One other note, I am planning on starting another blog. I think I might have mentioned it before. I will say more about it when I get around to it. Something that is more about me, if you can imagine a thing that is more about me than this blog. What I plan on doing is making this what it was meant to be, about the kids and us, and the other blog more about things I would like to say or comment on or just ramble on about and not worry about keeping a kids perspective on it. I know, this blog generally degenerates into me complaining about this or that and talking about my problems and I feel bad about it. I end up not saying all I want to say.
So expect it when I get around to it. I won't advertise it and will try not to even mention it on here, only to announce I have started it. It is more of a forum for me to vent or comment on things and not ment for public consumption. Now on with the show.
You know, I decided I should not even mention it in this blog. Not appropriate I think, so ignore the previous paragraphs in case I have trouble finding the delete button. Which happens more often that you think it would. Good thing I go back and re-read these things because I wouldn't want some of the things I type to get out. Family secrets and all. I don't want people to know where all the skeletons are buried.
Now I know you are all wondering what it is I leave out. Who am I kidding, no one is wondering about anything since I am the only one who reads it. Maeghan and Juanita were surprised I was still writing it when I mentioned something I had said before. They said they thought I had stopped years ago and did not even know the address anymore. I said I did stop and I was just remembering something I wrote 10 years ago. They seemed satisfied with that answer so I wouldn't expect there to be a jump in readings any time soon. I do think that if I were to be more consistent in writing this, I would get a better following but I don't really care. I used to get 20 or thirty views on each entry but that was a long, long time ago and the ones I have written haphazardly these past few years don't really get seen by anyone. I know, there is one person who consistently reads them but I don't want to mention names in here. I do appreciate it but I cannot for the life of me explain why you do it. I know I am not that interesting and our life here, while possibly fascinating to the people here or to family, it might be a dull read for anyone else. Even though I do keep people in stitches with my clever repertoire. It's a gift. Probably due to a lack of proper education. It's easy when you really don't know how to read or write. Just start typing and words come out. Doesn't have to make sense because I know what it is I meant to say and I laugh and laugh and laugh. Wish you were here to enjoy it.
Christmas is almost here. Two more days. I am not sure how it will go. Normally, we have all the family over but most of them are having problems and they say they are not coming. Don't know what that means. It could be they lied and are coming anyway or it could mean we are going to be on our own. Hard to plan dinner that way.
Leslie already lives with us so he will be here. Shayla was here the past couple of days and will not be back for Christmas. That is an interesting story but I don't know the details so I can't say why she is not coming. She lives with another family, not Angela or with us. I have no idea how those arrangements came to be but it was before we got back to the mainland so I am sure there was some kind of fallout with it. She is going to be with the family she lives with. Angela was kicked out of her house by the owner. Another long story but since she lies about it, we are not sure what the real reason was or is. She was living with her boyfriend at his brother's house and the brother kicked them all out. Since the boyfriend is not mobile, both legs amputated recently and I will not go into that, she had to leave and he is awaiting a room at a nursing home or something. Angela says she will and then says she won't be coming. If she does, she will bring Jarvis, the other grandson. If not, who knows.
Anna is not heard from. Messages to her go unanswered so we are not sure what she is doing. I think she is living with the former father to her baby but I am not really sure about that. I know she works in the city and commutes there but other than that, her plans are unknown. She might show up but I have my doubts. Adam, the former son in law, was here yesterday and he is in town. No place to live, so he sleeps in his car. I do not know what the plans are there. He is invited also but I do not know if he said yes or not. He just got back into town from NSW and his sister. He used to live here on an island but that is an expensive proposition so I think he was forced to move for monetary reasons. Now that he is back, no idea what his plans are.
Of course, Maeghan and William are here. I hate thinking about the day when we have to invite them over for Christmas. I am hoping not to live that long but then that would be a burden on them so I stay around to keep them entertained. Ten years is not that long and that is my goal to stay around until they are settled into their lives. Going to be hard for them with all that they are facing but let's not get into where that might be going, or at least not now. I would like the opportunity to live in a smaller place where we do not have to pay so much rent and there is only Juanita and I, but we will probably not like that very much so it is a good thing we have the kids around. Not sure if or when that will ever happen but it would make life simpler. Right now, we support Leslie with no compensation. Maeghan pays some rent out of her money but I would rather she did not have to. William is about to start getting his own money and he says he wants to help us all he can but I think once he gets money in his pocket, he will find other uses for it. I want him to have it but he is not good with money at all. He will spend it as fast as he gets it. He always has and it is going to be very hard for him to learn how to save. His mother has no concept of saving money so that doesn't help. If she does start reading this, I am in trouble for saying that.
No other family around. They are all in Tasmania or moved far north from us. Used to have other family an hour or so away but they moved last year and it's too far for us to travel unless I am taking time off, and we certainly cannot afford to do that.
Money is a real problem for us around Christmas. It seems a lot of things come due over the holidays so I have to spend every dollar I make on other things. I get ahead during the year but then December hits and it all goes away and I have to start over. Doesn't help that most of the work goes away at the same time and we have to live on a pension until it picks back up. Speaking of which, I think I have mentioned it but I am applying for my Social Security out of America. Long story, but the closest office is in Manilla. No office in Australia. No idea why. So everything I do is via email and they take forever to answer email so that is going to be and is a slow process. I am not sure how it will all work. I do know that any money I get from that takes away from what I get from Australia so it will probably be a wash as to the total amount. I just want to last it out until I get my Super here.
Super is sort of the equivalent to a 401k in America. You put into it while working and your company puts in a certain amount at the same time. You get it when you retire. I think I have described it in the past but to fully get the entire amount, you have to wait until you are 67 to access it and there are very specific rules about how and when you can do that. It is all mine and not subject to any other income you might have. The social security equivalent here is your pension. That is subject to your income and if I am getting it from America, it takes away from the Australia one. Probably not enough to live on but it will be if it is only Juanita and I it is supporting. Juanita has nothing and will lose what money she gets now as soon as the kids move out, so we will be totally supported by me. If I die, she gets everything, including my Social Security and my Super so that is not a worry, except the dying part.
Back to the kids, see what I mean, why create another one, but moving on.
Maeghan didn't do well with her show. She only sold a couple of things. Not nearly enough to cover the expense of getting the spot at the show. But, she did sell some of the new things she has created, so that is encouraging. I made her make some dragons, really last minute ones so they were not perfect, but once again, all the kids wanted one and she actually sold a couple. She also sold one of her knitted frogs, which take a while to make but are cheap so it is all profit. I told her it gives her an idea of what to make in the future. Just make more of the things that sell and then add a couple of other things for variety. Most of the time, at other shows, she has sold some of her drawings. She didn't sell any thing time but she had people ask about them. It was really hot and people were not lingering for long. The Christmas show is like that. Since it is so hot here, you get a lot of traffic but people do not linger to look things over, especially if you are in the sun and this time, her booth was in direct sunlight. I could not take it and moved to the other side of the van, which was in the shade. Plus the breeze was coming from that side so I would say it was about 10 degrees cooler over there than at the front of her spot. It was really hot and they had to keep taking turns sitting in the sun watching things and going to the back where I was.
We took William and Leslie with us. A mistake as they did not have want to be there and while they did not complain about it, since I could not around to all the sites and buy them things, they just sat there and played their phones. William was a big help in unpacking the awning and putting it back up. Since it is attached to the van, it is hard to reach up there and get it undone and then re-rolled back up. Since he is so damn tall, he could reach it easy and fortunately, it did not hang or anything so he was able to role it back up and zip it back in without too much drama. Leslie means well but mostly just gets in the way. He tries to do everything and make it so I don't do anything, including pushing me out of the way but I am pretty insistent and don't have the patience in the heat to wait for him to figure it out, so I take over pretty quickly so we can get going. Things like pegging the awning down and putting in the supports. Not hard tasks but if you do not do them right the first time, it is hard to fix it after the fact. But he means well and is willing to do anything to help.
Maeghan seemed happy with the results. Juanita did put a bunch of things in with hers to sell and she was not happy with that. I can understand her reasoning, hard to build a brand when you are selling things like it is a flee market. But to Juanita's defence, it is a flee market so having a mixture of things for sale is the norm. But still, she has all hand made stuff of supposedly high quality and it is sitting next to some old junk that we are trying to get rid of. In the heat, no one is going to spend the time looking at the difference. They either see her stuff and ignore the other or they see the other and ignore the whole thing. If it comes to it, I will pay for two sites next time and they can be separate. Juanita always has stuff to sell and Maeghan can set hers up as a more upscale market item.
I have spent all morning writing this. Haven't done any work except when someone came in to ask me to come look at something. That happened a few times but I am sure you can hardly tell from reading this. The same old rambling, incoherent tale I always tell. I am going to get a cup of coffee soon. I can get it for free in this room but I am forced to take a 30 minute break each time I am here so they frown on me sitting in the office all the time, or walking the floors. They want me to get out and away from the work for a break. The coffee shop is in the same complex but across from all the buildings I normally work in. It is actually attached to another building that I have to visit in my rounds but it is an actual coffee shop so it has bad coffee and stale treats that I can get. I have mentioned it a few times I think. They sometimes have decent treats, something new each week, but you can't tell how long they have been there each time and most of the time they are stale when I get them. But that's ok. Since it is so hot, I am not looking forward to going over there. Seating is under cover but it is outside so it gets hot.
I just thought of something else I wanted to write about but then I forgot what it was, so I am going to pretend it was nothing. This has gone on too long and I will be here forever if I don't close it now. Now I remember, it was about Christmas dinner and the menu. You know this is basically a food blog and I sometimes forget the main purpose. But, it will have to wait until tomorrow or whenever as I am tired of typing once again. So...
Until next time
Later
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