A number of years ago, I got it in my head that I really, really wanted a handheld spot cleaner. You know, like a Dustbuster, only with cleaning solution and brushes. As a pet owner, it seemed like a good idea. And then, somehow, my family acquired one--I'm thinking Christmas gift from my grandfather--and I was all excited because I finally had ( Read more... )

Years ago, when my grandfather had his hips replaced, my mother would go over there once or twice a week (and this was at his old place, which was far more convenient to visit) and go grocery shopping and pick up his mail for him (he had a PO box...in an adjacent city, never mind that there was a post office a couple blocks away), and she'd ( Read more... )

So this Saturday is the friends' picnic my father's friends have been planning. Most of the work is being done by one person, but dad took it upon himself to become the DJ and spent the morning downloading music onto his iPod. It's approximately every pop or rock song known to man from 1960-1990, plus a few current tunes. I actually knew most of ( Read more... )

My grandfather called, on his cell phone, around 11:15. He asked if I'd like a visitor. Well, those things aren't up to me, so I told him I'd check with his daughter. My mom is really weird about having people over (hence why I never have parties, always go to Laura's and not the other way around, and reason #27 as to why I need to move out). ( Read more... )

We're fake tree people in my family, and my dad got the tree out of the basement on Sunday. He put it up, hung the lights, then strung the garland. However, that was as far as he got. I like to do the ornaments, so he wanted to leave that to me. However, I didn't have a day off until today, so the tree sat partially naked and forlorn in the ( Read more... )

Feast or famine. That's how it goes. You either have too few, or too many. Right now, we have too few people working. Since A. has become unreliable, we've been rearranging shifts to cover her hours. We don't have anyone to actually take her hours, though, meaning somewhere along the line we're short-handed. We've been this way the whole ( Read more... )

I might have mentioned this in a comment, but my mother came home with a new phone on Sunday. She may be going all out with the white Shabby Chic thing in the living room, but her kitchen is either black or stainless steel...with the exception of our old, perfectly good phone. When she spotted a black phone with answering machine and caller ID, ( Read more... )

My mother has doubled the amount of furniture in our living room in recent weeks. When I got back from camp, she had a little coffee table in there. On Sunday, she added a small bookcase. Last night, the three of us put together a little cabinet that mom is using as an end table. It took three of us because dad was doing the work, I helped a ( Read more... )

I came home from work to discover a note from my mother saying that she was going to Target and Borders in Algonquin. Now that she has a new addiction on which she can overdose, she seems like she's hitting every Target within a 25-mile radius. You think I'm kidding. There are four Targets between where we live and the end of Randall Road; she ( Read more... )

My mother is suddenly on a Shabby Chic kick. As in, within the past week, she has bought Shabby Chic-brand valances, a lamp, a vanity bench, a toilet paper holder, and cushions for the eating area chairs (which magically match the valance that's already over the sliding glass door). She gets into these moods where she'll become totally obsessed ( Read more... )