It Really IS Home Sweet Home!

See how similar Russell Crowe and I are? I use Heinz Ketchup too!

It is 0510 and I am awake. I turned on the television and there is a movie that just started on SundanceTV called Tenderness starring Russell Crowe. He is one of my favorite actors; he is a great actor and he chooses roles wisely. I missed the very beginning but, the synopsis says, "a detective investigates a violent teen who may have murdered his family." It seems a lot must have happened in the ten minutes I missed because Crowe was already visiting what I think must be said murderer in prison. Then they showed Russ (sometimes I call him Russ sometimes Rusty because that is the kind of relationship we have) sitting on the edge of what I believe is his wife's bed in a hospital. I instantly thought of Cha Cha and me over the past couple of weeks. I keep going upstairs and checking on her; I have discovered that I am an obsessive care-giver. That has it's place sometimes but I know when to back-off (I think), She has never known that I was there over the night because she is sleeping very well and quietly; I pretty much did the same thing thing when Splenda and Fabio were babies sleeping in their cribs/bassinets. I just watch that she is sleeping / breathing and pain-free and then I come back downstairs to the living room. I have an over-zealous protection instinct maybe. I guess that is good considering what I do for a living now. Hey, I think we rented this film about six years ago; it all seems very familiar. It is great getting older - you can enjoy the same movies and meet the same people all over again. Cha Cha and I already renewed our wedding vows once, in Hawaii, maybe soon she will marry me again (this time for the first time again). Hey, maybe when we go on our trip/cruise/whatever? We could start a reality show about marrying the same love of your life in every country around the world using their local traditions...

I think we (the royal we) may have turned the corner from MIDDLE-aged to whatever falls between that and old-age. Twilight? I remember seeing Cha Cha's grandfather Loren taking care of Mary Helen; what an inspiration. We were both the same kind of people (yes, he was an amazing, nice, smart, funny, caring, strikingly handsome man who loved his wife more than anything else in the world too). I take the "for better or worse" part of our vows very seriously. I guess it has been changed to "as long as you both shall live" though hasn't it? Fortunately, I have not seen much of "the worse." I consider these past few weeks, save for the few scary moments, as part of "the better" though because the scary/"worse" moments did lead to some of the great/"better" moments. I have been spending most of every moment of every day and every night at the side of my best friend and getting paid to do it (from my benefits at work). That's a lesson for you youngsters out there - don't burn your: sick time, comp time, vacation time... on stupid stuff because one day you may wish you had those hours for a meaningful purpose. We all have different thoughts of what our meaningful/special purposes are though, don't we? Use your hours doing whatever makes you happy.

I didn't write it
but I live it!

I tried to keep-up with the housework, the laundry, the dishes... over the past couple of weeks but I was not too successful. It isn't awful but it isn't great. I didn't want to mention those things when I was blogging while Cha Cha was in the hospital for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I didn't want Cha Cha to worry about that kind pf stupid stuff and I didn't want neighbors and family to try to talk me into letting them come in and do our laundry and stuff. The kitchen I was able to keep-up with on my touch-and-go's but I suppose it is mainly the laundry that I am speaking of. And, it was a little untidy - pretty much as you would imagine if a 17-year-old (almost 18 now, actually) and a needy two-year-old dog lived alone (hey, isn't that Sherman and Peabody?) I am on my fourth load of laundry so I will be all good by this afternoon.

I just let Peabody Jeff out in the backyard. I find it funny how how he runs immediately to the end of the house and jogs the perimeter of the fence. He's like a prison guard. No, border patrol - so that's why Border Collies and called Border Collies - Jeff was bred to keep our borders secure. He chases-off all the doves and tries to catch any rabbits that happen to be inside the fence (this side of the border). The rabbits are usually just ahead of him and make it under Mr. McGregor's fence where Jeff cannot fit. Good thing we don't have to have a briar patch.

I have lots of note that I wrote while driving (with a pen and paper not an electronic devise - I kept watching the road and the notes were not kept between the lines) from the FAR west and western suburbs to Chicago of tips that would make the drive easier for people. I think I will do them in a separate blog later today or tomorrow so you can print that one, if you are a victim of this pain. Maybe I should write a book or newspaper or magazine article about it? It is a pretty small audience that would be interested though. Maybe I should see if Far West Suburbs to Downtown Chicago Weekly would be interested.

I can get a few of the small notes from my notebook(s) out every here-and-there. Here are a couple:

While driving I saw a dude digging in his nose pretty good and I wrote, "whether we like to believe it or not we all pick our noses (even if it is just an "itch"). Who are we kidding? We are meant to pick our noses - why else are our fingers the perfect size to fit? Invent a receptacle to capture and recycle the refuse." 


"Driving clears my head just like blogging does."

Ha, now Tenderness is over and I just changed the channel and Cinderella Man is on HBO West. See, there's another way Rusty Crowe and I are alike - we re both hoverers today.

If I forget - remind me to tell you the story of the rose.

Have a great day. Enjoy your families and friends and football and shopping and just being with the people you like and love - even if that is just you. I won't blog again today. If I start blogging more than once a day again that means that we are back at Defcon 3 or worse; blog forbid. TTTT...MITM (out)

SORRY, I COULD HAVE POSTED THIS AN HOUR AGO BUT I STARTED TIDYING UP!