Saturday and a Trip to Joplin

I slept well again last night. I guess the trick is to stay up later....if I can.

I got up close to 5:00AM and dressed and had my oatmeal and coffee. I watched the weather carefully. They are forecasting snow late this afternoon and tonight....2 to 4 inches of it.  If that happens, I imagine they will cancel church tomorrow. We have several who come from Neodesha and that is even further north.

I guess I will go on to Joplin for that training meeting. I should get home well before the snow starts. The meeting is over at noon. I may stop at Olive Garden and have lunch afterwards. It depends on the Joplin weather. Joplin is 90 miles further east. I sure don't want to be out on the interstate and  highway while it snows and ices.

Maybe I will check the Joplin weather forecast before I make up my mind for sure.

More later....

The weather was fine in Joplin. The meeting  was o.k. although I think it was kind of a waste of time. Only 17 people showed up out of our delegation.

I got back about 2:30PM and have not yet eaten lunch.  I did stop at Brahms in Coffeyville and get some yogurt.

I will find something to eat for lunch now.

So more even later...

I ate a frozen dinner for my lunch and read most of the afternoon and watched the weather on TV.

On Sunday evening...

I contacted Scott when I saw that Savannah was being threatened with tornadoes in the huge outbreak in Alabama and Georgia.  I asked him about Ashley but he said he had tried to call her and she did not pick up. He says she picks up when she wants to and not if she doesn't want to. That's a heck of a note!

The book I am reading is not much. I may have to order one in from the inner library.  I forget the name of the author I was reading that the library here only had one of his/her books. I may ask nancy since I borrowed one of his/hers earlier.

I watched the tornado outbreak until I was too tired to stay up any longer and took my bath and 7:00PM and went on to bed about 8:15PM.

Friday and Bad Weather Expected.

I slept well last night again. I went to bed later...9:00PM..my regular time.  When I go to bed too early, I awake too early too.

I had my usual oatmeal breakfast after I got myself dressed and ready for the day.  Today the rent is due and I have my check written and am ready to pay it. I have been watching the news. The CBS news is off now so I am back to blogging and reading the face book posts.

Today the valances are supposed to be here in the mail. I want to stay here and put them up and hope they stay up. I pressed on the Command hangers just like I was supposed to but I am always a bit suspicious of such easy ways to install rods and hang valances. The mail is usually here by 11:30AM.

I had hoped to go back to Coffeyville for the Home Show at the college gym.  I doubt I will do that unless I do it later this afternoon. I also had planned to go to Joplin tomorrow for the training for Conference delegates. Now I don't know whether to chance it at all. I would hate to be 72 miles away and driving on slick highways.

We are forecast for snow this weekend. If we have it we will probably cancel church again. We have several that come from Neodesha (that's north of Independence) and several who are as old as I am and are hesitant about driving in bad weather. Some people don't use any wisdom in how to drive in bad weather on snowy or icy roads. They still race around like they do when the roads are clear.

More later...

Bob A. just called and came over to pick up his coffee. I got the order yesterday. I showed him my valance in the dining room.  The others are supposed to be here today...any time now. It's after 11:00AM.

More later...

The valances came a little after 11:30AM!  And they were just perfect! I had no problem getting the smaller ones up but that double one in the living room was a bear! After several tries, I got it up though. I am going to be very pleased with just the valances. I am not much on mini blinds (they are hard to keep dusted) but they are what they are and they were free. The valances do dress them up.

Here is the bedroom one...It is a medium brown.




Here is one of the living room valances. These match the dining room valances


Here is the second and larger living room valance. I wasn't sure I was going to be able to get one up by myself. But I finally did!




I ate the last of my chicken pot pies for lunch.  Then I had some trail mix for a snack.

I decided not to go to the home show in Coffeyville today. It was too late by the time I finished with the valances. The weather conditions tomorrow will determine whether I go to that conference training session at Joplin tomorrow. If it doesn't start snowing until afternoon, I will go because it starts at 9:00AM and breaks up at noon. I would be back home in the middle of the afternoon.

More even later...

I read until 7:00PM and then took my bath and watched the weather channel and 20/20 all evening until 10:00PM then I went on to bed.

Thursday and A Good Night's Sleep

It's amazing the good sleep I get when I read in the evening instead of watching TV.

I awoke a couple of times and went to the bathroom and took my med but I got right back to sleep and slept until 5:00AM, my regular time to get up.

I am so glad I got all the curtain rods up and ready for the valances. They should be here tomorrow from Amazon and maybe today. If and when they come, I will put them up. I am so pleased with the result of the dining room window.

I now have something to read the rest of today. I talked to Nancy last evening and if she still feels good, we will go to breakfast later on this morning. I am to call her at 9:00AM and check that out. I wish she would go to the doctor and find out what is the matter with her. She has bouts of vomiting and diarrhea. That is simply not normal. Something is wrong and I have offered to take her to either emergency room but she is evidently in denial and does not really want to know what it is.  She knows she should go but won't agree to it.

My Blue Cross Blue Shield Medicare supplement came out of my bank account today. That is $289 and that is always a chunk. Luckily I have not spent a lot of money this month....outside of the valances and curtain rods. I owe the valances and a box of 40 coffees on my Amazon card. I have paid for the curtain rods. Bob will take half the coffee when I see him.

I still have not received the electric bill or the water/trash bill for this month. So that will come out too. ..if it ever comes. I need to ask Alice, my neighbor, when she receives hers. Nancy had hers a couple of weeks ago and I have been watching for mine ever since.

More later....I will go watch the news.

At 9:00AM, I called Nancy and asked her if she was still up for breakfast..and she was.  I picked her up and we went out to Eggberts for a sausage and cheese omelet and  a biscuit and fruit. Karen came along later after visiting with friends and sat with us and visited. We stayed for a long time and then Nancy and I came back to the apartment. She wanted to see the dining room valance.  She stayed until noon and then I took her home. I picked up my library book and returned it. Then I checked out two more books. If the weather turns bad, I may have to read for a couple of days.

So far, I am not impressed with this book. It is 3:20PM now.So more later...

As usual, the book got more interesting as I got further into it. I read until 7:00PM, took my bath amd the at 9:00PM and went on to bed.

Wednesday and a Sleepless Night

I had a bad night again last night. The problem was stewing about the curtain rods. The large one shouldn't be a problem but the two smaller ones may be just a tad too short for these windows. They are to measure 48 inches and they are JUST 48 inches. I think I will go ahead and get them and the Command strips and get the rods hung because the valances won't be here until Friday. At least I can tell if the rods are going to fit at all. We ordered the crimson valance for the living room..just like the dining room...and a beige one for the bedroom. That should blend nicely with the coverlet. The bedroom window is also 48 inches wide. The living room has a double window like the dining room at 84 inches and also a smaller one like the bedroom....48 inches.

I can't help stewing about those curtain rods. I am a worrier...although I don't want to be.  I don't know what I can do about it. I got up twice to go to the bathroom last night and the second time I took my melatonin tablet.  Then I slept for another hour pretty well. I should have taken it earlier.

I will go to Dollar General again this morning and also to the library when it opens. I will get some more books since the weather is forecast to turn bad again. It's fine now but by noon it is supposed to drizzle freezing rain. That may kill my trip back to Coffeyville. I don't want to take my car out on freezing roads. So I may read instead.

More later....

I did go to Dollar General and buy two curtain rods. They did not have the third one I needed.  I plan to go to game day in Coffeyville this afternoon and will stop at their Dollar General and see if they have one like I need.  I installed the two I was able to buy here. Now when the valances arrive, I will just put them on the rods. I hope the Coffeyville Dollar General has the one rod I need.

I have been watching the Michael Cohen  hearing at congress.  The man appears to been genuinely sincere. He has nothing to gain by not being  honest now. He is still going to prison and he has cleared his conscious and seems genuinely contrite. He seems quite candid. 

More even later...

It was misting freezing mist when I was ready to go to Coffeyville for game day. I baked a dozen peanut butter criss cross cookies to take too. I drove carefully but I did go. I stopped at the Dollar General store there and found another of the smaller curtain rods.  I bought that and some cat food...for that little kitty I have been feeding.  I played Skip Bo from 1:00PM until 3:00PM and then came on back home and put up the last curtain rod. I hope it stays up. I pressed on it for 10 seconds and will not put any of the valances on them until Friday when they finally come. Surely they will hold o.k. after waiting all that time to add the valances.

The Amazon coffee came today too. The package was next to the front door out of the weather. 

I will turn on the TV although I should go to the library and get some more books if this weather is going to be bad. They are open until 6:00PM this evening.

More even later....

I ended up going to the library and getting another book. I spent the evening reading until 7:00PM when I took my bath and put my pjs on. Then I read until 9:00PM when I finally went on to bed.

Tuesday and Hair Day

I got up early again this morning and stripped my bed. I did the laundry and now it is in the dryer.  I only do laundry about once a week.

I will leave about 8:15 or so to go to the bank in Coffeyville .  It is 5:45AM now. After breakfast I will go get my hair done and then come on back here. I don't need anything from the market this time except dryer sheets and I can get them at Dollar General here in Caney.

Leslie will be coming sometime after noon to help me put up my curtain rod and valance. After I see how that looks, I will order the ones for the bedroom next and finally the ones for the living room. All in all I should have about a $60.00 investment instead of $1200. I believe that will be fine. I will take some photos after I get them all up and post them here. I want to get her opinion about what colors to order next. She has a flair for decorating.

After the dryer finishes, I will get the bed remade and my breakfast eaten before I leave for Coffeyville.

I had forgotten! Bob has a 9:00AM appointment with Toyota. They are installing a new sun visor on his Toyota this morning. So I will just have my oatmeal and leave for Coffeyville at 8:15AM instead of 7:15AM. I do still need to go to the bank and get my cash for the week.

More later...

I got my bed remade after the dryer stopped and I have all the dry laundry put away too.  The apartment is clean and I still have an hour and a half to watch the weather and news before I leave.

I do need to get my oatmeal cooked though so I will get back to this later...

I ate my oatmeal and left at 8:15AM for Coffeyville.

I first went to the bank for my week's cash and then to the beauty shop for my appointment.    After that I went out to the Woodshed and bought gas. It was five cents a gallon cheaper then Caney or Coffeyville. Then I went out to Walmart and bought several things I needed. I looked to see what sort of valances they had. They had nothing in plain colors... just patterned ones I wouldn't have.

Then I dropped by the nail place..intending to get my pedicure but I waited 15 minutes past their opening time and they never opened so I just came on home without it.

I have been watching Dateline ever since I got home. I didn't get any more books yesterday. I was kind of burned out with reading.

I ate some more of my roast beef and then put some more of it out on a napkin in the yard for that little starving kitty that I saw day before yesterday. He/she ate it all yesterday so I put some more out today. I hope he/she finds it.

More later...

Well he/she found the food and ate it all. I hope that will help that kitten survive.

Leslie came this afternoon and we got the valance hung and it looks very nice. I ordered a set of the burgundy ones for the living room and a beige one for the bedroom. They should be here on Friday. The problem I have now is the Dollar General store only has one rod large enough for my windows. I will need the long expandable rods for all three windows because the small ones are too large for the smaller rods. And our weather is forecast for bad weather until Thursday afternoon. I had hoped to go to game day on Wednesday afternoon and while there get those rods at their Dollar general store. But the roads will be treacherous on Wednesday. I had hoped to go to Coffeyville Dollar General store and get the rods to put up the valances on Friday. That may not happen because of the bad weather..

This is the one we hung today.
 

More later...

I watched TV and played solitaire all evening until 7:00PM when I took my bath.  At 8:00PM, I could not stay awake any longer and just went on to bed.

Monday and a PC Problem

I got up early this morning to hunt for my iron. I have ordered a valance for the dining room window and it is supposed to be here today. I found the iron and went into the den to check my e mail. The desktop pc had some sort of problem and needed to reboot itself to fix it. After it rebooted, it could no longer get on the internet. It took two more reboots for it to find the internet through that USB wireless connector and I was worried I would no longer have access to the internet where I could print off  material.  But after the second reboot, the computer finally found the USB adapter....thank goodness! It seems it's always something with computers.

More later...

I slept well again although I woke up earlier then usual...but of course, I had gone to bed at 8:00PM. I was very tired.

I have dressed but because of the problem with this computer and the internet connection, I have not yet had my breakfast.  I'd better get that together now. So, more even later...

I've had my breakfast and watched the weather channel for awhile. I tried to remove the sticker residue from my Keurig water tank but it wouldn't come off. I tried nail polish remover and even tried to sand it off...but no luck. I guess I am stuck with it. I guess I could order a new water tank but I hate to spend the money. I still don't know what my electric bill and the water bill will be. I have paid Atmos Energy, which was my gas bill for the first two or three weeks, but the other two have not arrived yet. I still need the City of Caney, which is the water and trash, and Westar Energy which is the electric bill.  I want to hold on to as much money as possible to be sure to have enough for those two.

More even later...

My valance came in the morning's mail.  I took the rod I bought at Dollar General out of the package and made it larger to fit the valance. Hopefully I will see Leslie tomorrow afternoon and she will hang it for me. Then I believe I will go ahead and order the other three. Maybe I can get those hung. I hate to ask Leslie to come again. She has so little spare time.

I went to Dollar General to buy breakfast bars and then I read for the rest of the afternoon and finished all my books...even the one Nancy loaned me. I talked to her this morning and she is sick to her stomach again. I couldn't talk her into letting me take her to the emergency room though.

I stopped by Joyce McDaniels' home and visited with her briefly through the door. She was ill...fighting off either a cold or the flu, and was still in her night clothes.

I took the books back to the library and then went by the car wash and washed the filth off my car.

I heard from Dean this afternoon and he still plans to come back to check on his farm when the weather gets nicer and then we will go to Bartlesville and have dinner and have a good visit.

I have nothing planned for this evening but in the morning I will go to Coffeyville to the bank and to have breakfast with Bob and get my hair done. I want to do some laundry tomorrow sometime too. I need to change my bed and wash my pjs and the towels.

I dusted the furniture this afternoon. I need to check out the furnace and see where the filters go and change the one that is in there now.

More later...

Strange...the filter goes in the air intake area. I took the filter out and looked at it but it appeared clean. However there was  a lot of dirt/dust in the area behind the filter. I got out the vacuum and cleaned it. Then I put the filter back.

I watched TV until a little after 8:00PM, when I took my bath and went to bed.

Sunday and a Dinner After Church

I awoke three times last night after going to bed a little early. I did get back to sleep. I got up at 4:45AM. I had had enough sleep. I ate my oatmeal and drank my coffee and Chai Latte and then mixed up my corn casserole. It is in the oven now. I hope it works out as good as it was Christmas...the last time I fixed it.

We have a guest minister this morning...Josh Crown. Then Melissa will be ordained an Elder.  After church we will go over to her and Kelly's new home for dinner. She has fixed a ham and green beans and we will take the rest of the dinner. I texted Rick and Carmen last night and reminded them of the dinner. If Carmen doesn't have to work, they may come.

Judy contacted me yesterday and asked me to host the Living the Questions group on March 17th. I told her I would.  They say they want to see the apartment. I hope to have all the windows finished with valances over the mini blinds by then.

I'd better go check my corn casserole. More later...

Sure enough...the corn casserole was finished and looked great.

At 8:40AM, I loaded it into the car and took off for church. The service was good..very good. Melissa was ordained an Elder and afterward the congregation went out to Kelly and Melissa's new home and ate a fine dinner. Then Kelly gave Phyllis and me the grand tour of the place. It just goes on and on. It is absolutely lovely. Rick and Carmen did get to come and they seemed to have a great time. 

I got back home about 3:00PM and unloaded what little casserole I had left into a smaller bowl and washed the larger one.

I took some photos of the inside but they may not be all that good. I will check them out and see if any of them are good enough to post.




This is the TV in one of Kelly and Melissa's two living rooms. I think Kelly said it was a 54 inch TV.


I worked until 4:30PM on the newsletters and got three in the snail mail. The others I sent out on e-mail.

I will start to read the book Nancy loaned me on Friday.