Category: My Life

I’m tired. I admit it. I think I finally have hit the wall as far as carrying the load on this whole Covid-19 thing.

Since March I have been essentially doing all the work in the household. Looking back, I thought it would only be for a few weeks, and now, here we are, at the end of July and our Governor announced that they are expecting a surge in our numbers and we should continue to stay in, protect ourselves, and our elderly population.

My days start early. I am up with the first glimpses of light. The dogs are cared for and I am usually able to find some peaceful time, but with the dachshunds having been sick recently, this did not happen.

I’m not thrilled about going out or ordering out meals. Not that we actually have many places to chose from, but I am not comfortable.

This means I’m cooking six separate meals a day. My meals, and Jack’s.

I’ve let the house cleaning slip a little admittedly, so today I am overwhelmed with vacuuming and washing surfaces down.

And that all makes me tired!

I know, wah, wah, wah! I am full of self-pity and woe. And personally, I do not find it very becoming on me either.

But, I’m tired!

I realize that it’s not just physical tiredness, but I think emotionally I am tired too. How long will this whole Covid thing be with us? How long will normal life not be normal?

I remember the good old days when I went to a WW Class. Afterward, I would slip over to TJ Maxx for a little retail therapy, and stop here or there running errands. Remember those days?

Now, I can report to you, I have not been in a store for retail therapy since early March. The only store I go to is the grocery store. And thankfully, my friends from WW and I have decided to get together once a week at a local Park and share in our weight loss journeys and crazy wild lives.

Thank God for my friends!

I am also deeply grateful for my diet. Planning my meals and staying on this plan has kept me sane. I know I would be a lot more unsettled if I were gaining this whole time instead of losing.

So I apologize, gentle readers, for basically having one giant pity-party today. I just needed to get it all out!

Tuesday found me determined to do a big, deep cleaning in the master-bath. This room is so big, it’s like an apartment in New York City! Yes, that small and yet for a bathroom, that big!

I love this room, with its double sinks, shower with a small seat inside, and separate potty.  But the one thing I would do differently if designing it now would be to not put in a heart-shaped jacuzzi. It is so large and it is very hard to clean.

That being said, I left that for last, but in the meantime, I did sinks, floors, lavatory, and vacuumed everything, including the tub.

That’s when I got into trouble. You see, Lili’s heavy white fur, and a little moisture, will clog any vacuum! Thankfully I was able to fix it with pliers as I pulled out the clog!

Lastly, I washed the tub. It took me forever, but during this time Jack actually was skating on thin ice as he directed me on how to do it!

So the Master Bath is spotless, and the throw rugs are drying. They’ll be all set tomorrow. The Master-bedroom is vacuumed as well as the family room and kitchen.

Wow, this really was a lot!

And lastly, I tended my Pampered Chef Party and made meals. Of course, my back is biting me right now, reminding me that I should have slowed down and worked a bit more carefully.

That’s okay, tomorrow I will be seeing my friends in the morning and then in the afternoon I will be going in to see my Hair-Stylist and I will get my red hair fixed!

Stay tuned!

I decided I would spend my Independence Day clearing out my closet. In the last couple of months, I seem to have been unable to find things, and so it was time.

First I took all the hanging stuff out. That’s when it hit me. Many of these clothes are no longer worn because they are too big!

One by one, I went through and tried on clothes and put them in folded piles to go to the charity shop.

I was thrilled and smiling as I did this. Then I felt slightly sad. These clothes had been my friends through those rough days. The shirts hid my bloated belly and the pants kept me covered.

But now, I am down three sizes. These clothes hang on me like a tent. I remember my Mom used to joke about a dressmaker called “Omar the Tent Maker”. Obviously, much of this stuff had been made by him!

The day stretched out and before I knew it, I had four large garbage bags filled with beautiful clothes. Talbots is a favorite brand of mine and I would say 75% of the clothing is from there.

I can actually see into my closet. Now I need to take everything off the shelves and either throw it away, store it, or donate it!

So, this is all a good thing and in the end, I will have a workable closet. And I can get rid of what I do not and never again will need!

During the last few Covid-19 months I have tried to keep up with all the extra things that have been needing attention in our life. But several things went by the wayside or got lost or just plain forgotten.

Feeling a new empowered strength after dealing with the satellite company, I decided that today (Monday) would be a good day to tackle all of it.

This morning I went into my closet to get a shirt and I spied a pair of Merrell Clogs I had purchased a year ago quite cheaply. They are not the prettiest of Clogs, but they fit the bill for use as indoor/outdoor slippers! Problem solved!

Next, I took a deep breath and started with my phone calls. The first was to the local hospital who sent us a bill for Jack’s hand treatment back in February.

Jack is 100% disabled through the VA because of his Agent Orange problems and all of his medical treatments are covered by them. So, when I finally got through to billing, I started the conversation by apologizing for being late with the call to them. After all, this darn Covid-19 had everything off-kilter. At the very start of all of this, I admit I was totally freaked out and only concentrated on keeping Jack safe.

Well, this lovely lady couldn’t have been nicer and in no time at all, it was completely taken care of!

The next thing on my list was to call my Optometrist because I had a balance with them. I met my deductible and it should be completely paid for by my insurance. I gave the secretary the information and she assured me it would all be taken care of.

Next, I wanted to get some advice on the coloring process of my hair. So I called Madison Reed and asked all sorts of questions and the young woman (who kept calling me Ma’am), was so nice and fixed my problem and is sending the kit for me to use to take care of the little problem I have had. Free of charge!

Wow, I was definitely on a roll. I put a nice chicken in the oven to cook for dinner and pared the Asparagus.

So, Monday was a wonderfully productive day and I am on cloud nine. What a great way to start the week!

Most of my days since the Pandemic started with the, Stay At Home orders, were quiet and not too busy. Today (Wednesday) was not one of those.

I had laundry to do, and cleaning to do, as well as cooking. This meant that the only TV I was aware of was on in the background.

I did set aside time to go to a WW Meeting. I really live for those because they help me to stay strong about my healthy eating.

I felt good about this until tonight when I saw on the Massachusetts WW Group page someone remarking that they feel like my little New Hampshire Group is taking over. And since I know I tend to be an over-share-er, I took the remark very personally. Then I stepped back.

I do not know the woman who made this comment. Perhaps she doesn’t like anyone from New Hampshire. So I decided to not respond and to just let it go.

Those of you who know me well, know that this is big. I think I am overly sensitive and being a Scorpio, when hurt I tend to come out swinging! But, not this time.

The beautiful sunset last night.

The end of my day was spent cooking and cleaning up yet another meal. I do try to make it interesting, but there are days, like today, when I have no desire to cook. Still, I pulled it off!

Have a great Thursday and stay happy, healthy, and safe.

Yesterday was my first foray out since the whole Covid-19 thing started.

In the early days, during the isolation, although we had food and supply shortages, people were kind. When you left their area in the grocery store check out or saw a neighbor in your home area, everyone was wishing people “Take care and stay safe”. It seemed that people made a better effort to be nice.

Yesterday was different. People are back to not caring about each other and they are once again, rude, cruel, and hateful.

So it was at the end of my day yesterday. I stopped at the grocery and Walmart on my way home from a wonderful family parade to celebrate my granddaughters 8th birthday. I was feeling pretty good and I was happy that Savannah had a celebration.

When I came up our alternate drive to the house, I saw a sign basically telling me to keep out because this was a private driveway.

After unloading our groceries, I went back to the home of the person who put up the signs. I wanted to make sure that they understood that I wasn’t trespassing but did, in fact, have, in our Deed what is called “A Right of Way” on this road.

He said no (basically he called me a liar) and I again stated it was in my Deed. “Yeah, show me!” Then he told me I was out of line and being aggressive.

I was shaken. People have not been that aggressive with me in a long while and my frustration with the situation was in fact, building. He showed me a diagram of his property. There was no Deed in his hands. The Map dated to 1980. I said that I would bring him the Deed.

I came home shaking. I went into our files and sure enough, found our Deed. I made a copy and went back up the hill.

I showed this to the man and his wife and he starts in saying that the “Verbiage isn’t clear, he will have to think about it”.

My Deed, and the Deed for the woman behind me and the cabin behind her, was printed in 1999. It clearly states that we have a “Right of Way” on that road that the man is saying is his driveway, his property and that he doesn’t want anyone using it.

Now, who is bullying who? He was not respectful, he was rude, and his mind was closed.

I came home and sat down to flip through FB and get my mind on something else. That was stupid of me. All of the Riots and hatred were on there and that further upset me.

I’ve been told that I could never understand what a Black person goes through being targeted because of their skin color.

Not true. 

Back in 1988, I was driving back to a hotel Jack and I was staying at in Miami. I was familiar with the area, and I stopped at a store I knew to get some snacks to have in our room.

As I stepped from my car, I was attacked by 4 Black men who beat me to a pulp in their attempt to get my purse.

Why was I chosen for this beating? Because I was a single white female and in their minds easy prey.

So do not tell me that I do not understand what it is like to be victimized because of your color (or gender).

Did I go smashing windows, lighting cars on fire, or hurting people because of what happened to me? No. Did I handle it well, after the violence happened in my life? No. Did I make an effort to not judge all Black people, because of what those four hateful men had done to me? Yes. And such is my life today.

I take people as they come. Not by gender or skin color, but by the kind of person they are.

So as I sat here last night, news blaring and my mind racing with the anger shown toward me during the latter half of my day, I felt like I would simply scream.

I felt shaky and as if just one more thing would break me. I didn’t sleep well and today I am still upset about it. Thus, this post.

But I want to beg people to remember to be kind. Remember to appreciate not just your family and friends, but your neighbors as well.

I’ve become a major “Germaphobe”! Just call me Howie Mandels Twin. You know he is terrified of germs (one has to wonder how/where he is surviving during the Corona Virus Pandemic.) This is how I am these days. I don’t want people near me and I am terrified of small spaces.

However, that being said, when my roots, which are a whitish/gray measured 2 inches, I knew I had to do something.

I think the drug store color is dangerous. Too many chemicals. So I’d heard from a friend that Madison Reed color company was a good one.

I spent time on their web site, consulted with a colorist, and put my order in. Trust me, it was a total leap of faith, as I had not done anything like this in many years.

The color box arrived with all sorts of goodies and I planned to perfection my date with the dye bottle.

This is when I had sectioned off my hair before I started. I was really nervous about it, but persevered!

Okay, the roots were cooking and eventually I pulled the color through all of the hair. I was wondering what it was doing under that cap.

And this is the after! It’s actually the same color I had when I was 22 and didn’t need to color my hair!

So here I am after. I feel good and as I gazed in the mirror I realized I had only one chin! Months of careful eating was paying off.

I must say that my color success and the arrival of a few of my on order items in the mail, just made my day.

It’s the little things!