I'm winning!

http://www.wordimperfect.blogspot.com

Make up definitions for words. I made up a definition for a word (I have no idea what it really means) and so far I'm winning on the poll to choose the best definition. If you want to vote for me, go to the wordimperfect BLOG and click on my name. Thanks.

Went to doctor today. Bronchitis is cleared up, no congestion at all. No ear infection either. I'm still tired, but she (the doc) told me to expect that for a while. Alan is getting better. At least he's not coughing as much as he was.

I noticed so much snow in the area where we live, but over in Ohio hardly any at all. Did we, just one mile south of the Ohio River, get that much more snow that our neighbors to the north, or do we just take better care of our snow that the Ohians do? Our snow isn't as dirty as the snow in Ohio either, which would indicate that we do, in fact, take better care of our snow.

Don't misunderstand. Our snow is dirty, just not AS dirty.

I went to Macy's today to get some birthday presents for two of my granddaughters. I got six beautiful outfits, including one fancy-dancy dress, for under $25 total. I saved $185. I couldn't believe it. I was mentally tallying up my purchases in my head, and I came out almost $30 cheaper than I had calculated because there was a 55 percent off tag on all the things I bought, and I wasn't aware of that extra 55 percent. If you live near a Macy's and need children's clothes, the sale goes through Sunday, or so I was told today.

My Teflon coated fry pan is getting really grungy. I wanted to get a new one (at Macy's) but they didn't have anything but the grey caliphon Teflon pans, and I wanted stainless steel to go with what I have now. Oh well. One of these days I'll find what I'm looking for.

I walked and walked today and my knees didn't hurt at all. I was very, very tired, though -- a hold over from the bronchitis.

So now I'm going back to reading all the BLOGs that I haven't read for a while. Word Imp (wordimperfect.blogspot.com) was one of them. Maybe I'll come up with a definition for the new word that is posted.

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Books

I have always loved to read. I would rather read than watch TV (unless it's Survivor or Amazing Race). And my husband gave me a Kindle for my birthday. I have to say, it's the best gift he has ever given me (that I can remember). Even better than the years he has bestowed expensive jewelry on me picked up in the Bahamas. And, believe me, I do love things that glitter. Just like I love Christmas trees (because they glitter).

So, I received my Kimble yesterday. And it is so USER FRIENDLY. I picked it up and without even reading any instructions, I was on my way.

I did finally read through the User's Manual (88 pages) on the Kindle and decided to print it out so that I could learn better about all the gidgets and gadgets that the "book" has. And, there are lots of them.

It even has a voice mode, so it can read to me!

I downloaded a lot of freebies and one KJV Bible -- which was 99 cents. I started reading one of the books this morning when I took my meds and while I waiting for them to kick in.

I'm still drained physically from the bronchitis, but better than I was. Alan seems to be improving as well.

We had a few "snow bursts" today. That's what the weather people are calling the 15-minute white-outs. No accumulation though. They say that tonight we will get more snow, but only an inch or so of accumulation. Good. I still love the snow, but I am now ready for Spring to come and warm my porch. Maybe I would feel better if I surrounded myself with Vitamin D.

I'm back to my Kindle in a few minutes. For my birthday which is really next week, I want Amazon gift cards so I can fill up my gadget with lots of new books.

For those who don't know, I usually read a book a day. yes, no kidding. Unless I am swamped with other things, I read that much. Lately I've been downloading printable piano music and found several of the old favorites I had when I was learning to play. Lots of Bach and a special Valse I used to play all the time when I was a teenager. And guess what? I can still play it! I was amazed that I picked it right up. If only my hands weren't so hurting. Maybe with some exercise, they'll feel better? I did discover that three more keys are dead, so I have to get the piano guy to come out and fix those keys.

It seems the old (73 years old) piano is feeling its age -- like its owner.

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User friendly

Kindle is very user friendly once you remember what "Home" stands for and what "menu" includes. I still haven't figured out how to turn it completely off. Right now it's resting.

Otherwise I love it. It's very lightweight -- no more arthritic let hand hold. I downloaded a boatload of free books today. All the Bibles were at least 99 cents and since I have a hard-copy Bible, I didn't bother.

I love the little keyboard and I can write notes. Also, it will read to me if I tell it to. Isn't that the best? I can go to sleep listening to a book, instead of falling asleep and finding my book on the floor in the morning.

So, I guess I've spent as much time as I'm going to spend get used to the Kindle. Now to read some of the new books.

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Kindle is here

My Kindle just arrived. I can't wait to get some books loaded on it and enjoy it. I'll be back in a year or so (just kidding) after I get the toy working.

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Back to life

Well, I feel much better today. Still worn out, but at least I'm not coughing much. If I don't talk, I don't cough. So, Alan will have to do with silence for today. He's coughing so much we had to postpone his MRI. Next week, maybe?

I think we're going to get more snow. Once more? It's been warm and the piles of snow are dwindling. There is still snow on the roof across the street, though. It must have been really deep to not melt in the past couple of warmish days.

After our dinner out on Friday night, I didn't get much done on either Saturday or Sunday. Now that Alan's sick, I'm nursing him (again). He's at the "I don't want to eat" stage, which I went through as well. Next will be the I'm starving stage, and I'll know he's on the mend.

I'm back at the sick in the morning stage of my life. It seems it's a February/March thing, at least it has been for the past three years. I lose my winter weight gain and still stay fat, never losing enough.

I think today I'm going to get as many of my contacts back into my computer as I can. I had printed out a list a couple of years ago, so I don't know how many of those contacts are still valid, but at least it's start at rebuilding what the computer "sweeper" removed.

My Kindle should arrive tomorrow. Then I'm going to download a bunch of free books to see how I like it before I spend more of Alan's money to get me some up-to-date books.

I hope I can find a couple of music books.

So, ttfn, folks. I'll be back with more "news" later this week.

Icicles

Alan and I haven't or hadn't been outdoors for two weeks. Our car was cleared off by our neighbor and then by the snow removal guys. So, we could have gone out if we had reason to.

Last night, after feeling almost dead for over a week I suggested to Alan that we go out to eat. I just didn't feel like cooking, which has been a daily occurrence since I got sick. Oh, I've been preparing something for lunch and dinner (we don't do breakfast) but by the time I finished with the preparation, I was wiped out and didn't want to eat, although my stomach has been gnawing away because I really have felt hungry. There just was no desire at all to eat anything. To help lighten the load so to speak, I even had my personal shopper pick up some TV dinners. Yuck!

Is it me, or have those TV dinner things deteriorated a lot in the past 10 years? I used to take a LeanCuisine in for lunch when I was working and they didn't taste too awful, but the one I had the other night -- well, let me just say, I ate a bite or two and pitched the rest.

So last night I asked Alan if we could go some place to eat. It was Friday night. NOT a good time to decide to eat out, because everyone in Campbell County, KY eats out on Friday night. Well, we went out anyway, and waited for 35 minutes for a table. That turned out okay because some of our neighbors were making the same mistake (eating out on Friday night) and so we had someone other than ourselves to talk to. That was nice because we hadn't seen anyone since the Christmas party at the clubhouse in early December.

Well, I hadn't coughed all day until we got back home then the hacking started in again, and I was certain I wasn't going to get to sleep, especially after being in bed and sleeping away most of the day. Well, I did sleep and had a squirrely dream that kept going and going and going and going, but I can't remember a thing about it. All I remember is the fibromyalgia made it difficult to find a comfortable position in the bed, and between twists and turns to try to find a place on my body that didn't hurt, I would fall off into la-la land again and continue the squirrely dream.

So, now it's Saturday morning and I'm not wide awake, but I'm awake enough and feeling okay enough to be out of bed for a while. I suppose I'll get some laundry done today and finish cleaning in the kitchen, a task I started yesterday and got as far as getting the broom out of the closet, then I felt the need to head back to bed.

This is the weirdest thing: no sore throat, no fever, just this very, very low rattle in my chest that makes me want to cough, but when I cough the rattle doesn't move up and out like it should and it hurts like -- well, it hurts something fierce. And I have no energy at all.

Why did I call this "Icicles". Well, our neighbor who is reading our Louis L'Amour books came over for another stash, and warned us not to use the front door in case the unusually long icicles came falling down upon us. We didn't -- we went out through the garage, which was equally as hazardous, but the ice was on the ground instead. I told Alan we should throw a blanket on the ground and walk on that. He was of a mind to be gallant and help me over the "river of ice" that was in front of the garage, instead of using a blanket. What a guy!

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Finally

Finally, a good snow. And, yes, we ARE snowed in! I'm loving it. An excuse to just sit and watch the flakes drift down and collect on the road, our car -- which we just got cleared off. I would take a picture of the library window, but since the snow has piled up to over half of the lower part of the window (about 1/4 of the way up a 5 foot window) it's kinda dark. And the wind is blowing the other direction. I don't get it.

We've had moderate to heavy snow all day. The little low pressure system is sitting right on top of us spinning and spinning and spewing and spewing, so we're getting a bit more than the weather people expected we would get. It's okay with me.

I needed a grandchild fix so I talked to Rosie for a little bit. She informed me that her family doesn't like the cold. I think her parents don't like the cold and are convincing the children that they don't like the cold either. At least I know it's not a genetic thing because I love the cold and so does my middle daughter, and probably my youngest daughter as well. At least they like to be out in the snow PLAYING. Adults playing? Yep!

I'm still fighting this bronchitis and the cough stuff is just below where it should be so I could break it's hold on me. Coughing does nothing but sound bad, nothing moves. Maybe I should use Alan's method for clearing up a cough -- straight whiskey. Nah! Can't do that. I can't get past the taste.

I made a wonderful dinner tonight of stuffed pork chops and farfalle Alfredo. I ate about 1/4 of what I dished up for myself. Alan cleared his plate. I felt so full after a few bites that I could go no further. I suppose it's because I have not been eating for almost a week now and my stomach has shrunk. Not sure that's why, but it seems reasonable. No weight loss, though.

I hear the sidewalk/driveway cleaners outside clearing off the mess. I don't know why they're working now, except that they expect the snow to stop soon. However, the weather channel just said we were in for another round after midnight of about another 3 inches. I guess I can drive and walk in 3 inches of snow. I DO have boots that I have worn only 4 times since I got them about 10 years ago.

I prefer to wear shoes and get my feet cold because the boots are so heavy it hurts my knees to walk in them, something I discovered after I purchased them.

Lands End sells a wonderful moch that is so light it's like wearing no shoe at all. I have two pairs -- one in red and one in brown. It's lined as well.

Tonight's Olympics is supposed to be ice skating -- pairs. Last night was so disappointing. They'd show one pair, then drift off to something else, then come back to another pair, and drift off again. It was like they just picked some of the couples for us to see. I want to see them all, not just the top four. Does anyone else agree with me on that? Was anyone else disappointed in NBC's coverage of the pairs skating? In fact, is anyone else not liking the coverage of the Olympics so far?

Well, enough for this day. I'm going to go back to the recliner and look out the window and watch the boys clear off the sidewalks which are getting covered just as soon as they clear. Laughable.

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