Swap Package Finally

My swap package from the Fall into Autumn dishcloth swap finally arrived today! I was given an angel & she sent a really great package. I posted about it on my craft blog.

The living room is almost ready for the tree to go up in. I just need to vacuum & move a broken elephant statue out of there & put the fan away for winter. I'm washing the curtains right now & will rehang them when they're dry. Tomorrow, I'll work on the kitchen. Blech.

Disinfecting the House

I spent awhile yesterday evening disinfecting the house, just trying to get rid of some of the germs and viruses floating around in here so that we'll stop getting sick. I sprayed all of the doorknobs, fridge & freezer door handles, light switches and then scrubbed down the bathroom vanities and sprayed them, too. I bought some of the stuff that disinfects the air & sprayed all of the rooms in the house after that. I did it all again this morning & I plan to keep doing it every day until people aren't getting sick anymore.

We just got all of the information on Rhi's graduation announcements and cap & gown, but the folder they gave us made no sense at all & we had to call the school just to verify what it said & when the "grad fair" was, since the booklet said it was on November 18 & 19 & was for a different school entirely. I'm sure the confusion was why I never ordered Erin's stuff until the last week of school. They need to make these things really clear, I think. You should be able to read a letter or statement from them that makes sense & gives you all of the information you need, but there was nothing like that in there, at all. I think we have it figured out. At least I know that Rhi needs $100 on Thursday to order her stuff. I'm really happy she's the last one, quite frankly.

Updating

My sister-in-law is out of the hospital with no lasting affects. She apparently just hit her head when she went down & got a concussion, which caused some seizures. She's happy to be home and we're all relieved it was nothing worse. The older niece is angry at everyone for not calling her, but it's not like no one told her that Sereena was in the hospital. I did and tried to keep her informed about everything, at least until she got mad at me for not being angry at my brother along with her. My feeling was that she could have called him at any time, too, and she didn't, so she's just as much to blame as he is.

It seems like it's always something with her, it all has to be dramatic and a crisis. She could have just been happy I thought of her, but she had to make a big conspiracy of it.

I missed out on Troy's niece's milestones and getting things like first communion invitations so that I could be here and watch my own nieces grow up, and this is what I get in return. I sometimes wonder if it was a good trade. Sheesh.

Thanksgiving Rehash

We had a really good holiday this time around. It was the best that we've had in a very long time, since Allison came to live with my brother & sister-in-law, as a matter of fact. The thing that changed was that she wasn't there this year. All of the bad memories & hard feelings just disappeared, like someone gave us "Miracle Burn" for families or something. It was really great.

My grandma wasn't lucid, however, which is really pretty sad, when you think about how important the holidays always were to her. For some reason, her doctor has her on Methadone for her pain and it's making her sick and dizzy, so she couldn't even enjoy dinner with us (not that she recognized most of us that day). She spent a good portion of the day complaining about my mom's Westie & wanting her put outside, which didn't set well with my mom, of course.

We played games, drank wine, laughed, visited and had a really great time together. After we got home, my sister-in-law called me to thank me for a great holiday & we talked and laughed for a few minutes. I talked and visited with Rhi for awhile after that & then I went to bed.

My mom called me at 2:25am, crying. I thought my grandma had passed, quite honestly. It was my sis in law, she had gotten sick in the night, gone to the bathroom & passed out, hitting her head on the way down. My brother couldn't revive her, and called the ambulance. He & my dad were at the hospital. I got up, got dressed, called Troy at work to tell him what was going on. Then I woke up Rhi & told her where I was going & what had happened & went to sit with my family.

The doctor ended up admitting her to the ICU, as she had several seizures while in the ER. We're waiting for the anti-seizure medication to run it's course, so they can see if she's still having them. She was talking and was back to being herself when I left yesterday, so I'm really hoping she's going to be ok & that this might be the thing that makes them evaluate their quality of life & force them into a change.

I finally made it to bed last night at 12:20am, so I was awake for 22 hours. I'm still tired.

Woohoo!!

Rhi's out of school until Monday & I'm just thrilled. I am so happy that we can rest up, relax & try to recuperate from the bugs we seem to keep catching. Troy & I worked on the house today & I intend to keep working on it every day until it looks better, so I have a pretty busy time ahead of me, which is fine, really, since I've been getting bored a lot lately.

Anyway, time to get the chicken ready to go on the grill & start some rice, have a great evening!

The Lysol Time of Year

I swear, I need to run out & buy a can of Lysol today. Rhi's been throwing up for hours, and unless it's food poisoning from the tacos they got after the wedding last night, she has something we're all gonna get & I don't want it. I'm starting to worry about her, she's never sick for this long.

Nice.. ummm.. Dressage?

I see some odd things in this town on occasion. We host a world-renown Shakespearean Festival here in the summer, so you see a lot of Elizabethan costuming, plus the Renaissance faire in July and the Utah Summer Games in June. You can see different athletes in different sports-related uniforms all that month. What's odd is when you see something like that in a month like November, when nothing like that is going on.

I was dropping Rhi, Kris & their friend Ryan off at Little Caeser's last night, and had pulled through the parking garage to get back to Main Street, when a teenage girl walked past in full equestrian riding apparel! I could see it if we were near the Equestrian Center, or there was a play going on in the theater next to where I was, but neither of those things were true.

I chuckled to myself, shook my head & drove on.

A Year of Rainbow

I was surfing around today & found link in a blog, to another blog that I thought was really cool. The blog I ended up at was called Year in Rainbow, (Just as a warning, the blog probably isn't work safe, so keep that in mind) and the blog owner, Darlinda, is a burlesque performer who's wearing all of the colors of the rainbow for one year. She started out with red, then rainbow, then orange, rainbow gain & will be switching to yellow for December. She'll alternate rainbow with the other colors through the year.

The part I loved the best about her blog was all of the photographs. They are pictures of her friends & fellow performers wearing everything from leather lingerie to vintage style dresses. It's an eclectic blend of images and people that are so pleasing to my eye. I'll definitely be adding the blog to my reads & keeping an eye on it through the year.

Arg!!

Why can't family be easy to deal with? Mine used to be, at least for awhile. I know we were a super dysfunctional family when I was growing up & that it affected all of us kids, but my mom really did try & she was a good mom. The past 4 years has been really hard in our family. That was when my sister-in-law's oldest daughter came here to live. Their marriage has spiraled out of control ever since then & with that, so has their drinking. She started acting out, got into trouble with the school and then the police and my brother didn't know how to react or what to do about it.

We got into a huge argument with him & his wife (we as in Troy & I) one Christmas Eve, and it took me weeks to recover from it. I'm not sure that I am totally yet. It's still hurtful. In the past few weeks, they kicked that daughter out of the house (she's 18). She tells one story, my brother tells another & my mom is already worked up over it & not wanting her to come for Thanksgiving. I got caught in the middle of it all & am trying to dig my way out before next week. I really, really wish they'd get some alcohol rehab & get healthy, before they completely ruin the other daughter's life. I don't see that happening, so I just keep trying to cope with it all. I think I need to get my mom someday & go to an Alanon meeting, just so we can learn how to deal with the situation, you know?

A Weird Autumn

I thought for sure it was going to snow the other night, but we got up & it was just damp from the rain & very cold. It's been super cold every morning since then, but no snow down here or on the mountains, at all. That's really strange, we've usually had one small snow storm by now, but we've had nothing.

Rho, Kris & their friend Ryan are having to film this afternoon. They were almost finished with their class project for film-making when the camera ate their tape, so they have to do it all today, now. They were less than pleased about that, let me assure you!

I got a new kitten this weekend. he's 3 months old & an orange stripecat. We named him "Jasper Rooibos" for his color and to go with the other kitten's name (Malachite Nightshade). Together, they look like Halloween, I love it! I'll try to get some pictures of him soon & get him added to Catster, but he's still in the hiding stage. So, that's this week here, so far.

You?

Just Stuff

I was thinking about what I'd really like in a house, and I know that I really would like to have a room devoted to fitness. I'd like to be able to have an elliptical trainer, a treadmill, an exercise bike and maybe a small weight system or machine, with a TV & DVD player to help pass the time. That way, we could just go & do our workouts together, without having to wait on other people or go anywhere. I know that none of the bedrooms in this house are quite big enough for all of that, but I bet we could fit some of it in Rhi's bedroom after she moves out. I think I need to talk to Troy and see if this interests him at all, and if it does, we can start to make a few plans for the future.

Urban Renewal?

The city tore down two more houses in our old neighborhood. They were houses that we always loved and would have been happy to have lived in. We think one of them may have been a meth house, because we saw the police there one day in protective gear & everything was taped off, but the other one had been empty for awhile. Maybe they sold it & the buyer tore it down to build something on the land. Probably another real estate franchise or something, since that's the area of town where they all seem to be relocating to. I have no problem with that, I just wish they'd stop tearing down all of the older homes that have such character in order to do it. It seems like very house we've ever really liked it this place has been torn down or renovated into an office building.

Why?

Why is everything that happens around here my fault? A couple of months ago, Rhi told me that Kris wouldn't be coming over here on Wednesdays because that's one of the days he stays home & does his chores for his dad. So, of course, I plan smaller meals that day of the week. I picked Rhi up from school yesterday & who was with her? Kris.

I was pretty angry about it & finally asked her if she had any ideas for dinner, since what I was preparing was really only enough for 3. She went off on me, claiming that she was sure she told me that morning that he was going to be at our house because they were filming that afternoon (which they didn't do, by the way). She didn't say a word about it to me before school, as a matter of fact, she never even mentioned him yesterday morning. Then she claimed she never said he wouldn't be over on Wednesdays anymore & that if she doesn't specifically tell me he isn't coming over then he is. I finally just gave up & told her I wasn't going to fight about it and that in the future, I'll just plan big meals every day & not do anything special for the 3 of us.

I get everything ready to go & was turning the popcorn chicken over on the pan to go back in the oven when Troy walked in the door. He said something that I didn't understand & I asked him to repeat himself. He did & I still didn't understand it, and he repeated himself again & started getting angry with me. So, we had to get in an argument about it because he wouldn't tell me why he was suddenly angry (I suspect he was touchy because his blood sugar was low & he didn't want to tell me that). Apparently, he assumed I was angry because I couldn't understand him & sounded mad. I'm so tired of him & Rhi doing the whole "Oh, I think you're mad at me, so I'm going to strike before you can" thing. If you ask them, I only have two emotions; mad & happy. I feel nothing else, at least in their opinion. It's not possible that I'm distracted, sick, tired, busy, sad or just neutral. Ever.

We got through it & he was in a better mood after he had some dinner, so I'm sticking with my earlier blood sugar statement.

Inking Around

Don't you hate trying to find replacement ink cartridges for your printer? I know I do, and I've had some that were almost impossible to find locally. That's what happens when you have only two stores that carry that type of thing in the town you live in. That's what the internet is for! Seriously, Carrot Ink has a huge selection and really good prices, too. For instance, you can get an HP 56 black cartridge through them for only $15.95.

They have just about every available HP printer cartridge out there & they all have a pretty price on them. They even offer a prepaid mailer that you can put your old cartridge in, send it in and they'll remanufacture it & send it back to you. They sell ink for all of the other brands to, so check them out, I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Had Enough

Things with Rhi came to a head last night. I think I was just finally fed up enough to say something. For the past couple of weeks, I can't seem to open my mouth around her without being accused of being mad or her snapping at me. She & Kris took the car to go and get fountain drinks & go to DQ last night, when they got back, all she could do was snap & yell at Kris and then she came in snapping and being hateful to me. I lost it. I couldn't take anymore.

She slammed a Blizzard (that I didn't ask for & didn't want) down in front of me & was offended when I said I didn't want it. I wasn't even hungry, I didn't ask them to bring me one, I had it slammed down in front of me rudely and she has the audacity to get offended? She nearly made me cry with the whole display & it pretty much ruined the rest of my night, quite frankly.

Troy & I argued with her for about an hour about why she's suddenly treating me like garbage again, which she hasn't done for awhile, and trying to get it through her head how painful that is to me & that I don't have to put up with it & no one else does either. Part of her problem is that she gets stressed out and that makes her very touchy & angry. She does the same thing when she gets nervous or excited, too, which has ruined a lot of special occasions for us. I spoke to her about learning self-control because of this. She pushes people away when she needs them & that's not healthy for her. I think we have everything situated. I hope so anyway.

The Sick

I'm pretty sure I'm sick today. It's been building for a week now, and this afternoon it finally hit me. I detest being sick. There are just way too many things I want & need to get done to days days off being sick. I'll very likely be too sick to get my flu shot tomorrow, which means I'll end up getting sick a lot this winter and I won't get anything done. Why don't they make self defense products for illness for Pete's sake?! I don't even have anymore cold medicine or anything, I took the last of it this morning.

Maybe we'll have to run to the store, buy emergency bags of pet food (we're almost out of their big bags & can't go to St. George to get more until the 12th) and some cold medicine. I think we'll have pancakes for dinner, Troy will cook those & I can just knit & watch TV. Blech.

The Rain in Spain

While we're talking about travel in Europe, another unique and exciting destination to visit would be Spain. After checking out all of the nice hotels in Spain, and booking one for your vacation, you can visit Muralla de Avila, which is the fortress wall surrounding the city of Avila. I'd like to see Torre de Bujaco in Caceres, which is a square Arab tower that predates the Crusades and is open to the public.

You could travel to Barcelona (there are several very nice hotels in Barcelona) and visit La Sagrada Família (a massive Catholic basilica that's still unfinished), La Boqueria, an open-air market or the Gothic quarter, with it's many points of interest dating from the Roman era & the Middle Ages.

If you choose among the hotels in Madrid instead, you can visit the Prado museum, the Royal Botanical Gardens (which were originally undertaken by Carlos III & were inaugurated in 1781) or The Royal Palace, which is still used symbolically during official ceremonies & is open to the public for tours.

Seriously, there are some really beautiful sites in Spain, and a lot of amazing architecture to visit, too.

Round & Round

Dawn got online this morning to tell me about Cherokee's latest adventure. Dawn went up to wake her up this morning & she wasn't there. She went back down to get some coffee & was standing by her sink, looking out the kitchen window when Cherokee's best friend dropped her off outside the house. Dawn went out & met her on the deck. She asked her where she'd been & Cherokee said, "At Brandi's." When asked how long she'd been there, she said that it was awhile, so we're assuming that meant all night. Dawn sent her to school & called the probation officer, who then called the home detention officer.

Brandi just called dawn, freaking out because the police just came & arrested Cherokee, she wanted to know if Dawn had any idea what was going on. Duh? She was at your house all night & not home, on house arrest, stupid. She'll be in for 30 days this time & Dawn is having her drug tested again and pregnancy tested, too, if they'll do that there. She just doesn't seem to get it, you know? It's like she honestly believes that her home detention will just eventually go away, no matter what she does, or maybe that her mom won't call the police when she does this stuff. Maybe she just doesn't care.

It's really sad, what she's become.

France!

Another place in Europe that I have wanted to visit is France. I would love to visit the museums, cafes and wineries, and maybe check out fashion week in Paris. I know there are probably some amazing hotels in Paris, from the large and elegant, to the small and homey, and I know you can get some really great deals on them if you book early enough.

There are a lot of really nice hotels in France and the rest of Europe, you really just have to know where to look to find the best deals. The internet is an invaluable resource in vacation planning these days, isn't it? With a few clicks you can see pictures of rooms, find the prices that suit your budget and book a room instantly.

While in France, you can enjoy the local cuisine, visit her lovely beaches and shop at the wonderful markets. There are so many things to do in France, so make sure you sit down and decide which activities are the most important to you, you may not find time to do them all, and you need comfortable and affordable hotels in France to go back to every night. I'm sure that with a little time and research, you'll find the exact one you're looking for!

Disappointment

So, I never did receive my swap package from my partner in the Fall into Autumn Dishcloth Swap. I'm probably not going to participate in any more of them, either, since the girl I sent to never even bothered to post a picture of what I sent her on her blog and I never got anything myself. It seems like an awful lot of time and trouble to do for free, you know? I just don't understand why in the world you'd ever sign up for something like that if you weren't 100% certain you'd be able to follow through, and meet the deadline. I'd feel so guilty if I did that & let my partner down!!

Anyway. Rhi and her friends had a great time last night. We had about 10 trick or treaters last night, which is a record high for us. That's kind of pathetic, but they just don't stop at our house. It's really kind of sad that Kris had never been trick-or-treating before last night. Apparently his mother used to leave him at home to give out treats and she'd take his older brother out. What kind of a parent does that? I used to turn off my porch light, pack up both of my kids and we'd all go. He was so freaking excited to go out he didn't even sleep the night before - now that's a sad thing, especially since he's 17! Oh, and they did wear costumes, in case anyone is thinking I'd let my teenager go trick-or-treating in normal clothes. I don't give treats to anyone who isn't in a costume & I give them to anyone, no matter the age, who is in one.

I want to hit a couple of the post-Halloween sales today, I'm hoping to grab one or two of those wall sconce-type torch decorations. The ones that look like they have a flame in them, I want them for our booth for fair. Rhi wants some of the good fangs, so we'll have to go to The Wizz & see if they have any left after school.