In the basement

I've been trying to get organized for the past few weeks. I bought a bunch of 18 gallon plastic bins and have been throwing out old boxes and reorganizing stuff in the basement that's been there for the 10 years we've been here in this house. Of course a lot of the stuff moved with us from other houses. Everything is labelled and now it will be easier for my children when I'm gone to just go in and read the label and throw the whole thing out! I did find some treasures today. I found some old books that were mine when I was a wee thing and some birthday cards from when I was as young as two. They are in fabulous shape. There were postcards that my Dad brought back from when he was a conscenious objector in the early 1940's and did his service in the parks of California. The postcards are perfect and not written on. Should have a little value there, Kids, so don't throw everything out. I did mark the bins with comments such as antiques and collectibles so take a peak inside of those before you toss them out. Now if I could only get some shelves built then I'd be all set. I even cleared out the guest room closet and organized the pantry. WOW! What's got into me! I think I'll need to make one more run to the store to get some more bins so that I can clear out my file cabinet and get rid of real estate files that have been gathering dust for years. Those can be tossed!! I know somewhere I have holiday cards that were my Mother's from when she was young. It's amazing what she kept. My Dad used to make leather wallets and purses with imprinted designs. I found a couple and they had some things in them that will now be in the family history albums. Oh, they're in a bin, also.

I'm still struggling through "The Drood." I'm at about page 93 so at this rate I should be done in about 7 more weeks. That should be the longest it's ever taken me to read a book.

Good news

I was thrilled to find out yesterday that my stepdaughter is now staying in area and not moving to Washington state. Her husband had second thoughts about uprooting which made all of us "happy campers." I think a recent illness that their son suffered made them realize that if they were 3000 miles away he wouldn't have his parents loving care. Now if we could only get the Hawaii kid back to the area. Hate to see those pictures of him running around on the beach this time of year in his shirt sleeves and shorts. That's just not right!

Hubby and I got two days off the beginning of March. We didn't plan it but it happened. Our hours are going back down again. I was managing a steady 27 to 37 and now I'm back to 20. But it is giving us two days together which has become rare. If we can find a hidden stash of funds we thought we'd sneak away for an overnight trip. Tough to plan this time of year but who knows.

I started "The Drood" by Dan Simmons. It's 771 pages and after about 3 days I'm still only at page 30. At this rate it will be mid summer till I finish it. There are a few coming out the I'll have to set this one aside and read the other if I don't finish it. It's about the last 5 years of Charles Dickens life and the disaster that changed his life. Of course it's speculation. If it's Simmons then there's going to be horror, too. The only thing wrong with a big book like that, it's hard to carry with you for those captured moments.

New Discovery

At my parttime job they have a block on the computers for all socially active networks. I was surprised to discover I could access my blog. Since I've accomplished all my early morning reports and tidying up, I find myself with free time. No customers running up and asking stupid questions or wanting a miracle performed. I'm slated for a full work day here today. Started at 6 am and won't get out of here until 3 pm. Much better than the late shift but tough to drag myself out of bed at 4:30. Hate having to go to bed before my usual 11:30 time frame. Doesn't give me time to read and relax. Puts pressure on me to close my and eyes and will myself to instant dream land.

My friend in Michigan has been emailing me and telling me about all her snowfalls. Lots of shoveling going on in her driveway. I'm so jealous. We've had about 3 or 4 dustings that haven't amounted to anything. The weather prediction for earlier was 3 days of snow and we got a dusting yesterday and now it's gone and temps are going up to the 40's for the next few days. Hardly blizzard conditions. I'm not greedy. Just want one really big white fluffy two foot blizzard to cover that drab dreary brown and gray world out there. Spring isn't for a while yet so till that beautiful green shows up, let's cover that ugliness with white. Plus we could use the moisture! Our well is showing signs of being low.

Waiting for a shipment of books. I've got a pile I could start on but there's a couple good ones (hopefully) that are coming in the shipment and I don't want to start another until they get here. I have picked up a book of short stories but as I've said before, I'm not fond of short stories. I think there's a Dan Simmon's book coming so I'll be "scared!"

Finally, another book..

I've been reading Linda Fairstein's "Cold Hit" for the last week. I couldn't seem to find the time to read. I've been working so much that I'd pick up my book and read a few pages and then find I couldn't keep my eyes open. The book was good, it was just finding the time to finish it that was the problem. The main character in Fairstein's books is a D.A. names Alex Cooper. She teams up with two dectectives in all the books, too. She is in charge of Sex Crimes and the one in this story lead them into the world of art. The victim was a well known estranged wife of a very rich art collector and gallery owner. Alex lead us through galleries and naturally comes into danager herself. I happened to find the book in a discount bin and found that I hadn't read it. It was published in 1999 so it was funny to read about word processors and pagers when everything now is computers and cell phones. I'm awaiting the arrival of Fairstein's latest book from this series.

Birthday Bash

I was invited to attend my Uncle and Aunt's combined 90th birthday party. This is the last surviving sibling of my mother and therefore extra special to me. Not your usual way of spending a Valentine's Day but I'll take it. Lot better than last year when I was having surgery on my neck on Valentine's Day. Hope the lovely couple make it many more wonderful years.

Back to the grind

As much as I was looking forward to a day off, yesterday, I didn't get to enjoy it as much as I had hoped. Throw in a migraine and some other unmentionable issues and it wasn't a pleasant day. I did try to read which was my goal. I finished "Run for Your Life" by James Patterson and Micael Ledwidge. It is a new sequel that they started a book ago about Detective Michael Bennett. He's called in when a serial killer starts a rampage by first knocking a girl in front of a subway train, then changes clothes and moves on to a high end clothing store where he shoots a clerk, and on he goes. He keeps changing clothes and outmaneuvering the police leaving a trail of bodies behind. Bennett thinks he's discovered the identity of the killer only to find out that it isn't who he's been searching for. It's a great read as most of Patterson's books are. This cop character is interesting in that he and his wife who died a year ago, have adopted 10 children all under the age of 12 of different races and backgrounds. All through the novel you get a taste of his homelife and what it's like to be dealing with raising this bunch with the help of a nanny and his grandfather.

Back to work later today. Got the late shift for three nights running which isn't great but it's hours that I wouldn't have otherwise. Through some firings and medical issues we've lost quite a few employees and there's a hiring freeze which has put the parttimers into more hours. Okay by me. They took the night time girl off the "desk" where I am and put her in another department where they need help and the leaves me more hours where I'm supposed to be. Unfortunately these hours are spread out over many days without a break.

Took a couple hours this morning to visit my youngest first cousin at the local hospital. She was rushed there by helicopter a little over a week ago after she ran her car head long into a tree. No seat belt! She's not a small girl by any means and the impact left her with a compound fracture of her right thigh, broken left tibia, broken right ankle, broken right wrist, a large gash across her right palm and more broken ribs then they can count. Lungs were collapsed and she's been on a ventilator for 8 days until she decided to pull it out herself. Now she's breathing on her own and today they moved her out of ICU and into the next level of care. She has a long hard road to recovery but she's making progress. She's not from around here and neither is her immediate family so I'm the closest and now that the immediate family restrictions are off I can help take up the slack and visit more. She's the youngest sibling of my favorite Uncle who passed away 35 years ago. Visions of that day came roaring back to me as I made the drive to the hospital last week when I got the news.

A day off.........

After working for 8 days straight I finally get tomorrow off. I put on the pajamas and I'm not taking them off all day tomorrow.




I finished John Grisham's "The Associate." Really enjoyed the book until the end. The main character is Kyle and he grew up in York, PA. That was an interesting little fact since that's close by. He's a new grad from Yale Law School and been threatened into taking a job with a top law firm in NYC. Not what he planned but he's paying the price for some misbehavior in college that has now come to light and could be the end of his career. I don't want to ruin the book for anyone. I enjoyed it right up to the last page and then I was disappointed. It could have gone one for many more chapters. Grisham doesn't do sequels so we're left hanging. It's like he had to write 373 pages and then go for groceries or something so that was it. I did find one point that he didn't do enough research on. He mentioned that Kyle went home for Thanksgiving and went hunting that morning with his Dad for "buck." Everyone knows that in PA there is no "buck" hunting until the Monday after Thanksgiving and it's like a major holiday. Schools are closed!

The next one will be "Run for Your Life" by James Patterson. With luck, I'll finish it tomorrow.