What a difference a year makes.....

Needless to say, I am thrilled to put 2012 behind me and move into the New Year. I think I said that a year ago.... I learned a lot about myself this year and hope it makes me a stronger, better person. A year ago, I was just trying to survive each day.  Now I'm making plans for the future and able to enjoy the days.  The tears are not a daily occurrence but they do still happen. I've been reading the blog from the time Larry went into the hospital until Christmas 2011.  I'm amazed at how much either I forgot or just blocked out. I found out that the mind can only deal with so much at one time. I have no memory of Christmas 2011. Christmas this year was nice and quiet with some friends coming over for dinner. It was the first time I had really cooked a mean in over a year. I enjoyed having the house decorated for Christmas but took everything down the day after Christmas.  I'm looking forward to class starting Jan 15th and going back to Missouri for 2 months in the summer. The trip should really be an adventure for Morris and me - especially the drive there and back by ourselves. I'm thinking about sneaking away for a few days during Spring Break but don't know where I'll go yet.
Morris is fine.  Since the weather has finally gotten colder here, he is constantly on my lap.  I think he likes the body heat he gets from me.  He certainly isn't interested in going outside for any walks.
I realize I'm not doing a very good job writing on the blog every day but just not much new to write about.  No news is good news.... 8-)

Larry

This was in the Tucson newspaper today.  After an appointment with my Grief Counselor this morning, I went out to Saguaro Park which was a favorite place of Larry's here in Tucson. Like so many times before, I stopped on the way and got a large Hot Mocha at Starbucks.  When I got to the park, I went to our favorite picnic table, spread sunflower seeds out for the ground squirrels and sipped the Hot Mocha - all in his memory.  There were a lot of birds who came around for brunch - most of them Gila Woodpeckers which build nests in the Saguaro cactus. It's the first time that I have seen so many birds while at the park and they have never come by for seeds before.   I had given up hope on any ground squirrels coming around until just before I was ready to leave when a little guy came up and was soon eating like crazy. Larry LOVED watching the ground squirrels out there.  I missed him but he was there..  One Day At A Time...

This n' That

I know, I haven't written in awhile.  I was thinking this morning, awake but not ready to get up yet, that at times I use the blog as a journal and at other times I use it more as though I was writing letters to friends. I guess I'm in the letter writing phase right now....
Trip to Eugene: I went up to Eugene, OR on Dec 6th and came back on the 11th. The primary purpose was to visit with some friends who have been like family to me for about 30 years.  While there, I was also able to visit with some friends that I used to work with.  On Sunday, I drove down to Roseburg, OR to visit with friends who used to live here in Tucson and moved up there about 2 years ago. It was a good trip but I was glad to get back home. 
Morris: Needless to say, Morris was not happy with me going on the trip and leaving him home. He sure knows the meaning of a suitcase! It doesn't matter that someone visits him twice a day and sometimes a neighbor also drops in - it's that he was left behind. When I got home, I couldn't get more than 2 feet from him for the first 2 days. It was 5 years ago today that Larry and I walked into the cat shelter and Morris knew "his ship had come in". For someone who had never had a cat, it took Larry and Morris about 2 minutes to connect. Morris has sure made the past year much more bearable for me. Below is a picture of them the day we brought Morris home.

Weather:  I'm in 7th Heaven!  The last 2 days have been in the mid 50's and rain off and on.  I love it....  No 70's are forecast for a week. I realize that many people would love being in 70+ degree weather and sunny during mid-December.  However, I like being able to wear winter clothes at times and a change from sunshine every day. It's starting to rain again so time to go into the living room, turn on the Christmas tree and curl up with a good book.... 8-)

Text Book for School

I expected going back to college would be a learning experience and I don't mean from books. I'm thinking about policies, practices, students, teachers, exams, etc. and I'm getting my first taste of it. The local community college accepted all of my accounting classes from 1976-77 even though they are so outdated but hey...  Some of them I am going to retake to learn what has changed. Now they require "Practical Accounting Procedures" which is basically an introduction to accounting and is the first class in the accounting series.  Back then it was not a class but I have to take it so that is what I signed up for to start with next month. I went out to school last week to get my text book and was that an experience!  Because class is still about 6 weeks away, they don't have all the books in yet but did had 1 copy of the book I needed even though it was a used book. The clerk kept telling me I could rent the book.  I can't imagine "renting" a text book or getting a digital copy on the computer.  How am I going to mark it up with highlighters and make notes in a rented or digital book?  I kept telling her I wanted the book to KEEP after the class was done.  We looked through the used book and I don't think it had every been used but I still had to pay $98.00 for it - a new one is $160.00. The first thing I noticed when thumbing though it was that it was in color and my old accounting book, which I still have and have referenced many times since the class, was in black and white. I was hoping to take "Ethics in Business" but it was only offered on TV or via the computer and that isn't for me. I want a class room where I can ask questions and hear discussion. Should be an interesting experience!