Some Interesting (And Tiring) Days
It's been a long and rather eventful several days, and I'm getting worn out a lot lately. I think I need to get more rest than I have been getting!
Last weekend I traveled to my Grandma's in Horseheads, NY, with my mom, Mandy and the kids. It was a brief trip. We left Saturday morning, got there in the early afternoon. The kids explored the house and were in awe at how big it seemed to them. We didn't do too much the rest of the day, just hung out at Grandma's (although I did go to church with her, my mom and one of my aunts), and ate a late dinner. Preparations for the next day were started by my Grandma, and eventually I was tired enough to call it a night.
Sunday was rather rainy, which kinda stunk since the kids couldn't really run around and explore the very large backyard at Grandma's. They spent most of the time watching programs on tv, while we got food ready for the afternoon party that was going to happen at another aunt's home. My aunt's children were all at her house, so she invited anyone else who wanted to come see them over there, too. It was the reason why we had come down for the short weekend. I hadn't seen a few of my cousins in, gosh, I don't know how long. Anyway, we got to my aunt's around 4ish, and ate tons of food and talked with relatives for a long time. Pictures were taken, laughter was shared, it was fun! We ended up leaving around 10ish, way past the kids' bedtime. I didn't stay up too much longer after getting back to Grandma's, because I was tired as well.
We left Grandma's on Monday morning around 10am so we could go to Hobby Lobby in Elmira (about 10 minutes away) before making the trip back to Niagara. There is a Hobby Lobby in Western NY, but it's probably about a 45 minute drive, and I just haven't made the effort to go and find it. So we entered the store, and wow, it was a lot bigger than I thought! After some exploring, I found the bead aisles (yes, more than one aisle!), and got excited when I saw 50% off signs for the huge majority of the beads. I don't remember how many strands of beautiful beads I ended up holding on to in my hands (shoulda got a hand basket, but didn't think of it!), but by the time we checked out, I had spent $56 and some change. I told the cashier where we were from and that there is a store near us in Cheektowage, although she said Depew. She said that store was bigger, which I can't possibly imagine!! One of these days, I guess I will need to make a field trip to the one near us! We all got back into the van, and on our way home we went, getting there around 3pm after a couple mandatory stops on the way. It was a quick couple of days, but it was fun traveling with the kids, and I'm glad that we all got to go and have a good time.
What marred the trip just a little bit was the fact that during the day on Sunday, we found out about a family back home who had suffered a very tragic loss of a loved one who found life apparently too unbearable to take anymore, and ended it very abruptly. The shock of it all still haunts me, the whys were never answered with a note, and I feel so terribly awful for the family. I will never understand why it happened, although really, it's not my place to understand. I only wish the family eventual peace, and my thoughts will be with them for a long time to come.
Tuesday was an interesting day, starting off by going to rehab and being rather tired trying to exercise. Afterward, I went to The Silo for lunch with a couple of my friends, and it was a great time to hang out near the water and get lots of fresh air. On the way home, as I was driving back up the hill, I noticed that my car didn't seem to want to get up that hill very well. As we kept driving, I heard a noise, and asked my friends if they heard it, too, but they thought it was the bus next to us as we waited for the light to turn red. When we continued going, eventually we really did hear a weird noise, and I knew something had to be wrong! Dee thought it was my muffler scraping on the road, but I have heard that sound before, and I just knew that wasn't it (besides that fact that I had had my muffler replaced not even a year ago). The closer we got to the Niagara University campus, where I had to drop off Dee, the more the noise got louder. Suddenly it dawned on me what it could be: a flat tire! I finally got onto the campus and pulled into the nearest parking lot. We all got out of the car, and sure enough, the back wheel on my side was flat as a pancake. Gosh darn it!! It was just before 4pm, so I called my dad, who works less than 5 minutes from the campus. He told me he could come when he finished up working at 4:30, so we just stood outside the car and chatted about a ton of things while waiting. He showed up at 4:45, precisely when Renee predicted he'd show (she's good!), and he changed the tire (apparently I had run over a nail). I dropped Dee off safely at her car, and made my way home. Renee took off after that, and I was hoping I could relax a little before going to the wake of the above-mentioned person who had died. Not so much, though!
Shortly after ironing pants and changing for the wake, my mom called me to say they were coming to pick me up. We got to the funeral home a little after 6pm, and there was a line forming out the door. We couldn't believe it, and yet, it didn't surprise me. We ended up waiting in line to give our condolences for 2 hours. I've never seen so many people who thought highly of this person, and the person's family. It was such a tribute to this family. I am sure that they couldn't believe how many people came through the line. My guess would have to be at least 1,000 in the 4+ hours of the wake. It was something to see, that's for sure.
We left the funeral home after 8pm to go search for something to eat, since none of us had dinner. I suggested Denny's, so we headed there. Almost wish I had suggested something else, because it was just so noisy. I usually have a high tolerance for noise, but I was tired and hungry, and I knew my dad was irritated with the commotion as well. The waitress kept forgetting to bring things, too. The food was ok, but by the time we got out of there, I was just so happy!! My parents dropped me off, and I tried to relax the rest of the night before I headed to bed.
Wednesday, I went to a movie with Mandy and the kids. We saw Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, which we had all seen before, just not on the big screen. The movie theater does free movies for kids every week during the summer, so I wanted to go see this one with them! It was a fun time, and the kids enjoyed the movie! I saw them to their car to say good bye and then headed to mine. There was a lady leaning against her car, and when I started coming over, she asked me if that was my car. I said yes, and she said I had hit it. I was a little stunned, because seriously, I would have totally remembered doing something like that! She pointed to a red line on the side of her white car, and told me that I had hit it. She then pointed to a spot on my car door, and apparently thought that spot was a white mark (it was chipped paint), and said again that I hit her door. Then she kept telling me that I had to be more careful, and that I was parked too close. I said I was right in between the lines, which I was. Then, I unlocked my car door and opened it to see how it could have hit her car. The red line on her car didn't even come anywhere near where my door opened up. So then I knew she was giving me a crock of shit. The only reason I didn't argue with her was because she said she didn't want my info, but that I had to be more careful because I had hit her car (which by then, I knew she was loony). I seriously think the only reason she didn't do anything was because she didn't expect me to be wearing oxygen. I got into my car to start leaving, and I heard the lady in the van on the other side of my car tell the crazy lady to try using a Magic Eraser to get the red line out. Trust me, this works, because my sister got off a ton of rust with one of those on her white car!! So anyway, I was totally highly irritated, even though I kept telling myself to just shake it off since the crazy lady didn't do anything about her car that I did NOT hit!!
I got home and listened to messages I had gotten during the movie, and called my dad back. He had made some calls about getting new tires, and told me that one guy could get a pair of new ones from Rochester, NY, but wanted to know first if I could afford $170.78. Unfortunately, I could. Since I am not getting a tv right away anymore, the money I'd been saving for one could be used for emergencies, and sadly, my car needed a new tire!! Not a fun way to spend money, I'd say!! So he said he'd call the guy back and let him know he could order the tires. I made a couple more calls, ate some lunch, and then seriously had to lay down for awhile. I had gotten up around 8:30am so I could get ready to meet Mandy an hour later, so I was tired from that and from not having naps for 3 days in a row. It caught up with me! The nap wasn't all that great at first, but eventually, I was out like a light. I slept for several hours, and it felt good! I was able to carry on for the rest of the day!
And then there is today, Thursday. Although officially now it's Friday, since it's a bit after midnight. Well, I went to rehab, which was good, and then I got home and called to see if I could get the new tires on my car. They said yes, so I went right over. I ended up talking to the owner of the garage, who my dad has known for years and years, for almost the entire time the tires were being put on Miss Saturn. He was amazed that I had all 4 original tires on my 12 year old car (yes, I said the orginal tires), and that my car only has over 36K miles. I told him I simply can't afford another car, so I need to keep mine well as best as I could! I also talked to him quite a bit about PH, since he was asking me questions about how I was doing. It was so nice talking to him, he's a good guy! My car was finished eventually, and I went back home. I ended up having a mellow afternoon, and a nice nap, waking up to a phone call from my dad who was coming to pick up one of my old tires so I'd have it as a back up in case I needed it. Then I made dinner, and ate one of my only 2 tomatoes that grew from the plant on the front porch. It was tasty! I just wish more had grown! My evening after that consisted of participating in an hour and a half survey, and then watching my Netflix movie (The Last King of Scotland, with Forest Whitaker). And now I think I'm caught up with my crazy and hectic last week! Here's hoping for a relaxing weekend!!
Last weekend I traveled to my Grandma's in Horseheads, NY, with my mom, Mandy and the kids. It was a brief trip. We left Saturday morning, got there in the early afternoon. The kids explored the house and were in awe at how big it seemed to them. We didn't do too much the rest of the day, just hung out at Grandma's (although I did go to church with her, my mom and one of my aunts), and ate a late dinner. Preparations for the next day were started by my Grandma, and eventually I was tired enough to call it a night.
Sunday was rather rainy, which kinda stunk since the kids couldn't really run around and explore the very large backyard at Grandma's. They spent most of the time watching programs on tv, while we got food ready for the afternoon party that was going to happen at another aunt's home. My aunt's children were all at her house, so she invited anyone else who wanted to come see them over there, too. It was the reason why we had come down for the short weekend. I hadn't seen a few of my cousins in, gosh, I don't know how long. Anyway, we got to my aunt's around 4ish, and ate tons of food and talked with relatives for a long time. Pictures were taken, laughter was shared, it was fun! We ended up leaving around 10ish, way past the kids' bedtime. I didn't stay up too much longer after getting back to Grandma's, because I was tired as well.
We left Grandma's on Monday morning around 10am so we could go to Hobby Lobby in Elmira (about 10 minutes away) before making the trip back to Niagara. There is a Hobby Lobby in Western NY, but it's probably about a 45 minute drive, and I just haven't made the effort to go and find it. So we entered the store, and wow, it was a lot bigger than I thought! After some exploring, I found the bead aisles (yes, more than one aisle!), and got excited when I saw 50% off signs for the huge majority of the beads. I don't remember how many strands of beautiful beads I ended up holding on to in my hands (shoulda got a hand basket, but didn't think of it!), but by the time we checked out, I had spent $56 and some change. I told the cashier where we were from and that there is a store near us in Cheektowage, although she said Depew. She said that store was bigger, which I can't possibly imagine!! One of these days, I guess I will need to make a field trip to the one near us! We all got back into the van, and on our way home we went, getting there around 3pm after a couple mandatory stops on the way. It was a quick couple of days, but it was fun traveling with the kids, and I'm glad that we all got to go and have a good time.
What marred the trip just a little bit was the fact that during the day on Sunday, we found out about a family back home who had suffered a very tragic loss of a loved one who found life apparently too unbearable to take anymore, and ended it very abruptly. The shock of it all still haunts me, the whys were never answered with a note, and I feel so terribly awful for the family. I will never understand why it happened, although really, it's not my place to understand. I only wish the family eventual peace, and my thoughts will be with them for a long time to come.
Tuesday was an interesting day, starting off by going to rehab and being rather tired trying to exercise. Afterward, I went to The Silo for lunch with a couple of my friends, and it was a great time to hang out near the water and get lots of fresh air. On the way home, as I was driving back up the hill, I noticed that my car didn't seem to want to get up that hill very well. As we kept driving, I heard a noise, and asked my friends if they heard it, too, but they thought it was the bus next to us as we waited for the light to turn red. When we continued going, eventually we really did hear a weird noise, and I knew something had to be wrong! Dee thought it was my muffler scraping on the road, but I have heard that sound before, and I just knew that wasn't it (besides that fact that I had had my muffler replaced not even a year ago). The closer we got to the Niagara University campus, where I had to drop off Dee, the more the noise got louder. Suddenly it dawned on me what it could be: a flat tire! I finally got onto the campus and pulled into the nearest parking lot. We all got out of the car, and sure enough, the back wheel on my side was flat as a pancake. Gosh darn it!! It was just before 4pm, so I called my dad, who works less than 5 minutes from the campus. He told me he could come when he finished up working at 4:30, so we just stood outside the car and chatted about a ton of things while waiting. He showed up at 4:45, precisely when Renee predicted he'd show (she's good!), and he changed the tire (apparently I had run over a nail). I dropped Dee off safely at her car, and made my way home. Renee took off after that, and I was hoping I could relax a little before going to the wake of the above-mentioned person who had died. Not so much, though!
Shortly after ironing pants and changing for the wake, my mom called me to say they were coming to pick me up. We got to the funeral home a little after 6pm, and there was a line forming out the door. We couldn't believe it, and yet, it didn't surprise me. We ended up waiting in line to give our condolences for 2 hours. I've never seen so many people who thought highly of this person, and the person's family. It was such a tribute to this family. I am sure that they couldn't believe how many people came through the line. My guess would have to be at least 1,000 in the 4+ hours of the wake. It was something to see, that's for sure.
We left the funeral home after 8pm to go search for something to eat, since none of us had dinner. I suggested Denny's, so we headed there. Almost wish I had suggested something else, because it was just so noisy. I usually have a high tolerance for noise, but I was tired and hungry, and I knew my dad was irritated with the commotion as well. The waitress kept forgetting to bring things, too. The food was ok, but by the time we got out of there, I was just so happy!! My parents dropped me off, and I tried to relax the rest of the night before I headed to bed.
Wednesday, I went to a movie with Mandy and the kids. We saw Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs, which we had all seen before, just not on the big screen. The movie theater does free movies for kids every week during the summer, so I wanted to go see this one with them! It was a fun time, and the kids enjoyed the movie! I saw them to their car to say good bye and then headed to mine. There was a lady leaning against her car, and when I started coming over, she asked me if that was my car. I said yes, and she said I had hit it. I was a little stunned, because seriously, I would have totally remembered doing something like that! She pointed to a red line on the side of her white car, and told me that I had hit it. She then pointed to a spot on my car door, and apparently thought that spot was a white mark (it was chipped paint), and said again that I hit her door. Then she kept telling me that I had to be more careful, and that I was parked too close. I said I was right in between the lines, which I was. Then, I unlocked my car door and opened it to see how it could have hit her car. The red line on her car didn't even come anywhere near where my door opened up. So then I knew she was giving me a crock of shit. The only reason I didn't argue with her was because she said she didn't want my info, but that I had to be more careful because I had hit her car (which by then, I knew she was loony). I seriously think the only reason she didn't do anything was because she didn't expect me to be wearing oxygen. I got into my car to start leaving, and I heard the lady in the van on the other side of my car tell the crazy lady to try using a Magic Eraser to get the red line out. Trust me, this works, because my sister got off a ton of rust with one of those on her white car!! So anyway, I was totally highly irritated, even though I kept telling myself to just shake it off since the crazy lady didn't do anything about her car that I did NOT hit!!
I got home and listened to messages I had gotten during the movie, and called my dad back. He had made some calls about getting new tires, and told me that one guy could get a pair of new ones from Rochester, NY, but wanted to know first if I could afford $170.78. Unfortunately, I could. Since I am not getting a tv right away anymore, the money I'd been saving for one could be used for emergencies, and sadly, my car needed a new tire!! Not a fun way to spend money, I'd say!! So he said he'd call the guy back and let him know he could order the tires. I made a couple more calls, ate some lunch, and then seriously had to lay down for awhile. I had gotten up around 8:30am so I could get ready to meet Mandy an hour later, so I was tired from that and from not having naps for 3 days in a row. It caught up with me! The nap wasn't all that great at first, but eventually, I was out like a light. I slept for several hours, and it felt good! I was able to carry on for the rest of the day!
And then there is today, Thursday. Although officially now it's Friday, since it's a bit after midnight. Well, I went to rehab, which was good, and then I got home and called to see if I could get the new tires on my car. They said yes, so I went right over. I ended up talking to the owner of the garage, who my dad has known for years and years, for almost the entire time the tires were being put on Miss Saturn. He was amazed that I had all 4 original tires on my 12 year old car (yes, I said the orginal tires), and that my car only has over 36K miles. I told him I simply can't afford another car, so I need to keep mine well as best as I could! I also talked to him quite a bit about PH, since he was asking me questions about how I was doing. It was so nice talking to him, he's a good guy! My car was finished eventually, and I went back home. I ended up having a mellow afternoon, and a nice nap, waking up to a phone call from my dad who was coming to pick up one of my old tires so I'd have it as a back up in case I needed it. Then I made dinner, and ate one of my only 2 tomatoes that grew from the plant on the front porch. It was tasty! I just wish more had grown! My evening after that consisted of participating in an hour and a half survey, and then watching my Netflix movie (The Last King of Scotland, with Forest Whitaker). And now I think I'm caught up with my crazy and hectic last week! Here's hoping for a relaxing weekend!!
Comments
I am sorry to hear about the loss of a family friend, I never understand that either, but as you siad, it is not our job to understand.
I hope that you are getting some rest . BTW That Huzzy that said you hit her car, I wouldnt have ben so nice, but I guess you were so tired..lol
Hope to talk to ya soon. Love ya..Hugs :))