Halfway through -

[kyburg]

Sort of.

It's cooling down, but I'm still shellshocked from the first fish - but I need to get him replaced. Kid could be suspicious, but since I'm not saying anything, he isn't either.

Mom's status has been downgraded - something showed up on bloodwork indicating she's going into heart failure, so she's having an echocardiogram done soonish. Spoke to her yesterday - she says she has a cold, but other than that - she sounds fine on the phone.

There are a lot of things I've taken off the list over the years with the proviso of 'while Mom is still alive' that include living abroad (again) or moving away from Southern California. Really, no regrets about that - except that I'm not seeing her much more often at this distance than if I was across the country. We've spent more days this year with Jim's family, to be blunt. Always, it's time and money and if I can shoehorn those travel hours into our daily routines - and often, that means no. It's been a while since anyone had a kid as small as ours, and none of them had to travel very far (or at all) when they were.

I'm also down to telling people to do instead of asking. Asking and then not getting is wearing my patience to the bone. Shit ain't getting done again. I'm not asked, by the way, by and large. It's usually more like stepping in cat barf on most days and then ignored when I protest.

I've also got a persistently sore elbow and knee - just on the left side, but that's the weight-bearing side - which, while it isn't disabling, is annoying. And not leaving. Feh.

Walking into work is smelling awesome these days, though. Chocolate factory next door is gearing up for Halloween by making, making, making something every morning and most of it has to involve caramel because that's what you smell in the morning.

Comments

[gvdub.livejournal.com]

There's a bakery at Jefferson and Crenshaw that fires up the ovens every evening to bake for the next day. When the wind is right, the street smells like freshly baked cinnamon rolls. Then the wind shifts to westerly, and we get Philip's Barbecue and Chef Marilyn's Soul Food Express in the air, wafting over from Crenshaw and Adams. Some evenings I suspect that you could gain five pounds just by walking out the door.