One more day. Just ONE more day.

I woke up late this morning. 6:33 to be exact. My mother in law has been getting here around 6:40 the last few weeks. (which has been nice, it sure as hell beats 6 am).

She had called me last night to remind me that today was the cut off day for the electric bill. And to have mine ready and she would give it to my sister in law who had hers, and another sister in laws and was going to go before 8am and pay them.

Well, I couldnt find my checkbook. And I couldnt find the bill. and I couldnt get the kids up and dressed. She showed up and I was still searching for my checkbook. I told her just to go, I'd get it to town. She knew that I had to go in around noon for Bretts party, but that I also had to stay till after Bretts game tonight. And driving in at 7 am and driving back home was just a waste of money and deisel.

So she helped me look. We searched all over. Brett had brought home all of his crap from school, and more crap that wasnt his. His teacher is retiring this year so she is giving the kids all kinds of crap. He got it as far as my truck and didnt get it in last night. The entire front seat of the truck was FULL. Papers and books, and workbooks, and packets of papers... it was awful. I understand why she wants to get rid of the stuff. But I also have to say that I am getting tired of it. See Brett has a knack of 'displacing' teachers. Every year we get the same thing. The teacher cleans out her closets and gives all the stuff to the kids. Cause she is haulin butt. I kid you not. This child has set a record with his former teachers. Kindergarten his teacher (who by the way, taught my brother in law and lived through him...) semi retired, but came back as a reading lab teacher part time.
I really hated that, I wanted her for Matt.

1st grade: His teacher packed up and moved to a whole new school district, I mean GONE. and it was her first year. I also wanted her for Matt.

2nd grade: His teacher is another newish teacher, not very old, not near retirement age, but stops teaching and becomes a Math lab teacher.

Now 3rd grade and this one is retiring. She has been teaching since I was in the 3rd grade. and before. But as soon as my kid gets her she throws in the towell.

Now I dont know if its cause I threatened the first two with getting Matt the next year or Brett is really that hard on them.

When I went to the principal a few weeks ago to fill out my teacher requests we were going over it and she pointed out some names. I told her that I trusted her, but wanted to let her know that she shouldnt pick someone she just adores. Cause she will be gone by the next fall.

I dont think she belived me.


Oh, back to my morning.
I did finally find my checkbook. Shoved between the seats of my truck. So I wrote her a check for 200.00. That should be enough to not get it cut off and I would pay what ever else when I went into town today, if it was a big differnce.


I came back in the house, I had a few things I needed to get done before I had to go to town. BUT Bow was asleep, and so was Rayley. It seemed like a good time to play on the computer.
ANd I did. till about 9. Then I got up and cleaned a little. around 11 I decided that I should go ahead and start lunch. Get it done so that when BR got up it was ready and plus I had to leave by 12:20. OH and my mother in law called to tell me that I was 2.61 off on my guess to the electric company. I ended up calling them to find out what next months bill would be and make sure they were okay with the 2.61 in arrears.. No problem they said.

I started cooking hamburger meat for taco's and remembered BR's uniform jeans and shirt. Due to the holiday the laundry service at work was a day off and he was out. So he had put them in the washer this morning and I had to dry them..

Well I walked into he laundry room and the lights went out. The whole damn house. Then they flicked back on.
WHEW!
Then they went back out and BOOM, right back on.
I was just standing there in a daze. I knew I should run around and unplug all my electronic stuff, but I was just dumbfounded.

Then they stayed off.


I thought OH SHIT!
So I jerked up the phone.
it was a cordless.
So, in all my infanite wisdom, I slammed it down on the counter, mumbled something about a dumb blonde, and went to get the other phone. It was in the living room. and is also a cordless. Yep, I am just ate up with the hollerhead today.

I searched for about 15 minutes for a corded phone. Finally I found one in Rayleys room. The kids were using it to tie up a stuffed animal that was 'under arrested'

Rayley was mad cause she needed to pee and the lights were out. I went in with her and then she went to her room. She played in there for a while. Didnt even care the lights were out.

I called the light company.
I was on hold for at least 5 minutes.
Then:
"can I help you?"
"yes, I think I have a problem"
"your calling from ..... and she gives my phone number" ahh caller ID at its finest.
"yep, thats me."
"okay, whats your account number?"
"uhhhhhhhh, (oh wait, there is a glow in the dark sticker on this corded phone with their number and my account number on it), hold on... okay, its 51417-01
(I need to darken this up. the kids have rubbed it almost all the way off)
"okay, and who's name is it under?"
"michelle Byerly........ I already spoke with y'all once today"
"maybe it wasnt me, there is more than one of us"
*lauging* "oh I know, I was getting to the fact...."
"whats your address?"
So I tell her
"okay, so whats wrong?"
"You did get my payment right?"
"yes, 200.00 posted this morning"
"whew"
"is that all you needed?" (kinda rudish)
"actually, I wanted to make sure you didnt cut off my lights"
"no"
"alright then, my lights are out. "
"well, why didnt you say so to start with?"
"I wanted to make sure it wasnt my fault first"
"oh, okay"
"so, since we know its not my fault, I need to report an outage"
"are you sure?"
"uhhhh.... yep.
"okay, where are you at?"
now granted... My first thought is telling her I am in town, at the coffee shop. My house had called to let me know it was dark, BUT I have half cooked hamburger meat on the stove, BR's ONE uniform in the washer and I am already starting to get hot with out the A/C.
"I am at home"
"where is home?" she asks kinda pissy
so I gave her the address again, and my phone number and my name.
"I just wanted to make sure that it wasnt a lack of communication and my lights wernt turned off"
"I'll report it. "
"great!! Thanks!!

So, I went and took advantage of the battery on my puter. There was nothing else to do. 45 minutes later I realized they were NOT coming back on anytime soon. And I had to LEAVE! and soon. I went and got my makeup, then tried to decide if I should try to fix my hair or just wear a baseball cap.

Then I realized that I had to take my picture for the yearbook today. (hey, we make the dang thing, we can put us in there if we want.. I aint real sure I want...)

So I decided to try. I have to flat iron my hair. There aint no two ways about it, but I was able to manipulate it into some sembalance of order. kinda.

Then I dressed Rayley. who couldnt find shoes to match the outfit so she changed again. and then again.

And then I had to find Bretts cleats. they were NO where to be found. I am SOOO glad its the last game!

I finally found it all. THen I headed out. I had put BR's clothes on the porch to dry. and kissed him goodbye before he woke up. Plus it was already 80* in the house.

Bretts party went fine. They had ice cream floats. He was also awarded "funniest" by his classmates.

We messed around town, well, truth be told, I paid bills, got my inspection sticker and my tags for my truck, another 115.00 dollars, till Bretts game time. And I had to run into walmart and buy the stuff for Matts party tomorrow and as we were getting ready to go in my mother in law called. She was telling me about the lights being out. Seems my Brother in law had ran home during lunch and found they were out. He got all kinds of upset and called my sister in law to find out why she didnt pay the bill. Since she was working an hour from home she called my mother in law to find out what the hell was going on. When my mother in law called she got about the same response I did. But at least they KNEW the lights were out by then.

It was such a pretty day that noone can fiqure out what happened. maybe someone ripped all the copper off a substation again.
The lights were out for miles around my house.

Bretts team had a good game. Brett got thrown out stealing second and struck out once. they lost by one point to the undefeated team. Brett was coming back up to bat, but the coach sent a kid to steal and he got tagged out for the last out of the game.

After the game was the trophies. Bretts team came in second, so their coach presented each one with a trophy and when it came to Brett he said "and this award goes to the player that had the absolute best catch of the season. It was an all start catch, he saw the ball and he threw up his glove and started running backwards. He caught it and got us the game winning out! Brett Byerly!!"

I was very proud. He really could have done better this season. He knows he could have, but he did do pretty good.

after it was all over everyone was coming up to him and telling him they did remember his catch and it was a great one.
He was a little disapointed that noone remembered his in the park homerun on a walk, but as we were leaving another parent did walk up and tell him that his coach should have also commended him on that!

We came home and I made the boys clean out all their junk from my truck. As I walked up to the steps I saw that the second to the bottom step was broken. I guess thats something else to fix. I cant belive that BR didnt tell me about it. But that might be why there were 4 missed calls on my cell phone and a text message saying 'answer the *#(&%()# phone'. Its been messing up here lately and had reset itself to vibrate. I never knew it rang.

Since I had turned off the AC when the lights went out it was hot as hell in here. 87 degrees.
I heard that they finally came back on around 3. now I have to cook the pork loin in the fridge and the 1/2 cooked hamburger meat too.

Of course during the 'big clean' the boys piled all their crap in the living room. I was trying to make them get it cleaned and Rayley got a headache. A puking, screaming headache. And Bow was wanting to go to sleep. He wanted to nurse so bad. But she was puking and screaming. The boys were horsing around and I was about to pull my hair out.

I did get her settled. I put her in the tub, got Bow settled in and threatened the boys that if they didnt get it cleaned up right then, I wouldnt let them go to school in the morning. And if they didnt go on the last day they would fail. I told them it was a state law. They eventually got it all cleaned up. And as they were going to bed they reminded me that they were out of jeans. Actually they TOLD me they were out. They hadnt told me this BEFORE tonight. at 9:23. PM. Or I would have washed them some this morning. talk about HIA syndrome...

Brett did get back his Math Taks test results. he missed commended performace on it by one question. But he did pass. So he got commended in reading and almost in Math. Not bad.

Rayley's head did ease up. So she is getting some sleep. The boys are all settled in and Bow is snoring like a pig in the sunshine.

Lost kleenex's and found agervation

there are TWO more days of school left.

I asked BR if he had moved my kleenex's the other day. I had searched for them everywhere, and I finally remembered to ask him.

He just looked at me like I was crazy. Then Rayley said "you told me to throw them away moma"
"no baby, I mean the big box of kleenex, not the ones I had just cleaned Bow's nose with"
" yeah, I know, you told me to throw them away"
"no Rayley I told you to..... ohhhhh, so you threw away momma's box of kleenex that sat right here?"
"yep!, just like you told me, aint I a big girl?"

I had pointed to a few used kleenex's that day and asked her to throw them away. She did, but I guess she decided that the others needed to go too.


We are winding down on the yearbook. I am glad, deisel is killing me. But in all honesty I dont get to get out much. and going and doing at the schools is one of my biggest joys in life.

Speaking of which. I went to the primary schools meeting this morning to present the bylaws I had made up last week. They asked me to be on their board. I dont have a kid there next year. Rayley wont be there for another year. But it was a VERY big honor to be asked. It made me feel really good. I did accept, on the condition that if someone inquires about it and wants to be in that position that they be allowed to accept it. Thats 4 boards for next year. Both boys will be in one school and I am the secretary. Then the District PTA board, and the Primary school board, and then at least one yearbook board. I might end up doing the other yearbook too, if no one will step up and do it. I dont want the kids to not have one, and volunteers for that are few and far between! :(

Brett got back his Taks scores today. He passed math too. I am so glad. He got an commended achievement in reading. he only missed one question. In Math he missed 6, so he missed commended by one answer. :( But thats okay. Passing is passing.

I have to finish up my 'lovelines' page for the yearbook, and write the dedication page and I am through. I have 2 of the 3 places nailed down to get school supplies from and we meet next week with the principal at the boys school for T shirt orders and we found out today that she wants to do a Carnival open to the public next year AND a talent show with a dinner for the parents as fund raisers.

I cant wait! I think it will alot of fun. It will be alot of work, but alot of fun too.

Bow has started cruising. He is getting pretty good at it. And you cant keep that child nailed down. He is always on the go, or into something.

Today started out pretty pissy. I woke up 3 minutes before the alarm went off to a warm feeling on my stomache. Bow's diaper was leaking. it soaked my shirt, my sweats and when I looked at the clock I was pissed. I got up and changed clothes, changed him and went to get me some tea. When I got into the kitchen all my canisters on the counter were moved. And there was a line of fire ants going up the wall. BR had found it when he came in and moved the canisters so I could find it. I killed them all and got the boys up. They got dressed and played with Bow. Once they left I had to get dressed. I had to be at the school by 8.

After the meeting at the Primary school I went on to Bretts school and started on the yearbook. BR called. I think he was mad cause I was in town today. I had told him I was going. I know he thinks its just a waste of deisel, and maybe it is, but, its something I enjoy. But he told me that beside his chair where he sits all his plates and glasses when he is through with them (plus leaves the bags of chips and such when he goes to bed) is covered in fire ants.
AAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG

Of course I have a fish tank right there too, so you have to be careful when spraying stuff.

When the kids got out of school I had to go to walmart. I bought lots of ant dope, and lots of weed and grass killer. We are going to kill all the grass around the house. The ants are getting to be too bad.

We made it through walmart and then I went and got diesel. I had a 1/4 of a tank, but it was already 4.64 a gallon so I decided to take advantage of it. Plus I didnt have anything better to do with the 99.00.

Then I went and got a thermostat for BR's truck. I heard that sometimes a truck will run hot and use alot of gas if the thermostat is missing or stuck open. I hope this is the case. HE just got this engine rebuilt. Its a 94 toyota 4x4 and gets worse gas milage than my 1 ton 4 door deisel doulley. ( I get 15 miles to the gallon). I talked to the parts guy and he gave me some hints on checking to see if its the injectors or something else. I am hoping its a quick and cheap fix. :)

When we got home and got everything unloaded I had to start killing the ants and moving all the plates and glasses into the kitchen. I had just gotten done and washed up and Brett told me he got bit last night in bed. So then I went back and was getting my spray and putting back on the clothes that I had been wearing when Matt came to me and picked up his shirt. he showed me a bite. I asked what it was. He said that he got bit in HIS bed by a fire ant last night.

SO in I went. Sure enough they were in there too. I stripped the beds, sprayed the wall where they were and hoped that was the last of them for the night. I cant handle many more.
While we were unloading the truck and I was nursing Bow the door opened. Rayley came in.. we had gotten a shower today and apparently while we were all working at bringing in groceries and putting them up, plus corraling Bow, Rayley had been in the mud. She was in nothing but her panties.
I asked "what the hell have you been doing?"
"playin"
"why?"
"cause I was bored"
"where are your clothes?"
"I took them off"
"I can see that, why are you nekid?"
"I aint nekid, I have on panties"
"okay, where did you take off your clothes?"
" I stil have ON clothes"
"no, you still have on panties, where are your CLOTHES?"
"huh?"
"did you get undressed outside?"
"I aint undressed, I have on PANTIES"
"where is your shirt? Where are your pants?"
"dirty"
"Rayley, you better go and find them. You need a bath, you have mud from head to toe"
"Do I have to put them back on?"
"no, but I dont want them lost, find them and then you can ge a bath"
"They aint lost. "
"then where are they?"
"I told you, they are DIRTY!"
By now Brett knew that I was about to scream
"Rayley, where is your shirt and pants right now?"
"in the laundry room"
I said "Why didnt you just say that to start with?"
"cause you didnt ask"

so off she went to the bathroom. I ran her a bath and finished up spraying the boys room. Then I cleaned back up. and had no more than sat down on the couch when I hear from Rayley "MMMMMMMMMMOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM,"
"yes Rayley"
"there's an ant in here"
I went and checked. it was the only one I could find ( I had sprayed that room when I found ants about 4 days ago.)
Then I looked in her hair, she had a few more. She had brought them in.

I ended up going outside again to shut the truck doors. And there on my steps was 9 mud pies.

The boys ate supper and then started getting ready for bed. Rayley was still hungry and wanted a ham sandwich. I gave her one, but only after making sure that she really wanted it.

I sent all the kids to bed and then went into the kitchen to make my own supper ( fried spam sandwiches... yum!) there sat 1/2 of Rayleys sandwich. About that time she came back through. she needed a bednight story.

I made her sit down and eat the rest of the sandwich. She whined and cried. Told me she wasnt hungry, told me she was sick, told me the sanwhcih was bad.

30 minutes and 8 trips in here to tell me that she couldnt eat it later I went back in the kitchen to refill my tea. she was taking the last bite. Whining and crying all the while.

Once it was gone she looked at me and said "do I get desert too?"

She is asleep now. I think its best.

If a frog had wings, ants didnt bite, and bull nettle didnt sting.

I have GOT to get back in the habit of blogging every night. If I dont watch it I will end up missing weeks at a time.

Saturday we ended up washing BR's 18 wheeler. Matt and I got to wash the inside. The dust was AWFUL! I cleaned with armoral wipes, then when I saw that wasnt working I switched to a wet rag. Then once I thought I had all the dust gone I Sprayed the armoural (or what ever it is) and wiped it down. By the time I got done wiht one section and was half done with the next the first looked like I had never touched it.

BR and BRett cleaned the outside. Not the trailer, that thing was way too dirty, just the tractor. It took a good 3 hours. BEfore we even got out of the truck BR told us all "there is bull nettle ALL around, watch where you step. Especially you Michelle, I cant belive you are wearing flip flops."

He was wearing shorts and tennis shoes. He only wears shorts around the house. NEVER in public and only wears tennie shoes when he has them on. otherwise its boots and jeans all the way. But it was hot, noone would see him and he would end up getting wet. Brett had on a pair of jeans and Matt had on a pair of jeans, and a button up shirt.

He went around to start his truck to let the air build up in the brakes. He was going to move it out of the pasture and into the road for better cleaning and to be closer to the hose. and immediatly got in some bullnettle. You talk about cussin a blue streak.....

It took Brett about 7 minutes. Then he was in it. But didnt mind peeing on himself to relive it.

Matt was a little smarter. He wasnt barefoot like Brett. He had on socks. yep. socks. I am always gettin onto him for going around in his stockin feet. We were leaving and I made the boys make one more round around the truck to make sure that we didnt leave anything. well I told Brett to. Matt tagged along to see if he could push him in any mud puddles. He stepped squarly in a bullnettle and it went plumb through.

He couldnt manage to pee on the bottom of his foot so he was stuck out.

I guess my flip flops served me well.

And they were FILTHY by the time we started home. BR had parked the truck over at my grandfathers. Since there is an oilwell behind his house (no, not a beverly hillbillies oilwell) he can drive in and out with no problems. he called me at 3am on Friday night to come and get him. its about 1/10 of a mile from here. I made the boys strip before they even thought about getting in my truck. and BR rode home in the back.

I had told the boys on Friday night to clean their room. They ended up bringing out 7 loads of laundry. I had JUST got all the laundry done. So I had to get it all done this weekend. But right before we left to go and clean the truck I got a shirt out of my closet. put it on and got bit by 5 fire ants before I could turn around twice. I shucked that shirt quicker than I have ever shucked anything. I started lookin. Sure enough, there was a line of ants comin in from the ceiling. I already had all the boys loads of laundry and BR had added at least 2 loads to it, he complained that I hadnt been washing his shirts. Come to find out they were UNDER the bed. He accidently has kicked them under there. Gee, wonder why I havent been washing them?

Oh and he got perturbed at me this weekend. He decided to weedeat. well he couldnt find the strings. They had been on the bar between the kitchen and the living room, but wernt there anymore. He KNEW we had sit them there when we bought them. And he is right, but that was last summer. I will admit I dont clean house like I should. But even I cant leave something out of place for a year.

I did eventully find them. He used the weedeater for about 5 minutes and decided he needs a new one.

Since I didnt get to the closet last night. ( I still had all that other laundry to do.) I decided I would get to it after I got all of the laundry done up.

I got that done by 3:30 and then started on my ant infested closet. They were up on the shelves. When I got pregnant last year I put all my skinny clothes up there. So first I cleaned out all of the hanging clothes, the ants hadnt really made it down that far. I put them on the bed. THen I got all the shoes, and since I dont have a dresser I had my PJ's and such in baskets on the floor. So I took them all out. Then I sprayed the tub with ant killer, and started pulling down clothes. They were immediatly put in the tub. They will have to be washed, dried and folded and then put in ziploc Big bags ( have you seen these things?? they are HUGE!! I love them! they have a ziploc zipper and come in 3 differnt sizes. I have used them for EVERTHIN!! From holding my bushel of squash, sending Bretts posterboard to school in, putting food to take to MIL's house, and even keeping the kids uniforms for baseball in to keep up wiht them!).

Oh, sorry I got side tracked. I just LOVE my big bags. ITs just another perk of being a bzzagent. (www.bzzagent.com)

Of the clothes I had hung up, on the floor and shoved elsewhere I filled up 3 big bags for a future garage sale. I think I ended up with 2 pair of jeans that fit and maybe 6 T shirts. I really should go clothes shopping.

Then the ant infested clothes were next. They filled up the garden tub. I need more big bags to put them in and the ants wernt escaping the poisoned tub so I only got a load done. Plus there should be a limit on how much laundry you do in a single day.

I fiqure these clothes will take up another 3 bags at least.

I just HATE fire ants. They are the most infuriating things. They get in your electrical things and mess up the contacts, they will get into your clothes and eat them up, not to mention they bite. and it hurts like hell. and they take over EVERYTHING! I have seen many a well pump burned up because of them. Have lost newborn baby goats to them too.

But after about 3 and a half hours of hard labor by me and the boys the closet is semi normal. I just have a feeling the ants are in the walls.

The boys and Rayley ate supper and I told them it was time for bed. Matt went to take his alergy pill, he got it out, then realized he had to pee and left it on the table. So once he came back from the bathroom I sent him BACK in there to take the pill. He had forgotten... He went back and found Rayley in the kitchen with a glass of water and his pill. She was disolving it for him. So he came and told on her. She in turn came in and said it was him.
I tried everything to make her confess. I told her that little girls that lie loose all their hair, they cant smile anymore, their toes fall off and they cant balarini dance, and they loose all their teeth. She wasnt budging. She was swearing Matt had done it.

Matt was near tears. He finally told me "why would I ruin a pill that I have to take so I wont cough my fool head off?" (his words, not mine) I was inclined to belive him. But no matter what I did, said or threatened Rayley refused to change her story.

It told her that Matt would get licks for lying and asked if she was telling the truth. She just kept on blaming him. So I kept on trying t get her to confess.. Then I decided to work on her sense of family. and her conciece. Apparently she doesnt have one.
Matt was getting more upset by the minute. No matter how I phrased it, he never did 'get' that I was trying to make her confess. It wasnt until I told him for the 4th time that "I had better hear some screams when I gave him his licks' that a light bulb went off.

So I pretended to give Matt licks for it. She just sat there and told me that he really should get 5. I said "I am sure I gave him 5" she said "nope, I counted it was 4."

Then Matt turned to her and had all these tears and said "see what you got me?" She said "well, your a boy, you can handle it better than me, I'm just a little girl."

I asked her again if she was lying. She said "no, can the boys and me go to bed in my room now?" The boys opted to not join her for the night.

When I was tucking her in she kept asking for them. I told her that it was too late. The boys were mad at her and didnt want to talk to her no more. This broke he heart. But not enough for her to change her mind.

As I was tucking her in I saw 3 DVD's on her TV stand. Garfield, and 2 barbie movies. I made mention that I had 3 more that I got to throw away. While I was tucking her in I saw a flash. It was matt grabbing the garfield one and bringing it bac into the living room. They all know the rules. If I find a DVD anywhere but on my shelf I get to throw it away ( they get stacked up in my room, but the kids think they are thrown away.)

I got done with Rayley and turned to the boys.

"so you rescued one, but not the others?"
"huh?"
"I think it was really crappy of you to rescue ONE but NOT the others" I said with my hands kind extended, holding the movies.
"what cha mean mom?"
"the garfield movie, I am not ignorant, so let me repeat myself, YOU rescued ONE but not the OTHERS?, should you at least TRY to get the others?"
"oh... well go and get it Matt"
"I dont think y'all get it.... YOU RESCUED ONE, but not the others?"
I was thrusting them towards the boys, but they still wernt getting it.

Finaly Matts light bulb went off.
"OHHHHHHH"
so they took those too. I swear its like arguin with a fence post sometimes.

and speaking of fence posts, BR wanted his sledge hammer today. He had brought it in the house and laid it in THAT chair. It wasnt there anymore. I had just started nursing the baby, so he told me NOT to get up. He was mad cause I had moved something else. LIke I was supposed to let an 8 pound sledge hammer stick around for months and months. I told him to double check the chair, look around his dresser, etc.

He just gave up and went outside. With the snap ring plyers that I had hung up in the laundry room. I got up as soon as I could extract myself from Bow and went in and wrote a note. It said "taken outside on 5/25 to fix sheer bolt in tractor, broken during bushhogging". Then I stuck it in the pouch where the snap ring plyers had been.

Once BR went to work I was cleaning the kitchen again and decided to move the things out of that chair. Sure enough, under the ONLY other thing in the chair was a heating pad. Sure enough there was the sledge hammer. half the handle sticking out.

If it had been a snake it would have bit him. When I told him later on I had found it he said "well, if that heating pad had been put up in the last 4 months I would have known where the hammer was."

Yep, and if a frog had wings it wouldnt bump his ass when he jumped.

Yellow is the color of .... work.

I am tired of seeing YELLOW!

I put up about 45 squash yesterday. It was a decent amount. The I fried I dont know how many. It was actually more than we could eat in 2 days. And we can eat the hell outa some fried squash.

Then today I ended up doing another bushel. The kids have helped me alot. I am real proud of them. They helped me slice them, lay them out to drain and cool and bag them up.
I did catch Rayley eating a few of them. They couldnt have been that good. I only blanched them, so they wernt done. Plus they were bland. I didnt season them at all. But she was eating them instead of putting them in bags.

I got another 15 quarts today. BR told me that would be enough and not do fill up the freezer with squash. He loves it, but not that much. I have news for him. We might be eating alot of stuff we dont like here pretty soon. I also fried 2 chickens today. There is a little left, and made corn. Bow got corn and applesauce for lunch and something struk his funny bone during an extra large bite. He started laughing, sucked it up his nose and then sneezed. I think I got most of it out of my hair.

Then I decided to be a nice mommy and make a lemon cake. And Brett had wanted lemon icing on it. So I did that too. Somehow I ended up with a big glob of that in my hair too. I am actually glad its not as long as it used to be. I used to sit on it. at least now there is less to get messy.

I honestly dont care to see yellow for quite a while. On top of all that yellow, we gave Bow corn yesterday, and so I am seeing it from all sides. The kids couldnt wait to get some of the cake. And I swear I have the oddest kids. Rayley would only eat the middle cause she doesnt like icing ( I really dont either..) and Matt hated the cake altogether. BRett ate about half his peice and that was it. He said it was cause he was full. But I know him. He didnt like it, but he remembers me telling him that he wouldnt like it when he insisted that he wanted it. Since he put up such a fight and begged me to make it he wont admit he doesnt like it. Which is fine. I know, he knows, and deep down, he knows I know.

I got an email from his teacher today. He has 5 zero's in Lanuguage. Please explain to me how a 3rd grader gets 5 zero's? Please.

Now the first one, I can see. And I can almost see his teacher not bothering to throw that in when she writes me an email daily to tell me he giggled during class. But on the second one I am wondering why I wasnt notified. Now I can see it from a kids mo-ronic point of view. 'I got away with one, lets see about this one.. see if I can get away with doing nothing'. But shouldnt she have informed me that day when she wrote to tell me he asked to go pee 3 times that day?

THEn on the 3rd one.. I am seeing a pattern. She must not be. Heck he got away with it twice, why not go for broke?

The 4th one is a little more upsetting. ANd the 5th one.... Why tell me now? is 5 the magic number? He is now failing. And granted he should always do his work. He should NEVER not do his assignments. BUT what kid is not going to try to get away with something? If you turn your back when you see them sneak a peice of candy they will try it again. The second time you ignore them sneaking it they will possibly grab a 3rd peice. and before you know it they have the whole damn bag and you are having a chocolate fit and all you can find is an empty bag, with lots of empty wrappers in their bedclothes. KNOWIN they aint allowed to eat anywhere but the kitchen.

Anyway, I wrote her back. told her to send them home wiht him and I would make sure they got done. To please let me know if he was missing anything else ( do you think if he got away with not doing 5 assignments he wouldnt try it with all of them? ) and Thanked her for her concern.

I know what happened. She was having to turn in the 6 weeks grades and fiqured it out. I still dont see how this would fly. Unless she gave them 5 papers in one day and he just had a day he played and did nothin.

He came home today and I asked about it. asked where they were. He said he only did 3 papers. I asked why. he said he needed copies of the others and she didnt have the copies. I asked why he didnt already have the copies. He said he was absent that day.

I honestly have never looked forward to my kids being home for the summer. They eat like 8 grown mules, they scream and run, and jump, they go in and out of the house all day, they are always bringing home some weird animal/insect/reptile, They stink. literly. They loose everything from their shoes to their shirts. (I find them out in the woods or in the pasture), They make it impossible for BR to sleep during the day and I can just imagine how hard it will be for Bow to sleep. BUT I am so freaking glad to be out of school.

If he can just pass. I know that he has enough good grades to pass even if this 6 weeks is a failure. BUT I dont want him to fail a six weeks. EVER.

Yesterday was Matts girlfriends birthday. He didnt tell me till like 9 o clock at night, but I went and got a little trinket I had bought on clearence for Rayley for a birthday or Christmas or such and wrapped it up for him. HE told me that she loved it.

Poor Brett has decided to give up on girls. he still likes a little girl, but her parents wont let her like boys yet. They said she was too young for a boyfriend. So he is just always repeating "I just give up on girls"

And Bow has a new trick. He can get out of his car seat. Its a infant seat, and has the shoulder harness' that then connect to a buckle that comes up between his legs, they also pull together and are connected mid chest.

He moves his shoulders, flips his body around, pushes his legs, and somehow manouvers himself right around onto his side, then keeps twisting around until he is on his tummy, Then its just a few pushes and he is over the back of the car seat and closing the 3 inch gap between the back of the middle front seat and the back of his car seat. And he is just so damn proud when he does it. I had to stop 3 times yesterday and resecure him. ANd I cant get it any tighter. I have tried everything. I have moved the straps, I have made sure they were snug, I dont know what else to do. I guess he just wants to face foward like the big kids. I dont blame him, but shoot. I cant afford the ticket.

So for Rayleys birthday he is getting a car seat.

And a gate. I need a gate for him too. to keep him out of the kitchen. I swear he is already fast as greased lighting. You cant take your eyes off him for a second.

Rayley has decided that she needs 'ballentina restructions' I wish I could. But its just too far into town to even consider it. She loves to show me her 'practices' all the time. And she LOVES jewerly. Tonight I swear she had on each and every little cheap peice of jewerly I have ever gotten her. ANd she is starting to want to wear it to town. which means I need to get her some cute costume jewerly. She has some. a few cute necklaces, or bracelets. Not nice nice stuff, but something other than the chunky mardigras like beads or those fake dress up earrings. Oh and earrings.. ACK! I was raised with my grandfather saying "if God wanted holes in your ears he would have put them there" and I was the lucky one, I got my ears peirced at 9 years old. My mom was 18 and my grandmother was 42. LOL I was 15 when I got my second hole and I swear my grandfather was so mad he could have bit a nail in two. But gosh I loved them. he really freaked out when at 30 I got my belly button done. Wait till he see's the tatoo I want.
But I aint fixin to get hers done. No way in hell. Just like last night at the ballpark. She had worn a necklace and bracelet and a ring. well she went to play in the dirt pile. Then was back in 5 minutes. She wanted me to hold them. so they didnt get messed up. With earrings she would be an ER visit waiting to happen. It would get jerked out the first hour when she ran through the living room, over the top of the couch and launched herself at an unsuspecting brother walking by.

So now she has these 'earring stickers' that she uses. But we are about out of pink ones.. And that is a major tragedy. I will have to try to find some more. I have been looking everywhere. But I cant find a large quanity of them. Last time I found a sheet of like 50. so I bought a few sheets.

Tomorrow BR will be off, and I have to get some stuff cleaned around here. I still have to make my grape Jelly, and I would like to get that done pretty soon. I need to clean out my cabinets and the freezer. and I need to do up all the laundry that just appeared when I told the boys to clean their room.

Just what is a month worth to you?

We have owned our home for 2 years and one month.

Do you know what that means?

YEP. it means the warrenty on the AC is out. and its 95 degrees outside. Which is actually cooler than my house was last night and all day today. MUCH cooler.

Remember when we had the storm and I didnt have electric all mornin? Well my ice maker hasnt worked since then. Of course once I got to thinking about it I realized why. 9 days after our one year anniversary it went out last time. Come to find out there is a motherboard in there. I know that a fridge is one of the oldest appliences, yet they have seen fit to equipt even the cheapest models with a freakin computer. I kid you not. This thing aint fancy, its the BOTTOM of the line. It came in a trailer house for Petes sake. It has a ice and water dispencer. well those quit working. so we would have to dump the ice. THEN some part went wonky and it started spraying water EVERYWHERE! you couldnt even OPEN the freezer, it was Frozen shut. The frozen cascade of water was pretty, sorta.
I spent 147.00 getting that fixed. 9 days after the warrenty ran out. I didnt fix the dispenser thing, cause when I asked about it, his words were "oh wow, thats expensive to fix" .... as opposed to 150.00?? HELL NO!
Now its a year and 12 days since I got it fixed. and it no longer makes ice. It doesnt even try. There is no water going in. at all. I am NOT going to get someone else out here. I am just not. So I am having to MAKE ice. The old fashioned way. Not a big deal, except we go through ALOT of ice a day. okay, I go through alot a day. I guess at least this time its not shooting water. unless it is, and its shooting it behind the fridge... I hadnt thought about that..

Anyway, about 4 days ago we were sitting here and I smelt something burning, so I jumped up and made sure the stove wasnt on. I walked all around. I just got a wiff and couldnt find anything. Even the boys smelt it. BR told me to sit down, he couldnt smell anything and I was loosing my mind.. Little does he know. I lost it a LONG time ago. Oct 21, of 1992 to be exact.

anyway, we were sitting here and a little while later I smell it again. BR still says I am crazy as a loon.

The next day the house starts getting hot. And I smelt smoke again. This time BR says he thinks he smells it too, but it might just be living with a crazy person is rubbing off on him. I wish living with someone who picked up their plate would rub off too. So I go and check, sure 'nuff, we need to clean out the filters. While he is blowing them out he says he found my smell. its dust.

Okay, I'll accept that. ( its better than the alternative) we put them back on. the whole thing is kinda dusty in there, and it is Sunday, so I decide to vacumm it. This sends Rayley into a tailspin. She starts screaming bloody murder to not vacumm up Bow. She doestn stop screaming this for the entire 20 minutes I am vacumming. I did the walls and all.

We put the filters back on and it is sorta cooling. But the next day BR is awoken at 12:30 with the house at 85 degrees. its all froze up. So he blow dries it off and cleans a little on the coils and then goes to work. He forgot to tell me since I was at the school all day and didnt know I wasnt aware of it. But when I got home it was running fine. Then I had to go back to town and thats when he called to tell me I should have turned it up to like 78 to make sure it didnt freeze up again. It was too late by then. When I got home it was froze up of course. I turned it off and went through most of the night, then turned it back on.

He got home Tuesday morning as I was leaving. Sure enough it was frozen back up. But he cleaned it out adn this time blew it all out with his air compressor. he went to bed and when I got back home at 1 it was doing just fine. then I left again at 5 and when I got home it was froze up. I left it off all night last night. Then wehn I got the boys up at 6 I turned it back on and went to sleep. At 7 he woke me up saying it had frozen back up in the hour I had been asleep and so he cleaned it off again. went and turned it back on and in less than a minute it was a solid block of ice. Plus the fan wasnt running.

So I got up, I didnt want to. This was the only day I was going to get to sleep in this week. but I did. I called my dad. He is a HVAC guy. But lives far far away. he told me to test the thermostat. So we got a wire, jumped from the red to the green wires and it clicked and hummed a little. He also told me some of them have a kill switch if the cover is not on good, so we checked that, and while I was checking it I saw the breakers. I told BR to flip them, and in the meantime I would go back and jump the wires again. Cause my imitation of what it was doing was not good enough for him to make a diagnosis. Why he sent me in there to listen to what it did while he jumped the wires I dont know. But he did.
Anyway, I jumped the wires and he starts hollerin at me to stop!! stop!! stop!! this time I could hear the pop plumb across the house and then the griding of the motor. and once I got in there I could smell the smoke. It had also been sparking he said.

funny, the smoke smelled JUST like what I had been smelling for days. But I didnt say that. cause I can promise you, if I had brought it up, I would have heard "well you idiot!, why didnt you tell me you smelt smoke? this could have burned down the house!!"

Well, I started calling and called my dad back, he said to check my warrenty, I'd only had the house 2 years and 5 is usually the timeline.

I found it and sure enough, it was a 2 year warrenty. I kid you not.

So I called a repairman, they told me it would be about 200.00 for them to do it. labor. parts were extra. So I called to find otu the price of parts. JUST a motor and a .co.... cros.. ... something else. 250.00 I asked him all the pertinant questions, did it have the mounting bracket, was the exact same wires on it, what was the HP. everything. Because he refused to allow me to give him the part number. He wanted the unit number and looked it up that way. I even reminded him that I needed the little black cylender thing called a .... ACK! my mind is just NOT working, anyway. I described it. He swore it was all there, that it was all I would need and to just come and get it.
While I was on the phone with them, my mom called, she was on her way to town. Did I need anything?

YEP! gallon ziploc freezer bags, cause I have a bushel of squash to put up, and a fan motor.
She went to town. BR tore it apart and went to bed. it was already 86 degrees in the house and it wasnt even 9.

She showed back up just a little while later and I got the motor in here. The first thing I noticed was the 4 inch black cylender was NOT a 4 inch tall black cylender. it was a 3 inch oval shaped squatty thing. So I opened the box.
Sure enough it was NOT the right one. The brackets were diffent. These were a 90 degree angle, and were on there with a metal band that could be removed. MINE were at a 45 and were on there by brads.

I called back, the guy said "well you will just have to bring it on back up here.I cant diagnose these things over the phone" uhhhhhh I have the PART number.

Anyway, I controlled my temper adn then dressed myself and Bow and drove us to town.
Once I got there I had to get out Bow, tote in the new motor, go back out, tote in the OLD motor, so he could look at it. Then go BACK out to get the .... what the hell ever part it was..

He looked at it and said "are you sure it doesnt fit?"

I hate condesending, know it all men. I politely told him that YES I was sure. the angles alone would make it so it wouldnt fit.

He ended up getting on the phone with the manufacter or something. I could hear half the conversation and then I hear "Mr, I am NOT telling this lady that, she might shoot me right on the spot. her unit is ONLY 2 years old."

He decided at that point that I could get a ring like the one that came on it and just change it out. It was at a 45* angle. They only run about 34.00. Like I didnt have to waste that much deisel going to town. This is the 5th time this week. And I am NOT hapy about that.


I returned everything to my truck, one item at a time. and drove back home. It was like walking out of a steam room into a superheavyduty steam room. The house was already in the mid 90's.

WHen BR woke up he started to fix it. It didnt take long, but I was so hot and so tired of being hot that it seemed like forever. Once we got it put back in the house had topped 100.


That was at noon. its well after 11 now and its still in the 80's in here. but its blowing again. And I am SOO happy. Once the house was starting to cool off I decided I couldnt wait any longer and had to blanch and freeze the squash. I had a bushel of them. Of course my mom got me 2 gallon ziploc bags so, I had to make sure I didnt fill them up. She said all she saw was 'gallon' and picked them up. Of course they are in a box twice the size of a gallon box. LOL I am trying to not blanch them as hard, maybe I will be able to batter and fry them in the winter. I dont like them cooked down iwth onions.

I spent the last two days at the school, we are trying to wrap up a few loose ends. Then I have been trying to get together about 100 prepacks of school supplies to sell to the kids for school next year. You wouldnt belive how hard that is. I am tring to find all the prices online so it will easy to decide the best price to charge. I have just been researching. Ihavent made the order yet.


Well since the heat took so much out of me I am gona go to bed. I have typed half of this with my eyes closed and keep falling asleep midsentence. :)

The end is drawing near.

well Matts season is offically over. I for one am glad to hear it. He didnt live up to his promise and work as hard as he should have, and therefor didnt make allstars. I hate it for him. He is always one step behind Brett. And sadly he doesnt have the drive to live up to his potential. With just a little effort he could give Brett a run for his money. ANd in somethings surpass him.

But I did do the averages tonight. And although I didnt keep all the errors (cause it was sometimes just a comedy of errors) I did keep them on average and did keep batting stats. He was a WHOLE lot better than I gave him credit for. WAY better. There were only a few kids with a higher batting average than him. And that was just by one or two base hits. And contrary to him being moved into the outfield, he had a MUCH lower error percentage than alot of the others.

And I am not just saying this cause I am his mom. cause that hasnt been proven yet. DNA tests are still too expensive

I just hope I can come up with a way to make this child work harder for what he wants. I have tried, really I have. But it just never seems to sink in.

Anyway, enough depressing stuff. BRett has 3 games left. and then its nothing for the summer. I am looking forward to it.
I have a few more PTA meetings, then a few during the summer and thats about it. We are almost done with the yearbook, I have about 2 days worth of typing to do and then I will be duty free for a while.

But I have a feeling that Bow will make sure I dont have any free time. His favorite activity is to stand up. He pulls up on anything he can get his chubby little hands on. I have taken to ringing the living room with laundry baskets ( cause they are always there, and always full, and everyones always diggin in them)partly to keep him in and partly to keep the dogs out. I wanted to cut down on my vaccuming. Well he will climb INTO the basket, stand up, play, squeal, then climb out the other side. Usually tipping it over with himself. THen he is off to the kitchen. You cant keep him corralled. He isnt content wiht just pulling up and standing, he wants to pull up, get in, get over and get out.

He also LOVES a bath. I will put about an inch of water in the tub, put him in and he gets on his hands and knees and scrapes like a bull fixing to attack. Its hillarious. He will squeal and splash and just have a grand time. He isnt talking yet. Thank God. But he babbles like he knows what he is saying.


I should be getting some squash in the next day or two. I will have to put it up once I get it, but a few bushels will be nice. I am not real big on the frying it down with onions in it. I prefer mine to be sliced thin, breaded and deep fried. Same with my maters and okra. I think I am gona attempt to fiqure out a way to put up some green maters so I can fry them when I get a hankerin for them. I swear, there is nothing that says summer more to me than a plate full of friend green tomatoes. unless its accompnied by a helpin of fried okra, and some corn on the cob. And a pork chop.

BR told me to start laying out a hog pen and a chicken coop. Meat prices are killing us, so we need to start raising our own. I used to have chickens, but when we moved I didnt have anywhere to put them, so I gave them to my neighbor. I sure miss those real eggs. There is something to be said for fetchin an egg and frying it up. Nothin tastes better. If you ever eat one you will turn up your nose at those 2 month old things you buy at the store. They have NO flavor. But this time I will also be raising up some pullets. But thats a little ways down the line. Right now I just have to find the resources to get a coop built.

This weekend we helped my inlaws put in a new grey water line. Luckily BR had the tractor so there was very little hard work involoved. for him. The rest of us were the lackeys. But it was easy, and quick. There were 5 adults working. WOuld have been 6, but my mother in law kept getting in the way so we sent her off.

Sunday I did NOTHING. There are just days when you dont feel like getting up and brushing your hair. I really like those days. I have a feeling that I will enjoy a bunch of them this summer.

On the way home tonight as we got closer to the house we started to see smoke. We were on the other side of a curve and the smoke was centered where my house is. I had all the kids with me and I tell you, the urge to turn the truck around was so great. BUT, I kept going. The kids all got interested. They asked what was on fire. and said they hoped it wasnt someone's house. My heart was still in my throat. But luckily as we came around the curve we saw all the VFD sitting on the side of a pasture putting out a grass fire. The wind had shifted it so the smoke was sitting on top of my hill but it was far enough away to not be a danger. The kids all breathed a sigh of relief and I told them not to worry, it wasnt our house. Matt said "I know, I knew it wasnt our house, but I sure was praying that noone else had to deal with it either"

Then Brett said "yeah mom, it wasnt us we were thinking about, we have been there, we can live through it again, but what if it was someone else?, They might not be as strong as we are."

Sometimes kids make you put things in prospective. I never would wish a housefire on anyone. But they were right. We know we can deal with it. And honestly, all I was thinking was "please dont let it be our home" and then a distant second thought was for God to to be with who ever it was.

Now Brett has decided to sleep walk. and no amount of nice persuasion is getting him back in bed. He is just sitting there staring at me like a zombie. I need to get him back into that tornado remake they call a room and get him back to sleep. Its already midnight and they (as they have reminded me ALL day) only have 8 more days of school left.

and people wonder where the kids get it from.

Well I still cant find my kleenex's and I keep forgetting to ask BR if he moved them.

And I cant find my super glue. I swear BR throws it away. And its been years since I had a major accident with any.

But the last time was pretty bad.
I was doing a girls nails and the tube blew up. It glued my eyes shut. Literly. I had to go to the ER. They cut off all my eyelashes and pulled my eyes apart. They were swollen shut for days and days afterwards. I had to have a keeper. Truthfully. It took me 3 days to learn the actual layout of my house. I was blind. There was no opening my eyes. Not even a little. And I looked funny for a long time with no eyelashes.

THere was no damage. my eyes closed right before it hit and none got IN my eyes. But it was some hellacious glue. When it stuck it stuck.


today I was lazy. I didnt do anything except make cornbread to go with some stew. BR's mom had made the cowboys stew and brought over the extra. I had to boil it to cook the taters (she ran out of room in her pot) and was good to go.

BR came in this morning and asked if I had anything he could eat. I told him it was on the stove. He asked me what the hell it was. Then asked if it was hobo stew. I told him no, it was cowboy stew, his mom had made it. He looked again. Then said "thats not cowboy stew"
"yes it is"
"no.. its not."
"BR, I promise, its not hobo stew, you dont like hobo stew cause it has noodles in it"
"hobo stew isnt stew either."
"then what is it?"
"soup"
"no, its not, its thicker"
"its got hamburger meat in it"
"so, its thick, thats stew"
"no, stew uses stew meat, that has hamburger meat. same as if you put chicken in water, you have chicken soup, you put hamburger in water and you have hamburger soup"
"no, you put tomatoes, and veggies, and meat, and not alot of water in stew"
"so there is no 'maters in soup?"
"not usually"
"what about 'mater soup"
"there's no meat in it"
"so its still a soup"
"cause its watery!"
"so"
"are you going to eat it or not?"
"do I have a choice?"
You know, there are times when you just really want to offer up the true choices they do have. But I was nice and refrained.

Sadly he is gona be stuck with it for a day or three. There is enough there to feed an army.
Of course once he decided that soup or stew it was all there was he asked for cornbread. I told him the truth. I had planned on being asleep when he came home so I wasnt worried about it. He just happened to come home right as I was getting the kids ready for school. He ended up eating it with flour tortillas. But I did make some for lunch. I thought that was nice. Till he got up and wanted to know why I hadnt cut it and put butter on it while it was hot. I swear, he would bitch if he was hung with a new rope.


I HAD to go grocery shopping today. I was out of everything. And there is a fish at the fish store he ordered for me. Plus my frogs. So I need to pick them up.
I didnt leave the house till 1:30. I was being lazy. I did go to town, did a mystery shop and then went to daycare to get the boys, I already had Rayley and Bow.

Then it was off to walmart. It was about 3:30 and I knew I needed everything. litelry everything. And I still didnt get it. I enjoy spending time with the kids, but do get tired of the "can I have, and will you buy" I cant wait to get old, and then when they get married I am going to go to the store with them and ask for everything I see.

And they got really mad when I wouldnt buy brandnames on alot of stuff. oh well. They will eat it.

They really were pretty good. I didnt have many problems iwth them. Just the typical stuff. But since I make them stay close to me it works out okay.
But I do have a question. and maybe someone with a little more sense than me can answer it.
The boys are 8 and 9. Rayley is 3, and Bow is 6 months. Now when everyone has to pee, exactly what do I do?
Do I send the boys into the boys bathroom and wait? Send Rayley into the girls and stand outside so I can watch the boys and wait on her? Or do I send the boys in the boys, go in with Rayley and hope they manage to get in and out with out getting into a fight, breaking something, or getting lost? And say I have to pee. well, what do I do with Bow? I dont have a car seat, the buggy is full, I cant hold him and get undressed. So do I leave him with the boys outside? I know they are capable of watching him. But is it legal? Do I make everyone follow me in like I have done up until about a year and ahalf ago and use the largest stall?

I am just confused. There is no 'fix' to this delima. I just wonder what you are supposed to do.
We walked out of there two and half hours later, with 2 buggies and a reciept for 356.00. I still had bills to pay in town and needed deisel. That alone is another 100.00. Oh excuse me. I put 105.00 in it. And the fish store closed at 5:30. I will have to get my mother in law to go in the morning and pick them up for me.

Once we got home I had to get the kids to unload for me. Bow was wanting to be held and nursed after being stuck in a car seat or a buggy for 6 and a half hours. I dont blame him, but it sure leads to the older kids getting in trouble.

Oh and as I was writing the check at walmart I turn around and one of the bank employees, my very own bank I might add, is talking to my kids, and giving them each a balloon. I kid you not. You would think they wouldnt do this to a long time coustmer.

So once we got home they wanted to play with them. what they were going to do with them I dont know, but Rayley promptly lost hers. I had to stay on them about getting everything out of the truck. And I was trying to help get everything put away.

I did buy some mason jars today. I plan on making grape jelly this week. It was well after 9:30 before we got it all put up, they ate again, and after 10 before they fell asleep.

of course I let them stay up and listen to the baseball game with me. Our high school team is trying to get back to state this year. I am also hoping they pick up a little by listening.

Oh and my sunburn is itching up a storm. which is about right. BR wants to clean up the yard and mow tomorrow. I am so thrilled I can hardly wait.

Oh and I have been trying to find some more bamboo plants for my bamboo tank. I cant find them anywhere. I sure hate that. For years I have wanted some and saw it everywhere, now that I want it I cant find it. Aint that just the way it goes?