Author: Jennifer Kuntz

“Anything plain can be lovely, anything loved can be lost
Maybe I lost my direction, what if our love is the cost?
Anyone perfect must be lying, anything easy has its cost
Anyone plain can be lovely, anyone loved can be lost
What if I lost my direction? What if I lost sense of time?
What if I nursed this infection? Maybe the worst is behind”

–Falling for the First Time
Barenaked Ladies

Oh Canada, your bands write such catchy songs. *sigh*

Thanks to Emmie for coming over last night! I’m inspired to do some sewing again AND I actually straightened up my sewing room so I might be able to get some work done. Now if only I looked as good in my garb as she does in hers. Ah, well. One thing at a time.

It’s lonely in here.

Hope everyone is OK.

I’m pretty sure we’ve lost tiernen to Kings of Chaos. Damn their little numerical hides!
I’m planning on going to the House Salamandra Viking X-mas party Saturday, but I won’t be able to go over until after 5 PM.

Anyone else going?

What are you bringing food-wise?

Are you going to be wearing garb?

I am dictating this message using my voice recognition software. It is a lot slower than typing it but it leaves my hands free to do other things (heh, heh). The accuracy is generally pretty good if I speak clearly and keep my sentences unconfusing. It has problems with long words and slime or slammed or slandered or SLANG!

Darn machine.

It’s a fun toy but the software is going to have to get much better before anybody thinks about using this all the time.

That’s all folks!

The ‘rents are talking about taking a cruise next year. I really want to go with them and I think we can make the finances work with sufficient time to prepare. However, I’m also having this nagging feeling like I’m overlooking something and this won’t be as much fun as I think it will. We enjoyed our honeymoon cruise and said the only thing we would need to have to do it again would be people we knew and liked to sit with at dinner, which if you go with the family, is pretty much a given (I hope). So, why am I vacillating on this?
Darn brain.

I’ve never been good at being the squeaky wheel. I’d rather do my best to get along and pitch in to help. When I need to stick up for myself, I make a reasoned case in my behalf. I don’t like losing or being overridden, but I try to accept things gracefully.
Apparently not everyone thinks that way. I have a co-worker who is literally making a federal case over being asked to work three times on the weekend in the month of November. It’s a complicated story, so I’ll boil it down to saying that the schedule is SUPPOSED to be set up so that each person only works one weekend a month. This was complicated in November for this person by the combination of our annual Big Library Event (on Saturday) that everyone had to work and the Thanksgiving weekend, which this person worked to clear her schedule for the December holidays. She almost made arrangements to switch for Thanksgiving with a non-squeaky wheel type who was glad to switch, but then changed her mind at the last minute. I’m not sure what to make of this. If you squeak enough to get out of the work that SEEMED to be the problem, why then would you go back and work it anyway? I can’t figure it out. I think sometimes people complain just to complain. Unfortunately in this case there is an official system for complaining, and she’s working it to the best of her ability.

*Le Sigh*

This lady is talking to me on the phone right now. She is relating a long story about “unusual things going on”. It’s quite fascinating. She gets “aggravated by government things” has been arrested several times in several states, has to keep moving, and has a medical condition in her legs that is bothered by the military guys and police who have arrested her and entered her information into the “system” that is tracking her from Maryland. Apparently she wants me to make a record of her call and the two vehicles with military stickers which are parked outside her hotel room. I told her that if she has a problem, she should probably call the police, but she didn’t want to do that because they’d enter her information into the system and it would do spiritual things to her. She is convinced that the library keeps records of all sorts of things to do with the military. So I’m listening and making sympathetic noises.

I just got her off the phone. I think she really just wanted someone to listen to her story. I feel bad that this lady is out there with this tremendous feeling of paranoia. I hope she finds some help.

“The State Game Commission of Pennsylvania is drafting regulations to allow hunters to use atlatls, wooden spear throwers first utilized by early man.”

I love this story. It was also picked up by NPR and used as a limerick on “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me.” As those of us who have read the Earth’s Children books by Jean Auel know, the atlatl, or “spear thrower” was invented by Jondalar, sexy, sensitive, pouty caveman guy, in between bouts of fantastic, satisfying sex. It will be interesting to see if the PA hunting community will be as successful with the spear thrower as Jondalar and prehistoric superwoman Alya are. I’m not a big hunting person, myself, but this seems a lot more sporting than a rifle.

Mom is pretty rough looking, but lively and STRONG and anxious and exasperating. She does have lung cancer which they diagnosed apparently at the same time as the pneumonia and other things. She broke her tailbone this week, but as she already has a broken pelvis there’s not much else they can do except treat the pain and try and keep her from moving around too much (good luck).

On the $$ front, brother Mike is playing things day-by-day. He’s moved the house out of mom’s name, and as long as she is in the status she currently is in (doing therapy), she still qualifies for 50 or so more days of Medicare. She’s ineligible for Hospice, because she needs special oxygen and 24 hour care and Hospice doesn’t provide that.

The doctors have no way of predicting how she will progress. She’s surprised them at every turn. She’s tenacious and she has a natural energy and hardiness that is not beaten by a long shot.

We don’t know much more than we did, but she seemed happy to see us. We’re going back to see her early tomorrow before we leave.

Well the state border, anyway.
We’re off tomorrow for PA.
Driving up is usually OK,
the slog back is a PITA.
We’ll be back late Sunday.
Looking forward to seeing the PA friends.
And the family.
And Panera Southwest Turkey sandwich. Just one. *YUM*
Have a good ‘un.