Insomnimusing: Allons-y!

The girls headed out the door yesterday to go to school, and a moment later, Gin popped her head back into the house to tell me that someone had run over our mailboxes (the four units of my building have four boxes on a single post.) I went out to look at it and saw that the post had been completely snapped in two and the boxes were on the ground. Great. So I finished quickly getting ready for work and headed out. I called my landlord when I got there, and he informed me that it was my neighbor, who'd called him about an hour ago to let him know that she'd backed over it. "While I have you on the phone....." Those words are never followed by anything good, have you noticed? "Mom's decided to sell the apartments." The owner of my apartment died on Christmas Day. I was wondering what was going to happen with my place, but enough time had passed that I thought I was safe. You see, his sons had been managing his properties ever since I moved in 10 years

Another season of the Barclay's Premier League has ended, and though it did not end quite as I would like, it did have me transfixed right up until the last minute. Manchester United were written off to win the league title just before the last match of the season, but during that match, QPR led Manchester City against all odds, so the possibility of retaining the title was renewed right up until the last minute when Sergio Aguero scored the winning goal in the "other" match. Even at our final whistle, we stood a chance. It is somewhat satisfying to know that if QPR had just managed to hold on to that draw, we would have won on points, while City's win was achieved merely on goal difference. A second-place finish by only a hair's breadth is not too damn bad. And truly, what an exciting way to end the season. My only problem is this: Since football is such a big part of my life, what am I to do now that the season's over. Let's see. Tonight, I take Gin

It's a rare day indeed in this household when a financial surprise is a good one. Today was one of those rare days. My daughter checked the mail after I arrived home from work and handed me an envelope marked from the child support agency. I pay child support for my son, Book. I used to receive child support for my son, Pooh, but he's 21 now, so that stopped long ago. I had a debit card for Pooh's support, onto which the state deposited my payment each week. I had a total of $4.77 left on it when Pooh turned 18, which I just never ended up using because, you know, it's a debit card, and it was $4.77. I never felt comfortable saying, "Here, use $4.77 on this card and then I'll pay some other way for the rest of the cost." So I just left it sit there. Apparently, that card has expired, or was due to expire soon, because I received a replacement in the mail today. I remembered, "Oh yeah, it had a couple of bucks on it so they sent a new card. Oops.&quo