The Beast's eye continues to heal and he feels compelled to start on getting mundane things done like the lawn mowed, the dog taken for a run (or two) and he got the boat ready and put away for the winter. *Sigh* I hate that part since we never really got to spend a full day on the lake this summer. He didn't even take as many naps as he was taking before today so I guess he is feeling better. He even started the project of moving the Princess's furniture and boxes into my computer room. I say *started* because that consisted of ME and the Princess picking up the mattress and box springs from her bed, getting it up against the wall and moving the stuff that will stay in the room (like my computer, TV and a bookcase with etcetera stuff in it). A pathway WILL remain, regardless, so that I can still use my computer and have access to my TV.

I was allowed to sleep in this morning for some untold reason (and I needed it since I was up late) so I awoke to the baby and Baron blocking the path out of the Master bedroom. Baron was laying peacefully on his side while the baby was pulling up his lip and inspecting his teeth. I was totally amazed at how Baron did not react to all her pulling and even twisting of his lip as she wanted to show me his teeth. They apparently amazed her. She then grabbed his head, pulled it up towards her and planted a few baby kisses right on his nose. Then she patted him hard enough to make ME cringe but he just licked her hand and lay back down like he was going to sleep.

She wasn't going to let that happen, however, so she got on top of him and started bouncing up and down. Again, all he did was lift his head and look at her. I guess he decided she was just playing so, unbelievably, he laid his head down again while she continued. She soon tired of that so she walked over, grabbed her blankey off the floor, then her bottle with her morning juice in it and went over, plopped down beside him and lay with her head on his back. She found that uncomfortable so she sat up, grabbed his leg and lifted it up, then wiggled down beside him and put his leg over her after she laid down. She then patted his paw and just relaxed there with her *buddy*.

We all just had to laugh at the whole scene. It was too incredibly cute to believe. Later on in the day, things were not so cute when Baron decided he wanted to run and play and kept knocking her off her feet by running past her just a little too close. Then, he got upset when she started to cry. He can't stand it when she cries. He goes just nuts and starts barking until someone makes her stop. Then he will plop down at their feet (whomever has her in their lap) and lets out this incredible sigh. I'm not sure if it's one of disappointment that she wouldn't play or gratitude that she isn't crying any more.

Juliana seems to be teething. The Princess said it's been months since she got any new teeth so she isn't surprised. She's been running a mild fever from time to time, which we've mostly just kept an eye on. She's developed this need and demand for ice (which just further adds to the idea that she might be getting ready to get some new teeth erupting). She is also chewing on stuff that she showed no interest in a week ago. I've watched her and it seems to be on the left side of her mouth so we will just have to wait and see. I will have to pick up some Num-zit at the store when I go next time for when a tooth might start to erupt. Nothing worse than a baby in pain from teeth coming in.

I decided that I wouldn't cook today since I was in pain. So I told the Beast and the Princess to choose their leftovers of choice and make do. I am going to make stuffed manicotti tomorrow which I haven't done in years. That will give us at least two days of dinners since it is always a hit. I'll make my own homemade Italian bread and will then make some garlic toast from it. Maybe. The Princess and the Beast both love my homemade Italian bread so it might not be necessary. I can hope anyway. Then I can use the leftover bread to make the garlic bread for dinner the next day.

Well, it's time for another pain pill for me so I will close for now. Love you all. Live well, love deeply and laugh often. Love fulfills, laughter heals and life is SO worth living with the other two.

The Beast still couldn't manage to see this morning. And that was out of the good eye....LOL He did let me sleep in and I finally woke up around 9 AM. I hadn't set up the coffee the night before so guess what? No coffee ready when I got up. The Beast said he just couldn't manage it. Know the tone of voice a man uses when he wants you to feel sorry for him? The one that seems to just DRIP with pain? Yeah, that's the voice he used when he told me there was no coffee.

So I made coffee, brought him a cup and settled down for a short time before I would have to get dressed to take the Beast to the eye doctor's office. The baby woke up a few minutes after I did and proceeded to torture poor Baron. He just took it all laying down. When he went to lay in his sunbeam at the front door, she grabbed her blankey and her bottle with some juice in it and sat down with him between his front paws. It was a real Kodak moment but didn't last long enough for me to grab a camera, unfortunately. I think the cutest thing was when she proceeded to put her legs over him (as if he were a horse) and then started bouncing up and down on him. I was totally amazed that he just laid there, calmly and put up with it until she finally was distracted by something else.

We finally left the Princess and the baby behind and went to get the Beast's eye taken care of. I could see a trail of blood that had dripped from under the bandage as he slept. It wasn't enough for the Beast to notice it since he couldn't see as it was. The doctor was waiting for him and took him right in. Then his bandage was removed, the eye cleaned up and the doctor gave the Beast a plastic eye cover to wear while he is sleeping. He was told NOT to rub the eye or it would tear the stitches (it looks like about 5 or 6 tiny ones). Amazingly, the Beast could suddenly see out of both eyes, although he said the one eye is *blurry*. Because he didn't use the tape as the doctor instructed, the lashes lacerated the eyeball itself and that now has to heal. It is the real cause of the blurriness the Beast complained about.

The eye didn't look bad when we left to come home but I noticed it slowly turning black and blue. It now looks like he has a big shiner....LOL He just left to go to Lowe's for something or other and took the Princess with him in case he can't drive like he thinks he can. He has been quiet most of the day and is still trying to get over the affects of the anesthesia. He's probably napped almost as long as he's been awake.

Right now the baby is laying on the floor at my feet and fighting sleep. She's been cranky for the last hour but has little bouts of cuteness where you just want to kiss her pretty little face. She loves to sit in my lap and watch my screen saver. I have it displaying all the pictures and cartoons I have in my picture folder. I tell her who everyone is when the pictures of people show up. I hope that she might even recognize some of the relatives just because she is watching the pictures so intently. Wouldn't that be a treat? It would surprise the hell out of some people, I know.

Well, I am going to try to put her down for the night so I can chat with a few of my friends online. Forgive me if I am not on much for a while since we are all trying to settle into a routine. The Princess will be on my computer most of the morning filling out applications for work at various wireless carriers. That is where she has the most experience having worked for Verizon and various other places since she was 16 years old. She's great at sales and knows the products and their good and bad points. She was in management for the last six months but says she hated the paperwork. She prefers sales (and likes making commissions, of course).

I am amazed at what a good mother she is but, like all kids when they are home, she often wants to be treated like she was when she lived at home. I often have to remind her that I am NOT the Nanny here but the Nana...big difference.

Time to put the baby to bed so I will leave you with this thought..... First, I love you all and secondly, live well, love deeply and laugh often.

We were told to be at Outpatient Surgery at 11:00 AM today because his *scheduled* surgical time was 11:15 AM. That was a laugh! What they actually meant was....be there at 11 so that, if they screwed up and didn't have all the necessary information, they would have 15 minutes to remedy that before he was scheduled to be *prepped* for surgery.

If you have ever had any kind of surgery, you know what that means. You get banded with your name and basic information first of all. Then it's being brought into a room, asked to strip naked even if it IS eye surgery, put on one of those awful gowns (definitely not designed by any credible designer), then they take your vitals, hook you up to an IV drip so they can tranquilize and sedate you when THEY are ready. Then it is wait, wait, wait. We found out he was actually on the schedule for 12:30 PM. Now, mind you, this is after being told not to eat or drink anything after midnight. You could take your necessary pills with a minimal amount of water and even brush your teeth (also with minimal water). Could they make it any harder on a man that LIKES to eat? Or requires his morning coffee to just open his eyes?

I will admit this much. The Beast gets up very early every day so he cheated. He DID drink about half a cup of coffee at 6 AM. He dragged that half cup out for about an hour and made sure he urinated before we actually left for the hospital at 10:30 AM. The hospital was not the one we have been to before but the OTHER one in our county, designated as NORTH. We arrived on time, got our little *buzzer* (just like the ones they give you at a lot of restaurants) so we went outside and had a last cigarette together since I planned on remaining with him until they wheeled him into the preop room. *I* had no false illusions about how long THAT might be, having had many surgeries. HE, however, thought it would be quick. The actual surgery, we were told, would take about an hour or an hour-and-a-half. THAT surprised us but wasn't unreasonable. The normal things occurred, he was laying on the bed in the outpatient room and 12:30 came and went. It seems there had been a few *complications* that occurred during earlier surgeries so we had to wait our turn. The anesthesiologist came in to speak to us about the actual things that would be administered and to make sure we knew he would NOT be getting a general anesthetic. He was just going to be very relaxed but not totally knocked out. The nurse gave him a valium and we waited. And waited. Finally, around 1:30 or so, they came for him and I went looking for the hospital cafeteria. I needed FOOD. I had a magazine to read and thought I could eat at my leisure, go outside for a much needed cigarette, and they would probably be bringing him back to his room about the time I returned. I even stopped to pick up a newspaper from the lobby area to bring home with us since the Princess wanted the latest want ads.

I got back to the room and was surprised that the Beast was NOT in the room. So, I sat down and started reading the local news when the anesthesiologist came in to tell me that they did, indeed, have to knock the Beast totally out. It seems he would doze off, then come to and jerk about a bit. He was also exhibiting a lot of confusion and combativeness because he didn't know where he was or what was being done to him. The surgery requires him to stay still and, the drugs normally given allow the person to understand that and cooperate. Because he was showing such confusion and was actually beginning to fight, the doctor told the anesthesiologist to go ahead and knock him out totally. He wanted me to know this because it meant he would have to go to a recovery room and would take a bit longer for him to be able to be released even when they brought him to the area where I was waiting.

I told him I totally understood what they were undergoing. I knew it was probably one of the lingering affects of his strokes and his *charming* personality when he doesn't feel in control of a situation. If I had only known it was going to happen, I would have gone home for a while and taken a nap or at least been able to be comfortable. I hate how uncomfortable hospital chairs are. With smoke-free environments nowadays, it also meant there was no comfortable place to sit down even. Sitting on the curb with my back on a railing was not exactly the most comfortable place to sit or even the best angle to stand up from. I am not as young as I wish I felt at times like today.

I called the Princess to let her know what was going on since she was worried and had tried to call earlier to find out what was going on. I also called Bratfink since I knew she would be expecting me online with the news relatively soon and it wasn't going to happen. I grabbed a cigarette (or two, since I wasn't in a hurry when the anesthesiologist told me they were only halfway through the surgery when he came in to talk to me...then there would be about a 40 minute recovery time added to that). I did, however, want to be in the room to speak with the doctor after the surgery was over and I have found that the doctors want you to be there. They do NOT want to have to look for YOU and will leave without telling you what went on or what to expect.

The doctor told me that once they put him under, everything went fine and he should be in good shape once the effects of the anesthesia wore off. The eye is heavily bandaged and has to remain so until we see him tomorrow at 11:15 AM (why do I not trust that time any more?). He gave me a prescription for pain medication for the Beast in case he needs it. I told him that the urologist had prescribed 7.5 mg Lortabs (which the eye doctor had asked me if the Beast had ever taken) and that he found them a bit too much for him. I recommended that the doctor might, perhaps, prescribe a 5mg dosage and that is what he did.

The Beast was damn near totally out of it when they brought him into the room where I was waiting. His O2 level was so low they had to put him on oxygen and I discovered that he had pressure bags on his legs. His blood pressure had dropped so low that they had to put them on him to keep his pressure at a reasonable level. No one realized (except me) that the Beast has NEVER been totally knocked out at any time. He has never had surgery that required it, not even his tonsils have ever been removed. His tumor in his bladder was removed via a spinal. There was no way of us knowing that he would have that kind of a problem. He has a DNR (Do Not Resuscitate) order but they don't count that in surgery, dammit....LOL *sigh*

I had to keep telling the Beast to breathe in the oxygen through his nose and blow the air out his mouth so he would get rid of the gas in his lungs. It wasn't until I told him (and he was focused enough) that he could NOT leave until his oxygen level rose to at least 97 that he started doing it. I told him he would also have to urinate before he could leave. All he complained about was how dry his throat was and I kept giving him sips of apple juice first and then ice water while telling him repeatedly that it would feel that way for a while because of the gas he has breathed. He wanted to gulp the juice and water but I told him if he did, he would probably vomit so he stopped complaining about THAT. When he finally said he had to pee, I got the nurse and we both helped him (with IV bag in hand) into the bathroom. I stayed with him and he DID manage so then he was eager to get dressed (after a short lay down, of course).

The bad part about it all was that he couldn't and still can't open his GOOD eye. I think part of it is psychological and lack of practice as a kid. He said his eye was too sensitive to the light but he doesn't realize how heavily bandaged his eye actually is so his other eye shouldn't have been affected at all. I literally had to lead him in like he was a blind man. I got him some hot chocolate (as he requested) and made him some coddled eggs to eat and he finally went to bed to try to sleep off some more of the effects.

He got up about an hour ago, ate some oatmeal and went back to bed, this time for the remainder of the night. He is still unable to open up his other eye and claims the lights we had on were *too bright*....we had a kitchen light on that is around the corner from where our bedroom and living room are located. A sighted person would not rush anywhere with the little light that is actually available, trust me. But, that is a MAN THING. They are such babies with just a cold but give them a REAL reason to claim a bit of sympathy and they are unbearable.

I am going to close out this novel for today and let you know the real details on his eye once it is exposed to the light of day tomorrow. Love you all and thank you for your prayers and good wishes. So far, so good.

The most fun that we are having is watching the interaction of the dog and the baby. In many ways, it is just what Baron needed. The Princess has been walking him a couple times a day. This will only last until she gets a job and she is already working on that by submitting applications online. What the hell did we all do before the Internet??? It seems a lot of companies don't even want to meet you until they get that application and even a resume that is submitted online. Good lord, what a time saver for those looking for a job!

Baron is showing us the kind of dog he will be when he is older.......because he is STILL himself at times. He gets tired of being so cautious and gentle and needs to just run wild from time to time. But the way he behaves around Juliana is amazing. She fell today and hit her forehead...not a big fall but enough for any baby to get upset. Poor Baron went nuts and wanted to make her stop crying so he grabbed his new toy and dropped it in her lap (she was sitting on MY lap at the time). He even squeezed one of the balls on it to make it squeak so she would notice it. Guess what? It worked. It distracted her just enough to stop her crying.

She threw herself on Baron at one point today when he was laying down and totally relaxed. I gasped when she did it but all he did was get up and move. He then watched her closely because I am sure it hurt him a bit. She is such a tiny little thing with a low center of gravity that I don't think she really HURT him but it couldn't have been fun. I think she probably only weighs about 15-18 lbs or so. I can tell you one thing.....*I* am getting a lot of exercise having her around and I think it's a good thing for me.

She has started wanting to sit with Grandpa now. It's really cute to see her with him. He is not really fond of little ones. Part of it is that they are so fragile and you can't talk to them at all. Another thing is that they sometimes *smell*, if you know what I mean. He tolerated his own kids but is slightly better with the grands. I think he loved the Princess mainly because, as a kid, she didn't care if HE wanted her to be on his lap, SHE wanted to be there. He loved that about her. Well, it looks like Juliana inherited that part of her personality because she seems to LOVE being in his lap with him and will sit there, calmly, with her little blankey and her bottle and just watch TV or relax for a while. He gets a huge smile on his face when she does it.

He finally got his desk and computers moved out of the guest room and we moved the baby's crib in with the Princess. Since I smoke and the baby has respiratory problems when she is around smokers for any length of time (she DOES have other grandparents that smoke...shame on us), it just seemed smarter to put her in with her mother. The Princess does not smoke although the baby's father did. That always puzzled me since someone once told me that kissing a smoker when YOU didn't smoke was comparable to licking an ashtray. * Color me green here*

The next few days will be slowly moving into my *former* craft/computer room the rest of her bedroom set and all the boxes and baby things. She can then unpack slowly or quickly, depending on her mood. We emptied the closet in the guest room and I have moved things out of the closet in *my* room so she has half of THAT one for her use. It's a large closet that I was using for seasonal clothing storage. It is holding most of my winter things (and some of the Beast's). Since THAT season is almost upon us (can you believe it?), I will use some of HER boxes to store many of the summer clothing that I need to put away. The Princess has a phenomenal amount of clothes. I am going to be curious to see how much of it she actually uses. No one can possibly wear all of them. I will make a bet that she has her favorites that she will wear a lot and the rest will be just on hangers most of the time.

One of the nice things about finally getting the Beast's computer into OUR bedroom is that he has a lot more room. I know he will be more comfortable now than he was in the guest bedroom just because of the size of the area he had available. I had tried to convince him to do that when we first moved here full time. I don't know why he insisted on the guest bedroom unless it was just a puppy pissing thing since I claimed the third bedroom. However, i have crafts I am also *into*. He has his photography but digital doesn't require space like paints and yarns do. Only his various camera bags require some space and that can be under his jeans and pants in the closet.

I mentioned that my daughter, Buttmunch, was without electricity since Ike hit Louisville early last week. Well, we finally got a call from her that she had her electricity back today. Everything was working except her AC. It seems that the AC is controlled by the apartment next to her. It's actually a former recreation center for an apartment complex that was converted into two apartments and some brilliant person never considered the AC aspect. No one lives in the apartment right now so the thermostat isn't on. The management is having an AC company come over to remedy that problem tomorrow but......AC systems are OUR specialty. We owned our own AC company in Florida and my hubby was a certified AC Contractor. He was in the business for 43 years and I know the problem they will have with trying to split the system and have two separate thermostats. It will NOT be an easy problem to resolve. They will have to resolve regardless but I hope they are prepared to have problems.

The baby did not like the change of the crib in her mother's room. We found out that she would go to sleep nicely with someone (me at the time) in the room. No crying. Just grab the blankey and her bottle and she would lay down nicely. Every once in a while, she would sit up to make sure I was still in the room and then, when she finally was ready, she would just zonk out like a light being switched off. I can type in the dark so that wasn't a problem. I just wish I had my sister's *lighted* keyboard (that she DOESN"T use mind you). However, with the crib moved now, I don't need it. But the baby cried for me when we put her down tonight and it broke my heart. She is such a cutie and has such a sweet disposition most of the time. No baby is perfect, as we all know, but the basic personality can be seen.

The Princess met up with Tara this evening to watch Tara's middle school son's football game. I am so glad they get along so well. She was full of information about all that went on at the game when she got home. It was her first venture on her own here and she was worried about finding her way back even though it was less than 5 miles from the house. We DO live kind of out in the country as far as roads go and Alabama seems to have a problem with street signs. But...she made it home and all is well. Unfortunately, the team she was rooting for lost (again) but it was a different activity for the Princess. She and Tara have plans for Saturday after we return from the Farmers Market. It's nice when cousins are friends.

Well, the Beast's surgery is tomorrow and I have already been informed that he is going to *cheat*. His surgery isn't until 11:15am and he's supposed to abstain from eating or drinking anything from midnight tonight until then. He IS allowed to take his medications (at our age, he HAS medications). But...since he usually gets up around 6 am, he plans on having his morning coffee. I mean, he's NOT going under general anesthesia, after all. Just a mild sedative in an IV and then a local around his eye so they can take a pie shaped wedge out of the area under his lower eyelid. It is turned inward and the lashes are lacerating his eye. I spoke with the nurses about the procedure and it won't even require any bandaging. I will report on the consequences of his NOT obeying orders.

Love you all and have a great day. Tell those you love them that you do as often as you can. Life is too short and too unpredictable for us all.

The Beast and the Cousin arrived in Port Charlotte in record time. The Princess had some friends come over and help load up the trailer. The last things loaded were the crib and the mattress and box springs. The baby slept in her port-a-crib, the Princess on her mattress and the Beast and Cousin slept on a blowup mattress. Neither of them slept well. They were totally loaded up and on their way bright and early. Apparently, the Princess went out with her friends one last time and returned home late but they had no pity on her. Luckily, she was in charge of taking care of the baby while the Cousin and the Beast switched between driving the truck and her vehicle. They also ended up driving straight through instead of stopping for the night.

I had an air mattress blown up and ready for the Princess and the Cousin got the guest room for one last night. He had to return earlier than he wanted since his son was flying into Orlando for some business at the Cape and to spend a couple days fishing with his father. So the air mattress had to do for the Princess for one night but she did get to sleep on her own mattress and box springs last night. We found out that (as luck would have it) I had blown up the mattress that had a leak in it so she ended up sleeping on the floor (so to speak) by morning. The baby was comfortable in the Port-a-crib at least.

On Saturday morning, the Beast and the Cousin ended up unloading the trailer and then the Beast left to return it to U-Haul. I wondered why he was taking so long before he returned but was a little too busy trying to let the dog and the baby get to know each other. She loved him but he was just so HUGE in comparison that he scared her at the same time. He, of course, wanted to sniff her all over to *get to know her* and, at one point, had his nose between her legs and ended up lifting her up off her feet with the imaginable consequence. We did have to kennel him a couple times when she got so excited that she got HIM excited. He IS still a puppy after all, regardless of his size. But we persisted.

When the Beast finally returned home we found out why it took him so long. It seems the ball on the trailer hitch actually snapped off and it was just a block and a half away from where he had to drop it off. He was fortunate that two strangers stopped to help him get the (empty) trailer moved out of the way of traffic and off to the side of the road. They also stayed to watch the trailer while the Beast ran up to see if he could get another ball of the proper size so that he could get the trailer returned. They didn't have one, believe it or not, but he purchased one close enough in size to at least get it back. He stopped on the way home at an auto supply store and got the correct size because we DO need the same size to haul our boat.

I had made my homemade chicken soup with homemade noodles in it (as requested) and even the baby had pigged out on it when they first arrived here. It was all I could do not to be constantly kissing the baby's cute little face. It shocked and surprised me to actually see that her dark hair she had at birth was now blond as could be and her eyes were the brightest, clearest blue. She also seemed to remember me even though it was so long since I last saw her. The Princess thinks it is my voice that she remembers more than anything and I guess that could be it.

The funniest part of having them here is the interaction between Baron and the baby. Watching it develop has been so funny. Yesterday, she climbed into his kennel and he climbed right in with her. He's become very gentle and careful around her. Today she was actually sitting on him and he just laid there while she bounced on him. She will lay her little head on him, tug on his lip and he will just let her. He realizes, somehow, that she is a fragile creature and is treating her accordingly.

The Princess has taken him for a couple walks now. She is in the process of learning how to walk him and he's been amazingly good with her, too, although he does show that he knows she isn't experienced by switching from side-to-side when HE feels like it. She didn't know the correction for it so, of course, she felt like she wasn't in control as much as she should be. Her confusion came from not being sure what side he SHOULD be walking on but we cleared that right up when the Beast went for a walk with them today.

He's really taken to the Princess and it's causing some competition between HIM and the BABY for HER attention. If she is petting him, the baby has to come over to climb into her mother's lap and she will grab her mother's hand so she can't pet Baron. I think we are going to see some high comedy here in the days ahead.

The Baby, meantime, found the kibble for the dog AND his water and decided to hand feed him. It was grab a piece of kibble, dip it in the water, feed the dog. Grab the kibble, dip in water, feed the dog....etc., etc. And Baron stood there patiently, loving her attention. We finally had to take the dog food off his stand and only put it down when the rest of us are eating (or the baby is in her highchair at least). Bratfink, upon hearing this, said, *Oh, so she's part raccoon, huh?* It made me laugh because that IS so typical of raccoons, after all but it had never occurred to me to make that comparison. Leave it to Bratfink.....

The Beast is pretty much trying to make sure Baron and the baby learn to get along together without injuring each other. Other than that, he's trying to recuperate from the trip and get ready for his surgery. I talked with the nurses both at the hospital and the doctors office and found out that it should be relatively painless and easy. A couple tiny stitches, no bandages and (hopefully) no pain.

I'm tired now, too tired to go over all the news so I will write more tomorrow. The baby insists now that I have to be in the room with her when it's time for her to go to sleep. Most of the time, she drops off after only 2-3 minutes. Tonight I think the Princess gave her some sort of sugar shot before bedtime so she was fighting it all the way. I had to sit in the dark, at my computer (she could lift her head up to see me when it got too quiet for her liking) while she was fighting sleep she needed. She finally pooped out and feel sound asleep after a few feeble attempts to get me to take her out of her crib and rock her to sleep but we don't want to get her into that habit. It might be okay by me right now but I know I would regret it later down the road when the newness wears off.

Meantime, I hope you all enjoyed your weekend, at least as much as I did mine. Love you all and talk to you tomorrow to bring this saga up to date.

Sunday was a busy day for me, as expected. I was trying to get my computer room as empty as possible so we can store some of the Princess's furniture that won't be used until she gets her own place once they get back here on Saturday. Tara came over, as expected, and the two dogs had a good time playing and exhausting each other while the grownups visited (and Tara started eating leftovers that I had actually saved for her. That girl has an appetite now that she's expecting again!) It was a hush-hush thing for a while and we still haven't informed the Beast officially since he will start to worry about how she is going to pay for the house. He's just dense enough not to have really noticed anything and yet, she is showing if he paid attention. The baby is due in February and we just found out that it's a boy. *sigh* I know she was really kind of hoping for another girl (she has four boys already) but, as she says, *it's in the hands of god.* The bad thing is that she had saved all the first year clothes from Kayttie and now she won't be needing them. Oh well, c'est la vie!

Sunday morning, bright and early, the Beast was up on his John Deere, mowing the yards again. He did his usual *work a little, nap a little* thing until he had it done and then used the little mower to get close to the trees. He even got most of the edging done before Tara showed up. All because he wanted the yard to look good when the Cousin got here since the Cousin is very lax in that department. It was the first time the Cousin was visiting us and seeing the new house. I swear, men can really be peculiar sometimes. I knew that the INSIDE of the house would be better than the Cousin's house because I am not lazy and like to keep it neat. It's not antiseptic but it's not dirty. The Beast, also, does not have to wash a load of his own clothes because he has run out of clothes to wear. The Cousin makes excuses all the time for his wife but *I* have had bad days, too, and still managed to keep my house in decent shape and clothes washed enough that we were not hurting for things to wear. Enough of being catty. I like the Cousin's wife but I do NOT understand how she can live the way she does at times. Weird.

Tuesday, much earlier than we anticipated, the Cousin showed up. I made us meatball hoagies for a slightly late lunch and they turned out wonderful. I saved the leftover meatballs to throw into my spaggetti sauce for the next day's dinner. Funny, but I can't remember what I made for dinner later that night. I just remember that it was something easy because I was still sorting through things while the guys were visiting and catching up. It gave me time to spend on the computer, too, which is my way of relaxing.

Wednesday, the two guys were up bright and early and tried to get me interested in running to McDonald's with them for breakfast. They both love the Mickey D's big breakfast. *I* am NOT a fan unless we are traveling and in a hurry but I do NOT eat breakfast shortly after getting out of bed. I told them to go and do their thing and I would make breakfast for myself when I got hungry.

They decided that they would go pick up the trailer we rented for moving the Princess's things up here and get the truck ready to go in the morning and then try to get some fishing in. They both love to fish and had found a nice fishing spot with lots of brim and some bass that they spotted that they could fish from the bank rather than pulling out the boat. Since that kind of tires out the Beast a lot, I could see the wisdom in that part but most fishing in these fresh waters is best early in the morning or at twilight. I knew they wouldn't have a lot of luck but they wanted to get up early and on the road so they left about mid-afternoon for a couple hours. The Beast found a dime and the Cousin caught a catfish.

They stopped to pick up a few things for traveling, like fresh bread for making sandwiches, some chocolate milk, cookies, cheezits, some small cereal boxes for all of them on the trip back. Since they will be traveling with the Princess and the baby, they plan on making the trip back here to Alabama from Florida in two stages. They will stop for the night so the baby's routine is not totally disrupted. At least, that way, they will stop for a decent dinner for them all. The Princess did a little shopping and picked up things for a kind of picnic lunch the first day of travel plus some drinks for them all, including the baby. She's 15 months old and loves her *sippy cup*.

The Princess has called me six or seven times over the past three days just to ask some really dumb questions but I know it's because she's both excited and anxious. She was doing some final packing when she called me the last time which was about an hour ago.

In other news, my two other kids that live in Louisville, have been without electricity now since the big windstorm hit there. It was aftermath from Hurricane Ike in Texas. No rain but incredible winds that took down trees and limbs all over the city. Buttmunch still has no electricity but my son, Steve, has his back. Buttmunch was complaining that the grids in Louisville are all screwed up because two blocks away in either direction, the people have their electricity up and running. Her apartment complex is like a little island (from what she can tell) that doesn't have theirs.

Louisville had sent most of their repair people to assist Texas to get the electricity restored after Ike passed through there and ended up having to recall some of them to help their own city. Indiana sent some crews to help out and the original estimate of 10 - 14 days minimum was revised and they hope to have it all restored within the next few days. Buttmunch says there are restaurants already opened so they have places to go but she's getting really tired of McDonald's.

I have to go to Nextel today to find out why, suddenly, someone else has the Beast's phone number. We discovered that yesterday when the Princess tried to call him and got some stranger answering the number. At first, she truly thought she had misdialed. But the same man answered again. She called me and, sure enough, it was the correct number she was dialing. When the Beast got home, I checked his phone and, sure enough, his direct connect was still there and working but his number had disappeared. So now I have to go and kick some butt. I can't figure out how this happened but I don't care. He WILL have a number TODAY. I don't care if it's the same number or not. He hasn't given it out to many people so it doesn't matter. I had to give him MY number (which showed it was still there..plus I called it from our land line) so he would have a phone. The Cousin and he will play *switch drivers* since the Princess has never driven more than two and a half hours at a time and even that is tough with a fussy baby in tow. She can't drive the truck towing the trailer so she will probably switch off with whomever is driving with/for her.

I am getting the last of the things done to get the house ready for this invasion. It's the last of my peace and quiet times for a while, I am sure. I just hope it's a fun time most of the time.

Meantime, you have a wonderful day. I will report more and try to keep it as regular as it WAS. The Beast's eye surgery is next week on Wednesday, the 24th. I am hoping all goes well. The nurses assured me that MOST people do not experience much pain and it requires no bandaging. A couple small stitches and it's done. He won't even be under general anesthesia. Just something to relax him in an IV and a local on the area being operated on. I hope it goes smoothly is all I ask.

Love you all.

Friday was a fairly peaceful day for a change. The Beast was a pain in the ass with his eye problem. He kept trying to put the tape that pulled down the lower eyelid on like the doctor had it and, of course, he missed the mark. He finally asked for my help and I cut the corners off the tape nearest his eye (so it couldn't loosen up and poke him in the eye), pulled the lid outward and taped it up for him. He had also bought some eye patch bandages (I kid you not! They actually make them.) He felt he needed that to give his eye a rest.

That lasted about two hours and I found him with it off because of how it interfered with his vision. It's tough to have a patch over the right eye because it means you lose so much peripheral vision. He also bought a regular eye patch and looked like a pirate with it on.....an OLD pirate but you get the idea. He couldn't stand to look at himself with it on so off THAT went. A total waste of money since it was NOT cheap when you buy it in the pharmacy. I told him he should have looked through the kids Halloween costumes and accessories. He didn't think that was a bad idea but was pissed that HE hadn't thought about that.

I got a good start on my cleaning project by taking down the curtains, stripping the bed and washing everything. I then cleaned the window in there. After that was done, I remade the bed without putting the good comforter on it (that will go on when the Cousin gets here). I threw the dogs spread on it since Baron likes to lay on it whenever the Beast is on his computer. It's an old spread of mine that is easily washed since Baron doesn't get bathed as often as *I* would like. I have some special wipes that we can use for him when he starts to get smelly and he's actually very good about standing still while I use them. He smells wonderful afterward and it lasts until the first time he runs around like a berserker.

I played on Pogo with my sister, Bratfink. That means we go into the same game room and we can chat. Of course, we also have our Yahoo Instant Messenger on at the same time for when we have something to say that we don't want to say in the game chat. Sometimes it's a simple, *Lets get out of here!* for one reason or another.

I kept having to leave the room, either because the dryer was buzzing or because the Beast was changing his tape again. It was a bit of a pain since the room sometimes fills up and I have a hard time getting back in. The tape changing was a pain in the ass because the Beast just couldn't leave it alone (like a little kid). How he's going to manage while he's going to Port Charlotte is beyond me. I think he's going to be sorry he decided to do that before getting the microsurgery on his eye. But, who knows? We aren't really sure how involved that will be so he might be smart doing it this way. Only time will tell.

I decided we needed a decent regular meal so I made scalloped potatoes and fish for dinner. It was a smart decision because it tasted wonderful. I used some store bought tartar sauce, though, and decided it was the last time I would do that. I like my homemade sauce much better. I usually do that but was busy folding clothes, rehanging curtains and vacuuming. Forgive me. I got a lazy streak on something I had handy. I promise NOT to do it again, though.

I guess the day seemed peaceful to me because I really didn't get interrupted as often nor did I have to keep checking on the Beast like I did the day he got the dizzy spell. He was fine, I was feeling good and the dog was less of a pain than usual.

There was one funny moment though. The Beast had gone out to the garage to clean up some of his mess. In doing so, he had to move the scooter which meant he had to turn it on in order to move it. Well, as soon as the motor was running, Baron ran to the door out to the garage and HOWLED! He actually thought the Beast was going to go somewhere without him. He thinks that the scooter is HIS toy. The Beast uses it to exercise Baron and Baron WANTS to go for his run. He misses it and NOT going for a run is part of what is wrong with Baron. He has so much excess energy he isn't getting to run off that he goes a bit nutty from time-to-time. It's part of the reason why I am so grateful to Tara for bringing Sadi over on the weekend. Both dogs get to romp, play and roughhouse with each other for a couple hours and then both of them are fine for a couple days afterward. Which reminds me...I need to call Tara to find out if she's bringing Sadi over today or tomorrow. Excuse me for a sec.....

Okay, Tara is coming over tomorrow for a couple hours. I have a chair here for her that is actually part of a set we gave her for her new house. She will pick it up then so she has the complete set. We've had it in our bedroom but, now that we are rearranging things to be able to put the Beast's computer in there, we no longer need it.

Well, time to get busy and get more stuff done. I have a basket of underwear and socks that need to be folded or matched up and put away. Then it's more cleaning....sigh. I have to order refills on a couple prescriptions before I do that so I can pick them up tomorrow when I do my grocery shopping. I only have two more days (today and tomorrow) before the Cousin shows up and I found out he IS staying for a couple days after they get back here.

It's *disaster day* on Sci-Fi channel so I will have a field day watching all the movies. Have a great day everyone. Love you all.

Well, I started my preparations for having the Princess and Juliana move in with us. The Beast got an idea and asked his cousin (who is almost like a brother to him) if he wanted to help out. The end result is that the Cousin is coming here and they will drive down to Port Charlotte together.

Got one piece of good news from the Princess. She has a friend, male, of course, that volunteered to pack up the trailer for her since she is only taking bedroom furniture, the high chair and clothes. I know the Princess and her clothes so I need to empty the closet out entirely and also give her half of the closet here in my computer room. That part will be easy since I am only using half of it for winter clothes. Our winter coats and heavier jackets are in another small clothes closet that was meant for that purpose. I hope she has one for her and the baby or that will be a priority. It will also be an excuse to go to Unclaimed Baggage in Scottsville. I heard they opened a branch in Arab, which is closer to me, so I will have to find out where it is exactly. We may just have to hit both since the one in Scottsville is the original one and famous. Tourists make it a *place to see* and I have seen them taking pictures of it, both inside and out.

It IS incredible and there are some real bargains there. I love to go shopping for clothes there because you can get some name brand clothing at bargain basement prices. If you are ever close to it (like Chattanooga, for example) and like bargains, it's the place to go. They have EVERYTHING there, including a lot of brand new stuff. How that gets there as Unclaimed Baggage really makes you stop and think.

Anyway, today I started clearing up some clutter underneath the sink in what will be HER bathroom primarily since she will have a shitload of her things she will want to store there. Since her hair is waist length and thick, she will have her blow dryer and her *iron* for keeping it straight and shiny. She will have to use one of my empty craft baskets to hold her cosmetics because there are no drawers in there to use. I even cleared out the medicine cabinet for her use. The only thing in it right now is two extra rolls of toilet paper, a new container of ibuprofen and a couple extra bars of soap. It will give her plenty of room for her lotions, razors and other paraphernalia. She will probably have the usual baby stuff, too.

I cleaned that bathroom and used a ceramic cleaner that Baron didn't like. He watched everything I did and had to come over and smell it. He gave a snort when I was cleaning the toilet and made me laugh. He was JUST LIKE a little kid, following me from bathroom to kitchen and back again. I even threw the rugs from both bathrooms in to be cleaned even though they both looked clean. I usually wash them once a month anyway but the time frame for her to be here has changed now. The Beast and the Cousin are leaving on Wednesday morning to go get them.

I had to call the Princess and my son, Steve, to let them know of the change in plans. The Princess had given her notice at work already and Saturday is her last day so it wasn't a surprise. She claims she will be ready by Sunday and will just have a suitcase and a half (I guess the half is for Juliana) that she is keeping out. Only her bed will have to be taken apart because she is going to have Juliana sleep in the portacrib she has. She even informed me that she has one of those special *chairs* that are used in restaurants like high chairs but they attach to the edge of a table. She can put it in the trunk of her car, along with the portacrib, since they will be stopping for the nght on the way here. I'm almost excited and that's nuts because I have a LOT of work yet to do.

We have to get rid of a chair we have in our bedroom in order to move the Beast's computer in there. It matches the set that we gave to Tara and she told us she wanted it and will come to get it on Saturday afternoon so I am planning on moving the computer then. We will put the crib into the guest room where the computer and the Beast's file cabinet were (which will also go into OUR room). I measured and there is plenty of room for it. We are also getting rid of our current glass top kitchen table and moving the original one the Beast bought when he thought this was going to be just a summer place for him back.

Unfortunately, that means that I have to get all my craft stuff off of it and find a place to put it. I want to keep it handy because I use my paints in the winter when any outdoor activity is limited for a wimp like me. I need to do other things, too. For instance, since the Princess is NOT a smoker, I have to really clean that room out. It means washing the curtains, giving the headboard and dresser a thorough cleaning and the lamps, too. I have some really good cleaner, a commercial type from the Cousin. He owned a cleaning company and gave me some. It's meant to be used for cleaning up after some serious odor problems like when someone dies in a room. I once helped clean up an apartment where an older friend had died and the body was there for two days. This was in Florida so it wasn't a good odor. By the time we finished up (using this special cleaner and a few others), you would never know it. The heirs were able to sell the condo with no problems.

MY concern is that her room will not smell like smoke, which I know she doesn't like. It gets into her clothes when she is around smokers and bothers her. She has never smoked (thank goodness) so I guess she would know. Us smokers aren't aware of it. I will wash the windows (I need to start doing that anyway since winter is right around the corner). We have those windows that you can even clean the outside from the inside because they pop out, so-to-speak. I always thought that was amazing and it wasn't even an upgrade on this house.

So, tomorrow (today) will be the start of a couple busy days. I DID get the floors washed and even put a light coat of wax on them. They say you don't have to on this linoleum (yes, we have it in the kitchen and laundry room) but the traffic areas suffer after a while. I would rather protect it and keep it looking like new even if it DOES take more time to dry before you can put everything back. When I move everything I have in there into the living room, there's almost NO space to move around in there. Even Baron bolts for his kennel when I start moving things in there. He knows so he just goes in and takes a nap. When I start to vacuum, he comes out because he knows it's safe for him to move around.

The Cousin is coming two days before they have to leave for Port Charlotte because he misses the company of the Beast. They will use one of the days to take the boat out on the lake and go fishing. I may or may not go with them, depending on how I feel. My Irritable Bowel Syndrome is better but not completely. I still have to take a pain pill at least once a day, sometimes two. That's a big improvement from when I had to take one every four hours (and did). I can't wait until I don't need them. I hope that I don't have another episode for a couple years minimum. That was one of the things the doctor told me and it gave me hope that I wouldn't have to live like I have been. I might actually be able to lead a *normal* life again. Full-time. Not part-time like it is now.

Well, it's late, I am tired and I need to get to bed. Love you all and you know what you have to do......love deeply, laugh often and dance like no one is watching. Until next time.......

It's not enough that the Beast has a broken wrist or that we went through the bladder tumor, now he has a broken eye. Well, broken is close enough. He was complaining about feeling a hair or something in his eye. We tried flushing it out with an eye wash, using drops (including some medicated ones from the doctor I went to when I had my cataracts) and nothing was working. I knew he wasn't kidding because his eye was red and irritated looking. I finally got him to go to a local ophthalmologist and, he was right. There WAS a hair in his eye. His own!!!!

It seems, like a lot of OLD people, his lower lid was curling inward and his own eyelash was scraping his eye. We never noticed it because, when you go to put eye drops in your eye, what do you do? You pull the lower lid down and that brought the eyelashes forward so you couldn't tell. Be forewarned! If it happens to you, check out your eyes before you pull it down to look for a foreign lash floating in there. Look for an inward curl of your lower lid.

I really think I need to either trade him in or throw him away. Maybe find some * special* mushrooms to put him out of my misery. It's not bad enough when a man is feeling *sick* but give him an actual medical problem and they become impossible to live with ! And just think of all the worry I would miss out on. :laughter: Well, at least this one is not the worry that the tumor was, thank goodness.

The Beast is going to have to have microsurgery of some sort now that will correct that problem. We won't have a date for that to occur until Monday when the doctor's regular nurse returns. I guess she does the scheduling on it. But....since the Beast has made plans to go pick up our youngest (grand)daughter and the baby from Port Charlotte, it will not take place until after the 21st of the month.

Instead of waiting for Buttmunch to get her stuff done and be able to come at the end of the month or my son (who really wanted to do it but it could be a financial hardship on him), the Beast asked his cousin if he was able to come and help out. His cousin jumped at the chance. He has only been retired a couple months and looks for reasons to make road trips. His wife is perfectly happy staying where she is because she has a lot of family nearby but the Cousin's family is not. He liked when we were still living in Florida because he was only a two hour drive away and could come over for the weekend every now and then. The Beast and the Cousin would take out our boat and fish for a couple days. They both enjoyed it. They both missed each others company.

The Cousin is coming two days early so that they can take the boat out on the lake and do some fishing while the weather is still nice. Then they will leave to go get the Princess and the baby, Juliana. I'm looking forward to it but will be busy readying things for their arrival.

After they get here, which should be either late Friday or early Saturday, the Cousin will spend the night and then head for his home in Titusville. Or, maybe he will stay an extra day or two. We shall see. I'm just looking forward to having a baby in the house again for a while. Some parts will be fun but I am not underestimating the problems. There WILL be problems we will have to work out since this house is so much smaller than any other home we have lived in. It's perfect for one or two. Even three would work but add a big dog and a baby (with all the accouterments that implies) and......you get the idea. We will be tripping over each other, I am sure.

Time to get moving and get some laundry done and try to get my floors washed. They need it. Love you all and hope you have a great weekend. Love deeply, laugh often and dance like no one is watching. Tell those you love that you DO love them often. End your phone calls with a simple, *Love you* and watch it spread. It's really easy once you start it. Give it a try.

Last weekend was the last one Buttmunch spent with us and she kept herself busy doing a few things the Beast wasn't up to doing. She had gotten the lawn mowed but there was still trimming and pulling some weeds out front. The Beast has a weed wacker/trimmer that is gas powered so it is NOT light-weight to balance and use correctly. However, she managed once she got the hang of it. Fortunately, she only had the house perimeter, driveway and along the fence to worry about. She did it in stages. Then, she and the Beast got out to pull weeds in front.

Our house is NOT very wide but we have two areas along the walk to the front stairs that needed weeding. Morning glory's had been taking over the decorative bushes but, fortunately, those were easy to get out since we had two nights of rain. One weed especially was a real pain to pull out. The stem was about an inch thick and the root ball looked like a huge yam. We decided that it might actually have been something edible gone to seed or something but we sure weren't going to try to find out. I think this area might actually have been a farm at one point due to all the onions we are still pulling out of certain areas of our property.

When we first moved here, every time the Beast mowed the lawn, it smelled like cut onions. I kid you not. I pulled some out that first year and it looked like green onions. It could have been wild onions, I suppose but it was the sheer number of them that blew me away. We have pulled enough of them now that we don't have a strong onion smell any more and it smells like freshly mowed grass should.

We had a BBQ on Sunday with Tara, her boyfriend Cochise and her two sons. She made some of her favorite pasta salad and I made the potato salad, some crab salad and a fruit salad. We had hot dogs and hamburgers that hit the spot on a perfect picnic type day. For dessert there was homemade apple pie and pound cake with strawberries and whipped cream. The youngest of Tara's crew had some of both and also added ice cream to his apple pie. He can REALLY eat but he is a growing boy, after all.

Tara took a plate to an older man that works at the convenience store near her house (she told him she would bring some food for him) and I made her take some dessert for him, too. Then I sent a lot of the leftovers home with her knowing they would probably be eating something later in the evening. That's the only bad thing about eating at 3 in the afternoon. It's just a tad early to be the LAST meal of the day....LOL.

Buttmunch was supposed to go home to Louisville on Monday at 2:30. We left the house here early for the ride up to Huntsville. We stopped for a quick lunch and a drink and got to the bus station on time. I had this feeling I should really wait with her and I am glad I did. It turned out she was refused service because the driver smelled liquor on her breath. I couldn't believe it! Neither could my daughter so we returned home but told the Beast they oversold the bus and, since she was one of the last ticketed, she had to take the next bus.

When we got home, she called Greyhound about it since there is NOTHING posted about such a thing happening. Not even on the ticket jacket that lists all the reasons and things you can't bring with you on the bus. It makes sense that they would refuse someone that was intoxicated but one drink doesn't qualify for that. She is going to write to the company to complain about her treatment, especially since it's a 70 mile round trip. It really pissed me off. I still can't believe it. But, we got to keep her one more day.

The Beast drove her up this morning but didn't wait for her to board the bus. I hope she didn't have any problems there but I will call her later to make sure she got home. She had forgotten her cell phone in her brother's truck when she came down here so I worried about her even being able to call anyone. I had told her she could always call here collect IF she could find a pay phone. I loaded her up with quarters this morning since some of the darn phones require more than a quarter even if you are calling collect. Can you believe that?

The Beast's mother died yesterday morning. We got the call from his favorite aunt because his sister is an asshole. I will have to tell you about THAT fact at a later time. His mother had gotten up and fallen on her butt and was laughing about it with her daughter who helped her to her feet. She then went to sit in her favorite chair in her room because the Sister was going to bring her a tray of food for breakfast.

When the Sister returned a few minutes later, his mother was dead. She died painlessly and had a smile on her face. Perhaps she DID see her family coming to greet her when the white light came to call. It consoled the Beast.

But...there is an eerie part to this. On September 8, 1985, my mother died. Yesterday was September 8th. The Beast's mother dies. My father died on October 10, 2000. The Beast's father died on October 10, 2001. That is almost too weird to believe.

The Beast's sister wanted to get her mother cremated the day after she died but, unfortunately for HER, it isn't going to happen that way. The mother will have to have an autopsy since she was not in a crisis from any of her ailments and under a doctor's special care nor was Hospice involved. It also means more expense the sister will have to pay. We were informed (along with another of the brothers) that we were *not welcome*. She will cremate the mother then only have a mention of the death at the meeting of Jehovah's Witnesses where she is a member. I'm sure that other members of the family will be horrified, as well as the Mother's last remaining sister. It's going to be treated as if the mother was never alive.

You see, the Beast's sister only took in the mother when she was in a nursing home because of her dementia and some other health problems that the brother and his wife could no longer handle (and, trust me, they did a wonderful job for many years with her.) She did it, not because she loved her mother but because it meant that she (the sister) could get the social security money as a *trustee*. The sister is one of those money hungry people you hear about but hope never to meet. The depth of it is UNBELIEVABLE. Everything was all about HER like she was an only child. She has three brothers but it never crossed her mind that THEY might be involved. One of the first things she did when she finally got the mother released from the nursing home was to get the beneficiary of her insurance policy changed to HER. It isn't a lot of money, maybe $8-10 thousand dollars but was supposed to be money to bury the mother. That is NOT going to happen in our lifetime. She will cremate the mother and probably keep the ashes in her closet or her attic. That's all folks. It's truly sad.

Buttmunch, of course, said, *Well, now I know what date you and daddy will die. I just don't know the YEAR.* To which, I replied, *If I get through today then, I will be safe for another year. Your father, on the other hand, had to make it through October 10th.* We all laughed at that.

That brings you up to date. We are now in the midst of planning when the Beast is going to go down to Port Charlotte to move our youngest up here. I am excited about seeing Juliana since I haven't seen her since she was 3 months old. She is now over a year old and I have only gotten to see her pictures. She still looks adorable and I laugh when Krys talks about what she is doing and trying to do, all about her schedule, etc. She will be staying with us for a while until she gets herself established in school and a job. She's already been doing her research about school and something called *the coalition* which will help her with child care. I will do what I can but she doesn't want to burden us since we are helping her out. Boy, she has learned a great deal in a short time.

Love you all. Love deeply, laugh often and dance like no one is watching. Tell those you love that you do as often as you can. Live your life fully each and every day. Life is just too short.