A Day in Seguin with the Parents

Yesterday, I volunteered to go and help my parents clean house. Why they can't do it themselves? Well, they are OLD! They live in an apartment complex that has annual inspections. Checking the appliances, walls, floors, carpets and ect...

Well with dad being old and clumsy and all the grand kids being there quite often, things get spilled. Dad's wheelchair leaks grease or oil and of course the weather causes dirty carpets too.

We went through things, fixed things and threw away a lot. Then we went about doing the carpets, by hand! There I was down on my hands and knees scrubbing the carpet. OMGoodness, my knees!! Thankfully my sisters helped out as much as they could.

At one point or another I had to help get Mom or Dad off the floor. Dad grunted and groaned. Mom was stuck good and it sounded like all her bones creaked and cracked in trying to get up.

We were all an awful sight!

In going to help out I got to finally get to see the latest addition to our family.

Nathan.






His brother, Randall.


His twin sisters, Maryanne and Madeline.


I am soo tired and managed to hurt myself many times! I think I might have to lay off on my yard work, at least till my knees and my ankle heal!

My Style

Hey there - Sproost says my interior design style is:
100% Vintage Modern

Vintage Modern
Flea Market anyone? (I nearly died laughing over that statement) You know you are drawn to modern furniture and interiors, and yet you really don't like a space that feels cold and sterile. And who could blame you? And that's why Vintage Modern is so appealing to you. Though the backdrop of the room, the walls and windows, are many times white or monochromatic (Cream), the furniture and accessories have the color, shape and texture to bring the warmth into the space. The great thing about Vintage Modern is ease of mixing different styles in the one space. You can have a new modular sofa mixed with a great pair of chairs that your grandmother purchased in the late 1950's and the new and old work appear as though they were destined for each other. What's great is that even if you don't have time for swap meets and garage sales, so many of the pieces from the mid-century were so great that they have been remade and mimicked year after year.

Materials
The other great thing about Vintage Modern is how low maintenance it can be — fabrics such as cotton, microfiber or ultra-suede and leather (I don't like leather) all look great and function even better. So whether you are having a cocktail party with friends, or kids are in the picture, the room and the furnishings can handle it. Because the style harkens back to the early twentieth century, the innovative developed during that time are very popular: acrylic, plastic and fiberglass, chrome and steel, and molded plywood. Concrete floors, countertops and furniture are also very popular and lacquered finishes are very common. (I don't think any of those materials are for me, I'm more for the real wood.)

Colors
When it comes to color, walls are seen as backdrops for the room. Neutral tones of gray, white, beige and brown are very common and black is a common accent color. Pops of color on the art, furniture and accessories can vary dramatically based on the person, however very common colors are teal blues, army greens and yellow as well as deep oranges and bright reds. (Dark greens, pale yellows and deep reds with black accents. Yuppers)


I Love the style of the couch and the wooden stool is cute.


Coffee table and the cushions.


Wall full of books, the lamps and that wooden side table. Those white chairs are nice too.


I absolutely LOVE LOVE those chairs!! Couch to match and that clock in the back.


Skinny table, wall of photos and LOVE the entertainment center.

I pretty much Love any peice of furniture that has legs, the kind of furniture that is off the ground. Coffee tables with leg room. If you will notice most of the things I picked out of these pics have lines, with slight curves mixed in.


100% Vintage Modern! I was on the phone with mom when I finally got my result and she said..It pegged you soo right!

Take the test and tell me what style you are!

My Stray Dog...

(Taco doing his early morning stretch. I woke him up for this photo.)
I have a story to tell about stray/lost dogs.

My daughter #1 wrote a post about a stray coming to her house and camping out on her front door foot mat. At the time she was a severely ugly chihuahua, with open sores and losing her hair and her tail was all messed up. She is now a great member of their family.

This story made me think of my experience with a stray chihuahua.

We were spending Easter with some friends in Corpus Christi, Tx.
I was sitting on the grass in the front yard with my plate of BBQ on my lap.
This little chihuahua came up to me and promptly sat down right next to me and put his little head on my knee.

He was horrible looking! I was afraid to even touch him. He was covered from nose to toe with fleas, eggs, dried blood and grease. He was soo skinny and had gunk in his eyes. He seriously looked like he was going to die any day now. He smelt gawd awful!!

I gave him a piece of my sausage, but was still leery of letting him get to close. I did touch him in the effort of pushing him away from my pretty new dress. It was a pretty gross moment, I couldn't finish my plate. Of course I gave it to the dog.

Through out the day he followed me everywhere. I asked everyone I saw at the party or passing by on the street, if they knew the dog or where he came from. Nobody had ever seen him before. From the looks of him, he had been seriously neglected and had been on the streets for some time.

He was a miserable creature and never showed any signs of happiness, the sausage didn't even get a tail wag. Sad sad dog and surely in a lot of pain, physically and emotionally.

That evening after not being able to shake him, I gave him a bath and a bath and a bath. He never once tried to get away from me, he actually liked the bathing. It took many times to get the water to run clear.

He was a gorgeous tan color, you would have never had know it with all the dried blood and black fleas that was on him.

After three days of trying to find his owner and finding none, it was time for us to go home. I had already made up my mind, that we were going to take him home. No way was I going to give him back to the streets. I even if I had tried to leave him there, I don't think he would have obliged me. I had a funny feeling he would have tried to have followed me all the way back to San Antonio!

That was eight yrs ago! He is Taco Bell! The daddy of Chaquita and Stitch. #1 in my herd of three!

(I have tried and tried to post a pic of him, but blogger refuses to upload any pics)

A Book? Maybe!

Most of yall would be very surprised to know that I woke up this morning with the beginnings of a book in my head. I was!

I hopped to it, as soon as I managed to get a cup of coffee.

Two hours later I had managed to type out 646 words. Words are my nemesis; we don't always get along very well.

I bugged hubby with...does this sentence sound right? How do you spell...? If I can't use this word, what would you suggest? What the heck is a semi-colon good for and how do you know when to use it? Blah blah blah, I was driving him crazy! Guess where he is right now...outside! LOL!

From what I can tell it might be a small book. I can't figure out how many paragraphs are supposed to be in a chapter. Is a chapter supposed to be a continuation of chapter one or can it be a different time line, different perspective or a deeper meaning of the previous chapter? I don't know if there are set rules to how it is supposed to be done.

As my BIL would say...Whatever! I'm just thrilled to have something running in my head that requires more than one page! LOL!

I would work on it more today, but as you know it is Sunday and hubby is home. Plus I have lots of things to do outside. Maybe I will get to it again later this evening. Hopefully I won’t have lost my mojo by then.

Just with this post and my story, I have written…913 words! Wow!

Hubby's Good Carma

Thursday:

Whiskers was sick and I could hardly keep up with him. Every time he was ready to spew I had to jump up and move him off of the rugs. Still trying to figure out why he insists on doing it on the rug!

I rode my bike for about ten minutes! My goodness my legs felt like they were going to fall off. I got off my bike and proceeded to walk, wouldn't ya know it, they felt like jelly!

Now on to the story:

Hubby came home and went to telling me about his day. He was getting ready to leave work in his personal truck and another driver in a tandem truck was in front of him.

(I'm thinking...No biggy this happens everyday)

Well all of a sudden this tandem loses one of his axles, the axle (two wheels and brake drum) is headed right for him! He kicks his truck in reverse and out runs it. He then tries over and over again to get this guy on the cb, Hey driver, did ya lose something? No answer.
He then picks up the tires (which I find hard to believe, I mean seriously we are talking about a man that has trouble breathing (just getting up out of his chair)and has a hernia on the top of his tummy, just taking the trash to the dumpster is strenuous activity) and throws them in the back of his truck.

By this point in his story I went from OMGoodness to hysterical laughter! Just the mental image of him doing all of this was too much And he is a great story teller with all the hand gestures, body movements and humor.

He takes the tires to the shop (I'm still laughing, I can just imagine those guys faces when he pushed those tires in there. Like...where in the world did you get those?!) and jokingly tries to get them to give him a hundred dollars for them, after no takers, he says I'll let ya keep them for no charge.
He says those tires and brake drums could be worth 600, so a hundred would be a steal. (I'm like..you did steal them!)

Okay so here is the good carma part...

He left his company radio on the back of his pickup after calling that guy in the tandem and putting the tires in his truck. If he had lost it, it would have costed him exactly one hundred dollars.

He states that if he was to have really sold those tires, he would have surely lost his radio.

In the end they both got their property back and alls well that ends well!

I sure got a big roaring laugh out of it though!

I know at times his mind can get a little carried away, but in the end he always manages to do the right thing.

His response to this is...I would have been a mad blankitty, blank, blank..if someone had sold my tires as soon as they fell off!! LOL!!

Brownie and Dash

Dash (Better view enlarged)


Brownie


Brownie and Dash (on the side is Wacko)

These are all my good neighbors dogs. Dash has female radar way bigger than himself! Fortunately, Last year they got him a female. I didn't bother to ask why a weenie dog (I forget what the breeds real name is), but Dash was very happy and here is the result:


Nine of the cutest little puppies!


This little girl captured my heart right off! Camera shy?


This little boy too! Brown head with white stripe, too cute!


Thankfully they are all spoken for! Whew, dodged a bullet!!

Spin Cycle: I Used to Sing...

Once upon a time a super long time ago, a younger version of Heather had a decent voice.

This voice was used in choir at the church of my childhood. I sang my little heart out until I was forced to sing by myself. This created a panic in me that never fully went away.

The day I realized what was being said about my voice might actually be true, I busted out in "Amazing Grace" on my walk to the playground. I didn't care if someone heard, I sang as loudly as I could. I probably would have stopped if someone had commented on it.

When I was a early teenager, I was in a Cinderella pageant. My talent was singing, I knew it was the only thing I was remotely good at. I picked my song "Rise Again" by Dallas Holm. I practiced and practiced, until I knew I was ready. The day came and I went up on stage, the music started and I proceeded to sing. At least I thought I was singing!

I was in such a panic, I was shaking, knees knocking, broke out in a cold sweat and was literally squeaking out my song! It was all I could do to not fall over dead right there on the spot! The microphone probably has a permanent scar from me digging my fingers into it!

I continued in the choir racket all through Junior high school. I even got to go to the school choir contest at the fair in Arlington. I don't remember the contest part, just all the rides and fun I had with my friend. It was a good trip, I do remember trophies but I think those were just for participating.

My second year of 7th grade choir..After the first quarter the teacher said...I have no use for you in my choir if you can't read music. Now that I think about it she was right, it wasn't enough to have the voice if you can't use it properly.

Thus my choir career ended.

I still sang..in the shower, walking down the street, cleaning the house and of course along with the radio.

When I got married at 17, I challenged myself again. I was determined to sing a song to my new husband and in front of all my family and friends. Song choice "You Light Up My Life" by Debbie Boone.

Once again I failed. It was scary enough that I was getting married, I was already shaking from that. I walked up to the piano and once the music started I thought it was going great, maybe a little quivery, but good.

I was to later find out that not a soul heard me! LOL! Stage fright won again!

From that moment on my singing was kept private, unless I was drunk. I could really belt it out without fear when drunk. A friend once told me I need to go to the mall and make a recording and summit it. Huh! Not in this life time! I don't think they would let drunks in the mall! LOL!

About 12 years ago I (still drunk) got brave enough to do some karaoke. Patsy Cline, Reba, The Everly Brothers where my victims. I didn't matter if folks didn't want to hear my screeches anymore. It was all in good fun and I was too old and drunk to care! LOL!

Sadly, I haven't sang since I quit drinking. My voice got really harsh from drinking and smoking all them years.

Oh, wait that was me hurting the neighbors ears this morning in the shower!

For much better spins, visit Sprite's Keeper

Randomness

I was going through one of my favorite websites and ran across the little tiny town of Abbott, Texas. It is just a little below Hillsboro, Texas, which is about an hour south of Dallas.

It was always a small town, but at its peak it had about 700 people. At the onset off WWII it diminished down to about 250 and has continued to maintain that number.

Here's what had hubby and I rolling in laughter:

It is against the law in Texas to mention Abbott without declaring that Willie Nelson is from Abbott.

Makes ya wonder who came up with that law! LOL!

There ya have it, I broke no laws. Love ya Willie!
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I then went to the next town on the list Abernathy, Texas. No pics and not much of a story. I decided to google it for some pics. I ran across this pic:


(Painting done by B.B.Barrick)
I clicked it and it took me to another blogger. I read a few of her posts and really liked them. Just everyday stuff in the life of an older woman. I left a few comments.

It just amazes me how one thing can lead to another and so on and so on...

The next day I open my emails and to my amazement Dee had written me a lenghty page. Telling me a little about herself and her blog.

I knew it from the first post I read, that she was a great lady and I was going to enjoy reading her. Her email confirmed it!

It just amazes me that I now have another blogger friend out of looking for pics!
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I was not able to get High speed Internet. The fellas come out yesterday morning and played around with their antenna on a pole out in the driveway. Sadly there was no connection to the tower. Apparently, if I move my house about a mile and a half down the road, I would be all set up.

I vow that if I ever move again, it had better be in a high speed zone. I love living in the sticks, but it is preventing progress!
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Yall's comments on yesterday's post cracked me up! Several sounded out that I could get a steak for myself. If you only knew how funny hubby found that to be.
Here's the thing...I don't do red meat! It is very rare for me to eat red meat and when I do...it had better be extra well done, no blood, pinkness or fat! More like jerky!.
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I also got a comment yesterday from one of my brothers. I'm going to take a leap and guess that it was brother D. Since brother J has my posts read to him by sister J and brother I doesn't read me at all.

Well brother D, I am glad you finally got to comment! He has been having trouble with my page as it seems so do others. He tried to comment on the post I did about him, but his dial-up is just as bad as mine.

I would gladly give you the steak that I won't eat! LOL!

Stuff Around the House

Hubby had to go to work without his usual lunch bag, I slacked off and forgot to go to the store for bread. I gave him what cash I had for lunch.

Last night we was talking about finainces and he said he needed to bring home more 60 hours or plus paychecks. I told him If he brought one of those home I would buy him a steak! Deal was made!

He totally cheated and went to "Steaks to go" for lunch! It is a drive thru steak house in New Braunfels. Instead of giving him little ketchup packets, they gave him this cute little glass bottle!


It is just a little bigger than his Zippo lighter.
Isn't it just the cutest?!
Should hubby still get a steak from me?

Oh Yeah, Oh Yeah! Doing the Happy Dance!

Looky here what Suzicate gave me! I'm soo excited!! Excuse me if I get a little carried away!

I don't know about the rest of yall, but I sooo wanted this award. This is the perfect desription of me and my blog.

Surely I'm not the only one that has seen an award and secretly wanted to find your name underneath it. To pine away for it, save it in a folder for that happy happy day. Okay...maybe it was just me. Oh well...Doing the happy dance!!

Well folks for me the day has finally arrived! I bow to you Suzicate!

Am I sounding a bit self-centered or greedy? You can bet your bottom, I AM!
Do I feel just a little bit bad about my reaction? A teeny weenie little bit.

Not that I ain't truely grateful for the awards that have been bestowed on me already, each one just blows me away. I mean most of yall have a lot of followers and to find my name on anyones blog post, just rocks!

Yall have truely pulled this goofy girl out of the back row of the class.

Cut those bangs covering your eyes, put your glasses on and move on up!

Rules to Accept the Award: (Which I soo do)

Thank the person giving you this award. (I can't even express my thanks enough)

Copy the award to your blog. (Yeah!)

Place a link to their blog. (Yuppers! She is fabulous, check her out!)

Name 7 tidbits people don’t know about you from reading your blog. (Wracking my brain, ouch that hurts!)

Nominate 10 Bloggers. (Hmmm, that's just mean)

Place a link to those Bloggers. (Will do)

Leave a comment letting those Bloggers know about the award. (I'm coming folks, be prepared)



7 tidbits:

1..I wear a headband 90% of the time.

2..I have 18 bottles of nail polish and paint my nails maybe twice a year. LOL!

3..I used to be a redhead with freckles! I lost the redhead until I was 18, bottles of dye fixed that problem for nearly 20 years.

4..Through out my house I have about two dozen sented candles, but I never light them. (Hangs head in shame)

5..I bought my very first cookie jar last year and it has yet to have cookies in it. It is currently being used for cat treats.

6..I am loony! Oh wait..you might already know that! BUT, did ya know I can smell static Electricity! Nuts, waaaay out there!

7..I can't get to sleep unless I am laying on my stomach or without covers.


Now for the winners of this fabulous award:

1..Life in the slow lane
2..Technical Parent
3..Pine Lakes Redhead
4..Hugz Before You Go
5..Gently Said
6..Grammology.com
7..Bored Neoclassical Guy
8..Ride My Mind
9..Outnumbered Two to One
10..Zombie Mommy

An Author I Love

Barbara Mertz is a woman of many names.

Never heard of her? Yeah, me neither!

I was over at Technical Parent's blog and was trying to write my favorite authors.

For the life of me I couldn't remember how to spell Barbara. I decided to go to ebay and type in Michaels. The list was long, so I figured I would give it my best shot and type in Barbra. Of course that was wrong!

(Sometimes this spelling issue of mine, really ticks me off. It's bad enough when I have to force my self to do "ae" in the Michaels, instead of "ea")

I eventually got it right and went to Wikipedia for the list of all her books. (Well since I had the ebay open, why not?) I was amazed to see that that wasn't her real name and she also has several other lines of books under Elizabeth Peters.

Under the name Barbara Michaels, she writes primarily gothic and supernatural thrillers. I got suck into her writings when I first read "Greygallows" or was it "The Master of Blacktower", they were both excellent reads and I couldn't wait to find more of her books.



At one time I had nearly all of Barbara Michaels books. I didn't have the space for them in the house, so I had them in a box in the shed. The roof leaked right on THAT box. They were so badly damaged by time I noticed, I had to throw them away.

Now I am itching to get my hands on some more!

Ebay don't go away, I'll be right back to scroll through your pages. Only bummer is, I only have $15 to spend, but that will get me a couple books? Right?

If you have never read any of Barbara Micheals books and you like her genre, do yourself a favor and find at least one to read.

Both wikipedia and ebay are links to find her books.

Life in the slow lane

I would like to take today off from talking about me.

I would like to draw your attention to a young lady Kendrasue over at Life in the slow lane, who today is celebrating her 200th post!

What an amazing achievement!

So..If I can implore you to check this lovely girl out, I really don't think you will be sorry.

She is a working mother and wife. She has one of the cutest little guys, I ever did see. I love reading her and I don't see why you wouldn't also.

I was gone from her page for almost two weeks and I must say I was disappointed to see that only a couple of her posts had other folks commenting, like 5 out of 10.

It makes me sad and baffles me that I am the only one leaving comments on half of her posts.

Please folks, lets fix this injustice.

200 posts! That's big and deserves recognition.

Long Lost Brother

I can't believe I forgot to post. I stayed up last night till 3:30 this morning, just reading and reading. I know I read at least sixty posts and it took me 7 hrs!

So...here we go...


First you must know that for a long time it was just me and Daddy. My birth mother had left us when I was 18 months old. We were still very close with her parents and with out them helping dad, we probably wouldn't have made it. I had issues, as I would think most kids who lost a parent (but didn't really loose a parent, they are floating out there in this world somewhere) would have.

I was the only child for the first 8 yrs of my life.

Daddy eventually got remarried and life went on. He and Mom (who was once referred to as the Evil One, is now the ONLY mother I have and love her very much) quickly went about giving me siblings, three of them in 4 yrs.

Life was crazy and I wasn't the best daughter, more like I was the Evil One and had no clue.

Daddy and I would escape to the local Jack-in-the-box or Whataburger for coffee in the evenings (probably about twice a week), just the two of us again. I loved these times.

Once on our nights out, we was walking to our destination and I vaguely remember daddy saying something about me having another brother. I was 14 and really wasn't paying much mind. Knowing me I was probably thinking on how I was going to make it over to my boyfriends house. I know..its sad..that I jumped into adulthood so fast.

This little bit of information daddy revealed to me, did stay in the back of my mind for many years, but yet..was sorta forgotten.

When I was 18, daddy sat me down at the kitchen table and presented me with a picture of a teenage boy. I remember looking at it and then looking up at my father and asking..My brother?
Daddy was surprised!
He asked..How did you know that?
I remember you talking about it a long time ago.

Daddy gave me all the info on getting in touch with him. I used it. It took me awhile though. Like..what do you really say to a person you have never met? At 18 I had no clue. Thank goodness for yall, I grew out of that! LOL!

I wrote and he wrote, back and forth for many years. We will now start calling him Brother D.

Brother D, once sent me a newspaper clipping of what had happened to him and why he was lost. Our birth mother "The Wicked Witch of the East" left him alone tied to his crib and Social Services found him, only after another person in the building called it in, out of concern. He was also 18 months old. I guess she has her age limit!
He was placed into foster care and was adopted out.

I finally got to meet Brother D in the flesh when I was truck driving all over America. We meet at Grampies (birth mothers family) camp on the lake along with other family members.


We had a really good time and (I believe) we did it again a little time later. We still wrote letters occasionally, but it just wasn't the same. He was already into technology and had a email address. I kept it, but of course I never had even sat down in front of a computer.

Two years ago (next month), I got my first computer. A hand me down from hubby's sister. I found him in Myspace and sent him a message saying...I FOUND YOU!!

I feel closer to him now, than I ever did. Love ya, Brother!

Hi, brother D, say something to the lovely peeps. He reads my posts, but never says anything! He's a stalker! LOL!!!

Spin Cycle: Blogging

What makes my blog breathe? I'm not really sure that it breathes, but it definitely helps me keep breathing, thinking, remembering and it really helps having followers who think my words and life are worth reading.

I have always lived in rural areas as an adult and I like it like that. I like being removed from the city and all its noise. Living in rural areas and not having the latest technology always available or sometimes affordable, I was forced to have a phone with no long distance. Most all calls were long distance, like to family and even some of my friends. I would go months on end (sometimes years) without talking to certain people cause of the cost.

Getting a computer changed all that! Sister J had a myspace and so that was the first place I went. I ran across the blog page and from that moment on I was hooked. I began blogging so my friends and those long distance family members could get a glimpse of my world and of me. (I also found it to be a great way to deal with my spelling issues and to get my typing skills a boost from one finger to four, plus it forced me to remember things) They were also a way to let my long lost brother (that is another post) to get to know me.

My Step daughter #1 (who I call daughter, I hate the word step) had a blogger page, that is how I was introduced to it. After myspace started changing things and became more about games and music, lots of my friends and family switched over to Facebook. I followed suit but didn't like the blogging area on facebook and so I decided to start my own blog here on blogger.

Welch Happenings was born! While exploring my new surroundings, I went to the Blog of Note and found Kathryn (From the inside out) and Nancy (f8hasit). I was looking for some bloggers I could possible relate to and who weren't over or under my head. I know that sounds bad, so here's the thing...they do sometimes go over my head, but not bad enough that I can't follow what they are saying. Like you all know..the dictionary is within arms reach and gets used A LOT! But I like that, it challenges me to learn new words and even sometimes how to spell it.

Anyway..I found and received some very dear friends just from starting with those two amazing gals.

Am I staying on topic, probably not. Another one of my issues! LOL!

I have run across a lot of folks who write because:
It is their passion in life.
They just want to be heard.
They need an outlet from their daily lives.
They want to pursue a career as a writer.
Many, many other reasons.

I write cause..I am afraid that when I am older I wont be able to remember a darn thing! Dementia runs in my family and grammie had it real bad. She couldn't hardy remember anything and now all those fabulous stories are lost forever. I don't want that to happen to me or my family. I want a chronicle (or Journal, if you will) of my life.

Having my wonderful new blogging friend enjoy my stories and daily junk, makes it even better! Love and Hugs to you all!



For more great spins go visit Sprite's Keeper.

Stuff Around the House

Yeah, I know. Another blurry pic. My camera and I are not getting along.
But that is not what this post is about.
It's about the piece of paper.
Can ya read it? Can ya believe it?
High Speed is now available in your (my) area!
Woohoo!!!

I have had this flyer hanging around on my desk (tormenting, torturing and teasing me) for about 2 weeks now and talked it over with brother and Sister J (my technical advisers). Asked questions, received questions to ask. Browsed around on the Internet looking to see what others had to say and learned a lot.

I called the company twice to get those answers and was very pleased. It was going to be a total cost of 250 just for the equipment and installation. I was very concerned, that if it didn't work or I didn't like it. I would lose out on all that money. Thankfully it has a 30 guarantee, for a full refund.

I present hubby with all the info and asked if it would be something that he would be willing to save for.

He said...



"You still have the money I asked you to save back from the income tax money, don't ya?"

Yes

"Well, happy birthday!" (my b-day isn't till may)

I love that guy!!

I called the company yesterday and set up an installation for the 23rd.
I am sooooooo excited! I hope it all goes smoothly and I will soon be able to view videos and slide shows, and maybe, just maybe, I will be able to keep up with all of yall's posts. Wouldn't that be nice!

Working Outside and with Whiskers is Dangerous

Well...my plans for this weekend didn't quite go as planned.

My list was:
Mow the yard
Weed eat all around

Paint the shed
Paint hubbies work table

Pull weeds in flower bed
Add fresh soil to flower bed
Get my new plants in the ground
Redo the mulch

Well lets start this with Friday night. I had bought the cats some flea collars. I had never put collars on these cats and knew it was going to be a challenge. I got the first one ready to just slip over the head, so I could quickly get them on. I coax Peach to me and perfectly maneuvered it on, she didn't seen to mind at all. I am very pleased and now more relaxed to do it to Whiskers. I did the same coaxing with Whiskers, but the end result was much different. I held him and started to slip it on and in a flash and a claw, he was gone. Collar still in my hand. I tried coaxing, chasing and cornering. I guess in the chasing part is when "it" happened. It..being, hurt my knee. Bending slightly hurts, walking really hurts.

Saturday..My knee still hurts but not enough to keep me from trying to get my list done. I started with the mowing and halfway through while turning the mower in the opposite direction, I cut my wrist on the fence. So, I had to stop and deal with that.

(Sorry for the blurry pic, it looks like it would if viewing through tears)

The temp was 80 and I was getting hot and super thirsty. I kept having to stop for a rest with shade and plenty of water.

After hours of mowing and resting, I then moved on to pulling weeds/grass (not really sure what it is, just know its not supposed to be there). Those weeds were so thick and deeply rooted. Hercules wouldn't have gotten much farther than I did. I managed to get about 6ft x 6in of area cleared (the bed is 14ft x 3ft). One patch that I was tugging on (with all my body weight) slipped through my hands and made me fall on my arse. I took a break. I went back an hour later and got a tiny bit more done, but then suddenly I felt a burning pain run across my ribs. I think I pulled a muscle instead of the weed.

That was IT, I was done in for the day. Way to many owies for me to handle.

Sunday...Knee still hurts, fence cut looks infected, tooshie tender, rib muscle hurting like crazy and all other muscles are screaming "NO MORE". I took it easy till noon.
I then took the easiest chore..painting the shed and work table.

(The before pic with one side painted)

Instead of taking me about two hours, it took four!


(hubbies work table painted, the unpainted version was 10 kind of ways awful)

Thankfully I didn't add any more injuries to the list, TODAY (there is always tomorrow). I did get some green paint in my hair and shampoo isn't taking it out, I guess I'm covered for St. Patty's Day! LOL!

I am debating on just slapping my plants into larger pots for now,

(No name)

(I forget the name)

(Lantana, purple flowers)

(Various new victims)

(The mums sitting next to the new steps I did)

I don't think I can fight with those weeds just now (they would surely win).

Must drag my aching body to bed now.

Spring Fever

Spring Fever hit me today.

I was going through some of yalls posts and kept running across the word spring.

I hadn't planned on getting any new plants this year, cause of the super high temps we had last year. My Golden Forsythia doesn't appear to have weathered well and my Mexican Heather is sprouting very little so far. The only plant that is thriving is the mums I bought last November and the no name (clover shaped leaves with little pink flowers that grow on their own stems and eventually get long enough to lay over the top of the leaves) plant that I have had for years.

I had to go to the grocery store and on my way I stopped at the hardware store, big mistake! I was there only to get paint for the shed. I ended up browsing around in the gardening section and before I knew it I had picked up some dill, pansies, lantana and more..

Now these poor plants were probably screaming not to be bought by me. I'm sure they can spot a black thumb a mile away. I am getting better at trying to get Texas hardy plants and plants that once established in the ground can survive on their own, instead of just getting what looks pretty. I do try to be a good gardener, but my knowledge is very little, I read the instructions on the little plastic things and do my best. Trial and error. I do feel for the plants that have come across my path in the past (there were plenty) and suffered my neglect. I really shouldn't be allowed in any gardening sections of any stores, but I do keep trying.

So..I will be spending all of Saturday and Sunday outside planting, painting and mowing.

What I did for Ten Days

Random things that happened in the last ten days.

Monday..As you all know, I rushed my computer to the computer doctor after my screen went blue and Microsoft shut me down and dumped my physical memory. I did try rebooting, but the Internet wouldn't open any pages. The doctor said it was going to be 3 days, I felt lost leaving it there. My first thought was "What am I going to do with myself for 3 days!" I went home like a wounded puppy with my tail tucked.

Tuesday..With nothing to do, I called my bf and made plans with her. By noon we was going over crochet stitches and went shopping for yarn. I really shouldn't have spent the gas money but it was so worth getting to spend time with her. I started a crochet project as soon as I got home.

Wednesday..I called everyone in my speed dial to whine about my boredom. I'm sure everyone got plenty sick of me complaining. I eventually got off my butt and went outside. I first played with the dogs and before I knew it I was laying 12 inch cement blocks for a walkway. Hubby came home and before he got to the door, he said..
"Your computer should break down more often."
I shut the storm door and held it shut till he took it back!

Thursday..The computer doctor called and said my baby was ready. I rushed out the door on half a cup of coffee. I was so excited! I had to run to the bank first for several reasons and figured while I was there I would try to see if we could get a loan to help pay off a credit card.

I got home hooked it up and ten minutes into checking my emails, it started doing the exact same thing it was doing on Monday. I called them back and this boy told me somethings to do, this only made it worse. I couldn't even get it to open to my desktop.

Needless to say I was sad and pissed. I took it in to get fixed and all I could tell was that the only thing they did was add updates and give me a better virus protection. They didn't even try to FIX it.

Hubby came home right after me getting it back, so to keep him from blowing his stack, I didn't tell him. He came home early cause he was super sick, I didn't think he needed the extra stress.

A little later in the day I called to see about the loan and we was approved. What a relief and blessing. We can pay off that card and will still be saving ourselves 40 bucks a month and hundreds of interest in the long run!

Friday..First thing in the morning, I took my computer back. Now there wasn't any set time to pick it up, more of a wait and see kinda thing. Aggravating! I did tell hubby the situation before leaving. He was too sick to know what I was saying, lucky me. Stopped and got groceries and back to care for the sick fella laying on his "Death bed" (as he called it, when he crawled on it).

Saturday..I went to the hardware store (for wood) and the auto store (for spark plugs) and just for the heck of it went to the thrift store (just to browse around).
I came home and used hubbies skill saw and cut and laid the new steps. ALL BY MYSELF!

Sunday..Hubby feeling a little better. We fixed by bike together. New tires and a wash down and then attached a basket to the handle bars. Its fixed and ready to go, but I have yet to use it. Lazy. We sat around the rest of the day and watched the race.

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday..I sat around crocheting and calling the computer doctor twice a day. I did manage to get in a lot of extra heavy duty house cleaning and extra chatting with the family everyday.

Now that brings up to date with Thursday..Computer doctor calls and says my baby is ready. They didn't charge me anything extra!
So far so good and very happy, happy, happy!!

I'm back!!

The longest friggin 10 days ever!

I thought for sure I was going to have to get a new computer. I practically did. They had to wipe out everything and start over with everything fresh. I'm still trying to figure out what some of this new stuff is and how to get back some of my other stuff. All in all it wasn't too bad, I only paid a hundred for a complete over haul and got some cool upgrades and extra virus protection. So that was pretty cool.

I lost alot of stuff, but hey at least I am back. This is the first day so hopefully it is completely fixed. Only time will tell.

Here's the thing..Don't ever install IE8 and then try to uninstall it. It will corrupt the exsisting IE7.

I know I have a lot of catching up to do, so please bear with me. I still have to try to get most of my stuff back so that will take up most of my time for a few days. I promise I will be around to your pages as fast as I can.

I want to thank all of yall for the well wishes and I'm blushing that yall missed me so much. Shucks and golly gee!

I'm so happy to be back!

Technical Difficulties

This is sister J letting all of you know that Heather's computer was rushed to the emergency room Monday evening. It is currently still in critical care. She will try to get back as soon as she can.

Nathaniel's Picture

Thanks to my father, just before he went into the hospital he managed to get a pic of Nathan.

While sister was in hospital, I was told that I would be able to get a pic of him off of the hospitals website..but not until she and baby were relaesed.

I waited and waited and checked everyday. I called the hospital to find out what was going on. All I got was they are a little behind, it could be another week or so. It's been almost three weeks and they still haven't posted it.

Nathan was a week old when I got this pic via email. Now I know these people (parents, aunts, uncles and grandparents) have been taking pics like crazy and I get One pic and I only got that after complaining to Dad.

Oh well, I guess I'm going to have to go on a trip and take pics myself!

Isn't that smile soo cute and how about those chubby cheeks?!

In response to this posting...My SIL sent me these:




Thanks sister J!!