Vacation Day

OK, I have tomorrow off.  I have enough plans to consume 4 days, so I'll have to narrow it down.  I will take a ton of pictures, following my day, so if you don't dig that, avoid my journal tomorrow.

I talked to my brother tonight.  I miss him, and it was awesome.

Brett will have transportation by tomorrow.  That's awesome.

Mom's moving into her new home, one piece of furniture at a time.  That's awesome.

The girls are happy and healthy.  That's awesome.

Kevin has work issues, but he's handling them quite well.

On Monday, I will have been back to work at the lab for 5 years.  I got recognized in front of the other CSR's today, and I got a $50 visa card.  Rock on!  If I run the roads tomorrow, I'll get lunch out!  Thanks, boss lady.

I think I'll trade vehicles with Kevin tomorrow, and enjoy A/C AND a rockin' stereo.  Right on!  He is OK with it...but it only happens if I decide to run the roads, instead of cleaning my house.

I should clean my house.

I'm not going to clean my house. Who am I kidding?

Not much to say that hasn't been said.

I could mention that Mom and Dad got their new home delivered...but you read that in her journal.

I could mention that I can't afford gas or groceries any more...but you know that because you're living it.

I could mention that it's supposed to rain tonight...but you know by now that it rains every other day here.

I could mention that work is overwhelming and I'm beat...but everyone is tired after work.

I could mention that I should be cleaning house instead of watching TV and surfing the 'net...but you all know by now that I'm lazy.

I could mention that I'm crabby...but if you've read this far, you have figured that out.

I obviously have nothing to post.  Ciao.

Just some stuff, and sleeping in (by mistake!)

I woke up and stretched and looked over at the alarm clock.  7:50.  7:50?  WHAT???  I have an hour to drive to work, and I have to be there at 8:30.  I jumped in the shower, planning the call to the school and to work to explain our tardiness.  Getting out of the shower, I looked at Kevin's alarm and saw that it was 7:00.  OK, I'm still late, but not as late as I thought.  

I woke Brett and screamed something that nobody would understand, but it included, "GET YOUR STUFF IN THE CAR I AM LATE AND WE HAVE TO GO SOOOON!"  Then I woke the girls.  They were awesome about getting ready really fast.  I left while they were preparing to make lunches, and I barked at Brett to get in the car, then he and I left.

The girls called 3-4 times in the next 30 minutes.  There were no drinks for lunches, could they take 50 pennies?  "Sure, go ahead."  Nothing screams white trash like having your kids pay for milk with pennies.  I dropped Brett off and hit the ramp to the interstate.  Just as the ramp ended, and I eased onto the interstate at warp speed, thinking I *might* just get there on time, my cell phone rang.

I didn't recognize the number, but I answered, "Hello?"  "Hey Mom, I need you to turn around...like NOW."  "Dude, I'm on the highway.  It ain't happenin'."  "But Mom," says Brett, "My cell phone is in your car."  *sigh*  I may have said some horrid curse words at this point.  "Dude!  I'll have to go all the way to Grain Valley (next exit) before I can turn around, are you SURE it's in my car?"  He was, and I did.

I drove 207 mph and dropped his phone off.  Getting back on the road, I called my boss, telling him that I would be late.  I. AM. NEVER. LATE.  Today, I was 8 minutes late.  I'm so ashamed.  I may never recover.

Mom and Dad got their trailer today.  Make sure to check out both journals, to see various entries about it.  Check here and here.  We were all excited.  The girls have already decided where the bed should go in THEIR (the guest) room.

Hawkeye had a bath tonight.  He smelled REAL bad, and I had to dig 50 lbs of hair from my tub.  I HATE giving him a bath in the house.  Then I took him out to the yard and brushed him.  It looks like someone sacrificed a sheep out there.

OK, there is more to tell, but I'm tired, and it's late.  I'll be back tomorrow.  I think I'll take a vacation day this week, and scrub this house down.  Yeah...sounds like a plan.

A few shout-outs and a good Saturday

A shout-out to my Brother.  Happy Birthday, Jim!  Did you know that you're older than me?  No?  Well, I'll always be here to remind you.  I hope you had a wonderful birthday, and I can't wait to see you guys in July.

A shout-out to my Mama.  Happy Mother's Day, Mom.  You've never been a soccer mom, or a stage mom, or a typical mom of any kind...and I love you for who you are.  I think that you are to blame for how weird I am, but that's OK, too.  Weird is better than average ANY day.

A shout-out to Carl Edwards, who came in second in the race today, even though he started in 36th.  OK, he probably won't see this, so never mind.  LOL

Monica had her follow-up exam for the contacts today.  Everything is perfect.  The fit  is good, the vision is great, and she was given the go-ahead to wear them full time.  I'm happy for her.  She sure looks like a different kid.

Tomorrow, I'll get breakfast in bed, and get treated like royalty.  That's ALWAYS a good thing, right?  There were whisperings and sneaking going on with Kevin and the kids earlier.  I just pretended not to notice.

Brett is here for the weekend again.  His dad is going to help him in the transportation department.  He's going to sell him the truck that Brett used to drive, until it crapped out.  His Dad has it road worthy again, so he's going to let Brett make payments on it.  That will get him back on his feet.  Thank goodness.

I brought the S-5 home this weekend.  That's Fuji's newest professional camera.  I don't have a clue what I'm doing, but I know enough to manipulate a decent shot out of it from time to time.  I try to bring it home every couple of months, just so I can remember how to use it if I need it.  With the two lenses that I brought home, that's a bit too much money for me to have lying around the house, but here it is.  ehhh.

It's going to be 42 tonight, with wind chills in the 20s.  BLECH!  Happy Mother's Day to me.  I put in my order for 80 and sunshine, but I guess that order won't be filled.  I'll settle for biscuits, bacon, and eggs.   And coffee.  Lots and lots of coffee.  In bed.  Snuggled in and warm.

Yeah...I've got it pretty darn good.  No complaints here.

I'm BAAACK

OK, I'm back.  I got Kevin and Natalie's crud, and was down for several days.  I went to bed before 7, coughed my head off, sweated out a fever, and woke up to try again.  Now, I'm better.  That means that you are cursed to see my mindless pictures.

Brett has some issues that he's working out.  I'll pick him up tomorrow evening and he'll be here for Mother's Day.  Awesome!  They better treat me REAL good, no?

Monica's contacts are working out very well.  She's so happy to have them.  I remember that feeling...finally being rid of glasses.  I'm happy for her.

You'll see from the pictures that my yard needs work.  Who keeps throwing this crap in my yard?  Oh yeah, it's the girls.  LOL  We'll clean it all up this weekend.  Then we'll blame Brett for the mess, even though he doesn't live here.  That's what we do. We blame Brett.

OK, time for bed.  I'm glad to be back, and over the crud.  Thanks for giving me your meds, Kevin.  You rock.

Talking to myself

I often talk to myself.  Let's face it: I talk all the time, and sometimes I'm the only one around to listen.  I find me quite amusing...and I agree with me.  ROFL

Here are some things that I said aloud to myself today:

"No no, let ME get it."

"Holy crap, it's only 3:30?"

"Who does she think she is?"

"I ought to kick his sorry ass...but I'm tired.  Maybe later."

"Well HELLO!  Welcome to the left lane.  Nah, I'm in no hurry to get home, take your time."

"No THAT'S a lot of patriotism."

"Wow, scary dude takes the center lane."

"Put the phone down and DRIVE!"

"Hiya, little red Corvette!  How'd ya like to take a bite out of the back of my Celebrity?  Yeah?  Keep tailgating, moron."

"Wow, nice pavement ol' homestretch."

"Now THAT is a good lookin' yard, right there."

Yup.  It's crazy, and mindless, and weird.  Regardless, it's how I spend my day.  It works for me, ok?

"They all think I'm crazy, and I'm OK with it.  HA!"  Ooops, did I say that out loud?

A hypochondriac's dream come true, and left over pictures.

Well, it happened.  What is the dream for a hypochondriac?  To get sick for real.  Kevin has been sick all week (not the hypochondriac) and yesterday, Natalie (the hypochondriac) got it, hard-core.  Today, the two of them went to the minute clinic and found out that they both have "acute infectious bronchitis."

Oh boy, let the games begin.  Here are some exact quotes from Natalie today:

"Did my medication say 'My cause dizziness upon standing?'"

"What's inside that pill? Can I see it?"

"What time should I take my next pill?  I'll need to go to the nurse after lunch at school for a pill, right?"

"Should I get some extra rest?"

"Is bronchitis bad? What happens if it gets worse?" (I told her it could turn into pneumonia.) "Wow, that's REAL bad, huh?"

Anyway, she is in her element.  She is definitely a descendant of my paternal grandfather.  She is really sick, and she's living every minute of it to the fullest.  I've never seen anyone so interested in their illness, but I know for a fact that I was EXACTLY the same way as a kid.  Right Mom?

The pictures above are from the day before and the day after "the big storm."  We had several tornado touch downs in the KC metro area, but the edge of the storm barely glanced us.  At work, we heard/saw three transformers blow within a 60 second time frame on Friday, while crews tried to restore power.

Brett is here for the weekend again.  I took him to order glasses while Monica picked up her glasses.  She also took the contact class, and came home wearing them.  She is SO happy.  She wore them for 4 hours today.  Tomorrow is 6 hours, Monday is 8, etc.  She can actually wear them to school on Monday, and she's thrilled.  The poor kid has worn glasses since she was 3.

Brett paid for his own glasses, I just provided transportation.  I kind of insisted that he do it.  His broke several months back, and he can't see squat.  I hope they are in by next weekend, so I can take him to pick them up while Monica does her follow-up contact visit.

I hope that nobody else gets the crap that Kevin and Natalie has.  I've had one of those annoying, dry, tickle kind of coughs for 4 days, but it hasn't gotten any worse at all.  It just stays the same, so I think I'll kick it soon.  I don't feel bad in the least.  Thank goodness.

I guess I better wake Brett up.  He's been asleep since 2:00.  Because he works nights, he tries to keep those hours on the weekend, to keep his body regulated.  I woke him earlier and asked if he wanted to eat something.  He had that, "where the hell am I" look on his face, then saw me and said, "no."  Then he fell back to sleep.  Poor guy.

The mother of his baby-on-the-way broke up with him last week.  They just didn't establish the relationship enough before this happened.  He's really down about it.  He's working tons of overtime, anticipating financial help for the baby, so he's doing the right things.  He is staying somewhere that is less than ideal.  If he can get a car in the next few weeks, we'll let him stay here for a couple of months, to get back on his feet.

We even talked about sharing my car, but his hours won't allow it.  He would get home long after I need to be on the way to work in the morning.  We just live too far out for it to work until he has a car.  If he can save for a few weeks, he should be able to get something.  We'll see.

OK, I've rambled for too long, now.  Have a wonderful night!  I'll be here, listening to coughing in stereo.  Sheesh.  The antibiotics better kick in soon, or I'm spending the night at my mothers!  LOL