Stuff

Biting Nails Thoughts

I thought about biting on a few nails around 2 a.m. this morning but I figured the metal might make the horrid indigestion I was having even worse. I'm pretty cranky today after just 4 hours of restless sleep and a short nap.



I'll be in a rush later today after Zach gets home with trying to get him motivated into doing as much as his homework as possible before leaving a little before 5 to take him to his first Tae Kwon Do class. I'm hoping the class will give him a new interest as well as help him cope with self-control issues that he has problems with due to the ADHD.



I just hope he doesn't try to practice using his little sisters as practice material!



Jillian (Miz Beans) is driving her Momma crazy. They're waiting to see when they can get an appointment over the river in Mississippi to cast her arm since there's noone in this part of our great state who's capable. I sure hope they don't wait too long, doesn't a broken bone begin to heal pretty quickly in children? It would suck big time if they messed around and let her bump the bones out of alignment (she's a VERY active 2 yr old). I shudder to think about it.



I can't think of much else to write about so I'll post a few photos to take up some space on here. I hope ya'll don't get sick of them.

Alexis, aka, the Chick, doing her "Lola" routine.

Farmer Zach

MeriKate, being sweet.

Trying to Outdo Daddy

Our Jilly Beans won't be strumming her guitar for a few weeks because she had a little misadventure with the trampoline. She's already broken her daddy's record once, by having a snake bite soon after her first birthday. Her daddy was at least 8 or 9 before we went to the emergency room for that. She's "broken" it again,,both bones in her left forearm (clean breaks they say). Her daddy didn't break his first bone until he was 6 or 7.

Now, if we can keep her from playing football, shooting air rifles, going frog gigging, and, riding horses, we may be able to prevent any more broken or punctured things. If we can't, then all Jerri has to look forward to is a load of gray hair and early insanity.

I'd like to commend the, far from, "wonderful" service our Beans received at the Helena Regional Medical Center. Jerri was only there for over 5 HOURS,,,not one person was called from the waiting room during the first 3 hours she waited. The a/c wasn't working too well in the waiting room where they spent majority of those hours, and it was hot and smelled like unwashed hobo a'la mode, and there was a large family in there, who's 1 ill member was there for a toothache, who proceeded to have a family picnic with various goodies from the snack machine. Beans was in pain and after hour upon hour of waiting, finally began shaking all over and laid down in the dirty floor and sobbed her little heart out.

They splinted her arm after x-rays, gave her a little pain medicine by mouth, a prescription for pain (that can't be filled until tomorrow due to there being no pharmacies open around here after 1 pm on Saturdays), and sent her home. Jerri is taking her to their family doctor on Monday.

All Beans had to say about her injury at first was, "Momma, I gots a Boo-Boo."

It's Never Boring Around Here!

Congrats to my niece, Detra, on the birth of her new baby, Addison. Addison's big sister Bailey is very proud. This makes me a Great Aunt X 2 !

Merikate caught a baby squirrel the other day and the next day added another one to their home zoo. I've forgotten, again, what they named them.

Alexis was dancing and singing while Jillian played her guitar.

Wandering mind

1. I wonder what the temperatures are in Brattleboro, VT?

2. Hope for those of us who are "over-the-hill".

3. Scratch #2, I think some hope could be over-rated.

What? Am I supposed to know everything?

Yesterday I was helping Abby with her 1st grade homework. She had to write to 100 and do a worksheet with words on one side of the sheet and pictures on the other,,,we like drawing lines at this age, so we did. Knowing from experience with the Terrorist that they also had Spelling words to learn every week in 1st grade, I thought perhaps these were her Spelling words. (Hey, it makes sense to me, the more you see em, the easier to spell em, right?)

Anyway, there were 6 or 8 words,,, not many,,, and I figured she could learn a couple every day and she'd be "ready Freddy" by test time on Friday.

After finishing our lines between the words and pictures, we practiced spelling the first two words. We sounded them out, we repeated them over and over, we sang them, we discussed them, and in 20 minutes or so, she could spell FORK and FOX without a second's hesitation. This was a good thing and this Nanaw was as proud as Abby was that she already knew her first 2 spelling words for the week.

However,,,it seems there's always a however in this household,,,I found out this morning that those were her READING words and not her SPELLING words.

Hell's Bells. Now the poor kid only has 3 days to learn her spelling words.

I told Jami to tell her teacher to give her extra points for being able to spell 2 of her Reading words.

As for Zach, he didn't have homework, didn't bring home even 1 book, didn't have anything to say about his day at school, so who knows what went on.

I think I need a nap.

HughesNet's Customer Service SUCKS!

Friday morning I came in here to my little office to log on and read my online news and a few blogs and my satellite Internet service was down. I tried rebooting the computer, rebooting the modem, still nothing. An hour later I gave customer service a call. Adam, with his heavy accent, who probably lives in IRAQ or some other hostile country, ran his tests and said my modem was working fine and after humming and hawwing a bit shared with me the fact that the system was doing an upgrade.

Adam didn't know how long this would take or exactly what was happening.

Adam didn't know on Saturday morning either.

I didn't call Adam today because, lo and behold, it started working. Adam is a lucky man.

I'm pretty upset that HughesNet doesn't seem to think their customers should be notified prior to doing an apparently scheduled, upgrade, nor do they seem to think it appropriate consideration to give the customer information when the customer calls in. They sure think it's appropriate to charge those monthly fees IN ADVANCE for services that might be down for 2 days! (and WAS).

I'm still looking for an address for the HUGESNET corporate offices so I can whine and complain. Although, the whining and complaining about paying for 2 days of NO service is most likely the reason I can't find a danged address. They're clever, these folks that sell you something but treat you like crap after you've spent all your hard-earned dough on the service.

(Graphic kindly provided by Willowtree)

Guess what's coming tomorrow (excuse me while I turn a couple of geriatric cartwheels here)? It's big and yellow and emits all these happy, shouting, voices when it turns into the drive.

School starts toooooooooomorrrrowwwwww! Which is a good thing except for having to roll my old butt outta the bed at 6 a.m. again for 5 mornings a week, and the little matter of wrestling the Terrorist over homework again.

Anyone got any pointers on what to expect in 5th grade these days? If it's much harder than 4th grade I may have to consider re-enrolling into the 5th grade myself. Reckon they'd allow a grandmother to have do-overs? Not all of it would be do-overs because I'd never seen some of the stuff they did in 4th grade!

Zach will be having 4 different teachers this year too, so this is a first, for him, and me. I can't remember changing classes until we were in about the 7th grade (this was back when we were still living in caves though, so I guess it's changed a tad.)

Quick One

I'm back but I've got to get the little Terrorist motivated to get bathed and ready for Children's Church so it'll be later before I'll have time to post something.

Hope ya'll have been having a great weekend!

She's Gonna Blow Soon

I've casually mentioned (so it won't be considered bitching) that someone, who won't be ME, needs to climb under the house and clean out that dryer vent again because it's taking FOREVER to dry a load of clothes. I've casually mentioned this little item about 3 times over the last two weeks.

So,,,yesterday, when Himself came home from a meeting/fish fry at the John Deere shop, dripping due to there being no A/C in the shop, and threw his clothes in the utility room, I told him, "I won't be doing laundry anymore until the dryer vent gets unstopped or you put up a clothes line." You'd have thought I'd asked him to fly to the moon and bring back a lunar rock or something.

I know he's been working hard and in this heat it's extra miserable, but I also know that we've already had to have a repairman out to replace a heating element in the dryer that's barely a year old because of this freaky ventilation pipe. The pipe is very near to the A/C drain and it seems it makes condensation build up and causes the lint to stick in the pipe.

I'm no engineer, but maybe replacing the pipe with something other than metal might help? Go an extra mile to save 100 is my take on it, but I'd the dumb-ass here, so what do I know?

That's all I've got to say about that, for now.

Mary Winkler spent her first full day as a free woman in awhile in McMinnville, TN on Wednesday. She was sentenced to serve 210 days of a 3 yr conviction for voluntary manslaughter for killing her husband on March 22, 2006. 60 of this sentence had to be served in a mental health facility. After time served, she spent 67 days incarcerated after the trial. She now faces a legal battle with her inlaws to regain custody of her 3 daughters.

In my opinion, the woman was not on trial for being a bad mother and deserves to be able to raise her daughters. I watched her trial and after watching the mother-in-law's testamony, there's no way I'd want that hateful, old, broad to raise my kids. I'm certain that she was completely devastated over her son's death, but even when proof of the constant abuse her son had heaped upon his wife was presented, she continued to insist that he was a kind and gentle man who'd never do any of those things.

When testamony was given that her husband would put his hand over their baby's mouth to stop her from breathing so she'd stop crying, I decided right then, I'd have shot that SOB more than once and with absolute intent!



Now, about OJ Simpson.

I think he murdered his wife and her boyfriend in cold blood and got away with it because a jury was selected that was just too stupid to see through all the bull that went on in that trial.

I'm still on the fence about whether I'll read his book.

Scorched!

The Beans doing her nudist thing as she enjoys a cool dip in the pool. Jerri has given up trying to keep clothes on her when they're at home.
Sun fried corn all ready for a combine. The dust will be flying around here soon I reckon.
Even the little butterflies are having a hard time finding a bud that's not crispy fried.

I swear, it's hot enough to scorch a lizard's butt outdoors this week!!

Yesterday we spent a good bit of time sitting on the side of the road waiting for a tow truck to do his thing. Jerri's Niece was meeting us half way with the Chick, who'd been in Little Rock all week, and when we were just a few miles away from meeting her, her car left the road, traveled quite a few yards before landing in a ditch. Everyone was buckled up so noone was hurt except for Dallas, her Niece, who's got some mighty sore muscles.

While we were away on the quest to fetch the Chick, Jami called and had been to the doctor after falling off the ladder in their pool. She's broken her foot in 2 places and will spend the next 6 to 8 weeks in a heavy boot and on crutches. I went over today and mopped her kitchen and left Zach to help out until tomorrow. (I hope he feels some sympathy and will at least vacuum for her).

As for me, I'm just hot and cranky. My head's all stuffed up so I've taken 2 benedryls and I"m going to get nekid soon and go to bed!

HOT and Rising

Can you believe the corn harvest has begun and James is out every day working in this heat? He is absolutely drained by the time he comes home every evening. My son is having to work in it too, but they work summer scheduled hours so he and his hoe squad aren't out in it for most of the hottest parts of the day.


Now I want to talk about JERRI'S CREATIONS. I've also put a link over there in the sidebar. (I'm going to attempt to make an icon for her soon).

Jerri is using her amazing talent to handpaint the cutest, one of a kind, kids clothes that I've ever seen. She's always coming up with new ideas and also uses her customer's ideas for clothes they want for their children and grandchildren. A few weeks ago she did outfits for one lady's grandchildren for their trip to Disney World per her requests. Because she's a busy Mommy, she does most of the work at night while her girls are asleep.

Anyway, ya'll go take a look at some of her work and if you see anything you like or have anything that you'd like her to create for you, give me a hollar here or scroll to the bottom of her page for a link to her email address.

Finicky Friday

I had to go to town today because I was too lazy to do it yesterday and I've had this powerful hankering for some homemade chili. I was short of a few of the needed ingredients and had a couple more things that needed doing, so I went.

I should have gone yesterday or waited until Monday, cause I know better than to shop around here on Friday (the first of the month is freaky too).

First stop was 6 miles in a westerly direction so I could visit the little, old, black man in order to pay the bills and gather up this month's bank statements for the improvement district. Then I back-tracked to do the banking for that same district, and finally was able to drive on into town.

Next, I drove to mid-town to register Zach for a Tae Kwon Do class at the college. That was a waste of time and fuel because apparently the college offices are closed on Fridays? Who knew? So, on to Wal Mart I go.

Those who've been reading my meanderings for awhile know that there is not much in this life that I absolutely dislike,,,well maybe there is,,, but not as much as I dislike Wal Mart! There was no reason to change my opinion of the dreaded place today either. I waited in line behind a woman who decided, AFTER she'd check out, that she'd spent too much money and they needed to take off some 10 or so items, that she had to search through 2 dozen bags for.

My frozen french fries were as limp as cooked noodles by the time they finished with her and there was still someone ahead of me in line.

After I loaded the groceries into the back seat of the truck, while sweating in the 101 degree outdoor sauna we're experiencing down here this week, and last, we stopped, and Zach bought my lunch at the drive-thru at McDonald's (not my first choice but he was buyin!) They must have been having a finicky Friday there too cause when I got home and opened my Big Mac box, the all beef patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions, on a sesame bun, looked like a Mac truck had run over it. Twice.

Ever had to eat a Big Mac with a knife and fork? I did, but only after I unloaded, and put away, all those groceries, and I couldn't even do that half-ass right.

While unloading the dozen, half- filled, bags, I leaned down to pick up something I'd dropped and banged the corner of a cabinet door into the top of my head. At least I saw all those pretty stars and flashes of light before the pain hit and I lost all control and cried like a baby.

The crater has turned into a lump that's sort of egg-shaped now, I've had 4 ibupros, and a cup of coffee so I'm going to make it until the next time I have to leave the house which I hope is when the temps have dropped at least 10 or 15 degrees.

No Vista For Me!

At least not in the near future cause I'm afraid I can't afford the loaded machine it's gonna take to run this OS properly.

I could tell from the get-go that it takes a LOT of memory and a LOT of processor to run Vista and a computer that's over a year old (unless it's one of those loaded gaming puters) isn't going to handle it. Truth be known, the new computer, an Acer, that my Cousin just bought, isn't loaded enough to run all the Vista trimmings because it froze up twice just in the little bit of time I was there. Kinda makes you wonder why they'd sell you a machine loaded with an OS that it wasn't built for. (like they give a darn once it's unpacked and sitting on your desk).

Forget using most the the current versions of the virus protection software you have now.

If you're doing a "from the box" install of Vista, you'll have to uninstall your current virus software and after the Vista install, hope that you can find a version of that virus software that will be compatible with Vista. And don't even imagine that all of your other software, that you previously used on XP, is going to be compatible either, for the same reason. Forget the old hardware equipment too, the drivers for that stuff ain't likely to be there.

The Password-entry and "Continue" boxes required by the User Account Controls will drive you batshit crazy!

Within the first 1 hour, I had at least 10 of these popup boxes asking me things like, can the firewall run and block something and unblock something. I paid attention for a while but then was tempted to turn off the feature or just click ok because I couldn't even understand some of the questions it was asking me to give permission to do!

And the absolute worst part!

My Documents and My Pictures and My Videos are GONE. Some genius made the decision to to store user profile information that WAS stored under ‘C:\Documents and Settings\’, now be moved to C:\Users. Why the hell would you do that? What about applications that are using the ‘C:\Documents and Settings\’ structure? That whole directory is now gone and now applications that rely on that or use hard coded paths will certainly break when you try to transfer them, won't they?

That's as far as I got but it's not looking good to me until, and unless, I can afford a puter a hell of a lot bigger and faster than what I've got.

Wednesday Ramblings

It's HOT!

I"m going now to take my bath before waking the Terrorist to herd him towards getting some breakfast and getting dressed,, Then we're going to visit my cousin over on the other side of Moro. She has a new computer and it came with Vista installed. She doesn't use a computer much so she can't figure out many of the basic things and wants me to come see if I can show her. I've never used Vista either, so this should be an interesting day.

I'm taking my camera along cause who knows what I might come across on the way over and back.

Be back later!

Another Lazy Sunday

Zach allowing Abby to give him one of those rare hugs that little boys allow.

We went over to Jami and Keith's for grilled burgers and veggies today for lunch and had a late supper at home too so I'm stuffed!

Above are some of the critter photos I've managed to capture over the past month. I think I'm getting a bit better at focusing but the "finding" of the critters and being fast enough to snap or chase them down is my biggest problem. Click to make em bigger if you'd like.

Smiles and Moans

One of the best smiles was having Jillian spend the night last night. We went to Hornlake (a Memphis suburb in north Mississippi) yesterday to buy up all those things I hate to have to buy very often (toilet paper, paper towels, trash bags, etc,,) and we stopped by and picked up the Beans on the way home. She's been miserable with an ear infection and Jerri needed a good night's rest.

We played, and played, she wrestled with Zach, read loads of magazines and books, got an early bath, and then, around 7ish the little sweetie climbed up in my lap, stuck her hand down the front of my shirt, threw her head back over my arm, and was asleep in about 2 seconds. She slept until around 8 this morning.

Nanaw did too!

After breakfast we played and read more books then PopPop came home and I was able to slip away to the bathroom to get a quick bath while he was SUPPOSED to be watching her. When I came out of the bathroom she was standing outside the door waiting for me. James was on the porch talking to the neighbor, and Zach was engrossed in a gameboy game. So much for thinking they could surely handle babysitting for 10 whole minutes!

Alexis called me last night to tell me she had made me a birthday card and she and her Momma were making me a special birthday cake. They did, the card was beautiful and even had the cutest little paperdolls included in the envelope. The is cake delicious! They also bought me a lovely pair of earrings and a wonderful fragrant candle. Jerri and Bubbie also cooked lunch for us which is always a lovely change!

Isn't it great to have a birthday that's celebrated for days? I feel so special!

The moan came this afternoon cause James and I juiced tomatoes with our new handy-dandy electric juicer, used the food processor to almost liquify some hot peppers, onions, and garlic, for our first attempt to make and can some BBQ sauce. (I'll let you know if it turned out ok.) Normally I don't mind canning because I love to see the end result, but today it was just too danged hot to be doing all that stuff.

Hope ya'll are having a great weekend!

Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar + 17

The Duggar family has grown by one more! Baby, Jennifer Danielle, was born this morning to be welcomed home by her 16 brothers and sisters.

I didn't realize until today that this Christian family, who I first saw on a Discover Channel Special, was from Arkansas. What I first thought, as I watched the special last year, was, "I'd lock that man in a shed in shackles if he came near me, if I were her." Then I watched as this amazing couple, with their love of God and family, handled a routine day that I'm quite certain (with my homemaking skills) would make me run screaming for the men in white to take me away. Their organizational skills astonished the heck outta me!

It wasn't so long ago that large families were the norm, but these days, with all of the various birth control methods available, it's rare that you see, or even hear about, so much voluntary procreation by one couple.

My mother had 7 brothers and sisters, my father was 1 of 12. My father's mother raised the majority of her children alone too, as my grandfather was killed in a bus accident on my father's 10 th birthday. Her older children helped with the farm and with the younger children after my grandfather's death but just imagine cooking meals, doing laundry, and everything else without indoor plumbing or all the fancy appliances that we have available today.

My husband and I also came from large families. He has 4 brothers and a sister living. One brother, older than him, died at age 9, and the youngest sibling, another brother, died in infancy. I am the oldest of 8, although my 5 brothers are half brothers. One of the 5, my brother, Roger, died several years ago in a car accident. I haven't seen the others in years so it's been different for me, not living together as one, big, family.

James was raised much the same way as it was decades ago with large families. As soon as they were old enough, they went to the fields to help make the living. They sharecropped and they all did their part to keep food on the table. The only one of them that never "shook a stick at a snake", by the time they were 7 or 8, was their sister. She is the youngest and the only girl.

Often as I raised my 2 daughters and my son, I felt as though I was walking a thin line and constantly tipping towards the insanity side of it, so I can't imagine the stress factor of raising 17.

Like It?

Later today or this evening I'll be adding my blog buds link back,,,I couldn't figure out where the widget code started and stopped for it to be easier.

I hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Monday Again

Monday's aren't as bad right now because school hasn't started back yet and we can still sleep in. And they aren't nearly as bad as they were back when I had to get dressed and go to work.

Ok, done with it being Monday, I've got a Jilly Beans story to tell.


On Friday I took Zach over to swim with the Beans and Chick, and Jaylen and Jordan and they were all happily splashing around in the pool before 11 a.m. Jillian is an in and out kid, she's get in and swim around and play, then get out and play around in the yard. She knows, kind of, that if she's going in the pool she has to have her floaties on. We watch her close when the ladder is in place because sometimes she forgets.

She'd gotten out of the pool and wanted her floaties off before going back outside so I was standing at the door watching to make sure she didn't climb back in with the others. I saw her wiggle a little and then she reached down and took her swimsuit bottoms off. I thought maybe she'd peed but no,,, she shook the bottoms and then took them over to the wading pool at the bottom of the ladder and was swishing them around. I knew then what was going on and started laughing. I called Jerri over and we both stood there laughing at this child who was trying to hide the evidence.

She gave up the swishing after a few minutes and just threw the bottoms into the wading pool. She looked around and found her little watering can, went back to the wading pool, and dipped out some water to take over to where she'd been shaking the bottoms. She sprinkled, and then sprinkled some more. Then she looked around, saw her little bear float, walked over and grabbed it, and threw it on top of what she'd been sprinkling with the water.

When she finally thought she had the evidence hidden well enough, (and at this point, Jerri and I could hardly stand up straight from laughing so hard) she came inside to get her butt wiped and have a bath.

I can see the future is going to be full of stories from this family!

I've just been over to visit Miz Pea where she has a link to 5 Mintues for Mom who has a contest going on. The prize is a Insignia® 37" Flat-Panel LCD HDTV from Best Buy. Ya'll go on over and leave a comment so you can be entered to win.

Such a Wonderful Surprise!

It's always a wonderful day when you go to your mailbox and find something in it thats just for you!

Thank you Miz Leslie!! It's still a few days until my birthday but I just had to open the package. I'll wear the earrings with pride!

Aren't they BE U TIFUL?

Survivor

I've never watched a whole episode of Survivor and I probably never will because reality TV just isn't my thing. Another reason is reality on a television program doesn't seem to coinside with what I consider true reality.

In real life, how many times have you had TV cameras hanging around when REAL diasters occur?

• The toilet overflowing because one of the little tykes in your family flushed the plastic deodorizer holder thingy.


• Another overflow because the suspected, same, unknown, tyke wanted to see if a banana would flush, with skin on.


• Having to buy a new cell phone because the youngest tyke-lett gave it a dunking,,,in the toilet, or the river, or the pool.


• Having to dig the fish hook out of your ankle after the oldest tyke got too excited with his fishing pole.


• Artistic expression diasters, ie, painting self, or the walls, windows, or doors, with sharpies, markers, ink, lipstick, nail polish, or my personal favorite, purple soy candle wax(hahahaha, Jerri, I still laugh every time I see that photo).


• The pain and misery, and screaming fits that occur from stepping on leggos or that wicked little dinosaur.


• The heart-stopping fear that occurs when you hear voices and singing during that 2 am trip to the bathroom (from talking Grandpa Bear who's been buried in the toy cupboard).


• Being locked in a windowless bathroom, without tools, while your 2 and 3 yr old children are rolling the living room and kitchen with the roll of toilet paper they grabbed when you shooed them out of the bathroom that they locked you in. (before you ask, the old great wise one,,, who isn't me,,, turned the door knob around so these same kids wouldn't lock themselves in)


• The sinking feeling and near heart attack you have after you've rushed your 10 yr old to the hospital after he's been bitten by a cotton mouth and finding out that they don't know what to do for a snake bite. (luckily he only got a trace of the venom)

The list could go on for dayssssss, but they've never offered a million dollar prize for surviving any of those diasters.

Maybe I should write in to some of those TV execs and offer my kids and their kids as contestants. I'd offer myself but I'm getting too old for that stuff!

Hear That???

That's the sound of total and absolute QUIET..well, almost, both televisions are still on but I've turned the volume down really low and the only sound I hear right now is my little fan blowing cool air on my tired, old, feet.

30 minutes ago it was not so, I was so close to tears it was scary. This Nanaw almost bit off more than she could chew today by hosting 4 of our little granddaughters for the night.

I picked them up, picked Zach up from church, came home and put away groceries, then we all toddled and rolled across the yard to the neighbors for a swim which kept them busy for a couple of hours.

Then it was time for Nanaw to get supper ready, everyone fed, and the dishes done before going outside again to run and play so they'd be nicely exhausted enough for bed later on. This worked somewhat except that I think they were a little too tired and got a bit cranky, (Jillian was kicking her sister, Alexis, in the head) and whiney before they finally conked out.

I didn't want to press my luck cause PopPop was getting sleepy and antsy, so I inspected and wiped off the ones I could easily catch, and decided to wait until morning to line them up for baths.

Zach, Jordan, Jaylen, Alexis, and Jillian are all sleeping like little angels now and I promise, I didn't cry out loud.

I've been REALLY Cranky Lately.

I think I need a warning label on my forehead but I reckon that wouldn't do much good to forewarn the ding-dongs you reach sometimes over the telephone. Forgive me Kat, but I've been connected to some doozies lately. (Every company could use several Special Ks). I must be in the throes of PMS, Peri menopause, menopause, tick fever, and CRS.

Maybe some of those mosquito born diseases too.


Cranky Episode #1

For 2 weeks I've been given reminders about Day Sports Camp the Methodist Church was having for the kids this week and next. Each time they've told me that teens from a church out of the area were doing this camp and they'd be picking the kids up before and bringing them home after and would be responsible for keeping the kids entertained for 2 hours each day of the camp.

From what I saw today these young people are doing an excellent job and they're having as much fun as the younger kids. The adults in charge, however, are dropping the ball, or maybe they never had it in the first place,,who knows?

So, they called yesterday and I was told to have Zach ready by 12:30 today and they'd pick him up. We only live 3 miles or so from the church so I'd told them that it wouldn't be a problem to take Zach and pick him up, but they insisted that this was part of the program and they'd pick him up.

I started herding him towards getting brushed and dressed at 12 and he was ready and waiting at 12:30. At 12:40 the phone rang, it was one of the adults with the news that since we lived on a gravel road, and they were picking the kids up in a Greyhound-like charter bus, and they needed a mile to turn it around, could I please meet them at the highway in a few minutes?

When I reach the highway I'm only a mile from the church! Didn't these folks think this stuff through beforehand?

I told them, program or not, I'd be taking him and picking him up since I have to get in the truck and drive him almost 2 miles to the highway anyway. Besides, I am a little worried about letting him ride on a bus who's driver needs a mile in which to turn around!

Cranky Episode #2

I've been waiting for weeks for my DIRECT TV statement to come in the mail. I always make the check out when I do the other bills near the end of the month but I have to wait, every month, for the statement to come.

Today it finally arrived.

It's due tomorrow.

I paid it by telephone ACH payment yesterday because I thought it was lost in the mail.

I called those fine folks at DIRECT TV to ask them why, if the statement date is the 5th of the month, and the due date is the 24th of the month, they don't mail the danged things so that they can be received and paid before the due date?

I still don't have the answer. No one seems to know. They did say it was probably the fault of the US Postal Service. Every month.

I asked them if they knew the toll free number to DISH NETWORK.

Cranky Episode # 3

It's not a good idea to make a snide remark and then ask, "What's for supper?" with your next breath.

My answer was Decon.

Tomorrow Will Be a Jilly Beans and Nanaw Day

Today I was up early and eventually got busy canning some pickled okra and some peppers for a young college student that works on the farm with James. I finished up around noon but still had a total mess in the kitchen that had to be cleaned up.

Tomorrow I'm going to try to wake early so I can be awake when Miz Beans comes to visit. I'll have to stay on my cranky, arthritic, toes to keep up with that little miss but she makes it all worth it with her hugs and her sweet, wet, sugars.

12 Valid Reasons Not To Come In To Work

1. I can't come in to work today because I'll be stalking my previous boss, who fired me for not showing up for work. OK?

2. When I got up this morning, I took two Ex-lax in addition to my Prozac. I can't get off the john, but I feel good about it.

3. My mother-in-law has come back as one of the Undead and we must track her to her coffin to drive a stake through her heart and give her eternal peace. One day should do it.
4. I can't come to work today because the EPA has determined that my house is completely surrounded by wetlands and I have to arrange for helicopter transportation.

5. If it is all the same to you I won't be coming in to work.The voices told me to clean all the guns today.

6. I have a rare case of 48-hour projectile leprosy, but I know we have that deadline to meet....

7. I am stuck in the blood pressure machine down at Tom Thumb.

8. Yes, I seem to have contracted some attention-deficit disorder and, hey, how about them Skins, huh? So, I won't be able to, yes, could I help you? No, no, I'll be sticking with Sprint, but thank you for calling.

9. Constipation has made me a walking time bomb. (This is my favorite!)

10. I just found out that I was switched at birth. Legally, I shouldn't come to work knowing my employee records may now contain false information.

11. The psychiatrist said it was an excellent session. He even gave me this jaw restraint so I won't bite things when I am startled.

12. The dog ate my car keys. We're going to hitchhike to the vet.

Happy 36th Anniversary TOOOOOOOOOOO MEEEEEEEEE!

Since James forgot the day, again, (he remembered, briefly, last week that the date was some time this week) I spent it the way I have on most of the previous 35 anniversaries, I piddled around doing a little housework. I also canned another cooker full of tomatoes. Thinking back on it for a second,,,,I've probably spent more anniversaries canning tomatoes or some other form of vegetable or fruit than I have actually celebrating.

If I had a bottle of booze on hand I'd drink to this life sentence.

There wouldn't have been much money to spend celebrating anyway since HIS DANGED TRUCK has eaten up over $500 bucks in less than a week for parts.

I'm in sort of a bad mood.

Does it show?

Oh well, at least we won't be hungry.

Who's 2?

Jillian and her big cousin Kyle had a birthday on the 8th so they had a Swim Party on Saturday. Jilly Beans is now 2 and Kyle is 15.

Sometimes I Wonder

What men want can be summed up in 3 sentences.

1. They want food.

2. They want women.

3. They want women who can cook food.

Their, almost constant, simplicity can be counted on and I think that's the reason I can really appreciate this commercial.

Just Call Me Noah's Wench

Near 'bout floating here. This is how it looks in my front yard after it rained 5 inches in just under an hour. (about 20 minutes ago) . That stream over on the far side of that bare tree there has a road under it. The back yard looks like a lake too.

Not Bad,, Just Not Right

I'm tired and I hurt every single minute of every single day. I know it's mostly just "old Arthur" up to his old tricks in the pain department and I know I gotta keep moving or he'll take over completely, the old devil. I think a lot of the tiredness is due to the blood pressure pill I have to take every day to keep my heart from skipping around. My blood pressure has always been in the low/normal range so that little blue pill makes it even lower. The couple of times I've checked it this week it's been like 96/60 or thereabouts and it's making me feel like it's a chore to pick up one foot and put it in front of the other.

I was reading something or other the other day and this jumped out at me cause it's exactly the way I feel at times,

"As if traveling down a road and having someone shove you off. Still traveling in the same direction as the road but walking in the brush and rocks beside it. The road's right there, but damned if you know how to get back on."

Pooped!

We've sho' been havin' some fine vittles down here in redneck country.

Jerri and I washed, screwed through a manual strainer, and processed about 13 gallons of tomatoes today. We ended up with 12 quarts and 9 pints of juice. I'm thinking I may can a few jars of cubed tomatoes tomorrow, or I may wait until Monday cause my old butt is tired.

I sure do appreciate her grandmother for loaning us her food strainer! I've been looking at an electric one online and leaning towards buying one if hubby is going to keep growing this enormous amount of tomatoes every year. They've only just begun getting ripe so the major harvest isn't even here yet,

(Lord give me strength!)