While I took a quick trip to McDonald's to get a Big Breakfast this morning, I had a message left for me from my cousin who was in the Dallas Airport headed this way. She needed me to pick her up in just a short while, so I did...then we had lunch and I dropped her off at the assisted living facility which houses her mother (my aunt).
Although it was raining in Shreveport, it was not raining at my house....so I managed to get the yard mowed.
Yesterday during church, my dad's hearing aide died. Without it he cannot hear it thunder. He cannot get an appointment for two weeks with the audiologist. I took him to Shreveport this morning to drop off his hearing aide in hopes that the audiologist can fix it without having to send it off. That took all morning.
I really wanted to get the yard mowed today, but that didn't happen because I had to work on a press release for the upcoming coronation of royalty for our Krewe. That's not easy since I have never been to this event and don't know anything about it. I went to the newspaper office and got the newspapers from last year as a guide. Then I had to locate some pictures to go with the article. It's all done and submitted to the proper reporter to probably screw it all up!!. I don't have much faith in the spelling and grammar skills of reporters. I know it was submitted with correct spelling and grammar. Who knows how it will end up!! At least it won't have my name on it!!
Early today I went to the store for Mom and then took the stuff to her. When I got there, she had already cleaned up from breakfast and said she felt much better. I knew she did or she wouldn't have had that done.
I went on to the garden and cleaned up the tomato row and planted 9 new tomatoes that are heat tolerant in hopes that we can get some more tomatoes before the first frost. My brother came and we picked peas. Now he has vertigo! I'm sure picking peas didn't help that any because bending the head over causes it to be worse.
I came home and mowed the backyard, treated some fireants that aren't supposed to be in my yard due to all the stuff I have broadcast over the yard to keep them out, and have now showered and ready for a rest and it's only noon!!!
This morning I was at Mom's by 8 o'clock so I could take her to the doctor. The doc checked out her heart due to her history with it, but the EKG was exactly the same as the last time. Although there is no concrete way to diagnose it, he is leaning toward vertigo as the cause of her dizziness. We got meds for that, so we'll see if that helps.
for my brother. When I got home from a Krewe meeting tonight, my brother called me and told me that Mom was having more issues with dizziness. He happened to be mowing her yard when Dad went out and flagged him down to go inside and see about Mom. She could not get out of her chair and when he got her up, she could not walk. He got her walker for her and she is using it, but she is still dizzy. A nurse was there just to visit and she checked all Mom's vitals and they were all fine. I will be going to get her in the morning to take her to her primary care physician. I say thank goodness for my brother for lots of reasons, but tonight I'm thankful he called me because Mom would not have.
Today I thought I was doing the right thing to get my tires rotated since they hadn't been touched since I bought new tires when I went back to my old Texas home to visit last summer. I found a nice Cooper store and got them rotated, free, by the way, and went on about my business. The car was pulling significantly left, so I went back. They switched them again and I left. The car was then pulling to the right. Damn! So...I went back. Turns out they weren't of equal pressure all around because one of the guy's air gauge was measuring wrong by 7 or 8 pounds. Two guys were doing the rotating, but their gauges were not both accurate. Finally, a supervisor checked them all with his new gauge and found the probem!!
It's making me very sad that I only have two C2 cokes left from all those I bought at Hilton Head. I read somewhere that production stopped in 2007, so I guess when I take my road trip to D.C. in the fall, I'll be checking stores along the East Coast for any residual inventory of my beloved C2's.
I just returned from checking on my mom. As I drove into my brother's driveway yesterday after church, he told me to go to Mom's and check on her. She had some sort of dizzy episode in church and when she got home, her blood sugar was in the 300's in spite of the fact that she had taken her insulin shot before going to church. I stayed with her yesterday afternoon while my dad and brother went to a funeral home visitation. She was fine, but said her head still didn't feel quite right. Same story this morning. I took some lunch to them, but she was already cooking. I cleaned her kitchen and left so she can lie down for a while. This one is a mystery unless it is just some vertigo, but why the high blood sugar!!! I don't know.
That was me all day. I never got out of my sleeping attire and pretty much slept all day, which probably means I won't sleep tonight. I was so lazy that I didn't even go the 50 feet to the mailbox until tonight and didn't eat anything but some cantaloupe and cookies all day. The end game of that was that I was in the kitchen cooking some chicken strips at 10 o'clock tonight because I am too lazy to go get some fast food and I knew I wouldn't last all night without some food. We are actually getting a cool front through tonight, so my spirits will improve with some cooler weather and low humidity, so, hopefully, this was a one day thing!!!
One of the requirements of the Mardi Gras Krewe that I joined is to buy a black tuxedo jacket. It is to be decorated with all kinds of appliques, sequins, and all kinds of gaudy stuff. In the introductory letter, we were told where we could buy a used jacket. Well, I went there today and it was closed. Then I went to the scrapbook store and it was closed, so I accomplished nothing except having lunch with the ladies at one of their houses. Well, I did manage to spend $1300 on a computer and I still have to buy whatever I need to get it set up wirelessly.
I have been researching this for two whole days...not a lot, I know, but I finally took the plunge and ordered a Dell Inspiron 1721. It's PINK!
I ordered some Chesapeake Crab cakes from QVC and they are terrible. I paid $70 for 12 of them so, of course, I know they cannot be returned. As I was perusing their website, I saw lots of complaints about this product, so I called customer service and in less than a minute they had refunded my $70. This is an awesome company as I have said before. They told me to give them away or throw them away. I told them I would not give them to anyone because they are that bad. When they did the presentation on tv, there was lots of crabmeat and very little filler, but the ones I received were not that way and smelled fishy. I don't like fishy!!!
I have decided that in order to avert an eventual melt down on my part and my computer's part, I need to purchase a new laptop. At this point, I only have a desktop that is five years old so its life is limited and I know that. After thinking about it a few days, I have decided that I will get a Dell laptop in addition to my old desktop and have it wirelessly configured so it can travel with me. I will also get an external hard drive and back up everything on my desktop to it, so that when it does bite the dust there will not be a major problem. I have a young high school computer genius friend that I will pay to do all this for me just because I don't want to deal with the frustration it would cause me.
Day ONE of building the road behind my house!
Today, it is done!
I thought it was going to rain this afternoon so I went to the movie. It's something I used to do often in Texas, but have done very few times since I moved. My movie of choice today was RATatatoulli....bad choice since I had to slay a family of rats this morning. I was not impressed with this movie and I usually like all PIXAR movies. This one was not funny, had no innuendos that adults would get while children would not, and it was NOT funny. I didn't laugh even once. I even considered leaving before it was over. Thumbs down on this one.
Small rant: If you go to the movie, try to make an effort to sit there for at least an hour and a half. There were maybe 15 people in the whole theater, but of course, the two who can't sit through a movie had to sit on my row. While they could have gone out the other end of the row and not bothered me, they each came in and out 3 times during the movie. WTF! Sit down or go home!!!
I threw a big chunk of rat killer in the flower bed where the rats are and when I checked after I got home, it is GONE! No rat I have ever seen could pick it up and move it. They can shove it around while they are biting pieces off of it, but I could not find it anywhere!! Geeze....this kind of stuff makes me crazy.
I was out finishing up the yard this morning when I found 4 baby mice in a flower bed. Go ahead and call PETA 'cause those babies are DEAD! I cannot be a hatching ground for rats!! It's just not gonna happen. Deal with it!
I'm just sure the Food Network is trying to contact me. Yes, I picked the blueberries. Yes, I made the cobbler. Yes, it is really, really good! I surprised even me!!
I spent two hours trying to finish up the yard today in the heat of the day. I know....I know...I'm an idiot! I finished the mowing, but still did not quite finish the edging. I kept having to sit down to rest and cool off. Last year I had a tall fan in the garage that I would sit in front of, but it bit the dust over the winter in the attic. I think another one needs to be on my "to buy" list. Edging just kicks my butt and I have to stop a lot because my back hurts and my arms get tired, but I usually keep plugging along until I get it all done. That didn't happen today. The back yard didn't get edged yet. I'll do it tomorrow. I think I will go now to my brother's and pick some blueberries....maybe even make something good with them!!!
I have been mowing and when I got to the back yard, something was moving in the deep, deep grass ahead of the mower. I finally saw that it was a big rat and I thought he would go on under the fence and out into the field beyond the fence. He did not! He came right back toward my house, so I quit mowing and came in and closed the garage door. I do not want a rat in my garage!!! This mowing job is turning into 3 days. By the time I finish, I will need to start over again. That rat really made me mad. I haven't seen any since the winter time!!
I am weak as a kitten. Since I haven't hit a lick physically for two weeks due to illness and subsequent weakness from that, I am still too weak to mow the yard. Of course, 100% humidity isn't helping any, but I waited until after 6 P.M. and the sun was gone. I could not even finish the front yard. Tomorrow I will have to give it another shot and try to finish. Geeze, old age sucks!!
The weather man said last night that we had been in a sort of drought for 7 years meaning that we were under the yearly inches we should have each year. I believe the drought is over! It has not let up all day and I have been so very lazy....nothing but eating and sleeping!! I have kept the garage door down and never got out of my sleeping attire. When I lived in Texas and it rained all day, I would go to Barnes and Noble and read or go to a movie. There are several movies I want to see right now, but I was just too lazy.
That's two woohoo's for two reasons. Big Brother 8 started tonight. I can't believe I have been watching that show for 8 seasons!!! Now I have something to look forward to on TV! Summer's pretty much suck for TV watching.
Reason #2 woohoo is that for the first time in many years, my cholesterol is in the normal range and not printed in BOLD FACE on the print out. It's 197, but I'll take that and avoid taking cholesterol meds. I have read and heard too much negative stuff about them. Even my triglycerides, which were 240 last time are down to 179. Unfortunately, my kidney numbers were all whacked out, but I was a very sick puppy when that blood was taken. I'm sure that's why and the doc thinks so too.
I went to Mom's early to make the fried fruit tarts for her. It requires rolling out 20 biscuits and filling them with apricot stuff and frying them. Mom had already rolled out 20 biscuits for her chicken pie and it's just hard, labor intensive work. I told her that when she is gone those people are not getting chicken pie and tarts any more. I'm not making them!!! Actually, when the last few of that generation is gone, the tradition of a 4th of July reunion will probably die with them. The next generation (me) is just really not interested. I know I'm not!
I made my trek down to the farm to do some things that I knew needed to be done in the garden. Turns out my brother had already done everything. Found out my mom's sister was being taken to the hospital....just got back from seeing about her. Tonight is the community concert for the 4th of July. It is always awesome and I hope to make it there. I have to make potato salad tonight for the family reunion tomorrow. Tomorrow morning I will have to go help mom roll out the dough for her chicken pie and her fruit tarts that she always takes to the reunion. Those people go get her fruit tarts before they put anything else on their plates just to make sure they get one!! That's how good they are, but we don't make but 20!!! The race is on!!
Just as I finished the last bite of my turkey and tomato sandwich, my dad called and said dinner would be ready in 30 minutes. I told him I didn't know Mom was cooking today. Well, she wasn't, but my brother and sister-in-law had been at their house working...mowing and picking peas...so she started cooking. I just asked him yesterday if anything needed to be harvested today. I would have gone to help if I had known. I kind of still don't want to get overheated just yet because of how sick I was last week. I feel guilty when I don't get there to help Stewart and Carolyn. Keeping up with the chores on such a big place is not easy. I just stayed home and took a nap!!
