syrinx

Dan Brown would not have been my first pick, but maybe this means I'll have best-selling books?






Stolen from Jessikanesis

P.S. But if I sample my journalism writing...





Go figure!

My wonderful grandmother Emma Wiseman, who was also my best friend--we could talk about anything--died Feb. 14, 2010 after 91 wonderful years of life. My mom was holding her hand. (Unfortunately, my aunt came down with either the flu or a bad cold and was in the hospital's urgent care with a bad fever.)

The news thankfully came when Amir and I were meeting my dad in Leesburg. I'm glad we were all together.

I know I wasn't at my best in the last LJ posts, angry and hurt, but I guess I was wanting the comfort of my friends. I've been surprised by how many texts and calls of mine haven't been returned these past two weeks. I guess people didn't know what to say to me (or else the reminder of mortality is an uncomfortable one), but honestly, something was better than nothing. "I'm sorry" and "I'm thinking of you" goes a long way. I like talking about my grandmother. She's precious to me. So, thank you to my LJ friends who stepped up.


The support at work has blown me away. I've been so touched by my co-workers' concern. I also didn't know this, but visiting Mom-Mom fell under my five-day emergency days that I didn't even know I had. So I have some PTO left after all since I didn't have to use them all. My boss is also letting me take off next Saturday. I guess that will also be emergency leave.

It's really hard. I'm still angry at myself for not doing as much as I could have, being as good as I could have, but at least I got to visit her while she was still aware. The day before she died--and this means the world to me--she said "hi" on the phone to me when the rest of the day she had been unresponsive...It meant so much.

I guess I was hoping someone would write "You are not a bad person." *hugs* or something...considering how often I do the same.

Thanks, Bonnie, for your text message. I've reread it often.

The hospital called. My aunt and mother agreed: Mom-Mom would not want a ventilator.

I had a dream about her last night. She was waving to me. I'm glad that I saw her yesterday, when she was having a good day, and I heard her say, "Love you, too." Despite all my faults, she knows I love her.

*raises a glass*

I'm on my aunt and uncle's dial-up computer, so I'm limited on what I can post (Sorry I can't match your post to me from last year LOL, but I wanted to wish a HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my best friend!

I am in Roanoke, Va., now. My grandmother is in very bad shape. The very week she was supposed to come home from the rehabilitation center where she had been recuperating from a broken hip, she had a major stroke and now pneumonia. When I got here, she was able to to say "yes" and a few things. Now she doesn't really speak; just sleep. And I'm devastated. You see, I've been very bad about calling her. I had nothing to do last weekend besides laundry, and I thought of calling her. But didn't. I can't sleep; I just hate myself so much for being so self-absorbed in my life. The week before she had asked me to call her when I wasn't at work, but I always seemed to call her when I was on my break.

Hate. Myself. Can't sleep.

Wish I could time-travel.

So tell the people you love that you love them, folks...

We got snowed in today. I think we have about 10" of snow. We got stuck in a ditch twice on the way to the hospital, but luckily, the snow plow came and it wasn't bad after that.

My grandmother's cat, Goldie, does not like the snow. It's very funny to watch her. I've been giving her extra attention, and my aunt says I'm spoiling her.

Amir has been fantastic. I appreciate him so much. He's helping my cousin Laurah to fly up here tomorrow for a reduced price.

Love you, guys...

I have been having some awesome dreams lately. The previous night I dreamed that jessikanesis and I were visiting rjlovie in Portsmouth. thryn was already there, and we went to all these pubs. I told Rich he drove too fast, though!

Last night--and I have sessobunny to thank for this since we had been talking about her friend Jacqueline who moved to Australia, traveled to Malaysia and now moved to Hong Kong--I dreamed that Amir and I traveled around the world, and I lead adventure travel groups. (One of the travel groups, we went on a steam engine train!)

Amir and I visited Orleans, France, and ate lunch with Yohann and his girlfriend Julia. We ate tartiflette. I told Yohann, "I haven't eaten this well since the last time I was in France!"

We also went back to Israel in my dream. I walked around Jerusalem, and ate something called Jerusalem cake. I met up with Amir, who was in the Arab quarter with some friends. (I know this was a dream because, sadly, NO ONE mixes in Israel. They all stay in their own little neighborhoods.) It was Ramadan, and we were sharing the evening meal with his friend's family. We ate on the floor on pillows, and of course we ate only with our right hand.

Ah, I woke up hungry today!

Cross posted to orlando_deals!

There are some good coupon/sales pairings today.

I went to CVS this morning. I bought 1 GE Energy Smart compact fluorescent for 99 cents after extra bucks, and after the $1 GE coupon in today's paper, it was free! I also discovered that the 35 cents off a 8.5 ounce Softsoap coupon in today's paper worked with the 7.5 ounce bottle (on sale for 99 cents), making it only 64 cents.

At Walgreens, the $2.50 off Electrasol gelpacs coupon, when paired with Walgreens' $3.49 sale ($1 Register Reward) makes that free, too.

Happy shopping!

I'm looking forward to Christmas. Amir will go skiing for the first time!

http://sherrymims.com/2009/11/30/my-favorite-wilderness/

So, Naked Neighbor did another full-frontal in front of the window. Sure, he put curtains up, but they're see-through!

I even think he might have been, er, touching himself this time, but I'm not 100% sure because my reflex was to look away as soon as possible, as did Amir.

What horrible is that we can't complain to The Barrington because they'll think we're getting him back about complaining about us.

Amir said as we were driving away, "You're always with me when he's parading around nude." Very sobering. The neighbors across from us moved away, so I can't ask if they saw anything. I do want to know whether it's just me.

This whole situation is freaking me out. Frank used to be the nice neighbor who brought me the mail when it got mixed in with his. Now that my hours are different--or that I got married maybe? He was very negative about that--he's walking around nude/standing in front of the window nude and complaining about noise. (My thoughts on the noise issue is--Amir was working when he moved in and I was working the night shift, so of course it was quiet in our apartment. No one was home then.)

My co-worker Ruth had me bring up the sex offender database to search. Thankfully, he wasn't on there, but he scares me anyway.

I think we may write an anonymous note and sign it "A Barrington family." Would that work, you think?

Reading "Under the Dome" really made me want to build a bunker :-P