2005 Story Set
| Date: June 20 , 2005 Saturday, the day before Father's Day, was a strange day for me. I am still crippled on the weekends, unless I have something definite to do, and sometimes, not even then. I tend to hide. I curl up in bed and do not get up. I am lately, time-shifted-whereas I go to sleep at 3AM and wake up after 8AM. Time to time-shift back. Reading novels is an escape, and I have done it for years and years. Decades even. I read at the hospital. Seven books a week while he was unconscious. (Not this last time, the other times.) I read less during the long waiting periods. He slept though many of the chemo sessions. It as the Benedryl. It was time-passing and kept your mind from being too crazy. Time is a healer of wounds. This wound will not ever heal but it will scab over enough for me to go on. Never forgetting is not something I have to worry about. I have 23 years of incredible memories. So Saturday I got up and actually put on clothes and a smattering of makeup. I had every intension of getting out of the house. Picking up the detritus in the front yard. Getting the animals groomed. Right. First, PetCo has lost their groomer again. A lot can happen in 8 weeks. So, no grooming for the dog or cat. And no trimming the cat paws. However, she was quick to tell me that another groomer was coming in on Monday and I should call back. Fine. I'll call back Monday. If not, I have to locate someone to trim cat nails and give baths. It runs around $60 for Ranger and Trim. I have to do this. Because Ranger, when taking his daily mad dash through out the house, is sticking to the carpet. He has pulled loops from the good red throw rugs - which I have guarded from him for years. We will not discuss the Berber. The white - but gray from the soot from the fire - wall to wall waiting to be professionally returned to white. Hopefully, I will get out of this house fast enough that the carpet will be still viable. I do have to redo one room. His old bedroom has so much stuff spilled in there that it is a breeding ground, or would be if I had not dumped Clorox onto it. Which left it without the little speckles. I have long known I would have to redo that room, and probably the hallway. I am sort of bummed. But I have laundry to round up (piled it up nicely). Since I have not been leaving my son's room open, I kind of freak out going in there. Must change that room drastically. I hung up clothing right and left. How many weeks have shined this? Need to resurrect the rack I took out and make it a tops rack. I own way too many tank-tops. Some will be used for painting. I have ruined one already. It was too pale. Others are too short. Others don't cover the fat gut that is slowly, resisting every step of the way, shrinking. Fairly good ones need to be packed and shipped off to my sister who sells stuff on eBay. I manage to accomplish a variety of small tasks, reading a very long book in-between. I am up and down, until 3PM, when the house gets warm. Then I lean over on the couch, and fall asleep. I do this every weekend. When the temperature climbs as the sun hits the front of the house, I get sleepy. I am always sleepy if the temperature climbs over 73 degrees. The room air conditioner pounds away, but the sun is too much for it. I do find that the one remaining screen door can be opened soon enough if there is a breeze, It does need to be repaired, for the dog has managed to get all of them. That's a project I have on my list. A secure screen door, one the dog cannot successfully attack. I am sabotaged in my ambitions, because they are running marathons (4-hour blocks) of Wire in the Blood on the BBC America channel. This will continue tomorrow, and I am an addict. I used to try to get John to watch these with me (he watched a couple). They are intense! This goes along with the Biography channel's running of other mystery programs from 11 to midnight. Sherlock Holmes. Peroit, Midsummer Murders, Inspector Morse, and others. All old favorites. If it's not them, then I watch some of my DVDs. I have the complete Jane Austin - all 6 movies - which ran on PBS about 5-6 hours each about 20-25 years ago. That Darcy was also hot (he is now a going-bald and very accomplished actor), I watched the original Pride and Prejudice about 6 times a week since I got 3 PBS channels and they were running repeats at odd times during the week. There are added scenes on the DVDs. Just a few, left in place (which is how added scenes should be). I am waiting to view the Jane Eyre DVD with Timothy Dalton. It was done in the same time period (and he has also lost his glorious hair). That is single most incredible version of that love story ever made. He was absolutely fabulous in it. He also made a dark Whethering Heights. The true story - which was more ghastly tragic. I taped Pride and Prejudice twice - different scenes added on different channels. I can't wait to see what's on the DVD. Next week-end perhaps. Or on evening, since we are in re-run hell. I am an addict for hiding. I do manage to wash my new Ruby Red sheets and get them on the bed. I love them! Neat! The gold ones are too washed-out. I do two loads in the dishwasher and am running out of dishwasher soap again. I cook, sort-of. I have been bleaching my teeth, and have discovered a new kind of pain. Evidently there is a crack in one of my lower front teeth. It about takes my head off. I have to stop bleaching until I see the dentist Tuesday morning. My teeth were getting whiter. And I am using Sensodine tooth paste. But the pain got me when I tried to navigate a salad. (Sunday I made stir-fry and cooked all my veggies.) Interestingly enough, I can eat ice cream (Hagen Daz) with impunity. I have now read 2 1/2 books this week-end, and began re-editing Plain Jane, a 73,000 word novel I wrote in 4 weeks. Book in a week applies only to the concept of laying out a book in a short space of time. It does not apply to the laborious editing of the piece. I am half-way through, but I prefer to write or edit at night when it is cool. Because of the high cost of power, I do not run the central unit but once a day, to take the edge off, and will stop that once I solve the screen-door and dog problem. I will also run the laundry late at night. Old habits. When it is sunny, it is better to water the lawns. Which reminds me. I have to get to San Diego and fix the sprinklers and do some more painting. They managed to tell me that the sprinklers are aging and falling apart. Probably. But then, the landscaping is trashed and I have to pretty much start over. When I get possession of the house, I will move my son's things down there, and then empty the storage units one by one. Followed by the attic. I plan on taking about a year to get the house livable. I suppose I am resting up for mad driving and lots of hauling. One excuse is as good as another. I have, amidst all of this procrastination, found the kitchen floor. The freezer is in the garage, the sorage unit outside and almost totally empty. The floor washed. Amazing. The room is incredible. We just had put too much stuff there.We were oganized for toss and run living. Eerything at waist-high or above since he could not bend. Everything handy for ease. I have to think of other things now. I am trying. Why I am nose-down into my books. I just ordered about $56 more Signet Regencies. It's summer. |
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