Sheila Winston

Evidently, in my family, “normal” is just a setting on the washing machine.

Mt Granny’s best friend for almost her whole life passed away in her sleep last night. It was a very sad phone call this morning from my mom to let me know. The people in my granny’s generation would always make close friends a type of family member. We called granny’s friend, Cousin Margie. Even though she wasn’t really a cousin by marriage, they wanted to make her feel like part of the family and they wanted the family to respect and love her like one of our own. So we grew up with Cousin Margie at a lot of holiday dinners and summer vacation trips.

She was a good woman and very special to my granny. I can’t help but think that if she died in her sleep that she had a peaceful death and probably did not suffer. And she is in a better place now. We will all miss her very much, especially granny.

It has already snowed for two straight days and we have at least four inches of snow on the ground. Usually the snow melts as it falls, or might last overnight while it is colder and no sun to melt it. But this time it is very cold and the snow isn’t melting. It is still supposed to snow tonight and again later this week. I wonder if I will be able to get to work in the morning? They have closed school and I’m thinking about calling in to work and taking a personal day off so I don’t take unnecessary chances with getting in a wreck on the way to or from work.

Don’t want to go out on New Year’s Eve, so I declined the party invitations and will be staying home. Today I stopped by the nursing home again and spent a couple hours with my granny. She wanted to play cards with a couple of her friends. It is a version of rummy and it takes about 2 hours to play if everyone is paying attention and don’t get sidetracked with too many stories and jokes. It was fun, even though neither of us won the game.

I guess I will fix a nice dinner, maybe a nice salmon steak and  rice pilaf, and watch the ball drop in Times Square tonight, then get some sleep so I start the new year off on a good note.

Hope you have a Merry Christmas!

I am exhausted and still have a handful of presents to wrap before I can go to bed. Tomorrow will be a busy day. Looking forward to a few hours with fmy sister’s amily and then a visit to the nursing home to share a nice dinner with my granny and my mom. The food is actually very good – and I don’t have to cook it or clean up afterward.

Then I will go to my brother’s house and hang out for a while. I always enjoy watching his kids play with their toys and games. They are so competitive but have learned to be good sports and are very generous with sharing their toys as well as their expertise on the different video games.

We just realized that the little black and white TV and emergency broadcast radio combination does not work any more. Because there is no converter for this little TV set. Sigh.

This morning my throat was sore when I woke up. I can’t breathe and I feel totally awful. There’s no fever, so I guess it is not the flu. Maybe I am having a severe allergy attack? The weather has been crazy so I don’t know if it is the ragweed or the leaf mold.Or maybe a cold.

The only thing that makes me feel a little better is the hot tea. I don’t even want coffee – it makes my throat worse. So I’m sipping hot tea and staying in bed today.

One of the seasonal entertainments in this area are big haunted houses. Most of them are very elaborate, with live actors and high tech effects.

The good ones have already opened for business this weekend and they go through the end of October. There are five or six in the area – I have to decide which one to go through this year. I can’t afford to go to them all, and they sure are fun.