The Chair Is Here! Plus Other Stuff

We bought a really cool recliner the first week of July. They put a rush on it to get it to our apartment in two weeks. Three calls later, each call declared it would arrive in only 10 more days. 

Oh its not as big as the one we had in TX. No body makes that size anymore. For tall recliners, now there are only sizes gargantuan and double wide. Those are bigger than a love seat. But we finally found one that could fit in the apartment.

It is not as big as those others but it fits well enough. Raymon's feet still hang off but his head is supported!!! 
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Fascinating what each of the new docs exclaim. 

Perhaps I should not agree so quickly, but of course I do!

Anyway, just hearing that another medical guy listened and then said something else makes you feel better. So that's where we are.

PT gave him new exercises yesterday and new goals. 

In fact, all the docs have given him new information, told him these are the problems now and how he could better work on his recovery. 

So guys, we are on the better course. That means life is in the "now-changing-mode" rather than "recovery-mode". He is not out of the woods yet, but the path is no longer uphill.

So what's up with your lives these days? 

Better to email Raymon at fullertoniii@yahoo.com this time. He'd love to hear from you! I love reading your comments here too!!!

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Several vital parts of our lives are returning--the Male Downtown Glee Club will reopen after a dark summer. Raymon will most likely go back and join the guys. Our volunteer day at the hospital down the street known around town as the Allen Pavilion will restart on a Wednesday. (We are thinking about two days a week.) He is going to wait a while longer for the AUX police beat. Sadly, due to Sandy, the South Street Seaport Museum is not going to reopen. However, there may be something there other than the Museum.

At present he is writing about his encounters with New Yorkers. Since meeting a New Yorker normally takes about 5 seconds unless you are trapped on a subway train, these events are more like brief encounters. Unless you meet Raymon that is! :-)

I've been writing preteen fiction and having lots of fun. It is also pre-editor:-) May that is why it is still fun?

Goodbye friends. Send your thoughts and prayers our way and let us know yours.

Juggling Dove Bars

Back again from that other blog, Updates, Raymon. Frankly I'm not really too sorry to be away so long. Keeping blogs straight according to what is happening requires focus, which I seem to be in short supply of these days.

But I did want to share this little tale I wrote on Updates, Raymon with all of Apt. 3 G readers. It just a memory really. Life then and now...enjoy.

Dove Bars

Tonight we had a tasty treat, a Dove Ice Cream bar. 

That single luscious indulgence is a trip down memory lane for us.

Walking NYC's 5th Avenue from lower Manhattan to the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center on Christmas Eve became our tradition back in the 1980s. One of those years, we tasted roasting chestnuts, yuck. Trust me, the song is so much better. 

Some time around 1985 I think, we were approached by a rolling refrigerated cart and a young man, equally refrigerated. As I recall, we all were refrigerated. It was freezing but no one seemed to mind. It was the perfect weather for Christmas Eve in New York City.

[You know, this could have been a street festival in China Town. Christmas Eve makes a better story. Proceed.]

The young man approached us with a test product called Dove Bars. They were not yet on the market. He was passing them out, asking folks to give them a try and what they thought.

Its been almost 30 years since that original Dove Bar. My 1st in NYC. Tonight was my 2nd in NYC. 

I'm glad we got to try it all those years ago. Kinda makes you wonder if something we said had anything to do with them being here today. 

excuse me, my mind is going to wonder now...

Bus BX 7 MH 100

Both BX 7 and the 100 stop in front of our apartment building. Both are great means of transportation. And right now, both seem to have minds of their own. Or would that be wheels of their own.

Perhaps it is my own impatience or not but it seems this month that there are lots, no make that many "not-in-service" buses in route these days. All of these not-in-service buses are of course in any bus route I decide to take.

I am thrilled to see more buses driving around, perhaps with trainees??? But for some reason, I don't think that is the real reason. Fearfully, I noticed my favorite bus 100 had a double axle (basically the seating of a double axle equals almost two buses). However, the trouble with that great improvement is that the MTA reduced the number of bus 100s on the line. NOOOOO, that meant the waiting time is awful and the bus, no matter the seating is ridiculous. Once this experiment is over, I feel sure bus 100 will go back to its trusty steady standards.

What other reasons could there be for many not-in-service buses in the month of June. Um, upper Manhattan Bus convention? Coffee Break for every third bus driver trainee? Experimental break equipment test for NYC street driving? The reasons could be endless.

BX 7 is my favorite should anyone ask. BX is for the Bronx. Yeap, you can zip up to the Bronx, hit Target, Starbucks, go on up to Staples and Sack and Save plus a fabulous gourmet food store and to top it off, the best thrift store in the universe...oh, hike back a bit and ride home!

But its time to turn the corner and head to the park. Oh I wish you could all walk the 4-5 blocks to the green park and sit in the shaded benches. There you could join us and watch the softball games, all ages, all skill levels and several different languages. But the international language of baseball dominates.

By The Way, See Updates

Sorry I've not written here in a very long time.

All of my blogging has been focused on updates regarding Raymon's (hubby) medical saga. There is more to come so I image that I will not be here for some time to come.

Help yourself to Updates, Raymon,

raymon8844.blogspot.com

Raymon's, my comments and prayer requests will be there as well as others comments.

Currently, we are resting before surgery # two.

While many of you are involved in life-threating situation, know that this is not, only a long term process needing all of your support.

To date, our NYC family, Abilene and Georgetown families, Internet family, DFW metro families plus our nationwide family have all come together to blend hearts into one supportive hand. Thanks is more than we can express.

(Should this be news to you, we ask that only emails, Facebook messages, blog comments at Update, Raymon and texts be the methods of communication. I will not be getting back to everyone all the time but will try!)  

Raymon's Saga

I've been out-of-touch lately as I've been blogging on another blog, raymon4488.blogspot.com
(see in the links on the right hand column)

If you have opportunity to go there, please read the archives and you will see that hubby and I have been on a medical adventure. In fact, we will be there for a while longer.

God is in control.

Love to all of you,

Lindy

A Faster Train

I admit it, I've never been to a rodeo. And yes, I am from Texas. I have ridden a horse, fed a cow, helped bring a calf into the world (from afar) and applied clown makeup.

I have attended horse shows, riding exhibits and feed lots; assisted 4H, cub scouts, boy scouts, girl scouts, brownie scouts, community and church groups all with their rodeos. But somehow I've missed the rodeo experience.

I have been to cowboy and cowgirl museums. I have viewed and enjoyed lots and lots of western art, sculpture, painting and pottery. And still rodeo is not on my resume.

But today at 3:00 PM on the C Train, NYC--the rodeo found me along side the biggest horsepower in the universe.

Today, I watch the A train express be overtaken by the C train local.

Since I was on the A train expecting to transfer to the C train, this was most fascinating! Never ever - ever had the C train beaten the A train to a station, particularly with a stop between. The C train had to make a stop, the A train did not. The C train still beat the A train!

It was rush hour but in the Subway it is always rush hour.

This observation / experience had to be one of those NYC moments I was warned about. "Keep your eyes open so that you don't miss anything."

Um, one normally slower subway train passing a normally faster one...now this is exciting stuff folks!

In this case, you really did have to be there. 

Seven Minutes

The last six months in our country have been full of horrific life changing events. This blog was written before the murders in Sandy Hook and after Hurricane Sandy.

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Some things in life really don’t matter all that much.

Obtaining the window seat on an airline, shotgun in a car unless you are prone to car sickness or even voting in the perfect candidate (don’t kill me please, I am too pretty to die yet.)

What does matter is seven minutes left on the Laundromat dryer.

Every so often, my least favorite job in the universe, changes. It used to be filling the car with gas. Since we no longer have a car, problem solved. Next it was loading the dishwasher. Since we no longer have a dishwasher, problem solved. Are you seeing a trend here?

The next least favorite job in the universe is climbing the stairs in the Subway… problem redirected, not solved. Buses are now added to routes, elevators here and there and hiking boots rather than sneakers really do help. But stairs seem to multiple. This is one job that seems insurmountable and thus must be ignored as a least favorite and turned into rite of passage. In other words, since it is a means to an end, let it go.

Which finally gets me back to what really matters in life, seven minutes left on the dryer.

Did I tell you that doing laundry in a laundry mat requires fortitude, diligence and quarters? Plus diplomatic skills unknown at the United Nations.

I digress. Again.

Today was the much dreaded laundry day. So dreaded that we take turns as to who will forego their entire day and venture forth into the bowels of our building’s basement (not G rated). It is always anybody’s guess as to which of the four washers and four dryers will be working for the three building in my apartment complex.

We arrive prior to the opening bell to get first crack at all machines. We turn on the lights, causing all roaches to scurry to their roach places (actually things in that department are much better since the feral cats are now on guard.)

Machines loaded, detergent, soaps, bleach, etc.…water everywhere…call the contract service…and move wet clothes to dryer.

Two neighbors have come down to check out the time remaining on the washers just to see when they can get started. 

And before all is said and done, I ended up using all four dryers. After all, I was there 40 minutes earlier. Unwritten laundry mat law—first come gets whatever is available …however normally I leave a open washer anyway. But today I wanted to get it done.

Thus all four dryers got loaded immediately after all four washers when through their paces.

A few months ago prices were raised. Apparently to justify this, more minutes were added to the drying time. Someone forgot to tell my clothes. Burning clothes can be a problem. Also loading extra clothes in the dryer lumps them together so badly that nothing dries!

Never mind. I just keep my eye out, remove and fold early before the new time runs out.

Happily, an extra seven minutes is left for the next user.

Oh, I’m not the only one. Just about every one is sharing minutes now. No one needs the extra drying time. No one needed the price increase either but this was long before the fiscal cliff talks so we can’t blame the talks on this one.

Clothes folded (enough to get them back upstairs anyway), sheets back on the bed and hubby sweetly planning his trip to the dungeon next week!

What would you do if a stranger gave you seven minutes?