...always thinking???

My goodness it's been a long time since I sat down and wrote anything. Except for the other day when I wrote a bunch of stuff and then accidentally deleted the whole thing.

Apparently the part in my profile about me always thinking is not really true.... Well ya, actually it is...but I'm not always thinking in a straight line. I think about too many things at once and then get my thoughts all balled up. Or I have background thoughts that are hopelessly drowned out by the moment by moment stuff going on around me.

It seems like I've been chaotically busy, but only busy by my standards. I still have time for American Idol & Survivor & Jeopardy. Truly busy people don't have time for TV. Sometimes me being "too busy" means that I have something looming over my head that I don't want to do. ie. tax preparation. Every day the clock ticks louder. I finally got one of those collapsible file folders so I can empty out the '05 stuff in the file cabinet to make room for the '06 stuff. I liked it better before I had the folder thingy, 'cause then I had an excuse...now I don't, except that I'm "too busy". Seriously...I have no excuse for not doing that job right now....except that another "me being too busy" has to do with me not having enough alone time, and when I get alone time, I'm sure as heck not gonna spend it doing taxes!! Or filing, or making back-ups, or general tidying of the office... No, no...I'm gonna spend it blogging in front of a computer by candle-light (sort-of... if you don't count the light from the computer screen). Some people soak in the tub...., I blog. What can I say?

My erroneously (big word, I know...) deleted post wasn't about anything important. It was about shopping, which I did on Sunday. I went to a wedding on Saturday night and saw a whole bunch of people I hadn't seen in six or seven years. It was great to see them again. The not so great thing was that (because I nearly never get dressed up ...weddings and funerals are about it) I'm sure I was wearing the same heels and little (well, not so little) black dress I was wearing the last time I saw them. The only difference being the extra 30 pounds I had to squeeze into that "little" black dress, and the addition of a "shrug" which I borrowed from my daughter, instead of the "bolero" I've had for at least 10 years. Anyway...I am determined that I will not wear those shoes or that dress to another formal occasion. Thus, the shopping trip, which was hopeless unsuccessful for me, but wonderful for my girls. Better luck next time, I hope. My deleted post was quite a bit longer and a lot more rantish, but I think a person can only really rant once. Any attempt to re-rant feels a lot like lukewarm leftovers.

My Dad has been here a bit the last little while working on my kitchen cabinets. We renovated (added on to) our house two years ago and got another 40sq ft. in the kitchen. It soon became very apparent that we could not afford to completely redo all the kitchen cabinets, so my dad graciously offered to construct the additional new cabinets to match the original '50's style cabinets we already had. Anyway, he's been here a few times this month to work on them and got them done. He built me a solid pine counter top to finish it off and it looks great! So now I've added sanding, staining, and varnishing to my daily routine. One more bout with the sandpaper and another coat of varnish should finish it off. Then I need to prime and paint the framework and the doors. Painting is such a pain, it's one of those projects that looms. If I knew how to make "looms" look scary on paper, with spooky music and dark lighting, I would, or a vibrato in my voice and spooky hand gestures would work too. It's one of those things that I'm "too busy" to do. I'm glad to be able to spend some time with my Dad...I don't do near enough of that.

I sat down and asked him some pointed questions about his life history the other day, which I don’t think I’ve ever done before. I found out that he had originally wanted to be a doctor. I had no idea! He got a temporary teaching certificate (which was surprisingly easy to do back then…just a summer course) so he could earn some money to go to University to become a doctor. He discovered that year that he really, really liked teaching… He’s been a teacher (or a pastor) pretty much ever since. I also found out that he and my mom moved about twenty times before they moved here, and he was my age when he moved here. Sometimes they only stayed in a place for 3 months before they were on the move again. Twice they “lived” at a summer camp that my dad would direct in between moves. One time I actually remember. It was the summer before we moved here. I was 10. I’ve moved twice since I’ve been married. From the farm into town, then back to the farm. I can’t even fathom moving 20 times in the same span. Actually it was 20 times in 13 years, or thereabouts, cause dad got married when he was 27 and settled here when he was 39 or 40.

I was thinking “Yikes mom, how did you cope???” and she got this wistful look in her eyes and said “It was exciting! You never knew where you’d end up next!” They never went anywhere exotic though, except for Saskatchewan…who wouldn’t want to live there??

I went to a grad parents meeting. Hopelessly boring…a nice little letter sent home with my kid would have done a much nicer job, but hey…I have nothing else to do, right?? It was so embarrassing. Hubby and I were upstairs watching the news. The graduate was off at work. The youngest was meant to be babysitting, but the guy never came to pick her up. I wasn’t really paying attention when she grabbed the phone and a nights worth of snacks and headed downstairs to her room. As time went by my front brain forgot that she hadn’t left…that Hubby and I were not alone. When it was time to leave for the meeting we just got up off the couch and left. We never called out good-bye, or for that matter even told her where we were going…(she wasn’t meant to be home, you know). About a half an hour into the most boring meeting, the cell phone is ringing. It’s our kid. I excuse myself and wind my way through the crowded class room (of course we were in the farthest back corner) to find my youngest on the phone. “Where the heck are you?? “ is the question posed to me from the other end of the phone. Immediate shame…, “Uhhh…ummm…we’re at a grad meeting…..!? Uhhh, sorry….are you OK??” “Yeah, I just came upstairs to see if I could get a ride into town to see my friends and there was no one here…” “Uhhh…, ya…., sorry” “Well, if I can get a ride into town, can I go???” “Uhhh…, ya…, just make sure you leave a note…so we know where you are” Laughter on the other end…, “Ahhh, the irony”, she says. I just shake my head….what can you say??