What a day this has been.

There are  no words to explain the day I had today.  My computer crashed, it was horrible.  It is after midnight and I'm just now trying to get my blog in working order.  So,this is actually a test to see if I can get this posted, and sent on to Facebook,
e-mail and google+1.

When I got the message my computer was attacked by a malicious virus, I almost had a heart attack.  A few years ago the same thing happened, and I was at a total loss what to do, this time, working slowly and diligently I'm bringing everything back, although for some reason Google is not helping at all, so I'm using yahoo, and Internet explorer to get everything back on track. I have most of my favorites taken care of, and my e-
mail addresses are intact.

What I am hating is the little idiosyncrasy I have to contend with...for example, spell check is now different.  Website pages look different, stuff like that...I don't like those kinds of changes anymore...when I was younger that kind of stuff didn't bother me, but now, it drives me nuts.  I don't have time for that kind of drivel, what a waste of time.

Oh well, at least I'm back in touch with the outside world, and that's a good thing.  If this posting is still available when I get up in the morning I will know I've done good. 
So, I'm going to try to post this, see you in the AofM. 

Things have run amok

So far this has been a day from you know where.

Unbelievable.

I had a simple plan for the morning, get bills ready to pay this afternoon, clear off the top of the desk and file paperwork, then go to work.  I figured I could get this finished in half an hour, tops.

Uh-oh, I lost my insurance binder...I looked everywhere...first at the place it should have been.  Then I remembered I moved a lot of things around in the library when the house was on the market, I thought perhaps I had moved the binder to another shelf.  I searched and searched, could not find that sucker anywhere.  I'm talking to Frankie, I'm talking to Zorro and I would have talked to the cat, too, but I think she sensed a meltdown coming and disappeared.

The more I searched, the funnier this whole thing seemed...I think I was getting close to hysteria.

I eventually found the binder, thank goodness.  Is dementia is setting in?  Wasn't it just yesterday I misplaced my coffee mug?  Please people tell me I'm wrong, I need a confidence builder.

Of course, while I was looking for the insurance binder in the library I noticed the plants in the sun room had started to get wilt-y.  So, and although it was not in my schedule for the day, I took time to water them.  Then I notice one of the rugs in the room was all 'bunched up'.  Since I have had cats forever my instinct told me CC had probably thrown up on it.  She had.  Dang it.  I'm supposed to be at work, the day is fast slipping away, rug cleaning was not on my agenda.  I just wish when she did this she would come and say "Mommy, I threw up, could you please go clean it up."  That way I would not discover it days later when it is stuck like glue to some rug, somewhere.  Dang it. There is plenty of floor space, how come she does not throw up there?

Back to cleaning up the office clutter, I'm going through a stack of forms months and months old for things I ordered on the 'net'.  Yes, that was delivered, yes, I did get that...then I came across one that said I ordered a black vest...a black vest?  A BLACK VEST?  Well, I certainly never got that!!!  Man, I stewed and stewed about that, envisioning e-mail tag with the company involved lasting at least a couple of weeks.  I was not a happy camper.  Suddenly, with a slap on the back of the head from the man upstairs...(literally, like a flash of lightening in my head) I remembered the vest was a Christmas present for my daughter.  Whew...

Finally, I see the end of the road, I complete the filing, the office looks in pretty good shape, but I have still not done one lick of work.  What the heck...it is now Eleven O'Clock, am I not the boss?  The day has already gone to heck in a hand basket...I've decided to take the rest of it off.

Hmmm, what, oh what will I do?

Gigantic debate

Okay, so here's the thing.

It is 8:45AM, an overcast day, the temperature hovers around 47 degrees, rain is called for...yadda, yadda, yadda.  What else is new?

I let Zorro out for his first run/sniff around the yard.  I inform Frankie I don't know whether to turn on the heat or open the windows and doors.  The air smells like I think heaven must smell, clean, like air dried sheets, with just a hit of something sweet on the breeze.

Oh, my.  Frankie went into a tizzy. She informs me it is only mid-February, winter, and what in the world am I thinking.

Where as, I remind her we are probably breathing air that entered the house last October or November, whatever the last day was we had the windows and doors open.

She is appalled, shudders at that thought, but is undeterred...this morning we are not going to open the windows and doors.

Ooooh, it got kind of ugly.  I turned on the heat.

A few minutes later, Zorro barked his "I'm done out here, hurry up old lady...I want back in" bark.  I opened the door, let him in, then stood there for a few minutes just breathing...the air was...so, so, so.......I have no word to describe it.  I didn't want to walk away, I didn't want to miss one single second of this magnificent, glorious experience.

One final deep breath, I filled my lungs as full as I could, and held it until I thought I was going to explode.  I had my hand on the handle of the slider, ready to pull it shut.  I couldn't, I really, really couldn't.

Frankie, be-danged, I was not going to shut up the house.  I left the door open, then proceeded to turn off the little electrical stove in the morning room, and opened a window there.

With great purpose, I marched to the living room, turned off the heat, threw open the windows and continued down the hall and into the rooms at the back of the house; throwing wide the windows as I went.  You should have seen the look on Frankie's face...I've got to tell you, that saying is true...'if looks could kill, I would be dead'.

Last time I saw her she was sitting on the sofa, bundled up in her jacket, with a scarf around her neck, mittens on her mug hugging hands.  It was quite a sight.  I've no idea when she will start to speak to me again.

Frankly, Frankie...I don't give a dang...breathe, breathe, breathe...and imagine what this good, fresh air is doing to our lungs, heart, blood, red blood cells.

In other words, get over it...

I win, I win.

To follow your bliss

Over the weekend one of my grandsons posted on Facebook he wanted to 'run with the bulls' in Spain.  I posted back that that was something I would never be brave enough to do, but if that was something he really did, he should save his pennies, go, and do it.  And, I told him to send pictures.

Now I suppose a lot of you think that was very careless advice to give a grandchild.  I'm aware that 'running with the bulls' is a very dangerous activity and that over the years people have been gored, seriously injured, and even killed during this event.  Still, I have to remain true to myself, and the advise I've given my children from the time they understood the meaning of my words.  "Go where you want to go, do what you want to do, see what you want to see, and you will never live your life with regret."  In other words, you will never look back on your life and sadly say 'I wish I could-a, would-a, should-a.'

For at least the last thirty years I've had a list I call "Things I want to do before I die."  As I accomplish one thing I draw a line through it, and sometimes even add something new to the bottom of the list.

Some things on the list are outlandish, and I know I will never be able to do...although I don't discount the possibility that maybe by some freakish happenstance maybe I could actually make a particular something happen.  Like for instance, I would like to wipe bagpipes...all of them...off the face of the earth, and sing a duet with Elton John.  I doubt either will happen, but I love looking at my list and seeing those items there.

Some of the things on the list I have accomplished like whale watching, getting tattooed, getting published (on a very small scale) and eating escargot. Small achievements to be sure, but none the less, part of my life bliss's that I can say I not only could-a, would-a, should-a...I actually did'a.  And, that is why I told my grandson to save his pennies and go 'run with the bulls'.  I firmly believe we all, whatever our bliss, deserve to believe in ourselves that we can make just about anything happen.

So, Keenan, get yourself a piggy bank, and start by emptying whatever change is in your pocket at the end of the day...even if it is only a nickel or a dime...into it.  Watch it grow...if it were not for my piggy bank, I would never have been able to follow my bliss to California on a one way ticket, three suitcases, a carry on bag, $138.00 in my purse, and the belief I had to go where I wanted to go, see what I wanted to see and do what I wanted to do.

Nope, not once have I looked back on my life and said that I could-a, should-a, would-a.

Follow your bliss kiddo, follow your bliss.

G-bye, Dang it!

Good news folks...I figured it out...I figured it out...I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!!!
No more dang it for today.

Dang it!

I've come to the conclusion I cannot be trusted.  I feel awful.

When was it a week or so ago I told you I was burning my candle at both ends, and how I had to drag myself on my hands and knees to bed?  I said I was going to try to have better hours, only light one end of the candle, and get to bed at a decent hour.  Remember all that???  Sure you do.

Well...of course....I lied.

I didn't have the courage to tell you I fell back into my old habit a day or two later.

True, I was in bed by One or One-thirty at the latest each night, which was pretty good by my standards and, to my credit I was blowing my candle out every single night.  Plus, I did not lie in bed thinking for an extra hour, but fell asleep right away and got at least an extra hour of zzzzz's, so in my mind, I was doing better...right?

However, by Wednesday of this week I fell off the wagon, bedtime extended to Two-fifteen, Two-forty-five, tick-tock, tick-tock, tick-tock.

And then (oh dear, I'm so ashamed to write this) last night...

about Eleven, I enter the office, sit, pull myself up to the keyboard, and tell myself I will work for an hour.

I was trying to figure out how to take my images in Publisher and turn them into pictures, so I could transfer them to my web-page on Zazzle.  My first attempt went marvelously, snap, the picture was there.  My second attempt took a bit longer, because I had to turn it from an image into a picture that Zazzle would accept.  Tricky business that!  But, I managed.  I was encouraged, I was proud of myself.

Piece of cake...I can do this, whoo, hooo.  Y'all know that old saying "Pride goeth before a fall"?  Oh yeah, tumble down the steps, rumble down the hall, out the front door and stumble into the street.

I picked myself up and brushed myself off and trudged back to the office.  This endeavor was not going to stop me...no sir-ee, buddy.  I'd figure this out if it was the last thing I ever did.

And it almost was...suddenly I looked up and it was almost Four...in the A of M.  I had still not figured out what I was doing wrong.  Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

Poor Zorro had jumped into my lap around Three, shivering badly, I knew he wanted to go to bed but I settled him down on my lap and eventually he stopped shaking.  While I was beginning to start, the heat had been turned off hours ago.  Just one more shiver attempt shiver I kept telling shiver myself.

UH-oh...my candle...was just about to frizzle out.  Dang it...I promised I was not going to let that happen.
So with a quick blow I put it out, and wearily plodded off to bed.

Zorro out, Zorro in.
Rice socks warmed.
Jammies on.
Lights out.

It's morning.

Another day has begun, here I sit...having to accept I'm like a leopard who cannot change its spots no matter how much it would like.  I'm just glad I didn't 'pinky-swear' I would not fall into my old habits, cause that would have meant you couldn't trust me, and that would be well, just...awful.

It doesn't take much...

to entertain old ladies.

This morning while in the process of feeding CC I noticed a vehicle on the street that looked a lot like my neighbor's, and I was curious why it was sitting there, because I can see her driveway down the side street where she lives, and since it did not appear they were having a crisis (there were no firetrucks or ambulances  to be seen) my curiosity was certainly aroused why she was parked there.  So, I call Frankie to come have a look-see for herself.  She notices her husband's truck is parked on the street as well.

Hmmm.

Suddenly, a rather large truck, turns down my neighbors street...our curiosity intensifies.  We watch enthralled.  We can see the truck backing into their driveway.  What the heck?  Moments later, the truck comes back up our street.  It appears to Ms. Nosey Butt and myself nothing has happened.

The truck appears as though it is leaving.  Wait, curiously, it turning so it is headed toward the dead end of the street.

On the back of the flat bed is a container, on the side it has the name of a national known company that supplies storage containers you fill at your leisure, that then get picked up and is stored...well, frankly...I don't know...where.  Anyway, we watch in awe as the driver pulls up, stops across the street from our house, and through magic and noisy wonder... with levers and hydraulics, he preceded to remove the storage container and the frame supporting it from the flat bed.  It was amazing...I wish you could have been here.  We're thinking, oh, my gosh...it that going to sit THERE.  Oh, my, what will bird lady think?  She will not be happy.

The truck went out of sight up the street, but quickly returned, went slightly around the corner at the intersection, and stopped.  The driver then once again set the 'noisy wonder' with lever and hydraulics, back into motion, turning it completely around.  I'm telling you...Frankie and I were beside ourselves, this was great entertainment.

Oh, boy, who should happen to show up...bird lady, husband and doggy...Frankie and I look at each other with UH-OH written all over our faces.  Of course, our imaginations run amok.  She speaks to the driver, and he points in the direction of my friend's home...she, husband and doggy, turn and begin to walk my neighbor's direction.  Surely she is not going to make a 'stink'.

Back to watching the driver, he backs the truck, and with 'noisy wonder', levers and hydraulics, he reloads the container and frame onto the flat bed then hops into the driver's seat.  Frankie and I rush to a new observation window, we have got to see what is going to happen next.

The driver goes down my neighbor's street, and we can see him back into their driveway.  We reach the conclusion, that the storage container door must have been a problem, and had been facing the wrong direction first time the driver wanted to unload it, so he had to jerry-rig things around a bit. I got to tell you, there's a lot of skill involved in moving these containers around.

Anyway, things went well, and within minutes, the truck is gone, without the container, bird-lady is nowhere in sight, and the neighborhood seems to be back to normal.

Fast forward an hour.

Frankie and I hear the sound of a truck.  Surely my neighbor has not loaded her container THAT quickly ...we rush to the front window.  Yep, there's a truck alright.  And, what's on it...a storage container...different company...but a container none-the-less; has my neighbor rented two?

Again, there is a bit of maneuvering going on, this truck is apparently going the wrong direction, and he has to turn around and back out our dead end street, it disappeared out of sight so we have no idea where this container was dropped, we are curious, but not so much we're willing to go out in the cold to explore.

Now, and this is sad...as I said.. it does not take much to entertain two old ladies when we get so 'all atwitter' at such activity on our street, me thinks, we have got to get a life!