Frigid weather

 I won't bore you with a weather report, but I will say that it is COLD and snowy here and I can only hope that Wednesday (the 17th) I will be able to get to the ortho clinic.  I am hoping the doctor will clear me to begin weight bearing on my right leg.

I got a slew of packages in the mail, including 2 shirts, an electric heating pad, a pillow, and a double sized tupperware storz-alot.  It is a wonder the mailman was able to fit it all in the mailbox.  The shirts were the only thing I worried about size, but they seem to be OK, given that I can only try them on while sitting down.  The shirts are pretty plaids, and although they are from eBay they are brand new, still with tags and folded into plastic bags.  I guess they will be fine once I can stand and check the fit out.  I am waiting for a TENS unit to arrive, the one the therapist used on my shoulder worked very well at diminishing my shoulder pain for several hours.

I also got a monthly package from IPSY (makeup) despite being cancelled.  Hopefully this will be the last.  I have enough makeup to sink the good ship lollypop.

I got a phone call from St.Labre Indian School and set up a donation for $25 a month for them.  It is a lot less effort than sending a check several times a year.  I have noticed lots of pleas on the TV for abused pets, homeless children, children who need surgery, St. Jude Research Hospital, military veterans,  ($19 a month for each of them), and the like but I cannot donate to all of them, and so I am limiting my donations to St. Labre.  You don't need to go overseas to find needy  children, we have them here, and it is unconscionable that the need for donated funds is for native people living in deplorable conditions.

I am waiting for R to come, there is a small gift from Christmas and a piece of mail for her.  I accidentally ordered two necklaces with her name on them, and the second one just arrived.  I like it better than the one she was given on Christmas day, but that is just my opinion.  Needless to say, there are no returns on personalized items.  

That is it for now, hope all of you had a good holiday break, and I will see you again soon.

Cross stitch sloughing off

 I want to get back to doing cross stitch, but the stitches on these projects are never going to get done if I can't buckle down.  I need to get into the arm chair, but it is heaped full with blankets, sheets, and miscellanies and needs to be cleared so I can get back out as well as in.  Another big task to tackle before I can relax.  I looked at the other patterns (probably) and concluded they would take me around 10 years to finish.  Still, the three I have going now and no other ones additional would take me around 6 y to finish.  This is what my report cards in the early years said, that I tend to start things and fail to finish them?  Who me?

I wonder about my sister, her report cards were uniformly F, but they passed her on.  Was she listed as "retarded" (now they don't use that term, it is "special needs" or some other euphemism).  I wonder if Mom knew she was a slow learner before she started school?  There were 4 years between she and I, did she worry that I would be like her?  I was straight As, but Mom never let me see my sister's report card.  She died when she was 58 from a fall, and she couldn't read or write, but I couldn't believe that she couldn't keep a checkbook.  She seemed to think if she had checks then she had money.  I tried to keep her check register up to date, but it was impossible.  I wish I had questioned Mom, but she passed before my sister.

Anyway...

 My new glasses came today, and are quite nice.  The only adjustment they need is to the nose pads which pinch my nose.  Guess I will need to go to Spectrum Optical, and pay for the adjustment.  I can see very well with them.  They are a little heavier than the ones I used before, but sit higher on my face and so will be less foggy when I wear them in the cold-to-hot.  The tech at GlassesShop called me ahead of fabrication to verify the script, since I have a big difference with left-to-right lenses.  I think they are better than the ones I had been using.  Back in the day (age 12 to age 22) I wore contacts, first hard ones and then soft toric ones, but after that I couldn't tolerate them, although I really tried.  It was probably a reaction to contact with chemicals when I worked in the stock room at the university, I really don't know.  I will post a photo of me in the new ones.

Could have done with some makeup...

I will need to get these adjusted since they pinch my nose.  I will pay for this tweaking since I didn't buy them at the shop, but the vision seems fine.

It took C to upload this photo...

That is the end of this post, the other photos will have to wait till I can figure out how C did this.

Tupperware

I looked everywhere I could think of for the two "Storz a Lot" tupperware containers I know I have - somewhere - and in the end I bought two more on eBay.  I want them for 1. a cookie container and 2. a makeup container that I can see through.  Now I am sure the original ones will appear, but that is OK since I have more than enough makeup to sort.  The prices on eBay are too much, I guess the items are discontinued and thus have a limited supply.  

The daptomycin infusions are all done, and my PIC line has been removed, which is a relief.  On the 17th I will see the surgeon who will hopefully give me the go ahead to begin bearing weight on my right leg.  I do, however, want to be not too certain, the alternative is another month with no weight on it.  I will try not to cry if that is the decision.  The home health nurse came today, I am already bored with the exercises, which she wants me to do three times a day, as if.

I have written in my journal today, the first time in 6 months.  I will never finish the journal at this rate, it is not even half full now.  It is number 3, and the thickest one, and I have 4 empty journals which are smaller waiting for number 4.  I don't have any plans to do with them, probably the kids will pitch them after I am gone, and I don't care.

I have two Nikon cameras, the small ones S3300 and S4200 and I want to carry one in my purse.  They both have dead batteries, and I spent way too long hunting for the charger for them, although C found it in the camera bag that I don't use.  I HATE looking for stuff, I would just buy another if I could.  And since I am confined to this bedroom (can't do stairs) there is a limit as to where things could be.  We recently needed a sympathy card and I know several ones are certainly in with the greeting cards.  Finally I found one in the very bottom of the stack, but if I need another I will have to buy one.  I need to sort the box out but lack the desire to do such a large undertaking.  As it is, I need more sympathy cards than birthday cards...

I am slowly cleaning my stock of earrings, although I can't switch out the one from the piercing for another 2 weeks.  I am removing the ones that I don't like (like the great big pearl ones), and the juvenile ones (like a pair of panda bears).  I am not supposed to wear wire earrings for 6 months so the holes won't shrink up.  I don't remember all these precautions from the second set of piercings I had done, but that is OK for now, my "old" piercings got to where the front holes and the back holes didn't line up, so frustrating.  The first pair I ordered from Kay Jewelry came yesterday and I really like them; they are diamond cut gold stars and really sparkle.  They are small, which I prefer.  4 more pairs to go, just wish I got them more cheaply.  I am getting "free earrings for a year" from Claire's (where I got the piercing done), but they cater to youngsters and earrings are divided between kiddie ones (an example is fuzzy ducks) and "diamond" ones, so I don't anticipate getting any free ones. Birth stone studs are my preference.

That is the latest tidbits for now, not too thrilling and interesting I am afraid.  It is hard to come up with topics when I am confined to this one room and visits to the doctor's.  Anyway, thanks for reading this far, and I will catch up more next time.  Bye!

More of the same

 The glasses I ordered from GlassesUsa never arrived, and I received a refund and a note that says the frames I chose are discontinued.  I ordered a pair from GlassShop, and I like the frames much better, plus they are cheaper too.  Now to wait again.

I got a nice cookbook from R for the KitchenAid mixer.  The only thing that is prevalent is the ingredients which are an entire page or more, and include ingredients that I have never heard of.  In fact, I ordered two cookbooks for the KitchenAid, hopefully they will be more user friendly.  And they have photos of most dishes which is a big help when it is an unknown.  I just wish the books were spiral bound, the better to lay flat on the counter.

R liked her "name" necklace although the clasp is wee tiny and C had to fasten when she tried it on.  She said the staff at work all have ones like it, the same thing I noticed at the rehab place. C liked the drone with camera he got from me, something to amuse himself.  He also got a cookbook for World of Warfare, real recipes that reference the ingredients found in the game.  

I bought a plain silver chain to go with the turtle pendant from Etsy.  Of course there is no where that I can wear it except here in the bedroom.  I have an appt. at Claire's tomorrow to get my ears pierced (again).  The original piercing was too crooked and I hope for a symmetrical placement this time.  I have all these earrings I cannot wear, I plan to cull the ones that are too juvenile, donate them to Goodwill or whatever.  I can date these from when I was first able to wear pierced earrings, back in 1972.  How old these are!  Even the ones I wore for my wedding in 1970 were clip-on.

That is about the post for now, hope everyone has a fun New Years Eve and I will post again in a week or so.

Bye!

Home at Last

 I got home last week, so at least I will get to be home for Christmas.  C is doing my infusions of Ab (daptomycin) and I won't go back to the nursing home for any reason I can think of.  

I did get the gifts I ordered for C and R, although the gift for R I think I ordered twice... oh well.  I hope they like them, but at least they will have something to rip into on Christmas day.  I'm not sure if either of them read my posts here, but I won't reveal what I finally got them.  C put up the mini-tree in my room and it looks festive, if only 2 feet tall.  By next year I should be able to go upstairs and have the 6 foot tree to decorate.  Not to mention going to prepare a yummy menu, which I enjoy.  

I ordered a pair of glasses (why is it called a pair when it is only one?) from GlassesShop.  I have a card from my current glasses with the 'script, but not the D.P. so I hope they are OK.  I looked endlessly on Glasses USA web site, and even after going through pages and pages I couldn't find a single pair I liked.  With GlassesShop I picked the third one it showed, and the price was a lot cheaper too.  The web page was a little hard to enter the price, but C helped me.  He also helped me wrap his gift, it takes two hands just to manage the tape.

I saw my primary doctor this morning, and he gave me a script for Ambien which I desperately needed.  I borrowed some from C which I can now "repay" as soon as we get to the drug store.  I will try to sleep without taking any, but if I am thrashing around in bed it is good to have a fall-back plan.  It irks the crap out of me that narcotics are so hard to obtain even when they are a  legit need for a patient, thanks to the black market for addicts.  Dr. Pogue (my surgery doctor) was busted in a sting operation back when I needed knee replacement, I hear he is doing time elsewhere, hope they keep a close watch on his supplies.

I remember when I was working for Dr. A(sshole) at his first time at the U for a lab of his own.  I had scheduled the days from Christmas Eve to the second day of January to be on vacation, but it didn't sit well with him (too bad).  I diffidently informed him that everyone (with a few exceptions) took those days off, and that if he chose to work then, he won't get much done if he was there since all the support personnel (receiving, radiation safety, animal quarters, maintenance, cafeteria, mail room,  and so on ) were also gone.  He sniffed and said that it was not that way at Stony Brook (where he was working when they hired him at WVU) and he would work except for Christmas day alone.  I told him he wouldn't find it easy to do so.  When I returned in January he admitted he found it useless to be there, no package delivery, no maintenance help, no custodial staff, and so on.  I bit my tongue and refrained from saying "told you so". 

I also told him it was a mistake to piss off the maintenance workers, they found ways to get back at whomever was responsible.  Sure enough he ticked them off and then couldn't get them to install an electrical outlet for his -80 degree freezer.  The fool even put it in writing.  I took pity on him and asked one of my friends in maintenance to do it.  

No-one should ever make an enemy of maintenance or secretary people.  I used to bat the breeze with either of these groups, and I even brought homemade cookies now and then.

As for me, I am so very glad to be home, and I am sorry I thought I needed to be in a skilled nursing facility to get my antibiotics, when C is a pro doing the process.  I hated the nursing place, they had so many poor CNAs I can't believe they kept their certification.

So here is my wish for all my readers, to have a great Christmas or other special day, and to wish you all the best for the New Year with no strife or fighting, and wish that you reach out to those in need who may be alone when you are  planning your time with family.  

Merry Christmas!

 I had a strange photo call earlier today.  It was from N' s cousin in Oregon and he wanted to talk to N.  He was very surprised to learn that N died 7 years ago, I guess the family in the Oregon/ Washington never got the news.  He was a name in the family tree, and mainly what he wanted was Susans number; she had gone to school with the girls in Oregon, so at least she would know who he was.  I will call Susan this weekend to let her know about my surgery.

I will bug C to get a list of meds.  There is a partial list on the computer but he doesn't want to use it for some reason.

My foot is clearly very painful today and the swelling is very prominent.  So this will be a short note.  Maybe I can write after I get home, 4 days most likely.  

Is it possible I have let this blog slide for so long?

Well, I guess I have.

I have been in the hospital or in a rehab facility for three months, and only was released last Monday to go home.  I still can't walk and my son still needs to take care of me for meals, and for bathroom duty and so on.  I am awaiting scheduling for another surgery on my ankle, and then more rehab.  I dread both of these.  

But anyway I will try to do better here.  

The mail was an enormous pile, even though C winnowed all the junk stuff, and paid the most urgent bills too.  As Christmas approaches the catalogs are present in increasing numbers, but I just pitch them all.  I can always go on-line to find a gift, assuming I can think of something to gift C and R.  So far I am clueless.  Especially for R whom I haven't seen in 2 months or more, even though her work place is a few blocks from the hospital and the rehab places.  

 I have two therapists that both come twice each week.  The exercises they give me to do are limited by my foot, which is non weight bearing.  I would need to hop like a bunny rabbit to do them, and I'm a little heavy to do that.  I can't even cross the bedroom, which is very large, and very full of wheelchair, rollator, bedside commode, desk, file cabinet, and so forth.  I would like to get to the desk.  Meanwhile I work on a card table with my laptop.

Don't ever take the ability to walk for granted.

My roommates were a mixed bag -- but all the same in one way.  They would call for "a nurse" (even though the floor staff was a CNA).  They would call LOUDLY "help" or "I need you" or the like, never using the nurse call button, and when one would appear and ask "what do you need?" The patient would say,"I don't know".  My last roommate, the one with the broken pelvis, would haul herself into a wheelchair and push out to the hall to waylay a CNA and be put back into bed for her next go-round.  If they moved the wheelchair out of reach (or locked the wheels) she would crab her way on foot.  This would continue for the entire night, only giving me rest when the CNAs would take her out to the nurse' station for an hour or two.  Her daughter would give her a stern lecture and that night it would start again.  I can't imagine the pain the pelvis would give her, or how she got any rest, but still she would haul herself out of bed.  I think she just wanted company, but the place was chronically understaffed and they were too busy to sit with her to keep her in bed.  The goal was for her to mend somewhat so she could have surgery.  She was 94.

 I think the main blessing I got at home is the freedom to nap whenever I want.

Well, that is it for now, I will try to keep posts coming more regularly, even though there is little to write.  Bye for now!

 

Oooops

Well, I found my D40 Nikon camera... my daughter 'borrowed' it when she was here last time.  She took it on a road trip to Lake Erie and said the camera was terrific.  I don't plan on getting it back, so I went on eBay and did a Buy It Now and got a D40X; What the difference is between the  D and the DX I haven't a clue.  Book on order...

The only thing I found lacking with this used camera is the 'door' that covers the in-and-out on the side, and I covered the gap with a piece of black electrical tape.  I can't tell it is there unless I am looking for it.  And a single cover is 1 1/2 inches long so a roll of tape will last a long time.

The other thing I need to do is wipe down the neck strap to get rid of the ooky on it.  I need to get somewhere to take photos that are other than my room, even a shrub would be an improvement.  I need to get in the habit of turning it OFF when I am done, a re-charge takes several hours and the second battery pack doesn't seem to last as long.  

I made an appt. with the ortho doctor to check out my ankle.  He is the one who set it several years ago, and he said to come back if I had any difficulty with it.  And golly boy here is the swelling that keeps me from wearing any shoe, only bedroom slippers.  There is not very much improvement at all other than that the scar has faded.  C noticed that I am walking on the side of my foot, which seems to make my shin ache.  If it is one thing...

When I called his office I got my numbers mixed up and called the dentist, I don't think that would work out, do you?

camera lore

 Well I have rethought the plan to sell this home and buy a new mobile home, and I have concluded I need to follow my original plan.  I cannot live in this one room for another 8 or or so years and have the same mental capacity I have now ).

I have been searching for two cameras that must be in this room somewhere. I found one (Nikon D2000) but the D40 is eluding me.  C says it will turn up eventually, but I have a no patience to wait for this.  I could, of course, buy another, they have dropped to nearly zero in price, but it is the principle of the thing.  And the first one has a data card with older photos I should have transferred to a permanent location other than leaving them on the camera.  Hindsight.

California King bedding

 After the fiasco with two, count them two, queen sized mattress pads that won't ever fit a california King mattress, I have been way more careful about what I order, especially size.  Today the CA king was inspected right away, since the Amazon window for returns is 30 days from receipt.  

Sesame shrimp for dinner, god I am stuffed.  The 'grub hub' is a great idea, fairly expensive, but saves a round trip to a restaurant.  They deliver whatever you order at whatever place you choose, including tip, and still heated.  Yum.

 

Happy Anniversary to me

 If N had still been alive this would have been our 53rd wedding anniversary; we were married in 1970 in Miami FL.   (Is my math right?)  It hardly seems possible now, with my contemporaneous classmates embarking on wedding number 3, if not more.  Suzanne H. was one of the latter, but it seems she did finally find her match.  They died (cancer) within a week of each other, so neither had to manage things alone.  It makes me sad to think of them as gone.

I still cannot figure out the $11,400 bill for ambulance trips, and judging by the lack of return phone calls neither of them can either.  If they send me a new invoice I will tackle the problem anew.  But meanwhile I won't fret this.

And as for the taxes, there doesn't seem to be enough documentation compared to the previous year.  I've sent letters explaining how my illness has impacted my bookkeeping, but there is no reply there either.  I think there is a gaping hole where Covid sent everyone home and then the 'all clear' did not bring them back.  With my luck the ones that work from home will never have to return $, while my situation grows  and grows in penalties.

Whine whine whine.  Enough.

Where have all the posts gone? Long time passing...

 Sigh.  If I actually get this post done, no one will be more surprised than me.  

Last week I finally got released from the hospital, Feb 11 through May 2 over at last.  I have been writing in my journal, it wasn't wise to leave my MacBook unattended while I was out of the room, but that is how I compensated.  If there is anyone still following this blog, thank you.  I will try to do better.

My son is a big help here in the house, keeping all the tasks done and visiting me too.  The place is pretty scrambled and I have been slowly putting it to rights.  The one thing that hasn't been done are, Sigh, the income taxes.  Several pieces vital to doing the taxes are not to be found, and we have had to ask for copies, not yet received.  Once the various bits are at hand, I will take the entire mess to H. R. Block.  No doubt we will have fines and penalties to cough up, but oh well.

And speaking of coughing, I came home with a doozy of a cold, my first in several years.  The cough is stubbornly resisting, and I have had very little sleep since last week.   Even the cat is disgusted with me, once I have a coughing attack she gives me a look, and then leaves me for quieter sleeping arrangements.   I have resorted to listening to an audible book on the Echo to pass the time, I never knew that could be done.  I am on Chapter 4 of a Dresden book, Peace talks  which is followed by Battleground, both by Jim Butcher.  I still didn't fall asleep, but maybe a sleeping pill is on tap for tonight.  The two books sound as if they could have been contemporary with the world today, minus the magic of Dresden.  I wish the authors would write quicker, the supply is vastly behind the demand, and it is particularly vexing when they add to a different story line that I don't like.  

Yesterday we had, at the behest of my PCP, an evaluation by Hospice for some home health care.  They decided I am not ill enough to warrant hospice, although the services they provide, cost free, would help C in the day-to-day tasks.  Still, good to know I'm not 'terminal' .

We had a welcome piece of mail today, checks from the purchaser of the 4 burial plots in Falls Church VA.  My folks bought them in 1951, why I can only guess, and had tried to sell them several times over the years.  I received an offer last year, but the entire deal 'stank' of a scam, and so it was.  This time the mortuary handled the transfer and it was done promptly and smoothly.  One less thing to worry over.  And the money will be a big help too.  The main thing I want done is a new door into the the garage, installed.  It should run around $1000; right now the lock won't engage except for wrestling the door around.   It has been this way for years and it bugs me every time I come and go into the garage.

I have tried to think of a topic here that is funny, but I am fresh out of humor.  

Oh, how about a RSVP to a wedding where the invite-ee responds, "Maybe next time".

Bye for now!

Discouraged

 Well, I don't really have anything new to write about, but I will give it a shot.  If you need to hear about my Christmas, take a look at "secrets" from Dec 9th. I have changed it from the original brief entry.

I bought a box of Biore strips to work on my blackheads.  You may remember them from years ago; you get the pre-shaped strips and after wetting them, you put them on your skin (face nose) and after 10 minutes they are peeled off, bringing the blackheads with them.  I found a very small amount on the strips after doing this, but it is pretty neat to check the inside of the strip after use and see all the little marks from my nose.  I will try again in a few days, I need to get them on smoothly the next time. 

I rounded up all the makeup that arrived while I was gone, and it amounted to a small-ish box all filled to bursting.  I will try to get them sorted the way the last ones were done, although I will need to clear off the desk/table first.  Without that all the tubes, etc. will dive under the desk mess never to be seen again (black hole proven)  but I won't know which ones are missing until I am actually putting the makeup on.  I have a list of the order I put each on, and the list gets longer and longer the more I follow the do-it over in the fashion magazines.  To which I now refuse to subscribe.  Have I posted a photo of me, recently?  I will try to find one.   Well, maybe this once...

Hopefully Google won't erase it update-recovered header!, like it did all the others. This one isn't very new, but oh well,I look the same here, just tidier than usual.

My journal writing has likewise taken a hit, not having written in it since September.  I can fill it up with information from my hospital stay, I can't do the same here because who knows who will read it, what is amusing for me would sound mean for another reader.  What is hard for me to admit, I still can't walk without a walker, or better yet is being in the wheelchair.  I will continue the exercises in the hope that some improvements just take longer to show up.

One thing I will relay, is hospital etiquette.  All the rooms were double, and since I was there longer than most I got a fair cross-section of roomies.  In all cases they listened to the TV until 10:30 or later (I go 9:00 to bed) and loudly too, as the TV is mounted up high on the wall and they seem to be hard of hearing.  I never turned my set on, and one roommate had it tuned to the Western station, Gunsmoke, Wagon Train, Cheyenne, and on and on until way in the night.  I didn't remember any of them until they were on.  But from one woman I demanded another room.  She was demented?  anyway she had 3 things she shouted all the time - "Nurse!", "Help!", and "Water!", and she shouted really loudly ALL the time.  I told the nurses I would sleep in the hall if they didn't move me, and I guess they took me seriously and moved me after about an hour.  I don't speak Mumble either.  She would shout even when the nurse was in the room with her. And of course she drove them crazy too, and she was NPO so no water. They had a brain damaged unit in a separate wing, but it was full.  Of course.

I didn't give out candy this Halloween although I had planned to.  But I left the hospital on the 28th and by the 31st I didn't feel up to sitting out in the cold for 2 hours.  I didn't hear much merriment outside that night.  When my kids were young the last year I asked them if I bought lots of candy would they skip the trick-or-treating and they said "yes!" with much enthusiasm.  That let me off sewing costumes; I had always done the real elaborate ones, starting them weeks ahead of time.  It was a lot of work for one evening of wearing.  In the end I sold them all at a flea market.  (The costumes, not the kids!) The Dracula one was the one everyone wanted, that and the dragon/dinosaur one.  We had 50 kids year before last, mostly wee tiny kids.  They came in such a rush I didn't get to enjoy their costumes.  Just one boy with a toy sword pushed through a box of cheerios - he was a "cereal" killer.  Pretty clever...

That is all the miscellaneous bits I have now, and it is dinner time.  Home cooking, Yum!  for now, take care...

No more photos/cartoons here

 The copy write police have trained their view on this poor old blog, and deleted most all of the illustrations from here.  The only ones that I reinstated are the ones that I took, and photos of me, the farm house, my car, a doll, the pony, and the header which I bought from the artist many years ago (I began this blog in 2004) and is therefor protected, being 19 years old.  I think.

Anyway, the blog would be more entertaining with the illustrations, but two or three strikes and they take the channel off.  How this helps the originator I don't know, I would think the more widely seen the better for the artist.  But what do I know?

Bye for now.

Only to be read when boredom threatens

I thought I was done with this post, but the table of contents shows "0" pages and "Draft" in the place that (name of the post) should go.  

this is one of those days, I guess.

Have you ever ordered something online only to find, afterwords, that you made a big goof?  This is my speciality, and my latest error yesterday.  I wanted to order a CA king mattress, and the discounts right now made it doubly attractive.  So last night I ordered a mattress from Allswell that is a hybrid one, and 25% off the usual price.  So I picked out what I wanted (King size CA beds being hard to find), closed the browser, and sat back and checked out delivery time.  But then my eye caught something on the order.  In all my goofs, this one is the most egregious error.  I ordered TWO mattresses, and had already gotten an email confirming the order.  And it was Sunday, so no one in the office until Monday.  I couldn't cancel through PayPal, they only want to do a cancelation after the seller has confirmed a cancelation.

Sigh.  So I called first thing this morning and they couldn't change the order, only cancel it.  So they canceled and I will re order tomorrow.  It's a really nice mattress, and I have had very little success going to a furniture store, only to find it is too -- hard, soft, squeaky, and so on.  I only hope they don't send two.  Cost $2986 for both.  My tum is in revolt just thinking about it.

I got my Christmas cards out and paired the cards with their decorated envelopes.  It took forever, but better now than when I am trying to send them.  Job all done, put the cards in a big envelope, put that envelope on the cart beside me, and then --- are you ready?  knocked the entire pile of cards + envelopes onto the floor in a big mixed up heap.  I am really on a roll.

Usually I give up and go shopping, but that is not an option when I need   to be driven, and then pushed around the store (s) in my wheelchair.  So I ordered stuff on the web.  Delayed gratification.  I ordered 2 pant sets, green + dark red, and a light blue of pants (but no matching shirt.)  I'm not done yet...

So far I have 3 small gifts for R, a battery organizer and 70 batteries, two couch pillows, and something else that I can't think of right now.  For C I have almost nothing yet.  He is so hard to buy for, anything he wants he buys himself.  So does R, but I can think of things that she would probably like, and I always keep the receipts.  I bought C another clock for his room that can be seen at night, but not so bright at night.  But it couldn't wait another 5 weeks.  Coincidently my clock broke too, and so I bought (Amazon) another clock for me.  My new clock has green numbers and I quite like it.  Not too bright either.  Money?  Not very thoughtful, really.  He uses my debit card, which is the same as cash, for groceries, gas money  and so on.  So I can't think of something C would lack, that I could buy.  I can't get even a flashlight, he uses his cell phone light.  He already has a wallet; so that's out.  His bathrobe needs to be replaced, but he says he likes the fuzzy one he has (from Christmas of 7 or 8 years ago).  He does all the cooking, but I know he wouldn't appreciate a kitchen appliance.  I did get him a Columbia jacket and a hat, but he already has those, so this is a duplicate from two years ago.  I'm stuck.

I am even stuck on my last post that would finish it off for me.  

Worse yet, C asks me what he can get for R for Christmas!  Money, I tell him.  With it stuck in the pocket of a sweatshirt.  

Maybe I will have an epiphany later today.

Meanwhile, have a good time off for the holiday, I am off from work permanently but I would go back in a heartbeat if it meant I could walk again.  Meanwhile, onward... Bye!

Cross stitch

 I have had an error in my cross stitch projects.  As I related a few posts ago, one of the critical parts of stitching is the floss, and my blasé take on floss is that it can easily be duplicated if lost.  But that is only partially true.  I have several (4) projects in the process of being stitched and I have gotten their floss mixed up.  The directions for two of them don't list the DMC number/color name and so I am left trying to match possible colors (example: dark green, out of 7 different greens)  to the color which is already stitched.  I use a color card that shows all 250+ colors with DMC colors labeled.  I have found that green is a color that I am lacking a  discerning eye for; but several other colors are difficult too.  If the already stitched floss is adjacent to a blank area, the slight difference between old vs new colors can be glaringly obvious.  If only my floss for a given color included DMC number, it would be a snap to move on.  But all I can do now is approximate the color to use.  If only I had stashed the flosses in a labeled envelope when I am finished for the day, I'd be good to go...

Enough of this, boring for someone who doesn't share with this hobby.

I want to go to a local furniture/mattress store tomorrow that is having a big sale to see what $$ will be involved.  I want not only a mattress but a chest of drawers (5 drawers), all solid wood and no MDF or plywood.  I have looked at Wayfair, but they come disassembled and cost more if a person comes with it to assemble at my home.  C would be good at doing this but it takes two people and I am not able to help.  I have been sorting my drawers out in my current chest, but there is a limit to what they can hold.  The chest was Mom's, so it is 70 years old, more or less.  And I could fill the chest with just socks...

I have ordered, from Amazon, small organza bags to help organize makeup.  I only need a half dozen or so, but had to buy 50, although the 50 only cost $7.  Once in the bags, though, I have to find a place put them.  Sigh.  I have too much stuff.  Lipstick alone is around 75 tubes.  Most of them were free-with-purchase, and only 6 or 7 did I buy, based on the free ones that I like.  My new purse (did I mention I bought a new handbag?) has a very nice lining and I will have to be careful about a lipstick top coming off.

I ordered hairball remedy for the cat, who is barfing way too often lately.  That is the benefit of Amazon.  If one can wait a day or two, it can save oodles of effort shopping.  I just wish that both on-line and in a store could survive, each one holding a segment of sales.  I'm going to order a new kitty litter stock, and because I have prime Amazon I won't have to pay shipping for such a heavy purchase.  It is just out of stock right now.

Snow.  A four letter word.  It was only a skiff on the ground when I got up, but now all is white outside the window.  

Six years ago our neighbor and his son were shoveling their driveway (which is Very long) while N used the snow blower to clear ours, and when he finished he took the blower across to the neighbor, whose son made a record run back to their house.  Another neighbor saw this and after our neighbor finished (no more than 40 minutes) the other neighbor borrowed the blower to do his driveway.  All in all a feel-good feeling for N.  N is gone now, and C doesn't know how to get the height right so it isn't scraping the asphalt that is our driveway now (the neighbor moved away too.)  Now it is shovel time.  Another thing N expected to be around.

This isn't a very amusing post, but I will try again soon.  Bye for now!

OUCH

Yesterday I saw our cat nosing around something shiny on the carpet.  I couldn't make out what it was, but I put my foot on it and called Chris.  Turns out it was a tapestry needle.  I can only imagine the repercussions if she had bitten, or swallowed, it.  Last time she was fascinated with something on the bookcase, it was a hornet.  I dropped a heavy book on it and called Chris (poor guy, he gets all the jobs like this).  Bugs are the worst for me to deal with.

I went to Spectrum Optical in between the podiatrist and the Orthopedic doctor, and had them see if they could adjust my glasses.  I had fallen with them, and bent them pretty completely.  I had gone there soon after the fall, and the tech fixed the worst of the damage, but told me they were twisted and they didn't have the ability to un-twist them.  So when I went back yesterday, I expected I would need new frames, using the original lenses.  But the tech ( a different one) took them in the back several times and got them lined up so the right eye wasn't higher than the left, something I could see when I wore them.  He got them even, and replaced the nose pads, and all for no charge.  I will be back there when I need another pair.  I had gotten a mail-order Glasses USA pair, but they were so fragile they warped when I took them off the headboard of my bed one morning.  Don't go there.

The Orthopedic surgeon said there was a limit of what they could do, barring knee replacement (which he refused to do, and understanding the reasons I agreed).  So he will try a cortisone shot under my kneecap, using an artificial cortisone that hopefully will improve the result.  I can't walk now, so any improvement will be fine.  I trust this doctor  from when he did my right knee replacement, after the original doctor got "stung" selling and using drugs.  He didn't look like a user, but the surgery result he got on my right knee looked like a second year med student did it.

I really missed my Mac Air while I was in the rehab hospital, but being out of the room for three hours every day might prove too great a temptation if someone wanted to lift it.  There was, of course, a huge stack of mail to deal with once I got home, a lot of it election pleas.  Not too many bills, thank you very much.  The phone rang constantly with election candidates, and we told them all the same thing:  already voted.    The other phone calls were from the in-home therapy groups : OT, PT, nurses, and on and on, most arranging visits.  Sometimes we hung up the phone and it rang immediately again.  All that has slacked off now that the initial evaluations are complete.  And weekends are blissfully quiet.

Home at Last

For those readers who have hung in here, I reveal the reason for my lack of posts:  I have been in the hospital for the last 2 weeks. and out of any posting longer than that.  I hope to fill in here soon, so watch this space for a bit longer and I will do my best at Randomly posting in the next week. 

I guess Google and Blogger have parted ways.  As a result, all the headers are missing, and all the illustrations with Google are gone.  This leaves the entire blog a chopped up mess.  I have contacted Blogger, but I don't suppose I will get an answer from them.  

I am home from the hospital and feeling quite exhausted.  I hope to recover in a day or so but I am not making any promises now.  I have had 2 nurse visits so far, with three or four to go before the weekly regimen begins.  Blah.

My table is a complete mess and I need to unearth the bottom layer before I can work on new posts.  I will work on it today, hoping I will be able to get at least some of the posts whipped into shape.  I apologize to my readers at how long this will take to complete.

Bye for now...