Category Archives: Uncategorized

In with a Bang ……

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…… out with a whimper, as the saying goes.
Only it’s really out with some silent tears rather than a pathetic whimper.
That’s more how I roll.

The house is packed.
And very, very quiet.
To say that I’m going to miss this lovely home is like saying Gracie is a little energetic.
Words don’t do the feeling justice.

The same goes for leaving this community.
There aren’t enough words.
Or smiles.
Or tears.

Last night I went out with a friend and made two new friends.
Two nights before I leave.
Go figure.

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But I had a great time, which I really, really needed.
I needed to laugh and laugh a lot, instead of think of how much I was going to miss my friends here and cry myself into dehydration.

Which is where I found myself on Mother’s Day.
In an emergency room, severely dehydrated (did you notice that great segue?!).
Although I doubt that it was caused by crying.
I’m actually not certain what caused the whole thing …… all I know is that I never EVER want to get that way again.
It was horrible.

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I started feeling badly Thursday night and then proceeded to sleep 46 of the next 48 hours.
Seriously.
No food.
No water.
Nothing.
Just a lot of pain (like the feeling of having been hit by a truck …… I hazard to guess) and utter exhaustion like I’ve never felt before.
Even as a mother of newborn twins.
(That hit by a truck feeling, yes. The utter exhaustion, no.)

I knew by Friday afternoon that I needed an IV but couldn’t do anything about it. (I just knew. Never been hydrated before.)
Thankfully for me, Son #1 decided to surprise me with a visit Saturday morning. Unluckily for him, we both spent all of Mother’s Day morning in a hospital.
Him, freezing to death.
Me, wishing for death.
I kid.
He wasn’t that cold.

So, one diagnosed UTI (who knew?), one bag of IV fluids, three different prescriptions and one huge co-pay later we were out the door.
I’m still not back to 100% but I’m a heck of lot better than I was.
The take away?
Living alone can be hella scary, especially when you’re ill.
It is incredibly frightening to know how fast you can go downhill when no one’s with you.

My second take away? The next time my daughter/mother/anyone at all actually, offers to take me to an urgent care I will say yes, thank you.

The rest of my Mother’s Day?
Nice.
Quite nice.

A Beautiful Harp ……

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…… can’t always play beautiful music.

No matter how beautiful this magnificent instrument looks, it’s only as good as its strings.

Monday night, as I sat through the funeral of my stepmother, tears rolling down my face at yet another part of my life that is gone, the image of a beautiful harp filled my mind.
It came out of nowhere, but it was as clear as if the harp were actually sitting in front of me.
As I studied this harp in my mind, one of its strings suddenly broke. It was an almost violent action and sound that stood in contrast to the beauty of the instrument.
Sometimes the breaking of a harp string can be painful.
If you’re too close.

It didn’t take me long to realize that this beautiful, yet broken
instrument …… was a visual image of my life.
Or rather, of my life since I met Jim.

Meeting him and falling in love with him brought the harp into my life.
All of the people and experiences that came after that filled my beautiful harp with amazing sounding strings.
The music from that harp was often loud, full of joy, love, laughter and sometimes … touching sadness.

And then Jim died.
Suddenly.
And just as suddenly, most of the strings on that harp snapped violently, stinging anyone and anything in their path.
After that, the harp just sat …… in its brokenness.

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It occurred to me, as I sat in that funeral home Monday night, that each breaking string represented another connection with Jim that was now gone.
So seeing that string break at that moment, wasn’t actually losing my stepmother, but losing another part of my life that contained Jim.

I thought of all of those broken strings, and the lost people or things they represented.
My mother in law.
People who withdrew from my life.
The sale of our home.
The sale of our lake house.
The death of a friend of ours.
The divorce of friends of ours.
Our children …… graduating, growing, graduating again …… marrying.
Moving to New York.
Leaving Kingwood.
Selling his car.

There are so many more strings that have broken.
So many more ties to Jim that have been lost.
The more they break …… the lonelier, and sometimes more broken, I feel.

closeup of harp

But here’s the thing.
The most important thing.
The harp doesn’t have to stay broken.
New strings can be added.
Notice that I didn’t say that strings can be “replaced”.
Because they can’t.
Ever.
And that’s ok.
They need to be remembered and honored and treasured for what each of them added to the beauty of the instrument.

And then new strings can be installed.
All it takes is a little determination.
And the desire to hear beautiful music again.

But most importantly …… it’s asking for help from the God who’s been loving us and waiting for us all along.

I’ve found that he adds the very best strings …… when I get out of His way.

Ironically enough …… the same events that can break a string …… can also put in a new one.
Moving to New York.
Selling “our” home in order to start the next part of my life.
Children graduating. And thriving.
And marrying.

New strings can be added as often as you recognize them.
Son #4.
Little Man.
Moving to Waco.
Gracie.                                                                                                                                                         Making new friends.                                                                                                                 Reconnecting with old ones.
Continuing to make memories.
Continuing to count blessings.

A harp needs to have strings replaced periodically in order to sound its best.
And even though new strings bring beauty …… there will still be pain each time an old one breaks.
Each time I lose another connection to Jim.

It’s this thing called “life” …… and it comes with the territory …… of living.

My harp will continue to play, and will continue to cause pain sometimes. The only way to avoid that is to leave it sitting in a corner, collecting dust.
And missing out on its extraordinary, beautiful music.
That …… I cannot do.

I’ll continue to listen to its music, feel the pain of each broken string, and lovingly add new ones as needed, with God’s help.
Because I can’t bear the thought of never seeing, or hearing, its beauty again.
And remembering Jim each time it plays.

kim webby harp 2

Holy Moley ……

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…… sometimes life just sneaks up and bites you once in awhile to make sure you’re still ticking.

Or at least that’s how it feels.
To me.
Sometimes.

To be honest, it’s just “first world” problems. Which means that I really shouldn’t be complaining.
But this happens to be my blog so there you go.

I am on day six (6) of having no internet or cable. That’s because I have (had) Verizon. Which broke last Wednesday.
That would be the same day that their repairmen/repair people went on strike.
Don’t you just love it?

Verizon and I parted ways last night, much to the dismay of the poor foreign man on the phone.
I really didn’t leave him any room to negotiate. I told him that he had to either send me the boxes to put their equipment in so that I could send it back …… or I would throw it out of my window.

He totally gave in at that point.

If you live in a house full of people, you can’t possibly understand how isolating it is to have no tv.
No news.
No weather.
No company.
Nothing.

It’s down right depressing.

Last night I decided to take the bull by the horns (so to speak) and went next door to Best Buy and bought a TV antenna.
After hooking it up I decided to become a rebel/cord cutter.
Which makes me feel free and kind of scared all at the same time.
I mean, I’ve grown to love having a DVR.
And the ability to watch whatever I want to watch whenever I want to watch it.

But I’ve gone off the grid.
And am going to attempt to live with free TV channels, even if that means I can’t always get NBC and CBS (because I can’t, for some odd reason).

I still don’t have internet but am hoping that will be resolved soon with another provider.
Thankfully I can go up to the top floor of my building and use the free internet there.
As long as I can stand the heat.
For some strange reason (money, maybe?), they’re not turning the AC on up there yet.
Even though the temps were in the low 80’s this afternoon.
Which makes a floor totally surrounded by glass a bit on the warm side.

But there I go again …… complaining about first world problems.

Other than that, NY has been great.
I’ve seen a few shows, hung out in the Park with Gracie, spent time with friends, and done a couple of volunteer shifts at the theatre.

I’ve also spent an unholy amount of time waiting in my apartment for Verizon people to not show up, but I won’t go there.
Totally.
But boy, did that suck.

And then there was tonight.
I was cooking one of my Blue Apron meals, which I just received for the first time on Friday.
I had to bake chicken and mushrooms at a rather high temp (in my opinion …. 475).
It wasn’t long before my smoke alarm went off.
Wonderful.

But then it stopped.
And went off again.
And stopped.
I opened the windows (the stove vent was already on full blast) to try to alleviate the problem.
I’m not sure how much time passed before I noticed something …… the smoke alarm on my floor was going off.
I opened my door to check it out and saw a couple of people down the hall, looking like they were trying to make sense of what was going on.
And trying to decide if they should flee the building.
I shut my door.

About 20 minutes later (with the alarm going off that entire time) there was a knock at my door.
One of the maintenance men was checking to make sure I hadn’t been burned to a crisp.
Although it’s kind of funny that he evidently wasn’t in that much of a hurry to check on that.
He seemed to know that I’d been “cooking”. He asked if I was alright. I thought about pausing for a moment to look myself up and down before I answered, but I didn’t.
I told him that I was fine. And that the apartment was fine.
Which he then relayed to the people standing out in the hall.
Which now means that I will have to check the hallway before I leave my apartment.
Because I’m totally embarrassed to be seen by any of those people who stood out in the hall for 20 minutes, wondering if they should flee the building.

There you go.
Life in the big city.
First world problems.

Kind of stupid and very silly on the grand scheme of things.
But totally stressful and very embarrassing when you’re right in the middle of them.

Two things are apparent because of all of this:
1. I am a rebel (duh!)
And …
2. I still (really) hate to cook.
Even with Blue Apron.

“The Best Laid Plans ……

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of mice and men often go awry.”

I have no idea why that quote talks about the plans of mice.  I mean, really??  Who knows what the plans of mice are?
And technically, I’m not a man, but boy, did my plans go awry yesterday.

It was the day I was closing on our lake house.
The place that Jim loved the most.
The place where we spent his final days, though we had no idea they were to be his last.
The place where the kids and I spread the last of his ashes.
The place I thought we’d keep forever.
The place where I thought our children would come to share holidays with their children.

The place that became none of that after he died.

I knew that this closing could be a mine field of emotions, but I planned to be very stoic. I planned to get through this day without any emotions.
Without any tears.

But the best laid plans ……

Our original closing date was to be on March 17th.
Next week.
But last week the buyers informed me that they wanted to close a week early, on the 11th.
They suddenly had plans to go out of the country on March 14th, and wouldn’t be back until the 21st.
So they wanted to move the closing up and they wanted to do a walk through early that afternoon and told us to make sure that NOTHING was left behind …… in the house or on the property.
They thought that I would be thrilled with this plan.
They thought they were doing me a favor.
And boy, were they wrong.

My parents have been living in the lake house.
They had arranged a moving company to load up all of their stuff …… on the 11th.
There was no way in hell that the house would be ready for the buyers’ walk through.
So I told them no.
We couldn’t move the closing up an entire week, just to fit their travel arrangements.
And I told them that I was angry that they decided to move things up, and expected us to have the house empty a week early.
I told them that their plans did not fit with our schedule.
And that I was also irritated that they now wouldn’t be closing on the house on the day that they gave me, but instead we’d have to do it over a week later.

They apologized for causing me any stress and said that they would like to close on the 11th, but would totally understand that the house wouldn’t be empty for their walk through. They said that they understood that we’d still be knee-deep in moving out.

They lied.

I drove to the lake yesterday to close on the house.
My parents were still packing and the movers had come and gone.
The movers also miscalculated the size of the truck they would need.
So they couldn’t pack everything into the truck that they brought.
Which meant that my parents had to rent a U-Haul and pack much of the things on their own.

I went to the closing, knowing that the house wasn’t empty, but also knowing that they buyers had said that would be ok.
I signed all of the papers.
I did everything I was supposed to do.
Then I went to the house and took a few last pictures.

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My agent and I were getting ready to head back home when the buyers’ agent called her.

And told her that the closing was off.
They buyers had done the walk through and were pissed off that the house wasn’t empty.
They didn’t want to close now.
Unless I agreed to sign a lease back to them for one day, guaranteeing them that the house would be empty after that one day.

That phone call changed all of my plans.
Suddenly, the selling of this house felt painful.
Much more painful than it had to be.
And the tears started to flow.

This was not the plan.
We were supposed to keep this house for many, many years.
I was not supposed to have to sell it on my own.
And I was not supposed to have to deal with a couple of asses on my own.
But there you go.

So we drove back to the title company to make the closing happen.
And this couple …… this couple who professed to be kind and understanding and supportive a week earlier (as well as to my mom during the walk through) …… were anything but.
They demanded that I put up a deposit of $5,000 in case the property wasn’t emptied to their liking.
This was what it would take to make them feel “comfortable” enough to do the deal.
My agent said that we wouldn’t agree to that high of a deposit. And their agent said that maybe if I talked to them and assured them that the house would be emptied, they’d feel more comfortable.
By this time I couldn’t stop the tears.
I didn’t want to talk to these people.
I just wanted to go home.
But I went in to face them and to try to assure them that they had nothing to worry about.
I also tried to tell them why this was so emotional for me.

They couldn’t have cared less.
The wife had a stupid grin plastered on her face the entire time I spoke to them.
I wanted to slap her.
They didn’t care that this was emotional for me.
That this was a home my husband loved and that I wished we’d never had to sell.
They were not the “Christians” that they purported to be.
They were heartless and very, very cold.

They said that they thought they were doing ME a favor by closing a week early.
They said that most sellers would be thrilled with an earlier closing date.
That most sellers would say, “Thank God!!” that the closing date was moved up.
They seemed to think that I owed them.

They wanted the house emptied, and they wanted it emptied yesterday.And they demanded that I give them the $5,000 deposit. Or they would walk.

I wanted to be the one that walked.
I wanted to tell them what they could do with their demands …… and their plans to buy my house.
But in the end, that didn’t make sense.
And so I signed their stupid lease agreement.
All the while blaming Jim for putting me in this situation.
Even though that didn’t make sense.
It is what it is.

I hate that couple.

I wanted to like them and wish them well with their four children in our home.
I wanted this to go so much differently than it did.
I didn’t plan to cry.

But there you go.
The best laid plans ……

I spent most of the day today working at that house, helping my parents pack up the rest of their stuff.
I worked my butt off cleaning out everything, in a couple of sheds, the garage and the house.
I am beyond tired.
And sore.

But it is done.
We’ll see if they give my back my $5,000.
I don’t have high hopes.
And I won’t know for a month.

I planned for this to go differently.
This house was the last thing I had that Jim and I shared.
It was the last thing I had of my “before” life.
It could have gone so much better.
That’s what I planned, anyway.

The best laid plans ……

Sometimes really suck.

Wedding and “Fixer Upper”……

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…… news.

Well, not so much wedding news.
I’ll write a post about it …… as soon as I spend some time thinking about it and what I want to say.

For now I’ll just say this …… it was beyond beautiful.
And Daughter #3 was breathtaking.

I’ll leave you with a few pictures before I end the post.

In other news …… Daughter #2 will be on the HGTV show, “Fixer Upper”, next Tuesday, March 15th. I think that it airs at 8:00 Central, 9:00 Eastern, but you might want to double check your area to make sure.
We are beyond excited!
Here’s a link to what HGTV has to say about it:
http://www.hgtv.com/shows/fixer-upper/episodes/single-foster-mom-finds-fixer-for-future-family

So there you go.
It’s really too much excitement for one blog post.

So I’ll have to write another soon.
Hopefully.

Until then …… here are some pictures from the wedding.
Enjoy.
❤

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Little Man and I were in the room with her.  He decided to pick up her train and then started following her around the room.  Thankfully, I managed to get a few (like 10!) pictures.  TANW for how this makes me heart feel.
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These next two pictures were taken by her wonderful and amazing photographer, Angela King (https://www.facebook.com/AngelaKingPhoto/?pnref=story.unseen-section).  As you can see … she’s a very talented photographer.
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I like to think that this represents Jim, shining down on them.  ❤
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Mixed Blessings ……

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…… equal mixed emotions.

Last week I went through all of our stuff at the lake.  Much of Jim’s clothes were still there …… where he left them.
It was sad to be parting with them, but it was also a relief to be parting with that house.
Mostly.
I walked down to the lake one late afternoon. It was very peaceful and the water was calm. Very calm.
That water usually made me feel calm.
That day was no different.

I can “feel” Jim there, down by the water.
It’s not that I believe he’s there. I don’t know what I believe about that anymore.
But I think it’s because it’s a place he loved so very much.
It’s hard to give that up.
And yet it’s not.

Confusing?
Welcome to my world.

Today I’m driving to Waco to be on Gigi duty while Daughter #2 goes to a conference.
I just saw her, Little Man and Daughter #3 this past weekend for a few hours. They drove down for a bridal shower some very dear friends hosted.
It had been less than a week since I’d seen him.
TANW* for how warm my heart felt when I looked into the car, he saw me and his face lit up.
It was the first time he really recognized me right away and wanted to come to me immediately.
No words.

Yesterday I had my annual meeting with my financial guy.
I know that I am beyond blessed to be able to have these meetings.
I know that Jim is still taking care of me long after he’s gone.
I also know why I cry every single year on the way to that meeting.
I’d rather have him.
And not money because he’s dead.
Mixed blessings.

I have several dresses to choose from for Daughter #3’s wedding. Which is in 10 days.
I’m not thrilled about any of them, though at this point in my life I’m not sure a dress exists that I’d be happy wearing.
Unless I don’t look in the mirror.
Which, now that I think about it, may be the best way to handle this.
Hmmmm …… I think I like that.
I’ll keep you posted.

I’m looking forward to seeing friends and family whom I haven’t seen in a long time.
I can’t wait to have all of the kids together in one place.
All seven of us.
I wish there were eight.

I’m excited for Daughter #3.
I hope that day is nothing but fun for her and Son #4.
I hope there is so much joy around them that it’s palpable.
And I hope the love they have for each other continues to grow, deepen and mature for many, many, many years.
Many.

Gracie is sleeping on my lap as I write this.
A friend is coming to pick her up in an hour or so.
I won’t see her until after the wedding.
This is the longest period of time that she’ll be away from me and though I know this sounds stupid beyond belief …… I feel so sad about being without her for that long.

I know she’s just a dog, but she’s been my near constant companion for almost a year and a half.
She’s loved me through good days, sad days, fun days and frustrating days.
She doesn’t expect anything from me.
She just loves me.
Pure and simple.

Not much in life is pure and simple.

Love can be pure, but it’s rarely simple.
Blessings feel pure. Not always simple.
Emotions are often pure and hardly ever simple.

I hope that I can keep mine in check.
Amidst all of the love, the blessings and the joy.
I’ll definitely be leaning on God in 10 days.
And relying on the prayers of friends and loved ones.

Mixed blessings.
Mixed emotions.
But steadfast, pure love.

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
I Corinthians 13:13

*There Are No Words

Another “First” ……

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…… to experience. Another “first” to go through without Jim. And really, the biggest one yet. The most emotional. The one that could knock me to my knees …… if I let it.
But I won’t. I can’t.
Instead, I’ll slide a very nice mask into place, and lock it down tightly.

No one will know …… for certain …… that as I watch Daughter #3 walk herself down the aisle at her wedding, my heart will be breaking again.
I won’t let my feelings steal away any of her happiness.

Besides, I won’t be the only one whose heart is hurting.

She’s right …… no one can take the place of her father. So no one will.
I have no doubt that her joy will be mingled with sadness as she makes that walk.
And her siblings will feel the same pain …… as they watch her walk with a huge missing presence on her right side.

But all of us …… all seven of us …… will smile through the pain, and feel joy for her …… and for Son #4.
Because that’s what you do, when you want life to move forward.
And when you want to choose joy.

I’ve been able to keep the pain in check, to ignore it …… until now.
I made it through Son #4 asking me for my blessing before he asked her to marry him.
I did feel the missing of Jim at that moment, but I also felt the love and pride and joy for both of us.

When we found the perfect dress for her …… there was a moment when the tears flowed because he should’ve been there. Damn it, he SHOULD have been there.
But, as with so many other times, the tears were dried. Because …… simply …… he wasn’t. And he won’t. And that’s life.
And death.

The next time she wore the dress, for her first fitting, there were no tears. Truthfully, I didn’t even think about feeling sad. Because we were busy, making sure the dress would be adjusted …… and fitted …… perfectly.

And this weekend, for her last fitting, it did. She looks beautiful. I can’t wait to see Son #4’s face when he sees her.
And maybe because it was just me with her, but this time …… this time I felt his absence. And I’ve felt it ever since.
When no one is around, I can let the mask slip …… and the tears flow.
Interestingly enough, I’m on a plane, heading back to Texas as I write this.
Not caring that the tears are flowing next to a stranger.
He probably thinks the movie I have on is a tear jerker.
Which is probably for the best.
For him. 😊
There are less than three weeks until the joyous day.
Three weeks to let the tears come.
Three weeks to feel the missing of him.
Three weeks to grieve his absence …… to wish he were here.

And then …… then it will be time to choose joy.

Lauren0001Lauren0006

He had tears!!

There’s Always Something New ……

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…… to experience in life every day.
Sometimes you have to take the time to recognize it.
Other times it smacks you in the face.

Today I had a couple of new things happen.
They could’ve been really frustrating, if they hadn’t been so hilarious.

The first was how I had to dress to go play tennis.
Yes, I wore a tennis outfit.
Layered under some athletic leggings and jacket.
And all of that was layered under a huge puffy coat and snow boots.
So I sort of resembled this:
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Seriously.

That’s because it was snowing when I left and the weather people had warned us that it would snow all day. We were supposed to get three to six inches.
Whatever.
What other job can you have where you can ALWAYS be wrong and still get paid?!

It wasn’t snowing when we finished playing.
Because again …… WRONG!
Although it was still pretty cold, so I was glad for the puffy coat.

So today’s “first” was the fact that I had to wear snow boots to tennis, and then change out of them and into my tennis shoes.
That never happened in Texas.
Not once in 20 years.

The second “first” happened as we were finishing up playing.
Now, if you don’t play tennis on a regular basis, then you might not understand how surprising it was.
And what a HUGE breach of tennis etiquette.

We had the court until 1:30.
We were in the middle of a game at that point.
And in the middle of a point.
My partner and I noticed some movement behind us and both turned around to see what was going on.
It was a woman, who evidently was scheduled to have a tennis lesson on our court at 1:30.
She was walking across the court …… ON the court, right in the middle of our game.
I was stunned.

In Texas, everyone knows that you never, EVER walk onto someone’s court as they’re playing.
Even if it’s your time to play.
You wait until you catch their attention and then the people on the court usually ask if it’s ok for them to finish the point/game.
And people usually say, “Of course!”
But this woman …… this rude, ill-mannered, uncouth tennis player just marched onto our court and over to the side.
The look on her face was very haughty …… as if to say, “I dare you to say something.”
I think/hope she might have heard me say, “That’s possibly the rudest thing I’ve ever seen!”
Because it was.

I was going to blame it on New York and the people who play here, but my friends were quick to tell me that they, too, had been surprised by this ridiculous woman and her lack of manners.
They assured me that this was not a New York thing.

So I’m giving the city a break.
I don’t know where that woman is from, but evidently that country needs a tennis rule book.
It was such a surprise that we had to laugh.
Or go punch her.
We chose to laugh.

I’m guessing that you know by now that we play tennis indoors here.
What with the snow and all.
This is a picture of the outside of the courts:
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Here’s the inside:
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It kind of looks like a bounce house.
Without the bounce.

After tennis I went home and cleaned up and then met Jeni for a walk to the Natural History Museum to go see their newest addition.


The biggest, most extremely large dinosaur skeleton that I’ve ever seen.
Ever.
We’re talking freakin’ HUGE.
It’s so large that it doesn’t fit inside the room.
They had to set it up with its head hanging out in the hall.
The first three pictures are three different parts of the dinosaur.    
Put them all together and you’ll have one large picture.
It was very interesting and so cool to see.

They haven’t nicknamed it yet, so for now it’s just called Titanosaurus.    
Because it’s freakin’ HUGE!!!                                                
I already said that, didn’t I?                                                
That’s because it is.

OK, I think that’s it.                                                        
At least for now.                                                              
I was hoping to show you some pictures of snow angels.                        
And technically, I guess I could download some from Google and post them for you.          
But, I …… unlike some woman who tromps onto tennis courts during play …… am not so uncouth.                                                            

Hopefully I’ll be able to take some photos in the next two days.                
If the weatherman can get their acts together.

One Week More ……

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…… left here in NY before I head back to Texas for almost two months.
(Did you catch the “Les Mis” salute? Five points for Gryffindor, or your favorite house, other than Slytherin, if you did.)

So, after much going back and forth and back and forth and forth and back, I signed a contract on the lake house (post inspections) and will close on it in the middle of March.
Insert a huge sigh of relief here.

It was on the market less than two days when the offer was made. Thank You, God.
It’s true that I’m mostly relieved to have this house off of my shoulders, as well as a little sad, of course.
Jim loved that house and that property.
We spent the last weekend of his life there.
We spread some of his ashes there.
Thank goodness I know that all of that doesn’t mean that he’s there.
Because he’s not.
He’s in our hearts, where he’ll always be.
No matter where I live, who I marry (ROFL!!!) …… or don’t marry, or where his ashes are. (Truthfully, the days we spread his ashes were pretty windy so they didn’t all end up where we intended! 🙂 You can read the hilariousness of it here if you’d like.)

Anyway, it’s almost done. Actually, the worst part is yet to come …… the going through/disposing of all of the things.
Ugh.
Maybe I’ll just strike a match. 🙂

I forgot to add a few things to my last post.
Like the fact that I played tennis on Monday (and will each Monday that I’m here through spring. Then we’ll have to find another club.)
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As you can probably tell, the courts are clay, which is a very interesting dynamic. And very different from the hard court surface on which I’m used to playing. The ball plays slower and bounces in all kinds of weird ways.
But it’s still SO MUCH FUN.
Especially the best part …… we’re ONLY playing for fun.

Then Monday night Jeni and I went here for dinner.
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And while it’s mostly a tourist trap, it’s a very beautiful tourist trap.

Yesterday Gracie and I lazed around the apartment most of the day. I did get some laundry and cleaning done.
And I played around with a selfie remote.
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Then I went to the club upstairs in my building to hang out with friends and watch the debate …… which was interrupted by a very lovely fireworks show outside our windows, in celebration of the Chinese New Year.
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恭喜发财 / 恭喜發財 (Gōngxǐ fācái)
‘Happiness and prosperity!’
(In Mandarin: /gong-sshee faa-tseye/
In Cantonese: Kunghei fatchoy /gong-hey faa-chwhy/)

Today Gracie and I had our last Therapy Dog class. It was a make up class that we were supposed to do last week, but no one notified me to let me know that the classes were now running a week behind because they cancelled the first week’s due to the snow storm.
At least last Sunday was a beautiful day for a long walk.

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This woman and her dog reminded me very much of a friend and her dog. And hopefully you know who you are, N!

Afterwards we had a nice walk in the Park, looking for snow in which to make a snow angel.  Alas, we only found this, which was a non starter.
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We’ll try again next year.

But we enjoyed the walk and the cool 40+ degrees weather.

And now I am ensconced in the upstairs club, reading, writing a blog post, chatting with friends, while we wait for the Super Bowl to start.  I could really care less about the actual game (although I am wearing navy leggings with a bright orange sweater because if one is going to watch, one really should pick a team/player like maybe Peyton), but I do look forward to the commercials and maybe the half time show.

To those of you who do care ……

快乐超级碗星期天！

(Happy Super Bowl Sunday!)