Wednesday, June 2, 2010

I have been missing in action. Where have I been? Doing as little as possible. Just too lazy I guess to find my way to this blog to write. I kid you not! I have a hard time remembering how to get here!

In the next little village up from mine I have found a gold mine. My village is small, but this one is even smaller, but it has a new and fully stocked, state-of-the-art library. The librarian is the best!!! I have been spending hours and hours reading now that I am a member of that library. We have one here in our village, but I don't care when I drive by it, there aren't any cars there. Who knows when they are open. When they were on Front Street, they kept pretty regular hours, but when they moved onto the school grounds, I believe they got slack.

Now when I hear of or see a book that I want to read, I just write it down and when I go to the library I turn in my list and usually within a week they have what I have requested. I don't think I will ever have to purchase another book again. It is like being turned a loose in a candy store. We aren't talking about old musty smelling books, but new ones with clean dust jackets on them. They have computers for folks who want to look up things. There are DVDs to check out, newspapers from the surrounding area, magazines, you name it, they either have it or will get it for you.

Since around my birthday we have had yard wreckers here as well. Since 1974 we have had various and sundry above ground pools getting larger and larger ones each time. Several years ago when these old shoulders and knees decided they didn't want to work any longer, I had one heck of a time getting myself out of our pool. I honestly thought I would end my life like a bar of soap that is left in the tub too long. Yep, just melt away, never to be seen again. I honestly don't remember how in the heck I ever got myself out of there the last time I went in, but I never went back. That was three years ago.

The knees have been replaced, but after the last replacement and the MRSA staff infection, I refuse to have the shoulders replaced even though my ortho surgeon says they must. Too bad. I will live with the pain, but unless it is a real life and death situation, this old woman won't be going to a hospital to have anything done to her again. I was never afraid of a hospital or surgery before, but you get that infection and you get scared very quickly and for life. Gives me shivers just thinking about what all was done to me in what is supposed to be a clean place, but is apparently a filthy place.

My doctor suggested water therapy and of course I had to tell him I could get into our pool, but couldn't get out any longer. He suggested an inground pool and I asked him if he was paying. :-) We talked about it and decided, why not? We don't travel, our children aren't hurting for money, we can't take it with us, so why not? Thus, the yard wreckers.

If you have never dealt with people who come into your yard to dig and install an inground pool, call me first. If that won't do, I will give you my son's number and he will give you an earful. After losing my religion, saying words that my mother at 85 years old would still try and shove a bar of Ivory soap down my mouth for saying or even thinking, six weeks of cussing out loud and inside my head, it is a reality. There are still a few kinks to work out, like they broke the sand filter and had better get themselves out here very quickly to either bring a new one or fix this one or else...but, we are certainly enjoying the new addition to the yard.


Bill has St. Augustine grass growing around the pool where there was red sand and it looks like it is spreading like it should. Three more weeks and he will be able to mow it. Not all of the plants made it when they replanted them, but those that did are flowering and look nice. We have been cooking lots of veggies and eating outside and that has to be good for you. Lots of exercise.

Another thing that took up some time was helping my mother pull together a surprise 90th birthday party for my dad a week and a half ago. We almost made it until he caught her taking a lot of cokes out to the storeroom and wanted to know why so many drinks. She said she told him that his sons were coming over to fry some fish for him and that is what the cokes were for. Even though it wasn't a complete surprise, he was still very surprised at all of the friends and family who showed up. The gig was up though when my brothers came up with their big outdoor fish fryers and skillets. By then, people started arriving. My mother had the neatest cake made that had a picture of him playing golf airbrushed on it. She had hidden it under the bed. He still plays golf three days a week.


Now, this Saturday we are trying to have a surprise 85th birthday dinner for my mother, but since my brothers said that daddy's birthday gathering made them decide they wanted to go out of the big party fish frying business (it was hot as blue blazes that day), we are all meeting at a fish restaurant and afterwards we will go to my parent's home for cake and ice cream. We were kind of afraid to chance waiting on having a surprise 90th for her. I don't really know why though because on both sides of their families, their parents and grandparents lived to be almost 100 and Mama had one uncle who made it to 105. I think they will be around for quite a while longer. They are two amazing people. Oh, tomorrow is my mother's birthday, but it is also their 66th wedding anniversary. You just don't see that much anymore.

Have a super summer and like I say everytime I write, I will try to do better, but don't hold my feet to the fire. You know how I am and how hard it is for me to find my way to this page. :-)