Monday Night Dinner Group

The Monday Night Dinner Group, in my new neighborhood, went last night to The Nantucket Grill in Durham, NC.  I have been to that restaurant at least 4 times - the one in North Raleigh.  This one falls far short, in my opinion. It is smaller, noisier and cluttered in appearance. 

Granted, there were about 30 people in the group, and even so the service was fairly good, but the food was not prepared in a good way.  I ordered scallops and shrimp. The breading was too thick, and the seafood was  oily and over-cooked. The side-dish was asparagus (with thick stems) and it was very hard to cut thorough and woody, though soggy on the outer edges. 

They are known for their cakes and desserts, and that didn't fall short. I ordered salted caramel cake and it was very tasty and the slices are large enough to share. Our desserts were on the house, making them taste even better, of course. I brought half of it back to Jim and he was grateful!

My Poor Ears

I went to get my ears checked today, because my husband kept suggesting it. My hearing aids have not worked well for months, and sometimes it is because I have wax in my ears. But lately, even when the wax is removed, I can't hear well. 

The  hearing shop did a good job of evaluating my hearing loss, both with and without my current hearing aids. With my hearing aids in place, I heard only 48% of the test words. 48%. Not acceptable!!

I know it is infuriating to those around me and I get embarrassed when I have to ask someone to repeat something 2-3 times. But I can't help it. 

I am on my second set of hearing aids; and both sets have helped, but they are not helping as much as needed.  There is a remedy: I can buy a new set, costing double what my current ones cost  - or I can get my old ones adjusted.  

I go one Nov. 8th (to the place I bought my current aids, nearly 3 years ago) to get my hearing tested, yet again, and get the old ones adjusted to the new test results.  Wish me luck!

Rainbows, Waterfalls, Lava flows and Sunsets.....

Those make Instagram worthwhile for me. I joined Instagram so I could see some photos my granddaughters were posting there. Little did I know what a treat for the eyes it can be.

I found out that you have to be careful who you decide to follow, because sometimes a photo pops up that you'd rather not see.....LOL

Eating Out Again...

On Monday, I went out with a group from the new neighborhood, to a place called the Craft Public House. It is yet another "sports" bar, but the fish and chips were very tasty. I didn't remember to get a pic, of course. 

Tuesday, we went to have lunch with a former boss of Jim's, who lives here in the Cypress  (a place for retired people). It's fancy and very nice. I noticed just outside the entrance, someone had lost a sticker. 

I thought it was important to record it for posterity. Such a happy image, and a nice welcome to the premises. I ordered quiche and salad and both were very good. When I was almost done eating, I lifted my water glass and it slipped out of my hand, crashing into my plate. It didn't break, but, of course, water went everywhere. They brought me a new plateful of quiche and salad, and I ate most of that, too. It was not a huge serving, but very tasty.  We topped it off with a small bowl of "rocky road" icecream.    Verrrry good!!  I really must stop eating out so much, since I have no will-power to speak of. I can't afford to buy all new clothing, so I need to insure that I can continue to wear the ones I have. 

December 28, 2016 police stopped me

Today, December 28, 2016,about 2:00pm,   I went to Food Lion on Davis Drive at the intersection of Morrisville - Carpenter Rd. 

As I exited the shopping center, onto Morrisville-Carpenter Road, I saw two cars passing in the right lane and then I pulled forward into the right lane. 

Immediately there was a car in the lane, which I believe had come from Davis Drive. I pulled to the far right (out of the lane)  so as not to block or hit that car - and the driver honked at me and passed me on the left.  I stopped on the far right and after that driver had proceeded on Morrisville-Carpenter Road, I continued on my journey.

Immediately I saw behind me, a black SUV type car with blue flashing lights (an unmarked police car), and I pulled to the far right and parked. 

The policeman asked for my license, which I gave him. He said "You almost ran that car off the road" and "Did you see him?"  to which I answered no, I didn't see him until he was right on top of me. But I saw him when he honked."

When the policeman came back to the car, he returned my license and handed me a ticket for a moving violation. I was afraid to say anything else in my defense; partly because Jim was with me and I was worried about what he might say if he thought  was trying to "weasle out of it".  

The car that was in my lane appeared "out of nowhere" from Davis Drive. I think he may have been going too fast, since I had just looked left and didn't see anyone else other than the original two cars (one of which was the police.)

It has been a very long time since I had a ticket, at least 25 years. 

Does Poor Hearing Cause You Embarrassment?

I have made no secret of the fact that I am hard of hearing. I have owned two sets of hearing aids, and neither of them was sufficient to give me excellent hearing. I suppose none of them are perfect.....but I'd sure like to have a set of aids that approached perfection!

Nearly every day, someone says something to me that I misinterpret. Most do not cause problems, but some are so odd as to cause me to get red faced. This morning, someone called and said (or so I thought)....."Jim told L--- that you have leaky bowels."  I nearly died and said "well,  I have IBS."  She answered...."No, a leaky valve."  

Can you imagine? I wanted to curl up and die right there.

Not only did I misinterpret her speech, I made Jim  out to be a liar when I said "It is not leaky; the leak is minuscule. The doc says there is no change from the test I had a year ago. So "leaky" was not on my radar, but he is right, at least in part.

Last week at Scrabble, something funny happened that was similar to the old story "Who's On First." 

A woman had told me if I wanted stemless wine glasses I should buy them at The Dollar Store, since the quality was as good as you could buy anywhere else, but for only $1 each. She asked me "Did you go to The Dollar Store for glasses and I said "Yes, I bought 4 for $4. 

Another woman said I got 3 pairs for $12. We were trying to figure out who got the best deal. Let's see.....6 glasses for $12.  Judy got the better deal! That started a conversation no one would believe, even if I could remember exactly how it went.  Eventually it came out that she had purchased reading glasses.  We all laughed at the mistake, which was not based on mishearing, but misunderstanding. 

I have an appointment to get my hearing checked again, to see if my hearing aids need to be adjusted - and to what extent. I hope that helps a great deal - as I don't want to have to buy new ones for double the money I paid before. Getting older is a pain in the butt.

I'm So Frustrated I Could Scream!

I went to my internist today, and she ordered some tests. So, on the way home, I got a notification that I had test results in Mychart. I tried to sign in on my phone, but I got an error message telling me to log out and sign in again.  Every single time I clicked on "log-out", I kept getting the same message. Over and over. 

Once I was home, I tried to sign in on my laptop. I get the same message, so I called the office and reported the problem. They gave me a number to call for customer service. 

After 45 minutes on the phone - during which I was advised to delete all the cookies on my laptop - I finally was allowed in to my Mychart account. 

THEN the trouble started. I forgot that deleting all cookies meant I couldn't get into my email. It took me another 20 minutes to convince Gmail that I had an account and access it.

Who knows what other computing joys I might encounter in the near future???