And Good Tidings to You People, Too...

Not My Laptop But Close...

Well, Charlie has done it again for yet another year -- utter altruism to the core.

Every year or so many years Charlie buys his wife a new laptop and he gives me the old one to clean up and use.

"Do you still want her old laptop?" Charlie asked me as he was on his way to work. "Walk out with me and we'll get the computer. The thing weighs a ton."

That was another sign this was most likely junk if it was that heavy.

It was misting steadily outside so I grabbed a jacket off the coat rack, donned my favorite baseball cap, and was right behind Charlie as he walked purposely to his car.

I hesitated again and was dubious when Charlie said it was really old and still running Windows XP. Charlie told me farewell and I got back inside and realized I had found a diamond on a sandy shore as far as laptops go. I will have to get a photo up today. This is one fantastic laptop. It was as if it were never used.

Mama! I Don't Want to Play Grownup Anymore...

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

Mom called me this morning and asked me if I wanted my Cokes.

"I need your help, though," she told me kind of clandestinely not wanting to completely reveal her disability.

"I will be over there in 5 minutes tops," I replied to her as I donned a jacket and headed for my car.

The skies were threatening rain something fierce.

I arrived at their house and mom had left the back door open. Mom couldn't bend over to get the Cokes in a bag and needed my help.

"Get you some of those cigars while you're at it," my mother told me. "Your daddy bought a whole bag of them across the river last night."

I was telling her how I told my father this morning I needed to debit another gallon of milk and he balked telling me I was drinking too much milk. Mom escaped back to her bedroom and got me $5 dollars out of her purse to go buy milk with at the Piggly Wiggly.

Mom also got busy making me two pimento cheese sandwiches for lunch. The pimento cheese was from that same deli downtown where my father had gotten that delicious chicken salad. The sandwiches were delicious as soon as they got creamy upon reaching room temperature.

Kind Parents Last Night...

Boy, I've had a time with my mental illness lately.  I was having problems with my anxiety attacks last night.  I called mom for a little comfort and dad got on the phone as well.  They were watching a rerun of Foyle's War on Netflix TV.

"You would think my medications would stop this," I forlornly told my father.

But I had taken them hours and hours beforehand my father reminded me and they had certainly begun to wear off.

"Do you want me to come over and take you to get one of your favorite drinks at the Circle K?" dad asked last night about 11 pm. "It might help to get your head out of the house."

The thought of all that sugar and caffeine swayed me from doing that.

"I'm fine," I told him. "Maggie and I just need to get in the bed."

It was cold and damp and I didn't want my father to get out in all that bad weather.  Just the mere offer was a comfort to me, though.  There was a time in my life where I would be accused of causing this anxiety from some indiscretion I had committed.  Times have certainly changed.

"Come over here and sleep on the couch," my mother then said. "I know how terrible those panic attacks can be."

I thanked mom and said I would pass.  Maggie and I got in the bed around midnight and were soon fast asleep.  I didn't wake up till 3 pm, though, the next day. I guess my body was trying to tell me something.

image credit:  http://missiontosave.com/circle-k-great-lakes-polar-pop-cup-instagram-contest-25-gift-card-giveaway/

The End Times Are Here! My Father? Altruistic?

Earlier, I quickly drove across the Chattahoochee and got me two barbecue sandwiches from Roger’s – the two best sandwiches I had eaten in a long time and I eat a lot of sandwiches.  I just love Roger’s tangy and vinegary barbecue sauce. They don’t serve sweet, honey infused barbecue around here. It is an abomination.

I’ll tell you another good sandwich is when mom will make me two just run-of-the-mill bologna and Kraft cheese singles sandwiches. They just taste better when mom makes them.  She will gladly fix me some when it is the end of the week and I am running low on food. I always marvel at how fresh and soft mom and dad’s bread tastes.  I never have such luck when buying bread.

Dad arrived very, very late tonight after buying groceries first before arriving at my house.  I was pacing the floor of my den in wanton anticipation and agitation.  I was very livid and angry until what unfolded next…

“I asked your mother what you like to eat and she said you really love frosted flakes and milk.  She said they are always too expensive for you to buy,” dad told me. “I brought you some as a treat.  I got the big box of Frosted Flakes and a gallon of sweet milk. It wasn’t cheap! She said you needed spaghetti noodles so I got some of those as well.”

It is not like my father to be altruistic in such a manner.  Not at all. I had to feel his forehead to see if he was running a fever and feeling delirious. He laughed as I carried on happily about all of this

We took my medications as Maggie sat on the couch between my father and I. Dad called Maggie the supervisor. Just one big happy now medicated family. I had the band Blue State playing on my computer and my father remarked on how much he liked it.

“Your injection is at 9am and then we will drive down to Opelika and see Dr. Edwards,” dad told me. “Then we will go get us two steak biscuits each at Hardee’s. I want my senior coffee as well.”

I told my father to be kind if I act a little wacky.  I would have been asleep for hours by that time. That’s one of the few drawbacks to sleeping in the day when I have appointments like that.

Next, we fed and watered Maggie. She has her rituals as well, you know? She looked on in anticipation as my father threw out last night’s kibble and added fresh kibble to the bowl.  Maggie immediately began to daintily eat the chunks of freeze dried lamb out of her food.  She will save the kibble for later.

Photo Credit:  http://www.soap.com/p/frosted-flakes-cereal-box-61-9-oz-211321

The Four Way Disaster Waiting to Happen…

There are these two streets below my parent’s house that are pretty dangerous.  People are always ignoring the stop signs and blowing straight through the intersection.  I’ve almost gotten hit a few times myself.  I now always stop and look both ways before entering the intersection even though I have the right of way.  Well, it finally happened – a big car crash where someone ran the stop sign and hit this guy in a Ford truck.  The truck was totaled after ending up hitting a telephone pole in the driver’s efforts to miss the oncoming car.

I gawked a little bit, but then headed on to my parent’s house to get my sodas this morning.  My sweet Helen was already sitting on the porch puffing on a Newport when I arrived. She was early for work. I didn’t dawdle, though, eager to get home and get my sodas in the freezer to get them cold fast. 

Charlie did something very kind last night. He’s always doing kind things for me. He bakes chocolate pies every few weeks and he brought me two slices late last night. They are his specialty. It must’ve been 10pm when he arrived not long after my father had left. It thrilled Maggie to death to see him. I hadn’t eaten much all day and decided it would be okay to eat them despite my being on a diet.  I have a terrible sweet tooth and Charlie’s pies are just scrumptious.   Charlie then left to take some more chocolate pie to his sister Polly who lives a few blocks over from me. Charlie is the embodiment of altruism and more people should follow his lead including me.

Photo credit:  http://healthyrecipesblogs.com/2011/12/20/chocolate-pie-chocolate-pie-crust/