Sunday stuff

The Nascar race was....ehh.  Race a while, rain delay, race a while more, a longer rain delay, end on an iffy note.  The Chiefs game was...ehh.  Yeah, we won, but we didn't play until the second half.  What is this?  Yeah, it's Marty Ball all over again.  One good half.  You can't win a season playing one half per game.  I guess a win is a win, and we're finally 2-2, going into a 2 week home stretch.

Tomorrow will be "normal" life.  Tuesday, Kevin will have his shoulder yanked apart, then I'll bring him home.  Friday, I'll pack.  Saturday, I'll leave home around 4:30 in the morning, to head to Myrtle Beach.  I'll be home Monday afternoon.

The following weekend, Kevin will be gone to Carthage for the golf tournament.  The weekend after that, the girls will head to Branson with Mom and Dad, and Carthage will have the Maple Leaf Festival.

I guess we can be glad that tomorrow is normal.  One day at a time, right?  I have a work-around for what my car is doing.  I have parents to help when someone needs a ride to the hospital, so I can get half a day in, and save "perfect attendance."  My girls have their new friends now, so they're happy.

What?  I didn't mention the new friends?  Yes, we have cats again.  2 sibling cats, both fixed and front declawed and up-to-date on shots.  Those were the clinchers.  They wanted cats SO badly.  We will leave them downstairs to roam and get comfortable before introducing them to Hawkeye.  He's a bit overwhelming to people, let alone cats.

More hair.  Yippee.

BUT...they are beautiful and orange and sweet and I think they'll do fine here.  He is already coming to visit, and she is being shy and scared.  It's day one.  What can we expect.  I just told the girls to talk sweet and remind them where the food and litter box is, and not follow them if they try to hide.  They're doing good so far.

OK, time to hit the sack.  Desperate Housewives was awesome, but not as good as Brothers and Sisters.  Yeah, premiere season is enveloping me.  I love both shows, and won't see bed before 10 for quite a while, I bet.

Saturday

I started the day with breakfast in bed.  How much do I love Saturday?  LOL  We all rallied to get the house clean (it was quite nasty, I must say) and Kevin mowed the yard.  I watched the race and the episode of Dirty Jobs that takes place at the Kansas City airport.

Wow.  All of the happenings of my day can be summed up in one paragraph.  Kinda sad, huh?  Next weekend, I'll be in Myrtle Beach, SC.  I will have a room with an ocean view.  My job has it's pay-offs sometimes.  It makes up for Indianapolis in the winter...that's for sure!

Kevin's procedure got postponed until this coming Tuesday.  Stupid insurance crap.  Anyway, he will go have some pain inflicted upon him, then I'll bring him home.  Poor guy.  I hope it helps.  I honestly don't know how much longer he can keep up the physical aspects of this job.  His body is so broken down.  He hurts everywhere, and fixing the shoulder isn't going to fix the whole problem.  We shall see.

Monica has a friend over tonight.  So far, it's been drama free, but the night is young.  Natalie is reading, since she has a book report due on Monday, so there is no "odd man out" yet.  I'm letting her take a break from reading in 20 minutes, so we'll see how long it takes for her feelings to be hurt by the older girls.

OK, time to go play Pogo or Neopets.  You know, there are very important things to be done on a Saturday night!

Where have all the entries gone?

I haven't been posting much.  I'm not working late, and my sewing and baking and domestic duties haven't been keeping me away.  HA HA HA!  What are those?  Anyway, I noticed that many other journals are slowing down, too.  If it weren't for the halloween pears, I don't know what I'd read in the mornings.

My excuse is a sad insight into my life.  It's premiere week on TV.  Everything is NEW!  Last night, it was Survivor, Grey's, and ER.  I'm so glad the regular shows are back.  Plus, the weather is so nice right now, that's probably keeping some folks busy.  I can go outside in the evening (if there weren't so many good shows on TV) and not melt instantly.  The mornings are cool and crisp, and the afternoons are sunny perfection.

Scroll down a paragraph, Russ:

NASCAR is in Kansas City this weekend.  I really hope that rain doesn't mess up the Cup race on Sunday.  I wanted to see if I could make it into any meet-and-greet situations around town, but most are on the Kansas side, and I can't justify the fuel usage.  I'll have to get to a race one of these years.  Last Nascar note: Carl Edwards' fine is over-the-top!  1/8" = 25 points?  BS!

Come back, Russ:

OK, time to finish getting ready for work.  We have no plans this weekend, so I'll try to do something totally facinating to redeem my journal just a bit...but don't count on it.  I could just as easily sit on the couch all weekend watching races and football games and such.

One HECK of a busy month

Well, it's official.  I have one more convention to attend.  At least this one is a beautiful location, with a beautiful view, and only one school-day to make arrangements for the girls.  This month will be crazy:

October 6, I leave for Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.  I will be home on Monday afternoon, and it's all set for Mom to come over that morning, to see the girls off to school.

October 13 is the golf tournament for Steve's scholarship fund.  Kevin will go down to work it, while the girls and I hold down the fort.

October 20 is the Maple Leaf Festival in Carthage, which Kevin will attend, with his family, while the girls are in Branson with Mom and Dad.  I don't know if I'll go or not, it depends on what I decide to do with Hawkeye.

October 27 is up in the air, but I'd like to plan a sleep over for the girls.  It would be a combined thing for their birthdays, and Kevin would probably need to leave town, or take a sleeping pill.  LOL

Yeah, I'm ready for November already, although work will be much more intense then.  Expect some journal updates from the road in October.  Anyone near Myrtle Beach? LOL

Sick Dogs, and Musical Refrigerators

Sick Dogs:

Monica's friend spent the night last night.  As usual, when a sleep over is going well, I prepared to go to bed around 11, telling them to stay up all night, for all I care, just don't get loud, stay off the computers, no phone, and no more food (they had eaten a ton of snacks.)  As I climbed into bed, Hawkeye followed me, looked up at me desperately, and started heaving.

He didn't barf.  He's good about making it outside, if he can let someone know that he needs to go, so I ran to the back door and let him out.  He started eating grass like crazy.  I watched for a few minutes, in the rain, to see if he'd puke.  He didn't.  Yet I stood there, in the rain.  Yup, I stood in the.....WHAT????RAIN!!!! 

I ran over to roll up the windows on my car, sitting in a wet seat to do so.  *sigh*  Still, the dog ate grass and heaved.  He finally wanted to go in, so I let him in and settled down on the couch.  As soon as I was comfortable, he started again.  For over an hour, I was letting him out, letting him in, letting him out, letting him in.  He finally settled down and tried to sleep a bit after midnight.

When I decided to go to bed, Kevin came out of the bedroom, ready for a Diet Coke and some TV.  We passed in the hall, with me warning him to watch for flying barf.  I guess he sent the girls to bed around 3:30, while dozing in and out on the couch.  This pretty much sums up my life on the weekends.  I used to throw great parties.  I used to attend great parties. *sigh*  Now I pick up 11 year olds and let dogs out to barf (he never did, btw.)

Musical Refrigerators:

When Kevin and I moved back here from Carthage, we found a nice townhouse to rent.  It was perfect, except that it had no refrigerator.  We had a washer and dryer, but all previous rentals had refrigerators included.  We lived out of a cooler for a couple of weeks, then Dad told us to go to a local used appliance shop, and see what they had for $100.

They had one in that price range.  It was small, and cosmetically not-so-great, but, by golly, it was COLD!  It served its purpose well for 2 years.  Then we bought this house.  This house had a refrigerator and deep freeze that the lady did NOT want to move.  We bought the pair for $100.  Not needing a deep freeze, and needing the basement space, we gave the freezer to Kevin's best friend, who has tons of foster kids most of the time.

The $100 fridge went to Dad, for the shop.  It holds soda and water and my beer, if we're BBQing there, as well as apples and the occasional watermelon.  It's worse than ever, cosmetically, but, by golly, it's cold!

A work friend recently bought a house, and a refrigerator was left in the basement, still plugged in, and still cold.  We have one on the back porch for drinks and over-flow, which was gifted to us by ANOTHER work friend 2 years ago.  It's fine, but the one we picked up today is more suited for our purpose.  Freezer on the bottom (we seldom open the freezer) and better suited for drinks only.

I called Dad to see if he wanted the current "back porch" refrigerator for the shop.  It has more room, and the door shelves are intact.  He said "yes", so tomorrow, if new fridge powers up and gets cold, Dad get's the old new fridge.  Are you confused yet?  I am.

What will happen to the life-saving $100 fridge?  Who knows.  Someone, somewhere will need a garage fridge.  A beer fridge.  I don't want to see it get tossed.  As sad and ugly as it is, it is cold, by golly!  Someone must need it.

While picking up today's refrigerator, we were also gifted a braided area rug.  It's HUGE!  Maybe too big for ANY room in my house.  We took it, though.  I never turn down free ANYTHING.  I'll find a use, or find someone with a use.  It will NOT be wasted.

Anyone need an ugly refrigerator with no door shelves or crisper drawers?  How about an oversized area rug?  Anyone?  Anyone?

Just for my friend, Russ

The following is for Toonguy Russ.  What a pal!  What a friend!  I couldn't help but post this little clip for him, in honor of his love of Halloween!

 

Adhesive Capsulitis, and the earring saga

OK, first the earring saga: The girls reached the 6-week mark, when earrings could be changed.  We don't HAVE any other earrings yet, so Natalie asked if she could take one out, then put it back in.  I said "sure."  I'm a dumb ass.

She followed me into the bathroom, and removed the earring, and handed it to me.  I dropped it, and it bounced into the sink and RIGHT down the drain.  Ummmm.  OK.  If this kid sleeps without an earring in her ear, it's gonna hurt like hell to put one in the next day.  I can't wear them, so I don't have a single one in the house.  I sent her to bed.

After an hour of worrying, I decided to fix what I can fix (there are many things out of my control right now, and I needed to have control of something.)  I took the elbow part of the drain off, and right there, with all of the hair, nastiness, and foulness, was the lost earring.  I washed it, washed it again, disinfected it, and disinfected it again.  I went downstairs, woke her up (sort of) and put the earring back where it belonged...in her ear.

You can bet your sweet bippy that we had 8 new pairs of earrings and a box of spare backs the next day!  The problem is, the drain won't go back together.  Sure, I tried.  I tried and tried, and that putty stuff keeps falling off in chunks.  Maybe because it was applied in 1957?  Anyway, we have to buy new pipe for it this weekend, so don't use my bathroom sink this week, OK?  (I told you I was a dumb ass)

Kevin went to the Dr. today, for a follow up, and was told that he has Adhesive Capsulitis.  It means, "Hey, dude, your shoulder doesn't move."  Yeah, we knew that.  Basically, little adhesions have formed, keeping his shoulder pretty much immobile.  What is the treatment, you ask?  Well, I'll be happy to tell you:

Next Wednesday, they'll put my dear husband to sleep, then FORCEFULLY MANIPULATE HIS SHOULDER until all of the adhesions BREAK THE HELL LOOSE!  Now, I know I'm not a doctor, but that sounds PAINFUL!  But it's supposed to fix him.  Yeah, we'll see.

Thus is my life.  Lost earrings, wandering teenagers, broken husbands, unplanned business trips, and the wrong people winning on Big Brother.  Sheesh, will someone bring me a beer?

Good Morning!

So THIS is what my journal looks like! LOL  Sunday, we went to Mom and Dads to hang out, Kevin and Dad fixed my car (defrost wasn't blowing from the top of the dash, which makes defrost kind of useless, you know?) and we ate a wonderful dinner there.  Then my Charlene and Pat showed up to see Dad's new bike, and it was nice to see them again.

After that, I saw a bit of the depressing Chiefs game *sigh* while switching back and forth to Nascar.  It was a relaxing afternoon.  Brett created drama at his dad's house, and has now moved out.  I'm scared about what happens next, but I hope everything works out well for him.  Maybe it's the change that's for the best, and I'm going to try to look at it that way.  Just so he knows we love him, that's all we can do.

I'll go into the earring saga (AKA the reason we can't use the bathroom sink) tonight.  Just let it be said that I had good intentions.

Cool nights and high school football

It got down to 47 last night.  WOOOHOOO!  Kevin actually shut the bedroom windows at some point.  This sure beats the heck out of running the a/c or waking up sweating.  Yuck.

We took the girls to the high school football game, and watched our beloved Tigers win.  We're really on a roll around here...2/2 so far.  It's fun to watch small town football, but it's just as much fun to watch the fans in the stands.  There are many cool things that happen here that probably don't happen in bigger cities. 

For instance, our high school principal isn't afraid to tell the kids who are wrestling around instead of watching the game, "GET OVER THERE AND GRAB A SEAT, NOW!"...and they listen to him.  Even the grade school principal made sure that kids were where they should be...watching the game.

The girls enjoyed seeing friends there, and Kevin even bought a chili pie for me.  I think we'll be doing that more often.  It's pretty cheap family entertainment.

Today is going to be pretty laid back.  Monica has a birthday party to attend this afternoon, and I hope to see my parents at some point this weekend.  Maybe it's too cool to ride their motorcycle?  Nahhh, they have leathers, so they'll probably be gone.

Name Game-Thanks Amy!

1. YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car),
Cookie Celebrity<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

2.YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie),  Vanilla Thin Mint

3. YOUR “FLY Guy/Girl” NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name),
R-Fie

4. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal),  Blue Horse

5. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born),  Marie Oak Grove (huh?)

6. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first), Fie-Ra

7. SUPERHERO NAME: (”The” + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink),  Black Beer

8. NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers),  Luther James (would have been the other way around, but that would be my brother’s name)

9. STRIPPER NAME: ( the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy),
Vanilla Mints

10.WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother’s & father’s middle names ),  Daniel Margaleen (sorry, Mom.)

11. TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 5th grade teacher’s last name, a major city that starts with the same letter),  Drecktrah Denver

Poo Poo Lagoon, revisited

OK, several have expressed interest in the term "poo poo lagoon."  I can tell you where that comes from.

When I was a kid, I was best friends with a girl named "Jackie," and we had the best time ever.  She was an only child, and had the coolest stuff.  The whole basement of her house was her playhouse, and appliance boxes made up walls, doors, and even had cut-outs for windows.  There were cabinets with real food cans (carefully washed out by her mom) and dolls for babies, etc.  She loved my house because of the "country" life and 4-wheelers, etc.

Her father was the minister at the local Baptist church.  His wife was, I think, from the Philippines.  She was fun and funny and SOOO cool.  However, she had a tendency to mix up words, and make up her own terms when necessary.

Just South of town is a water treatment plant.  Yes, that's where things go when we flush.  Ewww.  I guess, one day, she commented to her preacher husband that it was a very pretty little pond.  He laughed and explained what it really was.  Because of her great sense of humor, and her ability to laugh at her own mistakes, she shared this story with us one night.  In the telling of the tale, she lost the words for what that "pond" was, and she finally gave up and said, "you know, a POO POO LAGOON!"

It's just one of those things that sticks with you forever.  My girls now call it a poo poo lagoon, because that's what I've always told them.  When you finally get to the exit of Grammy's town, that's how the girls know we're 2 minutes away.  They scream "poo poo lagoon!!!" from the back seat.

Yeah, we have other odd terms in this house, and all havea story behind them.  Jim's drill Sergeant gave us "Terrible Damn Thing!" and Brett gave us "don't want none!" from a young age.  We say, "panty butt" when we mean that we're wearing a T-shirt and panties to sleep in, and "kid beer" is IBC root beer.

I'm sure you have these weird phrases in your family, and I'd love to hear them, and their stories.  If not, I guess I just have to accept that my family is weird.  I already know that, so don't give me further proof, ok?

Random Ramblings

OK, here is some random crap.  I have been getting some AWESOME pictures in the mornings.  The air is cold, the water is warm, that leads to some great pictures of fog on a pond.  One pond that I pass daily has a fountain in the middle...very cool.

Our electricity went off last night, evidently, since Kevin woke up late, yelling to me, "GET UP! I AM ALMOST LATE FOR WORK AND THE ALARMS AREN'T WORKING AND I HAVE TO GO!"  OK, dude, I've got 2 hours.  Sorry 'bout your luck.  I wasn't that cold about it, but I made it to work in plenty of time.  Sorry, Kev.

OK, I'm out.  Gotta pick up Natalie from her Wednesday church club thing.  Monica felt that her homework load was too much to join the club thing this year, so she's at home.  Natalie enjoys it so much, I'm glad she's still going.

Please, if you give a crap, vote on which sunrise picture you like the best.  I can "tweak" it in Photoshop, make it a bit better, and print it to hang in my house.  I'm just torn between about 4 of them.  Let me know which is best. 

Although I took these on my solo commute to work, let's pretend that I was NOT taking pictures while driving, ok?  No cars/animals/humans/bugs were harmed in the photography experience.

Cooler mornings

I was right about yesterday.  I am far too old to make it through on 3 1/2 hours of sleep.  Oh, I made it through the day all right, then came home and fixed dinner.  Soon after eating, though, I went to bed.  That's right, I was asleep by 7:30!  I have to tell you something: Waking up after 8 1/2 hours of sleep feels TONS better than waking up after less than 4.

My new trainee at work is doing great.  She's learning fast, has a warped sense of humor (a must if you work with me) and rolls with the punches when things get tough.  Things are getting tough around there right now, too.  Half of customer service is sick, so Kelly and I sit at my desk using hand sanitizer and minding our own business.  I hate sickness.  Sick people are gross.

It is so much cooler in the mornings, lately.  I love waking up to crisp air, and I love not running my a/c!  The ride to and from work is amazingly comfortable, and I feel like making a pot of chili.  I think I'll do that on Friday, when the high is only supposed to be 65.  Right now, it is 51.  AAAAHHHHHHH

I haven't seen my parents in a couple of weeks, even though they live 2 miles away.  Having company for the past two weekends has kept me at home.  We'll have to plan on trying to get over there this weekend, although they have a new motorcycle, so who knows if they'll be around?  LOL

(my 9-11 post is here, on my other journal.)

The weekend summary

The employee appreciation day was the best one I've ever been to.  The scavenger hunt team that I was on won!  We will receive a gourmet break.  WoooHooo!  I hope it's not the morning break, since I can't eat sugar in the morning, and most folks will want donuts and pastry, but it was a blast to play AND win, anyway. 

The girls won tons of tickets (it was a game night theme) and traded them in for a lot of cool stuff.  They kept redeeming the tickets for things for Kevin and me.  They are sweet like that.  I won a drawing and got Madden '08 for Playstation 2, which Brett got to take home to his dad's house.  He was very happy. 

We stayed so busy that I didn't take a single picture while we were there.  I'll nab the one that was taken of the girls, and get it up here within the next few days.  Also, a co-worker wanders around with a camera, getting candid stuff, so if there are any good ones, I'll get copies of those, too.

Kevin, with his Mom and Aunt, really enjoyed the Royals game.  Then, we all got home, and we stayed up FAR too late, visiting.  I slept late yesterday, then we sat around watching football.  *sigh*  "Go Chiefs" 'n stuff.  It was quite a depressing game.

Because of the laziness of our Sunday, I couldn't go to sleep last night.  I'll make it through my Monday on less than 4 hours of sleep, but I bet I collapse when I get home!  HA!  See ya later!

Great Saturday

You Scored an A

You got 10/10 questions correct. It's pretty obvious that you don't make basic grammatical errors. If anything, you're annoyed when people make simple mistakes on their blogs. As far as people with bad grammar go, you know they're only human. And it's humanity and its current condition that truly disturb you sometimes.

The It's Its There Their They're Quiz

 

Info on my work party tomorrow.

The weekend, at last

It's Saturday, and BOY OH BOY did I need a weekend.  What a week (and I only worked 3 days!)  I have a new trainee at work, and I think she's going to fit in just fine.  Her name is Kelly, and she's thin and super tall.  Great.  When we stand by each other, we make the number 10.

This evening, Kevin is taking his Mom and his Aunt Joan to the Royals game.  He takes his mom to a game every year, and the time has come.  Unfortunately, their was a conflict, so he won't be accompanying me and the girls to our employee appreciation day.  My work puts on a GREAT employee appreciation day.

We will play games, have a scavenger hunt, enter to win prizes (really great prizes) and even have the chance to walk away with cold, hard cash.  Brett won $75 at Bingo a couple of years ago.  They give away Nascar tickets, gift certificates, tool sets, and the list goes on and on.  Plus, the fun.

I've been to a lot of company picnic type events, and most bore me to death.  Why spend your Saturday with the people you're forced to see every weekday?  This one is different, though.  Even Kevin enjoys it, and he's anti-people! LOL  They even set up a photographer to take pictures, and you can get a professional photo shoot for free.  I won't get family pics this time, since Kevin won't be there, but I plan to have the girls in a couple of shots.

And, don't get me started on the food.  The food is always great.  OK, enough rambling.  I have a lot of reclining and TV watching to do before we leave.  Grammy and Aunt Joan will be here in an hour or so, and we all leave around 4 (for two different destinations) to start the fun.  I'll check in later.

Thursday, Fierro style

I woke up early (proving that I CAN do it) and got to work about 6:15.  That got me caught up enough that I didn't have to stay late.  Big time bonus points.  I walked out at 5 without a care in the world.

Kevin's been off work this week.  He took lunch and ate with Natalie yesterday.  She loved it.  Today was Monica's turn, and I guess all of her buddies were trying to get her to trade some of her yummy Sonic for their crappy lunch items.  NOT!  She would have none of it.  She looked at them and asked, "Are you crazy?"

Tomorrow is Grandparents day, and Mom and Dad will go spend some time in their classrooms, so the girls can brag about them.  Win Win.

Tonight, double-elimination on Big Brother.  YEAH!  Also, the actual football season begins, so maybe some of us (losing teams) can put our pre-season behind us.  Please?

Kevin made tacos for dinner, so I walked in to dinner on the table.  I'd love to make enough money so he could stay home and be Mr. Mom.  Not only is he good at it, but his body wouldn't hurt all the time from the physical job that he has.

Good Night, my friends.  It's 8 minutes until my show!

My weekend was most awesome, how was yours?

Here is the short version.  I'm still recovering.

David and Suzie showed up (live and in person from the Ft. Worth area) around 6pm on Saturday.  Their dog, Winston, is old and has hip problems, so Hawkeye barely gave him a sniff before deciding he was not a threat.

We visited on the deck, late into the night.  It was great.  It was my second time to meet them, Kevin's first.  We've "known" them online for years.

We didn't accomplish much outside of this house, but we had such a ball visiting, nobody noticed.  There was a Dirty Jobs marathon on Monday, so we saw more of Mike Rowe than his family has seen in years.

The girls are infatuated with Suzie, and she was the object of their affection for the entire weekend.  Suzie is fun.  Suzie makes brownies.  Suzie has a cool camera.  Suzie, Suzie, SUZIE!

David is a carpenter by trade, so he installed my new back door (with Kevin's help) and gave us other advice for the house.  He knows his crap.  He is a joy to talk to, since his thoughts will make you think.  Whether you agree with him or not, you'll think.

This is for Russ.  We all watched the NASCAR race on Sunday. heh heh

Winston is the most laid-back dog I've ever met.  He slept near David or Suzie's feet the entire weekend, only moving if they both left the room at once, or if they took him outside to potty.

OK, I returned to work today to find "season" in full swing.  It was nuts, I worked 10 hours today, 11 planned for tomorrow, and there is no end in sight.  This might mean fewer updates, but I'll be back in full force in January.

Day one of four

Kevin is working on the bathroom, the girls and I have the house whipped into shape, the beer and soda is in the cooler on ice, and our Texas friends are on their way up.  It's hard to imagine things getting much better.

I love long weekends.  Fire up your grills and bid farewell to summer, my friends....cooler temperatures are already settling in.