Suburban Musings

So last weekend was all about the daughter, tho we rarely saw her, since she was working at Vicki’s Secret every day. Good for her! Earned some money to pay for all the “hoodies” she’s been buying.
This weekend we’re heading out on a traditional extended family “camping extravaganza and eating jamboree”. Brother and his family, sister and her hubbie, my mom, and my family…all together under the stars in tents, and cooking on a real campfire. Sound so wonderful….until you check weather.com and find out it will be in the 30’s overnight! EEEKKKKK!!! That means sleeping with a hat on…and we’ll definitely have 2-dog nights, too….we’re bringin’ the boys! See previous post for Charlie(aka Chuck, Charles, Budski, etc.)…the other mutt is a golden retriever/Irish setter mix named Rex. He is a true love muffin; wants to be pet, etc. all the time. He’ll keep us very warm…I know the food will be good, and great fall colors in the state park during the day….I just hope we don’t regret the sleeping outside part!

Okay, I’ve admitted many times that I’m not the best blogger out there; am pretty clueless with a lot of the bells and whistles, mostly because I don’t take the time to figure it all out. So, I lost a couple of posts this week. Here’s one I found…
“Don’t know where the post I wrote the other day went…hmmm how frustrating! I know it was a good one too. Talked about my college-aged daughter coming home for a long weekend…finally! Haven’t seen her since mid-August. She needed a little parental-nuturing (transl: Doritoes and her own soft bed, plus a good mom-funded trip to Walgreens) and also needed to get away from the sick environment of BSU; sick in many ways, I’m sure, but I was referring to the fact that she has had various odd maladies this fall, including mono and now Scarlet Fever! She has enough trouble with studying, without the fever, aches and pains…

I do think I have adult ADD…I flip around from one thing to another. This morning at 8am I was cleaning the fridge…Here are a few things on my mind:
1). Friend Allison, the evacuee from New Orleans. She’s been coming here every Weds. after school to “study” with my son and another friend. Last night I cooked dinner for 4 teenagers (hubby is out of town all week again…see his blog @ http://iunews.blogspot.com/2005/10/final-ceremony.html ). Anyway (see…ADD!) the kids were great and had so much fun together. It felt good to know that Allison has this break in her week, to get her mind off all the depressing stuff of her home in New Orleans, Dad’s new wife, friends she’s apart from, a best friend who recently died in a car crash, etc. You have to find those moments…
2). Guilt. I always feel guilty, working from home. I should be making phone calls right now, but here I am!
3). Fiona, the formerly fat cat. You know, the one who was attacked by a coyote (don’t you read this blog regularly??). Now, I’m having to change dressings every day; 5 layers of stuff over raw flesh. What I do for love…the other alternative was surgery…but I hate to put her through all that again, right when she’s just gotten perky again (ahem…it was also over $800.)
4). Norah Jones and Dolly Parton…a new CD “Feels Like Home” I’m listening to right now.
5). The guy who’s renting our old house….he is very picky, apparently, and keeps making us fix dumb stuff that is really adding up to many hundreds of dollars…..stuff that we’ve lived with for years! Like a door that floats open, a shower handle that leaks….nothing that is very bad, and even the handyman thinks he’s overly picky. That handle cost nearly $400., since they had to go through the wall to get to it….and its in the basement!! Who cares?!
6). Kitchen curtains; I really wanted to get them up before hubby comes home (oops, you read that, didn’t you, punk?)….may not happen.
7). Work…oh yes….I’d better get to it!!
8). Home; haven’t been “home” to Chicago since April…miss it, but kids sports every weekend keep us in Indy….

My neighbor recently told me that if he had to come back to Earth as a dog, he wanted to be my dog! hahaha. Its so true, tho; we really do love and spoil our pets. 2 cats (one, sleeping on the desk, under the warm lamp, next to me…the other in the sun on the screened porch) and 2 dogs. Yes, its true, I’ve been known to slip shredded cheese into the dog’s bowl to get him to eat his food. And yes, at least one dog sleeps with us…why do you think we got a king-sized bed? I am always trying to find a dog for someone; same neighbor just adopted a lab from lab rescue and she’s a real sweetheart. I visit websites regularly, just to check out “what’s out there” looking for a home. www.petfinder.com is my favorite; you can plug just about anything in there and they’ll find it for you! So, go ahead…..save a life; it will truly enrich yours, too! Here’s my current midwestern favorite.