Massive Update... Massively Massive

First things first - so far, I am pretty calm about the husband losing his job. Check back in a month or so when the money starts running low - then I might be popping Xanax - assuming of course he doesn't get a newer shinier happier job before then.

Now for catch up time. The Friday before the 4th, I went to see Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... And Spring with segansca. I am not sure I can accurately summize this movie. It is a deeply Buddhist story, with layers upon layers of subtext, some of which, I know was lost on my lack of understanding of Korean culture and Buddhist philosophy. ( Some things I noticed/questions: [Warning: Spoilers] )

It was in any case, a very enjoyable film, but I wouldn't recommend it to people that either don't like subtitles, or prefer no deeper meanings to their films. :)

Then I went down to Columbus to spend the forth of July weekend with my family. As most of you should know by now, my Dad is not in the best of health. Nothing has really changed in that - and he's doing things that I consider... odd, unless you aren't planning on being around much longer. For instance, at one point over the weekend, my Mother was asking me if there was anything I wanted, jewelry wise. For those of you that don't know, I wear almost no jewelry at all and I haven't ever really been a jewelry fiend. I wear earrings constantly, but they are small and subtle and there to ensure I don't have to get them repierced in the future. I thanked her but said, no there wasn't really anything. She persisted, wouldn't I like a gold necklace, or some diamonds? No, I assured her, those things didn't mean anything to me. It turned out that my Father wants to get me "something that I will have forever to remind me of him". I told him I would think about it, mostly to make him feel better, and decided I would try to think of something that wouldn't be a waste of money that I might wear once and a while, to make him happy. But, that was the reason I went out and bought the digital camera. I had been planning on getting one before Dragon*Con anyway, and decided I wanted to have one to take pictures of my family while they were all around for me to do so. I will post some of the pictures soon. It's strange to me how distant my family is - there aren't any pictures (yet) of people sitting around together, most of the pictures are of individuals.

My Mom has been talking about remodelling her kitchen for a long time. She's finally decided to do it. This is a good thing as her kitchen is still pink and gold, the floor is peeling up, and she has avacodo green appliances still. So, I spent most of the weekend taking measurements, because she put me in charge of drawing up the plans for either Lowe's or Home Depot of what she wants. This isn't really all that hard, as I use to do mechanical drawings for a living - but it is a lot of work. Fortunately, she decided to go ahead and get her new refridgerator in the next week or so. The problem has been that the cabinets in her kitchen are really low, and she couldn't get what is now considered a standard size side by side now. (Her house is 50 or 60 years old). So, the husband and I looked at the cabinet and decided it could be taken down - this means we got to demolish part of the kitchen. It was way more fun that it should have been, heh. But now she can get a new fridge (her's is 36 years old, and avacado green, with wooden planks and string holding it together).

Speaking of old things, we also went out and got her and Dad a new bed. Their bed was the one they bought when they bought the house (just like the fridge). It was literally caved in and parts of it were only about 4 inches off the floor. My brother, husband and I went to Sam's and got her one of the king size Serta's with the pillow tops (which is has on both sides in case you want to flip it, but it says you never have to). We got a new frame and it came with new box springs. Once the bed was put together, it was much higher than the old one - but once mom and dad got use to it, they decided it was better because it was easy to make up and with both of them having arthritis, it's much easier to get out of bed. My Dad is 6'3" and when he sits on the side his feet don't touch the floor. So getting out of bed is just a matter of putting your feet over the side and sliding out. Plus it's (apparently, according to them) a thousand times more comfortable than their old one. I know - what a shock.

During all the moving of things here and there to get the new bed in, my brother and I engaged in some nostalgia. We found a box of mom's old costume jewelry. It was full of stuff that when we were kids we would play with when no one was looking. In going thru stuff, Mom came back to the bedroom and pulled out some things and was trying to get me to take things - I am not sure why she does this, it's just something she does. In any case, she found what looks like a silverish colored wedding band, very plain, not tarnished. I asked her and Dad about it, and it turns out that it was something my Dad had made during metalworking class in 10th grade, 50 years ago. I asked Dad if I could have it, and he said yes, so I told him I had what I wanted to remember him. He and my mom both insisted it wasn't worth anything, since it was only made out of stainless steel - but it means more to me than anything my Dad could ever buy for me. So, he's happy and so am I.

We came back, and I have been pretty busy with D*C since I got home. I did manage to make it out to Border Pagans on Tuesday evening, but only to the diner, and then not very late since I had to go to work on Wednesday morning. We have a staff meeting on Saturday which I am really not prepared for, and I have so much stuff to do with all of it that I can't even figure out what I could give to other people. The husband and I were suppose to look at my list over the weekend and sort it out, but with all the errands for my parents, we never got around to it. Hopefully, I can look at it tonight.

I am still sick too. Wednesday evening I was feeling really nauseous (even before I found out astralfire was getting laid off. Sometime Thursday morning (around 4am), I woke up past nausea to being tossing my cookies sick. Spent all day that way, and started getting a fever. Now, I have a fever, a headache, and apparently I swallowed a frog. If the fever leaves, I will be at the meeting tomorrow, if not, I am keeping the plague to myself and staying home.

Last but not least, I finally got to see The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra. Now, admittedly, I am a huge fan of all the old B&W B Sci-fi/Horror flicks from the 50s. If you like them, you appreciate their cheesy goodness, then you will love this film. If you "don't get them", or think they are "stupid", avoid this film like the plague. Personally, I haven't laughed so hard in a long while. ( Favorite quotes from the film: [Warning: Spoilers] )

Don't miss the new "skeletarama!", the erotic seductiveness that is Animala, or the climactic battle between the Mutant and the Lost Skeleton! It will STERILIZE you with fear!