eBay

Big surprise of the unpleasant variety for me yesterday,  I bid on a cookbook from the church my DIL and her family attend.  ( DIL goes with my son, her hubby to his church where they live now).

It, the cookbook, was described as clean, unmarked in the margins and in good shape.  I read the eBay description of good.  This person lives right here in my town, so I asked if I could just "buy it now" and meet at Starbucks and let me get it without paying the postage which was more than the cookbook.  She said yes.  I could not skip the postage (I should have thought of that) and so as an added attraction, he husband dropped it by into my mailbox.

I was tickled until I opened it.  Nasty stale horrible cigarette smoke came out of the package and book as though  it was an empty (or not) butt tray!  The cookbook stinks so badly I have it in a large thick plastic bag.  There is writing in it and it is not clean.  I could return it but I won't.  I put it down to the first bad experience I have had on eBay. and I'm not out that much money.  Besides, they know where I live as it would have had to be sent through the mail as you know. Don't want a flaming bag o' poo on my porch.

By the way, this is not an attack on smokers. Smoke if you want to.  I certainly did till I quit cold turkey 15 years ago and never looked back even once.  But I did not subject folks to the smell, even before the trend to smoking outside became THE thing you had to do...I had never smoked in my home.  Not once.  The smell, the tobacco staining of the walls and light fixtures, but most of all the smell that everything reeks made me not even tempted.  I didn't smoke in the house because of the children.


I recall the house next door when I still smoked was horrible to be in.  The couple smoked constantly and when the door was opened (I didn't go there much unless it was to sit on the porch) a thick gray cloud just roiled and rolled out of the door. I smoked, and I couldn't take it.  I finally told her. So we sat in her screened in porch.

The sciatica is 99% gone.  A bit of muscle pain remains but that is from walking in a strange way while this was going on. Too long a post.

On Thanksgiving, had I been here most of the time I would have written a Thankfulness blog.  For all of you.  You have been with me through good times and some very bad ones.  My gratitude is real for each of you in my life.   I am all better from both afflictions and I feel that I am finally able to look over the top of the fence and see some sunshine in a manner of speaking. XooX

Our new accomplishment

A blur

Sometimes it seems that life flies by in a blurred movement barely detectable to the eye.  I was going through the dashboard here before I came to write this blog and I see several old old friends I knew in MNS Live Spaces blog times.  Paul, if you knew Technogran,  she passed.  Gerry said so in his own blog.  It was a title  of his blog, so I saw that but I am not "invited" to read his blog.Hence there are no details I can glean.

  Boy am I ever doing better now.  I took a 4 mile walk in early October when I had a backache.  I will never do that again as walking on uneven surfaces with my back already aching resulted in sciatica for me.  That nerve pain is as bad as childbirth pain.  But with childbirth pain something good comes.  This...nothing but more pain and man, it was on the pain scale as a 10, same as childbirth pain.

I'm finally coming up out of it and I was about in despair that I would always be in agony. I'm about 70% better now.  I can walk and do my house work.  That's an accomplishment!

I am fully recovered  finally from the open heart surgery.  Nope, no bypasses.  My arteries looked good ---while they were in there, they looked.

First really cold cold night last night.  Will be in the higher 20's the next few nights but fairly mild days.  As soon as the sciatica is completely cleared up I will begin my walks and working out again.  Can hardly wait.

We are headed to my son's Mother-in-law's home for Thanksgiving day.  We did that last year too.  Now I have a grandson to enjoy seeing there as well.  One of my sons is coming up from Charlotte to be with us, staying with me, and the other one will be coming from where he lives only a half hour away, to join us all over at Mary's house.  I appreciate the invitation. I don't know yet what I will be asked to bring.  I think I will text her in a minute.

Guess that does me for now.  XXooXX

Saw this in a consignment ship...

Sun, Fall Leaves and What can be Better?

The rose in the header and its visitors are in my front yard.

Oh what two beautiful days have passed to be enjoyed after practically a week (what else?) of rain and drizzle and gray skies.  It's been wonderful.  So nice not to have every light in the house turned on against the gloom.  I am surrounded by tall tall trees so it takes some strong sun to light the inside well.

It was a degree of 80 today and I had the heat on for one round this morning and the air on for one round late this afternoon.  It's that time of year again.  Roller coaster temperatures.

Didn't get to go over the mountains for Halloween as the sciatica flared up badly, but it is fading now so I hope to go before the snows flies in the mountains.

Anyone else having a problem with a disappearing cursor here on Blogger?  I sure am.  You never know where it is until you start typing.  Not sure how to "cure" that.

I bought me a few pounds of grapes today  Um Um good.  Won't be long and they will be soft and rubbery as the markets try to sell off the no longer fresh and ready -for- the -trash grapes.  I got some of the better ones today.

With the house as hot as it is (it is close to 80 in here) the thick fleece blanket on the bed and the closely woven thread count sheets are gonna roast me alive tonight, assuming I'm silly enough to pull them over me.

Oh!  A dear colleague texted me yesterday mid morning and said how 'about if I come over bringing lunch'!?  I said absolutely.  He's been asking me to have lunch 4 weeks now.  I was finally able to accept and had to cancel due to therapy times.  So lunch came to me and oh what a great lunch it was.  Wendy's chili.  I love that stuff. We got caught up on work talk and planning.  I was supposed to have been to the meeting at The Redneck Room today at 1100, but I had enough time to only go to the grocery so I missed my guys and all the shouting and fun we have.

Hope the week stays fine!  xxoo

GO VOLS!