My Memory Comes And Goes.....LOL!

It was late, quite late in the afternoon, before I realized that I had NOT done my blog for last night.  That was because I had a tummy ache that I couldn't quite figure out where it came from.  I hadn't eaten anything for several hours before I went to sleep (early again) and I figured that by the time I woke up to use the bathroom, I would be ready to talk about my (boring) day.

That didn't happen and the tummy ache just hadn't gone away.  It took it continuing through most of today before I realized what I had done.  I had eaten a lot of cheese over the past two days and you know what that does to your bowels.  Uh huh!  I was a bit constipated.  Yikes!  So I took some Miralax and just waited.  Pretty soon, the tummy ache went away and I knew my plight would soon be over.  It was.  *Grin*  And it wasn't like having an IBS attack.  I'm beginning to believe that the IBS attacks I was having for a couple months before the dead section of bowel was discovered and removed was actually not true IBS.  It was from the infection that the dead section of bowel was spreading.  Hence, the appendicitis and the bladder infection I had when I went into the emergency room.  I am very, very thankful that the surgeon on call had the experience he did (he's not what you would call a young surgeon but not too old either) and went with his gut feelings to do a little exploring.  If he hadn't, I might have been buried deep in the ground by now.  

If my memory had really been good, it would have occurred to me NOT to eat so much cheese so close together, especially after having the kind of surgery I did.  Oh well.  I don't think it will happen again any time soon.  At least I hope so.

I had one scary thing happen to me today.  I was scratching my head and felt something strange.  It almost felt like a little scab and that bothered me.  So I went searching for it and finally found it again and decided to pull it off and check to see what it was.  Good thing I did.  It was a tiny little tick!  *Shudder*  I put it on my desk top and there were a couple hairs caught up in it (which I thought at first was just the scab catching them) and....then it turned itself over!!!!!!  The shape of it was definitely tick.  I almost screamed because there was only one place it could have come from....Lady.  It was so small that I knew it wasn't long out of it's egg.  After shuddering, then squishing it dead, I went to check on the sprays we had in the house.  Talk about spraying my recliner down thoroughly after I found out #1...that it was not hazardous to humans (it was slated for kitchen use) and, #2....that ticks were listed on the insects it could be used to kill.  I DO know that it doesn't smell like many bug sprays do but then, it's not poisonous like many are.  It's one of those *natural* type sprays that is not hazardous to the environment.  I like those more and more these days.

I sprayed the hell out of the chair, mainly because the tick was so small (and who knew how many of those damn things had crawled off Lady?) and because I am sure they can hide.  I even turned the chair over and sprayed everything I could reach.  It's been drying for a couple hours now so I feel better.  As soon as the Beast got home from the store, I told him what I had found and we put some flea and tick medication (the good stuff from the vet's office) and used it on both dogs.  I then made sure we sprayed Baron's bed since Lady had gone to sleep on it earlier.  Now we have to just wait and see.  If we find any more, both dogs will get more of the medication and then I am going to have the Beast take Lady back to the vet's to have her check her out well since she is a double-coated dog and it may take something different to be sure all the ticks are gone.  

My real concern is that the tick that I found in my hair was so small.  I am not sure how long it takes for a tick egg to hatch so who knows how long these could have been on Lady?  I sprayed my rug well as long as I was at it and I went from an almost full can of spray to an empty one.....LOL.  But I got everywhere I know the dog has been over the past few days.  The Beast just cleaned and vacuumed out my car (vacuuming will kill ticks, too) and I have vacuumed my rug once already.  I will do it again in the morning and my recliner, too.  I don't want to freak out my sister, who is coming over tomorrow so I can do her roots for her.  We'll do that in the kitchen area but, after she showers, my computer room is the most comfortable place to be.  I'll wash all my small blankets I have in here tonight so that should take care of everything.  

We have a few more days of cooler weather but a return to the 70's and then up to the 80's starting on Saturday!  Ahhh, sweet warm weather....

Sheepie came over yesterday and put up a nice little grave marker for Daphne.  It really looks like a gravestone, too.  It turned out so adorable.  The Beast, the jerk, said to her...* Just make sure it doesn't interfere with my mowing!*  And I know he wasn't nice about how he said it.  Jerk!  It's back under the tree area  and no grass grew in that area even before Daphne was buried there.  Jeez!  Talk about insensitive.

Love you all.  Hope you had a decent Hump Day.  If not, so sorry.  At least I know the camel didn't show up asking you to guess what day it was....LOL!  ***Hugs***

Late Post (For Tuesday)

I fell asleep last night around 9pm and slept almost all night long!  I woke up once around 4:30am to use the bathroom (we old folks just can't get away from that, can we?).  But I headed back to bed because I was still tired.  I know some people like to read all their posts that they follow early in the morning while drinking their coffee.  To those people, I apologize for not getting this done in a more timely manner.  Sorry 'bout that.

Yesterday was eye doctor day and the cleaning of the lens in the Beast's other eye.  This one went a little faster (he got in to have it done earlier).  I stayed in the car and went to sleep.  It surprised me when he woke me up by opening the door.  We stopped for breakfast on the way home at McDonald's.  I got the breakfast burritos (sausage and eggs....really tasty with some hot sauce that I added) and the Beast got his sausage and pancakes.  We had stopped at the McD's in Boaz and it had to be the coldest one we have ever tried to eat in.  I kid you not!  The AC was cranked down so much that, with light jackets on, we both still started shivering from the cold.  It was awful.  I didn't finish my second burrito but took it with me because we just HAD to get out of there and into the car.  It was only 57 degrees and they had it cranked down like it was 90 degrees or higher outside.  It was just awful.  The Beast and I agreed we would never use that McDonald's again.

The Beast told me his eye that had been cleaned was hurting him.  He had no idea why since the process was the same.  But he went and took a short nap when we got home.  Sheepie was asleep when we got home and so were both the dogs.  But the dogs woke up when they heard us come in and came to greet us before Lady started trying to get Baron to play.  Sheepie then came with me into my computer room and we just chatted while I finished the coffee I brought home from McD's.

She wanted to go to Petco with the Beast and he told her she could but that he was going to the vet's right after.  When the Beast got up, I was surprised that he took both dogs with him because he wanted to be sure that their exposure to Daphne wasn't going to be a problem.   She gave both dogs booster shots for the Parvo and Lady got her rabies shot (because we weren't sure if she had even gotten any shots).  The vet said she wanted them to have the booster shots to err on the side of caution since Daphne was an advance case of the disease.  That made the Beast feel better.

She also told the Beast that Lady was only somewhere between 6 months and a year old.    She also has worms and the Beast got the medicine for her for the next three days.  They administered the dose for Day One at the vet's office and the Beast got a small bottle with enough in it for several days.  Since Lady vomited on the way home, he figured it had to be the medicine.  I called the vet's office and she told me not to try giving her any more until today and then consider it Day One for the medication.  Lady has to go back in two weeks so she can check to see if she managed to get rid of the worms.  The Beast said she had a BAD case according to the vet.  But she also drew some blood to see if Lady has heart worm.  I sure as hell hope not because that's miserable to get rid of.  Our old neighbor's dog had it (he had never been vaccinated and they didn't give him heart worm meds) and it was a horrible couple of months that the dog (and they) had to go through.  I felt so sorry for him.

After leaving the vet's office, the Beast took Sheepie home so she could take care of HER dogs who had been kenneled the whole time she was gone.  I was very grateful for her staying with the dogs (actually it was Lady I was worried about being home without either of us being there to make sure she didn't chew anything).  When I was told about the vet's estimate of Lady's age, I felt a little depressed because that means we will be going through another bout of chewing with a dog since that explained Lady's chewing.  She's at the right age for it and it lasts about a year.  It also explained why we had to get a training collar when she went absolutely nuts on a leash with a regular collar.  The training collar with exert the right pressure on her neck to get her to stop the jumping, pulling and twisting she did.  She will then pay attention.  The vet ended up having the right size training collar so that was another ka-ching to our bill.  With all that was done, it came to $173.  *Sigh*  That hurt but at least I won't have to listen to the Beast's harping on it and constant worrying.  He can turn his mind to other things.....LOL.  

We made sandwiches for our lunch and had a light dinner, too, since neither of us was very hungry.  Even the Beast went to bed early but, with him, it means he was going to be up early (he was up at 6am).  I know he plans on going to the barber's and he likes to be early so he doesn't have any long wait.  He has his church meeting tonight and he HAS to look good for the old biddies that think he is the cat's meow.  Sheesh.  If they only knew!

People have asked me why I don't go with the Beast.  It's because I really don't believe in ANY organized religion.  Either they want to control your life (like a cult) or they are constantly after you for money.  The belief in God is a farce with them.  I believe in God and the power of prayer.  I try to be the best person I can be (with what little mind I have left....LOL) and treat people the way *I* would hope to be treated.  I often wear a necklace that I have had for over 30 years now that says *Bitch*.  When people react to it, I tell them it's my warning sign.  Here in the Bible Belt, it often horrifies people who see it.  I finally felt that it might actually cause some people to react violently (the very ardent religious are unpredictable here) so I wear it only occasionally.  It all depends where I am going.  For almost 25 years, it never came off me.  Just goes to show you that , with age, comes a type of cowardice.  I am not able to run as fast as I could when I was young and courageous.  LOL!

Lady is still sleeping most of the night by me or on me.  That's almost too funny since it is the Beast that she follows around in the house.  I'm not sure if it's because Baron does or she thinks he is the pack leader.  I think it might be because he was the first person to treat her nicely since she was dropped off to fend for herself.  Eating garbage or even things like mice would explain the worms.  Sheepie also found two huge ticks on her and removed them (to drown them in the toilet).  The fact that they were engorged with blood tells us that they were on her for some time.

Time to get this posted.  Love you all and I hope you are having decent weather and a good week so far.  Have a few laughs today.  Tell a joke or two or, better yet, listen to someone tell a joke and let yourself laugh with your whole body.  It's good for you.  ***Hugs***

Done At Two Different Times Of Day....

Early Part

Looks like the little dog is going to stay with us.  She was so cute last night while I was trying to sleep.  She jumped up into my lap then proceeded to sleep in several different poses (on her back, curled into a ball, on her side with her paw on my face, etc.)  Eventually she jumped down and slept on the floor until the Beast let her out of the room in the morning while he dressed for church.

I woke up not too long after he had left (without waking me) and found the little dog had done a no-no on the guest room rug.  Which explains why Baron had abandoned the room and was at the front door, asleep on the rug.  I brought the little one into the guest room and showed her the mess and yelled *bad dog* at her a couple time.  She put her tail between her legs and slunk out of the room while I cleaned it up.  I used the spot remover on the area after that (it cleans and sanitizes).  When I told the Beast what she had done when he got home, he asked if I had yelled at her.  I told him *of course or she won't know it's not allowed* and he nodded his head.

We decided on calling her Lady since I had dreamed about her and that was what I called her in my dream.  The Beast is at Walmart right now, buying her a collar and a leash because she decided to jump into a puddle and go for a swim when he took both dogs for a run around the block.  It's a beautiful day today.  Warm and bright sunshine.  We've had both the dogs outside a couple times already but brought them in the house when they had done enough running around and were just looking for shade.  At one point, Baron just went to the front door, turned around and barked that he was done being outside.  I laughed because of the way he did it and went inside with him.  Lady followed Baron inside and tried to play with him again but he just plopped down on the floor and ignored her.  She then followed me into my computer room and laid down. 

I made us Denver omelets for brunch.  They turned out just great.  I've found myself using the invection cooktop more and more.  I'm growing very fond of it...LOL.  It does seem to cook things better and faster, especially when I am making any kind of pasta.  That is amazing how fast it gets the water boiling.

I have to check out the freezer and decide what I am making for dinner.  I'm leaning towards some crunchy fish fillets and maybe some mac and cheese.  I'll decide on a veggie when I start dinner.  I shall finish this later.  Hope your Sunday is as good as ours is so far.  ***Hugs***
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I am glad I did this in two parts.  I got a call from Sheepie and she was crying and very upset.  She needed for her and Teach to use our yard to perform an incredible feat as far as I was concerned.  It seems that her dog had been sick....VERY sick and they had taken her in to the vet that they use to find out what was wrong.  Her dog had parvo.  It's an insidious disease that dogs get.  Daphne, her dog, had not been eating.  She had been drinking a lot of water from her bowl but was vomiting it up.  It didn't matter if it was a lot or just a little.  She then started excreting blood from her mouth and hind end.  That was when they knew it was very, very serious.  When the vet was told, he immediately gave Daphne the test for parvo.  It turned up positive.  The vet told them that they usually die from dehydration because of the breakdown of the internal organs.  Nothing can go where it should, either food or water.  +

They brought her home although the doctor told them she should be put down to spare her the pain but Sheepie couldn't bear the thought of that.  She just didn't have a real idea of the kind of pain the dog would go through.  She thought Daphne would just pass quietly at her own home.  But when she finally realized that it wasn't going to happen that way, they decided it was time.  The vet's office wasn't open on Sunday so Teach was going to shoot her and bury her in the yard....IF we would allow it.  They needed the use of the back yard since we live in a rural area and the shot would not excite any of our neighbors.  Since the neighbor in back of us regularly shoots squirrels and raccoons, we knew he wouldn't object if he heard it.

Teach had a hand gun he planned to use.  When they came over here with Daphne, Sheepie was an emotional mess.  Daphne really WAS Sheepie's dog and she loved her dearly.  It was her first dog that she ever had so she had a special place in Sheepie's heart.  I hugged and held her close as I tried to comfort her.  She clung to me and sobbed like her heart was broken.  And, of course, it really was/is.  The Beast told him that he could bury her in our lot next door.  The original plan was that they would bury her in his parent's yard but they found out that his folks had Teach's sisters kids at their house so that was not a possibility.  It would upset the kids too much.  You know how young kids are with their curiosity and stubbornness when they feel they aren't being allowed to know what is going on.

So Teach dug a grave at the back of the lot, under the overhanging tree branches while Sheepie had a few more minutes to spend with Daphne, loving her.  The odd thing is that Daphne had been given her shots for Parvo but apparently it didn't *take* and provide her with the immunity it should have.  

After the grave was dug, Sheepie handed over Daphne to Teach to do what he needed to do.  She came into my computer room with me so that she wouldn't hear the shot.  Daphne was so trusting that she stood still when Teach did the deed and then placed her in the grave and covered her body.  She was buried with her collar on her.   The Beast gave Teach a full gallon of bleach to pour over the grave for two reasons.  One is so Baron won't be attracted to the site if he goes back there.  The other reason is that bleach is the only thing that will kill the Parvo bacteria so that there's no chance of it remaining in the ground.  Teach is coming back tomorrow morning to pour more bleach on the grave and make sure the grave has been covered well with dirt.  Unfortunately, all this was done in the dark so he really couldn't see and a flashlight has such a narrow beam that he couldn't actually tell but it looked okay to him for now.

He has to be back to drop off Sheepie in the morning (at  5:30am or a little earlier) because we don't want to leave Lady here without us for any length of time.  We were sitting outside with Teach and Sheepie but left the dogs in the house so there was no chance of them being exposed to Daphne.  We know Baron has been vaccinated but have no idea if Lady has had any shots.  The Beast has to have his second eye cleaned tomorrow so we have to head down to Gadsden again.  Sheepie is dog sitting for us (without her their other two dogs since she can kennel them).  I don't trust Lady being here because when the dogs were inside and we were outside, they protested.  Baron did his *upset and angry* barks and Lady whined.  

Then she came into my computer room and chewed up the paper cover and part of the back of one of my books.  It was my good crochet hardback book.  When we came in and I came into my computer room, I found the mess and chastised her over it but it made me really angry at her for a while.  She tucked her tail between her legs and went and hid behind my recliner.  So Sheepie volunteered to come over and dog sit since Teach had to be at work at 6am so he will drop her off.  They don't live very far from us so he will have time to do that and get to work on time.   She's always up while he gets ready for work anyway.  

I'm grateful to her because my plan was to take Lady with us and stay in the car until the Beast was finished and able to leave the Surgical Center.  I didn't look forward to that since I knew she would be much too active and would be all over the car with her energy.  She's just awful on a leash and I would want to walk her (or let her go outside the car) so she could pee or poop.  Now I can do what I originally planned to do and that was to stay in the car and sleep.  We are planning on using the Prius because it's more comfortable AND the seats go back further than they do in my Yaris.  *Grin*

I apologize for this being so long but I am going to post this now.  I only got a few hours sleep tonight and woke up to use the bathroom when I remembered I hadn't finished this.  Love you all and I hope your week goes well for you, both personally and with your weather.  ***Hugs***

There's A New Dog On The Block....!

The Beast brought home a new dog today.  It was another *drop off* dog that we get around here because there are so many farms.  This one was dropped off near one of the Beast's friends from his church.  He already had a dog and his dog didn't like her one bit.  She is so damn cute.  She's fairly small, especially in comparison to Baron.  

She's a mutt with some terrier in her I think.  She's smart and very good tempered.  We think someone had her and perhaps, when they moved to another apartment, they found out that they couldn't have a pet.  She's too well trained and good -natured for anyone to get rid of her because she was any type of problem.  She's housebroken and is asleep on the rug in my computer room here right  now.  She was in my lap earlier and got into some of the funniest positions.

The Beast's friend said she wouldn't leave his yard (unfenced) and stayed off the road, too.  She seems to be a really great watchdog, too.  That's something that Baron could take a lesson in from her, if possible.  I think that may be what the Beast had in mind although we did talk about having a smaller dog as a companion to Baron.

Baron reacted, at first, just about the way you would think.  He was jealous of any attention we paid to her in front of him.  He got over excited and we were afraid that he would hurt her.  The Beast and I gave her a bath because her underside was so dirty from sleeping in the dirt.  She must have slept under people's porches or decks before she settled on Jesse's house as a home base.  When we put Baron in our room with the door closed, she explored the house.  She likes my rug, I think.  All the other rooms in the house except this room and the guest room have either tile or wood floors.  

After a couple hours, both dogs settled in with each other and she decided she wanted to play.  She licked Baron's nose and jumped up around him.  She ended up chasing him around.  It was sooooo funny to watch.  They then started plopping down in different spots around the living room.  The only thing Baron objects to is if the Beast has her in his lap.  

We haven't decided on a name just yet.  I was calling her Baby and she seems to respond to that.  The Beast likes the name Lady.  I told him lets just observe her and decide later.  He agreed.  She, like Baron, is a black long-hair dog.  She has a lot of white on her chest and underside and patches of white on her paws.  She has the sweetest face on her.  She's probably about 15-20 lbs.  I was surprised how heavy she was when I lifted her.  She seems to have a lot of muscle under that fur.  She also has a lot of mats in her hair.  She's double-coated, unfortunately.  *Sigh*  But I do like her and that surprised me.  She also is not a yappy dog.  Once she settles in and accepts our house as hers, we will see how good a watchdog she really is.

As for me, I feel great.  I'm extremely tired since I wasn't able to sleep last night.  I was expelling gas (and some blood along with it) plus running to the bathroom a lot.  That didn't allow me to get any sleep.  Not with going to the bathroom every 10 minutes or so.  Then I got my second wind.  

I fell asleep around 8:30pm and woke up a little bit ago to use the bathroom again.  I had to use my Depends with the blood I was getting.  But the doctor said there would be some since he garroted the polyps to remove them and didn't cauterize the areas.  I stopped bleeding at all earlier this morning so that's over, thank goodness.   I had a lot of energy and spent more time up on my feet and doing things like cleaning up the computer room plus I remade the bed in the guest room.  The Beast had the blankets and comforter on incorrectly and it looked just awful.  The expelling of gas seems to be pretty much a thing of the past now so that's another good thing.  

I'll be heading back to bed shortly and the little dog will wake and make sure that's where I am going before she settles down again.  She seems to sleep lightly and that's what probably helps her BE a watchdog.  But we shall see.

The weather today was not bad but it was overcast.  I kept waiting for the rain to start but it seems to have stalled a bit in Arkansas and northwestern Alabama.  It will probably roll thru here later as many of our storms seem to do lately.  It's actually fairly warm tonight (68 degrees right now) and they claim it will only get just a tiny bit cooler as our low.  Tomorrow promises to be warm (in the upper 70's but a low tomorrow night of 48).  

Love you all and I wish you a great Sunday.  Have a bit of fun and a laugh or two.  ***Hugs***

Phew....Glad That's Over!

I was a bit worried by this afternoon (when they FINALLY brought me into the OR) that it might have to be rescheduled.  Why?  Because I suddenly started showing small bits of things that shouldn't have been in my bowel movements.  The doctor, however, said I might have had a bit of impaction that was finally being washed out and he would just do the best he could.  I think, however, that he may have given me an enema once I was knocked out.  I won't relate why I think so.  

He found a couple small polyps in my intestines and removed them.  He said they appeared to be the type that were not going to be cancerous but he sent them to the lab to be sure.  He said he would call me in a week or so to give me their report.  I think, however, that he will relay the info to my surgeon that referred me to him and I will see him on the 4th of May.

He told me that I would probably have a bit of bleeding for the next few hours but it should NOT be copious.  If it is, I am to return to emergency IMMEDIATELY.  I am also supposed to start eating a high fiber diet or else get some Murilax and use it daily to prevent any constipation.  He said that will lead to polyps faster than anything just due to continuous strain.  I do not have to have another one of these *C* things for 3-4 years.  That was the BEST news of all....LOL!

I was starving by the time I finally got out of the hospital and the Beast was sweet enough to stop and pick us up some KFC hot wings....my favorite.  He got some hot sauce for them for himself (much like the stuff on Buffalo wings).   Now I face 24 hours of expelling gas.  I sure hate that part.  But the Beast has left me alone in my computer room for the duration and I am sleeping in the recliner tonight....LOL.

I have a bit of a stomach ache.  I think I ate too much, too soon but it shall pass.  I'm not snacking at all but just sipping on my coffee.  The Beast has gone to bed already.  His leg was stiff and sore so he went shortly after soaking in the bathtub.  I'm doing this blog up early because they are saying we will be getting thunderstorms later.  Since it's already raining, I will err on the side of caution.  I was up late last night due to having to go to the bathroom about every 10 minutes.  So, as you might surmise, I am tired.  I hope to sleep well tonight.  

That's all folks....love you!  Be good.  Try to have a nice weekend.  ***Hugs***

C-Day

Tomorrow (today, depending on when you read this) is the day I go in for my colonoscopy.  I have been drinking 8 oz. of the foul mixture for the past six hours and am almost done with it now.  I have, however, already been seeing the results of the whole thing.   When I had my last one, once I started using the bathroom steadily, the nurses told me I could stop drinking the fluid.  The instructions from the doctor, however, says I must use it ALL up until my bowels run clear.  Hmm!  Does that mean what I think it does?  Will fluid start being what happens, coming out of my hind end?  I shall see, won't I?

I can already tell you ... YES!  It's beginning to happen that way.  Plus, I am getting a bit of a tummy ache.  Probably from the every five minute runs to the bathroom.  *Sigh*  IF and WHEN it stops, I am going to have to take a shower, I'm sure.  I will definitely feel like it...LOL.

As you all know, I was not looking forward to drinking this stuff.  The little lemon packet that came with it did NOT really help much.  I DID lessen the foulness of it a bit  but only a bit. I still dreaded each 15 minute interval regardless.  It also did another thing.  It gave me the chills.  It got really bad for a while until I turned both my room heaters up to full blast.  Although it was chilly outside (it never really warmed up today), because I had expected it to be a bit warmer, I had turned off my heaters this morning when I woke up.  The cool room and the extremely cold drink (the Beast had the fridge down low to *help me out*), that combined to make me very, very cold.  I was shaking so badly that I could hardly type when talking to Bratfink online.

It's started again for me but this time it's from the reaction to the forced diarrhea.  That's all you can call it.  I am horribly hungry on one hand due to the liquid diet and everything looked soooo  good to me today.  I will be starving (I think) when I am done tomorrow since I don't have to be at the hospital until 11am and there's no food allowed to me still.

I'm going to be up playing my Jewel game for several more hours, I think.  I hope I know when my bathroom trip can stop.  I will be tired since I didn't sleep well last night and didn't get a nap today either.  Now that I am almost done with this *stuff* I have to drink to the *very last drop*, my worry over having to drink it has faded to nothing.

My son, Mustachio, the one that had the broken wrist that ended up having to have two major surgeries on (and was off work for 9 months!), was telling me that he's been having episodes where he suddenly will be pain-free in that wrist for short periods of time.  I told him the nerves would heal but severed nerves grow very slowly.  I believe I read somewhere that they only regenerate and reconnect 1/4 inch per year.   It's only been a few months since he returned to work so I am happy that he's showing signs of healing well finally.  He says he doesn't want to get too hopeful but I know he is!  Hopeful, that is.....lol.

I am going to post this now since I keep having to jump up and run.  Love you all and thanks for any prayers you might have said for me.  I appreciate it.  ***Hugs***

 

D-Day Thursday....Yikes!

It's finally arrived.  The day I have been dreading now for two weeks.  My preparations for the colonoscopy.  *Sigh*  Tomorrow (Thursday) I have to consume 2 liters of the most foul concoction ever devised by man.  It's magnesium based and that tastes nasty as hell.  I got a flavor packet with it that I added even though it's lemon.  Just what I need.  I wish it had been something different.  This particular proctologist doesn't want me to have anything that is red or purple.  I suppose he doesn't want to take a chance that the food dye used for it might coat my colon and intestines and make any diagnosis tough.  Whatever his reason, I would have appreciated some other flavor...and more than one small packet to add to it.  I don't think it's sugared either.  Even with an artificial one.  

The Beast crashed his computer today.  Well, it wouldn't start for him.  I have no idea what program he must have downloaded onto his hard drive but it turned out the whole thing was just weird.  He moved his secondary hard drive to the primary position and, when he turned it on, it actually opened up with his (former) primary drive!  It's not supposed to be able to do that.  He was very confused by the whole thing.  What he did was to then download the whole thing on a new hard drive.  I told him that if he had a bug on it, that would also mean that he was downloading that.  He thinks though that it's a hard drive problem.  We shall see.  He ran his Norton on a full scan, however, to make sure he hadn't picked up a bug.

He also discovered that his primary camera (and the most expensive one!) needs to be repaired.  However, it would be an expensive repair he's sure.  When he bought it 10 years ago, it cost us $14K.  That was just for the camera body.  Thankfully, we have a shitload of lenses.  The only reason we could afford it was that we had sold the business and he bought it with the down payment we received from the sale.  Those days are gone now.  The business was paid off around 8 years ago.  We sold it to an employee (female) and she has made a huge success of it.  

We had an air conditioning business and had just had our best year with a million dollars in sales and service fees.  We had just paid off all our trucks (we had six service techs plus the Beast) and were getting ready to open up a second office in Boca Raton.  We had six buildings we were getting under contract and they needed all their air conditioning equipment replaced.  That's when the Beast had his first stroke and that was the end of what would have been a really fantastic bonanza for us.  We could have been wealthy.  But karma is karma and it was not to be.  Oh, don't be misled.  We are okay financially.  We own our house free and clear (we paid cash for it and it was brand new).  We even bought a rental home (paid in full) and sold it to our niece, Tara, under contract.  It's now paid off and, even with all the things that the Beast has bought (four cars in two years, a trailer and a shit load of appliances that you wouldn't believe!), we do have a bit of savings left.  There's more he's spent but I just don't want to think about it now.  

He does have a sense of how much he has spent and that includes the cottage (a storage house that looks like one) plus the small barn.  He SAYS he is not going to be spending any more but I don't believe him.  He spends money like we still have the business income (and that was a LOT of money, trust me).  I will say he has slowed down and most of what he spends is fairly minor but....that could change at any time.  He's planning on driving up to Chicago to see his brother and sister there and go to some religious meeting together with them.  

I don't want to go with him even though I usually go to spend time with MY family up there plus my girlfriends.  I've missed them now for two years and hate to miss another get-together but it looks like I will because I would only go if I can fly up and rent a car.  That way I can get around and not depend on someone else running me here and there.  I truly hate to miss getting together with my girlfriends.  We've been getting together since shortly after high school.  We've been friends for longer than I have been married.  That will be 51 years August first.  The girls usually plan on our get -together for the time *I* come up.  I know my girlfriend, Marilyn, will be calling me soon to ask about my plans so the other girls that live in other states can make THEIR plans.  

I hate to disappoint them again.  I had to miss the reunions due to the surgery on my legs.  Now I have the colon that I had surgery on.  It sounds like I am just falling apart.  But, in reality, I know the Beast will balk at spending the money for me to fly up there.  AND to rent the car although that part is fairly cheap since I use the service that charges $19. a day with unlimited mileage.  I normally spend about five days or a little over a week depending on some of the things my family might want to do.  I just hope that the proctologist doesn't find any other problems on Friday.  Pray for me, please.

Love you all.  I have my heaters going to keep this room warm since it's another cold night.  But tomorrow should be another great day...it got up to 77 today.  *Grin*  Friday they say rain but they've said that before and we didn't get any.  If it's miserable weather, it will just figure that it would be a dismal day on the day I have my totally unwanted colonoscopy.  LOL!  Be good.  Try to have a few laughs.  ***Hugs***

Another Wash Day And It Turns Out A Beautiful Day After All.....

It was really cold this morning and I had a hard time using my mouse because I shook so badly.  It was well after noon before I finally warmed up and stopped shaking when I tried to use my mouse.  I felt like I had palsy or something.  Then I found out why it was so bad.  The damn Beast had put on the air conditioning because he was out in the sun, mowing the lawn and needed to *cool down* by coming indoors.  He felt the AC helped.  It sure didn't me!  I wondered why my heaters weren't cutting it.  Grrr!

I ended up clearing the weeds and the sprouted bird seed in the various flower pots on the deck.  It didn't take long but WOW!  the weeds sure as hell had sprung up with all the rain.  I don't know why I was surprised.  Even the grass had grown several inches in just about a week.  Oh, and we actually got a green pepper off the pepper plant today.  Nice size one, too.  THAT was a surprise.

My clothes hamper was surprisingly full so I decided to do some wash.  All my warm pajamas were in there anyway and I knew I would be needing some tonight.  We have a few more nights of predicted cold weather and I hate to feel cold.  I somehow or other lost my warm robe.  I searched everywhere for it today but it's gone.  I have no idea where it could be and I doubt I will be able to replace it any time soon.  Dammit.  I hate when stuff like that happens.  It makes me feel like we have troublesome sprites in the house.  Or some big hairless animal that wants to keep warm.

The Beast came home from his church meeting with a McD's fish sandwich and fries for us both.  I ate most of mine because I didn't have the heart to tell him I had eaten a bowl of clam chowder about an hour before he got home.  Not that it hurts me since I am down to 110 lbs. but I REALLY feel full even now and it's been a couple hours since I ate them.  

I'm watching Avatar (again).  I can't help it.  I really love that movie.  It has the most amazing special effects and whoever wrote it had a fantastic imagination.  I watched the making of the movie on my DVD and what they had the actors do in order to get the body movements correct was amazing.  Even so, it didn't stop me enjoying the whole thing....even after six or ten times.  LOL!

I'm tired tonight and have to start my liquid diet tomorrow...or is it called a clear diet?  It just means no solid food.  Then, on Thursday afternoon, I have to drink that nasty stuff until it's gone.  All two liters of it.  Yuk!  I was upset to read that I can't have anything red or purple like jello or popsicles (and I guess not juice or soda either).  Too bad.  I love grape juice and who doesn't like strawberry or raspberry jello?  Not even a red or purple popsicle.  Sheesh!

Well, love you all.  Have a great night (and day).  Hope you have a nice Hump Day.  ***Hugs***

The Surgery......

Wouldn't you know it?  The Beast woke me up at 4:30am.  I did NOT want to wake up but the stinker  put on the overhead light which is a big irritant if you want to sleep.  So I got up and got dressed, poured myself some coffee and, before I could even cool off a mouthful to drink, the Beast was eager to leave.  

I was hungry so we stopped briefly at McD's to grab an egg McMuffin  when we reached Gadsden.  The Beast loves McD's sausage but didn't even finish his and ushered me out the door so we wouldn't be late.  

The place we ended up was NOT the hospital as I expected but a Surgical Center.  It had OR's and recovery areas but the Beast was (finally) put into a special room for his eye cleaning.  We had gotten to the center at 6:23am but he wasn't ushered into the room until 8:30am.  After the eye cleaning was done, they checked his blood pressure to make sure he was safe to leave.  I guess some people have elevated BP's and that can be dangerous.  His was just a touch above normal.  The whole cleaning and checking took less than 10 minutes and we were on our way home.

The Beast was ecstatic that his floaters seemed to be missing but once the dilation was gone the floaters had returned.  He claims his vision, however, is 3000% better than it was.  The doctor assured us that he should never have to have the lens cleaned again.  For whatever reason, once it's done, it stays clean.

He was so thrilled at the difference in his vision that he rode back to Gadsden later to take pictures of the fall that is there.  With all the rain, the falls were just gorgeous.  If I can get the Beast to do it, I'll put up a picture or two of what he shot.  He just has to *play* with it for a bit before he's satisfied that he's got the perfect shots.  *Sigh*

He's been very chipper all day so I guess he really DOES see better.  I can't explain his sudden happiness any other way.  It must really have been much worse than he let on.  I'm amazed he didn't have an accident.  I'll tell you one thing, however.  His driving scared the shit out of me on our way down to Gadsden.  It was really scary.  I made sure my seat belt was secure and I hunched down with the seat back and pretended I was trying to sleep.  In reality, I was hoping we wouldn't go over the edge of this one road we were speeding down and end up rolling over and over....IF we were lucky.  It was a lot different coming back home.  I knew he could see the road MUCH better.  He didn't scare me.  LOL!

We ate some rice and pork when we had our lunch.  I don't know exactly how the Beast cooked it (yes, he was very happy and made our lunch with gusto!) because it had a bit of pineapple taste to it but it also had some chopped green pepper, green onions and a little soy sauce.  It was very, very tasty.

Dinner tonight was hot dogs Chicago style.  Someone needs to invent a better style of hot dog bun to hold all the goodies on it.  By the time you put the onions, tomatoes, relish and peppers on it, there's barely room for the hot dog itself.  Mine kept trying to slide out...LOL.  The Beast always puts loads of celery salt on his while I just put a touch on mine.  A little goes a long way.  But I DID have two of them and some potato chips.  I love onion so I had a LOT of that on my hot dogs.  It is just soooooo good!

It's going to be another chilly night so I put my heater on early to keep out the chill.  I haven't been entirely successful and probably should have done it even earlier.  It's supposed to go down to around  44 degrees F.   Tomorrow is only going to be in the mid-60'si.  No hope for warmer weather until Saturday.  *Sigh*  But then it will be back into the 70's again.  *Grin*  I can hardly wait for summer.  The Beast may end up either in the house with the AC going full blast and complaining about the high electric bill or end up down by the lake, keeping cool with dips in the water.  I hope he elects the lake...LOL.  I would rather barbeque lunch and even dinner rather than listen to him bitch about the heat.  He says he has a feeling our summer will be killer hot just because of the global warming thing going on.  Who can really say?  We can always go down to Mobile or even Destin and spend time around the Gulf.  Now THAT would be really great.  I miss the salt water and all it's fun.  We once took an overnight fishing trip on the Gulf and it was the first time I saw real sunfish.  They were HUGE!  I didn't even know we had them in the Gulf.  I sure wouldn't have wanted to catch one of those on my line.  I'll bet they are tougher to catch than even a marlin or sailfish.  I caught exactly what I wanted....grouper.  Fantastic eating!  Wonderful white meat and so sweet.  Yum!

Time to get this posted.  Love you all and I hope your week is going well.  ***Hugs***

 

 

The Beast Has Surgery In The Morning....Ack!

Tomorrow morning, at 6:30am, the Beast has his eye surgery scheduled.  That means we have to LEAVE the house at 5:30am to get there in time.  It's only 25-30 miles away to the hospital in Gadsden but going down the mountain is kind of slow because it's busy.  Maybe not at that time of the morning but the Beast isn't taking any chances of being late and perhaps missing out on it.  I'm elected to go with him in case he can't drive afterward due to eye dilation or some such thing.  Besides, the hospital rules say you must have a driver.

So I will be pulling my carcass out of bed at about 5am, maybe earlier, getting dressed, grabbing some coffee and off to the hospital with the Beast.  I'll take my Ipad with me so I can at least read one of the books I have downloaded or, if the weather is nice, I may just crawl into the car and grab a little more sleep.  I'll have to wait and see what I feel like.  I'll be heading for bed shortly because morning will creep up on me.  It won't even be light at that time of the morning.  It will be by the time we get to the hospital and that usually keeps me awake.

I may sneak off to Aldi's there in Gadsden since it's been open for a while.  I would love to get a bag of their frozen, uncooked shrimp.  As I recall, it's cheaper there than it is at Walmart.  Walmart always makes the claim of matching prices if it's lower at another store but Aldi's doesn't advertise locally here.  It may once the new Aldi's here opens up but, until then, I will just have to figure that it won't be the same brand anyway so there's the excuse not to match prices.  I just have to remember to grab the cooler to help keep the shrimp cold until we get home.  We now have plenty of ice to put into it.  Did I mention that the ice maker started making a lot of ice the day before the repairman showed up?  Figures, don't it???  LOL!

One of the reasons I want the shrimp is because I want to make some shrimp scampi.  Since I have been feeling better, I've been doing more cooking.  The Beast is happy about that.  I made some Matzoh ball soup today for our lunch and then made corn, chicken wings and cottage cheese with pear halves for our dinner.  One of the Beast's friends from church came over to borrow the pressure cleaner tonight.  That entailed the Beast putting the ball for our trailer on his hitch since he had one that was smaller than our trailer needs.  He also had to show the guy how to use the pressure cleaner so he wouldn't damage it.  He had to use the trailer because they couldn't find enough room on his truck to fit it inside due to all the stuff he had in it and the shelves on both sides of the van.

It made me think about sister Cee asking about the trailer.  When she buys her couch and chair, she's going to need it.  Tara has a hitch on her van so she can attach it in order to get them to her apartment.  I guess Keith and Mike will be elected to bring it upstairs.  Some places deliver but she found a nice couch and chair at Big Lots and they don't deliver.  Figures, right?  But she knows what she likes and I gather the price is right, too.  That's important.

When I made my matzoh ball soup, I did discover an important fact.  You do NOT use peanut oil for the matzoh balls.  The Beast didn't seem to mind it but I could taste the difference.  All he has in the house as far as shortening goes is either Crisco (not useable) and peanut oil.  I told him to pick up a quart of canola oil or something else because we have a lot of matzoh ball soup mixes left.  He shrugged and said he would but I think HE thinks I'm nuts.  I just happen to like my matzoh to taste like it should and not like peanut oil.  For most things, it's okay but not for that as far as *I* am concerned.

I DO add a few things to my soup base that you won't find in a Jewish restaurant.  I cut up some celery and green onions (sometimes regular onions) and add it to the base.  I started doing that when I made it for us when the kids were still at home.  It was a bit more filling and added some taste that the kids liked.  I did, too.  The Beast got used to it.  I also add a touch of garlic powder and cayenne for a little *snap* and the cayenne is good for you, too.

I felt really good today and was on my feet a lot more than usual.  I didn't get that *must sit down or I'll fall down* feeling.  I had a low blood sugar episode yesterday but I was in the kitchen at the time and grabbed the sugar and took at teaspoon full of it.  I just stood at the cabinet until I felt better and grabbed some toast and jelly.  I have no idea why I had that happen since I HAD eaten not too long before.  I guess the lack of carbs?  I AM trying to balance my diet out and, for the most part, haven't gotten that *tired and must nap* feeling afterward.  The doctor said I shouldn't get that feeling unless I am not eating properly.  So that's why I am watching my diet and trying to make sure I eat a balanced meal.

I'm going to make up some jello and have the Beast pick up some popsicles for me.  I have to start on the clear liquid diet on Wednesday and take that crappy liquid to clean out my system on Thursday.  Yuk!  Luckily, I like chicken broth and won't mind drinking that for my nourishment.  We also have plenty of my Sprite Zero's in the house and I have my cinnamon tea.  *Grin*  I do love that tea.  I would drink coffee but I don't like it black.  I'm supposed to avoid any milk products and I think my creamer counts.  I'm just glad I've used up my French vanilla creamer or it might be too tempting....LOL!

It's supposed to be cold tonight and there's a threat of thunderstorms.  Figures.  Oh well.  Nothing we can do about that.  I sure hope other areas of the country are doing better.  I'm really tired of all this rain but the grass sure looks good.  It's nice and green.  I haven't checked out the weather channel today so I have no idea what's going on all over the country today.  I've been a bit busy today and really had no interest since I was just enjoying our good weather.  It was nice for most of the day after the thunderstorm we had last night.

My daughter, Buttmunch, called me today to find out how you knew if you were going thru the *change*.  I told her some of the symptoms and it turns out that she, just like I had, was suffering from really bad night sweats.  I used to sleep in dorm shirts and it got so bad, I was changing mine two or three times a night because I was just soaked with sweat.  And my poor pillow!  I had to keep a spare because it would be so soaked on both sides.  I was washing pillows almost daily along with my dorm shirts.  Even the top sheet would get soaked.  She is finding the same thing and upset because she is only 47.  I reminded her of the good part of menopause.  No more periods.  LOL!  

She's going to pick up some black cohash to take since it helps and may even help her with her night sweats.  It did me when I finally started taking it.  We did have a few laughs over some of the things we discussed.  I was glad to hear from her because I needed to laugh.  

It turns out that the Princess has decided to have separate parties for the two kids.  Chewlee will have hers at the campground since they will be camping out for that weekend.  Then Gunner will have his own first birthday the following weekend even though it will be a couple days early.  At least I think that's what her facebook page said.  Since it's his FIRST birthday, that should be fun.  I remember the Princess' and how she had cake and frosting all over herself and her high chair.  It was chocolate so you know how funny that had to be.  I can hardly wait to see what Gunner does with HIS cake.

Love you all.  Heading for bed now so I won't be cranky in the morning.  The Beast went to bed almost two hours ago.  He's such a wimp nowadays.  Be good.  Be careful.  ***Hugs***

Be Forwarned.....

If you are diabetic, do NOT, under any circumstances, eat without taking your meds.  I did and ended up with a stomach ache like you wouldn't believe!  Then came a bout of painful bowel movement but it didn't last long.  Thank goodness.  I finally remembered that I had not taken any meds at all.  I had to consult my instructions from the proctologist to make sure I was NOT taking the meds he said to stop seven days before my procedure.  Some of the instructions are a bit confusing but I got thru it.  My stomach ache subsided and I even felt hungry.  

The Beast made us rib eyes from our stash and nuked a couple potatoes.  We also had some beets and I enjoyed them since we hadn't had them in quite some time.  The steak was wonderful.  Juicy and tender.  I didn't eat the ring of fat around the outside but gave it to Baron so he wouldn't  feel left out.

The Beast has decided that we will have out last steak tomorrow so he bought some mushrooms for us to saute to go along with it.  He also picked up a couple ears of corn that look yummy even uncooked....LOL.  

I'm trying to drink my coffee black since I have to forego any milk products in a couple days.  My diet will consist of such things as sodas (!), jello, popsicles, juices without pulp, water and no sugar or sugar substitutes added to the damn solution I have to drink.  It came with a packet of flavoring but doesn't say what flavor it is...LOL.  I have to mix it all with water 48 hours before I take it and then refrigerate it.  Then it's drink 8 ounces of it every 15 minutes the day before my procedure.  What they don't tell you is that you should probably be sitting on the john after drinking the second glass.  They DO tell you not to sip it but try to drink it all down quickly.  See?  Even they know how foul that stuff is.  I think after I finish drinking it all, I will be grateful for the Depends I have on hand.  

One thing I have noticed since my surgery is that I don't seem to need the Depends these days.  I am very grateful for that part.  I guess the infection it was spreading was part of the reason I needed them for a while there.  That was NOT a fun time.  It had to be responsible for my UTI and the infected appendix also.  I'm glad I got to emergency when I did.  The way the doctors told it, i was very close to dying of sepsis.  It only needed the bowel to break.  I'm also grateful they felt the rest of the bowel was healthy enough to stitch together.  I would have hated to end up with a colostomy.

It was cold here this morning and I had my little heater going full blast until the day finally warmed up.  It's supposed to be in the 70's for most of the week except for Monday and Tuesday.  However, it says we are going to have thunderstorms for several of the days ahead.  Rain, rain...go away!!!!!  I would send it to Northern California if I could.  They would appreciate it.

Okay...time to post this.  I'm lagging which means that I may lose my internet from the cloud cover soon.  Love you all.  Be safe.  Drive carefully.  Stay home if you can.  ***Hugs***

Sister Cee's Apartment....

 Cee picked me up around 11am and she had no problem finding us, not thanks to the GPS which kept trying to take her a different way than she was comfortable going.  But once she got to her turnoff at Walmart, the GPS brought her right to the house.  

We headed for her apartment so *I* will know where she lives (just in case I was to escape there...lol).  We stopped to pick up a French Dip for our lunch.  The neighborhood she lives in is really nice and quiet.  It has a lot of trees around the apartment as well as two small picnic tables, two barbeques and even a swing.  Since Tara and Chance are coming over tomorrow, I said it was a shame it would be raining and he wouldn't be able to play on it.  

Her apartment is just adorable.  Big enough for one or two.  She has it nicely set up with her bedroom also doubling as her TV room and computer room without being crowded.  The kitchen is more than big enough for her to cook in comfortably and has plenty of cabinet space.   Her little patio is big enough for two chairs and a small table.  It will be nice during the warmer weather.  We sat out there for a bit just enjoying the quiet.

Unfortunately, we discovered Aldi's was NOT open yet even though they had their hours posted on their website.  That must apply to when they have their Grand Opening day.  Cee brought me home since I had a slight stomach ache and I had no yen to join her shopping at Walmart since she needed to pick up a few things.

I came home and took a nap to try to get rid of my stomach ache (I did).  Then the Beast dropped a bombshell on me.  He needs me to go with him on Monday for his eye surgery.  He has to be at the hospital at 6:30am (yikes!) although he doesn't think I will need to drive him home.  He's only have the lens cleaned in his right eye.  I would have preferred getting Chewlee off to school but today was Friday and the Princess didn't send a note to have her picked up here so that was out.   Oh well.

It was cold, rainy and actually bone-chilling today.   That may have been what gave me my stomach ache.  Although Cee turned her heat on to warm the apartment up for me.  I wore my winter coat, I was THAT chilled.  I'm heading to bed as soon as I post this so I will definitely feel better tomorrow.  

Love you all.  Have a great weekend.  ***Hugs***

Finally! We Get A Decent Rain...But No Thunderstorm

Instead of a tease, today we got some decent rain.  Poor Baron needed to go out to do his duty but he and rain are not friends....LOL.  But the flowers, my bulbs and the veggies the Beast planted will do much better because there are few chemicals in our rain.  I say *few* because you don't know what might have been picked up along the way but we have no manufacturing sites anywhere near us.  We do have two different chicken plants nearby but they don't even emit a smell that's noticeable when you drive past them.  Go figure.

The bad part about the rain was that it made sure the humidity was 100% and it kept the day from warming up.  I had to turn on both my baseboard heater and the small one on my desk to try to take the chill out of the air in my computer room.  Brrr!  So far, it hasn't helped a whole lot but I just turned up the heat on them both.  I'll be crawling under warm covers soon, however, so I will turn them down once I go to bed.

The Beast was out this morning with some of his church group and said he would be home around noon or 12:30.  When he wasn't home by 2, I got worried and called him.  No answer.  But he called me back at 2:30 when he got back to the car and saw I had called.  He's always leaving his phone in the car and then wonders why some people get mad at him because he forgets to bring it in the house so he never returns their calls.  He *forgot* to call me to say he was going to lunch with one of the families and then they wanted to take him to a local store called *Little Lots* which he says was anything BUT little.  It said it was several times bigger than our Super Walmart.  It also had a lot of very interesting things in it.  He came home with a free drinking cup that has two parts to it...one section (an insert that screws into it) that holds cut lemons and the big section is for your water.  

I talked to my sister, Cee, today and she informed me that there is an Aldi's being built next to our Lowe's.  I checked online and discovered that it is open already but the Grand Opening isn't until May 5th.  So she is coming over to pick me up in late morning (the Beast and I have to drop off one of the cars at the Toyota dealer in the morning due to a recall) and we are going first to her apartment so I can see it and then to Aldi's to look around.  We might even buy a few things after we see how well they are stocked.  When Aldi's first opened up in Gadsden, the Beast found it poorly stocked and didn't buy anything since nothing appealed to him.  Me?  I'm looking forward to getting some of the frozen shrimp they had, both butterfly and uncooked ones.  I found them excellent when I got some at the Aldi's in the Chicago area where my sister-in-law always shopped.  She did the majority of her shopping there and only went to other stores for fresh produce and fruits for the most part.

Since Cee is calling me when she gets up, I will mention to her about the car thing and she will probably have me call her when we get back home.  That way she won't be faced with an empty house and wonder where the hell I am....LOL!

The Beast made us some great hamburgers tonight.  I know they have a name but it escapes me right now.  He cooked the hamburgers and some grilled onion then added something that ISN'T on the sandwich I'm thinking of....cheese....he put them all on rye bread and grilled them to perfection.  They were wonderful.  Tasty and different.  We will do that again soon.

Poor Baron went nuts when the Beast was making them.  He wanted some.  Because of the way he was begging without begging, the Beast made him a plain hamburger and put it in his bowl.  Baron actually was licking his bowl like it was the tastiest thing he had ever had in it.  The bowl was empty but Baron kept licking every drop of the tasty grease out of it until he was satisfied he hadn't missed any.  He probably wanted the sandwich but it had onions on it so he couldn't have any.  Onions are poisonous to a dog.

It's really cold outside still.  I had plans on going out to the cottage to get some yarn but, by the time the Beast got home (he had locked the door to the cabin and I don't have a key on my key chain for it  (Trust the Beast to forget where the spare is!), it was pouring here so there went that idea.  Wherever it was that the Beast was with his friends, they didn't get any rain until it was time for him to head home.  Figures, right?

Well, it's an early (for me) bedtime here so I am going to post this.  I hope you all had a more enjoyable day or you could stay indoors, warm and toasty.  Have a great Friday (TGIF) and stay warm and dry.  Spring will soon be FULLY here and warm days for all of us.  ***Hugs***

The Beast And His Appointments....Grrr!

It makes me mad that the Beast, when he misses an appointment, won't call and reschedule his own appointments.  He always has to go out and do something so he can't.  Today he was leaving for Walmart when he *remembered*.  It took me over an hour of calling to finally get thru to his pulmonary doctor's office.  Somehow, he lucked out because they had to reschedule the appointments because of an emergency the doctor had.  So the girl was very cheerful and rescheduled him for later this month.

It's just a 3 month follow-up and not for any tests.  The doctor just wants to check him out to see how the medications he prescribed are doing for him.  The best we can hope for is that it slows down the progress of his COPD.

I'm really dreading my colonoscopy and I know I shouldn't.  It's not the exam itself.  It's what you have to go through to get ready for it.  The liquid you have to drink to clean yourself out is just awful no matter how cold it is.  And then waiting to hear the results is a pain.  If he finds any polyps and removes them, you have to wait until you hear if they are cancerous or  not.  You never get the results the same day.  It requires another visit to the doctor's office.  

The polyp that cause the death of part of my colon that was removed and restitched was not cancer, thank goodness but the thought is scary.  I'm so damn tired of having to have all these surgeries.  My body is one huge scar from the waist down.  Even the scars from removing my appendix isn't as small as you might think.  Oh, it's only a couple inches but the gas that they pumped into my abdomen to aid in the surgeries (it gets the abdominal wall up so they can explore) had me farting for days afterward.  And burping.  It was awful.  I didn't want to be around anyone while I was getting rid of that stuff and, wouldn't you know it?, everyone wanted to stop in to see me and see how I was doing.  

I'll do what I must but I sure won't like it.  I won't be able to stray far from the bathroom once I start drinking that foul liquid.  And my diet must be clear liquids.  Thank goodness I can have chicken broth.  I do like that.  Oh, and jello.  I'll be starving by the time I get out of Day Surgery but I will warn the Beast so he will be ready to stop at one of the fast food places on our way home.

I'm tired tonight so I am heading for bed as soon as I post this.  Love you all.  I hope you had a good Hump Day.  Mine was boring...LOL.  Even TV sucked.  The weather was okay but not great.  We didn't get the rain we were led to expect.  Will have to see what tomorrow brings us.  ***Hugs***

Stormy Weather.....

Today was actually rather nice.  It was warm and sunny until the sun went down.  That's when the storm hit us.  The Beast was laughing about the people who didn't have automatic garage door openers (there are a few) and the ones that either didn't have a garage or the garage was full.  Since we pretty much have decent weather here, many people do not see the need to park in a garage.  They use their garage as a storage area for bikes, mowers, etc.  

Our storms....the ones that do NOT contain tornadoes....are usually brief when it pours buckets and will then settle down to a nice drizzle.  During the spring and summer, you will see a lot of people who carry umbrellas in their cars because they have learned their lessons well.  You need one a lot of the time.  

It wasn't all that long ago that we were in the grip of a serious drought.  When that ended, we seemed to get lots of storms hitting us.  Some were torrents but we gladly embraced them because the many waterfalls were flowing once again.  The Beast and I visited many of them before and after.  We prefer the *after*.  I don't mind the storms that come through at night because we are safe and secure in our home.  I prefer to look out at a storm rather than be out in one.  LOL!

The predictions from several sources is that we are in for a three day storm front that will be leaving a lot of rain behind.  The good thing is that all the plants thrive...the bad thing is that it includes the grass and the Beast will not be able to mow it until the ground dries up a bit.  I've seen the grass grow four or five inches in just a few days due to the rain.  It must have a lot of goodies in it for the grass to grow that fast.  It means the flowers and our vegetable plants will also thrive.  

Another bad thing about storms is that we have satellite internet.  If a storm is bad enough, we can't access the internet.  That means that there are times I cannot put up my blog until and unless I can wait out the storm.  So be forewarned.....if you check for my blog and it's not there during the next few days, you will know why.  LOL!  I'm up late tonight but that's unusual for me lately.  I tried very hard to get into a more normal pattern of wake/sleep and it's worked for the most part.  I hated being up late at night and sleeping the day away.

Now that my sister, Cee, has moved here, I am very grateful that I did that.  Once she is settled in and now that I am pretty much healed, we may be able to spend more time together.  I enjoyed our lunches/shopping times together and we may be able to do that again.  I know a few of the good restaurants here and some of the interesting shopping places nearby.  We even have an Aldi's now that's in Gadsden that we might spend time doing a bit of grocery shopping.  We've been to Aldi's before but it was in Illinois when we visited our family.  Now they have opened one here and, although it's a bit of a ride, it's not all that bad.  And they carry some really good food at decent prices.

I have to have the Beast go pull our umbrellas out of the cottage now that spring has sprung.  We will definitely need them.  He will get the oversized one.....I think it's meant for golfers and I will take the normal size one.  I think we lost our spare to someone that needed it to get to their car once and they never returned it.  Oh well.  It's not like they are all that expensive.  I'll pick another one up to keep by the front door.  However, next time we will escort whomever it is that must go out in the rain so we don't lose it...so to speak.  Or perhaps I will have the Beast keep the oversized one at the front door.  That will cover more than one person under it.  Perfect!

Time to get this posted while the storm has let up and I have internet.  Love you all and I sure hope your weather is better than ours will be for the next couple of days.  ***Hugs***

Nothing Worse Than A Frustrated Beast.....

The Beast spent most of the day trying to get the pictures from the anniversary party to show up right on the chip he intended to give to the son of the couple that had the 50th wedding anniversary party.  He was cussing and swearing over it all because the pictures were all coming out dark.  He finally got one of his chips to accept the downloads correctly.  Turns out he needs to replace those other chips.  He tried taking pictures with them and discovered they were showing dark pictures.  He was sure it was Photo Shop doing it but it wasn't.  I'm just glad it wasn't his big chip that he normally uses in his camera.  That one was expensive.  The others are smaller GB's and a lot less expensive to replace.

But all day long he was in and out of my computer room to tell me about his problems and it was really irritating.  *I* had no idea what the hell was wrong nor any suggestions about how to correct it.  I DID, however, give him the idea that the chips might be bad ones.  I know he's had them for many years now.  They apparently have a *lifetime* and only so many times things can be erased and reused.  If I sent him on the right path to discovering the problem, I'm glad.  He stopped all his comings and goings.  LOL!  

I took a nap after dinner (New England clam chowder and fresh Italian bread that he had sliced at the bakery) and it ended up being for four hours!  I was shocked.  I had no idea I was that tired.  Especially since I really didn't do a whole lot today except make us lunch and clean out the fridge a bit.  That's not labor intensive but a pain in the butt.

I've been watching a lot of cooking shows on TV lately.  I shouldn't because so much of it makes m hungry...LOL.  But I've gotten a lot of new ideas out of them and am anxious to try some of them out.  I was surprised to find out that Hawaiian's add mayonnaise to their mac and cheese.  They say it makes it much creamier.  Not sure if I want to try that but will see.  This one woman added chocolate chips to her chocolate pudding and THAT was interesting.  Also the one that added marshmallows to hers and sprinkled crumbled up graham crackers on top.  Yum!  She said that was how she makes her *S'more* pudding.

I would probably have used miniature marshmallows but she used the big ones.  She said that way it doesn't all melt and mix in with the pudding but makes swirls.  That's what it looked like in the dishes so I guess she was right.  That looked really appealing to me.  I think I will give that a try sometime soon.

I finally connected with my gf, Carol.  She's having a tough time lately between her internet problems (which her daughter-in-law solved for her) and a problem with sitting for any length of time.  I can understand that part.  I had to get a special cushion for myself to keep from having my hind end hurting.

We are having the kind of weather that is really icky lately.  Not really warm in the day time with overcast skies and drizzles of rain and then chilly nights that require me turning on my heater for several hours.  I've also been having a tough time staying up at night even with naps.  Guess I am turning into an old lady after all.  LOL!  It's only in the lower 60's (although lower 50's is predicted for tonight) but the humidity is 100%.  That's what makes it feel even colder to me.  I have to get warmer pj's on.  I'm feeling very chilled right now.

It's late and I am over-tired.  Love you all.  Have a great day.  Hope you are blessed with sunny skies and warmth.  It's been a strange winter but should be a nice Spring.  ***Hugs***

Some Days Are Just Lazy Ones....

Today was one of those days both for the Beast and I.  He did nothing outside since it was a bit chilly out (breezy again, too) and you know how I feel about any day that is under 75....LOL!    I will never work outside with a jacket on.

I talked to my sister, Cee, at her new apartment this morning.  She was just getting ready to make a grocery list before heading off to the store to buy some food.  She said she had the required coffee and creamer....the important stuff....but nothing else.  She told me the boys did a good job of moving her into the apartment and setting up her bed.  But she also told me that she almost hated to go to bed because she enjoyed being alone so much.  I had to laugh.  I get small tastes of that when the Beast is gone for any length of time.  Hell, even four hours works.

Speaking of which, he worked on the photos he took today for a couple hours.  He was still surprised when he put them on Photo Shop that they were as sharp as they were.  I told him with the lenses he had, they had better be.  He just hates using auto focus with his bad eyes and really doesn't trust it.  He then encountered a problem with a few of the pictures showing up dark on Photo Shop.  On the camera, they were all bright.  So he downloaded them onto a disc and headed over to the Photo machine at Walmart to see how they showed up.  He didn't realize that the photo portion was closed (probably because of the time), so this one picture he ordered as a print wasn't going to be ready until Monday.  It was one of the ones that had shown up dark on PS and he wanted to see how it will print up.  I think he will find out it prints up just fine.  But then, I'm an optomist.

I spent my day just playing my jewel game on my computer.  I kid you not.  Lazy, lazy, lazy but I really enjoyed it.  We ate Whoppers (coupons again) for our lunch.  I had oatmeal for my breakfast.  I love oatmeal.  Always have.  Then we ate more spaghetti with some garlic bread for our dinner.  We've just about run that course into the ground after three days in a row.  It may be my lunch tomorrow but then it gets thrown out after that.  We will definitely have something different for dinner tomorrow night.  LOL!

Love you all.  Have a great day tomorrow and a great week.  I wish you all good weather.  I'm just hoping for some more of the warm stuff for us.  ***Hugs*** 

Smile....Say Cheese....Oh Hell!

Today the Beast attended a 50th Wedding Anniversary party, given by the son of the couple.  It was held at a local resort above the river and had a marvelous panoramic view (according to the Beast).  The resort is located above the river, on a bluff and there was also a wedding reception being held at the same time in another one of the rooms.

The Beast had been asked by the son to take pictures at the reception and he had agreed.  I did not attend mainly because it was a couple I didn't know from his church and I really wasn't interested.  Hey!  If it's not one of my family or friends, can you blame me?  No thanks!

The pictures he took were for the most part interesting.  He's no professional but he did manage to take pictures of everyone that attended.  He said it was really a nice party and they had a few laughs at some of the things that people had put together.  There were pictures of both the husband and wife as kids (actually, movies from their childhood).  There was a slide show of them as they grew up and up to the time they married.  The room had an area where pictures from their wedding was displayed.  I gather the son and his wife gave a lot of thought about it all and everyone perused the pictures and enjoyed it all.  I  know the Beast sure did.

He showed me the pictures he took and admitted to me that he took them literally *blind*.  His eyes are so bad that he said he couldn't see so he crossed his fingers and shot them.  He did take them in jpg. mode instead of his usual raw because it was both easier and he could use automatic focus.  He's going to do a bit of touching up with his Photo Shop before he loads all the pictures on a disc for the son.  That way the son can make up whatever pictures and quantities he wants.  It's too expensive for the Beast to do it even though he does have the equipment.  We have a very expensive printer that is just for photos that will last without fading for many years.  But the key word here is *expensive*.  The paper and the ink costs us plenty when we do a lot of printing on it.  
He was gone for about four glorious hours during which I was not interrupted except by Baron but he did it when I got up for some coffee.  He wanted to go out to pee and then lay in the sun on the deck for a bit.  I have gotten fairly good at gauging just how long he stays in the sun because I went to let him back in the house just when he got up and took a last sniff around before turning to come in the door.  He always has to sniff the air for whatever smells he looks for to see if anything he doesn't like is around.  He hates the raccoons that sometimes invade our yard.  Luckily, the raccoons are afraid of him and run off when he's out in the yard.  They keep check on our grape vines to see how they are progressing.  The little shits eat the grapes on us mostly before we ever get any.  Grrr!

I didn't get much done in the garden mainly because it was cold and blustery out.  When I checked weatherbug it said the winds were gusting at 19mph.  That's windy!  My hair was a disaster when I looked in the mirror....LOL!

Sister Cee moved into her apartment today and I was tempted to call her this evening to see how everything went but thought better of it.  I figured she had to be tired with all she needed to get done just so she would be able to sleep tonight.  Even with her son to help her, it's still a job and a half.  I remember moving into this house.  Yikes!  The Beast and I both agree that it was our LAST move.  We are just getting too damn old for all that a move entails.  And it would be even worse if we did it again with all the crap we've accumulated the past several years.  Maybe if we could afford packers but not otherwise.

Anyway, I will call her tomorrow after she's rested up.  I hope everything went smoothly for her.  It will be nice if it did.  Love you, Sis! 

Love you all and I wish you a happy and calm Sunday.  ***Hugs***

The Garden Is Finally Planted.....

We finally got another section of the planters in back cleared out enough for the Beast to plant the 3 tomato plants and the two pepper plants.  I am trusting that's all we have because I didn't actually look.  Unfortunately, I know the Beast and he has a bad habit of planting more than we need every year.  But I won't know until tomorrow when I start thinning out the strawberries.  Yes, I intend to get that done....just have to do it before it rains.  

I made us dinner tonight since it only required heating up some spaghetti that I made yesterday.  I also made some garlic knot rolls to go with it.  I figured...what the hell.  It was something different than the usual garlic bread and it worked for us.  The Beast, as usual, overdid it physically.  He has this need to achieve something every day and he was determined to get certain things done in his mind.  He didn't need to go at the speed that he did.  He could have done things nice and easy like I did.  He didn't accomplish more than I did other than adding the topsoil to the planter.  I think it was more of a chore for him because he still isn't over that fall he took earlier in the week.  He also admitted that he is becoming less able to do some of the things that he could still do last year.  I told him we would find some cheap labor (maybe students from our local high school?).  We used them before when we lived in Florida and we might be able to get one that wants to work part time helping around here.  We'll see when he finally cries *uncle*.

I'm feeling good except for the occasional sciatica.  That electric pain drives you crazy after a while.  I don't take a pain pill even though that is what my doctor said I should do when it gets bad.  I really hate taking them (but I fill my prescription every  month regardless!)  You just never know when they might come in handy.  Doctors are very reluctant to prescribe them for fear you will get addicted to them.  Hard to do when you don't take them very much.  

I have a yen to take a trip somewhere.  If I felt stronger, I would say Mobile would be nice but walking in all that sand is tiring.  All their beaches that we saw were a couple blocks to the water.  I ended up sitting on some steps after walking in it for maybe just a couple yards.  This was not too long after I had my first leg surgery and I don't feel like I could make it even now.  Maybe, when the Beast finally DOES visit his cousin in NC, I will go with him.  But I'm not really all that fond of her (and vice versa).  I loved his aunt but now that she is gone, it will be very different.

The Beast is curious about whether she will come out of the closet now that her mother is gone.  It would be a very different situation for everyone.  Especially the Beast now that he has religion.  He has never been comfortable with gays even before he did.  Me?  I've known and liked a lot of gays.  I have even been to a gay bar...once or twice when I was a bit younger.  It was curiosity mostly.  But I found it was kind of fun.  What was strange was at both that I went to, they called me *Ma*.  I also never paid for a single drink....LOL.

I admit that I wouldn't do it now.  My curiosity is satisfied.  And I have nothing to prove so what is the point?  It's not my *thing* so why interrupt their fun?  I am SO straight I could be a ruler....LOL.  

The kids seem to be enjoying their time camping out.  I checked the Princess' Facebook page.  She didn't find any kind of railing for Gunner so he was sleeping with her until he wanted his own space.  I gather he was put into some kind of playpen then and he slept soundly....even through the storm they had.

I think the Beast might have gifted her with one of those induction cooking appliances but I am not sure.  He can be so sneaky at times.  He loves his (and I am starting to like it, too).  The Princess, however, had to buy some new pans to use for it.  They must be magnetic to work.  We checked out ours with one of the refrigerator magnets we all have.  If it sticks, you can use it.  I love how quickly water comes to a boil on it.  I used it for making my spaghetti sauce and for cooking the spaghetti.  It was great.  I really have to admit it was a good purchase.  We use it all the time.  I can hardly remember the last time I used the stove....LOL.  I DO use the oven.

Time to get this posted.  I gather the Princess had some rain at the RV resort they are now official members of but we didn't until late this evening.  And I mean late!  It will be nice if I get some sunny weather in the morning so I can do the strawberries.  The soil will be moist so it will be easy to do the thinning.  If things go well, I may even finish clearing out the other half of it's planter.  The Beast had planted some gourds in that area last year.  The weeds are about a foot high.  Sheesh.  Oh well.

Love you all.  Stay dry.  Drive very carefully.  Don't drive if you don't have to since so many areas will be under a threat of tornadoes.  ***Hugs***

The Beast Is Disappointed.....

The Princess got here bright and early with Gunner to take the Beast to his eye doctor's office.  I got to play with Gunner for a bit before they left and held him while he played bashful.  It was adorable.  About an hour and a half later, the Beast came back home angry as hell.  It seems the doctor had no plans to do the optic cleaning today.  It is scheduled now to be done down in Gadsden on the 20th.  He was so disappointed that it made him angry every time he thought about it.  It was supposed to be the day he would have the cleaning of his lens according to what he thought when this appointment was set.  But it will be done in the doctor's other office and not this one here in Albertville.

He was upset mainly because the one eye is so cloudy, he can barely see out of it.  If his other eye was as cloudy, he wouldn't be able to function at all and would feel like he was blind because his vision would be totally blurry.  I can't say I blame him.

I made us breakfast (late in the day again).  Today I sauteed some green onions for the scrambled eggs and added some sharp cheddar cheese, too.  I toasted up some 5 grain bread to go with it and it was fantastic.  I also made our dinner.  It was spaghetti with all the goodies in it.  We've been using three different meats (ground beef, ground breakfast sausage that's spicy plus Italian sausage...also spicy).  We like our spaghetti a bit spicier than some but, by the time you add the sauce and tomatoes, it's only the Italian sausage pieces that are spicy to taste.

The Beast told me it was great but I think it was partly because it was a meal he didn't have to make.  Even he laughed and said it might be so.  Unfortunately, as usual, I made enough to feed a crowd.  I'm hoping that Sheepie comes over tomorrow or Saturday to help eat it.  Maybe even take some home with her for her dinner.  LOL!  The girl does like to eat.  It's one of the things I love about her.  Actually, pretty much all the kids in the family (apologies to all since none of you are technically *kids* but you are much, much younger than I am) are good eaters.  It's one of the reasons I still make huge amounts of whatever I cook.  I just can't help it.

It was another good day today.  It was bright and sunny.  The Beast finished mowing the yard and got some of the planter boxes in the yard cleared out so he could plant the tomato plants.  Once he cleans out the other box, he's going to plant green peppers.  We are not planting as much as we normally do this year because we are just getting a little too old to manage it all.  But we use a lot of green peppers and tomatoes for our meals so we want to keep those.

It didn't get quite as warm as it was yesterday although it's still quite warm out now at 12:30am.  It's 72 degrees and very comfortable.  That will probably change since we are expecting rain tomorrow so, even though the temperature will be warm, the humidity will make it uncomfortable.  I hope all of you in the path of the bad storms today come through it without being affected by the tornadoes spawned in some areas.

Love you all.  Be careful.  Keep an eye on the sky and stay tuned to your weather channel.  Stay safe.  ***Hugs***