BiddiesInMyBrain

AWESOME Picture... and a Warning for Travelers (Including Me)

You can bet I will be thinking *very* carefully about the weather as we head across the prairies and plains this summer... looking out for severe thunderstorms and tornadoes (found this spectacular image at www.KSN.com, btw). Speaking of amazing tornado shots, check this from the Weather Channel: Yikes! (I'm having some problems with Typepad's linking service on the Compose Post page, which is why you are getting full URLs at times. It's intermittently working, and we hope to be up and fully functional soon... bear with me!).

Today we had a really amazing storm - nothing like what they have been seeing on the Plains, but lots of thunder and lots of heavy rain and a REALLY DARK HOUSE at 3:30 in the afternoon ... SPOOKY!... I am hoping it didn't wash out ALL of our grass seed from two days ago; the seed is now in clumps in puddles, puddles which are quickly absorbing back into the ground. I tried to get out there with a rake, but things are just too wet. We've pretty well decided to see if this will sprout, and then if it does, to overseed again at midsummer to catch any bare spots. I think it's the best we can hope for at this point.

Still plugging away on homework... interesting books, but it's a holiday weekend and I wish that I would have gotten this done earlier this week. If wishes were dollars...

Been having major problems with the DSL modem... ordered a new one yesterday from AT&T high speed services, so we should be cooking with a much better, much faster connection this time next week. Our current modem is ... hmmm... five years old and seems to be giving up the ghost. We're going with a modem/wireless gateway with wireless-n capability. We'll see how this works; I hate getting away from my Linksys router - I've been really loyal to Linksys and their magnificently reliable equipment. Like I said, we'll see.

SO MUCH TO DO before the 4th... and so much to do before the 12th/13th... everything is just smooshed together and it is hard to separate out what needs doing now, what needs doing this week, and what must be accomplished next week... Lists are my friends.

Well, I am going to scoot and see how much reading I can fly through tonight. I'm well into one of the books, and about a quarter of the way through the second one. I think I need to write them up separately, but am pondering it carefully... there are some commonalities, but they may be too different to pull them together in one paper. The last thing I want to do is write something contrived for a professor I really like... and besides - when I write a good paper the discussions end up being much better and more interesting, so I have extra incentive to put a lot more effort into the front end. Means a lot of work this weekend... which means flying through a lot of pages tonight and tomorrow and synthesizing them tomorrow night.

Have a good one!

Feeling Better, Though Still Sad

I have spent the latter part of my day filled with things that keep me busy... and not thinking too much about how much I miss my grandma. I mean - I know I am forty now and these things are expected to happen, and that I was ever so lucky to have her for so long - but that somehow makes the losing of her that much harder. I admit it - I did have a moment of break-down sobbing at one point today... and Jack the Cat was so distraught he didn't know what to do; he kept miaouing and hitting my legs with his head the whole time I was crying like I hadn't cried in years. In fact, I hadn't cried like that since long before Grandma died. I didn't cry at all when I got the call she had passed, or at the funeral ... I've held myself in tight check, knowing what was on the radar, and knowing how she wanted things. But damnit, I miss her. Maybe I needed that moment?

After Crash got home and had a chance to cool down and rest for a little while, we went outside, watered the new lawn, cleaned the front steps, washed down the rugs and mats and generally tidied up out there.

Tonight? Some quality time with Crash... and maybe a run to someplace like Sonic for a two-for-one burger and a big limeaid - I'm not really hungry. And maybe a Netflix movie. I don't know. I don't really want to overload the night, yanno?

I need to read two books and write a paper for Tuesday - which reminds me... I need to write a quick e-mail to my professor reminding him that we are meeting that day. I forgot to do so earlier this week.

My French exam is scheduled for early July, too... need to brush up on that... yikes. My great aunt Lila would be such a help with that right now; she was a French and Latin teacher, and quite good. She'd have me whipped into shape in no time flat... however, we lost her in 1996. I *do* have her Harrap's French Dictionary, though, and it's a huge thing... I love it...so glad to have it. I'll make do with that and 15 years of basic and intermediate French instruction which ended in 1989. Ooof. Twenty years ago. I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this one. We'll see. I've got to pass before I take my comps, one way or the other.

Plowing through the cleaning here, too, though I didn't get much done here today. Things are finally on track to be neat and tidy before I leave for Kentucky in a week and a half. Can't believe it's that soon. Need to get the car in to make sure everything is shipshape and ready to go.

Not much else. Just looking forward to getting to Colorado in June - and hoping we won't get caught in a blizzard. Yeah. At the moment of this writing, Colorado is having simultaneous blizzard and tornado warnings. Go figure.

Brrrr... I'm Cold Despite the Warm Temps...

But yanno what? I feel actually *good* this afternoon. :::glancing around for threat of lightning:::

I'm getting a lot done, I am alert and reasonably pain-free... and it's a gorgeous, sunny day. It's in the upper 70s right now, with a cool breeze, and I am bundled up in a sweatshirt and I am thinking about gloves... but other than that, I am really, really feeling good.

::smiling:: I have another rose blooming. I am guessing Spring is here. And there are just thousands of buds on the 32 bushes and climbers - I think the next bloomer is going to be a yellow tea rose - I can already see the yellow bursting through the bud. I'll take a pic as soon as it comes. There are *tiny* fig buds on the trees - I mean TINY - they are about half the size of my little fingernail. Took a bunch of pics today, but haven't pulled them off the camera yet. Will post when I do.

Feel a great sense of relief now that my Medical Power of Attorney and Advance Care Plan are in place and safely put away (and I have e-mailed pdf copies to the relevant people who will need it). They know where to find it in the house, and they are well aware of my wishes. I was very melancholy about this this weekend - weepy even - but now that I have gone and done it, I feel much, much better. I suspect it will be the same way about the Will, which will be considerably more complicated, but will feel much better all said and done.

Put up baby gates so the dog can't get to the front of the house and on Grandma's furniture. I found some really nice ones on Amazon for $30 a piece, and they are gated instead of static, so we don't have to climb over them. Jen is ok with them (they at least allow her to *see* the living room, unlike the flimsy boards we had up)... but the cats are really pissed off about them, and are protesting vigorously. I have put "steps" on either side of one of them so they can jump over them, but they are *very* skeptical and want the gates *GONE.* ::rolling eyes:: They are such prima donnas.

Picked up a very inexensive copy of 1000 Places to See in the USA and Canada Before You Die from Amazon... ordered it yesterday afternoon and somehow got it today. Go figure! I figure since we will be traveling cross country this summer we had might as well take some minor detours here and there, if anything is on the way. Might be fun to see what we have seen that they consider essential, too. Worth the conversation while driving, anyway.

Can I tell you just how much I love Levenger?? They are the most amazing vendor I have ever dealt with. I had a minor problem with an order that arrived yesterday - a purse I have been coveting - which arrived with something unexpected in it. I let them know about it, and that while it wasn't a dealbreaker or anything, I felt they needed to know about it. I *love* the purse... and have made it MINE MINE MINE... (I feel like Gollum) - it's the first purse of any sort I have bought in like... ten or twelve years... and it is made out of this incredibly supple leather and it is just.. OMG it is just... :::drool:::. Well, they wanted me to be *perfectly* happy and before I knew it, they had sent me a brand new purse and want me to send the other one back. I am sending the replacement one back... I don't have the heart to unload my Gollum-Precious... I am already so attached to it... but they are so determined to make it right that they are bending over backwards. This is one of my all-time favorite catalog stores for family and close friend gifts, but this? This puts them over the top. Order from them if you can. Their service and care - not to mention the legendary quality of their products - will blow you away.

OK. I need to get back to my school work. But I am just ... happy tonight. And I wanted to share it. I haven't felt happy since before Spring Break - the last time I can pinpoint it was early on the day of my birthday, February 27, *before* the plumber discovered the mess that was the hell of last month.

Happy is good.