Estoy Nueces

Spring Break has begun. I'm not a student, not a teacher, and have no kids in school so it has no effect on me, but it still feels like "something" in my mind. My birthday has usually fallen during spring break. These last thirty years it has fallen during SXSW, the big music deal in Austin. Read any of my old mid-March writings and see how my husband was working long hours, often overnight, and sleeping in the day. It was just a given, then, that I got no attention from him on my birthday. I'm glad that is over. I have my birthday off this week and my friend Z wanted to take me to lunch and my sister is coming, too, so really, for me, that kills two birds with one stone. I don't have to have two birthday lunches! My sister does expect to have a family birthday dinner after my nephew and his wife are home from Japan, so that will be fun. It will celebrate me, my nephew's wife, and my grand-niece who will be NINE. Wow. Nine.

My mother was always a part of the birthday celebration and her birthday was this past Wednesday. My sister and I went out to eat to remember her. It was funny we both had the same thought: we needed to eat Mexican or Chinese or possibly a pizza for the occasion. If we took Mother out for a meal, that was always her choice. The pizza would have been at home delivered. That's what we had on my birthday last year at her place. We had Mexican and even had sopapillas. And margaritas. I don't drink margaritas anymore, but Mom would have so we did. We grew up with no drinking at all in our orbit. But once WE started drinking and allowed our parents to know, Mom would order a margarita at Mexican restaurants even when we didn't. It was always a surprise to see her enjoy drinking.

So this year's "celebration" will likely be lunch for a couple of hours and then maybe a good nap and then I'll watch Dateline and text with a few people. I have signed up for Medicare so that big step is taken.

Last night I was looking at some pictures of my parents at my graduation when I got my Master's degree. They were younger then than I am now. So hard to SEE that. Daddy was already retired and they were grandparents and they weren't in great shape. They didn't seem "old," but they didn't seem as young as I am! ha

I sorted through some old pictures last night and threw away a bunch of obvious ones I don't need. I need to go through it and scan the good ones. When you have to choose whether it is worth scanning it is easier to throw away a lot more (especially of life with Mark). I found a bunch of pictures that were his and only his so I'll probably just give them back to his Dad to give to him. I could scan them and send them, but that would be effort and look more like I cared. He'll never miss them. I could just toss them in the trash.

My porch guy and I have emailed back and forth this week and he came by yesterday to get money to get things rolling. We looked at the porch spot that is a lake right now. We had a lot more rain than I expected this week. Somewhere between 2 and 4 inches it seems. My back yard is drying off and sinking in now, but still lots of standing water. Yesterday the 10 x 16 spot where the concrete was before was just solid water. So no going out the back door at all.

I managed to save a lot of money for this coming year. I noticed a fee on my savings account I've never had before. When I was at the bank getting a cashier's check for porch guy I asked about it. Ah, a fee when you let your balance drop below $500.I rarely do that, but it happened when I was shuffling a lot of money around so it did happen and I'll know to prevent it now. And I've ben charged a $25 a month banking fee for ages and I complained about that and they found an account for me that doesn't charge and I should have had it all along. I've started an account at a credit union so I may start working my way to using it in case this bank makes me mad again. I don't like this bank because it is one of the BIG BIG banks that makes too much money, but they were doing their best not to lose a customer yesterday and I appreciate that.

I'm always looking at Zillow to see what other houses look like and how they match up to mine. I drive by some cute little old houses some days so I looked them up. They were cute, but there wasn't a one that was as nice as what I have. That's what I want, where my house it as good as it gets.

I did get the paint out and actually painted last week --- house painting, not art painting. The kitchen cabinets are scuffed and almost look like they've had too much water sitting on them and it swelled the fake wood. But I sanded them a bit and painted them and they look better. And I'd only put one coat of paint on the laundry room door ages ago so I got it painted a bit better. The BACK side of that door is still just primer so I haven't touched it, but I rarely see it anyway.

I wrote emails to both of my nephews and heard back from both of them! What a nice surprise. The one heading to Japan said goodbye. He's experimenting with just taking a backpack and seeing if he can travel that lightly. The other nephew (with the kids) sent a picture from 5 years ago when he visited me in Austin. That was a fun visit. Someone he had known in DC was having an art show reception in Austin and he wanted to support him so he drove down, I met him at the show, which was very cool, and then we went across the street to eat at a really cool old-Austin restaurant (that I think I've heard lately has closed). We had a great dinner and then he came home with me and spent the night. He might have left before I even got up in the morning so he could be back home to work. I have loved every visit from those boys. There haven't been too many, but I'm so grateful for them. The one where B came down for July 4 during COVID was especially memorable. It was really nice to see family for the first time in months.

It's colder today (50s) and the ground is muddy, so I will work in the house. In the last week I've gotten two boxes of books and a printer and a bunch of charging cords and power cords and connection cords gone/recycled. I hope to go through more photos today and see what can go. And there are some clothes I want to offer to my Buy Nothing group before I just send them to a thrift store. I would start with stripping the bed and washing but there is a happy cat asleep there so it will have to wait.