Arch Nouveau

I’m retiring from the overtime scene, and good riddance.  Looks like the new job scenario is workin’ out, which hopefully makes my life MUCH easier.

G’s substantially happier, too!

The guys – my cousin E and of course G – are going to be working a yard sale tomorrow.  For some reason they both are under the delusion that it’s a fun thing to do.  They still think that after having done it, mind you.  We got a bunch of freebies from several folks, many of ’em yard-sale leftovers themselves, or we would’ve had precious little to sell.  (Yes, we told them it would be for a yard sale of our own, though we are going to actually be keeping some of it for ourselves, too.)

My cousin has been working himself sick, to the point that he landed in the ER a few days back.  Pneumonia isn’t exactly something you work through, for heaven’s sake.  I’m glad he’s helping but keep telling him he needs to give himself a chance to heal.  He really did kick back for a few days, and has been downing his meds, but he’s still not 100%.  Yet he was out working in the front yard when I got home this afternoon, chopping down a mostly-dead bush in front of the kitchen window.

I won’t pretend it’s been easy with another mouth to feed, but at least this one is hustling for the odd job in addition to pulling his weight around the house.  I had counted on him cooking, which hasn’t happened.  He’s done other things, just too broke to contribute anything financially this month.  However, over the next few weeks we should be in a lot better shape.  We’ll technically have three incomes in the house.  First time in my life even for two!!!

It’s doubly awesome because G and my cousin have really bonded.  G needed a male friend and my cousin needed a sober one.  Cousin’s been clean and sober for 15 years now and has worked very hard to maintain it.  Kind of hard to do when you’re dealing with the BS all around you.  (That’s why he ended up here.  He ended up in a situation where his new roommates were party animals and he knew he had to get away from it, pronto.)  Cousin is understandably rough around the edges, but I applaud his determination to keep himself on the right track

It’s no big deal for G and I to skip potent potables, and drugs are most assuredly not a part of our worlds.  So everybody wins.

If I ever had any desire for recreational chemicals of any type, my ex pretty much extinguished it.  Come to think of it, he came mighty close to extinguishing me altogether, both in physical and emotional terms.   I wouldn’t wish my history on anyone, but it’s made me exceedingly grateful for what I have now.  I think to myself of how many people bemoan being in a wheelchair.  For me it symbolizes freedom from pain and freedom to move around, to go places I haven’t been able to go for years, in some cases.  I had a brief respite for a few months after surgery (luckily whilst Poolie was visiting!)  With the wheels I’m confident I can come and go at will for the foreseeable future, and that’s an awesome thing.

We’re going to have to re-plant a lot of the landscaping stuff that didn’t survive the winter.  Not sure what to plant instead, exactly.  Our desert willow is fine, which makes me very happy.  I’ve always had a thing for willow trees and know when this one grows up it will provide a fair amount of shade for the front of the house.  Our bougainvillaea didn’t fare so well, and pretty sure the hibiscus bit the dust.  We’re cutting them down dramatically and hoping for the best, but will probably shop around for something to replace them, something a bit more hardy.  Funny they made it through the heat of summer but not through the relatively mild Arizona winter.  Yeesh.

Thanks to an electric lawn mower (a recent yard-sale find) our back yard grass is thriving.  If something had to die, I’d rather it was the incidental plants than the grass, truth be told.  I like bougainvillea, but I’ll gladly trade it for grass and hopefully at least one tree in the back yard.  If we are allowed by the HOA I’d like to plant a lemon tree out back, too, just have to check to see what plant restrictions are in place.  I would be happy to plant a sapphire dragon but think they’re probably restricted because they’re just plain messy.

I would love to plant a row of cypress along both sides of the house, if that’s allowed.  No, they’re not much shade, but they’re so frigging awesome I don’t care, heh.  They’re reasonably drought tolerant and don’t shed, so the only reason I can imagine they would be restricted would be the height.  I’ve seen some in the next community over from us, so maybe…

Of course those things aren’t priority.  Plan A is a china cabinet.  I talked about doing a combination of a long buffet/low cabinet with open shelves above it for our glassware and such, but G nixed that because of the dust.  He’s right; anywhere in Arizona, dust is omnipresent in copious amounts. Whatever we do, we need some serious kitchen storage.  There is literally only ONE kitchen cabinet wide enough to hold pans and it’s nowhere near large enough to hold all my pans – much less large mixing bowls and other such stuff that needs its own space.  Foodies are mostly covered, though it wouldn’t break my heart to have a bit more storage for that too.  We shall see.

Plan B is probably going to be full-size seating of some sort, whether a sectional or sofa and loveseat and/or easy chairs.  I might hold out for one flowery smooshy curl-up-and-read chair.  I like solid colors fine, but need something to break the monotony.

Speaking of breaking the monotony, my grandson Little Guy is awake.  Sort of.  His mommy is taking a shower and deposited a still-drowsy toddler next to me.  His daddy last week decided he needed a haircut, which was good.  He got a mohawk, which is cute if ridiculous.

Leave a Comment