Betty’s Week

    Received  my Christmas gift from Celeste and Jim on Thursday and it was all things Pittsburg and Steelers. They spent the Christmas holiday there and got mementos for me. I could enjoy the trip with them, minus the cold weather and snow. Got Steeler work gloves,  Pittsburg t-shirt, pictures of them in the snow and at their renewing vows ceremony up on the mountain—scenery was beautiful (as were my kids).         Their anniversary is actually July 22 and I’m sure they’ll celebrate again in 100-plus temp. It was 120 on the day they married (thankfully we were in an air-conditioned church). However, while we were there we drove Celeste’s car, which was not air conditioned and it was not uncomfortable—the low humidity does make a difference.
    As I’ve told this story, many ask how many and it will be the 19th—hard to believe. The picture is in a pewter frame that is a skyline of Pittsburg. They also sent several postcards, with text telling what they are—their hotel, the river and not visible the stadium. Got an interesting travelog.
  My goodies went to Mom’s, but I didn’t take them in because Sister Jimmie would  have taken my shirt and gloves (she likes t-shirts and work gloves) and probably more. I’ll probably share a picture and if she comes and works in my flower beds, she may get to wear the gloves and if she gets dirty I may let her wear my shirt. Can’t you tell that we do love each other?
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  Got to Mom’s and Bo had deer tenderloin, tomato gravy, hot biscuits, lima beans, mashed potatoes and tea ready—my first good meal since Sunday lunch. He is a good brother.
  Got Mom in bed and watched television. She gets the Turner Classic Movie Channel and I do like the old movies. The Thursday night offerings were black and white, early 40s, with some big name stars.
  Did leave this channel long enough to get the news and weather. I was so glad to see sunshine and summer-like temps predicted for Friday. It did turn out to be a beautiful day. However I was confined to inside due to some side-effects of Tamiflu that I was taking. We were exposed to flu and this was recommend to ward it off.
    It worked but I don’t like what the drug did to my system. Many years ago I decided not to ever again take a flu shot. I think I’ll reconsider and take a regular flu shot next year.
  Debated long and hard about discussing my latest health problem. Finally decided to talk.
  Start by telling you of my trip to the doctor’s office about three Monday afternoon. I had not been out of the office all day, had only seen a little sleet falling, so was surprised to find icicles on my door handles—long ones. It was still raining and there was ice on my windshield. Still I thought no problem, it’s only rain.         Turned to the south and about Larson’s it began to freeze and I had not let the van warm up so there was no defrosting. About the bridges I was driving completely blinded straight ahead, could see out of my side windows and outside mirrors. Turned on the air and about 32 the windshield began to thaw—whew, what a relief.
    When I got into Dr. Hall’s office I shared my story with Nurse Rhonda. She says, “It’s probably a good thing you did not have heat because one time mine froze and I turned on the heat and broke the windshield.”         Debated over whether I’d rather have a broken windshield or not be able to see.
  Now to health. I’d had blood work before Christmas and Rhonda called to tell me my sugar was high. We discussed an appointment and was told to come in after the holidays, early in the morning fasting. Did and then another appointment was made for yesterday. We’ve always known that our family was high risk for diabetes—have several uncles and aunts on both sides of the family who had severe problems with this.
  I’m discussing this because I’m sure, many of you like me are terrified of this problem. Options are to die a horrible death or to manage the disease. I choose the latter and so far it’s not so bad. Was surprised that I could swallow the pill and stick my finger and live to tell about it. It’s really not so bad and just over night my number is coming down.
    In the near future I’ll have a conference to teach me how to manage my food intake. In my consultation yesterday I was told that I did not have to give up any foods completely, just eat them in moderation. I can do that. Actually I can give up candy, ice cream, cakes, pies, and cookies entirely if I have to. My favorite candy is a Snickers bar and I often go months without one and then when I do eat it I opt for one of those little inch square things—usually found on Mom’s table.
  The whole routine is not as time consuming as I had expected and certainly not as painful.
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  The hot topic of the week is certainly the weather. I got up early this morning and watched to see how the traffic was on 315. For several minutes I did not see a car pass. However, I had the TV on and our school was not on the closed or delayed opening time list. Returned to the window and finally saw a couple of vehicles whiz down the road. Went outside, checked my driveway, and found it dry, so jumped in the shower, dressed and came on to work a few minutes early.          Maybe we’ll get a paper ready for the printer early, just in case more freezing precept comes our way this afternoon—there is that possibility.
  Now who knows what we’ll have in the morning—if the roads have ice I won’t be delivering papers to the stores until it thaws.
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  Jim called last night and he and Celeste are going to Las Vegas this weekend. Not to gamble, they are playing there. Jim says this would come up right after they’d spent all their money on the Christmas trip to Pittsburg. However I’m sure they’ll find enough to eat well and Nephew William says you don’t have to have money in Vegas to have a good time—he declares that lots of fun stuff is absolutely free. I still have not been to check out his theory, although I did see pictures of his and Karen’s trip a couple of years ago and what he was showing that was free looked great.
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  Can you believe that we’re half way through the first month of 2013—going to be another short year. David and I completed reports for December, the final quarter of 2012, and now we only need to do W-2s and end of the year reconciliations. Dorothy Jane Henry would be proud of us.
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  If we can just get through the next couple of days without an ice storm, I’ll be happy. Hope everyone has ample food in the house—think you do by the looks of Larson’s parking lot yesterday, and gas or wood in case we loose power. I may have to burn some furniture, since I’ve let my woodpile rot and have not replaced it.
    Also, no longer have a chainsaw—oh, well wouldn’t know what to do with it if I had one.