4 people there from my graduating class, which is not bad since two of them are dead and we only had 19 in our class. We are talking small town America here!!!!! Now it is my job to make all the edits in our database and add/delete as we get more addresses or have more deceased. It was a nice time, but I am glad it is over for another two years! My dad was the oldest grad there and he and my mom were the couple married the longest (65 years). They won all the prizes!!!
I was at Mom's by 8 this morning ready to work in the yard. I saw her put a huge pan of dressing in the oven and wondered why she was doing that. Then.......duh! It dawned on me that today is "Graveyard Working Day". That is an old tradition where the oldtimers took their rakes and hoes twice a year to the graveyard and cleaned it.....thus the name. Everyone brought food and had dinner under the trees. Now, no one has to hoe and rake because someone mows the cemetery, but tradition continues and food and flowers are brought. I always take Mom to this event because she cannot do it by herself anymore. She can't even walk out to the gravesite and place flowers on the graves of her parents and grandparents. I guess the next time she goes out there will be in a casket. My brother, his wife, and I will all be buried there as well. I worked in Mom's yard a little while, then had to go back to my home and shower, then go back and take her and Dad to the cemetery.
I am back already after going to the Red River Revel, looking at all the art, and,yes, eating stuff I shouldn't have. So far.....no ill effects on my stomach. While I was away my brother came by, which always seems to happen when I am gone. He just called and we are going out for catfish tonight. OOOOO.....my aching stomach! Maybe I'll be hungry by then!!
Turns out it was all related to the power being off a few minutes earlier this week. It caused a problem with the circuit board. All the repairman had to do was unplug all the little wires and plug them back in and it works now. He is ordering a new circuit board because the dishwasher is still under warranty and it shouldn't have done this.
The weather is too perfect to stay home today, so I am off on an adventure. I'm still debating where to go, but I'm thinking it may be here. If I decide against that, then I may go to the movie to see The Guardian, which was filmed here, or Open Season, just because I love animated movies. The movies may win out simply because I was sick last night apparently from the corn dog or the funnel cake I ate at the fair. The Revel will have lots of food booths from which I probably don't need to partake, but I can't resist. I have no will power!
Tonight I went to the Parish Fair (that's County Fair to everyone on the planet except Louisianians). It reminded me of awesome times as a kid. We always got a day off from school and a school bus took all who wanted to go to the Fair for the day. It was a big deal to get asked by a person of the opposite sex to be his/her date for the day. I still remember who I went with one year. The reason I went tonight was to watch my cousin's grandchildren show their livestock. It was really interesting and I learned a lot about cows!!! Right now I am full to the gills with funnel cake!!
except how much all these medicals tests actually cost me! The doc's office called and said everything was excellent, but I needed to pay close attention to my blood pressure. Seems it was too high in the doctor's office, but isn't that usually the case?? I will check it. I have a monitor somewhere......since I moved I have no idea where!
I do have a heart and it is functioning properly and the mammogram is negative. Now if the bone density test is normal, I am good to go.
Now the bad news. My dishwasher has been washing since 10 this morning and it won't stop!!! WTF!! I have a call in to the appliance repair place. Hello!!!!! Brand new dishwasher!!!!
The Myoview Stress Test was a piece of cake.....just a lot of waiting. The doctor's nurse practitioner directed the treadmill part of it. He said all my indicators said I should be able to do 5 1/2 minutes. I did 7. These are not just regular treadmill minutes going at my own rate, but going uphill very fast. He did not see any problems with my heart during that test. The doctor has to read the pictures taken while I had the radioactive isotopes going through my veins. He should give me a report tomorrow. Have not heard anything from the mammogram or the bone density test. I'm tired of tests and the one today took $500 from my own pocket. That's just the part the insurance didn't pay! I will never ever understand insurance as long as I live. Furthermore, I don't even want to!
I double checked with my doctor who ordered the nuclear stress test for me to make sure this was the test he wanted me to take. It is. When I found out how much my part of the cost was going to be, I came very close to just cancelling. I decided to not piss off my new doctor this early in his attempt to manage my health care. So....I have sucked it up and will go take the damn test. I'm a bit apprehensive about it still! For some reason, I am afraid it might find something wrong. 
Once again the cheese was gone, but the trap was still set. I guess I don't know how to set it right, yet! More D-Con was gone! Now I have peanut butter on the trap. The little sucker needs some variety!
When I went out to check my trap this morning, I saw the mouse scamper away. I'm sure he had a full stomach because once again the cheese was gone and the trap was not sprung. I took my trap to my mom's to let her show me how to do it right. I will try again. The D-Con is disappearing. Mom told me that D-Con is warfarin, which is what her Coumadin (blood thinner) is made from. It makes the mouse bleed to death inside, but it may take several days. Now I'm starting to feel bad about tempting the mouse with bait. I didn't know it would kill him like that!
and I do choose to SLAY it, is that pesky little mouse. I can't find any useful purpose for mice...well, if I don't count Mickey and Minnie. Last night the cheese went missing off the trap, but it was not sprung. I guess I don't know how to do it right. Today I purchased three of those ultrasonic pest thingies and put two in the garage and one on the patio. They are supposed to repel mice, roaches and spiders. I haven't seen any roaches yet!! Spiders are abundant.
On a scary note involving yet another snake....my sister-in-law was moving a soaker hose in a flower bed at their lake house and didn't see a coiled copperhead not even 6 inches from her hand. She did not get bitten, but it is a miracle that she didn't. She killed the snake. 
No, not in my house, but in the shed where I keep my lawn mower. Everytime I move the lawn mower, he runs out. Last night I bought d-con and put it out there, but I won't know if he's dead if he eats that and goes off to die somewhere. I need proof, so today I am going to buy a mouse trap. Will I ever be done with varmits??? I am going to buy those utrasonic devices that plug into the wall and put them in the garage because once they find a nice warm garage for winter, they will find a way to come inside. That is absolutely unacceptable!!! There is a huge field behind my house and I am sure it is full of mice looking for a warm winter home. Not mine, PLEASE!!!!
Had the mammogram and the bone density tests. Next it is the stress test. Bone density was a piece of cake. I just pray that everything is OK because by the time one gets to 63, all kinds of things start falling apart. I'm glad my mammogram was in October. Now it will be easy to remember next year because of all these pink ribbons everywhere in October. 
I got a note from the hospital where I will have my stress test next week which outlined all the things I can and can not do before the test!! WTF! The last time I had a stress test, they put a few electrodes on me and I got on a treadmill which they constantly manipulated faster and higher. I was on 9 minutes before they got my heartrate up to where they wanted.
This next one is a whole different animal...it's a Myoview Treadmill Stress Test. I had to look this one up and it involves an IV, isotopes nuclear stuff, no food or drink since midnight. My appointment is at 11:30 and they said prepare to stay 4 or 5 hours. What! With all that and NO food I might actually have a HEART ATTACK!
Not many people have heard of chinquapins, but my brother and I love them. They are a very small chestnut type nut. They look like an acorn, but grow inside a burr. When that burr opens up, it is east to get the nuts out, but not before then. My brother called today and said the chinquapins were ready and he was going to the trees to mow under them and knock some out on the ground. I ate so many of them that my stomach still doesn't feel good. In the picture, it's the little brown acorn looking nut that falls on the ground. It's a sure sign of fall although the temp doesn't reflect that autumn is here!
My mom called this morning and started talking about Dad's appointment with the hearing aid man today and how we would handle lunch. I had totally forgotten and had no idea what she was talking about. I have a mammagram scheduled by my doctor for me at 1:30 today. It is hunting season so my brother is out chasing Bambi with his bow and arrow. I could have changed my appointment, but my sister-in-law is going to take them. I need to pay closer attention to when their appointments are. In my defense, I did not make any of the 3 appointments I have coming up. They were all made by my doctor's office! 
