Chasing Grace

I want to thank all of you who have been reading my blog. You’re awesome and I love you guys.

I will no longer be keeping a personal blog anymore. Circumstances have changed to the point where I do not feel comfortable sharing my personal life with the world.

I’ll continue to make updates about my life, as well as share musings, photos and interesting links on Facebook. If you are family or a friend, please add me as a friend on Facebook if you would like to see my ramblings and photos. If you don’t have a Facebook account, consider getting one. It’s easy to use, and a nice way to keep in touch with people without having your content shared with strangers. You can also follow me on Twitter, if you’re into the whole brevity thing.

It’s been fun, and I had a great time doing this.

Best wishes to you all.

~Lisa

I have been drinking wine. It’s okay, I’m an adult. I have i.d. to prove it and everything.

Funny thing, last time I bought some wine at Market Basket, the clerk asked for my i.d. I handed her my passport (I currently do not have a valid drivers license) and she panicked. She looked at it like I had handed her a toxic substance and ran to get the manager.

What is wrong with people these days? She was not a young person. Has she never seen a passport before? What’s really funny about this, is that they have a poster of acceptable i.d. in the event you are buying something adultish like alcohol or cigarettes, and there is a passport on the poster. It is quite clearly rendered, in full color with a glossy finish and everything, featuring passport cover and inside page with photo and vitals. Yet she turned a whiter shade of pale, began hyperventilating, and scurried off to get her supervisor. Amazing.

Anyway, I have been drinking wine this evening. When I bought it this morning at the same grocery store, I was served by the same cashier. This time, she quickly assessed Paul and I and apparently decided it was not worth the trouble to card us. Maybe she remembered me from before. Perhaps she was so traumatized by my passport that she will never forget the experience. In any event, I was able to purchase my bottle of chardonnay without incident.

So, I have been drinking wine. As it is Thursday, I thought it might be nice to have an adult beverage in the house. Thursday is the day my downstairs neighbor is generally home all day, and her unfortunate boyfriend often drops by. He has a very loud car. He suffers from an affliction shared by many young people these days. It involves loud booming noises and pants that are five sizes too big. And yelling. He is undoubtedly quite deaf from listening to the aforementioned loud booming noises, and is embarrassingly loud himself. I can hear just about everything that he has on his mind, which is surprisingly little, and yet that doesn’t stop him from spewing whatever random thought passes through his tiny brain. At the top of his lungs. This tends to be a bit stressful, and I like to have a glass or two of wine to offset the onslaught of random loud noises emanating from this young man and his car.

So this is Thursday, and I’ve been drinking wine. I’ve had a glass or two and a handful of chocolate dipped pretzels. I would be very serene and happy right now, were it not for my nose. For it has become very apparent… very, very apparent… that Siofra’s litter box is in need of changing. I really don’t feel like dealing with it, but I think I may have no choice. My eyes will probably start watering in a minute if I don’t do something about it.

Of course once I’m done with that I may, just may, have another glass of wine. You never know.

Driving. On Sunday.

Since we moved to Concord, we have not taken time to explore the area much. In a bold move to remedy that, we got in the car and drove north.

We ended up in Tilton. There’s an ‘outlet mall’ that didn’t interest me in the slightest, but there was a huge J. Jill Distribution Center that did. But that will have to wait for another visit, ’cause we were tired and needed to get back home.

The drive was lovely. We stopped in at the Tilt’n Diner for a very decent lunch, and then hopped on the highway for a quick return trip home. Just in time to watch the end of the Patriot’s game.

While I remembered to bring the camera, we didn’t get a single solitary photo of anything. I was too tired (okay, too lazy) to take any pictures. But it was a lovely ride, and we saw a lot of cool stuff. I guess you’ll just have to take my word on that.

I didn’t hate my father. But we were not close. In fact we hadn’t spoken in years. Today I heard that he passed away. My niece called to tell me the news. He died yesterday in the hospital after a long bout with various illnesses.

To his credit he did try to be a good father to me when I was little. I think it’s important to reflect on the first five years of my life, when my dad was making an effort. The trips to Disneyland, the camping trips in Yosemite, and showing me the constellations in the night sky. He was a musician and I remember him teaching me to listen closely to music so I could pick out each instrument and what it was playing. He even showed me algebra when I was quite small. Of course, I had no idea what it was about, but I loved watching him make the symbols and write out the formulas on paper. I’d ask him to do more, even though I didn’t understand any of it.

He played trumpet in jazz bands and orchestras. He was an an engineer and worked on the development of the Saturn rockets that powered the Apollo missions. He served in the Marines, and played in the Marine Corps band.

At the end of his life, he was apparently being a pain in the ass to everybody. But that’s how he was for most of the time I remember him, aside from those first four or five years of my life. Whatever demons were driving him.. whatever hateful feelings he may have had toward himself… he is at peace now. And I will only remember the good things about him.

Rest in peace, Dad.

We were supposed to get up and do laundry this morning, but nobody really felt like getting out of bed. The light was so nice coming in the bedroom window, and we were all so relaxed. It had rained all night, and the sound of the wind blowing the drops against the window made everything so cozy as I drifted off to sleep. I guess the feeling just stayed with me and I woke up with a serious case of cozies this morning.

So the laundry is going to wait until tomorrow morning. I had one pair of clean socks left in the drawer, so I survived.

And there was much rejoicing!

It was fun. I did the measuring and assembling. Paul did the mixing, and then I did the baking.

Afterward we ate cookies and watched Run, Fatboy, Run. This starred, and was co-written by, Simon Pegg (of Shaun of the Dead). It was not only hilarious, but also a very good story. It was a lot of fun to watch and had a happy ending. What more can you ask for when you are eating chocolate chip cookies?

I can’t wait four months for this!!!