My World and Welcome To It

I like to be alone a lot more than most people. I also like to socialize (not nearly as much as most people). I am quite content to be by myself. As the year ends and I am gathering all my thoughts and memories I contemplate how to spend the last hours.

I had planned to do nothing. If family stops in, I'll entertain and fix food, but if they don't I am just as content.

I've had two invitations for New Year's eve and I am not sure of what to do. I don't want to drive after dark anymore. For one, the deer incident still has me spooked and for two, my night vision ain't what it used to be.

I don't worry about drinking, because I don't have that insane need or desire to do THAT anymore. Will I regret not going anywhere come January? Will I just kick myself and say "Would it have hurt to go out and visit with friends and family just one more night?"

Aw, heck. I don't know. The one invite is to the friend's house from the photo above. I've not seen her in about four to six months. She is almost an invalid. She will have about five people with her so she won't be lonely.

I don't want to leave my dogs for that many hours. I also don't want to drive home after midnight and place myself on the highway wondering if a) the weather will be bad or b) are any of the other drivers drunk? That does not make for an enjoyable 60 mile drive home.

Can I go earlier in the evening and leave earlier? I suppose so. I'd have to miss the other friends and family that are coming later and the games that they have lined up. I love to play games.

It is kind of a melancholy holiday anyway. I just received word from sister 1944 that sister 1949 is having serious problems with her children. Not health issues. Behavior issues. They are 30 and 25 years old. There is always some kind of fly in the ointment.

I think I'll go and visit my friend during the daylight on New Years eve. We'll see if I can get away before I have to drive too late in the evening. That way I can visit, but also I can make sure that I have taken measures to be safe, also.

The other issue is, if I visit with my friend, I'll have to visit with some family, too. They are only five miles from her house. If they hear I was there and did not stop in, well, that would just be rude! Can I do it? Can I visit two (maybe 3) households that day?

I certainly don't mean to sound like an ingrate, either. Like "Oh, my! The poor dear! She has invitations but does not know which one to pick! How sad! Poor girl!" No, I don't mean to sound like that at all. I break down and choose visit with family/friends 90% of the time. I just have to realize that I don't need to do it all anymore. I can stay home once in a while and relax and take care of myself and my household. Sigh.

There, I've said it. I don't have to feel guilty about not going, right? Right! But then, it wouldn't hurt to go for a couple of hours....

I need to look back at their pictures of when they were wee little babies. This way I don't feel the inclination to strangle them when I find yet one more thing chewed up. How do they get to this stuff? While I am out with the boxer I try peering through the dining room window so I can observe them, but they didn't do anything when I did that. Sigh.

I called my eye doctor's office about my dogs chewing my glasses. After a couple of banters back and forth the receptionist said "Oh, you only need temple covers, come on in any time." I did. They covered the ends, tightened the frames, cleaned the lens(es) and I am back in business. Like having new glasses. For 2 dollars! 2 dollars! I didn't know anything (involving a doctor's office) could cost 2 dollars.

Now, I am off to make more cranberry-nut bread, a couple batches of cookies and wrap, wrap, wrap.

Oh, and for Christmas I wish all of you a family (or close friend) who is a techno-geek. I cannot describe how much I am learning from my nephew. When we go shopping (Lowe's, Staples, etc...) he explains so much to me. He told me all about how light fixtures work (picking up a new electrical cable because the dogs chewed mine), he explained all the possible flooring I could choose from (carpet in living room is ruined and must be pulled up), and he knows all about cameras (what CMOS and CCD) are, and he showed me how he can download entire movies in less than 10 minutes. He downloaded "Four Christmases" and a bootleg copy of "Old Dogs". He deleted them, we didn't watch them. He was just showing me how he could do it using something I had not heard of (NZB). It isn't free. He downloads TV shows that he cannot watch here in the USA. All British broadcasts. He is a big fan of British TV. Sigh. Amazing.

Anyway. I am putting on the brakes today. Well, I am going to try. I was so sick of looking at, researching, talking about, hearing about, and plain old thinking about cars last night that I wanted to scream. In fact, I think I did.

Today I plan on getting Christmas decorations out. Dogs be damned! If they chew them up at least they are leaving my lamps alone. I won't get out any sentimental decorations. It will be all the store bought stuff and either it will be very old or very tacky, so I won't care what they do with it. Well, maybe.

If you are a serious pet lover, don't continue to read this.

If, by chance any of my decorations happens to strangle, poison or just makes any of my dogs ill - that will just make my day.

Kidding! I am kidding! Really. I don't want to clean up vomit or any other mess that might come out the other end.

Hitting the deer did not cause the hood to flip up. I was able to see to drive the car off the road. When I went back on Friday to take pics, the garage had set the hood up with it's holder. I didn't bother to drop it back down to get a different angle of the picture. I should have.

Anyway, after the initial stages of "I'm lucky, it could have been much worse" and blah, blah, blah....I am at the angry to depressed stage. I can't recall who (I know it wasn't family because they know how much I loved this car) said to me "Hey! You get to shop for another car!" Like that's a GOOD thing?

Me? Who hates shopping and dealing with car salesmen? No, I think not. I like to shop for a car on MY terms not to be determined by a scared, helpless buck running from a shotgun.

Insurance is covering a rental. The field adjuster called and said this is how it happens. He will look at the car on Tuesday afternoon. Do the paperwork and on Wednesday claim it totalled (everyone says because of the deployment of the air bags) and I will have 3 business days left with the rental car. So - start shopping! Go, go, go!



Hello-o-o-o! It's the very beginning to the middle of the holiday season. No, I didn't have anything else to do.... not at all!

The good thing is there are plenty of great opportunities out there in the car shopping world. The bad news, I am unprepared financially to take advantage of those great deals! Everyone says "They have 0% financing right now! What a deal! Get a brand new car!" Gosh, gee! My head spins. Wow! I'll just go and do that! Then it hits me! Oh, yeah! To get that financing you must have about $3500 down! Should I buy those lottery tickets, now?


Yeah. So a new car would really put a strain on the budget right now. I am so angry. That civic would have easily lasted another 2 years, possibly 4. Possibly more. I made sure I followed the maintenance - and at the Honda dealership.


My head hurts with idea of having to make this decision so quickly. I don't make decisions quickly. I usually research for a long time and then get fed up with myself for dragging my feet , so I just run out and purchase the darn thing. I've already been looking on-line and I am getting very, very depressed. Sigh.

Sometimes it just does not come easy.

This was the closest I could get to what I saw yesterday evening. Framed in my windshield. Yes, folks. It's the end of an era. And in case you were ever wondering, (rein) deer DO fly. The end of an era for my little green civic. I have had that car for 13 years (14 next month). I was the only owner. Now it sits in some junk yard waiting for me.

I'll go to take pictures and to get the very last remnants out of the glove compartment. The tow truck driver said that it will be considered totalled because both airbags deployed and they are very expensive to replace. Sigh. That and the front end is smashed in and the windshield is all cracked up.

Me? Not even whiplash. Not yet. It has only been 14 hours. My forearm hurts (but personally I think that is from carrying gifts/packages through the mall).


Now, for the fabulous conundrum that had me going. Just what is in an airbag anyway? Here I was driving under the speed limit for the posted 65 mph. I was travelling at about 60 miles an hour because I had plenty of time, I was listening to a radio station that played oldies and was feeling very good. I had shopped a little and was on my way to meet a sister (1944) in a town about 60 miles form home for a digital scrap booking class.

Minding my own business, it was about 5:15, 5:20 in the late afternoon. No cars were around me because I was puttering along. They had all passed me. It was a 4-lane highway. I can't recall exactly what song was playing but the incident was almost a festive scene. Within that split second I saw a flash of white (air bags deploying), a bunch of snow (dust from the bags) and a flying (rein) deer. Framed perfectly in my windshield in the exact pose shown above. His rack was not as big as that. It was 8 points. Well, he looked as if he was flying.

My first thoughts? Well, I know I said "OH!" because of the thump and the jolt. But, as soon as I saw the deer my mind went "DEER!" and I came to realize rather quickly that I had an accident. I rummaged my right hand quickly under the drivers side airbag (which was quickly deflating) and pushed my flashers (four-way) button. I did not swerve the car into the other lane since I hit the deer head on. I thought the deer had continued on because he looked fine to me (from my windshield point of view). I quickly steered the car to the side of the road.

Once I got the car off the highway my first thought and action was to get out of the car. I knew that I was on a fast moving highway, so I couldn't just open the door and get out. I wanted out of that car because of the smoke. My God, the smoke! Well, I thought it was smoke. It smelled and looked like smoke and it was certainly choking me. Air, air! I need air! I furiously rolled down my drivers side window. I tried again to roll it down when I realized it WAS down all the way and I still could not breath. All I could think of was I gotta get out of here. I can't stand this smell!

An interesting read on airbags can be found here. Since my car was produced in 1996 it is quite possible that the contents in my airbag were more toxic than the newer models have. This article also explained the burning smell I kept smelling. I thought the car was on fire. There were not any cars coming so I exited. I grabbed my purse and cell phone and got out of there.

I stood behind the car against the guard rail to gather myself. I looked for the deer. There he was (just barely off the road) in the grass between the two sets of lanes and he was indeed dead. Aw, nuts. I had no idea who to call. I remember reading that you are supposed to call the state highway patrol. I had no idea what their number was. Who could I call to look the number up for me. (I found out later that yes, I could have called 9-1-1), I just didn't feel that it qualified as an emergency.

I had another sister (1954) that lived relatively close and I called her. It did not help any that this was the exact day that my Mom died from a car accident 9 years ago and she was the one driving at the time. The actual car accident happened on the 2nd of December, but my Mom died on the 3rd. My sister (1954) said that of course she would call the patrolman and she could be there in 30 minutes. It was while talking to her that I thought I should go and look at the damage to my car.

I walked in front of the car (making sure to stay out of the highway as there were many cars and semi trucks zooming by). The entire front end is smashed in. Some thing fell underneath the hood while I was up there and I quickly retreated to the back of the car (I was still thinking fire).

I attempted to reach my other sister (1944) (the one I was meeting for the class) but got no answer. My sister (1954) called me back to say that the patrolman was on his way and so was she. I saw him coming down the hill about 1/2 mile away. He pulled somebody over. Excuse me! I'm waiting here! It was well over 30 minutes before he got around to me. He wanted me to pull the car off of the road more but it wouldn't start and the gear shift would not budge no matter what I did. I was no longer worried about a fire.

It got dark very quickly. My sister (1954) showed up. She was crying because almost anything reminds her of that horrible accident in 2000. I was in the patrolman's car. We did the paperwork thing, the license, the insurance, the report - blah, blah, blah. Sister 1954 got all the stuff out of my car and into hers.

The deer retriever came, the tow truck came. It all took more than an hour. Sister 1954 drove me to the library where the class was. I had reached sister 1944 on the phone to tell her why I wasn't in class. I chatted with her and told her to be careful driving back. Sister 1954 was going to let me use her car. That is what I am driving now.

We stopped to get my favorite pizza. I had sisters and brothers calling me all along (and my daughter). This is exactly (well, almost exactly) what my daughter said when I told her. I said "I totalled my car. I hit a deer." She said "Do you know that Slade won't poop when there are a bunch of deer standing around?" No, of course that is not what she said first. But, that is what I remember. She actually said "No way!" and "Did you get a busted nose from the airbag?" Because I told her that is what happens when the airbag deploys. Well, that is what happened to somebody I knew.

Well, this post is getting entirely too long and I have to call my insurance company now. I'll post pictures of the car once I get some.

Well, we are at the end of November. Weather-wise we were quite spoiled. That sentence almost sounds like the beginning of a tongue-twister. I think the cold weather is coming.

I found out that the debit to my checking account was legitimate and was mine. My daughter had purchased a gift at a kiosk in the middle of our mall. Strange that it would show up on my online banking with the description of a mall in Moline IL. Kind of threw me off and since I didn't recall buying it, I was a bit alarmed. I found the receipt and all is well. Whew.

My Thanksgiving was busy and happy. Lots of people to see, lots of hugs and too much food. I was not caught with the "I am so tired" after effect of the day and was able to help clean up and play games with the younger set. On Friday I fixed my feast for my crew. Nothing huge, but quite adequate. My nephew fixed my back door latch. The dogs' leash had caught it one day and with that boxer on the other end, I can't tell you the amount of force that snapped that latch and broke it. He is one strong canine.

Even I am up and about too early for the dogs. They looked at me with one eye opened and promptly went back to sleep. I got up an hour ago. I will be leashing them all and taking them out (one at a time). If I take them out together they distract each other and do not do their business. Except for Sable. I can take her out with or without any of them. The boxer goes last because I have to walk him. And walk him. And walk him. If he is really hungry, he goes quickly and pulls me back to the house.



Just thinking about this make my chest tighten up.

I think I'll go walk the dog and get some cold, brisk air on my face.

Ciao.

Black Friday. There are reasons I don't go out shopping on Black Friday. First and foremost I despise shopping. Most of the time. The reasons are:

Limited money (some years I have more than others, but certainly not THIS year)

Tired feet, aching back

The smells of perfumes and sprays give me a headache

The noise of stores and shoppers gives me a headache

The lights give me a headache

I am very picky and can rarely find anything I want

I hate stores that block merchandise with boxes of stock to be put on the shelves or those little cardboard setups - I've been known to knock over these displays to get to the item on the shelf

On a similar note I hate stores with tiny little walk-ways between clothes racks and my purse drags half the clothes along with me, thus pulling me down slower and slower until I have to come to a complete stop and rip my purse from the clinging sleeves

I hate it when shoppers do not put the merchandise back on the same rack so that the size or color I want is over in the pajamas or bras where it has no business being

I hate it how they have ten of every item in every size but MINE!

I hate it when a grocery store advertises an item on sale and when I get there the space for that item is completely empty - or they place the item on an end cap instead of it's usual place where I am certain to miss it

Notice that I did not put parking in the list. I really don't mind walking to and from my car. It is refreshing if it is cool outside because I get really hot in stores. I DO despise those idiotic people who park in the handicap spaces and are NOT handicapped. I know the handicap is not always apparent, but there are the few that do abuse this parking space and I always wish that they have to work 30 days with handicapped people to see how hard it really is to get around.

Alas, we have no snow yet here in eastern Ohio. Not any that I have seen, anyway. Maybe this week-end I'll see a few flakes. Not that I am courting snow. Oh, no. I don't want to start the shovelling, yet. Not me.

It is this time of the morning that I am most relaxed. The dogs were all taken outside about an hour ago. They have eaten and are all sleeping peacefully. The cats have been fed and have retreated to their respective corners. The coffee is made and I am reading e-mails and blogs. I don't have to go to work. I have until ten or so before I need to really do anything.

My daughter starts a new job. It isn't really her first. She had a quick stint as a telemarketer when she was 15. Say what you will about the pain of enduring that ordeal, but she learned a lot at that job. She knows more about credit cards than I do. Well, almost. Anyway, she has been picked to work at a very popular nation-wide (perhaps world-wide) toy store. You know the one I am speaking of.

My greatest concern about this is the distance she needs to travel to get to work. I'll just have to grit my teeth and bear it. She needs a job. And, even if it is only seasonal, she needs the experience of having a job to get another one. Well, she is excited to say the least.

This will put a damper on the help with taking the dogs out, but I will manage.

My plate will be full over the next few days, so I want to wish you and yours a happy, healthy and fun-filled Thanksgiving. Some of you are sick and out right now, and I hope that you are soon out of the hospital and home in time for the Christmas and New Year.

May each and every one of you have laughter this week-end (in abundance), food (in moderation) and peace (in your hearts).

On Saturday I met family and we toured the beautifully decorated trees at Warther's museum. A couple of the family had not been before and they were just as entranced by his carvings and work as they were by the trees. The trees did not disappoint.

I fell in love with a beautifully lit blue one. Head to toe in blue lights, tinsel, garland and balls. It had not been sold yet. $750. Sorry. My budget doesn't even come close to allowing such a luxury and besides, can you imagine what my pets would do to such a beautifully decorated tree? Oh, the horror!

We all went out to eat at Texas Road House and again were not disappointed. Then we did a little shopping at the nearby mall. My heel spur is really acting up. I am getting shooting pains down into the inside of the heel. Not the middle. More toward the inside of the heel.

I took it easy on Sunday. Even though it was rather nice outside and I could have cleaned out the garage or patio, I stayed inside. My daughter's boyfriend is still mowing my grass for me and he did that yesterday. I got to clean the bathroom drain out. Lovely. Little Chong was very curious as to what I was doing. He was the only one. He kept coming into the bathroom and there I was sitting on the floor and working under the sink. It was as if he was asking me "Did you fall down? Do you need help?" It was comical. Until I realized that my wooden spoon was missing. I use the spoon's handle wrapped in paper towels to clean the drain out. Yep. He stole it and it was chewed up beyond rescue. Cheech threw up later and I finally got all the wooden splinter pieces picked up off the living room carpet. Thieving little devils, they are!

My friend returned yesterday and re-did the fan/light and all works well now. Too well in fact. I am freezing because I love running the fan. I need to flip the switch so it spins the other way and sends heat down. No, not yet. The lights are a lot brighter than my chandelier ones and now I can see how dirty my keyboard is. Yeecchh!

I was futzing around yesterday after my friend left and not feeling much like doing anything when my sister called. (The sister whose kitchen clock I clocknapped.) I had also taken some colorful glass ornaments out of her utility room window but I didn't think she would notice that.

Of course she had NOT read her e-mail to get the ransom message. As it turns out she jumped her son for knocking the glass things off into the recycle bin and they must have been thrown out and she didn't miss her clock at all! She was laughing but mad because now she had to apologize to her son for losing her glass things. Whoops!

Anyway, she wanted company going to a bag and bead show. I said "Sure". I was wasting my day away. I went. She bought a ring and I bought a handbag. I've been looking for a new one. Mine has been broken for about 2 months and I just could not find one I liked in the stores. It is a 'coach" knock-off. I didn't even know what a 'coach' was until last evening. Big deal. I like the purse, I buy it. I'm not one to care about who makes it. Never was. Never will be.

I also want to comment on a couple of movies I watched over the past week or so. One was 'The Spitfire Grill'. It was okay. I would have written it differently. Imagine my surprise when I looked it up online to find out that the musical is written the way I would have. It it more realistic and makes more sense, except for who wins the essay contest. That would certainly not be legal.

Another movie the kids ordered on Pay-per-view. "The Ugly Truth". Kind of raunchy like most movies nowadays. I guess that is what the kids laugh at. Yikes.

"The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" was okay. After reading up on it, I expected to see (and hear) more from this real life gang leader that the director had to have in the movie. Even though he had no acting experience. I'm not exactly certain which character he was but you didn't hear much from them. Victor is his real name.

Not sure if I have watched any others that I did not mention. I've been really out walking dogs and enjoying this unusually warm weather we are having here in eastern Ohio. No complaints at all except I am afraid that we are going to wake up one morning and it is going to be bitter cold and there was not time to ease into winter. It will just come up and smack us in the face like a 2 by 4. Ouch.

This morning one sister and I had a training session on how to re-hydrate and conserve old paper documentation. The society we joined has started the difficult task of preserving county documents from the 1800's to 1917. Interesting stuff.

She and I travel over an hour to get to the county where we grew up. On the way back she and I both had to use the bathroom. We have another sister who lives about half way. She was working and her family was not home when we stopped to use her facilities. Being the rascals that we are (or being the rascal that I am) I stole her kitchen clock right off her wall.

When I got home I took a picture of it (said I had broken it's leg to show I was serious) - it isn't really broken. I then e-mailed it to her and demanded a million dollars to be sent to me by Black Friday.

Of course I will return it when I see her on Thanksgiving, but that is 12 days without her kitchen clock. Do you think she will be angry with me? LOL!

Wow. November already. I voted on Tuesday for what my vote was worth. I lost most of what I voted for. Ah, well. I don't like gambling. I don't care if I ever go into a casino, but a lot of family likes it. I voted no mostly so they won't lose their shirts.

My sister (in prison) is in limbo. Waiting for the VA to decide if they are going to pay for any rehabilitation for her or not. The problem is she lost all her college class time she was taking in the reformatory. I don't think she will be able to continue that if the VA sends her to Chillicothe. Whatever. One of her "boyfriends" started this, he will have to finish it.

The pups are chewing up everything. Cha - Ching! Even medication. Fortunately, no bad results. They are starting to get into things they have never touched before. We have to really start to think before we leave the house. I am going to go through tomorrow and do some puppy-proofing.

I worked on a friend's Internet connection today. She wanted to install my ceiling fan for me. She got far enough to take the light down and had to stop. She needed to ask somebody for some advice. Sigh. I told her this was not as easy as 1-2-3 like hers was. But, she insisted that she could do it easily. Okay.

I am meeting sisters tonight for dinner. I hope I have enough stuff up and out of the way so the pups won't get into things. They are getting under and around things and dragging cords out. Two fans bit the dust. My nephew is re-cording one fan and my friend (ceiling fan) took the other and said she can fix that one with electrical tape. Well, I just hate to tell them it will only be a matter of time before the pups chew through any new or fixed cord they put on the fans.