Knee!

I went to see the ortho doctor yesterday, and it was discouraging.  He moved my poor knee through all the various movements, and shook his head and said it is definitely a very loose kneecap.  He said, "I know you don't want to do surgery again."  So he fixed me up with a knee brace, called a J-brace, and said to come back in 4 weeks.  My knee now is *very* loose and I don't know if it is from the exam or a by-symptom of the new brace.  It has even "popped" while I was wearing the brace.  I am thoroughly discouraged.  And I am sure no one wants to hear any more about it.

When I cleared up all the papers and such from my parent's home, I just glanced through them all as I filled black trash bags to be sorted later.  When that time came, I was appalled at the minutiae in them.  There was a receipt for a 25 cent spring for a 42 Packard, as an example.  They also saved all of my report cards and those of my sister too.  I had never seen hers, so I was amazed when I looked through them and realized that she *never* passed a single subject.  They were all Fs.  All of them.  And yet she was promoted to the next grade.  I studied hard and was discouraged when I got a "B", so I guess my parents kept her cards confidential so she wouldn't be jealous of my good grades.  Anyway, by the time she moved here, she couldn't read or write, but boy she knew how to spend.  She begged money from our parents (who were not well off) every month, but she had nothing to show for it, not furniture, dishes, clothes, collectibles, what she spent all that money on I have no clue even now.  Drugs?  Booze?  Gambling?  It is 13 years since she passed away, and I still don't know.  My parents died two and five years before she died, in credit card debt as far as they could be.  Both were in a nursing home, Mom for 4 weeks and Dad for 3 years, and never got to be financially secure in all those or previous years.  She didn't visit them either, I think she moved on to her church for money, more fools they.  My folks even had triple mortgages on their home, which I only found out once I was their executrix.  There was no love lost between my sister and me;  and in fact I had no contact with her the last two years before she died (as the result of a fall on an icy sidewalk).  I know at her funeral we were treated as the pariah by the church members but not by the pastor, who knew her manipulative ways and told the others, in the nicest way, at her funeral, bless his heart.

Water and Bridges.

I think it is time for a wee nap, once I struggle into bed.  The kids just got back from the grocery store and brought home some white chocolate macadamia cookies, yum.  Maybe after dinner...

Days Gone

We had KFC for dinner the other night, and it has changed.  I don't know if the whole franchise has changed recipes or if our local Kentucky Fried Chicken has gotten poor.  But the chicken was greasy (nothing new there) soggy (yuck) and tasted completely different.  We don't get fast food very often, but I think that will be our last purchase from there for the foreseeable future.  Fried chicken is not rocket science.

I am getting an error code from blogger, I think the internet here is down.  I am not about to write a long post and then have it lost, so I will wait a bit and see if it comes up.

When I was a kid, eating out anywhere was a real rare treat.  We went to BarBQue barn, or Pizza Hut, or really rarely to the local steak place.  My dad was agreeable for any food, except for steak.  We never fixed it at home, and I would be horribly embarrassed when he ordered steak.  He wanted his steak Well Done, no pink whatsoever, and would send it back multiple times before he got his shoe-leather steak done  the way he liked it.  The other thing was, his criteria for a good restaurant was how much butter they gave you for the bread.  If it was a big lump, and no steak, he was content.  At least in Miami back in the 50s there was not much of a possibility you would see someone you knew while you were eating, or even if you were shopping at one of the big box stores.  The exception for my family was Sears.  Mom and I and my sister went to Sears one night and she ordered chain link fence to be installed in the back yard, and it was on her Sears credit card.  When the sales lady called for approval, it was declined.  I'm not sure why, but at any rate, the lady called a supervisor to see if he would approve the sale.  Much to Mom's dismay, the supervisor was Mr Marks, who lived across the street from us, with two daughters my age that I played with.  She was nearly in tears (and my mom NEVER cried) but he didn't say anything, just signed the approval and disappeared.  I don't think we ever charged anything anywhere after that.  At least until my married sister cried for money, month after month, and they tapped out their credit cards, but that is another story.

Damn!

I was walking with my cane in the kitchen, and Blam! my knee gave out and away I went.  The only reason I didn't hit the floor is that I grabbed the freezer.  I hate this; what if it gave out as I came up the stairs?  I want my walker at hand, so I can have at least a chance of catching myself.  We are going to try a neoprene brace (the kind they sell at the drug store) and see if it stabilizes my knee.  I am so sick of all this; I thought I was improving with my cane, getting close to walking free of pain and weakness.  Damn.  Surgeon next week.

I have been getting a box every month from Birchbox, cosmetics, a mix of skin care and makeup.  I just love to get my box, play around with everything.  I also get a box from Cosmetique, not as nice as the Birchbox.  I may cancel it, I'll give it another month to see if it improves.  Many years ago I was getting things from them (we're talking 15 or more years) and can you believe it, the palette of  eye shadow was exactly the same?  I know because I went through all my drawers a few weeks ago, and there it was, untouched.  I hope it was a one-off thing.

I  called a lawn management co.  that has been treating our lawn for years.  The thing is, the lawn springs out of the ground from all the treatment, and C can't keep up with the mowing.  So I asked them to drop the treatment and come mow/trim the lawn.  C says he can do it, but he already has so much to do, between cooking, cleaning, taking care of the horse and cats/boxes, laundry, driving me to my appointments, collecting my scripts, if you can think of anything else he does it.  So I will see how the lawn mowing goes, and how much it costs, to decide.

It is nearing 5 am so I will end this pity party and go back to bed.  And here is hoping Irma didn't hurt anyone, and that the damage to home and work can be quickly repaired.

It's smee!

Well OK, just this time I will post a very recent photo, taken Sept. 5th.  And an amusing cartoon, too.

Bye for now...