Running Out of Steam

Boy, that really does describe me lately. Just tired, very tired and feeling like I am running out of steam. No energy it seems to do the things I absolutely have to do and no energy in reserve to do any of the things I think maybe I'd like to do. I've been so low on energy of late, I don't even know what things it might be that I would really LIKE to do.

The latest news around the household though is something my daughter and I find really unsettling although the son-in-law is happy as a pig in a pile of doo-doo right now since his boss told him this past Friday that he is being laid off - probably for the next 5-6 weeks or so. The s-i-l thinks this will be fine in that he can do a bunch of other automotive work for folks on the side - kind of get the feel for what it would be like to have his own automotive repair and inspection shop someday. However, he has a tendency to overlook just how much cash is necessary to be brought into the house each month to keep things afloat and relying on people for car repairs they may want or need done, on a regular basis, may not be near as easy to do enough of those kind of jobs in order to cover the monthly expenses. I hope it all works out ok for him - certainly I do - and I can understand how much he would really like to be his own boss as well - wouldn't we all - but too, I just worry a good bit about how much he has really studied the book work part of running one's own business, etc.

For those of you who read my blog but perhaps have never given any attention to the list of blogs to the right of this page under my "favorites" list, I'd like to point out to you that I recently added two new blogs to that list.

The first new blog is this one - Whitterer-On Autism - written by a lady out in California who is orginally from England and who has four children - one grown daughter who lives away from California and the other three -a younger daughter and two small sons and the two boys are autistic. Maddy discusses things the boys in particular do and say - along with her responses to many of the things they bring up or act out on and all in all, it makes for a very good bit of reading there. Sometimes, the things the kids do and her reaction are really hysterically funny; other times, they are a bit on the sad, poignant side but always, they are very interesting. Whether people reading her blog are also dealing with an autism factor in their own life or just want to read someone else's take on life from a whole different perspective, check out Maddy's blog and see for yourself.

The other blog I added is one that is of personal interest to me because it is the blog written by a cousin's husband about their life and the changes taking place for them since they had their first child - a beautiful little girl - back in May. This is all about my cousin, Erika, her husband, Wade and their baby girl, Tori, and life for them as it exists down in Tennessee. Erika's dad is my first cousin, Ken and when I was a young-un, I usually spent at least a week, often longer than that every summer up at the house my Uncle (Cookie) and his wife (Aunt Mary) built for them and their four children. Me being an only child, spending that time with four rambunctious kids - like my cousins could often be when we were much, much smaller, younger, etc., was like giving me a little taste of what life would have been like for me, had I had at least a brother or a sister. I have so many fantastic memories of the time I spent at their home, the fun things we did -none of which involved activities that required payment -i.e. visits to amusement parks, movies, etc. My uncle was a school teacher and that was back in the days when teachers pay was notoriously LOW! He worked two jobs, year round just to build the roof over his family's heads, put food on the table and clothes on their backs and there was rarely any extra money left over then for any frivolous undertakings - not with four kids of their own and me hanging around there every summer too!

My uncle always had a huge vegetable garden every year. It was something he took much pride in too and always seemed to stand a little bit taller each year when my grandfather would be visiting as he would take Grandpa up and show him his garden. Grandpa too had always had a large vegetable garden too as long as I could remember when I was growing up and you could always see how happy and excited Cookie would be to show off all his plants, knowing full well, a small smile of approval and Grandpa's soft, low voice just saying "Very nice." meant so much to my uncle.

For me, since I usually would be at their house during the early part of August - about the time the tomatoes were ripening - it was a huge treat when for supper, my aunt would put a loaf -or two -of bread on the table, salt, pepper and a jar of mayonnaise and a huge plate of sliced tomatoes, freshly picked from Cookie's garden. That would be our supper and it was a feast for me as I loved then - still do - fresh tomato sandwiches!

Last fall, when that aunt died and my kids and I went up to the viewing or the funeral (my girls went to the viewing one night and my son and I went to the funeral the next morning) and in talking to those four cousins I learned that the youngest of those four kids, my cousin Becky, hadn't shared in my joy of the tomato sandwich suppers. Seems Beck was not a big fan, at all, of tomatoes so she had a different meal from the rest of us - peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Apparently I was so excited back then over the tomato sandwich treat that I never even noticed that Becky didn't share the joy with the rest of us!

But I'm digressing here - talking about my aunt, uncle, their children, my childhood experiences with them. Check out Wade and Erika's blog - especially those of you reading this post who also are cousins of mine - and thus, of Erika too. They have posted some really cute photos of little Miss Tori, such a beautiful little girl but then, how could she not be after all, her Mama is one beautiful young lady too! On a side note, Erika is also a Penn Stater - just like me - and they are both big Penn State Nittany Lion fans, same as I am!

One little piece too about Miss Maya. This morning, Mandy and Maya got ready and went to church. I didn't make it up this morning because last night, Miss Maya's baby brother kept me awake until well after 3 a.m. today and he's been doing that a lot lately - staying awake until 2 or 3 a.m. While it's true enough that old Grammy here is generally a night owl, there have been several mornings though recently when others seem to have forgotten that Grammy is also not necessarily an early riser and so, some folks have taken to calling here between 8 and 9 a.m. Hey, much as I would normally probably love to chit chat with you early callers, I really wish you'd try to hold off until at least 9:30 before setting the phone lines afire.

Ok - so much for that -back to my story about Mandy and Maya going to church today. THis was the second time this summer now that Maya went to church -actually, it was the second time since a year ago in May that Maya attended church because she had suddenly last May developed a phobia about the church and would throw a screaming, kicking, hissy fit if we tried to take her there with us. So the fact that last month and again today, she went willingly and even behaved fairly well too - for Maya, that is - was a really good thing for us to see.

Mandy said this morning she was doing quite well - only had to take her out to the narthex once or twice during the service and then was able to return to their pew. That is until it came time to take communion. In our church, everyone can go to the altar when communion is distributed but children under the age of about 9 or 10 -who haven't yet had "first communion instructions" just receive a blessing from the pastor as he makes his way around the altar rail.

This morning, for Mandy the communion thing seemed to be going fine and dandy - no problems - until their table was dismissed to return to their pews and Maya decided she wasn't having any part of leaving the altar area. She apparently had a little bit of a hissy fit and told Mandy "Wan' stay at the red and white!" The "red" being the red plush carpet in our church and the "white" meaning the white altar rail - and she must have liked the combination and just wanted to stay there for the remainder of the service. When she threw her little hissy fit though, Mandy just hauled her back to their pew, gathered up her bag and departed the building then and there before she had a chance to get really wound up and do a mega "screaming mimi" type number!

And that's about it - all the excitement of my dull, boring life here in central Pennsylvania for today, for the past week. Maybe this week will hold a little more in that way of things to talk about.