Month: April 2018

Golden Solo Years

One of the low sides of living here in undisclosed is that we’re with a lot of older folks. A woman I knew since we have been down here 9 years ago passed away and left behind her husband of 62 years. She was from the Coal Country of Pennsylvania, was also Polish,like me, and we got along pretty well.

After this, and seeing Barbara Bush leaving behind President Bush, I can only help but wonder. I know a lot of folks, in fact, who are my best friends and got divorced. How do these couples last as long as they did. Oh, I know, you can recite chapter and verse, and I get that. Still 60+ years is a long time.It’s got to be a scary situation when, all of a sudden, you are alone.

God bless them!

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Kicking Back **just a little**

Three days that felt forever…

I had to write up a student for discipline issues. It was the first time I ever had to do that and it bothered me for a few minutes.

Funny how that feeling passed right over me.

I think I am taking to 4th graders like a duck to water. Physically, I come home and I am in bed by 8:30 pm or 9:00pm. It’s probably because I am now constantly moving. When I am with the students, mentally I feel refreshed, if that is possible. It’s as if they realize that I am there to help them. It is nice to feel them appreciate me.

There’s one problem, though.

Monday comes around really quick.

Back Again

Well, we are back in and it seems like nothing has changed in fourth grade, including Disney figurines.

It was a full day, including lock-down practice again, which makes the students very somber. It’s great that a lot of students remember me and want to know why I am not back in their class-they miss me.

**enter gratuitous “awww”**

Anyhow, this is why I am in bed at 8:32pm. Fourth grade wears you out!

Name Game

Well, he’s here!

The Duchess of Cambridge delivered safely of a baby boy, or should I say Prince.

I follow a fictional account on Twitter that someone makes as the Queen. Her latest tweet refers to the new Prince as “Darin.”

That started me wondering about the bookies in the UK. They took bets on who Prince Charles would marry, as well as sexes of Royal Babies to be.

Darin… hmmmm.. I wonder. Prince Bubba? 😂 I wonder if they would take Phillip, but the Duke of Edinburgh is still around. Usually they would go with names with a royal tie like Arthur or Louis….

I’ll take Prince Bubba… lol.

Planting Confusion

For the first time since I moved down here to Undisclosed location, I have had a geranium plant actually flower indoors. Christmas cactus I can flower with some regularity, but never a geranium.

It intrigues me, that here we are in mid-April, and I have nothing planted in the ground outside. I hate to think of throwing money out the window when you can’t really figure out if another cold snap is coming.

Oh, to have a planting crystal ball! I’d turn into a planting fool.

Another Movie

We went out to see the movie” Chappaquiddick” .

You’ll notice the marquee lost the last four letters: I found that funny in a well-heeled town they couldn’t figure out how to fit the titles on the marquee.

I am 58 years old and grew up in a democratic city. People loved the Kennedys. They cried when John F.Kennedy was killed. When Robert Kennedy fell to an assassin’s bullet, people cried. Then Ted was left, and along came Chappaquiddick.

It was incredible to me to see this movie. Seriously, I saw everything that went into saving the career of the “Lion of the Senate,”

A woman died. The senator’s career and reputation meant more than the legacy of a poor working girl.

Politicians…..** shaking my head**…you can have them.

Neat Trick, eh?

If you remember back in December, I had cataract removal surgery on both of my eyes. The first one was a bit of a deal, as I was hacking pretty much as I am now. The second one wasn’t quite as bad.

Tomorrow, ugh, I have to go back for a quick laser procedure to straighten out my lenses that are implanted. Evidently they shoot the laser in the eye to help clarify you reading small print. I am having the right eye done tomorrow and the left one in two weeks.

If you have any prayers or good karma to work on, please send some up so my coughing will get lost for an hour or two tomorrow.

Cell Towers

I have been watching a lot of Dateline while I am home sick. Usually these things deal with incidents that end up with trials.

One thing they have been talking a lot about was cell phone towers.When I was on my last jury duty in the city in 2014, I learned all about the tracking of cell phones and pinging of towers. It is incredible what people think they can get away with, and yet they keep the victim’s cell phone and pretend they are still alive.

One clear incidence of this was in the Drew Peterson murder case.He gave his stepbrother his cell phone with instructions not to answer it, and when it did ring, it rang showing Stacy Peterson as calling, and he knew it was her husband and not her.

You really don’t want to learn about things like this, but when you do, it gives you insight to the human psyche.

Scary, isn’t it?

Patience Pays Off

Since my cataract surgery, I have been savoring reading.

I read everything when I was younger. There wasn’t a book I missed checking out from the library, or even getting a find from the bargain bin at the book store. Unfortunately, technology came along and my active reading time kind of fell by the wayside.

Fast forward to post cataract time. I have managed to read a lot of books to supplement what I have been watching on the Netflix series,”The Crown.” My latest addition has been the newest Prince Charles biography. For the record, I did admire Princess Diana, and I wondered if I really wanted to read about Charles post-Diana. It’s been an easy read, but I find myself thankful that Charles will not be my ruler some day. My apologies to any of my readers in the United Kingdom: this is only one Yankee’s opinion.

I will keep you posted as to what’s next on the reading menu.

In The Wee Small Hours

One of the songs from the Broadway hit “Hamilton” has a line about it being quiet uptown.

I think I am more down east here than uptown, but it is five in the morning and I am up.Outside of the tapping on the laptop keys, the silence is deafening.

Why am I up? It’s the ever popular end of medication that you are on and all of a sudden, it’s as if you are playing the should I try to go back to sleep game.I think staying up wins this round. Actually, it is kind of rare to be in a position to actually listen in the silence, and your mind and ears get a rest.

Pollen is out full force here and now both Jim and I are coughing in unison.I learned that it is always bad once I see the forsythia in bloom. The Christmas cactus in the window is blooming again, and is probably the only flower that isn’t bothering us.I guess that spring is officially here at Undisclosed location.

Kasia is sleeping one the floor behind me as I type this, as I know she is frustrated with the lack of activity here. We’ll try to get a good long walk in today before the weather tanks over Sunday and Monday.She has been a real trooper but I really don’t want her to fall out of the habit of walking with me.We both need the exercise.

Enjoy your weekend and hopefully the nice weather that goes with it.

The Beat Goes On…

We are still hanging in here.

Don’t tell anyone, but Kasia and I snuck out for a little walk. I felt bad for her, as she needed a good brushing. We took a short walk. The sunshine was somewhat cool. It still was nice to get fresh air in the lungs. The problem with that, though, is it made me cough more.

I am waiting for another diagnosis, as it seems that like the winter that wouldn’t leave, my hacking wants to plant roots and dig in.

God, I hope not!

Here’s Nurse Kasia ❤️

A Thank You Note

During the past airing of our stay-cation illness shuffle, I thank my readers for bearing up with my/our tales of woe. I know some things are a little bizarre, such as doctors, but hey, I guess it comes with the golden years.

It can be rather frustrating, with everyone going away on vacations and cruises and the like, and we were happily home. I really think God was laughing when he was deciding to make us stay home and rest. By that, He meant doctor’s offices and urgent care!

Maybe we just need to vegetate and get ourselves better, fast.

Best Furry Nurse

I must have done something right almost 9 years ago.

Although I was secretly concerned I was screwing up my Zusher’s life, I went ahead and got her a sister.

Kasia, being part chow, well, let’s just say although she knew her place in line, she always walked to the beat of a different drummer. When Zush had left me forever, I thought,” Where am I going to get the quiet comfort I got from Zush?”

I adopted Kasia, figuring she’d have a great roll model in Zush.

Well, now with both of us sick, someone is showing us that she graduated from Zushie’s nursing school. Kas understands we are not well, and stays right by my foot as if she needed to take my pulse. Sure, I still make her meals, but there is a lot of down time on my end. It’s as if she knows that Momma will be up and around soon.

Zush would be so proud of you, Kasia.

A Rocking Saturday Night

I am typing this at my desk as “Black Swan” with Natalie Portman plays on the television.

Our Kasia is in the kitchen laying down and Jim is trying to catch a quick nap.

This is far from a normal Saturday night.

After going to Urgent Care at the call of the covering doctor **who just happened to be the same doctor I saw at the beginning of the week** in order to get a x-ray to rule out pneumonia or acute bronchitis, I now have three steroids that have to be taken daily. Two are inhalers, for my bronchitis and one is just steroids, one time a day.

I truly abhor steroids. I know they help, but they just don’t seem to go with my body.

Two hours sleep a night? Oh yeah, I signed up for it. Adult acne? Yup, checked that block too. I have reread the prescribing sheet with the medicine information on it and the only satisfaction I get is knowing that there are only six more days of the pill form to put up with. My body is ready to throw a bon voyage party for it. Did I mention the five minutes I convinced myself I was starting to get shingles on the left side of my face? Calling “Phantom of the Opera”.

The highlight of the day was watching some good movies on the television, and I may try to read a bit later on. Thus wraps up our vacation week from work. With all the medicine I am dealing with, I decided not to take any jobs this week to really get this crap out of my system.

I just hope that it will be long enough to clear out, and not any longer.

If it doesn’t, I’ll be going officially off the tracks.

Feeling .001%

Here we go again.

I have not been feeling well for a while.

I have some issues percolating, and am bothering my GI’s office trying to get my appointment moved up.I told them how bad I felt and the bast they could offer my was May 30th.

Hello, Emergency Room? That’s what it’ll be if I get another attack and can’t be seen earlier.

In the meanwhile, I managed to comedown with severe chest congestion over Easter.With the internet being a blessing or curse, I figured out I might have pneumonia or severe bronchitis. Hah! I had an appointment this morning with a new Internist who said, basically, my lungs are congested but my sinuses are pretty well screwed up? Excuse me? I have a cough that sounds like I smoked a pack of Pall Malls daily for 58 years, and only had sinus symptoms last night and this is the diagnosis?

**Shaking my head**

I realize I don’t have a medical degree, but I think I know my body. I am hoping that the combination of prescriptions will work their magic.If not, well…stay tuned!

Mom’s No Fool

Funny thing about my Mom.

You would never figure her for it, but she was genuinely funny. Really. Those of you who read my blog and also know me know I can be funny too. I’d like to think I got it from her.

The reason this came to me this morning is that I realized it’s April Fool’s Day.

When I was a kid in elementary school, I would get dressed in my Catholic school uniform, and comedown for breakfast. As I finished and got up from the table, Mom would tell me to wait, and then announce that there was something on my uniform. Sometimes she’d wait until I was by the front door and grabbing my jacket. Regardless, she always got me. As we both got older, I went along with her prank to make her feel better.

For the sake of tradition, I feebly got Jim this morning. I mean, it’s April Fool’s Day, and you kind of had to do it.

….for Mom.

I knew she was in heaven smiling.

Happy Easter!

As I would have said back in the city, “Wesolego Alleluja”. This is roughly, in Polish, wishing you a Happy Easter!

I finally got some new hyacinths yesterday, but it took some stepping. I assume that because the weather in this area has been cool, the plants are hesitant at opening up. Fortunately I found some white ones so I can get my Easter smell. Being married to Jim is kind of rough, though, in this regard. He is sensitive to smell, so my flowers stay on my back deck.

If you are traveling tomorrow, I wish you safe travels and good weather. Stay safe.