The day seemed normal enough.  I got up fairly early (around 8:30 or so), grabbed a cup of coffee and sat and chatted with the Beast for a bit.  Then I headed for my computer room (I always let the bed air out a bit before I make it up).  Everything seemed fine but....I was unable to STAY in any of the Pogo game rooms.  I wasn't even trying to get into any of the busy rooms since today is the start of all the new challenges.   I've learned to not even try those rooms or those games until Thursday or Friday any more.

Pogo directs you to an information page when those things happen and it gives you their best guess on what is keeping you from the game.  Things like you need to empty your cache or your Java has crashed or any of several other things.  I checked my Java, emptied my cache, knew I had the latest flash program since I just updated it the other day...nothing was working.  So, I did what I fugured had to find/fix the problem and did things like defrag, scan disc, ran all three of my virus/adbot programs.  Then, when I got on Pogo again (this is several hours later, mind you), I was about ready to take a sledge hammer to my computer because it popped up that there was a problem...still!

I refused to give in to the urge, however, so I decided to try something else that I remembered sometimes happens.  I totally uninstalled my browser I use all the time (Mozilla Firefox) and then reinstalled it.  I crossed my fingers and found I not only got on my sites but it actually downloaded faster!    I know!  I was surprised, too.  But, it worked and it saved my having to have a hissy fit and get the Beast to order the parts to update my computer.  Actually, I want a new motherboard soon, anyway but I can wait.  I know that once problems start, they seem to multiply.

Unlike me, Bratfink seemed to be plagued with the same problems I was having but she wasn't able to resolve them even though she is back on Hawk.  Whatever they did to him at the computer hospital, it wasn't good enough apparently.  But then, she was starting to suspect that it might actually be a Pogo problem and not ours.  That is, until my problem seems to have been taken care of.  So, she and the Beast were talking together while they were both on the phone and on the same site online.  They were discussing a computer and the various additions, bits and pieces that one might want (and not want).  The site they were looking at was a build-to-order site so I guess Bratfink is considering replacing Hawk.  Actually, Hawk is old for a computer.  He's been through the mill, so-to-speak but he's been a good and faithful computer.  I guess it's just his *time*.  Bratfink will miss him if and when he goes to the great computer graveyard in the sky.  Or the city dump.  Wherever. 

The Princess called and asked me if I would pick up Chewlee tomorrow from school and I said I would, of course.  She has to work (it's not her usual day).  Johnnycakes has been picking her up the past two days and hasn't been able to work any overtime nor get to the gym.  I will not only get to pick her up and enjoy her company for a couple hours tomorrow but....since she is a big girl now (with big girl panties), she gets to spend the night here on Friday night.  She is sooooooo excited about that.  It's very flattering to me in many ways.  I'm happy that she feels the way she does about staying with me.  I will miss that about her when she gets older and it's sleepovers at friend's homes instead.  But, for now, I am just going to enjoy it.

So, our weather is nice, not hot but definitely not cold.  Oh it gets cool at night but it's a nice cool, nowhere near freezing, thank goodness!  Daytime is in the upper 60's or low 70's plus lots of sun.  The Beast is happy as a lark going around spraying his trees or spreading fertilizer.  He finally got the new spray gun for his sprayer and doesn't have to jury rig any more.  He's going to finish spraying for the fungus.  He's decided to do one type one week and a different type the next week.  He's determined to defeat this problem.  He's even going to power spray the mildew/mold off our deck with some bleach water so IT isn't speading anything after all this work he's been doing.  I told him to remember to do the underside of the deck, too and he gave me a look that said, *do you think I'm an idiot?*  Well, actually...yes, at times. 

I told you a while back that it was obvious to us that part of the land we bought was once used for growing onions.  It actually looks (from ones I've pulled out of the ground) it was green onions they grew.  It is also obvious that they didn't harvest all of them.  That's probably so they would go to seed and become more onions the next season.  Easy, right?  A nice self-sustaining crop. 

Our problem is that it is almost impossible to get rid of them.  Especially because this ground is so damn hard!  You try to pull them up and it breaks off right at ground level.  Even if you try using a trowel to help, the roots on these things are incredible.  I think they have been here 100 years.  You almost have to see it to believe it.

You can tell where the onions are just glancing around because the tops grow so fast; much faster than grass growns.  So, today when the Beast jumped on his John Deere to mow our lawn, I knew what was coming.  The smell of fresh mown onions was strong.  And, trust me, it's not as appealing as the smell of frying onions.  The smell is acrid and totally familiar as onions.  By mid-summer, they stop growing but that's a long time to have to put up with that aroma every time you mow. 

The Princess got called into work today because they decided they were going to train her for a couple other positions at the restaurant.  I guess it's because of some of the other girl's going on vacations in the next few weeks.  I guess they are all heading down to Mobile or one of the other Spring Break beaches depending on their friends and family.  So, she called me and asked me to pick up Chewlee from school.  As I arrived, I noticed this truck parked in front and I thought it looked an awful lot like Johnnycakes new truck.  A man had put a child in a seat in back and was heading for the drivers door.  When I stopped, I yelled out his name but got no reaction so I thought I was mistaken.  But...when I went in to sign Chewlee out, I discovered I was right and the woman in the office was a bit startled.  I told her no problem, I just didn't know if he would be able to pick her up or not.  But it made me mad as hell at the Princess that she hadn't called me and told me.  Later I found out it was because she had never specifically told Johnnycakes that I was picking her up.

I doesn't matter because I ended up having Chewlee for two hours anyway.  The Princess got off work earlier than she thought so she and Johnnycakes decided to go to dinner at our local Japanese steak house (the food and show the cooks put on is excellent, btw).  And we got some good news about Chewlee today.  SHE WORE BIG GIRL PANTS TO SCHOOL TODAY AND NEVER HAD AN *ACCIDENT*   ^5^5^5

She was so proud and we, of course, made a fuss over it and did the high 5's which she had become very good at!    She even went potty here and made sure she called me in so that I knew she was still worthy of her big girl pants.  This means I must buy her the Barbie fairy doll now.  I told her when she finally was in big girl pants and didn't have an accident, I would buy it for her.  She wants to be with me when I get it so I guess we will be going out on Saturday to get it for her.  It's well worth it to me.  No more diapers (but the Princess said she is going to put the pullups on her at bedtime until she really learns how to control everything.)

Lots of newsy stuff today.  First of all, got a call from Sheepie with the dates of her Spring Break so then I had to search the Greyhound site and pick out the times for her to leave Louisville on April 2nd and for her return date on April 10th.  Got her ticket all arranged for her and emailed her the itinerary.  So, she will be here with us for that week.  It will make Chewlee happy since that is HER cousin, Sheepie and she has been asking when she will be back to see her.

I got a call from the preschool today, which kind of surprised me since they always seem to be able to get ahold of the Princess....but not today.  It seems Chewlee was sick.  She was listless and had vomited a couple times.  I tried texting the Princess since I knew it wouldn't be long before she would get out of her classes and she travels right past the preschool.  However, I found out that...lo and behold!...guess who else came home early from school because she was sick?  We texted back and forth and she was going to go ahead and pick up Chewlee even though she said she felt like chit.  A few minutes later, she took that back because she didn't even get to the end of the driveway and had to stop and vomit.  I went and picked up Chewlee, who promptly told me she was sick (and she looked it).  She was very pale and quiet, which is not normal for her.  She nothing if not exuberant most of the time.

When she found out I was taking her home, she wanted to just stop there to get her *medicine* (which I think was just liquid Tylenol....her *orange* medicine) and then come to my house.  She looked like her heart was broken when I left her at home with her mommy.  I did tell her that, if she was a good girl all week that maybe mommy would let her come and spend the night with Grandma on *bubble gum day*, which is Friday.  The Princess gave us a weak *maybe*.  I did feel terrible about leaving Chewlee there when both of them are sick.  So I went home and started some chicken soup.  I was going to make homemade noodles with it but discovered that I didn't have enough eggs so it will have to be regular egg noodles from a package this time.  I'll get some over there, one way or another when it's done.  I hate for both my babies to be sick.

I forgot to tell the Princess about Sheepie coming and the dates.  She knows she is coming, she just didn't know exactly when.  I forgot a couple things today but I thought (when I remembered) that they were relatively minor and I could take care of them later.  Which brings me to Bratfink.

As you know, her computer, Hawk, is having a conniption and refuses to work properly so it had to go to the computer hospital today.  The Boy promised her that it would have something as close to outpatient surgery as possible and be home before she knew it.  In the meantime, the computer she is (attempting/trying/cussing at) using is just about useless.  I know this and, because we both play on Club Pogo daily and there are some daily challenges for their (virtually useless) tokens, I figured I would do her dailies until she got Hawk back at home.  Wellllllll, my morning was a bit busier than normal so I didn't get a chance to do hers or our friend, AZ's, before I got busy.  Later, when things calmed down a bit but I was still doing stuff like cutting up veggies for the soup, making myself something to eat because I was showing all the signs of low blood sugar, etc.  I figured I would just wait and do them when I was eating my dinner.  No problem, right?

However, it seems Bratfink doesn't see it that way at all.  I didn't do them first thing so I obviously don't love or respect her (which, as everyone knows, is not true since I worship the ground she waddles on and the cane she beats it with).  When I went on under her name and AZ's, I was shocked to find out she had done them herself!    I didn't think she could get onto Pogo on the useless piece of computer she was using.  That's what she had discovered yesterday but, perhaps, it was as much the weather as the fact that it IS a piece of trash.  At least, the weather affects MY computer a lot and I also had that problem today because we got hit with one hell of a storm.  We just got out from under a tornado watch a half hour ago, too.  My Pogo is still not letting me stay on it for long before I lose my satellite connection for a few seconds.  Enough to screw up whatever game I am playing anyway.  At least I played a game where it didn't matter much if I lost it or not.  It was still a bit frustrating but I get over it.

The Beast was happy when the rain started coming down.  It was what he wanted since he put down fertilizer yesterday.  The bad part of that is the fertilizer might just be enough to push all the buds into blooming, too.  There's never a good halfway point, is there?  Although other areas around us, mostly north of us, got some really bad winds, we didn't.  Oh we had some high winds when the storm first started but it  passed and things calmed down enough that I almost though the rain had stopped until I looked out the window.  It was the strong winds pushing the rain hard against the windows that made me think it was storming even more than it was.

Weatherbug is telling me that the rest of the evening should be calm and tomorrow will be mostly sunny although a bit cooler.  The Beast says he will start on Chewlee's and my planter next week sometime (probably at the end of next week) so Chewlee and I can start getting it ready.  I have no idea what exactly he thinks it's going to take except for getting it filled with garden soil and then planting the seeds (and perhaps some small plants).  I told him it's much simpler than planting a vegetable garden or one of his trees but.....he's a man!  What do they know about flowers?  Well, lets make that *some* men don't know anything about them.  I know a few men that have wonderful flower gardens, including one of my brothers.

Love you all but I really have to go for now.  It will be another busy day for me tomorrow because I have some things I have been putting off that need doing.  Right now I am puzzling out how to make some king size shams into queen size ones.  I wanted to keep the edge the same but ... I don't think I can.  Not unless I take them completely apart and I am trying to avoid that if I can.