Texas Lady

Well, the last of the HP saga is that the laptop will ship December 6th. (Loud scream here!!) I did receive my Surface tablet and it will be fine until the laptop arrives. Then, this morning (Sunday) when I checked my email, lo and behold, there was an email from HP saying the laptop shipped from China today. OMG! Do I believe this email? They sent a tracking number so time will tell. Argh!

More laundry today (and yesterday). The new sheets were a no go because they wouldn’t stay on the mattress. Wah! I loved the color (light blue) and the feel of the soft fabric. We didn’t need sheets; I just wanted to match the wall color, which I picked out.

The pack is doing well. Saturday will be Khandi’s 11th birthday; I’m looking forward to it. We rescued her when she was 6 in Dickinson. She’s been a great girl and since Bandit’s death January 2020 she’s been the leader of the pack. She’s a great alpha. Nobody crosses her, not because she’s mean but she never makes a sound unless there’s somebody walking down the street that she doesn’t approve. She’s a chiweenie but when she barks she sounds like the biggest dog in the world! The sound comes from deep in her chest and out the loud speaker that is her mouth. When she barks she commands attention and doesn’t take no for an answer. Occasionally she’ll roll one of the little ones with her nose but she doesn’t hurt them. She weighs 15 pounds; Zoe is 4 pounds so when she’s rolled over forcefully she whimpers and scrambles for cover. But Khandi cuddles the littles and treats them gently most of the time. We wouldn’t let her hurt them.

Mimi, 17, thought she would be alpha when Bandit, who was 38 pounds, wasn’t in the top dog spot and she is not happy about Khandi being the boss dog. Mimi will jump Khandi just about on a daily basis, sometimes more than once a day. Khandi jumps back with that devasting bark and dishes out enough menace that Mimi backs off. But Mimi will jump on all the dogs when she’s in one of her moods. Yesterday it was Zoe. Mimi is an 11 pound Chihuahua so she’s much larger than our “babydoll”, Zoe, at 4 pounds. Mimi bites; she even bites people, and with no warning growl. You are bleeding before you know she’s mad. She strikes like a rattler and doesn’t care what damage she leaves in her wake. We rescued Mimi from a shelter; they were going to euthanize her if no one took her before the end of the day. She was what the shelter called “kennel crazy”; nobody could handle her. She bit anyone that came close to her. We assumed that if we got her out of the shelter environment she would calm down and we could get her adopted. Wrong!!! She bit me after I got her home then bit DH every day for 3 weeks afterward. No one would adopt a dog that bites so she’s still here.

Mimi will be 18 in January and is visibly fading, however she has yet to stop attacking the other dogs, especially Khandi. We are trying to make every day count for her since, as the vet stated, she is past her expiration date. She loves DH and follows him like a tail. If he leaves the house she has separation anxiety, barking and pacing. She expects him to carry her in the crook of his elbow and hold her when he sits. She watches him like she expects him to vaporize if she doesn’t. Obviously he can’t be with her as often as she wants but he’s done a commendable job, especially since I was the one who got her from the shelter. Gotta love him!

Okay. Step One. This will be a free-standing lace votive wrap. It’ll go around a glass votive candle for Xmas. I also did a stitch test (3 tests actually until I got it adjusted) on the 10 needle. That doesn’t count for a lot of sewing but both machines are clean and oiled.

Mostly I’ve been fighting with HP over a laptop I ordered on October 14th. It was supposed to ship November 19th. I got an email last week saying it would ship early(?) on December 2nd. I called them; Tanya said the email was an error and it would ship on November 19th; if it didn’t she would call me. Never heard from her and no shipment notification. I sent an email to their customer service about it. They said to check back Monday (today) or Tuesday but it should ship the 19th. Nothing all weekend. Nothing this morning; today is the 22nd. About 3:30 I get an email that it might ship on December 9th. So this morning I ordered a scratch and dent Surface from Woot which is due in 3-5 days. At least I’ll have something until HP gets off their butts and does their jobs. I’m so angry! I will NEVER order another computer from HP. This is about the 30th HP computer we’ve bought over the years. We’ve bought computers for all of our kids and grandkids, and multiples for us from Windows 3.1 to Windows 11. We’ve done the Apple scene, IOS, Android, multiple PDA OS’s, Chromebooks, etc. But, no more from HP. I’m done!!!!!!!

I have the last load of laundry in the dryer. I feel like I spend my life washing clothes. Yesterday I did bedding. First I washed the new sheets I bought, then the bedspread that was on the bed. That is a story unto itself. Our Samsung washing machine, bought new when we moved here 2 years ago, won’t spin anything heavy. So we can no longer wash cushions, pillows or bedspreads. I threw away most of the cushions, put zippered covers on all the pillows but still have to wash the king sized bedspread from time to time. I wash it and then my husband takes over and it takes a couple of extra hours to get enough water out of the spread that it will spin enough water out that it can go into the (also brand new) Samsung dryer. Then it takes 3-4 hours in the dryer before it is dry enough to actually use. I have looked into purchasing an industrial washer now. Maybe that’ll be Xmas this year.

I think it sounds like a pitcher-of-Margaritas-day! Time to go feed the dogs. See ya!

Whoa!!!!!!!! He looks like he’s giving somebody a piece of his mind.

Dinner time!

It’s a gorgeous day today and we weren’t the only ones who thought so. Our squirrel family came to visit this morning. This is the first time I’ve gotten pictures of them but I even got two videos. Fantastic! We had the bird feeder under a tree so the birds would be out of the weather but the squirrels found the feeder and have taken possession of it.

ZsaZsa tried to trick or treat at the drive-thru at Wendy’s. Unfortunately, they didn’t see the fun in it; too busy serving hungry people. We only had one trick-or-treater at home and we didn’t purchase candy this year. He was about 3 years old and his mother rang the bell. I felt so bad that I had nothing to give him. Only after they’d gone did I realize there was candy in the pantry.

I had my YAG laser last week and I think it got rid of the cloudiness. I go back to the ophthalmologist tomorrow so should know if there’s anything else they can do for my vision. Everything they’ve done has helped but we may be at the end of our rope. Fingers crossed for something positive.

Still haven’t sewn anything. Frankly I think I’m so afraid of failure that I haven’t even tried. All the supplies are bought; the sewing room/office has been reorganized for better use, and I’m petrified. I’m able to verbalize it now so that’s a start anyway. More later…obviously. Have a nice week.

Not much done in the way of sewing but no time to myself lately, however, it’s about to change. Today I’m loading Windows 11 on my computers. One done, then system file errors on a laptop. This is taking a while so I may not finish them all today. However, I’m pleased with Windows 11, not many changes in anything but the interface that I’ve seen.

The dogs are doing well health-wise. Everyone seems to be on best behavior with their health. Mimi is visibly going downhill but when you’re 88 in dog years it’s normal to no longer be your best, right? She goes to the vet Monday to get her meds checked but not expecting to hear any bad news.

Everything is going well health wise for us, too. I’m going to be having a YAG laser treatment on my left eye toward the end of the month. I’m hoping that will take the blurriness away. I have 20-40 vision but the blurring makes my vision less clear. Fingers crossed.

I fully intended to start embroidering today until I stumbled across the new Windows 11 release. My first love is computers, computing, and all related fields. I bought some new designs that I’m going to test for baby gifts. And I have some xmas designs to test too. I figure I’ll have both machines running again. That seems to be when I’m happiest…when all irons are in the fire at the same time. LOL Pictures later.

…Back to computing.

I got lost before Day 3. Still haven’t embroidered the blankets but I have accomplished other things. I’m able to be more active and trying to drive more so I can feel more comfortable behind the wheel. I still want to be able to drive to visit family in Austin. I got sick and tired of being sick and tired and pledged to find out why I was so sleepy all the time. I slept as much in the recliner as I did at night, and I never had any ambition or energy during the day. So I looked up my prescriptions and stopped the ones that could be sedating. I stopped 2 which helped immensely. I can’t stop my blood pressure medication and that’s the last sedating one. I’ve stopped sleeping during the day now. That’s a start. But I have insomnia from hell because one I stopped was my night time sleeping pill. I may start that at half strength and see if I can function.

I went back to the retina specialist and he says I have permanent damage to my retina due to scarring from the infection. My vision is 20-30 and blurry most of the time. Sux. I’d have never agreed to cataract surgery if I’d known I’d have to deal with this! Who would?

DH bought a new tool shed (20′ x 12′) and installed it in the backyard. He’s brought home everything he still had in storage, so for the first time in about 20 years we don’t have to pay monthly storage fees. Next on the agenda is to replace the driveway and patio, then build a Four Seasons room on the patio foundation. Some day it’ll all be nice.

The dogs are doing well. Zoe had an inflamed conjunctiva on her left eye so went to see the vet. But she is doing fine now. Here is a pic of her in her party hat:

Other than those things we’re just rocking along and trying to get out of the house more, spend more quality time together and establish new patterns/habits with the pandemic aftermath…just like everyone else.

Okay. Today I hemmed two fleece blankets on the serger. I made an error on the first but nothing major. Then, when I rethreaded in another color for the other blanket it took me 30 minutes to thread the needle. I did finally get it with the second magnifying glass; I was on the verge of finding my husband to thread it for me. But I did it. And then I ordered several kinds of needle threaders from Amazon; they’ll be here Saturday. LOL Good ole Amazon!

Next on the agenda is making up embroidery designs for the blankets I hemmed. One is for Gypsy; one for ZsaZsa. Thanks the gods for auto-threaders on the embroidery and sewing machines! Tomorrow we have appointments so I’ll let you know how Day Three goes, whenever that happens.

For the first time in over a year I actually tried sewing and it worked. I only mended a blouse but I could see the stitches and operate the machine. I think I was afraid to try so that’s all I’m doing today. I do have things to do, embroidery to do but I haven’t chosen designs yet. I looked at them but was slightly intimidated. Colors look different on the color palettes but the threads looked right in person. That’s a start. Words and numbers are still somewhat off kilter depending on their angles. Sometimes my check register looks like a 3rd grader wrote in it. Sometimes it looks totally normal. Go figure. I never expected cataract surgery to go so wrong. Everybody in my family had cataract surgery with no issues. Why did I have to be the exception to the rule?

I’ve been told that I’ve made all the progress I can expect in my healing. I can expect to always be on prescription steroid eye drops and to be monitored by the retina specialist for the rest of my life because of that medication. Some days my vision seems clear then with no notice it blurs. Bright light feels like it’s stabbing me in the eye and I have optical migraines for the first time in my life, usually caused from going out in the sunlight without shades. I was promised 20-20 vision without glasses. Instead I’ve spent part of the past year blind or nearly blind in my left eye. At first it was black. Then cloudy. No peripheral vision for the first month or so after I got my sight back. Then a second surgery gave me vision without the clouds but with blurriness. I hate to be ungrateful, because I can at least function, but I’m so disappointed and that’s hard to get over.

Recently I realized that I’d stopped living at all. I was relegated to a recliner and a television, cuddling dogs, with no life to speak of. Is that all there is? I asked. I thought about it several days. Alternatives? Options? Three years ago my mother died and we had to deal with the details…and there were a lot. I was stressed out for a long time. Then we moved and sold the old house and before we got the new house organized I had eye surgery. I never expected that I’d spend a year just getting over that. So I still can’t find anything at the new house; I can’t see worth a damn; I’m older and less fit; 2 of the dogs have passed away and I’m in the depths of depression. Lovely.

But COVID has come and gone. We lost my brother-in-law; my sister has had 2 strokes and has retired. My only aunt passed away which leaves me the second-eldest in the family. Those still left are pseudo-healthy and still kicking so all is not lost. It could be worse, right? DH and I are healthy and happy. We don’t have any money issues like a lot of folks now. The dogs are still healthy and happy. So what else do I want? Like a million other people I just want to be happy. I just don’t know what that looks like anymore. Today is a start. Tomorrow will be Day Two.

ZsaZsa’s favorite position

Since we’ve been super busy on the house remodeling it took several days before we were actually able to take ZsaZsa out to celebrate her fifth birthday. She is our baby, the youngest of our girls, so it was really important to celebrate especially this year. She was a rescue who had been kept in the backyard for the first 18 months of her life. She was afraid of everything, wouldn’t touch fabric of any kind and shivered a lot. We bathed her 3 times the first night we got her. She was full of burrs, even between her toes. She was so matted and filthy that we weren’t sure what color she was. She is a designer dog, a Schnoodle (schnauzer and poodle), who was supposed to be hypoallergenic for the child in the home. The child was still allergic so the dog went to the backyard. We used to hear her crying while we watched TV. DH would take her a treat and stick it between the boards in the fence. Sometimes I would cry, too. So sad. Finally, it was going to freeze outside so the people gave her to us.

I was already in love with her because we had babysat once while they were on vacation. It was love at first sight. I would carry her from room to room with me and she’d sit quietly and shiver. Poor little thing.

It took a bit before she came to trust that we wouldn’t holler at her for sitting in our lap or laying on the couch beside us. The turning point was when DH put a little cushion between our bed pillows and placed her there. She shivered and looked at us with big, frightened eyes as we lay down with her and petted her. She never moved the rest of the night. The pillow became hers at night. One morning she wasn’t there when we awoke–she was under the covers between us…and that’s where she sleeps every night now.

She sits on the couch, owns my lap, owns the car and demands we roll the window down so she can put her head into the wind. She chases cars (from her couch inside the car), screams in delight and wants to go everywhere we do. After 18 months of only seeing the inside of a wooden fence, we understand her thoughts. She loves everything and everyone. She bounces vertically when she’s excited so we call her our “bouncy bounce”. She’s such a happy creature and we hope to share her life far into the future. Happy birthday, ZsaZsa!!!!!!

Spring arrived and is almost over before I’ve had a chance to post. We’re all hanging in there: vaccinated and about to lose the masks, working on health issues and home remodels. I was finally freed from the eye drops for 3 weeks but to my detriment. This week we started them again. Eye pressure went down but swelling went up. Back to the drawing board. I go back to the retina specialist in two weeks.