Sifting Through Dusty Memories..

I forced myself into bed by two this morning. I knew I needed to be able to get enough sleep and still get up by nine so Mom and I could spend the day working on yard sale pricing. We grabbed a quick bowl of tasty corn flakes, and headed out to the garage. It was overcast and the skies looked ominous, but we wanted to get a jump on things, so we dug right in.

I was a little unnerved by the boxes and boxes of Harry Potter collectible memorabilia I had out there. Hats, books, stickers, temporary tattoos, stationary kits, casting stones, Halloween wizard's wand, suckers that spin, Bertie Botts every flavor beans.. Chocolate galleons, sickles and knutts.. coloring books, card games, action figures, Christmas ornaments, a Gringots die-cast bank, collectors tins.. okay.. enough is enough. What was I thinking?!?! I'm not even joking when I say we spent the first hour pricing Harry Potter junk alone. I was proud of myself though. I only allowed myself to keep TWO of my most favorite things out of the entire bunch. It fits in a much smaller box now.

We spent another two hours on books, more books, yet more books, college books, audio books.. and.. books. When we got to all the Disney stuff I've acquired over the years, the stuffed animals that had seen better days, and the vintage computer games I used to play.. the skies opened up and the rain came down. We tossed everything into the nearest box and moved everything inside the shed once more. I managed to force Mom to price with me in the dark and damp, dusty shed for a little while, but she didn't last long before she was convincing me we'd done enough for one day. Wayne was just getting home from work, and she was calling it quits. I don't blame her.

I had gotten some pretty upsetting financial news today, that I'm not really at liberty to share, unfortunately.. but needless to say, it's had me upset and red-faced most of the day. I was grateful for the hours spent outside laughing and goofing off with Mom and Dave to keep my mind off things for awhile, after the troubling morning I spent on the phone with disability claims agents. My face was bright red before even heading out the door this morning, and it looks much, much worse now.. but, ironically enough now, so do my arms. Despite the overcast day outside, somehow, (on top of the mountain of stress I'm sitting on top of), I think I managed to get sunburned. It's starting to heat up and sting a little, and it just isn't going away. I have to chuckle though.. there wasn't a trace of the sun outside the entire day, but it found me and my see-through, pale skin anyway. Unbelievable! Now I can't tell where the stress ends, and the singed skin begins.

We took a break around midday. I needed to run to the Dairy Queen to order Dave's birthday cake. I had resigned myself for knowing full well I wasn't going to be able to get him one this year like the last several. I was disappointed, but Dave seemed to be more okay with it than I was. It was a surprise to both of us when I came inside to find a paypal gift from one very, very special friend who really, *really* wanted Dave to have his birthday cake. Words can't describe how shocked and excited I was. When I showed Dave, he cried. I guess it meant more to him than he let on earlier this week when I told him I didn't think we'd be able to get one this year. But Dave is most certainly getting his cake, and eating it too. I ordered it this afternoon, and I get to pick it up in the morning. Turtle, his favorite! (And mine). Thank You, SO much to our Birthday cake angel for making this special tradition a lasting one. *hugs* You have no idea what it means to us.. to have this one special thing, like we used to in the old days. It means the world to us. Thank You!

In the garage today, I just happened to find one very vintage, nearly antique Nintendo. (Just.. Nintendo. The original one, not the super edition or anything that fancy. That was the only one I ever got as a kid, and it was years after they were cool anymore, lol). I was thrilled to see it though. I gingerly fondled the Super Mario Brothers 3 case and smiled as years worth of memories of extreme battles and bruised thumbs flashed through my mind. I didn't even know if it still worked, but I HAD to try it out and see. At the end of the day when we were climbing, dusty and dirty back into the house, I carted the Nintendo with me. Mom had Wayne try hooking it up for me. It wouldn't work on the big TV with the satellite hooked up to it, but we got it to work on the older, smaller set in the office.

I played excitedly, and everyone was impressed that I looked like a Pro, (and like it hadn't been at least a decade and a half since I'd played it, lol). I was half way through the second world before I died the first time. Even I was impressed. I only have about six games, total, (Hhmm, I was a broke, latchkey kid growing up, what can I say?), but they're good ones all the same. I let Dave play, and he was pretty terrible. To his credit, he didn't grow up with the game in his living room, so I couldn't blame him. His reflexes were so slow, he honestly tried jumping out of a water pit for endless minutes before he started running out of time and asked me to help him out. I felt bad. He felt bad. I think it would be awesome therapy for him, if he wanted to give it another go sometime, but I took out Mario and tossed in Double Dragon and let him play for awhile while I cleaned up around our room for a bit. He was familiar with this one, and his game went much better.

The mailman brought us a special gift all the way from Scotland today. (Thank You Anna and Matt!!). We were so thrilled to pick through an amazing assortment of unique treasures from across the world. There's just nothing neater than trinkets and tokens from someplace that isn't your own place. We love EVERY-thing. I haven't taken that little bracelet off since I opened it, and Dave absolutely loves his hat, lol.. I am SO taking a picture of him in that tomorrow if I can keep my batteries in my camera working long enough. Thank You so much, for every single thing!

The rest of the night has just been games, showers, and chatting amiably with the folks, as they tried valiantly to cheer me up, and tell me that they wouldn't let the world bury me up just yet, and that it would be okay, (even though it seems to just continue to get worse for us). It's easy to listen, and harder to believe.. but I definitely appreciated their effort all the same. It's almost time for bed again, if I plan on getting up early for another day in the dusty boxes of my past. Actually, I should have been in bed ver an hour ago for a good night's rest, but time always has a way of getting away from me, so I'm off from here.

Thank You all for joining us tonight, and thank you ALL for the special birthday wishes for Dave that haven't stopped flowing in for days. Tomorrow is the big day! We're already three hours in to the 28th actually.

I'm so glad you're here to see the sun come up on a birthday we weren't sure you'd ever see. Thank You, God.

Much Love, Many Hugs, and Good Night to All of You, from.. The Osadchuks.