You just never know!

Well, you just never know what's gonna happen next!

Sister started setting up for the estate sale at her house on Thursday and actually made the first sale then! I arrived on Friday morning and Sharon was already there helping with the set-up.  The sale was advertised for Saturday, but folks were out in force Friday and we sold quite a bit! Come Saturday morning things were really popping and we were very thankful that shoppers come in waves...it's really interesting that there are mad rushes and then restful lulls! Lots sold and we couldn't have done it without Sharon!  We had either hot direct sun or downpours...very little inbetween.  Even with a hat I got too much sun...Sunday we had planned to pack up, but were actually too tired and just sat outside with a 1/2 price sign at the bottom of the driveway...we were hoping to sell everything and not have anything to pack.  Sold a bunch, but not all.

Monday we started packing things for Wag the Dog.  Got hungry and decided to go to lunch.  Of course it was raining 'most all day.  We had to park in the back parking lot of Marie Livingston's and walk through the rain to get to the front of the restuarant.  With my first step up to the tiled walkway my feet flew out from under me and I took quite a spill.  Managed to grab something and didn't hurt myself too much, but my right shoulder felt awful.  We had a fantastic lunch with enough left overs for each of us for supper.  Then it was back to sister's house to continue packing in the rain.  A couple of hours into the packing I had another fall, much worse than the first one...I was carrying a big black garbage bag full of holiday decorations to the garage and my foot hit a slick black patch of slime and, frankly, it all happened so fast that I'm not sure just what happened.  I hit the cement face first and remember feeling my teeth hit and thinking "oh, please don't let them break" and then I had stars and blackness.  Somehow I scraped the side of my left leg and broke a toe on my right foot. I have a very small chip on one of my front teeth, a swollen nose and a bruised and very sore chin.  Both of my shoulders hurt like all get out and my back and hips are giving me fits.  All in all however, I'm doing quite well.  It could have been a lot worse.  Managed to drive home and to the vet's to pick Jazzy up...I'd picked Shirley up before going to Tallahassee that morning.

Yesterday, except for filling and emptying the dishwasher, cleaning the litter boxes and taking out the kitchen trash I did nothing...stayed in bed most of the morning and slept in fits.  Hobbled out to my chair around 3 and other than bringing in the mail and letting dogs and cats in and out did nothing.  Didn't even get on the computer.  Today is looking like it'll be very much the same, I'm much sorer today for some reason.  Feel sure that tomorrow will be better.

Overwhelmed and Pooped!

The past couple of weeks have really been rough!  My sister and I finally just quit going through Mother's things and called it done for now.  The weekend of the 5th we had an estate sale here at my house.  The response was amazing!

Sister made many, many trips back and forth from Tallahassee all week with loads of things and thank goodness was unable to get everything here!  I went to the local police station and told them what we were going to be doing and asked for their help with security.  They said they'd increase their patrolling, but we didn't see them!

On Wednesday, the 2nd, a friend of my sister brought 6 6' tables and several card tables.  I had 1 6' table, a card table and 2 smaller tables.  2 other friends of my sister each brought an 8' table and a card table and my sister had a couple of card tables along with 2-3 card tables of Mother's.  Even with all of these surfaces we still had things on the ground and things we didn't put out!

We had ads in the local paper here and the Tallahassee Democrat and folks started driving by when the tables were set out on Wed.  By Thursday folks were stopping by, so I put a sign at the end of the driveway saying Estate Sale Saturday 8-4, laughable now that I look back at it.  We made sales Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday!  Wow!  I packed the last of the things on Tuesday and got the final table out of the yard and onto the front porch.  That was a relief!

The main things that made it so hard was the weather.  It was unseasonly hot and each day we had 3-4 downpours/storms!  We got so good at tarping and untarping tables that at the end we didn't even think about it, just did it.

We were also extremely tired by the time Saturday finally rolled around.  We stayed on my front porch until 3:15am Friday morning just to keep an eye on things and finally couldn't take it any longer.  My sister and her dog (mine were boarded) slept in her car until 6:15am and I slept in my bed until 6:15am and then we started again.  A retired antique dealer that my sister met the weekend before came over from Tallahassee early Friday morning to help us price things.  By about 10am she was so overwhelmed that she call her husband, daughter and 2 friends to come over and help! and Sharon came on Friday to help also!

Friday night we were so tired that we decided we had to lay down and try to get some sleep/rest, but we were both too tired and too keyed up for any rest to be restful!  I made a dummy in one of the chairs on the front porch and with the back light from the living room it looked real. Sister and Maria started the night (@ midnight) in her car, but ended up on the sofa in the living room and once more 6:15am came mighty early!

The sale went quite well on Saturday and we were relieved when the last of the shoppers left and we tarped the tables for the final time.  We both agreed that neither of us could worry about what was left out and sister went home and I went to bed.

We packed up Sunday and Monday...but we still made so many sales on Sunday that we stopped packing and just sat on the porch until rather late.  Sister went home and was back again first thing Monday morning.  We finished our packing, but also made a few more sales.

We each took a car load to sister's house on Monday and I took another load on Tuesday.  Either Sat or Sun, I can't remember which, sister came over and we had breakfast at the Rare Door and each took another load to her house and I think I took another load over another day...wow!  The brain is gone!!!

The good thing it I'm on my way to reclaiming my house.  I know it'll take a while longer, but it's much better.  Yesterday I took a car load of empty boxes to the dump and that pretty much cleared out the carport (at least of the extra stuff!).

A few things of mine are missing.  The big pot and dipper I keep on the front steps for rain water are gone along with a couple of big boxes of candles...things I'll get over.  But dang it, the big pot was Murr's!

Well, we are doing it all over again this weekend at sister's house.  We think it should go smoother as most things are priced and we are more seasoned.  Wish us luck!

Hot, hot, hot!!!

Gracious it's hot down here!  92, 93, 94 degrees during the days and not cooling off much at night...and this is just MAY!  Imagine August!  Also, we're not getting the rain we need, we're having 5-6 days in the 90s and then just enough rain to raise the humidity and you know how that feels.

I got outside before 8 this morning to do some work that I've been putting off because of the heat.  By 9 I was soaking wet and the color of a beet.  Thank goodness I got the front bed by the porch semi-weeded and the major limbs picked up from the yard and out to the street.  Toward the end of last week I cut back my 2 pink Knock Out roses at the back door and just left the cuttings on the patio to dry...they're so much easier to handle dry.  Got those out to the street this morning, too.

I'm really having trouble keeping my two big herb pots.  They're drying out practially before I finish watering them...perhaps I'll put them in the shade.

I'll be so thankful when the estate sales are done!  Now, because of my things I've pulled out, the living room is almost as bad as the dining room and guest room!  At least I still have a clear shot from my chair to the tv!

Leah Jane's home.  She was gone for 3ish weeks to her cousin's house in central FL.  She said the weather wasn't as severe there as it is here...go figure!  She's having Ann, Norma and me for supper and a movie one night this week.  That'll probably be the last time the four of us get together, but Ann and her 2 dogs will be staying with me for a couple of nights before her closing.  That is sure to be interesting as Jazz is really not too good with dogs other than Shirley!  We'll just have to see how it goes...

Well, it's almost 4 o'clock and the sun should be pretty much off of the patio, so I think I'll take the garbage out to the street and then water out back...I can almost hear everything begging for water!

We're finished for now!

Yesterday my sister and I worked at finishing up as much of Mother's things as we're going to do for now.  We finished the kitchen, garage and the last of Mother's closets.  We were both totally wiped out, but done for now and it feels good!  Of course, when Bert moves into a retirement center or whatever, there will be a ton of work to do, in fact, if you were to walk into the house you wouldn't realize at all how much we've taken out.  'Most all of the decorative items are still in place and all of the furniture.  The kitchen is still quite usable with dishes and pots and pans, etc.  My sister followed me home yesterday.  First we stopped at Wag the Dog and gave them the last of Mother's clothes and then came here.  We unloaded her car into my guest room and dining room...what a mess! I still haven't unloaded mine, not sure where I'll put everything as there isn't room in the dining room at all and the guest room is quite stuffed!

We've set the dates for our yard sales.  Mine will be June 5th and my sister's June 19th.  Once that's done it will feel much better.  Except for the really good pieces, we'll donate to charity what doesn't sell.  The good stuff we'll market another way...the way still to be decided.

Friday, the 7th of May my sister and I went to the spaghetti supper at the Greek Church in Tallahassee.  Greek spaghetti is very different from Italian spaghetti, the herbs and spices used are intirely unique to Greek cooking.  Delicious!!!!  They give you so much that I can't imagine being able to eat it all in one sitting.  I got 4 good meals and 2 snacks out of mine, plus I ate the salad for breakfast one morning!  We'll certainly do that again!

My first tomato is ripening in the garden.  I didn't plant in the ground or in the hay bales this time...I've had such bad luck with that here...this time almost everything's in pots and looking good (as long as I water!).  When my sister and I got back here yesterday everything was looking pitiful.  We've had several days with temps hovering around 90 (yesterday it was above 90) and we've had no rain for a long while.  Thank goodness rain's in the forecast for the next few days, but I did water heavily yesterday just in case!

My friend Ann has sold her house and is moving to the coast the middle of June.  Sure will miss her.  Am having supper with her tonight, probably not again for a long while.  Sorta sad isn't it?  But, good for her...

I've really gotten into the Patricia Cornwell books lately...I've read 10 or so of them so far and have 4-5 more in reserve. I just hate the thought of finishing them!  But I am enjoying James Patterson, too and have several more of his to read.  Will have to find someone else to read soon, as I've really gotten back into reading.  Funny, I haven't read much of anything for the past few years and reading was such a passion for me all of my life.  Feels good to be doing it again!

Friends

Yesterday Ann, Leah Jane w/Max and Norma w/Maggie came over.  We sat on the patio and had wine and cocktails and shrimp and veggies w/pesto dip and we ate, drank and laughed for several hours. It was so much fun.  The weather was perfect and the yard is really looking nice.  Can't ask for more!

After 2+ weeks of dry weather the rains we've had lately are really welcome!  It looks as if we may finally be getting into a pattern of  alternating days with sun and rain and that's a good thing!  I'm going to put out zinnia and sweet alyssum seeds today.  As I'm such a lazy gardener I usually only broadcast flower seeds, so the rain we're expecting tomorrow will help seat them.  I really enjoy the random look of flowers that have been broadcast and generally have remarkable luck.  Cross your fingers that this holds true this time, too!

Last night I was reclining in my new chair dozing while watching tv.  Suddenly I woke just sweltering hot.  Turns out I was covered from ankles to chin in animals.  Shirley, Goodness and Mercy had managed to catch me unawares and very creatively drape themselves all over me!  Now, we're talking roughly 45-50 pounds of sneakiness and that's quite warm!  Thank goodness Jazz, Smokey and Bandi didn't join in or I may have smothered!

Not too much to say

My sister and I are maybe 2-3 days away from finishing up with Mother's things.  That sounds quite close, but in actuality it isn't.  We are only doing it on Saturdays as my sister really can't take more time off from work for this and it's something neither of us want to do alone...and since we're both exhausted from everything we're not working on it this coming weekend.  That's not to say we're doing nothing, just not the clearing out.  We're taking things to a cosignment shop and researching silver/china/crystal prices at an antique shop or two.

Yesterday I did 6 loads of laundry.  It's amazing how much had piled up as I hadn't done any since the week before Mother died.  I got all of the clothes washed, folded and put away along with some towels, pillow cases and dish towels.  There is still a big pile of winter bedding that must be addressed at some point, but it sure does feel better getting the stuff done that I did!  I was so suprised that the majority of the clothes were winter things!

I've spent most of my time and energy in the yard...the patio area inside the fence to be more exact.  It is really looking good and it feels so good to go out there!  My first iris of the year opened Monday.  It's an unusual color, a deep wine with a gold throat, beautiful!  Two or three more are almost ready to open!

The dogs just went crazy with their barking and it took me a bit to get them in.  I just found out what it was about...my yard cutting guy is mowing and his aide is weed eating.  Thank goodness!  It's almost knee-high in spots in the back yard and was really beginning to look ratty!  This will make everything else I've done look even better!

Enough for now, it's hard to think and type as they're mowing under my window now.

What happened to Spring?

Wow, we went from almost Spring to SUMMER!  Yesterday the temperature actually got up to 89 degrees!  Of course, the nights are still in the 50s and we have a front moving in tomorrow (I think that's what they said) and we should be back to the 70s for daytime highs.  That will be nice, I mean, my heavens, it's only early April!!!!!

I came home from Tallahassee Sunday with the trunk and back seat of the car stuffed to the brim with things from Mother's closet.  At first when my sister and I were loading everything I didn't think much about it, but then it hit me that Wag the Dog doesn't open until Thursday and both Shirley and Jazzy have an appointment for grooming on Wednesday.  There wasn't room to stuff a match book in the car much less two dogs!  I called the Humane Society first thing yesterday morning and got no answer, so I called my vet's office.  Told them my delima and they said to just bring everything there and leave it and they'd have Wag the Dog pick it up.  Nice, huh?  Well, when I got there the receptionist told me I was in luck, the Wag the Dog folks were there picking up their dog!  I talked with them and met them at the shop and unloaded everything!  What a relief!  There will be lots more as we've not finished with either of Mother's closets and haven't touched the kitchen or garage!

I took advantage of an empty car and went to the hardware store and got 5 2-cubic ft bags of natural cypress mulch, would have gotten more, but they didn't have it.  They should have some in Thursday and I'll get more. You know these past 2 years with Mother caused both my sister and me to ignore so much of our own stuff.  Managed to get 4 of the bags spread before the heat became too much, I'd like to get the last one out this morning before it gets too hot.

Oh, you should see my hair...you know how I tend to do stuff to it when I'm stressed, well, the night before Mother died I cut it quite drastically, actually I cut it three different times that night.  Then this past week I bleached it pretty good.  Now it's quite short and a really odd color, sorta a light red or gold or something.  I meant to get some dye yesterday while I was out, but forgot, so maybe I'll remember when I drop the dogs off tomorrow.  I only think about it when I catch sight of it in a mirror and I really try not to look in one of those things very often!  I think one of the blessing of aging is the eye sight dims a bit and unless you look in a mirror with your glasses on or in a magnifying one (shame on whoever invented those!) you can't really see the results of the years.

My house is a mess.  Not only have I not cleaned it much in a while, but there are all of these bags of stuff from Mother's house everywhere.  You can see the problem I'm sure, I can't do much cleaning with all the stuff around and I can't do anything with all of the stuff until we finish up.  My sister and I plan to have yard sales both here and at her house.  I guess we'll donate what doesn't sell as neither of us want more stuff, in fact, we're planning on putting lots of our own things in the sales, too.  I hope to sew up the sofa one last time and put it out to sell along with my chair and the other dog chewed easy chair in the living room.

I do know that this will all get sorted out and fixed in time, it's just that I'd like it finished NOW!  The only two places here at home that I can go that are clean and ordered are the kitchen and the back patio...well, my bathroom, too (I try not to go in there too often as there's a really big mirror!).  It'll be nice to reclaim the house!

It's Easter

We buried Mother a week ago today.  Even typing that doesn't seem real.  My sister and I have spent countless hours going through her things and find that very depressing.  Going through 84+ years of someone's personal stuff is just awful!  It seems that she saved everything...every scrap of paper, every letter, every Christmas card, etc.  We've not made great headway, but know we'll finish at some point.  We plan to give most of her clothing to Wag The Dog.  This is our local Humane Society's thrift shop.  They should bring in some good money for them.  The silver and crystal we hope to sell along with her jewelery.  Mother left everything to our stepfather (the house and the place in the mountains), so if we are to realize anything it will be from the crystal, silver and jewelery. With the economy in the state it's in I don't know if there's much of a market for that sort of stuff or not.  Neither of us want any of it.

Spring is just beartiful this year.  Everything is now in full bloom and is breath-taking.  I spent 7 hours yesterday putting out some colorful annuals and that felt good.  All of the rain we had earlier this year really brought out the weeds, some totally unfamiliar ones, too!

I want to build some raised beds for vegetables, not sure how to go about it though.  Wish I had someone to help.

Mother April 23, 1925 - March 26, 2010

Mother died at 3:35 Friday morning...she was less than a month shy of her 85th birthday.  Even though I know in my heart that this was for the best and expected, it came as a shock and it hurts.

On Wednesday of last week the nursing home called my sister at work and told her that Mother had taken a turn for the worse, they were unable to get a pulse, blood pressure reading or an oxygen reading.  She called me and I met her at the nursing home.  Mother was alive, but comotose.  We met with the Hospice nurse and the nursing home nurse and they told us it wasn't looking good, but that you never know...  We stayed most of the afternoon.  Mother was unresponsive and had no idea we were there.  We were told that there was no reason to stay and that they would call if there was any change.

Because my sister had jury duty on Thursday and was out of pocket I called the nursing home early Thursday morning to see how the night had gone and to see if I needed to go to Tallahassee.  I was shocked when her nurse told me that Mother had roused in the middle of the night and hollered and made a general ruckus that woke several of the folks there and that she was sitting up and having breakfast.  Sounded much better!

When my sister finished with her jury duty she went by the Nursing home and found Mother in the same state that she had been in when we were with her on Wednesday, but there was a cup of broth on her tray.

Friday morning before 5 (I'm not sure exactly what time) I woke to the dogs barking their heads off and my doorbell ringing and ringing.  It was my friend Ann.  My sister had called her because she couldn't wake me by phone (I sleep on my good ear).  Anyway, Ann told me that Mother had died and I needed to call my sister at the nursing home, which I did.  I met her at our step-father's house.

To make a long and rather boring story a bit shorter I'll just say that Thursday I made 2 trips to Tallahassee and that in between there were countless phone calls, etc.  Yesterday was filled with same.  Today we bury her.

updates

Lunch yesterday with two old friends was delightful!  We picked up friendships where we left off years and years ago as if the years inbetween had never happened!  It was all too brief however.  I hope we'll do this again before too long!

I had dinner with Leah Jane...we had left-overs from Ann's birthday dinner last weekend.  Everything was still delicious.

Mother is now under Hospice care.  They will augment the care the nursing home is providing and do periodic reevaluations of her condition.  No drugs or invasive care will be used.  As the Hospice lady pointed out to my sister some people live for years under Hospice care, some don't.

I'm sitting here listening to Mercy snore.  Not only is she a master purrer, she's a master snorer!

It's a little chilly this morning...the furnace has cut on a couple of times and the thermostat is set on 58!

Changes

Thank goodness, Spring does seem to finally be here!  We are still in the high 30s to low 40s in the early mornings, but it's warming up to the 60s in the day time.  I have had to use the little heaters a bit, mostly in the bathroom when I shower, but mainly I'm not using heat and it's so nice!

The first few azaleas are starting to bloom.  They are always spotty at first and then seem to just all burst open at once.  I love that!  The Japanese magnolias are still blooming as are the red buds.  Bulbs are blooming everywhere and everything looks so festive!  Oh, and the blueberry bush is just covered with blooms!

Yesterday I got just a bit of Spring cleaning fever.  I cleaned the front porch and back porch as well as the French doors inside and out.  It's amazing how much better that make one feel...then I Swiffered the ceiling and walls in my bedroom.  It looks like it has a fresh coat of paint!

Today I'm having lunch with two old friends...one of whom I see fairly often because she moved back to town right after I did and one I haven't seen in 42-43 years!  We were majorettes together a hundred years ago!  This should be fun.

As of Tuesday I no longer have a job.  That's good news and not so good news...I don't feel like going into it too much, just that I was told to "take early retirement".   Will be paid for 6 weeks with insurance.  The first few days have been sorta odd, but it'll be fine.

The nursing home has called for a Hospice evaluation of Mother.  When I find out the outcome I'll let you know.

Oh, a hint of spring!

The past few days have been glorious! The nights have been in the 20s, but the days have been sunny, clear and beautiful!  I've turned the heaters off and opened the back door several days in a row come around noonish!  Lovely!

Yesterday Leah Jane and Max (her dog) and Norma and Maggie (her dog) came over for a visit.  We sat outside on the patio for around 3 hours and noshed and drank wine.  We had such a nice time visiting and laughing...the wonderful weather made it so special!  All of the animals got along quite well, but Maggie wanted to chase cats. Jazzy was having fits every time Maggie went after one of "her" cats and would shoulder bump Maggie and growl at her.  They finally worked it out and the cats were none the worse for wear!

No change in Mother.  Bert's doing remarkably well, can drive again starting tomorrow!

A Bert report

Bert, my 92 year old step-father had a (aortic?) stent put in today.  I didn't know about it until it was all over.  My step-sister called a little while ago from the hospital and told me about it.  It seems Bert was having extreme pressure in his chest and shortness of breath and went to the hospital today about it.  His doctor was on call and opted for the stent.  I talked to my step-sister, my step-brother-in-law and to Bert tonight.  He's doing extremely well and will be going home tomorrow.  I asked him who would be staying with him and he said either he'd stay at his daughter's house or she would stay with him for the night, but that after that he'd be on his own.  I asked what I could do and was told that tomorrow was when he was going to see Mother at the nursing home, so I'll be doing that for him...doesn't seem like a lot of help to me.

The only thing in life we can be sure of is change!

A little bit of nothing

There's really nothing to blog about right now, but I just didn't want you to think I'd fallen off the face of the earth!

The 2 major earthquakes recently have truely been horrible!  I was listening to NPR this morning and Diane Reems had two experts on her show.  They were talking about the world-wide effects these major quakes will have.  The one that stuck in my little one brain cell was that this latest quake (8.8 on the Ricter scale) was large enough to affect the earth's rotation!  The amount of affect and resulting consequences have not been calculated or published yet, but will be!  And, we thought global warming was a problem!

I was in Tallahassee Saturday and breakfasted with my sister.  That was nice!  Then I went to Walmart to do my monthly pet food shopping.  While I was there I decided to get 2 new litter boxes as the 2 I had were quite old and one had a bad crack in the bottom and I had it sitting in a cardboard box!  Well, I'm here to tell you that cats don't make changes too well!  After throwing the old boxes away and cleaning the area well I put the two new litter boxes down in the same spots and filled them with new litter.  The cats (dogs, too) had watched what I was doing with great interest and I had no inkling that there would be a problem.  Well, you'd have thought I'd cut their tails off or something!  Those 4 cats walked through the house yowling and carping and being generally pitiful!  Finally after about half an hour of this I tossed 3 of them outside and left Mercy in.  Finally she very grudgingly used one of the boxes and declared it good.  Later the other 3 came in and made friends with the boxes, too.  Whew!  That was an ordeal!

Yesterday was absolutely beautiful!  Sunshine and a light breeze with the temp in the high 60s.  I left the back door open all day and, of course had no heat on.  Well, today it's raining and overcast and dark and chilly.  Do you think Spring is really just around the corner?  Our town's beginning to look a little like Spring.  The Japanese magnolias (the white and pink and purple ones) are all blooming.  Redbuds are blooming and bulbs are blooming everywhere.  Just enough to really hint at Spring!  And then it'll be Summer...ouch!

I didn't watch the Olympics.  There was enough on the news and on the computer to keep me as informed as I wanted to be.  The good ol' USA did good!  Now that they are over my regular tv programing can go back to normal, thank goodness!  The Biggest Loser is tonight.  Since we missed two week of it because of the games do you think the contestants will have lost even more weight or maybe gained from sitting around watching the Olympics?

As I said, not much news.  Will post again when I have a bit more to say.

Mother, etc.

My sister and I met at the nursing home at 1pm yesterday.  Mother was having lunch in the small dining room with an attendant assisting her.  She didn't know me.  My sister and I went out to the garden and had a cigarette while waiting for lunch to be finished.  When we got back inside Mother was asleep in her wheelchair.  We didn't wake her, but did talk to some of the staff about her and they were getting ready to put her to bed when we left.

The weather seems to be moderating some.  Yesterday was the first morning in a long time that the temperature wasn't in the 20s or teens when I got up.  This morning it's a balmy 34...really it's amazing that that feels better, not really warm, but better.  The afternoons are getting up to the mid to upper 50s and that's actually spured me into doing some yard work.  I'm planning on cutting back all of the crape myrtles this afternoon. This seems early in the year to me to be cutting them back, but it's being done all over town and this town does have the MOST beautiful crape myrtles in the world!

Shirley's better.

I got 2 (buy one get one free!) of those Emory Cats you see advertised on TV.  The cats LOVE them!  Goodness often lays on one and drools and at any given moment you can find Mercy clawing away on one.  The two little cats haven't gotten much of a chance to use them, but I suppose they'll work it out.

Monday Jazzy turned 2 years old.  She really has matured so much this past year, but she still has a long way to go.  A few months ago I recovered the arms of my recliner because the puppies had chewed them down to the wood.  Tuesday Jazzy opened one up and unstuffed it!

Damn animals!

Global Warming?

It's mighty cold here, but expected to get colder with snow actually in our forecast for tomorrow!  I have the thermostat set on 58 degrees at night and the furnace ran all night last night!  I sure hope this newest cold snap doesn't empty the propane tank...I can't afford to fill it again this year!

Financially this month is one of my most challanging.  I pay my car insurance twice a year and this was the month!  Anytime I have to fork out over $400.00 it almost kills me, even though I try to put some of the Social Security aside each month for just that sort of thing.  You know, you can only stretch $719 so far!

Luckly I don't need to lay in supplies for the snow tomorrow!  That's something else I try to do right along.  I will stop and get kitty litter (as I'm out), bread and some ground beef...I'm thinking a pot of chili would hit the spot!

This "global warming" thingy is something, isn't it?

Baby sister's birthday!

Yesterday my baby sister turned 61!  Can you imagine?  I'm not sure just how that happened...

We played bridge last night at my sister's house in Tallahassee.  For supper she created a major spread of cold cuts and cheeses for sandwiches and had a big pot of bean and bacon soup.  I ended up bringing half of my sandwich home and just ate it for breakfast.  I made sure the others knew it was her b'day and everyone brought gifts and we had cake and ice cream and it was quite festive!  For the first time since I began playing with the girls I didn't have the lowest score, in fact this time I was HIGH score!  It was 10 to 10 before I got home and I had a horrible time getting to sleep, I guess I was keyed up from winning!  And it's off to work this morning.  Ish!

Rain overnight, warmish temps.

Yet again

I woke up this morning around 4:30 with the wind howling, maga thunder and lighting and rain coming down in buckets!  I huddled under animals and the cover until around 5:00, but then the power started flickering on and off, so I got up and dashed to the kitchen to turn on the coffee pot, just in case it went out completely.  It's always nice to have coffee in a storm even if it's cold!  After feeding the animals I made a pot of spaghetti sauce and cooked up some pasta, I can always eat cold spaghetti!

By 7:00 this morning things had let up a bit and the power seemed stable so I put on a load of laundry.  Funny how storms seem to make me much more industrious!

It's 11:16 now and the wind is calm with occasional gusts and it's only drizzling rain.  I feel like I've already done a full day's work, so I may spend the remainder of it in front of the tv with a book!  Sounds like a plan to me!

Storms

This past Thursday was a really wild weather day!  Officially we got 8.52 inches of rain in about 4 hours.  As luck, or lack of thought, would have it I was out driving in my little Honda during the worst of the storm.  We lost power at work and since there was nothing for my to do I made my run to town, to the bank and the post office.  I waded through running water up to my knees at the post office and even though I had an umbrella both the mail and I got soaking wet.  When I got back to the office I was shaking so badly that it was hard to distribute the sloppy mail!  I'm not sure if I was shaking from being so wet and cold or from the absolutely wild drive back from town!  Probably a combination of both!  The trip back to the office was really a knuckle whitener with water above my headlights in a couple of places and sheets of water from one side of the highway, across the median and over the other side.  On hind sight it might have made more sense to wait until the next day for the mail, but the storm wasn't so bad when I left for town!  I stayed at work as long as possible, but did leave a little after noon.  I was so cold and so wet!

When I got home (it was still storming) the first thing I did was get out of my shoes...I actually poured water from them!  Today is Monday and as of yesterday my shoes are still wet, I've not checked them today.

Yesterday we had another storm, nothing as wild as Thursday, but really windy and rainy with tornado watches until after 1:00 this morning.  We lost power several times, but the longest was only about 30 minutes, just long enough to gather battery operated things and light candles!  I waited until this morning to reset the clocks.

Thankful

I was thankful when I woke before dawn this morning covered in sweat.  My fever had broken and I was still alive.  When I turned my bedside lamp off last night I wondered if I'd wake up today...I felt that bad.  Today is much better, I'm still achy and very tired, but much better.  Thank goodness!  I even left the back door open so the animals could get out if something happened to me and, for that matter, so anyone who happened to check on me could get in.