Your Word Is Your Bond

"Your word is your bond" is a common expression. I use it in certain situations and I have heard it used by other people. It is a statement that shows trust. It is not copywrited for only a few people to use. That is why I do not understand the big controversy when Mrs. Trump used it in her speech. Who cared if Obama's wife used the same term. Each one was using a sentiment that reflected what she felt her husband's values are. If we have free speech, everyone has the right to say what they feel. The press needs to stop picking apart every syllable that is uttered and concentrate on what really matters. Fixing the United States and returning it to how it used to be.

Half Way

I woke up this morning and realized that we are half way through the summer. Is it just me or is the time flying by? At this point in the year I count my months by when I will see my granddaughters again. I see them in 10 days. The next time will be eight weeks. After that another eight weeks. Then two weeks. I am now up to January 2017. Then I count the time until I see my parents in Florida. Four weeks then eight weeks then eight weeks. I am now in May 2017 and the next summer begins. Life is flying by at breakneck speeds. It is a good thing that my beauty cream is working so well. I do not look like I have aged in a year.

Clouds

My Aunt Anne moved to Florida in the 1970's. She passed away many years ago. I remember one of her sayings vividly. She would wake up every morning, look outside and say, "Oh sh*t, another sunny day". I understand what she meant by that. In the summer when you get up and it is sunny, you feel the responsibility to be outside making the most of the day. I belong to the town pool so I try to go there every sunny day, even if I do not really want to. I feel obligated to spend time there as I know the warm sunny days of summer are limited. This morning I got up to see the clouds and rain. I was overjoyed. I can do whatever I want to or just stay inside. I feel relieved.

Mark Up

At what point does the price of an item get so marked up that you just cannot buy it? When you calculate what is costs to make and what the charge is, sometimes it is so out of proportion that even though you want to buy it, you just can't. We are planning a going away party for Tuesday and the doctor is orthodox so the food needs to be kosher. All we wanted was baked ziti and salad. We looked on the menu and the tray of ziti with sauce and no meat was $85. The large salad was $55. We figured out that 3 boxes of ziti cost $3.00 and sauce costs less than $6. Less than $9 is selling for $85. Salad costs about $5.00 so $55 is a bit high. After discussing these prices with my boss we decided on 3 pizza pies.

Job Description

Last evening one of my young receptionists called me and sounded upset. It seems that a patient had thrown paper towels into the toilet and now it was stuffed. My boss told her to put her hand into the toilet and fish them out. She told me that she did not want to do that. I agreed with her. It is totally unsanitary and not in her job description. I asked if any of the male volunteers were there and she said yes. I told her to get a broom and have them fish out the paper towels with the end of it. If they did not want to do that, then the bathroom would have to be out of order until I call maintenance in the morning. If my boss was not happy with that solution she could call me. I would never ask anyone to do anything that they feel uncomfortable with. I never got a call back. I will see what I find when I arrive at the office this morning.

Story Land

My granddaughters are on vacation. This morning they are off to Story Land in New Hampshire. They will be joined by other family members for a few days. Last year they had a tea party with Cinderella. I am sure they will have another one this year. I have never been to New Hampshire but the pictures they sent last year were beautiful. In my mind New Hampshire is a kind and gentle state where everyone loves each other. I picture it as a sanctuary from the craziness of life. I could be totally wrong but I want to keep that delusion alive.

The Claw

This morning I needed to open a bottle of Gatorade. I twisted and turned it. It did not budge. I put it under warm water. Still no movement. I got out a dish towel and tried to pry it open. Nothing still. I had to open it so I could transfer it into a smaller bottle to take to work. After trying for a few minutes I began to rummage through my utensil drawer. I saw a lobster claw cracker. I took it out and it was just wide enough to go around the bottle cap. I clutched it like the jaws of life and twisted the cap. It finally opened. Victory!

Un-Friendly Reaction

I think I have food poisoning. Last night I ate at a restaurant that will remain unnamed but you can guess where it was from the title of this blog. I had a hamburger and fries. Everyone else had chicken. About two hours after dinner I started to feel sick. I went home and laid down. I felt like I was in labor. There is a code in my house that if you are sick in the bathroom you bang on the radiator and someone from downstairs will come up to check on you. I started to frantically bang. My husband came up from the den. I told him I was sick, as I was projectile vomiting and worse. He said that he was fine. I said that I was not asking how he was. I was dying on the floor. He said that he was fine so it could not have been the food. I reminded him that we ate different dishes. I was feeling faint and woozy but he kept telling me that it was not the food, because he was fine. As my head was spinning I remembered him saying, "You always get sick". The last time I was sick was in 2009. I do not think that is "always". As I continued to be violently ill, he asked if I would be much longer since he wanted to watch a movie. I said I would try to die as quickly as possible. As soon as I could focus my eyes, I told him he could leave the room. Since he left the room, he never asked how I am feeling. I blame the lack of compassion all on his father.

One Shot

This is the season for summer colds. My husband is getting over pneumonia and my office workers are coughing and sneezing. The people that went to doctors are taking medications. One pill three or four times a day for 10 days. I was doing the math. Thirty or forty pills times a million people with colds equals 30 or 40 million pills. No wonder the pharmaceutical companies are so rich. I started to think of the standard of years ago. The treatment was all the same. You got sick. Either you went to the doctor or if you had a fever the doctor came to your house after hours. He looked into your throat and felt your neck glands. He then took out a large needle filled with penicillin. No fancy drug. No ceclor or ampicillin or Zpac or levequin. Penicillin. You rolled over and he stuck the needle into your behind. We gritted our teeth as the serum flowed in. For two days after that our tush was sore. The amazing part was that we all recovered quickly. One shot cured us all. Not thirty or forty pills taken on a time schedule. Another example of life being easier and less complicated.

Loose Lips Sink Ships

Sometimes it is better not to speak unless you are certain of the circumstances. My office sees people for intensive therapy. Most people comply with the treatment but sometimes there are a few that play around. Usually they are the rich kids that do not care about wasting their parent's money. They miss appointments or cancel at the last second. They are still charged for them since that would be a time slot that the doctor could have filled. It incenses us to see parents throwing away their money. At some point we just say that until you are serious about getting better, stop treatment. After a few missed appointments that have been paid for, I usually get a call from a parent. I then explain that their child is not showing up, they are still paying for the time and they need to deal with their child. We have one young man now who is playing that game. He expects the doctors to be his taxi service from the railroad. Most days they accommodate him but sometimes they cannot.  They other day, he said he was at the train station and no one answered our phones so he took the train back home. We know it was a lie. He called me yesterday to "dispute the charge" as he said it was our fault. My doctors have their phone records showing they texted and called him but he never answered. Here is the point I am getting to. My regular receptionist was on vacation the day this happened and the girl that filled in forgot to even charge the $525.00 for the visit. It would have slipped through the cracks, maybe. But since he called in the dispute, I had to tell him that his father was now being billed. Sometimes it is better to keep your mouth shut, especially when you are in the wrong.

Town Crier

Each morning I write this blog. Sometimes it is about general topics and sometimes it is about personal ones. Yesterday my husband asked me if his brother had called him. I said no, why do you think he called. He replied that his brother reads my blog. I did not remember writing anything that would warrant a phone call. Then my husband asked if yesterday's blog was about him. I said no. To clarify my point, my husband has pneumonia. He had a slight cough and did not feel well so he went to the doctor and was diagnosed with the beginning stages of pneumonia. This is the fourth time he has had pneumonia so it was not shocking nor that concerning. He takes an antibiotic and it goes away. After his diagnosis he had enough strength to get ice cream sundaes and dismantle a couch. That is why I did not think that it was newsworthy. I explained to him that I write a blog and I am not the town crier.

Lights Out

Yesterday afternoon I received a call from my office. The computer system was down. There had been a blackout and now the computers could not get online. I was told that half of the building was still out. I explained that since the program was internet based, if part of the building was still out most likely the internet was affected. About an hour later, I got another call from my receptionist. It seemed that PSEG came to the building and said that a large repair needed to be done.They were closing down the building at 7:30pm. My boss told the girls and PSEG that she was not leaving at 7:30pm as we have patients until 9pm. She strongly told that to PSEG and they said that at 7:30pm they were closing the building and blocking the parking lot entrance. Anyone who remained would be blocked in. My boss said no. My girls were now quite upset. Do they walk out on my boss or get blocked in. I told them to go outside again to PSEG and get the definitive answer. If they were going to be blocked in, I would call my boss and inform her that my staff was walking out at 7:30pm. No discussion. One girl went to talk to PSEG. They said that they were scared of my boss and called their supervisor to say that they would not close until 9:30pm. They did not want a problem. They were intimidated by a 5 foot tall, soft spoken woman who let them know who really had the power.

Little Red Coupe

Yesterday afternoon on my way home from work I was driving behind a red sports car. It was the candy apple red that catches your eye. The license plate read GottaDance. I wondered to myself who was driving the car. Could it be a young woman or a young man. It had to be someone that fit the car and plate. My curiosity got the better of me and I changed lanes to look, As I got to the stoplight, I inched up so I would be aligned with the front windows. Much to my surprise the driver was an old woman at least in her 70's and frail looking. I laughed to myself. The contents did not fit the packaging. The plate should have read MidLifeCrisis. 

Another Day In Paradise

I got up this morning and so far things are quiet. I have not watched television nor have I listened to the radio. My husband is still sleeping and Shelby doesn't say much. I have woken up to Paradise. The only problem is that I have to leave my house soon to go to work. That is when the Paradise ends and the real world begins. Yesterday when my husband got up, before he turned on the television, he said, "Let's see today's terrorism". He flipped on the TV and saw that 7 Baton Rouge police officers were ambushed and 3 were dead. What a sick world we are living in. Sometimes I just have no words to even discuss it.

Shopping Gene

I do not have the shopping gene. When my sister was born she was given a double dose. I was given none. I hate to make large purchases. We needed new den furniture and went to buy it last night. We went to a few stores. I became crankier and nastier in each store. I just do not like shopping for items that cost over $1000. If my kids asked me to give them $1000 in cash I would hand it over with a smile, but when I have to buy something for myself, I snap. We wound up buying a couch and a loveseat that I really liked. Unfortunately I made the experience quite stressful for my husband, our salesgirl and the store manager. I think they all would have liked to take me out into the parking lot and stomp on me. By the time we left the store, the salesgirl looked like she was ready to vomit, my husband had a migraine and the manager's face was so red that his blood pressure must have been 190/100. I walked out with a smile.

Adrenaline

There are many things in the world that get people excited. Some people get a "rush" from sports. Other get one from shopping. Some find excitement in nature. There is one thing that excites us all no matter what our age or social status is. It gives us excitement as if we were a child. Have you ever found a dollar bill laying on the floor? As soon as we see the green paper and realize that it is money, our adrenaline starts to flow. If it is a five dollar bill, the adrenaline goes even higher. Tens and twenties are rare finds. If you find a one dollar bill, you don't usually tell people. A five and above needs to be announced as if you won the lottery.

The Shut Off Man

I was visiting my parents the other day and my father began reminiscing about his family and the Depression years. He always has such wonderful stories and remembers them with extreme detail. The story he told I have titled "The Shut Off Man". I will try to tell it as he did. In the 1930's the gas company bills were about $2.00. Every month my grandparents sent in the $2.00 check. One month the check must have been lost in the mail. A month later a man appeared at their door. His name was Mr. Lindell. He was wearing a tool belt with a wrench and a screwdriver. He said he was there to shut off the gas for non payment of the bill. In those days if you paid the "shut off man" when he came to your house, he would give you a receipt and keep the gas turned on. My grandfather paid the bill, got the receipt and shook Mr. Lindell's hand. During those years jobs were at a premium and if you lost your job, another one was not in your future. Times were rough. My grandfather was a self employed tailor and he easily made ends meet. When the next bill was due, my grandfather told my grandmother not to pay it. A few weeks later Mr. Lindell was at their door again. My grandfather paid the bill on the spot. He then told Mr. Lindell that each month he would not pay his bill so he should expect to come to pick up the payment. He explained that as long as Mr. Lindell was guaranteed houses to go to, his job was secure. Mr. Lindell thanked him profusely and they became good friends. My grandfather did a small thing to help out someone else and it was greatly appreciated.

Nailed It

Last night when I came home, my husband told me that there was a nail in my tire. He said it was there in the morning when he took my car to work. I got a ride to work yesterday so he used my car. He went to work and then did errands and came home, never fixing the tire. He claimed the gas station was closed when he got there, but the times do not add up. Instead of fixing the problem, he went to look for couches. That left the tire as my problem. It is almost 7am and I have to leave for work but first I have to get the tire repaired. He said it would hold air until later even if I take it on a 30 mile round trip to my office. I am not gambling on that, so in 5 minutes I will be at the repair shop. Just throw another shrimp on the barby as I do not have enough on my plate.

Twelve Hours

The other evening my husband and I came home from an evening out and there was a message on the answering machine. It was from an elderly woman that he volunteers with. She said she was not coming in to work that day as she overslept and her alarm never went off. We were a bit confused until we figured out what happened. She must have gone to take a nap in  the evening and awoke at 7 o'clock. Since it was light, out she thought it was 7am but it was 7pm. Her alarm never went off because it was 12 hours too early. She did not realize that it was night and not morning. I wonder how long it took for her to figure out that her time clock was off.

Dinner and a Show

I spare no expense for my husband's birthday. I took him to dinner and a show. Dinner was a hero sandwich and the show was a free one at the town park. I had the best time. Not from the dinner and show, but from the people that shared the experience with us. We celebrated with my husband's brother and sister in law. I am still  laughing from the night's events. We got to the park two hours early and got almost front row seats. The park was fairly empty so I do not understand why the person behind me was kicking my chair all night. For two hours prior to the show, some kids were running on stage singing and dancing. Much to my surprise, when the show started, the same kids were now in costume. They were the cast. Their microphones cut on and off all night. It was like watching a camp drama club present a play. After 90 minutes there was an intermission. I had hoped the show would have ended by then. All I could wish for was a short second act. My wishes would fall on deaf ears. Forty minutes later we made the executive decision to leave the show. I could still hear the songs as we pulled out of the parking lot. I might pass by the park now on my way to work to see if they are still preforming. With that being said, I still had the best time.

711

The numbers 7-11 have a few meanings. In gambling they are good luck numbers. In business they represent a 24 hour market. In my house it is my husband's birthday. I have always said that he has more luck than money and that is why his life has been a good one. He hit the jackpot when he met me. I am not giving myself a compliment. I am just stating a fact. He is 64 and looks 46. Not a wrinkle on his face. No worry lines. The only stress he has ever had was hoping that his Ebay order came in correct. He never managed the money or had to pay bills that were higher than his paycheck. He has no idea about any of the daily workings of this household. He knows that everything will be done for him. Seven Eleven is the only birth date that would have ever suited him. 

Mostly Sunny?

What will the weather be today? The report says partly cloudy. The sky looks iffy. Is it a pool day or a day to visit my parents? When I got up at 6am the clouds covered the sky. I was going to Brooklyn. Then I walked the dog and the sky was partly cloudy. Now the plan was to go to Brooklyn in the morning and the pool in the afternoon. Wait, bright sunshine. Now it is a pool day. What do I do? I think I will reevaluate at 9am.

iRead

We have become an "i" world. It is a  lower case letter that has no real definition in the dictionary for the way we use it in technology. I can only assume that the "i" is a short replacement for the word "internet". Maybe the meaning can be stretched a bit and the "i" can refer to "idea". In any event, the "i" is not referring to a person. We have ipads, ipods and itouch. The other day I was telling someone about a statistic that they were not aware of. They asked me how I knew it. I said that I read about it. Then I realized that I knew a lot of facts because I read. Not iRead. I pick up a book and learn about a topic. I like the old fashioned way.

The Fish Stinks

There is an expression that the fish stinks from the head down. America is the fish and Obama is the head. This morning I woke up to find that 11 Dallas police officers were ambushed by snipers at a police protest. Five are dead and six are critical. The police pushed the protesters to safety as they were being shot at. This is an all too common event in a country that used to be in control of itself. When your leader is a racist there becomes a racial disparity. When you condone an atmosphere where only one "color" of lives matter, hate will grow. When you fault law enforcement for doing its job, chaos will appear. When you mourn for the predators and vilify the peacekeepers, you will open a Pandora's box that will be hard to close. Our "leader" made a speech saying that this act was despicable. He had no feeling as he spoke and the words felt empty. He does not care that children lost their fathers and parents lost their sons. Maybe he will give the snipers the Medal of Honor. How would he feel if his loved ones were assassinated? Would he defend the killers as misguided individuals only in need of a job? This November America has a choice. Elect a corrupt liar or a man who might be extreme but has the country's best interests in his heart. Maybe we need to go to the opposite end of the spectrum in order to eventually regain what an inept, inexperienced,anti American president has left as his legacy. I pray for the Dallas officers that were killed. May they all rest in peace.

Professional Rules

It makes me think when professionals do not follow their own guidelines. One of my pool friends is a dentist. Why is he the person that brings Skittles to the pool and offers them to everyone? I work with a doctor who is a marriage counselor. Why is she getting a divorce? My internist tells me that I need to lose weight. How come he can no longer button his shirt without gaps in it? Is this a "Do what I say not what I do mentality?" If it is, maybe what you say is not what is best for me.

Phones

I hate to renew my cell phones. It is a tedious job. I share a plan with my son and every two years we need to renegotiate it and update four phones. Yesterday was that day. No matter when you go to the phone store there is always a wait. There are 10 workers milling around but only four can help you. The others  are greeters. It was finally our turn. I let my son speak to the representative as I wanted to sit and talk to my grandson. Of the four new phones we were entitled to, three were on back order and have to be delivered to our homes next week. It took over an hour to do this. I am glad that we are locked in until 2018.

Food Phobia

I have been going to my town pool for many years and have seen a neighborhood man there many times. He is friends with some of my pool friends but I never spoke to him. The other day the pool was very empty so my sister and I sat next to him. My sister, being the friendly person she is, started a conversation about restaurants. As each restaurant was mentioned, the man said that he had eaten there but stopped because they touched his food. The pizza place touched his pizza as it went into the box. The next pizza place touched his calzone. The Chinese restaurant touched his egg roll. This went on and on for at least a half hour. He now goes to another county for food. Hopefully they won't touch his food or he will have to go out of state. I never knew that this man had a food ocd phobia. We were better off not speaking to him as now we think he is a nut.

July 4th

Happy 4th of July. For some reason my neighbor from across the street must have thought that yesterday was the holiday. He shot off hundreds of fireworks. Grucci would have been jealous. The problem is that besides the noise, it is dangerous. The flames of the fireworks were shooting onto my roof. Just as I thought it was over, a new round started. The debris that remained is still in the street. I am sure that some of it is on my lawn. If it is, I will pick it up and toss it onto his lawn. I am nobody's cleanup woman. The street looks like it is in Manhattan with litter all over it. At one point when the noise was not stopping, I hoped that he would just blow off a finger, so he would have to stop. I know that is mean, but I qualified the thought by hoping it was only a pinky.

Timing

Timing is everything. Last night we had tickets to the Met's game. It was fireworks night. My son bought us these tickets for Hanukkah. As Murphy's Law would have it, my husband was scheduled to go to work at midnight. For an entire year he waited for this job to come through and now there was a time conflict. In order to do everything, the game needed to end at 10:15. The fireworks needed to start at 10:30 and last only 15 minutes. We needed to get back to the car at 10:50, drive home and arrive by11:20 and get my husband out the door for work by 11:30. For some reason the stars aligned and that is exactly what happened.

Saving Memories

There is a lot to be said for modern electronics, but sometimes there is a downside. Years ago we took pictures, had them developed and put them into albums. When we wanted to see them we just got out the book. Now everyone takes pictures on their phones. The downside to that is when the phones need to be upgraded, the pictures do not transfer from every phone. I have an older type of phone that does not transfer. We are upgrading on Tuesday and I need to go through all of the pictures I have taken and send them to my email so I can save them to my computer. I have about 300 pictures on my phone and now I need to filter out the best ones to transfer. I have been doing this for the past hour and need to stop for a while. This is the time when I wish I had a Kodak camera.

No Recall

Now that I have grandchildren I get to watch them grow and learn. I have no recall of my sons doing the things that my grandchildren are doing. I am talking about the basics. In my mind, my sons were born walking, talking and potty trained. I do not remember teaching them any life skills and for sure, my husband did not either. I know I am sounding ridiculous but when I am asked for advice, I can only say what I would do now and not what I did then. Maybe we are not supposed to remember everything.