Hello 2009

Well here we are in 2009!  We managed to make it through another year. 

We have a new President who made (long overdue) history.  We are in the middle of a recession.  *sigh*  People have lost their homes left and right.  The price of gasoline inexplicably went up and then….wonder of wonders…..went down again when people stopped driving so much.  At the end of it, we had the same old realization, that the oil companies made incredible profits by riding on the backs of the consumer.  Sad.

This past year seemed to be built on the unfortunate premise that greed at any cost is a good thing.  Hmmmm…..greed at any cost?  That seems to be an unwise choice of words, but there it is.  At the moment I don’t have the mental facility to correct myself.

On a more personal note, the year was pretty good.  Sure, we’re being hit by the recession along with everyone else, however I grew up fairly poor so I have a few tricks up my sleeve for dealing with all of this.  I’ve also been here before and I know that in the end it all gets better.  For those of you going through this for the first time, hang in there.  It’s like a kidney stone:  It hurts like hell, but it doesn’t do any permanent damage and it will pass.

MDH is doing great.  He’s moving right along on all fronts and seems to be, for the most part, happy and healthy.  He is committed to the volunteer fire department in our area and takes classes in order to be more useful to them.  Being helpful and useful is in his nature.  It is one of the things that makes him one of those people that you just want to be around.  He is getting back into Tai Chi, and will soon be smoking his pipe again.  He’s a Native American Pipe Carrier.  He’s been on a Vision Quest and everything.  That was an awesome event.  I’ll tell you about it sometime.

The Buddha and Princess Bella are doing well too.  They were both on the honor rolls last report card time.  They both got awards for perfect attendance.  Their teachers think the world of both of them.  They both love school.  The holiday vacation was hard on them.  They missed their friends and their teachers!  However, they both made out like bandits at Christmas.  The Buddha’s comment was, “We have less money than we ever had but this year I got more things I asked for than ever before!”  It didn’t hurt that he pared down his list to just three things that he really wanted. 

Rocky is doing wonderful.  My brother, Porkchop, and his daughter Tiffany came for a surprise visit right after Christmas.  She was in Heaven!  Her knee bothers her, I think because of the difference in the weather between here and Florida.  But she’s a tough cookie and never complains about anything. 

Possum is doing fantastic.  A little history for you since she doesn’t play a huge roll in this blog:  Possum is MDH’s natural daughter.  I adopted her when she was very young.  Now she’s MY daughter too.  We went to court more times than anyone ever should in order to gain custody of her and keep her safe.  We accomplished that in a very satisfactory way.  Now she is eighteen and has gone to live with her natural mother’s family.  It caused a lot of hard feelings at first for some family members.  But!  she has the right to get to know them.  We did our job, we kept her safe and secure while she was growing up.  We taught her to think for herself.  Now we have to let her do it!  Besides, if I were in her position, I would be doing the exact same thing.  She seems to be happy and healthy.  It makes me smile to think of her that way.  I miss her because she is in another town, but I’m happy that she is happy. 

Birdie, my natural daughter and Buddha and Bella’s mom, moved here from Texas a year ago.  She just told me the other day that she is moving back there now.  It makes me sad to think of her being that far away again, but to be honest we have only seen her a few times since she’s been here so for all practical purposes, it won’t be any different.  We’ll just know that she’s not nearby anymore when we think of her.  It will probably be good for her to go though, because Baby Jimmy, our youngest grand-baby, is buried there.  She won’t have to think of him being so far away all by himself anymore.  That was very hard on her.  I hope she is happy with her decision and that it works for her the way she wants it to. 

We have a whole new batch of puppies.  *sob*  Seventeen this time.  I’m taking them to Walmart and pushing them on kids like a drug dealer.  (in whispery, underhanded voice)  Pssst….Hey kid!  Wanna puppy?   I’ll dress them up in Valentine’s Day bandanas and name them all sweetheart names.  Love, Passion, Chocolate, Candy, etc.  Do you think it will work?  Lord I sure hope so!

So, a late, Happy Holidays!  I hope your New Year is better than you hope, with all kinds of interesting adventures.