So quiet

It's so quiet with son and grandson and ex-dog gone that I've had the TV on for most of the evening. Since I got home from taking Mom out, like I do every Saturday, anyway. I'd been on a sort of TV diet, had it on only about 2 or 3 times in the past month. The police radio has been off all of that time too. Just wanted the quiet. But now it feels odd and sort of wrong. Right now the background noise is sort of nice.

The visit was great and far too short, like always. Son had to work this weekend, he's in retail, and so had to return back to his home. How he managed to get Black Friday off, I don't know. That was a feat and I appreciate it! His girlfriend was working nearly the entire time he and grandson were gone. She really missed her sweetie and her baby. I don't blame her, I miss them now. Funny how quickly one becomes accustomed to having kids/grandkids around!

They only stayed for two nights, came late on Wednesday and left on Friday. He had many other friends and family to see (they all wanted to see grandbaby!) so while I got to see him, it wasn't for any extended amount of time.

Grandbaby LOVED the baby playland! We brought many of his favorite toys upstairs and he had a good time with them and in getting into other things.

Hope you had a WONDERFUL Thanksgiving! I did.

Until the lake freezes over

This a a photo of the big lake freezing over. A co-worker took it but I have to use it without permission because he doesn't know about my blog. It's cold here and we've had snow the past two days. Snow is pretty but it's not fun to shovel, which it looks like I may have to today in order to get out for work. Driving in snow isn't fun either, so I'm leaving for work early.

I've missed you all and sort of replaced my blogging habit :(
So here's a quick rundown of what's up in my world. I DO really hope to get the time to visit your blog soon and catch up on what's happening in YOUR world, too!

I've lost a total of 52 pounds and even people at work are noticing. The guys were the first to notice, or at least say anything about it! BZ and Favorite Co-worker haven't said a word, of course.

The lovely tax people did an audit on my 2004 tax return and are asking for a whole bunch of money (from all the penalties). I'm appealing but just sent in my last appeal yesterday. If I lose this one, I must either pay all of that money or they will garnish my wages.

Job is the same, in fact I have an annual review coming up that I am dreading. I do have to take ten days off before the end of the year or lose them. Now that would be stupid to lose my days off...

House is the same, still pretty much a demolition site in the basement. The woman helping me had a fire in her own house and needs to get it liveable by the end of the year or lose her homestead tax exemption for property tax. So things haven't been progressing, but that's OK I guess. So far I'm hanging on here and my son is working again down there and it looks like they will stay there.

And some crazy good, sort of, news..I'm going to be a grandma!!!!!
Remember how my son broke up with his girlfriend? Well turns out that in late October she found out that she was pregnant, very pregnant. And they had wondered why she kept gaining weight all those past months! So anyway, they are back together since finding out they are going to be parents. I had a weird mix of emotions over it: excited to be a "nana" at first, then sad for my son who had broken up with her because he liked another girl and wanted to date her.

The kids were in denial over it and she has not even gone to the doctor even yet. So I was worried about them and felt I needed to jump-start their responsibility towards this new life, so I went shopping in thrift stores and got a whole bunch of baby things and clothing. Had a day off the Wednesday before Thanksgiving so I washed up all the baby stuff, cooked a bunch of food. Thursday I spent with my Mom but on Friday I went to see the kids with the jeep loaded down with good stuff. It was fun to look at the little bitty baby things! The tiny little socks really got to me, and the bunting, and the onesies--everything so cute and so tiny. The kids reacted in the same way as I did, with lots of awwwwwws and oooooohs.

Her due date (they think, she just had an ultrasound which cost my son $130 and couldn't even tell if the baby is a boy or a girl, no doctor has examined her yet) is December 11th. Soon, very very soon. And another weird thing about it is that my neighbors are also having their first child and I've watched her grow larger all summer and fall--her due date is December 9th. Little did I know that I would have a grandchild about that time, too! Life is so strange. Especially this year. How has your year been so far?

Ready, set...

The old realtor lockbox is gone and the new one installed. Today is the first day of my new listing, for three months. Even though the best, prime sales time has come and gone, I'm still hoping for the best. But as Gypsy said, there may be a reason that the house didn't sell:

For one thing I would have lost my garden and the opportunity to harvest from all my work.

Another thing is that the kids are moving back into town, probably on October 15--and they're going to live here in the bottom floor! My son is thinking that maybe I won't have to sell the house then, but that's only if they can pay me a pretty good sum in rent money. And they won't even have jobs, at first, let alone a paycheck or some "spare" money.

So we'll see...the house is still up for sale because I couldn't pay the mortgage all myself this time. The jeep repairs and all the extermination fees for shampoo, spray, powder, etc. took up my "spare" money, which wasn't really spare, of course, but needed for bills. With the utility bill rising in the cold weather, I expect a shortage at the end of this month too. So I still think I need to sell but having the kids living here is going to complicate that. But it sure will be good to see them! I miss them.

Bed head

I had bed head when I went to visit the kids. My poor hair had been caught, snagged and pulled for over two hours and was a fright.

I had asked my son on our last phone call the day before I left if he wanted anything, and his answer was, no. But I thought of their living room with only two chairs (one a plastic outdoor chair and the other a wooden kitchen chair I'd brought them) and decided that they needed more furniture. They also had talked of inviting my son's "brother" down to visit at some future date. He would drive down with me and be good company, I love that kid. But there only were two beds at the apartment, a futon on the floor and the blow-up bed.

So I decided to take the bottom bunk of the metal bunk beds. I'd bought them used when son was three and have utilized them ever since. In fact I sleep on one of them, in my bedroom now. But the other one was up in the loft and could be used for a couch or a bed at the kids' apartment. I'd used one of the bunk beds for a couch in the living room many times when I was poor, until finally we had a real couch and overstuffed chairs in the living room. It would be a good start for them.

Getting the bunk bed down from the loft was a challenge all by myself. Even getting it apart was a challenge! The first thing my son asked when he saw it was, "I supposed you scratched up the walls of the loft!?" But I didn't, was very careful--with the furniture. Wish I'd been more careful with my back as taking that heavy bed down two flights of stairs, outside and into the jeep all by myself was probably more than I was supposed to do. I wasn't supposed to carry anything heavy nor bend forward. Needless to say, I paid for my stupidity on this...

Getting the bunk bed into the jeep was the worst challenge. At first it didn't seem to fit and I had to keep leaning and shoving on it to be able to get the hatch door closed. When it was finally all inside the jeep, the (open) springs were jutting over the front seats. I had to drive two hours and twenty minutes with my head scrunched down and my hair getting torn at by the springs. Changing lanes on the interstate was exciting too, as I couldn't see in the back of the jeep and lost hair trying to turn my head to see out the sides. It was quite a drive. I have to say that I enjoyed the drive home much more!

The kids were very happy with their new bed/couch. I had to go and lie down on the cool kitchen floor to ease my back. Although I told him what I was going to do, son came into the kitchen, saw me and said with concern, "Should I call an ambulance?" But no, it wasn't that back although one of those Cortisone shots would have felt good at that point! Or those electrode-thingys.

Son's roomie and ex-girlfriend thought I should use one of those scooters when we went to the store they work in for the second time. I've been too proud to use one of those but in a strange city where nobody knows me, why not? And it was a relief to be able to concentrate on the conversation instead of walking and coping with the pain. When my Mom called last night to wish me a Happy Birthday, I told her about the scooter and suggested she should use one to go shopping!

It's about time (a happy post)

My garden: small but mighty!

I keep having these old TV songs run through my head. Today it's "It's about time" I probably won't get this one exactly right either but it goes sort of like, "It's about time, it's about space, it's about three men in the strangest place. It's about three astronauts. It's about in space..." And so on sort of like that. Do you remember it? Probably not, unless you're around my age and blogging tends to attract a younger crowd. But at least there are some people my age and up, unlike at work. At work, everyone is much much younger than I am.

Anyway, since this is a happy post I won't be talking about the badness at work here except to say, gleefully--I HAVE MONDAY AND TUESDAY OFF! Tuesday is my birthday and I always try to get that off from work as my birthday present to myself. Tuesday was also the day that the Main Office Interloper was going to move into my old office (which now won't be until Wednesday, probably because I took Tuesday off.) Some birthday present, huh? But I won't be there, nor for the staff meeting on Tuesday morning, where I now have to take the meeting minutes. Yippee, yippee, yippee! Yes, that makes me very happy.

And tonight I'm driving down to see the kids and will stay there until Tuesday night. First before I leave I'm going to figure out bills and the mortgage payments. I can do it still, this month because we are getting three paychecks in August. So I'm hanging on here, which is good.

Son and roommate (she is still living with him but they aren't boy and girlfriend anymore, just friends) told me they are planning to hang out with me the entire time unlike last time when they both had to work and I barely saw them. When I asked if he needed anything from here, son said no, but I'll stop and get that particular fast food item that his roommate loves, Rodeo Burgers. They don't have those in their area.

I wish I could bring garden produce to them, but the garden is small and has about three tiny tomatoes per day and one cucumber. The peas, radishes and spinach are done and the broccoli is getting tough. Soon I may have carrots, beans, squash and corn though! Isn't it amazing what a small garden can produce? The poor garden will have to go without water while I'm gone but I was not watering it much anyway. There isn't a hose outside so I have to carry buckets of water. Water is heavy and it's hard on my back so I've been only carrying two buckets of water per day, unlike earlier when I was bucketing probably ten or more buckets per day.

I'm really looking forward to my visit with the kids. They are such excellent hosts and take very good care of me! It looks like it's going to be a wonderful, long weekend for me! Have a great rest of your weekend and "see" you when I get back late Tuesday night!

Find the right marker

The Blues Fest was truly the most fun I've had for a long long time! There were so many pleasures all rolled into one huge, brilliant weekend:

• Son and girlfriend came to visit for the first time since he moved away on April 1st. They stayed with me and since they came they also brought;
• My little (ex) dog whom I also missed
• Free full pass Blues Fest ticket! I went on Friday, Saturday and Sunday
• Beautiful weather, sunny and in the 90's. Even with SP30 I got toasted to a crisp but now I'm tan.
• So there's where all the people my age go! I've never seen so many in one place around here before! Lots of interesting old hippies too.
• The awesome music, puncuated by the sound of the aerial lift bridge and boats coming in and out of the bay combined with the hot sun, gentle breeze and lively crowd made it a one-of-a-kind sensory experience.
• The crowd, some blew soap bubbles, there were fishing poles and flag poles with markers on them to find each enclave. One group was marked off by a tall yellow banner waving in the breeze which said, "Camp Monkey Love" and there were kites and masks and fish and just about anything else up on high poles as group markers.
• The generous ticket benefactors had a RV right on the event site, so we migrated back and forth and ate there (event food and drink was VERY expensive)
• I tried to contribute to the potluck by bringing cinnamon rolls, milk, orange juice and three different types of Leinies beer. Also borrowed two fold-up chairs from my mother as there were more people than there were chairs. So we weren't total freeloaders.
• One of the families we were hanging with lost their four-year old son. We found him in that huge crowd. That was lucky.
• I am going to save up money to go next year! But next time I'll take more photos and buy some of those great CDs and t-shirts and such.

Where I've been all weekend

http://www.bayfrontblues.com/

And maybe there is hope, here's my latest horoscope, very interesting!

VIRGO (Aug. 23-Sept. 22): Why fight for rights that are already yours, Virgo? Why sacrifice yourself for the benefit of people who wouldn't fully appreciate your gifts? And why are you even thinking about dividing when you should be multiplying? Any of these acts would be a crime against yourself. So listen up: You just have to hold out a little longer. If you can avoid running up a big karmic debt in the next few days, if you can refrain from hurting yourself in a misguided attempt to fix situations that can't be fixed, you'll be home free. Soon the whole cast of monsters, demons, and goons will pack up their inane torture devices and go trundling back to the hells where they came from.

Those monsters, demons, and goons can get lost, all right!

Especially for Lisa and anyone else who is interested. VMan sends me these newsletters. I think Rob Brezsny is one of the very best astrologers ever. His site can be found at:

http://www.freewillastrology.com/

Just look up your sign in the horoscope button on the far left at the top.

The less said, the better

Hey, it's been so long that I nearly forgot my password. How have you all been? I have a long list of things that are not going well, in fact, there is scarcely an area of my life that IS going well except the kids are here for the Bayfront Blues Festival. They have a ticket for me, too. As for the long list...sometimes the less said, the better. Have a great weekend!

Thinking about next weekend

Had an open house yesterday, the first with the new listing. Nobody came. The real estate agent is puzzled at that but I'm not. His company doesn't advertise well enough. Only people driving by would even know about the open house. The next open house isn't for another two weeks and he's planning something different for it. He'll try to get together with several agents having open houses in the same area and do some sort of joint advertising. Well, some advertising is better than almost none, I guess!

Oh, I wish I could keep this house. It's just so perfect for me except for being more costly than I can afford! Do you think I should look for a second job? After two years of working two full time jobs, I swore I would never do that again. But it's a thought now. Well, if I could FIND another job. I've gone from getting every job for which I've interviewed to getting an interview--but not the job. I interview even better than before, with experience and practice. But I truly do think age and appearance are counting against me now, for the past few years.

I received a notice from the hospital that my colonoscopy is set for next Monday. I naively thought I'd be able to sort of pick an appointment time, but no, they are assigned. Actually, now that I know the icky details, early Monday morning is a GREAT time to have it! I didn't realize there was some nasty prep work before having this test done. Yesterday I went to the drug store to get their special deal, a 99 cent Sunday newspaper and also picked up the laxatives to take the day before. I've been lucky and never had to take any thing like that--and am not looking forward to this at all.

Then, I had to find a friend to drop me off and come and get me when the test is done. They won't just let you take a bus or a cab to and from the hospital, but require that an adult come to pick you up. Normally, I would have enlisted my son to do that. I guess I took his ready services for airport pickup, lawn duty, grocery carrying in---very much for granted! But I asked SLA when she called me last night, so now I have someone to do this favor for me.

The strange thing is that son and his girlfriend probably will be staying at the house that (next) weekend! There's a big music event going on up here all weekend and her family buys a bunch of tickets for it. She had offered me one but now with the impending test and preparation, I'd probably better not go to the music event. At least not on Sunday! But since I haven't heard from son since I left his place early, maybe they have changed their minds? But I doubt it since they already had the tickets for it. I think I'll be seeing them next weekend and that will be good!

Glad to be home

I'm better today, this morning, even though I woke up to another bout of sciatica. I'm looking forward to attending both of my regular churches today (would have missed them if I had stayed as long as planned). I looked it up and it was June 22 when I last went to visit son and girlfriend which is what, four weeks ago? Son thought it was only three weeks, so that should have told me something! Although it had sounded like he and Girlfriend were looking forward to my visit. But there were just so many little things piled on top of each other besides the ones I already mentioned in my lament from last night:

Son is thinking of breaking up with Girlfriend, and I thought they were a happy couple. This was the biggest and most major bummer.

Girlfriend hates the microwave I brought them last time. It was the one son had used when he moved out previously. It's old but large and powerful and works well.

While son and I were moving around furniture in the living room, I kept moving the cords and other things in the way (as I backed up) but one time forgot to look and backed into the very tall torchiere lamp I had brought them last time. I loved that lamp in my own living room, it made the vaulted ceiling sparkle (there are sparkles in the paint!). The lamp fell over and got broken. I had carried it downstairs, out the door, in the jeep, driven miles with it, then up the stairs to their apartment all without mishap--then weeks later, knock it down while moving furniture around.

Well, there are lots more little things, it just wasn't a good visit, period. So I'll leave it there. I still have half of the weekend left. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

A self-indulgent post

Yes, I was supposed to be gone all this weekend, not back until late on Sunday night. But things didn't go as nicely as I had planned, plus I was feeling extra-sensitive for some reason this weekend. I normally am overly sensitive but it turned practically into a depression. I usually can keep my head up and keep swimming despite feeling down or blue. But this weekend I just couldn't, and so instead of writing privately in my notebook journal, as I really ought, I'm being self-indulgent and writing here in the blog.

Let's start at the beginning, and no, I won't bore you with the intricate details but more of an outline form:

(1) I loaded up the washer and dryer into the jeep all by myself. They're apartment-sized, not the full-sized, but the washer is still quite heavy and both of them were rather awkward to fit into the jeep. I also loaded up a bunch of other things, like chairs, golf clubs, vacuum cleaner, full boxes, etc.

(2) No, I shouldn't have done that by myself. I've already been suffering from sciatica, which sounds like a funny little granny ailment but isn't at all funny. The first time I had it I fainted and every time since then have wanted to scream with pain--it's that bad. If you don't know what sciatica is, try looking it up in Google. I did, even though I unfortunately knew what it was. It was reassuring to know that I wasn't being melodramatic in my description which is: like a butcher knife stuck into my thigh and twisted back and forth! On Google I found a diary sort of thing by a young girl who described it almost exactly that way, the way I've been describing it. And others like that, too.

OK, I've already lost the outline form and have gone into those intricate details-- but I bet you aren't that surprised!

(3) I drove down to see son and his girlfriend, stopping on the way to buy the particular fast food that girlfriend loves which isn't available anywhere near where they live. Nobody was home. But they were expecting me and had left the door unlocked. My little ex-dog was glad to see me!

(4) After 5 hours of waiting and boredom I sort of figured I might not be seeing them until the next day, especially because Friday night was the launching of the new Harry Potter book. I had known that they were going to go there shortly before midnight, but didn't know that they weren't going to be there early in the evening to greet me and help unload the jeep (they live on the second floor). I brought up pretty much everything but the washer and dryer, also took the dog for a short walk.

(5) They did finally come home, apologized for the lack of greeting and brought me the brand new Harry Potter book! We talked for about an hour, then went to bed. I got the very comfortable air bed in the spare bedroom.

(6) I got up shortly after 7:00 a.m. and they didn't get up until well after 12 noon. So guess what? More hours of boredom, another short walk for the dog, getting and reading the paper, etc. They had carried the little lamp into their bedroom, so the light wasn't good enough to start reading the Harry Potter book.

(7) By this time my back was killing me and I was feeling very down. I suggested to them that I just wanted to go back home. They were somewhat upset about this but son's girlfriend had to work so we brought her there and came back home. I insisted that he unload the washer and dryer out of the jeep so I could go home when I wanted to leave. He disappeared upstairs (I think to get the dog) but when he didn't return right away, I took both items out of the jeep myself. He did carry them upstairs, though as I couldn't have done that.

(8) Son moved his computer and table into the living room, with my help. I helped him move the TV and entertainment center over to a wall. Then he sat and played on his computer, put the 4th Harry Potter movie in the DVD for me and ate some of the food I'd brought for girlfriend. He (like his girlfriend, earlier) insisted that he wanted me to stay, yet I wasn't feeling very welcome! I found the home-cooked food that I had brought them last time rotting in their refrigerator, so I dumped it out and then washed my dishes. I didn't do up all the dishes lying around nor clean the apartment like I did the last time I visited them.

(9) I left when the movie was done, son carried down my heavy suitcase. Gee, I sure wouldn't have needed all that stuff for one night! While watching the movie I did eat a small pizza (one of those little frozen ones that you bake) all by myself, which wasn't good, but I was hungry by that time. As I was driving the couple of hours to get back home, I did wonder if I had returned to visit them too soon? Yet they had encouraged me to come down again and we had planned the exact date according to their work schedules.

(10) So now I am home again and glad of it, even though it's a day earlier then planned. The real estate guy had left a message on my answering machine about renewing the listing contract. It made me tired to realize that I will have to explain to him why I want to list with another company (his company barely advertised my house).

So, I'm finally done lamenting over my "lost" weekend and ready to go to bed now. I feel much better after writing all this down even if it was quite the "poor me" self-indulgent post! Thanks for reading (if you managed to get this far...!) But hey, I have the new Harry Potter book.

Cold shower

The last time I was mowing the lawn, I was trying to knock down the tall grass on the strips around the driveway. The lawnmower kept stalling and I kept making it continue until--surprise--it started smoking and died! Guess I pushed it too far. Hope I didn't break it as I certainly don't want to have to buy a new one when I'm trying to sell the house and move to an apartment!

So the next morning (Thursday, yesterday) I was taking my shower and I noticed that the water was getting cooler and cooler despite my turning down the cold tap. After I had dressed and started to do the dishes, even the hot water was cold! But I was running late (well, not really late, but later than usual) so I had to hurry out the door, worried about why the hot water heater wasn't working. I was turning the key in the back door when I saw my lawnmowing attempts and made the connection!

My lawnmower is electric. I've never used a regular, gas-powered one. For years we used a manual push mower, even for our huge yard in the country. Until my son complained and I finally bought this electric mower. We got rid of the push mower when we sold that house, too bad, for if the electric mower is broken, I could have used the push mower. Anyway, the electric lawnmower stalling and dying flipped the electrical circuit off. It's on the same circuit as the hot water heater (a bad choice) so the heater went off, too. So I had to reset the Ground Fault whatever and then go back upstairs to the electrical box to flip the switch. By the time I came home last night I had hot water again, so no cold shower again today!

This morning I need to go out to the storage shed and load the washer and dryer into the jeep. If I can't do it by myself, a co-worker has volunteered to come home with me to help this afternoon. But I want to try it myself first. I'm really looking forward to seeing my son and his girlfriend again! Hope you have a good day and a great weekend!

checking him out

Well, here it is Thursday already and my last post was on Monday. Not that things haven't been happening; things are always happening. This is both good and bad. So let's see, what's worth writing about? Or put in another way, maybe not worth writing about but I feel like writing about!

Monday I had breakfast with best friend SLA. She had called me up on Sunday night asking, "Can I bring someone along?" and I said, sure, Houseguest can come along too. I haven't seen her for awhile, since SLA's surprise birthday party, in fact. Those two were childhood best friends and hang around together. But it wasn't Houseguest but a man--a new boyfriend! (OK, I don't really like that term, BF, but it describes the relationship and I dislike the other ways of saying it even more: lover, special friend, etc and etc. bleee-uuug!)

So SLA is wanted me to research New Man online, since I do that sort of thing at work. And there wasn't much to be found. That's an improvement, you used to be able to uncover all sorts of things about other people online! Nowadays that sort of information is for sale, or only available by subscription to a special database or something. That's a good thing, but not good for finding out about this particular person. Then she wanted me to do a natal chart for him since I used to be a professional astrologer, but since I re-found my religion, I don't do that sort of thing anymore. So I guess SLA will just have to go by intuition. This situation is a bit more risky in that he's from out-of-town and normally there are friends and family around a new BF so you can get sort of an indication of character and such. Hope it all turns out well. I was no help in the matter!

OK, that was just one topic I wanted to write about today! Either this is going to get far too long or I'll have to break it up into a day or two.

I'm driving down to see son and girlfriend right after work on Friday. This time I'm loading up the washer and dryer into the jeep. They're apartment sized, but still, the washer is fairly heavy to lift up into the back of the vehicle. A guy from work volunteered to help me with it! So on Friday morning I'll try to load them up, and if I can't, he will accompany me from work to help! Pretty cool! My co-workers aren't all bad, just the women. Yeah, I know that sounds really sexist, especially coming from me, another woman, but it's true.

I'm a bit nervous about having to drive all the way down there without a cell phone. If something happened, it would be a long walk to an exit on the freeway! I don't have a personal cell and use my work cell phone only for emergencies but it was taken away for an upgrade--which was very bad timing.

I may bring them some chairs and other things, whatever else will fit into the jeep once I (or we) get the washer and dryer into it. Also, I'm going to make them some rhubarb cake tonight as well as water my garden really really well and do the laundry, pack, and all.

I've been eating cherry tomatoes from my garden for the past couple of days! When I was a kid my Mom would rave about garden tomatoes, but we kids would just humor her. We'd never had a "store" tomato and didn't know the difference. And there is SUCH a difference! So the garden is still limping along, not exactly lush and healthy but surviving. So how's your week been so far?

Friday the 13th

Yeah, I know that today is actually Sunday the 15th, but I forgot to say something during the Friday post. July 13th is my ex's birthday. My son's father was born on a Friday the 13th. Guess that should have told me something right there! But he always said that Friday the 13th was a lucky day for him: so we were married on a Friday the 13th, during my lunch hour! Pretty weird, huh?

Well, we thought it was sort of cool. My co-workers (at that time) did too. I called my best friend at work and told her that I was going to be a little late back from lunch-I was getting married! She got all excited and told everyone else. So when I finally returned from my lunch hour/wedding, they had a huge celebration with food and drink and even decorations for me at work! They must have worked fast on it, since I wasn't gone THAT long! I think...

This last Friday ended with the doctor appointment. Except it didn't end there: I have to go back for blood work, back for a mammogram and a colonoscopy. Happy happy joy joy. The good news is that my blood pressure is fine and everything else seemed OK; which is good to know.

Today was another Open House, so Saturday was spent Extreme Cleaning--when I wasn't with my Mom. I also weeded and hoed the garden and got more compliments on it from passerbys. The neighbor 80-year-old lady talked with me for quite a while. In fact I was a bit worried that I wasn't going to get done with the weeding/hoeing by the time I had to leave to get my Mom. Then the neighbor left for about 5 minutes, returned and started telling me some of the same stories. She's very sweet but it was lucky for me and and Mom that she was quicker the second time she stopped to talk!

Today I went to the first church and then the second one. Church #2 had a BBQ after, so that mercifully took up some of the time that I had to be away from my house (for the Open House). After that I drove around a bit, somewhat out of sorts but at least not hungry, and then went grocery shopping and went home.

I haven't heard a thing about the Open House. Wonder if anyone came? The real estate agent is a great guy but his company doesn't advertise well at all. Unless they just happened to be driving by, most people wouldn't even know about the Open House. My contract with them expires in two days. After that, I'm going with a larger real estate company that splashes its offerings across the newspapers. It's a shame but I do need to sell my house.

Hope your weekend has been a very fun one!

extended weekend

What a great weekend I had! It got extended for these past two days, Monday and Tuesday, because then I got sick. But let's get back to the great weekend.

I drove to my son and his girlfriend's apartment in a distant city. I hadn't seen him since April Fool's Day, and for the two months before that time he had spent most of his non-working time in that city with his girlfriend. After a long day of work on Friday, I loaded up my vehicle with the things he'd asked for, things of his that he couldn't take down there in his little car when he moved. So I fit in a computer desk chair, a bedside table, a floor lamp, the large old, heavy microwave that I used when he was 6 years old. He and his roommates had used it in his apartment here in town. I also brought some of his clothes, towels, dishes and other things. At first I wondered why I was riding a bit low but then realized the vehicle was packed full!

I followed the MapQuest map that I printed off and stopped at what I thought was about 20 miles away, in a parking lot and called my son, as he had asked me to do, to make sure he was home. It only took me a few more minutes before I was there! I had been driving in what looked like the middle of nowhere (but a very pretty, rural nowhere) and suddenly there were houses and there was his street! Girlfriend was working but son got me settled in the spare room and we unloaded all his stuff from my jeep. He was happy to see me and also pleased to get some more of his things. We spent some happy time catching up and then had to go and pick up girlfriend from her work at 9:00.

In fact during the weekend, we ended up at their work several times. It's kind of their home away from home. Both work long hours there, plus they buy just about anything that they need from that store. Having an employee discount helps, and it's a superstore with groceries, clothing, furniture, hardware and just about everything! They had a karaoke contest there on Saturday while girlfriend had to work again. Son had purposefully taken the weekend off to visit with me. That was one of the reasons he was so disappointed when I first told him that I had decided not to go (but changed my mind, of course)

I found out that sleeping on an airbed is really really comfortable. Much more so than my regular bed here at home. Well, actually the first night wasn't as comfortable. My son pumped up the airbed but told me that it had a leak. He offered to take it back and exchange it during the night (the store is open all night) if it wasn't working for me. The bed steadily was losing air so when I laid on it, the air came out with a persistant hissssssss. But the air didn't come out evenly so the bed tossed me around a bit, even into the wall once before it totally deflated. I thought it was hilariously funny--until it totally went flat and I was on the floor. I don't know what I was thinking but I can't sleep on the floor, can't even sleep on a sleeping bag because of my injured back.

I had brought down a bank of various sized pillows to serve as a backrest. I got up and moved some of the larger, flatter ones underneath me and laid back down. That didn't work well. It was 2:00 AM and girlfriend had to work at 7:00, so I really didn't want to wake up the kids saying, "Can you go and exchange the airbed now?" They don't even have a couch or recliner or even a large chair to use. I thought longingly of the back of my jeep, and even considered going out there to sleep! But that would wake up the dog and everybody else. I looked around the room and there was a pile of clean clothes lying by the door. I took them and spread them out, put the sheets on top and actually went to sleep! I think it was mostly because I was so tired, not really because it was comfortable--at all.

On Saturday girlfriend had to work early so she took their car and son could sleep in (normally he would have had to get up and take her--but then normally he probably would have been working too). I got up very early and sat in the living room. They just have 2 plastic lawn chairs in there but it was comfortable. The apartment has such a good vibe to it. A bit later I took the (my former little) dog for a walk. The neighborhood is beautiful. There are large trees on each side of the street, the canopy nearly touches in the middle. So even though it was already hot, I could walk mostly in the shade. The neighbors all had gorgeous flowers and landscaping. Even though it's not so far away, it's a totally different climate then I live in!

When son got up we sat around and talked a bit, read the papers (for I had gotten one of each from a nearby kiosk) and then went to the Leinie Lodge. I have always wanted to visit and tour Leinenkugel's Brewery. The kids didn't have a phone book and the newpapers didn't have any information, so we were lucky to be able to join a tour forming (they recommend reservations). I've heard about Leinenkugels my entire life. Both of my brothers came down to this area to go to school. In fact the one and only time we took a vacation when I was a kid was with a beloved Aunt who took us camping in the large park right next to where my son lives now! So even though I've never explored the area, I've always had a fondness for it.

After we toured and had samples at the Leinie Lodge, we went to listen to the karaoke contest at the kids' work. They work with lots of fun people and I got introduced to many of them. That night (Saturday) some of their work friends came over to the apartment to watch movies. Son had also exchanged the airbed for the world's most comfortable (also an airbed) bed! So I went to bed fairly early and slept well all night.

It was hard to leave, I wanted to stay there, not to come back home to work and house troubles. The real estate agent called me when I returned and told me nobody had come to the open house. I can't say it was great to be back home! Now I'm thinking about possibly moving to that city if I ever sell the house. The paychecks are better and rentals are cheaper. But then there is my poor Mom who lives here, so maybe not.

I got that call!

Well, son finally called. Actually, he called while I was still at working. I worked some minor overtime last night. Minor compared to 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. with no lunch or breaks on Monday!

The phone message was garbled and barely understandable but he called back later. So now I have an actual address and assurance that all is going well. He's put in three days of FT work already and loves the job.

Our little dog had a rough couple of days getting used to all of the other animals (they have 3 other dogs and a ginnea pig--plus son had brought Ricky the chinchilla there a couple of weeks before he moved). But now she is happy as one of the pack, has her own special doggy friend and loves the piggy, they sleep side by side. Contrast that with being alone all day long until 9 p.m. and having only the two ferrets (who she doesn't like) as companions. It was the right thing to do to let son take her with him when he moved. So I am pleased at how it's all turned out.

How to break a mother's heart--don't call

Hope you had a great Easter weekend, I did. On Saturday my younger brother came up to my Mom's apartment and I did my usual noon meeting with her there. What a nice surprise it was to find my older brother and wife there also! My older brother has brought flowers for Mom and I (he didn't know younger brother and wife were going to be there, also). I really love messing about with flowers, both in the garden and cut ones. The bouquet he gave me was so large that once I got home, I made four vases from it! Younger brother and wife brought steaks and cooked them and an entire meal. Those were some really tender, delicious steaks! For dinner they made a ham with mashed potatoes and all the trimmings. I washed dishes each time but barely helped with the cooking. I think I peeled potatoes and set the table, and that was pretty much all the help I did.

My younger brother and family brought the books that I had left in Mom's old house (which they now own) and even brought them to my house and helped unload them into the basement. They liked my house too, which was certainly a point in their favor! They had never seen it before.

On Sunday I went to a sunrise service, and it was really hard to get up that early. I'd gotten up at 4 a.m. on Saturday and had gone to bed late. The service was followed by a breakfast, followed by another service. I went home to get the Easter card and gift for my Mom and got to her house around noon. Then we went out to eat an Easter dinner, even though we'd both done plenty of eating the day before!

The only sadness was that I didn't hear a thing from my son. I've not heard from him since he called to let me know that he had arrived safely, over a week ago. He doesn't have his own phone and I don't know his address, so his Easter card has been sitting on my kitchen table. He was going to get me that address right away and I was going to send the card on Monday or Tuesday. I suppose I could have called his girlfriend's family, but I was already upset about it and not willing to cheerfully go through the channels to get to him. By that time I would have been scolding him for not calling me, and I don't want to call him up to scold him!

I hope he is OK. I wonder if he's working now and how Natty, our little dog is doing. Someone,
Maria, I think said something about how your children can break your heart--and that's so true. They don't do it on purpose, just thoughtlessly. We had parted on good terms, with tears so I know it's not that he's deliberately ignoring me, just distracted. He was so thrilled at getting to be "part of a family" complete with a father and younger sister, that he's forgotten his original family. I'm a bit jealous! Have a good day, even though it's a Monday!

Leaving again

My son came home on Sunday night and informed me that yes, he's moving to his girlfriend's city. He will be starting his new job there next Monday. It's his dream job, plus rents are cheap in that city, despite the fact there are lots of good-paying jobs. Not like here. I'm thrilled for him. But not for me. I'll really miss him. It was peaceful but pretty lonely the week he was gone. I know that he's well past the age where he should have been out on his own, and in fact has been out on his own, twice now. But I think this one will be a keeper. He's moving next Saturday, on my Dad's birthday. That is going to be a difficult day for me.

It's so odd that I was so ready for him to be out on his own after he graduated from high school, and then later when he first got an apartment. But not now. It's weird but I've formed sort of an emotional dependancy on him and living vicariously through him. I think that doesn't normally happen with two parents in the house, or a parent and his/her partner. The son/daughter is part of the family, while my son had become sort of like my best friend in the past year. Not that he would feel that way, but I do.

Oh, I know that he needs to go off (finally!) on his own, but I'm sad about it, really sad. I'll miss him terribly, that little whistle he does in the house, hearing about his work, friends, girlfriend, knowing that he's coming home. That will be the worst, to be in the house alone and know that he won't be coming in later from work, or ever except to visit. And I doubt that will be often, once he gets all of his things.

I think a parent (especially a single parent without a live-in partner) just keeps doing his/her job of watching over their (adult) child, focusing on him or her. So it really is better for the both of us and I will fill up the sudden hole in my life. Yep, I really really understand my Mom much better now!

Have mercy on me

There were photos of the storm in the online version of the newspaper. I tried to save and unload many of them and not a one worked out. Oh well. My son is coming home today. They had bad weather down there too, so I hope he makes it back OK. He has to work today, which is why he's coming back home.

Guess I'm in better shape than I'd thought, because I spent two hours just digging out the jeep yesterday. I went out at 9:30 to clean the front porch, stairs and walkway, and didn't get back in until 12:30--for a total of three hours of shoveling! And what shoveling it was: the snow was from waist to shoulder height, to get to the bottom of a little-little spot took about ten shovelfuls. Then, because the banks were so high, each shovelful had to be lifted and thrown over the banks. I thought I'd not be able to get out of bed this morning after three hours of that!

So digging out the front and the jeep were good accomplishments yesterday. And now I can drive to get my Mom for our Saturday jaunt. But today I still have a half a block to shovel! Remember the post about buying houses on corner lots? Yep, I have a whole lot of shoveling left to do. Son will be at work, working long hours both today and tomorrow. I'm hoping one of the neighbors with a snow blower will have mercy on me today and at least run a track through the half block long sidewalk.

Ditched

Well, here I am on the new blogger. It's an hour and a half before I have to get up and get ready for work, and I've been awake for hours. Not a good time to deal with the changing of the blog. Since I was lacking sleep from the night before, I had decided to go to bed relatively early last night. But that didn't last for long. Son came home from work before I fell asleep. He was getting ready to drive to his girlfriend's place, a two and a half hour drive under winter advisory conditions. He was rummaging around to get ready, plus I really did want to talk to him before he left, since he'd be gone for a couple of days. The weather was concerning me, but he thought he'd beat it, and then wait it out down there until the weather turned better again.

I did manage to fall asleep after he left, but was awakened by a 1:00 A.M. telephone call. He had gone into the ditch only about an hour's drive out. Guess the weather beat him, instead. So after all of that, I just couldn't get back to sleep, so got up and then the new blogger thingy struck!

So I've had like two hours of sleep, tops, and now am going to try for the remaining hour and a half!

LATER: OK, I actually got another hour of sleep. I don't know how, as I was waiting for son to call me back. He finally did, ten minutes after he arrived at his girlfriend's apartment. And I got to hear the story. He was traveling at 70 MPH (on the freeway), lost control and went into the ditch, blowing out a huge area of snow that even came back on to the freeway. He was lucky that he was not hurt, and me that it was him calling and not a State Trooper.

The roads had received a freezing drizzle in that area right before he passed through. After flying into the ditch, he had to get out of the car and walk back to an exit. Then walk to a gas station, which luckily was open at that hour. The local firechief, who is also the towing guy, pulled him out. Son was wanting to just stay but it was too cold to sit in the car and there weren't any hotels or motels nearby in the area. So he pressed on, at half the speed, and after several hours, finally made it there. Whew! And yes, I'm so tired and exhausted that I wish I could just wait this day out, and go back to bed.