friday

I had very little sleep last night.  Mom's water softener drained noisily from a little after midnight until well after 3 am.  Shortly after I moved in here, Mom's drain in the furnace room plugged up and that area flooded...not a by inches, mind you, but enough to wreck the carpet remnants she had in there and any paper items that were on the floor.  So, that water noise disturbed me.  It sounded like the water was gushing into the furnace room and flowing into the bathroom.  I got up and checked several times, but there was not a drop of water anywhere it wasn't supposed to be.  Yet, I couldn't fall asleep. 

The last time I looked at the clock last night it was nearly 4:30 am. 

I suppose I was awake around 9.  Mom had come into my room for some reason--I can't remember why.  We talked a little and I told her about the water noises.  I was seriously thinking about going back to sleep,  but I didn't.  I got up and got dressed, cleaned the litterboxes and gave the cats food.  I putzed with the Facebook Scrabble game for a while.  If they don't debug that damned thing, I won't be playing it much longer.  It freezes and is a massive pain in the ass.  I love playing Scrabble, but I've about had it with the Facebook version.

I've been reading Never Let Me Go, and, while I am enjoying it, it just isn't pulling me into obsessively reading it like some books have. 

I went upstairs around noon and had some of my penne and dill salad and a tomato on toast.  Then Mom and I sat in the living room a while.  She was watching the judge shows, and I was reading my book.  She had told me that Lily and Jerry would be coming over and that Lily wanted me to give her another massage.  They also needed to get some family history information, and Mom has all kinds of stuff in her Family Tree books. 

While Jerry read the questions and Mom and Lily answered, I gave Lily a massage for over an hour.  Her back and shoulders were so tense, and her arms where just full of knotted muscles.  She was in so much pain with it that even though I was very gentle, she was still yipping and yelping every time I hit an extra sore spot.  I could feel that it loosened up some, but not nearly as much as it should have.

When I was done, I could feel the effects on my own muscles all the way up to my elbows.  It wasn't pain--it was more like a buzzing/warm feeling...like all the muscles and tissues were activated and pulsing with energy.  I hope it was a healing flow from me to her.

After they left, Mom fell asleep watching her judge shows, and I read for quite a while.  Then, while Judge Judy was on, I was tired of reading and wanted to sew.  So, I came downstairs and worked on my little pirate outfit.  Mom came down after a while and played on the computer for a while.  She likes to play solitarie on there. 

She left at about 5:15 to go to Lily's house as Marge, their Bible study leader, was coming to Lily's house to pray for her for healing and for her surgery next week to be successful.  Mom got back again at about 6:30 and we decided to order pizza for supper.  We got ground beef and black olive pizza with an order of garlic cheese bread.  That stuff is delicious.  Probably a heart attack in a box--but boy it tastes amazing.

We watched a couple of episodes of Criminal Minds and then Pawn Stars and American Restoration.  It's interesting to see how many different things people have accumulated in their lives.  I wish I had something valuable that I could get big bucks from.

I started the Christmas fabric pantsuit for Chryssie.  I think when I finish that, I may work on some clothing for the Ideal family.  They haven't had anything different to wear for ages.  Some of them--the mom, dad, and brother--have NEVER been out of the clothes they were wearing when I got them.  Tomorrow, they get stripped and scrubbed.  Then we'll see about giving them some garb and a tote  to hold them and their stuff. 

That's about it.  A rather boring and unproductive day. 

Today I felt odd.  This image came to my mind about myself leaving Triton as a caterpillar, then blossoming into a gorgeous butterfly at ROC--only to have my wings ripped off and my crippled body lying on the sidewalk, twitching and writhing, but still very much alive.  Just damaged beyond repair. 

It would have been kinder if they had stomped on my body after taking my wings.

Alas.  Alas.

In other news, I see there is now a Dumbledore in the Tonner scale compatible with my Tonner dolls.  I WANT him.  And Professor McGonigal too.  And Harry and Ron and Hermoine too, of course.  Sigh.  That woud be several hundred dollars.  I doubt very much that I shall ever own any of them.  Sadness.

Writer's Block: Fashion faux pas

[Error: unknown template qotd]Probably one of my cats and a stash of toy mice.

Saturday

I was up past three again last night.  I just can't get to sleep at a decent hour.  I am almost always in bed by 10 pm, but the moment I lay down--BANG!  All notion of sleep leaves me.

Today, I had to babysit Cora while Kari and Jack went to Caleb's football game.  She arrived here at about 9 am.  I was awake, but still in my pjs when she got here.  She hung out in my room and talked to me for a long time.  Then I sent her up to Mom so that I could get dressed.  She  was very excited about baking.  We have become baking buddies.  LOL.  She told Mom, "I love to bake!"


Mom went to Harmony today  to visit the Amish community with her church group.  She was afraid she would get back after dark, so I drove her to the church and dropped her off at about 9:45.  Cora elected to stay here by herself while I took Mom to the church.  She was playing an odd little game with all Mom's beanie babies.  She had bears set up all over the living room.  She talked and sang and played with those critters completely without self-consciousness.  I was very amused by it all.  "Bearathon" was the name of the "town" she had set up, and there were creatures in "Heaven" (the shelf above the fireplace) who watched over the creatures down below.  She has a very creative little mind.

I tried to grab a little nap while she was playing, but she kept noticing my eyes were shut and telling me, "You are NOT ALLOWED to go to sleep, Auntie Cheryl.  We have to BAKE today."

So, even though I didn't feel much like it at the time, I got out the stuff and we made a double batch of chocolate chip cookies, a batch of peanut butter cookies, and a raw apple cake with a caramel glaze.  Everything turned out very good.  She was very into measuring the ingredients.  I had fun working with her.  She had so many questions, like "Why do we need to put in Crisco?"  and "What does flour do for the cake?" 

When Kari and Jack got back from the football field, Kari called and wanted to know if Cora was ready to come home and go shopping in Owatonna.  Cora immediately replied, "No.  I want to stay with Aunt Cheryl."  I was really hoping for a little quiet time in the house with mom gone, but it was not to be.  Cora was here from 9 in the morning till 5:30 pm.  We had a very nice time together, though.  I don't regret losing out on the time by myself.

She took a couple of breaks from baking with me to read her book Junkyard Dog or play with the Beanie Babies.  She didn't really enjoy putting the cookies on the cookie sheet.  She also watched a couple of kids shows on TV.  One was I, Carly, and another was SpongeBob Square Pants.


Kari and Jack called and wanted to invite me and Mom over for Papa Murphy's pizza and to watch the movie Thor, which they just picked up today.  I didn't expect Mom back till 7 or 8 pm.  But to my surprise she got here before Kari and Jack did.  Fortunately, I had already done the dishes, wiped down the table, counters and stove, ad swept before she got here.  I had split the apple cake batter into two small square cake pans, and both baked up nicely.  They came out of the oven shortly after Mom came home.  I was making the caramel glaze when Kari and Jack and Caleb got there.

They headed home after Jack hauled my kitty litter out to the garbage and Cora got her messes cleaned up.  Mom and I followed shortly afterwards with one of the two cakes I had made.  We had Papa Murphy's pizza--one was pepperoni and cheese with garlic sauce on one half and regular tomato sauce on the other.  They also got a thin crust veggie delight for me.  I prefer vegetables and no meet on my pizza,

Thor was just as good the second time through.  The actor that plays Thor could eat crackers in my  bed any time he wanted to!  There were a lot of small, clever, cute things in the movie.  For example, the point where Thor is all cocky, saying, "You DARE threaten THOR, the god of thunder with that puny...."  Then the chick tazes him and he falls twitching to the floor.  LOL.  Then in the hospital, when he's yelling to all the doctors and orderlies that are trying to subdue him, "You are no match for THOR..."  And one of them shoves a needle in his ass and puts him down.  LOL.

Mojo, the new kitten let me hold him for quite a while.  He is a big flirt and adorable.  He purred and purred and purred.  He made me miss the kitten stage...but I still remember the curtain climbing.  I don't want to go through THAT again.  LOL.

Kari and Jack brought me back a baggie of Bing cherries as a "thank you" for taking care of Cora.  She was no bother.  She's a pretty good girl, even if she did lecture me on the evils of drinking Diet Coke.  LOL.

That's about it for me, I guess.