Waiting..

I wrote this blog while sitting in the doctor's office. My mother had to go to the foot doctor yesterday and I took a pad and pen with me since I knew I'd have idle time.  I had never been to this doctor's office before and while we were sitting there waiting for her name to be called I was admiring a wall waterfall thing that has a shiny back drop (possibly a mirror), and water streaming straight down like a waterfall that recycles itself as it is a continuous wall of water coming down. It was really tall, I'd say 8 feet or so and was mesmerizing at least to me.  I commented to my mom how neat it was!  She told me that thing was not good for old people. I look at her puzzled and asked why.  She said because it gives her the urge to go!  That was too funny for me to leave out of this blog.  LOL!   I guess it did sound like a running faucet (and a pretty loud one at that since it was pretty large and there was no other noise like doctor's office music to drown it out).

I saw a lot of people with walkers there at the foot doctor (I guess I should call it a podiatrist but I like foot doctor so that everyone knows easily what kind of doctor I'm talking about). I don't know if there is some foot ailment connection and walkers...other than rolling your foot over with one. :)  I couldn't see why there would be but there were at least 4 people including my mom using walkers.  My mom uses one to keep her steady and help her with a brittle back. Anyway enough about that. I of course was trying not to touch anything in the office and especially not touch my face (to avoid flu germs, not that it was that kind of doctor's office, but you can never be to safe).

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Have had a few mornings where I could hear the birds chirping...ah...a harbinger of Spring!  I am looking forward to it.  I'm hoping some of the plants that I just left out on the balcony survive. One we had covered with a black trash bag when it was going to be below freezing, but that one looks the worst of all of them. Hubby told me that he just took that trash bag off today (well yesterday 'cause that is when I was writing this) and he knows why it looks worse than the others - no sunlight!  DUH! 

We'll see if it comes back. Right now all the leaves are dark and drooped out.  That plant was so healthy that I already had to split some of it into two more planters. And before late fall could have split those even more!  One cactus is still alive; the others got some white (fungus?) disease on them so they won't be coming back to life I don't think. I'll give them a little while to see if they show any signs of life as it gets a little warmer.

Well off to start my work day.

Church?

Sometimes I feel guilty because I don't go to church. I was brought up thinking that one must go to church every Sunday or just about every Sunday if they wanted to go heaven.  And every Sunday I went dutifully (not that my mom gave me a choice). I sang in the choir and went to Sunday school and even attended fellowship at night. Most of it was fun but some Sundays I would have rather slept in. When I got to college I found out many people don't go to church.  I went sometimes but often did not. And God didn't strike me dead. :)

I don't happen to believe that it is on the checklist at the pearly gates that one has to have gone to church in order to go to Heaven any more. I am not denying I am a christian and I do pray daily. I consider myself a spiritual person not so much a Presbyterian.  I know that God is there watching over me all the time, giving me only what I can handle in life...but I just do not see the need to go to church.  Frankly the only reason I would go to church is to get some friends.  Working at home is very isolating and for the most part I am okay with it, but I cannot honestly say I have any good friends locally.  Sad but true.

I do attend church in a sense though. I love watching Joel Osteen on Sunday mornings.  I am watching him right now.  What sets him apart from other preachers or ministers in my opinion is that when I've listened to his program for those 30 minutes, I come away feeling like I've just heard a powerful motivation speech, not a sermon full of quotes from the bible that are hard to compare to the modern world.  He gets in the bible quotes but does such a great job giving current day examples or stories to get his point across.  And the best part to me?  HUMOR!  He is funny!  Who doesn't like to hear someone who is not only motivational but makes you laugh at the same time?!  That is a true master of a speaker to me.

And the things he says stick with me longer than any sermon I would hear at a church. In fact I remember so many sermons that I did not truly listen to.  I wouldn't be able to tell you what the sermon was about as my mind would wander.

Well another 30 minutes of inspiration is over.  Off to get my shower.
 

Can't complain...

Well it is cloud, dreary and a chilly 55 degrees outside but I guess I can't complain after hearing the deep freeze so many have been experienced up north. :)  But when we have a teaser like the other day when it got up to 80 degrees and sunny, 55 feels down right COLD!

Had a nice visit with my youngest last weekend. It is so nice having her here so I don't have to wonder or worry about her for a few days anyway.  I don't worry all the time but with her being away and the oldest being way back east, it is hard not to worry on occasion.  Every time I hear about snow back east I am praying that my oldest takes her time driving and the same for everyone around her.

I am happy to report that the thick paperback book I was reading is finally finished.  The end didn't really say what happened to some of the characters though and I was disappointed I read so many pages only to have to come up with my own 'make believe' ending...so that there was that happily ever after that I always like stories to end with.

We had a hard rain a few weeks ago and I noticed a small black spot on the ceiling in the garage.  It is mold and not that big of a circle (only about 3-4 inches) but it is a concern and likely a screw on our metal roof not tight enough (that would be the easiest fix). Hub says he thinks he can find the spot on the roof and seal it somehow although he hasn't done anything about it yet. Luckily have not had any more rain since then so far and the spot looks the same. (Once the roof problem is fixed will look at removal/kills? for the moldy spot).

But that got me thinking. We had roof problems the spring after we moved here as we saw lines of moisture on Stac's bedroom ceiling. We had a roofing company that deals with metal roofs come out and they informed us that much of the metal roof was nailed down not screwed down as it should be. Yes, we did have a property inspection but that was not mentioned on there and we were just stupid east coast folks who knew nothing about metal roofs anyway!  I just liked it because it was different and something I never saw back east.

 So to the tune of over $2000 we had them out to fix the area that was leaking as well as screw down the entire roof either with new screws or with screws that replaced nails from before. Anyway although it was expensive, I thought it was worth it.  We really had no problems since then until now (and we'll be here 8 yrs come August). But now with this other problem, and the fact that our roof is rusty in spots, I think instead of the goal for a new bathroom this year, the focus will be on more practical things like a new roof and we also need a hot water heater.  The heater is not shot but if it is the original one it is going on 31 years (like the roof and the bathroom) and I don't want to keep taking chances it won't break, especially since it is on the 2nd floor.  

So now the goal is to save who knows how much, $10K or more?...for a new metal roof. Hot water heater will come first and my plan is by next month to get that done. 'Tankless' is way more expensive than the old large cylinder tanks so we'll stick with that (the same kind we have). Hopefully the water will heat up faster with a new one though because it takes a while for the water to heat up for showers and I hate wasting water.

Well off to take my walk, after I put a heavy coat on. :)

Friday, friday....so glad its Friday!

Not only is it Friday and the whole weekend is ahead of me, I have Monday off too so that is great and my youngest is coming for the weekend tomorrow so that just tops it off!

It has been a long week or at least it seems that way. 

Last night hub and I were watching TV in the living room. I was finishing up a snack and it was a little after 7:00pm.  Then the electricity went out! The TV out, lights out pitch black.  Luckily I wasn't still in the office working! The thing is, it wasn't stormy out, wasn't windy...nothing!  Still don't know what happened.  It was out for over an hour.

I decided to read by a small light we had or at least I tried to read.  Hub said it was fine to read as I started a book back in November and I'm still not done it.  He was bored though so he kept talking to the dogs, singing, etc., so I could not read very well.  I need it quiet, maybe other people don't but anyway, I got through a bit more of it until the lights came back on.

I have around 60 pages until I'm done. It is 565 pages...so just a few more power outages and I'll have done! :-)

































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Snow?

Hubby woke up from a little nap the other evening and thought he saw snow!

 Okay so it wasn't exactly snow, but it was white all over the living room rug!  Hmm...who was having fun pulling stuffing from that toy?....

                         Was it you?..... Who me?...Your adorable princess new fur kid on the block?

 Was it you?.....Who me?...I'm your shadow mom...you know I was out in the office with you...wasn't I?

Was it you?..Who me?....How could you accuse this adorable little thing of doing anything like that?

I guess we'll just never know!

Can't stay on here long, have to start work soon, but I wanted to also share a poem. My mom's 86th birthday was yesterday and I wrote a little poem for her that I thought wasn't half bad.  :)

To my mother: A Birthday Poem

For the mom who has always been there for me

Who has given her love unconditionally

Who has kissed me skinned knees

...raised four kids with ease

I give thanks up above

and birthday wishes with love

Sincerely from kid number three

I did it!

Well, made it through the first week of January!  Its all downhill from here right?  :-)
Actually the week that started today will be the first full work week of January but I'll be that much more used to writing 2013 by the end of this week. Actually, I'm proud of myself that I haven't screwed up any checks...yet.

My youngest was back in PA visiting my oldest and their dad and some friends of hers. She was accompanied by her boyfriend whom I am glad went with her.  Even though she is not a 'minor' I still don't like the thought of her, well actually either of my girls flying by themselves.  She is back at college now and so I feel good knowing she is safely back. 

Seeing pictures of her and my youngest in different places, made me wish I was back there with them.  It just is so rare to ever see both girls at the same time.  Last time was in May when my oldest visited with her boyfriend, who actually now as of New Year's Day is her fiance'.  She looks very, very happy for the first time in her life and I hope that she has many years of happiness with him.

Today it actually was sunny and got up to the upper 50's so I walked the dogs for the first time since before Christmas. They all enjoyed it very much, especially my nut case Molly who really should be walked twice a day, she is that energetic.  I cut the walk with Merlin a little shorter than normal as I already did my exercise this morning as I do every Sunday, and not being used to walking quite that much, I was getting tired of walking by the time I got to him. But he at least got a decent walk in.

I just saw on the TV line up tonight that a new episode of Once Upon a Time and Revenge are on.  I'm glad for that!  I hate that during the 3 weeks of holiday time they only have re-runs or other things on.  It may not be any big deal to many, but it is really the main source of entertainment that I enjoy.  Luckily we have plenty of movies too, so we did watch a few of them. 

I can start to see, ever so slightly that it is staying light a little longer in the evening.  Yes!  The promise of longer days and warmer weather to come!

Dreary and Cold

I know I shouldn't complain about the winter. After all, living in central Texas it really doesn't get that cold for that long. But when it is happening it seems like a long time. For the last week and a half it has been either cloudy or cloudy with drizzle or rain and this morning sleet in some nearby areas.  The highs have been in the 40s or low 50s and again while it seems like I shouldn't complain, I am spoiled!

I would have to say most days here are sunny, even cloudless days and even in the wintertime the temperatures generally at least the low 60's.  We have the heat on 24/7 and my skin is itching it is getting so dry.  After I moisturize my face in the morning and come into the office to work, I can almost feel the heater zapping any moisture out of my face!  I'm getting dry patches on my back too...those itchy spots that are hard to reach. 

I am also determined to stay on course with my exercise routine. Although I've been doing my exercising as always 3 days/wk, I had added in taking a mile and a half walk every other day I don't 'exercise'.  That was until about 2 weeks ago when all this started.  Sure makes it harder to get motivated to get out there!  I did walk on Wednesday with hubby, who is trying to lose weight and is taking 3 walks a day.  It was very cold though and my cheeks took a while to thaw out!  Today is walk day again and it may be 39 degrees out and drizzly/cloudy when it is time to walk. 

I know I  don't have it so bad though. Got an email from my brother from NY the other day and it took him 5 hours to get home from work in the ice/snow!  I don't miss those times at all!

So, I will get through this.  All I need to do is think about my brother or my life back east when we had lots of snow and ice to shovel and drive through and many nights well below freezing.  Then by remembering, I can smile and know that it won't be long until I get my warm Texas days again!