Feels Like April!

It's raining here today. A little chilly, although not really I guess. It's the grey sky and rain that makes it feel chilly. My guess is it's somewhere around 43 and that's a decent temp. On the plus side, the warmer temps and rain are making the trees bud up and the flowers poke their little heads up through the earth. Spring is going to be wonderful. I'm looking forward to it.

A couple of Sundays ago I had a major (to me) life changing experience. I had a gall bladder attack. Okay, I didn't see a doctor about it but after talking to Tallulah who, I swear, should be a diagnostician (I hope I didn't make that word up!), and then googling, well, I had every symptom.

I hope none of you never ever never have one. Never. It was the most painful thing I have ever experienced in my life. At first I thought it was gas, then I thought it was a heart attack. I had a running plea going on with God for the seven (yes, I said seven!) hours that it lasted. It hurt so bad.

The following day, when I was convinced I was going to live, I changed my life style. Just like that. You don't have to hit me over the head but once.

So what did I do? Okay, I changed the way I eat, when I eat and how much I eat. According to the internet, greasy and fatty foods can trigger a gall bladder attack. Okay, gone. No more fast food anything, no more fried chicken, no fried seafood, etc. Pork can trigger an attack but I don't eat pork so that was a non-issue for me. Beans--no more refried beans, or bean soup or bean dip, etc. Eggs and onions--now those two grieved me for about thirty seconds. I am crazy about eggs and onions are my best buddies, but if they have the possibility to make that awful pain come back, well, sayonara. Overeating was on the list, too. No more smorgasborg or buffets. I eat dinner by 6pm and then that's it, not another morsel of food gets past my lips until the next morning.

But see, this is where it gets funny for me. I've never been a breakfast/morning eater, never, not even when I was a kid, but my last food intake is by 6:30pm and so come, say, 11am the next morning I would expect I'd feel hungry. But I don't. Generally by 1pm, hungry or not, I eat brunch now. But it's weird to eat when I don't feel hungry. And by 6pm I'm not hungry again either but still I eat dinner. Oh well. Maybe it's just my system getting used to the new regime.

I will say though, I feel better these last couple of weeks than I have in years.

Hope you're feeling good, hope you're happy. Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.


hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

Phone Systems 101

Okay, so yesterday around 2 p.m. the UPS fellow delivered my new phone system. Hurray! I was thrilled to be able to unplug that darned old RCA system and hook-up my new AT+T. That’s an AT+T, model 1080, 4-Line Small Business System. Sleek, black and silver, what a beauty.

Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder and pretty is as pretty does.

Three phone calls to support later; Sam (the customer support representative) and I were reluctant BF.

Turns out that if I'm on line 1, the phone cannot answer line 2 because there is only one answering system in the unit and it only answers line 1. It also turns out that if I'm on line 2 (or 3 or 4), the answering machine won't answer line 1 because; well, because I'm on line 2.

So, despite the fact that I spent over $200 for this new system, I now have a cheapo answering machine plugged into an extension phone line 2 so calls will be answered if I'm previously engaged on line 1. And, as soon as I can get out of here today, I'm going to buy a second cheapo answering machine and hook it into another extension phone, this time to line 1, so if I'm on line 2 the phone will get answered.

Does this sound as crazy to you as it does to me?

Why in the world would AT+T, or any phone company for that matter, produce a phone system that is so, well, so limited in its functions? And then, in the promo literature, not mention a word about its severe limitations?

None of this makes a lick of sense to me.

Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.


Hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com
tawny_ford@webtv.net

Yesterday

I'll tell you what, apparently yesterday was just a bad day all around for me.

If you called me yesterday between 9am and 3pm, I wasn't home. You were supposed to get my answering machine message. You know my typical message---sorry not home, gone, back at....

I came home expecting all to be well and instead discovered that my phone system had taken a poo.

Not only was the ringer sounding like something straight from the depths of hell, the answering machine message was inaudible.

Truth be told, I've hated that phone system (RCA 2-line with built in answering machine and caller id) since the day I bought it. And I fully expected to replace it, but at my own time, not because it took a poo while I was gone.

So some time today I should be receiving a brand new phone system, an AT+T, my preferred brand. I had HSM order it for me yesterday and it went out overnight.

If you phoned me yesterday, I'm really sorry you got caught up in answering machine hell. Things should be all better later today.

And then on top of my phone woes yesterday, WebTV was having brain farts and I kept getting weird pop-ups whenever I tried to email or surf or anything. And the blog piece I wrote for yesterday is still somewhere out in the universe floating around.

Today will be better. Positively.


Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.


Hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com

Spring Has Sprung, Maybe

The past few days have been wonderful around here. Not only has there been brilliant sunshine, but also temperatures have been hovering in the just-shy-of 50-degree range. Okay, nights are still cold, usually below 30, and yes, you still need your winter coat in the morning, but after about 10 am---oh boy!

The birds are coming back, too! I have this enormous tree in my front yard that serves as a super high-rise bird condo in spring and summer. I can hear the birds setting up house keeping and it's great to have them back home. I love their chirping.

I'm also wild about not having to wear four layers of clothes just to keep warm. Not only is it more freeing, but also it cuts down on the laundry and that's a good thing.

I'm trying really hard not to get too excited about the lovely weather. Why? A few weeks ago it was just like this, and then BOOM! Snow, snow and more snow.

Hopefully, despite the fact that this is only March, the snow is finished and spring is truly on the way. I'm ready for it.

Be good and be careful, take care, stay strong.


Hugs, Tawny
www.tawnyford.com