Changes

I hate change. Every morning, I get up and go through the same little routine, doing everything exactly the same as the day before. If something happens to change that routine, it completely throws me for a loop. Things in my life should remain constant. Period.

With that said, it is a fact that things never stay the same....NEVER. It is also a fact that when I'm under stress, my face breaks out like a teenager going through puberty. Don't know why, but it's always been that way. In my world, change = stress. Therefore, my face now looks like a classic case of acne gone bad!

I think what's got me all stressed is I know the holidays are coming up and my mom won't be there this year. BIG change! All of my family has always gotten together at her house....brother and his family of four married boys and children, oldest sister and her husband and son, sometimes her daughter, too, if she could make it in from Virginia, my middle sister, and me and my family.

This year, the siblings families will probably gather separately. Right now, I plan on having my middle sister, Big R's mom and dad, Big R's son and girlfriend, and my daughter and her husband and three kids over to our house for Thanksgiving and Christmas, too. But....it will be different, and there are so many things to think about that I just don't want to think about right now. We're swamped at work and I'm STRESSED!

It IS Monday, isn't it?

This morning has been crazy already and I haven't even gotten to work. I looked on our website and we've gotten three others besides the person we already had, so look out when I do get there.

Yesterday was a very productive day at home. Got the front yard cleaned up and worked on one of the camper windows that was leaking.....took it out and recaulked it and put in back in. Fixed a big pot of brown beans, also cooked some cabbage with new potatoes, and a pan of cornbread. Yum! Needless to say, had to hold the bed covers down last night!

Big R's dad goes back to the doctor that did the hip surgery today. Maybe he'll tell him to start putting some pressure on his leg now. Pa-inlaw is getting around pretty good in the house. He just really has trouble getting in and out of vehicles, and up and down steps. Guess we're just too impatient! I'd like for him to get better NOW, because it's been forever since they've come out for coffee and a visit.

Speaking of coffee, I've found a really, really good coffee. It's the one Paula Deene serves in her restaurants. The name is Douwe Egbert and distributed by Sara Lee. No one around here sells it so I have to order it off the internet, but it is some GOOD coffee!

Time to get off the computer and get ready for work. Aargh!

A Country Kind of Girl

This has been a heck of a week. We've had services EVERY day. At least I get off this weekend. The guys still have to work today, and Sunday.

It's finally starting to get cooler, especially at night, and the days are getting shorter. They're saying we'll have lows in the 40's early next week. Now that's my kind of weather.....70's during the days and 40's at night.

I've got a chiminea out on my deck that I've never even fired up. I'm going to put some wood in it this year and have me a fire if it's the last thing I do. I love sitting out on the deck but the mosquitoes have been so bad this year (I guess because of all the rain we've had). Maybe the cooler weather will get rid of all the bugs and I can sit by the chiminea and have a cup of coffee and just enjoy being outside and listening to the birds and the crickets and tree frogs. I love living in the country!

You Gotta Get It Where You Can...Enjoyment that is!

I work in the funeral profession as an office manager. All I'd ever seen before starting to work there five years ago was the somber side....you know, sympathetic and caring people taking care of you during a very bad time in your life kind of somber. My mother thought I wouldn't be able to handle working in that kind of environment. I wondered, too.

Little did I know, these guys have a great sense of humor. I guess they'd almost have to or else they'd go crazy working around all of that grief. Now, don't get me wrong.....when we have a service, they're all business and some of the greatest guys you'll ever find. When we're not busy, it's a whole other story!

One of the guys I work with has had an unusually "unlucky" streak writing pre-needs insurance (you know, the insurance you buy that "locks in your prices and takes care of making all of your funeral arrangements so your family doesn't have to deal with it when you die" insurance). Last year, this guy would write one of these policies and in a month or two the person would die. We got to kidding him about being the "kiss of death". I told him under no circumstances would he ever write a policy for me (unless I suddenly had a death wish)!

Well, his luck is back. He wrote a policy at the end of August and the guy died yesterday. Now, he's got a policy that he's written and the little lady was supposed to bring him her check yesterday. One of the other guys at the office went around all day looking down and shaking his head saying "Poor Bessie Mae, her time is almost up, poor Bessie Mae!" I told him that when she came in, I was going to yell, "Run, Bessie Mae, Run!!!!" We all got "go to hell" looks!

Some of the stuff these guys pull on each other is so funny, it's a joy working with them. People don't understand when I tell them I love my job. It is stressful, especially when you're dealing with a family you know well, but it helps me to know they're getting the best care they could possibly get. And these guys should be entertainers when they're not working a service!

Man's (and woman's) Best Friend

My "puppy child" will be 13 years old on the 30th of the month.

From the moment I first laid eyes on her, I knew I wanted her to become a part of my life. She sat in her cage at the pet shop, so quiet and sweet. Her sister was yapping constantly, but she never made a peep. I got her out and played with her and her personality was exactly what I was looking for. I told my (then fiance') husband, this is the one. I'm naming her Corky. When we got ready to take her home, the owner gave us her papers and when I looked at them I knew......her mother's name was Delta Corky Lee. It was fate. She and I were meant to be together.

It was almost six months later before I ever heard her bark. It's just not in her nature to be loud and obnoxious. Well, she has learned over the years to let us know exactly what she wants. And she can be quite vocal now if she doesn't get her way, but she's been my "sweetheart" from the very beginning, and she still is. Her antics keep us laughing all the time and her sweet nature has helped me through some very difficult times. Thank you God, for bringing this loving little creature into my life!

First Day of Fall

Today is the first day of autumn and it's still in the mid to upper 80's here. Doesn't make you want to bust out the sweaters and jackets!

This is my favorite time of year. I love the fall colors, it's a time of renewal in the terms of new school year with football, fall festivals, and the anticipation of holidays to come. Of course, the older I get, the less the school and holidays mean to me.

This will be one weird Thanksgiving and Christmas because it will be the first time all of the family won't be getting together at Mom's. I think it will really "hit home" that she's gone with the holidays this year.

My sister, the "twin", says she doesn't think she can do the holidays this year. It will just be too hard for her. I told her we need to start new traditions this year. I figure my brother will get together with all of his boys and their families, my oldest sister has relocated back to Virginia and will be there with her kids, and the rest of us need to get together out at my house. That way we're not around where we always had the holiday festivities and maybe it will lessen the gloom a little. Then I think.....what in the hell have I just signed myself up for?!!!!!!

Lazy with a capital L

It's another lazy Sunday in the country. Got all my running done yesterday....Wally World and such. Today I can just lay back and take it easy. Well, I cleaned the bathrooms, scrubbed the shower, and I'm cooking some chicken 'n dumplings now. Other than that, nada...zip....nothing!

WORK, Work, work......

It seems all we can do anymore is work! Big R has been going in at 6am and working until almost 10pm every day since the storms blew through from Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. He's worn out and so am I. It totally disrupts our lives. We have almost no communication...a quick bye in the morning before he leaves, maybe fifteen minutes of visiting before time to go to bed at night. It sucks!

Everyone always tells us to just look at all the money he's making. Well, let me tell you, money ain't everything! Besides, "Uncle Sam" will get most of it. Seems like the more he makes, the more the government takes! And besides, all the money in the world means very little if you don't have time to enjoy it.

As for me, I'm still playing "catch up" from when I was off with father-in-law's surgery. It's slowly getting back to normal. Thank goodness we haven't been real busy, so that's made it easier.

I sometimes wonder what it would be like to win the lottery, or hit the jackpot, or if Publisher's Clearing House came to my door with a million dollar check. Hey....I can always dream!!!!

A Temporary Kind of Feeling

It's the craziest thing but sometimes when I'm here at home alone, it's like I'm being allowed to "play house" in someone else's home.

This makes no sense because it was several thousand dollars of my inheritance that enabled us to purchase this 21 acres; money I had helped save that was used to build this house; and God only knows I put enough sweat equity into the actual building. I helped clear the land, dig the ditch and put in the water line and conduit for the underground electrical, plus shove that heavy ass wire into the conduit, nail down sub-flooring, shovel sand to fill in for the back porch and garage, put on siding, put on the roof, put in the french drain around the footer of the house, not to mention all the painting, staining, and other crap that went into the interior, and picking up and cleaning up while all the other construction went on. I think I should feel some ownership.

Maybe it comes from my world being turned totally upside down when my first marriage ended after twenty-three years. So much of my life has felt like it's been temporary after that experience....like I'm waiting to find out who I really am, and what purpose I'm really supposed to have in this world.

It's just crazy!!! But then, maybe I'm just a little bit crazy, too!

A Meme

A-Act your age? Most of the time
B-Born on what day of the week? Sunday's child
C-Chore you hate? Vacuuming
D-Dad's name? Foy (unusual I know, he was always getting mail addressed to Floyd or Floy)
E-Essential makeup? Mascara
F-Favorite director? Speilberg
G-Gold or silver? Gold
H-Hometown? Malvern
I-Instruments you play? Piano
J-Job title? Administrative secretary...(who are we kidding, secretary)
K-Kids? 2 + a step
L-Living arrangements? One house, 21 acres, one husband, one dog, one cat
M-Mom's name? Blanche (actually Willie Blanche but she would never use Willie)
N-Number of people you've slept with? Does the dog count?
O-Overnight hospital stays? Only 3, one with each child, one with gallstones
P-Phobia? Snakes and Deep Water
Q-Quote you like? This, too, shall pass
R-Religious affiliation? Baptist
S-Siblings? Two sisters, one brother
T-Time you wake up? 5:00 a.m.
U-Unique habit? Chewing my jaw - drives my husband crazy
V-Vegetable you refuse to eat? Beets
W-Worst habit? Worrying - If I had nothing to worry about, I'd worry why
X-X-rays you've had? One for a broken toe, and the ones at the dentist
Y-Yummy food you make? Chicken spaghetti, Tomato Pie, Cheese dip
Z-Zodiac Sign? Virgo

We survived another one!

We made it through another windy, rainy night. Lots of people are without lights right now. Ours blinked all night, but we never completely lost power. I hope we're through with hurricanes for 2008. As for now, the sun is out....and things are looking pretty good around here.

I'm slowly learning to navigate around this blog. Wish I knew more about how to "dress it up" and add some things I see on other blogs. Still don't have a clue about how to do those things, though!

TGIF

Thank God it's Friday!!!! This has been the l-o-n-g-e-s-t week for me. Too many trips to the hospital and back and too much work to catch up on from being off last week.

We're trying to brace ourselves for Hurricane Ike. Hope he doesn't decide to sit on top of us for three days dumping rain, and more rain, and yet more rain, like Gustav did.

Have had another twin sis episode. Let me explain....I have a sister who is 11 years older than I am, but we look like twins. (I know, I know...quite the age difference. You see, she's never been married, never had kids, hence, she's held up really, really well. No stress!) Or at least that's my claim. The only other option would be that I look really, really old for my age.....huh? Anyway, when she moved to the town where I live, she was always having people come up to her and talk to her as if she were me. Has had to explain umpteen jillion times that she's not me! The other day she had gone to my veterinarian to get a particular brand of dog product I had told her about and as she was leaving, the owner came up front and said, "Bye Rosemary, thanks!" She's gotten used to just responding as if she was me. Wonder what kind of trouble that's going to get me into one of these days?!!!!!!

E-gads Batman....another hurricane

I can't believe we're in line to get more weather from another hurricane. Come on ma nature, this is ARKANSAS! We aren't supposed to have hurricanes. Tornados, yes....hurricanes, no!!!!! Hope we don't get another 12" of rain with this one. Don't think our trees are up to it just yet. Too much water in the ground already.

At least the electrical crews aren't out of town this time. The company actually wised up and left them here to see what this things gonna do before shipping them back to the gulf.

Pa-in-law is still in the hospital with his broken hip. Just moved him to rehab for a week (or more). We've been running back and forth to the hospital every night after work....that's a bummer. We did get a reprieve last night. And Big R goes on call as of today for seven days so he won't be able to leave town (which means I'll have to do the deed if we need to make a run).

I've bout had enough of 2008......it's been a really bad year! Hope 2009 is better!

A New Beginning

Don't have a clue what I'm doing but will try this out and see how it goes.

I've never blogged before but thought this might be a creative way to track my crazy life and all of its drama.

This past week:

• Been home from work with pinkeye (of all things). I'm 55, as of yesterday, and I have pinkeye!!! Shish, you'd think I was 5.
• Big R had a whirlwind trip to the gulf to help with Hurricane Gustav and had to rush back here because we had about 10,000 people out of electricity (me included), roads flooded, and trees down everywhere.
  
• Father-in-law fell and broke his hip and had to have surgery. Me (and my pinkeye) had to help get him and my mother-in-law get situated in the hospital. People look at you really funny when you tell them "Don't touch me". They back away real quick, too, when you explain why they shouldn't touch you.
  
• Now we're under a boil order and waiting on Hurricane Ike to hit. Fun times!
  

I'm just glad I have electricity again. It's amazing how important all the little things like lights, microwave, tv, and computer have become.