Spring Cleaning!

I know, I know, it isn't spring. So either I'm late this year or early for next year. Either way, I'm almost done with rearranging our room. When Jerry went to go get his mom he said he was going to quite smoking, so I thought it would be really good if the house didn't smell like smoke. I went to the store and got Febreeze and some carpet deodorizer. The living room was the first room to be cleaned and rearranged. The thing that you must remember is that there are five people living in a single wide mobile home and all of us are pack rats to some extent, Kyle doesn't "collect" as much stuff as the rest of us. That said, cleaning the front room took several hours, lots of vacuuming, and rearranging of tables, clearing the top of the piano off, placing grandbaby pictures on it, and throwing lots of stuff away. It felt so good to get rid of a lot of the junk that was in there. Maggie was able to reorganize some of her things so that she can get to them easier, which means that her stuff is now in containers that she can get into. Now all of her stuff is put away! Yeah!

The last couple of months Jerry and I have been wanting to rearrange our room, make it easier to get into the closet, give the appearance of more room in a small room, and move the TV closer to the bed. Yes, I started this process while Jerry was gone. It took almost twenty-four hours to clear a path along one wall. I took out Jerry's dresser and just kept going down the one wall, this had been Jerry's side of the room. A few months ago I had rearranged my side of the room, in doing that though it gave Jerry more space to store stuff. The last time our room was rearranged was about four years ago, at that time I had been going through radiation therapy and didn't have the energy to go through all the stuff that had been in our room at the time, so everything had been put into crates and boxes and shoved in the closet or under the desk and the bed, then there was the next years of not going through it all and adding to the mess. It took more than a week to get the room clean, organized and comfortable. There are a few things that still need to be done, mostly paperwork that has to be gone through, it won't take all that long to to do.

After I get that done, I will be starting on the kitchen. We no longer have a dining table, instead I have a sewing table that has drop down sides. Well, when I cleaned my side of the room a few months ago I ended up with four large bags of clothes, one kitchen size bag, and Maggie has a kitchen garbage bag of clothes. All these bags are around the sewing table, and as I thoroughly cleaned our room any and all sewing and craft things ended up on the sewing table. Now it's the kitchens turn to be cleaned and organized.

The good thing is that the house doesn't smell like smoke anymore, and Jerry is well on the way to quitting. He is cutting back on how many cigarettes he smokes each day. Soon he will be smoke free! Yay!

Have to get going, still have to get groceries. Hope everyone's week is a good one.

Live fully....

Jerry's Vacation

Last week Jerry took his vacation time to go up to Washington state to drive his Mom down here. He went by bus to get there. The bus ride was interesting. On the first bus there was an 11 year old boy who thought he could rap. He evidently talked quite a bit on this leg of the trip. Jerry had to change busses at one point, and though the next bus was quieter he doesn't think that anyone had cleaned the restroom on the bus for weeks. Everytime that someone opened the door to the restroom the whole bus would stink. The farther north he got the colder that it got. One of the passengers informed him that while he slept on the way to Portland that the bus slid off the road about three times, Jerry didn't even wake up for the slides. When he finally got to Washington his nephew was supposed to meet him at the bus station. He waited for about 20 minutes then called his sister and found that they were waiting for him in the next town for him. How they ended up thinking that was where he was going to be is still up for speculation, somehow I think there was some miscommunication between the sisters, which is normal. So his sister drove down to where he was and picked him up. Because they live on an island there is a 45 minute ferry ride to get to their house. When he finally go to the house, he felt like he needed floaties just to go outside, the air is that thick there. He was only there for 2 nights, yet his sister managed to make him mad enough to argue with her, she turned off the TV while he was watching the news. Stated that she didn't need to watch the news because everyone else kept her informed on what is going on in the world. Well you can see where this line of thinking led to. Anyway, the drive home from Washington was equally interesting. Jerry managed to get into an argument with his Mom. I had wondered why he didn't want to stop over night anywhere, now I know. Because of Jerry's emphysema there are some strong odors and scents that he can't handle, he has a hard time breathing, he can't get near the detergent isle at the grocery store, that kind of thing. He had to keep the window in the car rolled down because his Mom kept applying perfume, he finally did say something to her about it. She kept reading all the road signs to him, complained about any and all road construction, and tried to read the map and give directions. The reason she is coming down here is because her daughter and son-in-law are having problems and hopefully having the house to themselves would help them work there problems. Well, according to Mom all the problems are her son-in-laws, her daughter has done nothing wrong. No one else but her son-in-law walks out of the room when he is mad. This is what started the argument with Jerry. For some reason his Mom thinks that Jerry doesn't do that, well he does, as does anyone who wants to try and work out a problem, cooler heads will prevail. Anyway, just as they get within a few miles of reaching Phoenix there is a backup on the freeway, don't know why yet there was, and they got off the freeway and took side roads to our house. Jerry called me to let me know that there was a problem on the freeway and that they would be taking sideroads to get home, he asked if there was a bunch of kids at our house and that they should be gone before he got home. There was only one of the boys friends at the house and I didn't make him leave, I knew that Jerry wouldn't be mad about that. When they finally got home, Jerry acted like a gruff bear, looking like he was upset. His mom stayed for a few minutes before leaving to go to Jerry's sisters house where she will be staying. When she left he told me of his trip and what he wanted to do if his sister called back when their mom got to her house. The plan was to say that Jerry had stormed out of the house and that I didn't know where he went, that he left because there were kids in the house when he got home. (I knew that he wasn't serious about making them leave in the first place.) He wanted m to so this to prove a point, that yes he does leave when he gets upset. She never did call back.

He gave up two weeks of vacation to bring her down here so that she would get here safe and sound. He did this because he loves his mama. It was a perfect way for him to serve her.

Live fully...

A new school

I am enrolling Kyle in an online school, it wasn't my first choice. I would have rather had him finish in a regular school, but he needs to graduate from school to get into the Navy. He scored so high on the Navy's test that they aren't to concerned about which school he gets his diploma from, he just needs one. Anyway, that happens this week.

Jerry is on his way to Washington to pick up his Mom to bring her down here to live. It will be nice to have her here. She will be staying with Jerry's sisters.

Have to get going, the thunderstorms that we were supposed to have during monsoon have finally arrived, monsson is over with though. Both dogs are here in the bedroom with me trying to hide from the thunder.

Live fully....

The Power of the Written Word

Next month is National Novel Writing Month. I am once again taking the challenge of writing 50,000 words in one month. I have as yet very few ideas on what to write. It is while I'm pondering this that I come to the realization that the written word is very powerful. No matter what is written, whether it is fiction or non-fiction, the writer has the power to change the way people think. When it comes to court cases a written document carries more legal weight than someone's word or promise. While the spoken word is very powerful, those words gain so much more power when they are written for all to see. Even when no one else sees what is written, they have the power to change the writer. What is written can make people see their world in a different light, make them change the way they live their lives. This is a power that should not be taken lightly, even when writing a bit of fiction, the writer has the responsibility to review their words. What will be the effect on those who read what I have written? Is that the effect that I want them to have? Will it help the reader or someone in their life?

Now to decide what I want to write this year. I will not be putting my effort on a blog this year, if you want to read what I write, please let me know.

Live fully....

Schools and learning

Kyle is not happy with the new school. Some of the lessons are on computers, which isn't bad, except that the math portion isn't easy to understand and the instructor in the classroom at that time isn't a math teacher, so isn't much help when Kyle has a problem. The other classes are moving slower than the ones in his original school. If he can hold out until next week it might get better, then all the classes will be on computers and he will be able to move through the courses as fast as he wants to. There is something to be said for going to an online school, he has plans on getting a job, which he can't do at the school he is at now. The bad thing about either of these choices is that they are set up for problem kids. Kyle just needs to make up credits to graduate. If he stays in the school he is at now he won't be able to get a job because the school day is so long. If he attends an online school I'm not sure if he will complete the work. I didn't really want to take him out of the original school in the first place, but the Navy needs him to graduate before he can go in. I will have to make phone calls tomorrow and do some inquiring on the online school.

As for me, I have been taking an online course on how to get published. I have learned some interesting things. I still have about half the course to finish yet. I will be done before National Novel Writing Month begins. I am going to try my hand at writing 50,000 words in one month again. I will encourage everyone to give it a try.

Live fully....

Last Weeks Adventure

Kyle is now in a new school, and still attending the original school for ROTC. I will know more today on how he likes this arrangement. He is really focused on graduating, he now has a goal to reach. I am so proud of him. Gregory is working on getting the last credit he needs, besides the ones that he is earning this year. I am proud of him as well.

I got to go drag racing on Sunday. A friend of mine has a car that she runs at the track. It was so much fun. At one point when we were waiting in the staging area, we were in line with another car club and they had pull us out of the line so that the other club could run together. They had us wait well behind the starting line. We got to watch them race from the best seat in the house. It was so much fun watching the cars go down the track. It was even more fun to go down the track myself. I will have to do this again.

Live fully....