The Bell is Ringing

It is a dark and stormy night. We have a nice one-note brass bell that we found at Lowe's several years ago in their damaged/quick sale bin. It didn't have it's clanger connected, and it's hangar was missing, and they still wanted $14.88 or something for it. DH was going to buy it, but I told him to haggle, as it wasn't worth anything as is. So we asked a salesman who, of course, had no authority and referred us to a manager, who, of course was busy elsewhere in the store. But we weren't in any hurry so I sat and waited while DH went browsing.

When the manager finally arrived, I told him what I thought of the marked price and hoped he could do better for us, and he marked it down to something like $3.59. For a solid brass bell that has a lovely peal. DH, being the handy sort, was able to reassemble the bell, and he hung it up on the corner of our garage in the back yard. It rings when ever the wind blows more than about 10 mph. Tonight, it is clanging away. I love that bell; it reminds me of grade school days. It seems to me that our school had a bell that rang to signal the start of the day.

*****

I laid in bed all yesterday evening after waking up at around 4 PM. I was angry, in a snit, not wanting to face the day ......   what ever.  I had asked DH if he would clean up the RTS (raised toilet seat) so it would be sparkling I could take it with me to the Christmas dinner on Thursday. Now, I might not have to use it, but my thinking is that it's better to have it and not need it, than to need it and not have it. Am I right? I am right, aren't I?

I have used the bathroom at the house we are going to be at, and the toilet seat is a low one, and there is nothing to push up from. So I figure that if I have to use the bathroom, I'm screwed. I may not be able to get up off the seat. In that case I would have to call for someone who has the strength of a lumberjack, who has some kind of a hoist, to come in and assist me. How indelicate. It would be so much simpler to just set on the RTS and screw it on, and when I was done with it, put in back in it's hefty bag and set in in the bathtub until it was time to leave. DH told me that "you could get one of your sisters to help you if you need to. You are not taking it, and I am nor getting it ready for you, so forget about it. If you don't think you can go somewhere and manage independently, then you should just stay home."

So I would have cried, you know - use those feminine wiles - because they totally work.  I would likely have gotten him to comply, because he HATES it when I cry.  But I have been taking my Zoloft lately, and that keeps me from being able to squeeze out a tear. Well, it is why I take them, after all, only now when I need my tools tears, I would rather they not work so well. So I'm pissed.

This is how a person with a disability's world gets smaller and smaller. Fewer things are as easy as they once were. Sometimes, even when you know of a way to get around an obstacle, there are people who become the obstacle. At least that is how it seems.

*****

So, I have been awake all night, and it's been stormy outside and I have been listening to Pandora radio tuned to a Christmas station. It has been pleasant but I am starting to get tired of it now. What are your favorite Pandora radio stations? The commercials are so much better than on commercial radio. I wonder if, oh, no it isn't possible - I was thinking of an All Beatle, All the Time station - but that couldn't happen could it?

So, tell me what you listen to.

Good Night, TTYL