TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It was a fun day here at the Brat Farm today.  Juli was in a strange mood.  Not necessarily a bad one, just not entirely happy.  She DID get a happy face and from what she told me, she had a good day at school.  Even the bully never bothered her out on the playground.  Guess he recognized he actually WAS an asshole.  Oops, I didn’t really mean that in a bad way.  Forget I said that.

But she has a friend that is a couple years older that lives across the circle from us.  She knows her from church and she wanted to go play with her.  I told her she couldn’t go over there unless she was invited.  I know that her mother has chores for her daughter and she also has to keep an eye out for her younger brother.  However, there was a day that Chewlee had gotten on her bike and rode over to the girl’s house.  The mother told Chewlee that she had to go home and ask the Beast if it was okay for her to be there.  About that time, we realized that Chewlee had exceeded her boundaries given for her bike riding and the Beast KNEW where Chewlee had headed.  He pulled up and made Chewlee return home since she hadn’t asked if she could go.  Chewlee was not happy and the girl’s mother told her she could come over another time.

The mother kept her word and DID have Chewlee over the next week.  Ever since then, Chewlee wants to go over and play with ..let’s call her Olivia (after Chewlee’s favorite NickJr. cartoon series).  Today, Chewlee was really upset when I told her she couldn’t go over.  When she got on her bike, she headed down the road.  When she went past her boundary, the Beast yelled at her to come back around.  She stopped her bike and yelled out that she *was running away forever!*  I told her to have a nice trip but shouldn’t she pack a lunch or something?  She sat there, thinking about it and then turned around and came back, announcing she was *just going to pack something to eat.*  I told her that if she packed an orange, SHE would have to peel it.  I knew she would grab an orange.  When she came out, she had her backpack.  I asked her what she packed and she said she had packed her glass of milk (it has a top on it but it DOES leak when on it’s side).  I told her she couldn’t take her backpack because if she ran away, she wouldn’t be going to school and would just have to grow up stupid.  She wasn’t happy about that at all.  She had gone into the house and come back out with a grocery bag (the skimpy plastic ones) that she transferred her milk and orange into. 

She sat down next to me and suddenly pointed and said, *Look…there’s Olivia and her little brother!*  I said, *I guess they must be getting in their car to go somewhere.*  The Beast, however, said, *No, they are going to play with a NICE little girl that is very good, listens to her parents and is good at school.*  Juli gave him a sharp look and said, *What girl?*  **Oh, her name is Linda and she lives two houses down from Olivia.**  Juli got what I can only say is an evil look on her face and said, *I know who Linda is and I don’t like her very much now.*

The Beast had been talking about going over there earlier in the day and the mother had just returned from Indiana to visit her sick sister or cousin, he couldn’t remember which.  Her name is ….hmm…Prissy.  Right after telling me that, he said to me, *Prissy is going to be coming over to pick up Chewlee.*  I swear to you, that is what he said to me.  I told him, *Oh, you should tell that to Juli.  It would make her happy.*  He said, *No, there’s no reason to.  It’ll be a surprise.*

Chewlee started washing her bike, after she watered *her* plants in the flower box out front.  She was still unhappy so I broke down and told her what I THOUGHT was going to go on.  After she put her bike away, she came in the house to watch cartoons and wait for Prissy to pick her up.  Well, it WASN’T Prissy that showed up.  It was the Princess.  She doesn’t have a Tuesday night class at the college for a month now.  That’s when the new semester begins.

Well, when the Princess walked in, Chewlee had a fit and was crying.  She told her mother she didn’t want her there.  She wanted to go play with Olivia.  Olivia’s mother was going to come get her.  The Beast said, *Who told you that?*  I spoke up and said, *I did.  You said Prissy was coming to pick her up.*  He said, *I told you the Princess was coming for her.*  I grabbed Chewlee, hugged her and told her I was sooooooooooooo sorry because I misunderstood the Beast.  I felt just awful and she was crying so hard in disappointment.  I whispered in her ear that if she would stop crying, I would give her some gum to take home with her.  She stopped crying.    I know what gets her attention. 

Then, listen to this….she takes the gum I gave her, sneaks it over into the pocket on her backpack then says to her mother, *Mommy…you can’t look in the pocket on my backpack.*  When her mother asks her why and what does she have in it?  Chewlee replies, *It’s gum.*  Big secret, right?  Too funny.

Her mother told her that if the girls next door were outside playing, she could play with them until dinner was ready.  So she was happy and I don’t have Chewlee here tonight.  The poor bus driver is going to be so surprised in the morning.  School will be ending soon.  I guess somewhere around the 20th or 21st of the month since Chewlee graduates from kindergarten on the evening of the 20th.  The Beast said he would go which kind of surprised me but we shall see.  There’s plenty of time for him to change his mind.  Know what Chewlee asked me to get her for her birthday?  Marbles.  When I asked her why marbles, she said it was because she liked them and thought they were pretty.  I wonder who she knows that has some?

It was very warm today…our high was 79, sunny and fair.  Not much wind at all.  Perfect if you ask me.  How was your day?  Hope it was at the last a very pleasant one.  Love you all.  Take care. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Princess got a phone call from the school today.  Chewlee was in the office for calling one of her classmates, a boy, an asshole.  (I was told by Chewlee later that this was the bully boy in her class that knocked kids down, told them to get out of his way, and would push them down if they weren’t fast enough.)  Anyway, vulgar language is NOT tolerated and so Chewlee received her second bout of corporal punishment.  It was meted out by her teacher (whom she adores) and she told me that her teacher hit her but so hard it *itched*.  You and I know that means it really stung! 

On her mother’s order, I made up a sheet for her that said, *I will not use bad words.* and numbered the lines for her to write it 25 times.  I don’t think her mother meant for this but I put the completed *homework* into her folder for her teacher to see.  Just so she knows that we DO punish her; we just don’t beat her little bottom.  Maybe that’s good, maybe not.  I will admit that she IS spanked on occasion but it’s not hard enough to leave marks and certainly not more than one or two smacks.  It always shocks her that we do such a thing and she cries like the drama queen she can be at times.  She did the *homework* without an argument after we had a little discussion about it and WHY she had to do it.

But get this…..the Beast blamed ME for her using the word asshole.  He tried to claim that it was MY programs she watches in my room.  I got really pissed and told him that when she is in MY room, she is watching her cartoons.  Dora, Mike the Night, the Bubble Guppies, Max and Ruby, the Backyardigans, etc., etc.  He tried to claim it sounded like she learned it from one of the episodes of Blue Collar.  I told him that I have never watched it with her around.  I don’t consider that a kid type program.  I didn’t even like her watching Jeff Dunham with his puppets.  Achmed the Dead Terrorist can get a bit nasty at times.  She watched one of his specials and I have never let her watch him again.  Just because I don’t know what might be said.  Also Walter, the old man puppet, is a bit on the raw side.  He let her play her games on his computer once she had finished the homework and had her after-school snack. 

Now for the GREAT news!  Bratfink is back online!!!!  AND she’s started posting all her musings while she was living like a cave person.  If you haven’t saved her link to her blog site, you can copy and paste this (sorry but my link section isn’t working….again!):  http://planetbratfink.blogspot.com/

She is happy to be back online and able to twitter or tweet or whatever the hell it is.    I’m just so glad to see her and be able to talk to her again, you can’t even begin to imagine.  I’m sure all her twitter fans are glad she’s back, too.

Hot weather here tomorrow…mid-80′s.  Hope everyone is enjoying some good weather even if it’s just for a few days.  Love you all.  Be good.  Smile at complete strangers and spread the joy! 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Wow!  Talk about makeup rain!  It started last night with plenty of thunder and lightning.  Enough so that it woke up Chewlee and sent her into my room where I was online, checking email.  The boomers woke ME up so I just went to the bathroom and decided to stay up and see if we were going to lose power.  We didn’t, thank goodness but….since our Internet and our TV services are satellite-based….we DID lose those off-and-on, depending on how hard the rain was coming down.

The rain let up just a bit once the sun came up (I just know it was up because it got lighter outside).  We never saw even a sliver of sun all day long.  Poor Baron really needed to go out but, as you know, he’s a wimp.  The Beast finally went outside with him when the rain was just a light drizzle.  Baron actually stood on the rug by the door and barked at the Beast until he got a towel and dried him off.  Too funny.  Makes you wonder just who is the master, doesn’t it?

I’m a little ticked off at Birdie tonight.  I think there’s nothing worse than disappointing a child and I think that would have happened had the Beast not called at their house.  After church, they said they would pick up Chewlee *a little later*.  I was so pissed by 4pm that I told the Beast if they hadn’t picked her up by 5pm, Chewlee couldn’t go with them.  I also said I wanted her home by 7:30pm since Chewlee has school in the morning and she had to get to bed since she gets up at 5:30am.  I then told the Beast to be sure to tell them (Birdie and husband) that if they thought they would be late OR if they really didn’t want to bring Chewlee to their house (and we can all understand that kind of thing) that *I* would appreciate their being honest about it and/or calling early so that I can make an excuse for them so that Chewlee isn’t hurt.  Today, she kept saying to me, *I don’t know why Birdie is so late coming to get me.*  I told her, *Well, there may have been an emergency or something.  You just don’t know.  Things happen and people can’t always make it.*  She hadn’t gone to Birdie’s for the previous two Sundays so she was very upset over it getting so late and no Birdie.  As it is, she showed up at 5 minutes before 5pm.  I was sooooooo tempted….!

When they finally bring Chewlee back (and watch….it won’t be until 8pm I have a feeling), the Beast will have to drive her home.  Good thing that it’s only a 5 minute or so drive away.  I think she lives a mile and a half from us.  But it’s almost like driving a big square…right turn, right turn, right turn and another right turn into their driveway.  I kid you not.  But it’s country driving.  Nothing but farms and cattle around here except for one donkey farm but that’s beyond the last turn down her street.

I have to make sure the Princess brings over another pair of pajamas here.  I only have one set now since I’ve been sending Chewlee home on the nights her mother comes to get her after work bathed and in pajamas so she’s ready for bed.  I managed to save one pair and Chewlee was upset she had to wear the same pair the past three nights.  She didn’t understand that I washed them every day so they were clean every night.  I should make the Princess drop off a pair of pajamas on the days I have to have Chewlee ready for bed so that there’s no problems on the nights that Chewlee is here.

I don’t have to worry about the plants.  They LOVE rainwater and they’ve all been well watered now.  It always seems like they have a growth spurt after a good rain.  I hope so.  My lettuce is about a half inch high now and the radishes have started.  My bush beans have sprouted, too.  Those are all the seeded veggies I planted.  I need to either thin out or move some of the radishes since it looks like every seed I put in the ground is growing.  Those teeny-tiny seeds are a bitch to plant, too.  Same with the lettuce seeds.  Tiny as hell.

I planted double seeds for my bush beans but if they both sprout, I will be surprised.  If they do, though, I will move one.  I love the ease of bush beans.  You get nice green beans that are easy to pick.  If you pick them right, they continue to bear more beans.  Chewlee is going to love learning how to do that.  She already knows how to correctly pick strawberries but she has a vested interest in that.  She will pick them and eat them after making sure there are no ants on them…LOL.

Gotta get this posted.  I have some clothes to fold and some that I need to freshen and hang up that the Beast just threw in his basket.  I don’t know what he was thinking.  There are at least 30-40 hangers above the dryer that he could just grab and hang his shirts up right away.  They wouldn’t get wrinkled then but noooooo….what an idiot.

Love you all.  Have a fantastic week and I wish everyone some great spring weather for a change. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Since I have been doing a lot more around here…gardening, cooking, washing, vacuuming, sweeping floors…a new problem seems to have been developing but in my left leg this time.  I’m having some serious pains in the area between my knee and hip area.  I have to let the doctor know about that because he may want a sonogram of the area.  It’s kind of scary to me.  Even though I have been on a regular aspirin regimen for several months now, I keep thinking, *What if it’s a blood clot?*  It doesn’t seem to be moving but maybe it’s because I have a kind of clog in the artery in that leg.  I think…. should I stop taking the aspirin so there’s no chance of it dissolving the arterial clog before the doctor finds out exactly what’s up?  The busier I am, the more it hurts me enough that I have to stop and rest that leg for a bit.

If I take things nice and easy, it’s not so bad.  I’m afraid about pushing myself for fear of creating a bigger problem.  I’m just glad I see my doctor next week.  Say a little prayer for me that it’s just that I may be putting more pressure on that leg because of the surgery on the other one.  I would prefer that to be the cause.

Chewlee and I got the flower bed all taken care of today.  She was so happy to have something constructive to do.  She was hoping to see some hummingbirds feeding but, instead, she saw one out front when we had finished working on the flower bed.  I think that blew her away.  She never expected to see one unless it was around one of the feeders we have.

We did lose one feeder.  The one under the umbrella that the Beast put up.  It seems the string broke and it came crashing down and broke at the bottom where it screws in.  Nectar went everywhere!  Scared Chewlee because she was the one raising the umbrella and I think she thought she would be blamed.  But I knew better.  The Beast came up with the hose and sprayed the table and deck down well.  I sure didn’t want it attracting flies, bees and ants like crazy.

We did get some rain this evening.  First a light one that went from the back yard to the sidewalk out front but no further.  Strange.  I saw rain do that in Florida but this is the second time in the last couple weeks that we’ve seen it.  Then, about an hour after hearing the start of some boomers, it finally rained normally.  Not hard but the kind you know you need an umbrella if you go out.

We heard one big lightning strike nearby that made Chewlee jump but the next one was far away.  After that, all was quiet.  I kept an eye on the sky because it had the look of a possible tornado but that went away.  Tomorrow is supposed to be much like today before the front moves off and we get some nice clear and warm weather on Monday.  I’m looking forward to that, as you can imagine.  Plus the added bonus of getting to see Bratfink online again.  **Grin**

Love you all.  Be good.  Have a great day tomorrow. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I got a text from Bratfink a little while ago that said she was going to be back on the Internet with all of her friends and fans on Monday!  Isn’t that wonderful?  I was so excited I damn near wet my britches.  Chewlee wanted to know what I was texting so I told her and she wanted me to tell Auntie Brat that she loved her, too.
 I can hardly wait.  It seems like she’s been off the internet forever!

I made homemade chicken soup with homemade noodles tonight for our dinner.  I started it late so Chewlee was STARVING before it was done and she told me she wanted HER chicken noodle soup in the can, not mine.  She didn’t remember eating mine until after I got my noodles cut and put in the soup.  She looked at it and said, (surprised) *Oh, I remember that now!*

I mentioned to the Beast that the hummingbird feeders were mostly in the sun for a good part of the day, which would keep the hummingbirds from feeding from them because the syrup would get too hot.  So we moved three of them (one of them is shaded by a post most of the day).  Two are on hooks on the cottage where they are shaded but we can still see them.  One of them, believe it or not, is under the umbrella over our table.  I thought that was dumb but it was barely hung up and a darn hummingbird came and ate from it!    I know!  I couldn’t believe it either but I guess we don’t scare them any more….LOL

It got very windy and overcast shortly after Chewlee got home from school so we didn’t get to do some of the things we hoped to do.  But,hey, tomorrow is Saturday and with a little luck, we can get them done then.  I’m really tired so I’m going to cut this short and get it posted.

Love you all.  Have a great weekend. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today I watched the new series on The Weather Channel (TWC) called *Forecasting The End*.  It’s all about different scenarios that could destroy life on earth.  I know!  Not exactly a cheerful experience.  Today it was all about the possible eruption of the caldera in Yellowstone.  Scary stuff.  Makes you want to go out and buy up a lot of face masks, seeds, dirt and grow lights for one plus enough food to last you a year so that you can get your protected garden going.  Either that or a hydroponic setup.  Oh, and don’t forget lots of gasoline for your generator so you can have heat since the ash will probably send us into a little ice age until the earth can naturally cleanse itself.  That may take 8-10 years since the sulfuric acid from the microscopic ash particles up in the upper stratosphere can remain there for years and bounce sunlight back away from the earth.  Also, they would be responsible for acid rain for years, too.  Not a winning situation for life here.

Now the program is showing the results of a mega-tsunami on the east coast of the United States and that kind of devastation which would be over 100 feet high or higher.  It’s not out of the question since I saw a special on the Island of La Palma, off the coast of Africa.  There is a volcanic mountain called Cumbre Vieha that is fracturing and could result in a mega-tsunami that would hit the United States.  The fracture is already 3 miles long and, with just a few earthquakes, if that piece of the volcano falls into the ocean, it would result in a tsunami of 2725 ft tall.    That’s almost twice the height of the Empire State Building!  It would not only destroy the city of New York as well as other cities along that coast but would also result in a monstrous loss of life because there would be almost no warning. 

It’s not like we don’t already have to deal with such things as tornadoes and hurricanes and floods and ice storms and earthquakes, now our dreams will be filled with all these other things that COULD happen to us.  I think I’m going to swear off these type programs.  I’ve woken from dreams where I am crying because I dreamed that some disaster hit and I couldn’t save someone I loved.  A real nightmare.  Now I have more fodder for that shit. 

Chewlee got a squiggly face for playing during work time.  I asked her why she was playing and she told me because she was done with her work.  I asked her what her teacher did to her.  She told me she got sent to the first grade class.  I asked her what she did there and she told me, *I sit and listen and then I do some of the first grade work.*  That was a surprise to me but I thought that was a really good idea because she WILL play if she’s bored.  She actually likes going to the first grade class.  I just hope she likes it as well next year when she finds out first grade also means more work AND homework. 

It was sunny out today but much cooler.  The hummingbirds have chosen to mostly use the feeder that has the perch so they can land and feed.  I was amazed at how long they were there feeding but they do need a lot of food for all the energy they expend.  They are just so adorable.  I can hardly wait until the babies hatch and then when THEY start feeding….but that won’t be for a while yet.

I’ll be grateful for the warmup we should be getting by the weekend.  Like I’ve said many times before, I am a sun and warmth person.  I like the heat as long as I have my fan in here so I have air movement.  The Beast loves his air conditioning.  I can take it if it’s not too cold but not day-after-day, all day long.  I will spend my time on the deck if needs be.  I prefer no air conditioning, just fresh (hot) air and turn the ceiling fans on.  If it goes over 100, then I can see turning on your AC…but so do many others and we’ve had those type of power failures around here.  Haven’t you?  Happens right around the time most working people get home from working.  Thousands of homes suddenly calling for a great deal of extra watts of power at the same time and transformers start tripping all over.  Sometimes, you can hear the explosive charges going off if you live near any.

Time to get this posted.  Early for a change.  Friday tomorrow so have some fun after work if you can.  Love you all.  Have a good weekend, won’t you? 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

We weren’t supposed to get rain when I first looked at our forecast on the weather channel on Sunday.  But a weather front that was spinning rain and thunderstorms out changed it’s shape and speed and we got some.  We’re going to be getting it for the next few days, too.  Right now, it looks like we won’t get any good weather until Monday or Tuesday.  That is so depressing to me.  I’m a sun person.  My life is perfect if it’s both warm/hot and sunny.  Instead, now we have cooler weather and it’s wet out so that means more humidity in the air and it feels even colder.  Even Chewlee, when she picked out her pajamas tonight after her bath, picked warm pajamas.  She normally prefers things like shorts or even a short nightgown.  Oh, and no long sleeves.  Tonight it was long sleeves and lightweight flannel bottoms.  She knew without being told.  Most of us aren’t turning on our heat for just a day or two of cooler weather.  However, I am running my little heater here in my room because ANY cool, damp weather awakens my arthritis in my left hand (actually my ring and little fingers).  I sometimes end up wrapping that hand in flannel just before I go to sleep so it warms up and doesn’t keep me awake.

Chewlee got a squiggly face today and you won’t believe what for.  She pulled her pants down so her butt crack showed and shook her butt at her classmates.  She thought it was funny.  She even started to laugh when telling her mother what she did when the Princess came to pick her up.  She had already gotten a talking to from both me and the Beast but her mother was even sterner.  When I send her to school on Friday, I already know what she’s going to wear.  A blue pedal pusher and this long shirt that goes down an extra couple inches below the waist than normal.  The pedal pushers are ones that are tight around her waist so she won’t be tempted again.  Today she had a pair of denim pants with elastic on both sides so they are easy to pull down.  The pedal pushers have to have the snap in front and then the zipper pulled down to go to the bathroom so….like I said…definitely not easy to pull down without being caught at it.  I have no idea what she was thinking.  I told her that was NOT something a lady…or a princess…would ever do.  What’s funny is her mother said almost the same thing.   

She was good all evening though and even went and did some drawings on the kitchen table with her coloring book underneath so her markers wouldn’t go through the paper and onto the tablecloth.  It’s plastic but white with a kitchen type pattern.  I can get the marker off with a clorox cleaner we have but it upsets the Beast more than I want to listen to.  Chewlee didn’t do it on purpose.  She really had no idea that the markers could do that.  It’s something she has to learn and now she knows.  There are times I think the Beast has to bitch because he has nothing better to do at the moment.  He’s more easily upset than a woman going through menopause, I swear.  Worst of all, he over-reacts to everything.  A minor annoyance to most people is a major deal to him.  It’s always ticked me off that he does that.

He didn’t react tonight, thank goodness, and just let me handle it.  That alone was amazing and so out of character that it took me by surprise.  Tomorrow we will go grocery shopping together.  He’s so used to doing it now that I will have to wean him away from it OR…we will be doing it together from now on.  I really don’t care which.  But I prefer to do my major shopping once a week or so and then just pick up milk and bread as needed.  I make lists.  He doesn’t.  What he spends in a weeks time is incredible.  He spends more than I ever did….LOL  But then he buys more crap than I would.  He’s always, always picking up some of the bakery specialty cakes, donuts and cookies.  I don’t although I did keep his favorite cookies in the house.  Know what he doesn’t buy unless I ask for it?  Meat.  Only meat (chicken) for the dog or else hamburger for us.  He keeps frozen stuff in the freezer like pot pies or some of those oriental sweet/sour chicken dinners.  He also buys frozen tv dinners which you can only take so much of before you want to scream.  He really prefers to buy fast food…KFC chicken, or one of the shrimp/fish restaurant dinners.  Of course, he DOES love MY dinners but I try to make balanced meals.  I like pork at times, baked chicken, chicken enchiladas (the Princess makes the absolute BEST ones!)…a more mixed bag of foods than what the Beast would probably live on if he lived alone.

Well, love you all.  Hope you are out of the rain sectors here (and the sleety weather, too).  Be good.  Stay safe and drive carefully.  The life you save may be your own. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I woke up early and felt great.  After having our morning coffee on the patio (with very little pollen around), I came into the house and got dressed so I could do a few things that were needed out in the garden.  I had to cut some more asparagus, plant a couple more bush beans since only four plants had germinated from the seeds I planted.  I also had to put the string up for the cucumber plants since they are showing tendrils.  I pulled a few weeds that were starting in the planters since it’s easiest when they are small.  The Beast bought enough strawberries (and what looks like roots too) so that one whole planter is going to be strawberries.  He even got them all planted after he added some Miracle Grow soil to the end portion.  It needed it. 

I also had some more flowers that needed planting but I wanted to wait for Chewlee to get home so we could plant them together.  Since it is HER flower garden (just ask her), I knew she would want to select where the flowers would go.  She did but I put one plant (a leafy, decorative one) where *I* wanted it but she thought it was perfect where I wanted to put it.  At least, that’s what she told me when I showed her where I was putting it.  I had to feed my rose bush since it should be budding but isn’t.  The Beast picked up rose food and I let Chewlee water it in.  It’s a slow release plant food and I hope it works. 

I also folded some clothes that needed folding and putting away.  I DID screw up in one way because I forgot to leave out my pajamas for tonight after taking my shower.  Guess I’m going to have to do that in the morning instead.  The Beast went to bed early since there was no basketball game tonight.  He was tired because he didn’t get his nap today.  He was busy outside, too.  He mowed and weed whacked the back.  It needed weed whacking desperately.  I haven’t checked if he did it along the back fence but he got everything I felt was important.  I DID have to pull a few weeds that were popping out from under the stairs and along the hose that was threaded from under the deck to the water outlet.  It leads to the hose that is wound around the hose holder so it can stay there and no one will be tripping over it and the Beast won’t run over it with the mower.

The Beast forgot to close the gate at the bottom of the stairs and weed whack behind it so I cut what I couldn’t pull out with the scissors I had from the string.  It’s probably the busiest I have been in months and months.  I had some very tired legs and a tough time climbing the stairs but I made it.  As long as I can sit down for a bit, I’m fine.  Just 5 minutes of rest and I can get busy.

I got to make my baked chicken today along with our garden asparagus.  I was going to make mashed potatoes and gravy but saw the Stove top stuffing in the pantry and made that instead.  It just looked good to me.  I DID add some celery, cut thin, and a bit of chopped onion to it.  I put it in the water that you boil (and the margarine or butter….I used butter) and it was just fantastic.  At least, that’s the way it tasted to us both.  Just add a bit of gravy I made from some bullion with a touch of chives and parsley added.  Like I said, it was wonderful.  The Beast looked at me and said, *This is a great meal!*  It was so I just said, *Thanks!*

Another Happy Face for Chewlee so she got two gum balls as a reward.  That always makes her happy.  She didn’t want any chicken (she hates chicken with bones in it but I knew that).  I tried to get her to have soup and a sandwich but she only wanted her sandwich.  That was baloney and cheese (with butter…can you imagine?).  She doesn’t like mayonnaise at all unless you don’t tell her but she watched me making her sandwich.  She ate it along with a big glass of milk and I gave her strawberries as her dessert.  She damn near licks her bowl and she does drink the liquid.  That filled her up and she didn’t ask for any more food.  Which is a first in a long time.  She is usually an eating machine but I think she didn’t ask for salsa and chips because she knows she ate all the salsa we had in the house.  She also finished up the pickles we had and the Beast hasn’t replaced them yet.

I told the Beast I want to go to the store and pick up a few things for real meals for a change.  Until the garden gets going, I also want to get some more lettuce and some cucumbers for our salads.  We have plenty of tomatoes as well as other things I will put in the salads I make, depending on my mood (and taste buds…LOL).  The Beast doesn’t really care as long as we have Thousand Island dressing or Blue Cheese to put on it.  I want Ranch or Blue Cheese so we do always keep those in the house.  He’s also gotten some good Italian for those times we want that (or a guest may prefer it).

Love you all.  Have a great Hump Day and enjoy whatever weather you are plagued with. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I heard from Bratfink again today.  We just talked about some items that she and Sheldon had discovered when they were going through some of his mother’s things that were still in the house she shared with the stepfather when he started suffering from *old timers* and had a problem with falling down a lot.  They brought the bins over and started going through them and were kind of surprised at some of the things they discovered were in them.  Nothing amazing but Sheldon found a lot of sentimental things to him.  I told Bratfink that I hope he puts them into an album.  He can always leave them to his cousin’s son since Sheldon doesn’t have any kids.  They are family items and should be passed along.

We are both suffering from missing each other and being able to talk online.  I confess that she helps me decompress when I am pissed at the Beast.  Since she knows him, she really DOES understand and that helps out.  I think I helped out when she was ticked off at Sheldon, too.  At least, I hope so.  I know him and like him but I know how weird he can be at times.  And how infuriating he can be, too.  He just doesn’t THINK sometimes.  But he can also make you laugh when you least expect it.  Like Bratfink often says, he makes her laugh every day for one reason or another.

Bratfink was telling me that she finally saw a really old (antique) wardrobe.  She was shocked at how BIG it was.  Just HUGE.  What upset her was it was hauled in and was sitting in their living room when Sheldon was bringing home all the family antique furniture.  She said it was beautiful but she had no idea where they were going to put it.  I know her though.  She will eventually figure that out.

The Beast bought home a quart of really nice strawberries and I cut up a couple and mashed them then cut the rest of them up, added sugar and a little water and put it in the fridge overnight.  Today they were just perfect and we put some over our ice cream that we had for dessert.  Since the Princess came to pick up Chewlee, I was glad that I had given her a bowl of them to eat (she prefers them alone) after she ate her sandwich.  She is always hungry when she gets here after school so I try to make her eat something that is not just a snack.  She gets no snack items or treats until she eats a sandwich, a hot dog or some soup, spaghetti if we have it here….you get the idea, I’m sure.  Then she can have her snacks.  Things like a popsicle, chips and salsa, strawberries, an ice cream cone (we always have ice cream here and now we have both sugar cones and waffle cones) or just some gum. 

Today she was a little bit of a stinker when she found out her mother was coming to pick her up so no sleepover.  She sneaked out of the house and went next door because she wanted to PLAY with someone and Ian was home.  I had to go over there once we figured out she wasn’t hiding in the house.  It explained why Baron was trying to get into our neighbors house.  He had to have seen Chewlee go in and figured if she could, so could he.  LOL.  Guess HE wanted to play with their dogs.  She hated having to leave and get ready for her mother to come get her.  She told me she didn’t like me because I wasn’t letting her stay so she could play and sleep over.  I told her she would have 3 sleepovers in a row on Thursday.  It still didn’t make her happy.  What did that have to do with TODAY??  LOL

I wanted to make us some baked chicken today but the Beast was hungry and didn’t want to wait (it was only 4pm).  He decided that he wanted me to make these flatbread pizzas (which weren’t bad, BTW) he’d bought.  I told him that tomorrow, it’s chicken or he goes hungry.  I figured making some mashed potatoes, the chicken and our asparagus.  I can wait another day, however.  I’ll just start it earlier.

The Beast went over to his buddy’s house…the one that is so ill from his allergies and damn near died.  The golden pollen that has plagued us the past couple of weeks seems to be diminishing.  Anyway, he went over with the John Deere to take care of mowing the lawn and he hit a rather large ants nest above the ground.  I told him it sounded more like a termites nest but he said ants flowed out of it so I guess it might have been a large fire ants nest.  He said he had backed away from it so he didn’t see if it was or not.  What it did, however, was screw up the bearings on one of the cutting blades.  So he was out in our driveway fixing that after he found the parts.  He decided to buy two new blades at the same time (they needed changing).  Once he got it all back together, he mowed our backyard and discovered just how dull the old blades were.  His John Deere seemed to glide along instead of feeling like it was dragging.  Guess it might have been getting ready to fall apart and the ant hill was just the straw that broke the camel’s back, so-to-speak.

Oh, have to tell you….I told you how Chewlee has been telling everyone that our flower box is now HERS because all the flowers are HERS since she planted them (well, almost).  Today when she was going to ride her bike, when I sat down on the steps out front, she grabbed the hose then went to turn on the water and started watering the flowers.  I told her not to water them until she asked Papa if he had already done that (he usually does in the morning but I couldn’t remember if he had or not).  She looked at me and said, *Grandma, all you had to do was put your finger in the dirt and you could tell they hadn’t been watered yet.  Since they are MY flowers, I HAVE to water them or they will die!*  I told her I didn’t think they would die if they weren’t watered one day or even two.  She gave me the most disgusted look and said, *Did you see these flowers here?  They were drying up.  I could tell!*  They weren’t but how do you argue with a 5 year old and win about something like that?  To her, they might really have seemed to be drooping or some such thing.

Early to bed tonight for me since I don’t have to worry about getting up at 5:30am to get Chewlee off to school.  I’m sure the bus driver will think we slept through our alarm when we are not out front waiting for him.  But he will see her after school when she rides home (here).  Her mother will be picking her up again but a bit later tomorrow than she did today.  I’ll have to make sure that she’s bathed and in her pajamas since her mother has to take a final for her class but knows it won’t take her 3 hours to finish.  Her mother is a good test taker and will probably be out within an hour.  That will get her home early enough that Chewlee will be in bed at her regular time.  And it’s another day I won’t need an alarm clock to wake me up.  But I will kind of miss her curling up with me since I have gone to lay down with her when she goes to bed for the last week.  I wake up after a couple hours but I go back after I do my blog and then check my email out.

Love you all.  Hope your week started out nicely and continues to do so.  Just remember, roll with the punches.  It is what it is. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

As I have been doing more and more, partly because of the good weather, it seems like the Beast is showing me less and less credit for anything at all.  He’s been throwing tantrums about having *to do everything* and then says I have been lazy for two years.  It’s been only a year and four months since my leg surgeries so you can see how HIS mind works as far as any time line.  When he started throwing things down and around the kitchen tonight because *he* had to take the garbage out (and that has ALWAYS been HIS job!), I told him…*I was a hell of a lot better during the two (actual) years YOU were recovering from your strokes, wasn’t I?*  He just went outside without saying a word.  But, I thought about how much more I am doing these days even though my feet are playing hell on me and wondered if he can handle me getting back *in the groove* now.  I think he likes to be able to tell people how much he does because I just sit around all day feeling sorry for myself (or some such excuse he makes up for me).  I really think he does because he thinks it makes people think more of him.

So I am already getting more verbal abuse from him than I have in years.  And he wonders why I won’t go to his church with him.  I’m sorry but there are no signs for me to see of him becoming a true Christian.  If anything, he’s just become more of a hypocrite than he has been in years.  He still is nasty about people in general and makes fun of them or degrades them (to me, of course, not them, like he expects me to be of the same opinion).

He’s starting to think more of himself again.  I really had hopes for him for a while but even Chewlee is becoming wary of him again.  He’s starting to act as unloving as he was to his own kids when they were growing up although he loves taking her to church with him but, again, I think it’s because of how people view his taking his great-grandchild to church all the time.  They think it’s because he really cares.  HA! HA! HA!  He only cares about the compliments he gets.  If she misbehaves, he forgets that she is only 5 years old and a child still.  She is not adult, nor even an older child that can be expected to behave for at least an hour or two.

So, even though I planted more than half the garden this year so far and weeded more than half of it, I am now labeled *lazy* as well as *stupid*.  All I can do is sit here and hope that his failing health catches up to him and that he has to answer to a higher power for all the evil things he’s done to others and felt self-righteous about.  The word revolves around him and what HE wants, ya know.

Other than that, I got to visit with Tara for a while while Chance and Chewlee got to play soccer in the back yard.  We had to keep Baron away from Chance because he’s gotten so allergic to Baron that even a small amount of time or even one petting of him and Chance breaks out in hives.  It’s awful because it keeps Chance from having time to play with Chewlee and letting us visit with Tara.  Tara has to time her visits with us for when Chance is at preschool or Kev is home to babysit.  But today she had to come by to pick up an envelope from Bratfink that was sent along with another letter from Bratfink to me.  Kev was working but, since we were outside weeding and doing some more planting, she came by.  Figures she got here just after we had finished eating lunch…LOL.  But we went outside and left Baron in the house.  He was upset because he wanted to be outside playing with the kids.  The Beast broke down and took him for a run with the motor scooter. 

Shortly afterward, the Princess arrived to pick up Chewlee on her way home from the airport.  She’s  already tired of doing the traveling after just two weekends and she still has two more to go.  She looks like she hasn’t slept well so I can relate to that part.  When *I* travel, I sleep like the dead and very well, too.  It’s nice not to have the Beast around for whatever time I’m gone.  But, when I have arrived at my destination, THAT is when I don’t sleep well.  Because it’s where I want to be and with people that I want to visit with, I feel like I am missing out on what time I have to spend if I am sleeping.  Go figure.

The weather is fantastic and getting better, day by day.  I’m loving it and enjoying working in the yard although I tire moving from place to place and all the bending, too.  I have to sit down after 10 minutes or so but can then go on to do more.  Tomorrow I cook up the asparagus (going to steam it) and even the Beast is anxious to try fresh picked asparagus.  I have no idea what our main course will be but guess what one of the sides will be?  LOL

Love you all.  I hope everyone has a good week.  I think we all deserve it.