Worse than the Paint Drying Channel

What is worse than watching the Paint Drying Channel?

Oh! Oh! Ask ME! ME! I know this one!!!

Waiting on the Medicare website to move from one page to another. For two days I have wasted far too much time waiting for that overburdened website to move. December 31st (tomorrow) is the deadline for checking all the Medicare Prescription Supplement Insurance Plans to find the best one for Mama and Unc.

No need to try to do this any earlier in the year, like December 1st, the first day of the re-evaluation period. That would be too easy! I crave those down-to-the-wire deadlines.  I must, or I would try to avoid them!

SO, here I am sitting on the bed, laptop propped up on a stack of pillows before me, Westies snuggled all around, ready to chew through nails if that would help that website move any faster. 

When I discovered that my laptop refused to let me simultaneously process Mama's account and Unc's account on the Medicare site, I tried to edit some photos.

"Choke, cough, gag, sputter," said the laptop.

Too much ADD in me to be able to stand a fate worse than watching paint dry!  SO, I organized the medical files and made some calls and passionately petted puppies.

My favorite cleaning ladies to the rescue! After the first episode that disclosed a bacterial culture of the ceiling fan to have high concentrations of penicillin or penicillus somethingorother, a mold that can cause all kinds of respiratory complications, Gordon and I started looking at the ceiling fan happily whirring above us.

Without a word, Gordon got the ladder and climbed above his comfort zone to clean the ceiling fan. No need to discuss how dusty and icky our ceiling fan actually was.

Tomorrow is our fifth wedding anniversary, so I felt I had earned my right to "help" him from my boring Medicare Website watch.

"Honey, please get one of those ice cream buckets to hold the wash water, not a piece of my Yellow Tupperware!"
"Honey, you left a streak on that blade."
"Honey, please don't brush the cobweb down with that brush. See how it releases that dust in the air?"
"Honey, did you get on top of the blade?"
"Honey, if you step up another step or two on the ladder, you can actually see on top of the blades."
"Honey, don't fall now...you'd better step down at least a step to be safe."
"Honey, there are now two blades with streaks."
"Honey, you should get some fresh water to finish getting the dust."
"Honey, be careful on the top of the fan. You don't want to get water in the electrical housing."

And to think, Gordon actually told me this morning that he felt blessed to have married me almost five years ago! I have a theory that men like a perpetual challenge. HA!

Apparently Gordon enjoys the challenge of continually trying to tame me! Would all the Spirited Women reading this please stand up?

So, two nights ago, Gordon was trying to catch Belle, one of the elderly English Shepherds, to escort her into the studio. She is scared of men, and we have moved her into the studio where we can see that she gets outside to the Puppy Powder Room more frequently.

Gordon lunged...the slurpy, sloppy, squishy winter grass slid under Gordon's shoes, and he went down, his wedding band slipped off from the impact (and the post oral surgery weight loss). He heard a dull thud as the ring hit the ground.

It is very quiet and very dark way out here in the wilderness. Gordon searched for a long time with the flashlight. Unc joined the search the next morning (yesterday). The men have raked through the dormant grass and a few leaves for two days now. No ring.

It might have bounced outside the back yard fence, so they have looked outside the fence. The search area is roughly 20' x 20'. I've been wondering if there is some bad luck attached to losing one's wedding band three days before one's FIFTH wedding anniversary?

A pretty beveled mirror from Grandma's house, lots of age and character, somersaulted off the vanity wall in the bathroom in Grandma's house one day this weekend, and broke into a myriad of sparkly little pieces. It was a heavy old mirror, and I mourn its loss.

You know what they say about seven years' bad luck for breaking a mirror. I've cracked two little hand-held mirrors in the last 16 years. Are we looking at 21 years of bad luck? I think I've served my time for the first little mirror, but there is still time to be served for the second hand mirror. Now the big mirror.

Why don't these Old Wives' Tales come with better explanations? Does a little hand-held mirror carry a shorter penalty than a big mirror? It should! Can my sentences to bad luck run concurrently? Tack on the lost wedding band sentence, and we may never get out of the Old Wives' Tale State Prison!

(You are hearing my tongue in cheek and seeing the twinkle in my eye, right?)

Prattling on in this silly mood, Unc and I saw the UPS truck parked outside the little Kilmichael Post Office. The UPS guy was DELIVERING a package. That was just too fun for my barely contained curiosity.

Of course, I did not take a camera this morning! I've missed some really fun photos on our morning trips into Kilmichael, so starting tonight, the camera is packed in my purse, ready for tomorrow's trip.

Mackie and Annie now dance a little jig when I put on their collars in the morning. They KNOW they are going on an ADVENture!

The mentally challenged sack man at the local independent grocery store broke into a big smile this morning when he saw Mackie and Annie. noses pressed against the windows, wagging all over at seeing him!

I was one very proud fur mom! It felt wonderful that our little fur kids were bringing joy to someone just by wagging their tail in recognition. Dogs (and cats) have a magical quality to improve human lives!

Comments

[Vicki O]

Wishing you and your family, of course including the little white furry ones, a wonderful 2009.

[rlbates]

Happy New Year! Hope 2009 is a healthier one for you and yours.