Devastating

My laptop hard drive died last night. I woke up to...nothing. What is the value of the pictures on that piece of machinery? Priceless. And they are gone. This feels like the time my house was broken into. You think you have leveled out and are coping, and then you think of something else you lost and fresh waves of grief break over you and take you back out into deeper water. My eyes aren't working - do contact lenses stop fitting with too many tears shed?

Too early for bed, but nothing seems to be all that compelling to do to take the place of this empty feeling. I guess sometimes you just have to feel the feelings. Worship this morning left me fragile, so close to Easter and my Stan is so very far away. Days like today are never easy, but somehow the sharing makes it softer, less stark, when you are able to cry to your beloved for comfort.

Bedroom blues and lost things

Not what you may think! Stan is in Africa, so I've begun tackling the nasty bedroom wallpaper in earnest. I spent most of yesterday removing the pink vinyl stuff that does not allow water to soak through it at all. Today's pictures show all that is left. Unfortunately the pink paper near the closet took the top layers of the wallboard paper with it, so that will have to be sealed before I can put on texture and paint.

The furniture is still a little too close to the walls for me to reach the last little bits of border visible in the pictures. I'm hoping my mom can help me get sliders under the armoire and the dresser to move them enough to get a ladder behind them. Failing that, I could probably call on the neighbor to help. I slept on the couch last night, too lazy to deal with the beds. The bed in Ritchie's room has clean sheets, and I'm saving that for my mom for tonight.

Mom is driving me to my medical procedure in the morning. I'm going for the second round of lumbar facet injections, praying this time it will "take". The one I had over spring break did not bring any relief.

I have a lovely gilded mirror with a bamboo frame for sale. If any of you are looking for this kind of drama, just let me know. Stan says he thinks the Chicken Ranch is closed so I won't be donating it to them. I'm also thinking that the swag chandeliers will have to go. The plan is to run the wiring for the lights through the wall from the ceiling and put lights on either side of the new mirror. That will have to wait for Stan, as he is the king of fishing with romex.

Getting that wallpaper off was a gargantuan task. Most of it has come off in small strips, little by little. I have read that I will need to shellac or otherwise seal off the bare wallboard paper to prevent it from bubbling. These are the times I wish I was retired (again). This house could be a full-time job.

Add to all this the fact that the Gospel Riders garage sale for Run for the Son is next weekend. Good in that I can get rid of lots of stuff. Bad in that I have to price it all and haul it over there.

I am frankly shocked at how strongly I miss Stan - I feel like a part of me is gone. Stan says can you imagine how Christ longs for those who don't know Him? That is humbling and something I had not thought about.

Two things are missing - my house/car keys and my Kindle. Both of them are somewhere in this house, as there is simply no other place they could be. Both have been missing since before Stan left. I need a week to clean everything up and find stuff. Alaina said she thought my house eats things. I think she is right.

Nairobi time

First day of spring in East Texas

 This is what we get where I live. The tree pollen covers everything. I took pictures of dark things to show the contrast, but believe me it is on EVERYTHING.  This is the mailbox by the road. The mailbox is black!

 

This is the top of my trash cart. It is also black. Pretty amazing I think.

This is a fertilizer spreader that is standing on my front porch. 

As you can imagine, opening windows is not an option, even though the air is quite cool and pleasant at night. I did leave the window beside the bed open last spring, and this mess was all over the nightstand, the books, and you guessed it, up my nose! This year I'm turning on the AC and getting the hose ready for the day the blooming stops. I'm grateful I am not allergic to it, much.

Can't wait to see my sweeties this coming weekend!

Frittered away

I suppose I must be totally rested and rejuvenated. I've accomplished very little, and vacation is over until summer. New effort on the Metabolic plan starts tomorrow, time to undo all the partying and hedonistic living since the first of December. All things being considered, I guess it could be lots worse than a mere 10 pounds! Yikes. I bought new capri slacks today, still in a regular size but just barely. I've been enchanted with costume jewelry and makeup this week. I really hate some things I see in the mirror. A trip to the dermatologist really motivated me to look closely.  Don't let anyone tell you that aging is easy, that is a bunch of bologna! I wish I could be serene about it, but honestly if I had $3500 to blow I'd go get my eyelids done. For today I settled for a M A C pencil brush and a pot of pigment called Copperplate. Perhaps a little brush artistry will make it less noticeable. Slather on the sunscreen, so the "maturity" spots don't become bigger or more numerous. Do you know if you really magnify a photo of yourself something like 400%, you can see all sorts of colors in the pixels? I had no I idea I had so much yellow in my skin!

Pound for Pound Challenge

I pledged 25 pounds to the East Texas Food Bank!

Goodbye...

Our sweet Tessa died on December 23. We think she was hit by a car in the early morning. We let her out to do her thing and she didn't come back. Stan found her beside the road, not a mark on her. Tough way to face the holidays, but being surrounded by family helped a lot. Rusty has moved into the house. He is still crazy and intolerable at times, but his craziness is entertaining and he will even get in our laps for lovin'. When he goes down for the night, he plays "dead" in his crate or on his pillow. We believe God gave us a new dog before the old one left us...