TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today was Chewlee’s last day of school.  It was only a half day so she got to spend a couple hours with her mom before she was dropped off here.  When I thought about it, I realized that the Princess works a double tomorrow so it seemed rather silly for her to pick up Chewlee after work and then have to drop her off early tomorrow.  So I called and asked the Princess if she wanted me to just keep Chewlee for the night.  Without any hesitation, she said, *Sure*.  Of course, I told her I would ask Chewlee if she wanted to stay for a *sleepover* and she jumped at the chance.  She only regretted not having her ladybug dream light.

The Princess knew Chewlee would be happy to stay over and sent a message that her *other* papa was coming to visit tomorrow so she would have another sleepover tomorrow night.  She told me, *I DO miss my mommy.*  I knew she would.  She’s definitely a momma’s girl.

She was in a great mood.  We had a lot of rough housing with kisses on her face and neck.  She finally told me I had to stop or she would get the hiccups.  When she gets VERY tickled and laughs from her belly, she ALWAYS gets hiccups.  I love to hear that laugh but I do feel bad about the hiccups.  They are very deep ones and I know those hurt!

She colored a picture of an elf she had left here.  She had brought her *treasure chest*, which had crayons, markers and some lip gloss in it.  She then drew a picture of a picnic on the grass and herself standing next to it.  She was waiting for me, she said. 

She took a short bath (for her) and got to watch one more cartoon show on NickJr. before Nick Mom came on.  It’s all shows for just moms, no kids allowed.  I used that as my cue for putting her to bed.  Eventually, Baron came in and plopped down on the floor next to the bed to keep her company.  Hell, I think HE liked the company more. 

It rained here last night.  The rain came down so hard on that side of the house it woke me up.  The idea of that kind of force kept me from going back to sleep until the rain became more gentle.  But waking up to go to the bathroom was just as bad a sleep interrupter.  I tried coffee to wake up but three hours of sleep just wasn’t cutting it and the coffee doesn’t wake me up like it does some people.  I can drink coffee right up to bedtime and go to sleep.  I guess I qualify as a coffee addict.

We have a Bunn coffee maker and I love it.  It was expensive but it’s lasted us over 8 years so far.  We would have gone through several of any other kind so it works out on the money angle.  It makes a pot of coffee in just about 4 minutes, maybe 5.  I just know it’s quick.  We have one that pours into a thermal pot and there’s no heat plate on the bottom of it.  It keeps the coffee nice and hot for a couple hours.  If I put a dishtowel over the lid to cover the openings for pouring in and out, it keeps it VERY hot for almost four hours.  I love it.  I told the Beast that, if it ever goes out on us, we ARE buying another one just like it.  I have the Bunn website in my favorites under Things To Buy just for that reason. 

I knew Chewlee was tired because she gave me no argument; just a small wish for her ladybug.  I left the closet light on for her with the door cracked open and the door into the guest room cracked open, too.  There, again, was no argument.  I checked a few minutes ago and she’s sound asleep.  I’ll bet you that Baron will crawl up on the bed once he’s sure she’s asleep.  He’ll curl up next to her and make it tough for me to get into bed with her…..because I promised!  If she wakes up and I’m not in bed with her, she will be disappointed AND she won’t believe my promises to her easily.  So far, I haven’t disappointed her.  I hope I never do, regardless of the reason.

It’s going down to around 26 degrees tonight so the Beast put the little heater on in the guest room.  Chewlee is one of those that gets very hot when she sleeps.  She would make a good Sherpa in those icy mountains.  The Beast claims I do the same thing in the winter so it may be a genetic quirk, who knows?  He has always liked curling up with me during the winter when he’s cold.    Tonight he won’t get the chance unless he climbs into bed with me AND Chewlee (and probably Baron, too) 

Love you all.  Stay warm.  Making pecan cups tomorrow and going to let Chewlee help until the Beast has to take her up to her mom’s work to meet up with her *other* papa. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Yeah, it was one of THOSE days.  I couldn’t sleep last night for long due to my sinuses dripping down the back of my throat.  I was up coughing, hacking and blowing my nose…A LOT!  Then my tummy started in growling and suddenly…a quick dash to the potty to try to make it before my butt blow up.  I didn’t make it a couple times.  **Sad face**

I was miserable.  I finally, in desperation, took some of the Beast’s Robitussin and, either it worked, or I was just exhausted.  The Beast actually came in to check on me around 12:30pm or so.  I got up, took some tylenol and went back to bed for about another three hours.  I woke up feeling stuffed up and groggy.  The Beast took pity on me and went and got me some OTC stuff to try to help out.  I definitely needed the stuff for my IBS (Irritable Bowel Syndrome).  Then…shock, surprise!  Chewlee shows up.  After talking to the Princess (who was waiting for her to show up at their house), we couldn’t figure out why she was dropped off here.  Chewlee said the bus driver didn’t know where he was supposed to bring her so they figured on Wednesday it was usually Grandma’s day.  Better safe than sorry.  The Princess later confessed she had run back in the house to the bathroom and thought she was quick enough not to have missed the bus go past.  She was wrong, obviously. 

But Chewlee emptied her bag out that she got from her party to look at and show me all she had gotten.  She got a LOT of stuff but she said that everyone did.  She got a ballet barbie (wonder who knew that would be loved), a Santa Pez dispenser, a stuffed buzzard that she kept calling a turkey, a bunch of pencils with Christmas patterns AND a pencil sharpener.  Guess who got to sharpen them?    She got some Christmas erasers.  A big Christmas coloring and activity book.  Crayons.  Candy canes.  A filled candy cane that she wants to hand on her tree.  Two ornaments that she made for their tree…one the standard popsicle stick one and the other a metallic one with a handprint wrapped around it and glitter on it.  And a shit load of candy in a big Christmas stocking with her name on it.  Oh yeah.  Sugar shock ahead. 

First the Princess takes Chewlee home and then, shortly after, she’s back again because the Princess wanted to go to the gym before it got dark.  This time, however, Chewlee tried to take care of me, which I thought was cute.  She told me, *Come and lay down in your chair for a while, Grandma!*   I told her I had to sit up for a while but I told her that she was so sweet to worry about me.  She just said, matter of fact, *That’s because I love you* and she came and gave me a hug.

Her mother only goes to the gym for an hour so, when I figured her mother would be leaving, I had her pick up all her stuff off the floor so she would be ready when her mother got there.  The Princess, however, called to ask if Chewlee had eaten and I told her that she hadn’t because we hadn’t eaten yet.  So we ended up all getting something from McDonald’s.  Chewlee brought mine into me so I didn’t have to go out where it was cold.  **Grin**  Her words.  She even asked if I needed more coffee.

After they left, I dosed myself up again.  I think I could take an endoscopic exam right now with no problem.  I need the antihistamine to get to work fastest.  My sniffer is getting sore.  I will probably go to bed early tonight with hopes that I feel better tomorrow.  I’ll let you know (Like you care…LOL).  I need to be well enough to start on the nut cups.

Well, enough misery with a short, happy time spent with a happy Chewlee.  Oh, btw, Chewlee could have left with her mother after the party (yes, Mommy attended) but she wanted to stay for the rest of the day to play with the other kids that stayed.  Which is why the mixup with the bus driver took place, I’m sure.

Love you all.  Have a great day.  We are down to the wire now so shop, shop, shop if you must! 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I am on a kind of mini-vacation with the Princess on break from college.  Her work schedule remains the same so I’ve not had Chewlee for two days and won’t have her tomorrow either.  I’m hoping to get out and do a little Christmas shopping.  Some I did online but I need to get to Walmart for a couple things.  The Beast is bad about the idea of my driving but I am hoping he plans on being gone for a bit so I can slip out and do what I need.  Otherwise, I may try to get the Princess to *go out to lunch* with me.  Then I can also get to the liquor store to pick up some liquor that I need.  The Beast found the BEST egg nog around here (Farm Stores in Florida have the best on earth…when they have it.  Lots of cream in it!  Yum.)  BUT…it calls for some rum or a good whisky or bourbon to make it heavenly.

What has really been nice is that I’ve gotten all my clothes washed, dried and put away.  I even folded up a load of clothes for the Beast.  Other than carrying in the basket, he left me alone to watch my favorite DVD’s.  I love it.  I enjoy my company.  **Grin**  Of course, I do get the occasional times that he just HAS to come into my computer room to tell me something he heard on the news or some comment about the football game he’s watching.  I’m sure you know what I mean.  But, other than that, he’s kept himself busy baking.  This time he made a fudge marble cake.  He also made a pineapple upside down cake for a friend who has company at his house.  I’m going to be making up some of my nut cups to take to the Princess’s house on Christmas eve and a plate of them she can give to Johnnycakes grandmother as a gift.  The grandmother always has lots of company during the Holidays so she would probably appreciate the gesture.

I’ll make them sometime in the next couple of days.  I think the Beast is almost done for a while with HIS baking.  That’s only because we have run out of room with what he’s already made.  We have a selection sitting around here now.  The Princess is trying to lose a couple pounds and yells at him for trying to fatten her up.  He’ll probably finally make the bean soup he’s been threatening to make either tomorrow or on Thursday.  I’m trying to talk him out of it so I can make my split pea soup.  Having both in the house would be wasteful because the Beast doesn’t do a lot of leftover eating so we always have a lot of his soup hanging around.  *I* am not going to eat all of it, trust me.  I emit WAYYYYY too much gas with it.  Even the pea soup does that to me.  I even get the *granny farts* at times and I hate those.  You can’t take a step without the tell-tale sounds and that’s so embarrassing.  I have wondered if that product, Beano is the name I think, really works.  Maybe I should pick some up and try it out.  It might be worth it. 

The Princess was talking about her helping me to make the nut cups.  She told my sister, Bee, not to make the bottoms too thin.  Bee thinks she made them too thick the first time as a result.  However, it’s all trial and error with those.  She made some fruit cups (I don’t remember just what she called them but they remind me of kolacky) so she’s had lots of practice with the crusts now.  The dough for both things is the same and she used the mini-cupcake pans for those, too.  They looked delish and it made me wonder why I never did any of them.  I always made regular kolacky…the cookie type.  I used to make the Princess do the cups while I put together the pecan filling for them.  It was partly because I used to have long nails and you can’t really do the cups when you have those.  I know I couldn’t do them correctly.  Nowadays, I have no such problem. 

I’m making my sweet potato casserole to take to the Princess’s house.  That was a request from her.  I have one covered casserole dish left so it will work out well.  I might wait to put the marshmellows on top until I get to her house.  She’ll have had the oven on and it won’t need long in the oven.  It just seems like a smarter thing to do so that the topping is hot, too.  Yeah, I think that’s what I should do.

Love you all.  I’m going to take a little nap now and then try to finish up my game on Pogo.  I’m playing a Clue game.    It’s actually a hidden object game but it’s fun to do for me.  Chewlee finds the objects much faster than I do but she always wants to do it herself so it’s not fun for me, too.  Except that I love to see her be so serious and actually doing it herself.  So I’m conflicted!  What the hell….aren’t we all at one time or another?   

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

When my kids were young and I had excess energy, I used to do a lot of baking.  I also made donuts.  Mostly crullers because they were easy.  Easier than donuts which my kids could eat unendingly and did.  It wasn’t really appreciated (the work it took) but that didn’t matter to me.  It gave me satisfaction that I made something from scratch and my kids loved what I made.  It was fun for me.  I had hopes that they would remember and do things like it for THEIR kids.  The Beast, even then, was a cake and pie lover.  Me?  I almost never ate sweets but I loved how people enjoyed the things I made.

I made a lot of bundt cakes and got creative with them.  I did some with custardy (pudding) cores.  I even made ones with cream cheese fillings that always shocked me at how they always managed to find the center of the cake even though the filling started off as dollops dropped on the top (actually the bottom) of the cake before you popped it in the oven.  I made cheese cakes from scratch that seemed to weigh 10 lbs (I said SEEMED) and had the Sara Lee type of sour cream topping on it.  I made cherry cheese cake (a snap when you can use the canned cherry filling…LOL) and even pineapple cheese cake.  I enjoyed watching it disappear almost as fast as it cooled enough to eat.

So, in some ways, I understand the Beast doing all the baking and deep frying of the different cakes he’s been making and the donuts.  He’s just going through a phase I would have loved when our kids were young.  He, however, was never *into* our kids.  He really didn’t LIKE kids.  You would have thought he leaped into the world full-grown by his reaction.  He accepted the kids as his responsibility BUT he always let them know he never wanted them.  I never understood his cruelty that way.  I never lied to him about MY wanting kids.  We DID discuss it a lot and he always led me to believe he wanted kids, too.  I thought he would be a better father because he had the bad example of how HIS father treated HIM to draw on.  He should have wanted to be a BETTER father than his was.  Alas!  He seemed to think, from his actions, that his father’s way was the ONLY way to raise a kid (or kids).  I should have divorced him when he first showed his true self to me.  But I was dumb and in love and thought it would change.  It never did.

IF he had even TRIED to get to know his kids, he would have found out they were fun and interesting almost as much as they were frustrating.  I even enjoyed their friends.  But that’s not what I wanted to discuss here so I will let that rest right now.  Sorry to even bring that up.

So now the Beast, who is almost 70, has found a new thing he’s experimenting with and trying to perfect.  I told you about some of his donut experiences a week or so ago.  Now it seems that he’s finally found a really good recipe.  I’ll admit it’s very tasty and light.  He brings them to me to try, of course.  I had four *testers* eager to be the guinea pig when I was baking and frying.  The Beast even went out and bought a pastry bag to make donut drops and other shapes of donuts.  He (and I) both think that THESE donuts Chewlee will love.  I told him he needs to make a light icing similar to the donuts he buys from Walmart because she LOVES those most of all.  He’ll be trying that out, too, I’m sure.

He bought a cruller tray that he can just lay the dough in and let rise and it will have the *shape* of the cruller instead of making the dough twists like *I* did.  Whatever works!  They didn’t have those when I was young and had so much excess energy.  You did what you had to in order to make the things you wanted…just like at a bakery.  Hell, I even made bread.  The Beast and the kids all loved my Italian/French breads.  I loved to make it when we had my *Irish* spaghetti.  Irish spaghetti is what my brother called it because he had an Italian/Polish first wife and she made *real* Italian spaghetti.  Mine had green peppers, onions and mushrooms in it as well as diced tomatoes.  I never used tomato paste because it was so damned sweet to me but preferred tomato sauce.  I also mixed my ground beef with Italian sausage to make it go further with my family of six plus whatever kids were hanging out at our house at any particular time. 

The problem with the Beast is that he makes enough for an army and there are just the two of us.  You can’t count Chewlee because she can be very fussy about her food at times.  I only got her to eat pork (and ham sometimes) because I called it *pig chicken*.  She now likes pork chops because she just thinks it’s a different kind of chicken.  My dad used to call it that so it’s a kind of *family tradition* we used to get kids to try something new.

Right now, there are about two dozen various shaped donuts sitting on a plate covered with saran wrap on my counter.  I need that like a hole in my head.  I’m diabetic and they are just covered in sugar.  I don’t even want to think about the carbs, fat and sugar in them.  The Beast has managed to almost finish off the pineapple upside down cake he made the other day.  He’s planning on making more because he bought three boxes of pineapple cake mix and more pineapple slices.  We already have more brown sugar than I can believe and two new jars of maraschino cherries.  **Insert eye roll here** 

Love you all.  Gotta go for now.  Have a really great week and I hope we all survive Friday. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It was another bright and sunny day here….NOT!  We woke up to rain which sent us right back to bed for a while.  I heard the storm coming in last night.  Lots of boomers but I was tired so they didn’t bother me.  But, until I actually got up and saw the rain on the deck out back, I had forgotten that boomers normally mean RAIN.  DUH!

I ended up sleeping until almost noon.  *Color me red*  The Beast actually woke me up with his noise closing the doors of his *dress up* closet.  He managed to get to church on time and it gave me plenty of time to wake myself up and grab something to eat.  After the Beast got home, he went in to check his email, then talked me into cutting up some strawberries to use for shortcake later.  He even ran up to Walmart to get some more after Chewlee got here.

Chewlee was sick.  The Princess didn’t even have to tell me (but she did) because of the way Chewlee acted.  She went right into my room and sat in my recliner quietly.  She had a sandwich her mother had gotten her from Subway because neither of us had any lunchmeat and Chewlee wanted either a salami or bologna sandwich.  When given the choice, she went for salami.  All it had on the bread was salami and pickles.    I know!  Made me pucker, too.  I made her a napkin from a dishtowel and opened the sandwich on her lap.  She also had apple slices and some strawberry milk.  She did a pretty good job on the sandwich, ate quite a few of the pickle slices and took a couple of sips of her milk.  I wasn’t worried about the milk since she didn’t have a fever.  But she had me wrap up the rest of her pickles and sandwich and I put it away for her to finish later (which is what she TOLD me I had to do…she didn’t want it thrown out).  I did forget to put her apple slices away so, later, she had to put them in the fridge.  I put her milk in the fridge for her with the sandwich and she did eat it later.

She decided she wanted to watch her cartoons on the big TV in the living room.  She went and asked him herself because she can be very smart that way, especially when it’s obvious she’s not feeling well.  Of course, he let her.  I covered her up since she said she was cold.  I asked her if she wanted something to drink (before I started cutting up strawberries) and she wanted her milk.  I got that set up for her and even gave her a strawberry that I sugared for her.  I was a bit shocked that she didn’t want more (more proof she wasn’t well) strawberries but she laid down, under the quilt, and watched her cartoons.  I was to see real commercials, aimed at parents (toilet cleaner) on NickJr.  I’ve noticed the past week or so that they’ve had generic toy ads on with no connection to any stores but, as the Beast said, *Hey!  It’s Christmastime.  They are all on the money bandwagon.*  Too true.

I kept a check on her because I knew the Princess would be calling to see how she was doing.  I could tell when she was starting to feel more like herself because she started popping out of the chair and coming into my computer room to *chat*.  After a while, she was in here more than out there so we decided to surprise the Beast (who wasn’t back from the store yet).  We turned on his football game so it would be on when he came home.  Chewlee couldn’t WAIT to see his face when he got home and, sure enough, she ran out to see it when she heard him come in from the garage.  She wasn’t disappointed.  The Beast played it to the hilt because he KNEW she was the one who gave up the TV for him.  He knew the football was MY idea but I told him Chewlee knew what he watched.  She had said we had to put it on to surprise him.  THAT surprised him!

Since she was feeling better, I warmed up my room a bit more and let her take a bath.  She played for a while then told me she was ready for me to wash her hair.  This time, *I* got to wash the top, too.  Usually, she divides up the washing.  She scrubs the top (I watch to make sure she does a good job) and I do the bottom and all the long hair.  **Smile**  We divide up the cream rinse, too, in the same way.  Today, she only participated in the cream rinse portion.  When she was ready to get out of the tub after she got to play a little longer, I came in to dry her, wrap her up in the towel and then she lays down on my recliner, still wrapped in the towel until she is nice and warmed up (which is why I turned up the heater in my room…no drafts).  After she got her pajamas on, she did a short rock and roll session for me and then a rock and roll ballet.  Halfway through, she joined in singing the Blue Mermaid song on TV and then another one that was being sung by Dora.

The Princess called and wanted to make sure Chewlee was okay, asked if she had eaten her sandwich (I gathered she was sick yesterday and threw up what little she ate) and then asked if I thought she would be okay to go to school tomorrow.  I told her she would have to wait and see but I thought she would.  She was surprised to find out I had already made sure Chewlee had bathed.  Chewlee heard me talking to her mother and asked what her mother had said.  I told her, especially the part about whether or not she would be okay to go to school.   Chewlee wanted to go to school so she agreed with me.  *She* being Chewlee.

The Princess got off work early, probably because she was worried about Chewlee and needed to check on her herself.  Although not as exuberant as she usually gets when her mother comes for her, it was good enough for the Princess. 

It was raining when the Princess got here so, of course, Chewlee wanted to hold the umbrella.  The Princess told her she couldn’t and Chewlee wanted to know why.  The Princess told her, *Because I’m much taller than you are so *I* have to hold it over YOU so you won’t get wet.*  Chewlee couldn’t argue with that reasoning but I know she really wanted to. 

I had been talking with my son, Mustachio (who, btw, has shaved off his mustache but the name persists), on an IM about various things, mostly about when he and his siblings were young.  Some good things, some bad, some just sad.  C’est la vie.  I had stopped when I went to make something to eat for dinner and then discovered my back was not finding a comfortable way to sit.  I finally packed it in, told Bratfink I was going to lay down and let my pain pill take effect while she kept the Internet going.   

I ended up falling asleep, which seems to be happening lately even though these are very mild.  I guess it’s because I’m just not using them like I used to when I had much more pain.  I’m using them less and less so my body’s just not used to them any more.  I slept for two hours and woke up after 11pm here (after midnight Eastern time).  It took longer for me to realize I hadn’t done my blog.  **Color my face red**  Sorry ’bout that.

Love you all.  Gonna get this posted before I fall asleep again.  Hope you had a good weekend and an even better week. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It had all the earmarks of being a great day.  It was bright and sunny, warmer and the Beast slept in because he had a bad night.  Even Baron didn’t have a good night.  He woke me up twice (and you will discover how bad THAT was..) because he heard something outside once and just barked and howled.  The other time, he actually wanted me to go into the bedroom instead of sleeping on my recliner.  The NOIVE of that dog! 

The first thing that kept me from really enjoying the day was that fact that *I* had a bad night and falling asleep was the biggest difficulty.  I damn near was asleep when Baron started barking, loudly, and howling.  He scared the hell our of me and woke me up.  Around the time I was almost asleep again, he came into my room, banged the door open and then barked in my ear.  After that, there was no getting around it.  I was up for several more hours.  I finally fell asleep sometime after 8:30am or so and that wasn’t for long.  I took a series of short, unfulfilling naps that just took the edge off of my need. 

The second thing, which probably was hand in glove with the first problem, was an IBS attack.  (Irritable Bowel Syndrome)  That also gave me a stomach (bowel) ache which was tough to take.  It leaves you with little to no appetite and, as a diabetic, that is NOT a good thing.  But I weathered it all mostly due to the fact that we didn’t get Chewlee today.  I halfway expected to get her a half day at least but either the Princess or Johnnycakes must have had off work and kept her home.  That’s as far as I know.  If she called to tell the Beast that, he never shared it with me.  He’s like that.  You’d think he entertained her instead of me.  *I* am the one that spends the time with her.  Except for when they go to church, of course.  But otherwise, he spends more time making her unhappy or yelling at her.  His little *gifts* are more guilt presents than real gifts in the manner that you or I would give them.  But c’est la vie! 

I did have time to notice the warmer weather and I even got some of the nice breeze on my face letting Baron out into the back yard (and back in).  The Beast made a butter pecan cake today and used the frosting for German chocolate cake on it along with some pecan halves as his little flourish.  It was good although, forgive me, but I just ate the half pecans and tried one bite of the cake.  Then I hid it in my garbage can so I wouldn’t hurt his feelings.  He really has no clue what IBS does to me.

I’m going to just take it easy for a while and relax now that I seem to have run out of *ammunition*, so-to-speak.  My poor butt is sore at this point. 

Love you all.  Have a wonderful Sunday.  Wrap those presents….finish that shopping….and get the damn tree up if you haven’t! 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

We all overeat (and know it) during the Holiday Season but I didn’t want to start so early.  But today the Beast threw our ham in the oven so I just had to make mashed potatoes and gravy.  Then he decided to make a surprise dessert….he made some sweet biscuits, cut up strawberries and remembered to buy whipped cream so guess what dessert was?  OY!  I have a stomach ache right now.  That’ll teach me.

Chewlee left her backpack on the bus so there was no way I could confirm what she got for her day today.  I know the backpack will be turned in at the school and I believe the Princess has the teacher’s cell phone number so she will be able to find out.  I tried the *Santa knows* card but she still insisted (to me) that she got a smiley face.  We’ll see.

Tara stopped by today and was all worried about her mother who had that tumor on her neck.  It was removed and she’s fine now…with that but the doctor found a spot on her lung she’s worried about.  I told her that there’s only a few things they will do about that.  Take a needle biopsy…wait for a bit to see if it gets bigger…test to make sure it’s not TB.  They won’t just jump in and do surgery without knowing what the spot is.  Sometimes the spots are from something like Valley fever but I haven’t heard of that being a problem in Florida.  She’s going to call her mother tonight (if she hasn’t already) now that she knows she has her voice back since I talked to her a couple weeks ago.

Tara borrowed our big suitcase for her son, Keith, to use when he goes to visit his father.  She bought him his ticket today since she’s decided she just can’t cope with a long drive during the Holidays after all.  I rather think it’s just that this is the first Christmas without Kevin and she would rather not rain on anyone’s parade while she tries to cope with it.  Whatever she needs to do, it is what it is and I’m here for her if she just wants to be held and rocked.  I imagine Chance will spend at least a few hours with his dad, Tonto, so she will have any alone time she needs.

Me?  I’ll be here with the Beast, alone, with his *bah-humbug* spirit gone wild.  Luckily, I can shut myself into my room, hopefully with a bottle of vodka and some mixer and can just chill while I play some games online.  I’m not making a Christmas dinner since the family here is kind of fractured this year.  I’m sure my Chewlee and the Princess will stop by for a bit on their way to Johnnycake’s grandmother’s house.  That way, they don’t have to worry about rushing from one place to another.  Christmas should be a day to relax and enjoy good company, don’t you think?

Well, I’m going to go rest this full belly and hope I feel better shortly.  I need to take a decongestant, too.  Damn nose won’t stop running around the house with me.  Love you all.  Have a great weekend. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast is still on his baking and cooking mode.  Yesterday he made bean soup as well as strawberry cake with real strawberry icing.  It was supposed to be frosting but he didn’t take into consideration the amount of moisture in the strawberries.  But it was good, nonetheless. 

Today he made a pineapple upside down cake.  Also delish but how can you ruin that?  It’s simple enough and he followed the recipe for once without embellishment.  Chewlee was interested in it.  I found her picking a bit of it off the edges.  She REALLY wanted the maraschino cherry in the center of one of the pineapple rings.  I didn’t let her take one.  I told her if she ate a whole piece, she could have one then.  I made sure there were plenty of rings since he made it in a 9×13″ pan instead of making two in cake pans. 

Chewlee got a smiley face…finally.  Her first of the week.  Yeah, it’s been squiggly faces until today.  Squiggly faces are for days they are naughty but not bad.  I wish we could find a way for her to stop talking so much.  I can’t believe she wants that much attention.  She sure gets it here.  But maybe that’s why she likes being here so much.    I hadn’t thought about that before.

Today she wrote me a *letter*.  It said, *I luv you, Chewlee*  As much as I tried to get her to write *love*, she persists with *luv*.  She told me, *I write it the way it SOUNDS, Grandma!*  I hung it up on my wall to the left of my desk.  Call me sentimental. 

Chewlee can be so funny.  Tonight is the regular night for the Beast’s bible study and she didn’t want to be left behind.  She told him, *God wants me to go with you.  HE loves little kids.  And I can see Birdie while I am there, too.  I’ll be good, Papa.  I promise!*

He wants to take her with him but she has a hard time sitting still a lot of the time.  Or she asks questions in a very loud voice when other people are talking.  She HAS been doing better lately, though.  That’s partly due to Birdie’s influence.  She really does have a way with kids.  So she got to go with him tonight.  She even had me put her hair up in a *long* pony tail, although she complained that I didn’t put it up high enough.  But it looked a lot neater and she likes swishing it back and forth on her neck and shoulders.

She has school until her half day on the 20th.  The class Christmas party is on Wednesday and they get to wear pajamas.  They will watch a Christmas movie in the morning and, around 11am, the party starts and parents are invited.  I think the Princess is going to go.  Chewlee will love that.  She adores having fun with her mother there with her.

Time to go, again.  Tomorrow we are making a ham.  The Beast even remembered to pick up some gingerale.  He complained that it was really tough to find some.  It’s not really a popular item these days although I love it with vodka.   

Love you all.  Have a great Friday. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

So here it is, getting damn close to Christmas and I have exactly ONE present bought.  I think I’m going to have to hop online and order the rest of what I need to buy.  Mainly because the Beast is still fighting me about driving the car and, right now, he feels if he keeps me from it, he can keep me from buying any presents at all.  Silly man, he knows I have ordered things from online.  And right now, there are a lot of bargains, including free shipping.  So I know what I will be doing the next few days.  Although I would like to see if maybe my granddaughter is planning on a shopping trip any time soon.  Probably not since I think she’s got all her shopping done already.  She has a stack of boxes in my guest bedroom that she hasn’t attempted to get yet so those aren’t wrapped.  I know why ONE of them is still here and probably will be until the last minute but I won’t say who it’s for or why it will be here until them. 

I still have to put up my tree in my computer room before Chewlee starts pulling it out of my closet.  She’s already started going through my Christmas storage box whenever she can.  I finally pulled out my Christmas cards so I can send out the couple of cards I really have to. 

I only had Chewlee tonight for a little over an hour and a half while her mother went to the gym to work out.  What a time for her to worry about putting on a few pounds!  Chewlee arrived with her McD’s chicken nugget happy meal so she sat quietly and ate while she watched cartoons.  She ate a big forkful of my strawberry cake the Beast made, pronounced it good but said she had enough because she was full.  She must have been because all she had after that was the egg nog she had asked for to go with her happy meal.  She’s usually a real eating machine after school.

I had kind of a bad day with my neuropathy in my feet.  They really hurt me and no apparent reason why.  I hate taking the pain pills because they seem to put me to sleep lately.  Maybe it’s the combination of the pill and the cold.  I hate being cold so I get under the covers and, once I am warm, I fall asleep easily.  The pain pills help not only my feet but also my left hand that suffers from arthritis since it was broken by Baron five years ago.  Long story but it required surgery to fix.  Now it pains me when it gets cold.  End story.

Love you all but don’t delay if you haven’t already gotten your gift shopping done.  It’s best if you don’t try to get it all done at once.  That way you don’t get all cranky. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today we were really forced into doing something we had to because of all the stuff that the Beast has bought in the past couple weeks.  Yes, I said weeks although just the stuff from the last couple of days is enough to make you throw your hands up in the air and scream. Let me refresh your memory:  a stand mixer, two 9×13 cake pans, a set of measuring cups, a set of measuring spoons, a large sifter (I have a smaller one), a set of muffin cups, a heavy duty aluminum cookie sheet, a Dutch oven (it’s really just a big heavy chili pot to him), a cake holder (our cupcakes are in it at the moment), and a bunch of *organizers* that he thought we needed.  His thought was really for the junk drawer (we all have those…LOL).

To prevent him for throwing away things we actually need just because he doesn’t use them or recognize them, I helped out.  He damn near threw out my food mill that I use for canning because he didn’t know what the hell it was.  I managed to get him to put it out in the garage with my canning stuff.  I finally wouldn’t let him decide on what stayed in the house, what could go out in the garage and what could/should be thrown out.  It gave me a headache because the Beast kept asking me why I wanted this or that.  I finally snapped and told him that he would understand in his next life when he was a woman if there was any justice!  He looked at me like I was nuts but I really didn’t care at that point.

Chewlee showing up was a relief.  Of course, SHE wanted to help but, as I was trying to sort things out, she was trying to *help* by throwing things in the garbage.  When I yelled at her, she told me I made her tummy hurt.  I told her I was sorry, that I was just a bit frustrated. Then I gave her a hug but told her that I would hand her the things that needed throwing away.  That made her happy again.  BUT, then I had to explain what *frustrated* meant.    At least she waited until I had sat back down and taken a drink of coffee.  I was thinking, *Damn!  I need some Mudslide…or some damn vodka* and she comes up with that!   Try explaining to a five year old what frustrated means so that you see that look that comes over their face when they really DO understand.  It’s not easy.

She also had entertained me earlier with a ballet and then some singing she called Rock & Roll but it was almost a lullaby-like song.  One of her making, of course.  Sometimes, her songs are rather cute and she does a lot of rhyming that I don’t think is intentional when she starts out.  Other times, it is more a repeating of key words that’s almost hypnotic.  But I enjoy it all just because it’s so damn cute.

Well, it’s cool again.  Here it is, 8:45pm and the temperature is 30 degrees.  The humidity is high (92%) so the wind chill is CHILLY!  I think it said it was 26.  BUT…the temperature is supposed to go down to around 20-24, depending on where you are in altitude.  We’re around 3300 ft. so it will probably get down to 20 degrees before the sun comes up.  Don’t worry.  My room is already warmed up to a comfortable sleeping temperature so I’ll be fine.

Love you all.  Have a great day tomorrow.  Be careful even on public transportation.  Watch your purses and wallets.  Pickpocketing increases at this time of year.