This year it's April that's a lion!

I've always heard that March comes in like a lion and out like a lamb...well this year's certainly confused! The past 3 days have really been stormy! The wind, lightening and thunder and torrential rain really had my nerves on edge! The animals were quite jumpy, too! We're still under a flash flood watch and we were under tornado watches almost the entire time. Today's supposed to be beautiful and tomorrow cloudy, then it's back to the storms for Sunday and Monday. At least we're almost out of our 10" rain deficit!

When I walked out back this morning it felt like I was in a different world. The SUN is shining! It's a little chilly, but beautiful. The strong winds blew away the majority of blooms that were so beautiful this year, but the greenness of everything makes up for their loss. The last trees to bud out each spring are the pecan trees and they have all budded! That is suppose to mean that the cold weather is over. Yeah!

Went online to check my electric bill and found that it has dropped $107.23 from last month. I sure needed that! It's $88.85. That's pretty good. I had 3 months of the bill being over $200! And I never cut on the furnace! Just think if I'd been using the furnace and paying for propane too!

Gasoline prices are creeping up. Monday it was $2.09 at the local BP and Wednesday it was $2.19. The prices are always a few cents cheaper in both Tallahassee and Thomasville, but, you know, it uses gas to go there and to come back, so unless I have to go for some other reason it'd be rather stupid to go just to get gas!

I got an e-mail from my youngest daughter. Sure was nice to hear from her, it's been a long time! She has a blog: bethsnikpmot.blogspot.com, check it out.

Tonight is Dinner with the Ladies. Not looking forward to it.

Tomorrow I'm taking Shirley in to have her nails trimmed. She sounds like she tap dancing on these hardwood floors!

I think I'll get some bedding plants and top soil tomorrow and get the hay bales planted. I can't put it off forever!

Stormy, stormy weather!

Wow! The weather across the panhandle was just amazing for the last 3 days! We had sustained winds of 20 mph with gusts (and rather prolonged ones at that!) of 65 mph! For once I didn't lose any of the limbs from the pecan trees, I think they all came down a few weeks back when the winds were only 30ish mph! I got over 5 inches of rain here at the house, don't know what the official rain fall was.

The timing of the rain was just perfect for me. Friday morning I had 12 bales of hay delivered and I have to keep them soaked for 3 days! So there you go! This coming weekend I plan to plant tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash in the bales. I'll try to remember to take pictures at various stages in this process so you can see how or if it all works out. Everything I've read about hay bale gardening sounds so good!

Well, Friday night for Dinner with the Ladies we went to another restaurant. I'd made reservations and the table was nice. The food was iffy and the service was terrible and it stormed the entire time (we ate outside). Perhaps I expect too much from this small town? So next week the powers that be have dictated that we go back to the former restaurant we've been going to. I'm going to order a hamburger and see what happens. I'm sick of the seafood that all tastes alike (and is very greasy!) and the steaks that are never cooked the way I want them! I know I keep saying it, but I've just got to stop this weekly thing...it's not working out in my best interest!

This morning I went to Tallahassee. Left home before daylight (7ish) and my sister and I went to breakfast and then on to the nursing home to do Mother's clothes. The things we took out of the closet we just stuffed in the box the new things came in and tossed the box in the dumpster! Sure feels good to have that done. Mother must have been at breakfast as we didn't see her, but we did see her room mate. Then it was back to my sister's house to sort through the stuff we'd taken from Mother's bathroom a month or so ago. Good to get that done too!

I've been having a horrible metallic taste in my mouth for several weeks. Finally really sat down and thought about anything new in my diet or habits. Around the start of flu season I added zinc to my arsenal of vitamins and things that I take daily. So about 5 days ago I stopped taking the zinc and the metallic taste is almost (but not quite) gone. So much for a prophylactic dose of zinc to prevent colds and flu! I was beginning to really think something was terribly wrong!

I have so many things I want to do today. It would be so nice to get something done! I hope I do!

Busy weekend

Wow! I had so many obligations this past weekend that I didn't feel like me!

Friday night, of course, was Dinner with the Ladies. We went to the same old place and the service was just horrid and the food boring! This week I've been charged with getting reservations at another restaurant. Hope I don't have any trouble.

Saturday Leah Jane had a small dinner party and even though it was very nice, I was away from home! You know me....

Sunday was the day that almost did me in. I met my sister, Bert and my step sister and her husband for lunch in Tallahassee. That meant that in order to be there on time I had to leave here at 10 after 11! Then, I was a little after 4 getting back! I was invited to a cocktail party at Edgewood plantation at 5:30 and got back home a little after 7! A full and tiring day. Needless to say, I slept through most of The Amazing Race!

Yesterday at work after doing catch up (that's always what awaits me on Mondays) I got settled into my new office. It's a very nice office, but has been used for storage and has piles of stuff that I don't know what to do with. So, I've just shoved most of it into a corner and that's that!

I hope the phone system has been fixed today. Yesterday the phone didn't ring in my office...makes it rather hard to catch it! Three of us were shuffled around and the extensions are all messed up, and, I have no mouse! Kinda hard to use the computer that way! They say I'll have one today...we'll see.

Tomorrow is the final day of my work week and I'm looking forward to yard work, house work and just being home!

Happy First Day of Spring!

Actually we still have about 37 min. until it's officially Spring, but that close enough! It has looked like Spring here for several weeks, but the last couple of days have felt like early Summer! The temperature is going to slightly cool down for the next few days and that will be welcomed. If only it would rain! We are already in a 10" deficit for the year!

I made a cake last night! Those of you who know me know I don't bake much, I love to cook, but I find baking so intimidating. Well anyway, I really wanted something sweet and only had chocolate available and didn't want chocolate! I drug out my old Bundt pan...can't figure out how old it is, probably around 37 years old, and I made a cake! I toasted chopped pecans and diced 2 Granny Smith apples that I sauteed in a little butter with brown sugar (also added a little cinnamon, salt and black pepper). Made a basic yellow cake and put the apple/pecan mixture in the Bundt pan first added the batter and baked for an hour at 325 degrees. The house smelled wonderful! I let the cake cool for 15 minutes, turned it out and drizzled a little glaze that I made with confectioners sugar, apple cider, cinnamon and cayenne pepper (tasted a lot like Red Hots). It was so good that I ate two pieces! Then while it was still hot I ran a large slice down to Leah Jane. Her back still is giving her fits even after the surgery.

Wednesday right before time to leave work the Big Boss called me and told me to move my stuff to the empty office next to him. I did, but it'll take me a few days to settle in. I have a WINDOW!!!

Tonight is Dinner with the Ladies. We're back to the same ol' place, but we're going to eat outside. That should be nice. We'll all take cushions to sit on. I'm thinking I'll take slices of cake for everyone. That'll save me from eating it all! Monday, if there's any left, I'll take it to work...those guys'll eat anything!

Yesterday I rolled $74.oo worth of coins and still have a bunch of pennies to roll! I'll deposit it today. It's a long stretch from one Social Security check to the next!...and the next one isn't due 'till next week. I manage to keep the bills paid and of course eat, but I need both gas and dog food, hence the coins! Thank goodness I save them!

The source I had for straw bales fell through. The fellow finally called me on Monday and said the bales he picked up over the weekend are heavely sprayed and he knew (and he's right) that I didn't want sprayed bales. His first cutting won't be until June, but he'll call me when he bales and if I haven't found any I'll be among the first on his list. I hope he'll come through for me, even though June is very late to plant here in N. FL.

Well, I left Jazzy in the house today. Not because I wanted to, but because she's gotten rather savvy about my go to work routine. Yesterday I had to shove her out and this morning I couldn't get my hands on her. I hope to go by on my 10am run this morning and get her out then as this is my long day. Before I left this morning she'd already torn up a pee pad all over the living room! I've gotten quite spoiled not having all that mess when I get home.

Yesterday I just told the Big Boss that I couldn't move upstairs. He asked why and I cited my back, which is the main gist of the matter. He said he'd just have to figure something else out. Whew!

Leah Jane walked down to my house yesterday and we sat on the front porch and had wine and visited. It was nice.

If you don't read my daughter's blog (moonmeadowfarm.blogspot.com) you should. She's remarkable and her oldest daughter (the young one, too!) is just unreal! You should read about what ED has done!

Enough for now. Am at work.

I'm not sure what to do...

Yesterday the big boss called me into his office. One his sons and another salesman were in there with him. He said that he wanted me to move upstairs to the son's desk before my week ended on Wednesday. Upstairs is the sales dept. domain and is an area carved out under the eaves of the building (attic). The single flight of stairs is very narrow and very steep. I avoid those stairs whenever possible. I don't know what to do. I can't do this. Everything I do is downstairs and this would mean climbing those stairs several times a day. I don't want to quit this little job...need the insurance...but I can't do those stairs.

Sunday I gave Jazzy her first real bath. I took a bucket of warm water out to the patio and wet her down from it. She was real good and really enjoyed the soaping and scrubbing...then I took the hose to rinse her off. She really freaked out! Pulled out of her collar and dashed into the house through the open back door! Oh, what a mess. Next time I sure hope I remember to close that door!

Well, I've gotta go to work.

Updates

Right before Norma picked me up to go to the farm for garden club I got a call from my sister. Bert had called her in a tizzy to say that Mother was in the hospital having surgery to remove her feeding tube and what did she know about it. Well, this was the first that she had heard about any surgery, so she called the nursing home to find out just what was happening. It seems that Mother was in the hospital having surgery to REPLACE her feeding tube as the old one wasn't functioning well. The nurse that she talked to also implied that she has told Bert all about it. Oh, this whole mess is so difficult! Anyway, I called my sister when I got home and Mother was already back in the nursing home and resting and doing quite well. NEP (sister) did ask the nursing home nurse about the virus that's going around and she said it's still running through the nursing home, so we will not be going there this weekend!

The farm was wonderful. Golden Acres Farm. It was interesting to see first hand the straw bale gardening, but I learned nothing new that I hadn't already read about on the computer. They did give us info on a source for the bales and I'll call either today or tomorrow. It'll come out of Tallahassee and is pesticide and other chemicals free. They also deliver, but I don't have any idea how much it'll cost. There were a gazillion chickens and cats and dogs running around the place, but we didn't see the goats or sheep. I bought some bone in goat stew meat ($6.00 a pound) as that was all I could afford. I really wanted some of the lamb, but it started at $9.00 a pound and went up! Didn't buy any of the eggs, though they were quite nice, but $4.00 a doz. is way out of my price range! We each took a bag lunch and ate at tables out under some very old oak trees with begging chickens under foot. It was so nice and the weather just perfect!

For lunch I made some egg salad that I got a little carried away with. I added chopped green onions, chopped gherkin pickles, minced pickled jalapenos and olives with pimentos and capers...a little salt and black pepper, a dab of mayo and a squirt of yellow mustard. Made a sandwich on 100% whole wheat bread and it was absolutely delicious! Took a bottle of water and some chips. I'll fix that again!

Now it's time for a nap so I can stay up and watch Survivor tonight!

Golly Gee It's Nice Here!

Wow! Spring has sprung fully and it's beautiful! Spirea, azaleas, snow drops, red buds, dogwoods, Japanese magnolias and even the camellias are all blooming and the entire town (and my yard especially) looks like wonder land! Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful!!!!!

I haven't had a heater on (except for the one in the bathroom once) for almost 2 weeks and have been having both the front and back doors opened! Just lovely. Ain't spring grand?

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I left Jazzy out in the back yard when I went to work. I don't know how it's working out for her, but it's wonderful for me! When I get home the house is just as I left it and I don't have to spent an hour or so cleaning up before I can sit down. I'd like to build her a dog house before next winter. I think that gives me enough time to figure something out.

Today my garden club is going out to a farm that does hay bale gardening. I'm really excited about learning first hand more about this technique. Hope they'll have hay bales for sale...and that they'll deliver! I'm riding with Norma today and neither of us know exactly where we're going...just very vague directions. Cross your fingers that we find it!

The moving force behind out Friday night Diner with the Ladies called a little while ago. She's not going to be there nor are any of the rest except for Norma and me. So I just talked to Norma and we're going somewhere else! Yeah!

No news on Mother. As of Tuesday Bert was still sick.

Woke up this morning and the two lasered places actually aren't killing me. Got the direction on care out again the other day and it says it will take 6-8 weeks to completely heal. Today is 2 weeks. Can you imagine that folks have their whole faces lasered? I don't know if I could go through that just for beauty!

Oops, I took a spill

I finally got all of the clocks changed in the house...each room has one and some have two...but haven't changed watches yet, I figure I'll change them as I use them. Sounds good to me.

Yesterday I spent four and a half hours sewing up the holes in the sofa. I can't get another one yet (am saving my change) and it was really, really bad! I covered it with a sheet, but Jazzy shredded that, so not only was it a holey sofa, but covered with a shredded sheet it REALLY looked bad. Doesn't look so great now, but much better. My hands hurt from the stitching, but the hard part was threading the darn needle! I really can't see squat, even with my dime store glasses!

After I finished the sewing I went outside to rescue some azaleas that a big oak limb had fallen on. The main part of the limb is about 8 feet long and bigger around than my leg. There were some pieces that had broken off that were pretty big, too. Well, as I was dragging them out to the street somehow my left foot got tangled up and I took a pretty hard fall. I'm okay, but my left hip hurts and my right knee took the brunt of the fall and is bruised and swollen and hurts, as does the heel of my right hand. It all happened so quickly, one minute I was dragging and the next I was on the ground!

My sister talked to Bert yesterday (I did on Saturday) and it seems he has Mother's bug. We both had suggested to him that he not go to the nursing home while this bug was going around, but he's more stubborn than most! He actually went 3 times on Friday!

I'm thinking of leaving Jazzy outside today. It's going to be another beautiful day and I'm just not up to cleaning up another one of her decorating projects! It's amazing to me that a relatively small amount of poly fiber fill can fill up several rooms! It reminds me of the time I was watching a friend's puppy...a Rhodesian Ridgeback...she ate their sofa on my watch...maybe it's the breed.

Gotta run, am running late...slept until the alarm went off!

Why can't "they" just leave the time alone?

Why in the world can't we just run on the same ol' time all of the time? This jumping back and forward stuff is for the birds! People are going to do what ever they need to do no matter what the clock says and I'm just fed up with changing clocks! At least tomorrow the clock in my car will be correct for the first time in what 6 months? I've still managed to make appointments on time and work on time, etc. So why screw around with the clock? I know there are a couple of states that don't do the time change stuff and they seem to function okay, they haven't fallen off the face of the earth or anything like that. This is just plain ol' dumb!

Anyway, reminder, set your clock forward an hour tonight.

My sister called yesterday and said that Bert called her to let her know that Mother is sick. I haven't heard from him, will probably call him today. It seems that there's a virus going around the nursing home and Mother's caught it. Nancy and I had planned on going to see Mother and do her clothes today, but neither of us can afford to catch anything else...we've both been sick several times this winter. So I guess we'll go when we hear that the bug is gone. Seems that it should be gone by next weekend...

Last night was Dinner with the Ladies. There were only 5 of us. We have 2 out with back problems now. The company was nice, the food was the same. Brought home some fried catfish, hush puppies (for the dogs) and 4 fried oysters...am thinking a fried oyster hogie sounds good!

Made an interesting little pasta salad yesterday. Shell macaroni, pinto beans, minced onion and bell pepper, fresh basil, a little lemon zest, a package of dried ranch dressing and a little mayo. I ate some right after mixing it and it was good, but this morning it was even better! I've just boiled 3 eggs and will be making egg and olive salad shortly. Yum!

Once a week I go to my old job and catch them up on filing and sending out statements, etc. I do strange little odd jobs and such. Well, it's sometimes less than an hour that I'm there and sometimes as long as 3 hours, so I only turn in my time card every 6 weeks or so. Turned it in last Wednesday (a week ago this past Wed.) and attached a note asking to have the check this past Monday. Well, HWB lost my card...so no check. I'm angry. This is not the first time he's messed around with my money, and it's such a piddling little bit. Like an idiot, I did not keep a copy of the time. Don't know exactly what to do, but I'm so angry about this that I'm thinking of not working there anymore! I'm worried that this may cause problems where I'm working Mon-Wed, as it's his dad I work for now. Perhaps I should talk to the dad about it...

Next Thursday our garden club is going out to a farm to learn first hand about straw bale gardening. I'm hoping that I can get a lead on buying straw bales there. I hear they will also have goat meat (which I like a lot) and eggs for sale!

Just how long should it take to get a tax return back? I sent mine in a few weeks back...maybe it'll be soon. I sure hope so!

Yesterday was a year...

It was a year ago yesterday that Mother had her stroke. In some ways it feels like much longer and in some, just a moment ago!

I ordered some clothes online for Mother and they arrived on Monday. Got her several sweaters and tops and pants. The staff told us the last time we were there that she needed some, but after going through her closet we found there wasn't much that could just be thrown in the washer...so, Heband got a pretty large order from us...Mother's account paid for them. I made sure to get colorful things, but she really doesn't care. It's sad to see her go from such a clothes horse to a rag-a-muffin!

"They" are saying that today should be out last day starting out below freezing. I certainly hope so!

The laser places are so slow to heal. Tomorrow will be a week since the surgery and I'm just so uncomfortable...can't lay on my back and the one on my thigh is on the side I sleep on, so that's very hard to do. Not getting much sleep. Hope that changes soon.

Work is terribly slow. Scary slow. Walked in yesterday and there was not one piece of paper to file. That's the first time in over a year that's happened. The main thing I file are orders, so that means orders have SLOWED down terribly!

I stayed up on purpose to watch the 2 hour Biggest Loser last night and fell asleep in my chair during the last 10 minutes. So, I have no idea how it ended! That's the pits! If it's so slow again at work today maybe I'll try to find it online and see what happened...or I could call my sister...

I tend to over react!

Yesterday went quite well. It seems that I tend to over react about some things. I got to the dermatologist's office a little early and once more they took me in right away. Dr. Jackson had decided to do laser surgery on both my thigh and back. He did the surgery with me in a seated position which was much better for me, though he had to kneel to do it. I read my book (a biography of Elizabeth Taylor) the entire time and got a whole chapter read before it all was completed. The place on my thigh went from the size of a dime to the size of a quarter. I haven't seen the place on my waist/back yet. I was quite capable of driving myself home, in fact I stopped at Publix and did my shopping!

Before shopping I went by to see Mother as I was only a few blocks away. I didn't stay long as they were starting an activity. She was just sitting in her wheelchair in the hall watching what was going on when I got there. When they came to take her in to her activity I left.

I don't know what to do with Jazzy. She's still chewing furniture. I mean she's really tearing it up. When I see her doing it I spank her and tell her no...that seems to have no real effect. She knows she's doing wrong and if she sees me see her she hides or runs from me. When I get home from work or being out if she's crying at the back door it means she's done something wrong. So I KNOW she knows!

I need to get some straw bales. Not sure where. I'm going to try straw bale gardening this year. I can't have worse results than I did last year and it's supposed to be a real back saver!

The husband of one of my Friday night Dinner with the Ladies died this week. He's been in a nursing home attended by Hospice for the past few months. I went to visitation Wednesday night, but didn't make the funeral yesterday afternoon.

I'm not going to Dinner with the Ladies tonight. I'm having trouble with everything with a waist band rubbing the place on my back. I'm probably just using this as an excuse. I'm afraid I really need to stop going all together. I'm spending almost $14.00 every week on food I'm getting bored with. The menu is very limited, just seafood and steak. I tried the steak 3 times and never got it cook the way I wanted it, in fact I sent it back once. So, that's $56.oo a month I'm spending on food I'm really not enjoying. I could get enough food for several meals at the grocery store for that! I guess that's what it really boils down to, money. There's never enough.

The results

Got a phone call at 6:45 last night from the nurse that works with my dermatologist. The pathology report came back and both of the biopsied places are cancerous and they didn't get everything with the biopsies. The one on my thigh has gone deeper than the top layer and they'll do laser surgery Thursday morning. The one on my back is more superficial and they'll do cryogenic surgery on Thursday. Drat.

I really don't have anyone to take me to Tallahassee for the procedures. I guess I'll be okay to drive home. We'll see. I certainly can't stay there.

Got an email from work this morning (it was sent yesterday). Rather than lay anyone off that's working in the office they will be cutting hours. They didn't say when or how drastically. Damn, I really can't afford to have my hours cut more. I can get by on 12 hours, I'm working 15 now. I hope it won't be less. We'll see. They cited the economy and how poorly business is doing and that they don't expect it to improve anytime soon.

I'm so tired of being cold. Once this house takes on cold it's awfully hard to dispel it. Even with the space heaters it's cold. Sometimes it's colder inside than outside! They did say on the weather this morning that we should be warming up soon. It's 30 degrees now. I look forward to it being 50 in the mornings! Of course I'll be bitching about the heat all summer long! There's just no pleasing me I guess.

Odds and Ends

Wednesday was my trip to the dermatologist. The appointment was for 1:30, but in true Virgo fashion I got there at 1 o'clock. That was a stroke of luck, because they took me right in. It seems I don't have much of a grasp of what I should be looking for on my skin as every thing I was a bit concerned about turned out to be nothing, but there were 2 places that he did biopsy, one at my waist line on my back and one on my upper right thigh. I should hear Monday what the pathology shows. I did get a little ticked off at the young doctor (same one I saw this time last year), because every time I'd ask about a place I was concerned about he'd say in a rather dismissive manner "that's age related". After hearing this several times I finally said "Okay, wait a minute. I've never been old before and I don't know just what to expect. Do you have a manual?"...He sorta jumped back and stood very straight (he's quite tall) and looked at me. Then he laughed and said "No, I don't, but we'll get through this together."...Maybe he'll take a better approach with other older patients. I hope so.

Wednesday night we had quite a storm. Several miles north of us, in South Georgia, they had some very damaging tornadoes. A huge limb from one of my pecan trees in the front yard came down across my neighbor's driveway. They moved in back onto my property. It'll just have to stay there for a while as I can't do any moving, pulling or lifting until my biopsy sites heal.

Thursday it was back to Tallahassee to meet my sister, Bert and Mother's friend from NC at the nursing home. We all visited with Mother for an hour and then Bert took us all to Crisper's for lunch. Mother's hair hadn't been done, but other than that the visit went well.

After lunch everyone went their own way and I went to Ross! I've been needing a non-stick skillet for a while and found one there. And it's PURPLE! Awesome!

Leah Jane's home from the Mayo Clinic. I'm amazed that she's home so soon. She had surgery on Thursday. She says the pain relief is unreal. There's pain from the 4" incision on her back, but she says that's quite bearable. I'm meeting her and her cousin for lunch today.

It's cold this morning...26 degrees right now. I don't know what this is going to do to everything that's blooming. I have a bank of azaleas across the back of the yard in full bloom and the Japanese magnolias, red buds and camellias are all blooming, too. We'll see.

Old address

I googled the old address in central FL and up popped my ex-husband's business...by name. I was sorta surprised. I googled because I'm getting all sorts of e-mail regarding refinancing, etc. Sure wish all that would stop!

Have an appointment with my dermatologist in Tallahassee this afternoon. Have a few places that don't look too good. I'm hoping it's all in my head!

Gotta get ready for work!

We've had RAIN!

It's been so dry as to be quite dusty for the last few weeks and finally yesterday and today we've had rain! I took advantage of the moist ground and planted my pitiful Myers lemon tree this morning. Poor blessed thing has been in a pot on the patio for 2 years now and has valiantly tried to live and produce fruit. Actually had two stunted lemons this year. They were so small, but still quite juicy and had that lovely Myers lemon taste. Poor, poor tree has lost most of its leaves and I'm not even sure it's still alive, but this is it's only chance. Cross your fingers for it!

Friday night was Dinner with the Ladies. The service was so poor as to be painful. When the food finally arrived (an hour after ordering) we all requested to go boxes and left! I took some little appetizers because of last week and we needed them! I got a little creative and cut out a gazillion red hearts of all sizes and sprinkled them on the white table cloth...pretty and took 4 red glass votive candle holders with candles. It was quite festive. I'm not sure I want to continue this Friday night routine...at least not at the same place. I've decided that I'll go this coming Friday night and if the service is as bad as it's been the past 2 times I'll just have to beg off. I mean really, I can shop and cook something wonderful for what I spend on Friday nights! And have it when I want it!

My friend Leah Jane had a MRI done on her back last week. She has a ruptured disc (she fell down a mountain in NC backwards!) and will be going to Mayo Clinic for a consultation for surgery this coming week. Her birthday is Tuesday and she'll be 74. That worries me as I know age and surgery are not friends. Of course, 74 gets younger and younger!

Today Jazzy is a year old! I sang Happy Birthday to her this morning and she danced around on her hind legs! She's so funny! Shirley danced too and then they both had treats. This morning they were called Birthday Treats and they both acted like they were really special! All 4 cats went outside and acted like we were nuts. They just don't appreciate a good party!

Bert called Friday night. A friend of Mother's from NC will be here on Thursday and he wants both my sister and me to meet them at 11am at the nursing home. So we will. Then the 4 of us will go out to lunch. That should be nice.

I've got an interesting thing cooking now. A chicken leg quarter with rosemary, garlic, lime juice, 9 grape tomatoes and chicken broth with shell pasta. Smells fantastic! Boy, I'm very hungry!

No particular news...at least nothing note worthy.

TGIW!!

It's amazing that a 3 day work week can be soooo long! Thank goodness Wednesday afternoon does finally get here!

Our weather is wonderful! Chilly in the morning, high 40s, and comfortable afternoons, mid- 70s. I haven't used the space heaters for 3 days and nights now and I've had both the front and back doors open each afternoon. I get a wind tunnel effect with both of the doors opened, now everything smells so much better!

This weather trend is supposed to last for a while, I'm praying for rain...it's so dry!

Last Friday, after many days and nights of living in knit hats of one sort or another, I de-capped and much to my chagrin found that my hair not only was longer, but very, very ugly. So, I spent a few hours (not all at once) and cut about 4" off. The last 2 hair cuts that I've paid someone to do were just awful and I really hated and regretted them! At least, this way, there's no one to blame but myself! Actually, I'm really enjoying the hair cut, but need to do a little more refining. Maybe tomorrow.

Spent several hours this afternoon figuring my Federal Income Tax. Went online to irs.gov and got some good information and some help in figuring how to do the Social Security stuff. Will get a small refund.

Tomorrow is Garden Club. Sure seems to come around right often! We're going to paint flower pots for Valentine's Day. Just what I need! You know, I'm not much of a joiner...hope I'll stick this out for a while at least.

I was so proud of Allen Boyd for voting against the stimulus package. Bless his heart, he sure has caught some flack because of it. Since the House is a Democratic majority he sure did go against the grain!

Yesterday I cut a huge bouquet of red camellias and made a really nice arrangement on my coffee table (rustic old garden bench). When I got home today it looked like an ancient pagan ritual had taken place in the house. The entire house was filled with red petals...from the back door to the front! Some Jazzy dog, that will go unnamed, must have had a ball!

I've had such trouble getting up for the last 3 mornings. It's rare indeed for the alarm clock to wake me and it has each morning! I'm hoping to sleep until whenever tomorrow!

Sunday Jazzy will be a year old! Hard to believe! She's such a hoot!

We have a warming trend

I went out to the street at 6 this morning to bring the newspaper in (I only get it on Sat. & Sun) and it felt almost balmy! Well, not really, it was (and is) cold, but there is a significant difference in 16 degrees and 26 degrees! This morning it's 26 and no one is shivering in the house. I'm bundled up of course, but no knit cap...and I turned the space heaters down by half! We may get up to 70 today. I certainly hope so as I have asparagus and day lilies to plant.

Last night was Dinner with the Ladies. We were in a little room decked out with oriental rugs on the floor and a round table with linen cloths on it. An orchid arrangement was in the center of the table with lovely old china and crystal and sterling silver. It was all most pleasant! The food (fried shrimp and oysters) was absolutely wonderful! This was my first dinner in several weeks as I've been quite sick. I didn't realize how much I'd missed it until I went!

Today there's a reception and art show at our local gallery. I hope to get my plantings done so I can go. The artist is a renown authority on daffodils and jonquils, but they say her paintings are mainly abstracts. Should be interesting.

I'm very fond of abstracts, in fact that's mainly what I do, or did. I must get back to my painting. I miss the process. Several months ago Michael's had a sale on stretched canvasses and I bought several. The puppies chewed one corner off of each one. I can't throw them away, but I haven't decided just how to utilize them.

Gotta run, Shirley just threw up on my bed!

It's Cold in sunny Florida!

At 6:30 this morning the tv said it was 16 degrees here and expected to drop several more degrees in the next couple of hours! Tonight's supposed to be even colder!

Well, all of the plants I'd tried to protect by putting them on the front porch weeks back died when the wind tore all of the plastic down for the third time, so I don't have them to worry about. And all of the animals are inside, so I don't have to worry about them either. So for now my focus is just keeping as warm as possible with two small space heaters. Of course, if I sit in my chair or get in bed I'm immediately covered with animals and actually find that a little too warm sometimes!

Okay, the tv just said it's 14 degrees now!

I just got all of the ingredients out to make a pot of chili. That should help.

I've been off of the computer for a while because I've been quite sick. Acute bronchitis. Have finished my antibiotic and have 2 more days of the steroid to take. I hate taking that. I bloat up so terribly and have Mother's round face. It does help with the breathing however. Today I feel much more like myself. (Didn't miss any work! Couldn't!)

My sister objected to my mentioning her (and her medical conditions) on this blog. So from now on please know she's very much in my life and very important to me, but shall go unmentioned!

The cats are going crazy! They are running from door to door and yelling. They want to go outside and I'm not going to let them until it warms up a bit. They have 2 litter boxes and they are both clean. So they can just settle down! Jazzy went out at 6 this morning and I'd no more closed the door than she barked to come back in. She just went out again and stayed long enough to do her business and came back in. Shirley has decided that she'll just sleep through this!

Oh good. The tv just said it'll get up to almost 50 degrees today. It can't happen soon enough!

I'm dressed in layers...wool slippers w/2 pairs of socks, sweat pants, a short sleeved silk tee shirt with a heavy turtle neck sweater, a long caftan and a wool jacket. All topped with a knit cap. Last night while watching tv I wore 2 caps! I may be setting a new winter style! It's amazing to me, but I'm even finding my glasses warm!

I went to the grocery store after work yesterday. They've rearranged several sections to fool us into thinking they are well stocked, but it's quite obvious that the stock isn't as plentiful as it used to be. Of course, think about it...I've never understood the need for umpteen dozen types of canned soup, or a gazillion different types of bread, etc. Maybe this will help us get back to basic cooking...or not. The meat section is the one that bothers me the most. It looks like there's been a run on meats and they just haven't had the time to restock. That, however, is not the case. There is just less meat available. Perhaps folks are not buying as much and the threat of spoilage is greater. Who knows? Well, as is all things, I feel sure this too shall pass. Just when I'm not sure, but we are a very resilient country with some good basic values and I feel that if the dudes and dudettes in Washington can screw their heads on straight everything will work out! I sure hope so!

Stay warm!

Brrr!