12/30/2012

WEEKLY UPDATE 12/30/2012

Christmas was quiet, but pleasant. I got up late (so what else is new?) and poured myself a glass of champagne for breakfast instead of coffee - a little treat. I open the few packages that I had collected for under my tree - nice surprises all of them. Then, I spent the rest of day watching movies on tv and relaxing. That doesn't make much of a holiday for me, since that's pretty much all do I all day every day anyway, except for that champagne thing.

My VISA bill was in the mail in Christmas eve. I thought that the timing could have been better, but then, since I've lost 2 VISAs in two weeks recently, just getting a bill at all should be a thrill for me. I'm lucky I have the account.

I put all the Christmas decorations away on Saturday, so now I have order restored in the condo.

My days and nights are turned around now, and I find that I have trouble sleeping in the night, but nap most afternoons. It hardly matters, since I rarely go anyplace, so whether I'm awake all day or all night doesn't make much difference. However, I was a little under the weather on Friday & I slept for 24 hours. While I didn't have a fever or headache or anything, it's unusual for me to sleep that long, so I think I may have had some sort of bug. It only lasted a day, and now i'm back to normal.

The only time I went out of the condo this week other than to go to the mailbox a couple of times was to go to Bonaventure to open & close and to sit at the desk in the gatehouse to answer questions and hand out maps on Sunday. Since it's a holiday week-end, staff with the Historical Society is generally occupied elsewhere, and since I have little to do other than watch the NFL, I volunteered for a double shift. The last week of the regular season, and I was MIA at Coach's for the early games. I had my verizon jetpack, and followed the scores, so I knew what was happening without being in from of the tube. Most of the games meant little anyway, so who cares. The Bills finally won something; the Lions disappointed again; and although I would have liked to see the Falcons end with a win, it didn't matter all that much to them. ok, Buffalo - wait til next year!

12/23/2012

WEEKLY UPDATE 12/23/2012

MERRY CHRISTMAS & HAPPY NEW YEAR

I guess I didn't add in the last update - I was able to find new auto insurance, and it's even cheaper than what I had with State Farm. I'm now a personal pal of Flo. But, this has shaken me, and i'm not going to be driving unless necessary. I've given up my DH and MOW, and won't be doing that any more. I'm still involved in the Bonaventure Cemetery Historical Society, because that's only a few miles from my condo, and because I think I need to do something. I don't know if I'll get my confidence back, or if I'll feel that I'll be able to get out as much as I used to. For now, I'll be spending more time just watching tv and playing computer games. This will make for more boring updates.

Last week I did some baking. There were some mighty appealing recipes for pancakes in the Southern Living Magazine - red velvet, german chocolate, hummingbird, caramel. I would make pumpkin pancakes for christmas brunch in my past, and they always tasted so good. Since I don't have a mixer or cookie sheets, baking holiday cookies isn't going to happen, but I could whip up some lumpy pancake patter. I made the carrot pancakes. They were WONDERFUL! I didn't make the homemade topping, but bought a can of cream cheese frosting to drizzle on top. If you don't subscribe to SL, you can find the recipes at the their website: http://www.southernliving.com/food/holidays-occasions/pancake-recipes-00417000080769/

Suzy treated me to the movie Lincoln as a christmas present. It was OK, but not as good as the hype made it seem to be. As a history person, I enjoyed it, but I think it may be a little boring for most movie goers.

I had a very interesting tour at Bonaventure last Friday. A couple was going to be married at Greenwich Cemetery, which is adjacent to Bonaventure. They requested that the historical society present a guided tour of Bonaventure after the ceremony, because there is more history here than at the newer one. I was a little puzzled by this request, until the bride and groom appeared - It was a Goth wedding! The bride wore a black and red gown, black lipstick, and carried dead flowers. The groom was dressing in a top hat, a cut away coat and black leather knee-high boots. Many of the guests (about 30) were also “dressed” for the celebration. Although my thoughts were that I probably should have had my own weddings in a cemetery, seeing as how dead they both turned out, I wished the happy couple lifelong happiness and let it go at that.

12/9/2012

WEEKLY UPDATE 12/9/2012

A baby for Prince William & Catherine! You know how important this baby is if the Duchess is hospitalized for morning sickness. Most of us peons are booted out of the hospital within hours of delivery!

Since I haven't been out much due to my auto insurance issues, I’ve been watching a lot of tv. And a lot of hallmark movies. interestingly, I have noticed that in all the movies (in addition to all the people being rich - and even if they claim to be living with no job or prospects, their homes are beautifully decorated and apparently no one in any of the towns have issues with high electric costs - gorgeous, young, white and sweet): the single parents are almost never divorced, but always the absent spouse died, it always starts to snow huge fluffy white snow on christmas morning, they can always find a parking space right in front of exactly where they're going, - church, hotel, store - even if the building they enter is crowded, the children never say “awww” when they're told that it's bedtime, and they never ever ever make mistakes. Depressing!

I underestimated how sorely I would miss MOW. Thursday morning couldn't help but think that I should be at this place now. I suppose next week will be easier, and it will just get easier and easier the more time that goes by. I didn't miss DH as much, but it was still different not to have to do that.

Saturday night Donna & I went to the Savannah Children's Theater production of My Fair Lady. It was all performed by high school teenagers. Again, we were amazed at the talent of not only the actors & actresses, but the settings, costumes, music and everything associated with the theater. (and Hannah was able to get to the church on time from her slumber party, so this reminds me of her).

Sunday was my second Sunday tour at Bonaventure Cemetery. It didn't work out as I expected, though, as no one was there for a 2:30 tour. I had ordered a pizza at Domino's to be picked up at 4 (half price if you ordered on line), and I was going to be too early for that. Instead of driving back to the condo, I went to Coach's to watch the game. Too bad I did that, because it was not pretty. But, I sincerely enjoyed watching the Bills play in less than 40 degrees and rain. Bonaventure is the only thing I'm clinging to, primarily because it's close to where I live and driving there should be something I could handle. And the people have been exceedingly kind to me.

I thought I’d add a few photos of how festive and gay the condo looks, all ready for the holidays. Of course, if you saw pictures from last year, not much has changed, but here it is:

12/2/2012

WEEKLY UPDATE 12/2/2012

I got to watch the Buffalo Bills game today, because they played Jax, and the Jags are Savannah's “home team”. Although we're in Georgia, we're closer to Jacksonville that we are to Atlanta. I enjoyed watching the victory, of course, but I also enjoyed watching the rain and cold from my 75 degree, sunny atmosphere here in the south. As for the Lions, I guess nothing is going to go right for them – what a heartbreaker.

Something different happened at MOW this Thursday. I don't think it possible not to have "favorites" among the people that I deliver to. One of my favorites died earlier in the day. She wasn't on my list, but was listed as "in the hospital". She was what we might think of as 'white trash' or a 'cracker' - poor white woman from the hills. If she could sing or write music, she might be a Loretta Lynn, a coal miners daughter, or a Dolly Parton with her coat of many colors. She couldn't get out of her chair, but she always had a smile & almost always asked about my grandchildren. Since my car is rather unique, many recognize it as the MOW delivery person, & I was followed as I went to one of my houses by a pickup that pulled up & parked behind me. The lady got out, introduced herself & told me she was Mrs Vandoltran's daughter & tearfully told me her mom had "passed". She said I was a favorite of her moms & she wanted me to know. And at the house where she told me, the caregiver (granddaughter? paid employee?) was skinny again, so I asked if she'd had the baby. Yes, it was a boy & he was asleep. The cycle of life - right there on MOW. I found out this week that if you are involved in an auto accident more than once in a year, the state of Georgia allows your insurance company to cancel your insurance. I found out when I received a letter saying that my insurance wouldn't be renewed and I have until December 28 to find someplace else. So, I'm going to be without wheels. I know I could probably get insurance through another company, in a high risk pool, but I think that if I'm such a great risk, I'd better stay off the streets before I hurt someone. It is not easy to live in America without a car, but I also can't spend all my limited resources on keeping the car on the road. If that's what I I decide to do, I'm going to have to find a way to figure this out, and I have until the end of December. So, I have some big decisions to make. It may be difficult to compose an upbeat “weekly update” about all the fun things I do if I can't get out of the condo, but it looks as if I'm heading in that direction.  If you haven't already visited me here, I think you're out of luck now, because i won't even be able to get to the airport to pick you up, let alone drive you around to visit all the wonderful sites in this grand city.  I've been knocked around so often in the past 10 years or so, this is just one more in the series. I have tried repeatedly to deal with these lemons, but I'm drowning in lemonade.