Caught on the way out of Dad's this morning by my uncle for a few rounds of buck-passing on the topic of Something Should Be Done about Dad. Butch seemed taken aback when I said outright and matter-of-factly that Dad's in the process of drinking himself to death, and finished out the conversation by trying to guilt-trip me with the statement that ( Read more... )

Yesterday was not a good day, starting when I discovered someone had run off with the charger I keep on my desk at work for when my phone starts to run out of juice near the end of my shift. It was neon pink, so it would be both easily spotted and readily identifiable. I took a quick walk around checking to see if whoever had "borrowed" it had ( Read more... )

I am greatly annoyed at having put in two full shifts earlier this week when I had hopes of getting out early all week. At one point I was suddenly distressed at the thought of coming to the end of the year with too much "use it or lose it" paid time off remaining and actually losing some of it. Fortunately I only had just about four days' worth ( Read more... )

Sunday's get-together at my aunt's was kind of a bust. Only one of my three cousins bothered to show up (and he wasn't the one who actually lives with my aunt and uncle, either) and Lauren decided to stay home because of the rain and the flooding and the cold and the baby not having a winter coat yet. (He got one from Mom for an Xmas gift, as per ( Read more... )

So Thursday morning I wound up putting in a full shift at work after all. I got some breakfast on the way home and then hit Hobby Lobby and Michael's seeking circular knitting needles in sizes 2 and 3. Got home and put things away and generally took care of things I needed to do before work that night, telling Mom noon was a good time for Lauren ( Read more... )

So I still haven't quite shaken off the virus from last week -- still coughing occasionally, though at least it's the "productive" kind rather than useless hacking. And then my kidneys started really hurting Sunday morning, so I quit taking the allopurinol that day ( Read more... )

I think a key point to focus on here is that I did in fact manage to go see The Martian (on Sunday afternoon) and also get my car inspection and oil change (yesterday afternoon). And I managed to get my entire Monday "to do" list done yesterday with the exception of the visit to Grandma -- and I did in fact go to the nursing home to see her, but ( Read more... )

So I never got hold of Dad and I spent my vacation days at home. Which I really enjoyed, don't get me wrong, and they were very productive, but half the point of taking a few nights off was to see Dad for the first time in a month and a half.

And I still haven't gotten hold of him on the phone. I called and only got voicemail, I left messages ( Read more... )

So I took two nights off from work -- tonight and tomorrow night. And the plan has been to go down and visit Dad tonight and then come home tomorrow to use my second night off to clear stuff off the DVR and knit at home in my own house on a day off that I'm not spending dealing with a long "to do" list. But I kept postponing calling Dad to ( Read more... )

Parts of my holiday weekend have been good, but there hasn't been as much sleep as I'd like, or as much time spent sitting around talking with family I rarely get to see as I'd hoped ( Read more... )