sitting here trying to decide...

I wanna go to Bible Study tonight.......but if I do I'm afraid I won't be able to manage my MRI tomorrow at 1:45.  I've been very draggy this week.

Feels like either a head cold brewing or something.  Really tired.......my kooky half crazed smoke detector has not helped at all!

My home owner's insurance company sends out smoke detector batteries with a pleasant reminder annually.  So I had Sam check the detectors and they were all fine.  Then a few days later the kitchen smoke alarm started to chirrup in that annoying way......so I put in a gift battery and life went on briefly.....it made the noise to signify fire at 7:20 am......and then it went off again at 11:20 am.  Whaaaat?  So I snagged it back off the wall standing on my tippy toes........and cringed the whole time.  The cats went flying and if they could've escaped the alarm through a window I think they would be halfway to Mexico by now.

I was so foggy that I kept reloading the battery and putting it back on the wall......idiot.  i am cast in the role of the idiot for this week.  it's ok, i'm not making fun of myself exactly.......i have a good healthy id overall......but this week, idiot fits like a glove.  so after several days of this......ending in yesterday when it went off for the second time of the day....first at 7:20 am and then at 11:20 am.........and then Debbie arrived to clean at 11:30.  Which I knew about, but had totally forgotten........I was still in the clothes I had feel asleep in from the night before.  Wonky old sparrow.........sheez a lou.

I let her in and she was talking in her happy easy going way and I was just looking at her.  like a dope........i told her to make herself at home and went back to bed.  i didn't fall asleep again but i couldn't quite function in any human capacity either.  ......

we exchanged Christmas gifts before she left.......that was fun.  she likes to open gift baskets with her grandkids.......she is a very sweet friend!  as she left she noticed something odd.......and came back in to tell me.  there was a long smear of blood next to the holiday welcome mat......and droplets of blood here and there........so strange.  she didn't remember it being there when she arrived......and it was very noticeable.  A five inch blood smear right next to the doorway is hard to miss.......

We're guessing it might be from an animal.......and that is sad, because the animal is very clearly injured.  What can one do?

It was so strange.........after Deb left I called Kidde, the company that made my smoke detector.  They said they would open a file for my case, but they needed me to spray the case -- especially the interior where the battery sits with some of that canned air one uses to clean a computer keyboard.  So I did that........and hoped for the best again.  Put it back up on the wall........it woke me up from a sound sleep at 11:20 pm.  ARGGGGGHHHHHHHH!  thought longingly of my big hammer sitting in homer out in the garage.   (homer is the name of my toolbox)

when i took the battery out, it made this very dramatic death scene sound........dragged it out, what a drama queen this smoke alarm is........today i called them back and said HELP!  they are sending me a new no charge replacement smoke alarm.  YAY!!!!

relief is on the way.......safe happy relief!

i got a bill from the dentist......which made no sense.  i either pay them at the visit or now i am making monthly payments to care credit.......so why the bill?  rebecca called me and told me to shred it........they had no record of me having a balance.  it is always a pleasure to throw a bill I DON'T OWE in the trash!  so yay again.

the electric coop send a refund check every year at this time.  it's always just under ten buck long as i can remember, but this year it was pennies shy of $30.  sweet .......feel like i got an energy savings raise!

remember the clothing store i visited that asked me to leave and then added that they aren't prepared to serve people in "wheelchairs and such.".......well the regional v.p. finally got back with me early last night.  he travels a lot........lives in the Atlanta area, he called from North Carolina......anyway.......he offered apologies and promised that all their stores would be brought up to date on policies concerning disabled visitors.  He told me that the two ladies that were there that day no longer work for them.  This really upset me, I was not trying to get anyone fired. I know how hard it is to find gainful employment......but he told me that it was not my worry to carry.  They should have treated me appropriately......given me much better customer service, not asked me to leave and not treated me in such a poor fashion.  He is sending me a $50 gift card.......which was an unexpected gift.  I am trying to decide who to give it to.......either Debbie or Bruce.  If for any reason it arrives as two $25 gift cards it will simplify things for sure........but I didn't think to ask that of Chuck while we talked. 

Debbie has taken in her adult daughter and her two grandkids....her hubby is disabled and her daughter is all messed up with drugs.  Debbie hopes to be able to have custody of those two precious children.......her daughter is too much addicted/in denial to even heed the warnings of the people who have been called in to her care of these precious angels.  i can't remember what it's called, the state wide organization who govern child neglect/abuse/abandonment and so forth. 

debbie has reached out to a lawyer for guidance.......despite what this group has said to this young woman she is too in it to heed anyone.  she stayed home for one whole day (which i can't help but say sarcastically) and then took off again.....she called every two hours to say she was on her way, but stayed out until 6 am the following morning.

It's hard because Debbie can't stop this behavior, her daughter is 32 years of age.  It's a tough tricky horrible mess.......it's easy to say what we would do when it's happening to someone else........Debbie doesn't like her daughter right now, often times she is so angry that she is ashamed at how much anger she carries towards her daughter.......but there are these two precious children.  twins.....a boy and a girl.  confused, hurt........their daddy is gone. he took off to live with another woman he has impregnated.......their mommy moved them into their grandparents home.  mommy keeps disappearing........is seldom there when they get out of school or when they wake up in the night scared and crying.  i would be angry too. 

i went through this with my sister carol years ago........it was as awful as can be.  debbie loves her child ......but she love love loves those innocent confused hurt grandbabies even more.......she is the only one between them and chaos.  debbie sat here on my sofa and asked me with such heartbreak in her voice, how can she not see what she is doing to her babies?  how can she not see.......?  it's hard to see your own child as a drug filled empty soul.......and there is no local Dr. Phil in the wings to whisk her offstage into a waiting van to some all intensive program in Dallas.  Debbie has looked into several programs, but her daughter has to willingly go. So far when she has gone before she checks herself out soon after going in.  It's a sorry situation. 

Why don't we all have powerful magic wands for times like this?

.....let's talk about something else.  my tv died.  i originally bought it as a wedding present for sara & derian.  then after 7 years they decided to get a flat screen tv to mount over their fireplace.  at the same time one of my tv's went to tv heaven.......so i bought their used tv for $200 and they put that money towards their new flatsceen.  all parties felt good about it all........but the last couple of months it was only able to give me visual imaging for about two hours at a time.  the visual images would simply freeze.......the audio was still going strong. i would try to change the channel or turn the tv off and turn it back on.......and the screen would be black.  but still offer sound........i finally ratted my tv out to sam.  so he went mom tv shopping on monday. he got me a new flatscreen 32" that has a built in Roku player.  i will have to learn how to use the new remote, right now i'm confused as all heck......but i'm not telling sam.  not yet anyway, i'll see how it goes once i am less brain foggily wonkified. 

oh yeah, so that's what i wanted to tell y'all.......sam had one heck of a time loading up that big fat backed tv into my car trunk.  he turned red in the face and his veins were sticking out.......yegads.  i was worried, but he wouldn't let me help him at all.  he backed it down the driveway in my trunk and then put the whole big heavy thing in the trash receptacle. i told sam i didn't think they would take it......but he felt sure that they have the trucks that lift heavy receptacles no prob.  I wasn't as sure........so I called them the next day and sure enough they said it would have to be removed in order for them to dispose of it.  they are happy to take it away, but it CAN'T BE IN THE TRASH CAN.  this was firm, a non negotiable. so i said i would figure something out. 

it was about then that self pity took over.  i didn't feel right asking bruce, since he just donated several hours of his time and wouldn't take a dime to fix my oven door.  and i can't ask debbie, she's a slender person, fit but still there is no way she could manage it.  i finally bit the bullet and called sam. he wanted to argue that they should take it in the can, but i told him it was a non negotiable argument........and then i confessed to what i had done.  despite my health and spine issues i put on my outdoor rubber boots and headed down to the end of the drive.  i pushed the big boxy can over towards a shallow ditch.  then i pushed it again until it was upside down.  it was raining and the can was muddy as all heck.......and now i was wearing some good old Georgia clay too.  ack.  there was no way i could get that big receptacle up and off that big ol TV. not alone anyway........so sam is not happy with me for trying to do it by myself and he's not happy that he has to come all the way back out here.........before trash day.  but it really can't be helped. 

still can't believe that i managed to flip it upside down, but if you use the laws of physics instead of muscle you can do a lot of things......that seem impossible. i have to wonder what the neighbors think of my upside down garbage receptacle.  that's an odd sight for sure.........

so hey, how are you?  hugs, i need another nap.  i'm plum wore out. 

sparrow