Sunday, May 28, 2006

Oh, the pressure!

I've been told I must update. Umm.... what's the haps?

Yesterday went to a party at Stacey's. She's looking pretty good considering she got konked in the head with a baseball bat last Monday. Yep.

Tori and Audra were practicing their swings close to where Stacey was bending over working on fixing a piece of equipment. Somehow their positions shifted a bit and Stacey's head ended up within Tori's range. She caught it on her forehead just above her right eye. She was lucky it didn't get her in the nose or eye socket. But it did give her a concussion and a nasty shiner. She's supposed to be taking it easy but that's not her style. It's Memorial Day weekend after all.

It was a fun party. Mostly their friends from softball so there were a ton of kids there. After a great dinner we all played softball, kids against adults. They whooped us. We left not too long after the game ended. I talked to Stacey this morning and she said the party lasted until about 11:30. Long day!

Jim and I have been workiing on getting the workshop cleaned up and organized. We're s l o w l y getting things moved into the trailer. There's just way too much crap to go through. We put this off for too long. But it feels good to get things moving.

I've been practicing the uke a lot lately and I'm showing some improvement. Jim bought a pickup for it so now I'm amplified. Oh yeah! Right now it just sticks on the outside but we're going to install it permanently on the inside. I really like how it sounds. Jeff sent me some great sites that have a lot of songs and chord progressions. I've been spending a lot of time on those.

Tonight I'm going to open mike. I don't think I'll perform, though. I'll just go to listen and hang out with the Odiens. Tomorrow Stacey and Brendan are coming over. I'm going to help B make a dragon for a school project.

Ok, Kyle, how's that?

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Better now.

Nothing important happening. I just wanted to write. Jim's been bugging me to blog.

Let's see, what haven't I written about? We've all decided that the Kyle band is going to be just us four for now. That's Jim, Lindsay, Kyle and me. The other guys just weren't able to make the necessary commitment. Also, we had drummer issues. We're going to work on the songs and get them polished enough to perform. Then when we're ready we'll bring in a drummer friend of Kyle's. It'll be a bummer not having a bass player but we can deal with that.

I think I've dropped a few pounds. The jeans that were too tight to wear in January are now too loose. Happy dance.

Paige and Rory went to the prom last weekend. We had to do a lot of last minute shopping but we managed to pull everything together. Paige looked just beautiful. I'll post some photos when I can get Jim to help me. I always forget how to do it.

Dad's doing ok but he always seems to be at the edge of a freak out. As long as things are going smoothly he's fine. But he does get flustered easily and he's become more forgetful. We might be seeing the beginnings of a slide.

Jim and I have been working on cleaning out the big trailer. We're going to use it for storage and get rid of the container we've been renting. On Monday we built some shelves that will hold about 20 of those plastic flip top bins. We can start moving things in now. Drew and Mindy had some furniture stored in there, including a sofa and chair from the 60s. I think they're pretty cool looking and they said we could have them. They need to be reupholstered of course. I'm going to do some calling around and find out how much that would cost. They seem pretty solid. Jim and I sat on the sofa and it didn't fall apart. Good sign!

Moving our storage into the trailer will really help things get organized around here. Right now we can't really use the workshop because there's no room. This will be a good opportunity to get rid of some stuff. I want to do a major purge.

Friday is Kyle's 27th birthday. We're going to the Trucker show. Happy Birthday, Kyle!!!

Tuesday, May 09, 2006

Sigh...

I took Dad to the doctor this morning. I called him before we left and he suggested we take his car. I told him we couldn't because it's not insured anymore. He flipped. I told him to stop yelling at me and ended the conversation. When I picked him up he started yelling at me again. He accused me of reporting him to the DMV and "starting this whole mess". I stopped the car and wasn't going to move until he stopped yelling. I told him the doctor was the one who reported him and he said, "Oh yeah, blame the doctor! JUST DRIVE!!!" He shut up and didn't say another word until we got to the VA. We didn't talk much during the whole visit. I think he knew he blew it.

When we were waiting he kept asking me why we were there. I explained several times that he needed to get all his meds up to date and he needed to have the doc look at his toe. When we went in to see her he started going off about his car. I had to keep explaining that he couldn't get insurance because he didn't have a license. He kept yelling that "they" can't keep him from owning a car. We went in circles with that one for a while. She asked about the anxiety medication that she had prescribed before Christmas. We never gave it to him because it had some nasty side effects and the problem went away on its own because the stresses of the Christmas season ended with the tree sales. He smirked and said, "Oh, there was no stress at Christmas!" (I can hear you all now. You're saying waWAWHAT??????) Dr. Griffin kept looking at me like she knew exactly what I was talking about.

After we left her office we went upstairs to the lab. Dad didn't have any current blood work and they needed it to renew his prescriptions. Then we came home, still not talking.

I was talking to David the junk guy the other day. He said that Dad again asked him if he knew anything about where his big trucks went. These trucks had been stored out in the junk yard and most of their essential working parts had been stolen. They were pretty much worthless. The pink slips were signed and turned over to David and he cut them up for scrap. We've told Dad this many, many times. Anyway, he asked David about them and David said he didn't know anything about it. If he had told Dad the truth he would have gone off. Dad said, "Well, my daughter must have given them to someone."

This is the pattern. Any time Dad doesn't have an answer for something he thinks I did it. I'm the one who reported him to the DMV, I'm the one who got rid of his trucks, I'm the one who told Ruth and Molly that he has AD (he did!), I'm the one who took all his medication (they were in his medicine cabinet). I hear this kind of thing over and over again.

I swear he's slipping again. Things were stable for a while but now it's pretty noticeable that he's not doing as well as he had been. There are some goofy times ahead.

Monday, May 08, 2006

Work to do

Yesterday's performance was..... not good.

Lots of reasons for that. We didn't get to rehearse on Thursday. Trying to do unfamiliar material without rehearsing is a big mistake. Some of Kyle's songs we did ok on. Some we butchered. Also, this bar was NOT the right scene for Kyle's material. The audience was waaaay too old. They did enjoy the Casual Sunday stuff. We're pretty sure we'll be playing Worthington's again. It just won't be the place for the Kyle show.

It's a teeeeny bar. We were totally squished in. A couple times Ken had to move aside to let people in the front door. Ken had the levels set high for the sound check and didn't turn them down again. We started out loud and we stayed loud and I HATE that. I used ear plugs for most of the day.

After the show I wanted to get the hell out of there. I felt bad that Kyle's songs didn't go well. I was wrong to have set my expectations so high. Jim, Lindsay, Kyle and I went to Marie Callender's afterward for comfort food (pie). By the way, I highly recommend the quiche and salad combo. Ham and broccoli quiche with a Waldorf salad and a spinach salad with candied pecans. It put me in my happy place.

Anyway, after a hot bath last night (good for mulling things over) and talking about it with Jim and Ken and the kiddos I think we all feel better. There may be a personnel shift and some instrument swapping and there certainly will be more rehearsing and studying. Also, we want the rest of the band to go see some L.A. shows so they'll see what we're aiming for. We gotta tighten this baby up fer sherr.

On Saturday we went to the Trucker show. Good golly, that was fun! T-Bones was there this time and he was a total hoot. And the Trucker was more naked than he was the first two times I saw him. But he held that guitar firm and he never turned around. Dang-o-rama. Afterward we all went out to the House Of Pie. Andy, the drummer, sat with us. He said he had Gruber's "junk" in his face the whole night. He now calls him "Dimples". Nuff said.

Today I am goofing off. I'll get dressed in a little while and go walk the Rube. I need it. I had pie two nights in a row.

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

Stuff

No real news. I'm blogging just cuz.

Just got back from walking the Rube and I be pooped. I don't understand why some days are easier than others. Yesterday I zoomed up, today it was hard. Oh well.

We're still dealing with Timio residue. It's going to be that way for a while. Today David the junk guy found some cockatiels in a cage that were left behind. Are thy coming back for them? We don't know. They had water but all the food had been eaten and there was nothing left but empty seed hulls. The cage is this weird home-built thing that looks like it's never been cleaned. I gave them some wild bird seed that I had. David says he has an aviary at home so he's going to take them.

I called the guy who owns the cement truck that's been parked out in the junk yard for a year. He came over to check it out. It's been geting vandalized and parts have been stolen. He's going to bring a battery for it and fix the tires so he can get it out of here. He also says he paid Dad for the back rent. I dunno. He seems like a nice guy, maybe he did.

Scotty said our realtor is going to put a sign up to advertise the property. It's funny but that bit of news gave me a little emotional jolt. I don't think I'll like seeing a For Sale sign hanging on the fence. But I'll get over it.

Let's see... Friday we're going to see Ramona's production of Once Upon A Mattress. Paige is playing in the band. Saturday we're going to see Naked Trucker and T-Bones. There might be a band practice in there somewhere. We might be playing at Jessica's bar on the 7th or the 14th. It'll be the first time in a looong time that Casual Sunday has performed. And it will be the first time we perform all the Kyle songs we know. Yeah, baby! We're gittin' a show together!

That's about it, I think. Next, a hot bath. My feet hurt.