Friday, I Love You

What. A. Week. Seriously.

Work has been like a cyclone. (Not a complaint, just an observation. I prefer it this way.) It’s left me neither time nor energy to do anything on the homefront all week. And now, I’ve got a couple other things to add to the list.

First, the mother is sick. She was down almost all day yesterday. I’ve not heard from her today so I don’t know if that’s good or bad. I’m hoping it meant she was finally able to sleep. Second, the dimmer switch in the dining room is broken making the light difficult if not impossible to use. I’m not sure if I’m qualified to change it o not; electrical is the one territory I don’t venture into if I can help it.

It finally stopped raining and the sun even came out today. However, it was cooold last night. So cold that there was frost on Ladybird’s windows this morning. That’s only the second time this fall so far. Luckily, it got up near 60 which it’s supposed to do again both Saturday and Sunday while also remaining dry, thankuverymuch.

I’m planning to crop with the MonkeyGirl tomorrow but Sunday I need to get my duff out there and deal with the rest of the leaves. I was assessing all the neighbors’ trees last night and about 75-80 percent of the leaves from all their trees are down. I also need to take advantage of the warmer, dry weather and try out some products I received from our friends at DAP. Stay tuned for more on that.

Speak Up About New Guidelines

Is it me, or has some segment of the medical community declared an all out-and-out war on women in this country?

The already controversial “new guidelines” regarding mammograms and breast-screening generally want to take this out of the “routine” category. Now they want women to only get pap smears every couple of years. Since when did M.D. start standing for mighty dumb?

In both cases, it’s supposedly because of the “low incidence” of cancerous tumors that either exam identifies. Well, if you happen to be among the women who fall into that “low incidence” category, I guess you cease to matter.

I know a few women who fit this "low incidence" category. Chances are good that you do, too. Do you think they don’t matter? No? Me either. Clearly, Breast Cancer Awareness really is so last month.

Granted, the guidelines don’t apply to women who have family histories of breast or cervical cancer. But what about all those women of varying ages who have no reason to suspect they’ll fall victim to one of these horrid diseases?

In recent days, I’ve seen dozens of women on the news show circuit, some who found cancers in their 20s, others closer to my age give or take a few years, who are only alive today thanks to those “routine” screenings.

As a woman who falls into that black hole of the age 40-49 set that is now being told such screenings aren’t necessary, I’m a little pissed off. Especially when there’s data that shows that 17 percent of breast-cancer deaths occur in women age 40 to 50. That’s roughly 1 in 6. Oh well. Write them off.

Cheers to Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He took this issue on the other night and did everything but call it stupidity. Most other doctors I've seen though don't seem to be raising a ruckus about it.

I can see the stage being set for the insurance companies to start denying annual coverage for these visits and tests. Just about every major health insurance carrier has decried my view as “hype” and said that no one is rushing to change their coverage policies. Yet. Give it time.

You see, it wasn’t all that long ago that mammograms weren’t widely covered, if at all. Mind you, at that time you could get insurance coverage for Viagra – but not for a mammogram. (I always found that more than a little ironic. Pardon me for pointing this out, but I think a woman might tend to enjoy sex more if she’s alive. I’m just sayin.’)

If you’re a woman – or a man who happens to love one – spout off about this. It really could be a matter of life and death.

Dread

As a general rule, I prefer to shy away from bedlam. So I’m not quite certain how I usually seem to end up smack dab in the middle of it.

Of course, going to the grocery store tonight, I already know what I’m in for. Between the $10 off of $50 purchase coupled with discounted turkeys with minimum purchase, I’m thinking “riot” might be a more appropriate description of what I’ll soon be walking into.

Suffice it to say I’ll be jamming my way down crowded aisles and no doubt stuck in the continuously wrapping check-out line from hell.

Bah humbug.

At least the sun FINALLY came out -- and in just enough time to sink below the horizon. It was pretty though.

Countin' Down

Now that I’ve finally accepted that the holidays are so close (just 36 shopping days left ‘til Christmas!) I finally got around to starting the countdown for another major annual event: Scrapbook Escape. (Note the countdown clock in the right-hand corner.)

This annual weekend of all things scrapbooking (with all-nighters, lunacy and good old-fashioned fun) starts Jan. 8. Like the holidays, it is something I look forward to every year and something that requires almost as much preparation, just on a different level, as the holidays.

Usually, I have the countdown clock up and I’ve already started penning the annual parody song by October. We’re halfway through November and I didn’t have either of these things done. Now, the clock is up and the song is under way.

t’s just 50 days and counting. BOOYAH!

An Update

For the record, I love this picture.
It’s the very last frame I shot of Taz last Friday. Seeing it has had a little bit of sting to it the past few days. Especially since the mother is still pretty heartbroken about the whole thing.

I’ve even had lots of reservations about it since the weekend. This isn’t a reflection on Taz’s new mama, Sandra, as I’d have never turned her over to begin with if it was. We’ve just never given away any creature we’ve ever taken in. We’ve tried – but always ended up keeping them. Whether they lived a day or 17 years, they were ours for life. So now the mother thinks that we’ve “abandoned” Taz.

So I’ve been in kind of a funk about it, too. Until this morning – when this email (shared in part)greeted me.

Taz is amazing……she woke me up this morning smelling my face and purring for the first time. Last night was the first night she slept upstairs. I hadn’t forced the issue but was hoping she would come up on her own and she did. She did get into my big bedroom plant….so I had to chase her out of there a couple time...other than that, she has been perfect. Now that she is used to the stairs, I’m sure she thinks they were built just for her. She loves running up and down and even goes through the cat door so I can leave the big door closed. I do believe she is a very smart cat. She is getting more and more used to my husband…..she certainly didn’t mind him lying next to me as she joined us in bed last night.

Again, thank you for giving Taz to me…….I still miss Jethro so very, very much Taz is certainly starting to fill the void big time. … she is adorable and makes me laugh constantly…..which I need to do.


A HOUSE IS NOT HOME WITHOUT A PET….so now I have a home once again !!!!

*wiping tear* And as if that weren’t enough, she attached these.

Yeah. We really “abandoned” Taz, didn’t we? She looks like the portrait of miserable – not! If I didn't already, I now know I did the right thing.

Denial

I finally got some sleep last night. Finally. I’m still tired and probably could easily have turned off the alarm and not gotten out of bed, but I still feel a lot better.

The constant rain has put a dampness in the air that – combined with the 40-degree temperatures – is both thick and cold. I guess I’d better get used to it. It’s like another week of the October we had. Ugh. Where did my summer go?!

Holiday decorations are starting to spring up. I guess some people took advantage of last week’s nice weather to do their outdoor décor. I love holiday decorations; truly, I do. It just seems strange to see them again already. While the mother and I were shopping over the weekend, I kept hearing Christmas songs and it almost sounded foreign.

I guess I’m in denial that Thanksgiving is little more than a week away! Is that really possible? Really?

I’m woefully behind on so many things. I was hoping to have so much more done by now and every time I’m in either the bathroom or kitchen, I get a little more frustrated. I’m sure that’s part of my denial.

That’s my story anyway and I’m stickin’ to it.

The "R" Word

I didn't post this morning because it would have been a griping, whiny little rant. I figure mornings are tough enough without inflicting THAT on anyone.

The rain continues to fall. Our dry respite was all too brief. And, it's been a cold rain, too. Lots of people at work have flooded basements. My assistant stayed home today to fight water and another of my colleagues had a sewer back-up. YUCK! I feel so sorry for them both.

And, after 15 years of dry time, our sump pit is filling again. That tells me that the water table is plenty high. That's no doubt due to the record rainfall of last month. But at least my water is going where it's supposed to.

On a happier note, I was invited a while back to submit the story of my brick porch and walkway (yes, sorry, you've GOT to be sick of hearing about it by now!) to their site. And so, now it's featured on Front Porch Ideas and More. Thanks, Dave and Mary!

There are a lot of beautiful porches and cool ideas on the site. Check it out!

What the Puck?!

I finally got a chance to go through my hockey photos over the weekend. Mind you, I should have been doing other things, especially considering how much else was going on, but I couldn’t help myself. I just had to see if they really looked as good on the computer as they did on the camera.

They did.

One theme I noticed – and one that took me by surprise – was the presence of the puck. In frame after frame, I found the puck rolling or gliding away or perched at the edge of a player’s stick. So, I decided to do two things things.

First, I’d be as good as my word and share some additional shots from Thursday night’s Blues’ game. And second, each of these shots has the puck visible someplace. Can you find it?
There’s no prize for this, beyond the satisfaction of having quite the eagle eye!

A Cameo by Lawrence

Part of the chaos of Saturday brought an early morning phone call: It was Lawrence. His wife’s surgery had gone well and she continues to recuperate. She is well enough that he could escape for a few hours to deliver some materials for a job he’s doing in St. Louis. He wondered if he could stop by en route to drop off a sample of the frame pieces he’d cut for the drawer front covers. He wants to make sure it fits before cutting "real" boards.

I didn’t think we’d be home when he came by but we were still a few minutes from leaving when he pulled up. He brought the piece inside and into the kitchen. He had used his router – with a dado bit – to build an edge that would hold a beadboard panel in place while slipping over the existing raised panel drawers. He seemed pleased with the overall fit.

This is hardly the finished product but I think you can get the idea.

Ideally, he’ll be back after Thanksgiving with the edge pieces and we can assemble and apply them then. He thinks his wife will be well enough to be left on her own for the day by then. He can finish cutting the drawer front frames in the meantime. (When we finished the carport project at the end of September, I’d loaded him up with the pine boards to be cut for the drawer fronts. )


I wish I’d had the chance to paint them first, then they’d already have a coat of paint on them going up.

Oh well. Another job on the to-do list! Right now, I need to work on retraining my focus and on finishing the bathroom.