I’m glad that I cooked dinner last night. The time spent with Hal was priceless and the enjoyment of dinner and wine made it a very special evening. I suppose that this is the type of thing that Charlie Brown and Snoopy are indicating on today’s calendar page. Sometimes you don’t need a lot of extra things to enjoy the moment with those you love and care about. It is the simple act of being together that is really important, and worth remembering, that makes the time special.

For the record, dinner was delicious and there is enough food for dinner tonight as well. There is no point in cooking for two people every single night. I hope that when we move next year that we will get the apartment we really want. That apartment has an open kitchen which will make the entire experience much more pleasant because it won’t isolate me from things by being in the kitchen. Cooking dinner will be a much more enjoyable experience in the new place once we are settled in. If only time moved more quickly, we would already be in the new apartment. Alas, we must continue to wait until Spring before we move.

We often are told that the correct decisions are the tough ones to make. That is true for me today as I wait to send back the new guitar that arrived yesterday. Honestly, I had already canceled the order to prevent facing this dilemma, but the box was shipped out 3 days later regardless. I am sure that was so the vendor could temporarily get some money from me, although now they will have to refund it.

The tough decision involved the situation with Spartacus. The poor guy isn’t doing well right now and we need to save money for his treatment. While the new guitar was a dream of mine, it wasn’t the right thing to do now. I knew that if I kept the guitar and things got really tight with money that I would actually end up hating the guitar because I would know that it helped to contribute to the problem, and the enjoyment of playing it would vanish, and I would stop playing it altogether.

The box remained unopened overnight and served as a diversion for The Stooges as it waits in the hall for the FedEx person to come by to take it away at some point today. The temptation to open it was palpable, but I had to resist it so I can get my money back. I just hope that the FedEx person shows up sometime before this evening so the box will be out of the apartment altogether.

I know that I made the right choice, I just wish that the right choice was easier some of the time.

July is almost over. At times, this month seemed to fly past, at other times it seemed to never end. Through it all, I have always had Hal (person) here to lean on. We have supported each other over the last almost 20 years, and we get stronger together each day.

I often tell Hal that I might not be here if we had not met. I was in a dark place when he came into my life. I was deeply depressed and enthusiastically drinking myself into oblivion. It was just a matter of time until I did something stupid, dangerous, or both. I saw no real point to the whole life thing at that time.

When Hal and I started dating, I could easily throw down 6 or more strong mixed drinks in just an hour or so without any effects. To his credit, Hal never mentioned that to me. Instead, he found things for us to do that took me away from the opportunity to keep drinking, and I never even realized it at the time.

I know that I have the alcoholic gene in me. I have never had a hangover in my life, even after bouts of drinking which have left others sicker than they have ever been. The road was wide open for me to drink myself to death, and yet Hal saved me. I never realized how much I leaned on him at that time, and he never said a word to me about it. And here we are still together and we will soon celebrate our 20th anniversary.

Happiness is having someone to lean on, but make sure that it is not totally a one-way relationship in that regard. Always be there for each other. I was able to let Hal lean on me when he went through his own tough times, and I did so without even mentioning it to him because I had learned that valuable lesson from him.

If we love each other, and we know that we can lean on each other when we are tired, then the world will be a better place for us all.

Today is a day to hope for the unexpected laughter that has so excited Charlie Brown and Snoopy. I feel like I could really use that in my life this morning because the weight of the world seems to be crashing down on me. This feeling is normal after several nights of insomnia, so other than the physical exhaustion I am not terribly concerned about anything else right now It simply never happens that days like this have the unexpected laughter that would be so very welcome.

Thankfully, this should be another slow day at work and I can get caught up on things and even work ahead if I can get things organized the right way. Ironically I get some of my best work done on days like this.

Life itself continues to zero in on things here at home. I mean this in a good way, just that outside influences are dwindling away, and I personally like that. My priorities should be here with Hal and The Stooges. The medical issue with extended family that I mentioned about a week or so ago has mysteriously gone quiet, at least as far as them telling me anything. I decided that I have made the efforts to express my sympathy and interest, so it is their decision to either let me know what is happening or to go silent. Honestly, going silent is what they have done historically so this isn’t a surprise to me. This lack of communication isn’t unexpected, so there is no emotional turmoil to deal with. The feeling of isolation from the extended family is also nothing new and is something that I learned to deal with many years ago.

It seemed like years passed before lunchtime arrived. At least I know that the day is more than halfway done as I ate my lunch. I am looking forward to a visit with the Chiropractor and Acupuncturist after work this afternoon. If there is any Justice, I will sleep better tonight. This afternoon will test my endurance as there are meetings to attend that really require zero inputs from me. I will try to work on other projects as I am able to while pretending to listen in to the conference calls.

I’m still waiting for the unexpected laughter that Charlie Brown and Snoopy are enjoying so much.

The week has started, but thankfully it is very quiet so far on a Monday morning. I have taken the time to plan out tasks for the week and make sure that my calendar has room for all of the proposed meetings that will take place. I’m grateful that the West Coast people haven’t arrived at work yet, because it gives me several hours to plan things out before they arrive and start with their own set of priorities.

I made it through the weekend without spending a lot of money. That was a major accomplishment for me, and I am proud of myself for taking care of it. I have plenty of food here for all of us, and enough to cook more meals in a day or two without having to make more trips to the grocery store. I have thought about purchasing an air fryer, but have decided that it will probably wait until next year. Since it appears more and more likely that we will be moving in the Spring, there is no real incentive to get more stuff here that will have to be moved when the time comes. I can cook things in the oven the old-fashioned way until we get to our next home. The apartment we looked at and both like has a much larger kitchen and more storage as well.

Speaking of storage, I went through the closet and pulled out clothes that haven’t been worn in more than a year and have bagged them for Goodwill. There is no point in hanging onto things that are no longer being used. The pre-move purge has started about 8 months early. I estimate that I can eliminate nearly 50% of the items in the closet before we move if I put my mind to the task and stay practical and pragmatic about things.

Honestly, I want to purge more things than ever before our next move. I have been guilty of waiting to really start purging and packing until almost the last minute. This time I will really begin the whole adventure at least a month before we move. That way I can really organize everything that I am keeping as well as take my time to decide what is going away permanently. It will mean living amongst a forest of boxes for a while, but it will be worth it in the long term. Hal has already talked about renting a van to take some items that we don’t want the movers to handle because they are valuable to us, but that is way in the future at this point. I would definitely take the computers and my guitars and amps in a van, and I am sure that Hal has things he wants to transport himself as well, otherwise, he wouldn’t have brought up the subject in the first place. Since the next move will probably be at least 50 miles or so, things like this require much more planning beforehand to go smoothly.

I managed to get a relatively good night of sleep for a change. As I get myself organized to take on the rest of the day, I am taking stock of things that need to be done versus things that I would like to do, versus things I just want for no reason.

Obviously, the things that I want for no reason are the first things to get cut. I was on the verge of getting a new electric guitar because I had rationalized to myself that I could manage to juggle enough money around to make it happen. After thinking about it, I realized that if I had to go through all the trouble to prove that I could afford it, I really could NOT afford it.

The second category involved a desire to update my personal laptop. While this might be considered more vital than a new guitar, the same principle about affordability applied. Until the existing laptop no longer functions, I cannot justify spending that money.

The last thing involves Spartacus. He is nearly 19 years old and has really started showing signs of senility. He has completely forgotten how to use the litter box and he will sit and stare at something for hours without moving until we pick him up. He will wait until we pick him up and take him to the bathroom before he will unload on the floor. We now are buying the protective pads for dogs so Spartacus will go on those, and so far they are working. Unfortunately, those pads do get rather pricey when we have to buy them for an undetermined amount of time. However, there is no rationalization necessary for this expense. Spartacus is worth more than we can ever express, and taking care of him is the most important thing we can do.

All of this makes sense when taking into account we will be moving again next Spring. Prices are rising steadily around here, and although we love the place, it is just getting too expensive to live here any longer. This means that in addition to taking care of Spartacus for as long as necessary, we also have to budget for the cost of moving in less than a year. Experience has taught us that it is never too early to start the financial planning for that expense.

Hal has said that he wants to go shopping again this afternoon. I hope that he means “looking” rather than ‘buying”, but that will be another blog post.

     Saturday morning started early for me. I didn’t sleep well last night, so I got out of bed early, took a shower, and waited to leave for the oil change appointment for the Fiesta. I’m glad I arrived early for the appointment because the garage can usually start things early, which means that things are finished sooner.

     Of course there are drawbacks to waiting for the Fiesta to be ready. I’m sitting in the customer waiting area and composing this blog post on my phone while most people are zombified by the TV that is way too loud for my taste. In fact, the TV being on at all makes it too loud for me. I’m making a personal goal to avoid even looking at the TV while I have to be here.

     I hope that Hal (person) will have a plan for the rest of the day by the time I get home. As predicted in an earlier blog post, plans with “friends” fell apart due to their lack of commitment. I made certain that the plans were off yesterday when we got the first indications that the people were preparing an excuse to cancel at the last minute. That behavior really pisses me off. As far as I am concerned, there will not be a next time for that bullshit to happen, I am done with those people, and not only the apostrophes, but the word “friends” will no longer be associated with them.

     The best news of the day was that I only spent about 20 minutes waiting for the oil change! After the trip home, Hal told me that he wanted to go shopping, so we spent the afternoon out. He ended up buying a new backpack. We got back home and I was going over the finances and realized that I am doing better, but I still need to be careful. After some soul-searching, I canceled an order for a guitar that I really wanted because of some medical expenses for Spartacus. He is becoming senile and requires some additional medicine. Spartacus is more important than a guitar.

That wraps up a busy Saturday. More to talk about tomorrow, I’m sure.