I love making plans...

Maybe I ought to find the kind of job where I get to plan out things. Logistics?
With my DIL Seneca's birthday party coming up this weekend- it looks like all 7 of my kids will be together. Last time that happened was on our rafting trip nearly 2 years ago, I think. Of course, it isn't a done deal yet- who knows if everyone planning to come will get to be there?

It should also put all of my grandkids together. They have all been together before- but now there are more of them to gather. It might even turn out that most of my Mom's great grandkids will be together.

Dan and Sam are planning to go home with Becky. They are really excited about it- it has been a long time since they have gone for a visit. They have been doing well in their school work- already doing mostly 8th grade curriculum. (Some areas high school curriculum, other areas they are a bit.... behind. Like spelling.) They are hoping to get to drive home, as well. (As opposed to flying home). They want to take their paintball stuff with them.

On the downside of ALL of us going to DFW... we will have to take the TSD. Jaffa and Drover, the carsick mutts. Why is it some dogs are prone to carsickness? We are going down one day, back the next. I was all for chaining them outside, but Mr C says no.

We have a lot to squeeze into our trip... Seneca's party, getting over to see Aunt Jean, and visiting Granny at the rest home. Unless we get started at the crap of dawn, we won't even arrive until mid-afternoon. And we do have to head home Sunday. I sure hope we can get some family pictures squeezed in.

Yesterday, I was typing away on my blog and must have hit some stray key combination... because it posted before I was even finished typing. I waited to see what the computer was suddenly doing this time... and it went right to displaying my post! Oh well. So I ended with the recipe and everything else went into the cyber landfill. Last night, we just did wings- the easy way. Sprayed my pans with oil spray, spread the frozen wings on the pans, sprayed the wings, and baked them. Swapped the pans from top to bottom halfway through, drained off the accumulated liquids, resprayed the wings, and baked them until they were lightly browned. had some salad, corn, and ranchies on the side.

Hmmm... I wonder if I ought to try to make it to the candle outlet before our trip?

Monday

With having most of Saturday off, the work weekend went by quickly. It was very, very slow on Sunday- again with 4 people on the job. So I left just over an hour early. Surprised Mr C- who hadn't thought of anything for dinner. I made an enchilada casserole. It was tasty. (I grabbed the idea from Notes From The Trenches, but never even read her recipe- so this one was all mine).

Enchilada Casserole

Mix one large can enchilada sauce with one can condensed tomato soup. Pour over browned ground beef, which I sauteed with onions. Add some corn and some sliced black olives, and some fat free sour cream (Don't let the kids see you add this- or your DH if he doesn't like sour cream!). While this simmers, grease a casserole dish. Cut several corn tortillas into halves. Put a thin layer of the meat sauce. (My meat sauce was very runny). Cover sauce with tortillas. Add a heavy layer of sauce, and some cheese. Repeat. Top with a handful of crushed tortilla chips. Bake in 350* oven til hot and bubbly... about 20 minutes. I let it set for about 5-10 minutes before serving.

Blizzard!

Ok, not as blizzardy as many places got it. Mr C woke me this morning... leaving me with about 8 minutes to be dressed and out the door to be at work on time. It was sprinkling when I left the house, and began to sleet as I headed to work. By the time I arrived (I only live 8 miles) it was sleeting so hard I was literally covered by the time I dashed from the car in the door. The sleet soon changed to snow. We had me, boss, two newbies on the job... and virtually no customers. I volunteered to cut the work force... and went home about 9:30. I scraped over an inch of snow off the car windshield (I'd been inside an hour and a half) and it was "drifted" deeper on the back glass. The road home was slippery slush.
This soon melted off. Then it began again, as the storm circled around to hit us afresh. So we have had snow all day. At the end of March. In the SOUTH.
I haven't done much today... got one load on to wash and cooked a DEELICIOUSSS roast beast.

Tom wanted to do a drive by on a place that just came on the market. We found the road, but not the house. After wandering about the back roads for 45 minutes, we stumbled onto a road we knew and came on home. Wouldn't a place on "Coon Hollow" Road just be so "us"?

Dan and Sam are out building a snow palace. Temps tomorrow are supposed to be in the upper 60's.

Oh, and it looks like we WILL get to go to Senequa's birthday bash next weekend. So far, plans are falling into place. Woo hoo!

Another Book completed...

I sent the photo book for Tom's Mom's birthday off to be printed last night. I was really tempted to have it sent here first, a) so I could see it, and b) it is still a couple of weeks until her birthday. But finance won out... why pay for shipping it twice?
I got started on the next one- for mother's day- a little while ago.
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Some updates from previous posts:
Ben did get me my new mini-blinds the next day. They are hung up on clean windows and look quite nice.
I have vacuumed my room- except deep under the bed- which would require help for the bed to be disassembled and removed from the room. The front room and hallway are squeaky clean... though the school work bookcase is still in shambles.

The power outage that we suspected was caused by a co-workers car- was indeed their car. They missed a turn on the unfamiliar road. All four of the family members were in the vehicle, and are all just fine- other than being shaken up and bruised. This happened at the very same corner where Matt's Dad hit a pack of coyotes while making the corner from the opposite direction. Our road is rife with 90* turns- and someone keeps removing the warning signs.
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I got an unexpected day off today... Matt's Dad is working from home. So far, I really haven't accomplished anything useful. (Except to order Seneca's birthday present). The next two birthdays I have to worry about are Tommy's on April 22nd, and Bill Joe's on the 29th. I am open to suggestions for gift ideas for them. Being a somewhat practical person (except for this photo thing), I have trouble giving gifts that aren't useful. Ben suggested getting Tommy a sword. Um... it ain't happening. With a few weeks to think it over... I hope to come up with something for each that is both useful and appreciated.
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I suppose I ought to get off the computer now and do SOMETHING. Maybe vacuum the rugs again, LOL.

PB4UGO is one year old....

I have had a heap of fun writing here, though mostly it is mundane drivel. I enjoy all the comments- even if they are mostly from my family. This has been a fun way to stay in touch. I can share pictures and funny stories, or just the blatherings of day to day stuff here.

The blog's title, PB4UGO, came from a license plate on a mini-van near where we used to live in SW Oklahoma. The subtitles have changed from time to time during the past year, with the current one coming from my Mom, in one of her comments. My herd sure seems to have stampeded these days.

Thanks for reading! Have a blessed day!

Dirty Pictures

Here are the pictures taken of my first use of the Dyson on just the 9x5 area rugs. That is a LOT of dirt. I bet some of it may have been with us since Marlow.
I did more cleaning yesterday- my first real opportunity to try out some of the features of the vacuum.
Between the hardwood floors, cobwebs, and miniblinds... I filled the tank a second time.

I finally did give up and toss some of the miniblinds... they were too damaged to salvage, even after cleaning. A few months back, Jaffa, our Beagle/Rat Terrier mix cat was sitting on the window sill barking at everything that moved guarding the house, when someone knocked on the door. In his leap from the windowsill, he got tangled in the cord to the miniblind. Finding himself tangled and restrained... he struggled, yelped, thrashed, screamed like he was being murdered, and ripped down the blinds... which broke into semi-salvageable bits. The broken blinds have been put up with, until I was cleaning yesterday.
I took that blind down, and sent Ben to WM for new ones.... among other errands.
Ben came back without new blinds. He couldn't FIND them. Yes. My son who works at WM couldn't find miniblinds. With the innate reluctance of true males, he also didn't ASK anyone where to find them. So I hung a blanket up last night.

We haven't got any of the rain from the collision of fronts moving across the nation, but we sure have had wind. LOTS of wind. Howling, screeching winds, that switch directions several times a minute. Not good for sleeping... with the closed doors rattling like ghosts are trapped behind them.
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Got a call from Bill yesterday.... he is officially judged and decreed to be Nickole's custodial parent. She appears to be allergic to Pampers brand diapers... and is up to 8 lbs. 8 oz at just under 1 month old.
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Got a call from Chris yesterday... reminding all of Seneca's birthday party set for the first weekend in April.
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Got a call from Becky yesterday.... Ty'ger is doing well at potty training.
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DIDN'T get a call from Tommy..... no reason why I should have. He is working full time at one job and having a trial run at another job- and possible career- as a farrier.

Have a blessed day!

Wow!

I got home from work yesterday evening, and Mr C said he hadn't fixed anything for dinner yet. Then he asked me if I would like to go out and eat.

WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now, for many people, this is not a "wow" moment... much less a WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But I can count on one hand... with fingers left over..... the number of times in 24 years and 7 months of marriage that my DH has suggested, voluntarily, that we go out and eat.
Unless we are travelling, we MIGHT average eating out once a year. Probably less. Mr C just does NOT eat out.

So we all went to the Hunan Buffet in Siloam Springs. It was good.
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My work weekend was .... annoying. It is my job to put out the labels when products have a change in price. The labels are printed with a leading label indicating which product section the items can be found in, as well as in what numbered order they are found. I have been having more and more trouble locating products where they ought to be. How hard is it to go to the Car Polish section and change the labels on items 3, 4, 19, 22, 56?
Hard... when the products have been scrambled like eggs and my numbered items go 6, 7, 52,96, 12, 3, 9..
I thought it was a "simple" mistake. Except when I went to correct it, I had to totally re-do entire sections. A case of One Thing Leads To Another. I literally spent two days correcting the Appearance Chemicals (20 ft section x 6 shelves) and the Maintenance Chemicals (16 ft x 7 shelves). I found eight different products "missing" that should have been on the display shelves. I located them in the storage room. Their tags had been removed from the shelves and just "whatever" set on the shelves. It took two full days to set it all to right.
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My new vacuum cleaner came on Friday. While the only "carpet" I have in this house is two 9x5 area rugs, I am tired of dog hair all over the couches as well. I got a model that promises to work well on hard floors, and has plenty of attachments to use on the furniture, cobwebs and various other places a vacuum comes in handy. Mr C had it all put together when I got home Friday, and had tested it on ONE of the rugs. He left the other rug for me. The large dust catching canister had almost two cups of dirt and dog hair... from ONE rug. (Yes, I took pictures... I will post them later when Ben wakes up,so I can use his computer.) Once the twins are on their school work this morning, I will be playing with my Dyson. It is a refurbished model, so it was far less expensive than the brand new ones. Stay tuned for "dirty pictures"!
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Ahhh Spring....

I forced myself out yesterday afternoon and got my hair cut. Just a simple layer cut, top of the collar length. And cutie patootie little "bangs". Mr C noticed my haircut today. So it must not have been too bad. Not like the time he freaked out and told me to "put on a hat... and find someone who could "fix it" right away!".

I have been fighting my printer all morning. I tried cleaning the rollers, as it keeps wadding up the paper... or printing half a page, stops rolling through, and prints the rest of the page in one spot. I waste more time fighting the printer than teaching. After "working" on the rollers... the ink cartridge carrier went to trying to beat a hole in the side of the printer. "WHAM!" back up for a running start.... "WHAM!"
Over and over.

I finally got it readjusted back to "normal"... which for this printer is working part time.

Mr C reluctantly says he guesses he will have to go buy a new computer and printer. Whatever will I do without my windows 98? *sarcasm* (He didn't say WHEN)

Mr C has gone to town to procure some mower tires. The mowers tires are Original Equipment... and we got the mower in '98 or '99. They have been plugged, patched, slimed, and babied along for several years now. He gave me a filter number to take to work with me today and try to match. Mowing season is about to begin. Back in Marlow... mowing season usually lasted to about mid June... requiring twice a week mowing from late Februaury to late June... then resume again in late September to mid- November. The blast-furnace heat and lack of rain would make the grass a crisp hay color during the height of the summer.

I suppose it is time for me to get busy with the pre- work chores around here. have a great day.

Thursday

This is "Friday" for Tom, and for Matt. And "Sunday" for me. Back to Oreilly's tomorrow.
I don't feel like I have accomplished anything all week. I packaged up a box of gifts for Nickole on Monday. Went to town... left the box at home. Tuesday, I went to the store... reminding myself to mail that box on the way. I forgot to take it with me. Yesterday I went to the library... didn't even THINK about mailing the box. So I sent Ben, along with some money, to mail it. I'm sure you'd be surprised to hear... Ben forgot the box. Maybe a special trip... Oh wait, we tried that! So instead of little Nickole having her goodies today- which she would have if the box had gone Monday- it sits here mocking me.

Our St Patricks day celebration meal was postponed until yesterday... I didn't have any ground pork for our eggrolls. Tom asked me what do eggrolls have to do with St Patricks day? They have cabbage in them! We had the eggrolls yesterday- and they sure were good. (Tuesday we did my own interpretation of sesame chicken. I left off the glaze -also my own interpretation, and served it on the side. Tom liked the chicken.)

I never did get out and get my hair trimmed/cut. I did get what pictures I had of Mr C's family uploaded to shutterfly- from the library. On Ben's computer, (which is faster than mine, even though we are on the same dial-up line), takes about 15 to 45 minutes PER PICTURE to upload. At the library, whoo hoo! I had 50 photos loaded in less than 8 minutes... including log in time! I could learn to love high speed internet in nothing flat. Oh well... for now, I continue to practice my Jedi patience skills.
The book is coming along quite well. I wish I had more/ better pictures to choose from. You know how it used to be... you send the not-quite-good shots off to the relatives (like me), keeping the best pictures for your own albums and for your parents. So the ones I have aren't particularly stellar. Oh well- I gave them all a chance to be represented in better pictures. It isn't turning out anything like I had originally envisioned.

Well, enough time has passed on here that the Post Office ought to be open. I'm out the door- box in hand!

Today's mail really made my day!

View Project at Shutterfly

This book was made for me by my Mom. Thanks, Mom, I love it!

Good end to a Bad Week...

To start with the ending, Mom and Ralph came up to visit. Anytime I see family, it is good! They brought a piece of furniture for a friend of mine, and are picking up a pampered chef item Mom bought at that last party I went to.

The week got off on the wrong foot with the "loss" of the house. Not so much the house itself, but the hope that we would be in our own place for garden season. I showed up at O's on Friday, and learned that my closest co-worker had quit/ was fired. Got home, and discovered Mr C was upset over something, which had me crying myself to sleep.

I have been trying to put together a photo book for Tom's mom for her birthday, like I have done for both of my parents. I asked Tom's brother and three sisters for some pictures that I don't have access to. Two of the sisters were emailed, one I spoke to in person, and I followed up with handwritten letters to all three sisters. Yesterday I got an email from one of the sisters, informing me that the three of them had discussed my project among themselves, and decided that they didn't care to participate, citing that any pictures they could provide would be ones their Mom already had copies of. I had already been pushing their brother for pictures, every time he and Tom would talk on the phone for the last two or three weeks, I would just say "Pictures!" to remind him.

I have to say that my feelings are really hurt, more so than my project. Not one of the sisters actually discussed the project with ME... they discussed it among themselves. Yes, I do know that their mother probably already has copies of these pictures... buried in boxes and drawers and tattered little plastic albums. I thought it would be nice to include all of her children in a very nice BOOK... an actual book... along with photos of their children and grandchildren. As I tried to talk to Tom's brother to let him off the hook, he came on the phone already griping about having to look for pictures and what a stupid idea it was in the first place... I ended up screaming at him to "Shut up and listen to me for a change". (I hate it when I lose my composure so bad that I scream at someone, and I almost never tell anyone to "shut up". It is just rude, and I don't DO that. But I did.

Since I already prepaid my book, I will go ahead and make it with what pictures I have. It is sure to be rather biased towards Tom's kids and grandkids, since I happen to have more photos of them than I do of his siblings and their children.

As I laid in bed trying to sleep last night, I was really overcome with hurt. I feel dismissed by Tom's sisters. After almost 25 years as "part of the family"... I wonder if I have been merely tolerated and have just been too stupid to realize it. Tom's brother and I have been fairly close, and talk a couple of times a month. A couple of months ago, he suggested that I ought to "let" Tom come to Ohio for a visit without me.
I have never tried to stop him from going to visit his family without me.
Thinking back through the years, I realized that most of the occasions where Tom and his siblings have been able to all get together, it has been without me.
In the dark of night, with all the stress of everything that has happened lately, I wondered if that was by accident or design? You'd think that in 25 years, I would have been in the family get togethers more than the three or four non-funeral gatherings that have happened.
So I spent another night crying myself to sleep.

Just stepping back to take a look at Tom's family dynamics, and where I fit in. Maybe I am not as much a part of it as I had thought I was.

Thanks for reading!

Heigh Ho Heigh Ho....

Off to work I go... in another hour, anyway.
Last night's chicken was fairly successful. I pre-cooked some rice, adding 1/2 cup of orange juice to the required amount of water, plus a teaspoon of Bell's Salt Free Tomato Basil seasoning, and about a teaspoon of citrus zest... which I had saved and dried myself. (Fresh would have been good, but I didn't have any oranges).
Once the rice was done, I sprayed a casserole dish with non-stick spray. I combined 2 cans of cream of * soup, a half a cup of chopped onions, one half can of milk, and another half cup of orange juice. (I used one can of fat free cream of mushroom, one of fat free cream of celery). I dumped this into the greased casserole dish, and topped it with the uncooked chicken. I sprinkled it generously with more of the Bell's SFTB seasoning, and sealed it over with aluminum foil. I baked it at 325* for just over an hour... until the chicken was done. (May have taken less time except the breasts were large and still partly frozen).
This was a variation of my Aunt Jean's baked chicken and rice dish.

Hmmm... guess I ought to be thinking of what is to be fixed tonight... or I will be eating goulash all week.

The sleet/snow has moved on, we are in the 40's right now and warming back up.

I best get busy on my last minute stuff... noon will be here all too soon.

SLEET!!!

Yep, we are getting weather.
Ben and the twins ran out to do my errands before Ben has to go to work, and it began earnestly sleeting before they arrived back. It is still "pouring down". Ben said they think they set a record for speed at WM, in and out with the goods in 17 minutes. Sam chose a different pair of shoes, and exchanged the pair I had got him for these.
I figure Matt's Mom may show up early today... catching a bad headache about the time she notices the sleet.
Meanwhile, I cleaned the kitchen... it just doesn't ever get "finished" these days, it seems. I laid out some chicken to thaw for supper. I haven't decided how I will torment prepare it yet. It will be in the oven, though, to help keep the place warmed up!