Druggy

Too funny.

I was trying to read the paper and Monster was just being annoying so I gave her "the boost."  It must have hurt her feelings. When I sat down later and clucked to her (an invitation to come on over) she just sat there. She usually comes running but this time didn't even move or turn around. Gave me the cat version of the cold butt.

"Ahhh..." I coaxed, "you know you want to..."

She flicked her tail at me.

Fine. I'm a master at waiting.

Besides - she won't last long. She's addicted to having her ears massaged. And that weird thing she does where she buries her nose in my chest, inhales and blisses out? Yeah, she has to have a hit at least every couple of hours, more if she can get it.

Ha! Flick your tail all you want deary. You'll be back.
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Exit Strategy

Sometimes we get to chatting and time slips away from us...what's to do? Well, first off, if you're visiting say, at my house, and neither of us have anything pressing to do and we're enjoying ourselves - then let's keep talking!

However, if the time has come that I need for you to leave, several things will happen...

First - I'll glance (once) at my watch/or clock and say, "Oh, look at the time, I have to....", or if I've no child to pick up or appointment to go to (see, one doesn't want to lie), then I'll wait for a lull in the conversation, put a pleasant smile on my face & maybe clasp my hands gently together, tell you "Well, it's been lovely having the chance to visit, it's been great (or fill in the appropriate adjective) to see you. Thank you for coming,"

Then I'll gracefully rise and take a step toward the door.

If you're not moving I may extend one of those hands that have been so gently folded and graciously indicate the way to the exit.

Now see, this is where y'all need to pay attention.

Get up.

Leave.

Atta girl/boy!!!

AND If. You. Need. To. Leave. Please feel free to follow the same procedure.  Politely end the conversation. Follow the above strategy and we'll all meet at the door.

Only it's my house remember -

I stay.

You still go.
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Favorite Pictures II

six

years

old

summer

of

1995

#2

in

the

series

of

pasting

her

face

all

over

the

place
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Make My Day

Back in the grocery store. And no, I don't live there. "They" won't let me buy any more Morning Moo, which necessitates a weekly run to the store for milk.

Anyway, crusing thru the aisles. A young man stops, looks at me, and says, "Don't I know you?" Tall, good looking kid. Beautiful blue eyes. Gorgeous, long, thick, black hair... In other words not the kind of guy I don't notice.

And...I got nothin'. He gets the blank look from me and I start to shake my head , smile apologetically and move on.

"No. Wait!" he insists. "Didn't you used to show sheep?"

"Ummm, yeah." My mind races. It's been a few years, but maybe a kid from one of the other 4H groups???

He stops my musing with, "I'm Carl."

Now hopefully, it was just a split second but it felt a lot longer, as the wheels in my ancient brain started to turn and the light finally came on. I was a 4H leader for 15 years. Carl & his brother Gene were in my group for a while.

"Carl? Little Carl?" My eyes travel from his toes to his head, which is now a minimum of a foot taller than when I last saw him. I start laughing. "Oh my, I would have walked by you a hundred times and never have known." He grins sheepishly, shuffles his feet and says, "Yeah, I know, the long hair and all."

"Oh no, kiddo. The hair looks good on you. It's just that you're so tall, so handsome, and so...grownup.  Wow!"

It was great seeing him. We chatted for a while and caught up. He graduates this year. It was time to go so I stepped forward to give him a hug goodbye. Now some kids, would give the old lady an awkward pat on the shoulder, but Carl just grinned, grabbed me up and schmunched me to him.

 "Good times - 4H, county fair, sheep, hogs, heat..."

Yeah, good times. A lot of work. But yeah...

And then he was gone.

The little boy with the great big smile, all gone. In his stead I watch a fine young man walk away.

Wow.




Note to all young people: If you want to make an adult's day... Let them know you remember them. Let them know that somewhere along the way, they made a difference. 

You'll make their day. Who knows, you might even bring a tear to their eye.

Or just plain make them cry.

Like...all the way home.
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Favorite Pictures

Can you believe that #1 Daughter told me I could not post the
Bumble Bee Ballerina picture?

It is adorable! One of my favorite pictures of her.

Cannot she says. Bahhh. This is war!

Unfortunately my scanner died so it will have to wait.

But don't worry - I'll post it later. Consider it a date!

Meanwhile just to annoy her I'll paste her face all over the place.

Everyone has to have a hobby.

Exactly! Get Your Butt Outa "My" Seat!!

ROTFLOL!

Dr. Laura Moment

Farm Boy keeps his car radio tuned to talk radio. I'm running The Youngest to school - in Farm Boy's car. There is a Dr. Laura "moment" on in the middle of Glenn Beck. A woman is embarrassed to go golfing with her husband because the normally sane man goes berserk the moment he hits the greens. "How can I stop him?", she asks. "How do I make him change? His behavior is mortifying."

"You don't," says Dr. Laura. "No one can make anyone do anything. You don't have that kind of power. But you can control what you do and how you react. Next time he pulls that stunt, don't say anything. Walk up to him, kiss him gently on the check (a reassurance that you still care about him) and then...walk calmly away. Leave. Go home, go shopping. Do not come back to the golf course. You are signaling that if he chooses to act like that you will not condone the behavior. And if he wants your company in the future, he'll have to alter his actions."

So let check this scenario out in another venue...

If you're two states away from home in your RV, on vacation, and the hubs (who doesn't travel well) pitches a fit again, we'll  assume you had the foresight to pocket a spare key for the motorhome, and aside from the kiss - all you need to do is make sure he has his wallet on him and we'll hope he has enough credit for that plane ticket home. Right?
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It's All in the Timing

11:30 am. Phone rings. A member of the teacher's quorum is calling with a message for The Youngest. (He's in the shower.) I'm told that "we" need to provide 2 dozen cookies for the fireside tonight.

Well Jenner, thanks for the call. Today. Now. At 11:30am.

Did I mention it was 11:30 in the morning? Oh yes, I see I have. Is that a problem? Well... We leave at 12:15 to set up for geneology & sacrament. Sacrament starts at 1pm. We finished church at 4pm. Take care of cannery assignments etc. so home by 4:30. Various leadership meetings begin at 6pm. Fireside begins at 7pm. Silly me was hoping to have our Sunday family dinner in there, somewhere.

Now we're not even going to quibble about whether we should be baking cookies on a Sunday. I usually go with the neighbors oxen in the mire thing...

What I want to know is...

Are there any 14 -15 year old boys with grey matter inside their skulls or is it all Winnie the Pooh "stuffed with fluff?" Oh dear.

It's not Jenner's fault. Although a timely reminder say, Friday night, might have been nice.

No, not Jenner's fault at all. Because my 15 year old was aware of the task. But that great gap of time between the Wed. nite meeting when they discussed it, and the 5 minutes it took to get home and put it on the calendar?

Sigh.

The distance seems to have defeated him.
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Voted Off the Island

There is a blog I check occasionally. Gal is....40ish. Wicked sense of humor. I very seldom comment. Hardly ever actually. But I did a couple of days ago. Pretty innocuous, just letting her know I enjoyed her post. I checked to make sure it went up and noticed that I'd linked my ID to a site I just started that deals with church, food supply, and general preparedness. I hadn't logged out before I went surfing.

Oophs. Didn't mean to do that. Oh well, no biggy.

Checked to read her latest post yesterday. Then went to read additional comments on the other post... Mine was gone. Not there. It had been removed.

???

Apparently she's a little selective about her commentators. No Mormons need apply or certainly none that could lead you back to a site that was as subversive as food storage.

Huh. Alrighty then.
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Smelling Good

Sitting in the foyer last Sunday at church. Waiting, somewhat impatiently, for my people to be ready to leave. Three + hours of sitting. I'm done here. Wendy comes and settles beside me to chat. She starts leaning in...sniffs..."ummmm, you smell good. Really good!"

"Thanks," I say. I kinda shrug my shoulder to get her sitting back upright.

She leans in to sniff again. "It's.."

"Burt's Bees..." I start.

"Honey & Orange Wax!!!" She supplies. "I love that stuff! You'll have all the guys buzzing around!"

?????

Now that thought gave me a moments pause. (It wasn't a necessarily good moment either LOL)

My response?

"Whatever....just as long as they don't try to pollinate."
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Old Friend, Old Buddy, Old Pal...

The phone rings. I quickly scan caller id. Out of area number. Hmmm....silly me, I pick it up anyway.


"Hello?"


A bright, cheery voice blares at me, "Kay! How are you doing?"


Kay?


I politely say, "I'm sorry, you have the wrong number."


Before I can hang up... "Huh? What? Well that's okay," she chirps, "I can talk to you! We're asking..."


There are some things in life that are kinda like fingernails on a chalkboard for me. Telemarketing is on that list. This particular approach was especially irritating. No Kay? Well that's alright! They weren't really interested in how she was doing anyway or me either for that matter. But they do seem to have a 'vested' interest in my checkbook.

You know, I can be equally sincere...So we'll solve that little problem with a quick click.

Darn. Finger slipped.

(My bad?)

-

It's a Service We Offer

I've mentioned The Youngest has a broken arm? Back to the doctor, yesterday, for a 5 week surgical follow-up. He had a dissolving stitch, that's not dissolving. The scar was breaking open and is infected. So the doctor digs it out (literally) and prescribes an antibiotic. Take every 6 hrs. Don't screw up. It's a bacterial infection and if it gets to the metal plate ... we don't even want to go there.

So 6am, 12N, 6pm & 12M?

First three, of course, very do-able. That midnight thing, okay, I'll stay up and wake him briefly and it'll be done.

I tell him what's going on. Remember it's a school night. What does The Youngest hear?  He grins, grabs the channel changer and starts looking for a movie to watch.

"Ummm, buddy? Whatcha doing?"

"Well," he says, "midnight is a ways away."

"No, no. It's 9 o'clock. Time for you to go to bed. I'll stay up and wake you at 12 to take your meds."

Silence.

"Buddy?"

No Response.

"School."

All's quiet on the home front.

"Move."

Do I not sound serious enough?

"Nowwww."

Still shaking my head. Is he related to his father or what?
-

Stray Scraps of Paper

Just never know when something will strike you.... Reading scriptures this morning. A little stray scrap of paper fluttered out. It's been there for a while and I have no recollection where I found it originally or when I put it in but reading it again, I can see why I saved it -

I Am Only One

I am only one,

But still I am one.

I cannot do everything;

And because I cannot do everything

       I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.         
   Helen Keller

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Thought for the Day

Famous Will Rogers Quotes

I love Will Rogers, and they tell me he was a democrat!  Go figure.

One of my favorite quotes of his is:

"Good judgment comes from experience, and a lot of that comes from bad judgment."

That saying goes hand in hand with "There are no mistakes, just experiences we learn from..."

Keeping that in mind we'll revisit Jan. 23, 2010. On that bright Saturday morning The Teachers and their advisers loaded up and travelled to Bluewood to learn how to snowboard and earn their snow sports merit badge. The Youngest and 14 other young men (11 of whom had never snowboarded before) headed for the slopes and with short period of instruction were turned loose to hit the ski lift.

First run, he barrels into another boarder. Fortunately the other guy was okay. The Youngest, however, ended up with a spiral fracture of his left humerus.

Quality time has been spent in the ER, at the orthopedic surgeons and getting xrays. And on Feb. 10 we got to go to the hospital operating room, and having a stainless steel plate w/ seven screws inserted in his arm because it had not been healing properly. It will be an ongoing process for him to regain full use of the arm. And some amazing dr/hospital bills have been coming in. Six weeks later we're up to about $25,000  for a broken arm? and still have current billings yet to arrive. I am so in the wrong profession!

If playing the blame game would do any good there are a couple of people who could participate. But the most valuable lesson for The Youngest is that even if you're only 15 there is no time like now to take responsibility for yourself. Blind obedience, peer pressure, the age old "instinct" to follow the herd....all bad ideas if you don't bother to utilize your own brain first. I used to snow ski when I was younger. I remember offering some pretty sound advise before he left the house. All of which he ignored. While I'm not happy with how this went down this is not a "I told you so" post.

I'm just going to keep quoting Will Rogers.

Meanwhile - he has "a really cool" scar to show all his buddies.

Heading for the Last Roundup

My faithful steed, a 2000 Dodge Grand Caravan, has been deserted by the side of the road. Shirley & I took off to go visiting teaching and while out on the highway heard this strange little crick crick crick sound. Long story short...turns out the transmission was going. We made a valiant run for home which ended about one block short of my driveway..

Nooooooooo.

Sigh. Farm Boy will evaluate the damage. We'll have to decide if it's more cost effective to repair or replace. Either way I know I have other things I'd like to do with that money.

Excuse me now while I go curl myself up into a ball and suck my thumb. I'm sure that will make it all better.
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Earthquake #2

Poor Chile. Has anyone besides me wondered about the news coverage? Their earthquake was bigger. Fewer people died, of course, because their housing wasn't built, mud swallow nest style, into hillsides like the Haitians. And people wonder why 'white folk' flee the inner cities...

But still Chile could use some help. However, the world is suffering from a bad case of deja vu. They've already reached into their pockets, anted up, mouthed sympathies, and done their thing - for Haiti.

Now Chile wants/needs?

Sorry guys. You, apparently, have the great misfortune to be victims of bad timing.
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Cancelled. Again.

Gotta love that delete button. The story that went with this title actually got published and was posted for several days. But as my friend Kim is known to say...."that's just mean." Yup, I was irritated and being snarky. I know, you're so surprised. ME?!!! But I'll keep the title up just in case - to remind myself to behave. I may be a better person for it someday.
I'm putting this on the "issue" down/gone/resolved list. (Where's that golf club?)

998 to go.
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Thought For The Day

It's time for the kitten boys to go to the doctor.

It's the right thing to do.

They're the only ones on the list...so far.

Memories

My neice blogged recently about a trip to Walmart...with her two young daughters. Says Abby:  "What was I thinking?????"

So a couple of days later when I was at the grocery store, in the parking lot... Was stowing my bags and watching a young mother. She had the cutest little girl, about 6-7 months old, in the grocery cart. An adorable two year old was trailing behind her. Mom kept sweetly encouraging him to keep up. Tried to hold his hand as she pushed the cart. It was awkward. The baby bobbled around and the two year old wanted to run and kept pulling his hand out of hers. Mom diligently worked it. He was an active toddler. You understand the term, understatement, right? Made it to her car to unload and turned to push the cart to the cart rack.

Note:  The cart rack is one of those double sided ones that can be accessed from either end. You put the cart in on the right side as you face it. That bar (the small one) swings inward so the cart can be pushed through. The left hand bar will not open from this side. Their arrow probably needs to be a lot bigger.

Just as Mom starts to push her cart toward the rack opening our two year old jets. She is finally exasperated. She gives the cart a firm shove and lunges for the boy. There is a loud crash. She turns (with our runner clenched in her grasp) and gasps. She had shoved the cart (with baby still in it) at the rack on the left hand side. The cart hit the unmovable bar and came to an - abrupt halt. Baby girl holds her breath for several seconds and Starts. To. Wail.

Oh dear.

The young woman soothes her daughter. She'll be okay. She wasn't hurt, mostly startled by the noise. Poor baby. Poor mom. I'm thinking she's ready to go home. Who'd have thought an early morning shopping trip with two little people could be such a hassle?

Ah memories. I so have the - been there, done that t-shirt.

I quickly duck into my van. I don't want her to see me laughing.

-

Good News!

Headlines read....Shark Attacks Down!

Yes?

Good news indeed.

Kinda.

Sorta.

Apparently, because of the poor ecomony fewer people can afford to go to the beach. Don't have enuf money for gas to make the trip. Less people equal fewer total shark/human interactions. Therefore lower shark attacks reported.

We've probably been looking at this situation all wrong. I wonder what else Obamanomics can help save us from???

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