Hey, Jeanie, do you have any bacon? I heard this news story about stopping nose bleeds yesterday and I immediately thought about you. 
Thanks, CC and Afton. My dental appointment was okay; it could have been better, but it definitely could have been a lot worse. The dentist found a couple minor cavities. He filled the one that was bothering me (How I hate that drill!) and I have an appointment to go back to have the rest taken care of. I also had a cleaning done (Metal scraping teeth is almost as bad as the drill). My jaw was really sore the next day, from the Novocain needle I guess. It's fine now though. I wish someone would just invent a laser or something to take care of tartar and cavities.  The dentist also told me that I have the sharpest canines that he's seen in a long time, which made me laugh. I got those from my dad. Maybe I have vampire ancestry.
I really can't complain about the weather so far this winter. It was almost 60 degrees again today, but windy as heck. I'm loving these warmer than normal temperatures. I was outside in just a long sleeve shirt...at the end of January! Amazing. If only it would rain less often, it would be perfect. 

Thanks for the belated birthday wishes, Sierra. There's no statute of limitations on those. 
My mom just celebrated her birthday last week as well. I actually have several friends and family members with January birthdays. Popular month!

We got our first measurable amount of snow Friday night. It was only about 2 inches, mostly on the grass and my car, but Saturday morning the snow turned into freezing rain which put a layer of ice on top of everything. I went out in the afternoon to clear the steps and walkway. My shovel couldn't break through some of it, so I had to put down some ice melt first. By the time I got to the driveway, the freezing rain had started again, so I quit and left my car for today. It got up to about 32 degrees this afternoon, which pretty much melted whatever ice was left on the blacktop driveway. My car, on the other hand, took me about an hour to clean off. There's a chance we could get some more freezing rain tonight, which I really hope doesn't happen because that would make the drive into work a nightmare.

I've been having some off and on pain in the lower left side of my mouth for a few weeks. When it started becoming more on than off, I figured it was time to go see the dentist, so I have an appointment tomorrow afternoon. Have I mentioned I hate the dentist? Not my dentist himself; he's actually very nice. It's just the whole dental experience that ranks right up there with spiders for me.  The thought of the sound of the drill is enough to freak me out, kind of like Afton and CC are with needles I guess. I've already got apprehension about it tonight. I offered my mom $50.00 in cash to go in my place, but she just laughed at me. Some help she is.     

Thanks for the birthday comments, Jeanie, Afton, sissy, DD, and those of you who I've heard from via email. The cake was definitely yummy.


I'm always so disappointed when folks take down all their Christmas lights on New Year's Day. When I was young, everyone I knew left them up until at least January 6th (the Epiphany). It was almost sacrilegious if someone took them down sooner. Actually, I don't think a lot of people even know what the Epiphany is anymore. I've gotten quizzical looks when I've mentioned it. Now it just seems like most folks rush to put all the decorations up and then rush to take them down as soon as possible. I really don't get it. I think I'm the lone holdout on my street this year. I got a sense of satisfaction every night this week as I defiantly lit my tree and window lights. Let 'em shine!


Two day work weeks are a thing of beauty.

I'll officially turn another year older later this evening. So far my 40s haven't been too good, so I'm hoping for a turnaround. The day has started off pretty well. I got up at 3 a.m. to watch the Quadrantid meteor shower out my bedroom window because it was way too cold to go outside. I only saw one in the five minutes I stood there, but I figured one lucky one is all I need. It took me a long time to fall back to sleep, and then I felt hungover most of the morning, but I've been doing better since lunch. I've already been sung to multiple times, including by Atticus who decided to sing Happy Birthday along with my mom (I love that cat!). Dinner, cake, and ice cream still to come.

Thank you to all my friends for the good wishes so far.


   

Hey Sierra! Thanks for stopping by. Happy holidays to you as well. I hope you continue to keep in touch (and maybe update your blog...hint, hint).  Would love to know how things are going for you.

So here we are again at the beginning of a brand spanking new year. I wish with all my heart that it's a good one for all my friends, as well as myself. We deserve it, don't you think?

Merry Christmas, everyone.  I hope you've all had a nice holiday if you're celebrating.

Thanks for the good wishes last month, Afton, Sissy, Marie, and anonymous commenter. I'd like to say things have been going smoothly since my last post, but not so much. I ended up having to get a new washer, dryer, range, and dishwasher, as one by one, they all died either a slow or lingering death. Installation of the washer and dishwasher presented some challenges, but hopefully everything is hooked up correctly now. Sure put a dent in my bank account though.

It really doesn't feel like Christmas at all. With everything that's been going on, it's like I've been sleepwalking through the past several months. All the days ran together and I didn't have the desire or energy to do much at all. I managed to put up my small tree and hang stockings, but that's about it. Part of me is still stuck back in October somewhere waiting for Halloween. At this rate maybe it will feel like Christmas in February.

Alright, let me catch you up on the last month.

The homeowners insurance claim -  I called my agent, who I really appreciate, and he was so angry over the way my claim was being handled that he made some calls and lit a fire under someone. Apparently the first claims adjuster doofus who came out left town, so they sent another guy and we basically had to start the claim process all over again. He was much more thorough and looked at stuff the other guy never even glanced at or that I would have known to include, so I guess it all worked out for the best. Meanwhile the water mitigation company started calling me for payment because they hadn't been paid by the insurance company yet. My agent told me emphatically not to pay them myself, so I had to keep referring them back to the insurance company and hoping they wouldn't send me to a collection agency. After many calls between the insurance company and me, and a couple screw-ups, the payments were finally sent out. I was informed that the checks sent to me were made out to not only me, but also to my mortgage company, so I'd have to have them endorsed. Unfortunately, my mortgage company doesn't have any branches close to me, so I had to drive to a part of the state I'd never been to before. I hate driving to unfamiliar places alone because I'm always afraid I'm going to get lost, which I actually did on this trip...twice. When I hit the state border, I knew I'd gone too far. LOL. I finally got there and got everything taken care of, so then I was finally able to deposit the checks. I'm so glad that's done; I hope I never have to file another insurance claim. I think I'm going to wait until after the holidays to have the repairs made because I just don't feel like dealing with more right now.

My cat - Atticus seems to be doing well on the medication for his hyperthyroidism. We had to make a few visits to the vet to have his levels checked so we could get the dosage right. The good news is that he doesn't have any kidney disease or other problems that we know of right now. Unless something comes up, we don't have to check back with the vet for 6 months. I'm glad about that. I feel so bad every time I have to take him because he stresses so much that his blood pressure spikes and he cries the whole time. Sometimes he even makes himself sick. Poor baby.

My job - Still don't know anything about potential layoffs. Really hoping and praying that I don't lose my job. I think that scares me more than anything.        

Yeah, I'm still around. I've just been going through a time I'll call the moody blues. Didn't really feel like blogging. Things are looking a bit better now though, knock on wood. Thanks for those of you who still check in on me here. I'll update more details soon. Promise.

It's not Friday the 13th, but it sure feels like it. This morning on my way to work my Subaru was rear-ended by a Nissan Pathfinder when I was stopped for a red light. The young guy, who looked about 17 or 18, said he just wasn't paying attention. Oy. Luckily there didn't seem to be any damage to either vehicle, so we exchanged insurance info to be safe and went on our way. I'm somewhat sore, but nothing bad at this point. I've been taking ibuprofen and hoping for the best. This afternoon I called my insurance company to check on my homeowner's claim from the flood damage. It turns out that the claims adjuster who came out last month (a third party hired by the insurance company to help with all the flood claims) filed his paperwork like he said he would, but it was missing some stuff. So the claim reviewer requested the additional information from him back on September 18th, but he's never gotten back in touch with them. Just my luck. The guy I talked to today said my claim has now been escalated to several people and someone should be contacting me soon. He also suggested I call the adjuster, which I did, and had to leave a message on his voicemail. Sigh. After one week of gorgeous weather, we're back to rain. Accidentally deleted this post on my first try. Think I may just go to bed now.

Thanks for the good wishes Jeanie, Afton, DD, patina, and CC. It's been raining off and on since Monday. My new sump pump got a work out on Tuesday evening when the heaviest rain was falling. It was pumping water out like crazy and none backed up into the house, so yay for that. Thanks for the tip about the drywall, patina. I'll watch for that. I'm still not really sure what I want to do as far as fixing up my basement level yet. I figure if it happened once it can happen again, so I'm pretty certain I don't want to put down carpet.

I've been on vacation all week, but haven't gone anywhere except to the grocery store because roads and towns are basically flooded in any direction I might want to go. Thousands of people are being evacuated from some of the worst flooded areas. It's horrible and the rivers are still rising. I've never seen anything like it. Here's the latest AP news story in case you haven't seen it. We ended August with more that 15 inches of rain, when we normally get about 4 inches. So far this month we've added another 3, and we're the fortunate ones. Some areas have picked up another 10 inches or more over the past few days, and the rain isn't over yet. The ground is completely saturated and the water has no place to go.

Patina, I have to respectfully disagree with your feelings that "it's someone else's turn" to deal with the hurricanes. I don't think it's right that anyone has to deal with these horrendous storms and all their damage. When I said that the tropical storms should stay in the tropics, I meant out over open water. I would never wish that the South take a turn at dealing with blizzards that dump 2+ feet of snow or ice storms that cripple cities, anymore than I'd want to see wildfires, mudslides, or tornadoes give everyone a taste of their wrath. If only Mother Nature would play nice for a while. Can't we all just get along?

The remaining test results for Atticus were basically inconclusive, but he may have a myriad of other problems related to the hyperthyroidism. It's also possible that he has cancer. In order to try to find out for sure, I'd have to take him for further expensive tests (at least one out of state) that I really can't afford. So for now we're going to treat what we know, keep checking levels, and hope for the best. My goal is to keep him as happy and pain-free as I can for as long as possible.