Thankful Thursday

It's about to get crazy hot in Georgia, like in the hundreds. I'm so glad we went ahead and did the move last weekend instead of waiting to the last day of the month. I don't hold up well in the heat.

And I'm so glad to be (mostly) settled in here with The Parents. Still have to figure out what to do with my hanging clothes. There is a bar in the Utility Room which is accessible through my room but the bar is super high. I would have to climb on a stool to hang things and to take things down. My dad joked about "lowering the bar" for me. Been happening all my life... ha.

Obamacare. It's like getting your medical care from the DMV. I never feel as dirty and marginalized anywhere as much as I do at the DMV. Frankly... for me it's just conjecture because I have no money... I'm unemployed... I'm beginning to think I'm unemployable... so when they talk about things like "mandated healthcare"  requiring that EVERYBODY buys health insurance is not tangible to me. I can't buy anything without money. The penalty for failure to buy health insurance is to have money taken out of your tax return... I have no income therefore am not paying taxes therefore would not have money coming back. I mean... I'm no politician or economist but this doesn't make sense.

I mean... is the new American Dream Socialism? Now that we've watched so many countries falter financially because of Socialism, are we going to follow their path? Again.. I'm no expert but it doesn't add up.

This morning I got up
and made coffee,
washed dishes,
ran an errand for Pop,
browsed a little while in the Thrift Store (but didn't find anything),
went to Walmart for juice and coffee creamer
and then came back home for a late breakfast/early lunch of a pimento cheese sandwich and sliced cucumber.

My mom is having a bad day pain wise so she is laying on the couch listening to an audio book. Trouble has been a bold little kitty today and scared the weiner dogs, Sammy and Oscar, out of our room. We keep Sammy (my grand-doggy) while Marquee is at school. Stubby is laying on a sheet that I was about to fold a few days ago - before I got to it, he colonized it and it's been his home base ever since. He does that... seems to stake out a little territory and stay there other than litter box or feeding time. He's my little furry piece of furniture. Trouble is my little shadow. He follows me everywhere I go.

I'm having pretty significant pain in my back and hands today but I'm not dealing with the fatigue that hits me at times so I've been relatively productive.

I haven't heard back about the job from yesterday that I really, really, really want.

I've concentrated so hard on getting to certain milestones that I'm not really sure what to do now that we've passed them. We had to get to Austin's graduation... we had to get to our moving date... and now... it's just the job search and settling in to the routine here. I'm looking forward to the Big Brother Season and the Olympics and Vacation Bible School at mom and dad's church (mom, me and our neighbor Dawn are doing snacks). I'm looking forward to seeing Austin, whenever that will be.

It's weird going to the store here in Riverdale and not seeing anyone I know. In White County, I couldn't go anywhere without running into at least one person I knew. However, I will say this, while I was in Walmart there were several workers who greeted me and were friendly, there were several other shoppers who returned my smile or "Good Morning" and the cashier said, "I hope we see you again soon!" So... I think people tend to mirror your attitude or behavior. There are exceptions, without a doubt, but everywhere I went today, even at the Post Office, people were nice.

Today's photo is my great-great-grandfather, Samuel David Jackson, taken around 1875. He is the father of Luther V. Jackson, whose photo I posted yesterday. He is the branch of the family tree that has me baffled. His father's name was Andrew Jackson - can you imagine how many Andrew Jacksons there were in his (my great-great-great-grandfather's) generation? I've got a hypothesis about it based on the people whose names show up in census records around Samuel's  but I haven't found a way to confirm things. Anyways... hope you have a great Thursday!