Because the older we get the more we talk about our health

My mother, a few years back, had a foot wound that I took photos of weekly and posted here on my blog. Ugh. What do I now do with all of the pictures in my camera stream? 

I posted them because not only did it gave me a blog entry, but it kept family members in the loop on my mom's health status, and I wasn't left to make a zillion phone calls each week. 

Today, when I sat down to write, I realized my cyst issue, still currently causing me problems, was on my mind, and I thought, "well, I'll tell everyone about this little irritation", and then I thought about a photo, and then I thought, "my god, I'm turning into my mother." 

I think it a lot, actually.

But the truth of the matter is this blog, originally started as a chronicle of my daughters' lives and a way to return to writing, is slowly becoming a journal of this floundering mother who isn't sure of her next role in life. 

Or, as I age, it's a discussion of my ailments. I'll spare you the pictures. Only because I can't take a decent photo of my own back. Or see the wound. Luckily, I have help.

Darcy: "It's really gross. Yuck." Gag, shiver, gag. "I mean, the hole is really deep and big, and nasty."

Tom: "Wow. That looks good. It's not nearly as big as I thought it would be."

I wrote about my cyst experience here, but I didn't conclude the saga. So...

Two weeks after the second draining of the cyst, the spot filled again. It then drained while I was in the shower one night. As the water beaded down upon my neck and back, I felt like I was being attacked by a jet of hot needles, and after toweling off, I found the lump was gone, and when Madison investigated, she discovered a small hole from where blood and a clear liquid seeped. 

Madison bandaged it, and the next day I went to my follow up appointment with the PA who had done the original slicing and draining. She hemmed and hawed and told me it looked good, nothing was coming out of it, and she put the antibiotic medicine on it and told me to call if I had any trouble. I followed these instructions, and all seemed well.

A few days later, the lump reappeared. Whatever. I was over it. I ignored it as I've done for ten years since the last first lancing. Several days after that, the cyst drained again in the shower only later in the evening, I had a low-grade fever. 

Back I went to the doctor. The whole office remembered me.

Dr. M: "Ah, I remember this thing. We drained it, and then I had to drain it again. It's a pesky thing."

He made some joke about everyone putting on protective goggles, and then he poked and pushed and out came blood and pus. Pus is bad. So, back I went on the antibiotics, and I will need surgery.

The surgery I wanted in the first damn place.

Dr. M. drew me a picture of what he would do. I wanted to tell him not to waste his artistic talents as this isn't my first cyst surgery rodeo, but I let him draw. 

Dr. M.: "One of the downsides to surgery is that more cysts can grow on either end of the sutures."

Me: "I don't expect that. You're a better surgeon than that, aren't you? Bone up and do the damn job right."

Dr. M: "You can keep my drawing." 

Then, since I was there and paying a co-pay, I showed him a spot that had suddenly appeared on my leg. He wanted to know how long it had been there. I said about two weeks. He got his eye scope and bent down and studied it and studied it.

Him: "You have the oddest things."

Me: "That's what my mother always said."

Him: "I have no idea what it is."

Me: "I thought it might be ringworm."

Him: "Ringworm. Hmmm...it could be ringworm. Do you have a cat?"

Me: "No, but I have a dog."

Him: "I think it could be ringworm. Maybe. I like that, though."

Me: "Did you go to medical school? Because I feel like I'm doing all of the diagnosing here. You want to hire me to follow you around the rest of the day? Help you out?"

Him: "I know, right? You still want me to do the surgery?"

Me: "I'm starting to rethink it..."

The antibiotic never got called into my pharmacy. I went twice between errands and a swim meet and NOTHING. 

This morning I called the office, and without an apology, I was told it would be called "right in." Now I've gone another day with a pus infection zipping through my body. 

So, that's my health saga. I'm down, but not out.

Surgery is scheduled for next month. Maybe I'll post pictures.

From the purge - what is a thing-a-ma-bob?

In seventh grade English class, we were given the assignment of writing a paragraph answering the question, "What is a thing-a-ma-bob," and we were to draw a picture of it. I don't remember why this was a topic. I only remember coming home and telling my mother the assignment. 

She thought it was stupid. My mother, who was once an English and P.E. teacher, very rarely agreed with us that school assignments were ridiculous, but this one annoyed her. While I was busy writing my paper, she too wrote an essay.

She was very proud of her paper and wanted me to turn it in with my own writing. I refused. 

She told me to do it. 

I argued. 

She pushed. 

I cried. 

She got mad, and as always where my mother was concerned, I caved. I took the paper to school, my stomach churning, and wondered how I would get it to the teacher without her noticing. It turned out much easier than expected. 

The teacher, whose name I do remember, but will refer to her as Mrs. Y, had us read our paper aloud at the front of the room, so I put my mother's essay behind mine so that after I was done reading mine, I laid them both down in the pile. Relieved, home free, I returned to my seat the task accomplished. Unfortunately, it didn't end there.

We had also had to draw a picture, and suddenly Mrs. Y remembered that we had not shown those. Back she went through the papers, reading our names and holding up the pictures. 

When she came to my mother's paper, the name read, "Anonymous." My mother had wanted to put, "What's her name," but vetoed that on the final draft. Mrs. Y asked whose paper this belonged to, and when no one responded, she went nuts. 

She was so mad. She kept reading the paper silently, then threatened the author with all sorts of punishment for using "inappropriate words." I was horrified. I could not come clean in front of the class because I was embarrassed, and the woman was furious. She finally moved on but said that if the author didn't fess up by the end of the school day, he or she would face expulsion. I was scared to death.

I was a shy kid back in the day, and very quiet in school unless around my friends. This whole incident had me so worried I'm lucky I didn't vomit in class. When English ended, I waited for the room to clear out, gathering my belongings slowly, and went up to Mrs. Y. 

I started crying and told her my mother had written the paper, that she was an English teacher and that my mother had thought the assignment funny, and that she made me turn it in as a joke. 

The poor woman had no idea what to do. Now that I'm an adult and have spent time teaching in a classroom as a substitute teacher, I can feel for her, but back then, she was not a favorite. I was shaking and sobbing, and she stood there, probably thinking in her head, "What the hell kind of a mother is this kid's parent?" Outwardly, she gave a fake laugh and told me it was a fine paper.

That should have been the end of things, but that night happened to be our Open House. Of course, my mother was pissed at the teacher's response to her paper. She made my dad go into the classroom, walk up to the teacher, and introduce himself as "Anonymous' husband." 

In Mrs. Y's defense, she did laugh. She laughed and laughed, and when my mother entered the room, she told my mom how much she had enjoyed the paper, and the next day when the document was returned to me, she had written, "I must say, this is most imaginative and descriptive. The vocabulary is "out of this world!" I think this was a clever idea!" 

The vocabulary was all made up, but honestly, what was Mrs. Y suppose to do?

I do have to say that after the incident, Mrs. Y treated me better than she had ever treated me before. A few years later, my mother ran into her at the grocery where she had her newborn baby with her, and when my mother peeked into the stroller, she told Mrs. Y, "She looks just like E.T." 

Thank god I had graduated by that time! (Oh, and I apparently did not keep my own written paragraph on a thing-a-ma-bob)

Here then, is Anonymous' English 7-1 paper written on my birthday in November 1976.

A Thing-a-Ma-Bob

A "thing-a-ma-bob" is a very important part of a wha-cha-ma-call-it. Without it, the stabisat on your framminger will not lucrete. What's-his-name- told me about the time his "thing-a-ma-bob misfractionated and shoofited his do-hikey, leftending him with a prolooped asprite. Mestron accondrys deponate on a "thing-a-ma-bob" a lot. - © C.Mason 1976

Monday NFL recap - week 3

Steelers - I watched the game with my buddy whose brother is an Eagles fan. He left to walk the dog in the beginning of the fourth quarter. It was that bad.

• Ben Roethlisberger after the game, "We stunk. We all stunk." You think?
• Markus Wheaton returned and looked just like I would look had I missed two weeks of football. He couldn't hold on to catches, dropping them left and right, the first coming in the end zone on the opening drive that just might have turned the game into a totally different ballgame.
• One by one the Steelers defense left the game. Robert Golden, hamstring injury. Ramon Foster, chest injury. Jarvis Jones, ankle injury. Ryan Shazier, knee injury. Artie Burns, ankle injury. Lawrence Timmons, shin injury that sent him to the hospital. The team kept sideline reporter Tracy Wolfson busy running around updating us with the injuries.
• And not to be outdone, the offense sent a few guys to the sideline. Eli Rogers, toe injury. Mike Mitchell, knee injury.
• Seven penalties. Missed tackles. Blocked field goal. Dropped passes. Poor throws. No sacks. Ugh. You aren't going to win with that line up.
• DeAngelo Williams was stuffed from the beginning, and except for a ??? yard run, he wasn't ever in the game.
• Antonio Brown again with the blue shoes. Someone must have knocked some sense into him in the locker room at halftime, however, because they were absent in the second half. Hey, maybe if he worried more about the game and less about breaking rules and taking videos on social media his concentration would increase.
• The Steelers haven't won in Philadelphia since 1965. Well, no wonder...
• Arnold Palmer has always been a Steelers fan. I just watched Antonio Brown's SnapChat of his visit with the golfing legend a couple of weeks ago. I hope that game didn't have anything to do with his death, but...
• Only good thing is that next week Le'Veon Bell returns. As long as he stays away from the illegal substances.

Other:

• This is the year of the rookies, but the Eagles Carson Wentz is truly the real deal. He kept a level head, made a lot of good decisions in his game against the Steelers, and still has not thrown an interception in his first 100 pass attempts. Impressive.
• Giants Odell Beckham Jr. after an Eli Manning interception in the end zone starting beating up a net on the sideline in frustration. The net didn't take kindly to its beating, turned on him, and knocked him in the head. If only more inanimate objects could knock sense into these guys.
• I traded Darren Sproles last night in Fantasy. WWWWWHHHHHHYYYYYY?
• Seahawks QB Russell Wilson beast! He went down with a horrific twisting of the leg, missed the next snap, and was back on the field to finish out the drive. 
• Wow! Nothing stops the Minnesota Vikings and the New England Patriots. Lost quarterbacks? No problem. Lost running backs? No problem. Lost back-up quarterback? Yeah, no problem. Kudos to both teams for chuggin' onward against the odds.
• The Bucs game was called at the two minute warning at the end of the game for lightning. The delay lasted an hour and ten minutes, and apparently the Bucs did no prepping in the locker room. Mismanagement of the clock and a lost quarterback who stumbled around in the end gave the game to the Rams 37-32. 
• I sucked in my picks this week. Pretty much my entire Sunday sucked in regards to football.

2016-2017 NFL football picks - week 3

New England over Houston - Whoop! I'm starting to sweat that this team is a force to be reckoned with.

Arizona over Buffalo - Will this be the game that does Rex Ryan in?

Denver over Cincinnati - A girl can dream, can't she?

Detroit over Green Bay - Haven't had a chance to see either of these teams, and while I know it is a home game for the Packers, I felt the Lions this week.

Tennessee over Oakland - Toss up. I think I just like Mariota more.

Cleveland over Miami - The good news is that one team will finally win.

Giants over Washington - Not impressed with the Skins.

Carolina over Minnesota - The Vikings aren't the Patriots.

Baltimore over Jacksonville - Jaguars, uh, where have they been?

Seattle over San Francisco - Pete Carroll will have this team fired up this week.

Tampa over Los Angeles - Not even worried that the Bucs won't play better this week.

Indianapolis over San Diego - It's the Colts time.

Jets over Kansas City - Haven't seen either team, and this week I felt the visitors.

Pittsburgh over Philadelphia - Antonio Brown will make his catches this week.

Dallas over Chicago - Long week for Jay Cutler. Not sure he cares.

Atlanta over New Orleans - This one will be a shoot out. Toss up.

Birthday shout outs - one man, two women, and a god kid

It's the end of the year. I'm tired now of saying nice things to people on their birthdays. Thus I'm going to combine those whose birthdays have occurred. Sorry. That's what happens when you have birthdays at the end of the year. I know. I too have one, right before all of the major holidays. Sorry.

# 1 - Birthday shout out to my nephew whose birthday was in August. No, I haven't sent him anything, but I didn't forget his day. It is just that I had no idea where the man was on his birthday. I was told he was staying in Washington where he goes to school. Every time I ask him for his address he gives me his email. (I'm told he's bright.) So without an address I can't send a gift, now can I? So a shout out for now will do!

Mark was the first grandchild in the family. He is the one the rest have to live up to. He set the bar high and enjoys telling the others what they need to do to reach his loftiness. He came into the world shy, quiet, and introspective. The shy, quiet part left him once he attended college, but he can, and always could, hang with adults and children alike. He is intelligent, and don't ask me what he is studying in college as my mind blanks out as soon as he starts in on the details. He is kind. He is a gentleman.

As children, he and Madison were the good kids while the rest of the cousins were goofing off. He was giving instructions on how to behave. Again, out the window with college. Now he's the one telling the other college kids how to go out and have fun. He is competitive, and hates to lose. He will keep playing a game if he feels he has been wronged or if he feels he made some mistakes. He is usually right, is fiercely protective, makes great photo books, and turned out to be a darn good adult.

Happy Birthday Mark! Now send me your darn mailing address!

#2 - My MIL's birthday was Thursday. She turned 86? 87? Now that I'm typing that I'm not even sure. I think it's the latter, but where my MIL is concerned age doesn't matter. The woman rocks her age! She is in better shape than I am. She has more energy than I do. She is a dynamo who refuses to let life pass her by.

She is a traveler, a tap dancer, a pianist, a yoga student, and if I kept going the list would take up most of this post. She is always on the go, is always surrounded by people, and is a hard woman to pin down.

Me: "Did you call your mom and wish her a happy birthday?"
Tom: "I did. She was in some bar celebrating."

Happy Birthday Mary Anne. Hope your day was filled with more than one martini! See you next Monday for the real celebration.

#3 - Shout out to my Auntie Marilyn whose birthday is tomorrow. Once upon a time we only thought of her as the strange relative who lived in a log cabin in the "back woods of California". She was vastly different from my mother, her sister, and I found myself studying her as I felt she studied those around her.

My mother use to tell me I was more like her sister than her, and secretly I was relieved to hear that. I liked her calming demeanor, her quietness, and her laugh. I liked the way she would hang out on a couch or a chair just hugging and loving her daughter, and I realize now that I've done the same with my own daughters.

She was there for my brother and me when my mother was dying, and that alone has given us a bond, but I have always felt a peacefulness when she was around in our lives. I love her humor, her "fuck ya all" attitude, and her gentleness.

Happy Birthday Auntie Marilyn. We are sending you lots of good wishes and many horse pats.

#4 - My nephew's birthday is the same day as my MIL. It is strange that out of this family we have two birthdays where two family members share the day. Little Eli is the baby in his family, but he probably is the one with the strongest personality. Unfortunately, he is at the latter end of the family spectrum and falls into my what-another-birthday category. Present coming soon, kiddo.

Eli has had the misfortune of having to follow behind the other grandchildren. While he might start out trailing them, he also knows when it isn't worth it, and can veer off to do his own thing. He has learned to find his voice as he has gotten older, and it is a loud one. He is feisty and fierce less, and does well to hold his own with his older siblings and cousins.

When he is quiet he is often unnoticed, and because he is so observant, he probably knows all of the family's secrets. I make sure to stay on his good side! Happy Birthday Eli. Big hugs from all of us in Florida.

From the purge - childhood school papers

The purging is going slowly. The first box, taken from the garage, contained all of my writing. I've spent most of my time in a recliner reading. Oh, my, it has been eye opening. Now I see the point of keeping these things. It is to look back in later years and justify who I am today. My writing material, that which I did all on my own and never completed, gave me quite a lot of insight into myself, and I'm thankful I've decided to purge so my children won't read this and think, "Whoa. Mom. What the f&%$k?"

Also in the container was stuff my mother handed over after she moved from the house she sold out from under us Indiana. It was a folder of stuff from kindergarten through eighth grade; drawings, school papers, tests, and homemade cards. It was fun to go through that folder, but seriously, what will my kids do with that after I'm gone? I showed some of the stuff in the folder to Darcy who smiled patiently, but could care less. She didn't know me as a child, or a teenager, or as a young adult. It meant nothing to her.

I had fun going through it. I turned to the Internet to give me ideas on preserving memories and the best advice was take pictures and make a book. I like that idea. So I took a few pictures of some papers, and maybe one day I shall write a book that my kids can look through and then ask one another, "Do you want this?"

A mother's day card.

Old math

Some science

 Some English - a poem with a drawing

Handwriting - a class that use to be taught in school

A drawing from kindergarten when I was four years old. I changed quite a bit in my self portraits from that year (see above pictures).

Proof that I was not going to be an artist. The teacher wrote on the first paper "These are not good pictures" and gave me an 8 so I attempted a second paper for more credit. She thought it only worth one point.

Up next: Excerpts from my romance novels. I know you can't wait.

Monday NFL recap - week 2

Steelers: My buddy was out of town at some family event watching on his Ipad. I was watching on my computer and listening to Steelers radio. He and I had to resort to texting one another during the game. He needs me to keep him from jumping off the bridge. I did that, and so did the refs.

• Miserable game with rain, rain, rain. The field was muddy, wet, and slippery. The ball was the same, and the scoring was certainly affected by the weather. 
• NFL Game Day Live on the beautiful pass from Big Ben after slipping on the wet grass to a wide open Antonio Brown who dropped it - "Business is not Boomin'"
• Brown missed out on his consecutive 100 yardage games, and he was certainly not in top form. Here's the thing. I could have predicted that. I follow the man on social media, and he is one cocky son of a gun. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times...cockiness leads to sloppiness, and you get too big for your britches, and screw up a good thing. Stay humble AB, my man, stay humble. Let your play speak. 
• Oh, and stop dancing in the end zone and teaching your children it is okay to go against policy by wearing the wrong shoes. Acting like a fine of roughly $20,000 is chump change to you? Not cool to those of us who feel $20 is a lot of money. Something tells me your maker isn't smiling down on you for any of last week's shenanigans. CUEUPU!
• Ben ran today and got a first down, but what was so cute was how excited he was in doing so, getting up off the field stair stepping it. Awwww, Ben. 
• Ever third quarter at a home game when we need a lift and some motivation or just a boost the stadium goes quiet and the sound system plays Styx's Renegade. The jumbo tran shows plays from the defense, and the entire stadium comes alive with waving Terrible Towels. It is a chilling moment when hearing and seeing it live, but yesterday Steelers Radio went silent and just aired the stadium as the song played, and it was just as chilling. Love that tradition. 
• Unfortunately, the Bengals did score despite Renegade, but both defenses were exhausted by that time.
• I'm thankful the game wasn't like the last time these two played. Other then trash talk I think it was fairly clean, and it should have been, but then Adam Pacman Jones has to be interviewed after the game, and evil spewed from his mouth. It just doesn't end with some of these guys.

Other:

• Maybe Rex Ryan removing his lap band for his brother and hiring him this year wasn't such a great idea. They are 0-2, fired the offensive coordinator, and the owners just had a meeting without Ryan. Trouble is a brewing. I just hope the Ryan brothers don't take out their frustration with food.
• Hot potato, hot potato was the name of the game between the Saints and the Giants in the first half. One team would fumble, the other would pick it up. Then that team would fumble and the other would pick it up. Over and over. I expected the weather to be the cause, but nope. Sunny day in New York.
•  NFL Game Day Live on Detroit Lions' kicker Ryan Succop who missed a gimme field goal wide left - "His last name says it all."
• Patriots back-up quarterback Garoppolo went down before halftime with a nice hit that injured his shoulder and tossed him out of the game, and maybe out until Brady returns. Secretly Tom Brady is relieved, huh?
• The poor Browns. If I wasn't in the same division as them, I'd feel terribly sorry for them. I feel bad for them. They lost RGIII who might have been their savior this season. Then their back up quarterback got injured, was replaced for awhile, and then returned to play hurt. They lost. At some point we all will be believers of a curse.
• Oh, and Jamesis Winston, you need to read my AB comments above. Last week was great, interview requests were ringing off the hook at One Buc Place, but getting caught up in your own greatness leads to oh, say, throwing four interceptions this week. Nice wake up call. Focus, remain humble, work hard, and come back stronger next week.
• My god, the Minnesota Vikings just can't catch a break so far this season. First quarterback Teddy Bridgewater goes down and is out most likely for the year, and last night running back Adrian Peterson went down with a leg injury. Despite all of that they keep winning. But for how long?

2016-2017 NFL football picks - week 2

Buffalo over Jets - Not starting off great.

Baltimore over Cleveland - No RGIII. The poor Browns just keep getting hit, don't they?

Detroit over Tennessee - I like Stafford's run and gun backyard play. When he is hot, he is good.

New England over Miami - Uh, huh, so the Patriots are on a we-have-something-to-prove war path, and wow, how well was that back-up last week? If he plays as well today, Tom Brady just might be wiping the sweat rolling down his back.

New Orleans over Giants - A toss up. I stepped outside the box and went with the away team; Brees is just more controlled.

Pittsburgh over Cincinnati - Jeez, they are the favorites. I just pray this game isn't nasty.

Dallas over Washington - I like what I saw last week from the Cowboys back-up too, and the Redskins play was so so.

Kansas City over Houston - The Chiefs by a nose.

Seattle over Los Angeles - Uh, Russell Wilson. 'Nuff said.

Arizona over Tampa Bay - Okay, the Bucs impressed me last week they did, but traveling cross country into a 0-1 Cardinals team?

Denver over Indianapolis - Yes, Andrew Luck was smokin' hot, and put to rest those he-is-out-the-door-rumors, but the Broncos defense is number 1 and they are home.

Oakland over Atlanta - I'm going with the Raiders buzz.

San Diego over Jacksonville - The Chargers looked good.

Green Bay over Minnesota - Vikings defense was key last week, but this Rodgers won't help them out this week.

Philadelphia over Chicago - The Eagles are the team to watch this year.

Midweek musings

• One of our new sets of neighbors has a garage full of tools and building supplies. They work in it at various hours of the day, and recently have started being mysterious about it. I went outside one day with the dog. The man was inside the garage using some sort of loud, high pitched tool, and when I got closer to the street he stopped. He appeared in the entrance of the garage for a minute, and then he disappeared, the garage closed and he resumed using the tool. I wondered if he had closed the garage because I was closer to it, but I didn't give it much thought. Until my husband brought it up this week. He said that every time he takes out the dog they close the garage. That night, it was after ten, the couple was working out in the garage, and we decided to test them. I watched from the darkened kitchen window while Tom and Elliot strode down the driveway in the dark. They had just reached the street when the woman came out of the garage as if heading to her car. She immediately turned around, spoke to the man in the garage, he came out to stare at Tom and the dog, and then both of them retreated to the garage and closed it. It took all of three minutes. We have introduced ourselves to the couple, but they are very standoffish and apparently have no interest in being neighborly. They also own a white utility van. I'm keeping my eyes on them.
• I have decided that my new constructive project this fall (because my others aren't enough) is to weed out and purge things. After moving my old living room furniture into the Steelers room instead of just getting rid of it, I feel cluttered. Walking through the room thinking of things to get rid of or move, led me to my file cabinet full of old memories that won't mean a thing to my kids. I have my mother's stuff. I have her parents' stuff. I have too much stuff. Ninety percent of the "stuff" in our house belongs to me or my descendants. My husband's childhood stuff literally fits in an Amazon book box. My childhood stuff is in containers in the garage, my closet, Madison's closet, the Steelers closet, our hallway closet, and my file cabinet. I have to downsize. It will be my fall project. 
• All of the things that my mother did that annoyed me I have started doing. I catch myself. I hear myself. Little things. Like drinking water from a bottle. I hated the way she did that, and now I realize I do it the same way. I think she may be possessing me.
• High school homecoming is coming, and my kid is already prepared. Last week she decided that she should cut her prom dress and turn it into a short dress that she could wear for homecoming. She also figured she would get more wear out of it short than long. I agreed. She went to grandma who is currently working on doing just that. But just in case she didn't like it she bought another dress. And some shoes. And some make-up. I keep reminding myself to embrace this time.
• I'm behind in my birthday shout outs. I think I need to change up the format.
• I worked a full day yesterday on trying to get my new Iphone synched with Itunes. I had no idea there was a new IOS download until I was in the middle of downloading it. That's when I found a million articles on the Internet warning Iphone users to beware. Luckily for me, I had done everything right, and had no issues. It was all done by accident. Whew.
• I can't text the college kid. When she doesn't respond in a timely manner I text again. Then when she doesn't respond right away I freak out and imagine all sorts of horrible things. I keep telling her, "Kid, I spent the summer with you. I know how attached you are to that phone. How hard is it to text back one sentence? Suggestions: I'll get back to you later. Love you. Thanks. You're the best. Talk later. In class. Boo. I told her from now on I'm not texting unless she texts me first. That lasted a few hours. I mean, I had new Steelers emojis, and we had won, and I knew she wouldn't be keeping up on that, and yeah, I texted her. She responded back right away; "Love you. Yay! See how quick I responded?"
• I'm on the association board at The Condo. Don't ask me why or how that came about, but as secretary it is my duty to do the agenda for the meeting. I also am suppose to post the agenda and the meeting time on the association board by the mailboxes. The other board member who lives on the property use to do it, but she informed me it is my job to handle the posting, and oh, her printer is on the fritz. So I have to write the agenda, print it, and DRIVE THIRTY MINUTES NORTH to post it, and then turn around and DRIVE THIRTY MINUTES HOME. When I suggested that I send it to a neighbor who would print it and pass it on to the member with the irrational printer to post, I was told no can do because it was ASSOCIATION BUSINESS. I just didn't even bother to respond to that. I mean, really? She can't post an agenda that she will be reading when she goes to get her mail? I seriously don't make this stuff up.