I'm baack

Miss me? 

It's only been 2 weeks. Makes it sound like I've been gone for years. 

Ah, my health is on a rapid decline and I've been busy with tests, xrays, CT scans, hospitals, doctors, etc. I don't even share with my family all that is going on right now all at once. So I won't bore you. Eventually but not today.

Don't worry, I'm okay and doing the best I can right now.  But I think that means I am not going up north for my nephew's wedding. 

I so wanted to go. I love that kid. And add in the fact that I can see the whole dang family at one time in one spot is just damn convenient.

Maybe something good will happen between now and then. But I had to send in my RSVP so I had to put No so it got there on time.

To say I am bummed out is an enormous understatement. 

But maybe in late fall.

Or everyone will have to come see me. 

I will share with you the simplest of things happening.  I am having my first surgery on July 13th. That's just cataracts in my right eye where "Betty' lives. That's the easy one...I hope.

 

The next two are frightening but as I get closer I will share. Eventually, I'll have to share with everyone. I hate bothering people with this. Seriously who cares? And my family doesn't want to hear all this shit. I don't have that kind of family like on TV. I have one sister who all she does is whine about this or that ailment. And now no one believes her or gives her much help. I find that awful. Yes, she is a drama queen but she really does have lupus and it flairs and it's painful. But because she whines about all her shit everyone gave up listening except me. And I take abuse for that. I can't just ignore her even though I know more often than not she's a nut case. So I don't tell my family too much or they will begin to treat me like her. I don't want that. So I do this in silence. Besides, I'm gonna be fine. It's all going to be fine. Rick and I just take turns I guess. Enough of that shit! No worries, no pity - nada ya hear!?

So what have I been doing you ask besides dealing with health issues?

I got dishpan hands, that's what is new. Still no new dishwasher. 

No time of late to go out and buy. I said to Rick we use too many dishes.

He said, "Wanna use them twice?"  I didn't answer right away and he began to laugh. "You're thinking about that, aren't you?  Let's just buy some paper plates."

Boy, I hate washing dishes by hand. I mean I do pots and pans normally but everything is a royal pain. Did he really need that grater for the garlic, he couldn't use the same knife and chop it? As I think these things I begin to laugh at myself. What have I become? Spoiled 1st world problem. At least it's cool inside my house where as it's 100 + outside and let's not add in humidity because that makes you want to cry.

Rick washed the other day and I was drying.

I picked up a spoon and the handle was sticky. Then the spatula had food on the handle.  I hand them back to him to wash. He says, "You wash the handles too?"  OMG. Did he mean that? He is now laughing and takes them back. I told him that I would wash and he could dry from now on. 

He just laughs at me. He seems to do the same with a pan. Washes the inside but if something spilled over the outside he never bothers to wipe down or wash. I used to say something. Then I would do them over. 

This time I just said, I will wash, you can dry. He was fine with that. Especially since he can put things away for me on the 2nd shelf and above.

I recall when I got a new mom and my sister and I were doing the dishes, my sister gave me something back to wash better. My new mom said, "A good dryer, gets what the washer missed"  That always made me laugh and I didn't do it this time to Rick's spoon because, my God it was sticky!  

**We watched a comedian named Keith Robinson and the special is called Different Strokes. It's on Netflix.  Nothing to do with the TV show Different Strokes. Nope, it's because he had 2 strokes and they were quite different from one another.

Rick could really relate to his stroke jokes and enjoyed the hell out of him.

It was good to see Rick laugh at these jokes. 

**Rick was at the Y and he sees a lot of the same people and he does go every M, W, and Friday. That means he sees his regulars as he states it. There is a woman there that when Rick started was quite chubby. She was on a machine by Rick. An older man who is in his 70s always waves to Rick and chats a bit. He said to the young woman, boy you're doing a great job, the hard work you're putting in is showing. The cuts in your calves are lookin' good. He moved along. She got up as if she was pissed Rick told me. He wondered what was bugging her but he doesn't normally talk to her so he said nothing. Next thing he knew they came to get the man and tell him he must leave. Rick asked him why. He said because that woman was offended by my comments that her hard work was paying off.

Rick was shocked. Rick asked if he could come back. He said I don't know. They said to leave and that someone would call me. 

Rick said he looked like he was going to cry. He asked Rick, "Did you think that was over the line?"  

Rick said, "No, but you and I are of a different generation, we thought it a compliment, she thought you were a perv. Young people today get offended by everything. I'm so sorry"

That has been bothering Rick for days! He asked me how I'd feel if the man said that to me. I said, "If he wasn't behaving like a perv I'd be thrilled. I know the difference between bad behavior and a compliment for heaven's sake. Besides, if he was so much older than me as this man was to her, it wouldn't bother me. I'd say thank you and smile!! But again, I'm old I look at things differently."  

**Rick and I were working on something in the house. 

It was not going well. He was getting impatient and cranky as hell. 

I said, "Look can we just say we're both to blame here and move on?"  

Rick let out a big sigh and said, "Okay, but I'm blaming you more."  

He smirks.

Well if that didn't break the tension and make me crack up laughing! Honestly, I can't even stay pissed at the ass.

**There was an article in the business journal of the Raleigh area that read 

New Deli coming to (city) to target the influx of Yankees.

Yankees? WTF? 

So instead of everything being fried including oreos, they will have fresh deli meats and cheeses. Pastrami sandwiches, Philly cheesesteaks, warm roast beef sandwiches, Cuban sandwiches, crab cakes, lobster rolls, and fresh salads to name a few. The article states that the owner is from Boston and he saw a man with a Boston hat on and told him they'd be serving Boston-style roast beef and people get excited. And it's not so much "Yankee" food as it is Northeastern food.

I get it. I miss food not fried and something other than biscuits or greens and mac and cheese, which I have learned is the holy grail here. But the way the headline in the Business Journal was worded was a bit odd to me. But I look where I'm living now and that is the way of the land. To them, it's like we're all immigrants. My favorite line I have been asked since moving here is, "Where are your people from?"  I said to this woman, "My people?"

She said your ancestors, your parents. 

I said, "Italy. Then once landing here they went to Bronx NY and OH"  

She said and I quote, "Wow that's weird"  

Weird? What was the correct answer to that? I laughed and thankfully she went on to something else and ignored me the rest of the evening. This was at a neighborhood function. So I don't need to see her again but if I do I told Rick to ask her where her people are from so I can see the correct answer. We laugh at this.

Rick can tell her he's adopted so he doesn't know that ought to shut her up.

** We watched another thriller called Defending Jacob. OMG, was it ever a suspenseful drama. The acting was superb. The young man playing Jacob was very good. Chris Evans was the best I've ever seen him. But I still do not know if Jacob was guilty or not. Rick and I are still talking about it. Did any of you watch this? Any insights? I'd love to hear them. At this ending, we both went, WHAAAAT?  well did he? Frustrating. I am leaning on his guilt. But I wanted and needed a definitive answer, you know for the slow mentally impaired like me.

**Rick wore his Bob shirt on Monday. He went to the UPS store, the gym, and to the pharmacy. He saw a man trying to not look like he wasn't taking Rick's picture but he was. Rick asked him if he wanted to take a pic of his shirt. The man laughed and said, "Yes, sorry, may I?"  Rick turned and pulled it down so it's easier to read and he got the pic. He said, "Best tee I've seen in a long time."  Then at UPS the guy behind the counter laughed and made a guy from the back come up front to read his shirt. 

At the pharmacy, the woman said, "I don't get that shirt." Rick told her to read it again slowly. She did and said, "Oh my god Bob has no arms that's why"  Rick said she was very young, very cute and dumb. 

I had to laugh at that.

He does love his goofy shirts. I don't quite get it. But it brings him joy so it doesn't matter if I get it.

In Wegmans (fabulous grocery store) a man walked up to him and said, 
"Hey I'm sorry about your stroke but that shirt is damn funny man"

He was wearing the I'm not Drunk, shirt below.

If you didn't see Rick's Bob Shirt that all find funny but me.

Here it is. Yes, it's cute. But my goodness Rick just howls at this.

I just shake my head.

And lastly, Rick was trying to cheer me up the other day after some bad news. He reminded me of a time when these gay young men were hitting on him and talking about him. They did not know we heard them.

"Beef in a Bucket"  they kept calling him to one another. 

Too long for here but trust me it was wild. I heard it and saw it all. 

Rick was standing in a bucket at the time to plant a tree around an indoor pool area at a hotel. The boys were eating breakfast at a table where Rick was working. He heard them call him "Beef in a Bucket" and he heard me laughing from the other side of the area. It worked he cheered me up.

When these men did approach him he told them he was flattered but he played for the other team and never was a switch hitter. 

They bought him a drink for being nice about it, which we thought was very nice. But how else would you react? 

They were nice and Rick's nice so no one was offended, which was Rick's big concern. They all laughed about it. Told him it was the best rejection ever. Rick said, "Good I'll remember that in case there is a next time." Which then one says, "Oh honey there will be a next time"  

Oh, how we laughed remembering this story from our youth. 

Ah, My very own funny Beef in a Bucket.

Now I must get caught up on blog reading.