Recently in Home Improvement Category

Finally Decided to Turn My Computer On

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I never seem to be around any more, do I?  I want to change that.

School starts up again on Tuesday, and in all honesty, I'm not looking forward to it.  So many times lately I've woken up with this sense of dread in the pit of my stomach.  It's those darn Human Bio and Statistics classes, for the most part, that are driving me nuts.  I try not to think about them too much.  After all, what can I do about any of that right now?  But the anxiety creeps past my defenses from time to time.  I'm about to start reading the first chapters of my textbooks, and try my hand at some of the Statistics problems at the beginning of the book; I want to be prepared.  I know that one of my professors prefers that her students read the first chapter before classes begin anyway, so it's not as though I'm being that anal. 

Hm.  What else?

I went to the funeral to support my friend as he buried his son.  He seemed about as well as could be under the circumstances.  There were several of us from the program, as well as from work.  The place was filled with the boy's former classmates and teachers.  It was very moving.  On an embarrassing note, about a third of the way through the service I suddenly had to pee.  Badly.  I shifted my position frequently.  I looked up at the stained glass image of Christ behind the alter and prayed to God with all my might that I make it through the service.  Sadly, I only made it through another 15 minutes or so.  Thankfully I was sitting in the very last pew near the front entrance.  I quickly and quietly made my exit, hurried to the side entrance hidden from the main body of the church where the service continued on, and ducked into the bathroom.  Unfortunately, I could hear everything going on in the other room through the walls, and I came to the horrifying realization that if I flushed the toilet, it would clearly be heard, interrupting the eulogies.  Hardly appropriate.

What to do?

In the end, I didn't flush the toilet, but stayed near the bathroom until the service concluded.  Then I quickly made my way back to the bathroom to take care of the problem.

Sheesh.  Leave it to me.

That was Saturday.  Sunday my sinus allergies kicked in so I stayed home and chilled.

Monday I stayed home from work and spent the afternoon with my mother, and then my siblings when they came home.  My mom told me about her most recent visit with her friend D.  They had a nice time, but Mom found out that the day before her visit, D had been in so much pain that she'd had to give in and go to the ER.  She's been put on Oxycontin, and is facing the fact that this was just a taste of the pain to come.  The oxy helped for now, though, and she was able to get out and do things with Mom.  The cancer has metasticized to her shoulder, one lung and her right hip.  She doesn't know how much longer she has, but will begin more chemo soon.  When it's closer to time, she doesn't want to pursue the more aggressive therapies that would only buy her a couple of extra months.  So that's where that stands.  She has some time yet, though.  We'll see.

Yesterday, Randy and I celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary.  When I got up, Randy had left cards for me to find around the house.  I love that man.  He offered to take me out to dinner, but I really wanted to stay home and relax with him here.  Instead, he cooked me a wonderful steak dinner and we watched a movie.  Much nicer to spend time together, just the two of us.  Well, and the cats, who don't like it when we pay attention to each other instead of to them.  They'll get over it.

Today is my brother's birthday and we'll be going to Mom's house for dinner.

And the guy is finally here to install our new furnace.  I can hear him working industriously in the other room.

That's it.  Busy week.  I want to go back to bed now, but I have to keep an appointment, and then return to work; I was already there earlier.  Such is life.

But it's a good life, really, so I guess I take it.

The Cafeteria is Closed

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I'm a mess: sore throat, chills alternating with sweats (but I don't think an actual fever), iffy stomach and exhaustion. 

Despite this, I've cleaned (and, thanks to mice, disinfected to the nth degree) and organized most of my kitchen over the past couple of days.  Before I got sick, Randy and I bought some new containers to securely store anything a mouse might find tempting.  Containers must have lids; I've learned that no matter how tall something is, mice can get into them.  I've developed an image of a paratrooper mouse with old-fashioned goggles, leather helmet and jacket replete with white silk scarf deftly guiding his shoot into the target, a big mousy smile on his face as he lands behind enemy lines.

The mice have won many battles, but I'm determined to win the war.  They can just take their parachuting furry backsides to my neighbor's house instead.

Plugging On

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I've continued to work on this site.  Along with having to figure out the software upgrade and its configurations, I also have to learn how to code all over again in order to make things appear the way I want; code progresses and develops over time.  I'm getting there, but it's a process.  I'm playing around with styles on a test blog, making sure I get it right so I can just transfer my final look over here without hitch.

I've learned how to add your blog links- the coding is now far more complicated than it needs to be- and have been trying to locate everyone's addresses to be included.  If you don't see your address listed, please let me know.  I've already got more to add, but I want to make sure I don't miss anyone.

I've also got some regular kinks to work out here as well, but if you haven't noticed them, I'm not going to point them out.  I'll get to them when I get to them; they're not crucial.

I've had a long couple of days. 

Yesterday I wound up having to go to the airport to pick my mother up because my brother was too sick to go.  I had planned to go to work for awhile, but when I got home Randy needed my help at Home Depot (we're replacing all of the interior doors, and the door for the screened-in porch), and I needed to return somethings and pick up others.  By the time we got home, I didn't have time to work before going to the award ceremony.  Because of the holiday, we didn't have work this past Monday, so I'm already behind in my hours for the week.  That meant putting in several hours today before helping out as an usher at the commencement ceremonies this evening.  Tomorrow: several more hours at work.  I could go in on Saturday, but I want my weekends off.  Which is kind of funny in this instance because between yesterday and Monday, I've already had 2 days off this week.  But I'm greedy; I want more.  So I'll work a longer day tomorrow in order to keep Saturday off.

I'm tired of me.  I'm going to go see what you've been up to instead.  Those of you whose blog addresses I have, that is.

I'll be glad when I'm all caught up.