TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

The day was just a bit cooler than I would have liked to see since we knew the kids would be using the Slip N Slide but kids are kids.  They didn’t care.

When I got there, Chewlee was in the pool with four or five other kids, including Chance.  Others were in the Bounce House (Dora again).  The adults and babies (there were a couple of them) were scattered around the backyard or under the canopy.  Tara saw me arrive and immediately went and got me a comfortable folding chair that she put next to her under the canopy (which was also close to the barbeque…LOL).  I had brought along some of my favorite Mudslide (small bottle, but it turned out it didn’t matter).  Tara got me a glass with some ice and I poured some out for myself and announced anyone could help themselves.  I was there for two and a half hours and just finished up the glass of Mudslide before I left.

Chewlee was having a ball.  She got excited when she saw me and ran over to give me a hug with a loudly announced, *Grandma!!!*  Again, Tara took my gift bag into the house to put it with the other presents to be opened after the cake was served.  Johnnycakes was grilling hot dogs and took my request to char mine.  I do like my hot dogs charred so I am usually welcome at any picnic.  There are always a couple that get a bit overcooked due to talking, distractions from kids, etc.  There wasn’t a lot of food to be wasted.  Just stuff the kids liked.  Hot dogs, a couple different dips, potato chips, lots of different stuff to drink like water, Capri Sun, sweet tea and a few sodas.  Oh, and some Mudslide….LOL.  There was also beer for the guys and any of the gals that wanted it. 

It was really a nice party for both the adults and the kids.  Chewlee blew out her candles with one blow and immediately claimed the Rapunzel figure on the cake.  She thought, at first, that it was edible but Tara informed her that it wasn’t and she should put it on her dresser or in her doll house.  Chewlee looked at it again, said, *OH!* and put it aside.  I had brought her some salsa and chips which she announced to everyone while she ate it, standing at the small table that was under the canopy.  It was in front of me so she kept coming back to eat it in-between being in the Bounce House and the pool.  Oh, and her slide and swing set got a lot of traffic, too.  I hadn’t seen it since she got it at Christmas.  Johnnycakes spent most of Christmas Eve putting it together and then staining it later on. 

Chewlee loved opening all her presents.  She got a lot of cash to spend later on plus some nice toys.  Someone gave her a nail and tattoo play set which she inspected later and tried to make sense out of.  She eventually put it away, along with the instructions, so that her mother could show her how to use it later on.  When she got to my gift, the first thing she pulled out of the bag was a big box of Skittles (a last minute purchase but the one she got the most excited about).  She ran over and gave me a big hug.  I had given her some money plus some different things for her hair (she immediately put one of the barrettes with a blue braided streamer hanging down in her hair) plus I got her some stretchy bracelets to match.  Since she had already had some of the little kids fake nails, I got her a set of those AND (as Chewlee said it….) a grownup eye shadow (light pink).  The Princess had suggested eye shadow since Chewlee had used up all the kiddie stuff she had.  I searched a couple stores and couldn’t find anything like that so I bit the bullet and got her some *like Mommy uses*.  Tara laughed when Chewlee got to the two big packs of gum (one bubble gum flavor, the other fruit flavors).  She opened one of them up and passed gum around to all the kids, making sure she asked their parents if it was okay if the kids were younger than she was. 

I got to meet the little girl that Chewlee calls her sister.  She was adorable and so sweet.  She helped Chewlee put her presents away and offered suggestions on how the nail and tattoo parlor might work.  I watched them together and it was just so damn cute.  Sarah even looks a lot like Chewlee (which Chewlee had told me before but I got to see it for myself today).  Even the Princess called her Chewlee’s sister so it isn’t an imaginary sister like I thought.  They live next door to each other and she is the daughter of Johnnycake’s cousin.  Cousin is close enough to make your sister.  I had one that I loved until the day she died, which was a tragedy in itself but I digress….

It was Chewlee’s day and I hated to leave but I knew the Beast was hungry.  He had stayed home because he got a new *toy* today.  A new John Deere riding mower.  It’s a beauty and very different since it’s one of the *zero turn* ones.  He’s going to have to learn a whole different steering method now.  He spent a couple hours trying to learn how to use it already and will be driving it all over our lots tomorrow, too.  The model he bought is actually one of the commercial ones.  I had to run back home to pick up my meds (which I had forgotten) and our RV-ing friends that bought the lots across from us were already at the house looking over the new mower.  Dennis will be needing one for himself and the two guys had been looking together for the best quality and the best buy.  I think, from everything the guys had talked about, that the Beast nailed both issues when he found the John Deere one he bought.  They hadn’t even looked at this model of John Deere so it wasn’t one of the ones they had been discussing.  I was getting a headache hearing about all the pros and cons so I’m glad that’s over for me now.

I came home from the party, tired but I had a good time.  Tara and I had sat together and talked and laughed a bit.  Poor Tara was in pain and I….don’t tell anyone….gave her one of my pain pills since both her doctor and her chiropractor haven’t given her anything more than ibuprofen.  Doctors are so afraid of prescribing pain pills for fear of misuse.  I told her to just take half and see how it worked for her.  Well, it worked.  Now perhaps she can sit long enough to get to her clients and get some work done for them.  She’s been in such pain due to the arthritis in her spinal column.  She’s going through some kind of physical therapy to relieve the stress in her muscles that’s creating the problem and it should help her but it takes time.  We shall see what the future holds.

Love you all.  Hope you are enjoying your weekend.  I am…so far.  Be good, have some fun and do a lot of smiling.  It will annoy some people but it will spread around.  Watch and see. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Tomorrow the Princess is having Chewlee’s birthday party.  It’s five days early but it’s better to have it early rather than late because then we would be hearing this:  *But (sob) I am ALREADY six! (sob, sob)  It’s AFTER my birthday! (sob, sob, sob)*  That’s because Chewlee knows the difference.  Today, when I said to her, *Tomorrow is your birthday and we are having a party!  Won’t that be fun?*  Here’s what she said to me….*Grandma, tomorrow I am having a party but it isn’t my birthday.  I won’t be six tomorrow.*  I told her that I knew that but we were going to have the party to celebrate her birthday so that all her friends could come.  She said, *I know THAT but I won’t really be six until Thursday.*  So I said to her….*Does that mean we can’t put six candles on your cake?*  She actually stopped to think about it and then said, *No, it’s okay to put six candles on it because I won’t have any cake on my REAL birthday.*  Kids! 

I watched Chewlee for a little while today while the Princess ran over to Walmart to pick up Chewlee’s big present.  No, it’s not an electric car which I think is a sad thing BUT….it will help keep Chewlee occupied at home because it happens to be one thing that Chewlee complained about to me today.  Oh heck…it’s a new bike so that Chewlee has one at home.  We have her old one here.  She wanted to go outside to ride her bike and I wouldn’t let her do it right then because I was busy with something and told her she had to wait.  It’s the rule here that she can’t play out front unless the Beast or I am outside to watch her.  She started to cry and said, *But Grandma, I don’t have a bike at my house to ride and I really, really want to ride it before Mommy comes to get me.*  The poor thing.  I made her wait all of five minutes while I finished folding a few things I wanted to get done and over with.  She actually counted them because I told her I only had six things left and then it would take me two minutes to put them away.  She then wanted to know what she had to count to for two minutes.  Her face looked really strange when I told her she had to count to 60 two times after I finished folding.  Because I had a grin on my face, she thought I was kidding her and told me so.  *Aww, Grandma…you are teasing me.  That’s not nice.  I’m serious!*  I just said, *So am I, dear, so am I.*

So we head outside and the neighbor across the circle’s little dog was outside, chewing on a tennis ball.  He jumped up and got so excited when we came out that he dropped that ball and ran over to the stairs.  Chewlee loves that dog.  It’s got a sweet disposition and loves to be petted.  He actually closes his eyes in this blissful posture.  Makes me wonder if his *family* ever pets him.  Anyway, after Chewlee petted him for a while, she decided to throw the ball for the dog to chase.  He started out chasing the ball, bringing it back but he’s never learned to drop the ball so someone can throw it again. 

I was telling Chewlee what to do to teach him about dropping the ball or at least letting her take it from him and she was doing what I told her.  After about a dozen or so times waiting for him to put the ball down so she could throw it (and she was more patient than I thought she might be), he actually got the idea.  He started dropping the ball when he got back to her.  He only kept it when he wanted to take a break because she kept throwing that ball for him for damn near an hour.  He has these short little legs and all I could think was it was lucky that Chewlee was really bad at throwing because it didn’t really go all that far.  He tried to jump up in the air to catch the ball when it bounced on the driveway but never quite caught it.  I think Chewlee was having almost as much fun as he was.  She didn’t seem to want to stop.  She stopped, reluctantly, when I told her it was time to go inside.  She never DID ride her bike….LOL 

Baron was going nuts while this was going on because I wouldn’t let him out.  He whined, he barked, he clawed at the door but I didn’t dare let him come out.  You see, he runs away from the house with that little dog and won’t come back when he’s called unless it’s the Beast that calls him.  Part of it is that I can’t yell as loud and I definitely can’t give the whistle (anymore) that would bring him back on the run.  We’ve only just started using loud claps and he’s not used to those yet.  So, when the Beast isn’t here, I don’t let him out front.  I’ll be damned if I am going to go into the house, get my keys and chase him down with the car.  He will immediately get into the car when I open the door for him but it’s a real pain in the ass to go through.

I mentioned to the Princess that I couldn’t believe that all Chewlee asked me to get her for her birthday was marbles.  The Princess put the kibosh on that idea as soon as I said it.  I guess Chewlee has three marbles at home that she finally took away from her because she kept putting them in her mouth and the Princess said she knew Chewlee would choke on them eventually.  It’s not like she put ONE marble in at a time, she would put all three of them in her mouth.  She said I should just buy her some of the kiddie makeup since Chewlee loves to put the eye shadow on (it’s shades of pink that you can’t really tell is on unless you are a little girl).  She loves when she dresses up to put her *makeup* on like Mommy does when SHE goes out.  I’ve seen her here almost panic if she forgets her eye shadow.  After she’s dressed up for church, she has to put her shadow on before her hair is brushed.  THEN she is ready to go.  She will grab her purse, put her shadow in along with her lip gloss and then she’s ready to head out the door.  Too funny.

So tomorrow, before I head out to her house, I have to hit the local stores and find what I can to add to her bag of goodies since she used up the last of her eye shadow the Princess told me.  I’ll do the best I can.  Of course I will.  What else are grandmothers and great-grandmothers for??? 

Her bounce house is at the house and Johnnycakes was going to be adding the air to it this evening.  They give you this small generator and I think it takes all night to fill it using one of those.  Plus the Princess bought a fancy kind of slip and slide with a ramp from a pool and a fountain around the edge of the pool.  The Princess said she is definitely going to give it a try since we are supposed to have another hot day tomorrow.  All the mothers were told to make sure their kids had their bathing suits either on or with them.  She picked up some extra towels to have there for everyone.  I told her I might even put on MY bathing suit, who knows?

OH! OH!  I almost forgot.  After all the rain we’ve had in the last week, I had to go out and check on my lettuce and radishes since you could see that all the veggies and other plants seem to have sprouted up more than double their sizes.  Sure enough, I was glad I brought a big bowl with me (and some scissors).  I cut some lettuce for our salad and picked the radishes that were poking out of the ground (those are the big ones).  I then went and cut enough asparagus for a side dish.  After washing the lettuce well, I put it back in the bowl along with some water and ice.  It was fantastic in my salad along with some cucumber, thin sliced onion, shredded carrot, romaine lettuce and a bit of red cabbage also thinly sliced.  Maybe it was just me but a fresh salad really hit the spot.  I tried a little bleu cheese dressing first…on one part of the salad, then some Ranch and then a little raspberry vinagrette that my girlfriend had brought over to the house to try.  It all tasted lovely and damn near filled me up.  I waited until later to eat the main course which was a stuffed poblano pepper from our favorite Mexican restaurant here.

Tomorrow, I MUST get out and pick the strawberries that are ripe and get those rinsed off and in the fridge.  I was going to bring some over for Chewlee but the Princess bought a few quarts because she is going to make some homemade ice cream to go with our cake.  That should be fun.  It’s been a while since we had homemade ice cream.  We used to make it a lot when we had our house in Margate, Florida.  We’d put it on while we were swimming in the pool (under the umbrella on one of the tables on the pool patio).  The Beast would keep getting out and pushing the ice cream down with the paddle because he was more impatient than the kids were (the Princess’s little friends that were swimming at our house).  I’m curious  to see if Chewlee will be impatient or not.

Love you all.  Time to get this posted.  Have a fun weekend. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Bad night last night.  Had pain in my left leg in the area between my knee and my hip.  Had to call the doctors office about that today because this has been going on for about two weeks now.  There has to be a reason for it.  Since I am having a sonogram of my right lower leg next week, I wanted to have the doctor order one for that leg area….just in case.  I keep thinking *What if it’s NOT something simple but maybe another area that needs looking at that might need a roto-rooting?*   That way, if I do need something like that, I can get it taken care of before I fly up to Chicago.

The Beast is still having a problem with that arm of his although it seems to be more the joint might be pinching a nerve.  I told him he should go see our regular doctor if this keeps up more than another day or so.  If it were me, I would have gone already but he can be such a pain in the ass over stuff like this.  It’s a man thing, I know.  Macho man crap.

Chewlee arrived here today with a couple baskets full of her stuffed animals of all sizes.  It’s going to be fun for her and the Princess to get it all back home tonight IF the Beast doesn’t drop her off after church.  He shouldn’t be able to since I doubt the Princess will be home from work then.  It takes her about an hour or so to drive home after she closes up the store.  Church will be over before that happens so Chewlee has to come back here thankfully.  My computer room looks like a toy store disaster area at the moment.  Especially when you take into consideration that her purse with makeup is here along with her big plastic bag full of crayons and markers.

She drew a picture of herself with a house in the background, a big tree, some butterflies and flowers and grass and hung it on my fridge.  It was the first thing I noticed this morning as I went to pour myself some milk.  It took me by surprise because she usually hangs her pictures up here in my room.

She must really love her new haircut because her mommy can straighten it for her in just a few minutes.  It took much longer when her hair was down to her waist (after straightening).  Now it’s zip,zip,zip!  She spent the morning brushing it and checking it in the mirror to make sure it was still straight.  She will see Birdie tonight and wanted her to see it straight and shorter.  She makes me laugh at how she loves that woman.  That’s the *child whisperer*.  All the parents are amazed at how quiet and obedient their kids are around her.  I can do that to babies but anything over a toddler and they are normal kids around me.    But I love that because you can see their personalities developing, good AND bad. 

It was really warm today but my fingers (the arthritic ones) are feeling better.  I think it was 85 around 2pm.  It’s 75 right now at almost 10pm.  It’s supposed to be nice and clear and about the same temp tomorrow here.  According to the weather channel, the country should be mostly free of any more rains, tornadoes, any kind of bad weather so enjoy it folks!

Love you all.  Think *great weekend*! 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I have been nagging the Beast about pictures from Chewlee’s graduation but, wouldn’t you know it, he fell and hurt his arm.  He is having a tough time using his right arm except for a few minutes here and there.  That happens after he’s soaked it in the tub for a half hour or so.  He’s spent his good time working on just clearing out his email or on his darn phone.  It seems that a former client of ours from when we owned our AC business has suddenly rediscovered his phone number.  He DID tell her within my earshot that this would be the last time he would make himself available because…darn it!  He was retired!  I doubt he would have been so direct with her except that his arm was paining him just then.

So Chewlee got dropped off around noon today.  She didn’t go to school because her teacher told the Princess that NO ONE from her class was showing up (it’s not required, I guess.  They DID graduate after all…!)    She was in a happy mood although she kept telling me that she didn’t go to school today.  I kept telling her I knew that but she kept bringing it up.  She got to play outside for a bit with Baron and the little neighbors dog.  Our RV-ing friend, Dennis, came over to meet with the landowner today.  I don’t know why but the Beast took off with him to hit the health food store to pick up a couple things.  Then they ate lunch there. 

I found out later that the Beast had been riding Dennis’s motorcycle and told Johnnycakes that it was HIS new toy.  Poor Johnnycakes was so excited over that he had to tell the Princess all about taking a ride on it with the Beast.  It had to have been when he dropped off Chewlee because I doubt the Beast would have ridden it as far as their house.  And I am sure the ride was just around the circle here.   He’s just a bit too shaky to trust himself much further.  I told the Beast that was just too mean of him to let Johnnycakes think he’d bought something like that motorcycle.

Chewlee had to make a BIG decision today.  It was about her birthday cake.  Yep.  It’s that time of  year.  Her birthday party will be this Saturday and the Princess is renting a bouncy house for her.  She’s invited a few of her school friends so she will have friends to enjoy the bouncy house with her this time.  I’ll be going (and Chewlee told me once again that she wants marbles for her birthday…..go figure that one out!)  I’ll pick her up some socks and an outfit or two and try to find some marbles for her, too.  I have no idea why she wants them but you can’t have a disappointed great-grandchild, can you?

Chewlee knows that Baron was born a few days after her and the Beast asked her if she was going to come to HIS party.  Chewlee said she would but she didn’t know what to get him.  Then she got this *bright idea* look on her face and said, *I know!  I’ll get him a big, disgusting bone!*  When I told her she could always get him a couple of raw turkey necks, she looked a bit green and got this awful look on her face.  I told her that it’s the only kind of bird meat he can eat….it has to be uncooked.  The vet told us that and I felt the way Chewlee looked because it just didn’t seem like it could be true until you thought about it.  When dogs were wild, they ate birds…and they didn’t die from it.  It’s only COOKED birds that have sharp points when chewed that can kill a dog.  Their bones are brittle after cooking.  But you should see how a dog will just lay into a raw neck or even a leg that’s been cut apart.  They act like it’s manna from heaven.  Who’da thunk it?

Then the rain came pouring down.  Lots of thunderings with it but no lightning that you could see.  I decided I had better make my spaghetti while I could in case we had a power outage.  It got done and the Princess and Chewlee ended up eating with us when the Princess got here to pick up Chewlee.  The Princess loves it when she doesn’t have to go home to cook.  Who doesn’t?  At least it was also nice to visit for a bit.

Love you all.  Have a wonderful day.  I know most of us had rain today but that will soon pass.  Be good.  Stay dry. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

Yesterday, graduation…..today, her first haircut from a beautician at a real Beauty Salon.  The same salon and beautician that does her mommy’s hair.  Chewlee was tickled pink over that.  Chewlee told me she wanted her hair cut short…and she took her hand and put it at the back of her neck to show just HOW SHORT she wanted it.  I think her mommy and I talked her out of that but it really isn’t all that much longer.  It’s cut just below her shoulders.   The Princess was happy with that because Chewlee let her put her hair up in an off center pony tail and then the Princess put a pretty purple clip on it.  It looked very cute.

The Princess thinks Chewlee didn’t like having a pony tail because it was too heavy on her neck.  I don’t know.  That could have been the reason.  But I think it was because she had been teased too often about her ears and she wanted to hide them.     She would always check to make sure her ears were covered.

Then, after her bath and shampoo, her hair…which had been straightened by the beautician per Chewlee’s request…her hair returned to it’s naturally curly state.  Chewlee was unhappy and wanted her hair straightened again.  But her mother told her that she had to get up very early tomorrow and would be gone long before Chewlee woke up so she has to wait until Thursday to get her hair straightened.  I can’t believe that unhappiness with the kind of hair she was born with started so early.  I’ll have to ask my sister, Cee, and see if she remembers how young she was when she started hating her hair.  Cee was born with really, really curly hair…and it was thick, too.  My mother kept it cut short so she was just a bundle of curls all the time.  I know she always wanted straight hair and, over the years, she tried various methods that just never worked.  BUT….there is now a product that actually works for her.  She loves it.  She swears by it.  I’ve seen it and it really DOES work.  She looks great with it and it’s so much easier for her to style her hair.

Perhaps, one day in the future, Chewlee will be looking for something like that since she really, really wants straight hair.  I hope I am still around to see what goes on in her life when she is old enough to do some of the things she tells me she wants to do….including having brown hair.  She wants brown hair with blonde streaks in it.  It worries me that she has so many different things already set in her mind.  I’m hoping she changes her mind in the years ahead.  Only time will tell.

Love you all.  Have a great HUMP DAY (middle of the work week).  Drive carefully and stay cool. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

She made it!  She graduated from kindergarten.  A lot of the grandparents, families and friends of the children were talking before the program started and some of them talked about how different things are now from when they were kids.  We really had no idea what the program involved except that Chewlee said they were going to sing and it was a surprise.

A surprise it was, indeed.  The kids didn’t just sing ONE song, there were 10 different songs in all.  The kids sang well and enthusiastically.  We could see Chewlee who was on one of the back benches that were tiered so you could see all the kids.   She was actually one of the taller kids in her class so she was on the back bench.  We were kidding around and hoping she wouldn’t come up with an idea of mooning the audience (she didn’t.  She behaved well and we watched her singing like she was an opera star).  The kids (9 kindergarten classes total) even sang a song where they were signing so that deaf people would know what they were saying.  I think everyone was amazed.  Who knew they could all keep it together and sing so well as a group.

The Beast realized he had brought the wrong lens on his camera.  He got a few good shots of the stage but I haven’t seen them all yet.  I’ll still try to get a few to post tomorrow.  I don’t think he got a close shot of Chewlee but, like I said, I haven’t seen all the pictures yet.

Afterward, we drove to a local restaurant to eat and talk about the program.  Chewlee was actually doing a word search problem that was on the restaurants kid activity/coloring pages.  She would circle the words and then color them in so you could see all the words she found easily.  She was also doing a maze problem that was giving her fits.  She decided to save it for later to do at home.

We were exhausted when we got home (my excuse for not doing this earlier) so we put our feet up and took a nap.  Mine ended up being for four hours….sorry!  I don’t know about you but being in a huge crowd of people (especially after the program was over) just exhausts me.  You have so many bodies to get around and we were parked so far away from the auditorium.  I spotted the Princess and Johnnycakes and they had found Chewlee so I made my way over to them.  I got a big hug from Chewlee.  The kids all had different color tshirts on for each class and the kids were on the grassy area with all of their classmates so you just had to look for their class color to find your child.  With nine different classes, they took up a lot of lawn area.

Everyone was in a good mood because the program was just so cute.  I think everyone was amazed at how many songs the kids learned AND remembered all the words.  Only one song had an adult voice that sang with the kids.  There was one little boy that looked like he was going to cry all the time.  Later on, when he was outside, I saw him with his family and realized he looked like that all the time!  When he finally smiled, he had the cutest face with big dimples.  When they handed out the certificates showing they graduated, some of the kids were Mexican/Spanish and they had long names because of the mother’s surname being a part of it.  One little boy … and I mean he was very small….had this LONG name.  He wasn’t the only one but he was the first.  When he strolled out on the stage, he just didn’t fit his name.  I remember his first name was Ulysses.  He looked like a little elf.  So cute.

I guess you can tell I had a good time.  I also had some of the best French onion soup I’ve had in a long time when we went to the restaurant.  It was extremely cheesy.  I loved having to wind the cheese around my spoon because it was nice and hot when I got it so the cheese was very stretchy.

The weather was great…no rain to ruin the time after the program.  Tomorrow we should have more of the same, including hot weather.  I am watching the late night weather channel coverage of the tornado damage in Moore, OK.  It’s incredible and I am so sorry for the loss of life as well as the kids that were injured because they were in school when the tornado hit them.  So many acts of heroism by teachers who ended up injured protecting their students.  Please remember to add them to your prayers.

Gotta get this posted now.  Love you all.  Be careful and stay safe.  These storms are not good ones. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I broke down and got my hair cut today.  I really needed it.  It needed some style to it and the girl pretty much did what I asked her to do.  Chewlee said my hair looked *amazing* but that’s with the beautician’s hand at styling it.  Let’s see how amazing it looks tomorrow…LOL. 

Chewlee is underwhelmed by the idea of her *graduation* (cap and gown, no less!).  She asked me if we could sit in the front of the auditorium and I told her I really didn’t know but we could try.  She wants to see us so I told her, *Well, if we can’t sit up front, how about if I jump up, wave my arms and yell Chewlee!  Here we are!*  She laughed and said, *You can’t do that while we are singing, Grandma.*  Since I had no idea they were going to sing, I asked her if she could sing the song for me.  Her reply?  *You just have to wait, Grandma.*  I guess that’s kindergarten for *need to know*! 

I know the Princess will be going to the Parent Picnic although I forgot to ask the Princess what she was going to bring to eat.  Since she’s been going to the gym, her eating habits seem a bit weird to me most of the time.  But she’s looking lean and mean which seems to be the going thing these days.

I’m preparing myself mentally for quitting smoking.  I’m trying to use up what tubes and tobacco I have left.  I think I mentioned I’m kind of strongly against wastefulness.  I want to be off cigarettes entirely by the beginning of June.  I DO have the electronic cigarette here to use until my third hand disappears.  I also have pulled out a few of the afghans I haven’t finished to work on to keep all my hands busy.  There are a few of the various statues I have outside that need re-doing and I am going to get those done.  Chewlee loves my house gnome that I have at our front door.  When she found out I had painted it, she said, *Wow, Grandma…you really know how to paint!*

She told me that God was a good painter, too.  She looked all around and said, *See how good he stayed in the lines?*  She also can’t figure out how HE thought of all the different colors.  She had just made the comment about God keeping in the lines when she started to get out of the car and there was a broken spot along the side of the driveway.  She looked down at it and said, *Oh, look!  There’s a spot HE missed!*  It just cracked me up.

We had rain today and some high winds, too, but nothing more serious, thankfully.  Since it was still daylight, the boomers didn’t scare Chewlee.  She just went about her business (mostly drawing and then reading different names of the DVD’s I have).  I downloaded a couple more books for her on my Nook.  She likes to sit and read them once in a while.  I noticed that she had read almost all of the ones I had for her the other day and I want to encourage her to read over the summer.  With the way she likes to play school, that shouldn’t be a problem.  I will probably get sick of it but it will be good for her.

It got up to 84 today but had a nice breeze before the rain started.  Chewlee and the Beast washed Baron and put his flea stuff on him then actually put a lotion on Baron’s skin.  He’s been driving us nuts with his scratching which seems to be dry areas.  But, after putting the lotion on him, I didn’t see him scratching even once.  It’s worth the cost to keep him comfortable if that is what it takes.  The next couple days should show if it’s working.  I put some extra on a dry spot on one of his knees and it felt much better almost immediately.  It’s always bothered me that he’s only had that dry patch on one leg.

The Beast was hoping to get the mowing of a sick friends lawn done today but the sheer length of his grass has kept his lawn too wet to mow.  Now we are going to need 3-4 days of sunshine without rain before he and Jack can try to do it again.  Jack has a riding lawnmower that the Beast envies.  It’s one of those zero turn ones with a larger than normal engine on it.  The damn thing moves like it’s on fire.  It was Jack that I saw mowing our lot next door a couple weeks back.  He had just had it delivered and his lawn didn’t need mowing.  He HAD to give it a test mow so he came over and did our lawn.  I only saw his back so I had no clue who it was until a few days later.  The Beast wants a new one that has the zero turn feature but he doesn’t want to pay what Jack did for his.  I told him if he gets a new one, he has to sell his John Deere.  I could see by the look on his face that he really didn’t want to but he agreed that we just don’t have room for it if he gets another one.  He said he was going to sell the ATV but the Princess is buying that one for Johnnycakes, I think it is.  That way they both have an ATV to ride.  There are a lot of places around here you can take them and the Beast swapped the smaller trailer for ours with Johnnycakes a few months back.  That one can hold both ATV’s.  We don’t need one that big any more.

When I told the Beast my decision about going up to Chicago by flying, he was relieved.  He didn’t really want to go with me nor did he want me to attempt it on my own.  He keeps saying we are getting too old for that kind of trip.  But he wants me to check out prices for flying out of Atlanta, Huntsville and Nashville, too.  I can actually fly out of any of those airports.  It’s just the trip works out differently.  The trip to Atlanta airport and to the one in Nashville works out about the same.  I just want to get it as cheaply as possible AND without having a layover anywhere.  I think if I flew out of Huntsville, I have to have one layover.  It’s one of those *you can’t get there from here* things but I said I would check it out.  If I flew out of Huntsville, the Beast could drive me there otherwise I have to drive myself and park in long term parking at the airports.  At least I know that Atlanta has shuttles from the parking lots to the terminal.  I don’t know about Nashville.  I’ll have to ask the Princess.  She flew out of Nashville when she flew to Denver last year.

Time to get this posted.  Love you all.  We have a 40% chance of rain tomorrow along with a high of around 86.  I’ll be at Chewlee’s graduation and then no clue where we will end up afterward.  I’m hoping the Beast gets a couple of good pics of Chewlee.  He said he would put them on a thumb drive so I might have pictures.  I hope so.

Be good.  Take care.  Drive safe. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

We can all have a change of plans on occasion and this time is one that I figure I can make.  After due consideration since no one seems to want to hear MY side of anything (and people have such short memories about their own complaints), I am cancelling plans about seeing any of my siblings when I fly up to Chicago.  I will try to forget all the fat jokes that they did NOT make about me when I was fat (including measuring my butt to compare with others).  Memories are not what they used to be it seems.  I will spend time with my much loved sister-in-law, Kay and take her and her hubby out to dinner.  I will spend more than a few hours with my girlfriends.  I will make contact with my cousins from my biological father’s family.  I can cut my time short and fly back sooner.  It won’t matter then if I bring Chewlee along or not as long as I can keep HER from finding out I saw Kay….LOL.  That way, I will not have to intrude on Kay’s family for very long although I will have a rental car and can always move to a motel if I feel I am creating a problem in any way.

I was never allowed to say sorry for a tasteless joke about someone being stolen from her bedroom only if the thief had a crane.  It’s something that the Beast has said about me more than once and I’m only 158 lbs (I checked today) and wear a size 14.  However, he’s gotten weaker as he approaches 70 and I tell him he’s just not the man he used to be.  I take the crane cracks as a joke.  I guess I am the only one that does.

Love you all.  Take care. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

I was fighting almost daily with the Beast about driving up to Chicago to see my family because of one stop I truly wanted to make.  However, that has changed now and I can drive up to Nashville to see my grandson, the Marine, who will be home on leave.  I can then drive up to see my son, Mustachio, and spend the night with him.  I will then return home the next day (with a short stopover at Marcus’s home again).  I will fly up to Chicago and rent a car for the duration of my time there.  I want to see my siblings and my girlfriends from high school (some of them I actually went to grammer school with…LOL).  I am going to look up my relatives from my biological father’s family.  I’ve met them but lost track of them after the second of the two sisters living in Chicago died a couple years ago.  I do have a way of getting ahold of them so I will call my one cousin before I fly up and make sure he finds a time and place the rest of the cousins might be able to meet with me.  I have some things I really want to ask them about.

I figure that if I rent a car there at the airport, I won’t have to have my sister-in-law, Kay, take the time off work to pick me up.  I wanted a car so we could avoid that but a rental will work.  Chewlee will love flying (she’s flown before…out to Colorado with the Princess to attend a cousin’s retirement party from the Air Force).  That is IF I can still take her since her mother is determined to put her into a swimming class according to the Beast.  I told her long ago that I wanted to take her with me at the end of June and the Beast tells me that is the time she will be putting Chewlee into the swim class here.  I will have to check with her.  If I fly to Chicago and Chewlee finds out I went without her, her little heart will be broken.

So, I have to let Kay know for sure what day I will be flying in (and the fact that I will be renting a car…and it WILL have a GPS in it or OnStar…whichever the rental company uses).  I will be staying up there for a full week before flying back and it will be the first time I will be spending the fourth of July in Chicago since I was about 19 years old…and married.

I told the Beast that I am taking the laptop with me.  I know Kay has internet at her house and, since she has it on her cell phone, I can piggy back on that with our wireless adapter.  That way I can keep up my blog while I am gone.  But we are talking about an event that won’t take place for over a month.  I just wanted to prepare you.  This way I don’t have to fight with the Beast any more.  There’s no reason.  The Inn is closed.

Love you all. 

TALES FROM THE BRAT FARM

It started last night when Bratfink and I were watching Undercover Boss..Epic Bosses.  We spent more time crying over the things they had done for others in their employment than was believable.  It was heart-grabbing.  Then, later on, Bratfink got mad at me…not that I blame her because I said something rather rude and she didn’t give me a chance to apologize.  She’s not talking to me now and I already miss her.  But it is what it is.

I went to bed on the late side, waiting to be tired enough to sleep through the rest of the night without oversleeping.  Alas, I got hit by an episode of IBS so that wasn’t going to happen.  At least I didn’t poop in my britches.  I made it to the bathroom just in the nick of time two or three times, including early this morning.  But that was around 8:30am and when I went back to sleep, I didn’t wake up until after 10:30am, which really wasn’t all that bad.

Needless-to-say, I was keeping very close to the bathroom all day today.  But I decided to do something I haven’t tried before, which was eating something cheesy to stop the IBS process.  I decided to try some chile con queso and tortilla chips to snack on.  Cheese works like that for other people, so why not me?  I’m not going to say it did but….I seem to have less *urgency* now.  That’s an improvement I can live with.

An old friend of mine and I were talking online today and she was sending me links for really cheap airfares to Chicago.  She found a bunch of cheap fares for her family members all over the country down to the Gulf Coast of Florida where they meet up for a week every year.  That’s their form of family reunion and they usually rent a couple of time shares to stay in and they share the cost.  Wish our family could have been doing something like that for our family reunions.  Many of us would probably still be doing it.  Perhaps.  Maybe.  Who knows?  But I have to admit, the prices on the flights are enticing.  It just wouldn’t allow me to make the stops that I wanted to make on my way up.

The day here was alternating between overcast and sunny, like it couldn’t make up it’s mind what it wanted to be.  I had washed some clothes yesterday that the Beast threw in the dryer today but he just threw them all in the basket without bothering to hang up a couple of the dresses for Chewlee.  When I chided him over that, he got all snarly and said, *Well, at least I took care of them (huh?)!*  I turned to him and said, *I* washed them and was coming out to throw them in the dryer.  At least Chewlee’s dresses would look decent if they had been hung up.  Now I need to redo them because I am NOT going to iron dresses that don’t need to be ironed.*  He had the good grace to keep his mouth shut.

So what is his idea of making things right with me?  He goes out to the store and buys some decent toilet paper.  He had bought the Walmart brand because it was cheap and it wasn’t until it was opened that he found out why it was so cheap.  It’s the crappiest stuff I have ever seen.  It’s not only single layer but it’s thin and stiff.  Even if you wound it around your hand a dozen or more times, it would still be crappy toilet paper.  I kid you not.  I’ve seen that stuff in some public washrooms that seems kinda cheap….this stuff is even cheaper and a lot less durable.  It IS absorbent…so absorbent it can dissolve in your palm.  That might be good for an RV or trailer but not home usage.  Chewlee didn’t even want to TOUCH it.  She thought it felt *funny*.  I couldn’t blame her.  It felt funny to me, too. 

But he comes home from the store and says to me, *I bought you a surprise!  Just for  you.*  Yeah, right.  I’ve heard that shit from him before.  Now if he continued to use up ALL the Walmart stuff himself, then I might say he really meant that.  But he brought in two rolls for the guest bathroom out of the big family pack that’s out on one of the garage shelves and he also had two rolls for the master bathroom.  I use the guest bathroom most of the time since it’s next to my computer room.  He uses the master bathroom AND the guest bathroom (when he’s watching the living room TV).  So who do you think he REALLY got the good toilet paper for? 

I was eating some of the store purchased chile con queso and, since the toilet paper hadn’t unthawed me, he made some of the Velvetta/Rotelli chile con queso which is nice and hot plus it’s spicy like I like it.  It didn’t work but I did thank him.  All it would have taken earlier was for him to say what was probably true…*I’m sorry but I didn’t notice the dresses.*  I would have forgiven him.

Chewlee was cute when she was dropped off today.  She walked in the house and announced that she couldn’t get her clothes dirty because they were NEW.  I knew her mother had bought her some new play clothes because the kids store she sometimes shops at was having a big sale.  Chewlee had a new shirt on and either a skirt or a skort and she wore her little girl play heels, too.  They make her feel so grown up.  I have her flip flops here but she wanted no part of those.  When she went outside, it was in her *high heels*.  All you could hear was *clack, clack, clack* as she went from place to place here in the house and it wasn’t any better outside.

She played with Ian for a bit but, since he’s still a little boy, he takes naps.  Then his parents took him with them to have dinner with his maternal grandparents so that was the end of her playing with him.  Johnnycakes came at 7 to pick her up which confused me because I thought she was supposed to stay overnight so it would be easier to get her ready for church in the morning.  I ended up giving him one of Chewlee’s dresses, her fancy socks and her church shoes (nice patent leather ones).  But I finally ended up calling the Princess since it IS easier for the Beast if she’s HERE.  She was going to call Johnnycakes to bring Chewlee back but he didn’t want to do it so she said to just leave it the way it is.  The Beast can just come by the house at 9:30am and the Princess will have her dressed and ready since SHE has to be up to get ready for work. 

  The little dog I’ve mentioned before was out of his yard again today (and no one was home) so the Beast brought him into our backyard and let him and Baron play.  That is…until the little dog jumped into the strawberry planter and then the Beast was watching him like a hawk.  He jumped up into another planter (the squash one) and that was when the Beast decided to put the little dog outside again.  Later on, he was back in his own yard.  I told the Beast that I think those people let the dog loose when they go anywhere.  I think he should tell them they have to stop doing that around here or someone (probably me) will be calling animal control.  We get too many dogs dropped off around here every spring and summer to put up with any of them being turned loose without an owner to keep an eye on them.  No one around here does that any more and it makes for better neighbors.

It was up to around 81 today and they say it will be hotter tomorrow.  I’m happy but not sure if the Beast will be.  He and another friend are going to be mowing the lawn of a sick friend IF the ground has dried enough.  He’ll check ours out before he loads up the John Deere.  He’s tried twice before this to get that lawn mowed and couldn’t.  I hope the hotter weather makes a difference, especially since we’ve gone a couple days now without getting rain.

Love you all.  Time to get this posted.  Enjoy the day.