Vengeance Is Mine

When I was dismissed from my job with the city known as Satan's Summer Home (SSH), I warned those who participated in the lies and defamation that Karma is a bitch and she'll come back to bite you in the ass.

6 months after my dismissal the chief instigator of my dismissal was arrested for falsifying a police report.

2 years after my dismissal his little buddy (and receiver of some questionable reimbursements) was fired.

Friday, the last person involved was also fired.

I said to all of them that they would pay for what they did to me in this life or the next. Need I say that I'm extremely pleased that it happened in this life.

2006 Book Update

Where the Red Fern Grows
Wilson Rawls
212 pages

I had heard the old Indian legend about the red fern. How a little Indian boy and girl were lost in a blizzard and had frozen to death. In the spring, when they were found, a beautiful red fern had grown up between their two bodies. The story went on to say that only an angel could plant the seeds of a red fern, and that they never died. Where one grew, that spot was sacred...It seemed to be saying, "Good-bye, and don't worry, for I'll be here always.

Yes, I know it is still there, for in my heart I believe the legend of the sacred red fern.

I LOVE THIS BOOK!

House

I decided to accept the offer on my house and (knock on wood) we should be ready to close the end of April.

So, now starts the fun of packing up an entire house, finding a new place to live, recruiting everyone I know to help me move, and unpacking again. Given the rather daunting task of moving I have vowed to get a good headstart and not move anything that is not absolutely necessary.

In fact, earlier tonight I threw away a couple of big bags of old video tapes that had a variety of old TV shows, movies, sporting events that I had thought significant enough to record.

Now, I'm going back through the boxes of clothes I've already packed to decide what can be given to Deseret Industries (like the Salvation Army) and what can go to the landfill.

Sigh...I'm tired already.

2006 Book Update

The Last Days of Dogtown
Anita Diamant
261 pages

This is a work of fiction that rests lightly upon the historical record, wich is spotty at best when it comes to the village of Dogtown.

Most accounts rely heavily upon…ancient gossip and hearsay.

I tell you this so that you will not make the mistake of confusing my fancies for facts. And yet, the death of a village, even one as poor and small as Dogtown, is not an altogether trivial thing. Surely there was value in the quiet lives lived among those imposing boulders, under that bright sky. Why not imagine their stories as real, if not true. For the space of this entertainment, where’s the harm?

This was such a sad novel. The rare occasion that the departure from Dogtown was happy I would cry and the countless times the departure was painful...well, that made me cry too. Really, a lovely, sad story.

12/52 3632/17500

Offer

So, I got an offer on my house and after a little bit of offer-counter offer we're at the point where a decision must be made.

The offer they made would make my home sold for the 2nd highest amount ever in the comparables for they whole zip code.

They are willing to pay all the closing costs.

We would close the end of April.

However, the offer is still less than what I was hoping to sell for. My agent thinks I could get more money, but who knows how long that would take. So, the basic decision comes down to take the money and run or wait and see.

I have until tomorrow at 7:00 to decide.

The stress is killing me!

p.s.

My books from Amazon came and the latest additions to my list are:
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
I read the introduction last night and cried, sobbed, all the way through...Could I love this book more?!

Remember Me by Mary Higgins Clark
Menley...remember...Menley...remember...window walk...ghosts(?)
Definitely one of my favorite MHCs.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
I've never read it, but have heard good things about it.

Irish Whiskey by Andrew Greeley
Irish immigrants and Chicago mobsters? It's a Nuala Anne mystery.

Accidental

Just as I was leaving work tonight, there was a roll over crash on the south side of the Point. This stretch of highway tends to back up quickly and has no exits for miles and miles.

So, I being the super-smart commuter that I am, decided to take the last exit before the accident and head into Utah County on a little-used frontage road. Sure enough, just at the top of the point traffic came to a stand still while I cruised right along.

As I descended down, I could see the flashing light, the traffic report noted that the Life Flight helicopter and just left and traffic was squeezing through on the right shoulder.

To me this was nothing more than a traffic jam. Something to avoid and just get home, but as I approached the area of the accident I could see people standing on the embankment between the highway and the frontage road. At first, I thought they were emergency personnel; trying to clear debris, maybe searching for evidence.

As I got closer I saw the cars pulled to the side of the road and realized they were rubber-neckers, just trying to get the best view of the carnage in front of them. They had actually stopped their cars, climbed the embankment, and stood clinging to the chain link fence for a better view. A slow wave of disgust spread over me. That there are people who would take pleasure watching broken bodies pulled from wreckage.

2006 Book Update

The Ninth Life of Louis Drax
Liz Jensen
227 pages

I'm not most kids. I'm Louis Drax. Stuff happens to me that shouldn't happen, like going on a picnic where you drown.

Just ask Maman what it's like being the mother of an accident-prone boy and she'll tell you. No fun. You can't sleep, wondering where it's going to end. You see danger everywhere and you think, Got to protect him, got to protect him. But sometimes you can't."

This is a very well-written, totally engrossing, incredibly disturbing book. I read it in one night and it left me chilled. Narrated by the comatose Louis and his new doctor, their voices blend to tell us all how many secrets our minds can hide.

Happy Birthday

To my Mom! Thanks for everything you've done and everything you continue to do for me. You're the best, Happy Birthday!

2006 Book Update

The City of Falling Angels
John Berednt
398 pages

"Everyone in Venice is acting...everyone plays a role, and the role changes. The key to understanding Venetians is rhythm--the rhythm of the lagoon, the rhythm of the water, the tides, the waves...What is true? What is not true? The answer is so simple, because the truth can change. I can change. You can change. This is the Venice effect"

"BEWARE OF FALLING ANGELS"
--Sign posted outside the Santa Maria della Salute Church in the early 1970s, before restoration of its marble ornaments.

I enjoyed this book far more than Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. It moved at a faster pace and the personal stories were more interesting. I have to say, also, that since he identified everybody by their real names I could Google Archimede Seguso, Ludovico De Luigi, Ezra Pound and Olga Rudge, and Mario Stefani and see and read their work.

10/52 3144/17500

Luck of the Irish

I was notified (by email) earlier today that I've won the Irish National Lottery.

I've just one thing to say about that....DELETE!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

$150.00

This year we had a grace period to use our 2005 Health Spending Accounting contributions. The spending deadline was extended to March 15th, with all the claims submitted by March 31st.

So, in typical Caoimhe fashion I waited until today to try to spend the last $150 left in my 2005 spending accounts. My master plan was to go to the eye doctor and buy a new pair of rigid gas perm contacts. Last time they cost me $200. I figured I'd use the last of the 2005 money and the little extra I built in to 2006.

So, this morning I headed over to the clinic, saw the doctor, had my pupils dilated (I could hardly see for 4 hours!), and ordered new contacts. The grand total (including co-pay for eye exam)...$109.54

I needed a backup plan for spending another $40.46. Now, there are plenty of things I could spend an extra $40 on, but none of them medical. So, I improvised. I refilled a presciption early (co-pay $10); I bought contact conditioner and enzymatic cleaner for the new contacts ($17.96), and finally a HUGE bottle of Excedrin Migraine for $12.29.

Total money spent today on medically related expenditures: $149.79
Total money forfeited back to "The Man": $0.21

Signs of Addiction

Friend: You just did what!?

ME: Bought some new books on Amazon.

Friend: You said you couldn't buy anything new until after you moved.

ME: I know, but they were on sale, and I had a gift certificate.

Friend: You realize that you'll just have to pack them up, right?

ME: Yes, but they are really good books, and I won't buy anymore before I move.

Friend: Didn't you also just sign up for several email newsletters that will tell you about Bargain Books, New Release, etc.

ME: Well, I need to know that stuff...

Friend: Raises eyebrow...

ME: I can stop any time I want; I do NOT have a problem.

2006 Book Update

Ireland: A Novel
Frank Delaney
560 pages

What I told you tonight—it isn’t my story alone. It belongs to every Irish person living and dead. And every Irish person living and dead belongs to it. And to all the story of Ireland; blood and bones, legends, guns, and dreams, Catholics, Protestants, England, horses, and poets and lovers.

The one joy that has kept me going through life has been the fact that stories unite us. To see you as you listen to me now, as you have always listened to me, is to know this: what I can believe, you can believe. And the way we all see our story –not just as Irish people but as flesh-and-blood individuals and not the way people tell us to see it—that’s what we own, no matter who we are and where we come from.

That’s why I spent my life as I did—because that was all I have ever owned, stories. Indeed, our story is finally all any of us owns, because, as I once told my grandson, a story has only one master.

Despite the time it took to finish this book, I absolutely loved it. I was fascinated, entralled, saddened, transported by the stories and myths of Ireland and its storytellers.

9/52 2746/17500

Adventures in Babysitting

I babysat my little 1 1/2 year old nephew last night while the rest of his family went to a Jazz game. Man that kid can be super cute! At one point I was yawning and the next thing you know he was mimicing me. He is obsessed by Pokeman and loves Pikachu and he evens says something that very much sounds like Pikachu.

Other activities included:

-feeding me handfuls of cereal and laughing when I couldn't get it all in my mouth

-climbing up and down the stairs on my landing

-standing on the heating vent, and

-running full speed toward me to give me a hug.

10:37 p.m.

Just seven minutes after assuring the family that her vitals were looking better than they had all day, that she would surely make it through the night and that everybody should go home and get some rest, Grandma did just that. She went home to rest.

We’ve been kidding all week that after 9 years, 1 month, and 16 days Grandpa finally finished construction on her mansion in heaven and was ready for her to move in. They spent more than 60 years together and I was always surrounded with the love and affection they felt for each other. I can only imagine how joyful their reunion must have been.

Knowing the two of them, their rest will be short-lived and they’ll be hard at work doing whatever needs to be done in their new realm of existence. There is surely work to be done, lessons to be taught, hearts to be healed and they will be wonderful at it all. Because no two finer people have I ever met.

I cannot count the ways that their strength and love, their sense of right and wrong, their compassion and generosity, their outspoken support and loving (though always earned) criticism, their conviction have influenced my life. If I live to be half the woman my Grandmother was, I’ll be twice the woman as most.

And knowing these things makes the grief (a small bit) less…