A Bill Paying Frenzy

I was sitting in front my computer a little while ago mulling over what to write as my next post. I’ve been suffering writer’s block the past few days so I thought I might look at some sites with cool graphics to see if I could find some inspiration. I found some inspiration alright but it has nothing to do with any graphics or anything else on the Internet.

When I came home this afternoon after running chores, the mail was in the mailbox so I brought it in, took a quick look at it and then placed it on our bed while I came over to the computer to check my blog and blogroll. When Hubby came home, he made his way into the kitchen to grab a bowl of cereal. I casually mentioned that the mail had come including the credit card bill which had the rather large final payment for our June Ireland tour. I should have known better. Immediately he ran for his checkbook and, before I knew it, he was writing the check, filling in the payment coupon and placing it all in front of me at the computer so I could check it over before sealing it in the envelope. I was annoyed. Here I was busily searching the Web for blog ideas and he expected me to stop everything, look at the documents, and then place everything in the envelope so it could be mailed tomorrow morning. I told him I’d get to it when I was done on the computer (geez, it won’t be mailed until tomorrow) but that wasn’t satisfactory. In fact, Hubby quite bluntly told me that taking care of the bill was far more important than anything I was doing on the computer. So we had a little tiff and, the Drama Queen that I am, I stormed out of the den into the bedroom where I crawled into bed to pout for a while.

Hubby and I have been together for 24 years and I know a thing or two about his OCD so I really shouldn’t be surprised by all this. He has this thing about our bills (particularly very large ones) needing to be paid the minute they arrive. It drives him crazy when I take our bills and put them in a very special place I have until I’m ready to pay them. I check this bill holder every day so our bills are never late…never! But that doesn’t stop him from worrying about them until he sees them in the envelope ready to be mailed. Yes, I know this is just a little thing and, knowing how much it upsets him, I should just pay the darn things when they come but sometimes it just isn’t convenient at that moment.

Oh great, now he’s standing over me staring at the payment coupon, check and envelope making me nuts. Okay already, I’ll look at the darn things and put them in the envelope. Done! Happy?

The Tower of Words

Blogging is killing my brain cells. Oh, don’t get me wrong…using my creative skills (or at least typing skills) to continually write posts is certainly keeping at least some portions of my brain working. But yesterday I suddenly realized that I have not picked up a book to read in weeks. That’s right…it’s been weeks since I’ve thought about my most favorite hobby. Mind you…that hasn’t stopped me from buying books (I have two new paperbacks still sitting in the small plastic bag from the bookstore) and it hasn’t stopped my friend from sharing two new hardback mysteries with me. So I have this stack of new and some older books to read near my bed and it continues to grow taller and taller. It looks like the game Jenga where you keep placing wooden blocks on top of each other to see how many can be added before the tower comes crashing down. And even though I’m now aware of my sudden lack of reading and the growing stack of books, notice what I’m doing at this moment. Do I have my nose in a book? Oh no…I’m blogging about reading…how sad is that?

A Slow Cooking Mind

I will be the first to tell you that I am not a Domestic Goddess. Somehow I must have missed that training when I was growing up because the kitchen is my least favorite room in the house. When Hubby and I met, I was relieved to discover that he loved to cook and, more importantly, he did it very well. He’s the type of chef who can take a recipe, tweak it to his own liking and then prepare it to perfection. Me? I can read and follow a recipe if I’m forced to but it never quite looks or tastes like the original so I basically let Hubby do the cooking. Me? I did learn how to wash dishes (thanks Mom) and, since we currently have a non-working dishwasher, I’m the designated clean-up person.

So…how amusing is it that on Saturday, while I was at our local Big Box Warehouse, I found a small kitchen appliance that I’ve been wanting forever. What is it…it’s a slow cooker…AKA a crockpot. My mom had one for years and, although neither my sister nor I wanted it when we cleaned out Mom’s apartment when she moved in with Sis, the two of us have been talking about it ever since. I immediately called Sis from the store and proceeded to purchase two…one for each of us. Here’s what it looks like and isn’t it beautiful?

Okay...that's not our dinner colorfully sitting in the pot all ready for us to savor...I admit it...it's an ad. My new slow cooker is still sitting in its box on the dining room table calling my name. Hubby insists that I’m responsible for using it so now I have to go in search of recipes. We’re not really red meat eaters so I’m thinking chicken or vegetarian dishes are what I want and they need to be easy ones…you know the kind…a few ingredients just plopped into the cooker without much fuss or muss. That much I can do…maybe.

I’m Afraid of My Hairdresser

OK…I admit it…I’m intimidated by my hairdresser and I know I’m not the only woman who is scared to say anything negative when they’re unhappy after an unfortunate hair experience. Why is it we won’t complain or even say anything when we get a bad cut or lousy color? Why do we simply accept what we get, walk out of the salon and then go home and grouse to our husbands, boyfriends, children, siblings, and girlfriends? Why are we such cowards?

Can you tell I had a terrible hair appointment today? My mom and I went to our longtime stylist to get haircuts and I was also scheduled to get a blond highlighting weave. I knew we were in trouble when my stylist, Hairdresser “L”, told me she would do my weave first but then she would have to cut another client’s hair before cutting Mom’s. Apparently Hairdresser “L” was having problems getting the woman’s hair to process so she was still under the dryer. So “L” begins putting in my highlights and foils. After finishing the top and left side, she pauses and tells me she needs to check on her other client’s progress and she’ll be “right back.” So I wait and wait and wait. When I look, I see “L” washing the client’s hair and this process takes 10 minutes. All this time, half my head has color on it which is obviously processing while the other half remains untouched. This can’t be good.

“L” finally returns, colors and foils the rest of my head and puts me under the dryer to process. Several minutes later, she returns and takes me over to the sink to wash and condition my hair. As she takes out the foils, I hear this audible little “oh” come from her mouth…this really can’t be good. Suddenly she offers to do some kind of “shine treatment” to make up for having me wait so long. Now…she’s made us wait lots of times before without offering us any little perks so I’m thinking this really, really can’t be good. I decline the offer and we proceed to her station. When she finishes the cut and starts blow drying it, I begin to get really concerned. Instead of the beautiful golden highlights I’m used to seeing, I see nearly white blond highlights on the top and left side. Duh…these are the sections which were highlighted 10 minutes earlier than the rest. I look like someone with salt and pepper hair…in other words, I look old!

When I point out the nearly white streaks to her, she tries to make excuses telling me she probably just highlighted too many sections and it will fade with time. When I put my head in my hands trying to contain my anger, she finally knows she’s gone too far and promises to make things right. So she puts some reddish brown goop in my hair, makes me sit there for another 5-10 minutes, washes it out and then blow dries my hair for a second time.

So what does it look like? It looks like I haven’t done anything to it. Instead of having the beautiful golden blond highlights I was expecting, it looks like I have flat light brown hair. She promises me it will lighten up after two washings but now I’m worried that it will lighten back up to the salt and pepper look. And what does she charge me for this mess? She has the nerve to charge me full price for the cut and highlighting…that’s right, not one penny less than I normally give her. And what I’m most upset about is that I was so intimidated that, not only did I write the check for the full amount, I actually gave her a tip! I’m so ashamed. Like I said, I’m a spineless coward and I’m not proud of it!

The Little List Maker

Okay…Hubby and I just made the final and, might I say, scarily large payment for our June trip to Ireland. I guess this means we’re really going and the countdown ticker at the top of my blog stays put until the big day! Oh boy, oh boy…now the fun begins. The first order of business is to find my Alaska packing list file from last year so I can begin to modify it. I’m a big “list maker” which helps me remain calm as departure day gets closer...I guess, in my own way, I’m a little OCD when it comes to traveling. I keep checking things off my list as they get put into the great big “trip” pile on my dining room table. In theory, this means I won’t forget anything when it’s time to shovel it all into our suitcases just before the big day. Now…what does one wear in Ireland in June? Hmmm.

A Good Day, A Happy Blog

In re-reading some of my posts from the past week or so, I realize how depressing my life has sounded recently. And I guess, with all the turmoil lately, I have been rather down and depressed. So I am happy to report that things seem to have taken a turn for the better and now I’m all smiles again.

Today I decided that Hubby and I should visit Joey (Hubby’s grandgodson) who is still staying with Grandma. We picked the perfect time to arrive. Joey had just finished napping and was alert, happy and ready to play. He seemed to really like the toy cell phone we brought him as a replacement for the real TV remote which he has taken a shine to. Apparently he loves pushing buttons so we decided that a toy cell phone was better than freezing the real TV which he managed to do at home a few weeks ago. The toy phone, like everything else, spent much of the afternoon in Joey’s mouth. A friend of ours came by to visit Joey and Grandma followed shortly by Joey’s aunt. It was a great few hours and I really think it helped distract Hubby from his vascular ultrasound test that was scheduled for later in the day.

After our visit with Joey, we went directly over to the HMO for Hubby’s test. We were nearly 45 minutes early but they managed to take Hubby within 15 minutes of arriving…how’s that for good service! The test took only a few minutes and the technician gave Hubby the good news right then and there…no blockage, no anomalies, everything flowing really well. Whew…one less thing to worry about!

So all in all it’s been a wonderful day and I’ve got my fingers crossed that the good times will continue for a very long time.

Spots Before His Eyes

Today was supposed to be a nice quiet Sunday. We started off at our local Starbucks to pick up our lattes before heading off to the golf course for our monthly golf lessons. As we left the store, Hubby mentioned that he was suddenly looking through a sea of black spots in his right eye. Black spots are not unknown to him since he suffered a vitreous detachment a few years ago but he seemed to be more than a little concerned at the number of floaters he was seeing.

We made it to the golf course but I could tell he was really worried so I took it upon myself to cancel the lessons and drive him to our HMO. We arrived at Urgent Care and then proceeded to wait and wait until he was finally called in more than an hour after arriving. And then I had the “pleasure” of waiting for more than an hour in the waiting room until I finally decided to ask to be let in to the “inner sanctum.” I found my husband in an exam room waiting for the ophthalmologist to arrive. Apparently the Urgent Care doctor called in a specialist to have a look although he was pretty sure the floaters were just that. During the initial exam, however, the doctor did discover a “murmur” while checking Hubby’s carotid artery and decided that Hubby should undergo a vascular ultrasound to determine whether there was a blockage in the artery…oh swell…something else for us to worry about.

When the eye doctor finally arrived, we all traipsed up to the Ophthalmology Department to do the actual exam with all the fancy specialized equipment. The Urgent Care doctor (who is actually one of the Geriatrics doctors that my mom has seen) came along because he decided it would be a good time to learn the specifics of an eye exam (he is such a character). The good news is that my hubby is just suffering more of the vitreous detachment and there is no sign of any retinal involvement…whew!

Urgent Care Doc, Hubby and I then went back downstairs so that the doctor could see if he could arrange to have the vascular ultrasound done while we were there. I had to laugh at his optimism…did he really think there was someone there on a Sunday to do such a specialized procedure? Anyway, as expected, we were told that we would be hearing from someone within the next 3 days to schedule the procedure.

So after our four hour "adventure" in Urgent Care, Hubby is home fretting about his carotid artery and I’m exhausted. Am I worried...only a little. If I remember my physiology correctly, a blockage of the carotid artery is often the result of hypertension, high cholesterol and the buildup of “sludge” inside the walls of the artery. Hubby’s blood pressure has always been in the normal range and his cholesterol level is naturally low. His regular physician has always marveled at how healthy he is. In fact, the doctor keeps telling him that he’ll live to be 120 years old. I’ll just be glad when he has his test and gets the results so he can stop driving himself crazy with worry.