Real Quick

~ I passed my home inspection with flying colors.  She loved me.  Said she loves all the improvements that we've made on the house.  Improvements = fixing the water damage.  


~  Little Man is on his way to pick up Ice Cube and Elmer.  The details of why are not my story to share.  This is all part of the same issues that started in August.  What I can say is IC will be coming here to stay for a bit.  At this point, it looks as though they are going to be civil in regards to Elmer.  


~  We have had no end of storms the last few days.  Several tornados have touched down around here but no damage to my house or property.  


~  Car trouble on the trip.  Trouble with the cadaladic (so spelled wrong) converter.  Hurricane is riding in to the rescue.  LM is all agitated and frustrated and calling me in a horrid mood being totally disrespectful.  I'm trying to not over-react and turn it into a battle of words or wills because for 1 - I know that he was already aggravated over the situation with IC before he left and worried about his brother and 2 - I can only imagine how upset I would be if the car had broken down on me.  So, I know that I am not who he's mad at and I'm just the one he feels safest venting at.  Now, that doesn't mean that I won't have something to say about the attitude.  But it will be along the lines of:  "I realize that you were pi**ed about the car earlier and frustrated about everything that happened but screaming in my ear when I'm 100 miles away doesn't really accomplish anything.  All it does is cause more problems and get other people upset. "  


  Now, because I want to make your day.  The kids did NOT write this song.  It is an actual song that was originally written and performed by Pat Daley.  I ended up with 21 kids in my living room on Saturday night.  I really thought that with all the storms, that I would get a kid free night.  When the kids started showing up - my 2 weren't even at home.  I had 2 show up.  Then a group of 3.  Then 2 more.  All while LM was off with his gf and B was at his girlfriends house.  I'm popular I guess.  At one point of the night, there were 21 kids here and I ended up with 8 staying the night.  One of the kids asked me:  "how do you put up with us Ms Amy?  There's a lot of people here".   I reminded them that eventually, they'd all be gone and then I'd be sitting home alone on Saturday nights bored and lonely.  So, I might as well enjoy them while they're here.  

B with Colby's gf on his lap and one of my varsity football guys

More of them on the floor

Piled on the couch.  Who says a couch can only hold 3?  Mine had 7 on it.  

I could have opened my own boot store

Colby and Curtis.  And before you ask about the shirt- remember folks... this is TX.  I'm still running my AC.

 After more than an hour of trying to get a video to post.  I quit!  I have to help B get this project done before he goes in to the dr tomorrow.  We find out if he has surgery tomorrow afternoon.  Fingers crossed plz!  

sunday ramblings

So, on my birthday, I spent the day with friends. Ice Cube was going to get up and cook me breakfast, but I left their house early that morning to go to my friends house. I had promised her that I would be in a week early to keep her sane and help her out. I was. Weds, Cathy and I went out and picked up some odds and ends for the wedding. We had to find things like ribbon for the bouquets. We also took the opportunity to stop and get some Chinese food for lunch. Our day was cut short when I had to run and meet Little Man so that I could take his friend home. Originally, he was going to drive the whole way in and visit with some of his friends but the issues with the car messed up his plans.

That morning, I had Ice Cube drop me off over at Cathy's house. There was some sort of mix up about the linens for the reception so we had to go find table cloths. Then off to the florist to pick up the flowers for the bouquets. She had the florist make the boutonnieres. Then back to her house to dip strawberries in chocolate and make the bouquets. Another of her friends dropped by and she and I ended up doing the bouquets. Cathy's kids came home. IC showed up with Elmer and B. Cathy's daughter in law came by with her 2 kids. By the time we were done with the bouquets... we had a real houseful and it was a nice little mini party. Then they were off to decorate the church. IC, B and I went to one of those fast food places to grab something to eat. Then I stopped by to see my ex's aunt and uncle who live close to my old neighbor, Sharon. Sharon wasn't home and I was leaving town the next day so I had to get by there to see the kids. Sharon's 4 year old grand daughter gets really confused about what happened to me. I asked her one day if she wanted to come to my house. She told me that "can't you house all gone". She will go outside and look at where my house was and ask her grandma where my house went. The 12 year old grand daughter will text me to see when I'm going to come back to town and when can she see me. So, I always make a point to go by and see the girls. Not that I wouldn't go by and see Sharon anyhow but I do tend to make those visit times during times when the kids are there. After a couple hour visit there, off to IC and Ruth's house we went where my son made me steak for dinner.

I am so glad to be home folks. No matter how much I miss the kids when I'm not there - being this far away is good for me. It takes me out of the drama and keeps me out of their petty little fights. I love the peace and quiet of the woods. From here to old town is like living in 2 different worlds. Old town is visiting, friends, lack of sleep, and a constant merry-go-round. Going back to visit old town isn't like when we lived there even. The kids forget that we didn't have something planned every night or even every week. They forget how many nights they whined and complained about being bored or having nothing to do. When we go back now, its all fun and games and visiting. And as fun as it is. As much as I love seeing everyone... I am so very glad when we get home and get off that merry-go-round. As much as I love seeing my friends, I miss the peace and quiet of the country. Home is the trees in the back yard. Watching the squirrels play in the mornings on the logs. Watching the cardinals that have made their home here. Trying to figure out how to hang my hummingbird feeder or taking care of the chickens. Home is walking the property and checking on the trees. I miss all of it when I'm gone. I miss having the chance to sit down and watch a tv show or having the option to let the DVR record it while I go do something outside. I love to walk the trails here at the property. I have to be sort of slow in those walks.. there are a lot of dangers on a trail for someone with my joints. I never walk alone. I love the trees out back that provide a curtain of shade. I love the trees that we planted out front. The ones that will provide fruit for years to come. I love landscaping this place. Trying to figure out what to plant where next. Do we want to plant veggies or more fruit plants?

I have a few weeks now before I have to go back for yet another wedding. I need the time to get some things done around here. The ins check is finally in for the damages to the house. I have to call the ins company on the damages to my stuff that was in the house when it flooded. I should have done this a long time ago but I was honestly couldn't decide if there was enough water damage to bother. When taking time to examine it a bit closer, I think I do need to make that call. I need to deposit the check that came in for Little Man's car and get those bills taken care of. I need to go get a tire replaced on my car. I need to find out what its going to cost me for an early termination of the satellite internet and see if the rumors are true that they're finally going to get DSL out here. And getting a high speed net out here would take away a ton of the problems that I go thru every month. I have kids who are home schooled and one doing college classes via the net. Running out of net on a regular basis and the kids losing things like playing their online games with their friends irritates people. And a lot of Tara's stuff for college is online. So, we are really hoping that they get DSL out here with a quickness. When I called earlier this month, they told me around 45 days. That should be around 30 days by now. I'm going to call and check tomorrow. I'm hoping that the 45 days was a bit longer than what it will really be. Hey, I'd love it if I could order it all tomorrow believe me! It will save me money too. Satellite net is over $100 a month for something that isn't much - if any - better than dial up. Then we add in a phone bill which runs just over $20 a month for nothing. Basic phone service. No long distance. No caller ID. Nothing.

Well, off here to delete things from the DVR and get myself something to eat. I had my alarm set for 8 this morning (well, every morning)... Of course, I woke up before the alarm went off. The migraine that I've been fighting for 3 days now- still here. I have to run to the bank here shortly. Take the check in to cover the car repairs. LM's car? Ended up costing almost $650. The clutch exploded and damaged the fly wheel. The fly wheel had to go to the machine shop to be fixed. Then as they got all that back together, they found that his front brakes were metal to metal. Those had to be replaced and the rotors turned. Then his headlight went out. Fixed that. His exhaust had a few issues - those got fixed. There was some gasket at the back of the engine that was blown- fixed that too. So, his car is mostly fixed right. For this week.

Keep smiling all!

And yes I have more drama....

Well, hope everyone had a good weekend. Mine was ultimately .... interesting. Friday night my cell phone rang from a number that I didn't recognize. I answered it and a breathless voice on the other end said "

Thank God!" Then I heard mumble mumble Ice Cube's phone number and ...oh do you even know who this is?"

I said "yes, this is Tara".

She said "I'm so glad you remember my voice".

Come to find out that my child was walking down the road in under 40 degree weather in nothing more than a pair of sweats and a t-shirt with nothing more to her name than her laptop (which her school work is on) and an almost dead cell phone. She wanted to know if I thought either of her brother's might pick her up and give her a ride somewhere. Where? She wasn't really sure about that. All she could tell me thru the borderline hysteria was that Tom had ordered her to leave. They argued. Tom picked up the phone and was going to call his mom and sister to bodily remove her. He refused to let her get any of her clothes or personal belongings and sent her down the road. Which is when she called me. I called Ice Cube and asked if he would do me a favor and go pick up his sister. He had no car. Ruth was at work with it. I called our old neighbor, Sharon to see if by chance she could pick Tara up. Sharon was at home with the 2 grandkids and couldn't leave until their mom got off work. I called Tara back to let her know to keep walking towards our old house. While I was on the phone with her, some lady pulled up. The lady was kind enough to Tara a ride to Sharon's house. From there, Hurricane picked her up and took her to Ice Cube's. By this point, her phone was dead and you know he didn't let her carry the charger out the door.

She hung out Friday night with her brothers (Ice Cube and Hurricane) and Donna. Ruth was working. Sharon looked around her house to see if she had a charger that would fit Tara's phone as did Hurricane and Ruth when she got home. Ruth even went up to her dad's to see if he had one in the massive box of old phone equipment that he has. Friday night, Tom blew her phone up for a while. Then Ice Cube answered the phone and told Tom that Tara was "busy". He also took out some of his pent up anger and dislike of Tom in that phone call. From what I hear- he wasn't the nice, sweet young man that I usually see. In other words .... He was a total ass. See, that's what Tom used to tell the boys when they'd call to talk to her. After that Tom quit calling. For the night.

She and I were chatting on one of those IM sites Sat morning and she was going to watch the baby while Ruth picked up an extra shift. Ice Cube and I had been bouncing back and forth about how to get Tara from there to here. I wasn't sure if they could meet up with me. We were doing the great debate trying to figure out how to get her from there to here. See - with Tom's violent streak, leaving Tara at Ice Cube's house = bad idea. The 2 houses were only about 5 miles apart. I was worried about Tara watching the baby with a dead phone for fear that Tom would show up and start trouble. So, when Tara mentioned in passing that she wished I would just come in there for the night and get her.....

Well, I woke B up and asked him what he thought about a trip to Old Town for the night.

to be cont....

Just me and my....

Grand baby! I got a call from Ruth today. She was asking if B still wanted to make a trip down there to hang with them. I said I didn't know. I wasn't sure how the transportation thing would work. Well, then she said that Ice Cube had mentioned that I might be interested in keeping Little Bit overnight. My ears perked right up. I'm surprised they didn't pop of my head.

Back story here.... A friend of mine popped up on my FB IM the other morn. She wanted to know if the kids had found someone to keep Little Bit the night before. Well, now that was a great question! But I wasn't the person to ask as I didn't even know they'd been looking for a sitter the night before. But now, I'm a ways away otherwise, we all know who would have him whenever they wanted to go out. And they both work evenings so it's not that often that they both have the same night off. Well, when I talked to IC later that day, I pointed out that I would have been happy to keep Little Bit. And he said - but mom, you live 3 hours away. And I said- well, we'll meet 1/2 way to do the trade. And I'll keep him for a day or two or week. Ok, now we all know that the week idea is stretching it. They have never been away from him all night before - let alone a week. The most they've done is let me get up with him in the middle of the night so that they can get a whole night's sleep.

So, Ruth tells me that all their friends are getting their tax returns in. And that everyone wants to party. And they don't want to have folks over with Little Bit there again after the fiasco during Ice Cube's birthday. I agreed that not having the baby there sounded like a good idea. But now remember- this is grandma talking. They could have told me that they wanted to sleep for 24 hours straight and I would have thought it sounded like a good idea if I got to keep the baby. So, we settled on a time and he's coming here.

Before everyone thinks I'm bringing Little Bit here to get him deathly ill. Both boys woke up this morning with fever and cough gone. I have spent the day spraying lysol and washing everything. I sprayed lysol on the carpets, the furniture, stripped the boys beds and sprayed lysol on their mattresses and pillows. I bleached counters. Used antibacterial wipes on door handles. Washed all the lap blankets that live in the family room. It's been a busy day for me. That might be why this post is going up so late. Oh and grandma might also have had to go to the store to make sure that no matter what mommy and daddy send for Little Bit to eat- she has his favorite fruit and granola lunch food. ;)

Well, I still need to mop the kitchen floor as soon as Little Man and Cousin J get done making themselves something to eat. I made taco's for lunch today because I knew Little Man had to work tonight. So it was FFYS (fend for yourself) around here tonight. We had leftover bbq chicken, ham, and tacos in the fridge. Plus I always have lunch meat, those disgusting yummy noodle things the kids eat, canned pasta and assorted other stupid things that my kids find essential. Well, I just got the call from Ruth, my lovely son wants to meet at 10 am tomorrow morning (ICK). So, off here I go to make sure that everything is ready. Night all!

Grand Cayman

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Terribly Tired Wednesday

It was an extremely long day. So I'll make this really short (for me at least).

I'm still here. Very worried about one of my blog friends who is going thru a really rough patch right now. Her hubby's ex is on a roll and really giving them a rough time with alienating the kids. Combine that with some other things going on in her life and she has had a rough week. (Yeah I know -sort of vague right? Could be any number of my friends as most of us have issues with the ex from time to time)

One of my favorite blog authors finally came back to us. I thought maybe she was missing in action since she had abandoned us since July. Welcome back Morocco!

Little Man and I ran 9 million errands today. We got the car inspected - big change from getting an inspection in old town! It was $25 cheaper. That was a pleasant surprise. We picked up the layaway, picked up a Christmas tree (still on the front porch) and a few other odds and ends. The biggest headache of today was when the car failed inspection for a .....

License plate light. Yep, License plate light. So, in the sub zero temperatures that TX was experiencing today - Little Man and I were out in the cold cussing Ford for leaving how to get to the license plate lights out of the owners manual. On the plus side- at least we didn't get that nasty white stuff falling from the sky that old town got today. Yuck!

After many many hours of running around from place to place today, we got home at almost 7 and I am exhausted. I will say that it was another good day with Little Man. We got a lot accomplished. I got home and had to feed and water chickens, dogs and cat. Little Man did finally get fed but I won't tell you what time I fed him the nutritious dinner of frozen cardboard pizza. I am going to take my meds for my joints and die an early death tonight.

They've come and gone....

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You have to admire....

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