What happened to…?

 

     My old dryer had an ‘I’m done’ buzzer that you could hear three blocks away, which was a good thing since my washer and dryer reside in the basement.  A couple of years back said dryer croaked for good and went to appliance heaven.  My new dryer, although more efficient, is lacking the buzzer, it has a teensy anemic chime.  Very cute for those of you who have a dryer in a laundry room, just off the bedroom, but my dryer is in the frigging basement.  That cute widdle chime isn’t audible from ten feet away much less, from another floor. 

     I miss my buzzer.  Too often, I forget I have something in the dryer, and by the time I remember, everything is a wrinkled mess.  To set the record straight, no, I don’t iron.  I hate to iron.  I do believe my iron is gathering dust somewhere on the back porch.  There’s a remove wrinkle cycle on the dryer for a reason.

     Manufacturers tend to cater to the rich or near rich.  I am of neither category.  Would it be too much to ask that when they put those anemic chimes in appliances they also add a button or two giving people the choice of say, foghorn, siren, or klaxon?

     The dogs have refused to learn to ‘speak’ when the chime chimes, dag nabbit. 

More handy reference books for the writer’s library

 

     Along with the requisite Strunk and White, there are a few other handy dandy reference books to have on hand…or not. 

     There’s The Writer’s Digest Flip Dictionary, by Barbara Ann Kipfer “For when you know what you want to say but can’t think of the word.”  Gee, I wish it came in a pocket edition I’m always grasping for words.  It never fails, I know what I want to say, but the word beats a hasty retreat to the back of brain and screams, “neener, neener, neener you’ll never find me!”

     The Writer’s Little Instruction Book, 385 Secrets for Writing Well & Getting Published, by Paul Raymond Martin is a compact little paperback filled with little sayings and quotations.  This book has been grist for one or two of my posts.  Someone gave the book to me, and I have to say that I’m glad I didn’t pay for it.

     Dynamic Characters by Nancy Kress fits well in any writer’s library.  And, it’s a great one for the novice writer.  I think she’s helped me develop better characters.

     100 words almost everyone confuses & misuses, from the editors of the American Heritage Dictionaries, is a nice book to pair up with your Strunk and White.  (Our former President should have kept one in his pocket at all times.)

Time for another MIL update

 

     I’m not sure if I mentioned before that my mother in law had broken the other femur quite a few years back.  Well, because of that broken femur or the present one, it seems that one leg is shorter than the other is.  They have fitted MIL with braces and they seem to be helping her walk a lot better than she has for years.  Chalk up one for the new doctors.

     Her PTs  told Dear Hubby that if she continues at this rate she might get to go home soon.  Although when he asked what their definition of soon was they sort of hemmed and hawed and never did give him a straight answer.  MIL is determined and she desperately wants to be back in her own home.  I’m certain she is beyond sick and tired of being in the rehab hospital.

     I’m going to have buy her more candy for her basket DH says the level is falling rapidly.  (At least MIL doesn’t have diabetes and can use a bit of weight.  She’s quite thin.)  DH says she’s enjoying the chocolates and in particular the dark ones with raspberry inside.  I guess we’ll double up on those this time.

Out like a lamb

     The old adage held true around here.  March did come in roaring like a lion and it looks as though it will tip toe out of here like a lamb.  We did get some rain yesterday and today which we needed.  It was getting to the point where I thought I might have to water the gardens.

     I’m happy that it was a cool and misty day because I didn’t feel as though I was missing anything by not being able to get out into yard.  The rain did push some of my daffodils into opening.  The gardens are looking nice even though I haven’t had time to get out there and do a major cleaning of the beds.  (Geez, that sounded like another laundry day.)

     I’m hoping our magnolia tree waits to bloom until there’s no danger of frost.  I hate to see the blossoms get frosted and brown in one night. 

     Tonight the sky was clear and you could see the stars.  I  enjoyed the sight when I took the pups  for their late night last out.  The air was cool and fresh and a heavy dew had coated the lawn.  

     I can’t wait until it’s warm enough to sit outside at night.

If you were a movie, what would your title be?

 

     I’d be Steel Magnolias’ Ice Age The Meltdown.  Dear Hubby says his would be Road to Perdition’s Baitshop.  Our resident loony dog, Gavin would be One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Look Out Something Wicked This Way Comes.  Patty would be The Last Mimsy Plays Jumanji.

     Dave told me to write about him tonight, so Dave I’m putting you down as Arsenic And Old Lace Meets A Gun, A Car, And A Blonde.  I’m sure you’d rather pick your own title and you are welcome to in the comments.

     I thought of one for one of our cohorts at the PW conferences and I know anyone who knows him will guess who it is by this title—Sin City’s Man of the Year.

     Now dear friends, I’m depending on you to come up with some real humdingers.  So go for it!

Dumb questions

 

     If you don’t want to hear my smartass answer, don’t ask me a dumb question.

     When I took Gavin and Patty for their walks today, a neighbor asked me, “Are you going for a walk?”

     “No, I’m tap dancing and the dogs are going along with it.”

     I staggered from the car to the house with a forty pound bag of dog food slung over my shoulder and someone asked, “Is that heavy?”

     “Nope, I always walk like this.”

     I dragged a few dozen flats of flowers out of car and had them next to the gate ready to take them into the yard when another neighbor asked, “Gonna plant some flowers?”

     “Nah uh, I’m going to toss out the plants and use the dirt for decoration.”

     After watching me spend the day running up and down two flights of stairs doing laundry Monday, tonight Dear Hubby asked me, “Do I have any clean underwear?” 

     “No, I was just carting those laundry baskets around all day on Monday for the fun of it.”

     I’m curled up in my chair, paperback book opened, and I’m very, very quiet.  Dear Hubby asks, “Are you reading?”

     “No, I’m counting pages.”

 

A little bit of this a little bit of that…

 

     Wow, my hits passed the 30,000 mark…Thank you dear readers.

     It almost felt as though winter was tapping us on the shoulder again yesterday.  Today was a bit warmer and tomorrow is supposed to be warmer yet.  At least I should be able to get out to do a little yard work. 

     I took the pups for walks today they both enjoyed meeting and greeting some of the neighbors who happened to be out.  Gavin was shyly sucking up for neck scratches and showed off his paw shaking skills for cookies.  It’s a good thing I’d preloaded my pockets before we went for his walk.  Then I took Patty out.  Gavin will mosey along while Patty wants to keep up a fast pace, places to go, people to see, smells to smell—let’s move it, Mom.  She is more on the boisterous side when it comes to meeting and greeting people.  They love her enthusiasm when she does ‘stick ‘m up’ for them…or rather for the cookies.  Yes, I did fill my pockets again.

     Dear Hubby is so tired.  I do hope they release his mother from the Rehab hospital before I leave for my writers’ conference in mid May.  If not, he’ll probably have to get some help with her dog during the time I’m gone so he doesn’t have to run over there twice a day.  Our two dogs can be enough of a handful for him when he’s not tired.

Where does the time go?

 

      It’s hard to believe that the end of March is almost here.  At the beginning of this month, the days seemed to drag but now they are rushing by.  There’s so many things that I’d wanted to finish before the first of April but it looks as though I won’t succeed.  So much for giving myself a deadline.

     Best laid plans and all that….  Time certainly gets away from me.  I’ve found that there’s no way I can keep to a schedule because every time I try, something jumps up to bite me.  I have to have my computer and Dear Hubby’s cell phone set up with reminders for everything from appointments to when certain bills are due. 

     A reminder popped up while I was writing this seems Patty has a vet appointment in 2 weeks for her rabies shot.  This should be fun since she enjoys going there unlike Gavin.

Adventures in DIY Land…EEKS!!!

 

     Before his MS caught up to him, Dear Hubby had many home improvement projects in the works.  Now he’s unable to do them so we’re stuck with a few unfinished DIY ventures.  Then there’s all the stuff around the house that needs repair work done.  It’s enough to send me screaming off into the wilderness.

     Although I am capable of doing many things, lifting dry wall isn’t one of them, and we have two rooms that need it.  The last time I tried to lift some dry wall panels, I managed to get one about a foot off the ground before my back chimed in, “Are you stupid?  You sat in front of a computer for years and now you want me to help you lift that?  I’ll show you!” 

     OUCH!  I spent the next several days with a heating pad as my best friend.  My second best friend was the muscle relaxant my doctor prescribed. 

     Soon I’ll be climbing a ladder to do all the painting I need to do.  It’s not that easy when you have a fear of heights.  I get halfway up the ladder and my brain hits me with, “You’re going to fall.  Can’t you feel the ladder shaking?  Tell you what.  How about I hit your adrenals get them pumping and start your heart racing a little?”  There’s nothing quite like some cardio work and an adrenalin rush to brighten your day.

I need to get out the camera and the rake

 

     I was out puttering in the garden by the pond today.  The crocus are so gorgeous I should get some pictures of them.  I might wait until the daffodils begin to bloom they are loaded with buds right now.  However, with my luck the crocus will be finished blooming by then. 

     I need to drag out the rake and clear the leaves from all the gardens.  The rhubarb is starting to peek out of the ground so I did clear the leaves away from the plants.  I can’t wait until it is ready to pick, rhubarb custard pie here I come!  All the blueberry bushes are loaded with buds.  I’m relieved I was worried that the bitter cold we had this winter might have killed them.  The yard is greening up and it looks nice. 

     Gavin and Patty have been kicking up their heels in this weather.  The pups have been looking for the squirrels and rabbits to chase but I think the critters wised up and when they hear the back door open, they dash out of the yard.  I had to re-home a small garter snake yesterday.  The snake was heading for the pond, Gavin stepped on it and he didn’t even notice it.  The snake no longer resides in our yard.

     On another note Dear Hubby took the basket I made into his mother today.  She was delighted with it.

MS doesn’t belong on the back burner

 

     Today I received an Email from a former co-worker of my husband’s.  She told me a friend of hers was just diagnosed with MS and she asked if it was okay with me if she passed my E-mail address along to her.  I told her she certainly could and that I would, to the best of my ability, answer any questions she wanted to fire my way. 

     Many years ago, when Dear Hubby was first diagnosed, we had no one available to us who we could go and ask questions.  DH’s neurologist was a very poor one who no longer practices today.  He was bad enough that DH quit going.  He essentially put the whole MS thing on the back burner. 

     Our family physician tried to answer questions but soon ran out of answers.  He wasn’t a neurologist and DH wasn’t ready to find another one after the quack he’d been going to did absolutely nothing for him except charge and exorbitant fee for about five minutes of his time.

     We didn’t have a computer at the time where I could do research.  There were very few books available and of those that were, most weren’t helpful.  No one offered us much in the way of answers.  We had no support groups available and so we muddled along on our own. 

     In another post I talked about how that due to a problem I had, I went to a different neurologist for tests and took DH with me.  DH found a new doctor there.  Suddenly available to him were medications and support that the former (quack) Doctor had never bothered to mention or offer.  This doctor answered questions and most important of all, he cared.

MIL update 3/19

 

     Dear Hubby didn’t get out to see his mother today since we were busy taking both hers and our paperwork to HR Block to get the taxes done.  (If you’re reading this Patti, hi!)  Patti is great she’s been doing our taxes for several years now.  I know if it was hubby or me doing them, it’d take forever.  She has both ours and the MIL’s done in no time.

     Yesterday they took another X-ray of MIL’s femur and tomorrow DH should hear what the results were.  I made up a basket with silk flowers, a get well card, and a bunch of wrapped chocolates for her that he’ll take over on Saturday.  She’s stuck in her room with no PT on Saturdays and Sunday so she should enjoy her basket.  I would’ve added books if she was a reader but she’s not.