Just another Saturday

Today was just another Saturday.

I woke up, brewed a pot of java and got kickin' into the basic house-work duties. Cleaning, laundry, watering my flowers, etc.

My dad came downstairs to enjoy a cup of coffee with me. We sat in the yard and admired how well my basil, thyme, marjoram, green peppers and tomato's are doing. And we celebrated the fact that FINALLY one of the tomatoes is actually turning red! Yahoo.

Mom cam over at 2:30 and promptly plopped her ass on my couch. She's going through a new chemo and it's just draining all of her energy. She can't feel her fingers or toes and once again, she's losing her hair. Its a bummer and she is kind of depressed. But even though she's dealing with all the downsides of cancer I think mom is a real tough cookie. She did make a brilliant olive tampinade which we enjoyed immensely. Take a cracker, spread a little goat cheese on it and top it with the olive tampinade. A little slice of Heaven is what it is. "Mother's heavenly Tampinade".

I made a potato salad, grilled some chicken and boiled up some crunchy, sweet corn on the cob for dinner. Me, mom, dad and Mike ate and ate and ate. We smothered that corn with butter and salt. Oh holy Jesus, it was good. After dinner we took a after-dinner nap. Nothing beats those naps I tell you.

Mike flew off to work at 8:30 pm, dad snuck off back to his upstairs apartment and Mom & I watched a re-run of the new Project Runway.

Now, I'm in bed chillen. Mom's in bed snoring.

It was just another Saturday spent with some of the people I love most.

Why Is It?

That's me. Yup, THAT IS ME! I believe that is the most horrible photo I have ever taken and, I'm posting it for the purpose of my post.

As bad as I look in THAT photo, I looked even worse this past weekend!! Yup, I say, worse.

Last weekend was Pierogi fest here in tiny, itty, bitty, Whiting, Indiana. It's a big deal here. Pierogi fest had made the Food Channel, WTTW Wild Chicago and so on. As a result of all this publicity it has become a very popular event. So popular that everyone in the Midwest (and their mother) wants to attend this magnificent event.

My family requested that I save some parking spots for them for this very special occasion and I did. I woke up on Saturday morning, put some chairs out front. Then I proceeded to do my normal Saturday routine. Put my hair up in a bun, donned my nastiest jeans, and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned. I was sweaty, no make-up on, dirty fingernails and dead-beat tired when my family showed up for their parking space. Ohhhhhhhhhh....I was UGLY. Stinky, dirty, undignified, downright scary-ugly!

So they came and, they invited me out. "No, no, I don't really want to go out. I'm stinky, dirty, undignified and scary-ugly." Is what I said.

"Oh, who gives a shit. Come on out and have a good time" is what they said.

And I listened. And at Pierogi Fest I bumped into every, single person I've ever known in my life.

I bumped into...

My ex-husband
My niece
My-ex-sister-in-law
My ex -bother-in-laws
My old college friends
My friends I haven't seen in a yer
My kids
All of my kids friends

Like I said, I bumped into EVERYONE and I looked my lowest of lows total CRAP-O-LA.

So why is that? Why did this happen? I could have looked my very best.

Even though this happened and I looked my very worst, I FELT good. I was happy. I was out and about, not all wrapped up in my physical persona and very wrapped up with my emotional being. I was having a good time with my family. I enjoyed re-connecting with old family and friends.

I felt sort of naked in a way.

Embarrassed, but Free.

I had a great time

Movin Out, Movin On and Movin In

So...................................................................

I haven't written in awhile. It feels good to write again. It feels good to find the time to write again. It feels good watching Food Network, logged in, and writing on my blog!

So the story goes.

My dad, a.k.a., "Da Polak" was rushed to the emergency room in early March. He FINALLY hit "rock bottom" and checked himself in. YAY for Da Polak. That takes courage my friends. Especially at age 73. He did it, he done it and he done did it. And, he's not had a sip since. I'm proud of him.

Prior to dad's hospitalization I had been driving about an hour and a half on weekends to go visit/care for dad. I'd do his laundry, grocery shopping, cleaning, etc... I know I shouldn't say this, but.....It was a major P.I.A. Ugh. I didn't like driving 3 hours on my weekends.

Anyhoot, Dad checked himself in and was in hospital care for 2 weeks. After that, he came to stay with me because he couldn't be alone. He could barely walk due to hip, back and balance problems. No way in hell was he going to be alone again. Away from family, friends and lonliness. Wasn't gonna happen. So, he moved on in with me. I had an extra bedroom so it was no biggie. Well, it was an adjustment to. That bedroom is directly across from my own bedroom and I was pretty used to "getting my groove on" whenever, however, as loud ever, as I wanted to. The groove had to lose its ..."oooooooove". LOL.

Well in between this time, my Man found a new job at the casino, I got word that I'm losing my job in September and I bought a house. Not in that order. I wouldn't have bought a house if I knew my company was going to outsource nearly all IT to another country. That's corporate America for ya! But hey, that's the way the cookie crumbles....and I'm the cookie---and I'm crumbling! NOT.

So, here I am this July 19th. Dad is moved into the apartment that's above my home. He's got some groovy new furni

ture and I've got my "groove" back.

Life is good. I'm still working through September and collecting a paycheck. My love is dealing cards and loving it.

My dad is snoring in his comfy new apartment. And I am cuddled up with my BFF cat, Thelma, watching Old Time Movie Classics. Life is good.