This is one of my favorite holidays. The things that were given up for me to be able to be here to celebrate it are not lost on me. I cant imagine not having the rights I have right now. Its wonderful knowing I can say what I want, where I want and to whom I want.
You know those tools I have been bitching about layin all around the house?? They aint layin there no more. And I didnt touch them.
BR told one of the kids today to go out to my truck and get the toolbox I had bought him about a month ago (he called me special at walmart to pick it up for him). They went out and got it, and he put his tools in it. well not the 2 pound sledge hammer. Thats still in the kitchen floor. But the plyers, the screwdrivers, the wire brush, Kliens, those are in there. And is sitting under the babies swing. I fiqure he will take it to work in about 3 weeks.
We have been cleaning up around here. We have his two brothers and their wives coming over tomorrow for fireworks and BBQ. We do it every year, well twice a year. at least. But if there is firewoks involoved you can rest assured everyone will show up over here with hundreds of dollars worth and we will try to blow somethin up.
Usually his sister and her husband and kids come too. But this year they have to work. One sister in law told me not to buy fireworks, they would take care of that since I supply all the food. That was fine by me. BR is gona BBQ some ribs, and I will make tater salad and baked beans. Then we will have an apple pie. And water melon. I have 100 pounds of water melon sitting on my table right now. There are 3 of them, weighing well over 30 pounds a peice. I hope they are good. They cost a small fortune. 10 bucks a peice. I like to have died when I found out what they cost.
The kids have really been helping me the last few days. I had to clean up the yard. Br will bushhog it tomorrow. Brett helped with that. Matt was sick when we did it. We spent a few hour out there yesterday. We were just about done with all the clean up, and I was putting ant dope on a few mounds when I heard the most GOD AWFUL crash. I literly heard the tires pop. I hollered at Brett and told him to stay here, and I took off running down the hill and heading to the intersection. Its not real far. I will clock it, but I'd say at least a 1/10th of a mile. I got to the crest of the hill and saw it was indeed a wreck (with noise like that I dont know what I thought it could be...) And I hollered back to Brett to go INSIDE and call 911. tell them here was a wreck at the intersection and give them our address. When I got there a few folks where there. One was my cousin, one was BR's. I waved at one as he drove off, spoke to the other before he left. There was already someone talking to the two little old ladies in the car, and the folks that were haulin a boat were out walking around. I was speaking with the boat owner and looked up, BRett was coming down the hill. Not a big deal, except he had left Rayley at home. Both dogs will follow him, and Bow was alone with Rayley in the yard. He was in his excersaucer thingy, but you never know when she will want to share a mud pie. And he is ALWAYS hungry. Matt was asleep, he hadnt felt good. I was fixing to head home anyway, since I couldnt do anything. And all parties were talking and coherant. I didnt know the folks, and they didnt need blankets or anything else I could offer. I asked him what he was doing. He couldnt make the phone work to call 911. Cause he was steady walking AWAY from the house the whole time. My phones only work about 20 feet from the house. Not plumb down to the highway. I ran all the way back home, and as I walked up Rayley was on the phone. With BR. She was telling him "there was a loud bang, momma hollered for brett to call 899 and then took off runnin" Luckily this intersection is notorious for wrecks and so he was pretty sure he knew what happened. I am just glad that it was a holiday weekend. because lots of people were there and able to stop and render aid. Since we are rural that is not always the case. I dont even know when the wrecks happen down there for the most part. With the TV, AC, kids and other various noises I dont hear them happen. Sometimes I hear the chopper coming in cause it touches down right there, but I have never been close enough to go down there.
Once I had run all the way back home I was so wore out that I couldnt stay out in the heat no more. plus when the wreck happened I had thrown my entire bag of ant poison all over the place. I have always said that I dont run. And dont plan on it unless OJ is behind me. And there is a reason for that. I am way too old. And out of shape.
Today was mostly inside cleaning. Not just picking up. Actual CLEANING. I swear, I cleaned out the vacuum 8 times. I want a freakin DYSON so bad. SOOO bad. The 18 feet of hose that twists and turns and does dido's and turns 90 degrees 8 times is just NOT a design that works well when you have dog hair, hair clips, misc peices of paper, doll shoes, dog hair, the occasional barrett, and dirt. Why cant it just be a strait hose, 1 foot long, that goes strait to the bucket. It cant be that freakin hard.
I know parts of the vaccum that no lay person should ever know. And now my kids know cuss words that they shouldnt learn until the Juvinile delinquent teaches it to them on the playground.
Once during one of my self induced dust storms Rayley came through and informed me that "hollerin and cussin that stupid thang aint gona make it work no better, you should hug it and tell it you love it, then you need to bry you a dyson, he worked for years to come up with just the right design"
Brett was smart enough to get her out of the room before I threw the offending piece at her.
Today the boys asked me when I was going to hook up their computer. My dad had brought down his old one and its hooked up, I just have to put a keyboard on it. I told them I would do it soon, and asked why. Matt said he had heard you could get music on them. I told them it didnt matter cause they wouldnt have internet on it. Then I had to explain that all the places I go require internet. They could play a few card games and I'd get them some interactive books to put on it.
This made Matt mad, he said it wasnt fair, he wanted to email people. He said it was no better than those stupid broke cell phones I gave them, that they could only take pictures on and couldnt even send the pictures to each other. and asked me what the point was.
I asked him if he knew how old I was before I got my first computer. he just looked at me crazy.
I told him I was pregnant with him when I got my first computer. I had used them at work for years before that, but never had one at home, and never been on the net. He started whining about how that didnt matter, when I was growing up they didnt even have cell phones, or CD's.
Then Brett piped up and said "well Matt, just think, when you are pregnant with your second child you can get the internet."
That made him madder than a wet hen.
Ohhh.. and I really ticked off Brett today. The little brat was told to go and get the clothes out of the dryer. I would fold them when I got done vacumming. Well I got done and there were no clothes. So I asked. He said they wernt dry. I went and checked. Cause although they are bad about forgetting to turn on the dryer, something didnt ring true.
I went and checked. Come to find out, it was a load I had put in. and they were dry as a bone.
needless to say he then had to change over and fold or hang up 4 loads of laundry. And I told him that he owed me 5.00. I told him that is what it cost me in Electricity to run that dryer when we didnt need to. That really got his goat. He thought he was cute on th last 2 loads. He went and got his and Matts and Rayley's blankets. cause there aint no folding. I went along with it.
Then when I kissed them goodnight tonight I told him that first thing tomorrow he was to take care of the load in the dryer now, and the one I had just put in the washer.
He said that wasnt fair.. Oh well...
Bow is growing like a weed, and getting braver as the days go by. Every once in a while you will catch him standing up on his own.
I worked alot of US history into today. Just in conversation with the kids. We discussed the constitution, bill of rights and what it all means to them. I think they learned something. I know they came to the conclusion that they are very lucky to live where they do. Matt wants to know what kids do that dont get to hunt or play in the woods.
The stupid flapper I put on the toilet has an issue. It will hang up wide open if you are not careful, Its much better than the warped one, cause this one you CAN jiggle and it catches. And you dont have to do it every time. Plus the water rushes in so fast that you can hear it. But I walked in yesterday and it was running, so I jiggled it. Then I made a mental note to mention this to BR.
Then it happened again, So this time I got out of bed and fixed it. I told BR what I had to do.
Then this afternoon I went through there and BR had left out and it was rushing through and wasting water. So I took off the lid, kinda as a reminder. and so you can see that it did catch.
Then abotu 5 minutes after he left I went to put up something in the bathroom and it was running, I decided to make another mental note to mention it to BR. and went around to fix it. The lid was back on. I am not sure why the lid was back on. and whats sad is, it was messed up WITH the lid back on. I am not real sure what having th lid off was hurting. noone uses our bathroom, ever. And even if they did I wouldnt care. I'd much rather explain that I wasnt wasting 20.00 in deisel to get a 1.27 part and we were just coping in the meantime. I have to remember to mention to him that it will get hung up.
I got my first mess of purple hull peas today. OMG they were SOOO good. ANd the kids wolfed them down. And at lunch I had cut up a fresh tomatoe. I asked Matt to eat a bite. He wouldnt, so I offered him a buck. He made sure I didnt have my fingers crossed, swore I was lyin and wouldnt give it to him, wanted to know how little of a bite netted him a buck. Finally I convinced him and so He took a bite. Then ate my whole plate of maters...
I reckon I should try to remember to pay him. I really did forget. But in all honestly so did he. He wanted me to drive over to my grandfathers and get him some more. cause I didnt have any more here.
Speaking of food, I would love a little bite to eat. But, this is the cleanest my kitchen has been in a long time, I dont want to mess it up!
Friday, July 4, 2008
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
I started out with nothing and I have most of it left.
THat is a sign I have hanging in my bedroom. And its true. A friend got it for me after the house burned. I thought it was very fitting. At the time I had no furniture, very little clothing, heck, I didnt even have a house. SOme folks who saw it were appalled. I thought it was funny. And perfect.
Yesterday I went to town. I spent 6 hours in walgreens and walmart. I have for weeks been collecting coupons, scouring the sales papers to price match and fiquring out what I needed, what I could do with out, and what was a good deal. I have started trying to use coupons, anything to save a little money.
Like I said, 6 hours. that doesnt include the cutting, the list making, the reading everything I could on the internet, that is 6 hours of being on my feet pushing a shopping cart, trying to remember if I had a coupon for the 8 oz or the 9oz bag of what ever.
I saved a little over 105.00. I was so damn proud. And I didnt buy crap that I dont already use. Of course I spent a little over 350.00 but thats typical. a family of 6 uses alot of crap. I promise.
And like anyother grocery day I was exhausted when I got home. My mom had kept the kids and I really needed them to unload. Unfortunatly, Matt had a headache and a fever, and Brett and Rayley had been sick to their stomaches all day. Brett and Rayley did help me. Poor Matt just kept begging me to come and sit by him on the couch. He was so pitiful.
My grandfather called, he asked if I would be home to go adn get the fertilizer for the hay feild. I told him yes, we could go at 9am. He asked if BR would be able to put it out with the tractor. I told him I didnt know. It depended on how late he worked. Usually he leave the house around 2 or 3 and gets home at 6-8am here lately. Thats not much sleep. And since this is the middle of the week he wont be off till Saturday. And he isnt always off then. But my grandfather just started saying he would have to pay someone, cause it had to be done real quick. Since it was going to rain tonight. I told him I would ask BR.
Well, today I got to my grandfathers at 9am. BR had been going to bed as I was walking out the door. When I got there he asked me what kind of ball I had on my truck. I told him a towin ball. Well it had to be taken out. Come to find out the fertilzer spreader doesnt take a ball, its got 2 holes in peices of flat iron that sandwich over your ballless hitch thingy (I call it that SOB hitch thingy, cause it sticks out from the back of my truck about 8 inches and I am FOREVER hitting my shin on it... ), and you put a big ole pin through it.
Well herein lies a problem. My ball was put on my hitch about 2 years ago. By BR. He is strong. AND its been in MUD, water, dirt, general YUCK for that long. Well your ball has a shank on it, and a BIG nut that screws it onto your hitch. This this was as good as welded on there. We spent 15 minutes trying our hardest to get it off. I asked my grandfather about 9 times for some WD40. SInce I dont have a toolbox in this truck. He kept saying we didnt need it. Well a 15 inch cresent wrench, and 2 18 inch pipewrenches were NOT working. the thing wouldnt BUDGE. So I wnt and found some miricle oil (WD40) and sprayed iton. Then we put the hitch in the truck and started pulling. I kept asking if we were going the right direction. He kept saying yes.
About 5 minutes of this, and I am telling you, labor didnt hurt this bad. and the wrench got kicked. it moved. bad part was it was kicked the OPPOSITE way we had been pullin. Now I am BAD about not remmebering which way loosens stuff. I just dont loosen enough stuff to know. I use a drill for that. It has a forward arrow and a backward arrow. Its blonde proof.
So with a few tugs (we had even went and got the Tpost driver and slipped it over the end of a pipewrench to give us more leverage) and it was off.
So off to town we go. I had to go and get horse feed and a salt block, then deal with an idiot 18 wheeler driver who blocked me in at the feedstore. Then we went to get the fertilizer contraption. Now I have never used one. I just usually throw it, or BR has a plow thingy that 'lays by' the fertilizer when you plant. It goes behind the tractor. I still have to walk behind it to make sure its workin right.
Anyway, we got this thing all hooked up. and If you have ever pulled a trailer you know that some are better than others. WEll I never knew how much I loved a ball until I didnt have one. THis thing would jerk back and forth cause it wasnt a good seal. Plus I had a worrysome old man sitting beside me thinking I was gona run off and leave the damn thing cause I was driving 65. The speed limit is 70. And he freaked out everytime I went on the shoulder to let some poor soul pass me. See thats a what we call a courtosey here in Texas. When you are going slow as molasses on the highway and someone comes up behind you going the speed limit you pull over and let them pass.
Plus the whole time my grandfather was worried about that pretty blue sky turning dark and ugly and pouring down on us. He kept wanting to know if BR would be there with the tractor when we got there.
it was 10am. I told him since it wasnt PTO driven I could just use my truck and do it if he was worried, that the earliest BR would even roll over was 2. He cant grasp this concept. He has never worked nights. He cant imagine sleeping during the day. Well if you work all night that only leaves the day to sleep. But I try not to argue with fence posts. or at least I dont do it often.
My grandmother always said I would argue with a fence post and kick it over when I thought it was right. I think I got that from my grandfather.
So when we got back to the hayfeild he decided that yes, I should go ahead and spread it with my truck. So we got out adn pulled the only lever on the thing to start the fertilizer going. It only goes if you are moving, then it throws the stuff about 15 feet on either side of you. As you drive.
Well there was this wheel thing, when you pulled the lever it pushed that wheel thing down onto the back tire of the spreader, making the tire make it spin, and a belt was attached to that, which turned another wheel that made the track inside loop and it brought out the fertilizer and then through it onto disks that threw it out.
When we pulled the lever we didnt relize that it was supposed to touch the tire. I had never seen one of these things in my life. Well, my grandfather was convinced that my driving had broken it. I was perplexed too. Then it hit me. It was belt driven, and to drive the belts you had to turn that big wheel, and when it laid up against the tire it drove.
I tried to tell him this. But no, I was wrong, so he walked around it a few times, then came back and told me that he thinks it is supposed to lay on the tire, so the spinning action makes it work. I didnt say I told you so.
So I got in and started driving. He started hollering. I was doing it all wrong. Now the field is basicly a rectangle. So I was going to start in a big circle and then head into the middle.
No, he wanted to go up and down. well, this is a long time garden spot. which means it i all these small rolling hills. when you are driving 9-10 miles an hour they are rough as a cob. I even got stuck 3 times. Thank God for 4 wheel drive.
After much screaming and cussing and throwin of our hat. (by our I mean his) he finally explained what he wanted. Oh yea. I wasnt TOLD we were making strait lines. He just assumed I knew that. Uhhh NO. SO I had Rayley and Brett and Matt and Bow, all clammering to do something, wanting out, playing and running in the hayfeild, or climbing all over me. Bow was driving me nuts. I tried to put in a movie for Rayley, but of course it was scratched and wouldnt work.
Bow wwasnt going to stay in his car seat. There was no way. So I was dealing with him too. and him trying to break everything in my truck. At one point I had to get out and check on something on the spreader. It wasnt doing right. Well then my grandfather and I discussed it and decided he would drive while I stood at his next 'aim spot' so he knew where to drive to. Well I had gotten out and left Bow in the backseat, he was playing with his toys in the floor board. safe. Couldnt reach the front, couldnt climb over any seats. Just playing. I remembered how much of a handful Bow could be while you were trying to drive, so I hollered at Brett to come around and get Bow out. I told him that I had locked the back doors. Next thing I knw, the dingbat had unlocked them and opened up the backdoor. well Bow had been standing and leaning on it. Brett had been talking to him through the window which was up. Out he went tumbiling. My grandfather almost caught him, as did Brett. They broke his fall though. And the ground was soft. He never made a sound. It didnt hurt him at all. But I swear, I was working with morons.
Since I knew he wasnt hurt even from 20 feet away I was laughing when they brought him to me. My grandfather was trying hard not to laugh, But said "he isnt hurt" I said, "oh I know" and looked at Brett and asked him "why didnt you catch him?"
He said "I missed, but its okay, the ground caught him pretty good"
He has heard this all his life. ANytime they ask what will happen if they fall, well tell them "the ground will catch you"
or if they dont want to jump down off something they have climed on, we'll tell them that.
For a while my grandfather bounced and beat my truck up and down the pasture, he would hit some of those bumps so hard the wheels would come off the ground. I wasnt allowed to drive over 35 on a well maintained road all the way home, but he could beat and bang and toss the truck and trailer all over the place. Eventually I took back over the driving.
We FINALLY got to a point where my grandfather said "what time is it?, I'm getting a little hungry"
I had been waiting on thsi question, since I had been watching the clock from 11:30, to 11:40, then 11:50, then 11:51, 11:52, by :55 I was starting to worry about him. He NEVER goes past 11:58 before he lays it down to go and eat. Even with out a watch on. He KNOWS, in his internal clock that its time.
We had MAYBE 30 minutes of work left, but I didnt argue. We loaded up in my uncles golfcart and started down the blacktop to his house. HE had ridden with me so he didnt have his mule. Well the kids were on the back, hanging on and we were going at least 2 miles an hour. After about the 9th time of telling them to hang on I looked back, Brett was picking himself up off the ground. He had fallen off. It scratched him up some. But nothing major, there wasnt even any blood. But I sure did get tickled. I couldnt stop lauging. I told him that was what he got for dumpin Bow on the ground earlier. He just laughed. He was laughing when he picked himself up off the ground, when I was still having that twinge of scaredness.
You know the twinge, when one of your kids does something ignorant, and you are thinking "OMG are they hurt?? anything broken?? how much will the ER charge for this?, or OH CRAP! dont be hurt, we aint got insurance!' that twinge.
When he ran back up to the golf cart I asked what happened. my grandfather looked at Brett and said "looks like the ground caught him"
Once we ate, and went back to the hayfield we were done in no time flat, so I came home. BR woke up shortly there after and then after he ate went to take a shower. He told me I was going to have to wash one uniform shirt, cause he wouldnt have one till Thursday, he had to turn in his uniforms today to be washed and wouldnt pick them up till Thursday morning when he got off.
i had to take the fertlizer spreader back to town so I left when he did. I fot behind some idiot from Louisianna. Over yonder the speed lmit is 55. everywhere. This guy was doing 45. Our speed limit is 70.
I tried to pass him a few times, but he decided the 1/2 of the road that he could use was the middle half.
Then we got to a short 4 lane, by short I mean VERY short. its more of a turning lane for a Farm to market road, but there is just enough room to pass. He couldnt decide which side to drive on, so I just pulled around him and gas choked it. It was worth the 4 bucks it cost me in deisel to do it too. There were about 8 cars piled up behind me. As I passed he flipped me off. Had it not been for those other 8 cars I would have slowed WAY down and made him drive 25. But it wouldnt have been fair to them. Those poor souls would have enough miles to follow before there was another 4 lane or safe place to pass.
Now I dont care where you are from, when you come to a new state you learn their laws. Just like when you move to a new country you learn the freakin language. Here we pull over if we cant manage to go the speed limit. And most people DRIVE the speed limit. Unless you are pullin somethin dangerous, are driving a tractor, or are 97 years old. Just because your own state has asnine laws doesnt mean the rest of the country does. I was already having a stressful day, dealing with a MO-RON was NOT making it better.
I went ahead and got to where I was going. I pulled in the parking lot, sat there a minute, got out, walked around behind the spreader and was seeing where I needed to back it into and that no drivin fool passed. He flipped me off AGAIN! I returned the favor and offered him to come on back and lets talk. He declined the invite. But the car behind him did honk at me and give me the thumbs up. I recognized them from one I had passed at their driveway 15 miles back. They were STILL stuck behind him. I know they were mad enough to bite a nail in two.
Once I got backed in, (backing up a trailer with close wheels, or only one set is NEVER easy, but I did manage it) got unhooked (this thing was not made for a 4 wheel drive, they sit too high) and pulled out that pin thingy I was SO ready to go home and relax!
As I walked in the door BR was calling, he had forgotten his clothes, could I run them by the shop when I went to town?
I had checked my mail as I came home and once I got off the phone I went through it. My water bill was in there. 129.00 even. I almost died. Last months was abotu 20 dollars too high. But I fiqured it was all the clothes I had washed. (those ants added a HUGE amount of laundry to my life) So I came in and told the kids to watch the baby, I was going to chase down the line and make sure that I didnt have a leak. Now its not easy. There are weeds higher than my head out there. I kid you not. As I was walking out the door the phone rang. I was already across the yard and Brett came running out to tell me that it was my mom. I swear I just told them that I was going to be right back. And I only heard it ring once. had they waited more than one ring I would have been swallowed up by the weeds and out of reach.
So I talked to her in the swealtering sun (If I went back in Bow would see me and start to cry) I got off with her and
I headed down to the water meter and sure enough it was steady spinning. I was looking down in the thingy and trying to count how much I was loosing. THEN I realize I am staring at the biggest freakn spider I have ever seen. It was as big as the palm of my hand. I like to have died right then.
I walked away and got out my cell phone to call the house. I spent a good 5 minutes trying to find a signal, leaned up on a fence post and right about the time I got one I saw another spider. This one wasnt quite as big, but scared me none the less. THe phone rang 37 times before Brett picked it up. SO I told him to see if the toilet was running, to check everything. He said the masterbath toilet was indeed running. When I complained about the water bill last month BR had said that toilet had been running, but he mentioned it in passing and I honestly never thought anything else about it. I dont use that bathroom much. Not with him in there asleep all day. I just use the kids. He hasnt said anything, hasnt bitched about me not getting the part, and honestly, I didnt think about it.
Since I couldnt trust Brett to turn off the water with otu breaking the line, I told him to get the walkie talkies and meet me down at the meter. 3 minutes later he was down there (he has paths that I cant find.. For me its just a maze..) I told him to keep a watch on that spinning dial and tell me if it stopped.
I went back to the house and turned off the water to the toilet. He immediatly called me and told me it had stopped. I told him to keep watching. Then I went in the kitchen and turned on the water. He went to hollerin that it was spinnin. I turned if off.
He hollered "it stopped!! It stopped"
I turned it on, "its spinnin again, real fast!!"
I turned if off "it stopped, it stopped"
I did this about 9 or 10 times. Each time he would get more and more excited.
Matt came through and said "are you just gona stand there wasting water just to screw with his head all night?"
So I turned it back on again.
Finally I quit and told him to come on home. I had fixed it. He said okay. 3 minutes went by. I turned back on the water. sure enough I hear "its spinning again!! "
Once I got him back to the house I had Matt come and hold the flashlight, cause that light is still out where the ants got in the contacts of the switch. I bought the switch about 2 weeks ago, but it hasnt been changed. and I just havent wanted to do it. There are more lights in the bathroom, so its not that bad, unless you are working on the toilet. I felt around and sure enough, the flapper was warped. that was the only problem. Wiggiling it wouldnt work, and it literly leaked out with the water off in just a minute. It was dry as a bone. In the 10 minutes I had been screwing around down there getting to the water meter and calling back up to the house, I had lost like 3 gallons of water. cause the flapper is warped. 1.27 peice of rubber has cost me over 100.00. And I havent even added up what the last 6 days since they read the meter were going to cost me.
I started trying to call my mother in law, to get her to pick me a flapper up when she was in town tomorrow. She said that she had one sitting right there. She had bought it this weekend, but forgot to ask me to put it on, and I could have it and she would buy a new one tomorrow. I told her I didnt mind waiting. I dont use that bathroom anyway, but would come over and put it on for her. She said no, that my father in law was home now, and he hates for me to fix the stuff he wont. But she also wanted to make sure it was the right flapper. The one I had put on her other toilet a few years ago was still working adn she wanted one just like that. SHe just about has everyone except my father in law trained to double check that hers is not running (she can still wiggle the handle and it will stop), so it doesnt burn up her well when she is at work. She said that if she hears my father in law go to the bathroom in the middle of the night she goes in when he is done and wiggles the handle to turn it off, cause he just wont remember to do it.
So I left and took BR's clothes down to the yard and threw them in the back of his truck, then I went by her house and picked up that flapper, and then I went and dropped off the feed and salt block I had forgotten to drop off earlier. I came home and in 3 minutes with a 1.27 peice of crap I had fixed the whole problem.
When BR called me I told him about the water bill. Luckily he was able to fiqure out how it was my fault. He had after all told me once, about a month ago that the toilet had been running. Its not like I dont BEG everyone to write down anything they want from town on a peice of paper stuck to the fridge. half the time I dont even remember to walk out of the house with my glasses on, I cant get everything I need with that list. Or in one of the trips he has made with me and bought tools that he just has to have for work and cant live with out, and then set in the kitchen floor (we are now up to a tool box, (cause the other one got icky and broke), a screw driver set, wire brushes that had to be bought 2 months ago, and a 2 pound sledge hammer) he could have reminded me. Heck, I was proud of me cause I bought that light switch with out having to be told. I bought it the next time I went to town. Maybe I will put it in tomorrow. Then I can put the cover back on the plate. Before it gets lost.
SO I called my mother in law back and was bitching to her. SHe sympothised. She hears the same stuff. Then she said something about the electric bill. I had gotten that too, but hadnt opened the envolope. So at her insistance I did. I really didnt want to. I am already having to pay out 80.00 extra on my water. I dont want to think about the electric bill too. Now I wish I hadnt. It literly jumped up 102.00. Its 324. I havent changed a thing. NOT a thing. and this isnt even the hot months yet. I dread it getting any higher. and Lord knows there is no way I can find an electrical leak.
When I freaked out to my MIL on the phone she said, "Oh I know, mine was over 300 too. I just thought you should be mad about all of it at one time." If I hadnt been so tired, and hadnt already wasted my alloted deisel for the day I would have driven over there to strangle her.
ALl that time I had spent saving that money grocery shopping and now its all gone. Plus more. I swear, I cant win for loosin. I was so proud of myself.
anyway, I was in such a bad mood I spent the last 3 hours cleaning out my cabinets. I rearranged everything, put it all back and cleaned the kitchen real good. The kids did pitch in and help. I think they knew I was close to my breaking point.
Brett even cleaned the living room. And Rayley picked up all of Bow's toys. Matt helped alot in the kitchen. I did find quite a few boxes of shake and bake. If I can still afford meat next week we can always eat that adn the box of taters I found.
At least when I die there will be a legacy. It will be bills, but I will be remembered. :)
Yesterday I went to town. I spent 6 hours in walgreens and walmart. I have for weeks been collecting coupons, scouring the sales papers to price match and fiquring out what I needed, what I could do with out, and what was a good deal. I have started trying to use coupons, anything to save a little money.
Like I said, 6 hours. that doesnt include the cutting, the list making, the reading everything I could on the internet, that is 6 hours of being on my feet pushing a shopping cart, trying to remember if I had a coupon for the 8 oz or the 9oz bag of what ever.
I saved a little over 105.00. I was so damn proud. And I didnt buy crap that I dont already use. Of course I spent a little over 350.00 but thats typical. a family of 6 uses alot of crap. I promise.
And like anyother grocery day I was exhausted when I got home. My mom had kept the kids and I really needed them to unload. Unfortunatly, Matt had a headache and a fever, and Brett and Rayley had been sick to their stomaches all day. Brett and Rayley did help me. Poor Matt just kept begging me to come and sit by him on the couch. He was so pitiful.
My grandfather called, he asked if I would be home to go adn get the fertilizer for the hay feild. I told him yes, we could go at 9am. He asked if BR would be able to put it out with the tractor. I told him I didnt know. It depended on how late he worked. Usually he leave the house around 2 or 3 and gets home at 6-8am here lately. Thats not much sleep. And since this is the middle of the week he wont be off till Saturday. And he isnt always off then. But my grandfather just started saying he would have to pay someone, cause it had to be done real quick. Since it was going to rain tonight. I told him I would ask BR.
Well, today I got to my grandfathers at 9am. BR had been going to bed as I was walking out the door. When I got there he asked me what kind of ball I had on my truck. I told him a towin ball. Well it had to be taken out. Come to find out the fertilzer spreader doesnt take a ball, its got 2 holes in peices of flat iron that sandwich over your ballless hitch thingy (I call it that SOB hitch thingy, cause it sticks out from the back of my truck about 8 inches and I am FOREVER hitting my shin on it... ), and you put a big ole pin through it.
Well herein lies a problem. My ball was put on my hitch about 2 years ago. By BR. He is strong. AND its been in MUD, water, dirt, general YUCK for that long. Well your ball has a shank on it, and a BIG nut that screws it onto your hitch. This this was as good as welded on there. We spent 15 minutes trying our hardest to get it off. I asked my grandfather about 9 times for some WD40. SInce I dont have a toolbox in this truck. He kept saying we didnt need it. Well a 15 inch cresent wrench, and 2 18 inch pipewrenches were NOT working. the thing wouldnt BUDGE. So I wnt and found some miricle oil (WD40) and sprayed iton. Then we put the hitch in the truck and started pulling. I kept asking if we were going the right direction. He kept saying yes.
About 5 minutes of this, and I am telling you, labor didnt hurt this bad. and the wrench got kicked. it moved. bad part was it was kicked the OPPOSITE way we had been pullin. Now I am BAD about not remmebering which way loosens stuff. I just dont loosen enough stuff to know. I use a drill for that. It has a forward arrow and a backward arrow. Its blonde proof.
So with a few tugs (we had even went and got the Tpost driver and slipped it over the end of a pipewrench to give us more leverage) and it was off.
So off to town we go. I had to go and get horse feed and a salt block, then deal with an idiot 18 wheeler driver who blocked me in at the feedstore. Then we went to get the fertilizer contraption. Now I have never used one. I just usually throw it, or BR has a plow thingy that 'lays by' the fertilizer when you plant. It goes behind the tractor. I still have to walk behind it to make sure its workin right.
Anyway, we got this thing all hooked up. and If you have ever pulled a trailer you know that some are better than others. WEll I never knew how much I loved a ball until I didnt have one. THis thing would jerk back and forth cause it wasnt a good seal. Plus I had a worrysome old man sitting beside me thinking I was gona run off and leave the damn thing cause I was driving 65. The speed limit is 70. And he freaked out everytime I went on the shoulder to let some poor soul pass me. See thats a what we call a courtosey here in Texas. When you are going slow as molasses on the highway and someone comes up behind you going the speed limit you pull over and let them pass.
Plus the whole time my grandfather was worried about that pretty blue sky turning dark and ugly and pouring down on us. He kept wanting to know if BR would be there with the tractor when we got there.
it was 10am. I told him since it wasnt PTO driven I could just use my truck and do it if he was worried, that the earliest BR would even roll over was 2. He cant grasp this concept. He has never worked nights. He cant imagine sleeping during the day. Well if you work all night that only leaves the day to sleep. But I try not to argue with fence posts. or at least I dont do it often.
My grandmother always said I would argue with a fence post and kick it over when I thought it was right. I think I got that from my grandfather.
So when we got back to the hayfeild he decided that yes, I should go ahead and spread it with my truck. So we got out adn pulled the only lever on the thing to start the fertilizer going. It only goes if you are moving, then it throws the stuff about 15 feet on either side of you. As you drive.
Well there was this wheel thing, when you pulled the lever it pushed that wheel thing down onto the back tire of the spreader, making the tire make it spin, and a belt was attached to that, which turned another wheel that made the track inside loop and it brought out the fertilizer and then through it onto disks that threw it out.
When we pulled the lever we didnt relize that it was supposed to touch the tire. I had never seen one of these things in my life. Well, my grandfather was convinced that my driving had broken it. I was perplexed too. Then it hit me. It was belt driven, and to drive the belts you had to turn that big wheel, and when it laid up against the tire it drove.
I tried to tell him this. But no, I was wrong, so he walked around it a few times, then came back and told me that he thinks it is supposed to lay on the tire, so the spinning action makes it work. I didnt say I told you so.
So I got in and started driving. He started hollering. I was doing it all wrong. Now the field is basicly a rectangle. So I was going to start in a big circle and then head into the middle.
No, he wanted to go up and down. well, this is a long time garden spot. which means it i all these small rolling hills. when you are driving 9-10 miles an hour they are rough as a cob. I even got stuck 3 times. Thank God for 4 wheel drive.
After much screaming and cussing and throwin of our hat. (by our I mean his) he finally explained what he wanted. Oh yea. I wasnt TOLD we were making strait lines. He just assumed I knew that. Uhhh NO. SO I had Rayley and Brett and Matt and Bow, all clammering to do something, wanting out, playing and running in the hayfeild, or climbing all over me. Bow was driving me nuts. I tried to put in a movie for Rayley, but of course it was scratched and wouldnt work.
Bow wwasnt going to stay in his car seat. There was no way. So I was dealing with him too. and him trying to break everything in my truck. At one point I had to get out and check on something on the spreader. It wasnt doing right. Well then my grandfather and I discussed it and decided he would drive while I stood at his next 'aim spot' so he knew where to drive to. Well I had gotten out and left Bow in the backseat, he was playing with his toys in the floor board. safe. Couldnt reach the front, couldnt climb over any seats. Just playing. I remembered how much of a handful Bow could be while you were trying to drive, so I hollered at Brett to come around and get Bow out. I told him that I had locked the back doors. Next thing I knw, the dingbat had unlocked them and opened up the backdoor. well Bow had been standing and leaning on it. Brett had been talking to him through the window which was up. Out he went tumbiling. My grandfather almost caught him, as did Brett. They broke his fall though. And the ground was soft. He never made a sound. It didnt hurt him at all. But I swear, I was working with morons.
Since I knew he wasnt hurt even from 20 feet away I was laughing when they brought him to me. My grandfather was trying hard not to laugh, But said "he isnt hurt" I said, "oh I know" and looked at Brett and asked him "why didnt you catch him?"
He said "I missed, but its okay, the ground caught him pretty good"
He has heard this all his life. ANytime they ask what will happen if they fall, well tell them "the ground will catch you"
or if they dont want to jump down off something they have climed on, we'll tell them that.
For a while my grandfather bounced and beat my truck up and down the pasture, he would hit some of those bumps so hard the wheels would come off the ground. I wasnt allowed to drive over 35 on a well maintained road all the way home, but he could beat and bang and toss the truck and trailer all over the place. Eventually I took back over the driving.
We FINALLY got to a point where my grandfather said "what time is it?, I'm getting a little hungry"
I had been waiting on thsi question, since I had been watching the clock from 11:30, to 11:40, then 11:50, then 11:51, 11:52, by :55 I was starting to worry about him. He NEVER goes past 11:58 before he lays it down to go and eat. Even with out a watch on. He KNOWS, in his internal clock that its time.
We had MAYBE 30 minutes of work left, but I didnt argue. We loaded up in my uncles golfcart and started down the blacktop to his house. HE had ridden with me so he didnt have his mule. Well the kids were on the back, hanging on and we were going at least 2 miles an hour. After about the 9th time of telling them to hang on I looked back, Brett was picking himself up off the ground. He had fallen off. It scratched him up some. But nothing major, there wasnt even any blood. But I sure did get tickled. I couldnt stop lauging. I told him that was what he got for dumpin Bow on the ground earlier. He just laughed. He was laughing when he picked himself up off the ground, when I was still having that twinge of scaredness.
You know the twinge, when one of your kids does something ignorant, and you are thinking "OMG are they hurt?? anything broken?? how much will the ER charge for this?, or OH CRAP! dont be hurt, we aint got insurance!' that twinge.
When he ran back up to the golf cart I asked what happened. my grandfather looked at Brett and said "looks like the ground caught him"
Once we ate, and went back to the hayfield we were done in no time flat, so I came home. BR woke up shortly there after and then after he ate went to take a shower. He told me I was going to have to wash one uniform shirt, cause he wouldnt have one till Thursday, he had to turn in his uniforms today to be washed and wouldnt pick them up till Thursday morning when he got off.
i had to take the fertlizer spreader back to town so I left when he did. I fot behind some idiot from Louisianna. Over yonder the speed lmit is 55. everywhere. This guy was doing 45. Our speed limit is 70.
I tried to pass him a few times, but he decided the 1/2 of the road that he could use was the middle half.
Then we got to a short 4 lane, by short I mean VERY short. its more of a turning lane for a Farm to market road, but there is just enough room to pass. He couldnt decide which side to drive on, so I just pulled around him and gas choked it. It was worth the 4 bucks it cost me in deisel to do it too. There were about 8 cars piled up behind me. As I passed he flipped me off. Had it not been for those other 8 cars I would have slowed WAY down and made him drive 25. But it wouldnt have been fair to them. Those poor souls would have enough miles to follow before there was another 4 lane or safe place to pass.
Now I dont care where you are from, when you come to a new state you learn their laws. Just like when you move to a new country you learn the freakin language. Here we pull over if we cant manage to go the speed limit. And most people DRIVE the speed limit. Unless you are pullin somethin dangerous, are driving a tractor, or are 97 years old. Just because your own state has asnine laws doesnt mean the rest of the country does. I was already having a stressful day, dealing with a MO-RON was NOT making it better.
I went ahead and got to where I was going. I pulled in the parking lot, sat there a minute, got out, walked around behind the spreader and was seeing where I needed to back it into and that no drivin fool passed. He flipped me off AGAIN! I returned the favor and offered him to come on back and lets talk. He declined the invite. But the car behind him did honk at me and give me the thumbs up. I recognized them from one I had passed at their driveway 15 miles back. They were STILL stuck behind him. I know they were mad enough to bite a nail in two.
Once I got backed in, (backing up a trailer with close wheels, or only one set is NEVER easy, but I did manage it) got unhooked (this thing was not made for a 4 wheel drive, they sit too high) and pulled out that pin thingy I was SO ready to go home and relax!
As I walked in the door BR was calling, he had forgotten his clothes, could I run them by the shop when I went to town?
I had checked my mail as I came home and once I got off the phone I went through it. My water bill was in there. 129.00 even. I almost died. Last months was abotu 20 dollars too high. But I fiqured it was all the clothes I had washed. (those ants added a HUGE amount of laundry to my life) So I came in and told the kids to watch the baby, I was going to chase down the line and make sure that I didnt have a leak. Now its not easy. There are weeds higher than my head out there. I kid you not. As I was walking out the door the phone rang. I was already across the yard and Brett came running out to tell me that it was my mom. I swear I just told them that I was going to be right back. And I only heard it ring once. had they waited more than one ring I would have been swallowed up by the weeds and out of reach.
So I talked to her in the swealtering sun (If I went back in Bow would see me and start to cry) I got off with her and
I headed down to the water meter and sure enough it was steady spinning. I was looking down in the thingy and trying to count how much I was loosing. THEN I realize I am staring at the biggest freakn spider I have ever seen. It was as big as the palm of my hand. I like to have died right then.
I walked away and got out my cell phone to call the house. I spent a good 5 minutes trying to find a signal, leaned up on a fence post and right about the time I got one I saw another spider. This one wasnt quite as big, but scared me none the less. THe phone rang 37 times before Brett picked it up. SO I told him to see if the toilet was running, to check everything. He said the masterbath toilet was indeed running. When I complained about the water bill last month BR had said that toilet had been running, but he mentioned it in passing and I honestly never thought anything else about it. I dont use that bathroom much. Not with him in there asleep all day. I just use the kids. He hasnt said anything, hasnt bitched about me not getting the part, and honestly, I didnt think about it.
Since I couldnt trust Brett to turn off the water with otu breaking the line, I told him to get the walkie talkies and meet me down at the meter. 3 minutes later he was down there (he has paths that I cant find.. For me its just a maze..) I told him to keep a watch on that spinning dial and tell me if it stopped.
I went back to the house and turned off the water to the toilet. He immediatly called me and told me it had stopped. I told him to keep watching. Then I went in the kitchen and turned on the water. He went to hollerin that it was spinnin. I turned if off.
He hollered "it stopped!! It stopped"
I turned it on, "its spinnin again, real fast!!"
I turned if off "it stopped, it stopped"
I did this about 9 or 10 times. Each time he would get more and more excited.
Matt came through and said "are you just gona stand there wasting water just to screw with his head all night?"
So I turned it back on again.
Finally I quit and told him to come on home. I had fixed it. He said okay. 3 minutes went by. I turned back on the water. sure enough I hear "its spinning again!! "
Once I got him back to the house I had Matt come and hold the flashlight, cause that light is still out where the ants got in the contacts of the switch. I bought the switch about 2 weeks ago, but it hasnt been changed. and I just havent wanted to do it. There are more lights in the bathroom, so its not that bad, unless you are working on the toilet. I felt around and sure enough, the flapper was warped. that was the only problem. Wiggiling it wouldnt work, and it literly leaked out with the water off in just a minute. It was dry as a bone. In the 10 minutes I had been screwing around down there getting to the water meter and calling back up to the house, I had lost like 3 gallons of water. cause the flapper is warped. 1.27 peice of rubber has cost me over 100.00. And I havent even added up what the last 6 days since they read the meter were going to cost me.
I started trying to call my mother in law, to get her to pick me a flapper up when she was in town tomorrow. She said that she had one sitting right there. She had bought it this weekend, but forgot to ask me to put it on, and I could have it and she would buy a new one tomorrow. I told her I didnt mind waiting. I dont use that bathroom anyway, but would come over and put it on for her. She said no, that my father in law was home now, and he hates for me to fix the stuff he wont. But she also wanted to make sure it was the right flapper. The one I had put on her other toilet a few years ago was still working adn she wanted one just like that. SHe just about has everyone except my father in law trained to double check that hers is not running (she can still wiggle the handle and it will stop), so it doesnt burn up her well when she is at work. She said that if she hears my father in law go to the bathroom in the middle of the night she goes in when he is done and wiggles the handle to turn it off, cause he just wont remember to do it.
So I left and took BR's clothes down to the yard and threw them in the back of his truck, then I went by her house and picked up that flapper, and then I went and dropped off the feed and salt block I had forgotten to drop off earlier. I came home and in 3 minutes with a 1.27 peice of crap I had fixed the whole problem.
When BR called me I told him about the water bill. Luckily he was able to fiqure out how it was my fault. He had after all told me once, about a month ago that the toilet had been running. Its not like I dont BEG everyone to write down anything they want from town on a peice of paper stuck to the fridge. half the time I dont even remember to walk out of the house with my glasses on, I cant get everything I need with that list. Or in one of the trips he has made with me and bought tools that he just has to have for work and cant live with out, and then set in the kitchen floor (we are now up to a tool box, (cause the other one got icky and broke), a screw driver set, wire brushes that had to be bought 2 months ago, and a 2 pound sledge hammer) he could have reminded me. Heck, I was proud of me cause I bought that light switch with out having to be told. I bought it the next time I went to town. Maybe I will put it in tomorrow. Then I can put the cover back on the plate. Before it gets lost.
SO I called my mother in law back and was bitching to her. SHe sympothised. She hears the same stuff. Then she said something about the electric bill. I had gotten that too, but hadnt opened the envolope. So at her insistance I did. I really didnt want to. I am already having to pay out 80.00 extra on my water. I dont want to think about the electric bill too. Now I wish I hadnt. It literly jumped up 102.00. Its 324. I havent changed a thing. NOT a thing. and this isnt even the hot months yet. I dread it getting any higher. and Lord knows there is no way I can find an electrical leak.
When I freaked out to my MIL on the phone she said, "Oh I know, mine was over 300 too. I just thought you should be mad about all of it at one time." If I hadnt been so tired, and hadnt already wasted my alloted deisel for the day I would have driven over there to strangle her.
ALl that time I had spent saving that money grocery shopping and now its all gone. Plus more. I swear, I cant win for loosin. I was so proud of myself.
anyway, I was in such a bad mood I spent the last 3 hours cleaning out my cabinets. I rearranged everything, put it all back and cleaned the kitchen real good. The kids did pitch in and help. I think they knew I was close to my breaking point.
Brett even cleaned the living room. And Rayley picked up all of Bow's toys. Matt helped alot in the kitchen. I did find quite a few boxes of shake and bake. If I can still afford meat next week we can always eat that adn the box of taters I found.
At least when I die there will be a legacy. It will be bills, but I will be remembered. :)
Monday, June 30, 2008
Well, there was mud.... just no bog...
Well, after driving for 45 minutes I found out that we wernt going to a mud bog. It was a 4 wheeler thingy. we still had 30 minutes to go. When we got there I found out that there was not gona be a single 4 wheel drive truck. It was a pit dug with about 3 feet of water and they were just racin 4 wheelers through it. I dont like 4 wheelers. I have flipped a few and tend to stay away from them.
Of course we only arrived an hour early so the really board rednecks got all the good places to sit. If I cocked my head just right I could see them come up over the hill. that was it.
And I swear people would walk between where we were sitting the people in front of us and STAND there. How rude. had I actually cared I would have said something. As it was I just sat back and laughed at them. There were some doozy's.
There were 12 of us that went. all 3 brothers, their wives and then my 4 kids and my sister in laws 2.
When we get together and pack up for something like that its like moving an indian villiage.
We hadnt been there for 20 minutes and BR gave my neice 40.00 to go and get the kids each a T shirt. Then Matt walked up and told me that he wanted a sausage on a stick. His dad had told him to come tell me to get them and get him one with a bun. I swear, I had 30.00 in junk food in my diaper bag. all bagged in ziploc bags, ready to eat. I had tried to feed them all before we left so they wouldnt be hungry.
I went and got BR a sausage, matt and Brett decided on nacho's and Rayley wanted a pickle. So much for me not spending money. But I guess it would be worth it if they had fun. although I was still thinking they should have had fun just with the money I spent in Deisel.
THEN, we sat down. Bow was a live wire. He was so happy and cheerful and jumpin up and down. It was like tryin to hold a greased pig. I spent the next hour and a half playing with my blackberry, my sisterin law played with hers and BR with his. We just transfered the rest of the stuff I had put on his phone before I had them changed over and the old ones turned off. I could have cared less about the 4 wheelers. And had I known what I was going to see I wouldnt have went.
Speaking of my old phones, they have been the cheapest presents I have ever given the kids. Once I turned off the service (which REALLY pissed them off.. like I am gona give a 8 and 9 year old a cell phone..) I let them have them. I do wish they could bluetooth each other. They would freakin LOVE that! But, they are happy as clams running around and taking pictures. THey cant do anything WITH the pictures, but LOVE to use the phones to take them. Oh well. cheap entertainment!
About the 3rd time Brett came over to BR and asked if it was gona be over soon we all decided to load up and drive back home. When a kid dosnt enjoy mud and seeing vehicles play it in you KNOW its boring.
And I was tired of wrassilin houdini. that kid cant be tied down. I swear.
We got home around 11:30. The kids had ridden home with Luke and Amanda and they brought them in. I swear I never even saw them. Nor heard a word. They went strait to bed.
Today was pretty boring. I didnt do much, just transfered all my pics that I had emailed to BR's new phone from my old phone (I had transfered everything from HIS old phone to my old phone, then text'd everthing to his NEW phone, then last night we text'd my stuff to MY new phone) to the SD card thats in there, then put them on the computer. There were pics on there that were 2 years old. I had never gotten them off. thats sad.
It came another storm today. Its rained like the proverbial bovine reliving herself on a horizontal rock for 4 days strait in the middle of the day, then stops and clears up. They were finally able to make the hay yesterday. They have been trying for a week. Once the rain let up and BR went to work I ran and got me a sunday paper. I am trying this coupon thing. With a vengance. I am also getting my grandfather to save his coupons for me. I have to do something to combat the price of food. Not cooking is not working.
Speaking of cooking. I was complaining yesterday about my slight pooch, I have been lax in the excersize department since Bow was born. Not that I was ever big on it. But apparently age is catching up with me. Anyway, I commented about it to BR. I said that I really needed to do something about it. My current excersize regimine wasnt working.
He said "what are you doing?"
"Sittin on my butt mostly"
"well, keep working hard at that, I am sure it will work eventually"
I think he was being rude. But I didnt care, I was headed into the kitchen. There is a new bluebell ice cream, Southern blackberry cobbler. it has real blackberries and peices of pie crust. flakey pie crust. OMG heaven.
Blue bell will send you ice cream by fedex out of state, so if you have a little money to burn, I recomend trying it. If you do, get cake batter while you are at it. Its to DIE for. I dont really like ice cream that much. But could LIVE off that stuff. I kid you not.
But it has to be bluebell. I think there are other ice creams out there. But I have honestly not ate them. Its just Un TExan to do so. And NOTHIN is anywhere near as good.
Oh, while I went into my grandfathers today I left the kids in the truck. I came back out and they had the stereo blaring. Jambaliya was on.
I asked them who sang it.
Matt says "Hank Williams Jr's Dad"
"whats his name?"
I swear I was met iwth total silence.
Then
"Was it George?"
"ahhhh No"
"Stephen WIlliams"
"again, NO, what is the sons name?"
"Hank Williams Jr"
"OH I know, " says Matt " Bocephous!"
" No, thats Hank Jr's nickname. His daddy called him that, Try one more time"
"ohhhh... Is it Hank Williams too?" says Matt
"YES! Hence the JR at the end of Bocephous' name"
"well what was his name before he died?"
"huh?"
"well, since he got drunk and did drugs and died at like 29, ...
which was interupted by Brett saying "why again was that such a bad thing? isnt that old?".. and "that must be sad, to not have any parents"
Matt kept going "..... is that why they named Bocephus, Hank Jr?, Cause his dad died and they wanted another Hank Williams?"
"No, thats not why, sometimes people are named after their fathers, and they are Juniors. Like Pop. He's a Junior."
"did they name him that before his dad died?"
"yes, when he was born. He was older than me when his dad died"
"well, thats just stupid, it would be confusing. Like if we were both named BR, then if you called BR we would all come"
"y'all dont come when I call the names I gave you"
"sometimes we do"
"yeah.. like when you say 'Brett! Matt! suppers ready!!"
"Right! or 'Matt!!, Brett!!, come get some candy!!'"
"I never say that!"
"I know, but it would be nice to hear."
"you dont name 2 kids the same name. You can have a JR, thats one kid named after the father. And he can have a kid, and name him the same thing. Then you have a third, and so on"
"wow, those graves must get confusing..."
I swear, I dont know where my kids minds are at half the time.
"yeah, and how do you choose who gets to be named like the dad?"
"usually its the first born."
"well that sucks!"
"yeah, what if its a girl?"
I was SOOO glad to drive up in the driveway. SO glad. and by the time they got in the house they were on a differnt subject.
Of course we only arrived an hour early so the really board rednecks got all the good places to sit. If I cocked my head just right I could see them come up over the hill. that was it.
And I swear people would walk between where we were sitting the people in front of us and STAND there. How rude. had I actually cared I would have said something. As it was I just sat back and laughed at them. There were some doozy's.
There were 12 of us that went. all 3 brothers, their wives and then my 4 kids and my sister in laws 2.
When we get together and pack up for something like that its like moving an indian villiage.
We hadnt been there for 20 minutes and BR gave my neice 40.00 to go and get the kids each a T shirt. Then Matt walked up and told me that he wanted a sausage on a stick. His dad had told him to come tell me to get them and get him one with a bun. I swear, I had 30.00 in junk food in my diaper bag. all bagged in ziploc bags, ready to eat. I had tried to feed them all before we left so they wouldnt be hungry.
I went and got BR a sausage, matt and Brett decided on nacho's and Rayley wanted a pickle. So much for me not spending money. But I guess it would be worth it if they had fun. although I was still thinking they should have had fun just with the money I spent in Deisel.
THEN, we sat down. Bow was a live wire. He was so happy and cheerful and jumpin up and down. It was like tryin to hold a greased pig. I spent the next hour and a half playing with my blackberry, my sisterin law played with hers and BR with his. We just transfered the rest of the stuff I had put on his phone before I had them changed over and the old ones turned off. I could have cared less about the 4 wheelers. And had I known what I was going to see I wouldnt have went.
Speaking of my old phones, they have been the cheapest presents I have ever given the kids. Once I turned off the service (which REALLY pissed them off.. like I am gona give a 8 and 9 year old a cell phone..) I let them have them. I do wish they could bluetooth each other. They would freakin LOVE that! But, they are happy as clams running around and taking pictures. THey cant do anything WITH the pictures, but LOVE to use the phones to take them. Oh well. cheap entertainment!
About the 3rd time Brett came over to BR and asked if it was gona be over soon we all decided to load up and drive back home. When a kid dosnt enjoy mud and seeing vehicles play it in you KNOW its boring.
And I was tired of wrassilin houdini. that kid cant be tied down. I swear.
We got home around 11:30. The kids had ridden home with Luke and Amanda and they brought them in. I swear I never even saw them. Nor heard a word. They went strait to bed.
Today was pretty boring. I didnt do much, just transfered all my pics that I had emailed to BR's new phone from my old phone (I had transfered everything from HIS old phone to my old phone, then text'd everthing to his NEW phone, then last night we text'd my stuff to MY new phone) to the SD card thats in there, then put them on the computer. There were pics on there that were 2 years old. I had never gotten them off. thats sad.
It came another storm today. Its rained like the proverbial bovine reliving herself on a horizontal rock for 4 days strait in the middle of the day, then stops and clears up. They were finally able to make the hay yesterday. They have been trying for a week. Once the rain let up and BR went to work I ran and got me a sunday paper. I am trying this coupon thing. With a vengance. I am also getting my grandfather to save his coupons for me. I have to do something to combat the price of food. Not cooking is not working.
Speaking of cooking. I was complaining yesterday about my slight pooch, I have been lax in the excersize department since Bow was born. Not that I was ever big on it. But apparently age is catching up with me. Anyway, I commented about it to BR. I said that I really needed to do something about it. My current excersize regimine wasnt working.
He said "what are you doing?"
"Sittin on my butt mostly"
"well, keep working hard at that, I am sure it will work eventually"
I think he was being rude. But I didnt care, I was headed into the kitchen. There is a new bluebell ice cream, Southern blackberry cobbler. it has real blackberries and peices of pie crust. flakey pie crust. OMG heaven.
Blue bell will send you ice cream by fedex out of state, so if you have a little money to burn, I recomend trying it. If you do, get cake batter while you are at it. Its to DIE for. I dont really like ice cream that much. But could LIVE off that stuff. I kid you not.
But it has to be bluebell. I think there are other ice creams out there. But I have honestly not ate them. Its just Un TExan to do so. And NOTHIN is anywhere near as good.
Oh, while I went into my grandfathers today I left the kids in the truck. I came back out and they had the stereo blaring. Jambaliya was on.
I asked them who sang it.
Matt says "Hank Williams Jr's Dad"
"whats his name?"
I swear I was met iwth total silence.
Then
"Was it George?"
"ahhhh No"
"Stephen WIlliams"
"again, NO, what is the sons name?"
"Hank Williams Jr"
"OH I know, " says Matt " Bocephous!"
" No, thats Hank Jr's nickname. His daddy called him that, Try one more time"
"ohhhh... Is it Hank Williams too?" says Matt
"YES! Hence the JR at the end of Bocephous' name"
"well what was his name before he died?"
"huh?"
"well, since he got drunk and did drugs and died at like 29, ...
which was interupted by Brett saying "why again was that such a bad thing? isnt that old?".. and "that must be sad, to not have any parents"
Matt kept going "..... is that why they named Bocephus, Hank Jr?, Cause his dad died and they wanted another Hank Williams?"
"No, thats not why, sometimes people are named after their fathers, and they are Juniors. Like Pop. He's a Junior."
"did they name him that before his dad died?"
"yes, when he was born. He was older than me when his dad died"
"well, thats just stupid, it would be confusing. Like if we were both named BR, then if you called BR we would all come"
"y'all dont come when I call the names I gave you"
"sometimes we do"
"yeah.. like when you say 'Brett! Matt! suppers ready!!"
"Right! or 'Matt!!, Brett!!, come get some candy!!'"
"I never say that!"
"I know, but it would be nice to hear."
"you dont name 2 kids the same name. You can have a JR, thats one kid named after the father. And he can have a kid, and name him the same thing. Then you have a third, and so on"
"wow, those graves must get confusing..."
I swear, I dont know where my kids minds are at half the time.
"yeah, and how do you choose who gets to be named like the dad?"
"usually its the first born."
"well that sucks!"
"yeah, what if its a girl?"
I was SOOO glad to drive up in the driveway. SO glad. and by the time they got in the house they were on a differnt subject.
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