Why????

 I can't get little things done

    I know!  I have sung this song before!

    But I get so frustrated.

    I have a list of things to do that only take a few minutes or maybe an hour.   I need to just pick one and do it.

    But instead, I complain about it.

    Oh well.

    Was watching the Series tonight and the Brewers had 2 outs then the Rays  walked a batter.  Tampa  brought in their ace reliever.  8 runs later, they got the third out!

    I don't think the Cubs scored 8 2 out runs all season.

    I wonder what gas station in Rochelle will hit the $5 mark for regular first.  Driving to DeKalb today, I noticed a couple of stations were at $4.99.  For regular.

    I made chicken breasts for supper tonight.  Got a recipe on line.  I thought they turned out pretty good.  I had 2 breasts, but we only ate 1.  Jackie is not a chicken person, so I will have it as leftovers and she will have leftover steak.  It all works out.

    That's my life today.  

    Pretty boring, eh?

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace  

Fire, man

 I took care of my burn pile today

    I need to apologize to my neighbors.  It was a smokey afternoon!

    I figured burn off the pile, dig carrots.

    Man, life is not that simple.

    The hose I dragged out to the back as a precaution had a bad end.  I had to unwind all 50 feet of it and use the next three sections of hose to reach the back.

    And when I went to dig carrots, I could not.  The ground is as hard as a rock!

    I decided to put a sprinkler on it for a while to try to soften it.

    I could mot disconnect one hose from another hose.  I was not strong enough.  Is it righty tighty ,lefty loosy or Get a knife and cut the suckers  apart?  I don't remember.

    So I dragged the hose from the back to the side and watered  the garden for an hour.  I will do it again tomorrow and hopefully the ground will soften upon a bit.

    What was nice was sitting out at the back of the yard watching the twigs, pallet and grass burn.  It was very relaxing.

    Saturday night was the annual camp out for the guys from the neighborhood.

    I have not gone in several years, but I told Jackie this year I was going.

    But the person who would normally stay with Jackie could not.  And I bought tickets to the Brett Goldstein show.

    So instead of sitting around a fire with guy friends, having some wine, talking, sharing, caring, enjoying the peace and quiet of a state park, I sat out in my back yard, watching stuff burn.

    It was relaxing.  It was peaceful. But I did not have any wine and I was lonely.

    But at least my hose worked.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

night out

This was a pretty good day 

    Julia and Emily came over and put  our new rug down and took the old one to the garage.  It will probably sit there for a year or 2 before I get rid of it.

    Tonight the girls took the other old one to see Brett Goldstein.

    He was at the Egyptian Theater in DeKalb and the place was sold out.

    I could hear most of what he said, but there were times people were laughing and I had no idea why.  Hearing aids are great, but they do pick up all the sound, not just the person talking.  I really enjoyed the show.

    It was crazy busy in downtown DeKalb!

    NIU played a football game that ended about the time the concert started.

    A lot of people were walking, restaurants looked pretty busy.  It was great to see.

    We ate at the place right across the alley from the Egyptian.  It used to be Hillside Restaurant, but it is  now an Indian fusion type place.  I was undecided between a bison burger and butter chicken, and I decided on the butter chicken.

    I was not disappointed.

    We did not finish eating because the show started at 7 and the place was pretty busy.  We waited about 35 minutes for our food.  We ate some, then Emily hauled it back to her car and put it in the cooler she brought for t hat purpose.

    I had Lisa stay with Jackie and they enjoyed a pizza.

    I did watch the last 4 innings of the Brewers game.....it was pretty exciting.

    And that's a wrap.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

New rug

Old rug

tha dump

We went to The Dump today 

    We ended up getting a new rug for our great room.  Or living room.  Whatever you call it.

    The current rug is showing signs of wear, especially in front of the couch.

    I saw a gorgeous rug that I fell in love with...but it was way too big.  And sold.  But it was beautiful.

    For those of you who don't know, The Dump is a furnishings liquidator. When a business closes, The Dump gets their inventory and then sells it, often at cut rate prices.  They have a store inLombard.  And they are going out of business, so prices have been cut even lower.

    Sometimes the furniture is odd.  One time they had a  line green leather couch and matching chair.  

    A bit too loud for my tastes.

    We also saw another rug that was marked 8 x 10, but it was longer and wider than the other 8 x 10 rugs, considerably longer and wider.

    Anyway, the new rug weighs a ton and a half.  But the old guy working on the dock and I managed to squeeze it into the van.

    Tomorrow I hope the girls come over and we can remove the old rug and unroll the new.

    Then the games begin.  

    For $25, you can predict one of three things:

            When Bth pees on it

            When I spill one it

            When someone else spills on it

    You won't win any money, but you will help pay for it.

    When we moved into our Skare Court house we had a light cream or tan colored rug.  We had people over and one of them came into the kitchen and calmly  said, "We were just talking about what you would use to get red wine stains out of your carpet.  And do you have any?"

    No we didn't and ..... what the hell???

    For years we had a  couch  over that spot.  l don't think it ever came out.

    No red wine on this one.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

11th hour

 I am a little late tonight

    Blame it on the Bears.  That was quite a thrilling win.

    I was so "woe is me" yesterday that I forgot the big news.

    We dropped Jackie.

    Our morning help and I kind of got signals crossed, and Jackie hit the floor.  Normally she goes down soft, but this was a little harder.  She hit her head, but there is no swelling or blood, so that was good.  But tonight she has a bruised hand, which I think came with the fall.

    A big thank you to friend Kevin, who came over and helped get her up.  We had a gait belt on her, which made it a little easier on us and Jackie.  W got er up in less than a minute.  But we couldn't not have done it without Kevin!!!!

    Last night we watched Abbott Elementary.  I was curious, so I timed the show.  I came up with 21 minutes of show and 9 of commercials.  In a 30 minute show, almost 1/3 was  spent on commercials.

    Yikes.

    And I hate the commercials where people fight, drive fast, or hold footballs in front of their breasts.  And what is up with the woman in red with the huge hips?  

    The 2 commercials with the women and betting commercials seem to take up a lot of time during baseball and football games.  I don't think that is good, especially for youngsters  watching.

    I guess I am getting old.  But I just don't like them.

    But I liked the Bears victory tonight.

    Now, hopefully Milwaukee can come through starting tomorrow.

    And no, I still love the Cubs!  

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace

reality

 Sometimes reality hits you, and it hurts

    It can sneak up on you and  WHAM!!!

    I am facing one of those moments tonight.

   VCCt is doing a show titled A Day in the Death of Walter Zawislak.

    My friend Molly Fader wrote the book, and my friend Dianne J. adapted it to a play.

    I loved the book!

    I am reading the script and it seems pretty good.

    Therein lies the problem with reality.

    Walter is an old man.  I am an old man. 

    As I am  reading the script I realize there is a lot of memorization.  And there are a lot of rehearsals.  

    I think, and that is a huge think, I can memorize the part.   But I don't have the time.

    I can't be gone 3-4 hours a night, 4 nights a week, for 6 weeks.  That is asking a lot of Jackie. 

    And a lot of me.  Dinner still has to be made, dishes done, laundry taken care of.......I just don't see how I could do it.

    And truthfully, that is hard to accept.  

    But life is what it is.  Reality is what it is.  I have to accept it.

    But I don't like it.

    Hopefully there is a role for me, a part  that doesn't require all the rehearsals and a lot less lines to memorize,

    Because that is reality for me now.

Peace and Love,

        Especially Peace

dang it

 Sometimes life does not go as planned

    Jackie wants to make spaghetti sauce.  She had me get out all the ingredients and I went downstairs to get some hamburger out of the freezer.

    I figured Beth was there too, so we played a little before she ran upstairs.

    I went back, grabbed the cookies and beef and went upstairs.

    That was either Sunday night or Monday morning.  I am not sure.

    This morning I got al the stuff together and went to get the now thawed in the fridge hamburger.

    I could not find it.

    We don't have that much in the fridge that I could not see it, so that only left one explanation.

    Yup.  It was still on top of the freezer in the basement.

    Now I am making it tomorrow. With the beef in the fridge.

    With the cost of beef as high as it is, that hurt.

    So to compensate, I did not get a coffee today.

    I did have a decaf tea on the porch and read for a while.  We won't get many days like this, so I am taking advantage.

    I also put together Jackie's new walker.  Directions say assembles in 5-10 minutes.....took me about 15,  which was not so bad.

    If anyone needs a well used walker, we have one.  Just let me know.

    The upcoming World Series will be historical!  It will be the first series with both teams playing in domed stadiums.

    So much for Goodyear blimp shots!  But I guess the roofs could be open in Milwaukee.

    Enjoy the beautiful fall weather....it won't last forever.

Peace and Love

        Especially Peace