Petunia rambles on and on….

Theorem

n.

1. An idea that has been demonstrated as true or is assumed to be so demonstrable.
2. Mathematics. A proposition that has been or is to be proved on the basis of explicit assumptions.

Worry is stressful. Worrying produces extra stress. More stress when you clearly need less.

The more stress you have, well, hell, the more you worry about all the things that caused the stress to start with, and you worry about all the worrying your doing, too. And you KEEP doing it, more and  more, again and again.

The root of all worrying is the ability to THINK. Worry is a subset of Think, I think.

Therefore, worrying causes Repetitive Stress Syndrome and it’s accompanying injuries.  Possibly, taking it one step farther, even thinking does.

Theorem proven.

Henceforth, I will eliminate thinking altogether as I have proven that this is the only way to save my brain from repetitive stress.

The End

I love my red Ford Escape, an SUV but a smaller one. It meets my needs. But on cold mornings, of which we’ve had many lately, I miss my old “Toad,” the dark green ’99 Jeep Cherokee Sport I used to have. One Christmas, the kids got together and got me an after-market automatic starter thingie and made arrangements for the installation. After the holiday, I took the device and my knitting bag, went to the shop where it was purchased, waited a bit, and never again got into an ice-cold car with snow covered windows. I miss that device. Any day that starts out with ice-scraping is a day that you ought to say, “The hell with it” and just go back to bed.

As I have a shitload of extra time, I sew on stripes. Having done this for the last 35 years, it doesn’t take me long to put stripes, name tags, insignia on these shirts, and I can do it for a hell of a lot cheaper than these airmen would have to pay on base. And I don’t seem to be able to say No, nor do I see any reason to.  For all the years that I was an Air Force wife, the rule was, “We take care of our own.”  I still do it.

But the young airman needed the shirt and I promised it for the following day, forgetting that I’m off mid-week this month, working weekends. Just got back from a trip to work on my day off, delivering the shirt as promised.

I’ve showed pictures of the new dining room set we got before the holidays. Chairs are painted black. After the influx of holiday guests, Pop noticed “dig marks” on one of the chairs, and we’re guessing this was caused by rivets on jeans??  And someone with ants in their shorts.  The answer was to immediately invest in cushions for the chairs, for both comfort and protection.  Well, our previous set had cushioned seats, and we had it a while, so its been some time since I was in the chair cushion section of the local department store. I dragged Pop with me, him always so happy to go shopping. And I was surprised at what I saw.  Last time I bought them, chair cushions were tied onto the chairs – at least for a bit. Then the ties ripped out, and the cushions slid around every time anybody sat down. As far as I knew, that was all that was available. Until we went to the store!!

Look at these – no ties.  What the hell? I looked all over the department and this was the only style that they carried. A few different colors, several neutrals. Some with minimal patterns, but no ties.

Look at th bottom of them. Fabric at the back of the cushion, but some sort of rubberized non-stick stuff for the rest. My first thought was that it will never keep the cushion in place. That was my second and third thoughts, too. Damn, I’m gonna be tossing my money away here!!  And the set has 6 chairs to buy for. Should I wait, continue looking around to try to find the old “tie” style? Obviously, I did not, and brought these cushions home.

Well, when I’m wrong, I admit it – getting good at that now because of so much practice! The cushions stay in place. We haven’t had any 300-lb guests over for dinner, but so far, I’m amazed at how well these are working out.

All good things come to an end.

The ornaments are off and packed away for another year, and Pop is pulling the tree apart, literally limb from limb. It’ll soon be back in it’s box and stored away, too. The living room looks twice as big for the first few days that the tree is gone. This will diminish when I get the spinning wheels back out here!

Last night, dinner honored my Polish ancestry and my laziness.  Kielbasi, sauerkraut, apples and a bit of brown sugar into the crock pot. Pierogies served over a bed of sautéd onions, sour cream on the side. Rye bread.  (Special thanks to Kate for leaving the apples here. They help to cut the “bite” of the sauerkraut)

I guess my brain freezes up easily or something.

We are having a spell of some really cold weather. Days and days of it. Way, way below freezing. And to add to the fun, winds 35-50 miles per hour.  Each weather condition, individually, is horrible to deal with and my sympathies go out to anyone who’s had to be out in it.  Together, it’s just unbearable to even stick your nose out the door. If you can open the damn door, or if it doesn’t slam shut in your face, depending on which way the wind’s blowing! I haven’t felt cold like this since those two years I lived in upstate New York, where cold perhaps wasn’t invented, but I think they perfected it in Oneida County. Still remember bundling up two little kids and going out for groceries.  And the time it took when you came out of the store – locking 2 kids down into their carseats and getting all the groceries into the back of that old Chevy van!  Damn, I hated the winters up there.

So each day I compare the predicted temperatures and my gas gauge. I always try to stand outside near the back end of my vehicle on the warmest day of the week, but it’s not happening. Why do I keep hoping that there will be a day by mid-week where it’ll be warm enough to go swimming?  Every day, both the temperature and my gas gauge are going down. Finally HAD to give in and fill the tank yesterday, as I am unable to push an SUV very far at my age. I thought I was going to freeze to death standing there.  A co-worker of my husband had his pipes freeze, break 2 nights ago.

This morning, when I pulled up to the guard shack to show my ID to get to work, the window in my car would not roll down. I had to open the door to hand over my card for examination.  It was THAT cold.

And because I have to go out this evening, the cold and wind will surely continue.  Asked Husband if he was familiar with the hotel that’s behind a certain gas station on the highway in town, how to get to their parking area and entrance. Because the pupil of my right eye doesn’t expand and contract, I sometimes don’t see as well as the rest of you in very dark areas; I wanted to know the conditions I’m likely to run into when/if I go there. He said, “Yes, why?” “I’m going there tonight. Is it gonna be a problem for me driving there?” “Why?”  “To the lounge there.” “Why?” “To lounge. Duh, why would you do anything else in a lounge but, uh, lounge? Did you think I might be going there to maybe, exercise, or perhaps to bake a cake?”  He’s starting to smirk, but soldiered bravely on.  “I’m your husband and I want to know why you’re going out to a lounge.”  As images of people in hell and ice water flitted through my head, I started to laugh. So did he.  “I’m not gonna get a straight answer, am I?”   “Unlikely, sir.”

About an hour later, he says, “Does this lounging about in public have anything to do with knitting?”

“Yes.”

Our local knitting guild used to meet every second Tuesday of the month in a grand ice cream shop. Delicious ice cream, coffees, lattes, baked goodies of all sorts, and a meeting room in the back for a larger crowd with GOOD LIGHTING!!! We loved meeting there and the owners of the business were great people. Alas, they were an early local casualty to the sucky economy and closed last November, I think.  One of our members offered to have the December meeting in her home, but she lives several miles off the beaten well-lit path, and I didn’t feel comfortable driving out there  and back. We’ve all been wracking our brains and making calls; one of the members talked to folks at this place who were happy to have us meet there; she’s already checked out the seating and the lighting. We’re changing to Mondays, as it seems to work for more people; we had a few who were not attending because Tuesdays didn’t work for them. We’re hoping that attendance will increase with the change in days.

And yes, husband did know about this. Or at least, I told him about this. Several times, in fact. But maybe the TV was on?  It can’t be that he wasn’t listening.