Stuck in the Middle, Again

My husband was adopted. It's never been something he wanted to talk about much. That's fine, it's his business. But 13 years ago his biological family found him. It's a long story that I'm not going to get into here, but the gist of it is, his biological mother was only 15 when he was born and since it was the '50s, her family arranged the adaption without her knowledge. By the time she realized she wasn't getting him back, it was too late. She and one of her sisters has respected the fact that he doesn't want a relationship. Her oldest sister doesn't. I have kept in touch with her because she never had any other children, and my children are her only grandchildren, and quite frankly, I like her. But because it is what it is, it is an uncomfortable relationship. A week and a half ago one of her nephews died, the son of the oldest sister. He lived out of state and I figured the funeral was there. But apparently there is going to be a funeral here this Saturday and this sister called and left a message that she expects us to come to the funeral. This is a man we have never met, probably never would have. My husband said "no" outright, which is just as I expected. I have no desire to go. I have a friend who had surgery this week and I had told her I would help her out Saturday. I know this sounds cold hearted. Losing a child, even when that child is in his 50s, has got to be the worst pain there is. And I feel sad for her. But I just can't believe in her grief that she took the time to call and tell /(order) us to come. I'm tied up in knots about this, and just a little mad. I hate being put in these kinds of positions!

Joke of the Day

A tour busload full of noisy tourists arrives at Runnymede, England. They gather around the guide who says, "This is the spot where the barons forced King John to sign the Magna Carta. A man pushing his way to the front of the crowd asks, "When did that happen?" "1215," answers the guide. The man looks at his watch and says, "Shoot! Just missed it by a half hour!"

John Lennon stand by me

I found this during my recent "Beatles Revival" week. I've been looking up lots of videos. The Internet can be awesome!

Appliance Wars

Every major appliance in our house needs replaced, except the stove, and that's only because we just replaced it! I hate it, not because of the expense (which I'm not fond of) but because my husband and I have very different shopping styles. He wants to spend hours cruising the Internet looking for the best deal, then order it and go pick it up. Me, I want to go physically check it out. I want something sturdy, solid. I'm not so worried about the price. I want to touch it, open the door, look inside. The husband is looking for the cheapest, the best deal. So what is happening is that we aren't replacing what needs replaced. It's turned into a bit of a stand-off, which I will probably lose because each appliance is just going to totally die and have to be replaced immediately, like the stove did. We are washing all of the dishes by hand because the dishwasher is done, and the washing machine is really close. The lid on the freezer is cracked and we have "fixed" the dryer twice. It's the appliance "curse". When one goes out, the others follow it!

Epiphany

I had an epiphany about my husband this morning while I was cleaning the kitchen. Several years ago when he made the declaration that he was no longer going to help with any housework until I started working full time, I believed that he held no value on all I did because it wasn't putting money in the bank. But after the last year of being on strike, I just realized it had nothing to do with the amount of money I was making and everything to do with the fact he never realized how much I was really doing around here. He has no idea how much work goes into house keeping because he doesn't do it. For the last year he has vacuumed and shampooed the carpets, washed dishes and cleaned the bathrooms a few times. He didn't dust, or clean the refrigerator, or wipe down the molding and any of the numerous other things that need done and haven't been done since I stopped doing them! I'm not sure whether to be upset or just pissed!

Blackbird - Glee

I "got into" the Beatles during my Sophomore year in High School, not long before John Lennon was killed. Maybe if he hadn't died I wouldn't have become so engrossed in their music, but with his death came a flurry of books, magazines, posters, re-releases, movies, everything Beatles related. I would say I was practically obsessed. I had all of their music, knew all the lyrics to all of their songs, did my Senior term paper on them and even had my cousin sing a Lennon song during my wedding. But that was 30 years ago and life happened and my obsession waned. But this week, when Kurt (Chris Colfer) sang Blackbird, it all came back to me. I dug my CDs out and have been listening all week. I thought he did such a lovely cover of this song. (Plus, I just loved this episode of Glee!)

Watercolor

I wanted to be an artist. My first year in college I majored in art. My Dad was constantly asking me what kind of job I was going to get with my degree and I didn't have an answer for him, so my sophomore year I changed my major to Psychology. Looking back, I wish I would have stood my ground. But I don't believe in regrets. It gets us nowhere and just makes us miserable. Imagine my happiness when my daughter picked up where I left off! She, like so many young girls, started out with an interest in anime that turned into an interest in animation. She is one of those rare people that knew what she wanted to go to college for when she was a freshman in High School. One day she came home exasperated because her Art teacher had made an assignment out of a contest that a local restaurant was hosting. The contest theme was to do a picture of a local landmark. Since my daughter didn't really want to do it, she did a simple line drawing of the Veteran's Memorial in our town and slapped some watercolor paint on it. I was a bit aggravated because I knew she could do much better than she did. So, again, imagine our surprise when she came home and said she had placed and her picture would be hanging in the restaurant! That's been 4 or 5 years ago, and I've always thought I should take a picture of it. Well, we ate breakfast there a few mornings ago, and I actually had my camera with me. Every time I see it hanging there, I just remember how much she didn't want to do it!

The Beatles I'm looking through you(outake)

What happens when the person you looked up too, the person that you thought was maybe almost perfect, turns out to not be perfect? In my case, it meant not getting much sleep last night while I was thinking things through! And, truthfully, how surprised can I really be? Why would any of us heap that onto another person, except it comes from our childhood. Someone we looked up to, someone we respected and admired. We sometimes forget to see what is really there. Oh, well. I enjoyed the illusion for as long as it lasted!

Kinda Says It All

Lady Luck

One day in September of '96 I was walking uptown with my 4 year-old son and another little girl I was babysitting. As we walked past a vet/supply office I heard a little crying meow and found this tiny black kitten stuck behind a planter. I pulled her out and took her into the supply store. I was friends with the woman who worked there and knew she often kept a cat there to keep the mouse population down. Occasionally, there were kittens and I just figured one had gotten away from her. No joy. At the moment, she had no cats on the premise. Now, I had a bit of problem. I didn't really want the kitten--we already had a cat and a dog. But I couldn't exactly stick the kitten back in the hole--the kids were already attached to it. So I took it home, thought maybe we could keep it as an outdoor cat. Except, the neighbor kids kept stealing it and sticking it in a cooler. I admit, I had never had a kitten before and she was wonderfully playful. The down side proved to be that she didn't want to share a litter box. I'm guessing she came into town on a grain truck; I rather imagine she was a barn cat. She is still, 15 years later, very skiddish. Lucky spends her summers outside, but because of the cold weather and her advancing age, she has spent this winter almost exclusively in the house. It's not been pleasant. The other cats pick on her so we've found piles in corners because they won't leave her alone long enough to get to the litter box. And the poor thing has a flea allergy, so once the weather gets nice and she starts spending her time outside, her fur will start falling out. Lucky was so bad last summer, I took her to the vet and after a serious of shots, she healed up and looked pretty again. She definitely is my problem child!

Under Water

Break out your rain gear, the rainy season is hitting early this year! We went through a draught for several years, but 5 or 6 years ago it broke and now we have very wet, stormy Springs. The last weekend in February brought a tornado and this last weekend we got another thunder and lightening storm that dropped about 2 more inches of water. Unfortunately, we live off of a section of town that once was a swamp and the drainage is horrible. These pictures don't even start to show what we will deal with when we get really heavy rain. The road will be covered and our neighbor across the road will have water up to his foundation. What gripes us the most is the fact that the water drains on the other end of the block. If the city would put in a couple of new culverts, we wouldn't have this problem! During the summer the water will stand and become great breeding ponds for mosquitos, plus it will get slimy and stinky with moss. I used to like rain....

Signs of Spring

I only live 3 blocks from where I work, so weather permitting and lack of errands to run on my lunch break, I like to walk. (Plus, with the price of gas these days, maybe manage to save a little money!) An older lady on the next block from us has a beautiful flower bed. She works in it daily. I'm actually a little envious! I wish I had more time to take care of growing things. Her garden always gives me a little lift to my day. I got my first seed catalog in the mail the other day and looking through it makes me wish we could find us a place in the country where I could plant lots of fruit trees and berry bushes. Have an asparagus bed. Have a strawberry patch. Maybe, someday...!

Cat House

Roscoe has a new house! I put a box outside for him one windy day, just to keep him out of the weather. He would spend hours in that box so last week the Husband decided to build him a little house. He seems to love it. If we go outside and bring him in, he eats and then wants right back outside, no matter how nasty the weather is. I imagine he is going to love the summer. We have very spoiled cats!