Bottle of Red, Bottle of White

"Whatever mood you're in tonight..."

I heard this Billy Joel song yesterday and woke up with it in my head. Now it's in yours. Sucks, doesn't it.

Lets see. This week was not a boring week. Our refrigerator stopped working sometime last Sunday. I made this discovery on Monday morning, while drinking a warm glass of soymilk. Someone suggested to Paul that occasionally the motor fan freezes. To troubleshoot this possibility, one turns the fridge off. Monday after work I took things out of the freezer and transplanted them to the downstairs freezer, and turned the thing off. Sure enough, after a day of being off, Paul turned it back on and it worked. Yay. We had a turkey breast in there that Paul had bought Sunday that was intended to go in the freezer until this weekend when we were going to fix it for one of those big weekend meals we sometimes do with lunches for the week in mind. I didn't get it to the freezer before the fridge conked out, and I didn't even get it to the garbage after. The thing go pretty smelly before Paul finally took it out to the big cans in the garage. Today I have to clean the rest of the perishables; yogurt, cheese, milk, lunch meats, whatever...

We've been helping the boy with his employment efforts. He was hired at Wendy's and started yesterday. He was also hired at McDonald's. He is going to try to work both jobs. We found him his own insurance for his car, and paid for the first 6 months. Although Sean put in a lot of his own foot work job hunting, and the ensuing follow ups, Paul & I helped with the chauffering. It made our own schedules a bit hectic, but also gave us opportunities to spend some one-on-one time with him to drop little seeds of wisdom in his brain and help give us some insight as to where his head was at. The most powerful dynamic going on right now in this situation is the fact that he doesn't live with us anymore. What that does for him is forces him to seek and use other resources. What that does for us is forces him to seek and use other resources. He is going to have to develop and use some self discipline to continue the apparent forward progress he has made, especially now that he has the use of his own vehicle again. I'll be on pins and needles for a while until I see which direction he will choose...

Also this week I think aliens landed by the driveway and left little ambassadors. I managed to capture them in a few photos. If I wake up with tiny black spots behind my ear I am going to scream...

There are three like this, about one to two feet away from each other. They are about two or three inches long, and sort of rubbery. I could lift them gently up...

This group was slightly different, and I wonder if they were the parents of the other three...

Can't stop looking, huh? Kind of like a car wreck on the highway? Facinating and disgusting all at once. Is it the translucent bulbous head? The glistening stem?

We are getting a hefty tax return. That is due mostly to the fact that our rental property allows us to write off a good portion of our income. We've debated the wisdom of letting the government keep so much of our money throughout the year - something no 'expert' agrees with, but for us we count on this 'bonus' to address some of the more pricey items on our wish list.

Our wish list. Is bigger than our tax return.

Which means choices will have to be made. We keep the list and a pen on the breakfast counter. We will keep it there for probably another week so we can keep adding our ideas to it. Next weekend we will set aside a bit of time to have our own G2 summit. We have things on it like siding for the Ledyard house. New boiler/boilers for this house and Ledyard. Central heat/air for this house. Some improvements for this house that include choices such as skylights, additional deck/porches, drainage/tree/landscaping work. Investment for a retirement place since now is a good time to buy real estate. A new truck. Pay down some debt...

Decisions, decisions. And I know me. No matter what we decide to do, I will suffer buyer's remorse for a little while, and wish we had done something different. Yeesh.

BUT, I can't think of anyone I would rather share this project with except for my Paul. He is wicked intelligent, with strong critical thinking skills, gently bullish, wise, knowledgable, affectionate, reflective, nurturing, generous, and my favorite? HONEST. With himself and those who people his world.

Today we are married five years. Five wonderful years in which I've flourished with his support and encouragement. Five years that cause me to panic with the thought of ever having to live without him. And even though we're frequently not even together within the boundaries of the same state, we are still holding hands and watching each other's back. Facing headwinds together, and flying on the tailwinds.

Paul, I love you. Please don't ever let go of me.

I'm including some random pics of last Sunday - a joyful and whimsical little get together with Sean, Echo, X & Mel.

Foo - I know you are waiting for the beaver pond pictures. Patience, Grasshopper.

And as always,

Peace for you all.