General Discussion & Chat: Coffee and...part 13 :-D, 1 by meezersfive

meezersfive wrote:
Holy Smokes GOBs, it took me two cups of coffee to catch up on all the posts!! I've been on a road trip since last Sunday....!! My DD was taking her lovely golden retriever out to Cape Cod for breeding (yeah, she's nuts) and called me to ask if I wanted to ride along. When she had told me earlier in the week that she was going, I offered to give her the phone number of a dear friend of mine who lives near Boston. She then asked if I wanted to go along, and I said I didn't think so. I had a luncheon for my golf league that I planned Friday,and had to be there to pay the bill, and then Sat. we had another obligation. She wasn't sure of her departure date because she was waiting for a progesterone (sp.?) test to see if the time was "right". Then, when I called her Sunday morning, she repeated the invitation...so I threw everything I needed (well, almost...lol) in a bag, she picked me up an hour later, and we hit the road about noon. By midnight we hit New York State, (she drives like her mother too) and found a motel. On the road again Monday a.m., and got to Massachusetts by early afternoon. She dropped me off and headed for the Cape.

My friend in MA has been out there for a while, we met in the early seventies, and still keep in close touch. She's been here a couple of times, and we've visited there once before. We had an absolutely wonderful visit. Talked ourselves hoarse, ate in and out, went to a movie, hugged, explored her gardens, and I got acquainted with her gorgeous greyhound (adopted from a track) and her two charming kitties.
Breeding went well, we're sure Frankie will produce at least a half dozen beautiful little goldens. Got back on the road Thursday and made it to Farmington IL by evening. All went well until the next day....................we hit Chicago during rush hour. Rush hour? More like rush HOURS! Two and a half hours from the outskirts, to catch the Xway to Milwaukee. No way to avoid it. Good thing we went light on the coffee and soda, or we would have been in seriously soggy trouble. Rotten weather for the last 500 miles, too, drenching rain and high winds.

I came home with a dozen pots of plants, and cuttings as my chum is a dirty girl too, but it's so dang cold, they are going to have to sit inside the garage for a while before I can get them in the ground! My DH missed me so much, he filled the Jacuzzi for me, and lit candles in the bathroom, and gave me a super back rub. Nice to be appreciated! Missed you all a lot, and told my friend about Dave's garden so maybe she'll be joining us!

Cataract surgery is absolutely wonderful. I wore glasses from the age of five, and never got a good correction. In my fifties, I couldn't get glasses that would help. Went to an opthalmologist, instead of an optician, and he couldn't figure it out, so he sent me to the Eye Clinic at Froedert, our local teaching hospital that has world class education and equipment. They discovered I had a rare form of cataract, called refractory cataracts. They don't cloud your lens like a "normal" cataract, it's more like the crazing on a china plate, and very hard to diagnose. They aren't age related, and no way to determine how long I'd had them. I had the surgery, and I never in my life had seen things so clearly!! (I had to clean my whole house!!! LOL ) The recovery was swift, I was back to work in two days each time....I can read without my glasses and don't even need them for driving. although I do need them for very small type, like phone books and newspaper ads. Julie, it will make you very very happy!!

Oh Darius, I feel for you. After all the work you did on that house to get it in shape for the sale. I can't believe your sister let $5000 just slip right out of her fingers! But then again, I can't believe she let her kid have a cell phone and run up that enormous bill either. Maybe this is a fair warning of how a business relationship would work...so if you go ahead with it, make sure all your agreements are in writing, so that you can protect yourself. Even with family, when things go sour, it can get nasty. I love my sister with all my heart but if I tried to live with her, I'd probably have to kill her after a couple of weeks. She has no work experience except for a short stint as an office manager, no financial expertise, and no education beyond secretarial school (which she now refers to as "college") but doesn't hesitate to tell me how I should do things. Older sister syndrome??

I don't think anyone here minds our venting ...it's good to be able to dump it all out and take a good look at it. I suspect it even provides a little perspective once we put it in writing, because sometimes we are too close to the problem emotionally until we see it in black and white. That's what friends are for. Support and comfort, and maybe even a little advice once in a while. I used to be pretty good at keeping my own counsel, especially during my very long and miserable first marriage, my close friends knew my ex was a dyed in the wool jerk, but even they didn't know how bad it was. I've changed my attitude towards sharing problems, and now I just b**** and moan along with everyone else!! And feel better for it!!

I'll share a pic of my new best friend with you, isn't he just too sweet for words? BTW, all five of the cats piled into bed with me last night, couldn't hardly roll over for the crowding and noisy purring! DH said they all kept sitting and staring at him all week, wondering maybe what he had done with me!!

I better see what I can scare up for breakfast, the cupboard is as bare as Mother Hubbard's! Catch up again later! Brrrrrrrrr.....all the warm weather had skedaddled and it looks like winter's back. Ugh!!