Neil and the Pantheon

Was so mad at Chris for a lot of today and yesterday. I'm generally a nicer, less quick to anger sort of person now but there's just something about his forced non-committal nonchalance that drives me mad!! In his defense, there is probably a big issue of sub-conscious guilt about the fact that we still sleep together. Not guilt because its necessarily wrong, but guilt because I know I really should be extricating him from my life, and having him physically entwined with me is a bad start. I guess that's where a big part of the urge to go away and finish college is coming from, but I've got to make sure I have my head in order before I start that project, because I'm pretty sure I'm running on my third strike right now. The powers that be probably won't risk the money again again. Again. Know what I mean?
Today was my little brother's 8th birthday (big age gap, I know) and I'm afraid it was rather over-shadowed by the fact that my mom's purse was stolen out of my car...which was NOT unlocked. They broke into the passenger window to get my mom's purse while my car was parked in front of the church where she works. I don't know what about my mom's purse or my car looked so inviting - there were apparently two other women who had their cars UNLOCKED and their purses inside who got nothing stolen. Maybe he's a particularly idiotic thief. Hardly anyone has cash anymore, right? And who wouldn't cancel their credit cards right away? I just don't think petty theft could cut it, anymore. I mean, The likelihood that you'll get caught is decent, and the odds of you making any money off of it are ballocks. PLUS, my mom SAW him! So she was able to give the Sheriff a description, I think. But the whole thing was that my mom had my car because hers wouldn't start and at the end of the day when the mechanic came out, her car started right up for him, just like the last time. Its so unfair for my mom - she's got to feel so responsible and its SUCH a hassle to get everything back: credit cards, AAA card, medical cards for her and my brother, driver's license, keys...SO many things.

My brother though thought it was a great lark and the tension suited him well. He was enthralled with his birthday dinner and very intent on his cake. Mine was the only physical gift given and it was a K'Nex "Dueling Racers" car set where you build two cars with engines. Well I got to build the cars but I was actually very happy to do it because (not surprisingly, I suppose) I never had 'boy toys' as a kid and always had wanted them. I coveted my brother's MicroMachines and Legos... not to mention the NES. :-D So I built both cars and we raced them down the hallway (Mine won, in case you're interested). I think all in all he had a good birthday. He's a kid that doesn't expect overmuch.

Now, unfortunately, I've got to do two projects that are due tomorrow and in the grand tradition of me, I haven't even begun them.

She Found Him!

I am SO nervous! I was searching around online, trying to find a last-minute prom dress for an employee of mine who can't afford anything for her senior prom. I really don't want her to miss it or feel embarrassed when the money issue isn't her fault. I'm having no luck, by the way. :-/
All of a sudden on facebook, I get a message from an Italian friend of mine whom I had implored to help me find someone - a boy I knew in Italy. I had emailed Valeria some weeks back and had not gotten a response (I figured she thought it was a bizarre request and had ignored it) but I just got a message from her via chat: "Amanda, ho trovato Bendetto!!" (Amanda, I found Benedetto!!). I am going nuts! I can hardly stand it. I'm so worried that my Italian is failing me and that's not what that means, or that she means non ho trovato Benedetto - that she didn't find him. Either way, she isn't answering on chat now and I'm going crazy. I feel like I'm going to be sick! It would be so amazing to find him now after... *calculates*.... 7 years.

She says that her friend had classes with Benedetto's brother and then she said something that as far as I can tell is "What're the chances?!" or more accurately: "What do you think about that?"

I think I've bungged it with my failing Italian! It seems like she does not know if he has email, but she will find out and tell me. I'm not sure :-/ I really hope I didn't frustrate her to the point where she isn't willing to help anymore. *Sigh

When it Rains, it....Well, You Know.

So the house I moved to back here in good 'ol T-Town is my Grandma's house. The house, in the grand tradition of ranch houses, is three pieces (all different ages) sort of patched together. The oldest part (about 150 years old) is my bedroom, the living room, and the dining room. The rest of it (at a sprightly 100 and some odd years old) is the second bedroom, second bath, pantry, and kitchen. The third part is a positively infantile 27 years old and consists of the Blue Bathroom, the sitting room, and the mudroom. So besides half the house being insulated only in retrospect and therefor not very thoroughly, every single door has a 1/4-1/2 inch clearance on three sides. The wind in spring in TTown is horrendous and I am freezing. But this actually isn't an entire blog on the shoddy patchworkness of my house and how I am freezing as a result. Its about dinner with my Grandma and Great Aunt Helen.

Grandma is not dead (hence how I was able to have dinner with her tonight without going all X-Files). She was diagnosed with Parkinson's (I think she's just old. She's 89, for God's sake!) and she as a result moved into the granny-unit at my parents' house and I (and my then-finace' Chris) moved out here. I've done a bit of this and that to make the house my own, but I still feel like I'm in Grandma's house. You know, because I am. Anyway, she's come up once since I moved in in August and although she had nothing but nice things to say, I wasn't eager for the next visit. But since my parent's are currently on vacation, and they flew Grandma's sister Helen down from Oregon to sister-sit (Helen is a puny 85 years old), I offered to cook them dinner. Which they took to mean at my house....
Now I'm not a great house keeper at the best of times, so cleaning this afternoon was harried and stressful, but rewarding. Its awfully nice to be able to sit at the computer and know that you have absolutely nothing else that needs to be done. Anyway, I was pretty nervous to have them here without the buffer of my mom's presence. I cooked fettuccine con funghe e pollo with peas. Which, I have to confess is just my limited knowledge of Italian coming into play when what I really made was Trader Joe's mushroom fettuccine, adding some chopped chicken breast and a side of peas. But it sounds so much better to say "Fettuccine con Funghe e Pollo", doesn't it? English or Italian, it tasted pretty good and The Ladies were impressed. Then I took them on a tentative and nerve-wracking (for me anyway) tour of the updated bits of the house. Helen, who is a spinster and contrary and singularly-willed because of it, was actually impressed and pleased, saying that I must have painted my room with sunshine, it was so bright and airy! I have to say that I don't think Aunt Helen is contrary BECAUSE she never married, I say she's contrary and singularly minded because she's lived so long without a roommate, partner, spouse, or friend to temper her will and whims. She must have everything just-so and if she doesn't she huffs and puffs and rolls her eyes and grunts. This used to be quite funny - especially when she did it at the pastor in church (because he wasn't preaching right) but as I've gotten older (and, I suppose, more contrary :-) and she's gotten older and even more singular, its become a nuisance and the family can only find that good ol Aunt Helen Humor in retrospect - when she's back on a plane to HER coffee pot, and HER bed, and HER food etc. All the things in life - but done RIGHT. Lol. Anyway, I was convinced that this evening would turn out horribly and was delighted to find instead that the three of us quite enjoyed ourselves.






...but I'm still freezing....

Wow, this has gotten rambling. Good thing I don't have any 'followers'! :-D

Why Not?

Its been such a long time since my first and only post. I turned out to not have Celiac's. In fact, they don't know what's wrong. *Shrug. Oh well - I'm doing just fine.
I've moved back to my home town, population 240! Since then I've adopted three cats and a bird. I now have two cats, and two burial mounds in the yard. :-/
My fiance' also opted out of getting married which is to say that he's left. He lives relatively close and we've been able to salvage a patchwork friendship out of what was a really horrible, hurtful situation. I'm running my bakery and while it's labor-intensive and stressful, it is gratifying work -especially when people come back or even call JUST to say they loved thus and such pastry so much. I'll be sad to leave it, but I've decided to go back to a four-year university to get a degree - most likely in Art History, which has been my major for the last five years ;-)

New things I adore:

My newly painted and carpeted oasis bedroom - a complete literary haven with bookshelves and nooks and clean, "Better Homes & Gardens" elegance.

Twitter. Seemingly pointless at first, but one quickly overlooks that as addiction sets in which leads me to....

Neil Gaiman <3 Although I loved him for "The Graveyard Book," since finding him on Twitter I have become gradually hooked on everything he does. And I'm sorry - I don't find him a bit funny looking. I think he's quite attractive. *shrug

Makeup - I used to be obsessed - I had two entire bathroom drawers of makeup and a third for nail polish. Although I've continued on with my relatively recent habit of rarely wearing makeup, I find the urge to collect and play and buy has increased again. Maybe its something about being single. A mating ritual of the American female.