Christmas or is it Advent?

Hello,

Yesterday Leroy and I got out and put up Christmas decorations even though it is not yet Christmas, but Advent. Actually it was Leroy who fetched all of the items from the attic. Because it is so cold up there he up on a stocking cap and gloves before venturing up the steps. I did stand on the steps and help hoist boxes over the board that is keeping the insulation corralled. It was not such a big job to get the three or four big boxes down into the warm.

The first task was to put up the tree. That was the easiest thing. Our tree does not have preset lights so while Leroy was putting up the tree I checked the light strings. One strand had three lights that did not work. We did not have the proper replacement lights, but Leroy managed to put the bulbs in the other holder so it all works well now. We managed to get the lights on the tree with only a couple terse statements. Then we put on the gold strands that I call garland and Leroy calls something else. I personally felt he did not loop them enough, but I mostly stayed on my side of the tree tamping down feelings. The ornaments went on just fine. My philosophy is to put them all on unless they are broken.

The real grumpiness came when trying to decide how to organize the rest of the space with the tree gobbling up more than its share. Since last year we have acquired another chair that Brian returned to us. I had talked about getting rid of one of the other chairs, but had not followed through on that task. In the end we put the coffee table, complete with a crèche set, on the dining room table which resides in the computer room. It is rather crazy and for a while I was a bit out of shape about it, but I have now come around to liking it and my shape is better, leaning more to the positive angle.

We “found” our advent calendars. Sarah has expressed interest in the advent calendar which we made when we lived in Ely. It will be mailed to her tomorrow as I have already packed it. See all you have to do is state that you would like something and I will ship it to you. How is that for lightening our load? But you can’t have our bed. We still like to sleep on it.

Paula

Three Days Off

Hello,

I do like three days off in a row. That is one of the great things about half time work. I can have some time to relax, read, and contemplate my navel wondering why I am so lucky not to collect lint as Leroy does.

Sometimes I get the impression that people think poor people are lazy. I think not. The other day while walking on a sometimes slippery sidewalk, to the local grocery store I saw a young woman come out of her house with two laundry baskets piled high with clothes. She was on her way to the Laundromat two or three blocks away. As I watched she slid down on one knee, managed to maintain most of her balance, struggled to get up and continued on her way. I was catching up to her so I called out to her asking, “Would you like some help?”

She turned and looked at me and waited a bit for me to approach. “I could take one basket,” I said.

She hesitated, but let me take the top basket. It was amazingly heavy. I could not imagine starting out with two such weights. We

Chatted a little as we went on our way. Seems to me this is not a lazy person. But one who puts in much more effort to get clean clothes.

It certainly makes me newly grateful for the washer and dryer in our apartment. What a blessing!

Course during those days off, I do work around the house and manage most of the shopping. I can tell it is closer to Christmas as there were more people in the stores today. I have barely thought about things to get Leroy even though he keeps trying to get suggestions from me. I am just not a good shopper, I mostly just want to purchase something that I have in mind before I set foot in the store and get out of the store as soon as I have found it. Unfortunately it does not always work that way.

Paula

Health Care

Hello,

We are working on getting Medicare, but it is not so easy. Leroy figured out how to do his on line, with no previous contact it was relatively simple. Because I am adding to my coverage I needed to speak to a live person. Luckily it did not take the hour that was predicted before a person was ready to talk to me. Today I got the papers that I must fill out. But it looks as if my health coverage should have stopped already rather than it will stop in the future. Oh well, it is beyond my worries, right? It will mean talking to more people or filling out more papers.

On another theme, I had to go in and have blood drawn yesterday because I had not fasted when I saw the Dr. the other day. After an hour of being home, I thought the strapped on pressure was painful so I took it off. Possible two or three hours later I noticed that I had a large walnut sized bulge on my arm next to the poke hole. Luckily it did not hurt.

This morning at yoga, because I had short sleeves, I showed it to the other people. The general consensus was that I should see the Dr. One friend who knew I was not anxious to take this step called me twice to see if I had contacted them yet. At that point, I used the new system of contacting the Dr. and got a timely reply. I stopped there on my way home from work. It was deemed not dangerous at this time, but a hematoma which could develop into something more. Symptoms of that circumstance were described. In the meantime I am to apply heat two or three times a day.

I am still happy that it does not hurt. Pain does have a role to play in grabbing our attention. If others, who would not feel my pain anyway, had not seen this I would have ignored it because it did not hurt making it seem like a small issue.

Paula

Cold

Hello,

How do birds keep their skinny little legs warm when it is cold around them? I have seen a number of them out hunting for food, but surely that cannot be the entire answer.

I had gone to the Doctor for a general check up last week. It seemed busy because I had just gotten back from SLT the day before. It was cold that day, but nothing like it is now. The office is only about ½ mile away so it was no problem. The Dr. told me that I could do a walk – in mammogram, would I like to do that? When I agreed she sent off the request via the Internet. Because this Dr.’s office is associated with the hospital that is a little bit farther for me to walk I told her that last year I had gone to the other closer place. She informed me that that was fine, but I would have to take a printed request and to be sure to pick that up before leaving the office.

With printout in hand I headed off to the hospital, wondering if it would really be there or in the new facility they now had about a block away. At the hospital they obviously did not know what to do with a walk in person. They did call the department and everyone wanted to know my appointment time. After some discussion it was decided I could just come. The person at the desk sent me off with a volunteer to find this place in the hospital. It was not in the direction I had gone last time. I asked the volunteer if things had been moved around. “It happens all the time,” he told me, panting as he struggled to keep up. I did slow down.

When we got to the designated place, it was not it; instead it was the psych ward. We then turned around and made our way back. Would I have to carry this guy, can he make it? I wondered, but then he apologized for all the walking. So he could at least still talk. Once back at the start, the person at the desk called that number again and inquired, “Where are you?” explaining that I could not find them.

It was indeed in the new building. There, at least I knew I should go upstairs and I found that office in short order.

When I went up to the desk, I said, “I’m the one..”

And she interrupted with a smile on her face, “Oh, you’re the one, but we can take you soon.”

I had taken a while at the Dr. My appointment was at 10:30 and it was 1:30 by the time I got home. Lunch was certainly in order. I was grateful for leftovers.

Paula

Trip home from SLC

Hello,

We were late getting to the airport, but I figured there was nothing I could do about it, so did not fret much. Our train was just a little late coming to our stop. At one stop downtown, more and more people keep dashing up some steps and getting on. With this train someone inside can open the doors even though they have closed preparatory to moving on. I believe we sat in this spot an extra five minutes as wave after wave of hurryers came into sight. Our car became one of standing room only.

By the time we got to the airport we were about 15 to 30 minutes late. Leroy and I were told to get in X line at security. It seemed the other lines were moving faster, but I realized that was an illusion as they were looping back and forth so much and we just had one bend ahead. When we reached that bend I could hear the instructions to the people ahead of us. It seemed most of our predecessors were families with children. They could all leave their shoes on, jackets on, liquids could stay in wherever, and only pockets should be emptied. We were in a limited or scan express line. How nice was that?  Most of the adults had some liquid put on their hands, but not me. Maybe I looked like a kid? Leroy was selected randomly to get it before and after. In spite of this little additional quick move we did not sit at the gate waiting to board, but just got on the plane. However the plane did not take off quickly because it needed to be de-iced and that took about 45 minutes. We had plenty of extra time in Denver so it was not an issue. We even got to take walks there and I could hear the birds singing in the terminal, but could not see them. I have seen them in the past, and they are quite ordinary sparrows. Do they ever experience the outdoors?

Paula

Memories

Hello,

Memories are great if you can just pull them out of your head. There were things I wanted to tell about our trip to SLC, but I am having a hard time locating them in my brain. I do know that when I got in Miriam’s car at the airport I was pleased and astonished at how well I could see out all of the windows. Because I suspected that Andy is responsible, in addition, I know he likes to make cars look better, I felt that he should stop on one of his many cross country trips and just clean my car windows. It seems that will not happen. So the other day it was raining when I drove home from work. I was proud of myself for remembering when I pulled in the garage to clean off the windows since they were already wet. Even though they are not as clean as Andy’s standards would dictate, they are much cleaner than they were previously. Hopefully it means I will drive safer when I can see more clearly.

The girls, Leroy, I, and sometimes their parents enjoyed going out to look at Christmas lights in their neighborhood. We did that many days when we were staying with them two years ago. I found myself looking for those special displays even though I had not seen them for such a long time.

The morning we left the city it had snowed about an inch. Miriam took us to the trax or light rail station about a mile from their house. Both of the girls were awake at an early hour so they went along. We stood on the platform waiting for the train in the cold wind and snow. A young man asked something about the area. I could not answer his question. I did tell him that I was going downtown and which train that would be. Then after he had wandered around a bit he asked if we had $1.25 to pay for his ticket. I found a dollar and he thanked me before he headed off to find someone who had the other quarter. Then he had to ask someone which train to get on. As Leroy said he seemed not to be quite on top of understanding. I just hope he got to his destination.

Paula

Writing Again

Hello,

I have excuses, let me list them. Times were busy at Miriam’s, I did not feel so peppy, times were busy, I felt tired, times were busy, and I wanted to just read in my time off. As for my health I think I have a little something. Miriam and I practiced Wednesday evening in preparation for singing in church. During the night I woke with a funny feeling in my throat. In the morning I had almost no voice. This condition persisted through Friday. Saturday was better, but I was coughing more, post nasal drip along with some sneezing appeared. By Sunday morning I decided I could perhaps sing. Another woman at church did feel that she could handle the song, but I went ahead and did it anyway taking a break in a couple unscheduled places. I think we sounded fine, however not as good as the one man thought we did. He said, “I thought I was listening to someone on the radio.”

Monday, after Thanksgiving, we drove Olivia, along with a carpool rider, to her school. Miriam gave Leroy directions, consequently I drove and he navigated along with help from the back seat, namely, Olivia and friend. All went well until we got to one stop sign where Leroy told me to turn right. The girls from the back seat yelled no, stay left. Luckily there was no traffic behind me at that point so I could almost stop while we discussed where we needed to go. At that point the girls said we should go straight ahead and Leroy agreed. The confusion occurred because I needed to be in the right lane to go straight. Then the girls told me to turn left off a rather busy street. Once I was in the turn lane they realized it was too soon, but no getting out of that lane at that point. When we were on the much quieter street Olivia realized that she knew where we were and she and her friend could direct us to her school along a rather circuitous route. It was the perfect way to go. Now the directions leaving the school were not so clear to Leroy, but we made it by following our instincts. One of the problems with the streets up on the mountains is that they follow the land and not straight lines. We took a slightly less direct route back to the house, but managed, by going to the side and downhill. Adventures all the time.

Paula