Post Christmas Bluesies

Christmas was quiet. Too quiet. We couldn't go to Louisville as planned because daughter, son-in-law, and a couple of their tribe of kidlets were too germ-y for me to be around so soon after surgery.

Plus, we'd taken a trial run by packing me in pillows in hubby's truck, and it was miserable - and a much, much shorter trip.

I'm healing well, albeit slowly. Fingers are working much better, but still not quite up to speed. They'll probably never reach full capacity, but I can live with the use I have now. No one would hire me as a typist, which is understandable, but some of my frustration is gone. Lightly tapping my thumb knuckle or a fingernail on something hard no longer drops me to the floor from the searing pain.

Michael, my dear hubby, made a pot roast for our supper. It was wonderful. He used veggies we'd grown right here in our little garden and home-canned. You know, veggies that still had flavor and vitamins intact. Son was home and his new friend, Kathy, came over for awhile.

Speaking of son - he and Kathy delivered 3 very large teddy bears to the local childrens' hospital, specifically to go to children who, perhaps, didn't have a great Christmas. Being in the hospital is bad enough, but there are worse things - like being completely ignored by family while you're there. As a foster mom and foster grandma I've seen it too many times. I'm sure these bears were as big or bigger than the children who received them. Just something he picked up in his travels about four months ago, knowing his plan.

Well, back to seeing if I can get my website set back up. Tripod dumped me. Probably because I dared tell them their customer service sucked. Where has my diplomacy gone? I'll work on that. Right after my website is back up and functioning.

In the meantime, my email is also down. If you've emailed me at linda at lindajhutchinson dot com and it bounced back at you, try hutchlj at yahoo dot com, but don't spam me. I tend to get even with slimy spammers.

Whine, whine, whine - You've been warned.

It was -21 with the wind chill yesterday. Today it is supposed to warm up so it can snow. Great weather for, hmmm, bears? The cold certainly doesn't help my pain levels. Our house is warm and cozy, but I still have to let the dog in and out, and son is in and out while trying to get his fuel lines thawed on his big rig, and hubby was in and out this morning. Oy.

We went grocery shopping last night. That was after Michael drove me to Ohio Health for the 2-week post surgery X-rays. What a sight we were. Knowing there would be no available electric carts, he pulled my wheelchair out of the truck and I steered the cart while he pushed my wheelchair.

For Christmas, we'll be having pot roast. Not my favorite, but something hubby can do well - since he's still doing all the cooking, cleaning, laundry, AND bathing me/washing my hair, etc. All this while working his backside off to build a Walgreen's store that normally takes 8 months - in 4 months. He's good at what he does, obviously.

I'm sad that we can't go to Louisville for Christmas. The weather is supposed to be ugly and even packed in pillows, riding in a car/truck for any length of time, is hell. We had all the grandkids here, except the two in Seattle, and the one in the military, at Thanksgiving, so I should stop feeling selfish for wanting to spend Christmas with them, too. But, it's tough.

I'm still fighting with Tripod to get my website moved to GoDaddy. It is completely down while they screw with me by withholding the DNS unlock code. This is day SIX of my site being down. Tripod sucks. Even after finally being able to move my site, I'll still have to pay Tripod annual "rent" of $12.95 for the use of my "FREE" domain name. Did I already say Tripod sucks? Please learn from my pain of dealing with them and do NOT ever set up your website with them.

Since my website is completely down, so is my website email. If you have sent me an email at linda@, I didn't get it. Please use hutchlj at yahoo dot com until this whole completely needless mess can be cleaned up. Please don't spam me, though.

Slept most of yesterday. Hubby fixed supper and then cuddled with me while we watched the news. Can't wait to get this neck collar off. Supposed to wear it for 3 months. Yuck. Sipping coffee from a straw.

One of hubby's subcontractors gave us a beautiful poinsettia. It is very lovely. Will probably be our only Christmas decoration this year.

Daughter wants us to come to Louisville for Christmas. Our holidays are always re-arranged to work around work schedules. Don't know if I can make the trip. Four hours in a car doesn't sound like much fun. I also haven't been able to do any Christmas shopping this year. That sucks. Our grandkidlets will understand, but it still doesn't seem fair.

If we had waited to do the surgery after Christmas, we'd have to pay our $4K deductible again.

Anyway, I'm healing, but can see that it will be a slower process than planned.