Saturday, April 21, 2018

Saturday and a Trip to Joplin

I did not sleep too well last night. I awoke at 3:30 and just got up. I had some things I wanted to do on my old 2006 computer. I couldn't get back to sleep so I just got up and took care of that.

One of these days, that old computer will die and I have used it for storage for years. It is still running XP for an operating system and it has never given me a minutes problem. I wish I could say that about Windows 10. But I sent some valuable documents to myself and saved them on the desktop computer and the thumb drive I keep on it for storage. I will also save them on this notebook. I have the exterior drive Keith gave me attached to it.

I finally dressed and got ready for the day. I have fed myself and Missy. At 7:30, I will leave for Joplin. It is only 6:05 right now.We are forecast for rain. I am not really happy about driving in the rain but no one else is going so I have to do what I have to do.

More later....

I drove over to Joplin for very good sermon and presentation. We also said a nice lunch.

I drove home in rain. I was very tired when I got home. Missy and I watched Amazon until 7:00 when I took my bath. Then we stayed in until 9:00 and then went to bed.

Friday, April 20, 2018

Friday and a Friend's Funeral

This morning at 10:00 is my friend Bill's funeral. I will pick up Bob and we will attend. Leslie said last evening that Melissa, one of our other pastors, had offered to help so she asked me if I would like to have Melissa read the obit. I thought that was a good idea. I wasn't sure I could keep it together.

I had trouble sleeping last night. My knee itched and burned. Missy also was restless.

When I got up at 4:45, I found some anti-itch cream and applied some of that.  That helped. some.

I took the second antibiotic with my blood pressure pill after I ate my oatmeal.  I hope it works.

I will pick up Bob at 9:15. I want to get there in time to park and get into seating without having to rush.

I have fed myself and Missy already.

I started to shred some documents this morning and the "on"side of the switch for my shredder has broken. It still reverses but does not run forward to shred. Bummer! It was quite expensive. I have had it for several years though. I will have to buy a new one. I shred everything to avoid any problem with my personal information.

More later...

I picked up Bob at 9:15 and we drove up to the funeral. It was awesome. After my daughter, Leslie, and Melissa did their part which was really awesome on their own, .Bill's daughter, Wilma and her mother, Carol, Bill's wife, shared what they felt about Bill and his journey with them.  The funeral home was full. The entire service was awesome. Karan and Bob and Leeann and I ate at Big Cheese afterward. We intended to eat at the church but we walked over there and noticed they only had four tables set up  and the family would have filled those so we went on to Big Cheese.

Then we drove home.

I went out to Walmart to buy an ink cartridge and then on to Braums to buy milk and some Butter Brickel ice cream. That's what I ate for supper...a bowl of ice cream.

Then Missy and I watched another episode of World War 2 and at 9:30, we went on to bed.

Another exhausting day.

Tomorrow I will go to the Mission Center gathering at Joplin.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Thursday and Relaxing

It has been a wild week. I hope to take it easy today. Bill's service is at 10:00 AM tomorrow. Leslie will do the service and I will read the obit. I will pick up Bob at 9:15 in the morning. He is going with me. I hope our congregation comes out for the service. Bill has been a faithful participant for 25 years. Phyllis can't attend. She works four days a week and Friday is one of those days.

I didn't sleep all that well. Missy was restless and she kept me awake from time to time.  Still, it was nearly 5:00 AM when I finally got up.

I notice Missy wet on the bathmat I keep under her litter box again. She does that at least two times a week. She just doesn't make it into the litter box from time to time and hits the mat. She is fifteen years old so I cut her some slack.  I am doing some laundry...mostly towels and those mats.... so that should be o.k. I had one more old mat to put under it. Bob gave me that one when he recently bought a new bathmat.  The new litter I bought this week at Dollar General doesn't track as bad as the old stuff  I have been having to use since my surgery. I am not supposed to lift over 15 pounds. Most of that stuff is forty pounds. This is ten pounds.

I will go to Joplin for our Mission Center meeting by myself on Saturday. Leslie and John will be at Roaring River camping from Saturday through Tuesday and Phyllis works on Saturdays. Karan is meeting with her sister on Saturday that she has not seen in years. So I will go alone. I have to be there at 9:15.

I will take Juanita to see her heart doctor there in Independence next Wednesday on the 25th. Then on the 30th, Leslie will take me to Kansas City for my one month checkup on my surgery.

Yesterday while in Independence I asked the pharmacist at Walgreen's what the cost of that little tube of estrogen cream they gave me to use there at the hospital would cost if I refilled the prescription. She said it would be $310.

Talk about a racket! The pharmaceutical companies know most people have insurance so they jack up the price on those small tubes...and nearly everything else in prescriptions too. I don't have a prescription drug insurance since I only take one $10.00 prescription and one $20.60 prescription and I just refill them every three months. I could not justify the expense of the prescription drug plan.  So I didn't sign up for it.

I checked with the Medicine Shoppe here in Coffeyville and their cost would be $300. so I will just not refill the cream.  I will just use the gel. I get that from a compounding pharmacy in Lenexa and it is $65. a month. I can manage that. I understand there are some cancer drugs that cost thousands of dollars and many of us low income folks cannot afford to even treat the disease.

Juanita, who is nearly blind, has four eye drops she has to use daily. They are tiny little vials and they cost $100 each.  She is a 97 year old woman and she has to pay the $100 each  and that cost is WITH the prescription drug plan.  Disgusting!

The government needs to do some serious regulation of pharmaceutical companies.

More later...

This is a photo of the family of my friend, Bill.  He's the man with white hair. He will be very much missed. The pretty white haired woman is his wife, Carol. The other younger two adults are his children with some of the grandchildren.

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I was getting ready to take my shower and noticed a swollen red place on the side of my right knee. I had first noticed it when I put my jeans on this morning. It had a small black thing sticking out of it with a hard head on it. I pulled the black thing out, put some antibiotic ointment on it and a band aid.

It itched and burned most of the day. Now it looked very angry. I put my clothes back on and went over to the Urgent Care about four blocks away. They were still open. The nurse looked at it and saw how swollen and red it was and prescribed an antibiotic which I had to go to Walmart to fill.

When I got home I took my shower and Missy and I watched a documentary about World War 2 and then at 9:30, we both went on to bed.

Wednesday, April 18, 2018

Wednesday and Another Trip to Bartlesville for Juanita.

I slept poorly last night and finally just got up and took a melatonin tablet. Then I finally got back to sleep until 5:30.

Later this morning I will go back to Independence to pick up Juanita to take her to Bartlesville to see Dr. Eslicker and get that skin cancer on her neck removed. I will need to get some more gasoline while I am there.

Right now Missy is waiting for her breakfast so I will get back to this later...

Missy and I have both had our breakfasts and I even had an opportunity to visit with Rick, my neighbor, about Bill, my dear friend from church I just lost. Rick and Carmen come to our church and weren't sure which man Bill was. I told him about Bill. I have always sat with Bill at church.

More later....

I have been reading my Reader's Digest. This is a very good issue. There are some great articles in this month's issue.

More even later...

About 11:00 I took off for Independence to take Juanita to Bartlesville to see Dr. Eslicker.  He biopsied the place on her neck. He also froze a large dark mole on the side of her face. We stopped on the way home and bought a milk shake at Sonic. She looks forward to those treats every time we go to the doctor. After we got back I copied over the numbers of her TV schedule larger so she could read them. She is very nearly completely blind.

Then I came back home. It was almost 4:00 at that time. I was very tired. Missy and I watched "To Kill a Mockingbird" on TV. I don't recall ever watching that old movie so it was very interesting. We went to bed at 9:30.


Tuesday, April 17, 2018

Tuesday and Cake Day and a Hairdo

I slept very well last night and only woke up once. Then after some deep breathing I got back to sleep until 5:00.

I got myself ready for the day and fed Missy and myself. When it gets light outside, I want to clean out her litter box and wash it and refill it with all clean litter. I bought a smaller, lighter box yesterday at the Dollar General store.

It;s supposed to get up to 79 degrees today. It's a wonder we are not all ill since just on Sunday it was 27 degrees. Our bodies cannot keep up with the temperature swings.

I will leave about 8:15 to take the cakes up to Independence to the First Christian Church before I go to my hair appointment.  Then perhaps I can get the vacuuming done when I get back home. I meant to do it yesterday but after Leslie called I put it off another day. We had a great trip to Bartlesville and a good visit.

More later....

I got the vacuuming done and the bare floors as well.

About 1:20, as I was resting, Carol Henson called to tell me my good friend, Bill Henson, her husband, had died at 1:00 of a heart attack. I fixed a dish and took it up to her . Her daughter and granddaughter were there and while we were visiting, Carol came home. She wants our church to do the service. She attends the First Baptist Church with her daughter but he came to our church the last 20 years or so. She said he would want our church to do it since he attended there. Carol will let me know the time and what day the service will be held.  It will be held at Potts Chapel in Independence. Leslie says she will do it. She thinks it would make me too emotional. She's probably right.

I am heartsick about it.

I see Missy is ready for her treats and I'd better get them for her.

More later...

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This is the front of the new house my son and daughter -in-law will build this year. He just posted photos of it.

More later...

Scott called me this evening and told me about this apartment  above the garage called a mother-in-law area. It is to be complete living space even with a small kitchen. If either Linda or I need to come live with them, it will be a separate home for privacy. It is above the three car garage.

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Both he and Ginger texted to console me over the loss of my dear friend, Bill, this afternoon.

Missy and I watched a documentary this evening about the second world war and Briton's part in saving their little island with the help of American fighter planes. It was interesting. Afterward, we went to bed.at 9:00.  I didn't get to sleep until after 9:30.

Monday, April 16, 2018

Monday and a Cleaning Day

I slept very well last night. I woke up and got up twice but got back to bed and back to sleep with a nice warm cat beside me. Missy was so glad to see me back home.

She wants to go outside this morning but it's way too cold. It's 26 degrees out there on April 16th. Amazing!

I didn't clean anything but the two bare floors last Thursday so I am going to run the vacuum today and dust and also go to the market. I want to get some more strawberries and bananas for my evening smoothies. I also need some more wet and dry mopping cloths.

So after I vacuum I will go out to Walmart to shop again. Most of the time, I need things that are not food. :)

More later. ...

I didn't get much done today after all. Leslie, my daughter, called to invite me to go to Bartlesville with her.  So everything else can wait. I will go to Bartlesville with Leslie. I will finish this when I get home. So more later....

We got home in the afternoon after having lunch with Leslie at McCalister's. I raked and bagged what leaves had gathered after Steve mowed yesterday. I am thoroughly sick of leaves. I let Missy out for awhile since it was 69 degrees. She lay in the grass while I raked.

Then I went over to Country Mart and bought some more strawberries and bananas for my smoothy this evening.

Perhaps more tonight...

This is my older son in Africa last month. He is holding the County Chronicle from his hometown.

 

Missy and I watched some Amazon TV after I had my shower. Finally at 9:00, we just went to bed.

Sunday, April 15, 2018

Sunday and Home Again

Karan and I are home again. I got in about 12:30 after driving the 80 miles or so home from the campgrounds.

We had a wonderful time. There was a smaller group then usual but it was fine. The weather was unsettled and I imagine that had unsettled some about attending too. We all had a wonderful time though.

Karan and I ate at Olive Garden in Joplin on Friday noon and afterward went to the Christopher and Banks where Karan bought some new sale clothing. I waited until we went to Bed Bath and Beyond where I bought a new tablecloth and a couple of napkins to match.

Then we went out to the campgrounds and registered.

The food was very good. The program was too and we had a book exchange and a silent auction.

I didn't sleep well without my Missy Kitty. Let's face it...I don't sleep well anyhow....kitty or not. Tonight I may sleep better in my own bed.

Bob dropped by this afternoon and we watched the movie Darkest Hour. The lead actor won the Academy Award for best actor this year. I had seen it before at the theater earlier this year with Marilyn and Karan and once on the TV from Amazon when I bought it.

I had a bowl of ice cream after Bob left.  Joanne is on the way back to Coffeyville and I think he wanted to go over there when she gets in. 

In a few minutes I will watch the news and then 60 Minutes. After that, I will take my shower and put my PJ s on and then watch TV or a movie before I go to bed at 9:00.