Love Over Time

On the radio New Year’s Eve, I heard a story that I’m not sure I believe. If it is true, it has to be about the most romantic story I’ve ever heard.

This woman claimed that when she was in junior high one of their projects at her christian school was to pick kids from other countries to pray for. She saw a picture of a boy with a monkey on his shoulder and decided she would pray for him.

Years went by but she kept the picture in with other school memorabilia. Anyway, as an adult she met a man from another country who was everything she had ever hoped for. When going through pictures of him as a youth in his homeland, she came across the one of him with the monkey. She got out hers and saw that it was the same guy. They have been married for over twenty years now.

I won’t swear I have all the facts because I had to get out of the car for a few minutes so missed part of the story. However, the jest of it was that she met and married a man she had prayed for as a child but never met. Pretty cool but also pretty far fetched sounding.

Common Sense and the Movies

There is a very important question that has been on my mind lately. It involves a person’s common sense…or lack of, really. Ok, maybe in a similar situation I wouldn’t be thinking straight either but he is a lawman and they are suppose to be able to think on their feet.

The question involves the movie “Cujo” which I happen to watch at least once a month. Whenever it gets to the part where the lawman goes out to the Camphor’s house to look for Dee Williams and the boy, I find myself shaking my head.

He pulls into the yard and sees the woman’s car. It is a mess with blood on both doors and a window all cracked up. He knows this is the car he was looking for. SO, why in the world would he park over by the barn and have to walk back to the car – thus opening himself up to a fatal attack by the rabid dog, Cujo? Any person with common sense would pull up to the car – why make yourself walk so far to get to it? Makes no sense.

Also, a lawman with common sense would also call it in before he got out to investigate. Our officer’s don’t leave their cars without calling in to tell the dispatcher’s where they are and what they will be doing. Why? Because if an officer suddenly needs help, he can scream “10-24” into his mike (which he carries with him out of the car) and the dispatcher would know exactly where he was and what situation he had been in prior to the call.

So, this lawman should have called the dispatcher, told them he was leaving his car to investigate the missing vehicle which he found at Camphor’s. He would have parked close to the car so that he could look inside with minimal effort. There is just no reason to do it the way he does in the movie and it always bothers me.

It also bothers me that Dee Williams gets his gun but then fails to shoot Cujo in the head when she has the chance. If I were in that situation, I would shoot the dog several times in the head at point blank range just to be sure it wouldn’t be coming back to haunt me. I would never assume it was dead just because it failed to get up after she stabbed it.

Another minor point about the movie is that they sweat to death in this little car for two days but it sits on an incline so she could have put it in neutral and let it roll back into the shade rather then sit there dehydrating.

Of course, there wouldn’t be much to movies if the character’s really had common sense now would there? But the show is kind of about how she learns the value of all she has and overcomes her fears to save her child’s life. It is suppose to make you feel sympathetic and apathetic to the main character. But I feel little of either when they don’t have the good sense to figure out the basics.

The movie “Prey” is another prime example. Why would you not fill everything available to you when it rained, rather then using your hands to drink water and letting the rest just fall to the ground? Especially in Africa, in the summer, when you are stranded in the desert? When it rained, after spending a day being thirsty, wouldn’t it be one of the first things you thought about – collecting the water so you’d have some the next day???

They don’t even use common sense on figuring out their situation until they’ve been out there two days because they kept thinking they’d get saved. I so liked Anthony Hopkin’s character in “The Edge” because he preached being prepared. If he didn’t need the stuff because he was rescued, great – but he was going to prepare like there was no rescue coming so that he could survive his ordeal. To me, that is what anyone with common sense would do.

Panic should be a 4-ltr word

Ok, here is the thing. I just spent 8 hrs off and on trying to figure out when I could move back to Iowa. I swear my head will explode. As much as I would love to move back next month, I think I will have to wait. I should get enough money back in income tax to pay 3 months worth of bills from the condo – which I won’t need to do if I can get it rented. HOWEVER, to get it rented, I need to do some repairs to the place and replace the carpet. Gotta tell you, it drives a person mad.

One of my neighbors said I should rent it for $1100 a month while another one said $850. I honestly don’t know what to say or think either way. I know nothing about being a landlord and am not sure I want to learn. If I could get someone from work to rent it then I would consider $850 but if not, then it would have to be a lot higher to get quality people in who will pay their rent and not have to be evicted. See, I don’t even want to have to worry about it.

Part of me says to get it ready to be sold and then lock it up until I can sell it. That way I know it would be ready and I could turn it over to a real estate agent to sell it. Of course, that means paying out the money to keep it until I can legally sell it in October. That might work out ok if I can find a good job in Iowa.

I keep praying God will make it all come together so I can be back in Iowa around my birthday. I want to be back by then really badly. Hate the idea of having to wait until May. Wish I had the money so I could go tomorrow.

Told my son that I want to rent an apartment, duplex or house in one of the outlaying towns so I can get more for my money. Wish I could just buy the house of my dreams. Why does everything have to be so up in the air? I hate it! I like things following a plan that is structured and plausible. To try and keep figuring out what to do is driving me nuts.

On other fronts, I had to replace the battery in my car today to the tune of $100 by the time I bought jumper cables and then the battery. I didn’t have that money to spend but need my car so that is life. In Florida, due to the heat, a person is lucky if their battery lasts three years – two and a half years is the average. Mine lasted almost three years so guess it is right on time for replacement. I need to have the oil changed too.

Jack Frost Visits Florida

Was thinking today of all the things I have to do before I can move. Not things like sorting and crap but financial things. Like I have the taxes I have to pay on the condo before I go and my car insurance will be do again before I go too. Together they are almost a thousand dollars. I really need to get something done about the floors as well…not to mention the window that needs replaced. Ugh. Seems like there is always more things to do then money to do it with.

I did shampoo out my car today using my little green machine. I had to clean up Baxter’s throwup but I also spilt a huge glass of soda on my way home from Arby’s today on the passenger side floor so had to clean that up too. It took awhile to get it all done – figured I might as well armor all the inside while I was at it so did that too. Couldn’t believe how dirty things were.

Got just about everything on my list done today – only thing left is to vacuum upstairs and I’ll do that tomorrow before work. I’ve started letting Simon outside so I’m going to get rid of the litter box tomorrow as well. I know there is a chance that he’ll disappear like Bosco and Jasper did but it is one I will have to take because I can’t stand that litter box anymore. I doubt he’ll go far – he usually stays close to home right now and doesn’t stay out long at all. He does seem to like going out though so it is a good thing.

I closed up the house and turned on the heater a bit ago. It was down in the 40’s inside which was too cold. It is the first time I’ve had to turn on the heat this winter. I went out and covered my jade plant – should probably cover others but it is the one that is the most important. I imagine the others will all be fine – they have survived frosts every year so far. Some of them are really beautiful and won’t be after it is cold but they will grow again over the summer. The frost always knocks them back quite a bit. These are plants that I have had up north too so I know they will be alright.

Tried calling Wayne three times today but haven’t gotten a response from him. Imagine he is at work. Wrote to my sister too but she hasn’t written back yet – I can check my internet on my phone but can’t write back.

I had really hoped I’d get whatever I needed from Verizon to make my internet work in the mail today but I didn’t. They are suppose to be sending me a new modem thingy. Was hoping I’d be back on the internet by now. Tomorrow I start back to work for the next four or five days – depending on what OT I’ve been signed up for. Though I do like my job, I don’t ever look forward to that first day back…don’t know why.

I’m afraid I did worse on my medicine this past month then any other month yet – forgetting to take it half the month. I had 16 days worth left over at the end of the month – I don’t know how it is possible but I did. I’m most concerned about the blood pressure medicine and wonder if that is why I’ve had such bad headaches this past month. Would imagine it is.

As far as the depression meds go – I actually have felt better so am wondering if I should start weaning myself back on the dosages. I’m sure a lot of that is because I’ve been busy walking every day with Baxter – exercise releases the same chemical the medicine does. If I’m going to keep up the exericse, I can probably cut back on the Wellbutrin anyway.

With the exercise has come another benefit – I’ve lost some weight. While sorting clothes I tried on a few pairs of shorts and pants that were a size smaller then what I wear now and they actually fit. Some pairs, obviously, better then others depending on their style but it was still very nice to see that I had lost a little. Hope to lose a lot more this month.

Tomorrow we will hit the park again for our morning walk and then take a shorter one when I get off tomorrow night. Friday and Sunday are 12 hr days so we will walk around home those two days. Hmmm…maybe I should stay around home the whole time so Baxter won’t throw up in my nice clean car…

Nightmares

I have been having hellish nightmares lately. The last two nights I have had nightmares on weird things. Last night I dreamt that I went back to my old job at the wastewater plant but a tornado had gone through the area totally destroying it. The building was in complete chaos with the exception of my office which they put back together first. All around me construction workers were trying to build back the building but my office – which was in the middle of it all – was a nice serene place. I was not a serene person though – I was running around, getting in the way, trying to get order to the rest of the chaos. I have no idea what the dream meant but I tell you, I was exhausted when I woke up.

Maybe it is telling me that my world is a serene place if only I’d quit running around trying to fix everything else? Maybe it means I have a big head and thing I’m the only one who can fix things that are chaotic?

My dream today during my nap was that I moved into a big apartment. The complex was huge and I had a lot of nice neighbors. However, I had some very sick neighbors too who killed people and others who worshipped Satan. I pretty much stayed in my apartment.

Even though I had just moved in and most of the rooms were empty – I had two rooms that were full of junk. I kept trying to get rid of the junk by throwing it out of the window into a dumpster but more junk would appear. I started giving away junk to others but the rooms never seemed to get cleaned out while the other rooms remained bare. I had two dumpster loads of stuff and more was in the apt waiting to be thrown out.

In between trying to clean out the apartment, I also would take walks trying to avoid all the crazy people in my neighborhood. The dream ended when I was a passenger in a van that had stuff to take to a barge which transported garbage to a dump somewhere offshore. The driver of the van was my Mom, the other passenger was my younger sister. Mom got us in the wrong spot like she often did when traveling places. She got out to get directions and my younger sister climbed into the driver’s seat. She somehow got the van on it’s side half in and half out of the water. I woke up because Mom was blaming me and I kept telling her I hadn’t done it.

Both dreams were very intense and left me tired. They both have a similar theme but I’m not sure why I dreamt them.

little things

Arby’s was busy today – took 15 minutes to order and get my food. The guy at the counter looked so harried when I finally got up to place my order that I told him to go ahead and get the people’s food ready because I was in no rush. He was taking orders plus putting the orders together for the customers. He had five or six people waiting and was grateful because they were getting impatient.

People are just in too big of a rush these days. To me, lunch should be a time when they slow down some – eat leisurely, relax a bit, etc. If it were the lunch crowd who had to go back to work then I could understand their haste but it was people taking a break from their hectic shopping schedules.

Speaking of shopping, I should be going over to Walmart because I need some things but it is packed and I have no desire to frolic with the masses today. Really, I never desire it. Besides, I know that I’m broke even though I just got paid because I had more bills then money this payday. How sad is it to get paid more then I even expected yet still already be broke?

I looked around at sale papers so got a really good deal on toilet paper at Walgreens. I need pet food but other then people food, that is it. Baxter seems to like Simon’s food too so maybe I’ll just buy cat food from now on. Both dishes are empty and I was too busy to see if Simon ate some or if Baxter ate it all. I’ll watch Simon to see if he hit’s the dried food a lot in the next couple hours.

It is in the 20’s outside. I took Baxter out for a very quick walk where we jogged most of the time. He still had energy left but I didn’t. I was stupid and wore my slippers out so part way through the walk I had to kick them off so I could actually walk. Yes, my bare feet got cold but it was better then spraining a muscle. Baxter wants to go back out – I’m sure this weather is prefect for him with his heavy coat but I had on a long sleeved shirt, a pullover, and a lightweight coat and I was still halfway cold.

I’m not complaining, mind you, I’ve been waiting for the cooler weather and from the sounds of it, this is the only night it is suppose to get this cold all year. I actually look forward to winter next year. I know, scary isn’t it? But I’m anxious to go home and am embracing all that going home entails because it is where I belong.