Tuesday, January 13, 2009
Random Tag
This tag from Miz Joni at Morning Coffee required me to post the 4th picture in the 4th folder of my picture files.
But I can't do that cause of the puter crash and I have a newly started picture file that only has 2 folders in it. So, I decided just to post the 4th picture in My Picture file. It's a photo taken by Jerri of 3 of our babies.
I hope everyone is staying warm today! We're having a blast of arctic breezes and I'm not liking it even one little bit!
Monday, January 12, 2009
Quickie Sunrise


I caught a glimpse of the sunrise peeking through the trees this morning and picked up my camera to record the glowing beauty of it. It only lasted for a few short minutes before clouds rolled in and turned everything to a winter gray.Since December 22nd I've been joyfully watching as the hours of daylight increase a little each day. Today will be 1 minute and 25 seconds longer than yesterday and I hope I don't waste a second of it.
Saturday, January 10, 2009
Wanna See My Boo-Boo?

We went out to dinner with my son and his wife, Jerri, last night to celebrate my son's 29th birthday. During one of the times our very attentive waitress came by to check on us, she asked the Chick (aka Alexis) why she wasn't eating much so we told her that the poor babe had tonsillitis. The young lady was very sympathetic and Beans, not aiming to be left out of any sympathy being handed out, suddenly sat up straight in her chair and lifted her shirt to show off the little bump she has on her "boom".
We were laughing so hard after that it was hard to eat. This child has no modesty a'tall.
The Chick may be getting her tonsils taken out cause this is the second time in about 6 weeks that she's been ill because of them. They're also going to make an appointment for Beans at the childrens hospital in LR to remove the cyst or abscess (they're not sure which) that has come up behind the nipple of her little left "boom".
Jerri told us another Beans story earlier yesterday. They were up at the Prison where my son has to live when he's on duty and he came home from work with cuts and scratches and dried blood on his face and neck. Beans wanted to know where he got his boo-boos so my son told her the he'd been running a track with the search dogs and got into a fight with a SaskWatch.
Her teachers couldn't wait for Jerri to arrive to pick her up from school so they could find out all the details, cause what our Beans told them was,
"Daddy took the dogs out on a sound track with the inmates and a squwsh-squwsh fought him and cut him."
I think our kids keep their teachers as entertained as they do us!
Friday, January 09, 2009
I'd Run Away but They'd Find Me!
These are mostly argumentative noises because one of them got the other one's jacket, or purse, or lip gloss, or for no rational reason at all, but quite often there are also crying or whining noises for most of the same reasons that I've already mentioned. These are the first noises that vibrate through my sleep muddled brain before they've even reached the porch.
The noises become much, much, louder as these three girls come slamming, tumbling, tripping, through the front door and the noise registers through my brain fog as being somewhat like the screeching sound of nails down a chalk board, or the irritating buzzing noise a fly makes in your ear when you're trying to take a nap, only multiplied by a thousand or so. The noise level increases a few more levels if one, or more, of them dares to make a remark to the Terrorist, who pretty much has the same bed head every morning as I do. They taunt, he retaliates, then the fight is on.
Some days I threaten, or beg, as I inspect them to see if they've each remembered to brush their hair, or brush their teeth, but sometimes I just can't deal with the noise or the inspections so I grab my cup of coffee, a cigarette, and hide away in my office, and try to close my ears to the sounds, the noises, until the school bus comes to pick up the noise makers.
Sometimes I want to change my identity from Momma, and Nanaw and escape to some far off place where no one knows me. Then I think, I wouldn't know who I was anymore, so I guess my identity, as it is now, is better than having none.
Thursday, January 08, 2009
Pooped
I get so cranky when I'm this tired.
Wednesday, January 07, 2009
Photo Challenge, Anything New
Can't wait to see all the other NEW things for this Challenge. Thank you Laura Belle for being our hostess for this challenge!
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Reminder!
Have Fun!
Could have been nasty
The weather bullet missed us but not before it put a glaze of ice on the trees and bushes. The photo above is of the cedar tree in my front yard. His limbs are heavy and drooping this morning, but I don't think any of them are broken so he'll fluff back out as soon as all the ice melts (hopefully today). James and the neighbor were talking about my "ugly" cedar tree and how if the ice did a lot of damage they would cut it down. I promised to take potshots of them with the BB gun if they even imagined they'd cut down my tree! I've been growing that tree for almost 17 years! That tree blocks the afternoon sun from reaching my front door in the summer, and provides a little bit of protection from the dust clouds every time a vehicle goes down the road. If they mess with my tree they'll be limping!
Here's how the plum tree looked about mid-afternoon yesterday. I didn't notice any broken limbs on it either so all is well for now. I hope we don't get any major ice storms this winter, I'd hate to lose any of our trees!
Monday, January 05, 2009
A Bath! Finally!
We've been having some cold days here and there, and on cold days my favorite thing to do is take a nice, hot, bubbly, bath. I've been taking showers for over a week now cause my back was paining me so, but this evening, I poured in the bath soak, filled the tub with hot water, gathered all my tools, and eased down into the tub.Oh yeahhhh, it was mighty fine!
I was also able to do some much needed body grooming while I was enjoying my soak. I only have about 3 hairs that grow on each leg, but those had grown to a length suitable for braiding so I knew it was time to hack them off.
The work on my heels took a bit longer. I rubbed, and rubbed, with my little foot file thingy, and was beginning to think that I should have brought James's rechargeable drill into the tub with me. I bet that rotary tool bit would have made short work of those callouses.Isn't a hot bubble bath the most wonderful luxury in the world?
Moseying
That's what I've been doing. I'm way behind on my chores but I really don't care cause my back is feeling better every day. I have a bulging disk that presses on a nerve sometimes, this causes me to unconsciously compensate for it, which leads to the muscle spasms.
All I did was bend over to get one load of laundry out of the dryer and put myself in a load of misery.
I have an ongoing prescription for cyclobenzaprine from the doctor (cause I do this a couple times a year; you'd think I'd learn!) so I've been taking one of those every 8 hours for the past week to try to get the muscle to settle down. I can't tolerate pain meds or strong muscle relaxers very well so it's a low dosage. I surely don't need anything that messes with my, already muddled, brain.
In other words, I don't need meds to make me do stupid stuff, I do enough of that drug free.
For instance; on Saturday after I'd visited for a little while with Trish, Jordan, and Jaylen, I stopped at the grocery to hobble in to pick up something for supper.
I'd forgotten about the shotgun laying in the back seat that my son had borrowed from his dad and had put in there 10 minutes prior, so the dude that carried out my groceries was a little nervous when he opened the door and saw that. I told him not to worry, it wasn't loaded, but then he noticed the tae kwon do sword laying in the floorboard and asked me if I thought I had enough protection.
I felt a little like Ma Baker as I drove home. All I was lacking was a machine gun and little cigar.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Grumpy Start to the New Year
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Happy New Year!
Wishing everyone best wishes for the New Year a little early cause we'll having some of the kiddies tomorrow night and we'll probably be a little busy playing.I'm having some powerful hurtin' pains from muscle spasms in my back too, so that's going to put a damper on the amount of time that I can sit in this office chair for a day or two. Y'all have fun ringing in the new year where ever you are. I'll be thinking about you.
Monday, December 29, 2008
Looking back on 2008
I think if I could go back to just one place in time it would be as a child in Grandma's kitchen, maybe sitting at the table with her and Grandpa, a bowl of her hot cornbread covered in cold buttermilk sitting in front of us.
March madness
Spring Break zoo trip.
April
The first Brenda Photo Challenge, Signs of Spring.
Sincere Prayer, Brenda style.
May
There's a moral in here.
June
Orange Photo Challenge
July
Terri's birthday parade.
August
The Golly Monster.
Jerri was making pumpkin bread the other morning and Beans walked into the kitchen and said,
"Ok Ma'am, you're safe now. I locked the tiger in the cage."
September
My best moon shot.

October
Photo Challenge, Old
November
A new President was elected and new era in history arrived. We got the stunning news that hubby's job would end in January.
December
The month brought news of a new job for hubby and a wonderful holiday.
Each of the entries above is a link to the post it came from in case you want to go have a look.
One door closes and another opens, life is like that sometimes. It sure can give you heart stopping moments though.
I hope everyone is looking forward to 2009 with curiosity and hope!
Saturday, December 27, 2008
Another Laid Back Day
I packed up the Christmas tree and the majority of the decorations today. After looking around I can see that I missed a few so I'll have to put them away tomorrow. I've also done some laundry, and washed several sinks full of dishes, that seem to magically appear. I must remember to get a supply of paper plates or else I'll have dishpan hands in addition to them being all old and wrinkled already.
I'm almost cross-eyed from posting a couple of months of accounts for one of my clients. Maybe I'll get my rear in gear and get that company caught up tomorrow.
Tonight we played a game of Phase Ten with Zach. We taught him how to play rummy a couple of nights ago; he catches on pretty quick.
Ok folks, I'm slowing fading here so I think I'll get my book and climb into my nice, soft, bed to read awhile.
Sweet dreams!
Thursday, December 25, 2008
HoHo's Been and Gone


That little fat man in the red suit didn't pick up the mess or vacuum the floor before he flew off on his sleigh; I'm going to have to add a P.S. to his thank you note I reckon.
Nanaw is tired.
But I had a little nap this afternoon so that helped.
We ate too much, but it was all good cause we sure had some mighty fine vittles to put on the table. We had the normal run of conversations during our extended family holiday gathering over at his Mom's last evening,,,,
Which family member/members probably hits the pain pills and/or bottle a little too much,
Who had the snippiest, snappiest, temperament of the day,
Who went to jail for loitering,,,,,
and so on.
At our house today we had our usual family holiday dinner discussion about the West Memphis 3 and whether or not they deserve a new trial (the number of those for and those against changed somewhat this year). We then progressed to my son's revelations about the corrections officer/Reverend that he torments with his views on religion and riches on a regular basis. This then led to a discussion (and I do not remember how?) about whether animals commit sins. Other topics were discussed but none were so interesting as the first 3.
Yep, we tend to branch out with intense conversational topics in this family; we do indeed.
I think the babies were as happy as tired babies can be with what Santa brought them. I reckon they'll be busy playing, for at least a few days, with all their contraband.
Trish, Jordan, and Jaylen are supposed to be here next weekend so I hope to have some photos of them then.
I hope everyone had a wonderful day!
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!
Monday, December 22, 2008
Smiling
Paint me Smiling cause there's a better than average chance that James has a new job starting the day after this one officially ends. Once the farmer who's planning to rent the land signs the lease, he'll be managing some of the same acreage that he was previously. And the good news is that there won't be much, if any, change in salary. He spent 3 hours with the guy today and he's supposed to come next week also, so maybe I'll actually get more than one or two good night's sleep a week now. He might also give me a little work to do from home too, won't that be nice? I'm afraid to be too excited until everything is final, but I sure am feeling better right now.I want to thank you all for your prayers because I know for certain that God was listening and answering them. I feel so blessed to be surrounded by such wonderful friends.
Jerri came by this afternoon to have a cup of coffee with me. She wasn't in a very good mood but she had me laughing so hard at one point that I think she ended up feeling a bit better afterwards too.She said she'd gone to one of the dollar stores in town, thinking it would be quicker to run in there to get laundry detergent and a couple other things she needed. After spending 3 times more time in line than normal because of some rude folks who'd broken in line in front of her, she was about to bite nails when she finally got out of there.
She pulled out of the, nearly empty, parking lot and a young punk was strolling across in front of her, blocking her way out. She waited,,,he slowed,,, while staring right into her eyes,,, smirked and walked even slower. She waited,,,he kept staring, barely moving, until finally her PMS took over. She yelled at him to stop being ignorant and get out of the way, told him he didn't intimidate her so he needed to act like he had some sense and get on to where he was going. The punk started yelling and threatening her as he finally moved, and as she was passing him to stop before pulling out into traffic, he leaned down and picked something up to throw at her. Jerri had her finger on speed dial for the police department when she noticed that he'd picked up an empty paper cup. Then when he threw it, the wind caught it and it flew back into his face. She said by this time she was laughing which made the punk even madder. He was still yelling when she pulled out of the lot.
"I guess it was a good thing he didn't have a gun but" as she said, "I had PMS, a 3 yr old, and a 5 yr old, I'm not scared of the devil himself! I'd have whipped him if he'd kept on."
Sunday, December 21, 2008
Favorite S Things
1. Seafood, I love it, except for cockles, scallops, and oysters. I can eat a couple of pounds of mussels all by myself.


2. Soup. I love soup! I'm not so fond of cream soups but a good hearty broth with loads of veggies and a little meat is some kind of good! I think homemade chicken soup is my favorite.
3. Sean Connery is a HUNK! I don't care if how old he gets, this man's photo should be under the definition of Sexy! He's handsome and his voice is SO awesome!....swoon!


4. Stephen King is my favorite author. I've read everything he's ever written except for the "Gunslinger" series but I'll probably read those some day too. When I read his books I feel like a little kid again; afraid to put my foot out from under the covers for fear something under the bed will grab it!
5. Sisters. I have two younger sisters and I love them dearly. I don't get to see as much of them as I'd like, but life happens.
6. Sunsets. I love sunrises too. The world seems to be at peace when a day is dawning or drawing to a close.
7. Sleep. I never get enough! For years now I've had trouble falling asleep so it's often midnight or later before I finally crash for a few hours. I have to be up early to get Zach off to school and that wakes me up so I don't often go back to bed.
8. Summer. What can I say, I'm a summer child. I can stand too hot a lot better than too cold.
9. Salads. I love almost any kind of salad with almost any kind of vegetable in it. Sometimes I'll also add a boiled egg or two, or chicken or pork. Another thing I love about Summer is being able to go to my garden for fresh tomatoes, onions, and cucumbers to make a salad.

10. Scrabble I've had Scrabble games for as long as I can remember. I even have a small electronic one.
Well, that's it folks, my favorite things that start with S. You're welcome to do this too, just leave me a comment and I'll assign you a letter. It was fun Jeanne!
Friday, December 19, 2008
I wanna believe again,,,,and again.

This is the third time I've posted this over the years that I've been blogging ; Just some thoughts that run through my head about Christmas and believing.
Our friend Randy sent this to my email today and I'm still laughing.This is an article submitted to a 1999 Louisville Sentinel contest to find
out who had the wildest Christmas dinners. This won first prize.
Christmas With Louise
As a joke, my brother used to hang a pair of panty hose over his fireplace
before Christmas. He said all he wanted was for Santa to fill them. What
they say about Santa checking the list twice must be true because every
Christmas morning, although Jay's kids' stockings
were overflowed, his poor pantyhose hung sadly empty.
One year I decided to make his dream come true. I put on sunglasses and
went in search of an inflatable love doll. They don't sell those things at
Wal-Mart. I had to go to an adult bookstore downtown.
If you've never been in an X-rated store, don't go. You'll only confuse
yourself. I was there an hour saying things like, 'What does this do?
You're kidding me! Who would buy that?' Finally, I made it to the
inflatable doll section.
I wanted to buy a standard, uncomplicated doll that could also substitute
as a passenger in my truck so I could use the car pool lane during rush
hour.
Finding what I wanted was difficult. Love Dolls come in many different
models. The top of the line, according to the side of the box, could do
things I'd only seen in a book on animal
husbandry. I settled for Lovable Louise. She was at the bottom of the
price scale. To call Louise a doll took a huge leap of imagination.
On Christmas Eve and with the help of an old bicycle pump, Louise came to
life.
My sister-in-law was in on the plan and let me in during the wee morning
hours. Long after Santa had come and gone, I filled the dangling pantyhose
with Louise's pliant legs and bottom. I also ate some cookies and drank
what remained of a glass of milk on a nearby
tray. I went home, and giggled for a couple of hours.
The next morning my brother called to say that Santa had been to his house
and left a present that had made him VERY happy but had left the dog
confused. She would bark, start to walk away, then come back and bark some
more.
We all agreed that Louise should remain in her panty hose so the rest of
the family could admire her when they came over for the traditional
Christmas dinner.
My grandmother noticed Louise the moment she walked in the door 'What the
hell is that?' she asked.
My brother quickly explained, 'It's a doll'
'Who would play with something like that?' Granny snapped.
I had several candidates in mind, but kept my mouth shut.
'Where are her clothes?' Granny continued.
'Boy, that turkey sure smells nice Gran' Jay said, to steer her into the
dining room.
But Granny was relentless. 'Why doesn't she have any teeth?'
Again, I could have answered, but why would I? It was Christmas and no one
wanted to ride in the back of the ambulance saying, 'Hang on Granny, hang
on!'
My grandfather, a delightful old man with poor eyesight, sidled up to me
and said, 'Hey, who's the naked gal by the fireplace?'
I told him she was Jay's friend.
A few minutes later I noticed Grandpa by the mantel, talking to Louise.
Not just talking, but actually flirting. It was then that we realized this
might be Grandpa's last Christmas at home.
The dinner went well. We made the usual small talk about who had died, who
was dying, and who should be killed, when suddenly Louise made a noise
like my father in the bathroom in the morning. Then she lurched from the
panty hose, flew around the room twice, and fell in a heap in front of the
sofa.
The cat screamed. I passed cranberry sauce through my nose, and Grandpa
ran across the room, fell to his knees, and began administering
mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. My brother fell back over his chair and wet
his pants.
Granny threw down her napkin, stomped out of the room, and sat in the car.
It was indeed a Christmas to treasure and remember.
Later in my brother's garage, we conducted a thorough examination to
decide the cause of Louise's collapse. We discovered that Louise had
suffered from a hot ember to the back of her right thigh.
perfect health!
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
I Hate Winter
I hate being cold.I hate dreary, gray, days.
I hate the short hours of daylight.
I was born in August, I'm a Summer child, dammit.
It took me several minutes to take off my daytime pajamas; robe, flannel pants, flannel shirt, socks, last night before my shower because I had so much on. Then afterwards it took several minutes to put on nighttime duds, and I was grumbling the whole time because I was freezing my noonies off!
I'd never make it through several months of snow in ice; I'm too much of a wimp.


