Our new DVD player plays AVIs! I just watched Torchwood on an actual television for the first time ever! Yay ( Read more... )

As expected, this month hasn't been much fun--I mean, even not counting the flu, which completely sucks. I've been doing the "a year ago today..." thing way too often, but it's hard to avoid. Today, at least, it's not too bad: A year ago today was my mom's last good day. She was awake and cheerful and had so many visitors that she was exhausted ( Read more... )

It's been a while since I've posted shots of my teeth, so here they are, for the record.

( teeth teeth teeth )

( my mother had an aunt... )

I found this Jeff Macnelly cartoon...


( Read more... )

I went downtown today to get a certified copy of my mom's will, and it was so windy--gusts up to 45mph--that I took a cab to Daley Plaza. It's maybe a mile from Union Station, and usually I'd walk it without a second thought, but today, not so much. Got the copy, anyway, which means I can get the car title transferred to my name, which means I can ( Read more... )

Yesterday was one month since my mother died.

Last Wednesday, the Chicago Tribune had an interesting article about grief. Y'all are familiar with the five stages of grief, right? Disbelief, Yearning, Anger, Depression, Acceptance were the ones this article listed. The article was about a study that looked at how long each of these stages lasts ( Read more... )

I spent yesterday afternoon working at Mom's apartment, then Matt came and we stayed the night on an air mattress and packed all day today. It's just about done, and Matt did a lot of cleaning in the kitchen, which was extremely sweet of him--I had been planning on doing that on Monday or Tuesday. The place is full of boxes now; we're donating ( Read more... )

Packing my mother's apartment is getting more difficult the nearer I am to finishing. I'm not sure why. It's not the stuff--there's hardly anything there I have any attachment to. Maybe it's because when I'm there with her things, it feels like I'm surrounded by her, and the fewer things there are around, the less of her presence I feel ( Read more... )

• Life insurance check arrived, so I can pay off the funeral home, yay. Wow, death is expensive.
• I listed a bunch of furniture on craigslist last night, and it's all spoken for. With any luck the apartment will be much emptier by tomorrow afternoon. I'm not making much money off it, but it's worth it to have people haul it away.
• Still wrangling ( Read more... )