OUCH!

Something is going on in my mouth that hurts like hell. I had no cavities when I went to the dentist a couple of months ago, so I don't know what's going on. For four days, I have been taking aspirins for pain, but last night the aspirins were not working. I looked around the cabinets and found vicodin. I don't like to take that, but I cut one in two and took it. It helped, but it didn't last. Sometime during the night I had to take the other half. I'm trying to hold out until Monday to call my new dentist.

Wonderful, glorious days!

The past few days have been absolutely perfect. Right now the temp is 71 degrees. That's just unheard of for this time of year here. It's so, so pleasant to be outside, which is where I love to be these days. My flowers are all blooming and my caladiums are coming up. Each day is a new surprise that I look forward to. Today I went to the garden and got a bunch of cucumbers and potatoes. My brother had already picked all the squash, but there will be more in a few days. I even pulled a few carrots. I only have about seven plants, but they each have a carrot under them. My brother loves beets, so he picked some beets for Mom to pickle for him. Life is good. God is good!

Eat...eat...eat!

That about covers my last two days! Yesterday I got about half of the yard done before I was DONE! It was very hot and steamy, so I had to go in the cool to save myself and rest before going to get Mom and Dad and taking them to my brother's lake house for a fish fry. Needless to say, I was full like a tick when I got home last night.

Today has been totally wasted and it is such a pretty day. The weather is cool and dry after storms last night and I have totally blown off the whole day inside. Before 11:00 today I had cooked cornbread, REAL chicken strips, new potatoes, and squash. I had also eaten it before 11:00. Then I took a little nap until 2 and went back and ate again! Yes, I am a glutton! I should not be wasting this perfect day when I still have yard work to do, but my excuse is that tomorrow is supposed to be even cooler, so I can do it then!!! Yeah, that works!

For me....it just doesn't get any better!

After working in the garden this morning, I gathered some vegetables for my mom and me. Not many things are ready for harvest yet, but I just finished eating new potatoes, cabbage, squash, cucumbers, and hot buttered cornbread, all of which were growing this morning....well, except the cornbread! I brought those babies home and after a short rest, I cooked it all up. At 4:30 in the afternoon, I have already had dinner. My guess is I'll eat again before I go to bed. That's just how I roll!!!

My duties are done...

I went to get Mom to take her to the cemetery event. Usually, it's just her and me. Today my dad came with us and my brother met us there. They haven't been in years. My brother and I found out where we will be buried....NICE! I don't even care! It is a beautiful place there and well cared for. My brother and I put flowers on our grandparents' and great grandparents' graves.

I had planned to go to the garden and get me a cabbage and some potatoes, but I was too tired and not dressed for the garden....besides that.....IT IS HOT! Tomorrow I will go to Mom's church and Monday I will go work in the garden. Two days in advance is about all I can muster!!

Mom Time!

I have been focused on Mom for a couple of days. Yesterday after I got some groceries for her, I went to her house to get her heart monitor and return it to the doctor in Shreveport. When she removed it, she found that one of the leads was disconnected so she may have worn it 24 hours for nothing. Today I was trying to find something for Mother's Day. Finally ended up with some pretty plants. Right now I am cooking a cake to take to the cemetery dinner on the grounds tomorrow that they have twice a year. Mom always wants to go, but I have to take her. She will make some cornbread chicken dressing, but I told her not to make anything else. I will fill in the blanks. She always thinks she has to take several dishes, but I am trying to get her out of that mode. Dad took us all out to dinner tonight. Ummmm.....boiled shrimp!

Mommy and Me

I took Mom to the cardiologist today. She is now on a 24 hour heart monitor and she had some meds increased due to her heart rate being higher than her doc likes. Tomorrow I will go get the monitor from her at 3:10 P.M. and return it to the doctor's office.

My brother had a glucose tolerance test today and he is now diagnosed with diabetes. I really hate that because he is already so limited in his food choices because of an allergy to gluten. Gluten is in EVERYTHING! That's my mom, my brother and me all diagnosed adult onset diabetics. Genetics hard at work there!!

My sister-in-law had blood work yesterday and she has 269 cholesterol and because of a liver disease, she cannot take anything to lower it! We are a mess!

It's the heat, Stupid!

My stamina and endurance have vacated the body. I was only able to mow the front yard today without any weeding or blowing. My shirt was soaked, and I could not continue. Last week I did everything in the yard in the same day without a problem, so I'm blaming it on the heat. I need to wait until the sun sets, but tonight I have a dinner meeting to help plan a golf tournament for the Mardi Gras Krewe that I joined. I've never even played in a golf tournament, but I am willing to learn and help out with whatever I can.

Brilliant observation...

I finally figured out that if I go work in the garden in the morning, it zaps me for the rest of the day. I spent about 3 hours working in the garden today running the tiller and I was completely sweated down and too tired to even stand in a shower to clean up. I still have not cleaned myself up! I just threw on some dry clothes and fell on my bed exhausted. Before I came home, I checked on my cucumbers and found two big enough to eat. I will be eating those babies before the sun sets!! I also dug a few potatoes and gave them to Mom. They need to grow a little more, but there will be lots of them.

Elvis has left the building!!!

This is my brother's 63 corvette sting ray, which he fully restored. It is awesome !


Actually, I LEFT THE BUILDING! Elvis pretty much sucked! Today was yet another event to benefit St. Jude Hospital....Cruising for a Cure....a car show. The "entertainment" was Elvis. I went to the show and sat in the hot sun (with sunscreen....YES) with my brother and his restored 63 Corvette Sting Ray. I really enjoyed seeing all the cars and I looked forward to and waited hours until 2 P.M. to see Elvis. I should have left much earlier!!!

Happy birthday to my dad!

Dad turned 85 today, but he spent the afternoon in the doctor's office. Both he and Mom had appointments and the doc was more concerned about Mom than Dad. Her left arm has been hurting just like it did before her heart attack. The doc wanted her to go to the cardiologist tomorrow, but there was no appointment available. Her doc made an appointment with the cardiologist for Wednesday. I didn't even know her arm was hurting now or that it hurt before her heart attack. Duh! I think she thinks she tells me stuff, but she really hasn't! Either that or I just don't listen! Could be either!!!

Much needed R & R day

After yesterday's exhaustion, I had nothing planned for today and enjoyed it immensely. I am still in my lounging clothes. The only thing I have done is some cooking. I made some potato salad trying to use up my potatoes because soon I will have fresh, new potatoes from the garden. When those are abundant, I will not eat a potato from a store. They just don't measure up to fresh out of the garden. I also cooked some crawfish cornbread, but I substituted ground beef for the crawfish. It's my "go to" dish when I need to take something somewhere. I use crawfish when I am taking it to someone, but they are too expensive for me just to eat at home. It's really quite tasty even with the ground beef substitution.

Southern Fried Hollywood!

Once again our downtown is shut down for filming yet another movie. This one stars Martin Lawrence. One of these days, I am going to go down and watch what goes on, but, so far, I just haven't had time. The streets were closed yesterday and today. We have a quaint Main Street paved with brick and Hollywood just loves our town. They made some new store fronts...one is a general store and another is a butcher shop. We have neither of those downtown. It's way cool!

Dog Tired!

I spent 3 hours this morning making sure my yard was perfectly manicured...every blade of grass trimmed, every edge sharp and clean, and every morsel blown off the sidewalk and driveway. Then the backyard got a good dose of some spray on weed killer that also is supposed to green up everything in 24 hours....yes, I believe all the hype they print on the labels. I'm a sucker....OK! I went in to rest for one hour before heading to Mom and Dad's to see what needed to be done there. Dad had already tilled the garden and he was gone fishing with my brother, so I planted about 30 caladiums that I had left over from my own yard in Mom's yard. I spent a good two hours working there. Then my brother and Dad came home. Within minutes, my brother and sister- in- law were over on two riding lawnmowers mowing Mom and Dad's yard. We are a working machine! I realized when I left that I had not eaten anything all day, so I stopped by the local general store and got a fresh ham and cheese sandwich....I even opted for a regular cherry coke instead of a diet one! I figured I had earned that treat!!

Day Trip

We went here today. I took my mom, dad and cousin to see the irises at my friend's home. There are now 80,000 irises and that does not include the daylillies. It's a sight to behold, but I forgot to take my camera. I'm exhausted and all I did was drive the hour over there, drive my mom around on a golf cart while there, and drive home. It took most of the day.

Canine Intuition!

Full GARDEN mode!

I went to pick Mom some turnip greens this morning. We do not allow her to bend over because she will fall face first in the dirt. She wanted to help, but I just couldn't let her do that. While I was there I found some turnips and some potatoes that were ready. My brother and I both did some plowing with the tillers, he with the big one, and me with the small one. We got some more ground ready to plant. My dad is so excited about the garden this year and it is beautiful, if I must say so myself. I cannot wait to feast on fresh vegies, which will start tomorrow. Mom is cooking the turnip greens, turnips and potatoes tomorrow.

Computer Illiterate!

I spent the entire morning going through all these steps to make IE7 let me log in to my Metlife IRA account. Nothing worked. I can't even use Firefox to log in. Finally, I uninstalled, yet again, IE7, and can now access my account. It's just crazy and so am I! I guess I'll just stick with IE6, especially since the stock market is doing so well right now. I have to see every day what my account has done that day. It's another one of my obsessions!!

7 Deadly Sins

I confess.....I am guilty of one of the seven the past two days....slothfulness! Tuesday, I was so worthless. Monday night I took 2 tylenol PM's and Tuesday the residual effect was evident until about noon. By then, I just didn't care. I never got out of my sleeping attire or made my bed. That's the first time since I moved here that I didn't make my bed.

Yesterday we were scheduled to go see the 80,000 Louisiana Irises at my friend's estate on Caddo Lake. The storms came and beat the flowers to death. We have about another week of bloom time, so we will try to get there during that window. It is a sight to behold!

OCD..Obsessive Compulsive Disorder

That would be me! I don't know why I am so anal about having things clean. I bought a Bissel Steam Mop for my ceramic tile floors and today I worked them over. That thing worked great. I am so very impressed. Next, I am going to take it to my mom's and clean her kitchen floor.

I told my cousin, the bluebird expert, about losing my babies to some animal. She said it would be either a raccoon or a black snake. This is why the houses must be mounted on a metal pole with a predator guard below the box. I took the box down because I cannot bear to feed more predators my next babies. The two parents are still hanging around out there and yesterday, I saw the male look inside the box again. It just kills me, so I'm not setting myself up for that again. They will just have to build somewhere else.

Green Acres

Sing along with me......Green Acres is the place to be...Green acres is the place for me!!! I woke up this morning all refreshed and ready to go, so I went to Mom and Dad's and did some tilling....actually, a lot of tilling! Then I just had to mow my own yard. It was deep! I got that done and the edging and the blowing and the watering! I'm feeling relatively caught up now. I still have some caladiums to plant, which I will get done next week. It's time to buy some hanging baskets, so I will do that next week as well. Things are shaping up around here and that makes me happy.

I didn't eat breakfast or lunch and I am too tired to cook or go for take out, so I did the worst thing possible......broke out the deep fryer and fried potatoes and onions....real potatoes...I don't do frozen! That's it...I know it's WRONG and I don't CARE!

Really, Really TIRED!

This week has taken its toll on me finally. Four days were spent going to funeral homes and funerals. After I got back from my aunt's funeral today, I just crawled up on my bed and went to sleep. When I went outside after my nap, I looked in my bluebird box and the babies were gone. They were too young to fly away, so something got them. I saw some little feathers on the ground. That made me sad. Now I'm thinking about just taking the box down. Last year there were two clutches hatched from that box....8 babies, but since some animal has found it I don't want to take the chance of once again losing my babies. I'm not hatching bluebirds for a raccoon or some other animal's lunch. On top of that, my hummers are gone. I haven't seen any this week. On a happier note, I have a big, beautiful rose blooming. I was going to cut my very first full size rose and take it to my mom, but I just can't cut it.

AAWWWW!

As I was walking around in the backyard, I found a dead bluebird. I hope it is not the mother of my babies. I don't know what happened to it. It wasn't killed by a varmit. It was in tact and not something's lunch. The male bird does feed the birds as well, but the babies need their mommy, too!

IE 7 Finally!

Once again I downloaded IE 7 and had the same problem with it that I had before when I gave up and uninstalled it. This time I went to a message board and posted the problem. Had an answer momentarily on there, did what he said, and voila.....it's fixed! I love message boards. There is always someone who knows the answer. Now I just have to get used to the new browser. I have Mozilla also, so I have a choice.

I spent 2 hours at the funeral home tonight. Too damn long to stand in dress shoes. Now my feet hurt and I have to wear dress shoes again tomorrow. I'm ready for a break from dress shoes and funerals. I'm running out of funeral type clothes!!

Blooms......WooooHooooo!

I was greeted this morning ,on my usual walk around the grounds ,to my very first rose blooms! This one is actually lavender, but the picture doesn't do it justice. It's beautiful!

Two down...hopefully, none to go!

My aunt died last night. I just returned from the funeral of my friend's mom. Tomorrow night will be family visitation at the funeral home and Friday will be the funeral. These two were ready to go. Now.....we all need a break!

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You know the Bible 82%!

 

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One down...one to go...

My friend's mother died yesterday. I have just returned from the funeral home with my entire family. Her daughter and I were best friends in high school and went to college together before we parted. She moved to New England and I moved further south. We have always semi kept in touch.....much moreso in recent years. She has now moved back to this area and we are about an hour apart now. I spent a lot of time at her house in high school and she spent a lot of time at mine.

My aunt cannot possibly live much longer. She has had no food or drink in 9 days and is just semi conscious sometimes. I have chosen not to go see her in that state.

Slacker days are over

Tomorrow my cousin is going home to Virginia, so I guess I'll have to get back to work. I'm sure the garden needs my attention and my yard certainly needs mowing. Today we went to lunch again, then went on a mission to find her some colored cowboy hats. We struck out completely...even at the western wear store. She isn't a cowboy, but she does like to wear hats. She had an extra day here because she flies free due to her daughter being a flight attendant and all flights were booked to capacity because of the many cancelled flights this weekend.

Beautiful Day

We had that weather slide through here that is now wreaking havoc on the East Coast, but today has been glorious. Last night we had a night out with the cousins and all ate dinner at a local restaurant. Today a couple of friends came to get me and we went to the Tastes of Minden which is a fundraiser for the Chamber of Commerce. It was good and we had lots of tastes of various concoctions. After a nap, I went to find my cousin who is visiting from Virginia and we went to Shreveport to a restaurant I had heard about as being a hang out for the celebrities who come to town to make movies here. It was excellent.

Tonight on If These Walls Could Talk, the HGTV show, a home here in Minden is being showcased. The owners are some of the first people I met when I moved here. They are both in my Sunday School class. I am looking forward to climbing up in my bed and watching that and chilling out for the rest of the evening. It's all good!

Where have I been?

I don't know! Nothing has happened that deserves recognition here. Relatives are visiting from Virginia, but they will all be gone tomorrow. My best friend from high school called last night to tell me that she had brought her mother home and called in Hospice. They give her about a week to live. Also, my aunt is hanging on by a thread and really ready to go. God works on His schedule....not ours...even though we would like for both of them to be out of their misery.

Humor me....please!

I need to rant! I am sort of anal about my hose nozzles, which means I buy the expensive ones ($10). Last year I bought 3 and they all failed. That was my fault because I didn't know to take them in for the winter. Sooooo......a few weeks ago I bought yet another expensive one. Today as I was cleaning under my lawn mower the nozzle started leaking everywhere spraying water all over me. I took the sucker apart 3 times and can find nothing wrong, but it still sprays water everywhere except where it is supposed to. I have searched for my receipt to no avail, so I guess I won't be returning it! Just for the record....it was MADE IN CHINA!!!!

Muffin Top

I learned the official term for this disgusting look.

Nothing more...nothing less...

than pure unadulterated LAZINESS! That's been me for about three days. I don't even know why. Well, today I awoke to rain and dreariness and it's been that way all day. I did go out and get the paper, but I put the garage door back down and just hunkered down being lazy. Yesterday was just too cold and I am so stubborn and refuse to turn the heat on in April. I have already extinguised the pilot light on the fireplace, so that wasn't an option. My solution was to just stay under my electric blanket on my bed!! Worked for me!!

Rejoice..for this is the day the Lord hath made....

Wild Turkey!!!

When I think of wild turkey this is what comes to mind. It was my drink of choice in my college days and a few years after until I discovered Crown Royal. These days I rarely touch either of them. I'm just not the party animal I used to be.

This morning my brother killed a wild turkey. It is supposed to be the ultimate nab for a hunter. We'll be chowing down on him pretty soon, I'm hoping!! It's the first one he has ever killed and he was excited. My dad was so excited for him that he called me and told me about my brother's conquest.All I could think about was the Wild Turkey I used to drink!! How sick is that!!

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Time to plant caladiums

I planted 92 Carolyn Wharton caladiums today. Last year I planted a different variety and my landscaper friend told me that Carolyn Wharton's could handle the heat better. He goes by my house several times a day and he keeps me informed about my yard. Last year he noticed when my caladiums started to struggle and suffer through the heat and recommended a couple of varieties for me to try. Although they were beautiful last year and the color matched my house, I'm hoping for a different look this year. I like to change things up especially since I get so many comments about my yard. I feel like people are expecting excellence so I try to deliver. It's hard work, but I enjoy it immensely. Today was a very cool day reaching only the 60's, so it was easy to work outside. I even got the front yard all manicured. I gave out before I got to the back yard, but the rest of the week is going to be cool, so it will get done tomorrow.

Lipitor...NO...not so much!

I got my blood work back and his office called me and wanted to put me on Lipitor because of elevated cholesterol. When I asked how elevated? their answer was 208! I defy anyone to find me someone of my age with a lower number than that. It has been between 201 and 218 for about 15 years and before then, it was higher! I just don't want to get locked into taking yet another drug. I hate taking meds. I already take blood pressure, thyroid, and diabetes meds. If I started that med, I would be taking it the rest of my life. My answer to him NO! I don't think so!

Planting groceries...

I love me some fresh vegies and I am really getting into this gardening thing. Last year my dad was always telling us (my brother and me) what to do and how to do it. This year he has kind of backed off. In the past, he has just let the weeds and grass take over the garden. I, on the other hand, can not stand that. I have been tilling between the rows and today I hoed all the weeds and grass out as well. My brother came and helped me and we have a clean garden with cottonseed mulch around all the potatoes, tomatoes, onions, beets and carrots. We also got more corn plus peas, beans and sunflowers planted. My friend brought us a truckload of that mulch on Saturday. I can't wait for things to start getting ready to eat!!

By noon I was worn completely out, but I came home for about an hour and rested before going to Bossier to Home Depot and by this awesome cafe for some strawberry pie. Don't hate!

Finally!

I finally made it to one of my bud's baseball games. The weather was perfect for baseball and I had time to rest after my adventures as Farmer Brown this morning. I tilled the garden again and planted a few things. Enough to make me tired! I'm such a wuss!

Whirlwind Weekend!

I'm glad the weekend is over. I need a rest. Yesterday my best friend from high school came to Mom and Dad's, so I went to meet her there. Before she got there, I went to the new church building and helped with the last minute cleaning details (windows). Today my friend came back to go to their church, so I went to church there this morning as well. She then took us all out to lunch before returning to go to the building dedication today. Her father was ordained as a minister in that church and she lived in Massachusettes for many, many years. She has returned to Louisiana and built a huge plantation style home on a lake. My brother was the chairman of the building committee, so he had a part on the program. My dad had a part on the program just because he's 85 and he told the preacher he wanted to say a few words. He spoke from his heart and did a wonderful job. He made me proud. I gathered up all Mom's left over cookies from the event and got her and Dad settled back at home. Now I am going to eat cookies and rest! Having heels on ALL DAY LONG is just TOO MUCH!