What I'm Learning during my second trip through 5th Grade

First off, I'm learning that they've changed the names of some of the stuff in Math as well as changing the way the stuff is done. The second thing that's quickly become apparent is that "the old dogs and new tricks" thing is a lot harder to get a handle on when you're actually an Old Dog.

So, when did an average become a mean? Did I learn that back in 1965 and have just forgotten it? Before you even get to the mean part, you've got to learn the parts about, organizing your data and finding the range. Mean is the 3rd step and then you've got to find the Median and Mode.

We're working on graphs now and learning even more new, or forgotten, terms.

I still can't remember the difference between a mean, mode, and median.

I think brain cells are dying here.

And while I'm moaning here, what's up with the Book Reports? Back when I was in school, there were two kinds, Written and Oral. Zach brought home 3 or 4 pages of book report examples! Each 9 weeks he has to do 2 of them, for 1 the teacher assigns the form, the 2nd is his choice which could include,

Writing a Radio Announcement about the book

Giving a Sales Pitch about the book

Creating a Book Jacket

Make a Movie about the book

,,,And the list goes on (they could even do a Power Point Presentation).

I think I prefer the old way when you only had two choices and the teacher decided which one you were to do.

I hope I can pass the 5th grade this go-round and if I do, I might have to drop out before entering the 6th again.

Annual Credit Report

Folks, it's a smart move to check your credit report at least once a year. The government now makes the 3 major credit bureaus give you a free check one time a year and it's pretty simple to do,,,except for Transunion's,,, you need account numbers and practically your mamma's, mamma's, birthday and birth weight to get at their report. (I personally think they do this so you'll throw up your hands and have a tantrum before finally giving up).

Anyhow, the reason I'm suggesting this fine idea, is because whilst doing the annual check of our credit worthiness I found 2 potentially negative items on the report from the Experian agency that hadn't been there when I checked last year. They have this little button you can click if you disagree with their information and they're supposed to investigate and correct their mistakes, etc...

I'm not sure how much time or effort they spend on research in order to make corrections but I'm here to tell ya, it's best to skip that little step cause it takes them about a month to do their "investigation" and apparently they don't do much during that period of time cause when I finally got the results, nothing had changed and I knew something smelly was going on in regards to those 2 potentially negative items.

So, I got out my magnifying glasses and tracked over to the Original Creditor section of the Experian report and see where both of the items in question originate from Helena Regional Medical Center.

"AH-HA", says I, " I know we haven't used the services of these fine folks since they garnished our bank account for someone else's bill back in 2002, so let's see what those crooked scoundrels have been up to now."

So, I called them and reached a lady named Brenda first, who knew nothing because none of the relevant information came up on her computer screen, so I'm transferred over to Ken in the financial office. I gave Ken the two account numbers in question and asked him about the services we supposedly received because we'd never actually been in his hospital on those dates and we'd also never been billed for the invisible services that were showing up on our credit report.

First we verified the last 4 digits of the social and that matched.

"Hmmm", says I. "So, who was this patient who received these emergency room services?"

"Mr. SoandSo received treatment", says Ken.

"Ahhh, it so happens that Mr. SoandSo is not a member of our household, I don't know who Mr. SoandSo is, where he lives, or anything else about Mr. SoandSo, and something fishy is going on since Mr. SoandSo has the same social security number as my husband", says I. "What billing address do you have on record for Mr. SoandSo"?

Ken informed me right quick that he wasn't allowed to share that piece of information with me.

"Then let me give you our address and you can check to see if it's the same as Mr. SoandSo", I suggested.

After I gave him my address Ken says, "Oh,,,Ok,,I think there's been a mistake here somewhere."

"Oh yes, Ken, that just happens to the the exact reason for my call", says I. "And since you're all up in this little matter of correcting mistakes, let me give you the other account number, again, and you can fix that error too."

After giving Ken the second account number, again, he proceeds to tell me that those charges came from the emergency room Doctor's billing service and it had nothing to do with them.

"How is this so", says I? "It's a charge from your emergency room doctor and he gets his patient billing address and other information from you, right?"

Ken agreed that indeed the information came from the hospital and he quickly agreed that there'd been some mistakes and he'd call me back after he got everything corrected.

5 hours later he called and said everything had been fixed but it would take at least 30 to 45 days for the information to be corrected by the credit bureaus. He did promise to send me a letter with the results of the investigation, so if it wasn't corrected by then, I'd have something to prove the charges weren't ours.

Now all I can do is wait to see if it's done.

It's scary folks, and it's sad, but it's a good idea to keep an eye out for this stuff.

And it sure can make you cranky to deal with it!

Looking Back

For some reason, the past few days, I've been thinking of the way things were when I was a child. I believe what kicked the memories into gear was watching Kid Nation on Wednesday evening, as I watched one kid who's chore was to pump water, I turned to James and asked him if he remembered having to pump water from an old pitcher pump in the back yard every day.

I remember that being my chore a lot of times when I was about 7 and on up until I was 9 or so when we finally got an electric pump and were able to at least have running water in the kitchen. When we came back from MN, where my dad had been stationed for a year, he left for an overseas tour and we moved into an old house on the Ligon place because it was only a few miles from my grandparents.

I can't remember exactly how long we lived there before moving to a house across the dirt lane from my grandparents, but I do remember a time of hot weather and a time of freezing cold. I also remember pumping water from an old pitcher pump that was in the back yard. I knew, from helping my grandpa and uncles at their house, how to prime the old pump with a little water if none would come out, and even though I had to sort of do a little jump and hop sometimes to get that handle up and down, I was pretty good at filling up the old galvanized bucket that supplied our drinking and cooking water. Another memory is never being able to get a full bucket of water to the house because it was a heavy load for a 7 yr old and I'd usually slosh a lot of it on the ground and all over me before I made it there.

It took a whole lot of buckets full to fill up that #3 wash tub to take a bath or to do fill up the wringer washer to do laundry but we did it and I don't remember being dirty or wearing dirty clothes, ever. Baths in the summer time were easier because we'd just leave the tub on the back porch or in the back yard, hidden behind the house, so it was a shorter trip to tote the water.

The bucket sat in the kitchen and we had a ladle for dipping a drink or for mom to dip up however much she needed to cook with. In the summer the water was great right after it had been pumped and most of the time when we wanted a drink we'd go straight to the pump instead of getting a drink from the bucket in the house. In the winter it would be so cold in the house before mom got a fire started in that cast iron wood stove and we'd have to take the ladle and break the ice layer on top in order to dip out a drink. It was so cold and so good!

Now, I wonder if they filter that water before those kids drink it cause it was a lot cleaner and purer back when pumping water was a way of life for some folks.

Ha! I wonder if they use AT&T!

The failure of radio and telephone equipment at the Memphis Air Route Traffic Control Center, which controls 100,000 square miles of air space include most of Arkansas, is causing flight delays at Little Rock National.

Those Devils at AT&T are messin with my mind!

Last winter I dropped everything but basic service on my land line phone. I'd previously been paying for 2 lines because I used one for that dreadful dial-up Internet service but with the installation of the new, faster, satellite service I no longer needed the extra line. I'd also previously had a intrastate and international long distance calling plan but with AT&T's acquisition of Southwestern Bell, and their immediate increases in these services, I decided I just didn't need all that anymore.

After I cancelled all the extra stuff, my bill for basic services was $34.73 per month and it stayed that way for 3 whole months. Then the crazy stuff started up.

In March it was $35.17

In May it was $34.97

In June it remained $34.97

In July it jumped up to $36.13 (due to a basic rate increase)

BUT, In August it was $35.59

So this morning I sent an email to AT&T customer service to ask some simple questions, "Why has my bill been going up and down and what IS the amount of my basic monthly bill."

Someone from AT&T's customer service just called me in regard to my email, woke me up from my nap, and I still don't know the answer to those 2 simple questions. After she hummed and hawed for 10 minutes or so, I told her to please hunt around and find someone who knows the answers and call me back,,,or even better, answer my email WITH an email and I can finish my nap.

Happy Fall Ya'll !

Two views from last November (click em for a bigger view)

I know the first day of Autumn was yesterday but I didn't get around to posting so I'm late with my greetings. I would love to say that Fall was my favorite time of the year, but because it leads to Winter, it just isn't so. I don't like Winter with it's short days, it's bare trees, and the cold that I feel in my bones. I reckon I'm lucky that we don't have too many really, really cold days though.

Since the trees in my part of the world won't be feeling too autumnish for a few more weeks, (we hang on to Summer as long as we can) I dug into some of my photo files from last year.

I'm a Seeing is Believing Kinda Gal

It's not easy to bullshit me, don't get me wrong, in most instances, I'd rather believe what a person tells me than not, but I do tend to disbelieve most of the hype on TV commercials or magazine ads. I figure, in those cases, they're gonna tell you mostly what they think you want to hear/read and if it means some major exaggeration to sell something, they'll do it in a heartbeat. They want your money, ya know?

Anyway, in my meandering way, I'm trying to say that I'm not easily fooled into spending my money on foolishness so I'd like to tell you about something I tried a sample of, and just ordered a 2 month supply of.
After using the sample, for 3 nights (it only included 6 patches), I woke up after the 2nd night without pain in most of my bodily parts for the first time in several years.

Those foot detox patches are pretty fine. The heat from the Detox Pad (Patch) helps absorb perspiration from the bottom of your foot. The bottom of the foot is the location where most of the nerves in our body end. Therefore it's used on the sole of the foot to clean out waste and toxic materials that are expelled in the form of sweat.

I decided to try them after visiting an online site about pain relief for arthritis. Old Arthur has been dealing me a heap of misery lately and I was near 'bout to get to the end of my rope. The patches are used for a whole lot of stuff like, "arthritis, to improve your immunity system, increase vitality and energy,
reduce stress and anxiety, improve circulation, improve sleep, hot flashes, and mood swings, among other things.

The main ingredients are wood vinegar extract, bamboo vinegar extract, and Tourmaline, but there's some more stuff the Japanese throw in there. It's all natural stuff too.

I'm going to try a round of 30 treatments first off cause I'm pretty sure there are enough toxins in my system to cause Green Peace to take up residence in my back yard. I'll let you know how it goes.

Wednesday Already???

Dusty Delta Sundown

Geez, where's this week going?

Beans got her cast off yesterday
and the poor baby has blisters all over her arm. She's afraid to use
that hand right now but I think she'll realize it doesn't hurt anymore
soon and be right back at it soon.

Zach and The Chick really got a workout at their Tae Kwon Do class yesterday. I makes me tired just watching them. Alexis also takes dance and tumbling so she's in good shape.

Trish sent me a copy of Jordan and Jaylen's 5 wk reports and those girls are shining! All A's for Jordan and nothing but good things for Jaylen.

We haven't gotten Zach's 5 wk report yet but I'm thinking there'll be room for improvement after looking at his grades online the other day. He seems to go from one extreme to the other.

Jami hasn't mentioned MeriKate, Krysten,
or Abie's grades but I've helped them with their homework some and they
seem to know what they're doing so I think their reports will be just
fine.

Ok, I'm outta here, the way my back feels, I think I'm getting a kidney infection. I'm a little nauseous too.

The West Memphis 3 Inspires a Cold Case File Episode

COLD CASE Episode Inspired by WM3 Story will air on Sept. 23rd.

Three young boys were reported missing in West Memphis, AR in May 1993 and shortly after their bodies were found, the press, with help from the police department, jumped on the bandwagon and inspired what became one of the most well-known witch hunts since the Salem Witch Trials.

With evidence consisting only of a "confession"( that very evening recanted), from Jesse Misskelley, JR, a mentally handicapped teen, given after being held and questioned for 12 consecuative hours without aid of council or parental consent, Misskelly, and acquaintances, Damien Echols, and Jason Baldwin, were arrested, tried, and convicted.

The case bothered me greatly from the get-go. My heart ached when I first heard the news about the missing boys and ached even more when their bodies were found and it was later announced that the suspects were teens, which to me meant they were also children.

Over the past 14 years, I've kept up with news about the West Memphis 3 and very shortly after the investigation and trial information became available, I read it all, and I came to believe that the murderer or murderers of those 3, 8 yr. old boys was never found. DNA evidence was finally completed this summer and no DNA from any of the West Memphis 3 was found and this, even without the other BS that went on during the trial, makes me feel even more certain that our Justice system has screwed up big time.

Read all about it here, or read all the other information to be found online, and tell me what you think.

Just so I can say I did,,,,,

Thought I'd post a little something even though little of nuttin' has been going on in my neck of the woods lately.

Yesterday I had play time with Jillian while Jerri took the Chick and Zach to Tae Kwon Do and we stayed pretty entertained the whole time.

First we were entertained by Jerri's Mom's 2 Poms. Baby Girl was in heat, and Skipper, who's been neutered, wrestled around with her for a short while before getting tired and losing interest. Then Baby Girl decided he wasn't putting forth enough effort, so she'd fool around with him for awhile. Jillian would get irritated because they were "wrestling" around so much they'd get in the way of her playing so she'd take her BOW WOW (this huge blow up hammer thingy) and bop the hell of of them. It was a lot more entertaining than the cartoons on TV.

During the "wrestling" match we were also watching for the hummingbirds to come to the feeder outside the living room window. I was trying to get Jillian to say "hummingbird" but she insisted they were "birds". Simple enough, she's not one for long, drawn out, conversations or elaborations.

We also made several potty trips during which we sang the "PeePee on the Potty" song, discussed the artwork on the walls, played peep-pie in the mirror, and had short answer discussions about if it was time to wipe or not. I bet we spent over half an hour in the bathroom during that play date.

Afterwards while I was trying to put a diaper on her as she was in an upright position (she insisted), I was having problems with getting the tabs straight,

Nanaw : Well, Shoot!

Jillian: Shit?

Nanaw: That's not what I said this time Jillian.

Jillian: Shoot.

Nanaw: Yep, let's go see if we can find some big girl panties, ok?

Mid-Week

A little blurry, but here are our two Tae Kwon Do beginners. I think they look as cute as little bugs in their uniforms. James told me I won't be thinking cute when one of them tries to use what they've learned on me.

They have a variety of students in their class but also have more than one instructor so that they are learning at different levels. The oldest student is my age. They were having to duck walk around the perimeter of the gym during one class and I was observing from the bleachers. When the "older student" was passing he breathlessly told me, "I'm getting too old for this." I replied, "You're doing a great job, if I were to get down that low it would take Turk's Crane Service to get my old butt upright again."

Jilly Beans saw the doctor yesterday and the cast stays on for at least another 2 weeks. When I saw her last night, I asked her what the doctor said, and being a child who doesn't waste a lot of time on chit-chat, she lifted her arm and told me, "Doctor, broke, boo-boo." I reckon that said it all.

When I dropped the Chick off at home after their class, Beans came running out of the house in her birthday suit to give me bye sugars. After she sat in my lap for a few minutes, confiscated my powdered donuts and Zach's left-over chips, she was ready to go back inside. Alexis had plans to show her momma and daddy what she'd learned in class so I bet it was a rowdy there for the next little while.

Trish called last night to tell me that she's officially on strike. She told Jordan and Jaylen that since they couldn't pick up their toys and clothes or clean their rooms, she couldn't drive them to ball practice or take them other places because she had to spend all of her time cleaning up their messes.

Jami came in this morning with 3 sad little girls. It seems, from first appearances, that someone has poisoned 3 of their dogs, two of which stay in a pen. The county Sheriff is one of their neighbors so I'm hoping they'll investigate and find out who did this because it takes someone mighty evil and cold-hearted to kill a pet.

UPDATE: Only one of the girls pets was poisoned, the ones in the pen were ok.

Burned Popcorn

Zach pushed too many buttons on the microwave the other evening when he was popping some popcorn. He doesn't stay around to wait on it so the result was a bag of popcorn that was reduced to cinders. Since then I've been trying to get the smell out of the microwave and my house.

Febreeze has done a lot towards reducing the nasty smell in the house but the microwave is another matter.

I first tried vinegar,,,zapped it several times, left it in there to cool, then washed the inside of the microwave out with the vinegar... Still had the cindered popcorn smell but with a pickled undertone.

Next I tried lemon. I zapped that lemon several times too. First in a bowl with a little water, then just tossed it in and tried it. Could still smell the popcorn-pickle, but now there was also a lemony smell added to it.

Oh, and I tried frebreezing it too,,,didn't work but it added floral notes to the others.

I just looked online and saw that someone there suggested vanilla. I may come up with a new frangrance here if this keeps up.

Turning Granny Cartwheels

Alexis did such a FANTASTIC job in her pageant last night. Her momma did a fine job finding this dress cause it showed off those pretty blue eyes of hers. It was her first trip out onto the stage without momma's help and she did it like a pro. Jerri and her mom took all the photos, Nanaw manned the video camera. I think there will be a lot of film with different butts in it even though I was trying to focus around them all during the pageant.
Jillian had her pageant last night too but since it was hot and muggy, and after her bed time, all she wanted was for that dress to be OFF so she could get cool. Jerri took this shot when they were trying on the dresses sometime last week. She's doing her wink.

I put 4 of my photos in the photography exhibit at the Tri-County Fair this year (same place they hold the pageants). I've thought about it the past several years but was so afraid that my "beginner" stuff would look pitiful being shown there with so many wonderfully creative shots by others.

Anyway, the photos of my Butterfly, Zach and Abby, and Jillybeans Wiggle, all won blue ribbons and you can't imagine how excited I was. But then I looked for the Sunflower shot I'd entered and I couldn't find it. I looked some more, and it just wasn't there with all the others being displayed on that side of the hall. I was starting to give up, thinking they'd disqualified it for some reason, when Zach told me there were some pictures over on the other side. I walked over there and looked around the walls and didn't notice it at first even though it was directly in front of me. If my old, butt hadn't been so tired I'd have tried a cartwheel or two, right there on the spot cause there, under the Best of Show Banner was my Sunflower photo with a blue ribbon AND a Best of Show ribbon.

I was a little excited about that.

Germantown Performing Arts Center Bullshit

You know what? I'm tired of this bullshit. These employees were fired for tying off excess ropes in the same way that, apparently, it's done in theatres everywhere, worldwide. Should I also take offense because one of my great, great, great, uncles was hanged for horse thievery?

As a U.S. citizen, I'm tired of all the controversy over whether or not we are offending some group, individual, or their culture, if we choose to show our patriotism or practice our right to free speech, and I'm tired of every, little, mundane action being treated as a racial slur. In my country, you may practice this right to free speech but when you're all done whining, complaining, and putting down our cultures, and way of life, you can practice another right freely given in this country, you can leave.

We're Americans dammit! We're made up of a variety of cultural backgrounds but we chose democracy in this country and lately our rights, as American citizens, are being stomped on.

You want to live here?

Learn English, it's our national language, and by the way, Ebonics is NOT a language.
Practice your religion, it's another of the freedoms our constitution gives you, but don't you dare object when I, as a citizen, practice my own. "In God We Trust" is our national motto because this nation was founded on religious principles.

Wear what you want and eat what you want, and I'll do the same.

Leave my flag alone! I have a right to wave it.

I'm going to continue to say Merry Christmas and if you're polite you'll nod your head and smile. I won't take offense if you wish to give me your preferred greetings either,,,well most of them.

I take offense when someone who's never been to Africa, who's parent's have never been to Africa, or who's grandparent's have never been to Africa, refer to themselves as African Americans, but I don't protest this offense on the national news. My heritage is German/Irish/American Indian/and who knows what else, but I don't go around telling everyone that I'm German/Irish/American Indian/and who knows what else in every conversation, nor do I put this information on any personal information I'm filling out. You are African/Irish/German/etc,,, American IF you were BORN in another country, were a citizen of that country, and MOVED here and became a citizen of this country.

Ok, I'm done bitching for the moment.

Happy Labor Day!

I hope every one's having a great holiday weekend. It's been a hot one here but a bit cooler than it was in August, thank goodness, but still, I've spent most of the long weekend avoiding things that make me sweat.

Beans got her cast last Wednesday, finally. It's green and they've already painted it with some sparkles, and Jerri is trying to think of a way to decorate it a bit for their pageants coming up on Tuesday night.

The doc also decided to put Jami's broken foot in a cast since the boot/splint wasn't doing the job to let it heal.

Tae Kwon Do classes are going well for Zach and Alexis and they both like it. Their uniforms (do you call them that?) should be in on Tuesday so they'll look like little MA students then.

Trish, Jordan, and Jaylen are in town for the weekend and we went over on Saturday to spend some time with them. I swear, those girls look as though they've grown an inch just over the past few weeks!

Jordan's softball team was ranked 3rd/4th (depends on which championship you read) in the state and 6th in the nation this season!

I got the news the other day that one of my past tax clients is in jail for handling an incident on his own with some good ole boy redneck justice. Apparently he'd been having problems with someone breaking into his welding shop and stealing stuff, so he decided to set up an ambush for them. He decked himself out in cammo clothing and night vision goggles and waited. When they broke in the other night he met them with shotgun blasts and killed two men.

I've heard, through the grapevine, that they're charging him with first degree murder but haven't seen anything on the news about it, so who knows?

This guy was working on a part for my son-in-law and the part became part of a crime scene. I think the sheriff escorted him onto the property the next day and let him get it so he could put his truck back together.

School's going good so far this year, I've heard no complaints from Zach's teachers. I went up on Friday and met with all of them except 1 and I'm really encouraged that this year will work out better than previous ones.

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!