Monday, June 16, 2014

My Cup Runneth Over....With Mostly Wonderful Things

      I am so excited ....   my son is coming home for a visit!  My son is coming, my son is coming! Boy, how I have missed him!  When he left for Seattle last year I really never expected to see him again.  We are not people of financial means to do whatever we want, when we want, like trips across the country.  I really thought I would never see him again.  I cried for months.  I knew it was where he needed to be but oh, my, that is a long way away.  About that time I started this blog. 
      He would not be able to come home now if it weren't for his super dooper wonderful friend who is helping with the price of his plane ticket to come home for a mutual friend's wedding.  He will just be here a few days since he can't afford to miss more than a few days' work but I will be thrilled to see him for any amount of time.  His plane lands July 17th!
     I am on track for an apartment July 11th (but most likely sooner), have been approved, and they accepted my deposit.  I took it sight unseen (although the floor plan is just like my daughter's), 712 sq feet, 1 bedroom, 1 bathroom, ground floor (oh thank you, Lord ... I could not picture my knees lasting very long carrying groceries and big dog food bags up a flight of stairs).  The complex was built in 2012 and very nice.  The apartment I will be getting has a braille plaque near the door so I asked if it is a handicapped unit.  It is --- not for physically challenged folks but for blind and hearing impaired tenants!  I'm hearing impaired!  Was this suppose to be "my" apartment or what!?  I don't know exactly how it is equipped, I will find out when I can actually sign the lease when the current tenant moves out, and we do a walk-through.  Just waiting on the current tenants to move out at the end of June, the carpet to be cleaned and whatever else might need doing.  And one of the best perks?  I will have access to internet again.  My daughter has it and her apartment is one flight up and one apartment over.  If I can not access my daughter's internet from my apartment I can always run up to her apartment and use it.  You can not imagine how I have missed the internet. 
     I mentioned my family Dr running some tests and the lab work came back that my liver numbers were just sky high crazy in April and May?  My family Dr had the blood tested 3 times and used two labs just to be sure since I have never had a problem before.  Since I don't drink, and never have, liver damage was the last thing this grandma ever expected.  Went to the mental health clinic last week, took the lab work from my family Dr, and they feel for sure it is the drug I am taking, which they prescribed - oh, probably 2 or 3 years ago AND NEVER RAN LAB WORK TO MAKE SURE I AM OK.  Oh, sure, NOW they are alarmed.  I have to get off of it.  Cut my dosage in half (which has caused some problems .... dizziness mostly ... well, that and the serious lack of help with my depression and anxiety ... and now while I am looking at packing up, moving, selling my house is not the time to be in the depths of depression ... what a heck of a time to be under a lot of stress AND have my meds cut in half) and they gave me a prescription for Abilify to help with the dosage I am now taking for the next month (tapering off).  I have seen those commercials and ads in every magazine I have picked up lately (except for New Mexico Magazine) so I was familiar at least with the name.  Guess what those 30 pills run?  $978.00.  LOL! My social security disability check for the month is not that much --- ya think I left Walgreens with a bottle??!  I do have medicare and a supplemental insurance policy for pharmacy so it would have only cost me $193 for 30 pills but still way beyond my reach.  (remember I gave up internet service when it went up to $40 because that was an unnecessary & expensive luxury)   I will be emailing the clinic next and saying "Seriously? Do you know how much this drug costs??"   LOL! At Walgreens I was also buying the cheapest toothbrush they had, a dollar one.  After giving me the bad news about the prescription cost and me telling her I would just be taking the toothbrush the lady at the pharmacy counter said "listen, honey, we are going to use your Reward Points, you can have the toothbrush for the tax... that will be 8 cents!"  I blessed her heart and she blessed my heart!  :)  ... a Southern thing, I'm told.  a P.S.---My caseworker is working on finding out what to do with me next re: medications.  It will all work out in the end. 
       My sweet grandkids keep me entertained and busy.  The baby is crawling really well (and fast) -- he is 7 months old --and wants to walk so bad.  He can walk several steps if we let him hold our fingers. It is way too soon for him to be walking, but I think he must look at us and think no one else is crawling around on the floor. I would rather he wait about 6 months,at least, before he starts walking.  He is hard enough to keep up with as it is now. The 3 year old has more energy than the Energizer Bunny - wish I could tap into that!  Best baby and toddler since their older cousins were that age.  :) My two older grandsons look up from their electronics long enough to say "I'm hungry!" every 15 minutes or so.  Boys --- they are bottomless pits when it comes to feeding them.  I only see the older boys every other week.  Actually the 12 and 13 year old boys are good, good kids and are a big help to play with the 3 year old.  You should see those big boys playing tea party and making their cousin happy.  They are real good about keeping the baby happy too.  They will even play card games and dominoes with me when we don't have the little ones with us.   
     I have met the woman who lives in the apartment above "mine" and she seems real nice.  About my age.  Her dog, a schnauzer, is named Zoe.  My dog is half schnauzer and named Zoe.  I am a little worried about how my Zoe will adapt to apartment life but we will see.  She is a pretty laid back dog and a sweet girl so maybe it won't be too bad teaching her to not bark at everyone who goes by, and to do her business on a leash.
    I need to get back home and back to sorting, packing and pricing.  Later in the month I am having a yard sale.  The apartment comes with a washer and dryer so I will need to sell mine, as well as my freezer.  I don't need "things" so I am hoping to sell the little I do have so I can move in my van, and not have to hire movers.  I have packed my kitchen and bathroom, took a whopping 4 medium size boxes.  I left out 2 bowls, 2 spoons, 2 glasses and plan to eat cereal and sandwiches until I move (I have a good lunch at my daughter's 4 days a week.)  My clothes will fit in one box I bet.  That leaves a lot of "junk" to sort through.   I doubt my bedroom suite sells so I may have to move that, but it is a queen set and will fill up the apartment bedroom so I am really hoping it sells.  My round table and chairs are too large to fit in the little "dining room area" so that needs to sell as well.  My dining room will be the playroom.  My living room furniture is going in the garage sale as well.  Hopefully I can get a bit of money to buy new living room furniture.  I DO have lots of toys ... mostly garage sale finds.  Look what I got for $5 for my little grandson!!!! Yes, this Fisher-Price sort-of-a-walker thing for $5.  Have I said I love garage sales??
All we had to do is wash it and disinfect it to be on the safe side.  It has a fabric seat that snaps onto the purple circle.  The seat is currently in the washer. I may not be able to use it for a long time but at least for several months it will corral him long enough for me to go in the kitchen to make him a bottle or something.     
   

Sunday, June 8, 2014

Yep, We Had Some Wind Friday Night...

Channel 10 News, Amarillo, TX - Texas state troopers say only minor injuries were reported from a wreck that kept one direction of Interstate 40 closed for at least a couple hours.  Troopers confirm a gust of wind blew over three semi-trucks in the eastbound lanes near exit 80, at around 9:20 Friday night.  At around the time of the crash, troopers believed it would take at least until midnight to clear the scene of the crash and re-open the highway.
       A while back I mentioned that Amarillo is Quarter Horse country.  Businesses all over town have painted fiberglass Quarter Horses.  This one is the Coca-Cola horse.  My grandson took the photo for me.
       I was so disappointed that California Chrome did not win the Triple Crown.  I am not a big horse racing person but I loved his story and loved to see horses run.  I dislike jockeys hitting them with those sticks though (I am sure they have a better name) and I sure am too poor to ever even think about betting on a horse.  I am also disappointed in one of the owner's rant after the loss.  Wish he had stayed on the high road.



Friday, June 6, 2014

That Was A Rude Awakening!

     The tornado sirens went off a little after 1 a.m.  Being a sound sleeper and hard of hearing anyway, I slept through it but my daughter was spending the night with me and she woke me up.  The dogs were sleeping through it too.  Did we grab blankets and get in the bathtub? No.  I opened the front door and looked outside, but shut it quickly because the rain was coming down in buckets.   We turned the TV on and watched the weather.  No tornado touched the ground but several hooks were seen in the sky.  A mile from my son's home a tornado spotter saw a very low hook.  That was too close for comfort considering that is where my 7 month old and 3 year old grandkids live.   My son and d-i-l could barely hear the tornado siren over the noise of the horrible wind, hail and violent rain at their house.  My daughter-in-law told me she woke up when their bed actually shook.    They live 25 minutes from me and my storm wasn't so violent.
    I can use the internet for free at the library and I can get on at my daughter's apartment.  The problem is when I am at my daughter's apartment I have the two youngest grandkids.  The 3 year old wants to push keys and "fix" my laptop, while the 7 month old is crawling really fast and in to everything.  His sister did not crawl until she was 9 months old.  As of today he can pull himself up to stand up and wants to walk so I am sure that won't be too far down the road.  He keeps me super busy. 
     I miss my blogger friends.  I really, really do.  I am going to try to read a few posts real quick!  I probably won't be able to get back on until Tuesday so have a wonderful weekend!  Once I move I will be able to use my daughter's internet any time I want.  My apartment is in the same complex, same building---one floor below and one apartment over.  I was super, super lucky to get a ground floor apartment.

Thursday, June 5, 2014

Hi, Y'All!

     Hi, y'all!  I didn't fall in a sink hole or anything.  I have had 4 grandkids with me since school was out (two weeks you say??! It feels like a month or two)  and I canceled my internet.  The price of the net went up in May and it became beyond a luxury so...   posts will be few and far between.  It looks like I will be getting an apartment in July though!!!!!!  That will help me financially so much!  Just had a second to check in with y'all.  I have not had a chance to read but 2 posts and didn't have time to respond but I will be back.  Y'all have a great day.  Sandie, I am thinking about you.  Hope all is well with everyone.