I Had To Buy A New Moniter

Yesterday, when I got up, my computer screen was fuzzy, like I had two identical transparencies on top of another, accept they weren't were lined up right. I turned the monitor off. Then I tried to turn it back on. Nothing. Not even the power light would come on. Let it cool down. Tried again. Still nothing. I concluded that the monitor had died.

I got a old monitor from the back room. Pins didn't match. I talked to sister, best friend via text, on what to do.

They don't make this kind of monitor anymore, I think. I do not see them in stores. It's all flat screens now. My sister wanted me to look around for a old one. Problem is, I can't wait that long. I would give up TV before the Internet. Plus, I do all my banking by Internet. And how am I to look for horse brasses if I can't get to Ebay? Went to wallyworld. Bought a $128.00 Acer monitor. Pins matched. Is up and running. Back in business! Now, all I have to do is keep the cats away from it.

Once I took the old monitor off, they got up on the computer desk. This flat screen is so small (15.6), they still see no barrier to getting up on the desk. I am thinking of putting a brick on the holder, just in case they try to knock it over.Also realized the complete mess on desk. Squalor. I think I will spend the day shredding old mail.

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I have received two horse brasses in the mail. My God it's so quick. I remember when it took a month for anything to get here from England when my Nan would send us something. The brasses are the guide dog one and the Cotswold sheep. The guide dog brass is absolutely fabulous. The Cotswold, just okay. It will do and will match the style of the 4-H brass that I will have made.

This And That

So, have started buying brasses for Margaret's birthday. Really scored and found a GUIDE DOG one! I also have located a sheep and pig ones as well. The sheep will have to substitute for a lamb. I am having no luck at all finding a rabbit brass. I think a hare brass would do, but I'm not finding any of those erither. Still have to find away to have the 4-H brass made. Right now, the only thing I can think of is have a local custom jeweler do it. That will coast bucks. They don't really have metal shops at high schools any more, do they?

Apparently the brass site I located some years ago when I started thinking about this, is no longer in business. At least on line. I have gone through 15 google search pages and there is no sign of it. I will see if I get different results by using different search engines.

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The woman I gave a ride to showed up again. This time, two passing men (she was outside the store on the sidewalk) thought she was having an heart attack by the way she was clutching her left arm. They ask us to call 911. We did. I went forward in the store to see what was going on, and recognized her. By this time the paramedic's had arrived. Short time later they realized she wasn't having a heart attack and I heard one of the paramedic say to Penny, "She's confused." I bet, dude. She IS SENILE! They need to do something about her wandering, because she doesn't know where she is, and soon, I think, is going to have problems getting across the street in the proper fashion.

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I have lost my Saturdays until 2-7. Amber doesn't work for 3 days. Every one's hours are getting cut even more. What's really scary is this is our busy time of the year!

Wallyworld laid off all their part time employees 12-7-08. One of those was Kristine's husband.

I want to apply at Countrywide, but. . . I can't ethically leave just before valentine's day. Secondly, why would that work out for me? They hire new people every week, because they fire people every week. It's produce or die there. Would I be up to it?

I really don't want to write this post.

But, I did it and I will admit it. I have hurt my sister. Hurt her bad. I didn't mean to. You see, I didn't call her on her 50Th birthday. Or I hadn't called her before 8 p.m. before my brother-in-law called me and reamed me out. I hadn't called earlier, because I was convinced my sister was doing something wonderful that I had been excluded from, and I didn't want to know about it. In actualtilty she was doing NOTHING, with no phone calls from ANYONE including B-I-L or our brother or her best friend, friends of any sort and only got one birthday card. She became very upset. Margaret called B-I-L and he called me. Reamed, hung up on me. I started calling my sister, and I do mean calling. She wouldn't answer. About an hour later (making me drive dangerously in the meantime) she finally answered. She asked me why I hadn't called. I didn't tell her the truth, I thought that would only make things worse for her and so, lamely told her I had been house cleaning. She didn't want to see me the next day but I saw her the next. She is really hurt. This may effect her the rest of her life. I can only fix a little of this. I gave her a blank card with a handwritten apology, she looked at it, and said she didn't want an apology card, she wanted a birthday card.

So I'm going to get a birthday card, a lot of birthday cards, as many as I can find that are appropriate for her and then I'm going to mail them so she gets one a day. Hopefully this will make up a little for my stupidity.

I'm Not The Only One Worried About Mr. Traffic

I went over there last night after work and Mr. Traffic was on the phone with his son, who is in Thailand/Iraq and I think Iran. He's a Major and soon will be a Colonel. Apparently someone from Mr. Traffic's work emailed him about Mr. Traffic. Apparently what this guy told the Major, was that Mr. Traffic is going senile. I don't think Mr. Traffic is senile. I think he is suffering from sleep deprivation. I think everything would be alright with Mr. Traffic if he could get more then 20 minutes at a whack. He needs a different doctor who will give him sleeping pills. I'm going to investigate Tylenol PM and see if it will interact with his meds. If it doesn't, then I will suggested to him.

But, as a result of trying to set up his new email last night I now have the Major's email address. However I'm afraid to use it, because of what Mr. Traffic said about the guy at work betraying him (and he thinks it's because the guy wants his position). Mr. Traffic told me he loathes disloyalty. I think I'm going to have to consult with my sister on what to to do.

I want to help Mr. Traffic. He keeps talking about how he doesn't want to live in such constant pain, how he hates being so cold all the time, about how he itches if he tries to get warm, how he can't sleep, and how his legs are so filled with water he can hardly lift them, and nothing he does seems to help. He needs a different doctor, who will listen to him and give him some meds.

Unforseen Consequences About Hair

When I went to the pizza place to work, the assistant manager saw me. Oh, the look on her face! She just froze in place. She did not like my hair, not one bit. You see, she has a bob. Now, I don't have a bob, I have a modified POB. But from the front it looks like a bob. And my hair color is more like her "natural" color. She generally dyes it black, but right now, it's like reddish brown.

But, she may think I'm imitating her, which I'm not. I picked this cut out, because it suits my round face, would get rid of the damaged hair, would still let me have some hair to play with, and was something I felt I could learn to style by myself. So, I'll have to see how she treats me.

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Nothing in the paper about the woman I gave a ride to, so far. . .

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The news is very bad about the economy. The florist is worried, hell, everyone is worried. I don't think there any chance of getting another job right now either. Everyone is looking for work and the want ads in the newspaper have gone from a full page and a half to part of one column.

I delivered to some old friends last night and the husband had been laid off on December 7Th, and they are in danger of losing their house. They are making plans to rent it out. In order to do that, they have to break up their family. Becky will take two of the kids and go to her sister's. Francis will take the other one and go to his brother's. That way, they will only have to pay $500 a month instead of the full $2000.00 for their mortgage payment. This is the first I'm seen close up of the economy really effecting anyone. I mean, yes, things are bad but we are surviving, but Becky and Francis have gone under and their solution to their problem will help, but not solve it and breaks up the family. That's bad, really bad. I feel so sorry for them.

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I really must get going on the garden. If I get the back bedroom cleaned out, I could put tubs in there and grow vegetables in the (next) wintertime. I would just have to put a grow light in. But, the way things are going, I think I'm really going to need those vegetables.
I'm going to talk to my sister and ask her how and when to start preparing the beds. She has kept vegetables gardens before and will know how to do it.

I Do Believe I'm Made A Mistake

This evening when I was leaving the day job, I noticed a woman walking down the street. She was wearing scrubs and looked distressed. She was clutching her left arm, and appeared to have the kind of band aid that the hospitals put on when they pull the IV out. I knew I was going to regret it, but I offered her a ride. At that point I believed she had been released from the hospital and didn't have a ride. This happens sometime. Every now and then we have someone show up from the hospital down the street and they just got out, and can't make it home on foot like they thought they could.

She got into the car, and wham, dirty hair smell. But I persisted. I had trouble getting her to wear the seat belt. She couldn't give me an address. But I persisted. Finally she told me to take her to the center of town. So I did. During this ride she said that she was losing her mind and couldn't remember where she lived. I let her out at the main drag, and drove off, puzzled. Finally I figured out that she had dementia and I helped her escape from the long term place further down the street from the regular hospital.

Hummm, not quite sure what to do. She was wearing light clothing. It's going to get around 32 degrees tonight. Hopefully she will be found in time, or something. It's way to late to call the place up and tell them where I took her. She must be miles away by now. I wish I hadn't given her a ride. I must conquer these impulses.

It is done!

I am now a brunette with hair just pass my chin. I have blond highlights. My hair is dark brown. To me there is not much red in in it. I really, really like it. I'm freaked out by it, but I like it. Brooke (my hairdresser) and I discussed what I wanted (Victoria Beckman Pob in chocolate brown with caramel highlights!), and she gave me a color wheel of hair swatches to look at and we discussed the cut. Apparently this is a highly adaptable cut.



First Brooke gathered my waist long hair into a ponytail and cut it off at shoulder height. Then she washed it, and started cutting on it. She mixed up the colors next and painted them on, wrapping my highlights in foil to keep that color from mixing with the brown color. I asked why she could use foil when the at home hair color said no metal contact what so ever. She said the salon color and at home hair color were two different kinds of coloring agents. The at home kind have metallic salts in them, that's why no metal contact and they are not good for your hair in the long run. Then she put me under a dryer for twenty minutes. She had me do ten more minutes with no heat and then washed the color out. Then she cut some more! I was starting to get worried. There seems to be so little hair left! Through out all of this I didn't have my glasses on, and I really couldn't tell what was going on. But then she had me put them on so we could discuss my bangs and how I wanted them. They graduate in an angle and fall on my glasses. This is the only thing I don't like about this cut. I pretty sure I'll get use to it, it's not like my view is really being obstructed. I'm just used to hauling my hair back off my face.

Now, this morning was interesting. I was house sitting for my sister. I didn't have time to wash it and do all the stuff, and believe me I needed to do something this morning. For one thing I had a u shaped curl in front. I tried. Put a little hair spray here and there, a little wax at the ends of the sides, so they would point, and took a whack with the hair straighter. Don't think it was hot enough. My hair looked okay, didn't look the same as it did yesterday, need to work on the sides. Now, I don't really know how the back is suppose to look. She told me to blow dry it all crazy. This morning I had rows of little curls. Looked good, people liked it. Got tons of compliments. I was told I looked ten years younger!

Tomorow will be interesting as I will wash it and style it all by myself. Oh, I just want to play with it!

Sterum

I've managed to bruise it again. I have the most sensitive sternum. In fact I've never heard of anyone else complain about theirs. My bra has to be an inch widener then me. This is difficult because I'm like a 44. Which is why my bra right now is a exercise bra. It's not really big enough in any sense of the word, but it's what I could find. So how it came to be brusied was that New Years Day, me and Best Friend drove up to the Indian casino above Solvange.

The parking sign outside the parking structure said there was over 500 parking spaces. IT WAS BROKEN! We spend about a half hour in there trying to get out. BF cursed a blue streak. My window was open. I was just waiting. My experience with male drivers says that if you curse them, nay even look at them when they break the rules of the road, force you out of your lane, yield to them (multiple times), they will follow you, and threaten to beat you up. So I don't flip male drivers off, curse or even look at them. I just try to be a blank faced doll, when I run into these guys.

Strangely enough, this has never been BF's experience. No matter how many times she has called a guy a F**king idiot, etc, no one ever says anything to her, even although they can hear her! Amazing! So after this we drove to San Manual casino in San Bernadeno. This had parking! So I gambled four dollars and lost all of it, with no little jackpots to spur me on. So concluding my luck was dead (as usual), I stopped. As usual, BF's luck was good and she won $85.00!

But I spent like 12 hours sitting down and my sternum got bruised. Also heartburn. So, I can looked forward to feeling like I'm about to go down the slope of a roller coaster for two WEEKS. Sucks.

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Monday I am getting rid of three foot of hair and getting a "POB". I'm so excited. I'm also getting it dyed chocolate brown with caramel highlights/weave. This could change depending on what Cindy's hairdresser says. But it is what I want. I still think about being blond again, but I was blond for 26 years. The only reason I have never dyed my hair brunette, is my sister. I look awful lot like my mom. Jackie misses mom very much. She couldn't even eat British food for 15 years after mom died. I didn't want to stress her out on this subject by looking exactly like mom. But, I have been prepping her for this about three years now, so she gotten used to the idea now. I'm not expecting her to cry when she sees me.

Happy New Year!!

I actually stayed up to ring in the new year. That's because I was listening to Mr. Traffic. he's beginning to scare me. I have to find a way to contact his son in Iraq. He keeps talking to me about killing himself. He's even looked up on the Web ways to do it and"doesn't think any of them are quick and painless." I don't know what to say to him. Part of this is because he can't hear very well anymore. By the time I get him to understand what I'm saying the point is passed. The reason he wants to kill himself, is because physically how he feels. He can't sleep anymore. The 30Th was the first night he didn't sleep at ALL. Mostly he can only sleep 45 minutes at a time. So, he spends his days in a trance. He falls asleep while teaching his class. When he takes me out to dinner (yes, I will driving him from now on when we do that) he drives 15 miles or so in the wrong direction until I ask him where we are going. He can't remember where the restaurant is located at. I have to question him about it and then direct him how to get there. He is no longer cooking his food. He now lives on frozen dinners. He has really declined since we met. I don't know whether it's the lack of sleep that's doing this or what. When he does start to sleep, he either starts itching intensely all over and has to get up (he feels this when he gets comfortably warm as well), or he starts feeling like he's sliding into a vortex and will die when he hits bottom. So he leaps out of bed.
His doctor is not helping him. In fact he tells me that his doctor prescribed a medicine that said quite clearly that it would be fatal if taken with a blood thinner. Mr. Traffic is only on an experimental one. His blood is so thin, he's not allowed to shave with a razor, and the times he's nicked himself with his fingernail, he's bled for over an hour. So, he has no trust in her, and I don't blame him.
Everything that is wrong with him, (beside his heart problems) can be explained by lack of sleep. I must get in contact with his son, so Mr. Traffic will go to another doctor and his son can help him out financially with this problem, and talk him into going.