Category Archives: Uncategorized

Doggy Doors!!!!

Image

They have arrived!!!  My much-anticipated time has come…..yesterday, the doggy doors were installed!  Krystal went through them right away.  She rarely forgets anything.  It took Casey a little longer to embrace the new way out the door.  He finally got the hang of going outside.  Unfortunately, he’s struggling with figuring out how to come back in.  If you don’t understand, I suggest you read an earlier post about Casey.  Bless his heart.

Speaking of Casey, he normally sleeps in his crate at night.  But sometimes, I let him join Krystal and me in my bed.  A couple of nights ago was one such night.  At 2:30 AM, one of the back up batteries in a smoke detector decided it needed changing.  (Might I add, I’ve been in this house a whopping one and a half months…..did they put used batteries in the detectors???)  Anyway, there was a chirp…..then a dog on top of me with his nose pressed to mine staring me straight in the eyes.  The chirping scared Casey to death!  When did he become such a big sissy?!  Krystal, my anxiety prone pup, slept soundly away…..another perk of her hearing loss.  I didn’t feel like changing the battery so I closed the bedroom door and put Casey under the covers.  He still cowered, either on top of me, or smashed up against me.  Finally, at around 5 AM, I got out the step stool, found a new battery and headed to make the change, tripping over Casey the whole way.  He even tried to climb the step stool with me.  Finally, the chirping stopped, and we headed back to bed.  It took him half an hour to finally lay his head down.  The mean side of me wanted to imitate the chirping just to watch him jump but I was too tired.

Well, Casey is ‘stuck’ outside again, and Krystal just went to the swinging door and tried to open it for him.  Bless his heart.

Jonathan

When I was a teenager, I did a lot of babysitting to earn extra money. And almost all of the children I sat with were girls. So when I got married, I always said I wanted two kids. A girl and a boy would be ideal, two girls would be good, but heaven help me if I had two boys! I hoped the first one would be a girl. But from the time I was a little girl….as far back as I can remember…..the main thing I wanted in life was to be a mom.

Thirty six years ago today, the most amazing thing happened. God blessed my life with a new baby. A boy. When he was born, I couldn’t believe how easy the birthing process was ( yes, I said easy) and I also couldn’t believe how incredibly ugly this little bundle of joy was. He had black hair on his shoulders, on his ears, and attaching his eyebrows to his hairline. He also had an obvious cowlick smack in the middle of his hairline. Paul goes ‘oh, isn’t he cute!’ And I say ‘Goober, I love him, but I’m not blind.’ He did have a cute dimple that showed up when he yawned. When my parents arrived at the hospital, they were so excited to see their ‘beautiful’ first grandchild. Every hair on his head stuck straight out and he looked as I described above. Mom goes ‘welllll……he has a pretty mouth.’ The first gift they gave him was a baby brush and comb.

Fast forward three months, and the Plsek family trekked home to Texas for Christmas. What a surprise for the grandparents……in my arms was the most beautiful baby in the world! He still had the dark hair but thankfully, the ear and shoulder hair had disappeared. He had long dark lashes and the most brilliant blue eyes. He was happy all the time so his constant smile showed his cute dimple to all who stopped to admire his beauty.

Somehow, and I swear it happened in a couple of years, that precious baby grew up to be a man. And not just any man, an amazing man. He is one of the kindest people I know. Not only have I never seen him pass up a person asking for money on the street without giving them something, he will stop and chat with them, and treat them so respectfully. When the two of us would go to our beloved hockey games together, I would see him get out a bunch of dollar bills as we were leaving, for he knew there would be people begging. His kindness extends to little children, the elderly, and all of us in between. It was tough moving away from him when I came to Tennessee, but he was truly happy for me to start my new adventure.

It’s hard to believe that thirty six years have passed since I realized God thought I needed a boy instead of a girl. Thank you, God……You always know what’s best!

20131004-180853.jpg

20131004-180904.jpg

Settling In

My new adventure began in February of this year.  I had no idea what my future held.  I didn’t know where I would live beyond my temporary apartment, no idea which church I would attend, whether I would get a job, go to school, find other things to keep me busy.  I have lived in Murfreesboro for seven and a half months now.   I have had ups and downs, but thankfully, the ups have come more frequently than the downs!

I am finally getting settled in my new home.  I still don’t have doggy doors (can’t find a handyman!) but I am able to just leave a door ajar, now that the yard is fenced.  My stuff is gradually finding a home, even if it takes a few rearrangements to get in a permanent place.  There is grass in both the front and back yards, and a row of knock out roses were planted along my back fence.  I have a small yard, but it is perfect for me and my pups.

Speaking of the pups, after a rough start, they are adjusting nicely.  I boarded them while some very nice guys moved my heavy stuff from the apartment to the house.  After the big part of the move, Kenn and I (more on Kenn later!) picked Krystal and Casey up from the kennel to bring them to their new home.  We walked in the door, Krystal looked me right in the eye, and squatted and peed.  I thought it was about 30 seconds after we walked in the door;  Kenn says it was more like 15 seconds.  She turned 14 years old while boarded.  I can’t help but wonder if that was her way of telling me just what she thinks about all of this moving around!    She ended up peeing at least 10 times that day alone.  i didn’t have any rugs down, so we were able to stay on top of things.  Casey just walked in, smiled and wagged, and ran to his toy basket to start tossing his toys in the air.

Besides my new home, I have a wonderful new man in my life!  I was on Christian Mingle, a Christian dating website for the past six months.  I had spoken to several men, but I finally realized that online dating just wasn’t going to work for me.  I decided to just take my profile down.  Before I did, I looked one more time.  I saw Kenn’s pictures and thought he was attractive, but he lived in Ohio.  I read his profile and he said the perfect trip would be any cruise.  Hmmm…..I have been on 25 cruises and counting.  He also thought a perfect first date would be a trip to a zoo.  That got me.  I wrote to him and told him I liked his profile and if he didn’t live so far away, I would be totally hitting on him.  We started messaging back and forth, then talking on the phone, and after about 30 hours of talking, we decided to meet in the middle.  The man knocked my socks off!  He was respectful,  kind, a little shy, and I couldn’t take my eyes off of hIm!  I truly never expected to become so smitten.   The best part?  He is crazy about me!!!  We have spent the past five weekends together.  Turns out he has a lake house in northeast Tennessee.  He entertains me by taking me boating and riding mountain trails in his ATV.  I’ve entertained him here by getting him to help move my belongings, hanging mirrors, installing window shades, cleaning up puddles.  He is definitely getting the short end of the stick!  The distance certainly isn’t ideal, but we are enjoying the time we do have together.  We definitely feel that God had a hand in us meeting!

I was sitting on my patio this evening and the first birds I’ve seen since moving here arrived in my yard.  They were bluebirds.  I am home.

Swooping

These past couple of weeks have been filled with emotional swings, or swoops as I like to call them.

Six delays in closings on my new home.  Swoop down.

I met the most wonderful man in the world!  Big swoop up!

I found out a dear, dear friend has cancer.  Swoop down.

I finally closed on my new house.  Swoop.

Right before closing, my cardiologist called to tell me my heart was declining again.  Swoop.

I got to spend the weekend with Kenn, the aforementioned wonderful man.  Swoop.

All this swooping has made me emotionally dizzy! But I pray for my friend’s healing and a stronger heart for me, and continually thank God for my house and blessing my life so very much by bringing Kenn into my world!

Now, I have begun the task of moving. The pups are in their hotel for several more days while I work on the house. They still haven’t seen their new home yet. I wanted to be sure I owned it before I took them over–I wouldn’t be surprised if Casey hikes a leg as soon as we enter the door.

So, my adventure continues. New house, new man…..life is good!

image

Texting

Texting.  What an ingenious bit of technology.  While some people think it is for the young folk (Mom), we middle-aged people (yes, Jonathan, I still consider myself middle-aged and unless you want to be considered middle-aged, you better think of me that way, too) use it, too.  I do use it differently, though.  The young use their thumbs, type 90 miles an hour, use multiple abbreviations, and ignore the state laws banning it while driving (Jill).  I use my pointer finger with the rest of my fingers up in the air.  (I admit, that may be a girly thing and my middle-aged male peers may not type that way.)  I’m not that fast, rarely use abbreviations (I like proper spelling and punctuation) and try desperately not to look at incoming texts while driving.

 

I received a text yesterday from an unknown number.  It said Dude it’s me Alex where u at? My friend, Ginny, has a son named Alex, so at first I thought he may have sent it to me by mistake.  But it was an Atlanta number, so I knew it was just a wrong number.  About five minutes later, I get Dude u there? So I decide to respond with Dude….ya got the wrong number!   Five minutes later, r u joking.  I say Nope….I’m an old lady living in Tennessee.  Sorry!  Never heard from Alex again.  You would think I would have gotten a Sorry for bothering you, ma’am or some abbreviated version of that!

 

By the way, this patience thing is wearing thin.  My closing got postponed for the fifth time!  Sigh…..

Six Months Into My New Life

Six months ago, I rented my apartment in Tennessee and headed back to Georgia to get my belongings.  So much has happened in half a year!  

 

I’ve sold two properties and, Good Lord willing, will close on my new home this Friday.  There have been four postponements of the closing, so I am learning a great deal about patience.  My pups have finally settled in and called my apartment ‘home’.  They are in for a rude awakening in the next few weeks!  But in the end, I think we will all be happier at our new place.  Two, count em, TWO doggy doors!  I love it!  But first things first…..it will be two or three weeks before my yard gets fenced, hence, no doggy doors until then.

 

I’ve gotten used to being alone and, while I do get lonely sometimes, I am happy in my solo life.  I’ve joined a wonderful church, and met lots of great people.  It’s a bit more conservative than I am, but that’s ok with me.  The people are very loving and accepting of me.

 

I still enjoy living small, but the apartment is closing in on me a bit.  While my new house is much smaller than my last house, it feels as if I am upsizing, coming from this apartment!

 

I love living in Murfreesboro!  Great city!  Great shopping and close to Nashville, a very fun city.  The worst thing about living here?  I’ve never been in a town with so many traffic lights!  My apartment is roughly eight miles from my new home.  There are twenty lights between the two!  I counted them.  Your car barely gets out of first gear and you have to start slowing down for the next light.  Seems like a city planner could at least do a better job of putting timers on them….on one occasion, I was caught by all but two lights.  Again, a lesson in patience!

 

All in all, this adventure has been well worth it.  I am still finding my way around, and still trying to find my way in my new life.  I would say that about 98% of the people I have met here were born and raised in Tennessee, if not Murfreesboro.  So that tells me that this a place people not only want to move to, they want to stay!  I’m excited to see what The Lord has in store for the future!

Happy 4th!

It is quite rainy here in middle Tennessee this July 4th, and is supposed to rain and storm all day.  Last night, someone was shooting off fireworks close by.  Now I can definitively say that Krystal is indeed deaf or close to being so.  Fireworks….or thunder, or any loud sounds…..always frighten Krystal.  Normally, at the first boom, she would run and hide under my clothes in the closet.  Didn’t bother her at all last night.  I guess there’s an upside to everything in life!

I went by the new  house on Tuesday to see how it was coming along.  There was a big sign on the front door saying ‘STOP!  Floors just finished.  Do not enter until 7-3-13’.  I peeked in the window and gasped at my beautifully finished hardwood floors!  Yesterday, I excitedly drove back over so I could go in and look around.  After unlocking the door, I took my shoes off as to not mess up the floor.  This is what greeted me.

 

ImageImage

Street Names

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I recently bought a house. It was half built when I went under contract so I got to choose a few things–wall color, tile, etc.– to finish it. One of the things I did not get to choose was the street name. When I started my house hunt, my friend, Judy, told me a couple of times to be sure and choose a good street name. And while I did take notice of the names, I was much more interested in floor plans.

Now, I knew to avoid any home on roads such as Scumbag Street or Barf Boulevard. But others had problems, too. One house I was interested in was on General Eisenhower Lane. A noble name to be sure, but it’s so long! Plus, if I misspelled it occasionally, I would feel so stupid! Another was on Bumblebee Drive. Hmmm, not sure about that one. Would bees flock to the area and make it impossible to enjoy my yard? Another was on Patience Drive. Maybe living there required a lot??? I looked at one on Wright Haven Lane. That sounded a little like the name of a cemetery to me.

My friend, Ginny, lives on Henricks Hill Drive. I wonder if a couple named Mr. and Mrs. Henricks one day bought that land and declared it their hill? Judy lives on Shasta Way. While that sounds refreshing in a way, it also reminds me of my brother’s beloved late dog, Shasta. She was an obese Cocker Spaniel. He and his wife now have an obese Golden Retriever. And my sister-in-law, Kathy, is 5’7″ and probably wears a size four. Come to think of it, my very thin daughter-in-law had a chubby cat. I wonder if they give their food to their pets? Just for the record, Krystal and Casey are both nice and thin. Nuff said…..

My new house is on Pebble Creek Lane. I like that. As long as the little creek behind the houses across the street doesn’t ever make us want to rename our street Raging Rock River Road, I am satisfied.

Senior Citizens

Have you spent much time around old people?  I absolutely love being with the elderly.  They have so much wisdom and insights into this world of ours.  I most enjoy being with those with a great sense of humor.  I think I inherited my love of laughter from my mom.  She is 84 years old, and is in relatively good shape.  I talk to her every day on the phone, and we usually spend most of the conversation laughing about one thing or another.  I remember my grandmother and her sisters giving my great-grandmother, Nana, a yearly birthday party starting at her 80th.  Every year, I would ask why, and every year I got the same reply.  “Well Honey, you never know when it will be her last.”  She lived to be 96 years old.  Nana had such interesting stories to tell.  Her real name was Mable, and she wasn’t thrilled when I named my Basset Hound puppy Mable.  She also took advantage of her age.  She was stubborn and pretty much got her way almost all of the time.

 
Remember when I said that Krystal was almost deaf?  Last night, something scraped the wall in the apartment next door.  It wasn’t too loud, just different.  Well Krystal sat straight up, ears alert, trying to figure out what the sound was.  I immediately thought ‘Nana‘!  Could it be that, in her old age, she is choosing not to hear me?!  She is stubborn, and she does get her own way most of the time.  I should have named her Mable!

image