Meet Miss Cordelia

A lot has happened since my last real blog journal post. My father had a successful battle with cancer, and my youngest brother survived a massive, near-fatal heart attack at the young age of 48. On the upside, my daughter was married in a gorgeous outdoor wedding in Naples, Florida and the following year our middle son and his wife gave us a beautiful granddaughter to love and cherish! 

Meet Cordelia Anne, named from the book series Anne of Green Gables, where Anne wishes aloud that she had a more sophisticated name like "Cordelia". This is out daughter-in-law's all-time favorite book and from when she was just a girl had if she had a daughter she would name her Cordelia. 

She is now 7 months old and getting teeth. I have the honor of babysitting Miss Cordelia two days a week, so she only has to go to daycare three days instead of five, and so I can form a lasting and meaningful relationship with my little grandbaby. I love her so much. 

I'm back...again...for awhile...

After taking a little hiatus from blogging, I am back. As my previous post I wrote about getting sucked into the Facebook and social media black hole, I managed to get myself so sucked in that I accomplished nothing in the two years that I have been away from Blogger. I hadn't done any writing, drawing, painting or anything that I love to do. I just sat and scrolled, and scrolled and scrolled, clicking like and commenting short phrases and words on my friends walls in response to a photo, a funny meme, or political news commentary. I don't even want to add up the time I spent on Facebook in the past two years. It's embarrassing, and not to mention, depressing. It sucks your life, it sucks your time, it drains your brain. So, I am limiting myself to Facebook and putting more time back into the things I used to enjoy, and also someone new in my life. My new little granddaughter, Cordelia Anne.

Back to the real world and things I love

Facebook can be like a self-imposed prison sentence if you let it. I love the fact that I found so many friends from my past that I have reconnected with and am thankful for that. However, I have become totally obsessed with FB and what's happening on the newsfeed that I have been forgetting to live life in the REAL WORLD. 

After sitting in a cube at the office for eight hours a day, I come home and sit in front of a computer for three or four more hours before bed, staring at a screen. Missing the last remaining hours of daylight and the beautiful sunsets, the sounds of the cicadas, the dancing fireflies after dark. I have finally woken up, as I had from religion, and have been rediscovering the things that I used to do. Like READING a book, and writing letters and stories.  I still check out the FB statuses, but have given myself a time limit, and going to try not to get sucked back into it for so many hours a day. Life is passing me by!

I got addicted to Facebook...

But I think I am growing bored with it. I have been spending less and less time on Facebook and more time getting back to my blogs and writing, and my hobbies, and keeping up with my penfriends and actually going outdoors to enjoy the sunshine more often! It's so easy to get sucked into the Facebook thing, and it is a time thief. Stealing hours and hours of time I could be doing something else that I truly enjoy.

LOL!

Christmas 2011

It was a very quiet Christmas this year with Jeff and Mary not being here. But we had a nice visit with the Karr family (none of them have the last name Karr anymore...all girls and all married and grandparents now, their grandchildren all having different last names). There was lots of delicious foods and sweets. Watching the kids is always fun. They are all growing so fast. 

Christmas Day was spent at my parents' house and there was more food, and it was fun getting together again and seeing everyone. With everyone so busy it seems like time is getting away from us way too fast. I can't believe another year is about over and will soon be just memories like all the other years gone past.

Honey badger don't care, honey badger don't give a $hit!

LOL! Mary posted his on FB!

Working woman

How time flies! I hadn't realized I hadn't posted anything here since last November! Since then a lot has changed. Hubby has a new job, I have been working full time since January and we are now landlords and owners of two houses besides the one we live in. 

I work for a publishing company that makes ads for Catholic Church bulletins. I never realized there was even such a thing as advertisements in church bulletins, but apparently it's big business in the Catholic world, enough of it to keep a company of 200 something people employed! 

What do I do there? I am a proofreader and typesetter/ad creator. We make ads for all kinds of businesses from classified list of baby sitters looking for work, to big banks, airlines, funeral homes, restaurants, retail stores of all kinds, grocery stores, and any other kind of business you would find advertised in the newspapers and magazines. 

I like my job. I like the people I work with. However, I don't like the drive much, especially with the rising gasoline prices. I work up near Ohare Airport, and it's a 50+ mile drive. Takes an hour and something to get there and an hour to an hour and a half to get home. LONG days. 

So, that's what I have been up to that is taking my time away from fun stuff, like blogging.

Job hunting

Time seems to be whizzing by, and the race to find jobs for my husband and I before the doors close on his present company is getting more intense and stressful. I miss the old days of applying for jobs where one looked through the newspaper ads, circling those of interest and then printing out a resume, addressing an envelope, and mailing the resume in an addressed and stamped envelope. I don't like this new electronic application process at all. 

I prefer to go in and shake someone's hand and introduce myself and ask to face-to-face and deliver the resume in person. This is the only way a prospective employer will really get an honest first impression of an applicant. Online applications are quite impersonal, and the questionnaires that many companies require you to spend a long time filling out tells nowhere near what an honest and open face-to-face meeting can. 

Once resumes are sent online, it feels as if they are sucked into a black hole of uncertainty. I wonder if many, if not most, of my resumes are being received at all unless I get an automated response "thank you for your resume, we will get in touch with you if we are interested". Most of the time there is no response at all, and I think the "reject letter" is a thing of the past and not a thing most companies concern themselves with doing anymore. Therefore, people are left hanging and maybe even applying for a company multiple times in hopes of them being noticed and considered. 

We have no choice but to keep plodding along, emailing our attached resumes, answering sometimes hundreds of redundant questionnaires, and hoping that a human being at some point will actually read and consider our applications.

Constantly choosing the lesser of two evils is still choosing evil. - Jerry Garcia

I have made up my mind that I will no longer choose the lesser of two evils. From here on out, I will choose and follow what I believe to be right, even if it cannot win.

Just as my husband predicted

My husband told his company several years ago that if they sent their production to China the business would decline and eventually bring on it's own demise. He didn't want to be right, but apparently he has more business sense than the company owners. Sales slipped every year. Quality grew worse and worse. Lost accounts, big ones. Lay-offs. Finally, the owners are forced to sell the company to a large corporation who deals mostly where? Yep...China. They don't want the people however, just the equipment. So, hubby is being let go, all the people at his company are being let go. The regular workers Dec. 17, and the managers "up to" March 31. My husband is a manager, but he isn't holding his breath. They already gave him a wonderful severance pay of $100. Yes, you read that right. $100. That is the severance for 25-30 years of hard work and dedication. Hope he finds a job soon so he can tell them adios.

Glad election's over

I am so glad that the mid-term elections are over. What a mud-slinging fiasco the ads were! None of the ads tell us what the candidate slinging the mud will do to improve the economy, create more jobs, improve health care, military overseas, etc. The candidates just tell us that their opponent is a witch, is not a true Christian, is a baby killer, eats children for breakfast and whatever else they want to dream up. And then they run videos of their opponents making them look terrible, like monsters who are going to get you in the dark. And people actually vote on this type of propaganda? They really believe it? As Sarah Palin says "you betcha" and that's what they are all counting on. American laziness to look up facts for themselves, and to believe whatever is shown on the boob tube. 

I am not so against some balance in government, but it is upsetting when working class individuals will shoot down health care reform, and other programs that help working class individuals! Makes no sense to me at all. So many Americans vote to screw themselves. And based on a couple of issues...abortion and gay marriage. They don't care if they give up the benefits they rush over to get when they get laid off, lose their insurance, etc. They do bellow loudly though when there is talk about taking their Medicare and "Socialist" security away. They don't want to vote for the handouts they cherish. Mind boggling.

Pills

Dog days of summer

This has got to be one of the longest, hottest, most humid summers I have experienced in my life. Fortunately, we have air conditioning (though for a couple of weeks we were without any because our old unit broke down finally after fourteen years of loyal service). It's uncomfortable to even sit outside for a few minutes. Everything is moist, and hot. Jon comes home dripping in sweat from his job. He has an air conditioned office, but isn't in it much since he is plant manager and needs to be out where the workers are. I don't know how anyone can work in this stuff in this kind of horrific heat. It's not just Chicagoland that is suffering this summer. Many areas of the country have it much worse and glad we don't live in a southern state where temps are in the triple digits, and then added to it is the heat index with the humidity factored in. 

I am ready for the coolness of autumn, when I can open our windows and let the breezes come in.

Key Largo and Key West

We recently went on vacation to the Florida Keys and I loved it. I anticipated heat and mugginess, but the weather, while it was very warm, it was a lot worse back up here in Chicagoland when we returned. Key Largo was so romantic, just like the songs about it. We rented a room at the Stoneledge Paradise Inn, an old-style 50s-ish motel painted sunset pink with aqua trim. The Inn has its own dock and pier and swimming area in the water. Jon and I sat on a seat on the pier and watched the sun go down as it cast different shades of pastels over the darkening sea.

Key West is excitement while at the same time there is a laid-backness about the town. The highlight of this visit was the tour of Ernest Hemingway's home and all of the six-toed cats that live there. We also had an original sloppy joe sandwich at the original Sloppy Joe's Bar. Then we took a glass-bottom boat excursion, and what a sight that was! Lots of yellow-tailed snapper, saw a couple of baracuda, lots of pretty underwater plants and seaweed, parrot fish, and the water was incredibly turquoise. Beautiful.

Here are some photos.

Our 35th anniversary

Today is our 35th wedding anniversary. When I was young and looking ahead, 35 years seemed like such a long time. It doesn't seem that long at all from the perspective of looking back. We have done so much in our married life, raised three kids, lived several different places, visited so many cool places and had so many exciting experiences. I hope we have many more years ahead of us because there is so much yet that we want to do.

Virginia Beach vacation

Jon and I just got back from a much needed vacation at Virginia Beach. On the way we stopped overnight near Pittsburgh and met up with an old Air Force buddy of Jon's, Keith Z and we went to Primanti's for a really different kind of sandwich. This sandwich was invented for workers who didn't have time to sit and eat a full course meal. It's meat, fries, cole slaw and cheese all between two pieces of Italian bread. Here is a picture of it. Yum.

We spent some time with Mary in Richmond and saw the production of Porgy & Bess at the Carpenter Theater. It was pretty good. A bit to "gospelly" for my taste, but good performances, great music. The sets were okay, but due to budget cuts, they had to do the best with what money they had. Mary has been performing in the orchestra for this production of Porgy & Bess in Virginia. She gets to do so many cool things with her trumpet.

We stayed with Mary until Wednesday the 5th and then Jon and I drove to Virgnia Beach where we had reservations at the Best Western Oceanfront. Our room was fantastic with a gorgeous view of the beach and water from our balcony and front windows. We went to dinner at a seafood place called George's on Atlantic Avenue for dinner the first night and got the buffet which offered everything from stuffed flounder, crab legs, and other seafood. My favorite was the crab cakes. Delicious!

The next day we walked along the boardwalk, taking photos. We had breakfast at the pancake house, also on Atlantic Avenue. I got the best cherry pancakes I ever had. Will post some pictures when I get them all uploaded into my computer.

We spent a lot of time lounging in our room, sitting on the balcony watching the waves roll in and out, watching the seagulls dive down to pick up whatever scraps humans left behind for them. In the early morning hours the sun seemed to rise out of the glistening waters and then rose into the sky making golden sparkles across the waves. I took photos of those and will post those, also as soon as I can.

We had dinner the last night at the restaurant on the main level of our hotel. It's called Angelo's and we got a plated dinner at a table by the window with a full view of the ocean and beach. I ordered the trio...scallops, flounder and shrimp with a baked potato and salad. Jon got the strip steak and baked potato. Then we went for a long walk up the boardwalk again, then over to Atlantic Ave. to do some shopping in the tourist traps. Stopped at Dairy Queen for a Buster Bar Blizzard. And then we went in for the night to relax and watch the water till it got dark and we could no longer see the waves. You could still hear them, though.

Was sad to leave the next morning. We ate breakfast in the room. Jon went and got us Subway breakfast sandwiches and I made decaf in the room. We sat by the table at the window and ate our food. Then it was time to pack up and head back to Mary's. I could live there in Virginia Beach, in that hotel room forever. It was so peaceful there.

Now back to reality, which reminds me I need to get off of here and get back to work. Another project started the day we got home.

Lovin' Lady Gaga

I find her videos interesting and bizarre at the same time.

Diagnosing myself

I started having these irregular heartbeats back in January. When they first started happening I thought oh well, palpitations again. They come and go. Well, this time they didn't go! They stayed 24/7 and were more than the usual racing beat or extra beat or skipped beat. It was near constant.

I went to see my regular doctor and she said I had high blood pressure because every time I go in my bp reads high...never mind that every time I go in I am either in pain or sick and that can elevate bp. No, she says I need medicine or I could have a stroke or something. SO, I took the Inderal she prescribed. That's when the irregular heartbeats became a regular thing.

Went off to the cardiologist. He put me on a different beta blocker which didn't do anything except turn me into a zombie. I was butt-draggin' tired all the time. And my pulse was 45! So, he tried adjusting the dosage. All that did was make me a little less sleepy, but the irregular heartbeat never normalized.

Then I saw a gastro doctor and a lung doctor in between. The lung guy found I have a nodule in my right lung that I have to have rescanned in August. Probably a rheumatoid nodule from the RA but he wants to be sure. Then went to a gastro doc who did an endoscopy that would tell if I had ulcers again. Had that done on the 9th of this month and sure enough...ulcers are back and gastritis. He put me on ulcer meds and one of them didn't agree with me...made my throat and food pipe burn...why? The dumbasses never told me I had to DISSOLVE the tablet in water and drink it! It was getting stuck and all the medicine staying in my esophagus!

In the meantime the cardiologist told me to stop the BP med and let things get out of my system before starting another drug. I did that and the heartbeat was still constantly irregular. SO I did some research on my own about GERD, (I also have a hiatus hernia) and heart irregularities and guess what? There IS a connection. So I called the gastro guy again and asked him and he says that he often has patients end up in ER for cardiac symptoms that are triggered by the ulcers and gastritis. There is a nerve that runs from your brain, through your neck and down to the espohagus, heart and other organs. When irritated it can cause heart irregularities. So, he gave me some different medicine and said to stay on a bland diet and guess what? I am happy to report that the irregular heartbeat seems to be settling back to some sort of normalcy...thank goodness.

Sometimes we just have to do the detective work ourselves.

Facebookin'

I've been doing too much Facebooking lately and not paying enough attention to my blogs. Well, I am going to try to be better about that from now on. I have missed writing out full sentences and participating in some intelligent debate.

Facebook is fun, don't get me wrong. I do enjoy keeping tabs on what everyone is doing. It's been great for staying connected. It's also been the source of drama and I have had to witness some of these dramas via my newsfeed wall that I would have been better off not knowing about. What some people write on their Facebook walls boggles the mind. I've witnessed a whole relationship of one couple break up, fall apart, the nasty exchanges, and then the whole mob action against the guy for being a cheater...and then finally, like in the movies...the whole barfy reconciliation.

The games on Facebook are big time wasters. I really do enjoy Yoville, but hate the farms. This is a strange phenomenon. I hate the farms but feel compelled to click, click, click away to "harvest the fruits, vegetables and other things from cartoon fields, trees and animals. Then like I wrote about before, the cartoon cafe where I spend time preparing cartoon dishes for cartoon characters to eat. I recently started working again online so have to curtail these activities and hopefully this will wean me off of my current FB addiction before it sucks me in even farther.