Wednesday, November 26, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone has a bellystuffing great time tomorrow!

Short entry tonight, I've got a couple long shifts coming up over the next 2 days, so I won't be around much. It will certainly help out $$$ !!!

Are you ready to hit the stores for the "Black Friday" madness? Nah, not me! I only ever entered the madness once. They had a really good deal on comforters, and I just barely survived......

We got hit with 8" of snow on Monday. Heavy, wet thunder-snow. We lost power for 5 hours, sitting around the kitchen with candles for light, wrapped up in a comforter with the oven on for a little heat. It was beautiful though, the trees so heavy with snow, the branches hanging all the way to the ground.

Like I said, a short entry tonight, I've got a few things to take care of tonight and need a good night's sleep. So....

~Thanks For Stopping By~







Monday, November 17, 2008

Mother Nature Knows Best

::sigh:: She's donned her winter coat. What was a panorama of deep fall colors has turned into a vista of white. Beautiful to be sure, but cold-hearted for not waiting for me to be prepared.

I've found myself fighting to hang on to the end of each preceeding season. Wanting that last walk on the beach, wearing my capri length pants on days when the thermometer dips below comfortable for bared lower legs.

Yesterday, I finally took my summer gear out of the car. The beach blanket, towel, air mattress and extra set of shorts and top are now residing indoors. It was actually laziness on my part rather than the notion that there would be any more need for those items, that left them in my trunk for so long. The winter gear is finding it's way in to replace them.

I've taken the notion to rearrange my room, create some needed space for spending more time in here. I've got items that will need to be moved to my storage unit, boxes to rearrange in the closet, winter sheets and blankets out to replace the lighter ones. This may take a couple weeks as I change my mind 10 times on what should go where, lament on giving up things that I no longer use, and just generally procrastinate. But when I'm done, my room will be welcoming and cozy.

The general air in the house is chilly-attitude and temperature-wise. It's just going to be a long cold winter. I've done or said something, not done or said something, that has my brother keeping his distance and silence. It could be any number of things, and I'm not inclined to start a discussion that blows into argument proportions, just to remind him that I'm not psychic, have no idea what the problem is. It will be interesting to say the least as the months progress. Believe me, it's best this way.

I miss the cat and her kittens. I pull in from work and look at the empty porch area where they hung out, and miss the few minutes of greeting they gave me. I know that as long as I live here, there will be no pet. Period. That saddens me.

I've picked up a client that will bring an extra 6 hours of work a week. Still not up to full time, but an improvement. I'll still have part-time unemployment to make up the difference, so I'm okay(not great) financially. The gas prices hovering around $2 a gallon make it a little easier to get from week to week.

Well, I'm off to move some boxes, so have a great day, and for my readers in the north-bundle up!

~Thanks For Stopping By~

Wednesday, November 5, 2008

Update on the Mama Cat and Babies!

The backyard neighbor is over visiting tonight. The cat and her kittens were mentioned.
"Oh, my next door neighbor took them to the shelter" It turns out that the cat actually originally belonged to the neighbor on the other side of her-2 houses down from backyard neighbor. When she found out about the cat and kittens, she came over, got them and had them in her shed for 2 days then took them to the shelter and turned the neighbor(original owner) in to animal control. This woman also has 5 other cats that she just lets run around.
Backyard neighbor knew that I thought they were missing, or dead. She was here the day after they had come up missing. "I forgot to tell you." Phffftttt...30 seconds, a quick phone message...

I am So relieved! I felt so badly. I am grateful that they will now be taken care of, our shelter is a no kill shelter. I'll have to take the cat food and some other donation things over to them. I used to go volunteer occasionally, but they moved to the other end of the county and with gas prices the way they were, I hadn't been in awhile.

It was such a gorgeous afternoon, really windy on the north side of the lake, so I drove to the southwest side-to a little public park. I watched the ducks, so cute, with their feathery butts up in the air as they fished for their lunch. I could see the last of the fall colors in the hills across the lake. Sitting there it was difficult to imagine(or look forward to) the snow that's in the forecast for this weekend. This afternoon may have been my last lake fix for this year. But who knows, 3 years ago I was walking on the beach(shoes on) in a sweatshirt and jeans on Dec. 24th, a sunny 50 degree afternoon. That's Michigan weather for you. *insert smiley face here*

~Thanks For Stopping By~

It's a Beautiful Day

Actually, the last one for the next 7 days. I'm going to do what I can to enjoy it. I need to take today for myself, go to the lake, sit on the shore and let the sound of the waves soothe me, calm me.

I've been feeling very unsettled the last couple of days. Weighing the pros and cons of some decisions I'm trying to make. Not coming up with the right answers. Let me rephrase that-viable answers for myself at this time. I've had to choose the route that is most sensible for me at this time, and I'm just not ready to accept that, so I keep rationalizing, and coming up with more frustration, but still the "safe" answer-for now. And I know it.

Confused yet? This is all tied to the entry I made in ~Walking In My Shoes, Honestly~ the other night. I'm frustrated with money-the lack thereof, the limited choices I have at this time, and my inability to change anything-right now!

When you build a house, you have to start with the foundation, make it sturdy, water-proof, straight and strong. Then move on to the walls and roof. When you create a quilt, you have to make sure all the pieces fit together, or you'll have gaps, you have to sew each individual piece into place to make the whole. There are no shortcuts. I've got to build up that foundation, make sure all the pieces fit before I do anything else.

For me-at this time-the decision has to be to stay in this situation, do what I can to get things done right before I leave. Financially, I can't do much of anything until I take care of the car-no car, no job, at least not the one I have now. And there are no other jobs out there, right now. Michigan has the highest unemployment rate in the nation. The car tune-up and repairs are only a couple hundred dollars, and a necessity.

I don't have the money for a security deposit for an apartment. That's an important factor. The studio apartment I was considering has been rented(the day I wrote the entry, in fact). The motel apartments are now full. It really isn't a bad place, the woman that owns it is careful of who she rents to. Anyway with those options out of the picture, I'm left with looking for an apartment or just staying here. So, for now, I'm staying here. I'll keep my eyes open for places to rent, do what I need to do, and try to make the situation here more equal. How? Well, that's something else I have to work on.

I WILL look at this in a positive way, work all these details out and be thankful I have what I do. So....

~Thanks For Stopping By~

No sign of the cat or her kittens yet-I hope you guys are right.

Sunday, November 2, 2008

More Sadness...

I should be in bed. Even with the time change it's going on 1 am. I've just got a few things on my mind before I turn in, though.

I posted an entry over at ~Walking In My Shoes, Honestly~. Some things that have been going on, yet I've managed to hide from them fairly well. Not some of my more proud moments.

The mother cat and kittens have disappeared. They've been gone several days. I have no idea what actually happened, no one admits to knowing, either. The area we live in is right across the street from the woods. Real forest, with all the requisite animal predators. There was nothing I could do, I was forbidden from bringing them into the house-aside from the no pets without permission and deposit rule.

Nephew's girlfriend came over with a bag of cat food yesterday, she had no idea they were gone. I'm sorry to admit, I was not very pleasant about the way I informed her. Told her she should have kept her word about finding them homes, or sheltering them.

I really couldn't afford to do it. I feel so inadequate and guilty.

Remember, I said I knew things were going to be difficult in my post on the 17th? I just didn't figure it would be so soon.

Now that I've gotten things out of my head and into words, it's time for some planning and doing, to head in a better direction...And for turing the clock back and going to bed.

~Thanks For Stopping By~