12209= miles driven total from the time I left my driveway on Monday night July 7 until I arrived back here yesterday around 4pm.

765= miles to my mother’s in MA from here (I love having 2 trip-ometors in my car’s dashboard!)

4= days we were at the beach- 3 in Hull- 1 in Hampton.

1 = day spent in VT With my mother- the VT country store was lovely & Ben & Jerry’s was a lot of fun!

447= miles traveled round trip to VT & back- all driven by me.

1 = # of movies seen- we saw Journey to the Center of the Earth last Friday night- a co-worker had given my mother a bunch of free passes to the movies & we weren’t at all sure that we’d be able to use them on a first run movie. Not only was there no problem with that- the movie theater was not even half full.

14 = $ that is- the cost of the theater’s ‘money saving’ package deal which included 2 medium drinks- a large pop corn & a bag of m&ms.

19 = hours since I’ve been home & I still haven’t seen Ms 18. (not exactly a bad thing)

1 day before I messed my phone up while on Vacation.

2 the # of screens it’s showing instead of 1 large readout I have a double image on the phone’s screen!

3 the # of times I stopped on the way home to nap- each time for less than an hour & a half.

And I’ll be on vacation! Only 8 more hours at work listening to people complain- whine & moan about the weather- equipment problems & satellite signal (& that’s just my co-workers!)

I’ve been very mature (by my standards) about this vacation I haven’t asked my boss for a half day off tomorrow without pay or penalty- I’ve been known to drive my supervisors nuts when it’s nearly time for us to leave on vacation.

Last year we left on Sunday night & I called in sick on Monday because we just couldn’t wait to go. this year- because I’ve been sick & used 2 sick days in the last 2 weeks I can’t do that but even if I had the days available I don’t think I would.

I’m broke this year. Seriously. For the whole vacation I have $500. spending money. I have separate money put away to get up there & drive back on. However for the whole trip food- gas while we’re up there & lodging if we try to stay anywhere but my mother’s house (& the visit to Ann’s is far enough away it would be difficult not to stay in a motel somewhere up that way at least one night)

So I’m less excited than I might ordinarily be. I’m also feeling a little weirded out about Ms 18 & the BF staying here. 18’s been my emotional support & friend along with being my daughter for so long it’s going to be strange to go to MA without her.

We’re taking Chrissie’s daughter with us so she can visit her grandmother for the duration of our visit & then we’ll pick her up on our way home & bring her back home to her mom safe & sound. This means that even without 18 & the BF we’ll have a fairly full car.

Ms 12 is excited about Sami coming for the ride but also annoyed because she was looking forward to filling 18’s shoes as my friend & confidant.  I’m sure with the drive to Ann’s & to see cousin J we’ll get plenty of time to chat though.

I’m supposed to be doing all the things on my to do list like trying on my bathing suits to see which one fits best & helping Ms 12 pack (Mr 8 & I packed his things last night) along with attempting to pack my own stuff. Here I sit though- checking out other peoples blogs & putting off the work!

1. Holidays in the summer are so much fun- though I wish we had a pool.

2. Garlic & Steak are my favorite things to grill.

3. My thoughts are focused on getting through the next four three days of work & heading out on vacation on the evening of the seventh!

4. The end so I can go on vacation is what I’m most looking forward to this weekend!

5. My favorite book so far this summer is well it wasn’t really summer- but The Glass Castle Jeanette Walls, has been my favorite book just lately.

6. A big stretch after sleeping in until I wake naturally rather than because the alarm clock is going off is the best way to begin a day.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to seeing fireworks in town with ms 12 & mr 8, tomorrow my plans include working- but only until 4:30- normal for most- seems like a vacation for me! and Sunday, I want to go on vacation but have to work & then go back one more time to do it again on Monday!

I can’t get over the multitude of songs I loved as a teenager which are remarkably meaningless to me now. I was listening to the song Murder by David Gilmour of Pink Floyd fame & reflecting that this song meant a whole lot to me when I was 16 or 17. It faded into obscurity but since they don’t resurrect it on the radio. Ever. I kept a thing for it & when I got online it was one of the first songs I looked up & downloaded. I hear it about once a week now via my media player’s shuffle function (more when it was loaded on my MP3 player) & it is really a pretty depressing song!

Books on the other hand are not the same- I am- once again- late to the party but love to go to Amazon & locate books which I loved as a kid- purchase them & (someday) re-read them. I know they’re still good books because miss 12 has loved every book I’ve purchased this way. I found one which I loved beyond reason called the secret of the crazy quilt for a penny (just today- I remembered the book on the way home & searched it when I got here & sure enough there it was!)

I hate when I get behind on blogs- I’m still reading back over many of the blogs I like to read regularly due to my enforced break from being online while the house repairs were being done. Some- like This & This one here- are updated so often that I’ll never catch up on. (but it’s fun to try!)

My favorite (female) cousin J emailed me yesterday I was psyched- they’re going to be at home during our nearly 2 week vacation & so we should get to see them. I’m so glad my kids are patient with little kids - they’re actually excited about seeing their (much) younger cousins.

I refuse to plan or begin to pack for vacation until at least Saturday night after work. This may strike anyone who has known me for a long time as odd. I was always making lists of the lists I needed to make to get ready to go anywhere. (even as recently as 3 or 4 years ago) Things are too crazy now. I’ve got 10 billion things I want to do & about a million I absolutely should be doing & of course - Here I sit online! That’s one of the big ones I want to be doing! Anyway- I’m too busy to make lists- plan more than a basic idea of what I’m bringing for clothes & even what we’re going to be doing up in MA.

Part of the reason for not too many plans is that there’s going to be little cash to go with- I’m trying not to let that bother me too much. I don’t think it will be a bad vacation - at the very least 12-8 & I can go to the beach every day. We don’t need much more than $3 to park & something for lunch to go there.

Mr 8 has suddenly gotten nuts about his hair. He took a shower last night & spiked his hair & then went back & created this do- or maybe it’s a don’t. He’s always teasing 12 about her frizzy look which began when I cut her hair- not sure why the cut I gave her made her frizz so badly but it’s never calmed down since I cut it which was back last fall.

I’m feeling the new season of Weeds on Showtime big time. My only regret is that I didn’t catch on to this show much earlier. My attempts to see seasons one & two which I missed through ignorance failed because the video store is nuts & had disc one season two listed as season one & disc two season two listed as season two. (I also didn’t end up with enough time to watch that second disc though 18 & 12 watched it & said they didn’t think it was labeled right- that it might be disc 3 of season two or some other season because it wasn’t linear with what they’d seen in the first disc)

Any day which begins with a frog in my face just isn’t going to go well.

So the upshoot of my malaise is not that I have to work on the 4th of July- that alone would be ok. Even though I’m normally scheduled off on Fridays- they’ve changed the way getting holidays off work & I was ok with working memorial day & Labor day- I got Labor day off instead. So ok. I’ll work the holiday. What I was not prepared for & am not at all happy about is that I’m expected to work July 4th- my regular schedule & I don’t get another day off.

It’s also that I’m supposed to be off on Friday & as an exchange for any of the 5 days I work (Saturday through Wednesday) working Friday would be fine. I’d prefer Wednesday to pair with Thursday because then I’d have 2 days in a row off. But considering how messed up my voice is today- yesterday- any day this week would be fine. But no. I have Thursday off. Period. End of sentence- if I didn’t have my vacation days scheduled to begin on 7/8 I’d be working 5 days with 1 off & then another 6 days in a row. I just worked 10 days in a row without a day off the past 2 weeks in case anyone’s keeping score (I am) & I don’t really think this makes sense.

I’ll be making double time & a half though-I can comfort myself with that little tidbit & all things being equal I will need that money when we come back from vacation every bit as much as I need it now. (maybe more)

The day has been long & not too bad. It was fairly quiet at work & I got my training done. I canceled overtime I had signed up for before I knew I was doing 8 hours of overtime on Friday & came home early-ish. (as in 4:30 which is my normal time to go home- as opposed to 6:30 which is when I go home on days I do overtime) Having been scheduled to 7 pm for months on end (though I did work 10 hour days) it seems like a real live vacation to be out of work at 4:30- almost like a half day!

I came home to find 18 cooking BLTs for dinner (good on a hot evening & it was over 90 still when I arrived) 18’s BF online- 12 watching tv & 8 playing video games. The bacon was making me nauseous (I’ve never been a fan of it & tonight- with the heat the smell was just too much) So I adjourned to the hammock with my book & rested until the clouds & thunder got too threatening.

I was visited by miss 12 while in the hammock, she attempted to tip me out of it & take it over but settled in the end for sitting on the edge & talking with me for awhile. She is looking forward to going to Boston most of all on our trip to MA. She’s saved her bi-weekly allowance & her birthday money for a few weeks & has a grand total of $46. to take with her.

When it started to rain I went inside & checked email etc until the rain got too bad. 18 was outside enjoying the storm & called me out to check out how the rain was pouring onto the porch at a slant & then at how the rain moved in & we couldn’t even see the hill across the street - she was confused at why there was a strip of yellowed grass in the yard & then discovered that it was the sun shining from the west while the rain poured in from the south!

The mist that had covered the distant hill disappeared all of a sudden & Then we noticed a rainbow! It ended up being a double rainbow right across the street- though the second rainbow was too faint for my cell phone camera to pick it up.

1. Birthdays are For kids- I’m too old to have them anymore.

2. Spring & Summer are/is my favorite season because I prefer to be warm & I love the colorful flowers.

3. I feel my best when I’ve had 9 hours of sleep.

4. Chocolate is my favorite food!

5. First impressions are sometimes- but not often- wrong.

6. The best piece of advice I ever received was live & let live.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to resting up for work on Saturday, tomorrow my plans include working some overtime and Sunday, I want to do more overtime because they’re giving $50 bonuses for every 4 hours of overtime worked!

Miss 12 & Bartleby

So I have a terrible cold- I started developing it around last Friday & by Monday had next to no voice- it started with pressure in the chest & stuffy nose etc. Then- all of a sudden it’s in my throat- I’ve noticed in the last 3 or 4 years every illness I have goes right to my throat- I think it’s because I talk for a living- 8 to 10 hours a day I talk on the phone.

That puts a lot of pressure on your vocal cords & I am not at all surprised that mine get messed up easily. Tuesday I was so miserable that after 2 hours I left work. My boss was ok with it because I’m not on any warnings right now for missed days. Usually they encourage you to stay a half-day. But I’m on a warning for leaving early/being late (they count those together but they’re separate from not coming in at all- though if you leave before your shift is over it’s like you were never there in the company’s eyes) Also- leaving after 2 hours means that I get sick pay- important with the vacation coming up in just 12 days!

I have hope that I’ll be able to kick this illness before we go on vacation- especially since I breathe poorly up in MA. At least at my mother’s house on the south shore I do. She lives in an apartment & smokes - I think that- combined with the heat & the pollution all conspire to make me breathe poorly & huff & puff more than I do here in VA.

The vacation plans are going slowly. I haven’t heard from either of the cousins I see nearly either year- Ann’s going to be available to visit a bit more this year because she’s got time off due to her daughter’s accident. Although- due to her daughter’s accident we can’t camp out in her living room for a few nights which means a day trip only or a motel & my finances are not anything like what they’ve been in past years. I’ve been able to save ahead in past years & one year I had a brand new credit card which carried us through the vacation.

This year I have maxed credit cards- a new car with a new car payment & both a mortgage & a 2nd mortgage to balance with the vacation! We won’t be having lobster more than once this year I can promise that! Of course it will only be 12- 8 & I not 18 & her BF which will help somewhat & the younger ones are as happy with lunch at McDonalds as they are with lunch at a sub shop or fancy bistro. They’re more than happy to spend 3 or 4 days at the beach- the lake or the pool at my mother’s apartment complex! Which makes things a little cheaper on Mom.

I do hope we can take the drive to Vermont & see the country store for real (instead of just in catalogs) & drive up to the Ben & Jerry’s factory- though someone from Vermont told me on the phone while I was at work that the B&J factory was overrated- She then said if we hadn’t been at all yet it was worth it- that she’s just jaded because everyone who comes to visit her wants to see it & so she’s been too many times because of that. That trip will be with my mother so won’t be as financially draining for me- she usually likes to take her car too which is good- I drive- she pays for the gas etc.

I also want to go to Boston- the kids & I have always taken the train from Haverhill to Boston & spent the day. I don’t think we’re going to get to stay in Haverhill overnight at all this year & so would have to drive to Braintree or Quincy & take the T but otherwise it’ll be the same trip & undoubtedly just as much fun as always. (though we’ll have to come home with less trinkets than other years)

Theres something to be said for actually going. Estimating gas prices at about $4.50 a gallon (which is still an overestimate- but it’s not July 4th yet & so gas hasn’t topped out yet) it’s going to be somewhere around $140 just to drive up there & the same to come back- not including soda- breakfast & snacks- all of which are necessary to a decent vacation.

Enough about the future. Today was hot & sunny. I spent the morning cleaning house- mostly just the bathroom & kitchen. I also did a ton of laundry including a bleach wash again. I intended to hang laundry out all day but by the time I was actually ready to do so a thunderstorm was rolling in.  Other activities included a trip to town with 18- making dinner with 12 & a walk through the garden with mr 8.

We sat in the hammock & watched the thunderstorm roll in & then on the porch when it actively rained. One of 18’s friends stopped by with her boyfriend & son & watched the storm too. Not a lot of lightning but the thunder was very loud. Once again- another day off flew by with little accomplished but rest & happiness. It could always be worse.

aWhat does it say about the past 7 years of my life that to only work from 8 am to 4:30 pm seems almost like a half day? Of course- with my company’s policies I have to work overtime still- but 2 hours on Saturday & 2 on Sunday more than take care of that! (of course- this being the last time I have to make money to take on vacation I’m working an extra 2 hours Wednesday & am still considering whether to stay an hour or two tomorrow night)

Miss 18 applied for her first job last week- she applied where I work because they have a great starting wage- she hasn’t heard anything yet (not auspicious) & though she did try to call today to see what was going on the lady she needed to speak with was out to lunch & she didn’t call back- not too dedicated to getting a job I guess!

The construction company called me today to ask if I’d heard from my mortgage company because though the house was inspected almost 2 weeks ago no one on this end has seen the check for the cost (I wasn’t pursuing it because I don’t have my deductible & won’t have it at least until I get home from vacation. I bit the bullet though & when we were through discussing me calling the mortgage company tomorrow I told him the soonest I’ll have my share is July 18th & he said that would be just fine.

Weird month I heard through a surprising source that my grandmother’s favorite artist- Tasha Tudor had died last week & then today George Carlin has died- odd how it seems like people die in groups like that. I had been thinking about Tasha Tudor a lot lately because I have one of my grandmother’s prints framed by my bed- it hangs beside my calendar which is illustrated by my other favorite artist- Edward Gorey. I was considering the weirdness of this as the two are far removed both in style & content.

I decided this rather sums up my personality in a visual way at least- because I definitely love all the beautiful flowers- dolls- Christmas decorations & country scenes of Tasha Tudor’s- but I also love the pen & ink- dark- macabre humor & morbid stories that Edward Gorey was the unabashed master of. Of course- you could factor in that the old fashioned country & farm scenes may very well have played a large part in my decision to move here to VA. I guess it could be said that I’ve based my life on images from Tasha Tudor’s art.

The other thing about Tasha Tudor’s death is that somehow it brought up my Grandmother’s death in 2006 all over again really intensely.  She was a huge Tasha Tudor fan & I inherited much of her collection- She read the books to me- I looked at them on my own as a child (after proving my hands were clean - of course) I learned my alphabet from A is for Annabelle & to count from 1 is One. Two of her books are even written about a girl named Becky (my favorites of course!) I heard on Friday evening & I was depressed for a couple of days & didn’t even mention it to 18 or anyone else because I didn’t want to talk about it for fear I’d start crying- over someone I’d never met- silly- except of course- I know it would have been more about my Grandmother.

The new promotion at work is pretty good- it’s more money of course & we have quite a bit more leeway when it comes to helping customers- not so bound by limitations of adjustments & what we can do. The expectations are different though & we’re held to an even higher standard- which is good in some ways & difficult in others.

1. A smile is Everyone’s best calling card.
2. Scrabble for board games- Rummy for cards- couldn’t narrow it down. is my favorite board or card game.
3. I would love to have more financial independence in my life and less stress.
4. When I think of the Summer Solstice, I think of Roses- bonfires & full moons.
5. I just remembered I need to go to work at 7 am tomorrow!
6. One of my favorite song lyrics goes like this: “Love is a stranger in an overcoat- to tempt you in & drive you far away”.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to finally being through training at work, tomorrow my plans include working until only 6 pm! and Sunday, I want to sleep but my next day off is not until Thursday (that’s 10 days in a row + overtime!)

World- this is Loki- Loki- the world.