A busy week

I'm so busy that this is the first time all week I've had my computer on. There are over 100 unread messages in my inbox, and none of it is spam.

My dear friend Indigo is visiting us this week. He lives in Baltimore. He often comes to visit in August. I wouldn't do it if I were him because it's just too hot in August. But heat doesn't bother him nearly as much as it does me, and this is a good time for him to visit. So here he is. And I'm glad. And we've had a good time.

I am also rearranging my spaces here at home. Since Light has moved into her own place in Pennsylvania, I'm taking over her bedroom and making it my new office. My old office, which was also trying to be a sewing and crafts room, will now be sewing and crafts without trying to be an office. All of this is still in progress, so what it really looks like now is a big mess in both rooms and in the living room too, just for kicks. My messes tend to overflow their banks. I saw some progress today, finally. There's lots more progress yet to occur.

Tomorrow (Thursday) is my busy day of the week. I do my Hospice volunteering all afternoon, then one of the family therapist people comes to see us in the evening. Any errands or whatnot must get done in the morning. I'm usually pretty beat by the end of the day.

Right now I'm watching Braves Baseball. Top of the 9th, Braves down 2-3 against the Cubbies. And I'm going to try to get through some of my email backlog now.

Cute Kitty Pictures

I has them!

Allow me to introduce our new cute kitty, Saratoga. Sara for short.
As you can tell from the above picture, she has lots of white fur. So in addition to Scheherazade leaving her black cat hairs everywhere, we now have source of white hair so no matter what clothes we wear the cat hair will be evident.

In the above picture I was trying to photograph her but she was curious about the camera and came to check it out.
I gave her a little bit of milk. Don't tell the kids, as I discourage them from doing this. But they aren't here right now (Hallelujah!) and if I pick up the plate before they get home from school, no one will be the wiser.
Sara is a playful baby, and like Scheherazade likes to gnaw on electrical cords. And other things she shouldn't chew on. She's been busy this morning, but is now asleep on my shoulder. Awww!

I tried to sleep in a bit this morning, but had those disturbing dreams that I get when I'm not fully asleep nor fully awake. This morning I dreamed that we lived in a huge old house that needed lots of work and had way too much junk in it. Superman was trying to be helpful by putting away the half dozen or so old ironing boards by disassembling them. Not helpful! The kids were disobeying, I couldn't find anything, and was specifically looking for my deodorant. Then the in-laws showed up to help, and they hate being at my house. In the dream I was lying on a mattress in the family room, naked, covered by a sheet when they walked in. In reality I was lying on my bed, naked, covered by a sheet. Thankfully no one but the kitten was there. I was glad to wake up!

Here's a useful chart for those with cats. It tells me that I must stop Sara from playing with my pothos leaves. My pothos tells me I should water it, and get the damned kitten away from it already.

I discovered a way cool YouTube channel this morning. Check this out:

I love this piece of music (Beethoven's 7th symphony, 2nd movement). The animated score is fascinating to watch. At least I think so. Give it a chance. At least watch it from the 2 minute mark to the 3 minute mark. Each instrument has a different color in the animation. I find it fascinating. Double click on the graphic above to go to the YouTube channel to find lots more animated classical pieces. I'm enthralled.

I'm going to watch/listen to more pretty music and perhaps read the newspaper or something else, maybe something useful. Today the world is my oyster. Boo-ya

Celebration and miscellany

Let's begin with hair. Diva needed to get her hair "did", so I took her to the beauty college where they do hair for cheap. This is the before shot.

And here she is after.

She holds herself with more confidence and has a better attitude when she knows she looks good. I like that, especially the good attitude part. I like the beauty college, too, especially their prices. I plan to wander over there this week and have my hair cut, too.

And speaking of my hair,

mine is slowly turning gray. It's part of the aging process and it doesn't bother me. I'm actually surprised that I don't have more gray hair. But let me tell you, I found it pretty weird when last week I pulled a gray hair out of my nose. Normal, I suppose, but I didn't expect it.

I have this song floating around in my head this afternoon, so I am sharing it with you.

The kids are in school right now (Hallelujah!). I am having a wonderful day. I got a lot accomplished this morning after I dropped Diva at school. Sproing took the bus, which is opposite from how I expected they would get to school today. At any rate, I did a lot of mundane errands and took the cat (Smudge, formerly known as Scheherazade) to the vet for her shots. The other errands were mundane, the cat was not. We both managed to survive, but I now have cat scratches on my back from where she climbed over my shoulder to get away from the vet when he gave her an anal probe (checking for worms).

We need Smudge's updated records in order to bring home our new cat from the animal shelter. Yes, Diva talked her Daddy into getting another cat, and the shelter doesn't allow the animals to come home unless other pets are up to date with their shots. Good plan. I let Smudge's vaccinations expire (forgetful, not malicious) so this gets us back on track. But the point of this paragraph is the new kitten. I am not excited about this addition to the household. Hopefully the new kitty will keep Diva occupied and out of my hair for a good long while. Expect cute kitty pictures soon.

Speaking as we were of anal probes, Superman and I saw "Cowboys and Aliens" this weekend. I liked it, am glad I saw it, but probably won't watch it again. There are movies that I want in my library, and others that I'm happy to see only once. I want to get "How To Train Your Dragon" for my personal library. And call me crazy, but I want to see the smurf movie, too. I know it's bad, that's obvious from the trailer. But it's silly, and has blue smurfs in it. Plus NPH. I'll let you know how that goes.

And speaking of libraries, I read a good book. I like gay romances (M/M, but not so much F/F) and stories about gay characters. There are a lot of tawdry gay romance books out there that are not of stellar literary quality. Light, fun reading, but not much to make you think. I usually like to think. I read The Brothers Bishop by Bart Yates, and it was fantastic. It's a rich book, made me think. Nice literary allusions and stuff. It was almost as good as At Swim, Two Boys by that Irish guy, um... (hang on, gotta look it up) Jamie O'Neill.

I have also recently read two of Michael Thomas Ford's novels, Looking For It and Last Summer. They're good, enjoyable, better than run-of-the-mill, but not excellent. I want to read the rest of that series.

The kidlets will be home in about an hour. I want to piddle around here a bit more before they return. I'm sure I'll be back soon with kitty pictures.

Internet trouble, I had it

For a couple of days last week our access to internet was denied. I think it was a technical problem. While I was unable to surf the webs I wrote a blog post. I have since then forgotten about it until now. So here it is.

But first, let me say that tomorrow, Monday August 15th, 2011 is the first day of the 2011-2012 school year. And there is much rejoicing, at least from me. Don't know if the kidlets are as excited. Don't care, either.

Everything you are about to read is out of date. I am writing this on Saturday night (August 6th). It’s almost midnight. I’ve had two beers in quick succession and I’m rather tipsy. My arms aren’t responding the way they normally do.

Here’s the lowdown: the plumbing is fixed, praise be. Superman once again earned his title by clearing the kitchen drain. It took a lot of smelly work, but he did it. He’s wonderful. And he is out of town. Monday is his brother’s 40^th birthday, so he and Sproing went to the old homestead to visit The Folks and celebrate baby brother’s birthday. I’m here with Diva, praise be (I jest). I miss my husband.

School starts a week from Monday, Praise Be! August 15^th sees the young ones back in school from 8:00 a.m. to 3:20 p.m. They are usually dropped off at school around 7:30 and don’t return home on the bus until 3:55, so I have that much freedom. It is truly a wonderful thing.

The reason you are reading this after the fact is that I’m posting it after the fact because the fact is that our internet is inaccessible. I suspect the router. The kids tell me that we had a power outage Friday afternoon as I lay sleeping. It couldn’t have been a very long power outage because I lay sleeping with my CPAP, which is powered by electricity. My lungs would have noticed if the power had gone off for more than a few seconds. Back to the point: perhaps the power outage did something wonky with the router. Or the modem, the gods forbid. I haven’t fiddled with it yet, since the need isn’t powerful. Maybe Sunday I’ll see what I can make of the mess.

And speaking of school starting, the youngsters are in “need” of new clothes. Honestly they don’t really need new clothes, but it’s the start of a new school year and tradition dictates new clothes. Sproing had few pants that worked for school, and no shorts that fit. Friday morning he and I went out and bought him a few new shorts and a couple pair of pants. He also acquired four new t-shirts, socks, and boxer-briefs. He’s ready to roll. This afternoon in the heat I took Diva out. She honestly didn’t need a thing, but because I am a Wonderful Mother I bought two new tops and a new pair of pants for her, plus socks, underwear, and a few bras.

Did I mention that it was hot today? I don’t know what the official high temperature was this afternoon, but in my estimation it was over 100 degrees (F). The humidity was ridiculously high so it felt miserable. Perhaps the actual ambient temperature was only in the high 90s, but the heat index was beyond miserable. And Superman took our air conditioned Aveo on his trip, leaving me with the un-air conditioned truck. Did I mention “miserable?” I finally was able to take a shower at 11:00 tonight. I feel a lot better. Sweat was my hair mouse.

Those Mexicans don’t put twist tops on their beer bottles. I have bottle openers handy in many rooms of the house. I’ve become a beer aficionado, at least with the beers I like. I just opened a Dos Equis. XX. Double yum. This is my final beer of the night. Really. When I have enough alcohol to affect my sense of balance, my feet get hot. Just thought you ought to know.

I heard the most amusing phrase on the radio Friday. It was an NPR news cast, the 10:00 top-of-the-hour news brief. “…and an undisclosed number of independent polygamists…” Isn’t that a hoot? What the hell does it mean? It sounds like a title of a David Sedaris book. Speaking of David Sedaris, last week I read When You Are Engulfed in Flames. I recommend it.

I’ve had enough beer that I feel all loving toward everything and everyone. Oooh, I love you soooo much. I’m not drunk enough to ignore the fact that I am ridiculous in this state, though. You’re glad you’re just reading this and not with me to observe the ridiculosity of it all. Spell check doesn’t like “ridiculousity.” Silly spell check.

C is coming over tomorrow afternoon. We will go to the fabric store together. Doesn’t that sound wonderful? I miss him. He and N are doing really well in their new apartment. They share the apartment with another gay couple and a single girl. It’s an interesting three bedroom, 1.5 bath apartment. Two of the bedrooms are fairly large, but the third looks like an afterthought. (Spell check is wonderful when one is tipsy. My fingers aren’t so reliable after three beers.) That third bedroom is perhaps 10x10, maybe less. The young single girl occupies that room. I want it, though. I would love to have my own little private room in C and N’s apartment. It is half a block from the college, and less than two miles from home. That room could be my private hideaway, a safe place for escape when I need to get away from home. And I could park there and walk to campus, negating the need for a parking pass.

The problem with three beers is the resulting headache. I don’t have hangovers the morning after. I have my hangover headache pretty much immediately. Champaign tends to give me a headache before I finish the first glass. I love the stuff, but don’t like my body’s reaction to it.

It seems to be time to go to sleep. Damn, it’s after 1:00 a.m. already. I love to write rambling blog posts like this. But I am especially tired. So I’m going to brush my teeth and go to sleep. Goodnight.

Family stuff and other miscellany

I got a bag of Terra chips at the grocery yesterday. I prefer to think of them as guilt-free snacking.

Of course they aren't really. But they're better than potato chips, I think. And they're yummy, considering they're vegetables.
The bag promises a complete serving of vegetables in every ounce! I don't generally like vegetables. I sometimes drink vegetable juice (like V8), a 12 ounce can, cold, chugged quickly. That's 2 servings of vegetables! But enough about vegetables.

We could talk about beer if you'd like. Did I tell you? Superman discovered a beer he likes. Corona. With lime. I'm as surprised as he is. One of my summer goals is to develop a taste for beer. It is working. My tastes tend toward the pale ales and an occasional lager. My current favorites are Shock Top and the Blue Moon's Summer Honey Wheat.

Before we get to the family issues, let's now discuss plumbing, specifically plumbing problems. I has them. This time it's the kitchen sink. This is the second time this year we've had plumbing trouble. Hopefully this time it won't cost $4500. (I like my new pipes.) Over the weekend the kitchen drain began to drain very slowly. For the past couple of weeks the drain has been emitting a foul odor. I thought it was the garbage disposer. I fed it a couple of limes (which we have for Superman's Coronas, see above) and that helped for an hour or two. When it failed to drain properly Superman, bless his heart, went under the sink to investigate. He removed the garbage disposer, took it out back and hosed it out thoroughly. He discovered that the cause of the draining problem is in the pipes behind the wall. Something is obscuring the pipes. We got new incoming pipes, but not drain pipes. He has a plumbing snake, which didn't work because the drain pipe makes two (he says) right angle turns. So he bought some chemical drain cleaner. He reassembled the pipes and applied the drain cleaner. It didn't help much. And that's where things stand now: not draining very well.

That's where things stand now because Superman left town. With Light. Yep, she moved out. She's now in Pennsylvania. She and Superman packed her van and our car, and on Sunday morning they headed north. After some 15 hours, they arrived in Indianapa. They drove slowly, what with being so weighed down. And Light's van gets absolutely horrible gas mileage above 60 mph. And they drove through some torrential rain, just as she and I did on our way home from Indianapa last month. What's with all the rain?

They left Sunday morning. I sighed deeply, but did not cry. Here's the thing: if I would go ahead and have a good cry and get that over with, I'd be OK. But tears weren't there, only sighs. And all day long I felt the weight of her leaving. She took one of our two black cats, the sleek one. We also have a fuzzy one. The sleek one, Samhain, is my nap cat. He's technically her cat,and she wanted him, and I was glad to have fewer cat. But he is my nap cat. He snuggles up to my shins or behind my knees when I sleep. Our fuzzy cat is not nearly as pleasant to sleep with. She likes to attack my feet with her sharp claws as I sleep.

So Light is gone. Moved out. On her own (sort of). And Superman is away for a few days. He is on his way home right now. In the meantime I am here with two 13 year olds.

The Children. Oh my. As I discussed last week, Sproing has been a royal pain. Superman and I had a heart-to-heart with the boy on Saturday. We restated our expectations of him and laid out a series of consequences (punishments) for misbehavior. He then spent half an hour alone in his room. Since then he's been wonderful. Since Superman left he has been helpful and pleasant and all those wonderful things he's capable of. I also have a box of candy from which he gets rewards if he behaves.

Diva has been OK. She's somewhat sullen, but not openly defiant. I can live with that. I told her that I will get her some new clothes for school (which starts in a week and a half!! Hallelujah!) only if she cleans her room and hangs up or folds and puts away all of her clothes. There are now a lot of clothes hanging in her closet. I haven't done a careful inspection, but there is still a lot of junk on the floor in her room. She seems to have a lot of clothes. She's a typical teenager in that respect. It doesn't look to me like she needs new clothes, except for maybe a few new undergarments. Of course she will insist that she gets some new duds for school, and I'm OK with that. But she isn't getting much, not nearly as much as she wants.

Sproing needs new stuff, too, but not too much. Some nice shorts, maybe a couple of shirts, and socks and underwear.

Sproing has new motivation to behave well. He has a girlfriend! He met her at the skating rink this weekend. Well, he's kinda known her for a while, but they got together at the skating rink. They're "going together" now. Around here that means they talk or text on the phone and chat on Facebook a lot. Of course he loses his phone and computer privileges if he acts out. Ha ha ha! This is so easy!

About the girlfriend business: this is different. He has occasionally mentioned something about a girlfriend at the skating rink before, but no one has ever really affected him until now. He really means it this time. I realized this was different when I saw the note he taped to his door which read "I love M____." The whole thing is amusingly dramatic. She almost broke up with him yesterday when another of his friends said something to her about something he said. She broke up with the last guy she went with after only one day. This "going with" thing is loosely defined. I'm not sure of all the rules. It's all very amusing. I am glad to see him participating in this social discourse. I doubt this relationship (as such) will last through the week. They plan to go skating together on Friday. This will be the all night skate event. If they are even still going together by Friday, I will be surprised if they are still together at 7:00 Saturday morning.

And Superman is going away again this weekend. His brother's birthday is next week, so he's going to the old homestead to visit all his family for the weekend. His dad is still alive. Perhaps his dad realizes that now that he's so close to the end, he gets a lot more visits from his children. Eh, whatever. I don't really mind. His dad is a good man. I don't get along with him, but he's a good man nevertheless. The rest of his children now live within half an hour of their old home except Superman. The folks want Superman to get a job around there so he also can move "back home." HA! I don't think he has told them he wants to move to Pittsburgh.

Alas, duty and the children call. Time to make a bit of lunch and nag Diva to fix up her hair and clean her room. The joys of parenting...