Sistah Pat

This morning’s paper says “GENERATORS BLAMED FOR DEATH, ILLNESSES - Hospitals Treat almost 100 for carbon monoxide poisoning” and then we have “CREWS CONTINUE TO FIND DAMAGE - 121,000 customers still without power”.  Finally, there’s “300 INTERSECTIONS IN JEFFERSON COUNTY REMAIN DARK - Police urge citizens to avoid unnecessary driving and treat darkened intersections as 4 way stops.” 

Still pretty messy around here.  Everywhere you go, there are tree trimmers, traffic cones and tape, and repair crews for power lines.  Some of it is so sad.  Why would anyone move a generator inside the house to keep from having it stolen?  How could someone not know how dangerous that is?  The weather has been absolutely gorgeous.  You could sleep in the backyard and guard the generator if it means that much to you.  I’ve actually been rather proud of people here in Louisville.  The news said there hasn’t been any looting to speak of.  No more than the usual number of burglaries.  Surprising, but nice to know.

Looks like the city is slowly taking care of the storm damage.  I can’t stop thinking that I’m storm damaged, too, and wondering what it’s going to take to repair me.  I’ve started.  I’m slowly repairing the damage.  I’m eating healthy.  I’m exercising regularly.  I’m trying to get back to taking care of myself.  But really, what’s an honest assessment of the damage going to be?  It keeps coming back to that mid-life crisis thing.  What’s realistic when you’re past 55?  Everyone expects you to be old and wrinkly at 75 but that’s almost 20 years down the road.  What’s that saying?  ”Youth is wasted on the young.”  I don’t know about that.  Young people are so fresh and beautiful.  I love just looking at them.  All those sweet, young faces and soaring aspirations.  They’ve got a long road ahead.  Let em have everything they can get.  Who wants saggy, wrinkley kids with gray hair?  Better to lay it on us old people.

I guess we just come to a point where it’s more realistic to be considered “attractive”.  Not sure I like that word…Kids are cute, young women can be gorgeous and middle aged women can be attractive.  It’s difficult to wrap my head around that one. Anyone got a better adjective?

At any rate…I’m making a few changes.  I decided to go back to my natural hair color this weekend.  I don’t think I have too much gray (I might be surprised) but I think I’ll go back to being a brunette and just let it grow back naturally and see what’s up there.  I still love bright colors and will continue to wear them but the bright lipsticks are history.  Gotta tone it down a little bit.  I still haven’t gone through the last few boxes of pictures but it seems like I have something from every decade.  1967, 1978, and 1988.  I’m aiming for a new “decade” picture on the cruise over Christmas.  I know they have photographers on board to take pictures when you’re all dressed up for dinner so I’m aiming for a ”Decade 2008″ picture of an attractive woman with her “always there for me”, loving DH. 

In the meantime, here’s some fun photos from a trip to Hawaii in 1994.

Andrew and Steven on a fake surfboard and then posing with some beautiful birds. 

Before you get too jealous, the picture of DH and I is a fake.  Our heads are poking through a hole in a cutout.  Looks pretty good, doncha think?

I’m off to the treadmill…Later!

1:30 - I managed to get a decent workout for an hour in spite of all the interruptions.  I don’t answer the phone when I’m working out but it rang and rang and rang so I finally answered.  It was DIL, sitting out in the driveway, wanting to know if I could watch Holly because she has to go to work and DS is working.  Kind of a moot point if she’s sitting in the driveway.  So, I had to run down and open the door for Holly.  I went back to the treadmill and Holly came up and wanted me to fix her some breakfast (at 1:00 p.m.?).  Told her she’d have to wait.  A few minutes later, she answered the phone and brought it upstairs.  It was my brother, wanting to know how things were going.  Took me two or three minutes to get off the phone and promise I’d call him later.  Got back on the treadmill and ignored another phone call but Holly answered it and brought another phone upstairs (that’s three phones now).  It was a sales call.  I told her not to answer the phone anymore and did the best I could with my workout which was a mixture of treadmill and aerobics to keep the heart rate elevated.

5:30 - I’m so bored…I’m not used to having a week off with nothing to do.  Actually, there’s a lot I could be doing but it just doesn’t feel right.  If they’d have said on Monday that we’d be off an entire week, I’d have gone down to Florida and cut the grass.  It hasn’t been cut since last April and I’m sure it’s a mess.  Of course, it would be my luck to drive for 12 hours to get down there and not be able to get the mower started.  Still, that might not be too bad.  I’d be forced to throw up a hammock between a couple of trees and give up.

I’ve been trying to help Andrew pick out his senior ring.  When I was in school, we didn’t have much choice in the matter other than the size and a couple options for insignias.  Now, it’s a major deal.  What color stone, what kind of stone, what size stone, what kind of cut on the stone, what kind of finish on the ring, which insignias, what size, yada, yada.  I think we’re close to being done with making the choices.  Looks like it’s going to run around $700.00.  Yikes!  Still, the kid deserves every cent.  He really works hard.