Catching Up

Yes, I am still blogging!  It's just been pretty busy and I don't always have the time.

I took last Friday and Monday off, I really needed a break and it was slow enough at work so I took some vacation time.  Friday was nice, I went back to bed after Bill left for work at 6:00 a.m. and didn't get up again until 7:00.  I ran a couple of errands, shopped, got lunch out and made a crockpot full of soup.  The weekend was fun, Otter and I went to the flea market at the Tulsa Fair Grounds and had fun.  We didn't buy much, but we had a lot of fun.  We had lunch at the Mexican place that Bill and I found a few months ago and went to a thrift store along with a junktique place.  Sunday was laundry and stuff around the house then pizza with Bill.

Monday was not so fun.  I went back to bed when Bill left and slept until 7:30, which was nice.  But the day went downhill pretty fast.

Otter thought that her crown was loose and the dentist could see her at 11:30.  She came over and got her laundry going, and I went to Braum's to get breakfast for us.  When we got to the dentist, it stopped being a fun day.

The dentist said that her crown is loose because the tooth underneath it is broken.  And, by the way, she needs fillings in quite a few teeth and the estimate is over $7,000.00!  The treatment plan includes a bridge on her front top two teeth - which means that the over $2,000.00 we paid for the crown was basically wasted.

Also, it turned out that the dentist never did the exam and cleaning she was supposed to get when we first went to them.  And on Monday, Otter said that the dentist actually only spent long enough to come in and say hello and then one of the assistants did the x-ray.  We are not really sure just how much work she actually needs and we will most likely not go back to that dentist.

We went to him originally because the dentist we've seen for several years retired and when it was time to get another cleaning, Otter had what she thought might be a cavity starting.  We got an ad in the mail with coupons for a free cleaning with the purchase of an x-ray, so that's where we went.  I didn't realize until just recently that she never got that cleaning.  And that the dentist rushed that time, too.  When we were there last Monday, the clerk was very pushy that we had to schedule the work right away and she also pushed the credit plan they have - which we used last time and then closed it when we paid it off.  She couldn't seem to understand why anyone would ever close a credit account out!  Maybe the 25% interest it would have charged if we'd kept it?

We decided to call the previous dentist's office, someone bought her practice but we wanted a closer dentist to where we live.  But they still have her records and they can see her in 2 weeks.  I didn't tell them everything, just that she hadn't had a cleaning in a while because the dentist we went to after that didn't do it and I didn't know until recently, and I also told them that she'd gotten a crown there but that it felt loose.  Part of what we do in that type of a situation, which also applies to auto mechanics, is to see just what they tell us is actually needed in case we've been told wrong and it's also a way to be sure that the dr/dentist/mechanic/whatever is thorough.  So we'll see what the new/old dentist says and then go from there.  I do think she probably does need at least some work, and it may turn out that she does need what the closer dentist said she does.  But we won't be back to the closer dentist, either way.

We're also going to see what kind of a discount or price break we can get if we pay for it outright.  But that isn't really going to be the deciding factor.  And since Otter has the decalcification problem that I passed down to her from my mother's side of the family and it is worse now, she's going to have to be really careful in the future and keep a close eye on her teeth.  She's in for some unpleasant times in the near future and she's also allergic to codeine, which is the main pain pill for things like that.  She's pretty much limited to tylenol!  I forsee cooking a lot of potato soup and similar meals in my future.

This is My Life Recently

Shopping Sunday

So named because a) it's Sunday and b) I went shopping with Otter.

We're going to a family wedding in a few weeks, when we went shopping right after Christmas Otter found her dress although we weren't even looking at that point and that left me needing something to wear.  I tried on a couple of dresses at Penney's last week but didn't like them enough to buy one.  We decided to go shopping today and see if we could find anything.  We looked at Sears, Dillards and Penney's and were actually about to walk out of Penney's to  head to another store when we walked past a couple of racks and I found a dress I liked.  I tried it on and it came home with me.  It's a not quite royal blue color, not quite aqua either.  It has a "ripple" pattern in the fabric and I think its very pretty.  Otter's dress came from Sears and it's a sort of midnight blue smooth satin-ish fabric with a black "smocked velvet" pattern all across it, the yoke area is a sheer black and it's sleeveless.  She has a black, beaded shawl that she'll wear with it and it will look very nice with the dress.  I have a turquoise crocheted shawl I made a couple of years ago which I will wear with my dress - the colors are different enough that they actually look good together.  We found her a small cocktail-style clutch purse (it has a removable strap) which is midnight blue satin sides and should look very well with her dress.  I will probably carry my black Coach purse.  We both need shoes still.  I have a pair of black shoes but I don't like them with the dress and Otter is probably going to look for a pair of high-heeled sandles to go with her dress.  I found a new purse today too, but it's just because I'd been looking for another good purse and not to match the dress for the wedding.  It was on sale at Dillards and mine is the Hunter Green color.

We also went to Michael's.  I have two crochet projects and of course it turned out that I didn't have the right yarn for either one.  I looked at Hobby Lobby and Walmart the other day but didn't find what I wanted for either one.  When we went to Michael's I had not even read their ad yet.  Turns out, all their yarn was on sale!  I found the right yarn for both projects and it's always a bonus when it's on sale.  We talked about a thrift store but never quite got there.

We finally got netflix.  I think we were just about the last people to actually get it.  We got a package that we could include Otter on as well.  Bill said he didn't really think he'd ever use it.  And since we got it yesterday, I think he's only been away from the tv just long enough to run to the bathroom a couple of times!  He's attempting to catch up on all the Star Wars: The Clone Wars animated series that he missed most of when it was on originally.

We're dealing with mountain cedar at the moment.  It's really hitting Bill bad.  It's a big trigger for me, but it's one of the few things he is allergic to.  Of course, that means that he is extremely allergic to it!  It's been very cold today so he's stayed indoors and is trying to treat the symptoms.  Otter and I stopped at Top That Pizza and got lunch to bring home to share with Bill, we got plenty of jalepenos on his.

I am going to keep blogging here, but maybe not that often.  So settle down, Froggy!

And The Stars Look Very Different Today

I have always loved music in (nearly) all it's forms.  I was an original Kiss Army member, the Bee Gees are way up there for me, I like a lot of country music and I really like all genres.  Prince has always been a favorite, mostly because he is very unique and somewhat ahead of the trends.  But through it all, there has always been one artist that I would call my absolute favorite.

From the first moment I heard is music in the early 1970's, there was no doubt.  He was so far beyond brilliant, there are simply not words to express the depth of his gift.

He wasn't simply a trendsetter.  He WAS the trend. 

Ziggy played guitar...

And he said goodbye to us with his last work.  That in itself is a special gift to all of us.

He succeeded wildly at it.

It certainly was never boring while he was here!

A look at the life of David Bowie

I've seen several different people that this quote it attributed to.  But it sums it up perfectly:

"If you're ever sad, just remember the world is 4.543 billion years old and you somehow managed to exist at the same time as David Bowie."

Shaky Situation

There have been a lot of earthquakes over the last 24 ish hours.  I haven't felt any of them, but they have been felt in my area and I think into Kansas.  At about 10:30 last night, Bill was still awake and he felt the bed shaking for a couple of minutes.  Twice!  I slept through it all, but from the reports on the news this morning they were pretty big quakes.

We've been busy this week.  We have company coming this weekend, so we cleaned the carpet in the guest/front/craft/YARN room.  Which means that Maggie Moo is not allowed in there are the moment.  She is not amused!  Bill moved the futon out into the living room and got the carpet cleaner going on Tuesday evening.  The cleaner has a fairly pleasant scent, but it was just enough to send my already iffy allergies over the edge.  He also cleaned the carpet in our bathroom, which for some reason didn't actually work - there are now spots in there that we couldn't see before he cleaned it.  Anyway, because my allergies were on overdrive he suggested I sleep on the futon in the living room that night and since I couldn't breathe through my nose at all when I got even close to our room I decided to take him up on the suggestion.  Maggie seemed to like having me in there.  She showed her happiness by snoring all night long.  Loudly!  Wednesday morning, I vacuumed in there again since the carpet was dry and then Bill put the futon back in there that evening.  Maggie has been blocked from there since then.  She's not pleased.

We have a fairly good chance of winter weather on Saturday but it could also just be cold and rainy.  Sunday is supposed to be very cold.  Bill brought in a load of firewood.  So far, we've only used the fireplace once this winter.  By this time, we've usually used it several times.  Today was overcast and grey, the forecast was literally "gloomy" and they were right about that.  But gloomy makes me think of one thing only:

Love me some Eeyore!

But I don't like gloomy weather.

Bill's car was acting up yesterday and he finally decided to just call Chevy and talk to them.  He told them all the things it's doing and what he's done so far, they said that they would like to look at it and to plan on leaving it there a couple of days.  It's kind of got everyone stumped.  That will probably happen next week.  Of course, today it was fine with no problems whatsoever!  I drove it when I went to the grocery store tonight and it acted perfect.

Otter's cell phone had a problem, the "end" key wasn't working.  So we took it to Verizon yesterday and had them check it.  She was going to go early in the day since she was off but since the account is in my name she asked me if I'd go with her in case there was any issue with her name not being the primary on the account.  I went over to her apartment yesterday after work and we went to the closest store.  They did need me to be there, so I'm glad I went.  The phone is no longer under warranty, but because we pay for the insurance on the phones (learned that lesson the hard way!) they said that she could exchange it for a new one.  They arranged to have it shipped to us and said it should be here by Friday or possibly Saturday.  But it was apparently shipped overnight because it arrived at the new mail box place today.  She can either activate it herself (they emailed instructions) or she can take it to the store and ask them to do it for her.  I'll get it to her tomorrow, I didn't have time today.

Most of the reason I didn't have time is because Bill had ordered 30 boxes he uses to ship pachinko machines in - they are big boxes.  They arrived today.  On a pallet and weighing a whole lot!  They were shipped to the new mailbox place - but the pallet wouldn't fit in the door.  They wound up leaving the pallet of boxes outside their door but it was plastic wrapped which was a good thing because it was rainy.  When I got home, Bill and I took the El Camino back there and got the boxes on their pallet.  It literally filled the entire bed of the truck and he really couldn't see over the top of them when he looked out the back window.  The boxes are now stacked in the garage.  I went to the grocery store after we got home from getting the boxes.  It rained while I was in the store and I'm really glad that the boxes were already home and inside.  He has to buy them and they are not cheap.  But he has to get strong, sturdy boxes for the pachinko machines.

And just because he's so much fun, one more Eeyore!

I thought this one was appropriate.

Still At It

Posting here, that is.  For a while anyway.

I finally got my car registered.  It only took several calls to Enterprise to ask them where the registration paperwork was - and the last few were more than a hint of *RHTW getting on them.  The last time I talked to them, last week, they promised me that the paperwork had been overnighted to me but then it turned out that the paperwork had just been mailed the regular way and even then it arrived several days after they said it would.  It finally arrived on Saturday, too late to go to the tag agency to get it registered while it was still within the 30 days from purchase.  After 30 days, then you get charged a fee for each day until it's registered.  But the lady at the tag agency remembered me from when we switched titles for Otter and Bill last week, I asked her then what would happen if the paperwork was late then she didn't charge me for the extra day when I got it registered today.

I was able to get the recall taken care of on the 2008 Impala last week.  It's now officially Otter's car, and Bill is the official owner of the 2002.  He's still having issues with it and we may be taking it to a Chevy dealership to ask them about the thermostat.  I'd like to take care of that this week, but it might actually be next week because this is a very busy week for us.

We're both back to work today, last week was vacation for me but Bill had several holiday days off.  He was off for 2 full weeks, I had a week plus one day off.  I really, really did not want to get up this morning, I kind of enjoyed being able to sleep in almost every day last week!

We may get more winter weather this week.  There is the possibility of a little bit of a winter mix late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning.  Also, this weekend is supposed to be pretty cold.  Bill cleaned the fireplace this afternoon and brought in a lot of firewood.

Otter came over yesterday with a lot of laundry.  While her 2nd load was in the washing machine, she and I ran away for a shopping trip.  We went to a thrift store and also to Target so she could look for a waffle maker.  There is one at Target she might get.  We also finally got our annual family tradition Christmas Eve trip to the dollar store - we just did it on January 3!  It was still fun, it was just several days late.  :)  She also walked Maggie Moo with me, Maggie Moo does not like the fact that she doesn't get walks when it's cold.  But she's quite happy with the cold weather meaning a fire in the fireplace!  Little goof.

Yep, she's a goof.

Wondering

Wondering if I want to continue this blog or not.

I still want to keep the craft blog going, although I have not really had a lot of time lately (most of 2015 actually) to post or even to crochet/craft/etc. things to put on that blog.  Same thing for the cooking blog.

It's just this one I'm not sure about.