Nice to see the sunlight reflect off the fountain.

Doing laundry, folding laundry. Unloading the dishwasher. Putting dishes away. Putting clothes away. Making Cassidy's bed. Washed my sheets. Nothing special, but it seems to take a lot of time.

Walked to school yesterday from the library and today from the gym. Cassidy does not like walking. Didn't take Flynn for a bagel yesterday but did today.

Girl Scout meeting tonight at 5:00 or 5:30. Haven't secured a uniform for Cassidy yet.

What else? Went through bills yesterday, not good, not too bad, though.

Monday after Christmas

Drive to Kelly and Bob's later today. Visit and then drive home again. Then Christmas will really be over.

What then?

Pull weeds out in front, re-seed the lawn. Get the fountain wired correctly. The usual stuff.

Take the decorations down again. Put them away.

Need to do a partial water change on both aquariums.

Could stand to go through the tool chest and scan photos and get rid of clutter.

Things are surprisingly cleaned up and thinned out.

Made a delicious Christmas dinner last night. Was thinking about making a pumpkin cheesecake this morning.

Come home from visiting and watch the last ABC Monday Night Football game.

Spend the rest of the week relaxing and cleaning things up.

Time to get Cassidy out of bed and possibly into the tub before we leave...

Not too excited about driving back to Orange County again today.

I'll be happy to be home this afternoon. Stay at home the rest of the week.

Flynn wanted to see a movie. Maybe we'll do that tomorrow.

Cassidy gave me a funky little clock with a football on it that she found herself. Isn't that sweet..?

Wednesday

Only Wednesday..? Wrapped gifts all day on Monday. Made Santa caps for the stuffed monkeys. Finished that after wrapping more gifts yesterday. Made turkey tacos for dinner last night. Delicious.

Diane was over on Sunday again. Made cinnamon rolls and then ham sandwiches. Made chocolate chip cookie bars. Stayed awake for most of the football games on Sunday. The MNF game I was going to watch in the big bedroom and fell asleep immediately. Apparently it was a real blowout.

Warm yesterday and the day before.

Planning on making a turkey today, the solstice. Have ham leftover from Sunday. Prepare and cool and strip the turkey meat. I bought canned yams to try and prepare those with marshmallows along with dressing and mashed potatoes and rolls and cranberry sauce on Sunday.

Saturday I'm supposed to drive Diane and the kids to her parents house for Christmas Eve. Maybe I'll see what Kelly and Bob are doing, Kelly invited me over there. Somehow kill several hours, then collect the kids and Diane and drive Diane home and then finally go home.

Sunday we stay at home.

Monday drive to Kelly and Bob's house again and exchange gifts. Drive back home again.

So next Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday we have off without interruption. The kids return to school on the 3rd of January 2006. I think.

The Christmas lights are up, we got a Christmas tree and it's nicely decorated, I love the "Shiny-Brite" ornaments I found on eBay... the house is decorated, our few Christmas cards are in the mail... to Toni, Kelly, Diane's parents and the Rosses. I don't send out any Christmas cards, really, I don't know anyone. I do like to save and display Christmas cards from past years. I sewed Santa caps for the stuffed monkeys. That cracks me up.

Monday 6:05

Oh, boy, another week. Sigh.

What You Need For Thanksgiving

Turkey
Stuffing
Mashed potatoes or other potato dish
Yams of some kind
Gravy
Green Jello salad
Cranberry sauce
Coca-Cola
Egg nog
Bread of some kind. Yeast rolls are perfect.
Pumpkin pie
Apple pie

Saturday

Tired. Worn out. Took the kids on a walk earlier. Worked in the garden for hours. Flynn helped trim some of the bougainvillea. I arranged some half-bricks under the bird feeder and some bricks along where the morning glories and moonflowers are planted. Tied up the tomatoes. Further trimmed the lemon and lime trees. I want to have throw grow along six wires running the length of the garden towards the back. Espallier the trees.

I'd like to train the bougainvillea along the house. It's an exuberant grower. I just need to direct it and keep it trimmed so that it grows where I want it to grow. Same with the trees. The lime tree has grown but the lemon tree seems smallish. They're both trimmed to three branches each. Very tidy.

The strawberry plant I'd grown from seed has berries now, tiny strawberries, very cute.

Would still like to do something with the front area. Took some cuttings from an impatien growing alongside a houseplant type of fern and stuck those in a planter box. Amend and clean the front area and plant those out there. Impatiens ought to do well in that area. Need to remove a shrub that died. Trim the bougainvillea more when I have more trash space to put all the trimmings somewhere other than the walkway. Trim the lantana. The lantana does not smell nice. Tie some of the bougainvillea branches onto the house. Keep after it.

I could get after the weeds growing out in the very front area. I put some bricks there to serve as a walkway a long time ago and they could stand to be tidied up a bit. As could the bricks in the back near the air conditioner. Could also extend those. If I had more bricks and sand. Get those things eventually. If we keep this house. Hopefully we will.

Anyway. Worked in the garden. Good and tired. Garden looks nice. Best garden I've ever had.

Monday

Initiated a withdrawal from my IRA at Solomon Smith Barney. Money to exist on for a few months.

I can hear the trash truck outside. Wonder if they'll pick up the pallet the fountain was delivered on?

I think that the fountain is leaking. Should have used clear silicone sealer.

Going to call and order a replacement "flow adjuster" for the pump in the fountain.

That was the weekend, huh? Went by very fast again.

Watched football yesterday. Napped. Napped, napped, napped. Baked. Baked, baked, baked. Made fudge, which didn't quite set. Made a pumpkin pie. Made a cherry pie. Baked some oatmeal-chocolate-chip cookies.

Baked a chicken on Friday night. Fixed hot dogs and cowboy beans for lunch on Saturday. Made cheeseburgers for dinner on Saturday. Made a big breakfast on Sunday, managed to incinerate the bacon I'd bought. Sausage links, bacon, hash browns with eggs cooked into them (kids didn't approve of that idea). Toast.

Changed eight gallons worth of water in the big tank today. Didn't have any water left over to do a water change in the small tank.

Gift wrap order arrived on Friday, doesn't seem like $300 worth of gift wrap, bags, ribbons, et cetera.

Did they take the pallet or not? Trash is picked up.

Bought Cassidy a used videogame on Friday, bought one for myself called "Killzone" which I looked at but didn't play much of.

Last Thursday we went to a Girl Scout pre-meeting @ Graziano's.

I think I'll order that replacement part for the fountain pump now.

Feel better having initiated a withdrawal from my IRA. Several months worth of money to live off of.

Tuesday.

Nearly ten in the morning.

Took the kids to McDonald's, took Cassidy to school, took Flynn to school. Went to the market. Bought drinking water, fish water, little bottles of water for the kids. Bought milk. Napkins. Cream and light corn syrup to try making fudge again. Bought regular white bread. Bought hot dogs. Bought sweetener for coffee. Bought a different brand of little apple juice boxes.

Feel stunned and sad. Big time. Last night I napped on the couch instead of watching the football game. Same on Sunday, mostly I just napped. Can't get enough sleep.

Finished playing "Return to Castle Wolfenstein" which I'd had since August. Playing "Blasto" again. Just want to be distracted.

Sooner or later I'll need to tell the kids that Grandma Peggy is dead. Is "no longer with us." That we won't see Grandma Peggy again. Very sad. Very, very sad.

Everything seems empty. Profoundly empty.

More rain on Tuesday morning

Kind of a surprise. Just sitting here. Played a video game for a few minutes. The house is clean enough. I may clean the floors later.

After Diane was over yesterday afternoon I sat on the couch and fell asleep hard. Weird. Woke up at 6:30. The Rams were ahead 10-0 but the Colts came back and won by a 25-point margin.

Depressed, angry, sad... worried. Have to tell the kids that Grandma Peggy died. That we won't see her any more. Just stabs or waves of sadness.

Oh, God. I feel sad. I feel so sad.

I feel sad and lonely. Dropped the kids off. Mailed Sydney's birthday card. Now I'm at home.

Another Monday

Rain yesterday, thank God. Fire in the fireplace for the first time in months.

Get up, get clean, shave, dress, get the kids up and ready to go. Put the trash out for collection.

Need to organize bills and money this morning once the kids are at school. Ten after seven now.

So now I'm on my own.

Diane is stopping by at 2 to see Cassidy, she's unsure if she can stay late enough to see Flynn.

Toni called last night for a bit. It was good to talk to someone.

Need to mail Sydney a birthday card.

Bought that on Friday.

Mom Died.

Bob called and told me. Kelly and I had a feeling something was not right.

Hasn't quite hit home yet.

Making fudge. Keeping distracted. How do I tell Flynn and Cassidy?