Today is sunny and more 'settled' for a change.

Hubby is off to play golf. The other boys (TJ, Tommy, Steven) have loaded into TJ's car and headed out to the mall. Tommy first went through the classifieds and zeroed in on a number of jobs.

Bethany is 'talking' with her friends on the internet. I am finishing laundry (my favorite past time ). I plan on kicking Beth off the puter later and making her go for a long hike with me in the sun. It is still kinda cool but not freezing.

I guess we are going to talk to the realtor and put a bid in on the last house we looked at. It is all very scary to me. I just hope this is my last move...for about 25 years.

If it looks like this is going to go through, I have some furniture to get rid of. There is the old antique diningroom set that I've had for the last 16 years. It is beautiful BUT it has been taken apart and moved so many times it has become quite rickety. I want something more solid and stable. Tommy can have our kitchen set when he gets a place cuz that house doesn't need one. I also have an old country cupboard that I am going to sell. I got that in an old antique store too but it really isn't all that valuable and, again, I've gotten my use out of it!

There's other things that I can clear out and Tommy can have for his place. He only has the clothes that he brought with him.

I know the whole thing will take AT LEAST 1 1/2 to 2 months to settle. So, by the time the kids are finishing up school, we will be packing to move. There IS the matter of the one bedroom, at least, that will need paint and the kitchen. The rest of the house is good. But I am getting the cart before the horse. There is nothing that says these ppl will accept our offer.

So, for today...I will enjoy the peace and the sunshine.

When I wanted to rename my blog I couldn't have come up with anything that was more fitting than "Daily Changes" no matter how long and hard I thought. I know my life. And while there may be short periods of 'yawn'...it doesn't last very long.

I got up yesterday morning and took a shower. While I was toweling off I heard this loud rumbling noise and it seemed to be right by the house. I wrapped the towel around me and lifted the bathroom window blinds and looked out and here came a Bobcat around the corner of the house! (no...not the animal, the machinery!). Sonofabyzantine! It was the 'crew' that was supposed to fix the drainage around the house and fix the cracks in the basement walls. Nothing like getting notice!

I no sooner got my clothes on when the front doorbell rang. And rang. I was trying to unlock the deadbolt and was yelling to hold on to their droopy britches... It was my husband's nephew Tommy. (the droopy britches remarks still applied ) His face was red and he had a lopsided grin. He pointed at the guy in the front yard digging it up and wanted to know what the heck he was doing. I gave him a quick explanation and told him it would be okay.

To make a long story short as I can...he helped me move some furniture around in the family room so I could do the last of the cleaning. I cleared out an old dresser we had saved and he filled it full of his clothes and I gave him a hamper for his dirty duds. He hauled in a bag of dirty clothes and asked to use the laundry room. He sat down to dinner with us and it was a new experience for him...family dinner around the table! Hubby's sister (Tommy's mom) never did that with her kids. They sat down whenever they felt like it and ate whatever they wanted. Tommy liked the family dinner concept.

He went out this morning to get a hair cut and was asking the ppl in the hair salon about where to get a job, etc! He's anxious to get settled. He said he really likes the town and the fact that he has 'family' close by. 'Normal' ppl. (was he including me? )

Hubby, TJ and I (Bethany didn't want to go ) went looking at a couple of houses this morning. There was the Stucco California Ranch that I had only seen a virtual tour of and was quite anxious to see. It was the WORST thing! ICK to the 99th power! I think that guy will have to GIVE that house away. To say it was outdated (EVERYTHING) was to put it mildly. I said to the realtor, "Are you sure this house was built in 1981 and not 1951?" She laughed.

Then we went and looked at this other house in the same neighborhood that I had looked at with her last week. It is a ranch also with stained cedar siding...only these ppl decided they didn't want the work of staining it constantly and had painted it with a thick coat of some special kind of paint that seals the wood...it was almost PLASTIC. Suits me just fine. I looks good! The house is very nice with a gigundous back two tier deck and stereo system (outside)...very large yard...WONDERFUL kitchen and diningroom. The bathrooms are nice and the bedrooms are nice (with an office room for hubby). LOTS of storage. BUT, I had not liked the livingroom or family room becuz I thot they were too narrow. Let me tell you...we walked into that house after the horror of that stucco nightmare and I just stood there in the entry to the livingroom and stared. The realtor asked me what was wrong cuz she see the puzzled look on my face. Hubby waited...I looked at them and said, "This room isn't nearly as narrow as I remembered it to be!" They laughed at me! I'm serious! Everytime I thot of that house the rooms had gotten narrower in my head! But we looked it all over and decided it was pretty nice! It has lots of wonderful features...along with a stainless steel oven/ceramic stovetop/microwave combo thingy...like my mom just bought. MICROWAVE! The really charming part in the front (to me) is the brick path to the front door (AND the weeping cherry tree in front of the livingroom window). The familyroom has the huge fireplace with french doors that open out onto the lower level of the deck WHICH I plan on doing a patio enclosure/sunroom thing to...IF we buy that house. I do LOVE a sunroom. The upper deck is so very huge no one will miss that other section.

So...things change...so very quickly. My life is like the weather...if you don't like what is going on NOW...wait a few hours. It will change.

It is time. Time to shake out of this big ball of anxiety that I have become. The self hypnosis CD is going to work its magic. I will get the family room and the rest of the basement put back together and move the nephew in. Friday morning I will go look at houses with the spouse (the realtor has NO IDEA what kind of treat she is in for with him there!) and my resume will be finished and sent out to the powers that be.

I will go for some long walks through the neighborhood. I don't care of it is raining. I have an elladella (my 'kid' word for umbrella). And life will be more manageable again.

I can do this. I give so many other ppl help in getting their act together...I need to follow through on my own advice. You know...sometimes it is so much easier to help others than it is to help yourself.

Everyone have a good day!

So, I ignore the call from my younger sister this morning cuz I'm not in the mood for "My kids hate me...I'm gonna run away." She leaves me a voice mail...something about sorry she bothered me and she will call me later and ask me the big questions then. But when my mother calls a few minutes later I figure I'd better answer the phone then cuz something must be up. Turns out my older sister had a mild heart attack (or stroke...not clear as to which yet) yesterday at work. She has high blood pressure problems, like our dad, and she hasn't been taking her meds. I have been after her to stop smoking and drinking and put away the salt! She has treated it all like, "If I ignore it, it will go away." My mother is freaking out cuz she hasn't been able to reach her. Okay, mom...you are about 2 miles down the road from her. I am a 4 1/2 hour drive away! And I should do WHAT? Perhaps my phone has magic abilities that yours doesn't?

My son decided about 5 days ago that he didn't want his meds anymore...didn't need them. He just quit taking them. I warned him it was not a good thing to go cold turkey. He has been driving me OUT OF MY MIND for the past two days...he is so manic I can't do anything with him. And last night he gave me 'the look'...that one of narrowed eye defiance and borderline 'f-u'. So, this morning I took my daughter for her med check and I told the doctor what my son has done about his meds. He looked me straight in the eye and told me to pin him down and shove the pills down his throat if I have to cuz #1) TJ has forgotten what he was like before the pills, #2) he will end up in the hospital for either psychotic behavior OR attempted suicide. I came home, put the pills in my hand, plopped them down in front of him and told him how he has been driving me crazy with his out of control behavior and what the doctor said. I watched him swallow them and he said that he didn't realize how important they are.

I don't need this.

I would just love to blow off my class altogether. I'm tired. And, no, I am not taking any of that 5 Hour Energy. Some of you thot it sounded good. It wasn't really. It was kinda scarey! Feeling like I felt yesterday was just NOT natural. Feeling more awake is one thing...bouncing off the walls is another.

Deep breaths. Breathe in slowly through the nose...wait for it...wait for it...let it out slowly through the mouth. Close your eyes and think of a slowly moving cloud, your favorite place, the color that makes you feel most comfortable. Relax from the top of the head, slowly down through the body. Relax every muscle. Clear your head of all other thoughts.



I threw down the gauntlet. It was MY fault. I had to utter the words (and quite loudly I might add), "Go ahead. Throw something ELSE at me. I can take it."

So, here is something else...

The hubby left this morning then called me late this afternoon from the road to inform me that his nephew (his sister's middle son) Tommy will be joining our family as one of our house dwellers for a time. Seems he is packing up and leaving Georgia as I write. The woman he was living with started a meth lab in her house and he moved out. She and some 'friends' have been harassing him every since. He can't take it anymore, so...he is taking his uncle up on the offer he made him last year.

I haven't EVEN finished cleaning up the family room downstairs!!! I told Hubby last night that I wasn't going to be doing any of that until Thursday becuz I have homework AND I need to get my resume finalized and sent in for that HR training position with the new store they will be opening in town. AGAIN...

Oh, well...who needs sleep. I hear it is highly over rated.

Speaking of which...I finally found something that I could DEFINITELY get addicted to...it is this little bottle of "5 Hour Energy". OMG!!!! It has no sugar. No carbs. Only has as much caffeine as a cup of coffee...which is absolutely nothing to me. It is mostly mega doses of B vitamins and enzymes. The directions said to drink only half a bottle or less (the bottle is only 2 oz.). You would think I would err on the side of 'less' now wouldn't you? Nope. I drank half a bottle.

You know those little cars that kids play with that you have to rev them up backwards to get the spring good and tight and then let it go? Okay...after about 10 minutes...that was ME! WOW! I think I was that car after the kid has revved it up about 5 times before letting it go! DANG! oh...and 5 HOURS my a**! It has been 7 hours and I'm STILL bouncing!

So, now I know what I'm going to do with my new found energy.

I can do this. I can do this. Good thing I'm not having to look at any houses until Friday morning.

*******Side note:
Didn't have to bury the microwave. We set it out by the curb for the garbage man and it got snatched. I hope it was picked up by a nice person and that they will give it a warm and loving home.