8.8.13

I had a burst of energy/semi-painless day. Painless as in "less pain" not as in "free from pain". But it was manageable enough for me to do three loads of clothes (mine, Austin's and towels), empty the dishwasher, take out the trash (because Austin didn't) and pick basil so I could make another big batch of panzanella since the first batch was a hit. It felt incredibly productive even though I know most people do that much plus work a full day. That was the most I had done in a long time. Of course, as per usual, the pain came right back with full force but the good news is that today is the first day this week that I've had to take the hardcore pain meds and THAT is a good week, no matter what else happens.

We had a really hard rain for what seemed like hours today. Not sure if there are any new/renewed leaks in the basement. I haven't heard a peep out of Austin since lunch and I haven't gone downstairs. On one hand I think I should probably go down and check on him but on the other hand, he can sleep for 15 hours straight so why bother? If I don't see him before I go to bed I'll check for signs of life. He's been less than cooperative this week in full on rebellion to not having Mawmaw around to keep him honest. I had it out with him yesterday and gave him a *nugget of wisdom* that if you do the things that are expected of you without having to be reminded, you don't get reminders. It's really very simple. If you want to be treated like an adult ACT like an adult. It's a process. Ultimately he still has the same syndrome he's had for his whole life and he's never going to have internal motivation. All teenagers struggle with that transition to adulthood and we would be foolish to think his would be easier. It's frustrating but... at least he's not off somewhere breaking laws or racking up credit card bills or doing something else destructive to his long term well-being like creating offspring.

In happy news... the trash finally got picked up. They missed last week due to  problems with their truck. I'm not sure what happened. When I used them at the apartment they had a real trash truck. Here they pick it up in a 20 year old pickup truck. I don't know if that's because they have to go down our driveway (which, admittedly, is steep) or because they've retired the "real" truck or maybe use it for bigger subdivisions. I sent a WTHeck email at 5:15 this afternoon when they had not yet come and they showed up a few minutes before 6. I don't know if they were already planning to come or if my email "encouraged" them but... this is one of the downsides of living in the sticks. You don't have the reliability that you might in a larger town where you either have a municipality with a contract that has to be honored or have more companies to choose from, i.e. competition.

I noticed yesterday that there was a high school age girl dropped off by the school bus at the Nudist Resort. I was like.. ick. I asked Austin if that would be weird for him if he had a friend living there. He said he did know one kid in high school that lived there but he never asked him about it. Maybe I'm just not "evolved" enough but I just don't think adults and teens or children should see each other naked. That is just 50 Shades of Cray-cray to me.

I also noticed a kid walking down our road with a backpack this afternoon so apparently we have a school age kid in the neighborhood. I had never noticed before. There's a girl who sometimes walks with someone who appears to be a grandparent and occasionally there's activity at the dock directly across the lake from us but mostly... it's just us and the squirrels. I seriously doubt there's more than a dozen cars that pass by each day and we're at the beginning of the subdivision. We're way off the beaten path.

this is my hair flipped forward - Cousin It style.

I splurged and bought a full price book on my Nook last night. It's Alfie Boe's biography. Seriously. I'm crushing badly. It's only a small way in part because he looks a lot like the previously mentioned but not really discussed former flame who is newly single again. Even though former flame knows that I'm dead set against any serious relationship, I am not opposed to seeing him. I mean, good Lord knows I need to get out and it will take someone who has known me for a long time to know that there's more under the hood than what you can tell from my speed lately. At the end of the day he's one of those friends where we can pick up right where we left off. He has been around for a lot of the pivotal moments of my life. I was babysitting his son on the day that they televised Princess Diana's funeral... bawling my eyes out like the Brit-wit that I am and the kid looks at me and says, "did you KNOW her?" HIL-arious! We have a lot of those kind of moments. On the other hand, my Alfie attraction is much like my Tim Tebow attraction - it's not really lusting, it's just that he's so cute I'd like to put him on my shelf to take down and cuddle occasionally. I just wanna hug him and squeeze him. However, my Alfie attraction is strong enough that I messaged my friend Beth who lives in London and hobnobs with the Rich and Famous (Girlfriend met Prince Edward and Sophie a few weeks ago - she really travels in some hot circles!) and let her know that I was counting on her to pass along the news to Alfie that I absolutely adore him and to get me a few good photos of him. She is a good enough friend that she didn't call the men in white suits after me.

An update on Kelby - the missing nephew of my friend - they were able to use the suggestion that my Finder of Lost Things gave me and some other tips they had and find him. Find him but not catch him. He ran. And my friend, who is the kind of aunt I am, ran after him but he was too fast. The local police took over two hours to arrive and... he was gone. At the very least they got confirmation that he was not yet harmed and had left under his own free will. It's by no means a situation that has been resolved but they do feel better about things.

I had a moment of pure shame yesterday while buying tomatoes at the grocery store. There's just some unwritten rule that Southern women who live in the country should not have to purchase tomatoes in the Summer. Our tomato plants are tall enough to cast shade and still have yet to bear fruit. The cucumbers are growing well but I got scared off by a bunch of wasps yesterday. I scare easy. Austin promised to pick them for me. It's on his list of unaccomplished tasks.

And now... it's time to watch football. Bring on the fall! Happy end of week, y'all!

8.7.13

Chai tea and Corn Chex to start my Wednesday.

Up at exactly 7:41 for the third day in a row. My body clock has been reset.

Stayed upstairs until Late-thirty to watch two episodes of Who Do You Think You Are? which were both very entertaining and kinda creepy in that the product placement of ancestry.com is over the top that it feels like a one hour infomercial. I'd like to see a genealogy show that demonstrates something more than what I already know how to do. That's just me.

I went straight from the recliner in the Living Room to the bed, which is unusual. Usually I spend a period of time on the loveseat turn chaise lounge in my Living/Dining area of the Whine Cellar. This is where I usually blog so that was the reason for the absence of a blog yesterday.

Trust me when I say that you didn't miss much.

I miss having a tv in my personal space but I will also say that it's been good for me to unplug for a little bit every day. I think I'm sleeping better without a tv in my bedroom and I NEVER thought I'd say that.
I even left my laptop upstairs which NEVER happens. I must have it close in case I have a thought that must be pursued via internet. I do have internet capability on my Nook but it's harder for me to type on, especially if I'm sleepy but it will do in a pinch.

I just played a few rounds of sudoku and fell asleep.

We didn't have the invasion of the Ginger Cat that we had the night before. Ginger Cat realized that Little Kitty was getting his own private water bowl and treat turn-down service in my room and wanted to hone in on that action. I woke up in the middle of the night to the less-graceful-than-Little Kitty big ole kangaroo looking Ginger Cat on my nightstand about to knock over my drink, the lamp and the little Wicked snowglobe that I assume is highly frag-eeee-lay.

I told him to get down and... sad for Little Kitty... moved the water bowl and treat service to the floor like a floor cat not my precious all-access kitty. Little Kitty was obviously offended but still ate the treats. He still assumed his position as bed hog as usual.

Can we agree that Seinfeld has nothing on me? I can take a nothing day and suddenly make it all seem worthwhile... I know... that's mixing one show with another. It just fit.

Austin's homeys were evicted from the Big Mama house yesterday. The first night they were oooh such great guests and cleaned up after themselves, etc. The second day they wiped out about five meals worth of food from my pantry. I don't get more stamps until the 23rd. Austin's out until the 17th which means any gaps in the pantry will be filled by my sadly dwindling nest egg. On one hand I want to be kind and share of my little loaves and fishes. On the other hand... get a job and get yer own durn loaves and fishes. I'm spread thin enough as it is! Yesterday morning I told Austin, "party's over unless we get a cover charge".

Midday the only one of the Three Amigos that is gainfully employed stopped by after working the morning shift at wherever he works and picked up Austin to go cut grass for cash with him. Despite being slightly miffed at his enthusiasm for taking care of someone else's yard... I was glad that he was motivated to do something other than play xbox. At ten-ish pm Austin was still not home so I called his cell and it went straight to voicemail. GREAT. I thought. I have to stay awake and worry about my little "I'm not missing - I always know where I am" drifter. He came in not much later, though.

He came home in time to dig into the two salads I made yesterday - panzanella (think caprese salad with lightly toasted seasoned french bread homemade croutons) and tabouli. He enjoyed a hearty serving of both .. essentially finished off the panzanella... so... eh... I would have loved to have another huge bowl of panzanella this morning but I'll settle for the knowledge that my child had something other than frozen pizza for once. Today's menu: frozen pizza.

It's raining hard. I went with shorts today instead of my usual skirt or maxi dress. Still rocking the same tired side braid that has been my go-to style all summer. Mastering the fish braid nicely, I think. I have some kind of eye infection where my eyelid is itchy and swollen (lovely, right?) so I skipped the glam routine today. I won't be leaving the house unless we run out of ice cream.

On a more serious note, my friend's nephew is still missing. Because he left from a group home and is considered a runaway the police will not assist in locating him. The media hasn't followed it. Other than our little Facebook campaign, the family has nothing they can do to find this young man. I think there will be an effort to pass out flyers this weekend. Some ladies I know from church work with a ministry trying to rescue children from the sex trade. This is how kids end up in that position, not to think that this has happened already to Kelby but this is the pattern. Kids runaway and nobody with any real resource tries to look for them. How can we, as a society, let a 14 year old go missing and not care enough to look? It breaks my heart. I have a friend who has a skill of being able to know where missing things are. I know it sounds hocus pocus but it's worked in very uncanny ways in the past. I asked him and... he gave us some good clues. The family - so desperate - have asked me to go back and see what else he can see but from experience I know that what he sees in that first flash is the best information and anything we press him to see may not be as accurate. The Atlanta area is huge and with this boy missing since Saturday, he could be anywhere. Or nowhere. Dekalb County police told the family "we don't have time for runaways". Thank God we know that Our Shepherd goes after every lost lamb. Would you join with us in looking for Kelby? The power of the internet is huge. Post his picture. Get his face out there. You can use the information below. He was last seen in Dekalb County, Georgia.

This is Kelby Fair he has been missing since Saturday. He left the ABBA House in Stone Mountain, with another resident by the name Jawon Jones AKA Juju. He was last seen at the Polo Club Apartments in Dekalb County on Ashley CT. Please help us find Kelby his family loves him and misses him. Please help bring Kelby home. Any information please call 678-982-2180


Thanks and have a great day, y'all.

8.5.13

A day in the life of a unemployed... SAHM with only one adult child at home... a housewife but I'm not a wife.. Let's just call this a day in the life of a bimbo in limbo. I'm not really a bimbo but it rhymes and makes me seem edgier than I am.

I hate mornings. I hate them so bad that I start dreading mornings before I even lay down to go to bed. I just know that I'm going to wake up hurting in new places... have stairs to climb... need a shower... need to get food in my belly so I can take the meds that take off the edge and it's just a very delicate balance of easing into the day. I wish I was still a morning person - popping out of bed at 4am with enthusiasm and excitement. Those two ships have sailed: Enthusiasm & Excitement. Now it's just a matter of getting the pain under control without getting dizzy/sick and doing my best to make things go well for the other inhabitants of the house.

This morning it meant that I took my meds later in order to allow Los Tres Amigos who had been  Xboxing all night in the living room to sleep later. They're having fun. They're mostly paying for their own food. They've been respectful. And when I finally came up around 10:30 and said, "I need the living room" they went from dead sleep to spotless room - dishes washed, trash thrown away and taken out - no stinky locker room smell. It was all good. And then Pat went to work and Thing One and Thing Two came up and made brunch - french toast. Hard to complain.

I used my extra time downstairs before I woke the boys up to put a little heat (via heating pad) on my left hip. It's the one that won't ease up for me right now. That helped somewhat so I decided to take the Christmas decorations out of my bedroom closet and use it instead to store my "out of season" clothes. The in season clothes are stored in the huge linen closet in the bathroom upstairs. That climb to get dressed every morning is a doozy but it does give me SOME physical activity.

In my efforts this morning I manage to stub my pinkie toe - the one that's been broken too many times to keep up with - and then I stubbed my big toe on the same foot. And all that stubbing aggravated the hip on that same side that was already winning Most Miserable Pain of the Day. So I figured God was telling me I had done enough for today. Ha.

The boys headed out to their various appointments/entertainments and I enjoyed a lovely peaceful afternoon and got a good bit of in-depth genealogy study done. It takes a lot of concentration because even the documents that are in English can be written in a way that is foreign to our typical spoken English. I was dealing with a branch of the family that repeats the names in every generation so it's not enough to know that someone with your ancestors name bought a farm in Eastern Kentucky - you have to figure out which generation bought it so that usually means tracking down wills and tax records and you have to work to keep straight who you're researching. I love the challenge but it's hard to do if I have even the slightest interruption. Today was a good day for research and I'm pleased with my progress.

All three amigos are back to spend the night at the Gant Home for wayward boy/men. Casa X-box Addiction Recovery. They cleaned up behind their dinner. They waited until I was ready to head to the Whine Cellar (I had to see the episode of How I Met Your Mother because when it played originally our cable messed up and we didn't have audio for the last ten minutes). They helped me with the things that had to be moved from the main floor to the cellar. And I just thank God to have one of my babies hanging out with his old mom. I need him.

What else can I tell you about today? The cat vomited in my bedroom. Twice. That was a lovely surprise.
It rained a nice soft misty rain for awhile which was great because I needed to water the potted plants and Austin volunteered to go out with the hose and do it... and he had forgotten... so I was going to do it. Gotta save my basil. About the time I started filling the pot... here comes the rain! I'm continuing a little flirty romance with an old flame and it's been fun. We have a long history that spans a long period of time so we can always say, "remember that time we... "  I am certain that nothing serious will become of it but it's nice to have a friend at this season of life.

My friend's nephew is still missing, please continue to pray.
And I am tired. Sleepy ahead of bedtime.
Hope you all had a great Monday and I'll talk to you again tomorrow. Love and hugs!

8.4.13

For about the first hour of today I forgot it was Sunday. I was certain it was Monday. I had to look at the calendar on my computer to be sure.

Honestly, if not for my little pill divider and the tv schedule, I would never know what day it is.

Last night when I got ready to go to bed Little Kitty was laying with his head on the pillow like a human - on the opposite side of the bed from where I usually sleep. I went to the bathroom and when I came back Kitty was on MY side of the bed and faking sleep. He's scary sometimes, that one. Scary rotten. No matter where he is in the house whenever I migrate down to the Whine Cellar he manages to scurry down the steps before me. Like he prides himself in beating me. He also gave a little whimper cry today because he couldn't figure out how to get up on the built in bookshelves beside the fireplace where he has NO BUSINESS. He's just got to have his little nose in everything. Just a little while ago when the boys came downstairs he hid behind the screen in my living/dining room. He was totally James Bond about it... peeking around the edge. I know I'm part crazy cat lady but he really does amuse me.

The hip pain is still miserable today but I did manage a medium size grocery run. You know, you have the "we're just out of creamer and ice cream" run. You have the "stock up for a month, go up and down every aisle" run. And then you have what I did today - about $70 worth of stuff. Even though I got home mid-morning sleepy Austin was kind enough to wake up and bring in the groceries for me.

On my way to the store I *might have* backed into the herbie curbie trash can and tipped it to the ground. There was no damage to either Herbie or the "corsica". My parents have a Hyundai Sonata up here at the mountain house (my car is still in Riverdale and I miss it soooo much!). About ten-fifteen years ago they had a Corsica and for some reason they always call the Sonata the Corsica.

Speaking of trash... our trash people didn't come last week and the lady who runs the place hasn't responded to my, "um... did you forget us?" email. They're sort of a small local business and it's just easier to email. Of course, the truth is that any communication that can be done by email instead of phone is always preferable to me.

I'm doing this chicken casserole in the crockpot today. It should be enough for 3 meals for me and Austin. Two meals if we have company tonight. About 50% of the time Austin has someone spending the night. I'm ok with it. I don't even mind meals not stretching as far. It's good for Austin to have some sort of social life, as long as they are good "neighbors". Last night they were. The house was put back in order all the way down to trash being taken out and dishes loaded in the dishwasher. That's all I ask. Don't mess up my sleep schedule and don't create work for me.

The chicken dish is just frozen (sorta thawed) chicken breasts with stove top stuffing, cream of chicken soup and sour cream. 8 chicken breasts. 2 boxes of stovetop stuffing. One big can of soup. Two big spoons of sour cream. Cooked in the crockpot until... well, until done. (Obviously I'm not one of those *exact* cookbook following cooks). I think we could have added poppyseeds too to make it like poppyseed chicken.

Alfie Boe was on PBS today. I have such a crush. Highlight of my couch potato-ing today, for sure. I think the highlight of my evening will be youtubing Alfie like a fan girl. *swoon*. He's got this very charming innocent way about him and that flawless tenor voice. And let's face it... I love straight men that love musical theatre. I love gay men that love it too but they're a dime a dozen.

I've also been watching Double Divas all weekend. They're such over the top caricatures that I can't help myself. I think it's safe to say that I enjoy observing people in their natural environment.

The nephew of a friend of mine is missing - runaway - he's 14. I've posted his picture several times on facebook. The police aren't much help since he's a runaway but... I just know that no matter what wrong turns he may have taken in life, he's still one of God's children. Praying for his safe return home. What's been beautiful to see, though, is how much our facebook community has embraced my friend and passed along the information and offered encouragement. I know there's a whole lot wrong with society today and I know that the internet has changed how we interact with people but there's just so much love out there. I, for one, being unable to get around that well, am so glad to be connected with people in this way. It enriches our lives in ways we never expected. It's all in how you use it.

So... I've been typing on this blog entry all day. The chicken was yummy and fed not one but three young men and although I'd love to have leftovers... I love even more that my kid has people in his life to hang out with that will eat my cooking - and actually be grateful for it. I like being the koolaid mom and I have time to do it now.

I'm tucked away in the Whine Cellar doing my thing... you know... reading a thousand blogs and stalking everybody on Facebook and playing bubble safari like I'm paid to do it. Haven't gotten much accomplished on ancestry.com today. Just not in the mood for concentrating that hard.

Hope you've all had a great weekend. Love and hugs, y'all.

8.3.13

And... just like that... Mama and the doggies are back on the Southside of Atlanta and it's just me and the kitties and the kid and whoever is hanging out with him. Tonight it's Fat Pat. We're not begrudging Pat hanging out because he's gainfully employed and fairly responsible even though he is a bit of an Eddie Haskell. We had to explain the Eddie Haskell reference to Austin today. Fat Pat (who isn't really fat) got Austin up at the crack of 8:30 this morning to haul a load of stuff to the dump which resulted in my very nicely cleaned off porch. I will love this space once the temperature drops below 90 degrees.

It's quiet here without my mom. Not that she's noisy. Rarely. Her little Oscar dog is quite the noisemaker, though and it's like a tomb here without him. My brother and I agreed that if we believed in reincarnation we would want to come back as Oscar. Sibling rivalry, I suppose since OSCAR is my parents' favorite child. You can't help but love him, though. Once he stops barking. Or licking you in the face.

I have spent the day reading snark blogs and just kind of staring off into space. I'm really feeling some nasty hip pain. Even though I always say that THIS is the worst pain ever, I truly believe that THIS hip pain will be the one that does me in. That or the headache. It's misery. I didn't help it by my healthy dinner of two hot dogs with onions and pickles. It just seemed like a good idea at the time but now I've added belly pain to hip and head pain and that makes me sound like more fun than I really am.

The thing is I'm really not that sociable. You would think that growing up in a small house with "all those brothers" (as people tend to say) would make me want to be surrounded by people. Maybe. For a time. I like people but I'm also guilty of being someone who needs a certain amount of time alone to feel balanced. I can fake it for awhile but there reaches a point where I might as well be a statue for as much conversation as comes out of me. I really do just kind of burn out. Y'all think I'm really bubbly and chatty because when you read my blog it's a monologue of non-stop Heather. In real life, especially if I'm riding the pain train, I'm much more subdued.

So today... once I got my parents on the road...and don't get me started on the list of instructions they had for me before they left - a couple of projects for the kid, a few reminders and clarifications for me- the last ten minutes all I heard was Charlie Brown's teacher. That's the other thing about me. I have a limit of three instructions that I will commit to memory and after that I can't even hear what's being said... and for about twenty minutes my parents were taking loads out to the car so one would go out and the one still in the house would be giving instructions on one thing... and then they would go out and the other parent would have their agenda item to discuss back and forth. They were tag teaming. So once they got on the road the rest of the day  has just been a bit of a sit in the peace and quiet kind of day. Other than talking to the cats, of course, because the anti-social only extends to humans.

And tonight Austin and Pat are planning to play Xbox on the tv upstairs while I enjoy my entire Whine Cellar all by myself. And the cat. Who hopefully will share the bed with me tonight. He has a habit of sleeping diagonally in the center of the bed and I just sort of morph myself around him. Tomorrow I'm planning on waking up with much less pain and a much better attitude and I might even find myself shopping for necessities like ice cream. We'll see. Happy Saturday, y'all. I'm leaving you a few cat pictures because... well, that's what I do!

8.2.13

It's another gorgeous end of day at the mountain house looking over Patton Lake. I'm battling a hip that just doesn't want to play along and suffered a nasty cat scratch or three but my belly is full and I'm relaxed and day is about to just melt into night like it did yesterday.

Beauty. Serenity. Peace. Tranquility. These are the words that come to mind for my little Whine Cellar at the Mountain House. This is MY place. I have the feeling of belonging somewhere which... after a marriage to an addict... then seven years of being a single mom and never being sure what was going to be cut off that day - power, cable, water... then another attempt at marriage that made me feel that I was one infraction away from being put out on the side of the interstate (that happened once but the kids - yes, happened in front of three of our kids - they insisted that he take me home) and even moving to the mountains not really knowing if I would ever be able to afford my rent and keep the bills covered... and then after the back problems started, living with the fear that I would be fired (as I was) and not be able to put a roof over my head... well, I haven't had a lot of stability in my adult years. I could very literally be in a homeless shelter right now and that thought isn't lost on me. When I say that I don't take the view here for granted... I don't take ANY of it for granted. This is home.

All those words that I listed above: beauty, serenity, peace, tranquility - but there's one more that means even more to me: stability. I see the permanence of the trees and the mountains... the water that flows gently past our dock... they remind me of stability. What God has built, he will sustain. I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I'm not some lemon that needed to be recalled to the factory. Divine design made this body with an extra vertebrae and with a slow metabolism and a desire for good food. He knew that this day would come when I would struggle with pain and grow because of it. It's easy to accept this lot in life because I am home. I don't have to worry that my "less than perfect" body is going to cause me to lose anything ever again. I don't have to try to hook up with a "less than perfect" guy in an attempt to marry into stability. I can just be me, all of me, whatever there is to give and know that it's ok.

We got the last load from Grandma's house today - the dining room table to go with the china hutch and chairs in my eating/dining room. It all looks lovely in my little "apartment". We got a glider to go on the screened in porch and it's comfortable enough that I can actually sit in it for brief times. We got a kerosene heater which we may need when we get our really awesome snowfall that I'm trusting God for this Winter. I SOOOO want pictures of this property in the snow! Having a fireplace and a little heater means that we won't die if we get frozen in.

My mom was able to talk with the family who are purchasing Grandma's house. They have known her for years and knew her deceased husband - Harry - who died in 1990. They know how precious that home was to her and I know they'll take good care of it. I'll always regret that there wasn't a way for us to keep her there, safe and sound, throughout the rest of her life because I know that's what she wanted. Unfortunately, the only person truly in a position to be with her is me and I'm not strong enough physically to lift her and I'm not strong enough emotionally to be a kind companion for her final days.

So the sun is setting and I'm in my Whine Cellar and to be honest, I might be asleep before 10pm tonight. I slept ok last night but I got up once during the night to go to the bathroom and walked straight into a wall. That may be the cause of the aching hip. It's always something.

If you would, please remember a dear friend of mine whose mother has had a recurrence of cancer and they're sort of running out of options. Another good friend lost her dad today. And of course, Missie, my blog friend who lost her mother recently. We seem to be surrounded by people who are facing genuine heartbreak. Pray for God to send them comfort, pray that we would be kinder and gentler to others. You never know what burden someone else is bearing.

Hope you have a fantabulous weekend. I'll be here, doing this. And grateful. Love and hugs, y'all!

8.1.13

Another month has come and gone. Three months exactly since I stopped working. It's still bizarre. I still have the feeling of "playing hooky" when I run errands during the "work day".

This morning it was the Dollar General. We were low on toilet paper. Most of my life I've lived in places where there was pretty much just one toilet that I used. I mean, from the time I've been "grown" I've lived somewhere were there was at least a bath and a half but for most of that time I've had little boys and I just don't like going where they go so I've just worried about my personal potty. This house has three and a half baths which means that we have to maintain the inventory in four toilets and it takes some getting used to.

I was also feeling pretty icky and congested so I went to get something to help with that. I bought some off-brand mucinex. They had coke products on sale for 3 two liters for $3. I don't drink cokes but my mom drinks sprite and Austin drinks coke. I bought myself some gatorade, thinking it would help with the congestion. (And something did, I feel better tonight than I did this morning.)

Other than that, it's just been another day of watching tv, eating and being a zookeeper. Oscar believes that if he comes and stands by the back door long enough SOMEBODY will take him to the dock so he can go fishing. That baby loves sushi.

I was sitting here reading blogs and glanced outside to see the perfect little  bit of last light of day making the trees across the lake the deepest, darkest green. By the time I dug out my camera, the light was gone so you'll have to take my word for how really beautiful and peaceful it was.

You can never be too rich or too thin or see too many sunsets. Even though it's the same view everyday, everyday it's a little bit different. Just like the person looking back at me in the mirror... everyday just a little different.

The picture is of Little Kitty having his evening snack on my nightstand. He knows that whenever I turn on the lamp it means that I'm going to give him a fresh bowl of water and put out some kitty treats. We have a nice little routine.

My little Whine Cellar feels a little bit like a time capsule. I make up my bed and tidy up the downstairs before I go upstairs in the morning. It really only takes about two minutes to clean up my spaces because it's just me - Austin stays in his room and other than the bathroom (which is always slightly disgusting) we don't really cross paths. I have my lovely little bedroom and my cozy living room and nobody uses those areas much, other than the things that get deposited on the table by the backdoor. After a day of tv watching and being sociable, when I descend the stairs into my little honeycomb hideout, it's all like a picture in a magazine - everything just as I left it. Austin had a friend over this evening and he said he loves this basement - he said, "it would make a perfect rental space". Paws off. It's mine. And Little Kitty's.

In 29 days my middle son will be 23. in 30 days my next to the youngest brother will be 35 and my next to the youngest nephew will be nine. I'm not as excited about college football starting as I once was but maybe I'll warm up to it. Last Fall every weekend I spent up here was a weekend away from tv. Now it means a weekend watching on the big tv. Other than birthdays and football, the only thing August really brings is more time ticking away toward the decision on my disability claim. A little closer to cooler weather and a nice change of scenery, even if I'm looking out the same window.

I've gotten word that my childrens' dad is having another round of trouble with his drinking/going to work problem. I'm sad for him that he can't manage to hold it together. He is good at what he does. He's a smart man. He had everything going for him and he just can't stay sober. Every time this stuff happens I thank God that I'm not the woman worrying about how to pay rent without his help and I'm thankful that my kids don't have to find him passed out drunk when they get up in the morning. I'm glad it's not me going through it but I'm not happy that anyone is having to go through it. Drinking has robbed him of so much happiness that was there for him. Even though a part of me believes that my spine would have held out longer if I hadn't had to bear such heavy burdens as a young mom... I also thank God for the path that I took away from that situation and I thank God that I'm no longer sitting around depending on a child support check to get us through.

So that's how August starts... much of the same... hope you have wonderful things heading your way this month! Love and hugs, y'all.