Christmas 2015 and New Year 2016

Christmas 2015
Dear Friends and Family,
My Creative Writing Group has a prompt for those of us that are not working on a novel. This month the topic is “What is the Advantage”. I have no idea what that means or what it means to me. So I thought I would take advantage of my annual Christmas letter and incorporate this homework. 2015 has been health challenged. I found that I had to take advantage of my insurance and visit a mental health therapist a few times. It helped but no magical answers. I find I am still not following the diabetic diet and have not gotten my blood sugar under control.  I have ripe cataracts and without clearance from my ‘sugar doctor’ I am not cleared for the operation. I must get myself under control because; I find no advantage in going blind.
Mother & Dad came home from Florida this year in poor health. In June, she passed out in the bathroom and hit the tub breaking five ribs. She was in the hospital and rehabilitation hospital until July 4th. Four days later she passed out again. This time, they found she had a heart attack and ended up with three stents. November 13th she passed out again and tore up her right knee.  Released to a rehab nursing home, she passed out and fell again injuring the other knee. I am going up to help out, every other week. I thank GOD every day I am not an only child. My sister and brother are wonderful. Both Mother (85) and Dad (88) are now down to their college weights when they first met in 1948. They are upset that they are not in Florida this season. I realize the advantage of making some life decisions now, and not leave my family guessing.  We are looking forward to Christmas with Mother and Dad. Now that is an advantage to this year of sickness.
Deb and Barry are doing fine. Barry (69) has taken on a new role in his Masonic group. We are all very proud of him. Debbie (55) is teaching Astronomy classes this year and, of course, helping Dad and Mother –between classes and life. They have two cats they love and who take full advantage of my sister.
Tom and Karen are doing well and looking forward to a 2016 Alaskan vacation the month after Deb and Barry get back from their vacation in Alaska. Tom and Karen and their extended  family enjoyed a family vacation in Colorado this year. The pictures were beautiful. Tom took a fall over a tree, broke a rib and cut his leg up badly. He is doing well now and continues to be the contact person with my parents’ medical issues. I hope he forgives me for taking advantage of him with my parents.
Both my nieces were in their cousins wedding this year as Jesse Rae Thomas married Craig Taylor. We spend Christmas with them at Tom and Karen’s dinner and have watched this little girl grow up to a beautiful woman. I have enjoyed the advantage of our extended family and even met a published author at her shower and wedding. Heather and Matt still live in Texas but sold their house and are searching for another. They are now living with Matt’s mother. Heather turned 28 plus 2 (30) this year and still loves teaching. It is hard to believe our little girl has been married a year and a half.
The big news is our Rachel (28) bought her first HOUSE! It is located north of Wilmington DE. It is close enough that Tom can come by on the way home from work and do some remolding with her. It is an adorable three bedroom two bath house with a fenced in yard and detached garage. Two houses away is the still active lighthouse. I think it looks like a Thomas Kincaid painting at twilight.
I continue to give things to a local Community thrift store.  I was able to get rid of my grandparent’s breakfront in my living room. I also continue to do my craft classes and bring home the projects or give them away. I am not very good, but I enjoy them. I still belong to two book clubs and, of course, my writing group. I find I need to revisit the joy of time management to take full advantage of my time. LOL
I hope this finds all of you in good health. I pray for a calmer 2016.  Next year I sign up for Medicare! peace robin

My First Pet by rl simpson 11/5/2015

   My first pet turned out to be my only pet and Champ was not mine alone. I was about six or seven and lived on an unpaved street in a neighborhood of five little brick houses. The owner of these little houses was the builder, and his family lived in a larger home on the property. Every house had at least one child. Now that I think on it, no house had a dog or a cat only fish and turtles and children. There must have been a no pet clause in the rental agreement.

   We children all played together through the yards between our houses. We had a swing set. The house at the end had an extra bedroom and a tree in the back yard. Eventually, it was our tree house. Across the paved road, at the end of our street, was a large area of woods. Summer in Virginia was hot, and when a little black and white terrier with a red collar joined our lazy play we were excited. First we got him some water from the hose and them we named him Champ and then we introduced him to all the parents and then we begged to keep him. The parents said no, except for ours.  

   My Dad had some scrap wood and built Champ a dog house. He was ours. We promised to share him with all the other kids, but the dog and his house stayed with us. It was a good summer, and Champ followed my brother everywhere or was it my brother who followed Champ? Champ only had one bad habit. This little dog liked to chase things bigger than he was.  On our dirt street, it was no problem, no fast cars. But across the paved road with the woods to explore, was a temptation no dog could ignore. 

   It was dinner time, and Mother told me to go and find my father and brother. They were out looking for Champ. As I crested the hill that rolled down to the paved road, I saw my brother on the side of the busy paved road. He was five and shouted to me not to come down. My father was with him and had just covered something with a rag. But I saw Champ. He was bloody and dead. I threw up and then ran home crying. My brother and Father followed. It must have been a horrible night for my parents; I know it was for us.

   My brother told me Champ ran the race with the car he pursued, only to stop and be run over by the car behind him.

   I love dogs but never got another pet. My brother only had cats his daughters found in a feral nest while he was cutting the grass. Fish and Turtles and snakes and mice and other things live at his house but never a dog.

   We still have that little red collar somewhere; it moved with us from Virginia.

Hurricane Joaquin or Nor'easter storm log

10/1 =Class assignment to keep a log during the hurricane for four days =I will start today. After class Bette, and I went to Tonio’s for pizza and I moaned about not losing weight as the mark of a really good pizza (grease) ran down my chin. We laughed. I was tired and did not stop at the Acme on the way home. I need to call and arrange for my window air conditioners to be removed because I am cold today. I turned on the heat in my bathroom and living room –just a little. It is raining.

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2ND UPDATE: COASTAL FLOOD WARNING EXTENDED THROUGH SUNDAY, JOAQUIN NO LONGER A PRIMARY CONCERN

10/2 Friday –I am working on my computer trying to figure out what button I pushed to turn off my wireless connection. I feel so dumb. –I could call my brother in law, but he told me last time not to touch any button I do not understand. All the buttons have symbols that represent functions that are universally known to everyone but me. My other computer is at the "Doctors" and will be ready to pick up after 3:30 pm. I do not want to go out in my sleep clothes, so I need to get dressed. “Dr.” Joe just got home from work and had my computer ready. He said I could have called him; Wireless is the F2 function key at the same time as the FN key. I should have called him hours ago. I asked Joe if he worked on Apple computers –not really, sorry Joan. Saw 3-year-old Joseph and his Mother. Amanda co-owns The Madd Potter in Cape May and gives me potting lessons in her home. I met her at the Avalon Library craft workshop. She says I have three more classes. Bought and paid for. Yeah, I want to make jewelry and Christmas Robins. They were in their rainy day clothes and playing with Playdough waiting for daddy Joe to get home. On my way home, I stopped at the Acme for some chocolate milk hurricane tradition and the WaWa for gas. I am officially soaked, time for jammies and call my Parents and then Joan. Phone calls from a couple of friends checking on me. I love the sound of the wind in my trees, but not the sound of rain dripping from my roof.

10/3 –Slept with a window cracked and heard the weather all night. Slept warm and well under a blanket and quilt with the cool air even my pillows were cold. I did not want to get up but the later I slept the worse the dreams got. Thinking of high school friends today who are burying one of our classmates, my heart matches the weather. More calls from friends and Facebook messages. Call from a computer scammer who said my computer was infected. I asked if this was a scam? He said YES, I was completely silent, then he must have realized what he said and hung up. I laughed for the first time today. I am reading and watching TV westerns and feeling guilty for not cleaning. This guilt will pass soon, I hope. Where is all the water from this rain going?

10/4 –windy and drops of rain are coming from my roof –BUT I think I see the sun and blue skies and lots of white clouds. I walk down to my mailbox to get yesterday’s mail. It is so beautiful and windy out. Diane called and wanted me to call the radio station for her psychic show –set my alarm, so I don’t forget. Oh no, now it is Cloudy again. Diane gets a couple of calls for her half hour show. I am on my computer, bored, not writing but ordering online! This is a dangerous storm and is costing me money. I have got to stop, I just ordered a wig ! Talking with John, he is home and doing his travel report, singing to himself and me, I guess, and yelling at me to get my health under control. He likes to multi-task. I keep telling him he talks faster than I think, these days. I need to make a meatloaf and pick the rotisserie chicken. He is making tomato gravy. Madam Secretary was wonderful tonight.

10/5 Sunny and breezy –the storm is over, and the temperature is rising, It is time to open the house turn down the heat and start another week.

The Day the Cleaning Lady Came 2/14/2015

I saw a Groupon for a cleaning service from Wildwood or within thirty miles from Wildwood, it was $69.98 for three hours of cleaning, they said it was a $300.00 value. A Groupon is a discount coupon. I had never had a cleaning service before. Since my stroke and heart attack and worsening diabetes, I don’t see that well, and my house and bathroom are not as clean as they should be. I also wanted them to clean my ceiling fans because I don’t balance that well on step stools.

I called to schedule the appointment, give my address and suggest they MapQuest the directions, my house is difficult to find. The owner with a foreign accent assures me they know where I live. I had 19 days left until expiration.

The lady I spoke to told me she would be sending two women for one and a half hours each. She asks me to make a list of things to do with my priorities. I said fine and franticly started straightening up before my appointment in two days. I have a lot of stuff. Some I took out on the porch until trash day. Christmas stuff I took upstairs to the attic. But mostly I moved stuff into my two bedrooms.

I asked that they not clean the bedrooms because now I could barely close the doors. I have too much. I looked around and thought what would I take if I had to go into witness protection? I wonder if I can get rid of things using that idea? I need to get rid of stuff.

I get a phone call from the Cleaning Lady. She is lost: she never Map Quested my address! She says I live very far from Wildwood. I guess this means one woman for three hours. I am nervous; I never had a cleaning lady before. She pulls up in a newer SUV than I have. She looks about 50 years old. I give her my list of priorities, the bathroom tub and surround to be scrubbed and the dining room, kitchen fans to be done.

She starts in the bathroom. I hear lots of banging. I am in my bedroom, working on my computer. I try not to panic. It is my nap time, and all I want to do is lie down on my bed. But can I sleep with someone cleaning my house? That would be so rude. Am I seeing the end of being able to keep up my house? I have so much stuff it is overwhelming.

I think the most difficult part of staying out of her way was not using the bathroom for three hours. Seeing my house through someone else’s eyes made me realize how tired the house looks. Detail cleaning may never be done again, but this fast surface cleaning is pretty good. I asked her about prices, but she did not know any. I wonder if I can afford it once a month. $70.00 is a lot of money to me, but $300.00 is impossible. She tells me they run specials all the time.

My niece sent me a text to see how the house cleaning went. I tell her the crystal they hid twenty years ago in my house is still missing. Although the cleaning lady did a better job than I do these days, she did not discover the hidden crystal. I made my niece laugh electronically; she said she had wanted to ask that exact question.

The cleaning lady is gone. I never understood her name because of her accent, and I asked twice. I did not tip her, was I supposed to? I find my things in different places, some things unexpectedly cleaned (my toaster oven), a pumice stick was broken (I can re-glue, but why wasn’t I told?) and things forgotten –the door jam to the outside door, no shelf was dusted taller than five feet. Only one, of the two ceiling fans in the same room, was dusted. I guess she does not do step stools either.

Yes, I need a little help.

Yes, I cannot do things I use to do. Yes, if I need to sell this house and move, I could.

But first I have to clean out my bedrooms.  

Lost and Found –Tampa to Denver to Miami to Philadelphia

Lost and Found –Tampa to Denver to Miami to Philadelphia  by rl simpson 2/21/2015

They lost my bag on the way home from Florida. It was my good hard sided –robin’s egg blue, four wheel Coleman bag, I used in Alaska. I was upset. I did not check the baggage claim slip, when I walked away from the counter in Tampa. I had showed her my Identification and boarding pass –so when she affixed the claim stickie onto my baggage fee receipt –I thought all was well. NOT. She had renamed me Genevieve Simpson and sent my bag to Denver. I was flying to Philadelphia.

Having no idea my bag was still in the air going to Denver, I waited at the carousel in Philly talking to the Frontiers employee about nonsense things. I asked if she ever thought about which type of suitcase belonged to which various passenger wait around the carousel? She did and so we talked and waited until all but one case had been claimed. Not mine. She gave me a paper to fill out that was a claim, I guess. I only put my parents Pennsylvania address, since I was there for a few days. That is when I discovered the mistake, the baggage receipt was wrong. She had left me the clipboard with over 50 completed claims, while she went on break. She neglected to tell me that and I had no idea where she was. A man came up to me and said his golf clubs had not made it –so I gave him a blank claim form to fill out from the pile –while we waited for the Frontier Rep. When she came back she asked if I had given the man the paper claim he was filing out, I said yes, she nodded and said they would be in touch and turned to walk away. I yelled, “WAIT”.  I asked for a phone number and she gave it , then the golf club guy asked more questions and she asked him to wait while she made a call. We knew then that my bag had been sent to Denver, so I guess I was done. It was icey and cold outside. My sister and her husband had been in the cell phone lot, waiting to pick me up, for over an hour. I called and they picked me up and drove me to my Parents house in Aston. I had left my winter coat and keys with her and my coat was nice and warm. They dropped me off, the driveway was ice so I walked on the grass. As I opened the door I wondered, how long it would take to warm up the house and what was I going to eat. It snowed that night.

I called my Parents in Florida to tell them I arrived and the first thing my Dad said was “ What is your suitcase doing in Denver?’ Apparently, I had put on a luggage tag with my name and email address and cell phone number on one side and my parents name and Florida address and phone number on the other. Yep, they called my parents from Denver about 10:30 pm. The Frontier agent, gave my parents the Philadelphia number and asked me to call the next day. I called the number and got a recording saying the office in Philadelphia was open 2am until 10am Thurs thru Sunday. It was Tuesday. I left about 7 messages. Meanwhile, my Mother is getting calls from various baggage agents saying my bag was being flown to Miami then Phila. It was Wednesday night. Thursday morning, I received a call from Philadelphia as I was walking out the door to go home. The bag had arrived on the 11pm Wednesday flight. Did I want it delivered to Aston or sent by Fed Ex to my South Jersey home? I said “ship it” and gave the address–“I am on my way home”. She asked if I wanted “Genevieve or Robin on the address label?” “I don’t freakin’ care”, and hung up. I got home Thursday.

 Early Friday morning, about 8:30 am, I heard a knock on my door. Got out of bed and looked out my bedroom window, to see what I thought was a van driving away. Now remember my suitcase tag –did not have my address on it, only the phone contact with the agent on Thursday morning had the address. That early Friday morning knock, was my suitcase left on my front step. Fed Ex had pasted a large “OVERNIGHT” sticker on it –I still cannot get it off. Everything inside was fine. My bag had officially been in more cities than I had.

I got an email from Frontier on another cheap flight –I will NEVER fly that airline again –even if the tickets are free.

I am squandering my INHERITANCE

I left my Mother's pre-1986 / 3 qt pan on the stove as the water boiled out without me knowing -some of the the copper bottom actually came off and the inside is dark -after I cleaned it, I used it again to boil macaroni and it just did not taste that good -I will try to clean it again -inside and out -but I think I will be buying her a new pan. I still have not told her -I think it was the first pan they bought when they set up housekeeping back in 1951. Ouch  / 

I am squandering my inheritance.