Carol's random babble

My interest in certain things ebbs and flows. I get caught up in a particular activity and ignore other things. I've had blog posts in mind but haven't been sufficiently interested to actually post them. Maybe later. In the meantime, a little catching up. I had my first colonoscopy in November. Everything was fine, so I don't have to do it again for 10 years. The prep solution you have to drink was the worst. It tasted a little like salty pineapple, which normally wouldn't be a problem, but when you have to drink 1/2 gallon in the evening and another 1/2 gallon the next morning, the effect adds up. I had to measure out each cup and mark them off as I drank them. I played a level of Plants vs Zombies or a game of Solitaire each time I drank one, as a reward system. In the morning, though, I just couldn't drink the whole thing. I got to a point where if I had taken one more sip, it would have all come back up. :-( So I stopped. But, I feel that as long as the re...

I watched this video this morning before getting ready for church, and lapsed into full-on sobbing. Even now my eyes are welling up and I have a lump in my chest. I miss my mom so much. All the distracting I did today to get my mind calmer is just not working now. This morning, I learned that it's difficult to eat and shower while sobbing. I barely made it through sacrament meeting - I had to walk out during the intermediate hymn to compose myself. I had a headache from the crying earlier, and it's coming back now. After church, I learned that it's also difficult to drive in that condition. It's been a year and a half since she died. I've been pretty good throughout it all, but a couple of days ago my train of thought went from me getting some cash at the bank, which used to be her account but she added me to it, then when she died, I took her off of it. I was thinking how handy it is to have an account so close to work, but I would give it up in a s...

Cayla has been staying with my dad and stepmom in Illinois, and working to save money for college. She has not been emailing or Facebooking me every day (like she's supposed to!), so it's been kind of weird not knowing what's going on with her. Some things I had to find out second-hand, like she dated a guy while she was there. But she comes home tomorrow. Also, my laptop should be back tomorrow. I sent it away to get fixed, but wasn't sure if I would get it back in time for a family history workshop on Saturday at church. UPS says it's in Des Moines right now. The problem was that it's been really sluggish lately, and when I play Flash games, they crash - a lot. I checked to see if it would be able to play The Sims 4, and the site I used to check it said it didn't have enough RAM. That confused me, as it's supposed to have 6 G of RAM, which should be plenty. But when I looked at the specs, it was only registering 1.46 G of RAM. That's no...

My normal day includes a morning nap because I was usually up too late the night before. Today, however, I spent naptime at Iowa Central Community College, so Amanda could attend the orientation for the HSED program. This included a couple of evaluation tests, which she passed, so she only has to attend classes for 12 hours, instead of 40. Which is good, because we have other things we need to do during that time period (besides my naps). We then stopped at my work so I could take care of a thing I forgot about last night, then over to pick up chicken fried rice for Amanda and home. I messed around on the computer for a bit, then took a nap for about half an hour before going to the library. Normally I volunteer at the Webster County Genealogical Society on Wednesdays. Not every Wednesday, but today the volunteer was on her own for the first time and I thought I would stop by to see how she was doing. I brought my laptop and stuff to do, although I didn't get anything don...

Cayla graduated today.    First was church. Dad didn't enjoy it much because he couldn't hear very well. We do have the receivers for the microphone system, but they are set up for the Spanish-speaking people and nobody knows how to (or if it's even possible) have different receivers on different channels like Spanish and English. So he spent part of the time in his car. He also has back problems, and  lying down helps that. At Cayla's graduation, we sat on a bench on the track (like in the background of this photo). He went to his car while the valedictorian was speaking, because he couldn't hear. I couldn't either, but I was bound and determined to video the part where Cayla crossed the stage (and I did). After commencement was over, Dad took me back to my place. Donna and Jessica arrived right after we did. Cayla went to get Kent, since she couldn't remember how to get to his place before the graduation ceremony and he missed it Suzanna sho...

It's a little after midnight. I've got potatoes cooling in the kitchen to go with enchiladas after Cayla's graduation Sunday afternoon. I've crumbled the queso fresco and cut up an onion. Part of the cheese is still in a block because it hasn't thawed yet. We discovered years ago that the cheese crumbles better if it was frozen first. And the onion might be in bigger chunks than normal because it was nearly midnight when I was cutting it and, quite frankly, at this time of night I don't feel like cooking. It's been a long day and there's a couple more ahead. Cayla graduates on Sunday and leaves Monday to spend the summer with my dad and stepmom, and she'll be working to save money for college. Also on Monday, I'll have to go into work pretty much as soon as they leave, as I have a big project that's due Tuesday and it's nowhere near done. Some things that have happened lately Cayla's last band concert What w...

The Internet is great. I love it. There's so much to do, see and learn online. I could spend every waking hour surfing the Web. I play games, read Facebook posts, do family history research and more. But ... While there is so much available on the Web, that doesn't mean it's okay to take it. One issue is truth. Just because it's online, doesn't make it true. I see this all the time with forwarded emails (less so now) and shared posts on Facebook (all. the. time.). People see a Facebook post that they agree with - or disagree with - and they have to share it, often with their opinion on the subject matter. They rarely check to see if it's true. Sometimes these are innocuous things, like faith-promoting stories. But other times it may be health advice (water can save you from a heart attack! Well, no , actually .) or stories of abducted or sick children (those two boys kidnapped from their grandparents? They were returned safely to the grandparent...

I went out last night to get something for supper and saw this. Time for a trip to the mechanic.