Burning the Midnight Oil

I cannot sleep. 

Maybe because of the four hour nap I took this evening?!

I got up in time to watch the repeat of the pilot episode of Men In Trees, and then the new episode following it.  I really, really enjoy that show.  It reminds me of Northern Exposure (for obvious reasons).  It is predictable in a lot of ways, but charming and funny and just, well, comfortable, if you know what I mean.  Sometimes I like to watch a show that is just easygoing, with likeable characters and amusing plots and conversations. 

Anyway, I'm still up.  I don't have anything in particular to write about, though.  I'm still catching up on journals.  I plan to read every entry done in honor of the 2,996 victims of 9/11.  It will take some time, but I want to read them all.  I knew I couldn't bear to write one of the entries, but I intend to read them all.

Let's see, what news here in Kentuckiana?  Oh well, the biggest news locally is that the two Louisville Ford Plants are not closing -- yet!  It seems they've escaped the worst of the downsizing for now; at least until 2008.  That's good news for several of our friends who work there.

The weather is really nice.  It was in the upper 70s today and partly sunny.  I think this weekend is supposed to be a little warmer; proper weather for the last weekend of summer.

Eler Beth is spending the night with one of her best friends, Tori.  Oh yes, she did something special today that reminded me of me!  Another of her best friends is moving tomorrow, and Eler Beth asked their teacher if she could bring in healthy snacks to give all her classmates as a sort of going-away party for Madeline.  She also went shopping for her a few days ago and put together a really nice little gift bag for Maddy, that included an address book so she could get phone numbers and addresses to keep in touch with all her friends.  Maddy was surprised and loved the gifts.  It was all Eler Beth's idea and she did it all herself.  She's a good girl.

Well, nothing else really pops to mind, so I guess I'll go for now.  I may be back later, though!

Men In Trees

I don't watch a lot of regular TV.  Most new sitcoms to me just aren't that funny, and they rely too much on potty humor and sex to get ratings.  I do watch CSI (all three of them when I can), and I like Criminal Minds and Numb3rs.  (Guess you can tell what kinds of shows I like.)  I like Seventh Heaven, and am glad they're back for another season. 

Last Friday I watched a show on ABC that I really, really enjoyed -- Men In Trees.  I hope it continues as good as it appeared to be in the episode I saw.  I guess we'll see.  I'll definitely be watching it tonight.  Anne Heche plays a psychiatriast who moves to Alaska to get over her ex.  It seems to be very warm and funny.

Dealing With Death

I believe I've mentioned in here before that when I attend funerals now I have a really hard time, and I start crying almost immediately and find it hard to stop.  I've been that way since my Dad's death four years ago.  I've also mentioned that Eler Beth has had a very hard time dealing with her grief, but that she's gotten much better during the past six months.   Her panic attacks have subsided, and she is able to talk about my father now.  However, she still cannot stand to see any signs of grief in me.

When we attended a friend's memorial service a couple months ago, she was watching me very closely, and I had to try to hide the tears.  She is very protective of her old Mom.

Well, she's having to deal with grief, again, on a somewhat smaller scale, and she is doing very well.  I'm very proud of her.  Her new cat, Jessie, died a week ago.  He had seemed to have moved in very well, and when he went outside he stayed in the yard.  He was making up to Freedom, and although Freedom still just basically ignored him, she didn't hiss at him or chase him away.  He went outside one afternoon and never came back.  We searched, called, checked with neighbors, everything.  He had on his collar and tag, and I was hoping that maybe, not being neutered yet, he'd just started his wandering early and would return.

But last Saturday, while Thomas, Eler Beth and I were gone, Andrew got a call from a neighbor that he'd found him.  He was at the back of their yard, and had been dead for a while.  There wasn't a mark on him, except that one of his hind legs was skinned up a bit.  I think he was either hit by a car and didn't die immediately, or a dog got him.  Anyway, it was hard to tell Eler Beth, but we finally did.  She actually cried in my arms that night, and for her to cry out her grief is actually a very good thing. 

She wants another cat, but right now Dad is saying no.  He doesn't want to go through that again.  Eler Beth has had a private AOL Journal for a while now that she only writes in intermittently, but she started a new public one after she found out about Jessie, and she talked about it in there.  I don't know if she's going to keep up with this journal, but I hope that if it helps her she will.  Here is the link, if anyone would like to visit it and leave her a comment: My Diary of Days.   I get a kick out of her 10 year-old spelling.  She and Andrew take after Thomas when it comes to spelling, unfortunately; he still tends to spell phonetically.  The proofreader in me is appalled, but the mother in me thinks it's adorable!  I think she's only made two entries so far, but she told me this morning she'd be making another one today.  I hope she does start writing in it regularly.

We got a few pictures of Jess, but I haven't developed them yet.  However, we had a few taken with my cell phone, and I thought I'd share this one, taken one day when Eler Beth was home sick. 

She's Back!

The very first AOL Journal that I ever read is back:  If you don't already know her, please go visit  Barbara at I'm Not Just a Farmer's Wife.  She's funny and energetic, and I had missed her journal very much.  I'm glad I still had her on my alerts!

Giving in to temptation....

I am so behind again!  We've been busy, so busy, and each of us has had one or more bouts with some kind of virus -- I just call it "Crud"; that seems to cover it.

I want to make an entry, but I have nothing in mind to write about, so I guess I'll just ramble.  It's wet here; today is the third day of rain, at times heavy rain. 

Eler Beth and I did a bad thing this morning. 

 

Have you ever had a morning when you just really couldn't make yourself or your child get out of bed on time?  Well that was us, this morning.  Andrew got up and out the door on time, but I went back to bed, after I knew he was up.  When it was time to get Eler Beth up, I called her a couple of times and she groaned.  I groaned in sympathy, then I lay down with her and said, "Why don't we just sleep in a little bit this morning?"  She said, "Really?  Why?"  And I said, "Because I feel like we both need it today."

Wasn't that bad?  Sshhh, don't tell anyone!

We have had so many late nights in a row, and like I said, each of us is still getting over some kind of crud.  I just absolutely could not open my eyes this morning.  So we slept in an extra hour, and Eler Beth woke me up by sitting up in bed and saying, "Wow!  I feel great!  I woke up just now all on my own, and I feel really good!"  So we got up, hurried through our toilette, dressed, and picked up breakfast at McDonald's.  She was exactly one hour late, which means she missed Music and about 10 minutes of her math class.

I did make sure she understood that this was a once in a blue moon kind of thing!  I hope she doesn't use it against me!

I came home and kind of dragged around the house for a while.  I've gone over our budget for this month, filed some receipts, had a cup of coffee, and checked my emails.  Now I guess I'll visit some journals, leave a few comments, and try to get some housework done.  Maybe I'll come back and write another rambling entry.  But I won't be at all surprised if a nap works its way into my day at some point.  I do hope this sleepy, fuzziness in my head goes away.  

Did You See Me In Stevie's Video?

One day last week, as I was trying to catch up on journal reading, I finally got to watch the J~land's 3rd year celebration video! that Stevie put together.  He did a really great job, too!  If you saw a "Lori" that looked like the picture below, well, that was me.  I should have added "HelmsWonderMom" in parenthesis.  It was good to see so many of the people that I enjoy reading!

I'm Baaack

I haven't had the time to make an entry.  Last week Eler Beth and I were sick; then we went to Indianapolis over the weekend; just a quick little getaway to visit with friends.  Yesterday Andrew was feeling bad, but seems to be better now, but Thomas seems to have what Eler Beth and I had; and it's very hard to get him to go to the doctor!  He definitely won't take off work to go.

I have been getting my alerts, as far as I know, and I think that I am now caught up on reading everyone's journals; for the past two days I have been reading and leaving comments as much as I can, so if anyone's comments alerts weren't working, they may not know it, but I've been there!  I have a lot of things swirling around in my head that I want to make an entry about, but when I'll get to do them I don't know.  I do just have to mention that Monday morning early Thomas told me about Steve Irwin, and that when I got up later in the morning I was hoping I'd dreamed it.  That haunted me all day.

Tomorrow I'll be back to make a proper entry, hopefully.  I hope everyone had a nice long-weekend.