Sunday Afternoon 9/3/2017

It’s September already? I sure wish we had cooler weather to look forward to as the month progresses, but it’s not going to arrive here for another couple of months. The mornings have been lovely all week, but by afternoon it is H-O-T, and the humidity builds, The biggest problem for me is that the winds die down in the evening and without any breeze the humidity settles in making things very uncomfortable. Our house really is settled the wrong direction on the lot to catch the breezes when they are around, so the heat builds and then stays throughout the day. I know it will get cooler, but we’ve still got a couple of months to go.

I like to actually write the Sunday Afternoon post on Sunday, but usually set out an outline for the post on Friday, which this week turned out have been a very good thing to do as I became very, very sick early Saturday morning with either food poisoning or an attack of Norovirus. Let’s just say that yesterday was not a very pleasant day . . . at all. I am feeling somewhat better this morning but it will still take another day or two before I’m fully myself again.

On the plus side, YaYu was named as one of the captains of her cross country team, and we are so incredibly proud of her we could burst! When she started high school three years ago, she wanted to run cross country because WenYu did, but she could barely make it around the track. She has stuck with it though and improved her times every year and now is one of the better runners on the team. Cross country practices and meets start at the absolutely worst time of the year, when the weather is at its hottest and most humid, but she gets out there every day and works hard.

Overall though this was not the happiest of weeks, with WenYu leaving to return to college – I miss her so much! –  the miserable jury experience, getting sick, the ongoing catastrophe in Houston, and the complete lack of leadership our country is experiencing right now. I have felt all week like the jury experience snapped or broke something inside of me, and everything else going on hasn’t helped. I am a forward-looking person though and am hoping that turning myself toward what’s coming up – the holidays with the girls home, YaYu’s college search, her graduation next year, and the Big Mystery Adventure™ – will help get my head and heart back in a good place. I’m also going to focus on what’s good and beautiful about Kaua’i and hope it will help heal what’s wrong inside.

This afternoon I am:

• Reading: I am enjoying Mother Daughter Me: A Memoir. I had a uneasy relationship with my mother, and not sure I could have lived in the same house with her for longer than the periods I did. If nothing else I have a great deal of empathy for the author’s experience with her mother.
• Listening to: It’s quiet now here except for the sound of the washing machine going. Brett is out on his run, and YaYu is studying in her room. The roosters were at it very early this morning. They haven’t been around for a while, but are back and louder than ever. There’s one that sounds like he’s crowing through a bullhorn he’s so loud!
• Watching: Brett and I finished the the Rebus series last night so are looking for something new, although tonight we’ll be watching Endeavour on PBS. We were going to watch Game of Thrones but we’d have to subscribe to HBONow which we don’t want to do. We’ll find something. I watched  Design On A Dime this past week while I earned Swagbucks in the evening. It was pretty mindless, but entertaining enough. Friday evening, before I got sick, I watched all six episodes of The Tick on Amazon. All four of the kids and I loved the cartoon series, and the live version did not disappoint. I can’t wait for more – the lead actor is terrific.
• Cooking/baking: We’re having the Chinese three-color salad with chicken for dinner tonight. It was supposed to be our dinner last night, but that didn’t happen for obvious reasons (Brett and YaYu had macaroni and cheese). No baking today – with WenYu gone there’s a risk now that anything I bake will end up with Brett having to eat most of it – YaYu is not big on sweets.
• Happy I accomplished last week: It was not a week for accomplishment on my side, but Brett finally got his eyes examined and will be getting new glasses this month. I was only able to ride my bike a couple of days this past week because it was just too hot, but I met my daily water goals (except for yesterday) and watched my food intake, and got my language study done every day. I am getting close to moving up to the next level! I can understand things when native speakers say them, put sentences together if I have the words in front of me, but still cannot speak it yet, but that’s very typical for this stage of language learning (speaking is the last skill to arrive). I really need to be in a language classroom, but that’s not happening here.

  

• Looking forward to next week: We don’t have anything on our schedule, but with both WenYu and YaYu back at school Brett’s and my schedule is freed up, so we’re hoping for at least a couple of relaxing days at the beach.
• Thinking of good things that happened: Besides YaYu’s good news, WenYu had a successful and easy (albeit long) journey back to Massachusetts and is moved into her dorm (same roommate as last year) and ready to start her second year. Brett got his new iPad ordered and it arrived in just two days – he’s been having fun setting it up and getting used to it instead of his old PC. The back earnings coming from Social Security was a nice surprise, and will beef up our travel savings total this month. Brett and I have had some good discussions this week about our big trip, and got a few more things settled, mostly about budgeting and tracking our funds, before and during travel. We did a fruit run to Costco last week, and they still had ripe peaches available – the best ones we’ve had yet – as well as big ripe pineapples from Maui for just $2.99.
• Grateful for: I want to thank everyone for their supportive comments on my jury post earlier in the week. I think that was the lowest I’ve felt in a long time, and your support and kindness helped keep me from sinking even further.
• Bonus question: What did your parents almost name you? My mom was a tiny woman, and I was a big baby (9 pounds, 13 ounces) so throughout her pregnancy they thought there was a real possibility she was having twins. Mom and Dad were ready and picked out two names, but interestingly just for girls – for some reason they assumed that if they were having twins both babies would be girls. So, the other name chosen to go along with Laura was Paula Jean. My middle name begins with R, and was given to honor the woman who rented them their first apartment after they were married, and who became a good friend and mentor. Anyway, I could have ended up being Paula Jean when it was just me that arrived, but I’m thankful they decided to go with Laura. They did have a boy’s name chosen, but just one: James Mason. My father’s name was James, and at the time I was born he was in the navy serving in the Korean War, on the USS Mason. The day the message arrived from the Red Cross that I had been born he was the Officer of the Day, and he said he was busy signing all sorts of papers when he realized that one of the things he had signed a few pages back was the telegram announcing he had a new daughter! He did have cigars ready though, and said he spent a happy day passing them out to the other officers. He got another message from the Red Cross six days after I was born though, that his father was dying, so he was flown home for that and got to meet me when I was 10 days old, versus several months later.

That’s all for this week. I’m looking forward to getting back to my regular posting schedule tomorrow. Hope everyone reading had a lovely week, and is looking forward to the one coming up!

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