Thursday. Road Trip!

We went traveling today.  We went to Claremore, which is NE of us.  It's a small town, but not as small as it appears.  Several antique/junk/fun stores.  Otter found a couple of books.  I found Fenton, and lots of it.  8 pieces, $4.12 each is what the price worked out to when I figured out what I spent for all of it.  One is a piece I already have, it's a small vase and I was looking for another one so I'd have a matching set.  The rest are all new-to-me pieces.  Bill didn't find anything today, but it's not for lack of trying.

We did go to one thrift store, Goodwill, and Otter found two books there.  We also had lunch in Claremore, at Golden Corral.  It was ok, the food was good, but the restaurant itself was not spectacular.  But considering the size of the town, it was probably about right.

Toadles, when I texted you about being on Route 66, we were heading for the Goodwill.  Most of the stores were just off of Route 66.  They make a big thing about it in Claremore.  If you ever come see me again, we will probably head that way - you too, Froggy!

There is also a yarn store in Claremore.  I was less than impressed.  Very small, tucked in the back of a shopping center and the only sign is the one above the door.  We only found it because I'd already seen their website and knew the address.  There wasn't a lot of yarn and very little variety.  Mostly, what they had was available at Hobby Lobby and WalMart and since the staff was not at all welcoming, I think that people in the area are probably going to go a couple more miles down the road to Wallyworld.  I would!  But I already had yarn on hand, I had a project I was working on in the car.

One of the places we shopped at was actually east of Claremore, probably about 10 miles or maybe a little less.

It was a fun trip.  But now we are tired and going to stay inside for the rest of the day, since it's another S. TEXAS weather day.

Wednesday. I'm Whining.

It's Wednesday and this time, I actually have something to whine about.

I lost one of the pearls in my engagement ring.  I'm not sure exactly where or when, but I think it was possibly at home.  Bill wanted to go to a hardware store, so I went with him and then we went to Office Depot.  After that, we came home and goofed off for a while before Otter and I headed out for some shopping.  Otter and I were on our way when I noticed that the pearl was missing from the ring.  I think I would have noticed it before, since I was driving during the errands with Bill but Otter was driving when I noticed it missing so I'm not actually sure when it fell out.  We looked in the car, I looked in my purse and we didn't find it anywhere.  When we got home, I looked in assorted places but haven't found it yet.  It was loose, it had been rolling in the setting and I vaguely remember catching my ring on something yesterday which is probably when the setting loosened up.  I'll keep looking, but I'm probably going to have to replace it.  At the moment, I'm not wearing the ring.  Just my wedding band and anniversary band that Bill gave me when we hit 10 years.

Otter and I had a fun shopping trip.  We went to a couple of antique/junk/craft stores, Office Depot again and Michael's.  She bought several things, but all I bought today was lunch!  And a couple of things at the grocery store.

We might have a shopping/exploration ramble tomorrow or Friday.  To be determined tomorrow or Friday!

Thrifty Tuesday

Otter and I decided that today was a good day to go thrifting.  We had an unexpected thunderstorm with lots and lots of rain, so we didn't get quite as early a start as we planned.  It was still raining when we left, but the bulk of it was over so it wasn't a bad drive.  Just a wet one!

Among other things, we went to four thrift stores today.  Otter found something at each of them, I don't think that anything we bought was actually for me but that's ok.  I'm still happy over my Coach find yesterday.  We also went to the mall - to Teavana for Otter, and to Subway for lunch.  We had a stop at the library in there as well.  And we had one other stop, Braum's, and they had the one thing we always want but hardly ever find:  a Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream Pie.  They only had one left, they go fast.  Needless to say, it came home with us.

One of the things we bought today was a pressure cooker.  For Bill.  He has one that he uses in his casting process, but it's a little smaller than he needs for some of the parts.  The one I found today is bigger.  I'm still looking for an actual canner for him to use but no luck yet.

Otter and I also went to the yarn store, where she found some yarn for a new scarf & hat.  It's the same company as the yarn I got last summer in SA, Froggy.  It's hard to find.  I have a couple of projects (including your sock monkey hat), then I'm going to get her scarf and hat combo in the new yarn done.  I thought I'd be through with Otter's sock monkey hat by now, but I had a couple of things come up so I haven't had a chance to finish it up.  All it needs now is to have the mouth, ears and button eyes attached.  Which won't take me too long, when I can actually sit down and do it!

One benefit of this morning's rain is that it's not so hot today.  It's extremely humid, so it's not exactly pleasant outside.  It's just not as warm as yesterday.  But tomorrow is supposed to be a hot, dry day and so is Thursday.  I'm not sure about Friday or the weekend.  But today's rain was good, as long as it lasted.  I just wish it wasn't so icky outside, I could use some deck time.  Maybe later, probably in the morning.  I did get some deck time this morning before the rain started.  Just not enough!

When Did NE OK Turn Into S TEXAS?

It hit 104 today.  In a neighboring town, it hit 105.  We're very close to the neighboring town (less than 1/2 mile), so I think we were probably about 105 as well.

It's hot enough to even make a TEXAN yell uncle!  Or at least keep the a/c cranked.  The dogs have spent most of their day snoozing, which is normal, but they've been even less active today.  Although Maggie did have a spell of playing with one of her tug toys this afternoon.  But mostly, they've been sleeping.  And haunting the kitchen, since we made pizza with the bread machine for dinner tonight (and tomorrow lunch).

It was nice this morning, mid-80's.  I watered all the plants well since it was already getting warm, then Bill and I both worked out in the garage for a couple of hours.  I got my workbench & shelf cleaned off and organized (again).  Bill did a lot of things that involved noise, I think he was casting parts for the pachinko machines and he also was working on stripping the varnish off the desk we got at a yardsale a month or so back.  We also took my car for an oil change, then when it was ready we took the White Lightning and left it for it's turn.  Somewhere in there, it got hot.  Really hot.  It got to somewhere around 108 in the state today.

We're used to it, but we don't have to like it!

However, Otter and I did have some much needed Girl Time:  we went shopping!  Specifically, we went thrifting.  We went to the library first, then had some stuff to donate to Goodwill and since we were already there, we had to go inside and see what we could find.  I mean, really, we couldn't have just dropped of our stuff and left.  That wouldn't have been polite to all the nice people who work there, and we just couldn't be rude.  So we shopped. :)

I made what is probably my major find for the year at Goodwill today, in fact.  For $15.00, I found a genuine Coach purse.  It's green suede, which is really what I wanted - I don't really like the purses with all the big C's on them, they look kind of gaudy to me.  I've always liked the more understated ones, and leather is always a big draw.  For a leather purse, $15.00 was a great deal.  But for a genuine, honest to goodness, real Coach bag - $15.00 is practically free!  I showed it to Otter and the first thing out of her mouth was "you are going to buy it, right?  Because you have to, you know."  I did not disagree with her!  Coach purses are very expensive, but they are also worth it because they are extremely well-made and last for years and years.  They run several hundred dollars, new and even the used ones can be a few hundred.  They are also frequently counterfieted, so I've educated myself on what to look for and have seen several at thrift stores that are fakes.  But this one isn't, it's the real deal and I'm very happy with it.

Tomorrow, we're going to take some stuff to the Salvation Army to donate.  I'm sure we'll shop there as well.  But I don't expect to find another spectacular deal like today's.

Day one of vacation has been a good day!

Sunday Pillows

Actually, it should be pillow cases because that is the latest sewing project we have.  I told Bill that we needed new ones, which we do - badly.  Bill said that they would be cheaper to make, which I know isn't right.  So Otter and I went to the fabric store for material for pillow cases.  The cheapest cotton fabric I could find was $4.99/yard and it takes 1 1/2 yards per pillow case.  Do the math, and it comes out to $7.49 per pillow case and would be a little more if I had to buy thread.  Next time, I'm just going to go buy some new ones!  Because Bill is allergic to polyester, it has to be 100% cotton fabric but I don't think poly/cotton or another blend would have been any cheaper anyway.

Otter's going to do the actual sewing for me, she wants the practice although they should be fairly easy as they are just straight seams.  But she likes to sew and hasn't had anything to sew lately, so she's happy.

Froggy, the sock monkey hat came out perfectly!  It's adorable.  Or will be, as soon as I get all the pieces attached.  Among other things, we had to go buy buttons to use as the eyes.  As soon as it's all together, I'll post pictures on the craft blog.  And then I'll get started on yours.  It's really cute.  I don't really like to sell my creations, but I might sell this one because I have a feeling it's going to get noticed a lot.

I had to get a new cell phone Friday.  The one I had was having problems charging and the service tech said it was the charging port.  They had to order me a new one, it came in Friday and it seems to be working ok.  Same number, same phone.  But I had to reset my ring tones and the pictures I had on the other one did not transfer, so I'm having to take new pictures to assign to my contacts.  Otter was happy to pose for me again, she always is happy for an excuse to wear her cat ears!

It's not exactly a lazy Sunday, but it's not a busy one either.  I am doing laundry, but that's a necessity.  Bill's working on a pachinko refurbish (it's a commission job for someone), but mostly we're just hanging around the house and doing whatever.  I'm sure the dogsters are sleeping, that seems to be what they do best.  Otter was in her room while ago, she might be playing Wii or watching a movie.  I'm going to play around on the internet for a while, then I think I'll go assemble a sock monkey hat.  And probably start on the next one.

I may post a lot this week, or I might not.  It just depends!  Mostly, we're just looking forward to not having to get up at 5:00 a.m.!

A Friday Funny From Otter

(I have a guest poster today)

Reasons why Batman is better than Superman

1.  Bats has had more girlfriends (Silver St. Cloud, Talia Al Ghul, Selina Kyle/Catwoman…)
2.  Bats has better villands (Lex Luthor vs the Joker? Joker wins HANDS DOWN)
3.  Bats doesn’t need powers to kick anybody’s butt.
4.  Gadgets!
5.  Bats has a real secret identity, not some silly glasses and spit-curl
6.  Bats has a secret warehouse full of kryptonite
7.  Better costume
8.  Bats has better sidekicks (we are temporarily ignoring Jason)
9.  Two words: Fallen Heroes!! (ie: Jason)
10. How many times has Bats come back from the dead? Too many to count! Supes? Once.
11. Bats has had more (and better) movies

(As you can tell, she is her mother's daughter!).

One To Go!

One work day left, then we are on vacation!

Usually, we take the first week of July.  But Bill couldn't get the first week approved, so he asked for the last week of June instead.  He works for a school district and they have things scheduled during the summer when the kids are not in the schools, the summer is actually a fairly busy time for non-teacher staff of school districts.  It actually is going to work out better, because the original plan was Monday as a holiday and 4 days of vacation.  But since we're taking the week prior to July 4th, we'll actually have one more day off than normal since the holiday is on a Monday this year.

Small miracles, but I'm happy about it.  I desperately need a vacation!  We still will be getting up around the same time in the mornings, the dogs have this strange idea that they need to be fed on a regular basis.  We just won't have to hurry breakfast and go to work.  I intend to spend several mornings on the deck with my coffee cup.  Depending on the weather, that is!  Although I think it's supposed to be dry.  Just hot!

We are probably going to head out on one of our exploration/shopping rambles one day next week.  We have a couple of choices, we just haven't decided for sure which direction or which day.  Well, we think we know which direction we're going.  We just aren't certain of the day yet.  The only thing that is definite one day next week is that I'm taking my car for an oil change Monday morning and possibly Bill is taking the White Lightning in for one as well.  IF he can get it started, that is.  The El Camino has been sitting in the driveway for a while, the battery was dead when he tried to start it so he took the battery to get checked.  and it tested as good.  So he thought maybe it was another problem, but it turned out that the radio he installed in the White Lightning a while back has a clock that was sucking all the juice out of the battery!  He bought a solar charger, which is basically a solar panel that sits inside the car on the dashboard and it's slowly charging the battery up.  Neat gadget!

The rest of the week is deliberately unplanned.  Last year, I went to TEXAS and spent the week with Froggy.  Then, we went to TEXAS for Thanksgiving and I used my remaining vacation days at Christmas like I usually do.  This year, nobody is in the mood to go anywhere very far so we're just going to hang around the house and do whatever.  I might take Otter to a movie, or she might get together with one of her friends.  Bill's going to take advantage of the free time and work on his pachinko machines.  Oh, and we'll get a few fireworks!  And probably make homemade pizza one day.  Since we'll be home, Otter and I will be cooking more than normal (by choice, we both enjoy it).  We went to the grocery store today and bought pizza fixins.  (Remember, we Texans have our own language and fixins is an officially recognized TEXAS word with multiple meanings).

I haven't had any crochet time at all this week.  That's not a good thing.  Just ask Bill! :)  I'm going to remedy that situation as much as possible next week.  I had been thinking about entering something in the State Fair but I think I've changed my mind.  I have done a couple of commissioned items for a price, and realized that I don't really enjoy it as a "business."  The last thing I want is for my crochet to become work.  So I probably won't submit anything this year.

I'm just glad that tomorrow is (finally) Friday.  It's been a long week!

UNDER GOD!

Sunday Thrifting

I want one:

Something no self-respecting Star Trek Geek should be without

And one of these would be just fine:

Anybody care to guess what it is?  (Hint:  It's not what it looks like).

Bill survived the Big Birthday.  We had his b-day dinner Friday night, he chose fajitas which I picked up on the way home.  El Chico really makes good food, their fajitas are so good.  Otter made him a pineapple upside-down cake yesterday, I think that there might still be some left...  For Father's Day, we're making buffalo burgers with oven fries and are going to make ice cream this evening.

Bill does not generally get one big present, they are separate days and should both be observed.  However, he wanted pachinko $$ this year so that's what he got.  I know all about combination gifts and frankly, they suck.  Most of the time.  So I usually don't give combination presents, unless specifically requested.

Otter and I went to a couple of thrift stores this afternoon.  She found a few things.  I found a few things.  So it was a happy trip.  I'd been wanting a large, cast-iron pot to plant cactus in but decided that they were just too big and heavy as I wouldn't be leaving it outside during the winter.  I found a small one at a thrift store today and it even had the lid with it.  I have a cactus that needs a place to be transplanted and now it's going to have a home.

We probably would have gone thrifting anyway today, but Otter was in serious need of shopping therapy.  She and BF broke up last weekend.  Well, he actually broke it off (by text), changed his mind and then went kind of stalker-ish on her when she didn't want to get back together.  It was an interesting week, to say the least!  At any rate, she's not in a hurry to find another boyfriend right now.  (She's fine, by the way).  She had been thinking that it might be time to break up with him anyway, she said he was getting way too serious about her and that it was making her uncomfortable.  It was just tacky the way he did it, and everything else he did/said/threatened to do this week just kind of made it weird.

We went to Lowe's after church this morning, Otter got several plants including peppermint, spearmint and a bell pepper.  I got several flowering plants including two lantanas and a few other things.  I have one small lantana on the back deck and the hummingbirds love it.  The jalepeno plants seemed to have stopped producing, but they are putting out blooms again.  We've gotten a few peppers from them but not too many.  And the bluebonnet is doing well, it's a little tall but it's surviving.  It has one bloom and possibly another bud starting.  Otter took a couple of pictures for me yesterday but I haven't gotten them uploaded yet.

Froggy, I started your swiffer cover yesterday!  I had another project I had to get done first, Otter requested a scarf and hat for a friend of her's who is having a birthday party next week.  They are both done, but we still need to get the scarf fringed.  After I get your swiffer cover finished, I'm going to start on Otter's next hat:  it's a sock monkey hat!  I had started one for her earlier based on a pattern I downloaded, but the pattern was for a child-sized hat although it was advertised as a larger size.  I frogged it out, it was just a few rows anyway and am going to use the hat pattern I normally make.  What makes it a sock monkey is the colors used and the face/ears being attached.

Oh, the picture at the top?  While it does look like a miniature hippo, it's actually a hairless guinea pig!

Happy Father's Day!

To all the Dads out there.

Rhyming Words

As opposed to whining words, because it's not Wednesday!

Anyway.  Rhymes.  Well, I've seen "Lordy" paired with "Forty", "Hill" rhymes with "Bill" (and so does "Pill"!).

But I have an even better word pair!  Rhymes with "Nifty".  Starts with an "F".

And it's about Bill. :)

Saturday starts the 6 month period where I'll be married to an older man.  I'm 49, if that helps you figure it out.

Just sayin'.

Sunday School

Today's title brought to you courtesy of Otter and Bill.  He's setting up a Facebook page for the pachinko business and that means that he had to ask the resident teenager for help. :)  He hasn't gotten it completely set up yet, but he'll eventually get there.

I took the bird nest out of my planter this afternoon.  Among other things, it had yarn in it.  That means that Mama Bird visited the back yard, where I toss out stray bits of yarn for the birds to use.  I guess it works!

Otter and I went to the library this afternoon.  We went a few days ago and still had some books left, but we always need more.  We had discussed thrifting, but we just never quite got there.  Probably this week sometime.  I have a bunch of stuff to donate, I started cleaning out/off my shelves in the garage by my workbench this morning.  I was going to work on that when we're on vacation (at home this time) in a couple of weeks, but I was looking for something and found a few things I don't want anymore so they are now in the donate pile.  Among other things, I found my other hummingbird feeders which I though had been thrown out or donated but they were just hiding.  I don't really think there is all that much to get rid of on the shelves, mostly I think it just needs to be organized (which includes taking all Bill's junk off of my shelves & workbench!).

Funny Frasier story:  When Nana was visiting for Otter's graduation, we watched a movie on dvd one of the days she was here.  Arsenic and Old Lace, really funny movie.  Anyway, Frasier was having a nap in the middle of the living room floor (common occurance).  At one point in the movie, somebody is walking through a dark room and apparently he steps on a cat. which yowls.  It must have scared the dog, because he jumped straight up in the air (still in his curled up position), came down on all 4 feet and flew out of the room as fast as he could!  He wasn't chasing the cat, either.  He was running from it!  Goofy, goosey dog.  If it's possible for dogs to be embarassed, I'm sure he was.  He stayed outside for a long time after that.

As I mentioned, we're going to be on vacation in 2 weeks.  We are not going anywhere this time, we are going to stay home and do whatever.  I'm thinking that Otter and I will probably take a day to go thrifting and antiquing, Billyboy may go with us as well.  But we don't have any specific plans, aside from possibly redoing Otter's dollhouse before storing it properly.  Mostly, I'm just looking forward to not having to get up before dawn!  Well, unless Frasier and Maggie want to be fed on time that is.

Wednesday's W(h)ining

I don't really have anything to whine about today, I just love this picture!  And since it is Wednesday, and I went to Wine Wednesday at the liquor store, I thought it was a good day to post it.

We're empty-nesters.  Our babies have flown!  We thought that they were on the verge of flying yesterday, when I went to pick Otter and BF up from the movie they saw Mama Bird was in the tree near the porch and chirping.  The babies were all aimed in her direction, but they hadn't figured it out at that point.  This morning, they are all gone.  Sometimes birds will raise more than one family per year and they will sometimes come back to the same nest, so we are not cleaning it out yet.  Although somebody has got to get out there with the broom, the porch is covered in "evidence!"

Otter and I washed the El Camino this afternoon.  It's just been sitting in the driveway, I'm not sure how long it's been since Billyboy actually drove the White Lightning.  But the battery is dead as in doornail!  I was going to move it to the middle of the front yard so we could water the lawn at the same time, but it wasn't going anywhere.  So the driveway got wet instead!  But the car is now white again, and not red from the dust from the storms a couple of weeks back.  We might wash Bill's impala this weekend, we won't have time the next couple of days.  But it did get hosed off, so it's at least a little less dusty now.

The backyard bluebonnet definetely has a bud.  Otter's jalepeno plants are really producing, she's harvested one pepper and there are several more but they are still too small yet.  Not for long, though.  The plants are not big, but they are loaded with blooms and tiny peppers.  Well, good things come in small packages and we'll eat them any size!

To Remember and Be Grateful

June 6, 1944

Sunday Summer

It's not officially Summer for a few more weeks.  But it's warm here and it feels like Summer.  Bill's atomic clock shows that it's over 100 degrees, when I called the local Time & Temperature phone recording it said that it was right at 100 degrees.

Which to a Texan means that it's time to make chili!  So, I did.  One of these days, I really should measure the amount of chili powder I put in.  I was guessing that it was at least half a cup, but I think it's closer to 3/4 of a cup in actuality.  Bill put a chopped jalepeno in his, along with a large helping of picante sauce (real Texans only use Pace!).  It was pretty good.

Otter's jalpenos are probably going to be harvested soon, there are at least a few that are ready.  They look really good.

The morning glories are doing ok, but not the best.  They have come up and seem to be growing, but they are not growing nearly as fast as they usually do and they are not nearly as thick as they should be.  We are wondering if maybe the problem that came along with last year's seeds might still be affecting them?  We are probably going to plant honeysuckle along the back fence, since the morning glories out there seem to be the weakest.  But that might also be for another reason, Bill thinks that the builder(s) in the area behind us might have sprayed something to keep weeds down not too long ago.  The morning glories were starting to come up really well, until then.

I took a certain big, furry dog out in the back yard a couple of hours ago.  Along with his brush.  He really likes to be brushed out, he more or less melted at my feet when I started it.  It resembles a Tribble factory in my back yard!  Frasier looks much sleeker but he's still leaving a cloud of fur in his wake.  I keep thinking that I'm going to see bald spots, but not yet.  Maggie Moo likes a good brushing as well, but she doesn't shed much so her brushing out was just for fun.  She purrs when she's happy, she could probably be heard 500 miles from here when she was getting brushed.

Baby bird report:  We still have several little beaks in the nest on the front porch.  They have opened their eyes and are beginning to look more like actual birds now, instead of little mutants.  We haven't attempted to take any more pictures lately, so I don't know how far they are in terms of feathers.  But they look like they've grown quite a bit.  Mama bird seems to be constantly bringing food, but she's got 4 mouths to feed and there is only one of her so she's a tad bit busy.

The bullfrog that lives in the dog yard is still out there.  He usually haunts their water dish, but I've also seen him around the rain barrel.  He sometimes hops out of their yard and he was hopping around the side of the deck yesterday.  He's a big, fat one and we hope he stays.  We've seen a few 'skeeters lately, so frogs are always welcome!  There's a slightly smaller one that lives in the front yard, I see him up on the porch sometimes.  He lives under the hosta plants, as far as we can tell.

Otter is off with BF today, for their standing Sunday date.  I was going to an antique store, but changed my mind.  Instead, I've been home and doing stuff around the house.  I cooked a few things to put in the freezer for Billyboy's lunches this week, got my laundry done (yuck!), read the paper, de-furred the dogs and so forth.  I might go take my book and head out to the back deck.  I happen to like this weather, it's not hot enough that I don't want to be outside yet.  But even when it does get too hot to stay outside, I did grow up with it after all.  Before too long, I'm going to start hearing how it's so hot here.  But it's really not! :)

Just a Few Quick Thoughts on a Saturday Night

To start with, my arms are sore and my shoulders are stiff.  Fingers are kind of ouchy as well.  That's what happens when I crochet all day (literally all day).  I finished the green cap I was working on yesterday, and decided to start on the next cap/scarf set this morning.  I started with the cap first, and it went so fast that I decided to at least get a start on the scarf.  It was going well, and I just never stopped until I was finished.  I'm going to pay for it tonight, I know.  And probably tomorrow as well!  But it was so worth it, I'll probably take a couple of motrin tonight and I'll have stiff shoulders tomorrow.  But I'll deal with it.  I just probably won't pick up a crochet hook for a couple of days, however!  (It was still fun!).

That makes 5 sets I've made for the military family donation.  I'll probably put that project aside for a while and work on a couple of other things, then get back to it again soon.

It's been pretty warm here the last few days.  Low to mid-90's, which isn't really hot yet.  It's just that we went from cold/wet/windy to Summer without the in-between phase.  We've spent a lot of time out on the back deck lately, enjoying the warm weather.  Today, when I wasn't crocheting madly, I sat out there with Bill and the dogsters (Otter was napping on the couch) for a while and it was really nice.  We have 4 hummingbirds which we watched for a while today.

Otter's jalepeno crop is coming along.  The plants are not tall, probably because the weather was just too cool and wet when they needed heat, but they are healthy and are beginning to produce fruit.  Her Rosemary plant is also growing well.  And so is the surprise bluebonnet I discovered growing two weeks ago, in the front of the whiskey barrel.  That's not the same one I found out there previously, this one is another one entirely.  It's been transplanted to a pot on the back deck and after a rough start, it seems to be flourishing.  It got moved instead of being left where it naturally came up because the LAST ONE WAS STOLEN OUT OF THE FRONT YARD EARLY ONE MORNING.  Some heathen dug it up, the entire plant.  (Yes, I realize that not everyone will realize just what they are without at least some Texan in the bloodline.)

What else did I want to talk about?  Oh, yeah.  jack kevorkian died.  (No capitals on purpose).  In case anybody doesn't already know our family opinion of him - life is precious.  It is not given to us to be destroyed.  Born and unborn, all are precious gifts from God and no one has the right to take it from us.  To assist someone in suicide is to commit murder.  He could well have been a serial killer.  He was at the very least a multiple murderer.

On that note, goodnight!  I'm going to take those motrin and head for bed in a few minutes.

Hurricanes

Even after 18 years in Tornado Alley, I'd still prefer a hurricane to a twister!  That comes from growing up in S. TEXAS.  Hot weather?  Don't particularly care for it, but it's pretty much normal for me.  Summer storms?  Rare rains?  Ditto.  Warm Christmas?  Been there, done that many times.

Hurricanes are bad storms and they can be devastating. They are the kind of storms I grew up with, although in San Antonio we were far enough from the coast that (for the most part) when they got that far inland they were "just" bad storms and seldom had tornadic winds.  Along the coast and near-inland, they could be tornadic and were terrible.

One of the highlights was always the storm names for each year.  Some years, there were some real humdingers**.  Bill's still thrilled that both Bill and William have been on the name list in the recent past.  Here's this year's list:

2011 Atlantic Hurricane Names


Arlene
Bret
Cindy
Don
Emily
Franklin
Gert
Harvey
Irene
Jose
Katia
Lee
Maria
Nate
Ophelia
Philippe
Rina
Sean
Tammy
Vince
Whitney

I see a few names of interest.

**Humdinger may well be a Texan language word, I'm not sure.  It means big, major, extreme and words to that effect.

It's MondayTuesday!

Blogger is acting kind of strange again, it's not always telling me when I have a comment waiting to be posted.  So, if you've left a comment and it's not showing up here it might be because I don't know about it!  Blogger does have it's moments...

Anyway, where was I?

Oh yeah.  Monday on Tuesday.  That means that it was busy at work and I spent the day confused as to which day it really is.  I do like the fact that tomorrow is already Wednesday, that means that it's one day closer to Saturday.  So I'm not complaining.

For a few years, I've been trying to get Bill a cell phone.  He kept insisting that he didn't need one.  But then he would turn around and borrow mine for the day.  Then he started his pachinko business and printed up business cards.  What number did he put on the cards?  Mine, of course.  Then he got his website up and running.  What contact number did he use?  Mine again.  Then he placed the occasional ad in the paper and what number do you think he used!?  Ditto.  I finally got him to realize that he really does need his own cell phone, and we were going to make some changes to our plan at this time anyway so he asked me to get one for him when I went to the phone place.  The kicker is that he wanted my number to be his because it would be too much trouble to change the cards & website (he prints his own cards FYI).  But it's ok for me to have to change my number with everybody and their brother!  So, the upshot is that we all have new cell phones - and I have a new number.  To learn and change with the aforementioned everybody and their brother.  Well, at least Bill's got a phone now so he won't have to keep borrowing mine!  (And I won't get strange calls about pachinko machines!).  Otter got a new phone as well, she was overdue for a newer one and she wanted a phone with a camera in it.  The phones I got for myself and Bill are matching, there were a couple of other choices but I didn't like them as much.  Guess I'll have to either make a label for them or see about a new skin (cover) for mine.  So, anybody that might have my cell phone number will get Bill when they call it.  He'll eventually get the voice mail message changed to his voice and not mine.  (If you are someone I need to give the new number to and haven't already, please email me - it's not "out there" for everybody, please understand that I have my reasons for privacy and they are very good ones).

I've started another scarf/hat set for the military dependant donation project.  This one is a deep green.  I am nearly finished with the scarf and the hat won't take too long.  I have a dusty blue that I'm probably going to use for the next one, which I think will make 5 sets that I've done.

This might just be who we vote for in the upcoming Presidential election:

Herman Cain 2012

So far, I like what I've seen.  He sounds like a very strong conservative.  He seems to be very no-nonsense, common sense and we're impressed so far.

Memorial Day

THANKS, DAD.

It is the

VETERAN,

not the preacher,

who has given us freedom of religion.

It is the

VETERAN,

not the reporter,

who has given us freedom of the press.

It is the

VETERAN,

not the poet,

who has given us freedom of speech.

It is the

VETERAN,

not the campus organizer,

who has given us freedom to assemble.

(Protest in some versions) 

It is the

VETERAN,

not the lawyer,

who has given us the right to a fair trial.

It is the

VETERAN,

not the politician,

Who has given us the right to vote.

It is the

VETERAN

who salutes the Flag,

It is the

VETERAN

who serves

under the Flag,

And whose coffin

 is draped by the flag,

Who allows the protester to burn the flag.

(Attributed to Charles Michael Province, U.S. Army)

Sunday Babies!

Specifically, the chirpy & feathered kind.

Here's mama bird on the nest.  This is a wire/wrought iron planter that was my mother's.  She had it on her covered back porch and might have had a plant of some type in it.  I have a small clay pot with a plastic ivy.  Apparently, it was exactly what mama bird wanted when she was in the real-estate market.  It's safe, secure and protected from the weather.  It's on the front porch.  We've been watching her for days, and trying to go in and out as quickly as possible.

This morning, I was looking out the door to see if the paper had been delivered (something that doesn't always happen lately) and saw mama bird standing on the nest, facing the wall.  I could very clearly see little heads (with open mouths) looking back at her.

There were just two eggs the day I took a picture with my cell phone, and one that had smashed on the porch.  Apparently, when I took my picture mama bird wasn't through - there are 4 little beaks!  We think that they are wrens.  I took this picture very quickly and since it's higher than my head, I wasn't able to aim the camera very well but I still think it came out pretty good.

We've been dealing with a tummy bug this weekend.  Last weekend, I was joking with Otter and told her that if she had any illnesses planned it would be a good idea to postpone them a week so she could finish school.  She laughed about it.  Then yesterday morning she woke up not feeling the best.  She had breakfast but then later she was unable to keep anything down.  She's better today, but now Bill and I both have had a little nausea to deal with.  We're being careful, hopefully it won't be any worse and Otter will be over hers quickly.

She actually felt better this afternoon, and was desperate to get out of the house.  So I took her with me for a short errand.  We left her at home this morning for church, I think the extra couple of hours worth of sleep was good for her.

Movie Review:  We rented I Am Number Four to watch yesterday.  It was ok, better than we expected.  I think it's based on a book.  We're anxiously awaiting two movies:  Rango to come out on video which might be in June or July, and the final Harry Potter movie to hit the theaters in July.

I think I'll go play with a couple of doggies now.  They are not being allowed out in the backyard by themselves for a while, they aren't happy about it.  But they don't have a choice, we don't want a moonscape instead of a backyard!

Final Friday of Otter's School Adventures!

Well, at least part of her school adventures.  There's still college of one type or another in her future.

I still can't quite realize that I have a daughter who is already out of school.  I keep thinking that it's just been a few days since I was buying stuff to start packing her lunches when she was going into kindergarten!  I don't think it's really going to feel real for any of us (Otter included) until the late summer, when we would have been buying school supplies and so forth.  She'll still need supplies and clothing, but it will be a different ballgame.

I'm really glad that it's Friday.  It's been a loooooooooooooooong week.  Last week was absolutely crazy busy with the graduation, Nana visiting, shopping with Nana (lots of that!) and all the activities.  This week was just long.  I am so ready for Saturday.

On that note, I'm going to post this and go read my email.  Then very shortly, we're going to have the meal that Otter chose for her last day of school.  When she started kindergarten, her first day of school was celebrated with her choice for dinner and she chose Luby's.  While Luby's is still good (we don't eat there often, they aren't convenient to us anymore), her tastes have grown up along with the rest of her.  So tonight's menu?  Steak and baked potatos.  Guess she is her parent's daughter after all! :)

Quick Check In

We're ok.  It was a bumpy night, with bad storms all over the state.  We were in the direct line of fire of one particular wall cloud that was about 30 minutes south of us but it hooked off to the right (east) and missed us.  However, it did not miss a very small town called Haskell.  I'm not sure how bad the damage is in Haskell, I don't think it was nearly as bad as it could have been.  But it was still a bad situation for them, I'm sure that they could all use our prayers.

The storms in the western part of the state were pretty bad with more than one confirmed tornado, it looked to be following some of the same path as the 1999 storm that was so devastating.

Pray.

Please

Pray for the people of Joplin, MO.

We went to bed Sunday night, thankful that the expected bad weather had missed us.  We had wind, rain & thunderstorms.  But not anything bad.  Then we woke to horrible news on Monday morning.  The last count is that there are 116 confirmed deaths, but I heard on the news just now that there are still 1,500 + people missing.  This long afterwards, missing might mean something else.  But I don't think that anyone is ready to admit that yet, and they shouldn't.

And more storms are on the way.  We have a very strong chance of bad storms tonight.  Duration, intensity and location depends on many factors.  But we've been warned that it could be a major outbreak of tornadic storms tonight.

We are as prepared as we can be, not that you can ever really be ready for something like that.  But we've been down this road before because we live in Tornado Alley.  Although they can happen anywhere, and at any time of the year.

So, please pray and keep praying.  For Joplin, and all the other areas impacted or that are going to be impacted by tonight's storms.

Yes, Dad.  I hear you.

Sunday Fill-In-The-Blank!

Because nobody can come up with a good title today.  We're a little on the tired side.  It's been a very busy last few days.  Last week was a short work week, I was off Thursday and Friday with Otter.  Bill was off Friday.

Thursday was very busy, it started with getting Otter to the school for graduation practice & final instructions for Project Graduation.  I ran a couple of quick errands while she was at school, then went back to get her and took her to visit her grandparents for a few minutes.  She took her graduation robe & cap so we could get a couple of pictures with them.  Then, we ran to the mall and she got a manicure.  We ran back home, just in time to start getting dressed to go and then Bill got home with Nana who he had just picked up at the airport.  Otter and I went to pick up BF, then we met Bill and Nana at Chili's for Otter's celebration dinner.  We had a nice meal and a great visit.

It was on to the local college campus where the graduation ceremony was held after that.  We had a lot of traffic to deal with which was not a surprise, then we managed to get good parking spaces.  We figured out where to sit, Otter ran off to join all the other graduates and then we had about an hour before the ceremony.

It was well done.  The students were seated in sections by the first letter of their last name, but they did not have to sit in an particular order which actually made it better.  Each graduate had a name tag which they handed to the announcers on stage and the names were read off that way.  There were two lines of graduates at a time, one one each side of the stage.  It went fairly quickly, considering the size of the graduating class.  The speeches were good, the music was good and we really enjoyed it.  The choir was made up of graduating seniors only, and they walked in with their class.  They were first, they were seated together and then they went to the stage for the songs.  Very good way to do it.

After the ceremony ended, we eventually found Otter and then we all had to find each other because we were separated in the crowd.  Bill took Nana back to our house, Otter and I took BF to his house and then I took her to Project Graduation.  It was about 10:30 p.m. by that point.  It was after 11:00 by the time I got home and I was absolutely exhausted.  Too tired to sleep, actually.

The next morning started even earlier, I had to go pick Ottter up at 5:00!  (Before I had any coffee!).  She had about a 4-hour nap after we got home.  We eventually woke her up and went out for lunch.  We did a little shopping and had a lot of fun.  We also did a lot of visiting, we haven't seen Nana since last Thanksgiving.  She left this morning, Bill took her to the airport about 7:30 and then got home in time for us to go to the early church service.  Which was good, but I had difficulties staying awake.  Can't imagine why!

It was supposed to rain last Thursday and there was a good chance of thunderstorms that evening.  The rain held off until Friday morning and we're really glad of that.  It rained most of Friday, but it quit that evening.  We have a chance of rain most days this coming week.

Which is the last week of high school for Otter!  She's not sure if she's going to have any more existential crises over it or not. :)

I've also realized that Memorial Day is a week from tomorrow.  So I have one full week, then a 3-day weekend.  Hopefully, I'll be caught up on my sleep by then!

The movie Rango has finally made it to the dollar theater.  Otter and I want to see it again, so we're going to head off shortly.  Bill's waiting until it hits video, he's going to stay home and work on his latest project for the pachinko machines:  he's learning how to cast parts.

At least it doesn't require the use of any power tools!

Somewhere...

in this crowd is my Otter!

She was on the right-hand side towards the front.

There were 1,043 members of the graduating class.  It's apparently one of the largest in the country.

It was a wonderful ceremony.  We're very proud of her.

Today is the Day!

And all I can see is the little girl I left at kindergarten a few years ago.  It seems like it was just yesterday.

We're so proud of you, Otter!

Sunday Subway

Guess what we had for lunch?  :)

Anyway.  Moving on.

Otter graduates in just a few days.  Today at church the graduates were recognized.  We go to the early service, so there aren't as many people there (yet) as she would have had to face at the second service.  She was the first one recognized, there were two others and one of them was a college graduate.  She was a little embarassed to be called up to the front of the church, but it was still a nice thing for the church to do.  The graduates received a couple of books as gifts and there was a special prayer.  She graduates on Thursday, but she won't actually be out of school for another week.  Strange, but that's the way the local school district does things.  She's picked Chili's as the location for her pre-graduation ceremony dinner.

My craft project I mentioned Friday is going fine.  It's a little time consuming because there is glue drying time.  The actual process for making the project isn't long, it's just that I have to wait for the epoxy type glue to dry before I can put it together and take a picture of it.  It will be on the craft blog sometime in the next couple of days.  I think it might be ready now, but the camera I used is Otter's and it's with her.  She's off with BF today, they were going to Arby's for their standing Sunday date.  So I have to wait.

The weather has been odd lately.  Much cooler than normal and also wetter.  We had a couple of really nice days last week, Otter and I (and the dogs!) spent some time in the backyard one afternoon last week.  Watching ladybugs!  There were a lot of them, we think someone might have put some in their garden and they did what they normally do - they flew off!

Otter's jalepeno and rosemary plants are doing well, they haven't had the warm weather that they really need so they haven't grown a lot.  There is some growth, just not as much as we should have seen by this point.

The cool/wet/warm/dry/cool/wet weather cycle we are having also is having an affect on allergy sufferers.  It's making the allergy season much longer and stronger than normal.  Which we can attest to!

The dogs are not getting much backyard time right now.  We put them out there for a few minutes yesterday and didn't go with them like we usually do.  Of course, they immediately started digging!  Frasier was well on his way to China when I discovered it, but I'm sure that Maggie had something to do with it.  For one thing, she was in the general area prior to the excavation and she was pointing.  Which should have been my first clue that there was probably a mole they were hearing.  Bill mowed this morning after we got home from church, it's an adventure avoiding all the craters.

We have a bird nest on the front porch.  It's a wren, she's built her nest in what resembles a half-cage but is actually a planter that was Mom's.  I have a small clay pot with artificial ivy in it, and the little bird found it to be just what she wanted for her nest.  There are two eggs in it, there were three but we noticed that one of them was smashed on the porch.  Mama bird might have reduced her brood like they will sometimes do if there aren't a lot of bugs to eat, or she might have just been clumsy.  We're enjoying having her out there.  She is used to us to a point, she will now sometimes stay on the nest when we walk by.  We are trying not to spend a lot of time out there, but it's the front porch and we have to use the door sometimes!

Blogger seems to be acting better, but I'm not the only one who had issues with it last week.  I think that there must have been a problem at the main site, there was a scheduled maintenance report prior to the problems but it was only supposed to be down for an hour or so.  The problems lasted a couple of days and I was unable to sign in for a long time.  It's still having some moments, I'm able to get comments but some of the post labels are wonky as I try to post them.  Hopefully, it's fixed now and will stay that way.

Suicidal Squirrels on Friday the 13th!

When your day starts out with a kamikaze squirrel, it really can't get any worse.

I ran over one this morning.  I saw it dash off the curb & into the street just as I got to where it was.  It was not a pleasant experience! I'm glad that I was the driver and not Otter, but it was still not fun.

I'm not superstitious, but it was not a good way to start the day.

At least it is Friday.  Even if it is in the high 50's/low 60's.  Instead of the mid-80's that was forecast.

Blogger was acting up last night and this morning, Froggy made a comment on my last entry and Blogger would not accept it for any reason.  I think the entire site was down, because of what it was saying when I was attempting to sign in.  It seems to be working tonight, but Froggy's comment would not post so I posted it for her.  It had to do with Paypal phishing attempts.  Since then, Froggy's also discovered that her email was hacked into.  That sort of thing seems to be happening more and more often.  It's really frustrating to have to deal with things like that and it can also be costly.

I have a craft idea I'm going to try.  I have to give a shout-out to my blog friend Heidi, because I got the idea from her blog.  It involves a canning jar and I'll post pictures of it on my craft blog if it works.  I don't think that Bill's going to mind helping me with this one, since he's already volunteered the use of his drill.  But in the interest of safety, I think I'll be the one to operate the drill!

Well, maybe anyway.  I'll make sure that I have plenty of band-aids on hand!

Wednesday Ketchup

Nothing spectacular happening around here, but in order to keep Froggy off my back about blogging I thought that I should at least post something.  (Ducking and running now!). (Grin).

We are probably about to get hammered, thunder & lightning on the way with assorted other things such as rain and maybe windy stuff.  It's very cloudy and getting darker.  It's 4:30 in the afternoon, but it looks much later.

We did have one unpleasant thing to deal with this week.  Our Paypal account got hacked.  We got an email from Paypal, confirming a $443 purchase of a laptop computer.  Except that we didn't buy one.  Bill was unable to get into our account because the password had been changed.  Not by one of us!  So, we called Paypal and they said that they thought it was a fraudulent transaction - but they let it go through anyway.  They cancelled it, but they had already sent the withdawel order to the bank so I had to go to the bank and have a stop payment issued.  Paypal also showed that they sent the money back to us, but told us that it could take days and we should probably go to the bank.  Which I did, last Friday actually.  Last night, the withdraw order came through AND THE BANK HONORED IT!  Even though I had it it writing that they wouldn't.  So, back to the bank today for me.  They got a "small" taste of RedHeadTexasWoman and are reimbursing us, since they screwed up.  That could take up to 24 hours, I haven't checked in the last couple of hours but will soon.  It had better be fixed - and stay fixed, this time.

It's been frustrating dealing with this, to say the least.

But all the Paypal passwords have been changed again (by us) and hopefully, this won't happen again.  It seems to be happening more and more often, I've heard of several people who have gone through this.  If we didn't keep such a close watch on things, there is no telling how much we would have had stolen.

Bill's finished two of the wooden chairs we bought for the deck.  He's working on the third one now.  They are really nice and very comfortable.

I'm going to get this posted now, before I have to suddenly turn off the computer.  Then, I think I'll go crochet.  I started a new project for Otter and it's calling my name.

Happy Mother's Day

Just Friday

But what a week it's been!

Obviously, it has been an important week as an American.  Beyond my first post about justice, I have deliberately stayed away from the subject.  I still stand by what I said, it was justice and very much deserved. But I am trying very hard not to celebrate the aspect of the death of the person.  (I'm not posting the name because this blog is not searchable for a reason and there are certain words that will always show up on a search.  That person's name being one of them.  Also, I refuse to justify him with a name or anything remotely dignified).  But I am glad that there has finally been some justice.  Notice that I did not say closure!  Closure in that sense does not exist.  However, I do still think we should pray for the people involved, all of them.

It's been a fast week.  Which is a good thing.  I'm so ready for it to be Friday again.  Actually, I'm ready for it to be Saturday.  Because I'm going to crochet/read/sleep/goof off all day!

Sunday is Mother's Day.  I told Otter that I want two things for Mother's Day:  1.  To go to the zoo, which we are doing on Sunday.  and 2.  I want to teach her how to crochet.  She's talked about it before, she wanted me to show her a few weeks back but then she got sick and that's never a good time to learn anything new.  Whether or not she sticks with it is up to her, but I'm going to show her the basics and then she will at least stick with it long enough to really know what she's doing - it's like any other skill, there will be a period of "I'm going to throw this stuff out the window!" and then she'll figure it out.  Then, it's up to her.  But it's like embroidery - I taught her and she knows how (although neither of us can stand it!), and it might not be something she'll want to do much of but it's come in handy for her a few times already.

Of course, if she does love crochet and gets obsessed about it (which will happen if she likes it at all), then I might have to fight for my stash!

Sighting of the Elusive & Rare

Carpet Shark!

Looks like we are not the only family with one.  This one might even be another beagle.

Run for your lives!

And hide your toes.

A Few Athma Thoughts on Tuesday

Read this:

Asthma on the Increase?

It's an interesting article.  Since I'm the mother of/daughter of/aunt of/victim of it myself, I have more than a passing interest in asthma research.  It's not a fun disease.  It's a hard one to have and it can be potentially life-threatening, as some I know can tell you - she lost her teenage daughter to it.  It's also a very expensive disease, we were fortunate to have really good insurance when Otter's asthma was at it's worst but even with insurance it was still a financial concern.

My mother had it, although I don't know how bad hers was.  I think she had it fairly strongly when she was younger, but it had lessened quite a bit by the time she was an adult.  Froggy's had to deal with it as a parent.  My sister/friend Virginia's oldest child has it and I think one of her late daughter's children has it.  I have it.  Otter has it.

Otter was diagnosed with it when she was about 2 1/2.  It was rough for a few years, she had so many different allergies to deal with.  I strongly recommend allergy shots, they helped her immensely.

Otter is mostly dealing with allergies right now.  They are better, but she's still got them.  She's been taking the allergy medication we got her last week and it seems to be working.  I think it's probably working better than the benadryl.  She's still sneezing frequently, but I can see improvement.

But even as bad as her allergies have been lately, it's still nowhere near as bad or as scary as it was years ago.  So I don't complain, I'm just Thankful that it's not like it used to be.

JUSTICE

For this

Nearly 10 years.  But finally:

JUSTICE

I'm not going to get into the argument about rejoicing over a death, because that is not part of it as far as I'm concerned.  It would have still been JUSTICE, if he'd been captured as opposed to killed.  I'm sure that it will be a lightning rod for people, but we do need to remember that he was still created by God and was special to Him.  The crimes of that person are many, but the ultimate Judge is our Father and we are all subject to His wisdom.

Sunday Rain!

When will it ever stop?  Pastor David said today that he doesn't think we've actually had spring yet.  He's waiting for it.  Frankly, I'll be happy if we skip spring entirely (or at least any more spring storms) and go straight to summer.  Which might be hot, but we can handle that.  Although Bill did say that he's not complaining now, because he'd rather have cool weather than the hot stuff we grew up with.  I do see his point, but I'm beginning to get tired of near constant rainy weather.  (Actually, we did have spring.  It was just very short.  Then we went back to winter or possibly to fall wannabe).

Otter tried the allergy medicine we bought her on Friday.  She said that it seems to work, the daytime version allows her to breathe and that's a big improvement over how she was last week.  Benadryl works for her, but it's a sleepy one so she could only use it at night.  I'm not sure if Benadryl has a daytime version or not, but the alka seltzer cold/allergy stuff works so she'll use it.

I finished my crochet swiffer cover.  Then I put it on the swiffer and decided that I didn't like it.  So I frogged out a little bit of it and re-did it.  The one I bought last summer works, I wound up copying it instead of using the pattern I had.  Since it has been used many times, the stiches are a little smushed together and it's harder to count the number needed as well as tell what the specific stitch is.  But I figured it out and the one I made will work fine.

I'm not sure, but I think we might have two hummingbirds.  I know that we at least have one, but there might have been another one zipping by when the first one was at the feeder today.  Hope so!

We've made two trips to Michael's today.  Both were for Bill.  He's working on casting some small pieces for the pachinko machines.  He bought a mold making kit, but it wasn't very good.  The stuff mixed up strange, not like it was supposed to and he tried it multiple times.  Then we went back and he found another type to use.  I'm not sure when he's going to try the second mold stuff he bought, I don't think he's going to mess with it tonight.  We also went to the dollar store when we were out the first time.  It was "strange people day" at the dollar store.  Kind of like the "People of WalMart" jokes that I've seen, except it was the dollar store this time.

I don't think the dogs like this weather any better than I do.  They were pretty bored earlier, I was in the floor and they started a war.  Apparently, I was base and they kept running to me, away from me and then around me.  At top speed.  At one point, they both ran over me!  I think Maggie was trying to jump over my legs, but Frasier just bulldozed me.  But they seemed to enjoy it, silly babies.

OK, I'm going back to my laundry now.

TGIF TGIF TGIF TGIF TGIF TGIF

Can you tell I'm glad that it's Friday?  :)

It's been a long week.  I'm glad that it's over and done with.

Otter is better, it is NOT strep and that's a good thing.  But she's still not well.  However, I think the problems she's having today are allergy and not the virus she had.  We bought her some stronger allergy medicine on the way home today.  The benadryl does work, but she can't take it during the day and function.  So she got an alka-seltzer cold/allergy pill that has both a non-drowsy and a nighttime med in the same box.  She'll probably start on it tonight.  She was fairly miserable when I picked her up.  Among other things, we also bought a 3-pack of large boxes of lotion kleenex.  She'll probably go through most of them this weekend.

And I may help her on that.  I have what could be allergy, or could be the early symptoms of the virus she had.  It's an easy Friday night snack dinner, we're having nachos.  I'm going to load mine up with picante sauce and see if that helps.

We didn't get up at darkthirty to watch the royal wedding on tv, but we did see some of the highlights on the regular news we usually watch at 6:00 in the morning.  I do like the dress, I thought it was very pretty.  Classic, elegant and understated, which is what I like.  I'm just glad that it does not look a thing like her late mother-in-law's ridiculously ugly dress that was all the rage when I was shopping for a wedding gown!

I've got crochet plans tomorrow.  I finally found the pattern for the swiffer cover that I've been looking for.  It wasn't misplaced, it was actually in my pattern notebook.  I just couldn't find it when I looked for it, I guess the plastic sleeves stuck together and I thought maybe I didn't have that pattern after all.  I have one swiffer cover, that I bought last summer at a craft mall in San Antonio when I was visiting Froggy.  It works great, but it's starting to show signs of wear (we use the swiffer a lot) so I decided that it was time to make a new one.  I never did copy the one I bought before it got used, and cotton yarn tends to clump up after it gets wet and scrubbed on the floor.  I'm about 3/4 of the way done on the one I'm making (which is blue, as opposed to pink camo like the one I bought) and should be able to get it finished quickly.  It's a fast pattern, I worked on it a couple of nights ago but haven't had a chance to get back to it.  I haven't used thin gauge cotton yarn too much, but I really like it.  I have a few other plans for it.

We are absolutely heartbroken over the devastation wrought by the multiple tornados in the south Wednesday night.  It's just unbelievable.  I've already posted links to the Salvation Army and other charities, on previous posts about natural disasters.  They should be easy to find, if anyone is interested in helping.  Tornadic damage kind of hits "close to home", seeing how we live in Tornado Alley.  But they can and do happen anywhere.  I'm sure that they can use all the help they can get, and that includes our prayers.

The bluebonnet in the front yard has a 2nd bud!  It's doing great.  Bill mowed the yard today, he was very careful around it.  We planted morning glory seeds yesterday, we'll see what happens.  There are already a few coming up on Otter's trellis by the rock garden.  Obviously, we can't tell what kind they are, but I expect them to be the original variety and not anything from last year's bad seeds.  Hopefully, the seeds we planted yesterday are good and not bad like last year's!

We also have had our first hummingbird visit!  It was a few days ago, maybe last weekend, when we saw one on the feeder.  We've seen it a couple of times, and I had one buzz me yesterday when I was in the front yard.  The feeder had been up for a while and was probably fermented, so I cleaned it and refilled it last night.

Hummingbirds, morning glories and bluebonnets.  Happy, happy!

Waterlogged

Today, it did not rain.  Yesterday, it did.  Sunday, it rained.  Saturday, it rained, Friday... get the picture?

We're no longer in the beginning stages of a drought.  We've more than made up for any lack of rain last year.  The problem is that we seem to be getting it all at once!  It has nowhere to go, the water just keeps coming down and is causing some major flooding in parts of the state.  Also in Arkansas and I think Missouri and Kansas, as well.  We did need rain.  Just not all at once.  A nice, slow rain would have been good.  So that the ground would have time to absorb it and not get over-saturated.

More rain is forecast tonight and probably tomorrow.  I'm not sure about Thursday.

We're back in jackets, it's been cool and of course wet.

Otter isn't feeling too good at the moment.  She was having what we hoped were "just" allergy issues last night.  She took a benadryl and went to bed early, with a slight sore throat and lots of congestion.  She got up this morning with a very sore throat and more congestion.  And fever.  So, back to bed she went.  I took her temperature a couple of times during the morning, when it got to over 100 it was time to call the doctor.  I took her in this afternoon, the doctor does not suspect strep this time (I quizzed her about that, to be sure), but took a throat swab for a culture just to be on the safe side.  The rapid test came back negative, but then so did the one in December.  When it was strep after all.  After we got home from the doctor, Otter took a looooooooooooooooong shower and then I made chicken noodle soup for dinner.  Both seem to have helped her, but she still doesn't feel good.  Just better.  The doctor gave her an excuse for today and also for tomorrow, which is probably for the best.

Since I was home with her today, I got a lot done. Among other things, I made stew & rice (for the freezer for Billyboy's lunches), I made Beanie Weenie Surprise (also for the freezer for lunches), did laundry, cleaned the kitchen, watered plants, swept and started a crochet project which I'm nearly through with.  I'm tired!  I also had to deal with two over-affectionate dogsters.  They like to help, Maggie especially was fascinated with the broom while I was sweeping the kitchen.  Don't know what the attraction was, she's seen it before.  Frasier isn't interested in helping with housework, but he does like to sit and watch me crochet.  No idea why!  Although it might have something to do with his addiction to taking things outside that he doesn't think belong inside.  He has taken a yarn ball out before.

Th-th-th-that's all, fffolks!

Halelujah!

For He is risen just as He said.

Wild Blues

Or, how to make a Texan happy!

Look what we just found!  It's by the whiskey barrel.  It's actually right on the edge of the street and we hope that it doesn't get run over by the mail truck.  But it's there and it's naturalized, and we're thinking that maybe we should have left the other ones that sprouted in the whiskey barrel.  Maybe, this one obviously came up well after they did.

Whatever!  We're just glad we've got it.