A Survey -- And Some Pie in The Common Room

Am home. Mobility better, but not strong. Communication better, but frustrating. Head very peculiar inside. Will elaborate later..

This took a while.

What did you do in 2014 that you’d never done before?
Died (briefly)
Did you keep your new year’s resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
I don’t make resolutions.
Did anyone close to you give birth?
No
Did anyone close to you die?
No

What countries did you visit?
None
What would you like to have in 2015 that you lacked in 2014?
Health
What date(s) from 2014 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
None
What was your biggest achievement of the year?
None
What was your biggest failure?
Living
Did you suffer illness or injury?
Very amusing.
What was the best thing you bought?
Some old movies on DVD
Whose behavior merited celebration?
Obama
Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Politicians and criminals
Where did most of your money go?
Food and medication
What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Nothing
What song(s) will always remind you of 2014?
None; I do not listen to any current music
Compared to this time last year, are you:
i. Happier or sadder? Sadder
ii. Thinner or fatter? Marginally thinner
iii. Richer or poorer? A little bit poorer; but not significantly so.
What do you wish you’d done more of?
Healing
What do you wish you’d done less of?
Losing vision
How will you be spending Christmas?
Christmas passed
What was the most embarrassing thing that happened to you in 2014?
Too many to count - Hospital
Did you fall in love in 2014?
No
How many one-night stands?
None
What was your favorite TV program?
Big Bang Theory is sometimes amusing
Do you hate anyone now that you didn’t hate this time last year?
Hate is poison to the spirit. I do not hate. Neither do I love all people.
What was the best book you read?
Reading is so difficult. I don’t believe I read an entire book. I used to read several a week.
What was your greatest musical discovery?
None.
What did you want and get?
New flatware
What did you want and not get?
Nothing other than health issues
What was your favorite film of this year?
I only watch old movies
What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I don’t remember - 75
What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Seeing enough to drive.
How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2014?
Loose and cool (or warm).
What kept you sane?
My daughters and this place
Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
Fancy? No one. Enjoy most? Patrick Stewart.
What political issue stirred you the most?
Were there issues? I thought it was only meanness. I want the troops (ALL of them) out of …. You name it.
Who did you miss?
More than anyone else (and I don’t know why) my grandfather L.
Who was the best new person you met?
Dr. Fleishauer
Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2014
The life force is stronger than the will
If you could sum up 2014 in three words, what would they be?
Mostly not nice

Eldest daughter is a physical therapist with experience in treating strokes. She says do, do, do. So, I do. I keep finding little missing pieces. She says fill them in immediately or they may stay missing.

I go to the kitchen, wanting pudding pie and remembering that I have bought the ingredients earlier. I can’t remember how to make it and take the box to my office, to the big lighted magnifying glass to read the directions. Knowing I won’t remember them, I , ever so slowly, copy the directions onto file cards, in big printed letters. I take the cards back to the kitchen, with the box.

I study the directions. They say to use two and a half cups of milk. I take out my measuring cups. I have a one cup glass measure, a two cup glass measure and several stainless steel nested measuring cups. The stainless steel ones have lost their labels, except for one third cup. I think and think, looking at the cups. It takes a good ten minutes to decide that I need the two cup measure and a half cup measure. The problem is that only the third is labeled. There is one cup larger than it and two smaller. I cannot remember whether the half cup would be smaller or larger than the third cup. There are tears because I know this is simple, but the information is lost somewhere. I will not ask, I must figure it out.

Because I am not stupid, I finally remember that I have a three cup measure high in the top of the cabinet and three is more than two and a half. I will ask Husband to get it down, because I always ask him to get down the high stuff for me.

Good, this cup has two and a half marked on it and I manage to follow the other directions with some ease, although mixing for two minutes is a little hard. I do have to have Husband put the pie in the refrigerator because my wrist is not strong enough to hold it up.

This 5 minute process has taken over two hours and I nap a while in my lounge chair.

I wake up laughing at myself and knowing just where one half fits in and realizing that only one cup was needed. Because the laughter comes with fear, I spend an hour adding, subtracting and multiplying fractions on paper. – and I use a safe permanent marker to re-label the stainless measuring cups.

Some of this stuff is pretty funny afterward, but not as it happens. As it happens, it’s pretty scary.

If the process of working this kind of stuff out seems interesting to you, ( or funny – that’s ok) I will make an effort to write it out here. My fingers need to try to type – or otherwise move with some precision and there’s not a whole lot I can do..

Blessed Be – and blessed be spell-checkers

Last updated January 01, 2015