Friday, June 26, 2009

Another Day

It feels wonderful to lie (lay? Whatever) in bed and listen to the Sibs getting ready to go to work. Sort of a guilty pleasure, since as far as I can tell, they both have crappy jobs. Son works outside with a surveying group at the big power station construction; in the winter he freezes to death, even with layers and layers; in the summer he fries, and even sunblock can't prevent that farmer's tan, though using it gets him mocked by the big tough construction guys. But have they ever seen skin cancer? I think not.

Daughter works in medical records at the clinic of the university, but the handwriting is on the wall-- they just switched to all-computer patient records, and as soon as they complete the scanning of the past records (they are one-third done) how many med record employees will still be employed? One per shift is my guess. Instead of 5 on days and one for evening.

But they are big kids now, and I feel no compulsion to play "Mom" on this. One of my therapists, way back in time, enquired about the dynamics of having grown kids at home, and I said that we would, of course, help out if asked, but the management of their lives is in their hands for the most part (other than helping out with cleaning up, helping at the barn, etc.). The therapist shook his head and said something to the effect that your kids are your kids for forever (duh) and you will always act the parent with them (which is BS, or at least an attitude from the last generation). What would be the point of raising kids to think and act responsibly, if you the parent are the fall back, and thus all of life's errors can be laid at your doorstep? I changed therapists soon after, even though I liked that one, there were too many things we didn't see eye-to-eye about.

I remember that therapist said that our family acted more like roommates, that when we get home we all scatter to different rooms to pursue our own interests, rather than, I dunno, sitting down to play Parchesi together? But I have read several articles that stated that our behavior is standard for today's families; certainly having the children fail to "leave the nest" is more common than ever before. So there. Pffftttt.

What do you think? Do all your grown children fly the coop as soon as they can (I did, at 17)?

And this parting wisdom:

"Sex on television can't hurt you unless you fall off."

Friday, June 19, 2009

Insomnia

Did you ever get so tired that sleep eluded you even when you desperately need it? Last night, from midnight to about 3 am, we had a rip roaring thunderstorm, and I lay there trying not to think about all those dying or dead trees on the edge of our property that need to be cut down, preferably without removal of power lines. The power company has agreed to do it, time not specified. And there is one tree, no threat to power lines, that is directly behind the house, shading the deck and Son's bedroom and part of the pool, which as far as I can tell, will need to be cut and airlifted out, like they do on the TV show. And I'll bet it will be expensive too.

Mood has been fine on Monday-Tuesday and suddenly on Wednesday I didn't even want to get out of bed. My Dr. appt went fine, much praise for the 20 pound loss in 4 months, hurrah...Can I have a danish pastry now? 40 pounds to go...

I'm still selling books on Abebooks, you should see the icon over there on the right, and it will take you to MY listing and not the 50 million people who have way better books than me, describe them in ruinous detail ( do you know what a remainered book is? How do you tell? I got an inflammatory email for failing to disclose that on a book, can't please them all.)

I have a million books to enter still , and my enthusiasm is slip slip slipping away (Vince Gill).

On Sunday, the dogs found some vile stinky dead thing in the pasture. It had been quickly eaten (Ewwww) but still the aroma lingered on. No kissies from THEM for a while. I spent some time (it felt like days) to clean the worst of the tack room, although it still supports paw prints 6 feet up the door. Darling Maggie found out how to open the door from inside the tack room (which is off-limits in the first place) and gallop off into the distance, BYE.....

The new solid gold bagged 50 pound bales of wood shavings are all stacked and tarped over. 120 bales should last a long time, and at $720 I certainly hope they will.

All I'm getting from my brain is snoring sounds, so I guess I'm done for the night. I leave you with this thought:

"186,000 miles/sec: Not just a good idea, it's the LAW."

Monday, June 08, 2009

Oh dear

My visitor counter seems to have gone belly up. If this is temporary I can wait it out (fingers crossed), but if not, can anyone recommend a new one? This one was amazingcounters.com.

Back later.

Red

Update: New counter installed with approximately the right number to start.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Errr....Hello there!

I never intended to leave updating my blog for so long.

I recently returned from Florida where I got some serious visiting done with my best friend, who lives near Ft. Myers. I was there a week, and it was very relaxing-- a little shopping, a couple of movies, an overnight trip to Key West via jet boat from Ft. Myers, and lots of gab. It wasn't as cool as my visit last year (in February), but actually the part of me that wore out first was my feet. Note to self: next trip to Key West spring for one of the electric golf carts.

It was packing for the trip that made me take a close look at my night wear and my (ahem) undergarments. When did they get so tired and stretched out? SURELY it can't be because my basic b'day suit has likewise stretched a wee bit over the years! Impossible!

Recently I found an outfit from 1975, pants and a jacket. My daughter tried it on, and it fit fine. She wears a 14 or even a 12, but the suit was a 16 back in the day. So "size inflation" has indeed occurred, where the sizes that were 16 now have "14" hanging on them, to make the consumer feel better. If you have, say, always worn a 14, you have in fact gained one size, or 15-20 pounds over the years. There now, isn't that a great brightener for the day?

What else is new? My bathroom is haunted by a cat ghost. Last night I heard unmistakable sounds of a cat playing with a certain toy, at 4:30 this morning. I was convinced one of the other cats had been shut inside, because I only let one cat sleep with me (don't ask why only one or why not zero, it somehow seemed like a good idea at the time). This one cat was sleeping beside me when the toy-playing sounds came from the bathroom, and she reacted to it also. I looked everywhere a cat would hide, even lay on the floor and checked with a flashlight. Nothing there. Then I went out of the bedroom, closing the door, and counted cats upstairs. All present and accounted for. So what did I hear? My family thinks I was dreaming, but I was awake enough to stub my toe on the cedar chest. And the noise didn't stop as I walked toward the bathroom until I turned on the lights. Weird.

Next weekend, on June 6th, we celebrate our 39th anniversary. I think that is the neon anniversary, so we will be checking out the local marquees, and if it says "congratulations Redhead and N" we will eat there. Otherwise, it will be KFC, I suspect. I looked at our wedding album (and my parents' copy and N's parents copy) and all I can think is how young we all looked. When did they start letting 6th graders marry?

This brief post will have to do for now. Oh yeah, and this one photo taken at Sanibel, I think....


At least we don't have a pier growing out of the tops of our heads!