Oh, My Has it Been Over A Week?

I guess I've lost all track of time. We've been really busy at work, so it's hard to post from here, and at home, there's just been so much to do(Cardinal Baseball on TV).

We've had quite an upsetting event recently. As you know, my DIL got a long note from the Montesorri school where The Banty Hen attends. She's only been there 5 weeks, but they just aren't happy with her behavior, or maybe I should say lack thereof.

She plays nicely with the other children, but isn't terribly interested in sitting during lession time(she's two, for goodness sake)and she eats her lesson material, and she likes to climb on the sink(who's watching these little ones?) So The Banty Hen's mom was basically asked to find child care accommodations elsewhere. At first I thought it was was funny, but then when she got the second note, I got downright angry. My DIL pays hard earned money for this beautiful, innocent child to be cared for, and this 'school' who is supposed to be the very best can't handle a two year old. I can't see any evil in her eyes, can you?

The other thing that ticked me off was that on one occassion at home, DIL told Banty to sit on her bottom. She grabbed her own cheeks and said in a cranky voice,'Aubee, sit down!'. We don't pinch cheeks to get her to do things and no one else in the family or church do that, so where do you think that came from. It is my opinion, and just my opinion, mind you, but I think that's what someone has been doing to her at school in order to make her do what they want.

So being the protective grandmother that I am known to be, I asked DIL if she wanted me to go beat up the whole bunch. She laughed and passed it off since she knows I'm a big chicken and probably wouldn't run a risk of either being beaten up myself or being put in jail. And I'm sure she wouldn't want to have to come bail me out.

She starts a new daycare on Monday, so today is the last day they have to deal with her. Maybe someday when she's president of the U.S, the Montesorri school will wish they could say she got her start at their school---ain't gonna happen.

I hope you've had a good week. We've had record rainfall and cool temperatures. More rain scheduled for tomorrow and Sunday. Thanks for letting me blow off some steam. I'm off my soapbox now.

Til next time, Pray for our country. Love one another.

Southern Fried

I don't know how well you can see this picture since I'm not the best photographer around. Actually, I can't even consider myself a photographer. I'm just an old woman with a camera in her hand. But what you are seening here is a supper I made for me, myself and I last night. The Contractor had run his lines Sunday and gave me some Flathead Catfish yesterday. I took it home and bagged it up in portions and froze all but 4 pieces, which I promptly 'fried up'. I had also bought a green tomato the other day(would you believe I paid a whole 50 cents for it, the absolute greed of some people). I also fried it up into 4 pieces. Then I cooked down a mess of green beans with some bacon. This made me a meal with enough to bring for lunch today. My mouth is already watering. I know some of you are saying, 'left over fried fish? ewww!' And to that I say, if it's the right kind of fish, and it's cooked right in the first place, it's very tasty. Flathead Catfish is like the Filet Mignon of fish. If fried correctly, there is no fishy taste, no funky taste or smell. Just pure white flakey goodness. I may have mine for break rather than wait til lunch.
The reason I had the fish in the first place was that my DIL needed me to pick up the Banty Hen. I used to call her Princess #3, but her title has changed. She's the non-conformist in the family, and at the ripe old age of 2 is hanging on by her thumbs at school. She has until the end of the month to get her act together or she will have to find another place to stay while her mother works. I digress.

I took her home, and her dad and brother were eating watermelon which she then dived into almost head first. Her dad gave her a piece for each hand, and as either of us would dig out a chunk for ourselves, she would cram one of her pieces into her mouth and reach for the one we had just retrieved. She is quite a funny little chick-a-dee.

I hope you are having a wonderful Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Ask And You Will Get Your Questions Answered

If you've checked my blog this morning, you may have noticed I received a comment from Will Spoon. As I said in my previous post I had enjoyed his blog; reading about his love for cooking, and most especially the stories about his family and his childhood.

He responded, and I have added his new blog to my list in Bloglines.com. Finding new friends in the blog world is pretty easy, but it's also easy to lose some as well, simply by not being able to find them for one reason or another. And since my motto is, 'You can't have too many friends', I certainly don't want to lose any.

Who knows, I might be out in the middle of nowhere and need one of my blog friends to come to my rescue. And as I would do for them, I'm (almost)sure they would do the same for me. As scattered around this world as we are, we are a pretty tight knit bunch.

The weather is beautiful here in NE Arkansas. We are in the middle of a cool spell and the temps won't get out of the high 80's with very low humidity. I hope it's great where you are(even those of you tramping around Alaska while the rest of us have to come to work). My brother and sister-in-law will be in town tomorrow and Wednesday looking for a house. This will be the first time in our grown life, we've lived anywhere near each other. I'm excited!!!!! I have two cousins that I barely know coming to town this weekend for a visit. I'm excited about that as well!!!! It is shaping up to be a good week.

I hope you had a great weekend and are having a wonderful Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Looking for Will Spoon

I used to read Teensy and the Boys, even won a contest for a cookbook(which I use), but I know Will changed his blog and I can't find it. If you are out there Will Spoon, send me the link to your blog. I always enjoyed your stories and your recipes.

I used to think I'd run across you again, but have finally given up.

Nature's Design

My friend MR lives in the house originally built for her husband's grandparent's. The home was built shortly after they married. This was around 1923 or 24. The tree in the pictures were planted shortly after. The one in the picture is a sycamore and stands approximately 25 to 35 feet from the back bedroom window.

They were gone to the lake last weekend when we had a pretty hard thunder storm and lightening struck this tree. There are no gaping holes in the tree, nor are there any limbs blown from it. Just these lightening trails all around the huge tree.

This house is on one of the higher spots in the area since it is near the river and there were no levees when it was built. It was common practice to build houses on high areas and often times several steps up off the ground to prevent flooding in the house itself. The floor of the house is high enough off the ground that an adult can almost stand upright and walk underneath it.

This seems to have caused another problem since lightening seems to strike the house quite often. They have to remember to unplug tv's, computers and now phones when they leave to spare them being zapped. And they have probably had trees struck before also, but this is such a strange exhibit of what the power of a storm can do. Not only did it run these trails all around and down the tree, the bark that was blown away hit their house like shrapnel. Two windows were broken and there are holes in the siding where these small pieces of bark hit. MR spent a good deal of time cleaning all the glass and tree bark out of the bedroom and porch area. And she continues to find pieces, many the size of half dollars in the house.

Someone told them if a person had been within about 15 feet of the tree when this happened, that the pieces of bark could have gone completely through them, probably killing them instantly. They were so fortunate not to have been at home when this happened since there is almost always someone sleeping in that bedroom that sustained most of the damage.

I think it is fascinating what the forces of nature can do. And thankful that I'm usually safe from it's fury.

I hope you are having a wonderful Friday. Pray for our country. Love one another

Exercise Log Day 2

I made it back to meet with my new personal trainer. We finished our testing today and afterwards I walked on the treadmill again and actually got my heart rate up to 120. He said that was good.

The testing we did today was to see how much I could bench press. The bar alone weighs 45lbs, and by the time I could lift no more, he had 150lbs on it. Can you believe that. I'm stronger than I thought. Then we did something similar for my legs. I sat in a cockpit type thing and pushed with my legs. I can push almost 200lbs. He said I did great. Great being a relative term I'm sure.

He probably thought this old fat woman wouldn't be able to do anything, but I gave it a try and actually think I surprised both of us.

Then I walked on the treadmill. I actually liked doing that. If I had room for one, I think I might actually use it. Problem is, I don't have a clue where I'd put one.

I won't meet with him again until Tuesday, but I need to keep walking, so I guess when I get home tomorrow night after going to eat pizza with my kids, I'll need to walk. And then again on Saturday and Monday.

I hope you are having a great Thursday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Exercise - Day 1

I met with my personal trainer today at 11:00. He is a grad student from India and he insists on calling me Maam. I'm not used to such politeness, but he's cute and sweet. He is from Southern India and says I should visit sometimes, it is beautiful. Wonder if he will put me up when I go. I told him I had never been abroad, just to Mexico, Grand Cayman andJamacia. But I have my passport and can go visit his home at the drop of a hat.

We did testing today to see what I was able to do. I can't do much, but it took a while. He weighed me and measured to see how tall I was. Measured around my waist, chest and hips and upper arm. Then we got down to some serious work. I did 4 push ups, 8 very limited crunches and walked 6 minutes on the tread mill at the rate of 1.7(don't laugh, it's not funny, you are hurting my feelings). By this time, I was totally drenched in sweat, my hair was stuck to my head, and I'm sure I don't smell too good.

Tomorrow we will do another couple of tests and then we will get down to business. Now if I can get out of bed tomorrow, that will be good.

Hope you are having a wonderful Wednesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

It's a Beautiful Day in The Neighborhood

I'm starting a new exercise program today. As many of you know, I work on a college campus. One of the exercise science classes that prepare students for physical therapy needs guinea pigs. I'm going to be one of those.

We start today at 11:oo. I don't like to exercise. I hate to walk, but I have some health issues that need me to exercise in order to help keep them under controll. Being diagnosed with Type II Diabetes a couple of years ago, I am having problems keeping my sugar levels where they need to be. I work with a diabetes educator, and she has helped a lot, but I know that if I were exercising regularly, it would help those numbers go down dramatically.

Today we will just complete paperwork and get acquainted with our trainer, and will begin in earnest tomorrow. I can hardly wait.

Do you exercise regularly? If so, tell me what you do. Perhaps it will encourage me.

Hope you are having a great Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Late Post On Monday

I meant to post something early, but other things(like work)kept getting in the way, and then the old timers kicked in and I just about forgot.

I hope you had a great weekend. We got some much needed rain Saturday night/Sunday morning along with some thunder storm activity. Fortunately, there was no damage other than a few ruffled tree branches here and there.

I spent some time talking with a friend yesterday. We talked about how we sometimes impact other people without having any idea we did so. Something we thought was just an ordinary act done in ordinary circumstances may very well mean a lot to someone. It may be easy for us to remember a particular thing someone did or a kindness they showed to us, but we often don't think about what we've done for others, and I guess if we thought about those things, we'd be sorta patting ourselves on our own backs. But I hope that I have made a difference in someone's life. Probably not a life-changing event, but just some little kindness that caused them to think about something differently or maybe they passed it on to someone else.

I'm not good at expressing my feelings for the people in my life that I care about. I tell the grandkids I love them all the time, but I don't tell the other important people in my life. My son is good about telling me he loves me when we talk on the phone, and I appreciate that a lot. I need to do the same with my daughters. And I'm going to start.

Is there someone you need to remind that you love them, or someone you should thank for making a difference in your life. Maybe if we all did these things, it would be a nicer place to live.

I hope you have had a great Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Friday Long Drawn Out Friday

It's been another of those long days when it seems the end of the day will never come. The day started off busy enough, but has slowed to a crawl this afternoon. But why wouldn't it. It's Friday and that's what Friday's do.

We played cards last night. I missed winning by that much. Actually it was just about 25 or 30 points, but a near miss is as good as a mile.

My friend called a few minutes ago. They are on their way to the lake. The won't be home until Monday. They are going to rest. They've been going to watch their oldest grandchild play ball. He's been in a tournament all week and they've been to all the games.

My grandson(Superhero)has been going to vbs this week. I took him Monday and Tuesday night, then his other grandmother took him Wednesday and Thursday nights and I'm taking him again tonight. He'll spend the night with me and I think we are going to try to wash my vehicle in the morning. It won't be too hot early, and since we'll be working with water, maybe it won't get too hot.

I work for a university, and we got a post on the campus website this afternoon that we have two confirmed and 6 suspected cases of swine flu here on campus. The cases are among the student population of which I have very little contact. So hopefully, that virus won't waft it's way into our building over the next several days. Personally, I think they should close and disinfect the entire campus. Ten days should just about do it. The sick and almost sick are being isolated, so maybe they won't affect the rest of us.

A friend sent me this quote this morning, 'If the world didn't suck, we'd all fall off.'

Hope you are having a great Friday. Pray diligently for our country. Love one another.

Did You Watch?

Did you watch the celebration of life for Michael Jackson yesterday? I caught parts of it on the internet and was quite touched at the glimpse into the personal life of the family and their friends. In spite of everything, they did have some parts and pieces of childhood.

We the public only get to see what the media allows of people who are in the spotlight. We forget they have 'normal' lives. When they are at home, they go through the same routines we go through. Someone has to make breakfast, someone has to do the laundry, someone has to mind the kids.

His life is over. A new phase will begin for those touched by him. Lots of questions to be answered over the next several years. Where will his final resting place be? Who will take care of his children? What will happen to his estate? Hopefully everything will work out to the children's advantage.

I know people are tired of seeing nothing but coverage of Michael's death on tv, but it will subside over the next few days and things will get back to normal, or until someone else takes the spotlight.

I hope you are having a great Wednesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

The Great Toilet Paper Delima

White Cloud has been my tp of choice for many, many, many years. When I had a family at home, I bought whatever was on sale, but as the number of hiney's in my household dwindled, I went back to my absolute favorite. It was soft, it was absorbant, it was sturdy, it was just the best.

A few years ago the Wal-Mart company bought the White Cloud factory and gained sole rights to where it was sold. Guess where they chose to sell--you got it--Wal-Mart only. Not Sam's or any other of their holdings, just Wal-Mart.

If you know me, and many of you do, you know that I avoid Wal-Mart like the plague. But if I wanted my beloved favorite tp, I had to make a couple of trips a year to their store.

I can now honestly say, I have no reason to go there any more. THEY HAVE CHANGED WHITE CLOUD. I bought a 24 pak a week or so ago, and when I picked it up, I thought it felt different, but wanting to get out as quickly as possible, I didn't pay close enough attention. But when I put the first roll on the holder, I knew right away something was definitely different. The first thing I noticed was how it was rolled. Not snug like before, but loose so as to make the roll the same size as it was before. Then the first use made me very aware it had been changed. I won't go into detail, just trust me, it was different.

So today, blog friends, I need some advice. I have to fine a new tp. What is your favorite brand?

Hope you have a terrific Tuesday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Great Holiday

I hope everyone had a wonderful 4th of July holiday. My family and I celebrated on Friday night, July 3rd with a fish fry followed by lots of fireworks. We all had a great time. All except the little princess. She said the fireworks 'freaked her out'. Her mama took her inside away from all the noise. The rest of the kids enjoyed them completely.

Everyone scattered on the 4th. Daughter #1, her youngest son and I met at Cracker Barrel for a late breakfast. I then went home and stayed there until Sunday. Daughter #2 and her family spent the day with her in-laws, and I haven't heard from them, so I don't know if they made it through the weekend or not.

Son and his family cooked out with the neighbors and had another fireworks display Saturday night.

All in all, I think everyone had a great time.

How did you celebrate? Hope there were fireworks in your plans.

I hope you are having a wonderful(cooler here)Monday. Pray for our country. Love one another.

Second Hand Headstone

I know that if you read my blog, you are aware of my rather warped(some say morbid)sense of humor. However, if it fits in with accomplishing a task and saves a buck at the same time, so be it.

Four years ago, while shopping for a headstone for an uncle that had passed, my cousins and I stopped in at a monument place near where we live. When we arrived, there didn't seem to be anyone around(like who'd carry off a headstone?) so we looked around. As I did, I noticed a stone that was a single headstone(for one person) that had my last name on it. I have a very common last name. It was gray, about 5 feet tall and quite nice. I also noticed that it had a lot of mud and dirt around the base.

It seems this headstone had been reposessed. Can you imagine going to the cemetery to pay respects to your dearly departed, and the headstone be gone with just a hole in the ground where once had stood the nice tall engraved stone?

Whoever had ordered it and had it set, had not paid for it, so the monument folks went and got it(can't say as I blame them). I didn't think too much about it at that time, but now four years later, that headstone is still leaning up against the monument building.

So here's what I'm thinking--are you with me already? I should be able to get a real deal on that stone. The last name is correct. All they'll have to do is grind off the first name and the date of birth and death, and I'm good to go. I'm seriously considering making them an offer. And I think it would just fit where I'm going to have my ashes scattered.

So what do you think? Would you consider buying a used headstone? If not, why not.

Hope you are having a great Thursday. Pray for our country. Love one another. And last but not least--Happy Fourth of July.

I'm Thick, Are You Thad?

Unless you read the title of my post with a lisp, it won't make much sense, but that's my sense of humor.

I had what I thought was an upper respiratory infection last week. My co-workers had it and had been diagnosed with it, so when I got the same symptoms, I decided that's what I had. I self medicated with a ZPak, and by Thursday, I felt pretty good.

In fact I felt good Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I even cooked all day Saturday, but when I woke up Sunday Morning with a throat so sore I could hardly swallow, I knew I was in trouble. I went ahead and got ready for church, but by 7:45, I was back down for the count. By noon, I was running a low grade temp and couldn't get warm. But do you think I gave any thought to going to sick call? It never even crossed my mind--even after I looked at my throat and realized it was covered with white spots.

Monday morning I called my Dr, but couldn't see him until 4 that afternoon. So I patiently waited and was in his office by 3:30. He verified that I had a strep infection, told me to start another ZPak and if I still had a sore throat when those were gone, start 5 days of Amoxicillin, which I don't think I'm going to have to do.

The yucky stuff has just about all gone from my tonsils, and except for a cough, I'm feeling much better. I may even get to celebrate the 4th with my family.

Hope you are having a better summer than I am. Pray for our country. Love one another.