July 29, 2008

• An Idle Tuesday

  Idle?  How could that be so with my large, always busy family???

  We have no appointments scheduled for today.  It rained last night (YAAAAAAAAAAY!) and it’s still wet outside with a chance of more rain this afternoon.  Most of the laundry is done.  I’m actually looking for things to wash today since currently the temperature is 83 degrees with a heat index of 87 degrees AND it’s getting close to noon.  The house is remarkably cooler – thanks to the air conditioner units being cleaned off and the cooler temps today.

  Actually, this is a welcomed slow and dismal day.  I’m enjoying every minute of having not much to do!  Everyone is sitting or snoozing in various places around the house.  This week-end I discovered a You Tube video of Andrea McArdle (the girl who played Annie on Broadway 100 years ago) and who sings on the CD of “Annie.”  She is singing “On My Own” from Les Miz on this You Tube site and the girls LOVED her.  The girls are fascinated with Broadway shows and I’m reluctantly and carefully introducing them to the world of Broadway musicals.  That is what I grew up doing as a child (performing in professional musical theater) and I’m not sure I want my children involved.  Without being raised as a Christian (we attended almost every church ever invented), I was a child with a self-imposed high moral standard and didn’t participate in much of what goes on in the scummy life of theater people.  That was also during the Haight Ashbury days in San Francisco and the height of the love-ins and hippies and LOTS of drugs.  God surely had his hand on me with a different purpose in mind because I never got involved with the rebelling hippie groups..

  Anyway, my girls have found a cable musical station with Broadway musical songs, and they are in love!  I must admit, I have quite a memory for most of the older show tunes and it *does* bring back many pleasant memories of who I worked with and who my friends were.  One of the nicest men was Bonnie Raitt’s father, John Raitt.  Did “Carousel” with him.  He was such a concerned father figure of the young children in the cast.  I didn’t know this, but he was a practicing Quaker.  He insisted all children’s scenes be rehearsed first so they could leave and get home at a decent hour.  In theater, even children are sometimes required to stay until 2 in the morning, even though it’s against the children’s laws of the actor’s guild.  He also required every adult to hold their tongue with no rude stories or curse words used when children were in their presence.  He left a big impression.

  Well, that was a rabbit track I took . . .  (LOL!!!)

  Anyway, yesterday was so wearing on us.  The heat was miserable.  Temps were 103 degrees with a hotter heat index.  We went to Luci’s medical doctor appointment, afterwards to Target to see if they had zippered sweat jackets in (they don’t) and then to Wal-Mart (no jackets there, either), stopped at the pharmacy up the street from us and came home.  I felt so tired and achy and like I wanted to cry, which Luci and Rissy were already doing and Annamarie was acting like she was in a daze.  I cleaned the horrible mess in the kitchen and ran the dishwasher.  We had the pot roast that I (THANK YOU GOD!!!!) had started earlier in the day in my Crockpot.    I cut up potatoes (too tired to peel them) and some carrots, boiled them, and then threw them and some brown gravy with cooking wine into the Crockpot with the meat.  It tasted WONDERFUL!!!  But, I was too tired to clean up last night’s dishes.  And . . . It’s *ALL* waiting for me this morning!

  I ended up going to bed at 8pm to get off of my feet and told the girls they were all going to bed at 9pm, including Daddy and me.  I took 2 aspirin as I felt so achy and laid on the heating pad, worried I was coming down with a bug of some kind.  I guess I was just exhausted from the heat.  Anyway, I feel fine today and so do the girls.  But, we’re here at home with no plans except to maybe vacuum, dust, and clean some bathrooms.  Nothing major.

  Here’s my Stormy girl lounging with her feet on the formal living room’s rug.
  

  And, I found Sampson in his bed in our bathroom, although this is almost where he stays exclusively, nowadays!
  

  Couldn’t fine little Chirper ANYwhere.  Not at all like him.  But,  as he is gaining strength, weight and  being well nourished (with food, vitamins, AND lots of love), he is acting more like a normal cat and not like the clingy, needy cat he was when we first brought him home.  You can see that he’s gaining weight as his little sides are getting more meaty and bulging a bit!  Finally found him under Jesse’s side of the bed.
  

  Even Tango was idly swinging on her swing in her cage.  She is in the middle of molting (not a pretty sight) and is being very non-talkative today.
  

  The girls were playing some sort of game in the den on the ottoman.  I have no idea what they were playing, but they were quiet, except for the Broadway music station on TV, and it made for a serene house for a change.  Normally there is a bustle of activity!  BTW:  Rissy *DOES* have more than that one nightgown.  I seem to keep catching her in that same one!
  

  I went to the freezer (the small refrigerator/freezer in the garage  -  I still haven’t moved things back to the big one) and looked at it’s dwindling contents and wondered what to fix for dinner tonight.  I grabbed hotdogs and buns for lunch and some ground beef for dinner.   If the temps stay down, I may make tater tot casserole tonight.  Haven’t made that in a while and everyone really likes it.  I try not to use the oven during the evenings on hot days.  If I could think ahead, I could take meat out when I go to bed and make the casseroles in the morning.
  

  As I said, I’m way ahead of the game as far as laundry goes.  I did Luci’s and mine.   I have the whites in the dryer and some blankets in the washer.  I think I’ll wash sheets and the bird’s blankets while I’m at it today.
  

  The girls are now playing a board game by my desk and Chirper has come out of hiding.  He is picking up their markers from the game board and batting them across the room.  At least they are being nice to him and laughing and not acting upset at him for messing up their game!

  My sister-in-law, the one who is supposed to be visiting in a few weeks, is having hernia surgery today in WA at 3pm.  I guess after her Monday appt. it became a necessity to be fixed ASAP.  My father-in-law is ALSO having hernia surgery at 1pm in TX today.  We found out about his surgery last night.    I don’t think hernias run in Jesse’s family, I think it’s sheer coincidence.    Jesse said one of his brothers called and told of a relative (maybe a friend?) who had one leg amputated and the toes of the other foot amputated this week.   Then, his aunt (on their mother’s side) had a sister die of cancer yesterday.  Jesse said he hung up because he had to get back to work, but his brother said there was more news.  Whew!  Things can change quickly, can’t they?

  Well, I’m off to find more things I can wash and get myself pulled together.  Rissy and I are the only ones still lounging in our nightgowns.  That’s why there’s no picture of me today.  Lazy sloth that I am!

  • 1:16 pm
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