That was short!

One of my missing co-workers showed up today. So I got to go home after completing the receiving and shipping. Tomorrow I am back to my 5:30 am shift. The other co-worker, we are waiting to see the outcome.

Daniel and Sam are back on their school work. Tommy will be lifting off to Brazil within the hour. (Actually, he will be leaving Snanjlo for DFW within the hour, to make the connecting flight to Brazil.)

The weather has cooled down. Highs for this week, going into the first week of July... are in the mid to upper 80*'s. Some nights are down to the 50*'s! in JULY! in the SOUTH!

I best just say "have a blessed day" to you now, and get busy around here. (Though a nap seems more likely)

Ahhhh, Shiny Floors!

s



Gotta love freshly stripped and rewaxed floors. Can't you just smell the polyurethane?
The red squares are where the rolling shelving units of merchandise, and stacks of boxes of bulk items go.



This is how the back room looks during the waxing. I enter through the green door. The other three pictures are of my work station. Yikes.
I was claustrophobic. I fretted... how would I get out if I were standing (____) and if a fire broke out? There were narrow rat paths among the merchandise through the entire back area. My work station area is uncluttered by comparison!

Before I could begin to put away merchandise after checking it in, I had to get started wheeling out the displays. I couldn't get my narrow cart out of the back room until I did! So I got things started. The boss came in and said good morning. He was a bit early and I didn't hear him enter. I was so startled I thought my heart was stopping!

To add challenge to the already busy day of re-setting the store, we had two co-workers fail to show up. It is presumed they have quit, without notice. This means that for the time being, starting Wednesday, I will be back on the front counter. I will be full time, for a couple of weeks, as new people are hired and trained. Instead of arriving at 5:30 to just do the freight, I will be going in at 7:30 and working freight as I can manage throughout the day. (Anyone know of a couple of people who need jobs?)

I got off just a little before noon today (Tuesday). The store looked good- all the empty areas refilled with the merchandise that belonged there, and the back room was once again in its normal, passable state. My shipping and receiving was done.

Then, back home to see if I can make the house look as good as the store.

Mileage

Saturday morning, I finished work with good speed. Once home, We packed the rest of Becky's things into the car, as well as items for my other kids I would be seeing over the weekend. Becky and I, and her children were on the road by about 8:30.
We drove to my Dad's house for Saturday night. Tyrel saw the tractors and asked Great Grandpa Bill for a ride.
A really sweet picture of GGPa Bill with Kimber.




















Early Sunday we loaded up and were on the way to Becky's house in west Texas by a few minutes after 7:00 am. We stopped in Ft Worth and saw my oldest son Chris. (I failed to get a picture of Chris.)




This is a better shot of the tarantula
on Tommy's cap. After playing with it a few minutes, it was let go again.







As there was a prayer sendoff on Sunday for Tommy's Brazil team trip, we drove directly to the home of the family hosting the sendoff. As we drove past the road we would turn down to get to Becky's house, she asked Tyrel if he recognized the road.
He did.

He set up a wail of "I want to go HOME!" that Becky could barely break through. She told him, "Daddy is at the Zesch's house. Don't you want to see Daddy?"
"I WAAAAAANT TO GOOO HOOOOOME""Uncle Tommy is at the Zesch's. Don't you want to see Daddy and Uncle Tommy?"
"Jake be there too?"
"Maybe," Becky says.
The wailing stopped and we went on to the Zesch home. Tommy and the Brazil group leave on Wednesday for Brazil.
As we finally got back to the road that Becky and her family live on, it was beginning to rain. (It nearly ALWAYS rains when we go to visit Becky in her normally dry west Texas climate!) So, as usual, I had to park at the highway. We took the four wheel drive truck on to their home, 3 miles down the caliche dirt road from the highway. After a wonderful supper with Becky's in-laws, we headed over to her house for the night. They got so much rain, Stephen had fun getting me back to the highway the next morning!
I was on the road to Duncan, Oklahoma before 7:00 am Monday.
I got to see Benjamin playing his violin in his new digs.
I got to see Bill Joe, Glynna, and Nickole.




As well as Laura (Nickole's birth parent) and her new boyfriend... whose name I cannot remember. (Sorry Laura!)











I then drove alllll the way back from Duncan, to our house in Arkansas.

I was at work bright and early this morning. I guess I should make what I arrived to ... another post!

Though I drove some 1400+ miles, I did get to see all seven of my kids this weekend. It was great.

Lawn Mowing

The lawn has been growing like weeds lately. Maybe because it IS mostly weeds. Be that as it may, it still requires regular cutting.
Sam is somewhat intimidated by the riding mower, so he will do the push mowing after being screamed at sufficiently voluntarily. He was having some mower problems yesterday. So he and his partner in yard work, Dan, did a bit of tinkering on the mower. They either raised or lowered the wheels. They adjusted the blade, cleaned the spark plug, checked the oil and gas levels, and even managed to get some mowing done.

Dad, however, was Not Pleased. In the raising (or was it lowering?) of the wheels... one was barely attached to the deck. I'm not sure what all the ruckus was about, other than the boys are NOT to EVER make any adjustments to the lawnmowers... without permission.

Back when Mr C and I first got married, he worked concrete. If it was sunny... and sometimes even if it wasn't sunny... he was out smearing concrete. This left the yard work to me.
I had to borrow my Aunt Jean's mower. I learned a LOT about lawn mowers.
Chris and Bill were pre-schoolers. They tried to be helpful. Once they noticed I didn't have very much gas left in the lawn mower, and there was still plenty of grass that needed to be mowed. So they helpfully and creatively solved the problem of the gas level in the fuel tank.

They raised the level of the gas by adding rocks and dirt to the fuel tank. Luckily for me... they told me about their helpfulness BEFORE I tried to start the borrowed mower. I was able to turn the mower over and rinse the gas tank out. Since I was REALLY out of gas when that was done, it had all afternoon to dry out before I could get to a station and buy more gas.

I guess I was afraid to tell Tom about that when it happened... he had never heard the story before, when I told Sam and Daniel about it last night. I thought it demonstrated a good level of thinking skills in figuring out a way to raise the gas level in the tank.

Through the years, I learned even more about mowers.
One thing I learned was: Check the oil before you start the mower. I learned this little lesson the hard way.
Chris and Bill were about 12 and 13 when this happened. They had been joined by three younger siblings: Becky, Ben, and Tommy. We had worked hard one day at getting the entire house spotlessly clean. After we finished up our home school lessons, I let Chris and Bill hike back to the (small) mountain behind our house. We lived in the Wichita Mountains in Oklahoma, just north of Ft. Sill.
Once the boys were gone, Becky and Ben had two little neighbor friends come over to play. About 3 in the afternoon, I realized that the one 'command' Mr C had made for the day was to be sure to get the lawn mowed. We lived on about an acre, and it was just a couple of hours until Mr C was due home.

I herded the three younger kids, and the two neighbor kids out of the house and onto the porch while I started to mow. Or attempted to start mowing. We had a cantankerous antique mower that was always a pain to start. I yanked its rope until my arms felt as if they were falling off. It refused to start. I pulled, and pulled some more. I begged the mower. I may of even kicked it a few times. (But not too hard, as its handle was wired together with a coat hanger.) Finally I got the mower started.

After a few passes across the lawn, I realized I had never checked the oil!
Oh NO! I wasn't about to shut that sucker off to check the oil. So I just thought I'd remove the oil cap and have a peek.
Bad idea.
REALLY BAD IDEA!
I was hit in the face with a stream of nasty HOT black oil! It was dripping down through my hair, over my shoulders, and completely blackened my face. I was wearing my glasses, so I didn't get any in my eyes.
I had to shut off the mower.
Becky went inside to get me a towel. The mother of the neighbor children came over... our first meeting. Me, in blackface, dripping oil. Her in cut offs and a halter, carefully done hair, nails, and makeup. She offered me the use of their riding mower.
I accepted.

My day got even "better". Having sent the kids (ages 7, 6, 5, 4, and 3) up to play on the porch, I started mowing with the wonderous riding lawn mower. I had only wiped the black oil from my face and body as best I could, in my hurry to get the lawn done before Mr C returned from work.

I failed to notice when the 3 littlest kids went inside. Ben was five, the neighbor boy was 4, and Tommy was 3... or close to being 3. They got thirsty and went in for a drink. They decided they wanted Kool Aid. And a snack.

Becky and her friend played out on the porch.
I mowed.
I finished up with 20 minutes to go before Mr C got home from work. I returned the riding lawn mower... mission accomplished!
I walked into the house. The house that was clean before I went out to mow. The house where 3 unsupervised little boys made kool aid and snacks. There was kool aid everywhere. And sugar. and sticky footprints. And spilled cereal. I can't remember just what they were snacking on, other than it wrecked the house.
Chris and Bill came down the mountain about then. We began a cleaning whirlwind. Floors were swept and mopped, counter tops wiped, dishes re-washed.
With less than 3 minutes before Mr C was due to walk in the door- I ran for the shower, to finally get the black oil off of me and out of my hair. I discovered that used motor oil combined with a couple of hours of Oklahoma afternoon sun will BLISTER your skin. I was really deep fried.

I got cleaned up, made a quick swipe of cleaning up the bathroom, and emerged just as my dear husband walked in.

He looks around and says, "Why isn't dinner ready? You haven't even started it! You didn't get ANYTHING done today!"

He probably still wonders about the maniacal laugh.

Not Quite Back to Routine

Back here in Arkansas, the intrepid vacationers have been unpacking and doing laundry. Some of the camping items were not washed at Tom's mom's house... but sat in the bags they were crammed into, cooking in the heat, for a week. These bags were pretty rank, let me tell you.

At one point yesterday, we had the laundry just almost caught up. But I left a quilt and a couple of bath mats on the floor in front of the washer last night. Today... there are at least two loads to be washed in there. Like dirty dishes in the sink... one may be OK alone, but if you leave two of them unsupervised... you end up with a whole sink full before you know it. The house still looks great. Becky put a photographer's eye on it yesterday and it looks very nice.

Becky was hoping to see some friends up here before we head back to Texas. Somehow, we have run out of week. I know she is anxious to get home to her hubby. She and I and her babies will leave for Texas when I get off work Saturday. I am hoping for another really light day, as it was when I went to get her. Not a sneak attack Saturday that keeps me there until noon.

Today was "Oil Day". The boss is on vacation this week, and tempers were starting to flare between co-workers. I was a bit overwhelmed when I walked in to three pallets of freight- two of them higher than my head. In actual freight, I only had about 6 totes... and some of them had only a couple of items in them. So I was done by shortly after 9 this morning.

I still haven't been to the library. I really do have books to return! Maybe later today!

The Ohio Adventures

We arrived Wednesday afternoon to Tom's Mom's house in the Hocking Hills of Ohio. Kimber Ann had had enough of the car seat, and commenced letting us know this just about the time we hit Chillicothe. She protested all the rest of the way to her Great Grandma Arlene's house.
Tyrel heard his Grandpa and Great Uncle Buck calling their mother "Ma". So great grandma Arlene became "Ma" to Tyrel. He took to her from the moment he met her last year, and follows her like a small shadow. He helped her eat her food (whether she wanted to share or not!), and climbed into her lap any time she sat down.

Thursday was Daniel and Samuel's 14th birthday.
Dan's cake was supposed to be a chess board with chocolate candy chess pieces. Unfortunately, in attempting to melt the chocolate IN the candy mold... I melted the mold. Dan decided his second choice was a cheesecake. I got the WalMart mixed variety... which met an unfortunate slide in the trunk on the way home.

Sam has memorized "Pi" out to about the 35th place. So for his birthday, I made him a Pi Pie. He decided he wanted a pumpkin ice cream pie.
Pumpkin isn't exactly in season, even in the Pumpkin Capital of the world, Circleville, Ohio.
I called several custom flavored ice cream places, and none had pumpkin ice cream. I decided to try my hand at making some pumpkin ice cream pie. This led to another obstacle.
No one has pumpkin in stock. WalMart hasn't carried it in stock for over 18 months. The local grocery stores and dollar stores carry it, "in season". As a last resort, and in order to get back to lounging on my MIL's deck, Tom's brother told me he was pretty sure he had some canned pumpkin in his cupboard at home.

So we headed back from town to Arlene's house. We ran into a detour. The detour circled us right back to the road we started on... so the guys took it in the opposite direction. We ended up driving the back roads of the Hocking Hills. Every road choice sent us farther away from the house! Buck suggested that the ice cream I had purchased would need to be sucked up in a straw, as the drive was turning from a 20 minute ride to an hour and 20 minute drive!

On arrival back at the house, I got out Arlene's blender. The ice cream was VERY soft by then! I blended some pumpkin pie filling with vanilla ice cream and cool-whip, and poured it into a graham cracker crust. Out of regular pie crust, we made the numbers. They were baked, then added to the pie once cooled.

It was a big hit.

Friday was the train ride! We took an 'excursion' train- the Hocking Valley Scenic Railway. It was a fundraiser run to make money to restore a steam locomotive. We got to choose where we wanted to sit- in the enclosed rail cars, or in the open air cars. We chose the open air car. We went from Nelsonville to Logan, and back to Nelsonville. This was my first time on a train at all, discounting riding the 'Five Mile Train Ride' at the Forest Park Zoo in Ft Worth, and the train that circles Six Flags in Arlington, TX. (Mom says I was once on a train as an infant, but I don't remember it!)

It was a whole lot of fun.

We mostly just stayed out on my MIL's deck, this trip. Usually, we are out hiking the local State Parks. Old Man's Cave, The Rock House, Cantwell Cliffs, and Conkles Hollow are all local to my MIL. It remained hot and humid, though not nearly so much as it was in Kentucky.

Tom and I did go look at the house he found online. It is less than 2 miles down the same road as Tom's Mom. A log cabin on 20 acres, set more than 1/4 mile off the road. The drive-by showed us that the internet failed to capture the absolute greatness of this place. So we called out the real estate agent, and went inside on Saturday. Inside, as the agent said, was 'dated'. (That is polite real estate speak for livable, but decrepit.) It is 3 bedroom, 2 full bath, 2 decks, a HUGE garage/ workshop... plus the original small hunting cabin. In checking it out thoroughly, we discovered it was not the "modular" home the real estate believed, but a 1972 double wide, to which the log siding had been recently added. The well pump was set FAR away from the house, back in the woods... where it wasn't sheltered at all. For a mobile on 20 acres... the 20% down comes into play... making this place out of our reach. But it was fun to look.

We headed for Arkansas early Sunday morning, before it was anywhere near 'bright' and early. The kids were little troopers, but we did need extra breaks. The shortest amount of time we ever spent on this drive is 12 and a half hours. Sunday, we were just under 15 hours.

Once home, we discovered half a dozen messages on our answering machine from the property manager of this house. "The owner is putting it back on the market". Strange, as far as we knew, it was never OFF the market. The lock box has remained on our door for three years, though it hasn't been shown in a year and a half. We have spent the past 2 days getting it 'show ready'.

This also means we have to be looking and preparing to move.

The fun just never stops!

Oh, the pictures are up at Moocrew2!

They are split into several groups, all near the top of the page. Thanks for reading!!!

Vacation, Part 2

While we were in Kentucky, we did see the Cumberland Falls. There was no local river access, so no wading or swimming was allowed. The reunion organizers offered two water trips: the all day rafting trip, and the three hour canoe trip. Ty and Kimber were too young for the rafting trip (which was also prohibitively expensive!), so 'we' went with the canoers. Everyone except Kimber and I went, from our camp. I got to stay with Kimber. We started out in camp, where I pulled her playpen into deep shade, got us both wiped down with a damp wash cloth. I had just settled into a camp chair with my book, when a vehicle stopped up at the road. Since I wasn't visible from the street, I wondered who was headed down into our apparently vacant camp.

It was two of Tom's sisters, and their spouses. They were returning some baby items we had forgotten at their cabin the night before. Seeing that Kimber and I were sweating perspiring glistening , they insisted I should take the baby over to their air conditioned 'cabin'. We snatched the key card from their hands before they could change their minds allowed ourselves to be persuaded. So while they went off in search of the advertised 'zip line' attraction, Kimber and I made ourselves comfy in their air conditioned cabin. (Cabin seems a strange name for this place. It was a two story condo, with two bedrooms, three baths, a fully furnished kitchen, cable TV... quite luxurious to us tent camping relations!)

Kimber took a nice, refreshing nap. Once she woke up, we headed back to camp to see if the canoers had returned. They had not, so we stayed in the car and drove on in to the nearest town. We got more water, and breakfast foods. When we returned to camp this time, everyone was back.

There was also horseback riding, which Becky, Tyrel, Daniel, and Sam took advantage of. The horses were well trained, and accustomed to novice riders. Becky and Ty had some horseback experience before camp, so they were allowed to ride double. Kimber stayed in camp with the Mr C's and I.

Twice during our stay, we got substantial amounts of rainfall. Once we were confined to our tents, and once we were already headed over to the 'cabins' where the reunion group was meeting, so just sat in our vehicles until the downpour passed. Both times the rains were brief... but heavy. A skillet left on the picnic table collected over half an inch during one shower!

The humidity was awful. I know I showered twice or three times a day... and my clothes could be literally wrung out from sweat. EEEEWWWW!

We broke camp on Wednesday morning, and drove north through Kentucky to Ohio. BEAUTIFUL country. Miles on end of uniquely stacked rock 'fences'. Whitewashed horse fences and fields of wheat or oats ready to harvest. So very pretty. And from inside the air conditioned cars... ahhhh! A great ride.

Tomorrow... the adventures in Ohio!

Home Again, Home Again, Jiggity Jig

While we were gone on vacation, I had a couple of posts set to auto post. I really haven't been near a computer in 10 days. Sometimes, in Ohio, I can go to the library and check on things. This time, the Laurelville Library was undergoing renovations, and not open to the public.

Thank you to my co-workers Vanessa and David, who doggy sat the TSD. I picked them up today.

I don't know whether to start at the beginning of the trip and go forward, or at the return home and go back... or just hodge-podge.

We were amazed at the trip across Arkansas. I had no idea it had so many open, flat, farmland areas in the eastern part. We got to see Tennessee AND Kentucky in the daytime. We arrived at our campsite (pre-chosen via computer pictures and maps) at the Cumberland Falls State Park and Resort at dark-thirty. The camp site was 'sloped', according to the internet description. Sloped was a euphemism. We set up camp in the growing dark, under the land-light. We parked next to two huge gravel piles that were soon to be used to level some camp sites.... The area where Tom and I sat up our tent... I kept rolling into him all night. (Thank goodness he was on the downhill side, or I might of been flattened!) It was about 986.11 degrees out, and some 198% humidity.

We did choose the site next to where the RV campers started, which was also next to the bathroom/showers/laundry room/ store. So the spring closing doors to all these amenities slammed all night long with the ambiance of gunshots. The campers in the RV that was to be my BIL's site (the reason for our internet campsite choice) were up late.... and loud. Boisterous laughter, and the woman whose laugh sounded like a goat went on for many hours.

Many, MANY hours.

We had to shower before bed, because of the lack of air movement, high temperatures, and the humidity. It made sleeping almost bearable... except for the above mentioned noise.

Morning came, we were up before the sun. I made breakfast on the camp stove. The stove had a hammer set under the low end to help level it... but still the skillet slid to the south.

Yes.

Over the 30" distance of the picnic table, the slope dropped more than an inch and a half. While I washed dishes in the 6" deep dishpan (where the water overflowed the dropped end and didn't cover the bottom of the high end) ... Tom and the kids hiked around the campgrounds.

The hike revealed that a family was leaving a site... at the top of the RV circle. A tent site. It was deeply shaded, relatively level... and HUGE by the campground standard of this park. It had a cliff drop off two sides, and a steeply sloped promontory off another side. The kids begged to see if we could transfer sites. The management was agreeable.

So we packed up camp and moved. My BIL and DH spoke... he was not bringing his RV after all. We had hoped he would transfer his site to the one next to our new camp site. Instead, he was allowed to camp WITH us. The folks who spent the first night beside us... poor Michigan folks. Their dog (Sophie) fell off the cliff in the wee hours of the night. After much screaming and yelling, Sophie was recovered, apparently not much the worse for her fall. (Off the 12' drop rather than the 40+' drop)

We didn't end up with photos of the cliffs.... I will have some pictures soon... at Moocrew2.

Tyrel was such an obedient (and well watched) little boy. He stayed far from the boundaries at the edge of camp! Dan and Sam had set up near the edge of the cliff... until we read about keeping our foodstuffs safe from BEARS! Then they moved their tent next to Tom's and mine. Becky had her and her kids' tent next to Uncle Buck's across the campfire from ours.

There was deep shade, and a breeze (part of the time) on the promontory. But there was also VERY high humidity, and close to 100* temperatures. We had a couple of heavy rainfalls that confined us to our tents. We visited the relatives that had air conditioned "cabins"... more like fancy apartments! for dinner one night.... and had an outdoor family gathering another.

The twins and Becky met cousins we had not seen since the twins 3rd birthday in 1999. The female cousin that is about the same age as Dan and Sam. She was not recognised by ANY of us! Whoo Hoo Mariah! I was informed I insulted her by mentioning "Michelin Man" legs... that she had (as Kimber does, (last time I saw her, some 20 months ago).

I will continue this later this week. Work begins again tomorrow.... then I take Becky and the kids home Saturday!

Happy Birthday, Daniel and Sam!

Happy Birthday to my two youngest boys.

Daniel, and Sam.
I think.

They are FOURTEEN today.

Taller than I am... though they both say "That's not hard, Mom!"
Last Spring
Samuel and Dan

They are the last two of my children at home.

Sam and Dan on Mt. Nebo
Mother's Day 2010

Brazil Ahead

This is my son Tommy.

My #5 child. He has always had an independent streak several miles wide . Tommy is going on a mission trip to Brazil the first of July.

Tommy is my son's middle name. His first name is Stephen, which means "Crown". He has picked up several nicknames the last few years. He has received mail addressed to "Stan". He got a middle of the night phone call on his cell, from a girl who insisted he was "John".

On this mission trip to Brazil, Tommy has been asked to be one of the speakers. He asked me to be praying for him, and I am asking all who will pray, to please be in prayer not only for Tommy, but for all of the Youth Power Invasion group that will be flooding Curitiba, Brazil.

Thank you! Have a blessed day!

Mobility!

Kimber Ann is getting around so well! At 7 months old, she is a determined little 'army crawler'. She drags herself forward on her elbows and pushes with her feet. Quickly. Before you know it, she is off exploring. This morning she discovered Cowgranny's bookcase, and was examining the reading materials. She is pushing up to hands and knees, and pulling up to the beginnings of cruising.

Ty tickles me. He speaks so clearly. But he has a definite southern drawl, and is heavy on the long "a" sound. He has decided he is not Tyger, nor Buddy, nor Little Man. He is "Ty-RAIL".
He is cowboy to the core. Boots, hat, and "bailt". Right now, he loves Woody, from Toy Story.

For some reason, I didn't sleep well last night. I woke up a little after 3:00 am, and then every few minutes until I got on up about half an hour before my alarm. I hope I sleep better tonight!

Have a blessed day! I have a ton of stuff to get through today, including taking care of the fish tank and finishing Mt. Washmore.

uhhhh

I am home, as you may or may not have deduced from the pictures on yesterday's blog. I have had four grandkids here for two days now. My irritability level has been pretty high. It didn't help that we had a couple of my co-workers who were supposed to come to dinner tonight. The kids and I worked hard preparing the house and getting everything all fixed up. Then when I called to give them driving directions, as requested... I am told they decided not to come.

Now I have enough enchiladas made for a small army. Waaaay too many for just the eight of us. (Pretty sure I rolled at least 28-30 enchiladas!) I used the school cafeteria sized baking pan that I have had for almost 20 years... from the days I used to HAVE to cook in quantity. Oh well. At least they reheat well!)

I had a "Becky Moment" this morning as I left for work. My car has the kind of lights that come on automatically when it is dark enough. The lights were on. The interior lights come on as I put it into drive. Usually.
Not this morning. It was dark as could be as I headed up the road. What on earth was wrong?, I wondered.

I thought, maybe I blew a fuse. Other terrible problems began to race through my mind.
Then, it occurred to me that Becky and a couple of kids had sat out in the car last evening, so Becky could run the car for her cell phone to charge. Maybe someone messed with the settings?

Sure enough.... the interior light brightness control had been turned completely off! Whew!

Work went pretty well. I knocked out all the current and upcoming stock pulls, in addition to the normal shipping and receiving.
Grand baby Kimber has been "army crawling" across the floors. She can be so fast! She pulls to standing, and.... has decided she likes me! I have gone for a couple of "walks" with her. She likes the treadmill as well as she does an outdoor walk. She doesn't care if the scenery doesn't change. The treadmill motor has the hum of a car, and the walking motion seems to soothe her, even if we don't get anywhere. But, OH my aching back! Gotta get used to that extra weight hanging on my front!
Becky and I stopped and saw Chris on our way up here. It was nap time, and both Ty and Kimber were rather whiny. Kimber decided to scream. and scream. and scream. The other visitors ... sorry. So when the allotted time was up, and Chris had to leave, Becky and I stepped towards the elevator. You know what Kimber did?

Of course! she fell asleep!This picture was taken as we were getting back into the car for the drive to Arkansas. If I wasn't already on a diet... this picture would of put me on one1 But she is sooo sweet!

She traveled quite well.

That's about all I can think of for now! Have a blessed day!

Early June 2010

Click here to view these pictures larger

Easy Friday! or NOT!

Usually, Fridays and Saturdays are easy breezy freight days at my store. I am often home in 2 and a half or three hours.

I was shocked when I walked in the door at work this morning. Two HUGE pallets of freight. on one pallet, there were 21 totes. That is a square of 4 totes per layer, five layers high, and one with a sixth layer. And were they 'easy' totes, with only a couple of things in each one? NOOooooo! These were cram packed full of jillions of smaller items.

I had to stop checking the freight in TWICE to go put things away, to make room for sorting more freight. I started at 5: 35, and was still scanning items at 7:50. Then I had it all to put away. The boss had a co-worker helping me put things away when he arrived at 9:30. (Thank you, Lord!) It was just a few minutes shy of 11:00 when I finally got home.

When it was just the boss and I there, before the store opened, I kept hearing sirens headed north. More and more sirens. Police, ambulances, more police, maybe a fire truck. I wondered what had happened. Then our driver, John, arrived at work. He was a little late. Turned out all the sirens were for his son! The son had been driving up the highway when a truck pulling a boat pulled right out in front of him. He locked up his brakes and swerved, missing the boat. But he rolled his vehicle 2 and a half times. A local Doctor, who happened to be the son's own physician, saw the accident in his rearview mirror. He made a U turn and was among the first who stopped to render aid. He stabilized John's son until the emergency crew arrived. His son suffered a broken arm, and was still in the emergency room having back and chest X-rays when I left work.

Once I got home, I was starved. I gobbled down a left over grilled pork chop, and let that settle for half an hour, then got on the treadmill. After 1.2 miles, I threw in the towel and headed up to Jane for some groceries. Figured I'd better leave Tom and the boys stocked with some food, since Tom accepted overtime tomorrow and the next day. Seems like I just bought a car load of groceries a few days ago. These boys can EAT!

Now here it is almost 4 in the afternoon. I still haven't cleaned the bathroom, done any laundry, figured out what to pack (much less pack!) for my foray down to Texas tomorrow. I hope it is a typical light Saturday for freight! The weather there is supposed to be HOT. I dislike traveling in shorts, I hardly ever wear them. I own 2 pair that fit. So I need to get wardrobe figured out. Try on my seldom worn white jeans or something.

At any rate, I best get BUSY!
Have a blessed weekend!

*sniffle*

My Benny is on his way to his new life on his own. Daniel and Sam have let no time be wasted in taking over the 'extra' room. For the first time since conception, they are not sharing a room.

Mr C has been hard at work yesterday and today, fixing the van for our trip. Yep, right after telling me we will just have to take the 2 cars, because he isn't wasting his time working on the POG van. So it now has new plugs and wires, a new cap and rotor, and I got a new fuel filter for it at my boss's suggestion. Mr C wasn't thrilled with the boss making suggestions. Remains to see if it will be replaced or returned to the store.

My two 'hardest' days for this week are behind me, as far as physical labor on the job goes. Oil day was amazingly light. I attribute it to oil being $4.+ a quart. Just one pallet of freight and one pallet of oil. Ben had changed his oil before he left, and needed 2 more quarts. I brought them home to him yesterday. I remarked to my boss and co-workers about it being so expensive. One of them says to me: "Duh, guess you haven't heard about the oil spill in the gulf!"
I said, "Yes, I did hear about it. What puzzles me is why oil is more expensive if there is so much of it they can dump it into the ocean!"

I can hardly wait to go see Becky!

It's ALL Becky's fault

I have had waaaaay too much fun with the "Do Not Press" button. (Located on the sidebar to the right)

Apologies

To my friends and family who are faithful to pray when I ask them to. I was lied to regarding the seriousness of my nephew's condition. He is going to be just fine- though he may have to be on an antibiotic regime for awhile on an unrelated issue.

I have no idea why my sister feels she has to lie to me. This is not the first blatant lie I have caught her in. I do thank you for your prayers, regardless of the lack of dire circumstances.

This is Library day. Dan and Sam are volunteering, probably for the last time this month.
Benjamin is at his final day at the Bentonville WalMart. He is packing tomorrow and will be moving away the following day. Sigh. My family is shrinking again.

I go to get Becky and the kids on Saturday. At least I get started that direction.
After conversing on Facebook, I may get to see a girl that Lalani and I were friends with back in Jr. High! She and her twin sister were among our closest neighbors growing up. I plan also to see Chris, and stay overnight with my mom. I head out to Becky's on Sunday morning, and we pass back through Ft Worth on Monday. I also hope to get to see my Granny when I pass through. After that... just four days of work until vacation!

Sure looks like we will be taking the two small cars instead of the van. That will be OK though.
Dan went through my pre-packed camping stuff yesterday. We made some notes on what we still lack, and Mr C then went to the storage unit and picked up some of the items stored there.

The weather is starting to get pretty warm here. One thing I DON'T miss about SW OK is the heat! I am already whining it is in the (low) 90's. Where we lived before, I would have been jumping for joy to reach June 1st and it "only" be in the low 90's!

That is about all from me here for now. Have a blessed day!