Blogger is a royal pain in the A

And, no Barb - I'm not talking about the letter A on my keyboard, either.

I am signed into blogger. I stay signed in. I am finding leaving comments more and more difficult. If someone has "Name/URL" in the list of options, I can leave a comment using my name and my blog URL. If that option is not listed there, it's impossible to leave a comment. I don't have an OpenID account, I don't have an AIM account, and I don't have a WordPress account. And, most of the time Anonymous is not an option.

Royal pain, I tell ya! I was trying to get caught up on my blog reading/commenting today but it seems that blogger had other ideas.

Bat rastards...

Have a great day! If you're cooking out - yum... enjoy. I'm going to attempt cooking out on our electric grill. The last time I tried it, it reset the GFI and I couldn't use the outside outlets. We tried to get it fixed, but the electrician said it's just the age of these buildings and they can't do anything about it. Great... NOT. So, I'll try running an extension cord into the house and plugging it into an outlet inside the house. I'm afraid that it won't work, either. If not, the thing will have to go back to the store. Good thing I still have the box. Just hope I can find the receipt.

Memorial Day

I hope you all have a safe and enjoyable Memorial Day. As we celebrate the cultural beginning of summer, we need to keep in mind the true reason for this national holiday... The sacrifices of men and women who have gone before us and who made the ultimate sacrifices for our freedom. I thank all of those who have served, and who are now serving. I thank their families for their great sacrifices as well. Without the support of their families, many of these young soldiers would not have been able to make it.

From my family to yours...Thank you to all and may God richly bless you for all you have given.

Blogosphere has lost an amazing person

I've wondered about, and prayed for, a blogger friend, Kathy at Four Dog Day many times over the past few months. Her last post was seven months ago when her new grandson was four months old. I have been very concerned about her and was worried that something had happened to her grandson, which would have been devastating to her.

Fortunately, her grandson is OK, but his dear, sweet grandma has passed away. She was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in October and had many surgeries over the next few months. Her family posted one last post yesterday.

I will miss her.

49, no 48, no 49, no 48

Trying to figure this out... When I look on my Dashboard, it shows 49 followers - which is awesome and I welcome my new friends. Thank you for stopping by and sticking around. I hope that what you read is interesting enough to bring you back.

Back to the topic... the Dashboard shows 49, but the blog shows 48. When I click the "followers" link on my Dashboard, it shows 49 until I scroll through all of the followers and the number changes from 49 back to 48. I'm thinking that means that I have one person out there who is following anonymously. Does that make sense? They're in the overall count, but because I can't see who it is, it drops the count off when I'm looking at the followers.

Now, are you as confused as I am or could you follow this convoluted train of thought???

No matter... Just curious.

So, if you're out there anonymously - howdy and won't you come out of hiding so I can say 'hello' properly...

Very Honored!

I have the best bloggy friends in the world. Truly, I do...

I have been very honored to receive this award from not ONE, but TWO different blogging friends. First, my good friend Bouncing Barb over at This and That (As I  Bounce Through Life) gave me the award on Thursday, and then on Friday, another good friend (Somnia) over at You Are Loved bestowed it on me. Needless to say, I was greatly touched by each of these fine ladies.

(If you haven't read either of their blogs then I suggest you make it a point to do so. You won't be sorry.)


Here are the rules:

1. Tell you who gave it to me. (check - see above)
2. Put up a link to their blog. (check- see above)
3. Pay it Forward to five more bloggers.  (working on that)

(#3 is the most difficult because a lot of us are in the same bloggy circle.)

Barb added a #4 which I really like, so I'm going to add it here, too.

4. Tell us about one blogger that really touched you in some way. This blogger doesn't have to be one of the five you gave it to. They just have had to write or do something extra special that you'll never forget.

My recipients:

1. Green Girl in Wisconsin - love her blog; she's a hoot
2. Jenny at Knees and Paws - she's got some really cute stuff she makes
3. Denalee at Silver Strands - she shaved her head to make a wig for her mother
4. The Middlest Sister - because I'm a middle sister, too
5. Donna at Discovering the Purpose of Your Life - I'm not sure she "does" awards, but her blog is well worth the read.

Technically, I should give you five more blogs, but that might be overkill because I don't want to send you back to blogs you just came from. But, I will throw in a couple more...

6. Colenic at A Smile A Day - she's always got a cheerful word for someone
7. Marla at Butts and Ashes - she's pretty busy right now but her blog is always a great read.


Now, on to the #4 requirement...

I could really (easily) say that several from the blogging community have written something that I will never forget. Everyone's favorite "Skippy Gal" over at I Make Soap has been someone who has called, emailed, and encouraged me for months; Donna at Discovering the Purpose of Your Life emailed me very early in the process of her following my blog with encouragement and the offer of her shoulder or her ear if I needed to vent; Barb at This and That, who seems to have experienced (nearly) every health problem with her (now deceased) husband that I have been through with Ron; Pat from A View from the Edge can always lift my spirits with her humor and her beautiful photography of this great country; and so many more.

If I didn't name you specifically, it isn't because you didn't cross my mind. You did. You've probably crossed my mind more than you even know. This world of blogging has opened so many doors for friendships from parts of the world that I have only dreamt about. Bubbles from England, Mynx (at Dribble) in Australia, Diane (Southhamsdarling) in England, Jo-Anne ( Jo-Anne's Ramblings) from NSW Australia (I'm seeing a trend here - England and Australia) - those are just a few of the many new friends I have made and I thank you all for allowing me into your world.

Bless you all for all you do.

May the bird of paradise fly up your nose...

Or, in our case... Through our open sliding glass door.

Yep... It seems that when Ron opened the slider to take Miss Maisey out to do her business, a little starling decided it would like to take up residence in our living room.

I have no idea if it's still there or not. (He did open the slider just enough for the bird to get back out - and to keep Maisey in but he's not sure if that has happened or not.) Ron had to call maintenance because he couldn't find it and he didn't want bird poop all over the house.

I don't either.

I don't handle poop very well. No matter what kind it is.

Epley Maneuver

I "got" to stay home today and burn one of my precious vacation days. I felt fine but had to spend the day in the recliner with my head at either straight up or reclined at no more than 45 degree angle. I have a stiff neck now. I have to sleep in the recliner at 45 degree angle tonight. I will have a stiffer neck in the morning.

I am not looking forward to it.

I had an "epley maneuver" this morning at the ear doctor's office and the requirements (for this to be successful) is to pretend you have a book on the top of your head and not extend it or look down. It has been a very difficult day.

I blew my nose - standing straight up - and got dizzy. That is not a good sign. Maybe tomorrow will be dizzy-free.

I had to come home because the audiologist said it would be best if I didn't have to type for the next 8-10 hours.

It was soooo difficult to not go unpack boxes!!! I want to finish so I can get these boxes out of this place and can use the 2nd bedroom. I'm making it into my office and scrapbook room - and have dubbed it the "play room."

I am making a desk out of cubes. Once I have the cubes put together, I'll get a plywood top for it and have a great working space for my computer, printer, and card making stuff. Woo-hoo!

I'll post pictures as soon as I can get the place organized.

:::Gross Warning:::

Continue reading ONLY if you can deal with grossness of the human kind. I'm serious... I'm talking about poo. Human...

I don't know how many of you have cleaned up after toddlers who (after discovering a "full load" in their diapers/training pants) have "decorated" their environment with less-than wonderful things. I'd say it's pretty common for a toddler to do this at least once during the potty training cycle (I have cleaned up more than my share of it, too - from my siblings on down to my grandchildren).

It's even quite common for elderly patients in the throes of dementia to do this a time or two. I had a patient once (in an earlier lifetime I was a physical therapy assistant) who decorated her hospital room TWICE during her stay there*.

Imagine if you will, a busy office with lots of women going in and out of the ladies room.

:::This is where the TRUE grossness comes into play:::

I rarely go in there and find it unoccupied, or at least pass someone either coming or going as I'm entering or exiting. I found it really surprising (and disgusting) that someone had been in there long enough to totally "decorate" one stall, including the floor, outside of the toilet, toilet seat, door (the cleaning lady told me this part), and the little "trash" can - without someone walking in on her either in the act or as she was exiting.

Why in the world would someone do this - and how in the world did it happen with no one else catching her? The cleaning lady (who is just the sweetest thing) told me that it looked deliberate with all the places the "decoration" was placed. If it was an accident, how did this gal get out of the bathroom and back to her desk in the condition I'm guessing her clothes were in.

Totally disgusting. And, it was someone on my floor in my office.


*This was one reason I got out of the medical field. I don't handle stuff like that well. It causes uncontrollable and almost immediate gagging and vomiting on my part. Not good to vomit on your patients... Ron says I married him so I'd have someone to clean up after my kids.

I'm so tired...

I promise, I'll get back in the swing of things and start writing on the blog again. I've been reading others' posts but just too tired to do much in the way of posting.

Ron is still loving it here. He's able to do so much more in the kitchen that he's done dishes and he's going to put up the groceries that I carried in tonight. I did the perishables and he's going to take care of the rest.  We visited one of the Mennonite churches today (there are 4 of them in town; it's a big Mennonite community) and it was nice. Next week, Ron wants to visit the non-denominational church down the street. We'll see... They may be a big too charismatic for my tastes but I'm willing to check it out for him.

I took a nap in the recliner today. It was great. I snore. Woke myself up snoring. Damnation... I was doing good, too and then heard this snore and wondered where it was coming from. Hello, dummy... it was ME.

Tomorrow is back to work. Blech.

I'd rather stay home and sleep in.

Specialist Update

I have two different types of vertigo battling it out in my head (he called me the Vertigo Queen). The first one is from the Meniere’s disease and he doesn’t want to address that just yet (more on that later). The second is called BPPV (Benign Paroxysmal Positional Vertigo) and is caused by head positions. I go back to the office next Thursday for them to use this machine that looks like an amusement ride (I don't think I'll be too amused) to try and correct the problem. Then, I’ll go see him in one month to have the BPPV re-evaluated.

The next order of business is to schedule an *MRI because he thinks that there is a strong possibility that I have a brain tumor called an acoustic neuroma (AN). Since I have a family history of this type of tumor and another (my sister had an AN and my mother and brother each had the other type – cholesteatoma), he wants to do an MRI of my head. I had an MRI in 2000 but the AN is a very slow growing tumor and it is possible that it caused the sudden hearing loss and vertigo (that was diagnosed as Meniere’s) and it just didn’t show up on the scan. MRI machines have improved over the years and something as small as a 5mm spot could have been impossible to see at that time. 5mm could cause the hearing loss and still be misdiagnosed. The combination of the BPPV and Meniere’s vertigo is what is affecting my balance right now. If I do indeed have an AN, then I’m not sure what he’ll want to do. I know my sister had the surgery in 1999 and it’s pretty major.

Next, he’s recommended what is called a BAHA hearing aid system and said I was a perfect candidate for it. It’s an internal screw (titanium) that they put into the bone behind the ear and then after three months (after it’s taken good hold in the bone) they put the external piece on. It gives you the feeling of hearing through bone conduction to the good ear and is different than a cochlear implant, which needs an intact hearing nerve (which I don’t have) to work. They put the display device on my head and I nearly cried because I could hear; the guy said my face just lit up. Then, I found out the cost involved and nearly cried for real. LOL! Insurance will pay for the surgery at 100% but only $600 on the device, which is about $3500 by itself. They wouldn’t do the BAHA until after they determine if I have an AN and if it needs surgery. They can’t implant the titanium screw into my head if they have to do the AN surgery until after that heals.

So, that’s the scoop and all I know at this point.

*I got a little irritated at the doctor. He is a specialist in his field (and a specialist in the area of ANs) but he had terrible patient/doctor skills. As I'm trying to talk to him, he got up and left the room. His reason? Because I said I have terrible anxiety attacks and need to do conscious sedation for the MRI. His theory is that 5 mg of Valium is enough and if I need anything more than that, I'm wasting his time. So I called my PCP and told them how he blew me off and if he thinks I need an MRI, I want one but I also need to be able to lie on the table to get one. I know (from previous experience) that they strap your head down and the machine is very, very close to your face. With claustrophobia and anxiety - which hits without warning - I'm afraid that I'd try to come off the table in the middle of the test. He may be an expert in HIS field, but he's not an expert in MY care.

Blogger is back, but...

they lost my last post. i hope they can find it. i'm not sure i saved a copy of it (although i frequently type it out in Word and then post).

:::sigh::: that's ok - i have more things to write about.

Moving Day - Finally! it was over

I have so much to say about the last week. I could make an entire post about so many things but I'll combine two of them here with headings and the third is it's own post. There is no way to do justice to Isaiah's Mother's Day Prayer here. Fair warning... {Skippy, this is for you}... if you have a weak bladder or breathing problems, you might want to sit down before reading it. I seriously start laughing as soon as I start telling the story. It loses some in translation but I think you'll still find it amusing.

Moving Day activities actually started Friday. Ron and I came up to the Villa to sign our paperwork and to make sure that everything was A-OK with the unit. While we were there, the maintenance guy who installed the new appliances came over to talk to us about a small ramp for Ron to get over the threshold easier. He also showed Brenda (the sales lady we've been working with) how he hooked up the ice maker into the washing machine water line (this is a key item here - you'll want to remember it for later in this post). I was standing back with Ron so I didn't see what he was showing Brenda.

Our friends and family members started arriving at the house at about 9:00 am on Saturday. Everything went pretty smoothly and it was all done in about six hours. That sounds like a lot of time, but at least one hour of that time was spent in driving from our house to our villa.

The tale of two Orlins

I’d never, ever even heard the name “Orlin” before last Friday. We moved into a six-plex unit and we’re next to the end unit. Our neighbors in the end unit are named Orlin and Ethel. It took me a while to remember Ethel but I remembered Orlin right off because it’s so unusual. I thought I’d not have any problems with it at all.

But then, the lady in the opposite end unit came down to introduce herself. Her name is Ina and her husband is… Orlin! I thought sure I was losing my marbles then when I was talking to the sales manager about the neighbors. She said, “No, Ethel’s husband is Orlin.” I said, “No, Ina’s husband is Orlin.” So we asked Ina… They’re BOTH Orlin.

I’d never heard the name before and now we’ve got it at both ends of our building. There’s also a Clara who lives behind us and a Clara who lives across the street from us. In our building, we’ve also got an Ellen (who I was confusing with Ethel for a while) and we’ve met a couple who lives in another building behind us - Marvin and Dorothy. We had so many visitors on Friday and Saturday to introduce themselves; it was really nice. We met more people in those two days than we met in our neighborhood in three YEARS.

Ron says he’s the happiest that he’s been in years. He’s had visitors come to see him this week while I’ve been at work and he loves it. Maisey loves the extra attention, too.

Washing Machine Woes

One of the benefits of the condo is that they provide all of the appliances, including a washer and dryer. We did pay a bit extra to get a bottom freezer fridge (with ice maker) but opted to take the standard washer and dryer. The units they installed are nice, brand new, top loading Maytag. Maytag is a good brand and I was pleased to see that they were new.

The friends and family who helped get our stuff moved in got all done late in the afternoon and left. Rex and Amy stayed for a while longer because we still needed to get the stuff out of the storage unit I had been renting. Rex drove the truck over and Kris and I helped him empty the storage (poor Rex – he had a pitiful excuse for a dolly and two women with balance problems trying to carry stuff up the loading ramp). Rex did the lion’s share of the work and it was HOT.

I needed to go to Wal-mart to pick up a few things (like shower curtain, trash bags, trash can, etc.) but Rex was going to grill steaks for us for Mother’s Day so we decided that we’d go after dinner. After Rex and Amy left to go home, Kris and I started unpacking boxes and trying to get things set up. I decided I’d throw in a load of wash and while it was washing, we went out to the patio to rest.

Good thing we opted for Wal-mart AFTER dinner instead of throwing in the wash and leaving. We came back into the house to several inches of water on the kitchen floor. Seriously… I walked in and thought, “I don’t remember the vinyl having that textured look to it,” as I stepped toward the kitchen in my bare feet.


Squish, went the BRAND NEW carpet under my toes. Splash, went the water up over my feet when I stepped into the kitchen. I hurried and shut off the washer because I could tell that the water was soapy. I went to Ethel’s door and asked if she knew the emergency maintenance number and if she had any brooms I could borrow. All I could think about was my new carpet getting ruined. Ethel and I, and then Ethel and Kris swept water out of the kitchen for about 30 minutes while we waited on the emergency maintenance man to show up.

When I called him I had told him what happened and said we had about 3-4 inches of standing water in the kitchen and that it had gone several feet into the living room. It had also seeped under the wall and into the closet of the bedroom – where my dresser was sitting. It got a stack of boxes in the living room that contained my angels and my FINISHED scrapbooks. Kris hurried to get those boxes out of the way and then we started opening things. The boxes in the kitchen were totally water-logged but most of the stuff in those boxes were kitchen items that could get wet – like silverware and dishes.

Kris looked at where the drain hose should have been and said that it must have come loose, so that’s what I had told the maintenance man. Once she pulled out the washer, she discovered that the hose was still tucked up INSIDE the washer. The person who installed the washer had never even pulled the hose out of the body of the machine.

The maintenance man was so nice and very apologetic. He called in a second worker to come help and they suctioned, swept, and even got down on their hands and knees and wiped up the floors. They had to move the fridge and the stove to get the water out from under them.

In the process, they discovered the same person had not hooked up the ice maker correctly, either (the guy from earlier in this post). They fixed that little error as well. Then they set up fans to help dry out the floors and wall boards.

Tee's Treasures has a new name!

I'm moving this weekend but I wanted to say that if you're looking for "Tee's Treasures" it has now gotten a new name! I had an epiphany last night and changed my paper/card blog name. I used to be afraid of my Cricut and finally said to myself, "Seriously, it's just paper!" When put into that perspective, spending fifty-nine cents on a piece of paper to try something out isn't that big of a deal.

So, Tee's Treasures has officially become "Seriously, it's only paper!" and will soon (as soon as I possibly make it happen) be sporting some new stuff.

Welcome to my new followers. Glad to have you and I will be checking out your blogs.