Nature Songs ~~~~
DECEMBER, 2001 ~continued~
December 3, 2001 - This morning there are several things I need to take care of. I had to check by the drug store yesterday to see why my four prescriptions had once again not been filled. I dropped off the refills for them in plenty of time to have had them waiting for me. They had not been filled. My regular pharmacist was working today and did something at the computer and said that from now on they would be filled on schedule. I think she reentered them. I meant to pick them up yesterday, but ran out of time before the store closed.
This afternoon I go back to Hickory to get my finger worked on again. I do not look forward to having the tube taken out. I’ve a feeling that it will not feel too good. Maybe I can physic myself up to not feeling it by the time I get to the office. I’ll just have to focus on something else. Maybe I could try bending my broken toe. That may do it....
My checking account isn’t going to fair too well after my half day of bingeing. It was not eating all that I could eat. Bingeing for me today was more in line with spending. What better way to forget one’s self than to indulge in the luxury of buying things? An obsessive person will usually substitute one obsessive behavior for another. Therefore, I must be obsessive since I took all my day to spend money in order to forget about the forthcoming appointment midafternoon. There has to be some sort of correct reasoning to my deduction.
I took my list of names, ideas and amounts to spend on the different ones I am getting presents for this Christmas to a small store uptown. The lady was really nice and most helpful. She had just done the shopping for another lady last week and is used to helping out. With her help and knowledge I was able to shape up the presents for everyone as I stood in one spot there in the depths of a phenomenal little emporium which clutches so many astounding jewels
Soon we had the list completed and I felt good about having presents this year that will be so different from years past. The agreed date for having the presents ready for me to pick up is December 18th. I will have only to deliver them to the appointed families and persons. I am going to get gift certificates for the older boys and I have some small toys to pick up, but that will not take long - nor will it involve a lot of running around looking here and there.
The drugstore was next since I had to pick up my meds. Even though I talked with them yesterday, one of the prescriptions had not been filled. They did not use the new refills I dropped off either. Will we get together on these four medicines or not? I’m beginning to wonder. While in the store, I leisurely walked the aisles looking for some suitable items of Christmas to purchase. I had a coupon for $10 that I could use on any combination of $25 or more and felt this was a good time to get a few things. I even stocked up on some extra Christmas candy for Mother to use.
Lunch at the Sonic and I indulged on a lemon-berry slush which would last through the afternoon. Then I was checking the three dollar stores between Lenoir and Granite Falls. It is so easy to pick up things for only a dollar or two and think nothing about it ... until checkout .. then you wonder why you buy so much. I found 20 Christmas cards for $3 which I picked up for Mother to use. She like to hand out cards from her room to different persons. There was a cute little Santa pin which I bought for the lady next door to Mother. She loves wearing pins on her sweater and recently lost all her pins. I’ll have to give it to her tomorrow since I didn’t make it to the nursing center today.)
I ended up at the doctor’s office a bit early and hopefully wanted to get in and out quickly. That was not the case. I meet several different people while waiting and watched droves of others come and go before I finally had my turn. I sat for well over an hour. Once back in the surgery room, it was time to remove the bandage. The nurse was a little apprehensive about taking off the layers of gauze. I don’t think she wanted to see my finger. (I didn’t either.) Together we figured out getting through the layers without causing any pain or discomfort. The last few layers were a heavy bandage of the stretchy elastic and had to be cut from the inside of my finger. It was not a pretty sight, but most of the swelling was gone. The color was both purple and fiery red. And the rubber drain resembled some sort of limp pasta. The doctor had only to cover his hand with a rubber glove and pulled out the drain. There was hardly even a twinge when it came out. I was relieved at that. It was much easier than I had ever imagined.
I was assured that all looked great and the finger would heal up with no problems. It is well on the mend. I still have to soak it with the bandage on and keep the bandage damp. There is yet another trip to the office on Wednesday to make sure I don’t need more antibiotics. I was assured that the germ causing all the infection was a skin germ and that I did nothing to cause it. There was nothing I could have done to prevent it either.... It was just one of those things that occur for no real reason or rhyme.
Being a long day I was ready for home and some rest. Tbird had another ideas about that. She called to say she had some jewelry that the teachers were going to look at tomorrow and buy some. She wanted me to see it first and choose some for my Christmas present this year. A few hours later I had spent some more money, Tbird paid half of the total as her gift to me and I was the proud owner of two bracelets, two necklaces, and two pendants/pins.
What will tomorrow hold?
December 4, 2001 - Here it is midafternoon and my day is only beginning. When I worked to take my mind of the office visit and myself yesterday, I did such a good portrayal of carry it out! Too exhausted to even move most of the day and free of much of the pain that’s been hanging around the last little while, this was the perfect day to lay back and indulge myself with rest. I soaked my finger as prescribed, took my medicines and brushed the puppies for activity and exercise. This has been the most television listening I’ve done in a long time and even so, there are many spots among the programs I did not listen to. My phone has taken a rest today also. There has been only one call from Ms. Jay.
I must get online and update my webpage since I don’t even have December online yet. It irks me to be running behind and it would have to be a bother to someone to come to read and find that the page is unchanged from their last reading. I haven’t felt like doing much with the computer. Some of the lost programs are still not updated from when the machine froze with the boys the other evening. I’ll get it all done in time.
The Sunday School Class has its Christmas Party this coming Saturday in Granite Falls. I really should make plans to go take part in it. Maybe Allie or Bonnie would like to go along with me. Bonnie would be a good one to ask since Allie and I have the Glen Campbell Christmas Show on the 14th. There’s a get-together I need to work out for our Red Hatters before Christmas, too.
After while I’ll meander over toward the nursing center to spend some time with Mother. I missed seeing her yesterday and I have some more candies for her out in the car since I got it with the coupon and saved money on the purchase.
December 5, 2001 - I often will be writing one of my journal pages in retrospect. I find that when I do I may have some insight which would have been missed had it been written on the exact day a particular event happened. This is one of those days. I’ve been trying to accept some news given me when I went for my doctor’s appointment this afternoon. I have no choice but accept the fact that my finger will never be like it was only a week ago.
First off, thought, I was brought out of my time of quietude yesterday by a telephone call from Tbird. She asked me to meet her at the Western Steer in Hudson for supper with her and the children. From there I took the children by to visit with Mother and then back here to the house. She had choir practice at church for the upcoming Christmas program. Hubby would be by shortly to pick up the children, taking them home for their homework assignments and getting ready for another day. I didn’t have them very long.
I left home early this morning so I could get my nails worked on. Two of them had started to pick some of my clothes and no way could I wait until the one finger was well enough to be done, so I took my own nail polish with me. That way, when some of the soreness is out of the finger I can make it the same color as the others. That left me with some time to stop and browse through some stores along the way to Hickory. I had an appointment to have my hair cut today at 12:30 - just a little way down the road from the new office of my orthopedic doctor.
There was time between the two appointments for me to drive to Kohls and shop for some dresses for Giggles. They had a big 50% of sale today with an additional 15% off for Seniors. Hey, I’m a Senior! What better day for a visit. Oh my! There was one outfit I just had to get for myself. It was $80 cut to $40 and I got the 15% off on top of that. How could I refuse. I can wear it to my next program at the Civic Center. I found Giggles a pretty jumper, some pants, shirts, underwear, tights to wear with dresses and a sweater. I thought I had her another jumper, but guess I put it back on the rack ... Anyway, I came out with a huge bag of goodies which only cost $118. Tbird will reimburse me for part of that since she had asked me to do some shopping for Giggles. ( I found her three other dresses during the morning stops.)
Time for the doctor’s office, and I didn’t have any waiting today. I was in and out of the office in less than thirty minutes. Dr. D informed me that all the infection was gone and that with time my finger would heal nicely. The way it looks, I have my doubts at times. All the infection worked its way up through my finger and erupted into a huge blister which opened. One would think I had scalded myself. His bad news was that the infection had eaten through the leader which controls the end digit of my finger, causing it to drop.
He doesn’t think it will work, but said that we could try a splint on my finger for ten weeks to see if the leader may regenerate itself. Of course, I have to give it a try. He got a three inch splint and taped it on my finger to hold up the droopy tip of my index finger on my dominate hand. I don’t have to return for six weeks as long as things are looking good. Seems no big deal for him and I am thankful that I have not lost my finger which I could had.
December 6, 2001 - Mother’s question: “Why is it that anything that’s different is always happening to you?” I have no answer. I can only go on with my life and make the best I can of each day. I can only trust in the Lord to take care of me and direct me to make the correct path and choices.
I choose not to workout the rest of this week and use the time to finish up any Christmas tasks needed to be taken care of. Today that meant a trip to Wally World in search of some presents for the grandchildren. I had in mind some things to get them, so it didn’t take me too long to walk through the toy department, books and reading, and sports to find the items in mind. The shopping cart was overflowing when I checked out with a sigh of relief - another part of the shopping taken care of ...
My next step was to call and tell the parents what I had purchased so that we wouldn’t have duplicates of items. I wanted Wendy to come help me get them wrapped since some are fairly large, but by late evening she has yet to get back in touch with me. I still have to order NascarKid’s online since I can’t get it here in town.
Allie called to remind me of the trip this coming Saturday to Flat Rock Playhouse for the play, The Christmas Carol. I’m glad she reminded me. I forgot all about going. There is a Christmas Lunch at Boone again next Wednesday, too. I’ve got to get busy and remember things.
December 7, 2001 - This morning I made the trek back down the road to Hickory. Traffic is heavy and some brave sole from Georgia is tailgating and darting back and forth taking chances. I backed off on my own speed to get some distance between the two of us. No one needs to be driving like that on a road so well know for its many serious wrecks and even more fender-benders. On my way back home Wednesday, I was caught in traffic for over thirty minutes as we were diverted through the parking lot around a five-car crash in front of the restaurant when we ate the night before. A full-sized van failed to slow down and whammed into a small car sending it flying 100 feet. It hit three other cars stopped in the line of traffic at the red light as it was propelled forward. The van landed on its top on the side of the road. The small white car was crushed beyond recognition and the two occupants were trapped inside. Thanks to seat belts, no one was seriously injured.
This trip was to Media Play in search of gift certificates. It took a little time for the cashier to program the cards through the cash register. I found two Christmas music CDs I had been wanting and added them to the list. Before long I was back in the car heading home with nine gift certificates in hand..
Most of today has been sort of laid back for me. It is a good idea to rest up since we will be heading up the mountain for a day out tomorrow. If only I knew how to dress! This seventy degree weather we are experiencing is so un-Christmas-like. We may have a few showers tomorrow, but that probably will not bother us as we will be outdoors very little in the elements. Maybe some idea will come to me soon what I may wear that will fit the weather and be comfortable for the trip.
December 8, 2001 - I was the third car to arrive at the church this morning, and pulled in to park beside two of my friends of many years. They were with us on the last trip to Flat Rock and I knew we were in for a good time this day. The CCATS van we rode in today was supposed to be a fifteen passenger van, but we barely got the thirteen of us squeezed on. The four on the back seat were literally squeezed together. It’s a good thing they are good friends and good natured as we all teased about them all the way up and down the mountain! Good thing that seat belts were installed for the rest of us that sat on the aisle. Without the belts, we would have been in trouble on all the curves and turns, as there were no arm rests or any other thing to grab to help us keep our balance. We needed some sissy bars to hold on to at times.
We stopped and had lunch in Asheville at the K&S Cafeteria - as on our first trip - and had time to shop before heading on toward Hendersonville and Flat Rock.. I found a few good stocking stuffers and found some inexpensive earrings to go with my new angel necklace I wore today. No! I had more than that on! We all sort of dressed with the same idea. Clothes for the warmer weather was the choice of the day with an extra jacket or rain jacket and umbrellas. We had hopes of seeing rain or snow. (We are over thirteen inches short on rain for the month of December here at home.) Both rain and snow were called for in the mountains, but other than a few specks on the windshield one time, we saw neither. We all left our jackets and stuff in the van since the weather in the mountains was much like our weather at home - warm.
A Christmas Carol was a complete sellout and we were fortunate to have the same wonderful seats as before on the sixth row back from the stage. We found out at the very beginning that this was not the usual run-of-the-mill edition of the story. It had a delightful twist as a young boy enters an attic in search of the book, but continues to lay it down here and there as he finds other delights to catch his attention. Each time he wanders into another spot he brings out - unaware to him - ghosts of the past that can only stay up and about if he would begin to read the story which he eventually does. These five ghosts are the characters of A Christmas Carol as the boy finally settles down to enjoy his book and is still unaware of them. These same six characters and a fiddle player are all on stage for the whole production and make their necessary change of characters as part of the story. Different ones take over as the narrator and the story is very fast paced - no stops - no intermissions - a delightful duration for a spellbound audience.
On the way back down the mountain we discussed plans for going to the Barter Theater in Virginia soon. Allie was asked to look into the future plays and making arrangements for us to go there for our next play. A local truck driver and his wife were among us on this trip. We got into a discussion of some of his trips and his wife riding along with him on many of them. They’ve had a lot of interesting events as they travel America. We learned about lot-gators and had bunches of fun with our new found word. We even kidded the pastor of the church about maybe preaching about them in his next sermon.
It was dark when I got back home. No one even missed me except NascarKid who left a message that he wanted to spend the night with me. I called to find out that he was home alone as the rest of the family had gone out for supper, except DynoKid who was spending the night with a friend. He beeped his mom who then called to tell me that if I wished I could ride over and pick up NascarKid. He was outside the house with his skateboard in-hand ready to go. I had him to take in the new dresses for Giggles and a pair of tights with tiny Christmas trees on them to wear with her Christmas dress to church. His Dad had arrived back home by that time and came out to the car to talk for a few minutes before we left. On the way back home we drove through the streets of the neighborhood near home where all the houses are decorated for Christmas. Some of them have really gone over board on adding more items to their collections of Christmas lights in action. It’s never the same from year-to-year.
Once home, I collapsed as NascarKid worked some on the computer, practiced on his skateboard out on the patio by the light of the outside night light, and watched some television.
MY CHRISTMAS GREETING
Above The Saloon - I joined the craze and found it fun. It's all about my life, my beautiful boy, and my beautiful wife. I think it's interesting, sometimes funny, sometimes sad. All those things you would see from above the saloon. It's also a fine way to work with HTML.
Lenoir,NC 28645
United States
©2001 by Stormy Jeanne