asthma | My Blog

Banks, Birthdays and by-laws

Posted on November 11, 2008 by

I really need to post more often. Apologies in advance for the tome!

After the joy of the elections, I got buried in work. Curtains for my parents house…. yes, I’m still working on them. Plus drivng Morgan to school most of last week ate up gobs of time.

Can’t forget either that I flubbed a date. I thought I had until November 12th to get the house taxes paid before they went up for auction. No, it was November 5th. Why did I discover this in the nick of time? (the 1st?) Because the Bank sent me a letter telling me that since I had obviously forgotten to pay my taxes, that they would pay them for me and add the amount to my loan! Talk about PANIC!!! I pulled together enough to pay off 520’s taxes and part of 203’s. The gal at the Treasurer’s office said I could pay off the rest in the next 5-6 weeks. PHEW! Talk about relief. I called the bank and told them thank you, but I didn’t need the bail out. Of course the next day, the Treasurer’s office calls to tell me that the bank sent a check over for the remaining amount, and did I want them to accept the check or stick to the payment plan we’d worked out the day before. Once I got over the shock of it all, I told them to send the check back. I called the bank and told them I was sending the check back, and they still tried to get me to accept it and the extra on our loan! nooooooooooo!!! However, we got it all straightened out. Added a few white hairs, but got it straight.

Samhain, the cross quarter day was on the 6th, which meant time to put up my ancestors altar and spending some time remembering all who had passed.

Then there was work. Getting out renewal notices, clearing up the details for the meeting on this Thursday, working on the website, and redoing the by-laws. Someone in their infinite wisdom typed them in ALL CAPS! Have you ever tried to read legalese compounded by ALL CAPS??? It’s bloody painful! Worse, it was extreme legalese! Poorly edited, poorly ammended and hadn’t been updated in over 8 years. ::::::shudder:::::: Oh, and did I mention that they were in ALL CAPS?

I kept putting them off, because the idea of trying to sort out that mess was daunting.

So, instead, I had a birthday. I am now 7squared. I got cards from my mom and dad and my sister. John and Beth gave me the graphic novel Guilty Pleasures by LKH. I liked the book, and will see how the GN goes. I got kisses and phone calls too.

Last thing I did was write the Locavore article for the Huerfano Journal and slogged through the by-laws. Uggghhhhh!!!! Finally finished at 10:30pm.

Yesterday was hell. Woke up umpteen times in the night and was dozing between alarms when I hear the sound of an aerosol being used in the bathroom. Being an asthmatic, aerosols are tops on the verboten list. The only one allowed is Spray & Wash, and it is used sparingly. Usually when I am not around. The only one up at that time was Morgan. She had bought hair spray a month or so ago, and had been told not to use it when I was in the house or going to be around her. Better yet, throw it away and get a pump spray hair spray. Even better, don’t use the stuff, cause you’re only 12! She promised not to use it around me.

Now, I won’t say she forgot. I figure she didn’t take it seriously. I figure she thought she could get away with it. Teens know everything don’t they? sigh….

Less than 3 minutes after I heard the noise, I felt the first tickle in my throat. Determined not to have an attack, I put my head under the covers. Willed myself not to cough, because she couldn’t be that stupid and use hairspray on an ice cold morning less than 5ft. from my bedroom door!

Didn’t work. Bad attack. Really bad. John grabbed my inhaler for me and I used it twice to start to calm things down. Meanwhile, he closed the bathroom door and opened the window to air out the house. (remember it is about 25 outside!!!) I coughed/wheezed and whooped loud enough to wake up Daniel. He’d worked graveyard shift and was really tired. Used the inhaler again and finally got things under a bit of control. Sounded like a wheezy bellows. Of course, the lingering hairspray and the cold air from outside were not helping. Of course, a hot shower would have helped, but that was the frozen sprayed zone… I lasted 25 minutes before I said to hell with it. Closed the window and showered. Ah…… hot steamy air… Things relaxed a bit, but there was no way for me to stay at the house. So, I left early. Ended up at 520 at 8am. Dan gave me that whatthehellhappened? look. I explained, and talked my way out of being put to bed. My chest was still so tight that laying down would have been bad.

I went into work early. Thank goodness it was a quiet day. I had one lost soul looking for Cost-tilli-a county. He got a traffic ticket and had to go to court in San Luis. I lent him the phone and had him call the courts. It was a cold snowy sort of day and I knew he wouldn’t make it over La Veta pass in time.

After he left, I printed out the agendas and by-laws for the meeting and then delivered them to the board members. Got home just in time for Dan to turn me around and head off to Pueblo to do a print run on the flier we are doing for the chamber. I had planned to got to bed, but he said since no one else was home, that I wasn’t staying by myself. Considering how I felt, I agreed.

We got the prints, grabbed some cd labels and then a quick bit of dinner. We were home by about 9pm and I got stuffed straight in bed.

Today I feel better, but still have this feeling that I got hit by the #9 bus. I worked on a bunch of fast public service announcements for Chris at KSPK and Gretchen at the Journal. I also edited copy for Dan. We finished up the brochure before dinner.

Erin dropped by for a few minutes and then Dan headed off to bed early. He has to be up at 3am to take Beth to Pueblo. At least my car can make it that far most days. She is catching the bus to Denver and an interview for her MLS degree.

Gads!

Soap Opera Week

Posted on July 3, 2008 by

Where else can you find drama? Embezzlement? Fraud? Office backstabbing and kindergarten behavior? Easy… Right here in Rural Colorado. Yep! And that’s just in the DA’s side. We won’t even think about what goes on on the jail side of the building.

Monday… the air conditioning is acting up. It recycles the air and so smells from one part of the building invade other sections. This would have been fine except for the fact that some one in the staff area bathroom had the bowel movement from hell. Ten minutes later, you could smell it in our office and at the front door. Awwwgh…

Tuesday’s saga…. The “HR/Victims advocate” walked in wearing a perfume that just ripped my lungs up. Asthma. I had to call Dan to bring me my inhaler. Meanwhile, the ADA was dodging phone calls from lawyers, and was late for court yet again. I think he’s been on time once. I dealt with my asthma, Pattie goes off for an interview because she wants out of this office, and life is quiet for a few hours.

We have a 17yo that stole a car in Texas, and got caught here. We can’t hold him because he’s a juvenile. So, we send him to Pueblo Youth Center. We tell Texas where he is. They can’t understand why we can’t hold him, because in Texas, he’s an adult. (sigh) They are on the road to pick him up in Pueblo when we get a call that he is now in Colorado Springs, as they ran out of room… I get a half assed message to that effect, and tell Dee, who tries to call Texas in route. She finally gets a hold of the Texas base who relays the info to the traveling sheriff.

One of the ex-DA’s stopped in to visit. He is now a private lawyer. They were chatting about what idiots the ADA and DA were. He of course left crayons and a a coloring book on the desk of the ADA who plays solitaire instead of working on his cases. Oh that went over like a lead balloon!

After lunch, I get back to find that Pattie has laid into the HR gal about the perfume while I was gone when she asked rather snottily where I was. (I left a little early for lunch) When I next see the HR gal, it is obvious that she has “washed off” her perfume. She tried to tell Pattie that she had worn the same perfume all the time. I told Pattie, no, and that she had washed, as my nose is rather sensitive to scent.

Meanwhile, we are working on cases that the ADA has ‘finished’. He let an arson case go, dismissed almost 20 tickets without fines being paid, (keep in mind that the DA’s office generates money via fines) and

allowed felonies to be pleaded down to misdemeanors. (One of them had 4 separate files generated in 2 days) Pattie gets a phone call from the woman who had from the job I have. The benefits company won’t pay her as the DA’s office hasn’t paid them. (although the DA’s office took out the money from their paychecks) Apparently, this is history repeating itself. In fact, the CBI was here the other day to get testimony on the previous time that this same thing happened. Pattie and Dee are going to be monitoring their pay stubs to see if they are being robbed of the interest that should have been accruing if the benefits had been paid. The DA prior to the one in office now, spent 3 of his 4 years in office screwing up the budget to the point where people couldn’t cash their paycheck, bills weren’t being paid, etc. Oh, and this guy is running for office again and is the BEST candidate for the job!

The local sheriff and all of his staff detest the DA and ADA. They hand them case after case that should go straight through the court system and end in convictions, and the lawyers botch them. Which means that the same offenders are out on the street faster than we can process the paperwork. Remember that comment I made that the same 4-5 families do all the crime? Well, part of that same bunch got off scott free Tuesday.

Then extradition case to New Mexico. A woman who is 8 months preggers was wanted in New Mexico. So, we were going to send her. However, she had 2 cases here pending that needed cleared before she could go. New Mexico was on their way to pick her up and guess what ADA hadn’t cleared the cases…..

Wednesday. A quiet day. 11 tickets, a hysterical man in the outer office, a report from Dan and Karen and lots of boredom. The hysterical man had a dog which got into a dog fight at one of the bars. The owner of the other dog kicked it and stabbed it in the skull with a knife. Dog gets taken to the vet, and the man waits to see if he is going to get charged with having a violent animal. Unfortunately, the vet is the most expensive one in the county and won’t release the dog until the bill is paid. Someone liked this guy. The cops and DA dropped all charges and some Samaritan paid the nearly $300 vet bill. Then the cops took him out to pick up his dog, which will live.

Dan and Karen came by with a map showing the area they could cover with a cheap repeater and that equaled nearly 95% of the county. The sheriff and head deputy were in heaven. This county has a long history of communication issues due to geography. That may have just been solved.

Today started out ok. Then Pattie did something to piss off the ADA and the next thing we knew, Pattie was being sent home for being rude and childish. (right…) So, I had the office to myself for most of the day. I also learned that my stint of work at the office will be over by July 11th. My replacement comes in next week and will train in Trinidad. (hmm…. interesting….) By 3pm, Mike decided to go home. In order to cover his tracks, he let the rest of us go home too. Wheeee!

Tonight we are having a wake for Tirion/Sir Starhelm. Dan is making his meat roll things. Fun bit is he is in the kitchen pounding away with the meat tenderizer in beat to the music. Tomorrow Dan and I are invited to a 4th of July party that will be as much business as fun. Pauline lives up on this ranch with Mike and Gloria, and that is where the party will be.

Oh! Almost forgot. Dan and I both got paid today. I had my Starry Skies column in the Huerfano Journal, and Dan had both his Tech Savvy article as well as one about the ARRLS field day. (ham radio play day) http://huerfanojournal.com/extra.php

I’m really enjoying writing for the Journal. Dan is also publishing his articles on his LiveJournal. http://ujoronen.livejournal.com/

See ya!

Another Saturday night and I ain’t got my work done…

Posted on May 10, 2008 by

And I probably won’t get caught up till Monday.

Tuesday was hectic, as was Wednesday. It was big Morgan’s birthday. Then there was Thursday.

I had the asthma attack from hell. Don’t know what set it off, but about 3am, I started coughing. I remember feeling really cold, and then coughing more. Finally fell asleep, and the alarm went off. I tried to get up and dressed, and all I could do was cough. Not too much wheezing, just coughing. Finally ended up on the floor half dressed coughing. Crumpled. Next thing I know, Dan is asking me where my inhaler is. Gods… hadn’t used it in a year or more. Remembered that it was in my handbag, and Dan went for it.

Does anyone have any idea of who the sick sadistic bastard is/was that invented an inhaler for asthma? There is nothing harder than trying to suck in meds from an inhaler and then hold your breath while you are coughing and wheezing. It took three hits before I could breathe. Dan helped me up off the floor and then he went to take the kids to school. I crawled back into bed, used my inhaler once more and then fell asleep.
After that, my day consisted of:

Dan bringing me a cup of tea,
me drinking it cold
having another cup of tea accompanied by aspirin and toast
Falling back asleep when what I really wanted to do was get up or talk or anything…

I finally got a bath because I couldn’t stand myself. Erin, Morgan and Logan dropping by to visit and I managed not to fall asleep while they were here. Morgan did work on my back which helped. She does massage. Later on, I was falling asleep mid sentence when Dan was trying to talk to me. Gads. He has this talent for putting me to sleep faster than I can say “wait!”. The man is magical when it comes to sleepy vibes. I found out about this not long after they moved in with us. I’m not the best of patients in the world. In fact, I’m a nuisance as I wander. Even though my body is out sick, the mind still tries to function. When that happens, I try to get up and have a normal day. Baddddddd combo! Especially when I have a migraine.

I went to bed early on Thursday, and slept late Friday. So, no work done. Friday wasn’t much better. I wasn’t coughing, but I felt like a wrung out noodle. Daniel came over with Oscar. I couldn’t cope with Oscar, so he went and picked up Brandy. She is a sweet puppy and much easier to deal with than Oscar. 25 pounds vs 85 pounds. We went to the hardware store and got the stuff to finish up the fence. The yard at 520 is now dog safe. Wheee….. which means I am one step closer to having Brandy here full time. We also went by and saw my mom. Brandy loves her. Later that afternoon, Dan and I went out to Gardner to pick Little Morgan. She was on a school field trip. Morgan was also upset because Carol was leaving Gardner school. Carol is moving with her mom to Trinidad.

Friday was suppose to be an early night, but Erin and Morgan wanted to go to the brew pub in Trinidad. They brought Logan over and luckily, he slept most of the time they were gone. He is such a sweetie and kept pointing to my office and saying “Nan! Nan! Nan!” because in his mind, that’s where I live. They finally picked him up around midnight. I think I stayed up 10 minutes after they left.

Today I actually slept in and even got a back rub! Little Morgan and I went over to my mom’s house after breakfast. I took the camera and got a few pictures of everyone painting and repairing the house.

My sister Lori and her husband came down to help Mom. Bill was very polite. Lori was just plain rude. Barely gave me the time of day and actually left the room when I came in. What a pain in the ass she was. I was trying to be nice as Mom had requested it. I did my part. Oh well. At least I got a picture of her best side.

After I got back, Dan and I had to head to Pueblo. We had to get some parts for a tower assembly. Had Taco Bell for dinner. After I get this written, I get to head off to 203 where laundry awaits. Wheee…..