Lazy Saturday

 Jan 24 and Jan 25

steps 20,298 

Today has been a lazy day. Plus, I have no ooomph. 

I rounded up info to tackle another problem over the phone. I don't relish this call. But, it is worth $2000, so I can handle it. 

Friday night, I slept ten solid hours! A couple of times I wanted a nap today, but after five minutes reclining, I felt refreshed. Silly, huh? I never rested for more than five minutes today. 

I read a lot and watched tv. Of course, I read on laptop where I can enlarge the text.

I forgot to post steps on Friday, so I posted for two days today.

Dinner: pork medallion, salad, snacks after dinner were about a dozen chocolate chips, and half dozen pecan halves. 

Thankfully, it is warming up here. The snow on the sand at the beach is disappearing.

Do you still have ice, sludge or snow? 

What's on the Porch? Places to Read

 Tommy received a box of the monitors to stick on his arm with one of the receivers.  Cost for three months' supply? --$53.  A three-month supply gotten one at a time would cost $1350.00. The cost for three months will be something like $53, much better price than $450.00 for one month he has already paid.  

Not going to the rodeo is still disappointing. We would have missed mower if we had gone. He was coming in the afternoon until he checked the heat forecast for this afternoon. It is dangerous out there with heat index over 100F. 

My friend who has suffered some debilitating injuries from falling has a son who is very ingenious and helpful to her. Her son Macgyvered a way for her to get to bathroom without falling. He attached a rope about 2" thick to one side of her bed and pulled it taut and attached it beside her commode. She said she has no trouble staying on her feet. Maybe he should patent these. Yes, she said the rope looked like something to be used on a ship. 

Decluttering has begun again. It is just never-ending, especially when I never finish and have to sort of start all over. 

It is 7:30 and 87F. Yuck. I went outdoors, and the heat was oppressive.

I have a stack of books that is growing. I will not move it. When I get new glasses, I can read. I have the prescription, just need to fill it. But, the book pile grows! At my house, I had three places to read a book in progress each place.  

Do you have a make-do way of staying on your feet or safe from any hazard? 

How many places do you read? Is there a book at each place? Do you read more than one book at a time? 

Is the heat dangerous where you live?

Sleep, Tomato, Reading, Limb, Neighbors

 I am up at 4:30! I awoke just before 4 am. Why? I listened to my body and went to bed at 9:30 pm n Tuesday night. I am shocked at my decision. But, I had a busy day. Doing nothing, it appears. I want to go to bed at midnight and awake around 8 am.

Yesterday, we had a tree guy come to give an estimate for taking the tree limb hanging over the yard. The last estimate and only other estimate was for $1350. One limb. 

This guy gave us two estimates per my request. One for taking it down and carrying it. One for putting it on the ground. The plan was to defray our cost by allowing someone to take it for firewood. The tree is oak. The cost for cutting, removing, cleaning the yard was $300. The cost for putting it on ground. $200. 

When I was handed to two costs, I was shocked and read it twice, read it aloud. I told Tommy we should not get the other estimate, just let him get the limb. 

Can you believe the discrepancy in the two bills? The guy appeared to be lucid. 

I never see the neighbors with the dogs. I just report what Tommy tells me. However, today, I saw one of the mothers getting out of the car. The dogs were barking like mad. I suppose they miss the family and were hungry. I wonder what happened to the other dogs and the cat, though. I told Tommy I think they have no electricity. He didn't think so. Well, he came in after me and said she went in and turned on no lights. He saw her go in and on another trip to the car saw her exit the house. Since she turned no lights on, he does think they lost electricity. 

I just hope the children are okay since at least one of these women are cruel. This seems to be a family in crisis. In times of stress more abuse occurs. 

Weeds are two feet deep and toys are still strewn all over the yard. The liner for the swimming pool is lying out in the front yard, killing all the grass. The sides of the pool are falling down in back yard. Of course, all this is on our side of their house next to ours. 

When I went to Lowe's on Sunday and bought the Stella de Oro, I was looking for cayenne peppers and something else in the vegetables/herbs. For some reason, the staff had made a raised bed and put it right on the pavement. Inside the square, there were lots of tomato plants, more than need be in that small space and none were staked. So, you can imagine the jumble. There were many green tomatoes. In the midst and below the tomato jungle, I could see one reddish tomato. I reached down and picked it up. The stem had been split, either from someone pulling it or from the stress of not being staked. The length of the torn tomato stem was healed. 

I finished picking it up since it was detached and put it in my cart. When I got to the register, the woman came around to scan the two things I had. I showed her the tomato and asked if I could have it. She very cheerfully said I could. So, it is on the counter ripening. 

The alarm is set for 9 am when I need to get up, wash my hair and leave by 9:30 am. I really hate that is four hours away, and I am up. However, I doubt I will be able to go back to sleep. I slept my seven hours I require. Still, this is why I never go to bed early. Even if I evolve into an early bird, I will be ready to go back for a nap before noon. There is not much to do this time of the day without disturbing Tommy. I cannot read a book until I get new glasses. 

I 'lost' my debit card. It has been two weeks. My cc does not work. I am even out of the bank's system. I did not use it enough. HA! On Monday, I called the bank to replace my debit card. On, Tuesday night, I found it. Isn't that the way it always happens? 

Today, I have an appointment for an emergency eye exam. It has been almost a year since the tech for the stress test popped my mask into my eye and refused to remove it so the edge of the mask was not hurting. The eye in the outer corner is still giving me problems, hurting and crusting. Today, I will see about that. The reason I have waited so long is that I kept thinking it would get better. 

Alabama is screwing up educational progress once again. I am just furious. When I was in first grade, I was astute enough to know that the reading groups were not just chosen at random. I realized everyone in my group were the best readers. My son was removed from his classroom and taken to a 'special' room. He tested very low at the end of first grade. So, I sat my pregnant self down and we read all summer, despite his objections. (He learned to love reading and is now a high school English teacher.) They put him in group wrongly based on six-month old scores. He was humiliated and complained every day for a month that all the other people in the class were stupid and could not read. I had a baby the end of September, so was not even aware of what was happening. They illegally put my son in some sort of program with numbers. I trusted a very good system and it failed us. How much failure is happening in other schools without stellar records? 

I suppose I need to go and at least lie down to keep my feet from swelling ahead of a busy day in the car. I am not going to edit this post at all. 

Do you ever find random tomatoes? Or, any normally cultivated food? 

Do you have neighbor children or families you worry about? 

Have you lost a cc or debit card, only to find it as soon as you find it?

Can you think of any reason in the wide range of cost for limb removal?

Have schools failed your child? 

Books, Shredding, Paper

The one thing I enjoy better than a book is a free book. I found a cache of them, all meant for consumption by seniors. They are donated to the senior centers/locations around town. From the few titles I was able to see, I really doubt there will be anything to interest me. I cannot think of any of the titles right now. When I go back to look, I will list a few titles/authors. I did notice there are multiple copies of some titles. The books can be returned or kept. They had a sign on the door saying they would accept no more book donations.

I went to the library and checked out two books and finished one on Friday night. I read 275 pages today. The Sound of Gravel by Ruth Wariner is a true story, memoir, of living in a polygamous community in Mexico. The book starts when Ruthie is five-years-old and ends when she is thirty-seven-years old. I will tell you no more. I highly recommend this book.

That makes two books I have read in 3.5 days. I am really enjoying being able to read without eyestrain.

Earlier tonight, exbf said maybe reading more would help me to go to sleep. I am the last person to ever get drowsy with a book, even a boring book. I have been known to read all night. As the night wears on and I read a book, I become more alert.

Tomorrow will be exciting. The Chamber or someone is sponsoring a Free Shred day. I have about a brown paper trash bag of items to be shredded. This last week should have been a push to sort older items to shred most of them. But, this antibiotic makes me feel ill.

Since I did not want to own a shredder, I bought a fire pit, thinking exbf could burn them. Maybe another time we could use wood and make smores. No, he did not want to. He never said so, he just never did it.

Paper is my nemesis. I found a plastic file folder of cancelled checks from 1990. One account was a personal account and the other was my business account. All were labeled. I resisted the urge to look at them for weeks, fearing I would find something I needed to keep. Finally, I opened one envelope and found a check I wanted to keep and a number of a place I ordered material wholesale. The check has been saved and the number written down in a permanent place and the original paper with the number was put into the shred bag. I do not dare open another envelope of cancelled checks because I fear I will keep something else. It is done.

The only thing I bought today was two Roma tomatoes. I think my wants will be less when I can read.

Your turn
Are you also a voracious reader of books? Does reading make you drowsy or more alert? Do you shred or burn? Do Senior Centers near you have donated books to give away? Do you find that paper overwhelms you?

To Do List for March

Baby Doll Dianthus

Read three or four books.
I can do this in a bright light with the one scratched lens in my glasses. Plus, I should finally get my lens since I had the surgery. I am waiting for my checkup on Monday. Both eyes had little bubbles behind the new lens, so the opthamologist used a laser on those.

Hem two washcloths.
Since their hems came unstitched, I am short two washcloths. I quit using them to at least preserve them in their state of not being completely unhemmed.

Prepare to start sewing again.
This involves getting machine moved and set up, none of which I can do without help.

Return TV and swap for another.
This is another thing that requires help. The TV makes incredibly loud popping noises and scares me. It sound sharp like a rock thrown against a window. No, it's not that. I am afraid it might explode or cause a fire. No one at WM knows why it might do this.

Trade out table under TV for another.
Of course, I need help doing this, too. The present table is too short and too long.

Start seeds
No explanation needed here.

Sow flower seeds
I bought a fifty-cent packet of Dianthus (top) seeds to sow in a place I do not want to mow that still needs something. I also bought a twenty-cent packet of sunflower seeds that I am going to plant where a four-foot-square garden sat. The ground should be fertile.

There will be additions, I am quite sure.