Beating Back the Crab Grass and Wrench Work

Armed with a pump action sprayer full of Round Up, I filled the sprayer and stood over the crab grass and did battle. Within a few hours I had a long wide strip of bright golden grass. My neighbors weren't impressed.

Ok, so it doesn't look the best but neither did the crab grass which seemed to shoot upward past it's neighbors, the St. Augustine.  With the drought we have been experiencing, the only thing in that lawn that needed cut was the clumps of crab grass. 

Today I took the weed eater and mowed off the gold deadened grass until I could see some green growth. This made my neighbors happy but caused some disappointment to me. To me this means the crab grass is also still alive and waiting to attack the St. Augustine. My life has deteriorated to the point that I am now watching the interaction between two brands of grass.

Did I mention the truck? Ted's truck has developed some unhealthy behavior and is suffering from failure to thrive. Sure she cranks right up but then things quickly start downhill. No power and the engine runs smooth until it suddenly dies. I don't even attempt to do much to a vehicle now. Too many computerized parts and sensors under the hood now which require diagnostics to check them. I went looking for a mechanic and accidentally found Craigslist where mechanics were advertising. My advice. Don't do it. Do not make that phone call to one of them. They will come to your house and run a diagnostic or guess as to what the problem might be and charge a cool 50.00 t0 80.00 to tell you what they think the problem is and if you request they do the repairs the diagnostic charge will be waived. The only problem is they are not there to fix your vehicle but to collect the diagnostic charge. Nice scam if you can get it.

He showed up and after an hour I came to the conclusion that he was guessing about what the problem might be. I don't think he expected a woman to ask the questions I asked. He escaped without a dime promising to call the next day as he had another call to make and he would be back to pick up the truck...blah blah blah...and I never heard from him again. No money exchanged hands.

Tuesday we took the truck to Culotta's. We again accidentally stumbled upon this place. The truck has been down for a month and finally the daughters' boyfriend said his father and his brother who both work on their own vehicles will take theirs to Culotte's in the event they can't fix them. Suddenly more friends of the daughters were admitting to using this place and raved about them. We were off and running. 

I drove the truck there. Nobody else wanted to and I didn't trust anyone to get it there. With one foot on the gas and one on the brake, I had to keep it reved every time I had to stop to keep it from dying. There was no pickup when I would floor the accelerator. It would creep upward in speed so getting across an intersection was a bit nerve wracking.

 A day later the mechanic called with his verdict. The fuel pump needed replaced and it, of course is located in the fuel tank. I didn't even flinch at the cost nor the diagnosis but was just relieved that they were sure. Thinking about replacing sensors or computer parts until they figured it out was my biggest fear. I'm very relieved that this didn't happen. Changing out a fuel pump was never that big a deal back when I wielded a wrench but those times are gone. The days of the shade tree mechanic are past. I can still do oil changes, brakes and water pumps or replace hoses or belts. The rest of it I'll have to leave with the pros. 

I really don't mind. Wielding a wrench is hell on the manicure!

   

Thursday and Home

We packed the roadster but not before we placed Carrie in the shotgun seat. With her snacks, and groceries packed under her feet and our cold drinks tucked in beside her booster seat, the "almost trunk" lined around the edges with more groceries, we headed to Lydia. Carrie was on her way to visit her dad  until Sunday.

As we lay in bed the night before her leaving, I asked if she would miss me. "Nope" she answered. I say "Well, I'm gonna miss you!" to which she answered, "No Nana, now you can take a nap." I felt badly about her comment as I know I've said when she has been with me in the daytime and I've eyed that bed for a nap "Well, I wish I could take a nap." I didn't have to indicate that she was the reason I couldn't take a nap. She is very astute. You don't have to hit her over the head with a board for her to pick up on what is going on around her. I've promised myself that when she gets back, I'll never make that comment again. I can't handle a lot of guilt and her comment zinged right to my guilt center.

My plan today is to stay indoors and watch the Casey Anthony trial. I've missed it all of this week. Too much going on around here. It's going to be trials and naps today.

This is so off track but titillating none the less. 10 years ago I put a new dishwasher in this house and for the past 10 years it has served as a drain rack. I attempted to put it to use soon after I had it installed but found if  I didn't wash everything before running it through that dishwasher, the dishes were never cleaned.

Last week we pitched it out and had another installed. If you need a dishwasher and need an opinion on one that will actually clean them, give me a ring. Kitchen Aide is the bestest....so far.

This ad was endorsed and paid for by ....lol....just joking about the ad thing!

Shower time...

The Bully and The Bullied

Where to start? I sit here and type those three words because starting this discussion could be done from the bully's position, the one being bullied or the effect it had on everyone involved.

I recently watched a bully in action. A female and 5yrs. old, this little person was skilled in what she did which led me to believe her behavior wasn't recently acquired.

The first thing she did was make a statement to all the children within ear shot "I don't like her. I don't want her bat close to mine." and saying this she moved the offending bat to the end of the row. This caught my attention and I went on alert. I'm watching.

Observing another case of bullying between two adults and the two things both of these cases seem to have in common is jealousy which appears to be a label related to deprivation. Something is missing or unattended and deprived. The bully insists on having that need met and by force if necessary.

Facebook was the scene of the bullying between the two adults. After months of disparaging remarks, the bullied one finally deleted the bully from her list of friends. Slighted, the bully waited for an opportunity to attack. 

Frequent accusations and insinuations, she started a campaign of character assassination. The bullied one neither cared enough to challenge her nor would use a social medium to launch a counterattack. Ignoring the bullying was her approach which incited the bully that much more.

This adult made her declaration, a line drawn in the sand or across her Facebook page. We watched as it unfolded for everyone to see. No protests were made by anyone thereby silently and invisibility crediting her with their approval. Eventually a protest was broached; the bully responded angrily, quickly and with malice. No one else dared protest.


Eventually this bully convinced a few of her followers. The one bullied was tried and convicted of all matters of manufactured insults. No one cared to hear any side but that of the one doing the damning. Vicious and spiteful from being ignored, the bully continues attacking, unable to move on nor let go. The bully enjoys their status. It becomes an elixir of power.
The child bully behaved in much the same way as the adult bully. Isolating her quarry from the group, she hissed unkind words to the little girl.

Soon she was confronting the little girl. Standing nose to nose she told the child to move to the end of the dugout because she didn't like her. As soon as the bullied child encountered any of the other children in the dug out the bully would wedge herself between the children and get in the other child's face.

The little bully would glance around to make sure no body was watching. She  knew to be sly; the behavior unacceptable.

My first question was "What has made this child into the bully she is at the ripe old age of five?"

What to do?

The next ball game was arriving quickly and something had to be done.

The answer was simple. She was first up to bat. Putting her first and then lining up 3 boys to follow her, left the her to bat and then on base for most of the time the other girls were in the dugout. The little girls that were the object of her jealously were soon up to bat and the bully had finished running her bases and was back in the dug out. This protected the child being bullied but did nothing to fix the problem in this child's future. 

It was interesting to watch her behavior. She tried to change the order of batters. When that didn't work for her she asked to go see her father. I was impressed that she asked permission. I had seen her interaction earlier with her parent and she was outright defiant. 

Watching her interaction with her parent told a lot of the story. She asked him for a hug. He placed his hands on both of her shoulders and jiggled her back and forth a bit. I doubt this was what the child wanted and I'm sure she needed that hug that wasn't delivered.

The adult bully in this story? Her goal was to isolate and collect people to what she considered her "side". Juvenile as this may seem, a bully's behavior isn't an indication of being a mature adult.

My theory? This little person is attention starved. She thinks her attention from her friends is threatened by the new child so she defends her territory. The adult bully may suffer the same.

I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for this child. I stayed close to her on the field and offered praise and encouragement for her efforts in the game.

Who will be watching this child the next time she  practices her bullying? Whose life will she impact with her behavior. I shutter to think what she will be in another 10 yrs. Unless something changes in her life soon, I can see her develop into that adult bully.

4 more games left. I'll be watching to see if there is any improvement in her behavior. As special as each child is, unless they believe it and have someone in their lives that is willing to make them important, they emerge into an adult with a wider range of bullying techniques honed since childhood. 

A Bit of Everything..

I can't post comments to others who blog on this site. I've tried for weeks now only to find nothing has changed and I'm still not allowed . After being hacked on my Discover Card, I'm wondering if someone is messing with my blog account.

I say this "tongue in cheek" as I hardly believe there would be anyone that could find an advantage in hacking in to this blog. The only thing to steal would be letters arranged into words that stream into sentences that hopefully do that in some semblance of order.

I suspect that Blogger is having some issues or doing some housekeeping and their programmers have left a switch open or closed one or some other typo in the program that has left me unable to post a comment.

Ayak, I am reading your Blog, Buffalo..interesting as usual and I always read Pearl and Fragrant Liar who just did a post that had me laughing our loud while sitting here alone. If you make it to her site, read the one about wearing the Spankx..the body suit to give your body a "smooth look". Truly a funny woman!

We went to the theatre to see Mr Popper's Penguins and Carrie loved the penguins. This is her Play Doh expression!

I spend the evening with Carrie and Play Doh. She had 4 colors of Play Doh that came with a baking kit I bought for her. Those four colors dried out after a few weeks so I picked up a package of twenty four colors the last time I was in Walmart. I wish I could explain to you the joy this caused Carrie. She can't let them alone and does not want to go home and leave them. They stay here because, as most mothers, hers won't allow Play Doh in her house. I know it makes a mess but I am prepared to clean it up. She sits at the 12ft. granite counter to do her art with it so cleanup isn't bad. Cars, penguins, flowers, houses, hearts and a long list of other things roll off her hands and onto the counter top. She can sit for hours with this stuff so I say it's worth every dime I paid for it!

Last night I cleared off the glass top coffee table so she would be close by me while she worked her magic on that stuff. She was fighting to keep her eyes open when I suggested we pick it all up and put it away. She was ready to go to bed but not ready to help pick up her mess. I insisted she help though she kept telling me how tired she was. I'm usually too lenient with her and I'm ever grateful that the daughter keeps her in line. She has to learn that 'no means "NO" and the daughter always follows through on what she threatens or promises, depending on which way you want to look at it. I watch Casie Anthony and wonder if her parents followed through.

I try to remember that setting limits and saying "no" is and following through is the best thing I can do for Carrie right now.

I'm off to get a shower, water some flowers and take Carrie to see Cars 2 in 3D!!!

I've Been Hacked

The biggest thing in my life lately has been whether it's gonna rain..or not rain and should I water the flowers today or wait for those dark clouds to hopefully drop some moisture.

That was until I got my Discover Card bill. I pay it online and when I received the notification that the bill was due I immediately signed on to the account. Correction: I TRIED to sign on and found I couldn't access that account. This was on Saturday. Thinking their site was down, I didn't contact them by phone but waited until today (Monday) to try signing in again. Again I was denied so my next step was to contact an online rep in a chat. When she directed me to the fraud department's telephone number, smart me deducted right off that there was a problem.

The fraud department had noted suspicious charges and had flagged the account. Yep, they were right. There they were. Microsoft charges and a long list of them for games charged to an  X Box and many of them were in excess of 50.00 and one at 98.00.

The grandson has an X  Box and has my Discover card attached to it so he can buy some game points but only after he clears it with me. He calls occasionally and asks about getting some points, usually about 10.00 worth and after my okaying it, he buys and plays. For a few moments I thought he had jumped the rails and went charge crazy on my card.

After talking to a Discover Card rep, I broke all speed limits driving to his house. I had already called the daughter and she was dragging Ted out of bed to explain.

The short story of all this was he wasn't able to sign on to his X Box since we made that trip to Galveston. April's hotmail account had been hacked too and neither one of them put both things together to realize that someone had hacked her email to find the Microsoft account registered there so they didn't follow up.

I've spent most of this morning watching Ted talk with Microsoft who is starting an investigation and I again talking with Discover Card rep's fraud department who will dispute these charges with Microsoft and I won't have to pay any of them  and will be issued a new card.

Oh and my cell phone saga continues. The husband bought home a bright red Samsung slider so I moved my SIM card over to it. All is well. This one is much more clear sounding according to reports from friends.

While making my visit with Ted and his mother this morning and clearing up the credit card mess, I prepared to leave, noted the red phone sitting on the kitchen table, reached over and dropped it into the side pouch on my purse and headed home where I retrieved the phone to make a call to Discover Card people. The slider would not work. It would not slide no matter how I tried to move it. The screen was also dark so along with not being able to slide it up, the battery must be down? Yeah..that's it.

I hunted around for the charger end that was draped across the sofa cushions from the receptacle on the sofa table. Grabbing it I turned the phone on it's side and could not find the little slide cover that conceals the charging point. I rolled the phone over to the other side and again there was not a hidden receptacle. Occasionally I would attempt to slide it up to expose the dial pad with no success. Finally I looked at the top of the phone and noted there was a charging point there. How could this be? My little red Samsung did NOT have a charging point there. Am I in early stages Alzheimer's? Should I start using yellow sticky notes all over the house for myself? Is it time to keep an online blog of my daily activities? Oh..wait. I already do that!

 A low wattage bulb started burning in my brain and reaching over and grabbing my purse, I dug to the bottom of it. There it was. My little red slider Samsung and that low wattage light bulb brain put two and two together to come up with "you have absconded with some one else's cell phone"!

Yeah, it's April's LG Qwerty keyboard red phone. I called her house phone and asked her if she knew where her cell phone was. The answer was as expected. I'll take it to her later.

Please..I'm ready to go back to being bored the remainder of this week. Though I've paid all the fraudulent charges and will be given a credit, I've learned a couple of lessons today.

(1) Never register a credit card to Microsoft for X Box games. Go to Walmart or CVS and buy a gift card for game points and do not give a credit card.

(2) remember...you have a SAMSUNG phone..NOT an LG and not all red phones are YOURS! 

Carrie and I are going out for breakfast. We will be paying with CASH!

Monday and Tuesday

First off...yes damnit..this is your warning that I'm about to discuss the weather.

Standing in the yard with the water hose clutched in my hand, I placed my thumb over the end of the hose causing the water to exit in a fan like spread. Just a little water for the flowers this morning I thought.

What's that? A few drops of moisture, not from the hose but from the sky? I looked at the sidewalk and sure enough, there were raindrops falling. I quickly shut off the water and stood to watch the rainfall. There wasn't any rainfall to see. Just those few drops and it was over. I watched as the dark cloud moved quickly past and then turning around I began the walk back to my house. 
Hours pass and I am in the roadster with the top down and in the middle of town when a splatter of raindrops hit the windshield. Not willing to be made a fool of this time, I kept driving. The raindrops didn't stop so I changed lanes through the traffic and scooted into a parking lot where I leapt from the car and popped the trunk to get the rag top out and up. The rain poured. I slid back into my seat and rolled up the window, my clothes damp and my hair a little more then damp. It's been months since we've seen rain so being damp was a pleasant feeling.

As soon as the downpour ceased, I moved back into traffic and hurried home. One mile before my house, the rain had stopped and there was no sign that it had ever rained on this side of town. The ground was as parched now as it was earlier this morning. I was looking forward to naturally watered green grass and a drop in the temperatures of late. Not so.

Another day and again I'm waiting. Today it rained. It rained, stopped and rained again. For the next 5 days we should be able to look forward to more rain and cooler temperatures. As soon as the ground is properly saturated and the rain stops, the sun will again make it's appearance and the humidity will go off the scale.

I'm looking forward to winter. Nuff said.

I'm going to go bake some brownies.

A Little About Nothing

Carrie comes back into town tonight. I whine about not being able to get anything done when she is around but then I realized I don't get anything done when she is gone either. I'm not going to post a word about the weather; suffice it to say 'nothing has changed since the last post.'

Nascar races are being shown on one of the channels but not the one I've chosen to watch. I entered into the movie I'm watching after it had been playing for an hour and I still chose to sit here and watch it knowing I missed not a few minutes of the start of it but a whole hour. My daugher, a dedicated movie buff and a niece of the same ilk would never have watched a movie that they weren't in on right from the start. One day in conversation, my daughter discovered that I do that and she was appalled and I do believe, a little horrified that anyone would watch a movie with an hour missing. I've tried to stop doing it and usually I can skate right on by a movie that has been "in progress" for an hour. Today I didn't care so I reverted back to old habits.

I have absolutely nothing going on in my life right now and I'm not at all bored or dissastified with that situation. The weather, which I'm not going to mention, prohibits my desire to leave the house. Books and television and the internet are enough to entertain and should that become intolerable I can always find some windex and some soapy water and do a little cleaning. I suspect the first three things I mentioned will keep me entertained and occupied so well that I won't have to resort to reddened hands from soapy warm water.

It's now 2100 hrs and I just came in from sprinkling the lawn.  My water bill is frightening so I've cut back on how much I do. I'm almost ready for a hurricane to get here to dump some water over my crusty brown grass.

I'm off to find a pair of pajamas and slip beneath the sheets. I'll be back in a few days or even sooner should something entertaining fall into my life. If not, my goal is to beat the heat by hiding out in my house this week.

Oh no...Not Gumbo!

.....so...what do you to when the temperatures reach a steamy 97 degrees? Well, here in southwest Louisiana we DO NOT cook gumbo. Since I've been hanging around in this state only since 1993, I figure I can break the rules. Not being a true Cajun girl, I gathered together all the ingredients and heaped it in a large Magna Lite pot and set it to simmer.

As the fragrances melded together, the sweet smell of onions, bell pepper and roux flushed the rooms with an aroma that makes the saliva rush from their glands.

Hours from now it will be served over rice. I'm waiting.

I won't be announcing to the neighbors what is on my menu. It's sacrilegious to cook a gumbo in this weather. Sometime today, I will put together a potato salad. Synonymous with gumbo, a big dollop is dropped onto the gumbo that has been dished out into a serving bowl.

Yesterday it was crawfish etouffe and today gumbo. I'm having an "en vie" for some cajun food. Tomorrow i may cook up a "chili verde" and be off into a Tex Mex menu.

Carrie is at her father's house this weekend. I delivered her to Lydia yesterday afternoon. She was excited, as usual, about visiting with her dad. We took the roadster and adjusted the vents toward our faces and switched the A/C to full power and cruised.

Today was a day free from babysitting. I thought that was to be the case but early this morning the phone ringing was to request that I keep Louie so he wouldn't have to be tied up all day. He is stretched out on the rug in the living room, eyes closed and napping. Most of the morning he has been on the patio in the shade. He's a dog. Dogs can stay outside in the shade with a big bowl of water. Louie thinks that idea sucks. He is able to stand on his hind legs on the patio and put his paws on the door lever and turn it to open the door. After expending that much effort, I acquiesce to letting him stay inside for a while. 

While the gumbo is simmering and Louie is comfortable on the rug, I'll take advantage of this quiet time and with remote control in hand, I'll take a little siesta. I'm pacing myself here. I don't want to over rest.

......and I'm gone. 

Double Bubble

Carrie finally dragged herself into the living room in a fit of hiccoughs. I was dressed and ready to go but I had to wait until she was fully awake so I could coax her into some clothes and out of the house. A  carrot on a stick might have helped. She hates the heat as much as me.

Driving to the store to return the shoes, we passed Chucky Cheese. Carrie wistfully mentioned going there on her last birthday and wanted to know if she could go there on her next birthday. She thinks that is the only time you go to Chucky Cheese. It was a treat watching her face when I asked if she would like to go today.

We ordered a small pizza and bought some tokens and hit the floor running. She was so excited to revisit the games she had played on her last visit. No instructions or directions were needed. I followed her from game to game until our little pizza was delivered. We took a break though I could tell she wanted to be gone from the pizza and back to the games. She understood that as soon as her tokens were gone we would be leaving. I'm always so impressed that she doesn't whine or cry when it's time to go. She understands the deal and abides by it.

We made another stop before getting back to the house. I could hear a whine. It wasn't Carrie. I had enough heat for one day and I just wanted to be back in the house. We picked up some salad stuff for dinner and headed home. Ted was waiting for us. He had ridden his bike to the house with plans of hanging out with us for the afternoon. I suspect his main objective was to get his hands on that iPad and I wasn't wrong.

Carrie and I mixed up a batch of brownies and as soon as those were baked I slid the pan of Lasagna into the oven. It should be ready by the time the daughter gets here from her job. Garlic bread, salad and Lasagna is on the menu. Carrie and Ted have been munching on the brownies. We should have lots of leftover Lasagna.

I'm off to watch some Dora The Explorer and teach Carrie to "blow bubbles" with her gum. I lead such an exciting life.

I'm also a spy and a double agent after midnight.

It sorta levels me out from all the child care and bubble gum tricks.

Yippppppeeeeeeee

I can legally sprinkle today. Yep, folks, it's my designated day to water the lawn. That's what has kept me busy this morning and while Carrie is still asleep in the back bedroom, I've cleaned up the kitchen, mopped floors and took a shower.

I'm sitting here wrapped in a towel at this laptop to drop a few words through the screen and onto virtual paper to be send out into the world wide web. I visualize not a "web" but a dark void where virtual letters are floating through space. I think I've mentioned this before in one of my posts so I won't go there again though I still have those visions when I hit the "publish" icon on these blogs.

I want to be dressed and ready to attend to Carrie before she gets out of bed. The day disappears too quickly when Carrie is here and after getting her breakfast and ready for her day, I have little time to get myself spiffed up.

I have errands to do this morning and Carrie won't be happy to be out and about in the heat. She prefers to stay indoors and cool and I am in agreement with her.

It's time to get dressed and apply eyeliner. I'm gone for now.

5

I have to admit to my life of deceit. Today was not my day to water the lawn. I water on even days. The water police watch and will pounce upon your lawn should you ignore your allowed day and jump the rails to find yourself losing control. So I sneak outside around 0430hrs. and crank up the sprinkler. Since I'm illegally sprinkling, I do it quickly. Just a quick little drink for the green blades of grass that haven't totally toasted in the furnace blast from the day before. 

This morning I sprinkled and was back in the house to be found on the sofa with laptop in lap and typing up a storm. Ah...a storm. How nice that would be.

Soon Carrie awakens and stumbles into the room. Hair hanging in her face, she finds me and climbs up to sit on my lap. She has forgotten the excitement of last night when we were getting ready for the visit from the tooth fairy.

I cuddled her for a few minutes then mentioned casually the lipstick kiss above her right eye. She slid down off my lap and danced over to the mirror already anticipating what she would find. As soon as she took a look, she went racing back to the bedroom to look beneath her pillow. Soon she was back with the little purple pouch and waving her  'dollar' that was left to her by the tooth fairy. We examined the Tooth Fairy book and found another lipstick kiss. I could almost see the mental images flying across her brain of the fairy that had visited and left a trail for her to find.

Ah, to be five years old again. The next best thing to being 5 is being able to watch a 5 year old as she discovers her world again and again.

TF 20.00 Nana..zip

She hurried here tonight because it was time. Through the hot night air she floated on the air currents, tipping her wings from side to side. In her gold and white dress with threads that picked up the moonlight and glowed irredescent, she flew through the night.

To the window and bending over and holding her wings to her, she slipped beneath the sill and entered the room. Standing for a moment on that window sill, she looked around the room, her eyes settling on the  huge king size bed. Among the pillows at the head of that bed laid a little head, the body concealed beneath the blankets.  The waist length hair had been pulled back and held by a clasp away from the child's face.

She bent down beside the bed and planted a kiss above the little girl's right eye. The little girl, when awakening in the morning would see the bright red lipstick left from this kiss and know the tooth fairy had once again made her visit and collected the tooth she had lost today.



This is the Tooth Fairy book....note the little purple velvet pouch with the gold tassels in the lower right corner. We remove the pouch from it's plastic case and use it so the tooth fairy can find the tooth easily beneath that pillow.

The little purple velvet pouch with the gold ties and tassels would be pulled from beneath her pillow where she would find the money the fairy had left after removing the  tooth. The note left for the fairy on the fly leaf of the Tooth Fairy Book would be dragged out from beneath the pillows and scanned for signs of the fairy's visit. Another lipstick kiss will be found beside the initials "T.F."

Yes, Carrie lost another tooth today. Any words beginning with an "s" now is delivered with a slight hiss.

I think the tooth fairy overpaid tonight. She had no intention of leaving a twenty but could find nothing smaller in her wallet. Tomorrow I will attempt to trade her five dollar bills for that twenty dollar bill she has in that little purple velvet bag.

Next time I'll be more prepared.

Carrie has a twenty and Nana has zip.

Early Bird, Hot Bird, A/C ed Bird

There is nothing about hot that I like unless it's a meal that is served and is supposed to be hot.

Humidity? Hot and humid? Now we are talking miserable.

I opened my eyes in the dark bedroom and rolled to my right side to check out the cable box. The bright yellow numerals informed me it was 0430. Close enough. I thought I would just sneak out of bed and to the living room sofa where I could turn on the TV and bore myself back to sleep. It didn't happen. The part of going back to sleep didn't happen.

Giving up on more sleep, I stepped through the front door and onto the porch. It felt good. The temperatures had slacked off and it was very comfortable in the dark A.M. side of midnight. The water hose was still snaked across the front lawn. I have to water the flowers every day so I don't wrap up the hose. I grabbed the hose and followed it to the connection to the faucet. Cranking the faucet open, a cool stream of water pushed forth and sprayed my feet.

I headed for the mailbox garden and soaked the flowers and the ground there before moving back to the base of the house to saturate the ground there.

I'm fully awake now and it's slightly after 0500 so I dragged the water hose to the patio and sprayed down the Marquis.

Scrubbed and dried, the last part of the job of cleaning that car was finished. The carpets inside had dried from the previous days' cleaning of them so I collected the mats and replaced them in the car. Done!

............and here it is Sunday evening and I still haven't posted this. Another busy day and early out of the house to get started again. By 1000 I'm back in the house and showering and getting out of my crummy work clothes and into a fresh pair of shorts and t shirt. I plan on staying dry for the rest of this day. Carrie called for me to go get her and she spent most of the afternoon in the house with me. She now knows how to operate the iPad better then I. That's because I haven't got to spend much time with it.

I don't think I mentioned it here in this blog but the husband bought me an iPad yesterday for our anniversary. It's a thin sliver of electronics made by Apple. Apple doesn't call their computers PC's. They don't have an OS of Windows. I can slip this into my purse and take it anywhere there is WiFi and get online. Easy and lightweight to carry, it's the perfect traveling companion. Carrie is enthralled with the gaming aspect of it.

June 14th is our anniversary but as the husband is leaving tomorrow after only being home 2 nights, we went out to dinner last night and the iPad was the gift he gave to me.

I'm ready to head for the Rockies already. Usually I'm alright until August here in the south but this year the heat has attacked early and I want out. I've asked the husband to request some jobs in Colorado, Wyoming, Utah or New Mexico. At least the evenings in the Rockies are cool.

It's my bedtime and I'm outta here.

Tired and Sleepy

Thursday:

I'm tired. That chocolate milk that was spilled in the floorboard of the Grand Marquis was beginning to smell like Casey Anthony's car.

Alright, maybe I shouldn't make that reference. Watching the trial just makes me angry and sad. I tune in and tune out and back in again but I don't sit glued to the set all day watching. Every evening I can tune in and catch the summary of what when on and that's good enough for me.

I shampooed the carpets in that car after Carrie left yesterday afternoon. I don't use shampoo when I do carpets. Hot clear water works well and a rinse with some Downey fabric softener leaves it smelling fresh. Soap attracts dirt hence my decision not to use it when shampooing rugs.

I was back out on the patio this morning doing more cleaning and I still haven't washed the exterior. I'm tired. I need a nap and I'm trying to figure out how I can talk Carrie into laying down with me.

The hubby is trying to get his charge ticket signed and he is on location waiting on someone to sign for the work he just completed and 12 hrs after that happens he should be home. He may get to stay home a couple of days before he heads out for another job in Oklahoma. It appears that he will be busy this year. As I tell him "One of us has to work and it's best that it's you!"

"Best for who?" he counters. I just smile and walk away.

Saturday:

Carrie is at her house, the husband made it back home at 2100 hrs. last night and I've been up since 0430. It might be a long day today. I sneaked outside and watered the flowers by the light of the street lamps. One daily chore down and one that won't have to be done in full sunlight. I'm avoiding outside time as much as possible in the daylight. I have all this wonderfully cool air that we pay to have belching out of the a/c unit. Why would I want to be outside in all that heat?

I'm going to stretch out on the sofa and be very quiet until the husband wakes up. He needs to get some rest before he is called back out and I need to not be up this early!

Vacation and Home

Wait! Look!  Is that actually a black cloud hovering overhead?

As we floated down the river aboard our tubes, the temperatures were brutal. Water splashed over us as the wave maker in the park sent huge walls of water down the chutes. Wonderfully cool water on our toasted bodies was most welcome. 

This is the second time we have visited this water park and this time we changed our approach. Instead of arriving in the early morning we waited until 1500 hrs. Not only is the price decreased by 10.00 per person but the hours of baking in the hot sun decreases which is the best advantage to late hour arrival.

The dark cloud bought along thunder and lightning. We had to leave the water for 15 minutes and on our return the temperature had plummeted. The slight breeze blowing across our bodies caused chills. Now we were splashing water on ourselves to warm up. The five hours passed quickly and comfortably and by closing time, Carrie was tired and ready to go. Ted and April had had enough water fun too. I was just thankful that it wasn't a miserable experience because of the heat.

Back at the room, I took a quick shower before dinner. Carrie was eating a bowl of noodles and Ted professed to not being hungry. I grabbed a Pizza pocket and ran it through the microwave. April made a dash to a restaurant to buy herself a dinner and everyone was in bed and asleep early.

The following morning, we breakfasted with the birds...

I promised Carrie some pool time before we left Galveston so the next morning we grabbed our suits and headed for the pool. Thankfully, the thunder and lightning returned which gave me a good excuse to entice Carrie out and back to the room to get dressed and packed up to leave Galveston. As we left the rain that had threatened for days finally started pouring out of the black clouds. We drove to the ferry and quickly boarded for the trip back across the waterway.

We stopped in Lake Charles for a very late lunch and rolled into Lafayette at 1700 hrs to find that Carrie's game had been cancelled due to weather. What weather? Rain was predicted but didn't happen and I have to say, nobody was upset about the game being cancelled.

April and her family bailed out at her house taking very little of their possessions with them. I unpacked everything out of the car and cleaned out the cooler, threw the laundry into the machine and kept busy for the next hours before bedtime.

I'm sitting here on the front porch watching the sprinkler wave back and forth occasionally a few droplets of cool water manage to hit my legs. It's cool and that's the only thing that matters. It's going to be a long hot summer here in southwest Louisiana and I'm already disgusted with the heat. Usually we get a little rain which cools it down for a few hours though it brings the humidity along with it but to date we are in a serious drought situation. I'm give the lawn the bare minimum of water to keep the roots alive and seldom mow now. I've even raised the cutter on the lawn tractor to let the grass get longer to protect the roots.

What strange weather we are having all around the USA this year. Hurricane season is upon us and everybody is leery of this season with the Gulf being overly warm this early in the year. I'll keep a full tank of gas in my car just in case!

I'm off to get dressed and prepare for Carrie to awake. I can't get that little kid to stay home at all. Her mom came to pick her up yesterday and as she was leaving she looked back and said "Nanny, I'll call you in a little while and you can come get me?" and she did and I did. She is easy to have around so I don't mind her staying here as long as she wants.
I'm done and I'm out of here for a while. I may take Carrie somewhere today for some fun as soon as I figure out where that may be. Maybe we will go bowling or to a movie this afternoon. Yeah..some where COOL!
 

JUNE 2007.......JUNE 2011

We are on the third floor..with a balcony..with two chairs and a railing that is perfect for draping wet suits and towels over to dry.

The elevator is in working order to take us to that third floor and also to the parking garage. The car is parked in the shade of that garage out of the heat of the sun. So far so good. If I look to the left from the balcony, I have an unobstructed view of the Gulf and to the right, a landing strip for the airport!  Let me book your next trip. I'm sure I can find you a hotel on the beach, boulders and sandless and an airport landing strip with beautiful red lights decorating the approach.

 Our trip has been without drama; relaxing but filled with the sound of Carrie's laughter.

NOT across from the hotel..but these slabs of granite are up and down the seawall.

We checked into the Holiday Inn Express and unpacked, grabbed out towels and headed for the seawall only to find rocks. The set of stairs leading down the 15 ft. to the water did just that. The only area out of the water was the 3 ft. thick granite slabs that were lined up end to end below the seawall. I want to find someone that will tell me why these granite slabs are paving the sand beach close to the seawall. Is it for reinforcement to protect the sea wall during high tide?

For the moment, our concern was getting to the beach since Carrie was promised some beach time. I'm not fond of sand and salt water and the daughter feels the same way. Neither of us felt this way when we were Carrie's age so we both understood her desire to use her plastic pail and shovel to dig sand.

Had it not been for that beautiful red umbrella  that can be implanted into the sand, we would not have stayed as long as we did. Thankfully we remembered to pack it that protection from the sun.It  may it tolerable to be on the beach.

Carrie in foregraound with Ted and April walking in from the ocean in the background.

Today we relax until 1500 hrs when we go to the waterpark. Carrie isn't into relaxing but she is only 5. She has plenty of energy and wants to spend all day in the pool. Ted took the first watch and spent some time with her while I took the second watch. We crawled out of the pool when she mentioned some thing about being hungry. She actually thought I was going to go to the room and serve her sandwiches poolside. I saw it as a good excuse to go back to the room for a while.

She wasn't happy. She'll survive.

Fed and in a better mood, she is resting across her mother's abdomen watching cartoons. I'm ready to take a little nap. Vacations are tiring.

We went shoe shopping last night and while I was looking around, Carrie would select shoes for me to try. This gave her an excuse to put on a pair of shoes with 4 inch spike heels that were covered in gold glitter. She was in love. She pranced and posed in those shoes and was reluctant to put them back on the shelf. She has been requesting a slinky body hugging dress to wear and is always looking for one in the stores. Everyone is asleep here in the room. She has on one of my shirts and has used a hair tie to gather fabric up snug it to make the shirt a knee length dress that she covets:

AND CHANGING THE TIE TO THE FRONT AND WITH MAKEUP (LOLOLOL)

 This is more Carrie's interests.  Wait till her mother wakes up and finds her in full makeup. (it will give mom something to do. She can help clean all that makeup off before we go to the water park.) Right now I need to get stuff packed for our next adventure. 

One last thing here. Carrie was about 18 months old when we were here last in 2007.

Here is a picture from that time:

and again now 2011..same month ..JUNE

AND..I'm DONE!

Trippin to Galveston and the Space Center/Houston

The daughter thinks I'm a bad influence on the child. Teaching her all the words to songs by Cher and listening to her belt out the tunes is a bit embarrassing to her.

Grabbing a tube of sun tan lotion to use as a microphone, Carrie sang to the CD that played as we headed to Texas. April, in the back seat held a spray bottle of car air freshener to her lips as she sang along with us and I was holding a small round metal container.  With a sign of relief at the last song, she demanded we pop that CD out of the player and turn on more appropriate music for Carrie of the twenty first century. Meanwhile, Ted was hiding beneath a blanket. He didn't want to play and was surely not going to learn any Cher songs.

We approached the Boulvair Ferry and waited in line until our turn to board. The sea gulls followed the boat for bread thrown to them from the passengers at the back. Tankers were speeding along with speed boaters racing alongside them. The port is a busy place. 4  Ferries transport people back and forth from the mainland to the island and each trip, they are fully loaded. 

Disembarqing on the Galveston side, we headed to NASA to hang out for a while. This is not a tour I would recommend highly. We eventually left the fun house part of it and stood in line for a tram that loaded us aboard and headed to the command center where a guide seated us in the tiered seats for a view of that scene we've all seen many times on TV. The one of Mission Control with their banks of computers and big screens that show photograghs of the  launch.

By the time we were finished with this part of our visit, Carrie was hot, tired and cranky. She sat in the tram with her head in my lap, her face flushed bright red and her eyes closed until we returned to home base. All she wanted to know was when we would be going to the hotel.

Next stop was the hotel where she roused herself to say "No Nana. I'm not tired. I want to go to the pool."

We talked Ted into taking her while we unpacked and got organized in the room.

By 2200 hrs. everyone was asleep. Wet bathing suits decorated the shower rod in the bathroom, dripping chlorine water into the tub. Towels were hung up to dry for use in the morning and all bodies were tucked into bed. Carrie lasted for a few minutes of snuggling with me before I heard a deep sigh, a yawn and she was gone for the night.

Another two cups of coffee here in the dining room and I'll be heading back to the room to start packing.

As long as everyone is laughing, I'm sure they are having a good time. Galveston and the beach today. Tomorrow the water park.

I'm gone.

The Plan Is.................

It's quiet....blessed quiet. I'm sitting here at the breakfast bar sipping on a cup of morning brew, the TV tuned to CNN while I catch up on Internet stuff. I'm multitasking and I've been multitasking all week.

The daughter is working and not as usual, at home. She has to actually go to the office this past week so I'm the designated baby sitter. I think Carrie thinks she lives here now. She won't go home.

The daughter was going to be late getting home last evening and Carrie had a game. Of course her uniform was at her house. We had to run down there and pick her things up, collect Ted and take him to get something to eat and then we were all back to my house to get dressed. The team was having their pics taken today so she had to be there earlier.

Add that to my day of shopping for foods to take on our trip and getting clothes packed along with electronics that are a must have, I've had a busy past few days.

We are headed to Texas City, Texas and the comfort of a Comfort Inn there. We will leave here in a few hours and when we arrive in Texas City, we will just zoom on by and go directly to the Johnson Space Center. Touring it should swallow up some time and that might take us right up to check in time at our hotel. The kids will head to the pool and I'll soak up some air conditioning and bed time in the room.

101 degrees here yesterday and the little kids were sweat soaked and red faced on that ball field. I don't think any of us wanted to be there. We thought for a moment the other team was going to forfeit as they only had 5 players to show up. We played. We sweated and we moved the players out onto the field as quickly as possible.

One more game. Next Tuesday will be the last game. I won't go into a rave about it but suffice it to say, I'm relieved!

Our little vacation this weekend will extend until Tuesday morning. After visiting the Space Center, we will head to Galveston the next day. Our home there will be a Holiday Inn across from the sea wall. Monday will be spent at the Schiltterbahn and Tuesday morning we will head home. What was I thinking? It's hot. I've changed my plans on the time spent at the Schiltterbahn. It's open until 2000 hrs. My new plan? We can go at 1500 hrs and stay until it closes. The temperatures may drop a few degrees toward the evening hours and many of the day people will have given up and escaped back to their hotels. I'm hoping this is how it plays out.

It's daylight now. I'm off to soak the flowers and hope they survive until I return.

Here's hoping for a great weekend for us.

One of My Favorite Videos