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A small town life in a small town library. |
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Pretty Ponies All in a Row 
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| It's been a while but here I am! As with any shiny new year I made goals. I no longer do resolutions. The word just triggers the reaction to break it. Well this year, instead of going in all gung ho, I've done nothing. I've just been fuzzy headed and just lackluster. On Monday that cleared up some and I got to work on me. One thing I resolved to do was to work on my health and just be, well, healthier. I didn't resolve to lose weight or exercise. I made a goal to get healthier. Move a little more. Not as many trips through the fast food window. Eat cleaner, less processed food.Cook at home more Can I get an amen on getting an air fryer? Make sure I take my meds and supplements every day. Doable, right? Right. I've made some small steps toward that goal. I love Pinterest and I have a Healthy Me board with healthy foods, quotes, a few easy exercises, anything that will lead me to become a healthier version of me. These little steps may lead to losing some weight. Good for me! I may get a little stronger and have more energy. Yay! I may even be able to get off some of my meds. Super duper yeah! I'm ordering an water infusion water bottle and some "on the go" snack/lunch boxes. Easy peasy, right? I can bring those to work. I won't eat junk because I'm filling up with fruits, veggies, lean meats, nuts, etc. I like that stuff. I just get lazy and eat junk. Then I crave junk. The most difficult thing will be cutting down on Diet Dr. Pepper. I was given a single serve coffee maker for Christmas. While I need lots of creamer and sweetener in my coffee, there are lots of teas on the market. I need my one jolt of caffeine in the morning. My cardiologist wants me to cut it out completely but I have to have one in the morning. Then I can switch to water/infused water or caffeine free tea. Doable. All doable. I have other goals but this is my focus right now. Go me! |
Has it really been that long since I checked in? Well, New Year's was quiet. I went to the home of some friends. We had dinner at Joe's Crab Shack on the eve. New Year's Day a big cold front hit. The husband built a fire and we watched really bad movies. It was nice though just hanging out with two of my fave peeps. They gave me a small air fryer for Christmas. I've been wanting one. I spend too much money at fast food windows and need to eat healthier stuff. This little appliance seems to be an easy and quick solution. My boss also bought me a single cup coffee maker. I've yet to try it out. I have several boxes of K Cups I ordered! Life has been pretty quiet now that the holidays are over. I needed that. I had too much hitting on weekends three in a row. I just need some time to spend with my dogs and just "be." Yesterday I had a "crummy tummy" day. I do this every two or three months. It will last anywhere from 1-4 days. Luckily this one was a one dayer. I just feel yuck. No appetite. Then in the evening I get hungry, eat, and usually feel better. When home, I just lay around and sleep. I had to work yesterday so I suffered there. Last night, when I got home from the little library, I fed the dogs, ate something, and crashed. I had a really good night's sleep. I feel so much better today! It's been quiet for the past week and a half at work. People don't want to take the time to bundle up to come get a book so they can go home and cozy up and read. Wimps!  I need to straighten up the children's room so the down time will be nice. Have a gorgeous day, y'all!    |
| I'm back from my Christmas trip to my sister's in Oklahoma. I left on Thursday and was home by yesterday morning. Traffic was good both ways. My sis worked on Thursday but I have a key so I got there around noon. I hung out with her dog, a itty bitty chihuahua named Polly. After several years of living with my sis, that little dog doesn't know what to think of me. I only see her around 3-4 times per year, though. My sister made the mistake of handing me the remote before she went back to work. I found wrestling stuff. Yep I'm a wrestling, or as we call it in Texas, rasslin', fan. My sister was the one who got me hooked back in the 80's when small territories were the thing. We had matches on Mondays in Ft. Worth and Fridays in Dallas. They were televised on the weekends. Our dad took us to the Ft. Worth matches until I had my license. I still have all of my programs, pictures, and a few autographs.  !Friday, she made buffalo meat tacos and one of her coworkers at the place she worked previously came and ate with us. We watched wrestling that night then Christmas shows. On Christmas Day, my sis made spaghetti and meatballs. The same friend came over and brought her guitar! The friend is in a local band and writes some of her own stuff. She sang a few country songs a several classic rock songs. I'd forgotten how much live music does for my soul! I love music and it just happens that country and classic rock are my favorite genres. It was a really special day. Sunday we watched football and something she had found on uTube. It wasn't all TV. We talked a lot, just nice sister time. I was grateful for the time spent with her and it was good to see not the one but three of her former coworkers. Wonderful ladies, all. It's nice to be back home. I missed my dogs. Today the little library has been mostly quiet. I had to take down my Christmas displays. I had winter signs and books all ready but it's too dang hot here to put up "Cozy Up to a Good Book" signs! It's going to be fairly cold this coming weekend the warm right back up.  I hope y'all had a great Christmas holiday! Next up, New Year's! |
| It's been two weeks since I wrote here! My life is mostly quiet so not a lot to share. The rest of my weekends this year, and the first of next year are filled.It's that busy time of year! This weekend I'll be dog sitting. She's a half poodle-half Australian sheperd. She looks more like a labradoodle. She's a big character and thinks she's a lapdog. I love spending time with her. Next weekend (Christmas!), I'll be heading north of the Red River to spend a few days with my sister. After our mom and aunt passed the family has pretty much splintered. We plan to have snack stuff, and hopefully, tamales if I can find someone selling any. Christmas day she's cooking spaghetti. A story of Christmas past: I didn't go to my family's as much for holidays or other trips once I became a teenager. After a few years I decided to go up for Christmas. My aunt was so excited! My favorites that she made were her spaghetti and her German chocolate cake. She decided to make both for Christmas. My cousin was soooo mad! She felt we should have a traditional meal with all the fixins. On New Year's Eve or Day my best friend, her hubby and I are having our Christmas. They are taking me to Joe's Crab Shack. I love that place! I'm a big fan of seafood. I'm looking forward to all the upcoming quality time but will be ready for some rest and quiet time when it's over. |
| Is Thanksgiving really over? Is it really almost Christmas? I'll start with last Tuesday. I got to the hospital, shucked my clothes for a fashionable {note sarcasm} gown, had IV inserted and waited. They did an EKG on me. It showed my heartbeat was in rhythm. The nurse showed that to my doc after he finished the procedure before mine. He ordered another. It showed my heart was in rhythm too. So guess what? you can't shock a heart back into rhythm when it's already there. He sent me home. All is well. I kinda wondered if my over consumption of caffeine had a lot to do with it. In the past few weeks I've all but cut it out of my diet. On to Thanksgiving Day. I drove to my best friend's house for lunch. There were 8 of us there. Way down from previous years. We lost one of us to cancer in January, her husband moved to Oklahoma. My friend's youngest son's, oldest son came down with the flu so they didn't come. That's 5 more down. And my friend's sister and her husband won't leave the house as long as absolutely everyone gets their vaccine. Good luck with that! It was a quiet day and I really enjoyed that over the chaos that usually happens. The rest of my time off was fairly relaxed. I mostly stayed home with my dogs. As for Christmas, I broke my own rules. NO music or decorations until after Thanksgiving. That didn't happen. Oh well. I'll be going north of the Red River for Christmas. I plan to stay with my sister a few days. It will be good, I think. Oh, and add 2 more to those who left us list. My cousin's husband passed early last week and a friend lost her husband the day after Thanksgiving. My heart breaks for them. I hate for anybody to lose someone, especially around the holidays. As for my first day back at the little library, they were open one day last week. I was left all the returns to shelve. I also had two armloads of books from the drop. Between shelving and all the things I do before opening in the morning, I barely got things done. I had a busy hour and a half with people coming in at once, all wanting my attention. It was stressful but I love my job. |
| My best friend came through last night. She asked me to Thanksgiving! She's supervising due to health issues and her hubby and future daughter in law are cooking. I'm happy to be able to spend time, especially at the holidays, with folks I love. This is my last day at the little library until the 30th. I'll be glad to have some time to do things around the house and just chill with my dogs. As for this Friday at the little library, soooo slow. Only 2 guests. I'm only half done with my day and I'm ready to go home! I haven't felt real well today. I was rushed getting around and had to run to Walmart and the bank before work. Oh, and grab breakfast. Lines everywhere and so slow. One of my big goals for the new year is to get internet at the house and a new laptop. It's doable. I can't find a nice laptop to fit my budget so I'm looking at rent to own options. I know, it's a lot of extra cash but it'll be a nicer computer. We'll see. I'm tired of not having internet at home. It's been 6 years since I moved back to Texas and that long since I had a connection. If I'm not on before Thanksgiving, y'all have a wonderful holiday! |
| I'm still plodding along. Wednesday I had a monster migraine. I hadn't had one that bad in a very long time. Yesterday was pre-op day. They interrogated me, poked my brain, and drained me of my blood. I go in at 10:00 a.m. next Tuesday. I'm nervous as hell but so ready to feel better. My friend that's driving me isn't thrilled with the prospect. He hates hospitals! All he has to do is go in with me so he physically shows the staff that I have someone there and then he can sit in the parking lot until I'm ready to go. I finally got through to my boss that I won't be in Wednesday either so the library is going to close from then until Friday for the Thanksgiving holiday. I've been given the green light (since Halloween) to be creative around the library. We have a board member who is very Christian (not a thing wrong with that, so am I) and doesn't approve of Halloween and secular Christmas. I get that but I also get that doing something decorative at the library brightens the guests days. Mine as well. I love being creative! I've gotten a lot of compliments on the Halloween and Thanksgiving displays. That makes me feel good. It's nothing fancy. Just clip art and words to fit the event. And I pull books for the displays as well, Like I said, fun! I still have no idea what I'm doing for Thanksgiving. Maybe if I post on Facebook people will flock to my door with plates! Whether I spend it alone or with friends, I have so much to be grateful for. My heart is full!Oh, and I'm off for a week after tomorrow! Yay! |
| Well it's my Monday here at the little library. What a weekend! I went with a friend to my alma mater's state semifinals volleyball games. We won easily in straight sets on Friday but lost in straight sets on Saturday. The other team outplayed us. I hope they win state. On the way to and from the games I saw several unusual things. I added them to my writing journal. I love finding great fodder for future projects! The rest of the weekend was pretty quiet. I watched football on Sunday and various things yesterday. Snuggled with my sweet dogs. My dogs, you ask? Yes, two. Hershey is a 16 year old mini daschund Maks is a just-turned-7 mixed breed. They are my kids and I love their little furry hearts! So on to the health stuff. Received a call yesterday. My pre-op is tomorrow morning. The board president is filling in until I get to work. I'm nervous. I deal with anxiety as a rule. I haven't been feeling quite right for about a week. I'm hoping it's anxiety and not further heart issues. My procedure is next Tuesday. While I am nervous, I'm ready for it to be done so I can feel better. Oh, and on the sad front, a close friend's father passed away on Thursday. I've known him most of my life. I didn't make the visitation last night and can't attend the funeral today. I've asked for too much time off lately. I'm the only employee at the moment so the board members have to fill in for me. Hope y'all are having a good start to the week! |
| It's been a quiet day at the little library where I work. I had some projects I needed to do and some books to wrap and shelve. The library won a $5,000 grant toward books. We are slowly getting them on the shelves. The board president, who for all intents and purposes, is the library director until we find someone who wants to work, has to get the books into the system and labels printed. I take it from there. I apply the labels and wrap all those wonderful books then shelve them for our guests to check out. She has a job and can only be here for small bits of time so it's going slowly. This morning a little gecko was hanging out on the ceiling.It hung out for awhile then went on its merry way to do whatever geckos do. I've seen a few in the drop box but this was the first to visit inside. The skies are grey today. A mild front is moving in. We are supposed to have some rain. It looked like it would pour earlier so I brought our flag in. I'm ready for a consistently chilly temp. I like to wear long sleeves, jeans, and boots. I think that's all going on for today. I'm tired. Looking forward to getting home to my dogs, having some supper, and settling in for the night. |
| I thought I'd give this blog thing another try. Now that I have access to internet four days per week, I can write some. For those who haven't met me in my many years at Writing.com, I'm Nikola. I live in Texas in an efficiency with my two small dogs.I work at a small library in another small town nearby. I love it! Who wouldn't? I'm surrounded by books! What else would you need/want to know about me? I write off and on. Love to read. I love critters, especially dogs and horses. I deal with mental as well as physical issues. The most pressing of the physical is my heart.  I have aFib and tachycardia. Both of these affect my heartbeat. In August, my cardiologist and I agreed to "kick start" my heart. Basically they will go in and shock my heart back into rhythm. The scheduler *i*finally{/i}called last week to set up the date. It will be November 23 at high noon. This is the Tuesday before Thanksgiving! I'm not thrilled with the date but it needs to be done. My poor supervisor thinks I'll be back to work the next day. I told her we'd see what the doctor says. I highly doubt we'll be busy that week at all. I can't understand why they just don't close for the week. We already plan to be closed that Thursday and Friday. It's really their problem and not mine.As for Thanksgiving, I usually go to my best friend's but she's having health issues so she most likely won't cook and I may not be cleared to drive. I'm not much of a cook so I have a microwave turkey and gravy, brussels sprouts, mashed taters, sweet taters. The only thing I'm missing is pecan pie and dressing. I'll make it work. Hope y'all are having a beautiful day! If you have any questions about me, just ask. |
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