hunkering down

can't really figure out the new site.  wanted to be positive, open to this change..........feels like i'm stuck in LA freeway traffic bumber to bumper.......no hope of getting off or moving ahead.  wish i had a deck of cards and some friends to wait out this mess with.  it feels like they removed 97% of the interactive charm of the site and i don't know if this will get better or if they basically killed the site.  i hang my head and don't know what  to do.

my left ear hurts.  my sinuses ache.  my fibro pain is on high.  my whiny gear is revved briefly and then it'll be back to bed.  the cfs is slamming my glands........i is sick.  it happens.  often, all the time, more than anyone cares to know......i know you can relate as you are in a boat on these chronic illness seas.

i bought new pillows for my couch,  very very pretty. soft red roses........soft blues and green and a bit of gray and beige here and there.  i told myself no, but the message didn't reach my ears.......my hands grabbed 'em and put 'em in the bottom of the cart at TJ Maxx.  Two for $24.99.  An indulgence for sure.........

So what's been going on with me?  I helped Sam out twice last week......which is why I'm so wiped out now.  gotta pay the price everytime we do stuff........each and every time.  whiny gear stil revved.  let it out kid, it's ok. you're allowed to do that here.

i should be planning a party for sam......his birthday is just around the corner. 

sara and derian went swimming with manatees this week......they are still in Florida, the Crystal River area........having fun!

sam took his girlfriend to the chattahoochee on the 4th of july and they went tubing on the busiest tubing day of summer.........still managed to have fun despite record heat & crowds.  same week end sam & I went north......we tubed on the 1st, saw a movie, what was it called?  sigh, no clue.  can't remember the story line or anyone in it.  now i am wondering was i really there?  lol....old brain sucketh rocks. we ate at two great restaurants. the copper pot in clarksville.....it's a brick oven eatery......fell in love with pizza all over again.  i usually have cheap pizza....forgot what the good stuff tastes like.........sam got a personal pizza with 5 different cheeses and had them add pulled pork to the mix.  i got a pizza with four cheeses, fresh spinach, mushrooms ......no tomato sauce, instead they put a creamy wine sauce.........it was incredible. 

the salad was yummmmmo as well.......

next day we walked around clarksville......went into boutique antique stores, some really cool modern wares stores that make new look old........a wonerful yarn shop called Brumbleberry.....something like that.  sam got some crystal dice to mark our trip, all of $3 at an antique store.  he found me a childrens hymnal from way way back.......and i got a piece of unusual coral.  from a pet store of all places.......i was hoping to see puppies or kitties......but it was mostly a smelly fish store.  the smell was not good but i still had to see everything.  something about being cooped up for long periods of time makes me doubly curious to drink in as much life as possible.  the town square is catty wampus....a funny design but easy if you're on foot.  everythng is very close......we didn't stay long.  when i raised my hand in surrender sam led me back to the car.  it was nice......the coral is that offwhite color.....shaped liked a giant amoeba.......the shop keep said it was a live rock at one time from their aquariums and now they are selling off the former live rocks now coral..........so there you go.  my first georgia store grown coral.....what are the odds.  as cool as the book is, sam said the coral is completely totally the coolest......so yay! 

after shopping we headed back to cornelia and got burgers from Midtown Grill........they have unusual flavor combos for their gourmet burgers as well as the standard burgers for the rest of the world.  sam got a burger called the ellijay, named after a georgia town near by.......said it was THE BOMB!!!!  it has grilled peaches, swiss cheese......applewood bacon.......seem like more, and they even had a big thick juicy burger patty in there!  i got something less adventurous but it was sooooo scrumptious.  they have great fries and they also make homemade potato chips.......rocking food!  so glad i researched restaurants first, otherwise we would have probably opted for quickie drive throughs.......small town restaurants are affordable and soooo good! 

sam dared me to try a mojito......the waitress forgot to bring it, which was fine with me really cause the salad was huge and i rarely as in rarely even have a sip of sauce anymore.........so i asked her to cancel it cause as this point i didn't want the added cost or the drink.  so she felt so bad that she brought me one on the house....i took a sip and bluck a duck...me no likey at all.  not one whit.....guess i don't like dark rum or fresh mint or anything else they put in that pretty little glass.  so sam enjoyed it......my taste buds are very pedestrian apparently.......i like the basics almost always.  meat, potatoes, bread, fresh veggies and fruits and lots of water.  moving along.......

after the nice meal we headed to Lake Russell, sam found a winding path for staff & handicapped that made the walk to the lake a million times easier and closer....glad sam was driving cause it was a very narrow dirt path and i have a big old buick ...the geezermobile still gets me everywhere i need to go.......!  the geezermobile was born in 2003 and now has 54,000 miles of georgia road behind it.  goo geez gooo!

that place gives red neck a whole new definition.......the lake i mean.  holy crazy cussing batman.......i heard so many cusswords i didn't know where to swim to get away from it.  sam thought it was funny that i didn't think this would be the primary language heard in this lovely swimming spot......and i thought it was odd that they couldn't put more nouns and verbs and so on in between the cussing........this was olympic red neck cussing........!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  hurt my delicate feiminite ears..........we used our noodles in the water.......which makes it so nice, a body can relax more with those foam noodles.......forgot to mention that we also went swimming in the indoor hotel pool the night before......when we checked into our hotel in was in the high nineties outside.  the hotel in an effort to conserve doesn't turn the a/c on in advance of guest arrivals........so it was seriously miserable in that room.  i think they should have the room set on a moderate a/c temp so that guests don't have to die that first hour.  we were lucky to have the love of water as an option.......the hotel was ok, they had all the right things to be a really nice stay, but they fell short in about ten ways.  i let it out via trip advisor....online.  so it's out of my system now except that the room we were in overlooked the indoor pool.  they keep the LIGHTS ON ALL NIGHT LONG, so the window in our room was letting in THIS GLARING BRIGHT WHITE LIGHT ALL NIGHT LONG.  sam conked right out.........and i laid there hating the lights.  wishing for a gun to put the lights outta their freaking misery.......they have sheer white curtains on the window surrounded by heavy drapes that frame the sheers. but they ARENOT DESIGNED TO CLOSE OFF THE LIGHT......what the hey.........which made the other things worse when you add them all up.......but the trip was still great.

my head is very woozy........i changed the kitty litter, gathered the trash, put it all in the garage......watered the indoor plants.  made some homemade baked beans with brown sugar & bacon..........and mixed up dressing for the potato salad.  the other day i hardboiled eggs for potato salas and egg salad and cooked the potatoes.  ......i have ground beef to make burgers with........if i'm up to it.  if not, i have no problem making a meal with just the potato salad and baked beans.

this is not a very interesting journal.......i know it and you know it......but i wanted to check in.  i have several hundred emails right now........which scares the pants off me.  i need to pay some bills which will have to happen in the next day or two............i don't know what i did to my left ear. but jeez a lou it's mad as a hornet.  the actual outer ear is sore as heck and the inner ear is a giant owey too........are there any numbing drops for ear pain?  is that a thing i could get? 

bruce watched over the house and fed the cat kids while i was gone.........my across the street neighbor is so something or other, not sure what, but i felt better with bruce in charge.  did i tell you that when debbie came to clean last week we got hit with a crazy storm??? high winds,lots of thunder and lightning......branches whirling and crashing to the ground....we lost power for an hour.....found out that 6,700 homes in our area also lost power.  she had more vacuuming to do........we sat and chatted while we waited it out......the sky got so dark and spooky there for awhile, it was nice to share the storm .........for me anyway, debbie was very anxious......

she shared that her big brother used to lock her in the closet during storms.  he was in charge of her when their mom was at work.........what a jerky crappy awful thing to do to a scared little girl.  why do some people act so mean to others.  at any age? it's beyond me......treat people decently.  that's golden advice for anyone......even debbie's hubby who is normally not very nice to debbie called to let her know the storm was coming.......to make sure she was in a safe place, etc.  i thought there is a heart in that man........i've wondered if he had one after some of the things she's shared about him.........he's locked her out of their home for not having his cigarettes when he wanted.  he can be something else, but on this day he was being decent........and that's a good day.

i'm sure i've gone on so long that the computer thinks this is gonna be a novel..........how are you faring out there in new ds for mat world?  i think it's not so much a for mat but more of an against mat........i keep praying that they will make it better, more interactive........friendlier like the old site was.  i keep thinking that i should call the dr. oz show and or the oprah winfrey network and see if there is anyone within that network of folks behind our DS site that can move and shake things towards a better site for us.

i just don't know............if it doesn't get better i will stay further away.......cause it hurts my brain to wander around in this kooky new ds forest.........sigh, if y'all have heard any updates from ds admin folks, if they are aware, if they have any plans to make this better for us, it sure would be heartening to hear.......love, hugs, prayers to all y'all!

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