Sunday, January 30, 2005

Ode to Beth

I know she visited me yesterday :)

My friend Beth died November 26, 2001 from cancer. The last time that I saw her was February 2001 at my house, her first trip to Ohio and her first time seeing snow!! The last time that we spoke was later that summer while Beka was visiting her. I think of her often. But yesterday, I am positive that she was in my house visiting us.

Beth was a fantastic woman! Her attitude was always positive, she always looked for the good in people, she had a servant's heart and wanted everyone to be happy, to be comfortable and to have full tummys and she could really cook! She was a true Southern Belle!

We worked together, she was the admin at a company where I worked during the Dot Com Craze. She probably drove quite a few people crazy because she was well known in our company as the lady at the front desk that sang all the time. If she was on American Idol, Simon would have some really mean thing to say to her because her singing was all that great - kind of out of tune! Ironic, because her significant other owned a recording studio and was a recording engineer/producer!

They were a great couple, had "the boys", who turned out to be two dogs: miniature dachshund and miniature rottwelier. They were two of the barkiest dogs on the planet, but Beth loved those boys so much. She would walk them, dress them up for the holidays, especially halloween!! She and Jim cooked great food and she served it on some of the most elegant place settings I have ever seen.

She ran an Ebay business in addition to working at our company. She sold all sorts of things and taught me how to become a seller. I have sold a few things, thanks to her sharing her knowledge. We both enjoyed Ebaying and sharing the stories of what sold for what!! Always a big surprise! She had a nose for antiques and lived in the most perfect place on the planet to pick up cool stuff for a good price - she lived in Florida - her whole life - which she affectionately referred to as "God's Waiting Grounds". We used to spend Saturday afternoons driving around visiting thrift shops and finding some astounding items. As I walk through my house, I am often reminded of Beth because of some of the things she has bought and others that I bought while I was with her.

When she first told me that she had cancer, she really downplayed it. She would search on the Internet for clinical studies that she might qualify for. She never told anyone how bad it was. You see, Beth didn't have health insurance because by the time that she found out, our investors pulled out and she didn't have a job. She wasn't married to Jim, so she didn't have any insurance. She saw a doctor in Gainesville who agreed to see her pro bono, the problem was she couldn't get her prescriptions or hospital care pro bono. Her drugs were very expensive and she couldn't afford them. The other problem is that she didn't communicate this to her friends, she kept it very quiet and private.

Because of that her illness got out of control and by the time it was near her "end" she had a tumor the size of a football in her side. It just makes me so sad to even write this. I love her and miss her. She was the sweetest woman around.

But she was in my house yesterday, I could smell the last meal she cooked in my house, I could picture her adding her 'secret ingredients' to mashed potatoes, I saw her wrapping the gifts that she sent and I felt her in my house. She was on my mind from the moment I woke up to when I went to bed and again this evening.

Beth, we love you! We miss you! I am sure that you are watching and are very proud to see how great the kids have turned out! How grown up Beka has become and how responsible she is. What a great job Jake is doing in college, plus his walk of faith is mind-boggling! We were so happy to share our fair city with you, some snow and lots of fun 4 years ago.

There is no one like you! You are unique and well loved. We'll see you one of these days, my friend. Luv ya!!

Tuesday, January 25, 2005

It's Been A While

Too much going on

It's been a while since I had time to write in my blog. I guess it's because I've been too busy at work and home. My health has taken the forefront in my thought process. I have been seeing my doctor's on a regular basis. I've been poked, prodded, ultrasounded, x-rayed, discussed and so on. I have a new set of fears with each step of the process. Alot of it is still unknown and that probably drives me the craziest. I am such a calculated, detail-oriented person that I expect things to be a certain way. But with doctor's and health, I guess I have to wait to see what's going to happen and have to trust their expertise and judgement. I would prefer for everything to happen instantly.

Things at work have been so busy. My to do list is getting under control, but it's still pretty long. I have managed to stay afloat, keeping the plates spinning, but it's not been easy. It's just a matter of keeping the priorities straight. God knows I try. I work long hours, get to work early, work all day, come home & fix dinner, then work some more. Sometimes, I think that all my work has lead to problems in my relationship. Not that all of our problems are my fault or due to my job, but I would say that it's a contributing factor. I wish it was different. I wish that I had a normal job, even if I worked weird hours, I just want a reasonable amount of time working. I am tired of working 50-60 hours every week. I have done it now for 4 years and it's taxing. You know the strange this is that I feel guilty when I take time to do the laundry or clean my house or even cook dinner. I am always thinking about work. I don't take time for myself, I don't get to take care of myself the way I would like. I just muddle through, taking things as they come and working all the time.

I try to keep things in perpective. I try to organize my life, prioritizing my duties, my responsibilities, my schedule. Sometimes I don't make every choice as the best choice, but again, I try. I am continually looking to improve my life, and I have alot more to work on :)

The thing is that I work so much, then sometimes I'll just sit down to relax in the evening and then I fall asleep, exhausted. But then when I wake up I just do it all over again. I need a BREAK! Not a vacation, that doesn't help, I need a break. I need more manageable job duties and responsibilities. Good luck!!

Well, my relationship is in the toilet again. He's got most of his stuff moved out, but was still staying here until last night. It was what seemed like the last straw. Long story, kind of personal, but I can say that I felt so frickin' compelled to work that I chose work over spending time with him. Stupid Stupid Stupid. He left in a huff, I was upset and still had to work. It totally sucked, then I couldn't work effectively today, had to go to the doctor's and came home exhausted. Slept for hours and still have a long to do list. It's got to end.

I heard that yesterday was the most depressing day of the year, according to one study. Kind of interesting, it was a combination of post Christmas, winter, new year, and some other factors. It was also a full moon and I definitely felt the affects! Hope that I don't have another day like that again for a while.

I hope you are doing good, are happy, are enjoying the new year and that your job is much better than mine.

Tuesday, January 18, 2005

Effects of Stress

is there such a thing as good or bad stress?

My job is so overwhelming at this point, that I wonder if the stress is good or bad. I mean, it's been overwhelming for over 2 years now and I keep putting up with it and trying to deal. I have trouble sleeping most nights, I get especially bitchy and my feelings are totally transparent, I complain way to much about way too little, and now I am wondering if it is having any long-term affects on my health.

I am going to see the surgeon next Tuesday. She is going to look at my mammograms, past and present, make a judgment call on the radiologists findings. I am going to talk to her about stress and how it can affect me. I could tell that when I took a vacation, I had a much more positive attitude. I was enjoying myself, resting more: relaxing and reading, cleaning out closets, organizing my stuff. Still working but only on client projects, not doing the endless stream of reports and approvals, chasing down other people to get them to do their work. Sometimes it's like a ball of string!

More on this as the time comes.

Monday, January 17, 2005

Cooking Class

Absolutely Fabulous!!

Tonight was a cooking class at Jimmy Gherardi's The Restaurant. It was great. Now we are working on a marketing plan to help him get more traffic at this restaurant. The funny thing is that he gets sold out cooking classes and he gets sold out weekend nights with NO reservations, but during the week, the traffic into his restaurant is terrible. The food is great, absoutely delicious, the prices are reasonable for fine dining. The location is convenient, no downtown hassles, no funky parking problems, no panhandlers. The problem is that there is no traffic in his strip mall.

OK, I could use some ideas. We know the usual table tents, outside and inside easels, ads in local papers, but there has to be more. He wants to do catering, is willing to close down for large groups, has a great ambience, just need some ideas. Please email me with any ideas that you have for marketing an upscale restaurant with a well known chef.

It's great there, one of my favorite places. He's one of my favorite friends. I don't want to let him down. I appreciate any ideas that you might have. :)

Sunday, January 16, 2005

nice day, relaxing and rejuvenating

hard to concentrate on work

I have worked so much this week, that I am having a touch time concentrating on more work. I have a few things that I could do and then I think that's all I'll do.

I woke up this morning and made a fantastic dinner. I had it ready when Rainman went to work. He LOVED it! He's working outside now, so in this cold weather I think it's important to have a hot meal to help stay warm. I hope he dressed appropriately and that he's going to be alright.

When he was leaving for work, my friend that was supposed to come over last night picked me up and we went to Olive Garden for lunch. It was so much fun. We talked and talked the whole 3 hrs that we were together. We both had the same thing: Stuffed Shells with Shrimp. It was delicious. We also had Long Island Ice Teas to drink and plenty of salad. It was great to be out without any kids, any interruptions, just the two of us talking about our lives. We have known each other for nearly 10 years now. Funny how we met......

...I was planning on moving to this part of time after getting my divorce. I looked at quite a few apartments and one of them was in the downstairs of a house. It was a sweet set up, walk into a big, open living room and straight back was the dining area and kitchen, more like a great room for the size. I loved it, then to the right was the laundry room at the bottom of the steps to go upstairs and outside to the back yard. Next on the left was the bathroom, which led into a humongous bedroom, very open, very welcoming. Across from the laundry room was a small bedroom, looked more like a huge closet that was renovated into a small bedroom. It was so small that a twin bed and dresser would be all that would fit into this space. The money was right, the location was great, the back yard was inviting, but the 2nd bedroom was too small. I had two kids living at home at the time - a boy and a girl and I didn't want the tiny bedroom and the big bedroom was too large for just one of us. I would have had to share it with my daughter or taken the small room and let the kids have the large one. The guy that showed the place was absolutely gorgeous and he told me that his sister lived upstairs with a new baby and she was a college student. She would share the laundry facilities with me and gladly share the backyard with the kids. Unfortunately, it just wasn't the right place for us at the time. I turned it down and found another place.

After living there for 4 months, I started my college classes and soon after I met a woman in my classes that lived in my neighborhood. Upon further getting to know her, I learned she is a stylist and for earn extra money she cut hair at home. Well, that was perfect, because as a college student, mother of two, I didn't have much money to go to a salon plus I wanted to know more people in my community. So, I went to her house for the first time shortly after meeting her to get a hair cut. I was shocked when I pulled up to the house! It was the house that I looked at with the bedroom that was too small downstairs. It was fate for us to be friends....even though I turned down the apartment, we ended up being friends anyway. Funny how life works that way.

Well, her daughter was a baby then and now she's 10!! So, we have been friends for all that time. She still cuts my hair, my kids' hair and we still hang out. It's great how that happens. We've only gone out a few times, we mostly stay home and hang out mostly at her house. But today, it was Olive Garden.

Well, the drinks were good, the food was delicious and the conversation lively. It was a great way to spend time with a friend. I highly recommend it. It's been snowing all day, so the weather's perfect to have a wonderful meal and a couple of drinks.

When I got home, my dogs had decided to dig through the garbage looking for scraps of food, which don't exist in there. They only got the wrapper off the ham to lick. Dumb dogs. After I cleaned that up, I fixed my kids some dinner and started thinking about the work that I have to do. I'm thinking about how much of it to do. I don't think that my head is around it to do very much. I have so many other things to do, including this one activity that I don't get to do too often ---- it's called RELAX. I'm weighing the benefits of relaxing over the benefit of working again today. I think I should take a little more time off and do a little work tonight. Maybe watch a movie or something. So, I'm off to see what movie that I would like to see. Maybe Along Came Polly. I'll let you know what I think of it after I watch it.

C-ya, have a good one!

Saturday, January 15, 2005

what a week!!

and it's still going on......

I am soooooooooo buried in work. I just can't even know how buried I am. It's Saturday and I had home things to do, like grocery shopping, scrubbing the bathroom and kitchen, cooking, laundry, vacuuming, taking care of my kids and supposed to keep it all together. I was first glad yesterday that it was Friday. My friend was coming over to have sushi, wine and a chance to just gab. It was a great time!! We ate all the sushi that I bought, drank a wonderful bottle of Argentinian Carbernet. It had a special flavor, something like peppery or spicy fruity. It was really good. We loved it.

One of our other favorites is now available at Krogers for $7.99, it's Bogle, had it at Up Star Crow for her 50th Birthday party in December. I bought it for my party in Deember, and we loved it again. It has risen to the top of the favorite list. :) Anyway, we had a great time yacking and we talked about everything: the kids, their relationships, our relationships, our jobs, our plans, our hopes for vacations, planning on going to NYC, our ex's and my ex, especially, what a jerk he is and how badly he treats my kids, we talked about how we are going to be in 30 years and what our life is going to be like. :) It was loads of fun!!

After she left, Rainman got home from his first night of his new job. I was already in bed and was really tired from such a busy week. I kind of felt bad because there was no sushi left, but, I warned him that there might not be. So, he fixed some soup and took his shower, then joined me to a nice cuddly night of sleep. I love him so much, I am now understanding that his moving out to his own place is really a good thing. We will have some options about where to go, what to do and which house to stay. I think it's kind of nice to have a "safety net" so just in case I need a safe haven to go to or just need to get away I can do that.

So, today, I used a new service that helps with grocery bills, Grocery Advantage. It's a great service that I highly recommend. What they do is take your local grocery store sale ads and match up what's on sale with coupons that are in the Sunday paper. They just started in the Cincinnati area, so that means that they list the sales at Kroger's and Meijer's. From where I live, my closest store is Krogers. So today, I took the list of items from the website, matched up the coupons from the last couple of week's sale ads, went to Krogers, spent about $180 and saved a whopping $142!! 42% of the cost! The web app takes the sale price matches up a coupon figures out the double amount and shows you your final price, which aisle it is in, and I was very happy. It took me a little long to finish the cycle, but next week, I will do much better now that I understand the process. It's great. Right now it's free, but I think that I will pay for the service, it will pay for itself. Thanks John Materese, at WCPO TV, Channel 9 in Cincinnati. He has a segment on Channel 9 called "Don't Waste Your Money" and the point is he shows us ways to save money on services, gas, contractors, etc. This was a great recommendation! I love it. I'll try it again next week and let you know how much I save.

Tonight, after I scrubbed the house from top to bottom, I jumped in the shower and was getting ready for my friend to come over to visit. We had planned to spend some time, just hanging out, she wanted to see my newly painted kitchen and have a night out. Well, I was almost ready, had the cosmos already mixed when the phone rang. It was my girlfriend, I was sure that she was going to let me know that she was on her way. But unfortunately, she was detained and was not going to be able to come over tonight. Had a family situation. We're going to go out tomorrow, but in the meantime, there were the cosmos already mixed and I had one going. I watched what I wanted on TV and drank the pitcher of drinks. They were totally yummy.......and I was happy with the little bit of buzz that I got. So, I just hung out, relaxed after working hard all day long and all week long. I relaxed and watched Pittsburgh win, Atlanta win and some of my favorite shows. Now, I'm just hanging out in bed, watching some "B" British science fiction that is hilarious, but it's not supposed to be :)

Anyway, tonight, I baked a ham, made some green beans and when Rainman gets home, he's going to be VERY happy! He's going to have dinner. Dinner is good after working all day.

Well, I'm pretty tired, going to hit the hay. Tomorrow, I am supposed to go to lunch with my friend that was supposed to come over tonight. It will be nice to just go out and hang out together. Then I am going to have to do some work, real work, but it shouldn't have to be like this, I shouldn't have to work every day. I should be able to get by with about 50 hours during the week, not 70 hours including weekend time. :(


Thursday, January 13, 2005

Totally Crazy Busy

taking a time out

Well, I have suddenly become busier that ever. So busy that my to do list is outdated and I don't feel like I have time to do it. Isn't that crazy?? Well, I think it is, so I have to take a breath, download everything from my brain into my to do list and read over 200 emails. The emails were caught up until I had meetings today and I'm 200+ in one day. It's insane. No one should have this much email. No one person can possibly communicate that much.

AAAAAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd write more, but I don't have time. I have to work and it's already 7 pm, I've been working since 8 am. Tomorrow will be insane, I'll have to work over the weekend. It's just tooooooooooo much!

Monday I'm going to a cooking class. And next week, I have just as many appointments as I did this week. help!!! I'm sinking further and further down the slippery slope of technology......bah - hum bug! Technology!

Oh give me the days of interoffice memos, people that use telephones for communication and reports that have a lag time of 5 working days. Who needs realtime? It only complicates matters. Especially today for me, where real time means, I behind by 5 days. :)

Tuesday, January 11, 2005

I Love My Clients

it's all about good relationships!

My relationships with my clients are the best part of my career. I love working with them. They have so many cool ideas and I feel like I can help them make their ideas come to fruition. Today, I talked to one of my clients that I haven't talked to in a while. It was great! It wasn't for anything big, it was just satisfying to know that I could help him, no biggie. I love my career!!

If I was independently wealthy I would create a company that would hire low income workers, help them learn about websites, develop sites for non-profits, small governement agencies and others for small amounts of money. It would be so satisfying.

Monday, January 10, 2005

It's been quite a week

I can tell I was back at work...

...I was totally consumed. I'm not feeling very well today and I'm in between Dr. appointments right now. I had tests done this morning and the tests caused some severe cramping. I was happy to get home from the hospital. I'll be going back to the doctor's office this afternoon, I hope it doesn't take too long.

Wow! I can't believe how long it's been since I've written. I could really tell that I've been VERY busy, not only working, but helping Rainman get his things moved. It's been very challenging because it has rained so much, almost every day for the last week or so. One night this last week, he even got the truck stuck in the back yard in the mud.

But, I'm pretty lucky because some people have had to evacuate their homes due to flooding in the area again this year. The weather is so weird. I don't ever recall seeing so many bizarre weather related stories as in the past few years. Even though the weather problems we are having is NOTHING in comparison with the tsunami, overall, it's still a big change in weather patterns. My yard is a soggy mess and that has delayed the progress in his moving. It's funny how it's a blessing in many ways because it has allowed me to 'deal with the impending emptyness' that is coming. He's going to be living not too far, but it's not here. So the slowness of moving out has helped me, really. I don't think I'm going to freak out when he spends the night there and not here.

Let's see, what's happened this week. Not a whole lot - I cooked, I worked, I watched a few movies, I went to a networking event, I went on a date, and I got to finally celebrate new years! Wait a sec, it sure does sound like a whole lot. Let me look at everything I listed.

Networking event: Last Thursday, I attended a Women's Circuit event. I saw quite a few people that I know and met some new ones. Those events are absolutely great. I love it.

My date: Friday night, Rainman and I went out to dinner - steak dinner at Sorrento's, piano bar, couple of drinks, very nice time. Then we went to see White Noise, new movie, premiere night. It was crowded at the theatre. The movie itself was pretty good, out of 5 I would rank it a 4. It was kind of slow in the beginning, but I could understand why, it was important to the plot of the moview. Then, when the plot was picking up it was really getting intense. I thought it was nicely done and entertaining, even scary. I had nightmares that night! I'm such a woos.

Cooking: I cooked quite alot of dinners. Good dinners too. Tonight I'm fixing baked salmon and it should be totally yummy. I made spaghetti one night and Tamara, Darby, Beka and I played Scene It! that was fun! I made tacos another day and greens, veggies another night. I might go to another cooking class next week, if I can get a ride there and home!!

Moving: I also helped Rainman move. I took quite a few loads with him to his place. We got some of it put away and even had to troubleshoot his furnace last week. Luckily it's not been frigid cold outside, so even though it was cold inside, it didn't do any type of damage.

Now, I've got to go to the dr. Hang in there and I'll write more later.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Ben Frankin

Tuesday, January 04, 2005

Back at work

vacations are great!

I went back to work today after a 17 day absence. It was great to be out of the office for 17 days. I mean, normally, I would be lucky to take a week, but 17 days! Wow! And you know what? The building was still standing, I still have all my clients, it was nice and peaceful (very quiet) at work today. Everything was rolling along just fine! I loved it.

I didn't even mind being there today. It was really good to be in the office. I read some of my 150+ emails, some of which had been sitting since 12/19 and 12/20. And everything was fine. No fires! No fire drills! How perfectly lovely!

Then I came home from work and Rainman wanted me to help him move a load. It's been raining here in Cincinnati for days, but stopped today all day. He thought he'd just pull the truck behind the house, back it up to the patio and we'd pull boxes out - load the truck and pull out, no problemo!

Everything worked in that direction for a while. I mean, he got the truck in the back yard, no problem. He backed it up to the patio, no problem. We loaded the truck, no problem. He jumped in it to pull it out of the yard, SURPRISE, BIG PROBLEM! The truck got stuck and the lower part of my backyard now resembles the muddy area at Woodstock! Wanna go sliding?

Anyway, it worked out great because the guy across the street (who I learned happens to be a tile expert!!) came over to help us. He and Rainman pushed and I drove, we got that truck out of the mud hole and back onto the street! YEAH! Glad to be back at work, it was much easier :)

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Ben Frankin

Monday, January 03, 2005

moved my Purpose Driven Life blog

dividing my blog

I decided to move my comments on Purpose Driven Life to another blog by themselves. That way, I could just jump in here, leave a quick comment and concentrate on the other blog for the book. The link is: My Life's Purpose Blog. As always, comments are welcome.

Today, I went for my second mammogram. Apparently it was just to get a little more clarity on one spot. I'll know more tomorrow when the doctor calls me and of course, I'll let you in on what he says. I'm not as worried as I was, maybe because I know that I can't control what happens. I think that I have done all the right things over time to be sure that I am healthy. That's all I can do.

Well, today is my last day of my vacation. It was nice and long and I really am going back to work feeling better, feeling like I was out of the office for 2 weeks. It's wonderful. We'll see how long it lasts!!

g'nite!



"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Ben Frankin

Sunday, January 02, 2005

Happy New Year!!

welcome to 2005

It's here....the new year. Out with the old, in with the new! Mine was pretty uneventful, by choice. Rainman was moving and I helped him take some things over to his new place. Then we just stayed in, watched the party on Times Square. It was the 100th Anniversary of New Years Eve celebrations at Times Square. I would have loved to have been there. I think Beka would have loved it too! I missed Dick Clark, but enjoyed Regis and all the messages of good will and better health for Dick Clark. It just seemed like so much fun. The crowd control was excellent, NYPD knows how to work a crowd and still let everyone have fun! There's a 2005 countdown clock on the website! Already thinking of next year!!

So, speaking of next year, I think I would LOVE to plan a trip and surprise my family. Get a hotel room and invite Deb to join us. Go to New York for a couple of days, shop after Christmas sales, drive into Deb's and take the train into the city for a couple of days. Stay all night on the New Year's Eve and then head back to Deb's New Year's Day and then back home. That would be fantastic!! The only drawback would be the chance of taking the trip due to weather. Perhaps flying would be best :) Anyway, I have some time to plan it, but it sure would be fun. Take all the kids. Wow! What a great Christmas Present.

I bought a bottle of German sparkling wine to toast the new year, some healthy but yummy snacks and still haven't opened served either one. Don't know when I will, but the wine is chilled and I'm ready to open it whenever.

A few people have asked me what my resolutions are. That's a tough one because resultions are usually broken within a few weeks. How many years did I resolve to make a change that never happened?! (rhetorical question, of course - every YEAR!!) So this year, I am not going to make any resolutions. I'm going to clean the slate, do my personal inventory (which as you know, I have started months ago). Then I'm going to "refresh and renew my life goals". Some of those are:
  • stick with my diet - but do it better. Get back to journaling, walk the treadmill daily and eat core foods.
  • take care of my health - get these tests done and investigate my choices if I need any therapy or medication.
  • continue to get in touch with my spirituality - understand my relationship with God and continue to read Purpose Driven Life.
  • build my business. Concentrate on my career and the things that are good for me and my family's financial future.

I'm already working on all of these, based on my personal inventory several months ago. I am just going to continue down my current path and beef up where I need to - to achieve these goals. I will trust in God to help me every step of the way.

Well, I wish you a very HAPPY NEW YEAR! I hope that mine is "uneventful" on the negative and very "eventful" on the positive!! I hope that my kids continue to stay safe and smart! I pray for the tsunami victims' families. I pray that they will have enough supplies, that health concerns will be eliminated with medications and help, that their hearts will be healed and their communities rebuilt to help them put this behind them. There are some great organizations to donate to, just follow this link but be aware that there are really foul people out there that will take advantage of a catastrophy to rip people off, so know where your money is going. DISCLAIMER: I am not responsible for where you donate your money, I am only providing a link to help you find organizations. You are on your own after that!

We spent New Year's Day moving more stuff, then enjoying some entertainent in the evening. We watched the movie, The Day After Tomorrow. Even though it was unbelievable, it did have some really frightening scenes considering all of the weird weather lately. Especially the earthquakes and the tsunami. Kind of freaked me out.

Today, we're going to move some more of Rainman's things, if he gets up in time (he loves to sleep late) and if the rain holds out. I don't think we'll get much done if it's raining and it's supposed to rain until Thursday. I was hoping that he would have more out of here by now, but it's ok. He's putting things away as we take them and setting up his house. I think that's important too. Have to be organized. Have to be able to do the basics when you move in somewhere. So, he can find his clothes, take a shower, brush his teeth, sleep, watch tv, and organize his bills. He can also cook. So now that all of that is in place, it's time to get the rest over there. Hoping for today.....but realistically knowing that it's gonna be later in the week.

I'm gonna miss him being here everyday, but it's going to be a good "miss". I'll still see him, but I won't have to deal with the things I don't like and neither will he. He has some personal items that he has to get in order and this will definitely allow him to do that without my daily involvement. I will like that part the best. I will get to see if those things are truly as important to him as they are to me. He says that he wants to fix up his place so that I would be comfortable there. That would be nice, I'll see as time goes by what he thinks that means.

Well, I'm off to prepare for a day of football at my house. It's exciting, some good games are on today. Go Bengals! Hard to believe that they are 3 point favorites against the Eagles! Have a great day and a Happy New Year!

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
-- Ben Frankin