For some people Winter is the most depressing time of the year depending on where you live and your hobbies there might not be a lot you can do. We of course can’t ride the bike because of the cold and snow and that’s our thing. Bill always gets withdrawal and without the sunshine he feels depressed more than in other season.

I have always been the type to keep the blinds drawn, besides keeping it cozy I also avoid looking at the dust particles and dog hair, but not Bill he opens all the blinds and window shades in the house. He needs brightness. When I moved in I actually painted all of his paneling a wheat color to brighten the place up and I enjoyed painting all of that paneling.

I don’t mind the snow so long as I don’t have to drive anywhere and Shadow loves to chase the falling snow it’s like a game for him. I took a couple shots of the snow falling just so I can look at them in the Summer when I’m complaining about all of the heat. I would love to live where it’s in the low 70’s all year round and no humidity.

Of course it hasn’t amounted to anything so far this year and melts pretty quick. I know many of you live in places that have already had huge accumulations, but so far we’ve been lucky no snow blowers or shovels so far. I always have to dig a place out for the dogs to go and the yard always gets so muddy and the paws always need to be cleaned. Okay enough about Winter.

At one point in my life I was a clean nut and drove everyone crazy. Everything had to be just the way I fixed it and believe me you talk about stress well I certainly had it and gave it to everyone around me. It took me along time to get out of that then I realized there were more important things to stress myself out over. I think that was the only thing I could control at that time in my life and it became compulsive, now a little dust and dog hair doesn’t bother me… maybe a little.

I straighten up here and there and dust when I feel like it although Bill has asthma he hasn’t had an attack for a long time. Our house is old and when I first moved in we did a lot of DIY projects, it’s much better than it was, but it still needs a lot more work. I keep meaning to start new projects, but I’ve been having problems with my lower back and the older I get the worse it gets and I don’t want to go to the doctor right now so I take it easier. I’ll get around to them there’s always tomorrow and I’m not a clean nut anymore.

Sometimes I feel older than Bill and it’s harder to get up and down the stairs just like my Shadow with his bad hind legs. Maybe when Bill retires we’ll get more done and who knows we might just sell and move into a little cottage with no steps. Of course we do need to finish the basement it still has a dirt floor, we keep saying some day. However we probably wont move because I really don’t see the economy getting any better for quite some time and we have no mortgage and just have to pay our taxes so I guess we’re luckier than many.

I have two crappy vacuum cleaners, one for upstairs and one for downstairs because it’s too hard to lug around, but I will soon need a new one so I’ve been checking out the Dyson, Hoover, Kirby, Eureka, Oreck, Dirt Devil, Roomba, and  Miele vacuum cleaners. I’d love to have that system that is like your central air where you don’t have to lug anything around and it filters the dirt out automatically, but I guess that would be better suited to a new home and would probably cost a fortune.

At any rate I do count my blessings and I’m very grateful for what I do have. When I get too feeble to get up and down the stairs I’ll face that when it occurs which I hope will be many years down the road. Might be a problem since the bathroom is on the second floor. I don’t ever want to be in a nursing home and of course I do think about those things because I don’t want to be a burden. I shudder at the thought of wearing diapers in my old age and someone cleaning me up like a baby…too much for me to think about right now so have a great weekend.

The older I get the dumber I feel and I really hate feeling dumb. At one point in my life I thought I had all the answers, but I now realize I didn’t know diddly. I bet I’m the only person that doesn’t even own a cell phone and I certainly don’t know how to text using one. Bill has a Tracfone and we only use it for emergencies and it came in handy when I went to Kentucky by myself.

I am definitely not up on the latest gadgets and I really can’t see spending all that money for things I know absolutely nothing about nor actually need except something basic for emergencies. We do find the Tracfone very economic because we can add the minutes we need as we go and no service charges. Now that I like and you will never find a cell phone stuck to my ear anywhere or at any time.

I was going to get Bill the double minutes for the phone he has now, but I saw they had a camera phone with double minutes for the life of the phone package and the whole thing only cost 52 dollars so I ordered that instead so he can send pictures to his brother-in-law in Ohio when he’s at swap meets because they are always looking for a deal for their bikes.

So I guess I will inherit his old phone for my use so now I can say I own a cell phone, wow I’m moving up in the gadget world after all. I don’t even like talking on our land phone, but I can see that a cell phone can be very useful for emergencies and Bill gets a kick out of it. I just hope his new phone will last awhile since it is reconditioned, but I liked the double minute deal for the life of the phone so long as it lasts longer than a couple months.

I must be the only person that doesn’t have a cell phone stuck to my ear. It doesn’t matter where I go everyone is talking on their cell phone and many are so rude and inconsiderate especially the ones driving their cars and talking at the same time. They really should ban cell phone usage while driving there are way too many accidents because of them and no cell phones at check outs in stores it’s very confusing for clerks trying to do their jobs. Okay rant over.