It’s almost over…

Jim starts at the new dealership tomorrow. Selling Hondas, Hyundais and used cars. Thank God. I’ve had about all the Jim I can stand. =P

Now, I have a question for those of you that use Movable Type. Do you have Image::Magick installed on your server? I hear that it’s a bit of a resource hog and I can’t understand why that would be… So, do you have it? Do you use it? Any comments? I’d be most appreciative. Thanks!

Leftovers again for dinner, need to clear this refrigerator out, but it’s actually a good thing as I’ve got all the end of month stuff to take care of for a few of the websites I maintain. As much as that’s a pain, it also means that I can send out billing tomorrow and being that Jim’s been home for a week, that’s going to be most appreciated. A girls got to have her spending money, doesn’t she?

Off to have a story read to me — you know, I had T read me his weekly story on Saturday and I fell asleep. Do you think it would be wrong to wake him up to read to me when I have trouble sleeping?

Shhh, don’t tell anyone.

Remember how I used to complain all the time about how Jim worked late and was never home and blah, blah, blah? Well, remind me, if I ever do that again, about this week. He’s been home far too long and you know that saying about absence making the heart grow fonder? It’s true. And even though it may not be fonder exactly, it’s a damn sight better than how I want to strangle him now.

Jim and I have quite a bit in common, but we have completely opposite sleep schedules. Also, apparently he can’t do anything until I say, “Let’s _____ .” (fill in the blank) as in;
Jim, how about we fold this laundry?
Jim, how about we make dinner?
Jim, how about you get up off your ass and actually do something?
You get the picture, right?
Oh and when he does decide to tackle a task, no matter how big or small, said task can not be started until he smokes a cigarette, takes a bathroom break and gets himself something to drink. It’s driving me nuts.

Now, none of this is a surprise to me, he’s been this way forever so I have no one to blame but myself, but when he’s only home a couple of hours a week and falls asleep early, I don’t have to deal with much of it. So, I’m anxiously awaiting the start of his new position and I just hope to God that I can maintain my composure and not throw myself off the roof or something.

Thanks for listening and I hope to actually be able to do something without someone *ahem Jim* reading over my shoulder in the very near future.

Seasons Change

And with the new season come the new Lancome promotions. So that’s what I did today. I went to the Burdine’s Lancome counter and stocked up on some yummy fall colors. The purples are incredible, but I’m too old and/or too pale to wear them.

Anyway, more changes on the home-front. Jim’s switching dealerships again. I know it’s the nature of the industry, but I have to say it wreaks havoc on my nerves. He starts tomorrow and he’s really looking forward to it. He always does very well with change, it gives him an opportunity to show off his talents before they realize just how arrogant he is… =P
Of course I’m kidding, sort of.

Anyway, he took a couple of days off between jobs to go to a new pulmonary specialist who says that the sleep test that he did last year was totally screwed up. The results and the CPAP machine that they prescribed haven’t been helping him at all and I guess it’s good to know that there’s a reason why. So it’s off for a whole new battery of tests including a sleep test. Round two.
Fortunately sleep apnea isn’t as life threatening as other disorders could be and it’s completely treatable. So, we have that to be thankful for, it could be much, much worse.

So that’s why I’ve been scarce, I hope to catch up with everyone tomorrow!

What the hell are they thinking?

A local soccer star probably doesn’t know whether to celebrate, or cry tonight. The teenager recently helped the U.S.A. win a world championship. But her absences could get her kicked out of school and that would void a valuable college scholarship.

So what they’d like us to tell our children is, “if you have the opportunity to achieve something spectacular in your life, turn it down if you’re going to miss school”

Yeah, well from what I’ve seen of Florida public schools so far, the more days you miss the better off you’ll be.

Happy Anniversary to Ocala and Me

On September 23, 1998 a road weary couple with their two very small children arrived just outside of Ocala, Florida to live in a house that she had never seen. The house was actually a mobile home that the woman had been assured was in beautiful condition and being that it was rent free for as long as they needed it (or so they had been told) she was grateful for it. After two long days driving from New York to Florida with a four year old and a six month old, the woman was grateful to get out of the too small car and stretch her legs, knowing that she wouldn’t have to get back on the road in six hours. Their journey was at an end, at least for the time being.

It was very late at night and there were no street lights, no lights of any kind for that matter. The man unlocked the front door and they pulled only exactly what they would need from the trunk, the bulk of their possessions already in the house as the man had driven a truck full of their things down the previous week. They carried the sleeping children into their room, tucked them in, unloaded the diaper bag, and fell into twin beds that had been hastily pushed together and slept.

When she woke the next morning and had the daylight to survey her surroundings, the woman cried. She knew they had made a terrible mistake and it was too late to turn around now, she would just have to make the best of it.

That was 4 years and 4 homes ago. I only lasted six months in the original house, but that’s another story and shall be told at another time.
Every move has a been a tremendous step up and looking back now, I can’t believe I lived in that house as long as I did. I decided that day to make the best of it and I have. I’ve been through more than I ever imagined I would have to endure and for the most part, I’ve survived it. For weeks after our arrival I wondered if I would be able to stand living in this world, so different from where I come from. The jury’s still out.

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