I got the call today while I was out. Luckily that made it be recorded on my answering machine for all posterity to listen to.

Where was the missing notebook that I was too blind to see? On the copy machine where he left it at school, not in plain sight on my living room floor. Not exactly a miracle but we are both giving thanks.

I did get an apology – and he didn’t mumble! Saints be praised.

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“In some families, please is described as the magic word.  In our house, however, it was sorry.” ~ Margaret Laurence

Couldn’t find his notebook that he insisted is on the living room floor.  Here I set on that very living room floor, and there is no book. I am not freaking blind. There is no spiral notebook. He tells me to look again. Calls me the next day to see if I finally found it, like it is an inevitability. I take another sip of wine and pray to St. Anthony, the saint for lost causes, that he gets lost – real soon.

See this picture of St. Anthony?  He is the saint we pray to when things are lost. The little babe is telling him that the notebook is right there in front of his eyes and he is too blind to see it. That’s where they get the lines for the song Amazing Grace – “T’was lost but now I see” come from.

If I happen to find that notebook that he insists is here, somewhere in plain sight that somehow I can’t see, I am going to eat my hat.

St. Anthony must have had to eat his hat too from what I can tell from this depiction. I wonder if anyone makes chocolate hats?

I wonder who the Saint of Holding Your Tongue is?

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“Eating words has never given me indigestion.” ~ Winston Churchill

One of the craziest things was watching the US Army vehicles coming up the (198) highway in a long trail with no other vehicles around as there was a driving ban. It was surreal to see the long line of help arriving amid the bleak snow all up and down the until then abandoned highway.

Well, I went back for a look at the old school, and while it was in the single digits today, only about 6 inches of snow but everything seemed so small. I remembered it as a much bigger place.

My perspective could have been a tad off because of the deep conversation(s) I had been in with my son on the way there. My parenting skills were dissected by this budding professor of human observation and behavior. He was kind: I am cooking dinner tonight and he knows where his bread is buttered.

I took a photo of the nut house next door to Buff State while I was there and I think I scared a couple of passersby. I said hello but my guess is that the guy thought I was a former occupant of the nut house rather than the college. The former psychiatric center (now mostly abandoned) is the coolest and creepiest building at the same time. Take a look here – tell me it’s not creeepy.  Probably not a big thing to highlight to perspective students and their parents, but at least now it is empty. Not so when I went there.

One of my favorite memories was when I to get into the elevator to go to my room, and heard men yelling, “Stop that elevator!” There was a guy and me in it so I pressed the door open button. Two police officers greeted the guy next to me saying, “Oh, here you are Ted. We’ve been out looking all over for you.”  I was reassured. Didn’t tell my parents that one.

Well, I will hear all about how my son’s workshop was over dinner.

I got a cup of coffee at a shop near the campus after I dropped him off. I didn’t get the same warm welcome I used to get as a young female student years ago. (And I emphasize young and female.)

Not to worry about that. I am a lot smarter now.

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“Education is a private matter between the person and the world of knowledge and experience, and has little to do with school or college.” ~ Lillian Smith

She eats, sleeps, hisses and gets into my things. I call her, she ignores me. I want to sleep, she decides to fuss at me.

She even hissed at me when I watched the Extreme Makeover Home Edition that was filmed this fall in Buffalo aired last night on TV. It was pretty amazing, and it did show that this is an unusually generous area of the country, probably because we have had it pretty hard and know what it’s like to be in need. Way to go WNY. The family was so appreciative. I know a cat that should take a note or two.

She has no claws so I am giving her a bit of a pass as I theorize it makes cats feel defenseless and therefore, somewhat crabby when in new surroundings. I feel that way when I go out and I forget to put on my jewelry.

I have come to the conclusion that this cat watching thing is a lot like having a teenager in the house. At least she doesn’t need a ride somewhere.

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“Variety is the spice of life. One day ignore people, the next day annoy them.”  ~ Cat quotes

As I sit here on a Friday night at 11:20 PM with my hot date asleep since 9 PM on the easy chair across from me, I contemplate how this exciting pace of life will slow down when my son returns to college.

Yes, I know that those of you with screaming toddlers, sticky with the remains of the day’s meals, full of endless requests instead of the meals they are now wearing while inspecting your underwear drawer just as you are trying to go to the bathroom, can’t understand my sudden onset of gloom.

I don’t either. Then I start to think…

It’s back to school on Sunday and the two daughters are too busy at work to be able to come with us so the send off will be with just Mom and Dad. I will look forward our dinner out that we will enjoy out before our trip to Walmart to replenish his supplies and deplete our cash.

Hmm. Who will walk the dog now? Who can I ask to empty the dishwasher? Who will bring in the groceries in the freezing weather?

The answer to those questions is posting her regrets on her blog. (Now, younger moms, can you at least understand some of my sentiments now? I thought so.)

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“Talk may be cheap but intelligent conversation is very expensive these days. Ask anyone with a kid in college.”

Did you know that the true end to the Christmas season is February 2 or Candlemas Day? ( I think that’s how Groundhod Day started. The little guy was just coming out of his hole to get rid of his tree that he’d just taken down.)

So Sunday night, I kept smelling this funny smell.  Kind of a burned and musty smell. The men in the house couldn’t smell a thing but that is because they are genetically programed to smell only hops and barley from birth.

Of course I blamed my son first. After inspection, I let him off the hook but was still nagged by that lingering odor.

Imagine my surprise when I discovered it was my Christmas tree. Never has this happened before, but it was turning brown in places so I suppose it’s possible.

It’s gone now and so is the odor. The kids’ pile of gifts under the tree still remains. They are as bad as I am at wanting the season to last forever.

Either that or they are as physically lazy as I am.

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“Nothing irritates me more than chronic laziness in others. Mind you, it’s only mental sloth I object to. Physical sloth can be heavenly.”  ~ Elizabeth Hurley