One of the earliest songs I remember playing on the radio as a child spoke of playing solitaire with one of those...I still have that mahogany cased Motorola. "How Much is that Doggy in the Window"... Peggy Lee's "Fever"...they all take me back to boyhood instantly.
51 has snuck up on me; 50 didn't bother me, there was kind of a top of the world feeling to it that I loved! Now there's some "going down the other side" of the "hill" involved. Knowing that I may outlive the polar ice cap doesn't help a bit; I never in my life dreamed that would happen in my grandkids lifetimes, let alone my own!
So as I sneak up on 2007, I reflect on the past 50 years and hope that in another 50 we are all still here gathered in our cyber circle. May 2007 bring you each Joy, Hope and Happiness!
alan
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Thursday, December 28, 2006
I'd rather fight than switch...
if that's what getting into "the New Blogger" is going to be like! Things have been in limbo for a while here!
Hopefully it was just the transition and all will settle down now!
The 2 days of Christmas went well; 1 coat that was too short for Talia and none of the things we bought for my Mom fit (kept telling Dottie 3X, but she didn't believe me). The coat we already tried to exchange, but the only ones left were smaller, so now we get to shop for a different one.
The worst of it was that John only asked for one game, Final Fantasy 12. I bought deluxe editions back in November, the week they came out, and put them away for both boys. Bill and Laura asked for theirs last week as they were on winter break at college; that was fine. Christmas afternoon at his house, John opened his deluxe two disc special edition in the pretty metal case and the game disc was missing!
Needless to say, I was crushed. The only place that sold them was Gamestop; I was there when they opened the next morning, the store I bought it from and was told they were sold out of them and the manager put a used one in our case and couldn't understand why I was upset!
Dottie was livid! I ended up going to another store and buying a 3rd one, giving it to John and keeping the used one...
Speaking of which, I had avoided my PS2 since I hurt myself last year, knowing how many hours I can lose in a good RPG, but last week I picked up one of the games I got last Christmas I hadn't played...I've logged 75 hours at this point...(Dragon Quest 8; I played all of the "old" Dragon Warrior games along with the boys as they were growing up).
Off to run some errands and then meet Dottie at Sears to return Mom's clothes. Border's is across the street and I got a gift card for Christmas...I think I'll be going there while I wait for her to get off work!
Tomorrow I guess I have to re-write my profile, as the half-century mark becomes 51!
I hope all your holidays were wonderful and the New Year brings each of you the joy, happiness and love I wish you all!
alan
Hopefully it was just the transition and all will settle down now!
The 2 days of Christmas went well; 1 coat that was too short for Talia and none of the things we bought for my Mom fit (kept telling Dottie 3X, but she didn't believe me). The coat we already tried to exchange, but the only ones left were smaller, so now we get to shop for a different one.
The worst of it was that John only asked for one game, Final Fantasy 12. I bought deluxe editions back in November, the week they came out, and put them away for both boys. Bill and Laura asked for theirs last week as they were on winter break at college; that was fine. Christmas afternoon at his house, John opened his deluxe two disc special edition in the pretty metal case and the game disc was missing!
Needless to say, I was crushed. The only place that sold them was Gamestop; I was there when they opened the next morning, the store I bought it from and was told they were sold out of them and the manager put a used one in our case and couldn't understand why I was upset!
Dottie was livid! I ended up going to another store and buying a 3rd one, giving it to John and keeping the used one...
Speaking of which, I had avoided my PS2 since I hurt myself last year, knowing how many hours I can lose in a good RPG, but last week I picked up one of the games I got last Christmas I hadn't played...I've logged 75 hours at this point...(Dragon Quest 8; I played all of the "old" Dragon Warrior games along with the boys as they were growing up).
Off to run some errands and then meet Dottie at Sears to return Mom's clothes. Border's is across the street and I got a gift card for Christmas...I think I'll be going there while I wait for her to get off work!
Tomorrow I guess I have to re-write my profile, as the half-century mark becomes 51!
I hope all your holidays were wonderful and the New Year brings each of you the joy, happiness and love I wish you all!
alan
Monday, December 18, 2006
Wow!
I'd have never believed a week could fly by so quickly!
Noel's birthday went well. Dottie took her "antiquing" to Atchison as a surprise while I waited for the grandkids to come home from school and fixed dinner. She had a great day, as did we.
Monday and Wednesday there was lots of shopping-more than we had planned on having left at that point! Some things weren't available until last week, others hadn't been put on the list yet...
Our 30th anniversary was Thursday. Dottie's sister Jane and her husband had enjoyed our being in Vermont for their 25th this last summer, and our 25th slipped by in the fog of Dottie being told she had terminal cancer (she didn't, but we were lucky!) when they found the cyst on her kidney, so they made a point of making sure we enjoyed this one. They arranged with our younger son to get us a gift card to somewhere we'd never ever go to eat! Valet parking, the whole bit! We've never gone anywhere like that since we've been together...we just don't do things like that, lol, always figuring we should do something else with that kind of money! John got the card before he left town, Noel gave it to use on Tuesday but with instructions not to open it until our anniversary. Not knowing what was up, we opened it, along with our cards to each other and the gifts I got her at midnight on Wednesday, then she went to bed because she had to work that day.
I had roses delivered to Dottie at work that day as a surprise. They were (and still are) gorgeous! Being between sizes again (going the wrong way, sadly) I called the restaurant to ask about dress code (there are places on the Plaza that are coat and tie only) and they said jeans were acceptable with a nice shirt or sweater, thank goodness! Dinner was wonderful, and it was a great evening until it was time for her to go to bed.
I had known Noel was fighting a cold the day we were there; I didn't know the grandkids had been fighting a stomach bug for days before that. The bug caught up with me about 2AM on Friday, and I'm still not quite over the aftereffects. I hadn't "hurled" in 28 years (for me things always go the other way) but I did that day! I thought I was better on Saturday, and we did some more last minute shopping along with the weekly trips I didn't get done on Friday while she was working; that almost became a mistake.
Sunday I didn't dare go anywhere, so we started wrapping gifts. For once, everything is pretty well done except for a few things awaiting some more last minute things we'll pick up tomorrow. After years of promising we won't be wrapping on Christmas Eve, we might actually not be!
In the "whirl" of it all though, the Chrismas letter didn't get written until last night, and just finished printing because it had to await editorial appproval this morning, lol!
I'm very disappointed in myself for not getting around to check in with everyone last week; I hope you all forgive me!
Monday, December 11, 2006
Just a quickie...(ahem, not that kind)
Dottie's foot is doing better, though if she spends too much time on it it still swells. She worked this weekend, and they had their Christmas parties, 3 per day, plus their normal routines to deal with, so she was pretty wiped out last night. She met me after she got off and we did a bit more Christmas shopping; a few odds and ends left and a box to ship to Vermont. I still need to write "the letter" to go in with the cards...had planned on having it ready to go at Thanksgiving.
In February I had put in for 4 days vacation this week, because Thursday is our 30th wedding anniversary (don't know how she's put up with me for so long!) and I had planned to beg her boss to let her have a couple of days off for it (they aren't supposed to take vacation between Thanksgiving and New Year's). She wouldn't let me do that, telling me she doesn't want to owe them any favors.
Tomorrow is her day off to make up for the work weekend (she had last Friday as well), part of her usual schedule. I had planned a movie and dinner as an early anniversary; she wanted to take me to a jazz club and we were in the process of debating which; then, as always, life intervened...
My sister had planned to have my daughter-in-law to her house for a birthday dinner tomorrow night as my son is out of town on business. Turns out my nephew has a concert, so Cindy's dinner got moved to Wednesday, so tomorrow Dottie and I are entertaining Noel and fixing her "porcupine meatballs" for her birthday dinner. Since she has a link to here I can't divulge more...
By Friday last week I was so tired and frustrated (work has been getting to me a bit as well) that I spoke to my "foreman" (actually a woman who just transferred from Production to Material, and who I've been stocking teams for this last year; she's very good and I'm grateful to have her for my boss now) and she said put in for Monday as well so I did. She brought me back the paper with "OK" signed by our General Foreman an hour or so later!
So, this afternoon marks the beginning of the first time I've taken a week off when the plant was running since I tore my back up almost two years ago!
It feels GOOD!!!!
:o)
Hopefully later in the week I can catch up with all of you...
alan
In February I had put in for 4 days vacation this week, because Thursday is our 30th wedding anniversary (don't know how she's put up with me for so long!) and I had planned to beg her boss to let her have a couple of days off for it (they aren't supposed to take vacation between Thanksgiving and New Year's). She wouldn't let me do that, telling me she doesn't want to owe them any favors.
Tomorrow is her day off to make up for the work weekend (she had last Friday as well), part of her usual schedule. I had planned a movie and dinner as an early anniversary; she wanted to take me to a jazz club and we were in the process of debating which; then, as always, life intervened...
My sister had planned to have my daughter-in-law to her house for a birthday dinner tomorrow night as my son is out of town on business. Turns out my nephew has a concert, so Cindy's dinner got moved to Wednesday, so tomorrow Dottie and I are entertaining Noel and fixing her "porcupine meatballs" for her birthday dinner. Since she has a link to here I can't divulge more...
By Friday last week I was so tired and frustrated (work has been getting to me a bit as well) that I spoke to my "foreman" (actually a woman who just transferred from Production to Material, and who I've been stocking teams for this last year; she's very good and I'm grateful to have her for my boss now) and she said put in for Monday as well so I did. She brought me back the paper with "OK" signed by our General Foreman an hour or so later!
So, this afternoon marks the beginning of the first time I've taken a week off when the plant was running since I tore my back up almost two years ago!
It feels GOOD!!!!
:o)
Hopefully later in the week I can catch up with all of you...
alan
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Slings and arrows of outrage...
At the beginning of the year we had to change medical insurance because our plan was discontinued. Only two options, an HMO or "traditional" were available; our benefits rep recommended the traditional one so we had more control over our doctor choices. We knew it would come with a higher co-pay for office visits and have dealt with that through the year.
Thursday, on the ice, Dottie went to pick up a veggie platter for a party at work on Friday. Some kid in daddy's 4-wheel rolled up alongside her in the grocery parking lot and lit the tires. It slid sideways towards her and she jumped to get out of the way. This is right after she stepped out of her car with the handicapped plate and was walking away from the handicapped parking place (she has a replacement hip and and knee).
Friday her left foot was tender. Saturday it started to swell. She stayed off it most of the day after that. Sunday it looked like someone had slipped a third of a baseball under the skin on top of it, but she wouldn't go to the ER, not knowing how much that would cost us. She wanted to wait for Monday to go see our regular physician.
She called in sick, then called the doctors and got in. They sent her to the lab on premises for an x-ray. The lab said they had gotten an e-mail from our carrier and that they would only pay for foot x-rays done by "National Foot Care" and told her go back to the doctor's to find out where they were.
The doctor's office had no idea. She called me, and I went through 5 phone books and couldn't find them, then went online and Googled and came up with that name and that Ford, Chrysler and Delphi are participants, but there is nothing listed for GM employees.
So the doctor's office sent her to the emergency room...
It wasn't broken, they offered her a "boot" and she turned it down because she knew it wouldn't be something "clean" to wear at work. They offered her painkillers, she turned them down because with only one kidney, she avoids any "extra" things to make it work harder when she can. They were a bit worried about her blood pressure, as it was in the 170/ something range...she is on meds for it and usually it's in the "normal" range. She pointed out to them what she had been through that morning and they didn't seem so worried!
So besides working my 9's 6 days last week and this I've been trying to make sure that there's absolutely nothing for her to do when she comes home except put her leg up.
I will be checking in with you all as I get time...sorry I haven't been around more!
And just so you all can grin a bit, the ornaments are slowly climbing the tree as the ones on the bottom get carried away by Frankie and rehung higher and "deeper" in the tree, lol!
alan
Thursday, on the ice, Dottie went to pick up a veggie platter for a party at work on Friday. Some kid in daddy's 4-wheel rolled up alongside her in the grocery parking lot and lit the tires. It slid sideways towards her and she jumped to get out of the way. This is right after she stepped out of her car with the handicapped plate and was walking away from the handicapped parking place (she has a replacement hip and and knee).
Friday her left foot was tender. Saturday it started to swell. She stayed off it most of the day after that. Sunday it looked like someone had slipped a third of a baseball under the skin on top of it, but she wouldn't go to the ER, not knowing how much that would cost us. She wanted to wait for Monday to go see our regular physician.
She called in sick, then called the doctors and got in. They sent her to the lab on premises for an x-ray. The lab said they had gotten an e-mail from our carrier and that they would only pay for foot x-rays done by "National Foot Care" and told her go back to the doctor's to find out where they were.
The doctor's office had no idea. She called me, and I went through 5 phone books and couldn't find them, then went online and Googled and came up with that name and that Ford, Chrysler and Delphi are participants, but there is nothing listed for GM employees.
So the doctor's office sent her to the emergency room...
It wasn't broken, they offered her a "boot" and she turned it down because she knew it wouldn't be something "clean" to wear at work. They offered her painkillers, she turned them down because with only one kidney, she avoids any "extra" things to make it work harder when she can. They were a bit worried about her blood pressure, as it was in the 170/ something range...she is on meds for it and usually it's in the "normal" range. She pointed out to them what she had been through that morning and they didn't seem so worried!
So besides working my 9's 6 days last week and this I've been trying to make sure that there's absolutely nothing for her to do when she comes home except put her leg up.
I will be checking in with you all as I get time...sorry I haven't been around more!
And just so you all can grin a bit, the ornaments are slowly climbing the tree as the ones on the bottom get carried away by Frankie and rehung higher and "deeper" in the tree, lol!
alan
Friday, December 01, 2006
The Weekend Cometh!
Not that I get more than one day of it, lol!
We survived the ice storm, and the heaviest snow missed us by a few miles, starting about 5 miles south of us and getting heavier the further you went. Where my wife works, they had 4" so some of them went out and made a snowman and the rest took residents to the windows to watch. About 40 miles southeast of us they got 18"!
Though I work tomorrow, all 3 grandkids are spending the night tonight. The tree has been up since Tuesday and Frankie hasn't tried to climb it yet, so when I get up tomorrow we're going to decorate it. Hopefully our curious kitty still leaves it alone! (Dottie's plants that have moved to the basement for the winter aren't faring so well; we're going to have to wrap the plant stands in hardware cloth I think.)
I'm trying very hard not to be depressed by man's treatment of fellow man...Litvinenko, Lebanon, Iraq...if I was smart I would turn off the TV and the radio but somehow I can't!
alan
We survived the ice storm, and the heaviest snow missed us by a few miles, starting about 5 miles south of us and getting heavier the further you went. Where my wife works, they had 4" so some of them went out and made a snowman and the rest took residents to the windows to watch. About 40 miles southeast of us they got 18"!
Though I work tomorrow, all 3 grandkids are spending the night tonight. The tree has been up since Tuesday and Frankie hasn't tried to climb it yet, so when I get up tomorrow we're going to decorate it. Hopefully our curious kitty still leaves it alone! (Dottie's plants that have moved to the basement for the winter aren't faring so well; we're going to have to wrap the plant stands in hardware cloth I think.)
I'm trying very hard not to be depressed by man's treatment of fellow man...Litvinenko, Lebanon, Iraq...if I was smart I would turn off the TV and the radio but somehow I can't!
alan
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