Too good to be true....

I had my yearly doctor's appointment Monday. I knew I had been feeling pretty good lately. Apparently TOO good. It was the calm before the storm. My doc called me Tuesday afternoon with the lab reports. Honestly, I though my phone battery was going to die before she could finish listing all of the things wrong with me.....(Ok, a bit of an exaggeration but it felt like that). My thyroid levels are all screwy again. And then there was a multitude of other things. Blood sugar high, cholesterol high, triglycerides high....it was ridiculous.

Anyway, I have to take another day off work and go back for more detailed tests tomorrow. The big question is whether or not I am facing being diabetic, or if its just the messed up thyroid hormones. Apparently whenever that gets off, it can throw off everything. So....? Oh well. I admit to having a day of a pity party. Of feeling like it was just not fair. But then I came to my senses and realized that being in the depths of despair about any of it wasn't going to help anything.

So I will go to the doc, do the tests, follow the advice....whatever it takes. Its not the end of the world if I have to make adjustments. I am going to ask the doc to give me 3 months or so to turn things around without meds (if that is possible). But if it turns out that another adjustment in thyroid hormones will take care of most of that....well, I will be a happy camper. Send me some happy vibes if you have any to spare. They will be much appreciated. :)

Things your mail carrier wishes you knew....Part 1

I try not to grouse and grumble about my job on a public forum, but right now I am neither grousing OR grumbling. I have been a mail carrier since forever. I am actually quite good at it, although I can't say that I always enjoy it every single day. But there are so many things that would make life much easier, not just for me, but for my customers.
I am sure I can't remember everything I wanted to say, but I will attempt to make a start. Here goes:

- Please remove your mail from the box, if not daily, then at least a couple of times a week. If you go on vacation use an official HOLD form to notify your carrier. And if you are moving, please please please fill out a form to forward your mail. You can even do this online now, and its a simple procedure. The problem is that I am required to return any mail that has not been claimed after 10 days. I have people who take the mail out of their box once or twice a month. I don't want to return important mail and cause a lot of trouble for my customers. But, if my route should be audited, and believe me, auditors seem to have set up shop in our local office lately, then my job will be on the line. I don't have a choice, so be aware of the 10 day rule. Please.

- Please don't run me down to ask if I have seen the letter that your great Aunt Martha mailed off to you last Tuesday. Its not that I don't care that your letter is missing. The fact is that on an average day I handle somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 letters, 500 to a 1000 magazines and newspapers and a whole slew of packages, sales papers, etc. We have to adhere to a strict time schedule which allows me approximately a millisecond to scan a letter for the delivery address and thats about it...I don't have the ability to recall a single specific letter out of all the ones I see in a day or have the time to pay attention to who the senders are. You can call the Postmaster who will most likely direct you to call the office it was mailed from. If it doesn't have a tracking number though, its going to be really difficult to track.

- Also?...every single piece of mail that comes into our office for that day of delivery MUST go out. Seriously, I can't pick and choose and decide that I want to hold back Great Aunt Martha's letter at my desk until sometime next Thursday. Those auditors (again with the auditors) make absolutely certain that NO mail is left behind and not delivered. If it comes into our office, we deliver it. That day!
We have no choice. If I don't have it chances are good it hasn't made it to our office yet. If its an important document, then consider paying a few cents more for a tracking number. If its REALLY important, consider certified or registered mail.

- Please please please do NOT run me down in the middle of my route, stopping traffic and putting both of us in an unsafe situation to ask me for your monthly check. My mail is trayed up, in order, in the back seat of my car and digging out a single piece is like looking for a needle in a haystack. Wait for me to get to your address....I promise I will make it there as soon as I possibly can!!! Or consider direct deposit.

-Yes we sell stamps and yes I will affix a stamp to a letter or 2 if you leave money in your box. But please...we are under duress to deliver a whole lot of mail in a short period of time. Respect that our time is very limited. If you have more than a couple of letters just buy a book of stamps and peel and stick all of those stamps for yourself. Also? Handfuls of pennies are not appreciated. Counting out 44 pennies for a single stamp is difficult and time consuming while sitting in a running car on the side of the road with traffic baring down on us from all sides. Oh, and using tape to stick change to an envelope is a serious pain the rear for us. Just don't.

- Sometimes we have certified mail, registered mail, express mail that requires a signature. Please answer the door if you are home. And if you could put on a robe or a towel if you are naked, that would be appreciated. (Yes, it really DOES happen. LOL).

- If you have a dog in your yard, we won't get out of our vehicles. This is actually an official order from Headquarters. Its a safety issue. I know YOUR dog doesn't bite. The one that bit me didn't bite either....until he bit me. And I had to go through questioning as to why I wasn't following safety protocol (the dog was inside and pushed past his owner when the door was opened to chomp down on my thigh).
And then I had to watch a series of safety videos which was a real boring load of crappola. Believe me, we don't want to go through the hassle of being bitten. And you are not going to want to deal with the bill that the post office will hand you to pay the price for all the red tape they have to go through. They have to pay for those safety videos somehow, you know. Keep your dog inside, in a fence, or pick up your packages and signed items at the post office.

- The forever stamps are good for....wait for it...forever. LOL. You won't believe how many times we get asked that.

- We actually have to either deliver ALL of the mail addressed to your residence, or none of it. We don't get to pick and choose. No, I really can't stop putting junk mail in your box. The mailer has paid for me to deliver it and I have to do my job.
Also? If you are divorced or separated, I can't put the cable bill in your mail box but forward the car insurance bill to your deadbeat ex. I just can't keep that many details straight in my head. I have almost 700 families to try and keep straight.
I know its inconvenient but you are going to have to contact the senders and give them the addresses that you want the stuff sent to. I really am sympathetic and I wish I could be more helpful in that department, but its got to be all or nothing according to postal law.

to be continued because there really is so much more that needs to be said....:)

The cost of living

I can hardly believe how much it cost just to live lately. Not even to live in the lap of luxury, but just to perch of the knees of comfort. Grocery prices have really gone up around here. My beloved diet sodas....up by almost 2 dollars a carton. Luckily we only drink about a 12 pack a week. Well, each of us. Bruce likes Coke zero and I only want Diet Dr. Pepper. Fresh veggies are outrageous. I am trying to be much more conscious of not letting things spoil before we can use them. I buy less at one time and I try to keep an eye on what needs to be used up. I try to plan meals accordingly instead of just making whatever we are in the mood for. But still, its amazing how much I spend on food for just 2 people.

And don't even get me started on gas prices. How do people make it? Families with only 1 job? Or 2 jobs and a lot of kids? Or those folks who haven't even got jobs.
Its crazy harsh out there in the world. This afternoon, for example, we had errands to run. Bruce needed new tires, and I needed to pick up cat meds from our vet. An hour later we were back home just chatting about the day. New tires were something like $380 and he had to fill up with gas. Heartworm/flea medication for 4 cats was $90. Which will last for 2 months but still....we had blown through $500 in the blink of an eye.
Scary, isn't it?

I am grateful that we are able to make ends meet, but it is putting a serious kink in my plans for early retirement. Did you know that the Federal Government has suspended putting matching funds into our 401Ks? They spend recklessly, bail out shady investment companies, and now they can't pay into my 401K and I have to suffer because of it? Does that seem right to anybody out there? Of course, we have been promised the funds will be replaced ...in August. I am not sure that I trust them. But they aren't asking for my blessings on the matter so its not like I have any choice. Oh well, its not like I can afford to quit to show my disdain. Not when we can go through $500 in the time it takes to sneeze. :( Hopefully things will turn around eventually. I am trying not to put a dooms day spin on anything, but sooner would be much better than later.

Happy Birthday Erica

My daughter. My precious little baby girl is so grown up now. I can't believe my eyes when I see her. I spent so much time, when she was just a tiny little thing, wondering, daydreaming about what she might become. What would she look like? What would her personality be like? I have these random moments burned into my memory of her as a baby, as a child. Not the highlight moments, like birthdays or holidays. I have pictures of those. But unremarkable every day moments that fly by all too fast. How I used to watch her sleep those first few months of her life, so scared something might happen. Was she still breathing? Sometimes I would run my finger lightly over her lips if she was sleeping so soundly that I couldn't see her chest rise and fall. She would pucker her lips like a kiss without waking up. It reassured me that she was doing fine. I used to rock her to sleep, holding her tiny little body wrapped in a baby blanket and singing a little song I made up just for her bedtime. It was a simple little rhyme that I can still remember. It worked as far as lulling her to sleep. Unless she was smart enough at a few months old to realize that if she would pretend to be asleep I would stop singing. LOL. I don't have the best voice, and noone would dispute that.

There was Erica at 3 years old, pouting over a pink little sundress that she wanted at the mall. "But I'm a pretty girl!", she argued when I tried to put it back on the rack because she had enough sundresses for the summer. She stamped her little foot for emphasis. "And pretty girls NEED pretty clothes!" She got the dress. How can you argue with that kind of logic? Erica at 4 or 5 years old. We were at the county fair. Erica was wearing a pair of little blue jeans and a pink sweater. Always pink. She only wanted to wear pink. Her hair was long and pulled back into a ponytail. She had gone into one of those giant blow up jumping castles. And I watched her, her face was radiant with absolute glee. Jumping, leaping, loving every minute of it. She was totally into My Little Ponies back then. Never barbies....just the ponies. I remember thinking to myself right then that she was MY precious little pony with her ponytail bobbing up and down. One moment frozen in time. Strange the random things we remember.

But now she is grown up, and making a life all her own. She is more than I hoped she would be. She exceeded all of my daydreams. So smart, so ambitious, so independent.
Where did all of that come from? Certainly not from me. LOL. But its who and what she is, however it happened. And I am proud of her, in awe of her. She will have her doctorate in the near future. My very own Dr. Baby, PhD. And still....no matter how old she is or how many degrees she attains, or whatever micro-biology miracles she achieves....she will ALWAYS be my precious little pony. Happy Birthday beloved daughter of mine. May all of your hopes and dreams be fulfilled. You deserve nothing less. We love you. Happy Birthday!

Mother's Day Weekend

We had a nice trip to visit the kids last weekend. The flights were uneventful, mercifully. I don't like to fly, but not because I am phobic and afraid. Its just the hassle of security, of being at the mercy of the weather and the airline schedules. I don't like sitting in a plane waiting for reasons unknown. And I also hate the prices of airport food. But I made what would be a 14 hour drive in 4 and a half hours total, so I understand the necessity of it. And we had really nice weather in Lafayette once we got there too. Hannia said it was the first warmth she had felt in months.

Lafayette is not the kind of place you would vacation, so there is only so much to do. Not that I cared. Just hanging out with my 3 children was more than enough. But we toured the town, toured Purdue campus, visited a local winery, spent an afternoon at a really nice park with a zoo. And we ate. Oh boy, did we eat. We hit all the best spots. Lafayette Brewing Co., The Wine and Cheese Cellar (that does the most amazing mandarin chicken salad sandwiches at lunch...yum). We hit up the Triple X, which is NOT porn but a burger place that looks like a dive but was featured on the Travel Networks' "Diners, Drive-ins and Dives". It was delicious too although not the place to go for health food....LOL. Saturday night we went to a Tapas/Hookah bar called "Maza". We went for the Tapas, ordering a whole table full of appetizers. It was fun sampling so many different foods and we ended up being full and satiated without feeling overly stuffed. And then, on a whim, we decided to try the Hookah. We sat and chatted and shared Tropical Paradise flavored tobacco. Its something I have never done. Its something I might not do very often, but it was interesting.
Our last night there we went to a Greek place that was amazing. Maybe the best meal out of a LOT of good meals that we had.

On Mother's Day I got flowers. And just being there, being with the kids, made it one of the best Mother's Days I have had in a really long time. I hated to leave. The visit was over way too soon. But it was wonderful while it lasted.

A visit to a candy shop just a block or so from Stephen's house:



Stephen and Hannia molest Neil Armstrong (because we are all crazy like that):



Goofing around a giant, unexplained pencil on Purdue campus:



What are they doing??



Stephen in the prairie dog exhibit:



Hookah!!



Beautiful Mother's Day Flowers:

I was dreaming

I had this really vivid dream last night. It wasn't anything weird or out of the ordinary, but it felt so REAL! I dreamed that my alarm went off, and I had gotten up and was going about my morning routine. I poured a cup of coffee, fed the cats, etc.
Only I had gotten up with this really awful cold. I was so congested, and I felt so weak and just, well, sick. I remember thinking how odd it was that I didn't have even a hint of a cold symptom when I went to bed, but who knows. Sometimes these things come on fast. I gave it a few minutes to see if I might start to feel better, but finally decided that a day at work was just NOT going to happen. I felt too awful. So, I called in sick and climbed back into my bed to get some more sleep.

And then....? Then my alarm REALLY went off. I was groggy and so confused. Didn't I already turn that off? It shouldn't be buzzing again, should it? Hadn't I already made the call to my office? It took me a minute to clear my head and realize it was all a dream. I think I fumbled around and hit every button on that stupid alarm clock because my brain couldn't figure out how to silence it, even though I do it every day on auto-pilot. The bad news was I had to get on up and go to work. But at least the good news was that I wasn't sick. So, there you go. Usually my dreams are weird and things are strange and out of place and I have some point of reference to tell myself "This is only a dream". But not that one. I dreamed my whole morning ritual, step by boring step, just like I go through them every single (week day) morning. So weird. But hey, at least I don't have a cold. LOL.

We need a break from our weekend!!

Too much to do, too little time. OMG it feels like things will never be caught up. Bruce spent ALL day yesterday working on outside projects, and I spent most of the day doing inside things (like laundry). I did go out later in the afternoon to help with the cutting grass thing. Bruce had to repair the roof, and put in a new fan in the attic. Its non-stop. Today is another repeat of yesterday with the exception that I am going to have to find time to run some errands later. If we EVER get caught up we have plans to do some painting and put new flooring in the den, living and dining room. I need to go back to work to get a break.

Also? I have to get this off of my chest....SHUT UP, Donald Trump!!!! Oh dear Lord, enough already. Everything that comes out of your mouth just makes you seem more moronic and idiotic. Is there no end to the stupidity? Please somebody tell me that this guy could NEVER win an election. Oh please! If he did, and I was forced to look at his extreme comb-over and stupid duck lips, I would leave my home and my job without looking back. We will pack up the cats and a few personal belongings and start over in Canada even if we have to live in our car. Mr. Trump with his racism, admission that his money was made by shady dealings (and he apparently isn't ashamed) and his conspiracy theories make me ashamed to be an American. Better yet, let's ship that crazy, ugly, pathetic excuse for a human being off to Canada. Or Iraq. Maybe Afghanistan.