Oh My Gosh.....Blogspot Changed It's Format

 Hi there everyone. Been awhile since I have been here.....and would you know it....Blogspot changed!!! A whole new learning curve. Come on now....why change something that was not even broken????? I would like to know that answer.

Not much has been going on around here. The street is still being worked on. The original letter from the city said August 24th, the streets, sidewalks, driveway and curbs would be done. (lies). The streets started getting torn up July 6th. At one point we could not get out of our driveway for 20 days!!! Not kidding! Was a good thing I had enough food and such. Towards the end though, toilet paper, paper towels, butter, and a few other things were gone!! And again, the original letter said we would get a notice when to move our cars to the side street. I NEVER saw such notice. I am about to scream at Appleton!!! In this time with the pandemic and everything else going on....don't need this aggravation also!!!

So today.....the street was being leveled out and I thought....maybe I better move the car. So now the car is parked on the side street....and guess what, the workers are gone, maybe I could have left the car in my driveway????? I don't know, just do not want to take that chance again. I have a Doctor's appointment Friday and if I cannot get out of the driveway because of road work, I will miss my appointment.

My Doctor of 33 years retired in July (sigh). So Friday I will be going to a NEW Doctor. JP's prostrate Doctor is retiring in December. His next appointment is not till next June. But JP will have one of the other Doctors in that office to take care of him. 

Another dilemma we face is, I have to find a new accountant, the one we had for 33 years...he was very good, but for the last 10 years or so, we were having to pay $200 to have our taxes done. But then it was affordable, we had the income. But now that is out of our budget, as finances have changed quite a bit.

JP retired from work June 3rd. He is now 73 yrs old. So no income from Jack's. Plus no extra cleaning on the side anymore. Taxes were not taken out and we ended up having to pay the Government $383+$200 for the accountant. Nope, not in the budget anymore. I have been told we can get our taxes done for FREE. Have to find out where that is pretty soon.

In the midst of all this stuff, JP deals with a lot of health issues, one being his prostrate, but now the appointments are 1 year apart....which is good. 

JP went to the foot Doctor last month and this month. He has a big, ugly, painful callous on his right foot. The Doctor scraped it and put some acid on it. But JP still takes baby steps and shuffles around like and old man. Doctor said we need to get some new inserts for his shoes. OR go to a Pedorthist and get fitted with molded inserts which is not covered by our insurance and would have to come out of our pocket $350. One half for the first visit and the rest on the second visit. Guess that is out of the question for now. 

Doctor felt sorry for us because we went to "Good Feet" for their inserts, for both JP and I the cost was $1800.00, He also got a new pair of shoes for $200+. I am still paying on that money making scam....the inserts never worked for JP. and the shoes are worn out and the heel worn down.

JP has a few other ailments, a hernia, needs some dental work and gets arm pains (10 to 20 a day). People think he is having a heart attack and are ready to call 911. But he just walks it off, praying and chanting words over and over.

And yes, we pray constantly, God sees the need....maybe one day these trials, tribulations and frustrations will all end, in His time.

Well I better close here, cause I am probably wearing you out with my tales of woe. One person asked me recently, "How are you doing today" I said, "oh fine. Actually I am not fine. But we have been taught to say, "oh everything is fine, whether it is or not". 

No one wants to hear problems, cause they have their own problems to deal with. I have heard it said, if we throw all our problems in a circle and are told to pick out a new problem, we would again go and pick up our old problems, because we know how to deal with them. Maybe new problems of someone else's would throw us for a loop and we would not know how to deal with them. Do you suppose???

So you all take care and keep looking up, better days are coming.

Cheers ~ Louise

How's Corona Treating YOU????

Hi there everyone. Hope you are doing well during this terrible and confusing time. We are well. Staying in the house pretty much and only going out for gas, taxes, post office and store. Otherwise staying home and doing a lot of paper work and calling different places I owe $$$ to. 

The Mortgage company said they would defer our payments for 3 months. That will help. I have to call the city on Monday, won't have the money to pay the house taxes - $450 due on the 31st. Hopefully there will be an extension of some sort like the Government gave for the Federal taxes. The accountant has allowed me to make payments on the $200 I owe him.

When the Government gives us $1200 a piece in a couple of weeks....maybe then I will be able to pay my taxes for the house and taxes to the Federal Government and the accountant and then have $$$ to pay the other bills. God is SOOOOOOO goooood!!!

This Coronavirus sure is messing things up for a lot of people.

This video did not work. Sorry

In the mean time, I am making some new things to eat. A lot of roasted vegies in the oven. Today's menu is roasted bok choy and sliced apples, cheesy rice bake and a chicken thigh. The other day I made "Dirty soup" made with lentils and ham. I will have to take pictures and give you the recipes in another blog.

The video was done last September 2019, when life was much calmer. I always look forward to seeing those cute little white flowers start blooming in September. JP and I usually tear the plant down in the late fall, to get it on the curb for pick-up. The "star clematis" (that's what I call it) is always so full and lovely and such a beauty in the whole neighborhood.

It starts growing in the early spring, I shall have to check it out in the next few days. I know the crocus's are blooming and the tulips are coming up.....hope it does not snow on April 1st (fools day...lol)

Well time to close here, have to go make some cards. I have not been downstairs for a couple of weeks. My Hospice group cancelled the meeting for 6-7 weeks. The other group, cancelled till May 31st....and that is okay also. But I really need to get down there...my hobby should not sit idle for so long.

Talk to you all later and keep looking up, better days are coming soon. Cheers ~ Louise

I Miss You

Hi there everyone. Hope you are doing well. It's been a rough month so far....just too many things to expound about....hey, hey how do you like that word. (definition: explain).

So JP went to work today. He was supposed to get a Doctor's release first. He called the Doctor and it was sent to his place of work. He came home after a couple of hours and is to go to the office tomorrow. They have to ask some questions before he goes back to work. Hopefully he will be able to work for a couple of hours a day. We'll see what happens. His back is not bothering him anymore.

Today is Kylie's death date. It has been 8 months since she has been gone. Gosh, I still miss her. It's hard to believe she is still gone...still so fresh in my mind. Miss her barks and walks. I honestly think I have gained weight, at least walking with her kept me trim. Guess when winter is over, I shall have to take walks by myself.

Pinterest has so many pictures of dogs and the rainbow bridges with lots of poems. Sometimes I have to leave Pinterest because tears come to my eyes and I start crying for Kylie. She was so much a part of this home.

Well, my Chicago Blackhawks won their game tonight, 6-2 against the Sharks. The NHL maybe either cancelling the rest of the games played by the teams for the rest of this month or let them play BUT there will be no fans at the stadiums. I don't know, this coronavirus has gone a bit too far. 

Symtoms of the virus sounds like the colds we get during winter. Fever, cough and shortness of breath. The Hockey players have been told to drink plenty of water, wash their hands and don't touch their faces (they are VERY sweaty after games). I guess tomorrow the NHL will decide what will happen to the rest of this season. The Stanley Cup finals are supposed to start the second week of April and then last till June.
We got some really bad news today. We got our taxes done and we owe the Government $383....plus $200 to the accountant. First time we have had to pay in years, nothing has really changed...just don't know why we owe so much. I have to go to IRS.com and try to get a 120 day extension because we won't have that money by the 15th. I can do payments to the accountant. NEXT YEAR I am going to get our taxes done free, should have done that this year...live and learn I guess.  

Well, here is a picture of my Kylie....she was smiling at me while I took this picture. I only wish that rose was still blooming at the time and had not died.

Well time to close here, it's going on 2am, time to go to bed. Keep looking up better days are coming. I still believe!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

PS.....I never took my village down, it's still UP!!!! Maybe this weekend.

Spring has Sprung....Look At My Pretty Crocuses

Hi there everyone. Hope you are enjoying these beautiful days.....I have been enjoying the little flowers that pop up, it's always good to see them. God's creations are always a joy to the soul and spirit.

Saturday, I went out to straighten the garage and brought out some of the lawn furniture and grill and move the pots out for planting. I started about 5pm and did not stop till 8pm.....it was such a nice time....but I am paying for it now. Aches and pains....my back started hurting last night....I should have known better then to over-work this 70 year old body!!! I think from now on I will do just one hours worth of work rather then 3 hours. Why the rush???

We got our refund from the Government and State.....soooooo, I think this year we shall order some red mulch. My little gardens look so pretty when the mulch is spread.  I shall have to pace myself and not over-do. First I have to rake the old leaves and spread them under the maple tree....hopefully in the fall we can get that tree trimmed by Habitat for Humanity. That is another post though, within the next month, I have to see if we will qualify.

These little flowers are spreading themselves....maybe in a couple of years this section  of my garden will be all crocuses....I really should look for some white crocuses.

I think I might have a garage sale sometime this summer....just as soon as I gather all the things that need to be sold. We were given a large manger set....I am not sure I want it....but we'll see. Last summer my motivation ebbed very low. I had lots of energy in my head with lots of things I wanted to do, but my body did not want to cooperate with my head. A battle raged within me.....neither one won the battle and not a whole lot was accomplished last summer. Hope the story is different this summer.

Well, I think I shall close this post for now, need to go take a shower, maybe I will feel better. We have to take 276 aluminum cans to the "golden goat" for recycling. The price was 42 cents per pound....but better then having the cans sit around. After recycling we got $3.65. Not bad.....We calculated that it was about $125.00 worth of sparkling water that JP drinks. Me, I might have a can here or there....I drink mostly coffee, tea and water and a pop every now and then.

So have a great day and keep looking up.....better days are coming.

Cheers ~ Louise

Some New Fall Cards

Hi everyone....whether that be one or two of you or 10-20...hope you are all having a good day. I made some cards last night, whew, I have missed my creative outlet. So many other things have taken priority lately. Must not let that happen again. I think it started when we had the roto-rooter guy here and I had to move all my stamping stuff so he could get to the pipes. So my stamping stuff got rearranged and it took me a month to get things back in order. Wilst doing all that, all my garden landscaping took priorty also....Soooo needless to say, it has been a busy spring and summer. And now, here it is Fall already........where in the world did all that time go????

So last night I sat down and played with some card stock that I bought at a thrift/estate store. I paid $5.00 for 200 estimated sheets of gold card stock which measures 20x26....pretty big sheets. Cut them in half, then was able to fit them in my paper cutter and cut them down to size to make a card. The left over gold card stock was used to punch out the leaves and hexagons.

I had some leaves already made that were punched out with paper, crinkled up and dabbed with fall color inks. I then layered that leaf on top of the gold one, popping it up....it sure made for a nice effect.

Made 7 of these cards last night and on the agenda to make more. More colored leaves are needed, so I will be working on those first. I will be putting these cards in my Etsy store for $2.50 a card or $7.50 + shipping for 3 cards. I am really happy with the way they turned out and I thank God for He is the creator of all things, which includes the things that I think I have created....He leads and guides us every step we take and gives us the ideas and thoughts to pursue the things we are doing. So, all I can say is.....God can make some really nice cards, don't you think???

Well you all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Hope this government shutdown does not affect you too much. It's a good thing that God does not shut the world down to get what he wants.....Cheers ~ Louise

Needed........a funny picture!!

Really!!! Just needed a funny picture today, I might have used this pug once before but he seemed so apropos for today. This is the last day of February and March is about to start! Finished organizing my taxes and they are ready to be taken to the accountant on Monday.......sure do hope we see a refund this year. It would be nice....we need to buy a "new" car. When I say new, I mean a "used" car, but it will be new to us. We will run this car as long as we can, who knows maybe it will hold out for another 6 months, that would be long enough to save up some money. We'll see.

Well, it is getting late and time to go to bed. I drank my honey and cinnamon tea......so very good. I found quite a bit on the internet about the benefits of honey and cinnamon. Good for losing weight, clearing up yeast infections in the body, lowering blood sugars and blood pressure and lots of other uses. So we shall keep using it till we see results. I have already felt the results of clearing the yeast infections, relief, I say, a pleasant relief!

Have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption draws nigh. Cheers ~ Louise