TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I woke up early, checked out my email, had some toast and coffee then went back to sleep in my chair.  I had actually spent the night sleeping with Chewlee (and Baron joined us at some point).  She actually kept her hand over mine like she was checking to make sure I not only slept with her like I promised but also to keep me there.    However, the way I woke up was being slowly but surely pushed off the bed by the two aforementioned *kids*.  If I hadn't had a good pillow under my head, I probably would have hurt myself when I slid to the floor.

The Princess picked her up around 10:15am or so and was going to take her home, change her clothes and then they had some shopping to do since Chewlee is fast outgrowing her jeans and pants.  Chewlee was happy because her mother promised to buy her *soft* pants and I gather those are like sweat pants.  Chewlee hates pants that don't bend or are *stiff* like blue jeans are.  The Princess was supposed to stop and buy me something before she came to pick up Chewlee but found the store closed.  She said she would stop by later but she never did.  **Sigh**  I'm just so easy to forget about.  It means nothing tomorrow because the store is closed.  It upsets me because I feel kind of like I'm a real sucker.  Oh well.  Just another disappointment.

The rest of the day, the Beast and I spent doing laundry.  I usually fold the clothes.  He usually puts the sorted clothes in the washer and, when they are done, moves them to the dryer.  Lately, however, I'm trying to make sure *I* do the drying because I'm tired of his never getting the towels fully dry.  He never checks them to make sure they are and, no matter how often I have to toss them back into the dryer and keep telling him about how damp towels are unhealthy and WILL mold, he just doesn't seem to learn that.  He's doing much better about hanging up his shirts as soon as they are dry. 

He decided to make some northern bean soup tonight for us to have for dinner tomorrow along with some corn muffins.  He bought one of those ham slices to use in the bean soup and I cut us a couple sections to fry up along with some eggs for our dinner.  Sometimes having breakfast for dinner tastes just wonderful.  We used some honey wheat bread for toast which was a perfect addition and made us feel like we were being healthier. 

I still have two more loads to do tomorrow since I decided to do the linens from the beds along with the light quilts.  We even turned the mattresses which we haven't been doing regularly for a while.  I just didn't have the strength for a long time.  But now I am happily tired and heading for bed early. 

Love you all and I hope you have a great Sunday.  Spend it with someone you love. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Sorry this is late but it's always that way when Chewlee spends the night.  We watch DVD's lately because so many of the programs on NickJr are repeats and even she has her limits.   Half of the reason *I* am tired of her choices is because her new best favorite DVD (her words) is Madagascar 3.  She loves this one character (Madamoiselle Dubois) that is the Animal Control Official in Monaco.  She's really hateable.    That's half the reason Chewlee likes her.  She does some impossible things that make her an interesting character.  You'll understand when you see it for yourself.

She got tired early but fought to stay up to watch the three movies she picked out.  Madagascar 3, Harry Potter 1 & 2.  I relented mainly because it was almost like she was seeing the movies for the first time and understanding it.  What she didn't understand, she asked about and really listened.  If I didn't explain well enough, it meant more questions so I tried hard to put things correctly into words she could understand.  But by 10:30pm, she was almost ready with another 15 minutes of the second Harry Potter movie to go.  She finally got up off my recliner, grabbed her bunny pillow pet, her blankey and her Lady Bug night light and started towards the bedroom.  Since the Beast was in bed and the lights off in the house (we DO have night lights at several strategic plugs in the living room and kitchen), I let her keep the door open and I promised her that I would come in and sleep with her when I was done with the things I wanted to do on my computer.  I do have a couple things to finish up after I do this blog and then I will crawl in with her.  She's put her pet pillow on my spot so I can sleep with it.  I know she usually sleeps on it so that is a very sweet gesture on her part.  But my sleeping with her is (to her) an important part of a sleepover.  I don't want to disappoint her.

The reason she is staying over is her mommy and daddy are having a *date* since she doesn't work tomorrow and she doesn't have any homework to do.  After the Princess got off work, she ran home and brought over Chewlee's *necessary things* like her pajamas, the pet pillow, etc.  Plus, to Chewlee's delight, she got her hugs and kisses from her mother and they talked about what they would do tomorrow after she was picked up.  A happy time with discussions about her stickers and even getting an extra one for being good for grandma.  **Grin**   I guess I'm good for more than babysitting.

Love you all.  Have a fantastic weekend.  Be careful if you are in one of the many areas that got loads of snow the past couple of days.  Drive very carefully.  I would miss you. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I found out from the Princess today that the way the teacher keeps track of when a kid is being disruptive, playing during work time, not listening, disturbing others, etc. is through a series of cards that they have under each child's name.  With a bunch of kids (especially if they are ALL having a bad day), it's the easiest way to track what codes to put on their daily reports that explain to the parent the exact reasons for the squiggly or sad face their child got.  I think it has eight cards.  When the child disbehaves (and it's more than once before the teacher does this), the proper card is pulled.  Today Chewlee had ALL her cards pulled.  ALL OF THEM.

Whether she did it on purpose or not, she had left her backpack and her folder at home.  Or, more likely, she probably thought she could do what she wanted BECAUSE she forgot her folder at home.  No folder, no report home, right?  When Chewlee first got here, she told me she got a smiley face today.  BUT....later on she started crying and told me she had been bad because her brain wasn't letting her be good.  She said she couldn't get her brain out of her head or she COULD be good.  She was sobbing at this point and I realized that she just wasn't able to lie for any length of time.  She told me she was sorry she didn't tell me she was bad because she was trying so hard to be good so she would get her sticker but (someone) started it by getting her in trouble but the teacher didn't see it.  After that, she was crying and trying to talk at the same time and it became impossible to understand her.  When I got her calmed down and not crying any more, she didn't want to talk about it.  She said it was a bad day for her and no one believed her.  I told her that she would start crying and get mad and yell and NO ONE wants to listen to a little girl who couldn't talk nicely.  She told me that her eyes always start crying because no one listens to her and she always gets into trouble even when it's not her fault. 

I copped out and said we would talk about this again on another day when she wasn't so upset.  In truth, I really wasn't sure what to say to her about that.  I remember a day when Chewlee told me about this one girl that she felt was her best friend and how she had not only been mean to her on that day but it got her in trouble.  She tried to tell her teacher but her friend lied and, when the teacher got angry with Chewlee, her *friend* stuck her tongue out at Chewlee.  It really hurt Chewlee because she couldn't understand how they could be friends and yet her friend was so mean and lied.  I spent time with her in my lap with my arm around her and she put her head in the crook of my neck while I talked to her and told her that she would find out as she grew older that sometimes people disappoint you with how they can be nice to you sometimes and then mean and ugly to you at other times.  I remember her almost yelling and saying, *But I'm a little kid and it's just not fair!*

I knew she was really, really hurt and I wasn't sure who hurt her more....her *friend* or her teacher.  She and her friend made up I think but I doubt Chewlee will trust her again if she starts acting the same way.  I told her if that happened again, that she should just walk away from her friend and be just as good as she could be and that would show the teacher who was making trouble because it would bother her friend A LOT that she walked away.  I don't know if she *got it* or not but I'll find other ways, at other times, to try to help her keep from just digging herself a deep hole by her reactions to different social problems.

When her mother came to pick her up, she was upset because the Beast hadn't been told about Chewlee's confession to me so all he knew was Chewlee had told us she got a smiley face.  The Princess was in a rush to get Chewlee home since it was so late and well past her bedtime that I didn't get to tell her about how Chewlee had told me the truth.  The Princess told Chewlee to get her shoes and she would be in the car, Chewlee started crying because she thought her mother was going to leave without her before she could get her shoes and socks on.  The Princess heard her (I was trying to help Chewlee put on her socks and kept reassuring her that her mother would NOT leave without her), came back into my room and said to her that she was just to grab her shoes and she would carry her out to the car.  At that, Chewlee popped up with her shoes in hand (but only one sock on...LOL) and ran into her mother's arms.  I don't know why she is so worried that she is going to be abandoned by her mother but she really and truly gets very fearful at times.  You can hear the terror in her voice.  It's just awful and yet I know she's been told by her mother that even when she gets mad at her, she always, always loves her.  I've told her the same thing from time to time.  Chewlee will get upset if she thinks your voice sounds *mad* even when she knows she just did something you may have told her not to do a dozen times.  I just tell her that I wouldn't have a mad voice if she wasn't doing something to make me mad.  I will never tell her she is bad because you say that to a kid often enough and they believe they are.  Then comes the *well, if everyone thinks I am bad, then why should I even try to be good* syndrome.   I won't do it. 

When my kids were young, I heard my daughters calling their younger brother *stupid* and it really ticked me off because (a) it wasn't true, and, (b) the way they said it was just so ugly.  I gathered them together and told them that from that day forward the word *stupid* was considered a swear word and if they used it, they would get their mouths washed out with soap.  My daughter, Buttmunch, didn't believe it, I guess because it wasn't more than a day or so later, I heard her call her brother stupid again.  I grabbed her arm and took her into the bathroom where I took a bar of soap and, while she was protesting, I soaped her mouth and dragged it along her teeth so it would take her some time to get it out of her mouth.  That was the only time I ever had to do that to any of my kids but I had heard from a school psychologist that when a child is told they are stupid or were called stupid all the time, they start to believe it and it affected them deeply.  Because my daughters used that term on my son (constantly I found out) with such nauseating tones of voice, I became enraged for my son.   I know it didn't stop them entirely but they sure never did it again anywhere where the Beast or I could overhear it and take action.  Like I said, that was the only time I ever did it but it sure stopped some of the abuse of my son at least.

That's why I try to carefully pick how I respond to things Chewlee might do that make me angry.  I tell her I don't like something she does and never intimate in any way that it is HER that makes me mad.  It's always that she wasn't careful, never that she is bad or dumb or stupid or any of those things it's so easy to say when you are upset over a mess they make (it cleans up and usually I just will hand her a rag and say, *You spilled it, you clean it up*) or something they've done or said.  I will always say I didn't like the way they did this or that or I don't like when they say something like this or that.  That's how they know you just don't approve of the ACTION, not them personally.

Time to get this posted.  Love you all and have a great end of the week for you Monday-Friday workers.  I hope everyone has a nice weekend. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today turned out to be kind of interesting.  Over the last several years, we have broken a sandwich plate here, a soup bowl there, a plate or two...you know how it goes.  Here we are with the Holidays coming up and we are down to four plates, five sandwich plates and four bowls to our set.  Since the house is so small, we don't have a spare set (for 16 like I had in Port Charlotte along with all the accessories possible to have...sigh).  So we were discussing buying the open stock that Walmart used to carry (I always saw it when I was shopping).  I say *used to carry* because the Beast looked and didn't find it.  I suppose it was inevitable.  If you don't get it when you see it (and need it), it's gone or discontinued when you go to buy it.

So he searched and found a set he liked and brought it home for MY opinion.    I know!  It surprised the hell out of me, too.  He had checked out the size of the soup bowls (deep enough and large enough) and the coffee cups (ditto) plus the pattern was really nice (Pfalzgraff?).  I approved when I saw it but he had only bought a set of 4 until he knew I approved of the pattern.  He considered just getting a few more plates but I wanted the sandwich plates, too, so he just bought another set.  The Princess took the old set (there were four complete settings plus a few extra soup bowls and cups) so I didn't have to worry about throwing out perfectly good dinnerware.  That always makes me feel awful.

While we were emptying out the cabinets of the old dinnerware, we decided to change out the non-skid padding I had down.  I AM trying to just clean up the really good stuff I have because Walmart doesn't carry it and I don't like what the Beast bought.  So far, cleaning it in the dishwasher looks like it will work so that makes me happy.  When the Beast got home with the second set, he had also bought six placemats.  Those will probably only be used underneath Holiday dishes we usually have more than six people here for Holiday dinners and ones we have during the spring and summer are usually much more casual and often we use paper plates.    I am going to pick up a new tablecloth since the one we have on that table is plastic and is showing signs of wear.  I want both a plastic one and a good cloth one.  My circular table I gave away along with the tablecloths for it (except for one that Bratfink made me).  I was promised that I would get that table back when they replaced it so I kept the tablecloth that she made for it in my linen closet.

This all happened AFTER Chewlee left.  Now I will relate how Chewlee surprised herself.  When she got here, she was sooooo happy.  She had not only gotten another happy face (3 in a row now) but she got to go into the Treasure box and pick a prize.  That was for reading her book.  Since today was library day for Chewlee's class, she picked out a book and wanted *us* to read it together.  I knew she really meant ME but I had a surprise for her.  WE read it together and she knew more words than she thought she did in the book.  I made her sound out the words I knew she either knew or should be able to figure out by sounding out the words.  I would point to different words I knew she DIDN'T know and we would sound them out together.  After we did it two or three times, I would point to the word and SHE would say it alone.  She also knew words that I would point to and she didn't even hesitate but said them right away.  I made a fuss over each word she recognized and said correctly.   I'm not sure how many she will retain but we will read it again tomorrow and we shall see.  I will point out different words without reading the story (kind of like a reading test) and then we will try reading it again.  I just know that when we got through with the story, she said to me, *I know a lot of words, don't I, Grandma?*  I hugged her and told her, *Yes, you do and that makes me so proud of you.*  She couldn't wipe the smile off her face for a while afterward. 

The Beast and I just put away all the washed dishes from the new set.  Well, the ones from the first load.  It includes some glasses that I know he bought just for Chewlee to use.  They are plastic but not insulated and they are slim for a child's hands.  She saw them and just fell in love with them because she KNEW they were *hers*.  She immediately wanted to have a picnic and was disappointed they had to be washed first.  She had taken the labels off the bottom of the glasses and thought that was all they needed.    She will be looking for them tomorrow when she gets here, watch and see.

I felt awful for the poor people that got hit by the *superstorm* Sandy and are in such dire straits from that.  I saw that they were getting hit with snow now.  I guess I should be grateful that it didn't hit them yesterday when it was so important to get out and vote.  They did manage to have a decent turnout, regardless of the circumstances although they will be counting votes for several days, I'm sure.   Bless their hearts and I am praying that FEMA or whatever incompetent bureau is supposedly working on helping them out gets their act together and actually does their job.  I am also sending up special prayers for those affected.  If you think of it, please remember them all in YOUR prayers.  Thank you so much.

Love you all.  Hope you had a great Hump Day and a great day tomorrow.  Drive carefully and don't forget to tell those you love that you do.  Life is short. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I hope all eligible Americans got out and voted today.  Of course, only those in Eastern and Central time zones are closed now so we won't know the real winner until very late tonight (hopefully).  If you didn't get out and vote, shame, shame.

The Princess had her meeting with Chewlee's teacher yesterday to try to come up with a plan to help Chewlee behave.  I think they might have and I am included in the whole deal.   Chewlee now has a chart.  Every day that she behaves both in school, at home AND at Grandma's, she gets a sticker in one of the spaces.  Each line has 10 spaces.  Only good days are given a sticker.  At the end of 10 times that she has a sticker, she gets a special prize or gift.  It might be a new toy, a new book, lunch at McDonald's (or her new favorite place she tells me is Red Lobster...LOL) or something else the Princess hasn't figured out yet.  But it WILL be special. 

The Princess said I might want to start something similar and have my own kind of special prize for her.  She can spend the night, have a special picnic or other treat she might specify.  I have to think about that and if it would work with what I could offer her as an incentive that also works for me.  My sister, Bee, offered her grandson these special train toys when they were trying to potty train him.  This is just as serious so I would like to find something that she wants as much as HE wanted those trains.  I could have one or two here to let her know I mean it and that might just get her more serious about earning those stickers (or stars, I was thinking).

A piece of news that took everyone, including her teacher by surprise.  Chewlee has been desperate to learn to read.  I've worked with her here on sounding out words, mostly those she mispronounces.  BUT...her mother told me that Chewlee read a story book all by herself (no one helped) and she even sounded out words she didn't know but she did know how the beginning letters sounded.  It was a simple story and sounded much like some of the early Dr. Seuss books but SHE READ IT ALL BY HERSELF!   We were all so proud of her when we were told.  She was funny when she got here today because she only mentioned it offhand and was so casual about it that it was funny.  She was more interested in showing me she got her second happy face from her teacher so far this week.  That meant she got a sticker from her mom IF she was good for Grandma (and she was).

I feel bad for Bratfink who isn't feeling very good but she DID manage to get out and vote today.   (Another reason to say *shame, shame* for those of you who weren't sick but didn't get your butts out to vote today!  Even I got up early and to my voting place before the Beast even woke up!)  I DID lay down (mostly to warm up) when I got home and took a short catnap. 

The Beast decided that I needed some exercise so he said he was going to buy a bike for me....and, by the way, you can ride your bike around the circle and exercise Baron, too.  I told him he was out of his mind.  It was too damn cold out now AND was only going to get colder.  I told him if it was too cold for him to take his mooter scooter (chewlee's name for it) out for a run when he even has a ski mask he can use and he expects ME to ride a slower *vehicle* to run Baron?  I told him NO NO NO...it isn't gonna happen in this lifetime.  He went out and bought a bike anyway.  After putting it together, he took Baron for a run.  We have a slight incline in our driveway and he barely made it up and into the garage when he got done. 

Now the circle isn't all that big....maybe a total of 2-1/2 blocks?....and our driveway is big enough to park 4 vehicles, one behind the other without squashing them together.  But, even after taking a bath and soaking his legs, he is still complaining about how much that took out of him.  We knew his left leg was weak since his strokes and I knew his right one was starting to get weak because he was showing an inclination to drag it, too, at times.  When he started to complain about his back hurting him, I was pretty sure it had to do with how his legs were weakening and the way he was walking.  Now he knows it's true that he needs to exercise. 

Me?  I get exercise with Chewlee and I work on my upper body with my weights a couple times a week.  It's starting to help on the *wings* on my arms but will take more work and more water, too.  The water helps the skin to shrink without showing any stretch marks.  Of course, I keep looking for some but my arms never did seem to gain a whole lot of weight even when I was heavier than I am now.  What I find interesting is that the exercises I AM doing is helping my abdominal muscles also.  Not a bad deal, huh?

Okay, time to get this posted.  Love you all and I hope you are having a decent week.  Tomorrow is Hump Day (mid-week for the M-F workers).  Be careful driving.  Life is short enough without taking risks. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I woke up today with thoughts full of God and this universe of ours.  Not just the Milky Way but the other galaxies that scientists have been discovering.  I've been watching many of the Discovery Channel presentations about them and how our universe came to be.  Since I believe in God, it made me think that He had an amazingly good time putting it all together.  I also believe that he didn't waste all that wonderful and amazing space and planets.  I DO believe that there is life on other planets, not just ours.  But God, in his infinite wisdom, put that life far enough apart that we could not interact because of the distances involved.

I also believe that not all life resembles us.  But I think they possess many of or all of the traits that set man apart from the animals on earth.  Love, curiosity, imagination, a thirst for knowledge, the ability to build a civilization and a society.  I think they also possess the love of God and even hate.  Love and hate seem to be two sides of a coin, which is a shame.  Or, perhaps, they live a life where there is no hate.  Wouldn't that be amazing. 

I just don't think that God would waste all those worlds and only have one inhabited planet.  It doesn't make sense to me that a God so full of love for mankind could only imagine LIFE like ours that would need just this particular planet in order to survive.  I think that life on other planets would be both different and amazing to behold.  However, God has kept us apart by distancing us and making interaction impossible.  Perhaps for good reason.

I also don't believe that God has his full attention on us all the time.  Why else would he have invented angels?  Since planets are still being produced and we have satellites that have witnessed new planets being born in distant universes, I don't think that life will be destroyed any time soon.  Our daily lives are in the hands of the angels that guard THIS universe.  Not to make us do this or that but just to be there to protect us when possible or to collect our spirit when we die. 

I don't believe that our lives are preordained when we are born.  That would mean we were fighting a losing battle by each decision we make or any changes we might attempt in our lives.  Our angels listen to our prayers and convey them when they cannot assist.  Sometimes they can help with the powers God has given them.  Other times they must seek God to see if He wishes to intervene on our behalf.  Sometimes there are miracles that happen; other times God says *No*.  Those are difficult times for us to understand but it's no harsher than when we decide to deny our children different things they might want to do or to own.  We know why we make that decision but they don't always understand.  We are God's children.

I don't believe in this hateful God that many religions preach.  Or the vengeful one that would act like a child having a tantrum.  Or one of those people that are just so full of hate, they become vicious and cause much death and destruction.  I think God is much more than a reflection of our imperfect selves.  Why religion keeps trying to make God little better than we are is beyond me.  But then, that's just MY belief.  I may not have put this perfectly but it's the first time I've even tried.

I love you all.  Have a wonderful week.  Take time to look up at the stars and realize that all the stars we can see are like a drop in the bucket. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today has not been a good day for me for several reasons.  First of all, my computer apparently got a yen for olden days and really screwed up a lot of things.  It lost programs on me, it ruined my nicely arranged bookmarks, lost folders on IT as well as many of my recent recipe additions and new bookmarks.  My wireless adapter that allowed me to use my telephone hot spot to get online took a dump and had to be replaced.  I couldn't do a system restore because the only restore point I had on my computer was the very first one that my computer made when I finally got online today.  My time was screwed up and it kept changing it on me.  All my Windows updates for the past several months are lost but...before I start redownloading them, I'm going to be doing a defrag and complete scan. 

I am trying not to get depressed over all this mess so I think I'll just call it a day in a bit and start the defrag, etc.  Love you all.  I promise to do better tomorrow.  Have a nice, calm day tomorrow. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Don't forget that today (well, at 2am they always say) is the day to turn back the clocks one hour.  Like people are going to set an alarm to 2am and then get up to turn back all their clocks.  We have this one clock that is what they call a perpetual motion clock.  I CAN turn the hands on the clock but there's no place for a battery or to wind it up.  It has this *arm* on it with four balanced balls that is responsible for keeping the clock running.  It's been running for years now and is amazingly correct.  We inherited it (were given it) from the Beast's father.  I keep waiting for it to stop but it never has.  So strange.

The Beast looks much better now and the bruise on his heel seems to be healing.  The cheeks are almost totally back to his regular skin color.  His eyes look better now and almost all the stitches have dissolved on his eyelids.  I am only applying the ointment at the outer edges of his eyes where the stitches can still be felt.  He definitely feels better and isn't scary looking any more.  Dammit.

Oh, and a word about Windows 8.  The Beast put it on one hard drive that had Windows 7 on it and all his various folders and programs.  He also put it on a clean hard drive that had nothing on it.  People, he hates it.  It's not the least bit user friendly and it's very obvious that it was designed for a touch screen.  It's adapted for use with a mouse but, since it's not user friendly and has no obvious areas to reach anything, it is like a puzzle.  Once you discover the secret of how to start reaching various things, you find that most programs now require two or three different movements to reach them.  He's decided we will keep our Windows 7 for a long, long time.  On to other things......

I feel great these days.  If I'm scary looking, it's natural.  The Beast admitted to me that the stitches from my carotid surgery made him think of the Frankenstein monster.  He's shocked at how little of it you can see now.  You really have to look.  There's some you can see at the lower part of my neck but I have to turn my head to the side for you to see it.  Chewlee thought that was *amazing*. 

About the only problem I have is the pain on the soles of my feet.  The doctor tells me it's neuropathy but I believe that it's more that I dislodged some of the bones in my feet when I fell.  All the doctors were worried about was healing the open wound on my heel and the area where the amputation of my big toe was.  I told every doctor that I really felt my feet needed to be x-rayed but that was ignored.  I'm going to insist on that when I see my regular doctor in two weeks.  I'll let him then set me up with the orthopedic doctor again only HE won't be able to ignore my request this time.  He HAD set me up with an appt. at the hospital for my feet once but, when I got there, I found out he had cancelled it until my wounds were healed (his nurse told me).  I was really upset over that because I know that it becomes more difficult to correct any displaced bones as time goes on.  Now it's been 11 months.  I'll make you a bet I'm told I will have to live with the pain.  Wait and see.

It won't be fun but it all depends on whether or not they continue my pain medication also.  Poor Bratfink should be given medication for her painful knees and ankles and I believe one hip bothers her a lot.  But do they give her pain meds?  NOT!  I think  that's incredibly cruel of them.  Of course, they would prefer surgery over living without it.  It's like they punish you for not doing what THEY want.  I've seen her when she gets up from a chair and while walking.  The pain makes her break out in a sweat and there's nothing you can do for her (unless you have a stash of good pain pills.  She has some tramadol around but it will only help get rid of a headache for her.  Not strong enough.)  I love her much and hate to know she's in pain but she says the vodka is a blessing in disguise.  A couple drinks and she no longer gives a shit about the pain.....LOL

The result is that her pain keeps her trapped at home.  She's not able to do many of the things we take for granted.  Driving, shopping, going out to eat at a restaurant.  It's an effort to go to her doctor's appointments but she grins and bears it.

Goodnight and love you all.  Stay safe, turn your clocks back and have a great Sunday. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I have this fascination with trivia.  My mind stores this trivia I hear when I think *How interesting!*  OR...*How weird!*  We had a friend of sorts that was a real snob about her going to college and having a degree and I only had a year of it.  She thought that made her smarter on some level.  It made her smarter all right.  She married a successful businessman so she didn't have to work. (However, when his business failed, she divorced him and married a VERY successful man that was older and she became a trophy wife.  Maybe she really WAS smarter...LOL)

Anyway, we also had a mutual friend that raised Persian cats and they were a wonderful line.  Her prize Persian female had a litter of cats and at a barbeque held at her house (the cat lady), we found out the cat had finally had her kittens.  She said to us....*The first one born was pure white and the vet and I were so worried about it.*  I said to her (with snob lady standing there), *Oh no!  Tell me it doesn't have blue eyes!*  Snobby says, *Why would that be so bad?*  I turned to her and said, *Because a blue-eyed, white coat Persian would be deaf.*  When Cat Lady said, *Yes, but this one doesn't have blue eyes.  I was so relieved!*  Cat Lady turned to me and in an exasperated tone of voice said, *How did you know that?  You don't raise Persians!*  I told her it was a trivia thing that I had heard years earlier and I thought it was so sad because they would have looked beautiful with blue eyes but most breeders put them down when they were born because of the deafness.  When Cat Lady told her that was true, she *humphed* and walked away while the Cat lady and I just looked at each other, shrugged and then laughed.  We didn't really like the Snob but business between our husbands brought us together at times.

Later on, I was talking to Snob's husband and we started talking about quasars which I had been reading about and I caught Snob husband staring at me.  When I asked him what was wrong, he said to me.......Wait for it........*I didn't think you would know what a quasar was let alone be able to pronounce it correctly.*  I laughed and said to him, *You know what, Snob Husband?  You are a really jerk, aren't you?*  I walked away and knew I would hear about that from my husband (the Beast) but he laughed when Snob Husband said something to him.  He never said anything about what I had called him but he did mention that when I was discussing quasars with him, he was really kind of shocked. 

The Beast said to him, *She took the Mensa test years ago and could have joined it because she scored high enough but she really didn't take the test because SHE wanted to.  She took it because the guy she was partners with in real estate wanted to take it so he could become a broker without having to take the required classes.  If he had qualified for Mensa, she probably would have joined it with him but HE didn't make it.  What do you think, Snob Husband?  Could YOU pass the Mensa test?*  He never replied but the Beast just loved the fact that he got to show Snob Husband that HE was a snob, too.

Such a trivial thing to cause a ruckus from people who think their college education means they are more intelligent than anyone who hasn't gone to college.  I took and passed the National Merit Scholarship test.  I was offered a scholarship to the college of my choice but it wasn't a full scholarship (my math score wasn't as good as it should have been).  My choice was UCLA Berkeley because it had the finest journalism course in the country at the time.  My scholarship would have paid my tuition for classes but it would have required me to pay for lodging and my books.

My father had seven children.  I was the oldest.  He couldn't afford it.  When my uncle, who lived in California and not that far away from Berkeley, told my father to let me come and live with them for a year, become a California resident (that took a year at the time) and then the scholarship amount would pay for everything for me or close enough that I could work a part time job to pay the difference.  My father refused, thank you very much.  He was really kind of old school about a lot of things but he also thought I would be too far from home and I was too young to go so far away.  I cried but I had to turn it down officially so they could use the money for someone else....  Was I bitter about it?  Well, it DID make me get married to the Beast.  I think my dad regretted not letting me go and so did I.  I wasn't bitter.  But I WAS sorry that I married the Beast.  I just regretted that I truly believed in that *till death do us part* part.  **Sigh**  Which is why the Beast and I are married for 48 years now.

I have a lot of trivia that I remember if someone brings different subjects up.  It will just *pop* into my mind and onto my tongue, sometimes before I can stop it.  It's weird and I think there's a little room in my brain with a door that's marked, *Trivia and Conversation Stoppers*. 

Okay, time to go (again).  I went to bed a bit too early and woke up to find the Beast still up and totally unaware that it was as late as it was OR that I had actually been asleep in my recliner for a few hours.  He was fiddle farting around with his new Windows 8.  He's fascinated with it.  VERY fascinated.  What's scary is he said to me, *You can tell this was really developed for a touch screen.*  I know him.  I immediately looked up a couple different sites that offer touch screens to find out prices.  The cheapest one I found was a 14-inch one for $364.  I won't tell you how high they go because I had no idea that they offered a 52 inch one you hang on your wall.  Who in the hell would want to STAND in front of a huge screen like that just because it was a touch screen?  I mean, you really can't touch it for any length of time, can you?  How long would YOU want to stand in front of one?  No thanks.  That's just dumb.  But a decent size monitor can cost almost $1000.  I kid you not.  They have laptops with touch screens that are less but they also only offer 14 inch screens.  Oh well.  It's not in MY future but it may be in the Beast's.  He's selfish like that, don't you know?

Love you all.  Going back to bed now. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Chewlee ended up her week with one frowny face, three squiggly faces and only one smiley face.  The teacher put a note in with Chewlee's papers because she wants to have a meeting with the Princess.  I noticed one interesting thing when going thru her backpack.  The teacher gave Chewlee an activity type book that is more advanced than normal for a kindergarten kid.  I think she knows that Chewlee is bored and the reason she will play or not do certain things is because she already knows what the other kids in the class are just learning.

When her mother was admonishing her over her not listening and not following directions, she brought Chewlee to tears because she said, *You want to learn to read but, guess what?  If you aren't listening to the teacher, you won't learn to read and they will keep you in kindergarten with the babies.*  Chewlee started bawling and saying, *But I WANT to learn to read.  I don't want to be a baby!*  It was really heartbreaking to hear her but...it's true.  If she doesn't listen, she'll never learn to read because mixed in with the things Chewlee already knows are new things related to reading.

The Princess will forgive Chewlee one non-smiley face and do something fun with her on Saturday mornings and then they will often go out to lunch before it's time for Chewlee to come stay with me.  But Chewlee knew she had blown it this week and said to me, *I'll do better next time.*  When I told her that she had said that too many times now and I really didn't think she meant it because just look what her folder SHOWED me about her behavior.  She got mad and said, *I WILL do better on Monday.  Watch and see, Grandma.*  I told her then that she could have a sleepover the very first time she got smiley faces for a whole week.  She's been wanting to have one for a while now but I have put her off due to the Beast's surgery on his eyes (the cataract and the eyelid problem), my surgery on my abdominal/hip area and before that, the cleaning of my left carotid.  That's about a month's time and it's very unusual for her not to stay over at least once or twice during a month.

When the Princess told her that it looked like she (the Princess) would have to come to her class and watch her, Chewlee wailed again.  She said she didn't want her mother to come and sit in her class.  The Princess asked if any of her friends mothers had to come to class to make sure they behaved, Chewlee shook her head *no* and cried more.  I was thinking about it and realized that, for over a week, we've been really rough on this kid.  She's been chewed out over her squiggly faces and the reasons the teacher gave for it from both me and her mother (and probably Johnnycakes, too).  I figured I have to tell her some good things she does, too so I made sure to thank her when she was really helpful.  I meant to tell that to the Princess, too, but forgot due to her being upset with Chewlee (and I brought the workbook to her attention and told her I thought the teacher knew Chewlee was bored, too).

Well, I'm tired and want to go to bed early so I will sign off with *Love you all* and get this posted.