Saturday, March 18, 2017

Saturday and Breakfast Out

I slept very well last night. It had been a big day. Missy and I got up about 5:00 AM, I got myself ready for the day and fed her. I had a cup of Chia Latte while I waited for Bob to come pick me up for breakfast.

Marilyn had called me last evening to ask if she could come to breakfast with us. I told her we would be delighted for her company. I called Bob to ask him to pick her up too and after I hung up, Marilyn called me back to say her son had called to say he and his family wanted to come and stay the night with her, So she took a rain check on the breakfast. We will ask her another time.

Missy has taken over my sofa. I noticed she was picking at the sofa pillows with her claws and snagging them.  I moved the pillows to the top of my cedar chest in the bedroom. I have to close the door to my bedroom to keep her out of there. She tends to want to lie on my bed and get cat hair on my coverlet. At night, I put her afghan on the bed and she lies on it. Then every week I run that through my dryer on "fresh air". I wash it now and then too.

More later...it is time for Bob to come pick me up.

Well, we went to breakfast and now I am home again. I don't have a plan for today. I probably could come up with one and may if it does warm up this afternoon. I will rake leaves and bag them again. They are not as bad as in the past but there are still plenty to do.  Also, if it warms up, I will take Missy out for awhile.

So...more later...

I had been doing some cleaning and decided to wash out Missy's litter box. I took it to the outside faucet and washed it all out and dried it with some old towels I had. Then I put it back in the bathroom. When I went back to the kitchen, I noticed there was water all over the kitchen floor.  I got all the towels I had and began mopping it up on my hands and knees. It even ran onto the edge of the dining room indoor/outdoor carpet.  I called Betty, my landlady, and told her about it and she began calling the plumbers. Then I called Bob and asked him if he still had his box of old towels. I had used all three sets of  my good towels and still there was water everywhere.  He brought me his old ones. I mopped with them too. Then he brought me his box fan and I set it up to dry on the wet carpet, the  dishwasher and the range. Now I am washing all those towels. They are now in the dryer.

Betty found a plumber and I showed him where the outside faucet was. I had left my hose connected all winter and it had evidently frozen in the faucet. That faucet connects to my plumbing under the sink. He will come back next week and replace the part that froze and broke in the outside faucet. In the meanwhile, I have the cleanest floor in town. And I had just washed it Thursday.

The towels are all in the dryer now. It will probably take an hour and a half for all of them to dry.

What a mess!
It took twice that long!

Anyhow, I had Bob come over and we went over to Brahms and had an ice cream cone.  That was payment for his trouble!

More later...

I watched TV  with Missy this evening. When I took my shower and went to bed, I discovered my satin pillowcase and pillow was also wet. I threw the pillowcase into the dryer with a dry towel. I felt along the carpet next to me bed and found that the water from the kitchen, under my range, had seeped under the wall  and wet the carpet next to me bed. I brought the fan in the bedroom and set it up to dry that carpet. In the middle of he night I thought about the area behind my nightstand and got up and pulled the nighstand away from the wall...and sure enough, the carpet back there was also wet. I set the fan to blow all along that wall where the range was on the other side.

The satin pillowcase was dry by then so I put it on my other pillow and left the original pillow leaning against the wall to finish drying. 

I didn't get much sleep and will try to get a nap later Sunday afternoon.

Friday, March 17, 2017

Friday and Another Very Busy Day

I slept very well last night. I did get up in the night twice and while up, I took the med for my thyroid problem. It's supposed to be taken on an empty stomach.  I finally got up for good shortly before 5:00 AM. I have dressed and got myself ready for the day. I fed Missy and myself and I have had my coffee and my Chi.

This morning Bob will pick me up for exercise class around 8:45 and afterward we will go to Utopia for cinnamon rolls and Utopiachinas. Karan and I always have the Utopiachinas with our cinnamon rolls. They are tasty! After that, Bob will bring me home and I will start for Caney to meet Nancy R. for lunch.  Afterward sh and I  will have a "catch up" visit. It has been several years since I have had a visit with Nancy. For a couple of years, back in the 70's we worked together at Blackledge Sales Company...a high end furniture store.

Bob will be on his own for lunch today.

I may get the rest of my dusting done when I get home from that. I started it yesterday but played out before finishing.  It is supposed to rain this morning. I hope it waits until I get home.

I am doing a small load of laundry now. I decided I had time enough before exercise class to get it done. 

It's 7:20 now so more later.....

I went on to exercise class when Bob came by to pick me up. Afterward we did go to Utopia and had a good visit with the group that meets there from the exercise class. When Bob took me home, I started for Caney to meet Nancy.  We visited for awhile and then went up to the Mexican restaurant  downtown for lunch. Nancy bought my lunch but only after I told her that I would buy our next lunch. We had a good visit. Unfortunately I did most of the talking.   Finally after lunch I realized  that and began to ask her about her son and his family. I stayed until 5:00. I tried to leave several times but she insisted I stay awhile later.

I got home about 5:15. Bob was already at my apartment  and had given Missy her treats. He stayed until 7:00 and after he left I took my bath and lay with Missy on the sofa until 8:30 when I went to bed. Missy joined me in a little while.  I could feel her jump up on the bed.

Thursday, March 16, 2017

Thursday and Apartment Cleaning Day

I slept well again last night and got up shortly before 5:00 AM. I dressed and got ready for the day then checked my bank account and ran Missy's afghans through the dryer on "fresh air". They were full of cat hair. Then I got our breakfasts and I had my coffee. 

Today I will clean the apartment. That's my only plan for today. However I do need to get to the pharmacy and get my meds. I forgot to pick them up yesterday.

I am hoping it warms up again. It's 36 degrees right now. It is supposed to get up to 63 later today and I hope it makes it. Missy really wants to go outside but it can't be freezing cold. She is too old for that.

I have the apartment vacuumed and now I need to dust!  It's 10:00 and in an hour I will need to start warming up the goulash and toasting the garlic bread.  I'd better go get my meds while I am thinking about it. I can dust after lunch.

Marilyn R. and I are planning a party for Jeannie, my next door neighbor in the fourplex. She plans to move at the end of the month. We think the party might be Thursday mid afternoon. Marilyn is checking with Jeannie to be sure she will be home then. Her family has been working at packing her things for a couple of weeks.  We will invite Wayne and Merrill who were our original landlords. They live next door and across the street from Marilyn. They know Jeannie well.  I may get a special cake at the bakery and perhaps even a gift.

After lunch...


Lunch was fine...warmups. But what we had left, I took to Marilyn R.

I cannot dust today. I am just too tired. In about thirty minutes the mail will come. I am anxious to see if I get any mail.

The mail I received was just "junk" mail.

I did hear back for Marilyn and Jeannie agreed to Thursday afternoon for her "goodbye" party. Marilyn and I will bring snacks. I may make my apple brown betty and bring vanilla ice cream. We will discuss snacks at a later time.

I got some rest this afternoon and later, about 5:15, Bob came over to watch the news.  He stayed until 7:00 and watched two old "Big Bank Theory" shows. After he left, I took my bath and lay with Missy on the sofa until 8:00 when both she and I went on to bed.


Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Busy Wednesday with Exercises, Lenten Luncheon and Bunco

I slept very well last night and woke up shortly before 5:00. I just got up then.

Today will be busy. I will attend exercise class at 9:00 and afterward Bob and I will go to Lenten Luncheon at the Nazarene Church at about 11:15. Then I will go to Asbury Village for Bunco. So it will be busy!

Missy wants to go outside so badly but it is only about 28 degrees out there and it's dark. If it warms up next week, I will take her out. She loves going outside but at 14, it has to be mild. By next Monday it will be 84 degrees again. Then I will take her out.

Tomorrow I will clean the apartment. It will really need it by then. Missy has cat hair all over the daybed and that will need to be vacuumed again. And tomorrow we will have our goulash again with garlic toast and salad. We need to finish that up.

Friday I will have lunch with an old friend from my Caney days, Nancy R. I am looking forward to that. I may miss cinnamon roll day but that can't be helped. I need to be in Caney at 11:30.  And it's 30 minutes away.

More later....

I am back from the Lenten Lunch again. The First Christian Church had the meal and we had a choice of beans and cornbread or veggie soup. Since we just had beans and cornbread, we chose the vegetable soup. It was very good. The speaker was pretty dynamic Catholic priest. He was young. Although most of these ministers are pretty fundamentalist they are still very nice...especially Mark.  Mark always gives me a hug when he sees me. He is a Church of God pastor and extremely nice!

The sun has come out and it is a little warmer. It is up to 40 degrees now. 

At 2:00 (or shortly before), I will go out to Asbury Village and play Bunco this afternoon. So I will get back to this later...

Well, I won the door prize at Bunco. It was great fun! I really enjoy the fellowship. It almost time got the newspaper to come so I need to get back to this later...

When I got home it was late. I went to the market and bought a Journal. That was a waste of fifty cents. There was nothing new in the paper. It's only published twice a week and everything it in is already been in the Independence Reporter...which is almost as bad.  It is, however, published fine days a week.  Those papers are the only way to stay up on local news. We used to have a first rate radio station here but it too has deteriorated into a joke.

Soon Bob came over to read the paper. By then the Reporter was here so he was able to read both of them.  

When he left at 6:30, I took my bath and watched the PBS  "Nature" show on TV with Missy until 8:00 when Missy and I just went to bed.

Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Tuesday and Hair Day and a Movie

I slept very well last night and didn't get up until almost 6:00 AM...which is late for me. (yes, I realize we are in daylight savings time and it's actually 5:00 AM at that time). I guess my body runs on daylight savings time.

Anyhow, today will be something different. I will go to Independence alone and come right home after my appointment. My brother-in-law, Bob, will be on his own for lunch. My daughter texted Karan and me yesterday and asked us if we wanted to go to Bartlesville and see a movie. Of course, we did. So I will pick Karan up at 10:30 and we will meet Leslie at Tyro and leave my car there in the parking lot at the school and go with her to Bartlesville. There we will eat lunch and then go see the movie at 1:00. The movie is "The Shack". I read the book a while ago but it was so long ago, I do not remember it.

Tomorrow, Bob and I will go to the Lenten luncheon at the Nazarene church.   So it will be Thursday before we get to eat our leftover meatloaf and baked potato then Friday we will have the leftover goulash with garlic toast.  Since I cooked so much last week, I will not be cooking this week. :)

More later.....

I picked up Karan right about 10:30 and we met Leslie at Tyro as arranged. Then she drove us on to  Bartlesville where we had lunch at McCalister's. After that, we went on to the movie, "The Shack". It was very good with lots of great lessons we could all use in life. Some of it was Process Theology so I could overlook the parts of it that I don't accept as valid theology. :)  It was well worth the trip and the money to see it. After the movie, Karan wanted to go to Christopher and Banks and shop. She and Leslie both bought some clothes.  I didn't need a thing so I didn't buy anything. Leslie did buy me some sale earrings though. That was sweet of her.

We also shopped for a couple of cards for the folks who will help us with the worship service in Independence, Missouri at the church's Temple on the 26th of this month. One will be the organist and the other will be the speaker that day.

I missed a call from Nancy R. an old friend, from Caney, because we had our phones turned off in the theater.  I called her back when I got home and she suggested we have lunch soon. We will do that this Friday. I am looking forward to that. We worked together the couple of years I worked at Blackledge Furniture Store in Caney back in the 70's. She was the daughter of the owner.

Jean P. called and wanted to help help with the bloodmobile for the Red Cross to help Karan and I agreed to do that. That is next week and every two months following that. 

I fed Missy her treats and lay down with her until 9:00 when I took my bath and at 9:50, got ready for bed.

It was a good day and a wonderful opportunity to spend time with my daughter and a good friend.

I went to bed at 10:00. I hope to sleep well.

Monday, March 13, 2017

Monday and Exercise Class

I will go to exercise class this morning.  It will be a cold, cold day.

I slept well last night. I had just been asleep thirty minutes and Judy texted me and woke me up.  The women from our Living the Questions group want to meet for lunch at Eggberts on next Tuesday. I usually take Bob with me to Independence to get my hair done and then afterward we eat out up there.  I will need to tell him about my change of plans.  That means he will have lunch on his own next week on Tuesday.

Judy said two of the group could not meet on that Monday or Wednesday, and the day after that Tuesday, Marilyn is leaving to go somewhere. She does a lot of traveling. Good for her! She has Parkinson's Disease and she wants to travel while she can.

Mona is on Spring Break from the college this next week and that's why they want to meet her for lunch. She has a PHD in physics and teaches that at the community college in Independence. Mona has a hard life. Her husband, who is retired from the army, has a brain tumor and is to have surgery soon to alleviate pressure on the brain. He has a memory problem and I am not sure how serious his tumor is at this time. He has had it for a year or so. They also have a 16 year old son and that can also add stress in her life.  I wish there was something I could do to help her but the fellowship of our group is about all I can offer.

Scott, my younger son, texted me today and we had good a texting visit. He is good about staying in touch.

Bob and I will have our beans and cornbread at lunch again today. I also have some more cupcakes and cookies...the last of the cupcakes...for dessert.  

Wednesday is another exercise class and at noon another Lenten luncheon and in the afternoon we will have a Bunco game  at Asbury Village.

Thursday we will have our goulash again with some more garlic toast and a salad.  

Friday is cinnamon roll day at Utopia. I never like to miss cinnamon roll day! They are terrific!  We may have the leftover meatloaf that day for lunch with baked potato and salad with a veggie.

Well....more later..I'd better get myself in the right frame of mind for exercise class.

It is terribly cold out today but nothing like those in the northeast are suffering. I have never wanted to live any further north then Coffeyville, Kansas.  On days like this, I know why!

Lunch was beans and cornbread again and we gave the remainder to Marilyn R. She was glad to have it.

I stayed in this afternoon. My daughter texted Karan and me and asked us if we would like to meet her tomorrow afternoon for lunch and a movie. So I will go to my hair appointment by myself and Bob will be on his own for lunch.  So I will pick up Karan at 10:30 and we will meet Leslie at 11:00 tomorrow for lunch first and then the movie at 1:00.

I read most of the afternoon. It was terribly cold out. Bob came over at 5:50 to watch the CBS news and stayed to watch an old Big Bang Theory program. After he left I took my bath and put my pjs on and did a load of laundry while Missy and I watched TV until 9:00.  Then I folded out my laundry and Missy and I went on to bed.  I was awfully tired again. Hopefully I can get right to sleep.

Sunday, March 12, 2017

Sunday and Coffeecake


I slept very well last night and even remembered to change the clocks before I went to bed.  I have dressed and fed Missy and myself and the coffeecake is in the oven.

Today we will go to church and then afterward go over to Cherryvale to":Just Us" for lunch. Phyllis should be with us today too.....and perhaps Karan if Becky doesn't attend. Becky doesn't like to be so far away. She has a meeting at 1:00 on Sunday afternoons.

I have to remember to take my great granddaughter Maia's birthday gift this morning too and put it in Leslie's vehicle to be given to her on Tuesday...her 7th birthday. It's unbelievable how fast these little girls are growing up. As I've often said, "the older you get the faster time flies".  my aunt Mildred told me that back in the 80's.

I have read the Sunday newspaper and done the crossword puzzle too.

I have reconnected with an old friend of mine from the church's web board.  His name is Nickolas. I went to his blog yesterday and discovered he had not posted there for a long time. I sent him an e-mail and asked if he was still alright. He lives in Portland Oregon. He is the person I met who was an intern for Al Gore and who told me years ago at World Conference of my church that I was wasting my time and postage writing to my congressmen. He said the interns answered those letters using "position books" kept there in the office and stamped the name and signature of the  congress person on the answer. He said the way to reach them is to write letters to the editors of our local newspapers. They have a clipping service that clips those out  and make sure the congress person sees them because in doing that, you are reaching their constituency ...and that is important to them.  That started my career of writing letters to the editor.

He e-mailed me back last night and I read it this morning. I will try to stay in touch.

I just checked my coffeecake. It's not quite done yet so I set it for two more minutes.

It's done now and out on the rack cooling.

More later....

The coffeecake was good and there was only one piece left. I took that to Marilyn R. She really likes it.  I did my congregational newsletters and got them out on the mailbox for the mailman to pick up Monday.

I got some rest in the afternoon after we returned from "Just Us".  I worked on a sermon for Palm Sunday.... April 9th. 

Bob came over sometime before 6:00 and at 630 we went to Howard and Judy's for the Living the Questions group.  Their new house is lovely.  It has character.  Character, to me, is more important than luxury.   We got home shortly after 9:00. Bob dropped me off and went home. I took my bath and Missy and I went on to bed about 9:30. Again, I was exhausted.