Ordinary

I remember a line from that great sage Christopher Moltisanti in the first season of "The Sopranos" where he complains to Tony how he is "bored with the ordinariness of life". Ironic coming from a mobster but I guess everything can become routine regardless of who you are and what you do.

We returned from vacation to find some extraordinary events. The NJ Department of Labor had stopped my benefits because I was in Italy. How Big Brother is this? How in the world...??? Well, it turns out I have to file every week or they stop the claim so I filed twice from Italy and they can tell. They scheduled a hearing for the first week of November and after a slew of phone calls I ran around faxing, mailing...whatever they asked...showing when I left the country and when I re-entered while frantically answering every ad for a job that seemed remotely feasible. Continued to file, as instructed, even though I kept being rejected and fretted constantly wondering what the outcome would be. Frank was starting a new job on October 24th and had to run around being fingerprinted, drug tested, background checked...all in two days before going back to work and resigning to a very angry boss.

Life continued.

We went to the ballet,

marvelling at the beauty of Lincoln Center.

I was delighted at the fact that the Montauk Daisies which were full of buds about to burst when we left waited to bloom until the day after we came home.

I watched the trees start to turn,

and was giddily surprised when cleaning out my Summer flower pots and pulling out the potato vines that I had become an accidental farmer!

I baked apple and cheddar scones,

watched Max take over our bed on a daily basis once we returned from our morning walk,

all while holding my breath.

Then last week I filed and was approved, I received a letter saying they wouldn't pay those two weeks because I was on vacation. My hearing seems to have been cancelled. Frank started his new job this week which cuts his commute to a half hour from one and a half hours, we won't be paying NYC taxes or NYC commuting costs.

We went to dinner and the theater.

I was overjoyed to look at the remaining flower garden to find a giant Dahlia had bloomed,

brought Fall to the front porch with mums and pumpkins,

made chicken Marbella for Frank and his wine making friends.

Took care of Max's tummy troubles.

Had three interviews for jobs I'm not going to get. Cleaned the house, did the laundry, went grocery shopping, planned meals.

Just living my ordinary life, and breathing.