Monday. New Day. New Week.

I still don't like Mondays!  But Monday still came, even though I didn't want it to.  Guess I'll just have to put up with it.

Froggy, you commented about engineers.  Yes, they do have their redeeming moments.  I'll agree to that.  But they also have their other moments!  :)

I have a general prayer request.  I'm not going into details, but someone I know is having a hard time dealing with a situation at their work and I think that prayer would help.

I also have another prayer request, this deals with someone that Froggy and I are both close to and there is a health issue that is serious with one of their relatives.  Prayers please!

The doggies had an outing today.  They went with me to get Otter from college.  I have about 45 minutes or so after I get home, before I have to head back out to get her.  It only takes me about 10 minutes to get there, it's not far at all.  So, if I don't have any errands I will come home from work and then go back to get her a little bit later.  Today, the dogsters got to go!  They were happy, but then they generally are when they hear the word "ride."  We headed out a little early, and we got there about 10 minutes before Otter's last class of the day let out.  Maggie spent most of the ride sitting in the front seat, where Otter usually sits.  Frasier was camped out in the back seat and he takes up the entire seat, so Maggie wouldn't have had any room in the backseat anyway.  They were happy to get in the car, but then they got just a little droopy at first.  Until they realized that we were heading in the opposite direction from the vet's, that is.  Then they were happy crazy.  When we got to the school and parked, I rolled all the windows down and they went from side to side just to stick their heads out each window.  Then Maggie apparently realized that we were waiting for Otter, and she stood up with her front feet out the window and the tail on full wag.  I'm surprised that the dog even has a tail left, I thought it might just wag off!  They were very happy to see Otter, although Maggie was so happy that Otter almost couldn't get in the car.  They have always gone to get her from school on an occasional basis, and they always knew where they were going (once we got past the vet's).  I'm sure that they'll remember, they won't go often but they will be happy when they do.

While I was home, the school bus went by.  They didn't react to it, so I guess they've figured out that the sound no longer means Otter.

I went to Wallyworld at lunch today.  And discovered that they are putting their fabric department back in.  Otter and I thought we saw material bolts in the store we were in yesterday, but we were on the way out the door when we noticed it.  I was at a different one today, and I asked.  I'm glad that they are bringing it back.  So is Otter.

Froggy, I'm thinking that I might finish the scarf for your friend tonight.  I got a lot done on it yesterday.  I measured it quickly, so I might be off on the amount I have left, but it's going fast.  As soon as it's finished, I'll get her hat done.  Then I'll get your sock monkey hat assembled (the pieces are done, it's just not put together) and I'll send it all to you along with your swiffer cover.  I'll let you know.  Probably sometime this week.

Then I need to find another de-stashing project.  Somehow, I don't think that's going to be difficult to do.

Sunday Whatever

I can't think of a really good title today.  I'm tired, and it's kind of been a "whatever" day today.  We've been busy around the house, Otter and I had a couple of errands and we went to church.  Normal stuff.  Just not anything spectacular going on!  Laundry, of course.

Froggy, I started the scarf for your friend yesterday.  I'm about half-way through it.  It's mostly reds & oranges with some yellows, the cap will probably be purples.  De-stashing is fun!  Of course, de-stashing means that I'll have to go buy more yarn at some point - or at least, that's what Otter told me this afternoon when we were at a fabric store.  (I think she was trying to justify the large stash of fabric & sewing supplies she has, and enabling me is apparently the way to go).   :)

We've watched some of the coverage of the hurricane, it's kind of hard to avoid it.  Having been through a few in S. TEXAS, we know what it's like.  We were pretty far inland from the coast, so we didn't get the brunt of it or the wave/water surge, but we did get the winds, thunder, hail and occasional twisty thing.  We also had to go to Pt. Aransas and help clean out the clubhouse that Dad's war veteran buddies had.  But we are always amazed at the stupidity of some people - specifically the reporters!  If there is a bad storm with humongous winds and lots of water coming at you, the last thing you need to do is go stand out in it!  Yet every storm, there are always several reporters who do just excatly that.  Not to report, either.  Just for attention for the network, I guess.  Also, the people who live in the areas probably have more than enough to deal with, without having to worry about reporters risking their lives just for a story.  We were watching one of the news shows, I guess it was early Friday morning, and the reporter was standing right at the edge of a road overlooking a coastal area.  It's pouring, the wind is blowing hard and what does he do?  Flags down a cop just to talk!

While we are on the subject of weather, it's warm here.  Not particularly hot, but it is humid and that's causing a problem for my asthma.  Otter's having allergy issues, with some mild asthma triggered but part of her problem is probably related to the fact that she couldn't use her daily inhaler during the recovery time from the oral surgery.  It's the type of inhaler that is triggered by suction, and it was not something she could do while she was waiting on the stitches to be removed and the dentist to ok it.  It's a cumulative effect, she's been able to use it since Friday morning but the few days without it have had an effect.  Not a bad one, just enough that she's noticed it.  Ragweed is also starting to go crazy, and that bothers both of us.  Something is also affecting my skin.  I'm itchy!  No idea what it could be, I have not been around anything that could be bothering me.

Lots of hummingbirds lately.  We have 3 that we see on a regular basis, with a couple of other showing up occasionally.  And geese!  Geese are pretty common here, they are all over the place and there are several spots where they congregate.  More than once, I've had to wait for them to cross the street while driving to/from work.  There is a huge flock that mostly lives at Otter's school campus, one in particular named Cleopatra that apparently sees all the students as invaders in her territory and she tells them about it!  When Otter had her orientation at the school, Cleopatra decided that she wanted Otter's cookie and followed her around for quite a while, honking!  (No, Otter did not share her cookie with Cleopatra).

I think we're getting our flu shots this coming Friday.  I don't want to wait any longer than we have to, and we specifically picked Labor Day weekend because of the Monday holiday.  Last year, I had a slightly worse reaction than normal and it lasted the entire weekend and into Monday.  So, this year we chose a 3-day weekend.  Which pretty much guarantees that I'll have little to no reaction at all!  Part of last year's reaction was very possibly because of the swine flu vaccine being included.  Otter is wondering if the Red Head curse will occur this year.

Froggy, you asked about problems with blogger and comments not posting.  I haven't had any issues with it, so I'm not sure what the problem is.  I have checked all my blog features and the spam folder that blogger has, but I don't have any comments that haven't been posted.  Are you sure you finished the process, and didn't skip the final step?

Guess that's it for today!

The End Is In Sight

The end of this looooooooooong, HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT Summer, that is.

I realized today that it will be September 1st one week from today.  It's been a long summer in many ways, but it also seems to have flown by.  Except for the part in the middle where it was well beyond hot for many, many days.  That part kind of crawled.  But the rest of it has been quick.

And different.  It was kind of strange not to have to go buy school supplies.  (Well, we did but they were textbooks and cost a lot more than school supplies ever did!)  It was kind of strange not to have to go out to a public school to pick up a schedule and locker assignment, order a yearbook, etc..  It was kind of strange to realize yesterday that today is the day the local public school opened.  It was even stranger this morning to hear the school bus going down the street and realize that we didn't have to hurry Otter out the door to catch it!  (Yesterday, the way I realized that today is the local school start is because the buses had their practice runs).  We're wondering if the dogs are still going to be waiting at the door when the school bus goes by, they always knew that the sound meant that Otter was going to be coming in the door shortly.  But she didn't ride the bus too much last year, and they didn't always wait by the door after she stopped riding it often.

Otter's unstrung!  Or at least her stitches are out.  The dentist said that everything looks great.  She's thinking that it will probably be about a year before we know for sure on the top two.  They will most likely have to come out, no matter how straight they come in, because Otter doesn't have enough room for them.  At any rate, Otter was very happy because she can eat regular food now and can use a straw again.  But tops are easier than bottoms, or so the dentist told me.  Whatever, we'll worry about that if/when we have to.

But the tooth fairy might be on vacation then! :)  Maybe she'd better start saving her money now?

Dog Tired

That describes me today.  And also Otter.  And I think Billyboy's right in there with us.

Otter's tired because she had to do a lot of walking at school today.  Bill's tired because he had a hard day at work today.  I'm tired because I had a looooooooooooooooooong day at work followed by an exhausting trip to the grocery store.

Also, it was 108 today.  Which might have something to do with it!

(Note to self:  go get the sun tea off of the deck.  Don't wait until dark this time).

Froggy, I have looked through my stash and I think I have several colors of yarn that your friend will like.  I did have to go buy purple, I seem to use a lot of that color for some reason.  (Otter, probably!).  But I have several others to use with it.  I'll let you know when I get it done, but I probably won't have time to start on it before Saturday.  I'll send it to you along with your sock monkey hat and swiffer cover.

Otter gets to see the dentist tomorrow.  The stitches come out!  She's doing great, she being somewhat careful with what she eats obviously.  But she's pretty much recovered from the oral surgery.  Although jello is still on her menu.  But it generally is.

The dogs are still lazy, no change there.  No surprise, either!

OK, short update but at least it's done.  So, Froggy - you can't gripe at me now about not blogging! :)

For Otter

How did it get so late so soon?
It's night before it's afternoon.
December is here before it's June.
My goodness how the time has flewn.
How did it get so late so soon?
~Dr. Seuss


Oh! The Places You’ll Go!

by the incomparable Dr. Seuss


Congratulations!
Today is your day.
You’re off to Great Places!
You’re off and away!


You have brains in your head.
You have feet in your shoes.
You can steer yourself any direction you choose.


You’re on your own.
And you know what you know.
And YOU are the guy who’ll decide where to go.


You’ll look up and down streets.
Look’em over with care.
About some you will say, “I don’t choose to go there.”
With your head full of brains and your shoes full of feet,
you’re too smart to go down a not-so-good street.


And you may not find any you’ll want to go down.
In that case, of course, you’ll head straight out of town.
It’s opener there in the wide open air.


Out there things can happen and frequently do
to people as brainy and footsy as you.
And when things start to happen, don’t worry.
Don’t stew. Just go right along.
You’ll start happening too.


Oh! The Places You’ll Go!
You’ll be on your way up!
You’ll be seeing great sights!
You’ll join the high fliers who soar to high heights.


You won’t lag behind, because you’ll have the speed.
You’ll pass the whole gang and you’ll soon take the lead.
Wherever you fly, you’ll be best of the best.
Wherever you go, you will top all the rest.


Except when you don’t.
Because, sometimes, you won’t.


I’m sorry to say so but, sadly, it’s true
that Bang-ups and Hang-ups can happen to you.
You can get all hung up in a prickle-ly perch.
And your gang will fly on.
You’ll be left in a Lurch.
You’ll come down from the Lurch with an unpleasant bump.
And the chances are, then, that you’ll be in a Slump.


And when you’re in a Slump,
you’re not in for much fun.
Un-slumping yourself is not easily done.


You will come to a place where the streets are not marked.
Some windows are lighted.
But mostly they’re darked.
A place you could sprain both your elbow and chin!
Do you dare to stay out?
Do you dare to go in?
How much can you lose?
How much can you win?


And if you go in, should you turn left or right…or right-and-three-quarters?
Or, maybe, not quite?
Or go around back and sneak in from behind?
Simple it’s not, I’m afraid you will find,
for a mind-maker-upper to make up his mind.


You can get so confused that you’ll start in to race
down long wiggled roads at a break-necking pace
and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space,
headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.


The Waiting Place…for people just waiting.


Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come,
or a plane to go or the mail to come,
or the rain to go or the phone to ring,
or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or No
or waiting for their hair to grow.
Everyone is just waiting.


Waiting for the fish to bite or waiting for wind to fly a kite
or waiting around for Friday night or waiting, perhaps, for their Uncle Jake
or a pot to boil, or a Better Break or a string of pearls,
or a pair of pants or a wig with curls, or Another Chance.
Everyone is just waiting.


No! That’s not for you!


Somehow you’ll escape all that waiting and staying.
You’ll find the bright places where Boom Bands are playing.
With banner flip-flapping, once more you’ll ride high!
Ready for anything under the sky.
Ready because you’re that kind of a guy!


Oh, the places you’ll go!
There is fun to be done!
There are points to be scored.
There are games to be won.
And the magical things you can do with that ball
will make you the winning-est winner of all.
Fame!
You’ll be famous as famous can be, with the whole wide world
watching you win on TV.


Except when they don’t.
Because, sometimes, they won’t.


I’m afraid that some times you’ll play lonely games too.
Games you can’t win ‘cause you’ll play against you.


All Alone!
Whether you like it or not,
Alone will be something you’ll be quite a lot.


And when you’re alone, there’s a very good chance
you’ll meet things that scare you right out of your pants.
There are some, down the road between hither and yon,
that can scare you so much you won’t want to go on.


But on you will go though the weather be foul.
On you will go though your enemies prowl.
On you will go though the Hakken-Kraks howl.
Onward up many a frightening creek, though your arms
may get sore and your sneakers may leak.
On and on you will hike.
And I know you’ll hike far and face up to your problems
whatever they are.


You’ll get mixed up, of course, as you already know.
You’ll get mixed up with many strange birds as you go.
So be sure when you step.
Step with care and great tact and remember that Life’s a Great Balancing Act.
Just never forget to be dexterous and deft. A
nd never mix up your right foot with your left.


And will you succeed?


Yes! You will, indeed!
(98 and ¾ percent guaranteed.)


Kid, you’ll move mountains!


So…be your name Buxbaum or Bixby or Bray
 or Mordecai Ale Van Allen O’Shea,
you’re off to Great Places!


Today is your day!
Your mountain is waiting.


So…get on your way!


Otter, we are so proud of you.  We love you very much and we are behind you 110%. Believe in yourself.  We do!

Sunday Endings and New Beginnings

It's not officially the end of Summer yet, but it's the last day of Otter's summer break.  Because she starts college tomorrow  So that's a new beginning for her.  And for us, as her parents.  It's a big deal, and we are very proud of her.  She's worked very hard to get to this point and she knows that she still has work ahead of her, but she's ready and excited about it.

It's also Stupid People Day, apparently.  The first one was at Michael's.  I bought some cotton yarn last week for a specific project, and finally had time to work in it yesterday.  Which is when I discovered that the yarn was scented.  Scented yarn, makes no sense whatsoever!  Anyway, I took it back to Michael's to exchange it and the clerk simply could not figure out how to exchange it.  He kept saying that he needed to give me a refund, after about 3 or 4 tries at explaining it, I finally got him to realize that I wanted to exchange it and not get my money back.

Then we continued on our trip, with the next stop being the mall so Otter could get her manicure.  The place she likes is in the mall.  On the way there, we got caught in traffic which turned out to be rubberneckers at a 3-car pileup going the opposite direction from us.  The problem was that the 3rd car, a small SUV, was on fire.  And not a little fire, either.  The Stupid People were standing right next to it.  I'm not sure why they thought it would be safe to stand inches away from a pretty big fire OR why they thought it would be safe to stand inches away from a pretty big fire that was burning on a vehicle which means it had a potentially explosive fuel source!  The fire truck was just getting there as we drove past it.  It was not a small fire, either.

Otter's recovery is going really well.  She was about back to normal yesterday, she's feeling much better today although she still has some discomfort.  She's more than ready for regular food, so in a little while we're going to run to the grocery store and among other things, she'll see if she can find something at their deli that sounds good and she can eat.  She goes back to the dentist on Thursday to get her stitches removed.

Frasier has a new trick.  He keeps jumping the baby gate we use to keep them (mostly Maggie Moo) out of the bedrooms.  He is a Mama's Boy, and he keeps coming back to the bedroom in the night.  I wake up with my dog on the floor beside the bed.  He also has been coming back ot the office while I'm on the computer, and either sitting beside me or beside Otter.  He's funny, when Bill comes back to the office Frasier will stand up, stretch and be very happy to see Bill.  Then he'll head back up the hall, jump the gate back into the living room and find a nap spot.  It's almost like he's guarding me until Bill is in the room.

It's warm today, just over 100.  It's also extremely humid, which is a problem.  I'm limiting my time outside, which is difficult for me.  Bill mowed the yard as soon as we got home from church.  It wasn't too bad then, but it was starting to get sticky so I didn't stay out too long.  He mowed the back yard last weekend, that was the first time he'd actually had to mow since sometime in June or thereabouts.  It was so hot and dry that the grass didn't grow, it mostly wilted and died.  But we've had rain lately, so everything is greening up again.

Which unfortunately includes ragweed!  We wouldn't have minded at all if we'd had to miss ragweed season.  But it's here and it's here bigtime.

Oh Goodie! It's Friday!

Otter's doing really good today.  She went to bed early last night and slept until about 9:30 this morning, so she had over 12 hours of sleep and it helped her a lot.  She's still got soreness where the teeth were pulled, but it's better.  She's still taking motrin and probably will for another day, maybe two.  She's eating a little more.  I made chicken noodle soup tonight, with shredded chicken and lots of pasta.  She had two bowls of it, so I know she was really hungry.  I remember when I had my major dental work and couldn't eat much at all, after about 3 days of little food I was almost unable to function.

And yes, the tooth fairy did come!  I had Otter roll up some loose change for me the other day, it came to $7.50.  I piled it on her spot at the table and put the tooth container on top of it.  She thought it was really funny when she found it this morning.

I'm about to go in search of a glass of wine.

Updating the Update!

Otter's doing pretty good this evening.  She took a pain pill shortly after we got home, but it did very little.  It made her barely drowsy and did not help the pain at all.  So she took a couple of motrin and they helped a lot.  She's taken a 2nd dose of motrin and will probably take another dose before bedtime.  (Bedtime will probably be early for all of us, we're all tired.  It's been a long day.)  She was pretty miserable this morning.  But the motrin did the job.

She used ice packs early on, and they helped. She has a slight amount of facial swelling, but it's not that bad.

Otter's had yogurt and jello today, and she had her father's famous mashed potatos with a little gravy for dinner tonight.  She said she might have some more jello later on, or possibly some of her ice cream.

However, she is a true redhead and that means that she had to get an extra shot at one point during the procedure.  She did have a little bleeding, more than a non-redhead but not excessive.  Not excessive for a redhead, anyway.  But that was not unexpected.

She's much better this evening and is very glad that it's over and done with.

Quick Otter Update

Otter came through her oral surgery with flying colors.  No problems at all, the dentist said she did really well.  She was a little loopy after the procedure, from the nitrous oxide. But she's in good spirits.  We did stop at Walgreen's and get her prescription for pain pills filled.  She hasn't taken one yet, but she knows she can if she needs to.  The dentist also said that she can take advil/motrin/ibuprofen which we already had on hand.

Otter's in her room at the moment, she was going to relax and play a game on her wii.  She's had to change the gauze in her mouth once, which she said was really gross (and it was) but she's doing really good.

Me?  Well, I'm tired.  I got up at 4:15 or thereabouts with Bill although he'd actually been up since about 3:30.  I fed him breakfast and got his lunch made, then sent him out the door.  I made two different kinds of jello after that (yellow and red).  Then I got in the shower and then got Otter up at 6:30.  I had breakfast with her, then we went to the dentist.  I've also had massive amounts of caffiene in the form of coffee.  I just might have to take a nap later on.

Otter goes back to the dentist in a week to get the stitches removed.

By the way, the dentist gave her the two wisdom teeth!  Guess the Tooth Fairy will have to come out of retirement! They are actually pretty big and I can see why there was not going to be enough room for them in Otter's jaw.  Hopefully, the top two won't be an issue.  At this point, the dentist doesn't think so.  But the bottom two did have to come out, no doubt about that.

Now, where did the Tooth Fairy leave her wings?

Long Week

Thought I'd better post before Froggy gets on me about it!

Happy Birthday, Toadles!  "you look llike a monkey and you smell like one too..."

Otter's oral surgery is tomorrow morning.  She's ready, we bought groceries last night and the list included jello, ice cream, yogurt, potatos to be mashed and even more jello.

I have been busy all week, but none of it was crochet.  I did manage to get two yarn skeins turned into yarn balls last night.  I'm going to take the scarf I started last week to the dentist with me tomorrow.  Maybe I'll manage to get some done while Otter's wisdom teeth are being removed.  I'm hoping to find some time tomorrow afternoon as well, but that's to be determined still.  I have a few things I want/need to do around the house that I haven't had time for yet this week.

Bill gave blood again today.  Then he had to go set up the sound system & a bunch of other stuff for a function tomorrow at work.  Which means that he was running around all day long, after giving blood, and he is absolutely exhausted.  Tomorrow, he has to get up at 4:00 to be at work at 5:30 to run the sound & video for the function.  He has given blood on a regular basis, but I told him today that I think he needs to stop.  At least for a while.  He said it was not a good day, the tech couldn't find the vein and Bill finally told him to either find it NOW or take the needle out.  I guess that the tech needed a little fear to be motivated, because at that point he was able to find the vein.  That fact, combined with the fact that he is apparently the only person in his entire division that can actually do anything are the reasons I suggested he stop the donations.  He said he'd take it under advisement, which means that he listened to be polite!

Otter and I had to go out to her school today, apparently they just assume that everybody will need a parking permit and they charged one to her account.  We got it fixed, but we had to do it in person.  It will be credited back to her.  The guy we spoke with seemed really surprised that she doesn't have her own car and won't be driving herself yet, but out of most of the people that she knows her age I don't think that any of them actually have a vehicle.  Most of them don't have access to one on anything more than an occasional basis.  Otter will eventually have one, she's saving her $ for one but it's going to take her a while yet.  Poor girl, she's so deprived! (Not!).

This is just funny:

See if you can spot your favorite Doctor!  I found mine, he's in the middle more or less and has on the scarf.  He also has a lot of hair.

I am a Who fan.  But I'm a Trek fanatic at heart and, as we all know, I'm really the Borg Queen.  So, I thought that I'd post this next one in the interest of fairness:

Only thing is, the Borg can never be blocked!

Resistance is Futile, after all.

We're Booked!

Text books, that is.  To the tune of $375.00.  Only one is used, the others are all new.  One of them, a workbook, we knew we'd buy new.  But we wanted to see if we could find any of the others used locally.  Or online.  No luck, so we went back to the school store today and bought them there.  The only one that is used is the only one they had as used last week when we made our reconnaisance trip so we weren't surprised.  But at least Otter's all stocked up now.  She might still need a laptop, she probably will in fact, but we are going to wait and see on that.

This is going to be a crazy busy week.  Today was fairly busy, and the rest of the week is going to be worse.  Bill's working a "boring" (Board) meeting tonight, so we took him dinner.  Froggy, we went to Braum's!  Otter and I also made the aforementioned trip to the college, and we went to the bank and library.  Otter's oral surgery is Thursday, so we made the library run today when we had the time.  She's well stocked with books to read, which is probably what she'll spend most of Friday doing.  When she's not watching assorted anime dvd's from her collection that she has been avoiding watching lately so she'd have something new to watch.

Tuesday is maybe the slow day for the week, I have a smaller list of things to do after work but I'm not really sure about how much I'll actually manage to get done because the car goes to the repair shop bright and early.  Wednesday is the really busy day, because we need to hit the grocery store as well as several other things that need to be done before Thursday.  I'm also going to need to go to the post office sometime this week, and we might take the recycling stuff.

Thursday is wisdom teeth day.  Otter's part won't be busy, and she'll probably sleep for quite a bit of the day.  Especially if she needs the pain meds the dentist will prescribe for her.  I intend to get a few things done around the house Thursday afternoon.

Friday, Bill will be home with her if she needs him to be.  I'll go back to work, and probably collapse in a heap at my desk!

I might surface around Sunday?

Sunday Sheep

Today's sermon at church was about sheep.  Specifically, about how we are like sheep.

Sheep are not the smartest animals on the planet.  In fact, they are about the dumbest.  They don't have much individual thought and they are basically one-track minds.  Eat-sleep-eat-sleep.  OK, two tracks.  But they aren't smart.

Sheep grow hair known as wool.  Wool can be very heavy, as it grows longer and longer.  So they have to be shorn, generally once a year.  They have to be washed first, because they can get very dirty.  The dirt makes the wool even heavier.  If they lie down on their sides, they tend to roll too far and then they get stuck.  On their backs, with their feet up in the air.  They aren't smart enough to figure out how to get upright without some help from the shepherd.  Even without the weight of the wool, they still need help.  The shepherd has to roll them over and then lift them to an upright position.  Then, he has to stay with the sheep and hold it up until it remembers how to put it's weight on it's legs.  And then, they will often do it again because they forget after a while.

Kind of like people.  People should do what is right.  But we seldom do.  Or if we do, we frequently forget.  And, like the sheep, we are weighed down by the weight we are carrying.  The weight of sin, in our case.

However, we have a Shepherd as well.  And He washes the sin away from the wool we carry, and then the wool is shorn away from us.

Just like with the sheep, we have to be helped to stand upright more than once.  We just have to trust the Shepherd.  Just like sheep.

(And if the wool represents sin, then I'm not at all upset about being allergic to it!). :)

OK, sermon over.  But I did get a lot from church today.

I took my car back on Friday and the mechanic gave it a more thorough check.  It's in the a/c system, but it's the 2nd of the 2 motors.  The first one controls the interior/exterior air and is the one that went back a few months back.  The current problem is the one that controls the warm/cool setting.  So it's the same problem, but not in the same motor.  However, this time it's enough that my warranty will cover it.  The warranty would have covered the previous repair, but it was lower than the deductible.  This one is harder to get to and will take longer, so I'm taking it back in on Tuesday and leaving it.  They'll get me to work and can come get me if I need a ride back in the afternoon.

We've been somewhat busy today.  The Big Lots stores ad featured some 5- and 7- drawer plastic units.  The 5-drawer is 5 of the same size drawer, the 7-drawer unit is 3 of one large size and then 4 smaller size drawer.  Otter wanted a 5-drawer and Bill wanted two 7-drawer units.  Except that I forgot that Bill wanted the 7-drawer size, so I bought Otter hers (purple of course!) and two black 5-drawer units for Bill.  They just barely fit in the car, but we got them home.  And then we went back for two 7-drawer units for Bill!  HE got white ones.  I'm keeping the first two 5-drawer units I bought.  They are now full of yarn, and my picnic basker & two large, plastic crates are now in Otter's possession.  She'll find a use for them, no problem there.  I was able to empty out the crates & picnic basket and still had an empty drawer, but then I remembered my stash of cotton yarn so it's in the last drawer.  The drawers are pretty deep, so I could still get more in them if I needed to.  I have some other yarn that isn't in the drawers, but it's the yarn for my afghan and it can stay on the shelves where the crates & picnic basket were formerly stored.  I have a few other craft/sewing/crochet items that are on the shelves but are a little crowded together, so I'll now have room to spread them out and organize it a little better.  The drawer units just fit in the back of the closet in the office, between the shelves on each side.  I told Bill he was enabling me, because he suggested I keep the 5-drawer units for my yarn.

The weather's been so nice lately.  It will still get to right at or just over 100 by the end of the week, but that's the normal temperature for this time of year and it most likely will NOT be like it was for just about all of July.  Otter's jalepeno plants are blooming again, the excessive heat caused them to stop blooming and drop what blooms they had, without producing fruit.  We were going to toss them, but decided to leave them for a while.  We're hopeful that we might actually get some peppers off of them.  We got a few early on, but then it got H O T.

We had a pretty intense thunderstorm Friday evening.  Not anything bad in our area, wind & lots of rain.  But Otter noticed that one of the rain gutters was overflowing again.  However, since it's the one to my rain barrel it didn't overflow because of leaves & crud like the last time.  It means that my rain barrel is full!!  Bill had to mow the grass today, which is the downside to all the rain.

It's going to be a fairly busy week.  The car on Tuesday, Otter's oral surgery on Thursday with Friday set aside as a nothing planned/recovery day for her and somewhere in there we have got to get her textbooks because college starts a week from tomorrow.  We'll probably go Wednesday, if not Monday.  She's done some online checking, but no luck for the books for her classes.  Probably because it's a smaller college and the books are specific to the school, for the most part.  We might go Monday, but I'm not sure if we'll have time because Bill has to work a board meeting immediately after work and we have to take him dinner in there sometime.  Otherwise, he won't have time to eat and the board meetings can sometimes go pretty late.  Tuesday, the car should be done early enough that I'll have time to come home and get her so we can get back to the school well before the bookstore closes.  We hadn't intended to wait this long, but with the car, etc., it just worked out this way.  Also, the book list didn't come out until just over a week ago.

I guess I'd better go see how much headway Bill is making in the living room.  He's got a work area there for his pachinko stuff, on top of the sofa table that is against the window.  It works out perfectly for him, I have my WIP crochet stuff on the bottom shelf of the table and he has the top.  The problem is that he also has piles & assorted stacks of pachinko-related stuff beside the table.  I mean piles as in debris.  That's what the 7-drawer units are for.  He put mine together first, they needed their wheels attached, and then he was starting to get his organized.  He should be able to get all his junk into the drawers.  Then, he just has to keep it all in the drawers!

Engineers and organization are two mutually exclusive terms.  They don't go together very well.  Or very often.

Been a Few Days!

Since my last post, anyway.

We lost our internet for a few days, not sure what the problem was but it was area-wide.  It's fixed now.  And not a moment too soon, we've realized over the last few days just how little there actually is on tv!  We don't watch a lot anyway, specific shows but not much.

Let's see, what's happened this week that's worth discussing.

I know!  IT RAINED!  Pretty much constantly for the last couple of days, and it's been wonderful.  It's nice and cool, mid 90's is the highest we've had but it's mostly been high 80's to low 90's.  I'm not sure how much rain water is in my rain barrel, but it's quite a bit.  The plants are all happy now, and the yard is beginning to turn back to green (as opposed to brown!).  Of course, that means that Billyboy will have to mow it soon.  He also had to clean out the rain gutter, you can't tell if it's clogged unless it's actually raining.  It was raining and the gutter was clogged.  It only had a few spots, mostly dead leaves that have fallen off of the previously very dry trees.  We've had thunderstorms off and on the last couple of days, so I guess the internet being out was good timing since we wouldn't have been on the computers then anyway.

My car's acting up.  Tuesday, I was nearly to work when it started making a noise.  We were thinking that the main belt was acting up and I thought that the noise was the belt failing.  I was about a mile from the repair shop we use, so I took it in and they took me on to work.  The belt was fine, in fact the belt is in great shape so we don't have to worry about that right now.  But he couldn't find the noise, as the car did what they always do - quit making the noise as soon as I got it to the shop.  He thought that maybe a small twig might have been flung up and got caught in the belt, which was a possibility as there were a lot of trees damaged in the storms we've had and debris is everywhere.  Today, it started making the noise again and I realized what it is.  The air conditioner "doors" that separate the interior air intake from the exterior air intake are sticking.  This is the 3rd time that it's done this and I'm thinking it's time to call Chevy.  I think that I heard something recently about a recall involving similar situations, but it was not for my model year Impala.  When the car started it's thing today, I was just leaving the office for lunch so I just went straight to the repair shop and this time the car cooperated.  Which means that it was still making the noise and the owner of the shop came out to hear it.  They were full, so I'm taking it back tomorrow on the way in to work.  I'm going to talk to him about calling Chevy, because this should not happen 3 times in less than 2 years.  Actually, it might even be less than 2 years.

I had an interesting experience at Wallyworld today.  I bought dog food.  I had a coupon, but I was going to buy it anyway because the hounds like to eat.  For some reason!  Anyway, the coupon would not scan.  I think it was wrinkled up a little.  The cashier absolutely COULD NOT FIGURE OUT how to redeem a coupon without scanning it!  She made a big thing about how I couldn't use it because it wouldn't scan and that's when RedHeadTexanWoman came out to play.  I finally asked her if she "could just do it the old fashioned way and actually input the numbers from the bar code into the register by hand."  She didn't have a clue what I meant.  After several minutes of this nonsense because she kept repeating herself, I told her that she obviously didn't know what she was doing and that she also didn't know what she was talking about.  She kept insisting that coupons can ONLY be scanned and I told her that she was wrong and I knew it, and I took the coupon back out of her hand.  I paid for my stuff and she started telling the lady next in line behind me how the coupon wouldn't scan (about mine) and that they couldn't take it.  I turned around, looked her straight in the eye and repeated my earlier statement.  Then, I just left.  (Even though RedHeadTexanWoman was out of the fence, I was not rude).  The lady behind me was not impressed with the incompentent clerk, either, by the way.

Since it was obviously Texas Attitude Day, we had chili tonight.  We have it on a regular basis (see many previous posts!), so we would probably have had it anyway.  But I thought it was a good night for it.

Among other things this week, Otter and I went out to the college bookstore and investigated the textbooks she'll need.  We are going to look online for them, but most of them are specific to the college itself and it's not a huge school.  So we might still wind up back at their bookstore.  They weren't unreasonable, I'd just like to not have to pay any more than we have to.  Especially considering the fact that we have to pay for her oral surgery next week and now have an unanticipated car repair cost.  The car won't be much, it's just that we've already had it fixed twice.  The college expenses are not extremely high anyway.

Froggy, you asked about a comment not posting.  I haven't gotten any about last Monday's post, which is the one I think you were asking about.  You might need to re-comment.

Speaking of frogs, we've been hearing the tree frogs again.  They like rain, and when it's raining they get very loud.  I think we had one on the deck last night, we just sat in the living room and listened to it for a long time.  Really neat sounds.  The dogs response to the rain has been to sleep even more.

Frogs are cool.  Right, Froggy? :)

Monday Stuff

Title challenged today!

Anyway.  Froggy commented on my last post, about having chili on a hot day.  I mentioned in my comment to her comment that "It's a Texan Thing."  Froggy - that part wasn't meant for you, I'm sure you know exactly what I mean!  But it is a Texan Thing, to have chili or other spicy stuff on hot days.  Chili is it's own food group and is a Texas staple, we have it pretty often and will probably have it this week.

We had just enough rain on Saturday to wake up the dormant ragweed.  It's going to be a brutal ragweed season, I'm afraid.  We've all been dealing with it to one degree or another.  And it's only going to get worse, this is just the beginning of ragweed's blooming season.

Otter and I went to Walgreen's today, and while we were there I asked about flu shots.  They have the stuff already, so we can get ours at any time.  We were originally thinking about this Friday, but Otter's oral surgery is next week and I'm afraid that it would be a Murphy's Law situation - the one time she'd have a bad reaction would be this time, if we got the shots this weekend.  We're probably going to wait until the Friday of Labor Day weekend, since everybody is off on the next Monday.  I usually only have my light reaction where I don't feel the best that evening and sometimes the next day, but last year's reaction was a little longer than usual.  I felt cruddy all weekend and wasn't the best on Monday.  Of course, Murphy's Law also says that we will have no problems if we plan on having them!  Otter is wondering if maybe we will be scaring any more techs with the Redhead Curse (bleeding).  I hope not.

I did some research, and the jello thing is a myth.  I thought it was, but jello is still good and we still eat a lot of it.  The myth I'm referring to is the belief that it can thicken your blood, which pretty much all redheads need as we generally all have thin blood and bleed at the slightest provocation.  (See red hair label for last year's flu shot adventure).

Froggy, I'm about 3/4 of the way through with your sock monkey hat.  I have been concentrating on some other projects that are possibly going to be sold, but I've caught up (more or less) and started your hat.  It's turning out really cute.  I'll post pictures of it and/or the one I made for Otter when I get ready to send your hat to you.  Along with your swiffer cover!

Now, I think I'll go make some more jello because I think Otter and Bill finished what we had in the fridge.  It was yellow.  Maybe I'll make red this time.  We don't bother with flavor names anymore, we just go by colors!

There's always room for jello.

Sunday Shopped Out!

It's Sunday.  We shopped.  We're shopped out.  My feet hurt and so do Otter's.  But she's got several new shirts and some belts that she needed.  No luck on jeans or skirts, or dressy shirts.  But she scored quite a haul so she's not complaining.  Bill's got new jeans, which are in the washing machine at the moment.  No new shoes for anybody, but we did try.  I haven't added up what we spent, but it is probably less than last year.

It rained! It rained! It rained!  Yesterday.  Not sure how much, but it was really hot and the rain dropped the temperature down to where it was actually comfortable last night.  The Tulsa area had some bad wind that caused some severe problems, but we mostly got rain.  It's cloudy today and there were a few sprinkles on the car just now, but I'm not sure if we're actually going to get anymore rain this weekend or not.  Yesterday's was nice.

Among other activities today, Bill replaced the brakes in my car.  They were starting to get iffy and started squeaking Friday.  So he replaced them after we got home from church today.  I'm going to need new tires sometime before winter sets in.  If this summer ever ends, that is.

Not much else going on around here.  I think we're going to have hamburgers and corn on the cob for dinner.  Really exciting, huh!

'Nuff Said

(It's Friday Afternoon and you're not getting any more out of me this week).

Some Funny Stuff

I though that some fun stuff was in order today. 

A kitty after my own heart!  Except that I'm not a fan of white wine particularly.

Anybody who has ever followed google's maps will appreciate this one.  Along with anyone who happens to be a Whovian.

Just because I think that snakes are cool and rattlesnakes are really cool.  Comes from a) being a Texan, b) being my mother's daughter or c) all of the above.

This is MaggieMoo's life philosophy.

And another Who funny!  Notice that it's even the 5th doctor, the coolest one of them all.  It's correct, right down to the hat, bag of jellybaby candy and the 20' long scarf.

This is Basement Cat, you can ignore the part about soul stealing and just enjoy the cat in the yarn.  Which he might have been strung up with next!

This is obviously a beagle, and it's correct.  Frasier used to get out on a regular basis, before we got the fence issue sorted out.  He always came home, except for one time that we had to go find him but he was on his way home at the time.  MaggieMoo has gotten out twice.  She didn't find her way home, one time I found her and one time the neighbor across the street found her.  She had fence issues as well.

I almost never find funny pictures of dogs that resemble Fraiser.  He's not left out on purpose, it just happens that way.

My back deck.  6 months ago.  Sigh.

Some Wednesday Ramblings. Maybe Whining, I Don't Know

HOT!

We tied the record today.  Which was actually 112, I might have had the wrong number before.  But the forecast was for 117, I don't think that 5 degrees would even be noticeable because it's just so darn HOT.

This is how Billyboy's dealing with the heat, at least at work:

Step one:  you need a canning jar, this is a large size (quart?).

Step two:  collect your ingredients.  Tea bags (sugar optional).

This is how he transports it to work.  Then when he gets there, he takes the sugar bags out, removes the tea bags from their paper coverings, fills it with water, drops the tea bags in and finds a sunny place.  Usually the top of one of the service trucks they use.  It's usually ready by lunchtime, which is when he pours it over ice and adds the sugar.  (I don't normally take sugar in my tea).

Heat boredom is setting in!  In case you haven't figured that out yet.

There were some really bad grass fires in the area yesterday.  They were both pretty bad, but one of them was extremely bad and several people lost their homes.  That particular fire was started by someone driving a truck up the street, and the two rear tires were missing - it was just driving on the rims and they made sparks.  Someone saw it and tried to catch/id the person, but wasn't able to because the grass that the car drove by was already beginning to blaze so he had to stop and attempt to put the fire out.  I'm hoping it's not deliberate.

I still have the headache that started yesterday.  I'm thinking I might have narrowed down the trigger for this one.  We have some vaguely bacon flavored snack crackers at work, and I've had a few the last few days.  I normally read the ingredients, but my boss brought them in already in a ziploc bag.  That's the only thing that I've had lately that could have had one of the bad ingredients in it.  The headache is better, it's just still there.  And the heat doesn't help.

Otter reminded me that she's not going to be a teen much longer, and that my slave labor will end.  I already know that, but I'm going to take advantage of it as long as I can!  :)

Some Records Should Not Be Broken!

The record heat recorded for Tulsa, OK is 115.  The record heat recorded for the state of OK is 120.

Tomorrow's forecast is 117.  But it could well be higher than that.

We don't actually live in Tulsa, but we are close enough to it that the rainfall, temperatures, etc., that are forecast for Tulsa affect us.

It was not pleasant today, or yesterday.  Or for several days before!

And, as if being melted to the ground just by stepping outside the door wasn't enough, I also had a migraine this afternoon.  It wasn't a bad one, but none of them are good.  It's also the 2nd one I've had in less than 2 weeks and I can't think of anything I ate that could have had one of my triggers.  It's time to start tracking them again.  I track them in a general way, but two this close means that I have to start tracking triggers.

I had to run a couple of errands after work today, things that couldn't wait.  So, I came home and picked up the Otter.  Then she was my chauffer for the majority of the errands.  I highly recommend teenage slave labor! :)  (I don't think she minded, she always jumps at the chance to drive).

Yesterday was the 7th anniversary of when we moved into our current home.  I think I might have mentioned that a few days ago.  Anyway, we have always had a tradition of whatever the first meal was in that particular place dictates what we have on each anniversary of the move.  Billyboy had to work a board meeting last night, so we've put off our traditional pepperoni pizza until Friday.  We took him Subway for dinner last night at work, so he didn't have to miss a meal!  We're changing the pizza tradition slightly this year, we are actually making mini pizzas but they will still be pepperoni.

The dogs were crazed this morning.  More than normal.  They spend a lot of their time snoozing, especially when it's hot weather.  But they are even lazier lately, if that's even possible.  The last couple of mornings, they've been very playful.  This morning, we were invaded by Carpet Sharks!  Two of them, one big and one small (and round).  Both furry.  The small & round one was the most dangerous, but then she usually is.  She's also sneaky.

Otter's orientation at college is Friday morning.  It's getting closer!  I think she's excited about it.

She's also excited about the sales-tax free shopping weekend that's just a few days away.  We're going to at least attempt to shop until we drop.

We usually don't have a problem with accomplishing that particular goal!

A Word From Frasier

My momm saided that I could tail you aboutt today.  Today is a goooooooood day.

Weee all gots beffdays.  Even the peoples.  We dun't think the peoples haves as much funns on their beffdays as weee do.

I had a beffday when I firstest came to my peoples.  Mommm saided it was the day they got me.  But really, I got them for a present.  They didn't getted me, I gotted them.  Then when the big people pup was having herr beffday, shee gotted my sister Maggie.  Maggie had her beffday on a special day that was a special people's beffday, we dun't know that people but Maggie's mommm saided that it was a special lady people named Grrrmy Clrrra.  My momm saided that my beffday could now bee the sames day as Maggie's beffday.  That was okkk with meee.

But my mommm and Maggie's mommm (shee's the big people pup) tolded me about a different beffday for doggies.  It's for all the doggies that were in shelters (like me!) before they getted their peoples and their furrever homes.

It's today.  If you gots a dog, even if it didn't comed from a shelter, you should go hugg it.  Doggies like huggs.  And treats!  We likes treats.