Sick and Tired

I'm sick and tired...literally. I've got a cold or sinus infection or something and my butt is getting kicked - again! My dad has been sick too. I was afraid it was swine flu because of the fever he had, but the doctor said he had a severe sinus infection. He gave him a steroid shot and put him on an antibiotic. I considered taking him to the ER afterwards, because he was so weak & out of it, but by the time I checked on him again at 5:00 he was doing MUCH better. That is the power of prayer. I had my church praying and my online family praying, and the Lord heard.

So, since Wednesday I have been working and taking care of Dad, and coming down with this current crud - I'm worn out. Zero energy...

Today I had but one small project I wanted to complete and that was to clear the school papers, junk mail, and Lego pieces off of the kitchen table. I did accomplish that chore, then I finished loading the dishwasher, turned it on, and promptly collapsed in my chair. That little bit of work completely wiped me out.

We watched a movie and I think I slept through parts of it, so I'll have to watch it again. The movie was the last Mummy movie - right now I can't even remember it's name, lol. It's the one that has Jet Li in it and is missing Rachel Weisz and Oded Fehr. It was pretty good, what I remember seeing of it, but you could feel the loss of Rachel & Oded. I hate it when they make sequels and change a main player - it's just not the same.

All this typing has exhausted me...I'm going to bed, LOL

The Power of Chocolate

At work, Gary has a closet where he keeps his overcoats, coveralls, boots - stuff like that. On the shelf, up top, is where he keeps other stuff, like allergy medicine, bandaids, candy, granola. Gary has worked for the funeral home for over 20 years, and all that time he has used that closet, he's never had anything happen in there...until now.

I came into work to find him dragging stuff out of the closet and all but cussing. A mouse had gotten into the closet and chewed up M&M's, Bare Naked Granola (the pomegranate one!) pencils, Claritin Gelcaps! There was stuff underneath some magazines that didn't get chewed on, or urinated/defecated on and some of it was being wiped off with Clorox Wipes. Until He got to a Ghiradelli Raspberry & Dark Chocolate bar and sighed...'Man! This hasn't even been opened!" then tossed it in the 'throwing out pile'. Me: "Gary - you're seriously going to throw this away? It hasn't even been touched! It was underneath those magazines and box of tissues inside a grocery bag, and never even came in contact with the mouse!" He told me he wouldn't be able to eat it because he would be thinking about mouse poop...seemed like a waste of fabulous dark chocolate to me! He asked me if I wanted it...

This is chocolate that is wrapped in foil, and enclosed in a box. It was completely protected by being between magazines underneath a box of tissues and a book and a few other things, and was inside a bag. The mouse never even touched the outside container...

Did I eat it? Don't be silly! Of course I did - it was perfect. :)

By the way, my mouse still hasn't been caught...

Details

Busy weekend! Busier than I thought it would be. Did some of my work I had planned for Saturday, but didn't get everything done. When Bobby got home, we went to WalMart and picked up a few necessary things to get Jordan's (my oldest son who lives in Washington now) old aquarium up & running. It needed a new filter, we got two bags of rocks, a bubble curtain, an air pump, tubing, and All Clear. Oh, and fish, lol. We got two of those little Glow Fish - one yellow-orange & one reddish-pink, a couple of Mollies, and some Tetras. We tried to pick stuff that would all get along, lol. Went home & got that all set up & going, then went to Dad's & picked up a glass end table and lamp to replace the table between the two chairs in the family room that we used to put the aquarium on. So, the boys got fish, I got a new table and lamp, and Bobby got to do more furniture arranging - something for everyone, hehehe!

Sunday we had church, and Pastor's message was centered on Luke 21 - about things to come. this was in preparation for Jimmy Root coming to our church for a Prophecy and Current Events Conference. It was awesome! He has a book out called Distant Thunder, which is fiction, but based on scripture, similar to how the Left Behind series was. His book deals with where we are now, basically, and everything that will (and has to) happen before the trumpet sounds. I knew we were getting closer, but I didn't fully realize how just close we really are. It's amazing and fascinating to see God's word fulfilled with our own eyes, in the here & now!

So, that was my weekend, minus all the little details of daily life that happen and I don't even notice them...isn't that kind of sad? Shouldn't we be aware of every moment? Even if you don't believe in Life after death, (and especially so, I think) life is much too short and precious to NOT take notice of the details. If you lived every day like it may be your last - fully appreciating what a miracle each breath you take truly is, what would be your loss? What would you gain? We are hand crafted by God, with life breathed into us by Him. We are not random! We are not the result of some cosmic accident or sludgy goo in a pond! We were created! We didn't just 'happen'! God took special care in creating us, with millions of minute details, and I don't want to take that for granted and risk missing something small and totally amazing. Kids see everything as wondrous and full of potential, and they don't miss much, do they?? hehehe So, I want to keep that quality in myself and embrace it! Everyone should run out right now and grab a double dip icecream cone and a magnifying glass and thoroughly examine the nearest rosebush or flower garden, LOL!

Sorry if this sounded preachy, lol - didn't intend that! I just don't want to get so caught up in 'life', that I miss the important things. Details are important. So many people find themselves living with regret - thinking back on how much they missed because they were too busy, or didn't have time. Who would willingly choose that? Nobody would. But it sneaks up on you, and then one day you find yourself living it up in Regretville and don't even know how you got there.

Hmmm...I guess I know what I'm going to entitle this post :)

Yippee!

Yippee! It's Friday :)
I have a couple of cleaning/organizing/arranging projects for tomorrow, but other than that, no big plans. I need to clear off the clutter on my dresser, and my computer desk, and the usual things I do every Saturday; dust, vacuum, and clean the bathroom. Bobby works this weekend, so I pretty much have the day to myself.

Right now, I'm watching Pirates of the Caribbean Curse of the Black Pearl. I love them all, but the first one is my favorite. Some chocolate would go really good right now with my movie...*sigh* I guess I'll have some grapes instead...hehehe

Work has been a little slow, so I'm catching up on some records and such, while the guys have been painting. I spent most of the day smelling paint and listening to traffic outside since the doors were open.

Traffic, lol. Traffic for us in this town is obviously not what it is in larger cities, but what makes it really different from other places is that we have brick streets. It has quite a distinctive sound - and feel. Some of them are in need of repair and are quite bumpy. Some people want them paved over, but the powers that be want to keep them because they're considered to be something that visitors want to see. Yeah, I suppose...I myself do like the brick streets. I just feel that they should be kept up a little better in the non-visitor areas, too. I forget how many miles of brick there is - I'm thinking it's something like 34 miles. I'd have to check to be certain on that number though. But there's more under the surface of most of the paved streets in town. Don't know what that would be if you counted them as well.

Bobby shut my laptop on me tonight in the middle of plowing a friend's field. "I'm plowing, here!!"... I was a little ticked until I knew what it was about. He kidnapped me and we went on a motorcycle ride - WooHoo! I wasn't so irritated then, hehehe

Furniture Movers

So what do you think?? Looks better, yeah? lol It was bugging me, so I had to re-do it.

Sully is really enjoying school. He proudly showed me each of his papers he brought home today and just glowed as I made over them. I was a little concerned about him because he is so attached to Tucker, but he seems to be doing really well. I'm anxious for Back To School night so I can get an update from his teacher.

Bobby was off today and so he puttered around the house & did some stuff. Not the stuff I would like to see him do, of course, hehehe, but that's how it goes. When I got home he had supper ready and he had re-arranged the living room. He has this thing about re-arranging our furniture - he gets it from his mom, although not as bad. But, that could be because he knows it drives me crazy how often his mom does it. She does it as often as twice a month. I'm sorry, my furniture is just too big do that with, and, I flat wouldn't allow it, even if it was easy to move around willy-nilly.

He really is a great guy, and he does a lot around the house. He fixes supper a lot since he gets home before I do and is home more. He helps with the dishes, and house cleaning, as well as the usual 'guy' things like mowing and anything involving power tools, hehehe. However, when it comes to the computers or anything else electronic in the house, that is my field. I also fix toys and rig forts out of bedsheets, and play video games. I am McGyver at my house - my kids think I can fix anything with duct tape and elastic hairbands. And oddly enough, usually I can, lol. But sometimes it takes Gorilla Glue :)

Change is Good

I changed my layout, but I'm thinking it's too busy. Hmmm...I just might have to work on that tomorrow night. It's kind of hard to read, I think. Should I leave it and maybe just bold the font? Should I get rid of some of the stuff? Yeah... I'm definitely gonna have to re-work it. But I like the overall scheme, so I won't change the kit. Most of the layout is from Nicole Young's (credit and link at bottom of page) Vintage Coffee House kit, but a couple of the elements are from her other kits that I though would kind of go with what I was doing. It's a great kit! Actually it's a mini kit - one of her freebies.

I posted a fresh template today over on my design blog (link to that is somewhere on this page to the right, hehehe) I've been so busy farming I neglected my PSP :( Not good! If it's in you to be creative (and I think everyone is in their own way - hey! making a bed really well can be a work of art!) you shouldn't ignore it - you should embrace it and let it flow from you. My philosophical thought for the day - or whatever, lol.

Today we had a bit of a dilemma. Tucker came home with a book from the school library that was 4th grade reading level. When I saw it I about flipped because I just knew Bobby would have kittens over it. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. He said he tried to get a Hardy Boys book, but the librarian said she didn't think it would be appropriate...?? Whatever...

Bobby shocked me because he is totally against Harry Potter, and I fully expected a tirade. It didn't happen and that's what shocked me. At least it wasn't "VooDoo and You - A How To Book" hehehe

I have read the books, so I know what's there. To me, this is like the whole Twilight thing. In my opinion, the biggest problem is not that the author is trying to make Vampires good, but the intense, INTENSE relationship between Edward and Bella. Much too intense for a 17 year old girl. I saw the film, but haven't read the books, so I'm going off of the movie alone. Although she put the brakes on in a rather steamy scene in her room and nothing happened, I just felt like it sent a much too mature message to our young girls. I thought it was a good movie, but then I have always been a fan of the old monster movies. The original Dracula with Bela Lugosi, Lon Chaney as the Wolfman...lot's of fun!

How did I get on this subject?? LOL Oh yeah...Harry Potter.

Battle Scars

As a parent you sometimes have to do things, or allow things to happen for the good of your child, that you dread as much if not more than they do. I consider immunizations to be one of those things. I know a lot of people think they cause more harm than good, but I believe in them. I don't know what the science is regarding adverse reactions and possible contributors to Autism and all that, so I'm not even going there.

Sully needed to have his boosters for school and we didn't get them done before because one, he was on an antibiotic for a sinus infection, and two, because we flat were putting it off, lol.

When I was Sully's age I got pneumonia and had to get penicillin shots in my legs, and later I got Strep in my lymph glands and had to have more shots. Then there were the stitches when I practically cut my toe off, the time I fell in cactus and my mom had to pull all the little needles out one by one, and when I came home with a length of barbed wire around my ankle. I handle pain pretty well, and when it came to doctors, and needles, and such, I never screamed or threw fits or fought it. Probably because I trusted my mom. Or maybe that's just genes - my brother was the same way, and we were like her.

My two youngest are not like me or my mom or my brother. They are like their dad hehehe! He had to be tackled to get shots, or anything else that might possibly involve needles. My oldest son, Jordan is like me, though. He always took his medicine, never fought when it came to necessary medical treatments.

Today we went to the County Health Department to get his shots. Did that because I couldn't get into the doctor until the last week of August, and that just wouldn't work. Also, I didn't want to have to hog-tie him the next time he needed to go to the doctor, hehehe. I felt so bad! I tried to get him to hug me & not look at the needle, but it was like a train wreck - he had to look, lol! He had to have 3 shots, so we went through it 3 times, and omgosh! the yelling that went on! And not just him! Tucker was in with us and he was over in the chair in the corner rocking back & forth and praying, lol. He would have ran out of the room if he could have gotten around us, I think, lol! Once it was over with and we were leaving, you couldn't tell that only one of the boys got shots. They were both walking hunched over and shuffling and sniffling. When we got home, Sully saw Ronnie outside (our neighbor to the north and over one house) playing basketball with his grandson, so he runs over there and tells Ronnie he got shot! Three times! ....

Back To School

Today was the first day of school, and of course it was a chaotic morning. Sully didn't want to get out of bed (he's my sleeper, lol) while Tucker was up at the crack of dawn as usual. We couldn't find shoes, we didn't like our socks, didn't like the shirt...yada yada yada. I had to fight with the garage door to get it closed (a sporadic occurance that typically takes place when I'm in a hurry), fight to get the dogs inside....but - my hair came out good! Yay! lol

We finally got to school and went to Sully's class and from there Tucker went on to his class. There were several moms there, of course, and a few who were teary-eyed. One went past me and told me she wasn't ready for this. I looked around a little bit and even though she was the only one who had actually voiced her thoughts, I could see it unspoken on the other faces. We were all thinking it. Most of the kids were oblivious to it and already settling in. Mine was balking a little bit, but none of the kids were crying. In that class, anyway. As I left and came down the hall, I saw a small group of adults and a little girl in 1st grade crying...turns out she was upset because she didn't have the same teacher as last year, and her best friend from kindergarten was in a different class. That would have made me sad too!

The boys had a good day, with the exception that Sully didn't get the hamburger he ordered for lunch. Seems he thought it was like a restaurant and you could order what you wanted, so he was dismayed when they gave him Chilli Frito Pie instead. However, the ride home on the school bus made up for any disappointment over lunch, hehehe. He informed us that it was the only reason he agreed to go to school...uh-huh, lol...

Locks of Love

So I did it. I got my hair cut. Straight, it just touches my shoulders. She cut 12 inches off, so we donated it to Locks of Love. It was really great to be able to do something for someone else in that way. It's a wonderful program, and if you have the opportunity, you should do it. The minimum is 10 inches, and most places will give you your haircut free if you donate, I am told. Check it out ;)

It feels better and no more headaches or neck strain from the weight of it. It was very strange washing it this morning in the shower though, hehehe. My hair is pretty wavy and normally curls pretty easy when scrunched, but right now it's in shock, like it doesn't know what to do.

Big day tomorrow - School starts, and my baby starts Kindergarten. I have to remember to have the camera out & ready. First day of school is a big photo opp, lol.

I have been struggling with my desktop pc all day. It's trying to install updates and gets all the way to the 3rd of 3 stages and then stays at 0%. *sigh* I'm going to have to do some kind of stupid process of changing settings, turning things off or on, jump up, turn around, do the hokey-pokey....crud!!

Today was a busy day with church & trying to get ready for school, and now it's way too late, so I'm gonna get my laundry in the dryer & get myself to bed. I haven't even checked on my farm since this afternoon!! OMGosh!! hehehe

Open House

Wow - busy day! Open House for Tucker & Sully's school was last night and we got to see the classrooms and meet the teachers. Tucker's teacher is young and pretty, and cool! She has a hermit crab in her class and likes lizards, so she is extremely cool in Tucker's book, hee hee!

Sully's teacher is the same one that Tucker had for kindergarten - I actually called the school and requested her for Sully. The biggest reason is that at Kindergarten Round-up, she was the only one there that Sully responded to. Each table had a different kindergarten teacher and would go over different 'skills' and info. Nobody else could get him to do anything, lol, but he did everything for her, so she took him around to all the tables and did all the activites with him. He really liked her and since he's a shy kid and glued to Tucker, it was important to me that he had someone he felt a connection with. The other reason is that about a week later, this past May, when our street flooded, Mrs. H's car got stuck in the middle of our street and died on her. She came in our house and waited until the water was down enough and Bobby could drive her home. Sully talked her ear off and I think he showed her every toy and game the boys own, lol. So, he feels like he knows her pretty well, now, lmbo.

It's really hard for me to wrap my mind around the fact that Sully is starting kindergarten and Tucker is in 4th grade. It just doesn't seem like they should be this old. Why does time seem to speed up as we get older? When you're a kid and you're told to wait just a week, it feels like forever! It seemed like it took for stinking ever for all the major highlights of the year to roll around; birthday, Easter, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Halloween, summer break, 4th of July. You LIVED for all those lesser holidays and presidents birthdays - 2 in February! That was back in the day, huh? Now we have Presidents Day and they don't even get it off! Life was a series of goals that made you feel the urgency of growing up, and doing it fast! Then you hit 25 and think "OMGosh! I'm halfway to 50 and I have nothing to look forward to but gray hair, weight gain and stretch marks! What happened??" Oh, and that bonus of varicose veins if that is in your genes! My mom always told me not to grow up so fast, and I didn't understand what she meant at the time. I do now, and I'm thankful I had the chance to tell my mom she was right.

One good thing, I'll be saving gas and time because I won't have to drive half way across town twice a day, five days a week. I'll most likely get to work on time every day (some of you who know me in real life are snickering right now - you know who you are!) and I'll probably have time for breakfast, too. In fact, I bet I could get my haircut now and have plenty of time to mess with it. I have been putting that off because right now I just dry my bangs and twist the rest of it up into a clip and it take like 5 minutes. The bad thing about this is that my hair is so long and heavy that it's getting hard to fit it all in the clip and it's giving me headaches, lol. Also, when I take it down at night, it's still wet. Ok, that's it. I've decided - I'm getting my hair cut, lol.

Surprise??

I used to have an application on my Facebook that was called Super Wall - it's now called Rock You Live. I haven't looked at it in for-ev-er! I noticed that I had a bunch of posts in there, so I thought I would go in & clear it all out and delete the application. It was mostly spam a bunch of the same posts over & over that made no sense. I think there were like 4 pages of junk in there, but on the second page I got a nasty surprise! There was porn staring at me!...I scrambled to shut down the page because, wouldn't you know, someone was coming! Wow! didn't expect to see that on Facebook! We aren't talking about a little T&A , or Adult Content - and I'm not going to graphically explain the image to give you a better idea, lol. I can say with relative certainty that if it was a scene in a movie, you'd have to buy it at a 'specialty' store.

When the coast was clear, I reported it as obscene, hastily deleted it and everything else in there, and then deleted the app. The person who sent it got deleted too, even though I'm fairly certain it was one of those hijacking events. It was someone who I know wouldn't send something like that to me, but not someone who I regularly communicate with anymore. You know the ones I mean - people you knew in school but weren't even friends with, lmbo. But, it has made me a little gun shy. LOL, I went through and deleted a bunch of people that were game requests and not real friends, and some I didn't even know who they were! You can still play the games, but you don't get status updates from them and they don't have access to your wall. If I deleted you and you are a real friend, I'm sorry, lol, just request again.

On a more fun note, my farm is getting HUGE!!! LOL I'm at a 20x20 farm, now, and ready to save for my little white house, after which, I will upgrade again and then settle down into shopping for all the cool little things I want to get. I want a large pond, I want a waterwheel, I want a windmill, I want a lake.....hehehe

School Supplies

Ok, I fail! I was too tired to post last night, so I'm doing it this morning. In my defense, I did school supply shopping last night at WalMart & didn't get back until 10 pm!

I don't know about anywhere else, but here, you get a list of things you need at registration, or you can pick it up at WalMart and the grocery stores & Walgreens. It's broken up into grades. Kindergarten didn't have to bring anything, thankfully. Pencils (no mechanical) pink eraser, colored pencils, glue, scissors, expandable folder, Clorox wipes, two boxes of tissues, 6 2-pocket folders, crayons, markers, watercolor paints, 2 wide lines spiral notebooks, 2 pkgs wide lined notebook paper. This is all for 4th grade. This year I got a good expandable ($10!!!) so it will last for next year. Last year's fell apart before the end of the school year. I also had to get 2 backpacks and some personal size Germ-X. Even though Sully didn't really need anything, I got him some colored pencils and some paper. So, all that for $50.

Now, Open House is Thursday the 13th. We'll go & meet the teacher, see the room & get a packet of info from him/her. This is a good time to bring in your supplies so you don't have to bring it all in the first day of school. Shamefully, lol, this is the first year I've had the supplies before Open House. Moving on.....lol....

In the past, this is also the time where the teacher hands you an additional list of items needed that are needed for that particular class. We heard a rumor that they cut the list down this year due to economic times, so maybe that won't happen this year. You pay $30 per head to enroll, then you have to buy supplies, but you also have to buy supplies that are communal, like the tissues and the wipes. So what happens if there are any left?? Shouldn't we get them back? I don't have the answers to those questions - I've never asked. But I'd be willing to bet that my husband, without much prodding, will ask it, lol.

In first grade, we had to buy 4 glue sticks. We bought the good ones, because the Roseart ones were crappy. Tucker's homework which involved pasting would come home in a ziplock (which we also bought) and inside was a crappy Roseart glue stick! I asked Tucker why he had that & not the ones we bought him and he said that the teacher had all the gluesticks and she put them in everyone's bag. So, I asked the teacher to use the ones we bought instead, and that it shouldn't be a problem as his name was on them. We were told to label everything, so those got labeled too, lol. End of problem :)

So, last night I went to WalMart with my list in hand and a plan of attack; all regular supplies first & hard stuff that would require more thought for last, ie; expandable, and backpacks. I got almost everything in the first 10 minutes, except there were no pink erasers and no paints. I even got an expandable quick & easy because there were only 3 left - pink, purple and green. That was a no-brainer, lol. I spent 15 minutes trying to find the erasers and the paint - nothing. There weren't any available Associates to ask for help, either. So, I went to look at backpacks. There were a few all over the store in about 10 different places. They were mostly girly - Hannah Montana & Tinkerbell, etc., with the exception of some that had skulls & stuff on them. But then those could be for girls too, I guess, lol. Wasn't a very good selection, but I wound up with two, with the thought that Tucker's messenger bag from last year was still in awesome shape & I might be bringing one back anyway.

Then I spotted an available worker and asked about the paints. She took me to the waaay other end of the store, where the Subway used to be, and showed me a whole room with school supplies. I should have remembered this from Easter. And Halloween. And Christmas! I did the same thing those times - couldn't find something holiday-specific and an associate would point me to this room. I'm telling everybody I know, so that next time, if I don't remember, someone can remind me, lmbo. Honestly, though, I never see that corner of WalMart because I don't go in at that end. Out of sight out of mind...

Super Slow-Mo

You ever have one of those days where everything seems to be in super slow-mo?? That was what my day was like - the day just draaaagged by. My computer was slow, Farm Town was (is!) slow, slow people driving today...lol

Bobby did a bunch of research on lizards today & has found the kind to get. It's called a Bearded Dragon and according to the Pet University website and Animal World website, it is the top choice for a pet lizard. They like attention, they are fun to interact with, as well as to observe, and relatively easy to care for. Sounds fun!

I'm really tired, so I 'm cutting this short, but I just wanted to say thank you for all the concerned emails about the 'bite' I had last week and for the sweet words of comfort for Tucker. I really appreciate it :) So, I'm re-setting the mouse trap - wish me luck with that, as I'm not good at it - and going to bed. Hugz all around :)

Total Drama Island Part II

I woke up to sobbing and the words "She's dead, Mommy!" Ahhh...the lizard didn't make it. I kind of figured this would happen, I just didn't think it would happen so soon.

Tucker's grief was about what you expect: hurt, anger, regret, blame. One thing I learned with my mother's death is that everyone experiences the various stages of grief differently but it's all normal. There is no set-in-stone way to get through it. So, as I helped Tucker deal with the loss of his pet, I was amazed again at how God uses us. I'm also thinking that these events were in part a lesson for Tucker. Thursday, one of the daycare boy's baby frog died and Tucker was less than compassionate because the two of them had been at war over the other's perceived bullying. Which is not like Tucker because he's a pretty sensitive kid, but this kids does really know how to push Tucker's buttons. So we talked about that, as well.

In the end, we don't know why she died, exactly, but more than likely because she was not a pet store lizard. She wasn't meant to be inside in an enclosure - however nice it is.

We had a funeral this morning before church and we planted some wildflower seeds nearby to mark her grave. Tucker didn't really feel up to staying for church - he was pretty emotional all morning - so we left after worship, but actually he was doing some better after playing with one of the other little kids in the back. Sully was, well, Sully...he went out to her grave and saluted it. He concerns me sometimes, LOL We went home after checking on the dog at Dad's and had some lunch, and by that time, he told me he was glad she was with Jesus, but he still missed her. Acceptance.

Bobby promised the boys that payday, he would go to the pet store & buy them both lizards. These should prove to be a little hardier. Bobby's first reaction to Tucker's grief was "Huh?? It's a lizard..." His compassion level needs some work, lol. So, we'll have two lizards next week, and double the drama, double the fun....oh boy!

Total Drama Island

Have you ever seen that cartoon on Cartoon Network? Total Drama Island? I don't watch it & my kids don't realy watch it, but today made me think of it. Well, the title anyway, lol.

We spent most of the morning straightening up around the house. I had a pile of sweaters from winter that needed to be put away,(did some farming, too hehehe) and the boys, of course had to clean up their disaster of a room. The incentives for doing an extra good job were a 'army man' for Sully & a container for Tucker's lizard.

Bobby came home with a bag of live crickets to feed the lizard - in between the cleaning & such, we also had bug hunts so little miss lizard could eat. We went to WalMart & came home with army men & a 10 gal aquarium and a vented lid for it. We put shavings in it, a couple of sticks for her to climb on, some smooth river rocks and a butter dish lid for water - she's still pretty little, so didn't want anything too deep. Put her in & she seemed happy. Ok, time to put in the crickets. The lady at the pet store said to just put them in & she would eat when she got hungry. Well, we put them in & for the most part they were bigger than her. A couple of them seemed to get aggressive and it did kind of look like they were trying to eat on her or something. Well, Tucker got upset & started crying that they were gonna eat her & she was gonna die. OMGosh! the drama!! LOL, that lasted for about 15-20 minutes.

I asked Bobby if we could pull the crickets out and put them into something else and just feed them to her when she needed one. That was fun - to watch anyway, hehehe. Bobby pulled them out and I would stick them into a plastic coffee can. We got to the last one and decided that this one we would leave in, but it needed to be de-headed. He turned to Tucker & told him to pull it's head off because it was his lizard & he would have to learn how to do it. Tucker wouldn't do it and then Sully says "I'll do it!" and he did! LMBO

Oh, and I haven't caught that mouse yet. He is apparently too smart for the trap, or maybe just not hungry. I just saw him run behind the tv. Well, time to go to bed. Now!

Summer Moon

OMGosh! the moon is gorgeous tonight! It's big and orangey-yellow with!a halo around it from the humidity, I suppose. I wish I had the right kind of camera and lens to get a good picture of it. I just took the dogs out for the last time tonight, and almost didn't want to come in - except that it's 82 degrees with 72 % humidity at 11 pm, so uh, yeah, I came back in.

I am sooo glad this week is over. Dad is in California - comes back Wednesday - and I am working his evening hours plus going by the house twice a day to take care of the dog. There's been drama at the daycare almost every day...I'm flat worn out. I didn't get out of work at 9 tonight because when I opened the garage to drive out there was a yellow Dodge truck parked in the driveway blocking me. Who parks in front of a garage door to a funeral home? I'll tell you - somebody who only cares that they are late for work and aren't going to drive around looking for a parking space. It was a girl who works as a bartender at the bar & grill behind & to the east of us. She knew better because the owners have told all their employees not to park there. They had to because some other idiots have done it - she isn't alone.

So, I'm ready for bed, except that I now have to hunt up a mouse trap, because I just had a mouse run across my foot. Luckily, I'm still wearing my shoes. As it is, I about dumped my laptop doing the 'eww' dance.
Ok, off to find a mousetrap & then to bed...

Locusts

The locusts we have here in Kansas aren't actually locusts,
but cicadas. And they are loud!
Here is a picture I found on the web of one coming out of it's shell. They leave these shells behind and they can be found on trees, in the dirt at the bottom of trees or in yards and gardens - everywhere, really.
And kids like to pick them up and scare you with them - fun.
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And here is another picture of what they look like after they emerge from their shell. It's locust time here - they are out & making lots of noise. I like to hear them, actually. If I searched, I might be able to find a sound file of them.
The sounds all blend together - locusts, crickets, frogs - and if it wasn't so stinking hot that you had to run the AC, I would love to leave the windows open at night to listen while sleeping. But, you can kind of hear it all even with the windows closed and the AC going, so that tells you it's pretty loud, lol.

One time about 10 years ago, I guess, because we didn't have Tucker yet, we were out walking and I apparently kicked a locust. It landed directly underneath me and did it's warning rattle/buzz sound and I jumped and danced like I had something alive in my shorts, lmbo. My husband still teases me about that! He laughed so hard I thought he was gonna have a stoke.
Well, it was pretty funny :)

Farming

I knew I shouldn't have done it. I kept saying no. My friends kept inviting me, but still I resisted. They gave me all kinds of gifts....Then, today, I gave in - I now have a farm in Farm Town on Facebook. I know what will happen next - I'll become so involved in it that I'll have to drag my laptop around with me everywhere I go and I'll no doubt start having dreams about plowing, planting & harvesting. OMGosh! When will I have enough coins to start buying buildings & fences & paths?? It's gonna get ugly...Bobby won't be able to live with me...wait! Maybe I should get him hooked up with Facebook & and get him to farm too! Then, he'll be so obsessed with it too, that he won't care! Sounds like a plan to me! hehehe...

All kinds of exciting things happening today...ok, so really just two things, lol. One of Tucker's friend's gave him a baby lizard for his birthday. I didn't have the heart to tell him no, so we now have a lizard to take care of. She's a pretty little thing - all blue & purple. I have no idea if she really is a 'she' or not - Brian (Tucker's friend) says she is, so I guess so, lol. He has been a mother hen to her all evening - finding little bugs for her to eat, checking on her constantly. We wouldn't let him put her container in his bed, though. You gotta draw the line somewhere, hehehe.

Cruisin'

I'm going on a cruise!! Well, not a real cruise, hehehe - a virtual cruise over at Escape From Reality :) It's gonna be a lot of fun! August is vacation month, so we're just kind of taking things easy - no tag sales or auctions, just games & fun stuff. Anyone interested in joining the group should mention how you heard of the group and who sent you - we're all about keeping everyone safe & happy, and keeping spammers out. Oh, and the current banner - the one with the Mermaid and sparkly diamonds - I made it :) hehehe

Today was reasonably quiet at work, except that I didn't get anything done but genealogy all day long. I don't know why, but the genealogists run in packs. Weeks go by and all is quiet. Then suddenly and without warning they descend! They come with pages and pages of notes - organized by names, or not organized at all. Our records aren't categorized by names, but by years, and then by date in the order of death. Names are only for looking in the index, after you know the year. The seasoned veterans know that, and it makes the job easier. The newbies always assume it's alphabetical, like almost everything else. We have over a hundred years of death records, and only the last 6 years are computerized. Everything else is in very large books and binders. Some of the books are so old they are falling apart. We don't allow anyone else to handle them because they are so delicate.

I got a rather large request dropped onto my desk today and it is, of course, not organized in any way, shape, or form. There are 3 and a half pages - double columns! - of names...ugh! On a brighter note, Sully came home with a shoebox full of snails and snail shells... yay :|

Snakes, Sporks and Birthday Cake

My middle baby turned 9 today. He's getting to be so big! We just had a simple little party tonight - chocolate cake, chocolate chip icecream, and just us and Bobby's parents and my dad. Dad is leaving in the morning for California, and we wanted to celebrate before he left. In two weeks we'll have a party with the whole family & a cookout, homemade icecream, and a decorated cake, lol. Woohoo!

He had a pretty good day today. One of the boys at the daycare found a garden snake and so all the boys were wanting to hold it - ugh! This same little boy told Tucker that he & his dad were fishing in Joplin last week and saw a Black Momba in the water and they shot it...and my son believed it. I don't know if this kid's dad was messing with him and he believes it, or if he was messing with Tucker, but my kid swallowed it whole, lmbo! Ok, so if there are Black Mombas in Joplin, then are there Cobras in our backyard?? LMBO This is kind of like the 'Korean' fighter jet that got 'shot down' during camp last month. (there was an airshow at the base nearby & they had several vintage planes flying in the area) Kids are so funny!! Sully came running up to me with something in his hand - thankfully not a snake - and was so excited!! "Mommy! I found a spork!!" I'll have to remember that when I'm trying to decide what to put in his stocking this year for Christmas :)

Weekend's Over :(

The weekend sure went fast! We mostly worked around the house this weekend. Bobby worked on the storage shed attached to the carport out back & I worked on the family room & living room. Saturday morning Bobby went & picked up the motorcycle - it was having an o-ring replaced because the fill cap for the oil was leaking. We went for a ride in the afternoon & it was fabulous!! Perfect weather! Rode through the park & stopped for a little bit - I was surprised there weren't more people out on such a day. It was the same out at the lake. Our ride got cut a little short, though because Bobby started to get a migraine, so we had to go home, but it was still fun!

Watched some movies this weekend - nothing new, but still good. Pink Panther 2 - we'd only seen it once quite a while back, so it was like new, hehehe - another favorite of mine; 50 First Dates, and True Lies. True Lies was on TNT tonight, and since they ran it back to back, it's on again right now. That is one of my favorite Arnold movies, and Jamie Lee Curtis is sooo good in it, lol. And actually, Tom Arnold is great too. One of my favorite scenes is where he (Arnold) has just been given truth serum and Jamie Lee asks him if he's ever killed anybody and he says "Yes, but they were all bad." Men In black and MIBII were on Saturday night & so the boys watched, of course. They love those movies, lol, and I like them too.

I got bit by a spider or something last night on my upper thigh. At first I thought it was a mosquito bite because it itched, but by this afternoon it was hurting when I would try to scratch it, so I went & looked at it and it was red and swollen and had a little black dot in the center. I'm keeping an eye on it - so far it hasn't changed, which I'm taking as a good sign.

Tucker's birthday is tomorrow - 9 years old! Hard to believe... He's wanting a cell phone really bad, lol, but I told him he can't have one until he's 10. I may relent, though, and get him one for Christmas. It'll be a pay as you go kind, of course, LOL