WHAT A CONDO NEEDS

1. electric pencil sharpener
2. pencils
3. books
4. dictionary and thesaurus
5. a good reading light
6. seashells
7. pictures of the seashore
8. a guestbook
9. a non-stick skillet

IF I LIVED IN LOUISVILLE

I've never lived in the city. If I lived in Louisville I would eat supper tonight at the Bristol Bar and Grille. I would have pork and green chile wontons, lots of iced tea. Then I would go to the movie at the Baxter Avenue theater. I would have a really good time.

MY NIGHT SO FAR

Starting at 11

*check email, facebook, twitter
*see clock at 11:11
*write 2 blog entries, not including this one (http://www.theodosiahale.blogspot.com/)
*bring dishes from living room to kitchen
*throw away diet cherry 7up cans
*did not do dishes
*read
*feed rabbit
*feed cats, fresh water
*feed outside cats
*look for possum and raccoon, didn't see them
*almost step on kittens
*turn on all outside lights to go to car for box
*tape box together
*gather kittens from under desk and behind books
*put kittens in box
*try to shush kittens and Abby, meowing so pitiful
*walk Leah to her bed
*tell kittens to be quiet, they don't listen or follow directions
*put Abby in with kittens, she jumps out, meows
*kittens scratching on box
*kittens wake up Leah
*starts to lightning and thunder
*Leah gets in bed with me, twin bed
*my hip hurts
*I'm hot, Leah's leg thrown over my hurting hip
*kittens crying and scratching box
*move box of kittens to other room
*Abby in distress, meowing, standing on my chest
*unable to turn over in bed
*wake Leah trying to turn over
*we change sides, turn off fan, turn on other fan
*I move to foot of bed, Leah moves to middle of bed
*after much rolling back and forth I manage to sit on side of bed
*go to kitchen to write about my night so far

Going on a Trip

Part of this week I've felt like the octomom. I had two 6 year old girls and still have one of them. They were so much fun. We planted flowers, they couldn't understand why no flowers were there by the next morning. Olivia will be back tomorrow afternoon.

Leah worked in her art journal today and finished 2 great pages. The only help she needed was with a piece of ribbon. She asked me to hold it with 2 fingers while she cut it. She has also had a really good time with our 3 kittens. They are a month old and starting to want to run everywhere. I've put them in a box but they are not happy about it at all.

Susan and I leave on Friday for the Mountain Heritage Literary Festival. We are very happy to be going. Kristin and Elizabeth are taking care of Mama. They are good girls.

I'm reading DRAWING IN THE DUST by Zoe Klein. I'm going to love it.

SOMETHING I MISS

I don't miss things or people much. But occasionally I'm filled with longing for a particular person or situation. Since Sue died at Christmas 2000, I haven't had a friend whose door I could go through without knocking. I haven't been able to take off my shoes in someone else's house, take a nap on the couch, pick up something on the cabinet to eat. I miss that.

I know it is something that I won't have again. It can't be planned, it just has to happen. I don't have time for it to happen again.

But I had it once and it was good.

TIMELINE

By the time I have supper cooked I don't want to eat. Sometimes I leave the dishes on the counter all night. By 7 I'm beginning to be tired. By 8 I am tired. By 9 I can hardly move. By 10 I'm dead. But not sleeping. By 9 I'm beginning to find it hard to be agreeable. By 10 I'm downright belligerent. By 11 I feel like crying. By morning I can do it all again.

PRODIGAL TEETH

Mama's prodigal teeth showed up just inches from where I spent the most time looking. I had taken her bed apart, looked behind the books, just everywhere, or so I thought. When they did show up, they were peeking out from under a pillow just inches from her bed, but over toward my bed. And no, I hadn't been using them!! Now she wants to put them in a glass of water instead of under her pillow. That is, if she takes them out, which she usually doesn't.

Now there are kittens between our beds. They are in a clothes basket, Abby seems happy for them to be there. They are so cute.

Poor Mama, spending her declining days in a house full of cats. She can hardly stand them. I just don't understand it, I love my cats and would be lost without them. She doesn't want them to even look at her. She is missing so much. The cats keep me company, keep my feet warm, tell me things, love me unconditionally (well, usually), and just make me happy. I have made my children promise that I will always have a cat when I am very old. Although, I have no intention of becoming very old. No intention at all.

MOTHER'S DAY

I don't much like Mother's Day. I know I should. Several years ago I was sad on Mother's Day and shed tears in front of some people. I haven't liked it since.

RAIN

The rain has given our grass a growth spurt. It's waving in the breeze and curling up the sides of the house. I can't see the rock that marks the cat's grave, that's the rock that is not mower friendly. But it is a nice shade of green.

I've scraped some of the dead leaves out of the herb and flower beds. All the mess is hiding in the tall grass. I just hope I have all the little rocks where the mower won't terrorize them later.

Everything seems better when I'm with the herbs. They are quiet and grow while I'm not looking.

I have to venture out soon, get the mail, go to the drug store, get cards for Mama to send.

Then writing.

WISHES

Things I wish I had tonight:

*Diet Cherry 7Up
*Wurther's
*Pepperidge Farm Jewish Rye Bread - seeded
*pimento cheese
*new pencils
*the towels folded
*total quiet

PIE

Company came today so I ordered a chocolate pie from the Diner. It was made fresh this morning and when I picked it up, it was still warm. The meringue was sky high and smelled wonderful. I couldn't wait to eat a piece, or two. I was not disappointed. It was to die for.

SEARCHING

I've spent much of the day searching the house for Mama's bottom teeth. I have looked everywhere I can think of, stripped the bed, shook the covers, took the bed apart, looked behind the books, searched through the garbage, who knows where they are. Now I think we will just have to come across them, I don't know where else to look.
I search for things all the time. Often I don't find what I'm looking for until days later and sometimes not at all. Then I forget they are lost.
I also search for ways to make life easier for my mother. She hates having a feeding tube but it keeps her alive. She is fed 3 times a day, always worrying about me having to take the time. Of course, it doesn't take me long to feed her. She gets all her meds through the tube, taking only broth by mouth. It is difficult for her. Sometimes she talks me into letting her have things she doesn't need. Then she pays the price.
I still haven't found her teeth.

HUNTING EASTER EGGS

The eggs rattled as they boiled in an iron pot sitting in the eye of the black cook stove. The old woman had filled the stove with kindling and lit it with a kerosene-soaked newspaper before anybody else in the house was awake. The little girl sat at the cherry drop-leaf kitchen table, unaware of its origin. The old woman's parents had set up housekeeping with the table in 1869, but that was unimportant to the little girl. She was busy dropping tablets of dye into each of six different china cups that sat on the table. The old woman poured hot water in each cup and together they watched the water turn color as the tablets fizzed.

When the eggs had finished boiling, the old woman put them on a cotton towel to dry. Soon the cool white eggs were ready for dyeing. The little girl held a wire scoop and dipped it gently into each cup, turning the eggs so the colors would be even. The old woman helped her to place each colored egg on a rack to drain.

They cleaned up the cupboard between the kitchen the dining room. When the eggs were dry, the old woman and the little girl placed them in an old Easter basket filled with green paper grass.

They went outside and the old woman hid the eggs around the swing frame that sat under the pear tree, along the fence row protecting the flowers, behind the cistern, near the rose bush growing over the trellis, and in the tufts of grass growing in the yard around the house.

The little girl hunted the eggs over and over until they were cracked and mushy. The old woman never tired of hiding them and was filled with joy as she watched the little girl hunt the eggs. She knew the little girl would enjoy herself just as much when Easter came around!

BUTTONS

These buttons remind me of Easter Eggs.

MY MORNING

Olivia spent the night with last night. This morning I got up at 5:45 (groan), woke up Olivia soon after. We got ready to leave and put her things in the truck. When we got to Owensboro, it was a little too early to take her to school so we pulled up in Kohl's parking lot. It was 7:07. I told Olivia we would leave the parking lot at 7:10. At 7:11 she woke me up and said it was after the 10. I dropped her off at school. Walmart was my next stop since I needed a few things. As I left the store I went to Subway for a coke to have with the bag of peanut butter eggs I bought.

The coke and peanut butter eggs were a fine breakfast as I drove toward home blissfully listening to NPR. As I approached the outskirts of Whitesville I noticed the cars headed the other way were pulling off to the side of the road. I glanced in the rearview mirror where I saw flashing blue lights nearly on my back bumper.

Since this morning, I've thinking about how many books I could have bought for $178.00.

KRISTIN

My 15 year old granddaughter, Kristin, had her gall bladder removed today. She did fine, some soreness. It was scary for her to have an anaesthetic. She is such a sweet girl.

Leah and Elizabeth have new haircuts and look so cute.

Olivia took a trip to Nashville and ate at the Rainforest Cafe.

Spring Break is over for them all and it is back to school on Monday.

BUTTON FLOOZIE

I love buttons. They are so much more than for holding things together. Buttons are great for filling jars or boxes or baskets. They can just be put on a table or shelf. Buttons don't even mind being left on the floor.
My favorite ones are the two-holed underwear buttons. Oh, the stories they could tell.

I'm happy to be an official Button Floozie. www.buttonfloozies.blogspot.com

DOLLAR STORE