life situations

it is what it is

My Grumpy Day

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The day started out with oversleeping.  Not much, just enough to get me rushing a little.  Then I found out the city had turned off my gas because I paid it late.  After I had called to get an appointment with the P.A. to have my shoulder checked out, I fell asleep again and missed it by 15 minutes (would have been 30 by the time I got there).  The young lady said she would have to charge me for a missed appointment.

So I have been pretty grumpy all day.  The shoulder I injured in the pool fall has been killing me; I keep forgetting to call my occupational therapist nephew who graciously offered to help me for free; every night I fight with sleep.  Me: tossing and turning, getting up to pee, getting up to do something on computer, tossing and turning until, I suppose, I finally wear myself out in the wee hours of the morning.  Must be how babies feel… only I want to go to sleep.

Then the turning my gas off because I was two weeks late on my $10 gas bill just irks me.  Somebody else had a bill of $7, I believe; well, $7 plus 75 now.  Since I only use gas to cook with, the charge in the summer (heat the garage about a month in the winter) is meter rent usually, so I pay two or three months at a time; write one check.  Now my little town has decided everyone of the 3- or 400 patrons must pay by a certain date or off with your gas!  And to do the rehook-up is $75.

In the old days (last couple of months ago) the guy that reads the meters (who has caused part of this problem) could leave a note on your door or tell you to pay up or you would get shut off, or the keeper of the bill records would perhaps send a notice.  No longer: postage was too expensive I was told.  And the meter reader could not give you verbal notice either, just get paid his hourly rate to turn off your gas and then come back and turn it on again… that is, if you paid your $75 fee and your bill plus, I’m assuming, the late charge.  Hmmmm.  Five minutes versus 50+ minutes.  Sounds like the stamp would be cheaper.

I wouldn’t have minded paying my bill two or three months ahead instead of behind; wish I had thought of it or someone had suggested it to me.  Oh, I’ve been late paying it.  Sometimes I would wait to get the water bill and pay them both together, making me late on the $10 gas bill.  Sometimes I carry the stupid thing in my purse with the check I wrote out a week ago until I’m late.  The powers that be should be happy about that:  I’m paying late fees, too.  Nothing like the $75 dollar fee to hook my gas back up though.

Now… I’m just getting a propane tank.  I refuse to pay the $75.

 

 

 

The Family That Works Together, Aches Together

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Yesterday I wrote about falling in the pool and bruising myself and practically tearing my arm from the socket.  My sister wrote a reply about how we are a family that works; that’s just what we do.  It really doesn’t occur to us to ask for help, and generally we just pick up our shovels and dig in, whatever it may be.  I’ve hung drywall (ceiling and walls), dug a French drain around the garage, helped wire the basement, painted, canned our garden vegetables, cleaned house (not as well as I used to and never, ever as well as my Mom did), ironed, mowed/hoed/weeded, helped tear up a concrete driveway, moved furniture by myself (big stuff from upstairs to the basement) (used a sheet), and just generally worked like a mule.

And so has all my family.  And the in-laws.  And the out-laws.  My daughter rewired her bathroom by herself after reading a book on how to do it.  My nieces and nephews and their spouses are just as work hardy:  adding on rooms, changing out windows, plumbing, wiring, washing vehicles; anything that’s there to do, they can do it and do it well.

After reading her little response, I got to thinking about that work heritage and happened upon this picture that pretty well explains why we are all work horses.

Grandma Madeline and Mom 1925

When one was raised in the Great Depression, that person learned to work… and be frugal.  My mother never got over those years of lean times and always worked hard and saved harder.  She saved everything from money to tin foil.  And so did all the other ladies I knew that had gone through those oh-so-tough years.  Then they passed what they knew down to their children because what happened to them, well, it could happen to us, and we all needed to be prepared.

So we were taught at an early age to work:  cook, hang clothes on the line, iron, garden, clean.  Our neighbors up the hill, the Logsdons, had chickens, and Mrs. Logsdon would chop their heads off with an axe as we children squealed and ran from the flopping, headless hen.  Mom never had chickens.  From the photo I would imagine she’d had enough of them when she was small.

That’s probably why she married dad.  He was a grocer; it was what his family did.  So all she had to do was bring it home and fry it up.  Not a bad gig if you’ve ever been chased by a headless chicken.

 

Help! I’ve Fallen and I Can’t Get UP!!

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Those were my words from the bottom of the pool Monday evening.  I was walking down the deep incline to get the pump going again because it had stopped, (needs to stay dry for the curing stage of five days so had to get the rain water off of it) and as I was about two-thirds of the way down, unbeknownst to me, the bottom of the incline was wet.  My feet slid on the slicker than snot (I really hate that analogy, sorry) rubberized pool floor, and I went ka-whack!!  Hitting my entire right side in the free fall.  Since I was holding the rope we use to climb up and down that incline, I held on tighter to keep from tumbling, thus, I am fairly certain from the way it feels, tearing my rotator cuff.

As I lay there on my back staring around at Bikini Blue walls and floor, I was hoping I had not broken anything because it felt as though my thigh bone was cracked.

big black bug

After a little wiggling spell, I decided nothing was broken, and after looking around at the big bugs crawling all over the place, I hurriedly got up, really deciding I was fine.  After all, there may have been a baby frog down there as well.  EEEEEEEK!!

But I’m not.  I hurt from stem to stern and am bruising more and more each day.  My right shoulder is killing me, and I can barely use it.  I have decided I’m too old for this sheet.  What the heck am I doing at the bottom of a 10-foot or more deep swimming pool?

tomcat

So for the last two days, I have been dragging around like the town tomcat because I can’t sleep and I hurt like Hades.  I am praying for a miracle, so am quite sure God will forget about those awful things I said to Him and about Him Sunday afternoon and Monday evening and will heal me.

Bikini Blue wheelchair

Or at least send some knight in shining armor that will want to whisk me up on his Bikini Blue wheelchair and roll off together in the sunset… leaving the Bikini Blue pool for the frogs and the bugs.

The Messy Desk

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mine isn't quite this bad

Now this is pretty messy.  I only have one coke bottle, one water bottle, and a couple of glasses in the drink category.  The food is over the top as well.  There is no food at my desk… just the empty plates.  I show you these because that is another goal for this year: get my office in a work-friendly status.  It doesn’t help that it’s also the playroom with Kate and Ava’s toys and dress-ups in here.  So not only is my desk covered… the floor is too.

My desk looks more like this:

how do these papers multiply so fast?

I suppose those ten years worth of magazines may be part of the problem although I do have them whittled down to just one box now.  Y’all are gonna be very surprised when I start putting all those delicious meals and recipes on here.  Do I hear a faint “Promises, promises”?  Then there are all these other papers upon which I simply can’t even begin to elaborate.  Bert says I need a dumpster… and she was very serious.

By the end of the year this will be my office and desk:

I can't wait!

Old books:  tossed.

Useless papers:  tossed

Toys:  sorted and tossed

Bills:  tossed… oops, filed in the order to be paid because they will shut my water off if I am late in paying it.  And add a $75 fee to turn it back on.

When the metamorphosis is complete, I shall have an office open house.  Do not bring useless gifts; cash will suffice.

The Alter Ego Strikes Again!

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Alter Ego Worthless Son

That stinking alter ego worthless son kidnapped my hard-working son!

hard-working son

I cannot believe it!  He, the hard-working son, left with my car bright and early Saturday morning to get the pool paint because he was going to paint that afternoon, and I didn’t see him again until 4:30 that afternoon.  No paint.  What the heck?  He tried to explain how and why it was that he had been gone all day long without getting the paint for the pool, but, of course, he could not because that stinking alter ego worthless son kidnapped him.  Alas.  I shall catch that no goodnik one of these days, and get rid of him forever!

On the bright side, my little grandgirls were in the Kiddie Parade Saturday evening since it was rained out Saturday morning.  It was a rather small parade:  Kate and Ava and a little girl in the crowd we begged to get in it.  They made a circle in the road and that was it.  Rain has a way of changing plans and keeping them from getting back on course.  That is why I am still working on getting the pool painted:  the rain that caused the flooding.  But the girls had a great time even if the parade lasted all of three seconds.

The first place winners

Ariel

Little Ava went to sleep at 4:30, and the parade was supposed to be at 5:30, so right at the stroke of midnight, so to speak, she woke up and got to ride in the parade after all.  That three seconds was awesome for my sweetie pies.  There were some people gathered for the real parade that clapped, making Kate a star.

Ah, life in a little town.

Land Ahoy!

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the rock ledge is starting to peek through

The water is receding and land is beginning to emerge.  I actually saw roads today that I hadn’t seen in a couple of weeks.  All our water is moving down to Memphis wreaking havoc on those poor people down there.  Our poor people up here are now in the throes of starting over:  either moving to a new home or tearing up floor coverings, cutting away walls, and pulling out insulation.

They are throwing away things they didn’t have time to salvage and cleaning and bleaching what they think they can.  The trash that was floating all over the place is now getting left behind on the roadways and in the yards.

a small amount of debris

Today I saw some tires, huge trees, a swimming pool, and general debris.  The trees and shrubs are all brown where they were sitting in water, and now the water has gone down.  I’m not sure if that is mud or dead leaves.

It’s going to be odd to see the Fish Dock, as we call it, the floating restaurant in the photo to the right, back down to it’s normal water level instead of eye level with the homes.  The road actually goes down a steep hill to the river, and then there is a plank that people walk down to get to the boat.  Right now it may be higher than the homes.

God speed to those who are rebuilding.

Back to the Flooding…my basement to be exact

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It could be that I’ve mentioned this — that my basement flooded really badly about three years ago or so, and I have not yet recuperated from that horrible experience of staying up for three days to empty shop vacs, sleeping 10 minutes at a time — but in case I didn’t,  it was absolutely horrible!

no sleep!

And then it did it again a week later.  My beloved sister came that time and helped me, or I would have had a major nervous breakdown.  I will never get over the trauma!  So now every time there is a drop of water on the basement floor during a deluge, I freak totally out.

Except for tonight.  When I stepped on the throw rug at the bottom of the stairs and it went squish, I didn’t even freak.  Just asked God, “What do you think I’m made of?  Why do you think I can handle all this?  Because, truly, I cannot.”  Still waiting on the reply.  Right now I’m too tired to care… plus it is barely leaking, just soaked all the rugs and a few other items.  Nothing like the river that ran “the other time,” as I think of it.

Still, that is nothing compared to sandbagging and more sandbagging to try to save your home, and the water overtaking it anyway, before you have a chance to get everything out that you needed to get out.  Our high school kids have been volunteering their time to fill the bags and help any way they can.

let's hope they hold

The ground is so soft, full of water.  There is nowhere on the face of this earth that I would consider “safe.”  Earthquakes, mud slides, floods, tsunamis, tornadoes, hurricanes, lightening…

I’m glad I know Jesus.

2011… already an unusual year

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It’s not even halfway through the year of 2011, and there have already been historic events.  The one that touches the lives of those closest to home, of course, is the flood.  As I watched the news tonight in my basement, I heard this big sound like the washing machine starting… only there was nothing going on with the washer.  Then I realized my sump pump had kicked in!

sump pump

That means the water is trying to get in my basement.  Oh no!  I went through this just two or three  years ago, and it about killed me.  So after that fiasco, I had a sump pump put in and a concrete drain around the back of the house.  So far it has held up with all this rain.  I’ve checked the sump pump to make sure it was on, wondering if I would ever need it.  Tonight was the night.

And it’s still raining.

bin-laden

Osama bin Laden is dead!  After hunting for him for ten years, he has been found and brought to justice, in one way or another.  From 2001, the year I lost my husband, to 2011, the year I regained my strength, it has been a loss and victory for the United States as well as for me.

The earthquake and tsunami along the Japan coast was traumatizing… and I wasn’t even there.

Japan Tsunami

The images will forever be imbedded in my brain.  I wonder about the victims.  Who were they?  Young?  Old?  Mothers and fathers?  Entire families?  How are they managing now?

This was the year I set goals for myself and have met them; set a time schedule for those goals and met it (most of the time); achieved steps forward and inched a bit backward.

the baby grand

I planned the purchase of my baby grand, when I would buy it, and how much I would pay.  Teaching piano was one of the goals, and I am teaching.

The rejuvenating the house project may be a little behind schedule, but it’s getting there.  The wood floor was refinished close to schedule.  It turned out beautifully.

I started my blog; something I’d been researching for a few months.  And I’ve even cooked a meal in my quest to plow through the overabundance of recipes that I have.

2011 has been a most unusual year full of plans and events; some good, some bad, some happy, some sad, many out of the norm.  I’m very curious to see what the rest of the year brings.  A few things I am worried about and very sad to think of the outcome while hoping for a positive, successful one.  Some plans I am eagerly looking forward to such as our Disney trip for Kate’s 5th birthday.  The rest of what could happen or will happen, I just can’t imagine.

At the end of the year, I will come back to this month, the not-even-half-way-through month, and see how the year as a whole fared.

But in the meantime… it’s still raining and the water is still rising.

Where did our home go?

The Flood of 2011

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a sample from the highway

The water is unbelievable.  Not like a tsunami, but slowly rising a few inches at a time or a few feet at a time.  I drive out to work of the morning, and when I come home, things are covered by the water.  And it’s still raining.

roads that you can't see

As far as one can see, there is water where fields and roads can normally be viewed.  The water is unbelievable.  And it’s still raining.

The Give-Away Results

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Jill with her "laptop"

Finally!!  The picture is viewable!  Jill sent me the pic of her with her “laptop,” and I’ve been trying to figure out how to get it to be an actual picture instead of alphabet soup with a few symbols thrown in for roughage.  I never know how these things work themselves out; just glad they do.

It’s been a rough week.  Not just for me and mine but for my community and the surrounding communities.  On the heels of the tsunami and earthquakes come tornadoes and flooding; fighting rages in the Mideast; gas goes up while the economy precariously teeters toward going down or flat out free falls in some areas of the country and for many people.  My heart is aching for you all, and I could cry my eyes out (just about have over the weekend).  The list is extensive that is under the heading “Heartache.”

So what does this have to do with Jill and her picture with her new laptop?  Joy.  Joy in the midst of sorrow; a smile in among the furrowed brows; an “I-hope-she-has-another-one” happy thought amid the swirling, darker worries; the glimmer of sunshine popping out on a rainy, stormy, sad, exhausted day.

For a moment enjoy the fun I had with my give-away.  Thank you all for participating; I had such fun; you all had such good things to say, uplifting me, making me smile or laugh.  I have read and reread your responses so many times I probably know them by memory.  You make my blog fun as well as feed me your strength when I have none and give me your wisdom because I don’t have much.  I love you guys!!!!

pitiful packaging

The “laptop,” as you have seen above, was an apron, a wonderful piece of cloth that covers your lap when sitting as well as standing.  I’m truly amazed no one thought of that.

The box was a little worse for wear by the time it arrived in Ohio.  I can see I have to learn how to mail properly.  The postal employees wanted to make sure that the mailee knew the mailer was a novice packager.  Here is what the tag on the outside had to say:

damaged box but not goods

The contents were intact, nothing broken.  The balloon I had put in there was still blown up, perhaps not to its full balloon girth, but a nice, cheery, round-bellied blue surprise.

balloon to cushion the goods

In one package was her apron “laptop,” and in the other package was a sugar cookie candle.  You saw the rest of the fun stuff:  a photo album which will go perfectly for her pictures from their beach vacation; a key holder that says “Be Happy,” a car coaster with flip flops all over it.  She said she loved it all, and in fact, does look rather happy in the picture.

Jill has been through a lot this year with her battle against cancer, so I was kind of glad she won; she needed a prize for being thrown in the ring to fight cancer and coming out the winner.  It’s odd, too.  When I uploaded the numbers, her number won.  But just to make sure I actually did it correctly, I uploaded them again… and she won again.

So… I’m thinking the powers that be thought she should win this little fun give-away, no matter how small.  My birthday is in June, and I’m having another one.

Here are the results of your answers for the contest:

A Love Story and the blogs about James won the favorite blog with stories about the grandgirls, Jarred’s struggles, and my sunflowers coming in second.  Movin’ On Up and the grocery fiasco were No. 3.

Julie was first to respond (she really should get a prize for that).

The laptop guesses were great!  My very favorite was by Dymisha who said it would be  “cardboard with a keyboard drawn with a crayon.”  Now that is funny.  A laptop desk got the top guesses with Darla even adding that it would be a beach scene (since I was in Florida).  Notebook was the runner up (wishful thinking).  Gail said NONE!  (hahaha)  And then there was a toy laptop.

Some of you had NO faith in my ability to provide a laptop (you must know my finances) or even be able to sort through the comments and keep track of who said what how many times and when.  (Okay.  Now I’m confused.)  And some of you missed the opportunity to play at all!

June isn’t that far away.  Be thinking of your favorite memory of me or favorite story or favorite quote or favorite something (because some of you I only know through email or blog sites).  Don’t tell me yet… not till June.  Give you lots and lots of time.  I reserve the right to delete those most horrible, embarrassing, stupid moments, words, actions.

Hmmm.  Not much left, is there?