the tall and sloping R dwarfing the other letters

Mom called me Friday evening, wanting to know where Adam was (she has to know where he is at all times). She says that he's not answering his phone and she can't get up and look for him because she threw her back out and can't get out of bed. I'm pissed (why is she calling me? how should I know where he is?) but offer to drive over and see if he's walking up and down the street, which he usually does at night. Mom snaps, "Oh, don't even trouble yourself. Just do whatever the hell you want," and hangs up on me.

About an hour later, Mom calls me again. She's lying in bed, with debilitating back pain, can't find Ben or Adam, and needs me to go buy her some wine, which apparently is the only thing that can ease her pain. I'm tempted to say, "Sorry, but I don't trouble myself, I only do whatever the hell I want," or "Oh, yeah, where are your precious sons now?" or "Remember that time in 2007 when I had asthma so bad I couldn't even talk and Sara asked you what she should do and you yelled at her?" But instead I just go out and buy her the damn wine.

On Saturday I did my laundry and visited Grandma (who was having Aunts Bello and Sis over for lunch; they were like some crazy old Cajun ladies club). It was supposed to be my day off, but Nice Manager called me and all but got down on her knees and begged me to come in that evening, because the mid and closing workers for the front end had both called in sick. So I figured what the hell and worked close. One of my co-workers bought me this awesome French-themed photo frame magnet to thank me for coming in. 

Today Sara and I cooked ourselves a delicious breakfast of biscuits, bacon, and scramb. Then we visited CJ & Company, bounced on their trampoline, played with their puppies, ate their brownies, and altogether had an awesome time. Oh, and on Friday afternoon, I went to a garage sale down the block and three shirts for only a dollar. One of them I really like and am wearing now.

I almost went beserk on Monday morning when I'd thought I'd lost my iPod (which I've had for about two years now). I left it in the bathroom at work on Sunday evening, so I was at the store the minute we opened on Monday to search for it... only to discover that it wasn't where I was so sure I'd left it. I ranted and raved for a while, thinking a customer had stolen it, and then I discovered that one of my co-workers had picked it up, put it in his pocket, and took it home. Wtf? He said he meant to put it in our lost and found but it was so light he forgot he had it in his pocket.

I went to McDonald's for breakfast on Monday morning. Has anyone else seen those Jack in the Box commercials about how they serve breakfast all day and McDonald's doesn't? I really hope that will prompt McDonald's to start serving breakfast all day because I love their breakfast menu so much, but I can almost never wake up early enough to get to it. I could eat their hotcake platter every damn day. (And every time I'd probably say, "Do you want the pecan waffles with lots and lots of syrup and butter?" a la Corrina, Corrina.)

Yesterday I finally took Eva to the water park! I was so worried that it would rain. It did drizzle a little on the drive there, and when we first got there, it was so cloudy and windy that I got cold when I wasn't in the water. But then the sun came out, and even stayed out for long enough for me to get a sunburn! It actually felt good, because it's been raining so damn much here. (It rained most today, in point of fact.) The water park was small, with only two slides, but we had fun. At one point I was trying to pull Eva out of the current pool, which had a pretty strong current in it, and started singing the Baywatch theme song.

After the water park, we went to McDonald's for lunch and then we saw the new Harry Potter movie. It worked out perfectly, because as soon as we left the water park, very dark clouds started rolling in, but the thunderstorm didn't start until we were inside the movie theater, and it was all over by the time we got out.

I'd write more about the movie, but I have a dog to walk and dishes to wash and things to clean. But I will say that this weekend, Mom, Adam, and I are going to Houston, and I'm going to the cemetery there to find Roger's grave. This time there is no hesitation, no dread about going to Houston at all, just excitement because I'm finally going to find his grave. I'm can't fucking wait. Alas, foolish Rebecca!

The new girl at work, the one I complained about in my last entry, is gone for good. I practically jumped for joy when my manager told me she was leaving. Words can't say how creepy she was or how uncomfortable she made me. She followed me around, told me all her personal business and asked me about mine (I never answered), and told other employees that we were best friends. The hell? I barely even knew her for a month. I am so glad she's gone.

I had an awesome day yesterday. There was a neighborhood-wide garage sale, and Sable and I walked around the blocks and looked at some of them. Then I rode my bike over to Grandma's house, brought her back the salsa I stole when she was in Alabama last week, and visited with a lot of relatives. Then Aunt Carla treated me and Athena to a movie (Star Trek) and pizza. I don't usually like popcorn movies, and I've never watched the original Star Trek (only TNG), but I enjoyed it. Spock was awesome! His rhythmic speech patterns and lack of emotions reminded me of Data.

Later that evening Athena came over to our apartment and we all watched Return to Oz, which she hadn't seen since she was a little kid. That's one movie I will never get tired of watching. Every time I see it, I'm amazed at how good it is and how good Fairuza Balk is in it. Especially the scenes in Kansas, before Dorothy goes back to Oz -- everything is so well-shot, and the scenes in the hospital are so suspenseful, and the way Fairuza moves her hands -- it's like poetry.

Today I had planned to go to the library and look up some obituaries for Find-a-Grave, but it's raining awfully hard right now and our street has turned into a dangerous river. I feel like Piglet when he was stranded in his treehouse during the flood. "Help, P-P-P-P-Piglet, me!"

Things I love about the weekends/days off: Being lazy. Going barefoot. Riding my bike. Making YouTube videos. Wearing my oldest, comfiest t-shirt and jeans. Taking Sable on long walks. I always take him on a short walk before I leave for work and on my lunch breaks, but I feel bad pulling on him and making him hurry. So whenever I can, I take him on a long-as-you-like walk, and afterwards we sit in the sun and he rolls around in the grass while I read a book. I just started the children's classic A Little Princess -- about time, given how often I've seen the two movies. After I finish I want to try to watch both of them, one after the other.

Daylight Savings Time is here! I hate having to get up an hour earlier, but I love having more time to ride my bike. And I certainly appreciated having a longer day today, because Athena and I went over to her mom's house this afternoon, and I got to spend a lot of time playing on the swingset and the trampoline with Eva. That girl is a hoot, and I absolutely love their swingset.

I've always loved swinging. I basically grew up on a swingset. We had a rickety metal one, then a rickety wooden one. I was a tall kid, and neither one was good enough for an intense swinger like me. I know because the chains on my swings kept breaking. In fact they broke so many times over the years that I lost count. Sometimes I went flying off, and sometimes I just plopped down in the dirt. Twice when the chains broke one of my fingernails was ripped completely off, but I bit my nails so much as a kid that it was hard to tell. I love the wind in your face when you're swinging, the way the sky rushes down at you, and being able to see the rooves of houses.

Just now I realized that I forgot to ask to borrow their DVD of Pan's Labyrinth while I was over there.

Oh yeah, and I finally have a job. I started on Monday, but I didn't post the news sooner because I was worried it might not work out for some reason, and I didn't want to broadcast that I had a job before I was absolutely sure. But now that I've worked there all this week and have a schedule for next week, I'd say it's pretty certain. It's part-time and it's not my dream job (of course I'm still not sure what my dream job would be, unless I could get paid for making YouTube videos) but I'm happy with it. I'm sure I can survive on a part-time salary; my sister says I'm cheap, but I like to say that I live within my means.

Yesterday was surprisingly chilly for October in southern Louisiana. It was the first time I'd really been cold since I left France. It bothered me because the heating at my mom's house isn't working (or so Adam says) and my poor Sable was shivering. I threw his blanket into the dryer to warm it up, which helped a little. Mom is coming back from North Carolina tomorrow, and I'm worried because Adam is going to live with there, and Sable will be joining us in our apartment. I'm sure he'll be happy here, but our apartment's very different from the house where he's lived all his life, and he's a very old dog. I went back to the house today and cleaned my old room and bathroom and shoved everything I left there in a closet, because Mom will not be happy if she sees any signs of me.

Sara and I were both off today, so we visited CJ & Co. They just got a brand-new trampoline in their backyard, and I spent at least an hour jumping around with Eva and her friend. I got a few bruises, but boy was it fun. And afterwards we ate dinner out with Athena. I had buffalo wings and blue cheese sauce -- yum!