rats, pizza and football

A couple of nights ago about 9:00 the weather was so nice Angel and I decided to go for a walk. It had been a few days since I remember to stop for the mail so we headed that way. We were about two thirds of the way there when I saw a furry looking animal near the mail boxes. It was shorter than a cat and had no tail that I could make out, not like a furry tail. It didn't move like my pal the possum. It was about a foot long & it was very low to the ground. Considering it was headed toward the canal, I concluded it was a big rat. Angel and I turned on our heels and power walked home. No more late night strolls for us!

Tonight Dave, Rylee, Shannon and I went to Anthony's Coal Fire Pizza. Rylee's first dinner out. She was terrific. (Course it helped that they had loud music.) Oh, and the pizza was great! If you haven't tried it---do! Dave is head to Brazil for a month and if it goes well, for good. If that happens we will really miss him.

This weekend sewing is in my future. (And laundry! I haven't done any since my hubby left.) But for all you football fans that have much more fun planned in your weekend...have fun, drive safe and may the best team win!

Liar Liar

The reason I didn't post anything yesterday is because --"in our family we celebrate birthdays for two days!" That is a direct quote from me when I was 16 that we have since made into the truth. Here is the story:

When I was a sophomore in high school I was in a play with a guy who was a friend ONLY, in my mind. He called me at home one night and the conversation went something like this:
Him: "Hi, I was wondering if you would want to go to a play in Aitkin with me?"
Me: Panic! "Ah hang on a sec my dad is calling me." Run to find dad and quick explain that NO WAY was I going with this guy but didn't want to hurt his feelings what story should I tell him?Dad's advice was, "well, absolutly don't lie! Just tell him the truth, that you only think of him as a friend and would rather keep your relationship at school."
"I can't say that...it is so lame." I run back to the phone and say, "My Dad didn't want anything important. So when is this play?"
Him: "It is next Friday night."
Me: " Ah darn, I sure would have liked to go but it's my Grandmother's birthday and we are having a party that night." At which point my Dad who is now standing by the phone, starts shaking his head!
Him: "Well, the play is on Saturday night too! Let's go Saturday."
Me: "Ah, Saturday huh?" At which point my Dad whispers, "I told you not to lie..."
Me: "Gee, I would but we celebrate my Grandmother's birthday for two days! Really, we do. I hope you understand."
Him: "I understand alright!" Click!

Ever since then, in an effort not to make me a liar, we try to celebrate all birthdays for two days! (Even our pets!)

The moral of the story is: The truth is always best. But if you slip and tell a lie, try to make it the truth.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ANGEL

Happy Birthday to my little angel, Angel. Today, 1/27/09, she is 4 years old. She came to us during a very sad time in my life. She gave me something to live for, something to get up for, something to baby. It was just what I needed. Here are some pictures of her.

Shannon's also adding a slideshow of Angel pics to my blog for me so look for those as well.

tomorrow

Tomorrow, tomorrow it's only a day away!

New blogger page--I was bored with my blog page and so today Shannon helped me change it. This is a quick post because tomorrow is a special post. It is a special day and it will include photos...

Check back tomorrow!

Animal cruelty

I am watching Animal Planet's, Miami animal rescue. It is appalling how many people treat their animals so horribly. Most of the stories just make me cry. One N.W. Miami farmer has let several horses and pigs live in horrible conditions, with feces everywhere and no food or water for a very long time. Fined him, took all the non-owned but stabled horses away. But they let him keep one of his own horses! Why? All the pigs and a couple of the horses will have to be put down. Watching this makes me angry. Very Angry. I have come to the conclusion that instead of euthanizing the animals...we should euthanize the owners!


On a happier note. You will never guess what I did today--are you trying to guess--took down my Christmas tree! Yes I know Christmas ended a month ago but I was enjoying the holiday a bit longer. (read--lazy) But today I had three things going for me. Time: A day off from Miss Rylee. Rested: A good nights sleep for once. Motivation: The only one in my complex with holiday lights still on! Looks bare but feels good.

Smiley Rylee

Every day when Shannon and I are here with Rylee, when she goes down to sleep, we tiptoe out and maybe once while she is asleep one of us goes in to peak at her. Then why is it when I am with her alone, like tonight, do I feel the urge to check on her every 5 minutes! I can't even enjoy the quiet I keep thinking either I heard her...or I haven't checked on her for 5 minutes. So strange. Anyway, Shannon is out having fun tonight with the girls and Rylee and I are doing great. First she ate. They we played and she laughed and smiled for an hour. Right now she is sleeping. It's been a good night so far.
It's been 5 minutes...I gotta run.

Whole lota shaken goen on!

When I put Rylee to sleep she likes me to sing to her. Now this is odd for many reasons. First, I just make up words that rhyme but make no sense. Second because I couldn't carry a tune if you put it in a basket. (Don't believe that...I was the only kid in choir who was asked to sing quieter!) Which means if my voice sooths her she must have a tin ear! So much for her being the next Miley Cyrus.



Shannon wants to get Rylee to go to sleep without rocking or using some form of motion. So far I have had no luck with that. I just keep changing the types of motion. I used to bounce her in the bounce seat. Then I strolled her in the stroller. Now I have been shaking her in the pack n play. I just can't get her to sleep without motion. I hope Shannon will have more luck. If not we could always build some form of shaking platform to put under her bed. Any of you got any ideas how to accomplish that? We could make a fortune if we figure it out...a lot of babies like motion. Keep in mind the motion needs to be a lot harder than the little bit of vibrating the pack n play does.

R E S P E C T

Rylee and I watched the swearing in and I told Rylee we would write in her baby book that she watched history being made! How wonderful!

As for Obama, God be with him, now the hard work begins. He will need all our prayers. We must all help pull this nation upright by doing our part and by giving our President the respect he deserves as the leader of our country.


But FYI--Whoever is President whether we voted for him or not. Whether we agree with what he does or not. Whether he is Dem. or Rep. he deserves to have our respect. I think we should all keep that in mind going forward.

I think it's appalling how many people say such awful things about our presidents. From now on let's take a page from Thumpers' book...if we can't say anything nice, lets say nothing at all!

Disney Magic

Our trip was so relaxing and fun. Little Emma made it so special. Seeing everything through a child's eyes makes everything exciting. Mommy & grandma missed Rylee but she had a ball with her daddy! I swear she grew in those two days!

I noticed every small child at Disney (not even the park just the town area) was tired & cranky. I have come to the conclusion it is just not possible for little kids to have fun there for any length of time. It is over stimulating and they get too tired.

The stores in Down Town Disney are made just to get kids to beg for everything! All that sparkle is irresistibly. I felt sorry for parents trying not to spend all their retirement on gifts! Heck at my age I could hardly resist.

Disney is Magic with a twist.

That Touch of Mink

Today I was swaying Rylee really slowly, and of course Angel was laying right next to us. After a while I realised that every time the sway went toward Angel, Rylee was reaching out stroking Angel's soft fur. Rylee had the cutest little look on her face every time she touched it. Shannon noticed it too and we watched her for a while. Shannon also pointed out that Angel looked a bit anxious, like she was waiting for Rylee to grab hold and pull.

I'm too sexy for my...

Today Shannon, myself and Rylee went to return a comcast box at the strip-mall on Sunrise and Pine Island. The mall was very busy and the only place to park was on the other side of the mall, to-hell and gone from the comcast store. Rylee was screaming and we had to pull out her stroller, baby bags, two purses and the comcast box...and truck clear around the mall. Which, by the way we did with no thought of a complaint. When we got near the Sally Beauty Supply store up zips a red Mercedes convertible and parks in the fire lane right in front of the store. Out hops the driver, an I'm too sexy for my, rich-bitch blond type, who saunters into the store.

This set Shannon off..."I suppose just because she is rich she thinks the rules don't apply to her and she is way to good to park across the lot and walk!" She grumbled. Then went into comcast while I walked Rylee around. When we were done and walking back the blond was just getting into her car. Shannon groaned. At which point I said, "I hope her nail polish emergency got taken car of!" That got us both laughing. Then Shannon pointed out that if either of us was really "ballsy" we would have said that to her face! So from Shannon's post about being more ballsy...I guess we still have a way to go.

Delivery

I saw an elephant being born this weekend! Granted it was on the Animal Planet and not in person-but it was unbelievable! The mother elephant was in so much pain she had to drop to her knees a couple of times. She bellowed loudly, and having given birth myself, I knew what she was saying, "epidural now"!


I did watch my horse Lady give birth, it was unbelievable. I was only about 12 so I'm sure I didn't appreciate what she was going through but even then I knew I had witnessed something amazing. My Dad helped pull the foal out, then Lady got up and broke the sac and started to lick her new baby. She was so tired my Dad took towels and helped. She let him too which led me to believe she must have been really exhausted, usually she was very in dependant!!! (read ornery) The foal was so wobbly, and yet just like a real baby it went right for food! Lady really loved that baby and was very protective. After that night she hardly let us get near her foal, willingly at least. (But that's another story.)

So to all you mothers-to-be out there remember, no matter how bad it seems at the time...it's all worth it!

My-KEA

Today one of my younger neighbors came over. She was telling me that they are going to try to sell their town house and that a professional photographer is coming to take photos. She wondered if I would give her some ideas on how to spruce up the place. I went over. She has a toddler and a baby about Rylee's age...hence lots of baby clutter. So I told her to downsize all non necessities and we went to Ikea, or My-kea as I lovingly refer to it, to buy storage! We loaded the vehicle top to bottom! I even managed to find a couple things I needed.
She is working on it tonight so I can't wait to have a look tomorrow.

Update: Since the possum has left my house I think I know where it has gone...three houses down. I took a short walk out back today and they have lots of clutter--great hiding places--and the dog next door to me always runs down there and barks. They have had some domestic issues with cops and guns so I am NOT going to drop by to tell them.

zippity do dah

Shannon stole my story about Australia, (good!) Huge Jackman, (yummy) and the old snoring guys. (loud) Which leaves me with zippity do dah to post about. However, I can add my 2 cents worth about the movie and say the big screen does it justice so Erin go see it at the old theater, it's cheaper than a movie rental.

To Jess's question about my email program: It is my email from work and if I don't want to go all the way into Am Fam and my computer set up...very slow to get to...I can quickly access email only from the web but it saves nothing except inbox. No address, zip.

Waiting here at Shannon's for the ATT TV guy to appear. (My money is on they aren't coming again!) Shannon went to school to get some paper work, I put Rylee to sleep in her stroller, the only way I have any luck these days, now I have time to read blogs. I'm sure yours will all be more interesting.

delete freak

I confess that I can't stand thing in my inbox! I delete everything! I admit I love hitting the delete key. All jokes go in the bin--delete--I don't usually even read them. (Friends forgive me!) Right now the email I have to use won't keep in memory any ones email addresses so I can't delete emails, I have to save them for the address to reply to. It is killing me!................Ah the urge to delete.
Dieting and not deleting in the same lifetime--what a cruel world.

Rouge Snapping Turtle

Story from Agate Lake-year approximate 1963:

The summer I was 12 or 13 we had a huge snapping turtle in Agate Lake-gone rouge. By huge I mean the shell was about as big around as a large metal garbage can cover. Well, this turtle realized there was a better way to get fish than to catch them, he could just wait until evening, swim to the dock and eat all the caught fish off the stringers. It was a variable seafood smorgasbord!

All the resorters were getting very upset and the fishermen were talking about trying to kill the turtle. There were two boys my age who were staying in the cabins that week. We had been fishing together everyday. (One of the turtle's snacks had been on our catch of the day.)

The boys had been coming to the lake since they were babies so between him and I, we knew the lake well. So we three musketeers decided we knew how to get that turtle ourselves and devised a plan. We three would take out a small row boat, right at dusk, and have our catch of the day dangling overboard on a stringer. We would each be armed with a bow and arrow. When the turtle came up to eat it, we would all shoot at his head - surly one of us would hit it!

With plan in place and telling no adults, we met just before dusk and rowed out about 40 yards into 15 foot deep water near where we usually saw the turtle, and waited. It was getting pretty dark and still no turtle but just when we were about to give up, it reared its ugly head.

We all got excited, stood up in the boat and leaned over for a good shot....................................... and oops--tipped over the boat! We were scared sh*tless that the turtle would bit off one of our toes and we swam for shore like a shark was after us!

The aftermath:
The turtle got away with our fish. Our bows and arrows went down with the ship.
The moral of the story was don't be dumber than the critter you are chasing!

Our parents were very mad-we were landlocked for punishment. My big brother had to go after the capsized boat in the morning and dive for the bows. He wasn't too happy as one of the bows was his. Everyone laughed at us...it was humiliating at the time, but it does make for a fond memory to look back on.

Moron Motorist

If channel 7 news picked up this story it would have been titled Freeway Frenzy or Highway Horror. But this is my story and I think Moron Motorist says it all.

There are inattentive drivers. There are stupid drivers. There are bad drivers. And then there are Mother F___ing Stupid Drivers and she was on the 595 in front of me today!!! Apparently the M.F.S.D. missed her exit and stopped, yes stopped, in the middle lane of the freeway right in front of me. I had Shannon, Rylee and John as passengers and cars were whizzing by us at 70/80 on both sides of and I couldn't move as I was stopped and they were going fast...I was laying on the horn (swearing expletives) and hoping we weren't going to get hit and kill us all. Finally, she started moving ahead and as soon as I was up to speed a bit I went around her and we all gave her a piece of our displeasure. She looked to be about forty and she had a Florida license plate so I doubt she was an Eskimo who never saw a freeway before. (And if she was she shouldn't have been driving. What in the heck is wrong with people that they are that stupid?

Afterward I said, "thank you God and our angels for keeping us safe." If they wouldn't have been looking after us it could have been disastrous.

Bad babysitters

One would think Rylee, who has seen me everyday (almost) since the day she was born, would be as comfortable with me as she is with her mommy and daddy--but alas not true! Last night so Jon and Shannon could go out for a few hours, Grandpa and gramma were sitting, here is how it played out:

A few minutes before they left Rylee started screamming, they hurried out. She never stopped! Wouldn't drink, sleep or quit crying. We shook, bounced, rocked, walked and finally I put her in the stroller and ran her around the house and for a brief 30 minutes she slept, woke up refreshed and continued the screaming.

Yes, I called for back-up, "are you done eating? Come home." Right as they pulled into the yard, Grandpa set her on the couch in front of him and she stopped screaming and smiled at me! In walk the parents who see a happy baby. (Just like calling the refrigerator repair man and the instant he walks in the door it starts working.) Anyway our nerves were fried...we headed home for a margarita night!

The thing is that even if she perfers her mom and dad that was not the only problem...something must have been bothering her but damn if she would let me try to figure it out. Poor little sweetheart, I guess last night, only mommy and daddy would do.

Ballsy

After reading Shannon's blog of New Year's Resolutions, I told her I was feeling bad that maybe she got her "too nice" quality from me. She quickly told me, however, that she more than likely got that from her Dad and then reminded me of two ballsy stories of my own. (I guess that was her subtle way of saying... "I'm not nice?")

Case in point #1: we had this cantankerous SOB insured with us for about ten years. Every time he came in the office, he was hollering and demanding something. And since he was the type to always make changes and have accidents, this was often. I used to say, "What does he do?...wake up, look in the mirror and say, 'How big a b**tard could I be today?!'"

One day he came in and I was alone in the office. He was turning in another claim and slamming down paperwork on my desk, yelling how he wanted his money NOW. This was like the third claim we'd handled in a month so the fact that he was acting like we would try to screw him or something got me riled up. I calmly took the information though, told him that I would get it in the system and have him paid out. Then I looked him in the eye and simply said, "But after this claim is processed, I think you should take your business elsewhere. In the 10 years you've been our client, nothing we've ever done has been good enough so I think you'd be happier somewhere else and I know I'd be happier if you took your business somewhere else." He was dumbfounded, didn't say another word, and left.

Then he called and made an appointment with John the next day. I thought he was going to come in and ream us both out, but I really didn't care. Even John was happy I'd finally stood up to him. To both our surprise, he came in and APOLOGIZED. He said he'd always appreciated everything we did and never knew he was being a jerk. If we'd give him another chance, he'd like to stay. We did and he was nice from then on. He kept his insurance with us many years. He even earned a soft spot in my heart and I wrote to him when he was in the nursery home until he passed away.

Case in point #2: there was an interesting guy who came in the office a few times to get quotes. He always demanded he talk to John directly. This guy smoked a big stogie (sp?) and had a dim-witted girl friend with only three teeth and even fewer brain cells. Well anyway, one day John was gone and I was the only one there and this guy was pissed about it because he wanted some insurance. I tried to tell him several times that I was quite capable of helping him, but he kept demanding John.

Finally I said "John won't be back until tonight so if you want this insurance, you will have to let me help you." At this point he angrily pounded his fist on the counter and said, "I don't deal with woman, period." I had had it...so I answered, "Well I don't deal with a**holes so hit the door buddy!" and marched back to my desk. He openly started belly laughing and then said, "You've got balls lady! I'll say that for you. If it's okay with you, I guess I'll let you write that insurance after all."

He didn't stay with us long but it made for a good story all these years. And look at that, I guess I am ballsy after all.