Today there was a gun show in Hastings, so I tagged along so I could go to the Hastings Museum, which is the home of the Adams County Genealogical Society. I got a little bit of family research done. I could have gotten more done, but I just love to read old newspapers - even if they're on microfilm and practically blind me trying to read them. Very interesting stuff. The ads just cracked me up. I find it kind of amazing how much stuff back then is still relevant today, regarding the government, too much spending, and how to raise your children. The language is more stilted and actually kind of funny, but the message is still the same. The newspaper I was reading was from Harvard, Nebraska, in April 1940 - seems like not much has changed in the world, just the names are different!
We left early this morning and stopped in York, NE, to eat breakfast at Chances R - a wonderful place to eat. They have the most amazing tasting food. I love Western Omlettes, and nobody can make them like Chances R! The hash browns are thick-sliced fried potatoes and the toast is never burned. I think they use fresh eggs too - very tasty. Tom brought two other friends with him, Steve and Dave - I think, I'm so terrible with names. Anyway, the 5 of us enjoyed breakfast so much, we decided to go there for lunch on our way back to our respective homes. Double yummy! I got a French dip for lunch, toasted bun, very tender roast beef with no gristle or fat, and the french fries were just perfect, not too brown and not all mealy. I have to admit after that feast we still stopped at Baskin Robbins (or 31 Flavors, or whatever it's called now. I was hoping they'd have Nutty Coconut, but I think I had used up all my good luck at Chances R - no Nutty Coconut or Praline Pecan Crunch, so I had to settle for Black Walnut ice cream. Oh the humanity! (Ha ha, just kidding, it was soooooo good!)
Needless to say, we skipped dinner...
Last night we got Netflix hooked up to our Wii console, so we can watch movies downstairs. We've been paying $13 a month for HBO - no more of that nonsense. Only $8 for as many movies as we want - and no DVDs to mess with. I was a little disappointed that some of the movies or TV series we were looking for weren't there, but I know they're going to get rid of their DVDs completely, so I'm pretty sure it's just a matter of time. In the meantime, they have plenty of movies and programs to watch. We won't suffer.
Funny dog story today: Last Wednesday when NFM was going to deliver the new furniture, I had Ben, Heidi, Ruger, and Buttercup in the hobby room with me, so when I went out to wait for the deliverymen, I just shut the door to keep them put away. I figured the worst that could happen is I'd have to shampoo the carpet - like that never happened, right? Well, I was wrong... After we got the furniture all put away and the delierymen left I went in to the room and found some DOG had gotten into my basket of glitter.... There was glitter everywhere! It wasn't hard to figure out it was Ben since he had glitter all over his nose and when I looked under his lip, it was stuck up in his gums, what a mess! I got it all vacuumed up and shook out all the dog beds, and picked up all the plastic shards that were lying around the room. Today when we got home, Steve went out to the backyard to clean up the poo from this week. He called for me to come outside and see what he had found - yes, solid gold poop! It was pretty funny, but even I can't take a picture of poop and post it! LOL! It was pretty funny - looked like someone had taken a dog pile and spray pained it as it shone on the end of the shovel. Ha ha ha. Gotta love that Benny! Last night after I hooked up Netflix I watched Open Season 2 - it was hilarious! It was about a dog - "Mr. Weenie" who disappeared from his loving parents in Open Season 1, and the adventure of his "vild Animal" friends who were trying to save him. I laughed out loud during several scenes, it was definitely one I'll watch again! Nothing like watching a cartoon dachshund talking with a German accent. It didn't hurt that the lady who owned him reminded me of myself - fat lady dressed in purple who hugged and loved her little doxie... 'Nuff said - see the movie!
Some bad news on the dad front today - First of all, yesterday I got a letter denying his Medicaid application. I had asked Mel to fax some documents to them and they hadn't received them, which is understandable with Mel's surgery last week, but they also said his income was too much for him to qualify. WTH? Then while we were gone today, Mel called Steve's phone looking for me because dad had fallen down. Unfortunately, Mel and Jeremy had run up to Kwik Shop and weren't home, but fortunately Sarah and Adam were there. Dad had gone outside, which he's not supposed to do when no one is home, and when he was trying to stand up and get out of the chair he fell. He cut his arm up and got pretty banged up, but the worst part was he pooped when he fell, and that was quite the mess. Poor Mel. I felt so bad for her. Jeremy had to help get dad off the floor because of Mel's surgery and between both of them dad almost fell again several times before he got upstairs to his bedroom. Mel got him all cleaned up, but she was quite upset afterward because she felt so bad for dad. In normal times, dad would have been mortified that one of us had to clean him up after an accident like that. So, aside from being upset about the fall and being worried about dad, she was embarrassed, and embarrassed for dad. I have to make some phone calls on Monday to the social worker about getting some help for him with bathing, and then to his lawyer to get on the schtick and shake some money out of that worthless wife of his - dad's worthless wife that is, not the lawyer's!
So, with this meltdown or partial meltdown or whatever it is, supposedly there is some radiation hitting the west coast of the US, but the wind is turning and more will be coming back onto Japan. Those poor, poor people. They just can't catch a break. I feel so sorry for them.
Of course, now Obozo is asking congress for 8 million dollars to re-do some of America's nuclear reactors. Probably not a big deal if he hadn't already spent TRILLIONS of dollars we don't have and thrown the country into financial ruin already. We're hemorrhaging money thanks to this moron and no end is in sight. Ahhhh. Gotta love power hungry idiots!
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Happy St. Patty's Day
Hope everyone is enjoying their St. Patrick's Day, without drinking and driving, that is!
I gave into my impulses today and bought a new laptop. Wanna see?
Well, hmmm... It's on my iPod and on FB, but I don't have any pictures on it, so I can't show you! Ha ha ha...
The things I go through to get what I want. Let me tell you, this computer was an adventure - one I hope doesn't come back to bite me in the rear end later. Last Saturday, Steve and I were at Wal-Mart and I saw this gorgeous computer - really pretty. Steve even thought it was nice, but I was trying to be frugal (really, I was), so we looked at it and I moved on. I thought it was a little spendy. Well, you know me. Ever since I saw it I've been thinking about it and thinking about it, and thinking about it... We're going to Hastings on Saturday and I really would like to have a laptop to do my genealogy on, so, yes, today I caved and decided to indulge myself and go get it. So, I drove out to the Wal-Mart on 168th & Maple. No computer. As soon as I got back to the electronics section, I realized I was in the wrong Wal-Mart, and they didn't have it on display. So, I went out to the Wal-Mart on 99th and Military and as soon as I got the electronics section, I saw the computer was gone. The card advertising it was still there, but no computer. The clerks were busy for 10 minutes (at least) trying to get an alarm to quit going off in the cameras, so I got tired of waiting around, so I came home. I figured I'd just call HP and order one online, how hard could that be?
Ha ha...
I called HP, described the computer to them and they told me it was special design, made only for Wal-Mart and I couldn't order it through the company. Well, that sucks! Next, I tried Wal-Mart online. They said the Irvington store had a "limited supply" - yeah, so limited there were none; and the Bellevue store also had a "limited supply". I called the store on North 72nd Street just to be sure, but "Jay" told me they had been sold out for about 3 weeks. They said I could order it online - for $628! The in-store price was $498 (actually, I think the Irvington store had been $468, but whatever, they were gone! I wasn't going to pay over $600, so I called the Bellevue store to see if they had any left. I held my breath while they checked... Only one left - and it was the display model. I asked them if they could hold it if I left my credit card number. Oh, of course not! I took off for Bellevue... I hate Bellevue. My entire life I lived in South Omaha and when I went to Bellevue, I got lost. It's crowded, the streets are goofy, and people are rude - IMHO, anyway. Nevertheless, I went to Bellevue.
I found out I got 10% off for buying the display model, but there was no warranty. Ouch. I got 10% off all right (about $46, but then I paid $31 in tax!) Oh, and they didn't mention that the display models don't come with batteries! WHAT!? Let me tell you, I wanted it bad... I bought it anyway. I had to cool my heels while the guy disconnected it, removed all the Wal-Mart passwords, and then waited another year or so while we waited for a MSN to come and over-ride the discount. About this time, I was seriously wondering if I should just give up - maybe I wasn't meant to have the darn thing. I finally got home with my precious treasure. Steve told me to just call HP and order a battery - YIKES - $122 for a battery!!! Holy Moly! I hope it lasts a good long time - with no warranty, I'm a little leery, but really, it's so PRETTY! I'd really love to show you a picture, but I can't find my Canon software... Oh Bother!
That's it for the fun stuff. No more. I'm happy...
Took dad back to the doctor at the VA today. We actually saw a PA, who was very nice and she put dad at ease too. She told him that he definitely shows signs of dementia - which wasn't much of a surprise. She explained it to him as his brain being like spark plugs that just weren't firing right. I asked her if it was mostly temporal lobe dementia, but she said no, it seemed to be mostly parietal lobe. Interesting. Then she brought up the subject of assisted living. Nope - he wasn't interested in the least. Uh oh. That was okay though, she went on to explain why they had stopped his asparte insulin and he was only going to be taking the Lantus. His hemoglobin A1C was only 6, which was very good, so they were going to cut out the insulin with meals. That was good news. Then dad brought up the fact that he wasn't happy living with Jeremy, that he didn't really like him. Miss and I tried to explain that we hadn't liked Pam either, but we gave her a chance and for a long time we still respected her because she was dad's wife and that Mel is over 40 and if she loves Jeremy that's all that matters. Dad doesn't have to like him. He wasn't altogether convinced about that. We continued discussing his blood work and his pharmacologic regimen when I asked him if he'd be happier living in an assisted living place where he didn't have to live with Jeremy or be upset when Adam and Sarah had friends over. Hmmmmm. Maybe the assisted living wasn't such a bad idea after all! We discussed it in a little more detail, and it was obvious he was thinking about it. His only worry was who was going to make the house payment. I told him it didn't matter, because once he was out of the house, that wasn't going to be his problem anymore. He seemed happy with that answer. Then he was worried that he couldn't afford assisted living. Well, I'm worried about that too, but we'll work something out. Between his retirement, social security, and VA benefits, along with Medicaid, we should be able to find something. I hope... I think once he thinks about it for awhile and comes to realize that it was his idea to begin with (dementia isn't always a bad thing), he'll come to realize that would be the best idea. Whew!
I was so worried about today I could hardly sleep last night. Of course all week I haven't been able to go back to sleep when Steve left, but today I was so tired I could hardly get up. Our appointment was at 9 a.m. Ouch.
All in all, it was a pretty productive day. Mom and Bob came over to see the new furniture... They really liked it. Me too! Now that the disability issue is taken care of, I feel like I can breathe again. We've really been struggling for the past 18 months while I haven't worked. I finally feel like we can do it! Now, I'm going to see if I can't find that camera disk... Happy Spring!!!
I gave into my impulses today and bought a new laptop. Wanna see?
Well, hmmm... It's on my iPod and on FB, but I don't have any pictures on it, so I can't show you! Ha ha ha...
The things I go through to get what I want. Let me tell you, this computer was an adventure - one I hope doesn't come back to bite me in the rear end later. Last Saturday, Steve and I were at Wal-Mart and I saw this gorgeous computer - really pretty. Steve even thought it was nice, but I was trying to be frugal (really, I was), so we looked at it and I moved on. I thought it was a little spendy. Well, you know me. Ever since I saw it I've been thinking about it and thinking about it, and thinking about it... We're going to Hastings on Saturday and I really would like to have a laptop to do my genealogy on, so, yes, today I caved and decided to indulge myself and go get it. So, I drove out to the Wal-Mart on 168th & Maple. No computer. As soon as I got back to the electronics section, I realized I was in the wrong Wal-Mart, and they didn't have it on display. So, I went out to the Wal-Mart on 99th and Military and as soon as I got the electronics section, I saw the computer was gone. The card advertising it was still there, but no computer. The clerks were busy for 10 minutes (at least) trying to get an alarm to quit going off in the cameras, so I got tired of waiting around, so I came home. I figured I'd just call HP and order one online, how hard could that be?
Ha ha...
I called HP, described the computer to them and they told me it was special design, made only for Wal-Mart and I couldn't order it through the company. Well, that sucks! Next, I tried Wal-Mart online. They said the Irvington store had a "limited supply" - yeah, so limited there were none; and the Bellevue store also had a "limited supply". I called the store on North 72nd Street just to be sure, but "Jay" told me they had been sold out for about 3 weeks. They said I could order it online - for $628! The in-store price was $498 (actually, I think the Irvington store had been $468, but whatever, they were gone! I wasn't going to pay over $600, so I called the Bellevue store to see if they had any left. I held my breath while they checked... Only one left - and it was the display model. I asked them if they could hold it if I left my credit card number. Oh, of course not! I took off for Bellevue... I hate Bellevue. My entire life I lived in South Omaha and when I went to Bellevue, I got lost. It's crowded, the streets are goofy, and people are rude - IMHO, anyway. Nevertheless, I went to Bellevue.
I found out I got 10% off for buying the display model, but there was no warranty. Ouch. I got 10% off all right (about $46, but then I paid $31 in tax!) Oh, and they didn't mention that the display models don't come with batteries! WHAT!? Let me tell you, I wanted it bad... I bought it anyway. I had to cool my heels while the guy disconnected it, removed all the Wal-Mart passwords, and then waited another year or so while we waited for a MSN to come and over-ride the discount. About this time, I was seriously wondering if I should just give up - maybe I wasn't meant to have the darn thing. I finally got home with my precious treasure. Steve told me to just call HP and order a battery - YIKES - $122 for a battery!!! Holy Moly! I hope it lasts a good long time - with no warranty, I'm a little leery, but really, it's so PRETTY! I'd really love to show you a picture, but I can't find my Canon software... Oh Bother!
That's it for the fun stuff. No more. I'm happy...
Took dad back to the doctor at the VA today. We actually saw a PA, who was very nice and she put dad at ease too. She told him that he definitely shows signs of dementia - which wasn't much of a surprise. She explained it to him as his brain being like spark plugs that just weren't firing right. I asked her if it was mostly temporal lobe dementia, but she said no, it seemed to be mostly parietal lobe. Interesting. Then she brought up the subject of assisted living. Nope - he wasn't interested in the least. Uh oh. That was okay though, she went on to explain why they had stopped his asparte insulin and he was only going to be taking the Lantus. His hemoglobin A1C was only 6, which was very good, so they were going to cut out the insulin with meals. That was good news. Then dad brought up the fact that he wasn't happy living with Jeremy, that he didn't really like him. Miss and I tried to explain that we hadn't liked Pam either, but we gave her a chance and for a long time we still respected her because she was dad's wife and that Mel is over 40 and if she loves Jeremy that's all that matters. Dad doesn't have to like him. He wasn't altogether convinced about that. We continued discussing his blood work and his pharmacologic regimen when I asked him if he'd be happier living in an assisted living place where he didn't have to live with Jeremy or be upset when Adam and Sarah had friends over. Hmmmmm. Maybe the assisted living wasn't such a bad idea after all! We discussed it in a little more detail, and it was obvious he was thinking about it. His only worry was who was going to make the house payment. I told him it didn't matter, because once he was out of the house, that wasn't going to be his problem anymore. He seemed happy with that answer. Then he was worried that he couldn't afford assisted living. Well, I'm worried about that too, but we'll work something out. Between his retirement, social security, and VA benefits, along with Medicaid, we should be able to find something. I hope... I think once he thinks about it for awhile and comes to realize that it was his idea to begin with (dementia isn't always a bad thing), he'll come to realize that would be the best idea. Whew!
I was so worried about today I could hardly sleep last night. Of course all week I haven't been able to go back to sleep when Steve left, but today I was so tired I could hardly get up. Our appointment was at 9 a.m. Ouch.
All in all, it was a pretty productive day. Mom and Bob came over to see the new furniture... They really liked it. Me too! Now that the disability issue is taken care of, I feel like I can breathe again. We've really been struggling for the past 18 months while I haven't worked. I finally feel like we can do it! Now, I'm going to see if I can't find that camera disk... Happy Spring!!!
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