I Once Was Lost,but Now I'm Found

I've been gone for awhile, severely neglecting my blog.  I do that sometimes, just check out and disappear.  I get depressed when I'm stressed and in emotional overload. I think I'm emerging from that, but who knows for sure.

I'm still working for the Obama Iowa campaign, although things have slowed down. We had our County Convention a few weeks ago and did really well.  We ended up with 7 delegates to send to the District and State Conventions. Iowa's final tally of national delegates will be decided at that point.  I'm looking forward to the conventions, sort of as a way to have seen this campaign to  through from beginning to end.  It's been an interesting journey and I've learned a lot about the political process.  I was also elected to a 2 year term as Secretary of our County Democratic Central Committee. Ah, the life  of a politics junkie!

My son has been very ill for the past couple of months.   His bipolar disorder has developed some psychotic overtones, both visual and delusional and this has caused his anxiety and panic attacks to escalate.  We had to have him hospitalized for 11 days, which was really hard on us all, and he came home on Monday.  Things weren't much better.

Fortunately, his case worker was able to find a small apartment designed for mentally ill adults where he can live and get some help.He's independent in that he can come and go as he pleases, bu he's required to follow a treatment plan that includes learning independent living skills and learning how to live with a chronic mental illness.

Another major stressor has been helping my mother deal with my father's recently diagnosed Alzheimer's diagnoses.   We're separated by 1000 miles  but there isn't any other family to help out.  I do what I can, such as researching support groups and preparing the various powers of attorneys. l know I'll eventually have to fly back to Virginia to tackle the hard stuff when Mom can't handle things on her own any longer.  I have a feeling I'll be there in the summer.

Now my focus has to be on finding a job, since I've been unemployed since the beginning of  October.  That's where living  in a  rural  location  is a disadvantage. Unless I  want to work on a farm, in a manufacturer plant or as a housekeeper at the nursing home, I'm out of luck.  Office jobs that I'm qualified for (manager, admin. assistant and the like) are non-existent.  The ones that exist are taken by women who'll retire from them.  No one leaves! I'm trying to think of something I can do from home.

And winter just may be over, but I may have jinxed it by saying that!  I can finally see my wet, soggy lawn and a few plants are coming up.  My vegetable garden is planned and should be able to plant by the end of May.  I'm going to attempt a technique called "square foot gardening" which is supposed to increase the yield in a much smaller area.   I'll probably end up selling my bounty at the local farmer's market...but this unemployed person could use the income.

Depressing things to write about, but isn't what life is like?  I'm a natural pessimist anyway and I like Ben Franklin's outlook. To paraphrase. I'm a pessimist so that when things go good, I'm pleasantly surprised.

Katie at the Waverly Horse Auction
My cat friends, Chloe and Willie
Snow - I won't miss this!
This is what it took to get rid of the 8" of ice in our driveway.

And what I'm looking forward to....

Garden