Again, some this and that!

2012 is a week old today.  As with many week-old things it's much too early to know how it will turn out, but I do feel comfort knowing that it has a pretty good chance of being a very good year.

I'm hoping to take advantage of this mild weather to get some yard work done today.  Just a few days ago the temp. was in the teens and today is beginning with temps. in the 50s!  That cold splash killed back many of the annuals that had  hung around long past their normal time and it's looking pretty ratty outside!  The Chinese Lantern vine on the fence was still quite pretty last week but is all brown & crumbly now and MUST come down!  The vinca, elephant ears and angel trumpet all have to be cut back...as do all of the crape myrtles.

I was doing a little weeding last week and something bit me on one of my fingers.  It had two little puncture places about a quarter of an inch apart...I figure it was either a large spider or a small snake.  The finger was angry for a couple of days, but nothing else.  It's fine now, but the marks are still there!

Okay, there's something I must get off my chest.  For Christmas I sent my three oldest children and their families packages...granted, they might not have wanted or needed anything I sent, but I did spend a great deal of thought putting those packages together.  Both Rosie and Terri  (and their children) quickly responded, but I didn't hear from the two youngest.  I sent a check to Beth and she did cash it, but that's the only way I know she got it.  Besides not hearing from the two younger children, I didn't receive anything at all from them, not a card or call or e-mail...not anything.  There. I don't feel particularly better, but it's off my chest.

Shirley's seizures seem to have stabilized.  She's on phenobarbitol twice a day (I can almost set a clock by her...she comes and gets me when it's time for her pill!) and has been for three months now.  Dr. Spencer said it might take a while for it to get in her system properly and at first I didn't think it was working, but she has been seizure-free for about three weeks now and seems more "with it"!  I just say to her that it's time for her pill and she lays down on her back and waits for it.  She has become very sly and has been known to get the pill between her gum and cheek and spit it out later, so I watch her like a hawk for a while after poking the pill down her gullet!  The other day I saw a piece on the floor right beside her, so I picked it up and prepared to shove it down her throat.  It felt a little funny so I put on my glasses to check it out...it was a piece of styrofoam!!!  Makes me wonder how many doses of styrofoam she's had! So maybe it isn't the phenobarbitol, but the styrofoam  that's making her better!  Her hips are another matter.  When she first started the medication she'd jump up in the easy chair by the back door for her pill but she misjudged one morning and fell pretty hard.  She injured her left hip several years ago when she jumped from a high bed and this fall from the chair injured her right hip.  Some days she seems just fine, but there are days when one or both will go out and she's just pitiful to watch.  If it's just one hip she'll hobble around with the bad leg tucked up to her stomach, but if both go out she can't do anything.  I carry her outside and lift her up to the bed or my chair or wherever she needs/wants to be...but that's taking quite a toll on my back.  So, the other day I tried to rig a ramp on the back steps with a piece of plywood, but that was a total fiasco.  Not only would the dogs not use it, but as soon as Bandi (the smallest of cats) stepped on it it fell!  I really need to have a real ramp built...wonder how much that's going to cost?  I'm still doing damage control with Bandi...not only is she a very small cat, but a very skittish cat to boot!  She is now afraid of the back steps and has a hard time getting in to the house!  She hasn't missed a meal yet and I feel sure she'll recover!

The 21st of next month marks a year since Stewball Achley and Goodness died.

I seldom make New Year's resolutions because I seldom keep them and I'll spend too much time kicking myself and feeling worthless, etc.  But, this year there is one thing I'm going to try to do...I'm going to try to update this blog more often.  We'll see.......