Wish (less) Bone

When I was cleaning the kitchen on Monday, I noticed three wishbones that we had saved from rotisserie chickens.

I decided that Jeff and I needed some luck and I figured that one of us would win each try and maybe get a little lift.

I was wrong. On our first attempt, Jeff and I each ended up with only a small part of the bone, no wish included.

We just looked at each other with our stubby wishbones.

They were symbolic of all our recent bad luck.

TV's Fargo

Fargo is one of my favorite movies.

I was skeptical about about the TV series until I heard that the Coens were involved.We gave it a try, and I loved it. In the first season, I tried to match show characters to the film's. TV's Lester was the closest to the Jerry character in the film, but Lester was worse. He actually killed his first wife, and then allowed his second wife to be killed. At least Jerry "only" had his wife kidnapped.

At first, I thought Molly wasn't smart enough to stand in for Marge. But Marge was already a success when we see her in the film. In the show we watch Molly become an excellent police office

In the first season, Molly was awesome; so was her dad Lou. The acting was solid; the story intricate and compelling.

I've been obsessed with the second season. Lou is back as a younger state police officer. Molly is an young girl around six. The season's plot revolves around a local crime family's battle against the acquisition hungry Kansas City mob, a car accident and its aftermath, and the story of Lou and Molly's family.

The finale aired on Monday. For me, it was a slight letdown from the action-packed penultimate show. But that's what it was supposed to be--a denouement for the season. I need to re-watch it. I have mixed feelings about Lou and Peggy's conversation.

Overall, the second season was incredible. The story was fascinating--I couldn't wait until the next installment. The acting was incredible. There were so many layers. I'd like to re-watch it all.

The Stalking Black Cloud

It's been three weeks since my last post. I never intended to take such a long hiatus. I figured I'd write about getaway day, Thanksgiving, Black Friday and/or Jake-sitting.

Instead, I was too busy, too pre-occupied, ultimately too depressed. I don't want to list all the bad things, all the things that have gone wrong for me. I'll  focus on two things.

The first is Spike. We've been managing the tumor on his heart for a year.  But now the tumor's growing. Spike has nodules on his liver and a diseased gall bladder. He sleeps most of the day and hardly walks. He's become a finicky eater. The vet says he could have another two days, two weeks or two years. With all his health problems, the two years seems like a dream. He's on six different meds.We're very worried about him: glad that he's not in any kind of pain, but sad to see how tough daily activities are for him.

Here's the second bad thing. Last week I was leaving for a tutoring appointment. As I put on my raincoat, my wedding ring caught on something, hard enough to hurt my finger. When I looked at my left hand, the diamond from my engagement ring was gone. I only had a few minutes to search that day. I was literally heading out the door--no luck. Later searches also proved fruitless. I moved my hand across the surface of the rug, swept the hardwood with a tiny broom and pan, shined a flashlight in the dark to try to get a glint of diamond.

I began to feel that I was living under a black cloud. Later I wondered if the black cloud was actively stalking me. Things felt that bad.

Things are less bleak now. But the black cloud is hovering.