May 8th - Alex's Birthday

From "A City of Bells" by Elizabeth Goudge

"The human race is divided into the proppers and the propped. The propped have an easier time, of course, but they do not live so deeply or so excitingly and they get very bored."

Felicity drew gratefully closer to him in the dark street. If their two lives ran together, as she wanted them to, and this man beside her became her husband she knew just how the propping would be divided. On the surface it would be all hers, he would rely on her to charm away his depression, to light his imagination, to reassure his self-distrust and to lighten his fears and she would sometimes perhaps, as life went on get rather weary of doing it, yet deep down he had something that she had not got, some sober quality of level headness and caution, together with and unchangeable endurance in love and work upon which in her bad times she would be able to rest her whole weight.

I love the above quote and could see some of the relationship Alex and I had in the quote and how it all worked out. Sometimes I was the propper and he the proppee and vice versa - but then isn't that what makes a sustaining marriage?

Life Does Go On

Last Tuesday I went and picked up my laptop from the "hospital" - and I am really blessed to have it back! Hopefully I have learned to moderate my time spent on it and some of the staying up late and spending too much time in cyberspace will be better moderated. I'll still probably stay up late - as hard as I try to change into an "early to bed - early to rise" person it never seems to happen!



I had my first unemployment review this week. When I first walked into the large room that had chairs placed in a large semi circle and busy people sitting at desks and phones ringing I looked all around and didn't see any signs or directions of how to proceed. One young woman pointed to a table with a clipboard on it and told me I had to sign in. While I was signing in I noticed a lot of people seemed very nervous and agitated - okay - I know it's the unemployment office but it was still weird. Then I notice a big burly guy facing me and while I glanced at him two men with badges around their necks come walking quickly up to him - grab both of his arms and pull them in back of the man and handcuff him!!! I didn't think this was a good sign --- and immediately became concerned about the veracity of my information on my forms!



They took him outside and when he tried to pull away from them they were quick to inform him that he would be face down on the concrete sidewalk real fast if he continued - then he started yelling someone's name at the top of his lungs and a girlfriend came running, screaming and waving her two arms in the air. The police/marshalls warned her to back off and they took their prisoner away.



When it got to be my turn with the "examiner" I asked her if this went on all the time - she told me that this was only the second time she's seen this happen in all her years with the department. It turned out that there was a warrant out for his arrest and they knew he was due to come into unemployment so they were just waiting for him. I'm still being verrrrry careful with filling everything out!



P.S. The young woman that gave me directions on what to do was from the same newspaper I was laid off from - and we were both wearing brown tops and light khaki pants - silly looking sitting next to each other!

Soon and Very Soon

Found out this last weekend that I did not lose my hard drive!!! Now moving forward to get a new screen - don't know whether to send it back to Gateway for $200 or just try to get a new one here locally???

What Am I Going To Do????

The other night I fixed some bacon - breakfast for dinner meal - and was sitting down in the living room with my laptop plugged in and sitting on my coffee table when all of a sudden my smoke alarm went off in my kitchen ( I mean, I had finished cooking!) - well I jumped up and went running out to the kitchen to stop it and caught the cord on my foot and pulled the laptop off onto the floor.

I finally got up the courage and opened it up and it looks as though someone had taken a hammer to the screen and broke it up internally. I have to take it to my son-in-law and have him plug it in and see if I've lost my hard drive. Still haven't done it because I'm chicken. the mfg. says they'll fix it for $200. No - I didn't back it up - though I've been talking about doing it - nice!

I've had time for reading and read a wonderful book by Elizabeth Goudge. The Scent of Water. another blogger told me about her. She is an English writer and I have more of her's to read thanks to the public library.

Hope to be up and "running" soon!

A Special Lunch

I have been visiting my daughter, Lauren, and her family in Washington, DC this week and I'll be staying through until Monday (the joy of not having to be at work on Monday morning!). This has been so much fun spending time with my three grandsons, talking and hanging out with Lauren and April (my fourth daughter that lives in DC also) - Monday, April and I went to the Botanical Gardens and the National Gallery of Art!

Anyway - today when I took my three yr. old grandson upstairs to read stories to and to settle him down for a nap (yes, I dozed off too) - when I came back downstairs my daughter, Lauren, had fixed this salad plate for me - it was so beautiful I just had to share it - plus she has just given me a tutorial on how to download the photos off my camera - save them on my laptop - and how to post them to Facebook and my blog!!!

This Christmas I was given an ipod and a webcam - so watch out all you "techies" (?) because I am marching into the next century!!!

The Last Day

Today was my final day!!! I am fighting a really bad cold but went in to work anyway for my last day and my exit interview - any other day I would have called in sick - and I don't do that to often. Ended up staying until 4 p.m. trying to leave everything in good shape for my team. Can't wait for tomorrow morning knowing that it is finally over and I am free from all the stress and worry!

Free - Free At Last!!!

Yesterday I was informed that I was being laid off at work and that my actual last day at the newspaper will be on January 4th - my 11th year anniversary of working at the newspaper.

I know God has answered my prayer and I am so peaceful about this next chapter in my life - I cannot wait to see what is going to happen next! The way it has worked out is that Friday will actually be my last day of work because I had scheduled two weeks of vacation and that has to be honored because I scheduled it before the termination notice was given to me!

The next few days I am trying to get "my ducks in a row" as my mother-in-law would have said so I will be prepared for everything that I have to take care of - unemployment, Social Security (I am eligible), finding out about medical coverage and I am sure the list will get longer! It is an adventure and I am ready for it to begin!