Exceedingly Mundane

Another block of time has passed since I was able to update the ole blog. Let’s see…

I spent all of last week getting ready for the garage sale for my dad. We had gone down and filled up a UHaul with the remainder of items from his house. It’s empty now. We had the garage sale last Saturday. We put out a few things we had here to donate, and actually made almost $100 for us, in addition to all the stuff we sold for my dad. What didn’t sell, we boxed up to donate. And we took 6 or 7 bags of books to the library to donate. I had gone through and cleaned out three bookshelves and put them out to try to sell. Only 5 or 6 books sold, 3 of them being my mom’s old “Bell’s Best” cookbooks. Oh well. I read almost exclusively on my digital readers (stand-alone Kindle or Kindle app on my iPad), so I felt like I should get rid of a lot of books.

Saturday was the garage sale, and then last Sunday, we went over to see my father-in-law. My dad went with us, and all of Tim’s family was there to celebrate Mitchell’s big day (a couple of days late!). We had steaks with all the trimmings, and cake with strawberries and whipped cream, and a great time visiting. We got to meet Brittany’s new boyfriend and even see Zack, so it was a good trip.

This week flew by. I started this post on Monday and attempted to work on it on Wednesday, but never got very far. I actually deleted it by mistake, so I had to start over!

Wednesday, Tim went to Zack’s district golf tournament, held at Tim’s home golf course, and drumroll please… Zack won! So he will get to go back to the state tournament to defend his 3A golf champion title again this year as a junior! Tim and Mitchell went to cheer him on, and Tim was so very proud of him! I imagine he’ll have a much bigger gallery at the state tournament in a couple of weeks

I went Wednesday afternoon to visit with my dad, pick up a couple of things for him at Walmart, stop by the library to get a book for me (Six Years by Harlan Coben) and a couple of movies for us to watch (Argo and Snow White and the Huntsman for Tim, and IronMan 2 for both of us, as a refresher before we go see the new one in May). I also ran to Sam’s Club and made a big run on household stuff. Thursday, Gail came down and we all went over to Ridgeland Pointe for “Family Night”. Basically, we visited with my dad in his room for a bit, then went down to the dining room and had dinner with him. Tim came home starving and had to eat again! LOL! He said, he could never live there, they don’t feed you enough, hahaha! I noticed that both my dad and the nice resident, Ms Myrtis that we shared a table with, neither of them ate much at all. I guess by the time you hit your 80’s and 90’s, you don’t eat as much as we do now, LOL!

Today (Friday) was spent on the road. We picked up Dad this morning and went to Hattiesburg to meet with a realtor. Tim had talked to her several times and emailed a bunch, and told my dad that he was pretty satisfied with her. So we met her at the house, went over a ton of things, and signed a contract for her to sell the house. She is going to have to oversee a ton of work (cleaners, painters, people to replace fixtures, install new appliances, etc) and then put it on the market. She hopes to have it sold in 3-4 months, but we signed a 6 month contract. I hope it sells then! At least there’s a bright light at the end of the tunnel - we’ve moved my dad, got him new doctors, got him settled at his new “apartment”, gone to the house to get items for family members, sold furniture, and moved everything else out to sell. The house is empty now, and ready to be cleaned and gotten ready to sell. We’ve come a long way since February 15!

Tim has a busy weekend ahead - two tee times at the golf course, and a busy night of work this weekend. Me, I hope to catch up on some shows on the DVR, do laundry, read and maybe even watch a Harry Potter movie

P.S. I don’t often talk about current events here on my blog, but this has been a very news-worthy week. The bombings at the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday, then the huge explosion at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas. So much sadness and sorrow

Another busy weekend around here. Last week was fairly busy, with David and his friends coming to stay for a night, and cleaning up before and after they were here. Tim had another Friday off (he’s off every Friday in October, using up that vacation he hasn’t taken all year!), and he went to play golf. We all slept in a bit, and Beau and I left for a walk and Tim went to play. He brought us in a late lunch of Chick-Fil-A. Don and Gail came in time for supper, and we all went to eat dinner at Signa’s Grille. Gail and I had the “Godmotha”, a vegetarian sandwich (grilled eggplant, grilled squash and onions on foccacia), Tim had the Swamp Burger (burger bathed in chili and cheese) and Don had the 2 AM Patty Melt. Good food! The portions seemed a little bigger this time

Don and Gail spent the night, then the guys went to play golf Saturday morning. They finished up around lunch time, then pulled through Chick-Fil-A again to get me another grilled chicken sandwich. Gail had already left going out to Kathryn’s to help set up. We went out at 2 PM for Sam’s birthday party and got to visit with everyone. Daddy came up, just for the party, from Hattiesburg. Tim and I headed home late afternoon, and I made my big shopping run at Kroger around 6 PM, and got back in time for the USM game on TV. They are now 0-5, horrible start to what looks to be a bad season.

Sunday was busy too. The Saints had their bye week, so we thought that was a great time to go visit Tim’s parents. We left after church and visited all afternoon. Beau had a great time playing with the other two dogs, Teddy and Snoopy. Roscoe is gone, and so is sweet Rosie. I miss the other dogs Anyway, we left before dark and got home and watched some TV. I was fairly tired!

Monday was busy with cleaning house, and making supper. I tried out my new baking stone that Tim and I got for me on Friday afternoon. It’s a rectangular black Emile Henry stone. I preheated it in the oven, and used it to make a pizza. My regular pizza dough I make in the machine was too much, so I cut some off and made breadsticks with the extra dough. The crust was crispier, which is what I was hoping, but the pizza is a lot smaller than what I make on my normal large round pan. I’m going to try the pan for other things, like freeform bread rounds, chicken strips, oven roasted potatoes, etc. It scares me a little, how hot it gets in the oven! I need new oven mitts. I feel like mine are going to get me burned!

Another busy week ahead. I’m turning another year older and we have another busy weekend on tap. Another post on that next week

Let’s see… last week Gail came to visit some, and Don came in Thursday night. Gail and Don went to the homecoming game at Hinds, out in Raymond, for Katelyn to be a part of the homecoming court. We didn’t go (we went out to eat at Krilakis and then watched some tv), but we were glad they were able to come for their granddaughter! Friday morning, I got up early and went walking with Beau, nearly 5 miles. Tim and Don left early for the golf course, and Gail left to go pick up Kathryn, Elizabeth and the kids to go to Hattiesburg. Katelyn was also in the homecoming court at Presbyterian Christian, and they went to visit Dad and pick him up for the parade. Don and Tim finished golf around lunchtime, so they swung by to get me and we all went to eat at Chili’s. Don left after lunch, having more work to do, but Tim had taken a day of vacation, so we went to run errands. We had some returns to make at Marshall’s and TJ Maxx, and we also went by Toys R Us to get Sam a birthday present (party next weekend!) and to make another big trip to Sam’s.

Saturday, we watched USM lose another game on TV, this one to Boise State. They are now 0-5 and it’s just heartbreaking. They’ve had winning seasons for the last 17 or 18 years, so it’s hard to watch. After the game, Tim went to play golf, and Beau and I stayed home. I caught up on some shows on the DVR and did some stuff around the house.

Sunday, we had church (current series: Give Yourself Away) and then we went to Corner Bakery afterwards. Tim had breakfast (breakfast panini and oatmeal) and I had lunch (cup of potato soup and a small harvest salad), and it was delicious as always. After that, we ran by Kroger to get gas (3.41 a gallon, but we had a discount from buying groceries), and to pick up food for the week. The Saints played the night game, and I made a big pot of taco soup before the game. Finally, the Saints won a game, beating the Chargers at home, so their record is now 1-4. Let’s hope this breaks their losing streak and they can turn the season around.

It was great weather over the weekend, and today (Monday). Low’s in the upper 40’s and low 50’s and high’s in the upper 60’s and low 70’s. Feels like fall! We got up at 6:15 to go walking, it’s dark and it was chilly, about 50 degrees. I love it!

Got more company coming this week (David and some friends are staying with us a night) and then a busy weekend ahead, with Sam’s birthday party.

Life is good!

Toilets!

But first, less interesting news! My dad came this week, on Monday the 24th. He had a quick errand to run at the credit union, and then came to visit and spend the night. I had setup two appointments at retirement homes near us, and he agreed to go visit both of them and check them out. Tim and I really like one of them, it’s fairly new, very close to our house, and actually the cheaper option. The only problem is that there is a waiting list, and my dad is really dragging his feet on moving. None of us can really understand. I mean, we do, I know it would be hard to sell my house and most of my things and move into a smaller apartment with strangers. But, on the positive side, he’d have all his meals prepared and served to him every day, housekeeping to clean his apartment, activities available, a shuttle service to take him places, etc. But none of that appeals to him, he sees it as losing his independence and being around people he doesn’t know. So, sigh. It’s going to be a long road. My sisters and I just hope that he is able to move into one of these before something more drastic happens, and then his only choice might be a nursing home.

Poor Tim didn’t get to play much golf this week. He didn’t play Monday and Tuesday because my dad was here (and he burned a day of vacation too, to go with us on Tuesday, he’s truly a prince of a guy!). Then he played Wednesday, but wasn’t able to go on Thursday or Friday, they had outings and tournaments scheduled at his club. So he was really looking forward to playing today (Saturday) in a tournament with our church. He got the word late yesterday that they had a lot of people cancelling, probably because of the weather, and so they cancelled it. Poor Tim, he was SO disappointed. So, instead we decided to work in the yard.

We slept late this morning, watched a little Ryder Cup (he’s also really excited about that!) and then worked outside, and put out a bunch of bales of pine straw. After that, I tried to talk him into more tv, but he wanted to work on the toilets. We had bought new parts for both toilets a couple of weeks ago, new valves and flusher things, basically all the inside parts except for the handle and big black floating bubble thingie-ma-bob! He got the master bath done pretty quickly, and said “I’ll do the guest bath and then watch Ryder Cup”.

Well, that didn’t work quite as planned! He had gotten all the parts replaced, and had put the tank bank on. He went outside to turn the water back on, and when he came back in, I heard him say very loudly “Oh No! Oh Crap!”. Which, from Tim, is very unusual and very serious! He was trying to tighten something because it was leaking and BOOM! The porcelain tank cracked and started dripping lots of water. So, we ended up having to buy a whole new toilet. He worked tirelessly for hours, never stopped for lunch, and finally got it all done. I tell you what, that boy is a keeper. I am definitely going to hang on to him, there’s nothing he can’t do or fix or replace!

So, now we’re watching football, and listening to the rain. It was supposed to rain all day today, tomorrow (Sun) and Monday. It didn’t start raining till mid-afternoon, so I think they could have gotten their golf in, but oh well. At least I have pine straw in all the flower beds, a repaired master toilet and a brand new guest bath toilet! LOL! I’m a lucky girl!

found this cute button on an old post at Jen’s blog, a Good Cup of Coffee, and she said it came from another bloggy buddy, Karen at Over the Backyard Fence. Both wonderful ladies, with terrific blogs. Hope they don’t mind me swiping and using!

This was the weekend that I could have done without. Tim was happy, oh so happy, since he played in his club’s two day championship tournament. He ended up doing really well, he came in second in his flight (although he was upset, he only lost by one stroke and he *really* wanted to win, he said!). I knew he was playing, and had some girly movies all lined up, a book to read, things to do, so I was more than happy to stay home with Beau and hang out. Tim was gone about 9 hours on Saturday and about 8 on Sunday, so I watched 2 football games by myself, then re-watched them with him when he got home. Both our teams lost (USM to East Carolina and the Saints to the Panthers, boo hiss).

No, the bad part was that I started getting a horrible headache on Friday. Saturday and Sunday were miserable. Friday wasn’t too bad, we went out to eat at Zaxby’s (since it’s next to Sam’s) and also ran to Marshalls and TJ Maxx and then did a huge trip to Sam’s. I may have spent more in Sam’s than ever, our bill was atrociously high. Anyway, Saturday morning I woke up and my head was so much worse. I don’t know if it’s just the weather or time of year, but I always seem to get sinus and a bad sinus pressure headache in September. Ugh. Sunday was a smidge better, not much. I did get out and go grocery shopping at Kroger, and also made a big batch of homemade calzones for Tim. He had one when he got home, and now he’s set for lunch for a few days.

Today is supposed to be rainy. It wasn’t raining this morning yet, so Beau and I headed out on our walk. Tim had to work last night, so he slept in and didn’t go. I walked a whopping 19 miles last week, so I was happy. Of course, I haven’t lost a pound (all of those cookies, homemade bread, ice cream, etc are not helping), but the exercise is good. I had hoped it would help my head, but alas, not much. It’s supposed to rain later, so maybe once that moves on through, my head will get better.

Once again, I’m playing catch-up here at my blog. I haven’t blogged in about 11 days, so a lot to chatter about. I won’t talk about today’s date, although it is the 11th anniversary of 9/11. I remember that day well.

Labor Day was good this year, but quieter than in years past. We had gone to Terry’s house the Sunday before Labor Day, to celebrate Zack’s 17th birthday. Good grief, I remember the day that boy was born! He’s just about all grown up now. We got him golf stuff and money, which of course is all Tim’s idea. Zack is as “eat up” with golf as his Uncle Tim is. Labor Day, Tim played golf all morning and barely got home in time to start the fantasy football draft at 1 PM. We did the draft (I’m never happy with my team, but oh well!), and then ran to Chick-Fil-A for sandwiches. After we ate, we took out the baby back ribs I had defrosted, and Tim got them ready for the smoker. They smoked for several hours and we had ribs for Labor Day. No extended family here as in years past, but that’s ok. It was kinda nice to have a day off just for us

The rest of the week flew by. Tim is still busy at work during the day but is not working late hours any longer. His foot seems to have healed enough for him to be back to playing golf most every day (he normally doesn’t play on Tuesdays and Fridays, and plays every other day). He played most of the week, and both days on the weekend. Saturday was cloudy and cooler. So nice to have good weather for a change! Tim played golf all morning, then we went to a late lunch at a new place, Signa’s Grille. Tim got the philly chicken and I got a shrimp po-boy and we split sweet potato fries. Portions are smaller than most other places (although I’m sure more in line with what we SHOULD be eating), and prices were a bit higher, but it was good.

Sunday was busy with church, cooking out burgers, and the first Saints game! They lost (BOO) to the Redskins, and both of us are always cranky after the Saints lose. So, Tim went to the golf course and I ran to Kroger for food, and then piddled around the house. We watched Sunday night football and some tv when he got in. And checked on our fantasy teams!

Sunday night was cool, I woke up Monday morning and it was 57 degrees! Tim slept in and Beau and I went out walking. My app I use for walking (DailyMile) said that I walked 17.69 miles last week, and I hope to walk that or more this week. It’s cooler this week, so I’m trying to get more in. Yesterday and today, I’ve walked nearly 9 miles. Of course, I’m eating cookies, homemade bread and ice cream, so I need to be doing a lot more than walking!

Oh, and yesterday I had another incident with bugs in the pantry. This time, I opened a package of Gold Medal bread flour and there were bugs in it. I had bought a bag of unbleached all purpose at the same time and both were unopened in the bottom shelf of the pantry, and both had bugs in them. I went through everything else in the pantry (most things are in Oxo or Tupperware containers) and couldn’t find bugs in anything else. Thank goodness. Tim was SO sweet and took them back to Kroger for me last night, after he got finished at the golf course. He exchanged them (they didn’t complain or ask to see a receipt or anything, I didn’t want to go because I thought they’d fuss or say I had them in my house!) for me. He brought home new bags of each flour and I opened them up … and, NO BUGS! I was so glad. One is now in a tupperware and the other in a ziploc bag. I hope that’s the end of that!

and a little of that!

Today is Friday, and here’s a few bulleted things going on:

* Yesterday I went to the dentist. Glad to get that checkup over with for another 6 months! Up next is the *other* doctor, in the late fall. That’s the one I really dread!

* Yesterday was my mother-in-law’s birthday. We had to call several times to catch her, she’s a very popular and busy lady on her birthday Beau did his singing/barking rendition to Happy Birthday on the phone, always a hit. We will get to see her Sunday after church, for a belated birthday lunch.

* Today I took Beau for a walk. Not back to daily, but better, that’s three times this week. Tim’s foot is better, since he played golf yesterday. Better enough for golf, not for walking in the subdivision with me and Beau, LOL!

* This morning, I let Beau out back and he saw a squirrel, I heard his bark. Yes, he has different barks for different things, and yes, I can tell them apart. Then I heard what sounded like the snake bark. Sure enough, he’s got a snake coiled up next to the fence, and I finally got him to back away, so the snake proceeded to slither into some shrubs nearby. I screamed (bloody murder, at the top of my lungs scream) for Tim, who came with a hoe. For a change, he actually killed this snake. Thank goodness! Usually, he says they are “good snakes” and leaves them alone.

* I’m knocking another item off my to-try list this morning. I’m going to try to make homemade flour tortillas. I hope they turn out!

Got a semi busy weekend ahead. Tim is back to playing golf, we have a Saints preseason game on TV, and then the family birthday lunch for Linda on Sunday. Then Tim has to work all Sunday night on a big project. Busy bee!

I don’t know if I just took a long break, or more likely, I had nearly given up on blogging. Either way, it’s been a while since I updated my blog.

The last time I posted was late March, which was when I developed tinnitus. I went to sleep one Friday night and I was fine. When I woke up Saturday morning, I had this loud screeching noise in my head. Well, actually, at first it was a loud pulsating noise, like I could hear my pulse pounding inside my head, very loudly. After several doctors visits, and being treated for what they said was a middle ear infection, it changed over to “traditional” tinnitus, a loud buzzing or screeching sound in my head. I took decongestants, mucus thinners, a Z-pack, a steroid pack, and finally they said the fluid was gone, but the noises remain. And apparently will for the rest of my life. I saw an ENT (who I disliked immensely, she was cold and uncaring and had the worst “bedside” manner I have ever encountered) who told me that I probably had Meniere’s Disease and that is why I have tinnitus. Except that my father-in-law has Meniere’s so I know all about it. I do not have vertigo, which is one of the hallmarks of Meneire’s. I just have tinnitus. Every second of every minute of every hour of every day. I’m getting better. And I’m trying lots of things on my own. The doctor said “learn to live with it”. When I told her I was having trouble sleeping, she said “turn some music on”. That was the extent of her helpful medical knowledge. HA! So, I’m doctoring myself and taking vitamin and herb supplements. It is better, but it has not gone away, and probably never will. I will have to learn to live with it, and I have somewhat, but I still have quite a long ways to go. Luckily, I have an awesome God on my side, who loves me, and the most loving spouse on the planet. So I know I’ll be fine, one way or another

Hearing the loud noises in my head and trying to cope with it consumes most of my days! I no longer read much, because it’s hard for me to read with the noise. I am getting better, but my reading pace and the number of books I have read is way down. I won’t come anywhere near the number of books I used to read in a year, this year. But I am enjoying most of the ones I do read, so I guess that’s good!

I’m walking 6 days a week. Most mornings, Tim gets up and goes with me, and we take Beau. We walk anywhere from 1 mile to nearly 3 miles. We don’t walk on Sundays, because we go to early church. In April, I got pretty sick and was having so much trouble sleeping and eating, that I lost 6 or 8 pounds in a couple of weeks. While I was ecstatic over the weight loss, I didn’t feel well. So once I got to feeling better, I got back to eating, and I’m happy/sad to report that I’ve gained all of that weight back!

I’ve gone back to scrapbooking, at least on a smaller level. I can turn music on when I scrapbook, which helps to mask some of the tinnitus. I’ve finished my Disney album (I won’t even tell you how many years ago we went to Disney World) which is way overdue. I’m working on pages for my Christmas album and also some in my regular chronological albums. I’m way behind, so I won’t ever come close to catching up. In addition to working on pages, I’ve also gone back and gotten a few pictures printed out. I’m about, oh, 6 or 7 years behind on printing pictures. To say I’m totally digital now is an understatement. I didn’t even know where to start at looking for places to print out photos!

I’m trying to stay busy, because when I’m busy or out in noisy places like restaurants, stores, etc, I don’t hear the tinnitus as much. Tim is great about getting me out and keeping me busy. I was always such a homebody, and it’s been so hard, such an adjustment for me, not to be able to enjoy being at home, enjoying the silence, being quiet and content. We’ve been going to a lot of movies this summer (although this is hard on me, the noise bothers my ears badly now, so I try to take ear plugs, which helps, but my tinnitus always spikes after we go to the theater). We go out to eat some, and get out and about whenever we have time.

Tim is still playing a lot of golf. He changed golf clubs a few months back and now has two courses that he can play at. The bad news is that he can no longer take Beau to the new place he joined (it’s a country club, not a golf club any more). When the weather was cooler, I was going with Tim and walking some at the golf course. It’s been really hot lately, though, so I have not been going. Tim still goes when it’s outrageous hot, but not me, I like my air conditioning! We had triple digit weather a week ago, and he was still out, on the days it was 103, with a heat index of 112. Yikes!

Anyway, this is not a very interesting blog post, nor am I promising any interesting ones in the future. Just thought I’d do a long, boring update!