Saturday, June 6, 2015

Saturday and Branson

This morning, actually in about an hour, Bob and I will leave for Branson for the weekend. We have needed this break for some time. As I said yesterday, that workday was not too bad but the rest of the week had been grueling.  This is the most difficult job I've ever had in this program. My hands hurt most of the time.  And I still have over a year to go in the program.

We have reservations for a show already. We will browse around on Branson Landing in our spare time.  I have a gift card for Olive Garden too so we will have lunch at Olive Garden a noon today.  Before we leave tomorrow noon we will eat at a buffet we particularly like.

Anyhow, I will get back to this when we get back.

More later on Monday.

Friday, June 5, 2015

Friday At Last

Yesterday was absolutely exhausting. The work is hard enough. My hands and fingers swell every time I scan bar codes. Some of the books I have to pull out of the shelves are absolute tomes.  But even worse is the noise. Yesterday the school aged kids had a special program in the children's department so Cindy is reputed to have sent any underage kids with their parents to our department. No one teaches their children to be quiet in the library anymore.  It was absolute pandemonium. I was trying to concentrate on what I was doing. It was impossible. Finally I approached the noisiest group and told them they were in a library and should lower their voices.  Some people were trying to study and concentrate. What a shame! I don't even work for the library. If I could afford to do so, I would quit again.

Anyhow, I did not sleep all that well last night. I ended up getting up before 5:00.

Today we go to exercise class and afterward we will go to Utopia for their cinnamon rolls and coffee.  Then I will come home and dust the apartment before fixing lunch. In order not to have leftovers, we are just having hamburgers and french fries today.  We leave in the morning for Branson.

I dread going back to work this afternoon. I imagine I will scan bar codes again.  There will also be many DVDs to be put away. The library has become the source for DVDs..... without rent. Children, and even adults, are not reading much anymore. They are instead watching DVDs...hundreds of them.  I am apprehensive about what living under an illiterate generation is going to be like.  They don't read because they haven't learned to read well. They know nothing about politics or social studies. They don't even know geography anymore.  It's a pity. When I was a child the US was number 1 in the world in education. Now we are 16th. What a tragedy.

More later...

I was lucky today. Katie was off and I did all DVDs and cleaned some too. There was no scanning  of bar codes. I did some filing and stayed busy putting away magazines and papers.

It was a good day.  Just before I left, Keith, my older son, called. He was on his way home from work and just wanted to visit.

I had yogurt for my dinner this evening and a cup of Chia Latte. I need to pack in awhile because we are leaving at  6:00 in the morning. I have put the cat feeder out for Missy and two bowls of water.  She will be fine.... no longer then we will be gone. Bob will be over after awhile for wine and we will watch Brooks and Shields on PBS. We both enjoy them. When he goes home, I will take my bath and put my PJs on and Missy can lay in my lap in the recliner until bedtime.

Thursday, June 4, 2015

Thursday and House Cleaning Again

It's time to clean house again today. Bob may be over in a little while to have a biscuit and coffee with me on the patio. He did yesterday morning. At that time I will let Missy out for awhile. She has been begging to go out ever since I got up. I have stripped my bed and washed my new sheets today. They are in the dryer now. I will put them back on my bed when they are dry.

After Bob leaves, I will clean the bathroom and kitchen floors and run the vacuum. Then I will dust. I only dust once every two weeks. With electric heat and cooling, there isn't much dust.

I bought the newlyweds a small gift day before yesterday at a gift shop in Independence. Yesterday I wrapped it and mailed it off. That small gift cost me $8.90 to mail. The post office has just about priced themselves out of the market. I could have ordered that from Amazon and had it shipped directly to them cheaper.

More later....

I got the house cleaned and vacuumed..... all but the dusting. I'll have to do that in the morning. It's time to start lunch.

I had another surprise when I went to refill my Levothyroxin for my thyroid deficiency. It had gone up another $2.00 since I last refilled it three months ago. It had started out on the $4.00 list but has been removed from that list for over a year. It now costs $46.11 for a three month's supply.  Even more surprising was the cost of Missy's flea medicine. It had been $70. when I last bought it and I thought that was terrible. I refilled it today at the vet's office and it was $89.80. and that's for a six month's supply.  It's not the Medicine Shoppe or Dr. Barta, it's the pharmaceutical companies. They prefer to produce new cancer drugs and drugs for men who can no longer perform without them, and that bring in hundreds of thousands of dollars...perhaps even millions....  in profits for them.  They don't make much developing Synthroid or even the generic. So they continue to jack up the prices on these meds.  They are criminal!

I have said it many times before ...but Capitalism is greed driven.


Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Wednesday and Exercise Class

Today is exercise class again. I must need it. My body aches. I haven't taken any Aleve yet but will see how I feel tonight.

More later...

Well I mowed the grass after the exercise class today and then fixed our leftover Bar B Q beef for lunch with baked potato and coleslaw salad and broccoli. I fixed some coconut cream pudding and we had that with whipped cream.

Then I went to work. I put away DVDs until 2:30 and then scanned bar codes until 5:00.  It was another huge day.

The good news is the story about our 80th Birthday Bash was in the Lifestyle section of the Independence Reporter paper complete with the photo.  That worked out well.

Bob came over for wine and to watch the news but the regular programming on PBS is reruns while they have their funding pitch so he went home and I am about to take my bath and watch something on TV...what I don't know. TV is so stupid anymore. The programming is absolutely ignorant.

I took a photo of one of the librarians who does the children's programs. She had made a telephone booth from large boxes and was going to use it to show the children a telephone booth...something nopne of them had ever seen because of current technology.

Here is the photo:
Isn't that clever?

Tuesday, June 2, 2015

Tuesday and Cakes Again

I got up early this morning and iced the cake I had baked last night. What a huge day yesterday was. I was exhausted last night and knew I would not be able to get up if I sat down before I baked that cake.

I took Missy out twice this morning and she seems contented. I also received the article I wrote for the newspapers about the wedding. Ginger filled out the names of her family for me and they sent a photo. I submitted it to all three of the area newspapers.  I hope it makes it....especially in the County Chronicle, which is the Caney newspaper. All three of my kids graduated from Caney Valley High School.

I will leave for Independence about 8:15.  I want to take the cakes by first before I go to the beauty shop.  After that I will go over to Juanita's house and balance her checkbook with her bank statement.

Bob will come over shortly. I need to fill out  his rent check. He forgot yesterday and left his checkbook in the car. I got mine written and in the mail.  Bob has essential tremor and it's easier for him to just sign the checks. He pays most of his bills online.

More later....

Here's the article about the wedding  Memorial weekend. I hope it makes it into the area papers.


Scott Miller and Ginger Davis were married on May 23rd, 2015, at John and Leslie Brooks’ farm home in rural Independence. Eighteen family members attended. Margie Miller of Community of Christ, and the groom’s mother, officiated.   Scott’s son, Jerod Miller, from Alameda, California  was present and acted as his best man.  Ginger’s daughter, Phallan Davis, of Nashville Tennessee  served as her maid of honor. Ginger’s brother, Larry McGuire from Baltimore Ohio, gave her away. Following  the ceremony the wedding party and family members were invited to stay for the reception. That evening,  the couple treated the entire group to dinner at Coffeyville’s Tavern on the Plaza. Those attending were: Scott’s mother Margie Miller,  sister and Brother in law John and Leslie Brooks, his son and daughter in law Jerod and Melanie Miller, cousin Jeremy, Marlene Brooks, their daughters Maia and Cheyenne Brooks, Ginger’s brother and sister in law Larry and Tricia McGuire, Gingers mother Linda McGuire, her Aunt Trudy McGuire, and Ginger’s daughter, Phallan Davis.

This afternoon was bad but not as bad as yesterday. I put away 3 baskets of DVDs and then I scanned another aisle. The good part of that is that when I scan each aisle's bottom two rows, I can sit on the stool.

I did stop by Juanita's this morning before coming home with the pizza.  I balanced her checkbook and it balanced. Then I went by Big Cheese and picked up a pizza for lunch. I also delivered the cakes and had my hair done.  It was a busy morning before a busy day.

Bob is here now reading the paper  and drinking the wine he brought today. We will watch "The Roosevelts" on PBS. 

Monday, June 1, 2015

Monday and Back to Work

I slept pretty well last night. I got up shortly after 4:00 because I knew I had quite a lot to do today. I have some beef ribs in the slow cooker now with onions and Bar B Q sauce.  I will bake a couple of potatoes in the microwave and we will have a veggie and Bob is bringing coleslaw.  I have an eye appointment over at Caney at 8:00 so I will need to leave here about 7:30 to be on time.

Missy was dying to go out this morning so I went out with her for about twenty minutes but I got chilly so we came back in.  While over at Caney, I need to mail Scott's DVD package to him.

I wrote my rent check this morning too and it will go out in the afternoon mail here. I always leave it and the newsletters for the congregation clipped to the mailbox outside. While I am at work this afternoon, the mailman will pick all that up.

I go back to work after lunch. It will be interesting to find what they got done about my job while I was gone last week. I imagine there will be a ton of DVDs to put away and the cases to be put into the DVD shelves. There always is after a weekend.  Then Katie may have me scanning bar codes again.

I heard from my nephew in Rogers after I e-mailed him about his sister's situation.  I told him about her cancer, her CT scan tomorrow and the surgery scheduled for June 26th.  That family is not particularly close. Denise and Dennis are the only ones who live around here and he never hears a thing from Dennis. Diana lives in Wisconsin and David in Rogers. He was surprised that his dad had not e-mailed or called him about the news.  I told him about his dad's own health problems and the fact that he had been in the hospital twice for A-Fib and once  for gall stones.  I reminded him that his dad is going to be 81 in July.

More later....

This afternoon was huge! I usually put away 2 or 3 baskets of DVDs. This afternoon I had to put away 7. It took me four hours to get it all done.  I am exhausted! I didn't even sit down when I got home. I still had a cake to bake for the Christian Church in Independence for tomorrow.  I have that in the oven now.  I will ice it in the morning. Phyllis just called to say she was bringing hers over. Good old Phyllis! I wonder if Karan remembered.

Sunday, May 31, 2015

A Busy Sunday

This will be a busy Sunday. Bob will be over shortly to read my newspaper. Then we will leave for church. Afterward several of us will eat out together.

When I get home I will get my congregational newsletters ready for tomorrow's mail.  Then I will read this afternoon until time for 60 minutes. I have a stack of magazines I am well behind reading. Yesterday afternoon I cleaned house and did one last load of laundry.

I have an early eye appointment tomorrow morning at 8:00 in Caney with Dr. Burch.  He will not refill my prescription for new contacts without first checking my eyes.  I had a disquieting moment yesterday when I went to pick up my blood pressure pill prescription at the pharmacist. The prescription was supposed to be $10.00 for a three months prescription.  The charge was $16.00. I asked about that raise in price and the assistant checked with the pharmacist. Sure enough, he had overcharged me $6.00. He corrected his error and charged me the regular $10.00. That's the second time I have caught him in an error.  I warn everyone to be sure to question anything that is unusual about those charges. They get busy and make mistakes.   (I'm attempting to cut him some slack). Some people never question anything and they are the ones who get overcharged. 

This evening Bob will come over to watch 60 minutes with me. He was here last night and we had a glass of wine and some popcorn and we watched a video Scott, my son, and Ginger, his new wife, left for me. It was The Book Thief. I highly recommend it.

Next weekend Bob and I plan to go to Branson for some recreation. This past week was definitely NOT recreation. It was a grind.  They packed way too many classes into the four days. And with only 15 minutes between for people to get a drink of water and go to the bathroom.  We are mostly seniors in this program. That schedule is way too hard on us.

More later...

The sermon went fine. After church Bob and I went to Just Us over at Cherryvale and had a fine lunch.  I came home and got the letters done and ready for the mail in the morning and also made up three more directories for Karan to sew for me. It is times like this that I wish I had kept my sewing machine.