The word of the day reminds me of the last trip I took with my mother-in-law, Claudette and her friend Barbara.
We were on our way back from an epic trip to San Antonio, but the plan of the day was to go to Magnolia Farms in Waco, Texas before we ever left the famous Minger Hotel in San Antonio, next to the Alamo.
I had never heard about the bakery and the famous cupcakes there, but we enjoyed one after waiting in a very long line. It was totally worth it, even if I killed my diet in the process!
Claudette eating a delicious cupcakeMe, doing the same!
I miss her so much every day.
Word of the Day Challenge
Just a note: Prayers going out for all the victims of the Uvalde tragedy today. 🙏🙏🙏🙏
What a great and productive day my brother and I had!
Mom’s cedar chest with sheets and blankets.
We had lots of things left over from the estate sale, and I had specific plans for a good bit of it.
My plan was to take the clothes to the Leukemia Society, the sheets, blankets, and towels to the animal shelter, the puzzles and the dvds to a couple of different assisted living facilities, and the vases to a local florist. I love the idea of our unused items getting a second life.
I thought I was done, between that and my own errands and housework, but then my brother called and wanted me to help him with a few more things. He brought me lunch, and I thought, ”well, a little while longer won’t hurt me and we’ll knock a few more things off the list.” I finished my errands and met him at Dad’s around 1pm.
Dad had collected boxes of taxes and receipts, so Kevin loaded all of those to dispose them, and we had floor to ceiling bookshelves that needed to be emptied and taken somewhere. This is what happened in a nutshell. While he was dealing with the boxes of receipts, I was going to box up the books, but Sean took the packing tape home with him. So Kevin took his truck load home to unload and grab his tape.
While he did that, I decided to bag all the paperbacks and we would box up all the hardbacks when he got back. So we did all that, loaded everything in the back of his truck, and he was about to leave and take them to Half-Priced Books, when a customer from Saturday pulled up in front of the house. Turned out, she wanted all the books and the cedar chest!! I looked at my brother like ”You gotta be kidding me” but he made her a deal and she took it all, the whole load! He was nice enough to take it all to her house and help her unload it.
Now for the sad part. I was on my way home when all this happened, but I could not let him handle that heavy cedar chest on his own. So I helped him load that heavy thing onto his tailgate, after shlepping all those books to his truck, and then I was toast. I was told by my hubby not to overdo it today, and I did just that! 😬🙄😮💨
I was still happy and thought the day turned out super! I popped two Tylenol the minute I got home and sat down to reward myself with the taped episode of Grays Anatomy and do my Spanish lessons. My cat crawled in my lap and went sound asleep. She actually was across my left breast with her bottom half on the couch. All of a sudden, something scared her (the dogs made a movement) and she shot straight up in the air, smashing her head into my left cheek on her way to flying across my end table, scratching the shit out of my arm on the way, and knocked over a whole tumbler of water and ice, clearing everything else off the table.
All of this happened in two seconds! I sat there stunned and holding my face for a couple of minutes wondering what the hell just happened! Then I got up to clean the mess, having to mop for a second time today did not make me happy. That most of it landed on the wood floor was a pressing matter. I had to get that up quick before it ruined my floor. In the midst of that, I had to stop and go bandage my now bleeding arm. Once I cleaned everything up, I got some ice and rotated it between my face, my knee and my back.
Needless to say, I did not go to my grief support meeting tonight, but I still say it was a super day despite all of this! I thought that tomorrow I can catch up on all I didn’t get to do today at home, then my son texted me.
“Can you pick Shari up and take her home tomorrow around 1:30?
My dogs give the most cuddles in the morning while we are still in bed.
But, even so, they have their cuddly moments. I have pics with each boy, my husband, and myself showing (mainly Whiskey) showing her cuddly side. That’s because she craves human contact more than Brandy.
Sean getting some rare cuddles.
I can’t explain why that is, it’s just her nature. Brandy has more of the Yorkie in her than Whisky, who is mostly Shi-tzu.
I had pretty much the same bonding experience with Brandy when she was a baby as I did with Whiskey, but our bond is closer. She is usually laying in such a way that her body is alongside my leg, however, if I get up, she will move alongside David’s leg.
With Brandy’s thin coat, you would think she would act the same, needing the warmth, but she is Miss Independent. In the morning is a different story. She will inchworm her way from the foot of the bed to get next to us for kisses, belly rubs and hugs…and then she’s done.
David literally has to pick her up and put her in his lap to pet her or get any other kind of cuddle time. Unless of course, it’s her idea. Her second favorite time of day is when he gets home from work, and then Katie bar the door, because she is running to meet him, usually with a toy or abone in her mouth. It’s always funny to see her trying to give kisses with one of those items in her mouth.
I remember when, during the pandemic, restaurant menus turned into barcodes you had to scan to decide what you wanted to order to eat.
I always hated it because all you have is your phone to read the menu, and it was hard to read clearly on that little phone. Some people may have thought it a cool, new way to access the menu, but i always thought it inconvenient.
For the same reason restaurants did that, doctors offices got rid of magazines, to cut down to germs from people’s hands…which we were all washing fastidiously. The whole thing made no sense to me. Again, we were reduced to waiting forever with nothing to read or look at but content on our tiny phones. It was enough to give you a headache!
While waiting on customers at our estate sale today, the last day, I scanned the room and all that was left after people had come and gone and was left with a clear sense of melancholy and the realization that this was all that was left of my parent’s things and all I have now is the memories.
On the other hand, I had lots of old and new friends come by, reminisce, and make a few purchases and I love them for that. So the experience was bittersweet, but necessary to help along my grief journey. I am ready now to move on to the process of selling the house. We are so blessed to have friends in the business of real estate and investing, I know it will be a quick and easy process.
I appreciate the help with the sale by my brother’s friends at his church. One worked for hours in the garage and was instrumental in making most of the outside sales. Another helped me inside with the cashbox and the pricing of all the inside items. I thanked them but feel like I should do something more to show my appreciation. I was just so emotionally drained I needed to leave. Clearly, they do it for the love of helping friends, but still, they should be compensated somehow. Dave bought lunch for everyone yesterday and Kevin bought breakfast today. Maybe we could send them home with whatever they wanted from the sale for free?
I guess I must be living under a rock because this is my first time seeing this video of a woman jumping into the animal exclosure at the zoo and feeding the spider monkeys a Cheeto!
These are primitive and wild animals, and everyone knows you are not supposed to jump in the enclosures or feed the animals at the zoo! There is signage everywhere saying so. Yet this women refuses to admit she broke the law, or did anything wrong.
Woman leaving the animal enclosure
She got a new job following the incident and her new employer is perfectly okay with her and defends her actions.
If you ask me it’s just another example of the upside down world we are living in today, where lawlessness is taking over and people just think they can do anything they want!
Words On A Page 