Category Archives: Uncategorized

New York, New York ……

…… it’s a wonderful town.

Yes, I borrowed those lyrics from a song.
And these:
“Heaven … I’m in heaven. And my heart beats so that I can hardly speak. And I seem to find the happiness I seek.”
Of course I’m leaving out the main line …… “When we’re out together dancing cheek to cheek.”
That’s because I don’t know anyone I’d want to dance cheek to cheek with, and because I’m happy with the first few lines.

Daughter #3 and I walked to Trader Joe’s today (it’s about a mile from the apartment …. which is nothing!), and the weather was beautiful (in the 60’s!!) and I’m so happy to be in this city, that the words, “Heaven …… I’m in heaven ……” kept running in my mind over and over again.

I’ll keep humming that until …… oh, about 10:45 tomorrow morning …… when I go to my first barre class in over 4 (FOUR!!) months.
Trust me, I won’t be humming anything during, or shortly after, that close.
Well, I might be humming, “Let my people go”, or something akin to that.

After that there’s a plethora of things going on in NY. But then, there’s always a plethora of things going on in NY.
And I just like using the word “plethora”.
🙂

Tomorrow is that German American parade (thank you, Margot!) and Oktoberfest in the Park. It’s a shame that I don’t like beer.
Then there’s the San Generro Feast in Little Italy. I’m not sure exactly what goes on with that, other than Italian food, but it sounds fun.

I’ve been pretty torn since I arrived here.
I want to walk around and just soak up the cooler weather and the spirit that is NY, but I also need to finish watching the first season of “The Black List”.
Do NOT roll your eyes!! It happens to be a VERY good show and the second season starts on Monday. I think there are 22 episodes and I’m on #13.
This is a frustrating conundrum.
And yes, I’m watching #13 while I type this for all of you.
That’s just the kind of blog writer I am. Totally selfless when it comes to my readers.
And …… I’m going to have to watch this episode over again because I’m not doing a great job of multi-tasking.

So after my barre class tomorrow I’m hanging out with my friend Kelley. We’ll see what source of entertainment we choose. Or how many.
Daughter #3 is spending the day with her BF.
Things have changed.
She’s in love.
And while I’m happy for her, one small, teeny, tiny part of me wants to gag.
She’d be totally happy to dance cheek to cheek with him. In fact, they took took dance classes for quite a while, so I”m sure she’s danced cheek to cheek with him several times.
It’s a good thing I like him.

So that’s it. I know it’s not very exciting. I did hang out with friends in my building last night and tonight, so that was fun.
And I got out to go grocery shopping today.
Oh, and to also laugh at the people in line at the Apple store.
The store on 5th avenue had a line that was over 12 blocks long.
That’s over a mile, Peeps.
That’s insane.
Totally insane.
Especially when you can order the stupid thing on line!!! Why on earth would you stand in a line like that when you can have it sent to your home a few days later?!!!
Insane!!!

I also had to catch up on a lot of bills and companies who have failed to change my address.
Blue Cross is sending stuff to my apartment here AND to my home in Texas.
Go figure.

So, kind of a dull post, but not to worry. I’m sure I’ll have plenty of things to tell you about during most of my stay here.
Right now I’m just pacing myself.
LOL!

Have a great weekend, Peeps.
🙂

P.S. Here’s one of the pics I took while we were landing yesterday. See that tallest building there? The very tallest? That’s the “Freedom Tower”, that’s been built next to where the World Trader Center buildings were.
It’s pretty dang tall.
🙂
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My, How Soon Things Can Change ……

…… in only 3 days.

The critter hasn’t been seen, or left any evidence of his partying, since the slamming of the flue.

Raccoon – 0. Me – 1.

But we have now exchanged a wild, perhaps rabid, party animal, for a teeny, non-partying, but totally whiney new critter.
Here he is:
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Photo on 9-8-14 at 4.43 PM #3

He’s six weeks old, his name is Cass, and no, he’s not mine. Son #2 completely ignored my protestations and brought him home.
Now guess who’s stuck kitten-sitting while he’s at school?!
It’s a good thing this little guy is cute. Because his high-pitched meows/whines could drive you stark raving mad.
Fortunately, Son #2 is graduating from school in just a few days. So I’m guessing that he’ll be here a couple of more months while he takes his test for his license, finds a job, makes some money …… and moves out.
Until then, little Cass fits pretty well under an upside down laundry basket. 🙂

In other news …… a family is moving into my house tomorrow. They’re leasing it for a year, and have paid 6 months up front.
So there you go.
Hopefully the house will hold together and I won’t have to fix anything.
Or become a slum lord.
But I’m certainly not above that. 🙂

I worked out with the trainer yesterday and planned to take a nap at some point during the day, but never found the time.
I went out to lunch with some lovely ladies from the neighborhood and had a nice time.
Then I came home to hang with a yowling kitty who misses his mom and his siblings.
Poor guy.

I got up early today to go play 3 sets of tennis in the east Texas heat. In spite of the humidity and hellish heat, it felt good to be out there.
Afterward I came home to …… you guessed it …… kitten sit.
I really wanted to take a nap.
But I had to leave again to go meet the tenants at the house and turn over the keys.
As I pulled up to the house I had to take a minute or three, to gather myself together so that I wouldn’t cry. I was full to overflowing.
While I’m happy to be out of that house, it is the house where Jim and I did the majority of the raising of our children.
And watching someone else take over was almost more than I could handle.
But I kept myself busy by checking all of the keys with all of the doors (almost every stinking door in that place — and there are MANY — has a different key from the others). The two real estate agents seemed to keep them busy discussing all things rental-related, so I got all of the keys lined up.
And didn’t cry.
Until I drove away.

It’s always something.
Always.
And it always will be.
No, I don’t spend my days, weeks or even months mired in grief anymore.
Thank God.

But every once in a while something happens, some wave sneaks in out of nowhere and soaks me to the skin, knocking me off balance.
I no longer fall, or get sucked in to the under tow, but the pain is still there.
And will always be there.

I love him.
More than ever.
I miss him.
Way more than ever.

But I’m thankful for him, for our life, our marriage, our children …… and for my life now.
And I’ll miss him every day of my life.

Party Animals ……

(Settle in for a bedtime story, Peeps.  🙂

…… seem to be drawn to me.
Or to my property.

They can be human, or non-human. They can be furry, or have scales.
They can be carnivorous, or vegan.
They can get up with the sun, or be nocturnal.

But they all seem to have one thing in common:
They want to see if they can make my head explode.

I went back to the house yesterday, armed with a bucket full of cleaning supplies …… and an intent to maim and/or destroy.
I was able to do neither.
Which I guess is a good thing, because that meant that the most recent party animal couldn’t make his way back down my chimney, through my flue ……. and into my house.

We first thought that he had only been in the house one time, evidently on Wednesday night/Thursday morning. That’s because a family had looked at the house and, when questioned, had seen nothing amiss. But then today we found out that they had indeed seen something amiss …… they just didn’t recognize it as that. It turns out that when they saw clumps of poop in the bedroom, and tons of dirty footprints in the bathtub …… they figured that the owners had a dog and had given it a bath. And I guess they thought the owners didn’t have a problem with poopy floors.
Go figure.

As I cleaned the house up, I was able to piece a bit more of the story together.
The raccoon made his way down my chimney, out of the fireplace and through the screens and glass doors some time during the middle of the night, most likely.
He is SO lucky that I don’t live in that house, or that I didn’t live in it the night he decided to drop in for a visit.
Or a party.
I can assure you that there’d be one less raccoon in the world today.
Probably because he would’ve had a fatal heart attack the moment I saw him and started screaming.

He didn’t wander around downstairs. I don’t know why, maybe he thought he wouldn’t run into humans if he headed upward.
Maybe he thinks all parties are held on upper floors.
Or maybe there was already a crowd of raccoons doing the limbo up there.

Whatever the reason, he took his fat, dirty self up the stairs and into Son #1’s room. He walked around the room, looked out the window, and then decided to poop. And so he did.
Then he walked through the bathroom that connects that bedroom to Son #3’s bedroom. He opened a few drawers on his way, but didn’t find anything.
Once he got into Son #3’s room, he opened more drawers in the wall of built ins. Again, he found nothing. So he walked along some of the shelves, continued to find nothing, so he got down and headed towards the window. He then decided climb up the blinds to see if he could look out the window, and wave to his friends letting them know the coast was clear.
Imagine his surprise when the blinds came crashing down to the floor, along with his fat, furry, dirty body.
He was so surprised that he peed all over the blinds.
And then peed in another area for good measure.

After that he decided that he could use a drink, so he headed into the bathroom. He couldn’t turn the faucets on so he headed into the adjoining room with the toilet and tub.
He then climbed up on the toilet (he could do that easily because we raised our boys to always put the lid down!) and took his dirty paws, grabbed a hold of the lid to the tank, and tried to lift it off of the tank.
He managed to get it a bit askew, but he wasn’t able to lift it completely off. The wimp.

He gave up, climbed down, and walked over to the tub. That’s when he noticed that the faucet was slowly dripping, so he managed to climb up, and over the tub wall. Then he fell into the tub because the porcelain was pretty slippery and I doubt that he’d had much experience with porcelain.
After getting up, he focused his attention on the faucet, and started licking up the drips on tub floor, as well as on the faucet.
It’s hard to tell how long he did that before he either ……
A. Tried to get out of the tub, but kept sliding back down into it, leaving hundreds of sooty-footmarks all over the tub …… or ……
B. Texted all of his raccoon friends, inviting them to come over for a hot tub party, which accounts for the hundreds of sooty-footprints all over the tub.

Choose your own conclusion.

At some point he was finally able to make his way out of that slippery tub. He then walked through one of the bedrooms some more, and then left the bedroom and climbed the few stairs that lead to the upper level of the house, which contains 2 more bedrooms, connected by another bathroom.

He walked into the largest of the two room, moved the blinds so that he could look outside (to make sure that all of his friends actually left the house) and then opened a few desk drawers so that he could use them as a ladder to get up onto the desk.
He once again found that there was nothing to play with, nor was there any food to eat.
So he waddled into the bathroom and spied the toilet paper roll. At last! He found some fun …… and proceeded to unroll the entire toilet paper roll, leaving it lying almost neatly in a pile on the floor.
When it was completely off of the cardboard roll he decided to move to the next room. But this time he didn’t try to get into the tub. I think he’d had enough of slippery porcelain, and his fur was still drying so he stayed out.
He wandered around Son #2’s bedroom, but decided that he didn’t need to pee or poop. He pulled out a few desk drawers, climbed up and checked out the shelves. By this time he was becoming pretty bored and most likely pretty tired from all of the hot-tubbing/drawer-climbing/toilet paper un-rolling/pooping and peeing.
He knew that it was close to his bed time because the sky was getting lighter and his eyes were getting heavier.

So he waddled his fat, damp-furried, but cleaner-footed self back down the stairs, went into the dining room, opened a few drawers, climbed up on the cabinet, found nothing and so decided it was time to head out.
He waddled back over to the fireplace, got up on his two back feet, looked around to make sure no one was watching, and then lifted himself up and into my chimney. Once he got past the flue he was able to grab onto a brick ledge that goes around the inside of the chimney. From that ledge he could stand on his toes and grab on to another, though smaller, brick ledge. There are several small 2-brick ledges that circle (or square?) the inside of that chimney, making climbing up or down a challenge, but definitely do-able.
Trust me, this isn’t my first rodeo.
And we’ve had that stupid chimney top fixed several times with all kind of materials locked down over it.
But nothing works for very long.
Thus, the hot tub party in the middle of the night.

So there you go. A raccoon bedtime story.
You’re very welcome.

And bonus! I have a few pics and a video.
Cuz I’m nice that way.
🙂

This is one of the pics of the tub, post its first scrubbing.  There may, or may not, have been some sailor-like language accompanying all that exhausting, but not very effective, scrubbing.
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This is Son #1’s room. Well, it used to be his room. Now he has his very own apartment and no one lives in this room, or this house at the moment. But I’ll still refer to it as his room. For now. 🙂
It looks pretty clean, doesn’t it? Look a bit closer.
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See that? That’s what we call a raccoon foot print. That’s probably what most people call it, but if you have a different name for it, please share. 🙂
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There’s another one. It’s pretty large. Have you ever read “The Kissing Hand”? If you have, check out the middle of the “palm” area.
I know, right?!!!
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This is a video of me, following the fat guy’s foot steps. I was investigating. Kind of.
I don’t think I’ll be working for the FBI any time soon.

I Am On ……

…… My VERY LAST NERVE!!!

I’ve had it.
Done.
I’m toast.
I’ve thrown in the towel.

I’m seriously considering selling everything in my Texas life and heading to NY and not looking back.
What, you may ask, would cause me to do such a drastic thing?
Well, I’ll tell you.
And you’ll laugh. But at this point in time, I’ve really had it, so it’s not so very funny to me.
Maybe it will be tomorrow.
Or next month.
Or ten years from now.

I worked all day today, on the computer, doing what I do to keep up with all things Soaring Spirits. I’ve scheduled a lot of Skype meetings, have already had a lot of Skype meetings, and have several more to do (we’re adding new groups at an amazingly fast pace right now!). So I worked on the computer all morning, until around 3:00.
And then I ran some errands, because I had to return a comforter that I bought for one of the guest rooms. It was a twin sized comforter. The bed in that room is queen sized. How in the world I came home with a twin sized, I’ll never know. I might be a bit worried about that, but I don’t really have time to ponder it.
So I took it back.
And got something else.

But on the way home I decided to make a detour and go over to the other house to check on things. Not that I expected to find anything out of the ordinary in an empty house, but I do watch “20/20” and they recently replayed a show about people moving into vacant houses and claiming squatters rights. That may have, or may have not, given me some motivation to make sure all was well in my big empty house.

I went through the garage door, and noticed that some of the stuff I let Son #2 put there (for his girlfriend, who was moving from one apartment into another), was still there …… 2 months later. I was under the impression that the stuff would be there for 2 weeks.
Color me surprised.
And unhappy.

But I walked past that stuff and on into the house. The first room I entered was the game room. Everything looked fine there. It was empty …… and still looked like a great room. With tons of storage.
Dang, I miss that storage.

Then I moved on into the kitchen area/family room. Now there’s a double sided fireplace in that area. One side is in the family room, off of the kitchen, the other side faces the living room.
I noticed that there was a “log” (it’s a fake gas fireplace) had fallen off of the stack and that a lot of the fluffy fake stuff that was in there was now in the family room. Like someone had stirred up everything in the fireplace and made a mess.
“Weird”, I thought. But whatever.
Then I walked into the living room and saw the other side of the fireplace. The glass and metal doors that are on that side of the fireplace were open. The fireplace screens were open. Someone had opened all four “doors” and left them open.
Again, I thought, “Weird”, and then I shut all of them. Very firmly.

I went through the downstairs …. my bedroom, bathroom, the study, and the dining room and looked things over. Nothing seemed to be amiss.

I then went upstairs.
I walked into Son #3’s room and saw that the blinds had been torn down from the windows. Upon closer inspection I noticed that there was some kind of dark stain on part of them. I wasn’t sure what that was, but the room had an odd smell.

Then I walked into Son #2’s room, and saw that something had been in there, and had decided to poop in that room. It looked kind of like dog poop.
I was stunned.
Who would’ve brought a dog into my empty house and let it poop all over the place?
That’s when I realized that the dark stain on the blinds, was pee.
And then I noted that there was pee in a few other places.

I then went into the bathroom that those 2 rooms shared. I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary …… until I moved the shower curtain back and looked into the tub.
And then I was shocked.
Full fledged shock.

Someone …… or something …… with very dirty feet, had been in that bathtub. All over that bathtub. There was dirt and mud and dirty footprints all over the place. And there was dirt all over the white shower curtain. Upon closer inspection, I saw that there were footprints all over the tub. I started cleaning the tub, as best I could with only hot water and a t shirt to rub all of the footprints with. But I couldn’t get the tub totally clean.
After all of that work, these footprints were still visible:
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I saw those footprints and I knew immediately what and who had been in my house. And in that tub.
Those footprints belong to a raccoon.
I kid you not.
Again, you’re probably laughing your ass off right now.
I am not.

As an amateur, but pretty dang good, detective …… here’s what I surmise had happened.

Someone, I don’t know who, I don’t know when, opened the flue of my double-sided fireplace. And left it open.
Now, a family looked at the house this past Tuesday …… two days ago …… and noticed nothing amiss. So evidently, sometime last night, or today, a FREAKING (and you really don’t know how very much I wanted to use another F-word here, but am trying my very best to rein in my anger) RACCOON climbed into my chimney, and then down my chimney, landed in my fireplace, knocking stuff out of said fireplace, and then made his way upstairs. (I’m using the word “he” because I can’t imagine a female of any species being as rude and trashy as this thing was.) He then tried to climb onto the windows of Son #3’s room, tore down the blinds, and then decided to pee on them. He also decided to pee in a couple of other areas of that room.
Then he made his way into Son #2’s room, and felt the need to poop. All over that room.

After all of that peeing and pooping he must’ve decided that he needed a shower.
Whatever.
The tub in that bathroom has a slow leak through the faucet. I’m guessing that this disgusting raccoon decided that he’d like a drink of water. So he climbed into the tub. He then found it a bit difficult to climb his way out of the porcelain hole, even though he walked and climbed all over that tub. We’re talking ALL OVER.
There was mud/dirt caked onto the shower curtain. Let alone the hundreds of footprints all over the tub.
Again, the pictures above were taken after I had scrubbed that tub for at least 20 minutes.

I continued scrubbing it after I took the pics, so it looks a bit better now, but it’s still not footprint-less. I’m going to have to go back over there tomorrow to see if I can clean that tub completely.
We shall see.

After I cleaned it as well as I could, I went back downstairs. I checked the flue, found it open, and then slammed it shut …… as hard as I could. I put the fake log back on the pile and cleaned everything up as best I could.

Then I texted my good friend/real estate agent and told her that a raccoon had been living in my house.
And then I drove home, to my smaller, raccoon-less home. By the time I got home my friend has responded to my text …… just as horrified as I imagined she would. Then she asked me if I’d like to meet for a margarita.
Funny …… that sounded like just what I needed. So I met her for a margarita. Or two.

I’m feeling better now, though I’d still love to catch, and then skin, the raccoon who made its way through the top of my supposedly-animal-proof-chuimney, down said chimney, through my flue, and into my house to pee and poop to his heart’s content.
I hate him.
And yes, I checked the entire house to make sure he wasn’t hiding in it.
Alas, he was not.

So there you go.
Another freakin’ run in with another freakin’ creature.
I need to go to NY. ASAP.

Although …… I have to tell you that as I was approaching my home (the one I live in that has no raccoons), this is what I saw …… as I was pondering on how much I hated raccoons:
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Yes, there was a mamma dear and two babies. The closest baby looked just like Bambi, with freckles and everything. How can you think about hating wild creatures as you gaze upon (and take photos of) these beautiful creatures?
So I promptly forgot/let go of the hated raccoon.

For now.

But I’ll be keeping a closer eye on my house now …… and hopefully the two of us will never encounter each other. Because I’m sure that I may be the one doing the peeing if that were to happen. Unless, of course, I decide to bring some kind of weapon with me.
Preferably a fire arm.

We shall see.

You’re totally welcome for this absurd, and perhaps funny, post.
Laugh at your own expense.
What goes around …… comes around.

🙂

Geez Louise ……

…… it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve written a post.
What kind of writer am I?!! Other than a bad one. Or a neglectful one.
Thank you for your patience.
And grace.
I need a whole lotta grace.
🙂

So, let’s see …… when last you heard from me I was in Waco, helping out Daughter #2 get her house ready for foster children. I had intended to stay there for a couple of days …… you know, the Friday to Sunday kind of thing. Then on Sunday afternoon Daughter #2 said something about me maybe staying another day. I think I had just said something like, “It’s too bad I’m leaving today. I could get a lot of stuff done if I had more time.” So when she said that I should stay, I thought, “Why not?”, and so I did.
And boy, did I get a lot of stuff done!

The bedroom I slept in looked like this when I arrived:
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There was a twin bed on the left side of the room, out of the view of the camera here. That’s where I slept.
On Monday, when she came home from work, it looked like this:
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I had to disassemble the twin bed so that I could assemble the twin beds that she brought from home, which matched each other.
I put a bookcase together that we had purchased over the weekend. The plan was to put it into the closet. The best laid plans …… are probably accomplished by taking everything into account. Like how tall a bookcase should be if it’s going into a closet.
Something most people call “measurements”.
We took none.
And now the bookshelves are against a wall in the room rather than in the closet. They were a wee bit taller than we thought they were. This knowledge was obtained by eyeballing the picture on the box, not the actual bookcase.
Oh well.
It still looks good. It’s white and will hold a lot more toys and books than we thought.
Given that it’s about 7 feet tall.

She already had a bookcase in there, but it was black and very full to overflowing with her books. So I emptied it and moved it into her room. Then I organized all of her books and put them on the shelves.
Have I mentioned that I love to organize? No? Well, I do. A lot. I’ve even been paid for organizing a kitchen. I’d love to do it for a living, but I’m not sure how I’d start.
Anyway, I digress.
Kind of.

So I organized the bedroom and the closet (after I cleaned it out). We now have mattresses on the beds and new bedding on them. This room is child-ready.

After D2 came home from work, and liked the results (yay!), I said that it was too bad that I didn’t have time to get anything done in the third bedroom, which will be a nursery, if a nursery is needed.
So she said, “Why don’t you stay?” and I thought, “Why not?!” …… and so I did. We went out to eat, had a margarita, and then came home to watch the Emmys.
Unfortunately, D2 doesn’t have cable, or satellite ( I KNOW!!!) …… and the tuner/antenna she has, picked that night to not get NBC. Sigh.
So I went on line and set my DVR to record the Emmys and we watched stuff on Netflix. And I enjoyed another evening with her.

While she was at work the next day I ran some errands that needed to be done, did some laundry, cleaned the kitchen and then organized her paperwork/bills/craft area. I still didn’t get anything done in the other bedroom because dogs were in there most of the morning while we waited for a plumber to get there, and then leave.

These dogs are insane. Or actually, her dog is insane. She has a small dog and she’s been keeping Daughter #3’s dog (a black lab …… not so small) while she’s in NY. Her friend who lives in an apartment behind her also has a dog, so it stays with the other two during the day. They have crates in the bedroom.
When you walk into the room to get them, here’s what happens (again, the small dog (her’s) is the insane one:

See? How insane is it to jump like that and not realize that you could easily jump right out? He jumps like that All. Of. The. Time.
Seriously. He must be part springer spaniel.
Get it? Ha!!!

This dog also started growling one night, seemingly at no one or nothing. Then D2 figured out that a bust of Shakespeare, that I gave her a few weeks ago, was the culprit. It was in a corner of the living room and it seems that RG (the insane dog’s name) was not going to let Will sit comfortably. We’re not sure if someone forced him to sit through “King Lear”, or what, but he does NOT like that guy!

So other than having an insane dog, I think her house is ready for inspection. She’s already passed several, including one by the fire department, so I think she just has the final one to do.

If everyone had to pass these intense inspections before they were able to bring home a baby from the hospital, our hospitals would be overflowing with babies and toddlers. It’s amazing to see all of the hoops she’s had to jump through.
Now I just have to take a CPR class so that I’ll be allowed to babysit.
I doubt that the last one I took will count. I took it when I was pregnant with Daughter #1.
But it’s not like I forgot everything.
Although the thing that stands out the most is having to say, “Baby, baby …… are you ok?!!”, and trying not to laugh while Jim made faces at me.

OK, that’s it for now. I’m hoping to write about my trip to Chicago that occurred this past weekend. I had a great time.
Even if our hotel was full of hundreds of tiny little One Direction fans.
And their mothers.

Yikes!
🙂

P.S. I’d like to take a moment to brag. Did you notice that rug in the second video? D2 made it. She bought a very inexpensive beige rug, made templates for the design she wanted, and then used a Sharpie to draw it onto the rug.
Cute, huh?
She’s SO talented. 🙂

Fool Me Once ……

…… shame on you.
Fool me twice …… then I’m an idiot.

Nice try, Ms. GPS. Nice try.

I got in my car today to head to Waco. But first I checked Google Maps. I know some people have problems with that site, but in NY …… I live by Google Maps. They haven’t failed me yet.
Unlike a certain evil car GPS.

When ie got into the car I entered my destination into said GPS. She came back with three very similar routes to Waco.
Each one had a similar time frame for the route.
Each one of those would take me 5 1/2 hours.
Over two hours longer than it actually takes to get there.
The Google Maps time frame?
Three hours and fifteen minutes.
Guess which routes I didn’t use?

I’m perplexed and flummoxed over this stupid GPS. OK, I’m not really flummoxed …… I just wanted to use that word. Were you impressed?

This is a new car. All things inside that car should work, and work flawlessly. I don’t think that wanting a GPS that doesn’t hate me is asking for a lot.
But at least I’m not alone. Several of you seem to have the same evil GPS, or her equally evil twin.

And yes, she gives me preferences. Like “use highways”. Or at least she pretends to. I gave her several chances to change her routes to add a major highway (I-45 for all you Texans), but she flat out refused.
What. The. Heck??

So my phone and Google got me to Daughter #2’s house …… safely and quickly. Well, as quickly as 3 hours and 15 minutes can be.

I had a happy/sad moment as I passed the statue of Sam (Houston, for all you non-Texans. Otherwise known as foreigners.) Jim used to lead the whole family in a chorus of “Good-bye, Sam!” as we headed north on trips. We also told him hello on our return trips.
I miss him when I drive by Sam.
But I love the memories.

Speaking of heading north, I’m finally going back to NY in a few weeks! I’ve been going through major withdrawl. I need to see a Broadway show soon or I just might snap.
And no one wants that to happen.
Ask my kids.

Ok, I just noticed that it’s 12:30 a.m.
I thought it was closer to 11.
It’s been a longer day than I thought it was.

Y’all have a good weekend.
And stay on your toes if you use your GPS.
I think they’re trying to take over the world.
Or maybe just Texas.
🙂

My GPS ……

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…… is trying to kill me.
Seriously.

Last night I drove downtown to meet up with a fellow widowed friend who’s in town for business (Hi M!).
I made it downtown with no problems, but that was only because I completely ignored the directions I was being given.
The GPS told me to get off of the highway about 10 miles before my destination. Which kind of surprised me. Thankfully, I know enough about this city to know that was NOT the way I wanted to go.

Unfortunately, I don’t know this city well enough when every other street seems to be closed due to construction.

I made it to my destination, picked up my friend and, after driving around cluelessly for a bit, happened upon a good Texas barbecue restaurant. We had a nice dinner (well, as nice as it can be at a barbecue restaurant) and enjoyed catching up. After a few hours I dropped him off at his hotel.
Then I set my GPS to “Go Home” and that’s when the trouble began.

Downtown is pretty messed up with all of the construction so, in spite of it’s earlier spectacular error, I trusted it.
That will not be happening again.

Ms. GPS (because it’s a female voice and I don’t know if she’s married) gave me 3 different routes to choose from, all of which looked pretty much the same.
I clicked on one and began my trek homeward.
I didn’t get onto a freeway for 30 minutes.
That’s because I was driving through the dregs and bowels and gangland streets of Houston.
I kid you not.

I don’t think it’s a good idea to ever drive through that area alone …… at night …… and in a new car that still has the dealer tags on.

I prayed as I approached every stop light, hoping that they would turn green before I had to stop. Thankfully, I only had to stop twice.
At the first stop someone pulled up next to me. Like, right next to and close …… to me.
I averted my eyes and tried to look tough.
Go ahead. Laugh.
I would if I were you.
I even pretended to chew gum.
Because we all know that all criminals and women who kill chew gum.
What the what??!

I finally made it to the freeway, when I happily shut off Ms. GPS, but not until I told her what I thought of her.
I amy have called her a few names.

I don’t know what’s going on, but she definitely has it in for me.

I’m driving to Waco today.
If you never hear from me again, look for my car.
It’ll probably be with Stephen King.

Home Sick ……

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…… and not liking it.

I haven’t even been here for a week yet and I’m feeling sad more than I’m not.

I love my home, truly love it. And it’s nice to spend time with the boys, even if it’s only a few seconds a day.
But that’s part of the problem. They just come and go and rarely stay. They rarely want to just hang out with mom, which I know is normal.
But normal is lonely.

When I’m in NY I’m alone much of the time, but I don’t feel lonely. I think the loneliness comes from living in a place where I used to be very busy, and had a lot of friends to go out with, or call, or hang with.
When Jim when was alive.
When I was married.

Sometimes it feels gut-wrenching to live in the exact same place, but have a very different life.

When Jim was alive, things were always busy. Granted, the kids were all younger and so there was more to do with them, and we were very involved with our church and our community.
Having a night at home …… a night where we didn’t have to go anywhere …… was wonderful.
Now that’s the only kind of night I have.
And while I like having time to myself, having time 24/7 to myself isn’t wonderful.
Not here, anyway.
Not as long as I can remember how it was …… “before”.

“Before” I had plans all of the time.
“Before” I didn’t have to invite myself over to a friend’s house, or be made to feel that I was.
“Before” I never would’ve thought of taking a taxi home from the airport, because I had no one to call. I wouldn’t have worried that if I called someone for a ride they’d feel that I was using them.

Today was a lovely day …… weather-wise. I sat outside and got some work done and read and studied.
Alone.
I’m finding that when you’re always alone, even the loveliest of days can be painful.

I have been blessed beyond belief in my life. Both in my “before” and in my “after”.
But there are still times …… and there will always be times …… when the pain of missing my “before”, brings tears that blind me to the blessings.
For a while.

Just So You Know ……

…… I have a big post coming. I just need to take the time to sit down and write it.

For those who don’t know, I’m back in NY. I got back late yesterday afternoon (almost an hour later than I was supposed to arrive), and still made it to the Tony’s.
Yes, THE Tony’s.
And I had a great time.
The greatest of great times.

Today was full of catching up with bills and mail that had stacked up for a month.
And trying to un-glue Oliver from my side.
He’s pathetic.
Pathetic and fat.
I don’t know what all Daughter #3 has been feeding him while I’ve been gone, but it’s way too much.
She says she thinks I don’t accurately remember how big he was.
Trust me, I know he was big.
But he’s crossed over …… to the side that’s way too heavy for me to carry his fat butt through an airport.
So he’s going on a diet.

Life should be sheer bliss around here.

I hope to have some time to sit down tomorrow and write about the Tony’s.
Because if I don’t write about it tomorrow, you may never hear about it.
Since I’m going back to barre class on Wednesday …… which just might kill me after being off for a month.
Truly.

Happy Monday/Tuesday.
🙂

American Ninja ……

…… has me captivated. Truly.  Inexplicably.
I’m not sure why.
But I’m contemplating putting a Ninja workout course in my back yard jungle. The Sons and I could practice together and become the first mother/sons trio ever to enter.
What?
Stop laughing. One guy was 56 years old!
Of course, he didn’t get very far, but hell, he got further than most of you could go!

Actually, I told Son #3 that I could probably do the first obstacle (the one where you jump from one pad to the other), and then I’d be done. Although, I think I could totally do that swing thing and jump to the rope obstacle, but there’s no way in Hades that I could even get one of those rings moved (or the posts moved, depending upon which state’s competition you’re watching. Which brings up a question … and an accusation: Why do the contestants not have to do the EXACT same course?? You can’t tell me that hanging on to that circle thing with your feet wedged into place, is just as hard as hanging on to that log-thing with no place for your feet to wedge into! I maintain that these competitions are unfair. And I’m sure that NBC really cares about my opinion.
But at least I’ve put it out there.)
Anyway … all that to say … I have NO upper body strength. Well, that’s not totally true. The barre classes have helped me gain some strength up there, although I may have lost it all now, since I haven’t been in a class for over 3 weeks. Sigh …… that’s a hell of a lot of work to waste.
There are no barre classes down here. Not less than a 45 minute drive anyway. I’m thinking about starting a franchise here in my community. Just so I can go.
How pathetic is that?

So …… where was I?
I digress so easily these days.
Oh yeah, American Ninja. In my back yard.
Yeah.
Let’s think about it: I’ve packed up my 5,000 square feet house (with some help from friends, but mostly me). I moved most of those boxes to the new house …… by myself (the movers moved most of the furniture and the really heavy boxes).
I unpacked most of those boxes and put things away …… by myself.
I re-unpacked everything when the painters finished. And hooked up our sound system. Then dug out our old CD player (that holds 200 CDs) and wired it in, too. And it all works. (I’m more amazed than anyone!)
I’ve trimmed the trees in the back yard.
I packed up all of the stuff that we didn’t sell in the moving sale and moved it all into one room of the house and into the garage. By myself.
I helped a guy load it onto a truck today, thus leaving the house almost totally empty.
And the garage.
And the attic.

I think I need a nap.

So yeah, I might be able to train for this Ninja show.
But now that I’ve typed all of that out, I don’t think I want to.
Wow, that was a quick turn around.
So much for American Ninja.
At least that saves me a lot of time and effort in putting one of those dang courses in the back yard.
I think I’ll fix a margarita instead and watch the wild life from the back porch.

So yes, the house is pretty much empty.
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The last time I saw it this empty was the day that Jim and I were deciding to put an offer on it.
Back in November of 1997.
But who’s counting?
Besides me.

So does all of this mean that I can qualify for American Ninja?
Hell, no.
It just means that I’m tough in other ways.
And I admire those who do qualify.
And I really admire that tiny little woman who made it over the “Warped Wall” …… the first woman to ever do so.
You go, tiny woman!!

For those of you (and I’m certain that it’s most of you) who have no earthly idea what I’ve been talking about …… NBC …… Monday nights. Watch it just once.
And you’ll be hooked.
Or go read a good book.
Whatever.

Tonight Son #3 kept his crown of the king of grilling …… at least in my book. He made ham steaks with a jalapeño sweet and sour marinade that was very, very good.
And, he suffered through the burning that he got on his hands and face from cutting up, and grilling, the jalapeños.
No kidding, I thought for a moment that I was going to have to take him to the ER. He ran upstairs and jumped into the shower while I Googled “what to do for jalapeño burns” — mustard, rubbing alcohol, yogurt, or fresh lime juice …… I wasn’t sure if this was going to help him, or get him ready to be put on the grill.)
Thankfully, the shower seemed to help.
The mustard didn’t do all that much.

But the ham steaks were wonderful.

In other news (I really should just try to write every day, rather than every few days because SO much goes on around here that it creates wickedly long posts. Sorry.)
World War III is going on in my back yard.
Granted, it’s only between two parties, but that’s all it takes to start a war, right?
It seems that we have a raccoon who thinks he can waddle around my property, taking whatever he wants.
Which is a bit better than our first thought: Son #3 put up humming bird feeders, filled with the red sugar solution they love. When I woke up the next morning, I noticed that one of the feeders was gone. So I went outside and noticed that it had been tossed down the hill. After it had been drained.
After it had been carefully un-hooked from the stand Son #3 had hung it on.
Our thoughts? Some big, fat bully of a hummingbird was terrorizing the other little birds and stole all of our bird juice.
And then we put more thought into it …… and decided that it was some big, fat pig of a raccoon, who had carefully unhooked it, guzzled it all down, burped, and tossed it down the hill, like a Chicago Bears fan going through a 6 pack. (I lived in Chicago and I have a tiny love of the Bears so I can write that. Ha!)

Well, I waited a few days and then put a bit of the red stuff into the feeder and re-hung it.
Then, that same evening, Son #2 was in the kitchen and there was a shattering noise outside. I, being the deaf and aging old woman that I am, thought the sound came from the TV (just shut up, ok?!). He looked around and said, “What the hell was that?!” I said, “What?”. He said, “There’s something out there.”, while pointing outside.
And in that instant, I knew. I may, or may have not, uttered a swear word as I vaulted over the furniture and ran outside.
And there, broken into a hundred shattered pieces (or maybe 20), was the very beautiful, glass bird bath that Son #3 had brought home.
Why that fat SOB wanted to take a bath is beyond me, but he has crossed me too many times.
So now there’s a trap outside where the bird bath used to be. With a can of cat food in it as a lure.
A lure that fat slob didn’t go for last night.
We may have to try something else.
Son #3 swears that a Reeses cup will do the deed.
All of you Houston-area Peeps ought to love that! It seems that even our raccoons here in KW are snobs! They won’t go for anything less than chocolate!
WTH?????
I guess I’ll go pick up some Reeses tomorrow.
I’ll keep you posted.

OK, that’s it.
For now.
But as you all know by now, there will be plenty to write about tomorrow or the next day.
Never a dull moment.
You’re welcome.
Happy Tuesday.
🙂