Tomorrow (today when you read this) the Boy's aunt will be undergoing her graft surgery.  It won't be painful for her to begin with but, once the anesthesia wears off.....OUCH!!!  They will be taking a section from her thigh and using it to cover the hole that resulted from complications after knee surgery and the stent surgery.  She is in her 80's, I believe, and she could sure use the prayers.  Thank you.

Sister Cee will be having her surgery on February 4th.  Just pray it is NOT cancer, which seems to haunt our family.  One of our uncles died from cancerous polyps on his vocal chords.  Her doctor doesn't think this is the case with her but we won't be sure until after the biopsy is done.  Some serious prayers, here, please.  She should easily recover.  She is 4 years younger than I am and has been very healthy during her lifetime.

I'm sitting here listening to our neighbor in back of our house cutting up a tree that was felled from the tornado that hit our area.  The tornado didn't hit it directly but the rain before it and then the heavy winds made it fall over.  Luckily, it didn't hit the house.  He's cutting it up so it can continue to dry and they can use it in the fireplace.  Sheesh, there's enough wood there to last them over a while winter, maybe longer.  The tree was HUGE!    But, it blocks access to the back yard and it's a tangle even on foot.  You can get back there using the other side of the house but there is a small hill there that leads up to the back yards of the lots/houses above.  It's full of small saplings and lots of weeds so even going that way can be a pain in the ass.  He's been lucky so far and his John Deere has allowed him to get back there to mow the lawn.  It's just that we worry about him since he's partially disabled and has difficulty getting around.

He's the neighbor that often goes out in his back yard and shoots squirrels.  I really think he uses a pellet gun but I'm not sure.  I always, always jump about three feet when he shoots it off just because of how it echoes.  He doesn't just shoot the squirrels because they are pests.  He actually EATS them.  **Insert green face here**    His wife, Nancy, told me she won't cook them.  HE does it.  He makes a squirrel stew out of it.  He throws the entrails and skin into the woods at the end of a path he's made back into it.  Something is eating them because he always checks on it.  I doubt they eat the skin with the fur.  It probably just dries and falls apart slowly.  The ants probably help that way.  It's just we don't have any ants I've seen during the winter.  But...I could be wrong.

He used to eat armadillo and Nancy said they really taste like pork.  During the depression, people referred to them as *the poor man's pig* and I guess that's why.  I was surprised because I haven't seen any around here all the time we've lived here but Nancy assures me they just aren't in our neighborhood but they ARE here.

Our next door neighbor, Courtney, finally had her baby.  A little boy, 6lbs.  The Beast has seen him (I haven't yet) because he was outside when she and the baby came home from the hospital.  He said the baby was sooooo tiny.  I reminded him that we had TWO
 that were smaller than that.  Our first weighed 5lbs.4 oz., our second was only 5lbs when she came home.  Our boys were both over six lbs and our oldest son, Mustachio, was almost 7 lbs.  He was the surviving supposed to be twin.  I had always wondered why I had already delivered when they knocked me out.  I was protesting the whole time.  It was afterward that my doctor explained to me that he was actually a surviving twin and my placenta had absorbed the twin that died in the womb.  I never even shared that with my hubby but I DID finally tell my son when he told me he has always felt like something was missing in him.  After trying to describe how he felt, I told him and he had one of those moments of revelation.  He said a lot of things made sense to him that hadn't before I shared that.  I mean, there was no reason to tell anyone about it.  Nothing could be done and it was over.  My doctor said my placenta (which they had a difficult time delivering) was over 8lbs. 

But that's not a tale I would tell Courtney and I will probably never discuss it again.

Ahhh, the things we go through at times and never discuss.  Feelings, events, worries, scares and even hopes.  Someone...a character on a show I watch.....said that we all have different secrets...ALL of us.  I think that's true.  A friend of mine was raped as a teenager and never told anyone about it until she was in her 50's.  She said she had always felt guilty about it because she had put herself in a bad situation and felt it was the price she paid for being stupid.  She started to cry telling us (a couple of us have been friends for over 50 years and shared many things together, both good and bad) but I think it was cathartic for her.  She said she felt like a weight had lifted from her heart.  We had told her that she wasn't guilty of anything.  The guy involved was.  Know what?  We found out he eventually went to prison.  Can you guess what for? 

How did we wander like this?  Guess it's just my mind and trying to put off some things I should be doing (but I'm not ).  It didn't hit the 50's today like they said it would but it doesn't feel bad outside.  I stood on the deck for a bit, watching the neighbor cutting up the tree with his chainsaw.  No wind helps.  The high was only 46 but, like I've said before, I guess I am getting climatized to this area.

Bratfink said it's been snowing steadily in Inderaner (as she calls it) and doesn't look like it's going to stop any time soon.  Snow is covering everything!  It won't be fun for the Boy's cousins to get to the hospital that's located in Indy.  I believe that's a 30-35 mile drive for them.  I'm sure they will both be there, waiting for their mother to come out of surgery and talk to the doctors about her prognosis.  I wish them a safe journey and good news.

Love you all.  I'm going to close this and continue my search for a recipe that I've been trying to find for several hours now.  It's an old one and I used to love it.  It was called *spaghetti con du fromage* and is a meatless cheese spaghetti recipe that has green and yellow peppers, green onions and pimento.  It also calls for a yellow cheese and a few other things plus cream or half and half.  I ALMOST remember it and know I would if I found the recipe again.  Sounds like it would be easy, right?  No such luck.  Like Bratfink said, it sounds like I might have to *spearmint*....  If worse comes to worst, I guess I WILL have to experiment until I find the taste I remember and have been craving for a couple weeks now.

....it Would Have Been An Almost Perfect Day !

Yes, I am feeling better, TYVM for inquiring.  You can only understand how great it is to be almost painfree (except for my lower back but that's another story) if you suffer from chronic pain.  I managed to get a few things done I just couldn't face until this morning.  I got my spot cleaning done and ...hurrah! hurrah!....the technician showed up.  Not until around four pm but he SHOWED UP!  Not only that but he seems to have solved our problems.  Turns out there was a crack on that thingy in the center that is directed at the satellite PLUS a radio receiver was bad.  The Beast kept him at it until it was working great.  Sometimes he DOES prove useful. 

I even made us a great dinner.  Ham, sweet potato casserole, mashed potatoes and gravy, asparagus and cranberry sauce.  When I told Bratfink, she said I had made her all hungry.    But, she got even.  She got even.  She told me the Boy was going to make her pork ribs tomorrow and she likes them almost as much as she does ham.  Heck, I think she likes anything pork. She mentioned the Boy's poor aunt is suffering from complications of surgery (knee replacement surgery.  They ended up having to put a stent in her leg to save her foot due to loss of circulation.  As if that wasn't enough, she has a big open sore that is going to require a skin graft from her thigh to close it up.  I don't know any more details but she's an old woman and they don't heal well.  Her kids are scared to death that she will die from what is happening to her, as is the Boy.  The aunt is his last remaining relative (except for the cousins).  It's his mother's sister.  She's a sweet soul and really could use a couple prayers that she survives all this.  I'm praying hard for her because I care about the Boy.  He also is a dear, sweet soul.  He's been good to Bratfink and for that alone, I love him like a brother.

My computer room seems so much cleaner and fresher to me now, it's almost weird.  It really wasn't dirty but I did clean it up and get the christmas stuff packed up.  That will go up into the attic later this week.  Probably this weekend.

I got my Burgess seed catalog today and started looking through it.  I found some seeds I should send away for so that I will have them for when we start the garden this yar.  The Beast has promised me a berm or two out front so that I can let Chewlee help me plant some flowers this spring.  If I send for them, I might actually believe spring will show up....and soon. 

Chewlee keeps asking me when we will plant *her* flowers.  She's also told me what color flowers she wants.  My garden club sent me some seeds and they have all her colors in them.  I'm really looking forward to it this year.  I suppose it's mainly because Chewlee is so excited that I told her she could help me plant seeds.  I tried to explain to her that, once we plant the seeds, we will have to wait to watch them grow and that she couldn't pick them unless I showed her how to do it right.  She told me she would let me show her how to get some for *mommy* and *gramma*.  She IS getting a bit antsy about it, however.  Kids don't have a lot of patience as I am sure you might already know.

She was walking around the house the other day with the fly swatter, looking for ants and other bugs that she could swat.  I told her that the bugs go to sleep during the winter.  Right away she *got* it since she now accepts that snakes sleep during the winter, too.  I have no idea why she is afraid of snakes but the Princess told me once that Chewlee thought she had snakes under her bed and was giving her a hard time sleeping in her own bed because of it.  As far as I know, no one has teased her or tried to scare her with even a grass snake or garter snake.  I haven't seen a snake here since we moved here.  I'm sure some are around but they aren't as evident as they were in Florida.  There we had some scary ones that would show up occasionally.  Even in the house we owned on the lake.  We have even had a rattlesnake (a small one, thankfully) in our house.  It *snaked* into the house and tried to hide under the recliner in the family room.  Luckily the Beast spotted it and it was then a really strange episode trying to get it out from under there and kill it without doing it in the house.  We managed but it was a bit scary for me.  The Beast moved the recliner but *I* was the one that had to *sweep* it out on the back porch.  The Beast then used a shovel to cut off it's head.  **shudder**  Gruesome.  And, no, we did not save the rattle on it.  We aren't into those kind of trophies.

The Beast is happily playing his game on Pogo now that everything is working the way it should.  Everything loads quicker than it has in a long time.  I'll just be happy is nothing freezes up.

Tomorrow we expect weather in the 50's.  It only got into the 40's today.  At least the weatherman wasn't as *off* as he can be at times.  But next week we have the possibility of some snow again...maybe an inch, which would be about normal for us.  I hope you have good weather, a great and happy day and that you find things to be happy about.

Please include in your prayers my sister, Cee.  They found a polyp on her vocal chords so she is going to go in for surgery on February 4th.  It's just outpatient surgery and then they will biopsy it to see if anything more is required.  Thank you for that.

Time ot get this posted for you to read later.  I also need to get the leftover everything put away.  Love you all and stay warm. 

It's easy to forget how much pain can make you cranky and short-tempered...when you are capable of even *talking* to anyone, that is.  I have been in some serious pain these past few days and it had reached the point that I couldn't hardly move without wanting to scream.  But I am not a screamer so it was accompanied by moaning and groaning of the most intense kind.  That is, until this evening when the Beast went to the pharmacy to pick me up a new pain prescription.  I took it as soon as he came home because I was almost reduced to tears and then I tried to sit/lay/walk around until it started to kick in.  That took almost an hour since it was made to work in the lower tract area. 

Oh, it's not totally gone but it's definitely easier to bear now.  But it did give me a bit of an insight into what poor Bratfink has to be enduring day after day.  It's no wonder she gets a bit depressed occasionally.  I'm actually amazed that she isn't suicidal, to tell the truth.  She has major pain from her hip, both knees and lord only knows what else she doesn't mention.  It made my heart hurt for her. 

I've seen her take a deep breath before getting up and have to stop to get a grip on the pain before she could move.  For a long time, she wasn't able to get to a doctor due to not having insurance.  I was so hopeful that her qualifying for Medicare would mean some relief for her but.....the problem is STILL getting to a doctor that will really listen to her and not dismiss her complaints as just age, overweight or something else like many doctors are wont to do. especially if they are men.  I've been there and not all that long ago.  It took doctors in two states to finally find BOTH problems I was suffering from at the time.  When this latest problem showed up, the doctor I had became seriously ill himself (and he was young! ) and his replacement in the practice was a very young doctor.  He's terrified of being sued with so much of his life (and ability to practice medicine) ahead of him.  So, there you are, suffering with pain and not really as much interested in a potent pain medication as you are to find out how to stop the pain cycle.  Surely, in this day and age, there are steps to do those things?

Bratfink will probably need knee replacement surgery (and we have two uncles who have had it done successfully with only about a month's rehab after the surgeries) but she also has another problem that was newly discovered and that is a breathing problem.  I've been fortunate that *I* don't have one but, since I smoke, it's probably just a matter of time.  I've thought about stopping smoking many times but, since the Beast is still kicking, I don't have much incentive. 

But, to get back to the main subject, it has made me realize how easy it is to forget how much pain....with a capitol P....affects every single thing you do, every minute of every day until and unless you manage to get to sleep.  I can't tell you how often I get up, walk around, sit down and go back to bed because I can't be or get comfortable.  By comfortable, I mean to just be pain free for a few minutes so I CAN slip into sleep.

Instead, you go into a restless, mindless state of being because even slight movements can send you up a wall or disturb whomever you are sleeping with (for me, the Beast). 

End result?  Count your blessings.  And, if someone you love or care about complains about pain, be empathetic.   If you haven't been in a position to understand it first-hand, just remember this:  One day, you will.  And you had better hope that you are surrounded by people who DO understand and will overlook your outbursts or short temper.  However, I hope you never have to know. 

I spent most of the day sick so I did almost nothing except sleep and take some IBS medication in an attempt to quiet down my innards.  I won't give you a blow-by-blow (for which I know you are VERY grateful) but I am still not comfortable sitting up for long and this time I have a bit of a fever besides.  Nothing good was on TV so I don't mind missing out on any of it except of a few of the newer vampire/werewolf movies.  From the gore they claim, however, Bratfink might have enjoyed them.  Haven't talked to her in four or five days so I have no clue if she saw them or not.

True to their prediction, the weather actually DID warm up today.  Yep, all the way up to a toasty 43 degrees.    But it did get rid of more of the crusty snow/ice.  The streets are clear and the Princess actually drove Chewlee over ALL BY HERSELF WITHOUT INCIDENT. 

Chewlee was a bit on the cranky side.  The Princess said she was put down for a nap but, after three hours in her bedroom (and spending some quality time talking to herself), she relented and let her up.  It just means she should go down easier tonight than she might have.

Once her mother left, Chewlee got right down to business.  She pulled her Dora chair out from behind my recliner and told me she wanted to *see what's on TV*.  What she meant was that I should put the guide up and check and see what programs were on that are on her list of favorites.  Sponge Bob won out, of course.  If there's no Dora on TV, then it HAS to be Sponge Bob.

She really does take pity on me sometimes.  After we watched Sponge Bob for an hour or so, she told me to check and see if *my* penguins were on.  She meant, of course, the Penguins of Madagascar series.  It wasn't so she pulled out both of the Madagascar dvd's I have and said we would watch them after Sponge Bob was over.  As soon as he was, she opened up the dvd box and was ready to put in *my* movie.  Actually, she loves the fact that she can name them all AND knows what kind of animals they are.  She does want to know what the heck a *foosa* is and I am guessing they are supposed to be something like a hyena (I don't think they have them on Madagascar so I told her they are meat eaters and that satisfied her.

After a couple of popsicles, she told me she was *a little bit hungry* and, when I asked her what she was hungry for, she told me *some chocolate milk and a big pickle*.  She knows I have pickles spears she hasn't finished off yet.  As we were walking out of my room, the Beast heard her say she wanted *pickles and chocolate milk* and he burst out laughing, saying, *Do you think she's pregnant?*  I just shot him a dirty look.  When I thought she had finished her second glass of chocolate milk (but never did ask for another pickle ), she told me she was *really full*.  She handed me back her glass and told me to put it in the fridgerfrator for her for later.

We watched the seond Madagascar movie with her sitting in my lap even though she had moved her Dora chair close to my desk chair.  Three times so far tonight, she has grabbed my hand and told me I had to come with her.  She wanted to go potty but I had to accompany her until she sat down.  She then told me to *go away* but leave the door open.  Go figure.  Then she calls to me to come and see.  Like I need that!    She also told me to put the toilet paper back (I haven't left it on when she's here since she managed   to clog the toilet with half a roll that one day).  She then stood there until I slipped it back on then quickly turned off the light so I couldn't change my mind.

The bad part about watching a dvd several times with Chewlee is she starts anticipating what is coming next and gets sooooooo excited.  She will jump (in my lap) exuberantly and keep telling me, *Watch!  Watch, Gramma!  See what (whomever it is) is doing!  Watch!  Watch!*  She will get so excited at times, she wants to run out and tell Papa all about it.  Sometimes, I don't even try to stop her and he will listen intently to what she has to say and will then say, *Oh really?*  She always says, *Yes, really!* with wide-eyed intent looks.  She'll then come back into my computer room and tell me that Papa was happy she told him. 

When I was going to go make up the popcorn, she decided we needed to watch a Godzilla movie.  I left her sitting on the floor while I went out to get it made and she decided on which one she wanted.  It ended up being Godzilla vs Mothra.  She likes the *little girls* in that one.  Once we had the popcorn here, THEN she wants her Dora chair and her *table*.   I was lucky to grab a handful every once in a while.  She would look at me and say, *Excuse me!  EXCUSE ME!!!!*   That's when I had to remind her that we were *sharing*.  If it's something she likes, she loves to try to claim it as her own.

When they are asleep, they look so sweet and innocent.  You just want to hold them in your arms for forever and wish they didn't have to grow up and become teenagers.  You want to protect them from hurtful things and keep them little forever.  But life must go on and you have to just love them while you can (and they will let you).   I will close this missive for now and Chewlee told me (when I first started this) to tell you that SHE loves you, too.  I told her this was a *letter* I write for friends to read so she told me that you were HER friends, too, right?

The Princess called to let me know they were on their way to pick up Chewlee.  She's not happy with the idea but you just never know with her.  Since it's both mommy AND daddy picking her up, she could go happily or not.  Everything depends on how tired she is when they get here.  They went out to dinner in Huntsville and to pick up a backpack for the Princess.  When Chewlee heard *backpack*, she got very upset and said, *No!  Backpack is for Dora and it belongs to *map*.  It won't make sense to you unless you are familiar with the program but I thought it was darn funny.  I guess only Dora and Chewlee can have a backpack (as Chewlee told me herself).  I told her not to worry.  Her mother wouldn't get a *Dora* backpack.

The town is slowly getting back to what passes for normal here.  We still don't have mail delivery everywhere but we didn't really expect to in our area.  Since we are mostly farms in this general area, the delivery is contracted out and most deliveries are made just from normal vehicles.  Too many chances for them to get mired or stuck or slide off the roads.  I don't expect anything other than a set of sheets and a valance to match our new bedspread so it's not a big deal.

A friend of mine called today and we were talking about my blog.  She told me to just skip the snow pictures since many people are already so sick of it, it just won't have any meaning for them.  I'll save them and maybe post them this summer when we were all suffering from heat and want to fan ourselves with it.    She also told me that she hoped I wouldn't be separated from our Chewlee for too long because she always looked forward to hearing what new thing she came up with.  I assured her that it wouldn't be for long.  The Princess will be out looking for work by next week at the latest and I should be back in place before long.  Besides, my Chewlee misses me and likes to be here at *Gramma's house*.  I can always have her over for the night, too.  That's when we really have fun because we sit in Gramma's chair and snack on popcorn while we watch TV until she's tired.  She gets to stay up late and I get to sleep in because so does she.

The Beast, always pushing himself and happy now that he can get out in the car again, decided to throw a last bag of garbage in the bin (which we are still waiting for it to be picked up) and decided to play *slip and slide* in the driveway.  I don't know what he was thinking because he could see the dog doing it.  It's just covered in ice.  He went one way, the garbage in another and he slid halfway down the drive before he stopped.  A workman next door saw him fall and came running over to help him get up and into the house.  He was holding his arm strangely (he slid on his side and hurt his arm, ribs and hip) and hunched over.  The guy helped him into a chair to make sure he was okay and not alone.  I laughed and told the Beast, *The guy sounded old and he was talking to you like you were his father!*  He said, *F--- you!* while I laughed at him.  But he does have a rather nasty looking black and blue mark on his hip.  If he did anything serious to his ribs, there's not much that can be done for that but he's not coughing (which would be an indicator of a cracked rib or two).

Later, after he stopped hurting, he went out with the salt container and salted down the driveway good.  I'm glad I had a spare one with the way he used it out there but I doubt it will be good for the grass along the drive when the ice fully thaws.   He then pushed himself to go get a haircut and take the dog to the park.  He said it was a real waste of time since it was all ice where grass usually is.  But he let him run around the parking area for a while to let off some steam.

Me?  My stomach is still tender.  No IBS so far (or at least the worst of the syjmptoms) but I can't seem to eat anything without it aching after a while.  I know emotional upsets affect me that way and I am upset about something right now but I can't go into it here.  Forgive me for that.  It kept me from sleeping soundly last night although I went to bed early again.  Then my back started aching badly because I was trying to keep pressure on my abdomen and it was skewing my back.  I finally got so tired that I made my back comfortable and said the hell with my tummy. 

THEN......the damn dog started whining in my ear because he needed to go outside.  I actually dragged myself out of bed (the Beast was snoring loudly) and let him out.  I looked out on the stairs and saw the snow had turned to ice and the poor dog had to gingerly pick his way down the stairs.  He didn't go far and hurried back up.  When I got back into bed, the Beast woke up and I told him HE was letting the dog out when he needed to go out next because *I* dragged myself up when he KNEW I was feeling bad.  He said (easy for him to say afterward) I should have woke him.  I told him, *Trust me.  If it happens again, I will.*

The Princess never did go to school today (Thursday).  She texted one teacher and was told there would be no class until 9am.  Her other teacher wasn't holding class until noon.  It meant a window of an hour or so where she would have to sit around doing nothing.  The third teacher never answered so either wasn't going to come in due to the distance needed to be traveled (and not all towns here are in as decent a shape as ours seems to be) or just got too many inquiries.  More than half the people in the classes and half the teachers haven't gone to school all week.  At least she made it in the one day but there were two classes put together (for two different teachers) so nothing was really accomplished.  She has no more classes until next Tuesday and, by then, the roads and parking lots everywhere should be cleared.  Hopefully, the Princess's car should be ready before then.

Well, I am still having internet problems.  Sometimes, I don't even know it's gone off on me depending on what I am doing.  I have to keep my Yahoo messenger up because it will go off if I am not connected so that I can keep abreast of that.  I am still awaiting the technician that is supposed to come out to fix the problem.   It should only be a little longer, thankfully.  I got the direct phone number for the company from our internet company, finally.

The Princess dropped off Chewlee this morning since she had told her she could come over to Gramma's if she went to bed without a fuss the night before.  She didn't think the preschool would be open but it was.  However, when she told Chewlee she was going to school, Chewlee was VERY vocal about what her mother had told her when she went to bed.  So, she brought her over to the house and left it up to me whether or not I would take her to school.  Well, you KNOW how that went. 

The bad part was I hadn't thought I would have to go get the Princess as early as I did.  She had a bit of a problem finding where her second class actually WAS located.  She had been told the wrong place and was miffed because: A) the college did NOT plow the parking lots and not even the streets from what I saw, and B) she fell twice while walking across the campus to the (wrong) classroom.  The combined number of students for two classes that were thrown together just for the day was a total of 10 so they were let out early.  I was already on my way to pick her up so it was not a problem.

Chewlee had a FIT when I told her we were going to pick up her mother and she had to get her boots on.  She did NOT want to leave.  When the Beast turned off the TV and I got her into her seat in the car (which I had prewarmed), she just kept telling me, *It's not fair!  It's not fair!*  I gave her a sucker to soothe her feelings and she finally asked me if we were going back to Gramma's house when we picked up her mother and I told her no, we were going to her Mommy's house.  She got this hopeful note in her voice and said, *Is Gramma going to stay at Mommy's house?*  When I told her no, she looked so sad.   She only went a couple days without spending time with me and she really missed me. 

I drove to the college, which is in the next town south of us very slowly and carefully.  There was ice in the most unexpected places.  It wasn't until we got into Boaz that there was a LOT of icy patches on the road but I could see the snowplow was busy trying to scrape up what they could of it.  Hopefully, they will be throwing down ashes or something to help give traction.  I told the Princess to bring a box of salt with her in case she did get stuck in a spot or two on campus (the worst part of the drive but still manageable as long as you drove slowly).  She looked at me like I was crazy and thought I was trying to tell her to throw it down on the road as she was driving.    I told her it was to throw in front of the tires if she got stuck to help get her out of it.  **Insert eyeroll here**

She is hoping Johnnycakes has a late start tomorrow so he can drop her off again and I can pick her up.  The preschool is on the way so she can drop Chewlee off on her way there and get her later in the day.  I think she and Chewlee might be getting a bit tired of each other in forced company in their small apartment.  I was just as happy that I could drop them off at home because I had an incredible stomach ache that just wasn't going away.  I didn't even finish my first cup of coffee, it was that bad.

I came home, found out that Bratfink had done the Trivial Pursuit game for her and AZ so I didn't have to worry about that so what did I do?  I did one of the weekly challenges that is for a game I know they both dislike.   I can be a glutton for punishment sometimes.  I know Bratfink doesn't care about the stupid Pogo badges but it gives me something different to do and I was hoping it would help take my mind off my discomfort.  It didn't.  I had to go lay down and ended up sleeping most of the afternoon.  I still have the stomach ache (and I am hoping it's not just a forerunner for another IBS attack) so I am going to wrap this up and get it posted.  My internet keeps coming and going so best not to defy the gods again. 

So I get my camera battery charged up and take a couple pictures of our winter wonderland and, when I go to get my blog ready, I can't find my card reader.  The Beast was in a foul mood so I wasn't going to ask him to help out.  Give me one more day and I'll get these posted if I have to tear this room apart.  I'll have to go through Chewlee's toy box too because I do remember her expressing an interest in it one day.  She's inordinately curious about damn near everything and, if she likes it, she claims it as her own. 

The Beast decided to venture out in the snow and ice today because he just can't live without his milk.  We both drink milk but he cannot exist without his hot chocolate at night (and sometimes during the day, too).  He was just going to go down to the local gas station, which is about a half mile down the road.  However, as time stretched out, I figured he probably found the station either closed or out of milk.  It was the latter.  He actually drove all the way up to Walmart.  Of course, they were out of regular milk so he ended up buying some organic milk and a quart of chocolate milk since he didn't want to use up all the milk on both his *treats*.  But...the good news is our town has axquired some snow plows and they are plowing the streets.  We didn't really warm up today (it was a high of 34 but enough to make *slush* under the snow) so you know that the streets will be icy tomorrow.  However, the schools are supposed to reopen (including the college campus).  Johnnycakes doesn't have to go into work until later than normal due to late startups at the factory so he is going to drop the Princess off at school.  She will text me later when she gets out of her classes and I will go pick her up and take her home.  That way she doesn't have to be afraid of any slipping or sliding on the icy roads.  Yeah, let ME be the one slipping and sliding.    At least I am not clueless about driving on it like she is.  We will get beyond this weather within the next couple of days. 

I'm just hoping they either sand or salt the roads after plowing them.  Then *I* won't have to worry about the *other guys* on the road who have about the same amount of knowledge about driving on snow and ice as the Princess.

I will more than likely have Chewlee tomorrow because the preschool may not be open yet.  Hard to say until we give them a call in the morning.  If the school IS open, I may end up taking her there for the day.  I know she has missed it.  It always screws up their *schedules* they get used to.  By the time she needs to be picked up, the streets should be much better for the Princess to drive on....IF I take her to school, that is.  Otherwise, she will be with the Princess for the rest of the day after school gets out.

I sure hope things get back to normal faster than they do in Florida after a hurricane threatens.  People buy out the stores it seems and it takes several days to refill the shelves.  It's even worse if a hurricane actually hits an area.  But I don't want to go there today.  Suffice it to say, it seems like we might actually be getting back to the business of living around here.