Welcome to 2013

It’s already kicked off to be a wild year, intensely so. On NYE, my brother David went to jail for a DUI (which is a first). He spent 14 hours in jail, getting his bail around 4 p.m. new year’s day. The next day, he received some grave news from his doctor.

For the past year or so, he’s had trouble walking without stumbling, losing his balance constantly and falling often. After umpteen doctors found nothing, a neurologist finally found what the problem is. My brother’s cerebellum never properly developed and has atrophied, which is why the stumbling. It will never improve. The doctor said he’d had at least two strokes.

Meanwhile, back in July, I was helping a friend’s brother (they live next door, which is actually 3 lots over) because they weren’t getting along. I was just being a sounding board, but said that if he got kicked out, he could pitch a tent in the yard for a month til he could get on his feet. (Subject’s name is Luther, and his sister is my friend Susan.) Susan heard about this offer, called me up and demanded I tell Luther no because she didn’t want me helping him. I declined to acquiesce to her demand, which was quite strident, so she ended our friendship and hung up on me. How charming, and childish.

Luther didn’t move over here until October, when he worked out a deal with my brother to stay with him in exchange for working on the house remodel. For a month it went great and Luther worked hard, though he was always broke and bumming cigs etc., despite an income of close to 3k per monrh. Then he started to do more sitting around than working, saying he needed help. We offered to hire him a crew, but he didn’t like that they’d get paid and he wouldn’t. It started going downhill from there.

So after my brother got out of jail, my mom made him a big, $15 roast to bring home. Luther went through the entire roast in one day, feeding a good bit of it to his dog. David was livid. It was the last straw and coming on the heels of other trauma, it was enough to push him over the edge. He kicked Luther out and called the law. I spent the following two days running mediator between David, Luther, and my mom. He finally left and we hired a crew who are putting the house together at record speed; David should be able to move in by Valentine’s Day.

Then last Friday I visited the Furniture Bank for free donations. I got a brand new sofa, 2 mattresses, and one twin mattress/box springs with memory foam. It is an astounding mattress. Mel sleeps comfy now! We also got two large wardrobes so now I have an actual closet in my room! We got eveything home — way more than I’d anticipated — and had to rearrange the entire friggin’ house to put it in place. It looks great and I’ll have photos soon.

So the wardrobes are ugly and i collaged the front of mine. My brother (the artist) went gaga over it and swears we can make thousands on my so-called art. So tonight I decoupaged a tv tray stand with images from video games. It turned out nice and two people have already asked me to give it to them. Lol. I hope they sell because I need a more reliable source of extra cash.

I’m tired, and this is long enough. Hope it wasn’t too boring. It doesn’t seem the least bit boring here.

i am going to be asking for survival donations momentarily. This post may give you some idea why. If you’d like to donate to help us make it through this most difficult month, my PayPal is sheta@rendingtheveil.com

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