%%USERNAME%%    %%ACCWORDS%% %%ONOFF%% |
 |  For meandering thoughts, and mindful walks... |
|
The White Board   For meandering thoughts, and mindful walks...for rants and pouts, and blowing off steam. For happy days and sad days, for crazy adventures and delightful victories! :) |
| When I was seven, my mom created a pink tea party for me. When I turned ten, the septic tank died a few weeks before my birthday and there wasn't money for both a new one and a party. The septic tank arrived on my birthday and Mom put a big pink bow on it. Until the men arrived a week later (their big equipment had trouble getting up our two and a half mile long mountain driveway) it was the greatest fort in the world with big round windows. My mom was one of the first lady real estate brokers in the state of NJ and she made me get my real estate licence when I was 19. First class was the day I arrived home from college in the sprig. I was the only female in a class of 30+ men in their thirties and forties. When the time came for the state licensing exam, I finished the test is less than half the time of any of those men and aced it. Mom was so proud of that. For many years after that, Mom and I rarely got along; it seemed we were always buttingheads over something. I remember calling her right after my eldest daughter was born. In the time between my daughter's birth and talking to her on the phone, suddenly my mother went from being a total no-nothing (in my dumb brain) to the smartest woman on the planet. From then on, we grew closer and closer, and never looked back. No matter where I was in the world; Alaska when my daughter was born, Scotland on extended vacation or just halfway across the country from her, she was always there when I needed her. She always managed to come where I was if the need arose. As time went by, I, too, was there for her when ever she needed me. When my dad died I promised him I'd take care of her and I tried my best. Mom always said I'd been the best daughter one could have. We'd joke about my being born on Mother's Day and always wondered about that. I remember counting pennies to get a Christmas Tree one year with my eldest daughter sitting at the kitchen table inher high chair. Money was her first word, spoken as we rolled $38.00 worth of pennies. I remember coming home in May to celebrate the Christmas we couldn't because I'd been in Alaska. She decorated the rubber tree plant. We all always had high hopes. I remember my mom in tears as the doctor told her she had five days, or five weeks, five months at the outside to live due to an aortic aneurism that ran from where her aorta left her heart to where it split in her groin. I remember my mom trying to 'tie up her affairs' and worrying over whether my oldest daughter (now grown) was responsible enough to take care of Mom's beloved grandmother clock. I remember the eight years following that as mom saw all of my kids graduate from highschool, one jon the navy and one of them get married and have three children. I remember the mom who morphed into Grammy who then became GG or great-grammy. The spring before my youngest joined the Navy the following January, we were already making plans to go to Chicago when she graduated from boot camp. Mom said she'd never make it to then. I didn't believe her and continued making plans. Mom passed away two weeks before my youngest graduated boot camp. I mailed the cards that Mom had ready because I didn't want Cara to know until she'd made it through the tough finals there. The phone call came one evening four hours or so after I last talked. It was a nice, normal, everyday sort of Mom-daughter yark and we ended it as we always did, saying I love you. Mom didn't asnwer her door at the senior complex she lived in, so her neighbor came in and found her. She'd been lying in bed, all relaxed and cozy watching Law and Order. No sigh of pain...no panic or disarray. I always thought and still think, my dad called down from heaven and said, hey Gini, the kids are all settled and I miss you. Time to get the heck up here...and she did. No sign of her aneurism hemoraging...nothing. Mom simply went to be with Dad. I went out to settle things and found a letter she'd written before she died. At the end of it she told me she loved me and to quit crying. Sorry Mom, I'm crying today. You've been gone four years today and for some reason, I am falling apart. I miss you. I love you...and yeah... I'll quit crying. In a bit. Anyone who reads this who hasn't talked to their Mom or Dad or Grandmother or Grandfather for a while...call them up and say hi, ask how they are doing or go see them. Tell them you love them. Because you still can ........................ |
| Well, I've been up since 3 am, wrote a poem, did several loooong, in-depth reviews, edited 15 chapters of my book (just started back on it again...) went out to lunch with a friend I haven't seen in ages, won a contest, and got a merit badge for reviewing....pretty darned good day! Oh!!! and realized I've now been at WDC TWO YEARS! Whooohoooooo Missed my wdc birthday on the day it happened tho' :( Have my car back and it just isn't right...I think it is possessed! (maybe it is catching??) On the trip out today, windshield wipers wouldn't work, 1/2 the squirters did (wrong side of course), left turn signal refused to signal and my headlights wouldn't come on....coming home, I had wipers, other side squirted, had signals and almost all my lights, but my tac, heat and gas gauges wouldn't work....ran ok-ish but has no get up an go at all....It is the curse of the ex...it is haunting me...ack! BUT I have it back and it starts when I turn the key and I drove to meet my friend for lunch! What a treat that was! |
| 3:44 in the morning. I should be asleep. I am up writing after falling asleep on the couch around 8pm. Ken's sawing the arctic forests on the other couch. We do have a perfectly good, comfy bed, but neither of us is going to make it there this night, it seems. I was trying (yeah, that worked) to stay awake for 10 pm so I could see the prompt for the 21 Days of Poetry thing I'm taking part in. When I woke up at 3am, bright eyed and bushy tailed, I made coffee and went to find the prompt. Applesause, a memory of my youth and certain words not to use. Flat out LOVE what I wrote!! Really, really happy with it....nice way to start the day.[edited] Lisa Dawn - sunny days   said i should put the link to the poem in! So I am.
Yesterday ended well too! I got my car back. I have wheels. I am no longer tied to home and hearth and can go where I want, when I want!! (probly won't go anywhere, but to know I can makes all the difference.) Course, the 'check engine' light is still on, and it doesn't quite 'sound' right...but we'll see. Going to have company today :) My erstwhile Avon lady is coming by. She and I became friends, she gave up Avon and now is so busy we never seem to get together. So today will be a catch-up, pot of coffee yack! Before that, another new friend, (this time the candle lady) is coming by. We clicked when we were talking about writing and she mentioned an old, old book of poetry she has that is her all time favorite book. I, of course, went to my desk to show her MY special, old, dog-eared, frayed binding book of poetry-The Best Loved Poems of the American People- published in 1936. Yup..exact same book...too too wierd. But awfully cool. Better, we both really love some of the same poems. She went looking for one and didn't the book fall open to it? ANYway she's coming over to let me know what she thinks about some of my stuff she took with her a month ago to read. That will be another pot... Funny how i refer to them as the avon lady and the candle lady...easier for Ken to keep track that way...Name and descriptive term. New secret pals....whooohoooo....psyched! LOVING this secret pal thing...making new friends here...gotta love it! Someone read allllll of my story...After the War--the Journals....NOW THAT is awesome!!!! Commented after each chapter and found all the typos!! I will fix em all tomorrow...errr today...errrr later. But they read the whole thing!!!! And liked it!!!!! Sent em a BUNCH of gps....some one finally read all of it thus far....*grin* From the other room I can hear total cacaphony! The tv is WAY too loud (I swear infomercials are set to be way louder) going on about how I can lose 6 inches off my waist in 6 day using their total body cardio workout system. They haven't explained how that can happen by it sitting in a corner, covered with dust...but hey, miracles happen. Course maybe I missed it. Ken's snoring seemed to grow louder too as if he is trying to drown it out! (hearing) No crunches, no getting on the floor, *gets up to go look at this wonder* ok Hip hop Abs...dance your way to being skinny. They are all in their 20's...they SHOULD be skinny. None of them look old enough to have a tummy...certain no grandmoms in the bunch! All with 'hot, happening music'....give me Neil Diamond! lol All for 4 payments of 19.95. Sure. Uh huh...Yup. Right. Oh and if I call in the next five minutes they send all sorts of extra stuff and free upgrades and take off a payment. Oh goody. Whoops...I almost missed the extra free gifts! Free gifts...ahem???? Free...gift....gifts are gifts, they aren't paid fo by the giftee. One of those oxymorons that drive me crazy! The word is oxyMORON after all...*giggles* Think I need some more coffee! (10 minutes later) Fresh coffee...and something to eat...take that Hip Hop ABs...lol 4:17 wired....off to review I guess.... |
| I have a car. It is a 92 Volvo 740 gl with 208,000 miles on it, a cracked (horribly) front windshield, and a decent, rustless body. It was a going-away, get the heck out of my life, means of transportation from the ex so that I wouldn't leave in the new Honda CRV that had my name on it too. Volvo people say a volvo with only..I stress only, 208 plus thousand miles on it is just getting worn in...has lots of life left. It has been sitting dead (mostly) in the driveway since October. It starts...when it wants to. It starts when it hasn't for days, but just to be difficult when someone comes over to look at it. It starts when you do not want it to, and never when you do. It started the day before we were going to tow it to the auto-repair shop. It didn't start the following day so it got a free ride on the end of a tow rope. My boyfriend, Ken, is very car savvy. He fixes everyone's cars. This has him stumped. A buddy who can fix anything and everything, is flummoxed by it. The guy down the road who fixes Volvos for a living is frustrated by it. So now it sits at the repair shop, where, for the lovely sum of eighty bucks an hour, will hem and haw and hopefully, fix the blasted thing. No one asks me how to fix it. A stick of dynamite up its rear...err...tailpipe should do the trick. Noisy perhaps, but effective. Worse, what ever it had is contagious as my bf's truck is now experiencing similar problems. It has been sitting at the repair shop now since Saturday and, supposedly, they will get to it today. I have never liked this car. Now it simply reminds me of a time best forgotten. But, like the ex, is tempermental, annoying, untrustworthy and has a habit of leaving me stranded on the side of the road in the middle of the night. I do not like this car. My fondest wish is to get it running, so I can get a job, so I can trade it in and get something else. Anything else. Not new. Just a different vehicle. Something that reflects that the rest of the past 6 years (of the car) is gone, history, finished and will reflect the most recent 2 years of joy and light, safety and trust, love and goodness! A Buick LeSabre perhaps...maybe a chevy something or other. Not a Volvo. Never a Volvo. Something down to earth and reliable. There when you need it. A Kencar, that's what I need! |
| Good thing this snow doesn't seem to be piling up! My ex...(hmmm that doesn't sound right) err former (!!) secret pal is a doll! Lisa Dawn - sunny days is a doll! Gosh she and I had fun yesterday and then this morning I find out she even put a plug for my business site in her blog! Wow!!!And then another neat person qbasa gave me a merit badge for the crafting I'm hoping to translate into money!! WHOOOHOOO! As this month's secret pals winds down, I'm looking forward to finding out who mine is...and getting psyched for the next round! I've GOT to get Soccor's contest entries finished as my contest is winding down for the month as well and I'll have a bunch more to read/rate and review and judge! Good thing I love living in WDC land! *grin* Next time I redesign my port layout, I should make it a house...lol....hmmmm if i hadn't JUST redone it, I'd do it right now! Hmmmmm *an idea forms for next month's prompt for my contest*...hmmmmm My other half, Ken, came home last night with QuickBooks and said, "Now you can get me organized" with a big ole grin. Well, it is installed, but the thought of entering all the stuff..make that ALLLLLLLLL the stuff in is a tad daunting! It certainly was not going to happen last night. Monday nights are reserved for "24," THE best show with the best writers on TV! I am a complete fan of that show, as are a bunch of our friends. It keeps us guessing and plotting and trying to stay a step ahead. Most of the time we are blown away by it. We don't watch much TV here...but that we just do not miss! OK, enough procrastination...gotta go review those entries...wait...coffee...can't do it without a fresh pot of coffee!.......Live on the stuff!...oh wait......*tilts head to listen*.....so much for that idea...*sounds of car in driveway*...sounds like Ken's son-in-law's truck.....INCOMING Grandkids.....wheeeeee!!!!!!! gotta fly.... |
| Today has been a roller coaster of highs and lows. Highs were a cool shell from my still secret pal, and finally actually talking to the secret pal I've been spoiling for a month! We yacked twice over coffee today and it was great!!!! Then a book I ordered arrived in the mail by one of the authors here at WDC. It is Home of the Red Fox by J.A. Buxton. I am so excited for her that it is published!!!! AND also in the mail were my business cards! Whooohooo!  Then....dooooowwwwwwwnnnnn we go to the low part. An item I've been bidding on in Ebay for Ken's birthday (24 photographs circa 1932 of the USS Constitution) has risen to over 130.00 effectively knocking me out of the running. He is fascinated by the USS Constitution and the pics would have made him an awesome present. Trying for a couple of individual old photos and a piece of the mast now...but not quite the same. SIGH.......Tho the piece of the mast will be cool...ifn I get it. Almost afraid to hope. I let my hopes get high on the collection of pics and man, I am sitting here almost in tears, I'm so bummed. I was so ttally able to blow his socksoff with last year's present (a trip in a hot air balloon) and so this year, while not trying to top that (how could I?), I'm at least trying to come up with something very special. Course, he'd be happy with a card and a hug...but to my illogical female mind, that's totally besides the point! |
| Today I was finally able to reveal myself to my secret pal! We've already talked on the phone and I am so excited about this new friendship! Already looking forward to March's secret pals :) And the person who has me has made up for early on nonattention and out doing her/himself! I've also been having fun getting to know some of the folks who have been responding to this blog. Still a strange idea to me to write a public blog...but I guess my thoughts are not too boring to people! lol I've got a tonof stuff to do today, an here I am poking around at WDC. So what else is new! *grin* I have to finish the reviews for Soccor's contest today...and finish the new poem I'm working on and then there's the real world stuff...one real world thing I did today is send out my resume and cover letter for a job right here in town (rare to find something in town...I live is a teensy, tiny town) that I am really hoping comes through! Speaking of teensy tiny towns... where I live we have a town park...we have movies in the park there in the summer...and everyone goes and watches movies we've all seen before or have on dvd just because it is a fun thing to do. Now in the winter...we have movies at the pool at the high school. Everyone floats around on mats, passing the popcorn around while we watch the movie! It is nice because there are kid movie times, and adult movie times (with no kids spashing etc.) It is a lot of fun..and sometimes, hilarious...Imagine watching Waterworld or The Posidon Adventure while swimming..too too funny! Everyone seems to know everything about everyone even if you don't know their names! I went to the hospital by ambulance a few months back because I'd hurt my back and couldn't sit in the truck...two months later when I was finally up and about, everyone (whether I knew them or not) was asking how I was...small towns...I love them! There're three chickadees and a cardinal sitting either on the feeder out side the window or on the bush below it. They are such fun to watch. We have two pairs of cardinals and they wait for the chickadees to nock the seeds off the hanging seed bell and then fight over them. They are beautiful..the bright reds against the white snow and the two HUGE spruces in the front yard. The two trees are 75 feet tall..almost tall enough for one of the trees in Times Square...but the yard would be so empty with out them...we've talked about it tho... My lazy snowflakes have gotten energetic...it is snowing like crazy all of a sudden..the birds took off and it is snowing so hard I can just barely see them sitting way inside the tree and out of the snow. On that note, i shall go force myself to do the things on my to do list.... |
| This weekend really flew by! Ken and I had a blast today...we went out for breakfast at Cracker Barrel (a several hour process between eating and poking) Ken was very patient with me as I poked in the store part...and i got a kick out of the fact that he knew what 90% of the old tools they have hanging from the ceiling and on the walls were and what they were for! At one point he teased me saying that he was quite happy being patient with me as I poked, because it meant he got equal time at Home Depo. I decided I'd had enough poking!!!! Immediately!!! *grin*. So off to Home Depot where we were for over two hours...looking at kitchen cabinets (he's mid remodel of the house) and picking out which wood, styles etc...he will make them himself (gotta love a guy that can do/make/create/fashion anything!) We are going with hickory for the cabinets, something called desert sahhara for the countertops...corion i think, and a blue-ish ceramic tile for the floor. Oh and we found THE COOLEST wide planked wood flooring for the living room. In the middle of all this we seem to have decided that when we do the kitchen remodel we are flip flopping what is now kitchen and dining room. Ie, the kitchen will be where the dining room is now...well, maybe, but we are considering it. I told him that if we did move the two rooms around, we'd have lots more space and he could even have 2 junk drawers. He said he needed junk bins. We could do that I said. Then he ammended it saying what he really needed was a walk-in junk drawer. I answered that he already had one...the garage! We giggled about that for an hour at least. Too, too funny. Had a great c-note swap with the secretpal I'm spoiling. She and I have sooooo much in common that i can't wait for the month to be over so we can chat! Oh and I think I've made another new friend here too. She's been devouring this blog (how kewl is that!?!) and so I went and read hers. Neat. She seems like someone I'd really like to know better too. Coffee. I need coffee!!!! Got an email from my navy daughter. She said she'd be having a blast for the next few days and she'd fill me in afterwards. All I know is that she's generally in the area of the Sea of Japan so they could be ashore in a wide variety of places. Awfully nice to hear rom her as she's been awfully busy of late while the ship is deployed. He just brought me coffee....didn't even ask! wow! I need to go do a bunch of reviews for a contest I'm helping judge, and make dinner and...and...and..... |
| A friend of mine had major brain surgery almost a year ago. The surgery was to erradicate a seizure problem due to epilepsy. During the course of the operation, she lost half!!! her brain. She had to learn to walk and talk and do simple everyday things all over again. Well, she's fine and back to being her old wonderful self. Some things she doesn't remember, but most she does. She went into the operation a rightie...came out a lefty! Well, today i took her to see if she could get her driver's license. It is hard for someone in their fifties to go thru that. We studied the booklet (amazed how much i'd forgotten.... I put my turn signal on when I'm going to make a turn...50 ft? 35 ft? 100 ft? who honestly thinks about it...you just do it! Well, she passed with flying colors and everyone's so excited. Excellent day!!!! My secret pal surprised me today with an auction item she won...whooo hooo!!!! So cool...so very cool! Working with the adrenilan rush from all this, the kitchen is shining, house is clean top to bottom, I even cleaned out the car! I'm bushed, and probably won't be able to find anything I look for in the next month!!!!!!!!!! |
| So foggy this morning I can't even see across the street! News says that it is a freezing fog, so road surfaces are going to be slick...I'll say! I let the puppy out tis morning and watched as her feet slid right out from under her on the deck! I laughed and she turned around to look at me as if to say, what did you do that for! Too funny. My secret pal has turned yellow :) She is so excited and I am enjoying her excitment. My pal (the one supposedly spoiling me) is really letting me down. I don't know why folks get involved with stuff if they are only going to fulfill the barest part. It is fun surprising my pall everyday with something... I've heard from whomever has me a whopping two times. I am so disappointed. :( Did some writing last night. One f the poems I've been working on I thought was really, really good. I fired it off to a writer here whose opinion I value highly and his reaction was way less than stellar. In fact, he had no clue what I was saying in the poem. Sigh. Makes sense to me, but I figure I'm way too close to it still. I'll let it simmer a while and then re-edit it. I am thinking the bones are good, but the skin may need fleshing out. (oh what a horrid pun!) O well, still on my first cup of coffee for the day! |
| Blue sky, sun's out, and it is snowing...got to love Michigan! Wrote a poem today about a man, Vincenzo Ricardo who was found dead in front of his blaring tv in Long Island. Problem is...he died over a year ago! Small town and no one noticed...no one cared. His neighbors all knew he was diabetic, and blind, and needed help getting food, and doing bill paperwork, etc. But they were too busy...to notice, or help or care. Sad commentary...sigh Went out last night with friends to dinner then over to their house to see Koji, a 4 month old Akita. He's HUGE! Beautiful animal, friendly and well trained already. Being used to a bichon, Koji seems like a small horse! We were out very late for us, so we are having a lazy day. I like lazy days together. We are both at our computers doing our thing, yet we are totally together. Oh! I won my court case! I've been on unemployment because I was fired. Why was I fired? According to my boss because he screwed up and he wasn't taking the fall and 'stuff' trickles downhill. The company kept apealing unemployment's decision that i was entitled to unemployment. The company took it to the next level...court, judge, attorneys etc. Judge heard all the evidence from both sides, said he'd have an answer to us within 2 weeks. That was tuesday. THURSDAY I had the decision in my hot little hand! Which meant it was in the mail on wednesday...didn't take the judge long for that decision!! Whoo hooo! Course, if I'd lost, Id have had to pay back what I've gotten..and that would have been a disaster!!!!!!!!! |
| Well, my Valentine's Day went as expected, although I gave him a copy of what I wrote last in my blog. He said I had it right on and then told me he loved me. Works for me *grin* Lazy day today...fell yesterday carrying groceries. Feel as if I've been hit by a Mac truck. I have bruises everywhere and ohhhh I wish Aleve worked as well as the commercials say it does. Oh well. Survivor tonight! Love that show and would kill to be on it. I'd probably last until the first Tribal Council, but, my goodness, what an adventure it would be. Been having fun with my secret pal, but I've only heard from mine twice. Disappointing. Maybe next month I'll get a good one. Last months wasn't any better. Or maybe I just go overboard with mine and expect too much. I have fun spoiling mine though. Dryer's a buzzing away....guessing I'll go fold towels...gee, what an exciting life I lead these days. ** Image ID #1216582 Unavailable ** Check out my Contest!
|
Slumped in my comfy chair in front of my antique desk, I stared at the computer screen, searching in vain for an idea that had disappeared as quickly as it had materialized. Swell, I thought, the deadline is looming, I’ve just had a discussion with my boy-friend about why he doesn’t like Valentine’s Day and I am not in the mood to write about love. Now, I’ll grant you, he had some very valid points. Valid enough, that what I wanted to say would have seemed pretty lame. What would I have said? Because I’d like to receive flowers. Because I like mushy stuff and squishy teddy-bears. Because, because… because I’m female and, well, it is just one of those things! I get it. My best friend would get it. Him? Nope. Doesn’t, won’t, probably never will. And I put up with it because I love him. Does he really need to give me a red squishy teddy bear that will end up in a closet to prove he loves me? Of course not. He shows me every day! Heck, he doesn’t even need to say, “I love you.” Because I know he does, and he knows he does and well, it is simpler leaving it alone. But. Ah, the infamous ‘but.’ I sigh, and from across the room he says, “You okay, hon?” “I’m fine.” I answer and go back to staring at my screen as if that would make some incredible thought just appear there. I’m still staring a few minutes later, when he says, “Here’s a fresh cup of coffee, thought you might need it.” Simple kindnesses--He serves them up on a daily basis: Full meals of thoughtful acts. When thanked, he is likely to say, “I’m just being me, I’m not doing anything special.” And he really means it! Sometimes I want to toss a pillow at him really, really hard! *Thwap!* Course, when I do that, it usually dissolves into a pillow-fight which further degenerates into a tickle-fight and then, still giggling, we go back to what ever it was we were doing. We have a thing we call the ‘early morning, not awake coffee dance.’ Two people, small kitchen with an impossible layout: It is a one person kitchen. But we can make coffee, pour it, dump in the sweetener while the other grabs the ice for his coffee, and the milk for mine. A well rehearsed done-it-a-million-times routine that never fails to make us smile. Or I’ll get up and make the coffee at four-thirty in the morning, so that he can sleep in that extra fifteen minutes. For some reason, out of the (old clichéd phrase alert) goodness of my heart my set my cell phone and get up just to make his coffee and bring it to him in bed. He flat out loves it, and in the grand scheme of things, is such a very little kind thing to so. Then there’s lasagna. Twenty years ago I made him a fancy dinner, complete with red and white checked tablecloth, Chianti bottles dripping with colored wax and home-made lasagna. He ate two helpings and we had a wonderful evening. Fast forward through the next twenty years during which we parted amicably and went about of separate lives until two years ago when we ran into each other again and have been together ever since. When I invited him to dinner soon after we’d run into each other, he said as long as it was anything but lasagna. Turns out he doesn’t like lasagna, never did, but ate it anyway the first time around but didn’t EVEN want to go through that again! That comment lead to a conversation about communication. A wonderful conversation which continued over dinner, that ended up being pizza! The box of lasagna noodles stayed in the cupboard and the rest of the stuff I had bought for it went in the fridge. When we moved in together a few months later, I put the food from my apartment into his pantry. He was helping unpack the box and picked up the box of lasagna. The expression on his face was priceless. I told him not to worry, but that I had kept it for a reason. “If ever we need to talk about something, we can get the box of lasagna out, open it and leave a piece of lasagna out. That way we know we need to have a chat. We don’t need anymore ‘lasagna moments’ in the future.” That was two years ago. The box of lasagna is buried way in the back of the pantry. We have yet to need it, or use it. We have yet to have a serious disagreement, let alone an argument! We figure ten years from now we will frame it and put it over the fireplace or something. Who ever would have thought a box of lasagna would be a harbinger of peace? Which brings me to another thought. None of which has anything to do with what I should be writing, but, hey…I’m on a roll! Peace. We have an incredibly peaceful existence. Oh sure, we worry about money and the bills and all that sort of stuff, but we don’t fight about money, or chores. We each have our special things we do that are Important, capitol ‘I’ please note! With me, it is my writing. With him, it is deer hunting. We each indulge the other’s passion. He listens to my writing, and offers good comments and sometimes, even an idea or two. I get up early, make coffee and wake him up to Ted Nugent’s “Fred Bear” at full blast (even if it is 4:30 in the morning.) Hunting season means don’t make plans during deer camp weeks or for dawn or dusk from October first through New Year’s day. It means that any time he gets a deer, any later plans will be summarily cancelled because he’ll be busy processing the deer. Oh wait. WE will be busy processing said deer, and then I get to fry up back straps. Life is good. Writing means deadlines. Deadlines mean late dinners, ‘scrounge nights’ and his keeping the coffee pot full. They mean his listening to umpteen revisions of whatever I’m working on. Deadlines mean he answers the phone, takes care of the puppy runs and laundry will pile up until he runs out of underwear, at which point, he does it himself. And then makes more coffee. Coffee. Joy is arriving home from work, and knowing that regardless of the time of my arrival, if he is home, there will be a fresh pot of coffee. Always. No matter what. He comes home from hunting and there is a can of ‘blue’ iced and waiting. We do these things because we find joy in these simple things we do for each other. We also find joy in the things we don’t do together. That might be his taking off on a Saturday to go help a friend or what I call ‘his male bonding times.’ The short definition of this is his ‘drinking with his buddies’ times. Or the fact we both have a disease in common. We both have ‘pack-ratitus’ complicated by a severe case of flat-surface-itus. We have a problem keeping any flat surface clean and uncluttered. It takes a supreme effort or something like the annual Christmas party to get us to clear off all the surfaces and find places to put the stuff. In fact our first annual Christmas party was a subterfuge designed to finally get all his tools from the remodel out of the dining room. It worked, the party was a success and we already have the date set for our 3rd annual party. We take the day before it off so we can be sure that cleared off surfaces don’t have time to re-clutter! And none of this is an issue. One of us gets out of work and are on the cell with the other one as soon as the car is going towards home. Doesn’t matter that home is only twenty minutes away, we can’t wait that long! I think my partner’s middle name should be Joy. I expect he wouldn’t think too highly of that idea though! But it true. He gives me joy. I give him love. We give to each other a thousand times a day, naturally, with little forethought or ulterior motive. We just, as he would say, ‘Git ‘er done!’ He just brought me a cup of coffee after offering to make me some fresh if I didn’t want the bottom of the pot. Now he’s outside snow-blowing the driveway. Which brings me around back to the beginning. His hand-made Valentine’s Card will be waiting for him when he gets home from work tomorrow. He will probably have a card for me that he’ll pick up on his way home. Or not. But it is okay. He’s also just as likely to bring me a squishy teddy-bear. Either way, I guess I don’t really mind if (as he puts it) succumb to the commercialization of a day he never much liked anyway. He already is my Valentine. I think I’ll keep him. Hmmmm....I just might have a short story here after all. Life, love, is awfully funny sometimes *grin* ** Image ID #1216582 Unavailable ** Check out my Contest!
|
5:04pm on a snowy, wintry day. Welcome to my world, welcome to my blog. Won't guarantee it will make much sense to the rest of the world, in fact, maybe you should be worried if it does. Be that as it may, this is my first effort at 'blogging.' Understand, I am from the generation when diaries were locked wth totally useless keys and hidden from snoopy older/younger brothers so that the secrets within couldn't be used to tease or torment us for the rest of our lives, or worse, tattle to the folks and really get us in trouble! Of course, thinking on it abit, my life is neither exciting nor troublesome enough for it to be an issue. Sigh. Me....If you've been meandering around my port, you already know I'm a writer. If you stumbled on to this blog without having visited my port....go read some stuff there first! Much more of me surfaces there, I expect, that shall ever in this blog. Who's to say. Anyway. I'm what? Hmmmm a 52, working on 53 (gack!) year old female with 3 grown kids, 3 grandkids, 2 sons-in-law, and 6 other grandkids by proxy. I have an amazing partner with whom we both have been given another chance as we first met/dated/got engaged/went our singular ways 20 years ago. Now we've been together almost 2 years and life is sweet, loving, crazy and I'm a very happy camper. Life isn't all a bowl of cherries (good thing... I don't LIKE cherries) and we are muddling through the 'just like everyone else' syndrome of not enough money and way too many places to spend what we have. We each have grown kids and we each have at least one that we are super proud of, one with with we aren't all that happy...but we love them all regardless and try not to let the problems give us too much grief. The kids are all old enough to make it on their own, learn the stuff they should and to take responsibility for what they do...it is out of our hands, and we try not to let it too deep in our hearts or we'd go crazy. Bored yet? Still with me? Cool. If you made it this far then you genuinely want to know more about me and my life, or you are a masochist.... Let's see...what else.... I'm working on starting my own web business, I live to write/read/revise and anything else to do with writing. I'm honest, stubborn, loyal, too trusting and still likely to duck if you move too fast. I've got a 3 year old empty nest replacement pooch who is a Bichon Frise named Bear. (used her pic for one of the C-notes) Great dog, smart as can be (most of the time,) totally spoiled (all of the time,)doesn't shed and fun to have around. So much for getting this started....nothing much else going on, really, anyway. |
 Log in to Leave Feedback |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
Remember, 60 is the new 40. I consider age to be really reverse logarithmic. 
I am beyond excited for you and can't wait to get my hands on a copy for niece and nephews .... 
umm .. okay ... and ...errr ... for myself because I'm just a big kid at heart. 
