{"id":691,"date":"2009-08-03T19:34:21","date_gmt":"2009-08-04T00:34:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ukmelia.com\/ridiculousthoughts\/?p=691"},"modified":"2009-08-03T19:34:21","modified_gmt":"2009-08-04T00:34:21","slug":"catching-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.ukmelia.com\/ridiculousthoughts\/2009\/08\/03\/catching-up\/","title":{"rendered":"Catching up"},"content":{"rendered":"

It occurs to me that I have been neglecting this blog. This blog that I have had since before Google owned Blogger. This blog that has been through so many changes, both cosmetic and in focus.<\/p>\n

That’s just it though, I’ve never found a focus for this blog. It’s just been my catchall for my life. And that’s fine \ud83d\ude42 But it does tend to get a little dusty around here from time to time. And then I come along feeling guilty and use it for a while, until I get distracted by other shiny things. Such is the lot in life for this blog. For those friends and family who faithfully still check to see if I’ve had anything new to add (I do still look at my stats, and I see you Aunty Jo \ud83d\ude42 You rock) I will try to do a better job. But I can also be found here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Sooooo let’s see… DC was a rocking good time. I hope my tweets, pix and vids from the trip came through ok. I had fun “liveblogging” the trip, so to speak. And it was wonderful to hang out with my sister and brother-in-law. DC is a great town. Also? ‘West Wing’ is much cooler to watch when you know what all the buildings are.<\/p>\n

Since we’ve been back we’ve been busy getting the kid ready for college and looking after the grandparents who, after their month-long incarceration in the hospital, aren’t getting around so well. So we’ve been taking care of their shopping and laundry, chores around the house and that sort of thing.<\/p>\n

The kid is getting very excited for college to start. Move-in day is August 20th. Mental breakdown day for me will be on the long drive home by myself later that night. I think it will be fine and I am very excited for her to start this new part of her life. I do wish people would stop asking me how I’m going to ‘handle it.’ I know they mean well, but frankly I don’t know how I’ll handle it and I won’t know until she’s all moved into her dorm. Right now, I try not to think about it too much. I want her to move to the next phase of her life without worrying too much about how I’m going to handle it. I’m pretty tough. I’ll be fine. It’s the kid that should be the focus \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

It’s pretty cute actually. She’s combing through the dorm checklists and planning what to pack, what she can get from target after she moves in, what her roommate will bring vs. what she’ll be bringing, how to decorate… she bout a whiteboard and wrote out her entire list of things to pack and her class schedule on it \ud83d\ude42 It’s adorable.<\/p>\n

She also has until the 15th to clean the hell out of her horribly messy room. I have plans for it \ud83d\ude00 hehehe. Just kidding. Other than sticking her twin mattress back in there and a chair for the nice desk, I wasn’t going to do much apart from leave the door open for a change so the cat will have a new room to rule (the kidlet *never* lets Spooky in there for fear of never finding her again.)<\/p>\n

So this will be a big month for her. I’m so proud of her and I hope college is going to be everything it should be for her.<\/p>\n

What’s going on elsewhere? Let’s see, on top of sending her to college I just got told about the 2nd round of paycuts at work. This year I’ve taken a 9 1\/2 percent paycut and I’m making just barely more than I did when I started at the paper five years ago this month. Nothing like working hard to get ahead and staying loyal to a company only to feel like you’re swimming against the stream.<\/p>\n

My beloved laptop that I’ve had for just over a year just died this weekend. I’ve never had to take a computer to a repair shop before. Ever. Until now and I’m afraid of the repair cost. I wish I was more knowledgeable about the inner workings of laptops and PCs. Thank goodness for my iPod Touch<\/a> because I simply don’t think I could function without being able to ‘check my stuff’ as I usually put it \ud83d\ude42 Mostly I check Twitter<\/a> and Facebook<\/a> and end up playing solitaire most of the time, hehe. but my laptop is also my DVD player and I watch movies and stuff on it, so without that I’m at a bit of a loss. I’ve no idea what’s on telly anymore because I rarely have it on.<\/p>\n

And I don’t mean that to sound pretentious and snobby. I used to watch tons of TV<\/a>. I just somehow got away from doing that. It wasn’t a conscious decision or anything, it just sort of happened. If there’s something I want to watch, I DVR it or catch it online. Truth be told, I’d rather wait and watch TV shows and stuff when they’re out on DVD anyway.<\/p>\n

Yeah okay, I’m rambling about nothing, which means time to wind this up. I will, as usual, try to keep this blog updated in a more timely fashion, but no promises \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

\"Reblog<\/a>