Saturday, December 12, 2009

Busy Saturday

This will be a busy day. I must do some cleaning today since we are going to have the "Living the Questions" group here tomorrow evening. We suggested that the group watch the PBS special on "Peter and Paul" instead of continuing the book "Seeing Grey in a Black and White World" at least for this one week. Frankly, I am bored with the book anyhow and would like to put it away. Jack and Marilyn were to have had the group but Marilyn is afraid for Jack to be around a crowd since he just got over pneumonia and is still taking infusions of antibiotics twice a day. Jack has a serious lung disease.

Richard B. planned to take the evening class but he does not receive PBS out in the country where he lives. So I volunteered to take it. Marilyn and Jack still may not come since Richard and Mona may bring their child, Roni, and the last time we met he had an earache and they brought him and came anyhow. I, for one, did not appreciate that they brought an ill child into a gathering of elderly folks. Some people just don't think.

I will still need to get some ice cream and a card. We are going to surprise Judy with a card party when we meet at 7:00. The program doesn't begin until 8:00. Mona is supposed to bring a cake.

Keith's title to his car came in the mail yesterday and Larry came and picked it up. I am glad to have that out of the way. It took over a week for it to arrive.

I got some decent sleep last night. Slinky only woke me once around 11:30 and Missy didn't wake me at all.

Friday, December 11, 2009

Terrible Night's Sleep

Last night was a nightmare. The animals woke me up a half dozen times. Missy was the worst offender. She wanted me to feed her in the middle of the night. But I am not going to get that started. She scratched on the bed skirt of my bed three or four times and then Slinky started whimpering and needed to get out. I put Missy outside after the second offense but it was way too cold for any animal, even an annoying one, to be outside so I let her back in. I was out of bed so many times that I finally got up and went into the den to sleep on the trundle so I wouldn't disturb Bob's sleep. What a mess.

Today we plan to go back to Independence to take Leslie to lunch. Then this afternoon, I may take a nap.

We recently learned that Keith cannot come back at Christmas time. Not only does he not have the money for an airline ticket that costs $471 but his co-worker wants to go home for Christmas and one of them has to stay and cover the help desk. It's his turn since he came home at Thanksgiving.

That's disappointing but understandable.

Still the title to Keith's car has not arrived. It's been over a week since he sent it off. If it is lost in the mail, he may have to get a "lost title" replacement. The man who bought the car needs it. He has called twice to see if it has come yet. Keith took his number yesterday and called him about it.

Thursday, December 10, 2009

Thursday Boredom

I am bored already and it is only 6:15 in the morning. I do not like winter!

Yesterday, we did not go to the IMA meeting in Independence. It was just too cold to make another trip up there. It was 18 degrees but the wind factor made it 2 degrees below zero. Neither Bob nor I need that kind of cold. So we stayed home after we came home from my hair appointment. I think I will get my hair appointment changed to a later time on the second Wednesday of the month, if possible. That way, we can just stay in Independence for the IMA meeting. As it was, we went to their Wal Mart store and bought groceries before we came home. Brrrr, it was really cold! We had left Slinky in the garage, which he hates, and he was really glad to get out of that cold garage. It was a lot warmer then outside though.

I read most of the afternoon and later on put some cornbread in the oven for our beans. I had soaked beans the evening before and cooked them in my slow cooker while we were in Independence yesterday morning. They were really good last night.

I think I will bake a pie today for dessert tonight. Bob's glucose has been doing well and he looks like he may have put a little weight back on. He sure needs to. I would be happy to give him ten pounds if there was only some way to transfer it between us. I will fix pork cutlets, mashed potatoes and gravy and have cottage cheese for dinner tonight, perhaps with a veggie.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Another Cold Blustery Day

It's another cold blustery day here in Kansas. So far as I know it did not snow last night but it's very cold out. I believe it's 17 degrees. I will go to Independence this morning to get my hair done but I don't know whether I will go back up at noon for IMA or not. Bob no longer has his truck so I would have to come home to get him and it's very cold to get him out in the weather. We may just have to skip it this time and hope for a warmer day next month.

Juanita may call and cancel breakfast too. She does not need to get out in this weather either. She is 88 and about as fragile as Bob. She usually calls about 7:00 if she cancels.

If we stay home, I will do some cleaning and then also go to the market. If we go, we will also go to the market up in Independence. We will have to put Slinky in the garage. It is way too cold for him outside. The hot water tank is in a corner of the garage and it is fairly warm in there where it is located. We put his nice clean rugs in there on a piece of carpet and he can stay fairly comfortable while we are gone. Bob can't get him to go out there but he went out there Tuesday while we went to Bartlesville to Bob's doctor appointment but it was I who had to get him to go out there. He didn't like it but he minded me.

The animals had me up three times last night. About midnight Slinky had to go out and so I got up and let him out. Then about 3:00 he needed to go again. (old dogs are not much different whether they're human or other animals.) Missy got me up at 4:00 so I put her outside. I am trying to teach her that if she wakes me up, she will go out in the cold. Then Slinky decided he wanted breakfast at 4:00 AM. I got back up and came into the kitchen and bawled him out. I didn't hear another peep out of him until 5:00...my usual rising time. Animals! I never wanted any. Leslie gave me Missy as a very small kitten...then I got attached to her. Then Scott got Slinky in the divorce and when he moved to Missouri, we got Slinky. He has no fenced yard and animals are not allowed in his apartment. So guess who got his high maintenance dog? That's right! Me. I say "me" because the only thing Bob does for him is take him for a walk and he has to be harassed into doing that.

Men!

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Very Busy Nasty Tuesday

Today I went to sit a couple of hours with my sister and then later in the morning attended the Montgomery County Health Clinic Board Meeting at our hospital. It was misting but not freezing. I was glad of that. I need to go to Independence tomorrow but won't go if it's freezing or snowing.

At our meeting, we took care of our business first and elected our officers (I was elected secretary) and heard our reports.

They wanted to meet there in Coffeyville so they could have Leadership Coffeyville meet with us. Leadership Coffeyville had a request for us. They want the clinic to be open more then one evening a week in Coffeyville. We would love to do that and it is in our future plans but not right now. Right now we are operating in Coffeyville every Tuesday evening from 4 - 7 with volunteer doctors and nurses. We see 13 - 16 patients in that time. We do not presently have the resources to be open any more than that. In Independence we have hired a nurse practitioner and are open four days a week. It took us three years to work the grant financing for that.

They suggested we hire a nurse practitioner for Coffeyville and we agreed that would be great but it costs $75,000 a year to hire one and that would require another separate grant and let's face it, money is very tight right now everywhere.

Eventually, when the health care crisis is over in Washington, we will submit a request to become a FQHC (Federally Qualified Health Clinic) and we will have the resources but then, because we will be required to accept anyone who walks through the door and not just the uninsured, we will be in competition with the doctors and hospital and the hospital will not be willing to give us the space.

So, it's not that simple.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Doctor's Visit

We got around early and I talked Slinky into the garage so we could go to Bartlesville to see Dr. Eslicker, the dermatologist again. Bob has a rash of new "stuff" on his face and head and did not want to wait until the last of January to see about it. It turned out to be a lot of pre-cancerous "stuff". Dr. Eslicker just froze it all.

Bob then wanted to go over on the west side of Bartlesville to have lunch at Murphy's Steak House. Wouldn't you know..it was closed...for good.

So we went to Caney and ate at the Caney Kitchen. They had a special on Bar B Q beef sandwiches so that's what we ordered. They were pretty good... though certainly not $14. worth. Oh well, it's only money and I can't take it with me.

We let Slinky back in when we got home and gave him our leftover Bar B Q sandwiches and french fries. I imagine he didn't need those either but he sure cleaned them up.

We will eat our leftover roast beef from Friday evening this evening. Tomorrow I have lunch at the hospital here with our board meeting. Tomorrow evening we will eat Bob's leftover spaghetti and meat balls from yesterday. Wednesday we will eat at Mercy Hospital for IMA. We will fix beans and cornbread for Thursday. So I won't do a lot of cooking this week. Thank goodness! I feel like all I've done lately is cook although we've eaten a lot of meals out lately too.

Sunday, December 6, 2009

A Huge Day!

We got up early this morning and saw Scott off. Then we went to church where Bob presided today. It was a good service. After church we went to Independence to eat at Brothers Italian Restaurant. After that, we drove up to Chanute to hear Sue sing in a community choir. It was a nice one and a half hour program. We had intended to go to John and Sue's for refreshments afterward but it was misting and we were afraid it would freeze after dark and besides Slinky was out on the patio in the cold.

We were going to put him in the garage but Bob could not get him to go out there. Even though the hot water tank is out there and it isn't really that cold, he hates that garage. He growled and barked at Bob when Bob tried to get him to go in there so we had no other option but to let him out on the patio. We knew we would be gone all day.

Anyhow, we got home by 5:30. I took a hot shower and put my P.J.'s on. I was very tired. Then I sat in the living room and did my congregational letters and printed off the ones I couldn't e-mail with the printer in the den.

I'll try to stay awake until 8:30 or nine. I can tell, my week is catching up with me.

This week, I will do nothing much tomorrow. Tuesday I will sit with my sister early morning and then go to Independence at 11;00 for my medical clinic board meeting. We may meet Leslie for lunch that day too if John doesn't meet her first. Wednesday, I will get my hair done and then we have the IMA meeting at Mercy Hospital in Independence at noon.

We have nothing going Monday, Thursday or Friday. Isn't that neat?