Tom Thumb Wants To Camp Here

My laptop remains gone, though further efforts on the part of He Who knows a little about what he is doing ....... I really need my son to come here and fix it. I am getting used to the desk top, still not too happy about it, but I do have access to the internet, so I will shut up with my belly-aching.

If I take my pain meds as directed, I find that I am ..... out of focus, easily distracted and I have trouble staying on task. It does occur to me that I just described He Who is ADD. He doesn't seem to mind so much. but it scares me a little. I like details and I don't like that nagging feeling that I have forgotten something ......

It is raining and there is a chill in the air. My joints are not happy. I was dragging around this morning in my flannels, sipping coffee, losing the cup, finding the cup and re-heating the coffee. Fed the dogs twice because I forgot I fed them at 5:30 this morning when Oscar started whining. I went back to bed until he started whining again at 8:00. I thought it must be a brand new day.

Anyway, He Who took off to purchase some toilets for the bathhouse. He did offer to let me go with him, but I declined. I knew that all I would see would be plumbing fixtures and even in my distracted state, I didn't think it would be fun. I saw him off and located my coffee mug again (it was in the microwave and already lukewarm again). I had just started to sip at my twice re-heated beverage when my team of canine companions alerted me to the fact that someone was at the store door. I grabbed my trusty fly-swatter to threaten them with and looked at the monitor expecting to see my husband returning for something he forgot.

It was two ladies peering in the window. I shuffled out in my jammies with a sweater atop it all, figuring they weren't dressed much better, and opened the door. I told them I wasn't open yet and gestured to the sign with the store hours on it. They said they just wanted to know what my monthly rates were. So, I invited them in and turned on the lights. I was right about their attire, so I felt pretty comfortable conducting business in my pj's.

They were both talking at once and telling me about "her" son and how they were going to her brother's place to pay for this trailer for him to live in. I started asking pertinent questions at that point. "What year and model is the trailer?" I asked. The woman looked puzzled, "I don't know, all I know is that my brother has it and it is 20 inches long." Hmmmm, 20 inches long, I am already thinking this will be a good blog topic.

Of course, I knew she meant 20 feet and I was already picturing it in my mind. Probably a model from the 60's or 70's in poor condition with a window air conditioner crammed in a cut out hanging off the side. The fact that they wanted to plant the son here in my park made me wonder what he had done in the past to need to live in a campground that his mother was paying for ....

I put my thoughts aside with some effort and tried to focus on what she was saying, while at the same time remembering the new shower curtain liner I bought and meant to put up yesterday and forgot. See what I mean about being distracted? So, she said something again about the trailer being 20 inches long and this time I corrected her .... "you do mean 20 feet, don't you?" "No, I am sure my brother said 20 inches!" She was pretty emphatic about it. I squelched the urge to ask if she was the mother of Tom Thumb.

They left after the confusion over inches and feet, promising to return to show me the trailer. I have to admit that I am not all that excited about seeing it, unless it really is 20 inches long.

The Law of Nature

Spring has officially arrived!! I killed a fly in the kitchen today! The first sign of Spring!

In other news ...... my faithful laptop died. I tried everything in my extremely small arsenal of tricks to revive it. I unplugged and rebooted, only to be subjected to a blue screen and the words "media search: failed" over and over again. I took the battery out, no, I didn't, but He Who was attempting to console me did and the result was the same. I am so lonely without my constant companion. I was listening to an audiobook I had downloaded when it happened. Now I will never know the end!!!!!

He Who would claim to know me very well, got a desk top out to use. I hate it. I have been trying to comment on Blogger all day and it continues to indicate that I do not know what I am doing. The chair I am forced to sit in exacerbates my neuropathy and I am just not happy with this situation. I love the mobility of the laptop. He Who is really quite annoying suggested I use my I-phone to blog. That is not a solution, as I tend to be long on words and short on patience.

I am still here, reading, but not commenting. Another sign of Spring today was the customer in the swim suit asking if there was some kind of law that "keeps y'all from opening the pool up before Memorial Day". While it is true that flies are flying and Daffodils are poking up through the cold ground, it is just not warm enough to fill that pool with cold well water. I told her it was the law of nature. She said "oh" and left.

You Smell Wonderful

There I sat on the exam table in my new doctor's office last week, as he leaned in to with to look inside my ear. "You smell wonderful!" he said.

Okay. How should I respond? I mean, I did shower and wash my hair before leaving the house that morning. Nothing special, just soap, shampoo and water. No perfumes or colognes did I wear, no walking through a fine mist of scented air. I was happy to know that I smelled good.

Then he said, "Where do you work? Do you work in a smoke house with meats?" Apparently I smell like bacon.

We heat our home with a wood stove. We use the fallen trees and cut down dead trees, saw them up and split them. When I say "we" I mean He Who loves a brand new chain on his saw. Most of our trees are hickory. The smell invades every nook and cranny and lingers in our clothes. I no longer smell it, but my children assure me that it is there.

I don't know how I feel about my compliment. Maybe I am every man's dream ........ I smell like bacon. 

Wait, I Spoke Too Soon!

 My life is not boring! I am up and about taking care of chores and such. I am creative and thrifty.

I love Pinterest. That being said, Pinterest is like patterns and recipes. A mere suggestion, not to be mindlessly followed, but an idea to plant in my brain, then ponder until I make it my way.

In my altered state of late, sometimes my ideas do not meet my expectations. I have a tiny crock pot that a normal person would use to keep dips warm. I use it to melt those delicious smelling cubes of wax that are cheap at Walmart. I don't care for the cloying sweet smells of cookies baking or an peach cobbler. If I want to smell that I will do the real thing and bake up some goodies.

I like the clean smelling one's, like "fresh linen", or "ocean breezes". Right now I am enjoying "October Woods". But, as we all know, the scent doesn't last forever. I decided to save this used up wax in a mason jar long before I found a use for it. One day, trolling Pinterest, I saw a use for dryer lint and toilet paper tubes. Someone discovered that stuffing the tube with the dryer lint and then pouring melted paraffin on them would create a good fire starter.

I had used the old wax before with sawdust and newspaper. I mixed the sawdust into the melted wax, then spooned up a glob on the newspaper and rolled it up and stuck it in the freezer. This was a messy affair, but the result was a slow burning fire starter. My supply of saw dust is gone, but I have a steady supply of dryer lint in cold weather. I use a clothes line and take advantage of wind and solar power to dry my laundry when weather permits.

My wax had lost it's pleasant scent today, so I decided to gather all my dryer lint that I save in a small basket next to the dryer, then retrieve the saved toilet paper rollers that have been cleverly hidden in the Kleenex receptacle in the bathroom.

Every day I tried to accomplish at least one task when I was feeling so very awful. Some days it was nothing more than emptying and refilling the ice trays. This was really important, since I would appear to be the only one capable of doing this in this house. I am much better now and able to perform all the necessary tasks related to housekeeping. So much so, that now my goal is to accomplish at least one task that is not absolutely necessary.

Today I set out to make some fire starters. The wax was nice and hot. I had a good sized handful of  dryer lint and 6 cardboard toilet paper holders. It is a simple task. It should be a simple task, I should say.

The little crockpot sits atop the wood stove, which is about counter height. I fill the melted wax right there where it sits. I started by trying to stuff the rolls with lint. A child could do it, but today the  very first tube bent into itself and I dropped my wad of lint on the floor. Toni Louise and Martha, the boy cat, decided that I must be tempting them with something to eat or a fun game to play and they pounced on my lint and divided it among themselves.

Toni Louise was trying to spit out the lint that had stuck to the inside of her mouth as I caught her and took a big wad away. I left her coughing like she had a hairball and caught the cat as he was rolling the wad of lint in front of him. His version of chasing a ball, I suppose. Now I had enough lint for only 4 of the 6 rolls.

I was annoyed with my fur children and just wanted to be done so that I could put another piece of scented wax in the crockpot to cover the smell of wood smoke that invades every pore of my house. I had forgotten to grab some pot holders and tapped the crockpot with my fingers to see how hot it was. Remember, I am under the influence of drugs. I decided that it wasn't that hot and I picked it up and started pouring ....

I have one of those porcelain contraptions that comes with those rings that you burn to keep mosquitos away. It is perfect for setting the roll in the center to fill it with wax. The crockpot got hotter as I attempted to pour and I must have bumped the roll as I tried to pour quickly. The roll fell over and I poured wax on the top of the wood stove.

You would think I would just give up on this project and wait until later, wouldn't you? You would be wrong. With hot wax drying on my hands I procured those pot holders and went on to the next roll, then the next. On the last one as I tried to tip the pot completely upside down, in order to get as much wax as I could, I dropped the crockpot.

Yes, I did. Crockpots bounce, just so you know. It bounce on top of the wood stove, and as I attempted to catch it with my pot holder hands, it slipped out of my grasp and hit the floor with a  big clump sound. I closed my eyes as it bounced again before coming to rest at my feet.

It did not break! It will never look the same and it still works, but the crockery part sits at an odd angle inside it's housing. Maybe I should grab a little nap now.

I spoke too soon in my last post, life is not boring.

Life is Mellow and Boring

Finally! I saw my new primary care provider (PCP). I already have an appointment to see the gastroenterologist next week. My new PCP increased the dosage of my pain meds for the neuropathy and I am still getting used to that.

I nap at odd times, but my energy level is much better when I am awake. Just in time for Spring. I can't wait to turn some soil and sow some seed. A warm front has melted all of the snow, well, just a few patches left in the shady spots. It is supposed to be warm for the next week. I wonder if I might start to see some daffodils try to make their way up.

As soon as I get an all clear from the doctor I will be heading north for a whirlwind visit with my kids. We have a wedding coming up in September. My baby girl, Adrienne. I am really fond of my new son-in-law and can't wait to see everyone. The purpose of my trip is to shop for fabric. Now, we all know I love fabric, but I will be flying, so my space is limited. That's a good thing. I don't need much space for my clothes, so I will pack them in the smaller piece of luggage, then put that piece in the larger piece .......

This is pretty boring, must be the drugs.

Please Continue To Hold .......

Finally got word from my clinic about my new insurance. Not good news. They have been in negotiation with the insurance company since October and still have not come to resolution.

I had no choice but to call the primary care provider they assigned to me, only to find out that this particular physician is no longer in this office and that I would need to call the insurance company to choose another physician. Choose? Does this mean I actually have a choice? Well, only within the network.

I called and talked to a disembodied voice that asked for my birthdate three times. I enunciate quite well, I have been told. This must only apply to voices that have a body attached to them. She said, "Let me get someone who can help you." and then another disembodied voice assured me of my importance, then went on to announce that due to the high volume of calls today, my wait may be longer than usual and my call would be answered in the order it was received.

I put the phone on speaker and went about my business. I took the dogs out, then mopped the floor in the store before putting an ice cream freezer in place. Folded laundry and piddled around in my sewing room looking for all the scraps from my blue jean quilt. The pockets from all those jeans I cut up for that quilt. Did not locate them, but I will!

This took up the better part of an hour or so. I sat down to catch up with the Land of Blog and was engrossed in Hillmomba when a real voice cut through Beethoven's Fifth. I was so shocked, I nearly dropped the phone!! More than that, it was a person speaking American English!

She fulfilled my request and I called the office of my "chosen" physician back and made an appointment for Thursday! Now all I need is for this doctor to refer me to the gastroenterologist and I will finally be able to get started with all the testing. I wanted to be done with that by now, but, such is life.


Now I can drag out the ladder to find those pockets! I am making a head board for my bed. Ponder that for a bit. I made a king size quilt out of thrift store jeans. I like it so much that I decided to make a padded headboard to match. I saved everything in case I ever needed it ....... I used the inseams to make a rug. I used scraps to make another rug out of rug canvas and 3" strips that I painstakingly tied to the canvas. But the pockets are somewhere in my sewing room. The fly fronts and zippers, to.

You never know when these things might be just the thing you are looking for. I want pockets on at least one of the 19 X 19" padded boards I will attach to the wall. To put the remote in! He Who is married to me is so lucky! I am clever AND thrifty!

Door Update

If you read yesterday's post, you know which door I am referring to.

I made it quite clear that I did not want a new door. That would make the fact that I had purchased a used door at a salvage store be all for not. I suggested that the door might un-warp if he put the correct hinges on. I have no idea if that is even possible and I confess that my mind was buzzing with ideas on how to re-purpose a warped door. Just in case. One has to be prepared, you know.

So he hung the warped door and it would not shut. He took it down and went outside to split some firewood or sit in his car and watch movies on his smart phone. No, the volume on the phone would never be loud enough for that. When he came back in, I told him that I would be happy to prepare our supper ....... as soon as he cleaned up the mess he left on my counter.

This condition must have been a shock, since I usually follow along behind his projects and put away all of his tools and spare bits and screws and nails and bits of drywall. You get the picture.

He sort of cleaned up. Really just relocated it. But, he hung the door and it fit! I was impressed. You will recall that this is the door to the "furnace room". Now, we all know that I would not be content with a space that had only one purpose. This room also houses the various brooms and dusting supplies, along with the vacuum.

This morning when I got up and was going about my business, I meandered over to the newly hung door to retrieve said vacuum and made an alarming discovery. The door won't open far enough to get the vacuum out.

Let's see, it took nine years for him to re-hang this door ....... I am afraid his solution might be a new vacuum.