Filthy

Gah! Filthy weather today - rain, wind, cold. One of the reasons I moved to New Orleans was that I thought Memphis was too cold and winter lasted too long. I still think that. Cold weather is useless after New Year's, as far as I'm concerned, and absolutely obscene after St. Patrick's Day.

The cold and the wet makes me snarl and sneer and wonder if I can't get my job back in New Orleans. I probably could, actually, I just wouldn't be able to find a place to stay.

I'm letting myself mourn and fret over our vanished way of life when it overtakes me and trying not to worry about it. Strange as it sounds, I didn't have much time to think about it before the end of the year. First we didn't know what we'd do - stay here? Go back? Then it was busybusybusy with finding John a school and me and Sonya getting jobs and buying a house. Not that things are settled and we've got a little routine (blessed routine!) going on I can look back. I'm less angry now and more wistful, and I guess that's a good thing.

And cold, gross weather has always made me feel like shit. Last weekend was warm and sunny and I was fine, totally fine. I sat on the back porch from noon until dark last Sunday and put John's swingset together and I couldn't think of a better way to spend the day. Happy, sunny, all is right with the world. Our air conditioner wasn't working, either, so we had all the windows open and the fans going and it was warm in the house, a breeze blowing down the hall and John running wild in his short-sleeved Buzz Lightyear pajamas.

[Mind you, that kind of thing would be hell in July. I called the builder next day and told him about it. "It's not hot now, but it's gonna be hot someday," I said, and he agreed with me. The air conditioner man came out that afternoon. The verdict? No freon. I guess since they installed it in December they got confused and thought they were in Alaska or something and the air conditioner was just for show. But no, I really need it to work.]

Anyhow, I was busy this weekend. The list!

• Washed, vacuumed and Febrezed Sonya's truck, and got her an oil change.
  
• Purchased three rose bushes, topsoil and mulch at the Wal Mart, and planted them outside the kitchen window.
  
• Got lunch for my mom and grandmother and got to hang out with them for a while, with John. Dutiful Son=Me.
  
• Met the neighbors.
  
• Replaced lightbulbs outside the garage (a production number including a chair and a screwdriver) and in the shower in our bathroom (less of a production, but I still needed a chair).
  
• Put a new headlight in my car. The burned-out one earned me a ticket back in February. In Memphis. On a Saturday night. You'd think Memphis cops had more important things to do on a Saturday night then pull over a Volvo in Midtown, wouldn't you? But you'd be wrong. And I did it in the AutoZone parking lot, in under ten minutes. Handy Harold.
  
• Visited with my buddy Glen and his new son. We watched wrestling, boxing, and assorted internet videos and drank beer. It was a Man's Night.
  
• Laundry. Lots and lots of laundry. Between his grandmothers John's entire summer wardrobe is purchased and ready to wear.
  
• Installed Mac OS X 10.4.3 on our machine at home. And got our new scanner up and running.
  
• We had this drawer full of papers and paid bills and check stubs in the computer desk, right? That drawer is now sorted and filed in folders with little tabs on them.
  
• Washed the dishes. Or loaded the dishwasher, anyway.
  

And this doesn't include assorted dog walkings and feedings. And John feedings and bathings. And running to the store to get Coke, chips and french onion dip, which goes well with the Sloppy Joes.

I went to bed both nights dizzy with tired, but I'd go to sleep thinking, "yep, got some shit done today."