This past week has been really exhausting.  Shaun and I drove up to Pennsylvania for the funeral.  Turns out my employer has a very broad definition of how bereavement time can be used, so I was able to take 3 days off.  Otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to go, as my available vacation time for this year is down to about 2 or 3 hours worth.  Everyone was glad that I could make it.  My other 2 uncles and my grandma, especially, were happy to see me.  It's going to be a really rough time for my family.  Uncle Jimmy was living with Grandma, supplementing her income and helping her out in various ways.  Now that he's gone, the others will have to figure something out.  Grandpa screwed up his retirement so now that he's passed Grandma gets hardly anything from that.  Add onto that her health problems, plus the fact that she just lost one of her children... it's all just a big mess.  As for me... well, I haven't really had any time to mourn, it feels like.  My mom called me Sunday to tell me that he had passed away; from that point, I was in "planning" mode trying to figure out what, if anything, I would be doing.  Once I found out I could get the time off from work, I was just focused on how it was going to work.  Then the actual trip was pretty exhausting.. not really able to be sad about anything when you're having to concentrate on driving.  We got very little sleep this week as we tried to cover as much ground as possible, both to and from PA.  The funeral was different than what I'm used to... they actually had a mass (my family is Roman Catholic) which had an odd calming effect on me.  I was really upset and only went up to the coffin at the viewing at the funeral home because my mom went with me.  We left the funeral home for a very short procession to the church.  At first I was still very upset, but as everything was being said I sort of just, calmed down.  It's not that I felt comforted by what was being said - I'm sitting on the fence regarding my religious beliefs - but, rather, that I felt that others around me were being comforted.  I think, too, that Jimmy would have been comforted as well.  I know that my family found comfort, and that in turn made me feel better.  It's kind of hard to explain it any better than that.

My mom just called.  Uncle Jimmy passed away in his sleep.  He was supposed to go back to work today.  Uncle Dave drove by the gas station where Uncle Jimmy worked and noticed it wasn't open; he drove by again later and noticed it was now open, so he went in and was told by the person there that Jimmy hadn't shown up this morning.  So Uncle Dave tried to call the house, then when he got no answer he went over there.

He had lost 80 lbs and seemed to be doing better, but I guess there was already too much damage, and his heart just stopped working.

So yeah, it's been a month since I wrote anything here.... not surprising, really.  I tend to act this way; I get really excited about something that I decide I want to do, then I set out to begin it, then I either lose interest in it or just get distracted by the myriad of other things that I also want to do.  I have so many unfinished projects.... *le sigh*  Well, I can't complain too much, though.  I mean, if I really tried, I could stay relatively focused enough to complete a task.  I'm just always afraid that I'm missing out on something else that might be even more fun and exciting than what I'm working on!  "The grass is always greener...." as the saying goes.  So let's see what's been going on, shall we?

We've almost got our downpayment assistance from SHIP.  We've taken all the required classes, and our counseling session is scheduled for this coming Thursday afternoon.  That's where we have to turn in all kinds of fun paperwork, like 6 months worth of bank statements, any 401k or retirement plan paperwork, etc.  Then they send the stuff off to someone who reviews it and oks us for the $10k and then we get a piece of paper that says we have this money - woo hoo!  After our counseling session, we'll have the joy of trying to find a REALTOR whom we can work well with.  We'll see how that goes...

Antibiotics suck.  I had a doctor's appointment a couple weeks ago because it was necessary.  I don't really like going to the doctor.  They poke and prod my stomach and tell me I'm fat.  Although, my current doctor doesn't say that... but she still pokes and prods.  I guess they have to make sure that all my organs are there or somesuch as that.  But I actually went for my very first PAP smear.  I'm surprised it wasn't nearly as bad as I was anticipating.  It was a bit uncomfortable, but my doctor's office had the foresight to have a lovely poster on the ceiling for me to stare at to distract me from it, so that made it bearable.  But I had to take some antibiotics - lots, actually - to take care of an infection.  "May cause nauseau" is an understatement; I was miserable.  I have another appointment this coming Friday, so hopefully she will tell me that all is well and I don't need another dose of antibiotics.  *crosses fingers*

I talked to my mom the other day; first time since they were down here.  She says she still loves me even though I voted for Obama and I don't know what I've done.  She wasn't upset, she just sounded disappointed.  I shouldn't be surprised, considering most things I do don't get her stamp of approval.  It's nice to know that she still loves me anyway, though, despite my myriad of flaws.  *rolls eyes*

Uncle Jimmy is doing a lot better; much better than what was originally predicted.  He's definitely not 100%, but he is able to go back to work this week.  He's an assistant manager, so it's not as if he normally does any of the "grunt" work; as long as he doesn't do any lifting, etc., then he'll be ok.  So that's really good, and I'm happy.  I just hope he will be careful and that he can lose some weight, to help keep him healthy.

(continued in next entry)

Yeah, so apparently I was writing too much.  My entries are limited to 4000 characters.  Continuing onward...

I found out from my mom that my oldest sister, Tammy, is now working under her sort-of.  As it turns out, my mom and Tammy work for the same company, but at different plants; it's a steel company (AK Steel if you wondered).  Mom works at the Butler plant in Pennsylvania, and Tammy worked at the Mansfield plant in Ohio.  Well, the economy sucks and no one is buying cars, so no one is ordering steel, so they've had to shut down the plant in Ohio.  All of the hourly employees are now unemployed, except for people like security guards and technical people who maintain the plant.  The company wanted to keep on all the salaried employees, so they've transferred them to the Butler plant.  Hence, Tammy is now working sort-of under mom; since it's her plant, she tells Tammy what to work on (since they both do basically the same type of stuff there).  They don't have to move, thankfully, cause that would suck for Julia (my 10-year-old niece and Tammy's daughter).  Because technology is wonderful, Tammy can work remotely via the computer and do her work that way.  So, hooray for that!  I know many others are not so fortunate, i.e. all those hourly employees that were laid off.  I hope that things can start taking a turn for the better, hopefully soon.  When things start getting so bad, it makes me even more grateful that I have a job that I really enjoy, and also a job where I know I won't get laid off.  There's just too much work to be done, they couldn't afford to get rid of anyone.  Even if it means I don't get a raise, as long as I get to keep my job, I am happy.

Ironically, as a side note, my middle sister, Diane, followed in our father's footsteps and knows about accounting.  I, of course, have to be different from my sisters, so I neither followed our mother or our father, but have done something completely different.  I realize that no one would understand why that is ironic... basically, for a few years before my parent's divorce, my father stopped talking to Diane.  She tried to commit suicide, went to counseling, all kinds of fun stuff; wrote him a nasty letter as part of her therapy and everything.  Then, a few years later, they sort-of "made up" and now they're close again (well, last I heard they were close... I haven't heard from Diane for about 2 or 3 years).  So, considering all the trouble they had in the past, it's ironic (at least to me) that she should follow in his footsteps so to speak.  It's also slightly ironic that Tammy followed mom.  I'm the only "weird" one.  XD  But, like I said, I have to be different from my sisters.  I'm not married, I don't have kids, I don't have a job that is similar to either of our parents, I moved far away (my parents live in PA, my sisters both live in OH)... there are similarities, of course, but I think the differences are more interesting.

Well, I'm down to about 800 characters remaining so I think that's enough to cover the past month.  I'll try to keep this thing updated, but I make no promises.  ^_~

So my mom and stepdad are currently down here in FL.  Shaun and I went down to their condo for the weekend.  Saturday they didn't check-in until after 4pm, so they spent the night getting settled in.  Sunday we hung out for a bit, then we got together to meet Shaun's mom and have dinner at Chili's.  It wasn't too bad, actually.  The only awkward thing was when Chuck made reference to his mom's recent death.  Apparently on Saturday mom was channel surfing on the TV, and she paused on a channel where the character said, "Mrs. Fischer died last Friday."  Well, Chuck's last name is... Fischer, and his mom died last Friday.  He made reference to Murphy's Law or some-such (as he constantly does) and it was a little weird when he told the story to Shaun and I but it was ok.  But he told it to Shaun's mom, whom he'd just met... how's she supposed to take something like that?  I mean, do you laugh, do you say 'oh i'm so sorry for your loss' or just let it go with a polite smile?  (she chose the polite smile)  I guess I should be grateful that he didn't make any references to my mom's IBS problem.  Cause he sure did that a lot while we were there.  We were there 2 days... how many IBS comments/jibes can you get in???  A lot apparently.

ANYWAY..... Monday we talked about going to the pool but ended up sleeping in till almost 10, then I turned the TV on and found the middle of Music and Lyrics that I always wanted to see.  Then after that Life Free or Die Hard came on, and seeing as how Mom and Chuck had just seen the beginning of it and not had the chance to see the whole thing, we watched that too.  Then a storm came and it was raining and thundering which equals no swimming.  So we played cards, had dinner and Shaun and I went home.

the end.  : )