All's well at home

D got a panicked voice mail from our lawn guy, who happens to be an AA friend. He saw D's work truck in the driveway (D took his dad's truck in to work today) so he knocked on the door, thinking D was home. When he got no answer, he freaked out, thinking D was inside and hurt or sick, the door was unlocked because I don't have a key at the moment. When he tried to go inside, Texas wouldn't let him in so he called D's work in a panic. D assured him that all was well.
What a good dog my Tex is, keeping intruders out when mommy can't look the door!

Books

There is nothing left to read. I've read all my "Beany" books (Lenora Mattingly Weber books) and finished Harry Potter.
I read a book yesterday called "Gathering Blue" it was a young adult book someone had given me a couple years ago. Pretty good actually. But now I've gotten nothing left to read.
Any recommendations?

Party's Over

I'm back at work. It's Monday and I'm sick.
Why do I ever go on vacation? It always sucks to go back to work. So far I've gotten pissed off at the State Comptroller's office (I KNOW I mailed that tax remittance on June 20th, I want PROOF that it was postmarked July 9th. How could it have gotten lost in the mail for 19 days???), gotten a notice of a 40% increase for our health insurance renewal, tried, unsuccessfully, to download a new program for the required conversion to electronic unemployment tax remittance and just generally been annoyed by numerous work related b.s. all day!
I have a nice big ulcer on my uvula (get your minds out of the gutter, it's that dangly thing in your throat) and red spots all over the roof of my mouth. I'm coughing up a lung.
And I have to take Tex to the vet after work.

How's your Monday?

What I learned on my summer vacation

We're in East Texas at our timeshare. Some long time readers will remember that we were supposed to do this same vacation two years ago and I ended up in the hospital instead. I was a little leary, especially since the last Harry Potter book just came out and that happened two years ago, too.
I'm happy to say that I'm NOT in the hospital and the last HP book is the best yet. I was very pleased with the ending, too. Except for the fact that I read it too fast and now I've got nothing left to read.
Today is D jr's 19th birthday. He and D and D's son in law Dan went on a guiding fishing trip and caught 54 catfish. They all STUNK when they got back but we're having a fish fry later tonight.
While they were gone I made homemade french vanilla ice cream from scratch. I almost burnt down the kitchen, though. I'm so fastitious about cleaning while I cook that I tried to wipe up a spill from my makeshift double boiler and ended up catching the paper towel on fire instead. Smooth move, huh?
There's a wifi conection here in the main area but it's patchy and I get inpatient. Right now I've got a good signal but almost no battery left.
My mom's coming tomorrow. I'd invited her to come for the week and mentioned that D and I were heading to Shreveport tomorrow to spend the night at a casino there (free room). So, she decided that day was the one day she would come. So much for the romantic get away. I'm sure it'll be fun, I'll steal mom's quarters if she's winning.
I'm spending most of my time with my two grandson's, making sandcastles, swimming, playing on the playground and just generally being "Mimi".
All in all it's a good trip, so far. I just wish I had something to read.

Obviously not MY child

I just got this email from N after emailing her about the fact that she works too much

But it will totally pay off whenever i can take care of you and dad when you guys get older. My plan is to retire early and take care of my family. You would be proud of me... I have been investing in my own IRA. I plan to invest 5000 a year so that by the time I am ready to retire, i will have plenty to live off of. I haven't met with a Financial Planner yet but i figured you could assist me on the idea. You are soo good at that kind of thing. :)

I want to have my house and truck paid off within 5 years. I have a lot to work for, but it will be worth all the hard work in the end. I do work pretty hard though.... I agree. I miss you guys... cant wait to see you this weekend :)

Honda...Wow

Tonight when we stopped to get gas we couldn't get the fuel door open. So, we drove to the dealership, hoping against hope they were still open. The service manager came out and immediately tried to fix the door and then a service employee stopped on his way out the door and tried, too (He was already off the clock because they were closed). They couldn't fix it and we had no gas to get home so the service manager drove us home!
He didn't worry about warranties or paperwork, he just right away tried to help us. I was so impressed. And, the car IS covered under warranty since it was bought as a "certified used car" so the repair will be covered.
No that is customer service!

Bring out the men in white coats

Over the course of the last few weeks D and I have managed to talk ourselves into and book
a short family cruise over Labor Day weekend. Originally it was us, plus N & her girlfriend, T & D and their two boys. Then we felt bad and added D jr. to the mix, on our dime. We were going to have him share our cabin. Then I felt really bad about D's oldest, W. She's the one with a loser husband and 5 kids. We didn't think there was any way she could go but we didn't want to not ask.
Turns out she and loser just split up and she is coming with us, again on our dime, but it will be a wonderful opportunity for the kids and their dad to bond. W moved out when she was 15 and the loser always tells her the family doesn't love her or want her around.
I hope this trip will help her see how much her family truly does care about her. She's going to share a cabin with D jr. We'll all be on the same deck, in the bottom of the ship, but I think (I hope) it will be a fun trip.

The IRS sucks and my new shoes hurt my feet

This is the 2nd quarter in a row we've gotten a notice from the IRS that they couldn't read our Schedule B that goes in with the 941 form. So, I called, in essence to find out what I could do differently since for four years they could read it and now all of a sudden they can't.
RUDE, RUDE, RUDE
at one point she had to talk to my boss and he said it was like the Gestapo
Ultimately nothing was resolved and my new shoes hurt my feet

Shopping ...from A to Z

anyone else remember that song?

D & I went to Marshall's after work
I got FOUR pairs of shoes, 3 of them black shoes, I felt so extravagant! I also got a sorely needed new purse and a big bag for carry on to the cruise, it's so gaudy (bright 70's style flowers) I won't be able to lose it
D got a pair of polo jean shorts, polo deck shoes & a pair of top siders
and a silk shirt and 3 pairs of reading glasses and he also snuck in some dark chocolate covered raisins and some Godiva chocolate biscuits as a surprise for me
We got all that stuff for $245!
For those who don't know, Marshall's is one of those stores that carries name brand stuff at a discount, you can really find some good deals there. I'd never been but they just built one near our house. Good thing we rarely go shopping.

D's Big Adventure

This post is going to be written in D's perspective, as told to me this morning:

I was sleeping and I could suddenly hear the sounds of the birds outside, really clearly. I lay there and thought how nice that was and drifted back to sleep. About an hour later I woke up again and glanced over to the back door and saw that it was open, no wonder the birds sounded so loud.
I got up and went to your room and saw that all the animals were in there with you, except Faith.
So I said "come on Tex, help me find Faith before mommy wakes up"
He immediately went outside and stood in front of his dog house, with his tail wagging. Inside the dog house, sleeping on Tex's blanket, lay Faith.
Crisis averted.

Sometimes, the posts just write themselves

D and I were driving around in the neighborhood where we both want to move this afternoon. It's close to the lake, with older homes, big yards and trees. There are plenty of houses in our price range so we went to see some of them. Then D drove down to the boat ramp area of the neighborhood. As he pulled in to turn around we saw a couple teenagers swimming in the lake by the boat dock and D said "look at those boneheads"...
I swear, I'm not making this up....It was D jr. and his friend Alex and some girl.
I cracked up, I'm still laughing about it.
Look at those boneheads, indeed.

Missing a Gene?

My ancestors were Scots Irish so you'd think I'd be predisposed to like Irish Steel Cut oats, wouldn't you?
I've been hearing about how delicious steel cut oats are for years but could never swallow the price. A GIANT container of Quaker Oats is a couple bucks and a small can of Irish Oats is $7.
But, yesterday I felt like splurging a little and decided to get the steel cut oats.
I made them in the crock pot, over night, following a recipe I found online. I found the same recipe in several different places so I figured that must be a safe bet.
When D got up he tried them, he said they were horrible but he and I don't usually like the same stuff anyway so I decided he was just being his usual different = bad self. He'd probably love them if I fried them in bacon grease.
After my bath, I scooped myself up a bowl and poured milk and brown sugar on them.
And I tried, I honestly tried to like them. I tried to convince myself that they were good, different but good.
No matter how much I tried, I could not make that pile of brown mush taste good.
I have a theory. Since porridge was the food stuff of the poor, in order for my ancestors to rise above and make something of their lives, they had to be dissatisfied by their lot in life. So their genetic code changed and caused them to despise the taste of steel cut oats. That way they'd want to make more money and have bacon and eggs for breakfast, like normal people.