We decompressed a lot this weekend, which is good. I’ll talk a bit more about that in a second. First let’s get in those weekend highlights.

For Maggie, it was Youngest coming over! I happened to be outside talking to Wizard when he pulled up. I waited while he backed his trailer in, and we loaded some stuff we were taking to a city drop off (where you can dispose of unwanted stuff). Once it was safe, I let Maggie out. She squealed in happiness and ran to youngest. Then a car was coming, so she had to come sit by me. She did as she was told, but added a helicopter tail of joy and lots of vocalization. Once she was released, Youngest pet her properly. It cracks me up because she was terrified of him when we first got her. Then youngest and Wizard drove off and Maggie waited by the window until they came home and we went through the entire joyful greetings again.

Wizard had a good weekend too. He did a lot of things around the house, but he’s doing fine.

My highlight was going to see Turbo! It’s been weeks and that was fine, everyone understood. Yesterday, Wizard went with another brother-in-law to handle some things, and I drove out to oldest. Daughter in law had printed some pictures for me and I got to chat with her for a moment. She was going to brunch with some friends. Oldest and I went to breakfast with Turbo, then when Oldest was distracted, Turbo and I plotted a trip to Target to buy toys and then we “made” Oldest take us (Oldest was more than willing, LOL). It was simple and fun, and Turbo talked my ear off, catching me up on his life. I loved it. After that, they went to baseball and I came home because I wanted to check on Wizard, who was fine, but I’m in protective mode and he’s very indulgent about it

Now back to why we were decompressing a bit this weekend. I can talk about they why of this now — Wizard’s younger brother had had cancer for well over six years, outliving all expectations. But he kept his diagnoses pretty private and we did all we could to respect that choice. Wizard’s brother was an amazing man who loved his family above all else. He also passionately loved sports, cars (his Shelby Mustang), music and so much more. He also suffered many injuries over his lifetime including a broken neck. The man was damn near indestructible.

But we all know cancer doesn’t care who you are, how strong you are, or what you’ve survived. It doesn’t care how many people love you. Cancer doesn’t care. But my brother-in-law fought hard, and he cherished all his good days. He has left us all the lesson to not take our days for granted.

I do want to say this as Wizard’s wife who is clearly biased Wizard was retired already when his brother got sick, and he spent every moment he could with his brother. Either taking him to doctors, treatments, visiting, running him places — it didn’t matter. They became not only brothers but best friends. There are so many other people who deserve all the credit for loving and taking care of him —  his wife, his daughter, his step daughters and a son-in-law — they were all there with him every step of the way. But what I saw on my end was Wizard’s love and determination that no matter how much it hurt later, he’d savor each moment they had at the time. I am so proud of him. So. Very. Proud.

I won’t go on and on about this. It was just weird to have something so big and important in our lives and not be able to share it. It likely sounded like I did nothing all day when I was often with him (it was 100 miles round trip to see him), or doing research (usually to enhance our understanding of things, but never to tell my brother-in-law or his wife what to do — they were in charge and we were their supporters) or trying to handle things so Wizard could be available.

So that’s our weekend, it was both sad and good, probably as it should be. We are turning our attention to being there for his wife and daughter, and also, resuming our lives as we feel ready.

How was your weekend? I really do want to know!

TGIF! It’s time to share five random things about our week. I want to hear all of yours. Mine will be a little different, you’ll see why in a sec. Please don’t take this post as sad. This is my week (the last few weeks, we’ve been focused on this below)

1. I’m sorry I didn’t answer Wednesday. I read them but…
2. Wednesday evening we lost our beloved family member. It was a blessing that he went peacefully to God and is free of suffering now. Of course we’ll grieve, but we also got the gift of time with our family member. I’m not going to say too much more right now, except that I had the honor of helping where I could in this time and I cherished every second that I could. I love Wizard’s family for trusting me to do that. To be clear there are many heroes in this story and I’m not one of them, I’m just part of a backup crew who helped where I could.
3. Maggie has been good as gold through all this. We have left her for such long blocks of time and she just accepts it, never has accidents and makes us feel welcomed and loved when we come home.
4. Though all this I made a new friend named Bailey. She’s a beautiful small dog who is afraid of strangers and she needs to build trust in her friends. We quickly became fast friends   However I have been sternly warned that I cannot steal Bailey. That seems completely unreasonable to me, but whatever :-).
5. As weird as it sounds, this week has brought so many moments of deep joys, sweet family connections and I have witnessed and felt so very much love. Of course there will be sad moments, more tears and a few more hurdles to jump, but mostly, there will be love and that is everything.

Please know, I’m sharing, not looking for sympathy. Now I very much want to hear five random things about your week. I care about all of you too. I have thought of you this week, I just haven’t been home to answer — but I should be home today!

Everyone have a safe and wonderful weekend!

Sure, once I wanted to be a good more, and bestselling author.

But now?

Well, I met this older lady over the weekend, and she was delightful. We chatted for a while, and she told me she was a vegetarian, and had been one most of her life. I commented how much easier it is now to find good options at restaurants and gatherings these days. She agreed and said: “The hippies did that for us.”

That answer was so unexpected, I splurted laughter. Also, she’s not wrong.

We chatted on with her telling me about her adult kids, and grandkids, sharing dog pics, and she kept amusing me.

And then? I found out that she’d just gone with her granddaughter a few days ago and gotten tattoo. She got two of them on her calf! She showed me the tattoo of a flower (for her daughter) and a dog (for her dog). The looked good on her!

She is a totally cool grandma.

I want to be like her with my grandkids! I don’t necessarily need a tat, but the idea of sharing experiences with my grandkids — that’s what I aspire too!

Happy Wednesday and do you have any aspirations you’d like to share?

For this weekend roundup, I’m just going to about one thing — family.

So Wizard’s brother came and we knew it’d be a whirlwind visit. That all went great. But I wondered how it’d be as we haven’t seen the brother in a few years. I had nothing to worry about. Of course, Wizard and he were fine, they talk all the time. But he and I soon fell right back into the relationship we’d always had, and it was both happy and comforting. In fact, Wizard went to bed the two nights, while brother and I stayed up and talked. Family is strong when we embrace it, and accept one another for who we are.

And secondly, our sons. Youngest is physically closest and he’s been with us off and on for three days, and doing most of the driving. Oldest came on Sunday where he was need. Middle is on a trip with his wife and we told him not to cut it short. But he did two things from his hotel that meant the world to us.

Family and friends are truly a blessing.

Also, Wizard’s brother bossing him around is priceless He’s the only one, aside from his mom, who can get away with it! Youngest and I both saw it and laughed hard. Wizard just rolled his eyes at us, then grudging did what his brother told him to do. Family dynamics are pretty hilarious to watch sometimes. Wizard is the second oldest, and the brother who stayed with us is the oldest so it all makes sense.

How was your weekend?

P.S. I may not be home much on Monday but I’ll read the comments, then answer when I can. Trust me, no one wants to read and answer I type on my phone!

TGIF! I really hope Friday is a great day for all of us (my Thursday was exhausting and a little weird.) Okay time to share five random things about our week. Here’s mine:

1. Biker Witch had a birthday!  We went to lunch on Tuesday to celebrate which was nice. Probably more for me than her because I dumped a lot of current life stuff on her :-). Seriously guys, she’s a saint for listening to me! But the next day, her daughter, who is currently living out of the country,  showed up for a surprised birthday visit. I am thrilled for my sister getting to see her daughter! It’ll be nice if I get a chance to see my niece too, but life’s moving fast at the moment, so we’ll see.
2. Wizard’s brother arrives later today (well technically it’s yesterday since you’re reading this on Friday, but I’m writing it on Thursdays). He’s been trying to get here for a while, so we’re glad he’s able to do it. It’s going to be a very quick trip to see another of their brothers and their mom, so it’s not precisely a fun trip. But I’m very glad he’s here, and it’s good for Wizard too. He’s leaving Saturday morning, so it really is a whirlwind.
3. There’s been a lot of weirdness this week, but so far, this one stole the show. I was washing  sheets and blankets for company. When I went to move the blanket from the washer to the dryer, I couldn’t hope the door. It was jammed and I could only open it maybe a quarter of an inch. I figured out the laundry basket was wedged behind the door somehow. I used a yardstick (anyone remember those??) under the door and with a bit of maneuvering, I was finally able to moved it, and we opened the door. The washer had gone off balance, moved several feet and wedged the laundry basket into the closed door. It was one of the weirdest things I’ve seen. But all worked out. Sometime in the next several days, we’ll get one of our sons over here and to help Wizard reset the legs to balance it.
4. Maggie is still waking me over and over at night. Once my brother-in-law leaves, we’re going to try to various things to see what works with her. There’s a solution and we’ll find it once we focus on it. In the meantime, I’m a zombie, but at least my timing for zombiehood is good with Halloween right around the corner
5. No idea what will happen this weekend, but we’re getting pretty good at rolling with whatever comes our way!

That’s my five, now I’d love to hear yours! I hope everyone has a good weekend!

I’m in the mood to browse a bookstore until I find a book or seven to read. But life is keeping us on the move right now, so I haven’t been able to get to one just yet.

Which brings me to my next question: Does anyone go to brick and mortar bookstores anymore?

For a long time, I mostly read on my Kindle, but lately I’ve been enjoy reading physical books. I think it’s because there are too many distractions on my Kindle, but there’s really not any distractions with I’m holding a book. Plus these days finding books that actually interest me online seems harder. Amazon is, in my opinion, pushes paid advertised books lately and buries the rest of the stock. I get annoyed trying to search for books that interest me there.

But the drawback of wanting to go to brick and mortar bookstores for me is the only ones around are Barnes and Noble, and I have to travel a fair distance to get to them. There just aren’t that many physical bookstores anymore, and of course, that’s because demand for them fell significantly.

What about you guys? Do you still hang out and enjoy browsing at bookstores? Or mostly reading on e-readers or your phone?

I took a Halloween picture of our yard, but I don’t love the way it looks so washed out in the picture, but I’ll show it anyway.

Can you spot Maggie? She’s off leash (despite all my ranting about off leash dogs, LOL) and sort of hiding. She was out there with permission, I do let her come out with us lately, but I still think it’s not the smartest idea.

Now back to the Halloween stuff. I love the witch (because my daughter in law gave it to me!), the skeleton dog and the pumpkin. They are all motion activated and very cool. The tombstones are just foam and we’ll probably toss them after this year. We just did that since we haven’t landscaped yet, so it was fun.

The drab looking doll on the end Wizard liked and picked out. I agreed because it was a joint project. She’s “Two-faced” (my name for her) with one side was blank painted black, which Wizard repainted in a hilarious way that you probably can’t see well in the pic — it’s like a child’s drawing of a doll face. Anyhow, when Two-faced is motion activated, the head spins to show her horror side. She also says creepy stuff I can’t even remember. We call the witch and two-faced “the girls” because we weird. Seriously weird.

The skeleton dog in the middle barks and growls fiercely. The pumpkin on the corner of the planter laughs and says stuff, but he’s pretty silly and no one takes him seriously.

We plan lighting but who knows if we’ll get to it around dealing with Real Life, If not, we’ll add that and more colorful decor next year.  And soon we’ll start collecting some Christmas decor. I’m going to keep going while Wizard is into it. It has been a fun distraction through Real Life stuff. For Halloween night, we’ll sit outside with candy on the drive way so little kids can bypass the scary stuff if they wish.

Otherwise the weekend came and went and now we’re in October and hopefully Fall weather is getting the memo!

So how was your weekend?