Church is Opening Up Fulltime Since Pandemic is Over--RANT

 On July 22, 2021, Tommy's church official called and said the church program would be open full time since the pandemic had eased. WHAT? I went ballistic! They had been wearing masks and sitting far apart in the sanctuary. Now, Sunday School is being added. Tommy was defending their move. This is effective August 15. Hopefully some of them will see the folly in this move. 

We won't be going or I will know why. I will be as angry as I feel. He said he had not been to church since last March. I cannot see he has suffered. 

The person told him everyone had been vaccinated. Well, I doubt it very much. These are all of the party of Trump and probably prevaricate. I do not trust one of them! 

Call me mean. I don't care. I have serious health problems I have not mentioned here and I do not intend to catch covid at church. Don't they read about the low vaccine rate and rising cases in Alabama? Tommy knows exactly how I feel about this and the fact I think they will lie.

If he goes back, I will be forced to go with him to assure he does not remove his mask and that not one of these old ladies gets close to him to hug him, squeeze his arm or generally endanger us. I yelled at a lady at her own yard sale last year because she got within six inches of my face in order to be heard over traffic.  I did the same thing to a cashier who took off her mask as she came close to me to help me. I will yell at these women, too. THEN, they will demand to know what illness I have. 

I am just sick about this thoughtless decision. 

Gunshots at Church

Christmas Eve, went to communion at the church. It was set up as a "come and go" occasion between 4 pm nd 6 pm. Tommy wanted to go about 4 pm. I wanted to get there at 4 pm. So, we left here abut 3:30 and got there a bit before 4 pm. I suppose we left by 4:30. At 5:20 shot were fired somewhere in front of the church. This happened three times and the minister finally called the police. This is scary!

Today, I went into Sunday School and sat down. As I did, this woman started screeching for me to "get up." I had slept only 3 hours Saturday night, so I was confused and slow. She must have ordered me up about six times. I asked why. She said this is where I always sit. Well, I have been going there and sitting in that seat since August. She sat in that chair one time about two weeks ago. Then, she demanded the seat today. I was annoyed and embarrassed that everyone was taking her side in this. THEN, she started whacking on my arm with both hands, hurting me in what she assumed were gentle pats. No, fibromyalgia causes these hard pats to cause me pain. Plus, I whacked my arm into a door facing and it was bruised.

She went on to explain that she had been coming to that church since she was nine-years-old. So???` She was smiling and laughing like it was all so funny, and I should understand. No one has ever told me I was in their seat in church, but I have heard of newcomers never coming back when a long-time member has told the newcomer to move. Does anyone think this is uncalled-fpr? Rude? Un-Christian?

We are eating the second turkey. Tommy had turkey, sweet potato, dressing, cranberry sauce, and a tomato-cucumber salad for lunch. We are out of dressing and baked sweet potatoes, and just have a bit of cranberry sauce left, so the rest of our turkey meals will be other iterations of turkey. Of course, some will be frozen.

I only saved about two cups of turkey broth. Tomorrow, I am going to use that to cook carrots and new potatoes in the crockpot. Tommy and I both love carrots. I cannot have them raw anymore.

The weather forecast bad weather today, but I doubt it from the radar. Anyone else getting stormy weather?

Tommy has had the ac going for the last few days. Today, I asked him to turn it up so I could bathe and wash my hair without freezing. He did. Then, he turned the ac back on. As I sat here getting ready, I was warm, but he assured me the ac was on. When I went to the bathroom, the vent was blowing heat. He just turned it all off. Hopefully, he will call a technician. But, he keeps saying he does not know what is wrong. Well, that is why he should call someone!

Today, I wore an old "new" look to church. Since I found my plastic boxes of jewelry, I wore my pearl necklace with many strands and gold chains and a pearl bracelet with the outfit--highwater pants, sleeveless top, and black sweater. Of course, it is all costume jewelry. I wonder how long I can keep this going.

On the way back from church, I made my first return, an item at Walgreens. I have more returns to make, so I am rounding up things and the receipts. Several months ago, Tommy threw away receipts. But, since then he alerts me to receipts that escape me.

Small Economy, Grocery Shopping, Church Program

As you know, or maybe you don't know, I never pay full price for Christmas cards. I buy them on sale, rock bottom reductions, at yard sales and at thrift stores. They cannot be musty.

Well, Tommy's niece has a small economy I would never even think to use.

She used a PANTONE color chip to send him a birthday greeting. One side is blank. So, she wrote "Happy Birthday the L*******S", his address and her return address. And, there is a postcard stamp.

I think this small economy is very clever. Now, I would never just collect free color chips to do this, but, nonetheless, it is clever. These chips are postcard sized, not the tiny chips I usually see.

Clever and thrifty? In my book it is.

I used a $.75 coupon on Ronco Spaghetti. It is my favorite brand and the brand we had at home growing up.

Ragu spaghetti was bogo at Publix, so I got only two.

I had a $.75 coupon on two half gallons of a2milk. I have another to use later.

I think I saved $5.46 at Publix.

The European cucumber was cheaper than elsewhere--$2.50. I need it for the cucumber sandwiches after church tomorrow. Tommy said he wants me to go, so I am.

I have never had Nutella. I may be the last person on Earth who has not tasted it. I found a tiny 1 oz. bottle for $1. Even though I am allergic to hazelnuts, I will try a bit of this. It is the first time I have tried a nut that I am allergic to since I found out about my nut allergies. It is several hours later, and I am not having a reaction. I do have a headache on my eyebrows, but that is allergy-related but not from nuts, just dust.
and took the bread from the freezer. Tommy had some of the European cucumber in his dinner Saturday night. When I went to bed, I told him to wake me at 7:30 so I could put the sandwiches together.

He woke me after 8 am on Sunday, and I had been awake until 4 am. I had him slice the cucumbers for me--1/8 inch. Well, he was slicing them thicker than 1/4 inch so he "would not slice his fingers." I had him slice the thick ones in half, and I told him to be careful. The butter was not soft enough to spread, so I had to microwave it. He spent the rest of the time using a fork on the cream cheese mixture to get it soft enough to spread.

I no longer have a biscuit cutter or round cookie cutter. So, I spent time in Publix scouring the shelves for something with a narrow diameter to use to cut bread into circles. I settle on Beechnut Baby Food in jars. I know a glass makes a good biscuit cutter, but this glass jar was wide glass even though the jar was tiny. So, it was really hard on my hands and fingers to cut the bread. Plus, the circles seemed rough.

We needed to leave at 9:30 am to get to Sunday School by 10 am. But, at 9:40 I finally got the sandwiches on a dish and covered and in a bag. I hurried though my preps and we got to the church by 10:30.

As it turns out, the church provides the fried chicken and sliced ham. I cannot eat much at one time, so I brought home my ham, cheese, and a roll. I noticed Styrofoam boxes had been brought from the kitchen. All the women were getting meals for themselves, mothers who could not attend, and for themselves. I brought a chicken breast for me and a thigh for Tommy. He also wanted more ham, so he has that, too.

There was no preaching service, just the choir singing and then lunch. We have been eating Kisses and Miniatures today and watching Christmas movies.

Tomorrow is his birthday and I have gotten him nothing! He changed his attitude Saturday night. He finally took me to stores. So, tomorrow will be spend shopping for him and making him a dinner from the leftover turkey legs and chicken breast. They need to be eaten tomorrow. So, he loves the casserole with Stovetop Stuffing, cream of chicken soup, eggs, and dried cranberries. My dehydrated cranberries are in the dump and I will not use Craisins. I might make a green bean casserole since he loves that, too.

At his church there is a board with slots and everyone's name. It is for Christmas cards. That way, there is no postage. I was going to get ours because our names are together on one of the slots. He told me to leave them there until the Sunday before Christmas. So, I put them back. A woman walked in and did not hear what he said. She brought the cards to me. I asked him in front of everyone who heard him make me put them back if I could keep them. He said I could.

At home I got into my box of cards. It was a chore finding envelopes that fit the cards. I need about 30 cards and have found 17 matches between envelopes and cards. I have more here because I brought them with me. None of my cards were purchased full price. So, this is not costly. First, I took out cards for three bloggers, and some bloggers whose addresses I know, and for my children. My goal is not to buy cards until they go on sale. Dollar General always has had cards marked down 25% before Christmas. They are some of the prettiest cards I have bought.

I need to go to bed because I am exhausted.

Do you like cucumber sandwiches? They are labor intensive to make, although simple.

Sunday Breakfast

We had a Minister's Appreciation Day last month, so the minister had a `Congregation Appreciation Day today. The minister and his wife bought ingredients and made breakfast for the congregation.
They prepared bacon, sausage, scrambled eggs, grits, sausage gravy, pancakes, syrup, butter, cantaloupe, coffee, orange juice, cake, tea and milk.

I took my own milk and ate scrambled eggs, milk, bacon, pancakes, and syrup and butter. And, I did not go back for seconds even though I wanted more...lol. The bacon was crispy and eggs solid without white showing. So, all I got was enjoyable. Tommy had much more and ate the biscuit I put on my plate but did not want.

Then we played Bible trivia with prizes. Tommy won Andes mints, and I won a Pez dispenser with three flavors of Pez. They would not let me answer more since I had won something. So, I whispered the answer to the elderly lady next to me who did not raise her hand for any questions. Who came and asked for the body of Christ? Joseph of Arimathea! She won a box of Tootsie Rolls in lots of colors and flavors. She was very happy as she kept candy for her grandchildren. I was pleased I could help her. One woman won a small Snowman and Tommy said he mainly remembers candy being won. One person won a glass cannister type thing with Hershey's Miniatures.

Since I had only slept 2 hours with something to help me sleep, I came home and was ready for a nap. I only slept three hours this afternoon, so I hope sleep comes easily tonight. Saturday night it was warm outside, so nothing came on. We both got up at the same time to use the bathroom, so I noted I was suffocating. He turned on ac and it is still on at 10 pm.

Tonight, I got out the three foot tree I decided to bring here. Tommy will pull all the branches out since that makes my hands itch and break out. I was thrilled to see I had bought a prelit tree. When one light goes out, the rest stay lit. I need to buy ornaments for it. I bought the artificial Christmas tree several years ago, either 75% off or 90% off, forgot which.

Then, I addressed a few Christmas cards. I have boxes of ancient Christmas cards, most notable Black person on a whole box of cards. I would rather sell these. They are from 50s or 60s. And, there are many Christmas postcards. I suppose stamps are still cheaper for postcards unless things have changed. I bought the stamps a few weeks ago, so there is no crunch to buy them this month.

We ate the last of all the Thanksgiving dinner today except for Tommy's Jello salad. I took out turkey legs to thaw and need to find the chicken breast packages to thaw and then cook turkey legs and breasts in one cooking bag. I need to cook more sweet potatoes so we can eat off those this week.

That was Sunday, very quiet and we spent nothing. This weekend has been beautiful and mild, with temperatures in the low 70s. Okay, Tommy said it only got to 69 today.

This and That

*on Saturday, toward the end of the event described yesterday, a man took a great interest in us and offered to carry our loot to the car. Remember, we already had two plastic bags and two blankets in the car. We told him this and his daughter brought more. Leaving, he gave us another blanket and two more plastic bags of stuff. He was very jovial and overly friendly. While Tommy was still getting into the car and I was fully seated in the car, the man really scared me. He had his head and part of his body in the car and I saw his hand coming up on the left side of my head. Picture that. I startled and moved forward a bit, just my upper body and head. I turned and his face was about three inches from mine. I said, "NO, and he moved back but still was engaged with my body. I said to him, "First of all, we don't know other that well, and second, you are hurting me." He had his arm behind my back and fingers around my neck and shoulder. It was absolutely creepy. He backed out of the car and said, "I'm sorry." I slammed the door.

These assumptions from "Christians" that they have rights once you come into the church or into nonphysical contact really offends me. NO, just because I am friendly inside your church and you have given me something, you have no right to take liberties.

Tommy does not remember telling me I could "throw out any crap in the kitchen" that needs it. He also did not remember I showed him the sugar container. Like I said, I will do the throwing away slowly.

Today, I went into the bathroom and there were two dingy raggedy (mostly string) washcloths on the bathroom vanity. He barely squeezes the water out of them. Later in the day, I bought him two mint green washcloths, the color of the one-inch tiles on the floor and vanity top. I knew he would yell because I spent my money on them and say if he needed washcloths, he would buy them. NO, he won't. I just folded them and put them on the corner of the counter that I knew he would need to touch. Finally, he went to the bathroom, pushed them back a little and never said a word.

Next, I am going to buy a new commode brush with holder. The one he has is absolutely black in the bottom of the holder. That is either poop or mold--disgusting. No, I am not going to wash it and clean the black stuff out of the bottom. And, neither will he. I don't think he has used that brush in years. I am the only one to clean the new commode. He may explode.

Thanks to Anne, I bought butter at Aldi's for $1.99/lb.

I got sleepy during the writing of this post, then on Monday felt bad, not ill. So here is what I promised another blogger. It is about ways to get meds taken by seniors. I think she has the problem solved. But, here goes.

from Bottom Line's secret 67 Special Reports:

There are medication dispensing devices that signal the person, even remotely. They remotely signal a provider or family member if a pill is missed. That is about all about this subject. Sorry I was so long getting this on the blog.

I asked Tommy about how he like the washcloths and he exploded. Then, he threw them on top of my clean towels in my bedroom. His bathroom counter is disgustingly dirty, so he caused me to have to rewash the towel I use for hair coloring. I put the washcloths back on the bathroom counter and he screamed he would keep putting them back in my room. I told him in no uncertain terms how filthy his counter was and not to put them near anything of mine, to just throw them into the kitchen trash. So, this is Monday and the cloths are still there in the bathroom. I never use his sink because he has a big bowl in the sink and it is usually so fully of nasty water that I just go to the kitchen for brushing my teeth or washing up. Ready to kill the man on Sunday. Unfortunately, I cannot sustain an argument that long, so we are back to civility, even friendliness.

Right now, I am using the crockpot to cook ground sirloin, potatoes, carrots with savory and a can of diced tomatoes. All this was given to me. So, pretty much a free meal.

I had peeled all the potatoes and decided to take some of the diced potatoes and make potato salad for me since I had four boiled eggs left. I put the diced potatoes in my one Corning Ware casserole left and did not put water in it . Then, I put water in and forgot to go back and check, so they boiled dry and scorched. I had six little diced pieces that were not stuck and scorched. I told you I did not feel well.

It is an hour past Tommy's dinnertime and he keeps asking when it will be done. I just did not start soon enough. Earlier, when I realized I was going to be late getting this done, I asked him about having a hamburger with lettuce and tomato on it. He agreed and then got upset when he realized I meant tonight...lol. So, I dumped the ground sirloin into the crockpot. Now, we wait.

Okay, it is done and we both enjoyed a delicious meal. Then, I wanted chocolate, but there is none here. I am afraid I have eaten too many sweets tonight.

Church, Doctor, Shopping

Sunday, I could barely walk and Tommy was going to take me to the doctor instead of going to church. But, I pulled myself together and got ready and went to church. Instead of singing, I put my purse on the end of the pew and rested my head. These are the type pews that has a huge solid end with no lower part to rest and arm. I washed my hair about 11 pm and went to bed with it wet. I only teased the crown and did not try to curl it before I left. And, I wore no makeup.

At the doctor's, I got two prescriptions and two shots. I saw a new doctor that is really nice. I hope he will be there when I need a doctor next.

I got a gray sweater like the orangish one. So, the black outfit now has four looks! My nice sweaters, even the cheap ones, last me for years because I take care of them.

At the store I found a pan for $8 and just did not want to spend that much. I was complaining when I spotted a Salvation Army. Tomorrow, we are going back so I can see what is there that I need for cooking. Of course, I will look at clothing as long as I can stand or use Tommy's walker/rollator. I have found and bought utensils and cooking items at SA in the past. However, ne of their trained" pricing persons began to fail. I saw a pretty vase and picked it up. It was priced $3 right next to a Dollar Tree sticker for $1. I have bought antique planters for $3--no consistency or knowledge. So, I wonder how this one will be.

I think the preacher believes in original sin--we are born in a state of sin. I believe we are pure at birth and learn bad ways. What do you believe? Whether you are religious or not, maybe you have an opinion.

Upon several hours reflection, I do not want this to be a controversial post. Neither should people attack each other. You can have an opinion of whether babies are born sinful or pure even if you do not believe in God or the concept of sin. The two people who have replied so far have been polite.

My hands are trembling, so I will quit now.