Friday, October 31, 2014

A completely empty nest...


It's finally official--or will be--

Tomorrow our last birdie leaves the nest.

DD, our middle child, has been home for the past few days to 'legit pack' (her words, not mine) to move in with a friend. She'd actually started packing at the beginning of the year, anticipating moving out around the time Seaman Recruit Sonshine graduated high school last June. Obviously, things didn't go quite as planned.

For the most part, DD's been staying with another friend for the last few weeks and it's been quiet around the house. Now, we'll have the use of her room.

Since the birdies have been gone, I've definitely noticed a reduction in trash and the necessity of running the dishwasher every single night. The grocery bill has dropped a little and I've lost a load of laundry without Sonshine here too. Now I'm just waiting for the utility bills to reflect the reduced electricity and water usage as well...

Have a great weekend! And seeing as how it's October 31st, have a Happy Halloween as well.





Wednesday, October 29, 2014

I get to see my boy!!


I spent an anxious Monday evening booking hotel rooms and flights for two, yes, count them--TWO--trips in the span on eleven days to visit my Seaman Recruit.

Of course, the second trip is to see him graduate, but because there's a holiday--a big, important family holiday--coming up, the Navy has seen fit to let us 'adopt' our recruit (ADOPT?? A-hem, he's mine and always will be, no matter what the Navy says) for the Thanksgiving holiday. So the first visit is (obviously) for Thanksgiving.

(He's not a full-fledged hero just yet, but he's close!!)

We get to pick him up from the base and spend the whole day with him. Holy smokes. I have no idea how or what we're gonna feed him, but I'm okay with delivery pizza and I imagine he would be too. :)

I'm so excited.


Monday, October 27, 2014

October by Robert Frost


O hushed October morning mild,
Thy leaves have ripened to the fall;
Tomorrow’s wind, if it be wild,
Should waste them all.
The crows above the forest call;
Tomorrow they may form and go.
O hushed October morning mild,
Begin the hours of this day slow

 (Image courtesy of http://worldlivepoint.com/)

Make the day seem to us less brief.
Hearts not averse to being beguiled,
Beguile us in the way you know.
Release one leaf at break of day;
At noon release another leaf;
One from our trees, one far away.
Retard the sun with gentle mist;
Enchant the land with amethyst.
Slow, slow!

(Image courtesy of www.shutterstock.com)
 
For the grapes’ sake, if they were all,
Whose leaves already are burnt with frost,
Whose clustered fruit must else be lost—
For the grapes’ sake along the wall.

Friday, October 24, 2014

Finally making good progress...

One of my goals for the year was to lose more weight, specifically down to around the 120 lb. mark. Well, I've finally jumped another hurdle--the 130 lb. point. I've see sawed back and forth over the last few days, which seems to be a normal occurrence for me, but morning weigh-ins for last few days have seen the readout drop by approximately a pound a day. I have to admit the whole mouth thing the weekend before last probably helped since I couldn't eat much but low calorie chicken noodle soup and drink lots of tea and water. I do need to get back to the exercising though. I want to work on shape as well as weight. On another quick note--it's Friday. So have a great one dear friends.

Wednesday, October 22, 2014

The state of Jen and other things


Well, it's two weeks since I said good bye to my boy. Early days were tough and I still get misty-eyed every now and again. Sonshine called this past Saturday and seems to be fine. I missed his call, but he talked to his dad...

DD has also been gone more often than not, so the house has been very, very quiet. It's not unpleasant.

I'm still working from home with a couple of trips to the office per week, so that's a good thing.

This past weekend, I spent time getting my back yard cleaned up. After the crazy storm we had a couple of weeks ago, the back yard was pretty rough around the edges. So I mowed and raked and cleaned up the patio and the whole thing looks rather tidy now.

All I have left is to get the chainsaw out and cut the fallen limbs into truck-bed lengths to haul to the dump. I have a lot of yard waste to haul to the dump. At least, two loads, if not three...

Oh, wait--I also need to trim the holly and the wild hedge out front. Which will no doubt add a trip to the dump.

But it's fall y'all and fall is my favorite season, so I'm enjoying all of this outdoor work. I love it when the trees look like this, although that means it's colder than I like.

Image courtesy of Wikipedia.

How are you enjoying fall so far??
 
 

Monday, October 20, 2014

Monday, Monday...



Friday, October 17, 2014

TGIF


So it's Friday. I was AWOL on Wednesday as I'd had teeth pulled Monday and had to work with DH to get our taxes filed on Tuesday and just plum didn't think about a post for Wednesday.

My mouth still hurts a bit, but it's gotten a little better each day. It's definitely better than it was at the end of last week and over the weekend, and I've been able to sleep through the night again. Whew. I need my state-of-mind sleep. I don't function at peak anything without enough sleep.

So physical pain, emotional pain, and lack of sleep did not make for a very happy or healthy Jen.

Tomorrow is writers group meeting, but I'm on the fence about going. Sonshine leaving is still a sensitive topic. Anytime I think about him, my vision blurs, and I'm worried about bursting into tears in front of my friends and fellow writers and I'm really an ugly crier. But I missed last month and I want to see my friends. Decisions, decisions...

But the best news is that it's Friday which means no work for two days except, possibly, yard work...

Have a great weekend.

Monday, October 13, 2014

Address to the toothache...





by Robert Burns

My curse upon your venom'd stang,
That shoots my tortur'd gums alang,
An' thro' my lug gies mony a twang,
Wi' gnawing vengeance,
Tearing my nerves wi' bitter pang,
Like racking engines!

When fevers burn, or argues freezes,
Rheumatics gnaw, or colics squeezes,
Our neibor's sympathy can ease us,
Wi' pitying moan;
But thee-thou hell o' a' diseases-
Aye mocks our groan.

Adown my beard the slavers trickle
I throw the wee stools o'er the mickle,
While round the fire the giglets keckle,
To see me loup,
While, raving mad, I wish a heckle
Were in their doup!

In a' the numerous human dools,
Ill hairsts, daft bargains, cutty stools,
Or worthy frien's rak'd i' the mools, -
Sad sight to see!
The tricks o' knaves, or fash o'fools,
Thou bear'st the gree!

Where'er that place be priests ca' hell,
Where a' the tones o' misery yell,
An' ranked plagues their numbers tell,
In dreadfu' raw,
Thou, Toothache, surely bear'st the bell,
Amang them a'!

O thou grim, mischief-making chiel,
That gars the notes o' discord squeel,
Till daft mankind aft dance a reel
In gore, a shoe-thick,
Gie a' the faes o' Scotland's weal
A townmond's toothache!


Friday, October 10, 2014

Saying goodbye...


Letting my boy go was one of the hardest things I've ever done...

 Taking the oath for active duty service. Caught him saying his name...

Very proud parents and their not-so-much-a baby.




Anchors aweigh, my boy...



Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Today's the day...


Sonshine ships out...






I'm at MEPS saying goodbye. If I miss Friday, forgive me.

Monday, October 6, 2014

Monday Storm Edition


Last Thursday afternoon, a wild thunderstorm pin-balled its way across the Metroplex. DD works in the northwest quadrant of Fort Worth and we live on the far east side. Her work got nothing. We lost two large branches out of the dead tree and the whole neighborhood was littered with tree debris from the wind and hail and sideways rain. Limbs and trees were downed as well. Now, just a few miles northish--in the business park where our office is--nothing. There was rain and some wind, but the streets were free of the tree debris...

We lost power for a few hours, but it was back on before bed time. The Internet, however, has been stroppy all weekend.

Sonshine and I spent some time this weekend cleaning up the front yard.

Hope you had a lovely weekend without too much clean-up to do.




Friday, October 3, 2014

Spring Cleaning...


I'm a little behind schedule, but with Sonshine heading off to basic training next week, it seemed a good time to do some household clean-up.

We finally got through the bulk of Sonshine's stuff from his room, getting everything he wants to keep into boxes. His room will become DH's home office so that he can work more easily from home in the evenings and on the weekends.

But along with Sonshine's room, I've been tackling a junk drawer here and a box in the garage there. We have a lot of stuff, and it's as good a time as any to weed through it all and get rid of the stuff we never use.

How about you?? Are you a pack rat or do you maintain sleek storage areas in your house??

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Today's blog post is brought to you by...


...the number one  name in rodent beauty products...


Have a great Wednesday! It's all downhill from here.