Christmas Eve 2016

Yes, I know it's been just over two months.  I'm still here!  There just hasn't been anything spectacular to blog about.

Billyboy is still working on the pachinko machines, our side business is doing very well.  At some point, he will most likely need to get a "regular" job - but that might be problematic in this area and in his area of expertise.  But we are still chugging along, trusting God to get us to where we need to be.

Over the last few months, we've been attending a different church.  We have been unhappy with our church for a very long time, and we have not attended it in over 2 years now.  And in those two years, we have heard from them exactly once - and then only because I made a mistake on a tithe check we mailed them!  We have discussed going back to the Methodist church and attended one for a few weeks before we realized we did not like that particular church that much.  We've visited a few others and one Sunday we decided to visit a Baptist church that we visited years ago.  We were there on a day when another smaller church was visiting with the idea of combining the two churches, and they would be meeting at the sanctuary close to us.  We really enjoyed it and decided to continue to visit.  And then we realized that we were attending a Baptist church but it's actually a lot closer to some of the things that we enjoyed in the Methodist services.  For one thing, they observe Advent.  I don't know of any other Baptist church that does that.  Some of the prayers are occasionally given by women - which never happens in the Baptist church!  We met with the pastor and really liked him.  Tonight, there was a Christmas Eve service - candle light, and with the final observance of Advent - and Communion/Lord's Supper.  We are either joining it tomorrow or next Sunday (New Year's Day.)

Otter is doing very well.  She's gotten a couple of raises at work and her reviews have been very good.  She's basically been told that she's being groomed for management at some point.  She is a very hard worker and has been full-time for a few months.

Maggie is at my feet at the moment - hogging the blanket I have on my legs.  She's been very playful lately, we switched her back to the Pedigree food because the Iams did not seem to be satisfying her, and I think she likes the Pedigree better.

Froggy's middle kid got married in November.  Otter and I were able to go, it was in McKinney Texas which is a really neat little town.  We finally got to meet Froggy's grandbaby, who is absolutely precious, and he was really cute during his parent's wedding.

OK, that's about it.  Sort of caught up but there really has just been "normal life" going on and that is fine with us.  Especially considering that this time last year, we were expecting Bill to be out of a job at any time.  But we didn't anticipate it being like it was, and that is just one more example of God taking care of us.

Easter 2016

2015 Review

2015 is just about over.  And I am glad.  It's been a hard year, although I haven't (and won't) posted about most of the issues we have had to deal with.  Very possibly, 2016 (for reasons not being mentioned) could well be a continuation.

There have been some good things, it hasn't been all bad.  I really don't mean to gripe.  But I guess I am!

Anyway:

January

Very cold month with some winter weather.

It was very stressful for Otter because Roomie lost her job right before Christmas 2014 and January was the first of over 3 months that Roomie was without a job - and not looking very much, either.

Michael's had yarn on sale and I added to the stash!  (Always good.)

Froggy started planning her trip to see us.

The Teenager's health suddenly took a turn for the worse, he was weakened by a bug and while he did recover from the illness, he never got his strength back and although we didn't realize it at the time, it was the beginning of the downhill turn for him.

We celebrated our 30th Wedding Anniversary, this year we had pizza!

February

We switched internet and email providers.

The stupid groundhog saw his shadow!

I had what I first thought might be the flu, but then realized it was "just" a cold.

This month saw the first issues with Frasier; he fell in the kitchen and couldn't get up.  We had to help him up but he was sore and stiff for days.  The vet thought he might have age-related issues, probably arthritis in the mix as well.  But he was always a happy dog when J came over!

Otter was really getting concerned about Roomie and the lack of a job.

The Teenager and his lovely bride celebrated their 78th Wedding Anniversary and were one of the featured couples on the Today Show!

Snowy weather.

22 years since we moved from TEXAS.

On February 27, the world lost one of it's shining lights in the form of Leonard Nimoy.  We're still mourning this one.  LLAP!

March

The month started with having to replace tires on the car that Otter was driving, as well as a front-end alignment.  $1200.00 was Chevy's estimate and it was also the last time we actually used that particular dealership - and they are under NO illusions as to why.  It was a M.A.J.O.R. moment for *RHTW.  We had the work done at a local shop for about $500 less than Chevy's estimater.

The vet suggested we start Frasiser on pain pills, which did seem to help but he didn't need them all the time.

I came down with another cold!  I literally sneezed all the way to work one morning and by about 8:15, I was feeling miserable.

We had more winter weather.

Otter was overjoyed when we discovered Green Apple gatorade!

I started crocheting a poncho for Otter, which took me a while to finish.  I had a lot of interruptions!

The dogs had their "beffday" and we spoiled them with plenty of treats - in hindsight, I'm glad we gave them so many extra treats.

We got several boxes of Girl Scout cookies.

The dry air caused me to have a few nosebleeds.

We decided it was time to talk to the minister at the church we'd been attending, we had to reschedule the appointment we had so we didn't actually talk to them this month.

Otter turned 23!

There was a tornado that struck a very nearby, next-door to Tulsa town.  It was bad.

My glasses broke in 2!  Bill had to glue and tape them back together so I could at least go get them replaced the next day.

We had to replace our insurance, thanks to NObamacare.

April

Our new insurance company took 2 premiums and *RHTW had a few "fun" phone calls with them.

One of the bright spots of this year happened.  Otter had her annual lung recheck and we feel like we have received a miracle - it's gone!  It never really goes away, but hers is as close to not being there as it can possibly be.  It is a true Blessing and we are so beyond thankful for this.

Otter gave Roomie a "no job, move out" date.  Amazing how motivated she got when that happened and she suddenly found a job.

Otter officially became the owner of a 2002 Chevy Impala.

The electric company messed up our yard and also cut the phone lines.

The hummingbirds showed up this month.

My precious dog, Frasier, one of the most special pets I've ever had, left us on the 23rd.  He was one of those rare, once in a lifetime dogs.

May

Otter proved that yes, she is very much her Father's Daughter.  She the cut palm of her left hand and had to get stitches!  I think she got 4.  She was a typical Redhead and bled a lot.

Maggie Moo was sick, the vet thought she had another UTI and the medication helped her pretty quickly.

Stupid electric company kept at it!

Bill was rear-ended in his work van - it was not his fault in any way, he wasn't hurt.

Maggie Moo was scratching herself silly - and driving us nuts!  The vet said she has allergies and put her on zyrtec - which didn't work too well but then we tried it later and it worked fine.

Bill's sister got married!  We went to TEXAS over Memorial Day weekend for the wedding and it was really nice.

Rain, Rain, Rain!

I had my one and only migraine of the year.

It was one of the better months of the year.

June

Otter went to Dallas with J, his mom and some of their friends.  They went to a convention and debuted their "Joker and Harley" gender switched costumes.  Which were very well-received.

We decided to get rid of the landline phone, since it was out more than it was working.

We decided to try an automatic feeder for the Magginator, it works very well.

Maggie met two other beagles when we went to get her annual shots.  Then she met a wolf!  Luna the wolf lives in our neighborhood and she is absolutely gorgeous.

The electric company was still being stupid!  I made a pest of myself, or actually I let *RHTW deal with them - and they finally decided to send out a repair crew, which was a company they contracted with and the repair crew foreman was appalled at how bad the damage to our yard was and how tacky the electric company was being about fixing it.

After they fixed it, we realized that our house was not getting the electric current it was supposed to and I had to place an emergency call to them.  I started the call but *RHTW finished it.

Froggy and her daughter came to see us, which was a bright spot.

Bill's birthday!  For 6 months, he was older than me.  He got bacon for his birthday meal, which made him happy.

My vacation started and the first thing was Maggie the Wonder Beagle getting stuck under the shed.  That should have been our first clue that it was not going to be a good week.

The Teenager was pretty sick in June.  The last time I actually saw him was right before I went on vacation at the end of the month, he was weak but he was very mentally clear and it was actually a fun day with him.  But in hindsight, I think he knew something was coming and from what he said and how he said it - I think he was telling me goodbye.  When I was on vacation, he had to be hospitalized for pneumonia and he was recovering from that when he had what was probably a stroke.  That was actually in July.

July

The frame holding the driver's seat in my car (the 2008 impala) broke and we had to buy a replacement seat at a salvage yard, then put the seat from my car on the frame of the salvage seat.

The next day, the brakes on the El Camino basically failed and Bill had to replace them.

Otter and Roomie decided to move to a 2-bedroom unit.  Otter was cautiously optimistic about it, since Roomie was working again and she hoped that it would work out but she was also pretty sure that when that lease was up she would suggest that Roomie find her own place.  They moved on the 31st.

On July 8, the Teenager had the probable stroke.  It was overnight and he was most likely asleep; he never really woke up from that and that is actually a blessing.  On the 12th, he left this life behind.  He was 98 years, 9 months.  This was one of the worst things that happened this year, at least from our perspective.  But we know exactly where he is and that we will see him again.  Until then, we'll all miss him terribly.

August

This month literally started with Otter's car having issues.  The radiator ruptured and we had to replace it.  It was just the beginning of trouble with that car.  It spent more time at my house than it did at hers!

But she did get a pretty good raise at work so she was happy!

Bill saw the dermatologist for his annual visit, the spot we thought might be a skin cancer on his nose turned out not to be but there were a couple of very small ones on his hand that the doctor froze off.

We finally met with the pastor at the church we'd been visiting.  And we knew almost immediately that it is not the place for us.  That was very disappointing.

We put tires on my car, the 2008 impala.

I was sick, it was a bug that was going around but it took me a few weeks to really recover from it.

We closed our booth at the antique store.

The Bluebell plants reopened!

September

Labor Day.

Bill came down with the mega-bug I'd had.

Otter and I got our flu shots and I spent most of Labor Day weekend dealing with my reaction.  Which wasn't as bad as some years have been.  But the reaction hit me within 2 minutes of getting the shot, I got my shot at 5:30 and at 5:32 I was suddenly freezing cold.

Then I came down with a cold.

I crocheted purple baby caps for a local charity.

There was a lunar eclipse, we could see it from the back yard and it was very pretty.

It was pretty obvious that Otter was under some stress, she was having problems with Roomie and was very upset over the situation.  She wasn't sure what she could do, as Roomie was on the lease but she really regretted moving to the 2-bedroom unit, although at the time it was a good decision.  But she knew that she would not renew the lease (or any lease) with Roomie when it was up.

October

We went to the State Fair in Tulsa, we took J along with us and we had a fun time.  We were tired but it was an enjoyable day.  I discovered that I am a sheep magnet - they are evil!  They know I'm beyond extremely allergic to them.

We had a lot of the typical "persecution" because of the TEXAS/ou game the first weekend of the month.  Then TEXAS won!

Roomie lost her job.  Or at least she admitted to Otter that she'd lost it, the actual time that happened might have been in September.  But it was a major retailer and she was fired, she would not say why but this particular store does not fire employees unless they have very good reason.  She claimed to have gotten another job at a fast-food place and probably did, but we're not totally convinced that she kept it longer than a couple of weeks.  When she told Otter that she'd lost the job and got the new one, Otter told her then that Roomie was going to have to find her own place a) when the lease was up or b) immediately if she lost the fast-food job.

Because Otter was expecting to have to move when the lease was up, she did a little looking for other complexes that might be a little cheaper but nobody expected Roomie to do what she did:  move out and attempt to do it without giving Otter any warning at all - but Otter caught her packing.  It was a very ugly, nasty situation and I'm not going to detail it here because it was already detailed.  But it was bad, however it could have been much worse.  There was very heavy *RHTW involvement.

The Teenager would have been 99.  We had cupcakes at work to celebrate and remember him.

The 32nd anniversary of when we met was on the 14th.

Bill decided to get another booth for the pachinko machines.

We put Maggie Moo back on the zyrtec, she was scratching again and had caused a little bald spot above her tail from it.  She had a slight case of Bald Bobo!  But the zyrtec helped her a lot more this time.

It rained.  A lot.

One morning was really strange:  The sunrise was brilliant in the east, it was dark and cloudy in the middle area and then there was a huge rainbow in the west.  All at the same time!

November

Our "lovely" insurance carrier sent us a letter with a $400+ increase in our monthly premium.  We made a lot of changes that took weeks.

Otter went to a Dias De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) festival with J and his mom in his not quite next door to Tulsa neighboring town.  She left rememberances for the Teenager and my aunt we refer to as AJ (who Otter was named for).

That night on her way home, her car acted like it was overheating and we had to go get her.  About 9:30 at night, in almost the middle of nowhere, dark and very isolated - but J and his mom came to wait with her until we got there.  Bill drove her car home, although he had to stop a couple of times, I brought her home in my car and then she took my car on home with her.

For the next few weeks, we dealt with her car acting up and she had my car quite a bit.

In the midst of all the car issues, Otter moved to a one-bedroom unit in the same complex.

Bill got a bad cold.

Then I got a bad cold.

Thanksgiving was a little different, we wound up at Taco Bell because it was the only place we could find open when the power went out!  That was the first of several times we got a senior discount!

We finally got our Bluebell ice cream!

There was a hard rain storm and then we saw a double rainbow.

The new booth store opened up.

The El Camino developed a problem with what is probably the thermostat but the specific part is pretty much unavailable.  It is a 1976 vehicle, after all!  It's going to spend the next few months in the driveway anyway, like it usually does in the winter.

We started discussing Bill buying a 2nd hand car to drive in the winter, since Otter had the 02 impala he used to drive.

December

We realized that Otter's car was becoming a serious concern and it was not a car we were comfortable with her driving any longer.  We bought a new car for me, a 2015 impala.  Then we traded the 2008 to her and she gave Bill the 2002.  The 2002 is still acting up, it is probably a series of cascading problems that keep causing other things to act up and it may well be that the car is just worn out.  But in the meantime, Bill will drive it and she has a car that she can trust.  New tires and in very good shape, she should be able to drive it for several years.  I am very happy with the new car, but we really did not want a car payment yet.  However, it was a good decision.

Otter and I went to the mall to Christmas shop one evening and had a very interesting encounter - I didn't mentioned details when I blogged about it, but we almost literally ran into her first boyfriend - and his girlfriend - and their two very young children!  He was a real jerk when he and Otter broke up and at one point we had to tell his dad to reign his son in or we would call the police - which explains why the former boyfriend would not even look me in the eye when we saw him.  Otter said that she's extremely glad that she dodged that particular situation, and she hopes that the idiot boy treats his baby mama better than he treated her and also that he's finally learned to be faithful.

We decided to put up a Christmas tree so I went to Hobby Lobby and bought another artificial tree.

We still had to deal with the cold bug we got in late November.  Even up until right before Christmas.

Then Bill came down with another cold which I thought was the flu at first.

We finally got actual winter weather, much later than usual.

There was a lot that happened, it wasn't all bad and most of the really cruddy stuff is not being mentioned.  But this has been a fairly bad year.  We do realize that it could have been worse, and there have been some good things.  But the main thing that defines this year is the loss of a man who was like a father to me and that Otter considered to be another one of her grandfathers.

Here's to 2016 and hopes that it will be a good year for everyone!

Still Looking (Edited)

We met with the associate pastor at the church we've been attending.  We had a few questions and she was very willing to answer them.  After the visit, we've decided that we need to keep looking.  We are going to visit one of the other United Methodist churches in the area and see what we think.  There are a few big issues and we agreed on most of them, but there was one in particular - does the specific church view the Bible as literal?  It was the first question and nearly the last one, because the answer was no.  It's a big one as far as we are concerned, there were a few other things we didn't really like so we are not going to continue visiting this particular church.  (EDIT:  I think the work"real" would be better than literal to describe the Bible.  And if the pastor doesn't think it's real, then why is he/she even in that position?)

Since it's Tuesday, it's fajita night at El Chico so we stopped for dinner on the way home.  We got there at the perfect time, they weren't crowded at all but they were getting that way fast by the time we finished our meal.

I've been wondering if I might be on the verge of a sinus infection the last day or so.  I'm at that point where it might be, but it might not be and I won't know for a day or so.  Or a few days.  It's at the point where if it is, it will continue to develop.  But if not, then I don't want to go to the doctor for antibiotics that I don't need.  But there were two yogurt coupons in the paper the other day...

Froggy, I knew you would like the TEXAS clock.  The bluebonnets are hand painted.  It was special from the moment the Teenager gave it to me, but now it means even more to us.

Cue Twilight Zone music:  Yesterday, Maggie literally herded a cricket to me.  As in she chased it but wasn't trying to eat it - however she was very obvious that her intent was to bring it to me.  Then, she turned around and walked over to where the bug jar is kept and stared at it very intently.  Then she turned around and stared at me intently, then back to the jar and then back at the bug.  At that point, I realized that she had made the connection with bugs in the house being caught in the bug jar and put out.  She was quite happy when I picked up the bug jar and caught the cricket and then she walked to the back door and waited for me.  She walked out on the deck with me and watched me dump the bug out, then she turned around and came back in.  It's a scary moment when the beagle does something smart!  :)

Tomorrow's high temperature is in the low 70's!   Wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday Already?

Wow, tomorrow is Friday!  I just realized that.

PBS is having their annual August pledge drive, which is when they have the music features.  I've been in musicobsessive heaven all week!  I did manage to see the BeeGees special from the beginning this time (I usually miss the first part of it), the John Denver special was very good and there have been a couple of others that I've enjoyed.  Tonight is Celtic Woman - watching them makes me realize that the most influential Teacher I ever had was probably Irish!  Obviously, it was the Choir Teacher I'm referring to.  He was probably university professor level, and his lessons are still with me.  One thing he drilled into us was breathing.  Breath control is probably the most important aspect of singing, and to this day I still find myself remembering what I was taught to do and it drives me absolutely CRAZY when so-called professionals can't even figure out when to breathe while singing!  We were taught to the level of ability and performance professionalism that the members of Celtic Woman have, and he made sure we learned it!  I wish Mom had not gotten rid of my Choir Sweater, but she apparently did because it was nowhere to be found when we cleaned out the house after Dad died.

Otter came over to do her laundry today.  She was originally going to come over yesterday, she was scheduled to work Tuesday night (as in all of it, until early Wednesday morning) but the supply truck was delayed so she was rescheduled to work on Wednesday instead, when the truck actually arrived.  She was exhausted after unloading the truck and restocking all the shelves, which is probably her least favorite part of being the Pricing Coordinator for the store.  She is part of the Inventory Control Department.  She decided to come do her laundry today, on her day off.  She mostly came over to play with the beagle I think!  :)  Bill saw a Sonic commercial, they had half-price cheeseburgers today so that's what he wanted for dinner.  I told Otter that I'd get her something from Sonic as well so she had dinner with us.  She's very happy with the new apartment and having more room.  She was really happy today, she found what they refer to as "dumpster furniture."  Somebody put a short dresser out by the dumpster, she and Roomie borrowed a dolly from the apartment office and it's now in their apartment.  On the 3rd floor!  She said it probably weighs at least 100 pounds, and it took them a while to get it up the stairs but they did it.  All that is wrong with it is one drawer needs a little glueing to hold it together on one spot.  They got it into the living room and then left it there, they will figure out exactly where to put it but she said they were tired after having to get it up the stairs and into their apartment.

It's been cooler this week, the last couple of mornings have been almost sweater temperatures.  Maggie Moo has really enjoyed it on our morning walks, especially this morning.  She was so bouncy!  She really had fun this morning, she sniffed everything, and I do mean everything, and she was so playful.  At the moment, she is asleep at my feet.  She wiggled herself around until she is underneath her bed.  I guess she's comfortable because she is snoring!

Nevermind, the beagle is up!  She woke up and curled her tail around my ankle.  Then she got up and shook herself, now she's sitting in front of me and may be watching tv.  She has been known to do that.

It's back-to-school time.  Otter has been out of school for 4 years now.  For some reason, I keep thinking that I need to get school supplies!  She hasn't even lived here in nearly a year, and she's been working for the last 2 1/2 years, for pete's sake.

We do need to start getting firewood soon, though.  That's another thing that the cooler morning temps have got me to thinking about.

Walgreen's has the flu shot vaccine in stock.  I'm getting mine on the Friday of Labor Day weekend, like I usually do.  Last year's was much earlier, in August.  As a result, it was a normal weekend instead of a 3-day weekend.  I really could have used that extra day off to recover from my usual reaction, so I've gone back to the Labor Day weekend schedule.  Otter is going to get hers then as well.

The crepe myrtles in the back yard are doing wonderfully.  Some of them are blooming.  The mimosa tree in the front yard is finally blooming as well.  The mimosa tree was planted from a sprout that showed up in the back yard and was probably grown from a seed from the neighbor's tree.  Each year, it would come up and have a few leaves then it would die down in the fall but it never got taller than a couple of feet.  Last winter, it died completely and disappeared - or so we thought.  It did disappear, but there was still life left in it and it came back up this year.  And it's now over 7 or 8 feet tall!  It's fully leafed out and it beautiful, but I was afraid it might not be a blooming tree.  Then last weekend, it suddenly put of blooms.  Just a few, but that's fine with me because that means it will bloom each year and should increase the number of blooms.  I guess it just took it a few years to get really established.

We have a meeting with the associate pastor at the church we've been attending, next Tuesday.  I think we'll make the decision after we talk to her.  In all probability, we will be joining that church but we won't decide until after our meeting.  Otter will be transferring her membership with us.  We realized today that we haven't been to our current/about to be old church in over 10 months and not once has anyone ever contacted us!  Except for one time when I mailed my tithe check in and made a mistake on it - they contacted me immediately when it concerned money, I noticed!

I think that's very telling.

Easter Sunday 2015

Happy Easter!  It's been a wet one for us.  Church was enjoyable, it was a really nice change to have a sermon that actually dealt with the specific holiday and didn't feel like just another not very important day.  We really enjoyed it.

We went to Church at 8:00 a.m. and got a little wet, it was raining pretty good when we got up and it rained until early afternoon.  Just in time for Bill to get the grill out and get started on the steaks we had tonight.  He also grilled lemon spiced chicken, fajita chicken and barbequed chicken.  Along with 6 beef hamburger patties.  I won't have to do a lot of cooking this week, that's for sure.  :)

Last Friday's blog entry was done on my lunch hour and I hadn't heard back from the insurance company yet.  I finally called them about 2:15 and eventually managed to get connected to an actual person.  And she spent the next 40 minutes telling me that my account had been "credited" and pretending that she couldn't understand when I asked her exactly what "credited" meant (although I knew, but I wanted her to tell me) and then she acted like she just couldn't understand what I meant when I told her that I wanted the money returned to me ASAP.  I absolutely hate people who pretend ignorance and she knows that now.  Let's just say it was a M.A.J.O.R. *RHTW moment!  In fact, *RHTW was out of the fence and did all the talking.  The upshot is that they wanted to keep the 2nd payment and apply it to May, which is what "credited" meant and I basically told them that this was there one and only strike, that the next screw up on their part might well mean that we'd no longer be there customers.  I told her flat-out that I had cancelled the automatic withdraw for payments because I didn't trust them to a) do their job and b) do it right.  After putting me on hold for a very long time, and obviously sounding like she did it on purpose in hopes that I would hang up based on how she came back to the phone, she finally admitted that the money would be returned to me - but it took me telling her (not threatening them or bluffing them, because I would have done it) that if it was not back in my hands by the 15th I would tell the IRS to call them and ask them where the income tax money went since that is what was in the savings account.  They claim that they can not refund the money back to my account except by check - and she told me that it was going out right then, to expect it by 7 business days.  It was well after 3:00 when I got off the phone.  I had a couple of errands after work and I was just about to walk out of the post office when the person I spoke to Thursday evening called me back - she was not who I spoke to Friday afternoon, and I told her that I appreciated her calling me back and also what I'd been told by the other c/s rep that afternoon.  And I told her also that I'd tell the IRS to call them if I don't have the premium returned to me by the promised date.  I know the IRS wouldn't really care, they would still expect me to pay them but I wanted to let the insurance company know how serious we are about this.

The cable company got a touch of *RHTW as well.  The line burying crew still hadn't shown up and I called them in the afternoon - they were running behind, which is what I was told.  But they called me when I was in the grocery store after the post office and wanted to know if it was ok if they didn't come out until Saturday - NO.  I told their rep that Bill had taken the day off from work and had been home waiting all day, that there was no excuse accepable.  I gave her Bill's cell phone number and she said she would make sure the crew got there right away.  I got home about 5:00 and the crew consisting of exactly ONE person was just getting there.  He got a lot done but he ran out of time and asked if he could come back Saturday morning to finish, which was ok with us.  He did exactly what he said, came back on Saturday and finished up.

Otter came over after work today and brought her laundry.  She came for Easter dinner, but the laundry basket generally comes to visit my washing machine once a week anyway.  :)  Her laundry wasn't quite dry but she was tired, she had one of those exhausting days today, so I took her home when she was ready (Bill's going to keep her car and see about a few things on it tomorrow) and I'll take her laundry to her tomorrow when I get her to take her to the allergist for her annual lung/asthma recheck.  She wants me to go with her and we're also going to see about getting her eyes examined and then she'll probably need new glasses.  She wants new ones anyway, not Oakley brand this time because their earpieces are basically straight and slide right off.  She will probably decide not to have her eyes dilated since they can take the retina photographs now.  We are going to have lunch at a specific steak house that we don't get to very often and we might go to our favorite garden store to see about a few pepper plants.

*RHTW:  Whatever you do, do not make Her mad!  She will make you regret it.

It's Taco Day!!!

That means that tomorrow is Otter's birthday.  She'll be 23.

Taco Night was still celebrated, even though she is now living on her own.  We just didn't have it at home.  We wanted to have her birthday dinner when J and Roomie could go, and that was tonight.  She gets to pick where/what her birthday meal is, and this year she chose El Chico.  So, Taco Night With A Twist!  I think I'm the only one that actually ordered tacos, although Roomie did have the fajitas.  Bill and J both had burritos and Otter had tamales.  The waitress was a little unorganized but when she heard one of us say that it was Otter's birthday, she brought her a free sopapilla and then she also brought her a free fried ice cream.  Yes, fried ice cream is real - it's an ice cream ball in a hard shell batter which is how it survives being fried.  It's topped with chocolate sauce and a little whipped cream type topping.  Otter, J and Roomie shared the ice cream.  She took the sopapilla in a "to go" container and will probably have it for breakfast tomorrow - if it survives that long!  Roomie's fajitas were a lot bigger than she thought so she also had a "to go" container and she was planning on making quesadillas tomorrow with her leftovers.  It was a lot of fun and the food was really good.

I made her a certificate for her workbench, although she already knew about it.  I put it in the card we gave her and she thought that was fun.  I'm not sure when we'll actually get the workbench, it depends on her schedule and also Bill's since he and the El Camino will be needed to pick it up.  She wants to put it together herself, but she also requests that Dad be there in case she needs help.  Possibly this next weekend.

We had an appointment scheduled with the associate pastor at the church we've been attending, but Bill had a lady who wanted a pachinko repair and she was going to be in town today.  We were going to meet at 4:00 and then pick up the Birthday Girl and crew but we rescheduled the church meeting.  Which was fine with the associate pastor, this is a very busy week for her.  I told her I'll call her one day next week and we'll see what works for a meeting to talk with her.  We have a few questions.

Our Easter dinner plans have changed.  Originally, I was going to pick up a small ham.  We were going to make either rice or mashed potatos and gravy.  But we decided to "go a different direction."  Bill's going to grill steaks!  We'll also have baked potatos and something to be determined later for dessert.  Otter is 100% in favor of steaks!  She'd have been happy with ham & mashed potatos but she is very much a steak fan as well.  I'll pick up a a few steaks and the assorted fixins when I hit the grocery store this week.

Bill shaved his winter beard last night, so I think that winter is officially over now.  Otter remarked when she saw him at the restaurant this afternoon that he no longer looks like Santa Claus!

This Monday night is very different from another Monday night in late March 1992!  But we had the taco celebration, so the tradition continues.  :)

Broken Glass(es)

My glasses broke yesterday.  It was very strange.  I was sitting down on the couch, watching tv.  (STAR TREK, of course!) and they fell off my face.  In 2 separate pieces!  Shortly before that happened, I'd heard a cracking sound but I was standing in the kitchen at the time and I thought it was something Billyboy was working on out in the garage - he was casting parts.  But apparently what I heard was my glasses breaking.  They broke on the nose piece, but more to the right side and very close to the part that holds the lenses.  It was about 4:15 or so.  Bill was able to glue them together, but it took "super" super glue and about 15 minutes of him holding the 2 pieces in place.  Then he was still not sure it would hold, so he used a small piece of painter's tape.  I was able to put them back on, but I wasn't able to adjust them when they slid or take them off for any reason because they were so fragile.  It was too late to go get another pair, I knew I'd need to get my eyes examined because it's been 2 years.  I wore my now uncomfortable glasses until bedtime, I left them in the bathroom on the counter so that I didn't have to fold them up.  This morning, I got dressed, got my dentures in and brushed my hair all before I put them on - my hair looked like it, too!

The eye doctor we use is in the mall, right next to Lenscrafters.  I called them yesterday and they didn't have any open appointments but they take walk-ins.  They told me that if I could get there early I would have a good chance of being seen and maybe not have to wait too long.  They opened at 10:00 and I got to the mall about 10 minutes before that.  The mall was full of early morning walkers, so I joined them and got a little exercise.  At 9:59, I went upstairs to the eye doctor - the escalators were not turned on yet!  They said they could see me about 10:45, so I walked next door to Lenscrafters and found a pair.  I was back in about 5 minutes and they were able to see me right then, so I didn't have to wait until 10:45.  I did not have to get my eyes dilated.  There is a new procedure where they can take a very detailed photograph of the retina and it does not involve dilation.  I chose that as soon as it was offered.  I had a very detailed exam, my retinas look good and there are no signs of the cataracts growing although I have had a couple of times when I've been aware of the right one because of a slight glare occasionally.  He said that's normal and that if it's grown at all, it's very hard to tell.  My prescription is nearly the same, if the glasses hadn't broken I would have been ok to still wear them.  I went back to Lenscrafters and when I gave the tech my prescription, she said that the glasses might be heavier than I wanted and she suggested I pick a different pair.  I looked around and found another pair that I actually like better, they are metal and are smaller than the ones that broke.  The old ones took several days because they had to be sent off to another lab for a non-glare application.  I asked the doctor about that and he said that if I don't do much night driving I really won't need it.  So I skipped it this time, and my new glasses were ready in a couple of hours.  I went back to work and then picked them up after work.  I can tell a difference in the prescription, but it's not much.

Wednesday's tornado has been rated at an EF2.  It was very high on the scale for a 2, and was nearly a 3.  It was still very bad, but it could have been so much worse.

We have a meeting next week with the associate minster at the church we've been attending.  We have a few questions, mostly since we've been away from the Methodist church for a few years.  We'll still attend there this Sunday.  Sometime after that, and after the meeting, we'll decide.

Now I'm going to park myself on the couch and get a glass of wine in a little while.  I need to rest my eyes and I have a very slight eye-strain headache.

Not Ready For Monday Yet

But Monday is on it's way, even if I don't like it.  :(

I spent Friday hiding from the world.  In other words, I was home.  With spring allergy induced asthma!  Except for when I went to Wallyworld to get Otter's allergy medicine and talk to the pharmacist to see if there was anything that I could take.  That would actually work on me!  The pharmacist was not exactly a redhead, but his beard had quite a bit of red in it and he was familiar with the Care of Redheads.  He knew all about the way we metabolize things and he said he has some of the issues with the Redhead Curse.  After talking to him, I think I'm still stuck and unable to take anything for my allergies since they will either not work or work in unexpected and unpleasant ways.  I'm just glad that Otter has a couple of things she can take.

Bill worked on Otter's car again today.  He bought the specific part that he replaced once already, which is supposed to be what the "check engine" light was coming on about.  When we took it in to chevy a couple of weeks ago, the manager cleared out the system and the light went off.  Bill was afraid it was going to come back on again so he went to the auto parts store and bought the part again.  He got it from a cut-rate internet based auto parts company that we've used before.  Cut rate only implies the general price, we've always had good luck with their parts before.  Except this time.  So Bill was expecting to have to replace the part again.  Yesterday Otter texted me that the "check engine" light was back on.  She came over after work to do laundry and she talked to Bill about the car.  He told her to bring it back today since it was cloudy and threatening to rain all day yesterday.  But she had to work all day today, so we went to her store and Bill got the car then.  He brought it home and let it cool down for a few hours.  He replaced the part today and also cleaned out a specific hose that could be contributing to the problem.  The hose might need to be replaced as well, it looks like is might have been crushed a bit by either Chevy or (more likely) the crooks we used before.  The light is out and Otter's going to watch to see what happens.  If the hose does clog up again, Chevy will probably be where we take it to get it replaced - but not the Chevy dealer we've been using.

I did manage to get some crochet in yesterday.  And my arm hurts today.  It was already hurting, the crochet made it worse but I have got to get one specific project completed by June because it's for Froggy's daughter!  I hate tendinitis.

Movie Review:  The Book of Life.  Don't bother!  I was disappointed with this one.  It looked so good from the previews but it was not very good at all.  They did get a few of the cultural references right, but not all that many.

Bill got out the grill this afternoon.  We had steaks for dinner and he has leftover steak for lunch tomorrow.  He also grilled chicken breast and that will be dinner tomorrow night with some rice I made.  While he was at it, he grilled hamburger patties so that will probably be Tuesday's dinner and since there were 6 patties it will probably be a couple of day's meals.  I won't have to cook much this week, which was the general idea!

We went back to the Methodist church today.  We enjoyed the service.  At this point, we are seriously leaning towards joining this church.  It's time to talk to the minister about a few things and then we'll decide.

I went to Michael's today to get paint.  I am going to put up new outlet covers and a new switchplate in the craft/front/guest/YARN room.  Bill said he would get me something printed up on the sheets he uses for backgrounds on the pachinko rooms - the same stuff car wraps are made from - but I couldn't find a picture that would work.  I was looking for a specific yarn or crochet pattern, but the only things I could find were either knitted patterns or the definition was not very good.  But Otter and I went to the dollar store yesterday while her laundry was in the dryer and I found some really neat stickers.  I think they are made for scrapbooking, but they are going to work perfectly - they are crocheted doilies!  They are almost white color on a clear background, I bought some pinkish paint and I'm going to put that on the outlet covers and switchplate.  Then I'm going to decorate them with the stickers.  But I have to finish the other painting project I have started, the shadow box.  I did a little more on it today, but I have to wait for the paint to dry completely before I can get back on it.  After it's finished, I'll get the outlet covers and switchplate done

That is about it for today.

Spring?

I know it's not officially Spring until this coming Friday.  But it sure feels like it today.  It was rainy all day Friday, into early yesterday morning.  Then it was cool and overcast most of yesterday.  But today started out nice and has stayed that way.  Warm-ish but not hot, the sky is blue and beautiful.  It's slightly breezy.

Unfortunately, things are beginning to bloom and I'm a little sneezy when I'm outside.  But it's worth it, at least so far, just to get to be outdoors.  The ground is a bit soft from all the rain and it is muddy in places - my dogs have spent quite a bit of time decorating the kitchen floor with a paw print pattern!

We had intended to go back to the Methodist church today but we overslept.  We'll go back there next Sunday.  Bill brought me a cup of coffee in bed this morning, it was nice to sit in the dark and wake up slowly.  I still am not a fan of Daylight Saving Time!

Otter came over yesterday to do laundry. We went to Wallyworld and I got sheets for the futon, as well as a couple of pillows.  I also bought a desk lamp which is very similar to the Pixar logo.  I didn't realize that until the cashier mentioned it - he was a friend of Otter's from high school, which explains why he always looks so familiar to me!  Anyway, the lamp works very well beside the desk.  Bill checked the light fixture in the ceiling and found out why it was so bad - two of the three bulbs were burned out!  Amazing how much brighter it is in there now...

As we were walking out of Wallyworld, there was a girl scout troop setting up a cookie booth.  Needless to say, we bought some.  I have about 7 or 8 boxes in the freezer, I'd like to get a few more boxes, hopefully I'll see at least one more booth but they only sell them through the end of March I think.

My tendinitis is really bad in my left arm.  It's actually better than I've had it in the past, it's just that I keep forgetting about it and using my left arm for something I shouldn't and then it hurts.  So, I'm forcing myself to take a crochet break.  Believe me, it ain't easy!  I had a few craft projects I had on the shelf but hadn't gotten around to yet so I'm working on them now.  I got the base coat of paint on the shadow box and part of the first coat of blue.  I was hoping it would only need one coat, but I think it's going to need two for an even color.  Otter always says that it is not a good day unless she gets paint (or markers, glue, etc.,) on her hands.  So I guess it must be a really good day for me!

Movie review: Big Hero 6.  I was pleasantly surprised by this one.  It's funny and the storyline is good.  A little predictable, but still good.  The animation is pretty good.  The best part?  The Stan Lee cameo!  It's actually an end-of-credits scene but it's really great.  Bill told me to put this one on the "to buy" list.  It was cute and I highly recommend it.

Furnished

Froggy, you don't have to sleep on the floor when you come see me!

I think my guest/craft/YARN room is just about done.  Yesterday, I went to the store where we first had our booth and noticed that they had two futons for sale.  One of them was exactly what I was looking for, so I told Bill about it and we went up there this afternoon to look at it.  We took the El Camino in case we bought it, and since we did actually buy it I'm glad we took the truck.  It just barely fit in the back of the truck, actually.  It's a tanish color, but I put the crocheted blanket I made for Bill a few years ago on it since it's in my YARN room.  The yarn stash is going to be moved slightly, the steampunk pachinko is going to move to the opposite side of the room and the yarn drawers will be slid down a bit so that I can get into the drawers easily.

It's a futon, so the back of it can be reclined for sleeping.  I might get an egg-crate foam pad for it, I'm not sure about that yet, but I do need to get a couple of pillows.  And sheets!

Now all we need in that room is better lighting, which will probably be a ceiling fan with a light and I want to put a miniblind in the window.  The miniblind will wait until I get all my doilies assembled into the drape style curtain, which will be a while because I'm still in the process of acquiring enough.  I got a few yesterday at a church rummage sale, but I still don't have anywhere near enough.

This was one day last week when the snow was first starting to come down, it might have been last Saturday.  Anyway, the resident woodpecker finally discovered the suet feeder.  He was sideways because the suet was almost gone, I put a refill in it after that but I haven't seen him on it since then.  But it's had regular visitors as it is rapidly emptying again.

A slightly closer shot.  These pictures were taken out of the window, it was too cold to go outside and I didn't want to scare the bird off.

This was also taken one day last week, Frasier isn't normally a big fan of blankets but he seemed quite happy when I covered him with my afghan when I was sitting on the couch one day.  This was a day or two after the vet visit and he was already showing signs of improvement from the anti-inflammatory, but it was still pretty cold and he seemed to relax and enjoy the extra warmth from the blanket.  There is a bumpy spot right by his visible foot - that's Maggie Moo!

Frasier is almost completely different than he was right before the vet visit, he's happy and playful again and acting like a puppy.  I haven't given him a pain pill in a few days and I'm only giving him half of an antibiotic once a day.  He's very happy and affectionate, he doesn't act like he's in any pain or discomfort at all but I'm still watching him closely.

I think I've mentioned before that we were dissatisfied with our church and were considering looking for a new one.  We haven't actually attended church in several weeks, because our church discontinued the early service which is the one we went to.  The early church service never quite took off, which we thought it would have.  We used to belong to a United Methodist church in Tulsa and were quite happy with it.  Then we moved to our smaller town and changed to a closer UM church.  We attended there for a couple of years, but then something happened that we were not happy with.  The youth leader (adult, salaried employee and not a youth member) started telling the kids that the Bible is wrong about a lot of things.  We didn't realize it at first, until Otter told me that she was confused because she knew what the Bible said and she thought she was hearing something wrong from the youth leader.  That's when we decided it was time to change.  We looked around and decided to go back to the Southern Baptist church - back to in my case because that's where I was originally, but it was new for Bill and Otter.  We went to a specific SB church because a lot of Otter's friends from school went there and she wanted to be with her friends.  She liked it, but it was a huge church and was way too big for us to feel comfortable.  But we stayed there for a long time for Otter.  Eventually, it was even too big for her and we started looking for a smaller SB church.  We found the one we belong to currently and joined it pretty quickly.  It was fine for a long time.  But then things changed.  The minister had a major health issue, he was diagnosed with a fairly rare form of cancer but he beat it eventually.  Sometime after that, we realized that the pastor didn't seem to be "in charge" anymore and that he didn't care about that either.  The music leader was taking over more and more of the operations and seemed to be making a lot of the decisions that the pastor should have been making.  It was pretty obvious, at least to us, that the music minister just wanted to be in charge and that it was becoming a power trip for him.  But then the music minister's wife had a job transfer and they moved out of state.  We thought that things might change then so we hung around a while longer.

Things changed alright.  And it was even worse.  Somewhere in there, pretty much ALL mission work, community involvement, evangelism, just about every form of outreach had been discontinued and it never returned.  We realized that the minister didn't seem to care, his sermons were becoming reruns frequently and there were times such as Easter and Christmas when the sermons were almost like "just another day" instead of even acknowledging that they were special days!  I take notes on sermons in my Bible, and I discovered that I was making the same notes in the same places over and over again and in the same spots.  The last Sunday that we attended with Otter, the weekend before she moved out, the announcement was made about the early service being discontinued because there were so few people attending.  That's something else that should not have happened the way it did, but the minister never did anything to attempt to increase attendance and neither did anyone else.  We have wondered at times if maybe the minister might have personal problems based on various things he's said about his son and his marriage.  We think it's also possible that he is suffering from clinical depression.  But the upshot is that we were getting nothing out of attending that church and we finally realized it was time to attend elsewhere.

We took a long break to figure out what we wanted to do and we've decided that we want to re-consider the United Methodist church.  We went back today, to a local UM church and we really enjoyed it.  It was nice not to hear a doom & gloom message that we haven't already heard multiple times.  It was nice to actually get to take communion, which I think we only had twice or maybe three times in several years at the SB church.  It was nice to see more than (literally!) 10 people (and usually less than 10) in the congregation.  It was nice to see a good age range, from young children to older people.  The sermon was good, the people were very friendly.  (And the music minister didn't act like it was his stage and his forum to be worshiped at!)  We'll probably go back there again next Sunday and then we'll decide it we want to stay there as visitors for a while or if we want to go to another UM church that is in the next town over but is still very close to home.  We did consider going back to the UM church we belonged to in our small town, the minsterial staff is different now because of a couple of retirements (we liked the ministerial staff, it's just different now) and the youth minister is not there anymore, but at least for now we aren't going back to that church.

I have not addressed TEXAS anniversary yet, it was the day before yesterday but I was not feeling well at the time and didn't want to just toss something up that wasn't good.  I'm just going to post this: 

 Our Story.

2014

It has been a busy year.

January:

Otter started the year off with a bang:  she woke up puking her guts out!  It was allergy, but still not fun.

The next day, it was my turn!  But I didn't get "it" as bad as she did.

We had some snow.  On the 6th, it was so cold that I literally could not breathe outside and that is never good.

We decided to get a booth at a local antique mall. We started out with pachinko machines but then added a few smaller items.  I cleaned out a lot of things!

We had mice in the house, but that's a somewhat normal happening in the winter.

Bill ran out of gas - less than 1/2 a mile from home!

The first of many issues with my computer - caused by stupid windows updates!

Bill replaced the fuel gauge sensor in his/Otter's impala.

Our 29th Anniversary happened.

I started planning a trip to visit Froggy, probably in May.

February:

The groundhog saw his shadow.  And there were people wanting him skinned & turned into houseshoes all over the place!!

We had a lot of snow & cold weather this month.

Otter woke up with a bad headache one day, turned out she had the 2nd sinus infection she's ever had.  Fortunately, she does not have my sinuses.

I finally finished my afghan!

Bill came down with bronchitis, an upper respiratory infection and he also had a sinus infection.

The next day, I came down with it.  I didn't have the bronchitis, but I did have the URI.  And coincidentally a sinus infection.

We spent about the last 2 weeks of February dealing with the bugs and missed a lot of work.  We spent most of that time parked on the couch with blankets and didn't do a whole lot besides that.  Bill was worse than I was due to the bronchitis and had a lot of really bad pain from sore muscles/coughing.  But I have asthma which he doesn't, so I still had to deal with almost as much coughing and muscle pain just not the actual bronchitis.

Bill decided to get a UPS box for the pachinko business.

Booked my flights for my May trip to see Froggy, except that I had a strong feeling I needed to change it to June so I did.

March:

We were still dealing with the end of the illnesses for the first part of the month.

We had more winter weather!

We extended our booth into the booth space next to it, I sold quite a bit of stuff there.

Bill cleaned out a lot of the "useless collection" a/k/a his shot glasses.  He kept several, but he got rid of a whole lot of them.

Found a dead gopher in the back yard - very close to the back fence. Found a dead cardinal a couple of days later - in almost the exact same spot.  As if they had been tossed over the back fence out of someone else's yard and into ours.

Otter planted her crop - mostly jalepenos.

We had a hail storm.

Discovered (the hard way!) that I am allergic to something in the green tea Arby's sells.  I think it's the additive that turned it actual green - green tea is not named that because of the color!

Otter turned 22!  She picked a chinese buffet for her birthday dinner.

April:

2 Hot Flashes in one day!  Talk about miserable.

We had a hail storm with a lot of rain.

2 baby blues came up in the whiskey barrel!

I found honeysuckle at a local nursery, we planted several of them.

I had to replace our coffee maker.  We wore the last one out!

Dead frog mysteriously showed up in the same place as the dead birds in March.  At this point, we started walking along the back fence and talking loudly about all the dead animals we were finding - anytime that we saw the back neighbors out in their yard,  Amazingly, the dead animals stopped showing up.

Snow!  Not extremely common this late, but not unusual either.

One of Bill's sisters came to visit.

I'd been expecting a jury duty notice for a while, no reason for it but I expected it.  And it was in the mail this month - for the dates I originally planned to go see Froggy!

I came down with a cold.  I think I caught it from Otter.  I shared it with Bill.

We thought we were going to have another bad year for wasps, but they weren't as bad as we feared.

Otter's annual lung check at the allergiests - he is very impressed with her asthma status.

May:

RHTW had a nice long talk with PayPal!  They got the message.  I don't think that they liked it, though!

Bill's compressor broke.  Again!  This time, it was out of warranty.

I decided not to turn the old quilt top I bought into window curtains.  It was intended to be a quilt by whomever made it, and they put a lot of work into it.  It needs to stay a quilt, so I bought batting and backing fabric for it.

It was a fun Mother's Day, we saw Captain America 2 and went to Cici's pizza.

Jury Duty.  Which wasn't that bad, but it was pretty boring!

Froggy's cat, Chester, went to the Rainbow Bridge.  He was a good kitty, very fluffy and spoiled.  Just the way a cat should be.

J made a million and one brownie points with Otter - he got her Brent Spiner's autograph!

It rained.  A lot.  A LOT.

Otter and her friend (Roomie) started seriously thinking about getting an apartment.

We thought the deep freeze was going out, it turned out that Bill hadn't quite shut the door all the way and the water we saw was from that and not because the entire thing was thawing.

We decided to close down the 2nd half of the booth and just keep the original size.

June:

I got a lot of work done on a lap blanket I started in May for Froggy.  I took it to her!

My 20th anniversary at work.  I got a cake, a gift card for a local Mexican restaurant and a pretty good bonus.  Very good, in fact.  I was very surprised.

I went to see Froggy!  Among other things, we hit a lot of thrift stores and went to San Antonio.  And she took me to a COACH outlet!  Of course, I bought a purse.  The flight back from Austin was rough.  I spent several hours in the Houston airport on a weather delay - it's not my favorite place, to say the least.  But I did enjoy the visit and got to see Toadles.

Saw the first hummingbird of the year.  I think they were here already, but I just hadn't seen any.

Moved my yarn stash out of the closet in the office, they were put in the bedroom for a while then into the living room until I had a place for them because we knew by this time roughly when Otter would be moving out.

Bill's birthday!  I made him a pineapple upside down cake.  And we had bacon!

I got the work done on the car that it had been needing, but we never really had time to get done.  We still didn't have time, but we didn't want to wait any longer.  And it was determined that the previous (crooks) place didn't exactly do what they said they did as far as the power steering leak that was repaired - sort of.

July:

Vacation!  We stayed home.  Shopped a lot.

Bill started changing the office to his pachinko workroom.  That means that the machines have left the living room!

I went to the Coach store for cleaner and left with another purse.

Found out just how sharp a Ulu knife is.

We saw fireworks on the 4th.  Otter used her sparklers that we bought last year and she got sick before she used.

Otter started working on her cosplay outfit for TNT.

Bill got two or three wasps nests this month.

Brake replaced on the car.

Bill's sewing machine broke - just as Otter was getting to the end of a sewing project for her TNT cosplay.  I finished it by hand for her.

Otter had an ear infection.

Toadles' daughter went through Tulsa on her way to somewhere else, we met her and her kids at the Hog Trough (Golden Corral).

Otter got a raise - the 2nd on e this year and she also got a promotion but I think that was with the first raise.

The lumberyard started stocking firewood.

Bill broke in a new dermatologist.  He had a skin cancer removed from the back of his left hand.  Best of all, the doctor already knew all about Redheads and how to take care of us!

August:

10 years since we moved into our current house.

Otter's purse was nearly nabbed in Goodwill, I posted the details already.

Retro TV started running the original Dr. Who series!

I visited several fabric stores for Froggy.

Otter and I got our flu shots.  I had my usual reaction, it was a little worse than usual actually.

The world lost a major supernova and we are all so much poorer for it.

The doctor took 7 stitches out of Bill's hand but left a few in place.

Froggy's daughter graduated nursing school!

Bill's sister came to visit again, we had a really nice visit with her.

Bill cleaned out the first rain barrel and replaced the broken spout/spigot.

We had a lot of internet issues.  Our provider got more than a hint of RHTW in full flow.  They are now afraid of me, which is not necessarily a bad thing!

I took the rest of the stitches out of Bill's hand.

Bill bought a log splitter.  And had a lot of fun with it.

We got the chimney cleaned.

We had some limited water restrictions but not bad.

Otter and Roomie looked at several apartments.

I found the "holy grail" of purses  - at least, it was my "holy grail."  A Brahmin!

September:

Bought a new camera.

Otter and Roomie applied for an apartment, put a deposit down and were approved.

We'd been collecting stuff for her for a while but now it was all moved to the living room and piled in front of the fireplace until she actually moved.

Froggy's cat, Callie, vanished.  She never turned up and they never figured out how she managed to get out.

2nd sinus infection of the year!

We got the notice that our insurance company is leaving the state next March.  Nobama care is the reason.

I finished Uncle Crazy's lap blanket.

Bill got a bunch of firewood.

Otter requested a bunch of comfort foods leading up to her move.

We got 10 crepe myrtle plants and they are planted along the back fence.

The passenger window fell down in the door frame on Bill's/Otter's impala.

The Chevy dealership we use for repairs was introduced to RHTW.  And RHTW won that round, but then She usually does.

October:

This was a big, very busy month.  At least at first it was, it got calmer towards the end of the month.  Especially on the first, when our nest because officially empty!

The TEXAS persecution was especially bad this year.

We decided it was time to get serious about finding a new church, we've been unhappy with our current one for a very long time.  We still haven't found the right one.

There was a lunar eclipse.

Bill fixed the oxygen sensor on his/Otter's car and replaced the windshield wiper blades.

This month is when we realized that Maggie was leaky and having lot of problems.

The vet thought that she mad a UTI, she was on medication for a while and it did seem to help a lot.

Bill went over to Otter's apartment one day and showed Roomie all the basic car maintenance things - she'd never been taught any of it, not even how to check her oil OR how important all those things are.  We officially refer to her as out Other Daughter and that's how we feel about her.

Otter had a tummy bug.  And she shared it with me!

My email quit working - thanks to another unwanted, unneeded update!

Otter had what she thought might be a cavity starting.  Turned out, she needed a root canal.

I started a lap robe blanket for Otter.

Major migraine - I have had several this year, but this one was the worst of the year.

Bill replaced the brakes on Roomie's car.

Halloween.

 

November:

 

Otter's root canal actually took place this month.  She had her typical Redhead reaction to the laughing gas.

We decided to have a low-key Thanksgiving.

Which almost didn't happen as we planned, the heating element on the stove went out.  The part came in a couple of days before, so we had the pizza we wanted.  And that Otter could eat!

Otter had a pretty bad migraine.

After running around all day, I finally found towels and stuff to redecorate the guest bathroom.

Snow!

Bill's other sister came to visit.

I had what I first thought was the flu, but it turned out to be "just" a bug and not the actual flu.

Froggy - this is when KN#3 contacted me about the towels you liked but couldn't find locally.  I got them and shipped them to her around Thanksgiving.  And you were very surprised with them on Chrismtas!

Thanksgiving.  We had our pizza.

We cleaned the living room carpet.  And realized that Maggie Moo had been leaking for longer than we realized.

 

December:

 

We decided to close out our booth.  We actually were thinking we'd probably get a new one in a few months, but a new antique mall opened and we were able to get a good deal on a slightly larger booth so we emptied the old booth and took the pachinko machines directly to the new booth.

Bill replaced the lights in the kitchen.  And I saw just how dirty my kitchen really was!

We had a spell of very foggy days.

Retro TV finally got to the episodes with the real Dr. Who, # 4!

Finally replaced our microwave.

I got Bill a leather wallet for Christmas, he got me a calendar - after I finally decided that was what I wanted.

Microsoft did it again, and this time I found the settings on the laptop to where I have to approve all updates before they are installed.

I had the 9th migraine of the year.  I haven't had that many in more years than I can count.

Vacation!

I got My/the Guest/Craft/Sewing/Front/YARN room mostly organized.

Otter went to Oklahoma City for Christmas with J and his mom.  She "met the family" finally.

We had a quiet Christmas.  It was nice, we had steaks & baked potatos and enjoyed it.  It was different, but it was nice.

I got snow on my birthday!  And went to a local flea market.

 

2014 has been a busy year.  It hasn't been a bad year, but there has been a lot that happened.  But at the same time, it's kind of hard to realize that it's already about to be 2015.

Gone to Sleep **EDITED**

**EDIT:  (My email is temporarily not working.  It worked fine, but then Windows did one of it's unneeded updates yesterday and now my email isn't working.  We are trying to fix it, but so far none of the fixes have worked.  I'm so tired of people who don't even know me thinking that they know what is best for me!)

My "Mom Ears" have gone to sleep.  After 22+ years of listening in my sleep for Otter, I've realized that the Mom Ears have quit listening.  I realized this a few days ago, after waking up several morning in a row without waking up in the night and not waking early when she had to be in to work early.  I'm sure that they are simply resting, if grandchildren are ever in the picture for us I think the Mom Ears will wake up.  Along with the Eyes in the Back of My Head that all moms seem to develop upon the birth of their children.  :)

 

We didn't actually make it to church today.  We had planned to, but Otter called me yesterday before she went to work because she was concerned about a specific tire that was low (we've been watching it).  She went to get air in it, but the pump wasn't working right and she thought she actually caused the tire to lose air.  So I took her my car and got the one she'd been driving, the 02 Impala that she and Bill share.  The car is about to need new tires and we will put them on it when it officially becomes her car, unless we have to do it sooner.  I took the car to another air pump and thought it took some air, but the gauge told me it was lower still.  So, I drove it on home and Bill said he'd check it this morning - he was fighting off a mild case of the stomach bug that I shared with him so he wasn't really inclined to mess with the car yesterday.  We decided against church in case the tire was bad and actually got flat, since Bill didn't have enough time to check it before we would have had to leave anyway.  Bill did check the tire later on and it seemed to be holding air.  However, he thinks the tire gauge is broken!!!  He fired up the compressor and put a little air in it, along with the other three tires.

 

Otter brought my car back this morning, along with her laundry.  She went through about 4 boxes.  She repacked them into less boxes, and some stuff is to be donated as well as some that could be thrown away.  Then she and I went to a thrift store while her laundry was in the machine.  She found a cute dress, a couple of large t-shirts to sleep in and a lace poncho-type shawl.  I found a sweater I really need.  We also ran into a friend of hers at the thrift store that she hadn't seen in a while.  After we got back, the last of her laundry was ready for the dryer.  I took her home after it was done, along with two boxes of stuff and some of my drinking glasses that I don't need any longer.  And her laundry!

 

I started on the lap blanket she wanted yesterday.  I bought 4 skeins of yarn for it, but I was thinking I wanted to get one more.  Which I was going to do yesterday, but I never quite got there when she called me about the car tire - I was looking at yard sales (no luck) and had been to the booth store with my next planned stop being Hobby Lobby for the yarn.  But after I looked at how much yarn I've already used for the size it's at, I think I actually need to get two more skeins.  It's a fall color and the winter colors will be out soon, so I need to get it as soon as I can.  Probably tomorrow.

 

Bill got the grill out this afternoon.  We had steaks tonight along with baked potatos.  We have barbecued chicken and fajita chicken for the next couple of night's dinners.  The dogs were very interested in what we were having for dinner, they sat where they could see us and stared at us the entire time we were eating.  They each got a small bite of steak, and they were happy with it.

They are easily entertained, and food is always a fun thing!  But their favorite activity? NAPS!!!

Blah Friday

Kind of a Blah! day.  I thought yesterday that I might have the tummy bug but that was before Otter told me she had it.  I'm pretty sure I got it from someone else, not Otter.  But I still woke up feeling icky and with a painful tummy so I called in.  Mostly, I've been parked on the couch,

 

We are most likely going to visit another church this Sunday, probably United Methodist.  But it will not be the one we previously belonged to.  It's no secret that we are not in favor of legalizing g ay marr iage.  The United Methodist official position is against it.  There is a group of UM pastors who have created a webpage and taken out a full-page ad in the paper where they state that they are against everything the church they belong to & minister in teaches - which may well be enough to get them fired in fact, and one of the names signing it is the minister at that particular church.  So, we are probably going to look at our other UM choice.  We'll eventually find the church we belong at, but we are not going to be in a hurry.

 

The dogs seem happy that I'm home.  They've shown their happiness by napping!  One on each side of me, and they were snoring in tandem earlier.  Froggy, it brought back memories!

 

Otter is feeling better, she worked this morning but about 11:00 she texted me to tell me that her boss told her to leave about noon, which is a couple of hours earlier than she was scheduled for.  He knew she wasn't feeling 100% and I think he was surprised that she came in today.  She works a later shift tomorrow, she intends to sleep in tomorrow morning.  She'll be here Sunday with her laundry basket!

 

Frasier is calling me, I think it's time to go play with the dog.  He's talking up a storm!  Maggie Moogie Moo just ran over to him, I think she's trying to get a game of Puppy War started.  Guess I'd better go pay attention to them now.