Saturday and Sunday Snow Tomorrow

I went to bed at 8:30PM last night and that's usually not a good idea. But I was very tired and just couldn't read any more. I woke up several times during the night and except for once, I tried to just stay in bed.  I got up shortly before 5:00AM and dressed and got myself ready for the day. If it didn't snow last night I may go to Independence and shop at their Walmart. I need a print cartridge for my printer and bananas. I almost went yesterday evening when I went out to Sonic for my Wacky Pack meal but I figured it would get dark before I got away from Independence so I didn't.  

I have had my breakfast and am working on my coffee now.  I also have Cheyenne's birthday gift and want to give it to Leslie to give to her. I know she will have something to give to her too. I may bake my cake this weekend because Tuesday is the next cake day for the First Christian Church in Independence.

More later..I will go watch "the weather on the 8's" and see what to expect today.

It's 5 degrees this morning and when I opened the front door there were three cats out there waiting for their breakfast. It was Inky and Blondie and the neighbor's yellow cat.  I went to the garage and filled their bowls and then raised the garage door and they ran over there and I went out the front door to lay down their dishes while they ran to the garage door to meet me.  Then I came back in the garage door while they were eating their breakfast. I hate having to deal with them trying to walk on my feet and I have to push them out of my way so I won't trip over them.

I have the CBS news on now. So I will get back to this later.

I see Scruffie is out there eating now. I am glad she found her way over here to the food dishes.

I got my cake baked and iced and in the freezer. Now if only I will be able to get over to Coffeyville and pick up the other cakes on Tuesday. Maybe they will cancel their dinner if the weather is terrible. It is supposed to snow tomorrow and Monday.

I made a trip to Jeromy's and gave Cheyenne her birthday card and gift. I was close enough to town that I went on in to Independence and got my print cartridges and the new filters for my Brita pitchers. Then I got gas at Millers and came on back home. I had a strange message on my dash and looked it up in my manual. One of the sensors in my passenger side front tire was not working. I stopped at the old Bob Montgomery station and had Josh Elliott check it out. Sure enough I will have to have that replaced. It should be in either Tuesday or Wednesday. It will be $65.00 to fix it and replace the sensor.

I called Nancy for lunch but got no answer. I had told her the first nice day we had we would go to lunch. So I went to her place and tried the phone again from the car, but again, no answer. I went up and rang the doorbell three times and then after a moment I rang it three times again. This time she answered the door...in her nightgown and robe. She wasn't up to getting dressed so I just sat down and visited with her for a couple of hours.

I hadn't had lunch and it was 2:30PM by then so I finally begged off and went home and fixed some broccoli cheese soup and crackers. I ate some and since I had plenty I called Nancy again and this time she answered. I told her I had made soup and would be bringing her some. I told her I had plenty for myself too. I also took her some crackers. Luckily it was her favorite kind of soup. She was delighted.

Keith called today and we had a nice visit. We are both, actually all,  looking forward to Esther and him coming in April to celebrate their 10th anniversary with us. Both the boys are pretty good about staying in touch every week or ten days.

Then I came home and read until the evening CBS news came on. I saw they had acquitted Trump. I didn't think they had enough Republicans to convict him and they didn't.

I texted Leslie about my phone not notifying me about some people who text me like John and Bob Avery and some others like Gina but she said she would have had to see the phone to help me and it was too late for me to drive out there so I will just plan to stop at the office in Coffeyville on Wednesday (if the weather permits it) and get that employee to fix it again. I didn't go over there last Wednesday and just washed my hair myself. The roads were icy and they had cancelled the exercise classes on that account. If it snows heavily they may cancel game day on this Wednesday.

At 6:30PM I came in and took my bath and went back to my book afterward.

Then the cricket started in chirping again.....I went in and made up my bed on the trundle again for tonight.

Keith told me about some natural ways to kill crickets that he had posted on one of my blogs several days ago and I looked them up. They may work but the most logical way was to use molasses and water in jars. I could get the molasses but I have no jars. So that's out.

He has quieted down again now so I may go back and try to sleep in my bed again. It is only 8:35PM now. I won't go to bed until 9:00PM or after. I will wait to see if he starts chirping again before I make that decision.

Friday and Apartment Cleaning

 I went to bed last night at 8:30PM and I slept completely through the night without waking up once. It had been a horrendous day. Between being hacked and spending hours on the phone to Amazon and Cox Complete Care to get everything righted, the breaker being off when I was trying to do laundry and now the garage door being broken and my car trapped in the garage, it had been a horrendous day! 

This morning when I turned on the bathroom lights, one of those expensive curly shaped bulbs went out. Mr. Aaxcel will be over the first thing this morning to get my car out of the garage and then come back after after his already scheduled appointments to try to fix it. He thinks the chain has broken but I don't see a chain at all. Well the beauty of renting is that it is not my financial responsibility. I sure hate leaving my car outside in this weather though. It's a 2008 Honda Civic...certainly not new.

I had better go see what the "weather on the 8's" has to say.

I opened the front door to four cats this morning. Since it's so cold at 12 degrees they are very cold and won't stay long. I usually take their food out through the garage so they won't try to get into the apartment when I open the door. Now that the garage door is broken I couldn't do that this morning but they didn't know that and had rushed to the garage door anticipating my coming out that way. I was able to take their food out the front door. Inky and Blondie are the only ones still out there eating. Scruffie has eaten and gone back to her shelter.The others ate what they could quickly and went back to whatever shelter they have.  Inky and Blondie are still out there. They would like to have some water but their water is solid ice. They are licking the ice now....poor things. I don't know why they don't go find shelter.

With all that went wrong yesterday, I didn't get any cleaning done ...except for cleaning out that bathroom cabinet and the laundry after Steve and John suggested it might be a breaker that had kept the washer from coming on. That fixed that! So I will clean today instead. 

The garage door people came while I was mopping the bathroom floor. They called but my phone was in the living room. I thought I heard it so I called the number and sure enough they were on their way. I answered the door and let them in. It was the  spring alright. They managed to get the door open and I backed the car out. They are on their way to Parsons and will be back later in the day to replace the spring. I hope they can get it fixed so I can get my old car back in the garage.

Now, I am ready to begin vacuuming as soon as the commercials come back on. That way I won't miss the CBS news and I won't have to deal with the commercials. 

More later... I got the mopping and vacuuming finished and only have the dusting to do now. I will rest awhile first. I am always amazed at how much dirt that vacuum collects..especially since Suzanne had the carpets cleaned before I moved in and I leave my shoes on the rugs in front of the doors when I come in and I put the rugs through the fresh air cycle in the dryer every week when I clean. Oh well, it is what it is.

The news is off now and nothing worth watching is on TV now. I will read the new free book I downloaded from Amazon last night. Later, after I rest up, I will dust.

Speaking of last night. This morning the spammer called me back and as soon as he asked me, "Can you hear my voice, Miss?" I told him I wasn't going to talk to him anymore and hung up and blocked his number. He may just try another phone but I won't talk to him.

I need to go out to Dollar General and get a light bulb for that  bathroom fixture. When I plugged in the hair curler this morning, it blew.

That's my only errand to run but I am glad I have the car out of the garage and can use it. 

So more even later... I went out to Dollar General but they didn't have those 13 volt spiral light bulbs. So I just put the dead one back in the socket until I am able to go to Walmart and find them.

While I was walking back to my car, I looked down and saw a $20. bill laying on the ground. So I picked it up and put it  in my pocket. No one in there had reported losing one.

I stopped at the local garage and asked the boy working there to check my tires. They were all low and the icon on my dash was on. He seemed happy to help me that way.

I had had one of my frozen Schwan's meals for lunch and didn't know what to have for supper since I was out of bananas. I thought about making a trip to Independence this evening to get my ink cartridge and bananas but figured it would get dark before I could get back home so I just went out to Sonic and had a kids meal of a junior burger, fries and a coke. That filled me up.

It's 6:31PM now and soon I will take my bath and plan to go to bed at 9:00PM. There nothing on TV worth watching so I will probably go back to another free Amazon book and read until then.

Thursday and Some Cleaning Today and Lots of Problems

 What a night! It was a nightmare but I think I got through it. About 4:00AM this morning I contacted Cox Complete Care and Chris cleaned up the mess on all three computers. He said the "so called" Amazon guy I spent 2 1/2 hours on the phone with last night was a spammer. He beat me out of $80.00 in gift cards pretending to be with Amazon security. I should have called Cox Complete Care to begin with.

I slept off and on until 3:30PM and since I was suspicious of the guy last night. I contacted Cox Complete Care. I had Chris go through all three computers and clean them up. I was only 10% sure the other guy was authentic after awhile. For one thing, he had a very hard to understand language voice. After the first hour my suspicions were correct. I changed the password on Amazon to keep him out of there. When and if he calls back this morning I will simply block him.

There are three cats out there for breakfast this morning. Inky,  Blondie and the neighbor's large yellow cat. I was able to get food for them out through the garage by being extremely careful. The ground is covered with ice. When it comes time to bring in the bowls, I will step out the front door and retrieve them.

I have had my breakfast but I am nearly out of everything for breakfast....oatmeal and milk and bananas and even printer's ink for my printer. I have some Schwan's meals and they are coming today with a delivery..if they can. We had no trash pickup Tuesday because of the ice. Debbie, at city hall, said when it's as cold as it is, they aren't able to start their trucks.

Inky's father is out there eating now too. Inky and Blondie are still out there too but they are finished eating. I haven't seen anything of Scruffie this morning either. I sure hope someone is feeding her.

It's16 degrees out there this morning. 

By the way, when I went in the bathroom to get myself ready for the day, the cricket began chirping again. I believe it may be in the bathroom cabinet. Later on this morning I will clean out that cabinet and see if I can find it there.

More later... 

I finally went out to the Dollar General Store and bought a few of the  groceries I needed.

And, oh yes..I got hold of my Amazon Chase Credit  card and got the present number deleted and the money refunded and in a couple of hours that's supposed to show up on my account. They will send me a new Amazon credit card with a new number. It will be a couple of days until I get that. They say that I will get it tomorrow but I will be amazed if it comes that soon. They are sending it by UPS if I remember correctly.  

This day has been a nightmare but maybe it's over now. I started my washer with the laundry I had ready to go and nothing happened. I texted  John for advice and then called Steve for advice too. Steve said try the breaker box in the garage and see if one of the breakers was off. I looked and it didn't appear that it was but I flipped in off and back on and that did it. The washer started filling when I pushed it's button. The laundry is done and dried and put away now. Between Steve and John, that mess worked out.

More even later.. hopefully no more problems....

That was too much to ask, I guess. I put down the garage door and something broke. The green lights that are supposed to turn toward one another both face south instead of east and west. The garage door won't go back up. When I try to open it it goes up a little ways but when I try to put it down and I pull the little cord and red knob, it crashes down within 6 or 8 inches of closed. To get it all the way down, I had to pull that chain.   Aaxcel is coming first thing in the morning to get my car out, Then after they take care of some already scheduled business, they will come back and fix the door. He thinks it may be the chain but I don't don't even see a chain. It may be awhile if he is wrong. He may have to order a part.

Always something...

I did get the cabinet in the bathroom cleaned out and organized but didn't see the cricket I thought would be in there. At least now, it is nice and organized.

I have read the rest of the afternoon and finished another book.

It's nearly time for the CBS news so I will get back to this later.

Scruffie and Blondie were waiting for me to notice they were out there and hungry, Scruffie was not here this morning for breakfast so I took the double dish and two bowls out for them. It's still 18 degrees out there and Inky came too and the neighbor's big yellow cat...all for a meal. I couldn't let them be hungry when it's so cold out. Their water is frozen solid too. I will have to be careful the possum doesn't come to eat. I am not feeding any animals but these cats.

It is nearing 7:00PM and I need to take a bath and wash my hair. as soon as I can get those cat dishes in.

I will go to bed pretty early....probably 8:30PM. I did not sleep well last night with all the worries about the spammer.

 

Wednesday and Ice Outside too

 I slept in on the trundle of the daybed last night to avoid the chirping of the cricket. Darn thing! It quieted down after I went to bed there though. I figured if I went back in the bedroom to sleep however, it would just start chirping again. 

So it's nearly 6:00AM and I am not yet dressed.With this ice on the road, I will not be going over to Coffeyville in the dark and on ice to go to breakfast with Bob. I will wait a little longer to figure out whether I can go to my 9:30AM hair appointment.  

In the meanwhile, I will go get dressed and get myself ready for the day. So more later... 

I got myself dressed and ready for the day. I texted Bob and he is having his breakfast of toast and coffee. I have my oatmeal done and am eating my breakfast bar. I haven't heard any chirping yet from the cricket. But I am not holding my breath. I don't plan on going to Coffeyville yet. I will wait until 8:00AM and see what it looks like then. I may have to cancel my hair appointment. Probably will....

More later...I am going to go turn on "the weather on the '8's" and check out the cats.

There were only two cats out there this morning.It was my neighbor's big yellow cat and Inky. The big yellow cat would not let Inky eat so Inky left. Darn neighbor's cat!

When he finally left, I went out the front door and picked up the two bowls and put some water in their water dish. It probably immediately froze. It's only 16 degrees.

Toni, my beautician , just texted me to see if I was coming over for  my hairdo. I asked her what she thought and she said she was only able to make it because of her 4 wheel drive truck. I told her I should probably not try it and I would just shampoo my own hair this evening and hope to see her next week.

I hate that. I am used to letting her do it for me but I can do it. My hair is very short.

More later...no cricket chirps yet... It's 7:54 now. The CBS news is next and I will watch that now.

So more later... 

I watched the Channel 6 news for awhile and then turned to the CBS news and as I ate my lunch, watched recorded episode of Dateline. Then I went back to my book. I read until I finished it and then began another. 

It is 4:25PM now and I just ate my banana supper. I haven't been out of the apartment all day except to go to the mailbox and pick up my mail..such as it was.

I haven't heard a chirp all day out of the cricket.  If that doesn't change maybe I can sleep in my bed tonight. I slept fairly well on the trundle last night but I always do better in the bed.

I will need to take a shower this evening and dry my hair after I wash it. I hope I can do something with it myself. I never have been too good at doing my own hair.

I will catch the 5:00PM news this evening and the evening CBS news after that. 

I really need  to go get some groceries but I hate to drive on ice. The only wreck I have even had was when I was working for the Good News shopper. I went up over the overpass at Coffeyville and realized I was driving on black ice and tapped my brakes carefully to get stopped six feet from a car that was wrecked and turned sideways just in front of me. Then I looked in my rear view mirror and saw three vehicles barreling over that overpass.. driving way too fast to stop and one by one  they crashed into the back of my new car. The worst thing was the deputy sheriff who investigated the accident. All three drivers confessed they were driving too fast too stop and crashed into the back of my stopped car. Then he informed me he was call it "no fault". That was going to cost me the deductible on my car to get it repaired.

I made an appointment to talk to him about it and he never showed up. Then I made an appointment to talk to the sheriff  about it and he never showed up either. Finally, I called the Kansas insurance commissioner and explain it to her. She said "give me an half hour and I will get back to you on this". I thought "Yeah, you will.."...but she did and she got that taken care of and I got my deductible back. She later ran for governor and I voted for her. Kathleen Sebelius was her name.

More later...it's time for the news. 

I watched the news until I checked my e mail. There I saw I had been hacked and someone had charged  camera for over $3100 on my Amazon account. I called Amazon and Their security worked several hours trying to get the mess cleaned up. The security place closed at 7:00PM our time but the security person lives in California so he will call me back in the morning. He discovered someone in China and someone in Russia had hacked my computers. He advised me not to use the computers until he could get them cleaned up. 

So I won't be online for awhile.  

I was unable to sleep much all through the night so I contacted Cox Complete Care and Chris there said the hacker was the spammer I had talked to last night all evening. If those "dummy transactions" of $40. gift cards show up on my Amazon credit card I will just have to pay them. They are not able to be cancelled.

He went through all three computers and cleaned everything up.  What a mess.

Tuesday and Ice Out

I slept very well and after hearing a dozen chirps as I was reading last evening. Then by the time I went to bed...not a peep.

I got up shortly before 6:00AM, got myself ready for the day and had my breakfast. 

When I checked the cat situation, I found two very cold hungry yellow cats. I fixed their food and when I took it out front I noticed it was slick as the proverbial snot. I had to be very careful taking that food out there. I could have broken my neck. They were so busy eating I was able to get back into the apartment through the front door. Thank goodness because it's 13 degrees out there.   None of the other three cats wanted to brave the elements for food.

More later... 

The cats ate as fast as they could and left. They also left a mess. One of them spilled the cat food from the little blue bowl. I got the broom and dust pan and cleaned it up. At 13 degrees out there, their feet would soon be frozen. I hope they found shelter in this freezing weather.

It's almost 8:00AM and the chirping is back in the bedroom area. I have looked everywhere in there and  have not been able to find it. I guess I will just have to hope he has a short lifespan. 

My new thermostat batteries stopped working last night and I could not tell what temperature it showed. This morning I put a couple more of new AA  batteries in it and it is working fine again.  Always something it seems. 

I texted Bob earlier this morning and he is sleeping much better now. He needed a new mattress. He bought one last month.

I read all afternoon and the cricket has been chirping all afternoon. I have moved my pillow and quilt over to the trundle under the daybed.

I will have to sleep on that trundle as long as the cricket is still chirping.

I am watching Bull...I recorded it last night.

I will take my bath at 7:00PM and read until I can get through this book and then go to bed after I finish it.  

 

Monday and Slick Streets

I stayed up until 10:30PM last night and finished my latest book. I will check out another one later this morning if I don't have another one I haven't read already.

I was up shortly after 5:00AM but slept well. As I was making up my face this morning in the bathroom, I heard the cricket cheep once. It sounded like it was in the bathroom cabinet. I may take everything out of that cabinet later this morning and reorganize everything and see if I can find him in there.

I have had my breakfast and am working on my Chai now. 

I checked out the cats waiting for their breakfast this morning and there were three out there. My neighbor's big yellow cat, Inky and Blondie were out there. I took their food out through the garage as usual and found a thin coat of ice on the sidewalk as I was carrying their food to the front door area where it was dry. It was misting out there. At 17 degrees they ate fast and left for somewhere they might have some shelter. I didn't see Scruffie. If she still has that little yellow kitten, she may be trying to keep it warm. Who knows...

We are forecast for snow and freezing rain tonight.  

I texted Bob a little while ago and he said Coffeyville has about an inch of snow and freezing rain now.

I will stay in today...that's for sure.

More later... 

I have read most of the afternoon on another free book from  Amazon and then Suzanne called and I shared the news about Keith and Esther' coming visit with her. 

She shared the most recent news about her sister Judy who seems to be having a hard time with her memory  ever since her auto accident last year. Her sister also had to have her full sized poodle put down. It began having major health problems and at age 12 I am not surprised. Judy, her sister, is only 81 or 82 so I am surprised about that. Maybe I shouldn't be. That problem began after she had a wreck with her car a year or so ago.

I have fixed  myself a meatloaf dinner from Schwan's. I am letting it sit a minute or two in the microwave like it suggests on the package. I cooked it 6 minutes since my microwave is only 700 watts.

I had better get it and eat it now.  

I had my lunch and  cleaned up after it. I read most of the afternoon and then watched the CBS news. 

I cleaned out my closet after hearing four more chirps out of the cricket. I couldn't find it in the closet. I may have to sleep in the den again if it doesn't quiet down by my bedtime. I plan to take my bath at 7:00PM and then read until I feel sleepy. Then I will go on to bed.

I don't know what I am going to do about the cricket. Now I hear him in the den. Or it could be a different cricket. I can't move that daybed out to check it out. I can get the trundle out but not the daybed....always something! It's just as I was afraid of...there one in the den and also one in the bedroom.  I've heard the chirp in both rooms. I pulled the trundle out and got a very bright flashlight and looked under the daybed. I didn't see a cricket there. I also looked behind the computer armoire. Nothing there either.

What a mess. I used the same bright flashlight and looked in the other two closets in the bedroom too, under the bed and behind the headboard, and also under the cedar chest...nothing. This may be a fun night!

 

Sunday and the Superbowl

I slept well last night and got up about 5:00AM after getting up in the night only once.

I have had my breakfast and coffee and am now working on my Chai.

I opened the front door to Scruffie this morning. I hadn't seen her for a few days and had just about given up on seeing her again. By the time I got her food out there, the neighbor's big yellow cat came to eat too. Scruffie opened her claws and made a pass at him and ran him away from the dish she was eating from. She is very intimidating and is afraid of none of them. He has finished one bowl and is working on another now. Scruffie is eating from the double bowl....which is plenty of food for her. She just ran him off from that second bowl he had moved to. :)

I will watch the "weather on the 8's" until the local weather comes on before I change  to channel 6. Yesterday the weather said rain today perhaps changing to snow. 

It's 19 degrees out there today...brrrr very cold! Now they have moved the snow to Monday. I am not looking forward to that.

Now Inky is finally out there too. I will leave the bowls out there until they all finish. All four of them are now eating now.

This afternoon at 5:30PM, I will watch the Superbowl.

More later....

I began to watch the church service from Toronto and about halfway through it Keith and Esther called. They are having their 10th anniversary in April..on the 22nd. They want to come see me and let me share in their celebration. They will fly here on Tuesday the 20th and stay until the following weekend. They will rent a car at the airport in Tulsa and drive to Caney from Tulsa. I am so thrilled! They wanted me to contact Leslie and see if she and John could go with us to Bartlesville to have their anniversary dinner on the 22nd.  After they hung up I called Leslie and she thinks that won't be a problem. In fact, if we go to Independence for lunch on Wednesday the 21st, she can meet us at Sam's there and  have a fish or shrimp dinner and also get to see some of John's art work there.

Both Keith and Esther have had the covid and so have both John and Leslie. I have had the first vaccination so we should all be safe. I get my second vaccination on the 26th of February. I am just delighted!!

I guess I will go read my book now. 

More later...

I read my book until time for the superbowl game and then was disgusted by all the penalties Kansas City pulled. Besides that Mahones was not 100%  this game.  They mentioned in the pregame that after this game he was going to have surgery on that broken toe.  Between that and the head injury he had at that last game, he just wasn't with it this game.

They lost this game big time!

I went back to my latest book after the game and stayed up until 10:30PM to finish it. I took my bath after that and went to bed.