Old Eyes

I hate getting older.  I hate the wrinkles, the flab and the purple feet.  But mostly, I hate what age has done to my eyes.  I was pulling out of our development a few days ago and a gray car blended right into the highway.  I didn't see it.  I'm not sure why I didn't pull out right away, but something held me back.  Had I pulled out, the gray car, doing well over 70mph, would have T boned me. 

I went to the eye doctor today--Dr. Groat.  He sure didn't look like his name.  While I expected an aging man way over 50 with wispy hair on the top of a balding head, this guy whipped into the room in gym shoes and cartoon socks.  He couldn't have been more than 30 and his thick blonde hair and goofy smile made him seem much younger than that.  

But, when he talked about my eyes he seemed to know what he was talking about.  My eyes are still dilated, with big, round black spots where my pin-point pupil used to be.  I thought I only had one cataract, turns out, I have two.  I will be having surgery on July 31 and again on August 14.   

We were at the office for a little over 2 hours.  I took tests that reminded me of a Star Trek episode, where the ship launches a smaller vessel into space and all you can see are white diamonds of light drifting into a velvet blue sky.  The vessel has red lights on it that flicker and bounce from one end of ship to the other in a nano second and silver bars that look like antennas surround the light.  

I guess the good thing is that this can be fixed and I need to remember that.  I will have to wear a plastic thing over my eye in the shower and I can't do housework or dishes after the surgery.  No problem there!!  

I will be glad to have this done, as the longer it goes on, the more painful it is.  It has impacted my writing.  All of my emails now are done in size 14 font.  People think I am  yelling at them--I'm just trying to ensure what I typed and what I wanted to say are the same thing!

We had a quiet 4th of July, mostly because of the weather, but we had a nice meal and time together.  It doesn't get much better than that. 

Physical, Working and Stuff

I have always hated going to my yearly physical.  Don't get me wrong, I love my doctor, but the first thing they have you do is step on the scale.  No matter how much weight you have lost, or what your scale says, their scale is always saying you weigh 6 pounds more than at home.  I have threatened to weigh myself naked there, like I do at home, but they are not up for that idea.  We settled on them noting that each one of my ear rings weighs 20 pounds. 

Well, this year, at least, my doctor was happy about my lab work.  He said all of the numbers were in or below range and he was really pleased about the work I have done to accomplish this.  I have cut down on coffee, bread and wine.  I am trying to walk more (but this continues to be a problem) and I'm paying attention to snacking.  But, hey, I'm 71, I guess this is as good as it gets. 

Work is going well.  I switched to being a receptionist for  a mental facility on May 23,  (25% more pay) and will be working less days so it seems to be a wash.  It's a fun place with lots of interesting people.  I rarely have interaction with the "residents" other then when they are brought in by law enforcement.  It's a lesser distance than Arbor Landing (although, I could get there in 4 minutes...) and I am enjoying what I do.  On Saturday, July 1, I will be working on my own.  I am the every other weekend person, Saturday's and Sundays from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.  Not bad hours.  I used to get up at 4:45 a.m., when I worked at Chase Manhattan.  

We are tentatively planning a trip to Cleveland in October--probably the first week of October to see Jenna's kids.  They are out of school now and doing well.  Sam graduated from middle school with all A's and Ben was in a number of honors classes.  They will be in band together next year.  

Ellie will be going to middle school this year and is worried about mean girls and making friends.  Zach will also be going to regular school and is basically worried about everything.

Tony is pressing me to take golf lessons so we can play together, so I have that on my list of things to do.  I want to get back into the game, but I also want to play well.  Not sure how those two things are going to work out. 

We have been working to put Cape Fear Voices online (cfvts.org) and July will be our first all online edition.  Not sure how people will react to it, but we might as well join the 21st century and get online.  Two of my stories are trending in the top 10 (most read)  for the year so far and that makes me happy.  

I'm doing a story on a new Art Gallery opening in Leland for Leland Magazine that I am very excited about.  The artist, Dan Beck, is wonderful.  He works in oil and has a very mysterious style to his paintings.  

Tony and Dixie are well.  We went to the beach on Father's Day and had a nice time.  It was crowded and really hot.  We knew that the beach had a lot of "northerners" there because their skin was so white!  But, it was fun anyway!

I feel bad about those who lost their life in the sub going down to see the Titanic. One of the passengers was only 19.  He didn't even live his life yet.  That's sad. 

Well, off to clean another room in this dusty house.  Happy June and July to everyone and I hope to see you in October. 

  

The Problem With Time

I've been having a hard time with time lately.  For 8 months I was consumed with the Cape Fear Voices/Teen Scene (cfvts.org) awards dinner.  After it was over, I said I'm going to email people I haven't connected with in a while, I'm going to clean the house and I'm going to relax.  Well, here it is the third week of May and I haven't done any of that--well, I did clean yesterday because the kids are coming in from Florida this week.  But, that's about it. 

I can't seem to figure out where my time goes.  Tony will tell you it's because I'm in front of the computer all day, but I'm spending less time there than I used to.  Maybe the answer is that ash tray that my father used to have that I never understood until I was in my 50's.  It said, "Time Marches On, Damn it!"  Maybe time is marching on and I just haven't caught up.

Anyway, I have to have cataract surgery on my left eye.  It feels like someone has their finger in my eye all of the time and I can't see.  Driving at night is the worst.  

I am looking forward to the kid's visit.  David and Tony are playing for the 3 Men and A Bond Trophy and we will be celebrating David's birthday while they are here.  We bought a small swimming pool for the girls last year and will be putting that up in the yard.  

The papers for which I write are doing well.  Cape Fear Voices will be going online only in July.  The printing costs are just killing us.  I hope we don't lose readership or our authors.  Some people just don't like to read online.  We will see. 

No word on coming up to Cleveland yet.  We want to coordinate with Jenna and her family to make sure the kids aren't doing some school related, out of town things.

That's all for now.  If I owe you an email, I will be writing soon.  All I need is TIME!

Founders and Purple Feet

The Cape Fear Voices/Teen Scene banquet was on Saturday, April 15, and it was a wonderful event.  I am really tired and my feet are a lovely shade of purple and very swollen, but I still had a great time. 

I don't think I would cut it as an event planner.  I  hired a bar tending service who didn't show up.  I was livid.  The event started at 5:00 and at 4:30 I was screaming into the phone--where are you?  I got two interesting excuses--the first one was, "oh, I heard the event was cancelled, so I didn't show up."  When I asked if it dawned on her at 4:30 when I was asking where she was and telling her that my guests were due to arrive in 30 minutes, that the event wasn't cancelled.  

The second excuse was, "oh, my son died that day and I had to go to his funeral."  I guess she was expecting me to back pedal and put my nice hat on.  Guess what, I threw my nice hat in the garbage at 4:30 on Saturday.  Instead, I said, "thank you, I won the bet.  I bet the publisher that you would tell me that someone in your family died and that's why you didn't show up."  A full refund is being processed as we speak. 

But, the food was terrific, the music was perfect--our theme was super hero's and the singer learned 20 new songs for the event--specifically, Hero, written and originally performed by Mariah Carey. All of the feedback I have received was positive and we made a nice profit from the event which will got into our Teen Scene College fund.  

The highlight of the evening, for me anyway, was being given the Founders Award.  This is the highest honor given in our organization.  It is for outstanding service and support of the mission.  Since I was the event coordinator, I had to buy the awards.  I asked Gerald, our publisher, if he had anything specific in mind for the Founders Award.  He told me that we weren't awarding one this year.  When we got the programs back from the printer, I noticed that the presentation of the Founders Award was in there.  I assumed it was a misprint.  Gerald told me not to worry about it, having the programs reprinted would be too expensive.    I know Gerald very well and I know he doesn't make that kind of mistake.  I figured that he was going to give the award to someone else in the organization and didn't want to hurt my feelings, so I kind of let it go.  

Fast forward to the night of the event.  I was sitting in front, taking pictures of the writing award winners, both teens and seasoned writers.    All of a sudden, my camera flashed, "disc full," and wouldn't take anymore photos.  OH NO.  I was sitting there quickly deleting some of the hundreds of pictures of Dixie we have, when Gerald stepped up to the mic to explain the Founders Award.  I am furiously deleting pictures to make sure I get the presentation on film and all of a sudden, I hear Gerald say, "and this year, the award goes to Jan Morgan-Swegle."  I just sat there with the camera still in my lap.  I was dumbfounded.  The guests at our table were laughing at the look on my face and telling me to get up and get the award.  At that moment, 8 months of planning, the bar vendor not showing up and my painful feet just kicked in.  I broke down and cried.  I cried so hard I couldn't say anything.  I think I stuttered, 'Oh Tony, look what we got..." but I'm not even sure of that.  Poor Tony became one of  the bartenders for the evening so we didn't get to sit together.  I do remember calling  Gerald a bum for fooling me and that's about it.  This is the first award I have ever received.   Tony took my picture a few days ago with the award.  I could finally hold it without crying (oops, I'm crying now...again!)  So, all in all, my swollen, purple feet were worth it.  It was a wonderful event.  Next year, however, we are talking about hiring an event planner.  I'm getting too old for the stress!

I am busy now working on the May issue of the paper and catching up on my stories for Leland Magazine.  Tony took me to the beach to relax on Sunday, the day after the event.  Listening to the ocean and looking at the sky was exactly what I needed.  More later...my feet are turning purple again....to much sitting at the computer!

From the top:  Me, standing on our patio with the Founders Award--oh look, I'm not crying!

Next is Izzy Billings and Dan Niezmik.  Right after dinner, Izzy asked me to look at a poem she wanted to submit for the May issue. I had a dozen things to do, but I read it.   It was good.  I asked her if I could show it to someone.  She asked who?  I told her, "Dan Niezmik," he writes poetry for Cape Fear Voices.  She said, "a REAL poet?"  So I hooked them up and they spent much of the evening together, talking about poetry.  Dan actually won the award for best writer in the poetry category for Cape Fear Voices. 

Next is Susan Savia. Our entertainment for the evening.  When she heard the bartender wasn't coming, she stopped practicing and started hauling coke can cases!!

Next is Gerald, our publisher, a man I love very much for getting me back into writing.

Next is Laura Askue, Journalism teacher at Brunswick College--early College High School receiving the Educator's Award from Carl Parker, President of the NC NAACP.

Next is Izzy and I in front of the Super Hero posters.  She was worried that she didn't have anything nice to wear to the banquet, so I gave her some fashion advice.  She didn't know what business casual meant.  I told her she looked so good, I had to get a picture of her.  (I also think she looks like Jenna!)

After that is Sallye Niezmik, Tony and Dan Niezmik.  Tony donated some of his artwork for the auction.  Sallye bought one of his painting and he signed it for her. 

Next is Laura Askue and the Early College High School group (plus assistant principal) and Jeff Rivenbark, a local TV news personality.  He works for WWAY, who donated the venue for the event.   Students at Early College earn an Associates Degree and their high school diploma when they graduate.  These are future doctors, nurses, scientists and really smart kids!  

Last is Jeff Rivenbark, the news anchor.  Many of the "old ladies" at the event wanted to meet him and asked me if it was OK to approach him.  I told Jeff that if we put him in a kissing booth and charged money, we wouldn't have needed all of the stuff we had for the silent auction.  Every time a woman came up to him and gushed, "I have dinner with you every night..."  he thanked who ever it was and acted like he never heard that line before.  He was very nice.  He actually looks better in person than the photograph I took. 

 

Counting Down to the Banquet

 

Every year I say, I'm not doing this again, but here I am, 10 days away from the Cape Fear/Teen Scene banquet.  Everything seems to be magically falling into place and for that I am glad.  I will also be glad when the whole thing is over.  

Life is moving quickly.  I'm working 4 days this week, and then the banquet and then cleaning the house.....you can't clean and plan a  banquet at the same time!  So I'm calling it spring cleaning.  In reality, it's "oh hell, I haven't had time to clean in a month."  You know how it is when you just clean the toilets and keep the shades drawn so people can't see the dust. 

We got our new patio set for the back and shade for the front porch.  Our roses are just staring to bloom and they look so pretty.   May is looming--I can't believe I'm saying that on April 5, but it is.  We are going to Anthony's first communion the weekend before Mother's Day and will be celebrating our 34th wedding anniversary on May 12.  I have interviews for both papers set up in May and it promises to be a busy month yet again. 

I continue to have breathing issues and purple feet.  But, Fritz and Steve are having a worse time.  Both have heart issues and both either have been or will be in Parma hospital in the near future.  Steve just got out and Fritz is going in for tests on April 12.  Our brother in law, Joe, is doing better since his cancer surgery and it seems to be in remission.  So we are on health watch on several fronts.

Summer is on the horizon and that means beach.  It will be filled with tourists, but we will do our best to get in some sand and sun time.  Already the time is flying by.  I will be 71 in August and really can't believe that either.  I have often said I did not think I was going to live very long, so every day is a surprise.  Tony is watching his heart condition and doing everything he can to not get light headed and pay attention to his blood pressure and heart rate.  

Out of all of us, Dixie is doing the best.  We took her to a doggie etiquette class (see previous post) and she did so well.  Of course, she spent a great deal of time under Tony's protective legs, but she did socialize and is still the prettiest dog in Compass Pointe.  

Our nephew, Steven, got my laptop working so now I can take it on interviews and not have to deal with notebooks and paper.   Thank God for the younger generation.  Our nephew, Joe is doing well at his job and enjoying a relationship with a lady who also works at the bowling alley.  They have been dating since Christmas and I look forward to meeting her whenever we get back to Cleveland.  She seems to be a positive influence on Joe.

That's all for now.  Keep your fingers crossed that the banquet is a success.

More later. 

Stressed

I have been having a rough time of late.  Nothing terrible, just stress I don't need.  The Awards  Banquet is coming up in 3 weeks and everything is falling apart.  I hired a bar vendor in October because the food vendor does not offer bar service.  I had some changes of which the bar vendor needed to be aware and I could not get a response from them.  I sent emails and left voicemails until I said, you're fired.  Then they called.  The problem was that I had to pay them up front to book the date.    Luckily, they went through a third party vendor who has been helping with the process. 

Today, everything seems to have worked out.  I am getting a partial refund and I have one less thing to worry about.   Now, all we have to do is get the venue set up, pay the singer, make sure the guest speaker shows up (no word from her in a month,)  make sure the actual awards have everyone's named spelled correctly, make sure Gerald didn't oversell the tickets (he couldn't figure out how to turn off the "QR" code so people kept ordering tickets, make the information packets, get the seating figured out, hang the decorations and hope to God we  break even.  

Next disaster....I bought a laptop so I could do the interviews for the papers directly onto the laptop instead of taking notebooks and loose paper.  To set it up, you have to enter the IP address from our main computer router.  I did.  It rejected every time.  So, now I have a giant red paper weight.

I am also struggling with my legs and feet.  I think I am developing neuropathy as my feet tingle, swell and turn purple.  A few nights ago when Dixie needed to go out at 2:30 a.m., I walked into the partially closed bedroom door and I think I broke my toe.  

Last night, Gerald was sending the April edition to be printed and noticed that he was having trouble downloading the edition to the printer's site--something he does every month.  In particular, where my main story was on page 1 was just a large black block when downloaded.  So, at 11:40 p.m., Gerald started texting the layout guy and me.  This went on until about 1:00 a.m.  until the issue was fixed. 

Life shouldn't be this hard.

But, on a happier note.  Birdie turned 2 and is loving life.  I wish I could post a picture of her, she is just so cute.  Instead, I settled for a picture of a beautiful sunset and one of David, Tony and I at dinner celebrating Tony's 76th birthday. 

Tomorrow, Tony and I are attending a Veteran's event, celebrating the end of the Viet Nam War so I am only working 2 days this week.  

I will be glad when the Banquet is over....I said the same thing last year, but then, I was a year younger.

More later....

Who Knew ?? I'm A Small Business!!

We had our taxes done today and while we were sitting in front of the tax prepare person, he said to me, "Oh, I see you are a small business owner."  Well, that took me by surprise and I wondered where he got that idea.

Turns out that the W2 I got from Leland Magazine didn't have withholding tax taken out.  Duh, at some level I knew that, I just wasn't thinking long term.  So, I started thinking about the tax ramifications this could have and wondered how I was going to get "tax screwed" this time.  

Well, lucky for us, it turned out well.  We talked about "business expenses" like mileage when I go to places to write their stories and take pictures, phone expenses, computer, printer paper, ink, postage--all of that.  The mission was to go over what I was paid for writing with my expenses so I could declare a business loss.  No problem.  I can't do that every year, but you can be sure I'm going to keep better track.  He was also able to deduct tax preparation, which was great.  So, we got a refund from both federal and state.  I'm happy.

In other news, the Awards Banquet is 26 days away.  I'm starting to freak out....not sure I'm ready.  But hopefully everything will fall into place. 

Our brother-in-law, Joe, was just released from the hospital for surgery related to cancer.  I hope all goes well with him.

Yesterday, Jenna and Jon have been married for 19 years.  Wow, talk about time flying.  

Birdie's second birthday is next month.  She's talking and running and just as big as ever. 

The weather has been downright cold--all right, not Cleveland cold, but North Carolina cold.  We have had frost warnings for the past two nights.  It's funny to see our flowering bushes with ice on them. 

Dixie is well.  We took her for a Dog Park Etiquette class last week.  Actually, I was writing about the class and there was some push back about photographing people without their express written consent, so I took Tony and Dixie and did some staged shots with the instructor.  It was fun.   Dixie was very well behaved and we learned a lot about "dog stress."  Yes, they have it.  Good dog stress and bad dog stress.  We learned that if two dogs are fighting, you never get near their heads, you go behind one of the dogs and lift them up by their back legs.  They will immediately stop fighting and turn their heads to see what is going on.  Now, you have to be quick and "sling" them away from the other dog (which seems as dangerous of getting near their heads,) but hey, what do I know!!  Luckily, Dixie has very short legs. 

Work is going well.  One of my favorite people fell last week and is in the hospital.  Her son made her use a walker and she fell down trying to use it.  Needless to say, he is in the dog house!

Not much else going on.  Tony's last heart check up was good.  We are still on our meds and interestingly enough, my sister, Fritz, and I have very similar symptoms with our shortness of breath and irregular hear beats.  Her doctors can't find a reason why either, so we just do what we can to keep everything under control. 

More later.