Wednesday, 05 November, 1997 18:20

It was a cold and gloomy Kansas day. There was freezing rain in the forecast, but it just regular rained instead. The leaves from the maple trees retain their dull green color as they drop, contrasting with the brilliant sycamore leaves of red and gold. It is a good day to be inside.

And I spent most of the day inside, but not, as usual, sitting in front of the computer.

No, I was slaving away, cleaning the house. First I did the kitchen, then on to vacuuming the floors. But the vacuum cleaner didn't work very well, so I found that the rug head thingie was jammed up; I fixed that, and it will actually pick up dirt now!

I got up pretty early, after sleeping until 21:00 or so last night, then going back to bed about 24:00. So I should be caught up, but my body says "No, you ain't!" and tugs at my eyelids.

The exterminators came at 16:15 today, and I left to meet Karen at Applebee's. We had to be out of the house for a couple of hours while the stink was in the air. I was famished, and had the broiled salmon which, as usual, was excellent. Karen wasn't hungry, so she had a bailey's and coffee. She thinks that she's starting to get a cold; she's started coughing and has the sniffles.

Kim was supposed to bring Lacee to dance class at 18:00; her dance class is right next to Applebee's, and this is the night that parents/grandparents get to watch. I have never got to do that, so I was kinda looking forward to it. But Karen and I stood outside the building waiting for then as 18:00 came and went. Karen told me that there wouldn't be any seats left anyway, so I decided to come on home. Karen was going to wait a few more minutes, then go buy some cards if they didn't show up. Then she has some ice-skating thing that she wants to watch at 20:00, so I know that she'll be home by then regardless.

Karen and I spent some time while I was eating talking about Kim and her boyfriend. Yeah, that's right, Kim is one step closer to dumping Steve. Steve found out about the other guy last week, but he hasn't really changed his behaviour much. Kim, on the other hand, is wishy-washy about the whole thing; she doesn't know which way to go. I really have the feeling that she would like to stick with Steve if he would straighten up... but I feel that's unlikely. He cares more about the booze at this point in his life than his family, or that's the way it looks from here.

The guy that Kim has been seeing is a year older than I am, and he seems to be a pretty nice guy, but he's been married three times. Karen really likes him, too, and so do I, but I have to wonder about those three marriages. Almost nobody gets it right the first time, but most people learn from their mistakes; I kinda feel that if you don't know what you're doing by the third time, you'll probably never learn. But shit, what do I know about it? Maybe I just got lucky, and Bob didn't.

At any rate, Kim has been miserable for the last couple-three years with her marriage, and Steve seems oblivious to almost everything. Whatever decision Kim makes I certainly hope that she finds happiness; and I hope that Packy and Lacee aren't hurt too much by the whole thing.