Got a few more today!

Grey Hares. Get it?

I know I have more than I did this morning. I looked in the mirror. And it's true. And they are all Willie Boy's fault! But then, they usually are.

Today's Adventures in Bill Land involved a missed step while carrying a printer and walking down the stairs. He "only" fell a little bit, he has a few scrapes on his right arm & hand (and bandaids) and a larger scrape just below his right knee. And he's sore. But not seriously injured, which is a nice change from his usual adventures! It was at work, and they made him fill out an accident report. Which is a little extreme, until you consider that this is Bill we are dealing with here. He says he's a good boy, but we all know the truth. But, he did manage to save the printer!

I was expecting a phone call, but I thought it would be Otter because I sent her to school with a sore throat. But she was fine, however now it's smoky and I'm sure she'll react to that as well.

When I got home, after we unloaded a trunk load of groceries, Bill informed me that he thought there might be a grass fire in the field behind the house. Lovely! I went out and there was definite smoke, but no flames and the smoke was thinning out. We kept an eye on it for a while, but I've had a slight headache ever since.

Still no Christmas decorations up, but we did manage to move the sofa table and clean underneath it. I think we clogged the vacuum up, there was enough dog hair & dust bunnies (yes, grey ones) underneath it to make about 2 Frasiers! We dusted every square inch of the table, then we put it back but moved slightly so that we'll have room for the Christmas tree. I think tomorrow when I get home from work I'll get started on dragging it all down from the attic. I'll try to remember to take pictures after I get it all situated and post them on here. But the tree won't have any gifts underneath it, due to Frasier and Maggie!

Maggie has finally learned to dance without having to have her paws held! She started doing it last week, we have been working with her to redirect her from jumping up on people and I think that we are finally getting through to her. She's not the sharpest crayon in the box, but she is good natured and lots of fun. And absolutely devoted to Otter. She will start to jump up but then she remembers what to do and she will stand on her back paws, and dance. It's so cute! Frasier has never been bad about jumping up on people, which is a good thing because the couple of times he actually has started to jump up his head has been above mine! He's a big dog.

Happy late birthday, Amy! You are now 18. You know what that means, right? YOU DON'T HAVE TO LISTEN TO YOUR MOM NOW! Froggy, have fun! Yeah, I know - Otter's not too far behind Amy and my turn is coming.

Happy late birthday to Carolyn, also. For both of your birthdays! She's the only person I know who actually has two official birthdays.

First Sunday in December

We officially joined our new church today! Otter and I also started attending Sunday School, which we really enjoyed. The youth have a Christmas party next Friday evening, and she's looking forward to it. Bill will be baptised sometime after the first of the year, I'm not sure exactly when yet but I'll post it as soon as we find out. I'm also toying with the idea of joining the choir. But not right away.

I took Otter and her friend to a local museum, they have an exhibit every year of Christmas trees. Or what they call Christmas trees anyway. This year's were pretty tame, but some years they can be really wild. There is also an exhibit of gingerbread houses, most made by school and scout groups. They are always a lot of fun and we always leave hungry! We also looked around the museum like we usually do, the girls seemed to really enjoy it. I did, too.

I think that we'll start our Christmas decorations this week. Otter went over to Grandpa & Sweetie's house yesterday to help decorate their tree. She had a great time. She's been pestering me about our tree now! I will probably ask Bill to get it out of the attic tomorrow or Tuesday. Along with all the boxes of lights, ornaments and assorted stuff. I'm not really sure where the wreath is, I guess it's up there somewhere. Hope so, anyway.

There was probably more I wanted to say but I don't remember at the moment. So TTFN!

Friday Thoughts

First thought: Christmas Cards. We are not sending any this year. Just so nobody thinks that they've been skipped!

Second thought: I'm glad it's Friday, it's been a long week. I've been ready for it to be Friday since about Tuesday, actually.

Third thought: I am definetely going to turn Otter's cast iron stove "toy" into a lamp. Bill said that he gets to check it after I'm finished and BEFORE I plug it in. For some reason, he thinks I might electrocute myself. Which I find very funny, considering how many times he's hurt himself! I meant to stop at Hobby Lobby this afternoon and see if they have the kits, but I just wanted to get home and take my shoes off so it can wait. But I might have to go to someplace like Lowe's for it. Which I'm sure Bill won't mind, he's just about addicted to Lowe's!

Ok, I think that is all the thoughts I wanted to chat about right now. TGIF, everybody! Gonna go find my pj's now, then I'm going to take a book & a blanket to the couch and hibernate. I'm sure I'll have company - Otter and two doggies, and if Bill's a really good boy we might even let him have some room on the couch!

It's still not Friday!

But it almost is. And that's a good thing! It's just been one of those days all week long. I've pretty much gotten over the cold I had last week, although I'm still coughing some. But I'm not having to blow my nose every 2 minutes. I'm up to about every 8 minutes now! But I have had two nosebleeds in the last few days, not nearly as bad as the one I had last February that sent me to the doctor. But still not pleasant. Dry air has a lot to do with it, I think. I'm constantly grabbing the hand lotion!

Otter and I got her annual Christmas bear tonight. Dad (Yaya!) started the tradition when Otter was pretty small. He would get one for her every year, and after he died I kept the tradition going because it meant so much to her to get the bears from him. Now she gets to pick out her own bear, and each time she talks about her Yaya. It's one of the few things we go to Wallyworld for now. But they seem to have drastically cut back the collector bears, we just hope that they are not discontinuing them.

I don't think I posted the latest with the check fraud. After we received the notice about the 2nd check, I called the agency and they told me (on two different occasions) that it would automatically be attached to my file with the first check. We got the official letter from them last week, informing us that they had completed their investigation and that my credit file shows that it was a fraud and that we didn't write a bad check. But it only referred to the first one. I called them again, and they did NOT include the second one so I had to fax the paperwork back to them - and I also wrote them a long, very detailed letter explaing the phone calls and what I had been told - by whom and on what date. I have not heard back from them yet, but I'm expecting another letter clearing us on the second check. And I'd better not be disappointed!

We realized this week that Maggie has apparently adjusted to the time change. The second it gets dark, she goes to bed! Poor Frasier, he has nobody to play with in the evenings so he just has to be content with me! He's such a mama's boy, I don't think he really minds too much. He has ways of getting my attention. This morning when I got up, as soon as I staggered into the living room on my way to the coffee pot I discovered that a plastic wrapper from a graham cracker package managed to miraculously appear in his bed spot and that it was accompanied by a trail of peanut shells from the trash can. But he claimed innocence! Unfortunately for him, nobody believed him. Poor doggie! He's so spoiled beyond rotten it's unbelievable.

Just in the nick of time!

That describes the tulip bulb planting event. We have another cold front that has just hit, and while it's not going to be a winter white-out it is at least going to freeze tonight. So I'm really glad we got them planted when we did. Now they can happily sit in their dirt and do whatever they do over the winter, and I don't have to think about them until next Spring!

My stress faires were better behaved today. They were still there, they just stayed out of my way for the most part. I kept finding myself wishing it was actually Friday today, but it stayed Wednesday. Darn.

Froggy, I didn't know that you had a cast-iron stove toy/lamp! I took the lamp parts off of mine many years ago, I think when it became Otter's. But I'm thinking that maybe it needs to be a lamp again. I still love the idea of Sharra's bottle lamp and might make one. But I'm thinking that the stove lamp would look just perfect in my living room, it would probably go with all my mismatched crocks and churns! I have a lot of crocks that I've turned into planters, for those of you who have not seen my house. I like to use different things for plants, not always the run-of-the-mill planters. They are fine, I just like to be different. (No comments from the peanut gallery!)

Also Froggy, I was wondering where Mom's dutch oven went to. I remember it sitting on the hearth in front of the fireplace. And I think she actually cooked in it a few times. I'm glad you have it, I was afraid it was gone for good. If I had it, it would probably have cactus in it.

I think I might be done with eBay now. I posted about 4 things tonight, they were things I meant to post last week but ran out of time. I'm not sure, but I think that I'm finished with everything I was going to post. We will not totally quit selling, there will still be the occasional item and we'll sell overhead projectors any time we can get them. And Otter has discovered eBay as a way to clean out stuff and make a little money - and she's also started shopping there. But for all intents and purposes, we are done.

And I really do think we've found our church home. Bill met with the minister this afternoon, and he was impressed. We have been going to this church about 3 weeks, which is not that long. But it just clicked, everything about it. The Pastor, his sermons, the people - everything about it just feels right. It's an old-fashioned, traditional, Southern Baptist church and the pastor is also a Texan - which is always a good thing! But that is just a coincidence, Bill discovered that in his conversation with him. We joined (re-joined for me) the Southern Baptist church about a year ago, but the church we joined just never felt like the right fit for us. So we started looking again a few months ago. We visited a few churches, and we weren't even planning on visiting this one but I saw it one day when we drove past it and we decided it was worth a shot - although we didn't think it was going to be anything other than a one-time visit. Until we walked in the door and the Pastor started the sermon. And we all walked out with the attitude that this was a church we very seriously needed to consider, in fact not even halfway through the service we all looked at each other and smiled at the same time. Otter and I are going to start Sunday School this coming Sunday, and at that point we'll make our decision. But we really feel like the decision has already been made, just not officially. God is always in control, and we feel like He's led us to Aspen Park Baptist Church. It's not a huge church, but it's the size we like. And the Pastor, David Crump is his name, knew Alamo Heights and might have known Warren Larck. Bill still needs the immersion baptism, Otter was immersed (dunked as mom used to say!) last December but Bill never did have his because we knew early on that we weren't in a church we were staying with. Here's the website for the new church: http://www.aspenpark.net/

Gotta go, Otter is yelling at me that the Shrek Christmas show is coming on! Then Grinch is next.

Just Another Day in Paradise

That's the name of a country song I like. It just fits today. It's been a day where I've been visited by what I affectionately refer to as "stress fairies." Ok, so I'm not affectionate towards them. But I seem to have a lot of them visiting me today! And most of them came in the door at work with my boss, whom I love to pieces but today he was every second of his 92 years and he made sure we all knew it! I think I'm on a first-name basis with the great-great-grandchildren of my stress fairies now, that's how many I had to deal with today. And they might still be hanging around the office tomorrow. Sigh. Just 3 1/2 more weeks until vacation! And it can not get here soon enough!

Froggy, I don't remember if I ever got around to emailing you the pictures of my latest two finds. So I'm going to put them on here.

The tall, brown crock with the silk bluebonnets is actually an old churn, it was Mom's or possibly Aunt Jessie's way back when and I inherited it. The new find is the blue, metal bucket next to it. The bucket is not necessarily an antique, but it is at least vintage. It was made in the USA, so it's got to have a little age to it! The blue paint was probably added way after it was made, and there is a light coat of black brushed on top of the blue. It reminds me of a milk can, but I'm not sure what it really was originally. I just know that it was $3.00 at a thrift store and it absolutely would not let me walk out unless I bought it! So I did. Didn't even know I was looking for one, until I saw it.

The two churns are not extremely new, I got them both last summer. The wooden one is the one Froggy found for me at a flea market, $5.00. The small one with the angel decal came from a thrift store for I think $3.50. The new item is the jug sitting next to the churns. It was a specific item I was looking for, but it's not really a jug. The next picture shows it turned around - it's really a cookie jar! The top comes off of it, but it works for what I wanted it for. I got it at a thrift store, Froggy remember the neat old lady with the corner booth? She was having a sale the day I found it, so I think I paid about $6.00 for it. It was 40% off.

Here's what it looks like on the other side. When I bought it, the seller told me that I had to go home and make cookies! But when I told her what I was going to use it for, and that I had a humongous cookie jar already she said that would be ok, as long as I really did bake cookies. She's really funny, I love to talk to her when we go to that particular flea market. We went back to that flea market last Sunday, she was up to 60% off this time. But no matter how hard I tried, and belive me I did try, I just couldn't find anything there I had to have! But that's ok, just gives me and the Otter another excuse to go back there. I think I know what my next treasure is going to be, my friend Shara (Monkeybox) has a really neat lamp that is made out of an old bottle. It's a tall bottle, if you look at her blog she has a picture of it and she's filled it with Christmas ornaments. I think I'm looking for something similar, or maybe just the bottle itself and I'll turn it into a lamp. (Froggy, remember my old cast-iron doll sized stove? Mom turned it into a lamp when I outgrew dolls. Otter owns it now, she used it with her dolls and at the moment it is in storage for her kids).

The next two pictures are just the kiddos tonight. Frasier is on his blanket, he'd been chewing the nylabone next to him until he saw the camera. Then he posed, like the vain boy he is! You can't tell as much from the picture, but he was smiling and his tail was wagging.

The Magginator was helping me when I took the pictures of the crocks & stuff. She took the tennis ball out of their toy box (it's a shoe box, the bones their toys are in it and they get whatever they want out of it when they want to play - but they don't pick up after themselves), then she threw the ball at me. She tosses the tennis balls up in the air a lot, sometimes she chases them around like she's playing soccer. This time, she did not want to play. But I think she did want attention because when I tossed the ball back to her, she let it sit beside her and gave me the sad-eyed look she's so good at.

If the pictures of the poochies were bigger, you could see all the lovely pawprints they arranged for me today! I don't even want to know how many holes they added to the back yard, but judging by the amount of dirt that they tracked in, it's a safe bet to say that NASA might be landing at any moment! (Think moonscape). The ceramic tile floor in the kitchen looks really bad, leading from the doggie door to the carpet. I can tell that they actually slid most of the way in when they came inside.

I'm seriously thinking that we will need a playpen to put the Christmas tree in! The tree will probably get put up next week sometime, but presents will not be put underneath it. They will be put up on the sofa table. I don't trust either of those furry babies, Frasier has been known to take staples out of paper and they both seem to have an unnatural attraction to paper of any kind. In fact, I'm not even sure if it will be safe to decorate the lower part of the tree! I have a clean/dirty hanger that Mom made for me for the dishwasher when I first moved out on my own. I can't hang it on the dishwasher, it has to be up on the counter because Frasier kept taking it outside when we first got him. After about the 4th time of having to go find it, I gave up on actually hanging it on the dishwasher. Same thing for fridge magnets! The only ones that are down low are the flat ones, because if he can reach them he will take them outside. No idea why he does that. Fraiser does a lot of things we can't explain! And he's teaching his little sister his tricks, she's a willing pupil I might add.

The Tulips Have Been Planted!

And I'm so glad to be done with it for a year, Otter just about tripled the amount from last year. But I'm not complaining, we get a lot of joy out of them in the spring. We were thinking that today's weather would not be conducive to planting, but the only rain we actually got today was about a tablespoon this morning. The ground is plenty cool, the tulips should be fine.

Bill had to go to the rent house this afternoon. The tenant called at 5:15 this morning - she's lucky I was already up! The bathtub faucet was dripping, the hot water never really turned off. It's done that before. Bill replaced a couple of parts, I think that this is about the 4th or 5th time that it's had to be done. For some reason, that one part keeps breaking!

I just had to pick up peanut shells in the living room. They were in the trash can, then when I came back in from putting up the gardening tools they had moved to the floor. And Frasier was suddenly outside, refusing to even look my direction! I think I see a connection there... Probably payback for treating his ears this morning.

Sunday I am taking Otter and her friend to one of the local museums. They have a display every year of Christmas trees. These are not your run of the mill Christmas trees. For one thing, the majority of them are not even trees. They are made out of some strange things, and some of them make me wonder if the artist (and I use that term very loosely) was under chemical influence! It's fun to go to this exhibit. Very imaginative. There is also an accompanying exhibit of gingerbread houses, which are usually made by school, church or scout troops. They are really fun. We were going to go yesterday, but Otter's friend wasn't back in town yet from the Thanksgiving holiday so we will try to go next weekend. Which is actually the last day of the exhibit, so if Otter's friend can't go we'll have to go without her and hope that she can go next year. I hope she can go, and so does Otter. It's an experience not to be missed.

Maggie has assumed her usual position - snoozing! She's behind Otter's chair, Otter is doing her homework with one hand and eating Cheez-it's with the other hand.

Froggy, I'm still waiting on an answer regarding your old report card!

Sunday's Stuff!!

It's been a few days since I posted. I did what I said I was going to do on Friday - stayed away from the Black Friday sales! The grocery store was not very crowded, and neither was the library.

But the tulip bed did not get planted yet. After looking at the weather forecast, we are aiming for Wednesday as soon as we get home from work/school. It's been pretty cool the last few days, but after having had to deal with the cold bug I probably don't need to be out in the wet, 40's weather. Tomorrow through Tuesday morning is supposed to be rainy, Wednesday looks fine - just cool - but not too bad. It won't take us too long to plant the bulbs, we use Bill's post hole digging tool and it goes pretty fast. Otter just has billions and billions of tulip bulbs this year.

We went to a thrift store today, I found a book and two skeins of yarn. Otter didn't find anything, although she did try really hard. We stopped at a flea market and I didn't find anything, but Otter did so she was happy. We also drove by the rent house, since we were on that side of town. Looks fine.

We still have a little left over turkey, but everything else is gone now. Well, there might still be a little salad left but I think I'll probably finish that tonight! The turkey became a pizza topping yesterday, it was actually pretty good. I made a pot of soup last night and it cooked all night in the crock pot, I considered putting turkey in it but decided against it. I also made a loaf of bread this morning, the house smelled so good when we walked in after church!

Bill brought in two boxes from the garage and we went through them yesterday. They were mostly fabric & scraps, the majority of it is destined for Goodies or Sallys (Goodwill and Salvation Army). But there are a few pieces I'm keeping, they are in the fabric pile for the quilt I'll eventually finish. I started it when Otter was in kindergarten. I don't work on it too often! Anyway, I also found several of my elementary school report cards. Nothing too bad, fortunately. But Froggy, I found one of yours - how much you willing to pay me NOT to show it to your kids? Like maybe a couple of rocks? You know the ones I mean. :)

Ok, back to laundry now!

Gobble, Gobble. Oink Oink. ZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz

Well, Thanksgiving is now over. I hope everyone had as nice a day as we did. It probably goes without saying that we ate too much, and I'll pay for it tomorrow! But everything was so good. Bill and Don fried the turkey and the girls were in the kitchen making the rest of the meal. We still have quite a bit left over, Don & Darlene took some home with them, but I still don't think I'll have to cook for a few days!

It was a nice, enjoyable day and I really enjoyed having it at our house this year. And I think the doggies did, too - they got attention and a few snacks!

We are not going to be part of the Black Friday shoppers this year. I do need to get groceries, and that will probably be tomorrow. But I don't think we're going anywhere else. Well, the library - but I don't see them as being crowded! And the tulip bed is still waiting on us. I'm hoping to get it done tomorrow, but we'll just have to see if that works out. We can't wait much longer on it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Nearly Turkey Day

I'm home today. I feel a little better, but not a lot better. So I called in today, which actually is what my boss wanted me to do. When I talked to him, he told me that he would spank me if I came in today. Which is not harassment, if you met my boss you'd understand! He's 92 and jokes all the time, he's actually very funny. Anyway, I did get out for a short errand but mostly I've been loafing today. I needed a couple of things from the store, so Otter and I went up there and we also checked the post office box while we were out (there was a lot of mail, we hadn't cleared the box in about a week). There were a few housework items I wanted to get done today, she's done most of them. I did start a loaf of bread while ago, but that is not exactly back-breaking work! I might make fudge later on, and Otter has a cake to bake.

Otter has now learned the joys of eBay! She's been looking for things to buy, she just made her first purchase a little while ago. She's been selling things on eBay for a while now.

It's pretty cool, the forecast was for the 40's and it may well be. It's pretty windy and there were some hints of rain while we were out running our errand. Bill brought in firewood, Otter wants to roast marshmallows. Good thing we bought a bag of them at the store! But we're civilized - we don't use sticks. We have metal skewers! :)

Now for the fun stuff! I saw this on a web board this morning, I emailed it to some of you:

1977 to 2007 This is relevant only to those whose level of maturity qualifies them to relate to it...

1977 : Long hair
2007 : Longing for hair

1977: KEG
2007: EKG

1977 : Acid rock
2007 : Acid reflux

1977 : Trying to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor
2007 : Trying NOT to look like Marlon Brando or Liz Taylor

1977 : Seeds and stems
2007 : Roughage

1977 : Hoping for a BMW
2007: Hoping for a BM

1977 : Going to a new, hip joint
2007 : Receiving a new hip joint

1977 : Rolling Stones
2007: Kidney Stones

1977 : Screw the system
2007: Upgrade the system

1977 : Parents begging you to get your hair cut
2007: Children begging you to get their heads shaved

1977 : Passing the drivers' test
2007: Passing the vision test

1977 : Whatever
2007 : Depends

Just in case you weren't feeling too old today, this will certainly change things. The people who are starting college this year were born in 1989. They are too young to remember the space shuttle blowing up. Their lifetime has always included AIDS. Bottle caps have always been screw off and plastic. The CD was introduced the year they were born. they have always had an answering! machine They have always had cable. They cannot fathom not having a remote control. Popcorn has always been cooked in the microwave. They never took a swim and thought about Jaws. They can't imagine what hard contact lenses are. They don't know who Mork was or where he was from. They do not care who shot J. R. and have no idea who J. R. even is. They don't have a clue how to use a typewriter.

Now we've all had our laugh for the day. Or in my case, the feeling of "I'm getting old!"

It's Tuesday and I'm Sick

I was hoping to avoid it, I was hoping that yesterday was just an allergy but it was actually the cold that Otter had over the weekend. I felt pretty cruddy last night but I slept well, I woke up feeling sort of good so I went in to work. But then I started to feel bad, and at 9:00 my boss told me to get my behind home, so I did just that. I've spent most of the day sleeping, I don't really feel a whole lot better so I might not go in tomorrow but I'll decide in the morning. I'm pretty much always caught up at work anyway. And I really do not want to pass this bug on to anyone, especially my 92 year old boss or his wife.

The first half of my day was spent asleep in bed. Then I got up and moved to the couch, and Frasier slept beside the couch. I woke up every once in a while and the dog was still there. Maggie was curled up in the middle of Otter's bed where she seems to have spent the day. Such energetic puppies!

Day two of Bill's vacation and so far, no injuries or illnesses for him. This is a good thing, considering the fact that he's either gotten injured or sick on nearly all of his vacations lately! He went to the gun range with Don today, I kept expecting to get a call to meet him at the ER! Fortunately, that did not happen.

Bill's been cleaning out a lot of stuff, he's found all sorts of old photographs and things we didn't even know we still had. Like the check book from our business in Texas, from 20 years ago. I think I'm probably safe to shred those, I don't really think we'll be writing anymore checks for Lewis Line Striping!

It's been warm, in the 70's the last couple of days. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the 40's and rainy. Then the 40's the next few days, and starting tomorrow night we should have a few nights of hard freezes. I probably should remind Bill to bring the jalepeno plants back inside. The cactus plants have been inside for a few weeks, but the jalepenos were still blooming so they survived the end of summer plant dumping.

The tulip bed is still not planted! But definetely by this weekend, now that we will have had cold enough weather. Tulips like cold dirt, if it's too warm they might start sprouting now and that would be bad.

I have a message for a friend. Shara, hang in there. You are an excellent mother and the Bean is a great kid. The principal/teachers can just go jump in a lake, as my late mother used to say.

AhChoo! Hack Hack. Sniffle. AhChoo!

That has been my day. Otter so thoughtfully shared her cold with me. She's about over it, I'm just coming down with it so I still have a few days ahead of me to deal with it. I really don't think it's a cold, since it only lasts a few days as opposed to over a week for us normally. But it's still cold-type symptoms. We had dentist appointments scheduled for this coming Wednesday, but I put them off. The dentist's office said tht they appreciated that! I'm going to try to work this week, it's a short week anyway. I just don't want to be sick on Thanksgiving.

We did make it to the Fenton signing yesterday. Otter was feeling a little better, so she went with me. We basically stood in line, got our pieces signed and then left. She did ok, but she was really wilting by the time we got through and headed home. The Fenton family member that signed the pieces was really amused by Otter's story of finding her unicorn for 25 cents at a thrift store!

The Magginator has a new spot to snooze. She used to park right by my chair, as close as she could get and she frequently got squashed. Now she's discovered that her person (Otter) is sitting in the office at her desk, so Maggie is now closer to Otter's chair. Which means that she's also right in the walkway to the door! She'll probably be stepped on quite a bit before she realizes that she's picked a bad spot. But it will take a while, Maggie is not exactly the sharpest crayon in the box!

It's a scary week. Bill is off on vacation. Scary words! Every time he's been off on vacation lately, he's either gotten very sick or very hurt. So what is he doing this week? Going to the gun range with Don tomorrow.

Saturday Stuff

I haven't posted much this week. It's been kind of busy, but I can't think of a whole lot that we managed to get accomplished!

Well, we did get Otter's desk moved out of her room and into the office. Now she'll have more space, with the bigger bed she didn't not have much space in her room. Bill's gotten her computer back up and running, it has been for a while, (she's been using mine in the interim) but he didn't want to put it back in her room and then have to move it again so it just stayed parked until we got the desk moved. He's in the process of running cable so it can be hooked up to the internet again but I don't think he'll get it finished tonight. Probably tomorrow.

For those of you that have seen our house, her desk is now sitting right inside the office where there used to be a plastic shelf unit - between the door and the closet. She said that she likes her desk being where it is now, she gets more light for homework. Bill's going to put a shelf up for her on the wall above the desk.

The shelf unit used to be our eBay staging area but since we are nearly out of eBay we don't need the shelf anymore. There are still 3 of those shelves, two are in the closet and we have plenty of stuff to put on them - like my sewing stuff, but we don't need much room for the eBay stuff. We are going to work on cleaning off the three shelves we still have, there is a lot of stuff on them that is just plain junk and a lot of it will be thrown out.

The tulip bed is still waiting to be planted. I gave it a second treatment, and I had planned on this week sometime but it didn't quite get there! Possibly tomorrow, or in the next few days depending on the weather.

Otter has been fighting off what we were hoping was an allergy for a day or so, but now we think she's coming down with a cold. She's not a happy camper! And I don't blame her. Colds can be bad enough, but when you have asthma they are so much worse. The Fenton signing is tomorrow, if she's not up to going then I'll take one of her pieces and one of mine. We are hoping that she's up to church tomorrow, but she probably won't be. However, she said that she doesn't mind if we go without her so we'll see in the morning.

We rented Shrek 3 today. It's cute. Not as good as the first one, but that's not unusual. But it is funny.

Froggy asked my opinion about the upcoming Presidential election. I'm not sure yet about candidates, but I like Thompson and Ron Paul. But it is still pretty early. I just know that I am firmly Conservative and absolutely will NOT vote for Hitlary. Under any circumstances. I hope she does not get elected, because I think she is very dangerous. But I also realize that she has a very good chance so I won't be surprised. Just very afraid and disappointed. (Remember, I'm not politically correct and I do speak my opinion! And this is my blog, so it's my opinion!)

Bill's off the entire week, he has Thursday and Friday as holidays and he's taking vacation days for Monday - Wednesday. Otter is off Wednesday and I only have Thursday and Friday. I have dental appointments set up for Wednesday for Otter and me but I'm probably going to have to reschedule because of her possible cold. The original plan was that she would go to work with me on Wednesday, but that depends on how she's feeling and if she's contagious. If she is unable to go with me, I'm going to be in big trouble at work! I've already been informed by my 92 year old boss that he and his wife expect to see their adopted red-headed granddaughter very soon! :)

Tuesday and the latest on the check theft/forgery

I called the collection agency yesterday, they said that I have to wait 10 business days from the day I faxed the paperwork back to them. So that will be about Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Then today, I got ANOTHER letter from them asking for payment but it is on the other check that was forged and it looks like it was forged at the same place. Over a week's difference in the check dates. Awfully convenient that they were able to write two forged checks over a week apart on a closed account, like maybe too convenient. I think we all know what I'm inferring here! Anyway, I called the agency after I got today's letter and they said that it will automatically be included with my original forgery complaint so I don't have to do anything about it yet.

Then I got a bill in the mail today for the last installment on one of the medical bills. My October payment was one of the stolen checks. At the time, I called them and they were supposed to make a note in my file. I also sent them a replacement check right away. When my bank statement came the other day, I could tell that the original check to them was received by them and that they had deposited it. Of course, the bank refused it. When I sent the replacement check to them, I also sent them a letter following up on the conversation and very clear instructions about the first check not being good anymore, in case it turned up. Then today I get the bill from them and there is a $15.00 fee for a returned check. I called them, the girl in the billing office seemed really surprised that I am not willing to pay their NSF fee! She kept telling me that it would go to "collection" and I told her about three times that they could collect away but that I was not going to pay it (and why). I think she finally realized that I was serious because she finally gave me the address to mail a letter to with copies of all my documentation and ask them to take that NSF fee off. Which I will do tomorrow. And then they'd better take that $15.00 off because I still WILL NOT PAY IT. She made a bunch of excuses as to why they deposited the first check. But I think I got my point across. To her, at least. We'll see what happens after I send them my letter. I will pay the actual amount I owe, which will be the final installment on the doctor that saw me while I was in the hospital. I just won't pay them anything else!

So now that I am in full Texan Woman mode, anybody need any battles fought? Because I might just be willing! :) Bill better watch his step with me tonight!!

On Sunday, Otter and I are going to take some of our Fenton glass pieces to what will be the absolutely final probably last one ever & forever signing event. A Fenton family member will sign up to three pieces brought in for each person (however, all pieces bought then can be signed no matter how many), and we are each taking two pieces. Possibly I might take three, one will be one of my older pieces but I'm not sure about that. Signatures on the pieces will increase the value, but ours are not going to be sold. If I think about it, I'll take my camera with me. Not that it means anything to anyone but another Fenton collector!

We still haven't gotten the tulip bulbs planted. It was just too windy on Sunday. Sometimes in the next few days, maybe this next weekend. But soon!

Veteran's Day (Observed)

I didn't write this, it was read at a friend's father's funeral. I have seen it before and it might be familiar to a lot of people. But here it is:

"Some veterans bear visible signs of their service: a missing limb, a jagged scar, a certain look in the eye.Others may carry the evidence inside them: a pin holding a bone together, a piece of shrapnel in the leg - or perhaps another sort of inner steel: the soul's ally forged in the refinery of adversity.Except in parades, however, the men and women who have kept America safe wear no badge or emblem.You can't tell a vet just by looking.What is a vet?He is the cop on the beat who spent six months in Saudi Arabia sweating two gallons a day making sure the armored personnel carriers didn't run out of fuel.He is the barroom loudmouth, dumber than five wooden planks, whose overgrown frat-boy behavior is outweighed a hundred times in the cosmic scales by four hours of exquisite bravery near the 38th parallel.She - or he - is the nurse who fought against futility and went to sleep sobbing every night for two solid years in Da Nang.He is the POW who went away one person and came back another - or didn't come back AT ALL.He is the Quantico drill instructor who has never seen combat - but has saved countless lives by turning slouchy, no-account rednecks and gang members into Marines, and teaching them to watch each other's backs.He is the parade - riding Legionnaire who pins on his ribbons and medals with a prosthetic hand.He is the career quartermaster who watches the ribbons and medals pass him by.He is the three anonymous heroes in The Tomb Of The Unknowns, whose presence at the Arlington National Cemetery must forever preserve the memory of all the anonymous heroes whose valor dies unrecognized with them on the battlefield or in the ocean's sunless deep.He is the old guy bagging groceries at the supermarket - palsied now and aggravatingly slow - who helped liberate a Nazi death camp and who wishes all day long that his wife were still alive to hold him when the nightmares come.He is an ordinary and yet an extraordinary human being - a person who offered some of his life's most vital years in the service of his country, and who sacrificed his ambitions so others would not have to sacrifice theirs.He is a soldier and a savior and a sword against the darkness, and he is nothing more than the finest, greatest testimony on behalf of the finest,greatest nation ever known.So remember, each time you see someone who has served our country, just lean over and say Thank You. That's all most people need, and in most cases it will mean more than any medals they could have been awarded or were awarded.Two little words that mean a lot, "THANK YOU".Remember November 11th is Veterans Day"It is the soldier, not the reporter, Who has given us freedom of the press.It is the soldier, not the poet, Who has given us freedom of speech.It is the soldier, not the campus organizer, Who has given us the freedom to demonstrate.It is the soldier, Who salutes the flag, Who serves beneath the flag, And whose coffin is draped by the flag, Who allows the protester to burn the flag."

Thanks Dad.

Sunday, Catching Up. Veteran's Day.

I hope everyone remembers that it's Veteran's Day. Let's all thank them when we see one. I do if I can. Dad taught me that. I put my flag out this morning, but the wind keeps wrapping it around the flag pole.

Thursday evening, there was a Veteran's panel at Otter's school. The history teacher set it up, there were 6 veterans there. Two were WWII, one was Vietnam, one was 1970's - 80's, one was first Gulf War, one was First Gulf War and current Gulf War. There were quite a few students there, and they seemed to be really interested in what the veterans were saying. A couple of them went into a lot of detail about basic training. I think it opened up a few kid's eyes, especially when the Vietnam vet was talking about the training involving gas masks. The history teacher has the panels every year around Veteran's Day, and we'll probably go next year as well.

Possibly we might get Otter's tulip bed planted today. She is at her friend's house, she's been there since about 5:30 yesterday and when she gets home she is probably going to want a nap. I'm sure that they didn't get much sleep last night, they usually stay up most of the night giggling. But we need to plant the bulbs, so we might try to do that when she gets home. I say try, because it's so windy that it might be more trouble than it's worth.

So far I have not heard anything else from the collection agency. The grocery store had a problem with my check when I bought groceries on Friday, but it might have been because the amount was over $100.00 or because I was getting cash back. Seems like this particular store has to have approval when it's over $100.00 but I haven't shopped there too often so I don't really remember. They did take the check though. When the register didn't like the check the clerk kept pushing buttons to get it to work and her supervisor had to come fix it. And the supervisor told the clerk (loudly) that next time that happens, NOT TO PUSH ANYTHING ELSE! I got the feeling that the clerk has had problems and not followed procedures a few times in the recent past. Maybe because she spent the entire time she was checking my groceries gossiping with another clerk? The supervisor just approved my check and was unable to say why there was a problem since the clerk pushed all the buttons. We went to Sam's this morning (yeah, I know - they are part of WalMart) and had no problem there when I wrote a check. Even though we didn't forge the checks and they are a different account, I'm afraid that we could have problems in the future if the collection agency still shows us as writing bad checks.

I'm going to call the collection agency tomorrow or Tuesday and see if they have any more information for me. They might be closed tomorrow, some places are closed in observance of Veteran's Day.

We rented the movie "Barnyard" and watched it yesterday. It was cute. It was really for younger kids, but I couldn't find anything else that was even remotely interesting so that's what I rented. It's about a bunch of farm animals and there were a few funny spots. But I think that the writers and/or illustrators need to go back to school. Because the last time I checked, boy cattle were not called cows and boy cattle DON'T HAVE UDDERS!

(Maybe) Quick Update on the recent stuff!

I faxed all the paperwork to the Telecheck collection department today, and mailed them the originals. I made several copies. I don't let anything go without keeping copies of it for our files.

My bank statement came today, it has the last of the old account and the start of the new one. It also has the checks that did not clear - including the one I got the collection letter on (shown as not clearing, showing as stopped and showing the forged amount) - AND ONE OTHER ONE THAT WAS STOLEN BUT DID NOT CLEAR - FOR OVER $1600.00. It's the correct number as one of the stolen checks, the bank did not clear it but it still shows the amount it was forged for on the statement. I'm guessing that it might also be WalMart, but I haven't heard anything from anybody else in terms of collection agencies. There were 5 checks in all, two of them got to their destination but were returned to me since I'd already called the places, the $1800+ that was forged at WalMart, the $1600+ that showed up as stopped and was forged on today's bank statement and that left one. Which apparently DID get to it's destination, and they tried to send it through but the bank denied it as I'd stopped it already. I've already replaced that one with a check from the new account, so there should not be any NSF charges on it being run through (which I wouldn't pay anyway since I called them the day the theft happened!). But now we at least don't think that the checks were copied, since the check numbers match up with the stolen ones. They were "just" forged.

When I sent the paperwork to the collection agency, I attached a list with the check numbers, original payees, dates written and original amounts since the letter did not say which specific check number it was for. If the second one was also written to WalMart, hopefully they will be able to look up the file they now have on me and I won't get another letter! If I do, I'll send them copies of what I sent them today. If there is another letter from another collection agency, they will also get copies.

The staph infection that has been in the news has now hit the Tulsa area. It's in several schools, including our district. Otter brought home a letter from the school district about it, and we also got an automated call from the principal about it. I'm not too worried about it, it can be contagious but it isn't automatically horrible, fatal or even serious! Yes, there are cases that are serious. But the majority of the cases are resolved, although it might take a while since it's resistant to a lot of antibiotics. I was already familiar with it, since Mom had a case of it towards the end of her life and Froggy and I researched it then. Wash your hands with plenty of soap and water, and don't share things with other people like make up, drinking glasses, etc. In short, use common sense. And don't panic when the news media makes it sound like something out of a Stephen King novel!

It did not quite get to freezing last night. But it was still plenty cold! It is supposed to get well below freezing tonight. I hope it does, I've sneezed a lot today and I'm getting kind of tired of it! It's been breezy all day and pretty cool, the wind made it feel colder than it actually was. We do have some Fall color, although I was beginning to think that the trees would skip that stage and just go to bare naked!

Monday and We Have Our First Freeze Warning!

It might get into the 30's tonight. Well, it will get to the thirties. The question is, how low? We could possibly get our first freeze tonight. Tomorrow night it is supposed to be a hard freeze, which means the twenties! I can hardly wait, I've been fighting allergies all day because of the wind and a good freeze will kill off everything. Especially ragweed. Hate the stuff! I tried to have a nosebleed this afternoon, and I've had a lot of sinus congestion today. I sneezed a lot yesterday.

We re-covered a few iris bulbs this morning, which the dogs thoughtfully arranged for us to need to do. I also watered them well and then again this evening. We brought in the last 3 jalepeno plants and the parsely plant. I don't expect the jalepenos to do much, they have already produced but they still have a few blooms on them so we'll see what happens. The parsely will probably continue to grow, it survived a few swallowtail larvae attacks but it's a tough plant. We also leveled the dirt on the tulip bed and put the first (possibly only) treatment on it. I'm not sure if it will get another treatment or not, I'm hoping to plant it this coming Sunday. Otter has a bunch of tulip bulbs.

And Frasier does have another ear infection, I'd suspected it but now I am pretty sure. He was digging at both ears last night, I used the saline rinse on both of them and he tolerated it but he didn't like it. Bill thinks that the dog has figured out that as unpleasant as it must be to get his ears rinsed out, he has apparently made the connection that it makes him feel better. But it was a battle this morning with the medicated drops! I have to hit his ears again with the rinse tonight and the drops again in the morning - possibly the drops again before bedtime - and then I'm going to continue for a few days. Especially if the weather is about to turn. They are inside when we are home and at night, but they are outside during the day. And even though they have a nice warm, carpeted spot in the garage sometimes Frasier will stay outside.

I talked to the Talequah Police Department this afternoon. The detective was very nice, but he suggested I hold off on filing a report with them. He had a few good points. For one thing, WalMart only keeps their surveillance tapes for 7 days and it was over 7 days later before I got the letter from Telecheck. Also, the tapes don't usually show much beyond the top of people's heads. They are not set up for online or phone reports, I would have to do it in person and it would probably cost me $40 or $50 in gasoline alone, and I'd probably have to take off a day from work to go. With just about zero chance of even developing a suspect. So I'm going to hold off and see what else happens. If one of the other two checks out there shows up, then I will consider going to Talequah. I'm faxing all the paperwork back to Telecheck tomorrow, along with the report number from the Tulsa Police Department. And then I hope that I don't have to deal with this anymore, but I won't be surprised if it's not that easy.

It's been a confusing day!

Because of the time change, anyway. The doggies haven't quite figured out yet that just because they think it's time for breakfast, the clock doesn't agree! We'll have to slowly change their breakfast time until they are back to 5:30 like before the time change.

It was nice to get an extra hour of sleep this morning, Otter especially liked it. I think Bill still got up early, he got up before I did and went on a styrofoam packing material hunt. I think he got up about 5:30 old clock, or 6:30 new clock. I managed to make myself stay in bed for about 15 minutes after that, then I gave up and got up because I could not go back to sleep. By this time, the poochies were through with breakfast and wanted my attention anyway.

We visited a different church today, this is the 3rd one I think. We really liked this church and will attend there for a few more Sundays. Then we'll decide if we still want to look around or not, but I'll be surprised if we still look around. It was a very good sermon, very friendly people and the message was wonderful. It's a smaller church than the one we actually belong to, still Southern Baptist and not too far from home. But it's way too early to make a decision about it. However, we all left with the same opinion - that this is one we need to seriously consider.

I pulled all the weeds in Otter's tulip bed. There were plenty! Also it had been taken over by what I think is called monkey grass, which was planted there a couple of years before we bought this house and I've dealt with it each year. It took me a while and I had to go inside and take an advil afterwards, my hands & wrists were sore and my lower back is twinging a little bit. Otter was busy inside, I had her doing housecleaning chores, otherwise she'd have been out there with me. I also turned the dirt over with the shovel. We were going to treat the dirt tonight, but I think that will wait until tomorrow. The treatment involves water, mineral oil and dish soap. Moles & gophers hate it. The ground can be treated more than once, a week or so between treatments and we'll probably do two treatments this year since we've had so many more moles to deal with. The tulip bulbs probably won't be planted for a couple of weeks, I was hoping to get them in pretty quick but I think that the ground is still a little bit warm and I don't want them to start sprouting!

Otter and I went to two thrift stores this afternoon. We had a lot of fun and found a few things. 3 or 4 books and several other things. Nothing spectacular, but we still enjoyed our shopping trip.

I've had a couple of people suggest I call the District Manager of WalMart and I think I'm going to do that. I'm also going to see if there is anything else I need to do, as far as protecting our credit and reporting the theft/forgery/fraud of our checks. I'm faxing the info to the credit agency tomorrow and I hope that I don't have any more problems with them on this. I'm also going to call the Talequah police department again tomorrow, as I've never heard back from them.

I made a pecan pie yesterday, not healthy in the slightest! But very good. I think I'm going to go have some now. I did buy fat-free vanilla ice cream to have with it, which Otter thinks is just the funniest thing she's ever heard. Not that the ice cream is fat-free, it's the idea that it's to be eaten with the pie! I see her point, by the way. :)

Good Boy, Frasier!

When we got home Friday and let the dogs in, Frasier brought something in with him. We think he intended it to be a snack, but it's also possible he brought it in to show us because he dropped it at my feet. It was a dead mole. Needless to say, he got praised to the skies and then stuffed with treats. Since Maggie probably helped, she was just as dirty as he was from digging the mole trail out, she got filled up with treats as well. Then Frasier ran back outside and started looking for another one. No luck, but he's obviously made the connection between dead moles and getting treats!

This is what moles can do to a yard. This is not my yard, by the way! But they can do tremendous damage, as can gophers & voles.

This is what a mole looks like, this is not one from my yard either. They are not very big, they would fit in the palm of your hand.

I talked to the manager at the Talequah WalMart. She was not helpful. I told her I had a question about their policy on taking checks. She explained about the automated system and I asked her if that would tell them right then if a check was good, she said yes. Then I asked her if a check was not approved, what would happen? She said that the customer would be told it wasn't approved and would not get their merchandise. And then I told her why I wanted to know! She started getting very vague and her story started changing - fast. At which time, I went Texan Woman on her and frankly, I enjoyed it. I didn't get anywhere with her, she tried to tell me that it was 1) my bank's fault, then 2) Telecheck's fault, then 3) my fault. That's when the horns got her. Big time. I didn't hang up on her, although I wanted to, but I did tell her that I have always been a loyal and very good customer but that I might not be one anymore. She just kind of stammered, then I said goodbye and hung up.

I got the email from the Tulsa Police Department with the case number. I'm going to fax the info to the Telecheck collection department on Monday and then see what the next stage is. I still have not heard from the Talequah Police Department about the message I left them on Friday, I'll call them again on Monday.

I am not going to completely rule out shopping at WalMart in the future, but it's going to be limited and probably not for a while. There is actually a grocery store chain in the Tulsa/Broken Arrow area that I like more but WalMart is slightly cheaper so I've been buying our groceries there. But I am going to start using the other chain for the majority of my groceries now.

A while back, like several months back, I posted about Chupacabras and the woman who claimed she'd hit one with her car. I said at the time it was most likely a coyote. Froggy emailed me about the dna report on the animal, and it was exactly what I said - a mangy coyote. But Chupas are still a fun story! I think it's just based on mangy coyotes.

This is the supposed chupacabra in South Texas.

This is a coyote. Notice the resemblance? Look at the shape of the head, the ears and the mouth.

This is a coyote footprint. We see them occasionally out in the area behind our house.

I also saw a story last week about someone claiming to have new video footage of a young sasquatch (yeti), however all the experts have identified it as a mangy bear. Except for the "official" sasquatch agency, which automatically said that it's a sasquatch. People, get real! It's a bear! A hairless one, but still a bear! I really think that if these assorted mystical animals were real, they would have been found by now! Geesh.

I AM DONE WITH WAL-MART FOREVER.

And I mean it.

I got a collection letter today. From the agency WalMart uses. I got two the other day, because the bank stopped two of the checks that they were supposed to let through. The bank paid the NSF fees and I took care of it with the agency. Today's letter is for $1,821.14 plus $50.00 NSF fee. FOR A CHECK I DID NOT WRITE. It was at the WalMart in Talequah, which is a small town east of Tulsa.

I talked to the store in question just now. They have the automated system where the checks are run through the bank right then and if there is not enough money, the account is closed, check is stopped, etc., then it is rejected immediately. The assistant manager said that he doesn't know what to tell me, he can't explain why the check was allowed through on a) a stopped check, b) a closed account or c) more money than the account had even before I closed it! He told me to call the accounting department tomorrow, which I will do as soon as they open at 7:00 a.m. And they'd better have a good answer for me. I am going to ask him, on Bill's request, if those things have to be personally approved before they accept them because if that's the case then he's got an employee problem!

I talked to the police department today, I have to go to the bank and pick up a form called an Affidavit of Forgery. Then I have to take it to the police department, and they will start the report process for fraud. The officer I spoke with today also told me that the officer who originally responded to the theft SHOULD HAVE TAKEN A REPORT - which the first officer told me he couldn't do since we didn't even have a suspect or a description. I have his name, and I am going to mention it when I file my report tomorrow. After I get my report filed, then I can fax it and the bank's affadavit to the collection agency.

I don't think that the bank goofed up this time, because the check would have gone through and it didn't.

I also called and had a fraud alert placed on our credit reports. I strongly suggest everyone call Transunion at 1-800-680-7289 and request an alert be put on your credit file where you will be contacted if there is any request for credit in your name or with your SS numbers. It can be done even if you haven't had a theft or fraud.

But I really am done with Walmart now. I'll pay more for groceries, I don't mind. That is not the point of it anymore anyway.

Boo!

It's Halloween. Otter is too old to go trick or treating now, this is her first year not to go. So she's been promoted to passing out candy. We have two jack-0-lanterns, carved and just waiting for it to get dark enough so we can light the candles. Otter's pumpkin is a vampire. Mine's the traditional one with the triangle eyes & nose - also known as I was in a hurry!

Read this: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21566280/

About time someone made that so-called church face the music! Sometimes the only way you can get someone's attention is through their wallet. They have to be stopped, they are just really terrible and they are just plain evil in my opinion.

I hear dogs barking in the distance, if I had to venture a guess I would say that we are not the only family with a beagle in the neighborhood! Of course, Maggie is curled up in the middle of Otter's bed. Where she's been most of the day, I think!

Happy Halloween!

Gone Shopping!

In my closet. Well, actually I just cleaned out stuff from the closet. But it was like shopping! I found several things that I haven't worn in years, it's like having a bunch of brand new outfits. I also cleaned out a few blouses that are way too big now. It was pretty fun.

The bank has been handled. I called the main office on the situation, I didn't even bother with the branch we usually use. They apologized all over the place! And they also paid the NSF fees to the collection agency. I mailed the check for the amount, with letters of explanation, today.

I've been sneezing all day long and I'm tired of it! Feel like my eyeballs are going to bounce right out of my head. We had cooler weather, then it got warm, then it rained again, then it was cooler and now something is blooming. Again. I'm just not sure what. But ragweed is high on my list of suspects! Some trees are turning, but the majority of the trees I see are just dropping leaves without the normal color change that we should have this time of year. Somehow, I just don't think it's going to be a very picturesque Fall!

I hope everyone remembered that the time change is next Sunday a.m.!

We're Done!

With moving iris bulbs, that is. I got all the bulbs by one of the trees dug up, the Otter helped me plant them and there are now two rows of iris by the back of the house. There are still two trees that have a bajillion iris bulbs by them, but we're out of room by the house so they are going to stay. At least for now. I might come up with a different plan for them, but I'm not going to worry about that now.

I also dumped a couple of plants that were about gone, and put all my plant pots in the garage for the year. I still have a few plant stands out on the deck, but they are not really in the way so they are going to stay. At least for now. I don't really have a place for them in the garage right now. One of the plant stands came inside and the pink pot full of cactus is on it, in front of the dining room window. I took the two hanging baskets full of begonias off of the shepherd's hook and put them on my corner plant shelf in the dining room. The begonias are actually from spring 2006, I heard yesterday about how hard they are to keep alive from one season to the next but I've never had a problem with it. I just move them inside when it starts to get cool and take off any dead flowers, then they survive until the next spring when they go outside again.

Bill just came down from the roof. He was putting a snow cover on the satellite dish. He didn't fall off, but apparently he nearly did. I don't think I want to know!!

---------------

Ok, it's about an hour later than when I started this. Bill needed me to help hold the ladder so that he would be able to get on & off of the roof without an Oops! He's finished up there for now, and I'm glad. He's doing something to the satellite dish involving better wiring than what it was installed with.

I'm going to have to have a "talk" with my bank on Monday. When the checks were stolen, there were 4 checks that I had written a few days before but they had not cleared yet. I gave the numbers, dates & amounts and the bank said that those 4 checks would transfer to the new account. I've been checking the bank daily, 2 of the checks did come through. Yesterday's mail had a letter from WalMart's collection agency. Seems that the other two checks, the ones that the bank said would clear - DID NOT! So WalMart expects me to send them money to cover the two checks plus $50.00 in NSF fees. I'm not even going to give the bank a chance to explain, they are getting the horns from the start when I call them tomorrow. And they had better agree to pay all the amounts, including the $50.00, and I want something in writing to WalMart explaining that it was their fault and not mine. And if I get nowhere with the branch office tomorrow, I am going all the way up the ladder on this one because my boss is very good friends with one of the highest officers at the bank and I know I'll get somewhere with him. It's kind of frustrating, to say the least!

On a brighter note, we got our flu shots Friday afternoon. No reaction beyond the normal slight headache & not feeling the best that evening. But while we were at the hospital for the shots, I stepped on the scale. Since January, I have now lost 48 pounds. I'm very happy, and very encouraged that I'm actually going to get to my goal. I've gone down 2 sizes and nearly 3 now. I'm not buying a lot of clothing, since I'm not finished yet. Just a few things to get me through, and I've gotten most of them at thrift stores. I have a few nicer outfits that I'm going to see about getting altered, but not until I'm where I want to be. I'm excited! But now my rings are pretty loose, in fact one of them came right off of my finger the other day. I'm not sure about getting them resized. I had them resized larger a couple of years ago, and the jeweler wasn't sure he would be able to resize them again. So I might have to come up with a different idea on that. But I'll worry about that when I'm at my goal which will still be a few months from now but it is at least in sight. :)

Ok, that's it for now. I have a couple of errands to run and a little more laundry to do. So, TTFN!

Redheads Rule!

Read this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21474978/

More redhead lore: I did not write this, I found most of it online although quite a bit of it I already knew. My specific comments are in italics! I was surprised at how much information is out there.

"""Facts about Red Hair:

Red hair is not widespread, less than four percent of the world population has naturally red hair. Lss than two percent in America. The gene for red hair was discovered in 1995. There are a lot of negative connotations such as the association with witches and the famous temper (THE TEMPER IS NOT A MYTH!).

Most women who dye their hair use home kits. about one quarter dye their hair blonde, slightly more than that prefer brunette. But about 30% go red!

There was a study done a few years ago by Professor Jonathan Rees, Edinburgh University. The study identified the red hair gene, the melanocortin 1 receptor (MC1R), which is found on the 16th chromosome. The study discovered that this one gene was responsible for red hair. Therefore, red hair is a genetic mutation.

Only about 4% of the population are natural redheads. The majority are in Ireland, Scotland and surprisingly Austrailia. Scotland has the highest population with around 14%, Ireland is next on the list at about 10%. But only about 2% of the population in the US!

There are some who believe redheads are prone to industrial deafness. This one has some basis in reality, according to studies done. It's believed to be related to the "red hair gene."

Green is supposed to be a calming color that calms red. That is probably why redheads are more commonly pictured in green. But red hair is not anything to be ashamed about! (I wear green because I think it looks good with the hair).

There was a medical study in 2002 which found that redhead are harder to sedate than most of the population and can require up to twenty percent more anesthesia. Without enough anesthesia, people can wake up during surgery! (I did not wake up during any of my surgeries, but dental work is not fun because it takes so many more shots than the rest of the world! So I think that I can attest to this one being true. Also when Bill gets stitches - which he seems to do frequently - he always needs more shots).

Most adults have about 120,000 hairs on their head. Blondes have the most, brunettes are next and then redheads have the fewest.

Redheads have been called "three-time losers" for the following reasons: lack of dark pigment in the skin causes susceptibility to sunburn, ditto for skin cancer and also wrinkles! So sunblock is a necessity. (we are not losers!)

The red head trait is a recessive gene. It might skip a few generations. But it never really goes away, several generations may pass and then surprise! A redhead! Most redheads don't turn grey. (I just have a few calico spots).

It was believed in the late 16th century that the fat of a redheaded man was an necessary ingredient to make poison.

Supposedly, Adolph Hitler was so afraid of redheads marrying and producing children that would be "deviant", he banned two redheads from marriage. (Never heard this one before, but being the mother of a redhead... and also the spouse of one...)

“Redheaded stepchild”. (Dad always called me a red-headed stepchild! He was right about the hair part anyway, just not the step-child part).

I have heard that bees will sting redheads more than other people. It's an honor in some countries to have a red headed child, Denmark for one. A Polish belief is that you will win the lottery if you pass three red heads!

The ancient greeks believed that red haired people would turn into vampires when they died. (Otter, this one is just for you!) Russian belief is that red hair is both a sign that a person holds a fiery temper and craziness. (No comments about the craziness! but yes on the temper!) Russian proverb: “There was never a saint with red hair.” England's folklore says that it's bad luck to meet a redhead at the beginning of a trip and that you should return home. (Yeah, but what if you ARE one!?)

Both English and Scottish belief is that the first caller to your home on New Years will bring you luck. Brunettes are the most lucky, blondes don't bring any luck - good or bad, a widower will mean bad luck. But the best is saved for the redheads! The worst luck of all! (Ok, who needs a redhead to visit an enemy for them!?) The philospher Aristotle stated that redheads were emotionally unhousebroken.

Lucille Ball was quoted as saying: "Once in his life, every man is entitled to fall madly in love with a gorgeous redhead.""""

Now the rest of this is my thoughts: I like the hair color and the pale skin, but I don't really care for the sunburning part! And I don't wear red, it clashes! And I'd rather be unique any day of the week! When Otter was born, the first question was not dealing with gender. Rather, it was "does she have hair? WHAT COLOR IS IT?" When I was in high school and in the choir, there was a boy that was redheaded. The choir director always stood us next to each other - and we actually heard complaints about the glare from our hair! My wonderful, kind, sensitive brother once said he'd like to sell tickets & popcorn if Bill and I ever got into an argument. I have been known to tell certain people that the red hair is the first warning.

Wednesday and I'm Wasting Time

when I should be on eBay, posting things to sell! In a minute.

Interesting article: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21455714/ I'm sure we all know which side of the fence I'm on, where this is concerned. (I applaud Duncan and the rest of them that are following his lead). Bill's comment: "Have you refused your koran today?"

It will probably be this time next week before the new checks arrive, so I guess I am going to have to go to the bank for cash before I go to the grocery store. It's getting old! But at least we know what happened, it would be a whole lot more annoying if I hadn't discovered that the checks were stolen.

Flu shots on Friday! I strongly recommend them for everyone.

Well, Frasier is telling me that I need to get busy with eBay. Or at least that is what it sounds like he's saying, he's parked in the floor beside me and he is talkative! I might update this later. If I can think of anything else to say!

LATER EDIT:

Ok, I got my eBay chores done! Otter is cleaning out some of her stuff, she wants to buy a jacket she saw last week so she's trying to earn some money. Most of what I posted on eBay is her stuff. So I hope it sells, and so does she! eBay makes a great way to get her to clean out her stuff. The games were hers already, she bought the stuffed dog at a thrift store last week to resell it. She's learning!

It's Cold!

And rainy, too. We hit our high temp of 50 degrees at midnight. And it's been downhill since then. It's not really all that cold, it's just that it was in the 70's yesterday and now it's in the 40's. If it wasn't rainy, it might not feel so cold. I think we might need to check the heater, it might need to be turned on soon. Also, having grown up in South TEXAS I spend a lot of time imagining that my feet are cold. I generally complain about cold feet from September 1 until about April or May. "All in my head". Yeah, and I just imagined the snow flakes I saw today. Several people saw them, it was even on the news. Global warming?

The Magginator loves this weather. She was zooming around the house, as fast as those paws could go. She would race around in circles, rest for a couple of minutes and then do it again. I think she finally wore herself out, after about 5 or 6 spells of racing. She covers the entire house, the first time she was just running in circles around the living room and then the second time she was running around Frasier. He was smart, he just sat in the middle of the floor and watched her going around and around. By the time she was finished, she was running all the way to the opposite side of our bedroom and then back to the kitchen again. She's kind of nuts. I really think that if the Energize bunny ever retires that Maggie would be a great replacement.

Frasier keeps coming up to me and bumping my arm with his head, sometimes he wants to be hugged but mostly I think that he's just playing tag - and I'm it!

Happy Birthday, Kendall! The big 15! Just think, just a few more years and you'll be 18. And then you won't have to do what you're told! :)

We had an interesting spider on the back deck last night. He was pretty big, the body was about the size of a quarter and he was very fat. Shape was similar to a black widow, but it was not one of those! We couldn't find the exact spider on the internet, but we think it was possibly a crab spider. Kind of an orange color. He built a good sized web, just outside the back door & window. And almost immediately, he had two servings of dinner. As the spider was building the web, it would zoom down almost to the deck and then I would have to hold Maggie back because she wanted to eat it. He would them climb back up and gather the web in two of his legs as he went up. Then he would attach other pieces of web to it, and he made his entire web that way. We enjoyed watching him. I took a couple of pictures, but they weren't clear enough to tell details so I'm not posting them. But we are not worried that it was a poisonous spider, we know most of the bad ones we have in this area and crab spiders don't seem to be among them. Mostly, the bad ones we have to deal with are brown recluse and we know what they look like. We get wolf spiders, too. They are really neat.

I'm heading to the kitchen now, to put on a pot of spaghetti! Good cold weather food. I'd make chili, but I am out of the fixings for it.

Sunday. Warm. Last Day of Summer Weather!

Or at least the forecast says that today is the last day of summer temps. It's been in the 70's today, which really is not warm but is a little high for late October in NE Oklahoma. We could get rain tonight, and tomorrow is supposed to be rainy all day. The temperatures for the week are supposed to be in the 60's, low 60's I think. Some of the nights could get down into the 40's. It was pretty windy today.




I moved some of the iris bulbs today. I got the ones by the chain link fence on the east side of the yard and there were a few on the west side by the fence so I dug those up, too. The majority of the iris plants we have are purple, but there were a few yellow ones along the east fence. I'm not sure if I got those or if they didn't survive because they might have been choked out by the honeysuckle on the fence. I dug a trench by the back of the house, Otter planted the bulbs for me. They are pretty close together and they still filled up the space. There are a whole lot more irises by the three trees in the back yard, probably enough for several more trenches! At least 3, maybe 4. I'm not sure when I'm going to get the rest of them, a lot of it depends on the weather. But I do intend to get at least the ones from one of the trees and transplant them. I had a lot of help from Maggie, she sat beside me the entire time and watched! Bill thought that maybe she was trying to pick up pointers, since digging comprises a big part of her day. Otter also picked up all the small limbs from the front yard. Then she dumped the plants that are done for the year, most of the jalepeno plants & the bell pepper plant. They are now filling in dog holes. There are a couple of other plants that will get dumped soon, but not quite yet. Maggie needs to dig more holes so we have a place to put them.

This is one of those plastic yard art figurines, but it looks a great deal like Maggie usually does! Except that her tail is longer, and there is usually dirt flying. The second picture is probably more accurate. Notice the dirt pile behind the beagle and the fact that more is being added to it.

Bill's been working in the garage, there is now a clear path to Otter's workbench and he's nearly cleaned out the entire path from her workbench to the garage door. There are 5 bags of trash waiting for Tuesday, all from the garage. Lots of the trash is overhead projector parts from the overheads that don't work, we buy them as surplus and usually they work fine but there are always a few that don't. Bill's stripping them for parts to repair the ones he can fix, and the rejects have just been piling up. But now several of them are gone. Not all of them, there are still plenty out there and a whole bunch more in the shed. But at least there is some order in the garage now.

After Otter & I transplanted the iris bulbs, we decided to go shopping. We went to two thrift stores. She found a whole bunch of books at one, and I found two skirts. One is 2 sizes down from a year ago at this time. The other one is the next size smaller, which is 3 sizes down! I also found a small china tray with a decoration of bluebonnets, so of course I had to buy it. And I found some border, not wallpaper border but more like what a teacher would use as bulletin board border - TEXAS flag pattern so needless to day, it came home with me too! At the second thrift store, Otter found an item she wants to sell on eBay and another book.

It's only 5:30 as I post this, but it's getting dark early. It's been clouding up all afternoon, and the clouds are getting pretty dark. So maybe we will get some of that rain that we were promised. I did wash my car today, but the forecast already said rain. But the car was filthy! So it might not be my fault if it rains.

Breezy Saturday

The insane kitten has changed her mind completely, she does want to go back to the Nightmare next year. She's her mother's daughter, and she might be scared of something but she seldom backs down. Read her blog, she has a lot to say about it.

It's been pretty windy all day long. We've had the house open most of the day, it's been very nice. It could rain tomorrow, but I think late in the day or possibly not until evening. Which is what I hope for, because we're moving irises tomorrow!

Frasier has not been out of the yard since the other day, so now I'm thinking that he probably did scale the fence since it was unplugged. But it's plugged in now and is staying that way. At the moment, Frasier is snoozing on the floor beside me. He's been clingy lately, he has a spot in the living room where he likes to sleep. We put a blanket in that area when we first got him, and that's his bed. He scrunches the blanket around until he gets it how he wants it and then he goes to sleep on it. The last couple of nights however, he's been sleeping at the foot of our bed on my side. He's very spoiled. And Maggie is not much better!

Well, I have to go referee the Otter and Bill. I think that they are having a disagreement about what to watch on tv. I keep hearing their voices, sounds like they need a mediator!

Very Glad it's Friday!

It's been a busy week and I am very tired today. Monday seems to have lasted 5 days!

No sign of the stolen checks at any place other than the church. I have finally been able to order my new checks, they should be here in about a week. Wallyworld refused one of my temp checks today, they do take temp checks but not for new accounts. Or at least that was the excuse they gave me. Excuse me, it's not really a new account! And most temp checks are for new accounts anyway! I went to the ATM in the store and paid $2.00 extra just to be able to get the cash, so I could go pay for the groceries I was buying. If I had enough time to go elsewhere, I would have just walked off and left everything there. But I was really too tired to go anywhere else and I did not want to get worked up over it.

Otter went to work with me today, and then we went to the mall for a little while. She found a pair of pants and a headband. Then she was out of money! Don't you just hate it when that happens?!

I think that we are going to start moving the iris bulbs on Sunday. It's still kind of early, but with the strange weather this year I don't think that the plants are ever going to die down enough until it actually freezes. And I'm not willing to do that kind of yard work after it freezes. Besides, irises are pretty hard to kill so I'm not worried. The tulips won't be planted yet, though. I'd like to be able to plant them in a couple of weeks, but we'll just have to see. They don't have to wait until a freeze, but the ground does need to be a consistent cool temperature.

I took Otter and two of her friends to a local haunted house last night. It's put on by a church. The church was founded by a group of recovering drug addicts and their main focus is to keep kids from getting into the same kind of trouble that they were in. So their haunted house is not like a traditional one. Which we knew beforehand. Their version of scary things is still like a school shooting, teen suicide, car wreck caused by drunk driving, stuff like that. Oh yeah, they also have a part that deals with Hell. And at the end, there is a message about how you can avoid all of that, which is the Answer to all of life's problems - God. It's pretty good and very effective. Otter and her friends were absolutely terrified when they walked out, they were scared & shaking. Otter asked if she could sleep with me last night, so we moved into the living room. She told me that she never, ever wanted to go back there and she never wants to be scared like that again. This afternoon she's changed her tune - she might want to go back next year!

Very Early Thursday Morning Quick Posting

The weather here was pretty bad yesterday at times, but we're fine!

Froggy called me at 9:00 last night to check, which is when I realized that our weather was being reported nationally. It was rough in some areas, but not quite as rough as it sounds. I just read a couple of articles on the internet, they were very dramatic!

We did get some spring-like storms, but the bad stuff missed us. The first couple of storms that were heading our direction went north instead, parts of Tulsa were hit hard and the rent house is in one of the areas so Bill is going to check on it today. We haven't heard from the tenants yet, I think we would have by now if something bad had happened but he's still going to check it out. The last bad storm that was south of us and heading our way went a little bit east before it came north, so we got the north edge of it. We got a lot of wind - the rain was sideways at one point - but not any bad stuff.

Froggy, I think that Dad would be happy you checked on me. I can just hear his voice now! He would be asking me when I was moving back home. Then he'd probably say I was a knothead, then he'd giggle.

Wet & Windy Wednesday

Lots of water. Lots and lots of wind. Springlike storms this afternoon. We have several small limbs down in the front, but they are hardly big enough to be called limbs. There are just a bunch of them. We had a storm system that was supposed to hit us this morning, but it went on north and we didn't have to deal with it. Then the next storm system was supposed to hit about 3:00 and it was right on time. Very windy! It was not nearly as bad as it could have been, there was a little bit of hail but not much and not big. It was a fast-moving storm. We might get more tonight, but late night if it hits. It might also go north, so we might avoid it. Which would be a good thing.

Otter went to work with me today, we went to the library at lunch and she got her weight in books. As usual! She's certainly her mother's daughter. She made a couple of $$ today.

I had a migraine this morning. First one I've had in several months. But I wasn't surprised, I've had MSG a few times lately and I knew I was pushing it but I was hoping I could get by with it. I try to avoid MSG, but it is in so many foods and I've used a couple of things lately in my cooking that I knew had it. Guessed I just pushed a little too hard. Then Otter might have had one this afternoon, she had a headache but she isn't sure if it was a mild migraine or not.

I called two of the places I'd mailed checks to last Friday, when they were stolen. Since the church check made it, I thought it was worth a shot. The two I called are both medical bills, from my surgery in March. One of the offices is closed this week while their building gets a new roof, which they did tell me last Friday but I forgot. I'll call them next Tuesday when they re-open, but they will probably tell me the same thing as the other doctor's office which was that the check did not show up. So I mailed them a new payment today, along with a note. I think that the church check is probably the only one that is actually going to get where it was meant to, and that's probably only because it was dropped and somebody picked it up and put it in a mailbox. I would like to think that the thief felt bad since it was addressed to a church. But probably not! It's kind of frustrating, having to deal with this.

I have just about finished changing our mailing address to the p. o. box. There are still a couple of places I have to call, and I can't change it with Otter's school until I have something with the new address such as a utility bill, that also shows that the street address has not changed. The library said that my cell phone bill was good enough proof for them, but the school probably wants to make sure that kids really live in the district. Which I can understand, considering that my last 2 years of high school were spent living outside of the district! I had forgotten about that.

Tuesday's Rambling Thoughts

Two dogs in the yard today when we got home! This morning, Frasier went outside fairly early and he stayed out for quite a while. Then when we were putting Short Round (Maggie) out, he stuck his head in the dog door because he heard the lid come off the treat can. I had to get something out of the garage a little later, both dogs were snuggled up on the carpeted area we made for them and Frasier was giving me what I call dirty looks. I think maybe he tried to go over the fence and got bit again, he did not look happy! They were overjoyed to see us when we got home, Otter and her friend took them for a nice walk.

We witnessed what looked like a pretty bad car accident on the way home. I was griping because it took longer than normal to get out of the post office's parking lot due to road construction, but then I saw the accident and realized that if we had not had to deal with the construction delay, we would have been just about where the accident happened. Oklahoma is known for red-light runners and today, one of them got caught the hard way. A small white convertible ran the light, and broadsided a green "SUV" type car, not one of the big SUV's but a smaller one. The convertible went pretty far up on it's nose, I thought at first that it was going to flip or the driver was going to be thrown out because he bounced so high. I think he had his seatbelt on, but I'm not positive judging by how far he bounced up. However, the passenger must have had his belt on and also the dog in the back seat was secured somehow. The passenger got out holding his right arm and the dog seemed to be ok. We were a couple of cars back, several people got out and were helping the occupants of the two cars so I didn't do that but I did call 911 and report it. I gave the operator all the information and my name & phone number, then she said that the police were on their way and that I could leave. Since there were so many people helping, I did go on and leave and the police were just getting there then. Scary. Hope the guy in the white car has good insurance, because he is probably going to need it! And maybe he'll think twice before he runs the next red light. The driver of the SUV was hit right on the driver's door, he seemed to be ok but there were quite a few people helping him out.

No school for the rest of the week, parent conferences tomorrow and then Thursday & Friday are teacher work days. Our conferences are tonight. Otter will go to work with me tomorrow and Friday, my boss has been telling me that he & his wife haven't seen "their granddaughter" in a while so tomorrow she'll get spoiled!