CalicoKitty

Well, my day has not gone exactly as planned. I was working on altar flowers at church and managed to cut off the pad on my index finger with the pruning shears. The hand surgeon doesn't think I need a skin graft, and they cauterized it so it finally stopped bleeding. I don't seem to have any tendon damage, either. Then the doctor asked me if I had the missing piece of skin (?) So now I'll have no fingerprint on my finger. I'm afraid it will take a while to heal, and it hurts like heck tonight. I'm hoping it will feel better tomorrow. I really am very lucky; it could have been much, much worse. This is exactly why I don't do yard work! Those flowers better look good Sunday.

I met Bob Cummings and Jesse White (the original Maytag man) when I was at camp the their daughters. That's all I've got.

Just a quick warning on the Holter monitor. Several years ago I had a base-line test run, and I was to wear the monitor for for 48 hours. When the time was up, the tech removed the lead pads---and my skin. I had several perfectly round patches of missing skin from the adhesive on the pads. Extremely painful, and quite shocking to the tech and the doctor. I was holding my shirt up to remove the pads. Then I asked how I was supposed to drive home holding my shirt up because it hurt so much to have anything touch the spots. My skin grew back after a week or so, but it really did hurt. Be sure you are not allergic to tape before you do the test, and if you start to feel any "funny" feeling or itching under the pads, Take Them Off.

I'm going through the same situation with my mother. She is on the max dose of meds, but she is getting more and more forgetful. She broke her hip last month, but she is doing very well with that (GREAT surgeon). She is more repetitive every time I see her. And forgetful. She will tell me how much pain she is in, and 5 minutes later tells my brother that she is just great--no pain. My 91-year-old father, who is all there mentally, has aphasia and has a great deal of trouble speaking. He is so great at looking after her, but he needs to be reminded to go play golf or do something else just for him. I drive the hour trip several times a week so he can have a break. I just don't know how long they will be able to live in their home. I know this will be a long, hard road (why is my computer suddenly writing in italics??)

"You Were There" and the Standard School Broadcasts. We would listen to these radio programs during class as part of our usual schedule. And dittos. The worst was having to MAKE the dittos. You had to know what you were doing to run the thing. Make sure the ink tank was full, and fill it if needed. Turn the tank upside down and make sure the felt was covered with ink. Then crank, and count the cranks. Then you had purple fingers all day (the ink was clear, but turned purple on the paper or your skin). The film strip projector was my favorite. Sometimes the teacher would let a student turn to the next picture, but you had to do it right when the "ding" sounded on the cassett tape, which provided the sound. I retired from teaching 3 years ago (I did my 38 years--time to go). I was still using filmstrips for my music classes. The students loved them because the pictures didn't move, and I could make the pictures big enough for the whole room to see. I could stop and discuss the material at any time, unlike a video. I still have a film strip projector, but you can't buy filmstrips anymore. In college, I actually had to take--and pass-- a class on "technology". That included showing I could run the ditto machine, the copy machine, film strip projector, and the reel-to-reel movie projector. Both kinds of reel-to-reel. The one that threaded automatically, and the one that you had to thread by hand. We also had to demonstrate how to change the bulbs and do basic repairs on everything (except the copy machine). Those were the days!

I have two antique potty chairs for the garage sale. Both are walnut, one has foldout arms, and the other has a needlepoint on the top. I don't know anyone else with two potty chairs in their living room......

amitville, I'm still deciding on a name. Her shelter name was Daisy, but that was too close to Maisie. I've been calling her Lulu, but I'm still not sure. I need some good suggestions.

Wanderwoman, I am so sorry to hear your news. You are in my prayers. Thanks to everyone for the thoughts about the loss of my big boy cat Elliot. Yesterday I took a trip to the shelter and brought home a very small white and black kitty. I thought that she was just about a year old. Then I found out that she was actually brought to Animal Control with HER litter of kittens. She looks so young and small that I was surprised that she already had had kittens of her own. She is very friendly, and I hope she and my calico (whose name is Maisie!) will work things out. Today is the first day they have met each other, and there is some hissing and a little "talking" going on, but so far just what I expected. My Maisie is extremely friendly, so I hope they are a good match. Thanks to everyone again for your good thoughts.

Thank you, everyone, for your kind thoughts and hugs. I appreciate it very much.

I'm having a tough day. My big boy kitty had an apparent stroke early this morning. He was on the floor unresponsive with just his tail twitching when I found him. After about 30 minutes, he started to walk, but could only go 10 steps at a time without lying down. The drive to the vet was not fun, and leaving him behind was very hard. He was a shelter cat with a tough kittenhood, and he has been my snuggly bed buddy for eleven years. I'm not sure what my other cat is thinking, but she knows he is gone. I foresee a trip to the shelter next week.

I have to add my 2 cents on the soda discussion. My favorite "bubbly drink" is anything that I make in my Soda Stream machine. Their caffeine-free diet soda is pretty good, as is the lemon-lime (think 7-UP) and root beer. Mostly I just make bubbly water, which I really like. No cans or bottles to deal with, and the drinks stay fizzy for several days.

RE: Jill staying the baby was not ugly---I have a letter written by my father to my grandmother to announce my birth. He writes about what a very ugly baby I was. It gets a good laugh now.........

Wanderwoman, I have been following your posts with great interest. I am a recently retired NICU nurse, and it gives me such great joy to read about the care your Maise is getting. You have given me a whole new perspective from a parent's point of view. I wish you all the best, and look forward to following your progress. On another note: I just finished reading GML's A MIDWIFE'S TALE. I really enjoyed this book. It is very well written and tells a very interesting story. I highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an interesting read.