Homemade gift ideas for 2012

We have one of those typewriters but it is powder blue. It still works but alas it  needs a new ribbon. I must remember to order it online sometime soon. Chelsea has her new/vintage manual typewriter from the 1940s. She is satisfied for now.

   I figured out what Fred and I (really just me) are going to make for our gifts for Xmas. I was racking my brain cause I could not think of anything right off the bat except shit that took alot of time. I found a couple good websites that gave me some great ideas. I figured I would share them with you if you wanted to make a gift or two for friends and family. I looked at so many sites for ideas and the one site that gave me what I was looking for was Crunchy Betty. There are gift ideas for kids, the man in your life and all your girls. After looking and deciding, Fred and I decided that making a sugar scrub for the girls and a salt scrub for the guys was a good one. So I will make the scrubs. I have a few essential oils here already that we have collected over the past year or so. Lavender, Lemon, Lemon Verbena, Orange, Peppermint, and Vanilla. I am hoping to buy a Sandalwood when I go to the co-op this week. That is a nice guy smell. Fred wants Lemon. I turned him on to the smell from all the Lemon lotions I have.  There is also a recipe for making bath salts. I might do both for the girls. So the can soak and scrub in the same smell. I need to buy jars and supplies.
   Another place that I found some good gift ideas was at Martha Stewart. There are a bunch of ideas for men. You just fly thru the pictures and you can click on what you would like to do. We chose the popcorn tins. One is Macadamia butter crunch and the other is Chocolate Almond. We are making that for everybody. Everyone loves popcorn and nuts. Tins can be bought at the $1 store and I just need some thick card stock to separate the popcorns in the tin. Cool idea huh? The popcorn recipe is not hard at all.

 The last gift I found just recently. Someone posted this idea on Facebook, I followed the link and decided that was for me. Paper stars that you can hang. They are supposed to be just for Xmas but I think they will like them all year long in their rooms. The site is called annekata.com. All you need is some origami paper, glue, pencil, scissors, and some string for hanging. That is it!  I was thinking of sharing this with Natalie so she has a second gift to give everyone. I want yellow ones for the upstairs bathroom.

  The snow was minimal yesterday. It is too warm here on the shoreline right now so we got another dusting on the cars and on the grass. It is not as cold as it was yesterday, thank goodness. I hated it yesterday! Today I am hoping I win the Powerball ($500 million right now) or even a small portion would be nice. I am going to do laundry. And I am going to do one of these paper stars to show Natalie. See what she thinks.
Dinner will probably be the Tombstone pizzas I got on sale last week. I dont usually buy them that often but when they sell for only $2 a piece, you gotta get it. I will put them on my pizza stone. It will be like eating a real pizza!

Happy Hump Day!

Brother, can you spare some home heating oil?

   It was a bit nippy downstairs this morning. The heat was off and so were the heaters. It was below 60 degrees. I plan on having oil delivered on Friday or Saturday. Then my plan is to use the heaters during the day with the furnace on low, turn the heaters off at bedtime, and turn the furnace up to lie 62. Hopefully I can afford more than 50 gallons. That is how I had to do it last year. 50 gallons at a pop because oil was like $4 a gallon. I remember when the kids were small and oil was 75cents a gallon. We always had automatic delivery. We never struggled to pay the bill. We would spend about $1000 for the entire year. That included the fill up in the Spring. Those days are gone.
   I have said before that if we had the hook ups for gas heat, we would do it. But there is no connection to this house or any other on this side of the street. Not only would we have to buy a new furnace but pay to have the road ripped up, our front yard ripped up, and drilling into the house itself. It is too much to think about. I am thinking about next year getting a wood stove for in here in the dining room. I am serious about it too. Now burning wood bothers me so I need to research to find out if it will come into the house. I KNOW that sounds stupid! But meaning, the smoke goes out the smoke stack. If I do not have constant direct contact with the smoke, I could handle it. We shall see.

  We are supposed to get some snow this morning. All I see outside is wet. I think it has been said that it is too warm on the shoreline and it would quickly go to rain. It needs to because I have an errand this morning that I need to attend to. Supposedly less than an inch here. That is good. I am not in the mood.
 Going to think of something to bake today so I have an excuse to turn the oven on and utilize the heat.
I am not joking when I talk about this stuff. Home heating oil is expensive. Unless you got lots of money, you are struggling with it like we are. Heat is a luxury, my friends.
But I will freshen the tank with some and I can have it on a low simmer. That will satisfy the children.

How do I feel?

I am doing much better. There is still some pain on that side of my head. Sometimes it hurts inside my ear but it goes away. I have itching on the skin where the mastoid is located. Still have a cough but it is good. Not like before. There isnt any more leaking from my ear or my incision. And the incision is scabbed over and doing well. I couldnt have asked for a better result so far.
  I have not said anything to anyone but I had an incident yesterday that made me pause. I was cooking Thanksgiving dinner with Natalie and Fred. I was washing dishes and I noticed the drip coming out of my nose again. The water drip drip drip. It lasts for a couple minutes and went away. I will make sure to tell the Dr if it happens more frequently. It could be just part of the healing process. That is what I am going to say in my head. :)

  Thankfully I did not have to have the worse surgery option. I think I would be in fucking trouble if I had that surgery. I would still be in bed. I would still be in pain. I would not be able to drive till the end of December. Yeah, I am good with what I have had. Let us hope that I do not have to have this surgery again.

Christmas season 2012

I do not have the money or the want to go shopping today. I never liked the Black Friday thing. I went out one year with my neighbor. I hated every minute of it. We stood in line for hours for some thing she had to buy. At this moment, I cannot recall what it was. I just know that I realized that Black Friday was not for me.  I would rather sit here in my pjs with my coffee and eating a piece of berry pie. That is a post Turkey day breakfast of champions.
  I am not feeling the whole *decorate for Xmas* vibe today. I think I will put it off to the point that the girls will mention it and I will let them do it. I am still not all together with the healing still. Plus I think I am probably a little depressed. We are not buying gifts this year. There are a couple reasons why. The main reason is money. With the price of fuel and who knows what is gonna happen with the taxes, I just am not comfortable spending any money on extras. Then I am tired of the pressure of spending. You better get this! You better get that! You don't love your family if you don't! Up until today I have felt good about our decision. I am waffling today but I will treat it like any addiction and just say no!
 Chelsea was going to go to her friend`s family`s house for Xmas this year. I think because we were not giving gifts. Then I think she decided she didn't want to do that either. So she asked us all if we would be willing to make home made gifts for each other. I thought that was an excellent idea. I have NO idea what Fred is going to make. He is not crafty. I have no idea what I am going to make but I need to get moving on it because Xmas will be coming on quick! When I think of something, I will let you know.

  I had a long talk with Chelsea that involved tears on both our parts. I finally told her that Fred and I cannot sustain the household by ourselves. It has become difficult. She actually understood. She said that it is not fair that two people should be supporting five adults total (she is including Rainbow in that). I asked her why she never came to me and said this before. Why didn't she offer to pay rent sooner? She said some stuff but i think it comes down to the fact that she didn't want to spend her money. I really cried over what we were talking about. I have been full of stress all year long. Every month was the same as the last. Shoulders up to my ears because of bills and money.  She had a long talk with Natalie. She is going to get her to work either at her non profit or at a place that hires youth that her friend is a part of. Natalie needs to make her own money for her own shit and maybe fork over a $50 once a month to help with food.
 Chelsea wants to look over our budget with a pair of fresh eyes. I told her that I know there is plenty of money for all the bills and the food and to save. The major problem is I keep getting nickled and dimed. No one forks over any money for anything so a pizza night has become a luxury. That shouldn't be that way.  I think if she can figure it out that they can help us while they live here, we can all live comfortably until they both move on. If it were just Fred and I, it would not be an issue. We could afford to live more than comfortable. We would have extra to fix up the house. But when you have adults with no income asking you to pay for the contact lenses. Or another that does not give any money and they want you to spend $50 at the natural food co-op, you can see why I am poor every month. Right now, I have $25. That will put gas in the Jeep. I paid two bills and bought groceries so I am tapped out.
 The best gift I could get this year, is to be able to relax about the bills and get help with paying them.
I pulled out my Tightwad Gazette books and started reading again last night. I had put them down before because I was sick. Reading was hard with this infection in my head. Messed with my eyes. Now I can read again and I am reintroducing myself to it. I have a few ideas on what I am going to do to change that I will talk about at another time. Bulk food shopping is one of them.
  They are not gonna want any baked goods or food. That is not a real gift because I do that anyway. What the hell can I make???
 Soap. Candles. key chain. what??
  It is too late for me to start making things like quilts and such. I do not have enough time to make 4 of them. I will rack my brain over it today.

Stay safe if you are out there shopping with the lunatics!

Happy Turkey Day!

 Thanksgiving!

Eat till you get sick. Take a nap. Eat till you get sick. Lather, rinse, repeat. I am sitting here taking a break from cooking. I have Classic Rock playing on Pandora and I am just thinking about the past year.  2012 has been so shitty. Really. Deaths, two surgeries, serious lack of money, finding out family has hated me for the past 26 years, and just all the little things. I have been positive but also drag around the negative. I have learned that I can only rely on my small family that I have right here. It makes me sad at that fact. That a door has closed.

I am going to think of things that I am thankful for.

I am thankful:

Fleetwood Mac is on Pandora!
I am healing from my mastoidectomy.
I have the love of my husband.
I have the love of my children.
We have a roof over our heads.
For all of my friends that have shown me more love than any others. I am grateful for that.
 

 Apple pie is cooking in the oven. I have to make the veggie platter, deviled eggs, and string bean casserole. I have potatoes to peel and the chickens to season. Fred is not feeling well today. He still has the cold and is up in bed. So I am gonna push through and cook the dinner. Where are the girls? I am glad you asked. They are still sleeping! Isn't that just wonderful?

I feel that I am being a bit negative today. Let me explain what has gone on. Our neighbor died yesterday from liver cancer. She found out she had it two weeks ago. I found out my other neighbor is leaving her fiance and moving away. I realized that we are the only family members that were not invited and probably not wanted at the family Thanksgiving dinner this year. I lost another person on my blog. I had a tear filled heart to heart talk with Chelsea yesterday. And Rainbow is most definitely moving back to Virginia.  I am just a smidge pissy. Oh, and for the person that left my blog. I was only being nosy last night because I heard about all the hoopla. I wanted to see what the hell everyone was talking about. So don't get your feathers all ruffled. That will be the last time I go reading there.

  Not depressed here, just in a bad mood. I am guessing some good food, good movies, and laughs with the family later will make that all go away.

I hope you are having a great day with your family and friends. My wish for you is tender turkey breast, lots of laughter, and tons of love from your loved ones.

Three Years

Dude! Your gonna get em wet!

Three years this past Saturday. I was too wrapped up in my healing to realize that the time had come and gone. As much as I loved those minty bastards, I am glad that I shook that monkey from the tree.

Happy non smoking Anniversary to Me!

Pie making day

Yum! That looks appetizing! NOT

 I am feeling well enough today to get some Thanksgiving kitchen drudgery out of the way. I kid. I like prepping and cooking especially for the holidays. We aren't having a turkey but we are still going to have a feast of food.
 I have given up some of the things that were served on my Mom`s turkey day table because nobody else was eating them. We always had a pickle plate with pickles and olives. Dates and figs. Bowls of nuts to crack. I just don't do those things anymore because no one eats them.
  Today I finally stamped down in my head what we are having, even though it is considered Un-Thanksgiving in our house. Large roasted chicken, Lasagna,  mashed garlic potatoes, my Mom`s sausage stuffing, green bean casserole,cranberry sauce plopped out of a can,  brown and serve rolls (they are like crack to me), deviled eggs, roasted pumpkin seeds, Marie Calendar Berry pie, and a home made pumpkin pie with cool wHip. The lasagna will not be huge. But big enough to feed us for more then one day.
  Our Thanksgivings are very laid back. We do not go anywhere because some years, Hubs has to work. He has this one off but I am still healing.
So that is about it.
 I am happy and thankful for one thing today. Hubs place of work has been laying off non essential employees. Hubs works with the president of the union. He found out today that there will be more lay offs in January but their department is safe. Phew! Thank you baby Jesus!

I hope you have a great time cooking or traveling to your destination today. I am going to finish my pb toast and start on the hard boiling of some eggs.

Shower Sunday!

  I am up before anyone else this morning. I was tired of being in the damn bed. I know I will be back there later but I wanted to just be by myself. No Fred and no dogs. I have one thing that I found out yesterday that is really good. I am not going to have a bill to pay from this surgery after all, I think. I cannot get into specifics but it is in the hands of the union now. Someone fucked up and it wasn't just me. So I got rid of the donate button. Don't really need it. I guess if I get a bill, I will just suffer through like everyone else. It bothered me anyway. I hope that any bill that I get is rectified in some way. This will be our last chance on this old insurance to have it like it was back in the day, after the new year we have new insurance and it sucks major stinky ass. I havent really even talked about it and I really don't want to anyway right now.
  I get to take a shower and wash my hair today!!! YES YES YES! I cannot scrub near my incision. I really need to wash my hair and attend to a problem.

The new fashion craze of 2013

I had to wear that cup over my ear and it was strapped across my face with velcro. Strong velcro. Kind of like a cockeyed jock strap. It protected my ear and it collected the blood and fluid that was coming out that first night. When it was first put on me while I was under, they fucked up. They velcroed my hair into the strap! This poor nurse had to try to gingerly get my hair out of the strap so she could check my ear. I told her she could do what she had to do. It wasn't her fault. Well, she got it out. So I have this big piece of hair that is a sad excuse for a velcro dread lock. I will see if I can save it but i am thinking I may just have to cut it off and call it a casualty of the surgery.
 I was so miserable and in so much pain in this picture. I couldn't even smile if I tried. I am much better now.
  I do have moments of waves of nausea but they are few and far between. My ear and stitches hurt but like a 2-3 on the pain scale. I just take Motrin for it. The antibiotics and pain killers fucked up my gut so the constipation train is slow moving. That is all I have to say about that. My inner ear itches like a mother sometimes. I am a good girl and do not itch. I kind of rub the top of my ear to give it some kind of relief. That shit needs to end because it can drive me bonkers.
 There is still leakage from behind my ear which is weird to me. All of a sudden I will feel something run down my neck. It is bloody but not blood per say. My taste buds are still off but not as bad as the past two days. Every time Fred brought me a cup of coffee, I taste it and internally say YUCK! It just tasted nasty. I was told this could happen and it is a temporary thing. Usually the side of your tongue where the operation happened may become dulled to taste for a few weeks or months. It is not oh so bad. It is not like I cannot taste anything at all.  I did make a pot of coffee this morning. It tastes different but not as bad as days before, so I am guessing it is getting better. I had to make it myself and pour it. If my coffee tasted like shit to me, that it truly was my tongue. I am such a weirdo sometimes.

  I wish I could get back on the saddle of doing stuff but I know I cant right now. I thought I would be 100% by Monday but that isn't going to happen. I can tell from today that I wont be. I was thinking of making egg rolls for dinner tonight. I will roll them and Fred can cook them. I am not even going to attempt to drive until the middle of the week. I have to find out if we get paid early this week because of the holiday. I never remember that.
 So yeah...I am doing better then I even expected. I know that I will be cooking for Thanksgiving just not majorly doing it because I cannot go busting my stitches. Oh yeah, forgot to mention. Fred caught a cold from someone at the hospital! Like he is in the bed with the sore throat and everything. I am good. I am on heavy duty antibiotics. I am like covered in germ free Teflon. He has been trying to take care of me but he is sick. So I am NOT OVER DOING IT, but I am going to defrost for dinner and wash a few dishes. Make life a bit easier for him today.

I wish I had the energy to make breakfast. I could really go for some bacon right about now.

On the mend

Hey ho!
 I am doing better. I have moments like this morning where I feel really good but I know I will be back in bed soon. I just come downstairs to air myself out. I have developed a cough. I know it is from all the junk that is coming out of my ear/mastoid. I do not cough when I am up and about. Just when I sleep.

I thought it was going to be gross when Fred took the picture. That I would be all EWWW! but it looks good. My ear still feels weird like it is not part of my body but every day if feels a bit better. Just the top of my ear feels like that now.  I do not the exact specifics because I was so out of it but I have heard that I had a mastoidectomy and a tympanoplasty. I had a bad infection that settled into my right mastoid and it had made a hole in the bone. That means that infection was in there a long time. I have since found out what when you have a long term infection like that, you usually do not have any symptoms, and I didn't. I have a follow up appointment in the middle of December. I have to keep a cotton ball in my right ear and it cannot get wet in there. I get to wash my hair tomorrow. Thank goodness! I cant wait. I am doing good, just still out of it at times After I post this, I am going to go back to bed.
Hopefully I will be more alert tomorrow.

One

I used to love dates and figs on Thanksgiving

Updated!

I do not know what time tomorrow I have to go in for my surgery. I will find this out this afternoon at 3pm. Wish me all the luck and cross your fingers and pray for the best outcome. I have to go and pay the cable bill and take Natalie to school this morning.
 My nose is dripping but these are the only things I am gonna do today, hopefully. I may be pushed into making dinner but I am hoping not to. We shall see.

I called up to find out what time I had to be in because it was driving me insane and I had to KNOW. You know when you get like that. Something as simple as waiting for the time of my surgery had to be known NOW. I called and got a nice woman who obliged the crazy lady on the other end. My surgery is at 12:30pm tomorrow afternoon. I have to be at Yale by 11am. We will leave a few before 10am. That gives me time to get gas, get scripts at the pharmacy, and reboost our cell phones. I was worried I was going to have to do some of that shit around 5am but nope, I have time. The only suckage is having to go all that time with no coffee, no water, and nothing to eat! That is going to royally suck. 
 I have spaghetti sauce with sweet italian sausage and meatballs in the crockpot cooking. Spaghetti for dinner! Woot!
 Now I am going to go, drink my pepsi, play my games and try to forget about tomorrow.

I completely forgot!

That looks good!

I am sorry to those that have been waiting to hear what happened at my appointment. I thought I had told everyone and last night I realized that I had not posted on here.

  I went to see my ENT on Friday to find out what was going to go on with my surgery. I had so many questions. He is not going to do the Middle fossa approach that I thought (shaving head, titanium plates). He is going in through the right mastoid. That is the bony portion in the back of your ear near your lobe. He will cut an incision down the length of the back of my ear and do microscopic like surgery to seal up the defects in the mastoid area. He did say that if he finds I have more extensive defects or later on after I have healed and I am still leaking..I will have to have the scarier approach. He has great success with the mastoid way of doing it and I am glad. I will have to stay over one night because they have to make sure my brain has not swelled. They are going to give me a private room so that Fred can stay with me in the room. Yay!
 I do not know what time my surgery is on Wednesday yet. They will call me tomorrow afternoon and give me a recording of the time. My Dr likes to do his surgeries in the morning, so I see us getting up uber early for this.
    But this is great news! Instead of recouping for a month, I will be better in a week! Now, I have to remember that I could wake up with half my hair gone and a plate in my head. It is all in what he finds when he goes in there. That would require me to stay in the hospital for a few days instead of one. So let`s hope that I have extremely good luck and that the easiest surgery is the one for me. If you do not hear from me in more than a couple days, assume that I had the ickier surgery.

  This surgery couldnt have come at a better time though. I usually will leak fluid every other day and only a drip or two out of my nose. Mostly coming out of the back of my throat. Well, I went grocery shopping on Saturday. I did not over do anything. I did like I always do. I picked up a few things, got my free ham, also picked up supplies for dinner that night. I went to two grocery stores but the amount of food I bought was like one trip to the store. Minimal. After I left the Spanish grocery, I noticed my nose was dripping. It is not cold out and I do not have any sinus issues, so I knew it was the CSF. It did not stop though. It just kept dripping. It stopped once I got home but I had to get dinner in the crock pot cause Natalie`s beau was coming to visit overnight. I could feel the fluid dripping down my throat. When I finally relaxed in my room, I was still dripping. Now, it wasn't like I needed to go to the ER or anything but it freaked me out. That is the most that has ever happened to me in one day.
I wake up on Sunday. Same thing. So I am on a self imposed bed rest sort of. Right now I am making lists for Fred and Natalie and writing to you all while I get my coffee on. Tonight will be a simple dinner of breakfast. Waffles, bacon, potatoes, and eggs. I will have help cooking this.
  So basically this surgery has come at the right time. I am leaking like a damn sieve and it scares me. I hope that this fixes it and I do not have anymore troubles with this. I will have to be vigilant in letting him know if I have any leaks coming out of my nose, ear, or down my throat. I always end up with the rarest version of shit and it is always the scariest. WTF!
  I could be up and feeling better in a few days after surgery. I will not do any lifting like to put stuff in the oven. Fred will be cooking Thanksgiving dinner.
Oh! Did I tell you my microwave shit the bed? Yup, now I have to get a new one. SMH. I might just give Fred the money and have him find a new one.
 I think that is about it. I cannot think of anything else to add. Hmmm. I have my surgery on Wednesday and come home on Thursday. I might post something short on Friday if I am not drugged to the maximum.
Wish me luck!

Three

Three more days till my surgery. I will find out either tomorrow or Tuesday what time I have to be in the hospital. I hope it is not O`dark 30. It is an hour drive from here to there.

The only thing I have to say is that yesterday was bad. I never leaked like that before. I kind of scared me. And all I did was some grocery shopping, made dinner, and later on searched for my remote in my bedroom. It finally stopped as I settled down. I also have a sore throat. I am hoping it is because of all the fluid running down my throat and not something else that could cancel my surgery. That would suck.

I am going to watch Netflix for the rest of the day!

Hair

I am posting a before picture of my hair before it gets cut for the surgery. I got a call today from the ENT office today. They wanted to tell me that having the surgery at Yale was going to be a big out of pocket expense for me because it was out of network. I already knew that but I thought my medicare would make a difference with my insurance. I guess it did not. She said when it is all said and done, I could end up owing $2500! $1000 more than they said before! She was acting stupid when I said I wanted to make payment arrangements. I cant be bothered by this right now. I am supposed to go tomorrow to find out if I can have the surgery and now all I think about it that I will eventually owe them like $5000 when I get both sides done. That is another fucking car payment! We do not have that!  Ugh! I hate corporate shit. I cant think about it. When I stress out, the pressure in my head gets worse.

Okay, I promised a picture. Go ahead and laugh. I dont really give a fuck. I dislike that it is a bathroom photo but what you gonna do. That is how long it is in the front and it hits the small of my back from behind. I need a trim! I guess that will happen after the surgery. If I can afford it.

Early First Snow

It snowed yesterday.  Here on the coast it only stuck to the grass and cars. It was pretty and nice to see for the first time. I never hate on a first snow. Some parts of the state (upper half) got wholloped. Like more than a foot of snow in some places. That has got to truly suck for the first snow. I am hoping that this winter was like last winter. Nice and global warming like. I know that is a sick thing to say but a mild winter costs less for us. It is going to be in the 60s this weekend and back to the 50s next week. Perfect weather.  Just cold enough for a light jacket.
     I have my surgery on my head in six days from today. My question appointment and my pre-op appointments are tomorrow morning.  I am nervous. I have many things to do to keep my mind occupied though. I have three more windows to cover today and then I am done. I have all my questions written down, my paperwork in my purse, and anything else I can think of. I am going to drink plenty of water today so that they do not have an issue with getting blood. I wish that I did not have these stupid leaks. I really wish this was just a big nightmare that I am going to wake up from at any moment. Onward and Upward is all I can say!
    Tomorrow I have to pick up my freebie at the grocery store. If you spend $400 in a specific time allotted, you get to choose a bunch of things. Up to a 21 lb frozen whole turkey, 10lb average hotel turkey breast, or a big assed ham on the bone. There are other things to choose like a kosher chicken, a big Stoffers vegetarian lasagna or a Tofurky. Yeah, no.
 We are trying to decide if we get the hotel turkey breast or the ham. I told them to get the ham because there is gonna be a shortage and we can cook it for Christmas. We can have roasted chickens for Thanksgiving. Nobody but me likes turkey so what is the sense. They are all trying to be nice to me. They say turkey is fine. We can have that. I will let them feel guilty. hehehe I can go downtown to a local chicken shop and get a nice turkey dinner any time I want.  Ham or turkey?

    Fred and I are going out to dinner with a friend of his from work. It seems that since this surgery came about, everyone wants to meet me or see me. It scares me sometimes. Why now all of a sudden? It is okay..I like going out to dinner. We are going to Vietnamese place across the bridge to have beef pho bowls. Really really BIG bowls of soup. We never finish but oh we try so hard. I think if we were younger, we could do it.  The great thing about this place is Fred and I can get two big bowls of soup, and some ice waters and the bill is less than $20. If we get drinks, it is about $25 (not including tip). We get to still enjoy eating out like we used to but not at the same level anymore.
 Spending $60 on dinner was nothing for us back when money was good. Now we save that for January. As you know, we go out to eat in January at one of the casinos to celebrate our birthdays and anniversary. Next year it will be 44 for me, 47 for him, and 20 years married..wow. I did not realize that! We will have been together 27 years in February.  Wow. 20 years married. That is a biggie, right? Traditional gift is China. Modern gift is Platinum. Yeah, well Fred and I do not have it to get either one. Wow. I need to think about this. You realize I just realized it is going to be 20 years..just now as I am writing this? I have to get him a special gift. Since we are not giving on Christmas, I can make it something good. :)

 I got to get moving here. I have three windows to cover today and I am a major slo poke. If you have drafty windows, think about putting up plastic window covers. It is not hard and all you need is the kit, scissors, step stool, and a hair dryer. It really makes a difference in the drafts. And you can put that seal strips stuff around the window cracks and around the doors too.

Have a great Thursday!

 

Giving is an option/ I voted!

Circa 1969

   Isn't that the cutest way to serve olives on your Thanksgiving table? I would have never thought of that. I have used oranges as cups to hold homemade cranberry sauce.
First I wanted to talk about the donation button that I added to the site over on the left hand side of the page. A couple friends wanted to send me something to help out. They suggested I add a PayPal button to the site for others to help me out too because of the bills from the hospital  I will find out exactly how much on Friday. So that button is just there. It is not telling you to give me anything, I am not expecting. I put it up cause I was prodded to. It may stay up there forever or a week. I think it is gonna bug me and I will get rid of it but we shall see.

Today is a day of lists. I have to make a list of questions to ask the Dr. I have to make a list of what I buy at the grocery store so Fred will not forget certain things. I need to make a list of things that need to be paid and when. I will write out the checks for those bills so that Fred can just pop them in mail when they need to be sent. When you are person that does everything around the house, you forget that you need to hand over the reins sometimes.
I will have to right down my Facebook and a couple other places I frequent so that Natalie can post to let people know I am okay. I will even give her the ability to come on here and say something. She knows this is my diary and I spout off on it.

  It is a cold one today. Brrr! I am going to bake something in the oven to warm up the house. We will be fat warm fuckers all winter long because I will just bake something everyday to utilize the heat from the oven. Sad really but I guess that is what was done back in the day.
 Oh, and I voted! I went in early this morning. The lines were long but they moved swiftly. I think I was in there a total of 20 minutes. Everyone was in good spirits. I have my sticker too.
I am going to get off now. I have some more weatherization to do.
Have a great day!

Christmas is a-changing

Can you imagine that there was a time that you could buy a special Christmas package carton of cigarettes to give away as gifts to your friends and family? Wow, learn something every day.

 Fred and I talked with the girls a few weeks ago about how we want to change the meaning of Christmas in our home. In light of the economy and how the extra money in the budget can be put to better use, we are not exchanging Christmas gifts anymore. Starting this year. We will still celebrate Christmas! We will decorate and we will have a great meal and all that comes with the holiday but we are not giving gifts. The gifts of Christmas are for children, We are not children anymore. When the time comes and a grandbaby comes into our lives, then that will of course change.
 Everyone is basically on board with it. I am not changing my mind. It feels kind of liberating! I do not have to stress out over what to get whom. Are they gonna like it? Will we have to return it? Oh god! So and So got us a gift and we didn't not get one for them!!
Yeah, I do not want to do that anymore. The Christmas commercials will have a new meaning for me now. They wont tell me that I am a bad person cause I did not go out on Black Friday and buy that huge assed TV for $300. It will not taunt me all month to BUY BUY BUY! I will just ignore it. Because I can.
  Natalie just had a birthday. Fred and I were born in January and Chelsea was born the day after Valentines. None of us is going to have to wait very long before or after Christmas to get a gift and have our day.
  Have you ever thought of doing this? Just not giving gifts.
I would never do it if the kids were actually kids. It will be fine now. I wont be able to do the kind of shopping that I do anyway because of the surgery.  So that is that.

 I finished the windows in the living room. Took me hours. I hate being sick. You do something, you rest, you do something, you rest. Sucks ass!
 It is getting colder here. God, I wish I could turn the furnace on. You do not know how badly I wish I could. It is gonna get cold in here tonight. I bet you on that one. I have two heaters going though. Well, actually three. One in living room and one in dining room. There is also one in my bedroom and one in Chelsea`s bedroom. I bought a bigger one that is on layaway right now. It will heat the downstairs alone. Then I will not need the two running down here. It is basically to keep us warm now then it will supplement the small amount of heat I will allow to come out of the furnace. Oil is $4 a gallon right now. That is more then last year! Every year it gets more and more expensive.

  We do not have money for a gas furnace. And how would we be able to anyhow. I have read assholes telling people like me that if we gave up our *luxuries* then we could afford to buy a generator for our house for future storms. One of the guys that was spouting off was on FB and I outed him cause his wife is an ER nurse (not around here) so he is preaching to poor people when he probably is living very lovely. But the things he was saying mimic what a lot of the 1% and others in their money tier are saying. Things like: Okay, You should give up internet, cable, and cell phones. That should help pay for having what you need in life. If you cannot afford xyz, then you should not have those things either. Then I spouted off and said: Well, we can also have one lamp with one bulb that we have to share around the house. No Netflix. Wash dishes with cold water.  Read books with a flashlight. Only eat stuff you can get at the Dollar Tree. Get rid of the animals because that food money could be used for something too. Keep the heat on 50 so the pipes do not freeze and walk around the house in a winter coat.  The guy never answered me.
 But these are things I think about. We used to have money and now we don't. Like many many others. Should I be doing more to lessen what we spend? Heck yes I should. I already got rid of the gym and the house phone. Now what?
So this Christmas thing is because of the economy of our household. Plus, we are all too old to be opening up 3-4 gifts each on the holiday. We aren't kids anymore.

Window Covering Day

It is chilly and it is time to cover the damn windows. I want to get it done before my surgery. Fuck the damn leaves. I told the kids they needed to do it. We shall see if that ever happens.
 Still no oil bought for the tank yet. I have to pull up the other heaters from the basement. Cover all the windows. And order oil hopefully next week. At least 50 gallons for hot water and keeping the basement warm. That sucks huh? Heating your house is a luxury. Tsk Tsk.
  Something has gotta give. On paper we should be fine. But then you add in all the extras that I keep being tricked, guilted, or begged to get. It fucking adds up. Remember how I was gonna not do extras for the kids anymore cause they are adults and they should do that on their own? It isnt really working out that way.
 I need to really be firm this time. This month I am going to really be frugal! I spent extra money on food this week because certain things were on sale. I am not going shopping next week except for a couple things that should only cost me $20-40 max.

Good News! After a whole damn year, Ruby finally knows that pooping is supposed to be done OUTSIDE! She has done it consecutively the past three days. All of a sudden it just clicked. We give her positive reinforcement so that she does it the next time. I have not picked up her deposits yet because I want her to go back and do it more.  YAY RUBY!

Okay, so my ass needs to get off the computer. It is almost 11am and all I have done is consumed some coffee and that is about it. I hope you have a warm and fruitful Saturday!

To all of those still suffering from the aftermath of H, Sandy.. (((((Big Hugs)))))