It All Falls Down

I went to my cousins' father's funeral yesterday [E keeps calling him my uncle, and I guess he was while he was married to my aunt, but I don't think of the men who are married to my aunts as my uncles. There is a lot of naming and familial distinction in my family, and the men I call my uncles are those who are directly related to me. I can only think of one of my aunt's husbands who I would call my uncle, but even that makes me feel . . . Weird.]. It was, obviously, sad. He was pretty young - only just 65. And my cousins are in their late teens/early 20s. I can't imagine how hard it must be for them.

The girl went, because she is very close to my cousins. Everyone held it together, and it was very nice. E, who was raised Catholic, fell right into the service. It was cute. I did very little responding to the service, which is my wont, since I have a great irrational fear that the god of whatever religion involved will either A) strike me dead, or B) give me religious ecstasy/epiphany and change me forever. I know. So many kinds of crazy.

Also, I ordered flowers for the service, and the card read:

You're in our thoughts!

Seriously. With the exclamation point. I pointed this out to my cousin, and she thought it was hilarious. When she writes the thank you card, she said she's going to include the double exclamation point smiley face.

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It's snowing like a motherfucker here. Seriously. Has not stopped all day. We've been housebound. Finally cleaned the house, which made me angry - because I hate cleaning and I hate the fact that at age 40 I can't afford a magical Mary Poppins/Alice-type housekeeper/child minder. That is so . . . grrr.

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I start classes Monday. Blech. I have books for 1 of my 5 classes. And I'm supposed get more tomorrow. If the weather lets up. Otherwise they can all bite me.

I'm also trying to write my paper for Law Review. We'll see how that goes. My motivation factor is in negative numbers.

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The girl's 12th birthday is Wednesday. I'm not sure what to get her. I'm debating getting her a new cell phone, since she's been very good about not losing/destroying my old one. Of course, I want to get her one that's a freebie on my phone plan. Because while I love her and am thrilled she managed to keep a phone since August, I am not insane.

Or I might just get her the ink she wants so she can write with the quill she wants to make.

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I roasted a turkey today. The house smells delicious. And we'll have food forever. I feel very pioneer-like today. Also because I haven't bathed yet today, and I always felt pioneers were kind of gamey.

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I'm going on a no-buying binge. There are things that I need[ish] like a pair of boots, but I'm going to see if I can avoid being all spendy. I'm sick of spending money.

This may or may not be a direct result of:

• The crack in the windshield of my car that needs repair [fucking fuckers who spew up chunks of asphalt]
  
• The $650 estimate for a new hot water heater (ours gives up dribbles of hot water . . . seriously. I, who do not take hot showers, end up showering with only hot water.)
• The $450 for new tires I need which I found out on Friday when I was on my way to my uncle's funeral and had to get my slow leak fixed
• The ridiculous amount I'm going to have to pay for books.

So I'm going old school and making due with what I have.