Another excuse for a long absence.

Apparently, after going on the internet on my daughter’s luxurious high speed, at Christmas, my new Dell computer, with Windows 7, came home and went on strike and said,

“No Way. You can cry. You can stomp your feet. You can install and uninstall aol a billion times but I am NOT going online dialup with AOL.”

The computer has spoken. I took it to the library to gently cajole it into AOL on high speed. NOPE! Well, on high speed it was okay but it was not fooling around.   Even after I downloaded AOL 9.5, I brought it home and it resides in a loop.

It says, “AOL will now install. ….”

Then, it says, “You need to restart your computer.”

Then, it says, “AOL will now install….”

Then, it says, “You need to restart. . . etc, etc, etc, over and over and over.

Anyway, even my desktop wasn’t working for about four days. I think it was too cold in the house. Maybe that’s why everyone was complaining, “IT’s TOO COLD IN THE HOUSE.”  Despite which I have a $400 heating bill.

So, that is where I have been, that and at doctors and hospitals, as husband continues his month long battle with pneumonia.  

Next post, the joys of letting a doctor dig in your eyeball.  Not for the squeamish.

Read Full Post »

You decide. Am I so NOT invited or am I too sensitive?

Okay, what are blogs for, if not to vent about your relatives, right?????????

Morning is my quiet time. My peaceful, internet morning ritual. Post a poem for mom on her blog, at  Padairvanvleck’s Weblog  , post my post here, check my writing post and decide I have nothing to say. Then, I check my email. BAD MOVE this morning!

 

1.       I was trying to make a joke, to BrainDebris, about mom’s penchant for watching certain tv programs and it didn’t come off very well. Especially, when I sent it to mom and not BrainDebris.  Three emails of apology later and I move on to other email.

 

2.      WHY DID I BOTHER!

We have another wedding coming up next month and I am taking mom to it. This one is only three hours away and near to the area we are from, so lots of relatives. I wrote a relative, who I had been told had one of my brother’s chess sets to give me and was coming to the wedding. I received a reply email this morning.

 

 (XXX’s to protect the innocent)

 

MY EMAIL:

I was glad to hear you were going to  XXX  wedding. Grandma really missed XXXX when you were hoping to stop on your trip last summer.

 

I do have a request. XXX two chess sets of (my brother’s) so that I could pick one to have. It would mean so much to me to have one of his chess sets.  I wonder if you guys could bring them and I will go out to the car with you and pick one and put it into my car.  It would mean a lot.

 

I’ll be bringing Grandma to the wedding.

 

That’s it. Fairly friendly I think, and to the point. I have had some good laughs with this relative. We have visited their house when they had birthday parties etc. Last time I saw the relative, we were warmly welcome and treated well.

 

 HER REPLY:

1^st paragraph informing me in five different ways that her husband has to work. I kind of got that he had to work . THEN:

 

“We are hoping to be able to just pick Grandma up by herself to spend some time at our house, since she will be only 2 blocks over from our new house. We would love to have her spend some time with her great grand babies and us. I would love to grill out for her  and make  a nice dinner for her.

 

“We really are only about 1 minute from XXXX  house” ( the house we are staying at for two days)

 

ME AGAIN:

Okay, I get that I am not invited. But, I replied simply that Grandma would love to spend time with this woman’s children and I would forward her letter to mom.

 

She found it necessary to email me again; just in case my head was extra thick and I did not get the message that I was NOT welcome to accompany mom to her house.

 

SHE WROTE:

Hopefully she can spend a little while with us, we would love it. XXX does have off every Friday and Sunday.  So, not sure how long you will be here, but if you could see if we can pick her up one of the Friday evenings or Sunday anytime – that would be special for us to be able to have her over.

 

 

OKAY FOLKS!  You be the judge. Am I being overly sensitive here or was I good enough to come to their kids birthday party, with a present, but they do not want to cook for me?? I haven’t been around in years, certainly not enough to offend her.

Read Full Post »

It is going to rain in Indiana – AGAIN!

I have always loved the rain. Once, we were on vacation, staying in a relative’s house, and the rain drummed down all night on their tin roof. I was just a kid but I thought it was the coolest sound in the world.

 

Rain on camping canvas is awesome. Other than the safety issue, I love rain when I am driving. And, when I am walking, I truly walk in the rain. I do not run.

 

This morning I woke up to lightening. Then it was clear and now, at 8 am it is dark, lightening and ready to fulfil its promise of rain. I may stand outside in it for a while (when the lightening is not near) but there are certain problems with rain in our County.

 

When it rains in Indiana, and it does often:

1. The electricity goes on and off all day

3. The phone lines buzz and we get a party line on our phone, and since the repairman doesn’t come out for five days, it’s dry and gone by then and AT&T charges you $51 for the privilege of having a party line.

4. You can’t get on the internet because your phone lines buzz.

5. We don’t need terrorists in Indiana; our infrastructure is disintegrating all on its own.

Read Full Post »