tired

MonsterMustDie is home tonight after spending last night and most of today with his mother. Updated story from the hospice is she could go this weekend or two or more weeks from now. I think he is glad he spent most of this weekend with her but he now sees no advantage to staying there, keeping vigil for an event that is impossible to predict. She does not seem to know he's there now and life goes on.

I'm up late after going to Taco Night at B&G's house. Good to see everyone, people I wish I saw more often, but I am too tired to be worth anything late at night, unless I get a good long nap in during the day. Realized my brain was toasty halfway through the evening. Gotta make adjustments in my lifestyle and schedule for the current state of things.

home alone

MonsterMustDie is in Alabama for the weekend. He is in a wake for the living with his mother, who has taken a turn for the worse this week. She has not been able to or simply refused to eat or drink for a week now and hospice workers have contacted him and his cousin to let them know that she is not expected to live past this weekend. He left work this afternoon and is now at his mother's bedside for the weekend. Hopefully, he will be spending the night with friends in Birmingham tomorrow but tonight he is at June's side at the hospice.  

As for me, I started a new job and just finished my first complete week there. The hours are the same as my last temp position but with a longer commute, which means I have to be in the habit of waking every morning at 5:00 a.m. to be able to make it to work on time. This, of course leaves me very few options during the week to see friends or do much since I have to give myself an 8:00 p.m. bedtime to be functional. I don't always make it to bed and to sleep at 8:00 but that is my goal for now. I am thrilled to finally have full-time employment after freelancing and temping for so long. At last, I can make a budget for myself that I feel good about. It is also a job that I am learning new skills at, which is another very big plus. 

an interesting week

Most of last week, we were out of electrical power at el Rancho. I was out to eat with a neighbor during a 10-minute storm that appears to have included a small tornado throwing trees around in the hood. Our house was spared of any fallen trees or large branches but most of my neighbors were not as lucky. Powers was out until Saturday and then out again Sunday & Monday after a thunderstorm. Everything I could not put on ice in the cooler either melted and/or spoiled in a couple of days. The freezer is still empty and will remain so until we see all the broken poles, fallen trees, and low-hanging wires cleared out of the neighborhood. The refridgerator has mostly things that will not spoil immediately if the power goes out again, like fresh fruit & veggies. The pantry is stocked up in soup now. We still need to restock some batteries and re-think alternative devices and chargers when the power goes out again.

Looks like I've finally found a job this week at a company I have been familiar with for quite a while - several printers I have worked with in the past have outsourced work to them. It is going to be a bit of a commute now, since it takes me an hour & 15 minutes to drive home in the evening. The hours are generally long, starting at 7:00 a.m. for me. Hopefully, I can continue to come into work that late. Some of my co-workers come in as early as 5:00 a.m. or 6:00 a.m. and recently have been working 12-hour shifts. (This is one reason I was hired, no doubt, to relieve the work load a bit.) I am very happy to finally have another full-time position that I can count on. The adjustment to the commute and new hours will be hard but I need work and income more than anything else these days. I'm just happy to be there. This job offers the opportunity to catch up and reacquaint myself with the type of work I've done in the past and to get my skills back up-to-date and compatible with everyone else. This is a hard industry to survive in these days.

MonsterMustDie is already grumbling about my 8:00 p.m. bedtime but it is necessary for me to be up and running by 5:00 every day with less time in the evening to catch up on things. Time is suddenly quite important and he will eventually adjust. He'll be going to Alabama to visit his mother tomorrow. His cousin phoned yesterday to tell him that his mother is not eating now. She's apparently lost a lot of weight and she doesn't want to be here anymore. Her Alzheimer's disease has progressed to a point where she is in a lot of physical pain and she just wants to be released from this life. It's hard to watch both of them go through this but I really don't know of anything I can do to help.

Simple

The newer folding wallet design for pocket-size Kleenex tissues is much better, easier to use, and more durable than previous versions.

old folk home

Mother is home again with her terriers and feeling better after a blood transfusion and and incredible about of (mostly unnecessary) tests. The medical experts found no cause for her anemia, disease or otherwise, again this time. I expect her to be back in a month or two for another transfusion.