Well, I Skipped Yoga

I stopped to tell Mardi I wasn't staying because I wasn't at all sure I'd be able to breathe through it and not cough up a lung.  I hate the cold stage where you have a coughing fit whenever you exert yourself.  Makes me crazy.  I had a couple customers yesterday, paying customers.  It took me a minute to remember what to do and how to work the cash register but I managed.  Guess what?  Tomorrow night DD & DIL2 arrive for a little visit.  Eeeee!  *pause for happy dancing*  Okay, I'm back.  That gives Indy and the rest of Indiana one day to get that snow and ice cleared up so the girls can pass through safely.  I intend to whisk DD off for lunch at HuHot one day since she was too far to whisk on my birthday and I really missed her. That also means we'll get to open presents on Sunday.  Yay, presents!  Did you get good presents?  What you wanted?  Did a lot of your family get together in a noisy, crowded scrum to eat and talk and exchange gossip and gifts?  I hope so.  God, it's dark outside.  Cloudy and gray and dim.  Makes me think that the "Song of the Volga Boatmen" should be playing in the background.  Or maybe what the Wicked Witch's guard sang when Scarecrow, the Tinman, and the Cowardly Lion peered over the rocks trying to get in to rescue Dorothy. (did you know that they're called Winkie Guards?  I didn't either.  silly name)  Now that I've listened to both it has to be the Volga Boatmen, it's that dreary out there.  Another thing I can't figure out is how come I was so sleepy late in the day that I nearly conked out at work and on the couch after supper but came to life around 10 PM and had the devil of a time falling asleep at 11 PM?  What's with that?  Is there a reset button that I can push around here someplace?  We looked out on Christmas Eve to see an Oriole at one of our feeders.  Orioles don't overwinter here so I posted a pic on Facebook to get some help with ID and to find out what food to put out for it.  Turns out it is an Oriole and I've got the right foods (mealworms & suet) out.  I emailed Cousin Mike yesterday because I was watching the Old Faithful cam, it was snowing real pretty, and I thought they should herd some buffalo into camera range, so I sent him a what I thought was a humorous, joking email.  This morning I got a very serious reply telling me who controls the cam and that I can call them.  I can see that it's been too long since anyone with a sense of humor has had a lot of contact with that boy.  I'll have to do something about it.  He's visiting his folks, I should call.  A light just when on--Mike's folks live in Indy, I need Indy cleared up so the girls can drive through tomorrow, I can call Mike to check if it's safe.  Brilliant.  Plus I can call DD and give her their phone number just in case they need it.  Safety first.  Also Be Prepared.  Someone who married an Eagle Scout and gave birth to another can't get away with being unprepared.  It gets to be a habit.  The last time I had to call 9-1-1 it was hard to be polite to the little girl on the other end of the phone reading out of her "dealing with calls" binder about what to do and how to take care of Durwood.  I take a thorough first aid course every 2 years, I know what to do, just get the paramedics here, dammit.  Well, that's what I wanted to say but I was very polite and calm and she let me hang up.  Whew.  Be polite, Barbara, people don't expect it.  (Durwood has COPD and every once in a while his torso muscles rebel about doing a lot of the breathing work and he gets terrible muscle spasms that are scary and make it even harder to breathe, so we call them to come help take him to the ER because when that happens it can be too much to walk to the car especially in the cold.)  I might dither over inconsequential things but I stay calm in emergencies.  Too much info?  Sorry, I ramble.

December 27--Arabian Peninsula, Figure of a Bull.  "Put your pencil on the number one dot.  Draw a line from there to the number two dot.  Continue connecting the dots until the design is complete.  Color if desired."  If only all of life was that simple, Shelly thought.  Just follow the dots, color if desired.  Yeah.  No one's throwing obstacles in your path or digging a trench for you to fall into in their little connect-the-dots world.  No one lights the page on fire while you're linking the dots just ahead of the flames.

Don't look at me, I have no idea where that came from.  Didn't last night while I was writing it either.  Okay.  I need to shower, eat, and go off to work, stopping to collect eggs first.  Great-grand-eggs!

--Barbara Sue