Last week was a crazy week, and this one seems it's going to be a continuation.

My cardiology appointment was OK. It was the fastest I've ever been seen, only 30 minutes past my appointment time. We still don't know what's up with my blood pressure. It was really good when I saw her in August and she was considering lowering one of my meds. Instead, it's again staying high, not dangerously high but high nonetheless so instead of lowering a med, she increased one. She only increased the diurectic in it so maybe that will help. It has come in so I'll start it tomorrow.

Since we were supposed to get an ice storm on Wednesday, I ordered my groceries Monday night and picked them up Tuesday morning...and my car hasn't been started since then. The storm came on schedule and we got freezing rain with sleet on top. It's been so cold that none of it has melted, and it's still so cold that it's not going to. And now, we have a snowstorm starting today.

Emily and Bryan picked up a few extra things I needed on Saturday, including firewood. I decided that I would take a chance and use the fireplace even though the chimney hadn't been cleaned. I just asked my neighbor if he would tell me if he saw flames shooting out the top of the chimney.

I had noticed om Saturday that the furnace was running constantly and the temp was 2 degrees below what it was set on. I figured that it was just so cold that it couldn't keep up. Yesterday morning I noticed that the temperature in the house was 68 and the furnace was still running full blast, but when I looked at the furnace, I couldn't see any flames. So, I lit a fire and called my "free" repairman, Bryan. He came over before church and looked and it was running fine. I let the fire die out then and then temp just kept dropping. He came back after church and couldn't figure out what was going on. He was going to help the actual repairman thaw pipes and then bring him over. The fire kept the living room comfortable and the cats and I were staying basically comfortable. They got the problem fixed, Brianna had brought more firewood just in case and the cats and I went happily to bed when it was time. I heard the furnace cycling so we all drifted off. 

At 4:30 this morning I got a text and I started to ignore it, but changed my mind. I've been getting a lot of scam texts for a few days and I figured that's what it was. So, I was surprised when it was from the alarm company that there was a power outage and it was running on backup battery power. That woke me up! So I pulled on clothes over my pajamas, located my boots and snow jacket, started a fire by flashlight and fed the cats. I was praying all the time that the generator top would not be frozen shut and that the power switch box would not be frozen shut. I grabbed the food for the outside cats and out the back door I went. It was doing a little sleeting, but the generator opened right up, the box opened and the lever moved easily and it only took two tries to get the generator started. But, the fire had gone out by the time I got in. Then temp in the house was 65 when I got up, I think the power had actually gone off earlier than the text indicated, and in an hour it had dropped to 53. But, I got the fire going again. The wood never did really want to catch this time and I really had to work at it to keep it going. But it finally worked.

Kitty got as close to it as she possibly could. Mouse is still wary of it, as most feral cats are. Shortly after that, I looked outside and saw that the house across the street had a light on outside, as did Joe and Barb next door, so, double clothes again with all the other stuff and back out to switch over to regular power. The furnace was already running and the house was back up to 60.

Luckily none of my pipes froze, although the kitchen tried. I had left the hot water dripping and when I turned it full on this morning, there was some air in the line. When I switched it to cold it came out really brown but cleared quickly. I also filled the washer a bit and then drained it and the bathroom was fine.

It is snowing really hard now and we are supposed to get 5-9 inches. We supposed to get another round of about 4 inches on Wednesday. The temp right now is 9 with a windchill of -9, which is an improvement over the 8, -12 when I was out before daylight!

Emily and her girls got me some candy and flowers for Valentine's Day. That was very thoughtful of them. 

When I was saying my prayers last night I asked that I be given the energy and inclination to actually do something productive today instead of sitting and watching the snow as I wanted to do. I guess my prayer was answered early this morning with all of the excitement and now, maybe I can just sit and snuggle with the cats under a throw with a cup of coffee and watch the snow!

I'm so thankful that Bill made sure that I could do all of the things I needed to do today. Sadly, the only thing I didn't have to do was switch him to portable air tanks until the generator got started. But I'm not going to dwell on what won't be done and be glad that I was able to do what had to be done. I was going to add some pictures, but I can't figure out, again, where they are, so they will have to wait.

 I didn't realize it had been almost a month since my last post. Time flies when you're having fun...NOT!

The year is still not going really well and I'll try to catch you up. I did get the roof done, now just waiting on the insurance company to refund the depreciation and to cover the additional costs. The roofer said that the extra charges should have been included in the original payment as it covers standard costs for a new roof. But, so far all I have had to pay is the deductible.

I still have my UTI. It is better, but not resolved, so back on antibiotics again, which has caused a yeast infection, but you don't need all of the details of that. I was supposed to get a Lifeline Screening the first, but the infection had kicked in the day before, so I had to reschedule it. Now it's not until the end of March at a small town in Missouri. I'm pretty familiar with the town, which is where Sheryl Crow is from.

I still have my 6 month cardiology appointment Monday afternoon in Memphis. I also need to call the eye dr and schedule a test he wants done and have my 6 month check there, and I broke a tooth so need to call the dentist. Maybe then I will be done with drs. for at least another 6 months.

Bill's ex-wife died unexpectedly a week ago this past Monday. She had been to the dr on the Friday before and was diagnosed with pneumonia. The girls said that on Monday they couldn't get a good O2 reading and by the time Mary Rose got to Aimee's she was gone. But, she had been wanting to die for a long time. She was the last of her family and she said she didn't know why she was still here. Mary tried to tell her it was for the grandchildren, but that wasn't what Rose wanted. They had a wake for her in Oklahoma where she was living and her funeral and burial is on the 13th in South Carolina. She'll be buried next to Charlie. I sent some flowers to Aimee's and used a local to her florist. Rose's favorite flower was of course the rose and the arrangement I picked out was lillies and roses. The picture Aimee sent me was a couple of lillies, a few baby mums and a lot of daisies! There is a considerable difference in cost between roses and daisies and there should be a good stock of roses this close to Valentine's Day. So, I contacted the florist and they offered to take another arrangement out, but it was too late by then. So, I just got a $15 store credit. But, they got a bad review online!

Not everything has been bad as far as the year goes.  Rex Charles Haven, a new great grandson made his appearance on the 4th. He was a week early but he weighed over 8 pounds and was 20 1/2 inches long, so he had cooked long enough.

I'm proud of myself today. We are supposed to get wind chllls below zero tonight. I have a heater going in the apartment and will make sure water is dripping in the house. But, today, I bought and installed faucet covers outside! It's the little things!

That catches you up for now. I can't guarantee when the next update will be, just keep checking!