Good News/ Bad News...

First...I've been so busy lately, I meet myself coming and going. This week is out of control. As a result, I'm behind on reading and commenting on other's blogs. I will catch up! Hopefully tomorrow before I head to Springfield to pick up CJ. We got some news on my grandmother yesterday and they've moved her condition to "comfort care". Which means they are only making her comfortable in these last few weeks. And we really are only looking at weeks. I'm spending a lot of time at the nursing home. I'm holding up well with regards to grandma. She's 87 and she's had a long life. At this point, she's not lucid much of the time, and I think she's ready to go. Spending that much time in the vicinity of my family however, is very trying. I may begin drinking heavily. I mean vodka in a Nalgene bottle could pass for water, right? I'm kidding. And then again. I'm not.



My Grandma and I

I wanted to participate in Little Miss Blogger's Rant and Rave Wednesdays, but I'm a day late and a dollar short (story of my life). So today is "Good news/Bad news" Thursday. Enjoy...


The Good News is I've started to find work on the Guru website. The bad news is some of the companies are less than professional.

The Good News is my family will all be here for Easter. Consequently, the bad new is that my family will all be here for Easter.

The Good News is one of my friends got an agent to ask for her novel manuscript, and I am sooo incredibly thrilled for her! Seriously, this is the best news ever. The bad news is I haven't even finished my novel.

The Good News is that puddle I stepped in on the floor of the kitchen and then tracked all over wasn't cat pee. The bad news is it was water from the sink which was leaking profusely. (now fixed)

The Good News is that Lu took me to see the new Nicholas Sparks movie "The Last Song" last night and it was amazing. The bad news is that I bawled my eyes out and have a lingering headache this morning. Not to mention how awful I looked when I walked out of that theatre!

The Good News is Sean had a telephone job interview and they really wanted to hire him. The bad news is they couldn't because of his summer jobs and trip so they told him to call back in the fall. Which means I continue to pay for his gas & insurance...and truck repairs.

The Good News is I started working out on my Wii Fit again with the kids and we are having a load of fun. The bad news is apparently I gained 5 lbs since January and if that thing yells out "obese" one more time I swear to Bob it's getting tossed out the window.

The Good News is I started submitting again. The bad news is I can't quite seem to find the time to write fiction. Darned kids thinking I should spend "family time" with them and all. Aren't they supposed to not like spending time with me by this age??!

The Good News is the weather got sunny and warm. The bad news is we hit a record high of 81 degrees yesterday. For real weather? The hell?! I do not want to go from heat to AC in the same week.

The Good News is Lu is cleaning my house today. The bad news is that I have to go to town to do the grocery shopping, pick up meds, and flea stuff for the cats. (Hello warm weather, please keep your pests outside).

That's pretty much my week in a nutshell! Feel free to play along.

Happy Thursday,
♥Spot

Another day of crazy...

So remember how I told you before that I absolutely hate housework and cleaning? Well I also absolutely adore a clean house. I know right? That's totally perverse of me. That's just how I roll. Anywho, yesterday was cleaning day at my house. I have a sh*t ton of cooking to do today plus a trip to Springfield (two hours away) to pick up CJ for the holiday weekend. So all the cleaning had to be done yesterday. I informed hubby and Sean that cleaning would commence at noon so that I could get the blogging stuff done first. (I'd accidentally slept in). So at noon we began our marathon.

Sean cleaned his and Bobby's room. Doesn't sound like much except they share a huge room in the basement, probably big enough to be two rooms, there are two beds, nightstands, dressers and then a separate space with a loveseat, two chairs, bookcase, and TV. He cleaned clutter, dusted, glass cleaned, vacuumed, swept and mopped the whole area. Thank you very much Sean. My hubby cleaned his home office (we use that door instead of our real front door so it gets really messy). And I wasn't even mad that it took him as much time to clean that room as it did me to clean...Mo's old room, Our bedroom, my bathroom, the family room and put dinner in the crock pot, 5 loads of laundry. Yeah, he's somewhat slower than I am. But then he cleaned the hall bath so all is forgiven. Well, it is after I went back in and pointed out all the things he'd missed so that he could do those too. Then I cleaned the living room and then we broke for supper. We ate our chili and watched "V". Then it was up again to tackle the pantry of death. I call it that because I think you could have seriously lost a person in the huge pile of plastic bags that covered one whole side of the "L" shape. Scary! Also I'd had this weird black goo that I'm pretty sure came from outer space show up in there recently. It was scary. It looked like motor oil. But in the end, it was no match for me and my Lysol wipees!

We didn't get the pantry finished. That will require way more time than I had last night. But at least it looks decent. I made my final trip to the basement laundry room at 9 last night. After which I took a shower and limped gratefully to bed for a little reading. Today? Two batches of cookies, potato salad, sausage cheese balls and Mexican pinwheels. And cleaning the kitchen (because I just couldn't fit it in yesterday!) Tomorrow, last ditch frantic vacuuming, pumpkin dump cake (thanks Mindy!), apple pie and a turkey. I'm already tired just thinking about it...

I probably (okay I know) I will not have time to blog tomorrow. So I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving. Know that I will be giving thanks for you guys. =]

Is it Sunday yet?
♥Spot

Monday ate my blog...

So I skipped out on yesterday...it wasn't that I wanted to...I just didn't have a spare minute yesterday. Seriously it was non-stop gogogo. I hate days like that. And today I need to be cleaning my house since I have company coming on Thursday. And I can't put it off til tomorrow because tomorrow I need to cook in the morning and then go to Springfield to pick up CJ for the holiday. I'm pretty sure there's no rest in sight until Sunday. (Oh Sunday, Sunday, how I long for thee...) It's not that I won't enjoy Thursday, I will relish Thursday. It's just all the prep it takes to get there...

So yesterday...I got up, managed to comment on all the blogs I read, but not squeeze out my own post. Then I drove to Hannibal, Missouri. Which is about an hour from my house. It's such a pretty town. Really, if you've never been, you should go. The touristy stuff is fun. My kids used to love the Mark Twain cave when they were little. And if you come...I'll meet you there. And we can hang out and shop in all the little shops downtown and I know a great place to get your tarot cards read! But moving on, I didn't have time for any of that, I was just dropping papers off at my lawyers office because they spelled my name wrong. It's not like they didn't have 52 other documents with my name on them. Puh-lease! And then I didn't even have time to stop at my favorite bookstore. *sigh*

I get back to town and head first to the library to look for the third book in a series Lu and I read. Because, when she was home last she was waving the third book in my face, taunting me with how good it was (because she's an ungrateful wretch who doesn't appreciate me) and she couldn't leave it here for me to read because she got it from the library where she lives. My library did not have it. Nor the fourth in the series which came out last month. In fact, my library had none of the books I wanted. When I asked at the desk about the possibility of them getting said books, they whined at me about "budget cuts". Excuse me, what about my budget cuts?? You know the ones forcing me to get books from the library instead of buying them for myself?? They really were tremendously unconcerned.

I hurried to the restaurant I was meeting Roxy for lunch at. And that was one of the best parts of the day. Not only was my turkey avocado bacon melt delish but we talked for an hour before we both had to rush off our separate ways. And that was great until she asked me~

Roxy~ So, the question of the day.

Me~ (totally unsuspecting, but wary nonetheless) um. yeah?

Roxy~ the 15th of December is rapidly approaching. Do you want to do family stuff that Tuesday night and do a girls thing the weekend after or what?

Me~ hmmm. neither. I'd rather just pretend it's not happening. mmmk?

Roxy~ no. not okay. think about it and let me know.

What kind of friend wallops you upside the head with a reminder of your birthday like that? And then wants to make a big deal about it? Geez...

So I hurry off to my doctors appointment. And I wait in devilish glee. Really, I get the biggest kick out of seeing my doctor. It's not like a crush or anything, he's way too scrawny to be my type. I just like making him laugh. I mean he has "brooding" down to an art form. And I get it. He takes his doctor work very seriously. And he sees a lot of geriatric (which means old and grumpy and dying) patients. I'm like one of his youngest patients. And after years of work, he now smiles when he comes into the my exam room. Again, it may just be that he thinks I'm crazy and he's trying to appease me, but maybe not. So I tell him about my awful cold/flu/virus from last week and how the mucus seems to be lingering as well as a low grade fever. He looks in my ears, nose, etc and pronounces it a sinus infection (um, I already knew this but refrained from saying "duh") We then have this conversation~

Doc~ *peering intently at laptop which contains my records* hmmm...you're allergic to Cipro (wonderful antibiotic)

Me~ yep. totally screwed if I get Anthrax.

Doc~ *looking at me in sup rise. sheesh, you think he'd learn* anthrax?

Me~ yeah, you know after 911 when they had the anthrax stuff? You treat it with Cipro, right?

Doc~ well, yes.

Me~ So I'd be screwed. *sigh* The good news is I'm safe from smallpox.

Doc~ *raises on eyebrow questioningly*

Me~ I lived out of the country so I got the vaccination. I'm good to go.

Doc~ *shakes his head but I know he's smiling inside* Doxycycline. One tablet twice daily for seven days. *peers outside* you have to avoid sun exposure.

Me~ *also peering out at very weak amount of sunshine* mmmkay. Well that's really gonna cut into my laying out and swimming but I guess I can handle it. I also need more Savella samples please (the brand new just approved in April fibromyalgia medicine that keeps me going but somehow my insurance refuses to pay for).

Doc~ *breaking into huge grin and slightly startling me* the drug rep brought you a bunch today.

Me~ the drug rep brought me some?

Doc~ well, they don't know your name of course, it's anonymous, but they are supplying you with samples because you're one of their success stories!!

Me~ huh. well that's a first.

He walks off and I wait for the nurse but then he pops his head back in~

Doc~ oh um *looks distinctly uncomfortable* you have to use a different form of birth control while on the antibiotics because it makes them ineffective.

Me~ right! No sex for seven days! Can I get a note? I don't think my hubby will believe that's a doctors order.

Doc~ What? That's not what I said. I didn't mean...

Me~ *laughing out loud now* I know. It's cool. Got it.

At which point he walks off shaking his head. You know I'm his favorite patient. And then I'm off to the grocery store, the bank, the pharmacy (where I kid you not, I spent 20 freakin minutes in the drive thru lane waiting to pick up meds.), and the vet to pick up flea medicine (which is a whole nother post). I hurry home, the guys unload the groceries, I put them away, throw in laundry (so far behind on that), sew on a button, fix supper, more laundry and I'm off again.

Drive back to town, pick up my niece and take her to see New Moon. Experience two hours of blissful Jacob viewing, return her home, talk to my favorite SIL, catch up on family gossip and how her pregnancy is progressing, and drive home. By the time I get there it is 11 o'clock and I am exhausted. I chat briefly with Bobby and hubby, Sean already having gone to bed, and then crawl in to my own bed around 11:45 whispering to myself about how wonderful it feels. Read 4 chapters of my new book and it's lights out off to dreamland...whew!

Intersperse in there a few phone conversations, mostly while driving. Three with Lu, who was supposed to be down yesterday for dr appts and to see the movie with us, but she is sick with whatever Luke and I had so I rescheduled all her stuff and told her to stay there and in bed. She's much better already. Also with hubby, to let him know I was alive even though I was an hour and a half later getting home than I said I would be, thanks for noticing and calling to check on me. NOT. What I meant to say was thanks for forgetting what time I said I'd be home and not even noticing. You suck.

thanking goodness that yesterday is over...
♥Spot

PS~ yes, I do know that I didn't use a lot of punctuation or capitalization. And that I made many many run-on sentences. It was on purpose, to give you the rush rush feel of my day...

Out of the woods, Into the quicksand...

I'm pretty sure I'm out of the woods. Because except for a brief time last night, my fever is mostly gone. My throat isn't sore for the first time in 5 days. And I'm grumpy. Seriously. You know that grumpy stage you go through when you're feeling better, but not quite well, and you're bored with being in bed but you don't want to get up and overdo and end up there again? And it must be someone's fault??! Yeah, that's where I am. I've also come to realize that I spoil my family. And that's making me grumpier.

I told my hubby two days ago that he was going to need to do at least one load of laundry. And if the laundry room was on the first floor, I would have done it myself, but it's in the lower level. Which is pretty much just a fancy term for basement. But of course, he didn't do any laundry. So yesterday morning he says "I'm going to have to wash some clothes. I'm running out of jeans." And I was all "Really? You think?" So yesterday after dinner he throws in laundry. And four hours later I ask "so did you think you might want to dry those clothes you washed? It might be hard to wear them wet." So he goes down and throws them in the dryer and puts a new load in. Before I go to bed I ask if he folded the load from the dryer. No, it was still in the dryer. So I kindly offer to fold them~

Me: If you go get that load of clothes, I'll fold them for you. Then you can distribute them.

Him: I don't know where they go.

Me: The hell? Your clothes go in the same places you take the clean ones out of! And the boys get placed on their neatly made...*pause*...there are no neatly made beds are there?

Him: Not a one.

So. While I was sick, laundry did not get done (the clothes are still in the dryer), beds did not get made, no effort was made to straighten the house or heaven forbid, vacuum or sweep. And the last straw was when I walked into the kitchen this morning.

Me: Why is the sink full of dirty dishes??? We have a dishwasher!

Hubby: It's Sean's fault. He didn't unload it so I could reload it. But we're going to take care of that right now. Just don't look. Go back to your room. We'll bring you tea.

I hear Sean yell from the kitchen. "It's totally his fault!! The dishes in the dishwasher are dirty!! He forgot to run it."

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!

I know. I should be happy that they managed to feed themselves (although I'm sure the takeout has me over the grocery budget), they brought me drinks and soup, the cats got fed, and they managed to get Sean to the clinic yesterday for his flu shots. But it sucks knowing that as soon as I'm well (probably tomorrow), I'll spend all my time trying to get my house back to rights. Grrrr. I'm going to take a magnifying glass to my contract. It's time to read all the damn fine print...

♥Spot

Damn that Spidey Sense!

Okay so I'm getting to this blog really late today but it's okay because I already put dinner in the crock pot so I'm not in a hurry or anything. Yeah I was productive today. Go me! I did three loads of laundry, put spicy deer chili in the crock pot, made all the beds, swept the kitchen, straightened and vacuumed the upstairs. And I tried to get by with not doing this. I tried to use Jenny's the house is not messy it's a "creative haven" line, but I wasn't even buying it so I knew I couldn't sell it to anyone else and I was going to have to knuckle down and do some work. Also, because even though it's only been like 4 days since I vacuumed I could probably have knit a sweater or two out of all the cat fur on the carpets. Which really grosses me out. So I was productive. Which can also be translated into boooorrrrriiinnnggg.

So about my spidey sense. You guys are gonna think I'm really weird or crazy but that's okay because I'm pretty sure alot of people think I'm crazy and everyone has their own "thing" you know so maybe crazy is my "thing". My spidey sense warns me of impending doom. Okay it also lets me know when people are pregnant or the phone's gonna ring or someone wants me to call them. Like today when my sister in law texted me and was all "guess what" and I just somehow knew that she was pregnant again but I didn't want to ruin her moment so I was all like "I don't know. What" and she was "I just found out I'm pregnant". And I was all "congratulations! that's awesome!" instead of yeah I know. Or when I call someone and they're all "I was just thinking about you" and I don't say "Yeah I know. What do you want?". Or I tell the kids to go get the phone and they say it hasn't rung yet and then it rings. (This used to really freak my husband out but now he's either okay with it or pretends he is). I know I'm totally freaking you out right now with my awesome psychic powers right?! Yeah, don't get excited, it's not like I can predict winning lottery numbers or anything else remotely useful.

But the spidey sense has been really helpful when raising teenagers. My daughter once asked me if she could go to a party (and I know the standard parent answer is no because it's a party but that's not how we do things) and I said "No. I have a really bad feeling about it" and she stopped asking because they know you don't argue with the spidey sense. The party got busted and everyone there got arrested and lost their drivers licenses. The spidey sense lets me know when they're lying too. You'd think that would make them never lie to me but they're teenagers so they really aren't that smart and then they get in even more trouble for lying when they should have just confessed. The sucky part about the spidey sense is knowing when something is going wrong in their relationships. Like I always knew when my daughter and her boyfriends were going to have huge fights or if she was being cheated on or lied too. You'd think that would be good, but it's not really. Because then you're forced to either keep quiet and get the ice cream ready or be the bearer of bad news. Let me tell you it's a tough call.

Sunday my son came into the family room and said that his girlfriend had to cancel their date. That she had a scholarship application due and a speech to write. Now, this isn't really odd because she is a very scholarly girl who works really hard at school but it sent off a remote tingle in the spidey sense. So I sent her a text (yes, she texts me frequently) and said "good luck on your scholarship thingy" and she didn't text me back. More alarm bells. I mentioned this to my daughter who texted her and said no it appeared things were fine and Lizzie said how sweet Sean is to her. But I couldn't stop the spidey sense. I told Mo that Lizzie was going to break up with Sean. Fast forward to Tuesday evening. We are on our way home from town. Both kids are texting. I'm driving and singing.

Sean: Lizzie says she needs to talk to me. She's going to call the home phone.

Me: (and Mo in complete unison) Uh oh.

Sean: What?

Me: when a girl says she needs to talk, it's never a good thing. Sorry buddy.

Mo: Mom said Sunday night that Lizzie was going to break up with you. So you should break up with her first. Or at least act all relieved when she says it.

Sean: (turning to me) seriously?

Me: 'fraid so. Sorry.

And she did. She said it just wasn't working out and they didn't get to spend enough time together. Which we all know in girl speak means there's another guy. He hung up the phone and came to the dinner table and said "you were right". But he wasn't too bummed. I mean there are lots of other girls. And he saved that $40 bucks he would have spent on dinner and a movie Sunday. And he got a freakin tattoo that day so now he's bad ass. But not too bad ass because he didn't pretend to be relieved or break up with her first or anything. Because he thought that was mean. So he's a nice bad ass. He did however call me a witch the next day and tell me that I was probably gonna get burned at the stake or something. But they totally don't do that anymore. Right?? RIGHT???!

♥Spot