Wednesday, January 14, 2009

I appologize for my attitude in advance.

Is it only Wednesday? I'm beginning to think that this Arctic blast has frozen everything, including time. It's just unbelievably cold here, in the middle of the country, surrounded by concrete, and miles and miles of prairie. In Kansas, there isn't much to break the icy winds blowing through either; no hills, no valleys, and not nearly enough trees.

When I was in elementary school, it seemed like every year, we did a unit on The Great State of Kansas. They made us learn every useless scrap of information about this wretched place, as if there was no other world beyond it's borders. During one of those boring filmstrips (yes, back then, they actually used film projectors and rolls of film) I remember hearing a piece of information that, even then, shocked me. They said that 90% of the trees west of Topeka, KS. have been planted. (since the state was settled) I grew up, and still live, in the part of Kansas that is about 30 minutes east of Topeka. Shortly after Roy and I got married, we traveled by car across Kansas, to Colorado. That's when the gravity of that piece of information really hit home with me. First of all, NO ONE lives in western Kansas. Furthermore, anyone who has ever lived there, was probably blown away. Why? Because there is nothing to prevent it from happening. I think I saw a total of about . . . 20 trees, between Topeka and the Colorado state line. (so basically, some idiot planted 16 trees in western Kansas - woo hoo! - fat lot of good that did!) Bottom line, Kansas is a desolate place. Unless, you live between Topeka and Missouri, which is where 90% of the population lives, myself included. Okay, that's my geography lesson/bitch session for the day.

There hasn't been much going on here lately; and if anything did happen, I probably missed it. I've been busy working on my drawing for the past three days. The plumber that was supposed to show up yesterday, around noon ? He called this morning at 9AM, to say that he was on his way. It's a good thing that Roy was here to deal with him - I would have let the dogs eat him.

Now that the drain is fixed, I really can't be bothered with house work - I'm busy creating. I'm hoping to be done with this drawing by Friday. I have things to do this weekend. Also, the kids (and all the government employees) have a three day weekend, to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr.'s Birthday, on Monday. Whose birthday is actually tomorrow, but who wants to take a day off in the middle of the week? It's one thing to honor the memory of a great person like MLK, but God forbid we should be inconvenienced by it! Let's turn it into a three day weekend, so that we can forget the whole ugly event of his tragic murder. Sorry. Between the cold weather and my hormones, I'm feeling a bit sarcastic today. It's a good thing that I've had something to stay focused on, otherwise, I'm sure that my whole family would be in tears by now.

I talked to Nick yesterday. He has a new job working for a moving company. That should be good, physical work for him. Between his ADHD and his anxiety, he needs to stay physically active to burn off all his excess energy. (so he doesn't explode) He's very excited about this new job. Right now, he's doing an overnight move, here in Kansas, but they mostly do cross country moves, so sometimes he'll be gone for a week or so. That works out good for him because the tension at Jennifer's house hasn't eased up much, (Jennifer's family hasn't been exactly thrilled that they are engaged) but also, because he gets to travel and see the country. (which is something that he has always wanted to do.) Also, he says the pay is good. I just hope that he stays sober, and doesn't get himself into trouble while he is away. Will I ever quit worrying about him?

I think that what I need to do is to go relax in a nice hot tub, and crawl into bed. Maybe I can be snuggled under the blankets before the temperature drops into the negative digits. That would be nice. Good night.

Love ya,
Susan

3 howled back:

Wait. What? said...

Susan I bet we never really stop worrying - it just gets easier with time - or at least I can hope?!

Anonymous said...

I don't think that people who have the nature of a nurturer can avoid worrying over others; especially those they hatched from their own womb. So, the trick will be to laugh at the fears and concerns and watch from afar with admiration as he develops the skills to cope with life as it unfolds before him.

Hope the art piece comes out nicely... and you get to post it here so we can all ohh-and-ahh over it !

As for Kansas; it's very lovely place. A bit sparse on population on the western front, but that's one of the things that makes it appealing to me... fewer people to piss me off! [just kidding, mostly] There are very few places in the world I don't like though... and often I'm most drawn to the areas others find desolate.

Oh well, life is odd with regard to so many facets...just have to embrace it and hope to nudge it in the right direction every once in a while.

Anonymous said...

I can't wait to see your picture that you've been doing!!

I can see that you are complaining about how cold it is at your end of town and I'm complaining about how hot it is at My end !!
We should meet in the middle and get some sort of balance :)) Meet you for cocktails in China?!

Anyway, I hope your brain de-freezes soon. heeheee. xx