Little Brother

My "little brother" had a birthday yesterday, so I had lunch at his house along with my parents, their pastor, and a friend of my brother's who was born on the same day.Blogger wouldn't let me post yesterday so, at my age, I forgot what I wanted to post!

Today I had lunch with the girls as we do every Thursday. Had to turn down a lunch at a lady's house that I met in Sunday School. This group of ladies that I have lunch with on a regular basis are "kindred spirits" to me. We are a lot alike! The person who built my house and sold it to me introduced me to this group. They are all friends of hers. I heard her tell them that I was a kindred spirit and I think that was an appropriate term. The Sunday School lady.....uuuhhhh...not so much!

Thank goodness....it's over!

All those political ads just drive me nuts! I voted, but I wasn't passionate about any of them. Since I am a new resident of Louisiana, I don't really know the candidates and their positions. I don't vote straight party ticket, but for the person. We had some assinine amendments to vote on, so I did study them before going to the polls. Louisiana has some weird stuff to vote on.

This afternoon I took my dad to the hearing aid man because his brand new $1600 hearing aid quit working. Turns out it was just stopped up.

Since I got home, I have made a pan of fudge to take to my brother tomorrow. It's his birthday and due to his gluten allergy, he can't have cake. I also got an ice cream cake that my sister-in-law ordered for him. Poor fellow. I feel sorry for him because gluten is in EVERYTHING!!!

I got my flu shot today and my arm has been aching ever since. That never happened before and it doesn't seem to to happening to anyone else!!!!

Vote today or forever SHUT UP!

Dreary day...

It has been so dark and rainy and dreary all day that I have just been unmotivated to do anything constructive. I have slept, watched TV, and done a few scrapbook pages. It's perfect scrapbooking weather, but my creative juices just aren't flowing. I have 11 pages (that's actually 22 front and back) left to do and not much time.

I did it!

I totally did it! I knew when I saw this a couple of weeks ago that I would go back and buy it and today was the day! He is so cute. Right now he is in the garage awaiting his turn to be a lawn ornament. He is animated and tips his hat!!

My wish list.....

I keep an ongoing list of books that I want to read. Right now, the only ones on it are new publications. I usually wait until they have been out for awhile, then go to Amazon and buy used copies. I am anxiously waiting for these to show up on a used list so I can afford to buy them:

Culture Warrior: Bill O'Reilly

The Innocent Man: John Grisham

My Father, My President: Dora Bush Koch

Redneck Woman: Gretchen Wilson

Paula Deen Celebrations:Paula Deen

Last frog.....gone, I hope!

For two days I saw one of those little green suckers wedged in a crevice in the siding that is on the inside walls of my patio. I think he thought he was in for the winter, but I thought otherwise. Today, I sprayed him with wasp spray.....nothing happened! So I got the broom to get him out and send him on his merry way. He was very lethargic, which adds to my belief that he was down for the winter!!! I tried to get him over the back fence, but I'm not sure that I got him there.

Still in the will....

I went to Mom and Dad's this morning at 9 to pick up pecans. There were none on the ground, so I guess the wind hasn't blown hard enough since I last picked them up a few days ago. Dad decided I needed to take them to town (that would be Wal-Mart). I was happy to do that except that when I go out in public, I try to look decent. I had on sweats, had not washed my face or combed my hair. He doesn't care about stuff like that and I didn't even mention it. Just went on and took them looking really rough!!! I did not get home until 12:30, so I just took a nap. The rest of the day I have been lazy!

I love winter!!

And I love living in a place that actually has a winter. It's only 200 miles from where I used to live, but the climate is moderately different and I love it. I have not turned on the heat, yet, but I remote controlled the fireplace!!! My grandparents would never believe my fireplace. They chopped wood!!!!Horrors!!!!

A few more years off my life......GONE!

Anyone who knows me knows I am petrified of snakes....even rubber ones. I know it's ridiculous, but I just can't help it. Today my brother and sister-in-law came to help me add another sheet of plywood to the attic floor so I can have some more room for JUNK! When my sister-in-law was looking for something in their truck, she found his rubber snake and threw it on the ground by my feet. That is enough to cause a heart attack on me. I should have never told them that my heart was deemed good after my stress test. He had backed off because he was afraid I would have a heart attack, but now they aren't afraid anymore. I told her that she wasn't always mean like that. She said she had lived with him too long!!!!

Yet another awesome day!!!

Years ago some of my best times were at the state fair held in Shreveport. This is its 100th year, so I ventured over to it this afternoon while parking and entrance was free. The weather was cool and beautiful and I looked at the exhibits and sampled some great fair food.

Staying in the will....

Being the wonderful daughter that I am :), I made from scratch potato soup and cornbread this morning. I ate some and it was so good that I called Mom and told her I was bringing lunch to them. I'm in the will for another day!!!

Science lesson....

Yesterday when I went out to get the paper fairly early, these were abundant on my sidewalk in front of my house.....well, this time it was slugs. All summer I picked up snails every morning off my patio and put them in a paper cup. They were very small snails. I had to do some research to find out the difference in slugs and snails. The basic difference is that snails have a shell on their back and slugs don't. Slugs leave a silvery trail behind them and I saw lots of those trails when the sun shone down on my concrete. Slugs eat plants. I don't know what snails eat. I put out stuff to try to rid myself of the slugs and snails. Today I didn't see any, but it was considerably colder today than yesterday....so I don't know which made the difference.

Soul Food!

My mom cooked the turnip greens that I picked yesterday and some fried corn bread. Now that's some real soul food. She threw in some baked sweet potatoes just to ensure that it was real soul food. Made me want to go watch some BET television for awhile!!!

Samaritan's Purse

I cannot believe how much stuff I managed to pack in one of those Christmas shoeboxes from the church that will be sent to a child somewhere in the world......2 t-shirts, ball cap, car, flashlight, markers, paper, games , lots of candy, toothpaste, tooth brushes, yo-yo. I went to Fred's and spent $26 and almost got it all in there. It was fun. That's what it is all about!!!

Boo!

Cleaning Machine....that's me!

I spent all morning doing the household chores which included washing, mopping, changing the sheets...and even cleaning the baseboards. One would think a new construction wouldn't get so dirty, but it does. I also did some plant trimming outside. While I was watching All My Children, I made brownies. When that was over, I put some brownies in a container that belonged to my sister-in-law and took some to her. I was hoping my brother was in the woods hunting because he could not eat the brownies due to his gluten allergy, but he was there. I felt bad giving her the brownies. She has to cook everything gluten free, so she never gets any good stuff anymore. When I left there. I went to take some brownies to Mom and Dad. Mom was asleep in her room and Dad was asleep in his room, so I cleaned the kitchen, picked the turnip greens, mowed under the pecan trees and picked up the pecans. Damn, I have been busy. I think I'll go rest now!!!

Par-tay!

I was invited to a costume party tonight by some members of the local Mardi Gras krewe. I am not a member of the krewe, but I have been invited to join. I was a judge of the costumes because I didn't know most of the people so I was very impartial and I didn't have to wear a costume. It was so much fun. That is really a fun group of people. The person I rode to the party with was dressed as Mama Cass and she got shitfaced. I had to drive us home. At least, I drove to my home, then another passenger got behind the wheel to take himself home, then the owner of the car was to take herself home. She didn't have far to go and Minden closes up rather early so I hope she got home OK. She is the Queen this year of the Mardi Gras Ball, which is in January. She told me that I would be getting an invitation to sit at one of the Queen's tables at the ball. Wow! I have never been to one of those and it is a formal affair, so I guess I had better start looking for something to wear!!!

Much too lazy.....

Yesterday I never left the house. In fact, I never even raised the garage door. We have had two wonderful days of rain, so I just stayed home and did nothing constructive. Today I have been scrapbooking. We have wind advisories today and the wind is really fierce so I haven't ventured out yet. I'm thinking that I must go find some place to get a haircut. I hate not having my hairdresser. I have already turned down an invitation to go to lunch with the girls today since we didn't go on our usual Thursday. I was just too lazy to get dressed for lunch.

Update: I got a haircut!! Check it out!!! O My Gosh! I got me some spikes. I didn't mean to, but I do.

Long, slow and beautiful!

Don't even go there! It's the much needed rain we have been getting all night and all day. We need it so badly. I have been extremely lazy. It was so dark and dreary this morning that I just slept in. I did manage to get it together enough to go to my mom's for lunch. She cooked the turnip greens that I picked yesterday.

I came back home, put on my flannels and grabbed the remote. As soon as I got all comfy on my bed, a call came that my part for my dishwasher was in....so, I had to wait for the repair man. When he left I did a repeat of my preparation for slothfulness and spent the rest of the day sleeping.......well, except for the 15 minutes when I cooked some cookies....JUST WHAT I NEEDED!

Busy, busy day!

At 10 this morning I had a coffee to go to at my next door neighbor's house. Unfortunately, for me at least, all she had was sweets. I cannot eat sweets that early in the day due to blood sugar issues. Rather than be rude, I ate a couple of small pieces and drank sugared spiced tea. After that social event, I went and found my cousin, who is visiting from Virginia, and we went to lunch. After that she brought her mother down to see my mom and dad. I was at Mom and Dad's picking turnip greens so Mom can cook them tomorrow. After that we all met at a restaurant for dinner, then I took Mom and Dad back to their house and I got home at 7P.M. Long, long day and I am FULL!!!

TA-DA...I got nuthin!

Wait...don't leave yet!

I want that!

There's a TV show on HGTV named "I want that!" While I was out yesterday, I went to a Christmas store and found exactly what I want for my yard. It's a little pricey, so I don't know if I will spring for it or not. I have NO....ZERO.....NADA Christmas decorations, so I'm not sure how I will handle decorating for Christmas. I bought a big lighted hologram type thingy that says "Happy Holidays" that I am going to put on my privacy fence. I don't like it to say that, but I could not find anything big that said "Merry Christmas". I guess it's just a sign of the times.....unfortunately!! Here's the one I am comtemplating for the yard. It is animated. He takes his hat off.

Doughgirl......that's me!

I tested a recipe that was in the paper this week for apple dumplings.....I only made 4... thank goodness...because I have eaten 3 of them!!They are much too sweet, but quite delicious and maybe I didn't check it soon enough, but they didn't seem to do a number on my blood sugar. It's just the mornings that I cannot eat carbs. This morning I ate a mini bagel without any jam and drank a cup of coffee and it caused my BS to go to 203!! Coffee even raises my BS in the mornings, but I have read that caffeine will raise it. Diet cokes don't seem to do that, but coffee does. If I have to drink decaf, the purpose is defeated!!!! Usually, when I make coffee, that's all I have for breakfast so it really doesn't matter.

I am mechanically challenged...

I could not light the pilot light on my fireplace by following the directions. My brother came and turned it on and stuck a lighter to it and.....hello!!!!! it's lit! He just pisses me off making me look like a doofus!! I am afraid of gas, electricity, and varmits.The remote does not work, but it has a battery that is probably dead. I'll change that before I call the fireplace people!!

On a mission...

After having lunch with the girls, I went to Shreveport on a mission to stock up on my beloved C2 cokes. I love those things, but the Kroger where I usually get them didn't have any and,of course, there was no one around to ask. I went to every grocery store in Shreveport and came home empty handed. I googled it and found various opinions about it being discontinued, but nothing official. What to do...what to do! I hate when I find a product I like and then it disappears. Coke never did any marketing for that drink, so if it failed it is definitely their own fault. This drink was made with both sugar and splenda and it tasted just like regular coke to me with half the calories. GGGRRRRRR!

Dazed and confused!!

I spent all day at my mom and dad's working in their yard. My brother saw me out there slaving away, so he went and got his chain saw and came back to help me. We are a working machine when we get together. I don't do chainsaws. That's about the only piece of equipment that I haven't used. As long as I have him, I don't need to. He is giving me grief about my age though. I asked if my doctor here would give me a flu shot and he said probably at my age he would!!!! He wouldn't give my brother one yet because he wasn't old enough to get one of the first shots available!!!That boy is looking for trouble!

Now I am dazed and confused because I stopped at a local shop to get some ryegrass seeds to overseed my yard for the winter. They quoted me $26 for 50 pounds. My sister-in-law just bought some there for $11. They told me she must have bought just rye seed instead of ryegrass seed!! WTF! They couldn't tell me the difference, so now I am on a mission to find out which one I need. My sister-in-law said hers are already coming up nice and green and it looks like ryegrass to her!

Computer slave

Today has been spent at the computer working on reunion stuff and scanning old pictures from the school and just generally mundane stuff! Finally, at 5 I went out and mowed the yard just to get out of the house. Got all the mowing done, but not the trimming and blowing. I'll do that tomorrow.

My garbage people pissed me off today because they didn't pick up my garbage. I guess it was because I had a couple of large, old picture frames with the glass still in them on top of the garbage. It would have been safer for them to pick them up that way and toss them in the truck because now I have broken all the glass and frames and put them in garbage bags. The glass is poking holes in the garbage bags and it will now be dangerous to pick up. As a new resident, I have never been given any kind of guidelines for what is acceptable garbage. I was never even told when the garbage days were.
Update: My neighbor just told me I got my garbage out too late. They came before 8:30 today and they usually come in the afternoon. I had it out by 9 A.M.!!!

Slothfulness..

It's one of the 7 deadly sins and today I have committed it all day long. Some days I just don't have any desire to do anything.....so I don't. Thank goodness I can do that now! We are having rain and for this part of the country, it is an event because we are suffering from a 10 inch deficit. It rained all night and all day an easy, slow rain that is most beneficial for our predicament. My grass is smiling right now. I didn't even get up until after 9, then I made some breakfast and went back to bed. I never even raised the garage door today. I did make some spaghetti this afternoon and ate that and went back to bed. I see a pattern here!! I just ate ice cream and I am going back to bed and watch some TV!!! And there are lots of "I's" in this post, so perhaps I have regressed to third grade as well!!

Whew! Done for another two years...

Today was our bi-annual school reunion of which I am a co-chair. I dread getting ready for it, but it always turns out very nicely. My co-chair does most of the work and I just do the computer stuff. There were 4 people there from my graduating class, which is not bad since two of them are dead and we only had 19 in our class. We are talking small town America here!!!!! Now it is my job to make all the edits in our database and add/delete as we get more addresses or have more deceased. It was a nice time, but I am glad it is over for another two years! My dad was the oldest grad there and he and my mom were the couple married the longest (65 years). They won all the prizes!!!

It's a Southern thing....

I was at Mom's by 8 this morning ready to work in the yard. I saw her put a huge pan of dressing in the oven and wondered why she was doing that. Then.......duh! It dawned on me that today is "Graveyard Working Day". That is an old tradition where the oldtimers took their rakes and hoes twice a year to the graveyard and cleaned it.....thus the name. Everyone brought food and had dinner under the trees. Now, no one has to hoe and rake because someone mows the cemetery, but tradition continues and food and flowers are brought. I always take Mom to this event because she cannot do it by herself anymore. She can't even walk out to the gravesite and place flowers on the graves of her parents and grandparents. I guess the next time she goes out there will be in a casket. My brother, his wife, and I will all be buried there as well. I worked in Mom's yard a little while, then had to go back to my home and shower, then go back and take her and Dad to the cemetery.

Mission accomplished...

I am back already after going to the Red River Revel, looking at all the art, and,yes, eating stuff I shouldn't have. So far.....no ill effects on my stomach. While I was away my brother came by, which always seems to happen when I am gone. He just called and we are going out for catfish tonight. OOOOO.....my aching stomach! Maybe I'll be hungry by then!!

Dishwasher fixed...

Turns out it was all related to the power being off a few minutes earlier this week. It caused a problem with the circuit board. All the repairman had to do was unplug all the little wires and plug them back in and it works now. He is ordering a new circuit board because the dishwasher is still under warranty and it shouldn't have done this.

The weather is too perfect to stay home today, so I am off on an adventure. I'm still debating where to go, but I'm thinking it may be here. If I decide against that, then I may go to the movie to see The Guardian, which was filmed here, or Open Season, just because I love animated movies. The movies may win out simply because I was sick last night apparently from the corn dog or the funnel cake I ate at the fair. The Revel will have lots of food booths from which I probably don't need to partake, but I can't resist. I have no will power!

Nostalgic times.....

Tonight I went to the Parish Fair (that's County Fair to everyone on the planet except Louisianians). It reminded me of awesome times as a kid. We always got a day off from school and a school bus took all who wanted to go to the Fair for the day. It was a big deal to get asked by a person of the opposite sex to be his/her date for the day. I still remember who I went with one year. The reason I went tonight was to watch my cousin's grandchildren show their livestock. It was really interesting and I learned a lot about cows!!! Right now I am full to the gills with funnel cake!!

All results are in....

except how much all these medicals tests actually cost me! The doc's office called and said everything was excellent, but I needed to pay close attention to my blood pressure. Seems it was too high in the doctor's office, but isn't that usually the case?? I will check it. I have a monitor somewhere......since I moved I have no idea where!

Good news...

I do have a heart and it is functioning properly and the mammogram is negative. Now if the bone density test is normal, I am good to go.

Now the bad news. My dishwasher has been washing since 10 this morning and it won't stop!!! WTF!! I have a call in to the appliance repair place. Hello!!!!! Brand new dishwasher!!!!

No Big Deal

The Myoview Stress Test was a piece of cake.....just a lot of waiting. The doctor's nurse practitioner directed the treadmill part of it. He said all my indicators said I should be able to do 5 1/2 minutes. I did 7. These are not just regular treadmill minutes going at my own rate, but going uphill very fast. He did not see any problems with my heart during that test. The doctor has to read the pictures taken while I had the radioactive isotopes going through my veins. He should give me a report tomorrow. Have not heard anything from the mammogram or the bone density test. I'm tired of tests and the one today took $500 from my own pocket. That's just the part the insurance didn't pay! I will never ever understand insurance as long as I live. Furthermore, I don't even want to!