06.30.2010 Where did June go?

yep, last day of June. I'm not sure just how this happened, but I've somehow misplaced June. I can look back at my calendar and see what happened on which days, but huh...

tomorrow is July 1. July 2 is my 53rd birthday. It's going to be a very different birthday than in past years. No party, I won't even see Dan for the next 5 days so there won't be an awkward "oh should i have gotten you a present?" kind of moment, no presents to open? I will however see Sam on my birthday - and that's a gift right there!

I'm looking at it as the first birthday of the rest of my life because it'll be the first birthday in 28 years that I won't be celebrating it with Dan, and I'm starting to get into the "I'm single" mind set after being in the "I'm Married" mindset for so long. it's weird - for so long I've had to think "will Dan want to do this?" and now I can think "yep, i want to do this so i'm doing it!"

Anyway i'm going on a road trip - I've got a 4 day weekend set up = and heading out. I'll see some family and reaquaint myself with an old friend!

This old friend - Pam Lock - she was one of my BEST friends when I was a kid. I have no idea how our parents hooked up - but when we were little, the two families camped together often. She's got an older brother Paul - same age as my brother Jim. Mebbe they met up in kindergarten? i'll have to ask. anyyway -i've got lots of memories of us playing with our Barbies, spending new year's eve with them, and such. I have no idea how or why we stopped being such good friends - but i'm hoping to amend that now.

She's a math/science teacher in a small town outside of Kankakee, IL. and I found her on Facebook. I am really looking forward to seeing her again.

I really wanted meatloaf a few weeks ago - and after finding a basic recipe on the internet, and after talking to a friend about HIS meatloaf and how he makes it, I made a really yum version - I'll put in the recipe here..

YUM Meatloaf

1 lb ground turkey
1 lb ground beef
1 lb tube maple breakfast sausage

3 eggs
1/2 cup soy milk
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 big squish of ketchup
1 big squish of yellow mustard

1 chopped onion if you have it

Throw everything into a big bowl and smoooosh it all together. Spray a big glass casserole dish with Pam (or the equivalent) and then dump the mixture into it and spread it out.

Cook in a 325 oven for at least an hour - check for doneness after that...i ended up cooking it for about 80 minutes.

it's very yum - of course, with the maple sausage and the brown sugar, it's a sweeter version than your common meat loaf. And that's ok with me. My sister thought perhaps i could do away with the fat/salt content of the maple breakfast sausage if I substituted with another pound of ground turkey and some maple syrup. I might try that next time just to see.

anyway - it makes a lot of meatloaf - so i kept half in the fridge and froze the other half. Very yum!

06.01.2010 that was a fast 3 day weekend!

The house is almost ready to put on the market - clutter has been removed (to boxes, to Goodwill, to Tim's house! :) ) floors have been cleaned, walls have been painted, furniture has been moved. And the perennials are nearly ready to burst into bloom. The yard will be a sea of orange soon - which hopefully will help, not hinder, the house sale.

I guess the realtor will arrive tomorrow when I am at work, let herself into our house (which really kind of freaks me out) and STAGE the house...bringing in her stuff, arranging it throughout, and then taking pictures of all the rooms. She'll then create a VIDEO TOUR of our house and put it on their website.

Hopefully, someone will search for a 5 bedroom house with a big yard in Clayton Indiana, see the video tour, and fall in love with the HOUSE, want to buy the HOUSE...not fall in love with and want to buy her accessories.

I spent Saturday morning with Sam - he's living in a house in Terre Haute with a few friends for the summer instead of coming home, and having to work incessantly at keeping the house primed for viewing. A very wise choice on his part. I took my bike along, and we rode around Terre Haute, ending up having lunch at the Saratoga (gyros!) and then cruising along the Wabash, winding our way through some sort of festival.

I bought a bottle of Watkins vanilla - Sam bought a bottle of water.

I'm continuing on the path to being prepared for singledom again. So many of the things Dan has said that bothers him about me and our marriage, the stuff that has brought us to this point - well, his view of those things are totally opposite to MY view. Go figure. And as we ahem "discuss" these items, he sometimes understands my point of view - but that doesn't change his mind about divorce. Not that I thought it would - he's a very stubborn man. And once he decides something? It's set in stone for him. The fact that my position on some things changes from day to day drives him crazy. Too bad, says I. It's a woman's perogative to change her mind whenever she damnwell feels like it. It's awful that he is so unmovable. But then, oh well. And too bad for him.