Lisa's POZ Blog

This may appear to some as though I am using this blogging opportunity as a public platform to whine.
HA! Gotcha. I am. Because I can. So there.
The story is a bit convoluted, but I will get there eventually.

After having spent the month of December fairly ill, I had virtually hibernated away the month, secondary to fevers, malaise,fatigue(above and beyond usual), and a plethora of additional symptoms to boot.

I had just rallied enough wherewithall to venture out, and do stuff that other people do, just after the new year. I made a quick trip to the grocery for a couple of staples, and decided to make a stop at the large Goodwill Thrift store to see if there was any decent furniture. My home has been devoid of any living room furniture, save an antique rocker that is hideously uncomfortable, since I gave my couch to a son months ago, to help furnish his house. I had been awaiting the right opportunity to sieze upon a particular futon at WallyWorld for two years. My house is tiny, and the couch was an eight footer(but comfortable). Through a series of follies, it became clear that I did not dare spend that kind of money, so I was looking for something to sit on. Its getting really old lounging across my bed all the time, let alone the fact that I often entertain from there too, as the dining room chairs aren't fun to sit on for any period of time.
Found a perfect little couch at Goodwill.Was driving over to my son's house to garner help to get it home, when my world was turned up side down.

The 4rth of January, I was driving down the street, listening to the bongo drums, when there appeared a house sized obstacle in my path........three feet in front of my bumper. Cramming the brakes, gaining a death grip on the steering wheel, and thinking "Oh SH*T", my vehicle was completely destroyed. Radiator in the engine block destroyed, by a woman in a 1981 Detroit Diesel(primer gray),who had just whizzed right through her stop sign.
There is so much more to the story.

I knew that this was going to happen.
I had seen the entire incident hours before in a pre-dawn dream that awoke me.
I have always had a gift of seeing things, but they have never occurred in any kind of close proximity in time, to the actual event. I remember thinking to myself, "Probly ought to stay in today", and went back to sleep.
When I finally had risen, and had my caffeine, bagel, and considered my schedule, I rationalized that these things had never happened the same day, so off I went.

Huh........ First week of January....... Check. Happy New Year.

Phone calls. Insurance companies. Rental vehicle. etc. etc. etc. Severe anger over the pittance amount being paid to me for my beloved wagon,(which was my father's car, and in immaculate condition, but 12 years old), and the fact that I have no income, have nearly given me a conniption. My daughter's boyfriend (Box of Hair, as I call him) says that his parents have a vehicle just sittin' in the driveway of an adjoining property. Bought new in '99', and abandoned in '02' as it was mom's car, and she has been disabled from a massive CVA in that year. The account was in significant arrears, and the husband has repeatedly requested the company to come fetch the car etc.
The sales pitch included, low miles,*probly low pay off*........

After driving to the western portion of the state, and DEEP into the hills..(now I understand why the company never came and got it).........I get my first vision of what may very well be my new car. I tell you, there was moss literally growing on the backside of the car from having been parked in the same place for so long.(musta been the north side) We had formed a convoy. I in my rental car, box of hair in their vehicle, and my daughter, driving the Corolla(new car)
The tires all had flat spots, so the drive back to Winston was a liver killer, because of the severe jostling.
The inside of the poor thing was positively trashed. Apholstery filthy, food and candy wrappers everywhere,a black substance covered the lower portion of the front of the console in front of the gear shifter. The carpet was beyond description. Under the hood, the firewall appeared as though someone had taken the car "off-roading". How does one get mud spatter over forty inches above the ground on the engine compartment firewall of a 99 Toyota, Corolla? I submit, that it does not occur by driving quickly through mud puddles. ............... *sigh*

I made a deal with the bank holding the original loan, to pay off the vehicle. I had to deposit the check(pittance) from the other insurance company, and dip into my retirement(for which I was heavily taxed) in order to make up the payoff. While waiting for my bank(credit union) to make the funds available for the finalization, I had to make the car "road worthy".
So during the interim, I have put new tires, a really good clean-up, and a tune-up on the vehicle. My mechanic is ecstatic that the car is very sound, and barring unforseen circumstances, will last me for years to come. Best feature is, that the little dear only just turned over 57K yesterday. It has cleaned up beautifully. But for the fact that it bothers me to no end that it only has three hubcaps, I would be completely pleased. Damn OCD.
So the entire legal works should be completed by next Friday (Feb10)......
,,,,,,,Mind you......I'm running with my old tag from my wagon, a three year old inspection sticker, and no proof that I belong behind the wheel of this vehicle.

I awoke today, had my coffee, bagel, and drugs, and have sufferred not a spot of nausea. WooHoo!!! First time in ages.
I struck out to the post office to sign for my certified letter from the N.C. Dept. of Health and Human Services, knowing that it was yet another denial of Medicaid, because I do not fit neatly into the prescribed criterium. This being a FINAL determination, stemming from my hearing with an officer two weeks ago. I'll get into this story another time.
As I leave the post office, Sweetie(my ferret, that I let come "bye-bye" with me today) was climbing my pants leg, so I scooped her up, and put her up in the crook of my arm, to be exposed to the beautiful "outside" air that we were having today.
I was on my way to the ATM in Walkertown(where I lived for many years, and a pretty drive) while stopped at a light, still in Winston, and I noticed the nice young law enforcement officer behind me in the rearview mirror. He was a nice looking young man, with really cool shades. The light turned green for my left turn lane, and I proceeded.
I heard WHOOP!, and saw pretty blue lights revolving behind me in the mirrors. There was the usual newspaper salesman working the intersection, and another guy selling M&M's for a charity, on the same median, so I thought "no problem", and proceeded left, through the light, and realized he was "whooping" me. Well poo.
There was a grocery store on the immediate left, so I turned into the lot and stopped. Oh poo......he really did mean me!
"Good morning ma'am, do you know why I stopped you?"
Oh shit.....I didn't have my seatbelt on.
"Well sir, I didn't understand for a second, but I now know it is probly because of my seatbelt huh?"
"Yes ma'am, may I see your license, and registration please?"
"Well yes sir, but I will tell you that my registration will not match this car........ I am buying this car(enter the story of the impending paperwork from the bank etc.), and I have not been able to have this car inspected, or registered because of the lacking paperwork........and the whole thing will be cleared up by next Friday".
I sat for 45 minutes. Waiting for officer pretty to get word of 'wants, or warrants'. I'm sure that my georgious young officer felt like he had hit a boon.
Forty Eight years old. Never been in trouble with the law. Never been in a car wreck.( have had a license since 1974) Never had a ticket.
I will be able to prove ownership of the vehicle, registration of same, and a license tag that reflects said legal proof when I appear at court, but I am not equipped to pay a 100$ fine for the seat belt. 25 dollars fine, and 75 dollar court costs.(even though I will never go before a court) Guess I'll be lounging across my bed for the rest of the year, and possibly more.

The nice young officer did say that he could prevent me from being able to drive the vehicle any further, and someone could come to get me. There was no one that I could call. I appealed to his kindness, and added that I had Sweetie with me, and hoped that he was feeling charitable this day. He responded that he had seen her(it), and had no problem with me, as long as I buckled up, and drove safely. He admonished me that another officer would have the right to arrest me, if I were to be caught in any similar compromising situation. I dunno, I thanked him with tears running down my face. I was shaken. Me.....illegal tag,..... illegal registration,.....illegal inspection,......and no proof that this car belonged to me in any way........

Huh.......First week of February. Check.

In light of my experiences of late, I have surmised that the first week of each month has historically demonstrated (for two months) that I should declare the first week of each month, a period of hibernation.
I am safely ensconced in my home now, where I will remain, until the appropriate legal paperwork arrives in order to rectify this episode.

DECLARATION OF HIBERNATION:
The first week of every month shall be set aside as a period of hibernation.(for Lisa )

Skippedy doo da, yippedy dee yay……
Lisa is rejoicing. Even if cautiously. It seems the aids gods, and the nausea fairies have convened a summit, and the popular vote was to release Lisa from the strangle hold of daily nausea. I suppose those extra couple of hours worshipping the porcelain gods worked for my benefit Thursday night.

Friday, I was feeling positively human. Hungry even………..needless to say, the diet has gone out the window. I’m talking everything edible that’s not nailed down, has at least been given a cursory sniff. I will shamelessly admit (just between us), that the greater portion of Saturday was spent in a state of mildly uncomfortable gluttonous haze.
I went berzerk. I drank alcohol. Lots of alcohol. Come to think of it…..that probly wasn’t really gluttonous haze, it was more likely hangover. BUT……a hangover devoid of nausea. WOO HOO !!!

Today, I have come to my senses. The word moderation has re-entered my vocabulary. It is a wonderful world again when you finally get dumped by your old friend nausea. This is the only time in my life I can recall being so glib over being dumped by an old friend.
Praise be to the aids gods, and the nausea fairies. Thank you for this greatly appreciated reprieve.
I'm thinkin' Burger King........

Now that I have calmed down sufficiently, I can tell you of my latest adventure.
I’ll go ahead and warn you, that I seem to always feel compelled to tell you the story behind the story.
That being said, I’ll convey the mini tangent that was the precursor to the events of yesterday afternoon.

My little ball of fuzzy love (Sweetie), recently found a cool new game to play. She has full run of the house, and is usually a well behaved little love. She will occasionally go on attention getting adventures, that are designed to make some kind of noise, so that I can come find her, scoop her up, and invite her to play (which is what her ulterior motive was all along). Her favorite game, is to climb amongst the VHS tapes, and Nintendo game cartridges under the entertainment stand in the living room. She loves flinging the boxes, and tapes everywhere. She doesn’t do it very often, but is quite capable of making her statement this way.

Well, her newly discovered game of choice is the kitchen cabinets. She was fooling around in the kitchen one day, and discovered that if she lay on the floor, and dug studiously, that she could make the door open. It’s been on ever since. What more perfect ferret playground could you find. Nice and dark in there. Lots of new, and interesting things to stomp through, and over. And saving the best for last……..there was much noise to be made, especially while stomping over momma’s baking pans. WooHoo!
I didn’t get too plussed about it, until she started taking up residence under there. Then she stopped coming out to go to her papers for piddling on. Uh-oh! Time to put a stop to this.

This being a really old house (1912), there are doors to every room. Easiest way to keep her out of the cabinets was to simply keep both of the kitchen doors closed. It gets wicked cold in there when the doors have been closed all night. Not to mention that I can’t hear, or smell food cooking. Just haven’t gotten around to finding cabinet closure devices that are cheap, easy to install, and effective.

Now we can get to the real meat of this story.
Yesterday afternoon, I had been out and about most of the day, and was pretty bushed when I came back home. Thought a nice cup of tea sounded good. I have recently fallen in love with Darjeeling tea. Filled the kettle, and set it on the burner……..on high.
Went back to my “nest”/bedroom to watch TV, and wait. Felt cold, so I got under the covers (electric blanket) to warm up. Got all warm and comfy, and drifted off to sleep.

I was awakened by BEEPBEEPBEEP! Groggy, and confused, it didn’t register what was going on. BEEPBEEPBEEP! Coming from the dining room…..BEEPBEEPBEEP!…….Whipped open the kitchen door, and was plunged into a smoke filled room, and oh looky….a real nice BONFIRE on top of the stove. Fried kettle anyone? BEEPBEEPBEEP!

Needless to say, I had to go out today and get all new drip bowls for the stove. Wound up having to buy TWO sets, because the first set
were the chintzy kind, without the neat little cut outs around the edges for the burners to set into.
The first set came from Roses, the second set came from Lowes. The good news is, that I found some neat little closing devices for the kitchen cabinets.
Too bad I didn’t just make sure that the whistle was seated in the down position, I might have saved myself from all this excitement. ‘Course, if the kitchen doors had been open, I would have heard the kettle boiling, way before I got all snuggly in my “nest“.

Scratch the entire lamentation I previously posted about hibernating. Hell, I’m not even safe when staying home.
Bummer about the kettle too……it was a really nice one.