Left and Right Challenged

Hello, This is not an April’s fool’s joke. I went on a long walk today. Over half way around, I decided to check my steps on my phone. After I fussed with my phone a bit, I noticed that I did not have a ring on my finger. “Oh no,” I moaned, “I lost my wedding ring. Well at least it is insured.” Should I go back and look for it where I took off my glove? But just where was that? Should I seek out a metal detector? What is involved in replacing this ring? It was never attached to the diamond ring, but they fit together. Should I just forget about replacing it? But the insurance policy covers replacement, not just loss. I have lost a ring before in the cold weather, but I knew it right away. Frequently I do not wear rings because of this tendency. In the summer sometimes my hands swell and it is uncomfortable to remove them. I often do not wear them that season either. However, I wear my wedding ring all of the time. I looked again in my glove and realized that I was looking at my right glove so my ring should still be on my left hand. It was there! Problem solved. Now if I could just know left and right without having to figure which is which life might be simpler for me. Paula

Volunteering

Hello, There is no school today so the number of volunteers drops by about six people. It felt so busy without them. There seemed to be a lot of donations that needed to be dated and put on shelves. Then when the chicken came it was a big job to get it bagged up. I donated only about fifteen extra minutes, but it still was not done when I left. It is an internal mental struggle about quitting when I do not have a good excuse, but I am ready to leave psychologically and physically. Usually, things are very close to being done. I told one woman there about how our church reached a new high in the number of meals served on Saturday night. It is the last Saturday in the month which always makes it higher as people’s resources for food are running low. But 230 meals served is a lot when it is often around 150. On the last Saturday they also hand out some extras. This time it was boxes of cereal and a half gallon of milk. The woman at the Monday volunteer place commented that they usually serve about 120 meals on the weekdays and much of last week it was 140 meals. A woman also commented that her daughter has four kids, works two jobs and gets just a bit under $100 per month in SNAP benefits. That is not enough to keep them fed so she often buys food for them. And some think that the minimum wage is adequate. Paula

Day Trip

Friday, we went on a short, day trip mostly, so I could get some things out of the house. We took a brochure to a Monument company that is in Dubuque Iowa. They deal with tombstones. Why my mother had this I do not know. It was a little gift type brochure that had needles in it. We had quite an interesting chat with the woman who was working at the front desk. They were pleased to get this since they did not have any like it.

Following that stop, we went to a church that has over 100 Tiffany windows. It was quite amazing. There was one window that was not by Tiffany and it was possible to see the difference. Even the bathrooms had Tiffany windows.

There is a park in Dubuque where my family had reunions. I thought we would eat our packed lunch there. Unfortunately, it was not yet open for the season. After that we drove on to Elizabeth, IL to visit my brother and to give him my mother’s diaries that I had kept since her death. I told him, “I stored them for 20 years. Now it is your turn.” My sister-in-law said, “It has been 27 years.” I then added to his son, “In time it will be your responsibility.” The diaries are not so interesting. Mostly, mom recorded the weather and what crop might have been planted, or hogs sold on that day. No personal things. Paula

Plastic, Plastic, Plastic

Hello, Trying to keep the plastic out of our lives is not easy. Everywhere I look in the house, there is plastic. In the kitchen it is in the microwave, stove, dish detergent bottle and that is just stuff. It is not even about all the foods that came in plastic. Most of the nuts in the house are in plastic, frozen foods, and bread if we buy it. Pill bottles are also plastic. In the living room the clock has a plastic face, the TV must have much plastic in it, the remote is also a plastic case. Then there’s the bedroom. The clock has lots of plastic, the flower pots are plastic, some clothes have plastic in the construction, and zippers. In the office the laptop, printer, lamp, pencil holder, file cabinet tabs, and the list goes on. Limiting this stuff in the house takes a concerted effort that I find difficult to maintain. I buy soap that is not wrapped, but still keep a plastic bottle of soap for visitors. Body wash is in a plastic bottle, but I did buy a bar of shampoo although I have not tried it yet. I will use up the bottle of shampoo first. Sometimes price drives my decision to get more plastic incased product. However, I tend to feel a little guilty about that until I forget the purpose of my buying decision. Paula

Downsizing

Hello, There is a small book case with just three shelves in an alcove. Somehow it seems to be a magnet for things that have no home otherwise. I decided that I must tackle the things here. It is not an easy job. Many of them I have not looked at since we moved here 13 years ago. That should tell me that they are not so important in my life, however they seem too good to throw away. Would anyone else want them? I have gathered some in a bag to take to the museum in my home town. I also found a small brochure for a monument company in Dubuque. They are still in existence. I was able to send them an email about this item. Maybe they will want it for their history. I suspect that my family had dealings with them years ago. Some of the pictures on this shelf, will be shared with our children. They can decide what the future of those things will be. I do not look at the print copies and I can not imagine I will want to look at scanned copies. It would be easy to eliminate things if someone else wanted them. What I am doing is not really downsizing, but cleaning up and making it neater. And less weighty in my mind. Paula

Sleeping In

Hello, Leroy and I do not know how to sleep in. We had nothing on the agenda today except wash some clothes and do a little shopping. We got up, perhaps, a half hour later than usual. It seems that our bodies are already adjusted to the new time and wake up automatically. Leroy did do his exercises, but I did not. We have changed roles here. I always used to do them, and he did not. How does that change occur? We played some games tonight. One was Boggle. Leroy does not like to play this game and tolerates it because I like it. He managed to beat me with a score of 16, while I only had 4. The next round was about the same. I did manage to win the third time. I figure I no longer have to feel badly about beating him. See there is another change in our lives. I used to hop out of bed and be ready to go. Now Leroy almost always gets up before I do. I suspect some of that is that I wake up so many times in the course of the night. He also wakes up some in the night, but not as often. Paula

Plants in my house

Hello, I have a Rosette Sansevieria. A few years ago, the pot became crowded with six plants. I gave away all but one. it seemed that the lone plant was not growing and changing. Now it has changed it has become quite tall almost like a new species.

It is also sending out two shoots. I am not sure what the new shoots will grow into.

The amaryllis that I thought was too small to bloom, bloomed with two beautiful red flowers. The pink cactus put out two blooms and the lavender cactus produced two blooms. Frequently the second blooming has many flowers. Maybe just two helps me to appreciate their beauty. The coleus did not thrive as much this winter. It seems that maybe I should just cut them off and plant the salvaged stems outside. It is getting warmer all the time so soon they can be outside. I saved two geraniums. One is in a pot and it looks good. The other is in a jar with roots forming in the water. They will be good to go outside very soon as well. I always like plants in the house over the winter, but am happy to put some of them outside in the spring. Paula