MY BOGGY BLOG: find your way through the murk

SuperWoman

Can she do it? Watch the Amazing Theresa attempt to get it all done
this weekend? Tune in and find out... Sunday night.

First of all there's Nanowrimo, where I'm trying to do 2500 words a
day to finish on time November 30th. Then today there's: pick up our
food from Fare for All (I'll have to put in a link about this later),
put a 20 lb. turkey in the oven for dinner tonight (clearning ot room
in the freezer), attend a Loft class with Shannon Olsen on dialogue
this afternoon, come home and eat said turkey (not the whole thing!),
attend Christmas Carol at the Guthrie with our free tickets from
Project Success (another link later!). Did I mention cleaning? Because
somewhere I have to fit in cleaning because tomorrow we are having
family come over for youngest DS's family birthday party. Yes, our
house is a pit and family is coming over for party and dinner tomorrow
night, so there's cooking and cleaning to do somewhere, probably
Sunday, before they arrive. May I scream now?

What am I doing sitting here and typing? I'd better get going! Tune in
Sunday night to find out if I'm glowing l ike a glorious SuperWoman,
or more likely, crumpled in a heap like a burnt-up crisp in need of
massive amounts of IV chocolate!

Mmmmm...Coffee...

Yesterday I went to one of my favorite events: the Coffee Festival at
Calhoun Square. They have probably had this even for over a dozen
years now, always in November before Thanksgiving, and you purchase a
special mug for $7 (used to be only $5) and then you get to walk
around the mall where different cafes in town have set up tables and
let you have tastes of their coffee, and often they bring samples of
treats, too. Lots of good coffee, and even some tea! DH and I used to
go before kids, and we have many of the past mugs still. Now DH is on
decaf and is often out of town at a sci-fi convention that weekend, so
now I bring the kids. They don't drink coffee, but the vendors are
very generous and let the kids sample, too. All the proceeds go to
charity, and I get a mighty coffee buzz. Did I mention you also get a
free coupon for $5 off anything purchased from a store in the mall
that day? Oh man, this event is good, in so many ways!

A Toast to Cousin Judy

Not a great week here. Well, actually I've been catching up on my
writing and that has been going pretty good, but we had this stressful
adventure with DH's brother, a great guy, 38 and learning disabled (or
whatever the correct term is today). He's unfortunately been having
some psychotic episodes in the last year, went on medication, and then
was doing so well, his doctor let him try going off the meds. He ended
up getting picked up by the cops Monday night because he was psychotic
and disorderly, brought to a hospital then released in just a few
hours (though the cops had said he should be held 72 hours). His
mother wasn't told this, brought him home and then he ended up being a
missing person for 18 hours... he was afraid to meet with his doctor
and be put in the hospital again. People were out Tuesday night
looking for him in the dark, and he wasn't found until Wednesday
morning, up to his armpits stuck in the mud in a swamp out behind his
apartment. Luckily we were having a warm-up spell and it wasn't as
cold as it had been the week before-- he had hypothermia, but after
being rescued by the fire department, he was warmed up in the hospital
and doing much better by Wednesday evening. It was such a scary thing
having him missing and not knowing where he might have ended up.

After imagining a possible funeral for BIL and then having it turn out
okay (whew!), then yesterday I heard that my second cousin J. had lost
her battle with lung cancer that morning. J. was only in her 50's and
was such a wonderful person. She was my dad's cousin, and I started
babysitting for her when I was 11, and she and her family always
treated me like I was someone special. They were always just the
nicest family, and I knew that J. herself didn't come from the nicest
family at all and just didn't deal with them anymore. Somehow she knew
how to change the old patterns and be a great and loving mother to her
own three kids, who have all turned into fabulous adults.

So J. died, lung cancer when she had never smoked, not living to see
her first two grandchildren who will be born early next spring (son's
wife and her daughter are both pregnant). She got cancer immediately
after he husband retired and they wanted to start traveling. My mom
talked to her last week and she had sounded weak but okay, at home
doing the dishes and trying to have some normalcy in her life.

So yesterday I told my kids about it, told them they wouldn't have to
go to the funeral (it would be their fourth funeral in less than a
year... damn year), but we would celebrate J.'s life by splurging at
our fave cafe. We go there every week before piano lessons, and
usually they can have a treat but I said "order whatever you want."
Then we sat and toasted J., and I said this is to remind us that life
can be short and you have to live it and enjoy it every day.

I will miss you J. You were always a role model for being a great mom
and getting past a difficult family background. I will hug your
children for you at your funeral next week.

Of Basilicas and Auditions

First thing was a trip to the Basilica this morning with the class of
7th graders from our church. They are visiting all sorts of different
religious services this year for a liberal education, and it has
really bee great, educational for ME, the parent, too. I hadn't been
in the Basilica for over a dozen years or more, and it really is
amazing, but the service was so slow with the organ and the smells
that remind me of a funeral, and all the repetitious prayers that are
so ingrained in my brain that I could still say every word, even the
priest's long prayers, by heart. And it all is so meaningless for me
now, doesn't fit my own spirituality anymore, though I did get into
all of it when I was a kid. It made me appreciate my own church so
much!

And I took DD to her first ever audition to be in a big-time play. The
Children's Theater was auditioning 10-13 yr olds for Mrs. Piggle
Wiggle, and there were over 100 kids trying out for 5 parts. We were
there for two and a half hours, waiting for he turn. She seemed to
have fun. Luckil I had my writing notebook with. Bonus: we got to have
some good mother/daughter chats driving home, too!

A Taste of Winter

It is snowing! Woke up this morning to the briefest hint of snowflakes
in the air, and now it is flurrying, quite noticeable and actually
accumulating on the ground. Yikes! I am not ready for this yet! I
still have to clean out my plot at the community garden, still have
kale to harvest there (luckily it is hardy!). The kids and I will be
heading over there this morning, but where are the winter coats and
mittens, and do they fit? We are due for a Real Minnesota Winter,
since we've had pretty mild ones for a few years. But does it have to
start in the beginning of November?

It really is pretty, though.... ;-)