VOTE! Have I ever asked you for anything? You don’t have to help me move ;)
My honey is a part of a new reality blog thing!
It’s like ‘Survivor’ but for blog entries – people WILL be voted off of the blog island.
Then come back!!!
The longer he stays, the more he gets to write and share his art – and the the better his chances of being seen as the amazing artist he is.
Which, you can see HERE
If you comment in favor of James D. Foster – I would be forever grateful. Be sure to SCROLL down until you see his name and his 4 paragraphs about Life.
Also, the man behind the curtain, is The Public Blogger (See Here) who gives artists of all genres an opportunity to show their stuff, which, I find amazing.
SO VOTE PEOPLE! This is new, and fun and innovative! And of course, I don’t want my honey to have to put out his torch.
My life right now
So, Jim is working on 4 paragraphs about ‘life right now’.
For a very interesting project.
I thought I’d give it a shot.
I don’t think there’s a word count, so technically, I could be done right now.
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Life. Everyday I am alarmed at my alarm. No pun intended. It’s obnoxious. And loud. And nothing ‘snooze’ mode will help.
Tonight, I was bitten 4 times by my sons hamster. It hurt. But, no, I did not fling it.
I have always loved rodents. Hamster is lonely. Master is gone a lot. Mother is lonely. Son isn’t technically around a lot. I mean, when he IS around, it’s ‘technically’ – games and such.
Anyway, this happened.
Clearly, son did not care about the four bites I took without fling mode.
The temperature of the fish tanks was of importance.
This weekend I lost my car to a tow truck, am trying to make the best of things.
Trying not to stress out.
Life as it is right now.
Honestly?
I FINALLY have someone in my life and in my home that I love. (Other than my son – that’s a given, I hope it should be anyway.)
Life as it is RIGHT NOW?? Dog is anxious to go out, I’ve got YouTube on pause and wondering about dinner.
Life in general? Is a hamster wheel. I’m not going to lie.
It’s the same thing, day in, day out.
But, I’m grateful for the job, grateful for my family.
Grateful.
We did all the cleaning today since I had my car towed away – (almost rhymed no?) so tomorrow, it will be very odd waking up to see empty dirt outside of our fence. No cars at all.
My life today? Was filled with worry – then silliness, and various states of undress. Deciding it isn’t worth it to worry anymore.
Life will be what it will be.
As Doris Day would say (Yeah, met her – at Pebble Beach) “Que Sera, Sera”
I’m just along for the ride at this point – and making sure the bills are paid. That is MY life.
Musings from the Laundromat: Cars & Comic-Con
Comic-Con should have a villain called ‘Check Engine Light’ man. It would strike fear into the hearts of all who laid eyes on him.
Thought that was an apropos way to start since another Comic-Con is happening without me.
So that stays uncrossed on my bucket list.
Anyway! I digress.
Driving home from the grocery store last night and “DING!” said my car.
Now, this happened last year too. Car wouldn’t shift, RPMs climbed sky-high … I ended up driving 10 miles per hour home, shaking, heart pounding – then having my Cruiser towed to have an ignition switch and Solenoid replaced.
Shortly thereafter, “DING!” Turns out they put a bad solenoid in.
And my car was fixed.
And my bank account was broken.
Little over a month ago – same issue. “Ding!” Light back on, won’t shift, high RPMs – had car towed again.
(I like to think of a tow as a nice little ride for my car. Wind in its wipers, watering headlights as it enjoys the whoosh of air. A fun piggy back ride. Takes my mind off the ‘how the hell much is this going to cost me’ thoughts.)
Mechanic could find nothing wrong with it.
Of course.
They reset my engine light and for the past month or so, I’ve been driving it like it has a bomb taped under the hood.
Now, we know I ‘worry too much’. I’ve heard it enough. But I seriously have a 6th sense about things. And so when the “DING!” happened last night – and it repeated its symptoms, I stressed the heck out.
Decided there was no point to that. It is what it is right?
So I had a plan.
Get up early, go to Auto Zone for a diagnostic check – pray it coded with the same thing as last time so even if my car decided not to perform badly for the mechanic, I would have proof.
And it did.
It coded!!! With the exact same issue as the first go around.
I’m holding that diagnostic ticket like it came out of a Wonka bar and after laundry, I’ll set my car off on another adventure and pray the mechanic honors some sort of warranty.
Cars. They’re the bane of my existence. My kryptonite.
Seriously though, Marvel? Consider ‘Check Engine Light’ man.
‘Staycations’ and bonding with the other woman ;)
I mentioned in the video that I’ve shared down the post two days off in addition to the weekend.
This matters people!
Usually, my days off are because
A) A handy man is coming to fix something and I must be here to maintain peace between him/her and the dog.
B) Someone is sick, and it’s not me.
C) Something else has broken and I’m waiting for either a tow truck or another handyman.
D) I am picking someone up from the airport.
The last ‘vacation’ I can remember is when Nic was small. Well, he’s at least 6 foot now, so anything under that.
So I took a ‘Staycation.’
And when I ‘STAY’ I mean just that. That’s what I want to do! What I’ve NEEDED to do for a while. Nap, snack, binge watch shows, cuddle, nap some more.
I couldn’t even do THAT!
I’ve got one day remaining now – and Sunday, I did laundry as usual – and before I felt like I could chill out with no guilt, I had the kitchen rug/very large rug/carpet outside.
Washed floor.
Cleaned the stove within an inch of its life.
Was defrosting fish for fish tacos.
Fixed the piece of house that came off in our bonkers monsoon wind – nails in my mouth – hammer in hand. (Yes, I’m a contractor now)
Cleared the ‘we don’t have a shed anymore’ porch so we don’t look MORE like trailer trash.
Polished all the “I drive too fast on the dirt road next to this house” (NOT ME) dust off of our surfaces.
And more.
Bottom line – I don’t feel like I get to chill out until I’ve earned it.
This was contagious. My poor honey, after pouring himself a cup of coffee must have felt guilty too – and cleaned our bedroom.
We still had the bathrooms to do.
And all I wanted to do was get goofy!!!! And know that I have NO alarm tomorrow or the next day.
And I freaking COULDN’T! Not until everything was done.
WHY is it that we women – and I’m not leaving you guys out of this – although … (lol)
WHY is it we women can’t chill until everything is done???????
This is HUGE! A 4 day weekend.
And there I was already planning my fun bathroom cleaning ride. lol. I’ll get a Disney fast pass and get that done so I can watch a movie without guilt 😉
*tangent – did you know, that in ‘admin’ mode you can put a post in trash and all it takes is one poke (if you have a touch screen – I assume this is the same for keyboard, however, fingertips are more unforgiving than cursors. No “Are you sure?????”) I call BS. Because, if you want to edit, you have to go through WP hoops, ok, maybe just confirming the edit. But, DELETING an entrire post? Yeah, ok, GONE! lol) Why am I mentioning this? Hmmmmm ….. let’s take a wild guess.
Tangent over.
So now, my honey has stopped drinking coffee and having a beer.
YAY!
Then my son and his girlfriend stopped by to bring by more fish/fish tank ‘stuff’ (that kid does NOT need anymore pets!) But, I got to make a video with my son’s girlfriend:
She so underplayed her merits. She is SUCH an amazing, goal oriented, studious woman. And, let’s face it, she has great taste in men.
I had such a problem with ‘her’. HOW DARE SHE???????
How dare she love my son?
How dare she know levels of my spawn that I didn’t?
(I mean intellectually and emotionally – c’mon now)
Well, guess what?
I adore her. And it was SO hard to even imagine him not ‘needing’ me or not being the center of his universe.
And now, I’m just so happy for the two of them.
And for me.
Because I have an amazing future husband – an amazing son and maybe – just maybe, an amazing future daughter-in-law.
Life is good.
And tomorrow, we’re going to do a family outing to see some burros and have lunch. Trust me – it’s 6:33 p.m. and I JUST took a shower, so getting me to agree to this whole ‘leaving the house’ thing was difficult.
But I’m doing it. Because family is important. And while staycations are fun, they don’t make many memories – but they sure do unwind a tense person.
Musings from the Laundromat: Displaced Glaucoma Man Edition
Me: Would you be a lamb and reset the WIFI?
Laundry Lady: I just did – I figured I’d get your coffee going first.
Me: Awwww!
________________
This was not my first interaction in the less than 10 minutes I’ve been here.
First we discussed fireworks, or rather, the lack thereof from our most local casino.
I guess we were both outside when night fell, drawn out by the distant ‘POP! POP!’ sounds only to discover it was tourists on the beach and not an official display.
Then I noticed her hair.
Me: Did you dye your hair??
Laundry Lady: Yeah.
A small smile played on her lips and I was SO glad I noticed.
I shuffled away like Igor to my machine, heavy basket dictating my gait.
Glaucoma man found me as I was filling my machines. Actually, he came up on me whilst I was snapping a bra closed before flinging it in.
He was disturbed. (Not about my bra)
Him: He has my machine. (He glared over toward his usual spot.) She opened the back door first today and let him in.
I glanced over towards ‘his’ machine, and sure enough, an unfamiliar face (attached to an unfamiliar body) stood near it.
Now, I’m NOT going to knock him for this discomfort. We all know how my weird little OCD’s send me into a tailspin when I’m stuck under the weird rainbow umbrella instead of the seats I like – or how frustrating it is to find all ‘my’ machines in use.
I get it.
We all have our little routines and rituals.
Him: She must know him.
He said it like it was a conspiracy. I couldn’t help remembering her telling me “sometimes I make him wait.” and stifled a giggle.
But Laundry Lady is not cruel hearted, I decided probably she just happened to open the back door first, and was not making Glaucoma man suffer needlessly.
Me: Well, technically she doesn’t have to open until 8 – she’s sweet to do so.
Him: How is your husband?
Me: Good. (I didn’t correct him)
He went on to talk about how Laundry Lady is grumpy. Which is so not true. Then shared with me that she isn’t well.
This made me sad. I didn’t push for all the details – I figure if someone wants me to know something personal about themselves, they’ll tell me.
He shared anyway.
Him: Yeah, she has that COD.
Me: C.O.P.D?
Him: Yes.
Me: Me too
Him: You do? But you always have a smile on your face!
I wanted to tell him so does the Laundry Lady. For me anyway. I think she just runs out of patience with some patrons. I mean, I wasn’t going to tell him that part.
The bottom line though, is that if you’re kind, you get kindness back. If you smile, you receive one of those in return too.
And if you are consistent about it – you get a friendly weekly chat and a fresh pot of coffee.
Debauchery Soup 