Yesterday morning when I left for work the weather was cold, overcast and dry. By the time I got halfway to work it had started to rain a little, which was freezing on the roads as soon as it hit. I made it fine and it warmed up during the day and just rained. This picture was taken a few weeks ago during a quick snow clipper.

Today.....it is going to be 70 degrees and partly sunny. 70 degrees in December!

We are going to work on our after Christmas crash diets today. We are going to my mothers to celebrate with my brother and his family who came in from Indiana. We are having ham, mac and cheese, broccoli casserole, mashed potatoes, shrimp, sausage balls and about half a ton of various candies and cookies. I guess you are wondering about the diet part. My brother and his wife have a stomach virus.....a virus that seems to spread like a wild fire. So....I'm thinking there is no reason to try to eat a little less or lay off of the candy. I like to think of it as kind of stocking up on nourishment so I won't get too puny after a few days of the virus. HAHA....I could puke for a month and not get puny.

Anywho.....I received a new lens for my camera so I hope to be snapping pictures for the next few days while it is sunny outside.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and now lets start planning for New Years eve.

Once again I am going to do a "my favorite ornaments" post. I have so many that I love, but I'm just going to show you a few.

I don't know what it is I like about this one, its just the little faces peaking out that make me giggle.

These little guys spend weeks every Christmas trying to get their boat through my Christmas tree.

This is one of my very favorites. My mom bought this for superhubby and me right after we got married, 23 years ago.

My mom also bought this one for us, but didn't notice when the lady spelled our last name wrong, but I don't mind.

My Christmas village at night. I hate that you can't see my green and red chasing lights around the fence on the left. They show up in the full size picture but when I cut it down they aren't easy to see. I love those tiny little lights (-;

In case I don't get time to stalk visit everyone, I hope you have a safe and Merry Christmas.

My completely true Christmas story

A few weeks ago I took some portraits of my cousin, his wife and his wife's family for my cousins in-laws for Christmas. (following me so far?) I ordered their pictures from my favorite online lab and was excited when I received them 48 hours later. I had been worried about a Christmas deadline but this place is on the ball. Today I looked them over again before they came to pick them up and realized I had forgotten to order one set of pictures. The ones I forgot, of course, were the ones of my cousin Joseph ( we call him Joe), his wife Mary and their new baby. Keep those names in mind, they will come in handy to keep up with the rest of my story. I immediately ran to the computer to place the order for the extra pictures, hoping to get them before next Wednesday. I noticed there was a phone number at the bottom of the page to call in case it was an emergency and I wrote the number down and got ready to call.....and then I started imagining our conversation.
Me: Hello nice operator. I recently placed an order and forgot a couple of pictures. I wanted to make sure I would get them before Christmas.
Operator: Which picture did you need.
Me: I took some pictures of Joseph, Mary and the new baby. Those are the ones I need.
Operator: um....did you say Joseph, Mary and the new baby?
Me: Yes
Operator: Ok then, are you sure it was Joseph, Mary and the baby?
Me: Of course I'm sure, I was there.
Operator: Were there any wise men there at the time?
Me: Yes (Mary's uncle is a Lawyer and he watched)
Operator : How about animals?
Me: Wow, how did you know. The cattle and sheep were so noisy, it woke the baby. (her uncle lives in a big farm and the animals were so loud that night we were joking about them)
Operator: Let me guess, there was a bright light in the sky?
Me: Well there was this big bright star.....(which was a Christmas decoration on one of the neighbors houses)
Operator: Alrighty then, are you home alone or is there an orderly or family member with you?
Me: I'm home alone right now.
Operator: How about if you give me your address and I will call someone to come and visit you, maybe take you for a ride in an ambulance with a pretty flashing light. They have nice tight white coats you can wear to stay warm.
Me: Sounds like fun but I really just need the pictures...hello....hello?

So I decided to just order the pictures and hope for the best. I'm not sure if they would ship quicker to a local mental hospital or not, may be worth a try.

Roscoe

Since my sons dog died he has left his other german shepherd here with me. The vet warned him that whatever virus killed Gideon would probably be in that yard for 5 to 7 years and could kill Roscoe too. I love Roscoe but he has not figured out that at 9 months old his body isn't a puppy anymore. His mind is still a puppy but not his body. He wants to be a lap dog like my little koko, but it doesn't work as well. This is what happens when I sit down.

I usually do not let anyone take pictures of me, but this one had to be done. I had just gotten out of the shower and got under the cover to warm up before my favorite show in the world came on. (GHOST HUNTERS ROCKS!) My hair was still wet and I had the phone in my hand trying to talk to my SIL. My sons lease isn't up until June.... it's gonna be a long, long winter.

smoke gets in your eyes.

We went from snow, sleet and cold wind to 55 and sunny. SH decided it was time for the annual burning of the leaves. We have discovered over the years that since we live in the woods there is no reason to bother raking leaves until they are all down. The wind still blows them out of the deeper woods back into our yard, but for a couple of days our yard looks nice.
Do you see the house in the background? I actually have a next door neighbor! They recently finished their house and it looks nice if some idiot would quit covering it in ashes.

The sun was nice for a day but today we are back to rain which is supposed to turn to ice and snow tonight.

I hope everyone has a great week. I can't believe we are only 10 days away from Christmas. Where did the time go?

It is beginning to look a whole lot like Christmas. I like snow, but DD is at a ball game tonight and SH is at work. I hope this quits soon.




The tv show I was talking about in my last post was Ghost Hunters. I am completely and totally addicted to the show. The season finale was last Wednesday and I am sad. A few years ago I would have laughed at that show but since spending so much time at the museum I find it very interesting.
I'm working on a post about Rev. John Rankin, a famous abolitionist that died in Ironton in the very house that we now use for the museum. He was an interesting man who helped free over 2000 slaves. It was a dangerous thing for people to do back then and he and his family did a lot of it.
Now I have to go figure out how to get DD home, there are two cars turned sideways in front of my house unable to go on up the hill.....could be an interesting evening.

Where oh where am I tonight?

I love these two. They are so cute together. Right now they are going back and forth between their house and mine to spend time with their dog. I like having them around and will like it more this week since I only work two days.

It has been a busy few weeks. I had a nice birthday with my family, volunteered a lot at the museum and let my house go completely. Now I am going to pay for it in a big way. It will take me days to clean up all the dog hair, cake icing (DD is taking cake decorating classes) and dirty dishes. If I can stay awake today I think I may actually get a little chunk of it finished. I may be back later.....or I may not. Tonight is my FAVORITE night on tv and there are 3 episodes of my favorite show on tonight. I won't even tell you what it is (if any of you are left out there) because you would laugh. Goodbye until next time.

another day.....

So what do you get when you take my house, with it's dog, cat and way too much stuff in it and add DS, his girlfriend and their dog.....? A complete and total mess. DS doesn't travel light, he always brings his laundry, his xbox, his guitar and various other goodies. The dog came with a cage big enough to park a 4wheeler in. It's messy, chaotic and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I got my annual notice for my meeting with the powers that be for work. I always have my meeting in January or early February but this year they decided to shake it up a bit and do it in December. That means I have to do organize a years worth of paperwork, do the rest of my continuing education online and various other stuff before Wednesday. If I don't finish I won't have a job and the way my life is moving right now, it could go either way. Tomorrow I volunteer for the museum, take my cousins family portraits for Christmas and dinner with SH. I'm pretty sure I will be able to do organize a couple of months worth between all of that.

SH is now sick and I have a feeling he is passing it back to me. I need to get a flu shot but I can't get over a cold long enough to go get it. It is supposed to snow/rain tonight and I would love to just crawl under the covers, watch tv and sleep.

Now I must go, DS's pony dog is looking at me with an odd look and I'm figuring that may mean he wants to go out. Both dogs have been running around outside and have discovered a colony of flea's that must have decided to tough out the cold weather until a host could show up so tonight both dogs get a dip in the tub and some new frontline.

Have a great Sunday~

Love

My poor DS called this morning to tell me his dog Gideon had passed away. He was so upset he couldn't get the words out. He had taken him to the vet hospital yesterday morning because he was so sick and they called him this morning to inform him Giddy didn't make it. He is completely devastated. He is on his way out here to have his daddy help him build a casket of some sort and to bury his buddy. It's going to be a long day, my son is very soft hearted and loves his animals. Gideon is the one between DS's feet.

I place part of the blame on the vet. DS had taken the dogs twice to get shots and both times the vet put him off saying they needed other things worse. Once it was flea and worm medicine and the next time it was allergy medicine. He told DS that he didn't want to give them shots until the allergies and other stuff was better. Gideon tested negative for all dog diseases yesterday but the vet said it had to be parvo because of the symptoms. He tested him over and over and it was always negative. I guess we will never know because DS wouldn't let them do an autopsy. He will blame himself because he could have gotten the shots later but put it off.....I hear his car....time to go.

Why I don't let superhubby buy my medicine

I'm still here, with absolutely no voice. I have been able to sleep a bit the last 24 hours, I just wake up coughing every little bit.
Last night Superhubby came home from his little old ladies house and said "Honey, Little old lady has been sick too and she said that the antibiotics the doctor gave her didn't work until she took some metamucil."
You have to remember that I can't talk....at all. I sat and looked at SH and finally wrote "are you sure thats what she took?" (I've been carrying around a notebook so no one misses any of my wisdom.)

After a few minutes I came up with mucinex...which I'm pretty sure would have helped her congestion a lot more than metamucil.....and I won't be sending SH to pick up any cold medicine for me.

ughh

The creeping crud has caught up with me. I went to the doctor today and she said bronchitis and laryngitis. I think all that means is that I can't talk....not even a squeak. I think SH is getting tired of me snapping my fingers when I need him to read my lips. What this really means is I won't be working at least a couple of days this week. The doctor said stay in bed but she doesn't have the kind of job I have....no vacation days.... no sick days, no work =no pay. The good new is that even though I cough all the time and can't sleep because of the cough I don't feel horrible. I don't feel good by any stretch of the imagination, but what I feel is just a slight misery that can be helped with a few tylenol or ibuprofen. I'm off now to throw on some comfy clothes and crawl beneath a blanket and watch it snow out the window. It isn't sticking but it is still pretty coming down.

Amish country part 2

The weather was overcast and that really made it difficult to take pictures of farms. I still tried a few just because I love to take pictures, but none of them are very good. I just love the size of their houses and the fact that they are always so neat and tidy.


Most farms have at least 2 houses. The grandparents give the big house to the children when they start having children and build themselves a "dawdy" house near the bigger house.

Gas was much cheaper there than it is here. When we left we drove about 3 hours west before starting home (south) and actually bought gas for 1.74. Here it is still 2.25. I figure this amish guy was parking his buggy here to laugh at all us having to fill up.

One thing I noticed was the large amount of toilet paper strung from the trees, signs and buildings in one town. I'm not sure whether English boys did it or some Amish teens in their Rumspringer were out playing some tricks. I also noticed that a couple of Amish women who were running shops were on the phone all morning. They don't have phones at home but as soon as they get to work they talk and talk. Most talk in their native German mix so you can't understand but they throw some English in too.

Saturday there was one room open in our hotel. I later heard the office clerk tell someone a couple of Amish boys had come and rented it so they could watch the Ohio State game. I guess even during Rumspringer they have good taste.

Now I am off to take some Ibuprofen and get under some blankets to try to hide from this creeping crud I feel trying to overtake my body. Have a great week!

Our trip to Amish country was nice. I had a great time and spent way too much money buying way too much stuff for my house....and my tummy. I came home with brick cheese, cheddar cheese, swiss cheese, cheese spread, cheese ball, peanut butter spread (YUM), cinnamon butter and a huge zit beside my lip. It doesn't really show up in the picture like I thought it would and yes I know my hair is frizzy....it is my day off from work and I am not messing with it, or makeup.

I love to drive around and take pictures. These fodder shocks are everywhere in the fields. They don't use them as we do, for decoration, they use them for food for the animals and since they have to cut theirs and tie by hand it takes days.

The first day we were there it was overcast and rainy all day. We were driving by this farm around sunset and the sun peaked through the clouds with an orange glow. This is straight out of the camera other than cutting it down so my dial up doesn't die trying to upload it.

I don't take pictures of Amish people because they don't like to have their pictures taken. I do, however, take pictures of their farms if they aren't around.

These trees outside our hotel were gorgeous. We tried to find out what kind they were but no one seemed to know.

A trip to Amish country isn't really a trip until you eat here. It is an entire restaurant serving what I like to call comfort food......all white food covered in gravy. I got the salad bar. I really did and I ate a salad right before my turkey on homemade 2 inch thick white bread with mashed potatoes between the halves of the sandwich, all covered in gravy arrived at our table. When we got finished we waddled back to the hotel and I paced the parking lot for a couple of hours until I was able to lay down without throwing up. The next night the other people who went with us all went back but SH, DD and I decided one night being miserable was enough. The next trip I am getting the large mashed potato dinner that is covered with chicken noodles. I'm already planning(-;

Glory

The weather is gorgeous! The sky is blue, the trees are showing off for me and the temperature is a lovely 72. I love this time of year. These trees currently brighten the world outside my bedroom window.


These trees are right off of the end of my front porch.

SH and my dad spent the day dragging dead trees out of the woods to warm us for the winter. SH is on vacation this week, but we can't let the old ladies find out.

In a few days we leave for Amish country, to eat, shop, shop and then eat some more. Did I mention eat?

Thursday SH has an appointment to get my car inspected. Remember the car? The one he has been rebuilding for ever and ever quite awhile? It is finally almost finished and I may even get to drive it a week or two before he gets transfered to Charleston and has to drive it because of the gas mileage. When and if he gets transfered that will add an additional 80 miles a day to his commute, on top of the 5o he drives now. You can't do that in a Ford explorer....especially his that has 185,000 miles on it and gets about 15 miles to the gallon.

I hope everyone got out to vote today and I wish for you the same weather we are having. This weekend when we are going to be walking around small amish towns the weather is supposed to be high in the 40's and rain....I guess you can't have it all.

I'm in a better mood than I was last post ;-) Next week SH is on vacation and then in 9 days we leave for Amish country. 3 days of no phones and no little old women.
I have figured out that deer will take big risks for a few acorns. When I got home from work a few minutes ago and looked out my family room window this is what I saw. Yes that is an extension cord running across my window because SH was working on hooking up the tv and needed a light. Your eyes aren't crooked either, I was trying to be sneaky and somehow I had the camera crooked.

We have bunches of oak trees and tons of acorns. This gal was no more than 7 or 8 feet from the window and I had my camera against it here. It doesn't matter to her as long as I don't bother her acorns. My tv (and subwoofer) is right beside this window but she doesn't seem to care as long as there are ACORNS.

Right now they are both standing right outside the window with their white tailed butts almost up to the window. I'm thinking these two will probably end up on someones table soon. They are too caught up in what they are eating ( kind of like me with chocolate) to worry about the fact I could take them both out without much trouble. I probably wouldn't even need to drag out a gun, I could just do it with a ball bat, or sling shot......thank goodness I don't like deer meat.

Warning....grumpy post ahead

It's Saturday which would normally be my favorite day of the week. Today has tested my patience ALL FREAKIN DAY LONG! You probably don't want to read the rest of this because it is just a place for me to get everything out of my system and then forget about it. It keeps me from getting too grumpy with SH, who doesn't deserve my wrath. So feel free to go away and come back in a few days when I have a happy post up. There are also some four letter words going to be on here, I'm pretty sure.
This weekend started for SH's little old ladies yesterday. That's when they started calling, trying to get him for the weekend. It started with T, who had a lawnmower that wouldn't start. While he was there (he had to work day shift today so he stopped there after work), N called and wanted him to finish wiring his kitchen (which he really does need to finish) tonight. By the time he got home from T's it was too late to finish N's wiring so he asked if he would do it tomorrow......ok, but he has to finish S's garage and washing the windows of her house tomorrow because it is going to be warmer for only one day. Today R called also and wants her daughters door put in TOMORROW and then a little bit ago E called and said one of her renters has no heat and needs it fixed tomorrow. SO CALL A DA%# FURNACE REPAIRMAN! Instead of saying that I said "he isn't here right now so I will tell him when I see him and see if he can fit it in".....he was here, in the garage but I lied. I feel sorry for SH because he wants to make me happy by spending more time at home, but they make him feel so guilty that he can't tell them no. I'll get over this and be in a better mood tomorrow.....but for tonight I am pissed and need to go, uhmm, eat chocolate. Yep that will make it better.

Happy stuff

I love this award. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside and I need something warm, baby it's cold outside. Kim, over at lifeafter gave me this award along with a meme that will follow in a minute. Right now I just want to say that when I started this blog I never realized it would introduce me to so many new "buddies." I don't have a large readership, which is ok with me because I enjoy my little bloggy world, but the ones I read I really look forward to reading every day. Now on to the meme....

1. Do you have the same friends from childhood?

I have a couple of friends from childhood that I still talk to once in a while. It seems that most of us have families that keep us too busy to keep in touch. I have found that in the last few years I have become a little bit of a recluse. I guess that's probably not the right word because I don't stay home all the time, I just don't hang out with people other than my family much anymore. I had a great friend in school named Laura. She was one of my best friends from grade school on. We had planned all through our senior year a party after graduation. She and I were going out on the town after graduation and having the best night of our lives. A few weeks before graduation we realized that I was leaving for the beach right after the ceremony and her parents and boyfriend wanted to take her out to eat, so we put off our night out until the next weekend when I got home. As I was leaving graduation I gave her a big hug and said "I'll see you next weekend" and that was the last time I ever saw her. No tragedy, no arguments, we just got busy and never found the time to call each other. It's odd to me even today that I have no idea where she is or what she is doing.

2.What do you value most about your friends?

The thing I value most about friends would be the fact that I have a few friends that, even though I very seldom talk to them anymore, I know I could call tonight if I had a problem and they would listen and help if they could. I am pretty sure they know the same about me.

3. Are your friends you sounding board?

Not really anymore. SH hs to be the one listen to my problems and ideas. I'm sure he probably wishes I would hang with friends more.

4. What is your favorite activity to share with your friends?

Duh.....dinner and shopping!

Now the rules say I have to list 5 things under the following headers and pass this award on to 5 people.

10 years ago I was....... 1. Just getting into the habit of working again after taking off quite a few years while my children were young. 2. Still spending every spare second being a mother to my two children who were then 10 and 8, and a wife to my husband. 3. About 50 lbs lighter. 4. Spending some quality time with my grandmother, who never learned to drive. I would pick her up one afternoon every week and take her to the grade school my children attended so she could spend a few hours reading to the children. It was wonderful just riding in the car and talking to my grandma. 5. Watching the agony of my cousins children as they watched her die from breast cancer at the age of 38. She fought breast cancer for 10 years and she is still sorely missed.

5 things on today's to-do list. 1. nap...its cold in here. 2. laundry because I have been noticing a serious underwear deficiency. 3. dishes because I didn't touch them at all yesterday. 4. Maybe go to the hospital and see my cousins new beautiful baby girl.....unless it is too crowded. 5. Try to catch up on some paperwork for work.....I'm just behind by 6 months or so :-(

5 snacks I enjoy. 1. Cheetos...puffy or crunchy, I'm not picky. 2. cheddar cheese and crackers 3. Peppermint candy....always been my favorite. My grandma even got me a pair of peppermint candy earrings one Christmas. 4. Fruit, just about any kind. 5. Milk chocolate anything.

5 things I would do if I were a millionaire. 1. Superhubby and I would both quit our jobs, neither of us enjoy our jobs much at all. 2. Pay off all of our families homes...just so no one would have to worry about a mortgage in this financially screwed up time. 3. Would force SH to slow down and enjoy life a bit, no working all the time. He works all the time, even when he isn't at work. He WOULD stay home with me some or we would travel a bit together. 4. I would help DS figure out what he wants to do and pay for him to get the training to do it 5. I would make sure my parents could relax and travel and not have to worry about money at all. They both are retired but both work part time just to have extra money. They have enough to live on, but I want them to ENJOY their retirement and never have to worry about having the money to travel.

5 jobs I have had. 1. babysitter. I took care of some younger cousins in the summer once in a while while I was in high school. 2. Burger king 3. Volunteer at a nursing home 4. Volunteer at the museum. 5. Home health

5 people to pass this award on to...this one will come later...after the nap.

Wednesday

It is a beautiful, but chilly day here in Southern Ohio. The sky is blue, the sun is bright and it is 57 degrees. I love this weather.
My son works for a well known satellite television company. I won't name names but they bring their services DIRECTLY to your house. Since my tv was getting old and turning it on meant walking up to it every few minutes for the first half hour and smacking it to get the picture to come on, we decided to buy a new tv. We bought a nice, not too big, flat screen tv and today the company my son works for brought all new HD equipment out for all 3 of our tvs and installed it. We now get ALL the channels and movie channels COMPLETELY FREE. I'm not sure about the channels I would rather not have, like playboy and other channels with that particular theme, but I'm sure if they are on, SH will find those tonight. The weird part is that my old receiver, that we bought 11 years ago, worked great. When you pushed the power button it was on and working in about 10 seconds. This one has been updating and restarting for the last 30 minutes. I will either love it, or take a sledgehammer to it when I finally get one in here to smash my computer with......stay tuned.

Busy, busy, busy

It is busy here today. Superhubby and I both have the day off. This is the last day it is going to get above 60 degrees so today is the day SH is going to paint my car. Remember the car I bought over a freakin year ago a while back that my dear husband hasn't had time to work on? It is now ready for paint, windshield, airbags, and an inspection and then it will be drivable. The bad part.....SH is probably going to get transferred to a different place (same job, same company, just different shop) and he is going to DRIVE MY NEW CAR. Yes, after waiting for quite a while for my car it is about to be confiscated right out from under my nose. The difference is that while I drive about 30 minutes to work and 30 home every day, his new job will take him an hour and a half to drive each way....every day. The job isn't set in concrete yet, but chances are good it will happen in the next few weeks.

I'm trying to catch up on laundry and clean the house a bit in between running outside and helping him on the car. I'm not getting much done in the house. My dog always goes outside with me, she can't stand to be left in the house alone. Twice so far so runs back in when I come in and runs to the carpet so she can projectile vomit. I'm sure she wants to do it on the carpet for a reason but if she would just stop 3 FEET earlier and puke on the tile floor, my life would be a little easier. I did trick her once and when she wanted in the house I opened the door and then shut it before she got in......she puked in the garage floor.

Before I run to get the 4 loads of laundry off of the clothes line I wanted to leave you with a picture of my DS and his sweetheart. Those two dogs are the same that were in these pictures..... just a bit bigger.

Go ahead...make his day!

I don't talk about work much on here. I have one of those jobs where talking about your job isn't a good idea. I go to peoples houses and help them get through their day, whether it be cleaning them up, cleaning their house up or taking them to doctor appointments. In most cases it is just that, a job. Jophie is different. Joseph, or Jophie as we call him, is a sweetheart. His health problems weren't caused by a life of drugs or drinking. Joseph is 15 and was born with some major problems. I have known Joseph since he was a baby and had the privilege of talking care of him for 10 years until recently when his health problems escalated to the point where his health care called for more skilled care than I was trained to give.
During the last few years Joseph's health problems have gotten worse. He can no longer sit up in his wheelchair to ride in a vehicle so we have been forced to lay him down in a seat and strap him in. Medicaid has also made cuts to his supplies so that leaves his mother scrambling to give him some medical supplies that he needs. Once a year we have a fundraiser to try to help with the expenses and this year we are changing it a bit. This year our goal is to work toward a new (used) vehicle so Joseph can safely be transported to and from doctors appointments. Click the meals for wheels button on the right and check out the new fundraiser. If you, or anyone you know would like to lose a little weight or if you just like cookbooks give it a try.

WTH

Yesterday I volunteered at the museum again. Do you remember the museum, the one where I am sure some long dead person or people are out to scare the heck out of me volunteer with my Dearest Daughter? I hate, and I mean HATE to go in that place alone. I love the old house and the stories, as long as someone else is there. So I show up a few minutes early and go ahead and unlock the doors and put my purse inside and then I went outside and stand on the porch to wait on the other volunteer who never showed up. While I was waiting a very sweet old man stopped his car in the street and said "I'm glad you are open, I want to buy a book I looked at the other day. I will be back after my doctors appointment." My plan to lock up and go home was shot. When I figured out that the other guy wasn't going to show I went in the office and picked up the phone and volunteer list and went back outside to call and see if anyone would come and work with me. I sat down and turned the phone on and ......NOTHING. The phones were dead. I went back inside and checked the other phone.....NOTHING. I used my cell phone and found a sweet lady who offered to come in, and she made it there in 30 minutes.
We had an interesting day with quite a few people in and a few I grew to love. There were 3 ladies that came in, 2 in their 80's and one of the ladies daughter in law who was in her 50's. They were from California and had come back here because they were raised here. They hadn't been back in 23 years. We started a nice conversation and it took about 5 minutes for us to figure out the big farm they were raised on was the farm my grandparents bought from them in the early 50's. The two older ladies, who were children of the previous owners didn't want a tour of the museum, they spent an hour and a half asking me about the farm and their old neighbors. They wanted to know about the old orchard, the hay fields, old George the neighbor who lived up the road. We had a great time and we all learned a lot. It is definitely a small world.
For the last 20 hours I have been held captive by a complete idiot. Someone thought it would be smart to steal the copper cables from the phone company. I went 20 hours with NO PHONE AND NO INTERNET. ( I at first wondered if something hadn't followed me from the museum.) I called the phone company this morning, after driving to the top of the nearest big hill for cell reception and was told it would be back on Tuesday. Yes, Tuesday by 8PM. Imagine how happy I was when my phone rang a bit ago. I'm easy to please.
Tomorrow is the huge Luca*ville flea market. If I make it back without a new puppy I will be surprised.

Because I need to gripe to someone

In January of this year I bought a new computer.....from HP. I bought a factory refurbished model straight from HP and had it shipped. I've never had a problem with it until today. I restarted it because it was locked up and ...nothing. I get the HP screen and a couple of choices for recovery and nothing else. I have ran all of the recovery options other than the restore, which I am starting now. I called HP and was told that since it was more than 3 months old they would be happy to talk to me for the low fee of 49.00 for 14 days service. I very nicely told her I would call her back if I couldn't figure something out myself. I'm about 95% sure this is the same lady, in the same distant land, that I have to call if I need to ask questions about my cell phone. I understood about every 3rd word she said.
My son is on the phone with me trying to help me figure it out. He bought the same computer I did but bought an extended warranty. I didn't know I could buy one. I should have asked, but didn't think about it. Every computer I have ever bought has a one year phone technical support service included. I'm about out of ideas. I don't know if I will get it working but I have a backup computer........and a backup plan. If this restore doesn't work, I am going to call HP back and tell them I have a cow here and I will not hesitate to slaughter it if they don't talk to me. I'm pretty sure whatever country they are in worships their cattle instead of eat them.


I hit publish and then noticed I was getting an email. It was from HP telling me that as a valued customer I might like to shop their anniversary sale.....um NO.

the one that makes no sense....at all...which is pretty normal

I was outside a few minutes ago trying to get some exercise.....it is quiet out there. I took my daughters mp3 player out and listened to her selection of music while I walked up and down the driveway. When I took the mp3 player out of my ear I heard a helicopter....now out here when you hear a helicopter it means one of two things.....someones pot plants have been spotted or bubba decided to try to ride the 4wheeler down the hill again, without a helmet. Before anyone gets all grumpy I can say bubba because I actually know people named Bubby....no really, that is the name on the birth certificate.

I'm not sure why but people around here think its cute to ride 4wheelers around with NO HELMET. I'm not sure why this seems like a good idea, but I guess after a couple of six-packs a lot of things sound like a good idea. I seem to remember doing some stupid things hearing my friends talking about doing some stupid things after a few too many. If I am going to be really honest I will admit that I own a 4-wheeler and no helmet. My only defense is that we don't ride ours anywhere but around the yard to pull logs or some other such junk around the yard. The few occasions we do go up on the hill we drive very slow and are very careful.
Back to my original thoughts, whatever they were. Umm, oh yeah the helicopter. We don't get a lot of low flying air traffic around here. We see planes but they are up high, very high. I think the fact that we have hills all around us keeps airplanes from flying very low and the ones that do aren't visible to very many people because the hills block the view. I had decided a few weeks ago to try to photograph the moon again. I tried a couple of months ago and wasn't happy with the results. When I tried it last time the moon wasn't visible here until after midnight. It was behind a hill until then and after that was visible for a couple of hours. I went out at midnight the other night and no moon. I watched for the next few nights and realized that now the moon is visible in a completely different part of the sky early in the evening and only is visible for about 45 minutes.
When my brother moved from Ohio to Western Indiana one of the things he told me was how surprising it was to know there was a storm coming a long time before it came. Where we live you don't see storms until they are right on you. If you are lucky you may hear thunder a bit before, but you never see the clouds.
Now that I have been all over the place with this post I am going to post it and go finish watching Ghost hunters on Scifi. I am quickly becoming addicted to that show.

It's Friday

What did the fish say when he ran into the wall?

.

.

.

.

.

.

scroll down...

.

.

.

.

.

even farther....

.

.

.

.

.

wait for it........

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

.

Dam

Finally

Once upon a time many weeks a long long time ago I took everything off of my family room walls to paint. I finished the painting in a few days but never put stuff back on the walls. I finally decided tonight to get started putting things back. I bought this sign (that reads 'all because two people fell in love') last year while I was in Amish country. I had been wanting to hang it up with some pictures of the kids but didn't know where to put it. SH had built this shelf years ago for my ds to put his trophies and stuff on. Since I hadn't dusted done anything to this shelf for a couple of years I decided to take it down from my sons room and bring it into the family room. My next project is to get my son and his girlfriend to let me take some pictures so I can add more of them to the shelf.

I watched the VP debate this evening and I don't think I learned much other than the fact that both candidates are puppets and were coached well before this debate. I hope things get a little clearer to be before November.

Have a great Friday!

BOO

Tonight was the annual ghost walk at an area cemetery. This cemetery is very interesting and so pretty. During the ghost walk actors stand by the graves of people who contributed to this area in some way and they tell their stories. This year DD was the wife of Charles Kingsbury, who was the first superintendent of the biggest school in the area. She looks pretty good for a woman who had 7 children and has been dead since 1881.

I love looking around this cemetery and there are so many pretty places. This area is all Civil War veteran graves. During the ghost walk they have a woman with an amazing voice that stands in the back of this area singing Negro spirituals.

This is the actual horse drawn hearse that a funeral home (a local funeral home passed down through generations) used back before there were gas powered vehicles. A few years ago they brought it out of storage and had it refurbished.

Tomorrow DD and I work the museum. I look forward to spending the afternoon there, as long as our resident ghost stays away......wish me luck!

Have faith

So DD and I cleaned the camper and put a for sale sign up. I called our local newspaper and put an add in the paper for 14 days. If you don't sell your item in 14 days they run a new ad for you free for 14 more. My husband and my dad were both warning me that I would have a tough time selling a camper this late in the year. I was determined to try it anyway. The ad came out in Tuesday's afternoon paper. It was sold by late Tuesday afternoon. It sold to a very nice retired couple who used to camp and are ready now to camp again. Now if I could just get SH to pull the pontoon out of the weeds.....I think I have an addiction now to selling things. Must be my own form of gambling addiction. The pay off better in this case. So today after work/doctor appointment/bank stuff and possible football game I must get the rest of my stuff out of the camper....and say good bye. It will be hard, but I'll just clutch that check in my hand while I do it.
In other news, the State of Ohio discontinued aide services to one of my clients. That just means that the level of care he requires must be given by all skilled nurses. I'm not a skilled nurse so I will be unable to take care of my little boy. I am not surprised by this move and since his mother is a good friend of mine I still can see him whenever I want and I talk to his mom on the phone almost daily. Losing that job put me down to working 10 hours a week. I love the idea of working 10 hours a week, but my bank account seems to not be as happy with that as I am. I did pick up another client last night that I will start caring for next week. I was working 4 days a week at either 4 or 5 hours a day....now I will be working 3 LONG days a week at 9 hours 2 days and 8 hours one day. I know some people are thinking "you wimp that is not even near a full work week." I know that but it is plenty for me. I ALWAYS wanted to be a stay at home mom. My DH was fine with me being a stay at home mom. I guess what I never thought about was the fact that at some point I wouldn't need to be a stay at home mom. It is hard to justify being at home with no kids when we need my income. So, I am going to work a little more, eat a little less, exercise a lot more and become a skinny middle age fashion diva......ok so maybe I am going to work a little more. It's all about goals and I think one at a time is all I can handle.

Big boy toys

Superhubby loves his toys. The only problem with that is the fact that once a toy belongs to SH, it always belongs to SH. He hates to get rid of ANYTHING.... one day I am going to do an entire post on his piles of crap treasures. Right now I am just going to touch on some of the bigger objects.

This is our pontoon boat. It was great when the kids were small. It has 3 full size couches, a top that lets you get out of the sun and rails all the way around so you don't have to worry about anyone taking an unexpected swim. SH added the fishing seats on the front and I could drive while he and our DS fished.
All of that happened years ago. For the last 5 or 6 years it has sat behind one of his buildings in the weeds.....rotting........ruining.....and gathering snakes. The last time we pulled it out SH and DS had to fight with 2 snakes that had wrapped their long bodies around things under the boat and refused to come out. It has a nice big Evenrude (or however you spell that) motor on the back that worked last time we took it out. I loved that boat when we used it, but now....the love affair is over.



I couldn't get a good picture of this so you will have to use your imagination. When SH found this he spent days begging, pleading and generally driving me nuts. His promise "if you let me buy this I PROMISE to sell the pontoon." He lied. Now this one takes up half of our garage and is great to pile things on. It will probably get used again one day because he always wanted a bass tracker. He just doesn't have time to use one.



We bought this about 9 years ago. I love my camper and love to go camping...but we don't. Ever! When the children were younger we packed up 3 or 4 long weekends every summer plus spent at least one week of vacation camping. The kids aren't young anymore, gas is too expensive and campground prices are getting close to hotel prices. When I mentioned getting rid of the camper SH's first response was "what if we want to go camping." He finally admitted it wasn't worth holding on to this big camper if we weren't going to use it. I was a little surprised because he never, ever wants to get rid of anything. He finally gave me the ok and DD and I have been working to get this ready to try to sell.





I love my camper with it's tiny bathroom. I took this from outside the bathroom and I spared you the picture of the toilet.
The box you see in the shower will probably go with the camper. I bought that amazing battery powered coffee maker for SH for times we went camping with no electric. We used it once. 45 minutes after we plugged it in it finally started spitting out tiny drops of coffee, at the exact same time the car battery went completely dead. I usually love my camping neighbors but that day we had a hard time talking anyone into giving us a jump start. While SH was getting the car battery charged I walked the 4 minutes to the camp store and bought him a cup of coffee.







I love my bedroom in this camper. It has a much better mattress than my bed in the house. I was carrying out blankets as I was taking pictures so excuse the pile of sheets and blankets.
I also like the little kitchen. I didn't get the table in the picture but I did get the fridge, sink and microwave.
In case you haven't figured it out I love my camper. I just don't use my camper. I'm gonna miss it, but when I do I will just make me a camp fire outside and eat a few smores.

The magic box

In my home we have a magic box..... It looks a little like this one.


What? You say it looks like a microwave. Call it what you like but in my house it holds some magical powers.
When you hear those 5 beeps that means whatever is in the box is ready, my dog, who will only leave my side get excited to eat or go out to pee can be found standing on her back legs dancing like a ballerina. She knows that sometimes pepperoni is on whatever is being reheated.
When you open the door the tiny kitten that lives with us will come out from wherever she is sleeping and meow....over and over because her food gets warmed in the magic box. She can pop those little claws out and climb completely up your legs and end up on your shoulder in 5 seconds if the magic box is running.....which is great as long as you aren't wearing shorts. I quit wearing shorts around the house as much since she moved in.....I was running out of bandaids.
Superhubby loves to hear the magic box make that pop, pop sound that means the magic box is about ready to spit out some popcorn. That sound also makes the dog happy. She and superhubby love to share some popcorn.
If you get a few minutes go over and wish these people a little luck. Once again a member of their family is going to have to fight cancer.....they have had WAY more than their share.

One last fall homecoming....

One last fall homecoming. That means only one more spring homecoming and one more prom.....

Education......it's a beautiful thing

This week has been homecoming week at my daughters school. This is usually the kids favorite week of the year, other than spring break and the last week of school. Every day during homecoming week has a different theme and you dress accordingly. The picture below was from field day and you dressed in school colors. The girls really didn't have fake sports balls in their shirts but they did have their school name on them so I covered them up.
The school is set in a valley surrounded by very little other than hay fields and animal grazing land. There are a few houses, but they are few and far between. I have quite a few relatives that teach at these schools (the grade school/jr. high is on the other side of the high school.) When I say animal grazing land I mean it....one aunt had to answer questions from her 3rd graders as a cow gave birth outside their classroom window. The grade school is fairly new and has tinted windows, but no blinds.

Today was nerd/slave day. The girls dressed as nerds today and C, was their slave. On slave day they auction willing students and they must do whatever the buyer(s) tell them to all day. Poor C had to dress in a banana costume and sing "I am a Chiquita banana and I'm here to say, I am the best banana in the school today" every single time anyone said his name. ALL DAY! The kids always have a good time and the money they raise goes to the student government's Christmas/clothing drive for students who need it.

Tonight is the homecoming game and tomorrow is the DANCE. I was going to go watch the homecoming queen get crowned because I know it will be someone I know....at this school you know everyone. It has to be a senior girl and in a senior class of around 50 students there aren't too many choices.....

Have a good weekend. I am going to be watching Ike tonight and praying for all of those in his path.

Always remember

It is September 11th. Every year there is a September 11th. Every year on September 11th the world stops and remembers that one day 7 years ago....the day that changed our history. The day so many people lost their lives, the day so many people lost their loved ones, the day the United States lost its innocence.
I will be the first to admit that as an American I felt kind of invincible before that day. We were the biggest, baddest, safest nation in the world. We had people. People to make sure the bullies didn't come in and take our lunch money. People to go after the bullies before we had to deal with them. I was wrong. We have people, but those people are human. They work their asses off to keep us safe, but they aren't miracle workers. No matter how hard they try, how well they do their job, they can't fix everything.
I didn't know anyone who lost their lives that day. My sister knew one lady who brought her kids to day care at the same place my niece went. She brought her kids to daycare that day and never came back. Her husband was there picking up the kids when my sister went to get my niece. He was sitting outside, not able to go in. He said he knew the kids would want to know where mommy was and he would have to say "I don't know." He didn't know. He knew she had been in a building but he wouldn't learn until later that she never made it back out.
I still think often of the policeman, firemen, paramedics and other rescue workers who ran toward the buildings. They wanted to help. Their training said "run toward the fire and help people." They did what they were trained to do. May God bless them all.

A day in the life.....

Of a high school senior...
Every single day my DD is peppered with questions about her future.
What are you going to do,
where are you going to school?
major?
minor?
are you going away?
staying near?
health field?
education?
accounting?
She hates the questions and really has no idea, though she is working hard on figuring it out now. Today's mail brought 3 things and every one of them was for her (NO BILLS.)

The first was from Ohio State....Go Bucks! This college is about 3 hours from our home and would probably be great. She has a lot of friends there already but O.S. hasn't offered her much other than some scholarships. Ohio State never has problems getting students so they don't tell you too much about financial aid unless you ask.




This is a small college about 45 minutes from home. They have a nice campus and would be in driving distance. They have already offered DD a Presidential scholarship...which means NO TUITION, which is near and dear to my heart.

This was the third one in the mail today. This is many, many miles from our home, probably 6 to 8 hours but I am too lazy to wait on mapquest to load to find out. They have sent financial aid information and with her grades and our income level we would not be asked to pay anything for her education here. While that seems great the whole 6 to 8 hour thing is hard, though if she wanted to go.....I would let her and smile until she was on her way...then I would cry for 3 months.
We have a small college about 20 minutes from our home that a lot of local students use for the first year or two. You can get quite a few degrees there too and her tuition would probably be covered in full.

We also have the now famous "we are Marshall" about 40 minutes from here. I love the campus but it isn't in the best part of Huntington and I would worry. The good thing would be that her father works about 3 blocks from campus.
I will admit that a big part of her college requirements are going to be financial aid. My son was an honor student but his grades averaged a b+ and he got a 24 on his ACT. He only finished one year of college but we didn't have to pay much at all for it. DD has NEVER gotten anything but a perfect A on any report card (and if she did I'm pretty sure she would be devastated) and she has a 30 on her ACT. She should win enough scholarships to get almost all of her tuition paid, if not all of it. I'm keeping my fingers, toes and eyes crossed....
Have a great hump day.

My week in review

It's been a week since I posted here. Not because I have been super busy, but because I have no idea what I want to say. Here goes nothing.
The weather in Ohio has been extremely warm for this time of year. The high temps for the day have been ranging in the upper 80's and 90's. My plan to close the pool over the weekend got pushed back and I floated around in the pool today.
My work week is going to be very short. One of my patients is in the hospital which I means I can't work which means....no paycheck. I can live with that for a few weeks.
DD's senior year is well underway and she seems to be settling in well. She is missing her B/F who had to go back to college last weekend, but he will be back in a few days for homecoming...can't go to a dance without your boyfriend. I'm sure I will come up with a few pictures to show you all soon.
It seems that directv has given us free movie channels for a bit so even though it is almost midnight my SH is wide awake and ready to stay that way. He hates movies unless they are like this one which, from what I can tell, is a bunch of prostitutes from another planet who came to earth to catch men and FORCE them into sex slavery. Since when do you have to force men......

For sale....

I think I may have mentioned before that we have way too many vehicles. We have four drivers in our family...and 6 vehicles. My car insurance bill is almost equal to my house payment. When our son moved out we kept him on our car insurance because he would have had to pay an astronomical amount to get insurance himself, and his car is in our name. The vehicles we have right now are 1. Ford windstar 2. Ford explorer 3. Ford F150 4 and 5. 2- Ford zx2's (do you see any pattern here?) and 6 a Ford Taurus, which was wrecked and was supposed to be fixed so I could drive it....in this lifetime. I have been waiting for my husband to tell his little old ladies to buzz off for awhile find a little time to fix the Taurus up for me. He has tried lately to get it finished and we did buy most of the parts and he put a few on. I really want him to finish it so I can get rid of this Windstar I drive to work every... single.... day. To say that this mini van is a lemon would be an understatement. We bought it when the nearest salvage yard fixed it up for one of the employees and he decided he didn't want it. When we bought it about 5 years ago we had 2 young teenagers who each took friends everywhere we went. We had, on occasion, put my husband in the back hatch of the Explorer when we all went somewhere because of the lack of room and the fact we wanted all kids to have a seatbelt. Now I'm trying to write an ad that would sell my very few miles to the gallon mini van....if you can think of any way to make it better please let me know.
For sale...2000 Ford Windstar. Salvage title. Used to have a small transmission leak, now it just runs straight out a couple of hours after you fill it up(because my husband said "don't worry, it can pull a boat). Great dual air conditioners that work for about 2 weeks after you charge it....then you must charge it again. Dual am/fm/cd/cassette system that works fine....it just flips itself to CD when your favorite song is on the radio, but flips itself back in time for the end of the song.....sometimes. The people who rebuilt it just put putty on the roof and painted it....you won't even notice the fact it came loose unless it rains, and then the water runs to the second row seats so driver stays dry. The inside lighting is great, and sometimes it looks like a disco going down the road because when it gets in a mood the lights flicker off and on over and over and over. Sometimes I look outside at night and the lights in the van are flashing. I'm not sure if the driver who was in the car when it wrecked is still there...playing games with my mind or if the wires have a short in them that only acts up once in a while. There is a small miss while driving, but you don't notice it unless you are going slow, which I very seldom do. The electric door locks work, or at least most of them do. The passenger front door lock doesn't work, but you can climb over the drivers seat, stick your butt in the air for all going by to see and unlock it by hand. The side door locks work when they want to....and sometimes they don't. The clear coat that was put on when it was repainted is slowly peeling off. This van gets some crappy gas mileage. It costs about 120.00 to fill it up and you can drive it for a very little while on that. Please call for appointment....or the keys may be in it with a full tank of gas and I promise not to come outside if I hear anyone around it......take your pick.

Gettin' me some lovin...

Get the dirty thoughts out of your head, I won an award, which is almost as good as the other thing you are thinking of, Ok maybe not but close.





Choose 5 bloggers that you feel are "Kick Ass Bloggers"
Let 'em know in your post or via email, twitter or blog comments that they've received an award
Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to www.mammadawg.com
Hop on back to the kick ass blogger award HQ to sign Mr. Linky then pass it on!

Thank you so much Monkling for the award.

When I tried to figure out who to give the award to I decided to just pick the first 5 people that come to mind every single day. There are about 5 blogs that I HAVE to check every day to see what is going on. I'm sure some of them already have the award but I don't care.

1. Hallie She makes me laugh....or gag, every day.
2. Kim She is such a caring person who can make anyone feel better. She already won this award but by golly she is getting it again.
3. Monkling Has such a great sense of humor, and like myself is starting down that road we call " empty nest."
4. Kellen Has a house full of kids and a great sense of humor.
5. Kimmy Has a great sense of humor AND a great friendship with Hallie. Now that her kids are in school I'm sure we will hear more from Kimmy. Plus anyone with the word blender in her name should get an award.

Now I am off to tell each of these people about their awards.......have a great weekend.

kitties kitties everywhere....

So the black kitty is now gone, living with my son and his girlfriend. I thought I was cat free until I went to work the next morning and someone said "do you want a kitten?" I said a quick no and then learned later that the neighbors had found it in the road and rescued it but couldn't afford to feed it. If no one took it they were going to "dispose" of it. So I brought it home. This particular kitten is way too young to be away from its mother. I noticed it hadn't used the bathroom at all and the people that had it said it hadn't for the 24 hours they had it. I have been here before with puppies so this morning I took a few damp cottonballs and BINGO huge pile of little kitty poo.



You can tell by looking that it isnt much bigger than the tennis ball. It likes to be carried around against me or DD. If it is asleep we can lay it down but if its awake it cries until it is around us. Just about like a real baby....a spoiled real baby.