Happy July! It's only a little after 8 and I'm already tired! Someone in the neighborhood decided that midnight was the right time to shoot some fireworks, and they weren't little ones. They were probably in the intersection of the streets to get level ground and I could hear them talking. But, I suppose that midnight was better than the roman candles going off at 3:30 the other morning.

We've had an OK week. All of the cosmetic work on the outside of the house has been completed. We have found a place under the roof line where the flashing has dry rotted and our cellar storage room has a lot of damage. This is not the first time this has happened. I actually think it is the 3rd, so the roof problems we thought we had taken care of have still not been fixed. I'm about ready to just have a metal roof put on and be done with it!

We had to get a new microwave this week. The other one is more than 19 years old. It was my grandmother's and we got it when she passed away. Emily was newly pregnant with Brianna when she passed in June, and Bri was 18 in January. Don't you love the way I do the math? Anyway, I don't know how long Grams had had it. It does still work, but it has started the "cook one thing perfectly, cook the next thing halfway". We put it out in the apartment so that Bill can heat up a cup of coffee.

We also got a steam floor cleaner. My hands are getting so bad that I can't scrub or grip much. And since most of our floors are either hardwood or linoleum, it just made sense. I used it yesterday on the bathroom floor and it made a huge difference!

Because my hands are so bad, and of course Bill can't do it because of the muscle tone he lost with the stroke, I ordered one of the spin scrubbers that have been advertised on TV. I can tell you this...don't waste your money! It had to charge for at least 20 hours before using it for the first time, which wasn't a problem. It is supposed to last for an hour on each charge. Well, I did a better job on the bathtub after I switched to the scrub brush! It did absolutely NOTHING to clean, no matter which brush head was used. And, within 10 minutes the motor was laboring! So, it will probably just hang in the pantry.

Bill has been rather lazy this week, talked about going out to walk every day but continued to sit. Yet, he didn't like it that I was working. He kept telling me to sit down. But, someone has to do more than just keep things picked up and the dishes washed. I had noticed this before and this time I said I thought that he just wanted me to sit with him so he would know where I was. He said that it was, and then he said that he didn't want me to keep working and then complain that he wasn't helping, not that I've ever done that, and wouldn't do that! I have noticed that his mental state is deteriorating some, whether he's dry again, or normal aging, or both.

I finally got my appointment with the ortho dr. for my ankle. The first one they wanted to send me to in Jonesboro doesn't take Tri-care, which is the military insurance. I thought that if a dr. accepted Medicare, they had to accept Tri-care, but that could have changed. Anyway, I now have an appointment on the 19th in Memphis with the same group that did the surgery on Brianna's ACL, so I know they are good. The only drawback is that we will have to cut short our trip to Illinois, at least on the back-end of my reunion. We may go a little earlier since we can't stay as long. My foot has really been hurting this week and it seems like whatever it is, it is growing, or maybe I'm just looking at it from a different angle.

We have no plans for the holiday, just staying comfortable and in. We haven't gone to watch fireworks for years and if we watch any it will be on TV.  Other than that we'll stay away from the crazy people!

That's it for this time. Stay safe and have a Happy 4th!