We may be going to a kid's birthday party today. Still haven't heard from anyone about a time. Its a bit of a drive so it would be nice to know. It's almost 4:30, getting kind of late. I don't know why the ex doesn't phone and find out. He isn't keen on going but its a place to get out and have free conversation and food. Birthday cake too. Besides, each time I have seen this kid at a party she has managed to dive into the cake, pretty funny. She is only 2. It's the ex husband's family so it isn't likely I will see any of them again after I move.

I used to have dozens of pen pals. That was a long time ago. These days I can't keep up with anyone's life, barely even my own.

Today I'm looking over the pen pal letters. I've kept them all in a bag. Most are from the 80's. I tried to get postcards from my pen pals so I could see how things looked where they were. Some would send coins too, just local currency. It cost more for the stamps to send them than the coins were worth.

As I'm going through the letters I've been pulling the stamps off all the envelopes. I have never been a stamp collector. My Dad has a stamp collection that's been in limbo for at least 30 years. But someday I might find someone to donate all these stamps too. I doubt any are really valuable but someone might as well have them. It seems a shame to just toss them all out. I am keeping all my postcards and coins though. I don't have a good place to put them and now that I'm packing its all just one more job and one more box. But, I'm not ready to toss them this move at least.

I considered starting pen paling again a few months ago. But even the couple I found interesting I never wrote back to more than once. I have plenty of nice stationery left over from the last bout of letter writing. I just don't have anything settled right now and I do need to get some kind of focus back, a routine would probably be a good thing too.

It sounds like my Mom will drive down on Monday. I hope so. Things are not bad here but not good either. I'm definitely ready to leave and work on whatever comes next. I'm really looking forward to seeing Zack, my nephew.

Anyway, this is enough blabbling for now. I was looking at college courses online but they are too far away, too expensive or too many hours (months, years). Maybe I will find something yet. All I really want is some clue about CGI, Perl and CSS.

"If my doctor told me I had only six months to live, I wouldn't brood. I'd type a little faster." Isaac Asimov

I'm having a coffee problem today. This morning Todd drank all the milk and finished the last of my coffee cream. So, when I made coffee this morning there was a lovely pot of steaming coffee but no milk to put into it. I just can't drink it black. So, there is a whole lovely pot of coffee now cold on the kitchen counter. I managed to gag down some oatmeal without milk but it was like eating rubber. One good thing in the coffee situation was that new Starbucks double shot which Todd brought home from Pepsi last night. I had forgotten about it in the fridge so I had that for coffee this morning. Its ok, I still would have liked a hot coffee to sit beside me while I work and be stone cold by the time I'm way finished it. Some day I will get smarter about the coffee idea and use a smaller cup. I don't really like stone cold coffee.

Found in a blog:

We work in the dark We do what we can We give what we have Our doubt is our passion, and our passion is our task The rest is the madness of art.

-- Henry James

The latest news on the move is that I might be there by July. It's frustrating to rely on someone else. They keep changing plans, each time I think I will be home in Ontario everything changes. At least there is really nothing keeping me in the US now. I don't see how they could pull any more paperwork on us. The immigration stuff is past us now that we aren't staying together and I have no desire to stay in the US.

So, its a wait and see and try to procrastinate less on the whole packing thing. Isn't it amazing how much stuff you have when you need to pack it all up and move it?

I'd like to find a new template for the blog. One that underlines the links. I may just see if I can find out where in the coding that is and what I need to change. If I knew I would be here in Illinois till the end of the week or next week I would order a book through Amazon and get it sent here. But, I can do that when I'm in Ontario. I just need to be patient.

Taking a course would be great too. I still haven't looked to see what is in my area there. Or at least the area I will be in if I spend time with my parents. I just hope I don't stay there too long. It's too easy to settle in and stop really trying to do more on my own. Not that I'm a wimp, I just get tired of the fight when I never seem to end up winning.

Well, there was an earthquake in this area today. I actually felt some of it. Kind of interesting to have seen and heard it. Todd and I were joking that all I need now is the tornado to fulfill my Yankee experience. I would like to see one, real. But I don't want to be too close. The earthquake was quite far away but I still felt some of it. At the time I thought, the landlord was on the roof stomping around. It was strange though cause when it started I thought someone was in the room with me and it started on one side of the building. I could hear the building move I guess. But I also saw things shaking inside the apartment. No damage. Things weren't in danger of falling off shelves or anything that dramatic.

An Irish Blessing

May love and laughter light your days and warm your heart and home, May good and faithful friends be yours wherever you may roam, May peace and plenty bless your world with joy that long endures, May all life's passing seasons bring the best to you and yours.

The divorce is all but done. We have a couple of weeks to wait for it to be final, just the tail end of six months of being separated. On July 2nd, between Canada Day on July 1st and America Day on July 4th, I will be legally divorced.

We went out driving today. I thought to go to Frankfurt since that was where we started and had some nice times together. We did drive through there but decided to go to Benton instead. Todd treated for a lunch out at the buffet. We did a little shopping and wandered on our way back. We impulsively stopped off for movie rentals. So far we watched the latest Musketeers movie. It was ok, not making it into the best though.

Nair didn't work all that well. Although it got rid of most of the hair it left me patchy so I used a razor after the shower to get rid of the patches of hair. Maybe I didn't put it on thick enough. I'd be willing to try it again. I still have more than half the bottle left I think. It does smell a little strong, not unbearable and it is nice for leaving my legs softer feeling. The razor usually leaves me scratchy feeling. Also, I did have an easier time just showering it off than I do when I try to use the gel and razor in the shower.

I would like to know what effect it has on your fingernails if you use it for a long time. Since you are spreading it by hand a lot of it gets on and around your fingernails.

I'm not a big hair removal fan. I only shave my legs if I have to. But last week I saw some thing in WalMart which is supposed to remove hair without shaving, ripping or melting my skin either. It's Nair 3 in 1. So I'm going to give it a try today. The plan was to use it just on my calves but now that hair that grows under my belly button is looking like a good place to get rid of some hair too.

Yesterday we went to the farmers market in Carbondale. I bought 2 packages of Mennonite cookies (molasses and sour cream) and this morning I finished the last of them. I hope I can work off some of these cookies this summer when I'm at the pool.