The bitch is back

Wasn't that last post so nice and uplifting? Or something. This one is not like that one.

Diva is home from school today, suspended for the day. She only got one day this time, and only because she wouldn't go to the in-school suspension room yesterday. As I heard it, someone heard her say a cuss word in the cafeteria before school and reported her to the boogie man. She denies saying the cuss word. Yes, she said the sentence, but didn't put the cuss word in it that the witness claims was there. Knowing this child, I think she probably said the cuss word. Anyway, she feels wrongly accused, and refused to take the punishment. So she's home today to punish me. I hate this policy.

I'm trying to make her life miserable, though. OK, not completely, not specifically, not generally. I am, however, giving her chores to do and not acting very friendly. She's slamming stuff around, being aggressively angry toward stuff. Thankfully she isn't aggressive toward me. So far. She's pissing me off, though. I started the day pissed off simply because she is here instead of at school.

Coping strategies so far include surfing the web, writing this post, and eating two small dishes of chocolate pudding. In reserve I have drugs and booze. If it gets really bad I'll take my Ativan. If it's bad but not drug use bad, I'll drink a beer. Or two. Or three. Also, there may be a nap in my future.

Really uncomfortable cramps complicate the situation. Damn, I want to pinch her little head off. On the plus side, she swept and vacuumed the kitchen, living room, and halls. She did a mediocre job of it, but it's better than it was.

I avoid my problems by sleeping. When I get emotionally stressed I get very, very sleepy. This used to happen all the time in the earlier years of our marriage when we'd visit his parents. Being around his mother put me to sleep, and not because she is a boring person. She isn't boring, but her idea of interesting is my idea of stress. My least favorite mode of interesting is criticizing the son and daughter-in-law and/or their children. To make matters worse, her other grandchildren, the daughters of her daughter and son-in-law, are perfect. The now-ex- son-in-law got lots of criticism, though. I spell it s-t-r-e-s-s.

I don't like the way these sentences go together in the paragraphs. There are sentences that do not belong with the others, but I'm too sleepy to fix them. In a further example, this is an art thing. Or a failure thing. For the past few days (weeks?) I have started some project or other and been frustrated with the outcome. I have the idea in my head, but the process of producing it gets messed up somewhere. A simple circle in a square becomes a rat's nest. A stack of blocks becomes entangled in string that isn't supposed to be there. Perhaps I'm too focused on the process and not the product, so the process gets in the way.

Well, that last paragraph was helpful. Thank you. I feel a bit less strung up.

Thursday stuff

Doesn't seem like Thursday to me. Actually, I'm disconnected from days right now. I had minor outpatient surgery two days ago. A small hernia repair that the doctors seemed to think was necessary. I blogged about that recently. The surgeon disabled my pop-up timer. Yeah, I'm sore. It's a localized soreness, there at my navel. I'm fine if I don't move. Also taking Lortab. Hydrocodone. So yeah, I'm disconnected from days and a few other things as well.

Just talked to an old friend of mine. Received a Christmas card from her yesterday with a brief update letter to let everyone know their house burned down!! About 2.5 weeks ago their house burned down. They've lived there 20 years, raised five kids in it. It was an old farmhouse, and evidently there was some electrical short or something in the living room wall that started the thing. No one was in the house, but she and her youngest daughter were on the property. Poor gals had to watch their house burn down. They got the pets out before it got too smokey. I'm freaking out about it, but hell, it wasn't my house. I talked to her for maybe 20 minutes, and she sounds numb. They're managing. Going to rebuild. Have received a lot of help from friends and neighbors and the Red Cross. They live close to us, the next county over. She does our taxes.

The young kids are home now, on winter break. Or Christmas break, whichever term seems appropriate. I don't care what it's called, I just care that they are home. So far it isn't too bad. Had my surgery the last day of school, so I've been drugged and out of it since they've been home. I'm leaving them alone and they're mostly getting along.

I'm supposed to drive to Charlotte to bring Twitch home for Christmas. Was going to do that tomorrow, but might need to wait until Saturday. My boo-boo needs a bit more healing time before I drive for five hours. Light is leaving Pennsylvania this evening to head this way. She'll take a nap at Twitch's place on her way down, then she's going to Charleston before coming home. The weather between western Pennsylvania and here is a bit dodgy right now, raining with snow in the forecast. Hopefully she'll be far enough south by the time the snow hits so as to avoid it. I'm worried about her driving so far under such conditions, but hell, I've done the same thing myself many times. So I'm going to pretend not to worry.

If there was anything else to say I have forgotten. Kinda spacey. Might be nap time again. Sleep helps the healing process, right? And it's a cool, rainy day, the kind that 's good for naps. Yeah. Nap.

Vacation, or something like it

Guess what? I'm on an impromptu vacation of sorts. The kidlets are out of school on spring break this week, and I wanted to do something to keep them occupied. I also wanted to go camping. 1+1= camping! It's only Sproing and me. This sort of thing is so not Diva. She made a disgusted face when I suggested it. So I said, "Fine, you don't have go." Which means she's at home by herself during the day, which is not an ideal situation. But she isn't with us, either, and that is ideal. Her stinking attitude would ruin this trip for me and Sproing.

According to Superman, who has to work this week, Diva is thrilled to be Sproing-free. Sproing is just as thrilled to be Diva-free. Sproing and I get along pretty well when it's just the two of us. He brought his bike and is having fun riding all over the campground.

We arrived yesterday (Monday). The only way I knew today was Tuesday was taking my meds from the week-long pill organizer I use. "It's time for my morning meds. Wait, it's Tuesday?"

We're in the mountains, of course. Heck, is there any other place worth camping? (Rhetorical question. My answer: no.) It's a bit cool yet, not hot enough back home to need an escape from the heat. But this is an escape from Diva and home, so it works. We got here yesterday afternoon, set up the tent. It's an "instant tent" or whatever they call it. Sets up in about 3 minutes. All the poles are permanently attached and unfold from the center hub, sort of like a 4-legged spider. I've wanted one of these babies for a couple of years. Our old tent was worn out so we got to get this new one.

I'm sleeping on an air mattress. It's pretty comfortable except for the part where I have to fight from falling off the side. Our site isn't quite as level as it looked when I was vertical. Think I'll rearrange the orientation of the mattress tonight so that my feet are downhill, my head uphill. Sproing is in a sleeping bag on the floor (on insulated pads) and he rolled up against the side of the tent during the night.

The weather is beautiful. It's a bit cool at night. I really didn't want to get out from under my covers this morning. I might sleep in my clothes tonight so I don't have to get dressed in the cold tomorrow. It was only about 47 F (8 C) when we woke up this morning, which isn't too bad except when you're sleeping in it. The sun is out now (early afternoon) and it's warming up nicely. Comfortably cool in the shade, not too warm in the sun.

Our camp site is right beside the creek. It's beautiful!

 Sproing is having a blast jumping from rock to rock. Makes me a bit nervous, but he just says "Aw, Mom!" and does it fine anyway. Mostly. He hasn't broken a leg or fallen completely into the creek. He's splashed water on his ass and stumbled in the water a little. I walked on the rocks and waded in the water a little bit yesterday. It was warm, I got hot with all the camp set-up, and my feet were hot. The water felt so good! Then it felt so cold! 

This morning we went into Asheville to get a few supplies. We're maybe 15 miles east/southeast of Asheville here, perhaps a bit closer to Hendersonville. We came through Hendersonville, so decided to go up to Asheville today. Found a Wal-Mart, got some frozen burgers (because the ones I bought in preparation for the trip were inadvertently left in the freezer at home) and a small coffee maker. More about that in a minute. This is what we saw in the parking lot at the W-M.

I was so excited! I parked about this close to it, much to Sproing's dismay. Silly boy. I love this VW camper! It's the Westfalia, probably mid '70s model. My grandparents had one similar, but an earlier model when the front looked more like the old hippie vans, though their pop-up looked like this one. (Google image search of VW Westfalia presents a lovely array.)

Of course I brought coffee on this trip. My name is Java, after all. We used to have a little 4 cup coffee maker that we'd bring on trips, but it wandered off somewhere, somehow, sometime in the past couple of years. So I brought filters and a small sieve so I could pour boiling water through the coffee in a low tech drip manner. Tried that this morning. Didn't work so well. By the time all the coffee had dripped through the filter and strainer, it was cold. And too much solid stuff came through. My coffee was kinda muddy, and tepid. Very disappointing. It was necessary that I get another small coffee maker. I'm ready for tomorrow morning now! Might even have some coffee later this evening, just for fun.

The shopping list for our W-M run was two items: frozen hamburgers and a small coffee maker. As we went into the store Sproing said "Remember Mom, we're here for only TWO items!" We went through the freezer gauntlet and he spotted the Ben & Jerry's display. Oooo! he says. I like this one, he says. I said "We're here for only TWO items!" but of course he talked me into getting some ice cream. It was difficult. He had to twist my arm hard. Or maybe he just had to grin at me. Whatever. We had ice cream for lunch. Gotta love it!

He's bored and tired now. His allergies are bothering him a bit, and he just told me he wants to leave tomorrow. We'd planned to stay until Thursday. Don't know what we'll end up doing. I'd like to stay until Thursday.

It's nap time for me now. As soon as I finish this I want to crawl into my bed and snooze with the sound of the rushing creek for background music. (We're very close to the creek. It's a bit louder than I'd like, but I'm not complaining.) Sproing wants to drive up this really cool gravel road that we made a wrong turn onto yesterday. Love that road! Narrow, very winding, gravel, steep, with beautiful views of the mountains and valley below. Perhaps we'll go on a short drive, take some more pictures, then come back for my nap. Poor ol' Sproing doesn't nap. Superman doesn't either. I love naps. Sproing could use a nap right about now.

Sunny Day

It's gorgeous out there, at least from my perspective at the window.

I'm very sleepy today, in a peaceful drowsy way.

The blue funk passed, and yesterday was mostly good. Sproing had some behavior issues which we handled, but I can see the struggle is still there. He has so much trouble resisting the urge to pick on other people. There's something that ain't quite right about that boy. He and Diva get into it. She falls into the trap he sets, and both of them end up in trouble. He sat in the hallway yesterday and cried for 45 minutes until I let him get up.

Superman took Sproing back to the treatment facility, which Sproing kept referring to as "home." Eh, whatever. It has been his home for the past couple of months.

I'm so sleepy it's hard to write. I'm going to go hunt for a nap. I think I might have left one under my covers in the bedroom.

Rush toward the end - with updates!

I'm so tired. So very, very tired. I slept a lot yesterday. I skipped my Friday morning class, stayed home and took a nap. It was my second nap. I took a third one later. And I was tired and ready for bed at 9:00, though I stayed up for a couple hours more. I felt rested when I got up this morning, but it's 3:00 now and I'm desperately tired again.

I am also very dizzy. I noticed it last night. As I rolled over in bed during the night my head kept turning after I stopped. And no, I hadn't been drinking. It was pretty dizzifying getting out of bed today, too. I almost fell backwards out of the shower this morning. I have felt dizzy all day long, even while sitting still at my desk.

It's nearly the end of the semester, and I have some significantly important assignments to finish on or before Wednesday. Or Tuesday. Or something. It's frightening to think about. I have a paper due in my film class. It is almost finished, I've been working on it this mid-day. All I have left is the summary analysis. I like that term. It's a summative evaluation and prescriptive analysis, as described by the instructor. It's spinning bullshit, mostly. Tedious, but not overly difficult.

The real difficult one is my article for psych research methods. I'm nervous about it because I'm woefully unprepared. I have what I need, but haven't read it. It's due at 3:30 Wednesday afternoon. I have to read 5 or 6 other scholarly journal articles (thick boring things, even though the subject is mildly interesting). Then I have to write mine.

There's also the 4th exam and the final exam, two different beasts, for psych research. I did well on the 3rd exam, but the stuff since then has me a bit confounded. I almost understand it. It makes sense when the prof describes it in class, and if I go slowly I can explain it. But give me an hour or so doing something else and I lose most of my grasp on the subject. I really need to work over the examples and study my notes. I have what I think is good material to study, but I haven't done that yet. I've been doing other school related things, or sleeping. I'm so tired.

Oh, and yesterday (December 4th) was Diva's birthday. She's 12 now. She thinks she's hot shit, but then she always has. Superman and I took her out to dinner to the Crimson Crustacean. It was as loverly as usual. I got her a doll that really poops and pees! Now I think Superman is mad at me. I know he's mad at Diva. She's been feeding her doll the non-food glop that came with it, and it runs out the doll's poop shoot, requiring a change of diaper. Well, the damned doll only came with two disposable diapers, and now the child is using up all the kitchen towels to catch the mess. He went to get a towel out of the drawer to use, you know, for some authentic need in the kitchen. But alas, there were none. She's got them strewn all over the house with wet doll mess all over 'em. Yeah, well.

He bought her the Miley Cyrus Movie DVD. Ugh. She watched it last night, but I was cloistered in my office and didn't have to suffer through any of it.

So Java, what happened to Diva when she was suspended from school last week? Oh, yes, I made her life difficult. I took the DVD player and locked it in my office, and disconnected the cable from the TV in the living room. I keep my office door locked when I'm not in here, and the only other TV with cable is in our bedroom, which also remains locked when we aren't here. Diva had a long list of household chores to do, most of which she did. Among other things she swept the whole house and mopped the kitchen, folded and put away a bunch of clothes. She did two math lessons from an older Grade 5/6 math textbook I have, and studied a literature passage (short, only two small paragraphs) and did some exercises with that. She also read a newspaper article and answered a bunch of questions about it. And I wasn't particularly nice to her. I don't think I was cruel, mostly, but I wasn't friendly.

When I took her back to school on Thursday we had to go in for a brief conference with the assistant principal. The woman took one look at Diva and said that she was violating the dress code. OK, I suppose I should be up on these things, if I'm a good mother and all that crap. Whatever. So after discussing the other issues with the assistant principal, I had to take the child home to change clothes. And oh, dear, she doesn't have anything decent to wear! Part of the problem is that she's taken her perfectly good pairs of jeans and cut them off into shorts that are too short to wear to school! I'm so pissed at her right now. The other problem, though, is that she has outgrown some of her clothes. That's a legit excuse.

Superman and I took her to The Great Retail Empire and got her a new pair of pants for school, decent shorts for gym, and a few shirts. I have told her that I'm instituting a uniform for her. She won't have to wear exactly the same thing every day, but it'll be similar. Pants or skirts in plain colors, and t-shirts or other plain modest shirts also in plain solid colors. No patterns, no adornment. And close toed shoes. She would rather wear flip-flops, even though it's getting too cold to wear those now. She needs a few more pair of pants and maybe another skirt or two. She has one that I know works well. It's a pale pink corduroy skirt that I made for her. I don't know where it is right now, though. I saw her wearing it last week, but Jeebus only knows where it is now.

Today she is having what passes for a birthday party. Two of her friends are here. They have balloons, and Diva made a strawberry cake with strawberry icing (we bought the cake mix and can of frosting last night). Superman just took the three of them over to the municipal park/play ground not far from here. Light, it's the same place where you broke your arm when you were Diva's age. Remember that? I hope no one breaks any bones today. I'm too busy and too old for that shit.

The whole birthday party thing is her idea and her Daddy's responsibility. That was understood from the very beginning by all involved. I didn't even have to make excuses for myself. They both already knew that I wouldn't be involved. I love that they automatically assume I'm not going to participate. Actually, I did participate in a small way. I've been in my office ever since the guests arrived, trying to ignore them. At one point they were popping balloons and jumping around in the living room. It was too loud and rambunctious, and Superman was busy with something else. I walked into the room and spoke firmly (and was perhaps a bit loud) saying that this was NOT indoor kind of behavior, and if they wanted to make such a ruckus they needed to go outside. That's all the guests have seen of me. Diva's Mama is a fussy bitch! I value that impression.

Enough of this foolishness. I'm gonna post this, go take a nap, then get up and finish the paper I've started. After which I will attack the big bad journal article. Ugh.

Update: Diva's party is over. No one broke any bones and all survived until the end, even Superman. I slept through most of it.

I finished my film review paper and emailed it to the instructor. Now I have to start research for my article. Going crazy in 3...2...1

The Aftermath and other ramblings

I don't like the word "aftermath." I think it is a stupid word, but sometimes that's the right word to use. It probably isn't the right word to use in this case, but whatever.

I do like the phrase "but whatever."

Graduation weekend is over! I survived! We all did, actually. The visit with the in-laws went well. We were all on our best behavior. Superman says he felt the disapproval from his dad, but neither of them said anything. They didn't say anything critical to me. I tried not to say much of anything at all to them. I smiled. I answered questions. I excused myself from the gathering, went to my room and took a nap. That was the best part of all. When I finally woke up at 9:00 p.m., they had gone back to their hotel.

The visit with Mama was mostly nice. As I mentioned in a previous post, she was mildly annoying, but only because I allow myself to be annoyed at some of her little quirks. She didn't intentionally annoy me, as far as I could tell. We didn't really do much. It was a very laid-back visit. She brought a book and read a lot. I blogged some while sitting in the living room with her. That is sort of like spending time with her. We're in the same room, and if I see something particularly interesting I read it to her.

Mama has always been a very active person. She is in her mid 70s now, and beginning to slow down. I have never been active. That woman has run me ragged for years, dragging me here and there to see things that should interest me. Some of them do interest me, so I guess I'm better for it. Now that she's slowed down so much, I can keep up with her. I actually am waiting on her now. I like this better.

She told me about a time when I was 4 years old. I had a favorite baby doll that I carried around a lot. I took the doll to preschool one day and gave it away to another child in the class. Mama was upset that I'd done that, but evidently I didn't think anything of it. I can see both sides of the situation now, as a mother and a generous person. As a mother, I would be frustrated if my child did that, especially if I had spent time and money buying the doll specifically for my child. I can also clearly understand my desire to give a toy to another child if I felt that the child would be comforted by my action. Mama has no recollection of why I felt inclined to give the toy away. She doesn't think that way herself. As nice a person as she is, generally, she isn't into sacraficial generosity. I don't know why, but I am. Evidently I always have been.

Let me tell you the incident that sparked this conversation. We were on the interstate on the way to the airport for her flight back home. I was in the right lane, and traffic was moderately heavy. An 18-wheeler was entering the highway from an entry ramp with a fairly short merge lane. I was in the way, and couldn't get into the left lane. The truck was rapidly running out of lane, so I slowed down to allow the truck to merge. As soon as I got clear of the back of the trailer I flashed my headlights and waved him over. Mama said something about me being nice, but with a tone that suggested she thought this was not a good thing. I'm too nice, or perhaps she wouldn't have been so nice.

But that's who I am. It's what I do. As for trucks, I've always had a lot of respect for truckers on the road. As I have learned rules of the road that make driving easier for truck drivers, I've adapted my driving behavior to accomodate them. Now that I've spent over three years as a professional driver myself, I have even more respect for anyone who drives a large vehicle. I know how tough it is to move a big long vehicle into another lane. I also don't usually mind driving behind a truck, but I understand a lot of people do. I hate being behind a school bus, ironically. Most bus drivers do, especially if they are driving a school bus at the time.

Did I mention that my "F" key still isn't working well? That is so fffffrustrating!

There's more, but I'll save it for another post.

stuff, and Patrick

As I mentioned last week, I had an English assignment to write a piece in the style of a magazine article. I used "Smithsonian" as my publication inspiration. I just received an email from the prof with feedback on the paper. I quote: "I enjoyed reading this article so much that I took the time to read and re-read it at leisure. I am very fond of nature writing. When it's done right--which is not easy to do--it has the poetry of a still scene painting. You've done it right. What a delightful read. I particularly enjoyed the magazine version.

May I share it with the rest of the class? I would also like to see this published somewhere. Let me see if I can figure out what publications publish pieces like this. It should find a larger audience than just our class." I think she liked it.

In other news, Mama is still here. Things calmed down a lot after the in-laws left. After we returned home from the graduation exercises, we served the pie. It was well received. I certainly enjoyed both the pecan and the lemon meringue. Then I retired to the bedroom for a nap. I had dropped Mama off at her hotel on the way home from graduation since she was tired and not feeling well. So Mama wasn't here to "worry" about. I took a nap that lasted until 9:00 Friday night. The in-laws were gone, someone (not Someone) had ordered pizza, and Mama had been retrieved. I find that sleep is often a wonderful way to avoid confrontations.

The weekend is going well. Mama is pleasant company, and not particularly demanding. I am only slightly annoyed with her, and that's mainly my fault. There are some little habits she has that just annoy the crap out of me. Nothing serious, nothing that would necessarily bother anyone else, just stuff that irritates me. I'm a real bitch that way.

I will take Mama to the airport this afternoon. We need to leave here at 5:00 in order to be at the airport early enough to suit her. Whatever. I don't think I'll wait with her, unless she really wants me to. I'd rather not have to park the car at the airport. I have a craving for ginger snaps. I want to drop her off at the airport and find a grocery store where I can get a bag/box of gingersnaps.

The f**king "F" key on my faulty keyboard is still fudged up. I cleaned under it, but to no avail. Well, I availed a bunch of crud out of there, but it still doesn't want to work properly.

****I just received an email from Patrick. His brother was killed in a car crash yesterday. Please keep him and his family in your thoughts and prayers.

This'n'that

My teeth are so clean!  I love how my teeth feel after I've been to the dentist for a cleaning.  Yes, I saw the dentist this morning.  It's a lovely office, the staff is so friendly.  My dentist wasn't in today, so one of the other dentists checked my teeth.  I have a cavity, dammit.  I don't floss often enough. I go back next Tuesday to get it filled.  But right now I am full of teh happy for my dentist's office.  

It's beginning to feel just a little bit like fall!  Finally.  It is nearly cool today.  We're having a dreary drizzly day, the second in a row.  This is the kind of weather that induces me to go to bed.  It's a good day for napping or making whoopie.  Then napping.  We'll see what we can do.  Superman comes home for lunch.  Hmmmm.

Good news!  S got a job!  Yes!  He had an interview yesterday with the HR lady from K-Mart, and was hired then and there.  It's conditional on passing a background check; standard proceedure.  I'm thrilled!  He's thrilled.  C is thrilled.  There's a lot of thrill going on around here. 

 

I broke the washing machine.  S and Superman say that it wasn't my fault, that it just happened. On Monday I put a load in and started it up.  Evidently I got the thing too full or something, which is hard to do with a front loader like we have.  It seems to have gotten off balance though, and neither S nor I heard it.   S went back there to check on the washer's availability and found the dryer, which sits on top of the washer, was nearly knocked off the washer and leaning against the wall!  He put the dryer back upright, then noticed that the washer door was ajar.  The latch was broken.

It won't run at all if the door isn't closed, and with a broken latch the door won't close.  Grrr.  I called my washer repair man Monday afternoon, and he came yesterday evening and replaced the latch.  That's all that was wrong with it, just the damned latch.  This is the 4th latch that washer has had!!  The first two we broke by slamming the door too hard.  But everyone has been much better about treating in gently, so I don't know what happened this time.  The repair guy (yesterday's He-ro of the day) said he has never had to replace a latch on any other Whirlpool Duet washers, just this one. Strange. Gremlins or something, maybe.   Anyway, it works again (YAY!!) and I should be washing clothes right now.  Instead I am blogging.  

Do you recall when Manny's windshield cracked?  Well Monday I finally got a new windshield!  The window in the driver's side door shattered last week when I slammed the door too hard.  (Are we noticing a theme here?)  So we had to call the insurance dude about that, and Superman had them fix the windshield at the same time.  I have a new windshield with no big crack and no scratched and pitted surface!! It has been a joy to drive since then.  Sort of. Manny is having some starting issues.  Manny often has issues, you know.  He has issues with his windshield wipers, too.  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't.  So far they've always worked on high, so I'm not going to do anything about it just yet.  It'll do.

I got a text yesterday morning about 11:30 from Twitch.  It said to pick him up at 12:30, they were being dismissed early.  WTF?  No other info, nuthin.  I called the bus office to see what was happening.  The boss told me the power had gone out in the school building, not to worry, all was well.  When I get a cryptic text with news like that, I worry that there's some kind of hostage situation, or a dirty bomb, or a massive structural fire, or a major terrorist threat.  I'm a mother.  We do these things.  Thankfully I know where to go for info.  So Twitch got to come home three hours early yesterday.  He was very thankful because he was supposed to give a presentation in Economics class, and he wasn't ready for it.  Because of the power outage, he got a day's reprieve.  I'm not entirely sure he used it wisely, though.  He may very well not be ready for the presentation  today, either.  He is like that sometimes.  

It was pretty cool, actually, and I didn't have to worry about picking him up later in the afternoon.  We went out to Sonic for lunch, then came home and I took a nap.  It was loverly.  

 

I think that's about all I've got.  More updates as the situation warrants.  Film at 11.

Friday from Sea

Hello from the western Caribbean Sea. We were docked at Cosumel today, which is an island. I didn't know that. I thought it was part of the Mexican mainland. It's close, though. They said about 45 minutes by ferry. I didn't go. Didn't go into Cosumel, didn't go to the mainland. I stayed on the ship and bummed around until nap time. Then I took a nap. I love to nap. I don't know what today's high temp was, but it was in the uncomfortable range. I stayed in the air conditioning. That made me happy.

We are now somewhere in the water between Cosumel and Florida. The ride is rougher than it has been in a few days. We've been island hopping for the last 4 days. We'll sail at night, then dock or moor at a port in the morning. After a day at whatever island, we'll get on to the next destination. The ship has been hugging the islands pretty close so we've not been in really open water since Monday. We'll be at sea all day tomorrow, docking in Port Canaveral on Sunday morning. I like these days at sea. I like to feel the rocking of the ship and love the sound of the water as we rush through it. And we are heading north, so hopefully it'll be a bit cooler again.

I should be able to really check the blogs on Sunday evening or Monday. I'll be driving home I dunno maybe Tuesday. We'll see. I really want to get home to see Superman, but the rest of the experience.... I'm willing to stay on vacation from that mess for another week or two.

That's about all I've got here. It's a lazy life and I'm in that groove.

The aftermath

I hate that word "aftermath." Especially when the Weather Channel uses it to describe what's left after a weather disaster.

Yup, I'm sick. Sure enough, upper respiratory infection; URI. Superman took my prescriptions to the pharmacy and got my meds for me. He bought me some juice and Gatorade. He's so good to me.

Christmas is over, thankfully. No more expectations to make life idyllic for the kids. It is mostly self-imposed expectations that paralyze me. Why do I do that to myself? How can I stop?

I'm going to nap for a while. I hope everyone has a peaceful rest of the week.