Happy Valentine's Day 2011

Monday. Sunrise 7:01

I don't usually talk about work, but today is Valentine's Day and I don't have much to say about the Saint of whatever he's the saint of... (He's not Cupid, not Mercury, Not Eros, who, then, IS he?)
Went to work driving into the SUN- mailed the bills on the way - not too late - parking space available again - broke up hallway groups on my way into the room - same 'ol same 'ol...

The school day begins:
Student teacher working with projector attached to laptop computer (same was 'stored' by the science teacher) so we arranged to show map on the wall above my desk... later we got the powers that be (the custodians) to put in a work order to get my projector screen moved over the whiteboard behind my desk... I've been here for 20 years and never had the equipment to use the screen... not very aggressive, am I...
The Day Moves Right Along. Lunch from my very own fridge. Computer work on Lesson plans for studying Canada at lunch - when else do I get 15 minutes alone to think?

6th period is brought in on "the challenge to beat 4th period on the Canada test"... Mr. McCarthy offers to "do lunch" for the class with the highest average on the test. (2 weeks away) 8th period - to put it mildly - was a tough sell... We didn't invite them to the competition: they listened @ Trevor's story, but they returned to social aggravations to avoid the lesson... Some of these same kids are in my homeroom. 

tonight's homeroom is the "book throwing" brigade inside and the "tearing up the Valentine flower" brigands out in the hall. No good deed goes unpunished. These kids are too big for such immature behavior, right?

Too pooped to pop, I drive home in the daylight and cold windy evening after 4:30... stop at the Pantry store to fill up the tank... get stuck behind some guy cleaning out his car by the tank.. decide to fill up if the hose will reach the 10 feet back to my gas thingy. It does for 1 minute, then chokes over and over $3.13 later I drive toward the Boulevard to get the mail, then to Rosebud to pay the cable bill, buy the Rx, a Mylar red balloon that says:I Love You and a few get well cards -which I will space out over several days - for Trevor. And arrive at the valley at 6pm - an 11 hour day for the caregivers, who informed my they have dinner dates at Texas Roadhouse...

I'm glad there's still that skunky cherry wheat 'soda pop' in the back of the fridge. Happy Valentine's Day

Life is like smoke through a keyhole...

Bet you can't tell me what movie that line is from.

We've been watching movies all day long (if the day started after noon and drifted into the night) It's now 15 til 11 on Saturday night. We've seen Robert Culp and that English guy I recognized but can't remember his name in some 1970's weir-devil movie reminiscent of Indiana Jones and Temple of Doom only set in England, of course. Gold bullets, not silver, too. It was campy and fun.

We've watched Sandra Bullock in Speed 2. And it was very entertaining.

We've rehashed every Saturday rerun of NCIS until I can say the lines for the entire show myself. And I flipped the channel to see the movie I'm watching now...

I've done some laundry. Washed some dishes. Listened as the water explodes into the toilet tanks because the waterlines are full of air. No real cooking: I wanted some brownies but had to settle for really old Oreo cookies. The air is cold. The sky was so grey today that the entire day looked like early evening (and it didn't begin to get dark until 6 o'clock...go figure.)

I walked the garbage to the garbage bin three times this afternoon. Great exercise. I'm glad I wasn't the guy who fell on his way back from the mailbox and got covered in snow by the snow plow (as was on the aol news today.) He was frozen, but rescued by his nosey neighbors.

I heard from one of my oldest friends, Jean B., last week. She's a heart surgery survivor and now has got  vertigo that has stopped her from driving. Her son, David is staying with her at night. His wife, Louella, is staying with HER mother at night. Louella was in the first senior class I had at Flemington High. David was a year ahead of her. Jean is the age of my Mother, 89, and has dealt with her Mother (who lived briefly with her)  in a nursing home and her husband with Alzheimer's - both gone now and these were events of her early retirement years...Since she retired, she has driven all over the country in her RV to visit relatives. I know she misses her independence - she's still in her own home.

I went grocery shopping last night after school. I had some of the energy I've been missing these past few years. Maybe that's because I have a student teacher to take my morning classes, maybe it's because the light is better as the days get longer, maybe I'm not as depressed (nae, that's not it), maybe it's because I ate a salad instead of hot pepper cheese bread for dinner on Thursday... [anyhow - I took a look at myself in the mirror and decided I need to get a haircut and lose some weight - when I get world enough and time. Maybe in the summer.]

For stress relief:  I still have those little bottles of wine with the screw off tops... I did order some jeans and t-shirts  from LLBean in two sizes larger that the ones I have now, for wearing just until I get WEAT. I want to buy REDS when I get to the store next time. It stars all those old stars like Helen Mirren (sp) and Bruce Willis... and should be a hoot!

Stan perks up when there is something to interest him - the phone call from Barbara tonight got him interested and he stayed awake for another hour to watch a tv show he liked.

I'm going to dose up with asprin and go to bed. Last night I forgot the asprin and I regretted it.

The movie is almost over... Pea soup still sucks...(do you know the movie yet?) and those lemon swabs - they are ubiquitous. And the coffee story generates a genuine laugh!

Funny how the years fly by...

This Blog was a great way to record the passing of days last year. When SNOW DAYS happened, I really got into this writing/blogging thing. I took pictures and posted them here. I woke up every morning checking every one's blog in the family (hoping, of course, for new pictures, new stories, or just contact.) It was so cool.

Now, however, I'm enrolled in facebook. The social Network. yeah.

I check for new messages daily - and it takes forever...... I scroll down to see what posts have happened to my family and friends.... it takes forever.... We've had something like 10 snow days this year and I haven't blogged much at all. I've been too busy saying"when will they call it off?" and waiting for an answer - any answer.

This photo is from our Yellowstone vacation a few years ago probably in 2006 when we went to Cody, WY and the Remington Museum where all the GUNS are. It was cool. We never did tell anyone how much fun we had, nor did we share the photos. But they're on the web, now, buddy!!! and I will be pulling them off occasionally to reminisce. You bet 'cha.

Our lives, here in the Valley, haven't changed all that much. I'm still going out to work daily - unless I get a better offer( snow days) and he is still lying in that bed watching the mind numbing television programs on the Big Screen.

Yes, our children (young adults now) and grandchildren are growing up. And moving on. Time Flies no matter how much fun we are having. And that is how it is. And that is how it must be.

Norma and Dave are leaving tomorrow for a short time -3 months or so - in Florida. They had no power last night due to the storm outages and will probably have no power tonight. They are using gas logs in the fireplace and gas stoves on the porch; and oil lamps. They are in their 80's.
Good for you, family.

Here are some nice winter pictures I stole from my friend Dot. These were taken in her backyard. She's taken these birds to raise this winter. We have no color like this in our yard this winter. Our birds are spring young families (Bluebirds) Their nests are still here from Dad's birdhouse building days. Thanks, Dad.

I have really used these two days to rest and reconsider what I'm doing on this planet. I've tried to get my stuff together, then I forget where I put it literally and figuratively.

Preston, Randolph, Upshur are closed already for tomorrow 5:45 on Thursday evening.1-27-11 Snow will fall in time for tomorrow's commute...

Did I mention that the nurse tried to get up the drive in her two wheel drive car and stopped before she got to the patio - almost spun into the yard, but recovered and stayed in the drive to back down later. I shoveled with the long handled flat shovel - the snow shovel wouldn't get under the ice well enough to suit me... but I quit before I uncovered much of anything. Heart attack snow if there ever was some...

Linda and Sandy came today from 9 - 3 going home before the roads froze again... They always help BigTime. Linda's daughter in law will be the notary for my signature on Tuesday for the estate final papers. The clerk will mail them to me soon and I'll forward them to Barb. No worries. Just more red tape.

Snow Days giveth and taketh away...

The sun has gone behind the hill. It's cold as the proverbial Hell. 'twas 16, now it's colder; 'twill be 4 tonight I'm told. Weather Watchers Beware: every part of the patio I swept at noon was clear of snow by three and full of ICE at 5:30. But too many vehicles on the patio and fear of death by freezing, made me stop before I cleared too much of driveway or patio. 

caption: the 500 dollar  chair

We've been visited by Health Nurse Julia, Speech Therapist Sierra, and numerous phone calls: Bragg's office girl, Hospice Lady, my seesta, my friend Val -- and that's about all. Can you spell E X C I T E MENT?

We ate sushi for lunch.

Yes, we had a "snow day" - no school in most WV counties; however, we have lost the 27th of January as an Instructional Support 1/2 Day and have gained it as another Instructional Day. yippee!

The tests I should be grading are still on the dining room table, but the clothes are in the washer/dryer...I'm not taking pictures on these days - looks pretty much like last year: A solid 6 inches of the white stuff on all flat surfaces.                                        

                              Tomorrow starts the weekend: Just the Two of Us. You can insert music here...
Catch you up later.
I didn't even get a nap. (but I do have a stock up pack of screw top wine bottles...)

Martin Luther King, Jr holiday

I'm off to the mall.
The health nurse will be here after 12:30 so I'll be back...
I found the info on Grandma Bea

Laurel Beatrice Walls

January 7, 1905 to December 9, 2002

97 years young

She would have been 106 years old this month.

Happy Holiday!

I don't like being a grown-up.

The middle of the month of January.

Time Flies When You Are Having Fun.

          Nothing much to report here. We did have sushi again this weekend for Sunday dinner. I think I've found something easy to fix, small enough to serve and have no leftovers (I eat all leftovers immediately or at least the next day) That sticky rice and soy sauce w/wasabi and ginger is pretty good.

          The weather was warmer today; I tried to break up some ice on the driveway with a hoe, on my way to the paperbox. The blacktop heats from the bottom up and if I had been successful, I would have cleared the whole dang thing... but, I was more interested in staying upright (and getting the paper.) Maybe tomorrow's warmer temps (after the morning 9 degrees - predicted) should get to 20 something and sunny again... will clear the whole thing. At any rate, the rain is coming (and the cold at night - aughhhhh) my science is shakey - probably icy on Tuesday and Wednesday and who knows what from then on.

          My friend Janet wrote on f/b that her (newly diagnosed Parkinson's) Father, 86, was on his way to hospital for dehydration due to unable to swallow [syndrome] w/ complications from Alzheimer's, too.
          Dehydration is a real threat. I woke Stanley around noon and tried to get him to drink - he is very hard to awaken on the weekends. I get up @5 or 6 and try to give him water and pills, sometimes that's ok, sometimes not. At 9 he was still sleeping. I watched CBS Sunday morning. At 11 he was still sleeping; so finally, I got him awake and we had breakfast juice, eggs and fruit. And after 12 we got the morning pills. We watched BET and the Rosa Parks story. Pretty good.
          Around 5 we got the afternoon pills. And he fell back asleep at 8 so there are no evening pills tonight. We'll start the coumadin again tomorrow night - 3 mg, until we get it checked in a couple weeks - no one seems to be alarmed, or cares... no one is following the case yet. I have hired Hospice, so I can get a blood draw for the coumadin check and get a urine draw for the infection check. But these things are slow to happen, and wouldn't have happened if I hadn't called these guys in. They will probably come once a week, and call to check every so often...
          Stan is very thin. His hands are crippled by what looks like arthritis. But his mind is still sharp. He smiles and sorta laughs at stuff on TV. He looks at me when I talk about family and problems at home. He ignores me when I ask "Are you in pain? Do you need something?"
          Last night, we had a good time watching the Steelers play the Ravens (started at 4:30). Earlier, Linda and Sandy came over and cared for him while I went to the store. I will have to get back in training for shopping. It's like running a marathon, if you haven't done it for a while. I could only last from 10 til 2 - go figure... Now that I think about it, that late night is probably why he slept in today.  Don't worry; we've got it under control.

Happy 100th Birthday, Grandma Bea

Trisha reminded me: Laurel Beatrix Lemmon Walls would have been 100 today. She was a grand ol' gal as her husband, Howard would say. I had the good fortune to know her during the last half of her life. She was in her forties when she birthed my husband. I met her some 20 years later in 1964 or 65. She was a Christian, school teacher, briefly, a beautician, an artist, a carpenter, a college graduate-Glenville, and a home maker, who welcomed her mother-in-law into her home where they cared for Howard together for the remaining years of Grandma Icie's life.
She always celebrated Christmas with a party. She invited all of her large extended family and friends. She made the best oysters (I had never tasted fried oysters before these parties) And, Howard always made her a "relaxer" to drink as she settled down to enjoy the festivities.
She lived on her own, alone, after Howard died unexpectedly of aneurism surgery gone wrong in 1977. (almost 15 years or so) That is until she fell, and then she met a neighbor/caretaker who wanted to help her. The family figured out how to get her care and give the neighbor some employment. So, she lived in Jan's Personal Care Home until she died in December of 2004, if I remember correctly.
I think of her often - how strong she was and how she looked out for the future life of her son, my husband.