Promises, promises
I am currently sitting by myself at a Burger King in Mansfield, Ohio, at a table which proclaims, in letters carved into the fiberglass with a knife, that "I heart Trinda 4-ever." But I have my notebook and pen, and am writing away at this LJ entry as I snack on some "Cini-minis."
Except for a brief flurry of activity last month around the time of WriterCon, the more observant among you will notice that things have been pretty quiet here at redsrule1. Despite self-promises to the contrary, it looks like that's just the way I operate: show up on LJ for a few days, write a little, read a little, comment a little, then it's back to RL. I've kept telling myself that I should make more of an effort to be on LJ more regularly, and I feel bad when I'm not. But I guess I'm just going to have to accept that this is the way I am. And that's okay. Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me -- even though I'm old enough to make that reference!
It has been rather a whirlwind summer. First there was the trip to Florida to visit friends and family and then driving up to Georgia for the Slayage conference. Then there was the trip to Ohio to see my family for a week and the last-minute decision to bring my niece and nephew back to Illinois with me for another week's visit, and of course the trip to return the kids to Ohio. There was a short trip to Milwaukee to visit friends, then there was WriterCon in Georgia.
There was also the ficathon deadline, for which I produced three stories. There was the rush to prepare the bedroom and to get wood planks purchased, cut, sanded, and sealed in order to make a solid foundation for my new mattress before it was delivered. There was also the building of shelves from the excess wood and the now-replaced old bed slats.
And, of course, there was the teaching of dance lessons, spring cleaning, errands, and housework, as well as doctor's visits and a CPR class in preparation for (hopefully) entering the occupational therapy assistant program at school. There was also the tending of plants which, while relaxing, got a little out of hand. I went a little overboard this year, probably bought a few more plants than I should have in anticipation of having extra free time to deal with them since I wasn't taking any classes this summer -- HAH!
Then there was the second visit to Ohio because I'd promised my family in June that I'd come visit again in August ('cause of all that free time I was gonna have). I'd promised them two visits this summer when I broke my promise to visit them over spring break, so I was kinda stuck. I made the long drive and stayed there for a weekend, then my niece returned to Illinois with me for a week. My nephew couldn't make the trip this time because he needed to stay home to take care of his mother who, as the result of a diabetic insulin-induced sugar drop, fell and broke her foot. She had to have surgery to put pins in two days before I arrived. None of which I had heard about until the day after the surgery.
So yesterday my niece and I returned to Ohio, arriving after 8pm, at which time my other sister informed that I would be staying at her house instead of at the diabetic sister's place. Why? Because it seems that the other sister's foot was now infected, so she was now in the hospital receiving antibiotics by IV. This apparently explains why I had been unable to reach her the last couple of days (the non-hospitalized sister apparently forgot to mention this when I spoke to her earlier).
So today we're all going to visit my sister after lunch. In the meantime, while everyone else is at church, I'm sitting alone at the Burger King taking some much-needed "me" time, and wondering if Trinda and her beau have had such an eventful summer. Probably, I think. I'm betting that despite the table's insistence, this guy left Trinda a week later for Christy. Which doesn't make the table a liar. Unlike the speed with which this middle-aged guy's summer flew by, when you're of the age at which you'd actually carve such things into a table at Burger King, a week is "4-ever."
Except for a brief flurry of activity last month around the time of WriterCon, the more observant among you will notice that things have been pretty quiet here at redsrule1. Despite self-promises to the contrary, it looks like that's just the way I operate: show up on LJ for a few days, write a little, read a little, comment a little, then it's back to RL. I've kept telling myself that I should make more of an effort to be on LJ more regularly, and I feel bad when I'm not. But I guess I'm just going to have to accept that this is the way I am. And that's okay. Because I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me -- even though I'm old enough to make that reference!
It has been rather a whirlwind summer. First there was the trip to Florida to visit friends and family and then driving up to Georgia for the Slayage conference. Then there was the trip to Ohio to see my family for a week and the last-minute decision to bring my niece and nephew back to Illinois with me for another week's visit, and of course the trip to return the kids to Ohio. There was a short trip to Milwaukee to visit friends, then there was WriterCon in Georgia.
There was also the ficathon deadline, for which I produced three stories. There was the rush to prepare the bedroom and to get wood planks purchased, cut, sanded, and sealed in order to make a solid foundation for my new mattress before it was delivered. There was also the building of shelves from the excess wood and the now-replaced old bed slats.
And, of course, there was the teaching of dance lessons, spring cleaning, errands, and housework, as well as doctor's visits and a CPR class in preparation for (hopefully) entering the occupational therapy assistant program at school. There was also the tending of plants which, while relaxing, got a little out of hand. I went a little overboard this year, probably bought a few more plants than I should have in anticipation of having extra free time to deal with them since I wasn't taking any classes this summer -- HAH!
Then there was the second visit to Ohio because I'd promised my family in June that I'd come visit again in August ('cause of all that free time I was gonna have). I'd promised them two visits this summer when I broke my promise to visit them over spring break, so I was kinda stuck. I made the long drive and stayed there for a weekend, then my niece returned to Illinois with me for a week. My nephew couldn't make the trip this time because he needed to stay home to take care of his mother who, as the result of a diabetic insulin-induced sugar drop, fell and broke her foot. She had to have surgery to put pins in two days before I arrived. None of which I had heard about until the day after the surgery.
So yesterday my niece and I returned to Ohio, arriving after 8pm, at which time my other sister informed that I would be staying at her house instead of at the diabetic sister's place. Why? Because it seems that the other sister's foot was now infected, so she was now in the hospital receiving antibiotics by IV. This apparently explains why I had been unable to reach her the last couple of days (the non-hospitalized sister apparently forgot to mention this when I spoke to her earlier).
So today we're all going to visit my sister after lunch. In the meantime, while everyone else is at church, I'm sitting alone at the Burger King taking some much-needed "me" time, and wondering if Trinda and her beau have had such an eventful summer. Probably, I think. I'm betting that despite the table's insistence, this guy left Trinda a week later for Christy. Which doesn't make the table a liar. Unlike the speed with which this middle-aged guy's summer flew by, when you're of the age at which you'd actually carve such things into a table at Burger King, a week is "4-ever."