Work today. First thing I contacted PGE to get the details of our missing bill. For some reason it seems like the PGE (power) bill frequently goes missing. But it was very simple to phone and get an automated line that told me the current amount (Marilyn pays online, but needed to know how much). My personal goal today was wrapped up in our new Barracuda SPAM blocker and getting the final kinks out for our office. There were several questions, so I ended up talking to the Barracuda support line. First I had to get authorized by Kris (who was the only one on our account). I made the point to the support people that Kris works for me and not the other way around... hahaha... After that they phoned again to now officially assist me. But I didn't have an online account, so Kris was going to need to do that, too. I did get a lot of information about the account, however. They're impressively helpful in my opinion!!! And I don't say that sort of thing easily, believe me. After I have an account and am an admin, then I can set up accounts for every person in our office. After that I'll teach them how to log in via web browser and they can white list and black list as necessary. Actually, we're all pretty impressed by Barracuda so far. It seems to work really well and to be a real time-saver. It was POURING DOWN RAIN this morning and into the afternoon. Filthy weather! But Marilyn and I went out to Chinese anyway. The office was having Chipotle, which Jeff had gone out to get and bring back. Marilyn and I joined the staff for some chips and brought our veggie burritos home for later. Then we walked to the restaurant in the rain! It was like trying to cross rivers at some points. Ugh. But I loved my meal and ate it ALL (which I rarely do). I'd barely eaten yesterday, so I was really hungry today. I had LOW BLOOD SUGAR at around 5:30 in the morning. It was 69 and probably due to not eating enough yesterday... We stopped and got Starbucks on the way back to the office. We're in love with the Holiday Flat White right now. We went back to our work, planning to leave by 4:00, as we needed to stop home for food and be at Sue's house by 5:30 -- and the traffic to her house is horrible. Always, but especially during the holidays! We had a bunch of stuff we'd gotten at Costco that we took over for Sue to serve. Candy was there when we arrived and we helped her set it up. There were lots of snack foods and cookies, all nice. I had phoned June before leaving. She was waiting for Jim to get home from going to the doctor! He'd left for a 2:00 appointment and wasn't home yet, so she was worried. I told her I'd check with her later and then we departed. It was obvious they couldn't go with him not home... (I'd wanted to encourage them to arrive early if they were going, as it's hard for her to walk and there wasn't much parking right near the house.) We got to meet a bunch of Sue's cribbage friends that we've never met before, like Martha and Katy. Sue hadn't decorated a jot for Christmas, nor did she have on any Christmas music. So we just talked and waited for the ships to come. We couldn't see much when they did get there, as they were on the opposite side of the river. The map had shown them on both sides, but that didn't end up being the case. Finally past 8:00 Marilyn and I departed and came home... She's doing her hair now, and then I think we'll head to bed. It's past midnight now. Chubby wanted a lot of attention while we were there. The poor thing seems to be having a lot of trouble breathing now. He's getting older and is obese. But he's still such a good boy. (When he's not clawing and biting, anyway. Hahaha.) I was trying to find out in my blog when they actually moved Chubby inside, but I couldn't, darn it. I'm the one who talked them into it, anyway... Time to wrap up for today. Such a busy week!!! Sweet dreams!  - Feeling:good
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Marilyn was sick again -- and we were up most of last night. She actually prefers NOT to discuss it. She said she's tired of the subject (and I can't blame her, of course -- and I'm the one who can't seem to drop it!). Anyway, your good thoughts (and prayers) are still appreciated, even so... We made good use of the time by me reading out loud for the two of us. We're reading "The Boston Strangler" by Gerold Frank -- and it's beautifully written! But after sleeping in, she was off to work -- and stayed quite late tonight. As for me, I got some cleaning/organizing done in the garage today. I want to get some stuff to the Goodwill as soon as I can, and needed to figure out exactly what all that is... Talked for more than an hour with Donn about IT at the festival. We discussed closing the books for this year, things to start after November 1 and work to get done right away. He'll be working tomorrow and the next day (and possibly a third day) on the current task with Symantec (our anti-virus). And I gave him several other tasks to get to. Got more done, but I'm in a hurry, so whatever. Hahaha. Talked to poor Rich about their cat. He and Merlin had to have Puma put down. He was healthy one day and then a blood clot moved and put him in terrible pain -- and his hind quarters no longer worked! Awful. Marilyn and I feel so bad for them. Prayers and good thoughts are appreciated. Actually, Donn and his wife Denise are having a terrible time with their home (and his beloved workshop). They may lose both. Any prayers and good thoughts there are GREATLY appreciated, believe me. Off to bed, as it's quite late!  - Feeling:good
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I slept in (again) today. I'm always SO TIRED. (sigh) No, unfortunately, my cough does NOT seem better. Hopefully it will improve in the next few days... Tomorrow is our BIG DAY. We're due at the Spirit Mountain event by 5:00 p.m. (!!!), so Marilyn plans to get home pretty early so we can pack and take off (it's a long drive!!!). With that event in mind, I FINALLY colored my hair (I got the color at Walmart last night). It was exhausting, but turned out very nice. I'm happy, in other words! (grin) Marilyn had another hard day. She's probably going to need to work this weekend (sucks). And she's still not feeling that well, poor thing. Hopefully she'll feel better tomorrow (fingers crossed). Donn's surgery went quite well, I'm happy to report! I spoke to him twice this morning. I'm hoping he'll heal quickly with very little pain... June told me PooPurr was doing very well today! She even insisted on going out on the patio (Jim went with her to keep an eye on her). She wanted me to tell everyone how much she appreciated all the prayers and good thoughts! I need to get in and do the garbage and recycling NOW (it's well past midnight). So I guess I'll get to it! We're hanging in there. I'm sure tomorrow will go well. Sleep well, friends. - Feeling:good
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I talked to June more than once today, and the VERY GOOD NEWS is that PooPurr both ate and drank today! In fact, June said she'd eaten quite a bit. I'm so happy to hear it! June thanked all of us for the prayers and good thoughts and asked us to keep it coming! I've been praying several times today... I also talked to sister Sue more than once. (Nice to speak with both her and June!) And I called Donn to wish him all the best for his surgery tomorrow. We spoke for some time (he's worried about my health -- pretty nice of him while he has his own health to concern him!). Quiet day, pretty much. I did do one thing today. It's been driving me crazy how dirty the floor in the living room was right around my leather chair -- so I got down and gave it a good scrubbing, just in that area. I really can't say how good that made me feel! (grin) I also sat up to my desktop computer in the office today and worked on email at work (via Remote). And here at home, too. I got it way down from where it had been. I'm at just around 240+ emails in my Inbox at the office. (But it's quite a bit more here at home... sigh... Maybe I'll do MORE tomorrow! Hahaha.) Tomorrow I want to color my hair and do the garbage and recycling. (I think I'll probably skip my manicure and pedicure entirely. Oh, and I picked up hair color at the store while we were there...) Marilyn had a KILLER day at the office! A lot of stressful meetings and a VERY LONG DAY. She didn't get home until past 9:00. Then we left immediately to go shopping at Walmart and got back around 10:30. She was pretty done in after that (considering she's still sick herself). I don't know HOW she does it. She never fails to amaze me! Then we played SimCity BuildIt during the 'magic hour' between midnight and 1:00 a.m. (No, I have no idea why that's true, but it appears to be the case every day! Something GOOD always happens then, without fail...) Now she's trying to sleep (on the sofa in the family room) while I blog, take my meds and head to bed. We're both VERY TIRED tonight... She has another extremely busy day tomorrow, too. She and Jeff went to a work-related (social obligation) dinner tonight. Marilyn sat with a woman (Sally) who she said was very intense and extremely fascinating to talk to. (Marilyn ate very little. But brought home an amazing pork chop to feed to our outdoor critters! Hahaha.) I can't think what I'm forgetting to share, so I'll let it go (whatever it is). Time to head to bed! Good night, dear friends! Sweet dreams!!! - Feeling:good
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The good news from June tonight is that PooPurr is BETTER today! She wasn't hiding, ate a little bit and was following June around a little. And at Jim's feet to be petted. She's still bad off (not drinking -- June's giving her water with a dropper), but better than she has been this week. She had been hiding (which cats do when they're very sick) and not doing ANYTHING. Plus not eating and drinking... June says her eyes have sunk back in her head, which happens to cats pretty quickly when they aren't eating. It's always been an issue with our Henry. Anyway, keep those prayers (good thoughts) coming, PLEASE! June feels her improvement is nothing short of a miracle. (And some continued prayers/thoughts for June and Jim are much appreciated, too!) It's hard to believe that today marks 15 YEARS since 9/11. I'll never forget that day as long as I live... (Which makes it easier to imagine what Pearl Harbor day was like for our parents and other family members who lived through it!) Marilyn is very sick. She's feverish all the time right now. I'm chilled a lot of the time, so she'll be lying uncovered, while I'm burrowing under a blanket! Crazy. She managed to TAKE A SHOWER AND DO HER HAIR tonight (!!!). I can't get over it! Now that I'm recovering I did that, but I don't think I could have done it the first several days I was sick with this damn bug. Too exhausting. (Plus I was dizzy...) But Marilyn can always seem to do amazing things. We forced ourselves to dash out to the store for just a couple of items I didn't get when I went out with sister Sue. Marilyn was already feeling cabin fever after being sick a few days. I totally get it, believe me. We weren't out very long, that's for sure... We didn't eat much (again) today. Partly we're not hungry and partly we don't feel up to fixing much. I don't think we're getting enough nutritious food, but oh well... I did do the cat boxes, take out a bunch more garbage and clean up a little bit. That's about all I'm able to do, too. I was in a complete sweat after that small amount of work! But it's always nice to do some things, if you can. Still LOVING the Classic Star Trek viewing we've been doing! Just wonderful. Especially seeing every episode uncut.Hector phoned today and is coming over tomorrow. We want to discuss having him do some painting for us. We'll see how that goes... And Marilyn and I are madly in love with SimCity BuildIt -- and having SO MUCH FUN playing it! Don't get me wrong, it's rather complicated to play. We've read a TON online about how to do things. And it helps that we're BOTH playing it, so we can explain things to each other as we learn them. Marilyn is far better at the game than I -- she's very goal oriented when she plays any of these games. I play very differently, I admit. But we share the enjoyment of developing our two cities. And part of playing is going to other cities (that people have created) and 'visiting' so you can buy things from them and see what they've done designing their city. Very fun. It's actually been designed to play over long periods of time. Some people we've read about have been playing the game for years! You start out very small and just slowly develop -- plus it gets harder and harder to do things. It's been nice to have a game to distract us both while we've been sick. Something we can do lying in one spot for hours. Hahaha. I spent a TON of the day SLEEPING again. Part of the time in bed, but a lot of the time sitting reclined in my chair, just snoozing with a blanket over me in front of the TV. It shows how tired I am, as normally I can't sleep with the TV on (unlike Marilyn). I usually prefer a dark or semi-dark room where I can read and sleep. But TV or the radio (or iPod) generally keep me awake. But not right now! I'm sleeping through everything... (Obviously I need it really bad.) The cough I have is driving me crazy. Plus it's painful. Today I was having that pain again that I had before going to have my ultrasound (which I haven't been having lately). Annoying. Marilyn and I must FORCE OURSELVES to go for manicures tomorrow, no matter what!!! We have an important work-related social obligation (with an important sponsor) the end of this week, and there will be no other time we can get it done before then! It's going to be VERY HARD getting up for that, believe me. (I don't like getting that done when I'm totally well!!! Hahaha.) Well, I need to head to bed now. Hard to believe vacation is almost over... Stay healthy (and happy), dear friends! | |
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Marilyn absolutely has my bug now. (sigh) She's very sick, poor thing. I don't know WHY that had to happen... We've been continuing to watch Star Trek (Classic) today -- GREAT FUN!!! The really cool thing? They are playing every single episode WITHOUT CUTTING OUT PIECES! Back then, they had far less commercials and they were shorter. So now to play old shows they always have to cut out huge chunks of what was originally aired! But they're just playing these one on top of another, and they keep going, playing the whole thing as originally aired! Isn't that WONDERFUL??? We used to be 'experts' about Classic Trek. We used to do what we called 'drilling Trek.' We had several manuals about the show, and we'd ask each other questions about every detail of each show. We knew all the episode names by heart and tons of little details. We did this with several Trek-crazy friends, as well. (smile) We'd do it while involved in other tasks, like cleaning house or whatever... It was a great way to pass the time in a positive way while doing something else that needed to be done. Of course, it's been years since we did that! And there have been a good many other things in life to try to remember. So I'm always pleased when we can pull out the episode name and various portions of what happens (including famous quotes). We're still pretty good at it, actually! Hahaha. Before I forget, I have a prayer request. (Or you can send positive thoughts, if you don't pray.) Please keep PooPurr -- June and Jim's beloved cat -- in your thoughts and prayers. The poor kitty isn't doing at all well right now. She has an enlarged heart and trouble breathing and eating and they are trying very hard to care for her. She's been to the vet several times and they're hand feeding her... Thanks, everyone!I'll keep you posted about how PooPurr does. (It's so hard to watch our beloved pets grow old and unhealthy. I remember how hard it was feeding April and later Kitty Scarlett...) We didn't watch very much tennis today. But we both played with our SimsCity BuiltIt games. I forced myself to shower and do my hair (I've been so feverish that I sweat heavily into my hair all the time), so I could go out shopping today. Marilyn and I needed EVERYTHING you can imagine! Thankfully our sister Sue took me so Marilyn could stay home and stay down (and not have to try and shower, as sick as she feels). We went to Freddies and I got a bunch of essential things, including toilet paper (!!!), Kleenex, paper towels, cat food, kitty litter, bread, bottled water, pop, MEDICINE and on and on. It was a lot to buy and pack in the house and put away, so it tired me out a lot. I'm still VERY PUNY from being sick. And coughing like mad. Marilyn and I ate chili for a late dinner. We've eaten very little in the last several days. I'm sure we needed the nutrition. Donn worked on my computer at the festival today (I guess it's done now). And he worked on June's home computer, too. I have to admit I had little interest. I just didn't feel well enough to care much... I would appreciate prayers (thoughts) for Marilyn's health. She's very frustrated, as she's been dealing with health issues most of this year. She was supposed to hike with Jeff today but had to cancel (obviously). 2016 has been a rough year for our family... Anyway, we keep our chins up, even so. And enjoy whatever we can! And right now that means our new game and an old TV series (Star Trek). There's always something to feel good about! Good night. Sleep well, friends.  - Feeling:okay
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Today was my hair appointment with the wonderful Kathy (my hairdresser). She always makes me happy, just chatting with her! She remembered that I hadn't had a cut since before Thanksgiving -- and she was right! My last cut was on November 18 (I just looked it up HERE -- and Thanksgiving was on Thursday, November 26). Anyway, sister Sue came by early, and brought her iPad. We chatted and I showed her some drawers and the pots and pans cabinet in the kitchen. Then I sat by her and helped her a little while she open her iPad and checked her mail -- and wrote a note to our friend, June! (Way to go, Sue!) Then we very quickly took a load of stuff over to the Goodwill (maybe a third of the boxes that were out in the garage) on our way to my appointment in St. Johns. Sue sat in the car reading her book while I got my cut... Kathy and I discussed the book " The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing." She'd had another client who had brought the book to the shop! Little wonder, as it's a best seller. I think a lot of people want to tidy up their lives. On our way there we'd phoned June about going to lunch. We went to The Fishwife and June drove over and met us there. We had a lovely visit at lunch (and I got takeout to bring home for Marilyn). Unfortunately, Sue got sick after eating. (I totally get that -- it happens to me all the time, too...) Still, it was fun for the three of us to go out together! Sue had been planning to take me shopping (I needed kitty litter!), so June did that, instead. Wasn't that NICE of her??? And Sue headed home. This afternoon I worked on some MORE papers. We have a drawer in our file cabinet where we keep all our manuals and contracts and stuff for the entire house. It was really FULL of things. So I took it out a bit at a time and went through every single item. Most of it I didn't need to keep. So I added it to the recycling for this week. It's funny. Yesterday when I was going through papers I was keeping quite a few items (even though I dumped a huge box full of stuff). But today it was even easier to get rid of more things! I guess as you continue the process, you just want to dump more and more and more. It honestly feels like lifting a weight from my body! I'm looking forward to doing more. Marilyn and I plan to really tackle it this coming weekend. I'll be trying to help HER -- which will be our focus. (I've had a lot of time to work on my own stuff this week, after all.) Oh!!! Before I forget! About Donn: He was apologetic when I finally reached him. I tried to call his phone again this morning and got a recording, so I finally phoned his wife, Denise. I was so sure by that point that he must be in the hospital! He said he just flaked on us. He had an early doctor's appointment. And they scolded him for not having a cast on his broken wrist! So they put a cast on and this took hours. Then he went to see a friend and got home late in the afternoon. So he forgot about going to Sue's. Anyway, when he got up yesterday her computer had a BSOD (blue screen of death) -- and he needed to fix that. (Something about the way he did that addition of the new power supply, I guess.) We decided that he would let it run overnight and bring it to Sue tomorrow, when he was coming to town for work at the festival, anyway. I was just so GLAD that he was okay!!! Gosh, he gave me a scare. Around dark tonight my neighbor Rose called to me and wanted to talk about a little gray cat that she says has been hanging around. She's tried to catch him, but he spooks. But he's clearly starving! He's been eating out of my compost bucket! (That's where I put the food that I figure critters won't eat. Anything that I think would interest them goes in the bowls under the big tree.) I told her I often put out old cat food when it gets too dry for my boys to finish it up. So he probably knows that. Plus I do put out old food for all the critters (especially my crows). Poor little guy! She says he's been limping the last couple days, so some other animal has been fighting him (probably over food). That makes me sick. Marilyn was unhappy I was outside chatting with neighbors (Doug, as well) in the dark and cold. She's right, of course. But I never know what to say. (Rose had on a nice, warm coat...) Anyway, I hate to see anyone (person or animal) go hungry!!! Or be homeless. It's cold out right now and constantly raining. Poor, poor people and poor, poor animals. (sigh) There are a lot of critters around here. This area used to be all trees a couple of generations ago. Our house was a grove of trees, we've been told (and we used to have the stumps around here to prove it!). Where are the animals supposed to go? Marilyn and I believe in trying to help feed them as much as we can -- and I think most people around here do, too... Well, now I need to go do the recycling and composting for this week, as it's garbage night. I'm hoping Sue feels better. She needs to get in to see her doctor. She was terribly down at lunch today and saying some upsetting things (about not wanting to live). I think she needs her meds adjusted. Sleep well, my dear friends! - Feeling:good
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I'm still fighting a cold -- but not giving in to it, yet! I got up around 8:30 a.m. (wow, sleeping in!) -- but it was pretty cold in the house, so I actually went back to bed after firing up the furnace. Later I woke up (after some odd nightmares -- brought on from being too warm) when Colin knocked a bunch of books out of the bookcase to the floor. He didn't need food or water (I'd made sure when I got up), but just wanted me, apparently! Hahaha.
I spent the day doing some things around the house and on the computer, both. It was garbage day (the real deal), so I gathered it all up and had most of it done before it got dark.
Also did dishes and took a bunch of 'goodies' out to the outdoor critters. We're thinking about getting dog food to feed the coyote. I was talking to neighbor friend Jim about it. As he says 'everything needs to eat.' That's so true! It's not the coyote's fault he's living in a suburban area, after all...
The main goal of everyone living around here is to keep him from snacking on pets! This woman who came by the house and talked to me today said she thought he was eating squirrels -- but we have TONS of them around here (all looking fat and sassy), so it's hard to believe he's living on them. And nobody has reported missing cats and dogs. So I think he's finding outdoor food to live on. Obviously he's been coming here, though we don't put out all that much meat, generally. (Poor guy!) It reminds me of our cat Danny that we had years back when we lived with Mom and Dad. He'd been left behind (!!!) when a family moved and lived on BREAD for ages before we realized he was alone and adopted him. Because of that he lost a bunch of teeth (bad nutrition!). And he never got over loving to eat bread now and then. We had to hide any loaf we brought in the house! (smile)
Cooked dinner (acorn squash, roast beef hash and kale). Yummy!
By the way, it has happily warmed up today -- if you can call 39° warming up, that is!
We've been watching "The Sing-Off" (partly because we have a Sing-Off as one of our festival events). It's been pretty entertaining...
Sister Sue felt well enough to go to cribbage last night. Thanks for the kind thoughts!
Have to go to the office tomorrow, no matter how I feel. (sigh) I'll manage.
Marilyn is working on Saturday (!!!) and is running the Holiday Half Marathon on Sunday (!!!). (As you can tell, we stay pretty busy all year long -- even in December.) I hope she doesn't get sick trying to run that race on Sunday. She told me she's going to finish it if it takes her six hours to do it... (sigh) I admire her for wanting to do it, but she hasn't had time to really train -- and it's damn cold here! (She won't let me go out to see her race and shout encouragement because she's worried about ME in the cold. Seriously???) Oh well...
Time for a nap. I'm tired... Oh! Almost forgot! Finished my book ("Frederica" by Georgette Heyer), which is sad as I enjoyed it so! Some books I wish could go on forever... - Feeling:okay
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Busy, busy day. And I was far from 100% today (still somewhat under the weather). Plus I was sore! I guess from lifting my bike (which is pretty heavy, with those metal baskets -- even the bike dude was surprised by the weight!), and from riding it for the first time in ages. Ouch. Time to get back in shape, no doubt about it!
Got the eNewsletter out and the World Environment Day page done at the festival website. I did a bunch of other website stuff, too. (I actually did a News item for the website, plus got another News item ready to send on Monday, as well.)
It seemed like I was just busy every second. Plus I did a load of dishes and took care of the garbage and recycling (including the cat boxes).
I also fixed dinner, but that was pretty easy. We had one of those pre-cooked chickens, so I pulled that apart. Then I cleaned more celery and got out the refried beans I'd cooked last. (By the time I finally had the beans cooked, we were both too tired to eat them...)
Marilyn and I have been watching the teen romance comedy movie "John Tucker Must Die," with Jesse Metcalfe (Christopher Ewing of "Dallas"). It's highly entertaining -- and John Tucker is darling. In fact, there are no real villains in this film. Even when the girls are all ganging up on John, it seems pretty harmless... Let's face it, Jesse Metcalfe is darling -- really fun to see in whatever role he portrays.
Both Sister Sue and friend June would like to get together and watch some "Dallas." Sounds like a plan to me! It turns out that June is another J.R. Ewing fan (what's NOT to love???) -- something I totally understand. (grin)
I did get a chance to go over last night and visit a bit with June (and her husband, Jim), which was nice. These days it's hard to get to see anyone unless it's about work...
Marilyn was home a little bit earlier tonight (by 8:00). Not terrific, but it beats 9:30 and later, which has been true much of this week!
I never did do a second entry yesterday to cover all I did -- which was a ton of festival-related work. But I was just too tired to ever get around to it. Right now it's all I can do to type an entry each day... You know, last year I only wrote two entries for the entire month of April! Shocking. Well, it was a combination of being busy with work, plus dealing with the beach house -- which just did me in. I'm determined not to let thing overwhelm me to the point where I stop blogging this year! Keep your fingers crossed for me.
In fact, I've been managing to keep reading my Friends blogs, too -- and commenting almost daily. I think that's pretty good!
But I've totally dropped the ball at Facebook recently. And I rarely go to Pinterest, either. Never seem to Tweet. I guess no matter what, something has to give!
Finished my latest Mary Russell book "Justice Hall" (by Laurie R. King). I love this series of books -- and Laurie is an AMAZING writer! If you like Sherlock Holmes, or historical novels, then you'd really enjoy this! Or if you just like quality writing. She's one of my favorite authors.
Before I forget to mention it, my friend Shari finally got a new cat! She hasn't named it, yet. And she's upset that it's hiding a lot right now -- but it takes me back to when Marilyn and I first got Kittie Scarlett. I'm sure it will be fine once the cat gets used to her new home.
Well, it's late and I'm dead tired, so I'm going to close for now. Good night, all! - Feeling:busy
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