Ramblings From Pinetop

You will see this picture in a grouping below. Yesterday more wall art finally got hung.

I wanted to have this one first in my post as it really is what posting is all about.

Thank you to each of you that visit me. Thank you to each of you that share your blogs with the rest of the world. Thank you for the Joys of Friendship.

The flowers that were seen in the darling blue and white striped basket given to me by Janell are now living in the wishing well out front.

This week we hung the hammock out back. My neighbor tells me the squirrels might devour it for use in their nest so I wanted a picture of it in all it's glory before it becomes the home of another!

Spring had finally sprung here in Pinetop. The porch cushions came out of winter hiding.I have also been warned to watch for the squirrels. Seems they will rip the cushions to get to the stuffing for another nest product. All those little squirrels I so love, I am told, might not always evoke happy emotions! We will see. 

The flower tin, clock, and little picture ( featured above) was hung yesterday.

Kim, of Sweet Sage Vintage, gave me this tin a few months ago. I might have already shared this. Doesn't matter. It is one of my favorite things hanging in my bedroom. It is deserving of being posted over and over again. It is one of the representations of the Joy of Friendship.

The architectural piece was another hung item yesterday. I have been looking at it this morning and have come up with an idea I think I want to try. I am thinking I should collect some crystal prisms and hang them across the bottom. It would add a little glamour and go nicely with the chandeliers in the area. Another project added to the to do list but this is a lovely one to savor. Yes, I think I am really liking this idea!

I will be rambling this morning. I have wanted to post more often but for some reason or another it just has not happened the last couple of days. So instead of this post being one subject it will be many and I will just call it rambling.

Yesterday I had a very difficult hour encased in the late afternoon hours. I have just realized, for you to understand this happening, I will need to revert back to some events which have taken place in the past couple of weeks.

Last week, my daughter, communicated with Ria she would indeed sign a quit claim deed for her half of the house to us for the sum of $5,000. In earlier posts I have indicated my family has around $70,000. invested in this house. Said house is close to being in foreclosure state. This money is beyond the $10,000. which was put on our credit card without permission. My husband told her we would pay $2,500 at the signing of the quit claim deed and then $2,500 more at the time she vacated the premises. I was still in the valley when this took place. Once again, my husband is the one dealing with the emotional proceedings. I could not have handled this. He had to pick up Amber and drive her to the bank. I would have had the paper work handled by an attorney and sent a cab for her. My being is too fragile and broken to handle seeing her in person. Anyway, the first part of the transaction took place. There is more legal mumbo jumbo to this deal but the bottom line is the process is moving towards Ria moving back into the house. This means Chandler will have his trampoline, his basketball hoop, his this and his that which go along with being in one's own home. We are not sure where Amber will go. She has been supposed to be looking into subsidized housing for some time. Ria has given her money towards the paper work, etc. That is all another story.  Back to tying in the exchange of money for the deed.

With some of the $2,500. she was paid, Amber purchased an old truck for transportation. She has had no transportation since the last arrest involving the rental car. We still do not know why her P.T. cruiser was never returned to her. BUT, she now has wheels again. Consequently,  she made arrangements with Chandler to pick him up from school yesterday afternoon and take him to his ball game. Originally in the plan making he was to spend the night with her. When he came in off the porch with this news my heart was crooked. I say crooked because I did not really know what it was I was feeling. I felt mixed up. It saddened me that our buying her part of the house off allowed her to purchase wheels which then gave her more control of him, which then put him possibly in harm's way. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh--He asked me if we would still come to the game and bring his treats. It was his turn to supply his teammates with treats for after the game. I told him Grandy and I would have to talk about it. Chandler asked me to just talk about it when he was not around. He does not want to hear the sad stuff ,as he refers to it)  We told him we would bring his treats and we would sit in the outfield. 

Now, remember he was to spend the night with her? Well, yesterday morning, Amber text ed Ria that she would have to leave the game at 5:45 as she had a Dr's. appointment at six o"clock. Said she had to get blood work and shots as she has a treatment for her stomach cancer today.

Alright, means he is going home with us. Alright, good. 

Amber also text ed Ria the water had been turned off again and she had better pay to get it turned back on or she would pick up Chandler and Maria would never see him again. ( This text was before the text about the Dr. appointment )

Bottom Lines:

1. Maria told her no, she would not pay for the water.

2. No idea, still, if cancer is real or not.

3. No idea if she really had to go get blood work at six o'clock or if she made plans to go party since it was Cinco De Mayo.  Wouldn't one think that she would have known the day before about the Dr's. appointment, when she first made these arrangements with Chandler to have him?

4. He was not upset at leaving the field with us and the change in arrangements, or at least he did not show it.

My hard part yesterday was this. Grandy, Ria and I sat beyond the outfield and watched the game. Amber sat in the stands, on the top row, for the time she was at the game. Last year, at all of Chandler's games we were together as a family. We watched and cheered as a united family. Amber was the  score keeper for the team. A year later we are a broken family and my daughter is someone that is a person I would never choose to be associated with. I think some of my most sorrowful times are the ones in which I wonder if I have ever known who she is. After the years and years of  turmoil until she seemingly got her act together at the age of 20 until now--looking back I wonder did she ever really have her act together or was ????

Our counselor helped me this past week by telling me Amber had been a real learning lesson for him, in the early years of our seeking help. He told me he had never had a patient, then and since, that was capable of lying and manipulating the truth and deceiving others as much as Amber. He shared with me she was so good at this there were times, early on, that even he was feeling sorry for her. Somehow it helped me understand it is no wonder I struggle often with my emotions. Couple this with the bond a mother has with her child and well----- it is hard. It is just plain hard. BUT, once again, I am grateful for each tool I have acquired over the years for coping. And one of those is hypnosis. I spoke of this in an earlier post. I will expound on the subject a little now.

I was afraid of hypnosis in the beginning. After all, I had watched people being hypnotized on television and made to do things very embarrassing and out of control. Rediculous things and again, being out of control, was what conjured up inside of me at the mention of hypnosis. Luckily I listened to another side of what hypnosis could do for one and is often the case, when one is in pain, one is more open to exploring all avenues which will relieve some of the pain. It is important to trust the person that is hypnotizing you and I think it is important for the person to be trained. When I was first hypnotized I really did not believe I had actually been hypnotized. You see, you really do know everything that is being said to you. It is not at all what I had witnessed on the television. I almost felt like a fake when I was in a session as it seemed I was not hypnotized at all. I always felt better during the time following a hypnosis  session though. Always. And for me that was good enough. 

When I stopped smoking ( let me interject here, probably for the fifth time of trying to stop smoking! ) I came to understand I was indeed hypnotized. I used Nicorete gum to help me quit smoking. I had gotten down to three pieces of gum a day. Any one that has smoked probably knows right this minute when those three pieces of gum were consumed---after breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I just was not able to give the gum up. I decided to try hypnosis. Guess what- I never chewed another piece of gum. I never wanted another piece of gum. I was convinced. And so it is I am now utilizing self hypnosis to help me stay balanced.

I am tired of not having more font options. Oh how I wish I could post using any of the fonts I have in my collection. 

Today I have the morning to myself. Randy dropped Chandler at school and headed on to the golf course to play golf. I have just had the best of times sitting here rambling. I am off to finish some laundry, work on my June deliveries, take a soak in my clawfoot tub and maybe sneak in a nap on the couch before going to pick up Chandler from school. He has requested homemade pizza for supper so that is on the later afternoon agenda. As I go about the rest of my day I will be relishing in the Joys of Friendship. Thank You!