The Princess dropped off Chewlee early today. Something about her having an early meeting. I think it had something to do with her personal evaluation after a week in the corporate store before the final week of training down in Birmingham. It must have gone well because she is leaving Sunday evening because the class starts a lot earlier on this Monday than it did last week.

What that meant was that Chewlee was awakened much earlier than she was used to so she was a bit tired when she got here. She was her cheerful self even so but imagine my surprise when she was tired enough for her nap at 10:30am. I kid you not. Off she went to bed, no argument once I asked her if she wanted to go night-night. She ran for the door with just a short stop to grab her blankey and she climbed into the bed, did a little jumping lay down on the pillow and waited for me to cover her up.

She slept for her usual two hours and woke up happy and playful. She spent some time after lunch just watching Sponge Bob and some other cartoons for kids (although I doubt Sponge Bob is for two-year-olds but he makes her laugh) and dancing around the room. She then started doing the *warm-up exercises* which is all I can liken them to that I told you about the other day. She wanted me to do them with her so I did. I was really tired out when she was done and moved on to reading books (me reading, her looking, pointing and asking me what something was in the pictures). I played a counting game with her that we had seen on TV and she is really good with the even numbers but keeps getting them wrong if she does it on her own. So I did the odd numbers and she did the even ones and got them all correct. It was really cute to hear her and she KNEW she did them right.

The Beast was lamenting the fact that this will be the first time that we are both going to be traveling but in opposite directions. I feel kind of bad for him that he has to travel with just the dog for company but it IS his choice not to stay home or to wait until I get back. Not that it matters to ME but it seems to matter to him. I don't know why because he makes me nuts when we DO travel together. He doesn't stop for meals and I am diabetic and need to eat on a regular schedule as much as possible. He can eat junk stuff but I can't. He loves chocolate of any kind and just doesn't *get it* why I can't. I have tried to educate him on it but he's either too dense (because it's not HIS health) or he just doesn't give a shit (because it's not HIS health). Either way, I don't like traveling with him if it involves more than an eight hour drive.

He can be so cheap at times. If it's a 14 hour trip, he would rather drive through even though he truly suffers for it for days afterward rather than stop at a motel for the night, get some rest and then finish the trip in a refreshed manner. The trip down to Port Charlotte that he is making is this kind of a trip. Trust me when I say he will leave very early in the morning and drive straight through. He will arrive exhausted and with a dog that desperately needs to run and won't be able to do so. Their yard (his aunt's) is less than 1/6th of the size of just what we have fenced in. Three stretches at a run for Baron and he's hitting a fence in any direction. It will NOT be a good time for his *buddy* and that means the Beast won't have a good time either. I foresee disaster here but, hey, what do I know?

My girlfriend, Marilyn, called me. So did Buttmunch. Marilyn called because she is obviously getting excited about our get-together with old, dear friends. Buttmunch because she bought a bathing suit today and spent more on it than she told Hoop. Hoop, I am sure, when he told her that she should get one was thinking it would be maybe $50 or $60 tops. She never told him that the original one she liked was $150. but they didn't have it in her size when she went back to the store. THIS one, she told me, was MORE than that. I about fell over. I have NEVER owned a bathing suit that even cost me $60. I can't even IMAGINE this bathing suit. Gold threads in it? Diamonds? Okay, very small ones but, even so....... I can't wait to see what a bathing suit worth that kind of money is going to look like.

Well, the Beast has been in bed for an hour. I took the coverlet off our bed so we can sleep with just a sheet over us since we STILL haven't put on our AC during this hot spell. I will admit that all the fans have been responsible for that. It has kept it comfortable in here except for one day when the humidity was out of sight. Well, it was more uncomfortable for the Beast than for me. I happen to like the heat but my low blood pressure has a lot to do with that, I'm sure.

I don't get the baby back until Sunday night and then I guess we go back on our previous schedule like we did when the Princess was away that first week. After that, I will be getting ready to leave for Chicago. Tomorrow the summer clothes come down from the attic since it should be overcast and not as hot as it has been. I don't look forward to that but I will be the one up there since I packed them up and know which ones they are.

Love you all. Have a great day. Smile often. It confuses those around you and is good exercise for your face. The thought for today is: Some people are alive only because it's illegal to shoot them.

Today the Beast tried to do me a favor and had his own experience with Chewlee. When I put Chewlee down for her nap, I got comfortable in my recliner and took a nap of my own. Chewlee got up before I did and the Beast decided he would take care of her for a bit rather than wake me up. It really was sweet of him and I was a bit surprised when I found out.

He put Chewlee in her high chair since she wanted to *eat....eat!* and gave her a spoon and a container of yogurt. Now when *I* give it to her, I sit in a chair in front of her and watch her because she is known (by me anyway) to be *creative* with yogurt once she has had her fill. The Beast, not knowing or even giving it any thought, just walked away and sat down in HIS recliner to eat a container of yogurt, too.

Time passed and when the Beast looked over at Chewlee, who was being rather vocal at this point since she wanted to be noticed, and almost had a heart attack. She had anointed herself with the yogurt. She smeared it on her face like it was face cream and in her hair. I guess she wasn't quite as hungry as she thought because it looked like she had used most of the container for her artwork on herself. The Beast picked her up by her thumbs (not really but trust me it was very gingerly) and put her in the tub. He stripped her down and discovered she had on a crappy diaper (and it was a real mess). So there he was, pouring warm water over her butt before he could start the water running in the tub to bathe her. She was trying to get him to kiss her while she was covered in yogurt and he was having none of it. He tried wrapping the diaper up like he had seen me do many times (but failed miserably) and he held it out at arms length to try to keep from smelling it. He dropped it into the garbage can and closed the lid (we normally keep it open).

When he went back into the bathroom, he found Chewlee with her head under the water pouring out of the faucet and the water was a milky white from the yogurt. It was at this point that I came in and rescued him from the idea of really bathing her and washing her hair. I did all that and used some fresh, clean water to rinse her off before taking her out of the tub to diaper and dress her. The Beast was so grateful that I had rescued him that he offered to buy us dinner so I didn't have to cook.

Now I had visions of actually going OUT to dinner but I had forgotten that he put two new tires on the front of my car this morning. It also had to be realigned and the tires balanced. That cost him $220. (which actually was reasonable and was from an actual tire dealer, not Walmart). So dinner was take out and eat at home from Captain D's. I really didn't mind because I like their food. The fish is excellent and the shrimp is a nice size. At least he remembered NOT to get me fried okra on the side. He got me cole slaw and corn on the cob so I was very happy. I also got seasoned french fries since those come with all their meals. The dog loves those since I only want a couple and I am satisfied.

So my car has been taken care of for now. I have good tires, a fresh alignment and balanced tires. Now all I need to do is clean and vacuum the care to try to reduce the dog hairs in it some time before I plan to leave. Tomorrow (today) I will get down the summer clothes and pack up the winter ones. Then I just have to figure out what I plan on taking with me so I can wash and pack it up and be ready to go. Time is just flying by and it's hard to believe that I will be leaving in just a week and a half. It might be a little less than that actually.

Time to lift off and get this posted. Love you all. Remember to expose your teeth often to the sun because it's good for them (and you). The thought for today is this: The gene pool is in serious need of some chlorine.

I'm doing up this blog early in the morning instead of at night just because I really had nothing eventful happen. I guess that's really like most people's lives. You do the normal things and perhaps, as in my life, you do a little baby sitting for a grandchild that you just adore. It was nice to have the real Chewlee back and we had fun. I was a bit upset with the Princess because the baby has an irritated diaper area so that means she's been giving her too much fruit juices and not enough milk. But I have my ointment for her and her powder and I dealt with it. She just got changed more often than she might have because I was keeping a close eye on her. When she's having fun, she won't tell me she has a wet diaper.

We had a bad storm roll through here. It sounded awful and poured rain but it didn't last all that long. Maybe a half hour or so. I did shut down my computer and put a DVD in for the baby to watch since we lost our satellite TV. I knew I should have turned off the TV but the baby was in her mode of wanting to relax and be entertained so I did it. We watched a Harry Potter movie since she seems to like those a lot. She shook her head at everything else I tried to interest her in watching but grabbed up the Harry Potter one. I'm not sure she *gets* any of it and it might be she just likes the picture on it. I'm just glad she was in the mood to relax and be quiet. I DO tire out after a while and it can be tough to keep up with her.

The Beast, with a little help from the Princess on how to do it, eventually got all his music he had downloaded on his computer changed into MP3 files and onto the little chip required for his GPS. He had to show me how it now plays from his GPS through the radio in the car. He showed me how you change the songs via the screen on it. He really is having fun with all the different things that this GPS can do. It's amazing because it works inside the house. Our other ones had to be taken outside for them to locate a satellite. It obviously has a much more powerful operating system.

I'm finding myself waking up more during the night. I suppose that's why I am finding myself desperately needing the baby's nap. I may end up taking her nap with her even though I don't think it's a good idea. I can actually just take my nap in the recliner here in my computer room. That's probably a smarter idea. When I did that yesterday, the baby came into the room when she woke up and woke me up with a kiss and a smile. I have a feeling she thought it was funny that Mamaw was taking a nap, too.

That was pretty much my day. After the Princess picked up Chewlee, I spent time playing my games on my computer. My best friend, Christiana, called me from her home in the Chicago area to talk about our upcoming reunion with a bunch of our friends from high school. We will be doing that on the 28th and traveling to the Berkeley area to meet up. We (Christina and I) will probably meet up with a third friend and drive in together so we can chat about Alabama since THAT friend is considering moving here. Not to our area but the state. Her husband has some school friends and family here although he was born and raised in Wisconsin. I gather she is the one hesitating partly because of all the joke about this state. It's really true that it gets a bad rap. I felt the same way actually so I understand. We, however, already owned a house here so it was kind of out of my hands at the point when the Beast had to retire. Florida just got too expensive a place for us to live when you depend on your Social Security (as so many people do) to pay your expenses. The cost of your taxes on your home AND the insurance is enough to eat up almost five to six months of checks. It's just not possible.

Love you all. Wish you a great day and some fun. Remember, smile a lot. It gives your face something to do and can cause some interesting reactions from the people around you. Try it and see what I mean.

I think I see signs that Chewlee might actually be returning to us once more. Either that or the changeling has decided to be fairly good. Chewlee was almost her own sweet self again. Yes, I kid you not. She pretty much behaved and was laughing and having fun with Mamaw (that's me) today. She didn't get into things she shouldn't and she laughed and laughed at the cartoons she was watching while eating.

I started giving her cereal in the morning with milk in it instead of the dry cereal the Princess always gave her with some fruit on the side. She has her own bowl here and she is using a regular spoon since she really doesn't seem to like the baby ones that the Princess got for her. I know the fork sucks because it almost can't spear anything that isn't really soft and thick. She not only ate what I gave her to start with but asked for more. Of course, the Princess claims that she would eat constantly if she would let her. I don't find that here but she does like snacks. I limit them because I don't want her to get chunky. She looks like it would all go to her thighs and I sure don't want THAT for her.

She eats a big lunch but that's fine because she is extremely active all afternoon. I found her doing exercises today in front of the mirror and I could tell by some of the things she was doing that she must be watching Johnnycakes doing his exercising. The third bedroom at their house is set up as an exercise room. He has his bench and weights, a punching bag just like you see fighters using on TV and in the movies. There is also a treadmill and I believe an exercise ball. Anyway, he apparantly does warm-ups and those are the things I saw her doing. It was really cute. I showed her how to do touch the toes, the knees and her shoulders and she got a laugh about us doing that together. At one point, she thought I wasn't doing it right and came over to grab my hands and make them touch my toes to her satisfaction. I was laughing so hard at that, I could barely continue.

She took a good nap today although she tried to get me to lay down with her. She kept patting the pillow and grabbed me around my neck to try to keep me there. I finally got her settled in and she slept for almost two hours. That's the first time that she's taken a decent nap in a while. She got up happy and let me brush her hair after I changed her diaper. She usually fusses for a while before she lets me do it. I ended up feeding her dinner because the Princess had something that kept her at work for almost an hour. I can't let my baby be hungry when she's pushing her high chair towards me and saying, *Eat! Eat!*

The Beast got HIS new GPS today and spent some time programming it with the addresses he wanted in it and also exploring some of the new features. He took it out for a test *drive* and declared it great. He really likes the fact that our new GPS's allow you to program in the phone numbers for all the places that you have on it. I figured that I already have them on my cell phone but, hey, who knows what might happen? It might actually come in handy one day. And, of course, if we get our Bluetooth phones, it will allow the GPS's to tell us who is calling us right on the screen with no problems. Yes, that's another thing the Beast has decided he likes and he wants because it means hands-free talking on the cell phones via the car radio OR the GPS speaker. There is a method to his madness.

Time for bed now that I am done. Love you all. Have a great day and try to have a little fun. Smile because it gives your face something to do. And remember this: Being happy doesn't mean everything is perfect. It means you've decided to see beyond the imperfections.

It was a baby that looked just like my adorable Chewlee that was dropped off at 8:30am this morning. She had the same adorable smile, the same sweet baby kisses but......she was a changeling!

It has been only four days that she didn't see mamaw and papaw but she had to test me every minute of the day. I kid you not. She got into things that she had never even tried for before this. She also got into things that she KNEW she wasn't to touch. She threw a fit when I was busy trying to clean up a bit. She needed her nap (she was even rubbing her eyes, she was so tired) but she kept getting out of bed and trying to sneak out of the room. Little did she know that I could hear her every step.

She jumped on the bed (like all kids do even when they know they shouldn't) and ended up flying off the bed and onto her rump. When she let out a wail, I came in (I was on my way anyway because I KNEW what she was doing), just grabbed her up and put her down on the bed, handed her the *blankey* and bottle and let her cry. She got this incredulous look on her face because I didn't try to console her. I knew she wasn't hurt because she had started to get up but only started crying when I came into the room. I may have been born at night but it sure wasn't LAST night. After all the kids I've raised, I've pretty much seen and heard it all.

We read books, she looked through one of my crochet pattern books because the pictures are all colorful and she likes that. When I tried to make lunch for her and the Beast, she became a monster child again. She got into my bookcase and pulled down a whole shelf full of books then cried like she had been beaten when I made her pick them all up. She even got to the point that she told me *no* when I pointed out books she hadn't picked up yet and then was shocked that I smacked her (diapered) bottom. She threw herself down on the floor and had a full-blown tantrum. I stepped over her and ignored her. Every time I looked over at her, she got louder in her crying bout. When she finally realized I was ignoring her, she got up and started to walk away and was shocked that I turned her around and made her finish picking up the books she pulled down.

I was glad when the Princess came to pick her up and we discussed what had gone on. She told me that she had a similar weekend. I won't go into all the details but it sure seemed like she was trying to punish her mother for having been gone all week. She was even going into her bedroom, locking the door and then crying because she couldn't get it back open. They finally had to turn the doorknob around so the lock is on the outside to keep her from doing that again.

I have no idea when we will get the real baby back again but I will be sure to let you know. This changeling is NOT going to get the best of us and they will have to give our real baby back to us soon. Pray for me. I'm going to need it to keep from strangling it.

I was really exhausted from keeping after her all day long. I got almost nothing done that I can usually do, including making my bed. As soon as I went into my room, wham...she was into papaw's stuff. Then she would run away laughing with some stolen object in her hands and I would have to track her down. To her it was a game. To me, it was a real test of patience.

Well, as I sit here tired and a bit cranky, I need to get this posted and me to bed. I am really, really tired. Love you all. I know you won't have as bad a day as *I* did and I sure don't wish it on anyone. Hope you have great weather and a little laughter in your day, too. Pray for me.

Okay, so I sanded the dresser top with fine sandpaper today, wiped it off with a rag, sanded again....and once again until it felt right to my hand when I *felt* the top. Got out the vacuum cleaner and got it vacuumed up good and then wiped it down with a soft rag and some mineral spirits to clean it thoroughly. That is when I got a shock. It was NOT even. In fact, it looks like the old stain/finish has STILL not been thoroughly removed.

So I call in the Beast for a consultation. He looks at it, says to go ahead and see if applying the new finish will *even* it out. Which I do and it doesn't. So then I am stuck waiting for it to dry which takes 3-4 hours per instructions but....now I have a decision to make. Do I re-sand it to just get through the very thin stain/finish I put on or do I re-sand it and use a slightly darker stain/finish? Right now it is sitting, sanded, while I ponder what I want to do. Who would have thought that MY project would take such a turn? I guess the Beast's bad luck is rubbing off on me.

Tomorrow the Princess works at the AT&T Corporate office from 9-6 all week and I will be babysitting Chewlee most of the week. The Princess was telling me that she went to leave the house on Saturday afternoon just to run down and fill her car up with gas without taking Chewlee with her. Chewlee started crying like her mother was deserting her and when she bent down to kiss her, Chewlee locked her arms around her neck and wouldn't let go. I laughed because I knew Chewlee was afraid she was leaving her again. She's going to just get used to a regular work schedule and her mother WILL be leaving her again. I don't think that's going to be any fun for anyone this time around.

After the last week of her training in Birmingham, I will be getting ready to leave for Chicago. Then Chewlee won't see me for at least 10 days and I wonder what she will think about THAT? Hopefully, she will be in day care and have too many new friends to play with to think about it. I sure love that little one. She is such a good-natured baby and so easy to put to sleep (when she's in her own bed). I shouldn't actually say that because she was good here, too. She can open up the bedroom door but once she's put to bed, she stays there and sleeps all night. When she woke up in the morning, she would come and wake me up and she always has had a happy face and sweet disposition in the morning. I know none of mine were like that. Life would have been a lot pleasanter if even half of my kids were like that....LOL.

The Beast has decided when I go to Chicago, he's going to take a couple days and go down to see his aunt in Port Charlotte, Florida. She's getting up in years now (I think she is 86 or 87 this September) and was recently diagnosed with advanced Parkinson's. I told him I thought that would be a good idea since she was more like a mother to him than his own mother was and we have no idea how much longer she will be with us. He will be able to take his buddy, Baron, with him so he will be fine on the trip down and back. I worry more when he's alone but he will be occupied with taking care of Baron's needs so he won't neglect his own that way either.

I never DID get out to my garden today because it rained lightly and the ground gets too soft to do anything in except weed. I will get out there early tomorrow and take Chewlee out for a while and get that done while I can. She and Baron will enjoy it and i can get something accomplished. I have to get that taken care of before I leave because I know the Beast won't.

Okay, time for bed for me. Early day tomorrow. Love you all. Have a great day and try to have some fun. Don't take life too seriously. Nobody gets out alive.

The Beast and I got up this morning (I got up rather late because I wasn't feeling very well and was running a bit of a fever) and had our morning coffee out on the deck. It was later than we normally get up and we had to put the umbrella up because of the sun. We discussed whether or not we were going to go to the picnic and, since I still wasn't feeling great, he decided he would take the dog and go find everyone to cadge a couple hot dogs or something. It was just a good excuse for him to exercise the dog and he does so love to show him off. There aren't many dobermans in this area (or the whole state, I think)

Well, he gets down to the area we were all supposed to meet up and can't find anyone. So he calls me to tell me he can't find them and wants me to call Tara and find out where they are (or if they even went). So, I call Tara and it seems that she *wasn't sure we were coming or she would have called us* but they didn't go because the baby was sick. Oh well. So I call the Beast and tell him and he heads back home. A short time later, he calls me and wants to go out for brunch at the Cheese Barrel. Unfortunately, I had already eaten since I figured he would eat at the picnic and I was hungry. I just wish he would have had the idea earlier than he did. I happen to like Cracker Barrel and it would have been a treat.

I got his *wish list* of food to bring back with me from Chicago. You know how that is....there are always things from *back home* that you can't find where you live. He wants me to get Italian beef from Feeb's, some real Chicago Italian bread, some tamales and some White Castle hamburgers. I need to try to find a place that sells dry ice. You can get it at our Publix grocery stores but I don't remember seeing it at any of the one's I have been in up there. I'll ask my brother-in-law who works for Dominic's and my ex-sis-in-law/sister of my heart, Kay, who used to work for Jewel. I would prefer it to regular ice because it evaporates instead of turning to water and making it necessary to keep draining it off or ruin the food. I also have to remember to call Kay so her sister can order an extra box of tamales for me when she orders for the restaurant/bar they own. I can freeze that while I am there and that will help out a bit with keeping the rest of it cold.

The Beast also bought me an early birthday present. I know!! Usually, because I am in Chicago when my birthday rolls around, he gets away cheap because he is HERE and I am THERE. He went out with the idea that he was going to get me a Tom-Tom because it seemed like the GPS that I would really like. You are supposed to be able to get computer updates that tell you if there's construction going on ahead of you and you can detour. It's stuff that is reported by other Tom-Tom users so it's always up-to-date. It also is supposed to get real time information about accidents on any route you are driving on so you can detour.

However, when the Beast went to check it out, there were a lot of things they DON'T tell you about Tom-Tom. Like having to pay for a special service to get most of the updates except for the ones from other users. And the accident stuff is also an extra (monthly) fee. So he started checking and comparing and ended up getting me another Garmin. This one is incredibly slim. It looked much smaller than my old one but....when we compared them, the screen size is the same. But it's barely bigger than some of the ipods I have seen. Just incredible. It has all the features you would normally like to have and so much more and it's free. It will tell you what lane you should be in for your next turn. It even tells you what gas stations are ahead (when you need the info) and what the prices are per gallon! It has the real time accident information for the major cities...free. And those are the ones you really need them for anyway. I always hated going through Atlanta because of that but this would help you detour around the problem. It has a feature where you can actually use it to do hands free cell phone calls and receive them also. Unfortunately, I have to wait until the end of July to upgrade my phone to include the feature we need for that. Otherwise, the phone would cost me $269. instead of $69. I can wait.....LOL.

I didn't get my dresser done yesterday like I had hoped because I didn't feel good. When I felt a little better later that evening, I did start the fine sanding. I have a bit more of THAT to do before I can use the mineral spirits for the final cleaning and then do the stain/finish. I am hoping I feel good enough to get it done Sunday morning so it's done and ready to move into my bedroom on Monday after Chewlee gets picked up. I also have to go check out my garden since I haven't done that while we had rainy days.

We didn't get a visit from Baron's little girl friend pup today and that surprised me. She has been around on a daily basis and, for two nights, she ended up sleeping in our garage (with the garage door open just enough for her to go in and out) due to the rain. I will NOT have her in the house because I think we would never get rid of her once that happened. She's a sweet little thing but we do NOT need two big dogs in this small house. The one we have is really too big as it is. I have a feeling her owners might be home or else the guy that is supposed to feed her might have taken her to HIS house since he was so worried about her straying. Not finding her for two days might have scared him. We shall see if she shows up tomorrow or not.

We ended up having to bathe Baron once again with the flea/tick shampoo. The Beast found a tick on him and had to end that problem immediately. Baron was bath-shy at the beginning but, once we get him secured on the deck, he *grins and bears it*. I think he really is starting to enjoy the scrubbing and the warm water. However, he's not real crazy about the cold water rinse but he doesn't have much of a choice there. We DO pour the warm water over him first but use the hose to make sure he's rinsed well.

It takes two days for the stuff to kill any ticks that might still be dug in under his hair but they kind of kick UP through the hair and you can see them when they die. Then you can just pluck them off and the Beast throws them into a bowl of boiling hot water *just to make sure*. The way things are going with his baths, no self-respecting flea or tick will get anywhere near him.

It's that time and I must get this posted. I have a reader in New Jersey that will be looking for the new post (and I want to thank you for reading me regularly, whoever you are). I wish you a great day, lots of sunshine and warm weather. I think we have all had enough of that *other* stuff, don't you? Love you all.

I have had a self-imposed project of my own that I finally got around to getting done. The top of my dresser had gotten some superglue spilled on it and another time a bottle of nail polish remover got knocked over. I managed to keep the damage down to a minimum (even though *I* wasn't the one that did either) but I hated that it was damaged. It's the prettiest white pine (solid wood) with an oil finish. Or at least it HAD an oil finish on most of it.

When the Beast wheeled it into my computer room, I decided that I would get it sanded down and refinished. Since the bedroom is finished now and the other stuff is back in place, I figured I really SHOULD get it done finally. So, I started sanding. At first, the Beast gave me a grit that was really too fine since he was sure the finish was not deep into the wood. WRONG!! When I finally got the right grit, the sanding went much faster. It still took time because I had to get down to the white wood (and it really IS white pine ). Tomorrow (today) I will do the finish sanding, then wipe the wood down with some mineral spirits to ensure I have all the wood dust off it. Then I will use a white pine wipe-on finish by Minwax. I just love their products. Easy to use and wonderful results.

After I got it done, I looked around and was amazed at all the (do you call it saw dust when there's no saw involved? or is it sand dust?) dust. It was everywhere! It was on the rug and you could see my foot prints in it. The shelves, books and other things were covered. My poor desk, computer, printer and even my TV and all the dvd's had a thin film over them. I tried just dusting but it only moved it around because of the oil finish in the wood. So I had to bite the bullet and get a damp rag (in fact, several of them) and then use my special electronics spray on the TV, computer monitor and even my poor keyboard. I HAD covered my recliner but the small section of the back that was exposed was just filthy with it.

Tomorrow I will cover EVERYTHING with sheets before I do the finish sanding. I am NOT going to have to do that again if I can help it. But, it will be done and I can move the dresser back into my room on Sunday. I'm looking forward to that and to getting my things back in place on the top of my dresser.

My day was uneventful otherwise and for that I am grateful. Love you all and hope you have a great day. I am heading for a picnic at the lake with the granddaughter and family plus my niece, Tara, and her family. I am planning on enjoying myself and exposing my teeth to a lot of sunlight. It's good for them and the people around you too. Try it. *wink*

Well, it has finally happened. Chewlee is becoming a real drama queen. I had a feeling for quite a while but I wasn't sure until today. Chewlee has always cried like her heart was broken when you would give her bottom a smack (with a diaper on it, you know she didn't feel anything) or tell her no she couldn't do something she wanted. For a while, I was a typical grandma and would gather her in my arms and kiss away the tears while explaining why she got smacked or why she was being told no. Dumb, dumb me.

Today she really made me mad when she got into my jewelry box for the second time and I smacked her and made her sit in a chair. Every time she tried to get out of it, I put her back. She threw herself face down in the chair and started to cry. I was mad enough to ignore her except....I watched her and I caught her peeking to see if I was paying attention or not and she wailed even louder. She managed to have a couple tears in her eyes. I just turned around and totally ignored her. She finally got out of the chair and came over to me, put her head on my lap and continued to *cry* but she couldn't manage any tears this time. But she was trying to look so pathetic that I ALMOST laughed out loud. I refused to fall for it and ignored her. Then she tried something different. She put her arms out and wanted to be picked up and she was making her *kissy face*. When I ignored that and told her no, she just stared at me and then broke out into one of her grins, grabbed my legs in a baby hug and laughed. She looked at me to see if I was at least smiling and when I was, she then wanted a kiss. I finally broke down and kissed her and she went and played with her toys happily after that.

Later on, I told her she couldn't do something (I forget what it was but I know it wasn't any big deal) and she threw herself down on the floor, crying like her heart was broken. I ignored her again but caught her peeking to see if I was paying attention (again) but I was quicker than she was and had turned back towards my desk. A few token seconds later, she was up and playing with her toys and I knew that she finally caught on that *I* had caught onto her. I'm debating whether or not I want to tell the Princess about it or just let her catch onto it on her own. I haven't made up my mind yet.

I get a break for a few days now. Johnnycakes didn't have to work tonight and the Princess will be home from Birmingham tomorrow before he has to leave for work so Chewlee doesn't have to come here to sleep.. She will be happy to sleep in her own bed, I am sure. Then, since the Princess doesn't have to be at work until Monday morning, it means I get the whole weekend off. I still have to babysit next week during the day while the Princess works but that won't be difficult and Baron will be happy. The week after that, the Princess has to go to Birmingham again for a week so we will be back to a similar routine like we had THIS week. After that, I will be leaving for Chicago so the Princess will have to enlist the help of Kym and/or get Chewlee into day care. I know she wants to get her into day care because she needs to be with other kids her age. She just can't procrastinate this time.

The little dog that is in love with Baron and is always roaming around here (and the Beast had her in our backyard playing with Baron if you recall) we found out tonight went missing. It seems she was running around loose more than usual because the owners are gone for two weeks and a friend was just coming over after work to feed the dog. It's probably at someone's house and will be out and about soon because she never strays far from here. We fed her today after we found her huddled outside in the rain under our stairs. The Beast opened the garage for her and towel dried her off and she seemed so grateful for that little bit of kindness. She really is a sweet puppy and will probably end up being a great dog for the people that own her but don't appreciate how sweet she is. It really makes me angry. We shall see if she is out tomorrow because Baron seems to detect her even when we can't see her. He wants to go out front as soon as he knows she is around. It's how we discovered her under the stairs.

Time for bed for me. I'm looking forward to being able to sleep in for a change. Have a wonderful day and I hope you have better weather than we are having right now. I know rain is necessary but there ought to be a law that it can't rain more than one or two days a week AT THE MOST. We are supposed to have more rain again tomorrow. *sigh*

Love you all. Enjoy life. Nothing is guaranteed and the only one that can control your happiness is YOU. Smile often. It's good for the face.

Chewlee had an early morning, waking us up at 7am. She wanted her diaper changed, of course (she's always very cooperative when it's REALLY wet) and then she wanted to EAT!!! And eat she did. It's amazing what she can pack away when she's hungry.

I guess I am going to have to get some new books for her. I think even SHE is getting sick of the books we read over and over every day. Today she insisted we look through my Afghan pattern book my sister gave me. It has about 100 patterns and instructions and the pictures are, of course, very colorful. She sat in my lap and we turned each page and she made comments on each picture. Some she pronounced *pretty*, some she ignored and pointed out some of the decorations in the picture instead. Each time there was a dog, cat or baby in the picture, she got very excited. She seems to like patterns in purples and others in tones of blue. After we killed an hour with that, we got to the regular books. This time she had to grab my finger to point to various things and ask me what they were. She KNOWS what they all were but it was my turn to show her *I* knew them, too.....LOL

She brought me my crochet bag and sat next to me while I crocheted for a while. She can get very intent at times and it makes me wonder what she is thinking while I am doing certain things. I thought she might actually take an early nap so she would have that over with by the time Johnnycakes came to pick her up but she didn't. She relaxed next to me for a while and then decided it was lunchtime (and it's when she watches Sponge Bob). About this time, a cute little neighborhood pup that the owners seem to let run loose all the time showed up at the fence when the Beast was bringing the mower into the yard. She followed him in and Baron spotted her from the kitchen door and got all excited. The Beast shut the gate and I let Baron out to go play. The Beast stayed out there to make sure Baron didn't get too rough with the pup (he didn't) and finally just let them romp and run together. After a couple hours, he fed the two of them and added more water and some ice to the water bowl we keep out there when Baron is in the yard. They both came up on the deck and plopped down peacefully for a while after eating and then it was off again, chasing and rolling around like dogs do. The Beast finally made the pup leave the yard and she slowly made her way across the field, turning back frequently to see if she could still see Baron at the front door. She finally made her way back home and Baron accepted the fact that playtime was over. I expect the pup will be back tomorrow and every day that the Beast lets her into the backyard.

Personally, I think it helps the Beast out because he is always worrying about Baron not getting enough exercise. I worry more about his lack of socialization so I think this is a good thing just for that reason. Whatever he gets out of it, it keeps him busy.

When Johnnycakes brought Chewlee back here, he was carrying her and she looked half asleep. I asked and sure enough, she hadn't napped for him either. She was having too much fun. I got her night time bottle while Johnnycakes tucked her into bed. She was out in about two minutes, if not less.

We had some really nasty weather here for a while and I wasn't sure I would be able to post tonight but it's cleared up and I have the internet back. I started watching my dvd's when the TV went out (it's satellite just like our internet) and time passed fairly quickly and quietly here. At least I know my garden got watered well.

I'm tired and heading for bed now. Hope you have some good weather tomorrow (we are supposed to have more storms). If not, stay safe and dry. Love you all. Smile often....it's better for your face and automatically makes you feel more cheerful.