Empty Nest? What Empty Nest?

/ Carrie L. Carr / Leave a comment

My wife and I did our best to raise our daughter to be smart and responsible, so when she decided to move out a few months ago, we were pretty sure she’d be fine.

Only a couple of weeks went by and we were almost ashamed to enjoy the “empty nest”. But, being the troopers we are, we did our best.

At the same time, my mother, who turned seventy about two months ago, told me she was having trouble taking care of the home she rented. I can understand that, because it was a three bedroom, two bath house – much too big for a single woman to keep up with. I spoke to my wife, and we came up with a solution – move my mother into our daughter’s old room.

Before you think we’ve totally lost our minds, hear me out – Mom would always spend her weekends with us, even though we were less than 10 miles away. But she was lonely, and we loved the company. Our weekends tended to be filled with cooking, shopping and laughing – mostly laughing. So it really wasn’t much of a stretch to bring mom here.

So now, it’s several months later, and there’s been no blood spilled, and no threats to anyone’s life. Believe it or not, we enjoy having our new “roomie” with us – we watch a lot of the same television shows and movies, And, it didn’t take much work to add Mom’s desk to our office space.

Our weekends are much more relaxed – we’ll usually cook breakfast together, visit at the table, then retire to the office to play video games.

In other words, not much has changed. We just put a lot less miles on our vehicles, and get to spend Saturdays in our jammies 🙂

As for our daughter, she seems happy and well-adjusted. Other than the panicked calls asking where gnats come from (not her salad, that’s for sure), and the occasional “I have a cold, what should I take,” question, she’s doing great. And when she comes to visit, we actually spend more quality time with her than we did when she lived here. Everyone wins.

Of course, I haven’t even gone into the “pack” situation – with Mom’s chiweenie, we now have four dogs under twenty pounds. I’ll leave their adventures for another day.

It’s Official: I’ve Lost My Mind

/ Carrie L. Carr / Leave a comment

Have you ever gotten completely and totally sidetracked? I seem to be the master.

Case in point:

I went to the sunroom to take out some cooked brisket to thaw for the weekend. Next to the freezer is a small fridge, which is the resting place for one of our two plants that I haven’t killed yet.

I noticed the plant had quite a few dead leaves on it, so I decided to clear them away. Looks much better!

Of course, that meant that I needed to sweep the sunroom in order to remove the mess I made with the plant. No worries. I go to the garage and get the broom & dustpan. Leaf mess too much for the dustpan, so I wheel the 45 gal trash can from the garage into the sunroom.

Meanwhile, Daisy went out back and started barking up a storm. Damned ducks are back in the pool. I went outside with our vicious 5 1/2 pound Chihuahua, and yelled like a crazy person at the two ducks that have adopted our backyard. They fussed at me – I waved the broom – they fussed some more – I yelled and cursed, Daisy barked. The ducks had enough of our noise and left….for now. Okay, I returned to the sunroom to clean up my earlier mess.

As I’m sweeping, I notice a ton of dead bugs/spider webs in the corner of the sunroom near the back door. Okay, I used the broom and cleaned them away. Then, of course, I sprayed the corner for *new* bugs. Now, what was I doing? Oh, yeah.

Took the broom, dustpan and rolling trash can to the garage. On the way, I saw dust bunnies in the kitchen. Since I already had the broom, I swept the kitchen. Dust bunnies vanquished! Oops. Knocked over the rolling trash can. More sweeping.

On my way to the garage, I noticed the washing machine had stopped. Hung up Jan’s tops to dry.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. Took the rolling garbage can to the garage before I knocked it over again. Tripped over the dustpan and scared the dogs with the not-so-nice language. Took that evil dustpan to the garage, along with the broom.

Started to put the garbage can back where it belonged, and noticed dust PONIES in the corner where it usually sits. Well, hell. Swept the corner, and totally ended up sweeping the garage. Did I mention that I opened the door so I could get some fresh air in the garage? Did I also mention that the wind is SWIRLING today? I think I ate more dust than I swept. Which of course set off an asthma attack.

Went into the house to use the inhaler. The dogs followed. I believe I heard giggling from Nuggie & Daisy.

Now, what was I doing? Oh, right.

Returned to the garage and put away the dust pan, garbage can and broom. Remembered the fabric softener dispenser from the washing machine that I took out last WEEK to clean. It’s still full of water, so I inverted it over a small trash can and went back in the house.

Where was I? Oh, of course.

Put another load of laundry in – last one today, yay!

Went back to the office, sat in my comfy chair and felt like banging my head on the desk.

I left the frozen chunk of brisket on top of the freezer in the sunroom.

Went BACK to the sunroom, ignored any other projects that clamored for my attention, took the package of frozen brisket off the freezer and took it to the kitchen.

And I can never figure out how I wear myself out during the day, doing “nothing”.

*sigh*

Another Fantastic Book Club!

/ Carrie L. Carr / Leave a comment

We took a road trip to Austin this weekend to attend the Third Annual Lone Star LesFic Festival, hosted by the Sapphic Reading Group.

There’s only one word I can come up with to describe the event – FANTASTIC!

Okay, I’m sure there’s quite a few other great words, too – but I’m worn out. LOL! So many great, wonderful women – I’d name them all, but I don’t think I have enough space, or time. Suffice it to say that we met so many ladies, and had a lovely time. Lots of big-name writers were there and the readings were cool. Got to see many of our friends, although it seemed like there was never enough time to visit properly.

We also went to a private dinner party afterward and I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.  Great food, wonderful company, and I think I’m going to have to drag, I mean, walk the dog around the block all week to work off the cheesecake 🙂

I hope that there will be even more people there next year – if you get a chance, please go. Lots of fun, great writers, and so many super people to meet. Whoo!

I survived!

/ Carrie L. Carr / 2 Comments

Or, more to the point, I didn’t make a complete fool of myself.

Last night was the first time I’d ever made a “public appearance” as the only author. Usually, if I’m doing a signing, there’s a boat-load of other writers to keep the focus off me.

The Jewel Lesbian Fiction Bookclub is an amazing group of ladies. Friendly, intelligent, and just absolutely the best group of women you’d ever want to meet.  The book they read was Piperton, and they asked a lot of excellent questions. I can only hope I answered them well enough to make sense 🙂

Being a self-proclaimed recluse, I was somewhat nervous before the event. But, once we arrived, the wonderful women of Jewel made us feel so welcome, all my fears disintegrated. We had a wonderful time visiting and talking about not only Piperton, but writing in general. And, before you think I’m speaking in “royal-speak”, the we I’m talking about is Jan and myself. LOL! Really, I’m not quite that crazy, just yet.

Anyway, if you’re a writer and are planning on being in Dallas, give the women at the Jewel Lesbian Fiction Club a buzz. They’d love to have you join them, and you’ll be glad you did.

Mrs. Fusspot

/ Carrie L. Carr / 2 Comments

That’s what we call our Rat Terrier, Cher.

Mrs. Fusspot.

Believe me, it fits. She wanders around the house, grumbling. Not whining, but grumbling.  It’s rather funny, to tell you the truth.

This morning, Jan left for work, leaving me and the two critters alone in the house, as usual.  So, after a nutritious breakfast of hot dogs, I sat down at my desk to check my email.

I hadn’t been at the desk long, when Mrs. Fusspot wanders into the office, grumbling as usual. At first, I didn’t think anything of it – until she continued to pace and fuss. I looked up, made eye contact, and watched as she went to the door and waited for me.

Being the well-trained human that I am, I followed her down the hallway to our bedroom. After a quick look, I realized why Cher was so put off – Nuggie was on Cher’s pillow, on Cher’s recliner.  The little brat came and got me, so she could TELL on the other dog!

As I’ve said before, I don’t have dogs…I have toddlers.

*sigh*