Grande Galerie des Glaces

Well, the big news is obviously the earthquake/tsunami. So far, I *don't think* that I have any sibs who are directly affected but my thoughts and prayers are with those whose lives have just been turned upside-down.

Oddly enough, one of my sibs literally just got back from a tour of SE Asia, like only a week(?) ago. (In fact, I just now got the postcard she sent me from Cambodia.)

In more mundane, rl life news...

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Well, I am feeling a bit vexed this morning.

Yesterday, my cleaning lady called to cancel because she and her husband are in the middle of buying their house and she had some paperwork to get done before a deadline. So we agreed that she would be here on Friday instead, and that was all good.

Then late last night my little dog started going "eh eh eh" when she coughed, panted quite a bit and just generally seemed kinda miserable. Not really *bad*, just off which is enough to make me worry. Of course, it is wretchedly hot again so I decided to take her to the vet Friday am (since today is the vet's day off and eh won't be in the office at all.) Completely forgetting of course, that my cleaning lady is expected Friday am as well... Now my little dog is taking a nap on my dirty laundry, which seems to make her feel better. ::eye roll:: Of course. Of course.

And now my appointment with the financial planner has been changed, and he wants me there tomorrow afternoon. Which is even more awkward because my cleaning lady planned to give me extra time to make up for missing last week, and I am not certain just how long she was planning on being here. (And since she has to get her kids ready for school in a couple of weeks, Saturdays aren't really an option.)

So now I have to figure out how to squeeze in a vet visit in an already crammed-full day, since the vet is in a town *east* of here. I just... idk, idk. ::head desk::

Off to take a nap I guess.

Last night the dsl went out around 7pm;of course I thought it was Vista being a hoor again, so this morning I called the tech for help setting up my XP.

*Very* long story short, XP has an on-screen keyboard enabled -- which renders all normal keyboards useless. Do we want to talk about what a *f'n pain* it is using a mouse to point-and-click type this way? No, We Do Not! [and yes, i know that i should be more tolerant and less whiny and stuff but ya know what? i don't f'n care! iwant a regular keyboard again!]

So if anyone has any idea to turn this damned thing off or better yet uninstall it altogether, please *please* let me know!!!

Once again, it is chilly and damp. Yuck. And now the driver's door on my car won't shut properly, so I will have to go and try and make it work tomorrow or whenever it gets a little bit nicer. I really do not want to pay $60+ to have a mechanic come out from Hastings and fix it. (Sadly, no-one here will help out. Period. And then people here wonder why I don't want to stay. *sigh*)

Today was spent online, mostly waiting on e-mails between me and my lawyer(s) about the legal stuff I am dealing with. *sigh* Well, it beats running back and forth between two separate office about a mile apart.

So no, I do not just "play around on the computer all say" as some people who live in this town seem to think. I'm actually 'working', although that may be a somewhat relative point. Meh.

It's off to try and write now I guess. I will be so *happy* once this is resolved -- if I live that long. >:(

Well, it turned cold. Meh. Today, I was able to pay some more bills so I am essentially caught up for now. Or at least until after the first of next month.

So, my aunt and uncle are having their auction Saturday. *sigh* I am really pissed for a lot of reasons but mostly because I won't be able to get hardly anything at all. Most of the stuff will go high, plus I'll probably be bidding against family for it anyway, so just... meh. Worst, some of the things I really wanted I know I won't be able to afford. The cousins will start coming in tomorrow (some are probably here tonight though), so I will probably be mostly offline until sometime Sunday.

Oh and did I mention the fast-moving snowstorm that is headed our way? Yeah. Just better and better, always.

It looks as if I will need to invest in a MajicJack (sic) because I have to do something about all the phone calls I need to make right now. There are just way too many calls for my tracphone to handle and which I never intended for much more than a basic line of communication. Probably 95% of my calls are one minute or less, and merely 'occasional' ones, which makes tracphone perfect for me. It's the daily ones to older family members that are wrecking it. They usually pick up about 20 secs. into the call and I simply cannot say hello and goodbye fast enough to hang up before it goes into the second minute. Which is why I love being online; sure it's a monthly bill but I can be online indefinitely, w/o any restrictions, so to speak.

I went to Hastings today to see my auntie and read all of the Christmas letters she received to her and my uncle. How exciting, right? Anyway, it should save me an eon or two from Purgatory, though I am hoping the furkids will put in a good word for me as well.

My Cousin Donna(tm) called most of New Year's Eve/Day -- she was having a great time celebrating. I am always glad to hear from her because it means she is still around. If only she would learn to use a computer though! It would be so much easier on me *and* my poor phone.

Ok, I am off to go and sleep, for I am way too tired to stay up any longer.

Yes I am still here. Dealing w/rl and legal stuff, oh what a joy. Not!! *le sigh* Hopefully I will be able to get back to life online before too long. I am already tired of all this.

In other news, the weather has turned freakin' *cold*! Brrrrrrr!!!

Great. Now my *cousins* are calling me, asking me what's going on w/aunt and uncle and burning up time like crazy. Gah. I really do not know what to say because they are so damned quiet and downright secretive about things. When I was there Friday, they gave every indication that they intended to stay for at least another week. Yesterday, they sounded as if they still planned to stay there for another week but w/more serious plans to go into a nursing home. Today, after I finished talking to my aunt, she says they are going into the nursing home *tomorrow*, no question at all. I mean, seriously, WTF?? And I am somehow supposed to keep on top of things? How, may I ask? They have been lucky in a lot of ways but at the same time, they have been together for over sixty years, no kids: they have been spoiled for too long and had their way for too long -- which means they have no idea how to "bend" or communicate with family members about *anything*.

Tomorrow I get to visit them at the nursing home. Yay. I also get to meet w/an attorney.

Off to take a nap, or something. And then I wonder why I can't sleep.

Yes, my aunt and uncle are officially in the middle of a health care crisis. Long story short -- their health has been slowly failing for a *long* time, and now it has started to snowball. Snowball as in the last year probably but the last two or so months for sure. Gah. This is exactly what I have been afraid of for the past four years. The bad thing is that they refused to "do anything" while they were still in "moderately good" health -- such as move into assisted living. Now I am very much afraid that they will be tremendously unhappy and be miserable at the very least. Best case scenario is that they will be able to adjust ok. I will probably write more when I get back home -- right now I ma off to yap at the cousins and they can fuss at me for being so ignorant of the situation. *Sigh* Y'know, when this first started four years ago, I was really concerned but after awhile I kept getting blown off and it was being implied by my aunt and uncle that I was way too fussy. Ok, so I backed off. If they won't admit anything and deny everything I say/think... just yeah. *SIGH*

So, back later on. I hope I can keep a few shreds of sanity for a little while longer.