Just Checking In

No new pictures, but I thought I'd better check in. I've actually been on myspace more lately. I haven't done much with it, but I plan to soon. My home computer is sick with viruses, so I can't use it except to play Zuma. Mom is settling in pretty well. My house is still in a mess, but that's pretty normal for me. Wish the Merry Maids would pay me an extended visit. Bet they wouldn't be all that merry anymore! Well, I'm looking forward to Thanksgiving since that is just about my favorite holiday. I'll post some new pics of something someday soon.

AT LONG LAST, IT'S DONE!!!

It's only been 2 months, but it felt like forever! Who knew there were so many decisions to make when doing just a little remodel job! And I am such a waffler--decision-making is not my strong point. Anyway, it is finished and mom is all moved in, along with Lucy the cat. Bitsy, the other cat is still residing at the other place until the sun porch gets built. The pictures are before the furniture, well except the bed, but you can see the cabinets. There are still a few ongoing projects such as window treatments and a few more painting projects, but it's nice and comfy for her now. I also have a myspace that is a work in progress, but check me out.

Almost Done

Hopefully, this week we will wrap up the work on the house. I finished laying the floor over the weekend. It looks very good if I do say so myself. My brother completed the insulation project in the attic last night. My nephew-in-law and crew finished painting the cabinets yesterday. The carpenters are supposed to work on finishing up the rest of the week. Then Mom can move in, and I can try to get my house in order-----or not. I'm really tired and have acquired a few ailments recently, so I think I'll just vegetate in front of the tube. I know, I already do that, but I'm going to seriously not do anything for awhile! ha! Well, I'm posting a picture of my little helper. I couldn't have gotten all of this work done without her. Notice how intently she's studying the ruler to make sure all the measurements are exact!

Building Progress

Just going to post a few pictures to show the progress of Mom's new "space". It finally seems to moving along pretty quickly. The drywall finishers are there this week, and painting can begin hopefully by the end of the week. It's going to be cute. There is going to be a screened-in side porch and deck for the freezer and cats. We're going to call it, "Granny's Cat House"!

Raining Cats and .....

It really does rain cats and ... well, no dogs, but one very cute little girl! After such a long dry spell, she was trying out her new umbrella that my boss brought her from his trip to Boston. I didn't even notice at the time that it matched her Sponge Bob shirt. The cat is Harley who used to belong to Sean but now resides at Gid with the rest of the zoo. I have now added 6 chickens to go along with the 2 rabbits, 1 goldfish, 7 cats, and 1 dog. I'm rarely on time for work anymore due to the lengthy feeding schedule of above animals.

The End of Summer

Summer is officially over now that Labor Day has come and gone. I had the family in for the holiday. Rick & Karen brought most of the food--bbq, baked beans, and coleslaw. I made cornbread salad and apple dumplings. Kim made a delicious and rich (wishing I had some right now) banana pudding. It was so good and I'm not even a real big banana pudding fan. Phyllis brought the drinks and ice (non-alcoholic, of course.) Brad and Sonny got the rock on the corner of my house chiseled off so the carpenters could start enclosing my carport. Karen painted most of my little bathroom with Rick finishing it up. So, it was quite a productive "labor" day at my house. Bet no one will want to come over for the holidays anymore! ha! Anyway, I'm enclosing the carport so I can move Mom in there. We're making a little studio apt. for her complete with a kitchenette. She and I are both looking forward to spending the long winter nights playing cards and games. She'll also be able to keep closer tabs on me. She likes to know all of my comings and goings. If I'm late, she calls everyone in the family and the neighbors. You do remember that I just celebrated my 50th birthday, right? I guess once a mom, always a mom. I love her and have lots of fun with her. I'm posting a picture of Sean and Emily taken at his last visitation. To me it personifies the pain of a broken home. Emily never wants to go home and this last time was the worst ever. We both cried and for me it even continued to the next day. At least she's coming back this weekend and we'll make the most of it.

Recovering Nicely

I am recovering nicely from turning 50 and have almost gotten used to the memory loss, etc. I got to see my niece, A'Larra, over the weekend which is always nice. I don't get to see her or her sister, Angela, very often so checking their blogspots is always exciting for me. Although one of them is slipping on the posting. I have new pictures, but forgot the camera so I'll post them later. We had a great day at church. I taught my usual 5-9 year-old girls and then helped in junior church which was a blessing. I also have Emily for a whole week, so it's all good this week! My son had dinner with us Saturday night which is a rare occasion these days. You know, he is single, if anyone knows an eligible Christian girl (Baptist preferred). With that, I'd better shut it off.

Fifty Plus One Day

Well, today the fun is all over, but the sweetness still lingers. Most of my balloons had been done away with by the janitor by the time I got to work today. My brother, sister-in-law, niece, and nephew-in-law along with my son took me out to eat at Mi Ranchito last night. It was good until the birthday serenade began(thanks to Randall and Phyllis). The "singers" stuck a big sombrero on my head, played a drum, sang an unintelligible song, and bonked me on the head with maracas in frequent intervals during the song. Fortunately, there was hardly anyone else at the restaurant, so only the family witnessed this little event. All in all, it was probably the best birthday I've ever had. Hope you check out the picture of Sean's birthday at the bottom of the page. Well, I need to rest now. Being old is really tiring.

The Big 5-0

I hope no one thinks I'm vain for posting pictures of my own birthday, but you just can't believe what greeted me today at work! The first clue was when I walked in and everyone was standing there amid birthday streamers. Then when I noticed that my office door was closed with birthday signs on it, I was pretty sure opening that door would be a real treat. When I opened it there were dozens of balloons hanging from the ceiling and waist deep on the floor! Streamers everywhere, a "birthday file" with a cute little card creation from Clan, Susan, Keith and Bobby in the service dept. My general mgr., Gene and his wife, Pam are responsible for most of this with some help from Kelly, of course! I got a t-shirt with my name on it that says that I'm the mayor of Gid, a couple of "prescription bottles" of anti-aging pills, some really cute p.j.'s with cats on them and all of this amid the shock of my life! I had NO idea any of this was going on. Gene was busy getting the balloons yesterday and I didn't even know he was gone. That's what happens when you turn 50--you kind of live in a fog and don't know what's going on around you. Anyway, thanks to everyone for the cards, gifts, etc. and I know the day has just begun. What a great birthday! Just hope I can remember it.

Monday Again

Well, there's absolutely nothing to blog. I worked 6 days last week, came home and vegetated in front of the T.V. for hours and ate junk. Wow, what a life I lead! Seriously, there are probably millions of people who would love to have that life. I'm thinking of the many people in India and other poor countries in the world who probably would think I live in the lap of luxury. Compared to them, I do, but here in the good ole U.S. of A., I'm not very far up the totem pole of financial success. Oh well, there's so much more to life than money.

I was waiting until I could post some photos, but I suppose it's O.K. to keep up the posting until that time, so at least everyone will know I'm still alive. I have pictures of Sean's birthday, Sonny's birthday, and Independence Day. And of course I have some of Emily that I took during our vacation. That vacation was spent just hanging out at Ma-Ma's house. We played lots of baby dolls and barbie dolls. I drove my Barbies to the lake (small swimming pool) in their Jeep. On the way home, though, they had a wreck and one of the barbies was not buckled up, so she was thrown out of the Jeep and had to go to the hospital. I thought that might slow down the barbie playing, but no such luck, since Emily got her out of the hospital and made me take her back to the lake. (A very long journey across the yard in the sun, pushing a toy Jeep full of Barbie dolls!) We had lots of fun, though, and I wouldn't trade those memories for a cruise across the Caribbean. She's coming back for at least 2 more weeks before school starts. I won't be able to take off work both weeks, but maybe one. This time we really are going to the lake!

Clarification

Stupid girl is at the bottom of the blog.

O.K. Don't anyone get offended about my little "Stupid girl". This really only has significance to a select few women who went on a girls' weekend to Branson a couple of years ago. So, I wanted to remind them of the fun we had and suggest another such journey. Grandkittens are doing good. I know some people don't enjoy hearing about them, but I don't have any real philosophical, political, or religious revelations that I want to divulge at this time. Batteries on the digital camera are gone, so no new pictures either. Hope that takes care of the complaint department so far. And you know who you are!! Sean is bringing Emily up for the weekend so lots of fun ahead. Happy Fathers Day to any of ya'll who qualify!

The Survivor

Here's an update on the grandkittens. There are now four. I don't think MuShu was quite aware of what was happening since this was her first litter. I didn't mention in the previous post that I found a dead kitten being carried around by the dog yesterday morning. I assumed that maybe it had been born dead. When I got home yesterday (about 12 hours after the birth of the kittens), I went outside to call Mocha (the other cat). Each time I called, I heard a kitten meow. I ran down under the deck realizing that one of the first-born kittens had apparently been born out on the open deck instead in the trash can with the others. But I couldn't find the kitten on the ground. I finally located the tough little guy hanging upside down in a peach tree by the deck by his umbilical cord!! I could not believe he had survived the trauma of birth only to find himself hanging in a tree all day with no nourishment. He hadn't even been cleaned up by his mom. I think that probably he and the dead kitten had fallen off the deck during birth and the other one didn't survive the fall. MuShu must have figured out that she needed to find a better place to deliver the others. Fortunately, she took "Survivor" in like he had been there all along. He is definitely one of those cats with 9 lives! I now have 3 little boys and a girl. The boys all look alike. And they look cuter now. Free kittens will be available for a limited time only, so put your order in now!

The First Time

Well, I had previously bragged about the old gal from Gid being able to set up a blogspot. That was 3 posts ago--none of which made it onto the blogspot because apparently the old gal is not all that savvy on things like this. They say the 3rd time is the charm, so I guess we'll see if this one makes it. Actually, I think Blogger doesn't work like the help section says it does, so I'm not going to take full responsibility. Anyway, welcome to my first time on my blog. I don't have enough excitement in my life to warrant a blog, but here I am anyway. I will try to keep everyone up to date on the latest news in downtown Gid. That will be an awesome task in itself!! I'll also share some photos as I become more proficient at using a digital camera. (So much to learn all of a sudden!)
I do have some pretty exciting news for my first post. Early this morning MuShu gave birth to her first (and hopefully only) litter, so I now have 3 grandkittens. They're ugly little rascals but maybe they'll grow out of that. I never did, but maybe they'll be more fortunate. Well, I don't want to overdo it on my first (or third, whichever you want to count it) time, so I'll land this plane. Do come back, though, cause there's no telling what you might read here. CS