Memory Monday

 

Me, 1961.  Age 4 1/2.  

Peeking behind me, my gramma. I think she may have sewn my dress. 

This week I am working with my soon-to-be ten year old granddaughter on a tea party scheduled with five friends for tommorow. We are in the home stretch. Today I frosted six mini three layer cakes (it is a baking theme) for them to decorate and take home and learned to make a ham and cheese tortillia rose sandwich. 

Spread cream cheese on a large flour tortillia.
Layer with ham and cut into 1" strips.
Use a glass to cut cheese circles and then cut those in half. 

Roll and secure with toothpick. 

Meanwhile. Someone had asked about my "little family". The domestic violence victim who relocated from out of state and was couch surfing with two little girls. Between four churches we pulled together a security deposit and first month's rent and she moved in. I couldn't get her out of my mind and went shopping one Saturday and outfitted her kitchen from pots and pans to silverware. 

I checked in with her a week ago Thursday and she still didn't have beds (she does have a toddler bed for the 2 year old).  My son and his wife got a new mattress and I was trying to pull together a crew with my husband who has pulled something in his back, my sons who all have different days off and work weird shifts, the old mattress, a metal bed frame and a possible twin bed on Facebook Marketplace. I gave up and ordered two metal bed frames and two inexpensive-ish mattresses from Walmart and had them delivered. My husband did ask how much more we are going to spend on them, but we are done now. 

I had a busy day in the office this week. I had a family of five, dad works on a dairy farm and his hours will pick up with the weather, mom had a serious back injury and had two surgeries and is off work. And they owed a big electric bill with a shut off as their furnace was out for a month and they were heating with space heaters. 

I had a man (and this situation happened with a lady last month) who turned 65 and switched from disability to a very minimal social security check. When your income is below a certain point, we have a state fund (I think it is through the state) which picks up the $202.90 for Medicare. He was charged the $202.90 for January and February which put him behind on electric and he had a shut off notice. 

I had a woman in her 50's with a $700 water bill. She has an unemployed daughter living with her and two grandchildren. No one is working. Another church offered to split it with us and there are children. . .  She also was ranting to me about a local business that employs migrant workers on H2-A visas. I bit my tongue from saying, well they are at work in the fields all day and aren't here with bills they can't pay. . . 

Well, back to the birthday preparations. I post my list so I can keep on track. 

The peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are cut into flower shapes. The egg salad will go on Hawaiian rolls and I put the cucumber slices inbetween paper towels over night with a little salt before putting them on bread and butter in the morning. 

The note in the middle says "1 cup oil" because my daughter needs a cup of cooking oil and this is not something she has in her kitchen. . . 

Sunday I am taking my two best friends from high school to the restaurant that has the monthly tea to celebrate their birthdays. I will be taking photos of our gorgeous food. It will be nice to have someone cook for me! 

Old Prairie Moonlight

Were you a follower of Oatmeal and Whimsey?  Gayla suffered a great personal tragedy and had not been blogging.  She is back at 

https://oldprairiemoonlight.blogspot.com/   

Be sure to check out her new quilting project! 

Spring Break

 Where have I been?  Spring Break.  

The grandkids all had spring break a different week. My daughter and daughter in-law, who are both teachers, had spring break a different week than their children.  

Here are some photographic memories. 

Road Trip

Engineering at a children's museum.

A candy store/ice cream parlor with toys and an incredible selection of sugary drinks. 

A candy and toy display. I have eight grandsons. This appeals to them. 

An educational field trip (along with four other cousins) to the Birthplace of Thomas Edison for his school report. 

On Good Friday we took six cousins out to breakfast at a local diner. They were having a good time I swear. They do not like it when Mimi takes a photo. 

 A visit to an Aviation Museum. 

Spellbound at the large collection of Tuskegee Airmen memorabilia and the narrated video by Harold H. Brown. 

Pearl Harbor diarama. 

Lunch in a 1952 diner overlooking the tarmac of a small airport. 

Watching planes land during lunch.

This was a milk shake. The table next to us ordered one first. 

A cold day at the Flea Market. 

A man on a mission.

Another diner, not as good. 

Early voting. They got "future voter" stickers. 

A visit to the police station to drop off items to Uncle Scott. 

Hanging out with grampa while Mimi volunteers in the church office. 

A trip to the egg barn. 

Car picnic at the local drive-in on a rainy afternoon. 

Three and a half hours at an indoor playland. 

And yes, they wore the same clothes for days on end. It was spring break and I pick my battles. . . 

Now we are tired. Very tired. Thank goodness everyone should be in school this Monday. 

Memory Monday

 Artemis

I know everyone has been hooked on the latest space venture. I will admit I tried not to pay too much attention. In 1986 I was home making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for my one year old, my two year old and my five year old while they were watching a rerun of Andy Griffith. The words appeared on the bottom of the screen about the Challenger disaster. I had it on a network channel and saw her son and his class watching the lift off, but the natives got restless. I was devastated. And now I am too nervous to watch space travel.

Later everyone started sharing memories on our local Facebook page. We live near a NASA facility in a rural area with some very special testing facilities. I think this was in 2019/2020.

"TRAFFIC ALERT—TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 16 AND 17.

For the special attention of motorists in the City of XXX/XXX Township and XXX Township areas:

Tomorrow, Tuesday, August 16, and again on Wednesday, August 17, oversize loads consisting of Blue Origin spacecraft components will be transported from the NASA Neil Armstrong Test Facility to the docks. The transports are scheduled to begin at about 7:30AM on both days from the NASA Mason Road gate, just west of the Career Center. The loads will travel eastbound on Mason Road to River Road, and then north on River Road to the docks. Due to the size of these components, various sections of Mason and River Roads will be completely closed to all traffic as the haul vehicles navigate various segments of the route, to include the major intersections of US123 and State Route 123 at Mason Road, and US456 at River Road. It is expected that the transports on both days will be completed by approximately 2:30PM.

Motorists who plan to travel the above route during the time period in question are asked to take an alternate route for the next two days. Your cooperation and patience are greatly appreciated."

According to the local Facebook officials these pieces and parts that went to the special testing facility were the pieces and parts of Artemis. Here they are maneuvering the corner by our post office.

Facebook was full of videos and photos those days. You won't recognized the parts because they are covered in tight white tarps.

Since I don't follow space travel I can not verify the accuracy of any of this. But I am happy and relieved that the astronauts are home and safe.

We old timers call the facility - N A S A - pronouncing each letter separately. When my kids were teenagers they would make fun of me for spelling it instead of saying it as a word. I went through a spell when I couldn't remember which way to say it and usually guessed wrong. Once NASA became more popular on news shows, I figured it out.

The facility in the remote location has a interesting history and maybe I will do a blog about it one day. I used to attend a history group at a local library and people older than me had pretty vivid memories of the beginnings.

Bad Medicine

Sorry, this post is a rant and a grumble.  I decided to publish it tonight so it won't be at the top of my blog for long. Memory Monday will be back on Monday and hopefully by Tuesday I will have my "where the heck have I been" update. 

I have been adjusting to the new me, me, me.  Medications, home blood pressure checks, daily weigh-ins to monitor fluid retention, appointments, tests, blah blah blah. The exercise program, counting steps, throwing in cataract surgery so we could add eye drops. 

SO - the cardiologist put me on several new to me medications that started in smaller doses and were smaller mg. Whatever that is. Then he increased to twice a day, then gave me a prescription for a larger mg that I have to cut in half and take twice a day.  I think we are eventually going to do a whole pill a day. This is the background story. 

Like all people of a certain age, I sit down on Sunday night and put all my pills for the week in my new and improved extra large pill box.  I was almost out of one of the medications and put in an on-line renew request to my drugstore.  I got an email message that my insurance would not pay to renew the prescription yet.  They stated they would contact the doctor. 

I figured out this was because he had not changed the instructions when telling me to double the dose. I decided I would leave my own message for the doctor in the automated system. I stopped at the pharmacy and they said they hadn't heard back but that possibly I would be able refill it and just pay cash if it came to that. 

No one from the pharmacy or insurance company or doctor's office would contact me. Then I got an automated message that I had a prescription ready to pick up.  When I got there I had a new precription of the drug to pick up with a $3 co-pay.  I had the renewal of the prescription with a cash price of $35. And I had a renewal of the prescription at a lower doseage with a $3 co-pay.  I did get both of the larger mg bottles of the same thing since I wanted back up bills for next time this happens.  

I just wonder if this was something I could sell on the street instead of heart medicine, woud they would just issue me three bottles of the same thing? It just seems wrong.  

Meanwhile my drug plan is calling me three times a day telling me I can save $6 a month if I put all my medications into refills by mail. Since the prescriptions and doseage keep changing this does not appeal to me but that is not an option in their automated system. 

Today I had a Chest CT scan.  I got a call Monday to schedule it. I said - ooookay.  She read me a long list of instructions and I made some scratch pad notes assuming I would get an email or something.  I didn't. And I forgot to even ask what doctor ordered it.  

She told me I had to quit eating 12 hours or more prior, no caffiene or even DECAF coffee for 24 hours prior to the test, I can't remember what else.  I did not get an email.  I went to the hospital website that charts appointments.  It did not list what doctor ordered it and when I clicked "instructions" all it said was "please arrive 15 minutes in advance". I googled generic instructions for a CT scan and followed those.

Luckily it was a ct scan without dye (and I think what she read to me on the phone was the instructions with dye.)  I did abstain from food and decaf coffee, but I am not sure I had to.  I did not wear undergarments so that I did not have to change into a gown.  And the radiologist person was able to tell me that the test was ordered by the pulmonologist.   

I just feel like no one tells me anything. Was this because of my pulmonary tests in February? Because I haven't had a follow-up appointment yet. 

Anyway  - blah, blah, blah.  I'm over it. 

Now I have it out of my system. Thank you for listening.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter! In my new tradition of turning over holidays to my children, we will be celebrating on Saturday at my youngest daughter's house.  I baked brownies and a lemon pound cake tonight. Tomorrow I am putting together crack green beans, scalloped potatoes and chicken breast stuffed with asparagus. I bought a sliced ham.  But I don't have to clean my house. 

I have two kitchens in my dollhouse. This little doll is in the second kitchen with my Hallmark appliances and white furniture. 

The ice box is from the inherited kitchen. I bought the wooden cabinet set about ten years ago. The kitty is waiting for scraps. 

The Dionne quintuplet on the right is holding court around the fireplace in a living room in sad need of remodeling. In my defense my sister in-law who owned this house originally let her toddler daughter play with it. 

The papoose in the den has her own dollhouse. The footstool was made for me by author Camille Minichino (writing as Margaret Grace) in her dollhouse miniature cozy mystery series. She hosted a giveaway on her blog and personalized the prize for me. Camille passed away in May. Not only did she author two award winning mystery series, she was a former nun and a nuclear physicist. For real! She also invited me to "Noir at the Bar" a literary event that is part of the Lit Quake mystery authors conference in San Francisco during the pandemic. The event was held on line and we sat at home with cocktails while several mystery authors read chapters or short stories of their work. 

The reindeer and elves are sleeping in the upstairs bedrooms. 

Second cataract surgery completed. I have had a few more side effects this time but plowing through.  Today we even made it to the gym.