I Can Relax Too

This morning my friend Kim took me to breakfast at Denny’s. It was lovely. The two of us sat there eating and didn’t have to listen to the sounds of children; it was just us eating and talking and laughing but not having anyone to take care of for that short while. When we were finished we decided to do some errands just to extend our “quiet” time. We ran to get her paycheck, to Walgreens to pick up a photo I ordered for Zach, to K-Mart to buy diapers for Kim’s infant son, and then to Wal-Mart to cash her paycheck. We left the house at 9:15 this morning and didn’t return home until 12:45 this afternoon. It was only 3 ½ hours but it was really nice. Nobody complained, or fought, or cried, or picked on anyone else, or any of that other ugly stuff kids do “just because.”

I bought all the kids – Kim’s and mine – a treat from Walgreens; and I bought myself a light pair of Capri pants to wear on the drive to Maryland. The kids will want the A/C on constantly but I know I’ll get cold after a while. I don’t want to wear long pants so the Capris will work fine. When we went to Wal-Mart I had to seriously restrain myself from buying anything at all. Imagine that. I went to Wal-Mart and didn’t spend a dime in there. Not that I didn’t look for stuff to buy; I just couldn’t find what I wanted so I didn’t give them any of my money. Good thing, too, because Wal-Mart and I have a very special relationship; I go in to spend $10 and it takes $100 from me. Go figure. Not today, though; I’m very proud of myself. (Patting me on my back.)

Once I got home I really didn’t do anything but watch more TV. I’m still waiting for my furniture to sell. Ty said he talked to the Angels and they said it would be a couple of days but that it would sell. I have to repost the ads again tomorrow so maybe Ty is right. We’ll see. I just really don’t want to have to drag it with me. The dining table and chairs is the piece I’m most concerned with selling. It’s the largest and most expensive. Like I said, if I have to, I will force it to fit in the truck and sell it once I get to MD. The rest of the stuff – the desk, the TV stand, and the bookshelf – I will destroy before I put them out for someone to just take them. I’ve had ads out for a month now and I refuse to just let them go. That might sound terrible of me but the way I see it is, if you wanted it so badly, you could have paid for it. I’m not asking a lot of money for anything but I’d rather bust the shit into unusable pieces rather than just let someone take my stuff for nothing. If I didn’t need the money I wouldn’t have placed the ads; so poo on you if you thought you were getting a real bargain from me. Not a chance.

While I’m waiting, though, I’ll get back to doing the stuff I could have been doing today – the laundry, the miscellaneous packing and whatnot. I didn’t do anything today so I’ll get to it all tomorrow. The laundry is caught up, now I just need to keep up with it and get the kids’ clothing that they want to take to Paul’s separated and in the suitcases. The toys will be re-packed and put back in the toy boxes, any errant clothing will be stuffed into dressers, and anything else I see lying around, other than kitchen items, will be put into an extra box.

I’m not shutting down the computer until Wednesday morning. Comcast will be here between 8:00 and noon to pick up the converters and the modem so I’ll have once last chance to check email, Facebook, Myspace, and Twitter before I sign off for the trip. I should be back online sometime Friday but I’ll ask Ellen to post updates for me while I’m on the road. Needless to say, I won’t be blogging those nights, unless the motel we stop in has free computer service. Then maybe I can get something out really quick. Otherwise, it’ll have to wait until I get there. Don’t worry, though, I won’t be posting a really huge blog about the trip. I’ll break it down and/or only post about the most important events. Honestly, do you really need to know what I watched on TV in the motel? You know what? You might. If I get a motel room that only shows the regions hot tourist locations on its TV, I’m definitely going to complain to you folks about it, whether you want me to or not. Hey, I gotta share, right?

I just can’t believe we’re so close to leaving already. I told the kids today that this will be their last weekend in Independence, MO and the last weekend they spend with the kids in this neighborhood (thank goodness). I’m not sure they really understand right now, but they will once they get back to MD after visiting their dad. On Monday we have to go to the boys’ school to get copies of their records and I don’t know if they’ll understand that it’ll be the last time they’ll be there. There are a lot of “lasts” taking place but also a lot of firsts and I hope I can help them understand that.

This visit with Paul will be the first of many, I hope. He should be able to get them, at least, once a month from now on. I just hope he actually does it and doesn’t make excuses not to get them. This move will be the first of our last three. We’ll go to Ellen’s, then move to our own place, then to our BIG house – the one I’ve been promising them we’ll have when I get out BIG money. That house will be the one they grow up in. This move will be the first of many positive experiences to come for all of us: I’ll be able to find work, they’ll be able to make new friends, we’ll all have less stress, we’ll all be happier… No, things will not be perfect, nor will they be 180° better immediately. It’ll take time but I’m positive things will be much better for us than they are here. I just have to help the kids understand that also. They will in time, but it’ll be hard for them in the beginning. We’ll just work together until things smooth out for all of us.

Right now, though, the house is all quiet so I’m going to enjoy some alone time and just sit and watch more television until I get the urge to go to sleep. That may be really soon but I want to sit down here for a short while and just enjoy the peace. It doesn’t happen often lately so I’m going to take full advantage of it while I’ve got the chance. I’ll be back tomorrow but, in the meantime, remember, temperature is relative and Odor Sorb makes a terrible cat litter.

Until next time…peace to all.