Sarcasm gets me nowhere

Posting on Facebook brings out my most sarcastic side. It's a tad distressing because I really don't want to hurt anyone's feelings, but no doubt it's going to happen. My theory is that it's too much inter-generational exposure for me. If I could bring myself to delete the account, that would be a step in the right direction. Maybe tomorrow. Why do the blogs I read seem so much more honest? Is it because I don't know the bloggers personally?

Mr. Rogers would like it

The weather is lovely today for a day in early November on the mid-Atlantic coast. While I refer to Mr. Rogers theme song, each special day we get like this actually reminds me of the Cousteau song, The Last Good Day of the Year. We could plunge into weeks of damp, chilly gloom any moment. By the time we come out of it, I'll be suffering from seasonal affective disorder. Although, I tell myself I will exercise somehow and not let the winter gloom get to me.

My father got out of the hospital today after a near brush with a heart attack. Now he has two stents and reamed out arteries. Good for an old man. Was not ready to see him go by any means and lost a couple nights sleep despite telling myself that he was okay and in hospital. I could listen to myself better in this regard.

Now we're waiting for the home-made chicken pot pie to finish baking. It's starting to smell good.

work is like angry birds

Sometime in the night, I realized that I was addicted to thinking about work in the same way I get addicted to ridiculous electronic games.  Long after I quit playing them, I continue to work through scenarios to solve the puzzle or problem, shifting Tetris pieces, clicking Mah Jong tiles, throwing Angry Birds.  It annoys me no less when I do this with work than when I do it with electronic games.  As I'm falling asleep or when I wake up in the night, I'm making electronic maps, or re-tooling a discussion point, or re-writing a paragraph over again.
Knowing that I'm doing it only helps slightly to derail the review of the puzzle, program, annoying issue, annoying electronic game.   I was previously convinced that the designers had created the games in such a way as to force them to stick in my craw.  Now I'm thinking that I just have an amazingly tight craw and that's why things stick in it.
Is this boredom or some deeper psychological problem?  Maybe you shouldn't answer that.

Taking care of Mom

My mother died in August. We raced halfway across the country with our two new puppies for fear she would die in less than 48 hours. This isn't about that, except she didn't die for eleven days. We brought her home to my sister's home to take care of her as she slowly faded.
The process was not easy for her. I think there was pain as she couldn't eat and her organs started to shut down. She couldn't even really swallow liquids. Although she asked for beer (never drankurea in real life), and ice cream, wine (never saw her drink that before either), and whiskey (she would very occasionally sip that). We couldn't give her anything of substance -- of course, if she could take substantial food that would have been different. This isn't about that either.
This is to say that the experience for our very large family was amazing. We pulled together to support each other and to care for her. Nobody demanded anything. People understood when one sibling or another had a moment of hysteria, wondering if we were doing everything we could or should. Taking care of her was stressful, yes, but also it felt so right and true.
Perhaps not everyone would give this same account, but this is my perspective. Is this what closure feels like? I never knew.

Average day

Tuesday. Wake up early. Fail at falling back to sleep. Let the puppies out. Feed the cat. Feed the puppies. Feed D1. Shower. Feed D2. Go to work. Go home. Escort flooring estimator around the house, despite knowing we can't afford that much hardwood. Flooring estimator says, "no interest for one year." Still don't know if we should commit to it. We have the cheapest hardwood floor one can buy around here, but installing it throughout the upstairs will likely run in the $8000 range. We'll see when the estimate arrives tomorrow. After, waste 20 minutes looking for entertainment on YouTube. Pick up D1 from tennis. Start dinner. Get chicken and dumplings in the oven. Buy milk. Pick up D2 from soccer. Eat.
Another exciting day when my lower back hurts, I wonder how I can do everything better, and take it all too seriously.

Pre-matrimonial bliss

The other day at work we had a pre-matrimonial breakfast for a co-worker. He made the claim that marriage won't be any change because it's like they're married already. I said marriage is different than living together and that commitment changes things. It's not that one doesn't feel like bailing sometimes, but that there is more intention to staying. Women over the age of fifty agreed. Men and women under the age of forty disagreed. I call this decade in between, where I dwell coincidentally, The Great Divide. Not sure whether it's an age thing or a cultural difference between when the younger and the older were raised. The guest of honor is also forty something, so which side if the divide will he be on?

I brought the coffe, juice, plates, plates and napkins. The DH brought bagels, lox, and pastries. Everybody else just attended.

Weekend Wonderland

Today we shopped for a homecoming dress for D1.  But first we let her drive to a busy shopping center and asked her to attempt to parallel park.  In the ensuing two seconds, she completely freaked out at the prospect of even beginning.  She pulled up next to the forward car, too closely, and wigged out.  She really seems to have very little idea where her car boundaries are located at all.  It's unfortunate that she may never pass her driver's test with the inability to conceive where her vehicle is.  She has six months till her driver's test and if we don't have her driving everyday, and possibly have a major crash, she will definitely not get there.  C'est le vie.  She wants to live in a city anyway.

No party dress yet.  Nordstrom Rack was lacking today.  So was Syms.  Next comes BCBG outlet, I imagine.  Next weekend.