Let's Play House

I put a gun to my own head Wednesday, and went to look at those houses I showed you the other day. It was the last thing I wanted to do, but I feel so pressured to find a place to live and start moving things over, that I just had to get that done. Each home I selected to see was done with my dog's physical problems in mind. They had to have fenced yards and easy entries. Stilt dog did not do stairs. It was hard going through those homes and thinking, he'd have liked this yard, or he would have hated me having a bedroom that was an entire flight of stairs away from him.

I think I found a place, but it wasn't one of the ones I showed you the other day. It's a 3 bedroom ranch in a wonderful town, and the house is walking distance from a busy and charming downtown area. It's one of those cities where dogs are welcome in every store, and store owners keep fresh water and dog cookies ready all of the time. My big boy would have loved that.


The indoor and outdoor spaces were wonderful. It has a remodeled kitchen, huge family room, cozy living room, a vintage bath and a remodeled one too. Both the living and family rooms have a working fireplace. Although empty, it felt bright and peaceful. There is a room near the side entry that's like a separate living space and will be perfect for my oldest daughter. It's large and roomy enough that she doesn't have to feel closed in if she shuts the door for privacy. She's expressed a desire to move back home because of the economy, and since she's one of my favorite people on the planet, I'm excited about this. I haven't lived with her in 9 years and want her to feel both welcome, and still autonomous.


The yard was huge, and though short on charm during the winter, I bet it's pretty during the summer. At the end of a long drive, there's a basketball net which should please my husband and son. All in all, I'm feeling the love of this place. It's not Charming, but the setting seems idyllic. Today, I'll try to get back in there with eyes that are slightly less swollen.

Even though my dog won't be joining us, I picked the home that would have suited him perfectly. Isn't that ironic?

sigh...

I'm All Talked Out

Every single day, I have The Talk about end of life with people.  We talk about disease, we talk about pain, we talk about faith, we talk about dying and we talk about funeral options.  We also discuss the aftermath.  I tell people who are worried about when death will happen, that there are signs that it is approaching.  Today, I had the talk with myself about Duke.  It's time, and my heart is broken.

Last night, I came home and got a look from him that something was terribly wrong.  His ears were about as far back as they could be, almost pinned against his head.  He got up with huge effort and came to me,  but instead of begging for some of my syrian bread, he just looked at me-imploring me to do something.  This morning, he's so much worse that he can hardly bear his own weight, and when he walks, his gait is shuffling.  My great big dog is dying.  It's time.  I've known for awhile that this day was coming, but gosh, I'm overwhelmed with grief.  One day, because I can't do it now, I'll tell you how much I owe this beautiful creature.

Selecting Houses Empress Style

Yes


No

NO

No


Yes

No

NO

NO

NO

No


Yessssssssssss!

So, How Do You Feel About Coconut?

I find that people fall firmly on one side or the other of the coconut debate. Either they love it, or they hate it, few have no opinion. With such a sweet flavor, I'm sort of surprised by that. It's not like coconut has a strong taste like onions, or even peppers. Personally, I think it's wonderful. It's even better when the nut is hollowed out to make room for a fabulous cocktail, and then topped off with tropical fruit and an umbrella. It tastes ten times better if you're consuming said drink under a palm tree. Does it get better than that?


Today, I was perusing my high tech filing system for a recipe for lemon bars. I knew it was there somewhere, and when I finally found it, I was surprised the crust contained coconut. It's been so long since I made them, I forgot. Because I had no coconut on hand, I used Ina Garten's lemon bar recipe. As I write this, they're baking so I'll have to hold off my judgment of her rendition.

For Christmas, I received a new binder to hold my family treasure trove of recipes. My daughter, who just happens to give the most thoughtful gifts, thought I needed a new one when she saw me rifling through the old one on Thanksgiving. She even started it for me. Now it's just shy of being a perfect gift, that one would have been completely filled out. Never the less, I'm not taking the nasty old card file with me when I move. I hope to have the new one completely done by then.

ETA-Ina's lemon bars were pretty darned tasty.  A little rich, but oh so tart.  I love that.  As soon as these are gone, and I've had some time to go out and buy some elastic waisted pants, I'll try the one with the coconut crust.  Oh!  Go to my sidebar and tell me how you really feel about flaky stuff.

Requiem for House Beautiful

That Charming was such a tease-leading me along, making me picture how good we'd be together, whispering sweet nothings, asking me to love him and then telling me I can't have him because after all, he's unavailable. In the end, it was worse than hearing, "oh, by the way, I'm married. Will that be a problem?" He broke my heart and left me without a plan. While thinking about this bad boy house, I kept hearing this in my head:

I'm so tired of being alone,
I'm so tired of on-my-own,
won't you help me, girl,
just as soon as you can.
People say that I've found a way,
to make you say,
that you love me.
But baby,
you didn't go for that,
me, it's a natural fact,
that I wanna come back,
show me where it's at, baby.

I'm so tired of being alone,
I'm so tired of on-my-own,
won't you help me, girl,
just as soon as you can.
I guess you know that I, uh,
love you so,
even though,
you don't want me no more,
hey, hey, hey, I'm cryin' tears,
all through the years,
I tell you like it is,
honey, love me if you can.

Ya baby,
tired of being alone here by myself,
I tell ya, I'm tired baby,
I'm tired of being all wrapt up late at night,
in my dreams, nobody but you, baby.
Sometimes I wonder,
if you love me like you say you do,
You see baby, I've been thinking about you,
I've been wanting to get next to you, baby,
Sometimes I hold my arms and I say,
Mmmmm hmmmm hmmmm,
O baby, needing you has proven to me,
to be my greatest dream.

I'm so tired of being alone,
I'm so tired of on-my-own,
...Sometimes late at night I get to wonderin' about you baby,
Baby, baby, ya...

Can you hear the music? No? Try this:



As an aside to my daughter, every time I hear this song, I think of a certain girl singing this karaoke style on the way to Chicago.

Sleepless in Detroit

Last night, I decided to review my retirement account before I went to bed. I do this twice a week. One by one I went through those numbers. As I got to the third one, I started to get excited thinking my ship had finally come in. I had three of the numbers and then my run stopped. I had such a hard time falling asleep after that and had to resort to counting merino sheep. At least I have a $7 winner to reinvest for Tuesday's new jackpot of 212 million. And they say it's hard to make money with current market conditions. What do they know?