Happy New Year

Dear Mom,

Fairly ordinary day, Don went to town to run some errands and I cleaned the house and did laundry.

Mom was absolutely horrid, she's been running her mouth, pulling out her nose hose and peeling off her bandages for days. She's been really hyped and this morning was very lucid and proceeded to tell the Hospice nurse how mean I am. I agreed wholeheartedly so she had no more ammo. The nurse explained to me "people with this condition really don't know what they're doing". I said, "Uh-huh, that's why she always waits until you've been out of the room for at least 5 minutes, takes out the hose and pulls her bandages off." It's OK, she made me pay later. No, a person would not sit in a dirty diaper just so the caretaker (me) would have to clean it up, tell me it's not true. This was while I was trying to get the floors mopped so I could finish dinner. She needed an emergency shower and the potty chair, the bath chair and other parts of the bathroom needed a Clorox treatment. I enlisted Don's help to cut turnips and carrots for the pot roast while I finished mopping and he looked put out because he needed to finish the ezine. That "attitude" changed right smart. To mess with me this evening would be a bad idea.

OK, rant over, for now.

We're trying to get the sound working in PCLinuxOS, but it's not cooperating and we don't know why. That's the OS on the computer we're giving you, and the one I'm working on now. Not only do I want you to have sound, of course, but I want to be able to talk to you with VOIP, which would be so cool. Imagine having a "telephone" tutor while you're first trying to understand how to use a computer! I'll be working on the text-tutorial I'm putting on the desktop to show you the very first steps in using a computer. It's odd, for about a week I've been using the Linux box almost exclusively and it's very disorienting when I switch back to Windows to do something in particular or go find a picture or document that's in my Windows machine .

We're just about finished with the ezine and we'll post tonight right after midnight. Then it will be the New Year. I have a good feeling about the coming year, the last few have been so wonderful it's a bit hard to describe.

I'll "start as I mean to go on" and get to bed and to sleep quickly, mainly because I have to work fairly early tomorrow. My Tuesday lady, Dixie, may have to go into the hospital to see what's been wrong with her lungs for the past few months, so she wants me to help her put away her Christmas decorations. Scary stuff.

The pot roast was wonderful, I'm stuffed and happy and the ezine is finished. What more could a person want?

Happy New Year to you and Beth and Daniel, this promises to be the best one yet!

I love you,

Lisa

Dream a Little Dream

Dear Mom,

Today's been a pleasant, relaxing day. I've been able to relax more since I've been keeping up with the housework a little better and the house doesn't embarrass me when we have someone over. A friend of mine says she has CHAOS at her house; Can't Have Anyone Over Syndrome. She thinks people come to see her house, no one does, they're coming to see her. Silly woman.

I do this weird thing, when I'm worried about something I have these odd, distorted dreams, somewhat related to whatever it is, but not realistic, just strange.

Yesterday and all last night mom was giving us fits, babbling loudly, calling for Momma, Aunt Della, and Grandma, peeling off all her bandages, doing precisely the opposite of what we needed her to do (stand up means sit down, walk means walk backwards, sit down means stand up, and if she's feeling frisky, pitch yourself off in an unexpected direction so someone will hurt their back trying to keep you from hurting yourself). Don had a gig at Joe's Bar in Llano and forgot his lyrics book. He knows every chord to every song he's ever played but knows about half the words to two songs-total. I had to drive to Llano to give him his book (he was lead, and the only singer), leaving mom alone, but not for long.

So the dreams I had last night were of mom walking around with her walker (she doesn't walk around anymore) buck naked, falling down and getting huge bleeding wounds wherever she struck something hard. A hideous sight. Also, the dream was that Don disappeared for 2 days, calling me but not knowing where he was so I couldn't come and get him. I finally found him and he'd been in an accident and had been in the hospital for those 2 days, but he didn't know where and had some doctor certify him for disability so he wouldn't have to work anymore. The funny thing was when I started to tell Don about the dream, he said, "Well, if it was realistic I probably didn't know where I was!". He didn't! Arf. I need to stop dreaming, it's just so ridiculous.

We had a lovely evening. Don worked this afternoon, putting up sheet rock for a friend (with help from said friend). Our friend Jerialice has a good gig this week and needed a haircut to look normal. When bits of hair bother her she whacks them off and lets it go at that. She colored her hair before she came over and I cut it for her. We fed her and sent her home happy and cute. Maybe I'll get some gigs out of this when her friends see her hair *smile*. I cut Don's and mom's and my hair, and our friend Thierry's.

Years ago I had a lot of bad haircuts and had to come home and "fix" them. Finally, I got it. I can give MYSELF a bad haircut, so why pay someone else to do it? I got a few books from the library and got to work. Once in awhile I made a mistake, but fixed it up by cutting a bit shorter. It only takes about a week for a really short cut to grow out anyway.

I love you,

Lisa

Back At the Ranch...

Dear Mom,

Good day at work, we were busy at the Bluffton Store, hunters came by for BBQ sandwiches, subs, pizzas and snuff (nice combination, huh? No wonder they also ask for Tums). Some asked for beer but since we we don't sell it I had to send them away thirsty. Usually between fishing and hunting season it's dead as a hammer and I get so bored I could spit (but I don't-you know who'd have to clean it up).

Once when I was working at Skinny's (convenience store in Llano) I did an impolite but quite justifiable thing. The manager and I were standing outside talking on a slow night, he was having a cigarette, I wasn't. A customer, a cowboy-type-you can't tell, there are a lot of real cowboys around here-got out of his truck and was walking toward the front door. I was expounding on some subject so my mouth was going a mile a minute, and the cowboy passed in front of us and a bit to the side. About 6 feet in front of us he spat (tobacco juice) in a nice juicy stream on the sidewalk and kept walking. Without skipping a beat in my monologue, I said, "...AND THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR SPITTING ON MY SIDEWALK..." and continued talking. The manager, in his sardonic, thoughtful, quiet way, raised an eyebrow and I asked, "What?!!!". He said, "Now there's a repeat customer if I ever saw one". I replied, "You do know, especially in this day and age, that saliva is considered a biohazardous material?". I checked the guy out at the register, he paid for $75 in diesel fuel and I glared at him. My guess is he wasn't coming back. Then I cleaned the sidewalk. Asshole.

Don keeps trying to get me interested in fantasy/science fiction and every once in awhile a book is kind of interesting. I'm reading a trilogy by Mercedes Lackey and Larry Dixon called Darian's Tale. It's alright, something to read in bed until I'm sleepy but no great shakes. I just can't seem to "let go" and get into a fantasy tale. I used to be a voracious reader but am very stingy with my time now. I like and need to work and the rest of the time is spent caring for myself and others and working on the computer. All yardwork has been suspended, I really enjoy totally ignoring the outdoors until spring.

It's hard to believe that a week after the fact, my jaw still hurts where the dentist injected the anaesthetic to crown my tooth. I don't think he's very good, at least with needles. I'm still taking several doses of ibuprofen and acetaminaphen a day, otherwise the area hurts and sends referred pain into the trigeminal nerve and on to the nerves in the back of my head and neck. Very annoying. I'm going to call the dentist that Nee Cee goes to and really likes, Dr. Kim Murray and ask if she has a waiting list, she's not taking new patients at this time. I have another tender tooth, but this guy's not getting any more of my business.

And yes, I do feel cranky tonight. Hmph.

I love you,

Lisa

Holiday Cheer

Dear Mom,

I'm having fun with my address book, my organizational skills have been pretty slapdash in the past but in this day and age there's just no excuse. There's a program out there for anyone who wants to find a way to streamline their life. On the other hand, not everyone sits in front of the computer for a certain period of time every day, so allowances have to be made for those poor souls.

We had a lovely day continuing with our Christmas phone calls. Bill Lanoue in Fulton, NY called us because he has unlimited minutes, we've talked to him before, he's become quite a good friend over the last couple of years. We called Michael Harding in Black Rock, Victoria, Australia. What a nice guy! Witty, quick and funny. We found out he's a retired academic (of some kind) and a compulsive learner, just like us! We also called Betty Bighorse in Cameron, TX. She's the widow of an ezine reader, Joe Bighorse, that Don met and visited several years ago. Just talked to Jerry Fox in Dryden, MI, a reader who's become a reliable email buddy and a good friend too. That's it for today, we have a couple more friends to visit with, it's just a matter of logistics.

Isn't it odd? Michael was remarking that Internet friendships are different, perhaps you get more "friendship" accomplished in a shorter period of time. It's struck us that way before, too. Just connecting with people by telephone has been a little difficult, but we were able to email several times back and forth to find a time that was mutually convenient. In other words, the emails were MUCH more convenient than a telephone. Each person was able to find snippets of time in their busy day to get their correspondence done at their own pace, and yet the flow of information turned but to be much quicker and more reliable. Although I really like her, I haven't talked to my neighbor Barbara across the street more than three times in a month, we're always busy and rushing here and there. I know I wouldn't take the time to sit and schmooze with her for several hours, but if she were interested I'd email several times a week. The same holds true for other friends of ours.

I'm hoping you like to email when we send your computer. If any relative got a real letter from you asking "Whatzup?" they would call you immediately, assuming you had a terminal condition and were trying to connect with all your friends and relatives. I hope to change this, you claim to be an excellent typist, you're just convinced you have nothing to say. That's all right, that's what I thought, too.

Have you ever gone into business with anyone cleaning? A couple of times, when people call me to take a cleaning job and I can't do it, Don's suggested I go into business with someone (or several someones) to spread the load and to get more people more work. I can't think of anything more annoying. I can count on myself, other people are a different matter. As soon as you're looking at someone else, as a partner or an employee, you're dealing with another person who is not yourself and by definition, flawed in some fundamental way *smile*. The first time someone calls in drunk or stupid and I have to clean 3 houses in one day, I would not only fire them, I would---well, I can't even think of anything bad enough.

We've been lazing around, eating leftovers, calling friends and reflecting on our lives. It's so good, it's scary.

I love you,

Lisa

I like Thunderbird

Dear Mom,

Had to clean 2 houses today and I'm not really overly tired. Very interesting... I've been considering taking on more jobs, not increasing the number of days I work, just doubling up. I work on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday during fishing season (Cottonwood Cove). Have to leave the other days of the week free so Don can work, too. I had been considering doing 2 houses on each day but was holding off because it's pretty tough. I've had to do it a very few times and was extremely tired, but that was back when I was chronically sleep-deprived. Now, with adequate rest, I think I can do it so I'll give it a shot.

I'm playing with my PIM program, Kontact in Linux and it's whiz-bang. In fact one of these days I'm going to be so organized I'll be almost like my friend Charlie who invented the term organized. Nah, never happen, but I can dream, can't I? For now I have to apply myself and learn how to use the silly thing. The cool thing about it is you only have to enter the info once for it to be available to all the other components. In other words, enter all the info you want, even birthdates, events, etc. You can categorize (like family, friends, clients, business) and then apply filters when you search, to narrow the field. It's pretty darn cool. As I said, someday...

Don was setting up your gmail accounts today while I was at work, and we finished it up tonight before he left for work, so you two are ready to go. We researched email clients and Thunderbird was highly rated, but we had no idea how great it was until we went to set up the accounts. All we did was enter your gmail addresses and passwords and the deed was done! No fuss, no bother, presto! We never set up an email account so easily. Wow! The cool thing was you both can have Thunderbird, his in Windows and yours in Linux. I think you'll like it.

I love you,

Lisa

Christmas Day

Dear Mom,

What a nice Christmas day! I've often said to Don that talking to you is like talking to myself, only a lot cleaner *smile*.

I made refrigerator cookies, this recipe is from Cranz Nichols, a member of our computer group HLLUG. His were made with regular white flour but once I smelled them I made them my "cheat for the year", eating about 8 of them. And they were big, it was heavenly. Of course I adapted them to my wheat-free diet, using 2 cups whole-spelt flour and 1 cup brown rice flour. I also used 1 tsp. vanilla and 1 1/2 tsp hazelnut extract. I found I like to slice the cookies about 3/8" thick. Bake about 15 minutes, space widely, they spread a lot.

........................

Icebox Cookies

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups butter
1 egg
3 cups flour
2 tsp warm water w/ 1tsp.baking soda
1 cup nuts

Cream butter and sugar, add remaining ingredients and mix well.
Form in to rolls about 2" in diameter.
Wrap in wax paper and chill.
Slice into 1/4 inch slices and bake at 350 degrees until light golden brown.
Rolls may be frozen until ready to bake.

.......................................

We did our now-traditional Christmas tradition, calling people we know-especially readers of the ezine we've been friends with for some time.

So far we called Peter Eckermann, a German who lives in Canada. Don met him when he was writing an ezine for an ink-cartridge company. Don wrote his readers, asking if anyone had any artistic ability to help him with color choices and some artistic sensibility. Peter and I both answered him, and we did the redesign, but I got to Texas first so I married Don. Peter said that's OK, he's happy with the arrangement.

Another friend is Patrick Barden, who lives in Elberton, Georgia. He spends a lot of time on the Internet, he's legally blind and gets disability, but lives in the world he's given. It's amazing, he's witty, urbane, and a real hoot; sort of a cross between Jeff Foxworthy and Johnny Carson. I love to talk to him.

Then there's JoAnn Burton in Manchester, Connecticut. Don's known her about 9 years. They've been web friends, emailing for a long time.

We called John Lepse in Cedar Rapids, Iowa this morning. He's a quiet man, a nurse tech, who's contributed to the ezine for the last several years.

Michael Harding in Australia wasn't at home, so we left a message.

Thierry came over for a very late breakfast and dinner. Breakfast was a quiche made from the leftover goodies from the beef-vegetable stew from two days ago, rice and shredded soy cheese. For dinner we made two dishes, cooking side-by-side. Don did Apricot-Chipotle Turkey, stir-fried carrots, celery, chopped dried apricots, apricot preserves, chicken broth thickened with rice flour and a 1/2 tsp. of powdered chipotle. I made Beef and Napa Cabbage w/Portobello Mushrooms. I sauteed onion and Napa cabbage, then added chopped Mesquite-smoked brisket and thickened beef broth, with a bit of tamari sauce for flavor. My cookies were a tremendous hit, Thierry's still here, I'll have to send him home with some.

I'm so excited you're excited about getting the computer. It's the beginning of a whole new thing, you just wait and see.

I love you,

Lisa