TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I woke up during the night with a godawful cough and it didn't feel like a cold.  I was coughing so damn hard that my muscles in my side and tummy areas were SORE by this morning.  I kept expecting to start coughing up blood or something but I didn't even cough up phlegm.  What gives with that?  The Beast claims he did that, too, after he quit smoking but I really don't remember that.  However, since I spend more time in HERE (my computer room) than in THERE (our bedroom), I really may have just left the room once the coughing started so I could sleep.

Most of the day, however, I didn't seem to do much coughing.  Not that I didn't do ANY.  It just seemed like it started at the oddest times.  Sometimes after I seemed to talk more than usual.  Or when I was more active.   I felt like I wanted to cough out a lung or something but that just might have been because of the sore muscles in my sides.  I had a few people that I play some games with online tell me they went through the same thing when THEY quit smoking...said it started about a week or so after and that works out for me.  It's Day 7 here for me.  I'll just have to wait and see what happens.

Chewlee at first seemed a bit depressed when she got here after Summer Camp.  I asked her what was the matter and she just said, *Nothing*.  When I reminded her that she would see her other Papa today, she just said, *I know.*  It turned out that she was unhappy because it was raining when she got here and she wanted to ride her bike.  She is so happy about being able to ride it with no training wheels.  The Princess hasn't taken the training wheels off her bike at home and that makes Chewlee very unhappy.  She says her daddy doesn't believe she can ride her bike without them *really good* so he won't take them off.  I go outside and watch her (to make sure she doesn't ride it somewhere she's not supposed to go) and I've noticed how her skills have improved over the past two weeks.  She has a lot to be proud of since she really and truly taught herself how to balance and ride that bike without any help from anyone.  I felt bad about not being able to help her out but I was going to give it a try on the weekend.  But she jumped the gun on me/us and started riding it after only two days from the day the Beast took them off.

Chewlee finally got excited about seeing her other Papa close to the time I told her it should be almost time for her mommy to come and get her.  She wanted to show him her haircut and she had me put her hair in pigtails.  This was AFTER she had spent about 10 minutes brushing her hair.  Then on went her head band (the pink one wrapped in grosgrain ribbon with a bow).  Just as she left with her mother to meet up with him at a local restaurant, she popped on her sunglasses.  She took a quick look in the mirror and she was finally ready to go. 

Looks like our rain is over for a while now.  The forecast for tomorrow is clear and sunny plus heat around 85+.  Guess I will make some sweet tea for us in the morning.  Gonna head for bed in an hour or two.  My muscles in my mid-section hurt.  I feel like I should be lying down already but I don't want to wake up at 3 or 4am and screw up my days and nights again.

It's taken me weeks to get my body back on a good circadian rhythm again.  Well, I am going to stop and get this posted.  I need to take a shower before bedtime.  Love you all.  Have a great weekend.  Hopefully, we will all be dry...for a while, anyway. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I'm sure by now you are tired of hearing about my quitting smoking.  I apologize but it helps me to tell you and how I am dealing with different things.  It ISN'T easy to quit.  I've been smoking for over 50 years and I have to admit, I am quitting mostly because I want to possibly avoid major health problems but.....how much can I avoid after 50 years?  I really wonder about that.

Chewlee's other grandfather is coming up from Florida tomorrow (he lives in the panhandle) to spend a few days with her.  Chewlee was all excited because he will be at a hotel/motel WITH A POOL and she will be having a sleepover.  She wanted me to call her mother to find out if she was going to have a sleepover with me but, when her mother got here to pick her up, she told Chewlee about her other grandfather and that thought went right out the window.  I know why.  Her paternal grandfather truly spoils her and what kid doesn't love that?

Today the Beast and I put together several hanging baskets that are now hung along the eave of the barn.  Then the Beast and Chewlee added more flowers to *her* flower bed out front.  It was cute seeing the two of them digging in the dirt and then putting the flowers in and patting the dirt all around them.  The Beast let her water them so she was happy.

I'm still working on clearing out my closet.  Tara came by today after she had gone to see the doctor about all the pain she's been in for the past few weeks.  He set up an appointment for her to have an MRI on Monday (which I told her she would probably need a couple weeks back).  BUT...she found out that the pain pills I had given her worked wonderful for her as long as she took one with food.  She said it gives her 12 hours of relief so she can work.   When she tried a chiropractor, she didn't think about the fact that they can't write prescriptions.  Everything he gave her was OTC and it sucked.  He was sure that some manipulations and some physical therapy would cure her.  Then he came up with the fact that she probably had something more serious going on and she should get an MRI.  That pissed her off that she wasted all this time with him so she went to see a real doctor.  He didn't prescribe any pain pills for her but he did give her sleeping pills so she can sleep all night.  That was the other problem she had because of the pain.  She would go to bed and only get about six hours sleep before the pain woke her up (she didn't take a pain pill at bedtime) and she wanted desperately to get another couple hours sleep before she had to deal with her day.

I'll let you know how that goes with her as I find out.  In the meantime, I need to get back to bed myself.  Love you all.  Be good and have a great Friday plus a fantastic weekend. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I've managed 5 days of no smoking and not too much of using the electronic cigarette.  Everyone tries to tell me the worst is over.  I don't know about that because I still keep reaching for a cigarette every once in a while.  Then I tell myself that this shall pass and that I will stop reaching.  That is sometimes when I reach for the electronic cigarette and often I just hold it.  It's not as satisfying as a real cigarette but I really do want to quit smoking.  Especially when I realized how nasty my clothes smelled.

Today I finally couldn't stand it and I wanted to go through that closet and get rid of the clothes that are too small for me.  So I grabbed a spray bottle of Odor Eliminator and sprayed the hell out of the clothes and some of the things that are folded on the shelf in there.  I let it dry and it really did help.  I could finally get in there and get some things cleared out.  I made up a big bag full of clothes for Goodwill.  I have a bunch of winter clothes that need to be packed away and put out in the cottage that I separated out so that only summer clothes are in the closet now. 

I have to go through the stuff on the shelves now and get that sorted out.   I know there's stuff up there that needs to be thrown out.  It's going to take me a couple days to get everything out of there and sorted.  The Beast claims he is going to finish up the cottage and put some shelves up so the blankets and comforters can be neatly put together.  I need to get another big container to put my winter clothes in.  I told the Beast that I have a container up in the attic that has sheets, pillowcases and some decorative items that we should probably get down once the cottage is ready.  We have several of these large containers in there that we can stack in some kind of order so we make it easy on ourselves when we want to find things.

It rained really hard today and the Beast took the opportunity to dig out some bushes he wanted to get rid of while the ground was soft.  We got a warning that we had *dangerous thunderstorms* headed into our area and, trust me, they sounded scary as they moved through.  There was lightning galore but off in the distance and not close.  They could have included tornadoes but I haven't seen the local news yet tonight so I have no idea if any actually developed.

My rose bush out back has two different color roses on it so far.  There are pink and yellow roses so I guess it's been playing around.  It started out just yellow roses but I DO have a pink rose bush out in front only it's just got buds on it right now so someone else must have a pink rose bush around here.  It looks pretty but I haven't checked to see if they smell pretty or not.  The original ones did.

The Beast went and picked up some more flowers from Lowe's and filled my hanging baskets.  He got them hung up around the yard and on the porch of the cottage.  He's going to fill the one I hang from the front porch tomorrow since the flowers didn't come up for me this year. 

Gonna get this posted and get ready for bed.  Love you all and keep safe and cool. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I've made it through Day 4 with a little help from the electronic cigarette.  But I think I am sleeping off the effects of the nicotine addiction via sleep.  I can fall asleep at the drop of a....well, I can easily fall asleep now every few hours and I sweat like crazy.  I had a girlfriend that said she did the same thing when she quit smoking.  She did it while she was on vacation from work and came back a non-smoker.  I haven't been around a smoker yet but what I am finding out is that I do NOT like some of the smells I can smell now that I never noticed before.  It's just plain awful.  I'm sorely tempted to start washing a whole closet full of clothes and I just may do that.  How could I have not noticed this before.  Yuk!

Chewlee said she was happy that I was not smoking because her teacher told her that smoking was bad for you.  She also said she never liked getting smoke in her face which she sometimes did while sitting on my lap playing some of the games that we do together. 

She spent the night here last night and we went outside together (it was nice out even at 6:30am) to wait for the bus.  When it got a bit late, I asked Chewlee if anyone else from our area was going to Summer Camp and she told me yes but they took a different number bus than she did.   That explained the bus sound I heard when we were first going outside, I think.  The Beast ended up taking her to school and dropping her off.  There were several people that were doing the same thing so he just watched her go inside before he left.  They have started dropping the kids back at home now earlier than it was when they were in school.  I think it's really because there are fewer kids to deal with.  I am usually taking a nap when she gets home and she said to me today, *How come you always wake up?*  I know she tries to be quiet but I can tell she's here.  What can I say?  I'm a mother.  No matter how old you get, you remain a mother.

The Beast is making all kinds of plans about the guest room and my computer room.  I think I am going to start emptying my closet here.....and maybe going through the clothes and doing some washing.  I intend to keep from smoking if it kills me! 

When I said I wasn't using the electronic cigarette much, I really meant that.  It is only when the urge gets very strong that I pick it up.  I think seeing the smoke is more of a psychological thing than anything.  It makes me feel like I am still smoking while my system is cleaning itself out.  I'm hoping to be able to give that up entirely within the week.....say a little prayer for me, won't you?

It got hot today (86 degrees) and is 70 outside right now (after midnight).  The weatherbug says it will only go down another couple degrees as our low.  I can hardly imagine what our summer weather will be like.  The Beast is setting up the house for a war on the heat.  He can't take it so he's ordered a slightly bigger AC window unit for the living room area and putting a unit in the guest room.  He wants to be prepared.  The window units work better than our big AC unit.  That's undersized for this house and the ductwork leaks like crazy.  He's not well enough or strong enough to make any changes in that so we have blocked the duct openings off so it won't leak heat into the house from underneath.  I refused one in my room partly because it would mean moving my desk away from the window and I won't do that.  I get enough coolness in here just from the spillover.  This house isn't that darn big that we need a window AC unit in every room.  Sheesh.

Love you all.  Gonna get this posted now before I go back to bed for the night.  I wish you a great day tomorrow (Hump Day) and remember to stay safe and drive carefully. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

...Chewlee stayed the night since her mother worked later than normal (even after the store closed).  I'm on Day 4 of quitting smoking (yesterday was Day 3), and I seem to want to sleep a lot more.  Oh, not for long but I will get tired like I need a nap.  After Chewlee took her shower (more on that later..), I was nap-sleepy so I told Chewlee that I would lay down with her.  She goes to sleep a lot faster when I lay down with her.  She cuddles up and is asleep within just a few minutes.  Unfortunately, so was I....LOL.    Even Baron came into the guest room and laid down next to the bed and fell asleep.  The Beast had to wake him up when HE went to bed.  Otherwise Baron will bark and scratch on the door to be let into the room when he wakes up.  That's what finally woke me...almost.  It was actually the light over the sink in the kitchen.  When the Beast came in for Baron, he left the door open and the light bothered me and woke me up.

When I got up, I woke Chewlee but told her to go back to sleep because I was just making a trip to the bathroom.  She just asked me to leave the door open (I did) and I checked on her a little later and she was sound asleep.  She just wants to know someone is close in case she gets scared.

My taking a five hour *nap* shows me that I was ready for bed, not a nap.  I'm not sure how much has to do with my not smoking but I'll tell you this.....I opened up my closet and discovered it smells like stale, sour tobacco.  I'm finding that I can smell odors I probably haven't smelled in years.  Food tastes different to me.  And that's after just a few days of not smoking.  I'm not even using the electronic cigarette all that much.  I find that holding it sometimes is enough to keep that *extra* hand busy.  It's going a bit easier than I thought it would.  But the extra *sleeping* bothers me.  I'm not sure if it's just my way of getting through the cleansing period or what but I really DO feel very sleepy more than usual.  I'm hanging in there and just trying to get my body on a *normal* sleep schedule even if it includes an earlier bedtime.  I'll just have to make some adjustments.

I have to tell you about Chewlee and *showering*.  At one time, Chewlee wanted nothing to do with a shower because it came down and hit her head.  She didn't like that at all.  She knows her mother takes showers and so does Grandma.  She has come to associate showering with being a *big girl*. 

Now that she is *in first grade*, she is a *big girl* and so she now takes showers.  She also washes and creme rinses her own hair.  There's no more taking a bath every day and no more toys she plays with.  At least, not while she showers.  She told me that baths are for when she *has time*.  I think that means on the weekends but I'm not quite sure yet.  She can be very abrupt and cryptic at times and she *doesn't want to repeat herself or explain things all the time.*  I kid you not, those were her exact words. 

The Beast is still not feeling well.  He feels he doesn't have to bother the doctor since it's tough to go bother him for something as vague as his symptoms are.  A sudden feeling of weakness, a headache, slight nausea and an upset stomach.  When he rests, the nausea and headache subside but his upset stomach stays longer.  The weakness also goes away after a short nap.  Then he is able to eat something light (soup, crackers) and he's fine.....for a while.

He wants to start tearing the guest bedroom apart and then my computer room so he can get rid of the rugs and get the laminate down.  We'll get an area rug for me since the floor in here gets very cold in the winter and I have to keep my feet warm.  Just keeping socks on my feet doesn't work and I haven't found any really comfortable slippers in a couple years (not since the ones I loved were no longer carried where I bought them every year).  **Sigh** They were the softest slip-ins ever.

Anyway, I told the Beast that doing some of this is why he suffers from the sudden weakness.  He overdoes things and pushes himself to the point of exhaustion and he doesn't recover well.  I told him to accept the fact that we are two old people who can no longer do some of the things we once did.  We need some helping hands to move some of the stuff we have in the rooms (dressers, bookcases, his gun safe) that need to be moved out of the rooms in order to take out the carpeting and install the laminate.  I'm hoping he might ask one of his new buddies to help out because I am afraid of being hurt trying to do any of that. 

Well, I need to go back to bed.  There's only a few hours left before I have to get Chewlee up to catch her bus to Summer Camp at the school.  Love you all and I hope you are having a decent week at the very least.  Be good.  Stay safe. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Chewlee went canoeing with the Princess and Johnnycakes yesterday and she even paddled the canoe, too.  What was cute was that she was very brown today.  The Princess said she kept putting SPF 50 lotion on her and she had almost no reddish areas.  Today she was brown enough that I noticed it.  Chewlee, ever the skeptic, said to me...*Grandma, do you really mean it that I am brown like mommy?*  I told her that I was not kidding her and that she must have inherited the same kind of skin that her mommy has.  I put her little arm next to mine and said to her, *See?  Your arm is very brown compared to Grandma's arm!*  That put a big grin on her face.  I know she loves her mother's tan and wants to get one just like her. 

Today she got preoccupied with her hair for some reason and she kept brushing it.  What she wanted to do was put in her own pony tail with the little bands I bought for that.  Unfortunately, she hasn't gotten the hang of it just yet and she gets frustrated.  I told her that I would teach her another day when she was able to be patient.  That was NOT today.  It's that little twist and pull the hair through that gets her.  She had actually almost gotten it today but failed to get ALL the hair.  She still had a little loop of hair that needed to be pulled through.  I tried to tell her that but she was so frustrated at that point, she said she was just going to let it stay down.

She got excited today because the Beast told her that she could go over to the neighbors house to play with their little boy.  She ran into my room to tell me that he had said that to her.  Then I heard him tell her that she could go because he was outside playing but she had to come home when he went in the house.  I knew that would be shortly before it got dark and the Princess would be here to pick her up before that.  Chewlee ended up being paddled by mommy because, instead of riding her bike back to the house like she was told, she was straddling it and walking with it.  She even started dragging her toes and that ruined the fronts of her purple sequin shoes (which she was wearing when she was told not to wear them...but she was more than punished since her mother said to throw them away now.)  That, of course, made her cry more.  The shoes were not meant for any heavy wear.  They were just to make a little girl feel glamorous.  I think Chewlee is going to need extra reinforced high heels when she gets old enough to wear them.  You know...somewhere between a lumberjack boot and those platform heels that Goths wear. 

The Beast is still not feeling well.  At least, not for long every day.  He will have a time that he feels good and he can go do something he considers normal and then *POOF!*...he feels like hell, has a headache and a stomach ache.   I have no clue what's going on with him so we just have to kind of ride this out and see what happens.  Me?  I'm sleeping better at night (thank the Lord) and am more and more active as time goes on.  I'm using the electronic cigarette whenever I feel like I don't know what to do with that third arm.  Sometimes, just holding it makes the yen go away.  So far, so good.

Love you all.  Have a great week. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It was a nice day today.  Well, for most of the day anyway.  The Beast and I sat out on the deck with our morning coffee, chatting.  Mostly we talked about what we ARE going to buy in the next week or so.  Our new mattress.  A metal roof for the house since it will be due to be replaced soon.  A metal roof will last us much longer than shingles.  Paying for the new riding mower.  Laminate floors in the guest room and my computer room.....I decided I can get an area rug once that's done.  The Beast wanted me to put my new desk (yes, that's another thing we agreed was needed.  This one is falling apart) on the wall opposite from the closet but I told him *No!*  I like it by the window.  He wasn't happy with that but he can't control everything, sorry buddy!

But the conversation was a quiet one.  We did discuss the heavy condensation that formed on the outer wall of my computer room.  You can see it up near the ceiling where it looks like there's no insulation up in that area or something.  He says he's going to check it out before this next winter sets in.  Who knows?  The contractor that was responsible for that might not have cared if he got it all the way back under the eaves.  If it's not their house, they just aren't all that careful.

Since I am quitting smoking, we will repaint this room before the Beast puts down the laminate.  I'm not looking forward to moving everything out of this room since it involves moving all my cd's and dvd's, too.  If the Beast tries to do that alone while I am in Chicago, I know what will happen.  He will try to move my DVD case without removing the DVD's from it and it will bust apart.  He has to move the cd's because the bookcase he made for those has no back.  Plus it has fewer things in it.  I think I only have 60 or so cd's.  We have a case with about 24 cd's in the car but those don't count.  The Beast and I picked out our favorites to play if we travel any distance and put them in a nice case.  We filled every single pocket in it so there might be more than 24 in it.  I wasn't really counting....LOL.

The weather was beautiful, as I said.  I was glad since the kids were canoeing today and I wanted them to enjoy themselves.  I think they did because they hit the sack early (around 7:30pm or so).  I had called to let the Princess know that the Beast wasn't going to church tomorrow since he was still sick so let Chewlee sleep in if she was tired.  Then, shortly after I had called, I heard the boomers.  Then the rain came pouring down and my weatherbug started tweeting.  It seems we were under an alert for dangerous thunderstorms moving into this area.  The alert lasts until 6am Sunday.  It seems like there are a lot of lightning strikes associated with the storm front.

I made us a nice salad today complete with cucumbers, tomatoes, radishes and lettuce from our garden.  I didn't put any dressing on it because I like ranch or bleu cheese and the Beast likes thousand island or french dressing.  I had planned on our having the salad, then have the Beast make up the two tenderloin steaks I bought yesterday while I made us some nuked sweet potatoes (with cinnamon butter) and some corn on the cob.  But, since the Beast felt lousy and only wanted soup, we'll have that for dinner tomorrow instead.

Got to get this posted.  It's late and I need to get back to bed.  Love you all and enjoy your Sunday. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Today, Tara arrived.....on time ...with a cashiers check for the house in Guntersville.  The Beast had the form ready to be typed up on his computer but never thought about needing the legal description for the house.  Once we went through the little metal cabinet, we located the title insurance for when we bought the house.  Tara took over the typing since the Beast is one of those two-fingered typists.

She and the Beast went to our bank so the Beast could get the check deposited and the Quit Claim notarized.  Then, Tara wanted FOOD.  She was hungry and I tagged along with her to keep her company (I know she hates to eat alone).  Then we did a couple errands.  She needed to go to the post office and I needed to hit my bank to get that Class Action check cashed and then we stopped at one of the South's grocery stores because I wanted to pick up a few things.  After that was done, we came back here and she left to go pick up Chance.

Chewlee had gotten here a few minutes before and already pissed off the Beast (who was cranky anyway due to not feeling well).  I just shrugged it off, acted like I cared and gave Chewlee a pickle spear.  I had bought them for her while at the food store.  I was impressed by their meat selection and by the fact that they always have butcher's there to cut meat like you might want it.  I haven't seen that at a store in years. 

Anyhow, Tara escaped as the Beast started his tirade (love that gal).  Bless her heart.  It's been a while since she and I just got together and TALKED like we did today.  We said we would do it again....soon.  She made me laugh when she told me about the Beast saying he had to stop buying STUFF like he was some kind of rich guy since this check from her was really the last of our big cash reserves.  I said that I had already warned him that his endless need for STUFF had to stop.  I found out that he felt partly justified because he sold three of his guns.  Of course, I only knew about the last one he sold.  He felt there was no need to tell me because they were HIS guns.  Oh really?  And he wonders why I spend so little time with him and why I really don't feel he's become the Christian he claims to be...to other people. 

Chewlee was excited about going canoeing tomorrow and she also had a better day at school today.  She made a friend and that put her in a better mood.  (Although she did ask me why the Beast was so cranky today).  She told me she didn't like him very much when he was sick because he got mean to her.  (Unfortunately, that's true).  She's also come to accept the fact that she isn't going to Chicago with me this year but I told her that next summer, her mommy would know the dates I usually go up there and wouldn't sign her up for any special programs.  Chewlee said that next year was so Loooooooong to wait but I reminded her that she would know how to swim without any swimmies on and wouldn't that be great?  She liked that idea so then she went on to other things....like kids do.

I'm tired tonight since I didn't sleep well last night (again) but this time it was my IBS giving me a slight problem.  I say *slight* because it wasn't a full-blown case of IBS and I grabbed my OTC medication and took it right away.  It's better now so I hope to sleep better tonight.  Tomorrow starts my first day of not smoking.  I'm kind of dreading it but also looking forward to it.  When I left the house with Tara today, I didn't bring any cigarettes with me and I didn't run right to my cigarettes when we got back here either.  Baby steps.  Baby steps.  I'll have to ask for the strength to get through the next few days when I say my prayers. 

Our weather today was beautiful.  Not too hot and not too breezy either.  I hope that's the kind of weather the kids have for their day of canoeing tomorrow.  Chewlee wants to be *brown* like her mother is but Chewlee is too young for a tanning booth.  I didn't tell her that.  I told her she just needs to spend some time at the beach in the water.  I told that to her a couple weeks ago and it jarred me when she asked her mother if they would have a beach there where they were going canoeing.  I knew that she remembered our talk.  But she was happy because they do have sandy beach areas there.

Love you all.  Have a fantastic weekend.