Monday.............

After a relative quiet Sunday I was looking forward to another quick day today.

Bugs and Boo are spending the day with Bug's friend who's getting married in September. Bugs is Maid of Honor, Boo is the Flower girl (she'll be dressed as a fairy, wings and all) Probably looking for shoes again.

Good luck ladies!

My first endeavor to be productive got smashed, as I stood in line at the post office to mail some pictures to my mom. The line was long, the service slow, and I had to "go"...so...back home I went...

Left the car out so I could access my attic over the garage.

My plan was to stow a few things up there to make room in the garage for a fold-away bed, which is now in the closet of Boo's room. The closet is a good size and I used it for storage, primarily, but now I want to make it more of a clothes closet for Boo. So the stuff had to move out, which means moving several items to different places. A domino effect.

Stuff from garage up into attic

Stuff from closet out to garage

Container with feather bed to Bugs' house

Hang clothes thingie in closet for Boo-s little things


We don't have a lot of extra storage in this house, but I had a floor built in the attic so I could put stuff up there. Of course actually getting the stuff UP there is another story. It has one of those fold down stairs/ladders, and the hole isn't big. It takes some doing to get stuff up there sometimes.

As I was trying to get a large box out of the closet, (with my old letterboxes and some framed stuff my auntie made) which was sitting on the plastic storage bin with our feather bed, I felt my back "go"

I stopped quickly, knowing that if I didn't I would be flat on my back for at least a week.

So far, as I am sitting here, I'm okay. Took a handful of Advil, and closed the garage door, we'll finish that....later....

Good thing I have the day off huh!

I wanted to come back to something I wrote the other day, about those day camps. I emailed both my brothers, see what they remembered. My oldest brother remembered he and New Zealand used to go, and it was New Zealand who had his face bashed in when the bus ran into a tram, not him. He also mentioned a completely different place where they would have the big party at the end of the camp time, and that they did skits themselves.

Talking with my sister yesterday I realized something else. We don't all recall stuff the same way. My perception of my mother, for example, is totally different than that of my siblings.

The only sibling who actually reads my blog is New Zealand, so I don't get a lot of feedback about whether I tell the story correctly or not from the others.

I was the oldest. My mom's expectations for me were different than the ones she had for my brothers, and much later, my sister. I was groomed to be a housewife/mother, my brothers were being groomed to be providers and fathers. Logical.

It's interesting to me to realize that each person has their own perception of pretty much everything that happens to him/her. (Duh, Calypso)

A clear example is this. Wheelie was born when his mom was 17. His dad was a few years older. They were married. His father left them, as I recall, to find work. He ended up working on building the Hoover Dam with his six brothers.

All through his life, Wheelie hated his father. He did meet him again when he was already married and his father was 50 or so. They did not get along. Dad was into hunting, and Wheelie was into music and being alternative. His father died shortly after they met.

A few years ago I was looking through Wheelie's baby book. The one his mom kept when he was born, up till his first birthday. She glued the gift cards inside and listed the gifts and who was at the shower, the birthday party, etc etc.

Some very neat retro cards in that book by the way, I love it. In the back were his birthday cards. One of them felt thicker than the others, so I pried it open. Inside was a two page letter, written in pencil. It was a letter from his dad.

When I read it I had to cry. He wrote that he was so sorry he couldn't be there, that he missed his little boy, and for mom to be sure to give him a million kisses. He included a dollar bill.

Wheelie never knew this letter existed. When I read it to him, there was not much of a reaction. But I wondered.....

In my mind, the guy who was known as a big asshole, became a very young man, in very difficult times, the late 30s, the family was poor, the war was looming. A guy who loved his child dearly, but was unable to be part of his life. Mom wasn't an easy person to get along with. She was tough and apparently vindictive.

The other day when Bugs, Wheelie and I were talking about Daddy and that situation, Wheelie mentioned that his Mom would keep a ledger, she would keep track of any money his dad would give her for child support, and she also wrote down when he didn't. Which came to a pretty large sum in the end, as the money stopped coming pretty early in the game. Every week, she jotted down the $5.00 she did not receive. She kept it up for years.

He said that his mother always spoke badly of his father, and that he grew up hating the man. He wanted to make a point I guess, although I'm not very sure what side of the fence he's on. It's not clear to me or Bugs whether he wants her to dump Daddy, or keep him in her life for Boo's sake. He won't say, but then we haven't specifically asked him either.

He did not quite tell Bugs not to do what his Mom did. Although I do think it would be a good idea for her to keep track of the payments or non payments somehow.

Anyway, today's weather is glorious, it's going to be in the 80s all week. Everything is very green outside, the honeysuckle and the liguster are blooming everywhere, and the scents are wonderful.

Have a great day y'all!

SGMKJ!