Holiday weekend, day one

It seems like you should do something truly different or interesting or exciting for a holiday weekend. Instead I spent mine window shopping (ok, I bought a few small items, but not much) and polishing my Granny's silver serving bowl that Dad brought me last weekend. I can now definitively tell you that baking soda and water will work, baking soda and lemon juice will work AND has the added pleasure of making you feel like a mad scientist as it madly foams away, but toothpaste is by far the easiest and most effective silver polishing agent to be found. Who'd've guessed?!

I really must get around to getting a life soon - I'm tired of talking to the dogs on my days off. I never planned on being nearly 37 and single - life's funny like that. Oh well, it could be worse - I could've married Rob! LOL

Left side completed

Wednesday, while I was digging the trench to replant my daffodil bulbs and portulaca on the left side of the walkway, one of the edging bricks came loose. So, what do I do? Do I just replace the one brick? Heck no! I look at the poor sorry things, laying helter skepter along the walk and I pull them ALL up. I finished digging the trench yesterday and began the process of planting the various plants, and reseating the bricks.

THEN I discovered that the left edge of the concrete walkway wasn't even. Well, now, that won't do at all! Out comes the hammer and chisel and there go those uneven edges. LOL My elderly neighbor happened to be walking by as I did this, and he told me, in his quiet, oh-so-serious voice, "That looks like too much work". LOL

Well the big news is that the bricks are all back in place, the bulbs are down and fed with bone meal, the portulaca is in on that side and the walkway has been hosed down and looks nicer than it has in a long time. The two transplanted roses are hanging in there, and we had a nice rain this evening so that should help them settle in.

Mission Accomplished!!! (Mostly)

I finally did it! I relocated two of my rose bushes and started digging up on the other side of the front walk to finish planting the daffodil bulbs I dug up and thinned a few weeks back. I don't know if the roses will make it or not, but they now have a better shot at survival than they did. Poor things were punier now than when I planted them two years ago! All the other roses are thriving so it was obviously a location issue.

There's not been much going on to write about. I lazed away most of Sunday, and didn't do much at home Monday or Tuesday. I still have almost a whole flat of flowers that need to be planted - Once the daffodils are in, I think I'll plant the flowers on top of them. That will be it for the planting this year! it's getting too hot - now it's time to switch to maintaining what I've got.

Well, nearly time for me to hit the shower and clean up for work - y'all have a great day!

What a great day!

Dad and I spent the day together today - pretty much just piddled around most of the day, then went out for dinner and went to a baseball game.

Being a total non-sports enthusiast, I was surprised to realize how much I still remembered of the game and how much I enjoyed it! Dad explained a lot of the finer points that I didn't know, or had forgotten. There seems to be so much more audience interaction than there is in football, at least here at BellPark in Chattanooga. When we went through the last few innings with a tied score, and then scored in the bottom of the ninth it was great! I think I've become a baseball convert.

I still don't see myself becoming a TV fan, but going and supporting the local team in a fun environment at a totally reasonable price ($8 for seats behind home base!) seems like something I might enjoy doing more often. Even if we are playing a team with the most ridiculous name... The Montgomery Biscuits. (groan) WHO came up with that name?!

I hope everyone is having as nice a day as I am...

Happy Birthday to Leonard!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRO! You sure are getting old. (grin) I was just young enough that I truly don't remember a time when you didn't exist, and I can't imagine a life without you. You've accomplished a lot in your life already, and deal with your responsibilities in a graceful manner. I hope someday to be half the parent you and Noel have turned out to be. Tammy is a very lucky woman!

Your birthday gift will go back with Dad tomorrow - it's not much 'cause I'm broke. I hope you have a wonderful day today, and I look forward to seeing you, Tammy, and the kids soon.

Love you!

I'm back from the Crohn's zone

Hooray! It's over. (big huge sigh) The colonoscopy is finished - again. I think this was #9 or maybe #10, but sad to say, I don't remember.

I must say now, I LOVE drugs. The nurse anesthetist put in the Versed and I said "Whew! Good stuff!" We all laughed and that's the last thing I remember before waking up in recovery 45 minutes later.

If I understood correctly (I'll clarify in the office when I see him) we'll be increasing my dose of Remicade. I'm a little worried as I got a little sick during the treatment yesterday, but the nurses were right on it and took excellent care of me, and precautions to keep me safe. I think a big part was overtired, and the benadryl hadn't had quite enough time to kick in full strength when we started the drip.

Dad was here for the whole thing and has been great - we went to Pario's new location and had some (as usual) awesome spaghetti and meatballs. I started craving it Thursday afternoon, so by Friday afternoon they really hit the spot!

Hope all my readers have had a much less eventful week than I have. Sunny skies and cool breezes for everyone this weekend!

Sleepy, rainy day AGAIN

It's been an interesting day. I slept in, then checked my email before going to work. I had tons of junk mail and another note from Regan, which I enjoyed very much. I also heard from Steve - he did, in fact, graduate last Saturday. I guess now I can say "I ALMOST married a doctor." (smile)

I'm glad for him - he's worked so hard to achieve that goal. I suppose it's a bit bittersweet to know - as I was not there to help him celebrate, or to enjoy all the plans we'd hatched for "after the dissertation". I wish him well, but I miss him still.

I talked to Leonard this morning, and found out that his puppy (abt 6 mos old) decided to be a trapeze artist and fell and broke her leg in two places. His vet seems to think she will heal cleanly and not have any problems. Poor puppy! (And poor Leonard!)

On other fronts, my major decision this week is which prep to use for my colonoscopy this Friday. (gag) I have posted on the IBD sucks board to get opinions from 'experienced' pros to make my final decision.

I don't care if it's 98 degrees - I really want to see the sun again soon. It's been overcast, or rainy for almost 5 days now and each day I feel more depressed. I NEED some sunlight! Of course I also need a money tree, a house elf, a fairy godmother, and Prince Charming - whoops scratch that. I had Prince Charming - but he lost his mind and turned into a frog.

This is getting depressing so I'll just stop here and get working on the laundry - now THERE'S a real pick-me-up sort of activity! ROFL Y'all take care...

Old friends and memories

The end of another long day. Hooray!!! Since I've last posted, I've heard from two old high school friends - one that I haven't seen in 21 years and another that I haven't seen in 20 years. Geez, just TYPING that makes me feel old! 37 used to seem like old age, and now that it's looming around the corner, I don't feel nearly as wise as I thought I'd be.

It doesn't seem so long ago that I was thrilled to be following my good buddy Ray around the school on our breaks. I still have a photo (Polaroid!) of Ray, Jon, Nina and myself one afternoon at my parents, after we'd spent several hours playing REAL arcade games (Pac Man, Break Out, Space Invaders) on my family's Atari 800 personal computer! LOL

The next summer I was sharing my room with my friend Regan when she came to spend a few weeks with us in Florida. This was, of course, very far away from where our friendship began, in Augsburg W. Germany as she and I met to walk to school every morning. We were both usually running a little late, and always meant to get an earlier start, but somehow never did.

It seems that one day I WAS twenty, and then all of a sudden there were things in my life that I'd known, or done, or been for twenty years! How did that happen?!

Anyway, enough with the philosophy. "T" just brought me a toy and laid it in my lap - very firmly reminding me of HIS philosophy - Live and play now, for there is never enough time later! You know what? He's a pretty smart dog!

Wow...

I have two pages up and running and I've only cursed a few times. Amazing! I OBVIOUSLY have no life. I've been sitting here in front of the monitor for several hours now, hoping the food fairy would appear at my shoulder with something to eat. Alas, as usual, my food fairy is lost.

After all the work I did yesterday, I was so glad when I woke up to the sound of rain. Hooray! An excuse to not mow the lawn today! Midas woke me up at precisely 7:04. Yesterday it was 7:09; he must've been sleeping in.

As I sit here in my converted breakfast nook to computer nook, I have a perfect view of the buffet in my dining room. It brings back many memories of holiday meals at Granny and PawPaw's house. Somehow I usually got elected to set the table. The buffet has a sliding silverware tray inside the top drawer, which I always thought was the coolest thing as a kid. I remember that for a long time my granny had a small fishtank that sat to the left of the buffet, and we always wanted to 'feed the fish'. Those poor fish nearly always seemed to die - probably from overeating! Unfortunately, along with my excellent view of the buffet, I also have an excellent view of the fine layer of dust residing underneath it. One of these days it'll be bad enough that my conscience will force me to clean it - but I don't think today is the day.

T and Midas have decided that all dogs must nap on rainy days. T is curled up on my loveseat, while Midas is sprawled on the carpet just below him. If only they were always this calm and quiet - especially around 7 am!

I should get up and accomplish something today, but find myself totally unmotivated to do so. My house seems so quiet without anyone else here. I've had company so often the last few months that it seems strange not to find someone here, or on their way. While I appreciate the lack of incentive to 'get right on that laundry', it's a bit lonely. Especially with the muttlings snoozing the day away.

Well, the sun is coming out, so I'd better get my butt in gear. I think a large helping of hashbrowns with ham sounds good for breakfast/lunch, then a good long hot shower, and off to the grocery store to restock on dogfood.

Feeling good today...

What a day! My good buddy Jennifer, coworker and neighbor, convinced me that I was helping her get started on home renovations this weekend. What was I thinking? 8 hours later, I've taught her how to use a heat gun, hung a tool rack on her wall, suspended a rod from her laundry room ceiling to hang clothes on, installed a new dryer vent hose, and told her that I will show her how to level her washing machine when she buys a new foot for it. I also taught her to use her electric drill, and teased her all day long about being a "girly-girl". LOL You should have heard her scream when we were halfway to the hardware store and she got a look at herself in the mirror! She had flecks of white paint all over her face. It really was funny - she got so upset I couldn't help but laugh at her! In all fairness, I HAD told her she had paint on her face, but she didn't realize how MUCH paint she had on her face, and thought it was just a little.

I am SO ready for bed.

Today was the day Steve was supposed to graduate. I wonder if he did??? I also wonder if I'll ever know. :-(

Hopefully soon I'll learn how to upload photos to my blog - won't that be fun?

Poetry from my teenage years

Before you read, please recall that these were written in my late teens. Beneath that very quiet, shy, wallflower exterior, beat the heart of a drama queen! LOL I didn't dare have the nerve to live up to my 'fantasy' life, but I lived it well on paper.





In these simple lines,
that are called poetry,
I have found an outlet,
for all anxiety.



World,
listen to me!
I have a voice!
Do you have ears?



"To Wordworth" 7-3-86
Why should I wish to recreate
the times that are gone by?
For every good time there were twenty bad
and I have no wish to cry.

I understand you don't recall this way,
Yet I most surely do.
although MY youth was not an idyllic bliss
I'm glad yours was for you!



'Walls', Fall Qtr. 1987

I've pushed all the barriers
got 'round the protocol.
I have never, in my lifetime,
collided with a wall.

I cannot find a steadfast rule;
one that cannot be got 'round.
Why can't life be solid?
Built 'round brick, not paper, walls?


untitled, same time frame

I'm told the world spins 'round n 'round
unfelt by those who're here.
I must take umbrage at that notion.

My life spins 'round n 'round
and I sure feel the motion!



'My Lament'

What do I do
oh, WHAT do I do?

They tell me
"Be Careful!"
and I know that they're right.

It's not that you're bad
and it's not that I'm good.

The danger is,
although I try with all my might,
you feel too good,
it seems so right.

My arms cannot resist a chance
to wrap themselves about your waist.
My eyes cannot be denied the joy
of looking at your face.
My mind knows you are danger,
in many more ways than one,
but...

What can I do,
Oh what CAN I do?

I'm so confused...

am I in love with you?




Untitled

Now I sit;
next I rise,
another day begun.
My day revolves
'round another's clock
I hate it
yet go on.

The end of day
will mark one less
on another's clock
I punch.

My day will come;
MY clock will rule!
Oh World,
look out!
I come!