I woke up this morning to find the dog snuggled up next to me and his paw over my waist.  The Beast was just cracking up and looking for his camera but thought better of it since I wield a mean cast iron pan.   Especially effective after the target falls asleep.    Perhaps if I were young, tight-bodied and sexy looking in the morning but I am old, wrinkled and my hair is usually standing up on end.  No thank you!  Not if you intend to live more than 24 hours.

So, I drag myself out of bed, go brush my hair down into some semblance of order and head for the coffee pot after a quick, *Good morning* to the Beast.  Unlike my sister, Bratfink, I can do more than growl before my coffee.    When I sat down, I noticed that KV's laptop is still on the kitchen table.  I said to the Beast, *I thought you had fixed the computer yesterday?*  He told me he still needed to get it online so he could download some drivers from HP but then it should be set for a while, IF he can keep KT from getting on porn sites when his mother, Tara, isn't around.  LOL.  The laptop gets a lot of regular use without any abuse and, after a couple years, they really don't seem to hold up well.  Poor KV!  Wish he could earn enough to buy himself a new one.  He and KT both use it for their homework and they also both play games online with it at pre--approved sites.

I then find out that, although the Beast got the lawn mower to turn over (finally), it had not gone home with Tara.  I looked at the blade and it was really chewed up.  It clearly needed replacing and I guess the Beast had originally said he would get the blade and replace it with one that was the correct size for the housing....don't ask!  But, the more he considered it, with the way the mower had been jury-rigged by someone (it was NOT Tara or her son), it was actually dangerous and someone was going to get hurt one day while using it.  So, the Beast headed off to look at a few new ones at Walmart and at Lowe's.  He ended up buying one from Walmart because it not only had a Briggs & Stratton engine but it was actually manufactured AND assembled here in the US of A.  Yep, some town in TN.  We read it all.  The engine was made in Wisconsin, shipped to TN and then was the engine of installation at the plant there.  Amazing! 

It's a nice mower, self-propelled with just a grab at the *move it* bar.  Since Tara likes to mow the yard herself (most of the time), it will be helpful.  She's what you would call *height-challenged* and part of the lawn has a real sharp decline.  It will be a lot easier on her now.  She was shocked and delighted when the Beast brought it over to her house.  He had put it all together since he has the tools handy here but he DID bring over the box it came in because her garbage men pick up anything and everything you put out.  Unlike it is here where we live.  He brought the old one back to her, too, with the suggestion that she throw the damn thing away so she's not responsible for anyone getting hurt with it.

I guess Tara emailed her mother (my sister, Cinderella) and told her what we had done.  So, my sister called me to thank me for being so good to her daughter.  I told her that we sure as hell didn't want to see her or either of the two boys getting hurt with that one they brought over yesterday so it was our pleasure to be able to do it for her.  She still doesn't have a full-time job yet.  Not even what you could call part-time but she picks up work here and there.  Her savings are definitely gone but she's managing so far.  She paid us far ahead for her house payment so no worry there.  She definitely is happy these days and I was glad to see that.

The Beast is finally going to take KV out to the gun range on Saturday.  They have a *date* set for it now.  We found out that KV HAS fired a gun before but he still has to learn how to use the one the Beast has picked out for him.  I hope the day goes well for both of them.

When I finally got online, Marcus Aurelius IM's me to tell me he got the promotion to the job they *invented* due to there not being one like it before.  He had kind of been responsible for that in the first place because he saw the need for it and started actually doing it.  The supervisors got behind what he was doing and also enlisted others to input.  The bottom line is that the company decided to create an actual position but he wasn't a shoo-in.  They interviewed other people besides him.  He got a lot of support and recommendations, however, and that probably helped out.  I haven't gotten word yet on what the bottom line is on salary, etc. but I will tomorrow, hopefully.  CONGRATULATIONS MARCUS!!  I am so proud of you.

Now, as for the prayers, I know some of you (or all) may follow my sister Bratfink's blog also.  If you read her blog for today (Wednesday) you will understand why I am asking for prayers for her.  She is probably looking at having to have a hysterectomy for cervical cancer.  The definitive prognosis and date hasn't been set yet because she had to set up the appointment with the OB-GYN after the discussion with her GP.  That appointment is set for mid-October and we will go on from there but early prayers are appreciated.  I will let you know when the date for the surgery is set (as she will in HER blog).  If you haven't read her blog, it's located here:  http://www.xanga.com/bratfink

It was cool when I left the house to take Chewlee to preschool....just 53 degrees.  It was foggy out and Chewlee got a kick out of that.  Because the fog was a light one, it looked like it was moving away from us as we went down the road.  She started telling me to *go faster, Gramma......you are scaring it!*  Cracked me up, especially for so early in the morning.

I told her that her mommy was going to pick her up from school and she got a big scowl on her face.  She was so serious when she said to me (as she kept pointing her finger on the palm of her left hand), *AFTER school is Gramma's house, not mommy's!*  I just laughed and told her that her mommy and I traded.  I got to keep her for the night and take her to school and mommy picked her up.  She was not really happy about that turn of events but she accepted it.

When we got to school, Chewlee's teacher asked her if she wanted a waffle and some peaches.  Chewlee just waved her hand and said *No thank you.  I ate a banana.*    I told the teacher that Chewlee has no problem eating when she is hungry and the teacher just shrugged and said, *Well, she'll have a snack later anyway.*

I did have to turn around and go back home shortly after we left because Chewlee (and I) had forgotten to grab her *ti-ti* and she needs that for her nap.  All the kids bring them in but only a few are so attached to them that they bring them home daily.  Most just bring them home on Fridays.  The Beast laughed when I ran in, grabbed the blanket and turned around after taking a fast drink of my rapidly cooling cup of coffee.  The first one. 

When I got home, the Beast asked me if I thought having BLT's for lunch sounded good to me and it did.  I pulled out the bacon when it started getting close to the time for lunch and the Beast and I got into a nice routine.  He cooked the bacon while I sliced up the tomatoes, pulled off the lettuce, got the mayonnaise out and toasted the bread.  It's a routine we just kind of fell into since we moved here and it's a pleasant one.  We used paper plates so cleanup was a breeze.  I saved the rest of the tomato to have with our dinner.  We made two small round steaks, nuked sweet potato, corn and, of course, the tomatoes. 

Before dinner, the Princess came by to drop off her car payment and Chewlee didn't want to leave until I reminded her that daddy would have some *happy cake* since today was his birthday.  The Princess had Bailey, the malamute pup with her and Baron went nuts.  He just wanted to run and play with that little thing.   She's plucky, though, and when Baron got just a bit too frantic or rough with her, she ran under the stairs where he could only put his nose and lick her little face.  Chewlee went nuts, however, because she thought the dogs would fight or that Baron would hurt Bailey.  It took us a while to get her to see that they were playing and Bailey was holding her own.  However, Chewlee finally had enough of Baron and came up on the deck while calling him.  She opened the door and told him, *IN!!!* 

What she wasn't prepared for was that Bailey headed into the house, too.    The Princess scooped her up and off they went.  We found out today that Johnnycakes had his wallet stolen out of his Jeep and never realized it.  I guess that's what can happen when you aren't used to carrying it in your pocket all the time.  He thought he had just lost his time card from work.  When he realized his wallet was missing, he almost had a heart-attack.  His jewelry store credit card was in his wallet, his drivers license, his social security card and his checks from his bank.  When he started calling, he found out that his jewelry store credit card had been maxed out to the tune of about $3000.  His checking and savings account were wiped out too (he had overdraft protection and that was how the savings account was gone).  He put a special kind of alert on his credit reports so that any attempt to get some sort of loan or other credit cards (with his company time card and his social and drivers license, they have all the info they need).  What really ticked him off was that his checks had his drivers license number written on them by the cashier.  That means that someone presented his license and they didn't notice it wasn't Johnnycakes?  Come on now!

Don't worry, he got his money back from the bank and the jewelry store is sending him an affidavit to be filled out and returned with a copy of the police report so he won't owe anything except the small balance he still has to pay off on the Princess's engagement ring.  I am kind of looking forward to seeing her wearing it again.....soon. 

Johnnycakes was really ticked off about the wallet itself.  He's had that wallet since he was very young.  So, today while the Princess was in Huntsville and had a 2-1/2 hour wait until her doctor's appointment, she went to every store she could in one of the big malls there until she finally found an exact duplicate of the wallet.  That was her birthday present to him and he was ecstatic!  HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JOHNNYCAKES!!!  LOVE YA!!

As we were getting ready for dinner, one side of the silverware drawer slide broke so the Beast waited until we finished eating and then went in to fix it.  He loves that stuff even though he gripes about it.  He, like most men, love to feel needed and useful.  We had no sooner finished that repair (I held the light ) when Tara showed up with KV, the oldest boy living with her.  She and KV had worked on getting her lawnmower repaired and, even though it was sparking and had fresh oil and gas in it, it wouldn't turn over.  KV also needed something done on his computer.  So, off went the Beast to work on the lawnmower and got it working.  I think.  Otherwise, I think Tara would have said something since we talked about family and always having a support system to help you out.

The Beast and KV worked on his laptop and got that fixed and Tara and I had some time to just talk about *things*.  It was nice and I found out that KL, the oldest son, has also done the delayed enlistment into the Marines like my grandson, Doc.  He, too, is doing the same kind of physical training program that Doc has been subjected to the past few months.  The difference is, KL is going to boot camp this January because he's already graduated.  Doc won't graduate until June, 2011 and will go to boot camp in October of that year, I believe.  KL will be doing something with computers.  I really don't know what Doc is going into just yet.  I'm not even sure if HE knows. 

Just sitting here in my computer room (I was making cigarettes while we talked), was fun since Tara usually is so hyper and is in and gone again most times.  This time she was much calmer.  I DID find out that Tonto now has a job, his health has improved that much but he will still have to have periodic testing.  He is living with his boss's brother in a nice 3-bedroom trailer on a big lot.  He takes Chance there on weekend, I believe and has a crib set up for him in his room.  He's even paying Tara for support for his son and all this is done without a court order.

The nice part is that she gets to spend some good time with the other two sons living with her.  She's gotten a bit stricter with them about such things as homework and chores around the house.  KE, the middle child living with Tara, has been having some anger issues so Tara got him into a teenage Anger Management program to get him out of that bad habit.  We all know where that can lead if he didn't get some sort of help.  I've often said that my life (and the life of my children) would have been much better if the Beast had gotten some sort of help when he was younger.  I'm speaking about PRE-stroke now.  POST-stroke, he's had fewer of those episodes than he probably had before he was 10.

The Beast was a happy camper.  He was needed, he was kept busy most of the day and the weather was just marvelous.  The hottest it got was 72 and tonight we will get down into the 40's.  That will be wonderful sleeping weather with us under nice warm blankets.  We've got our windows open for the fresh air and look forward to another day or two of this.  We WILL get warmer (the lower 80's) but that's much better than the high 90's and triple digit weather we have been having the past few months.

Love you all.  I have to get this posted while Xanga is still up.  It was down for several hours today and I don't think it was for maintenance.  I wish you a wonderful *Hump Day* and hope you get to laugh for your health.  It IS good for you, ya know! 

So the Princess tells me that Tuesday is her day off....*sorta*.  ????  It seems she has a training class scheduled for her (Bless you, AT&T) and, since she was going to be up there anyway, she scheduled a doctor's appointment for afterward.  Since she has to leave the house at 6:30am to get there on time, especially with the traffic to the space center in the morning, it means she either brings Chewlee over very early and drops her off (which means getting her up VERY early) or I keep her for the night and take her to school in the morning. 

So, she is dropping off Chewlee after she eats, takes her bath and gets her jammies on.  I much prefer keeping her for the night to having a cranky baby dropped off so early.  But, it sure does jump start the hell out of what is supposed to be MY day off.  I'm hoping that I will,  at the very least, not have to pick her up from school.  The Princess is gonna owe me BIG TIME.  I seem to be doing this more than I was led to believe.    All good deeds do NOT go unpunished.

It was an absolutely wonderful, gorgeous day Monday.  The weather was very comfortable and got cool as soon as the clouds rolled in during the afternoon.  The high was about 72 and sunny.  When I picked up Chewlee from school, she had the cutest sweater on her.  She called it *her jacket* since it was warm.  She was fascinated with my jacket that matches the pants I had on.  Not because it was anything special but because it has a really interesting clasp at the neckline that I can use to keep it on the hanger or make sure the hood is tight around my neck if it's a bit TOO cold.  She kept wanting to touch it and have me show her how it worked.

We went shopping for a few groceries after I picked her up.  I actually made up a menu for the week so I got only what I absolutely needed.  The Beast is happy because I told him I had put his potato pancakes on it for one night.  He loves making them since he's gotten so many compliments on them.  He's very proud of them and has even carried his food processor with him on a trip so he can make them when he visits other people.  I kid you not.  He has never, however, peeled a potato.  He will cut up the onions but no real manual labor for him.  So I know what I was going to put myself through when I scheduled it.

Chewlee didn't fail to remind me that we needed popsicles so I grabbed a box of them as we headed to the counter.  I had to make sure we were out of there and home as quickly as possible with those.  One thing I have noticed is that the cheaper popsicles seem to melt much faster than the name brand ones do.  I wonder why?  Not that it matters, I get what I get because the flavors are good and there is no wasted ones.  It seems no one likes the lime ones for some reason.  Well, I shouldn't say that.  I tried a couple different brand ones and they seemed to be exceedingly sour.  Just a bit TOO much lime. 

I asked the Beast today why he went through all that misery because he was going to make shelves for me and he hasn't so much as cut a single cut of wood.  He bought it and brought it home.  I guess that must count for something.  I just won't hold my breath waiting for them to be done.  He can't blame the weather for being too hot, it hasn't been for several days now.  We also have at least two more nice days ahead of us and then, who knows????  I am beginning to think we are going to slide right into cold weather with no real break except the past few days. 

Well, gonna get this posted before the Princess drops off Chewlee for the night and I have to try to get her to bed.  I'll have to make sure *I* get to bed at a decent time, too, or I'll never make it to Chewlee's school in the morning.  Or, at least, I will be a driving disaster trying to get her there. 

I promised you a picture or two of my Chewlee and I can finally come through for you.  It's not all I wanted but there's just no pushing the Beast.  Anyway, the first picture is of Chewlee picking what she called *flowers* for want of a better word for them.  To her, they are pretty.  To the rest of us, they are just another weed that needs mowing down.  Sometimes it is nice to view the world through the innocent eyes of the young.  I looked at them and realized they look like tiny, green cattails that many people add to their dried flower collections sometimes.  She just couldn't wait to give them to Mommy and even presented me with some....after she had carefully arranged them to her satisfaction.    The picture on the right was taken the day before and I just thought it was cute because it showed the big difference in the sizes of Chewlee and Baron.

Today was my usual Chewlee day.  She did ask me a couple times where her mommy and daddy went.  I told her *to work* and hoped I was right.  I don't really know if Johnnycakes worked today or not but Chewlee will forgive him for working.  She might feel bad if he wasn't and she wasn't with him.  I wasn't sure so I took the safe answer. 

The Beast brought up the fact that it seems once the sun is going down, the temperature is dropping radically.  He said, *Are we even going to get anything resembling an autumn this year?  Or are we going to go straight to winter?*  I had to admit, even *I* am wondering.  It seems that *La Nina* has had a lot of surprises for us this year, hasn't she?  And we thought El Nino was bad.  We really had no idea what we were in for, did we?

Chewlee seems to be going through some sort of salami kick.  She finished up what was left of the salami (about 8 slices) and gave me strict instructions to *buy more* when I do my shopping tomorrow.  She also ticked off a list of other stuff I have to get for her.....Beefaroni, chips, cheese (we have some but she wants a different kind), juice, chocolate milk (I usually make it for her but she doesn't know that...LOL), some *squirty fruit* (She means the kids treat with the juice in the center) and a few other minor things.  It just tickled me that she knew what I was out of.  She added, as an afterthought, some bananas and oranges.  Glad she threw in a few healthy items there.  Actually, she also told me I had to get salad for her, too.  She just LOVES Ranch Dressing on salad and will eat a lot of it if you let her.

I've mentioned that I keep this one flashlight here in my computer room for her to play with on occasion.  Today I mentioned that it looked like I was going to have to put new batteries in it because the light was getting dim.  She wanted to see the batteries and I told her no so she took the flashlight and tried unscrewing the bottom.  I told her that wasn't how you put in the batteries.  So, she figured out for herself, it had to be the top that unscrewed.  She said to me, *Don't worry, Gramma, I'll unscrew it* as she tried hard to do that.  She couldn't budge it so she said, *Or maybe not*...and handed it back to me.  I put it up on the shelf again and she said, very seriously to me, *When you put the new batteries in it, you wait for me so I can help you, okay?*

Mommy and daddy both picked her up so she was happy and did her *run out the door thing* as she grabbed her *Ti-Ti* and headed for the car.  I love how happy she is these days. 

I didn't get much in the way of laundry done because Chewlee was in a playful mood and her idea of playing always involves me somehow.  When she finally started winding down a bit, she wanted to eat her *noodles* so we took care of that.  Afterward, it was very apparent that she needed a nap.  She went kicking and screaming but, as soon as I had her in bed, she only complained about Papa's backpack being on *her* bed so I took it off and put it away.  She then turned on her side and went soundly asleep in just a few minutes.   She slept two and a half hours.    That was one tired baby!  Heck, once I knew she was asleep, I lay back in my recliner to recover and took a short nap, too.    When I woke up, the Beast was sound asleep in HIS recliner.  It was just THAT kind of day, I guess.

He DID finally get his John Deere back together (with a little help from me and a 2x4) and finished up the lawn.  I had her and Baron in the backyard for a while and was shocked to see that Bozo, the dog next door, can REALLY jump!  He was jumping up and almost made it to the top of the fence.  At one point, I could see his head.  He and Baron spent a while running back and forth along the adjoining fence line.  It really is their way of *competing* with each other and gets funny at times.  Especially when they are trying to look at each other through some of the cracks between the fence posts.  When they are both out front, they love to run around the big field across from us.  They sometimes get so excited, they even jump over each other.  Trust me, with an oversized doberman and an equally large chocolate labrador, it's actually worth trying to get pictures of or a video.  Unfortunately, we don't own one and the Beast isn't fast enough to take pictures of active dogs any more, either.  At least, not ones that live up to his *quality* demand.

When I went outside again with the dog and Chewlee after around 6pm, I kind of had to agree with the Beast.  It really felt cooler than it should have.  He might just have a point.  No fall season, just wake up one morning and it's 40 degrees for a high.   Maybe we ARE in for a mini-ice age, who knows at this point?

The Beast finally got tired of the long grass and other things growing in the yard and on the lawn and hopped on his John Deere despite the heat.  It didn't hit the 90's like they predicted (and we didn't get any rain either).  Heck, the day stayed bright and sunny to the end.

One of the things the Beast noticed was that his John Deere was NOT mulching like it usually does plus it was dropping these HUGE clumps of grass all over the place.  After doing just the back yard, he decided to pull out the maintenance book for his *baby* and read up on a few things.  He was shocked and amazed to find out that there were actually a few other places he should have been oiling than the ones he had been taking care of.  I swear, he was out there stroking it and apologizing to it because he had been so neglectful. 

He decided it was time to power spray it off completely, including the area where the blades are, and check how the blades were looking.  When I went outside to check on him, I swear, I thought he had been hosing off one of the ATV's after a jaunt through a mud field!  He was power spraying it off after he dropped the whole housing that contains the blades and that was sitting on it's side against the corner of the garage.  The amount of crud was almost beyond belief.  I looked at it and told the Beast that it had to have been packed underneath that poor blade housing.  He's going to have to power spray the whole driveway now.

He had pulled the car out of the garage for me, since I had to pick Chewlee up from school and guess what?  He was so darn careless while spraying off the riding mower and the blade housing that the front of the car looks like I hit a big mud puddle.    A lot of it dried and blew off when I went to get Chewlee but it will still need to be washed or sprayed off good when he does the driveway.

When I got back from picking up Chewlee, he called me over to show me the blades.  He has tried very hard not to abuse them or hit anything that could damage the cutting edges but, guess what?  He was NOT as careful as he thought.  The poor edges look like they were going strong through a field of rocks or that he was trying to cut the weeds on someones stony driveway.  He was not a happy camper.  The blades are expensive to replace (he had to do that once already before we managed to get most of the big rocks off our property).

He ran up to pick up the new blades after I got back with Chewlee.  Chewlee interested herself in checking out the food in the fridge to decide what she wanted to eat.  She was in more of a picking mood than a real meal.  She finally decided she wanted some of my salami slices (a total of six), a hot dog, some cheese and a few potato chips.  She also had two glasses of milk.  I'm really preferring that she drinks milk because I think her having so much fruit juice leads to her diarrhea and loose bowels most of the time.  If I tell her she can have water or milk, she picks milk every time.    It's good for her anyway.

After the Beast got back with the new blades, he ran out of steam and ambition.  I had to remind him to get out and clear up his mess or at least put it safely away so he could close the garage door.  It was dark out and he was still just laying back in his recliner.  I had to remind him again that it had to be done and he wasn't going to get any more ambitious.    He finally went and did what needed doing but he got even.

About a half hour later, he came into my room, grabbed my coffee cup and said to me, *You've had enough!* and walked away with it.  I wasn't sure if he was kidding, was going to surprise me and bring me a fresh cup or what.  I wasn't sure if he had a death wish but I decided to check.  He had a death wish.  He was just collecting dishes for the dishwasher.  I took mine out of it, told him, *I wash my OWN cup, TYVM.* as I rinsed it and made sure it was clean.  As I filled it with fresh coffee, I told him, *I had no idea that you had a death wish.*  All he did was give me a shit-eating grin.  He thinks I'm kidding.   

It seems like Chewlee is much happier to go home with the Princess since she and Johnnycakes are back together.   There's less hanging on me and saying she doesn't want to go or running and hiding.  She also seems so much happier.  She loves their puppy (Bailey, the Malamute) but delights in telling me how it pee'd and pooped in mommy's bedroom.    She admitted it mostly does it outside now but I guess it's still too young to *hold it* all night.  I have to remember to tell the Princess to go to the pet shop for something to get rid of the smell at a dog smelling level or she may continue to have the problem even after the dog SEEMS potty trained.  It really hangs in carpeting and I am pretty sure that they have it in their room.

Time to go now and get this ready for you to read tomorrow (Saturday).  No clue what SyFy has in store or if I am going to be watching DVD's all day.  The Beast is going to be busy working on his John Deere so Chewlee will have the BIG TV all to herself for most of the day.  That will make her happy.

When we first started in raising the Princess as a toddler, it really wasn't full time.  At first.  It was really during the school year, even though she wasn't in school.  That was when her mother wanted to be free to travel all over the place with her man (or woman) of the moment, do drugs, get wasted...you can guess the rest.  After all, we lived in Florida and it was always full of tourists to take advantage of.

The *Golden Child*, as many refer to her, was truly a beauty.  A natural beauty.  She didn't need a lot of makeup and she had a cute figure.  She was very feminine and, when she was young, she seemed to have a bright future.  She was bright, had a way with animals that was incredible and could charm anyone.  She was naturally photogenic and, when the Beast took her to photo shoots, she was popular just because of that.  She didn't need fancy costumes like many kids had.  She had charm, a natural talent and a beautiful smile.  It all went down the tubes once she got acquainted with drugs.  Oh, she manged to keep her looks for a long time but that comes and goes with how her life is going now.  She's over 40, puts weight on when she's in jail and free of drugs but, as soon as she's released...BAM!  Back on drugs. 

It's truly the reason we all had to learn to practice Tough Love.  She could, single-handed, have destroyed us all.  She stole from us, begged from us, lied to us.  We wanted to believe her.  *I* wanted to believe her.  But, it was not to be.  Especially once she got on crack.  I think even the *friends* that introduced her to it regretted it later on.  We finally had to take possession of the Princess full-time or see her life destroyed in the process.

There were people raising grandchildren that were much older than the Beast and I were at the time.  Worse, the children were much younger than the Princess.  Taking care of Chewlee for a day or even overnight is no picnic at times but it's a whole lot easier than having a young one at MY current age (which I realize many of the people were) for 24/7 would be mind-numbing.  When they should have been able to take life a little easier, and many suffer from physical problems that make it even more difficult, they have to deal with all the life's problems associated with young children.  Worse, ones that feel abandoned and may even miss their mother (or father or both).  It's truly sad.

What's amazing is that they do it, not because they are forced to but, because they truly love the children.  They also hope against hope that their parent(s) might one day clean themselves up and clean up their lives to reclaim the little ones.  No matter what, we love our children....always.  We may be saddened by them or disappointed but we always, always love them.   We also seldom give up hope to recover them one day.  But we also love those grandkids, don't we?  They are the innocents in the whole drug mess going on in the world.  They are the true victims and, if we as grandparents can IN ANY WAY keep them close to us and save them from *the system*, foster homes and all that crap, we will!

If I have any regret in my life, it's not taking in my grandaughter, Sheepie, when I had the chance.  If I had only known how that whole mess would have turned out, I would have just kept her until Buttmunch settled herself down a bit more.  But, that's an ache in my heart I have to live with.  It's water over the dam now and I have to accept it and go on.

I do so enjoy my GREAT-granddaughter, Chewlee.  She fills my life with a lot of laughter as we watch her grow and discover life.  I'm floored at times at her thinking processes and her reactions to things.  As an example, Wednesday she spent the whole day with her mother.  She couldn't go to preschool because her pink eye had to be treated for two days before she wasn't highly infectious according to the doctor.  She spent the whole day being a *big girl* and going potty for EVERYTHING.    To reward her, she was allowed some special cookies.  She got one each time she went potty.  She was a happy camper since cookies are not always allowed at her house.

So, everyone is in bed and, some time during the night, Chewlee wakes up to go potty.  The Princess heard her.  Then, Chewlee went to the door of the bedroom to make sure they were asleep.  She quietly opened and closed the door.  The Princess didn't hear her door close so she got up out of bed to check on her.  What does she find?  Chewlee is standing in front of the fridge with a huge handful of the cookies.  You know what she was thinking, right?  She went potty so she should get a cookie....or two...or three....

The Princess, of course, was furious.  First of all, Chewlee is not allowed in the fridge.  Second of all, she had taken the cookies KNOWING that if the Princess was awake, she would just have been sent to bed.  That's why Chewlee checked before heading for the cookies in the fridge.  She was told NO TREATS today (Thursday) and Chewlee's smart ass reply was, *That's okay.  Gramma has treats and she will give them to me.*  ROFLMAO!!!!!

I surprised her because I pretty much stuck to my guns about the treats since that was such a no-no and she had been sneaky about it.  No juice (but she didn't have to have just water, she got milk).  No candy.  No cookies.  She did, however, get some cheese puffs with her lunch (but not a lot).  She actually took the whole thing a lot better than I thought she would. 

Well, enough on that for today.  I hope you have a great Friday and an even better weekend.  Love you all.  Keep cool during this *autumn* continuing heat wave.  Have some fun.  Hug your kids and be aware of what they are doing and who their friends are.  Make sure you even know the families of those friends.  It might surprise you. 

I finally found out what project the Beast was cleaning up the garage for.  The shelves for my spice jars that I got from AM.  I also have the matching cannisters to the set but I am going to use them for decoration since those darn ants will find them and I just can't cope with that.  I might, however, use the spice jars that are all marked with the spices name.  I'll put them in alphabetical order to make it easier to find them when I need them.  It will help cut down the mess in my spice cabinet, I'm sure. 

I was kind of surprised he was going to start on it while the weather is still so hot.  Those are the kind of projects he usually saves for winter.  It's cheaper to heat the garage than to cool it.  Don't ask me why.  Maybe because of the lighting in it helping the space heaters out.  He went to his favorite store (Lowe's) to pick out the wood for it and had to show me how nice it is. 

Because of a comment that my daughter, Buttmunch left on my blog of two days ago, I'm going to remind everyone of a blog from a few months back about my oldest daughter that is lost to the family.  It's no secret that she is a drug addict and has stooped to prostitution at times to feed her habit.  Her drug of choice is crack cocaine.  I still cry over her loss to us.  Everyone, including Buttmunch, tried hard to help her and offered her shelter and a new lease on life in a different area of the country IF she would go into a drug rehab program.  But the call of the drugs is stronger than her love for her family.  It's truly a shame because she could be enjoying the love and fun of Chewlee, who is her granddaughter and see how great a kid her daughter, the Princess, has turned out. 

We are never sure of what is going on with her except that Buttmunch has friends in the area where she is found and, if they see her, they always let Buttmunch know.  It's the only way (unless she is in jail) that we know whether she is alive or not.  I know that Buttmunch said what she did to hurt me as much as she could because she was frustrated.  As I sit here, crying over it, I don't know how much I can forgive her for that low blow.  I love Buttmunch dearly and I know she still feels the sting of all the times I hung on to hope for her sister to the detriment of my other children until I finally realized that it was hopeless.  It was then that I was introduced to Tough Love.  And, trust me, it's truly IS Tough Love.  The hardest thing to do in the world is to turn your back on your child and stop enabling them by making excuses every time they take advantage of your love.

Those people that have a child that is either an alcoholic or a drug addict (or both), I want you to know that I shared your pain and I understand what you are going through.  If you haven't heard of it, Google *Tough Love* and find out about the book, the program and the support groups that are available to help out the families of the afflicted ones.  It's worth checking out.  The hole will always be there but it might just help the child/husband/father/mother...whoever....realize you are serious and they will make the right choices and rejoin the family.  You never know.  Our daughter/sister chose the drugs and rejected US.  May you be luckier and my prayers are with you on your struggle.

With that, I am closing this.  I don't feel like crying over this any more.  The sad thing is that Bratfink and I were talking about just this subject on an IM the other day.  We both ended up crying over the loss of the *Golden Girl* who had so much possibility going for her.

Just had a fight with Buttmunch on my phone.  Of course, she just hung up on me 'cause that's what she does when she won't listen.  I have no idea why she got so mad over not hearing from me when I will try over a period of weeks at times to get ahold of her and she won't answer or take my call.  I figure, well, she has a life.  I guess she figures I don't so I should be there when SHE wants me to be there.  She has no idea how crappy our phone service is and it's gotten worse this past six months or so.  I don't want to drop it entirely (yet) and I am truly afraid to get any other service because I have no clue that it would be any better.  Know what I mean?

The Princess has ended up calling the Beast because I *am not answering my phone* and the Beast knows that my phone didn't ring.  I guess there really ARE evil ninjas that are keeping my phone from ringing.  Bratfink has told me about them from time-to-time but I just laughed at her.  I can't tell you how many times I have been talking with someone when, suddenly, they can't hear me even tho' I can hear them.  Or the phone call will be dropped and there are no bars on my phone.  It will say, *Try again later*.

She just called again, screaming at me because she really and truly thinks I was ignoring her.  She refuses to believe that her calls never showed up on my phone at all!  She said, *Really lame, Mom.*  However, while she was yelling, I asked her, *What is so important that you called me (supposedly) 30 times?*  You will not believe what she said.  She said, *Because you are my mom..*  Yeah, she goes weeks and even months without calling me but yesterday and today pissed her off so that we are now angry at each other???  She can't believe that my phone might just be ready for the trash bin.  Like any piece of electronics that suffers a lot of abuse from being in a car, dropped sometimes or even is in a purse with all the other stuff we women carry with us.  It really could be defective after 2-1/2 years.  God knows, I get people who tell me all the time that they tried to call me but they guess I wasn't home or my phone was off or something.  I just know it's a piece of crap as far as I'm concerned. 

But, enough about THAT...I ended up having to pick Chewlee up from school because they had determined that she had pink eye.  I went to get her and took her to the doctor's office.  We were there for 2-1/2 hours, waiting to see the doctor so we could get a prescription for eye drops or whatever they are using these days (and to make SURE she had pink eye).  She, of course, was only complaining about an *itchy eye* but was otherwise full of energy.  And she never stopped moving around the big waiting room.  She was bringing magazines and various brochures to other patients that were waiting to be seen.  Then she dug into the treasure trove of suckers (Dum Dum's) that I keep in my purse and started distributing them among the people.  Many of the older people there smiled and took them and even laughed when she offered to *take the paper off* for them.  She was SURE they were so eager to eat them but obviously couldn't do that by themselves.   

One nice looking older man was watching her and just laughing at some of her antics.  His wife kept smiling at her and finally told me that she was just so much like their 3-1/2 year old granddaughter.  They were shocked when I told them she was my GREAT granddaughter and said, *But...that's impossible.  You're too young!*  I laughed and said, *Did you want to be friends???* and we all laughed in that waiting room.  The husband said to me, *God, don't you wish you had their ENERGY?*  I told him I would be happy with just half of it and he nodded to that and laughed with me.

So, Chewlee can't go to preschool for two days because, even though we caught the infection early, it's highly infectious.  He said to clean all surfaces we know she touches that we touch, too.  Plus, if possible, make sure she washes her hands a lot and try to keep her from rubbing her eyes.  He said to put the drops in both eyes to make sure she hasn't already spread it to the other eye.  If we have hand sanitizer, let her put it on her hands several times a day.  At least she will be able to be at school on Friday which is her favorite day because she gets to pick a piece of candy out of the big bowl.  I will let her chew gum on that day and that day only.  What's interesting to me is that she WILL and DOES put it in the garbage after all the taste is gone.  I'm just wondering how old she will be before she starts trying to blow bubbles.  I really can't remember how old I was, nor any of my brothers and sisters.  But, I know there does come a time when they start making the attempts.  I DO remember trying to show them how to do it and then letting them go from there.

I can't believe how quickly today went by.  I mean it.  I got up early, had my coffee, started doing a few things like changing the linens and doing a couple loads of wash afterward and......POOF!  It was suddenly time to pick up Chewlee.  I never even got my usual nap in. 

Chewlee and I went grocery shopping at Walmart, of course.  I picked her up from preschool and she had gotten a *candy bar* as a treat because she pooped in the toilet.    She was told she could open it when she went home so she was begging me to open it as we walked to the car.  As a special treat, she got to ride in the front seat on her booster.  Oh, BTW, the *candy bar* was a Special K nutrition bar.  Good stuff and it was a treat to her. 

So, off we go to pick up a couple things from Walmart.  I wasn't doing a regular food shopping today.  I needed to pick up a few other (pricey) things like CD-R disks, some rechargeable NIMH batteries, a new wireless mouse, a big pack of AA batteries plus I DID need to pick up coffee and creamer.  Okay, okay....and a few other things.  Milk.  Cheese slices.  Eggs.  Miniature donuts (Chewlee's favorite powdered ones).  Chips.  Spaghetti sauce.  I did forget to pick up onions but I'll get it when I do my regular shopping.....eventually. 

Now Bratfink always asks me, whenever I take Chewlee shopping with me, *What did you get for Chewlee THIS TIME?*  I bought her another Garanimal outfit but for when we ever get cooler weather.  A cute double-ruffle purple top with long white sleeves and a shoulder ruffle, too plus matching purple legging pants.  SHE picked it out.   I know it was because she liked the top with the double ruffle.  She saw it and immediately started telling me she wanted to *see* it.    I did try to tell her that it was for colder weather and she wouldn't be able to wear it for a while but she clutched it to her chest and said, *That's okay, Gramma but I really, really want it.*  Did I mention she can be quite the drama queen at times?

As we were finally leaving Walmart, the Princess called me to tell me she was going to go fill up her car with gas and then she would pick up Chewlee, I told her where we were and so she said, *Do you want to just meet me at the gas station there then?*   I made a small side trip, figuring it would take the Princess a couple minutes to get there from work and went to the liquor store that is just two doors away from the Walmart shopping center.  Then I met up with the Princess, dropped off Chewlee and her goodies and came home.

I put away all the stuff I picked up and then made us grilled cheese and tomato sandwiches.  I also made myself a sweet potato since I had a taste for one.  I used my cinnamon butter on it so it was more like dessert for me but the vitamins and fiber are so good for you.  I think that negates the extra calories and cholesterol from the butter, doesn't it? 

After clearing things up and putting the day's accumulation of what-nots in the dishwasher, I was just totally shocked at the time.  It was like the day just whizzed on by.  It didn't seem like I was that busy or occupied.  I sure didn't spend the day on the computer, playing games either.  It was just weird.

I haven't posted the pictures of Chewlee the Beast took over the weekend because the Beast hasn't worked on them or supplied me with any other than the one I mentioned on Sunday's post.  I will post them whenever the Beast gets his act together.  He seems to be suffering from some rather strange sort of malaise the past few days.  He is also doing more pissing and moaning about old age and what it's done to him.  I just tell him, *Welcome to the world of reality, dear.* 

Temps still hotter than hell.  It was around 98 today with low humidity, thankfully.  But the overnight temperatures are still dropping down into the 60's.  On the 23rd, it's supposed to be the first day of Autumn.  What a laugh!  It's sure no autumn I can recognize.