HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!

I'm home from KC and my treatment. Everything, so far, is going well. I'll be on the antidote for 3 days, then should be done except for my follow-up blood work in 2 weeks. Mel did our Costco bulk shopping while were there, too, and stocked up on a bunch of our basics which will last about 6 months. He'll need to do a bunch of butchering, then the freezer will be well supplied. 

I'll send this, read up on the blogs, and comment more later Hugs!

I Survived Smoker!

I'm adding a second post to show a picture of neighbor's lemon trees. They look a little weary because of all the lemons she just harvested, but there'll be more to come. I learned that they are a dwarf variety, and are about full grown. I also asked her about pollination. That is why she has 2 trees, and she aids with the cross pollination with a cue tip between flowers. 

I'd promised to get back if I could brave the conditions. I did, and I did!

More hugs! 

Great Book

I just finished reading "Three Cups of Tea" by Greg Mortenson and David Relin. PeachOP had recommended it to me, and I'm passing along that recommendation. I emailed the Oprah show, suggesting that it be added to her book club. It is a true story telling of " one man's mission to promote peace..... one school at a time"

I have an obligation tomorrow (Mel goes back to doc for his varicose veins) and we're leaving Wednesday for KC and my treatment, so I probably won't post again until Friday. 

Huge hugs!

Lemons

We have a very strange neighbor lady (widow) who spends her life in her 2 acre yard gardening. She is capable of doing just about anything—carpentry, mechanics, you name it. (especially in her own opinion a true know-it-all) She can also pour on the "charm, soft lights, sad music, poor old widow act" and get the darndest things done for herself for little or no cost.

Anyway, when I went to the mailbox, yesterday, she'd left a bag on our mailbox containing 3 lemons which she'd grown in her house! I've never seen such gorgeous lemons, (and I'm a native Southern Californian—having lived in citrus country for 30 years) the inside of the lemons were as beautiful and tasty as any I've ever come across! I may have to brave the elements (smoke filled house—she's a chain smoker) to see her lemon tree. I'll let you know.

Hugs!

Yikes!

I was reviewing some of my 360° blogs from a year ago. And came across this one:

"Wretch, Gag, Barf! Yesterday it happened! On October 18th Andy Williams invaded the our home via the TV with his dreaded "Ooooooh—It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year" song! You may not think this is so terrible, but if you lived in the Branson area, and heard this song over and over, year after year for two long months every year it'd nauseate you, too. Give me some car commercials, political ads, or something less repetitious! Sheesh, Andy—get another song, and wait until after Halloween, at least! We're skilled with the "mute" button, but he snuck up on me, yesterday."

It happened again yesterday! I guess I should be grateful that we got a 6 day reprieve this year—but SHEESH! 

I'm hooked on a puzzle site. I don't know if you're into cryptograms, but I have been doing them for many years, and had one site that was lost to me when I got my "Mac". I did some investigating, and found another site that is really fun. You might want to check it out at 

www.cryptogram.org/check2.php the "hint" button will give you the vowels—you can hit it up to 5 times. 

Hugs!

Feeling better!

I'm feeling much better! My cold hit harder than I'd anticipated, and I struggled for a couple of days. They say that the "over-the-counter" cold remedies don't do much good, but I'd have been in big trouble without them. 

There was no school on Friday—a teacher work day, but Mel had an evening field trip. He took it easy all morning, and didn't leave the house until about 1:30 p.m..  He didn't get home until about 10:00 p.m., and had a long field trip to St. Louis on Saturday—he had the alarm set for 2:15 a.m.! So, it was a VERY short night!! He'd had Friday to prepare, so had blanket, pillow and everything ready to go. He has taken this group (ROTC) several times before, and knew he'd be able to take a good nap when he got there. He did! 

In the mean time, I was mrslazy! I was not feeling well, and took full advantage of not having to do anything to do just that—little to nothing! I did manage to do the laundry, but that was the extent of my exertion. 

Today is a big day for us. This is the 29th anniversary of Mel's sobriety! Congratulations, honey!

Huge hugs!

"Treatment"

I was scheduled to get a "treatment" on Friday. But, I'm coming down with a cold. This is a first for me—it's so unusual for me to get under the weather. I feel okay, but I am coughing, and quite congested. So, I called KC to cancel. I didn't get to speak to the RN who administers the treatment, but left a voice mail, and requested a call-back. I'm hoping that I can re-schedule for Monday, Nov. 3rd. That way, we could drive up at our leisure on Sunday, spend the night, and begin treatment early Monday. Mel will need to have a substitute for his route that day, but that shouldn't pose a problem. I'm disappointed that my treatment will be delayed, but trust that there is a reason. And, there is one advantage—Mel will be able to take two field trips this weekend, which will more than pay for the cost of the trip. Fate (or divine guidance) has a way of working for me. 

I still need to cancel our motel reservation, and schedule another for the new, approved date. But, I'm waiting for KC to return my call before I go on-line to do those tasks. Hopefully they'll call soon. Looking at the calendar to re-schedule, has me realizing that the election is less than 3 weeks away! YAY!! Won't it be wonderful to get this marathon campaign in our rear view mirror? I wonder if the terrible economy will effect TV advertising. They've been thriving on political, and automobile ads for so long, but they will lose the political, and they can hardly give away cars! Just an interesting thought.

Huge hugs!

PS I got my call-back, and I'm re-scheduled for Oct. 30th. Reservations have been re-done, and I'm back in business! More hugs.

Volunteer

Mel answered the phone a few weeks ago, and I overheard his accepting—what, I didn't know until he was done. It turned out, that it was NMSS seeking volunteers to participate in their fund drive. It was to be simple, take only about 10 minutes, and involved stuffing envelopes. The explanatory "package" would arrive shortly, and thanks so much for helping.

It was several weeks before the package arrived, and I went through it to see just how "easy", and "quick" this was going to be. The package consisted of 2 wrapped stacks of 20 envelops each, a stack of 20 foldable introductory cards, 2 large window envelops, a letter of introduction, and directions. This "10 minute job" consisted of coming up with 20 names, addressing the white envelops to those 20 persons, personalizing and enclosing the foldable introductory cards, self addressing, and enclosing the orange envelops, applying postage, (42¢ X 20=$8.40) and mailing. Then, collecting the contributions, and after 3 weeks returning the $ to NMSS in one of the supplied window envelops. (please write a check for any cash sent) The second window envelop was for any contributions received after the first mailing. 10 minutes—yeah right!

Anyway, I did the deed, and some money is starting to arrive. NMSS is counting on $100 per volunteer. I think there won't be any problem coming up with at least that. I do wonder, however, how many "volunteer" a second time! I think next year I might just send them $100! lol

I Found It!

Yay! There it is! My error was in not changing the date—and it posted on Sept. 28th (I think).  Anyway this is the picture I'd found on the jigsaw puzzle site, and wanted to share with Lois & Yo. The kitties' names are Randy & Floyd, and I'd said (in the former post) that I never see kitty pics without thinking of you two. I'm still learning, and making progress, albeit slowly! More hugs 

old picture—old kitchen

This is a test—it is only a test. I had posted (attempted to post) another picture from my drafts, and it disappeared! I have no idea where it went. It is no longer in my drafts, but neither did it find its way into my blogs. So, I decided to try again. I'm going to hit "publish post". Wait—i think I just found the problem—bet this works, and I know where to find the other one! More hugs! 

Where oh where

When we need to shop in Branson, I have to get up early and pick Mel up at the bus barn after his route (about 8:00—30 minutes away).  This is what we did last Monday when we went for Mel's new shoes. I'd had a poor night on Sunday, and had only had a couple hours of sleep, when it was time to get ready to go. I decided to watch the 7:00 news headlines, and leave about 7:15 to 7:30........I woke up at 7:50..........I'd fallen asleep in my chair!! 

I called Mel's voice mail to let him know I was running late. I didn't have my glasses on, and couldn't figure out why. I did a quick search for glasses and couldn't FIND them! I then did a more thorough search—nope! I put on my "spare" pair cuz how do you find your glasses without your glasses? I continued searching, sure that I'd find them with my foot on the floor—CRUNCH! But it didn't happen, and I really had to go! So, I took off wearing my "back-up" pair. 

After shopping, Mel has to retrieve his bus at the barn, and we drive both vehicles home. I'd told Mel of the "glasses" incident, and he assured me we'd locate them. The first thing we did when we got home, was get flashlights, and look behind, under, and around everything relevant to my having sat in the chair, and realizing the glasses weren't "on". Finally Mel spied them on the floor beneath a coffee table a few feet from "my" chair—they were amazingly camouflaged—it's no wonder we'd overlooked them for so long. I don't know how they got there. I can only surmise that I'd taken them off while I slept, and they'd been in my lap when I jumped up to go.

All's well that ends well—and this ended well! Hugs!

 

continuation

I will explain why I call the podiatrist "genius". After getting his inserts, Mel would occasionally experience more back problems. On these occasions, Genius would ask Mel to walk down the hall in the office. Doc would watch Mel walk several feet down and back—then take one or both inserts, and sand a little off here or there or add a "patch" here or there—poof the back problems disappeared! it was amazing! 

We assumed that any podiatrist was capable of this, so when he began having problems in Missouri, we set up an appointment with a podiatrist here. The yo-yo looked at us as though we were crazy seeing a podiatrist for back problems, and told us to see a chiropractor! I tried the "walk" viewing, and could see that his feet were rolling over to the outside. So, we tried new shoes—they did okay for a while, but would "break down" within a very few weeks. We bought a lot of new shoes until we found the pricey SAS shoes. He wore those for an entire year, and we swore to never buy any other kind.

The second pair of SAS didn't do so well—and Mel thought his back problems were from another cause. (sitting on hard bleachers on his field trips) But, I insisted that he buy more shoes. I asked if there was any difference in the first & second pairs, and the answer was yes—the second pair was ½ size larger. So we went back to SAS on Monday and checked for the size 7 N he'd had the first time. They didn't have them, but the "genius" sales lady recommended ladies' shoes. With his tiny feet, we have done the ladies shoes many times, and knew that he took a ladies 9. He tried a 9 N, and sales lady suggested an 8½. Sold! three days later, the back is good! Let's hope it continues!

More soon! Hugs!

Feet, shoes & back

Mel has chronic back problems that go back to our early years together. When René (daughter) was in high school, she played volleyball, and came home one day complaining that when she'd "jump" on the court, she'd hit her inner ankle bones on the ground  upon landing. I debated a while, and decided that a visit with a podiatrist (foot doctor) was in order. I lucked upon finding a genius doctor, who changed our lives. 

Doc (since retired) didn't take long figuring out the problem, the tough part was convincing me the necessity of spending about $400 to correct it. This was in the latter 70s, and that was a lot of money, back then. Anyway he showed me that her beautiful, high arches disappeared entirely when she stood. She had flat feet—and yes, her ankles did hit the ground when she'd jump. The treatment was shoe inserts. And the necessity of getting them for her was to prevent (among other things) back problems! He explained that 30% of back problems are actually foot problems.

The next step, of course, was to take Mel to the podiatrist. After doc saw Mel, he announced that he knew where René got her flat feet! Mel got inserts too, and has done pretty well since. A while back, (1-2 years) one of the inserts broke! We still had the plaster molds of his feet, and called the office of the genius doctor (the replacement doc trained by genius) in Wichita. Not only would they make new inserts if we mailed the molds, but the insert was warranted, and the broken one wouldn't cost us anything. The catch was that they could only do them in pairs, and we'd have to pay for the second one. Deal! So we got the deed done via telephone and mail!

More on the back/foot problems later. Huge hugs!

The Water Jug

Yesterday, Mel had a field trip, and took advantage of the close proximity of a store to purchase a new water jug. We discovered, during the last power outage, that one we'd had for some time was leaking, slightly. A gasket had cracked.  

Mel didn't get home until dinner time, and before we ate, we made a futile attempt at opening the new jug. We couldn't DO it! I was holding the bottom with all my strength, and he was twisting the top—but it didn't budge. We decided that we'd eat, and try once more before making the decision as to our next move. (return the jug or go begging, shamefully, for assistance) Now, this is a 3 gallon jug, and fairly large. Mel commented something to the effect that no one had opened it at check out, as is usual to be sure he wasn't walking out with it crammed full of other merchandise. His point being that he wasn't sure it capable of being opened.

We ate, and returned to the puzzle. Mel was convinced, I think, that it was weakling Katy that couldn't muster the proper strength to hold my share. But both of us struggling together couldn't budge the top even a fraction. Mel finally suggested we try the opposite direction. Without too much effort, it moved! he moved it back and forth a few times, then lifted straight up—the lid came right off! What was inside? The directions on how to open!!

I hope this story brightens your day, a little. I think we can all use some giggles! Huge hugs!