Going to Kroger in the morning. Get biscuits and sausage to change up sister’s breakfast.
Watching boy-child tonight. Blondy is supposed to be back by 2:00 tomorrow afternoon. Shortie is dropping girl-child at baby’s other grandmother’s house, then going to spend weekend with her bestest friend. Blondy is trying to get sister to come over and babysit tomorrow night, but sister ain’t havin’ none of it. She is going to airport with her gentleman friend to airport to pick up his son coming home from overseas military service. Blondy's just gonna have to suck it up or take baby with her.
Been playing around with BuddhaBoy—waving arms, turning in circles, and such. He has made his own unique adaptation—he has started walking like a zombie, stepping slowly with arms straight out in front of him. Entertains girls and sister to no end.
Teaching the boy head-banging. He’s pretty good at it. :-)
I took a shhh-owwww-er today, too!!! Nah, nah, na-na, nah. pbbbbblllllllttt
Uh, hold the phone: Blondy was back at 10:30! Hmmm...what does she want? LOL
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New day. Sister running late. Asked her to take me to library before Kroger. Called to check SNAP amount left, and proceeded to fill a grocery cart when I only had a list for a dozen items. :-D Much of it was staples, like BIG jars of catsup and Miracle Whip (both of which these girls would diiiieeeee without), so I don’t feel too badly about it.
Supposed to have had storms around Noon, but I have been watching the radar and have seen the progress of the cold front as it moves south. T’ain’t gonna be happenin’ today.
Boy-child will be a year old in two days and still only has one tooth. Girl-child is 5 ½ months old and has two teeth breaking through. Weird, weird.
Napped today. Have a lingering sinus infection or something like it, I think, and don’t feel too good today. Did tell Blondy I would watch boy-child until Midnight. Have the ball game on. Why is it always a guarantee that when the Red Sox and Yankees play, the game will drag on for at least four hours?
Whoa, Nellie! She came home at 10:15!!!
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New day. Made pancakes for boy-child. He sure is eating ‘well’ lately.
Sitting here looking out the bedroom window at the backyard and cringing. Might talk to sister about letting me get a cordless whacker. Found one for $60. Will have to recharge at least once if I want to do the whole place at the same time, but I could do part one day, part the next, etc. Wouldn’t have the nice smooth, even look of a mower, but it would get done. If feel up to it, will pull those floweredy looking weeds. They come right up and I can clear at least 1/5 of the back yard. Might try straightening the gardening shear blades, see if I can manually cut some of the grass around the fence line. Have a lot of tree seedlings to dig up in the side yard that I let get out of hand. If I clear one a day…
Think I will move the tree peony today. Low humidity and only mid 80s. Do it now before it gets too hot for me to be outside. Understand that peonies don’t like to be moved, and that it will probably sulk for a year or two. But it isn’t blooming now, so that would be no different.
Have daylilies ready to explode all over the place. Really looking forward to see Jamaican Me Crazy. Might be open tomorrow. Will see soon enough, I guess. Shouldn’t be impatient since the annual show is over so quickly. Cut some lavender sections to see if they will root. The Victoria Blue Salvia and Sunshine Blue Caryopteris both did, as did the Irene Trailing Rosemary. Fingers crossed. Still can’t tell if the Zepherine Drouhin rose cuttings have rooted, yet. Waiting...waiting...waiting on that. Patience, m’gurl, patience.
Sister came over to bring Blondy something. I was making sausage, egg, cheese biscuits to freeze for her and she eated-ed one for lunch. Also made up some bacon, egg, and cheese taquitos for the freezer. Or for her to take to the other house if she wants. That way, if I don’t feel like getting up to make fresh, or if it is a day that sister doesn’t have to take DIL to work and won’t be over here that morning, she has them ready.
Blondy and boy-child gone for the night. Shortie will be home sometime this evening, just don’t know when. School is half day on Wednesday and Thursday, then out for the summer. Lord only knows what is going to happen when both girls are home all day, every day, at the same time. Shortie sayyyysss she is going to look for a job, I just haven’t seen any effort to do so, yet.
Dragging and weepy today for some reason. Think I will go to bed early. It surely is quiet enough for the moment to sleep well!
Moved Laura Harwood. Think she will be happier in one of the main beds rather than on the neighbor’s side of the driveway. And I can see it more easily. Really like that bloom. Planted six or eight Strawberry Fields Gomphrena seedlings. Will see which ones survive the snail and slug onslaught. Cleaned up some of the clutter on the front porch. Moved most of it back to the work table under the carport.
Teaching BabyBoy how to do gorilla-style chest pounding. :-D
Looks like more rain coming. Need it fer shure, and the high winds are to the west of us. Good thing. Except I keep hoping a very selective wind will come along and blow away the garage without touching the house. That thing needs to be replaced.
Thunderstorm moving through. More rain, more rain. I be happy with more rain. Except for the knee-high grass, but more rain, more rain is good.
Sold the drill. Guy needed it right away, turns out his had been stolen, he couldn’t work without one, and he had to work tonight! Coolio! Sister was sweating how she could get gas and diapers and wipes and toilet paper between now and Friday. Now she doesn’t have to. The big level was a similar story. Makes me happy that we get money we need, and the buyer gets something that bails them out of a jam, too.
These girls will not listen. Was I ever that blindly pigheaded as a teenager? Both have been horsing around all evening. Went out and yelled at them because they were horsing around with one of the babies. Uh-unh, no emergency 911 calls HERE. But, after putting babies to bed, they keep it up between them and, of course, the inevitable happens. Blondy accidentally rams Shortie into the wall right on the busted up tailbone and she ends up in tears. Welp, no sympathy fer ya. And I ain’t goin’ out to say a single word. Hopefully, the bruised butt teaches best.
Sister is happy with breakfast taquitos, so I will be up at 6:10 again in the AM fixing them for her. She is my sissie…
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New day. The world is coming to an end—Blondy was up at 6:00 this morning! And she is still awake four hours later! I made enough eggs and taquitos for sister, both girls, and boy-child. He sure does like eggs, ate nearly three of them. Going to be a year old next week. awwwwwww
I went back to bed after everyone ate and left. Feeling punky today. It rained while I was sleeping. Woke up just enough to hear it, smile, and go back to sleep.
C says too busy to mow. J will come mow if I can find a mower. Sister is supposed to ask W at the office today. It is out of hand. Good thing most is out of sight from the road, so it should be awhile before I get cited by the city.
Sister taking both girls and babies to get showers. I, myownself, am going to take one here while they are gone. They will never know the difference. (snicker)
Grabbed the scissors I keep outside and started trimming. If I can’t mow, and the garden shears are too bent to use, I can at least tidy up the edges. Have blisters on two fingers now, but several areas do look a little better. :-D
Make that three fingers and a thumb.
Well…well, now...I'm sitting down. Sister received a phone call from her IRS advocate. Her tax return check is scheduled to be mailed tomorrow. Which will bring a huge sigh of relief—when the check is actually in her hand and on the way to the bank.
Adios, good night, lights out.
ARRRGGGGGGG! Both babies squalling at the same time, both mamas yelling, NO-where for me to hide! ARRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!
Blondy is in love again. At least this one has a job and a car—a good job, even. He is coming to pick them up this afternoon to go to his family’s for a cookout. Hope this one is calmmmm.
Shortie talked me into watching girl-child this evening so she could go to her best friend’s house for a few hours. Girl-child’s father did something to get him booted from parents’ house and he is living at a motel. Meaning baby was not allowed to stay with Dad as planned Which discombobulated Shortie to no end. Her situation is so different from Blondy’s. Shortie and the father have a (generally) amicable arrangement about baby. He has no reliability, no money, not much of anything. Howsomever, father was in the delivery room beginning to birth, did his own DNA testing, loves his little girl, and wants to have her as much as he can. From my perspective, though, Shortie seems to expect to have breaks from baby care through him, as if it is a right. HA! She gets quite perturbed if “her” time off from caretaking is disturbed. Right now, the baby is only five months old, and can still be contented in a playpen. T’ain’t gonna last that much longer, then the real life of being a mother, instead of a doll tender, is gonna hit her right square between the eyes. Blondy, on the other hand, has to go to court to get DNA test, etc., and she only has me and my sister to look after boy-child. For all my complaining about her and how much I dislike her, she’s been pretty good about accepting without complaint if we can’t watch the boy. Uh-MAY-zing, ain’t it? Both that she would keep silent and that I would say something nice about her? :-D
Taking a shower after Blondy is gone so I don’t have to listen to her whine about having to wait until tomorrow to go to sister’s house.
Had three pound chub of ground beef. Half of it made a meatloaf to fix lunch plates for sister this week. (Did you know you can cook meatloaf in a Pyrex dish and a $20 toaster oven?) Other half used to make my version of a Juicy Lucy—thin patty, cheese, a second thin patty on top, press rim to seal. Even put raw onion slices in one of them. What’s funny is that after cooking it all, I didn’t want any of it. LOL Mebbe tomorrow.
Blondy and baby had good, non-dramatic, no fighting, family outing. Young man's parents actually sat around in the living room and talked to her. BOTH parents. In the house! At the same time!!! WELL! Miracles abound, and wonders never cease. Normal people, for Heaven's Sake. Only problem is that boy-child had no nap, which means tomorrow is going to be tough.
Attorney appointment tomorrow. Nerves, nerves. Did find a route that keeps us off LBJ—YEA! Sister is driving her gentleman friend’s big ol’ club cab Hemi Dodge truck (he borrowed her car to go to family somewhere north). Sister is a bit erratic, not to mention energetic, on the pedals and I feel much safer on side streets when she is trying to guide such a behemoth.
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New day. Attorney requires letter from doctor before they will take case…sigh…
Washed dishes, so ended up with a lot of water on the bathroom floor, two laundry loads worth. I am weary of the mess, yet I am VERY thankful that we can use the kitchen sink and toilet. :-)
Four of the darkest daylilies opened today. Much nicer blooms than last year. Happy with them. Need to get on Shortie’s phone to the kid who promised to mow the back yard yesterday, then bailed. Grass is taller than two of the dogs and iss gotta goes.
Did my best border collie impersonation herding Buddha Boy on the sidewalk and driveway this afternoon. Keeping him away from the street, the beds, and anything that might scratch him up without actually touching him. No wonder those dogs are so energetic—they HAVE to be! I’m pooped.
Two days, now, with only mild fever. Not coughing quite as much. Mebbe turned the corner on this one (she says in a whisper so as not to attract attention).
Sister gets here right about the time Budda Boy wakes up, and we decide she needs to load BB right up to take him to ER. Lips, hands and feet are blue. Weird coloring on his face, arms, and legs. Didn’t eat anything new last night, no blue popsicles, no blue toy that has been chewed. Looks a lot like cyanosis to my untrained eyes. Hoping it is nothing serious.
ER says O2 is okay, chest Xray clear. He has a lot of congestion that is maybe(?) the cause. Zyrtec and antibiotic. Keep an eye on him. Whoosh...
It is 1:45 and Sister is taking them all away until at least 7:00 to Shortie and Blondy’s youngest sister’s 14th birthday party (different dad, she lives with him). Nothing good on TV and finished all I have energy for outside. Headache maybe needs a lay-down. Will be much more enjoyable with peace and serenity in the house.
Shortie and Birthday Girl were horsing around in the bathroom trying to smear each other’s faces with cake. Shortie went over backward into tub and might have broken her tail bone. Done that before, owie!!!
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New day. Blondy went out with one of her bed partners last night and didn’t get home until around 6:00 this morning. Boy-baby started crying around 7:45 and Blondy didn’t get up and didn’t get up and didn’t get up. #&%^$*#% After yesterday’s scare, one might think she would be extra attentive, and one would be innnn-correct. I made him food, pulled the high chair into my room, changed his ucky diaper, and watched him eat 2 ½ eggs and a whole piece of toast. Awwwwww.
Raining again this morning. NOT complaining, just eager to get outside. I can see four or five newly opened daylilies and I WANT PITCHERS!! lol
Washed dishes and baby bed clothes. Cleaned up water on bathroom floor. Washed bathroom floor clean-up towels from day before. Cleaned up more water from bathroom floor. I neeeeeeeeedd that plumber! Sister received letter yesterday from IRS which says, oops, we owe you more money…and it will be coming in four to six weeks. WHAT?!? Aiyiyi. Can we say KILL? Bring in Arlo Guthrie to do just that one part—I WANT TO KILL, KILLL, KILLLLLL!
Sigh…Shortie will simply NOT listen to me. She is more pigheaded than her grandmother, only her grandmother would have listened to THIS: DO.NOT.LEAVE.GIRL.CHILD.UNATTENDED.ON.COUCH. Not even for one single second. Welp, today, she found out why she should have listened when she turned away for one single second without securing baby and girl-child rolled off the couch to the hardwood floor and landed flat on her face. Shortie was afraid the baby’s nose was broken. It isn’t, but I also don’t think scare was long-lasting enough for Shortie to listen NOW, either… scheisse…
Brain drain continues. Anxious about the attorney appointment Tuesday morning. I have deep fears that either they decide not to take the case, or my not actually having set foot inside a doctor’s office for more than a year will disqualify me. Faith, I gotta have faith...and chocolate, gotta have chocolate.
Crank up the iTunes again so I don’t have to listen to that voice. Why, oh, WHY, does she think Jerry Springer trash is funny? I feel grubby and grimy just having it on in the house!
Eureka! Maybe boy-baby is bored. Maybe THAT’S why he is so whiny lately—he has nothing better to do. See if we can fix that.
This boy sure does like scrambled eggs. And macaroni and cheese. The cheap kind. :-p
Yuck, the pits smell like yesterday’s stale onions. Grab the wipes. Trying to hold out for a shower until they are all gone on Saturday.
Have all the appointment documents organized.
Hey, hey, won an ATP t-shirt. :-) And I was just whining, uh, saying to myself I needed more since all but two of the ones I wear are shredding. Blue, I think. My red skin won’t look good in either the UT orange or light yellow.
Think I am going to put ¼ pound pack of dwarf Cosmos seeds on the Fall buy list.
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New day. Sister allows herself a morning stop every work day at McDonalds for a breakfast deal. Last night, she used her last $10 until after work today to buy diapers for boy-child, so I got up and made egg/cheese breakfast burritos. Have to get more bacon. My sissie likes bacon.
ALL the FFO daylily blooms today are unattractive. Weird. Funny, but weird. Moved some of the clearance yellow lilies I got right after moving in to the house. Need to get at a couple of tree seedlings too large to pull out by hand. That tip about using pliers to pull up tree seedlings by the root works right nice if you dig down a little and the soil is moist. ‘Cept, the second root I yanked was a leeeetle large and deep. Think I strained something on my neck and back. But they are gone. Planted several of the Gomphrena seedlings around, too. Watered everything. Think to have successful vegetables, I will need to build a larger and deeper bed. This temporary one is too shallow. Been watering it enough (yea, me!), but there isn’t enough soil for the roots to get good and wound down.
Smell so nasty even the dogs want to be upwind. Wash my hair in the kitchen sink, then get in the shower for two minutes. How did I know that 10 minutes later Blondy would ask if she could do the same thing? I was ready, though, and scotched THAT one real quick. She and Shortie can stay with the plan as it is and take a shower every other day at sister’s house.
Blondy should never try for a customer service type job—in any field, not even fast food. She called phone company to try getting her number loaded to my phone. All the passwords and security answers were ‘wrong’ so she hangs up on one rep and calls back to go through it all again with another rep, I guess thinking she'll get the answer she wants if she keeps hanging up and calling back (uh, no), and getting more frustrated each time. Finally, on the fourth go-round, she’s cussing, throwing things, yelling at her kid, and—how THIS fit in, I don't know—complaining about not getting a shower today (well, she was muttering about that last, actually, because she damn well better know not to do anything else to my face). Oh, give me an effing break. I really really really REALLY want this person OUT OF MY HOUSE! I fear that she may be here forever since she is too stupid, too temperamental, and too lazy to actually get and keep a job. Shortie isn’t perfect, either, but I almost enjoy having her around. How two people from the same gene pool can be so drastically different is always a puzzle to me. Each of my siblings and I are/were categorically different from each other, too. When I studied birth order, I could see the origin of some of our different character traits, but not enough to explain it fully. I envied them when I was a teenager and young adult. Now, though, I am glad I am me. Would absolutely NOT want to trade my life for any of the ones they had. Nightmare scenarios, there, so nononononononoNO!
Sister promised we could stop at the library tomorrow after Kroger, so I will have some new stuff to read! Happy dance!
Last night, I pulled out my Grateful Heart book, daily blessings for the evening meal. Need to keep reminding myself of how much I have for which to BE grateful, and, in the important things, there is a lot. Now, a whollllllle bunch of the stuff in this book is over the edge for me, but there are nuggets here and there. :-)
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In the twilight rain / these brilliant-hued hibiscus / a lovely sunset
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Be tough in the way a blade of grass is: rooted, willing to lean, and at peace with what is around it.
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Blessed are we who can laugh at ourselves, for we will never cease to be amused.
Shortie 2002