March 30, 2026 Spring Cleaning

Spring Cleaning

As previously mentioned the past few years have had some challenges for my old body.  The first were the problems caused by the hiatal hernia which included reactivation of asthma.  The excessive stomach gasses leaked into my esophagus damaged my voice permanently.  Even now some days my voice can be very weak even 6 years following the hernia surgery.  There are more good days than bad so that is a win.

Following that fun experience my inner right thigh became very painful when attempting to get in and out of our Jeep.  Physical therapy helped some.  But by the fall of 2024 I was back in therapy again for the same issue.  After appointments starting with a spine specialist who sent me to a pain specialist.  More PT but still pain.  Then my leg would randomly collapse on my right side.  Pain specialist says it is not my back but my hip.  He sends me back to my orthopedic doctor who had done my knee replacement in 2016.  That ended by the same doctor doing a hip replacement in June 2025.

During the same time frame the cataracts in both eyes reached the point of needing to be removed.  While the surgeries performed 2 weeks apart were successful, my vision was still lacking.  There were floaties in both eyes.  Once the time had elapsed for the cataract surgery to be healed, the floaty removal process was begun.  That process started with the consult in January.  In a week the left eye surgery was done on January 8.  Right eye was done March 5.

All that being said, the limitations set by either an uncooperative body or time required for healing from surgeries, cleaning and sorting have not been high on my list.  PT following hip surgery and activity limits following the four eye procedures.  With the success of floaty removals my vision is crystal clear.  I see the spots on floors.  Hand prints on doors.  Dust in the corners and baseboards.  And the windows are a mess.  Being on the 4th floor there are windows that will remain unattended.

Since being released to almost normal activities about a week ago, I have set about cleaning our little apartment.  It was time for the spring and Easter decor to replace the St. Patrick decor.  An apartment inspection required we remove items from the HVAC closet.  The items moved to the guest room and closet.  With our cousin scheduled to arrive on March 31 we had to get in gear.  The guest closet had to be dealt with in a short fashion.  

Carved man from Cousin P.  Pad from a friend.

A handmade gift in the early 1980s from Aunt Sissy

Chicks happy not to be by a road.

Crochet from Aunt Cylestene and picture painted by JoAnna

Gifts from friends and family.

I spent one day doing on line puzzles while I devised a plan for the closet.  To have room for the utility cart to hold Hubby's tool box something had to go.  That meant eliminating the storage chest that had craft supplies in it.  It, also, had vintage handcrafted items from as far back as a great grandmother.  Space was made for the precious items in my bedroom armoire.

As I was moving the items I rediscovered a decorated bath towel.  I came from my uncle's wife.  I has some spots and stains, not from use but previous storage situations.  Removing the spots is my next project with the help of Oxiclean.  Not sure if that is part of spring cleaning for everyone, but it is for me.

This is following one soaking with the spots individually sprayed.

Obviously, there is still work to be done.

Wishing you each a fruitful week,

Janice

  

 

March 25, 2026, Daddy

 Daddy

Arleigh Edgar was born on March 26, 1914.  He was the first born to his parents, Anna  Mae and John Edgar.  His family lived in the farmland in a community named Parker.  His two younger sisters were born in the successive four years.  Sissy lived into her 90s.  Tommie Morine died less than 2 months after her birth.  Anna Mae passed within a week or Tommie's death.  The Spanish Flu took these two as well as Daddy's paternal grandparents and an uncle in law.  The deaths of the 5 family members within about a 10 day period had a dramatic influence on Daddy's remaining life.

Daddy's dad, Pawpaw to me, and Pawpaw's widowed sister helped each other raise their kids.  Pawpaw guided and trained Aunt Cordie's sons.  Aunt Cordie took Sissy under her wing.  Another of Pawpaw's sisters was left raising the youngest of the grandparents children as well as helping with my Dad and Aunt Sissy.  Basically the family 'circled the wagons' to care for each other.  I am sure that many families the suffered such losses did the same.

Aunt Cordie had 3 sons.  I remember frequent visits to their homes as I was growing up.  JT was killed in a train accident when I was a freshman in high school.  There were no signals at the crossing.  After his widow sued the train company the settlement was simply signals and a gate.  The Falcon car I drove to school was loaned to JT's family until they could attempt to get their life together again.  

Daddy was a cut-up, always making jokes or pranking someone.  He loved his wife of almost 70 years.  We four daughters were is delight and worry.  Daddy did not amass a fortune in physical wealth.  He was known as an honest businessman.  As one of our neighbors said once, "He knows everyone's appliances and where they hide the house keys."  If in the process of repairing washing machines, he would find change and other items.  He always left the money and other items on the machine after the repair.

Pawpaw did remarry a few years later.  That eventually led to Daddy's youngest sister, Billie.  Grandma's family had land in the Chambersville area.  At some point in time the family moved from Parker to the Farnsworth place in Chambersville.  Aunt Sissy met a young girl at the community school, Mary.  They became BFF.  And Mary became Daddy's wife in 1934.

Daddy died February 10, 2004, just weeks shy of his 90th birthday.  It snowed the morning of his funeral.  That was a rarity in Texas.  There were well over 200 folks that attended his funeral.  Daddy was not perfect.  He did the best he could and was respected for his efforts.  We all miss that hearty laugh.

Daddy and Momma at their 50th Anniversary Party.  Over 500 folks attended.

Thanks for stopping by,

Janice

March 24, 2026, Breasts and Bras

 Breasts and Bras

Since no one is reading my posts these days I want to discuss as subject that lands near my heart.  Literally.  My Breasts.  My female parts developed early in life.  Periods started Memorial Day when I was 10 years old.   Breast growth was not far behind.  That development was now 68 to 69 years ago.  

My Aunt Billie helped me get my first bra, already a B cup.  Momma should have bought me one much earlier.  Oh, well.  By the time I was 12 the cup size was C.  Eventually the girls required DDD to be held in place.  I did noy consider the size anything other than a inconvenience.  Clothing had to be purchased for the DDDs.  That meant the shoulder seams would often hang an inch down my arms.  The weight on the straps permanently changed the shape of my shoulder area.

Reaching for items across a table required adjustments so the boobs did not knock something off the table.  Worse, if there were a plate of food, a boob might drag across some food item.  Always in the way even though they were considered by my Beloved to be Dlightful, Delicate, and Desireable.  I could actually go braless and still the girls were perky. Those days are now in the review mirror.  Honestly, those days are in another state.

Nursing a child, gravity, jumping, running, dancing, and just living have all had a very negative affect on the girls.  Yes, the girls still require DDD even though they sort of have to be rolled into place.  With no real muscle in breasts even the texture has changed.  Drastically changed.  Instead of firm and perky it is more like cream of wheat in a silk stocking.  Recently I suggested to Beloved that the DDD meanings have changed.  More like Dangling, Dreary, and Deflated.   He responded with a chuckle then said he still loved me and the girls.

As for the bras, the configuration and materials have changed through the years.  Cone shaped pointy things were the 1950 models I first wore.  Cups and materials have changed through the years.  As we were not wealthy, bras were cotton.  Later nylon and polyester were introduced in affordable prices.  These days a comfortable sports bra is my daily choice.  Well, those are the days I choose to contain the girls.  

This is probably more than anyone that might stop by at some point might wish to know about my breasts.  Welp, I do not care.  Close the page and move along.

If somewhere along the way you got a chuckle, great.

Y'all be good,

Janice

March 16, 2026 Blowing

 Blowing

Pretty much the US has just been blasted by heavy winds.  Many areas have received huge amounts of snow.  Here in central Texas we did get the wind.  No snow, just west Texas dust!  

Our balcony chairs were moved as far as possible as they are tied to our railings.  Lesson learned from a previous heavy wind.  

Friends in the city in Missouri posted videos of the snowfall.  The snow was not piling up as shown in the upper Midwest states.  You can see for yourself in this video.

We had dinner with 3/5 of our grandkids, two of their girlfriends, son and DIL last night.  We were celebrating the return home of the grandson and girlfriend that moved to Australia.  They decided that that was not the place for them.

That's what happened in my little life this weekend.  Life is easy for an old, retired woman.

Thanks for the stop by,

Janice

I appears I failed to push the publish button.   Ugh.

March 13, 2026 Puzzling

 Puzzling

Hmmm, is the word puzzling an adjective, adverb or a verb?  According to Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, it is an adjective.  According to me, it is my activity almost the entire afternoon.  Yes, the New York Times Tiles game has had me in a single minded view.  Match the layers of tiles for as long as possible.

My first attempt lasted till about 30 matches.  Each beginning lasted longer and longer.  By mid afternoon I had reached 503 and then boo booed.  Back to 0 and started over again.  Anything that goes on in my immediate area can distract me just enough that I will either hit a dead end or just flatly touch the wrong square.  It is a challenge for my ability to concentrate as well as developing plans of action.  Granted it is not difficult to do the matches.  The ability to not allow distractions to break my concentration is the biggest challenge.

There are a series of different designs that rotate.  Some are easy for me, others are a real challenge.  Some I have never reached 100 matches.  The following puzzle is difficult as the items seem to match at times with one that is  not exactly the same.  My main error on this particular design is the background will unexpectedly match leaving no other move.  Ugh.  Back to 0.  That is when I just wave the white flag and change over to a jigsaw puzzle.  

I hoped to reach 1000 matches today as the following design is one that is easy to distinguish.  It is a goal.  A very challenging goal.  Here is my final match for this day.  I'll blow another day to attempt to 1000 matches. 

You folks have a good weekend.  I plan to celebrate St. Patty's on Saturday evening with my P.E.O. sisterhood.  Sunday evening will be a welcome home for Bonus Grandson(GS#2) and his girlfriend.  They spent the last several months in Australia.

Take care,

Janice 

March 11, 2026 Batteries

 Batteries

Batteries are such an integral part of my life.   In an attempt to have less impact on the garbage dumps we use rechargeable batteries.  My husband is somewhat opinionated on the type of batteries he wants us to use.  He was an electrical engineer major that quit 3 semesters short of a degree.  In addition he is an amateur radio operator.  He comes by his opinions honestly at least.  I do not care so long as the batteries last more than a day.  Which brings me to today's post.   

We had switched to rechargeable batteries before we moved to the Austin area.  I had not fully committed to rechargeable batteries until a bit over 13 years ago.  At this moment I can count about 40 42 AA batteries and 18 AAA batteries in candles.  I like the flickering of candles without burning a table top.  That is a story for another day.  Oh, there are also 9 or 10 tealights that use coin type batteries.  I can make a day of just changing and charging batteries.  A friend became so weary of changing batteries she gave all her fake candles away.  I will not do that.  

In addition, we have rechargeable lights for lighting inside our kitchen and bathroom cabinets.  Motion sensing lights to help navigate to the bathrooms at night.  The closets for both bathroom storages as well as the laundry closet had no lights.  Nor did  the coat closet or pantry. Motion sensing lights were added in all of those areas.   I can recall about 13 or 14 at the moment.  With most of the motion sensing light being in use for almost 3 years they are not holding their charge as well, either.  That makes for a lot of charging.  Ugh

Under Hubby's guidance/direction the types of rechargeable batteries have changed over the years.   Several of my batteries seem to be needing to be charged more frequently than I expect.   I did not date the batteries as they were purchased.  Amazon has a long record of purchases.  I had realized that the batteries were marked with approximate number of cycles that should be expected.  AI summarized those cycles by type:

• Lithium-ion (Li-ion): 500–1,500+ cycles (2-4 years).
• Nickel-Metal Hydride (NiMH): 300–1,000+ cycles (2-5 years).
• Nickel-Cadmium (NiCd): 1,000+ cycles (1.5-3 years).
• Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP): 2,500–9,000+ cycles (5-10 years). 

Yep, we have some of all of those.  Specific charging units for different types. I suspect some are over 10 years old.  Guess I need to start doing some culling of the batteries.  Remember to mark the purchase date of the new ones.  See if I can manage to have a single type of battery to simplify my life.  I'm old and will eventually forget all the correct chargers to use.

Thanks for stopping by.

Janice

March 8, 2026, Spring Forward

 Spring Forward

It is that time of year here in the States for Daylight Savings Time.  Move your clock forward 1 hour.  That gives daytime working folks more daylight after work.  Not sure how this helps nor hinders the 16% of workers of non day time jobs.  Another hoped for result is less energy usage.  I know as a retired person it makes for a few days of adjustments.  Same for school age humans.  Oh, yes, and trying to remember how to change the time on the approximately 10 clocks I have.  The last may be the biggest challenge for me.  

According to and AI summary:

 "Approximately 70 countries—roughly 40% of the world's nations—currently use Daylight Saving Time (DST). It is primarily observed in Europe, North America, and parts of South America and Oceania. Major regions that do not observe DST include most of Asia, Africa, and countries near the equator.

Key Facts About DST Usage:

• Declining Usage: In recent years, several countries, including Russia, Turkey, Iran, and most of Mexico, have abolished the practice.
• Regional Variation: Some nations, such as Australia and the United States, use DST in some regions but not others.
• Purpose: DST is used to extend evening daylight hours, with the goal of reducing energy consumption, although its effectiveness is debated. "

Bureau of Transportation Statics

Anyhoo folks will look a bit drearier at work, in meetings, and generally every where locally for a few days.  Kids will come to school in the dark.  And our furry family members will be confused.  All in the name of more light for 84% of working folks.  At this point in my life I don't think I care.

Now get those eyes open!

Janice