Ever wake up in the morning suddenly thinking you're late - when in all actuality you're not - but you rush around anyway and the whole day seems like that until you realize it's 9:30 pm and almost time to go bed and you feel like you haven't stopped since you were rudely awakened by a mistaken sense of being tardy? I hate those kinds of days. Thats the kind of day I have had. Mainly because I hate to grocery shop. I went by to pick up "a few" things after work and, wonder of wonders, they were having a 10 for $10 sale on nearly EVERYTHING in the store so I found about a bazillion things that I needed which of course, I didn't need before I entered the wonderland of mass propoganda. Ok - so why exactly do I NEED 10 bottles of ketchup? And instead of spending $1.99 on one bottle, I spent $10 on 10! Yes, it's a great deal, but when you're also dealing with limited storage space, the money I saved is spent on Ibuprofen. So, of course, I spent more time in the grocery store than I wanted. And it never fails that no matter what check-out aisle I decide to patronize, the lady in front of me either has a big issue with paying 17 cents more than what the sign says or, in today's case, the lady was paying by some sort of government funds and spent $174.00. Not a problem in the least, but apparently the highest denominator of these government funds was $5.00 and she had to tear out and sign 35 of these things. And then the check-out lady had no idea what buttons to push on the computer thing so we had to have "Management to lane 4 please!" By the time I was done, I figured I'd just stop by the pharmacy and see if I could steal a prescription for high blood pressure.

Mom is doing much better. Her spirits seem to be lifting as her wound heals. She has a follow-up visit with her physician tomorrow and I'll be meeting her there since I've technically been her home-health care nurse. Besides, she may need more moral support than my dad. He tries really hard, he really does, but I think he daydreams alot, which makes him not very observant when it comes to seeing the signs of an impending emotional breakdown. But he's really been great through this whole ordeal with mom. I just hope she gets well enough to do a little camping before summer is officially over. I bought her some new shampoo today, and then while I was having my little grocery store crisis, I also bought her some new mascara. (It wasn't 10 for $10 but it was a Loreal close-out sale, $2.49 instead of $8.49!) She rarely ever wears make-up so she rarely every buys it, either. I think everything she owns is left over from when her daughters lived there and left the stuff there. I was "gussying" her the other day to make her feel better and her mascara was ookey. (catrina-ism) So, I got her some new. Should make her happy.

Uncle Walter e-mailed me. It was great to hear from him. We kept in good contact for a while some time back but we kind of lost touch. I'm glad we're e-mailing again. It's nice to have a talk with someone who has similar political views and has as much insight as he does. Kind of like talking to my dad. They both have the experiences that are awesome to just sit down and listen to. I think they should both write a book. Hell - if Clinton can do it, I'm sure Uncle Walter and my dad can.

Sam and Lizzie started school today. They both apparently really like their teachers, which is a good thing. Sam did his homework at his new desk. He thought that was "most awesome". Even used his little light. Sam is learning cursive writing and is very excited about it. Lizzie had a phone call from one of her new friends. They want to get together sometime. Dear Lord, it's already starting. At least it was a girl. They both got new shoes over the weekend so it was easy to wake them up this morning. Obviously hard for the world at large to see the relevance there, but anytime my kids get new shoes, all I have to do to roust them out of bed in the morning is lure them with the concept of getting to wear them. Robbie talked with Matt and Drew and their first week at school was good. Drew is going to a technical school, he wants to be a commercial pastry chef. Matthew is doing high school Algebra. He's in 4th grade. Hard to fathom, but I miss the little boogers. Two parents, four children, two dogs, and two turtles in this tiny house made for a cramped summer and I thought it would be good to get back to normal, but it feels kind of empty. Hard to do here.

Robbie is diligently working on my new desk downstairs. We got a great deal on birch wood and it's beautiful. And HUGE. A big L shape, one side is 10' and the other is 8'. Man - lots of room to spread out there. I can't wait until it's finished. It's going to be "most awesome", to use Sam's words.

My eyeballs are slamming shut and my pillow is screaming my name. I'll close with a thought. This is out of the calendar I made for the family, full of quotes, birthdays, and anniversaries and pictures of everyone. "What if the question is not why am I so infrequently the person I want to be but why do I so infrequently want to be the person I am?" That has been on my mind since I first read it. Food for thought. Goodnight blog.