I want all that snow…

Usually, when the news is full of snow and drama and runs on TP, bottled water, ice cream and booze, we here in New England are right smack dab in the middle of it.  Feet of snow, the quiet world it brings, hot drinks, shoveling, fire in the fireplace…totally New England.  Not this time…I am so sad that this snow storm is missing us…everybody else south of us is getting MY feet of snow.  They don’t know what to do with it, don’t know how to enjoy it and we do.  Boo hoo…I want my feet of snow back!!!!!

All right, Virginia and DC and Pennsylvania and all you other states down there that are getting my snow…don’t get used to it.  Enjoy every minute of it, because next time, it is going to be US, babee…

Snow, sweet snow

A long time gone…

Life has left me feeling as if I’m drowning lately.  I find that I can go a certain length of time managing a somewhat complicated schedule and then WHAM!  There is always so much that needs doing and I am TERRIBLE at making and keeping lists.  My boss is my list role model…she is an incredibly efficient list maker and list item checker-offer…I would LOVE to be more like her in that area.  But I’m not.  Without lists, however, I am becoming increasingly inefficient and constantly afraid that I am forgetting something important.

I think one of the reasons I have trouble with lists is that I would be horrified to see everything I SHOULD be doing written down in one place.  Keeping my to-dos in my head allows me the fantasy of thinking that I can do it all.  Then weeks like this one bring home reality.  I have said yes a few too many times.

Right now, I am working two part-time jobs (legal assistant) and one full-time job (community theater), with the administration of a summer rental property and blogging and facebook and maintaining a relationship with my husband of 34+ years thrown in as spare time activities.  Needless to say, I am falling way behind in a number of those areas.  The fact that hus (when he is home) is a great homemaker is the only thing saving me from falling off the edge of the world.  And this is the same man who spends hours holding book for me as I struggle to learn lines for our upcoming winter show, The Dixie Swim Club…what a great guy he is…and, in a few days, he will attain the lofty position of being a year older than I (our birthdays are exactly one month apart)…every year, he gloats almost daily for the month.

Finally, our little Sophie-cat has recovered beautifully from her surgeries of last week…she was spayed and had a big ol’ ugly abscess removed.  She was very quiet and sleepy for the first three days, and then it was as if she woke up and was completely back to her old, active, whirling-dervish self.  Night before last, I was awakened by the sounds of thundering cat paws pounding down the hall, into the office, back down the hall, into the bedroom, tussle tussle tussle, chase chase chase…Sophie and Phoebe were celebrating Sophie’s return to a normal cat’s life.

Poor little Sophie…

Sophie had her “wellness” check today…she turned 6 months on January 21, and we knew it was time to get her in to see the vet.  We had noticed a little swelling in the little valley where her leg joins her belly, but she was still wrestling with her sibs, racing around the house and leaping in the air after lady bugs…so we weren’t overly worried.  We were, however, glad we had this appointment already scheduled.  Well, her feline leukemia/feline AIDS tests came back negative, she has now had all her shots, her weight is good (5 pounds and a few ounces) and they were in love with our sweet little cat.  However, the doc didn’t like the swelling, suspecting a hernia.  They had an opening tomorrow, so tomorrow morning, I’ll drop Sophie at the vet’s so she can be spayed and have them look around inside.  I’m hoping that they will let us pick her up tomorrow night.  Fingers crossed that all goes well.

OK, I can stall no longer…off to work on my lines…

I am an addict…

Yes, I will be the first to admit that I have an addictive personality.  Don’t know if it is related to my ADD, but…

Our HD cable service has been acting up for the last couple of days.  I spent time yesterday morning with a Comcast rep, but due to the fact that it was 5am and I wasn’t able to provide helpful details about what was wrong, nothing was solved.  This morning, I armed myself with facts and details and discovered that whatever is wrong, it can’t be solved remotely.  We currently have an appointment for a technician to come out and personally check out our cable, but not until Sunday night.  Good thing it isn’t Super Bowl weekend!  The sad part is that the last two mornings, I have felt unsettled and confused without my Way Too Early with Willie Geist and my Morning Joe!  Read a book?  Clean house?  Sort through piles and piles of papers?  WAAAHHHH…I want my TV!!!! {Note:  I am equally distraught when my internet goes down or my computer crashes.}

Sophie the wonder cat has her first vet appointment today…a wellness check that will be followed by a [shhhhh....spaying] appointment.  She turned 6 months on the 21st and it is high time she got her tubes tied.  For the first time, we had a little trouble actually pulling the trigger on this decision.  Sophie is the most beautiful cat and has a fantastic personality.  We thought [very briefly] about having a litter of her kittens.  But that is just too irresponsible…too many cats are out there reproducing more cats who are out there reproducing more cats…you get the picture.  We have always been responsible cat parents and we will be responsible with Sophie, too…but isn’t she just the cutest thing?

Wouldn’t you LOVE to have a Sophie clone of your own?

I’m blogging in the rain…

It is mid-January and the inches of moisture that fell from the sky this week were not beautiful, white snow…they were big, heavy RAINDROPS!!!  In January!!!!  The good from that is that the ugly, stained snowbanks that lingered are now flowing down my street…the bad is that really icy patches become even more slippery when slicked over with a stream of water.  May I just say that I am looking forward to this coming weekend, when “they” say we should have snow!

I’m going back and forth about my new glasses.  My old glasses were rimless, which I LOVED!  But my optometrist’s office no longer carries them.  So, I had to go through that awful “can’t see what the frames look like because I can’t see without my glasses” session.  My helper tried on the frames I chose, but that really wasn’t helpful.  I ended up choosing frames I am not crazy about…don’t know if they look big and heavy because they aren’t rimless or if they really are big and heavy.  I’m sure I have a satisfaction guaranteed period and all I have to do is go back and pick out new frames.  But what a pain…if I do that, I’m bringing my husband along to help me pick new frames AND I’m going to wear my contacts so I can see!  The other thing I’m doing is buying a pair of glasses from one of those online cheap frames places…they DO carry rimless and that way, I’ll have options (always good for an actor) AND a back-up.  So, why don’t I wear my contacts more regularly?  Because I have yet to find contacts that work perfectly for my silly eyes.  I have tried one near/one far, far with reading glasses, bifocal and now toric bifocal…my current trial pair are perfect in the right eye, but the left eye feels as if the prescription part doesn’t match up properly.  I am determined to find a pair with which I can read and work on the computer AND see life clearly.

So, what do you think?

Got that sandwich filling feeling…

How many times have we said that getting old sucks, but it is better than the alternative?  We all think that somehow we will escape the ravages of time and the consequences of our day-to-day lives on our minds and bodies.  But it gets us all.

I have the best in-laws in the world.  They opened their arms and then their hearts to me and are incredibly supportive and loving parents and grandparents.  Both were active, social people.  Mum-in-law is Australian, she and dad-in-law fell in love while he was stationed there during WWII.  Dad-in-law worked for the state department and moved the young family from Virginia to London to Virginia to Rio to Virginia to Mexico City to Toronto…all with regular summer vacations on the coast of Maine.  They all played golf and were active and healthy and strong.

Fast forward a few years and they are older and are having to deal with issues they had hoped never to face in their younger days.  Illness and just plain ol’ time are taking their toll.  They were so smart…both of them have kept meticulous records over the years and have kept up with their estate planning.  They moved into a good elder community, living in an independent apartment in the assisted living complex, to ensure access to care “when the time comes.”  They have insurance and resources.

In all the discussions we have had over the years, what I failed to factor in is the personal element.  I hadn’t realized how sad I would feel, how helpless and how conflicted I am…I live hours away from them at a time when they could most use my help and my company.  I go on with my life, acting in a play, working, cooking…just doing “my” thing…what kind of person am I?  I like to think I am empathetic and caring and loving to all those about whom I care a lot, but when push comes to shove…?  So much to think about.

The title of this post references sandwich filling.  I am so lucky.  I am the “sandwich generation” but both pieces of bread around this sandwich filling are soft, warm arms to hug me…can’t complain.

P.S.  Thanks for comments from fellow blogger Karen, who has “been there, done that.”

May I call in sick today?

Political commentary included, read on at your own risk.<G>

This has been an AWFUL week.  The pictures and stories coming out of Haiti are stunning, stupefying, heart wrenching.  An already hideously poor country trying to recover from devastation, piles of bodies, amputations without anesthesia, people dying from cuts and scrapes that become infected for want of a little water and ointment…horror after horror after horror.  I try to focus on the good that has come out of this…people have been donating and volunteering and even traveling to Haiti to help…too bad it takes something so awful to bring out the best in some people.

I am a registered independent.  That said, I usually vote Democratic because their interests/stands and mine often coincide.  I voted for Martha Coakley with gritted teeth.  She is a good and strong and compassionate attorney general, but as a politician, I never got the sense that she had anything special to contribute.  However, I could not in good conscience vote for Scott Brown.  We share almost no political beliefs or ideals.  I was really hoping that President Obama would have at least ONE term to get his agenda across and health care and jobs policies in place and helping people.  I’m lucky enough not to need a whole lot extra from the government, but I’m also realistic enough to know that I am one disaster away from needing LOTS.  I want people to care about other people.  On the bright side, though, perhaps this election will wakes us all up…maybe now we can work on working together to do what is right, to come up with something that we can all support and believe in.

And to top it all off, the snow that we have gotten over the last two days has been a huge disappointment…heavy, wet, slushy…if it is going to snow, it should SNOW!!!!

The cherry on top of my pity sundae is that my glasses are broken (wearable, but they are frameless and the connection point for the nose piece drilled into the glass came loose and my progressives slide all over my face) and, according to Cambridge Eye (on my insurance list), they cannot be fixed.  Fortunately, my authorized, biennial eye exam and new glasses have kicked in, so I was able to get that done and order a new pair of glasses.  The bad news is that it takes 7-10 business days for my new glasses to be made and mailed back to Cambridge Eye…here we are, past the 10 days and still no new glasses.  ACK!!!!  I would use my new contacts except that I CAN’T SEE VERY WELL OUT OF MY LEFT CONTACT!  And my follow-up appointment isn’t until sometime in February.  Sigh…my fingers are crossed that they call today and I am able to retire my poor broken glasses to the back-up eyeglass case.

Wonder what kind of a person starts a blog post with Haiti and its awfulness and ends it with something so petty as wishing my brand new glasses arrive soon?

Some days it is harder than others…

Some days, I feel driven to blog…something or somethings run around my mind and beg to be let out on paper.  Other days, anything I might write is dwarfed by what is happening in the world around me.  These last few days have been more about the latter.  The earthquake in Haiti has brought so much horror and devastation to an already desperately poor and fractured little country, it is hard to write anything frivolous.  We immediately made a donation (I chose Boston’s Partners in Health [pih.org] for our first donation because I know someone who works with them and know that they are in place to help), we have so much, they have so little.  I read and watch coverage and marvel at how much we learned from the devastaion of New Orleans about getting there quickly (it took 5 days for the government to mobilize and get actual assistance to NO, and the delay cost NO and its residents hugely in the short and long term).  Sad to watch the planes carrying aid and aid workers and equipment that are circling the airport, unable to land because the airport was damaged.  And time is a luxury that the Haiti doesn’t have.  So much to do…

The other thing that tragedies such as these bring to the forefront the fact that there is so much need here in my own country.  The lion’s share of my annual contribution to the public good is my years of service as a member and President of my local community theater group.  It is a not-for-profit arts organization that provides (or so we like to believe) food for the mind and soul.  But right now, food for the mind and soul is being sacrificed for food for the belly.  So, as I try to make a good plan for making donations that make the most difference, I wonder what YOUR favorite charities might be?  I am a fan of Heifer International, the Red Cross and my local food pantry, with the occasional response to an emergency situation such as Haiti.  How about you?  Anything I am missing?

GO PATS!!!

Brrrrr….We have already hit what is supposed to be our high today….25.7 degrees on a bright, sunshiny day.  We started out the morning at zero degrees…watched hus don a pair of silkies and another pair of long johns over them then pants then layers of tops and neck and head gear and thick socks and his best cold weather boots, all topped by a thick sweatshirt and best cold weather jacket…all so that he could join his buddies at Foxboro Stadium to tailgate and then watch the Patriots hopefully take apart the Baltimore Ravens.  Hus’ contribution to tailgating was a gorgeous smoked brisket (smoked yesterday on our own Weber out on the deck) and homemade by his own hands bacon cheddar corn bread and a bottle of Crown.  I’m watching from the comfort of my bed, after having cleaned up the kitchen in the wake of hus’ cooking spree (he does like to make a mess when he cooks!) and after folding loads and loads of laundry (only two more and we are done for a while).  Now I need to put together publicity and marketing info for Dixie Swim Club so we can update our website and let folks know that we have, so to speak, changed horses in midstream.  Then I have a script to mark up and lines to start learning (I’m playing Sheree Hollingsworth, the swim team captain and oh-so-organized and put together friend — so NOT typecast).  Lots more on my to-do list, but that’s what counts today.

Go Patriots!  And look for hus way out there in the nosebleeds somewhere!

New year, same ol’…

What a year, and it has only just begun…

My theater group’s first show of the new year fell onto hard times…Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf is a really HEAVY load for the actors, particularly for Martha and George.  Unfortunately, the challenge proved more than our Georges (yes, we went through a few) could manage and the production collapsed.  One emergency meeting later, we had chosen a new show to put in its place (The Dixie Swim Club) and had cast ourselves and our friends in the five roles (five women who met on the college swim team meet up every August at a beach cottage, the play calls for them to age from 44 to 49 to 54 to 77 during the course of the show).  So, suddenly, there are lines to learn, a stage manager to find, publicity and sets and costumes and aging make-up and … OHMYGOSH, what have we done???  6-1/2 weeks to pull it together and pull it off.  Most pressing, however, is a major overhaul of the website.  I think I know what I’ll be doing this weekend.

Life has returned to as close to normal as things ever are on the homefront.  My in-laws are back at home in Maine, making some adjustments in their living arrangements to help them both be safe and more comfortable.  Hus was lucky enough to be able to spend a lot of time with them over the past couple of weeks and was thankfully able to help them get everything taken care of.  So glad he is home, though, and I have him back for a while.

My darlin’ daughter is running her first Disney half marathon tomorrow…she is amazing!  Her inspiration derives from a story she did on the half marathon two years ago.  And her incredible husband will be there rooting for her and, I’ll bet, tweeting her progress.  Go Widricks!  And let’s all cross our fingers that the weather cooperates and they don’t FREEZE…

There are lots of disadvantages to having family spread all over the world.  I miss my sisters and kids and cousins and parents and aunts and uncles and in-laws who are spread all over the country and world (Alaska, California, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Maine, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, not to mention New Zealand and Australia).  There are advantages, too, and one of them is the photos we share.  Just a few:

Maine

Alaska

New Zealand

Nice, eh?