Letters to Mom

my new floor - descriptions to follow After chipping up the broken, paint splattered tile this is what we were left with.  The beige stuff is spackling to help repair the uneven and damaged pressboard underneath. A higher end under layer for the new floor.  It has stryofoam balls underneath to aid in air flow, resist moisture, dampen sound and make a floating floor more stable. the new floor boards Starting to lay the under layer under layer done starting with the floor boards.  The scrap boards are placed against the baseboards to help even out the bowing and uneven walls. the floor is down - yay the excess under layer has been cut and we're starting to add to the baseboards We didn't remove the original baseboards when we pulled up the carpet.  Instead of nails or even screws the boards were attached with glue or caulking!  Pulling those off causes major damage to the sheetrock so we added a bit more to the baseb...

Another year, Mom.  I know the ache will never go away. Chris came by with a vase he spotted at a yard sale, it has turtles on it and thought of you. All turtles remind us of you. Missing you terribly. More later

Hey Mom; G-d, missing you so bad.  Jerry posted a photo he took of Lynn and their little ginger cat Leo. It brought tears to my eyes, we miss them a lot. So many are leaving CA, want to leave or are planning on leaving. For some it's the problem of selling their home when no one is buying right now.  Check out the photo of Lynn & a new stove we had to get (we went for new to avoid other people's problems and went midgrade to have a stove with a gridle and convection oven)

Hey Mom; As you know this time of year can be rough.  Expecting Nick at the end of the month helped us get through December.  Annoying stuff was breaking/straining my foot and now we're dealing with the recovering point of a killer flu that's been going around.  We've barely gone out in 2 weeks.  When we went to Walmart I wore thin gloves and yesterday I added a bandana to pull up if we got near people.  I don't want to relapse nor spread it.  I never had the fever so I'm not sure when I'm contagious. I'm adapting to the Duprytens Disease/Viking's Disease.  They say over-using the hand doesn't make it worse.  I hope not.  I can't seem to be able to dictate aloud.  Going to work on it more. Tired. Miss you, Mom

5 years, Mama.  Many days it feels like yesterday.  We miss you.  I miss you so many times during the day that it's probably bordering on weird. You were definitely around on the 1st.  Pulling into the lot at a RiteAid and hearing the opening chords to Baba O'Reilly made me smile and listen to the entire thing in the lot. Then there was Meat Loaf on the way to Wal-Mart. Then seeing something beyond expected - a mini-van with a sticker on the back that said "Are you a turtle?"  I almost knocked on the window to ask if she collected turtles.  I've never seen that sticker before, Ma. Then immediately after - Do Ya Think I'm Sexy by Rod Stewart comes on. Love you too, Mom.

Never really thought that Charles Manson would last this long.  May his soul be blotted out for all eternity. I vaguely remember a sense of unease in the house at the time, Mom.  Being way down in LA helped keep a full blown panic away but I remember you avoiding the news at night for awhile, I think you were trying to keep that from me and can understand that. I remember clearly the school bus kidnapping too.  I was a little older and rode the school bus everyday and it wasn't that far from us - what an hour and a half, maybe?  Miss you, Mom.  This time of year is always worse.  I haven't watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas since watching it with you in the Emergency Room.  I think I see my psych tomorrow.  The pain in the hands and all over body aches and back and........ etc/etc/etc make it hard to cope lately and I sometimes wonder if I can keep this up for another 10-25 yrs, Mom. I still have one dream left unfulfilled, Mom.  ...

My foot and two smallest toes are blue with some purples.  Some pain but nowhere near like it was Friday.  It's been annoying - oh well, could have been worse