A Lost Shoe!

                      My ghost Mabel is at it again !

 (when I can't find things, I blame it on a ghost that I have named Mabel)

January 1st I was sitting in my recliner waiting on my nieces to arrive and I slipped my shoes off. Man, I hate to wear shoes in the house! The Roomba was making a last minute attempt to vacumn the floor. 

The nieces arrive, we visit a bit and then head out for lunch. I start to slip my shoes on and there is only one sitting by my chair. A quick search... nothing... so I put on another pair and we have a nice lunch.

Here it is over a week later and I still have not found that shoe!

Both recliners have been turned over... no shoe. I ran my cane all under the couch and it didn't drag out anything...I've even looked in other rooms. That shoe has to be somewhere! My guess is, the Roomba pushed it in a hidden spot and then left it there. 

Shirley promises me she'll do a more indepth search when she is here Friday.

I'll let you know where we find it! .... if Mabel hasn't flown off into the night with it under her wing. 

                        My orchid is blooming again! 

and my crazy Christmas cactus has buds on it. Will share that when they open up. 

Y'all have a good one! 

Disaster In The Kitchen!

                   Let me tell you about yesterday!

Big emergency but I know it's something that will be talked and laughed about for years to come.

The staff here at the apartment complex wanted to treat us all to Thanksgiving dinner at noon on Tuesday. We were so excited. 55 residents signed up to attend. The staff had ordered the entire meal for us. 

Shirley had popped in the community room to check on 'the girls' (the staff) and found out that the food which had been ordered from a local grocery store was delivered frozen! At noon when we were due to eat ! 

Talk about scrambling around. The side dishes were all in those heat and eat trays for say 4 people. Only you can't feed 55 people frozen food. 

Michael took over the microwave in the community room trying to thaw out cornbread dressing 3 trays at a time. 

Deb and Jan took the sweet potato casserole in all those small trays to Deb's apartment and used her microwave to began thawing all that out. I joined Carolyn in her apartment to take care of the green bean casserole. It took over 2 1/2 hours. 

Once thawed, all the individual sidedishes were scooped into large aluminum pans and shoved into the ovens to heat so we could 'heat and eat' them, like they were supposed to be to begin with. As soon as Michael was finished with the dressing, he started carving 4 turkeys. 

The ham was already sliced but not cut away from the bone so that had to be done, as well. 

Shirley had thawed out all the mashed potatoes and gravy. 

Three and 1/2 hours later all 55 of us sat down to eat. I have to say it was great food. I had kept licking my fingers when I was thawing out that green bean casserole so I at least knew that would be outstanding and it turned out, it all was. 

I am not sure what the staff would have done, had not my two kids, myself, Carolyn, Deb and Jan helped out. We still probably would be waiting on that food... 24 hours later. hehe. 

My Day! VZ/ZXX?XUGH

 Yesterday was a Wednesday... the 4th to be exact. 

But, in my apartment, it felt like Friday the 13th! At my first peek at the internet I only saw the sign that I had none. I did the usual. You know, turning the computer off for a bit and then turning it on again. NOTHING! 

                                   I tried later. NOTHING!

Finally I get a text message from my provider saying there were problems that they were working on. Okay. So, I'll find something else to do. 

Then my cell phone started giving me notification signals.... every few minutes. Each time I'd open it up, look.. NOTHING. No new emails, calls, messages. What the heck! 

After awhile that beeping was getting under my skin! 

Then I get a text saying my network service had been restored. Yippee!

I log on, open up Facebook. look at a couple of friends posts, then I open up what I thought was a very innocent post about what celebrities had worn to a red carpet event. I like pretty clothes. 

But, pretty clothes was not what it showed me. My monitor screen was covered in over a dozen very explicit photos of porn and I could not get rid of it. I tried everything. It was telling me that my computer had been shut down and I was to call this number. Folks,  don't ever fall for that crap! It's a hoax. 

Instead I called my wonderful tech savy son-in-law, John. Over the phone he walked me through what to do to get back online. Lordy, I don't know what I'd do without that guy! 

But, the notification beep was still annoying the heck outta me. I went to settings, then notification and discovered I had a voice mail. I am one of those stupid nuts that almost never checks her voice mail. So, because I don't... I paid for it. Beep, Beep, Beep!! 

I recently ordered a book called "How To Drag a Body .... etc." In it was a chapter on computer hacking. I made notes. I'll do another post on that at a later date. But, this world of social media and life in general is getting darn scary. We all need to protect ourselves and each other. 

I think I'll never forget those porn images as long as I live. I won't be opening any more posts I don't know who posted it. 

Murphy's Law...

I've been thinking about y'all and wondering what you were up to. Just had a rough spot the last few days. 

It all started on Friday. Shirley came down to take me to my treatment and we always go to lunch first. 

Well, she said I could pick any place I wanted so it wasn't my fault!! I chose the Mod Olive downtown not even thinking about the fact that there was a railroad between there and the hospital. 

The 'not even thinking' got us in trouble. After lunch, just as we approached the railroad the arms come down, red lights flashing. A train is coming. We have waited as long as half an hour on trains before, so this wasn't an option. 

Shirley turned around and headed to another crossing, hoping to beat the train but guess what. Just as we approached the crossing, down come the arms and we are stuck again. Luckily it was only an engine pulling about half a dozen cars and we take off again.. we are going to make it on time. NOT

Closer to my treatment clinic the traffic slows down then it stops and we start creeping forward inch by inch. What the dickens!! It's just not my day! It's a wreck. So, we edge our way forward. Finally get to the clinic, late of course!! But, they were so nice about it. Some places won't take you if you are late! But, these girls are always so sweet and friendly and forgiving. 

Well, I start to get up off the table after my radiation is over and I guess I got up too fast. Had a little bout of vertigo that lasted all weekend. If it 'ain't' one thing it's twenty. But, I feel super this morning. And, hey, counting today I just got 5 more to go!! Yippee. 

If The Good Lord is Willing!!

 Let me tell you something funny! 

Of course, at the time it was not funny! It's odd how a different time or place will change your perspective on things, isn't it?

While I was going to my oncologist they were forever getting my scheduling wrong. I got pretty pissed at them about it. Then I discovered that there was incorrect information on the reports going out to my other doctors. Like... they had it listed as they were treating me for colon cancer instead of breast cancer. And, they had my Dad down as having had osteoarthritus. My Dad died at age 33, struck by lightning. Where were they getting this junk?

It was never resolved at the oncologist office....  however, I went to see my GP yesterday. Told her what a time I'd had and she immediately checked on her computer.

Now, Barton is a common name particularly in this area. They always use your first name when it's doing legal/medical/work stuff. So, my first name is Willie (named for my father who had just died when I was born). I just figured that I had to be the only Willie Barton in this world!

It seems that there are 3 Willie Bartons in the area who are patients of the oncologist. Me, another woman and a man. And, we are all about the same age. As many times as the drs. and nurses ask you your birthdate, it seems that they would have caught that. But, they didn't and have some other Willie Barton's information mixed up with mine. Now, that's scary but it's funny too. 

At least I am no longer going to that oncologist!! 

I'm gonna make it outta this cancer in one piece!

Whoops, wrong holiday

 

                      Talk about being embarrassed!!

Last year I stuck some cards in my neighbors doors but I never made it to one of the doors. I stuck that undelivered card in my 'card box'.

Fast forward to this year. Again I made cards to stick in doorframes. I'm thinking, Oh, I won't have to make one for the couple I missed so I just grabbed it out of the card box and went out to leave my Christmas cheer for friends. 

Later that day I get a text message from my friend I missed giving a card to last year. Here's what it said:

"Thank you for much for the Valentine card. You made my day."

Gee whiz... it wasn't Christmas that I'd been that 'good neighbor' for last year... I'd passed out Valentines in 2021. And, I'd grabbed up that old card thinking it was a Christmas card. 

             You know what I am going to do?

Come Valentine's Day, I am gonna fix up a pretty Christmas card and leave it at her door. 

    Hey, maybe I could start a new trend!!

Tech Guy To The Rescue

 I am so proud of myself. It, evidently, is never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.

Anyone who has had computer troubles knows what I am talking about. I had to buy a new computer recently which had Windows 11. And, my genealogy program Family Tree Maker was not compatible!!!!

I have spent the last 35 years gathering documents to build our family trees. I had tons of personal family stories, too. And, all of a sudden I couldn't even access my program. I did download the files as they told me to but no personal notes were there, most of the females were missing. I had so little left of what I had gathered over the years. I was devastated. 

But... ta da... last Friday I spent 4 1/2 hours on the phone with a Family Tree Maker tech guy and I now have almost everything restored. I'll make a call tomorrow to see if we can retrieve the rest of it. First time ever to use an online tech! 

It was so fascinating watching him control the actions on my computer. The cursor running around here and there, clicking on this and that and I just sat there watching. 

So thankful I now have all my years of hard work back again. I love technology.. and the people who know how to help you use it.

Found Fall Wreath

 Two blog posts ago I was lamenting that I had lost my Fall wreath.

It was NOT in my apartment so I called Shirley who lives not far from me and asked her if she had stored it for me. They have lots of storage! 

                         No, she said. 

But, the next morning she called, 'Hey, Mom, last year when you were taking down your Fall decorations you handed me that wreath and said, 'You can have it, it's too big for me to fool with'. 

        So, I sort of found my wreath. I gave it away! 

                          Mystery solved. 

                At least it went to a good home. 

Unplugging!

 If you've been following me, you know that my computer died and my son-in-law spent a lot of time trying to fix it.

I felt badly that he was having such a hard time working on MY stuff. I have a habit of drowning in guilt over people doing things for me. 

So, I thought I'd do something to make his load lighter. 

A couple months ago I quit cable tv. And, the cable company wants their receiver box back. Instead of asking John to do it for me, I went in and disconnected the box myself and proudly took it to him and announced "Here's the cable box". 

There's this long pause and he gives me this 'oh, you poor thing' kind of look. 

'That's your cd player!'

Don't go unplugging technology if you don't know what you are doing!

P.S. I don't miss CABLE!

Brenda Gannt....I am not!

 I follow cooking with brenda gantt. I saw her making biscuits just like my Mama used to make. You know, where you make a well/hole in your flour, put in your shortening and milk and just form your biscuits with your hands. 

I got this brilliant idea that I would get me some self-rising flour, Crisco and buttermilk and make me some. Oh, in my mind, they were going to be fabulous!! I could just taste them. 

I followed the way Brenda did things. And, I had the biggest mess you ever saw. I had at least one biscuit of dough stuck to my hands, there was flour everywhere. But, I proceeded. I was confident!! These were going to be the best biscuits. I mean, how can you go wrong with Self-rising flour and buttermilk! Right!

I cut them out, put them on a pan. Stuck them in the oven. I could just imagine them rising up and getting golden brown. The timer went off and I opened the oven door

And, these are the biscuits that looked back at me. Flat as a flitter. Nothing like I had thought I'd have. 

Let's just say that I am not Brenda Gantt (evidently) 

Oh, and by the way, I am retiring as a biscuit maker. Just thought I'd let you all know in case any of you were expecting some.

I Did It! Vaccine #2 is Done!

                I went for my 2nd (follow-up) vaccine today. 

The first one was a breeze. I hardly felt the injection, didn't get sick or even sore or nothing! I got this!

And, then I started hearing stories about the reactions some people got with the second one. Gee, that really revved me up for the next appointment. (sarcasm intended here)

Even my grandson-in-law (he's a doctor) Just telling you that so you will know that doctors aren't immune  to pain. But, his arm was so sore he could hardly move it for several days. 

So, I get up this morning, piddle around here, ignoring the clock until I couldn't ignore it any longer. My dr. office is just two blocks away so I didn't have a long drive ahead of me. I got there, parked at an end spot in the parking lot (you know, the curb is in front of you but there is also one along one side of your car). I will explain why that is important later.

I got checked in. An aide came and got me and I walked into the SHOT room. 

And, here comes the nurse. I didn't look. Those needles always look like they are for giving an elephant a shot! 

She says 'Big stick'. and I wait.  A little twinge and then she walks off with the needle in her hand. I'll be 'John Brown', she's finished. That's cool.

I wait 30 minutes like they tell me to. I took my crossword puzzle book with me but listening to the other people waiting was more fun. One lady was 94 and she was spry as a spring chicken. And, some old gentleman (I couldn't see him) talked non-stop to the nurse. By the time he left, she knew his life history. And, so did the rest of us. 

Well, it's been 9 hours since I got stuck! Nothing yet. No fever, no chills, no aches... I am going to quit listening to every Tom, Dick and Harry that talks about these shots.

You just watch... I am bragging and I bet you anything I get sick during the night. Just for spite! 

Oh, I meant to tell you about parking my car. I had to cut the wheel pretty sharp to get in the spot. I am walking back to my car and died laughing. One back wheel was perched up on the curb and my car is sitting catty-wampus.  

How did I not notice that when I got out? Maybe worrying about that needle, reckon?

Hot Dogs Coming Out My Ears!

I am becoming very enchanted with the idea of shopping online. Oh, I've ordered things for quite some time like household items, clothes, books, etc. 

What I am talking about is groceries. I am loving going online (I use Instacart) choose what I want or need in my kitchen and within two hours it is at my front door... up all 3 flights of stairs, 😀

The problem I am having is, I was used to feeling, touching, reading labels back in the day of going to the grocery store. 

            I can't touch or feel anything on my computer screen. 

       I bet you are saying, 'I wonder where she is going with this.'

Well, I am so totally accustomed to hot dog weiners coming in a package of 10... or is that 8? Anyhow... the number of the weiners and the buns don't ever match. I wonder if they do that for a reason? 

So, I was hankering for a hotdog the day I ordered my groceries. So, I got weiners, got buns. 

When I pulled that package of wieners out of the grocery bag, I dang near fell over. There were 24 wieners in that package. 

     I wonder how long it is going to take me to eat 24 hotdogs? 

Not to worry... I am freezing a chunk of them. 

I bet I look more carefully next time I order groceries on the computer before I click 'order'. 

Lunchtime Mixup

On our schedule today was a speaker from a Medical Transport company and they promised lunch!!

                               Who wants to miss out on that?

    We listened to their spiel and watched a short video with the promise of Chic-fil-a to follow.

                  It didn't come... we waited....it still didn't come.

I don't know who put the order in but they called the wrong Chic-fil-a and by that time we all are starving. Have you ever seen a bunch of hungry senior citizens? They can get pretty wild!

              So, ever who was making the food arrangements called a barbeque place instead.

Then a different Chic-fil-a arrives with sandwiches, chips, cookies and drinks for everyone!

                    We are in hog heaven. Oh, maybe that's chicken heaven.

              We were about through eating all that yummy food when here comes the barbeque!!

      We really got a treat today.. Two meals all for listening to a speaker! I like that arrangement! 

I Knew It Would Happen!!

I knew it would happen.... 

                                    One of these days..........

                                                         And, when it did, I was so upset I nearly cried. 

Yep, I left my purse in a restaurant we were eating at yesterday. Got all the way to my daughters before I realized it was not with my things. 

I knew it would happen....

Someday. The first time it happened for my Mom, she was 76 years old. Hey, I will be 86 in a few days. I made it ten years longer than she did. 

Thank God, my purse was still there, all intact. God is good. Some nitwit could have picked it up and took off. I can't imagine the trouble cancelling credit cards, renewing driver licenses etc, etc might be. 

You can bet your sweet patooty I won't forget it again. I'll just tie a string around my finger...

 and then forget what the string is for! 

What Was I Thinking?

Sometime a body ought to listen to their gut instinct. Me? I just about got myself into a dilemma for not listening.

                                   A little background music, if you please..... 

                                      I love being alone. After being married to a wonderful man for 60 years

                                and then having a relationship with another wonderful gentleman for 5 years

                                                                                    (Yes, I am THAT old!)

We gals like that independence! Come and go as we please, eat what we like when we like, stay up all night or go to bed with the chickens. We deserve that time and the freedom. Believe you me, we have earned it. And, man, I was really living life my way and then....

A friend says this guy has lost his wife, he's lonely, he wants someone to just talk to, maybe go out to dinner with....

So, what do I do!!!!!

I called him. After ONE hour and 15 minutes of hearing non-stop about his life-story I ask myself "Girl, what were you thinking?"

                                                               But, I didn't listen to my gut instinct.

I agreed to have lunch with him.

Well, I met him at a restaurant nearby. He's waiting on a bench by the front door.

He struggled to get up, grabbed his cane and hobbled over to me. Way overweight, a scraggly beard and dressed in shorts! Don't get me wrong. Looks shouldn't matter and wouldn't if I couldn't have outrun him... and at 85, that's not fast, believe me. But, when you are asking a lady out for lunch shouldn't you make an effort to look nice? Just asking.

Two hours later after listening to a running commentary of all the jobs he's held, how much work needs done on his house etc, etc, etc, I excuse myself to go to the bathroom. 

                                                                 My mind is going ninety to nothing. 

                                                                Should I just run out the front door? 

Oh, let me tell you, I was tempted but that's just not me.

So, I walk back to the table, look at my watch and fake a shocked look "Oh, my goodness, I am late. I gotta run."

Oh, but the funniest part is this... he ordered steak. Then he said he couldn't eat it, he'd left his partial dentures at home. Oh My God. If he is trying to impress me it is not happening.

So, Girls, always, always listen to your gut instinct! I think mine was on vacation that day!