In the midst of all this, I took off time for my surgery. All went well. My only problem was sleep. I had planned to spend my hospital time sleeping. It’s been so long since I spent time in a hospital, I had forgotten they don’t allow sleep. Honestly. My blood pressure was taken every 15 minutes. Even the soundest of sleepers can’t sleep through that. My glucose level was checked four times a day. On day three they decided to give me two units of blood. I couldn’t keep from laughing about that. One nurse was pumping blood into my left arm at the same time another nurse was drawing blood from my right arm. Seemed a bit counter-productive. I will give the hospital a huge gold star for the nursing staff. They are all wonderful. And the food. Damn, it was good. We’ve actually stopped by the hospital cafeteria a few times just to enjoy what they offer. One of the most under appreciated places for lunch in town. Small, select menu but it’s great. I’m still using my cane most times but at least I’m not in any pain. Hopefully the cane will be gone in a few weeks. Almost had to fight for my car keys this week but I’ve been to a couple of shops by myself. Husband thinks he should still be running all the errands for me but I really do need to start doing some of these things. I’m still not up to a grocery store of Wal Mart shopping trip but short errands are working out well.

Other stuff? Not much else. Weather is typical East Texas. Tonight’s low will be about 26F and Monday’s high is expected to be about 72F. I just love Texas. Overcoats one day and shorts the next. You just never know around here.  And let me state right now how happy I am to NOT be mayor of Tiny Town. One of the police officers shot/killed someone a few weeks ago. I don’t know all the details and don’t really want to know. Just happy I’m not in middle of that little mess. The (former) city secretary is a good friend of mine and happily she retired just a few days after the incident so she’s out of it also. As expected all members of the police department have been advised to ‘no comment’ to any questions. The entire thing is being investigated by our Texas Rangers. One of the officers is politely giving the ‘no comment’ but if you go to his Facebook page he’s just blabbing his little heart out. The mentality of some people never ceases to amaze me.

Bed time for me. Enjoy the rest of your night.

Other things in life. Well, pain for one thing. Some of you may already be aware that I’m old. Of course being old is better than the alternative of being dead. Anyway, I’ve been having issues with my left hip on and off for three years. Finally had the problem diagnosed. As an outcome of a bunch of x-rays, it’s now confirmed that I’ll be having my left hip replaced Monday. You can’t imagine how much I’m looking forward to surgery. Really, I am. Not only will I get to spend four days with nothing to do but sleep, I’ll be able to have a pain free life once I recover.

Husband is turning into a great carpenter. We’re adding cabinets and shelving all over the new house. Well, ok. Not all over. In the den and library. (did you catch that? LIBRARY) For once all my books will be in the same room. I think of it more as a woman cave. My books, knitting,crochet, nail polish, laptop all in one room. Add a microwave and fridge and I could probably live in that room. Anyway, this little room will be wall to wall, floor to ceiling bookshelves and cabinets all designed by me. Husband once said he could build anything I could design. So far he’s keeping up with that promise. Photos to follow soon, I hope. His goal is to finish one wall completely before Monday.

Other things? Not much. Staying warm in our usual cold one day, hot the next day East Texas weather. No more chat room thanks to Yahoo. Chatters are scattered all over the place. I find myself surfing around looking for another room but so far haven’t found one I’m happy about.

Husband and I will be celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary tomorrow. No big plans because it’s a tad painful for me to travel. We do have a few plans for March. I should be much better by then.

Today’s photo was taken by Sasha in 2007. It’s a scene from her back yard. One of my favorite photos. Personally, I think she should have it made into a postcard or maybe the front of a Christmas card. It’s really beautiful.

The dogs seem to enjoy their new life. Bitsy (mini pinscher) was left outside for about 45 minutes the other day. I should mention here that both our dogs are inside girls. We have no fence. Bitsy is trained to stay on the porch when she’s outside for no other reason than checking out her kingdom. Bless her little doggy heart, she stayed on the porch patiently waiting for Husband to remember where he left her.  Sissy (chihuahua) is a spoiled little brat and isn’t allowed outside without a leash. Fencing the back yard is tops on our list for next spring.

About the only other thing going on right now is my final decision to stop dealing with the public. No more web sites will be designed by me. I think the turning point was the client (idiot) who all but demanded a Power Point presentation be placed on her site. And her site absolutely had to be viewable on ALL cell phones. Even the Flash slide-show. You ever try to explain to the village idiot how and why you are not responsible for the cell phones used by her viewers? Enough is enough. I’m reclaiming my life.

Just one more item on my life. It’s now confirmed. I’m old. Something I have to lookforward to after January 1 will be a hip replacement. You know you’re old when body parts start being replaced.

Today’s photo was taken on one of our trips west. It’s the county court house in Marfa, Presidio County, Texas. If I could afford land in that area, I’d be living there right now. Texas high desert. No trees, no pollen, no rain. My sinuses and I love visiting there.

We’re heading to Big City North tomorrow. A trip to Home Depot is called for. We’re searching for wall texture that isn’t to difficult to apply. A plain, flat painted wall just isn’t doing much for us. It needs texture. Something to give it definition or whatever. This particular wall is in the back part of the family room. It’s pale yellow and there will be a long cabinet next to it. Said cabinet will be red with black granite top. A really large mirror framed in black/gold will hang over it. I’ll be sure to do photos once this is all together. Black seems to be playing a big part in my decorations lately. As is red. Except the bedroom. It’s going more to the dark browns. At least my house isn’t boring.

And to update on the dogs. They’re a lot more at ease here. No weird people walking through the backyard or stray dogs. So far no horses cutting across the lawn. Yeah, we had all that at our other location. Drove the doggies crazy. Now all they have to worry about is a random squirrel and the birds.

Today’s photo is the back porch and yes, Husband thinks I’ve totally lost my mind by handing a fabric curtain on the porch.  We’ll see.

Other news? Last April I mentioned we were thinking of selling the house neither of us really liked. Yay. It sold in June and we’re happily in a new town just a tad north of where we had been for the past 10 years or so. Wait. 11 years. Damn, how time flies when you’re old. Whatever. We love the new house and what’s even better, it’s in a GREAT neighborhood. We’re at the end of a dead end road. That means no traffic. None. We have neighbors but they’re all quiet. No boom boxes blaring at all hours, no screaming kids randomly crossing the back of our property. Nothing. Just trees, a few nice quiet people and us. Even our dogs seem happier. Our Min-Pin has a new hobby. She’s enjoying bird watching. We have a nice back porch and one of the first things we did was hang hummingbird feeders. Bitsy enjoys sitting in front of the patio door and watching the feeding frenzy. Those little suckers are , well, sucking about 2 quarts of sugar water every 3 days. We’re still in that lovely part of post-moving where we can’t find half of what we have but things are slowly coming together. How large is the house? I heard someone ask that. It’s 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, family room, formal dining room, small sitting room and a kitchen large enough for my breakfast table. I’m not really counting the utility and storage rooms. I try to avoid visiting both. Did you catch that ‘sitting room’ comment? Most people would maybe have a formal living room but this one is a a bit small so I’m just going with a sitting room. Whatever, it works for me.

We found out something very interesting. A human CAN survive without a TV. We had 2 TV sets. Both is perfect working order. Bought them about 14 years ago. When something goes wrong, we’ll upgrade to flat screens. Guess what. Nothing ever went wrong with the things. The people who were kind eough to buy our old house got a bonus of 2 TV sets.  We actually watch DVD movies on the computer, sometimes HULU. We never turn the thing on until at least 9pm. We’ve vowed to get a smart TV sometimes after January 1 but also vow to NOT watch it 24/7. If you’ve seen one rerun, you’ve seen them all.

Trying to think of other stuff going on. Chat room? No idea. Last time I visited (it’s been a couple of months) there was a room full of non-English speakers and a few dozen bots. Work stuff: Nada. I’m officially out of the site design business. I still love the work but just can’t stand dealing with people. The village idiot who kept insisting I add Power Point presentations to her site pretty much convinced me to stop speaking to people. She’s the same person who wanted her site to be viewable by all cell phones. See? Idiots. I’m just not responsible for what cell phones people use. Flash. That was the main issue. I changed her Power Point crap to Flash and not all phones use Flash. Not my problem. When she calls me, every few days, her call goes directly to voicemail the I promptly delete her message. Yeah, I’m a bitch.

Today’s photo is me. Someone wanted to see an updated me. Here it is. As updated as I possess. Three years old. From a newspaper.  In case you can’t tell, I’m the short one in the middle.

Other great things going on in my little world? I have the habit of divding people in my world into two categories. Relatives and non. If I speak of a ‘best friend’ that can either be a  best friend=relative or a best friend=non relative. This past week I lost my very best friend=non relative. No death or anything like that. Just a lose. Someone I’ll miss very much. (don’t ask for details. There won’t be any forthcoming from me.)

Chat room: About the same. One of the idiots from the past has started lurking. He changed his user-name in hopes no one will recognize him then just logs in and sits. Cute. Oh, and there was almost a real conversation going on the other night. A few of us were chatting about design related things. Fun for about fifteen minutes.

Husband and I have been giving a bit of thought to selling our house. Neither of us have been overly happy with it. The house is just smaller than we’d like and the yard is way larger than we want/need.  Not something we’re going to jump into without serious thought. Right now isn’t the best time to get top dollar for any property. And no one in their right mind would want to move to our town. We’re just way to far from things. I’ll keep you posted.

Today’s photo is another from my front lawn. An antique, cast iron, wash pot. This was taken a couple months ago. Right now it holds yellow and pink flowers . Oh, and I just noticed. It’s a tad dull looking in the photo. Since this was taken, we’ve repainted the pot and frame. Maybe I should consider a new photo?

I know this is Saturday. My calendar confirms the fact. For some odd reason I have two clients who all but demand their sites be updated on Saturday. One is a photo that has to be updated once a month. Always, without fail, I update the photo then about 30 minutes later there’s an incoming e-mail with ‘the same photo but just a tiny change to it’. Every damn time. I’m so getting tired of this mess. (and people wonder why I’m thinking of quitting the business)

Have I mentioned how great my husband is? Well, he’s the best ever. For those who don’t personally know me, I have a problem. A wonky hip. Some days I’m fine, other day’s it’s all I can do to walk. My wonderful husband helps with house cleaning and cooking. Today he baked a pie. Ok. It’s a frozen pie, but, still. He’s also washed dishes today. Fed the dogs. I’ve been sitting here dealing with site updates and getting woozy from pain pills. Anything stronger than aspirin makes me very, very sleepy.

Today’s photo was taken March, 2000. Second floor of the Texas capitol building. Yep, that’s my husband.

The only thing, other than weather, going on with me is my car. I drive a huge suv and it’s having a bit of problem with the hatch. For those unfamiliar, a hatch is that back door thing that raises up to allow access for packing a ton of groceries in the back. Anyway, it’s stuck. Won’t open. It’s due for a visit to the shop first thing next week. Around this area, you make a mechanic’s appointment the same as you’d make a doctor’s appointment. No idea how this works in other areas.

Dogs. That’s always good for a paragraph or two. I know most dogs can tell time. They always know when it’s time to drive you crazy, when it’s time to be fed. Things like that. But, honestly, mine can tell time. Actual time. Bitsy, the Mini Pinscher, knows exactly when 4 pm rolls around. Food. A few weeks back we did the daylight savings time change. All of a sudden 3pm becomes 4pm. That means the dogs will be getting fed (stomach time as we call it) at 3pm. Nope, Bitsy never mentions food until 4pm. She seems to know exactly how to read a clock. Odd. Sissy, the Chihuahua, doesn’t care what the clock says, she just wants food.

Today’s photo entry was taken in my yard. There are four of these bushes scattered around. One of these years I have hopes they may all bloom at the same time. Bridal wreath is the local name. No idea what they’re called where you live.

Other stuff? City Hall. If anyone knows where I live, you’ll probably know about our police/mayor situation. All the area newspapers and TV stations have been milling around us. We’ve been featured in Wall Street Journal, Forbes and everything else out there. We had a crappy five person police department. They literally did nothing. Finally, last June, the City Council eliminated the entire department.  The department was reactivated six months later. A new Police Chife with one full time officer and two part time officers. We also have six reserve officers from the county. So far they’re doing a wonderful job. We also have a new judge who is doing everything that can be done to collect on any and all citations.  The last judge wasn’t doing very much in that area.  Anyway, to get back to my original subject. The Mayor has been doing nothing. Literally, nothing. The way city government works is for the Council to decide what needs to be done, give orders to the Mayor to see that their wishes are carried out. He hasn’t been doing that. Last month the Council called for his resignation. According to Texas law a Mayor cannot be forced to resign. He didn’t. Monday night there was a line item on the agenda again calling for the Mayor to resign. Seems the Mayor didn’t care enough about  the city to even show up. He walked into the office just after lunch, scribbled a note of resignation and walked out. WooHoo! Now the Council simply needs to decide who will fill that position until elections May 2013. It’ll be interesting to see how this develops. And for anyone wondering if I’m interested in getting my old job (Mayor) back. NO. Far as I know my name isn’t even being suggested and I’m happy not being involved any more than other regular citizens in town.

Today’s photo was taken Monday night. One of our city officers and two county officers were involved in the rescue of a citizen whose house caught fire while he was sleeping. They were being given awards for their actions. Well deserved. The two gentlemen in dark uniforms are who I call ‘my boys’. They were officers when I was Mayor. The only two to be rehired once the department was reactivated. Both very nice young men. The ones in tan uniforms are from the county sheriffs office and also nice men but I’m just not that well acquainted with them.

Today’s photo is from the web site linked above. It’s the type of school bus used at the time of that awful gas explosion. This is probably the only photo you’ll find on my site that wasn’t taken by me or my photojournalist friend.