A Sunny Saturday

Well, surprise, surprise! The sun is shining today and the carpenter came back and is out there scraping the soffet in front. He will prime and paint it too. I had intended to do it but since he is scraping the paint off, he wanted to at least prime it to protect the wood and so since he's here, he may as well paint it too.

I went to breakfast with my brother-in-law this morning. He is going to do some plumbing in his bathroom today. I don't exactly know what I want to do. This would be a good opportunity for me to enlarge the flowerbed out by the curb and I may do that.

The laundry is done and the house is really not too dirty. It's been a week but I constantly pick up after myself.

I went out at 9:45 to see my sister at the nursing home. She was in her wheelchair and the one coherent thing she said to me was "I want you to go home with me". Other then that, I couldn't make out anything she said. They came and put her to bed for her nap and she soon fell asleep. She cried a little first. I would probably cry too if I were in her position. Alzheimer's is a terrible disease. I stayed about 15 minutes.

Then I went down to see Gerry. She is 90 years old and had to be on oxygen all the time. Her oxygen levels are too low. I take the newspapers out to her. She likes to read. She's having problems staying awake nowadays though. I stayed about 15 minutes with her too.

I came home a while ago and Jeff told me some of the soffits on my house are rotted. He began scraping to prime and paint and his putty knife went right through the soffit. Water has been trapped in there at some time…probably after the hailstorm of 2002. So he’s going to replace about five pieces of that wood. This thing grows and grows. It has to be done so there's no use putting it off.

I started about 5:00 enlarging the curbside flower bed and lining it with stone. I took out the old clay and put in some new dirt. Tomorrow, if I can find the time, I will plant some flowers, mulch it and take a photo of it. Bob had put a lot of river rock and stones in there and I wasn't able to get them all out so I cleaned them and used part of them in the flowerbed. We will see how that works.

Anyhow, I came in at 9:00 after cleaning up my mess and took a shower and washed my hair. It was soaking wet. That was a waste of $11.00 Thursday. Anyhow, I feel better now but I bet I sleep tonight.

Rainy Friday

It's been a rainy Friday. I got my car checked out first thing this morning and the warning light was just to get an oil change. I don't have my oil changed every three thousand miles anymore. Today's cars can go five thousand miles between oil changes...so says the Consumer Report magazine. So Brandon just reset the light and it is fine now.

At work, there wasn't much to do. Luckily the day went fairly fast anyhow. When I got home Bob A. called and told me about his visit with my sister. I'm afraid it wasn't a very good experience. I told him I was not looking forward to sitting around reading all afternoon while it rained and we decided to go to Owasso and have lunch at Olive Garden. Then after that we walked around the J.C. Penney store there.

We came back home and he dropped me off. We will have breakfast in the morning at 7:30 at Eggberts. I don't know what I will do after that. Maybe I will clean house. It isn't dirty but it has been a week.

Scott was notified that the lending institution he had planned to finance his now car with doesn't lend money on Fords. They have one more option but so far I haven't heard a thing. He must not have got it. But they haven't yet refunded his deposit.

Busy Thursday

This has been a busy Thursday. I went to work as usual this morning. When I turned on my ignition this morning maintenance light came on. I will have to take it in to Gary's tomorrow and see what is wrong now.

Scott called this morning. He has bought a new Ford Fusion. I don't know much about the transaction except that he was thrilled to get a new car. His Jeep has almost 200.000 miles on it and wasn't going to last much longer. He got financed and that was what he was thrilled about. His divorce bankruptcy isn't quite over yet.

Then I worked. They didn't have a lot for me to do but I got through it anyhow. I met Gay at Cherryvale at Just Us and had a good lunch and a good visit too. Then I went into Independence and got my hair done.

When I got home, Jeff had been here and got my hole fixed...beautifully as always, but did not leave a bill. I called Richard and he will check with Jeff to see if he is finished and then Richard can bill me. I don't have a clue what that will come to.

I got the bill today for the air conditioner repair and check up. It was $169.57. I didn't know what to expect. I guess that's fair enough.

I'll get my car in to Gary's tomorrow and see what that's all about.

One of Those Days

This is one of those days. I didn't have enough to do at work until the toolbox became lost. I searched for an hour until I found it. It was in a box.

Now it's pouring down rain. I am going with my brother-in-law to Bartlesville to his doctor's appointment. Hopefully it will let up.

The carpenter, Jeff, did not get finished with his repair. He got the painting done but the repair area is wide open. It's about a foot square. It's supposed to rain for the next few days. Then perhaps he can get back to it. I also want him to strip the paint from the east side of the patio cover and a small place on the front on the house just under the guttering. so I can paint it.

More later...

Bob A. and I went to see his oncologist this afternoon and got the good news. His lymphoma is not growing anything new. The two polyps he had removed were not going anywhere. So the doctor wants him to have a blood test every three months and a CT scan every year but will not order another colonoscopy for three years unless something unforeseen shows up in his blood work or CT scan....or unless he begins to have symptoms.

That's good news and he was very relieved. We all carry all kinds of bad bacteria and diseases around in our bodies all the time. Unless something happens to weaken our immune systems, nothing ever becomes of those diseases. I knew that but it often needs to be reiterated.

We celebrated by eating a Dink's Bar B.Q.

A Great Surprise

I tried to call Performance West all morning. They were supposed to pick up my mower and fix the ignition. No one ever answered the phone. Finally about 10:30, I broke down and called Bobby, Karan's husband. I explained the situation to him...it's supposed to rain the next four days and I was going to have to bale my lawn. It needed mowing on last Saturday. He said he would come out this afternoon after he got some carpet laid in one of their mobile homes.

Bob A. came by after I got off work and asked me to go to lunch with him and I said I would if we could get back before Bobby came. So we went to lunch. When we got back, not an hour later, Jeff, the young man who is working on my eaves, said Bobby and come and gone and had the mower fixed. I couldn't believe it. Jeff said he had put a new ignition in it and tested it out to be sure it would run.

I was delighted. In fact, I spent part of the afternoon mowing. My internet was down so that's about all I could do. Cox came out and fixed the internet. It was the splitter from the TV to the computers. The young man put in a new one.

Jeff got the eaves striped and sanded and primed yesterday and finished the painting today. He still has the repair to do. If it doesn't rain tomorrow he'll come back and do the repair. I also want him to strip the paint off two more places that I can prime and paint myself. I don't know what that is going to cost me but it has to be done.

I went out and bought a real cute card and put Bobby's money in it with a note. He had left me the bill. $11.48 for the part and $175.00 for the labor...unless I wanted to do option #2, which was $11.48 for the part and a hug. Of course, I took option #2. What a guy!!

I was fairly busy at work today. She did payroll and that usually keeps me busy. I sent in my time sheet today for next Friday and also sent in my job search sheet. I should have a direct deposit by Friday from the last time sheet.

I have such great friends!!

Another Point of View

Stephen Hawking, the British physicist, who is author of the best seller "A Brief History of Time" speaks only through a computer program operated through a cheek muscle. He has had ALS for 48 years. This is what he said to one interviewer lately.

"Q. Though you avoid stating your own political beliefs too openly, you entered into the health care debate here in the United States last year. Why did you do that?

A. I entered the health care debate in response to a statement in the United States press in summer 2009 which claimed the National Health Service in Great Britain would have killed me off, were I a British citizen. I felt compelled to make a statement to explain the error.

I am British, I live in Cambridge, England, and the National Health Service has taken great care of me for over 40 years. I have received excellent medical attention in Britain, and I felt it was important to set the record straight. I believe in universal health care. And I am not afraid to say so."

I just wanted to share that. Whenever we feel we have a had a bad life, we should remember this brilliant man.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/science/10hawking.html?WT.mc_id=GN-D-I-NYT-MOD-MOD-M201-ROS-0511-HDR&WT.mc_ev=click

More later...

Busy Monday

I'll have a busy Monday today. I work my three hours and then I have a board meeting for the MC3 clinic at 11:45. I'll need to search for a job again after that is over. I have been so busy lately that I haven't taken the time to do my job search. I need four more applications before I can send in my time sheet and job search sheet.

So this will be a tough week...and a busy one.

Tomorrow I will call Performance West about picking up my mower. I don't know how long they will keep it but my lawn needed mowing when I tried to mow it Saturday.

Then Wednesday I am going to Bartlesville to see the oncologist with Bob A. I have a PINCH meeting that evening.

Thursday I will have lunch with Gay and afterward have my hair done at 4:00.

It will be a busy day.

More later....

Got off work this morning shortly before 11:00 and came home to check out the carpenter. He had taken the broken part of the board down and sanded the entire eave. I showed him the other side and he hasn't done it yet. He showed me the trim
around the windows and those too had peeled so I told him to go ahead and sand those and paint them too. When I got home from my board meeting I checked it out again. He had got everything on the east side sanded and primed and had bought the paint so he will be back tomorrow. He has full custody of his small children and needed to be home in Bartlesville at 3:00 so he left early. Richard came about 4:00 and picked up the equipment. Lord only knows what this is going to cost me. But it can't be helped.

Sunday Again

It's Sunday again and we will have church. My daughter is speaking to the theme today.

After church we will probably all eat out together. Then I will do my letters. I would like to go shopping at the mall in Bartlesville for some summer tops. Most of mine are all faded and old. I think I have four or five that are last year's. But I hesitate to spend any more money until I learn what the work on my eaves will cost.

I have my part of the the eaves to do, buy some paint for that and the trim that Jeff will do and now I have to have a new starter in my mower. I am holding my breath. I think I have $3200 in my money market emergency account. That's to last me until the day I die. I continue to try to save for these things but something emergency always comes up. I also have the bill for the part for my air conditioner and the service on it. I almost forget about that. Oh well....

My older son in Arizona is very happy now. He has re-married and seem to be ecstatic about his life now. I am happy for him. He leaves June 1st for Iraq. He will be gone six months this time.

My daughter is steady. Her life seems to be going her way. She has a job she likes and she's been married to the love of her life since 1975. She also has a new home and a new vehicle. Everything seems to be going well for her right now.

Life has it's ups and downs. That's life. I remember reading in a favorite book of mine written by M. Scott Peck, "Life is difficult", it began. If there was ever a truism, that's it. All we can do is take one day at a time and deal with whatever comes our way knowing that whatever happens, good or bad, God is right there with us.

More later...

Eight of us went out to eat at the Mexican restaurant El Publito. It was good. We enjoyed the continued fellowship. Afterward I came home and did my newsletters and watched some TV. There's nothing on I'm interested in seeing. I channel surfed for awhile after 60 Minutes and then gave up and took my shower, had a bowl of ice cream and came in here to finish the blog and go to bed to read. It's 8:30 now. I have found if I read for thirty minutes or so in bed, I sleep better.