Oh drat!

DRAT, DRAT, DRAT!!!!!

My computer died Saturday. It had been acting funny, sluggish and balky and then it died. So I have it in the back seat of the car and the fellow who works on these computers at work is going to come and get it and try to do something with it for me. Oh I hope he can fix it and that it doesn't cost too much! It's absolutely amazing how empty my life feels without the dumb computer!

However, I really do get a lot more done at home. I sanded the carport door and got two coats of rust neutralizer on it. I'll paint it maybe next weekend.

Then I started the biggest project of all, the WORK ROOM!

I took 2 large garbage cans and 4 black plastic bags of stuff out to the street yesterday along with a gigantic lamp shade. I can actually walk around in the work room and see stuff! I had boxes of stuff I hadn't unpacked from Orlando as well as some I hadn't unpacked from my move into the house a little over 4 years ago! Now, of course, the dining room is filled with empty boxes...not sure if I'm going to put them out with the recycling stuff or just take them to the dump...they have cardboard bins there. I'll think about that another day.

It's finally cooling down outside! It's not supposed to get out of the 80s for the next week or so and a few night are supposed to be in the low 50s! Yeah!!!!! This should help with the power bill.

You know, I was thinking last night that I don't know how to pay my bills without a computer! Wild isn't it?

Fish fry

Just got home from the Waukeenah Methodist Church fish fry! Talk about good!!!!! Had fried mullet, cheese grits, slaw, baked beans, hush puppies and unsweet tea. Couldn't eat my pound cake, so I brought it home! Since Waukeenah is about half way between my house and my sister's house we met there and sat with a bunch of old friends that just happened to be there at the same time. It was great!

Took Shirley to the vet to have her rabies shot this afternoon and to have her nails clipped. She has lost 2 pounds! I've really been working hard on her diet and it's good to know that it's working. She needs to lose about 3 more pounds and I need to lose about 30!

The door from the carport is rusting something terrible! So yesterday I got some rust neutralizer from Lowe's and some paint. I'm going to try to fix it tomorrow. Not sure if I need to sand it first or not...guess it couldn't hurt. Cross your fingers that it works, it really looks horrible!

Yesterday was spent doing little things, things that are so easy to put off 'til tomorrow.

I started by washing candle containers...now this sounds like such a simple thing, but as I use coffee beans in these glass containers it was a little more complicated...in fact one of the larger ones is topped off with potpourri, so I had to fish out the dried stuff first and then the candles and then pour the coffee beans into a colander so I could shake the dust off. The potpourri went into a recycled brown bag to be shaken with a cloth that had lavender oil on it...then I was able to wash the glasses. It's amazing how much more light they put out when they're clean! Look much better, too!

Then, I went to work on my recliner. The puppies chewed the fabric and stuffing off of both arms leaving big chunks of ragged wood exposed and I've actually gotten splinters in my arms a couple of times! The chair has wooden arms topped with fabric covered wood things and I thought I could just unscrew the wood things and recover them and reattach...well, the best laid plans of mice and men... Number one snag was that no matter what I used I couldn't undo the screws. I even got my drill out and that didn't work. So I ended up adding padding and just stapling the fabric on the underside. The fabric I had chosen was a little colorful, but I liked the tone on tone of the reverse side and decided to use that. However when I started the stapling I reversed the reverse on the first arm and ended up with the color on top, so I just went ahead and did the same to the second arm...doesn't look too bad and no more splinters!

Made a beef stew with some certified organic stew beef that I ordered over the computer from White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, GA. I got several different cuts, some strip steaks, short ribs, stew beef, ground beef and it seems there was something else. Well, I mean to tell you, that that was the very best investment I've made in a while! The meat is wonderful, tender, lean, flavorful and almost seems like a new type of meat because it's so different from the stuff I buy in the grocery store. I will definitely order from them again! And, it's delivered right to my door!!!!!

I have some organic lettuce starts that I need to pot up. They are in six-packs in a cardboard box on the kitchen counter under florescent light for now and doing quite well, but they really need to get into something with a little more foot room (and out of the reach of the cats who seem to thing the lettuce is there for them!). I hope to do that today, but first I need to run up to Lowes in Thomasville, GA and pick up a couple of things, dirt being one of them!

Tuesday night was bridge in Tallahassee. Our hostess served sausage, black beans and rice and a really nice salad for supper and a fruit cocktail cake with ice cream for dessert. I know, "FRUIT COCKTAIL CAKE!!!", but really, it's wonderful! You actually don't know the fruit cocktail's in it and it's delightful! She sent me the recipe yesterday and I hope to make it and take it to work soon. Oh, and bridge was fun, too! I didn't win, but did much better than my norm. I think that's why they like for me to play with them...it makes everyone else look so much better!

There are so many little projects I'd like to take care of. I'll see what today brings!

Rain

We have had enough! It has rained for days and nights for so long that I can't count the numbers. We have mosquitoes the size of birds and when the back door is opened they flock in in droves!

Funny, isn't it, that when we need rain we pray for it and when we think we've had enough we pray for it to be gone! Perhaps this is what religion really is, prayer for our needs.

The planters that I splurged to fill this past spring are pitiful. They had about 3 weeks of glory and the remainder of the summer have really had to struggle to live, much less bloom or produce. Rotten tomatoes, rotten peppers, rotten marigolds, rotten geraniums...you get the picture...not pretty is it? Funny, but the weeds are really doing quite well. Not sure what the name of the one that has tiny leaves and grows in a rosette pattern closely hugging the ground and strangles out everything it reaches is, but it's really flourishing, even in planters!

This hasn't been a good summer for gardening. When it wasn't flooding it was bone dry and awfully hot. Nothing in between. I remember a time in central FL when we could count on a pretty good rain around 3 every afternoon and sun the rest of the time. Now, if I could pray up the perfect gardening weather, that would be it for me! Now, I understand that this is north FL and it is different, but shouldn't prayer make up for the difference? Evidently not.

A rainy day in north Florida

I left home around 7 this morning and went to Tallahassee to my sister's house. We decided to vary our regular breakfast routine and go to I-Hop instead of The Village Inn. I was tickled to see that they actually had a few seniors selections and we both ordered omelets with pancakes from that section. We were both slightly unhappy...the pancakes were very good, the omelets were quite dry. I think we'll try Denny's next time, but I really think we'll end up going back to The Village Inn...we usually get good service (we didn't the last time, however) and we always enjoy the food.

We went to the nursing home from breakfast...that's something you should never do on an empty stomach! Mother was asleep in her wheelchair at the breakfast table and we didn't stay long.

Publix was having a really good buy-one get-one-free sale and a bunch of things priced 10 for $10, so we went there from the nursing home. Bought a bit more than I should have, but really got some good deals!

I stopped for gas before I came home and saved 16 cents a gallon by gassing up in Tallahassee! I managed to get home right before the rain started and it hasn't stopped yet and it's after 8:30! We've had a bit of a dry spell lately so this is really welcomed!

Back among the living

Today is the first time in a week or so that I've almost felt like myself. I still have 2 more days of the antibiotic to take...I took all of the steroid I'm gonna take, don't like the way it makes me feel, my heart races and I'm jittery on it.

No news to speak of. I did a couple of loads of laundry today and when I folded them to put them away it thought they were rather odd. I had 8 sets of underwear, 3 nightgowns, 3 pairs of pajamas, 3 extra pillow cases along with the sheets and pillow cases that I normally use on the bed and 2 towels. No clothes! I've been quite sick.

I almost missed Big Brother last night because I'd lost track of the days. If Leah Jane hadn't mentioned going to Church when she called I probably wouldn't have known it was Sunday.

We didn't work today and that was a blessing. I'm pretty sure I'll make it tomorrow.

Thank goodness for the computer and tv! I pretty much lived with one or the other then entire week. FaceBook is a life saver! Love it!

Neighbor things

One day last week, I think it was Thursday, I heard a chain saw going 90 to nothing next door. A little later I went out to check the mail and saw a pretty big tree down on my hedge between my yard and his. Well, I waited and waited and the tree just sat there and I heard nothing from the neighbor about his intentions. So Tuesday I wrote a little note asking if he had any plans to clear the tree from my yard and Scotch tapped it to his front door. Later that afternoon he came over and told me that he had someone coming to take down some other trees and they would be getting the one in my yard, too. Late yesterday when I went out to check the mail and bring in the recycle bin I saw a young fellow with a chain saw clearing the mess out of my yard and hedge. I haven't been out to look at it yet, I don't feel good, but I'm sure it's much better!

I didn't go to work yesterday. I've been fighting a sore throat for a few days and when I got up yesterday my left ear was also involved and I really felt awful. I called my doctor's office and they finally called me back just a little while ago. I'm going in for a 12:45 appointment today. There is so much sickness (H1N1 included)going around right now and I really hate to go to the doctor's office, but this thing is only getting worse...I'd hoped it'd clear up on it's own...no such luck.

When I emptied my rain gauge on Tuesday it had 3 and 3/4 inches in it from 2 days of rain!

Tonight's Big Brother should really be exciting...both of my favorite players are on the chopping block!