I love candy. There is no other way to say it. If there was one thing I would want to have as a last meal it would be a big bowl of candy. I don’t eat candy anymore simply because I can’t control myself around it. It doesn’t matter if you put a bowl of jelly beans or some nostalgic 50s retro cany in front of me I will eat it with abandon. My favorite thing in the world is taffy. Strawberry or watermelon taffy are on the top of my list but really any flavor would make the cut. In order to keep myself in check I simply don’t buy candy at all anymore. I find that if I never eat sugar or sweets I don’t crave it. One taste of it makes me want more and more. Life without any candy is much simpler than life with a bite or to every so often.

Each year I start plants from seed for my vegetable garden. This year I decided to use peat pots instead of plastic cups for this. I had never used them before and I PROMISE I will never use them again. My plants are in horrific shape despite tons of coddling and attention. The peat pots rob the plants of moisture and then mold. I have resigned myself to the fact that I will be buying plants this year and am not happy about it in the slightest. Never again will I trust a peat pot to do what a good old plastic cup can do better!

Last week I took my youngest son to pick up his first pair of glasses. He looks so much older. It seems like only yesterday that I was changing his diapers on an overbed table. Six years seems to pass in the blink of an eye at times. Today he is an independent little man who wants to do everything he can all by himself. There are moments in the day where I just want to hold him tight and never let go. I love to see him grow and change but there is a bit of me that wants him to still “need” me. I know that he will always need me in some form or fashion and that I will have to adapt to his changing needs as he matures. I guess we both are growing up in that respect.

I am glad that this is a new week. For the most part I don’t look forward to Monday’s but this is an exception. Last week was a rough week with a great deal of unknowns. My father got a call where he was told that he has cancer. I got a call indicating that my older son has some sort of abnormality in his bone marrow based on an x-ray of his hip. I ended up in the ER and subsequently being referred for testing of abdomen. My husband’s 24 year old cousin is now in the final stages of departing this earth due to cancer. My heart is full for her family and those who love her. My brain is full of worry for those close to me and myself. Each passing day means we are all closer to getting answers to find what is going on with us. By the end of May we should have a clear path which will at least eliminate some of the unknown.

We live on a dead end street. The street is not marked this way and we constantly have people driving down the road thinking there is an outlet. We have considered buying a lawn sign indicating that this road has no outlet but haven’t yet. It drives me a wee bit crazy to people come barreling down the road only to realize there is nowhere to go. For some reason the city doesn’t maintain our street and has declared it a private road despite there being 5 houses on it. I have no idea why it is a private road but the people that live on it are responsible to all the upkeep and plowing. I guess this means we could put up whatever signs we wanted to but no one has ever done so.

We have all known friends who seemed to be on a lifelong quest to find the perfect mate. I saw the picture above and found it hilarious because it is so true. The reality that there is no “perfect” mate. We are all flawed in some way. I will say I believe that some people are flawed in ways that simply cannot be overcome. In a relationship you have to decide what you are willing to accept and what you are not. I believe there are people who are meant to stay single and there are people in relationships that should never take place. After almost 21 years of marriage we have settled into a life where our flaws are what they are and we accept each other without trying to change one another. Balance is what we should all be on a quest for rather than perfection.

Two doors down the street from us lives a music teacher. He teaches in the local high school and also give lessons out of his home. Actually he recently built a music studio in his garage. The studio is complete with everything from Orange Amplifiers to recording equipment. We can frequently hear him practicing well into the evening. Last night the music went on all night. This doesn’t really bother me but I find it funny that he is know to call the police on neighbor kids who play basketball past 10:00 pm. It just seems odd to me that he doesn’t see what he does as being noisy but considers basketball to be a nuisance. Since there is some distance between our house and his I have no problem with his music. I might feel different if I lived a few feet away.

Today we are supposed to get the start of a fairly strong winter storm. It seems so weird that we have had temperatures in the seventies this week and now we are supposed to get about a foot of snow in the next couple of days. Because the leaves are out on the trees the storm has the potential to make quite a mess due to the weight of the snow pulling down tree limbs. I went to the store this morning to pick up a few supplies and there was a line of people waiting to get into the store. Storms always have a way of bringing people out. We keep a great deal of supplies on hand for just this sort of situation but I always pick up fruit and fresh produce on the weekend. I am glad I didn’t need much and could get right in and out.

Tomorrow my father will be having a biopsy to determine if he has cancer. My dad has had a number of health scares over the years which sometimes makes it hard to know exactly what is going on. Lately his health has been really failing and my gut just tells me that something is being overlooked. I know he has had every test imaginable including a CBC with Differential and yet no clear cause has been found. He is now having real difficulty walking and I am starting wonder what will happen when he can no longer walk. My mother is overwhelmed with everything I feel awful for her. Although I don’t want anything to be wrong with my dad I also want to know why he is loosing ground the way he is.

My youngest son is utterly taken with the notion of Big Foot. He watches documentaries on the subject almost daily. His favorite is a film featuring “Roger Patterson” that I think dates back to the 1970′s. We recently found out that there is going to be a “Big Foot Expo” at a town not too far away from here next month. As a special surprise my husband is going to take our little guy to the expo. I am convinced that he will pass out with excitement to see anything having to do with Big Foot.

Next month my uncle will be coming from Ohio for a visit. He usually only visits when the weather is warm and the roads dry because he wants to ride his motorcycle. I always worry about him because he doesn’t wear a motorcycle helmet. He apparently has his reasons for not wearing one that I fail to grasp. The trip from Ohio to our house is around 300 miles one way. I just don’t understand not wearing some sort of helmet when on a trip of that length. Personally I would wear one whenever I got on a bike but not him. He considers all motorcycle riding to be a joy ride and wearing a helmet supposedly takes away from the thrill. It would seem to me that good sense would suggest the longer the ride the more your chance of being injured but he doesn’t see it that way. I always worry until he arrives at our door that something might have happened.

My brother got married last July. The woman he married is an interesting individual and their relationship is intriguing to me. She doesn’t work and they don’t have children. She also doesn’t cook or do his laundry. As far as I can tell she sometimes cleans the house but mostly spends her time doing crafts. Another thing she doesn’t do is drive. When it comes time to do anything work related she relies on him to do it for her or her immediate family. All I hear from her is how bored and lonely she is and when she is not bored and lonely she doesn’t feel well. I cannot imagine the dynamics of their relationship working in the long term. From what I can tell he does all the giving and she just lives in his house and spends his money while waiting on him to meet her every need.

Our oldest son is just about thirteen years old. Most kids his age are completely and totally obsessed with television or gaming. My son rarely expresses an interest in what is going on in the world of television or video games. His favorite thing to do is curl up in the recliner with his kobo wireless ereader and read for hours on end. I love that the child would rather read than stare mindlessly at a television screen. Our lives are full and we are constantly entertained without paying for cable or any other type of television. My hope is that this interest in reading as opposed to media is something my children carry with them into adulthood.

This morning I was reading an article about how people are buying silver as an investment in the future. Apparently they see this as a better investment opportunity than the stock market or squirreling away paper money. After researching the premise behind buying silver coins and things made of silver I can appreciate the idea behind this theory of saving for the future. Do any of you out there invest in this type of asset or are you opposed to it? What is your investment strategy against future economic changes?

This week I received forms in the mail to enroll my son in summer music school. Music school is a 3 week program that is provided by our local school district. It is an absolutely amazing program that offers a really wide array of classes. One year my son took guitar lessons as well as course in various technologies used by musicians. He learned about everything from recording software to Euphonix MC Controls. The program give children a chance to sample many different things or expand on skills they already have. It is a great resource for helping children explore interests without making making investments in equipment or classes that they may not end up using or enjoying. This year he is considering taking a course in stage direction and set design.

We have someone in our lives who is perpetually late for things and always has the same excuse. She tells us each time that she just “couldn’t get motivated”. It get to be a really old and tired story. We sit and wait for her to show up and she is always late and comes in the door going on about how she just couldn’t get moving and blah, blah, blah… It is hard to find sympathy or understanding when you are the person who has had to get four people ready to go out the door in addition to juggling a job and home schooling a couple kids. When someone has is retired and has no commitments to anyone it is hard to feel sorry for them when they “just can’t get motivated”. To this I say

We have always been the type of people who like to be prepared for a rainy day. So many people simply live from one day to the next with no plans for what might come their way. One of our focuses has been getting out of debt and we have made great headway towards that goal. We are now directing our attentions to having things on hand for any emergency we might face. I have been reading a great deal about silver bullion bars from golden eagle as an investment option to prepare for financial uncertainties that may happen in the future. I have yet to invest in this but it frequently comes up in what I read. Right now my objectives have been to have a sufficient food supply on hand and emergency gear. Once I feel I have that goal met I will then direct our extra funds towards sound investment options.

This weekend was absolutely gorgeous! I took advantage of the super warm weather to get a jump start on my spring gardening. One thing that I did was to get some pea seeds in the ground. My fingers are crossed that we don’t get a freak snow storm and that the plants thrive. I also spent a fair amount of time digging in the dirt to build a new garden area. Another project I completed involved digging up square of soil in which to place bricks I had collected last summer along the side of the road. The are I built was a foundation for our fire pit. The bricks were discarded by the construction crew who replaced the road in front of our house. They said we could take as many as we wanted and I made sure to get all I could find. I love the idea of repurposing things that would normally be put in a landfill. The brick foundation ended up looking great and the soils was actually really easy to dig. It has been nice to have such an early spring here and to see everything coming back to life.

This weekend we are very fortunate to have a string of warm sunny days. It is unusually warm for early March in our area and we are taking advantage of the nice weather. My children have been begging to cook outdoors and eat at our outdoor dining set. Tonight we will be doing just that. Typically in our area it is not warm enough to eat outside until early May. I feel like we skipped winter this year. Part of me is happy about this but the other part of me wonders what the impact of this mild winter will be on the upcoming gardening season. I wonder if the fruit trees had enough chill hours to actually bear fruit this year?

I hate dealing with customer service departments. It seems like no matter where you call the person on the other end of the phone is not truly happy to be helping you and is not interested in resolving your problem. For over four months I have been attempting to work with Sallie Mae to get my student loans processed under their income based repayment program. I have been in the program for 2 years. This is the first time that processing my application has been an exercise in frustration. Every single time I submit a document or application it is rejected. I call prior to the rejections to make sure my documentation is complete. I am always assured that they have everything they need to process the application and yet it is subsequently denied. I could scream!!!!