When it Rains, It Pours

ast night we went to watch G (grandson, 6) try out for his gold belt in karate (he made it!)
then to dinner, dinner was a huge ordeal with no one being able to decide where to go and everyone pretty much grumpy. Da, my son in law, was in a horrible place emotionally because his grandfather died the night before. We probaby should have just skipped dinner but everyone wanted to celebrate G's achievment. Only the restaurant he picked had an hour wait so we went clear across town to another place. D and I got into a stupid arguement on the way there.
Then I decide to invite the grandson's to spend the night to give T & Da a break since Da was really not ok. Only they were both overly tired and not all that excited about coming over. I should have said "let's just do it another night" but I didn't.
So we go home and set up an indoor tent because they didn't get to go camping because of all the rain. They brought their sleeping bags. It was after 11 before they even got here!
It didn't go well, G started bawling and saying "I want my mommmmyyyy" and he ended up calling home and his poor dad had to come get them. By this point Josh was saying "I don't like it here anymore" because Mimi had the audacity to turn the tv off!
So, Da came and got them.
And it rained all night long, heavy hard rain with thunder and lightening. I didn't sleep. We were going to get up early, I was going to make waffles, then soap, while D cleaned out the garage. Only sometime during the night water backed up in the back yard due to some bricks the neighbor had put against the whole in the fence the last time Tex got out. It backed up about 8 inches high judging by the water line on the fence. It blew out our A/C.
We can't get anyone here 'til Monday to look at it. Then, a minute ago, I was in the living room and I heard a loud "pop" and all of a sudden the ceiling fan blades quit turning. Oddly, the light still works. Hopefully this means the fan just picked today to quit working and not that our electricity is some how fucked up?
And....somehow I've gained 5 lbs this week. It's got to be water retention, right?

Who Knows What Evil Lurks In The Heart of Cats

Faith went to the vet for a post spay check up and a booster shot. While she was there, we discussed with the vet Faith's new found propensity for peeing in my bed. The vet doesn't think Faith has a uti, she thinks is a behavior issue and advised that we get a separate litter box and some Feliway. Just in case, though, she gave us some antibiotics and some pain meds. I'm supposed to get a urine sample for testing, however, trying to convince Faith to pee in the special box with the non-absorbent litter didn't work to well.
She didn't, apparently, need convincing to shit in the sink in the middle of the night, though.

I don't wanna smell your stink!

One of the perks of my job is having my own, lovely, bathroom. At my last job I had to share a bathroom with an entire floor of cubical dwellers and I hated it. Especially when I had that bladder infection that made me pee blood.
I was pretty miffed when I went down the hall today and discovered that a visiting salesman had used MY bathroom instead of the men's room. AND>.....he left a NASTY stench behind. I mean, it was rank, like something died in there.
So disgusting, I couldn't even make myself use it, I used the bosses private bathroom in his office instead. Now I gotta go find some Lysol stat!

It's genetic

So, one of the biggest fights I ever had with D was when we moved and I threw out his twist tie collection. You know, the things that go on bread or garbage bags. He got upset because "you never know when you're going to need a twist tie."
Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, his sister and I were cleaning out the kitchen of his dad's house and I was telling her about D's twist tie obsession because his dad also was a pack rat and never bought anything new. (A great example of this is the fact that, when they moved the mattress his father slept on, they saw the tag, which was dated Sept. 12, 1949!!!) When, lo and behold, what do I come across but dad's USED twist tie collection. He one up'd D by saving the twist ties AFTER they were used on bread and what have you. D only saved unused one's from packs of garbage bags but dad, he saved them used and those other plastic bread clip on things, he saved those, too.
So, his sister and I were laughing about this when D jr. walked into the room.
"What's so funny" he asked.
"Your pawpaw, he saved used twist ties, I just had to throw out a whole drawer of them"
"Oh, no, don't throw them out" he said "You never know when you're going to need a twist tie."

(&)^^%*%%$*(()))

I'm having a bad day and I am NOT in a good mood

So There!

Golf Widow

D is playing golf with the guys from work, again.
I don't mind, though. It's kind of nice to putter around the house sometimes. I made two batches of soap and am doing some laundry. It's 2:30 and I just now took a bath.
I love my husband and I really enjoy spending time with him. If he golfed every single weekend I'd probably get pissed but every once in awhile, it's cool.

Too sexy for his phone

D got a new cell phone and the other night I was goofing around and took a picture of my bare legs with it. A rather risque picture, ala YoJ, which shows my legs from the tops of my thighs on down to my feet while I'm lying on the bed.
D, for whatever reason, sent this picture to a guy he works with...he found the guy later, trying to scroll down as far as it would go. I can not believe D sent him the picture in the first place but when he told me about it and about the scrolling, well, I'm not going to be able to show my face around the guys he works with without blushing for a long, long time.

Deep Thoughts

I decided to use Google to try to find something that would help me deal with my constant fear of death. I haven't mentioned it lately, but it's still there. Every single day, it is there.

Anyway, I ran across this blog with an interesting post and an even more interesting discussion. If nothing else, it helps to know I'm not alone.

If you're gonna play in Texas

D and I went to see Merle Haggard at Bass Hall tonight, it was a great show, much better than I expected. Merle has defiantly still got it (although, I did feel like the only non-Republican in the building during "Walking on the Fighting Side of Me")
The big surprise of the night, though, wasn't Merle, it was the opening act, The Quebe Sisters
3 girls who all play the fiddle and sing like angels
They are excellent fiddlers, too. They played mostly western swing with a bit of bluegrass thrown in and they sounded straight out of the 30's/40's
They were all three just as cute as they could be and we had the pleasure of having them come sit in some empty seats right behind and beside us. They were really excited to see Merle but also very well behaved, maybe because momma was sitting right beside them?
The youngest one (who is either 16 or 17) must have had a hard night, though, because at one point, during one of the slow songs, I saw her nodding off. I imagine the thrill of the evening probably just wore her plumb out.
If you get the chance, check out their website and listen to their songs, they are really good!

If it's not one thing, it's another

last night when I got in bed, I felt something wet...never a good sign

one of the cats, probably Cricket, had peed all over my comforter

lovely

I put it in the washer and thought "well, might as well clean the damn cat box while I'm up"

so, I was out in the garage, cleaning the box, when water started pouring through the garage wall

turns out the comforter was blocking the drain for the washer or some such thing and it overflowed and started coming through the garage wall...good thing I was out there or we could have had a HUGE disaster on our hands

You're going to hate me for this

Boomshine

Addicted

Have you ever a read a book that totally captures you? One that you think about even when you aren't reading it?
I've been reading books by Lenora Mattingly Weber. She wrote "books for girls" from the 40's- the early 70's. I'm reading two series one is the Beany Malone series, the other Katie Rose/Stacy Belford and I am completely addicted to them. I'm buying them off ebay & amazon, fortunately they were reprinted recently so I can get copies. I stay up late at night to finish and can't wait to start the next one. I think about Beany all the time and wonder what will happen next. Poor D is severely neglected lately because I just have to see what Beany is up to now.
It's a little silly, I suppose, for a "grown woman" to get so excited about what basically are children's books, but they are just so darn good!

Horrific

We had an amazingly hard rain and thunderstorm last night. I didn't know how bad it was, though, until I woke up this morning and D started filling me in on the morning's news. A mobile home park was flooded, homes ripped from their foundations and a 4 year old girl was swept out of her mother's arms when the boat they were escaping in capsized. She was found, dead, a few hours later.
I will never understand why such horrible things have to happen.

Craptacular

Last night D brought home some squash from his bosses farm. I was so excited about having fresh squash that I decided to feature it in the night's meal. Of course, I haven't been to the grocery store in awhile so it was slim pickens as far as what to cook. I decided on a squash and hamburger cassarolle. I found a recipe on Cooks. com and it really looked delicious.
It should have been delicious. I was not delicious. I can't quite figure out what went wrong but it was just not good.

I'm glad I forgot to put it in the fridge so we don't have to eat the leftovers now.

Still so much to learn

My husband really surprised me last night. Sometimes, in marriage, it's easy to get comfortable, to think you've got the other person all figured out. I realized last night how complex we humans really are and how what is on the surface, the actions, the words said, are just the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more there, a deep inner self that is rarely seen. It fascinated me to see this side of my husband and at the same time, reassured me that the love he feels for me isn't just on the surface, it's in his deep inner self, too.
I was married to my first husband for 7 years and, other than when we were both drunk, I never caught a glimpse of the man "behind the mask". Over the years, I started to think of him as a two dimensional figure, really only thinking of him in the sense of how he affected my life, not thinking of him as a person with his own thoughts and feelings. It was a very selfish way to live and I was miserable. I realize now that he was, too, yet it would seem we were powerless to change this.

I'm grateful that D is willing to let his guard down and let me know him deeper. Our marriage is fuller and more intimate as a result. It's the type of relationship where "happily ever after" is an actually possibility and not just a fantasy. Of course, one has to realize that "happily ever after" doesn't mean sunshine and butterflies all the time. Sometimes it just means feeling open enough and safe enough to share a troubling thought or deep rooted fear with the person you love, hoping that they will understand.

After Shock

This morning I took Faith to the vet to get spayed. I started crying in the car afterwards.
I've just had so damn many bad things happen to my pets that now I've come to expect the worst.
I have no confidence in normal outcomes anymore. Not for me and not on Wednesdays.

duhhhh..........

This morning Faith was acting really odd. She was lying down with her back side up in the air and making all sorts of mewing noises. She didn't run away when Tex came to sniff her, she just started rubbing her head on the floor. It really scared me, I was convinced her back legs weren't working at one point because every time I'd pick her up and set her back down she'd go into that odd position again. I got very scared and upset. Called the vet the minute they opened......

she's in heat

I feel like an idiot. I've never been around a girl cat in heat before, that's my only excuse. I'm still half convinced something is wrong with her, though, so I locked her and Cricket up in the laundry room/garage and since I was supposed to take her in for her pre-spay blood work on the 12th, I'm taking her today at 2:30 instead so they can reassure me that she's alright.
You can not even imagine what an emotional wreck I was (and still kind of am) when I thought something was terribly wrong with her.

Now THAT would make for good tv

When Paris Hilton failed to show up in court today, they should have sent Dog The Bounty Hunter to go pick her up.

He did it

Well, the little shit did it, he actually graduated. And yes, I cried a little bit. And I felt very proud. Get this, his mom told us he only graduated because a teacher had mercy on him. He had 4 more hours of missed time to make up and no time to do it, so she told him if he mowed her lawn, she'd pass him!

The biggest miracle was this...we sat in the same row as his mom and her wife (with his Aunt and her daughter between us) AND afterwards D went up and told them thank you for all you've done to help him graduate and they hugged!!!!!!!! I was so happy, the kids were so happy. It was a perfect moment in time.

When I first met D the younger kids had to LIE to see him, they'd say they'd tell there mom they were with T (older sister) and then D would come get them. Then I insisted he go to court and get some rights and for awhile we had to pick up and drop off the kids at the child protective services offices. They were 10 years older than any of the other kids there. Then we'd meet in the parking lot of the police department. The girl's would have to have two parties for kid's birthday's because ex-wife would not be in the same room with D. Slowly but surely they've started to change, they'd come to the same party at the park, sit on the same side of the stadium at the soccer game, L (ex-wife's wife0 gave me a hug at the last birthday party. I am so happy to see this progress being made. (I told my D he should hug ex-wife and he said there would be no way she'd do it, but hell this was their baby who just graduated, it was time)

The Graduate

As far as I know, D jr will graduate tonight. I say "as far as I know" because we haven't heard a word from him since the day of the funeral. Nothing whatsoever. I'm sure he's pissed off at his dad because D dared to tell his son that going to work for his pot head of a brother in law was a bad idea.
D's ex-wife has decided the very best way to celebrate D jr's graduation is to throw a party for all his friends, with beer. At first we heard it was to be a keg party but supposedly she can't afford it so she's only buying an 18 pack but if they bring the money, she will buy his friend's more. Nice, huh?
I've pretty much decided to wipe my hands of it all. Sink or swim, D jr will do it without any help from me. I knew when I paid for his tux for prom that he'd never follow through on his promises to pay us back by washing the dog and of course, we've not heard a fucking word from him on that subject, either. As soon as he said whatever he knew we wanted to hear and got his tux, he wiped us from his mind. I will not give him another opportunity to do that to me.

150 drunks in my front yard

There are so many cars on the street that we had to wait in line to get in our driveway. My tolerance is starting to run thin. 6 nights of parties is a lot for one small neighborhood to tolerate. There is no possible way that ALL these people are mourning my neighbor's death. Seems more like they heard they could get some free alcohol. My front yard is the happening spot, apparently. They are fortunate that we are tolerant and that our house is apparently well sound proofed.
When we came in, about 40 flies came in with us. They've been feasting on beer and barbeque and unfortunatly for them, we have neither. They met an untimely demise at my hand and I felt rather guilty killing them, but at least I sent them all out together, I left no widowed flies behind. Hopefully they will reincarnate in time to catch the tail end of the party next door.

Come party with us sometime

D was late to work this morning. He was delayed by a drunk neighbor.
Yep, that's right, at 7 am, a drunk neighbor started talking to him outside and he couldn't get away. Before their conversation was over, the guy had invited him to "come party with us sometime, dude" and gave him a hug.
You see, the next door neighbors are still having their funeral party, this is day 6. Every single night the road is blocked with cars and the sounds of laughter and drinking can be heard. So, this guy who lives at the end of the block couldn't get in his driveway and walked down to see what was going on. That was last night and apparently he stayed all night long and partied with the Vietnamese folks, I guess beer is the same in every language?