TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I hope everyone had a very Happy Mothers Day.  My mother is dead now for 28 years and I still miss her as fiercely as ever.  I think of all the grands and great-grands that she would have loved to see born and grow up and how those same children would have loved her.  She had much she could have shared and taught to them.  But I know her spirit lives on among us and surrounds us with her love.  We love you, Mom....and we miss you!

My day was peaceful enough.  I didn't end up getting my Edible Arrangement because there is no delivery to our area.  The participating *florists* are too far away so that was sad to find out.  When my son called to wish me a Happy Mother's Day, he told me what he had been told and apologized to me (like it was HIS fault...lol).  He was disturbed to find out that I hadn't gotten the flowers he ordered instead and I promised if they came tomorrow, I would let him know.

We had Chewlee today since the Princess worked and she dressed up so cute.  She had a pink and white mini-dress on and pink leotards.  She was also wearing (to her mother's horror when she found out later) her little girls play hi-heels.  When she got here and found out that the Beast had already gone to church and returned, she was very upset.  But the Beast didn't want to call and wake her since she was sick yesterday and we didn't really know if she was fully recovered or not.  But to Chewlee, it meant she didn't learn about God and it also meant she wouldn't be going over to Birdie's either.  She plopped down in my chair and said, *Oh just great!  That means another boring day with nothing to do!*  With her arms folded across her chest and the frown on her face, she actually made me smile.

A little later the Beast made her happy because she had been invited over to Olivia's house to play for a while and she just loves Olivia.  Olivia is a bit older than Chewlee and plays with her more like an older sister might so it's fun for her (not sure how Olivia feels about it...lol).   When she came home a couple hours later, she went for a ride on the *mooter scooter* with the Beast while he ran Baron around the circle.  Baron stopped to visit with his little friend, a small, shaggy dog who had been running around loose all weekend.  He was finally in his own backyard to the relief of his owners and I think even Baron was glad he was home again. 

The Beast visited with the owners and told them that we had fed and watered their dog because the Beast hadn't found them at home at the time.  We didn't know what had happened or if an emergency had come up but we didn't want the dog to go without until we found out.  It's a sweet little thing and I would have taken it in in a heartbeat if something had happened to his owners.  Baron would have loved it.  He's very protective of him when the dog next door seems to be trying to hurt it.  It looks to be some kind of a small terrier mix but with a longer coat.  He can't weigh more than 15 or 20 lbs tops and he was never afraid of Baron from their first meeting.

I got out in the garden this afternoon and pulled some weeds, cut down some ugly plants of unknown origin here and there in the yard and saw the strawberries are doing very well.  I managed to do more than I thought I could except for throwing some of it in the trash.  The Beast said he would do that since I kept it all in one area.  But what surprised me was that I managed to do all I did and get up the stairs afterward without feeling like calling 9-1-1.    My legs usually are both sore and very weak after a bout in the garden.  My bush beans are doing well although I need to find my trowel so I can transplant a couple of them that are growing too close together.

The Princess showed up early from work.  Chewlee had just gotten into the bathtub so her mother got to help her with her hair.  I had no idea that Chewlee wasn't rinsing her own hair at home like she does for me here.  But now that the secret is out, I think Chewlee will be doing it at home, too.  It was probably Chewlee's fastest bath and shampoo.  She got dressed and they went home with little fanfare except for Chewlee's clack, clack, clacking of her play shoes on the wooden floor.  Too funny how her mother rolled her eyes.

Well, love you all.  Hope you have a great week ahead of you.  Take care and be careful if you are driving.  Drive defensively. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Unless there are deliveries tomorrow, I don't think I'm getting my Edible Bouquet.  It didn't come today and I was home.  Chewlee arrived here around 7am and she was sick as a dog.  She had vomited several times before she got here (Chewlee said she had vomited four times and, since she spent the day counting each time she threw up, I believe her).  The last count was 9 times and she also had an accident, twice, and we had to change her underwear and her pedal pushers.  She had a couple bouts of diarrhea,too.  During all this, she had no fever.

She came and slept in my arms while I was laying back in my recliner.  All she asked for was some cold water.  I gave her an insulated cup with crushed ice and water.  She pretty much just sipped it all morning.  At one point, she told me she didn't want to watch cartoons; she wanted peace and quiet because she had a little bit of a headache.  When I suggested that she go lay on the bed, she gave me no argument.  She just grabbed her blankey and the ice water and headed for the bed.  I tucked her in and almost closed the door shut.  She fell asleep for about two hours. 

When she woke up, she was feeling better.  But....the idiot Beast gave her some milk because it always makes *him* feel better.  Either milk or hot chocolate, neither of which I would have given her.  She laid around in my recliner for about a half hour and then, while I was busy in the kitchen, I heard her crying.  When I asked what she was crying about, the Beast, rag in hand, said, *Because she threw up!*  I looked where he pointed and, on the bathroom rug, there was this definite white blob.  I knew it was the milk.  So did he which was why he was wiping it up.  She was crying because she was upset that she didn't make it to the sink or toilet.

However, after that episode, she felt (and acted) like she was better.  She finally was a little hungry and wanted some chicken noodle soup.  She ate it and not throwing up afterward (Hurrah!).  When I called the Princess who was on her way home from work by then, Chewlee was acting like herself (riding her bike outside) and had been vomit-free for over an hour-and-a-half.

She got excited about going to the gym with her mother for a going away party and put on a pair of her jeans I had here so she *looked nice for mommy*.  Johnnycakes showed up to pick her up and was very happy that she wasn't throwing up any more.  She had just put her bike away so she grabbed her blankey and the pickle I had packed for her (in a baggy).  I told her that it was up to her mommy when and IF she could eat it.

The Beast and I made up the base for the Italian beef recipe my sister, Cee, sent to everyone.  We had roasted the beef roast to rare yesterday and wrapped it up in aluminum foil.  We kept it in the refrigerator overnight and then the Beast sliced it thin.  We put it all in the slow cooker to simmer for four hours and, halfway through, I put the green peppers in it.  It turned out fantastic.  I baked the rolls the Beast had bought to crisp the crust since we love crispy rolls for our Italian beef.  Perfection!

It was perfect weather today, too.  I sat outside a couple times just enjoying it and watching the birds flying around and eating the worms that came out of the ground after a brief but heavy storm passed over us early in the day.  At least we didn't have to worry about watering the garden...LOL!  Tomorrow is supposed to be even better (and warmer).

Love you all.  Have a wonderful Sunday.  I intend to enjoy it by working out in the garden while the Beast goes to church.  I noticed a few weeds that can use pulling and it's so much easier when the ground is wet.  Have some fun and reach out and touch someone (via phone for example).  Tell someone you love that you do.  Life is too short. 

 NOTE:  Bratfink got on my case about not giving Chewlee a waste basket or some such thing but I tried that...more than once when she gets sick.  She agrees but then refuses to use it.  She would rather clean up the floor (or change her clothes) than use a waste basket for some reason.  I finally ended up putting towels near her head while she was laying down.  Once she threw up in one, I would immediately take it and replace it.  But she would always try to make it to the toilet or the sink.  If she didn't, she would cry but she would start to clean it up herself. 

I would wipe off her face and finish cleaning it up.  I can't see letting a child who is ill wipe up her own vomit.  Even the Beast isn't that mean.  But Chewlee is Chewlee and she is stubborn about what she likes to do and/or wants to do.  That's HER personality.  I'm not going to beat her to make her use a waste basket or bowl.  If you try to force her to do something, she gets more upset and vomits more.  She HATES being sick and throwing up and will actually try to hide the fact that she is doing any vomiting.  I think that is sad when she's only doing it because she is sick.  Bratfink asked, *Who is the adult here?* but you can't browbeat a headstrong child into doing what YOU want when she obviously has an aversion to the use of other things to vomit into.  I don't know what started that problem but she obviously thinks it's more *grown up* to use the sink or the toilet.  And, if there is anything that Chewlee wants, it's to be *grown up*.  When you discover she is throwing up, she starts to cry inconsolably.  Just so you know what I am dealing with.  I just want her to relax and NOT get more upset.

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I had forgotten that today was *Mommy Day* at Chewlee's school and that was the reason why the Princess had taken the day off work.  So I felt like a real dummy when I called the Princess when the bus was *late* to see if she had gotten a notice from the school about WHY it was late.  When she reminded me about Mommy Day, I felt like a real idiot but then, I'm an old person.  I was just worried about where Chewlee could be.

It just blows me away that it's already mid-May.  Where has the time gone.  But we did get some good news.  We will be getting the check for our house in Guntersville some time in the next week or so.  We just have to get the papers ready (actually, just the Quit Claim) so that can be filed.  The Beast is all excited.  I am, too, because it means I get my new mattress and Tara told me just where to go to get it at a reasonable price.  She just bought one AND she did the research on it so she's getting the memory foam with the gel.  She told me she got the 5# foam because she wanted the firm support but I might not want it that heavy.  We shall see.

It's not much longer until Chewlee graduates (IF she does.  Lord knows her behavior sucks these past few weeks.)  Tara told me she is going and asked if we were going, too.  I told her, of course we are.  Even the Beast said he would go. 

Our RV-ing friends are back in town after being gone for three years.  They've been all over the country AND in Canada, too.  But now they are looking at buying a house just a few lots down from us.  It needs work.  The drywall all has to come down.  It's that Chinese drywall that has been found to grow the black fungus that makes people severely ill and has even led to death.  I don't know that there's any black fungus showing but living in the house had the owners very ill.  They moved out shortly after moving into the house.  That was a couple of years back (maybe as much as five years) and now they are attempting to sell it.  Our friends feel they can live in their RV while they are stripping the house of the dry wall, cleaning it up and then putting new dry wall up, etc. until they can move into it.  He happens to like projects so I know he will be happy if they get the house.  Lord knows, it's cheap enough.

Love you all.  Hope you have a fantastic weekend, everyone. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I usually talk on an IM with my son, Mustachio, every night after he gets home from work.  He's been working some brutal hours lately.  He says this week he will probably put in 70 hours.  Last week was something like 66 hours.  As tired as he is, he says the one good thing is that he's got all his bills paid and money in the bank.  I'm happy for him because he's going to be having some serious dental work done and he needs to get a new (used) car.

So we are just talking about things in general when he stops and says, *Mom, I have to ask you.....*  I say, *Yes?* And he wants to know what I want for Mother's Day.  At first, I almost said *nothing* but then I stopped myself.  I DID have something I have wanted ever since they first started advertising it.  I told him, *I would LOVE an Edible Arrangement.*  He laughed and said he had been considering them when he was looking online for ideas, I guess.

That makes me happy like you can't begin to realize.  I really, really wanted to have someone send me those sometime.  I thought, maybe, for a Holiday dinner or something.  But then the Beast found a religion that doesn't celebrate anything and that was his heaven and haven since he hates holidays.  It also meant the end of Holiday dinners are our house.  The Princess has kind of taken that on now since the family is a bit smaller now with just Tara and her two boys, Johnnycakes, Chewlee, the Princess and me.  Tara and I can help with cooking up things and bringing them with us.  But, I digress....  I will let you know what all is included in it when I get it.

It was quiet around here today.  The Beast woke up feeling sick and with a headache so he  pretty much spent the day in bed.  He was feeling better later in the day so he got to run Baron around the circle.  When Chewlee got here, she was tired.  Really tired.  She fell asleep on my recliner arm.  Her head was on my seat, her butt was up in the air and her feet were hanging down.  It was cute.  When she finally moved herself onto my recliner in a better position, I put up the foot rest so she would be comfy.  She slept about an hour and a half then woke with a start when she heard the Beast's voice.  She knew he was going to church so she got up to pick out a dress to wear and get ready to go with him.

The Beast said, when they went to sing a closing song, it was one Chewlee knew so she suddenly became an opera singer, complete with arm motions.  He said he couldn't help smiling and, when he looked around, everyone who could see her had the same problem.  He said it was really cute because she was so very enthusiastic.

It was hot and still a bit muggy today but it felt great to me.  Lots of sun and the hummingbirds were out in numbers.  One of the four hummingbird feeders went down about two inches from their feeding.....and that was in the biggest part of that particular feeder.  They were hungry!

Love you all.  Going to hit the sack in about a half hour or so.  Bratfink just got back online so we can play our sloto games and chat.  Have a great Friday, ya'll.  Enjoy and have a little fun. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I've been having a hard time both getting to sleep and staying asleep.  Either I have to get up to pee or a pain in my leg wakes me.  Then I have to try to get back to sleep again.  The most I seem to manage is around 5 hours of sleep.  I walk around the house in a fugue state or I am falling asleep at my keyboard and jerking awake.  Ever done that?

I manage to function but at a much slower pace because I have to keep shaking myself awake.  I almost hate to sit down for any reason because it really hits me when I am.  Sometimes, if I am very interested in a game that I am playing or a program that I am watching, I can go a few hours before it really starts catching up with me.  That was today.  However, if I manage to keep myself going long enough, I get that *second wind* and am suddenly wide awake!  I hate that because then it means it's going to be hours before I am tired enough to sleep and thus begins the round robin of my problem.  **Sigh**

The Beast almost forgot to pick up Chewlee from gymnastics.  As it was, he was late getting there.  Also, Chewlee got another squiggly face so she won't be getting an outing at the big play park here.  She calls it the *swing* park.  She got to play with the little boy next door today so she was happy with that.  When he had to go in to eat, she came home with the filthiest feet you ever saw!  She had taken off her flip-flops and was playing around in her bare feet.  Shortly after she came in the house, her mother got here to pick her up. 

I was just finishing up making dinner (pork chops and country gravy, broccolli and biscuits) so the Princess made up a plate for herself and Chewlee.  The Beast got himself a plate and, after tasting a few bites, declared the pork chops *perfect and tasty as hell*.  The last couple of times we've had pork chops, they've been pretty tasteless and watery.  This time he bought the pork chops at a different store and they really WERE great.  They had a lot of fat around the edges of each chop and some marbling, too.  That also helps flavor the country gravy.

The Princess told Chewlee if she didn't eat some of her broccolli, she couldn't watch cartoons at home.  Chewlee grabbed her fork and speared a piece then looked at it and said, *But it's so GREEN!* 

It was a wonderful warm and sunny day.  A bit humid after all the rain we've had but I'm NOT complaining.  I love warm...even HOT weather.  Chewlee likes it because she can run around without shoes.  When she showed me her dirty feet, I said, *Ewww!*  They really WERE dirty.  Her mother made her wash them in the tub before eating dinner.  Funny but I always thought you wash your HANDS before eating.  But maybe I'm just an old person who hasn't kept up with the new rules. 

The Princess, bless her heart, came bearing a gift for me (no, not my Mother's Day gift).  She brought me some Kahlua brand Mudslide.  Not my favorite but any port in a storm.  I've been out of it for a couple weeks now.  I tried to pay her for it but she wouldn't take any money.  She said, laughing, *It's the cheapest babysitting I've ever had.*  Too true.  I'd be charging someone other than her a lot of money for taking care of their kid under the same circumstances.

It's nice and warm out still so the Beast has the screen doors open to let the breeze blow through the house.  It feels great to me.  Just a sheet will do for sleeping under, I think.  I'm falling asleep here so I haven't gotten that second wind yet.  Another bad part of that is when I jerk myself awake, I have to take a few seconds to remember what I'm doing.

Love you all.  Hope you are having some weather you can enjoy.  Do something you like that allows you to really enjoy it.  Be good.  Remember to tell those that you love that you DO love them as the last thing you say to them.  Our family always ends a conversation or a phone call with...*Love you!*  That's even how we end our IM's online.  Take care. 

TALES FROM THE BRATFARM

Today, when the Princess came to pick up Chewlee before she went grocery shopping, she told me that she was willing to buy me my Mother's Day present and give it to me early.  I immediately thought it was her great gift of either vodka or my Mudslide current favorite.  Then she told me she was going to buy me my replacement Bunn coffee pot.  Since it's expensive as hell ($150-160), I figure she hasn't really priced them.  I thought it was a wonderful idea but.....I think the Beast should replace it.

Later, I started to give it a bit more thought.  It really is true, as the Princess brought up, that he might not bother since he loves the results from the one we are using now.  It's a bit of a pain in the ass because of the way you have to set it up.  It's almost like taking the damn thing apart.  And the basket is hard to clean because it's made to just strain through the sides, not the bottom.  That's hard plastic so you play this game of getting the grounds on the bottom to the sides and then turning the basket at an angle that allows the water to flush it out.  I like just throwing the grounds and paper filter in the garbage, rinsing the basket and that's it.  Sure, I have to pour fresh water into the coffee maker but, since it has a reserve of already hot water in the tank, it means my pot is ready in 3 minutes.  This coffee maker takes 7-8 minutes and then you must allow it a bit of time to completely drain the water out of the grounds in the basket or you drip coffee all over on the way to the garbage can.  And it's HOT!  I tried holding a rag under it but hot water really penetrates a rag quickly. 

I suppose I should tell the Princess, IF she is aware of how expensive it it, to go ahead and buy me my Bunn.  Otherwise, I will make it much cheaper for her to make me happy. 

We had lots of sun today even if the temperature didn't get much above 65 degrees.  The garden is flourishing and my lettuce and radishes are going well.  The tomatoes all look like they are going to be big and healthy, too.  The strawberries are full of little green babies so we will have a really good crop or two or three...LOL. 

Tomorrow should be warmer.  At least, I hope they are right.  Time to get this posted so I will say...love you all.  I wish you good health and great weather. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It was cold, damp, windy and overcast.  A perfect day to stay in bed....and we did.  At least until 10am.  We then got up, made coffee, grabbed something to eat and went back to bed.  Ostensibly, it was just to warm up but once you do, sleep is inevitable.    But, by 1:30pm, we were both pretty much mobile again.  Baron, poor thing, needed to go out but he's such a woose.  It wasn't until he could barely hold it any more that he finally made that dash down the stairs to pee.  Then, in a flash, he was back up the stairs and banging on the door to come back in. 

Our day was very calm until Chewlee got here.  It was one of those days that she seemed excited just to be alive.  The Beast was on his way out to Walmart to pick up a few things so he took her with him.  While they were there, I have no idea how she talked him into it or what the hell he was thinking but he picked up some of those glue on French tip nails for kids plus some of the pink instant glue and some novelty stickers for the nails.  He also picked up some nail covers in red with a dotted pattern on it.  The kind you smooth over the nail and then trim with the edge of an emery board.

Chewlee couldn't wait for me to put the nails on her and you should have seen the difference in how she held her hands and wrists once they WERE on her.  I had to trim a couple of the nails down just a bit so they fit right but she will not get a second set out of the package.  The rest of the nails are just too big for her and wouldn't fit right even if I could trim them down enough.  She was just crazy about them and was reluctant to even wash her hair like she normally insists on doing.  I stepped up to the job and did it for her, however, so it was okay.

The Princess was late getting here because the store was not cleaned up and ready for the next day as quickly as the Princess likes.  She prefers that the employees have their act together and start doing what needs doing before the store even closes.  That usually means that everyone can be out of there and on their way home within about 5 minutes after the store closes for the night.  Poor baby looked tired when she got here to pick up Chewlee.  I almost hated to keep Chewlee up this late but Chewlee didn't want a sleepover tonight (I think she wanted her mother to see her nails) and the Beast wanted her to see them, too.  Besides, I had no pajamas here for Chewlee.

Tomorrow is supposed to be better weather except still cold in the morning.  My allergies are making me nuts tonight and I am constantly blowing my nose or choking from my sinuses draining down my throat.  Love you all.  Hope you are getting some better weather than WE are having.  Take care and stay dry and warm. 

PS.  The problem with being ..ahem...older, is that you start to worry if every ache and pain is something serious.  You also worry about whether or not you will wake up tomorrow and see another day.  It's kind of sad to be older.

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Yeah, another overcast and rainy day.  Very depressing.  The Beast had all the lights in the house turned on to counteract it.  He had hoped it would have been sunny when he and Chewlee got out of church.  It was NOT to be, however.  The grey and dismal weather just went on and on. 

The Princess got home a bit early and took Chewlee home with her so they could cuddle (nap) for a while until it was time for Birdie to pick her up.  And so Chewlee DID take a nap.  I think she doesn't sleep well when she's not in her own bed OR have me sleeping with her.  She loves when I go to bed with her at the same time and not just crawl in with her later.  She goes to sleep fast and rests much easier.  Otherwise, she's like a wiggling worm all night, I swear.  Her mother brought her back to the house about 15 minutes before Birdie got here.  She must have woken Chewlee up because Chewlee curled up in my recliner and was very quiet (and half asleep).  But WOW!  When our doorbell rang, Chewlee was up and out that door like she'd been shot out of a gun!  It was really funny. 

It ended up that the Beast picked her up from a meeting place that Birdie and the Beast have and the Beast drove her home.  It was early enough (around 7) that she could still take her bath and then get to bed early.  I have to check with the Princess but I think she said she works tomorrow.  She's been picking up Chewlee on nights she does that and I just have to have her bathed and in pajamas.  I'll have to call her early so that she remembers to bring me some pajamas for her.  I think I've sent her home in all that I had here.  She's going to have to make sure I have enough pajamas every week until Chewlee is out of school.  After that, I have no idea what our schedule will be.  We'll have to sit down and work that out when I find out if she's going to send her to Summer School or not.  I saw the enrollment papers but forgot to ask her about it.

It's not so much summer school as it is a Summer Program for the kids of working parents.  But somehow, I think that it might work out for Chewlee.  She might even learn to listen to what she's told by her teacher, even if her teacher isn't her current one....whom she loves.  I know she loves her but she still doesn't always listen to what she told.

It can be tough to deal with a kid that is stubborn, has her own opinion about things, gets bored easily and will take her punishment for when she makes the wrong choices because she STILL thinks she's right.  When she feels she's not being listened to (and that happens a lot to little kids), she gets VERY upset.  You HAVE to give her a chance to be heard, explain why she made the wrong choice for whatever happened and THEN she's not upset, just a bit pissed.  Sometimes it's because she still doesn't believe she made the wrong choice, sometimes it's because she thinks YOU don't understand.  It's hard being her age and having everyone be the boss of you.

It's going to seem strange not having her here overnight five nights a week but also a relief.  *I* am the one that doesn't sleep well when I have to get her up so early so she can catch her bus.  At least now, at 5:30am there is some light outside so she doesn't think it's STILL NIGHTTIME!  That was her complaint all winter.  The sun is starting to come up at 5:30am and she can see it peeking through the blinds when I wake her.

Gotta get this posted.  Love you all.  I'm hoping for a better day tomorrow, aren't you?  Too bad it's the start of the work week for everyone.  Be good.  Be careful and be happy. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

....cold, damp and windy here today.  Chewlee went outside and was back inside within about two .. no, three seconds.  She was in such a hurry, she left her flip flops behind.  Later, when she went to retrieve them, she had to bring them in to me so I could feel how cold they were.  She told me that they *were really cold on her feet!*

Chewlee told me today that she wanted to write sentences to her teacher so she would know that she was really, really sorry.  That kind of surprised me since she gave me such a hard time about doing the ones her mother wanted her to write.  But, hey, I'm all for it when it's her idea and not a bad one either.

The sentence reads:  I'm sorry, Ms. XXXXX, for being bad.  Short and sweet but from the heart.  I don't think it will mean she can now go to the zoo on the 15th but she says she really, really wants her to know that.  Okay.  I set it up and she started on it a bit late but she wrote 10 of the 25 sentences before she HAD to go to bed.  She says she will finish it when she comes home from church.

She really didn't do a good job on the sentences her mother wanted her to write but, since I actually made her do them twice and the ones I saved were better (she can't seem to write when she's crying hard) but they are still not really good.   She had actually done 50 sentences and I don't believe in torture.

We had some flowers we wanted to plant today but it was raining almost all day.  Chewlee was all for going out and planting them anyway with this little tidbit meant to encourage me to agree....* We won't have to water them!*  No shit, Sherlock!  LOL

Chewlee really wants to be able to go to Birdie's house tomorrow afternoon but I told her that her mother was going to still be mad at her.  She said, *But I only punched that boy because he was counting so fast and *I* wanted to win*.  I guess it was some sort of contest to see who could count to 100 fastest.  He was counting faster than her and she wanted to win.  First of all, who the hell would have a contest like that with kindergarteners?  It's bound to end up with a few of them in tears.  Chewlee said they had a substitute teacher (for some of the day) and she was mean to her.  I was startled that she was so quick to admit she had made some bad choices.  You usually have to drag it out of her.

But she was good today.  My only problem with her was she only ate half her sandwich that she asked for.  She also didn't want any soup with it.  She just wanted a pickle with it.  I gave her half a pickle and cut that one in half too so that she had two *spears*.  She wanted to know where I had those and I told her I would show her later.  When I did show her, she told me that I was really tricky.  She said it laughing and then said she didn't know that was how spears were made.  Now she does.

The Beast and I spent the day cleaning up the master bedroom, changing the sheets on the bed and damp mopping the floors in the living room, dining area and kitchen.  The Beast now loves the special mop I have that sprays a cleaner on the floor as you *mop* with a dry pad under it.  I'm not using the name of the product.  I'm sure you've seen it in the stores.  I bought it (along with several of the pads AND the bottle of cleaner all together in a starter box) for around $15. at Dollar General.  I'm not sure what it costs at other stores because it was there in front of me and I needed a replacement one.  That was another one of the items that got lost in the move.  I'm sure the Beast probably threw it out just because he was tired of packing stuff into our trailer.  It's so like him.  Even he admits that...LOL.  But he had never used it until today so I forgive him.  Besides, it's old stuff.

I came across a reference today in someone's blog that I would like to share with you.  They don't remember where they read it and have no idea who actually wrote it but...well, you will see why it's so appealing to me.  It's very much MY philosophy in life.  Here it is: 

An old man once said, “There comes a time in your life, when you walk away from all the drama and people who create it. You surround yourself with people who make you laugh. Forget the bad, and focus on the good. Love the people who treat you right, pray for the ones who don’t. Life is too short to be anything but happy. Falling down is a part of life, getting back up is living.”

Think about that for a bit.  It's really simple but makes a huge difference.

Love you all.  Have a great Sunday. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It was many years before I finally got a Bunn coffee maker for home use.  We had one at our office...a two burner....that everyone enjoyed the quickness of it.  Especially when we had 16 guys working for us...and that didn't include the office staff.  But I digress.  I really wanted one for our use and, when we finally hit the point that we had our dream home built in Port Charlotte (it's on the Gulf Coast), I got one.

I have loved that coffee maker.  It didn't have a warmer; it had a thermal coffee pot that kept the coffee warm for hours and it never got a burnt taste because there was no continuous heat from a burner underneath a glass pot.  It had that wonderful reservoir of hot water that was available all the time.  When you poured the cold water in the top, it displaced the hot water that made your coffee.  It took only 3 minutes.

Today my coffee maker died.  It started leaking badly from the reservoir.  I knew it would probably be dying.  We've had it for 10 years and every appliance has it's lifetime.  It's been in constant use.  However, I must tell you this.  The Beast removed the top section for cleaning when we still had hope for it and it was just filled with this jelly like mold!  I was amazed that we hadn't gotten sick from it!  We cleaned it, as recommended and still had that happen.  Ugh! How awful to see and feel that stuff.  We had expected a hard calcium coating.  What we ended up with was not calcium.  I considered burying it in the backyard and getting a small marker for it but that seemed a little weird since it was never alive or anything.  It's just sad as far as I am concerned.  The Beast checked and a new one like ours will cost us $150. now....and that's buying it directly from Bunn.  It's a little more at suppliers that carry them.=))

Chewlee did not have a good day either.  I won't go into the whole thing but she had a 15 minute time out in her bedroom with the door closed, then she had to write another 25 sentences that I may make her redo because she's being so messy.  I told her that her mother was going to want to see it when she picks her up on Sunday but it doesn't seem to matter to her at the moment.  I was tougher on her today than I am usually when I try reasoning with her.  I said to her, *You were so good about writing your sentences the other day.  Why are you being so bad about it today?*  Her answer?  *Because you were nice to me then but now you are so mad.*  I told her that I was mad because we had talked about her being good and being able to go to the zoo.  Now, because she doesn't listen, she won't be able to go.  Only kids that listen can go.

The Beast had more pity on her than I did.  He kept trying to get her to be more cooperative by telling her she could help him make a cake if she hurried up and finished.  She had a crying fit when I told the Beast not to wait for her because she was stalling.  THEN, I told her that she would probably not be able to go to Birdie's house on Sunday because her mother was so angry and didn't feel she should get any reward at all for bad behavior at school.

I'm going to close this here.  I'm just glad that I don't have to deal with her and school for tomorrow and Sunday.  She's usually so good for us here, especially when we can work on the garden or plant more flowers.  She gets very excited once we start being able to use our own tomatoes, peppers, squash and especially our strawberries.  LOL!  Love you all.  Hope you are having a better time than I've had.