Back to Normal?

Classes start at UGA today, although Ray doesn't teach until tomorrow. He is getting up at 5:30 and walking for an hour in the dark and cold, so he can get his exercise in and be ready to go when I leave for work. That way I can drop him at his office or he can catch the bus.

Went to a workshop about some new grants using stimulus money. It was pretty cold in the meeting room at the library. It is hard to explain what made me so cross about the process. One of the things is the people in charge are not any more qualified than I am. I applied for one of those jobs and didn't even get an acknowledgment. They are requiring every applicant to do this complicated on line assessment. I can't answer some of the questions without the board and they haven't responded to my emails. It is not a huge amount of money ($5000-$30000) and the process is pretty difficult. I guess if the board does not help, I can't apply. No word on a new director...

Between routine work and the 2 hour workshop, it was 2:00 before I knew it. More end of year donations to deposit. Ray and I went to the Ramsey Center gym at UGA and played a little moderate racquetball, just one game to 11. I was nervous about my back, but wanted exercise. Then we walked 4 laps on the indoor track. It is still really cold here, 25 this morning.

Came home and didn't do much, on the computer. Went to potluck and enjoyed dinner with Amber's children. She is the choir director and has a 2 year old and a baby. The younger one is very loud and demanding--she tried to grab food from her parents' plates and howled whenever they walked away. The rest of the family is very quiet and shy. It just made me laugh.

I enjoyed singing, but dropped my music once because I was falling asleep. Came home, read a little, went to bed.

This cold weather is really starting to get to me. It's 20 here this morning and has been below freezing every night for a month. Now I realize that is normal in some places, but it has never been so cold for so long in Athens, that I can remember. My wonderful house is not really designed for it. It has too many windows. During the sunny days, it's lovely, and the wood stove takes the chill off sometimes. But getting up in the dark and the cold is miserable. And we have actually had the heat going a lot. I think it's important for my mother (and myself) to keep it warm in here.

Tree is gone and everything put away. The plan was to move the TV into the living room (where the tree was) so we could watch TV sitting in front of the fire. However, Ray has not been able to make the connection to the satellite work. He has been to Radio Shack and Lowe's and called service several times. Eventually, we will have to give up and pay $100 for a service call--or move the TV back into its old spot in the study. My hope was to work on cleaning up the study and maybe build shelves there, more easily done without the TV.

Yesterday I worked 7 hours, bookkeeping and submitting reimbursements, but I found a mistake and will have to do one over today. Fortunately, it is pretty early. Then I went and bought a new printer for Peggy and installed it, for which she will pay me. I was home by 4:30, reading and eating potato chips and having a drink. It was not a good day for losing weight. Ray made supper and then we watched DVD's, which we can do even without the satellite hookup.

I am a little nervous about sitting in front of my computer. Maybe that contributed to my back attack. Yesterday I went to work in the morning, but I took a muscle relaxant and a pain pill. It did help with the pain, but I wanted to go to sleep. I hope I didn't make any mistakes in entering deposits in the computer. Ray picked me up about 11 and we went to the bank and then home. I slept and dozed most of the day, reading a little. A heated neck wrap helped some.

Vanessa made dinner. I couldn't sit at the table long, on the hard chair, but sitting on the couch was good. Sometimes I dozed upright. Ray tried to move the TV into the living room, so we could sit in front of the fire and watch TV at the same time. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the satellite to work. He called the company, they sent him out to buy a connector, it still didn't work, he called back. He was very frustrated. I say just move it back in the TV room. He is thinking of having a man come out for $99. The Captain was very sad not to be able to watch TV. I think we all were. It makes you realize how dependent you are.

Back Trouble

Yesterday was a wasted day. All ws well as I got up and made pancakes and got ready for church. One the way, in the car, my back started hurting in the way it does--spasms that are more or less frequent and sharp. All through the service, I was trying to adjust my posture to find a place that didn't hurt, to the point that people asked me afterward what was wrong. We stopped at Publix on the way home to get mushrooms for dinner. When we got home, I ate some leftovers and took my muscle relaxation pill and lay down. All day, I was dozing and trying to get comfortable and taking medicine and reading a little. Finally at bedtime, I took a Lortab and that let me sleep all night. This morning my lower back is stiff and sore, but no spasms. I hated to just lie there and waste a whole day. Ray waited on me, but I was pitiful. It was cold, but we had sun and wood fires and the heat going. This morning it is 19 degrees out here. I hope all is well at the Shelter.

A lovely holiday, but very cold. My parents and I were trying to think of an outing or a project we should do, because it was clearly too cold for working outside. Ray slept until after 10! His thought was "let's play cards." He and I walked to the mailbox, Captain and Vanessa walked even farther, even though it was bitter cold and windy. The ground was frozen and it never got above 35. But the sun was strong and it was 75 in the house by mid-afternoon. Of course, we fired up the wood stove morning and evening. I vacuumed and made bread. Ray brought 4 wheelbarrow loads full of wood onto the porch. Vanessa made cookies and she and I undecorated the tree and packed things up. Ray took down the lights, with the new 10-foot stepladder the Captain gave us for Christmas. He tested the bulbs and replaced the ones that were out. I broke one glass ball, handing it down to Vanessa. We packed up the Christmas dishes and glasses. It was a little sad, but good to get it done. The Captain worked some on his column and Ray especially worked on the jigsaw puzzle. The sunlight made it easy to see. We did laundry too, and that was our day.

Mixed feelings

So sad that Molli is gone--I cried a couple times. Having a couple more days off--a good thing. It is so cold here though. Yesterday there was some good sun to warm up our house, along with the wood stove and cooking. The Captain went out for a little while, but his digestion was bothering him. He ate and drank too much bad stuff New Year's Eve, apparently.

I got her up, she was all packed, made her a bagel to take with her. Ray and she and I drove to the Athens airport. We were in plenty of time, although there were others there ahead of us. We waited until about 8:30 before security started up. There were very careful and thorough, but it's still a much more pleasant experience. The plane was a little late, it didn't leave until 9. I drove home (after chatting with the police chief who was there, driving one of ten hybrids he says the department owns to save more gas for the cruisers). Vanessa and the Captain were up. I finished the muffins, put a few pieces in the puzzle. Ray called when they had landed. His flight back was canceled, so it was 2 before I picked him up again. We went to the grocery store, made an extra casserole for the freezer, played cards.

Happy New Year!

Yes, I am once again up at 5:30, even though I only went to bed about 5 hours ago. I wake up every few hours, drink some water, try to go back to sleep, and when it gets this "late", I just don't go back to sleep. Maybe if Molli weren't leaving today I would be more relaxed and sleepier. Maybe I'll take a nap later today.

I am so sad she is going. Yesterday I was pretty mopey because Amelia was gone. Today I am distraught. As I said to Molli, it would be worse if I couldn't wait to get rid of them. It is like living in a gray or two-dimensional world after living in color for a while. Not that anything is different, just they understand me and love me and have the same interests and values I do. Well, anyway, it was nice to have them and now they are leaving.

It was very cold in our house yesterday--gray and drizzly out and hard to get it warm, although it was by the end of the day. Molli and I ran some errands. One of the things she did this trip (and has done on other visits, perhaps less extensively) is shop for Adrian, as well as herself and others. Yesterday we visited Rugged Wearhouse and bought several pairs of pants. I picked up a couple shirts for my Dad and a pair of cheap sunglasses for me.

We also went to the post office and mailed a couple of packages with post-Christmas presents. Molli sent coffee to Seattle--it cost more to mail than to buy it. And I sent a package to Santa Fe (book rate). It has some piano music for my nephew and a nice surprise for the family. Book rate is so cheap, I should only buy books as presents. Then we went to Kroger to get eggs and orange juice and bananas...I treated Molli to a Cinnabon on our way home, something really decadent I would not normally buy. We had leftovers for lunch, plenty of good things to eat, especially ziti. Suddenly, Molli remembered we were supposed to pick up Vanessa's medicine at the drug store while we were out. They were closing early because of the holiday, at 2. It was 2:01. We called and Andy said he would wait for us. What a nice man! When we got there, he was helping someone else and another person came in, too. I am glad he can't say no...

We played some cards and Molli made a chocolate cake, with vanilla frosting and strawberries on it. Molli and Ray and I went to dinner at Deb and John's, with Janna and Ron. My parents were invited, but I sort of discouraged them from coming. I think it was a good call, but I feel a little bad. Deb was disappointed. After supper, we played Taboo and had a great time, the girls beating the boys pretty badly. We all know each other pretty well, so it is easier to get your ideas across, especially Molli and I. Ron thought we must be using telepathy. The boys kind of wait until they know the answer, whereas we were just guessing and brainstorming and would usually come up with it faster. It's hard not to use the forbidden words, though.

We got home much later than we thought, about 11, in time to open the Spanish champagne. I was so tired and sleepy, I was not much fun and could barely stay awake. Amelia called from Central Park. She was running a race with Kevin and his sister Kasey. It was snowing and cold and she wanted to get started. I guess I will hear how it went a little later.