Guess What? No Cavities!

How much can one person take before she totally shatters like a truffle bowl on a tile floor? I’d love to have an answer for that someday, because I recently did shatter a truffle bowl on our tile floor in the kitchen. Not a pretty sight.

A friend of mine says she’s been losing things lately, and she’s under a great deal of stress. And, so am I, which I guess is why I’m breaking things. The truffle bowl is just one in a long line of interesting things I’ve managed to break. I think the light fixture in the bathroom was first.

Just a general recount of this year’s stresses:

So far, I’ve spent more time with an ailing mother than I have at home with an overworked husband.  She’s gradually getting better, for which I am most grateful, but she’s still in a bit of a mess. And he’s still overworked. Which means that after taking care of Mom for several days, I’m still likely to come home to a sink full of dishes and stacks of laundry he’d do if it weren’t for the fact he has to work overtime.

And, to top it off, Belle, PB, and Cuddlebug have temper tantrums when I’m away. I’ve found unpleasant surprises in various places in the house–and in my shoes. I’m not sure which of the feline culprits is the guilty one, but, I tell ya, Billy’s been threatening to turn them into fajitas. I may just turn him loose on them.

My computer has broken down twice in the past two months, and it didn’t work worth a flip when they “fixed” it the first time, so I’ve been unable to work. Fortunately, I managed to save everything on discs, which can’t be read on this Compaq computer because the disc drawer is stuck. And besides, this puter came over with Columbus and is not capable of some of the things to which I’ve grown accustomed–like working for any length of time without freezing.

Enough about the computers. How about my printers? My old printer won’t print in color anymore, even though I cleaned it. It curls the paper as it kicks it out past the tray and onto the floor. It jams. So, I bought a new one that can print a zillion pages a minute. But it doesn’t print in color. I had planned on doing my one-sheet for Give the Lady a Ride in color. Now I have a choice of taking it to a printing company, or redesigning it so it would look hot in black and white. Like that’s possible. I’m going to have to take it to the printer.  Except I can’t, because he needs it in a .pdf file, which I can’t make because my computer is in the shop.

Let me also add that my Mercury Sable has been in the shop twice, the first time after refusing to start in my mother’s driveway so I could come home. I had to use her car because there was no way I could wait on car repairs. The Sable’s coma was just before our annual 4th of July party/family reunion, and we were expecting roughly forty people at our house. Okay, granted, only twenty showed up, but I still couldn’t stay in Bryan until the car was fixed.

We’ve missed a vacation, two planned weekend trips, and a conference in Marshall, Texas. Things have been hectic, stressful, and, for lack of a better term, bizarre this year.

In Sunday School last week, a friend of mine, who had earlier this year gone through a rough divorce, announced she had breast cancer.

Kind of puts everything back into perspective, doesn’t it?

So, let me recap all the above.

My Mom’s doing tons better. My husband is bringing one heckuva paycheck. My dishwasher works.

I miss my cats while I’m gone as much as they miss me, and they’re such lovey little doves when I get home. Besides, I don’t like feline fajitas.

Even though my laptop is in the shop, I have an old, semi-reliable back-up so I can check my e-mails, and update my blog. And the old printer does print in black ink, which is great, since I can’t hook my old puter to my new printer.

My Sable was under warranty.

We still have a conference and two more vacations planned.

And, today, my dentist said I don’t have any cavities.

God, thanks for reminding me to count my blessings.