It Makes a Mother Proud

I got a strange phone call earlier, it was one of Erin's friends, he said he had the wrong number & then he texted me a few minutes later, asking if I'd heard from Erin lately. I texted back & told him he should have asked when he called & told him I'd heard from him a few mornings ago, that he was in Savannah, Georgia & was hoping to leave that night for Florida. I figured he was just missing him & wanting to know that he was okay, until the friend called me again. Apparently, he'd gotten a call that he couldn't really understand, other than something saying it was an inmate call. He looked up the area code & was from Savannah, so he thought he'd better call me.

I looked it up on the 'net & found out he was arrested this afternoon, for jaywalking & begging. His picture was, well.. let's just say I wouldn't know him if I ran into him on the street. At least he wasn't picking up for boosting Ferrari parts or armed robbery or anything. I imagine they'll cut him loose in the morning. It wasn't a great gift for Troy on his birthday today, but at least for once, we know exactly where he is for a little while.

Ch-Ch-Changes

We've lived in this same trailer park for 6 years now. It's the longest we've ever spent in one house in our whole marriage. When we moved here, it was after finding out the kids wanted to return to public school. We had just bought the XTerra, so we had a car payment, school fees & rent that was a little higher than we were comfortable with with the added expenses of public school. We moved here because they would let us have our dog (it was Bear at the time) and the cats. It was a pretty nice trailer park back then & the former owner kept everything well-maintained & insisted that tenants keep their yards nice & clean, too. He paid our water bill & the sprinklers were set to turn on at specific times & days, the grass was always green & nice, but some people were mad that they weren't allowed to have a hose and all of that. It never really bothered us, I would have rather had green grass.

A couple of years ago, he sold it to someone else. For awhile, the sprinklers still worked, but people started hooking up hoses and breaking water lines and filling up huge swimming pools and all of that & they stopped setting them to come on automatically. People's yards look horrible, filled with broken furniture, trash and things like that. Yes, before the sale, there were always swing sets, trampolines and things like that, but people cared back then & they don't really seem to anymore.

It makes me sad & makes me want to move. I know we will as soon as we can afford to & find a place where we can have our pets, but I really wish we didn't have to.

Entertainment

Dawn & Jason came by a new, big screen TV this week. They're both really happy about it, they'd been making due with their older one for awhile. I'm not sure if it's a flat screen, although I think it must be. They completely rearranged their living room the other day & moved the entertainment center and all of that. I was happy that they had a newer one, with a large opening, or they'd have had to get a new stand with plasma mounts on it, kind of like what we had to get when we upgraded our TV in January.

We bought our entertainment center in 1994, I think, and while it was perfect for us back then, it really wasn't going to work for a bigger TV. The opening in that wasn't going to hold what we currently have, no matter how creative we tried to be. It was looking old & tired anyway, and definitely needed to be replaced, I love the stand we bought, it fits who we are much better now.

I'm really happy & excited for Dawn & Jason, I know that it'll make watching TV a bigger pleasure for them now, and since Dawn wasn't even watching it anymore, that's saying quite a lot.

Crazy Days

I feel like a hamster that's been running in it's little ball for days, now. I went shopping Wednesday or Thursday evening & bought myself a bunch of cute tops & some pajamas and then Friday was payday for us & for Rhi, so I started out taking her to get her check & then to the store to do a little shopping of her own, then that afternoon was grocery shopping for us. That night, I headed back to the store to finish up what we didn't get earlier & to try to find a blouse to wear the next day.

Saturday was our 18th anniversary, but before any celebrating of any type could happen, I had to go to a funeral for a friend's stillborn baby, which of course is never just the funeral. You have that, then the meal & if you're close to the family, you go back to the house and visit and what not. I hung out there until around 2:30 & then came home. Troy & I went out to dinner & then he went to work. We relaxed on Sunday, because both of us were so tired & needed a recharge. Yesterday, we didn't do a lot, but we did go to a movie in the later afternoon (Inglorious Basterds) and then we came home & I cooked dinner. I swear, I need to find a way to get rid of blackheads, what with no time to take care of myself this week & the stress on top of that!

Troy's work week starts in the morning, hopefully things will mellow out a little bit after that.

Arg!

It's Talk Like a Pirate Day today, did you know that? I didn't realize it, but I did know it was coming up this month. I found out this morning from my Facebook, because I fanned Captain Morgan Spiced Rum awhile back & they seem to post an update about it every 10 minutes or so. It was cute, the first time when they told everyone to change their language option to English (Pirate), but honestly, I get it already. It's Talk Like a Pirate Day. Okay. The next update will be almost as welcome as a colon cleanse, that's how tired I am of it. I'd unfan them, but I like the recipes and such that they normally have, even though this is the first they've posted anything of in a long time and let me tell you, they're making up for lost time.

I'm so unmotivated today. I have dishes that need finishing & the weekly snack cake to make, and I just haven't even got the ambition to do either one.

Free Groceries?

In this time of economic hardship, who out there would turn down free groceries? A pasta company is giving away a grand prize of free groceries for a year or several other prizes of $200 mini grocery sprees. Run, don't walk & sign up to win, I did!

Travel Dragon Spell

Travel Dragon Spell

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Rid a Home of Negative Energy

Rid a Home of Negative Energy

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Do You Feel It?

Is Autumn rearing it's lovely head where you live yet? Are the days growing slightly cooler? I know we're starting to feel it, it was so nice this morning when Dawn & I took our daily walk, the air was just slightly crisp and some of the leaves up the canyon are just barely starting to change. We need to start taking our cameras with us again, to capture the ever-changing beauty we see down there every day.

Rhi is doing well, she's still working, still loving her job. She's starting to plan for the future & decide what she wants to do each week. She said this morning that she was pretty happy living here now, which is a big improvement. I'm so glad she feels welcome here & is content now. She has had any repeats of taking those weight loss pills on an empty stomach and getting sick, so hopefully, she's done with that.

I haven't heard from Erin since August 29, so I'm starting to get a little worried about him. I know he'll call me if he's able, I just hope he's still able. I wouldn't be worried, but we received a couple of strange phone calls from some older man in Georgia a few days after we last heard from him that set me on guard & made me start worrying about him. I hope he calls soon.

Laziness

I'm having a nice, somewhat lazy day. I had planned to get a bunch of housework done today, but you know what? I'm tired & ready to just relax & rest, it's a holiday, I deserve to enjoy myself and not be stressing myself out over the house for a change. Rhi doesn't have to be to work until 4, Troy is off & playing Farmtown, I'm sitting here bouncing around on Facebook, trying to catch up from the weekend & seriously considering fixing my lunch & then having a nap.

I asked a question on another blog about suggestions for skin care. Apparently I still haven't narrowed down the best acne treatment for my skin type & age. I was wondering what all of you use, if you're still affected by acne at any rate. I currently use an apricot scrub in the mornings & wash my face with a cosmetic wipe thingy and night. Both work okay, but I still have periodic break outs, so do you have any ideas for me? I'm not interested in the super expensive stuff or anything I can't easily buy in a small town or on the net at a reasonable price.

Anyway, I think that lunch is sounding yummy right now & so is that nap.

Sometimes

You know, I find so many of my things out of place in the bathroom these days & food that ends up being gone long before I think it ought to that some days I feel like I need to install video surveillance equipment all over the house, just so I'm not being lied to anymore. I do care about other people using my hair products and makeup, the food really doesn't matter that much, other than stuff that I have set aside to use for meals, but I'd still rather have the truth when I ask about it.

Every day I think I remove one more thing from the bathroom & put it away in my bedroom so that it won't get used by anyone but myself. That sounds pathetic, I know, but I stopped buying the cheap stuff after the kids all moved out & I don't feel like I should have to share it now. I don't get into her things & use her makeup & such, she has no hair products except hairspray & I have my own. I would never wear her clothes, even if I could fit into them, so she isn't losing anything to me & all of my stuff gradually gets used up without me.

It doesn't seem to matter how many times I confront her about things, the next day it's something else that she's using. Last week it was my deep conditioner & the stuff I use everyday to help keep my hair color from fading, then it was my foundation & eye shadow, now it's the texturizer I use in my hair occasionally. Who knows what it'll be next?

The Weight Loss Thing

I'm not sure if I've posted about my weight loss on this blog, or not. I may have been keeping it solely to the other one these days, I can't remember. Anyway, in November when Troy nearly died from gangrene in his gall bladder (and the gases being pumped into all of his other organs) we had a long talk about our health, eating & future. We decided that neither of us was prepared to lose the other to an illness that we had any power to control by changing our lifestyle right there & then. I never wanted to put Troy through the fear I was living with then & didn't want me to go through it again (and trust me, it isn't the first time I've been sitting there wondering if he would be coming home), so we hanged pretty much everything we were doing with our lives.

We both got more active, even though for me that was a months-long process to even be able to start, since I contracted mono while I was spending all of my waking moments at the hospital with him & was horribly sick all winter & into the spring. He started working out, I started walking every day. At first, we walked 7 days a week, and after we were well into it, we started taking the weekends off (by we I mean Dawn & I). We were all eating better & being super careful about what the food we were eating had in it & cut a lot of stuff out, like high fructose corn syrup and the like. I lost about 10 pounds through that process & Troy was losing like crazy. I was getting frustrated & down on myself, feeling like I was never going to lose enough weight to make a difference without surgery or using a diet pill like Avesil or something, but I joined a program to help me learn to eat better & live better & I'm doing great. Counting that first ten pounds, I've lost 47 so far & have gone down almost 4 sizes in pants & probably 2 in shirts.

I haven't talked about it a lot on my blogs, I've just been living it, it's not that I'm ashamed or anything, i just never felt like any of the readers I have really wanted to hear about what I ate today or how frustrated I was at losing nothing a certain week, or even gaining some, so I've kept it mostly it of here. I do occasionally post about my total loss & the story behind it all for those of you who don't know, but there it is, as of this week, I've lost 47 pounds. That was really the point of the whole post, to say that & since I wasn't sure if I'd ever mentioned it on here, felt I needed to. So, yay for losing!

Oh Well

I went out looking for a lower rate on our car insurance & got a bunch of insurance quotes, but I guess we already have the lowest rate for our vehicles already. I'm not complaining about what we pay, we got a great rate & it's way lower than we were paying before we switched a couple of years ago, but I was hoping to go even lower.

I imagine that I'll find other places that I can cut back on, like grocery shopping. I buy a lot of name brand products because I'm picky & spent many years only being able to afford store brands. I decided that once we didn't have to buy them, I wasn't going to anymore. I can do it again, it won't make that much difference in the taste of things and will probably save us quite a bit. I have already cut way back on gas for my car I really only fill up once a month. I won't give up Weight Watchers or buying clothes as I need them, I can't go naked, after all, but I will keep it at a reasonable range, especially since I won't be wearing anything for very long until I reach my goal.

Other than that, I make sure lights are turned off when we aren't in a room & I turn off the swamp cooler when we leave the house or evening comes, I also haven't been watching as much TV these days, either. Any other ideas? I'm not great with this kind of thing.

Cutting Costs

I've been trying to rework our budget lately just so we can have the bare minimum going out in case Troy loses his job or anything. I just don't want to sit around & worry that we won't be able to make it on his unemployment in the event that we have to, you know? I try to keep our food costs down, but there are weeks when we run out of everything & that almost doubles our grocery bill. Now that we have Rhi living with us again, groceries will go up some, too. I think I'll try to find cheaper car insurance, if that's even possible & cut the costs of our utilities as much as possible & gas for my car & just see what we can do on our savings plan.

I'm not terribly worried about his job, but you never know what the future holds, especially in the field he's in, so it's best to try to be as prepared as possible & not be caught unawares, you know? I don't like surprises, especially bad ones & would rather be ready for anything, if at all possible. I hate the state this country is in, I wish & hope that things will start to look up for all of us, soon.

Fun!

Dawn & I went grocery shopping today (I go with her every month to get hers, just to keep her company mostly) and after we went to a couple of grocery stores, we ran into a discount store to look for a tabletop fountain for her altar & of course we looked around at other things while we were there. We couldn't find them where they had been all summer, mostly because they were a seasonal item & they were already adding all of the nifty Halloween decorations. We stopped to look through that stuff, of course & found some really cute things that both of us would love to have & some gorgeous garlands of autumn leaves & vines in several different colors that I want for the booth. I think the only thing we didn't see were Halloween party invitations, which was okay, because I usually make my own. (when we have a party, at any rate)

We did eventually find the fountains & she got a really cute one for $2.50 because they were all on clearance. I bought myself one the other day on our shopping trip for about $4, so I was thrilled that she managed to get an awesome deal on something she really wanted, too. We're goiong to her house tonight to finally taste the beer & hard cider we made last month & for a nice barbecue with some other friends. It should be a nice evening & I'm really looking forward to it.

Shades of Autumn

It feels different outside these days. Yes, we still have hot, muggy days, but the nights are cooling down & the mornings have been outright cold. Dawn & I have both switched from wearing out tank tops while walking to wearing t-shirts & soon I'm sure we'll start taking our jackets with us. I'm just happy that I bought a bunch of pairs of track pants & yoga pants so my legs won't be cold.

Dawn & I went shopping together today, I really didn't buy anything other than some shampoo & conditioner and a set of sheets that match our comforter that were on clearance, but Dawn needed new walking shoes & dog supplies, so I went along with her. I found a super cute sweater that I want for the fall & a pair of shoes, too.. they even have a nice high heel, which will be the first pair of those I've wanted in many years. I'll pick both of them up when I get paid & then I'm saving the rest of my future checks for something else. I'm not sure what really, but I'd love to do something special with Troy this winter, maybe get away for a couple of days or so, who knows?

We're in the middle of a thunder storm, it's barely raining still, but the skies are definitely rumbling, and I have Tiny lying up here on the couch next to me. She doesn't seem to mind the thunder when she's outside, but it does scare her when she's in the house. I've been trying to downplay it & not give her extra attention lately, I hope it'll work.

Water Scrying

Water Scrying

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A Long Day

I feel like I've had a headache right at the edge of my senses all day. I've taken ibuprofen, allergy meds earlier & just now some cold meds, so hopefully something will do something, I can't take it much longer. Rhi came home from work this afternoon & went back to bed. I always know she really isn't feeling well when she actually comes home after work, because she usually hangs out with her friends until about 8 or 9 (or later). She also retreats to the shower or tub a lot when she isn't well, and when she took her 4rd one of the day, she accidently knock the handheld shower out of it's holder & it feel apart. She had a major meltdown, which I pretty much ignored, because I figured something wasn't working right for her in her room & wanted to give her some space. Troy & I went to buy ice & I got her a Diet Pepsi while we were out, and when I took it to her, she was a mess in her room, very upset over having broken it, thinking we were going to want her to move out. Troy wasn't able to fix it, so we went & got a new one, it's not like it was expensive to begin with & we'd had it a few years in hard water, it was to be expected eventually.

She's enjoying her job a lot, which is refreshing, but she does keep looking for something to supplement it with, since she doesn't get a lot of hours. I wish she'd take that CNA course, or maybe some medical coding training courses, so she could have an actual career to fall back on. Maybe one of these days she really will go back to school, I just know that I never did & am afraid she won't, either.

Kids

I'm not sure if I mentioned in my previous post that Rhi moved back in with us this past Friday, but she did. I gave her a whole long list of things we expect from her if she's going to live here & she agreed to them. She even paid her phone bill & rent right away, which made things a lot easier for us. I'm really hoping she'll stick to the rules, because I want this to be a positive situation for all of us, with no fighting & tears, this time around.

Anyway, she was scheduled to work the day shift today, which means she has to be there at 10am, so as I was getting ready to leave for my walk this morning, I stopped by her room & made sure she was awake & then came in here & sat down for a few minutes. She staggered in & got a glass of water, came & sat down on the loveseat & started to take a couple of pills. I asked her what she was taking (we have a strict zero tolerance policy in our home regarding illegal substances), she said it was diet pills, (not prescription, more like ultra 90 and the like), mostly for the caffeine, so she could wake up. I just kind of shook my head & headed out for my walk.

Halfway through it, she texted me & told me she had thrown up very badly & was going to go to work late, so she could see if a little sleep would help, I told her it was probably the pills & when they were completely out of her system, she'd feel better. She felt good enough to go to work by about 11:30 or so, and seems to be doing well now. I did make sure to talk to her & let her know that she didn't need pills & that we do have coffee & tea all the time, so hopefully we'll have no repeats in the days ahead.

Almost Autumn

We noticed this morning that the leaves are starting to turn on the trees on our walk. I'm excited, because as much as I love summer, I'm ready for the cooler, calmer days of autumn. I was able to get some really nice clothes the other day to wear for fall & winter & I'm excited to get to wear them, already. I had to, most of the rest of my clothes are way too big for me now. I spent a couple of hours today culling out the stuff that was too big & digging through my dresser & pulling out old favorites that I hadn't had the heart to get rid of when I gained all of this weight. I was thrilled to find that many of them already fit me again, and the rest will before very much longer.

I got new jeans, a nice pair of black slacks, some very nice tops & a cute Ed Hardy t-shirt. I didn't get anything printed with a tuxedo on it, or any shoes that were too young for me, I tried very hard to make choi that would be good for my body type & my age. I took a lot of advice from Troy when choosing & listened to my own inner voice, too. Troy was concerned because I didn't get a bunch of super warm things, but I really don't wear that type of thing, I usually just layer things, so I can stay warm or cool down if needed.

Anyway, Davy stayed several days in the hospital & ended up having to have surgery on his feet to remove the infection. I guess he didn't have a heart attack, after all, so that was good news. We were worried for awhile that his right foot would have to be amputated, along with his toes on the left foot, but they seem to have gotten it all taken care of. His mom had surgery to remove uterine cancer a couple of weeks ago & still isn't able to leave the hospital, so we're all still very worried about her & then on top of all of this, the town they live in, New Harmony, had to be evacuated the other day because a wild fire was threatening it. The smoke here was so bad that it was hard to breathe & it smelled so bad that all we really wanted was to wake up & smell fresh, clean air again (which we were able to today, finally). So, a lot has been going on, hopefully the bad times are behind us now.