Shadowy, sunless Sunday - January 11, 2009

Overcast, spitting snow, no accumulation, cold, windy, and generally a good day to stay inside. (Where, by the way,the festivities continue! Balloons from the Millers; White chocolate from the Strothers; card from Linda, who also made the cake (delicious); and a joyous festive dinner in the main hall prepared by our own chef: Tra-cee! With selections from the refrigerator and garnishments selected from our local green-grocer by the MEN! And a call from Barbara to wish her brother-in-law a happy day!

Delia and Zoey seemed to have no problems enjoying the day. Art and Scrabble were some entertainment; otherwise mama's milk and blinking at the lights fascinated the other.

Happy Birthday, Stanley. January 10, 2009

It's Saturday. The weather is miserable: rainy, foggy, cloudy, cold:34-36-38 (no, those numbers are not my measurements.)
We got a happy birthday call from Florida: Norma wished her brother a Happy Day. He had already opened his card from Barb n Ed. I gave him my card, along with several DVD's and we are watching one (Sam Elliot stars as a cowboy lawman Bill Tilghman @ 1924) called "You Know My Name". Linda made his cake: white with butter cream icing - but will ice it tomorrow - since we are carrying out these festivities over many days. Brenda dropped by to say "Happy Birthday", and Kim is here tonight and gave him a card. Nothing says 'you are getting old' than someone remembering you were born.
I passed along the pictures I garnered from the Internet to Grandma and Stan and forwarded a copy to Tracy. Nice jewelry, Amanda! Nice view from the new digs, too! Lovely Christmas pictures of Tracy, Zoey, Keith, John and the Miller tree 2008.
I am following several blogs now and see the changes pop up on the "dashboard" of blogger? Or, at least, these changes are showing up on a page that begins my choice of blog to write to...

January 8, 2009 - SNOW DAY!

Hey you all! This is the first Snow Day of the New Year! Hip hip hooray!

If the roads weren't so bad this could be a good day. Brenda is coming. The roads are treacherous. But we are fine. There is an inch of ice under the snow.

I haven't written for a while. Things have settled down here. Monday Stan gave us quite a scare. I got an antibiotic from Dr. Bragg for what I suspect is pneumonia and started it at 6pm. Stan hasn't been feeling well for a couple days. But after some 02 and a lot of rest (on Monday night) he is back, eating and drinking (a little) each day.That would be Tuesday, Wednesday and Today - Thursday.

Grandma is awake and patiently awaiting Brenda to get her up and get the day started.

I got Trisha's new address and can get some snail mail sent her way today. And maybe some banking also since tomorrow is pay day for the crew here.

I have decided to more fully participate in the blog experience, so I will be adding some things to this page when I get a chance. But for now I must close.

But.... I will be back.

Sunday, January 4, two-thousand-nine

Weather: Overcast - temperature from cold in the high 20's low thirties to warmer @ 60 in the 4 o'colck hour. No rain here until after dark @ 6pm.

Sunday paper. No big meal. No house guests. No excitement. I went looking for a heater for the back bedroom. No luck. So I went to the MALL.

Linda played Scrabble with Grandma before supper. They enjoyed it.
Oh, yes...
I got a hair cut: look! Meredith Viera (Veria), (the anchor woman on the Today show)... The girl who cut my hair had never heard of her.
No - this is not a picture of me or Meredith. I tried to find a still shot or a video and found her (Meredith) licking the Mac Airbook (last week) but I don't know how to embed the video.... much to learn.

Saturday night, January 3, 2009 -Oh, what a beautiful day!

Yes, the sun - it did shine today. And the air was brisk.

And the day was LONG - here in STALAG 6490. They say that the GULAG is isolated from the rest of the continent by a large inaccessible divide - fraught with sarks and other frightful creatures. Or perhaps the barrier is HDTV, or ENORMOUS gas prices, maybe the attraction of life's leisure time activities a.k.a.WWii, or perhaps the OVERWHELMING desire to do a life's work in a location far removed from communication devices. But I digress.

Intermittently, I saw the inside of the washer and dryer, the inside of two mailboxes, the inside of three outside garbage receptacles, the inside of the dishwasher, the inside of the Happy Garden - who, by the way, never serves square fish - because I assume that's just against NATURE. And Thunderheart. And WV won a basketball game. And I saw a sign in the window of a store on Milford. I remember thinking: That sign would be a good one to blog about. Just before I drove away to buy a power ball ticket and forgot about it...

Friday, January 2, 2009 nice weather report

Sunny. The snow is about gone. Colder, at Krogers on the hill; but shirt sleeves to take groceries out of the trunk of the car, in the valley at 2:30 this afternoon.

Gas prices are going up: I didn't buy at $1.66 - any nighttime trip to Krogers in the past week when it was windy and colder (teens and 20's), instead I waited til it was warmer (today) and the price was $1.79 with my discount and 87 octane, of course.

Trisha reports that she and John have survived the first round of "the up-chuck" flu and do not want pipelines of chicken soup sent their way.

Kim is going to work day shift on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Fridays if nothing gets in the way and she will help Grandma while Brenda helps Dad. Brenda has courageously stated she will work alone the other two days while I go to work. Until we can employ someone else.

I am not a good caregiver. I do not do what the other ladies can do - stay positive and calm, cook, make Dad sit up using the hoyer. I called about another sling for the lift and got the run-around. So, Monday I may have to get another agency to provide the hoyer and sling. I'm not strong in my hands either; but I can do a lot of laundry, so that will be my job in retirement - laundry...

Speaking of retirement: the government sent me a paper with possible payouts if I retire now, at 62, 63,64,65 and then at 65 and 7 months. Paper didn't say how much the bills will be in '09, '10, '11, '12 and 2013... and I have one foot in the present and one foot in the future - slippery slope...

So far my New Years Resolution is holding up. Can you guess what it is?

January 1, 2009 --- blah, blah, blah

Cold. Sun burns off yesterday's snow. Leaving behind the brown mud of winter. Tonight the temperature is @ 17 degrees. Trisha called. She and John are sick, really sick. Tracy and Keith came by after picking up Delia at Grandma Virginia's where she had a sleepover with Rebecca and Aunt Donna. They showed us HD movies of New Year's Eve party @ a friend's home. Barbara called. Ed's got a cold. Linda made macroni and meatballs with sauce for supper tonight. We've had enough cabbage for a while.