Ahhhhh! Retirement!

Your assignment.....

should you accept it is to watch Glenn Beck's television show on CNNHN. I heard his radio show a few times when I was traveling, but he has never been on in my market. When I saw that he was now on TV, I started watching. I don't usually watch anything put out there by CNN, but this one is good. This man is fresh, on target, and really funny! He is on at 6,8 & 11 CST. I only have one issue with him and it is a huge one. He follows a "religion" that just blows my mind!!! I can't see how any intelligent person can believe the stuff this "religion" teaches!!!You can find out which one here.

Whistle while you work kind of day....

It's nearly noon here and the temp is 75 degrees in August.....AWESOME! I had coffee on the patio and have already mowed the yard. Fall flowers are beckoning me, but I know it is too early to plant them.

Dad only spent 24 hours in the hospital and, once again, I was the lucky one that got to experience his monumental impatience while getting checked out of the hospital. It is a mystery to me why in the hell it takes so long to do that, but I am much more patient than he is. The tests showed nothing physically wrong and he felt OK in the hospital, but as soon as he got home he didn't feel good again and didn't want to eat. He is off all the meds that doc thought were causing the symptoms. I just pray that he improves. I don't know how my mom lives with him!!! She is the most patient woman in the world. Today is one year since her triple by-pass and she has never recovered from it.

Here we go again...

Tonight my dad was put in the hospital. We don't know what's wrong, but the doc suspects it may be medication related (as in too much). Dad just doesn't feel well...so much so that he didn't want to live. He is in the local hospital right here in my town, so it will be much easier on all of us, especially Mom. He had lost 10 pounds since he was weighed at the doctor's office just a short time ago. He had an EKG tonight which was normal. I guess they'll nail it down by the process of elimination.

Passing thoughts...in other words..I got nuthin'

Tomorrow's Sunday School lesson is on Love and Marriage......I'm sleeping in.....don't need it!

Starbuck's Frappuccinno: Am I the last one on the planet to discover this nectar of the gods?

She is just so cute. I could watch her all day....personality galore! Food Network has all New Orleans stuff tonight since the focus is once again on Katrina...one year post Katrina. Of course, her shows are pre-Katrina. Some of the places she features are no longer there. :(

Praise God!

WE finally got some rain. We are in a major drought here and all the plants are suffering from the heat and drought. Yesterday, I got .5 inches and today I got .5...both combined with clouds and not so hot may save some plants. For the first time in my life, I am having to pay a water bill and even with restricted watering, it hurts. I refuse to let my grass die. I worked too hard to get it weed free, ant free and lush.

Today I sucked it up and went to a little fellow's baseball game. I knew the heat would be oppressive, but his mother had brought a canopy to protect us from the sun and it also rained. Those kids were so hot, they just played on in the rain and we were not miserable watching them.

My take on global warming.....

It's BS! The record temperature for this date in this area was 103 in........1899!

Big Time Stuff!

As I was kicked back in my recliner getting my day started with breakfast and coffee, there was a HUGE explosion. It rattled the windows in my house. The booms just kept coming and I soon learned that about 10 miles from me is an old Army ammunitions plant. They no longer make ammo there, but there is a business there that disassembles 65 pound bombs and takes the TNT out of them for re-use in newer bombs. Miraculously, no one was killed. I-20 was shut down for 4 hours and the nearest town of 800 residents and two schools was completely evacuated. That town is still evacuated. They still have not been able to get close enough to the area to determine the cause, but aerial evaluations are very bad. There were subsequent explosions all day.....about 30 in all!

Thick and green and...

hard to mow! My fertilization program is working so well that my grass was really hard to mow today. I waited one week to mow and it was a tough job. I almost made myself sick again before I got finished. I guess I am going to have to mow more often than once a week . I love my grass. I can walk barefoot through it and feel confident that I won't step on anything that would hurt my feet!

On another note, my new friends that invited me to go to Vegas with them left tonight and now I am wishing I had taken the plunge and gone with them. They had an excellent deal which included airfare from Shreveport and 3 nights at the Bellagio.

Ho Hum

JUst kicking back and enjoying my retirement.....watching the big, yellow buses go by!!!

Staying in the Will!

I went down to Mom and Dad's this morning to see how they were doing. Their washing machine broke (after 35 years), so I took them to buy a new one. It will be delivered tomorrow, but the area where the old machine sat was a mess. The linoleum tile was brittle, broken, and black. My brother and I got the old machine out, then I chiseled up all the old tile, cleaned it all up and laid some new tile (left over from Mom's kitchen). Who Knew!!! I guess that's one job I had never done. Now I have, but it is not an occupation I wish to pursue. I told my brother to take Dad fishing so he would be out of my way while I was doing this massive cleanup. If Dad had been there, he would have been all in my way and telling me how to do it. I did it and left before they got back!!! Hope they caught some fish!!!

Grass success..

I couldn't find enough grass to fill in the whole area, but the part I did fill in is doing great. I am hoping it will send out runners and get established in the rest of the area.


Aside: I downloaded Firefox to get my pictures to upload!

Yet another addiction...

When I was a child, I loved these things. Now I have re-discovered them and I can't stop eating them. I have gained 5 pounds since I moved in February and I am not comfortable with this, but dang, these things are good!

My day....in pictures!

It's TOO HOT!

Saints or Da Boys!

This graphic thing is making me crazy. I can't give equal space to the Saints for this entry. That's OK...they don't need equal space. All the talk all over the TV is the exhibition game between the Saints and the Cowboys Monday night in Shreveport. First of all, it is too damned HOT for football. It will be over 100 degrees on the field Monday night and miserable in the stadium....plus, the cheapest tickets are $100 and parking is $15. That's just insane!

Coke Blak

I have not always been a coffee drinker and when I do it is really doctored up with all kinds of flavorings. This coke just drew me to it...a fusion of coke and coffee. At first, I wasn't sure if I liked it, but now it is sort of addictive. They are very expensive, so I won't be buying them often, but I keep going back to the fridge and taking a swig of an opened one I keep in there. They have some high fructose syrup and some aspartame, but the small ones are only 45 calories and 12 carbs, so it doesn't do a number on my blood sugar. What's up with this!!!!....a graphic finally showed up!

WooHoo.....progress!

I spent most of yesterday in Shreveport looking at scrapbook stuff. Today and last night I got 13 pages done and I am quite happy about that! What I am not happy about is that I still cannot get images to upload!!! GRRRR! Fortunately, I can use graphics from smileycentral.com. I went to blogger help and found lots of complaints just like mine, so they are working on the problem. Doesn't happen to everyone...just us special people!!

JonBenet

I have a strange, uneasy feeling that this guy is not the killer...but, a wacked out wannabe! I hope I am wrong, but my woman's intuition rarely fails me. (Once again, I can't get an image to upload!!)

My brother is awesome...

My brother had to attend a breakfast in my town this morning and after the breakfast he came by and fixed my lawn mower in 5 minutes. There are a couple of notches that the blade has to fit down into and Dad did not have the blade in those notches. I saw how it was done, but I still don't have a socket set that I would need to fix it. Hopefully, it won't happen again.

Please excuse me while I vent....

My 84 year old father tries to be so helpful, but I swear, he messes up more stuff than he fixes. Yesterday, he took the blade off my NEW lawnmower to sharpen it. It did not need sharpening; after all, I am not mowing fields of weeds! I humored him and let him do his thing. Today, he put it back on. I went out at 8 tonight to mow my yard even though it is still 99 degrees. The mower was vibrating so bad that I couldn't use it. I knew he had screwed up putting the blade back on. I called my brother and asked him if it was possible to put it on backwards or upside down. He said yes it was and Dad probably didn't get it put back in exactly the slot it should be in and he probably doesn't have it tight enough either. NO JOKE!! Stewart told me not to use it because it is dangerous. He will see about it when he can. Anyone want to come for an Easter egg hunt in my lush, tall, green grass??

Frustration....

Since Sunday I have not been able to get any graphics or pictures to show up. It always says it's uploading and then says "done", but then nothing is there. I am frustrated right now because I can't figure out why. Others have put up blogs today including pictures and graphics. Why won't mine work? And just when I tried one last time, it worked!!!

A Non-stop day!

I was at my mom's by 9 A.M. to help her get rid of stuff that she wants gone before the cleaning lady comes Wednesday. When I got there, she told me she tried to catch me before I left to tell me she had an appointment with her orthopedist at 1:45. In the meantime, Dad decided he needed to go to my house and get the lawn mower blade off and sharpen it. Of course, I had to drive him there and back. Nevermind that I was there to help Mom and Nevermind that I need to mow my yard tonight and now I have no blade on the mower. Anyway, after taking him home, I came back to my house to change clothes and went back to get Mom and take her to the doctor. Turns out she didn't break anything, but bruised her knee inside very badly. That was good news because the doc was afraid she could have broken her kneecap and she is in no condition to have to deal with that. I just got home a few minutes ago and got all the sprinklers going because this is my day to water (water restrictions). My brother and Dad went fishing while I took Mom to the doctor and my brother gave me the fish they caught already cleaned and ready to cook. I'll be all over that in a few minutes. Hot fried white perch.....nothing better. Wednesday my dad has an appointment with his pulmonary doc. My brother said he will take him to that appointment. I'm grateful for that!!

I confess....

I am addicted! For this, I AM NOT PROUD!!!

Motivation Re-visited!

Since it is ONLY 91 degrees today, I got some motivation back and did some yard work. The petunias had about had it even though they were still blooming, so I pulled all them up. The caladiums have about had it ,too, so I cut off a bunch of them. The research has begun to see what I shall have in the flower beds in the fall. Pansies are just not showy enough for me. I also did a yard treatment with Miracle Gro...those liquid ones that fit on the hose...and also spread some lawn food with the spreader. If it doesn't kill it, it will be green and thick!!! I'm obsessed with my grass!

We took the plunge....

My brother and I made an executive decision to get someone to clean the house for Mom. She had someone for over 50 years.....the same person...., but, that person is now in a nursing home and Mom is just not able to keep up with a moderately big house (not by today's standards, but in its time). I tried doing it for her, but she gets in the kitchen and starts cooking when I am there and that just doesn't work well with cleaning. My dad is very generous with his money with his children, but not so much with anything else, so we anticipate some resistance from him. He doesn't think the house is dirty because he can't see well and he certainly makes no attempt to keep anything clean. He will take out the garbage and change the garbage bags, but that's about the extent of his cleaning. Mom wasn't even real receptive to the idea, but I think that's just because she doesn't want to deal with Dad. Now she thinks she has to clean things up better before the lady comes on Wednesday. I told her I would come help her do that. No one ever uses the dining room and the living room, so it gets dirty from lack of use. The hardwood floors need a good cleaning so I'm hoping this lady will do that. The only place the hardwood isn't covered up is the living room and dining room and they have become very dingy. We'll see how far our executive decision gets!!!We could get vetoed and not be as powerful as we think!

One thing after another!!!

My dad called me at 7:30 this morning and woke me up. He said Mom was not doing well since her fall last week. My brother and sister-in-law had been there for breakfast and they decided she needed to see her orthopedist. It is her knee that is causing her lots of pain. She has two knee replacements and when she falls, those stainless steel knees really bruise the inside of her knees. She called the doc, but he was not going to be in today. He is her cousin and and no one else will do. I called her later today and she said she thought it was better.

I had yet another lazy do nothing sort of day. It is just too hot to get motivated to do anything, so I just stayed home in the cool and cooked (quiche and a strawberry cake). Then, of course, I had to eat them. I offered to take some to my mom. but she declined. She just doesn't want me to use my gas.

Later today I did some scrapbooking and got several pages done. I don't like to leave the scrapbook stuff out, so I do as many as I can at a time so I can put everything back up. It's all put back in its place now until I get motivated again!!!

Nix Plan B

Nothing got done after my little episode with heat exhaustion. After my cold shower, I thought I felt fine, but,actually, all I did the rest of the day was sleep. That must have been somehow related to the getting too hot drama because that is highly unusual for me. I couldn't watch a TV program without going to sleep..... so, the edger and the cords are all still lying on the ground where I left them yesterday. Perhaps.......tonight!!!

On to Plan B....

I had planned to go back and work in Mom and Dad's yard, but before I did that I
needed to do the edging on my yard. I sweated a lot and drank a lot of water....plus, I sat down every few minutes in front of a fan in the garage. STILL.......I threw up! I think that is a sign of heat exhaustion, so I took a cold shower. I feel fine now, but I didn't finish the yard. I guess
I'll finish it tonight.

I'm Baaack!

Got home at about 3:30 Sunday afternoon. Spent Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, AL, so the drive home was easy. Had a great time in South Carolina with my little adopted family. The kids are just so much fun and had changed so much in the year since I last saw them.

The grass was so high when I got home that I got out just before dark and mowed the back and side yards. My neighbor kept it well watered, so it was thick and green. Today I have to go see about my Mom, who managed to do a face plant in the yard last Monday when both my brother and myself were out of town. She spent 20 minutes on the ground before Dad came looking for her. It was 8 P.M. and I am so grateful that he was not already in bed in his room in the far other end of the house. He had to call a friend to come get Mom up because he is just too frail to pick her up.