Busy Today

Good morning everyone.

Well I am extremely busy today, choosing, packing, tossing, stuffing under the bed, taking out to the shed, bagging for charity, then deciding I'm the charity. This is a bad morning. I am sure you can tell we are going on vacation.

In one year I have gained thirty pounds. An increase in my medicine and stopping smoking and sitting on my duff are the three culprits that I can think of without sounding sorry for myself.

My husband decided that we should carry the hugest suitcase we have plus a small one, plus a bag for shoes and then of course a bag for incidentals for magazines, medicines, and hard candies since we don't smoke any more. Hmm.

While I was paying bills my husband decided to pack. On the bottom of this gigantic suitcase is his clothes, just packed as pretty as could be. I have a feeling that things may change.

My problem besides my clothes not fitting, are hair paraphernalia items. Those things should be the easiest to pack. Well that is also not a true statement. I love going to the beauty shop. The operator is my friend. Going there is like walking back in time to "Steel Magnolia." You are as welcome there as in her kitchen for coffee, you get caught up on the town gossip, and get the compassionate pats on the shoulder, and the boost in your self esteem that you need.

However, when you ask her for a new "do" it almost always calls for some new equipment. Oh, I forgot the inevitable, "It's easy to do, Lu". I think when we finish packing, I will carry a very small bag that will probably carry a brush and a comb. Talk to you in a few days!

SICK AGAIN!

T his has not been a good summer for me. First of all I had a really bad bout of M.S. now I have Thrush. Since I have my own Medical License, I diagnosed myself with strep throat. It was all white and so sore I could hardly swallow.
My tonsils had had an uncomfortable feeling for some two weeks or so. I never gave it a thought. I just figured I had some sinus problem. Then one day it was unbelievable. It hurt so bad I thought I needed to go to the E.R., but I suffered through. I had a temperature of 104.
So like I said, since I have my own license I told the doctor what was wrong with me. He just grinned and said, I don’t think so, dear, I think you have thrush. I said, “But it hurts so bad I can’t eat, and I have already lost a lot of weight.”
He said thrush is secondary to an infection. He discovered that I have an ear infection. That I knew my ear was plugged up, but again didn’t give it a thought.
So hopefully I will get better soon, because I really do love to eat. It really kills me to watch my husband eat. I always say, What are you eating?”
Oh by the way, my doctor told me to put my license in the trash!!!

Feeling Needed Again

Since I retired there have been cons and pros. I don’t have to wake up to an alarm clock (pro). I don’t have nearly enough money (con). I could give you a whole list of pros and cons but why bother the majority of people have the same ones or can imagine them.
There is one thing, however that was missing, but I did not know what it was. I retired from private duty two years ago and I still didn’t know what my problem was.
Lately I have a friend who is ill and I decided that there was only one thing that I could do for her; cook. My husband said that he would like to help. Since my brain is not totally addled I said, “Climb aboard, Bubba”
We made total meals for the freezer. We were very proud of our work as we got them ready for the freezer. We put them in WalMart bags.
I have always been known for doing things a little different. My friend called that evening and I told her what we had done, of course, she said how much she appreciated it. I pooh poohed her, but did tell her that true to form and doing something a little “different” I forgot to label them!
She laughed and said, “Yup, true to form!”
I kind of looked at Fran and I working the other day like I was looking through a window. It was pretty funny. It was a little like Lucy and Ethel in the chocolate factory on the assembly line. They had chocolates stuffed in their hats, shirts, and mouths. We didn’t have anything in our hats or shirts, but we sure did have our mouths full a lot of the time.

It's Just Not Fair

Many long years ago I worked with a sharp tongued older lady who was a supervisor in a retail office. I worked in another office, but our paths crossed every day. My office was concerned about the customer’s problems; hers was to sell, sell, sell.
One day I thought that she had done something very wrong involving a customer, and not only that, but was insisting that the rest of her staff do the same thing.
I told this woman that was just not fair to the customer and how could she do such a thing. Her response to me was, “Not fair” are children’s words. That really set me on my heels. I have never forgotten that conversation.
That has been almost thirty years. Well, I could not let that go. So I went way way way over her head. I got the problem fixed. However, when she did this again, I was warned that I would lose my job if I interfered again.
I quit my job; a job that I had worked at for thirteen years.
I felt like it was a mafia type business, and could not live with myself if I continued to work for a business that swindled customers.
Sometime later I heard through the gossip mill that that lady had gotten fired. That definitely cleared the store of any wrong doing. You know what? That’s just not fair, and that’s a grown up word.

Two Of The Johnson Girls

I am sure my mom thought we were so cute and just adorable on the day that this picture was taken. I am sure that my sister had no clue what her future had in store for her on the day that this was taken as far as being my big sister was concerned. The name of the studio was Thompson’s Studio; the pictures are glued into the folders and cannot be taken out. By the time I was a teenager there were only two studios, Salsburys and Berkes.
My sister was approximately thirteen or fourteen in this picture and I was two. Do you notice that she had makeup on? Evidently it was okay with my mother. Or there is another possility, they had a makeup expert that painted makeup on the pictures. I know that Berkes did when I worked there. Makeup was never okay with mother as far as I was concerned.
I often look at the studio pictures that mother had taken and wonder where she and dad got the money to have those done. I have a feeling it is because they only had one picture and very very few snap shots of my sister, Juanita before she was killed. I know I have said this many times but if I learned anything over my years, take pictures and most of all label them and put a date and place on them. There that’s the advice column from Grandma Lu!

One Man's Junk.....

The phrase one man’s junk is another man’s treasure, ran true to form today. My husband and I love to go to yard sales, garage sales, and estate sales, etc. About two weeks ago we went to one that had a go cart for sale for about one hundred and seventy five dollars. Then we saw one for seventy five dollars. There was a discussion between my husband and I about this “cute” thing that I would have to have two people help me up and down to get in and out of it. Yes it would be lots of fun, but where would we ride it? I noticed my husband’s sad face as we walked away to the truck.
Today we had friends over and they had been yardsaleing. Our friend went on and on about a go cart he had seen for sixty dollars. He didn’t have that much cash with him so he told the guy he wanted the go cart, shook hands on the deal, told the guy he would be right back. He went to the bank got the money went back to the sale and the go cart had been sold. Now our friend is older than we are. I asked my friend what he was going to do with it. She said put a better motor on it and sell it, but before they did that they were going to ride it around. She was so matter of fact about it I felt guilty about telling my Fran he didn’t need it. I guess it was his treasure.