Wednesday, February 22, 2023

RANDOM ACTS OF BLOGGING

 1) Ok, so I'm going to try and catch up on some of those things I said I was going to write about a few weeks ago. Not everything needs a paragraph, but some of them do! I'll be brief-ish.

2) The cancer scare: During my last annual mammogram, the tech noticed some weirdness in my scan. They didn't tell me this while I was there, of course, so I got a letter a few days later saying that I would need to undergo a more thorough screening at one of the women's breast cancer centers locally. Of course, they couldn't get me into see them for two weeks, but they made it clear that it could be ANY NUMBER of things, and not necessarily cancer, buuuuuuutttt....

Yikes.

So I had to wait for a couple of weeks, wondering the whole time if I was about to have the rug yanked out from under me. I tried not to worry, and thankfully I was so busy that I didn't have a lot of time to dwell, but in the wee hours I spent time dwelling. That sucked.  However, I had my appointment with the space-age boob scanner and the doctor said he didn't think it was anything to worry about! 

The only thing that still kind of worries me is that I found a lump in that same breast a couple of years ago, and the weirdness was in the same place, so I don't know if this is indicative of an actual problem, or if I just have one rowdy, unpredictable boob. I guess we'll have to wait and see.

3) The church decided to use a temp agency to fill the position of secretary, but they still haven't found anyone to hire just yet. They actually got "fired" from the first temp agency that they engaged with because they wouldn't immediately take the people who the agency sent over. 

The biggest problem is that the church has morality parameters that they feel they have to fall within to hire a secretary. See, with me, they knew what kind of person they were getting (for the most part), and I didn't do anything that was going to publicly embarrass them. The people the agency was sending had social media videos of them scantily clad, dancing like hoochies with guns, or they were living with their significant others without being married, or they are into witchcraft.  So... it's been a process. I'm still working there twice a week to get the major stuff done, but I think they may be close to finally hiring someone this time. 

4) During December, Steve, Anthony and I went to Chattanooga to have dinner on the Christmas Train! It was a lot of fun and a whole new experience for all of us. The train left from the Tennessee Valley Railroad Museum and drove through the outskirts. We had waiters in white coats serving us dinner, and it was really neat! It drove really slowly, though, and we ended up staying out much later than we had intended, but it was fun.

We went to Gatlinburg the next day, and I was dumb enough not to remember to take a coat with me on this trip, so we had to stop at Wal-Mart so I could get something to wear. I ended up with something that looked like a shiny, quilted garbage bag, but it was warm enough! We ate and walked around downtown, and we even visited the Native American museum outside of town. 

We spent the last day in downtown Chattanooga doing the tour of the distillery and buying chocolate at the Hot Chocolatier. We hung out here and there until afternoon and then came back home. It was a fun weekend. Chattanooga is not my favorite place, for reasons, but it is the place we go, so I'm glad it was fun.

EXTRA:

5) My birthday was fine, thanks for asking. I went to work instead of staying home like I normally do and everyone was very kind. Steve had to work late, and so I made myself dinner, read, watched TV, and then went to bed early. I'm 45 now. Halfway to 90. 

Thursday, February 02, 2023

KANSAS

 I've driven through Kansas twice in my life. 

It was all interstate driving, and we weren't there to go anywhere in actual Kansas. We were just using it as a through way to get to someplace else, as one does. It was flat, and monotonous, and I wouldn't have even known that we were actually moving forward except for the fact that we kept passing roadkill. 

Now, with all due respect to anyone who lives in Kansas, I'm sure the entire state is not like that. There are probably vibrant, wonderful, beautiful places there that I don't know anything about because I've never explored the place, but that interstate drive is the only impression of Kansas that I have. Flat, bland, and boring.

Just like those interminable rides down Kansas interstates, that's how life has been here lately.  Flat, bland and boring! 

That reminds me of someone I knew who'd joke "What emo Myspace page did you get that from?" Pffft, as if I couldn't come up with emo stuff on my own! But honestly, I don't mean to sound emo, or even melodramatic! I swear! It's just that I went from the hectic, never-ending stream of activity in December to January/February where I'm still busy, just bored. Does that make sense? 

I work, I eat, I sleep, I go to church, and I work there (still) and then I do it all over again ad nauseam. 

I'm not complaining, exactly. It's not necessarily a bad thing. Like those Kansas drives, it isn't bad. The weather is fine-ish and everything is going straight ahead. So far nothing is dangerous, and we aren't getting attacked by bears. There's just no plans, nothing to look forward to, and the only way I know I'm still moving forward is that I keep passing road kill! But, hey...forward is forward! 

Steve's been gone for three of the 4 weeks of January. His work wives have spent more time with him than me so far this year, so it's been a bit lonely I guess. Nothing I haven't delt with before, though! 

So, all of this to say that I haven't had much to write about lately, but I'm still here. You know, in case you were wondering.

Hopefully I'll have something more fun to write about soon. Fingers crossed!