Sunday Stealing

 

1. What did you do this year that you had not done before?  I made Chex Mix for the first time in my life.  Isn't that exciting?

2. Did you keep your New Year's Resolutions/goals for the year and will you make/set more for next year?  What are they? What are your new ones?  I am too old to make New Year's resolutions.

3. Did anyone you know give birth? Or get pregnant?  The preacher's son at the Baptist church is the only one I can think of whose wife had a baby.  Now they have two sweet daughters. 

4. Did anyone you know die? One of my cousins lost her husband, and Cliff had a cousin die.  Or have a serious illness?  No one close to me that I can think of, although a cousin  Alice (my age) and her husband were in a head-on crash while Christmas shopping, and both had injuries.  Alice was in the  hospital longer and had many broken bones.

5. What places did you visit?  I don't even think we left the state this year!  We went to see autumn leaves in the Ozarks (bad timing, the leaves were prettier here at home), and we went again to the Ozarks so Cliff could buy a faulty tractor so he'd have something to do. 

6. What would you like to have next year that you lacked this year (doesn't have to be a physical thing)?  I would like to know that all our family could get together without someone holding a grudge for a relative and refusing to  go anywhere that person is going to be... so the family circle is broken.

7. What date from this year will remain etched in your memory and why?  I can't think of any particular date, but even if there was one, I would likely have forgotten it by now.  Sometimes I can't even remember why I walked into another room.

8. What was your biggest achievement this year?  my garden 

9. Did you get sick or injured? No.  I haven't even had a cold since before the Covid appeared.  Anyone you know?  See question number 4. 

10. What was the best thing you bought?  A new mattress, I suppose.  How boring, right? 

11. Where did most of your disposable income go (money leftover after you pay for food, transportation and shelter)?  Old tractors for Cliff and high-priced chocolate for me. 

12. What song will always remind you of this year?  All of the Monkeys Ain't in the Zoo 

13. What do you wish you would have done more of?  Not a thing. 

14. What do you wish you would have done less of?   Nothing.  Every day was precious. 

15. What was your favorite new TV program? Movie? Album/Songs? Or if you didn't pick up any new ones, what are you still watching/listening to?  Cliff and  I bring our noon meal (dinner) into the living room and watch an Andy Griffith show.  We've seen them all multiple times, but that show takes us back to a kinder, gentler time.

We watch movies on Paramount and Netflix.  We watched Big George Foreman on Netflix night before last, and really enjoyed it.  Afterward I googled the actual boxing match portrayed at the end of the movie.

Musings on songwriting, as well as the new year

The lyrics of my song are pretty much done.  I've changed words and phrases, thrown out some things and added others.  There is a beginning and an end.  

The tune has me wondering, though.  This song doesn't seem "country", which is all I've ever done.  I have zero skills on the guitar.  I chord, that's all; and even then I miss strings often and don't know a lot of chords.  I need a real songwriter to help with the tune.  I've done something different that isn't like anything I've done with a song or poem, and while it seems right, I'm not sure exactly what to do with it, so I'm waiting for a breakthrough.  I could read it as a poem, but it isn't meant to be a poem.

We're having winter weather now.  Light rain, or snow that melts within a couple hours.  Thirties and forties by day and freezing or near freezing at night.  Clouds most of the time.  I saw the full moon one night this week, but otherwise clouds cover the skies.  

Every year the time speeds up.  I can't believe this year only has three days left.  It hasn't been a bad year for us, though.

Cliff got two, count 'em, TWO new cochlear implants this year, and his hearing is still getting better all the time.  He'll be getting a tuneup next week, and that always brings about improvement.  I'm so thankful for that, and he is too.  He's been having dizzy spells intermittently.  He has an appointment for that in late January.  He had one before, but hadn't had any problems for about a month and thought he was cured, so he cancelled.  We first thought the dizziness was connected to his last cochlear implant, but since then we remembered that he had some severe dizzy spells long before that happened.  He told me once that even if he had the dizziness the rest of his life, those implants would still be worth it.

I had a lot of problems with my stomach hurting in the new year of 2020.  Nothing helped.  I was told I had Barrett's esophagus, a condition that is permanent and can lead to cancer.  However, two years later when they scoped my stomach, I did NOT have Barrett's esophagus!  Doctors do make mistakes!  In February of 2020 I stopped drinking coffee and switched to tea.  From that time forward, I started improving and last year got off all the meds doctors had given me for my stomach.  A few months ago I decided to try one cup of coffee with cream.  No problem.  Since then I've been drinking two cups of coffee every morning, with no problem at all.  Almost every day I thank God that I can drink coffee again.  If you are a coffee drinker, you know just how wonderful that is.  Oh yes, and I can eat all the chocolate I want now.  Sometimes if you are forced to do without something for a while, you learn to appreciate it when you get it back.

My pets seem to have fared well this year, even poor old Mama Kitty.

We have enough money that Cliff can afford to mess around with broken-down tractors, and enough for me to buy anything I take a notion to.  My needs are small, in the grand scheme of things.

We are so appreciative of Arick, our oldest grandchild, who does any hard work we ask of him:  Mowing, helping Cliff on projects, bringing in the heavy groceries... I wish all senior citizens had someone in their family like that, and of course, many do.  We never take it for granted.  All the grandchildren come to visit once in a while, and that is something else to be thankful for.

Every year I am more and more grateful for Tylenol and ibuprofen.  I also take more of both, although never more than two doses daily of either.

If next year turns out like this one, I will not complain.

I hope all my readers have a happy 2024.