After having lunch at a friend's house and helping her prepare some of the food for the Coronation tomorrow night, I went to the Social Security Office. I am not now, nor will I ever be eligible for medicare, but my primary insurance tells me that at age 65 I am required to purchase Medicare part B. I did that today effective November 1. It is supposed to reduce my premium that I now pay for my primary insurance. Yeah, right! We'll see! another $93 per month...bye bye!
I thought today would be a day for hanging out at home and just staying cool! Didn't happen. Dad called this morning to ask if I could meet them at Wal Mart and help Mom get groceries. Of course, I did. He handed me a $100 bill as I was leaving. Nice TIP!
This afternoon I had to go to Bossier City to my friend, Joy's, aunt's house. Joy's father has had one of my antique clocks for several months because it wouldn't run since my move. He brought it to Bossier City and I went over to get it. He only had the insides of the clock. I still had the case hanging on my wall. I took the case over there and he put the clock in the case, hung it on a wall and we waited to see if it was going to run. It did. He loaded it in the car and it promptly fell over on the first turn, but I have it hung up now and it has been running for an hour and chiming beautifully. Yep, I'm happy.
It's 101 actual degrees right now! Going outside is NOT an option. I took Mom to the senior revival this morning. She enjoyed it, but it was hard on her. The church is too big and involves too much walking from the parking lot (even the handicapped parking) to the chapel, then to the cafeteria for lunch. She was exhausted. When we got to the cafeteria, I sent her to a table to sit down and I went and got her lunch. I don't think we'll be going to that event anymore.
Meanwhile, my brother was taking care of getting Dad to his audiologist appointment. I believe tomorrow is a day that I can stay home. I hope so.
Mom called and told me that both audiologists had been in touch with them. Tomorrow afternoon I have to get Dad to the audiologist here and he is going to make a new impression and the manufacturer is going to make Dad a completely new hearing aide at no cost. This old one has never fit properly and has fallen out. Thank goodness it fell in his shirt pocket or we would have never found it.
Tomorrow morning I had already made arrangements to take Mom to a Senior Revival at my church. She used to go to it every year and one of the ladies from the church called me and asked me to serve coffee. Her main reason in asking me to serve coffee was that she wanted me to bring my mom. I agreed to it, so now my day will once again be full tomorrow. Maybe my brother will be able to take care of Dad tomorrow.
It's only 1:30 and I am done for the day. My dad's hearing aide died again yesterday, so I found an audiologist here in my town and went to visit him to see if I could bring my dad to him. He said yes....so I went and got Dad and brought him to see the man. He told him something was wrong with the hearing aide and it was not just stopped up. We left it with him for him to send back to the manufacturer since it is still under warranty. Dad has had nothing but trouble with that hearing aide, which is supposed to be top of the line. He told Mom that he wished he could just die and get on out of the way. That makes me sad that he thinks he is in the way. He is not. We will take care of him just like he has taken care of us.
I picked a bucket full of okra when I took him back home. Okra is one of my favorites, so I'll be having that later on today. Right now it is nap time while I water the yard!!!
I have lived in this house 18 months and have wondered why the master bath is freakin' cold in the winter and hot in the summer. Finally, I climbed up tonight to feel in front of the vent...NOTHING is coming out! Now I will have to call the people who put in the AC Monday to come out and check it out. Since I waited so long, I will probably have to pay them now. I'm such a procrastinator...Now it could cost me. I hate for anyone to have to go in the attic in this heat. It was 100 degrees in my garage today, so it is 130 in the attic.
The temp on my computer right now says 99 degrees. I don't enjoy hot weather, but I went with a friend early this morning to our Krewe Den where our Mardi Gras float is stored. It's a 40,000 square foot unairconditioned building and we were there to clean it up and get organized for the upcoming season. There were 6 of us and we knocked it out quickly so we could get out of there. Our theme this year is "Hello, Broadway" so we will begin soon to change the float up some to reflect that. I have to pay my $50 float riding fee and buy 2 cases of beads to throw. I'll probably ride in two parades. That looks like the most fun of all the activities.
When I left there, I had to go buy eggs and take them to my mom. Dad walked with me out to see the tomato plants that the moles are eating, but he went to his room to lie down after that. He is going to the community party at their church tonight. He wanted me to come, so I have to get ready to go back down there for that. What ever he wants...that's what I will do and I will do it without complaint!
I called my mom a little while ago. Since Dad was not in the house, she told me that he was in bad shape, but he didn't want anyone to know how bad off he is. He cannot breathe in spite of the fact that he uses his nebulizer on a regular basis. He told her that he thought he was nearly dead. Lately, he doesn't even want breakfast. Usually, that's the only meal that he will eat. He weighs 147 pounds. He is tired and ready to go to his heavenly home.
When I walked out through the garage this morning to go get the paper, there was yet another ground rattler snake in my garage. It was smaller than the last one, but it was still a SNAKE! After that happens, I am traumatized for a while. No one is more afraid of snakes than I am. This one was traveling along next to the wall headed straight for the door. Thank goodness he was on that side of the garage where there is not much stuff. If he came in the other side, there would be lots of places to hide. I would just die!!!!
After lunch with the ladies today, I tackled my mother's prescription drug company. Her doc gave her a prescription last Thursday for some pain patches. The damned insurance company says that has to be pre-authorized! Forget that the doctor says she needs it....what does he know! Of course, insurance companies all know more than doctors!! I lost the battle and the pain patches are $200, which Mom will not pay. Those insurance companies really chap my ass!! I'm MAD! My mother should be able to put one of those on her hand that hurts all the time or her foot that hurts all the time. GRRRRR!!!
Disclosure: I got this as an email and I totally concur!!
First of all, Dell should show up on the caller I.D. instead of "toll free number". I don't answer toll free numbers. They left a message that my order ship date wouldn't be until August 28th and I would have to call them and give them the "go ahead" to complete my order. They are required to do this since shipping is delayed that much. I called and was on "hold" for over an hour before I gave up and used the email address they had given me to use. I would have preferred to talk to a person, but DAMN....I got tired of their asinine music and "we are sorry for your wait...please hold"! Well NO...I'm not going to hold any more and I came really close to cancelling the whole order because of that long wait!! I didn't, but I sure thought about it.
I finally called customer service to find out why my computer hasn't shipped or the status hasn't at least been changed to a new ship date. Finally a HUMAN that spoke relatively good English found that due to the color I chose (pink) there was a delay. Apparently, a lot of people have ordered pink laptops!!! Who Knew!!! New ship date is supposed to be tomorrow. That's just great because the young man who is going to help me set everything up wirelessly starts back to school!!! CRAP!
We have been really, really lucky this summer with our weather because we have had lots of rain and not so hot weather. That all changed this week. I had to water my yard and postpone working to get a fall garden ready to plant at Dad's. I can't get motivated to get out and die of heat stroke.
Today I toiled on a much needed task of cleaning house. Even a new construction needs a good cleaning of the floors, baseboards, and under furniture. I have a problem with tiny little spiders that live under the baseboards and spin webs outside the baseboards. They are highly annoying. I bought some spider killer that I am going to spray along the baseboards and see if that helps. It seems that I am always battling some varmit.
First of all, it's tax free weekend in Louisiana. At Wal-Mart, that translates into redneck chaos. I didn't know it started today until I went to Wal Mart to get meds for my parents. The meds weren't ready, which could only mean that I would have to go BACK there later today! I didn't want to, but I did and the meds still weren't ready....which means I will have to go back tomorrow!
This afternoon I went to the funeral of someone I didn't know just because she was in my Sunday School class and they have no family. The pall bearers were all men from the class and most of the people in attendance were as well. Otherwise, the poor man would have had no one for her funeral. Sad, sad situation.
Tonight I went back to the home place and went to dinner at our favorite catfish place with the family. Let's just conclude that I am tired!!! mmmmmkay?
My estimated ship date was July 31. That didn't happen, so I just checked the website and it still says "in production" with ship date of July 31. Hello! It's August. I deserve an explantion or an update on my account.
I can't get in to the edit mode for some reason to edit the last post. I got the bird out. He was so exhausted that he just perched on the garage door. I was able to climb up to where he was and pick him up in a towel and take him outside. He did fly away, but not very fast!!
For the 3rd time, I have had a hummingbird in my garage all day long. He just flies around the top and can't find the big huge OPEN door. I even took the car out and left the door open each time I left today. He has had no food all day and has surely used all his reserve, but I can't get him out. I even went to try to buy a butterfly net, but I couldn't find one. I'm leaving the door open tonight and the car out hoping he will find his way out. The other two that did this eventually found their way out. I never saw them get out and it might have happened after they fell to the ground and saw their way out. I give up. I don't know what else to do.
Someone from my Sunday School class called this morning to tell me that another of our members had died. She and her husband were evacuees from Katrina and they lost everything. Both were in poor health, but they faithfully came to Sunday School even though they are Catholics. A fund was started by our class this morning at 8:30. I took my donation to the church this morning and told my cousin the story. My cousin and I were having dinner tonight at a restaurant when my Sunday School teachers came in with the husband of the deceased wife. My cousin had just given me some cash to donate to the fund. My Sunday School teacher came over to say hello and I told her that I had another donation to make to the fund. She said we didn't need any more. People had been so generous that one of the men from the class is taking the husband to buy him a suit tomorrow and we are buying some casket flowers and the casket. That's what it's all about.....doing the right thing!!!
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!!
I wish I had pictures to document last night and today, but my camera battery died. My "adopted" South Carolina family came through here on a business trip and spent the night with Grandma Beatty. I was thrilled to see them and loved sharing my new home with them for the night. Today Grandma Beatty was the Louisiana Southern cookin' grandma using all fresh veggies from our garden....peas, corn, cornbread, potatoes, and SWEET TEA. Nothing is more Southern than that. Denise will have lots of pictures. We went down to my mom and dad's and found a ripe watermelon for Megan. All is well! They are 'On the road again' (insert Willie Nelson here)!!!
Last night was a restless, sleepless night. My back was hurting in the kidney area and I was just sure that my infection was in the kidneys. It was so painful that I was seeing myself having to go to the hospital for IV antibiotics. Then I realized that I have NO hospital appropriate attire. Most times I was in the hospital, it involved surgery and only hospital gowns were needed. I sleep in boxer shorts and oversized t-shirts and I don't believe I own a robe. All this nonsense was running through my mind all night......thank goodness....it didn't come to pass!
I am semi back among the living. The doc gave me a shot this morning that should knock out my infection. I feel better already, but I have to take meds for 10 days. Even my neighbor across the street called to see if I was OK. She saw my paper still in my yard today and she saw my brother mow my yard yesterday....that was the kicker! She knows I always mow my own yard!
I finally ate a few bites today of a roll and ham , 3 bites of watermelon and one half a real coke. My blood sugar shot up to 215!!! Infections do a huge number on blood sugars. Hopefully, tomorrow will be much better. I am tired of being sick and feeling crappy.
The only way I can sit at this computer for a few minutes is because I took two asperins and got some relief. This is such a strange thing. The chills came back this afternoon and I ache all over, but I have nothing to blame it on....sore throat...no nothing. I finally took my temperature this afternoon and it was 100.4. For me that is significant because my usual temp is not 98.6, but always lower. Just a slight rise in temp can make me feel bad. Once again I have turned off the AC and fans and wrapped in a blanket. I have not eaten anything in the last 27 hours but 6 crackers, a banana and some cokes. I just do not understand what is causing this. I do know that it has happened before, but didn't last long and left just like it came!! One clue was that my blood sugar was 148 when I got up this morning. It's never that high unless I am sick or forgot to take my meds the night before. I think I took my meds, but I'm not sure. Boo... I hate feeling bad, especially for no damn reason!!!
