Thunder

We are currently experiencing a loud thunder storm to the north of us.  Not experience like a constant rumble, but any storm there makes me want to huddle in my room (like I have a choice).  Three cats are hiding, but one (Beans) is still on a bed having a wash-up.  She figures with them gone she gets sole custody of any laps or beds within reach.  Her favorite spot is on the keyboard interfering with typing or gaming.  It does no good to put her down, she jumps right back.  Over and over.  C usually has to put her out of his room and shut the door.  Still she sits directly outside there and howls to be let back in.  Blows your concentration.

I need to figure out how to disable or change the length of time that the screen goes dark once there is nothing being added.  Got it done

I had just mailed the IRS and the state their pound of flesh ( although I had e-filed the actual returns several weeks before).  I did it just before the $1200 that taxpayers will receive, too late to get the earliest payment.  Still, it should arrive soon, based on the projected refunds.  I still have not received the census form (s) for 2020 so I must be a low-totempole-taxpayer.  I get government SSA so I will see how it goes over the next few weeks.  I am getting dozens of offers for decreasing my mortgage, and other benefits for veterans, even though we paid off the mortgage years ago.  Don't need a reverse mortgage, windows, a new roof, a new car, a remodeled bathroom, and so on, based on N's veteran status.  Back in the 60s you either went to college, got a draft deferment, or went into the military.  N went to the Air Force and ended up stationed in Berlin then Turkey.  NOT thank god to Vietnam.  His brother and father did Vietnam and both were injured; my father-in-law came home on a stretcher.  This  was after he had retired and then was called back in.  N's brother got Agent Orange exposure and was in awful health forever after.  Vietnam, what a mess that was.

The boot I am wearing for my broken ankle has had the side effect of removing fluid from my left foot,; even my right foot is down somewhat.   If only they stay down once the boot comes off.  I can't do therapy because the ramp onto the place is very steep for the first 20 feet, and worse than that, the trip down is difficult because the walker is not built to have a braking function.  No therapy for weeks now.  I will try to do mild exercise that doesn't need the left leg for the movement.  Not too many of those, I think.

Turfing out the attic has yielded some surprising items, and lots of trash.  The donate able stuff isn't too much except clothing, but some is alright.  Bowling balls, anyone?  Golf bags with new clubs?  A small North Face tent?  gas grill?  The list goes on and on...  If Goodwill won't take things, then I will  set the things out at the curb with a "help yourself" sign.  There are lots of walkers on the Lane so someone will take them.

And if you want one shirt on the bottom of the pile...

And flitting around the net, I can definitely see where age 20 to mid 30s is full of things that look awful on women of this age:  like unicorns, glitter, band shirts, tie dyed, anything you wore in high school..Hello? you aren't in high school anymore!  You have a career, a young family, not so many dress-up events, when what you need is classy.  Elegant, in fact, for your dress-up events.  Just make sure if you need to upgrade your closet, that the replacements hit all the buttons, the best color for you, lovely, well fitting, in vogue, fetching look.  Not something crammed in your closet for years.

That's all for this post, Bye!

Limping along

Ten days since my last post.. I wonder if any readers are left...

Well, I mainly write for myself.  For instance, I look for a post that tells me how old the brown cat is. And other vital items...

I am trusting my booted foot more as time goes by, and I can walk to the bathroom in the daytime with my walker.  Not in the night, when sleepy partners up with clumsy, for that I need C for help.  I feel so guilty for waking him for this.  Still 4 weeks to go before more x-rays.  I broke my ankle on the other leg several years ago.  I assumed it was just a sprain, and I went to my family dr. to find out how to wrap it better.  They said, "Umm.." and sent me for X-rays.  I had been walking on it for  weeks by then, and the radiologist popped his head in and said it was broken.  It never did heal, and so I had to have screws and a plate by then.  They laughed in the ER comparing me to the visits for something trivial and me walking around on a broken ankle for 2 weeks.  Dumb, I know.  Just because your ankle/arm/wrist/etc. can be moved doesn't mean it is OK.

I was looking through my lipsticks yesterday and found quite a few that never were opened, as well as ones where the twisty end was frozen.  I was especially looking for Clinique Black Honey  and eventually I found it.  The color in the tube is very black, but once put on is a clear light red color.  Neat.  I made up a goody bag for the nail lady's daughter, which I have done a couple of times before this.  Nothing like a goody bag, but I get a cosmetic bag every month, along with 5 large samples, and it all adds up.  I have a ten drawer cabinet, an egg basket, and many large zip bags of make up, sorting by type, but most of it has been sampled by me, and I only give away things that are totally unused.  Back in the day e-Bay would allow partially used cosmetics but now only unused ones.  Much better.

I haven't gotten much done on my cross stitch projects.  The most recent one I have started 3 times, apparently I can't count to ten, but now I should get enough done to see a difference.  I started it on new fabric this time, the original fabric was too limp and the used holes too large.  It didn't have anything to do with watching The Mentalist, all 7 seasons.  Nothing at all.  I am on season 7, I don't know what I will watch next.  Something with a little less guns, I think.

Bye for now!

Boot

My ankle had not shifted in the last week, and I saw the x-rays yesterday.  So 6 weeks in the boot, which can be removed to shower, and to go to bed.  Given the current state of COVID-19 locally,  I am glad to give surgery plus in-hospital recovery a mighty big hurrah! and go home.  Everyone in the ortho clinic and later at the pharmacy were wearing masks, so I ordered a three pack from Amazon (where else?) that are 3 layers and can be washed and reworn.  The 3rd one can be used as a stand-in while another mask dries.  Somewhere in the garage, over by the painting supplies, is a box of disposable masks, but unreachable for now.  The new ones are black, and stand out from the blue ones.

And speaking of the pharmacy, we got 5 of six scripts filled, but have to return for number 6 once they get resupplied, today probably.  They have a 20 people limit inside the store, so C had to wait outside (in the car) while they prepared them.  How long does this go on?  I mean a real estimate, not what is being Trumped.  Too bad hot air doesn't work on a virus.

I have been cleared to return to therapy, for the right knee, and light work on the left knee, I will call today to schedule.  I hate to lose all the progress I have made, and I look forward to seeing someone other than us.  I think I have already begun stiffening.  Also I have been bored out of my mind...

I sent a Thank You note to my retiring psych doctor yesterday, and a note about my Dr. M appointment so they get an alert when called for records.  Too bad there are so many doctors here, but only a handful of independent psych doctors.  I certainly hope this works out.  I had my retiring dr. for 20+ years.  I had a therapist about 20 years ago who terminated our sessions even though I asked him to continue.  My replacement therapist was gold, and I didn't miss him after a week or 2.  Now she has moved away, and I am only needing psych meds from the new Dr., and no actual counseling, I think.

Ring ring...

Well, it turns out that our landline phone is not working.  We cannot call out, and there is no ring tone for calling in.  That is the reason we have had no spam calls.  It has been like this since Sunday, or earlier, and the phone company is sending a lineman to check things out on the pole, etc.  I am expecting a call from the Nephrology clinic before Friday, so I hope we don't trundle along to an appointment that has been canceled.  I can call them on my cell line, I hope, when Thursday arrives.

I was drifting around on eBay and I found a whole lot of macrame for sale.  I made an offer for a wall hanging of a tree of life ($50) and when I tried to pay for it, the message generated was "this item cannot be shipped to WV"  Say what?  Then I got a message from the seller that the shipping would be $250, did I still want it?  To which I replied, NO.  So the order was canceled whew!  This is a first for me, and I have been dealing on eBay since 1997.  I know shipping for UPS and USPS has increased in the last month, but really...

I was ill on Sunday and canceled my nail appointment.  She comes to the house and I know she depends on that payment in her budget.  The tattoo store where she works has been closed (at the same time as hair salons) for now, and if she doesn't work she doesn't get paid.  Last week one of the local nursing homes were tested and they found 29 positive cases of the virus.  Two have gone to the hospital and the others are sheltering in a closed wing of home, no visitors.  Before my parents passed away I spent a lot of time there, and I never saw anyone using the hand sanitizer on the wall, when they were coming in or leaving the room.  If they are not doing this now, I see a lot of law suits in the future.  The nursing home I was in used them faithfully, as well as soap and water, two years ago.

An update:
As if I didn't have enough bad luck, I now have more.  Tuesday at 3 a.m. I fell in the bathroom and broke my ankle.  We had to get the fire dept. guys to get me off the floor and back to bed.  By 10 a.m. I realized this was not a sprain, and when I called 911 I told them it wasn't an emergency but that I needed transport to the ER for my broken ankle.  It was either them, or have C wrestle me into his car, and neither of us wanted to do that.  So 10 or more Xrays later they fixed my broken ankle with a splint and said to call my ortho doctor for a cast.  So here I sit with a boot on, and an appointment for next week.  If the boot holds things together, great; and if it shifts I get a new surgery on my ankle.  As much as I love surgery (NOT).

Back to bed.

Cheers!