Journal Soup

I haven't been writing as faithfully as I once did...time was, I was adding two, sometimes three entries a day. (A bit overzealous, I'll admit...) Too much to do these days. The warm weather calling me outside (we had summer over Easter weekend...eighty degrees and SUNNY both Saturday and Sunday. You have no idea how NOT "early spring weather in Oregon" that is...) My season with my business got its little jumpstart this month, with a couple of small events in the first half of April, and a major one (I hope) coming up next weekend. And then there has been this decision about going to school...

But I've had little germs of journal ideas rattling around in my head, even if I haven't had the time or the energy to post them. None of them has made it much past the embryonic stage, though. So I'll just throw them all together into some "journal soup."

2 cups of politics:

The situation in Iraq has become absolutely appalling. Bush and his cronies had no idea what they were getting this country into when they attacked Iraq. Didn't want to know. Didn't take the time to try to understand the culture, the history of the region, figure out a REAL plan of how to replace Sadaam once they deposed him. This has been a cluster**** from the beginning.

I listened to some of the 9/11 hearings. To try to pin "blame" on any person, agency, or administration for not preventing 9/11 is foolish. Much as I cannot stand George W. Bush, his administration is not responsible for 9/11. He IS responsible for the hideous mess in Iraq, though, which has put our precious young people in harm's way for no legitimate reason (what WMD?), damaged (beyond repair?) America's reputation among the nations of the world, exposed our allies to the horrors of Al Quaeda terrorism (the train station bombing in Spain.) For that, the American people need to don their Donald Trump masks in November and speak the immortal words, "YOU’RE FIRED!"

2 tablespoons of housekeeping rants:

I cracked up when I read Karen’s entry the other day about all the horrible dust mites and germs that flourish in our homes. I have a hard enough time dealing withDUST, much less dust mites. I’ve mentioned that I redecorated my living room last year. I made the grave mistake of filling it up with dark cherry furniture. Shows every speck of dust, every cat hair, every finger and paw print. Definitely does not do well with my "break out the dust rag three times a year whether it needs it or not" housekeeping habit. What was I thinking?

Did you know that kitchens get dirty when you actually use them? Because of our diet, we’ve been eating at home the majority of the time. Up until now, eating at home was the exception…eating out was the rule. If I cooked one or two dinners a week, I thought I deserved the Good Housekeeping Seal. So, the diet is going well…but the kitchen looks like a battleground. I actually have to run the dishwasher more than twice a week! I have to shovel out the refrigerator weekly (such a glut of leftovers!) Dirt, stains and splats appear on the floor (I’m a somewhat sloppy cook.) The microwave…well, we won’t even GO there. Suzy Homemaker, I am not. But I have worked in commercial kitchens long enough not to be able to stand dirt and disorder in my work area. So, by golly, I clean it up. Every day. A novel experience, and somewhat of a pain in the butt.

1 teaspoon of gardening rant:

OMG my yard looks like hell! And up to now I have had NO desire to deal with it. I go outside with the dog, then throw my sweatshirt over my head and go back inside. SO much to do, and I’m on my own on that one. Husband wants nothing to do with weeding, planting, or clean-up. If there is a loud power tool involved in a project, he can be enticed to don garden gloves and pitch in. To be fair, the weather has not cooperated with my usual "spring garden work" timetable. There have been times when I’ve TRIED to dig in the dirt in April, only to find that it’s like putting my hands in crushed ice. So I’ve adopted the habit of doing the bulk of my garden clean up in May. Unfortunately, the weather has been downright summerlike this spring. Everybody else is out in their yards gardening feverishly. I’m sorry; I haven’t quite come out of hibernation yet.

Finish with a dollop of relationship rant:

I got into a small email argument with one of my sisters the other day. She was saying that when she went out to see Mom the previous night, Mom was really out of it and kept falling asleep. Then my sister discovered that her oxygen tank was empty. We’ve had this round and round argument going for months that my sisters need to get a doctor’s order to up my Mom’s dosage on the oxygen. She has had a LOT of problems lately that are directly related to poor oxygenation. Damned if my sisters don’t completely ignore me when I make suggestions, and sometimes take on a hostile, "you don’t know anything about it" attitude. I came within an inch of sending this message off to my sister: "I didn’t walk away from involvement in Mom’s care…I was PUSHED out. Never forget that. I don’t." Believe me, that little comment would have started World War Three… The peace is only maintained by my keeping my mouth shut. It ain’t easy.

So, there you have it. Journal soup. Enjoy!