Sept 20, 2004
Happy birthday, Ed! My brother is 35 today (the nice
one, not the crazy, vindictive, evil one). *sigh* I love him.
He has grown up to be a truly wonderful person. I just don't get to see
enough of him. When I saw him at my mother's funeral, it had been
seventeen years since the last time (which was, in fact, my father's funeral).
We always end up on opposite sides of the country with not nearly enough money.
We talk by phone and occasionally e-mail. Anyway, I just think he's
wonderful.
I am so tired today! I napped a couple of times
though the weekend, but still don't feel like I got as caught up as I wanted to
be. I can catch a bit today, I'm sure, but the bulk of the day needs to be
spent cleaning. I was thinking of the column I did last week about not
fighting the flow because we're going to end up in the same place we're being
encouraged to go, just a little more beaten up from the fight. I spend a
good bit of time fighting that it's my job to keep the house clean, mostly
because of how very, very, very much I intensely hate housework. I know a lot of
that comes from my childhood when my mother was sick all the time and as the
only daughter and oldest child, it fell to me to take care of our home. I
was ten when she started making hospital rounds on an ongoing basis, always
either recovering from being in the hospital, getting ready to go into the
hospital or in the hospital. We'll never really know how sick she was any
of those times. She learned at an early age, being one of nine children
and half of a set of twins, that being ill was a way she could get positive
attention from people. Who knows? Maybe she hated housework as much
as I did and it was a way of getting out of that (personally, I'd rather clean
my tub than have surgery, but some days, it's a close call). Regardless,
the end result of that was that I got to clean house, make dinner and take care
of my brothers between homework and trying to be a kid. I resented it then
and I guess I still resent it now. Anyway, I've been indulging that
resentment a little too much and I need to take up the slack. I figure if I
really give it my all today, the house will get off to a great start for the
week and I can cruise on pick up and spit shine the rest of the week.
Maybe that can be my schedule. I can clean like mad on Mondays and then
relax the rest of the week.
Today is also Dylan's last cram day to get his home-school
work done to be turned in tomorrow. He's been a slacker boy (my finger hurts, my
writing arm hurts, my leg hurts, my butt hurts) all week, so he has to make up
for it today. HOW I wish the little school would get an opening for him.
What we're doing is better than transporting him almost an hour by bus, but the
little school would be even better than this. Maybe I should whip out the
cauldron... hmm.
You will NOT believe this! I've been working on
pulling some of the rain from the hurricanes over this way because A) I like
rain, B) we've been in a fire danger status for months and C) No, seriously, I
*really* like rain. It finally hit yesterday and whoo hooo! It was
excellent! Saturday, it was overcast and Sunday, the heavens opened.
We got some solid rain for most of the day and WOW!!! We got SNOW!!
It didn't stick at all, but it snowed off and on for a good half hour or so.
It's cold as this Witch's teat out there and I still have to get good coats for
my kiddos! Somehow, I wasn't expecting to need them this soon. It's
still summer, fer cryin out loud!" In Sacramento, we never made it past a
nice fleece sweater and a sock cap. That was the coldest day. Up
here, evidently we get snowed in and frosty. We have a wood burning stove
that has been quite busy since Saturday. At least we don't have to depend
solely on our electric heat (especially since the electricity sometimes bites it
around here in the winter storms) during the colder times.
I'm getting bummed because I am coming to believe that one
of my favorite items has been discontinued. The make up company, "Wet and
Wild," used to put out a line of lipsticks called "Lip Tricks." They were
yellow, orange, blue and green and when you put them on, they sort of mix with
your body chemistry and turn the perfect color. They more stained your
lips than covered them, so the color lasted a long time and looked really
natural. I haven't been able to find them at my usual stores, on e-bay or
online. Surely they are around somewhere! It was too great of an
idea to just fall by the wayside. Did I mention, however, that also love
Mello Yellow and can never find that either. You know who has it?
Chuck E. Cheese's in Sacramento. Fountain Mello Yellow. And it is SO
good. So vewwy vewwy good. I also love Red Fusion by Dr Pepper and
have a lot of trouble finding it as well.
How am I doing with putting off getting onto that
housework?
I also need to catch up on some book reviews and fold some
laundry. Only one of those is one of my favorite things to do.
So it would appear that I should stop postponing and get
busy. I hope you have an amazing week. I'll be around off and on.
Take care,
Katrina
