Rambling thoughts

The weather is warm, which is nice. It was so very cold last week, amazing how quickly it got warm. Steven and I washed the car and truck yesterday, and my car is so clean, it looks wonderful (well, the outside, the inside needs some work!) It is usually hard to get him to help with things, but he enjoyed washing the car, so that was a plus.

I am being encouraged by an old friend to write a book. Not the first time it's been suggested, but now I am seriously considering it. I write mainly essay type stuff, like this blog, so I am thinking of something like David Sedaris, although I am nowhere near as funny as he. I have to ponder this bit longer.

I have resolved, or at least postponed, the current issue with the neighbor who hates me. The house needs work and he is a complainer, so he calls the city, which has the power to write tickets and charge me fines. The solution for now was to get a building permit for repairs, and now I can proceed to buy material and paint and start work. But the building permit is good for six months (actually, I have six months to get started, nothing about how long I have to finish) so I have time to do it as I can afford it, I hope.

Last week was my brother's birthday. He would be 50 this year, if he hadn't died at 15. One of his old girlfriends is now a friend on Facebook, and I was very touched that she remembered him. He has been gone such a long time now, but I miss him still. And Daddy. And Tracey, every day.

I don't have enough to do at work, and it is frustrating. I have some things on my desk to deal with tomorrow, which is good. I am not sure what I would do without my work, probably go home to my mother. She has more than one house, so we wouldn't have to live together (we might scream at each other a lot). I am nearly always at peace there, so that might be nice. But that's because I don't have to deal with cranky neighbors and it is basically vacation. If I were there all the time I might not like it at all!

I love watching Jon Stewart on The Daily Show. He is actually a good interviewer, and will invite anyone on the show. He is funny and serious at the same time, which is very useful in diffusing any potential acrimony, and also disarms his more conservative guests. Colbert is great, too, but in a different way, because no matter who he interviews he maintains his faux Bill O'Reilly character, and those who get it are hilarious and the ones who don't are not sure what to say, which is in its own way hilarious too.

I have craft stuff everywhere, and really need to get organized. It's hard to get anything done when you have to spend time looking for things. The PTO at Steven's school is having a yard sale in a couple of weeks so I hope to get some stuff together to give to that, although I don't usually have anything that I don't want to keep!

Back to my mother, she likes to go places, and it is hard to know where she is at any given moment. She has a cell phone but only turns it on when she wants to make a call, so if she isn't at home, forget it. She is going to be spending time in a house with no phone, so I hope she starts keeping it turned on when she's there anyway.

I need to go to bed, I suppose, so enough of this. Good night.