I'm Alive!!!!

 Seems I made it through yet one more October 29th!!

It started of on shaky ground at 5am yesterday morning- although I started out a half hour earlier as a precaution. On the road that never ends I narrowly avoided 4 deer at separate locations who decided I wasnt a threat to them as they stepped out in front of me- either that or they were sick of everyone's BS and decided to end it all. As I said- I narrowly avoided them all. HA!!!!

Then I got on the 4 lane highway and had another issue- an 18 wheeler wasnt paying attention and almost rear-ended me at a Stop Signal. 

At this point, I was 100% positive that THIS was my last day.... 

I got to work and was overly cautious there as well...  As I was on the drive to my Bezzie's house after work. We had hot dogs and I was especially careful to chew everything until it was mush before swallowing it. 

Then we watched Yellowstone until time to go to sleep. And then I woke up at 3am and rejoiced!!!!

 Today when I get home I'm going to put together my Modern Witches outfit(I'm positive I can put a convincing witches outfit from what I own) for giving out candy(IF any ToT's show up) tomorrow evening.

If they don't show up I get to eat all the Lil Debbies myself!! Hee Hee Hee!!!

And also I'm going to try to do an autumn theme for my nails.....I mean how hard can it be.... Green undercoat with autumn color blotches? 

Famous Last Words...............

Final Destination-ish.....

 So the GOOD news is- I woke up alive this morning.

The bad news is- the day isn't over yet.

I've already had some close calls on the drive in to work this morning. Deer ran out in front of me at 4 separate times on the drive in...  and then an 18 wheeler almost rear ended me at a stop sign....

My nerves are shot. I'm second guessing everything I do-  every time I get in my vehicle(several times a day) I have said a prayer for safety. I let one of the other officers do patrol in the truck-yard today and I sat at the truck gate. I fear for my life on regular days going back there- and to go back there today would have been testing fate. Plus, it's raining and I hate driving in the rain- especially in the dark. 

I swear it's like participating in some gawd awful reality Game called Final Destination-The Game. You have to try to perceive all things that could kill you and calculate the risks and try to misdirect them to stay in the game...ie alive. 

I'm glad I did too- because Lolli-pop came in and talking to them made me feel a bit less stressed. A bit less....

My heart rate must be up around 120bpm, but it's also doing that Skippy/Racey thing too- so it's prob evening out the numbers. 

So I only have half my shift left(trying my best to stay in the office for the rest of the shift), then the drive to my Bezzie's house(closer than my own house, therefore less time on the dangerous road). After I get to her house I only have to worry about choking to death on dinner... so I'm probably going to have  a cup of coffee.

 Cold Brew.

 No Ice...... 

Yes- I'm defo in survival mode. 

See ya on the flip-side!!

Tomorrow's the Day...

So tomorrow is the day. October 29th. According to my dream my DOD

I'll post on Thursday to let you know if I'm still on Earth. Or if you don't hear from me by end of week, I may be bound for a higher plane.

I'll admit- about 90% of my dreams are spot on accurate, the other 10% aren't quite as accurate- but still scarily close to it.

Having said that,  my sister was involved in a head on collision on her way to a patient's house yesterday morning. She's a Hospice nurse.

She will heal- it could have been soooo much worse than the plethora of injuries she received. As you can imagine- she is in a lot of pain and will be for several weeks to come, I imagine. 

So I'm wondering- was the dream I had actually meant for me- or was it one of the less accurate 10% dreams?

Time will tell. 

Either way- we are immensely blessed to have Sissy still with us. The Lord looks after us...

What Happened to All the Intrepids?

 I've noticed that I'm not seeing ANY Dodge Intrepids on the road since moving back to South Carolina.

I've been trying to find someone to put my Ford Ranger pick-up back together again, to no avail. Maggie(my Mazda 3 is on her way to needing minor major repairs(bushings, brakes and a clutch soon). And I was thinking maybe I should look for an automatic with all the knee and hip problems I've been having lately as well.

I thought about all my cars I've owned and  my top two choices are:

1) Dodge Challenger & 2) Ford Mustang.

Neither are in my price range. 

My third choice would be a Dodge Intrepid. And although I've been looking , I haven't seen a single one in the almost two years I've been back. Not a SINGLE ONE!!!! Not on the road- not parked in a driveway- not on any used car lot or Dealership trade-in lot I've been by.

Where have they all gone? Is someone buying them all up? Was there a government ban on owning one?  

For me they are the perfect mix of sportscar and family sedan. They ride like a dream- relatively good on gas...Well, the one we had did and was. Comfy seats, sporty look- you would think you were in a Camaro- but then you look over your shoulder and lo and behold there is a family sized back seat. It still looked sporty, but  in a family kind of way. Perfect Combo. Now that I think about it, it was kind of the  Reverse Mullet of Automobiles. Party in the front and business in the back.

*****UPDATE from last post***********

The Landlord actually DID make it by this weekend(RED LETTER DAY!!!!)- for about 10 minutes while he fiddled with the temp setting knob on the fridge again. And once again- he left without saying much except that he would call the repair shop tomorrow and talk with them. He only told me that when I chased after him as he walked out to his car- the man NEVER offers any info - he just arrives, messes about doing not much except looking and then walks out the door without so much as a "Goodbye", "I'll call or text you in a while", " I'll be back" , or anything- just out the door, in his jeep and is gone. 

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Daughter and I went looking for housing back towards Easley on Saturday. Every graduate in our family has graduated as a Green Wave. Julie wants Alyssa to graduate as one, too.(Truth be told, so do I.)

On the upside- Sunday Dinner At Nanny Vada's was lovely!!!!

I love those things- perfect End to the weekend!! <3 

Huh? Say What?

 My landlord is driving me bonkers.

As I have told you in earlier posts, our fridge is acting up.....The landlord originally sent a repairman out (3x) to fix it.  Well, he said if it messed up again he was just going to buy a new fridge for the property.

Uh-huh.

Last week after us calling and telling him the issue was still an issue, he came out to measure the space for the new fridge, but he opened up the fridge and said "Nothing's frozen in here". 

We had called him TWO days earlier to let him know it was freezing everything in the fridge-and we was going to have to throw the food away again for the THIRD time. 

My daughter told him "Not now it's not- it was frozen the day we called you- then it goes into a thaw cycle and that's what it's in now." Give it a couple days and it will be back in Freeze cycle again."

He fiddled around with the temp setting and said "Next time it goes into Freeze again, call me and I'll come out and look at it. 

Uh-huh..... Man, you are 83 years old and this is a recurring issue and you sent the actual repairman out 3x and THEY cant fix it....last time I saw you(when I paid the rent even tho our issue wasnt fixed and we keep having to throw away food because it cant be frozen or it ruins, or it thaws and refreezes so-again- has to be thrown away because you can't do that because of bacterial issues.... ) you wasn't a bona fide repairmen  NOR were you a Wizard-NOR were you a warlock.

So he left and yesterday I went in from work- and lo and behold- the fridge was in freeze mode again. So I messaged him and told him it was frozen again and this is the text conversation we had...verbatim...

Me: It's starting to freeze food in the fridge again. You said let you know if it started doing it again.

HIM:  Is there any time of day that this happens or all the time

Me: It happens every couple days. No regular time- it's just every couple of days we open the fridge and everything is crunchy with ice...not rock solid but hard enough to feel like soft wood or hard ice cream.

HIM: Will try to get down there over the weekend Can't get out of the office on Friday

Me: We will be in and out all weekend but feel free to use you key to come in and have a look after knocking to see if we are home.

HIM: No one being home is a good test as no one will be opening and closing the door.

Me: If anyone was leaving the fridge door open it wouldn't be freezing- food would be getting ruined from not being cold ENOUGH.

HIM: If it is over cooling and no one is home to open and close the door it will likely be more pronounced.

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THIS is where I just gave up talking to him. 

So I'm trying to keep from having to throw even more food out, but you want to see the effect of keeping the door closed JUST so you can see if it freezes the food more???? Okay Richie Rich. Maybe you will get by before it goes into thaw mode-(DOUBTFUL.) It freezes over night and thaws before bedtime usually every couple of days.....so if you don't make it the fridge will have been thru this freeze cycle, thawed it all out, and probably begun ANOTHER freeze cycle or be in the middle of another thaw cycle. 

Has he looked at the price of FOOD these days??? And we aren't on Govt assistance. I can't afford to replace food willy-nilly like that! 

The world is full of effing idiots, but for goodness sake- do they all have to come into MY life??????

I'm done- I'm definitely ready to start looking for another place. 

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Weekend Review...

 This past weekend did not go at all as I expected. 

The Princess was staying at her Dad's this weekend so my daughter and I planned to have a Girl's Day together. We had planned to go for a bit of a ride to Leaf-Peep, then have a bit of lunch together(all adult food- none of that Chicken Nuggets stuff, mind you), then go by Hobby Lobby to peruse the Christmas decor they now have out. Then after that we were going to stop by the old place and pick up any mail we've had delivered since moving, and before heading back towards home to watch the Carolina Gamecocks game and then the Clemson Game we were going to stop by my two Bezzie's houses -1) to try and help locate her house keys then 2) to give her a hug and pick up a decal she got me for my car(Maggie).

However......

It turned out my daughter's restricted diet for her medical procedure on Tuesday started five days before the procedure so the lovely adult lunch was out of the question. Then, our first stop required us to have recent mail information, so we had to do the Mail Pickup first but then we couldn't get anyone to the door to collect it so that was a bust, too. We managed to explain about the mail situation and get stop one taken care of anyway tho, so that was good. Then we went to Bezzie 1's House and hunted for the keys- to no avail. I think they grew legs and walked off. By this time we saw how the day was heading so we opted out of the Bezzie 2 and Hobby Lobby stops and instead stopped at Big Lots and Dollar Tree to get the rest of the items she needed for Tuesday. 

Disappointing, but then I have to say we did find a couple of small inexpensive items at DT we fell in love with. I can't remember what she found, but they did have a lovely set of dishware that was white with Autumn colored leaves on them that caught my eye. They were beautiful and at a dollar fifty, I bought only two of them. For mine and Daughters Saturday Dinners together. Buh-Lupper (a combo of breakfast lunch and supper) when we got home was Angel Hair Pasta with seasoned(but not breaded) shrimp in a Cajun butter sauce. Delish.

Any who, so on the way home my boss called me. I was driving so had to call him back, but long story short- he wanted to know if I wanted to work the 11p-7a shift that night to make my hours up for Tuesday I'm taking off to go with Daughter to the procedure.... and of course I said yes. 

So after Buh-Lupper, we watched a couple videos and Julie decided to go to her baby Boys house so I could rest without the TV being on or the fridge waking me up.(The fridge make a loud pop when you open and close it- we cant figure out why it does that, but it sounds like a balloon bursting. After she left, I toddled off to bed to have a couple hours nap before work. But the doorbell rang just as I was nodding off- and when I went to  the door, no one was there.... got back to bed and the back door bell rang- but no one was there when I answered it then either. Got back in bed and hear a door creak open. Got my Glock out and searched the house and basement- found nothing. Called Daughter and told her when Bubba brought her back home, have him come in and check to make sure it was clear before he left to go back home.

It wasn't 20 minutes and he and she was pulling back up in the driveway, weapons in hand, to check it out for themselves so I could rest. We got talking and before I knew it- I had 30 mins before my alarm went off to get dressed for work, so I did the sensible thing and went to lie down on the bed for a 25 minute nap. (I have the uncanny ability to fall asleep within two minutes of my head hitting the pillow.) It wasnt quite a "power-nap" but it let my back ease up so I could make it thru the night just fine.

 I also canceled our Family Sunday Dinner @ Grandma's (i.e. our house) for the next day. I just couldn't bear the thought of the rest of us eating a big lovely dinner and Daughter only being able to eat a baked potato and gelatin. Besides, last week I made the big pot of soup and nobody at- it was a kiss, hug and run day. My son did take a big bowl of it home with him, but after Julie and I ate, the rest went to waste. The base for it had been frozen for specifically making soup for that day, so sadly it couldn't be refrozen and I detest food going to waste.

So I made it thru the night shift at work(and it was lovely going to work with No Traffic to deal with, too!) Then I came home and on Sunday I  painted the second Ceramic Church my niece gave me that she rescued from a burned out house. This one  I painted as a Gingerbread Look-alike. I even added Baking Cocoa, Ginger, cloves and cinnamon to the paint so it even SMELLS like proper  gingerbread.

I'll do a post with photos when I get my tablet found or my laptop up and running. 

Any who- again- we just chilled most of yesterday and then we watched CHRISTINE together last night. Classic movie about a possessed car - and perfect for not quite Halloween viewing. My daughter had never seen it and she loved the movie but hated the way it ended. 

I told her it was a perfect car movie ending- it was repossessed. 

ROTFLMBO- Oh I just KILL me sometimes. 

And THAT was my weekend!!!

W ho will be Number 3?

 First Diane Keaton.

Now Ace Frehley.

Who will the 3rd one be?

It always comes in 3s.... I'm going to predict it will be Michael J Fox. I pray not. He's always been a fav of mine and was prob my first celebrity crush after Elvis. I will cry whenever he passes.(MJF- not EP)

Sadly, when I came into work I mentioned the passing of ACE and none of the "babies" at the truck gate knew who I was talking about. Barely even knew who KISS was(their first thought was Keep It Simple Stupid) 

Shaking my head.

Finding My Footing...and This & That

 Retraining myself  to blog(among other things) is turning out to to be a bit more of a challenge than I first thought.

At first I thought posting every day would be  my new schedule, but that was seriously expecting too much. So then I decided to try 3x a week. A Weekend Review Post on Mondays, a Absolutely Random post on Wednesdays and A Weekday Review on Fridays. Apparently my life is much duller than I originally thought. Yesterday I was so busy at work I didnt get a chance to write a post. So apparently my work life is more active than my homelife. 

Not sure if that is a good thing or not.

So, I guess the posting schedule I've decided on is Mondays and Thursdays. Sounds perfect.

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Do y'all remember the Big Candy Department at SEARS Department store in Greenville? I don't know if they was all like that, but oh the JOYS when we went there. You walked in and immediately hit by the smell of warm roasted nuts of all types (Cashews, Almonds, Peanuts, Brazil nuts,...)and Chocolate of all  kinds- M&Ms, all the choc covered nuts, orange slices, jelly beans, coconut slice bars.....all day suckers, and these strange jelly candies(kind of like Jelly Babies but covered in milk chocolate instead of powdered sugar like Jelly Babies are. OMG it was ah-mazing. AND- the day after Thanksgiving- the Garden Department was transformed into Santa's Workshop (conveniently located behind the TOY DEPARTMENT which is located directly behind the CANDY DEPARTMENT)- Think Santa's workshop in the Movie ELF with Will Ferrell- almost exactly like that but without the Mona Lisa.

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As you can tell, I'm already trying to pre-plan where things will go for Christmas in the new house. We better enjoy it because I'm pretty sure we wont be in it next Christmas.

There are issues with the house- pretty serious ones too. I've been there 6 months and I'm getting so stressed out trying to deal with it all. The basement floods sporadically, The windows are screwed shut- the window panes are barely hanging in the frames and need recaulking, the floor by the back door is sinking more and more each day, the whole kitchen floor is held up in the basement by support poles, the roof needs some repairs done- just from looking at it from the outside we can tell- we haven't tried to open the attic access to have a look up there(which is also screwed shut btw) and the deck on back of the house is pulling away from the house as well. We don't let more than 4 ppl sit back there at a time for that reason.

We're looking for  another place in the Easley High School area(we really want Alyssa to graduate as a GREEN WAVE) but finding something in our price range is next to  impossible- that's why we moved to the place we are in now- it was the closest affordable place we found in the 4.5 months we were looking at that time too. 

But I'm determined to find something by the time to get our tax refund back. I cant do this  100+ miles a day 5 days a week commute to work for much longer...Plus I'm tired of dealing with having to throw food from the fridge away because it freezes and thaws food(in the fridge part- not the freezer part, mind you) and the landlord dilly dallying about trying to save money when this is an ongoing issue being nickel and dimed to death instead of just buying another fridge and  being done with it. Maybe "Mr. 20 Properties Owner" can afford to waste a fridge of food on a regular basis, but "Ms. I Bust My Ass and Am Barely Scraping By" most certainly cannot- I assure you. Even if I was more prosperous and could afford to do that- I wouldn't- I wasn't brought up to live like that- I was brought up by thrifty parents who lived comfortably by counting every penny and not wasting anything and making opportunities rather than beating a dead horse.

I'm just done with the situation and am looking towards a brighter future.

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On a happier note- I am now looking forward to not one but TWO trips in the next few weeks to Hobby Lobby. Not to BUY anything(although I would LOVE to be able to go in there and have one of everything and in a few cases- three of certain things.) but to get inspiration for using what I have to  mimic the things I would love to have most.  I'm hoping to go Saturday with my daughter- and then again by the first week in November with Thelma...or is it Louise? (My bezzie, Rhonda, and we switch roles depending on the day and our moods.)

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LOL... That's it for today.

See y'all Monday!!!

Have a Great weekend! 

Nervous Nellie...

 

My entire life I have had predictive dreams(nightmares)- and they have usually come true with a scarily high percentage of accuracy.

So, a couple of years back I woke from a dead sleep thinking "My DoD is going to be October 29th 2029."... and that one thought has preyed on my mind in October ever since. It's cost me sleep and as October 29th draws closer every year I find myself getting more and more anxious. It's not my favorite month of the year, for sure and certain.

I know the date was October 29, 2029...but what if it was just October 29th...and I inserted the 2029 part subconsciously? 

It could be ANY October 29th.....Upcoming in near future- in a few days or in 2029, or when I'm 79- or 109.

It's really affecting my mental health stressing about it. I drove to work this morning crying and praying for the Lord to help me stop stressing about it. 

Yesterday when my son showed up for our Sunday visit, when he got ready to leave I gave him an extra long hug and burst into tears when he drove out of sight. Same with my daughter- before I toddled off to bed I have her an extra long hug and kiss and told her I love her sooo much. And again, I cried when I got to my room.

I know no one but God knows when we will be called home, but that certainly is not being much of a comfort in my situation.  

The weekend went well tho, On Saturday me, my daughter and my granddaughter set up the Halloween decorations on the front porch. It looks super cute!!! I'd show photos but I'm not sure how to do that quite yet on my phone. Then later we went on a little drive down to see a house near us that has loads of Animatronics and a sound show with it. Grandson 3 followed us with his little family and we really enjoyed watching the babies be amazed!!!

Then I made a huge pot of soup and a pan of cornbread for supper Sunday. Also a pan of fudgey brownies for dessert. Bit of a hiccup there as Grandson 3 came but didn't stay for supper- some sort of drama or other going on- then Son and his Girlfriend came by and although they didn't eat then because they had a late lunch, they did take enough home to eat for their supper later on. Thank Goodness.

So now we have a half a huge pot of soup left in the fridge. We can't freeze it because part of it was frozen already and cant be refrozen without safety concerns...

So here I sit Monday Morning- trying to simultaneously not think about the upcoming date- but also trying to figure out how to stop stressing about it.

The life of an adult.....

Bov Jovi Wednesday-Halfway There/Living on a Prayer

 Hey-Ho-It's Mid-week!!! 

I call it Bon Jovi Day because we are Halfway thru my workweek and I'm living on a prayer- despite Tuesday being my Payday!! 

So today I head to my Bezzie's place to have a girls night.  We try to do this every week but sometimes- life gets in the way and we have to postpone.

I go in to work and when I get off I head towards Easley. A substantially shorter drive than from work to Anderson. The only thing I dread about it is the short distance I drive thru Powdersville traffic. It's absolutely horrendous that time of day- mostly because there are five schools along that route and school dismissal time is EXACTLY the time of day I'm arriving at each one. Bah Humbug. So I truly AM living on a prayer.

Anyway, although we sometimes mix it up- usually I stop at the local PUBLIX and grab our dinner just about a half mile from Bezzie's apartment. And typically we have Sushi for dinner. No one at my house eats it- and Bezzie's mom wont eat it, but we love the stuff. We've decided our favorite is the Crunchy California Roll. And believe me- we have tried every combo they have! The only thing we differ in is our choice of flavorings. I like mine with a goodly amount of Soy Sauce and just a TOUCH of wasabi....She prefers hers plain with the ginger. 

After dinner is finished, we either just sit and talk until bedtime or we watch a couple of movies or  a few YouTube videos on the TV (Along with talking about anything and everything DURING either of those as well!). It keeps us sane. Whatever is on our minds is what we talk about whether it be Serious or Silly-it doesn't matter- it's no Holds Barred. We have been best friends for almost 60 years (since 1967)- so we have no secrets from each other- but the amount of inside jokes is astronomical! 

Thelma & Louise -We switch on who is who depending on our mood or situation on any given day. But always- each other's Ride or Die. 

We have another Bezzie that we have been Bezzie's with since Junior High- about five years less than our friendship. Call ourselves "The Three Amigos/ Musketeers". We all consider each other a chosen sister. And My sisters are considered their sisters as well. Occasionally we all three go out to have a meal together- and even more rarely-once in a blue moon-we ALL get together to go out and have a meal together.

The day before Halloween us Three Amigos/Musketeers are planning to dress as Modern Witches and get together for a meal. That should be fun. I want us to wear the classic witches hats- but one of us (not saying which) doesn't want to go the whole nine yards. And That's okay....I'm not making any promises that I wont wear one tho...... Depends on my mood- sometimes I'm in a hat mood-and on those days I can pull it off with confidence- but on other days you couldn't pay me to wear one. And either is perfectly normal- for me. 

Maybe I should have been born a Gemini.

Establishing Traditions...

 Since moving back to lovely South Carolina, I've been trying to establish (or RE establish)  a few traditions for my family.

One I am particularly enjoying is Sunday Dinner at Nanny Vada's!!!

On Sundays I have taken to making a big one pot meal- Shepard's pie or a stew, Coq au Vin, or even a pot of soup. ....something easy and filling like you would have had a Grandma's house. Plus, a big pan of made-from-scratch biscuits and a simple dessert. Whichever of the family shows up- eats with us at 5pm sharp. 

So far only my two kids and a couple of the grandkids have shown up(with their babies -the ones that have them), but I'm just getting this tradition established. One of the grandsons and his little growing family live about 50 miles away, so he and his family haven't shown up yet- but hopefully they will get to start coming in the near future. Also- my son's kids haven't come for one yet- but they are certainly invited and all are welcomed with open arms!!

Also, we are eagerly anticipating the first frost of Autumn so we can continue with our First Frost Chili Weekend. Huge pot of chili with Shredded cheese , Sour cream, and Fritos. And SMORES for dessert!!!

THIS is what I missed when I was living overseas... having family gatherings and getting to see my babies- all of them!!!

How Blessed I am to have this JOY given back to me again!!!!