TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today I spent working on cleaning out the planters so the Beast could add the new, enriched soil to it.  I was really pissed that the Beast had crushed my asparagus.  Don't ask.  He was tired of waiting for it to mature.  But, as I was cleaning it out, I found enough that I could make myself some asparagus as a treat.  It was delicious and just made me madder that he had done it.  It would have been wonderful this year.  All I should have done was to thin it out.  It was the Beast that just threw the seeds down so that it was all crowded.  But I digress.  I WILL get more asparagus because there are still roots (nice round ones...grin) that he covered with the new soil.  That area is for my lettuce and radishes.

He surprised me by buying me some leaf lettuce seeds.  I guess he felt bad because he threw away so many seed packets without looking at the date on them.  Some were good for another year.  He got his peppers planted and got another one of the goliath peppers that are great for making stuffed peppers.  We had some last year and the damn plant just kept making more and more peppers even after we started getting some really cold weather.  It was amazing.

I never did call the Princess to ask her if Chewlee got a smiley face today.  We worked on the planters until it was time for the Beast to get ready for his bible class.  He usually has it on Thursday but for some reason it was changed to tonight this week.  I laughed at him when he got dressed because he looked like he was going to a prom.  He wore his white sport coat and black pants and had a deep red tie on.  He always has to dress up like he's wealthy.  Well, with the money he spent on his clothes once he *got religion*, I think that's the only impression people could get.  And when you consider he's also driving a fully loaded Chevy Cruze (2013), people have to think he's loaded.  If only they knew.

Anyway, the Beast has decided he's putting two squash plants into the 4'x6' section closest to the barn.  I'm just going to clear the strawberry section of weeds.  We have about 10 strawberry plants there still and, after I put down the ant bait, we should get plenty of strawberries.  The Beast wants to add a few more of a different type and I told him to go ahead.  I would love to get enough this year that I can put up some jam.

The pear trees are full of blossoms, including the moonstone one.  I'm concerned about how many pears may end up on the two small trees.  They are spindley and really can't hold any weight.  The Beast will end up breaking them because he just won't thin out any fruit on our trees.  The plum is full of blossoms as well as one of the cherry trees.  All three peach trees in the back are full of blossoms and look beautiful.  The grapes have buds on them but they haven't opened yet.  I'm happy to say that the dogwoods in back (especially the one under my window) are in full bloom and look so pretty.  They're still small but the red one at the back fence is truly pretty.  The one under my window is a white dogwood.

I discovered lilacs at the back of our property next door.  I'm going to cut some to put in the house.  I just love the smell.  It reminds me of my mother who loved lilacs.  There are also some other flowers back there that the name of them is on the tip of my tongue.  I remember what they are when I am looking at them.  What do you expect?  I'm an old person and things escape me.  Brain farts.

We're looking forward (??) to thunderstorms tomorrow sometime.  After the Beast cut the main part of the yard, he put away the lawn mower and his John Deere so they wouldn't get rained on.  He really needs to get the trim done, especially around our gate.  I told him we need to finish putting the Thompson's down on the deck and stairs.  There are also some parts of the fence around the deck that he missed.  I told him that I would do that and the stairs so he agreed we would get that done.

I'm hoping the seeds don't get washed out since some of them aren't planted deep (lettuce and radishes).  Guess we just have to wait and see.  Hope your day includes better weather than we are expecting.  Love you all.  Be good. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today I spent pulling weeds out of the plant boxes so we could work on getting our garden together.  It's no fun to do that here in Alabama because our growing season (grass and weeds) is actually all year long.  Yeah, our winters are that mild.  Not much in the way of snow which is why droughts are easy to come by here.  The weeds were about 8 inches tall in the sections I worked on AND they are kind of viney, too.  In a 4'X4' area that I wanted to plant my cucumber and a couple bush beans, it took me over an hour to pull the weeds and I wasn't doing it at a slow pace.  I then pulled more weeds out of a section around the same size for the Beast to plant his squash...same time.  I disturbed a lot of worms while doing that but they quickly dug back into the ground. 

The cucumber plant the Beast ended picking out for me was kind of small so I can wait a bit before I put up the string to guide them to the trellis.  I won't wait all that long because they will grow pretty quickly with the dirt we put on top of what was in there.  We had to put another four inches of it in.  Makes you wonder where it goes every year.  There were no bush bean starts so I had to plant seeds.  I put two in each hole since it's not assured that every bean will turn into a plant.  But, if two come up, I can spread them out.  I put them about six inches apart to start and they are in about two inches from the edge of the planters so there's plenty of room for them.  I plan on putting radishes along one of the planters.  That one is a 4'x6' one.  I have my eye on another one of the 4'x4' sections for leaf lettuce.  I have to go get the seeds out to help inspire me to clear out that section.  It is REALLY badly packed with weeds and the dead branches from tomato plants.

Which brings up another thought.  Why do some areas grow weeds like crazy?  Our berry planter (blackberries, blueberries) is almost totally devoid of weeds.     One of my rose bushes is at the far end of that and there are no weeds around it either.  That shocked me.

Chewlee got another smiley today and a sticker from her teacher that says *Well Done* on the outside of her folder.  I look through her daily work that the teacher sends home and it's full of good marks for work done well.  She has very few mistakes and I am proud of her for that.  When she has more than one mistake, she tells me that she *didn't understand*.  I know what she means is that she wasn't listening.  She hears the start of instructions and thinks she knows it all.  She can be a little shit like that at times.  I know because I have to deal with her homework every Monday and Tuesday.  Tonight she gave me a hard time about doing it because she had to do 1-100 by 1's and she had just done that yesterday.  She was upset that it didn't have a smiley face on it so that means the teacher never even looked at it.  Tonight I used a paperclip and clipped all the homework together.

Since Chewlee and I overslept this morning, I also had to send in a note because the Beast got her to school 5 minutes late.  It requires a note because Alabama takes the unexcused absense and/or lateness very seriously.  Parents have to go to a special court if there are more than three of these in a certain time period and they can actually be put on probation if it continues.  I think it's kind of ridiculous for a kindergartener but let's not take any chances.

Chewlee messed up her original homework paper for today (she was distracted by trying to take a shortcut and she was using a marker).  So, I took some paper and made her another one.  However, Chewlee asked me to write her teacher a note and tell her why I had to do that so she would understand why MY paper wasn't PERFECT.  Sheesh.  But I did it.  It's no skin off my nose.  At least she got it done.

It was so hot out today (82) we had all the windows in the house open and our fans on.  It's down to 70 now with a slight breeze and it feels nice.  I'm headed for bed as soon as I get this posted so I wish you all a great night and a fantastic Hump day. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The Beast bought me some HOT salsa that is actually made here locally.  Somehow I doubt that Sandmountain Salsa is sold anywhere else.  The veggies in it are chopped fine but seen easily.  It's very *saucy* and also hot enough for any of the aficionados of hot salsa.  I was impressed by it and ate more than I probably should have.    I'm going to wait until tomorrow to introduce it to Chewlee, who keeps saying she likes hot salsa and see what happens.  She usually just dips her chips in the sauce part but this *sauce* is truly HOT.  I want to see her face. 

The Beast finally went to see what he could get to replace our Nero.  It's old and even the updates haven't helped with the problems we've had and tried to fix.  It's really too bad because I didn't use to have problems using it.  But since it's been over 11 years, we needed to bite the bullet and replace it with another system.  I have no idea yet if he found one.

Chewlee had a ball playing with the little boy next door.  His parents bought him one of those electric cars that look like one of the cars from the movie, *Cars*.  I don't remember it's name but I knew it's face.  His mother was trying to teach him how to make it move along but he's really just a bit too young to *get it*.  However, when Chewlee jumped in, she had absorbed everything his mother had tried to tell him, including how to pull back the gear to make it go backward.  She had a ball driving it home for them and then driving it back and forth from one driveway to the next.  She did run the battery down, finally, but we were all surprised at how long it lasted.  Chewlee sat down on the stairs next to me and said....*I really love that car.*  All I could think of was that the Princess was given one on her fifth birthday by Uncle Mustachio.  An older boy tried to take it from her and that little stinker grabbed him and yanked him out of HER car and made him run home, crying.  His mother showed up at the door later to complain about the girl that *beat up* her son.  When the Princess's mother called her to the door, that mother was stunned   and turned to her son and said, *THIS is the girl?*  When he said yes, that woman beat her son all the way home.  He was about 3 or 4 heads taller than the Princess. 

The heck of it is, I could see Chewlee doing that, too.  I really think that's something all of us girls inherited.  If it's *ours* or one of our siblings, we don't stand for anyone else to try to claim it or to beat on them.  We protect our own.

I have to tell the Princess that she should probably buy Chewlee one of the electric cars for her upcoming birthday.   I know that would thrill her to death and be the ultimate gift for her.  Chewlee keeps asking if she can have her birthday party here and I tell her that I don't think it's a good idea because of the Beast.  I also told her to talk to Mommy about it.  The Beast doesn't believe in any holidays and definitely not birthdays.  He's found the perfect religion for himself.  No family, no holidays, perfect!  I'm just not where HE is.  I love family, holidays, birthdays and even anniversaries.  It just means that my life continues on as it has been with only my siblings, my niece and my daughter/granddaughter, the Princess, contributing love and gifts during the holidays.

More hot weather here but we will be getting some bad thunderstorms in two days.  It's from a large front that is coming from the west.  But it should be nice tomorrow (and warm) so I plan on enjoying it.  I hope there are no serious outbreaks of things like tornadoes (in Texas they say) and no one is injured or killed.  I will be praying for everyone.

Love you all.  Hope you have a great week. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I ended up showering around 4:30am due to waking up and I knew I needed it.  I was in the bathroom anyway so.....  I had a new bar of Oil of Olay soap (I really love that soap) and the Beast had given me a bottle of St. Ives Triple Butter body soap.  He gave me that after seeing the really dry skin on my feet and ankles.  Then he says this....*I use the bar soap first then I use the butter body soap.  I step out of the shower and soap up good with it and then I wash it off.  It only takes two or three days and you will feel a difference in your skin.  Trust me.  Remember when you ran your hands down my arms and they felt smooth?  Well, that's how I did it.  Feel my arms now.  I haven't used that for just three days and they feel *bumpy*.  (They did).  He ran up to Walgreens to get some more of the Triple butter body wash and came home with Coconut Oil body wash instead.  He decided he'd give that a try.  I told him if it didn't work for him, just give it to me and he could have the triple butter wash back.  I happen to have a great lotion I like to use.  It's the Gold Bond extra moisture one that I put on before my limbs are dry.  I just have to start keeping it in the bathroom.  It doesn't work as well if my lower legs and feet are dry.  I have to use two or three times more lotion before it rehydrates my feet and ankle areas.

I got dressed and then fell back asleep in my recliner for about four hours.  When I woke up, I jumped in my car and drove to Lowe's.  They had an amazing amount of those shelves just full of different vegetable plants.  I kid you not.  If you think I am kidding, make the trip yourself and check it out.  I had no idea they had almost two dozen different types of tomato plants.  Then they had cabbage starts, all kinds of peppers, a dozen different types of cucumber starts....I can't even remember all the different veggies.  I was stunned.  I wanted to know what kind of tomato plants the Beast wanted but his phone is always turned off when he goes to church.  So I picked out two cucumber plants, five new strawberry plants, two bean plants, two squash plants and two pepper plants (jalapeno).  When I go back with the Beast, I'll take a little more time and see what some of the other plants are that I might want to try.  I think the Beast wants an eggplant but I told him only ONE, tyvm.  They make enough eggplants on one plant to feed you for a year, I swear.  They just make more and more and more eggplants.  Same thing with zucchini.  Zucchini can be used to make pickles, too, just in case you don't know.

Chewlee was very good today and was excited about going to Birdie's house.  What she doesn't know is that Birdie almost called it off but I made her feel guilty, I think, when I told her that Chewlee would be very unhappy since she was sitting in a chair in the kitchen waiting for her to pick her up.  That's when Birdie decided she would come and get Chewlee and let the kids play together for a couple hours.  Later she called the Beast and asked if Chewlee could spend the night next Saturday.  He told her he would check with the Princess and let her know.  I know Chewlee.....there is no way she won't nag her mother to death until/unless her mother says *yes*.

I'm going to bed in about a half hour which is why this post is going up early.  It's supposed to be the Monday post but will be marked with Sunday's date (the 7th).  Sorry about that but I AM trying to get myself back into a *normal* type of sleep schedule.  Of course, that will blow out the window when Bratfink gets back online.  Then it will be back to staying up until 1 or 2 am.  **Blush**

Love you all.  Be good.  Have a great night and an even better week.. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I happened upon an article all about blogging.  The thing that struck me was they said you should post your blog early in the day...right after lunch time.  I forget why they suggested that particular time (I'm an old person, remember) but I wondered if that was really true.  Right now, I do it sometime from 10pm to after midnight, depending on whether or not I get up from a late nap or if I stop playing a game that has me involved.  That's what happened tonight.  I love word games and there is a competitive one on Pogo that is NOT Scrabble.  I try to avoid it at night but a friend wanted to play it so..........

Today was a strange day.  The weather was absolutely beautiful and the Beast and I sat outside on the deck for an hour or so just enjoying it.  Neither one of us felt particularly energetic.  Maybe that was the fault of the weather.  The Beast DID go around the back of the house, spraying all the entry points for ants since we are already getting a shitload of them all over the counter on the outside wall.  They come in through the outlets so we know they are getting in from outside and following the wiring.  The bad part is, once he sprays outside, the ants INSIDE are trapped so then we have to clear pretty much everything off the counter and spray the inside.  I'm going to get some cinnamon oil and paint around the outlets and the window frame and sill.  According to this book about using natural things to get rid of pests, ants hate that.  Burns their feet or something, I guess.  I'm also putting bay leaves in my drawers (same reason...ants hate it).  It made me think that I just might plants some bay leave plants around my strawberries and see if that helps.  If I can find some, I will plant garlic around my tomato plants.  That's a deterrent for those nasty tomato worms.  Same thing for around the base of the peach trees.  I haven't found a remedy for the fungus problem but the Beast swears if we don't get some peaches soon, he's going to pull all the peach trees out.  I don't know why the fungus hasn't bothered the plum trees, however.  The Beast has already yanked the apple trees out.  That broke his heart.

We have a little bird that was in one of my small evergreens building it's nest.  No, I take that back, it had built it's nest and there were five small eggs in it.  The Beast, without me knowing, took the nest out and put it on the ground near the driveway.  The bird had actually stripped some of the bark and the leafy section off the back of the tree and might actually have killed the tree.  If so, that will break MY heart.  I love that tree.  It's like the perfect small Christmas tree but the back of it doesn't look good right now.  I told the Beast to spray paint the torn open section where the bark was stripped to keep out any insects that could ensure the tree dies.  I read that somewhere a while back.  It surprised me but, hey, if it works, I'll be happy. 

The little bird moved into the BIG evergreen tree out front now and I told the Beast we need to take the new nest out of there before it lays eggs again.  He thought it couldn't lay any more but I told him it HAS a mate and can mate again.  He knew the fathers stuck around to help feed the babies but it never occurred to him that they could mate AGAIN.  DUH!

The Beast went over to Tara's and took pictures of Keith and his date for the prom tonight.  What a pretty girl.  Even in heels, she's a bit shorter than Keith.  Keith's best friend came over with his prom date (another pretty girl with really long hair).  Chewlee would have loved to see that.  She would have asked her if she was Rapunzel, I'm sure.    Both girls dresses were adorable.  The Beast got some nice pictures.  Tara needs to bring over one of those little gadgets that you can put computer stuff on and then bring it home and put it on your computer (brain fart here).  Then she can post it on her facebook page, too.  I have no idea how many pictures he printed up but I know he wasn't thinking about the fact that they all will probably want a copy of them all.  But he'll find out once they see them.

I had a really bad night last night.  I just couldn't sleep for any length of time.  I kept having to get up and pee.  I finally fell asleep around 4:30 or so and slept until 9:30am.  I got up and made sure I stayed up all day.  But, around 8:30pm, I couldn't keep my eyes open so I packed it in and went to bed.  So what happens?  Around 10:30, the Beast comes in and flips the light on because he couldn't find the alarm clock.  I jumped and that was it.  I knew I was up for the duration.  Goofy Beast, I told him....*Where did I use it?  In the GUEST BEDROOM!  Or should I say in Chewlee's room.*  I was so pissed that he woke me up like he did.  My heart was racing and I had to sit there, calmly, until it stopped.  My hands were shaking from the surprise.  Asshole!  I wouldn't do that to him but he has no empathy for anyone.  But he always expects to be treated like he's so delicate and ill.  Sheesh!

I sure hope everyone had a decent day.  Rain doesn't count unless it's very heavy and causes flooding.  Otherwise, rain can still be counted as decent weather because it's NOT snow!  LOL  The tomato plants the Beast put out last week are dead, of course.  He doesn't listen so they were hit by the frosts.  That's the second set of plants he's lost.  He's just so anxious to get the garden started.  I told him to wait now for a week or two.  The seeds are okay.  They won't freeze now because the ground is totally thawed and won't freeze again until winter.  I found a treasure trove of seeds out in the garage in an air tight bottle the Beast had put them in.  He bought them on sale last summer when it was too late for seeds to be planted.  Actually, the lettuce (leaf) and radishes could still have been planted but, hey!, I have some seeds to get started.  I'm going up to Lowe's tomorrow to pick up a few plants that I will keep in the house until I am sure there's no chance for frost.  I did that last year and it worked out fine.  I have the perfect spot to put them in while we're waiting.

Well, time to get this posted.  Love you all and I wish you a wonderful week.  Keep the faith.  Spring WILL arrive. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Chewlee and I were watching a documentary on the DOCumentary channel (I put that there on purpose since it's known as DOC) about Egypt.  They showed a couple of the sarcophagi in the museum in Cairo (very ornate) and started asking questions about mummies.  Can mummies talk?  Can mummies move their arms?  Can mummies walk?  Do mummies have hair on their heads?  To which I replied...No.  No.  No.  I don't know.  She found the last answer unacceptable even when I told her I had never seen a mummy without their bandages so I didn't know.  She decided they did have hair under their bandages.  I told her that movie mummies were just pretend and she shrugged but then said, *I know THAT, Grandma.* 

It's like when she told me there was boy food and girl food.  There's also boy colors and girl colors.  Cartoons that are for boys and ones for girls.  I've gotten to the point that I know I should just document some of this stuff and save it for her when she gets older.  She hasn't decided yet if her cousin (once or twice removed, not sure), Hunter, is her brother or her boyfriend.    She met him last year when the Princess flew out to Denver for his dad's retirement party from the Air Force.   I think Hunter, who is about 12-13 (I really can't remember) was very nice to Chewlee and she was just happy, happy.  When we play her games here, she will sometimes call Hunter her brother; other times, he's her boyfriend.  I think she would just love a sibling...but she would like one older than she is so he/she could look after her.  Yes, she sometimes imagines a sister that is either her age or just a bit older.

What's wild is her *students* when *we* play school.  She has a class of about 8 or 9, I think it is and she knows each and every one of their names.  She has a couple that are problems and some that are always good.  She's dragging one or two into my office and I have to have them put their noses to my wall and stand there, silently, until she comes back for them.  She will bring papers in to me (that she's done under the guise of being the student) and either praise or complain about them.

Chewlee was funny tonight.  She was told that she could go with the Beast to Tara's house tomorrow.  The Beast is going to take pictures of Keith and his prom date.  She's actually a freshman in college who asked HIM to HIS prom....LOL.  Chewlee got excited and decided she was going to make us all special drawings.  The drawings were hearts and mine says *Grandma I love you very much*.  The Beast's says *Papa I love you very much dear*.    I didn't see the ones she did for her mother and for Tara.  Then the Princess told Chewlee that her friends were bringing over their kids so they could all play together and Chewlee got all flustered thinking of all the things she COULD be doing.  She told me, *I can't do three things in ONE day!*  I told her to calm down and wait and see.  She just might be able to.  I don't think she believes me but we shall see what happens.

It was a fantastic day outside today.  Tonight they are saying we should get some rain but that's only a 30% chance so it may miss us.  I'm hoping so anyway.  The Beast and I will be doing some seed plants tomorrow and I hope to find some radish seeds, too.  I found some leaf lettuce and am going to look for some rosy tip lettuce seeds.  They should have my cucumber plants at Lowe's this weekend, too.  I hope you have some nice weather and fun activities planned for the weekend.  It's going to be warmer here for the next four or five days so I am happy.

Love you all.  Have some fun.  Be good if you can. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It happened to me finally.  I was overdue for it.  I've been called to Jury Duty at the end of this month.  My first reaction was just an *Oh.  Interesting.*  Then I thought...*Oh no!  My bladder needs to go when it needs to go.  What kind of potty breaks do they have?  Maybe I can wear a Depends.  Oh, god...I don't want to have to wear one.  And what do I do if my IBS kicks up?  Dammit.  I really wondered what it would be like to serve on a jury.  I need to change my retina doctor's appointment.  It's on the same day.  Shit.*

My mind had been going back and forth on that.  But I haven't made up my mind if I want to just chance it that I might not get picked for a case that would last more than a few hours or a day.  I won't be able to think about much else than this now.  It'll worry me in my dreams, watch and see.  What kind of experiences have YOU had with jury duty?  C'mon Bee....I think I remember you've done it.  Let me know, okay?  I don't think they will take having to watch Chewlee as an excuse.  Not with the Beast being here to take over my duties.  That shouldn't be a problem for a day...or even two.  But longer than that and I don't think Chewlee will love her grandfather when I get back to watching her.

Mustachio, when told, gave me reasons to make a difference or excuses that would make either the defense or the prosecutor dismiss me.    What surprised him was that they aren't using voter registration rolls any more.  Most of the states have switched to using drivers licenses due to the shrinking voters registrations.

Today was supposed to be my *day off* but I ended up with Chewlee because the Princess went to her gym.  Chewlee, who had been home for a bit, came in dragging an unopened Easter basket (one of the commercial kind) that had a bright pink soccer ball in it and a little bit of candy.  She was carrying another, smaller basket that had some Hershey's kisses in it.  She wanted cartoons on and we have this agreement...she watches an hour of her cartoons and I watch an hour of my programs on days she isn't  usually here.  She made herself comfy on my recliner while she watched her cartoons then fell sound asleep.  She was still asleep when the Princess got here.  Tomorrow is picture day and the Princess wanted to give Chewlee a bath and shampoo but doesn't think Chewlee will wake up enough.  I hope she does or her hair will look awful tomorrow for pictures.

Another cold day in the morning and a bit better by afternoon.  It was pretty dismal all day long with tiny bouts of sunshine but almost not enough to note.  They say sunshine tomorrow but you know how they lie. 

Love you all.  Have a great day.  Be safe and drive carefully. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I have this bad habit when I am IM-ing with my son.  His spelling is atrocious and he has to write up reports for each job he installs.  I worry about him looking like he's dumb when he really isn't.  Bad spelling does affect how his superiors look at him and could actually prevent him from being promoted to a higher position (management).  So we are IM-ing and I am correcting his spelling.  He lets several go by and then says, *You should be an English teacher*.  I tell him why I am correcting his spelling and add....don't you mean a SPELLING teacher?

I tell him how it drives me nuts in a chat room where people are constantly spelling things wrong....like *their* for *they're* or, even worse, for *there*!  He says to me, *I can see you don't do much texting*.  I told him it was easy to ignore all the abbreviations and misspellings in texting because there's a letter limit to each text.

He has now started to put the correct word in the IM after he's typed it when he sees he's spelled it wrong.  I just smile when he does that.  He DOES misspell words on occasion and I find myself automatically spelling it correctly on the next line.  Like tonight.  He was telling me how his *ancle* blew out on him when he was coming down the stairs and he was glad he only fell three steps to the ground.  I just typed in *ankle* and sent it then proceeded to ask him if he had hurt himself.  I knew which ankle it was because he had jumped down around 20 feet to the ground from a telephone pole when he was 17.  I almost shit when I saw the X-ray.  The doctor took one look at it and said, *I KNOW that God never meant for a foot to look like that!*  We all laughed and the doctor scheduled surgery for the next morning while the nurse drugged my son for the pain to last the night, I think.  I don't even remember how many pins were put in but I remember how much padding was around that foot for weeks afterward. 

So it's no surprise that, every once in a while, that foot will just lose all feeling and muscle control and collapses.  Of course, that paralytic moment seems to travel up the whole leg and there's no control so down he goes.  I used to suffer from a similar thing when I was younger but it was caused by surgery on my foot for a different reason.  There are so many important nerves in your foot, you probably wouldn't believe it.  The surgeon had to wait a couple years before he could remove the needle in my foot due to it being next to a nerve that would have paralyzed the lower part of that leg.  It wasn't a whole needle (part had broken off in the rug).  It was one of those moments....I was running after one of my sisters and my mother just dropped the needle after breaking off the thread she used for a repair of something or other.  My foot hit the needle just a second or less after my mother had dropped it.  Voila'!  Needle in foot for three or four years before they could remove it.  And it was just in time.  As the doctor, needle held with tweezers, went to check the size of the needle they removed against the original X-ray, the needle slipped out of the tweezers, hit the tray and shattered into a hundred pieces.  Yes, it was THAT corroded.

The surgery had been performed with just a local anesthetic and I watched as much of it as I could (Hey, I was 12!) but this nurse was at my head (I was on my stomach) and she kept grabbing the sides of my head and turning it towards her.  Spoil sport.  But I admit, I said to the doctor, *It's a good thing you didn't wait any longer to take that out!*  From the horrified look on his face, I think that is exactly what he was thinking, too, but he never said it out loud in MY hearing.

Another Smiley face for Chewlee today.  She was very good so, when one of the neighbor kids came over and asked Chewlee if she wanted a play date, I let her go for an hour.  The girl is around 10, I believe, and she goes to the Beast's church.  Chewlee was so excited, she must have said *thank you, thank you* a dozen times as she put on her sweater and ran out the door.  When she wasn't home in an hour, I told the Beast to go get her home and he said to let her have another half hour since it was still early.  He went over and got her (much to her disappointment until the mother said they would do it again when she was with us next week) and she was in a really great mood when she got home.  She played on the computer for about 40 minutes.  She had an hour but I think she's played just about every game on NickJr. and watched the videos of all her favorite characters until she's gotten a bit bored.  I think they need to change some of them now.  They only need to change a few.  She'll find any new ones. 

I told you they have a new hidden objects game on Pogo, right?  Chewlee not only loves it but she's damn good at finding the objects, as usual.  I played all four of the new adventures and still have a hard time locating them.  Of course, when you replay one, they change the objects you have to find.  The scenes don't change, just the hidden objects in the scene for you to find.  If Chewlee knows what the object is (remember, she doesn't have a whole lot of experience with things like drills, oil cans, oxygen tanks, etc. so I sometimes have to describe the object to her....and she will STILL find the darn thing!).  Young eyes....young eyes.  Sheesh!

It WAS cooler today.  Our high was only 61 but there was lots of sun and no wind so it felt nice out.  It was too cool for Chewlee and I to sit outside, waiting for her bus, because it was 45 degrees and very humid since it POURED last night.  We tried but ended up back inside within 5 minutes, feeling chilled.  I wasn't standing right at the door when the bus came down the road and that darn bus driver slowed down but didn't stop until he actually SAW me open the door.  He was almost to our lot next door when he stopped and Chewlee ran over and got on the bus.

Tonight we packed up her back pack together.  She grabbed a few of the smaller items she wanted to take home with her (her makeup and lip glosses) and put them in her pocket.  We put her papers from Monday and today inside the back pack but not in her folder.  Her daily homework (the reading lesson) and her snack money were put in the folder where it belongs and then she zipped it up securely and put it on my chair by the craft table.  She likes to do her practice reading while we are waiting for the bus and she can make sure I signed it.  She even remembered to put her library book in because tomorrow is library day and she can turn it in for a new book.  I hope I get to see or talk to th Princess to remind her that making sure Chewlee reads it and that SHE signs it because it means a Dugie Dollar for Chewlee on Friday.

Love you all.  More warmer weather by this weekend (so just two more cooler days) so I hope you make some plans to enjoy the outdoors.  We will be planting more veggies.  How about you? 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I told you never to trust the weather men/women!  We were up in the 70's (again!) today and we were only supposed to get up into the mid-60's.  They said *partly cloudy* and we had sun all day long.  If it's cloudy out now, who cares?    Hope you had nice surprises for your weather, too.

The Beast decided it was such a nice day, he was going to clean out the garage.  He not only cleaned/cleared it out, he washed the damn floor, too!    I know!  He did an amazing job but then, he can be a real perfectionist when he's in the mood.  I wouldn't open some of the cabinets, however.    He didn't take enough time to actually straighten out the cabinets that he put things in.  He was looking for order in the garage, not the cabinets.  Now the neighbors won't think we are total pigs when they look into the garage when it's open.

The Beast also has given up the idea of Sirius radio in the Yaris.  It required installation of a different antenna and some other item that would have required him to tear apart the dashboard.  Instead, he's going to use the cd player that is already in the car.  Since *I* am the one with the big collection of cd's, that meant he had to go through my collection to find ones *he* likes to put in the car.  I have a surprise for him.  I am putting a bunch in that *I* like, too.  **Sticks out tongue** 

Chewlee got a smiley face.  She told me she was very quiet all day long because she really didn't feel good.  When I asked her why, she said, *I don't know.  I just felt quiet.*  Feeling quiet means she's sick????  I guess in her mind it does.  She was very good here, too.  I did get upset with her because she readjusted her bath water and it was cold when I went in to check on her.  I made sure she had warm pajamas on when she was dried off.  She also has a new paragraph to read this week.  It seems filled with fun but strange words.  She did well with them and only had a problem with two words.  However, she did try to sound them out but that doesn't always help them read the word correctly.  We got into a discussion about the word evil.  She saw it and kept saying it was *E-vile*.   When I corrected her, she tried to tell me that there were two words and she was saying it right.  She can be very, very stubborn so I told her to ask her teacher.  I also told her that I have never lied to her so she should listen when I try to get her to say it correctly.  I would never have her say the word wrong because I don't want her to look stupid when she reads it out loud.  She didn't say anything to that but I know she's going to ask her teacher tomorrow.  It's really because of how they push that *sounding* words out.

Chewlee's answer to my asking her what she got from the Easter bunny?  *Lots of candy*.  Period.    She was more interested in playing the new hidden object game because it has a couple twists to it that none of the others have.  The scenes are different and I have to say, the female character in the game is a really bad housekeeper.    Even Chewlee said she was messy. 

I decided to do some reading today.  Nothing deep or serious.  A scifi book about a dinosaur society that invades earth after awaking in their compound on the moon.  A young woman makes friends with a dinosaur that turns out to be an important member of the invading force.  Of course....LOL.  I'm a little more than halfway through the ebook on my Nook.  It's an easy read and just what I needed today.  I also downloaded a couple more books for Chewlee.  She will get a kick out of discovering them when she's on my Nook next time.

Love you all.  I wish you a great week and good weather.    Stay safe and warm.

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It was a wonderful day for me even though it didn't get bright and sunny until almost noon.  The Princess came and picked up Chewlee around 10am.  It would have been earlier but she had to hide the eggs around the house for Chewlee to find.  Chewlee had gotten up after the Beast left for his day in Huntsville.  It had to be around 7:30am and she headed right for the cookies. (I was still asleep)  It was Oreos and I found a pile of the cookie parts with all the creme eaten off them.  THAT made me angry because she's been told no regular Oreos (she will eat all of the new vanilla oreos) unless she eats them all.  She was so quiet that I never heard her open the package.  She can be really sneaky.  I woke up at 8am and made her clean up her mess, turned on cartoons for her and got my morning coffee.  Thankfully, the Beast had made some fresh before he left and he was nice enough to put a dish towel over the top so that it stayed very hot.  That's a little trick I came up with because there's a hole right in the middle of the carafe and, of course, the little opening at the spout.  I put the teaspoon over the hole in the middle and the towel is doubled over and put over the entire top.  Just in case you have a Bunn like ours.

Chewlee had some toast and a little glass of milk.  Then I found her with the Doritos but she only ate a few and put them back in the pantry.  The Princess called me to tell me she really was up but she was trying to get everything ready to surprise Chewlee and would be there in a bit.  It was 9:30am when she called so I made Chewlee put her shoes and socks on and we played a couple of the newest hidden object game episodes until her mother got there.  I can't wait to hear her tell me what she got when she gets here after school tomorrow.  I need to make sure the Princess's night classes have started up again.  I mean both nights.  I saw on her Face Book page that she got her final grade in one of her classes but I didn't really see which class that was for.

It was really nice to have the whole house to myself.  Baron was sulking, as usual, whenever the Beast has gone somewhere without him.  He made no demands on me.  I fed him at his regular meal time and he gobbled it up then went and plopped down next to the Beast's side of the bed.  I knew when the Beast was on his way home because, all of a sudden, Baron was up and bouncing on the floor at the junction of the kitchen where he could watch the garage door and the front door.  He does that because he's never sure which way the Beast will come in. 

The Beast changed and took Baron out for a run.  It's a good thing he did that when he did because it started to rain shortly afterward.  Baron was just happy that his man was home and didn't detach himself until they both went to bed.  I was asleep when that happened because I had been awake all day without one and busy for most of it until the Beast got home.  I made dinner for us both and should have napped then but was busy reading my email and news...stuff like that.  When my son popped up on an IM (Mustachio), we talked for a half hour and then I HAD to take a nap.  I had hoped it would only be for an hour or two but it ended up being three hours.  Tsk, tsk...well, I'm an old person now and should get used to that. 

Our highs will be cooler now for a while but nothing really intense.  It's supposed to be gradual but you know how those weather people are.  They really can't tell for sure for more than a day or two but I sincerely hope they are right.  I hope all the intensely cold weather is over for the New England states now and the NE part of the country, too.  Even though I understand they could use it in terms of water when the snow melts. 

Love you all and I hope you had a wonderful day and an even better week ahead.