insomnia

Don't know why, but I have had insomnia for about 6 months now. I am so tired in the evening that I can hardly keep my eyes open when Dave and I are watching TV. I feel like I am ready for bed. I go to bed and sometimes even fall asleep, but 30 minutes later, I am wide awake. I hear Dave snoring softly and get more and more irritated that I cannot fall back to sleep, especially since he is sleeping so soundly. Then I worry that I will wake him up with my moving around to get comfortable. The more I try to lie still, the more the urge to move comes over me. So I go to the couch. There I can usually kick and squirm and thrash until I finally fall asleep. Then 2 hours later, I am awake again. This goes on all night. Starts all over the next evening.

when was the moment

When is that magical moment in a marriage when the couple stops holding in the burp or fart in or moving to the other room to let loose? When do they become that comfortable with each other?

painting

Well, we went to the Home Depot and bought some paint. Remember, I am new at this....probably picked ugly colors. But, we bought three gallons of "sienna buff" for the living room. One gallon each for the bedrooms, New Hunter (green -Dave's office/guest room), Quiet Moment (my office - blueish color), and Serene (light blue - master bedroom). We bought three rollers and three pans. We have two paint brushes. Mindy had me buy five drop cloths at the dollar store. Bought a roll of painters tape. Probably need more. We will see. I will try to get the rooms taped this week. Plus I got a gallon of gloss Swiss Coffee (cream colored) paint for the bedroom baseboards and moldimg around the windows/doors. I will see if I can get those done before Sunday when the kids are coming over to help paint.

The cable TV will be set up Friday morning. The DSL will be set up by the 27th.

I am getting excited...the move in date will be coming shortly.

Weekend - June 17-18

Mindy came over to help with a lot of work on the house on Saturday. She was awesome. She got into the lower kitchen cabinet cupboards and pulled up the old contact paper. We got all the contact paper off of those and the pantry and the linen closet and the refrigerator cleaned. Mindy, thanks again. Then we decided that we needed a little pampering, so we went to get our nails done. Mindy had a manicure and I had a pedicure.

After that, it was back to the apartment to eat pizza with Dave. Mindy helped me pick out colors for the walls with color samples that I had.

After Mindy left Dave and I went back to the house to attempt to put in the mini-blinds that we bought for the bedrooms. Dave did a good job of measuring, because the blinds fit the windows perfectly. We had a little trouble getting the first one in.....I had forgotten some of the steps and of course we didn't read the directions. We did five windows total. Some took only 10 minutes, but the last two seemed to take longer. We both were hot and tired, but totally proud of our "home project" completion as a team. I took the left side of the windows and Dave took the right. This is new territory for Dave and it has been a long while since I had a house of my own, so it will be interesting how well we do. But it will be fun learning.

Sunday, Dave's parents and his grandmother came over for Father's Day. I remembered seeing the "Take Home Chef" cooking pork chops and yams. I thought that would be good meal. It actually turned out well. I also bought a couple salads at the grocery store to supplement the chops and yams. I forgot to buy rolls, but no one seemed to miss them. I had the coffee pot already to brew some coffee, but I forgot to offer coffee to everyone after dinner. I enjoyed having everyone over and look forward to more entertaining at our new house.

Homeowners

Monday night Dave and I signed the papers to seal the deal on buying our new home. We will be living in Dearborn Heights. It is a cute little neighborhood. I have a list of things to get done at the house before we move in on July 1st.

Paint the living - this is a possible, as it probably is a lot of work.
Paint the bedroom and my office - I definitely want some color in the house, so I hope I get these done.
Put new paper down in the kitchen and hallway closet. First I have to pull up the old paper. It is dusty and old.

The yard needs some work, but we might hire a lawn service to take care of it, because we are old and decrepit. Not really, just I think it will be a lot of work.

McMillan Clan

Excerpts from different websites.

Clan MacMillan - McMillan History

The first significant settlements of M’millans outside Scotland were probably in Northern Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries as part of the Protestant “plantation”. While some came there from Knapdale and Arran, most probably belonged to the nearby Galloway branch which contained the devoutest “covenanters” in the clan. Indeed many Presbyterians in southern Scotland were called “McMillanites” after the Rev. John McMillan of Balmaghie who founded the Reformed Presbyterian Church in the early 18th century.

Other M’millans from Argyll were among the earliest of Scots settlers further north; particularly in New York, where they seem to have been joined in the second half of the 18th century by cousins from elsewhere in Scotland.

"The Scotch-Irish were the descendants of Scotsmen who in the seventeenth century had crossed to Ireland to dwell (there)....

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Apparently there was quite a lot of Scots who were discriminated against in Scotland and who moved to Northern Ireland. Then my ancestors came to Pennsylvania probably in 1738. They lived in York County, probably around Wellsville. Then they moved to Ohio, Clinton County.

night out at the bar

Dave and I went out to see our friend Mike Katon at the Northfield Roadhouse. We went a little early so we could partake of their menu. Plus Mike had promised to give us one of his new CDs that he produced on his own label. Dave wrote the liner notes for the CD. Diablo Boogie The notes take up a whole page on the inside of the CD cover. I

Going to the bar to hear Mike is always interesting. The bar wasn't very full. The food was pretty good, though. Dave and I both had two beers and then switched to coca-cola, but the coke was flat. The waitress said something about it being the bar coca-cola. Not exactly sure what she said because Mike's music is so loud that a conversation is impossible. That is what we like about Mike, his energetic, heart-thumping, guitar playing. His drummer, Johnny, sat and talked to us for a little bit before they started playing for the night. Johnny, is an awesome drummer, who is a carpenter by day. He had an interesting story to tell. Maybe Dave will post a comment and tell the story, or at least as much as he could hear of it.

People watching was interesting also. Three drunks came in later in the evening, two men and a young woman. They were loud and boisterous. The woman kept wanting to dance and the two men took turns dancing with her. As the men staggered to the dance floor they both eyed me. I don't know why they took an interest in me at all. Maybe because I wasn't sitting that close to Dave and they thought I was available to even things up for their group. The older guy stopped at our table and leaned on it as if he was tired from dancing. I could feel Dave's irritation with him rising. I kept my eyes on the band, feinting deep interest in Mike's playing, and ignoring the man at our table. He didn't take the hint. He came over to my side and leaned over me and tried to talk to me, which was impossible because the music was loud and he was slurring his words. Finally, he went away. Thank goodness.

There was an older couple off in a corner. The woman was wearing a jean skirt that was way too short for her, especially at her age. They had been playing kissy face all evening. During Mike's song, Barbecue on my Boogie, which is kind of a suggestive song, I noticed that the woman was facing the guy, straddled over his lap, playing their kissy face game. Dave and I were totally grossed out by this ugly display.

Well, all in all the night was good. We got to listen to rip roaring good rockin' blues and visit with Mike and Johnny. The food was very good and we didn't have to stay home and watch mindless television.

Of note, please, no one let me drink beer ever again. I woke up at 3 am with a migraine. It is better now, but still feel a little fuzzy around the edges.

writing

I want to write like Brett or Dave. I want to be articulate and witty. I try to talk and gibberish comes out. How can I write if I can't even talk?

Well, I am going to give it a little try.

Married couple conversation while watching Wife Swap:

Woman: Oh my gosh, look at those lips. She has had collagen treatments and they are horrible.

Man: What are you talking about? Oh, yeah, they look like a duckbill.

Woman: Domestic goddess....ugh, look she is cutting her husband's toenails. Do you want me to do that to you?

Man: I don't trust anyone to cut my toenails.

Woman: I would be a domestic goddess if my husband bought me a washer and dryer like that. No, not really. I am not a fancy person.

Man: Yeah, well you aren't getting a washer and dryer like that anyway.

Okay, that is all I can remember. That is the other problem....I can't remember details of conversations. I only remember the impression the conversation gave me. Whether it was a harmonious, sad, or contentious. My mind likes to remember images or designs, and I am most comfortable dealing with feelings about things. I could never win a debate, because I cannot articulate my thoughts about why I like a certain politician or debatable topic.

Oh, well, I will keep trying.

nature walk

Dave and I went back out to Kensington for our two mile walk. We have been a little negligent in keeping up our walking, so we are trying to get back in. We went a little different way. We thought we saw a deer, but it went away quickly. We liked the trail we were on because there wasn't much traffic. Toward the end of the trail, we saw a man with a tripod and camera in the middle of the path. Our first reaction was to groan. We hate meeting up with other people. Our desire to be away from other people is something that we both share, which is nice, since we both don't seem to have the need to get away from each other also.

But then we noticed what the man was trying to take a picture of. It was a deer just lying in the grass a few feet away from him. I was able to get some pictures of her also.

getting closer

Well, it is getting closer to the time when Dave and I are homeowners. Time to grow up. It is exciting and scary. We should be closing on the house next week.

It is a cute little house. Just my style, I think. Three bedroom, two bath. Hurray, two bathrooms. Boy do we need that.

We should have two weeks to get the house ready to move in. I would like to paint and do some other little things.

I am thinking that in August we will have to have a housewarming party.