June 16, 2010

  • HURRAH! A Sample Is Finally Gotten


    TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

    Sheepie is returning home on Friday it was decided.     I hate to see her leave since we won't get to see her again until the end of the year.  It's been nice having her here and it feels so...natural.  But she has a life apart and is anxious to get back to it.  She got ahold of her dad to make sure the time of arrival worked for him.  It seems she is going to get home and be picked up almost immediately to go camping with her boyfriend and his family.  I've never met them but they seem to be a very nice family from everything I have heard.  Sheepie cares a great deal for them and that's a plus.  They were the ones that ended up driving her to Tallahassee to catch her bus when her dad's girlfriend had a hissy fit over his giving Sheepie *so much* cash and refused to take her.  It was a whole $90. for a two-week (it was thought) vacation?  Oh give me a break!    She was jealous over a father giving his daughter money that could have been spent on her, I guess.  Lord love a duck! 

    Sheepie was the one that finally cajoled Chewlee into sitting down on the potty chair and pee-ing in it so we could have a sample (small as it was) to give to the lab.  She told Chewlee she could take a bath IF she pee'd first and Chewlee was tearing off her clothes as fast as she could and heading for the potty chair.  When I got back from taking the Beast up to Toyota to pick up his truck, the sample was ready to be taken to the doctor's office.  We did that later so we put it into the fridge until we could run it up there.

    Bright and early this morning, the Beast was up and talking to the service department at our local Toyota dealer.  He hadn't gotten a battery so he figured he would just bite the bullet and let them handle the hard stuff.  Once he found out that the starter was behind a heat shield (he found THAT), he discovered he had no clue about how to even remove it so he figured he was too damn old for dealing with that shit any more and he was gonna let the dealer do it.

    The dealer came to the house with a tow truck and brought the truck up to be checked out.  I don't remember what all they found besides the dead duck battery but there was some relay to the starter, I believe and something that should have been cleaned and cleared out at 30,000 miles anyway.  They also changed the oil filter and the air filter while they were under the hood and engine plus the Beast had them replace the windshield wipers.  Now all he needs to do is get some new tires on it (it has the originals still on it) and he's all set for another four to five years.    What amazed me was this:  the total bill for all this?  Just $260. including the tow.  Hell, in Florida, it would have cost that just for the tow.

    So, on Thursday, instead of a possible day on the lake, it looks like the Beast, Sheepie and the Princess will be going out on the ATV's.  The Princess is going to find out from one of her friends where a good place to go is that won't knock any more teeth out of the Beast's mouth (just kidding!) but he is a bit more delicate than the youngsters these days.    That means that Chewlee will spend the day in school (I hope), I will be here packing for our trip next week (and I hope to get my floors mopped) while the others go out to exhaust themselves. 

    At least I won't have to pack them a lunch.  I already have lunchmeats, bread, etc. and will just throw it in the cooler for them.  They will have to stop and pick up some Gatorade or whatever it is they prefer.  I'll pick the baby up from school at my normal time and probably just throw some chicken on the grill for our dinner later (with some hot dogs for me and Chewlee).  We both LOVE grilled hot dogs.

    The Beast threw me some cash when we left to run up to the doctor's office to drop off the urine sample and said to pick up something for us all to eat so no one had to cook.  Sheepie jumped up and yelled, *Arby's!!!!!!*  I looked at her, laughing, and said, *I take it you like Arby's?*  She shook her head almost violently YES and made me laugh.  I told her she had to be her grandfather's favorite because that was HIS favorite, too.  They both just grinned at each other.

    So we stopped at Arby's on our way back home and picked up a bunch of their roast beef sandwiches plus a roast beef and cheddar for Sheepie.  The baby wanted a strawberry milk shake and their $1. size is just perfect for her.  The biggest problem was she kept trying to lift it up to help the ice cream get down the straw so we had to take it away from her for a bit to let it melt a bit.  Thankfully, the straws are extra big or she would have sucked her eyes in when she was trying to get a taste of it even after it sat in the warm car while we were driving home. 

    Once we got here, Sheepie put Chewlee in her high chair and I took the top off, put the straw back in and gave her a spoon as well.  She only ate the meat off her half of a sandwich but she did finish up her milk shake.  She had been eating fruit (apple, banana, orange) most of the day and she ate a big bowl of soup for lunch so I don't think the poor kid was hungry, even so.  She ate her potato chips up and then started eating mine after she got out of her high chair.  She wasn't really hungry; she was just trying to make me react because of the grin on her face when she thought she was *sneaking* one.

    I've mentioned that I play games on Pogo.com before.  One of the games I play is Mahjong, a tile matching game.  The baby has often sat in my lap while I played and she always asks what the different tiles are.  I have been letting her click on the matching tiles while I directed her hands and told her *click now*.  Today, she wanted to play by herself.....and I let her.  She sat in my lap and found the tiles that matched and made sure they were *free* tiles (meaning not hemmed in by others).  Her biggest problem was in controlling the mouse and pointer but, hell, I had the same problem with my wireless mouse at first.  Each puzzle is different....I use the animal tiles, which are the different animals in the Chinese zodiac. 

    The *rat* puzzle is actually a tough one most of the time and I am lucky if I can get it done in under six minutes.  Yes, there IS a timer because bonus points are awarded depending on how long it takes.  Now, remember, this is a 3 yr. old that is having a tough time getting the pointer to the place she wants it.  It took her 18 and a half minutes to complete the puzzle and she did it ALL by herself.  I was .  She was so proud of herself and wanted to do another one but that was when her mother got here (saved by the mother ).  I have a feeling I may have created a monster.  Bratfink thinks I may have to get Chewlee her own Pogo account and computer now (as she was rolling all over the floor, laughing).

    Time to go now.  Love you all and I hope you have great weather.  Keep cool, keep safe and take care of yourself.