It's been a couple of weeks or so since I've posted.....dumb computer was in and out of the shop and then was totally dead for a while. Finally I went to Tallahassee Saturday and got a new one. A nice little Gateway desk top variety that no other hand or brain has interfered with. I guess this is the first new computer I've had and getting it all set up and on line was a major challenge.
Actually, the set up part was a piece of cake except for the monitor...I couldn't get the base attached. It took several attempts with breaks in between before it finally dawned on me that perhaps I should turn it around and try it that way. Presto! went right in! It's one of those skinny LCD monitors and it's absolutely amazing how much more desk top space is available now!
No real news. Work was CRAZY busy for a couple of months, now (as of Friday) it's dead! Of course, the weather plays a major part in that. We are quite dry and hot...88 yesterday and it's been several weeks since it's rained and the weatherman just said there's none in sight this week! In fact he said "get your sprinklers out"! I'm doing a little hand watering, nothing else.
Mother and Bert will not be going to Italy after all. Mother had an incident last week. She woke up with the room spinning. Bert ended up calling for an ambulance and they went to the emergency room. They found nothing wrong, gave her a shot and a prescription and sent her home. Bert told Nancy that there was no way he'd take her out of the country and risk something like that or worse happening. They'll do something in the states.
Helen's still hanging in there. A few weeks ago she went to the doctor for testing and they found that she's diabetic. She's not eating right and probably won't. The tumors are slow growing, but they found they had increased in size. Her memory is so severely impacted. It's quite painful for me to talk with her. In one conversation she'll repeat herself many times and each conversation is a repeat of the last 100.
I've had a hard time getting on Blogger lately, not to read blogs, but to post. I've tried several times from work and off and on yesterday. This is this first time I've been able to log on. Wonder if they're having problems?
Monday, March 26, 2007
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Saturday morning in Tallahassee
Yesterday I met Mother and Nancy at Bradley's Country Store at 8:00 for breakfast. We each had a Pepsi and a 12" country sausage with sauteed onions on a bun! Good eating! We sat out under a very old oak tree to eat at a picnic table that looked like it grew there! The weather was perfect and we really did have a nice time.
After we ate we walked across the road to let Maria potty and to look at some goats in the field...the goats were a hoot! They had wide rather high ramps that they were playing on, butting each other off and running up and down. Fun to watch. Mother said she couldn't walk the whole way (maybe 50 yards) so she went back and sat in her car until we got back. Then we sat back out at the picnic table and talked for a while more.
Mother had called earlier in the week and said she was going to have my kitchen remodeled. Yeah! I did tell her I thought it was a wonderful idea, but I would have to have final say on style and color. She very begrudgingly agreed.
So when we left Bradley's I followed Mother to Lowes...only she got confused and sorta turned around and had to pull over and I had her follow me. Anyway, we got there. We looked at lots of styles and when she saw what I had in mind she seemed less worried. My back was bothering me and I suggested that we each take some brochures home and look at them and then on another day we could look again. We did get a light for the dining room, but she called a while ago and suggested that I put it in the funny little room off the kitchen and go with another one we saw for the dining room...think she's right. I'll have the kitchen, dining room, funny little room and the kitchen painted all the same color...sorta a moss green, nice depth and rich color. I want to have the carpet ripped out of the dining room and of course the floor in the kitchen redone. The window over the sink also needs to be replaced.
This is rather exciting! I'm going to have to have an electrician put a 220 outlet for the stove on the opposite wall of the kitchen and they'll have to do wiring for the hood and the dishwasher and hang the two light fixtures and put an outlet on the front porch and put a light outside the french doors and I have two light bulbs that have to be changed.
Then I'll need a painter and a plumber!
I'm afraid this may become a bigger project than Mother thinks it will be. Those walls in the kitchen are plaster and I'm afraid that when the cabinets are taken down it'll all come down too and then there's the sheetrock thing that'll probably have to happen. Also, the floor isn't level at all and it needs to be jacked up...could be a very major undertaking!
Leah Jane had a brunch for Ann's birthday today. We began with Blood Marys and ended with birthday cake with a lovely casserole and sausage and biscuits and hot fruit in between! There were 6 of us and we laughed and ate and had fun!
After we ate we walked across the road to let Maria potty and to look at some goats in the field...the goats were a hoot! They had wide rather high ramps that they were playing on, butting each other off and running up and down. Fun to watch. Mother said she couldn't walk the whole way (maybe 50 yards) so she went back and sat in her car until we got back. Then we sat back out at the picnic table and talked for a while more.
Mother had called earlier in the week and said she was going to have my kitchen remodeled. Yeah! I did tell her I thought it was a wonderful idea, but I would have to have final say on style and color. She very begrudgingly agreed.
So when we left Bradley's I followed Mother to Lowes...only she got confused and sorta turned around and had to pull over and I had her follow me. Anyway, we got there. We looked at lots of styles and when she saw what I had in mind she seemed less worried. My back was bothering me and I suggested that we each take some brochures home and look at them and then on another day we could look again. We did get a light for the dining room, but she called a while ago and suggested that I put it in the funny little room off the kitchen and go with another one we saw for the dining room...think she's right. I'll have the kitchen, dining room, funny little room and the kitchen painted all the same color...sorta a moss green, nice depth and rich color. I want to have the carpet ripped out of the dining room and of course the floor in the kitchen redone. The window over the sink also needs to be replaced.
This is rather exciting! I'm going to have to have an electrician put a 220 outlet for the stove on the opposite wall of the kitchen and they'll have to do wiring for the hood and the dishwasher and hang the two light fixtures and put an outlet on the front porch and put a light outside the french doors and I have two light bulbs that have to be changed.
Then I'll need a painter and a plumber!
I'm afraid this may become a bigger project than Mother thinks it will be. Those walls in the kitchen are plaster and I'm afraid that when the cabinets are taken down it'll all come down too and then there's the sheetrock thing that'll probably have to happen. Also, the floor isn't level at all and it needs to be jacked up...could be a very major undertaking!
Leah Jane had a brunch for Ann's birthday today. We began with Blood Marys and ended with birthday cake with a lovely casserole and sausage and biscuits and hot fruit in between! There were 6 of us and we laughed and ate and had fun!
Saturday, March 03, 2007
We had a storm!
We all knew on Thursday morning that a storm was coming...we talked about it at work and it was on the radio and tv.
When I got home a little after 1 on Thursday I cleared the patio of furniture and plants and things...just put them against the house and shrubbery in the back, brought some of the little things in. The only thing I left in place was the rug that I have out there.
I sat bolt upright in bed at 2 am Friday morning thinking that something had fallen on the house. The wind and rain was Charley loud and then another giant boom of thunder with the lightening happened and the power went off. The storm really didn't last all that long, maybe an hour or so and then it was just hard rain.
This mornings paper said that it still hadn't been confirmed that at tornado had touched down in Jefferson County, but the physical evidence pointed in that direction. Any way, we were without power county wide for 6+ hours. After seeing what happened in Andolusia, AL I think we should all count our blessings!
The power came back on around 9:40 am yesterday morning. Then I showered and dressed and went to the bank. They had only been open for about 1/2 hr. when I got there and the line was a million people long! I waited. Deposited my paycheck (such as it is!) and headed to the Social Security office in Tallahassee.
Turns our that when I got there they hadn't been open very long either. Seems there were pocket of power outages all over Leon County too. My sister said here power went off just long enough for her to have to reset her clocks, but then stayed on.
Anyway, since I moved into the house about 2 years ago I haven't gotten a statement of benefits from SS and seeing as how I'm turning 62 this year I thought it was time to make sure that I really was still in the system and I need to know what I can expect to draw if I do take early retirement. I'll only have SS and have no savings or other source of income. The young fellow that waited on me was rather condescending and a little less than helpful at first. I told him I wanted to change my address with them (I'd already tried on the phone and on line and since I'm not at present receiving benefits I had to wait until the IRS notified SS about a change of address). Well, damn it, I just didn't care for that! The IRS has managed to find me to deliver tax return forms for two years, but it seems they still hadn't told SS that there was an address change. This sightly bored young man gave me the same run around. And finally I said, "Just when do you think they'll get around to sending me this information? I'm thinking about taking early retirement this year and I need to be able to make some plans." With that his head whipped around to me and he looked at me and said "Just how old are you?" and I said "I'll be 62 this year." At that he became quite chatty and helpful. Changed my address in the system, printed out an estimated benefit statement and gave me some advice. The way things look I'll really have to keep working full time...and I'm just so tired!
Left there and went to K-Mart and Walmart. Got pet food and kitty litter.
Got to my sister's house around 1:30, just as she was pulling into her driveway. We sat and visited for an hour or so and then went to pick up Maria from the vets. She was there to be spayed. Well, it turned out that she has a blood clotting factor problem and they didn't do the surgery. She's to be on medication for 3 weeks and then they'll check her again and probably do it then.
We took Maria back to her house and then went shopping at High Cotton!! Love that store! and, everything in the store was 20% off! Didn't get much, a candle and a pair of dish towels, oh, and we both got cards for Mother and Bert's birthdays! They're hoots! Had fun.
Then, we went to the Outback Steakhouse...got there at 4:20 (gift certificates from the Merrit Island group) and ate hardy!!!
Got home at 6:30 and was POOPED!!
Fell asleep in my chair watching tv and woke at 10 and got in bed. Didn't get up until 10 this morning. It's 4:15 in the afternoon and all I've done today is put the patio back together and clean the stove top...I've not even finished the newspaper!
Thank goodness tomorrow's Sunday!
When I got home a little after 1 on Thursday I cleared the patio of furniture and plants and things...just put them against the house and shrubbery in the back, brought some of the little things in. The only thing I left in place was the rug that I have out there.
I sat bolt upright in bed at 2 am Friday morning thinking that something had fallen on the house. The wind and rain was Charley loud and then another giant boom of thunder with the lightening happened and the power went off. The storm really didn't last all that long, maybe an hour or so and then it was just hard rain.
This mornings paper said that it still hadn't been confirmed that at tornado had touched down in Jefferson County, but the physical evidence pointed in that direction. Any way, we were without power county wide for 6+ hours. After seeing what happened in Andolusia, AL I think we should all count our blessings!
The power came back on around 9:40 am yesterday morning. Then I showered and dressed and went to the bank. They had only been open for about 1/2 hr. when I got there and the line was a million people long! I waited. Deposited my paycheck (such as it is!) and headed to the Social Security office in Tallahassee.
Turns our that when I got there they hadn't been open very long either. Seems there were pocket of power outages all over Leon County too. My sister said here power went off just long enough for her to have to reset her clocks, but then stayed on.
Anyway, since I moved into the house about 2 years ago I haven't gotten a statement of benefits from SS and seeing as how I'm turning 62 this year I thought it was time to make sure that I really was still in the system and I need to know what I can expect to draw if I do take early retirement. I'll only have SS and have no savings or other source of income. The young fellow that waited on me was rather condescending and a little less than helpful at first. I told him I wanted to change my address with them (I'd already tried on the phone and on line and since I'm not at present receiving benefits I had to wait until the IRS notified SS about a change of address). Well, damn it, I just didn't care for that! The IRS has managed to find me to deliver tax return forms for two years, but it seems they still hadn't told SS that there was an address change. This sightly bored young man gave me the same run around. And finally I said, "Just when do you think they'll get around to sending me this information? I'm thinking about taking early retirement this year and I need to be able to make some plans." With that his head whipped around to me and he looked at me and said "Just how old are you?" and I said "I'll be 62 this year." At that he became quite chatty and helpful. Changed my address in the system, printed out an estimated benefit statement and gave me some advice. The way things look I'll really have to keep working full time...and I'm just so tired!
Left there and went to K-Mart and Walmart. Got pet food and kitty litter.
Got to my sister's house around 1:30, just as she was pulling into her driveway. We sat and visited for an hour or so and then went to pick up Maria from the vets. She was there to be spayed. Well, it turned out that she has a blood clotting factor problem and they didn't do the surgery. She's to be on medication for 3 weeks and then they'll check her again and probably do it then.
We took Maria back to her house and then went shopping at High Cotton!! Love that store! and, everything in the store was 20% off! Didn't get much, a candle and a pair of dish towels, oh, and we both got cards for Mother and Bert's birthdays! They're hoots! Had fun.
Then, we went to the Outback Steakhouse...got there at 4:20 (gift certificates from the Merrit Island group) and ate hardy!!!
Got home at 6:30 and was POOPED!!
Fell asleep in my chair watching tv and woke at 10 and got in bed. Didn't get up until 10 this morning. It's 4:15 in the afternoon and all I've done today is put the patio back together and clean the stove top...I've not even finished the newspaper!
Thank goodness tomorrow's Sunday!
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