Today is the 12th "anniversary" of the day my mother passed away. Anniversary is a bad word as that sounds more like a celebration, which is definitely not what I'm feeling. I am one morbid heifer. I obviously have a hard time letting go. It feels odd to say it gets "easier" as the years go by, as if it could ever be easy to lose someone you love so much - your personal cheerleader, someone whose hugs can change your day/week/month/life, your sounding board, your pal, hell- the person who frickin' gave you life. But, by human nature, it does get "easier." The pain associated with Mother's loss is no longer an open wound but a dull ache that comes and goes - like a toothache except that it is centered in my heart and not my bicuspid. Life kept going; I kept going. I was supposed to. She would be royally pissed if she knew how long it has taken me to get to a place where I don't totally fold everytime I think of how much I miss her. I don't know if it has taken me so long because I'm single and childless so don't have distractions, or if that's just how I roll. It was the natural order, though, and as such inevitable. I just wish it wouldn't play back in my head every year. For instance, yesterday was the day she went into a coma. Today she died. Friday will be her funeral day. The events of those days re-play over and over...the last thing she said, the sound of her breathing, the way she looked... Ugh. There are more gruesome sights and sounds that I won't talk about but they, too, re-play in my mind. Those are the hardest memories - they're the ones I wish I could block out so that only the good stuff would be left. After twelve years I no longer reach for the phone (as I did for a long time after she died) to call to tell her or ask her something, but I still wish she were here to share in stuff that happens NOW. I decided I would write her a letter as if she's just on vacation somewhere...

 

Hey.

I miss you like crazy! You wouldn't beLIEVE what all has happened since you and Daddy have been gone. Pete's at the Pentagon now - how cool is that? I'm amazed at Collyn, your oldest granddaughter. She handles all that moving around like it ain't nuttin'. And just like when she was a kid she manages to get involved in a jillion things, and now she has the boys goin' from pillar to post, too. The boys. Ha! Tres is a male version of Collyn. As a result they argue like you and I, and they're just as close as we are, too. Troy is hilarious. You think he's in his own little world and then he'll say something that lets you know he was very much in the moment. His take on things is way beyond his 8 years. Tres is totally into baseball like his grandaddy. Can you believe your little boy has five grandbabies of his own? Carrie managed to scare the piss out of us with the complications she had with CeeCee, who is beyond amazing. They're both fine now but it was touch and go for awhile. I think CeeCee, more than anyone else ever could, helped me get over not seeing you all the time. Her arrival and her presence made me more aware of life than I had been in a long time. She made me want to shake things off and get on with it. I haven't been that afraid since Joe's head got cracked open when the tree limb fell on him. You would love Joe's little girl! I think her imagination could match your's and she's just two. She may be the most intelligent person in this entire family, and has a very high cute factor. I can just hear you telling her about Krasamafrase but I guarantee you she would have a LOT of input into the story. Jeb's baby boy is as tough as he was, so Billy calls him "Tuffy." He has Jeb's big blue eyes. Alea has become the matriarch in your absence. She and Billy have been married almost as long as you and Daddy were - who'd a thunk it? Ha! She's like you, though, and pretty much ramrods all the familial activities and maintains the cohesiveness. She's as bitchy as you but in a different way. Ha!! Y'all would love Scott (Carrie's hubby) and April (Joe's wife). They "fit in" just like Pete does. Becky has foster kids - how crazy is that? I think she's happier than she's ever been, though, with people she can boss on a daily basis. Hahahha! She's sooo much like Daddy. And me? Pfft. I'm fine. I didn't think I would be for a long time, but I am. I miss your hugs and kisses, but my big brother and sister and sisterinlaw, not to mention my nieces and nephews, make sure I don't suffer from lack of affection. Sometimes it's sooo hard doing the family stuff without you and Daddy, until I realize you're so much on my mind and in my heart that I'm NOT doing family stuff without you. You're with me all the time, even though it's just not as good. I apologize because I haven't been able to do what you told me in your last words. How could you tell me "don't be afraid" and then leave me? And I ain't gonna lie - the way you said it totally creeped me out to the point that I hear it in nightmares. Thanks a lot. Wow, you would be so proud of all of us. Y'all left us such a legacy of love. How lucky we've been to have had y'all, and now to have each other. We fuss, piss, and moan about like we always have but we love and support each other. I can't help but wonder, though, when you're gonna hook me up with a lottery win like you promised? Ha! I'm pretty disappointed about that. Well, I hope y'all are gettin' to visit with a lot of folks. Pet my dogs for me, okay? I love y'all...

-Angie (Your Favorite)

I have been inundated with messages from the nicest people in the world! Mike V. keeps finding me jobs, Chris in NY offered to send me pictures of "himself," and tonight I won 1,500,000 lbs (UK $) in a lottery someone entered on my behalf! How precious can people GET? Not only that, but somebody keeps offering to buy my old, useless gold and they leave messages telling me that on old blog posts. I'm busy RIGHT NOW gathering up valuable pieces of things to send to these complete strangers because I'm sure they're honest and will send me money in the return mail. These are just the tip of the iceberg. There are so many more kind offerings that people send me everyday. Unfortunately for these kindly people, I'm a bitch. I don't want the job I have, much less a new one. I don't want to see Chris' pecker-pictures because I'm sure that's what he means by offering to let me see "him." And do people REALLY send their bank acount info just because a random email says they won a lottery in a foreign country? Bizarre. I'm assuming at least one person has done it or "they" wouldn't keep asking me. Ugh.

 

I read an interesting article, though. It talked about how I could look younger and lose weight just by getting plenty of sleep. Combine that with the internet offer saying I can make money while I sleep and I believe that I'm going to ask for a medically-induced coma so I can sleep a coupla years at the end of which I will wake up much younger, thinner, and very rich. That'd be a helluva deal!

 

My niece and I have been plottin' and plannin' this week. She goes to swap meets and flea markets in the Dallas area where she lives. She emailed me a picture of a little pillowcase dress and told me how women were snatchin' and grabbin' 'em up like crazy at about thirty bucks a pop. Unbelievable! These are probably the easiest things in the world to make! Half a yard of fabric and some ribbon and bada-boom bada-bing...you gotta dress! Little girls wear them either as sundresses or with a tshirt underneath. Too cute! So Carrie made a prototype, and I made a prototype, and I'm now waiting on CeeCee and Addie to get their dresses in the mail to try them on to send feedback. I haven't even sold ONE yet but I've talked myself into buying a jim-dandy big-ass computerized embroidery & sewing machine combination. [Whoa - my nipples got hard just thinkin' about that sewing machine.] Come on - I gotta be able to monogram the little dresses! Ha!! I neeeeeeeed that machine!!!!!!! I've coveted them for years. I'll be getting a substantial overtime check in January after working a basketball tournament, so there's my machine right there. I CAN'T WAIT. I also made a pantset for CeeCee that I can't wait to hear back on. I saw this fabric and had to have it - reminds me of the stuff we had back in the late 60s early 70s. Very "mod."

 

I'm proud  that my nieces are so creative and talented. It's one thing to sit down with a pattern and make a project, but my girls (well, women) have enough confidence in their own abilities that they will make a pattern and work out the details to complete the project. I'll take credit for part of that. Summers when they would visit I would sit next to them at the sewing machine to guide their little hands while they made pillows and doll clothes (without patterns) - I helped foster their confidence and creativity. My Mother did the same with me (and them). As an artist she knew the value of encouraging imagination and creativity. She also believed we could do ANYTHING - and some of that rubbed off on us. It's so much fun to see The Girls using what they learned at my knee...

 

Welllll SHOOT. The weatherman just said it's gonna get down to 33 degrees tonight so I guess I better bring my plants in off the porch. Sure seems early to be doin' that. Y'all have a good week.

My Daddy had one sibling - a brother. Uncle G and his family lived in The Valley (the bottom tip of Texas), we lived mostly in East Texas. In my lifetime we never lived closer than a 4-5 hour drive from my uncle's family and that was when I was an infant. For most of the time we lived anywhere from 8-12 hours apart. Combine that with my dad's dislike of leaving home (I had to inherit it from someone, didn't I?) I can count on one hand how many times I've visited my uncle's house. My uncle, on the other hand, made an annual pilgrimage north to visit all us kinfolks who didn't cross our own property lines very often. I can remember being very excited when Uncle G and his family came to visit - he has a daughter my age AND they had the same last name as us. The cousins on my mother's side were more familiar but all had different last names. Those with the same last name somehow seemed "more kin." Uncle G is in his eighties now and has been fighting cancer for a coupla years. He thought he kicked it but it has reared its ugly head in his liver and he's in the middle of another round of bad-ass chemo. He normally weighed around 180-200 at 6' tall; he's down to 140. He is, in all likelihood, dying. My brother and sister-in-law are going to see him this weekend and asked me to go with them. I didn't go. I'm riddled with guilt yet still can't bring myself to go. It used to be my dislike for traveling that kept me from making the journey. Now I can't bear to see him, even when he was healthy, because he looks so much like my Daddy. Everytime I look at the man I see my Daddy and feel immense sorrow. I hug him and I feel my Daddy's body, yet I know it's not my Daddy and I want to cry. And usually do cry. I'm aware that it's beyond selfish, maybe even bordering on irrational, but it is what it is. I miss my Daddy.

 

October is a tough month. It's Mother's "dying month." She died on the 29th and we buried her on Halloween. My son's birth mother died the same week, two years after my mother, and we buried her on Halloween, also. Ironic. Like an idiot I scheduled annual doctor visits for the 30th. I have quite a roster of family members who have had or have cancer. Every year following "the exam" I wait to hear if this is the year I get the cancer-call. Ugh. I have quite a morbid streak multiplied by the worry-gene. I'm sure, in light of how I feel about all this, that my blood pressure will be great on the 30th. Ha!!

 

I got a call this week from my ex-boss's wife. He's the guy I had the grudge against for nearly 13 years. Anyway, she's having some medical issues and needed to use the pool at work for therapy. You know that old saying "what goes around comes around?" I got to see a little of that and it gave me great glee (because I'm such a hateful person). Mr. Big Shot who demoted me to the gym couldn't get his wife into the pool because nobody knows who he is anymore. HA! So who did she call? hmmmph. And not only did I get her access to the pool - I got her some heat and stem treatments in the training room that made her feel much better. HA! I still don't know what this man expects of me. Although I didn't get fired from the college, he definitely fired me from his office after I worked for him nearly 20 years, and he couldn't give me a good reason. Yet  he expects me to treat him as if he did nothing wrong. I forgave him but I don't like him. His wife and daughter keep telling me (when I see them-rarely) that I still love him, and, well, no I don't. I don't hate him anymore, but I certainly don't love him. It wouldn't bother me if I never saw him again as long as either of us lives. He has no control anymore over my emotions and it's a fabulously liberating feeling. It also gave me a tremendous sense of belonging and satisfaction when I escorted the woman to the training room where women's soccer and men's basketball were getting treatments and being taped for practice and was greeted like Norm on "Cheers." A chorus of "MizAngie!" met us at the door and I got lost in a tide of hand-slapping (the cool way-with the snap at the end) and hugs. The woman just stared as if she had entered a foreign land. It was gratifying to me that she could report back to her husband that I am in a good place. I am surrounded by affection. I overcame the hurt her husband inflicted on me with the boot to my ego. AWESOME. Although I'm so "over" what happened, I couldn't stop myself from having a moment in my own mind where I giggled, pointed at the memory of what had happened, and shouted, "YEAH, Kenny - FUCK YOU!"  Niiiiiiice.

 

I was so relieved this week to read Jane's blog about her dog, PepperAnn. From what I read I realized I am not the only indulgent dog owner who doesn't force total domination over my dog. I just let him act like a dog. A very spoiled dog, but still a dog. I used to enjoy watching "The Dog Whisperer" but had to stop because I felt like such a failure with my own dog. I tried to teach Timber to walk on a leash next to my side. We've walked about fifty miles around my backyard. As soon as he tried to leave my side I would do like Cesar and go "SHH" expecting Timber to snap-to and wait alertly for me to indicate what he should do to please me. Instead, Timber stopped - looked at me with tail wagging wildly - and jumped up to kiss me in the mouth. Ugh. What we have hee-ya is a failyuh t'communcate! I also recognize that this is probably the reason I was not blessed (or saddled) with children of my own. Can you imagine how BAD their behavior would be if I can't (or won't) even discipline a dog? Ha!! The one thing that Timber does that I don't much care for is drooling while he watches me eat. Yech. He'll let these long strings of drool hang out the sides of his mouth making himself look as hungry as possible. If I don't look at him he keeps moving closer until some of the drool touches me. It's pretty gross. I read an article this week about feeding your dog organic dog food. I'm callin' bullshit on this one. When Timber stops bringing dead things to the backdoor and lickin' his own ass, then I'll discuss organic food with him. Until then, uh, no. I don't even think it's worth the money to feed myself organic food, much less the dog!

 

Gotta go. My Fightin' Texas Aggies are on tv today and they need all the help they can get. We're rebuilding, you know. {sigh} Y'all have a good weekend!

I'm not sure yet. Well, yeah, technically it is because of the earth's rotation and tilt blah blah blah - but until the temps cool down and stay down it won't really feel like fall. But it rained today and dropped from 80 to 69 and it's awesome. Since it was cool and damp I decided to pretend it was nearing wintertime and I made some Irish oatmeal (steel cut) with cinnamon in it for supper. I had to leave the air conditioner on so it would stay cool enough in here that my fall/winter fantasy would be more realistic. Mmmm.... Tomorrow it's supposed to be even cooler. It's great to be able to walk from the car to the office without melting into the concrete. Ugh.

 

Speaking of Irish (I was, remember?), we have a coupla girls from Ireland on the soccer team. Cute as buttons they are and just about as homesick as you can get. I have to admit it's bound to be a tremendous culture shock for them coming from Ireland to East Texas. Ha!! Anyway, after I tasted the Irn Bru (softdrink from Scotland/UK) and my curiosity was sated, I had several bottles of the stuff left. I made a batch of cookies and wrapped them up for the girls and packed it all up with a coupla bottles of Irn Bru. I gave the goodies to them after last Saturday's game along with a mama-hug. Wow. You woulda thought I gave 'em gold bricks. They passed around the Irn Bru so the other girls could taste, telling them it was a taste from back home. Now everytime I see them I get huge smiles. Oh, HA! Get it? When Irish Eyes Are Smiling...hahahahha...

 

I got two new cds today (ordered from Amazon). "Little Honey" by Lucinda Williams and "Gossip In The Grain" by Ray LaMontagne. FABULOUS!! I'm maxin' and relaxin' - listenin' to my new tunes - listenin' to the rain - watching Philly kick the Dodgers' asses. Life is good. I decided to spare myself the agony of watching the third and final debate. If anything good or different happens it'll be replayed a bazillion times on the news channels and youtubed to death. The other day I was pissin' and moanin' about all the political bullshit when someone asked me if I was gonna vote. Are you kidding? I have people fighting and dying for me right now, and thousands of others willing to do the same, just so I can vote. Damn skippy I'm gonna vote. And I hope everyone else does, too, that are eligible. To not vote because you can't decide on a candidate is a cop-out; kinda like not going to church because you don't like the people. It's so much bigger than that.  Write somebody in - but do participate in the process. It's important. {stepping down off o' soapbox}

 

It was raining today. I'm a little embarrassed to admit but I got about three calls asking me if I was, um, horny. {flustered giggle} I guess quite a few people know a good thunderstorm/rainy day makes me "think about it." Ha!! After the third call I wondered if I had gone to work a little wild-eyed and bushy-tailed. It's gettin' close to deer season - I better watch where I rut. Truthfully, I did kinda feel like I was doing a little antler dance everytime a male came around. Whew. Damn rain. *sigh*

 

Well, I think I'll go t'bed. If I can't do one thing rain makes me think about, I'll do the second best - sleeeeeeep. I can sleep like a rock in a steady rain. Awesome. 'Night, y'all...

 

Went to work, went to a funeral, went home, baked cookies and made sandwiches to take to the friend's house whose son died, went to her house, took some cookies to my little football coach friend, came home. I was expecting my friend and her big-shot husband but they were delayed until tomorrow. I busted my ass all day doing all the things I needed to do so I would be available this evening to entertain them, and then they called right about the time they were to be here and said, "Oh, we haven't left yet. We'll come in the morning." I so bad wanted to say, "Okay. You're the one spinnin' this globe and I'm just here tryin' to hang on" but I didn't. But it's gettin' close... And there's no tellin' what time they'll actually show up. We're supposed to tailgate before our football game tomorrow but everything is up in the air until Their Highnesses get here. Can you tell I'm a little miffed?

 

So I was at my friend's house whose son was buried today. A bunch of us gathered there for supper, visitin', and singin'. Ya hate to say you had fun at such an occasion, but, well, it was fun. There was this woman there who could play a ton of instruments and sing like a bluegrass angel. Her kids did the same. Greatness! I was expecting the call from my other friend who was supposed to be on her way. My pants didn't have pockets so I stuck my phone in my cleavage. It was fine until I got a text message. I was enjoying the music, chatting with a new acquaintance, when all of a sudden this horrible buzzy vibration started between my tits. I was sure a locust or some other huge bug had flown down my shirt and was frantically flappin' his wings to find his way out o' there. I was about halfway outta my shirt when I remembered that my phone was tucked away there. Shit! I felt like a frickin' idiot, and looked like one, too. I MIGHT have yelped a few expletives during my 'fraidy-dance that must have offended my new little prune-faced acquaintance because she "tsk'd" her way to another room. Of course, when I explained to my friends what had happened they all nearly peed their pants.

 

I almost went to sleep at the funeral. The preacher was sooooo boring. I think he was trying to preach salvation but he never actually got to the salvation part. He kept talkin' about needing to prepare ourselves for death but he never went in with the dealmaker info on eternal life and glory land and all that good stuff. And the funeral home had these two big screens that came down outta the ceiling, and began a powerpoint presentation that was supposed to be pictures of the dead guy throughout his life - set to music. Instead we watched some inept computer operator's monitor on the big screen as they tried to figure out how to run the presentation. We listened to "Time In a Bottle" about 40 times, and we watched pix with no music for awhile, but then they finally got it all goin' at once. The guy that died was a motorcycle guy. The members of his "Brotherhood" were supposed to be there as pallbearers but only one showed up. He spoke on behalf of the group. His Brotherhood name is Rowdy. You could look at him and guess how he had earned that nickname. Anyway, I had an elitist moment as I thought "Sheesh" to myself as Rowdy stuttered through the first words of his eulogy. But he relaxed into it and his words, while not the king's English or the best grammar in the world, were heartfelt and it became very moving. He finished with "I'm gonna miss ol' Hawk" and ya just knew he really would.

 

I was tired from all the runnin' around, cookin', and funeralizin' so I left to come home. About 1/2 a mile down this dark-ass country road (lake road) I see my friend's granddaughter stumblin' down the side of the road drunk as Cooter Brown. High heels, short dress, bottle in one hand, cigarette in the other - I stop and ask her if she wants a ride back to the house. No, she wants a ride to her mother's house about an hour away. Uh, okay, but let's go tell your grandmother we're leaving so she won't worry about you. On the way back she tells me HORRID stuff about her younger brother, her life, her boyfriend, blah blah *hic* blah. Drunk cryin' jag. Niiiiiice. She left court-ordered rehab to attend the funeral. The brother got a pass from jail to attend the funeral. It's sad. They're bein' so white-trash and their family is just not like that. Anyway, I got the girl's uncle to help with the hot mess and it was a big ugly scene but we finally got it straightened out...sorta. I at least didn't have to make the 2-hour round trip to her mother's. I felt like I was the bouncer on Jerry Springer. Ugh.

 

And what was on my porch when I FINALLY got home? Irn Bru! I was unable to find this stuff at the stores in Dallas that were supposed to have it so I just ordered some online. Someone should have carried the 12-pack by hand from Scotland as much as they charged for shipping. Holy shit! It was just a few dollars less than the bottles of drink. I'm drinkin' a glass of it now. It tastes like a cross between cream soda and orange drink. The aftertaste is cream soda-ish. And it smells like cream soda. But it's not exactly like cream soda. There's a litte bit different wang to it, and it's clear orange. It's okay - but it sure ain't coke! [Reminder: down here any kind of softdrink is a coke. Want a coke? Yeah, a Dr.Pepper. Or, want a coke? Yeah, get me a 7-Up. If you don't specify, though, you get coca-cola. We don't say softdrink and we don't say pop.]

 

I better hit the hay. I need to get up early and finish bakin' off the cookies for the tailgate party just in case my friends actually show up on time to have it. I rolled the batter into long snakes in wax paper so all I have to do is slice and bake. Y'all have a good Saturday. I have football at 3:00 and futbol at 7:00 so I'll be all jocked out by tomorrow night. Later...

In the AARP newsletter (ugh, I said AARP) there's an article titled "50 Words That Kids Think You Don't Know." It lists words that are now accepted terms, nouns that are now verbs, acronyms widely used, etc.. The changes have come about with the onslaught of technological devices and the slang used online. Here are some of my favorites:

bling: sparkly jewelry

cougar: older woman who dates younger men (Me but only in my own mind)

flirtationship: prolonged flirtation with no physical contact (Me with my online friends)

bromance: close but non-sexual friendship between two guys

peeps: people (My family, my posse)

rock: to manifest greatness (As in I rock, and YOU rock)

ridonkulous: beyond ridiculous (as in some of these words)

The article even listed Britishisms:

nutter: crazy person

snog: to kiss

T5: disorganization, like Terminal Five at Heathrow Airport

The ones I don't like are the acronyms - like BFF, LMFAO, stuff like that. I'll probably end up using them at some point due to peer pressure and because, well, all the cool kids use them.

 

White Boy has realllllly screwed the pooch this time. In exchange for some work benefits he agreed not to do some additional social stuff at school. At the time of our agreement he was committed to four parttime jobs with the possibility of a fifth. My reasoning was that the kid IS a student and he would need some time to study or would be setting himself up for failure. He gratefully agreed. And then, because of a slip of his own tongue, I found out he sneaked around and did the thing he agreed not to do. There's more to this, of course, but that's the general gist of the situation. I'm so put-out with him that I can't even look at him. I'm taking it personally since I'm the one who went out on a limb for him. A person is only as good as his/her word. I have little use for someone I cannot trust.

 

Speaking of trust... I think that's why I'm having a hard time deciding for whom to vote. Enhancing your own accomplishments is one thing, dissing your opponent's accomplishments is one thing - but the key players are "giving evidence" of the other lying and/or cheating and with no way to verify or refute what they say I end up not trusting either. It's frustrating. "Back in the day" we could rely on news reports to give facts about important people and events. Not anymore. Now we get "the slant" on facts. I tried to watch the debate last night so I could make an informed and studied decision. Bullshit. I got loads and loads of bullshit. I turned it to, of all things, Troy vs Florida Atlantic playing football on ESPN. That's like watching paint dry. (I mean no offense to the students and alumni of those schools, but you have to be one of those things to be interested in the outcome.) At least, in football, the antagonists and protagonists are obvious and expected. Not s'much in politics.

 

Cheerleaders and twirlers in East Texas are going NUTS. Ha!! Last week a small town nearby suspended their twirlers because they did a routine to a song that said "I kissed a girl and liked it." Their sponsor told them not to do it so they practiced their routine all week to a different song and did a bold switcharoo at the weekly pep rally. So they're suspended from Friday night football for two weeks. That's, like, OMG, 4-EVER. Surprisingly the parents are supporting the administration's decision on the punishment. The other incident involved a skit performed at a pep rally in Nacogdoches involving the simulated shooting of the opponent. They used cap guns. It had something to do with the mascot name - I don't know, I haven't watched the skit. My first reaction was, "So?" I mean, that's gettin' pretty deep into East Texas where people actually hunt for food and not just sport, kids get hunting guns for Christmas, stuff like that. Owning and shooting guns there is a time-honored tradition and privilege - a way of life. There are probably as many members of the NRA in this area as there are Baptists. (That's saying a lot.) So it didn't strike me as that unusual that shooting the enemy might be used in a skit. Seriously, I didn't think a thing about it. Unfortunately for some there was a handful of "enlightened" students who thought shooting students on campus in a school skit might be in poor taste - especially in light of fairly recent tragedies involving mass killings at colleges and schools. Oh, well yeah, I didn't think of that. I don't know how they got a-hold of it but the story made it to FoxNews. You know, the fair and balanced (or, as my liberal friends like to say, the fairly imbalanced) news channel. So my peeps in East Texas were presented as backwoods, ignorant, redneck hee-haws. Now, if I want to talk about 'em like that, I can, because they're my peeps. But I don't want a bunch o' big-city, semi-educated, judgmental people with superiority complexes making fun of my peeps who work twice as hard everyday to make a small percentage in a year of what the television pundits make in a month. Fuck 'em. It amazes me how some people will swear they don't have a prejudiced bone in their bodies when it comes to race, but they have no qualms at all against making fun of a different lifestyle or slower way of speaking. Whew. Where did THAT come from? Time out - I gotta take a breath...

 

I tell ya one damn thang - if those yahoos don't like the independent nature of my peeps then, well, they can SNOG MY BADONKADONK!!

 

 

 

I had a fabulous time visiting with my peeps, but MAN I was glad to get home! Timber was glad to see me, but not as glad as I was to see him.

 

First, I'll brag... CeeCee had an appointment Friday with her developmental specialist (because she was preemie). She just turned [chronologically] two years old. She tested out at between 33 and 36 months in her intellectual/cognizant development. She hasn't broken 20 pounds yet, but she's a brainiac!! As if I didn't already know that... She's in gymnastics now and learned how to walk like a ballerina (tippy-toed), and then walked all the way down the balance beam, turned around, and walked back - on tippy-toe! Her gymnastics coach's mouth was hanging open!

 

Another brag... Addie doesn't get tested but we all wish she could be. She just turned two, also, but talking to her is like talking to a five year old. Unbelievable vocabulary and speaks very clearly (not like a baby at all!). We want her to get tested so she can blow the top outta the tests. Ha!! She's amazing.

 

Friday, when I got to my niece's house, I went to the bathroom. And freaked out. I sat down on the toilet and thought my ass had grown about three times it's usual size. I stood up and looked and the toilet had CeeCee's little potty seat thingy on top of the regular seat. Whew!

 

I took huge pots of yellow fall mums and big pumpkins to CeeCee's and Addie's mamas. I also took small pie pumpkins for the girls. CeeCee insisted on carrying her's around. It's heavy for her and she kept dropping it. {yikes} It ended up in the bathroom where she left it after a trip there to sit on her little potty. Today, "the cousin" asked what the deal was with a pumpkin in the bathroom. My niece said it was Halloween decoration. I told him it was a "Crap-o-Lantern." Ha!!

 

When I packed my things for the trip, I grabbed a pair of earrings off my dresser to wear Saturday. They perfectly matched the brown jeans and green tshirt I had chosen to wear. Very "fallish." The earrings are so cute. A potter in a nearby artisan community made them - little discs of clay with a bead hanging on it. Simple, but cute. Saturday morning I dug around in my makeup bag looking for the earrings, all I could find was one earring...and a quarter. Ha!! I only THOUGHT I picked up two round earrings.

 

It's back to the salt mines tomorrow after two days off and a weekend away. Gag.

 

Just got an email from my niece. CeeCee asked her where Auntie went. Her mama told her I had to go home. CeeCee said, "Awwww, MAN!!!" It's nice to be missed.

I took off work today and again tomorrow. I did so much today! Cleaned house, did laundry - even did some gardening! *giggle* By gardening I mean I pulled the hard dead sticks that used to be my beautiful basil and tomato plants out of their pots. {sigh}

 

I didn't do all that work because I roll that way. I usually do just enough to keep from contracting typhoid. I did it because some friends are going to stay here this weekend to keep Timber while I go see my peeps in Big D. I haven't seen CeeCee and Addie in awhile and I need a fix...BAD! If it were a guy staying here alone I wouldn't  worry so much about having the house straight, but his lady friend from outta town will be here with him and, well, she might not understand my "bachelor" lifestyle. Ha!! I'm glad they'll be here, though, as I won't worry about Timber like I do when I leave him at someone else's house. This arrangement works well for my friend, too, as he won't have to pay for a motel for two nights. I told him he has to change my sheets before I get home, though. Blech. His 6'9" frame is gonna have a time on my short doublebed. Ha!!

 

So tonight my friend came by to get the house key and instructions for Timber, etc.. I hadn't had supper yet so I fixed us some sausage, eggs, and toast. As we sat there watching the Cubs game, eating supper, he suddenly said, "Hi there, Mr. Salamander." Well, it wasn't a salamander, it was a baby gecko. But still, I thought that was just great to have a critter come crawlin' out when I had company. Ha! I live in an old house - pier and beam, fireplace. I have bugs all the time come crawlin' out of opening. I had a mouse or rat before {shiver} so I have poison under the house for those, and I'll shit a gold brick if a s-n-a-k-e ever finds its way in, but bugs are just bugs. Lizards are just lizards. As I usually do, I just let the little feller crawl across the floor. They usually find their way back outta the house somehow - if not I'll find his dried up little body the next time I sweep. I took a bite of sausage as I watched him crawl and my friend says, "Uh, want me to kill it?" "Naaaaahhhhh." "Even tho it's in your house?" Chewing, I look at him. "Right." Chew. Swallow. He's lookin' at me like I'm crazy. "Dude, they eat flies and mosquitos." "Oh." He's a yankee. Nuf said.

 

I dread the drive tomorrow. Driving does not make me happy. Riding in a car does not make me happy. Staying at home makes me happy. However, being around my nieces and nephews also makes me happy. My nieces and nephews are not at my home, so I have to drive. I'll check in if I can, but I have a feelin' I'll be playin'...