Me, Myself and Memories

Updates from March, 2018 Toggle Comment Threads | Keyboard Shortcuts

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  Noreen 6:07 pm on March 1, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis ( 40 )   

  Enjoying a regular day at home. yes, Dennis is uncomfortable, it is to be expected. He relays that it felt like a wood fence post was being installed in his neck. I don’t think a stint is quite that bulky, but then how much work is needed for surgeons to maneuver instruments, moving and stretching tissue and skin. The most disappointing thing for him was that he couldn’t sleep through the procedure as they needed him to communicate by verbally repeating either numbers or letters when instructed. I get it. I also know how difficult it was to be willing to go through with this second surgery when Dennis knew what he would be in for. Hey, I chickened out and had both of my knees done at one time as I knew my tendency would be to put off the second one beyond what would have been wise.

  In a week or so, Dennis will be feeling better. In a week or so we may have more signs that spring is here to stay. In the meantime, it is one hour at a time that turns into one day at a time and I am thankful that we have that to plan for.

   
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  Noreen 8:47 pm on February 27, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Dennis ( 40 )   

  The quiet of the day. Dennis is resting in the Mankato hospital after his carotid surgery. He needs to rest. He is awake during the procedure to be able to talk, count and show being cognoscente. Hope that this will be the start of a great spring.

   
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  Noreen 5:21 pm on February 26, 2018 Permalink  

  We have had a quiet day. The snow is shrinking before our eyes. With that being said, most likely where it thawed today there may be ice in the early morning hours. Spring can’t be stopped now!

   
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  Noreen 5:20 pm on February 24, 2018 Permalink  

  Last week Megan shared with me that her and Nickolas were having an old fashioned meal. Well we aren’t doing Hungry Man frozen dinners . . . but we are doing a Tombstone Pizza. Have not had a frozen Pizza in decades. We were running some errands this morning before the snow and when we stopped to fuel up the car . . . it came to me as clear as day. Neither one of us has burned off enough energy today to amount to a diddle but it is what it is.

  Dennis has been using the snow pusher each time he travels out to his patio porch. Blazing a trail until the next time. My sewing studio is making its own trail of the white stuff. When I did Kersten’s Pokemon quilt with the embroidered blocks I had not a problem taking off the stabilizer from each embroidered block. As Kevin had mentioned, if you don’t take it off it will eventually let loose and there will be hard balls of the stuff co-mingling in the quilt in time to come. Grant it, it was a different brand as I needed a different size for my currant project. It is coming off in tiny, teeny, annoying, hateful bits the size of my thumb nail. Ya, look at your own thumb nail and there I am. Believe it or not, this teaches patience. I am calling it a day and going to read the instructions on the pizza. Tomorrow is another day. As I look out the back door window on my way to the kitchen to get the pre-heat going on the oven, Dennis is rocking away in his patio porch rocker and I bet you a dollar to a doughnut he is listening to the gospel music on the RFD television channel. Gotta love that guy.

   
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  Noreen 2:41 pm on February 23, 2018 Permalink  

  A theater of seasons here on Stauffer Avenue. Dennis was sure the snow of last night would miss us . . . not! It was music to my ears as I realized, though it was just getting daylight, Randy and his green snow moving machine was going up and down our driveway. Randy and Jan live adjacent to us to the north. Randy works for John Deere here in St. James and owns some amazing green toys.

  Randy left just enough snow for me to take care of close to the doors and buildings after I had enjoyed several cups of coffee. One must be mindful of keeping track where the city snowplows have gone. You might think the end of the driveway has been cleared. I went back and did a bit of snow pushing at the driveway to 11th St. as well as Dennis’ driveway for the pickup garage which faces on Stauffer Ave.

  It was a good hour workout. I looked out a bit ago and with the bright powerful sun I see bare spots on the driveway and our front door sidewalk is totally clear. I enjoyed the fresh air and treated myself to more coffee.

   
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  Noreen 5:30 pm on February 21, 2018 Permalink  

  I went outside today to get some fresh air. Where the last dusting of snow has blown off of our concrete drive, it was as if looking through a layer of glass seeing fossils that were captured beneath. The rain in the early morning hours of Monday froze ever so smoothly.  So much for having a clear driveway for the winter.

  I had a great visit with my brother via the phone this morning. All is going favorable with him and his family this winter. We chatted about all things including utility bills. Mike lives in rural Renville County and is serviced by REA – Rural Electrical Association. His last electrical bill was just a few dollars above $800.00 for the month. I commented that the meter on the poll was turning fast enough to be humming a tune. Nope. He said he could go out there at any given time and watch it putt, putt, putt ever so slowly. I know Mike and Jo have always enjoyed cooler temps in their home than I ever thought of having in our home. Mike has one water heater in a stock tank to keep it from freezing for his few steers. Hmm. There is no other option in the rural area.

  Dennis than relayed that years ago the REA was always on the high end as they had add-ons for everything imaginable. I guess I have no complaints about our $175.00 current bill for the city gas bill. I do think the reason that Dennis’ cats are so content in the garage porch is . . . if cats wore shirts, they would be sporting tank tops. I know enough to not even go and check what the garage furnace is set at. It is what it is and so be it. March is not that far away. Yippee!

   
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  Noreen 4:58 pm on February 19, 2018 Permalink
  Tags: Megan ( 9 ), Nicholas ( 6 )   

  It is priceless to be able to text with Megan. She is now 14 and Nicholas is 9. They are at the age that they do stay home alone for a time. Kody, the dog, is getting to be a good watch dog. Saturday night the first text came in. “Grammie, we are having an old fashioned dinner tonight.” That was followed by a photo of Hungry Man T.V. dinners. “Nicholas said mine looked gross, but I put it in the microwave and actually doesn’t look or taste as bad as it first seemed. Nicholas wants to do his own.” I texted back and mentioned that maybe Nicholas could fix his and when he is about to enjoy it, he should just sit back, close his eyes and pretend he was at a high-end steakhouse. I reminded her that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. “Grammie I guess I will be the strongest person ever then.”

  I texted her that at least by nuking, there couldn’t be any cooking utensils that would over heat and burn the food or them. I went on to relay to her the time her mom and Kevin were home alone making popcorn. The end result was not realizing how hot the handle was and the utensil was set on the vinyl floor. The pattern came off of the floor with the picking up of the pan. I spent some time using my Tri-Chem oil paints replicating the design. “Grammie I’ll have to remember that and have a bit of info when it is just the right time to use it.” That a girl.

  Yes . . . Grammie gets to tattle a bit on their mom. It keeps the relationship between Megan, Nicholas and me real. I would never want to be the Grammie that they think is boring to visit. It has already been difficult for Dennis and me to not have them be able to have extended sleepovers. Their snowboarding, ice skating, violin lessons and having their friends involved in their day-to-day doesn’t leave much time. But . . . the memories that Dennis and I have are as fresh as the new fallen snow of today. The freezing rain we could have done without.

  I did text Megan on Sunday evening and asked her how the “old fashioned dinner” fared on a scale of 1 – 10. She gave it a strong six. Having communication with Megan is priceless. You cannot image how painful it is for me to text, not physically. I spend more time going back and correcting than going forwards, then it flips into the draft mode, etc. My school typing class is so ingrained in me, the perfect phone would have a full sized pad and ya know that isn’t going to happen.

   
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  Noreen 5:16 pm on February 17, 2018 Permalink  

  With a day as we have had today . . . spring cannot be far behind. We had almost two inches of new snow to be pushed around. I am going to keep my eyes open as March approaches. My snow pusher has had the first several inches of the plastic edge wore off. It has been a great help in the last six years. There is bound to be a sale of snow toys as spring approaches.

  Dennis will take the last of the antibiotics tomorrow. I sure hope there is a huge turn around from now until Monday morning. The aches that he describes can’t be much fun. Naps are still the better part of the days on Stauffer Avenue. Dennis’ daughter Sandy came by today and gave he dad the once over. Yup . . . he has people. Thus far, all I have been diagnosed with is a craving for Veggie Sticks. They are addictive. Tomatoes, sweet potatoes, potatoes and spinach shouldn’t be too bad . . . it’s the moderation that is the kicker.

   
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  Noreen 5:22 pm on February 16, 2018 Permalink  

  Seriously . . . you should keep older people in your day to day contacts. It took Dennis and me to get a jar of Mayo opened today. I was attempting to hold the jar while Dennis was doing his absolutely best to get that lid to cooperate. Do we have to have the grocery story open our purchases before we leave the store? Good grief. That lid was stubborn. I had given up and gone down to the pantry to get a second jar when Dennis called down he had gotten it. We enjoy Albacore Tuna canned in water, drained and then mixed with chopped boiled eggs, pepper and salt for a sandwich spread or to just have a bit for a snack. The Albacore tuna is a very white tuna and very chunky.  We had had some Sunkist tuna packed in water in the past. By the time it was drained, there was nothing left as it was a shredded mess.  It was also very red in color . . . not very appealing.  We are hooked on the Albacore.  Our concoction wouldn’t be much of a finished dish if there were no Mayo.

  The last of the scrappy quilts was boxed and heading out to the UPS depot here in town. I was surprised when Dennis came home and shared the news that cash was not accepted. Either check or credit card. Apparently it is a company wide policy that cash is not within the depot. Good thing Dennis had grabbed his wallet before he left home. Mainly it was to have his driver’s license with him. It would have been disappointing for him to have had to make a trip home. He left home well equipped. Amazing what small towns need to adhere to.

   
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  Noreen 4:17 pm on February 15, 2018 Permalink  

  A day of running errands. How many errands can older people have you may ask? Enough to wear me out and be thankful when we are back home.

  Dennis had a stop at the VA Clinic. It is the first time I have accompanied him. What a great group of professionals who have been taking care of my ole cowboy. With Dennis’ impending carotid surgery they made sure Dennis signed consent forms so there will be copies of tests, etc. transferred so they can stay on top of his Warfarin intake and they may interact with what their field of expertise is compared to our general practitioner and also the surgeon. Warfarin must be stopped five days prior to surgery to slow down the blood flow during surgery. It becomes dangerous when the blood could begin to be too thick and cause a stroke or heart attack. As I said the group at the VA impressed the heck out of me.

  We motored on to Mankato. First stop was Great Clips. For $11.00 I have been getting the best cuts in years. By the way . . . Dennis’ cap is a bit loose after his cut. River City Quilts in Mankato will be closing in August due to the hike in the lease. I was interested in getting fabric backing and batting for the next project I have underway. I will miss their great service. We stopped at the U-Haul store and for $.99 we have a box to ship the latest scrappy quilt to Silver Bay.

  In Sam’s Club I hit it big time. I bought two pair of pants. The fact that they were $14.99 each with a good brand of clothing label wasn’t the best. The elastic in the waist area is what I was after. The two pair that I like to wear needed to have the waist band pinned to the bottom of my bra if I were to travel more than 20 feet because . . . the elastic was shot. Dennis knows how much I hate buying clothes. Hate it, hate it. I have a shape that clothing as yet to be manufactured for. Kevin says “Mom, you don’t have a butt.” It got to the point that Dennis would not let me buy clothes unless I fit it on in the store as he was weary of return processes. Well . . . let me tell you, with arms that have less than good mobility and knees that are awkward to bend in cubicles that are 2′ x 2′ . . . in store clothes was not bought. Ironically the brand that Sam’s Club gets in does fit me. I don’t care if they may be seconds, who do I have to impress! The bras can now do what they are intended to do. Oh, by the way, we did buy a few groceries in Sam’s as well.

  Of course, we had our meal for the day in Perkins. The variety of the menu is varied. I tried the Chicken Tortilla soup and it was flavorful. I like to try new things . . . Dennis not so much.

  We are home and it looks as if we may have some snow to push by morning.