Thank you and goodbye, faithful companion

I sold my 1995 Saturn SL1 "George" today. He had been a reliable and faithful friend for the past 10 years (I bought him in 1998) during which time I put about 110k on him. He'd started to develop the shakes while accelerating and at higher speeds, and since he had served his purpose as an emergency back-up for the Bug this winter, it was time to send him to a new home.

The people who bought him were a couple of young folks. The girl had just relocated from Florida and needed a car to get her from her home to the Metro and back; she was accompanied by her uncle (who was probably our age) who liked to tinker with cars. In fact, he was restoring a Mercedes turbo-diesel from the 80s, and had already converted another Merc diesel to run on veggie oil. Since George had some issues and needed some work to be perfect, I felt that it was a good match and let him go for a bit less than I had hoped. It's okay though, because he's gone now, to a good home I think. That's all I could have hoped for.

Thanks George! For all the times we've had, all the miles we've driven, it's been swell.

DH is mad I didn't take my St John bumper sticker off the trunk lid. Oh well.

Thanks for the sign, Pop-Pop

PopPop passed away very peacefully on Saturday afternoon, less than a week since I'd last been down there. My Gramma was there with him, and she said the last thing he said to her was "Can you please turn the fan on?" Interesting.

DH and I of course went straight down there to be with my Gramma. We came home yesterday evening, and I had an interesting experience.

When my PopPop and I last spoke, we made a little deal. I promised him that I would look after Gramma if, when he passed, when he saw my mother, he would tell her I said hello and that I loved her. It was a deal - happily when I last spoke with him he was still pretty mentally sharp, so that was good.

Anyway, on that last trip I had brought a whole bunch of pictures in my suitcase in preparation for things. Last night, DH emptied the suitcase and put the unzipped, empty suitcase up on a small chair. Eliza, for some reason, couldn't resist the suitcase, and kept pawing and yanking at it, finally bringing the whole thing down crashing on her. She wasn't hurt, but when I got the suitcase and brought it right side up, a picture slipped out of the pocket.

It was a picture of my mother on her 30th birthday, about a month before she died, and my PopPop was right behind her.

I took it as a sign that he had fulfilled his promise to me. Thanks PopPop!

Blimey, we're 'aving to consider it!

I love Top Gear, love Britcoms old and new, love London, and appreciate the maritime history the English are so proud of.

And I just might be a part of it for a couple of years.

DH has received a formal offer (with all the details) for a position in northern England (Yorkshire - I'm still learning these regions). It's one of those too-good-to-pass-up opportunities, but it's going to take an awful lot of work to get us in the place we need to be before we hop the pond. Among the things we're considering:

- Selling the house (especially in this market - what timing!)
- Selling almost all our stuff (90% of the crap we own we're not attached to, and the 10% we are we'll either ship over or store somehow)
- Dealing with the cats? Shipping them over might be expensive, stressful, and difficult to arrange, but we'd probably do it anyway
- What about my Bug? Selling DH's car is a no brainer, and I'm going to try and sell George the Saturn this weekend. But my beloved Bug! Oh what to do?
- Helping Gmom. Not much more to say about that.

Oy vey! So much, so much!

Circle of Life

Photo courtesy of Brian Vallelunga - PopPop Thanksgiving 2007

Well, it's been a rough week, and a rougher weekend. PopPop's condition is deteriorating quickly, which may be a blessing for him, but rough for all those who love him.

I spent all of last week down there with them, which was an absolute blessing. While he was still healthy and out of pain we got to talk about a lot of things - old stories of his, me thanking him for everything he'd done, etc. I had some real quality time alone with him. My aunt and cousins are going down in the next few weeks, and I really hope that there's enough time left for them to have their time alone with him as well. Before leaving last night, I realized that it was likely the last time I would see him alive. I told him goodbye in just the way I wanted to, and he said goodbye to me, so there's some small consolation there.

I was going to write more about the events of this past weekend, but I think that I've said the most important bit.

What I've cooked this weekend

My entire weekend can be summarized by what I cooked. I'm going down to Delaware Tuesday to be with my grandparents, and this is what I'll bring:

- Turkey meatloaf with carrots, parsnips, and green peppers (4 mini sized ones)
- Chicken meatballs with parsley
- Baked Macaroni and Cheese
- Sweet Potato Casserole
- Pork Shepherds pie (2)
- 4.5 Blueberry waffles (we had some for breakfast ourselves)

That's just what I've cooked so far. I'm planning on also making a spinach lasagna and some other kind of baked pasta. I may have run out of cooking steam for the baked pasta, though. We'll see. I also made fish cakes for dinner for DH and me, and made falafel patties up, ready for frying, for tomorrow night's dinner.

Besides all that I've cooked, Trader Joes has been a godsend for a couple of low-sodium, low-chemical, ready-made meals. I'm bringing their frozen cod fishsticks, chicken nuggets, and from Whole Foods I got low-sodium pre-made steak fries and sweet potato fries. I'm also bringing some frozen veggies, dark chocolate truffles from TJs, and some jarred sauces for quick meals to make there.

I'm still exhausted. My gramma has an appointment with a hospice worker tomorrow.

I should post about my PopPop's actual diagnosis. It's metastatic melanoma. Basically it's a melanoma skin cancer (which he had removed in winter 2006/2007) that metastasized to the internal organs (his lungs, liver, etc). This is basically Stage IV for the disease, and, depending on when diagnosed, means a 6-12 month remaining life span. It's an extremely aggressive cancer, there's only one (very rough) chemo treatment approved by the FDA for it, and it's the same disease that killed my mother.

As if I needed any more stress...

So here's the story:

1) DH has been offered a job in England. No idea what we're going to do about that.
2) I still haven't heard about the job I applied for in my dream office. It's been over two weeks at this point
3) My grandfather (my favorite living relative) has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. It's likely metastatic melanoma that has spread to his lungs, liver, etc. I'm in Delaware now with my grandparents, as the doctor has said that he is not supposed to be left alone, and my grandmother isn't able to get out to the store and whatnot because of that.

Yikes. I think I really need that vacation now!

I'll update as time permits. We'll be home again for the weekend, since the cats will need some looking after and my sister is able to come down to hold fort.