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Tuesday, 09 February 2010

  • Wintery weather

    Yeah, we are cooling off.    The whole week is supposed to be alternating days of dry and wet, but all cold.    Anything below 60 is too cool for me, but we are going to be near freezing on some days.     No matter.   The lawn is all brown and only the shrubs that are freeze proof are left.    I gave away my potted plants and told our yard man that he is welcome to all the pots that are behind the storage building.

    I am going to the dentist tomorrow to have one tooth extracted and another prepped for a crown.    I have used up my insurance so all this will be out of pocket.   Ugh.   I hate to spend money on teeth.    I mean, I dislike having their hands in my mouth, gloves or not and then I have to pay them!!   But I am starting to have pain and so it is going to get done.   We can pay it off in payments if we want.  

    I go see our primary care doctor on Friday.  My blood pressure is still pretty high and so is my blood sugar.    Plus all I want to do is sleep.    And my back is starting to act up really bad.    The list goes on.   

    We had really good spaghetti and meat balls tonight.    I am not an Italian cook and so maybe most people might not like it.   But it is what we are used to.    I like the sauce to be really chunky and thick and I don't use any Italian seasonings.    I do put a bit of sugar in the sauce and we like the meat balls to be really small, each a bite really.   And don't laugh, but I like to put a couple of hard boiled eggs to cook in the sauce for a while too.     And of course, we use cheddar cheese on it too.      How's that for an odd recipe?    I bet Dee would have liked it.

    I am still reeling from Bonnie's son.    I know she must be hurting so much.    I would call her, but all we would do is blubber on the phone.      I think I will wait a while on it. 

    The death of Dee Churchill, the Coffee Bean Goddess was a shock and a shame and now Bonnie and Wil's son.   

    It's a fact of life that the older we get, the more we have to deal with deaths of friends and family and in dealing with them, we are rocked to our very core when we realize how fragile life can be.        We can't do much but comfort the bereaved by praying for them.   We don't know what it's like and there is really no words to bring them comfort.   Sometimes just being there helps.     I have been distracted all day.  

    My mind is wandering so I will close this and wish you all a good night.    

Saturday, 06 February 2010

  • Friendship across the miles.

    I have been putting off writing this entry for a while.    Here is the story.

    Years ago when I had just gotten a computer and was making my way like a blind person through  the mazes we know as the world wide web, I came across a blog ring called Autumn Leaves.    It's made up mostly of people of a "certain" age and I found many friends there.   Among them was Dee Churchhill.   What a pleasure to read her blog and to try her recipes, and talk to her over the air waves as if we were sitting down, sharing a cup of her coffee.    She was known to many as the Coffee Bean Goddess.  We kept in touch, read each other's blogs, and became faraway friends.  She is gone now, or so they tell me, but I think her presence will be felt by me and many others for years to come.

    I find it hard to speak of Dee in the past tense.   She is alive in all her readers, in the hearts of so many.    I have many of her recipes in my recipe folder.  I just checked it and there are at least a dozen of her recipes there.    She was an adventurous cook who liked to try wild new ways to make food appealing.   And there is her coffee.   There is no telling how many varieties she tried.   

    My husband doesn't understand about web friends, people who I have never seen and probably never will see that are so close to me.    That's okay, I get it.    In my present situation, which keeps me from seeing my friends the way I would like, I rely on my computer to help me "see" old friends and make new ones.     Since I have joined Facebook, I have found a lot of friends there too, new and old.    Even our youngest son, who "divorced" the family all those many years ago (Is it almost 30 years now?) is on Facebook and we are in contact with him once more.   It's a blessing for us.

    So that's it for today except to tell you, my friends, that the sun is out full force here today and I wish for you a great day.     

Wednesday, 27 January 2010

  • Whirlwind

    I feel as if my day went round and round, stopping here and there for errands, upset with failure to get one of my meds at Walgreen's, gassing up the car, grocery shopping, two Dollar Stores looking for sugar free candy, and of course, the everlovin post office.   And there were meals, lunch was leftovers from last night and all I cooked for supper was brown meat balls and blackeyed peas.    I had leftover rice.   

    Starting the day being awakened by hubby saying he heard the garbage trucks coming and running out to put the container by the curb didn't help.     Naturally, it wasn't the garbage pickup he heard, but he had good intentions.   We did have trash pickup today too so all the plastic bags and trimmings are gone from the front yard.    I was glad to see that.   

    As I was getting groceries out of the trunk, a van stopped and a black woman asked me if I knew someone in the neighborhood that needed a house cleaner or someone to sit with the elderly or sick.    Now as much as I would love for someone to clean house for me, I am leery of letting just anyone come into our home.    She had a sad tale to tell of no job, kids to feed, etc.   She said the local pantries were good for getting canned food, but once in a while, she would like to give her kids a little meat.   I gave her a $5 bill and told her to go buy some bologna for her kids.  

    Actually, I think I would like to sell this house and buy a brand new clean one.    

Monday, 25 January 2010

  • Catching up

    A few days have passed since my last post and a number of issues have been resolved or at least are in the process.    I will try to be succinct and not go off on a tangent.

    The cell phone that I thought was dead was only in a coma brought on by yours truly.   I turned it to silent for Mass on Saturday night and when I tried to turn it back on, I got a black screen with nothing working to right the situation.   Today I went by the TMobile place and the fellow there told me I had turned it off.   I knew that, but how did it get in it's catatonic state?   He said I had never turned it back on again.   Some days I feel like a total idiot.    So the phone is working now.   Of course I will be afraid to turn it off again for fear I won't be able to turn it back on.   

    The backache.   Still there but numbed by various pain meds.   I will be going to the doctor soon enough if my blood pressure and blood sugar don't start to normalize.    I will have a long list of petty complaints to discuss with him.   

    I like my doctor.    He seems to truly want to help me and he is sympathetic.    And I also think he is pretty smart.  

    The toothache.   Oy!    The crown they put on the root canal tooth seems to be doing okay.    But day before yesterday, my gums were so sort on the other side of my mouth that I had decided to call the dentist first thing Monday.   (today)    But the gums started feeling better yesterday morning and I was thankful that I would avoid the dentist.

    But.     Last night I got another toothache that kept me awake for about four hours.    This is on the same side as the crown.   Double oy!  I called my dentist, who took xrays and and did a little honing on the tooth, which is loose with a huge filling in it that is probably cracked.   I am to call him tomorrrow if it is still hurting.  If it is, I want  him to pull it.   And another strange thing happened in his office.   Both he and the tech were studying the xray and wondering about what was showing up where my wisdom tooth used to be.   I told them that when my wisdom teeth were pulled, the dentist way back when told me that there might be some small fragments left in because in order to get them, he would have to go into the nerve channels and there was a good chance my face could end up paralyzed.     Come to find out there is a good size chunk left.   I dunno if anything will be done about that. 

    So tomorrow holds the fate of my aching tooth.  

    Today was beautiful.    Not too cold and fairly clear.    I didn't go out much.    Seem I spend most of the time inside.   I used to be such an outdoors person.  

    I finally got rid of all my potted plants.    They had suffered so much in the cold weather anyway.   When the lawn crew came, I had them clean out the flower beds and trim everything that was dead or dying and also put three large plants out for the trash pick up.   I didn't even keep the pots.    They took them and I am glad.  

    I am so thankful for Mr. Torres and about 4 other fellows who do such a good job and always say I don't need to give them extra money when they do extra work.    Of course I give it to them anyway most of the time.    When we get to where we can't do the things we used to do,  we either quit doing it or find someone to help us, usually with pay.  

    Let's see.    That's about it.    I did get to go to Mass this weekend and I cooked a couple of good meals since last I wrote.   So, time is passing and we are getting along.   I am thankful for the small things that go right and the large things that we deal with.    Our kids are okay and we are not doing so awful bad.   lol    Life is what we make of it after all.   I only hope we can keep enduring, not hurting so much and managing the obstacles.   

    I am also thankful for you, my friends, who read about my life  and encourage me to keep writing it.    This blog is my sanity and you are my therapists.  After all, we are all one family on this spinning planet.    We take the good with the bad and hope the good wins out. 

     

Thursday, 21 January 2010

  • Thursday

    Suffice to say I am about to hit the hay.    My back is giving me fits and I didn't get done nearly what I had in mind to do today.  But I baked a peach pie and cooked supper and did a load of wash.   Add in all the nitty little chores that one does every day and I suppose that is why I am so pooped.

    I suppose my back pain is caused by bone spurs pushing on nerves.    It sure does hurt.   Darvocet numbs the pain some but if I am not careful about what I do, it is like an electrical shock to my spine.    

    I really did think my body would hold together longer than this.

    I like to look back, remember the "good ol days" and all, but lately I have been thinking more about the coming years and what they might hold for us.    Lordy mercy, it looks as if it will get tougher and tougher.    We hobble around here, both hurting and moaning like we were in our 90s, not our 70s.    Somewhere along the way, our bodies betrayed us, pulled us down and kept us back from what we wanted.      I think this stinks.  

    If there can be extreme beauty makeovers, why not body makeovers.    I don't mean exercise and diet, but a real makeover, replacing worn out parts and giving us a strong immune system.   I am not worried about wrinkles and sagging skin, I want a strong body that can last at least till I am a hundred.   ~smile~   Well, maybe not a hundred, but near it.   

    I have always maintained that age is just a number and I still stand by that.   It's not the numbers that bother me, it's the sad state of my health.    I know there are people who are seriously ill, really at death's door, and I know there are many who will think it's a silly notion to get a complete overhaul, like when you take a broken down old clunker in and they replace key parts to get it running again.

    My blood sugar and blood pressure are presently out of whack and I suppose I will have to see the doctor about it.    I am averse to taking insulin.   I take an oral med for my diabetes and also for my blood pressure.    The pills I take every day would cost a small fortune if not for our insurance.    I'm thankful for that.  I just wish the pills would do a better job.  

    You know what?    I am babbling a stream of conciousness post that is sure to bore any reader to tears.   So, I am going to stop and go to bed.  

    Stay with me, friends.    I am sure one of these days I will write something worth reading.  

Saturday, 16 January 2010

  • Rainy post

    I woke up to rain today and it has rained till now, at 10am.    I don't mind except I would like it to let up when I go to Mass at 4.   Gordon is out of cookies so I suppose  I will be in the kitchen momentarily.   My blood pressure and blood sugar have been high for the last few days and maybe that accounts for my blah feeling,   If I was a car, I'd need a tune up and an oil change.   I don't think I am hitting on all my cylinders.   ~smile~

    I would love to hibernate for about 2 months.   I would wake up to the promise of spring and maybe that would perk me up.   

    Every place I look, I see work.   The house, the yard, the car is dirty and I need a complete makeover.     I'd like to be a tall, long legged, curvaceous, dark haired beauty.    I don't want much!   Right now I am a short-ish, fat, fast losing my hair,  and have an amazing number of bumps, spots and moles on my wrinkled bod.    ~laff~  Get that picture out of your mind!

    I have started on the cookies by measuring everything out first.   I had to stop to warm Gordon's lunch so I came in here to hopefully to finish.   The beds are made at least.   It's still raining, only harder now. 

                                                            SHORT BREAK

     52 cookies are baked and in containers, some for now and some in the freezer.   I started the pinto beans for our chili tonight and will start the meat shortly.    My back about gave out when I was cleaning up the cat crate in the garage and so I am sitting, rolled pillow to my back and will go back in there when the m/w bell rings saying my ground meat is about thawed.  

    It's still raining so going to Mass is iffy.  If I do go, Gordon will be almost in a panic while I am gone.   Maybe I could call him when I get to Church so he won't worry so much.   I really do want/need to go. 

    That's about it for this rainy Saturday.   I remember how I used to sit at a window or go on the porch and watch it rain.    We had a porch swing and so did my grandparents.  I used to love to snuggle in an old quilt and listen to my Grandma Adele tell me stories of when she was a little girl.  She was my Mama's mother.   My other Grandma didn't speak much English but I remember listening to her and trying to understand Bohemian.   She was Daddy's mama.   I wish now I had kept asking questions and writing those stories down.   But teen years and then married life got in the way and I didn't get to see them as much.  

    I hope you stay warm and dry and enjoy the rest of the weekend.

    And I don't know why there is a blue background in same places and white in othes.  ??? 

Thursday, 14 January 2010

  • Just another Thursday?

    Man makes plans and God laughs. Is that the way the saying goes?

    Take this morning. Awakened with cramp in leg, nothing surprising there. Gordon met me at my bedroom door, “My recliner is broken”. I had plans to go get a three month scrip at the doc’s office and then come home and tackle a couple of household chores.

    Instead, after a went to the doc’s office, I went to Conn’s and bought a recliner, talked to them about the malfunctioning icemaker on the fridge we bought from them a couple of months ago and looked at the TV s there.

    We ate lunch and the salesman from Conn’s came by to measure the TV cabinet so they would know what size we need. There will be a customer service guy coming by to look at the fridge in a couple of days. We can’t get a TV for a while because we had had some real expenses lately.

     

    I did one chore and then started on supper. Chicken/sausage/okra gumbo at Gordon’s request. As I type this, it is almost done, everything ready to come together as soon as the chicken is tender enough to pull off the bones. I’m really looking forward to eating it because I put a little package of gizzards in it, all for me.

    You may not think this is enough to make me tired, but I am worn out simply because I had to do something “extra”.

    ***********************

    I took a break from this to eat supper and clean up the kitchen It’s a toss up as what is hurting the most, my feet, my hands or my gums where I have a very sore place. I rinsed with salt and took a couple of Darvocet.

    It’s been a long day.

Tuesday, 12 January 2010

  • Birthdays

    Today is my Mama’s birthday. She died 19 years ago, but she is with me every minute of every day as if she still walked this earth. She was my hero and my friend. I miss her so much.

    She came from a poor family who worked hard to get along and get what they needed to survive. She was born on a little island off the Louisiana coast. It’s no longer an island but she remembered the boat rides to get to the mainland and the hardships. Despite having to work very hard, she was a happy, joyous woman. She came to Texas after being in an abusive marriage and she and her sister got jobs as maids to Port Arthur’s affluent community. She met and married my father and had two girls.

    I don’t think I realized it when I was growing up, but she and Daddy  had a 50/50 relationship. I never saw or heard them even disagree about anything, much less fight. Mama worked just as hard as Daddy did, he at his job at Texaco and she taking care of us and keeping the house. Things were so much harder back then without the modern conveniences we have now. And when anything needed doing at home, Daddy did some things and Mama did others. Never any squabbling.   My sister and I learned how to work early in life.   We had chores, but I can't remember if we got an allowance.  Maybe my sister can help me out on that. 

    Growing up, we had everything we needed. We might not have everything we wanted, but it seems now that it was nearly so. I believe it’s because we were raised not to want so much and didn’t consider ourselves entitled to have all our desires fulfilled.

    And so today, on our birthday, I am thinking of Mama even more. She told me that when I was born 74 years ago on her birthday, there were long icicles hanging from the eaves of old St. Mary Hospital.

    Mama, I am trying hard to be just a little bit like you in your goodness and ability to bring out the best in others. You are my hero and mentor and my guardian angel. I feel your presence so much and I know you are with me whenever I need you. I talk to you a lot and I know you hear me.

                            Mama and me

    This was taken in the hallway of Our Lady of LaSalette in Kirbyville.   Mama had just gotten over one of her worst battles with one of her many illnesses.   She was so glad to be able to go to Mass.  Please excuse the poor quality of the photo.  It has been in a frame where it gets too much light, I suppose.

     

Monday, 11 January 2010

  • This, that and the other

    OK.   We have had our freezing spell, water gets turned off, and faucet is left running.   So far no broken pipes.    And now comes the next chapter, warming trend and lots of rain.   I don't know what comes after that. 

    The last couple of days have been carbon copies of the day before.    And while I am thinking of it, there are many young people who don't know exactly what a carbon copy is.  Remember how messy they could get when you were trying desperately to type something  neatly?

    Tonight we had shrimp etouffee.    So good.   For those of you who might not know, etouffee is shrimp cooked in a wonderful buttery sauce with lots of celery, onion, bell pepper and garlic.    We eat it over white rice with lots of crusty garlic bread.   I had some avocado with mine and Gordon ate tomatoes.   

    I had my cap put on today.   It didn't amount to very much and I was out in jig time.   That dentist sure does a good business.    I am putting off any other dental work for a while so we can pay our house and car insurance.    Not a fun way to spend money for sure.    I would much rather spend some money on the house, if only hiring someone to come in and clean it really well.  

    When I was a kid, say from about 11 till I was 18, we lived in a house that my dad and his brothers built for us.     One of my best friends built a house across the street and we could walk to St. James School every day.    The best part about the house was the back room which we called a sunporch.   There were windows on three sides and a window seat on the end opposite the back door.   My school desk was against the inside wall between two doors, one to the kitchen and one to our bedroom.  All told there were three doors and about 8 windows in the room.   We had linoleum on the floor and the furniture was what was called ranch style, varnished wooden arms and frame with cushions that Mama had covered in green plastic.  

    It was our hang out place.   Daddy painted a checkerboard on a small table so we could play there or bring out the monopoly game.   We played thousands of gamed of canasta there and most of the time there was a jigsaw puzzle there where we all took turns trying to complete.    There was no TV of course but I seem to remember a small radio on my desk.   I am all for bringing back sun porches but I suppose today the video games and computer stuff wouldn't fit in that primitive setting.   It was all about interacting, talking, singing, and playing games.    We only had one phone and it was on a little shelf in the hall by the living room.   That's where the TV went too when we got one, in the living room.

    You know I really do like to look back at all of our old fashioned customs back in the 40s and 50s and I guess it's because it seems to me to be such a simple time.  Did we think it was simple back then?    I don't think we gave a moment's thought about simplicity or anything else like that.    We just lived.   We didn't have live war pictures on TV, or talking heads beating a dead horse on every subject under the sun.   No matter what, the news hounds love news even if they have to make it up.  All this endless talking just complicates things and frankly causes me to turn off the set.   

    I prefer to concentrate on living every day as if it were my last, hoping that I am doing at least a few things right.    How about you?    Do you long for the "good ol days"?    Don't forget, if you had to go back to those good old days, you would have to give up a lot of time savers, electronic toys and labor saving devices.  

    I'll take today and live it to my best.   

    Ya'll take care, sleep well and tell someone you love them.   

     

     

     

Saturday, 09 January 2010

  • Saturday night

    I had a sleepy day, sluggish in the worst way.    I did nap a couple of times, but if I could have, I would have loved to just stay in bed and sleep till I woke up of my own accord.    It's been a while since I have done that.   And it looks as if it will be a long time before I do again.

    We had leftover gumbo for lunch and I cooked Gordon a steak and baked potato for supper.   I ate mac and cheese for my supper.   Good ol comfort food for the slug that I am.

    We are letting the water run again tonight.   It is freezing already.   The sun was out today, so it warmed to the 40s.   

    I have absolutely no more say.   It will be an early bedtime for me. 

     

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avajsouth

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