TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I spoke with the Beast.  Had to scold him a bit for not calling and giving me the update on Auntie Em (referred to as AM henceforward).  I told him I shouldn’t have had to get it from the Princess.  He just did a weak *hem and haw*.  I knew I had the advantage because his cousin was right there where she could hear.  But it also meant he couldn’t really tell me his impressions of what went on.

AM is back at the rehab center.  The doctors changed her medication for the Parkinson’s but said they were really at a loss as to why she was convulsing.  All their tests showed no overmedication nor any kind of reason for the convulsions.  I suggested to the Beast that maybe AM was just tired of all the pain she’s been in for a couple months now.  He said he really thought that was so.  Poor AM.  She’s lived a very full life although it started out difficult for her.  Her life was not easy as a kid.  She was farmed out to a relative that owned a farm and her days were spent cooking and cleaning and helping out in the fields at harvest time.  The aunt that took her in was very demanding and also very insistent that things must be done just a certain way.   Her days were long and hard.  On a farm, everyone helps at harvest so she wasn’t spared.  But it made her the person she is today and she really and truly appreciated everything that was done for her or given to her.  It made people love to see how she reacted to things.  You just HAD to love her and admire her spirit.  She will really and truly be missed by many friends and family members when she dies.

Her home will more than likely be turned into a shrine by the cousin.  She’s a bit of a sicko that way.  It ticks me off a bit because she could have treated her mother better when she was younger.  She gave her a lot of shit about AM’s love for her hubby.  He was the cousin’s father but she highly disrespected him.  I loved him because he was a good, hard-working man who wanted to give his wife everything her heart desired.  So what if he liked to occasionally over-indulge in liquor?  He was Irish after all.  Plus he was never abusive, just apologetic.  It was actually kind of funny.  But the cousin is a tight-ass about a lot of things, that being one of them.  It NEVER gave her the right to disrespect her father, however.  We had words about it a time or two which is why the cousin and I don’t waste any real affection for each other.  I, however, am not snotty or snippy to her when we are together because she is the Beast’s family and the daughter of a woman I highly respect.  But that’s just me.

The Beast is going to give the cousin some time off and sit with his aunt at the rehab center tomorrow.  He says he will call me from there so I will be able to report on the way he feels things are going with AM and not on the *pie-in-the-sky* reports from his cousin.   I will let you know.

Love you all.  Be good and take care.  Hump day tomorrow.  The week will be half gone.  Isn’t that wonderful? 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast left here around 11am for AM’s.  We got a clarification from his cousin as to what was involved on Thursday.  Either they are moving AM from the hospital back to rehab or moving her from rehab back to the hospital (the Beast just doesn’t LISTEN well) and his cousin wants to ride in the ambulance with her mother to keep her calm.  I gather it’s the Beast’s job to pick her up and take her back to her car.  Weird that she can’t find someone locally to do that but I have a feeling she could have but wants the Beast there because her mother is actually failing and she doesn’t want to be alone when that happens.  You need family around when you are grieving.  That’s something my family knows a lot about.  We ARE orphans, ya know.  Been there, felt that.

The Princess called me to ask about the flooring at the new house.  She’s cleaned it and it LOOKS clean but her bare feet are getting incredibly dirty walking on it.  She wants to borrow our Shark and see if that helps.  I got it ready for her but she hasn’t gotten here yet.  She told me that Chewlee has been crying all morning because she wouldn’t bring her over to me.  At least she will get to see me.  I know why she’s upset.  We were supposed to eat our lunch outside and then play with the water hose and spray each other.  Tee hee!  I can let her know we can do that tomorrow, too. 

A thunderstorm woke me up early this morning (but I went right back to sleep) and I thought, *Well, there goes the lunch outside and the spraying each other*.  Then I remembered that Chewlee wouldn’t be here today so I slept in. 

The Beast DID say goodbye to me and that’s what really finally woke me up.  He had left when I got my butt up and Baron was sulking at the front door.  He really DOES hate when he’s not with the Beast.

The Princess finally got here and so did Tara shortly afterward.  Tara was dropping off a check that IF I HAD A CAR, I COULD DEPOSIT.  Just saying.  I showed the Princess how to put on the covering for the Shark and where to add the water.  I told her if she does have a film on the floor, the shaggy covering will certainly show that.    I love that thing.  It’s even good on the carpet with a different attachment, of course.

Chewlee was not happy that she couldn’t stay and play Clue with me or wet each other with a hose but I gave her some tangarines (3 by the time they left but they were small) and that made her happy.  She really does love fruit.  She took an apple home with her and was playing with her Leap Pad while she was here.  It keeps her busy.

We had stopped off at the kids new house (the one that his mother left him) and I was amazed at how just the addition of the new appliances that the Princess bought changed the looks of the kitchen.  His mother’s cousin is the neighbor that’s been so helpful to them but they love Johnnycakes and had been best friends with his mother.  I had wondered why they were going to be so helpful.  Now I know.  Now YOU know, too.

Found out that AM is in the emergency room right now having convulsions and it doesn’t look good for her.  The Beast is a realist about that kind of thing but not his cousin.  She really does need him there.  If she dies, the Princess is going to bring the Beast his suit and a couple good shirts and ties and spend whatever time she must there.  Not sure where I am going to be fitted in there since there’s not a lot of love lost between me and his cousin.  I don’t think she would miss me.  Maybe I will just volunteer to keep Chewlee here with me.  Yeah, that would work and then no one would have to worry over HER or keeping her busy.  She really doesn’t need that kind of exposure right now at her age.

Off to put away some clothes I folded and take the time to change the bed linens and blankets and finish up the clothes, too.  My endurance IS increasing, slowly but surely and so is the strength in my legs.  I remembered to call the doctor to change the Beast’s appt.  Now it’s on the 8th at 10:45am.  Better than at 8am.  He can sleep a little later. 

Love you all.  Take care.  It’s hot out there! 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today I spent a lot of time out and about today.  It started when the Beast came home and told me he wanted to take me somewhere that he had found a car for us.  Now, I ASSUMED he had found us a couple of nice used cars that he wanted me to help choose one.  Was I in for a surprise!

We are now the proud owners of a brand new Chevy Cruze.  It’s really a nice car.  Economical.  Leather interior.  Lots of goodies and they were so desperate to get a sale that it was almost a swap.  I kid you not.  What surprised me was the Beast originally bought the Chevy SUV because he wanted the room for both traveling (Baron usually accompanies us everywhere) and hauling groceries, luggage or whatever.  He also wanted to be sure he could haul our trailer with the ATV on it.  The Cruze will be able to handle the trailer but we aren’t sure about the ATV.  Now he’s talking about selling it and I reminded him of the reason he originally bought it….for deer hunting.  There’s no way in hell that he will be able to walk very far, let alone carry the deer meat to the car.  But that’s typical of things the Beast does.  It was why he bought all the different rifles, ammunition, cases, gun safe, etc.  Without the ATV, it’s NOT GOING TO HAPPEN, FOLKS.  So it’s money spent we will never recover fully.

I discovered that he regretted NOT getting a leather interior on the SUV because of Baron.  Who would believe how much HAIR a short-haired dog sheds.  My house is full of it….it’s EVERYWHERE and you can’t get rid of it no matter what you do.  But, he’s our *son* so you do what you must.  It IS one of the reasons we stopped him from getting up on our bed.  Getting those damn hairs on your face or in your nose when you are trying to sleep is a real pain in the ass.

But, I went to the dealers with him and he tried to explain how/why he decided what he did.  The problem was there were just two of the cars with the features he wanted.  One was black (both interior and exterior) and was actually $1000 more expensive because it had three or four UPGRADED features, including the built-in GPS.  The other was red with brown and cream interior.  It was a nicer looking car, cheaper, incredible gas mileage and the leather interior meant he COULD actually clean up the dog hair.  In fact, the back seat folds down flat and would allow him to put a large blanket down so the seats stayed clean.  There’s nothing worse than being dressed up and getting those black dog hairs all over your rear end because you couldn’t even vacuum them up from the cloth interior of the SUV.  The Beast never considered it when he chose the car.  Jerk.  All he thought about was the seats would make us sweaty in the summer.  Like he never heard or saw how people can also put towels down on their seats.  During the winter, we will be able to warm up our seats.  Yes!  It has that feature.

We now own the very first red car we have EVER had.  I once owned a Mustang 5.0 convertible with a red and white interior (white leather seats, red dash and carpeting) but it was white with a white convertible top.  That’s the closest we came.    BUT…..

He promised me that we WILL get a second car now.  We will probably end up with a real beater because he’s thinking of it for ME and, like I’ve said before, he really doesn’t think I NEED anything good.  This is how being married to him for 48 years (on August 1) works.  He gets what he wants, I get what he wants me to have.  I will say this much, I am a lot more vocal about liking or not liking some things than I was when I was younger.  That’s really part of the problem.  Much of it is my own fault.  I should really have gotten rid of him years ago.  Now…well, we are used to each other and so damned old, who would want us??? 

I discovered today that my license needs renewing.  With all the medical problems and such, it totally slipped my mind.  It expired in April.  I’m going to have to see if the Princess can take me down to the DMV while the Beast is away and get that taken care of.  It’s not usually all that busy so it shouldn’t take long.  Then a quick stop at ABC Liquors and I’ll be set.  **Grin**

The Beast took me up to Applebee’s to let me drive the new car and to have something to eat and a drink or two.  I hated taking the chance because I have such rotten luck and I could see me getting stopped and ticketed.  The Beast laughed and said, *It’s just 5 minutes away!  Don’t be such a worry wart.  You can always feign ignorance, show them the missing toe and the scars from your surgery and they’ll let you off.  Plus you have the papers where you were just discharged from the Wound Center.*  He had a valid point.

Got to go now.  Love you all.  Be good.  Stay cool and drink a lot…..of water. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

First of all, the Beast is leaving me.  Oh, not permanently.  He’s just making the trip to see his ailing aunt in North Carolina and giving a hand to his cousin who must take care of some business on Thursday.  I believe she needs the Beast to stay with his aunt and the dogs, two cute little dogs that she rescued from a neglectful owner (he happened to die so there was no problem that developed over it).  I think the man was just too old and infirm to take care of them like they needed.  She had been feeding them long before it became apparent that they needed the intervention.  Anyway, he will only be gone for three or four days (kind of like a minier vacation than we had).  I will be keeping Baron home with me.  It’s just too much dog interplay with two little yappy dogs and Baron, who gets nervous and hyperactive around them.  He’s mostly moving to keep from stomping on them, I think. 

I got some interesting comments from my son, Marcus, the father of the bride, on the status of the groom after my last blog.  It seems the groom already owns his own home.  No trailer for HIS daughter.  Like it was such a bad life for us when he was a kid.  Of course, most of the trailer parks these days are not the same quality of the one we lived in where most of the people owned their own lots.  It was a great place for kids, complete with a playground, pool, nice laundry facilities and a community center of our own.  But, I digress.

Marcus Aurelius also tells me the groom-to-be is a workaholic with two jobs (one of them is developing his own business slowly but surely on weekends).  I know my son mentioned just what it is but I forget.  Old-timers strikes again.  Then he tells me that his father-in-law and EX-mother-in-law have reconciled and are back together in Tennessee.  She has put her condo up for sale in Florida.

Another group that will be attending that is family is my daughter-in-law’s sister, her husband and daughter PLUS a variety of family friends that would have to be considered family since they practically lived at our house when they were pre-teens and beyond.  They have remained close to my son all this time.  It will be fun to see them for me.  Just another reason to be sure to attend the wedding.

I checked out the weather ahead for us and it’s more of the same…heat, heat and more heat.  I think I will spend some time out in it and work a little bit on getting a light tan.  Maybe I will even let Chewlee hit me with the hose a few times when I have her here.

I’m making out a list of things for the Beast to pick up for me before he leaves on Tuesday.  I want some fruit in the house since Chewlee loves fruit, some popsicles, plenty of milk and some French bread pizzas for us to snack on.  Oh, and some ranch dressing since we are out.  Chewlee loves her chicken nuggets with ranch dressing.  I have plenty of those here for her, too.  My staples of coffee and creamer are taken care of and I will make a big container of sweet tea.  I expect Tara will be stopping by to check on me once she learns that the Beast will be gone.  She likes my sweet tea.  **Grin**

Love you all.  Please stay safe and keep hydrated during this gruesome summer heat.  Drive carefully.  I wouldn’t want to lose any of you. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast spent most of today going around a few of the used car dealers and the new car dealers in our area.  He was looking for a second car for us that we could use around town and on small jaunts.  He wanted something not too expensive and good on gas.  Our Chevy SUV gets crappy gas mileage around town even though it’s a new one and not one of those huge things like they had a few years back. 

However, the few he found that were in good shape, he had no clue what the gas mileage was like even though they were four cylinder and smaller than our Chevy.  I googled them for their gas mileage and they were awful!  Worse in town mileage than we get on our car.  I told the Beast we should probably set up our google accounts on our Droids and go look tomorrow since we won’t have to worry about dragging Chewlee around.  We may still do it but he was undecided when he went to bed.  He may opt for doing it on Monday instead.  That way he can still make church services (he goes from 1pm to 3pm) on Sunday.  After 3 he feels would be too late and, since he wants to go to both Huntsville and Decatur, they are a schlep and there wouldn’t be enough time even if we left at 8am.  I don’t care either way.  Monday is fine with me.  Just as long as we get something before he takes his trip to his Auntie Em’s. 

I was kind of surprised that he was looking to be truthful.  But that’s the Beast.  I threw out the fact that we really needed one and he said nothing.  But he tossed it around in his mind and decided I was right.  He will be making a few trips to see his brother and really doesn’t want to leave me at the mercy of other people for anything I might need while he’s gone.  I’m grateful for that.

It seemed strange to me to be without Chewlee on a Saturday but she’s been with her paternal grandfather shopping for school clothes.  Since she needs them due to how much she’s grown these past couple of months (I’m FIVE now, Grandma, and I am BIGGER!)  She was kind of funny at times while we were in Chicago.  She asked me one night, as we were watching some TV before going to sleep, *Grandma, can you get really, really mad at someone and still love them?*  I told her of course you could.  I told her that my brothers and sisters and I sometimes get spitting mad at each other but we still love each other.  When I asked her who was mad at her (I ASSUMED that was her worry) and what she had done, she just waved her hand and said, *I just wanted to know.*  I’m assuming (again) she did something that really pissed off her mother and she was worried she might have gone too far or been so bad that her mother didn’t love her any more.  But there’s no telling how her mind works at times.

She was so cute at the Beast’s other brother’s house at how she just loved all his landscaping and he, his wife and mother-in-law just loved her because kids are always truthful about things like that.  They are so honest about things that impress them.  She loved darn near everything she saw at their house.  She reminded me of how Hansel and Gretel were enthralled with the candy house in the forest.  Except Chewlee didn’t try eating any of it. 

One of my granddaughter’s is getting married in September.  She’s marrying an Alabama boy and the wedding will take place here in Alabama.  I thought that was smart of her because she has a bit of family here and the trip will take just an hour.  There’s the Princess, Chewlee and Johnnycakes, Tara and her two boys, Sheepie and Teach and the Beast and I.  We are all going and I know her other grandfather will be there and his ex-wife (the only REAL grandmother on that side…she loves the kids bunches).  It will be, at least, a nice showing for the bride and we are all happy for her.  He seems like a nice guy and we only wish her bunches of good things.

I think she will like living here in Alabama.  The people are really wonderful and home prices are good so they can save up and buy one without strapping themselves with really high payments.  Hell, the Beast and I started out with a mobile home and two kids.  Moved when we hit four…LOL.  And mobile homes are much nice now than they were back then.  Fireplaces and sunken tubs…sheesh.  Luxury. 

We are surviving the heat, hope you are, too.  Love you all.  Have a nice Sunday and be good. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast and I had our appointments with the ophthalmologist today.  I was really embarrassed to find out that I had my cataracts removed in 2007 and last saw him in 2008.  I should have been seeing him every six months.  I got a really thorough eye exam which I needed since I was having some problems with my left eye.  I really HATE how you have to get your eyes dilated so the doctor can see to the back of your eye.  The effects of that stuff lasts for HOURS.  Chewlee wanted me to play *our* favorite game online with her and, truthfully, no matter what I did, I couldn’t really SEE to play it.  She finally settled for watching her Ariel DVD on my computer while I lay back, with my eyes closed, and just hoped to recover my sight again.

The reason for my problem?  The doctor told me I developed scar tissue on my retina (think of it as a *wrinkle* on the surface of it).  I laughed and told the doctor, *It figures!  The rest of me is wrinkled; why not my eye, too?*  He and the nurse just laughed at that.  He is sending me to a retinal specialist but he told me that, since my eyesight is so good despite it, the doctor won’t want to *peel* that away until and unless the vision gets seriously impaired.  When my eyes were being tested, that eye, on it’s own, wasn’t able to detect the two outer (left-hand) letters on any of the rows.  However, using both eyes together, I was fine and did well.  Even I could tell that.  He said the retinal specialist would be most likely establishing a baseline for my visual impairment in that eye (alone).  He also said the good news was that there were no effects of my diabetes on my eyesight so he felt I really was well-controlled.  **Yippee!**(tongue-in-cheek here).

The Beast is another story entirely.  He will require more than one surgery since his problems with his sight are multiple.  He does, indeed, have a cataract.  I THINK it’s only one.  Getting information out of the Beast can be difficult at best.  However, his lower eyelash is turning inward on his one eye (not even sure it’s the same one as the cataract) and that one will require a separate surgery.  PLUS, he’s got fatty folds on his upper lids that are contributing to his impaired sight and THOSE must be cut down.  Sounds like he’s going to have some healing time ahead of him once this all gets started.  The easy part will be the cataract removal.  That’s a snap and the difference in your vision is immediately noticeable. 

I told the Beast after we left that we should stop and get a harness for Baron to start his training as a seeing-eye dog.  He laughed because he kind of felt like he was doing much worse than he thought.  I think he’s going to take that trip to see his aunt in North Caroline sometime between the first of August (our 48th anniversary and his doctor’s appointment to our GP) and the 23rd which will be his cataract surgery.  We don’t think AM will be with us too much longer.  The world will be a little lonelier place once she is gone but she’s going to be 95 in September so it’s not unexpected.  It’s just sad to think about.

Chewlee’s paternal grandfather came to town today to spend the next couple days with her.  He’s planning on buying her school clothes since she’s *going to be in big kid’s school* as she calls it.  She was going to stay overnight at his motel so they can both go swimming in the pool early (before it gets TOO hot since it’s outdoors) and she can show him how she can swim (dog paddle with her swimmies on).  I think they are really called *floatees* but what do I know?  They didn’t have those when my kids were growing up.  They had to learn in a whole different way.  One thing I am grateful for is that he won’t be with her long enough to totally make her a little brat with how he spoils her.  We all know he’s trying to buy her love but he really IS afraid that she may be his only grandchild and he WANTS to be a part of her life.  He just doesn’t realize that loving her does NOT mean buying her everything she wants so she will love him in return.  I feel it’s kind of sad, really.

Love you all.  Hope you watched the Opening Ceremony of the Olympics.  Bratfink and I did although I finally fell asleep in the last few minutes of it.  My eyesight was only cleared up once I woke up from that short nap.  Must be my age that makes it last so long.  **Sigh** 

Be good.  Stay cool this weekend and gymnastics will be on Sunday, just so you know. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Most of the time spent traveling, we did just that…went to bed much earlier than we would have if we were home.  However, what we were sleeping on was a) either too small a space for the three, no, FOUR of us (Baron tried like hell to sleep up on the full-size bed we spent our first night on) or, b) (at the other brother’s house) was too damn HARD and left us up early just because it was so damned uncomfortable.  **Sigh**  At least Chewlee and I spent a comfortable night at Kay’s and then at the motel WHEN THE BEAST POINTED US SOUTH TO HIS BROTHER’S HOUSE AND THAT WAS THE END OF THAT!  I am still almost too angry to speak to him about that.  I know my brother’s attitude is good and he is still working.  He didn’t have a day off until Monday and, of course, after the night at the motel, it was only Sunday but the Beast was having separation anxiety from his buddy.  He SAID he felt terrible about leaving his brother with three dogs for so long, instead of the two that were HIS but his brother had both our cell phone numbers (well, okay…mine was kinda dead) AND the car’s ONSTAR number so if he felt picked on or burdened, he could/would have phoned.  Shit, I can’t talk about it.  I really am still angry over the whole fiasco.  Some vacation, huh?

If I hadn’t seen my girlfriends on Saturday, even THAT wouldn’t have happened.  I will NEVER, EVER take that trip with the Beast AGAIN!  NEVER!  Chewlee I enjoyed.  She was so cute about how she just loved Kay.  But Kay was fantastic with her so it’s no wonder.  She wanted Kay to be her mother she said.  That is, until she found out you couldn’t swim in the pool all year around.    But she did want to wear her hair like Kay’s and she would have loved to spend at least one more day there…..or stay an hour or so more at the motel to swim in their indoor, heated pool.  But, no, we were on the road by 9am.  Checkout wasn’t until 11am. 

Half of the problem with the Beast is that he doesn’t really EAT while he’s traveling.  I really mean that.  His idea of breakfast is a donut or two and some coffee.  Lunch?  No such thing.  Grab some chips or cheese crackers.  Dinner?  Look for a McD’s or a White Castle.  Even on the road, he can be cheap, cheap, cheap.  He says he is just anxious to get to where he’s going but it’s not sensible or healthy.  I advised the Beast that we need to buy a beater car for around town so that he’s not stuck depending on someone the next time I drive up to Chicago.  I’m seriously thinking about October.  This might have been the last chance I had to see and spend time with my brother.  Who knows?  I hope not.

At least my aunt and I spent over an hour talking.  She had a full schedule for the few days I was going to be visiting and she felt I shouldn’t worry about her.  She was okay with whatever time she had left and just hoped the end wouldn’t be painful is all.  She said she wasn’t going to go through all that *garbage*, meaning chemo and radiation, which steals the quality of life without any promises.  I love her dearly and told her that.  I will miss her but I wish her the absolute best of her time left and that she falls asleep one night and wakes up on the Rainbow Bridge with all the family that has passed before her waiting to greet her.

Tomorrow morning will be an *early to rise* day for the Beast and I.   We have an appointment with our eye doctor.  The Beast was told he has the start of cataracts and needs to see an ophthalmologist.  He wanted to see the one that did my surgeries and I needed to see him anyway.  **Sigh** I just never thought the appointments would be for 9am when it’s an hour’s drive to his office from here.  Baron won’t be happy.  He can’t come with us due to the heat.  We can’t leave him in the car while we are in the doctor’s office for our exams.  (Did you think I was kidding about Baron being the Beast’s best friend who normally goes everywhere with him?)  We won’t be stopping for an early lunch up there, trust me.  He’s going to want to rush home.

Love you all.  Thanks for your patience.  Talk to you tomorrow. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I got busy today, trying to get the clothes washed that I wore while we were gone.  Then the clothes I had ordered (and hoped to take with me to Chicago) got here so I had ANOTHER load to wash.  I found several things of Chewlee’s mixed in with mine that I am sure the Princess will want since they look pretty new.  At least, I don’t remember seeing them before this trip but then Chewlee has a lot of things I haven’t seen.  She usually outgrows them first. 

I folded the Beast’s stuff that needed folding, too, so he could get them put away ASAP.  He still has a small pile here in my computer room but we are both really tired tonight.  Too tired for me to go into the rest of the dismal trip I just returned home from.  However, I have one piece of advice for anyone with a Droid that also has a Hot Spot service included.  Do NOT forget to turn off your hot spot when you travel.  It casts around looking for something (or someone) that wants to use it and wears down your battery.  I couldn’t even get it to show me it was charging and the car charger recharges at the speed of S-L-O-W compared to being plugged into an AC outlet.  But, when you forget to bring one with you….duh!  It took two days of traveling before it would even turn on…and then it was only showing it was 50% charged.  That battery was DRAINED!  I was afraid I lost everything on it but I only lost a few phone numbers…the ones I most recently added and hadn’t yet used so that they were in more than one spot.  **Sigh**  I can be so blonde at times.

My niece Tara stopped by to see us and to drop off stuffed peppers and some mashed potatoes.  Yum.  Then the neighbors started dropping by.  Sheesh.  I think we must have been the first in the neighborhood to take a vacation.  They all wanted to know about gas prices, traffic, etc.  They missed seeing the Beast giving Baron his run every day and Chewlee playing outside with him and helping give Baron his baths.  He’s been getting a bath about every three days.  He is eager for these lately but we know it’s just the cool water that he REALLY wants.  Who can blame him?  Chewlee also manages to get herself all wet and she won’t change her clothes.  She tells me *It’ll dry, Grandma.*  That just means she was feeling the heat, too.

I ended up with a stomach ache.  I’m not sure just when it started and if it had more to do with the company that kept showing up or something I ate or drank.  I didn’t have that much of anything since the heat takes away my appetite most of the time.  We started to eat later just because of that.  Chewlee got very solicitous of me when she realized I had one.  She had to get me a pillow for my head and she folded up her blanket for me to hold on my tummy.  It was cute.  She seems to think that when I get my new toe (she thinks it will be a real one), I will feel much better and be ready to take all these trips to the zoo…to see the fish at the ‘quarium….to go to the REAL beach (Gulf Coast)…lots of different things.  **Sigh**  She is going to be surprised to find out my new toe won’t be a *real* one. 

Well, early to bed and all that stuff.  Love you all and thanks for coming by now that I am home.  Talk to you tomorrow. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I AM HOME.  And I am not happy about it…mostly.  It’s all the Beast’s fault and some damn convention that was at a local convention center south of Chicago.  Let me explain….

We left Baron (the Beast’s best buddy) at The Brother’s house.  He has two German Shepherds and the three dogs get along very well.  His yard is huge and is all fenced in so there’s lots of room for the dogs to romp.  He also volunteered to take Baron while we were in Chicago.

I stayed with my ex-sister-in-law the first night.  Chewlee just loved her.  Remember we took Chewlee with us so that she could meet other family members.  Kay has a pool.  With the hot weather that Chicago has had, the water was warm.  Chewlee had her floatee’s on and showed us how she could dog paddle.  Kay introduced her to the floating qualities of the *noodle* and Chewlee was all set.  Kay also has this floating ring with a net in the center that Chewlee could almost stand on and it kept her safe.  That made Chewlee very brave because Kay held it at the bottom of the slide for the pool and Chewlee slid down it ALL BY HERSELF! (she had to say that every time she told someone about that).  Chewlee got so brave that she swam all the way across the pool by herself, dog paddling the whole way.  Lord, I wish I had her energy.  She made me tired just watching her.  I sat on the edge of the pool with my feet in the water right by the steps.  Kay and her oldest son were both in the pool having fun with Chewlee.  She just loved that  pool.  She told Kay that she wanted to stay with her.  At least she did until she found out Chicago is NOT like Florida and you can’t use the pool in the winter.  Oh well!

It got so Chewlee wanted me to fix her hair just like Kay had hers.  I kid you not!  She said she wanted it just like Kay’s hair.  Then she found out that it wasn’t as comfortable as she really liked and she pulled the hair out of the hair tie and let it down.  She really is a nut.

When the Beast came to get us the second day, we went to his younger brother’s house to stay.  That’s where the Beast had stayed while I was at Kay’s.  That brother has MS and has had it for many years now.  It showed up when he was about 22.  He’s now in his late 40′s and isn’t doing well.  I guess, actually, he’s doing OK but it’s so sad to see the struggle he goes through to do every day things, even just going to the bathroom or taking his shower.  There’s a plastic chair in his shower for him and it has a spray head so they have tried to make things as convenient as possible.

When we pulled into his driveway, Chewlee was totally fascinated.  They have their property very highly *decorated*.  All the features were designed either by his brother or his wife.  It’s gorgeous and fascinating when you realize just how much work went into everything.  There is a tree that has been trimmed into a spiral in front, along with flower beds and stepping stone throughout.  Chewlee stood on the walk and said, very loud, *Oh this is just BEAUTIFUL!*  Needless-to-say, that brought a laugh out of everyone (because it was so sincere and unexpected to hear from a 5-year-old.  The Brother’s wife did the work on it and she thanked Chewlee for the compliment.  Chewlee went on and on about all the different flowers and how she liked the walking stones in between the flower beds and how beautiful the tree was and *how did you do that?*

They took her for a walk all around the stream bed they designed and actually placed each and every river stone in place.  It took 80 TONS of rock!  There’s a portico that the brother designed and a company came out and built it for them.  The whole property is just a wonder.

Inside the house, every single room is just full of things they designed and you feel like you are in some kind of model.  Not a model home but one that is just full of interesting things to see.  The basement is like a jungle residence complete with a large tiger statue.  It was really interesting to see how they designed that and the office sections since the wife works a lot out of her home.  She’s a computer programmer and designs special programs for several different companies.

We slept on a queen sized hideabed in their family room upstairs.  They had two other friends that came for a few days and they slept on a blowup bed downstairs.  The problem with the hideabed was it felt like there was plywood under the mattress.  Even Chewlee, in her sleep, tried to sleep on the pillows because the mattress was so damned uncomfortable.  When we woke up, the Beast and I agreed that we would make excuses and find ourselves a motel for the third night just to get a good night’s sleep.

This was day 3 of the Beast being without his *buddy* and I knew he was missing the attention and companionship of Baron.  But I hoped he would recover because I had things to do and places to go.

I took Chewlee with me to my reunion with my friends.  We get together every year when I am in Chicago and catch up on what is going on in each others lives.  It’s always a lot of fun.  I didn’t know how they would react to me taking Chewlee but there were kids at my girlfriend’s house AND a play set.  Her kids said not to worry, they would keep an eye on her.  She was actually very good while we were there and she didn’t want to leave when we broke up the party, so-to-speak.   She fell asleep on the way back to my BFF’s house so she DID get a lot of exercise and she was ready to find a motel, too. 

Now this was Saturday evening.  We figured that we could find a motel near my BFF’s house with no problem.  There were TONS of them.  Ha! Ha!  We didn’t count on a convention being in town and they had no rooms at any motel for around a 40 mile radius.  So, we drove South since we had been told there were no rooms available anywhere to the north of us.  We didn’t count on the fact that it was MILES to the south with the same kind of problem.  We ended up in Champaign before we found one and it was almost midnight by then.  We were dead tired and Chewlee was asleep.

We found a nice Travelodge and got ourselves a room.  Checkout was at 11am so we felt we were covered and could sleep-in.  I knew Sunday was a day we could just do anything we wanted.  I had called my aunt that has terminal breast cancer (it’s spread) but she feels fine and, at 79, she says she never even considered doing chemo or radiation.  She says she’s okay with everything and right now she’s in no pain or discomfort.  She is a bit weaker than she was but it hasn’t kept her from doing the normal things you do…shop, drive, etc.  Her attitude was just fantastic and she told me that there was no need to make a special trip to see her.  She didn’t really have any time in the next few days where we could get together so we made the phone conversation a good one.

My brother, I was told, only had Monday off work (yes, he’s working as long as he can because his disability pay sucks).  MY PLANS were to perhaps go see my sister on Monday (she lives near my brother) and, when he woke up, he could come over to visit with us.  That was not in the BEAST’S PLANS.

More later. Love you all.  Part 2 of the fiasco later. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast and I were busy all day and I am exhausted.  Remember, I’ve been kept out of much in the way of exercise due to my surgeries since January.  I’m now trying to work up my endurance but it’s slow going.  Tara came to visit before she went to work because she wanted to see us before we left.  She also wanted some tomatoes and squash, which I was glad to provide.  She’s going to come on Sunday and strip the tomatoes off their vines.  She’ll take home a bunch to cook and use and she’s going to put some in my fridge for me for when we get back.  She’s sweet that way.  Chance can run around the yard without her worrying since it’s fenced in.

When the Princess came here to drop off Chewlee’s suitcase and the stuff she wanted to bring with (the stuffed kitty and her oldest baby doll that I bought her for her second Christmas).  She also brought along her Dream bug or whatever it’s called.  It’s the night light that shows the stars and moon on the ceiling and walls and you can do it in four different colors. 

The Princess took us out for an early dinner for our birthdays, which I thought was sweet of her.  We went to Applebee’s and the food was great.  The added benefit is … no dishes! 

Chewlee wanted me to look all through her suitcase at her clothes she brought with her but I told her I would check that out when we stopped at the Brother’s house tomorrow.  She keeps asking me when we will do this or that but her main worry was swimming first and foremost.

Well,  I have a few minor things I want to get done and then it’s early to bed for me.  Love you all and I will be thinking of you all while we are gone.  See you back here on the 26th at the latest when I will  surely post late in  the day.