A Promise of Better Things

I have been noticeably absent this space since early April. It's been a combination of things. I have not felt well. The warm spring days were followed by chilly and damp days. I don't do chilly and damp very well anymore. It settled into my joints and I found myself aching much more than usual. My rheumatologist agreed that this spring has been hard on people with joint problems.

Then, our work load quadrupled, which sounds like an exaggeration, but is not. I found myself doing day trips two, three and four days out of a week. I appreciate that fate or God or karma decided last year I needed a newer car because the drives to all these places was ever so much nicer when it was done in a car with adequate heat and windshield wipers, as well as cruise control and the ability to sip, not guzzle, gas.

This became something of a bad circle. I ached because of the wild swings in weather. I ached because of all the driving and walking. I couldn't get comfortable at night to fall asleep and stay asleep because I ached, which made me tired. Weekends have been something of a fog. I didn't have the stamina to complete a project so my house is littered with unfinished things. This made me sad and, let's face it, depressed, which contributes to the uneven sleeping. Everything accumulated making writing a chore. I just felt overwhelmed and unable to put thoughts to paper.

That being said, I've been working on a short story based on a writing prompt a friend gave me. She "double-dip dared" me to write a story around a silly Internet photo; a photo I had made an off-hand comment about. I know how the story ends. I just have to write the lines to that point. Now that the weather has moderated, it's inspiring to sit outside with my pen and write. I bought a journal to use for book quotes, but picked it up to use to tell this tale. It's probably a pedantic sort of tale, but I haven't done anything like this in years so it feels fresh and exciting.

I probably have 8 more hours of writing left to do. In true "Sagittarius mode", however, there are more shinies calling for my attention. That's what can overwhelm me and leave me feeling depressed. I love having projects to do, but completing them has always been a problem. The simple act of setting up the project is exhilarating to me. What do I want to do and what supplies will I need to accomplish this? But I get into the thing and have to set it aside because something else crops up, like the need to have clean underwear, and then I lose the drive to finish. It was extremely acute during April and, now, May. Then, I feel like I can't do anything and you see where this track goes. I'm ever so good at beating myself up.

The weather seems to have moderated now. I had a doctor visit last week where I poured out my frustrations and my rheumatologist was so understanding. She reminded me that living with RA means doing small tasks. "Just finish one thing and celebrate that; dishes, a load of laundry, pick up the living room so you don't see lots of piles." I got the oil changed and tires rotated. I spent 3 hours writing on the story; advancing the plot by leaps and bounds. I did a load of laundry and swept half of the floors. Just those things made me feel as if I could accomplish more.

Memorial Day weekend was a series of small victories which I'll detail below. Each step leads to another step which leads to a feeling of accomplishment. The business of business is still astonishingly hectic, but it appears, like the Tetris game, things are falling into place so I am not quite so overwhelmed. I still have to travel, but it's not in a rushing sort of way.

And then, as if to rubber stamp my sense of worth, I managed, for the first time in 3 months, to carve out time to go to cross-stitch club at the Wheaton Public Library. I haven't felt any inclination to do any stitching on the project since January because I've been coming back from somewhere on the day of the club. I stepped out of the house and headed to the car. There was a small rain shower going on. It wasn't much; more like the last bit of water was being shaken from the watering can. I got to the car and turned to slide in and saw this.

I do not remember when the last time was I saw a rainbow this brilliant. Look at the colors. You can see all of them; red, orange, yellow, green, indigo and violet. Excited, I quickly drove to the end of the drive, got out and aimed my ancient cell phone skyward.

Yes, please. I'll have a double helping of rainbow.

If you've followed me for some time you know I'm not a very God-y person anymore. I believe in an almighty, but I don't feel he pays too much attention to me; checking in on occasion, to see that I'm still hanging in there. Sometimes, he takes pity on me and things align, but most of the time, he smiles and moves on to someone with way more cares than I have. I don't want to make too much of a scientific occurrence, but I think this was nature's, karma's, "God's" way of telling me the storm has passed and, while things won't be smooth sailing, because, after all, it is raining, it won't be quite as bad as it has been these past 2 months. I've come through a choppy time and now there will be quieter seas ahead.

(On a strictly scientific note, I was quite surprised the rainbow was so vivid. We didn't get enough rain to wet the deck all over. It really was simply a sprinkle. Yet look at the colors, how clear and dramatic they are. Everything was at the right juncture to create this scene. Science is fascinating.)

So, dear reader, if you've progressed to the bottom of this post, I can't promise I will be as dedicated to this space as I was at the beginning of the year, but I have hundreds of photos I should blog about. It appears life is on the upswing. Things are, indeed, better. I have a double rainbow to prove it.

Beverage:  Earl Grey tea

Deb

A Change in the Weather

"You don't like the weather, wait 10 minutes. It will change."

This comment was one of the first things I heard when I moved to Chicagoland. Lake Michigan influences the weather patterns in this area. But, I'm very familiar with changeable weather. Growing up on an Iowa farm, we watched the weather systems come from the west and southwest in the summer and the north and northwest in the winter. I'm familiar with the black, rain-filled clouds which bring the threat of tornados and the leaden gray clouds of winter and their abundance of snow.

My vacation, starting a bit early in that I had to go west to do inspections before continuing on to my destination, started in the warm sunshine of a late spring day. We tend to think of the days around Memorial Day as the beginning of summer, whereas meteorological summer isn't until June 21st. There was a warm breeze and sunshine and not a cloud in the sky on the Friday and Saturday I spent working and then lounging at my mother's before heading north to Minnesota. We knew rain was coming, but it was a far away thought.

I awoke to rain splashing on the windows. The car was loaded in a driving rain, but I needed to get on my way. Iowa always looks good in a rainstorm.

The route took me west, north, west and then straight north. The rains came from the west, in easily identifiable bands.

I had every intention of stopping in Clear Lake, Iowa, at the Buddy Holly crash site. It's one of those places I didn't know existed until the last 10 years. Three musicians and a pilot died in the crash and the infamy of having this event was not something people wanted memorialized. Times and attitudes change and now, fans come to this spot to pay their respects, not necessarily to gawk. We talk about times being simpler. I don't know that that's the case, but they were different and this memorial connects us to a different time.

As luck would have it, I needed gas by the time I got to Clear Lake. It was raining sideways. The canopy over the gas pumps provided no shelter. I stood next to the car, with my feet and lower legs getting wet and made the decision that traipsing to a memorial in a driving rain was not something I wanted to do. Grabbing lunch at Wendy's, I continued north into Minnesota.

Oh look. How nice of them to have road destruction for those of us from Chicago.

It's about 1:30 in the afternoon here. You can be forgiven for thinking it's close to sunset. The low, water-filled clouds pretty much obscured the sun. I'm usually not one to think, "How much longer?", but I certainly did here. The sign announcing Faribault, Minnesota never looked so good.

There was a brief let up in the rain for Memorial Day's parade but the rains returned in the middle of the afternoon. I was visiting a friend and we could watch the rain come from west to east through the back yards of her neighborhood.

Tuesday was drizzle, although it was a warm drizzle. We weren't going to be tourists, thankfully, because there is nothing inviting about doing any sort of walking tour in a steady rain.

I headed home on Wednesday and, of course, it was lovely.

Bright blue sky. No clouds. Easy driving. I actually don't mind driving in the rain, but a horizontal rain with road construction is not a good drive. It makes for a stressful ride. I could just put the car on cruise control and head home, once I found the interstate.

Clouds picked up when I got near Madison, Wisconsin.

These are the clouds that make wonderful photos. It's like the sky is glass and you've dropped shredded cotton balls around. They stayed with me until I got south of Rockford, Illinois and headed east toward home.

At that point, the clouds had thickened and, in the distance, was the remnant of the rain that had gone through Faribault in the days before.

The weekend and vacation was not a wash out. I loved the peace and quiet I found. I needed to step away from life for a bit and the trip allowed me to remove myself and just be. Plus, we weren't really going to do anything other than talk so the rain wasn't a hindrance to our activities. And we can sigh at 3 days of rain but it was nothing compared to what Texas went through. That area of Minnesota was in mild drought conditions and, although there were times of heavy rain, most of it was the soaking kind. This is the kind of rain which will go deep to the roots of the corn and soybeans and alfalfa and apple trees which make up the commercial crops in that area. I came home to a lawn in desperate need of mowing but glowing green in the afternoon sunshine.

Summer weather. I think that's my favorite kind.

Beverage:  Irish Breakfast Tea

Deb

Cleaning

There is a tradition to thoroughly clean one's domicile twice a year; spring and fall. This spring, I cleaned thoroughly because Carole and David were coming for Memorial Day and Niles' wedding. I had not done the fall cleaning, however.

It's been a rough fall for joint pain. My knees have been giving me a great deal of problems and pain. I don't have the pain in my hands, shoulders or feet and ankles, but the hips hurt getting out of bed in the morning and the knees hurt period. Cleaning, the thorough kind I really wanted to do, just wore me out because I can't stand for long periods of time. I have to break the cleaning sessions into smaller chunks and it sometimes doesn't feel like I'm getting anything accomplished.

I also have to be careful about the amount of cleaning products I'm exposed to. My allergies seem to be in high gear this fall. I've been waiting for the hard freeze to kill the pollens outside, but interior allergens can be as bad or worse than anything you find outside. I have to watch how much stuff I use and how long I'm exposed to it.

In Target, on Wednesday, I was thrilled to see that J.R. Watkins had put their cleaning products for sale in the store. Watkins is a Minnesota brand and Target is headquartered in Minneapolis. It was probably a perfect fit for growing the Watkins brand. It's usually sold via door-to-door salesmen. We had a "little old man", I don't remember his name, who handled our Watkins products. He was stooped with what we now know is osteoporosis, and drove this battered gray station wagon in which most of his products were stored. I have raved about their vanilla and spices before. I have their degreaser for heavy jobs. It's wonderful. I've used some of their other cleaning products and they are mild but very effective and without the chemicals I seem to have problems with.

But, as good as they are, they still have to resort to chemicals in some ways to clean some things. Many natural cleaning aids, vinegar comes to mind, do work but aren't as effective in some situations. My goal this weekend is to thoroughly clean AND get the window insulator plastic up on the windows. I'm going to be washing windows and trim around the windows. I have Windex, but I just don't want to breathe that stuff in for an afternoon.

Almost as if it knows, the Internet coughed up an article about using this as a cleaning aid.

Plain old Coca-Cola. The mystic formula of real Coke has a grease cutting ability that is supposed to be exceptional. I've known of stories that say you can use a can of Coke to clean your toilet bowl. (It looks really gross and no, I didn't photograph it.) I decided this was as good of a time as any to conduct experiments.

A case at Target was $5.99. That's kind of pricey. If you watch sales, I know you can get it for less. That's still 50¢ a can for a cleaning agent. The last bottle of toilet bowl cleaner I purchased was on sale for $2.49 for 24 ounces or 10¢ an ounce. A can of Coke is 4¢ an ounce.

I'm not completely sold on Coke as a toilet bowl cleaner. Unless you shake the can, you'll not get it under the rim, which should be cleaned every time you clean the bowl. I felt I had to use twice as much water because of rinsing out the toilet brush. My bowl looks clean, but is that a product of the Coke or would I get the same result if I just scrubbed the bowl with the toilet brush. I clean the bowl once a week. In terms of value, a case of coke is good for 12 weeks of cleaning as you're supposed to use a full can. I buy a bottle of toilet bowl cleaner about once every 4 months because I'm not using 12 ounces of the product. The chemical stuff is, by far, the better value for this cleaning.

Where Coke has really impressed me is in washing windows. Part of sealing the windows for the winter is washing them and the trim. I'm just using plain water to wash off the trim. I take a couple of paper towels, tip the can of Coke and pour a "handful" onto the towels. That's used to wash the window.

"But the sugar in the soda will leave a residue, won't it?" Well, if I just leave the Coke on the window, yes. There is a wind today and the outside air temperature is 32 degrees colder than yesterday. I started in the bedroom and washed the top half of the window first. I followed the Coke windows with a sponge immersed in water and then dried off each pane. I didn't notice a difference between the Coke washed and the just regular washed with water window.

Then I went to the cats' room. This used to be Carole's bedroom. We repainted the walls and windows, leaving paint residue on the windows. We always meant to scrape that off, but it never happened. She also had stickers on the windows as kids will do. Over the years, those have dried and fallen off, but the imprint has remained. Windex hasn't been able to get that off the glass.

Since I'm not in this room much, except to change litter, I haven't spent time cleaning the windows. They were quite dirty. Imagine my surprise and delight when the Coke infused paper towels removed over half of the dried paint; dissolved it right before my eyes; the sticker residue, insect parts and all the dirt and grime. For a control, I washed one pane in just plain water. It did get most of the grime but not all of it, some of the insect parts and none of the paint. I followed up with Coke. Each pane is rinsed with plain water and then dried with a paper towel. I wound up spending some time on this window simply because the Coke was dissolving the old paint every time I wiped across the panes. Technically, I don't really "care" about these back windows, but, wow. They sure sparkle now.

I've got a bunch more windows to wash and I will, for sure, use the Coke followed by water method. There are absolutely no fumes. Yes, it takes a bit more time to wash the window but not breathing in Windex fumes is, I think, worth it. I have no idea what Windex is selling for at this time. I bought some months ago when it was on sale, a big bottle so I have quite a bit to use up. I can't tell if this is a bargain but, after 2 windows, I've used about a third of a can. Perhaps I would use more if I was doing the outside of the windows. I am impressed, to say the least.

The last thing I'm going to try is defrosting the windshield with Coke. The article said pouring part of a can of Coke onto a frosted over window removes the frost. Follow with your washer fluid. I think there will be frozen Coke residue on your car that you probably will want to wash off but, for someone like me being able to easily make the windshield clear will be a godsend. I've had to scrape three times already and it does hurt the hands a bit in the morning. I'll let you know how that goes.

There is one thing I do wonder. Who decided to use Coke to clean their windows? Were they sitting around after pizza one night and someone looked at their can and said, "I wonder if we could use this to clean the windows?" And why Coke and not Pepsi or Dr Pepper? It's probably a good thing that I've not seen that you can use Dr Pepper to clean windows. I don't think I could use it for that.

Beverage:  Um...the rest of the can of Coke

Deb

Another Month

When did it get to be August? Wasn't it just a couple weeks ago I was frantically cleaning in preparation for Carole and David's visit over Memorial Day weekend? In one month, it will be Labor Day and the end, sort of, of summer. What have I done this summer?

Now, if I spend time assessing what I have done versus what I could have done, you'll find me sitting in a lawn chair in the basement eating a carton of ice cream. That is NOT productive on any level. There are times when personal assessment is a positive thing and then there are the self-flagellation sessions we females seem to specialize in. "I could have had a V-8" turns into, "I could have tiled my kitchen backsplash with ceramic tiles I made myself after I crafted a kiln out of bricks that I made myself." Um...yeah.

First of all, it was too darn hot. It was just not conducive to outdoor activity. I managed, however, to get the deck and the front steps painted, granted both were before the temperature rose to irritating heights. I'm proud of myself for that.

I washed deck chairs and planted flowers in pots on the deck. That's another plus for me. I've gone years with no outside furniture and only the geraniums to greet me. It's been too hot to really enjoy the deck but at least I got the chairs out. In October, a grand reorganization of the storage shed should be undertaken so the chairs are easy to get to next year, considering I did all this work.

Little projects here and there. A mountain of reading finished. Not a week goes by that I don't read one or two of the magazines in the ever diminishing stack. It's good to see it shrinking. In another year, it will be gone and the magazines I do get won't take me months to read.

It was in one of those magazines that I found what I'm going to call my "August project". It was an old Shape magazine. I have no idea how I got this. It just started showing up on my doorstep a year ago. For me, it's a 20 minute read, if that. There's nothing usually in it to interest me and I find it wholly disingenuous. It purports to give you tips on diet and exercise but has huge ads for weight loss supplements of dubious character. You can't have it both ways. Ooooh Holly Madison (Who the heck is she? Would someone enlighten me?) lost an amazing 20 pounds on something I wouldn't feed to a landfill. Looking at her, she had 20 pounds to lose? She could do that just taking off those embellished jeans she's wearing. That doesn't count. Hence, I give Shape no credibility when it comes to weight loss.

But, in the March 2012 issue, which somehow got buried as I usually "read" Shape the day it comes and then recycle it, there were exercises done with weights. I'm looking for non-impact, since my knees won't handle it at the moment, exercises that promote more strength and flexibility than aerobic activity. I looked these over. Bend the knee here? Well, I can modify this a bit. Stretch the arms out and hold it? Well, I won't be able to do 12 repetitions but I could do a few. For the first time since this magazine mysteriously showed up, it had something in it that I could use. I can't do all 6 exercises at a time. I don't have the strength yet. But I could do 3 a day, alternating days.

So, I dug out my weights and did my first three today. I could not do more than 3 reps of exercise number 2 which required me to hold my arms out at shoulder height and curl one arm, then the other, back behind my head. It sounds weird, but it's easy to do, except for holding the arms at shoulder height. It's painful after 3 reps. I don't have the upper arm strength.

I did not get dejected, however. I know I have a ways to go to rebuild what collapsed around me last year. My goal is simple. I will do half of the exercises every day for a week, alternating exercises. Page 1 was today and page 2 is tomorrow. When Sunday comes, I will try again for another week of exercises. It means earlier to bed and earlier to rise so I get these in. It took 15 minutes to do the first three. My goal is no achy feeling when I do 12 reps and to be able to do 12 reps on each exercise. I'm not going to do more reps on those exercises I find easy. Before I move on to 2 sets of 12 reps, I have to be able to do 1 set on all of them with ease and without pain or achy muscles. My ultimate goal is to do these every day through the whole of August, one week at a time.

I'm reminded of a song from the animated Christmas special "Santa Claus is Coming to Town". Mickey Rooney sings this.

Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking cross the floor
Put one foot in front of the other
And soon you’ll be walking out the door

You never will get where you’re going
If you never get up on your feet
Come on, there’s a good tail wind blowing
A fast walking man is hard to beat

My goal is greater flexibility and mobility. I found the Wheaton Park District has Tai Chi classes. They help with flexibility. I've found one I can take on Saturday mornings beginning in October. I'm signing up next week, as soon as I can.

This has been the most productive summer in the last 2-3 for me. As August starts and the end of summer draws near, I want to build on this success and go forward. I almost gave my weights away last year. It's a good thing I didn't. I'm pretty sure I can't bench press either of the cats.

Beverage:  Dr Pepper

Deb

Dry

I believe I took the front windows off right around Memorial Day. I put them on, I think, the day after I took this photo, June 10th, but took them off again and haven't put them back on. If the top wasn't splitting along some seams, I'd have the top down.

It's dry, so very dry here. It's not quite the tinderbox that Colorado, Utah and New Mexico are but there was a report that fires and grills were going to be banned in forest preserves beginning this weekend. There will be no grilling for that family picnic for which you reserved your space back in February, on the first day you could reserve a space. It's just too dry. There is also talk that fireworks shows are in danger of being cancelled. The only "safe" place would be over the lake and I don't think the city of Chicago is doing fireworks at the end of Taste of Chicago anymore. I know that got axed last year in a budget cutting move. Navy Pier always does fireworks on July 4th, again off barges on the lake, so that may be the one place to see rocket's red glare.

It's to be 90 today and 104 tomorrow. I've had the windows open and the AC off the past 2 days. It was lovely this morning and had this been a weekend, I would have kept the windows open until around noon, when the heat begins to build. It will make the AC work less if it's cool inside. I closed up the house, checked to make sure the AC was set for 80 and came to the office where it was 68 in my section. I had to run my portable heater for a bit. The rest of the office is nice. My office is a refrigerator.

Weather people are likening this to the drought of 1988. In August of that year, we had something like 15 straight days of 100+ temperatures. I had a garden back then and I remember water rationing and trying to get the garden adequately watered on the days we could. Our ancient AC unit gave out on day number 10. The service man who came after the heat broke said the freon just gave out. We bought a window fan for the north window and set up other fans to suck the hot air through the house. We covered all the west and south windows to reflect the sun.

Funny how you get dependent upon the cooling ability of central air conditioning. I didn't have that growing up on the farm. I remember nights spent splayed across the bed wishing for any kind of breeze and moving every 10 minutes when your body heat had made the spot you were lying in warm. I can hear the buzzing of the insects from those hot summer afternoons spent lounging in the living room or on the front porch. I also remember Kool-Aid pops and Dad standing on the porch looking at the garden. "This hot weather is good for my tomatoes," he'd say. I remember walking to the corn fields after lunch and sitting under the canopy of stalks, the ground and air in the rows about 10 degrees cooler. You could hear the corn growing and the smell, oh the smell of the earth is a smell I love.

I also love the smell of the earth and the air after a heavy rain born of the clash between hot and cold. The ground almost sizzles when the first line of water hits. I remember a few times being in town and watching the steam rise off pavement and sidewalk after a summer rain during a heat wave. The smell of water and earth is intoxicating.

I'm watering my deck flowers but not the yard. I think watering a lawn is silly and a waste of water. It will return to green once the rains come. If it doesn't, reseed. Put in something that goes dormant in these hot Midwest summers, something that you don't have to water. I should wash the Jeep this weekend. That ALWAYS brings rain, right?

Beverage:  Raspberry Earl tea

Deb

More Growth

The temperatures over the weekend were decidedly over 90 degrees. I actually turned on the AC for the those two days because, well, the comfort of the cats was paramount. They were afraid of the box fan which sits on the livingroom floor keeping the air at their level circulating. It took a couple days to get used to it but then Pilchard was spotted with her back to the fan, enjoying the breeze.

Today, the temperatures aren't expected to crack 60. It's like November or March out there. The bright sunshine and heat of Memorial Day weekend caused the plants in the flower pots to grow.

This was Saturday morning.

 

On Monday afternoon, they looked like this. 

There hasn't been much appreciable growth since the weekend and with the temperatures, at night, down in the 40's, I worry, just a bit, that growth will be nipped in the bud. For example, look at the hydrangea which is off the deck. 

Notice the "burned" areas on the leaves. I was concerned about that so I did a bit of research. That's the result of the record March warmth that caused the plant to bud out sooner than it should have. It's frost damage from the April into May "normal" temperatures we had. It won't affect the plant other than to make the leaves look bad. Indeed, it's got a lot of flower heads on it. 

It's just been the weirdest weather I can remember this year. No blizzard. Hardly any snow. Summer in March and cold, damp weather in April and May, but not enough rain. Like us, plants are probably wondering just what the heck is going on. 

This weekend, I will attempt to pull the deck chairs out of the storage unit and position them with a view of my growing seedlings. I'm reminded of a song John Denver sang on The Muppet Show. 

Inch by inch, row by row
Gonna make this garden grow
All it takes is a rake and a hoe
And a piece of fertile ground
Inch by inch, row by row
Someone bless these seeds I sow
Someone warm them from below
'Til the rain comes tumbling down

Gonna get a red geranium this weekend, too. 

Beverage:  Huckleberry tea

Deb

Time to Get Better

Back in January, while emptying the car, I slipped. In "catching" myself, I heard a pop and there was pain in my right shoulder. I iced the shoulder, took some ibuprophen and took it easy. I was sore for about a week and a half, but my shoulder seemed to be fine.

Well, off and on over the next few months, I would have pain in the shoulder. I would either ice it or rest on a heating pad. It always seemed to go away. If I were a Barbie doll, I would describe the pain as being in that universal joint where her arm attaches to her shoulder.

Over Memorial Day, I was picking up kitty litter off the grocery shelf and putting it in my cart and there was a very painful twinge in my shoulder. Now, I know all about using your knees to lift and I was using both hands but the pain almost took my breath away. For the whole weekend, I favored my right arm, sleeping with a heating pad, taking ibuprophen and massaging Ben Gay into the arm. By the Wednesday after Memorial Day, the shoulder didn't hurt anymore.

Then, this past weekend was the Illinois St. Andrew Society's Highland Games. I loaded up the Jeep with my tent and all my stuff, unloaded it at the games, loaded it onto a cart to be ferried to the clan area, unloaded the cart, set everything up, took it down, loaded it back into the Jeep and then unloaded the Jeep into the house. By Sunday evening, I was very sore. Monday, I applied Ben Gay and took ibuprophen. This time, the ache and pain didn't go away. I guess it's time to deal with it.

The thing is, I know I should have gone to see the doctor earlier, but when you have very little money, it comes down to gas to get to work or doctor. I chose the gas. My doctor is very good about not wagging his finger at me. I have lost 15 pounds, probably not just from the stress of worrying about money but also because I'm eating better. He listened to my tale and then did a range of motion with my right arm. The only time it hurt was bending the arm unnaturally backwards. "It doesn't bend that way!" I said. He laughed. I've really never had a problem with the range of motion of my arm. It just hurts.

He believes the muscle is inflamed. He doesn't believe I tore anything or, if I did, it was such a small tear, it healed on its own. I have been given an anti-inflammatory to take for 30 days. I have to take it in the morning and with food. I will have to go grocery shopping today as I am out of cereal. I took the first one today and have a noticeable easing of the pain in the shoulder. I'm still sore in more than one spot, but this is very encouraging. I had to have an x-ray even thought an x-ray isn't going to show anything. My doctor said insurance companies won't authorize an MRI even though they know muscles won't show up on x-rays. But, he is hopeful that a weekend of the drug will ease my symptoms and I'll be all better after one month on it.

He did tell me not to be "overdoing" it. Hmmmm, I bet I can't get my insurance to pay for a month's vacation by a pool somewhere.

Beverage: Huckleberry tea

Deb

Maybe I need a new one.

If you're a long-time blog reader, you know I've been teased about my "ancient" purse. I used to have 4 or 5 purses which I changed out based on outfit, weather, season, event. But, when I started working, the constant moving of a life from one bag to another became hugely frustrating. I'd learn where everything was and then change purses. You men have NO CLUE.

I was working at a book store and this woman came in with the best purse I had seen. The front zipped open to reveal places for money and credit cards, checkbook and pen. The back of it was just a pouch where she kept a comb, lipstick, coin purse and other items. The whole thing was about 3 inches thick. I wanted one.

I never found one. Instead, I got the brown leather purse everyone teases me about now.

Well, over Memorial Day, I noticed the gaping hole you see to the right. The stitching has come apart. I looked around the purse and there are a few more places where the stitching is slowly coming undone. After 10 odd years, it might be time for a new purse. I could take it to Paul's Shoe Service in downtown Glen Ellyn and he'd probably fix it for me. But I wonder if the cost of fixing the purse might not be the same as buying new on sale? The other thing is, if I get a new purse, I have to learn where everything is again. Again, you men have NO CLUE.

What to do, what to do? I can't afford a new purse right now, anyway, but I also can't afford to get this one fixed right now. Maybe in another week that will happen, but not now. Plus, if I take the purse in, I have nothing to replace it with while it's getting fixed. A plastic bag just doesn't cut it.

Beverage: grape pomegranate juice

Deb

Wondering about the paper.

I get the Daily Herald. I have gotten this newspaper for years, over a decade, I believe. They do more local coverage than the Chicago Tribune or the Chicago Sun-Times. Lately, however, I have wondered if it's worth it.

Newspapers and magazines are fighting for their very survival in a media-saturated world. I can get my news from any source now, colored just the way my ideology leans. I certainly don't NEED a newspaper. I can hear the local news on the radio in the morning, the very local news from WDCB, College of Du Page. I get a news feed through AT&T/Yahoo, who provides my Internet service. There are millions of ways to get the news I want or need. The newspaper is not my only option.

I bring this up because delivery of my paper has been inconsistent. When Carole was coming, I let the papers pile up in order to clean the house. I sat down over Memorial Day and read a half month's worth of newspapers. Oh I know the Chicago Blackhawks are in the Stanley Cup. I know about the oil spill and the earthquake off Vanuatu. I know about the controversy surrounding President Obama's decision not to lay a Memorial Day wreath at Arlington National Cemetery. Personally, I think there should be a contest. High school aged kids write a 500 word essay on why the president should come to their Memorial Day remembrances. Every state submits one essay and the president decides on May 1st, which observance he attends. I honestly don't think many kids realize why we have Memorial Day. Send the President to their hometown, to speak in their hot and stuffy gymnasium about the sacrifices men and women made so we have a Memorial Day. Maybe you can't stand that year's flavor of president, but you will remember him talking about Memorial Day.

I'm sorry, I'll get down off my soap box. Got a bit side-tracked there.

As I was reading through my newspapers, I noticed I didn't have all of them. At first, I thought maybe I'd read them, but the randomness of the days missing told me I never got the paper in the first place. Then, on Wednesday, May 26th, there was no paper. I totaled up the missing papers; almost a full week. Why am I paying $43 every 8 weeks when I'm getting 7 weeks worth of papers?

I emailed the Daily Herald. It's a thankless job, delivering papers. I remember helping a friend deliver the Cedar Rapids Gazette and collect for the delivery. She had to pay, up front, for the papers and then collect. She got to keep a certain amount, but that was cut when people did not pay. If she quit delivering their papers, they would complain. The paper would give them a credit, which came out of her earnings. So, that misty, foggy, damp and dreary night, she handed me a list of people and I marked down who did and didn't pay her. I did that with her for three pay periods which helped convince the Gazette that some people were deadbeats. Some people would get extra service because, when she came to collect, they gave her a tip. I don't remember the lady who gave us a bag of cookies because she knew we had to walk all over town.

I don't know how it is now. I get a bill. There is a spot for "carrier tip". Even in my cash strapped life, I try to tack on a dollar or two. I know delivering the paper means going on in all weather, in your own car, in the wee hours. It's a thankless job and probably pays just enough to cover your car expenses and a bit more. It's probably not something you could earn a livelihood at, support a family. I guess I think, if everyone on the delivery person's route tacked on a dollar every other bill, they would get a nice chunk of change.

I'm changing that policy now. The Daily Herald was most apologetic about the missing papers. I've been credited 2 weeks for the inconvenience. But yesterday, there was no paper again. I'm thinking it's been more Wednesday's papers than any other day; never Sunday. Wednesday's paper contains the food ads. Is there something about that particular paper that is important? There aren't coupons, just a food section. I don't know. I had to go to the web site today and click on "Missed yesterday's paper". I don't want to have to do this every week or 10 days. It's not value to me.

I like the newspaper. I grew up in a time when newspapers still had clout and relevance. It could be argued they do not now. I like the feel of a newspaper. The ability to read more in-depth than on the Internet. I also like the freebies that come in the paper. I was very low on cereal and wondering how I could scrape up some funds.

A Sunday paper arrived at just the right time. I used the coupon for Chex and got a box of Rice Chex, not the honey nut which was free. Trix, well, "Silly rabbit. Trix are for kids". They were amusing but not in a "must have a box" way.

So, we shall see. I probably wouldn't miss not getting a newspaper and my budget would certainly enjoy being $43 richer every other month. Still, I think a little bit of me would pass away without a newspaper.

What would I wash windows with?

Beverage: Grape Pomegranate Juice

Deb

$182.67 and I forgot bananas.

So it's Memorial Day and I was up until the weeeeeeeee hours. You know you should go to bed when 1) the cats think you should be providing the morning feeding and 2) that's that annoying robin you hear every year singing in the neighbor's trees. Yeah, yeah, I didn't get up until...well...I'm not telling. Dishes are in the sink because I'm out of spoons and I read all the errant newspapers in the pile. (Hey Carole? Catalani made $306,000.) And I'm paying for the lateness with dry eyes just when they were 98% healed. I'm thinking this getting old business is not for wimps and sissies.
Explaining what I was doing up at that hour requires being able to insert photos into these posts and, for the life of me, I can't figure that out. (JESSIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!) That will come and will explain why I know several of the people who will, no doubt, publish random comments of the kind I adore and will explain a good bit of what I do with myself.
Random note: I added a link to my daughter's blog and to April and Perry's blog at the side. Carole said she was, "Scared" when I sent her the link to this blog. When asked why, she responded, "Because you're joining the technology age, invading my internetzzzzzzz." And in learning all this new stuff, I am effectively tossing aside 17th Century British poetry. That's a whole 'nother blog post.
But, as the dishes soak, I'm trying to clear off the kitchen counter so I can bake cookies. I bought the missing ingredients for three kinds; butterscotch, chocolate chip and peanut butter. As I have been so sick, I have only barely done any sort of kitchen maintenance so the stacks just got taller and taller. I have this craving for brats or hot dogs which necessitated the store run. When I started looking through the freezer and fridge, I realized, dang it, I'm out of a lot.
It's just me and the cats and they don't eat much people food, although Rascal ate some of my dry Cheerios last night. I have to share MY Cheerios with this cat now? I had not gone to the store since the first of May-ish. I went to visit Carole and I've been sick, so I cleaned out things rather than buy stuff that would just sit. (Promise you won't look in the vegetable or fruit drawers. I'm getting there. Kthksbai.) I'm out of toilet paper, kitty litter, pasta, cereal (including the aforementioned Cheerios-best cereal on the planet), cough drops, orange juice, hot dogs, brats, bread (How can I have the 10 p.m. pb sammich?), butter and the all important Lean Cuisine Butternut Squash Ravioli.
I was going to go to Whole Foods, but, the more I realized what I really wanted, I wound up at Dominicks. Increasingly, the mainstream groceries have organic foods on their shelves although Dominicks NEEDS to stock Bob's Red Mill Scotch Oats. I'll have to go to Whole Foods for that. So, I can choose to be lower on the food chain in terms of my eating even if it's chips and hot dogs.
I get home and unpack my 6 bags of groceries and realize I have no bananas to go with my Cheerios. I think it's because the organic bananas were not available and I made a conscious choice to not buy conventional. Oh well, Whole Foods will have organic bananas. Time to refresh the Blackberry Sage tea and wash the bowls and silverware. To quote Christopher Robin, "Tut tut. It looks like rain."

Deb