Saturday and a Different Breakfast

I slept pretty well last night and got up and fed Missy and got myself ready for the day. I will bake cookies this afternoon to take to Leslie's cookie party cookie exchange tomorrow afternoon.

I have been working over my checkbook this morning. Back in November, I forgot to record a cash withdrawal and it has taken me an hour to find that error. Now my checkbook balances with Quicken and the bank.

It's about time for Bob to pick me up for breakfast so I will continue this later.

We went to Sirloin Stockade for a change today. We usually go to Eggberts on Saturdays.  The business all over town is down according to the waitress we have there. And it has been for awhile...too many fast food places for restaurants to be able to make it. Why pay $8.75 for breakfast when you can get one for one or two dollars at fast food. Of course, the size of Americans anymore shows their preference. That stuff is loaded with calories and fat and sugar. 30% of Americans are obese and diabetes is rampant here in America.  Too many don't cook and eat at home anymore.

We won't eat again this afternoon. Later this evening I may have my last yogurt.

The weather is supposed to change this afternoon to snow.  We are forecast for one or two inches. I am hoping it will be gone by Monday.

More later....

I went out to Walmart this afternoon and bought the last of my gifts.  I have everything done now, I believe and am ready for Monday if the weather only holds. So far we have no snow but it is forecast for one to two inches. Marilyn R. and I will drive down to Tulsa on Monday and I will stay overnight at the Hilton. She will leave for Utah Monday evening. My plane leaves at 7:00 AM Tuesday morning. I will need the shuttle about 5:00 AM to get me to the airport. I hope they will get me there in plenty of time.

I baked my Christmas cookies for Leslie's party tomorrow.  They are in my Tupperware square now. I left the lid off so they will be completely cool. Her cookie trading party is at 3:00 tomorrow afternoon. 

Bob just called. He went out to Walmart too this afternoon but he says it's bitterly cold. Well, it is, but I'm not going to worry about it. As long as we get no ice. I definitely do not like ice. I told him I would drive tomorrow morning if he wasn't up to it and would let him out at the front door. His car sits out with no shelter and mine sits under a carport. He says if it is bitter this evening ( and it will be, I'm sure) he will not come over this evening.

This was my family the day of Scott and Ginger's wedding!




Of course that is me in the flowered jacket. That is Leslie, Scott, Me and Keith. That wedding was held at John and Leslie's home in May in 2015.

More later...

It finally began snowing this evening and it looks like we have an inch already. We may have three inches by morning. We have called off church because our church is in the country and we might get stuck in the drive. Whether or not we go to Leslie's cookie exchange party depends on how bad the snow is in the morning.

I called the Coffeyville people and Leslie called the Independence people and Mike and Laura and Leeann who lives a couple of miles from the church.

I watched a DVD this evening...one of my favorites, It was "Camelot". I started to watch "A Christmas Carol" but just got too tired and am ready now to go to bed at 9:00.

Friday and "Great" Sitting Again.

Today I will not go to exercise class. I want to clean the apartment before I leave to go stay with Cheyenne again.  I will not have another opportunity to clean it before I leave for Tulsa on Monday. I want to leave it clean. Tomorrow, I will have breakfast with Bob and then I will bake cookies for Leslie's cookie party Sunday afternoon.

Sunday morning is the children's Christmas program at church. I hope the children show up. Leeann's children attend erratically. Cheyenne and Maia will undoubtedly be there with John and Leslie.

I was really exhausted last night and went to bed at 8:30. It was a huge day. I was glad to get my surgery scheduled though.

More later...

Change of plans!

Maia is home sick from school with a cough and  Leslie doesn't want me to get whatever it is. So she is staying home from work until Jeromy comes in from their trip and he will pick Cheyenne and her up and Leslie can go to work then.

So I am going on to exercise class. I can clean after I get home.  I want to go to Utopia for cinnamon roll day and a Utopiachina drink today.

After I got home from Utopia and got my bathroom and kitchen floors cleaned, I sat down here to rest a bit. Bob came with the salad so we visited awhile. Missy wants to go outside so badly but it is too cold for her old bones.  I let her out briefly while I swept off the carport from a ton of leaves. Terry, Jeannie's eldest son, came and left his diesel truck motor running. That scared her so Bob let her back in the house.

After Bob left, I finished my cleaning. I vacuumed the carpets.  I also cleaned one place in front of the carport door in the dining room where we walk in and track in. I'm finished now. I watered my plants and that was the last of it. I will dust well when I get home from Florida. I have recently changed the filter in my furnace and that keeps the dust to a bare minimum.  I usually only have to dust every two weeks. Electric heat is expensive to use but much cleaner then gas. It's 1:40 PM and the apartment is clean. I am washing the little bit of laundry I have now. Perhaps I will read after I get that in the dryer. I have several books I haven't read yet. One is a paperback Bill gave me for my birthday.

More later...
Bob came back this evening to watch Brooks and Shields...except they didn't have Brooks..they had a substitute for the commentary.   After that was over he was very tired and went home. He has not been having any back problems and hesitates to have surgery on his back unless it is truly necessary. He had A-Fib and that is another concern. His appointment with Dr. Hsu  is the 21st. I will be gone and his daughter, Denise,  will go with him to that appointment. 

Missy and I lay on the couch after I had my bath until 10:00 and watched Dateline. Then we went to bed.

A Huge Thursday

Today was huge. To begin with, I didn't sleep well last night. Then I left the house at 7:30 to be sure to be able to find the doctor's office in Bartlesville. It's a good thing I did. The address was 500 East 5th Street and after living in Bartlesville for 16 years, I felt sure I could find it but just to be extra sure, I left early. My appointment wasn't until 9:00. It's a 45 minute drive down there. I could not find an address of 500 East 5th. I could find 501 East 5th but that wasn't his office. The building across the street didn't  have a number on the part facing 5th street but that was my only option. So I drove around to the back of it...and guess what...there was the number. 500 East 5th Street but at the door facing the number there was an arrow that said take east door. I walked around the building to the east side and there was the entrance!

Anyhow, I got in ten minutes after my appointment time and by 9:40, I was finished. I had had an exam and the doctor, who I was very impressed with, had examined me and decided I definitely needed the surgery. So I went ahead and scheduled it for January 18th, a Wednesday. The hospital will call me with the exact time but the surgery may be as early as 7:00 AM. I will stay overnight and go home the next day on Thursday the 19th of January. That was the easy part.

Then I drove to Independence, Kansas to pick up Juanita. Juanita is basically blind. So everywhere she goes, she needs an arm to hold on to and to help her with her balance.  We drove back to Bartlesville to her doctor's appointment. I have to stop in the fire lane to help her out of the car and into the foyer where they have a wheelchair. Then after checking in, we went to the basement for them to check out her pacemaker.  She has A-Fib and the only way to keep her heart beating correctly is the pacemaker.  We got the pacemaker checked out and then went back upstairs to see the doctor. Actually she sees a nurse practitioner. Juanita is 95 so they don't have a lot they can do for her.  Finally she saw the NP and after that we left and I went to get the car and help her once again into the vehicle and off we went. She wanted to stop at Sonic and get us milkshakes. When we finally got her home, I helped her into the house. Then I started home myself.

By then it was after 4:00 PM.

I got home at 4:40.

So I am exhausted!

I have taken my bath and will go to bed soon.

Wednesday and "Great" Sitting

I awoke fairly early this morning but slept fairly well. I got up about 4:30. No sense just lying there wide awake.

I am dressed now and ready for the day. It will be a big one. I will probably go to exercise class this morning and then leave for Leslie's about 10:30. Exercise class lets out at 9:40. I will be sure to be there at Leslie's when Cheyenne's bus comes at 11:30. Maia's bus will come later in the afternoon. She goes to school all day. I will probably just have a sandwich for lunch with Cheyenne. I will stay until John comes in after work. I don't know exactly when that will be.

I see Missy is patiently waiting for her breakfast so maybe I had better finish this later.

More later...

We've both had our breakfasts and now I am just waiting for time for exercise class. I missed on Monday because it was 23 degrees.  Now it's 24 degrees but Bob is going to drive so I will go to exercise class.  I need to run out to Wal Mart and buy the treats for tonight's PINCH meeting. Then I will drop by Wilson Hearing Aid Center and pay Stan another payment on my hearing aid. I will miss the PINCH meeting but the treats will be at Sharon's. I have 8 more payments on the hearing aid and then it's paid for. I guess it's worth the expense. My Bob used to sell Belltone hearing aids and he wore two himself. He always said hearing aids don't restore your hearing, they only amplify what you have left.  So none of them are perfect.

I have worked an hour trying to find a $4.61 error in my checkbook. I never did find it so I just took it off as an error somewhere.

My daughter just called to firm up our plans for the"greats" today and Friday.

More later...I'd better get ready to go.

I got the treats for the PINCH program I will miss tonight. I also stopped by and paid Stan. Then I headed out to John and Leslie's. When Cheyenne came home we had our lunch of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and chips with flavored water to drink.  She was so good. And I had taken a couple of sets of books for the girls and before her nap, I read one to Cheyenne. I told her when she woke up from her nap, we would read the other three and she could choose them. We had a good experience. I read my Kindle until I finished my book and the battery ran down. Then I went upstairs after Cheyenne woke up and sat on the floor and played with her. We had a good time. She is very well behaved. When we finally went down the lane to meet Maia's bus at 4:00, we met John..coming home early.  He took over for me and I left to go home. Cheyenne will be sure to tell Maia which books are hers. :)

I got back Friday to stay with them again.

Tomorrow at 9:00 AM is my  doctor's appointment.

Bob came over after 5:00 and we watched the news and one episode of a rerun of The Big Bang Theory. Then he went home to get ready for bed. He was very tired. So was I. I took my bath and Missy and I laid on the sofa and watched TV until I started falling asleep and then we went to bed at 9:00.

Tuesday and Cake Delivery

I slept poorly last night until 2:30. Then I got up and took two Zzzquil capsules and finally got to sleep and slept until 6:00. I have fed both Missy and myself this morning and loaded the cakes into my trunk. Then I swept a ton of leaves away from my door and into the east yard. That won't help. The wind just brings them back but at least I try. It's 29 degrees this morning I have watched the weather channel and the news (after a fashion). It is full of commercials. So I turned to Songs of the Season. That's what is playing now.

I will pick up Bob about 8:20 to leave for Independence. We will first deliver the cakes then I will get my hair done. Then I will mail off the package of photos I am sending to Scott at their post office.  Then we will go out to Walmart and walk around until 11:00 when Big Cheese opens. That's where we will eat today. Then after that we will come back to Coffeyville. I don't know what the afternoon will bring. Maybe I will get some more newsletters from classmates. I worked on the class newsletter all afternoon yesterday. I will continue to work on it until I leave for Tulsa on Monday with Marilyn. I am taking my laptop and so if more news comes in from e-mail, I can continue to add to it while I am in Florida. I will have to do some editing if too much comes in though. I have three pages filled front and back already.

I intend to pack Sunday evening. I will need to be ready when Marilyn is ready on Monday. She is my ride to the motel. I am staying at the Hilton. It is near the airport and has an early shuttle service to get me to the airport on Tuesday.

Tomorrow and Friday I am in charge of being at Leslie's when the "greats" get off the school bus. As I mentioned earlier, their parents are in Hawaii on vacation and my daughter is in charge of them with the help of her sister-in-law, Alberta, and me. Leslie is on call part of the time and only works Wednesday through the weekend. So she will have them on Monday and Tuesday. She usually goes in to work on Wednesday at 4:00.  But this week she will be going to Nashville to deliver a Corgi pup to a buyer. That why she needs Alberta and me to help. John has a job and also his own business delivering liquid cattle feed.

More later....

This is a "Happy Holidays" from the Florida Millers and Ginger's son, Nathan, who is a college student.



We got back from Independence and Big Cheese at noon and I took Bob to his home so he could get a nap. I came back to work on this blog and the newsletter I am putting together for my classmates of the class of 1953.

Missy is here on the floor beside me. I can tell she gets lonely in the house alone all morning. I will stay home this afternoon. It is very cold here at 31 degrees.

More later.... 

I did go out to Walmart to buy some Chai Latte. I miss that in the evening. I also stopped at Country Mart to buy three of their .99 cake mixes and three pans. We don't have to take cakes again until January 10th but now I am ready. I may have to buy frostings later when I get home in January.

Bob came over shortly after 5:00 to watch the news and read the newspaper. He left at 6:30 and was very tired.  he will be on his own for lunch for almost three weeks. I am due to go to take care of the "greats" this afternoon and Friday. And Thursday I go to the doctor and later take Juanita back to Bartlesville to her 1:00 doctor's appointment. Then I leave on Monday for Tulsa to leave Tuesday for Florida. I'll be gone two weeks there.

Missy and I watched "My Cat From Hell" until 9:00 when we went to bed.  

A Very Cold Monday

Neither Bob nor I are going to exercises this morning. It's too cold to get out and we will get out later to go to Bartlesville. He has a doctor's appointment there with Dr. Eslicker, the dermatologist. He likes me to go with him because he says four ears are better then two.

I slept well last night. I woke up at 3:00 to go to the bathroom. I noticed Missy had vomited on the indoor/outdoor carpet in the bathroom hall so I picked that up with Kleenex.. In a little while I will put some carpet cleaner on it and spot clean the carpet better than just picking up the mess with Kleenex.  I did get right back to sleep after all that activity which was a blessing. I awoke the next time at 5:30 and got up then, made the bed and got myself ready for the day. 

While I was feeding Missy and eating my own granola, Bob texted me that he was not planning to go to exercise class. I was glad because I wasn't going to go either. His appointment in Bartlesville is at 11:00 and it may be a little warmer by then. We will probably leave at 10:00 or so. Afterward I hope we can stop by the mall. I want to pick up an appointment book at the Hallmark store there for the 2017 year. I carry one in my purse to keep track of my appointments. I used to get one every year from my beautician but she has stopped ordering them. I may be able to find one at the Dollar General Store nearby here. It would be cheaper.

More later....

I went with Bob to Dr. Eslicker and helped him fill out the information sheet for the new year. Dr. Eslicker froze a half dozen places where he had keratosis. Afterward we went to McCalisters and had a cup of soup and a half sandwich. Then we walked around the mall. The appointment book at the Hallmark store was free. I was glad I hadn't bought one.

He never had a sore back or pain in his legs. His appointment with the orthopedic specialist is the 21st. The day after I leave for Florida. His daughter, Denise, will go with him and fill out his paperwork. I asked him to text or better yet, to call me with the results of what Dr. Hsu had to say about his back problem and if he will need surgery.

When we got home he came in to read yesterday's newspaper and then went on back to his apartment to take a nap. Marilyn R. called and told me a solution to the transportation problem to get the Tulsa airport by 5:00.  She suggested I go with her to Tulsa on Monday the 19th and stay overnight there and use the hotel shuttle to get to the airport by 5:00. She is going to do that when she goes to Utah but she is going to do it when she returns on the 25th. She gets in too late to drive back to Coffeyville that evening. Her room was to be $101.14. I got my reservations for the same motel I will stay at in Tulsa. The room was a lot more then the same room for Marilyn but Leslie said she would pay for it so I went ahead and booked it.  It will be $146.44 with all the taxes. I put it on my Amazon credit card and Leslie will re-reimburse me..probably at church on Sunday.

My kids are just wonderful to me. The boys contribute some to my budget each month and Leslie does things like this from time to time. When I went to Hawaii two years ago, she bought my plane ticket then.  She was so worried about her brother. It was Thanksgiving time and he was alone. He and his wife had divorced. His birthday was right after Thanksgiving and he would be alone then too.  My birthday was three days after his and we really celebrated. He took me to a fancy restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner  and we went to breakfast every morning at a cute cafe. I stayed a week then. I will be with him and his new wife two weeks this year. I am so excited!.

Bob came over this evening to watch TV until 7:00. When he left, I took my bath and will lie on the sofa and watch TV until 9:00. I got my cake for the Christian Church in Independence baked and iced and ready to load into the trunk of my car tomorrow morning.  Both Karan and Phyllis brought theirs over this afternoon. I get my hair done tomorrow morning after we deliver the cakes. Bob got his baked and will ice it in the morning. We will eat lunch at Big Cheese tomorrow.

A Huge Sunday

Today will be very full...again.

I slept poorly last night. I got concerned about whether my son-in-law would be able to pick me up on the 20th at 4:30AM  to get me to the airport in Tulsa by 6:00 AM. My plane to Florida takes off at 7:00 AM  and the holiday will make the terminal very crowded and busy. I will have to go through the routine that always slows everything down. The x-rays, etc. Also, I will need $40. to check my large bag and I will need that much coming back too. Flying is such a hassle anymore. I want to take my laptop computer so I can keep track of my bills, etc. I don't know whether they will require me to put that in the overhead storage with my carry on or not. I would like to keep it with me if at all possible. I would be very upset if it were stolen. I don't know if they will let me do that or if it has to be stowed in the overhead storage. I had all this going through my mind and just about never got back to sleep. Then when I finally did fall asleep,  I woke up at 6:00 AM, an hour later then usual.

Then when I got up I fed Missy and myself and then put together my coffeecake for the church school class and then read the newspaper.  When I got the coffeecake out of the oven, I iced it and reached under the sink to get my plastic wrap. It was soaked. I mopped up the water under there and ran the faucet to see where it was leaking. I could not get it to leak there either. I ran the garbage disposer and still could not detect a leak. I left a paper towel under there and put everything back under the sink. I left the box of plastic wrap out because it was soaked.

Now I am ready to go to church. We will try to eat at "Just Us" in Cherryvale again after church. When I get home from that, I will do the congregation's newsletter and later I will pick up Gary at 5:45 to go to Marilyn's for the Living the Questions group meeting. She wants us to have chili and soup at her house this evening. I generally don't eat much of anything in the evening ..especially not chili....before bedtime. I will try her soup and take it easy. Howard and Judy will be there and Karan, Bob, Mona and Richard and I will soon be there with Gary. With Marilyn, that should be nine. Joyce is out of town training for her FEMA work. Richard A. only comes when Gretchen is in town.

Several of our original group, have died. Keith, Joyce's husband died a year ago. Bobby died last spring. Jack died a couple of years ago and my Bob died almost seven years ago. Those deaths  shrunk our group considerably.

More later...

The meal at "Just Us" was good as usual and Cindy and Darrell Crown came to Crossroads and asked to eat with us at "Just Us" so we all five made a reservation for lunch there. Kay saved us a table.

When I got home, I did the congregational newsletters. It was 2:30 before I finished that and got the letters out on the mailbox.

More even later...

I picked up Gary at 5:45 and got to Marilyn's in time to park in the driveway. That is easier for Gary and we don't have to cross the street. Marilyn had the nine she had planned for alright. He soup was good although it was "white chili". I didn't eat much because I usually sleep better if I don't eat much before bedtime.  We had a good session and watched video session number 15. Howard led the discussion. After a time of discussion of the material and our own feelings, we had refreshments. We had eaten dinner before the video session. The meeting broke up about 9:00.

I got home, took my bath and Missy and I went straight to bed. It was another huge day.

This will be a huge week.  Bob has his appointment with Eslicker tomorrow, Tuesday we take cakes to Independence. Wednesday I go out to Leslie and John's to stay with the girls from 11:30 until John gets home from work.   Thursday I have an appointment with a doctor in Bartlesville about my proposed bladder surgery in January, That is at 9:00 and then I come back to Independence to pick up Juanita at noon to take her back to Bartlesville for her appointment with the cardiologist. He will check her pacemaker. Juanita is 95. I will bring her back home to Independence after her appointment and then come home to Coffeyville. It will be too late to go to PINCH so Judy is taking over early. I take the agenda to her this evening.   Friday, I go back out to Leslie and John's once again to stay with the girls until John gets home from work. It will be a huge week. Then the next week on Tuesday the 20th, I leave for Florida for two weeks.