Goodbye 2009, Hello 2010

Hard to believe it's 2010 already!  This year went by as a blur.  Personally, I'm glad to see 2009 go.  It's been a horrible year for many, many people. I'm looking forward to this new year,

Christmas was good - it was white!  We got about 6 inches all together, with drifts in places of about 11 inches.  About 2 inches of ice before that, and now it has all melted a bit due to it being warm yesterday. Today was only in the 20's so now everything is frozen back up. Now we have huge ice patches everywhere instead of snow patches.  The ice took out our internet on the morning of Christmas Eve and we didn't get it back until late Monday afternoon. Yikes - that's longer than I ever want to go without internet again - ever! 

My boys tried to stay up until midnight, and failed, lol. They are, as I type this, sleeping: Sully is sitting upright on the couch, and Tucker is sprawled out in the chair.  They were watching Star Wars, lol.  They are obsessed with it right now because Sully got Lego Star Wars for Christmas and they have been playing it every chance they get.  I'll drag them to bed once 2010 gets here.  That way I can tell them Happy New Year and they have the illusion that they made it :)

Well, it's almost time.  I'm wishing all a very Happy New Year, and hoping for God's blessings and favor upon us all. Bye 2009 - I wish I could say it was a great year, but it really wasn't.  There were some great moments of course, but it's been a year of dramatic loss for many. So...hello 2010  :)

Slack Much?

Ok, so everybody has pretty much figured out by now that I can slack with the best of them hee hee.

I'll do a quick catch-up of Thanksgiving and everything else - which really wasn't much - and get current;

Thanksgiving day dinner was at my house - immediate family, so not big & noisy or overly hard on the cook :) It went well - I did everything homemade because I had a point to make with my mother-in-law. She gives off the impression that I can't/don't do anything. So, homemade rolls, homemade dressing, homemade pumpkin pie& pecan pie with real whipped cream, real sweet potatoes - not canned.  Everything came out perfect :)  She seemed a little disappointed, hee hee 

Saturday was the ginormous whole family dinner at her house.  I will give you a perfect example of the kind of things she does to me: when I asked her what I should bring, she told me to bring sweet potatoes and a pumpkin pie. When I get there and put the food down, I see that she has made sweet potatoes and a pumpkin pie...what the heck??   *deep sigh*  that's how it always is, lol.

Next was a trip to Topeka on Monday after thanksgiving and by Wednesday Bobby and I both were sick with an intestinal virus.  One of those that you wish you would throw up, but you can't.  I was literally sick for two days, but my stomach still wasn't right for another two days after that.  It would ache and burn and I felt hungry, but the thought of food was just nasty. The body aches lasted about 3 days also - ugh!  Feeling better now, but weak after all that and spending like four days in my recliner, and no energy to do anything.  I know I'm sick when I don't even feel like opening up the laptop, hee hee.

Saturday was my birthday, but wasn't feeling up to doing anything, so it will probably wait until our anniversary on the 28th of this month.  Yeah, my birthday, Christmas, and my anniversary are all in December. I guess I'll have to start celebrating my half birthday :)

Real Life

Like a lot of people, I like to escape from real life to movies, books, games, digital art, internet... Nothing wrong with it - it's a need!  And the caveat to that is: everything in moderation, LOL.  Not good to wake up someday and find that you haven't showered in a month and your bills are all late, the cat has eaten the dog while it was sleeping, and your fish are all floaters, hee hee.

There has been a lot that I would like to escape from these last couple of weeks, but unfortunately I haven't had time.  Real life has reared it's ugly head to an alarming degree.  This past weekend my stepdaughter's husband cleaned out their house and took their twin boys (not 2 yet) and their daughter (not quite 3) with the aid of his parents while she was busy arranging a birthday party for her 5 year old.  He told her (LIE) he would have his mom take care of the little ones since she was busy with the party and he'd have her bring them to the party since he had to work...nice.

So, why did he do it?  He was following up on a threat.  The week before, while at his parents house, his best buddy was wrestling with the 5 & 7 yr old boys and accidentally got 'nutted' by the 5 yr old.  It's a risk when wrestling with little kids, obviously, but he got mad.  He picked up the boy by the neck, threw him down and then shoved him across the floor and stepdad did nothing.  In fact he thought it was funny - until Mandy told him she was filing a report against the guy.  Then he threatened to take the kids (just the three that are his) if she did.

So, now she's fighting to get her kids back.  Something I've never understood: a good parent takes kids away from a bad parent (abusive,drunk/drugs,etc.) to protect them and the good parent gets in trouble.  A bad parent takes children away from a good parent for spite or some other reason and nothing happens to them.  Ok, so this may not be true most of the time - I don't know the statistics on that - but I think everyone would admit that change is needed.  I know that a large number of child abductions are carried out by a family member, and the current process is get a lawyer and file for temporary custody.  Yeah, and while you do that, your child is gone, getting farther away, & you don't know where they are.  If you come home one day to find your house empty, your spouse gone, your kids don't come home from school, and your spouse is not answering their cell phone, you should be able to file a police report immediately for parental abduction, shouldn't you?  I don't know about anywhere else, but around here it's not like that - you have to be awarded temporary custody first, only then will they listen to anything else - "he/she is a parent too, they haven't broken any law" is the customary response...These are my personal thoughts and observations - if  I am wrong, I am sure I will hear about it.  People are notoriously quiet unless there are mistakes to be pointed out...

On a more positive note; after saving & working for enough money, Tucker has gotten his Bearded Dragon!  She is so cute!  He has named her Skittles, and she is 2 months old. We didn't get any sleep at all that first night because he was up watching her and worrying over her..."Mom, her eyes are closed." Me: "She's sleeping." Him: "Are you sure?" and then I went in & checked her: "See? She's just sleeping."  A little while later..."Mom? She's still in the same spot & it doesn't look like she's breathing." ... and on it went.  Just in case anyone out there is interested, when they are asleep, you don't really see their sides move much - not like when they are awake. I will have pictures up soon  :)

Fall-ish

...and so I changed the layout for November - the theme being Thankfulness this month in preparation for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.  I'm presently working on a little freebie thing to post over on my designs blog to do Thanksgiving tags with or to do a scrap page with a couple of papers a frame & some doodads to dress it up with - and some wordart :)

Jason Aldean performed in our dusty little town Saturday night. It was held at the fairgrounds, which are about 2 block from our house, so it was a little noisy, hee hee.  Bobby worked backstage security, so he had lot's of fun stories about the drunks trying to get backstage, lol.

This weather has been so weird!  Cold, then warm then cold again...

My tree in the front yard the day before Halloween:

and here it is the next day, Halloween:

 

practically all the leaves gone in a day, lol.

And the last few days it's been in  the 70's, so oddly enough I have wildflowers blooming in my front yard also, lol:

and since I'm posting pictures, lol, here are some of my boys at Halloween:

Sully was a pirate - Dread Pirate Sullivan, lol, and Tucker was a Wild Hog; Woody is who he says he was, but I thought he looked more like Doug, lmbo!

Ok, well, I'm watching The Italian Job (2003) so I'm gonna get back to it :)  Awesome movie!!

Disturbing Behavior

No, I'm not talking about that relatively unknown song by the late Robert Palmer (sad, that).  

I got a call from the school nurse today at work - very sweet lady - who immediately let me know that everything was ok, but that Sully, my five year old, had been choked and pushed over a table by another kindergartener.  They examined him and he wasn't upset or crying, and other than some small red marks, he was unharmed.  Then the principal called me and we talked about this other kid, who, from time to time, according to Sully, has picked on him in various ways.  But things are escalating, and I want to know how they plan to protect my child from this child.  There's something profoundly disturbing about a five year old trying to choke another five year old!  Of course the principal couldn't give me much information about this other kid, but I already knew who it was.  They will continue to monitor things, pull him out of the class when necessary & keep a close eye on him - basically do what they can to keep the kids safe.  Sully seems to be mostly unbothered by it - he lets most things roll off his back.  I just don't want him to think this kind of thing is normal, and I don't want him to just let it happen, ya know?  He sure doesn't let his older brother get by with anything, but that's his brother - it's different in his mind.  I still can't get over a kindergartener trying to throttle a classmate.  Wow...

Happy Birthday Mom

Today my mom would have been 70.  It's just been 9 months since she passed, and everybody says the first year is the hardest - all those holidays & other milestones. The next three months are going to be hard. 

I could talk about how much I miss her, and how so many things are just not the same now, but I'm not. She wouldn't want me to concentrate on what I don't have :)

So, instead, I'll tell you a funny story that my friend Kathyfrances reminded me of this week with a post of hers about a bat, hee hee.

I don't remember how old I was, but the time of year was either late Fall or early Spring.  We were visiting my aunt (her only blood sister she knew) & uncle in St. Louis, Missouri, and the weather was damp & cool.  We would go for walks around their neighborhood in the mornings and late afternoons and it was misty and gray outside many times.  I remember large hedges and big black Gothic gates barring the view of the houses behind them and a little Beagle that would walk a long with us sometimes...

One misty afternoon we were walking past a tall hedgerow and I remember there were two or three trees next to the hedge.  My mom spotted what looked like some kind of molded fruit hanging on one of the trees.  It was all dark and fuzzy looking, and slightly shriveled up.  She reached out to get a better look at it and as soon as she touched it, there was a squeak and a sudden flapping and the moldy fruit flew up and away while my mom, my aunt, and myself all squealed and jumped around flapping our arms and danced like we were standing on hot coals...and then we ran, lmbo.  We ran about a block with the neighbor's little Beagle chasing behind us and about passed out from laughing so hard.  The last time we were all together, we got to laughing about that bat.  The funniest thing about it, was that bat was just as frightened as we were, lol.

Love you, Mom  :)  Happy Birthday

Too Busy To Think

Have you ever had that happen?  You are just too busy to think about what you're doing, so you just operate on auto pilot?  It reminds me of a Sponge Bob episode where he clears everything out of his mind but 'fine dining' and he is the perfect waiter.  Then he gets asked what his name is and he has a melt down, lol.  That's how I'm feeling:  vacuum - check; clean the bathroom - check; laundry - check; supper - check; paperwork, answer the phone, run pc scans, find everything under the sun because nobody knows where anything is at home and at work..."Mom, the dogs got out and are running amok in the neighborhood..."  HUH??  I completely blanked for a full minute...then I went out and chased them down.  I discovered I am in horrible shape - completely winded and gasping for air - what a pretty picture, lol. Of course, I'm still coughing a bit, so running around in 47 degree weather just throws that into overdrive. Lucy (Lab) is to blame for the whole thing - she always wants to run out in the field, and so she made a mad dash for it and Ruby Sue (Basset Hound) followed.  I can normally get Lucy back with very little trouble, but because Ruby Sue was out, they both just turned their ears off and were two dogs behaving very badly.  Every time I would almost have Ruby Sue, Lucy would buzz by her & then she was off again.  Ruby Sue is built pretty low to the ground so she's tough to grab and awkward to haul back home by the collar - you walk like Igor in Young Frankenstein; all hunched over - not fun!  And of course once she is caught she lets out  a big holler like she's being beat *rolls eyes* she won't be, but she sure wants everyone to think so, lol.  And the whole time this is going on, the other two dogs in the back yard are running and jumping and barking their fool heads off because they're missing out on all the fun.  The biggest thing that saved me was that because Ruby Sue has an excellent nose, she was distracted by absolutely everything she got a whiff of and would stop to check it out, lol.

That happened yesterday afternoon - Sunday.  Saturday I got the bathroom all spiffy clean, and cleared off the kitchen table - Bobby's biggest pet peeve, lol - and got the kitchen all cleaned up, plus helped the boys in their room.  I still didn't get my catch-all room - I mean computer room, hee hee, cleaned out, but I'm procrastinating on that, and so far it's coming along nicely, lol. 

Every time somebody comes over unexpectedly and I have to pick up in a hurry, well, it all goes in there.  Some people throw stuff in their oven, or under the bed or in a closet, but the computer room works better for us, lol. I'll probably get it done next Saturday - we'll see...

Mental Images

Miss me??  I have been sick - yet again.  According to the doctor, it's one unending, simmering-under-the-surface sinus infection.  You think you're over it because you feel better, but you really never got over it and you never really felt good - just better than horribly sick.  He gave me some meds and I am now feeling better - an antibiotic and a cortisone pill pack taken over 6 days.  The worst part has been the fatigue - yikes!  The two days I stayed home from work I couldn't do anything, and every day when I got home from work, all I could do was pass out on the couch.  My poor little mother hen Tucker kept checking my forehead & asking me if I was ok, lol.

Not too much has happened this last week or so...at least that I am aware of, hee hee.  Actually, Wednesday was a horrible day all the way around, not only was I sick, but after a long night of no sleep & coughing, and getting up with dogs and sleep walking children, I got up about 4:30 am to discover I had an early 'monthly visitor' and not a thing in the house to do about it.  I usually have some stashed in purses - but nothing!  I had to double up panti liners and hope for the best until I could get to WalMart.

Wal Mart is a different experience here - and I'm sure it's the same for all small towns where everybody knows everybody.  There's no such thing as anonymity.  You have to be prepared to see at least 10 people you know at any given moment at WalMart or the grocery store. They look in your cart & have instant access into your life.

For those of you who live in larger cities and urban areas, picture this:  It's a beautiful Saturday and you can't wait to get out in your yard and do whatever it is you like to do out there; garden, landscape - whatever.  But, before you can, you have to go run to WalMart & grab a few things. You want to get in, get it done, get out so you can get on with your glorious Saturday.  You've been in the store 10 minutes and have already run into 4 people you know - precious time spent there not being rude and talking about the weather to each one.  You're ready to check out - have everything you came for and there's only two cashiers working.  So you pick the fastest line and realize that the person in front of you is your neighbor across the street, the cashier is the teen driver your husband arrested last month for dui, and the guy that just got in line behind you is your go-to guy at the bank.  Now, they know what specific brand and size of pads/tampons you use, and that your hair color is not natural.  And you now know that your neighbor has a severe case of diarrhea judging by the Immodium, Depends, and family size toilet paper package in their cart, and that your banker dude likes Rob Schneider movies and prefers skimpy animal print undies.  That's a mental image that will haunt you for years to come - and it will haunt you!  You'll be seeing him at the bank, ball games, church... it's unavoidable...

Now you understand...so I'm in line checking out with my little package and the gal at the register looks at my item and says "Caught by surprise, huh?  You should have planned ahead."  Oh really...

Owning Your Friends

Work has been busy this week - two funerals so far & a third tomorrow.
One thing that really stands out in the funeral home industry is family dynamics. Some families are divided into camps; this half won't have anything to do with that half, some are united against just one other member...sometimes it's it's justified & sometimes it's not. Ever heard of someone stealing memorial money from their own grandma's funeral by pretending to deliver it to the church it was intended for?? Yeah - it happens; take all the cash & deliver only the checks. Brilliant! Nobody will EVER figure it out! *rolls eyes*

One time, a long time ago, while half of the family was still at the hospital waiting on the funeral home, the other half was breaking into mama's house and taking whatever they could carry. I find it hard to believe that people like this only live here, but really now! The ratio of normal to wacko seems to be skewed somehow. There's just a really high concentration for such a small town.

There's a guy who walks around town talking to the houses. A while back, my cousin had a guy - probably 22 - come into her house and look through her cupboards until he found a bag of Oreo cookies then took the bag & went & sat down on her couch and ate them all. Then went into a rage because they were gone...his nick name is Cookie Monster. Apparently that's what he does when he gets loose from his guardians - steals cookies. There's a lady in town that walks around with a baby doll & compliments your car, your hair, your kids...super sweet. Unless she is pissed - then, she swears like a sailor and beats up cars. I'm wondering if the Culligan water filtration system we have installed is enough...maybe we should get bottled water....lol

I have a group of friends who are all playing that Friends For Sale game on Facebook. Kind of a weird premise for a game...
They keep buying me from each other and I'm not even playing, lol. But, (shhhh!!!) I've crossed over, hehe. I'm just now looking things over, so I haven't figured it out yet. Looks a little more complicated than Farm Ville, lol! Looking at my stats though, I'm pretty popular, hehe. I've been bought at least 8 times today, lol. Not bad for not even playing the game, lmbo!

Fabulous & Super Exciting

I watched Disturbia this weekend and it seriously freaked me out! OMGosh! It was very good - very freaky, though. Had me at the edge of my seat, that's for sure! That whole thing with his friend in the closet was awful! I would have beat the snot out of him for that, LOL!

Tucker is sick again - fever, cough, sniffly nose - chest congestion is pretty heavy. Ugh! He stayed home from school today & church yesterday. Fever seems to be gone now - still congested cough, though. I think he'll be ok to go to school tomorrow.

Bobby went on his motorcycle trip Saturday & had a good time. I didn't get everything done I wanted to, but I did go to Wal Mart to get 3 little Coradory or Corydora fish, lmbo. Don't remember the exact name of them, but they are like little catfish and they help keep the tank clean :)

So that was my weekend, hehe! Fabulous & super exciting, right?? lol