I Wish I May I Wish I Might

I wished for a pony when I was a kid. It never came. What about that red cowgirl suit complete with matching boots in the Sears and Roebuck catelog? Of course not. But I did get twin baby dolls for Christmas once. I think they were the hot item of the season that year because of the twins in Dick Tracey. Daddy always liked the comics. That was even before George Carlan, but they weren't that kind of comics. The other appropriate name was 'the funny paper' - not plural. As seriously as the Tracey strip was, you still found it in the funnies (short for funny paper). Are you following all this? Much of my writing is for my generation, but some of them can't find a blog; so for the younger set, I figure I'd better explain some things as I go along.

This was the first Halloween since 1988 that I did not live 1/2 block from the school where I taught. In the past I have done some or all of the following: put the car in the back yard, hand out chocolate bars to all teenagers, never give homework on Halloween night, never send a kid to the office during the week of H'ween, sit in the yard until midnight to catch the kid that egged my truck, call parents at 1:00 when I caught the kid that egged my truck, spend half a week's grocery money on candy so I could not possibly run out, park my car at a friend's house in the country and have her drive me back to my house at dusk dressed as little red riding hood so I could just sneak back in and not have to answer the door (that's what I did last year because things were getting so rough).

Ah, but this year. Here in my cul-du-sac house-sitting dream land, I bought the usual candy. And even if it made me nervous, my daughter insisted I didn't have to hide my car. Lo and behold, only about 20 kids showed up. None of them were over the age of 13! That beats the usual 12o kids, about half of them over 13. These kids were so polite. I gave out double the usual portions, and I still have candy and Pla-dough left. Don't tell C-dot, but I took the pumpkin in the house before I went to bed.

Gotta go. C-dot wants me to play "Farkle"?

Colorado, Grands, and Schnauzers

All I can say is that it will be nice when I am back on the net. Everyone wants to know how I am liking my new digs. I'm lovin' it. House sitting is the best job I've ever had. I could never afford a house like the one I'm in. The place is great, but the best part of all is the close proxemity to the grandtwins. Everyone also tells me to make time for myself. Well, I did that for too many years. There's not much else in the world I'd rather be doing than watching babygrands growing up.

I did make it to a yard sale this morning. In a passing conversation the house owner asked if I house sit all the time. I told her this was my first gig, but I would love to do it all the time. She said her husband just accepted a job overseas and they need someone to stay with their 3 schnauzers. I'm not available until May, but who knows where my next venture will take me. She said I seemed like such a soft spoken, kind person. (How could I disagree?) Anyway, she took my phone number.

Next month I have an all expenses paid trip to Shawnee, KS. Now, why did I retire? Oh, yeah, it's the only way to go!

Free at last; free at last. Thank God, I'm free at last!

Well, maybe. I have arrived in the big D (and I don't mean Dallas or Divorce), and the U-Haul is unloaded. This afternoon, friends of daughter and son-in-law came over and helped. Oh, I'm babysitting tonight.

I Don't Have Time for This Blog Post

. . . but I have to tell you about the last box in the last closet that I cleaned out. The contents of the box included bills, insurance policies and other papers of my parents-in-law. I only have 5 days before my big move, so I'll try to be brief - but that never works, does it.

The other items in the box were sister-in-law's New Testament inscribed with her maiden name, (I'll mail that to her); the cemetery plots at Corinth, (I'll save this on my computer); father-in-law Brooks' birth certificate (C. Jaye, his mother is who you were supposed to be named after; she spelled her name S y n t h i e J. A y e r s. Notice there was no name listed for the J.); also, a leaflet from the VA outlining the Benefits Act of 1981 for former POW (I'll send this to you, Greg); and Brooks' death certificate. I found a leather tri-fold with the Army emblem and the words "Honorable Discharge United States Army" embossed in gold on the outside. All of Brooks' Army papers and his original SS card were inside including discharge papers, pre-enrollment papers, etc. There was also a handwritten copy of Brooks' family tree.

Two other items were in the box. One was a beneficiary form from my husband's railroad employment before we were married. His mother was to be the recipient. In the bottom of the box was a two page typed copy of a poem written by a graduating high school senior, A. Katherine Wood. I'll save that also and have it available to anyone who might like to read it.

See why cleaning out a home of 35 years takes so long?

I Remember

3 rooms down and 4 to go. I pick up the U-Haul Monday and leave on Thursday. I hope I can take it all in one load. If there's one thing I'm sad to leave, it is the 6x8 mural in the living room. I doubt if my landlady would appreciate my painting one in her house, though. Does anyone know where I ever got a pair of bright-apple-green-framed sunglasses shaped like those of Edith Head? (For those of you who don't know who Edith Head was, you can Google her and add to your deep wealth of knowledge. Think Dame Edna.)

The Hardest Thing I've Ever Had to Do . . . Yes, Ever

Breaking up housekeeping, as it is called. I've been in this house for more than half my life and I'm not young. I've enjoyed collecting - everything. The hard part is not deciding what to take, what to pitch, and what to sell. The hardest part is the doing of it.

I worked for two weeks sorting it all. Most of what I want to keep is packed. I've made close to $1000 in two days of selling stuff, and the amount of trash the sanitation engineers have picked up in the last few weeks has gone from one bag to six or eight a week. Why can't I tell much of a difference? The main sale items have been furniture pieces, and that certainly shows, but the place is still packed.

The really big question is what to do with the items that do not sell. Most people say trash them. Do you think that is environmentally correct? Of course not. The left over furniture and other trappings would take up a large hole in the ground. Should I throw my tv away? It hasn't sold. Giving it away would be a better choice. Okay, how do I do that . . . in less than two weeks?

Meanwhile, there's planning and making the big move. Nine out of ten people say I cannot U-Haul it by myself. That confuses me. Do these people not realize that my CDL permits me to have a regular bus route with 30 screaming kids on board 5 days a week? Maybe they forgot or never knew of the many times the boat trailer backed into the lake with Ronnie sitting in the boat, not driving the pick-up.

What really bothers me about those n'er-do-wells is that they have put doubts into my mind, and now I probably won't be able to do it. That's happened in the past, you know.

take a deep breath, now slowly exhale, only a little longer, you can make it, go, go, go
shut up, i'm going already

Just a Quick Note

Two of the funniest things I've found in cleaning out 35 years of li/oving in the same house: A Walmart bag made out of paper! and receipts from electric, gas, and water deposits from when we moved in the house in 1973! I want to walk into those businesses and ask for my deposits back just to see the looks on their faces. They were $10 each. What a hoot