Heard It Through The Grapevine

It's official. The down spiraling economy has hit my family. Although my daughter has not told me yet...my son-in-law has lost his job. I did get a phone call from her the other night which was mostly regarding her being upset over my brother passing away. I had suspected there was a problem as he's been home a lot over the past few weeks. He did work from home a lot and they passed it off as him working from home to help out with her back surgery recovery. (Boy this is starting to sound like a Lifetime story now.) When him and I were sitting in the family surgery waiting area he was talking about how he had applied for several jobs, and I know he wasn't happy at his current job, and the thought had crossed my mind then but I didn't ask. There is a certain pride that prevents some people from stating the truth.

When I got this news this morning, at first I was upset that she didn't tell me. After a few hours of mulling it over, wondering if I should offer help and just wanting to talk to them and let them know things will work out, I had a flashback of twenty some years ago. My first husband and I were separated for a few weeks. The last thing I wanted to do was tell my parents. Not out of fright but more out of feeling like a failure. Here's some more Lifetime at your finger tips. I was 7 months pregnant and had a three year old. My husband opted for a single life verses the wife and kids. I didn't want to burden my parents with this as it wasn't their problem. I think it was my brother who finally let the cat out of the bag .

At first I was upset with him but also felt a bit of relief. A lot of my married life was hidden from my parents but I didn't have them fooled. They just butted out and figured when help or moral support was needed I'd call. The help they gave me will never be forgotten. I have to say, it was what changed my life. So as I sit here now pondering their situation I know that she'll tell me when she's ready. I have to many friends who had meddling parents and I swore I wouldn't do it. We'd only step in when asked or we felt someone was in harm's way. So far, so good.

Her and I just had a long talk the other day about how Christmas may be a little difficult this year. The sheltered family has never tragically lost a member before. In past week or so the same conversation has come up with other family members. I think we'll have some moments, but we'll be okay. I reminded her that as down on his luck as David was, he always had a sense of humor. He would tell me things that were going on, make a joke and state that life goes on. Christmas was always very special to him.

You know how they always say something will come up. Everything happens for a reason. He'll find a job and maybe it'll be a better one. At any rate, nothing comes without a little struggle.

Is There Stock In Wiper Blades

I've come to the conclusion that I have no luck with wiper blades. I was certain that the blades that were on my truck were purchased within the last 6 months. A complaint had been lodged with my husband that I couldn't see out the drivers side as there was always a huge streak right across my vision area. I recall that this was ignored until he drove my truck in the rain and had the same issue.

Yesterday on my way home in the rain this problem arose again. I looked over at the other wiper blade to find the window clear, but a nice piece torn away and flapping with each wipe. When I got home I mentioned it to Barney who replied "I just bought you new blades a few months ago". I figured it could wait until the weekend, so didn't press the issue. I forgot about it until this morning when I got to the corner and turned on the wipers only to watch the drivers side wiper take off into the unknown. There I was with one blade. Unfortunately I do not sit on that side to drive. Like a dork I got out and retrieved the blade. Threw it on the seat as it was to dark to see anything.

My ride to work was fine until the semi passed me. I was going about 15-20 over the limit just to stay in front of him to avoid the splatter that he would leave on my windshield. We all know that switching lanes does no good . After work one of the maintenance guys was kind enough to stop by my car as I was trying to get the thing back on. We came to the decision that it was screwed. The pin was broke and there was no attaching it. The nice guy just happened to have a new blade that he had picked up the night before. The agreement was made to "borrow" the blade and return it tomorrow. We both had a good chuckle as the borrowed blade was from a jeep so it was about 6 inches shorter than my blade. No problem, as long as I can see on the way home. I got in my car, turned on the wipers and just had a good laugh. Right in my vision area was none other than a large streak not being taken care of by the wipers.

This now prompted me to call my husband for a lead on the best wipers to get. Of course, Mr. I Don't Answer My Cell Phone, could not be reached. Finally after three calls he returned my call to let me know he was at Menard's purchasing wiper blades for my truck. Said he noticed they were bad when he moved my truck last night.

I must ask all of you...How often do you replace your wiper blades? How much do you pay for them? How many of you, no matter what blades you get , still have a streak? This whole wiper blade thing just seems like a gimmick to me.

Herbie Is a Crabby Old Man

Being off on Friday's has allowed me to see what the rest of the world does on a weekday. Most of my experiences with the general public have been either on the road or shopping. I'm all about getting up and out early to avoid any type of crowd. I think this has been the key to me noticing much more than I do in crowded after 5 or weekend shopping.

I'm finding that early morning shopping has been left to parent's with small children, seniors or the other few of us that are blessed with this day off. The day time parent's with small children seem to be very patient with the child that is starting to act up. There is usually a comment in a stern but patient voice asking the child to nicely sit down or stay right by me. It's not like the weekend Walmart shoppers that threaten to "bitch slap your little ass if you don't sit down right now". I've found that shopping in jeans and a sweater is not the style. I would fit in more if I had a lime green or bright pink nylon jogging suit and my hair was done up in a high pony tail and maybe bleached blond. Oh, and flip flops. Who the heck walks around in flip flops in 45 degree weather.

I've come to find that seniors are always in a hurry. The men folk are practically pushing down anyone who gets in their way. If they are in an aisle and blocking someone from getting around them, they will not budge. They act like you may get to the end of the aisle before them. This I do not understand as if you are retired then what the heck else do you have to do all day? I observed the impatience of one man at the deli counter as there were two other people before him. He huffed and puffed and rolled his eyes for each thing one customer ordered. Just to tick him off I thought about ordering two slices of about 10 different meats. I'm sure he would have kicked my butt on the spot.

Seniors in the parking lots are another story. First off the women usually cannot see over the steering wheel and they come in pairs. Two chatty little old ladies looking for the best spot, driving right down the middle of the aisle and damn you if you are coming with a cart. Just get out of the way as they can't see you. They can see a bingo number from across a bingo hall, but they won't see you. The men drivers will honk if you're in their way. Not just a little tap but a full blown honk and a fist waving just in case you didn't get the picture.

Let's talk about one of them being in the check out line behind you. My cart was not yet unloaded as I was waiting for Harriet in front of me to find her wallet, when Herbie who was behind me started putting his stuff on the belt. In trying to be polite I said "I still have things in my cart. I'm waiting for her to finish and move". I heard a grunt. He then made a comment that she needed to move as this wasn't a social hour here. Couldn't believe he turned on one of his own.

Cashier's are politer in the morning. They haven't had a full day of crap yet. Therefore they are nicer to your groceries and won't throw your bread down to be squished by can foods. Sometimes they even put the bread to the side. If you are lucky enough to have a bagger, they pack sensibly, meaning there will be more then one thing packed in a bag and your eggs will not be on the bottom of the 2 liter bottle of soda.

There is a whole different world out there on a weekday. After the holidays are over and the Christmas bargin shopping is out of the way, I'm going to work on having to go the the grocery store only once every two weeks.

So Burp Already

Since midnight Sunday I have been suffering the effects of some type of stomach ailment. Since both my husband woke up around the same time Sunday night with bad stomach pain we at first blamed it on the pizza we got on the way home. At first bite this pizza did not taste right to me. He commented on the sauce being a bit sweet. I quit after the first piece and proceeded to eat the deep fried mushrooms instead. He ate another slice and called it quits.

I was up from midnight until 3:30 am when I called in sick. There was no way this body was going in to work with the constant urge of having to up-chuck all day. As the day progressed so did the stomach pain along with some chills. I tried pepto-tums , Maalox and 7 Up. Nothing seemed to help. By Tuesday morning I still wasn't feeling any better but went in to work. I must say the 10 hours seemed like 40. 7 up was my only friend. It at least was working on what ever acid was gurgling around in my stomach. I was close to stopping for Alka Seltzer but if I wanted to throw up I had other ways to do that. Today brought on some relief. The sharp stabbing pains were down to a minimum and I could eat without thoughts of it coming back up.
I opted out of Trivia tonight to stay home and try and let whatever this is out of my system. Barney is still a little queasy but not as bad as me. He didn't seem to have any problems eating. As a joke yesterday I asked him if he wanted pizza. The problem is, the thought made my stomach curl more than it did his. I need to get this over with before Saturday where the promise of Bonnie and Dick's fish fry awaits.

I made a good investment this weekend. When one's Christmas shops they always need to pick up a little something for themselves also. While at Toys R Us I happened upon some boxing gloves for the Wii system. This just seemed like the obvious thing to purchase for myself. Since my husband accused me of boxing like a girl, I intend to prove him wrong. After messing around with getting the remote hooked into the gloves I was off. I had to stop once as the remote went flying out of the glove. This problem was quickly resolved and I was on my way . 1/2 hour later I had to call it quits. My arms were sore and I had mastered my stance and never went down. I'm telling you that this may be my release. I'm thinking of putting a punching bag and decent gloves on my Christmas list.

Where Everybody Knows Your Name

I've grown tired of the same old grocery store. Pick & Save is convenient, but it burns me that they carry the same old stuff and the prices keep going up. I was up for a change in shopping scenery so today I decided to try "The Pig". Besides they had diet coke on sale and I seem to be addicted to it. I had to make sure that I wasn't going out of my way to shop so I did this today when I had another errand to run in the same area.

I expected more than I actually saw. Immediately upon entering the store I grabbed a flyer and noticed that I needed a club card for many of the on sale items. This called for a detour to the courtesy counter. I waited in line as the woman at the counter finished her conversation with who appeared to be her neighbor. They chatted about another neighbor and a school function they were both going to on Monday. I think my sigh may have cut their conversation short. Got the card and went on my way. The store was clean enough but it lacked stock. It's a smaller store so I liked the fact that I didn't have to maneuver around to many people. About the time I hit the third aisle I realized that this store had the feeling of a small town store. People were walking by greeting each other by name. I waited at the deli while deli girl finished up her conversation with a friend. Yes, this was defiantly a friendly store with a gift of gab.

My normal time spent for weekly shopping from entrance to check-out is usually no longer than 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. I noted the time as I made my way to the check-out. I was under the wire. I spent 10 minutes at the check-out with only one person in front of me. Of course, the cashier knew the woman and they chatted. By this time I was finding this all very humorous and the want to sigh had disappeared from my mind. Finally it was my turn and things were going well until the bagger, an elderly man, was engrossed in conversation with a customer. I watched as my groceries started to pile up and he made no attempt to bag them. I stepped over and began to bag my own. It was like a clip from a horror movie when the entire place seemed to go silent. This must have been unheard of. I am now a marked woman. I think I will forever be remembered as the woman who tried to bag her own.

I will probably return to "The Pig" if I'm in the area. What the heck..I'm sure that I've made a few friends there, and I did make it out within my alloted time.

How Can She Be Two Mothers

To get away from the repetitive news each night I switch over to Lifetime and watch an hour of Reba while preparing my husband a lovely dinner. Last night I saw and episode I've never seen before. Brock's mother was in town. I heard the voice, as I was slaving over the stove and turned in time to notice that she is also Doug from King of Queens mother. This would be the one and only Jenny O'Hara. I feel the need to mention this as this could be a trivia question. Not that I'd be able to remember this when the question was asked. Of course I'd sit there holding my head and repeating over and over again "Shit, I know this...why can't I think of it?" I figure if I post it that at least one of us will remember.

Me thinks me has created a monster. Two weeks ago some people were let go at work. One of the girls I hadn't worked with to much until a month ago. She's a nice person and excellent worker. The day after she was let she called me at home to share the tidbits of her release. She has now called me at least every other day. The calls are getting better as she's not as depressed anymore, but she is bitter. The call usually comes around the same time every day so I have to yell to my husband to check the called ID. I think he takes joy in answering and then handing the phone over to me. The grin on his face is a dead giveaway.

Speaking of weird dreams (stb) I tried to wake myself up out of one last night. It was just so ridiculous. My friend "Andy" called me to say he had one Packer ticket and did I want to go with him and his friends. We had to meet at the Concertina Bar which he gave me wrong directions to, as we were driving in my van together. We finally found the bar and when walking in saw that it wasn't exactly what we thought. We walked into an old lady strip club. We're talking Old- like in their 80's. Andy was hesitant to go in as his girlfriend "Dodie" would be upset if she found out he was in a strip club. Huh? So I wanted to get to the Packer game and could not get several of our friends -Don, Ryan, Peven and Timmy to leave. They were whistling, and cheering away. I was then in shock as one of them took all the Packer tickets and stuffed them in this old ladies funky bra. I woke up! Maybe this is a result of going to bed earlier than usual.

I'm Stuck In Little People Land!

How does two turn into four? I started out with having two kids for the weekend and it multiplied into four. Three, 10 year old girlie girls and one 9 year old boy. All was going well until there was a major disbute over what movie to watch last night. That ended with no movie. They didn't really grasp the whole extent of Grandma puts up with nothing. They came very close to loosing the tv completly when the arguing continued over what tv show to watch. Around 10pm I was beat from a day of the girlie girls. I made sure they were all settled and warm and headed off to bed. I didn't hear a peep until 6:45 when I heard my neice jabbering away. My trip down the hallway was short and sweet. "I don't want to hear another word until 9am". The only thing I heard was a very soft voice stating that her stomach hurt really bad and she thought it was from hunger. That brought on a chuckle as I know what they all ate yesterday.
Right now as I am posting this they are getting ready for Trick or Treat. This brings back memories. I'm sure that my brothers and I drove my parents crazy for hours before we were set to leave. My kids drove me nuts also. This must just be so exciting for them. Yes, these are the same kids that gave up after an hour last year. I was in utter disbelief . I know we would go for what seemed like hours, usually heading home for a candy dump and heading back out. They half way filled bags last year and called it quits.
So far I've done the parental duties of fixing hair, painting nails black with crappy, cheap polish and put in earrings. Two of the four are hacking like crazy so they've received the proper medicine dropped off by their parents. I just now have fixed a zipper and last night I sewed up broken wings. (I am the best grandma ever). Suck it up kids.
My daughters surgery went well. Last report from son-in-law was that she was able to sleep pretty good last night and seems to have discomfort only from the incision. Her leg problems seems to be better which was caused by the screws in her back being placed to deep. It will take time for the damage to the muscle to repair itself, but the outcome is looking good.
Duty calls for me to now fix and spray hair black. We have two dark fairies,one witch and a racing sausage. (the last one is the cutest costume.)

He's Not Fond Of The Number

Until the official team photos are released to me by his mother, this is the only solo photo I have from this season. Funny how I picked out the packet I wanted, ordered it and it just happened to get mixed in with hers. She had to take them home to sort through them and figure out who's were who's. I bet my 8x10 is hanging on "the other grandmothers" wall. It seems a little weird not to have a game to go to this weekend. He did comment that he may go back to basketball and then through in a soccer comment just to get my attention. "I love you Dylan, and I would go to whatever event you were in but you'd really be pushing it with the soccer" was my reply. Can't help it, it's just not my thing.
So I posted this picture because I felt the need to show him off a little. Other people post boob pictures, pet pictures and just fun pictures. You guys can all suffer through my grandson's picture.
I seem to have contacted someones cold. I'm trying to keep it under control. Haven't hit the bottle yet as a suggested cure. There is a chilled bottle of very fine tasting Black Zambuca in the fridge downstairs that may become just a little lower in level this weekend. I have to be at the top of my game as I have my daughter's girls this weekend. She's going in for a second back surgery tomorrow which will hopefully give her good results. The twins can be a little trying at times and really try to pull things over on people. Yeah, I'm not going for it. There was mention of going to see High School Musical (not going to happen). We may just opt for baking some pies. Future homemaking skills are much more important than a movie that will be out on video within a week.

Damn Cowboys

It is the Cowboys curse! Dylan's team went undefeated the entire season, made it through the playoffs and lost to the Cowboys in their Championship game yesterday. The little guys put up a fight but it wasn't enough. They played the Cowboys early on in the season and shut them out so I don't know if there was a growth spurt or what over the next 7 weeks but they lost to them. Whatever the case both teams played well. One team played better.

We lost two employees at work this week. This is just the beginning. Our division doesn't have that many operators to begin with, but we have enough to run the lines we have. I'm sure what we're feeling right now is what a majority of companies are feeling. My wish is to make it to the end of the year at least. Not sure how well I'd take being let go before the Holidays. At any rate everything happens for a reason. Maybe there's another job out there calling my name. (not a library as they are cutting back also).

Not that I'm really big on the Hallmark holidays but I made an effort to get my husband a card and a little something for the date. Yesterday came and went without a little envelope for me. I'm sure he's waiting until tomorrow when he can get a card for 1/2 price. This is a little bothersome to me as in 24 years he's never missed getting a card for me. I made some good ribs yesterday. Had them in the oven cooking slowly for 6 hours. They came right off the bone. He made the comment that they were "quite tasty", ate them and retired to his chair for the evening. Granted the man has been working very hard on the porch. He woke up around 9:30, walked around, noticed I was still home and hit the sack again. Really exciting evening.

I start my getting up at the uncalled for hour of 3:30 am tomorrow. I keep trying to find the good in it by the fact that I will not be getting out of work at 3pm. Can't say I had any liking in the 5pm release hour. In our meeting the other day it was mentioned that those who were so flexible as to volunteer for the late shift may be called upon again in the future to do so. I may duck down at the next meeting. I'm a little tired of switching hours. There's usually a newspaper or magazine laying on the table I could easily pick up and hide my face behind.

It is twelve more days until I will turn on the heat. This could go longer if there is no need for it. What's a few more sweaters and a double layer of sweatpants? I'm noticing as the porch gets further along the house gets a little warmer. With brick, new windows and very sturdy storm doors on the porch we may be able to get another month without the heat. Ben has a goal to help my husband complete this project within the next few weeks. He claims he's eating his Thanksgiving dinner out there.

I Saw It First

It is 17 days until Halloween. The other day I put a few decorations on my front window and got out the Halloween candle and put it in the living room. It's pretty much the extent of my decorating. I do like the holiday and get a kick out of how far people have gone in decorating for Halloween. I tend to like the traditional scarecrow propped up in the yard and thing the witch flying into the tree is a little funny. The pumpkins on the porch are also an added touch.

On my way home from work today I did have a little bit of a shock. Now I know the stores have already decorated for Christmas and they have displays and decorations out for the home. On 43rd & Grange there is a town house all decked out for Christmas already. I took a second look thinking that just maybe it was last years stuff never taken down. No.. this looked fresh, and the lights were plugged in. At first I thought WTF..it's way to early. Then as I thought more about it I wondered if maybe the house was done up as someone wasn't going to be around at Christmas. Maybe they had parents who flew south or west for the winter. Maybe they had someone who was heading out to defend our country or coming home for a leave. There could be several reasons. In the past I would normally freak and rant about how it's to early. This time I tried to reason. Then I thought "What the heck" it's their house and they must have a reason for it. I'm sure ours won't go up until the traditional 10 days before Christmas. He usually intends to get things up before the snow flies but something always prevents this carefully thought out process. I must mention that my friend seems to have Santa already set up in his living room as we saw by his recent photos on his blog.

The good thing about today. I am half way through my work week. Tired as hell, but 1/2 way there.

I Smell Poop!

So maybe today just isn't my day. A famous quote from Ben Sr. "Don't let life get the best of you". I try to live by the words of Dad as I have the utmost respect for my father. At my age I guess one would have chosen a different path, but he always managed to see the brighter side of things rather than brood. Therefore , I see myself heeding his advice for years to come.

I was told by my husband not to mention this again but I feel the need to say, we should be camping this weekend. We opted out as there is work around the homestead to be done. There are things that have to be done before the blustery days of winter settle upon us. Ben Jr. wants to eat Thanksgiving Dinner on the new porch so we must get hopping on that. It's also a good day to get the yard cleaned up. I got a semi-early start as I wanted to get out before the bees started getting busy. This worked out until around noon. Husband came home for lunch and ate his McDonald's on the deck which drew every bee, wasp, hornet and their cousin for miles. After he returned to work I left the area for a bit to let them clear. Apparently they are not liking the fact that I am taking their food source away by pulling out any plant life left in the garden.

I made a haul from the backyard to the curb using my rummage sale purchased wagon. On the way back I notice a little trail of pooh on the driveway. I just figured I dragged the wagon through some pooh. On my second trip I noticed some foliage sticking to the bottom of my shoe and went to scrape it off on the edge of the deck. Whoa Nellie....stinky. I fear I had stepped in a nice pile of Sadie's pooh. Now the shit was embedded in the sole of my shoe. I seem to recall laughing at someone who suffered this misfortune a few weeks ago. Garden hoses come in handy in these situations. Guess I should have surveyed the back yard a little more carefully prior to getting to work. Checked the wagon wheels...they are spotless.

You Want Cheese With That?

I think my depression over the Brewers loss has come to an end. I had an appointment on Sunday and thought for sure she'd have the radio or a TV on. She asked me a few times what time the game was on but then noon came and went. Another customer walked in around 1:30 but claimed to not be listening to the game. She "forgot" it was on. By the time I got into my car and tuned in the radio I was a little taken back. 5-0. Got on the phone with Gambino to see if this was true. She happened to mention that the Packers were also loosing, but then threw in that "On a lighter note, The King and I is on." I can't complain, they gave us a good season.

My workplace often has luncheons that production employees are usually not allowed to go to. One of the nicer guys will sometimes go and bring back some tidbits for us. Today was a different story, as we were allowed to go. This was a "Get Moving" theme. Earlier this year they had a similar program with employees against management to see which group could log more steps in a given time. The employees won as several management personnel dropped out. I think this luncheon was to kick it off again. We were given one hour so the first 1/2 hour was spent in line for food. The second portion was spent eating and listening to two men from Comedy Sports put on a little show. We all got up and left after our allotted time was up. I warned my fellow co-workers about getting up in the middle of a skit. "Mark my words, you will be made fun of". Sure enough, as our little group of people headed for the door there were cracks made. I wish we could have stuck around for the rest of the show, but production called. Plus, none of us got to hear the newest "Get Moving" challenge. Although we all appreciated the chance to go, we found it odd that you would have a "Get Fit, Get Moving" theme and serve several pasta dishes and chicken breasts smothered with a thick mushroom gravy and for dessert cream puffs and chocolate eclairs. That's going to take more than a few laps around the parking lot to work off.

I have been volunteered by my son to work the concession stand on Sunday for the game prior to Dylan's game. If any of my friends want to get a real laugh, stop on down at 10:30 Sunday morning for some delicious pretzels with cheese or nachos. I was under the impression I just had to hand out candy, soda and coffee. Didn't know I had to actually heat up pretzels and cheese. This ought to be good.

TGIF ??

First of all let me start by saying I am very thankful that I now have Friday's off. I'm a little tired during the course of the 10 hour day, four days a week but very much look forward to the three day weekend. Today marks the third Friday off. The first one was spent preparing for and going camping. Last week Friday was spent on a day trip to Lake Geneva and then preparing for a family birthday party. Today was spent on appointments that had to be re-scheduled when we went to 10 hour days, and catching up on some chores and shopping.

For some reason that extra day off each week seems to be filled to the brim. I was up at 6:30 and think the only time I sat down all day was driving to appointments. I even had to stand at the Doctors Office. They have not yet invented the sit-down boob squash?? It's now 8:40 and I sure that if I went to bed I'd have no problem falling asleep.

I thought about catching a little cat nap this afternoon but when I got home I found a large cement mixer churning away in my driveway. I knew there was talk of laying some cement today but "Mr. Communication" just let's me know when to give him money. As I walked up the driveway to investigate I caught site of Dirty Ben. He looked as if he could really give Pig Pen a run for his money. Then I saw Rick. He wasn't quite as dirty and looked to be doing a good job on the mixing. As I glanced toward the work area I was glad that my husband at least had clean underwear on and that they weren't inside out. I don't know what it is with Mr. Droopy Drawers but he just shouldn't squat or be on his knees. I though for sure he was going to stand up and loose the pants completely. Yes I do know what the problem is....He has no ass. He didn't like the comment I made about buying him a body suit. Like I said, at least all you could see was underwear.

The guys called it quits around 6 (because they ran out of cement mix). The plan is for this to start all over again at 8am tomorrow morning. This was being discussed as they all sat down to eat some pizza. When the two younger ones got up after dinner the old bones must have been creaking. The macho men tried not to wince in pain in front of me but I caught it. I suggested taking a day off and was looked at as if I was some kind of freak. We'll see how well they're moving tomorrow. I do, however give them a lot of credit for the task they undertook. Real, genuine men.
In the words of Rick "That's what friends are for".

Here We Go

I'll start my post on a giant cheer for the Brewers! As we sat around watching the Packer game Sunday, we all seemed to be paying more attention to the Brewers game. At first it required a trip inside but soon our host's would bring out another tv for us to catch first the Brewer game then the Mets loss. It was a great end to a great day. We walked our little tootsies off for Gambino's & many others boobies. Nice day for a walk.

It's always crummy when a good weekend ends and a crummy work week starts. Things have been very hectic and frustrating in the work place the past few weeks. We're missing a key operator due to an illness and some of us are in unfamiliar territory right now. Things that the maintenance man should be doing are expected to be done by us. Found out today that the intent is that he should be doing them and there was a little anger in our current boss's voice when he found out differently. So after two days of trying to run a job that should have been simple, everyone in management decided to come out and help fix the problem. We're talking about people that need instruction on using a tape gun.

I've always had an issue with our company going out on a limb for new business, yet not trying to fix the lines that run the current customers jobs. For some reason we always manage to squeak by and make the shipments and the quality is good but sooner or later this is going to bite them in the ass. Enough about work. I think I have blown my steam for the day.

I came home today to find all the windows closed in the house. Poor husband must have had a chill when he got home from work. The heat is not turned on, but I know when he gets home later he will begin the layering of the clothes. The sweatshirts and sweatpants will come out of the drawer where they have been stored for 4 months. Within the next month or so I will begin to hear that we need to move to a warmer climate. I think this year I will call his bluff and start packing things up. I'll begin to purge unwanted items from the home. He will check every box and bag I am carting out of here for Goodwill. I may have taken some "needed" item. Maybe this strategy will work on ending the winter whining.

My Husband Is Hungry

For the past month or so my priorities have not been in the kitchen. My husband walks in there every once in a while to see if there's anything cooking. Then he checks the fridge to see if anyone put anything new in there. I've made a few things but not a down to earth good home cooked meal. I guess I can only expect him to go so long on things like taco's, sloppy joes or hamburgers. I think he may be looking for something more on the line of meat and taters with a vegetable on the side.

I'm on week two of the working until 5 shift and the last thing on my mind or list of things to do when I get home is break out the chef's gear and prepare a meal that won't be eaten until 7 or after. Yesterday after work I decided to visit the local food store. My main purpose was just for the things I needed for the weekend. I threw in a few other things but not much was needed as I have a kitchen full of food. It just needs to be cooked.

Today my daughter and I took a day trip to Lake Geneva. For the past several years it's been an annual thing we do for her birthday. It turned out to be a very relaxing mother daughter bonding day. When I got home it was time to hit the kitchen. My husband heard pans rattling around and came upstairs to investigate. "Could it be my wife has found the kitchen again". I felt a little bad and tried to figure out how to break the news to him that this commotion was not for him but for a birthday event tomorrow and a Packer Party on Sunday. My only way out was to look at him and ask "What's for dinner"? It was then that he heated up some left over tacos and pizza.

He came back about two hours later and saw the prepared items on the table and I swear I saw drool. Now in a way I feel bad but then I have to wonder what is wrong with him? Why can't he cook? He's home by 3:10 every day. All he has to do is tell me what he wants to make and I will buy it. Heck, as long as we're going this far, why can't he take a trip to the grocery store also? I suppose I shouldn't get to ahead of myself in this thinking as I know what we would have. Since he has no clue how to cook any type of meat other then grilling it or browning meat for taco's or Mexican dishes my guess is that we would be eating steak, burgers or Mexican every night. Chicken or pork chops would become nonexistent in our home. And I know for a fact that if he did the shopping it would be a daily run and along with whatever he needed for dinner there would be a tray of taco dip or a jar of garlic olives purchased.

Go Brewers!

Back To Reality

Weather wise this weekend could not have been better. I could have done without the flies and bees but when everything else is going for you why complain about the little things?

I packed for cool fall weather and used only one fleece jacket only after the sun went down. It was a little damp in the morning but the sun took care of that pretty quickly. Mick seemed to attract the largest wasp we've ever seen. We're pretty sure it was the head queen. Didn't take long for all the guys to get on it and make sure it no longer had life in it. Waking up to gun shots and knowing that it's not intended for you is always a plus. From the site we were on we used to be able to see the pond and if we were up early enough could catch a glimpse of the duck hunters. Everything is a little over grown now, but it's a plus in the privacy department.

As usual the food was good. If all goes as planned "D" and the boys should be making us a tad bit wealthy within the next few years with their invention. We spent sometime discussing every one's role in making this a success. This was before the beer took effect on "Ben" a.k.a. "Sweet Ben" a.k.a. "Stagger Lee" and his friend "Barney" a.k.a. "Don't sit by those girls...they'll take you down" a.k.a. "I'm not drunk..I just want to build a 6 foot fire". Ol' Barney even managed to make a drunken phone call to our friend Cleve to express his anger toward his wife putting the kibosh on his plan.

We did make a trip back toward town Saturday afternoon to catch Dylan's game. They are now 4-0. Could this turn bad as they play the Cowboys this week? Let's hope not.

So now back at home, the weekend things unpacked, laundry started, dinner made and showers taken, we await to Packer/Cowboys game. What's the worst that could happen?

It's All In Who You Know

My kids are paying off for me. After all the years of doing for them, it's kind of nice to receive some sort of gratis. Some day soon my bathroom will be tiled thanks to my son. My daughter has kept us in cell phones.

On my way out the door this morning my husband stopped me to show me an issue he was having with his phone. Removing the battery and Sim card did not solve the problem. After a call to my daughter I was told that the phone has a life span of about 3 years. That's just about how long it's lasted. He looked a little panicked when I told him I thought the phone was shot. This coming from a man who two years ago wanted nothing to do with a cell phone. He doesn't make a lot of calls, but he's always got it with him. After work I got a call from my daughter saying that they had two brand new phones at their house and I could pick which one we wanted. The one I chose is an upgraded version of my current phone. With her and her husband both working for cell phone companies there are some perks.

The other perk I have with her is I no longer need to board my dog when we are out of town. They have a small humane society at their home so one more dog isn't a bother to them. So tonight when I dropped Sadie off I was given the new phone and the money I offered was refused. Sometimes this bothers me a little, as I'm not real used to getting something for nothing. Hubbie now has the slightly used older phone (come on, you really didn't think I'd give him the new one). I was also kind enough to take the liberty of downloading a ring tone for him. He is now blessed with a snappy Elvis tune. I'm going to see how long it takes him to figure out how to switch it back to a plain ring.

Some how tonight I managed to get all packed for the weekend, clean my house, do laundry and drop off the dog. I'm a little amazed at myself considering I spent most Of the day at work ready to fall asleep at a moments notice. We had a meeting at 2pm today which I struggled to stay awake at. The only thing that kept me slightly alert was the comments from the girl sitting next to me. She spoke loud enough for my ears only and I was having trouble controlling my laughter. She will be paid back when I am a little more alert. I have to say we have some God awful boring meetings at my workplace.

Here's to everyone having an enjoyable yet safe weekend. I hope the sneezing fits I've been having all day are allergy related verses a cold coming on.

Who Is Ned Yost???

In keeping up with other manufacturing companies, we have now gone to a 4 day work week. This also meant having one shift. There is a little staggering of the hours but we're all in one big happy group now. Today I worked with a girl that I originally trained about two years ago. She's a nice person and works very well. We were chatting away and listening to the morning show on WKLH and I commented on the firing of Ned Yost. With this totally innocent face she turned to me and asked "Who Is Ned Yost"?.

Some people would laugh at this or think her a fool. I didn't. I just simply explained who he was. As I was doing so I hoped in my heart that she would not ask me who the Brewers were. She explained that she's just not that into any sports. No explanation necessary...some people just are not.

For me the change in hours hasn't been really that big of a deal. I now work until 5 which sucks as I can't say I enjoy the rush hour commute home. For the previous 3rd shift people switching from nights to days takes a little getting used to. They commented on being able to go home in the sunlight. That won't last long. Another month or so and I'll be going to work and coming home in the dark. The weekends will be for seeing the sun.

All in all it's kind of nice having enough people to run several lines. Hopefully they won't reduce the work force again. This may just be the chance to cross train some people so not just one or two operators have knowledge of a line. (that could be a dream come true)

I'm looking forward to camping this weekend. The weather outlook looks good. I'd like to see the wasps and bee's stay in their own homes for the weekend. I thought for sure my husband would opt to stay home and work on the porch, but he's set on going. This is a very needed weekend away. The roof is framed in and he's chomping at the bit to take a half day tomorrow and get some more work done. This really needs to get done before the snow flies. My porch serves as an excellent fridge especially around Christmas time. Keeps the Christmas cookies nice and cool.

Crunch

It's that time of the year again. Our yard is already pretty littered with fallen leaves. Not sure if it's because of the lack of rain and everything just dried up or if it's actually that close to the fall season. Funny how they make no sound at all when falling, but someone walking on the sidewalk that is spewn with leaves and it gives off quite a bit of noise. I can even hear the chipmunks running around my yard now. All this means to me is a lot of work. I feel like I just got done planting and now I'll be pulling it all up.

I am enjoying the coolness in the air. I wasn't to much a fan of the hot, muggy summer we had. We're camping next weekend so I'm sure that I won't appreciate the crisp evenings or the possibility of frost in the morning.

Dylan's team is now 2-0. They had a fantastic game the other night that didn't have a dull moment in it. I sat in my lawn chair for the first quarter but then was on my feet the rest of the game. Very exciting to say the least. Let's hope they can keep this up. There were two injuries on the opposing team. I applaud the sportsmanship shown by all in attendance and the concern for the boys well being. This is a very well run league.

Tomorrow marks my brother's 43rd birthday. It marks day 20 since he passed away. The family is celebrating his birthday at a local favorite park of his in the afternoon. And what would this families birthday celebration be with out a cake. Yes, although corny to some, I made a cake for my brother. I've done it for a lot of years and things just wouldn't seem right if I didn't. Of course my family will be over to help eat it. It may be a little bit of a difficult day.

UnSupported

I was called upon today for a Grandma duty. One would think it would be a chore, but I actually enjoy this type of duty. Both parent's working late..could I take Dylan to football practice? I think they both know by now that asking me to take him to any sporting event that he participates in is always a definite yes.

This is a typical 9 year old boy. Get dropped off at Grandma's house, check the fridge for goodies, have a meal, play with Grandma's Wii and watch some TV. Ten minutes before we had to leave I told him to go get ready. Five minutes later he comes out of the bathroom and announces he forgot to pack his cup. After some calls we came to the conclusion that going all the way back to his house and waiting for his step-father to get there would make him 1/2 hour late for practice. He got a bit of a lecture that I'm sure went in one ear and out the other. I told him we'd go anyway and if the coach had a problem he could sit out or run laps instead. He ended up participating in the entire practice. I'm not sure he ever told the coach but I noticed his was a little protective. At the break he came over to guzzle some water and revealed that he had "forgotten" to mention it. Like a dedicated grandmother I sat for the two hour practice and then took the sweaty little kid home. Lo and behold upon arriving at his house the cup was located..exactly where it was this morning when his mother told him to pack it. I think he needs to be a little more responsible, but I also think Mom could have taken a second look around before leaving, knowing that the boy is a boy, therefore scatter-brained.

The Walls Are Up

Last week construction began on the screen porch. The slab was poured with only two mishaps. They cut the electrical line to the garage and when the cement was poured the phone line was somewhat destroyed. That was finally fixed on Friday night.

Friday after work I came home to what appeared to be Menards Lumber Dept. in the back of my husband's truck. He was already pounding away. As of 7pm tonight him and my brother Ben managed to get the walls up (and they're pretty sturdy). At one point Friday night I thought to complain of all the pounding and sawing as I had a nasty headache but then I thought better.

Yesterday was my grandson's first football game of the season (very exciting). It's always a plus when there is a win. To me it was like opening day of football season. Last night we went to Indian Summer, one of the less crowded festivals of the year. We caught the group Burle on stage and as in the past it was a good show. I was a little disappointed in my fry bread taco this year as I opted for chicken instead of beef. I still say the best place to get an Indian Taco is in Badlands, South Dakota. A trip may be in the works.

Today was pretty low key. As I cleaned I could hear the sound of hammers and saws working in the backyard. I wandered out the front door to take a look at the condition of the yard and decided to save that for another day. More leaves and crap are going to clutter the yard, so why clean it all up now. Besides, in my eyes summer is not over yet.

I did catch a little football this afternoon. Had to see if Brett was doing okay. He looked a tad bit nervous during the last few minutes of the game. Watched a little of the Brewers loss. No further comment on that. And, I watched a bit of the Cowboys game (enough to see that Romo's chin was bleeding).

I have one more week of five-eight hour days and then it'd down to a four day work week. I have to keep telling myself that this will be all worth it for a 3 day weekend.

How Rude!

After 11 days I figured it was time to step on the board again. My little Wii person made sure they informed me that I hadn't been around for awhile. I felt good in knowing she missed me. As usual the boxing was right up my alley. I probably should have been boxing for the past 11 days as it does help any pent up anger and frustration that one may carry. In fact I'm trying to figure out how to transport the system to work and use it on my break.

I'm sitting here now waiting for the AT&T repair man to show up. Our phone has been messed up since Tuesday. My phone will ring once and go dead. No voice mail. The line is very static . I called right away Tuesday when I got home and discovered the problem. It's taking some people a while to figure out there's a problem before finally calling our cell phones. This can be annoying as some people have called back three or four times before giving up and trying the cell. So the repair man called about 1/2 hour ago and his call went through. Said he was on his way. He then called back about 10 minutes ago to let me know he was on 92nd & Good Hope and his van broke down. He is awaiting a tow truck. He noted that he didn't think he'd make it tonight and was trying to get someone else to take the job. Certainly there will be a credit applied to my bill for waiting for service. Of Course!

Things are getting somewhat back to normal. I'm still waiting to wake up from the horrible nightmare I had 12 days ago. I'm still trying to make some sense of this. Maybe in time I'll be able to justify the "He's in a better place" or "He's free now" statements, but for now I can't. I'm grateful to all my friends who have been so understanding and caring through all this.

On a lighter note...It's about time we got some rain. Although the day has been gloomy we did need some rain. My grass may not feel or look like a Brillo pad tomorrow.

Getting Back To Normal??

After over a week of taking care of business & sorting through my brother's things, it's back to work tomorrow. I don't think I'm ready. In my mind I know I have to get back to a normal life, but in my heart I don't want to let go. My parents head back to Arizona tomorrow morning and saying good-bye was difficult as usual. This is a time when I do not wish to trade places with them.

I've been told over and over again by many people that in time life will get better. I think what makes it so hard is seeing the girls. The younger one is hurting and showing it in ways a ten year old would. The 15 year old is hurting and shows it like we do. Little things set her off. Her mother sets her off. They have a strained relationship. She had an out with her father. They had an excellent relationship. I think the last time he had to yell at her she was probably around 5.

In two weeks we start a four day 10 hour day. I will now be back to having Fridays off. This will allow me to catch up on things around here. For over a year now I've been putting off organizing and cleaning up the spare rooms. Every time I tried to do it in the past David came to live with us. I think in the back of my mind I put if off thinking he'd be coming back. I may just have to hold that room for his daughter now. Maybe fixing it up in more of a girlie fashion is the answer. She would have a safe haven here. If she could cook that would be a free ticket in.

Getting Better

For a complete recap of the past weeks going's on you can visit Gambino's blog. She summed it up pretty good. The floor thing is pretty good. I'm not sure what's going on there but I have had to wash the thing every day this week. Part of the problem is the construction going on right outside the back door. It all gets dragged in the house.

I thought today would be the first day I could hold it together and I was doing pretty well. I noticed that my dad was very quiet tonight and the few times I inquired he just brushed it off. It must have finally gotten to him right before we were eating dinner as he told me he was upset over a dream he had. He thought it was odd as he never dreams. At first he didn't want to tell me as he didn't want to upset me. My first thought was to leave it alone, but being the caring (yet sometimes stupid) person I am I convinced him to talk about it. He dreamt that my husband and I were walking across a parking lot and feeling down when my brother, Dave came up to us and put his arms around me and told me that he's okay and not to worry. My pizza then became somewhat soggy.

It's been really good to have the family all around each other for the past week. Almost as if no one wants to let each other go. Tomorrow will be another day of sorting through things. I think the more personal items are almost all done. I have found that my brother did value little things in life. Yesterday I found a ton of birthday & Christmas cards. I also found letters that I had written to him in 1987 when he lived in Florida. The closing on my letter was "I miss you". Twenty-one years later I still feel the same.

What Would David Want?

My family made the dreaded trip to the funeral home today. We met outside and all walked in together. I keep trying to hold it together for my parents as they lost their child. They keep trying to comfort us. We managed to make it through all the arrangements without an argument. There were a few areas of disagreement about a certain thing but others were willing to listen in the end we were able to reason things out.

I found today that I've taken some things for granted. This is not the first funeral that I've been along for the arrangement part, but it is the first where I was actively involved. We all lost it a little when picking out prayer cards. I thought I could read it, but half way through thought that this could have been written specifically for my brother. I've picked them up and funerals before and have kept them for memories but I never really read the wording on the card. As I sat there reading it I found a new appreciation for anyone who has ever had to do this. I thought we'd make it through the flower selection without a tear being shed. Mom didn't do to well in this area, which in turn makes the rest of us shed a few.

Since my brother did not have any laid out plans we were forced to take matters into our own hands. This involved a trip to the basement. In the phase that some of us are going through now there were some comments made to "lighten " everyone up. This did help to keep the edge at bay for a few more minutes. Some day maybe I'll be able to write them all down.

We saw a minister in the afternoon to plan the service. We were prompted for good memories. This brought a lot of laughter and tears. We stressed the importance of him speaking to Dave's girls of how much their father loved them.

Tonight was picture board night. I think this helped some of us ease up a little. None of us knew that Dave had so many pictures. His pictures reflected a good life.

With everything we did today I feel that we all had one goal...to try and do what Dave would want.

Ode To Dave

I've had some sad days in my life but today will rate as the saddest.
My brother who had been in the hospital for two weeks passed away at 345 this afternoon. He went in about two weeks ago with difficulty breathing. He was diagnosed with ARDS. On Tuesday this week they induced a coma and put a trachea in so he would be in complete rest and his lungs would be able to oxygenate. There was a routine of turning him every six hours from his back to stomach to see where the better results were.
My other brother and I were at the hospital this afternoon for a visit. Even though he was heavily sedated we'd go visit and leave notes to him and each other. This past two weeks I've how much care and love my family has for each other. My parents should be proud!
We left the hospital around 315 and I went on my way. I decided to call my parents for the daily update and made a stop at Kohl's. I no sooner had a cart in hand when my phone rang. It was a call from the hospital saying he was coding. The nurse though we were still in the hospital. Panic set in to say the least. Not sure how many people I pushed through to get back to my car. I made 1 call to my husband and asked that he make calls to get my siblings up there. Upon entering the hospital I could hear them paging doctors to MRICU stat.
When I got to the floor and saw the nurse in tears I knew something was not good. I was allowed to stand outside his door and saw a group of people desperately trying to help him. By the time the rest of my siblings arrived they had been at it for over 15 minutes. My thanks to the Chaplin who stood by my side. A doctor then came and told us that he had had no pulse for 1/2 hour and even if they could revive him now he had been without oxygen to his brain for 1/2 hours. We had no option but to tell them to let him go.
As I sat in a room with my siblings, children, Gambino (who really is my sister) and my husband I couldn't help but feel all our pain. There was anger from some, which is a way to release sadness, there were questions, there was more crying when thinking about his girls who he loved so much. I made two calls..one to my parents which was hard and one to his ex.
There's a big blur for awhile as we were talked to by the doctor, we thanked the team that tried so hard and we were allowed to say goodbye to our brother. Then it was like everyone kicked it in. We removed his personal things from his room and big brother Ken started to make some arrangements.
The next hardest thing was to tell his girls. His ex did not want to do this alone so I asked her to meet at our house. They pulled in right after us and as I watched them walk up the driveway I was at a complete loss for words. All I could keep telling them was how much he loved them. Fifteen & ten are to young to loose their dad. The youngest one had to be reassured that they would still be coming to family functions.
This past 8 hours has been an emotional roller coaster. I've cried, been angry, tried to get my mind off it and completely lost it several times. My husband's tee shirt is sopping wet and there are not enough kleenex in this house to gather the tears shed by all of us.
I had to make calls to his two jobs and landlord. All three of these people expressed their sympathy and then went on to say that they'd never seen a man that loved his girls more.
I started to think about him a lot tonight. I remember the day he was born. I remember at 14 having to watch him all the time and as much as I whined about it, he was never a problem. He was a fun and silly little kid. He got in his share of trouble and my parent's dubbed him the problem child. My kids loved him. He was their babysitter for a long time and I never worried when he had them. He used to tell me that one goal in his life was to have a family. He tried hard to hold things together when his wife and him had problems, but things just didn't work.
Dave (aka boarder brother) did fun things with his girls. It wasn't a bother to him to take them places. The guy had a heart of gold and would always be there in times of need.
We lost our brother today and in my heart I truly want to believe that God had a bigger plan for him. I know in time the pain will subside but what do you do in the mean time?

Yikes!

This morning I was awoken by the sounds of digging. I didn't intend to sleep to late but this was around 8am. I'm an early riser even on the weekends so this just meant "Up and at 'em " for me. I have some (a lot) of errands to catch up on as the week has just been busy. One of the first things was to tackle the laundry. Second was to clean out the fridge. The fridge is not pretty damn empty, which means a trip to the grocery store is in order also. #3 was to visit my friend the Wii. I walked into the living room with every intention of a 45 minute work-out. I happened to sit down in the chair and look over a new program I had purchased. It was then that I glanced out the window and spotted "The squirrel". It was one of those nature scenes that you just can't look away from. Seems this guy was having a bit of a dilemma in crossing the street. Traffic is not that heavy on our street but between the walkers, joggers,cars and bikes he was having a problem.It got a bit funny as Iwatched him get 1/2 way across and high tail it back to the other side several times. I was almost ready to go out and block the flow so the poor little guy could make it across, when I thought "This is probably the little bugger that's been reeking havoc on my yard". Don't get me wrong, I didn't wish any ill fate on him but what's the worst that could happen?. He may have to take up residence in the yard on the other side.

This little scene went on for about 10 minutes. Run to curb, run to middle of street, yikes...here comes something..scurry back. Each time he would get a little further before heading back. I get the feeling that he had some coaching from the squirrels in the tree, because finally he let loose and really tore butt across the street and into the tree.

That was the end. Now I was going to flip on the Wii and get going. Phone rang which was another 5 minutes and then since I was on the phone sitting by my computer I decided to post. I am on my way!

Oh and here's to a victory by the Brewers, Packers & Cowboys (that's my plug for my friend) last night.

"We're Going To Heavily Sedate Your Brother"

I received the call at around 11am this morning from my brother's nurse. Last night there was talk of inducing a coma. After calling the hospital upon hearing this rumor it was well explained to me. My brother has ARDS. They cannot put their finger on the source of the infection and it's not something that happens overnight. At first they thought his leg wound was it, but after finding no infection there they moved on to internal organs. Nothing found there either. So it's a mystery now.

This afternoon they induced a coma. This will put his body completely at rest and they will be able to oxygenate his lungs and pump him full of antibiotics to see if they can clear the infection. They also moved him on to his stomach which is supposed to aid in filling his lungs. Apparently this is a common practice in very ill people. The only risk involved is that he won't be any better. They'll try this for 1-3 days depending on the results. My siblings and I have become very good at leaving notes. We've come to the conclusion that we all have crappy handwriting made worse with the wearing of gloves.

Yesterday they removed the tubing from his mouth and put a trachea in. The first thing he asked for was ice chips and then a sucker. Not just any sucker, he had to have a lemon-lime sucker , which his younger sister got him. All we can do is hope and pray for the best.

The Fun Continues

I have to say that this is the closest I've been in ages to throwing my hands up in the air and just screaming until nothing more will come out. I think the problem is, I haven't boxed yet today. I'm afraid I'll throw the remote right through the tv screen.

Work Sucks! All the guys who on Monday said they'd be out on the line helping us as we're short handed have drifted off into the sunset. Big talk..no action. It's not my problem anyway. We try to keep lines running but when you run out of supplies and the person you're supposed to call to stock you up is busy doing other tasks..well then you shut down. It's best that they stay in their offices anyway as all they do is whine about how boring or hot it is out on the lines.

Brother is still in the hospital with tubes running out of him all over. At least today he was able to communicate with me a little. He's got a pad of paper and purple crayon to write notes with. Today has been the first day that he's been awake long enough to write something to me. As of right now we know that he has ARDS (adult respiratory distress syndrome). His lungs are full of fluid and they come in to suction him once an hour. It is also possible that there is an issue with his gall bladder and pancreas. Still waiting on test results for that. I've made a ton of phone calls since I've gotten home to his supervisor, boss and other misc. places. Then to top it off I find out today that there is something medically going on with my mother. This is why they have to leave and come back. Nice...
I must just keep telling myself that everything happens for a reason and what don't kill us makes us stronger. Over and over again.

I think I hear my Wii boxing trainer calling...

The Storm After The Calm

I felt a little guilty about going camping this weekend, but after being assured by my siblings that Loria & Ben Sr. would be entertained and in good hands off we went.
I was a little out of sorts as this is probably the first trip in a long time where I had to work a full shift. I felt like I was robbed of a half day of camping. It was nice and very appreciated that things were all set up and basically all I had to do was put my stuff in the camper and settle into a chair for a nice cold one. The weather was great and the company was good also.

On the way home I decided to check my home voice mail. Much to my dismay I found a message from my father asking me to call his cell phone. I immediately knew there was something wrong. I opted to call right away rather than wait until I got home. There is a little history is this. My brother (a.k.a. boarder brother) had had an incident on Tuesday with his leg again. He ended up in the ER but was patched up and sent home. I talked to him on Thursday and he mentioned he was feeling a little faint and very tired. I told him to call his doctor and let him know. This he did but maybe didn't stress how bad it was. On Saturday afternoon he called my parents and asked them to take him to the hospital. He was then having problems breathing. He was taken in and through ER was admitted and procedures were being done to check him for several things. On Sunday morning when my parents went back they could not wake him. This turned into Loria calling for a nurse and a lot of commotion. By the time I called Ben he said they were still working on him and he was going into ICU. I got up there about 2 hours later to find him in ICU with an oxygen mask on and tubes all over. He had some type of infection they were beginning to treat. At this point he was awake and very scared. We left there around 9 Sunday night and he was resting but in some distress. At 5:30 this morning they introbated him. They said he was setting alarms off all night because of his inability to breath. As of 3pm today they put a feeding tube in, he had no clue what was going on, and he has a serious blood infection that has spread to his entire body including his lungs. He is not in good shape and they expect his stay to be at least 4 weeks. We now have to gown up to go see him.
I was there a few hours by myself yesterday and today and sat and thought about how all this happened. We can blame it on his weight, his procrastination of things he should take care of, his depression or whatever we want. The bottom line is he needs help. Whether this comes from his families urging or himself, it's needed. I thought about what a good hearted guy he's always been, as much as a pain in the ass he can be. He'd give you the shirt off his back if you needed it. I thought about the little kid that always tagged along behind me and even though I whined about having to babysit him, I never really minded that much as he was a good kid. I though about how excited my kids would be when he'd come around. I think all he ever wanted to do was have a family. He loves his girls and does everything he can for them. He hated that his marriage ended as it made him feel like a failure.
I could say it's crappy that it takes something like this to pull a family together, but that's not really true with my family. We are pretty close knit and kick it up a notch when there is trouble. I'm not at all shocked by anyone in my family's reaction to their brother being sick, as it's the same with any one of us.
This isn't going to be easy..he has a long, tough road ahead of him in healing. We have a long tough road ahead of us in helping him. In the words of Annette "Everything always works out in the end".

Mom is Here...I repeat...Mom is here

My parents landed in Milwaukee on Tuesday afternoon. As a nice gesture my siblings and I decided to stock their room with a few items. It was also to keep Mom from hitting the local Pick & Save five minutes after she landed. They've made it a habit at staying at an Extended Stay place in the area. Offers have been made for them to stay here but we're answered with "Your father and I just like to relax at night". This is usually met with a gawk from Dad, because I think he'd rather stay with one of his kids and their families. He just goes with Loria's flow.

We fixed them up with numerous items...water, soda, snacks, lunch meat, bread and some condiments that aren't available for quick fingered Loria to steal from the hotel. She got pretty excited about the cushy toilet paper and then showed me that she managed to get two rolls from home (to tide her over until she got to the store) into her suitcase, along with bathroom cleaner and coffee. What can I say? Gotta love her for her crazy ideas.

I phoned them this morning to see what their plans were for the day and was told they were going apartment hunting. Huh! Did she finally cave? Did she finally realize that their getting up there and might want to move closer to their family? Did Ben Sr. finally get through to her? If this is the case and they do decide to move back, even for part of the year, I will be a little more at ease. I would love for them to live their later lives doing what they want but Ben Sr. has had some health issues and as strong as Loria is, I'm not quite sure she can handle anything to stressful on her own. I'd love to make the move and be closer to them to be able to help out, but that would mean leaving my own kids & grand kids. I'm just a little to attached to them and I remember the feelings we all had when Ben & Loria hit the road in 93. As they pulled away in their fully stuffed Saturn I had this unexplainable feeling. Now that there's talk of them maybe returning I'm starting to feel a little hopeful.

As for now the alert is out. Loria will hit Pick & Save at least every other day, she will hit Kohl's a few times, Sara Lee is on the list and of course Kopp's at least 3-4 times( I sent her gift cards) . Funny how we take those places for granted, but she gets a big thrill out of them.

Wii Says I Need to Get Fit

After a two week hunt I finally found and ordered the Wii Fit. With shipping I paid 30.00 more than the store's were advertising but sometimes the grasshopper just can't be patient. It arrived on my front porch today. I was like a kid at Christmas. I'm loving it so far (except for the part that told the truth and told me I was fat). I did Yoga, I ran, I managed to somehow not fudge up on the stepping thing to bad (had to do it 3 times for perfection), I attempted to dodge some soccer balls and I skied. My favorite so far : The hula hoops. I can see this going on for 30 minutes a day, or shall I say "I must do this for 30 minutes a day". My goals are small.

I get a kick out of my husband standing in the room telling me everything I'm doing wrong. I offer to let him check it out and he makes some silly excuse about his back hurting. Just wait until I can golf better than him. Bring it on buddy!

On a different note, I am loosing my faith in our health care system. My sister's husband went in Tuesday for a simple gall bladder removal. He came home Tuesday night and ended up back in the ER at 5am for intense pain. After 6 hours he was admitted to the hospital and they were attempting to control the pain. On Thursday his doctor finally decided to do a scan to see what the problem was. He had bile leaking into his system. Today they corrected that problem. He's usually a very good natured guy, but his comment today was "This mess may warrant a letter".

Mom & Dad are coming to town Tuesday. Won't they be a little shocked at my combat zone of a back yard. We now have a dumpster in our driveway for the broken up cement. It's making it's way into the dumpster little by little. I think I've thrown a stone or two in there since Tuesday.

More Up Then Down

This baseball season hasn't been very good to us as far as getting to a game. "A" can usually score on some tickets through work but they've been few and far between. We managed to get tickets to last nights game. They were the usual seats he gets, 8 rows in back of the Brewers dugout. I love the view, but I have to tell you, the people around that area suck. Every time we've used these tickets it's the same shit. The row in front of us and our row is like a revolving door. Do you think you could take all three of your kids to the bathroom at one time? You don't need to stand up for the entire beer transaction when you are sitting in the 3rd seat off the aisle. These beer guys are pros's, they will get your beer to you when you are seated. I love the game, love the seats, appreciate that they were free, but people just need to be more considerate of those around them. We spent more time standing up to let people in or out then sitting. I felt sorry for Barney as he's a little sore from the porch project.

The best part of this trip was the sites we took in while leaving. If you want to be a big girl and drink, then learn to handle it. At least puke in privacy not on the curb of the most used exit. There she was, some guys perfect girl in all her glory with puke dribbling all over her. I think her boyfriend deserted her, so I'm sure she's up for grabs now.

The next best part of the evening was a stop at Leon's. I think that was the plan for most Brewer fans heading that way as the team shirts were in abundance. My nice husband bought me an ice cream. What a guy!

Update on the porch....Ben and Barney are both pretty sore. Quote from my husband "It was fun for the first hour or so". The cement slab is all broken apart. Now it just needs to be hauled to the dumpster that will be ordered soon I hope. Not sure how long it's going to be until he stops moaning with every move he makes. Growing older sucks!

Buckwheat is Alive!

On my last leg of my route to work this morning I noticed the funky hairdo of the driver in front of me. I then noticed that in the passenger seat was something about the size of a soccer ball but I couldn't make it out. It looked as if the headrest was covered with some type of furry round thing. As we turned the corner I got into the lane next to him and glanced over. Had I been drinking anything it most certainly would be splattered against my windshield at this point. The driver had a Buckwheat thing going on. Dreds all askew. The passenger is what made me laugh the most. This woman had the brightest clown colored perfectly round Afro that I have ever seen. I'm wondering if they were headed for some costume party, buy why at 6am. It made my hair thrown into a ponytail look pretty good.

Remodeling Update..........the walls of the old porch are completely down. Tomorrow the rented jackhammer will be picked up and the breaking of the cement will begin. I figure by the time I get home from work my husband will be unable to stand without jiggling or speak normal for a few hours. HaHaHaHaHiHoney.....HaHaHaHaHaHow was your day? I give him credit, he's taking on a big chore.

Go Brewers!

Coming Of Age

I finally made it into this decade by purchasing a Wii yesterday. What I need to find now is the Wii fit. Appears that everyone is out of them. Can't find it online unless I want to pay nearly double the price. I think my friend Skinny K should sell me hers as I'm fatter than her and need it more. Think that little ditty will work?

I have some kind of bite on my arm that I don't think came from a mosquito. I've managed to keep the itching under control but it's now developed a red blotch around it. I don't feel weak or faint yet so it must not have been anything to drastic. It just looks pretty ugly. This was the result of the weekend of camping. I wasn't bothered much by mosquito's, just flies and nasty earwigs. Those little suckers were hiding every where. We had a good time. The weather was a little muggy but nothing drinking 60 gallons of water didn't cure. I have to say my intake of beer was not much. I figured the water was much better for me than downing 8 or 10 beers. Now I know someone might disagree with me, but it was just to hot to drink beer.

We did manage to keep the fire tended but probably not as well as Stb would have. It was 80 plus degrees outside so we saw no need to huddle around the fire. I think we basically had it because it's what you do when you're camping. The rain did not put much of a damper on the weekend as it rained one night while we were already sleeping and not again until Saturday night around 10 pm. It did help to cool things off a little and make sleeping a little more comfortable.

The trip to the Casino was somewhat profitable for me. T was walking past me and rubbed my arm for a little luck. He couldn't have been more that 10 feet away when I hit $250.00 on a slot machine. I took that out and went to another machine and within a minute or two hit $125.00. That was the end of my streak for this trip. It did keep us out of the hot, muggy weather for a few hours.

As usual the food and company were good. The steaks on Saturday night were good. Bonnie made her infamous crappy coffee cake which was eaten just out of pity for her horrible cooking abilities. (yummy once again) Sorry stb I was unable to save you a slice for fear of being accused of harboring the goodness.

The only thing bad about the weekend was that it ended.

A Long Way From Home

My drive to work every morning is usually spent thinking of random crap. For some reason my imagination seems to run wild in the morning. I think it's the boredom of the ride in.
This mornings focus was on the one lonely mosquito flying around my car. Did it spend the night in my car? Did it get in when I got in? Did it attach itself to me and hitch a ride? Should I kill it? It wasn't making a run for my blood, it was just sitting on the drivers side window. I didn't notice if it had a full belly of blood. I started wondering about the mosquito and if it needed the blood to fertilize it's eggs. Was it the male sent out for food for the not yet hatched eggs? If so he was going to find out that Wauwatosa, where I was getting out, was a long way from my back yard. Or maybe he got in with me last night. I chuckled as I thought about his other half impatiently waiting at home for him. What if he stung and sucked up some blood from a drunk. Would he then come home and be accused of being at the bar? Would she fall for the "took a wrong turn" or "You are not going to believe what happened" story. Should I give the poor fellow a break and open the window and let him out? From where I was as that point he wouldn't have far to go to get back. Should I put him out of the misery of his nagging partner and smack him now? My mind switch directions and went off on some other thought. A few minutes later I felt it. The sting. The smack. That was the end of the worries of the fate of the lonely mosquito. Until that is...

I got home from work and for some reason thought about it again. It intrigued me so I did a little research on the mosquito and found that it wouldn't have mattered where I let HER off. The female is the blood collector and she doesn't use the blood to fertilize her eggs. I didn't spend a whole lot of time on the subject, just enough to know that no future mosquito's were harmed in the swatting of the free loader in my car this morning.

I Need To Dust

I left for the store yesterday morning and returned to find that A and Ben had been working on tearing down the porch. The porch sits on the west side of our house which is where the kitchen and dining room are. It was mostly the width of the dining room. The boys had succeeded in removing the roof and doors. I walked in the house and was shocked by just how bright my dining room was. This was nice, except for on small thing. You could see every speck of dust and you could see dog hair on the floor that I just vacuumed hours before. You could tell that I hadn't dusted the rarely used dining room chairs in a while (not as bad as Stb's). Crap! Now there has been a can of worms opened which is going to just mean more work for me. I am liking the afternoon sunlight hitting the room.

The second problem with having this room under construction is our dog. She has never been on a chain, except for going for walks. She is not a very happy camper right now. Apparently a temporary fence is under construction. Last night I got the lecture on making sure I don't just open the door in the morning and let her out. "Duh" was my reply (I will admit it was a bit cocky). What do I do this morning? You got it, I opened the door, let the dog out, headed for the bathroom and realized my mistake.
I went back outside to find her just sitting on the deck. I'm not quite sure she realizes there is freedom for the taking.

We had a trivia tournament Saturday and although we didn't win big, I think we did okay. The questions were a bit harder than usual and we seconded guessed some of them but out of 26 teams we came in 6th place. We had a substitute player, while Stb was off on a roof top in Chicago. Thanks to Clete and his memory of song lyrics. My husband who was accused of usually being in la-la land was on it with the 3 second sound bytes from TV shows. I watched him scribbling away on his scratch paper as they were being played. I think he's now gotten over us replacing Great American Hero with St. Elsewhere. Oops..sorry honey.

After a long day at Trivia we went on to a small church festival where my husband and brother made their usual haul. Let's just say to all the fellow campers that it better rain a lot as they are stocked up with Jack for a long time. If Bonnie's nice she can probably get one just for sitting in her chair looking pretty. We also have about a years supply of hard salami. After the festival it was a sad goodbye to some great friends who have been visiting from Virgina. We'll miss them. Here's to a safe trip home.

Naked

My husband finally got the drawings together and made the trek to City Hall for the building permit for our porch. By the time I got home from work the demo had started. I didn't even get to say my last goodbyes before he started ripping it to shreds. There must be some kind of sick joy a man gets when ripping something apart as there he stood with crowbar in hand and a scary smile on his face. I know what was running through his head "I'll get you for all the times I had to fix the damn leaks. I'll show you".

By 8pm tonight the entire inside, the windows and the siding on two sides of the porch were gone. Part of the shingles on the roof are off. He had to call it quits as the bugs were getting to him. In a different situation I think he would have been out there with flood lights. Funnier was the guy next door looking over in pure admiration. He wanted in also.

I'm excited about getting a new screen porch, but I'm also a little sad. I can remember coming here when my kids were babies and sitting out on the porch with them and my younger siblings and parents. Many a family dinner, birthday celebrations and holidays were spent on the porch. The playpen was tucked in the corner so the kids could be out there and see out all the windows. Many poker games and board games where played out there. There were a few sleep overs on cots on the screen porch. Many TV shows watched and just chatting around the table. Most of all, my dad built the porch. There have been renovations over the years but it remained the original structure he built. To many good memories.

I know my husband will do an excellent job rebuilding the porch and I'm sure there will be many more memories to come. It's just a little sad right now. The back of my house will look naked for awhile and hopefully will not become a mud hole. Maybe we'll find some rare fossils or coins when digging that could bring us new found wealth.

And Three Makes it "Enough Already"

Late last September our AC took a poop. We had had a service guy over for yearly maintenance and he had discovered that the Freon was low and filled it. They suspected that there might have been a leak but wasn't to concerned about it. At the time we had inquired about the repair costs and replacement cost as the unit is going on 20 years old. So who thinks about these things in the winter when you're more concerned about getting heat in your home? Last week we decided to make an appointment for service. Husband called several places just to get more than one option. Guy #1 shows up yesterday. Not really worth it to fix it as it is at it's life expectancy. Gives us a figure of $2700.00 to replace the unit. After our jaws hit the ground we were able to ask a few questions. This is nothing more than pulling out the old unit and putting in a new one. Some electrical permit is involved. Not sure why. We tell him we'll let him know. In the mean time we borrow a room AC from Ben & Annette (thank you) to put in our bedroom to allow us to sleep.

Did I forget to mention that when I pulled in the driveway after work yesterday that I saw the hood open on my husbands truck? I should have just kept driving. He replaced the water pump today ($80.00).

Guy # 2 shows up today. I was at work so I got the information second hand. $2300.00 and they'll replace the furnace also for $1400.00. WTF? (knock on wood) nothing is wrong with that. He then tells me that the guy said there is a recall on our furnace. It's also 20 years old. I call bullshit as the people that serviced our furnace in March this year would have told us. I think it's a plot. My guess is that now in October when I turn the heat on it will go out. Then I'll get the AC for $1400.00 and the furnace will jump to $2300.00.

So, as if that wasn't enough...I decide to do laundry tonight. Go to put the first load in the dryer, turn on the dryer, the heat comes out but the drum does not turn. "Oh no, this is not happening" I calmly reach inside and turn the drum by hand, close the door, start it up and it makes this terrible clunk and begins to turn. I'm thinking the belt must have slipped. I then got a little nervous that it would stop and just burn my clothes so I went downstairs every few minutes. The old gal held on for three loads. I told Mr. Fix-It when he got home and all I saw was rolling eyes. Poor guy took vacation this week to begin working on the screen porch and has done nothing but fix things so far. I could put money on the fact that it won't get looked at.

This is my bad things happens in threes. I consider myself free and clear for awhile now. I can now go on living my life a little easier until the next thing comes along.

If this is the worst that's going to happen I feel pretty fortunate.

I Really Need To Carry A Camera

When I left the house yesterday morning for Summerfest there was a little chill in the air. Local weatherman said cooler by the lake. Using my better judgement I left the jacket in the car. There was no need for the extra baggage to carry around. The weather was great! A few of the guys managed to get a little pink in the face.

The day was interesting. Anytime there is a large gathering of people there are some that really stand out. I'm pretty sure it's the ones that want to stand out. This is where the lack of a camera is felt. People watching is a great thing! There were the usual Mohawks but what I found strange was the 50 plus year old woman with the red, white and blue one. There must have been a sale on black fishnet stockings somewhere as they were worn by many early 20 girls. The best outfit has to go to the girl with the thigh high fishnets made really fashionable with the furry boots. I spotted a girl that appeared to have lost her shorts or pants as she was just sporting boy shorts undergarments. I can pretty much say they were of the Hanes collection. We stopped to listen to a band (I am bad with band names) who had a good following of the "charlie Brown Christmas Special Dancers".

It was a good day. The bottled beer was chilled, the fried eggplant was better than last year and the company of friends was good. We left around 6 ish to be driven to the Park & Ride on a very empty bus. There was a little bit of silly singing for every one's enjoyment on the trip back. We were then able to enjoy a minute or so ride in STB's car back to Ben & Annette's house for a dinner of Gold Rush chicken and pizza and the best fries in Milwaukee.

It's A Vacation Day That You Can't Go Home

The tittle of my blog is a quote made by a co-worker on Tuesday. It was pretty dead by us for three days. We were on a repetitive, yet boring job. Around 8am Tuesday I made the comment that this could be a long two days. After joking around a bit I said "It's like hell with no fire". A few minutes later he came back with his comment. For some reason all three of us found it funny at the time.

Fortunately my company gave us a four day weekend. I'm thankful for that, as our weekend has filled up quite a bit. Today my daughter, sister and I took 6 kids to the Racine Zoo. I haven't been there in about 20 or so years. It's very small but very well kept and the kids seemed to enjoy it. There's quite a few animals with no lines or people mashing into you to get a view of the gorilla that moved an inch. The view of the lake is great. Racine has a very well kept beach area which I've been to before for air shows. And here's a plus...it doesn't smell at the beach.

The weather is promising to cooperate for the weekend. I'm glad it won't be sticky hot as walking around Summerfest sweating your ass off isn't all that appealing to me. We're looking at mid 70's which, if it happens could be perfect. I'm not really into the fireworks thing so we'll be heading to Ben & Annette's house after Summerfest. Sounds like a good day is in order.

Happy 4th To all of you and remember to say a little prayer for all those protecting our Country right now.

It's Raining Again.....

I think the only thing that would have cut through the humidity Friday & yesterday was for it to rain. The clouds that were coming toward my house yesterday afternoon did prove to be a little nasty. And the cooler dryer air that came with it was a relief from the humidity. Today I was able to shut off all the fans in the house and let nature take it's course. It's cooled off quite nicely.

I ventured out with my friend today to our first visit of Strawberry Fest held in Cedarburg. We were meeting up with some others and were warned in advance to get there early as it does get a bit crowded. They were planning on arriving at 7:30 am for the start of the Strawberry Pancake Breakfast. We were not going that early. We arrived around 9am and the crowd was pretty scarce. That is until we walked the the main road and saw "the line". The line for the pancake breakfast went down the block and around the corner. Sorry but no pancake is worth that wait in line for me. We opted for the $3.00 Strawberry Shortcake which proved to be possible the best I've ever eaten. We met up with our friends and strolled around a bit. By around noon the crowd was getting thick. It was that shuffle, shuffle, kind of walking. I was constantly looking for a spot to break free. Then I took a look at the sky and noticed the dark clouds. We decided to leave around 1230 and as we got it started raining. Had it been a little warmer and not so crowded we may have stuck around as there were a few bands playing but seriously beside the small vendor tents there was no where to go to not get soaked. That and the fact that the two public bathrooms I saw had lines longer than drunken Opening Day.
All in all I did accomplish the shuffle. Now I should be all set for Summerfest.

Future File Tape

My husband has been working some long hours the past week due to his company having a booth at Summerfest this year. Yesterday he came straight from work in time to catch the ending of the first inning of Dylan's baseball game. He looked pretty worn out. After a few minutes he casually mentions to me that his mug may be on tv later. He was interviewed while setting up at Summerfest and told to watch the 10 pm news. I walked in the bedroom after Trivia last night to find him sound asleep and caught him on the news. His infamous words while unloading the back of the work truck "Yeah, it's been a rough one". End of his fame. When I told him about it this morning he laughed and remarked that they had talked to him for about 5 minutes. I also had to ask him if he knew this was coming as his hair was looking somewhat good. Not the usually standing on end or combed back look. Perhaps they caught him early in the day.

This is not the first time he's been on the tube. His company was on the Gus Tour show about a year ago and he's all up in the tube. They were also on about 3 years ago and he was on for a quick second. I think he may have gotten over his camera jitters. Wonder what's next?

Free Food?

I don't usually touch on news items to much as I like to keep my opinions of some things to myself, but today I feel compelled to voice my thoughts.
Is this the way we want Milwaukee portrayed in the news? I know it's a touch of reality, but is it that we are that needy of a city, or that we are loaded with free-loaders? Did the city bite off more than they could chew? Did they not think that the offer of $542.00 in food vouchers for a family of 4 would not cause near riot scenes? The sad part about this is that probably only 25% of the people who stood on the line were actually flood victims. Having some of your kids clothes that were in the basement get wet does not make you worthy of receiving free food vouchers.
Openly admitting on camera that you're just there to see if you can get them, and don't really need them does not make you anything more that a free-loader.
Then to have the alderman and Mayor speak about how they were so shocked at the amount of people that showed up (1/2 of them not even knowing why they could get these vouchers) and say they didn't realize that our city had that many hungry people. Yes, we have hungry people. We have a lot of people who need help and cannot get it. They don't have enough people to process these applications, so many of these vouchers will get into the wrong hands. Your penalty for lying on the application: a $250,000 fine and up to 10 years in prison. If they bilked you into getting the vouchers, they will bilk their way out of any kind of retribution for lying. They will be let go as "Uneducated victims who didn't understand what they were applying for".
I've been in the down and out position in my life and did stand on the cheese line once and also received WIC for 6 months. I was fortunate enough to have parents who, without me asking, helped out. I would come home from mom's to find a few food items tucked in the diaper bag. In the words of my father "Where there's a will, there's a way". Sometimes we are all guilty of not getting our priorities straight but one with responsibilities soon will learn from their mistakes. I am, however not guilty of ever being a moocher. I can always find someone that's in a worse way than I am and help out if needed. The people that I saw on the news yesterday and this morning were nothing more than guilty of trying to get something that they do not have coming. The one's that really had the help coming were probably at the end of the line. Why do our news stations only show the idiots?

Polka Dots, The Monkey, A Fashion Show & Prizes

Apparently dousing yourself in a vat of mosquito repellent wasn't enough to ward off the pesky little varmints this weekend. I guess it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that mucho rain=standing water=eggs=hatching=mosquito's=biting me.
The back of my legs, my ass and my back has the appearance of measles. Fortunately, not many of them itch yet, but I'll be taking the generic anti-itch medication I picked up just for this occasion.

Other than that minor problem the weekend went well. Once again there was way to much food, plenty to drink and the company of good friends. This year the task of Pudgie Pie cook was handed over with proper ceremony to Stb, who did a fine job. You can probably read about it in his blog if he is not to modest to gloat a little.
We had a few sprinkles of rain but for the most part the sun was present most of the weekend.

Our guest this weekend was "monkey". He came flying in shortly after dusk of Friday night. My husband "scored" on this furry little creature with rubber band sections of legs & arms. You pull this thing back like a sling shot and when it lands it makes this annoying, yet funny screaming noise. "Monkey" survived the weekend being annoying, yet never being tossed into the fire.

I know the motto "What Happens At Camping, Stays At Camping" but I cannot hold back on the Saturday morning fashion show. Some one's father disappeared into his camper and reappeared moments later wearing a striking pajama ensemble made lovingly for him by his talented seamstress bride. These pj's will hold sentimental value as they were crafted from the very own "rainbow" collection of sheets that C & R used to tuck J and baby Precious into at night. And as if C didn't work hard enough on that project, she managed to (while sometimes under the influence) whip out 16 scrubbies in a vast assortment of colors. Time was a ticking away and that needle was going at a steady rate but she finished in time to award the prizes for those who earned them. The contest: when making the potato salad C found that some of the potato's were to small to cut up so she left them whole. Those who wished to partake in the contest were required to find the whole potato's. I think there's one still hidden in the bowl of salad so R could earn himself a scrubbie.

All in All it was a good weekend. For the next few day while I am scratching away I will have fond memories.