Don't sweat petty things,
and don't pet sweaty things.
Thursday, October 26, 2006
Sunday, October 22, 2006
Not a lot going on, but I wanted to update. We're just trying to keep up with schoolwork around here and I'm trying (really, I am) to get the clutter under control. So what did we do? Get more stuff from Jerry's aunt's house when his cousin was throwing it all out. *Sigh*
It seems there are never enough hours in the day. Back in the summer I created a website for Dad's new business and trying to keep that updated is a challenge, trying to find the time to do it. Then there's keeping up with my real jobs (gotta pay the bills, ya know), and last but not least, trying to edumacate my son. (Yes, I meant to write edumacate - please don't write to me about my lack of intelligence!).
Aunt Ruby passed away last week. A few months ago she was at a casino in Delaware with Uncle Bill when she collapsed. At the hospital in Dover they found a brain tumor. She was unresponsive and Uncle Bill had started making funeral plans. Then over the course of the week she started coming out of it and they thought there might be hope to treat the tumor. She got well enough to go home, but has been declining in the past few weeks. It turned out it wasn't just the brain tumor. She had lung cancer that had spread to her stomach, brain and bones, so there really wasn't anything they could do for her. Uncle Bill had throat cancer a number of years back and has a hole in his throat that he talks through. These things coupled with the reports that I type day in and day out about smoking-related illnesses and complications, really make me wish that Jerry would quit. I have lost track of the number of reports I have typed where people went in for simple surgeries; gallbladder, appendix - what should be simple procedures - and ended up on a respirator because their lungs just couldn't handle the anesthesia from the damage done by smoking. Grrrr.....I hate cigarettes.
Well, I guess I shouldn't be whining about not having enough time for stuff. I obviously found the time to write this, didn't I?! Now I'd better get busy doing something. Where to start.........
It seems there are never enough hours in the day. Back in the summer I created a website for Dad's new business and trying to keep that updated is a challenge, trying to find the time to do it. Then there's keeping up with my real jobs (gotta pay the bills, ya know), and last but not least, trying to edumacate my son. (Yes, I meant to write edumacate - please don't write to me about my lack of intelligence!).
Aunt Ruby passed away last week. A few months ago she was at a casino in Delaware with Uncle Bill when she collapsed. At the hospital in Dover they found a brain tumor. She was unresponsive and Uncle Bill had started making funeral plans. Then over the course of the week she started coming out of it and they thought there might be hope to treat the tumor. She got well enough to go home, but has been declining in the past few weeks. It turned out it wasn't just the brain tumor. She had lung cancer that had spread to her stomach, brain and bones, so there really wasn't anything they could do for her. Uncle Bill had throat cancer a number of years back and has a hole in his throat that he talks through. These things coupled with the reports that I type day in and day out about smoking-related illnesses and complications, really make me wish that Jerry would quit. I have lost track of the number of reports I have typed where people went in for simple surgeries; gallbladder, appendix - what should be simple procedures - and ended up on a respirator because their lungs just couldn't handle the anesthesia from the damage done by smoking. Grrrr.....I hate cigarettes.
Well, I guess I shouldn't be whining about not having enough time for stuff. I obviously found the time to write this, didn't I?! Now I'd better get busy doing something. Where to start.........
Saturday, October 14, 2006
I'm Baaaaaaack! (Like a favorite relative or a recurring boil, depending on how you see it!)
Yes, I'm back. I didn't actually go anywhere, just didn't make time to blog. But, I miss writing so I'll just have to make time for it. Now if I could just make time for exercise.........
Okay - some catching up. Jerry had an aunt and uncle who used to live in a brick house at the intersection of Route 2 & 258. His aunt (Edna) who lived there died two years ago, and his uncle (Jack) who lived there died last week. Also living there had been Jack's brother and one of Jack and Edna's sons, Larry, who is autistic. They have another son, Tom, who is married and living in Pennsylvania. When Jack died last week, Tom had to make some tough decisions. He decided to sell the house and use the proceeds to buy a house near him in Pennsylvania where Larry and Jack's brother could live. The problem was that the house needed to be cleaned out and put on the market - FAST. That wouldn't have been a problem except that Edna and Jack had been there since 1968 and, well, so has everything else in the house. The house was nearly bursting with STUFF. Jerry took his dump trailer and helped Tom clean stuff out a few days. They got two full trailer loads of stuff to go to the dump - and that's not counting the countless trips Tom made to the local landfill with a loaded pickup truck while Jerry was dumping his trailer. (The dump trailer had to be dumped at the landfill here near us - the one near the house wouldn't accept large loads like that). In the basement they found boxes and boxes of canning jars. Jack's brother used to have a produce stand at Wayson's Corner and so Edna never had a shortage of things to can. Jerry's mom told Jerry to take the jars home for me. Wow! I don't think I'll ever need to buy jars again. I love them! One of them was an old blue jar. I won't use that for canning - it looks too pretty on my table. Now I've found a produce auction in St. Mary's County that I hope I can get to before the end of October when it closes for the season. You have to buy in bulk, but that's okay. The local grocery stores buy their produce from there. There are BIG lots of things (like the huge cardboard boxes of watermelons you see in the stores in the summer) and then there are smaller lots which small shops and restaurants buy. That's more my size! Well, we'll see if I can make it there this season. If not, there's always spring. We're talking with Jerry's brother about another beef this year, and probably getting a hog from Amish people who raise them. It's nice having food that you know where it came from and what's in it - grain-fed and no antibiotics. No E. coli, either!
I am not a superstitious person, but Friday the 13th was definitely a bad day for Jerry. I don't know if I posted about this before or not, but a few months ago Jerry, his uncle, and another man went in together and bought a chipper for when they do tree jobs. To make a long story short, they got taken on the chipper, and it has been a total pain in the you-know-what, and has cost more to repair so far than what they paid for it. On a side note, right around the time that they bought this one, a chipper was stolen down the road from us. Jerry had his in the garage while he was fixing it and then painted it. We teased him that it looked highly suspicious that a chipper was stolen, then he got one that he had in the garage for a long time and then painted it!. Unfortunately, there's a bill of sale for Jerry's, and it came from Virginia. I say unfortunately because it's unfortunate that they actually paid money for this thing. Okay, back to the story.
Jerry was going to do a tree job yesterday and was sitting in his truck waiting at the meeting place for his uncle. He had picked up his cousin on the way. While the two of them were sitting in a parking lot at a convenience store waiting, a solid black cat climbed out of a storm drain and walked right in front of them across the parking lot. Jerry said he and his cousin looked at each other and his cousin remarked that this couldn't be a good sign. They laughed about it and Jerry said he didn't give it another thought. At the first job the chipper ran fine at first, but then the radiator started leaking. Luckily, they were finishing up so they didn't worry too much about it. Then they went to a second job and here the belts flew off, the radiator continued leaking, and it became obvious that the bearings in the power unit (which Jerry had meticulously replaced a month ago after having to order specialized parts and have them specially machined) were broken. They had just finished that job too, so they figured they would worry it about it later. While they were cleaning up after this job, the elderly man who owns the property where they were doing the tree work backed into the driveway - right into Jerry's new truck. How's that for a Friday the 13th? Jerry called me and told me about all of this shortly after the truck incident. I told him he needed to just come home, crawl in bed and call it a day. Actually, he probably should have done just that when the black cat crossed his path!
Okay - some catching up. Jerry had an aunt and uncle who used to live in a brick house at the intersection of Route 2 & 258. His aunt (Edna) who lived there died two years ago, and his uncle (Jack) who lived there died last week. Also living there had been Jack's brother and one of Jack and Edna's sons, Larry, who is autistic. They have another son, Tom, who is married and living in Pennsylvania. When Jack died last week, Tom had to make some tough decisions. He decided to sell the house and use the proceeds to buy a house near him in Pennsylvania where Larry and Jack's brother could live. The problem was that the house needed to be cleaned out and put on the market - FAST. That wouldn't have been a problem except that Edna and Jack had been there since 1968 and, well, so has everything else in the house. The house was nearly bursting with STUFF. Jerry took his dump trailer and helped Tom clean stuff out a few days. They got two full trailer loads of stuff to go to the dump - and that's not counting the countless trips Tom made to the local landfill with a loaded pickup truck while Jerry was dumping his trailer. (The dump trailer had to be dumped at the landfill here near us - the one near the house wouldn't accept large loads like that). In the basement they found boxes and boxes of canning jars. Jack's brother used to have a produce stand at Wayson's Corner and so Edna never had a shortage of things to can. Jerry's mom told Jerry to take the jars home for me. Wow! I don't think I'll ever need to buy jars again. I love them! One of them was an old blue jar. I won't use that for canning - it looks too pretty on my table. Now I've found a produce auction in St. Mary's County that I hope I can get to before the end of October when it closes for the season. You have to buy in bulk, but that's okay. The local grocery stores buy their produce from there. There are BIG lots of things (like the huge cardboard boxes of watermelons you see in the stores in the summer) and then there are smaller lots which small shops and restaurants buy. That's more my size! Well, we'll see if I can make it there this season. If not, there's always spring. We're talking with Jerry's brother about another beef this year, and probably getting a hog from Amish people who raise them. It's nice having food that you know where it came from and what's in it - grain-fed and no antibiotics. No E. coli, either!
I am not a superstitious person, but Friday the 13th was definitely a bad day for Jerry. I don't know if I posted about this before or not, but a few months ago Jerry, his uncle, and another man went in together and bought a chipper for when they do tree jobs. To make a long story short, they got taken on the chipper, and it has been a total pain in the you-know-what, and has cost more to repair so far than what they paid for it. On a side note, right around the time that they bought this one, a chipper was stolen down the road from us. Jerry had his in the garage while he was fixing it and then painted it. We teased him that it looked highly suspicious that a chipper was stolen, then he got one that he had in the garage for a long time and then painted it!. Unfortunately, there's a bill of sale for Jerry's, and it came from Virginia. I say unfortunately because it's unfortunate that they actually paid money for this thing. Okay, back to the story.
Jerry was going to do a tree job yesterday and was sitting in his truck waiting at the meeting place for his uncle. He had picked up his cousin on the way. While the two of them were sitting in a parking lot at a convenience store waiting, a solid black cat climbed out of a storm drain and walked right in front of them across the parking lot. Jerry said he and his cousin looked at each other and his cousin remarked that this couldn't be a good sign. They laughed about it and Jerry said he didn't give it another thought. At the first job the chipper ran fine at first, but then the radiator started leaking. Luckily, they were finishing up so they didn't worry too much about it. Then they went to a second job and here the belts flew off, the radiator continued leaking, and it became obvious that the bearings in the power unit (which Jerry had meticulously replaced a month ago after having to order specialized parts and have them specially machined) were broken. They had just finished that job too, so they figured they would worry it about it later. While they were cleaning up after this job, the elderly man who owns the property where they were doing the tree work backed into the driveway - right into Jerry's new truck. How's that for a Friday the 13th? Jerry called me and told me about all of this shortly after the truck incident. I told him he needed to just come home, crawl in bed and call it a day. Actually, he probably should have done just that when the black cat crossed his path!
Sunday, September 10, 2006
My Foray Into Vice
Okay, so the title is a bit dramatic! Actually, we went to Uncle Jim's and then after we left we decided to see what the Charlestown Races were like. None of us (Jerry's mom went with us) had ever been there before. I spent (and lost!) a total of $11.00, so I'm not too sad. I didn't want to spend any more than that. We had a great day yesterday. It was very nice seeing everyone again. The music was great and it was just a wonderfully relaxing day. Oh, and the food was plentiful and delicious!
Here's a one-arm bandit in the casino. I played $1.00, lost $1.00 and quit!
Here come the ponies! I bet 5 times, lost 5 times, and quit!
Sammie and Jo dancing to the bluegrass music. It was hard to sit still while the music was playing!
A great picture! From the left there is Jay who is cousin Lisa's husband, then Uncle Jim, then Lisa (trying to hide in the back!), Aunt Nancy, Michael (Faith was there too, but not in this picture) Dad, Betty who is Nick's wife, then Nick, who is Dad and Uncle Jim's cousin. Jonathan and Amy were there too, but not in this picture.
It was great seeing Dad, Nick and Betty having a good time. This is the only time they see each other.
Monday, September 04, 2006
Catching Up - Part II
Whew! Lots of stuff happening and not enough time to write about it. Andy and I started school last week. We haven't really started in earnest yet, just mostly reviewed what was coming up so we could start tomorrow for really.
Last week my computer bit the dust. It had been acting strangely for a while now and I had it in the back of my mind that one of these days I really should get a new one. One of these days happened before I was ready! It's a very long story about what it took to get up and running again so I could work (it involves voiding the warranty on the new computer and taking the hard drive out of the old one and putting it in the new one to get my stuff). I'm very glad that I know how to do that kind of stuff myself otherwise it probably would have cost big bucks. Anyway, it's my own fault, really. If I had just had a backup disk, I wouldn't have had to go through that. Yes, I know. Who doesn't make a backup of their stuff?! Well, ME! But I know better now.
I am feeling better and I think this stupid virus is finally on the run now. Actually I was feeling really well last week and then this whole computer mess happened and I think due to lack of sleep and stress, my throat got sore, my side swelled again, and all I wanted to do was sleep again. I recognized it trying to come back and made sure I took care of myself and things are just about back where they should be now. In researching this virus I learned that it can take four to six weeks to get over it and then it can come back for a while if you don't take care of yourself.
We made it through Ernesto okay. A couple of trees uprooted in the little patch of woods behind the house but they fell into the woods and not towards the yard or house. My nylon flag on the front of the house was tattered to shreds. When I looked out and saw the bottom part being shredded away, I meant to take the whole thing down to keep the flagpole from breaking, but I got busy doing something else and forgot about it. Well, it was a summer flag and it was time for a fall one anyway, right?
We were without power for only about a half hour but everyone on our street was out for most of the afternoon and night. The electricity for our house in particular is hooked up on the street behind us, whereas everyone else on our street has their electricity hooked up on our own street. It's strange to see everyone on our street out except us! My neighbor called and wanted to know how on earth we had so many lights on when the electricity was out! She thought we had massive amounts of candles!
I am looking forward to next Saturday. Uncle Jim is having his bluegrass get-together again this year and I am really looking forward to it. It was such a wonderfully relaxing day last year, and after these past couple of weeks, I'm ready to GO!
Last week my computer bit the dust. It had been acting strangely for a while now and I had it in the back of my mind that one of these days I really should get a new one. One of these days happened before I was ready! It's a very long story about what it took to get up and running again so I could work (it involves voiding the warranty on the new computer and taking the hard drive out of the old one and putting it in the new one to get my stuff). I'm very glad that I know how to do that kind of stuff myself otherwise it probably would have cost big bucks. Anyway, it's my own fault, really. If I had just had a backup disk, I wouldn't have had to go through that. Yes, I know. Who doesn't make a backup of their stuff?! Well, ME! But I know better now.
I am feeling better and I think this stupid virus is finally on the run now. Actually I was feeling really well last week and then this whole computer mess happened and I think due to lack of sleep and stress, my throat got sore, my side swelled again, and all I wanted to do was sleep again. I recognized it trying to come back and made sure I took care of myself and things are just about back where they should be now. In researching this virus I learned that it can take four to six weeks to get over it and then it can come back for a while if you don't take care of yourself.
We made it through Ernesto okay. A couple of trees uprooted in the little patch of woods behind the house but they fell into the woods and not towards the yard or house. My nylon flag on the front of the house was tattered to shreds. When I looked out and saw the bottom part being shredded away, I meant to take the whole thing down to keep the flagpole from breaking, but I got busy doing something else and forgot about it. Well, it was a summer flag and it was time for a fall one anyway, right?
We were without power for only about a half hour but everyone on our street was out for most of the afternoon and night. The electricity for our house in particular is hooked up on the street behind us, whereas everyone else on our street has their electricity hooked up on our own street. It's strange to see everyone on our street out except us! My neighbor called and wanted to know how on earth we had so many lights on when the electricity was out! She thought we had massive amounts of candles!
I am looking forward to next Saturday. Uncle Jim is having his bluegrass get-together again this year and I am really looking forward to it. It was such a wonderfully relaxing day last year, and after these past couple of weeks, I'm ready to GO!
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Catching Up
A little update - mostly in pictures! First of all, whatever virus I had is gone for the most part, but I know when I need to slow down because my side starts to swell again and I fall asleep wherever and whenever! Not a problem if I get enough rest, though.
I successfully sold all of Andy's stuff from last year and made enough to buy this year's stuff, which I did, and which we will be using tomorrow to start school. Andy is thrilled! That was sarcastic, in case you couldn't tell. Actually I did so well selling the stuff ($576.00 in a week - not too shabby!) that I'm going to list the rest of the clutter around here when I get the chance.
All four of us took a breather last Thursday and went to the Solomons pier to fish and crab. It was a lot of fun. We didn't catch any fish, and the crabs we caught (three!) were too small to keep. Oh, well. We had a very nice day together as a family. Andy has really been wanting crabs since then and we had told him that we would buy some very soon. Well, last night we were on our way to the grocery store and passed the man who usually sells crabs on the side of Route 4 - only this time his sign said "Free Crabs" . It took a minute to register what we read as we were going by at 55 mph, but Jerry did a U-turn at the light and we went back to check that out! Sure enough, the man was trying to close up for the night (it was 8:00) and was giving away the rest of that day's catch. He gave us 18 good-sized live male crabs. They were in a plastic bag and we listened to them rustle all the way home from Food Lion! They were steamed as soon as we got home and Andy could barely wait for them to cool before digging in. Can't beat free crabs!
Well, that's about it for now. More later when I'm not so tired...*YAWN*!
I successfully sold all of Andy's stuff from last year and made enough to buy this year's stuff, which I did, and which we will be using tomorrow to start school. Andy is thrilled! That was sarcastic, in case you couldn't tell. Actually I did so well selling the stuff ($576.00 in a week - not too shabby!) that I'm going to list the rest of the clutter around here when I get the chance.
All four of us took a breather last Thursday and went to the Solomons pier to fish and crab. It was a lot of fun. We didn't catch any fish, and the crabs we caught (three!) were too small to keep. Oh, well. We had a very nice day together as a family. Andy has really been wanting crabs since then and we had told him that we would buy some very soon. Well, last night we were on our way to the grocery store and passed the man who usually sells crabs on the side of Route 4 - only this time his sign said "Free Crabs" . It took a minute to register what we read as we were going by at 55 mph, but Jerry did a U-turn at the light and we went back to check that out! Sure enough, the man was trying to close up for the night (it was 8:00) and was giving away the rest of that day's catch. He gave us 18 good-sized live male crabs. They were in a plastic bag and we listened to them rustle all the way home from Food Lion! They were steamed as soon as we got home and Andy could barely wait for them to cool before digging in. Can't beat free crabs!
Well, that's about it for now. More later when I'm not so tired...*YAWN*!
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Getting Back to Normal
I hate being sick. I hate it. I'm just now getting back to feeling somewhat normal. A couple of weeks ago I started having a sore throat off and on and then a nagging little pain in my left side. I didn't pay too much attention to it because I was busy with other things. I had also started walking regularly on the treadmill again and thought that maybe it was just that. Then each day of last week it seemed to take me longer and longer to finish two miles. By Friday I was just plodding along wondering why I felt so awful. By Saturday my throat was really sore, my left side was swollen and so tender I couldn't touch it, and I was running a fever. Besides all of this I was incredibly tired. I was falling asleep wherever and whenever. I had actually been taking naps during the afternoons the whole week before, but again I thought it was just all the busy-ness catching up with me. This was something different. I just wanted to sleep! Also at the end of last week a case of conjunctivitis was trying to catch me and wearing my contacts became impossible. On Monday morning it occurred to me that all my symptoms somehow seemed familiar and that I should know what ailed me.........then it hit me. Mononucleosis! I got to the computer as fast as I could make myself get there, and started researching. Sure enough, every symptom was there. I even read where the Epstein-Barr virus (which is the bug that causes mono) can manifest as conjunctivitis (pinkeye) in some people. Well, now. The only question was, where did I get it?! Then I remembered Tom not feeling well about three weeks ago, with a sore throat, swollen glands, a fever, and falling asleep very easily. He was even coming home early from Sam's because he said he was just "too tired and felt like he could sleep forever". Mono can be caught just like a cold - being around someone who has sneezed or coughed. Being called the "kissing disease" is an old wives' tale. It isn't spread quite as easily as a cold, but does spread in the same way. Anybody who knows me knows that I don't go to the doctor unless I feel it's life-threatening, so I didn't go. Besides, it's a virus, and there's nothing that can be done except to let it take it's course. Antibiotics are useless unless you develop something bacterial. I wasn't fooling around with my swollen spleen though, and was very careful of what I did because I didn't want a rupture to happen. It was so huge that my clothes were uncomfortable. I didn't do anything except lie around for two days (that's pretty much all I felt like doing - I was out of it). By yesterday I was having moments of feeling back to normal and my side was less tender and the swelling was going down. This morning I feel much better, and my side is only tender in one spot with no swelling felt. I haven't had a fever since Sunday, so I might just make it after all! And I'm able to wear my contacts again. Thank the Lord - I'm as blind as a bat without them! I'm wrestling with myself this morning, though, because I really want to get outside and cut the grass and do some weeding because the weather is very nice right now, but I know I should still be resting. In any case, I am very grateful to be feeling better. Being sick is for the birds!
Sunday, July 23, 2006
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
LinkWithin
