Life in the slow lane

It's that time again....once every 17 years we have company. This company shows up unexpectedly whenever it feels like it and stays for weeks. They are loud, dirty, inconsiderate and make a tasty snack for dogs......yes, its the 17 year cicada.

These guys are everywhere. They are hanging on every plant, tree, tall blade of grass and porch post they can find. They make this annoying noise all day, every day. It sounds like a dozen police sirens going off down the road somewhere all the time. It isn't so loud it hurts your ears, but it is loud and doesn't quit until dark every day. I will be so glad when they are gone, but at the same time I understand....once every 17 years they can dig their way out of their holes in the ground, find a mate and get lucky.....I'd make some loud noises too......

Dog tired

I have gotten in the habit of taking my DS's puppies out and letting them run around in the yard for a while and then putting them in their outside pen to relax. They love running but it wears them out and after playing for a bit they fall wherever they are for their nap.....

I'm sure anyone seeing them and not knowing how fast they wear out and fall asleep would assume they were drugged......trust me, they like sleeping like this.

WEEKEND....

It's the weekend...and a holiday weekend. SH and I both are off on Mondays anyway but he gets an extra day for holidays and I don't.....but that's ok because I only work 4 days a week anyway.
My hours are getting ready to be cut at work, not because of budget cuts or any problem, but one of my patients needs more specialized care than I am legally allowed to give. I'm not sure what I am going to do about that right now. I really need to find someone else to take care of along with the two I have now to make up the hours but since gas is completely ridiculous right now (4.19 a gallon today) I'm not sure what I am going to do. My hours at one job will be changed to evening hours too, which is going to be rough, next year will be DD's senior year and there are a lot of things we do in the evenings...and I don't want to miss that when it will be the last chance I will probably get. I know we will work out something for that job that works for all of us, it will just take some adjusting.
Now for a few pictures....
These two are now permanently outside. I wanted to get them trained for my son before he took them, but I don't have the time or the patience to house train them. They are great dogs, but I can't keep my white floor clean when they aren't in there so having them makes it completely impossible.







Just a few pictures from the last few weeks. I wanted to take DD's picture at this lake and we finally got the chance. What you can't tell is that it is about 38 degrees, very early (but we were traveling) and we were not happy. Maybe we will get the chance to visit this place again when it is warmer(-:


Awards day at school is always exciting. I took quite a few pictures of DD's many awards but this is the only one without her best friend....and I probably should check with her before I put her picture on here. Yes I scribbled out her first name and school name in the picture .... I am a very low tech person.
I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend and a great Memorial day. We will, as we do every year, go to the longest running Memorial day parade in the United States, which runs right through the small town near us. I can not remember exactly how many years it has been running but I do know there are pictures on one web site with the 138th parade. I also found a site that says it was started in 1968 which is completely wrong because that doesn't add up. My Grandparents talked about going when they were young and they would be in their 90's if they were still alive....

Ho Hum

I don't have much to say but that has never stopped me from trying.....
The weekend was nice. SH had a few things to do for his little old ladies but he spent some extra time with us this weekend. We had been trying to decide what color to paint DD's room since Christmas but I just decided yesterday that she needed to figure it out and let us get it done. We spent an hour at the paint counter at Lowes and finally figured it out. Right now it is about half finished and if I were in there painting like I told SH I would do after work it would be about finished. I am making up excuses because I do not like to paint....at all. DD and her friend K went to town after school and they will be here soon....hopefully with the lasagna I asked them to pick me up on their way home....and I can't eat it if I have paint on my hands. RIGHT? I know someone out there invented soap, but why be wasteful and over use it when I can just read blogs until after I eat. Then I will only have to clean up once. The nap I got before I got on the computer was kind of nice too. I still have 5 hours until SH gets home from work so I should be able to paint;-) Does anyone have any guesses on the color(s) we used?
School is out in just a few days and the kids around here are really looking forward to it. This time of year always stresses them out and they look forward to a couple of months off. I looked up DD's grades a little bit ago and her lowest was a 98.12 in chemistry. If I got a 98 in anything I thought I was the luckiest kid alive....I'm not sure where she gets it, but she is a wonderful student. One more year of high school and I hope it will be the best year for her yet. Your senior year should be memorable.
I will update with a real update soon. I made the most wonderful cheesy broccoli soup the other day. I took pictures...I'll dig them out of the camera soon.

IT'S SATURDAY

It is the weekend and I am so glad! I would do the happy dance but I would probably hurt myself.
I do not have a lot planned this weekend. DD and her best friend are going to Gus Macker today. (Gus Macker is a one on one outdoor basketball tournament) Gus Macker comes to town once a year and boys drive for miles to play.
I recently signed up to docent at the local historical museum with my DD. I love this old house and I love to read about the history of places like this so it should be interesting to do. There are tons of interesting stories about things that happened in this house, including some deaths. There was one very kind old preacher that died in this house and I think he is still there....there have been a couple of times when DD has been scared out of her wits in this house...but it is still so interesting and pretty she keeps going back.
If any of you ever happen to be driving through Ironton, Ohio....(but then why would you) stop in and say hi to Rev. John Rankin....he'll leave the light on for you.

My near death experience

Well maybe not death, but something close.

I went outside to let DS's puppies run around for awhile and when we they were running I noticed the cat playing with something in the front yard. When I went to see what she had I found out she was playing with one of these cute little things.

We have always had quite a few chipmunks playing around our house and they never bother anything, so they don't usually bother me at all. I decided I would distract the cat and let the poor thing go. He was playing cat games......lay down beside the chipmunk and watch it. When it decided to make a run for it the cat would pounce on it, bat it around a few times and then lay down again. It was going to make the poor chipmunks life miserable for whatever short time it had left. The chipmunk was laying on the ground very still but I could see it was breathing. I went up and started playing with the cat to give the poor chipmunk a chance and it jumped up and ran....RIGHT TO ME. Now picture me, a cat, a chipmunk and my sons 2 puppies running around the yard, me screaming like a big baby. This is the second time lately I have been glad my closest neighbors are down over the hill and can't see very much of what I am doing (the first time was a couple of weeks ago when a wasp got in my bra....not a pretty site.) The cute little chipmunk changed in a matter of seconds from cute to this..........

YEE HAW

Spring is definitely in the air.....


HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!

Mission impossible

When I got home from work today I decided to try to pay some bills...online. Anyone who has ever had dial up knows that paying bills, web surfing or even receiving emails is not simple, and doesn't always work. I had been trying to pay bills yesterday but couldn't get them to go through.Today I started with the satellite bill and finally got it to work, in less than 15 minutes, which for dial up is the equivalent to the speed of nascar. Then I went on to the phone bill. It went at the speed of snail. Last night I had tried to get it to go through at least 5 times and each time I got to the part where you make the final click and nothing...just a little spinning wheel mocking me. Today I kept trying again, and trying again, and, well you get the picture. I finally gave up and called. By my estimate if each of the payments were going through and I didn't realize it I would have paid them at least 800.00 on an 80.00 bill. I called and talked to a very nice lady who charged me an additional 5 bucks to take my payment over the phone....even though I couldn't make it online as usual.
After finally getting the bills paid I started making phone calls to potential high speed internet providers. Every person I talked to was sure they could help me until they typed in my address.....then I'm pretty sure each of them were giggling as they came back on the phone to inform me that nothing was available in my area. I did have a little luck with direct tv, who offered me satellite internet service for the low price of 79.95 a month plus a 385.00 set up fee....and that was IN ADDITION to my already too high satellite bill. I can not see paying that amount for the few things that have to be done on the internet. Direct tv has some great deals on internet. My brother in Indiana gets high speed through his direct tv for only 3.00 more per month than I pay for dial up. The deals are different for each area, depending on who they contract out to and since no one other than direct tv has high speed in this area they can charge what they want.....and get it from a lot of people. I, for one, will be creeping around at the speed of snail for quite a while....

This, that and the other...

I've been busy helping superhubby and my parents. Yesterday I went to help SH at one of his Little old ladies rentals because he had helped me move one of my patients into a new apartment and I thought I owed him one (or 12 but who's counting.) SH carries a wide variety of tools with him at all times. His car weighs an extra thousand or so pounds most of the time due to the tool boxes. We usually carry in a bunch of tools and then he sends me back out to get things he needs as he needs them. Yesterday he sent me out for his wonder bar (not to be confused with wonder bra which is something SH doesn't use.) I love wonder bars....they really are wonder tools. Have something that needs taken apart? The wonder bar is great for prying things apart. Have a nail that needs to come out...or be driven in and don't have a hammer nearby? Wonder bars are great at pulling nails and you can whack a nail a few good whacks with a wonder bar. Have a husband that sends you out to the car 18 times to grab things.....a half inch wrench...no that doesn't fit grab a 3/16....no, go back and get a 5/8ths...the wonder bar is great for....wait, never mind.

Testing...1,2,3..

The surgery went fine for my dad, he is home after staying overnight and resting. The doctor said the surgery went as well as it could and he is optimistic he could get some sight back in that eye.
In other news.....I just wanted to put a picture on here to see if I was having the trouble Kim and some others were....but I'm not....


I'M UNDER UR CAR SHARPENING MY CLAWS ON UR TIRES.....