Goodbye, 2009

This is the last day of the year. It has been a year full of hope, and of disappointment. A year of joy, and anguish.

Some things have remained the same... Tom and I, and Ben, are all still at our same jobs, living in the same house. I tried and failed at having a garden. The twins are still homeschooling, and blooming into fine young men.

Much of the anguish and sorrow of the year never made it into my blog posts... which are mainly a way of keeping in touch with my family, and the family all knew what was happening without setting it out here. The joys, I always feel free in sharing with the world!

I got two new granddaughters this year, both of them counted among the joys of the year.

From the disappointments and anguish, I hope that I have both learned, and been able to demonstrate, the essence of a true, loving family. At times, I know I met hurt with anger... but I strove to overcome the anger so the hurts could begin to heal.

My family has always had a very strange sense of humor. Some say there is 'inappropriate laughter'... but for us, laughter is healing... and we laugh when maybe we should cry instead.

(When Tom's nephew passed away, 9 years ago in January, the twins were 4 years old. We had traveled to Ohio for his funeral. The "viewing" was the night before, and we were at the funeral home for hours. The next day, we headed back to the funeral home, a 100 mile trip. Sam remarked that he thought we had done the funeral the night before. Trying to explain things to a 4 year old, I told him that today, we were going to have to bury his cousin. Sam asked if maybe we should be taking shovels along, then, and not having to be so dressed up?

I'm sorry, we all laughed.)

So this year has been filled with laughter. Even when we had tears.

This is a year that has been filled with 'starting over' for much of my family. What we all really wanted was a rewind button... a "do-over" button... that would take us back in time. That being impossible, we have had to settle for starting over again in many ways.

I am looking forward to 2010... a new beginning.

Some days, age shows...

When Daniel and I went to the library Monday, he suddenly exclaims, "Look at that vehicle! That has to be the weirdest looking thing I've ever seen!"

I am looking everywhere for something unusual. "Over THERE, Mom, don't you see it? ... it kind of looks like a cross between a flattened mini van and a hearse!"

I see the vehicle. It is a station wagon.

Eggsactly what happened?

Start of a new week

Yesterday was Mr C's birthday. I worked all day. He was home for the delivery of the washing machine. He washed a load... I was too tired to mess with it. So I am on my second load this morning. It smells... like oil burning. I trust it is just the motor lubricant from the manufacturing, and will eventually stop stinking.
Neither of Tom's birthday presents arrived Saturday. Using online tracking... it appears they will not arrive today either. Guess he will be calling the washing machine his birthday present. The last one was an anniversary present: we had the washer AND the stove go out within days of one another, so the appliances were our 'gifts' to one another. The stove was left behind when we moved from Central High. He had a cherry cheater pie... dumped canned cherry pie filling into a granola crust and called it done.

The boys want/ need to go to the library today. I have to deposit my check, and I need to wash the road salt/ grime off the car if the car wash is open. It IS supposed to get up to 30 or so today. It hasn't been above 25 since I got home Friday. The roads are mostly cleared off, but the ground is still snow covered.

As soon as the boys finish their math, we will head off to town. Hope you all have a great day!

Gotta love my kids

When I arrived home yesterday, I discovered these guys in my fridge:
They are just regular eggs, not even hard boiled. (Ben was bored... each egg is hoping he won't be chosen to be cracked next!)

On the way home,in the snow, we crossed a river. The snow is the height of the guardrails.




The "dogs" did not fix my washing machine... so for Tom's birthday, I got a new washer. Not the one I wanted. But one that "will do". It is a "Roper", as cheap as they come. And with free delivery, set up; and pick up of the old machine. Lowes is delivering tomorrow.

Tomorrow is Mr C's birthday. He wanted a cherry pie. I got a can of cheater cherry pie filling. Maybe I will remember to get ice cream to top it with. I was sent home early today, lack of customers. Tomorrow is another "ladies' day" at our O'Reilly's, with Vanessa and I running the show all day. Tom's birthday presents failed to arrive on time... a new "glance" (what he calls a watch... it ought to be a glance because you don't WATCH it, you glance at it when you want to know what time it is.) and a set of Marx Brother's DVD's. He has the same movies on tape, recorded off the TV, but they are getting too snowy to watch.

Speaking of snow... our roads are fairly clear, but getting Ben's truck out this afternoon was sure a challenge. I finally grabbed the bag of kitty litter left over from Al and we used it for traction. (We took Ben's truck, figuring to bring a washing machine home. But with free delivery AND haul off, we didn't need it.)

I had more pictures to add to this, but the blogger photo is refusing to co-operate. Oh well. I will save them for another post.
Have a blessed day.

home again, home again, jiggity jig

I went to East Texas to have a "family dinner" with my parents, and their spouses, yesterday. Two of my brothers and two of my children got to be there as well.
A winter storm swept yesterday evening. It gave many a "white Christmas". For me, a driving challenge. The twins and I hit the remnants of the storm 30 miles south of McAlester, OK. From there, we were lucky to hit 50 MPH. McAlester is more than 100 miles from my house.

We made it safely home. I have tense neck muscles... or maybe swollen lymph glands. Or both. At any rate, both boys complained about the amount of Advil I was taking. (1 every 2 hours). I was happy to stand in the steaming shower tonight. I am happy to report my Adult Beverage consumption is down... only 4 nights of the last 9. I needed it tonight. Shut up.

Tomorrow is 8-5, Sunday is 9-4. I need to go in to work Tuesday to reset the sales. Yawn. Guess when my hair dries... or maybe even sooner.. I am headed off to bed.
Hope everyone had a blessed day, even if it wasn't truly the anniversary of the birth if the Christ.

Today....

Today. I have to start today by filling in yesterday. Yesterday I went to the doc for the follow up visit regarding the concussion. Doc says I'm better.
On my way home, I stopped by the bank to cash my babysitting check, in anticipation of the trip to Dad's house. (Which would involve Tomorrow, but I'm still working on Yesterday so I can get to Today. You did follow that, didn't you?) The bank is in the same parking lot as O'Reilly's... and I saw my boss and a couple of my co-workers standing outside admiring a car. (They are guys. They notice cars. They admire them. Kind of like girls notice babies and guys don't? Only in reverse.)

Anyway, I haven't actually seen the boss man since bonking my bean, so I drove on over. We chatted for a few minutes, and he asked me about my schedule for this week. I told him I was scheduled for Tuesday. He said I should just take the day off and rest, since I had the long drive ahead of me Wednesday. So... I don't have to work today! Which is just as well, because I have a lot of work to do today.

One thing I get to do is go to the LAUNDROMAT! Won't that be ever so fun?
My washing machine went from making grindy noises over the last few weeks to making a positively alarming and scary racket yesterday. It still works.... but is almost deafening in its protests. I was sure it was time to replace the machine. Tom looked at it and was going to disassemble it. I got online and had a really quick diagnosis. The "dogs" are worn out. The "dogs" (really, that is the name of the part!) keep the agitator from spinning backwards. Replacing them ($7.50 plus $5.00 postage) involves removing ONE bolt... from the top of the machine, even.

Of course, Mr C didn't think this could possibly be the problem. I tossed a few clothes in for a "demo" while he called his brother, the handyman. They had pretty well decided the problem was in the motor, when the spin cycle came and you could hear the screaming dogs- and the agitator catching on the clothes and banging backwards. Mr C decided I just might be right in the diagnosis.

A simple, cheap fix. I could probably have drove to Fayetteville or someplace and had the parts TODAY. Instead, I ordered them online from the guy whose online repair guide has saved my machine more than once. He is in PA, and probably buried in snow... so I don't look for the package before Saturday, at the earliest.

And if the problem isn't fixed, maybe the guys are right after all.... and I need a new machine. But for $12.50, I figure we have to TRY to fix it.

Meanwhile, Mt. Washmore hasn't stopped reaching new heights. With me planning to be gone a few days... I have to tackle laundry today. Hence, the laundromat.

The floors need to be swept and mopped, and we still have to equalize the air pressure in the tires. Dan checked them for me yesterday: 32, 30, 30, and 28. You should of seen the look of horror I got when I suggested instead of dragging the air compressor out to the car, we just let air out until all the tires were at 28.
(Hey I was just kidding!)

Dan cleaned out and vaccuumed the car. He's good like that. My car is generally fairly clean anyway. I don't leave trash in it when I get out.... unless it is when I get out and stagger inside after a long trip. Anyway... today is laundry, house cleaning, and trip prep. Guess I best get with the program!
Have a blessed day!

Made it through the weekend!

Did I mention that while I was at the doc's office Friday, I actually had a fever? I assumed it was a side effect of concussing. I was feeling pretty peaked Saturday and mentioned the fever seemed to be up. Two co- workers and a customer took giant steps back from me, and said fever is NOT a side effect of concussion. I was in fact, sick, to add insult to injury. The co- workers decided I should go home. I didn't argue.

At least not til I got home. Seems like I was so crabby Mr C thought I should go right to bed. Then I argued. But not long. I was "curdled" up under the covers before 5:00 pm. I stayed pretty much right there until time for work Sunday.

It was the Tammy and Vanessa show Sunday. We were the only two on duty. It is pretty peeving to have a customer call, then start down the list of guys: "Is Jeff there?" No, he works Mon.-Fri." "Let me have Tim then" "Tim took the weekend off" "How about Dave?".....
and so on until they figure out they HAVE to talk to a girl. "Well maybe you can help me" (said with a deep sigh and obvious regret in the voice.) Then they ask a simple question that any newby can answer from their first day on the job. Anyway, the girls muddled through the day without wrecking the store completely. (Vanessa is the only certified mechanic in the store, even when the guys ARE there).

I was feeling quite a bit better. Not as much better as I felt after taking a couple of ibuprofen, though. I could sure tell when they wore off. I'm still not quite up to speed. I had fully intended to go see Connor and Alana in their "Drama" at church last night. I got off work and headed home, and didn't remember it until it was almost over. Probably just as well I didn't go spread germs around.

I have a follow-up doctor's appointment this morning at 8:30. Then we will be getting this place ready so that Dan and Sam and I can go to my Dad's Wednesday and Thursday. Tom and Benny will be home with the TSD. I work a full shift tomorrow, and we head out early Weds., so this may be my last blog until next week... unless I happen into some computer time!

Have a blessed day and a wonderful week!

safe sports?

I took Daniel and Sam ice skating Thursday. We went to the noon session, and Sam taunted me into trying again to skate. I made it around the rink 3 times... almost. By 12:10 I was being helped up by the only other patron on the ice... an elderly woman appearing to be in her 80's. But one who could actually SKATE.

I hit my head really hard. Really, really hard. I took off my skates and left the boys to finish their session. Up the stairs of the rink to the main floor of the Jones Center. I was then lost. I had no idea where I was or how to get back to the car. I thought I may have taken the wrong exit. So I went back in the doors marked Ice Arena. There were the stairs I had come up, the same stairs, the only stairs. Back out through the doors... and into the strange place I didn't know. I decided to follow along the way I thought was right... and eventually found the parking lot.

That freaked me out pretty bad, so I called Tom at work. By then, I had a tennis ball knot on my head. He answered and I burst into tears. He agreed to call me every 10 or 15 minutes as I waited in the car for the twins. I was blinded by a headache... so after the second time he called, I agreed he should come get me. He and Ben went back later and retrieved the other car.

By the time I got home, I had a baseball sized knot, rapidly heading to softball sized. A blazing headache. I laid down, but there was no sleeping. No one can sleep through a headache like that!

About midnight, some 12 hours after the fall, the swelling was starting to go down and 'squishiness' set in. I took an ibuprofen at that point, and laid down. Finally got enough relief to sleep. I had work at noon Friday. After a couple of hours, I agreed I better see a doctor, I sure wasn't hitting on all cylinders. My speech was slurred and stuttering. I couldn't hold on to a customer's question long enough to give them an answer. I couldn't for the life of me read the simple work orders I had been left. While the headache was not as bad as the day before, it was still there. I called Tom (from my job) and he called and made a Dr appointment. I was the last patient of the day- and it was a quarter to six before I got out of there. Doc agreed that since I had done 24 hours, we could "wait and see" with close monitoring, whether I needed a CTI scan. He gave Tom his home phone and his pager number. Said call if he needed to meet us at the ER.

But I woke this morning with my head feeling much less melon- like. My speech and co-ordination is nearly as good as new. (I never said it was great to begin with!)
I have continued to feel really poorly all day. I assumed the 100* fever detected at the Dr office was a side effect of the concussion. Nope. Fever is not a side effect, I was told today. So gee.. maybe I am SICK as well as concussed. So my co-workers decided they can handle the store without me. It is freezing out, and a chance of snow... very few folks are working on their cars! I got to come home early.

I am ready for bed... and it is only 4:30pm.

Becky suggested maybe I take up knitting instead of any physical sport... but decided maybe NOT knitting, as it involves pointy sticks. Think I'll stick to reading, as soon as my brain can handle reading.

Bad Mommy Blogger

What kind of mommy forgets to wish her very own darling daughter a very happy birthday on said daughter's very own birthday?

I wrote my blog early this morning and never even once thought about it being 24 years since I gave birth to my onliest daughter.

I have to be awake a good while before any date recognition stirs in my beany brain.

So, Happy birthday to the prettiest daughter I ever had!
Check out her picture at Becky's Blog

Ch-ch-ch- changes....

There are all sorts of changes. Diaper changes, seasonal changes, changes of mind, heart, plans.

And schedules. Once again, my work schedule has changed for this week. To this, I say HOORAY! Instead of every afternoon, plus the regular Friday- Sunday, I had lasterday afternoon, and then... my regular Fri-Sunday!
Next week, I pick up an all-day Tuesday. (12-7 pm). That makes up for missing Friday- when the store is closed. I will have Saturday, and Sunday.

After the first of the year, I will have a radical change... maybe. Boss Man is looking for permission to create a new position: Tue-Fri 4:00 am - 9am, +/- . I would check in the pallet(s) of freight, put it away, process returns, and do any planogram changes. I go home each day when I finish, which would depend on the amount of freight, returns and whether or not I had a planogram. One person who does freight, without the distractions of telephone and customer service, would be a big boon to everyone. I would have to have Dan or Sam "watch" Matthew from the time he arrived, until I got home on the one or two days a week that overlap. He arrives asleep, and usually sleeps until after 9; and on occasion has been known to sleep until 11:00am. So there wouldn't be a lot of actual 'work' involved there.

And whether or not the new slot gains approval... I will be off on Sundays, by mutual agreement. I would work Thursday afternoons instead of Sunday, and continue with Fri & Sat as I have now.

****************
Ok, that was boring. But it is my blog and these changes affect me... and sometimes other people. So you get to hear it.

*************
This has been a year of changes for us. Vast upheavals in our lives, the lives of our family members. Many of the upheavals were unexpected and unwelcomed. God shook us up and set us down and pointed lives in a new direction. We had dark secrets brought into the light, and have dealt with the aftermath.
Some of our changes this year were expected, and welcomed with open arms. Two new babies joined the family. Babies change the dynamics of a family. A new person in the mix. Each one is unique, and adds to the whole.

All of the upheavals have changed the landscape of the family as surely as an earthquake changes the physical landscape of the area it strikes.
*****************
The new year is coming. I wonder what changes it is going to brink in its wake?

New day!

We have already been busy this morning. I got some cheater slice and bake sugar cookies, which Daniel and Sam have baked. They are cooling off now. The cookies, that is, not Dan and Sam. Matthew JUST woke up, after I began typing. He is having a bowl of cereal. Once the cookies are cooled, I will frost them (or a designee cookie froster). Then I will let Matthew 'decorate' them with sprinkles. He can even take them home with him.

I remember decorating sugar cookies with my Mom and brothers. We made "santas" with raisin eyes and coconut beards, and a marshmallow tassle for his cap. I don't remember Mom yelling or getting exasperated with us. I will TRY to be patient with Matthew.

My own kids and I did some sugar cookie baking a few times. I'm sure it was so sporadic that I missed 'prime time' baking with some of them. All of the kids are pretty good cooks and bakers.
I have had several requests to put together a "Mom's Recipe Book", and Ben actually salvaged what I had already put together from the lightening fried old computer. So maybe I should put some good effort into getting that done... one of these days. I am (belatedly) taking pictures of today's cookie mess decorating fiasco fun.
I do want some pictures of our meals for the family cookbook.

Matt finished his cereal, and told me: "Me Tammy, I tee oh hunwee. "
"Do you want another bowl of cereal?"
"No, I no wan tee wee oh"
He is looking pointedly and longingly at the cookies cooling on the counter.
"Well, if you are still hungry, I will make you more cereal. You are NOT getting cookies for breakfast."
"Why?"
"Because I am using those cookies for something else, later."
"Why?"

At this point, I give Matt "The Look". He wanders off to play, completely forgetting he is "still hungry".

Five more hours until I go to O'Reilly's.

OFF!

After 9 days straight, I am off... today and tomorrow. From O'Reilly's, at least. I do have Matthew. I will have Matthew AND O's Tues and Wed., then just O's Thurs-Sunday. Raking in some hours.

Yesterday, my oldest DS turned 30! This has been a year of milestone birthdays. Dan and Sam, my "babies" are 13. My middle kid, Ben, turned 21. (My mommy can look forward to next year, when her oldest child turns 50!)

I woke up shortly after midnight last night, and tossed and turned a couple of hours before resorting to NyQuil to fall back to sleep. That left me groggy this morning... I just couldn't wake up... and laid abed until 9:45. Yikes!

Nothing much new going on here.
Looking forward to visiting my Dad and Moms next week.
Hope you have a great day!
~Tammy~

Just rambling

BRRRR.... it was 7 degrees when we got up this morning. The pond across the property line is frozen... very scary, knowing those little kids.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, I have been working every day this week. Since I don't have Matthew today, I am going in at noon and will work until the counting is done, or until close tonight.

Ben is off, so the twins won't be home alone. Not that they would be scared or anything. I'm just a bit (over)protective of them. Funny to think that I was in charge of five younger kids from 4:45 am until 6:00 pm, five days a week, when I was two years YOUNGER than Dan and Sam.

Yesterday, I ran into a short 'conflict' at work. I was told we were having a store meeting, at 7:00 pm on Dec. 23rd. I told the boss I wouldn't be there... I would be out of town. He truly looked shocked. "But, you don't celebrate Christmas! Where are you going?"
"To my Dad's house, for a family dinner." Boss said the meeting will go on without me. That's OK. (Still think the 23rd is a DUMB time for a meeting!)

This is the first "Christmas" dinner we have been to, in some 25 years, though it may just be the twins and I attending. Tom works the 23rd and 24th.. I don't know about Ben yet. I haven't heard whether Becky and Tommy are coming, or Bill and his family. Pretty sure my brother Roger will be there, maybe even my brother Robbie. (We learned a few days ago that Robbie's ex wife has also planned a big gathering at the same time, so Rob's kids will likely be there, and not at my Dad's.) Haven't heard whether my brother Rick and his family will be there or not.

And this is just two weeks away! Wow.

Ben is planning to make chicken noodle for supper tonight. Maybe chili tomorrow... Tom will be here, and can make pretty good chili. (Too hot for me, though.)
Guess I better get things rolling here, I have to leave in about 45 minutes!
Have a very blessed day!

Snow?

There is no snow in today's forecast. The high is 23* and the low is 14*, with a 20% change of precipitation. Yet the sky is spitting tiny frozen flakes. Not really "snowing". Just frozen bits floating from the sky.... enough you can see them coming down. Not enough to say "we got snow!"

My brain hurts. I skipped out the last hour of work last night... with a low grade fever and a headache. I got ONE pre-inventory count done. This ONE happened to be three double columned pages of woodruff keys, nuts, bolts, washers, cotter pins... each of which has to be manually counted. No handy-dandy scale to calibrate and calculate that there are 367 washers instead of the 356 the computer says we have. Takes more time to COUNT those suckers than the entire box of them is worth! My co-workers tend to skip the counts like these, and leave them for those of us who come in to 'help out'. That's OK. For the most part, I stood in one spot and dumped each little box out, then counted the parts back into the container. A nice quiet corner of the building. My co workers, in appreciation of me doing the dreaded nuts and bolts count, didn't come by saying 87, 34, 98 ,12 ... as we usually do to one another when someone is trying to count small items.

Yesterdays roast beast is going to turn into a nice stew for today. If I didn't already have the roast, today would have been a great day for chili. Maybe we ought to bake cookies, or bread. It is COLD and it will be comforting to have the oven going. We will see. It is Benny's day off, and he is going to take Daniel and Sam to the library for me... and run those other errands I have been avoiding. I will stay here with Matthew.

Well, time to get this day rolling a bit faster. Have a blessed day!

Cold and Rainy

It is just barely above freezing, and looks like a cold front is pushing this way. We may get ice. I don't like ice, especially if I have to work! We live in a very hilly area.

It is after 10 am and Matthew is still sleeping. I will be reheating his oatmeal, looks like.

I am almost seeing auto parts in my sleep, as our store prepares for a wall to wall inventory next Monday. We are doing "pre-counts" this week.

Oh boy! I just heard from the mother of two of my grandkids. I get to have Connor and Alana on Friday night!

I won't get to see MUCH of them, as I work til 7:00 pm and then have to be back to work Saturday by 8:00 am. But I will take what I can get.

Monday busyness

Boss man at O's asked me to please come in every afternoon this week, after Matt goes home. So I will gain an extra 16 hours this week working from 3-7pm. (And still working my normal Fri-Sun schedule). The annual inventory is next week, and we have to count every part, wall to wall. (I inventoried AC orings yesterday!)
I am going to have to go to town. Today. We are out of bread and eggs- leading to much grumbling among the troops. Even more grumbling from me, as I will have to take Matt along. I also have a package to mail, or I'd just pick up the groceries on my way home from work. (Which I may do anyway... I can postpone mailing packages, can't I?)

It is cold and gloomy here, and my bones ache. I had planned to make a crock pot roast beast for supper, but just discovered that someone left a package of thawed chicken in the fridge. Since Mr C made goulash last night, the chicken has had to have been thawed a couple of days... surprise, surprise! Guess I will do a mexican chicken casserole tonite. Maybe even do it in the crockpot. With me gone during the supper cooking hours all week, the crockpot is going to get a real work out.

I got Connor and Alana's gifts "from Daddy" a few days ago. I finally remembered gift wrap- so need to be getting them fixed up.
Yawn. I just want to crawl back under the covers.

Another hour...

Until my work weekend begins. I am sort of stressed out here, between (home)school and a possible crisis here. (I am unable to discuss it at this time, since things may just blow over.) The school, at least, Mr C has stepped up and helped. (Sam has been mouthy about doing several subjects he feels are below his abilities).

Yesterday, Dan wore the chain maille that the boys have put together when we went to the library. The gentle clinking sounded like a distant Salvation Army bell ringer. He had many folks gather around to hear about how they had created the maille out of a roll of fencing wire.

Funny about the SA bell ringers. As we approached the WalMart entrance where a bell ringer stood... Daniel whispers, "Bring out your dead! Bring out your dead!" (A line from a Monty Python movie.) I will never be able to walk past one of these bell ringers again without giggling at the remembrance. Our family has the weirdest sense of humor.

The gumbo I made for supper turned out pretty well. Not exactly like Seneca's, but still good. I even added okra. (Adding OK is a big deal for me... I can't stand the slime it makes. Instead of fresh okra, I used some breaded frozen okra, which I deep fried first. Cooked the snot slime right out of it. Maybe I better have a nice bowl of gumbo before heading off to work.

I did get some lactose digesting enzyme yesterday. Unfortunately for me, I came in starving and had some leftover spinach dip from Thanksgiving (part of an unused jar). It was all I had eaten all day... and when the lactose symptoms hit me... THEN I read the jar: Contains Milk and Soy products! Too late for the enzyme. I did put the enzyme to the test this morning... I took some, then had a bowl of cereal. I was miserable in five minutes, with the 'choking' feeling milk products cause in the hiatus hernia. But in a short time, even that feeling passed. (When the 'choking' feeling hits, it usually lasts for hours.)

Guess its time for me to get ready to go. Have a great weekend!

After two days of hibernating..

I have to go out.
Last night's supper was sausage gravy with biscuits. I ended up with the "choking" feeling I get when I eat anything milk based. Time to get some 'lactaid' or something. I have to go to the grocery store... we are out of 'taters, onions, tortilla chips, eggs.
Samuel got a phone call last night... actually FOR him. He was so surprised he could barely respond, LOL. It was the library letting him know a book he had reserved has come in... so we will go to the library today. And stop by to pay the rent. Mr C told me to send it off last week, and I totally forgot. oops.

So, while I don't have Matthew or O'Reilly's today, I do have errands.
The boys' are champing at the bit to get started , so i better go get showered and ready to go!

Colder

It is colder here today. I was told yesterday that we could get anywhere from a dusting to 7" of snow today. BRRRR! But snow is better than ICE! So far, no snow.

But I do have aching joints, especially in my back and right knee- the one traumatized in the accident back before the twins were born. So the barometric pressure must be changing.

For supper tonight, I am going to have to make something that requires a lot of milk. Maybe gravy? We thought we were low on milk, and got 2 gallons. But were had a gallon and a half in the other fridge. Maybe potato soup... one of my favorite 'comfort foods'. Yeah, I know... whatever I make with milk in it, I will pay for. Maybe I ought to get some "lact-aid" tablets. Milk products bloat me up like a balloon. But... gravy! I love gravy! I told Dan to check the freezer for pork chops. I'm sure I can come up with something to use up milk. Funny to think we used to go through more than a gallon every day!

I have to either go to the PO myself today, or send Benny. I have boxes to send out. Ben has one he has to send himself. I managed to not leave the house at all yesterday. I would probably be a hermit if I could get away with it!

I am hoping you all have a blessed and wonderful day!

Some done...

Yesterday, I got the two soonest birthdays I buy gifts for taken care of.
Jade and Chris are both getting books! I got a card in the mail for Teeny. (Tom's sister). I got Bill and Glynna's forgotten packet of Nickole pictures sent back to them. (Please don't forget to send one to Gma Kathie once they arrive!)

I got holiday presents for Connor and Alana on behalf of their Dad, who cannot shop for himself right now. I forgot gift wrap, so will have to get that at a dollar store, as I sure don't intend to go back to a WalMart, nor a mall before the month is out.
(I will force Benny to get the groceries, as he is there anyway!, or just shop at the grocery next door to O'Reilly's.)

We got at least half a dozen loads of laundry done yesterday, and are started on it again today. Dan and Sam are doing school work. They have been learning to draw and do some flash animation. Ben got a drawing pad that allows them to draw directly into the computer. I may let them use my camera later to try a flash animation using Lego's instead of drawn pictures. Sam's art is REALLY getting good. He had been imitating some of Benjamin's drawings, but has now moved into his own.

For supper tonight: Fajita's. I have tortillas and bell peppers that have to be used up soon. (Yeah, I pick the bell peppers out of mine... ewww!) Probably have the boys chop "ump" the rest of the bell peppers and go ahead and freeze them. The veggie tray remainders will be steamed and served up as a side dish. (Yes you were right, I bought too much fresh veggies. Eat them and shut up!)

Yawn. I have no idea why I have remained so sleepy lately. I have headed to bed by 7 several nights of late. I can't 'sleep in' around here, I have to be up by 6:45 on days with Matthew, and not long past that on the days I work at O's.

Guess I better get back to Matt, laundry, and school. Have a great day!