31-derful Things About May

Since it's the last day of May (and I think, a Friday? I lose track now.)... I thought it would be fun to recap some really awesome things that happened this month.

1. My last day of working, perhaps forever, was May 1st. I didn't know that it was my last day but after talking to my disability attorney yesterday, it sounds like it benefits me most if I don't work at all. It's not something I've quite wrapped my mind around yet. I just keep waking up every morning and don't go to work. It's like we never said goodbye.

2. We spent ten days at the mountain house (eleven?) and for the first time it felt like home, not a vacation. I am very happy there.

3. I am having such a great time with my mom. We weren't always close so I'm extra appreciative of the time we have together now.

4. When I left Riverdale a week and a half ago I was very sick, sick to the point where I thought I would never feel better. Yet... I do! I think when you get knocked to the ground in the prime (?) of life with a injury/illness that won't ever go away, you stop believing that healing will ever come for anything. It did, though.

5. My sister-in-law has a new job that was a massive answer to prayer for her and it came at a perfect time and I think it's really cool how God works things out like that. We had a really good visit on Memorial Day. I'm always glad for uninterrupted time with her and it's far too rare.

6. My brother has gone to "deepest, darkest Africa" on an evangelistic mission. Growing up in a Southern Baptist church we were immersed in learning about missions and the different ways that missionaries help others. It's cool that my brother actually gets called to serve in that way, even if my niece Jamie says, "does God have to call him EVERY year???"

7. I'm digging back into my genealogy research. I got burned out and didn't do much with it over the past few months. Then it was time to renew my subscription and I had to really think about the investment I'm making with ancestry.com and whether or not it's worth it. It still is. In the grand scheme of things I don't go out to eat or to the movies or take vacations. This is what I do for entertainment and that makes it justifiable budget-wise.

8. I bought two new dresses from zulily.com and a really cute hoodie that goes well with the dresses. It's very lightweight material and very silky and soft. I've worn one of the dresses three times this week because, heck, who cares? I have washed in between wearings, so no fears of poor hygiene.

9. I also shaved my legs this week which shouldn't be notable or blogworthy but alas, it is.

10. I am loving my Nook that I got for my birthday. At the mountain house we only have two tvs (I know, first world problems, right?) so instead of watching tv until I fall asleep, I've been reading myself to sleep and I've greatly enjoyed it. So far I've nabbed a lot of free books off the Barnes & Noble website and I've bought two books: Bloom, by Kelle Hampton (a mommy of a child with Down Syndrome) and Tim Tebow's autobiography with a gift certificate I got for Mothers Day. I would never have bought a Nook/Kindle for myself  but now I can't imagine NOT having one.

11. Cherries are in season and I love them, even if they are crazy expensive. Why is it that we think nothing of plunking down $5 for a Big Mac and fries but cringe at the thought of $5 a pound for something healthy like cherries?

12. My mom thinks I need to join match.com. That got such a severe eye-roll from me that I saw the back of my brain. Thank you, I'm fine. If I wanted a man, I'd have one. Or four. It's not about finding someone, it's about WANTING to find someone.  And I don't.

13. We watched half of last year's season of Food Network Star yesterday. It's on again today and I'm not interested. The new season starts this week and I'm sorta neutral on it.

14. In case you were wondering, I'm still using the tank of gas that we put in my car on April 6th. Does gas spoil? When I say that I don't go anywhere, it's no exaggeration, even if I do have a tendency to exaggerate, 99.9% of the time. And that was an exaggeration.

15.  Tomorrow is the 50th anniversary of the day my parents met. Awwwww.... this is why my mother doesn't understand why match.com is not interesting to me. Al Gore had not even invented the internet yet when my parents met.

16. On our next trip to the mountains (next week) we are taking Stubby the three legged wondercat with us. This will be a permanent relocation for him. He will howl the entire way. He is unable to do stairs so we will make him comfortable in my basement suite and hope that Austin will keep him alive when I'm not there. Which won't be often. If you see our little red wagon dragging north on the Connector next week with three dogs and two cats, please don't honk. In fact, just pretend like you don't recognize us.

17.  I have a big deal meeting (over the phone) with my disability attorney on Monday morning. This will be to complete all my paperwork for my claim. I have to have a ton of a lot of information, including the names and addresses of all the places I've worked in the past fifteen years which is going to require a lot of research this weekend. I have to avoid my usual tendency to procrastinate because I guarantee you, I will end up setting the alarm for 5am on Monday to finish what I didn't do this weekend.

18. I need to stop biting my fingernails.

19. Mom, Pop, Cody and Marquee are going to O'Charley's for dinner. I'm opting out/dog-sitting. Their service is slow and their chairs hurt my back. It's no fun for me at all. Plus, I'm a bit out of sorts from driving today even though it was a quick and uneventful drive.

20. Austin had two friends spend the night last night and the three of them loaded the car for us today, which was helpful. Lily, our big old dog, decided she was riding shotgun and she would NOT move out of the front seat. Mom had to literally pick her up, all 75 pounds of her, and she snarled and barked and got all hacked off (the dog, not Mom). She got over herself within the first ten miles.

21. I've been on Jodi Arias blackout since last week. I know the jury has done some interviews and I refuse to watch them. They're dead to me now. They had their chance. I'm grateful that they found her guilty but geez.... that girl needs to fry.

22. Our favorite meal at the mountain house is... anybody want to guess? Ok, I'll give you some hints, neither me nor my mom really WANTS to cook and she never WANTS to eat... none of us like to clean the kitchen... and so, our go to meal is .... frozen pizza. Sad, right? I made tabbouleh yesterday and it was really good and not really intended to be our meal but it worked. I made a huge meal on Sunday. Pop made pork chops on Monday. We had frozen chicken enchiladas one night. Otherwise... frozen pizza.

23. I'm watching How I Met Your Mother reruns just because there's nothing else on that I want to watch and SURPRISE! An episode that I haven't seen yet! Only I didn't realize it until halfway through the episode so there's still a half of an episode that I haven't seen.

24. I did a load of laundry last night and brought the whole load home with me today. I didn't need to, there are plenty of clothes here but I was afraid that I would want something that I didn't have. Even though I've worn this same maxi-dress three days out of the last week. Maybe four. And we all know that today's maxi-dress is yesterday's muumuu.

25. Figs and home grown tomatoes will soon be in season. I am dying for some broiled figs with goat cheese and a tomato sandwich on white bread with a lot of mayonaise and black pepper! I forgot to eat lunch today. I ate a bowl of cookie crisp cereal about half an hour ago and this morning I ate a donut that Austin and his friends bought. Obviously my body is craving real food.

26. And watermelon. Mmm! Cold watermelon with salt. Watermelon and basil! Ok. Enough about food.

27. When do the Tony awards come on? That's usually early June, isn't it? Yay! Something to look forward to!

28. Big Brother starts earlier this year! Back to the "only two tv's" first world problem... I've been teaching my mom about the shows I watch, How I Met Your Mother, Big Bang Theory, The Five... and when we saw and advertisement about Big Brother she said, "I guess I'll be watching that too...". Yep. Unless you go fishing.

29. Oscar the dog loves to go fishing. He sits on the dock... eyes peeled to the water... and when mom reels in a fish he goes nuts! At least, this is what I hear. I don't go down to the dock because... it's a dock. And I'm not "outdoorsy". And it's at the bottom of a steep incline which kills my back. The other day Austin had to jump in because my mom "overcasted" and lost her rod. I'm halfway afraid that Austin is going to come down with one of those flesh eating diseases that people get when they swim in lakes and rivers. But he saved the fishin' pole, that's what counts, right?

30. Little Trouble Kitty is so bummed to be back to the boring ranch house instead of his big house with stairs and lots of windows. He even climbed back inside his carrier... like it's a time machine or teleporter or something.

31. I think that in the future I will look back on this season of life... as a 45 year old single, empty nested woman, living in her parents' basement/converted garage, wearing the same maxi-dress and hoodie and the side braid that seems to be my go-to hairstyle lately... and I will treasure these days. Despite the uncertainty of the disability thing, despite the pain, despite the whole hermit lifestyle, for some reason, these really feel like good ole days.

Hope you had a great May! Love and hugs!