Oh Linda, it's always amazing to me how each of us is always so much
stronger than we know. But I'm always sorry at the ways we have to find
that out. Sending lots of Hugs and Strength and Prayers your way.

Karen, Queen of Squishies


I got back last night after being away for 9 days to over 1200
messages. I started reading them and then realized I'd be here for
days! I apologize if there are things I should have responded to and
didn't.

We flew down to Florida to pick up Joey, my mom's golden retriever. My
niece had been caring for him since my mom's death, but couldn't keep
doing it. On the ride back to NY, I have to say he was better behaved
than any of my kids ever were. We took him to the vet a few days
before just to make sure he was in good shape for the trip and get a
prescription for doggie downers just in case. He was fine - only got
agitated in the hotel room because he smelled other dogs.

Cleaning out my mom's house and putting it on the market was very
difficult. Couple that with the fact that I am in the middle mediating
with my sisters. One would cleaned out everything and put it on the
market the day of the funeral. The other would keep it as a shrine.
Plus there's bickering over some of the possessions, and some pieces
of jewelry are unaccounted for. Since I got the most valuable
possession (Joey), I left almost everything else for them to come to
terms with.

In order to motivate my sister to let us go through my mom's clothing,
I asked her to please pick out a bag of typical clothes and I would
make a quilt for her and each of her kids. She did that, but then
left. We then went to work cleaning everything else out. Anything that
we are not taking is being donated to an animal rescue society to use
or sell since Joey was a rescue dog.

Today I got my back to school letter telling when and where to report
. . . it's been quite a summer. I didn't work summer school this year
because I wanted to relax, put together a sewing room and finish off
my ufos. Oh well, the best laid plans, etc.
Linda
PATCHogue, NY