The first of the bags of clothes left my parents house this week. I lived through it. I am still overwhelmed by the stuff, but the first little piece is gone.
Make sure your funeral plans are set in stone, if you care what happens to you. Do whatever legal forms are necessary, and don't rely on common sense. In a litigious society like ours, there are a myriad of rules and regulations that have been put in place to "safeguard" us. But those rules are really places where you can trip up and get exactly what you don't want. Because of a stupid law meant to protect us, our family is having to do exactly what my dad DIDN'T want to have done after his death. I'll say more about this later, but it is a heart-rending situation causing a lot of anguish all around. Bleah.
Moral of the story? If you have any complications in your life, make sure your prepay your funeral and make your arrangements ahead of time. If you live in Texas, you need to pay for the WHOLE THING, not just part, or your wishes can be set aside. Don't do this to your remaining kids. Take care of it before you go.
Swine flu apparently runs rampant here in Tarrant County, with 4 confirmed cases in Fort Worth and 12 more being monitored. This has led to the closure of the entire school district in Fort Worth, and cancellation of Mayfest, Cinco de Mayo, and a bunch of other stuff. I talked to a friend who thought this was a good idea--"to keep kids from coughing on each other".
Well, maybe. But then i asked, "Won't they just cough on each other at day care?" She looked at me like I had two heads. "They shouldn't BE in day care! The day cares should close immediately!"
I wonder what world she lives in. Oh, yeah, I forgot. She is a college professor.
Maybe she can miss a day (or a week! or more!) off work. Can the lady who is a maid at the Quality Inn miss a week?
And the health department is stunned, absolutely stunned that children would be congregating at the mall while school is out. Are they considering ordering the closing of the malls? What about the baseball stadium? What about the museums? What about the libraries?
Well, did they REALLY think they would stay at home and not GO anywhere?
Perhaps it would have been better to have them in school where you could sanitize everything, have them wash their hands and use sanitizer often, and SEND HOME THE SICK KIDS. Maybe even close schools on a case by case basis.
But to send 88,000 kids home--what did you think would happen?
It's a difficult situation. Wrong if you do, wrong if you don't.
But I wonder about this precedent. 36,000 people die every year from seasonal flu and flu related causes. Will we shut down the schools every flu season? How will this work?
I'm not a scientist, but I get the whole "this flu might be really different" theory. But per our doctor (PapaC happened to have his annual check up on Monday), it responds to current antiviral flu medications (Tamiflu and something else), and the death rates as reported so far are not a great as the last regular flu was.
You know what I think it is? We are just crisis'ed out. This crisis was the proverbial straw. And it was one that we thought we could do something about. So boy, we have.
I started a really cute baby afghan last night, but it starts with "crochet 88 squares". I crocheted for a couple of hours and I have 8 squares done. This is going to take a long time. Should I rethink this project?
I have to go buy a wedding present for an older bride and groom today. What can I get someone who already has everything they need for a house? Younger couples are so much easier. Do I get really good wine? Do I get a certificate for a swanky restaurant? It just seems so un-weddingy!
PapaC is addicted to the television show Burn Notice. Last night when I was finishing up the last square for the evening, I flipped the channel on the TV, and there was a rerun of Burn Notice--he stopped dead in his tracks, "OH!" And that was all she wrote.
It apparently doesn't even matter how many times he's seen them before.
Kind of like me and Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
Can I tell you how much I hate school projects? McKid's last one is due on May 11. She has to make a display of dolphins in their habitat--no larger than shoebox size.
I have to go to Michael's to get clay for dolphin sculpting today.
Honestly, I don't think she learns much from this, other than how to push MamaT's buttons.
"Please can we put glitter paint on the dolphins? They would look AWESOME!"
Sigh.
And that's 7 things for today!
