I've been keeping busy the past few weeks with painting some of the ceramic figurines and other unpainted pieces that we bought. Included is the figurines the Beast bought me for part of my Christmas present (the other was my new stove, remember?)

I did most of the other pieces (toilet seat with cute little saying on it, a 3-dimensional picture, teapot and cup, etc.) and decided to tackle some of the other, larger pieces. I painted the garden gnome because I thought it was adorable. It's a pipe-smoking gnome resting under a mushroom *umbrella*. But the umbrella mushroom forms a kind of basin that I will probably put bird seed in this spring. It's too shallow for a bird bath (and we already have one). I wish I was able to put a picture up here of it because his face turned out amazing. He looks almost life-like (if you have ever seen a garden gnome, that is).

I also did a squirrel, holding a big leaf that will also hold bird seed. Then I tackled my Indian scout one. I wish I could remember the name of the Indians that wore clothing like this one has on. You've probably seen them in pictures and movies. He is wearing a wolf hide. The head of the wolf is his hat and the front legs are tied around the front and the back legs and tail hang down. His pants have fringe and his gun and braids are adorned with feathers. I really took my time and worked with the detail. I even went and bought some special brushes for the fine details. I swear, one of the brushes can't have more than four or five hairs on it but I needed it for around the eyes and a few other small, detailed areas.

I also found out that I need a magnifying glass on a stand. It needs to be large and the more magnifying, the better. Even though my eyesight is now back to almost 20/20, up close and personal, I need to magnify areas of detail on some of these figurines I have. I still have my cowboy to do and I'm almost not looking forward to it just because of that. If anyone knows of a place that sells a magnifying glass setup like I described, please email me.

I finished up the indian this afternoon and I'll let it dry for 24 hours before I seal it. It gives me a chance to look it over beforehand and see if I missed any spots that need touching up. I'll do something less detailed next to give myself a break. My eyes go ga-ga after a while and I am not as neat as I need to be. I can paint for an hour or two and then have to stop and do something else.

The nice thing is that I started another afghan but a different pattern. I thought it funny when I found out that my sister, *D*, is crocheting an adorable large doily in a pretty shade of yellow. It's funny because the afghan I am making is also in yellow. Neither of us knew about the choice until our projects were already underway. This afghan is for me. I am making it for my living room and it looks great with the burgundy of our loveseat and recliners. I've got about 10 inches done so far and have to make a yarn run now that I know approximately how much I can get out of the yarn I've chosen. It's a soft but bulky yarn and should be a great nap afghan when it's done.

Baron has become a real problem for both the Beast and me. The weird thing is that it isn't a constant problem but it's annoying as hell. He keeps challenging us for dominance. He's sneaky when it comes to me, though. He will wait until the Beast leaves and then start things like laying on me while we are on the loveseat. I keep a blanket on it so it doesn't get it full of dog hair. Even dobermans shed and they can shed a LOT of hair. It surprises you because it's so fine and short. He doesn't look like he has that much to spare but I'll send you what I vacuumed up next time. You could probably glue it together and get a decent sized puppy out of it.

Another area of challenge is obeying commands. We have always made him *sit* and *stay* until we release him to eat his food. We don't wait long, just long enough for him to be calm. We had found he ate like a pig if he was excited and I know he didn't chew anything. All the dog training books and the trainers we've talked to say that it's a good practice. Lately though, Baron has almost...and I say *almost* because I will pick up his food and put it inside a cabinet if he doesn't sit. But it's the defiant look on his face (and, trust me, you can SEE it) that pisses me off. In my mind I am thinking *you are NOT going to make ME do things YOUR way, buster!* He will suddenly go ahead and sit down when he realizes that I am serious about not giving him his food but he lowers his butt very slowly doing it. I know he doesn't like failing. Neither do I and I won't. I have more patience than he has determination.

I'm sure you have heard about the tornadoes that his Alabama. We've actually had two separate incidents of that in as many weeks. The first set was a weather front that hit us after having several 60 degree days. A storm front came through several states, including N.E. Alabama. It extended north into Tennessee where it did more damage and killed more people than it did here locally. The sirens kept going off every time a tornado was seen (I told you about this in another post). This last storm front hit around the Montgomery area. We, thankfully, only got rain out of it. But it did a lot of damage in Prattville but much less than the previous storm that hit us and Tennessee so hard. I feel bad for the people there because the governor did not declare it a disaster area so there's no federal aid or FEMA help for those poor people that lost their homes and businesses. He did, however, obtain some of the FEMA trailers stored down south for the families to live in while their homes were being repaired.

Since they didn't get federal aid, it meant no help in cleaning and clearing the area. But Alabamians have big hearts. The very next day, 29 volunteers showed up to help out and had brought equipment to assist in the effort. More showed up today and the county had trucks there to haul away the debris being gathered. It makes you proud. Most of the injured were not serious, thank god but there ARE two people in serious condition in the hospital. Say a little prayer for them if you think about it.

It's really a wonder that everyone here isn't sick as a dog. We've had our weather go from the 'teens for a day or two and then up into the 60's for the next couple days. Up, down, up, down.....you HAVE to watch the weather on TV or have weatherbug so you know how to dress. Heck, even to where you set your t-stat. I could have choked the Beast when I found out that he was lowering the t-stat to 65 degrees at night. It's fine while you are under the comforter but just have to pee during the night. The seat on the terlit is so damn cold that you fear your butt is gonna stick to it. He SAYS he only turned the t-stat down to 65, I didn't check but it felt a hell of a lot colder than that when I got up to let the dog outside at 4:30 am. If I have to get up tonight, trust me, I will check it....and raise the temp if I find it even at 65.

It went from 28 degrees this morning to a high of 52 with no wind. It doesn't feel bad, surprisingly. But we will have a warmer night (around 38 they say) and guess what it's bringing with it? You got it....another stormy night and 50% chance of showers and isolated thunderstorms. That means another possible set of tornadoes somewhere. Heck, pray for all the states that front is going to go through. Who in the hell ever heard of so many tornadoes in FEBRUARY??? *sigh*

Well, I have to run. I'm making penne pasta with Italian sausage, onions and green peppers for dindin. It smells heavenly. I'll turn any leftovers into spaggetti sauce tomorrow so nothing will go to waste. I want to make some Texas toast garlic bread and the oven is preheated now. Love you all and stay healthy.

When we went to bed last night, we knew we were under a Tornado Watch. However, the *tornado* activity was tied in with a fierce band of thunderstorms. This was all supposed to hit our area around midnight. We DID see some lightning waaaaaay off in the distance but no rain...nothing but clouds that kept interfering with my internet (I have satellite service remember) so I called it a night.

About 4:15 AM, my phone rang. Now, I have never had a phone call in the middle of the night that wasn't some sort of bad news. A kid in jail, a kid in an accident and at the hospital, that sort of thing so I was very shaky when I answered it. I was also still half asleep. I envisioned it being bad news about the Beast's mother who was on the verge of dying (according to the doctors) just a couple weeks ago.

Lo and behold, it was Tara! She was verging on panic and said, "Aunt Brat, do you know we are in a tornado alert? The sirens are going off all around us" (she lives in the town just slightly north of us). My mind was still a bit muddled trying to wrap itself around the difference between a watch and an alert but I thanked her for letting us know and told her I would be keeping my eyes open (I hoped) and watch for anything suspicious. The Beast and I have gone through a tornado that took the roof right off over our heads in 1965. I will never forget the way the sky and the lightning looked, nor the feel of the air just before it hit us. Tara said to me, "I just wanted to be sure you are going to be alright". Bless her heart for that. She really was concerned that a tornado MIGHT hit us and we would be unaware one was even in the area. I told her to stay safe and was glad that her boyfriend was with her. This area is very susceptible to tornadoes and he was aware of all the safety precautions to take. I learned the boys were safely esconsed in the tub in the center of the house, along with pillows and blankets. Tara and her boyfriend would grab the mattress from the bedroom right next to it if they were threatened by an actual tornado and the four of them would ride it out with the mattress over them to help cushion any falling debris.

After wishing each other love, I hung up and went to the front door and opened it. The sky looked bright enough to be twilight from all the lightning, which seemed to be continuous. I thought *Ut Oh!* because that is definitely a sign that there is one in the area. About that time, our sirens went off around us. They only go off when a tornado is sighted so I knew that somewhere nearby, a tornado was threatening someone or something. I closed and locked the door and then went to the back door to check out the sky. No swirling cloud formations, thankfully but the rain was coming down in buckets by this time. I sat at the kitchen table, smoking one cigarette after another for the next hour or so. Twice more the sirens went off and I made the trek to the front door to observe the sky and then to the back door again. When the wind died down and the rain seemed to be coming down less frantically, I finally went back to bed and fell instantly asleep. I knew when I awakened, all three local stations would be full of the news about the tornadoes that hit our area along with any damage and deaths/injuries. I prayed that no one was seriously hurt and gave thanks that the Beast and I had been fortunate.

When I woke up around 6:30 AM, I immediately turned on local news and, sure enough, lots of news about the damages throughout the Tennessee Valley area. I was saddened to hear that many people had died in Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Mississippi as this storm front passed through them. Alabama had a lot of injuries and three deaths that were confirmed before I finally turned off the news. Our town had sustained little more than a lot of trees down that blocked main roads but they were almost cleared by 9 AM. Other areas were not as fortunate. Many homes had literally exploded, others picked up and moved off their foundations. Mobile homes were either blown apart totally or had major damage. A lot of people were now homeless.

A local station was asking people to call them if they could offer shelter to some of these unfortunate people. They took the information and gave it to the Red Cross, I guess. Also many churches in the area had people that had trained and were out helping clean up the debris and look for victims. They were also bringing food for the many firefighters, EMT's and volunteers that had been working from 5AM without a break. These same groups were taking in some of the displaced victims of the tornadoes that hit our area.

Tara and her boys were fine and grateful that they had also been spared. I called my sister *C*, who is Tara's mother, to let her know that we were all fine so that she wouldn't worry or call when she heard the news about our area being hit.

Well, I've had little sleep today so I am going to lay down and try to take a short nap before I have to think about making dinner. I washed, dried, folded and put away all our laundry today and even made a blueberry pie. I've been waiting for it to come out of the oven before I took my nap. It's almost done now so I wish you all a wonderful day, week and weekend. We are prepared for the cold weather that is now headed our way. Figures....from 75 degrees as a high to 29 degrees as a low (but they say it will be 60 degrees or warmer by afternoon tomorrow). It's a wonder everyone here isn't sick as a dog with this changeable weather!

Love you all and take care of yourself and those that you love.

I think I originally started this blog to put down my impressions and reactions to living in this area of Alabama. Then we got Baron and I got away from that and it was all about HIM. I've had a couple people now tell me that they would like me to just make it about the things I think and feel plus some of the things that happen around me, etc.

I discovered all on my own why it is best to do a daily blog. You have something happen, or you start thinking about something and have a deep (or funny even) thought about it and you should WRITE IT DOWN IMMEDIATELY or as soon as possible. *sigh* I have had several things happen to me or thoughts that occurred to me and I think they are gone forever because *blush* I forgot them. I know I thought them...but that's as far as it goes right now. Perhaps I will remember them as I type this up.

I have discovered that I am gaining weight back slowly because I am not eating regular meals. It's something that happens to retired people, I've been told. You just kinda eat when you get hungry and mostly snack instead of having a real meal. A sandwich and soup midday becomes your *brunch*, and, if you happen to have been busy and you eat later than that, you don't eat dinner.....you snack once again.

I feel guilty because I am diabetic and the worse thing you can do is NOT have regular meals so I will have a *bad* day where I don't eat well and the next day I make sure I have three meals to compensate. Of course, I am not really compensating. I'm just trying to make myself feel better. The trouble is that I get busy crocheting or painting one of the many figurines and other things and time just flies by me. Worse, I DO take my pills but, without eating, I don't think it is doing me much good.

For the past week or so, I have made myself have some cereal for breakfast. We have a nice assortment so I can take my pick of hot or cold. My instant oatmeal is ready in a jiffy thanks to the microwave. And then I don't have to worry about my pills not having any work to do.

I don't know what started it but the Beast got a hair up his butt and started looking up information on cars with the idea in mind that we could trade in our 3 year old (almost 4) Camry on something...better? nicer? more economical?
He came up with the Corolla would give us better gas mileage both in town and on the road. He also looked at the Prius, which is a hybrid that is made by Toyota.

Off he goes to our local Toyota dealer to see what kind of prices they had compared to the MSRP shown online. The dealer only had white or silver in stock but assured us that he could get any color we wanted. From the price the Beast quoted me (Honey, only $xxxx plus our Camry in trade!) I was sure it was a 2007 but he told me, no, a 2008!
So he came home with all the info and the price the dealer quoted him and he decides to drive up to Huntsville to see if he could get an even better deal (and he wanted to see the Prius which was, of course, MUCH more expensive).
After three or four phone calls, he comes home driving a gold 2008 Corolla. It is an *okay* car but lacks a lot of the little goodies we had on the Camry, too numerous to put down because I am still finding out how much only when I go to use them.

Now, I have to tell you. I liked the Camry. So it didn't get the best gas mileage...about 25 in the city but we got 32 on the road and that seems good enough to me. The Beast said it was just about ready to need new brakes (he estimated the cost at about $600.) It also needed new struts and calipers on the front (we were quoted just under $400 for that). I did NOT see the need for a new car. I LIKED the Camry. It was comfortable, had nice plush seats, had mirrors on both visors and a nice set of three push lights in the front for finding things or to read a map. It also showed you the direction you were traveling in on the rear view mirror. It was a really nice feature. The arm rest was more comfortable and wider as well as at a better height. But.....one thing I have learned over 44 years of marriage (okay...ALMOST 44) is that the Beast will buy whatever the hell HE wants WHEN he wants it. His asking my opinion means diddley squat. I tell him, *Beast (I don't actually call him that but I digress), why do you pretend to ask my permission or my opinion when you are going to do whatever the hell you want if you get the right price on it?*

Of course, he denies it but it's true. I can't begin to tell you how many times it's happened. Especially after we started our own business and it was doing fantastic. We had more money than we knew what to do with so, of course, the Beast indulged himself with a great truck to pull his new boat (he bought a new one every three years). He DID use the truck for work but it primarily was selected for hauling his boat around. It had 4 wheel drive and some kind of special cooling package for the oil and such. I did, actually, benefit from that time ONCE. I needed a new car. I wanted a convertible. In fact, I wanted a MUSTANG convertible. The 5.0 special with all the bells and whistles. I walked on the lot, looked at and sat in a variety of them they had in their lot and found the one I wanted. I never ONCE looked at the price tag. To this day, I have no clue what we actually paid for it but I'll bet the Beast remembers. It was a white mustand with white leather top and seats. The dash and rugs were red. It was fantastic and I drove it for five years with nary a scratch on it. When I finally traded it in for a converted van, the salesman couldn't WAIT to get his hands on it. He took it to be evaluated and I never DID see it again. A couple months later, I saw him and guess what he was driving? You got it! My convertible.

It's odd now that we are officially retired. Although the Beast always has several projects in mind, he seems loathe to actually DO them. He was always so hyper and just had to be busy all the time. He was still a bit like that when he first recovered from his strokes and had the use of his leg and arm once again. But this past year I have noticed a general slowdown. He started a simple project of a shelving unit for my craft room here. It's not all that big and only has two shelves I believe. It's primarily to hold my dvd's which right now are stacked in the stand holding the tv. He went out and got the wood for it. That took two days because he had to go through stacks to find wood that was straight and had nice grain. He couldn't decide what kind of wood he wanted(pine, poplar or whatever) so that required thought and another trip back to select his lengths. It sat out in the garage for several days until he got the ambition to actually plan it out and then make the cuts necessary.

He decided to use his carver thingy (it's a computer-driven carving machine. You download the design wanted and the dimensions of the piece of wood then load it into the machine and turn it on). He put a nice design on both of the end pieces for the shelving unit. That was it for the first day he really worked on it. Two days later, he had written out the way he wanted to put it all together and gave the measurements for the grooves that needed to be routed so that the shelves fit into the end pieces and it could be glued into place. That way, no nails would mar the carving. And then he rested for another couple days before he "kind-of" put the pieces together to see how everything fit. That is where it is right now. I asked him this morning how long it would be ONCE HE GLUED or nailed the shelves together. He told me, Oh...it will be three or four days. I have to sand the wood once its together (and after the glue has dried, of course) then I have to stain it. Then it will need sanding again and probably another staining. Then I can put the varnish on it and it will be ready once that dries.

The way I figure it, it will be another couple of weeks before I see that. And it will probably be a couple more days before he actually mounts it on the wall here. I will report the progress to you on here.

I have a cousin and his wife that are coming to visit with us for a week or so. They want to look around the area and at some homes here. Florida is just too expensive for them to retire in and, with both their boys finally going out on their own (they are adults and long past the time for moving out in MY opinion). He will finally be eligible for his full military retirement checks so they want to get settled somewhere cheaper that doesn't get snow (or much of it). He has done research on this area and feels it might just suit them. Plus they will have family (us) nearby (they don't know about Tara yet) and also be a reasonable distance for traveling to Chicago where MORE family lives. Our guest bedroom is where the Beast has his computer and other goodies so I anticipate him using MY computer most of the time that they are visiting. **insert sad face here** but the one that will really have a fit is Baron. He usually stays in that room whenever the Beast is on his computer. Baron lays down on the bed and takes his naps or lay there and stare at the Beast's screen. He really considers that HIS territory. I keep an old spread on the bed because of that. However, I have a nice, almost new bedspread, sheets and shams for the bed that will go on once we know they are actually on their way. In fact, it won't go on until the day we expect them to show up so I can keep the little beast out of the room. I can instruct our guests to be sure to close the door to *their* room whenever they go in or out so that Baron won't make a mess of the bedspread or, worse yet, chew on it. I don't even want to think what I might do to him if that would occur. He would probably be spending a lot of time out in his doghouse out back, rain, snow, cold or heat.

Well, it's time to get off here. I am going to make a concerted effort to blog more often than a week or so apart. For that, I apologize. Love you all (if anyone is reading this at all) and I hope you have a great week and weekend.

One night last week (I think it was Wednesday), the phone rang at 12:30AM. I was up playing on Pogo but the Beast had been in bed for a couple hours since he wasn't feeling well. At that time, it wasn't anything specific, just a general malaise. Anyway, it was the Beast's sister's husband (we shall call him Felix). Now, I already knew it had to be some kind of bad news about the Mother-in-law since she lives with Eudora and Felix for a few months now. Sure enough, she was in the hospital. He said her kidneys had stopped functioning and they didn't expect her to live through the night. What he wanted was for us to try to get ahold of the Beast's brother, Jerimiah since he wasn't answering his cell phone or else Felix had the wrong number for him. The brother was at his house in Centralia and I happened to have the brand new number there. I thanked Felix for letting us know and told him I would tell the Beast. I went in and (reluctantly) woke the Beast with the news. I knew it would really hit him hard since, despite everything, he loves his mother. (Don't we all?) The Beast called his brother and told him about the mother. Jerimiah and his wife happened to be up playing cards (what kind of game can you play with only two players besides War and Go Fish?)

After he hung up, we both had a cup of coffee that the Beast had started while on the phone with his brother. I wasn't sure what kind of a night it was going to be but I sat there, held his hand and told him this.....Honey, I would wait and see about your mother. She's been at death's door twice before this and has made remarkable recoveries that had her doctors scratching their heads. I know one thing about your mother. She may SAY she wants to die but....she is more afraid of dying than she is of living, even with all her problems.

And, sure enough, she lived through the night and started *improving*. I hope when it really IS her time that she dies peacefully in her sleep at home and not hooked up to machines and tubes in a sterile atmosphere. That seems to me to be the best way to die for everyone. It's how my dad died and he wasn't even sick when he did. Although a shock to everyone, it did give me some peace to know it was the way he always said he wanted to go. I love you and miss you still, Dad. Kisses and hugs for you from me. All of your kids miss you. 'Nuff said!

So the Beast gets over the sadness about his mother but becomes ill himself. Again, nothing specific but a general malaise and then an upset stomach that doesn't respond to Maalox, Prilosec or Tagamet so I doubt it's an ulcer or pre-ulcerous condition. It didn't even respond to his own personal remedy for most of his stomach upsets of hot chocolate. I swear, chocolate seems to cure him of most of his *illnesses*. The man is a chocoholic. All you have to do is look on my refrigerator door and you will find Snickers, Hershey's chocolate and dark chocolate, Three Musketeers and other assorted goodies. They are all his. I seldom indulge. My one real weakness has always been caramels and I avoid the candy aisle like the plague due to being diabetic. But I do have an occasional one or two if someone else has them sitting around. Just being honest!

Today the Beast, despite still being in pain (he said), went out and bought a new car. Yep. A brand new Toyota Corolla with almost all the goodies. He DID forget the remote entry (I loved that feature on our Camry along with the remote trunk entry) and the seats are not as lush as the Camry's but the gas mileage is a whole lot better. He was worried about a possible loss of power in the engine but, coming home from Huntsville, he didn't notice any difference while driving up and down the hills. It was too late (and the weather was awful AND windy) when he finally got home so I haven't driven in it yet. I will let you know what *I* think about the new car in the next post.

He came home full of aggravation at the typical salesman's techniques and had to tell me about ALL of them and then began complaining about his stomach again. I want to make him an appointment with the doctor but he told me not to bother, that he would *get over it in a day or two*. We shall see. If he doesn't get over it, I will tie him up and drag his butt into the doctor if I must.

Baron has been making me crazy the past few days. He gravitates between wanting me to pet him, scratch him and then trying to dominate me. He will try to make me move off my seat or my place on the couch to the point where I almost have to throw him across the couch to get him off me. He will just lean into me then twist around to plop his body down....not in my lap but on my shoulder! Or he will start *pawing* me. If I grab the rolled up paper I keep handy (it's about the only thing that will make him pause or stop what he's doing), he has started barking right in my ear. And, I have to tell you, he only does this when the Beast is not around. What's up with that? But...strangely enough, if I give him a firm command, even when I tell him *IN* (which means he has to go in the kennel), he will obey. It can be very confusing to me at times. I have NO idea what the heck is going on in his little mind.

The Beast finally decided that Baron needs to go to a formal training class and signed him up with a local trainer that was recommended by our vet. Unfortunately, the classes don't start until April. I hope I let him live that long.

Well, it's very late. I am only up because Baron woke me with his *I must go out and pee* whine. And he wasn't lying...he could hardly WAIT to get outside even though it was drizzling (and he hates rain). He ran down the stairs and into the yard and actually did both kinds of business. Then he willingly returned to the kennel for the night. He will probably sleep until 8 or so. I swear, he's getting like some teenagers I remember.

Love you all and have a great weekend. I wish you good weather and happy times.