I Deserve a Sticker

I finished all my homework today, and it's only Thursday. Yes, the gifts for the shower are wrapped, the little details I needed to do -- print things for the centerpieces, etc. -- are all done, and most of all, I finished the wishing well.

Is the wishing well something that people do everywhere? Sometimes people rent an actual fru-fru wishing well from a party store, all done up in crepe paper, sometimes it's a basket, and in this case, I went overboard. (More to follow.) Anyway, the idea is that if it's, say, a kitchen shower, then in addition to the gift each guest brings, each guest brings (it's optional, actually) a small kitchen gadget, like a can opener, and tosses it into the wishing well unwrapped, no name. If there's another theme, the wishing well can go with that. We're having a gift card wishing well, which we did for Wonderful Niece five years ago. In addition to the gift, each guest may bring a gift card to almost anywhere, in a small amount. (I think I explained this before, but I'm on a roll.)

So, this shower is being held in a Cuban themed restaurant. This is what I made to be the wishing well:



See, tropical fruit, rum, seashells? Gift cards? Anyway, that's it. I wish it were Monday.

My cold is better but not gone. I have rented an adorable little minivan for Sunday. And tomorrow I prepare to bring my sewing machine upstairs, at long last.

I'm Still Good

It's only been three days since my last post, so I'm good, and not AWOL. Sick, but not AWOL.

Sick as in I have a cold, which I hoped was just allergies, but it's not, because I wheeze when I breathe. But I saw the doctor today for something else -- regular GI follow up -- and he wasn't alarmed, so I guess I'm fine. Just waiting for it to pass. And drinking lots of tea.

I also made dinner tonight, just for me, and it was good, and I actually stood at the stove and cooked ingredients I chopped up, as opposed to opening a box and pressing buttons on the microwave. A step forward for me.

Tomorrow I have LOTS of stuff to do for Sunday's shower, and then that will be over, not soon enough. Events like this are just too stressful until I know that they've been successfully staged and are over. I was always like this when I ran the junior prom, although over the course of 15 years, it stressed me less because I had the routine down. And yes, I know, the actual wedding is coming. I should be a joy then. But all I care about is that R won't be stressed that day (even though I know she will be.)

Have I mentioned that we now have only one car? Mr. Natural walks whenever he can, including a six mile trip (six miles each way) back and forth to work every day. He will permit me to drive him when it's raining, or when he's working late, like tonight. (It's almost 7:00; I'm waiting for his text.) I don't mind this at all. However, as is usual with his earth-friendly and eccentric crap, he always like to think it isn't impacting anyone else, but it always is. For example.

Sunday. Shower. MIL coming to the shower, but cannot leave the FIL alone. Expects the Hubs to be there with the FIL until she returns. All cool. Except, of course, that I have to get to the shower, too, have many large items to bring with me, and will be bringing along the Sibs, Wonderful Niece, and Niece's twin brother's wife. Hmm. Last night, the Hubs was ranting about having to buy a car just to see his parents -- which I know I would have had to do in the same situation with my parents -- and the potential horror of having to rent a car just for Sunday, but you know what? I think I will just rent a damn car for Sunday. One with lots of room.

Still waiting for his text, but I am calm. A little light-headed due to the cold, but otherwise, happy as a clam.

Here I Am

Retirement is hard work.

So far, I've spent a lot of time and energy helping K move out and into her own place, which is now accomplished. That means I got to start putting my own house in order. I had carpets cleaned and furniture moved, and I've moved a lot of stuff myself. By the end of this week, I hope to have my sewing machine moved upstairs, too. And R's shower is next Sunday; once that's over, I'm relatively free for a while.

I have been terrible about writing, not just here, but in answering emails and such. I've just taken care of that, so now I'm caught up. One less thing to feel guilty about. I haven't been reading much either, since I finished The Millennium Trilogy, which I find happens to me after I've read some powerful writing. My next goal is to re-read the first two books in the Hunger Games series before the third one comes out in August.

I've been killing lots of time on getglue.com, which is a social networking site based not on people, but on what you like to read, watch, etc. If you're a getgluer (or not), my homepage over there is http://getglue.com/RLibrin, if you're remotely interested in what books, movies, tv I like. It's kind of like Amazon recommendations, but on a larger scale.

The heat here is horrible, of course, but I think not different from what most of you are experiencing. We had a tornado watch Friday night, which is not so common for here; there was a tornado to the southwest, not so far away. I heard the rain, saw the lightning, and watched the weather reports, but did not sit on the couch shaking in fear the way I used to. Ah, the magic of modern medicine.

BTW, even though I haven't been writing, or even commenting much, I have been faithfully reading. I shall endeavor to improve the frequency of my communications in future.

It's Been a Busy Week

I'm glad that I'm retired now and able to take it easy.

Not.

This week has been hectic, busy, all kinds of things. I've had little or no downtime until I lie down at night, and even then, I read for an hour or more until I can sleep (although I've been sleeping well.) Between both girls moving and all of the plans surrounding the wake and funeral, I've been on my toes. Not stressed at all, but always on the move.

I know that funeral arrangements vary in different parts of the country (not to mention the world), and of course by religion, but last Friday we were at the wake (sometimes called the visitation) from two to four and then again from seven to nine. Saturday morning we were again at the funeral home for an hour and then went in the line of cars to the church for the funeral mass, and then to the cemetery, and then to the repast, which is a luncheon. Because this was really the first death in the Hubs' family for maybe 35 years, it's a chain of events I haven't really gone through before. We're also on alert again because another of his uncles -- he has two left -- is inching towards the end, but this time, I assume, there will be rituals closer to what I know, since this uncle is also Jewish. So that's a funeral with a brief service within a day or two of the actual death, followed by a shiva call, which is a visit to the family home a day or two after that. It's like a wake, but after the fact.

Otherwise, I've been shopping and schlepping with K most of the time. Tomorrow she'll be at work -- she's done with this museum job next week -- and I'll be at her new place waiting for the cable installer. My sister said to me before, "You know, Lincoln emancipated you." And I said, "He will on Saturday."

Saturday. On Saturday, I will begin to re-arrange, to clean, to re-organize everything, the whole house just for the two of us. This is not empty-nest syndrome, oh how sad. This is more like It's about freaking time. I'm really looking forward to this. If only R's bridal shower were behind us, too, but that's August 1. Once that's over, I'm on my own, my time is my own, I can spend my days doing my own stuff, not someone else's. Very cool.

It's Over.

Peace, dear man.

Quick Update

I must remember that if I do this more often, I won't feel like I have so much to say that I'm intimidated by it, and keep putting it off.

Short story: our uncle was taken off life support two days ago and since that time he has been breathing on his own. On the one hand, this is certainly unbelievable, and on another, it's so like him. He has come back several times from dire circumstances, although never as dire as this. One of his sons says he's just stubborn; maybe that's it. At this point, everyone is still waiting. My heart is breaking for our aunt and her sons, who are all at his side constantly.

Nothing else to report that beats that; just days passing in lovely retirement. The difference for me between this and a normal summer vacation is, as I explained to someone earlier today, that now I feel severed from the high school, not just separated for a time. I feel retired. All good.

I was watching that show Clean House before, and if that doesn't put the fear of god (or whatever it is I fear) into the heart of a saver of everything, I don't know what will. My house is nothing at all like these hoarders' houses, not even my basement, but the thought of ever living like that is terrifying. Each day so far, I've been able to clean out one corner or area or cabinet, and I won't stop until I'm done. It feels very, very good to be taking care of all this stuff that I put off and said I'd do someday when I retired. Hah.

I finished the first two books in the Millenium Trilogy (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played with Fire) and I'll start the third one (The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest) when I go to bed later. Excellent books; I recommend them to all.

In the meantime, I've finally opened a second iTunes library -- that's been on my list of chores for a few years -- and I'm copying all my classical music into it. Shouldn't take more than a week, unless I do nothing else in which case I'll be done by tomorrow night. But tomorrow I'm going to see R's new apartment, and then driving from there to K's place to see how long it takes, which route is best, so on. Hope the traffic isn't too bad. At least I'll be going the wrong way on the Parkway for that (which is to say, south on a Sunday afternoon, too late for people to be driving down to the shore, and the wrong way for people driving back.)

More than I thought I would write. Happy birthday America to everyone!