January 30 through February 3

[chochiyo_sama]

Sunday, January 30

Lily’s electricity was restored while she was at church.  Lily is absolutely convinced that the owner of the trailer park would NO WAY, NO HOW care that her electricity was not working and that he would NEVER come and fix it.  He would just tell her that it was her responsibility. Oh, and the electric company would also NEVER come out and fix the electricity as Dick is sure the problem is in the pole, and the pole is HER responsibility, not the electric company’s responsibility.  All of which I found ridiculous and unlikely.  Anyhow, despite all her convictions, Ben, the trailer park owner, came over while she was at church and fixed her electricity.  I suspect that Dick called him, told him the problem, and asked him to fix it.

I love her very much, but I swear, there are days when she makes my head feel like it is going to explode.  She gave me such a terrible headache yesterday, going on about all this stuff, that it literally made me sick.  I was still up at 3 am with a pounding headache that made me so nauseated that I felt like I was going to expire. Eventually, I texted DeAnn and told her I was feeling absolutely rotten and asked if she would mind terribly if we called off the Zoom meeting today. 

I hated to miss out Zoom as it is so motivating and interesting, but I know my ability to comprehend and communicate would have been seriously impacted by my aching head and frustration.

So, I basically accomplished nothing today.

My brother Jack stopped by to drag my garbage and recycling bins to the curb, pick up the AAA card that I had paid for him (it was only $30 for a whole year, and I SOOOO appreciate him dragging out my bins and doing other little chores for me occasionally), take the little llama Christmas ornament I had bought for my niece Cora but forgot to give her at Christmas, and take the box of vitamins and hand lotion I had ordered from Target.com for my mother.  If he had not taken it, I could have given it to her on Thursday when I take her to her appointment with Dr. Grazbowski.  Jack and I had a nice chat for about an hour.  We don’t get to visit too much.  He is always really busy with his job and family.  Though, he will soon be retiring (mandatory) from his job at the women’s prison, so he will have a much less stressful life.

When my headache finally calmed down, I made myself a Schwan’s frozen individual spaghetti dinner.  It was nothing grand, but it filled me up.  Later in the day, I ate some Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, which is my favorite ice cream.

I watched some random stuff on TV and called it a day.

 

Monday, January 31

I accomplished a few things today.  The first thing I did was put my philodendron into the pot of fresh dirt I prepared for it.  The roots had stretched out about seven inches, and almost immediately after I popped it into the dirt and gave it a drink of water, it settled into its pot and swiveled its leaves to face the window to start sucking up the sunshine.  If plants can feel happiness, I think he is a very happy little plant.

I put away my clean dishes and started working on the counter on the south side of the kitchen.  I threw away some expired cereal and other dry packaged goods and wrote the expiration year on a few cans that had been sitting on the counter.  I have been hungry for green bean casserole for several weeks, so I made one.  It turned out so very delicious!  I ate a great big helping of it for my lunch.  It is the easiest thing in the world to make.  I prefer it with French cut green beans, so I threw two cans of green beans in my little round roaster along with two cans of cream of mushroom soup and stirred them up good.  Then I sprinkled a bag of dried onion rings on top and threw it in the oven for about an hour.  It’s the easiest thing in the world to make.

My Chewy.com box came today.  I haven’t opened it yet, but I did drag it to the breezeway.  I discovered that the Southern Comfort flavored eggnog Lily had given me for Christmas would not expire till February 22, and there was just a cup left, so I drank it.  I love eggnog, and the Southern Comfort flavored one is my favorite.  I was glad none of it went to waste this year.  Last year, I ended up throwing most of a carton because I just forgot it was in the fridge.

I put away the clean dishes, moved all the stuff on the southeast side of the counter onto my little folding table (which I had dragged into the kitchen for just that purpose), scrubbed off the counter, then wiped down and polished everything that had been setting on the counter and put it back where it belonged.  I even managed to wipe down the spice rack and every single jar and bottle on it and put it back together.   I also went through the stuff on the cupboard top next to the fridge, threw away the expired stuff, and moved the boxed cereal and other boxed stuff to the southeast corner of the counter where it fit perfectly and looks neater.

I wiped off and put back the block of steak knives, popcorn popper, waffle iron, and vegetable steamer.  There is only the southwest corner of the counter left to wipe down and the various items on it towipe and polish.  Then the stove top will need cleaning and polishing; the refrigerator needs to be emptied, purged, and scrubbed out.  Then the only work left will be to sweep and scrub the floor.

What is cleaned looks fabulous.  I can hardly wait to finish it.

 

Tuesday, February 1

Today, I ordered the cat insulin and Delectable cat stew which is all Lily’s cat Missy will eat from Chewy.com.  Lily had asked me to order these things the last time we talked as her Texas vet does not carry cat insulin and she could not find the Delectables in stores down there.  I was supposed to put it on her credit card, but when I tried, the card she had on file there was expired.  So, I just put it on my debit card and told her she owed me $130.  Cat insulin is very expensive.  I had it shipped directly to her address in Texas, so she should have it in about a week.

My brother Jack stopped by after work to drag my recycling and garbage bins back to the house.  He found my other chewy.com box by the breezeway door and brought it in.  This one was heavy as it had my cat litter in it.  We chatted briefly.  He told me all the prisons are in lockdown due to some hostilities between a couple of different gangs where some people were killed.  Most of the prisoners are affiliated with one gang or another, so someone at the federal level demanded that all prisons go into lockdown to keep the violence from escalating.  Jack said that the women in his prison were not too involved in the violence.  He said they were too lazy to kill each other.  Ha.  I’d like to believe they are too intelligent to waste their time trying to kill each other with their bare hands.

In only a few more weeks, he will be retired, then he will no longer have to worry about crap like that.

 

 Wednesday, February 2

I started the day with a long, refreshing shower, followed by pulling up the current sale bill from the local grocery store so I could make my grocery list.  I never made a grocery list last week as I only needed milk and celery, and I decided I could live without those things for a week.  After I made the list, I called it in immediately.  Then I checked out the specials for the Schwan’s delivery guy.  I ordered a couple of single servings of meatloaf and mashed potatoes and a box of the chocolate chip cookies with the vanilla ice cream in the middle.  Those are my favorite ice cream treats—but they are expensive and only come in a box of six.

I made a Marie Calendar chicken pot pie for my supper.  Those are the best chicken pot pies I have ever had—even better than the ones I have had from KFC.  Those are a bit greasy, so I haven’t had one from there in years.

I watched some random stuff on TV, and then went to bed really early.  Tomorrow I have to get up at the crack of Dawn because I have to take Mom to her doctor’s appointment in Albert Lea.  She has a lab appointment at 9:30 and then will see her doctor at 10:30. It is going to be ungodly cold, so I need to dig out my big “teddy bear” coat.  I call it my “teddy bear” coat because it has a hood and is huge.  It goes all the way to my ankles and is VERY warm.  I usually only wear a hoody or a sweater jacket because I am very warm blooded, but when it is 10 below zero, I wear a real coat.

My mother ordered groceries last week, so she was not going to order anything this week.  She forgot to order potatoes, so I promised her I will bring her half of my potatoes.  I had bought ten pounds of potatoes a while ago, and they are starting to get that shriveled dehydrated look.  Mom wanted to make some potato soup, and I knew I would not get all these potatoes used up before they went bad, so giving them to Mom was a good choice. 

I set my alarm for 8:15 am knowing I would have to get out the door by 9 am to get Mom to the clinic on time.  I was tired, but I still wasn’t able to fall directly off to sleep. 

 

Thursday, February 3

Last night, it was hard to fall asleep.  I woke up several times in the night.  When I finally got into a good deep sleep, I dreamed I was at my grandmother’s house in Geneva.  It is the house I would love to buy and live in if it ever comes up for sale in the future.  When I was a child, that was my “happy place.”  My grandmother adored me and treated me like I was precious.  My parents neither adored me nor treated me like I was anything except annoying and disgusting.  I felt safe and happy at my grandmother’s house and often wished that I could live there with her forever.

Anyhow, in my dream, I was staying overnight with my grandmother.  My subconscious must have been stressing about the potatoes I had promised to bring my mother because I dreamed I was putting all of my grandmother’s wrinkled potatoes in a plastic bag.  I was in her freezer room getting the potatoes, although in reality, she never kept her potatoes there.  She kept them in a little “pantry” area under the stairs in the kitchen.  In the dream, I noticed that one of the garage doors was up, so I stepped out and hit the button to close it. 

I talked to my grandma in the kitchen for a while.  She looked sad and tired.  I told her I was going to stay overnight and go home in the morning.  I started up the stairs, but I discovered the light was burned out.  In my dream, my grandmother must have been packing up to move out of her house because most of her stuff was gone.  I always found her upstairs a little creepy at night, but I went up in the dark anyhow.  None of the lights were working up there, so I just felt my way to the bedroom I always slept in up there and crawled into bed and shut my eyes. My feet were hanging over the edge of the bed a little, and I felt something cold and metallic.  It turned out to be a walker sitting next to the bed.  Then I groggily woke up in the dream and in reality.  That was the end of the dream.  Dreams like that always make me miss my grandma and cause me to imagine how it would be to live in her house. I think I would be very happy in there.

I went back to sleep and slept really soundly till my alarm went off.  I did not want to get up, but I knew I had a very short time to get my poop in a pile and go get my mother.  I did my morning routine, brushed my teeth, and got dressed.  Then I dug out my “teddy bear” coat, filled a plastic bag with potatoes for my mother, and gathered some stuff to keep me occupied while sitting in the parking lot at the clinic. 

It was just miserably cold.  I turned on my seat heaters in my car and cranked up the heat.  By the time I got to mom’s it was better in the car.  Usually, I drive right into her garage to get her, so she doesn’t have to walk on the snow packed driveway, but Erik had taken a day off work, so his car was still in the garage. 

I was dreading filling my car with gas if it needed it, but I had over half a tank, so I did not need to get more.  There was quite a bit of traffic on the way to Albert Lea, but it was okay.  It didn’t seem to take long to get there.  I dropped mom off at the door to the clinic and parked down by the helicopter landing pad so I could look out at the lake—now frozen over with a lot of fishing huts on it and an occasional idiot driving on the frozen lake.  I called Lily to wish her a happy 81^st birthday and to see how the weather was down there.  They were expecting an ice storm, and she had been having freezing rain since early in the morning.  She cancelled her appointment with the doctor who was going to give her a steroid shot in her hand.  She didn’t want to take any chances with the ice coated roads.  We talked for a while.  Nothing too exciting in our conversation.  I called and talked to Joni a bit on the phone.  I don’t get to talk to her too often.  She told me that her cat, Luna, who has been doing a bit of inappropriate toileting throughout the house, has apparently taught herself how to use the toilet.  She had left the bathroom door ajar and went in to find Luna straddling the toilet seat, peeing perfectly into the toilet bowl.  So, she praised her abundantly for being a “good kitty” and hopes that she will continue to pee in the toilet like a people.

After almost an hour, the windows were frosting up, and I was feeling cold, so I turned the car on for ten or fifteen minutes so I could warm up.  I had just turned it off again when I got a call from the clinic telling me that Mom was ready to be picked up.  It was only 10:22, and her appointment was at 10:30, so I was a little surprised.  Apparently, the person with the appointment right before my mother’s was a no-show, so Mom was able to get in sooner.  That was great as I didn’t have to sit out there in the cold for as long as I thought I would need to.

I drove to Taco Johns where I bought two beef burritos with the intention of having them later.  Mom and I had talked about seeing if Perkins was still doing curbside, so I drove into the parking lot of Perkins and called them.  They are still doing curbside, so Mom got a granny omelet, and I bought a “hungry man’s breakfast” as I can squeeze three meals out of that.  It is a lot of food.  We each got a raspberry muffin as well.  I wanted bran, but they didn’t have any. ☹  I also got a delicious slice of coconut cream pie. 

While we were waiting for our food to be brought out, Tammy called to say that she and Bert were picking up their new pickup today.  They have been waiting for it forever.  I am a bit appalled by the fact that they paid nearly twice as much for their new pickup truck as I paid for my first house!  I only paid $33,000 for my first house.  It was old and needed a lot of work, but it was solid and had a lot of beautiful woodwork. 

After I dropped Mom off at her house, I drove by my mailbox and picked up my mail.  Any time I leave the house in my car, I get my mail.  There was a good-sized handful of mail, but no bills.  I did get some of my tax stuff, so hopefully I can send that stuff off soon. 

Peaches was very happy to see me when I got home.  You’d have thought I was gone for two weeks instead of about two hours.  She curled up on my chest and lay there purring for most of the afternoon, preventing me from getting anything done.  I did manage to text Lily and ask her if she still had electricity. I had been watching the Weather Channel which was talking non-stop about the nasty weather in Texas, all the people without power, and the tornadoes in Alabama.  It sounded like there was one nasty tornado after another ripping across the state.

Happily, Lily still had power.  I was really worried about her having power.

Well, that’s about it.  Nothing too exciting going on here—just so dang cold!

Comments

[the_godiva]

A AAA card is the best value at an affordable price. Especially when you are getting on in years and would rather not change a tire in the rain or run out of gas or need a jump. They saved me when my car keys were stolen. They towed my car to the dealer to get it all rekeyed and then a week later jumped it because the battery was dead.

How long until Jack retires? Ah, a few weeks. Hope he can stay safe until then.

I agree about the Marie Callendar pot pies. They are the best brand on the market. In fact, all of their entrees are good.

I didn't have an abusive childhood but I can't really say I had a happy place or was ever wonderfully happy. And it must have had an effect because I spent most of my professional life trying to earn respect, which I never accomplished. And now I have an overwhelming feeling that I am never listened to, my judgement is never trusted and my opinion means nothing. I am just ignored. Like when the only thing my Dad can say after the pergola I warned him was rotten fell and I was almost killed by a beam was "You weigh too much." I am never right, I am never smart enough, and while I am in the process of already doing something he has to tell me how to do it. Because I am a complete idiot and don't know shit.

I used to think it would be wonderful to go back to my parent's house and live there and fix it up. But now, I'm thinking I want to stay in my house and fix it up. If there is enough money to do that, I will. As long as I get Dolly. Dolly must not stay with the dog abusers. But my dreams of living in the house until I am old are now gone. I'll only stay there until the will and trust are settled by MY lawyer. Then I'm going back to my house with Dolly and what little I might be able to salvage from the house after my sister loots it.

I've heard of cats learning to pee in the toilet and even flushing it afterwards but only when trained to do so. Never doing it on their own.

I am still sad about you losing your house. If I had know it only took $15,000 to save it I would have taken that out of my TSA as a loan. You could have paid me back and I would have repaid the loan slowly. Of course, the house you have now is better for you as it is all on one floor. But still, it makes me sad. Like that family that neglected the Rosebrock Darby house until it was unrepairable and then razed to the ground.

I still don't understand why the USPS won't deliver your mail to your house since you are "disabled." I would think they have a policy to do that. Do you have a handicapped placard or license plate for the car? The doctor should give you a letter to get one and then get your mail delivered to your house.

[chochiyo_sama]

Even with a loan, I could not have stayed in my house in West Concord. I had to wait out four long years to get to my retirement fund without losing a substantial piece of it. I suppose I might have been able to squeak by on disability incomes which I eventually got. Maybe I could have taken in a roommate to help pay the bills. I never liked living with roommates, though. Mine always ate all the food and never contributed any themselves.

Ellendale is such a small town, I don't know why they do not offer to-your-house mail delivery. They really should.

[the_godiva]

If that guy BOUGHT your house for $19,000 I could have done the same. BOUGHT your house. You could have applied for disability to live on but no mortgage until you retired. Then you could have started to pay me back or even refinanced. If I had known I could have saved it. At the time I had about $48,000 in the two TSAs left after I bought my service credit. I still think in local prices and I was thinking it would have taken a few hundred thousand to buy your house. You can't get anything here for less than $300,000 or more and that would be a tiny piece of shit.

I don't understand why you don't have home delivery either. What about the disabled and people that cannot walk or drive to pick up their mail? They are supposed to rely on others to bring it to them? What if they don't know anyone? If Ellendale is so small there is no reason there cannot be mail delivery, even if it means putting the box right along the road so the postman only drives, stops, rolls down his window and puts the mail in your box. Something is fishy about the Ellendale USPS. I know they deliver to other towns as small or smaller than yours.

Even the miners around Calico Ghost Town got their mail delivered to the camps at their claims by Dorsey, the official post-dog.

[cmcmck]

Is that a local Geneva or the original Geneva?

[chochiyo_sama]

It's a little bitty town of about 300 in Minnesota. Nothing original about it. LOL.