OK, I really did intend to post before now, but I have been sick. Oh, not just your ordinary cold or flu. Noooo, I had to come down with walking pneumonia. It came on suddenly as I was shopping in Dominick's on a beautiful Sunday morning, November 8. I went from planning to do a little cleaning, but mostly chill out and try to clean during the week (always my plan, but somehow it seems to end up that I do it all on the weekends). I was standing next to a man who reeked of cigarette smoke. OK, my sinuses. Then driving home with car windows open and pollen blowing all around making my sinus attack worse (oh, I forgot to mention that I had not taken my medicines for two days). By Sunday night I knew it wasn't going away anytime soon. Monday morning I call in (or rather croak in) to work. I hope that my director either got the message or would just figure that when I did not show up, it was me on the phone. I am sure she could not understand the full message. Tuesday was just as bad, but I decided to take my temperature, 100.9. That of course always makes you feel worse. Wednesday was the call to the doctor. I go in expecting to be told that I have bronchitis (which I have had before), but instead get the good old pneumonia diagnosis. I was home all that week, went to work on Tuesday and Wednesday for a half a day, took off Thursday, and went back to work on Friday.
Friday was more fun. As I was driving to work my car suddenly had no pick-up. I was doing 30 in a 35 mile hour zone and losing ground fast. I wasn't too far from my regular gas station which some friends work at, so I tried to get into the right hand lane, but realized that I was going to stall sitting in the middle of both lanes. I did manage to get into the median of the solid yellow lines. Called AAA and waited for 45 minutes for them. In the meantime, I am still trying to cough up another lung (I had already coughed up the right and left last week). The only good thing was that some dick head in a van drove right up behind me trying to get ahead of the rest of the traffic. He had to sit behind me while the cars that were behind him went right passed. He missed the green light, too. At least that brightened my day. OK, it is bad to be happy about someone else's misery, but it entertained me for a couple of minutes. This time I did not burn a wire in my car or anything minor, my motor needed to be replaced. I now have a "new" used motor in my car. No money, but a "new" motor. Merry Christmas, car!
This brings us up to Thanksgiving. Up until 10:30 that morning, I thought I would be spending it home alone. My cousin called to let me know she has had the wrong phone number for me for years. She asked if I was coming. Of course, I never heard about it even though my brother knew for a few weeks, but couldn't be bothered to let me know. Anyway, I did have some place to go for Thanksgiving.
Every family party ends up with a game of Left, Right, Center. This is a dice game in which you have three dollar bills in front of you (you can play with more money or less, but the less you play with, the less you win). You roll three dice at the beginning and if you have a dot on each of the dice you get to keep you $3. If you roll a L or R you pass a dollar to the person to either the right or left of you. A C, the dollar goes into the pot (the center of the table). You can roll all dots, L, R, or C, or a combination. The person with the last dollar rolls the dice and if they roll a dot, they get the money in the pot. If they roll a C, the game starts over with the pot growing until someone wins. I have never won.
I then had a new experience of playing WII. I know everyone in the world has now played at least one game on WII, but not me. I usually do not do good with any of these games. On PlayStation, I always managed to run my car into the wall or caused the skateboarding guy, Tony, to have permanent brain damage. I have tried to avoid these games since then. It was decided after the guys played golf, that the women would play bowling. I enjoy bowling even though my average would be between 60 and 70. I ended up coming in second. I don't remember my exact score, but I know it was over 120. I think I like this WII bowling.
Today is back to reality. I really need to clean this house and my brother told me that he would come over and put the storm window in the front door. I don't think either is going to be done since it is after 3:00 PM. That is what I want for Christmas, the storm window in the front door, my dishwasher set up, and an asparagus cooker (my cousin has one and it is really easy to use).
That is about it for now. If you do not hear from me again, it means that I never got the storm window and I froze to death.
Oh, Lisa asked me about the cemeteries that I had been visiting. My mother and her family are at Queen of Heaven and my father's family is at Mount Carmel. They are across the street from each other which makes it very convenient.
Friday, November 27, 2009
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Update?
OK, I have not been here for a long time. My original computer is still being worked on. It seems it needs more memory. I don't know how long it takes to find memory for a computer, but from June to now seems to long. I will have to send an e-mail tomorrow to see what the problem is. In the meantime, I will have to continue to plug away on this laptop that drives me crazy. I miss my number key pad and the fact that when I roll over something it doesn't automatically pop up or the page disappear.
Anyway, there have been some changes since my last post. Back then I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. For years I have been taking care of someone. It started with my nephews. When my brother joined the fire department and my sister-in-law worked on Saturday, I took care of the boys. Even when my brother didn't work, I was at a game or doing something with them. Then in September, 2006, my mother collapsed in the bathroom. I took care of her until her death March 1, 2009. When she died my older nephew was 19 and driving (he was even driving me places) and the younger one was a sophomore in high school, hardly wanting to hang with his Aunt Mary!
People kept making suggestions that I thought about, but then just let them slide. Well, I finally decided to join my neighbor and a fellow co-worker in a weight loss club. I mainly did that because they went out to dinner afterwards. It is something to do. Since joining, I am 1 1/2 lbs up. It really doesn't seem to be working, but I am enjoying my dinners out once a week!
The other thing I have been doing for the past four months is going to the cemetery to see my mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, and aunt. It was funny, a short while before my mother died, she said that I should go out there since I had not been for years. Little did I know that I would be going to see her. I don't go every week, but lately I have been out there more than usual. A couple of weeks ago, my aunt came in because her brother, my uncle, was going to have surgery. I asked her if she wanted to go out since the cemetery is close to the hospital. She was agreeable, so off we went. At that time, I had not been able to find my uncle (her other brother) and aunt. Since it was cold and raining we decided just to visit the ones we knew we could find. She asked me if I brought flowers out, so of course, I felt bad, because I didn't do that. Last weekend I thought it would be the last good weekend weather wise, so out I went to buy flowers and I even stopped and ordered the date of death to be put on the tombstone. I put the flowers on my mother and father's graves. I took two out and put one on my grandparents grave. I then took up the search for my uncle and aunt again. I had asked at the office and they sent me in the opposite direction. Then I was told they are buried near my grandparents under a tree branch. Well, I finally did find them. The tree is now cut down and they are near a stump. I find everyone by counting the rows from my parent's grave. It is a lot easier and I don't have to worry about trees being cut down.
This Sunday in the Catholic religion is All Souls Day. We celebrate that life of all the people who have died. The cemetery had an open house. The first time I ever heard of this. It was funny seeing the signs inviting people to come. Who exactly was the host? The dead? It got creepier the more I thought about it. I did go and found that the flowers are still on all the graves. My parent's have a standing stone, but my grandparents and uncle and aunt have flat stones, but they hadn't blown away or been stepped on. I was able to talk to this man who told me were my father's side of the family were buried. They are in the cemetery across the street, so the next time I will be able to visit them. There was also a short prayer service that started at 1:00 PM. It lasted only 20 minutes, but people were coming in just as they were rapping up and there was no second show. I really don't know if they found out about it at the last minute or if they just thought that everyone was going to wait for them. Anyway, I am glad I got there on time and was able to participate. It might be the last time I get out there this year. I am a fair weather outdoors type.
Anyway, that is what I have been up to and hopefully it won't be so long between posts.
MaryCatholic
Anyway, there have been some changes since my last post. Back then I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. For years I have been taking care of someone. It started with my nephews. When my brother joined the fire department and my sister-in-law worked on Saturday, I took care of the boys. Even when my brother didn't work, I was at a game or doing something with them. Then in September, 2006, my mother collapsed in the bathroom. I took care of her until her death March 1, 2009. When she died my older nephew was 19 and driving (he was even driving me places) and the younger one was a sophomore in high school, hardly wanting to hang with his Aunt Mary!
People kept making suggestions that I thought about, but then just let them slide. Well, I finally decided to join my neighbor and a fellow co-worker in a weight loss club. I mainly did that because they went out to dinner afterwards. It is something to do. Since joining, I am 1 1/2 lbs up. It really doesn't seem to be working, but I am enjoying my dinners out once a week!
The other thing I have been doing for the past four months is going to the cemetery to see my mother, father, grandmother, grandfather, uncle, and aunt. It was funny, a short while before my mother died, she said that I should go out there since I had not been for years. Little did I know that I would be going to see her. I don't go every week, but lately I have been out there more than usual. A couple of weeks ago, my aunt came in because her brother, my uncle, was going to have surgery. I asked her if she wanted to go out since the cemetery is close to the hospital. She was agreeable, so off we went. At that time, I had not been able to find my uncle (her other brother) and aunt. Since it was cold and raining we decided just to visit the ones we knew we could find. She asked me if I brought flowers out, so of course, I felt bad, because I didn't do that. Last weekend I thought it would be the last good weekend weather wise, so out I went to buy flowers and I even stopped and ordered the date of death to be put on the tombstone. I put the flowers on my mother and father's graves. I took two out and put one on my grandparents grave. I then took up the search for my uncle and aunt again. I had asked at the office and they sent me in the opposite direction. Then I was told they are buried near my grandparents under a tree branch. Well, I finally did find them. The tree is now cut down and they are near a stump. I find everyone by counting the rows from my parent's grave. It is a lot easier and I don't have to worry about trees being cut down.
This Sunday in the Catholic religion is All Souls Day. We celebrate that life of all the people who have died. The cemetery had an open house. The first time I ever heard of this. It was funny seeing the signs inviting people to come. Who exactly was the host? The dead? It got creepier the more I thought about it. I did go and found that the flowers are still on all the graves. My parent's have a standing stone, but my grandparents and uncle and aunt have flat stones, but they hadn't blown away or been stepped on. I was able to talk to this man who told me were my father's side of the family were buried. They are in the cemetery across the street, so the next time I will be able to visit them. There was also a short prayer service that started at 1:00 PM. It lasted only 20 minutes, but people were coming in just as they were rapping up and there was no second show. I really don't know if they found out about it at the last minute or if they just thought that everyone was going to wait for them. Anyway, I am glad I got there on time and was able to participate. It might be the last time I get out there this year. I am a fair weather outdoors type.
Anyway, that is what I have been up to and hopefully it won't be so long between posts.
MaryCatholic
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