momentarily ruminating ...

Image Source: Pixabay

  There are times (today) when the aging process is a literal pain in my ... knee.

  The arthroscopic surgery I had hoped would end the pain in my left knee has had to be postponed until next year.  The health insurance plan that I have chosen for the past two years (anticipating and successfully banking on good health) because it was the least expensive option, has turned out to be not so much so.  It is a "pay for what you need" plan, and when I had them add the codes for the knee surgery, it was going to cost me an additional $2,500 in payroll deductions over the next 20 weeks.  Plus $850 up front.  Funds I don't have at the ready, and can't afford to lose from my paycheck.  So when open enrollment starts for next year, I will choose a different plan that will better suit my needs.  Not just to get my left knee done, but also my right later when the left has healed since I know favoring the left will irritate the right.  Winters walking on ice were not kind to me.

  I really wish that the US would follow the lead of other countries and make health care more affordable.  For everyone.

  But I think that will be something that won't happen until hell freezes over because the governing bodies that could make a difference always seem to ensure that they won't ever have the need, and thereby don't have a clue what the rest of us endure.

  I'm whining because I'm in a blue funk because of it all.  In pain.  Frustated.  Topping it off, I saw a meme this morning that announced I was older than Google.

  Talk about pouring salt on a wound.

  I'm at an age where more and more people I grew up with are passing away.  I don't recognize any of the popular music artists and actors.  I feel like a stranger in a strange land.

  Mind you, I'm not in any great hurry to join the ones that are no longer here.  But I miss that world I once belonged to, and many of the people that are no longer in this one.  I miss the feeling of being invincible and immortal.

WfW ~ friend or foe?

I am writing with Words for Wednesday, the words for which can be found [link>] on Messy Mimi's Meanderings blog for the month of August.

The goal of WfW is to take given prompts, words, phrases, photos, colors, or music and create a story from them. This week's words and color of the month are in bold italics.

If you visit her blog you can also read and cheer on the other writers participating in this weekly fun.

  Looking at my calendar, it is hard to believe that the month still has just over a week left to it.  As busy as I've been, as tired and sore as I've felt, I could have sworn it was the end of September already.  Which would actually be nice if it was.  The mornings have been foggy, and if the sayings are true, we will be in for a snowy January.

  A fellow employee has been on leave the first few days this week, and thankfully, there has not been the normal chaos.  Although, I have probably jinxed myself now for at least the rest of this day.  She will be back tomorrow.

  I spotted a paw print inside one of our trash cans yesterday, but couldn't decide if it was friend or foe.  Friend being possum.  Maybe even raccoon.  Foe being a skunk.  Thankfully a quick internet search determined it was a possum, but Charlie was still reminded that if he gets "skunked" again (for the third time since I've had him) he may be sleeping outside for a while.

  Regular dog shampoo and water won't get that stink off him, just a crazy concoction of Dawn dish soap, baking soda, and hydrogen peroxide.  And since there is no outside water faucet here, it would be a stink that would fill the house for a while, tho he would go straight into the downstairs bathroom and no further until he was cleaned.  Which would then leave me to get it off me and my clothes.  We would be smelling it for weeks, and it isn't a smell that one easily becomes immune to.

  Christian did see the possum last night, which was a good thing.  Having one in the yard is a plus for all of us, especially Charlie because they love a nightly buffet of ticks, snails, slugs, and other insects that would normally enjoy munching on the plants in the garden.  So they are like having a gardener on duty after hours.  I really hate slugs.

  I am looking forward to September's words with malice prepence, although I know there is yet another week of words for August.  I have a person in mind for the antagonist, someone who uses bullying to gain pelf often with no regard for who is stepped on in the process.  A coxcomb of a misogynist.

weekend bits and bobs ...

I finally picked up my new "after-hours" glasses this morning.  It is the end of an era for turquoise & brown.  Hello, new blue!

I salvaged these from the trash this week.  A little bleach, soap, and water, and I have all kinds of ideas for them.

Including one for this lamp.  I previously shared this vintage find (which I love love love) that is brass and patinaed copper.  Now I'm trying to decide between what type of fabric to use to recover the square shade.  The lamp serves as a nightlight in the entry hall because everyone's shifts are different with some leaving in the dark, and some coming home in the dark.  I kinda didn't want it to be so bright with just a white shade and have scratched off the list the ones I first looked at that were a lighter color. 

Now I'm down to these two fabrics:

This one I like because of all the other interesting little quirky things that make it more than just pineapples.

This one, however, is just gorgeous, and really plays into the patina of the copper.

I overdid things on Saturday and had to put ice on my knee for a bit.  Lucy was worried about me because I don't usually lie down in the middle of the day.  So she kept coming up and giving me headbutts and wondering what was going on.  I just love the green of her eyes.

I've been researching the background of the house to tie in with the original embossed/galvanized tin shingles that were recently replaced.  Pretty fascinating actually, and I will post it sometime.

WfW ~ and other things ...

L-R:  Christian, Aila, May, and Bipin

I am writing with Words for Wednesday, the words for which can be found [link>] on Messy Mimi's Meanderings blog for the month of August.

The goal of WfW is to take given prompts, words, phrases, photos, colors, or music and create a story from them. This week's words and color of the month are in bold italics.

If you visit her blog you can also read and cheer on the other writers participating in this weekly fun.

  I will try to suppress my adoration for these four.  I couldn't have lucked out with better roommates than I got with these ones.

  Most of the time I realize that having roommates or choosing them, can be a frenzied ballet, somewhere between Brahm's Lullaby and Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.  Somewhere between getting a superhero or someone running from the law with warrants out for their arrest.

   These four have become my partners-in-crime for practical jokes.  Stress-free, pressure-free, no hassles happy to cook AND clean up after themselves. 

   West Virginia is like a treasure map of new experiences and adventures for them.  A quick walk to the bus stop on Main Street and they are soon exploring in Lewisburg.

Not black
deep green
hopefully orange
soon

  Dinners here are a feast, sometimes with homemade spring rolls (not to be confused with egg rolls) and fresh cucumbers from the garden in homemade spicy hot vinegar.

 The full moon rolls around and they keep me centered and not howling at the moon or wanting to rip someone's head off.  I'm on the prowl for garden gnomes to hide under the Great Pumpkin's leaves just for the fun of knowing they are there.

  I could fill a dozen trash cans with the negativity of the past three years here, but a hundred of them couldn't hold the good things that have happened since I arrived.