Early Start

I woke up very early this morning and decided to get an early start on Pond Tour things. Mark stayed in a hotel last night because I had no where for him to sleep. He was going to call me for breakfast when he got up. Turned out that he slept in and I was up early. I never know what my schedule will be.

As soon as I walked out my front door there was a surprise. A dragonfly was making himself at home on my porch. I have some bells hanging by my front door and he was perched there. I took time to snap his photo, of course.


Also, finally, in the last couple of days, I've had some morning glory blooms. I've been concerned they're not going to have time to go through their full cycle and go to seed. These are volunteer ones so I want them to go to seed and do their thing again next year.


I was looking back tonight at pix on the blog of the flower bed on July 10 and I was thinking that the morning glories were growing so quickly then. Now they're huge. Things really exploded in mid August and they've been overrunning me since. This is the first time since I've lived in this house that I've thought the front flowerbed was too small. Generally I'm wanting to make it smaller because I can't fill it up. The sweet potato vines took care of that for me this year.

Today was our pond tour for the Mental Health Association. I'm not sure about the final numbers but I think it went well. I had asked for lots of help with it since I didn't know if I'd be out of the hospital or not.

Bless his heart, Mark drove down from KC this weekend to check on me and to help with the tour. It wasn't planned. He just decided to do it after learning about me being in the hospital. My house is so disorganized I didn't even have a place for him to sleep. He stayed in a hotel.

I feel continually blessed to have such amazing friends. I cannot imagine what my life would be like without them. I'm not sure how people manage with only online friends. Who helps you in a pinch? Who do you stay with when your floors are being refinished? Who works the pond tour when you're exhausted from all the blood that was drawn while you were in the hospital? Who smiles broadly when they see you at the local discount store? Who shares your thrills over a new relationship and your sorrow over a lost one while you celebrate or console with lunch? How can you manage without those connections?

I'm just not strong enough to handle life without those connections - those friends who support me in one way or another.

Mark was a shining example today of what a friend is. Julie was another one - obviously concerned about me and encouraging me to rest. Teresa offered to work for me today if I needed it. Trish was there. I'm blessed. Truly blessed.

Speaking of rest, I'm up hours later than I intended. I had some computer things I wanted to get accomplished and they are all done.

I'm watching the reports about Katrina and feeling for people in its wake. My brother lives in Mississippi, but hopefully it will weaken before it reaches there. This souns like it could be very, very, very bad. Time will tell.

Question of the Day

From one of my journaling lists... If your fairy godmother granted you three weeks, expenses paid, where would you go?

My answer...
Nepal, Morocco, Africa... somewhere very different. My number one rule for living is "Seek. New people, new places, new ideas..." So I always want to go somewhere much different than where I am.

I find most of the world is very "same" anymore. There's a Gap everywhere, right around the corner from McDonald's. I like to see something different - new - exciting - enticing. I can eat at Burger King at home. I might as well travel 10 blocks from my home. What's the point in getting on a plane for that?

Bright Saturday

Things are looking better today as my keys have been located!!! Yeah!!!

I've also had a very long night's sleep - about 9 hours - which is a bunch for me. I'm ready to tackle some house projects. I was told I could resume "normal" activity, but to take it easy. So, I'm going to give that a go. Not the norm for me, but surely I can learn.

Life has Curves

I just got out of the hospital today. I went in Sunday night because I was having some problems and they sent me home. I went back Wednesday night with related things and they put me in. I got out today about noon.

I'm rarely sick so this was all very scary for me. I don't handle this sort of thing well, but since I had to, I just did. It's one of those times when I wish I were married and someone was there with me. But, it seems a marriage should be about more than that.

I spent part of the day yesterday doing an interview about Sunday's pond tour from my hospital bed. That was a new experience.

Somewhere in the midst of emergency room and hospital and back home, my keys have been misplaced so I'm now trying to hunt them down. I really need to get into my office before the event on Sunday and I need the keys. I've looked in all the obvious places. I'm now officially out of ideas. I was just thinking I needed another stress in my life.

Sondra came to see me and so did Julie. Terry, bless his heart, brought my laptop up to me last night. I needed to work on some things for Sunday so that was wonderful.

I haven't gotten much done on the house this week, which was a huge goal, but I guess I'll do it next week instead. What else can I do?

I got a clean bill of health, which is a wonderful thing, but my arms resemble those of an experienced junkie from all the blood drawing.

I think I'll turn in early as I'm exhausted after no sleep night before last and very little last night. Hopefully I'll spend the whole night in my own bed, with no medical intervention.

India, Rain and Old Friends

We are getting a little rain storm. I took this photo standing in the shelter of my front porch, looking across the street. You can see the tops of my morning glories, which are growing like crazy - big green leaves and tons of buds - but have very few blooms. I think I've had about a half dozen so far.

The frost date in Kansas is October 15, I think, so they're not going to have much time to go through their cycle from flower to seed. These are all volunteer ones that came up from when I planted two or three years ago. I planted blue ones, but Sondra tells me that they will go back to the scarlet ones that they originally were since the blue is a hybrid. That's fine with me, as long as they grow. I need to look that up online so I understand better.

Teresa and I went out to dinner and when we came out of the restaurant there was thunder and lightning. The radio said it just came up in the last 25 minutes or so. At least my lawn is turning green from the brown it was a few days ago.

We went to Lone Star tonight and I snapped a pic of their flower pot by the front door. I really like the combination of plants, especially with the tall one on top. I'm not sure what they all are, but some I recognize. I have some of the purple vines in my front bed. Anyway, it's a nice mixture. Something to remember for the future.

I am weary tonight and think I may go on upstairs soon to rest. Maybe the ER doc was right that I need a little rest. I do have to run downstairs and move some things so the Culligan water guy can get to the tank tomorrow to change it out. I didn't have them come last month because of the floors and I've noticed a bit of lime build up so I must have gotten all the goodie out of that tank. Hutchinson sits atop tons of salt mines so our water is not the greatest. You almost just have to have a water system. But, by next year our Salt Museum will be open, which will be ultra cool.

Today I spent parts of the day off and on working on setting up a wireless network at home. I'm pretty adept with computer things so could not figure out why I could not get this to work.

Finally, I called Tech support for NetGear and got India. I despise that. Hate it hate it hate it hate it. Not because I have anything against India, but because I don't like doing complex things to my computer when I'm spending 75% of my energy trying to figure out what in the heck the person is saying.

As is the norm with such tech calls, the girl could not help me but as best I can tell, my modem and the wireless router don't like each other. She told me to go buy a hub. That's all she could tell me, repeatedly.
I told her I'd just return this product and get a D-Link. That's what I should have done in the first place. But, I wanted the extra supposed juice. Well, if it doesn't work, there's not any juice - much less extra.

Anyway, so I have to deal with that and I've spent some time I can't get back because their product - that searches for the modem and sees it - isn't smart enough to just tell you then that it won't work. I'm still connected with wires tonight. But, maybe tomorrow I can deal with that.

Tonight on my way in the door from dinner I picked a couple of flowers to put on my desk. It's about the only flat surface I have at the moment. I only had time to grab three stems before the rain started. Then I couldn't find my vases, so I'm using a creamer. In a few days my desk will be so loaded down there won't be a place for even a creamer so I figured I'd better enjoy it while I can.

Andrea came today and helped paint more in the dining room. I'm going to really love it when it's done, but it seems to be taking forever - but I knew this would not be easy when I started. I'll be so glad to get it finished. I haven't felt like working on it but maybe I'll feel a little perkier tomorrow and can get something accomplished around here.

I think I'm going to love having my office at home as an office. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with all the stuff that was stored in here, but I guess I'll just have to deal with it now. Necessity is the mother of invention they say.

Had two really nice chance conversations today. I ran into Rob Mackey at Office Max this morning. He's the local United Way Director and an all around good guy. Soon he will be leaving Hutchinson to work for United Way of America in Alexandria, Virginia. He will be a support person for about 900 United Way agencies around the US who make less than $1,000,000 yearly. They are getting an exceptional talent, and we are losing a magnificent man.

Rob is one of the kindest, sweetest, most gracious and generous people you would ever want to meet. We worked at the same radio station years ago and he was an amazing boss. He always gives you a big hug when he meets you, never has a bad thing to say about anyone, and is genuine - completely genuine - a trait I find in so few that I love so much. He is a man of sterling character. I will miss him and his wife very much.

On my way back, I called Teresa to ask about getting together for lunch and Randy, a former coworker, answered the phone. I had a nice chat with Randy. He and I started a book club some years ago, that was a really enriching part of my life for a long time. He, Teresa, Trish and I went to Lilith Fair one year in Dallas - that was a blast. I miss getting to talk to Randy - he used to be just one or two offices down the hall. We always found a lot to laugh about. He used to tease me that I always just "tell it like it is," and I guess he's right. Some people do think I'm opinionated. Who would have guessed?

This blog, of course, is a testament to my opinions. Mark told me once that the thing he loved about my blog was the juxtaposition of things. He mentioned one entry about a tea party with a photo of Jocelyn and me and I'm talking about how wonderful it is. The next entry was titled, "Things that Piss me Off."

Well, it's about time for me to get off the computer. We're getting enough lightning I should shut everything down for the night.

Just one quick little reminder... four months from now, Santa will be making his rounds. (There's a reason my nickname is "Miss Christmas!")

Life Goes On

Thanks to everyone who commented and emailed to ask about my health. It's probably going to amount to nothing in the long run, which is great. People's medical problems are really rather dull, so I'll not bore you with mine.

Yesterday I was under strict orders to take it easy, which I found far more stressful than accomplishing something. But, today I had permission to get back into life, although I was not to work. So, I did get some errands done and saw some friends.

I had Diana wrap up a little something she had in her store that Sondra mentioned that she loved - a little polar bear statue/door stop. I wanted to get Sondra something for being so kind and taking me in all last week.

We had Creative Sisterhood at Diana's store last night since I could not get out enough chairs or do anything else to prepare for it at my house. While I was there I asked her about the door stop. This morning I called and told her I'd be in to pick it up and asked her to wrap it for me. She went far above and beyond the call to make it pretty.

When I took it over to Sondra she was just thrilled and very surprised. I was so glad I did it. I got to make two friends happy - Diana made a sale and Sondra got something she liked.

Sondra was busy grooming a dog. She runs House of Canine, and grooms and boards dogs. If I had a dog, that's where I would take it. She really loves dogs and helps with the Lucky Dog program and other rescue operations. She has a whole area of her house for the shop and she treats the dogs she boards as if they are her own. She gives them tons of extra care and love. I think at some places, dogs are put in a crate and pretty much left. Sondra plays with them and lets them run in the yard and cuddles them and talks to them and pets them.

It was good to see her. I got used to being there every night. I've missed her the last couple of nights.

I had lunch today at Tiffany House, a wonderful place downtown. It's in the back of an antique store and it's marvelous. Unfortunately, Doug - the owner - has grown tired of trying to break even on it and he is shutting it down the first of next month. I'm going to miss it so much. This is the place where we've had our teas, but I've also just been a regular customer since they opened 10 years ago.

I was pretty disgusted today to see a line backed all the way up of people I've never seen in there before. It's closing so now they want to go. If they had patronized the place all along, it wouldn't be closing. I don't know what they're thinking. You have to patronize the local businesses if you want them to stay around. I like Applebees and Chilis and all those other chain places too, but it's the local places that add true character to your town. We're losing an amazing place. I am so sad to see it happen. So very sad.

Diana's store is on the same block, so I ate lunch and then went down to get the package for Sondra. Little Miss Lily was asleep but woke up before I left. Her Aunt Sarah was happy for the timing because she wanted to see her before she had to go back to work.

Today Lily explored my purse at length, taking things out and examining them. When you've only been seeing the world for six months, so many things are bright and fresh. It's good to see life that way, I think.

My big accomplishment on the house today was that Terry came over tonight and helped me move the desk back to my office. It was a very tight fit down the hallway. Another inch and it wouldn't have fit. But, it's in here now. Now fully set up and functioning with all the computer stuff and everything on it, but it's in the room and that's a huge accomplishment. Huge.

This morning I finished setting up the bed. I almost hated to put it on the floors as the bedroom and the sun porch off of it both have solid boards in them - they run the full length of the rooms. Bart, the floor guy, tells me that's unusual.

But, I did want to sleep in my bed, so I had to cover up part of the floor. Andrea helped me get it set up the other day - it's a two person minimum job to set up an antique bed. But I hadn't gotten the comforter and everything all on it until this morning.

I'm sort of wanting the walls to be a different color now. They're a buttery white and I've been pretty happy with them but it would be nice to have a richer color in there I think. But, I have enough projects going at the moment. I don't need to start another one. I think I should try to get all my furniture back in my house and everything fully functional before I do any more "decorative" things like painting a room that's perfectly OK.

ER

I just got home from the emergency room. I am not a good patient. It's very scary being sick - and especially all alone. I'm not sure what anyone else could have done for me, but I didn't like being there all alone.

Anti Theft Devices

I wrote a little tirade a few weeks ago about shopping and how it is becoming more difficult all the time. All the various anti theft devices seem to equal anti-customer.

Tonight at ye olde Wal-Mart I experienced yet another shopping first. I was stopped as I left Wal-Mart so they could scan my receipt and highlight a $50 item I had purchased - a large rug. Now, a few weeks ago, no one paid any attention to the $75 camera card I purchased. I guess they only care about items they can actually see.

I was not happy. At all.

Your anti-theft device is to stop the paying customer, who has to find the receipt she has dropped into her purse, while balancing the bags she's carrying, so you can put a yellow highlighter on it. Great. That's brillant. What a good idea.

So, I'm detained - as if I'm a common criminal, people are backed up behind me to get out the door, and you want to color my receipt.

I asked what the purpose was and the answer was that if I lost my receipt someone could come in and take a rug. Apparently it's OK to take something small they can't see in the bag, however.

I just don't like how the world works more and more these days. I'm not sure how irritating me after I've spent money in your store is an anti theft device.

BTK Sentenced

The last two nights I've listened to a replay of the day's events in Judge Waller's court room as the BTK sentencing has occurred. It has been a trying time for this area.

As we learn more about this killer, it's apparent that he was more than a little lacking in his abilities. He made many stupid mistakes. But he got a lot of lucky breaks.

I watched the victim's family members speak last night and was struck by just how vehement many of them were and how much name calling there was. I've never lost anyone in this manner, thankfully, and so I cannot imagine what it feels like to be in their shoes. Their disgust and hatred for Dennis Rader was obvious.

I'm not suggesting that it's not understandable, but I'm not sure it's beneficial either. I guess that's for the psychologists to figure out.

Since we started allowing people to witness executions, we've learned that people don't get from the experience what they expect. I think it's a negative in the long run. People are willingly subjecting themselves to something that can be psychologically damaging.

My friend, Sondra, and I were talking about that this morning and she summed it up beautifully. She said there are experiences that leave her feeling like there's a "pile of shit over in one little corner of the brain and you can't clean it up." It's so very true. That's exactly what some traumas are like. I'm not sure we should allow people to willingly subject themselves to more of them - like watching someone die - even someone who has done a loved one harm.

As research on the brain progresses, we continue to find indications that the brains of criminals are built differently. Evidence mounts that pedophiles do not "choose" to do what they do - their brains are built in a way that makes it no easier for them to control their actions than for you or I to control what color eyes we're born with.

Serial killers are such a rare thing that we have very little evidence to know how they're "built," but there are indications that their brains are different.

We had an opportunity to study Daumer - he was very cooperative - and we squandered it. From what I've read about him and the interviews I saw with him, he seemed - unlike so many - to have genuine remorse. He seemed to know he was a monster but he just couldn't stop himself. He wanted to find out why.

Unfortunately, serial killers are continually sent into a penal system where they're killed in a relatively short amount of time instead of to a lab where they're studied the rest of their lives. So, we're not likely to learn much this way.

It's odd that we care so much about civil rights until we send people into prison and then we do so knowing that they're likely to be killed brutally. I'm not sure why we think that's preferable to lethal injection. I guess just taking chances.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2002/12/30/1041196598046.html

http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro01/web2/Solano.html#6

Damn Spammers, Part Deux

On my blogger account, I made it so there could be no anonymous comments to get rid of the spammers. But, of course, some people are ballsy enough to just join in order to spam. Of course, they're not bright enough to generate their own content so anyone would read about anything they might have to say in the first place, but they have plenty of time to spam. Hopefully blogger will delete them, but in the meantime we have to deal with them. Pity life doesn't come with an asshole filter.

Life is Wild

While I was away, my flowerbed went crazy. The sweet potato vines are everywhere now - they're even growing up onto the porch. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them all but they're certainly doing what I love - growing - profusely!

I also saw something that was a very happy sight - bees - lots of bees. The bee population in the US has been declining over the last few years and it's encouraging to see them in the flower bed. I spotted three different kinds doing what they do best - pollenating.

Tonight I'm planning to get some painting done that needs to be done before I can move back in.

The floor guy told me he thought one of his helpers would be willing to help with some other things around the house. I'm waiting on a call from him. I would really like to hire some help. It seems nearly impossible to hire people for small jobs. I just need some help. I'm out of time to get everything done myself. Hopefully he will call tonight.

I had lunch with Julie, Teresa and Trish so we could all talk about Kansas Dialogue, which is where we spent the weekend. I did, however, on my way to lunch stop in to see my favorite little baby - Lily. She's learned to wave now and waved at me through the glass door of Diana's store. Talk about heart-melting. I only got to spend a little time with her, but she drifted off while I was holding her. I had to give her to Diana so I could leave, and before I got out the door she was awake. The child is like me in that she is asleep one second and wide awake the next. So, she was up to wave goodbye to me too. What a cutie.

I'm very behind on blogging but real life is just wild at the moment. Hopefully I'll get caught up soon, but I still have Puerto Rico things to add, much less the last trip.

Floors Done

I returned home last night after two weeks on the road, and stopped by the house to find Bart getting ready to put another coat on the stairs and downstairs floors. They look great.

I stayed with Sondra last night. She's so good to me - gave me her master bedroom suite and fed me wonderful food and babied me in general. I must confess that I LOVE being babied. She's such a dear person to me and took such good care of me.

She went over with me today to look at the floors. I still have lots of work to do - new quarter round and painting the baseboards, plus lots of trim work.

I also have to paint the dining room since part of it has new drywall and finish the soon-to-be-library walls upstairs. It makes no sense to move things back in until that's all done. So, I'll be working in to the wee hours the next few weeks to get all that done. This weekend will be my first one at home with nothing to do but focus on the house in quite some time so that's what I'm going to do - focus on the house.

Damn Spammers

Can the asshole spammers never leave us alone for even a moment? It's bad enough they want to fill my inbox with crap, now they can't leave any of my blogs alone. I had to make my discussion list by approval only to keep them out, invest in services to keep my inbox relatively clear and now they're on my blog.

I guess I'll have to start not allowing annoymous comments. I hate to do that but I guess it's the only answer - at least until the blog services offer something better.

Many people who want to comment about something email me anyway, but I resent having to make changes because people trying to sell something want to use me to do it. Get your own freaking blog or website or whatever and leave me and this little community alone. If we want your fill-in-the-blank product we can find it on our own.

I $(#@^&# hate the $#&$^#@ spammers. OK, you can fill that in with the expletive of your choice, and those of you who know me know which one I would choose.

The End Times Draw Nigh

If you have any doubt that the end times are near, wipe it away. I drove through blinding rain on Tuesday in the Mojave desert. You know - desert - cactus - dry heat. No, no, no. It was very wet and rather cool. There was a flash flood warning in the desert.

Who says we humans can't screw up things like the weather?

This photo was taken after the storm's worst was finished. You can see the clouds trying to break. At one point I was driving 30 mph in a 70 mph zone and considering pulling over. But, by that time, most people had, so I pretty much had the road to myself.

It did result in some beautiful vistas - none of which my little digital did justice to. I was wishing that I had a "real" camera with me. But, I didn't and therein lies the rub. If I didn't have the digital, I wouldn't have any. So, there you go.

Yarn

I recently purchased some yarn that I'm in love with. It's called "Kiss" and it's the softest yarn you can imagine. I've started a scarf in it - it's just so wonderful. That's my little discovery of the day.

Time

How is it that we have no time, anymore? We all still have 24 hours in the day, every day. And, we have all these "time saving devices" - from washing machines to microwaves. How can we not have any time?

I fall into the same category as many others - never enough time to do everything I want or need to do. But, I can't figure out why that is.

I often say that "my life is overflowing in all directions" and that's an apt decription. Obviously, I like it that way or I'd live differently, but I can't figure out how it always seems to work out that way.

My friend, Leah, says, "I know you don't *try* to make your life wild but it always seems to be." I don't know why, either - but it seems to be the case.

Floor Update

I got a call from "Floor Guy" tonight. Bart tells me that things are going well.

He has the downstairs prepped and will start on the upstairs shortly. I can't wait to see them all done. He says they're looking good, so that's encouraging.

Sanding hardwood floors is a job best left to an expert and I'm fortunate to live in the same town as Bart, who is one. Hardwood only has so many sandings in it until you get down to the groove part - once you sand past that you're screwed. So, it's important to get it right.

I think I'll be really pleased with them.

Relaxed

Well, I slept well last night - probably just less stress since all the moving of things is done. The last few days have been a whirlwind. At the moment I"m sitting in a restaurant with great wi-fi and I must be the only person on it. Ah... bliss. It's amazing how connected we are these days - cell phones, laptops and PDAs.

Vacated

Well, I have vacated my home for a few days while they do the floors. It was a big mess getting everything all moved. Terry stopped by unannounced to help at just the perfect time. He and Greg helped me finish up with the last minute things.

Hopefully I'll get some photos along the way of the process. I'm exhausted. I hope I ADORE these floors.

I am going to have to essentially move back into my home. The mere thought wears me out even further.

Moving is Moving

The movers are here right now, emptying the room full of boxes of stuff that I brought from my mom's after she died. It's much more emotional for me than I expected.

I decided to get away from that and walked in to see the box of my recently-ex-bf's stuff that I need to send back to him. I just haven't been ready to do that either - not sure why - but I just haven't, even though it has been boxed up for a long time.

I didn't expect this to be emotional - I thought I was ready to deal with it - but I guess I wasn't. Oh well... no choice... I have to. Seems that's how much of life works - you do things when you have to. And I now have to.

Personality Soup

My committee was in charge of the Altrusa meeting for our local group on Tuesday night. We called it "Alphabet Personality Soup" and did a personality test.

My hope is that if people know how other people see the world that they can better understand then.

I will compile all the info on which type each person is and publish it in our newsletter.

This is Jan on the right - she's our president - and is one of the people who went to Puerto Rico. On the left is Mary Ann, who will be president for the next two years, starting in June.

Yoder Road Signs

I have noticed various road signs during travels that are specific to an area - elk crossing, rock falling, and many others. I was lamenting that we had nothing interesting around here.

Then one day I was driving to Wichita and noticed the buggy crossing signs near Yoder, an Amish community a few miles from where I live.

I realized it was a perfect example of not paying attention to what's nearby.

Piano Moving

The guy I had told could have the piano earlier arranged to get it today. I wasn't sure it would work out timewise as I had a dozen places to be at one time today but it all worked out.

He had the same movers who are coming tomorrow to move my things to a storage unit while the floors are done.

I was amazed by the young guy who handled one end of the piano all on his own. I dubbed him "SuperMover." I can't believe how much strength he had.

Fortunately, last night Terry came over and helped me clear the pathway to the piano so it all worked out.

I was planning to move it to Diana's store, but it's hard to sell these things and I don't think she was really wanting to have it there anyway. This way it's going to someone who will play and enjoy it.

Anyway, I'm hoping it's loved and enjoyed by them. I will miss it. It is a beautiful piece. I've had it for many years and it has been wonderful for me but it was time for someone else to enjoy it.

Ceilings, Floors, Sunporches and Videos

I spent a large part of today working on an MHA project that has gotten a little out of control. I think it's reigned in a bit now. Thank goodness.

The drywall guys were back today to work on the ceiling. I really like both of them - nice, hardworking, good guys. The floor guy stopped over to get a key so he can work here the next couple of weeks.
At one point they were literally bumping into each other and I thought. I'm not sure I can afford so much going on that people are bumping into each other.

I got to have lunch with Trish, which was really nice. I treasure her friendship so much.

This afternoon I called Diana and asked, "So, do you want to be in a video?" Her answer was, "sure, why not." That's one of the things I love about her - spontaniety.

I had to shoot my segment for the United Way video and we needed another person to act. So, we did that right after work. I hated it that I forgot my digital camera at home because it was a neat shot of Rob with the headphones and all. Oh well, just wasn't meant to be I guess.

Terry came over tonight and helped me move things in the sunporch. I'm really happy to have that done. The mover guys will take the piano out of there first thing on Friday, then do the other things I have for them.

The floor guy is starting on Saturday so I will have to make myself scarce.

Tuesday

I'm counting down the days of the week as I have to have so much done by Friday so they can start the floors.

Today they worked on the new drywall on the ceiling upstairs. And the painter did a second coat on the stairwell.

I had Altrusa tonight and our committee was doing the meeting, so I had to prepare for that. I also did a ton of running around for the MHA today. I have another big MHA project I have to get handled this week.

Sometimes there just isn't enough of my brain, energy and time to go around.

The fun part of my day was lunch with Teresa. I'm so behind that I haven't even had time to return Diana's phone call from Monday. I had hoped to pop in and say hello but that hasn't happened.

I'm really stretched to my limits and beyond right now.

Productive Day

I got a ton of things done today - movers are arranged for Friday, which was a big thing to get accomplished on the home front. The guy came and painted in the stairwell today but the drywall guy's helper, who was supposed to bring stuff over for him to use, never showed up - at least not while I was here - and he never called.

Tonight Jesse and Terry came over and helped move a bunch of things to the basement and that was such a huge help. I packed glassware while they were doing that so a significant amount of the glassware off the north wall of the dining room is moved.

I also set up a couple of appointments for Wednesday that are important ones - not the least of which is the United Way video shoot. In addition, the upholstery person is coming on Wednesday morning to look at the couch and chair I want to get redone.

I did take time for lunch with Debbie B. today. I called her on the spur of the moment and just caught her. I had planned to have lunch with Trish but it didn't work out. I need a break and some fun in my days to keep going when I've got big projects going.

I had my second coaching session this afternoon. It's good to have someone else's perspective on your life. I'm enjoying this. Well, that's not really true, "enjoy" isn't quite right. We've moved right to the touch issues so that's not fun, but it's productive. And, how can one expect to grow if you don't go through the ugly parts. This is just an ugly part.

I'm feeling OK about the state of things, but have to keep very busy over the next few days or I will not be able to accomplish what I need to do. Tomorrow night I have Altrusa so I won't be able to do anything then so I think I need to do another hour or so worth of things yet tonight. It's a good thing I don't need a lot of sleep!

Moving, Moving, Moving

I've been moving things around upstairs most of the day. Greg came over and helped me with some of the heavier stuff tonight. I'm sure now I can fit everything into the studio and bathroom, although I do still have to empty the two closets and there's always more in them than you think.

I cannot use my studio now. It is full of furniture and I can't get to any of my art supplies. This will be a test for me. I did keep out my watercolors and some very basic things to play with but I won't have much time for it anyway.

The trick will be that when the floors are done that I'll have to be careful to not scratch them so it will be a much harder proposition to get everything moved back into where it belongs. Hard to believe that four rooms of furniture can fit into one room, although it is stacked in places.

Tomorrow will be a very busy day and I have an early appointment so I'd best get to bed.

Artwork and Censorship

This little bit of art is raising the hackles of republicans. The artist had nothing to do with it being put in this exhibit. The exhibit used no public funds.

Relationships

I've been thinking tonight about relationships and how complex they are. Of course, if you involve two human beings - both very complex creatures - it's not hard to imagine a relationship being difficult.

I'm certainly not in a hurry to get into another one. I'm still puzzling over the last one and until I'm through with that, it would be unfair to get involved with anyone else.

It's not like people are beating down my door, anyway - but I have a theory that you should always be alone for at least two months for every year you were in a relationship. July 29 would have been 5 years for us, so I'm nowhere near ready to open myself to that yet.

It's hard to figure out how you get from being madly in love to being done. One of the things I've learned about myself is that I never fall out of love. The last day I was with him was just as intense for me as the first day - more so in some ways - and that's true for every relationship I've had. That fading away that others talk about just doesn't happen for me. If I feel it intensely to begin with, I still feel it years later. I guess it would be easier if it didn't happen that way, but that's how it is for me.

So many questions... I wish I could have the answers. How will I ever learn without the answers?

Altrusa in Puerto Rico

I was in Puerto Rico last week for the Altrusa International Convention. Four people from our group went, which seems like a good showing.

This is a photo taken with some of the International officers and our group.

Left to right front row is Judy Atkinson who was the International President from 2003-2005, Lois Johnson from our local group, Peggy Hughes who's in our club and is also the Governor elect for our district. In the back row is Jan Blick, our local club president, Linda Nichols the International President for 2005-2007, Maureen Welch, International Treasurer for 2003-2005 and me.

I went a couple of days early to Puerto Rico so I will have more photos to share. It's a tropical paradise, as one might expect.

The conference was at the Westin Rio Mar, a very upscale resort about an hour's drive west of San Juan. But the first couple of days I stayed at the Excelsior Hotel in San Juan. It's recommended in all these Puerto Rico travel things as a great business class hotel but the travelers reviews were very mixed. I decided to just take some pix of my room as soon as I arrived and post them so anyone thinking about staying there in the future can decide for themselves. http://www.patsyterrell.com/excelsior/index.htm

I also ate at Augusto's, supposedly one of the finest restaurants on the island, that is at the Excelsior. The food was great, and the service the typical ass-kissing kind you find in a place like that. I'd rather have paid half as much and just had normal service. It was good, but overpriced - even with the ass kissing.