What I Did On My Summer Vacation

A week in between jobs. I thought of visiting a friend in the Caribbean-she got sick and came back to the states. I thought of accompanying Kate to California and sght-seeing a few days before her new job started=but my mom booked a trip to Atlantic City and asked Kate to Grampy-sit (he's been falling a lot).
So I decided to just stay home and maybe hit the beach a few days- the only days the sun came out were the days I had previous appointments.
But I did have a nice week. My sick friend came to recuperate in some peace & quiet, so I hung around and puttered and watched movies and so on.
The dutiful things I accomplished:
*Oil change and tuneup
*Eye exam and picked out new glasses
*Car inspection
*Banking
*Cleaned the kitchen really well
*Took old clothes to St Vincent dePaul
*Set up new computer
*Bought new tv (the girls set it up)
*Shopping trip with son for items for his new apartment
*Two trips to the transfer station
*Shopped for dress to wear to wedding
*Engraved 2 jobs & delivered both
*Cleaned the clothes closet & gave away a lot of stuff
*Scrubbed the bathrooms sterile
The fun things I accomplished:
*Went out to eat with Son, GF & friend
*Went to dinner w sister & friend after dress shopping
*Visited a friend for a jewelry consult
*Had an ice cream soda at Friendly's
*Took friend to visit some of her cousins, who were delightful to meet
*Played Bejeweled so much my hands ache
*Saw Star Trek again n the big screen with son & fiance & friend
*Cooked a spinach lasagna
*Made a vat of chili with rice & corn bread
*Made a vat of pasta
We watched a real lot of HGTV, but also saw lots of movies, both on TV and DVD, including:
*My Big Fat Greek Wedding (again)
*Pursuit of Happyness
*Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day
*The Color Purple (again)
*Night at the Museum (again)
*Harold and Maude (after many many years!)
*Young Frankenstein (after many many years!)
*Intolerable Cruelty
It doesn't look very restful, does it? And I still didn't finish vaccuming.
Tomorrow I start a new chapter in life. I look forward to it!

Ten Songs to Define Your Life

Kate sat on the bus with a music therapist who jawed with her a bit. She told about an assignment she had in college- to choose 10 songs that defined your life. Kate was intrigued. So far she picked two.
I had a much harder time, which intrigues the hell out of me. I am usually a sucker for a meme or a FaceBook quiz, but I admit this one has me stumped. Not the soundtrack that runs in my head- that would be way too easy- but a song that defines a period in my life, how I felt or behaved. Kate kindly pointed out that the chick who shared this nugget was probably 21 and at that age, you probably CAN define yourself in 10 songs. Three decades beyond that, it's more of a stretch.
I thought about songs that played repetitively on the radio/stereo in different phases of my life. Unlike the soundtrack in my head, this would be the soundtrack of the world around me as I lived my life. But the world doesn't define me. It shapes my reactions sometimes but it does not define me.
I need to think about this some more.
Kate figured that if I was having such a hard time with five decades, my Dad's nine decades would be interesting, so she posed the question to Hank.
Without skipping a beat, he replied "They're Coming To Take Me Away"...