Ho Hum

Not a whole lot happening just now, but I thought I had better post something for all of my adoring fans...

My sister, Betsy, was here from California for a week to visit our mom and do what she could to help. Unfortunately, she got sick the night before her flight and arrived sick. So, she spent several days just hanging out at my house before she could visit Mom. It was a good visit. We rarely get time to chat together. Usually we just see each other during all of the craziness of Thanksgiving.

We ate out a lot while Betsy was here. I am not used to being tempted so frequently, so consequently, I am having to add another 5 pounds to my weight loss goal. It was worth it!

Mr. Koko is hanging in there. He continues to hang out most of the day on one of his heating pads, and he is still managing to eat a reasonable amount of food. I'm not sure how much weight he has put back on, but he is looking better. He rather enjoys all of the pampering... except for his morning medicine.

Things are still moving along with the house. I am really enjoying my new leather chair and couch. I had put up with an uncomfortable worn-out futon for so many years that having good seating in the family room seems amazing. Last weekend I visited a local kitchen remodeling store to get an updated view of what is available... next step is to get a quote... after I am revived, I will decide how much of a kitchen remodel I can afford. Then I need to check out replacing the carpeting with wood and laminate flooring. My list is way too long!

It's A New Year

Well, the new year has come, and I have had a lot going on in the past couple of months so I have a lot of things that I could write about in this post. I'll highlight a few and try to get up to date.

My mom's official move-in date to the retirement complex was November 19th. It is certainly a relief to have her closer to me, but it also poses a few new problems. I have been taking her out to dinner when I can... several times a week when she first moved. I took quite a few days off without pay to get the things done that were necessary to get her settled. This involved furniture shopping, clothes shopping, appointments for new doctors, and the continuance of getting rid of things that she no longer wants, needs, or has room for in her new place. I have tried to get her used to me taking her grocery shopping on Wednesday night and out to dinner on Sunday night with another trip to the store. I actually want to continue to get her out to dinner at least twice a week.

My first challenge was to convince her that she was not going to pay for my meal every time we go out for dinner. My next challenge was to get her to realize that I cannot continually take time off from work every time she wants me to do something for her. A third challenge has been grocery shopping. I will take her one day and get a call the next day that there is something else that she needs immediately. Another challenge has been to get her to be sociable with the people around her. She has been hesitant to go out of her way to make friends. It is happening gradually, however. These have all been minor and seem to be working themselves out over time.

Driving was a bigger issue. I drove her over the same routes numerous time to see if she could learn a basic route to and from the grocery store center where there are also other shops that she would utilize. No go. Her short term memory loss made it too difficult for her, and she decided on her own to give up her car to one of the grandchildren. That puts me in the hot seat a bit more(especially when she was sick with a virus for a couple of weeks), but it is okay.

All in all the move has been good. "L" and I will continue to keep her happy with get-togethers and trips out and about, and she will hopefully make some new good friends.

I recently got the news that I will be going through another audit at work this year... probably around April. This will be the second one with an outside auditor... the last one was about three years ago. The Diocese now likes to have them done every three years. It should go well, and is only an annoyance as it takes up several days of my time.

My 17 year old Siamese cat, Koko, was sick over the holidays. At one point I thought that he was at the end of his life, but he has snapped back. He had weighed about nine pounds and had lost two of those pounds! A trip to the vet to get him hydrated and put on appetite stimulants and antibiotics did the trick. In a few weeks his weight increased by a pound. I continue to monitor his eating to make sure he is getting what he needs. This can be a challenge since the other cat, Scud, who weighs 22 pounds keeps trying to chase Koko away and steal his food. Scud needs Overeaters Anonymous for cats. He was a stray and thinks every meal is his last.

The kids were all home for Christmas, but only for a few days. The boys left early on the 27th. I was disappointed, but at least they were all home for my birthday on December 26th. It was a fun Christmas though, and we certainly had plenty to eat and a good time!

December 26th was a big day for me for another reason... It was the days we closed on the house... I bought himself out of the house so I (along with the mortgage bank) am now the proud owner of my abode!!! In the process I also paid off my car and my remaining credit card debt. It really feels good!

I have continued fixing up the place. I won't go into my disaster with paint choices... I am learning to tolerate colors other than what I chose and will repaint at a later date. The biggest issue I have now is to decide what is most important to do next. I have a limited amount of money set aside and a number of projects that add up to more that I can afford. Sooo, I am taking my time to make decisions.

In the process of all of this fixing-up, I decided it was time to re-hang the livingroom curtains... They had been sent to the cleaners a little over a year ago, and I had the sheers hanging on hangars in my closet waiting to be rehung. I had the old valance in the living room taken down as well as the curtain rods so that I could get the living room painted. The valance went into the trash and I decided not to hang the old curtains... I would just hang the sheers. The walls were painted and the curtain rod rehung... when I went to hang the sheers, I was in for a surprise. They looked like my curtains. The color was right. The width was right. Maybe the backing on the pleated top looked a bit more worn... but I had sent them to the cleaners. I just can't figure out how theygrew 9 inches in length! I tend to think that when someone got their curtains back from the cleaners a little over a year ago they were quite upset at how much they had shrunk. I will be hemming my adopted curtains.

I had great plans to get things dome over the New Year's holidays. The Christmas tree would get undecorated and taken down, Christmas decorations would get put away, I would do some movie watching, do some reading, and catch up on my blogging. I had to work on the 31st since it was the end of the calendar year and there were a few things I needed to get done. After work I went directly to my mom's apartment to pick her up and take her out to dinner. It was a scrumptous dinner and when we were done, I dropped her off back at her apartment. It was going to be a good night.

When I got home, I gathered my things out of the car, got the mail from the mailbox, and unlocked the front door. I turned the switch to turn on the light in the livingroom and nothing happened. Darn! I thought the cats had pulled out the plug again. So, I stumbled into the kitchen and turned the light on in there... oops no light! It dawned on me that the electricity was off. Rats! It is not uncommon for the electric to go off on occasion, but it usually comes right back on. I stepped back outside to see what other houses were dark and discovered that everyone else on the street had electricity. Hmmm.

I called himself to see if he had neglected to pay the electric bill (he had been slow paying or still had to pay some others) or if he had paid it late. He stutterd around for a minute, but the bottom line was that he had had the electric turned off. I called the electric company to find out that he had arranged on December 26th to have the electric turned off on the 31st and had neglected to tell me. He still maintains that he only tried to have the account transferred. Any way, since it was New Year's Eve the electric company could do nothing more for me than collect a $400.00 deposit which I had to pay in order to even schedule the service to be turned back on on January 2nd.

It just so happens that over the holiday we were expecting a cold front to come through and it was going to get into the thirties. I know that you "nawtheners" are laughing right now, but by Florida standards, that's more than just a bit nippy! Besides that, I had an underweight and sick Siamese cat to worry about, no heat, a refrigerator-freezer full of food, no light, and no hot water. I was not a happy camper. I called daughter Allison on my cell phone and she called her dad. Himself then came by with a couple of electric cords and plugged the refrigerator into an outlet of a helpful next door neighbor so that the food would not go bad. I did have to get rid of some things that had already melted in the freezer since the electric had been off most of the day. I spent the night with my Italian friends/neighbors, and the next day was able to take a hot shower and get cleaned up. Before the colder weather came through I built a fire in the fire place. Koko was warm, I was warm and I spent that night at home. The electric came back on about 4:00 pm on January 2nd. It was not the happiest New Years in my life, but I am grateful to have such wonderful neighbors!

Now we come to this past week...

I hesitated to post this picture, but I know a priest in Ireland who will be interested in seeing it. He reads this blog on occasion. What you are looking at is a picture on my former pastor's back. He, Fr. Aiden whom I have written about in the past, was out for his morning walk when an SUV truck did a u-turn and hit him. He survived without any broken bones, but has a huge hemotoma behind his kidney and generally looks like... he was hit by a truck! He spent this past week in the hospital and was moved to a rehab center on Friday. He is very sore, to say the least. Please keep him in your prayers.

So that is more or less the highlights of the last couple of months. Life is never dull.

A Post Revisited : STUFF

Since I have been dealing with packing up Mom's house and now unpacking some of her things at my house, I thought that this post from January 2006 would be appropriate to revisit (with a few changes)!

Stuff. Yup. Stuff. We all have it. We all want it.

It is both a blessing and a burden.

It starts when we are young. We want cool stuff. We ask our parents to give us that cool stuff. We get the stuff, or at least enough stuff to leave us wanting more stuff. We even get things to carry our stuff around and things to keep our stuff in order.

When we are young adults we want even more stuff. Now we work for our stuff. The more stuff we get the more stuff we want. We start to keep track of our stuff. We never have enough stuff.

As we get older, maybe we get married. Then we really get a lot of stuff. Still this does not satisfy us. Now we know we really need more stuff. We have to get a bigger place to live to keep all of our stuff with us. The place we get has extra room, so we get more stuff to fill the empty space. Then maybe we have children, and we have to get stuff for them, too.

And now we have to do more to keep track of our stuff. We worry about losing our stuff. So we document our stuff and take out insurance on our stuff. Our kids start to demand more stuff of their own. And because we know how important stuff is in everyone's life, we get them more stuff. And we increase our insurance to cover their stuff, too.

Now a new phenomenon starts to creep into our lives...

We start to feel that we need to get away from it all... all our stuff. So now we take vacations from our stuff. We take our children with us. They spend most of the vacation bemoaning the fact they want to get back to the stuff that they have left at home.

Then one day, the kids leave home, and we look around and discover that we have too much stuff. We need to downsize and get rid of stuff that we don't need anymore. We have garage or yard sales and sell our stuff to unsuspecting people who are still in the mode of acquiring more stuff. Then we take the money we make at the sale and decide that now that we have gotten rid of some stuff, we can now buy more stuff. And we do.

And so it goes. We get rid of old stuff, and replace it with newer and better stuff. We do this and do this, until one day we are too old to do it any more. Then our children have to do it for us. Maybe they move us to a retirement home. Our stuff gets redistributed. Now our children buy us things that they think we need or would enjoy. But it is stuff that doesn't take up much room.

Yup. We all have stuff.

Sometimes irreconcilable differences put a kink in this life plan of acquisition and disposition of stuff... for a while...

When getting a divorce, you have to inventory all of your stuff and finances. Then you have to fill out forms that require all of this information. You also have to pay a lot of money for the privilege of doing this.

Then at some point, someone will look at all of this information on the forms that have been filled out and will use some sort of formula to decide how much of the stuff you get to keep and how much money you will get to help you take care of your portion of said stuff. And then you get to pay some more money so that all of this gets recorded and becomes a legal document. You then will get to add this document to your stash of stuff... a smaller stash than you had before.

What happens next? Will you get to acquire more stuff? Will a reduced income greatly impact your acquisition phase? Will your children keep you in new cool stuff as you get older. Will you rejoice in your new freedom from excessive stuff? Will you finally get all of your closets cleaned once and for all?

I suspect that not only does life go on... but stuff goes on as well.

As for me, Mom having to reduce her stuff has been an avalanche of additional stuff for me. Some of this stuff, I will pass on to my children. Some of it will go to charity. Some stuff I am really grateful to receive. However, it looks like my closets may have to wait another year or so to get cleaned...

Keepin Up With The Youngsters!

My daughter's boyfriend Charles has completed his product for the Next Internet Millionaire show: www.viralvideofever.com It is actually quite useful if you want to learn how to do videos on the internet. Below is the promo for it. A music friend/contact wrote the song for the video. I'm not crazy about the title, but obviously it is aimed at a different age group! The world is changing so fast... I feel way out of step!

Mom's move date is NOvember 19th. So after this next week I hope to have some time to do a couple of posts that I have put on hold... one on my trip to Virginia to visit my son Matt and one on the ongoing kitchen project. Perhaps a few Turkey Day photos will emerge as well...

Long Day, Long Week

I didn't get out of work until 8:30 PM tonight. It was a long day to end a very long and tedious work week. I have been working on several projects at work and had hoped to finish them all by the end of my day today. No such luck. Monday will be here soon enough.

My mom has been having some difficulty with her medications... taking medicine and poor memory don't work well together. She also has a new prescription that seems to be making her sick. She spent one evening vomiting. It is very hard to be at work and at home and get the phone calls about what is happening with her when I can't drop everything and travel for 2 1/2 hours to be there with her. With my projects at work this week, it was very frustrating!

Mom has a spot in an assisted living community that will be available for her in early November. It is close to my home so it will be easy for me to visit her and take her out once she is moved. It is a beautiful 2 bedroom apartment and big enough for her to take her looms, and baby grand piano... both very important to her... as well as much of the furniture and belongings that she currently has in her home.

So... this weekend I will be helping her go through some of her things and pack up some of the stuff that she doesn't want to keep. I figure that as the things that she doesn't want to keep are removed from the house, the easier it will be when it gets down to the harder choices. Hopefully it will make her move much easier. I still have plenty of boxes and an ample supply of tape to get started. We'll start with sorting through her books...

Speaking of books... I am about to get settled in to read my new Harry Potter book. I just need to grab a nice cold beer from the refrigerator and change from my work clothes into some comfy pajamas. You all have a wonderful weekend!

Things Have Not Been Great...

...but I am still alive... and I have been trying to keep up with reading my favorite blogs even though I have not been posting.

The second baby bird died (was killed?) shortly after my last post. I found the little thing dead in the nest and mama bird no where to be seen. The next day the body had disappeared. It was sad... I had looked forward to watching the birds grow and leave the nest. Sigh.

My 82 year old mother has been having some memory problems and related health issues, so I have been trying to deal with that situation while still trying to figure out what to do about my own housing situation. Since I don't get alimony until the house sells, and the housing market does not look hopeful, it has been a bit difficult at times. I think that I may have figured a way to resolve some of that... it looks hopeful at any rate.

I now also have a roommate! Her name is Allison (same name as my youngest daughter) and she is the girlfriend of our new Youth Minister at church. I am really happy to have her here with me! She is a gem!

I am looking forward to attending Blogstock next year... I think it will be a wonderful time, and I look forward to meeting so many people in person that I have only known through blogs! Kudos to Ralph (Homespun Headlines) and Cliff Morrow(blog of the same name) for the idea and follow-through!

Things are looking brighter. I'll try to post more often so people don't forget me!

Hi Ya

I have been busy with budget mania at work, a stubborn back problem, and a few other non-essential activities. To bring you up you date...

The Steer candle sticks in my previous post sold for almost $50.00! Go figure. I bid on it in the beginning thinking that it would be a great gag gift for Frustrated Writer, one of my Texas blogger friends. After it went over ten dollars, I figured I would have to come up with something else for a joke. Rachel wants me to buy the frogs for Cliff Morrow, but I can't seem to find them again. Sooo sorry Cliff!

I have made a few "marvelous" purchases on E-bay recently. I found two terrific potters... one who specializes in Raku and one who does beautiful functional wheel thrown pieces. I used to do wheel thrown pottery, so I am a soft touch for good pieces. Son Matthew will benefit from one purchase for his upcoming birthday, but I am not sure that I will be able to part with the other pieces. I probably need a twelve step program for being a potteryholic, but I have yet to hit bottom. Until I do, I will fondle my wonderful new purchases. I may take some pictures so that you may ogle them with utter envy.

L and her younger sister will be over on Saturday to help their needy mom with the utility room as well as to go through the china and silver cabinet to stake their claim to some of my nicer things. L is going to take my good china as she is fond of throwing dinner parties. I only use it once or twice a year. If I need to borrow some I can always give her a call. I would much rather see her using and enjoying it than have it sitting in the china cabinet. I have some other things as well I will be giving to the girls. The boys are really not as interested in such "stuff." There will be other things for them down the road that will be of greater interest to them. Anyway, all this will insure that I have room for my pottery addiction.

Once we are done divvying up the spoils, I am going to serve the girls some tea and scones with clotted cream. L discovered clotted cream on a trip to Ireland, and I have been looking for some ever since. I found a British tea shop online and ordered some along with some Devon cream for a treat. I'll let you know how it tastes after our tea party on Saturday. I wonder if L will wear one of her hats? She'll have to wait to don it until we are done in the utility room, though.

So have you investigated E-bay for purchasing yet? You really can buy anything on E-bay! Now if someone will come up with a solution to dealing with all of this packing popcorn...

One Dilemma Solved, But Uh Oh...

When things were winding down after Thanksgiving and son Jason and I returned to Clearwater, we initially put our suitcases near the front door. Since Jason was returning to Hartford very early Monday morning packing was done quickly. However, when I returned from taking Jason to the airport, I discovered a pair of his jeans (brown cords) on the floor. He had evidently forgotten them. Or so I thought...

I have been searching like a mad demon for my best pair of jeans. I knew they needed to be laundered after Thanksgiving weekend, and I have been putting together things for a dark load of laundry. My jeans have been no where to be found. I thought perhaps Jason had packed them by mistake. But my jeans are blue denim, and his jeans are brown cords. His pant legs are a gazillion miles long. How could he possibly have gotten them confused? And then it hit me like a ton of bricks... Was this his way of breaking the news to me gently?

Could son Jason possibly be starting a life of cross-dressing?

I know he has often been fond of putting on hats...


Should I tell someone?

What about his beautiful girlfriend?
Should I tell her? What will she think?

Perhaps he has developed a jealously of her wardrobe
from her pageant days?

What's a mother to do?

He always seemed like a normal guy.

What will his answer be when asked this question...

?

Zoey Graduates From Puppy Obedience School

Yes Zoey has graduated from Puppy Obedience School. She has successfully trained her owners in how to perform positive reinforcement with yummy treats. She is a very smart dog.

Allison congratulating Zoey on her accomplishment

These are the three puppies that made it all the way through. There were a few dropouts, and one puppy had to be expelled for aggressive and unruly behavior... a pit bull who kept going after the other puppies. The other two dogs in the picture are an Italian Greyhound and another German Shepard mix. The owner of the Italian Greyhound is a World Religions Professor.

Now if they could just train her to keep that ridiculous tongue
in her mouth!

Zoey's First Beach Trip

Gotta love this face!

The above pictures were actually taken before the picture of Zoey in my previous post, but I just today received them. You can see that for a few days Zoey's ears thought that they wanted to be up before they decided to become undecided. The young man in the water with her is her owner, Charles.

Koko: 15 Years And Still Going!

Koke enjoying one of his favorite pastimes as "Captain Koko"


Unequaled Scrabble Fan


Computer Geek


With his person and favorite patsy

Fifteen years is a long life in cat years, but Koko seems to be ageless... still no gray hairs (to speak of) and still very playful. The only difference seems to be that he sleeps a bit more and is far more tolerant of people. Happy Birthday Koko!!!

It's Limerick Time Again

I came across these limericks that I had done after our kayaking trip in February. Although they are not timely, I thought they were still worth posting. I had actually posted a version of one of them before, but these are the complete set. (Sorry, I can't help myself)

Who is that lady named "L"
I am sure that you know her quite well
Her tales you'll adore
And be asking for more
There's no end to the stories she'll tell

8:>

Saturday L and her kin went kayaking
Even though her cough was quite hacking
She paddled to see
The birds in the trees
But alas they seemed to be lacking

L was bored as could be with kayacking
Entertainment just seemed to be lacking
She paddled some more
To get back to shore
She needed to find some good snacking

When everyone got back to the shore
Little L could take it no more
She looked quite a sight
And wanted a bite
But there was nothing more there than before

She had taken all that she ought
Much more than ever she thought
To her great delight
Strawberries came into sight
That thankfully her brother had bought

A smile on her face she now wore
Her brother she would always adore
She straightened her hair
Saw strawberries were there
And ate til she could eat no more

8:>

In Honor Of My Daughter "The Felon"

You will have to wait to read Random_Speak (see list of favorite links below)when she does a post about her experiences this week with being pulled over for not having her auto registration up to date. She is quite perturbed about the whole thing. But in the meantime, I want to share some simple poetry with you that I have written as her sympathetic mother.

***

There was a young lady named "L"

Who was very smart, you could tell

But alas she could not

And oh she forgot

To remember those things she knew well

***

Driving her car home one day

Little "L" could be heard just to say

My head's in a fog

My brain's in a bog

But I think nothing's due until May!

***

There once was a girl who forgot

Her auto she registered NOT

The police said she failed

And ought to be jailed

And arrested her right on the spot!

*****

Registration

Hesitation
Procrastination

Consternation

No adjudication

Incarceration!

*****

Well that should keep her spirits up, don't you think? ;o)

*

Earlier tonight I had no idea what I was going to write about tonight. I had some drafts and some other ideas, but nothing was really inspiring me. Then I called "L" on the phone and caught her just on her way out of work. I was so sorry to hear her sad story. I reasured her that if the time came I would bail her out of jail. I had tears in my eyes all the way to the computer to take the opportunity to share with you her sad predicament.

THANK YOU "L" FOR BEING MY INSPIRATION TONIGHT!

YOU ARE SUCH A DEAR!

The Second Mouse Gets The Cheese

For most of my life I have been a person that is hesitant to stick my neck out and be first at almost anything. I am usually very cautious. I have always viewed this as a flaw in my personality. Recently, however, I have come to view this "flaw" as a bit of a blessing.

I remember that growing up I watched what my older sister did to get in trouble, and I made sure that I never made the same mistake. She did not date that much in high school (actually, I didn't either), but it always seemed that when she did there was a problem. I watched her get in trouble and grounded for coming in late from a date. I watched her get in really BIG trouble for getting caught necking with her date in his car in front of our house. So, I made sure that I never came home late from a date or participated in necking with my dates in front of our house. I probably did far more forbidden things than she ever did at that age. I just made sure that I didn't make that same mistakes. I was always home on time. Anything that I didn't want my parents to know about I made sure they couldn't find out. I didn't get caught. I'm sure that they had some suspicions about what I was doing... after all they had to go through the teenage years as well... but there was never a confrontation about my behavior. My older sister got the trap. I watched her get caught and then I got the cheese.

Think about it. If I can learn from others mistakes, doesn't that make my life easier? It is a lot easier to build something if you have watched someone else do it first. Maybe they mess up and it falls apart. Then I stand a better chance of getting it right if I can figure out where they went wrong. There is still plenty of room for serendipitous discoveries.

It is always fun to taste a different type of cheese, but it is nice to know that someone else has tried it and liked it first. Then, I can make sure that it does not have too much of a bite. Growing up, I was the second of two girls in my family. My older sister always got to try the cheese before me. That was probably a good thing for me. My life has always been calmer. It shows how placement in the family has an impact on personality development. It shows why being the second mouse suits me. It is familiar. It is comfortable.

Now, once in awhile, more and more often as I get older, I do stick my neck out... verrryyy carefully... and taste some new cheeses on my own. I think that is because I now have a better idea of what mouse traps look like and how to avoid them. I trust my own judgement and have faith that God has better things in mind for me than my neck in a nasty mouse trap. So, sometimes, I buy the wrong stupid grout cleaner. It is not the end of the world. My grout still got clean!

Sometimes I am the first mouse and I still get the cheese! :o)

Birthdays, Meeting Life Backwards, and a Midlife Crisis or Two

This past weekend I decided to celebrate my daughter's birthday by doing exactly what I wanted to do. I made this decision when I remembered that I put at least half of the work into her birth-- if no one else appreciated my efforts, I would do what I could to make my day special...as well as hers. I think that all children should be taught to recognize their mother's efforts on the day they formally joined the world. It should be a joint celebration...it's only fair! So, I slept in a bit.

I went with the family to enjoy a delightful brunch in celebration of her big day. After patiently waiting in line for a bit, I got a bit obstinate and decided to just walk up to the buffet table where there was something I wanted to get. None of this line garbage for me! I even went backwards along the table a bit. When it came time for the dessert table I cut in line, selected the very last raspberry tart and sat back down knowing that "no guilt would be felt today!"

I then went with the family to the St. Petersburg Fine Arts Museum and enjoyed the exhibits backwards. I decided that this was entirely the best way to go. Everyone was viewing the exhibits by politely following the person in front of them usually in a counter-clockwise direction, clockwise in some of the rooms. I don't know who decides these things to start. It just seems to happen. Going backwards against the grain so to speak, I would just pop in closer where there was something of interest that required a better look. Those who were pretending to be knowledgable and discussing the finer points of interest of each piece were a bit disturbed, but not too much. I am sure that I found just the right level of annoyance. I am sure that I did not view the exhibit rooms in any kind of order either. It was quite fun. I highly recommend this method.

There was a delightful Pre-Columbian exhibit that greatly amused me. Pre-Columbian artists had no problem with displaying parts of the human anatomy that distinguished males and females... usually in exaggerated proportions. So I found it humorous that the signage for the statues, etc. would state "male figure" or "female figure" at the beginning of the description of each piece when any idiot could figure that part out for themselves.

Monet was supposed to be the highlight of the museum, but I found that the pieces displayed were not what I expected. Evidently some of his better and more striking works were not included in this selection of his work. I did see some wonderful paintings and other artwork though, and with a trip to the gift shop at the end, it was well worth the trip. I got a cute mouse book for the g'kids and a fabulous pair of earrings for myself to celebrate my big day.

The birthday girl has decided to have her first midlife crisis. Somehow though, she got the mistaken impression that she could only have one! She has some good ideas, but her options are a bit overboard. She seems to think she must "do it all" as this is her only chance. I shall have to correct that misconception. After all, there is a reason that "midlife" is such an inocuous word. It allows for a broad range of interpretation. I simply do not know where I went wrong. Somwhere along the way I missed including this important life lesson. She did start correctly by making the decision, so I will just have to bring her up to speed. One must savor every delightful moment of a good midlife crisis. Also, I do need to inquire how long she plans for this one to last.

I am so proud of this eldest child of mine. She is such a unique individual and has decided to embrace her first midlife crisis with gusto! You go girl! Make it your own, make it unique, make it fun, and make it last! Make your Mum proud! And when you are done, we'll have a good game of Scrabble and a nice cup of tea.