Hey, Everyone!

I hope you are warm and dry where you are!  We had a couple really cold days.  Then today was in the high 50's.  But by Tuesday it's going to be in the 20's again.  Virginia.  Back and forth.

I mentioned I usually go into "clean out " mode after the first of the year.  I tackled the cabinets under the bathroom sinks.  Threw out a whole big bag of stuff.  Great things like multiple cans of the waterless cleanser they give you in the hospital.  I never felt like I should just throw those away.  Our insurance probably paid $100 a can!  So under the sink they went. I decided I was never going to use them, so out they went.  Also in the trash went the twenty year old nail polish and old lipsticks I  had been saving for some reason.  I was ruthless!  I also took inventory of the first aid supplies and have restocked as necessary.

The file cabinet got cleaned out and I spent some time shredding papers.  Gives a feeling of accomplishment, but what a mess!  Then I worked on my spreadsheets and got them ready for our tax guy.

I'm not sure what I will tackle next.  I'm thinking the closet and dressers in the bedroom.

Another project to work on is learning to make ice cream in the new machine Golfer got me.  I'll let you know how that turns out.  It has a motor but also a hand crank.  So now we have a possibility when the grandchildren are here and have too much energy!  :)  Golfer's family made ice cream with a hand crank churn.  It was always great and tasted even better when you had to work for it!

We went to see "Desolation of Smaug".  I like the Hobbits. But if I hadn't known there was another movie coming, I would have been really, really upset at the ending of this one!  Spoiler alert:  It ended with them not retrieving the Arkenstone, Gandalf was locked in a cage, and the dragon was flying off to burn the village.  Geez!

That's about it from here.  Stay safe and stay warm!

Happy New Year!

I hope you all are having a quiet peaceful day!  Golfer and I watched "Avatar" 3D last evening and then managed to stay awake to watch the ball drop.  We were in bed by 12:10. 

If you are around a TV today here is what you will see:  FOOTBALL, Diet ads, go back to school ads, and join a gym ads.  We watched some news and "Mike and Mike" on ESPN this morning.  I don't know which games Golfer will check on today.  But I have other things I can do if I want.  :)

We went outside and took down the last of the decorations.  They are all packed up and Golfer got them back into the attic.  I cleaned off the porch and walk.

I have a list of things that need to be worked on.  Mostly all paperwork and desk stuff.  Some tax prep forms to update and things like that.  And I always, every year, feel like I go into clean out mode on January 1st.  I want to go through cupboards, closets, drawers, etc. and make piles for donations.  I plan to pace myself on all that.

I'm feeling better after being on the antibiotics for a couple days now for a sinus infection.  And Golfer has his own antibiotics for ear infection.  We've been taking it easy and drinking lots of orange juice and water.

While I was at the doctor's office, Rosa (the nurse) had me set up my "Welcome to Medicare" appointment for later this month.  As of today I am officially on Medicare. And then she gave me several pages of questions to answer. 

So here we all are at the start of 2014.  I hope it's a good one for all of us.  Stay safe!

Winding Down and Other Random Thoughts

Well, as it has been for most people, we've been busy lately.  Christmas is over. Decorations are down and safely packed away until next year.  Some cleaning has been done.  All is well and we are happy.

I hope you've all had a peaceful holiday.  Golfer and I are not really party people for New Year's Eve,  so we're looking forward to some snacks and some movies.  We got some new DVDs as Christmas presents so we're all set.

Cutie Girl had a good First Christmas.  She kept us laughing during dinner.  And she liked her gifts, but seemed more interested in chewing the paper and playing with the boxes!

Golfer and I watched some of our favorite Christmas movies once the reruns started on TV.  In "Christmas With the Kranks" (Tim Allen) there is a scene with Christmas carolers.  It got me to thinking about caroling many years ago.  It doesn't seem like there are many groups that go caroling any more.  When I was a little girl in small town Ohio caroling was a big deal at Christmas.  There was always caroling planned by various church groups, girl scouts, boy scouts, and other organizations.  The tradition was to bundle up - seemed like we always had knee deep snow about then - and carry your flashlight and music sheet.  We would walk all around town.  The leader had a list, probably of shut-ins or ill folks, and we'd stop in their front yards or on the porch and sing.  Sometimes the people sent cookies out or made a donation, but that certainly was not necessary.  We always ended up at the end of the evening back at the church or the school and had hot chocolate and cookies to warm up.  Good memories.

Some of you know my personal belief about Winter already.  For those of you that don't, I am fine with Winter, cold, and snow up through Christmas.  On December 26th I am ready for warm sunshine!  I very rarely get my wish.

So, time is moving on.  It's the time of year I sort of switch into clean-out mode and want to sort through closets and drawers and clean things out.  That will probably happen this year, but a little slower.  I continue to progress with the PT and am gaining strength in tiny bits.  But I will be the first to tell you, with Golfer ready to second it, that the six months or more of lower back pain and hip pain that the doctor told me to expect after surgery is getting really old really fast.

But life goes on and life is good.

Stay safe and have a Happy New Year!

Early Present!

Bikini surprised us with an early Christmas present.  She made us a new quilted tree skirt.  It's lovely!  Thank you, Bikini!  The furry kids have been jostling each other around to see who gets the prime spots under the tree.  They all want to sit on the new skirt.

Cinder won this round!

Physical therapy is going okay.  So far I've been able to do what they are asking of me.  I feel a little better every day and am able to do a lot more now.  I just have to pace myself and remember Dr. Aldridge's rule of don't do anything for more than ten minutes.

Christmas preparations are coming along.  I need to have a wrapping day soon though!  Golfer appears to have his all done.  He prefers the "bag" wrapping method.

So all in all, life is good.  Stay safe!

Finally!

Hooray!  The sun is out today!  Honestly, I have not been counting how many days were dark, gray, cold, and wet.  It was wearing me out and making me miserable.   But today the sun is out.  It is still cold, but oh, so much better! 

I had an appointment with my surgeon last Friday.  He told me I could stop wearing the back brace.  And said it is now time to start physical therapy.  He's very good about letting me ask questions and talking to me and I told him I am terribly afraid of moving wrong and having something slip or pop loose.  He said not to worry, everything looked good and the bone was growing very well.  He also said I could try to do anything I felt like trying but to not do anything for more than ten minutes.  And obviously, if something hurts, stop.  So I am cautiously trying things.

I had the evaluation appointment with the physical therapist and have the actual first appointment tomorrow.

Christmas preparations are coming along.  I've been getting caught up on some other things.  Life is good.  Golfer and I went to the first movie since my surgery.  Saw "Thor" and we enjoyed it very much.  We also saw some previews for a couple other movies we will want to see.  I did fine sitting there watching, but was pretty stiff when it was over and it was time to stand up and move.  Just something to deal with.

The furry kids are still enjoying the Christmas trees.  I check on the tree skirt in the dining room a few times a day and put it back in place!  Finnigan went through a spell of wanting to take the garland off the living room tree, but after I fussed at him and got the spray water bottle out he's been a little better.

I hope all is well with everyone.  Stay safe!

Elves

Bikini has posted a picture of the elf moving around their house keeping watch on the children.  I thought I would post a picture of our original elves.  We've had these since Bikini and Nurse J were tiny girls.  Our elves are not adventurous,  they stay on the tree.  :)

 

Stay safe!

Horrifying and Appalling!

Golfer and I have GE appliances that we bought a couple years ago from a very nice store in our area - Shawel's.  Good service, good deals.  We recommend them.  Our refrigerator/freezer has the ice and water dispenser in the freezer door.  The water stopped working recently, so I set up a service call.  Turns out the water line that runs up the side of the freezer door was frozen and had to be thawed out.  The very nice man said this happens sometimes.  Nothing needed to be replaced.  It works fine now.

However...this was a multipurpose service call.  For several weeks Golfer and I have noticed an odor in the area around our refrigerator and dish washer.  Sometimes so bad we could smell it down the hall.  Other times just faintly in the area.  We checked and there was nothing spilled and not cleaned up and no other messes in the area or under anything. I think everyone that knows us would say we are clean and neat and orderly.  Our floors are cleaned a couple times a week; more often if needed.  But there was this persistent odor.  I wondered if it might be sewer gas from one of the drains.  

Anyway, I explained to the nice man that I would like him to check the plumbing connections and drains.  He said "no problem!" and started looking.  At first he said he couldn't smell anything.  Then he got a whiff.  He pulled out the refrigerator and got down on the floor behind it.  The smell was stronger there.  He said he had never had any issues with a refrigerator putting out nasty smells but he was checking it all out.  He took part of the back off.  The odor got stronger.  He got down there and started poking around and looking and then there was a gasp and he hollered "I found it! I'm gonna' need some plastic bags!" 

What he found was a frickin' dead mouse!!!!!  In the back of our fridge!!!!!

GROSS!!!!!

A mouse.  In our fridge.  The nice man said he must have crawled next to the condenser to get warm.  He also said there was no other mess.  No mouse "droppings"  Nothing.  And in all our floor cleaning we have never seen any mouse poo or unexplained messes.  And there's no obvious holes where one could get in.  It is a mystery.  Golfer said he must have beamed in like on Star Trek!

So that's all been cleaned up and he sprayed down things with a deodorizer.  It is better this morning in our kitchen, but ICK.  GROSS.

And we have four cats in our family.  Four loveable, happy, indoor only furry kids.   Obviously they are not hunters.

Stay safe!