Daily Ponderings

Only a couple more days of August are left, and most nights are already feeling as if it's fall. I'm really sad that summer is ending. I mostly don't like the thought of it disappearing for another 9 months because for those months, I will be mostly cold!!! I know that soon I will be putting away my summer clothes and dragging out the fall/winter ones. I'll have to encase my windows in plastic to keep winter drafts from coming into the house. I need to figure out ways to keep my place warmer without blasting the heat (which I never do). I really need to find out how to keep my feet and legs warmer, because they are the parts of my body that just get coldest the fastest. Long underwear and 2 or 3 pairs of socks and slippers don't seem to be cutting it with me!! Before long, it'll also be bath season!! If only there was a way to stay in the tub all day so that I wouldn't be cold! The weather changes are bringing me headaches almost every day, literally. Most...

I had purchased 2 paint by numbers in the spring to work on during the summer, since I didn't think I'd be so busy. Well, I was busy! So I didn't start the first one until the end of July. I worked on it mostly outside in the backyard on my new little table set. I finally finished it last night, and I love it! I plan on getting a frame and putting it in my kitchen. I started the other painting tonight, but that one is insane! It's so much harder than the other one, and will take much more time! I do love painting, though! I just wish I had a natural talent at it rather than relying on numbers!

I was at my stove early this afternoon making some grits for lunch when my fridge started making a horrible noise. Now, all summer my fridge has been making noises off and on, sometimes sounding like it's thawing out, but when I check it, everything is fine. But this noise was totally different, and it almost seemed like the fridge was moving a little bit. I stared at it and said out loud, "What the hell is wrong with my fridge now??" I glanced in the computer room and Mittens was on the rug, frozen in the middle of cleaning, and staring at me wide eyed. Several seconds later, the fridge stopped making any noise. So then I thought, oh great, it broke! But when I opened it up, everything seemed fine. Hmmm, oh well. Back to cooking! Minutes passed by, and something in my mind said EARTHQUAKE. And 10 minutes after that, I got an alert on my phone saying that an earthquake had indeed happened, but in Virginia! Whoa! I can't believe it could be felt way up here, although...

I got up at 9am this morning and proceeded to make several phone calls that I realized I needed to make today. The first was the Medicaid office in Lockport, who told me I had to call my caseworker in Niagara Falls to find out the information I need so I can send in a check to pay for Medicaid for September. Give me a break!!! I left a message for my caseworker, and guess what?? SHE NEVER CALLED ME!! I did, however, finally get the paperwork in the mail this afternoon!! I opened it up, read everything, wrote a check, and flew to the post office to mail it! I sure hope that it is enough time to get there, or else I'm going to be royally pissed off!! I swear, I accept this stupid changes, and I still get screwed over because the dumb state is late sending me the info. At least it feels that way!! I did go out to lunch today with my good friend, Erin, and her daughter. We went down to The Silo, which was rather nice! Today felt like fall, which was not nice. Not for me, anyway. lol ...

I saw this on Yahoo! earlier today, and it made me cry. And I'm not a big cryer usually!! Sure wish I could find someone this thoughtful and sweet!!

I spent Thursday afternoon on the phone with Verizon and Time Warner. Verizon changed my phone plan back down to 450 minutes (UGH), and also completely blocked texting for me. I am thankful for a smartphone that allows all sorts of apps, because I found a free texting app that actually works pretty decently. So, even if I didn't have to crunch my bills, I would have gotten rid of texting anyway after finding this app! In total, I'll be saving about $30 on my phone, which is good! A friend had told me that Time Warner had a cable modem package called Road Runner Lite. He said he used it for awhile when he had to crunch bills. So I asked the service rep about it when I called, and she said that they never sign people up on that package if they are using wireless service because we would call and complain about how terribly slow it is. What she ended up offering me was an upgrade to what I already had, but for almost $15 less a month. Ooooook, sign me up!! Even though it's o...

I knew that after typing about not receiving information about the Medicaid changes yet that I would probably get it today. Sure enough, when I checked the mailbox, there it was. I don't understand exactly what I need to do, so tomorrow I will be calling my caseworker, and hope to heck she won't take another week to get back to me. Sigh.

My mom had her first cataract surgery yesterday, on her right eye. My parents had to get up at 4am to make sure they were at the place by 5:30. Why in the world do they start those surgeries so darn early???? I'm very relieved that I didn't have to bring her just because I'd be a walking zombie for a few days!!! Everything went just fine, though! I went over to the house after rehab and had some lunch, helped my mom get some things for her lunch, and then she went to lay down in her bedroom. I stayed for a couple hours doing updating on her computer, and I also washed the dishes before I went back home. This morning my mom had to get the patch taken off, and when I called to see how she was doing, she told me how shocked she was that she could see so clearly! I'm really glad that she's able to see so good! So, I'm hoping next week's surgery goes just as well for her, so she can see almost perfectly with BOTH eyes!!

I kind of took the weekend off from really stressing about my finances, and spent a great two days in Lewiston at the annual Art Festival. The festival is one of my favorite things in the summer! At least 100 artists set up booths with a wide variety of artistic ideas, everything from glasswork to paintings to jewelry to woodwork, etc, etc. That's just a whole bunch of talent gathering together!! This year, my sister Mandy actually had a booth!! She had her beautiful jewelry and glasswork, and she really did well with sales! I think she's already trying to plan some new ideas that she'll be able to include for next year if she's able to get a booth again. I'm so happy for her, and very proud that she could participate!! Sunday evening I went to dinner with Joan, my cousin, Ryhan, and my Aunt Jane, who were both in town for a couple days. We went to Applebee's, and Ryhan asked a ton of questions about the wedding, and Joan moving to Canada, and where they were ...

On Monday, I received a letter about my food stamps, and I knew something was wrong. According to the paperwork, I would be getting more money starting next month for food than I thought I should be getting. UGH, it got messed up again?? After reading the letter, the reasoning for the extra money was because I would be paying for Medicare Part B premiums. I knew this was wrong, because Medicaid pays for those premiums. So, I tried calling my case worker on Tuesday. Of course, I had to leave a message with her. Since I hadn't heard anything, this morning I just decided to write a note and send it to her in the mail. I got it all ready to go, and then got a call from her. Wow, surprise! I told her about the notice and what I thought was a mix-up, and she said that she would adjust everything and there would most likely be a change, which I totally expected. So, I went on about my afternoon, spending a couple hours painting outside while it rained around me (I was under the garage doo...

It's 1am here, and I feel wide awake. I had a bad headache after dinner, so I finally took an Excedrin for it around 8pm, which I knew would probably keep me up later than usual. Considering I was pretty tired almost all day, I find it ironic that now I can't sleep. Sigh. Yesterday, I brought Shelby to the vet with mom. Shelby had her laser treatment, but I'm wondering how much it's really helping her. Her back leg keeps giving out often, and I feel bad. I don't know how much pain she's really in when that happens, but I'm hoping it's not a lot. No matter what, though, Shelby always has a cute little smile on her face. I think that makes it so hard to know what to do for her, because that face makes it seem like she's always happy!! By the way, the sister kitties were gone. However, they had 2 more kitties in there! A long haired black kitty and a short haired orange kitty occupied the cage. When I went over to look at them, they were both sleepi...

Thursday I was discussing this situation with my sister, and I brought up how I was wondering what the heck was still going on with my tongue. I told her I wasn't really sure now if it was the pill that was the culprit, considering it's been 2 months of not taking it, and I wanted to chop off my tongue on Tuesday b/c it was hurting so bad. I said I was looking up oral thrush again, and still, none of the pictures I saw really represented what my tongue looked like. However, when I stuck my tongue out at Mandy (no, not to be mean, just to show her!!), she said she thought I had it. Why? Well, she had 2 kids that had it when they were babies, and she remembered what it looked like. Sooo, when my nurse called me on Thursday afternoon, I told her what Mandy thought, but I did say I wasn't really totally sure. My nurse said she'd ask my doctor, and had called me back 10 minutes later saying my doctor wanted me to try Protonix, which I guess was for acid reflux. I was thinki...