The definition of goofy stuff!

I really hate it when I can’t get my goofy brain to shut down long enough to get to sleep. Especially when it’s 2:00 a.m. and I’m “too pooped to pop.” Somebody used to say that when I was a kid. Can’t remember who. Pity. Maybe trying to remember who said it will make me sleepy.

Maybe not.

What is it that makes a brain think about goofy stuff when it should be winding down, shutting off, lights out, nobody home, go away, come back tomorrow? I don’t know but I learned a long time ago to just go with it and try to do something constructive til I get sleepy enough to actually, you know, sleep.

I usually read my book but I finished it this morning and I don’t really want to start another one because, if I do, I’ll get caught up in the story and stay awake even longer. And then I’ll be too pooped to get my patio cleaned up tomorrow. It’s a real mess and, well actually, it’s an embarrassing mess and I’m surprised one of the busybodies from the condo board hasn’t already sent me a letter telling me that I’m violating some sacrosanct rule from on high. Oh yeah, and that it’s also a disgrace to the community.

I put a bench on my carport a few years ago and got a letter because we’re not allowed to put anything on the carport except vehicles that are in operating condition. Also, I made a neat bird house plaque for my unit numbers once and got a letter telling me that it didn’t conform and that I had to take it down. Being the trouble-maker that I am, I walked around the complex and saw no less than 5 different kinds of unit numbers so I wrote back and let them know about that. They (the all-powerful condo board) sent a notice to all condo owners specifying the exact kind of numbers we were supposed to have. By the time they got around to doing that, though, I’d already taken my neat bird house numbers down and put the old numbers back up. Funnily enough, my old numbers didn’t conform to the policy. What did I do? I let them puppies stay right where they were … and they are still there.

As a general rule, I’m okay with having rules. Rules are mostly good. They help stave off chaos. But, some rules are just made to be broken.

In fact, I think when I finish my patio clean-up tomorrow (or, I guess it’ll be today) I’ll put my bench on my carport — right up next to the fence that separates it from my patio. I might even put a plant on it and sit my rusted-tin cat sculpture right next to it!

Ya-a-a-wn …

I think I can go to sleep now.

Nite.

PS: Goofy stuff — going outside at 2:00 am in your pyjamas when it’s 40 degrees to take a pic of your house numbers … and the cat.

z-z-z-z-z …

A bookie’s life calendar.

Posted by goodoldgirl

When I was a kid, my life calendar was all about the next holiday and not having to go to school.

It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to go to school but that I didn’t want to have to get up so dang early. (They could have made school start at ten instead of eight and I’d’ve been a happy camper.) The getting up early, though, wouldn’t have been such a problem except that it interfered with staying up late the night before. So why does a kid need to stay up so late — it’s all about the books.

Yep, this girl’s a reader. My life calendar these days is measured in books instead of days and weeks.

And holidays? They’re just one more opportunity for a family squabble, so who needs ’em!

I can’t remember a time in my life when I wasn’t holed up somewhere reading a book. It drove my grandmother bonkers. She hated to see me inside reading when my brother and sisters and cousins were out playing. She used to make me watch afternoon soap operas with her to keep me from reading but I’d have an open book across my lap, sneaking peeks and distracting her when I needed to turn the page. (I’m pretty sure she knew I was doing it but, as long as I kept up with the soaps’ story lines, she let me get a way with it.) Granny loved her soaps. Wonder what she’d have thought about blogging.

Back to topic …

I read while waiting in the drive-up line and I read while waiting at red lights, too. (I get a lot of beeps from the cars behind me.)

I read while I should be watching what I’m cooking on the stove. (I’ve developed a real affinity for charred food.)

I read while I’m watching TV and, yes, I’ve even been known to read while I’m blogging.

It’s a sickness, this book thing, and there is no cure.

Yikes!

What is your passion? What keeps you going day after day, year in and year out? What’s the big thing on your life calendar?

Milk Colored Glasses

Posted by goodoldgirl

Years ago, my ophthalmologist told me I have something called corneal haze. Over the years it’s not gotten better, but it’s also not gotten worse. I guess the best way to describe it is to say it’s sort of like looking through a thin layer of teeny tiny milk spots.

Photo credit, Kemal Gökçe.

Corneal haze is the term I remember him using but that may be more the way he explained it than what it actually is — corneal dystrophy — which is abnormal material accumulating in the clear outer layer(s) of the eye. (That outer layer is the cornea, in case you’re wondering.) (You can’t catch it because it’s genetic, in case you’re wondering about that, too.)

Unfortunately for me, though, it may be the one thing that keeps me from being able to have my cataract laden biological lenses replaced with shiny new synthetic multi focal lenses. (At least I think that’s it, though it could have been something else entirely, you know how docs ramble, or maybe it’s my brain that does the rambling.) The key word here is multi focal. They can be replaced with single focus lenses but I’ll still need glasses to read. (Kind of a bummer if you ask me.)

Leave it to me to have spots on the outside layer of my eyes as well as spots on the inside of them. No wonder I like polka-dotted fabric so much — it fits right in!

Back to topic …

Photo credit, Wikipedia.

Looking on the bright side, I’ll still be able to have the cataracts removed and only have to wear glasses part of the time. Doc is checking with a specialist to see if any new developments with multi focal lenses make them still be an option for me. I’m not getting my hopes up. We’ll see. And that, when it comes right down to it, is the most important thing — I’ll still see, only better.

If it’s really not an option, at least I won’t have to pay a small fortune to keep from having reading glasses that are as thick as coke bottle bottoms. My new glasses prescription will be much, much less strong (I think that made sense) so they’ll be more affordable. So, it’s all good! Well, mostly.