I Uber-ed into the office before 4:00 and ended up having a nice chat with Rich. We were talking over his year and how he'd ended up feeling about it.
Then Marilyn and I went to the zoo (their summer concert series) to see Sean Ono Lennon and bassist Les Claypool -- The Claypool Lennon Delirium -- and managed to have a great time in spite of the rain. It never stopped rained the entire time. (By the way, we had Cadillac Margaritas there -- the best margaritas ever!)
We went home totally soaked through, but had a blast! Sean's music was great, plus we think we would love that venue on a warm, sunny day.
Hopefully we can save Marilyn's favorite leather jacket! Yikes.
(We were so glad we didn't let the weather keep us from going!) - Feeling:happy
 - Singing:The Claypool Lennon Delirium
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Cousin Linda is 62 today! Marilyn and I hope to get together with her and at least have coffee to celebrate... Time flies! Seriously, it's easy to remember when we were all teens. Hahaha. I was SO TIRED last night that I couldn't even force myself to blog. I'm always more tired in September and October EVERY YEAR. And this year is no exception. (sigh) I got a TON done both yesterday and today. Personal errands and WORK-RELATED projects, both. Yesterday (Tuesday, September 19) I contacted Comcast and got all the information for Sue's phone account. Then I helped her to start erasing all the old messages that were blocking her phone. She had items going back to February of 2016!!! This was when she went into the hospital and then that nursing facility for a time. She hasn't had her messages working since that time! I'm really pleased with how it went and how diligent Sue was both yesterday and today going through everything and get it cleared out. Now people can leave her messages again! This matters, as she has doctors and so on trying to reach her about appointments and prescriptions, so it's difficult when they can't leave a message (in case she's not there or she's sleeping when they call). I want to fix messages on her cell phone, too -- but I need Candy's help to do that. So far she hasn't responded to my text messages about it. She made it clear she doesn't want to do anything, so I'm trying to take the burden off her. But I guess she doesn't think it matters if Sue can get messages on her cell or not. Marilyn and I think it matters because it will connect her with her friends again! They don't really call her anymore and it's partly due to being unable to leave messages. I get it, because it's been equally annoying for Marilyn and me when we're calling her... Lots of website work going on right now. And today I was trying to CHANGE THE SUBSCRIPTION area on the website, now that we're not using Cooler anymore and have changed to MailChimp. But I don't have ACCESS to the area I need to reach. This has been my issue with the 'new' website ever since we switched over back in 2014. I've never had total access to the site and can't touch certain portions. I've been pushing and pushing to get it ever since. And it came to a head today. I guess we'll see tomorrow whether I finally get it or not! We're dealing with a DRASTIC change in the weather here! We've had horrible rains and thunder and lightning storms. We were in bed and heard a TERRIBLE crash last night. I was convinced someone was outside the garage messing with things (as we've had that happening lately). But it turned out to be a huge branch that came crashing down and hit the house. We both went out to see it and got wet from the rain... It's not only sopping wet and pouring, but it's COLD. I actually considered turning on the heat (!!!) today! In all the time we've lived in this house I have NEVER turned on the heat in September! In fact, I find it annoying if I have to turn it on before November! Marilyn has been dealing with the cold in her office, too, which is total glass on two walls. They reset her thermostat and messed it up (as they often do). But happily Steven was able to reset it enough that she wasn't too cold yesterday or today... Marilyn didn't get home until 9:00 p.m. last night. So getting home after 7:00 tonight seemed early. She picked me up without coming in and we ran straight to pick up my meds at Riteaid (they had called me yesterday). Speaking of, for whatever reason my Metformin needed a new prescription! What the hell? It's paired with my Glipizide (both diabetes meds), so I was already annoyed they weren't getting filled together. But there's NO CHANGE there this time, so why did it need a refill when the other didn't? And WHY didn't the clinic call it in when I saw Leslie back in August??? It shouldn't fall on either Riteaid or me to make sure it's there, but that's how it goes... Marilyn actually authorized me to set up training with Inflow (our telephone support company) for Donn and me if I want to do that. I discussed it with Heidi from Inflow and she sent me to a TWO HOUR online instructional video that I'm very slowly and carefully working my way through. She's going to give me two weeks to absorb the info and then discuss what things I might want to work on. We haven't had in-house training from Inflow since 2010 -- and that was before Donn came to work there. So it could be a good idea. On the other hand, as I go through all this stuff, I'm rather surprised by how much of it I already know. I need to write it up and start training Donn and Wanda on the material. I used to train Christine on some of this, but we let it go over time. And I've barely touched on it with Donn to date. I think it could be helpful for someone else to understand the back end of the phone system. Currently I handle it all, which is no problem. I have the aptitude and am almost entirely self-taught. (The original training from Inflow wasn't helpful -- Hailey and I basically jumped in and figured it out ourselves. She learned the front end and I learned the back end. But Hailey hasn't been on staff for several years now...) I totally digressed from Marilyn and me out shopping after work! Once we got my meds we dashed over to Freddies and picked up quite a few things. I have a long list, and we got most of it. We needed bottled water and cat food and kitty litter and garbage bags and light bulbs and chili and canned white beans and refried beans (we eat a lot of beans!) and bread and so on... We shopped quickly and got home around 8:00. Still earlier than Marilyn got home last night! She never had a break either yesterday or today. And she said both Jessica and Carol were still working when she left tonight... We both came home and fixed sandwiches for dinner and I made a pot of coffee (we drink Yuban). Then she was ill. She said she started to get a headache driving home and her IBS-d made her very sick after shopping. She's downstairs now sleeping on the sofa. She was feeling pretty lousy. I felt crummy all afternoon, too. My seasonal allergies are bugging me. And my hips are KILLING ME. You wouldn't think the pain could get me down like this, but it does. I'd like to be more active, but it's hard when the pain is this bad. We had watched The Beatles in "Help!" (the restored DVD) last night, but Marilyn had fallen asleep. So we put it back on tonight to watch the end over. And she had to watch it twice to see it, as she fell asleep again. We really love the Beatles! And we love that movie. It takes us back, that's for sure. We were HUGE fans of the cartoon series, which isn't really available to purchase. I'm going to watch some of it on YouTube, though. We never used to miss it. Next up we'll watch the DVD of "A Hard Day's Night." We have that waiting to view... I finished "Forever Amber," which made me sad. Not the ending, but because I was enjoying reading it so very much! What a wonderfully written and engaging book! I love historical novels so much. Now I'm reading the book Dick Van Dyke wrote about aging. I want to start reading it to sister Sue, too. I heard from my jury friend Lucy today!!! (Via Facebook.) That made me happy! I didn't know her last name until today, so I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to connect with her. I had given her and another woman my business card, so she had everything she needed to contact me. Anyway, I'm very glad she did. I really think we have a lot in common. I saw that she's done NaNoWriMo, which is something right there! I'd love to give that a shot again one of these years. But it's hard going, no doubt! I actually did some fiction writing last night!!! I doubt I'll share (it's slash fanfic), but at least I gave it a shot. That's the first time in ages. It reminded me how much I love writing. I did my pills when we got home tonight. I need to start doing a week at a time, but as long as I have them ready in advance of taking them, I'm happy. Well, I'm dead beat, so off to bed. I'm just yawning and yawning! I'll need to phone Hector about the gutters. I sure don't want issues with them right now. Sweet dreams, friends.  - Feeling:tired
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I wore this shirt to work today (until I changed in the afternoon). Marilyn and I always call it my volunteer of the year top. Hahaha. It's what I was wearing back in 2012 for my 'official' photographs... (And, yes, I still love it.) A brand NEW position at the festival -- these three people who will make up our Group Sales Team (under the supervision of Jason). They finished their sales training yesterday, and today I gave my usual training to Braden, who will be sitting next to Angel and just outside Jeff's office. I like all three of these young people. And I really enjoyed training Braden. We started out with a VERY WET (brr) and cold trip to Starbucks (as usual). Donn has misunderstood my instructions, so Braden computer was in the WRONG cubicle. But we managed to do the training, even so. Donn will be back tomorrow and fix the issue. And help with tons of other work. I couldn't do it without him! Kris phoned while I was training and planned to come in to see me for at least half an hour. We dashed off to Anne's for a quick lunch meeting. Then I had to hurry back to change into my uniform to head to Roosevelt for the Princess announcement. By the way, they're doing amazing work at Roosevelt, but what a mess! Construction is everywhere, so it's hard to get from one place to the next! The new auditorium was a surprise, but we finally found it (after asking a student for help). Surprisingly, Marilyn and I were not introduced (we usually are). But Jeff was there, and he was... Marilyn was on television at 11:00 a.m. -- I still haven't seen the entire show. I caught part of it during training, and she did a great job! She's always amazing when she does TV or radio. And she looked wonderful! I totally forgot to phone our sister Sue to tell her to watch -- but June and Jim managed to see it totally without me phoning! And June told me to tell Marilyn that her performance was A+. Marilyn dropped me home on her way back to the office. Originally she had planned to come directly home, but Katie had asked to meet with her, so back she went. (More about that meeting later on.) As Marilyn told me, it's very important to her to support Katie. (By the way, Katie is our Court person this year.) Jessica was back today and feeling better, I'm happy to report. She's dealing with a pet (their dog J.D.) in the hospital, so my prayers are with her... Kris was resolving the finance Quickbooks problem. I'm sure I'll hear more tomorrow... I was drenched when I came home late afternoon. It was like I'd just washed my hair! I had to towel and then blow it dry. Awful. And I was so tired I fell asleep sitting up at one point. Training is always exhausting for me. I train Najib tomorrow. (woo hoo) I (finally!) added these three Group Sales staff to the website (on the staff page). And removed the now-departed Nasiem... Marilyn has been having problems with her iPhone. Hopefully we can resolve those. Otherwise I want her to take my OLD phone, which has far more memory than hers does! As for me, I managed to successfully set up my NEW iPhone 7 in the middle of the night! (woo hoo) By the way, I got the Rose Gold version, which is BEAUTIFUL!!! I can't wait to take some photos so I can see how much better these are than with the older versions of the phone... Spaghetti (green veggie) for dinner -- Marilyn is avoiding pasta, so she ate the sauce with one of her low carb wraps. We watched "Designated Survivor" which we'd missed when it actually aired. It's a good show. I was reading some reviews for "Time After Time," which critics seem not to like. I'm not sure why, though. Anyway, Marilyn and I found it entertaining! Can't think what I'm forgetting! A busy day tomorrow. I still need to do the recycling and composting tonight. NOT looking forward to that, as it's continuing to POUR DOWN RAIN (and it's cold). I really do not want to go outside!!! I'm off for a NAP any second, though! Actually, I just made TWO changes to the website. I didn't have any time earlier today to do this... But I got a 'start' on the official charity page (all probably temporary, but better than nothing!) and fixed an upload to the Circus Corps page that Angel sent me... And that's MY day! How are all of YOU???  - Feeling:accomplished
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I slept in VERY late again today. But Marilyn finally managed to drag me out of bed so we could go and get our manicures and pedicures (finally). When we first got there they weren't going to take us. Then they wanted to do our pedicures, but NOT our manicures -- and we made it clear the manicures were far more important to us. Then suddenly they decided to do both without waiting. I'm still not sure WHY. (They were supposedly expecting a large group, but that never seemed to happen, so who knows?) Both Marilyn and I found it very painful today. And the woman working on Marilyn spoke almost no English and was very hard to understand. And she kept making mistakes! At one point she totally FORGOT to use paraffin on Marilyn's feet. Then she told Marilyn she was going to have to PAY for the paraffin, even though she wasn't doing it! WTF????? Marilyn made it pretty damn clear at that point that she was NOT going to pay for something she didn't get. So even though the woman had started to paint her toenails, she did the paraffin at that point -- it totally made no sense. As Marilyn said afterward, if today had been the first time we'd gone there, we'd never go back again. Fortunately that's not the case. What happens is they have a turnover of employees. The experienced women leave (I'm not sure why), and new women start working there. They'll be straight from Vietnam, so they need to learn the language and to learn the work from scratch. Eventually they'll have it all down. But it's a mess while they're learning. It's a good thing we're understanding about it, because while they're transitioning, we have to suffer through actual PAIN. These two women beat the crap out of our cuticles, and were rough on the nails. They didn't produce as perfect a result as we usually get. But we were okay with it. Don't get me wrong. Usually we get very good service. There's no perfect place to go (we've been having this work done for decades, and this is the best place we've found). It's costly, so we budget carefully for it and do not go too often. But we both feel it's important to have it done, in spite of the pain, discomfort and expense... But, NO, it's NOT 'relaxing.' There's nothing at all relaxing about it. It's necessary, like going to the dentist. Anyway, that's why we have such a hard time convincing ourselves to go and get it done. Hahaha. Tonight is nice! Marilyn is playing Zuma beside me while I blog. We haven't done this in a long time. We're also watching "Gaslight" -- a classic movie that we both love! After getting our nails done we came straight home. Marilyn was very hungry, of course. Anyway, we ate leftover chili -- it was DELICIOUS. I avoided it yesterday, but just couldn't today. It smelled and looked just as wonderful as it tasted! (I'm sensitive to beans, so I have to watch how often I eat them...) We watched some TV and played our game (SimCity BuildIt), then we both had naps. We knew we needed to go shopping this evening, so we wanted to rest first. Marilyn woke me up in time to head to Freddies to shop. We were surprised by the items that they didn't have available that were on our list! They were out of our brand of hot dogs, totally out of any brand of candy corn, didn't have Chelada (Bud Light beer and Clamoto)... Anyway, we still needed several things after we'd finished up at Freddies. After Freddies we headed over to Safeway to pick up the things we'd been unable to purchase. We did GREAT there, getting everything we'd been missing. Halloween has been a traditional holiday in our family since long before either Marilyn or I were born (sister Sue, too). Our Grandma May really loved Halloween, and it was always our Dad's favorite holiday. So we always made a big deal of the day -- long, long before it became fashionable to do so. Now the whole country is wild for Halloween, but that certainly wasn't true when we were younger... As you've already seen in my blog, we always decorate for Halloween. But we also have food traditions, as well. We always eat hot dogs. Mom used to make coney sauce, and Marilyn makes chili that tastes very like it. We also get potato chips and candy corn. We usually have a big bag of Tootsie Roll candies (the variety stuff). We've been getting Baby Ruth and Butterfinger bars forever -- but they didn't have ANY Butterfingers at Freddies (and I forgot to look at Safeway). Marilyn wasn't feeling well by the time we got to Safeway, poor thing. But she managed to both shop there and help me unpack at home... We settled in down in the family room and started watching "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein" again. Marilyn taped it when it was on TCM today. Yes, we watched it on Svengoolie last night, but that was with commercials (and so on), so it was nice to just watch the entire movie all the way through. And we had our magic midnight hour for our game (it happens every night between 12:00 and 1:00). If you've never played the game, you wouldn't understand WHY it's so important to play at that time. But you get a TON of items given to you that you really need! Last night I played for both of us, going back and forth between the iPads, because it's so wasteful NOT to do it. (I don't think we've missed a single night since we started playing this game.) Tomorrow is Marilyn's appointment with the specialist first thing in the morning. Then we'll come home and get ready for the Halloween party at the office. We're going to wear our Rosie the Riveter outfits. I'm going to bake scones to take (if there's time). And maybe make a dip, too. I also have hard-boiled eggs, so I could make deviled eggs -- but they really wouldn't go with what we're having for lunch. So I might wait on that... It's been raining today. But we were lucky -- it wasn't raining while we were shopping! Nor was it raining when we went out for our manicures. But we still got wet, as we have to wear open-toe shoes for getting our pedicures. I forgot to mention that we went to Target after our manicures/pedicures, to get a NEW Fitbit for Marilyn. Her Fitbit died recently and needed replacing. Then we went to Ross so I could get my perfume (I was out). Marilyn got a jacket she's been needing (to replace the one she's worn for years). And I found another pair of pants and decided to get them. I'm still shocked when I try on 18 and it's too big. The new pants are 16. I can't get over being this smaller size, I guess... And I removed Marilyn's old Fitbit from her account, then added the new one. So she's all set again! It was much easier than I'd expected. But I have to admit I'd been hoping it would be smooth sailing to do it. Speaking of, I got more than 4,000 steps today! I'm pleased about that. And that was our Sunday. I think I've remembered everything. Hahaha. I had WONDERFUL dreams this morning, and when I had my nap, too. Always a good thing. And may I wish all my friends WONDERFUL dreams, as well! And I hope those of you who celebrate will have a delightful Halloween! (I hope we get a bunch of Trick or Treaters!!!) - Feeling:happy
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Marilyn had another very, very busy day -- with plenty of stress thrown in. She had a couple of personnel issues she needed to iron out (and, yes, tears were involved). Thankfully my own personnel problems did not involve crying. Let's start out with the good news for today. We hanging in there with our walking! Fitbit update: Marilyn got 6,189 steps today. And I got 10,150 steps. We both took another walk today with our president and friend, Frank -- plus friend Angel, too! It started out raining lightly, but that really got heavy by the time we were headed back to the office! Marilyn had her raincoat with hood -- but it doesn't keep her all that dry! The rest of us had no hoods or hats -- but both Frank and Angel had umbrellas. Angel did try to keep me under his umbrella for much of the way, but that didn't really work all that well. I was pretty soaked by the time I got back to the office. The good thing is that rain just makes my curly hair even more curly! (grin) Sister Sue phoned first thing this morning to talk to us about tennis player Maria Sharapova. For those who might not have heard, she announced on Monday that she failed a drug test at the Australian Open this past January. Sharapova, 28, said she had been taking the drug mildronate, also known as meldonium, for 10 years to address a number of health issues, including low magnesium levels. Meldonium is a blood-flow-promoting drug banned because it helps oxygen uptake and endurance.
Sharapova said she had been getting the flu every couple of months, had irregular EKGs and had evidence of diabetes, which runs in her family. She said she did not realize that mildronate and meldonium are the same drug and was not aware when rules changed January 1 to make the drug illegal. She said that when the World Anti-Doping Agency sent an email about changes to the banned list in December, she did not click on the link to see that the substance had been added to the list.
"I know with this that I face consequences," Sharapova said. "I don't want to end my career this way, and I really hope I'm given another chance to play this game."Marilyn and I were discussing how ridiculous this situation is. First, athletes fail drug tests all the time from innocently taking medications for one purpose or another. Second, Maria has been taking this drug for a decade -- and it only became an illegal drug this year. The situation really seems unfair to me. And the legal consequences seem extreme. We've been fans of Maria forever, so I think it's awful if this situation ends her career. But I've said before that I think the drug testing for all sports is far too strict. If someone has allergies or gets a cold, they don't have the same options you or I would have to take a simple medication to prevent them from getting a secondary infection! That just doesn't make sense to me... Interestingly enough, Marilyn had wondered late last night whether or not Sue had heard about this. So we were pleased when she called to discuss it. She sounded really good to me before I passed the phone over to Marilyn. We didn't get to talk long, though, because we were in a hurry to head to work... I wanted to start training Katie (Marilyn's assistant) to be able to do website edits for various events that 'belong' to Marilyn and Katie (like GFP). As I mentioned yesterday, I had set up Katie, Kate and Jessica so they had access to WordPress and could start interacting with the website. But it's complicated -- and they need some instructions on how to get started. But we started our day heading to Starbucks -- Marilyn, Jeff, Frank and me. Many of the usual suspects (like Rich) were over at OFEA again today. Jeff kindly bought my Starbucks for me! Yes, I got a Flat White again. I love them! Soon after getting back to the office it was time for Staff meeting, which was lightly attended (again due to OFEA). I was in and out of the meeting, because our princess announcement for today was early this morning. I had the time at 9:30 -- but Rich told me it actually began at 9:15! So I was sure we'd be done prior to 10:00 (when Staff meeting begins). But this was David Douglas today, and they have an assembly that covers numerous things besides the princess announcement. So I didn't have the photo until well past 10:00... After that I had Donn at my desk for a brief meeting about what he was working on. Then Katie and I meet and discussed the website. Then Marilyn asked me to join in the walk I mentioned previously. After I had dried myself a bit, I found my blue jacket that I keep at the office -- that has a hood -- and I headed out to find something for lunch. So I did get wet again, I'm afraid. But I was hungry, so I didn't care. Anyway, that's why I had more steps than Marilyn did. My afternoon was really busy. I did find a minute to sit in on one of the Clown interviews that Angel was having in the downstairs conference room. I'd never sat in on one before, so I was really excited to do that! Adeena came in during that to see Marilyn about her upcoming stint as an intern, so I got to see her briefly, too. I almost forgot to mention that I set up with Kate to do the Facebook announcement on Friday, as I'll need to be with Marilyn for her doctor appointment at the time the princess announcement will take place. Kate and I went through it all -- and next week we'll split doing these. A good portion of my afternoon went to working on the How To website, focusing on the website portion. There are two separate pages dedicated to people who use the website. I had been surprised to discover recently that ONE of those pages -- a page I spent ages setting up last year -- was NOT displaying at the site! When I investigated, I found out that the page was there -- but I had failed to set up the navigation for people to be able to find it! How stupid! That's been fixed now -- and was what I was still working on when they went into the Creative Team meeting in the upstairs conference room at 4:00. Marilyn finally came over (not sure exactly when) to remind me that even though I was deeply involved with coding, we needed to go for the day. Happily I'd been waiting for that, so I didn't take long to pull myself together to take off. We drove way out to Marilyn's hair salon, where we were attending a Botox Party. Marilyn's hair dresser, Summer, is always very lovely with us. We were happy they were having another one -- especially before festival time -- as somehow we'd managed to miss the last two! It's not really a 'party.' They have some food to nibble on (a few veggies, meats and cheese, some crackers) and some wine (or cold water). But it's about getting Botox (or some related treatment) done by an expert at a discounted price. WE both have the area between our eyes on our lower forehead done (where you end up with scowl lines). The effect is really nice. It relaxes that 'angry' look that people get, and lightly 'lifts' the eyebrows, as well. It's far more subtle than you see on TV, if you're wondering. Most people have absolutely no idea we've had anything done at all. But neither of us tend to be angry people! Yet our faces can tend to look that way without this treatment... There were a lot of women there, so we had to wait well over an hour in a rather small, crowded room. (And it was hot in there.) Nobody complains, because we want this done (and it costs more other places). Yes, it's painful to have the injections. But well worth it! We were driving home in the dark and it was pouring down rain. Just a miserable night! I forgot to mention that we've been having a cold snap, so the temperature really dropped last night over night! It was only 61' this morning in the house. And I hadn't turned the furnace up very far this morning, so it was still cold when we got home. Then we had a drama about me losing the credit card we use for getting lunches. We had to drive all the way back down to the office to see if it was there. Happily I had stuck it in the pocket of my blue jacket (!!!), so we did find it okay. (sigh) I'm not going to ever take it again, that's for sure! We were home by around 8:00 p.m. -- and both totally worn out from our long, busy and intense day. I didn't mention my own personnel things in any detail, but hopefully it's worked out now. I'll need to follow up on it later on this week... I put on a pot of spaghetti sauce to go with the leftover spaghetti. Marilyn eats the sauce on her wraps (low carb), and I eat it on pasta. And I also made a pot of green beans, which were delicious!!! So that was dinner. I was so tired I couldn't wait to lie down with my Kindle. But I didn't get to read for long! I was out like a light. Thankfully I woke up in time to walk around and get my 10,000 steps! I was only a few hundred steps shy, so it would have been awful not to get them. Can't remember if I mentioned Jeff losing his Fitbit yesterday! But he did find it, thankfully... Now I've blogged, and I can't wait to head back to bed. We need to go shopping at Walmart (were out of a ton of the supplements we both take). And we'd like to go and see sister Sue, too. I guess we'll see how tomorrow goes! We've officially ditched possible plans to head to the beach house this weekend. In fact, we'll need to head into the office to work, instead. It's okay. It's a busy time of year for us. I just went and looked in the mirror. You can barely see my poke marks where the needle went in. I didn't bleed hardly at all, which is unusual for me (I tend to be a bleeder). It hasn't gone to work, yet. But it lasts for months when it does. Tomorrow I have my dental appointment at noon. I'm still not sure how I'm getting there, but I'm leaning toward walking to get the steps. Sweet moment: I had a phone call from June telling me that either she or Jim would take me! Remember that they're both sick with that nasty flu right now! I think it's lovely of her to offer, but I can't let either of them do that, considering. I'm worried about them as it is! Well, bedtime! Sleep well, friends. - Feeling:busy
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Poor Marilyn is really suffering. And coughing something awful! (I'm very lucky I didn't have much of a cough with my bug -- but I figure that was because of the antibiotic I was taking.) My damn hip/back is still giving me fits. Sister Sue took me shopping (THANKS, Sue!!!) this morning. I needed several things. I ended up pretty near to tears -- and boiling mad -- while shopping. Our local Freddies is doing a 'remodel' -- probably related to the soon-to-be-open New Seasons store down on Lombard (pretty damn close to Fred Meyer). But what a huge mess! And to rearrange one aisle from things being at one end to being flipped to the other end? Seriously???!!! What's the point? To drive us all crazy? Every shopper in the store today was complaining LOUDLY to anyone who would listen about this mess. I had Sue waiting and Marilyn home sick and had wanted to just 'dash' to the store and back. Oh. Hell. NO. It took forever to even find the most simple items, like BREAD! I was really wondering why I wasn't shopping at Safeway today, I have to tell you. Plus I was already in pain (hip/back), so adding three times as many steps to the trip was awful. I was in terrible pain by the time I got back home again... Anyway, I did get Marilyn a London fog tea (she loves those). And her Cuties and canned cheese and crackers. You know how it is: You can only face certain foods when you're really sick. The cats have more food and their bottled water (I replaced their bucket as soon as I got home). It's Thursday night, so I need to go and do the garbage and recycling (not real garbage week, thankfully). I was just outside, where it's wet from rain earlier, but at least not raining now. But there was something going on out there. Marilyn and I were just discussing this yesterday -- again. We've talked about it many, many times. You get a 'feeling' -- usually a 'bad feeling' about something. But you ignore it. And then you're usually sorry you did! Anyway, at night when I'm outside ALONE (in the dark), working on the recycling and/or garbage (and composting or whatever), I generally pay close attention to any feelings I get. I listen carefully to noises. I sniff the air (cigarette smoke and so on are tip-offs). I just turn up my sensitivity, if you will. Because you never know... I was so bothered by what I heard and saw just now that I came inside and actually shut OFF a bunch of lights in the house. We almost never do that, by the way. We have lights on both inside and out much of the time. It's our light bill, so why not? My Aunt gave me hell once that she could 'never tell' when we were home or not. I told her that was the idea! Assume we're home and assume we're awake -- especially if you're thinking of doing harm to our home or to us, thank you very much. Maybe that's paranoid, but we're two women living alone and we prefer to be safe rather than sorry. BAD NEWS:
Marilyn has a MEETING tomorrow morning that she MUST attend -- sick or not. (I wish she'd let me go along, at least to be in the car while she's driving there -- but she said no.) I guess she can come home after the meeting, thankfully.
We were supposed to go out to dinner with June and Jim and sister Sue tomorrow night -- to celebrate Jim's birthday. Obviously with Marilyn sick, I figured we would postpone. THEN I find out today that we've been contacted by Ron and Jan -- the funeral of Ron's mother is tomorrow night at 6:00, and they really, really want the two of us to attend (and maybe go to dinner with them after that).
I suppose even with Marilyn REALLY SICK we should try to go to that funeral -- especially if they went out of their way to ask us to attend. But I feel pretty strongly that Marilyn shouldn't be going out -- especially after having to go to work sick in the morning. What a mess.
I need to phone Jim and June and Sue and explain all this (I'm sure they'll understand). Ron is very broken up over the loss of his mother. (Our friend June will really be able to relate to that.)Meanwhile, I'd better get to the recycling and cleaning the cat boxes and so on. It's a huge PAIN to go up and down the stairs right now, I'm telling you. But I switched pain pills and am hanging in there. I should wash my hair (it's dirty). Maybe when I'm done with the garbage and recycling. That sounds like fun (not). - Feeling:aggravated
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Yes, the TIME is correct: It's currently just past 4:00 a.m. NO, Marilyn and I have NOT been to bed yet tonight. Remember my last entry? I mentioned that I thought one of the outdoor spigots wasn't covered. It wasn't. So I went outside, using my walking stick (Marilyn suggested that!), walking carefully on the snow that's now covered with a thick coating of ice from the freezing rain. And sure enough, there's no cover! I've brought one from the garage, so I manage to get it on. But there's a coating of ICE on the faucet that I'm breaking free... I go back in and Marilyn and I talk and I decide I should have tested the faucet by turning it on. So I head back out and repeat the walking with the walking stick and so on. It's VERY slippery out there. And I get back inside to relate the bad news: I turned it on, but nothing came out. We've got a frozen pipe!!! Marilyn goes right into action. She remembers doing this many times when we lived at home with Mom and Dad. We were always having pipes freeze! And she takes a hair dryer and starts working on the pipes down in our laundry room. I'm in and out and I finally decide I should turn ON the faucet and leave it on. But I don't want to leave it entirely uncovered. So I take this hand warming thing and activate it. Then I put it on the faucet and I wrap it up with a towel. (I used to always wrap the outdoor spigots with rags and tape in the old days.) I need to leave the faucet part uncovered for when the water frees up and comes out -- but cover the rest. Meanwhile Marilyn is working away. She has to stand on a step stool and lean across the downstairs fridge, with her arms way up in the air holding the hair dryer! I can only imagine how painful and exhausting that has to have been!!! Plus there's dust there from the damn ants coming in around the fridge (even with spraying I can't keep them away). That spot -- which is close to the front porch -- is where we originally had an ant issue when we moved in. The previous owners had to have them drill down through the porch (which was only concrete then) and spray into the porch. Since then we had the porch covered in stone. But that area has always been a magnet for ants. Not sure WHY. Anyway, she takes a couple of very short breaks, as it's tiring and she's so allergic to the dust! I keep going in and out to check things outside. I've been walking from the garage (in and out the big door for the car) around the front of the house, because that's flat, at least. I'm nervous about going down the porch steps, as I took one hell of a fall in the last house down porch steps when there was ice from freezing rain. (I still have an injury from that fall today.) But I suddenly decide I can go out the front door and lean over and LISTEN to see if the water is flowing. Meanwhile, I go in the living room and PRAY VERY HARD to St. Jude for his help. Not sure why it took me so long to get around to asking him for help. But I prayed several times. Then I went back outside. It was hard to know what was up inside the house, as we've got water running in the kitchen and my bathroom, as well as the laundry room sink. Thankfully, considering! It's not uncommon for people to get more than one pipe frozen when it happens, after all. I'm out on the porch and I swear I heard a drop in the bucket I have under the faucet. Then I swear I hear another! But that's it. So I go back in the house and downstairs to talk to Marilyn. I'm talking to her about the various pipes and what I've heard and I point toward the window that's right near the pipes and I suddenly see water POURING HARD from the faucet!!! Now I'm trying to RUN upstairs, and tripping over my own feet in my haste to get outside and turn the spigot off!!!!!!!! It's quite a mess, as I left it on more than I should have, and the water is really coming out hard. It's filled the bucket and poured on the ground and made the area near it sopping wet and slushy (snow and freezing rain). I get the towel and hand warmer off so I can turn the faucet and finally shut it down. Then I put the cover back on and move the bucket full of water. I'm pretty soaked! Boots, socks, feet, the bottom of my pants. I'd already noticed a difference with the kitchen sink, by the way. As Marilyn heated the pipes, the faucet of the kitchen sink had been flowing more freely -- and no longer made that SOUND that tells you the pipes are starting to freeze (which I'd noticed all day long). The water also seems to be better in my bathroom, too... Is this all because of the missing cover??? We've never had our pipes freeze in this house. We don't even run the cold water in Marilyn's bathroom (sink or tub), and it's fine. Those pipes appear to be well insulated. But the pipes in the laundry room? They're right up against the outside wall of concrete, just under a window that's not insulated! I'd mentioned to Marilyn how COLD the laundry room seemed the last few days. I know it's not a warm room, but I don't ever recall it being this cold before. I guess we need to think about those covers for pipes that you can slip over them. I read a lot about the outdoor spigot -- and several times saw that they didn't think those covers we use actually work. Yet we never have trouble when it's covered. I'm pretty convinced it wouldn't have frozen if I hadn't forgot to put the cover on. That faucet comes out of the brick planter that's on the side of the porch. I'm guessing the pipes are simply buried in the soil that fills it, but it's hard to know for sure. I touched the bricks many times, and they were VERY COLD. But soil can actually be very insulating. Should we winterize that window? We've never done it before and we've lived here for more than 20 years with no issues. But if it would avoid something like this, why not? Well, I'm VERY TIRED now and ready to head to bed. I'm grateful to Marilyn and St. Jude for fixing this situation -- which shouldn't have happened in the first place. Again, it's not like me to forget to cover that spigot!!! I've been pretty damn good about both outdoor spigots (the other one was covered from last year), as a rule. The miracle here was that BLOGGING somehow made me think about it! And check it. Because otherwise we could have had a nasty surprise, if that pipe had burst! And THIS is why I'm adamant about running the water when it's freezing or colder! Because we had a pipe burst in our house back on Fessenden street -- in the part of the basement that had dirt floors. What an awful thing that was! It happened on Christmas Day one year -- when there was no way to get help from a plumber. It made a HUGE HOLE in that room in the basement! I remember it like it was yesterday (and it must have been three decades ago, at least). We're very blessed. I'm so glad we're NOT dealing with flooding this year. All that rain, and now this -- and we're doing fine. I'm going to do a lot of praying about my gratitude, believe me! Oh! It probably helps that we blessed our house today! I didn't think about that before. (smile) Marilyn was so calm about all this. She remembers always feeling that it was no big thing to have frozen pipes -- because you could always thaw them (which she did many, many times). I must have helped, but I think it was HER THING, if you know what I mean. And my memories go back to that burst pipe, rather than the times we fixed things without serious issues... Good night, my friends. May all your pipes stay perfectly warm and working! (I hate freezing rain so much. More than I can ever, ever say.) - Feeling:ecstatic
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According to the weather report tonight, Portland broke the old rainfall record of 1.31 inches set in 1951 with a total rainfall of 1.56 inches. By evening the total rainfall at Portland International Airport was 1.8 inches. According to the Bureau of Environmental Services, the heavy rainfall on Wednesday caused Portland's combined sewer system to overflow to the Willamette River.
One to two inches of rain are possible by Thursday morning. The storm is expected to move south and east as the evening progresses and should break apart between 8:00 and 11:00 p.m. More periodic rain is expected Thursday. Another front is on pace to impact the area by mid-morning Friday.
I was in and out of the house numerous times to try and keep an eye on the situation. I called and talked to Hector, just in case I'd need him here on an emergency basis. Marilyn and I are really anxious to avoid any flooding, if possible. Hector has done the gutters, but with so much stuff coming down, we'll need him to do them again for sure.
He's coming out Friday. He was going to come tomorrow, but I'll be at work. Tomorrow is our Annual Board Meeting. We'll be installing our new President who will serve for the next two years. (We also announce the new list of officers and the annual award winners, plus introduce new Board Members.)
Marilyn worked until 8:00 tonight getting everything ready for tomorrow. She's sound asleep on the sofa right now.
I got soaked to the skin at one point today, going outside. I was messing with things to make sure all was well. I also smashed my left thumb (it still hurts) and shattered that fingernail. Actually, I think I broke more than one nail. How does that suck?! Looks great, yeah.
After I came in I was miserable, so I took a hot bath in Marilyn's tub. Silly, because I didn't turn on jets! I could have just used my own tub... Oh well. It felt good after getting so wet.
Later in the day I worked much harder to bundle up and stay dry. I wore my 'little red riding hood' jacket that June bought me. It's sort of maroon colored. It's really light-weight, and will go over heavy clothes. It has long sleeves and a hood, and snaps twice in front. I even got out our Spirit Mountain umbrella to use with it -- and my fuzzy-lined Crocs that are so warm and cozy on my feet. So I managed NOT to get soaked again. (But I didn't really do anything but look around. Not like the stuff I was doing earlier.)
I felt lousy today. Pain all over. My back and legs. My neck and shoulders. My ribs ache. My right wrist is so painful. I have no idea why. I started to wonder if maybe I've got fibromyalgia -- but I admit I don't know much about the condition. Some of my friends have it and have talked a little about it, but I haven't done any research. I keep thinking about my knee last year, and how the pain seemed to move around. I guess I need to go see my nurse practitioner. But I need to do that, anyway...
Marilyn's legs were sore tonight, too. So there is the outside chance we both have a bug of some kind. (sigh)
I spoke with my niece Candy today. She was seriously concerned about her mother (sister Sue), and was talking about putting Sue in the hospital. I called Sue: She was at cribbage (!!!). And not taking her health seriously at all during our conversation. She had been thinking about staying home from her cribbage tournament this weekend -- but suddenly during that call she was thinking she would go. I wonder if Candy is as frustrated and worried as I am?
Sue went to a tournament last weekend. And has one both this weekend and next, too. (As you can tell from me sharing here, she goes to a lot of tornaments all year long.) I think she could stand to miss one for her health, but it's not up to me. I'm just worried about her.
I hope the weather will give us a break. No, I don't mind rain. I've grown up with it, living in Portland. But extreme rain that causes flooding is just too much. The constant stress and worrying makes me crazy.
Well, work tomorrow -- a long day. I need to get to bed... - Feeling:sore
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Marilyn and I went out in the rain to attend the Finals of the Sing-Off. Very entertaining.
Soul'd Out won the competition. Little wonder, as they just took second place for the National Title in New York City this past April. All three groups were really delightful.
I'm better, but still fighting this bug. And Marilyn continues to fight off something, as well. It didn't help that she ended up standing out in the rain and getting soaked (I didn't realize she was outside!). Poor thing...
We're heading to bed very soon. I seem to be fighting losing my voice, as well. Can't have that!
Anyway, there are certainly a lot of festival activities now each weekend, that's for sure! Plus plenty of work to do...
Cinco had a lot of rain to deal with today. I wonder what their crowds were like? It looked to me like there were quite a few people there. (We had to stop by the office, we we drove right past them...) - Feeling:optimistic
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Kind of funny last night. Marilyn was sound asleep on the sofa in the family room. Henry (our yellow cat) was sound asleep in the chair in the corner of the room (used to be my chair, but the cats took it over ages ago). We have our old rocker in another corner of the room, and I used a thick towel to make it into another happy little 'cat bed.' Colin (our black cat) was sound asleep in the rocker. The only one WIDE AWAKE in the entire house was me. Hahaha.
Marilyn and I had started to watch the film "Beautiful Creatures," together. But she drifted off and I was awake watching it alone. It wasn't a horror film, so that didn't matter. (I'm not big on watching scary flicks all by myself late at night...) It wasn't fantastic or anything, though I found it interesting enough that I had to see the end. There was quality to the movie that made it worth seeing, even though I'm not sure I'd actually recommend it to anyone...
I tried to wake Marilyn to see if she wanted to actually go to bed, rather than sleep on the sofa, but she was really out. I put on "The Day They Hanged Kid Curry" (from cable), thinking it would be fine for her to sleep to. (She likes TV on when she's sleeping, but I don't like it to be something that might give her nightmares.) Then there was some Jerry Lewis movie was on, so I just let it play (harmless enough).
As for me, staying up for the movie meant I was awake when our local wind storm hit here (around 2:00 a.m.). It was slated to go from 2:00 - 4:00. I can't recall how late it kept me awake, but it was hard to go to sleep while it was raging outside. It was coming down our chimney and the flue for the furnace and really making a racket, even though Marilyn and the cats slept right through it. (smile) I wasn't really worried about it, it was just noisy. We had no damage right around here, though I guess some parts of town had their power knocked out (!!!) and trees down, etc.
We got up pretty good this morning, needing to head out for the funeral we were attending across town. Marilyn did a GREAT job of getting us there in a timely fashion. We had to walk in through POURING rain -- it was stupid of me not to wear something with a hood (or take an umbrella along). But we managed not to get too wet going inside.
As we entered, they handed each person a tiny metal (silver colored) heart and told us to 'remember the love.' How sweet! I held it in my hand during the entire service. It was a joint service for Betty and her husband Jim -- they died on the same day (!!!), a few hours apart. What amazing people they were, even more wonderful than we'd known before hearing people speak about them. They were Catholic, and we both really loved the service. Local 'celebrities' Michael Allen Harrison (the pianist and song writer) and singer Julianne Johnson were there to perform. It was interesting to find out what an amazing accompanist Michael is -- he really did his best to help Julianne, because today was far from her best performance. She has a powerful instrument, but she did a really bad job with both numbers. One was "Ave Maria," and it was pretty sad to hear her Latin there inside a Catholic church...
The pastor, Father Boly, was a delight. The Cantor (Katie Fullmer) had a lovely voice. All-in-all it was a really moving and lovely service. The only down side was that it was raining even harder when we left and I got really soaked going to the car. My pants we totally damp all along the bottom and my leather jacket was actually soaked all the way through. (brr)
The reception after was held downtown at the Benson Hotel (one of the nicest hotels in the city), in the Crystal room. Pretty grand. But we didn't attend. We did go and get a bite to eat after the funeral, though, which was nice.
We stopped by the office after the service and I moved some equipment I hadn't moved last night (with help from Marilyn!). Then we headed home and I took time to change out of my wet things and dry my hair. Then I got stuff ready and went out in the neighborhood to 'take Christmas' to our neighbors -- finally!
Thankfully it didn't rain that hard while I was out -- and I did end up inside at some houses. I did six houses today, so that's really good...
When I got back Marilyn and the cats were all asleep in the same places they'd been in late last night! I changed and headed for a much-needed nap. I barely stayed awake at all to read my current book on my Kindle.
When I got up I fixed dinner and we ate and watched TV, including "Jeopardy" and "Wheel of Fortune." All in all a nice -- and a PRODUCTIVE -- day! Tomorrow we have to go get our manicures and pedicures -- both long overdue! (And we should go to the office to work, too...)
Well, that's my Saturday. I hope your weekend is good!
- Feeling:happy
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