Good talks with different people, and some decisions to be made

Friday, March 21, 2014
Happy, happy Birthday to Ron!!  "May your 56th year be better than your 55th was" is my wish for you.
I love you, sweetheart, with all my heart.

Ron and I did come to the conclusion last night that, whatever we decide to do, we can't really do anything here in March, and will use the rest of March as "planning time" and will put new plans and into effect starting April 1st.  Neither one of us want to go the bankruptcy route, and we are going to try to avoid that, but we shall have to see.  His money will only stretch so far.  Our first big "planning meeting" will be Sunday afternoon, and we'll go from there.  We're still hoping a couple of thousand dollars will fall from the sky for us, and we're off to a good start - he won 100 bucks on an instant lottery ticket!  We'll have to decide how that will help us the best.  Pay off one small bill, pay one something up-to-date, pay small bits on three or so bills, or what exactly.  It's a small first step, though!  Yay, Ron!

I woke up this morning to the alarm going off, which meant I slept way too late.  But, as I do, I had trouble falling asleep last night, and then my sleep was restless.  The bedroom was too cold last night, not too hot!  I also seemed to have caught a cold somewhere - I was okay all day yesterday, a little bit of a runny nose, but when I went to bed BOOM I was so congested that I couldn't breathe at all out of my left side.  I finally got up and took a small swig of NyQuil.

Luckily, even though I didn't eat all that much yesterday (I was 700+ calories short for the day), I guess I ate late enough, and then the NyQuil helped, and I didn't have a sugar low.  I was glad for that!  I don't like those sugar lows in the middle of the night.  Anyway, the alarm got me up, and I got up, took my pills, all except the diabetes one, because I was going to go walking, got dressed and left.  I had errands to run before meeting Lois to walk, and errands to run afterwards, too.  I got up to our meeting place just a few minutes late (NOT my fault - the place I went had delays!), and we walked the Walk Path.  We did good for our first walk of the year.  Last year, we had gotten to less than half an hour, and we did today in 34 minutes.  AND my hip didn't hurt - that was the best part!  I was so glad about that!
It was so good to get out, to visit, as it were, and talk to a friend.  I could just be ME for a bit, not a person with six hundred million problems with no solutions, and that eased my mind so much.

After that, I ran the errands around town that I didn't get done before walking, then headed on down to meet Kathy for lunch at Olive Garden.  As you know, her family owned the company where I worked and she has been through the same things I am going through now, just without the drastic health issues, because of the company, and she offered to counsel me as she treated me to lunch today, and I accepted the offer, because I sure need some advice!  Her family is doing much better now, and she has started a new career as a realtor.  So, if anyone is in the housing market, let me know.  I know a realtor!
We had a very nice lunch, and a very nice talk about these type of problems.  How they solved them, and she gave me suggestions and thoughts.  She has two children, one still in school, so most of her suggestions are very feasible, although some just won't or wouldn't work for me and Ron for different reasons.  But I have a lot more to think about now.

On my way home, I went through the car wash, then stopped at WalMart for gasoline and our groceries.  A real walk and a WalMart Walk all in one day - WOW!!  How about that?  Chelle, Jean, and Corgan were coming down to meet me, but I ended up getting done sooner than expected, and they ended up meeting me at my house, which was good - it saved them gasoline.  We all visited for a bit, while I frosted Ron's cake as we were all talking about the big party tomorrow night for Ron's birthday, and then Jean left to have her own free time.  Josh stopped and picked Chelle up, and they went out for their big 'date night,' leaving me and Corgan here by ourselves.  I could tell he was thrilled to death about that.  He kept talking to me about his silly DS games, and I only listened with one ear.  I think we were both glad to hear Grandpa's truck pulling onto 133!

I went to make us supper, and what I wanted to make wasn't out in the freezer.  What!?  I'm out of my square fish!  How did this happen?  Dammit.  Change of plans!  Corgan made some little pizzas, and Ron and I had grilled cheese.  He's such a wuss - he only puts one slice of cheese on each sandwich.  I just can't see that.  I wouldn't be able to taste anything but bread!  But, that's what the man likes, so that's what I made.  We each had two sandwiches.  He also made himself a small salad.  As the sandwiches were cooking, we made the 7-layer salad for tomorrow night.  Corgan helped me chop the eggs, and Ron helped me chop the green onions.  I only had to peel the hard-boiled eggs and hand them to Corgan, and then I chopped the celery, tore up the lettuce, and put everything together.  It was a joint effort!

Luckily, Corgan is watching "How It's Made" tonight instead of his usual 'Most Stupid shows, and I am so thankful for that.  I am, of course, playing on the pute and can hear and see the TV.

I put my food into MFP.  With my exercise today, I am 41 calories over for the day.  Over for a change.  I guess I can live with that.  After all, I've been so short the last couple of days, it's been a mite scary.  I needed a 'real' day.  I will need to be careful tomorrow, though.  We may SAY "birthday calories don't count" but MFP doesn't think that, and MFP rules the roost when it comes to that.  I am being taken out for lunch tomorrow, too. Mexican, up in Mt. Orab.  Yum.  It's a pay-it-forward thing, I'm told, and I'm the recipient.  I am grateful.