TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Leave it to Chewlee to create a problem at school.  I told you about her causing a ruckus a few weeks ago when she tried to go home with her best friend.  It made all the buses late because they had to call the parents to find out what was going on and if they wanted Chewlee to go home with her BFF. 

Well, today the two girls tried the opposite scenario and Chewlee tried to bring her BFF on HER bus.  Bratfink said to me, *Was she kidnapping her?*  It caused a ruckus again, buses late because parents had to be called, the girls upset and Chewlee had a fit and tore up a spiral notebook of her teachers.  Of course, when Chewlee got home, she said she wasn't just tearing out papers.  She was cutting out some to draw on.  Since I let her cut the pages out of her spiral notebook, it gave me pause but she hadn't asked her teacher's permission AND it didn't happen as part of the bus scenario.  That was earlier in the day.

The bus driver told the Princess if it happens again, Chewlee can't ride the bus any more.  Ut oh!  Now we took this seriously and had a talk with her when she got here then called her mother and let her mother talk to her.  She was a very chastened little girl.  Just between us, what we have here is two little girls that want to have a sleepover together and no parent is taking this seriously.  As 5-1/2 yr olds, the girls think that if they just show up, then they can have their sleepover and go to school the next day.  Little kid thinking.  If the two mothers would get together and talk about it, they should be able to make two little girls very happy by one of them agreeing to have the other little girl over for a night on a weekend.  But, I'm not the parent so all I can do is make a suggestion that might keep them from trying to smuggle each other home.

Chewlee was told by her mother that she had to write a letter apologizing to her teacher.  *I* felt the driver should have one, too.  Chewlee also ended up writing one to her BFF's mother because she thought she should.  OOOOOOOKKKKK!  I asked her what she wanted to say and just got her to drop a few words out of it.  Then I printed it out for her to copy because she told me..*I can't spell, Grandma*.

It took her a few tries because she isn't careful about where she starts and stops words.  I made big spaces between the words and told her she needed to keep spaces between the words, too.  After she was done, she wrote the names of each person on a big envelope.  I folded the letters for her and she put them into each envelope.  Then we went into a big deal over which letter was going where in her back pack.  I told her she needed to give the one for the  driver to him when she got in the bus in the morning.  She just waves her hand at me and said, *I know that, Grandma.  I'm not dumb.*  When I told her I never said she was, she looked at me and said, *I know you didn't.  I didn't say YOU said that.  I just wanted you to know that I figured it out for myself.*

I had Tara here today.  She came to talk religion with the Beast.  The Beast had to go to his church to reset the thermostats (which he forgot to do yesterday after he blew out the coil.  It wasn't coil cleaner he had in his hand, it was the hose from his compressor.    I still laugh over how he looked when he got home.  He said to me that I wouldn't have believed the huge cloud he produced.  And he couldn't get out of the way because of how he had to contort himself to get the hose in place to blow out the coils.

So Tara and I were talking when the Princess dropped by with pjs, clothes for tomorrow, and some toys and comfort things for Chewlee.  The three of us got to talking and I informed them of Buttmunch's marriage last week.  I now have my new son-in-law's last name and tomorrow they start out on a real adventure.  The two of them are going to be traveling via bike (the kind you pedal) 150 miles to an Amish village to work.  Her husband is good with animals and I gather one of the elders there knows him and offered him the job there.  Buttmunch will be working, too, but just where, she's not sure.  If nothing else, it will be interesting for her I think.  The nice thing is that the Amish are very kind and gentle.  They live what they believe.  I'm sure they have a separate habitat area for the *English* as the non-Amish are called.  Buttmunch promised to let me know their address once they get there.

My son, Mustachio, bought them a popup tent for while they travel.  Weird kind of honeymoon for them but I gave them my love and wished them good weather for their travels.  I think Buttmunch is going to find that taking that long a trip is going to make her lose some weight and her legs are going to ACHE.  I told Mustachio to make sure she has some lotion because in winter weather, her face and hands will need it (and if her hubby rubs her legs, lotion will help).  Mustachio likes the new hubby.  I guess when I take my annual trip up to Chicago, wherever they are, I am going to have to at least stop to meet him and see how my daughter is doing.

Love you all.  Going to check and make sure Chewlee is asleep because we both get up early in the morning.  The bus picks her up between 6:30-6:45am.  If she's not outside and ready, he sure as hell doesn't wait.  Can't blame him.  The kids need to be there by 7am to get their breakfast.  Even though I give Chewlee cereal in the morning before she gets dressed for school, she still eats.  Hell, she eats almost constantly here.  She eats fairly good stuff most of the time.  She loves apples and oranges or any fruit, really.  We keep them in the house most of the time, otherwise it's stuff like grapes, cherries and peaches when they are in season OR are at a good price somewhere.  She also loves stuff like Cheetos and Doritos but her absolute favorite thing is crackers with some cheese and pepperoni.  She eats chicken noodle soup and now she's also come over to vegetable soup (you know the brand).

For a long time, she wouldn't try anything new.  I was giving her pork roast and pork chops that I cut up into edible sizes for her and told her it was *pig chicken*.  She still won't touch beef in any form but....she has eaten shrimp, lobster and crab now.  She keeps telling me how much she loves them.  She also believes the best place in the world to eat is Red Lobster. 

Love you all once again.  Hope you have good weather.  If not, hope you never lose your heat. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast went to his church today to work on the heat.  It's been acting up plus someone said they smelled gas every once in a while.  The Beast found out it hasn't been serviced since it was installed seven years ago.  He had taken a look at it last week and thought this one part was installed backwards.  If it was, he knew the coil on it would be incredibly dirty.  Once he had determined that the part had indeed been installed wrong (which was why it kept shutting down the heat too early), he went equipped to reinstall the part correctly.  He was also going to clean the coil so he had his coil cleaner with him.

He was gone about two hours.  When he walked in the house, he had his shirt-jacket over his head and covering his face.  I was a bit startled and said, *What's wrong?*  He grabs the jacket and pulls it open and I start to laugh.  His face was covered in soot.  As I looked, even his hands were!  He didn't even have to say it.  He told me that after he had correctly installed and brazed the part on one of the burners, he had adjusted the gas and then was going to clean the coil.  He said he laid on his back to get the sprayer into the area where the coil was located.  As soon as he started to spray it, soot went flying everywhere.  He said he thought he would choke on it and couldn't believe the cloud of soot over the unit.  He said the part that had been installed backward caused all that soot.  He hadn't even considered how much soot it would have left behind after seven years. 

I have to tell you....he was just BLACK with soot.  His hair, his face, his ears, his neck and both hands.  When he took off the long sleeve shirt he was wearing, the soot had even fallen beyond the cuff and down his forearms.  He jumped in the shower and it looked like he had been playing in mud.  I reminded him to clean out his nose because he had soot in it, too.  I threw his clothes and the shirt jacket into the washer with nothing else because I didn't want to share the soot with anything else.  I was shocked at how much his shirt jacket had all over it.  That must have been a really huge soot cloud he caused. 

I've told you about the fish craze the Beast has been going through lately.  Well, the adorable round tank that has changing lights and a central tube that bubbles all the time seems to be cursed or something.  We've had four fish die in it and we really had no idea why.  The Beast did some research and (as I have been telling him) he should have had cleaner fish in it.  The filter he has in it isn't big enough to keep the tank clean and we discovered the rocks on the bottom (the small colored kind) were slimy and had lots of mold on it. 

So the Beast took the single fish we had left and put it in the 50 gal tank with the goldfish.  I adore that goldfish.  It has bubble eyes and will follow you if you walk back and forth in front of the tank.  It also goes nuts when the Beast gets the fish food that he has next to the tank.  The minute the Beast picks it up, Goldie knows he's going to get food.  He starts zipping around the tank and up to the surface, just waiting for the Beast to drop in the food.  He also goes nuts when the Beast drops in the dried tiny shrimp that he treats him and the companion fish (I forget what it is) to every once in a while.  The little fish that the Beast added to the big tank was a tetra, I think it's called.  I know the males will eat any babies born if you don't separate the female before she gives birth.

The Beast decided to throw away the little colored rocks and just leave the fake plants in the round tank.  If he puts any rock in, it'll be the bigger rocks.  So he goes to get some more fish for the tank after it's been cleaned up and gets fresh water in it.  He's got special pills that adjust the PH in it and another pill that gets rid of the chlorine.  What he comes home with is two catfish.  That made me laugh.  I told him that the catfish should be good for anything that lands on the bottom of the tank, too, so it might not be such a bad choice.  I'm still trying to get him to ask his buddy that raises fish what cleaner fish we can put in the bowl with our beta fish.  It needs something since it's in a regular fish bowl with no filter.  I don't know why he won't ask.  Must be a *man thing* and he doesn't want his buddy to think he's totally ignorant on the subject.  That's so dumb to my way of thinking.  No one can know EVERYTHING.  Sheesh!

We ended up having Chewlee here for about two hours while the Princess and Johnnycakes went out to dinner with a couple friends.  Chewlee got the Beast to let her play her games on Nickjr.com.  and that's where she was when the Princess got here.  She was so funny.  The Beast was having a tough time finding the screen that Chewlee insisted on and she was not shy about telling him that.  She finally came into my room and said, *Grandma, Papa needs you.  He can't find my games.  You have to come and help him.  It's important!*  I did go to see what the problem was and realized that NickJr had changed their opening screen.  I DID finally find the right screen and hope I remember how I did it for next time.   Chewlee kept saying that MY computer was the only good one.  I think the Beast was ready to strangle her at one point.

It's going down to 22 degrees tonight and the Beast wasn't happy about that at all.  But he turned on the electric blanket and made sure the comforter was on the bed.  He'll be fine, no matter what the temperature is.

Love you all.  Have a great week. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Chewlee arrived today fully loaded for the games *we* were going to play.  She had a small lidded container that was full of furniture from her doll house plus three of the occupants of said doll house.  The King, the Queen and, of course, the little Princess.  She also had a very soft blanket with her that made into a pillow.  I was napping when she got here so she handed that to me and told me I could use it.  It was so very soft that I couldn't resist trying it out.

Along with the doll house stuff, she had brought her jammies and clean underwear for wearing after her bath AND she had a couple more bottles of her nail polish.  She had left her jewelry box here and that had several bottles of her nail polish in it so I knew we were going to have rainbow nails.  She surprised me because she had something different in store for us today.  But you have to wait to hear about that.

Since I wasn't really feeling well, she actually talked the Beast into putting up NickJr.com/games on my computer for her.  I didn't care as long as I didn't have to get up and do it.  Not only was I very tired but I was running a slight fever.  She played a couple games then watched some of the videos they have for preschool and kindergarten kids.  The games are also for the same age levels.  They're cute games and the kids are given instructions as they go along so they can play without having an adult there to explain anything.  Perfect!  It keeps them occupied and they are learning something with each game.  They are heavy on math, I'll tell you this up front but they make it fun for them.

So Chewlee is occupied and I finally tear myself out of bed and up on my feet.  I take some of the OTC medicine for the darn cold symptoms and I start to feel better.  As soon as Chewlee sees that, she's on me!  Time to get my nails done.  She lines up the bottles and starts to tell me what she has in mind.  First, each finger will be a different color but they must match the same finger on the opposite hand.  She instructs me on how I hold each finger as she is painting them.  I follow her instructions and soon, my nails are done.  Or so I thought.

After she tests them to see that they are dried, she tells me that NOW I get polka dots on each finger.  She moves the colors around so there will be contrasting polka dots on each finger.  Oh joy!  At one point she stops and points to the fingers already done and says, *See how pretty that is?*  I refrain from saying anything because she's busy and doesn't really expect an answer.  She assumes I am enthralled.  She finally finishes and instructs me to hold them in the light from my lamp while she's pulling my hands over so I must follow her instructions.  I look, cringe (but I smile) and she pats my hand and says, *You have to keep them there until I tell you they are dry and then I will put the last layer on you to finish up.*  Last layer?  Finish up?  WTH?

I should have known she would also have a clear polish with sparkles in it.  I wait and wait while she goes off and gets some Doritos and a glass of milk from the Beast because she heard him in the kitchen.  She's learned that's the best time to catch him, clever girl!  She comes back, eats a couple Doritos and takes a big drink of milk.  She then pops up and comes over (finally) to check my nails.  Oops!  One nail left polish on her finger but she checks and decides it was just a polka dot but it looks okay.  Now she puts the final layer on my nails.

Now, I have to tell you this about her nail polish.  It doesn't really stick.  You can peel it off easily.  Sometimes it rolls off.  When she takes her bath, it all comes off her nails.  It's non-toxic and water soluble.  Sort of.  If she puts it on thick, I find flakes of it on the bottom of the tub when the water drains.  I pick it up and throw it in the garbage, no big deal.

She puts the clear polish with sparkles on each of my nails.  Now she's happy.  She finally closes all of the polishes up and goes back to her Doritos and milk.  She's watching a brand new Dora movie on TV so I take the opportunity to grab all her polishes and put them in her bag.  The bag now has all her polishes, including the ones that were in her jewelry box.  Later, after her bath, I cover them all with her dirty clothes that she is taking home so she won't think about leaving the polishes here tonight.

She (and the Princess) have no school tomorrow so I won't have her overnight like we usually do.  It also means she can spend the whole day with her mother, which is always a treat for her.  BTW, she told me a story about how she hurt her finger.  It's been skinned a bit.  It seems her mother ran over her with a shopping cart.  Yes, she did.  However, the Princess said this, *Chewlee was hanging onto the cart with her feet on the lower section and her hands gripping the cart near the front.  Chewlee started swinging her upper body around like she was on some kind of merry-go-round (you know the motion) rolling it front and back then front again.  She fell off on the front swing.  The Princess, unable to stop that quickly, ran over her arm and hand with the cart.  Chewlee sits up and blames her mother for not stopping.  She is telling everyone that SHE (the Princess) ran over her like she did it on purpose.*  Chewlee actually said to me, *Can you believe she would run over her daughter and hurt her???*

I could visualize what happened and tried hard not to laugh.  I told Chewlee that it probably happened so fast that she COULDN'T stop in time.  I got a *humph* from Chewlee and I swear, she rolled her eyes at me!  She must think this is a big person conspiracy.

When the Princess got here later to pick Chewlee up, she told her that Johnnycakes (aka daddy) has off work tomorrow so the three of them may go out and have some fun if the weather is nice AND mommy finishes her homework tonight.  At that, Chewlee asked if she could cuddle with her mother tonight.  The Princess told her they could cuddle for maybe 10 minutes but Chewlee had to go to bed.  That was okay with Chewlee who gathered up her stuff while Mommy gathered up the container with the doll house stuff in it and off she went.  Me?  I was glad she was happy and started to roll off the nail polish.  I know it will be back and Chewlee knows it will be gone when I see her next.  She told me so and that means she WILL remember to bring the polish with her.  She told me, *We HAVE to have polish, Grandma.  We are ladies.* 

Love you all and I hope you have a great week. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

This is a story the Princess told us.  One evening, after being told she had to clean her room, Chewlee came out of her room and made the announcement that *she wanted a NEW family.  She didn't like her family any more.*  The Princess looked over at her and said, *Oh?  Well, goodbye.  Have a nice life.*

Chewlee turned around, went into her room and packed a bag.  She then came out, went to the door out into the carport and said, *Bye!  I'm leaving!*  So, Johnnycakes and the Princess both say goodbye to her and she shuts the door.  Johnnycakes runs to the front windows to peer out and make sure she doesn't go out into the street (there are no sidewalks...we live in a rural area).  The Princess hears Chewlee crying on the steps.  In a few minutes, she opens the door and comes in.  The Princess looks at her and says, *Oh?  Have you changed your mind?*  Chewlee looks at her and says, *No.  I don't have any shoes on.*  Sure enough, no shoes.  So Chewlee goes into her room, puts on shoes and socks then wheels her little suitcase out the carport door and away she goes. 

Johnnycakes is standing by the window again but no Chewlee.  They aren't sure if she's sitting on her playhouse steps or what but they are waiting for her to come back.  Suddenly, there's a knock at the door.  It's Johnnycake's cousins from next door, and Chewlee is with them.  She showed up at their door, crying, and telling them she had to find a new family because her mommy and daddy didn't want her any more.

Of course, there was the usual crying and comforting that went on but Chewlee felt better when she knew she really WAS wanted.  What's funny is that Johnnycake's said he had done the same thing when he was a kid except he filled a big garbage bag with all his stuff and went dragging it down the road.  I just thought it was hilarious because Chewlee knows she can't go in the street so where else would she go?  Thankfully, it is Johnnycake's cousins that live next door and Chewlee plays with their girls so where else would she go?

Just thought I would give you a laugh...and maybe a walk down memory lane.    Love ya!!

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

What a strange day!  I watched a weather channel special called *Weirding Weather* and it was all about how weather all over the world is changing and we are going to have to get used to it.  What was normal a few years ago is no longer the norm.  I believe that.

This morning, when Chewlee was dropped off, she was so excited.  The Beast and Baron were outside so she ran in to say hello to me then ran right back outside so she could play in the snow.  Baron followed her down the street then, in an exuberant burst, started running across the snowfilled lot across from us.  It's huge and there were drifts in it that almost buried Baron.  Chewlee followed and started throwing snowballs at him.  The Beast tried calling Baron back to the house but Baron pretended he was deaf and continued to run and jump in the snow.  Chewlee started back towards the house and Baron finally followed her just as the Beast thought he was going to have to retrieve Baron to get him back home.  The two *kids* stomped and shook off snow and finally came into the house.

I was glad they both actually had fun in the snow because I knew it wasn't going to last.  And it didn't.  Our temperature started rising and rising and the snow began to melt.  Chewlee got very upset over that.  She actually had to step out on the front porch to see how warm it had gotten before she understood why the snow was melting away.  That was at 3pm and the temperature here was 55 degrees.  It's supposed to go down to around 32 degrees tonight so driving will be dangerous and there will be lots of *black ice* accidents, I'm sure.  Those snow puddles all over the place will become very dangerous areas and there are bound to be idiots on the road that aren't using their heads.

I'm looking at a totally different landscape than was outside my front door just 7 hours ago.  Totally different.  Not a bit of white anywhere.  Chewlee looked outside while I was standing at the door and said to me, *I just don't understand how it all went away so fast, Grandma.*  I told her, *I just don't believe it went away that fast, baby.  But don't worry!  We'll get more.*  At that she said in a very cheerful voice, *Tomorrow?*  Her face fell when I told her no, not tomorrow but sometime soon.  Her parting words were, *It's just not fair....*

You forget how much kids love to play in snow.  Oh, maybe not all of them but most.  They will play until they are chilled to the bone and their hands have lost feeling and the first thing we mothers do is throw them into a warm bath.  I didn't do that to Chewlee because she never got that cold but I have no doubt that's in the future.  She's that type of kid....LOL.

Hope you all are having a fantastic Friday.  If you stop for a drink after work, have one for me, won't you?  Love you all! 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

For days, it's been rain, rain, rain.  Today it started out as rain and then turned to snow.  It snowed and snowed and snowed.  Schools let out early and the Princess has learned that she can't drive in snow so she called in to work.  Get 2-3 inches of snow on the ground here and the whole town shuts down.  Or damn near. 

However, we had more snow than that and the people who were driving through it were cutting deep grooves into the road.  We are under a snow emergency because the temperature was to drop down into the 20's tonight.  That means all the wet snow on the ground was going to turn to ice as well as the pools of water that the Beast said was all over the place.  Some areas they expected the water to cause flooding, especially along a few of the local rivers.  Not near us, thank goodness.  But worrisome for some people who work near them.

Schools are closed tomorrow.  It was 34 degrees while it was snowing so that was the reason much of the snow turned to slush before the temperature dropped below 30 degrees.  The Beast said there is no way he is going to drive in that stuff.  I don't blame him.  I've driven on those icy *rails* and been thrown back and forth in my car while attempting to go somewhere.  Black ice is treacherous and causes more accidents because you can't see them until you are spinning around because you've hit one.  Or, scarier yet, you see a car headed towards you.

I have to let the Princess know that the Beast is NOT going to drive in it for any reason.  She had expressed the possibility of having Johnnycakes drive her to work and then have the Beast pick her up from work if she decided to go in.  But the TV is urging everyone NOT to be on the highways unless absolutely necessary.  I don't think it's necessary in her case, plus she hasn't even asked her grandfather if he's willing to come get her.

Baron, the wimp dog, actually went out in the snow two or three times.  He didn't even seem phased by it for the first time.  He never slid down the stairs so maybe he remembered that you DON'T run down stairs covered in white, fluffy stuff.  Who knows?

I spent a lot of time up during the day but started taking naps several hours long around 4 in the afternoon.  I found myself very tired.  I am still tired and I am late doing my post.  I looked out the front door and it looks like the grooves in our street here are about 4 inches deep.  The Beast says those will be really rough to drive through if they DO turn to ice tonight and stay that way in the morning.  Ick!  He was glad he ran out to the store and got milk, bread, coffee, creamer, some hamburger, tomatoes and green pepper.  He has no idea how long this snow emergency is going to last but he's all set.  He even bought some donuts so he's got breakfast for himself.  I seldom eat them but they keep him from whining.

Love you all.  I'm heading back to bed now.  Be good.  Drive carefully. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Chewlee and I had a hell of a start to our day.  I'm sure that Chewlee fell asleep early on the Princess...or not.  No telling with kids but it sure ruined my day.  For some reason, at 3:30am, the Beast came in and woke up both Chewlee and me.  I looked at him and said, *Are you nuts?  It's only 3:30 in the morning!*  He just said, *If  you say so...* and turned off the light and went back to bed. 

It was too much of a shock for Chewlee, who was UP after that.  So I dragged my butt up when I couldn't get either her or myself back to sleep.  Since she was hungry, I got her some cereal that she ate about half of and then she grabbed and ate an apple.  I decided to get her dressed and put on cartoons (yes, NickJr. has them on at 4 in the morning ) for her.  She finally said to me, *I'm tired, Grandma.* so I told her to close her eyes and I would wake her up later.  I let her sleep until 6:20am, turned the cartoons on in the living room and made sure I had her snack packed and her jacket ready.  At 6:40am, I had her come over to me (I was standing by the front door with the porch light on) and I put her jacket on her just as the bus pulled up.  The driver stopped, opened the door for her as she ran down the stairs and over to the bus. 

I turned off the porch light after the bus pulled away and closed the front door.  I tried to go back to sleep since I had only had about four hours but wasn't able to so I gave up, got up and read my email.  Around 11:30 or so, the Beast finally woke up.  When I asked him why in hell did he wake us up at 3:30am, he said he swore he heard the alarm.  He never looked at the clock until he went back to bed and he felt really dumb.

Finally, around noon, I felt so tired that I just closed the door and went to sleep.  I slept away most of the day but, even now, I feel drugged and still sleepy.  I'm going to do this post and head to bed.  I did grab something to eat and took my pills (with my luck, it'll end up waking me fully and my whole sleep cycle will be screwed up).

It was another day that was both dismal and rainy.  You know the kind I mean.  Sleeping seems like the perfect thing to do on a day like today.  And I guess that's why it was so easy for me to do.

I sure hope the weather was better elsewhere in the country.  That some people got to see the sun and feel like doing things.  Love you all and hope it was YOU. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

No nose bleeds.  Not even the tiny start of one.  The Beast slept until just about noon.  Me?  I was up and down all night.  First checking on HIM, then Chewlee.  After the bus picked her up (he did a glide by but stopped and backed up when I was seen at the door waving to the bus).  I know because I had been waiting at the door for almost 10 minutes.  He did NOT stop even tho' I had the porch light on and the inner door opened.

I tried going back to bed after she left but just wasn't able to.  I got up and spoke online to Bratfink, who was also up early (I forget why).  She went back to bed and, around noon, I finally laid back down and fell asleep until Chewlee got home.  But I am really deep down tired because the bloody nose episodes of the Beast's really had me wound in a knot. 

Chewlee had a good day.  She got a smiley and, looking at her test scores on her papers, she did excellently on those, too.  I broke down and let Chewlee play games on NickJr.com.  She found them interesting and did pretty well on them all.  Thankfully, it talked to her so she knew what to do for each game.  They are learning games, tailored for her after I filled out a short questionnaire.  She enjoyed herself until she ran out of games to play.  I told her there would be new games for her to play tomorrow or when I get her next (Thursday).

She gave me almost no problems getting into bed although she did try to coax Baron in with her.  She forgets that the Beast comes first with Baron and he rarely leaves his side.  But she's asleep now.  She found out that I watch this program about orangutans just before I usually wake her in the morning and she asked me to wake her so she can see it.  I may go ahead and do that because it will give her lots of time to wake up and be ready for school.  She'll also probably hit bed early tomorrow for the Princess.  Tomorrow is gymnastics day and Chewlee showed me some of the things they are working on.  Much of it is really muscle stretching and toning.  One of the things she said they were learning but she didn't think she would ever be able to do, as she was demonstrating this to me, she did it!  She got so excited over that.  I laughed and told her, *See?  If you keep trying, you will be able to do it.*

I'm tired so I am going to bed early.  Love you all and have a great Hump Day. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Well, that's how he felt, anyway.    The Princess talked to some friends and got a couple referrals to the same E.N.T. so she let the Beast know.  He called and got an appointment for the afternoon.  It was a dismal day so just perfect for seeing a doctor.  It was rainy and cold out so Baron didn't even try to beg to go along like he usually does.  In fact, poor Baron hadn't been out to pee because of the weather.  He looked so pathetic because you knew the need was great.  The Beast was on his way back before the rain slacked off enough that I could coax Baron outside.  He took full advantage of that and did all his business just as it started raining again.  He was wet when he came back in but came over to be dried off as soon as he saw the towel in my hands.  After that, he flopped down with a happy look on his face.  I think it was just pure relief. 

The Beast stopped at Walmart to pick up some soups for him and Chewlee and some hot wings as a treat for me.  He even tried a couple and admitted they weren't bad.  Then came the blow-by-blow description of his time at the doctor's office.  The doctor numbed up the area of his nose where the blockage was (it was from the Beast's nose being broken although he didn't recall it happening).  He then got up into the area where the blood was coming from and cauterized a blood vessel there.  Even though the area was *frozen*, the Beast said it hurt like hell and brought tears to his eyes.  The doctor told him he wasn't sure that he had gotten the right vein since it was almost impossible to see *back there* but it SHOULD help.  He told him if he bled again tonight, to just come into his office tomorrow.  He also cleaned some wax out of the Beast's ears and it seems to have helped his hearing a bit.  At least the TV wasn't as loud as usual.

Chewlee caused a problem at school today.  She actually caused a delay for all the buses because she tried to tell the driver she had to go to her friend's house today because she was having a sleepover.  Of course, there was no such thing planned.  Chewlee just really wanted to go there (her explanation).  That delayed all the buses behind hers because the driver had to contact the teacher who told him she had no such information from the Princess and she then had to call the Princess to check that out.  Chewlee had no idea of what she caused just because *she wanted* to have a sleepover at her friend's house.

She discovered the things her mother had brought over for her time here and she was so happy that she had her blankey and dream bug.  She also had brought over a book to read at bedtime and a couple movies that Chewlee could watch.  After eating her soup, taking her bath and letting her watch a half hour of Dora, she went to bed without a problem.  Or so it seemed.  Not more than 15 minutes after reading her a story, tucking her in with a hug and kisses all over her face, I got this...*Grandma...I'm lonely!*  Which means she wanted me to come in and go to sleep with her.  She knows I don't do that until later.  But she kept nagging me until I shut her door which set off a wail from her.  She started begging me to open her door (and we grandma's are soft-hearted about that) so I went and opened it whereupon she started crying, *I want my mommy!  I want my mommy!*  I told her I wanted her mommy, too, and she was NOT going to be happy to hear that she was doing this.  When I said I was going to call her mommy, she then told me, *No!  Don't.* So she knew her mother wouldn't want to hear all this was going on at bedtime.  She quieted down and, I swear to you, it couldn't have been more than 5 minutes and she was sound asleep!    I think she was tireder than I thought she was.

Well, we had to turn the heat on in the house due to the humidity and the cold so we worried about the Beast's nose bleeding.  Around 10pm, he started with a little drip but it never went any further than that.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed.  The good thing is the doctor told him not to waste his time going to the emergency room.  The bleeding WOULD stop on it's own.  But he was to come to his office tomorrow if that happened.

Right now, the Beast is moaning and groaning over how much his nose hurts now that the shots have worn off.  I told him to just go ahead and use the nasal spray the doctor gave him.  I'm sure it has something in it for the pain, too, since the doctor told him it would *help with the discomfort* caused by the cauterization.  I'm glad I'm sleeping with Chewlee. 

Time to get this posted.  Love you all.  Hope you are having better weather than we are. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I didn't dare put on my jammies because of the Beast's nose bleeding problem.  I was scared to death that I would have to either take him to the emergency room or call 9-1-1 depending on how much blood he was losing the next time.  He had already lost a lot of blood...and I mean that without exaggeration.

I slept on my recliner, in my clothes.  He got up two or three times but not due to a nose bleed.  I had almost no sleep so I wasn't awake when he came running in to me babbling about milk and eggs in the trunk of the car.  He had gone to the store because he felt okay but his nose started bleeding as he was leaving Walmart.  He drove home with one hand but, truth be told, he wasn't bleeding as he had before.  Shortly after arriving home, the nose bleed stopped and we both breathed a sigh of relief.  He eventually fell asleep in his recliner while watching football.  Later he had a bacon and egg sandwich.  I had a BLT. 

Perhaps we won't have to deal with this now for a while.  I'm going to get him in to see an E.N.T. as soon as I can.  I'll call around tomorrow and see who can get him in fastest.  He needs to find out why this is happening to him.  Whatever tests he needs, need to be done because MY nerves can't take it and it's not easy on him to go through this either.

I'm shot and the Beast is going to bed early so I'm going to TRY to relax and get some sleep.  Even a few hours of sleep will help.  Hope you had a better weekend than I did. 

Love you all.