Where troubles melt like lemon drops

I tweeted this photo today, in the middle of a long frustrating chain of events which is unfortunately the new normal.

It seems like February third* was 100 years ago. Today I really felt like my day was not in my control at all. I got three phone calls related to my father in law's care while I was at work - all from different people. At one point I ended up in a conference room ( because I sit in a shared workspace now, designed to cram two dozen people into a minimal amount of space. Go, go ahead and google Dogbone workstations - I'll wait... ) and when the phone call was done I just wanted to put my head down on the table and cry out of fatigue and frustration.

It was bad enough that the regression test assignment I had today confused the hell out of me; people walk in and out of the new work area all day long and I'm struggling with the steady stream of distractions. I HAVE ZERO ATTENTION SPAN AS IT IS, people. I also want to kill or maim the two, like, secretaries who, like, totally sit right near my now-very-open floor plan office space and won't. Shut. Up. With their loud phony voices. Like. Really loud.

I have my sister and a few trusted people that I can turn to and say OHMYGODTHISISALL SOFRUSTRATING and so on... And I am grateful for that. And for dumb knock knock jokes and riddles and silly games on my phone that help me get mind off things. And a nifty app, ambiance, which lets me download a variety of urban background noises which somehow help me tune out some of the clatter.

BUT. I am tired of piles of clutter and chaos around my house, and disappointed that I can't seem to ever make progress on things *I* want to do, especially now. Saturday I wanted to weed my garden and after 30 minutes of hunting for gloves, I drove to the hardware store in tears. I know I have three pairs. Somewhere.... But I had to put on my big girl pants and just go buy more, and not yank my husbands chain because the garage is a disaster and I'm spending all my free time buying diapers for his parents.

Because by the grace of whatever benevolent force in the universe allowed me to dodge my OWN coffin a couple of years ago, I got lucky and now is when I pay back all that karma that I got on advance.

I knew the abundant free time I had in January was a nice break. Now I see it was the water pulling away from the shore, and the feckin' tsunami is hitting me NOW.

*february third is the day my now-88 year old father in law fell, breaking his femur in three places...

Why I love Dancing with the Stars

http://m.youtube.com/#/watch?desktop_uri=/watch?v=V8rhcFpx3DY&feature=player_detailpage&feature=player_detailpage&v=V8rhcFpx3DY&gl=US

If you missed Louis Van Amstel dancing with Anna Trebunskaya last night to Santana, go watch it on YouTube. THIS is how it's supposed to look.

The best part is that it's really Santana, not those hack singers that do bad covers for the competitors. (as my daughter would say, "where are YOUR prize ribbons?" but I swear I could do better....)

Monday

... Why so mean, Monday??? Some of the people I work with are very funny and delightful ... But there are OTHERS....

Hi... and stuff

So... where was I ?

My father in law is still in the hospital. He will hopefully be coming home soon. In the meantime one of the women who help me care for my mother in law, M., is keeping plenty of baked goods supplied to my home. Chocolate chip bread. Banana bread. Blueberry. Cakes... and on and on it goes. We are all expanding. The goal was to put weight on MY MOTHER IN LAW. Not all of us. M calls to tell us she has a few breads for us, and we all sigh quietly.

This is my busy week at church; singing almost every day. Last night the priest was intoning several VERY long prayers in a row and I just. Got. So. Sleepy.  Suddenly I realized that not only was I RIGHT on the edge of falling asleep, Stanley was looking right AT ME. And he was saying "You're not falling ASLEEP are you?"  (Stanley talks to us all the time during mass, because we are upstairs behind the congregation, and they usually don't hear his Irish whisper as he reminds us how to sing a particular part of whatever we're doing next.)  So I turned bright red, and bit my lip and shook my head. No. Nope. Not falling asleep.  He laughed at me.  See if I bring him any candy. Or cookies. Or home made fudge.  (This year he asked me for maple. Early taste tests of the spoon indicate success...)

Hmmm... what else can I share with you? (I have a few loyal readers I see, I get a handful of visits every day even though I don't post as often since Harry fell. Are you reading my tweets over at the right? Do you like the photos I post? Feel free to look me up on Instagram as Carlyq80. )

We are very busy preparing for a trip to see my sister, who is having ANOTHER adorable baby for me to gush over. If the stars manage to align, she will cooperate and go into labor so that I can be with her while the baby is born (there is maybe a 5% chance of that). But it would be really awesome since she was with me when my son was born so many years ago.

I will have to be very careful if I am in the delivery room, since I am just as graceful as ever....

The other day I noticed that one of my neighbor's kids somehow lost track of a green ball that the wind had blown into the bushes in the very back of my yard. I walked back to go get it, forgetting that I was wearing shoes with a bit higher heel, which helpfully sunk into the wet grass every few seconds, since it had rained earlier.  I got to the ball, retrieved it, and was sinkwalking toward their yard when I remembered their big annoying german shepherd who chases people.  We don't get on well with those neighbors so I decided to just stop and kick the ball in the general direction of the other crap sitting around their backyard.  Unfortunately my shoes are slip ons, in addition to having heels, so OF COURSE ONE SHOE WENT FLYING. Of course. I had to walk across the wet grass a few feet to fetch it. My only consolation was that due to the angle of her house I know she wasn't watching me from her kitchen laughing.

Ah, don't you wish you could be as cool as me?   - one more story, then I have to go.

My daughter is also preparing for her prom, and discussing colleges. We need to start visits this summer. They will all be local, given the havoc that unemployment and cancer wreaked on my finances. Luckily we have some great options near us.  She told me in the car the other day that she was considering joining the Navy. I laughed for about a mile since this is a girl who takes no less than 30 minutes in the bathroom then still has to dry her hair and do her makeup just so, in her own room. I said, you are ABSOLUTELY not suited to the demanding life of a solder or a sailor.  She joked with me... "You'll see. I will do it just to prove you wrong."  I said nothing for a few moments.  Then I turned to her and shouted as loud as I possibly could, 'DROP AND GIVE ME TWENTY' and was rewarded with a scream and flailing of arms.

I rest my case.