Goofus Roofus

Seems all I do any more is complain. I'll not disappoint you with this entry. I've got a complaint.

A couple of weeks ago we finally got a check from the insurance company to repair damage to our roof cause by a hail storm in April 2005. Yes, sixteen months it took. Thanks ALFA. We hired Parker Contractors to do the work and they started Tuesday, August 14th. We chose this company because a couple of our neighbors had used them last year when they had their roof fixed. One guy up on the roof in record setting above 100º weather.

Of course there's a reason why I am sharing a roof story with you. Last night while we were gone it rained really really hard for not much longer than ten minutes. When I came home I piddled around cleaning the kitchen then watched a little TV. Mr. Dubbs went on to bed. When I could hold my eyes open no longer, I went back to my bathroom to begin my usual nightly routine. My face washing stuff was in the shower so I stepped on the mat then stepped in the shower to reach the bottle. The mat was saturated. I wondered why but figured Rick had taken a shower before bed. He had been swimming so this seemed logical.

I washed my face, brushed my teeth, admired my amazing face in the mirror, popped out the contacts, and then flipped the light switch Two steps from my bed my feet splashed. Never a good feeling. I woke my husband and told him I was turning on the light and he needed to look because I couldn't see. And there it was.

That's Walmart brand paint holding that sheet rock up. I paint a lot and I always use Walmart. You can see just how strong it is.

I didn't sleep all night for worrying about the ceiling falling. In the morning, before the roofer showed up, I took pictures of all the damage. Upon closer inspection in the daylight, I found damage in every room on the back side of the house.

My bedroom

In the bathroom the water must have rushed through the exhaust fan. THere wasn't much evidence on the ceiling, just the soaked bath mat.

My laundry room

The siding on the ceiling of my deck came loose and newspaper insulation, wet newspaper insulation washed down the side of the wall warping and staining my painting and covering pl;ants below.

The openning in the wall between my office and kitchen just a couple

of feet from two computers.

After taking my pictures I stood at the front door waiting to confront the roofer guy. He apologized many times as he slipped back out the door but never once said, "Don't worry, we'll fix it." That's all he had to say to make me feel a little better. Of course I knew they would be fixing it. They wouldn't be getting their check until it was fixed. Mr. Chris Parker, I asume is the boss guy, never showed his as.....face all day.

Some time late Monday afternoon, three layers of trusty old Walmart semi-gloss acrylic paint relented. Do you know what's in your attic?

About a foot of newspaper confetti type insulation covers the floor of mine! There is an air vent in the floor in the doorway where my husband is standing. When it was blowing, and with 100º+ temperatures the air blows constantly, my whole room was a freakin' giant snow globe! I do regret not taking that picture. What a mess. It took us over two and a half hours to clean it up.

The Neighbors Gotta Go

I have got to vent. I am sick and tired of my neighbors! Many time I have had to call the police about those two outside in the driveway or middle of their yard screaming and physically fighting with each other. Early in the morning, mid afternoon, and wee hours of the morning they are out there pounding away on each other and screaming language to profane for this websites audience.

The first time I called the police there one of my daycare mothers came in asking if I knew this toddler that was walking up and down the driveway crying for her mother. I brought her into my home to keep her safe. Apparently the dad had taken the other three children to daycare but this child was still asleep and so he left her home alone. I called DHR first and they said someone would be right out here. Thirty minutes later DHR called me back and asked me to call the police. I told them no, you call the police, I'm busy with my own daycare children. I called the police anyway and they told me to call DHR. I told them no, I was busy with a daycare and they needed to come see about this child.

Multiple times in the last three years since they've lived there, by the way, it's a rental house and the house number is 911. Go figure. Anyway, One time they woke me up at 3:00 something in the morning. My bedroom is on the total opposite side of the house and yet they woke me out of a dead sleep. I yelled out the door for them to go in and give the neighborhood some rest. He threatened me in his usual vulgar language so I went back inside and got the cordless phone and called 911 from my porch where he could hear me. They continued to fight with all four children screaming and crying in the driveway.

Before the officer arrived, and I know this because I was sitting in the room closest to their house eaves dropping, I overheard Shamika (I think that's her name) yelling at Nick, "You know she calling the police."

He responded with, "I'll F*** her up and her husband too."

They continued to fight and I continued to listen until I heard, "Well I aint the one goin' out and gettin' someone pregnant." Oh, so that's what this was about.

The officer arrived and asked, "What's going on here?"

Nick: "Nothin' officer we just haveing a little argument. Everybody has arguments [keep in mind it's 3:00 something in the morning and they are outside doing this]. That old lady [that what?!] is always calling the cops on us."

Oh for God's sake!

This morning I could hear them out there at 6:30. I thought it was just a loud verbal argument that ended when he screeched out of the driveway and floored it until his exhaust left black stains in the road. He was taking three of the children to school. Don't you know they were scared.

As soon as he returned (in the same manner in which he left) the fight resumed with the youngest child there in the middle of it screaming and crying and it was physical this time. Right there in front of my daycare children and their parents arriving around 7:45. I called 911. One of the daycare dads answered and recognized me immediately. I did not call DHR. I regret that. I was so angry with my neighbors behaving that way infront of my daycare children. They are violating my basic right to quiet enjoyment of my own property. The police do nothing but send one of them away for 12 hours but 12 hours and aminutelater the one is back.

And they have these dogs over there. No fence, just a bunch of dogs tied up here and there and a couple in a little dog pen. They get loose regularly and I have had to call the animal shelter to deal with them on several occasions because my daycare children and their mothers are afraid of the dogs. Today one was loose and it took a bath in my goldfish pond tearing up my waterlily and my zebra grass and killing at least two fish.

The neighbors gotta go!

Another Sad Day

This weekend we helped My daughter Sarah and her husband Ricky move to Clarksville Tennessee. I've been really dreading this day for some time but it turns out they are not but three hours away and there is plenty of shopping, a zoo, and an awesome winery between here and there.

But the move was torturous for my sweet child who is used to everything going pretty much her way.

As soon as Sarah learned Ricky was to be asigned to Ft. Campbell Kentucky she called the base looking for housing. The base was full so she used the internet to find housing close by in Clarksville. Sarah found a lovely little mobile home/prefab housing community complete with ball fields, fishing ponds, playground, and a security gate. She and a friend took a trip up there and secured one unit. There was no deposit and free first month's rent. Cool deal, she thought. A week before the move Sarah called Bells Crossing with a couple of questions only to find that they had rented the home to someone else.

Sarah was livid. She was to pick her husband up at the Nashville airport the next evening and only had a few days to find new accomodations. And she did. Sarah was not happy with the choices she had but took an apartment that seemed nice and neat at the time.

The move was scheduled for Wednesday, they thought, but a communication failure cause the Army to not be able to Move Ricky and Sarah that week and they were left on their own to rent a truck and pack up all their belongings.

That was some fast packing! They did it mostly on their own. My husband Rick and his Dad, Richard, drove the U-Haul to Clarksville while Ricky and Sarah each drove their own cars. They arrived at the apartment complex and called the manager for an appointment. They were to meet at the management company's office and get the key at noon. They signed paperwork and left with their keys. Once at the apartment they unlocked the door to find it crawling with roaches! Sarah flipped out! They called management and were told the maintainance man was on vacation. Oh poor Sarah. Nothing about this move had gone right so far.

Laura and I had lagged back in Decatur for a few hours thinking it best to keep the dog and Warren out of the way. We spent the morning allowing Warren to spend a little time with my parents. They are going to miss him so much. We finally left at about noon and were stopped for lunch just south of Nashville when we got the call. Sarah was trying to tell me the situation between wails bless her heart. She told me that her dad and her Papa were going to have to move all her stuff in with the roach family because the truck had to be returned that day before the U-Haul place closed.

By the time we arrived with the boy and the dog, Rick had been to the store and bought almost $40 worth of bug bombs and sprays and was ready to set them off. We ate at Olive Garden after locating a motel that was simpathetic to the situation enough to let the dog spend the night.

We drove home Saturday night and returnnned Sunday morning. That's a lot of driving for one weekend. Sunday morning we helped Sarah clean while Ricky reported in to Ft. Campbell. I took the kitchen, Sarah took the bathroom, and Rick was left in charge of the boy and the dog.

The kitchen was dripping with roaches! Even after three bombs in this little bitty apartment, there were still plenty of live ones creeping around unfazed. The dishwasher was full of them and even the refrigerator. I always thought that if any place was safe it was the fridge. Nope, guess not. Sarah took zillions of pictures and I know you would love to see them but I don't have any right now.

When Rick started having a hard time entertaining Warren he decided to move the TV over to the wall with the cable outlet and set it up so Warren could watch a video. The electrical outlet did not work and neither did the other outlet on that same wall. We had to dig up an extension cord and run it over the door and under the window to the next closest outlet.

I was concerned about Warren chewing or sucking on stuff that still had poison residue on it so I asked Sarah to start throwing stuff in the washing machine beginning with the throw pillows on the couch. I've seen Warren chewing on mine and it was a concern for me at the time. The washing machine was loaded and turned on. Two minutes later the kitchen was sitting in a puddle. Sarah decided this was a good time to get out the checklist provided by the management company and start making notes. We were a little scared to put the clothes in the dryer.

AND THE NEIGHBORS! They would be good competition for my neighbors on the NE side (the one's whose house number is 911). Sarah put a little welcoming bench outside her door as did a couple of other tennents in the building. Sarah and Ricky went out to pick up breakfast and come home to find her neighbors all sitting on her bench. Then she discoveres that someone has picked all the little snap dragon blooms that had just openned up the day before. Another nightbor discarded his motor oil bottle in her rubber tree pot and still another neighbor walked off with her lovely little dishgarden that had been a gift from her grandmother's funeral earlier this year. Stole it in broad daylight!

What a weekend. We left them with a livable place, still a lot of work to do but we thought they could handle it from there. I also left Sarah with a lot of advice on getting out of her lease early. She should have no trouble at all.

Sad Day

Laura and Lando have been having some relationship problems for a couple of months. I'm not going to go into the details because it's still so fresh and painful for them both. A couple of Sundays ago Laura called me crying and asked if she could come home. Of course I said yes. Then she asked if I could come pick her up because she was too upset to drive. Of course I said yes. I hung up the phone and grabbed Sarah who was sitting on my porch smoking.

We high-tailed it over to Laura's apartment about a quarter of a mile away. The way Laura was crying on the phone I was concerned that she and Lando had been in a physical fight. But no, thank goodness, he probably wouldn't do that but one never knows.

Laura got what she would need for a few days and rode home with me. Sarah drove Laura's car for her. Just as we were getting Laura's stuff into the house along comes Lando. Laura said she didn't want to talk to him right now so Sarah came running in the house shutting the door tight and yelling at Laura, "Don't you make me give his necklace back or anything like that. You know I'm not good at that!"

A bit of history: When Laura was in middle school, probably 13 years old, she met a boy that wanted her to be his girlfriend. Laura told him he would have to quit smoking (yes, he was just 13 too). He agreed to do so because my little princess was such a hot catch. One afternoon Laura caught word of this boy, whose last name caused us to jokingly call him "Moose", had been smoking in the boys' room at school. A teacher walked in on him so he put the cigarette out in a garbage can, which as you might guess, started a fire. Laura broke it off with the boy immediately. When Moose came over to the house to talk to Laura, Laura handed Sarah (then nine years old) the friendship necklace he had given her and instructed Sarah to return it to him. Sarah was outside for quite a while. Then she came back in the house just bawling her eyes out crying, "But he looked so sad," and pleading for Laura to give him another chance. Thus, "You know I'm not good at that."

I laughed so hard. Later in the evening it occurred to me that a week prior Laura had taken her engagement ring for it's every 6 months inspection. The diamond had slipped down a little in the setting so it was sent off for adjustment. I know it was mean but I couldn't help myself. I told Sarah that laura wanted her to pick the ring up at the jewelers on Tuesday and take it to Lando at the apartment. She screamed "Nooooooo! I can't do that. Are you serious? Noooooo!"

Last Saturday morning Laura called me at 8:00. I knew something was up just because it was 8:00am and she's not usually up that early. "What are you doing today mom?" I told her I planned to do some more painting on the daycare room. She asked if she could come over to help. When she got here she told me of another episode with Lando and that she was now ready to move out for good. We discussed how we were going to manage that now that it was nearly 10:00 and the men in our family probably already had plans. On our way to rent a storage building for her stuff we decided that she would just go back to the apartment for one more week and by next Saturday we could have help lined up. At noon my husband called to tell us that he would have help at the apartment a little after 1:00 and we got her furniture moved that day. It took a few days longer to get the rest of her stuff out. Three of my four bedrooms are now floor to ceiling with boxes. Ugh.

I do enjoy having Laura here with me. She's really good company and a lot of fun. I think we are going to start a diet and walk together. We both need to lose a lot of weight. I lost 45 pounds back in 2006 but 15 pounds have already come back. I need help!

The split up went very smoothly, like adults should do things. The couple had been together almost 4 years and lived together a year and a half so the division of belongings wasn't so easy. Laura still has the apartment key. Perhaps we'll send Sarah to return it.

Lock up your toys ladies!

From our very own Decatur Daily


Smokes, sex toys reported stolen

ATHENS — An Athens thief may have sex and smoking on the brain.

According to police reports, someone stole six packs of cigarettes, a 12-ounce bottle of lubricant, two vibrators and $40 in cash from a home on Garrett Drive.

According to the homeown-
er’s report, the theft occurred in June.

Reports say the thief also made off with a debit card and driver license.


Y'all know this wasn't me. I don't smoke.

The Fat Boy

Oh gosh, I finally rode the motorcycle!

A little over three years ago, January of 2004, My husband came with a brand new Harley Davidson motorcycle. "Look what I got us honey!"

I was irate! $18K for a motorcycle we didn't need or have the money for. "Oh but we do have the money for it," says hubby. "I took money out of savings to pay off the truck so that I could downgrade the insurance from full coverage to the minimum liability so now we still have close to the same payment." I'm sure it all broke even in his mind but I didn't think we needed such a risky toy and I couldn't help but notice it came with but one helmet. What happened to "us"?

But that was ok. Hubby went out and got himself a toy for spending his free time, Carol went out and found herself a new pastime as well (but that's a story unsuitable for this "G" rated blog).

I didn't say much at the time about the motorcycle but a couple of months later hubby and I got into one of those silly arguments that I can't even remember how it started but it eventually circled around to, "Oh yeah, well you get nuts everytime I spend $100 on groceries and stuff at the store. You are constantly fussing at me that we don't have any money to spend so don't write any checks. Then you come home with a new motorcycle (and not a cheap one either it had to be the best) without even discussing it with me?"

Hubby's defense, "Well, I wanted it."

I screamed, "Well I'm tired of that Mustang. There's no room in the trunk even for a couple of suitcases so we can't go anywhere and no one can sit in the back seat, no one with legs anyway. I've really wanted a new Escape for sometime now but you don't see me running out and buying one."

Which led back to a previous argument that everything we own, the children's cars, his truck, my Mustang, his Mustang, and now this motorcycle is in his name. Everything except the house. If something should happen to him, say he splattered his brains all over the highway riding that donorcycle, the rest of the family would be in quite a nasty financial state for quite some time.

The next day hubby called me from the Ford dealership, "What color did you say you wanted?" A few minutes later Rick brought home a brand new green Escape along with the sales lady carrying the paperwork for me to put it in my name. He's so good, sometimes. I was delighted with the Escape but I sent the sales lady back.

Three years four months later, on a Friday afternoon in early May, hubby comes home from work, sits down and announces to me and the girls that he's in love with a Fat Boy. Laura and Sarah did not know that a Fat Boy was a Harley-Davidson rather than an obese homosexual. Both announced that they needed to leave. Ha ha silly girls.

The next morning while I was otherwise disposed or more accurately, elsewhere indisposed, hubby zipped up to the H-D dealership and traded his bike for a pearl white Fat Boy. When I returned (make-up smeared, hair slightly askew) hubby was grinning from ear to ear next to his new toy.

Memorial Day weekend hubby asked me to ride out to the cemetary with him on the motorcycle. Somewhere over the course of the last couple of years we had aquired a second helmet and Rick had just finished installing a passenger backrest so I reluctantly agreed. It was but ten miles or so. I could handle it I guessed.

Barely. I could barely handle it. I had forgotten my fear of speed, skin, and asphalt. WHen I was 14 or 15 I took my trusty little skateboard to Joe Wheeler State PArk. I proceeded to ride from the golf course entrance all the way down a steep slope curving sharply to the right. It was probably a nutty endeavor from the get go but I was doing well until a motorcycle came suddenly around the curve and honked. I found myself face down on the concrete with my shirt slightly torn, my bra slightly torn, and my airbags skinned as well. Riding on the motorcycle, especially when looking down at the pavement blurring beneath, reminded me too much of that fall. I held my breath, closed my eyes, and held on for dear life!

The Beach!

Business first:

Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday to me
Happy birthday dear sweet kind wonderful Carol
Happy birthday to me!

Thank you for allowing me that.

I did not get to go to the beach.

While I was tucked up in the mountains my daughter and grandson road along with my friend Twyla to the Mobile. Looked like they had a great time. It was Warren's first trip to Dauphin Island and the beach.

Sarah and Warren

Come on ma!

I love this pic

Snack time!

There were some really cute pics of my Warren with my little friend Kevin too but I can't post Kevin. Every thing Kevin does, Warren mimmicks. I hate that I missed that.

Gatlinburg

Mother's Day weekend Hubby and I went to Gatlinburg to hear about a Bluegreen vacation club. We thought it was going to be a time share kind of thing but it wasn't. It's a neat idea that's points based so we can use any facility, any time, any size lodging. kind of cool. The Bluegreen resort in Gatlinburg is Mountain Loft. I can't wait to start vacationing.

We had a good time while we were in Gatlinburg. Hubby hurt his back at work the week before so we didn't move around much. It was relaxing anyway.

Note to self (and anyone else who loves pizza): There is a little ma and pa sort of Italian restaurant on Hwy 231 one mile from downtown Gatlinburg called Brick Oven. We left the Aquarium Saturday morning and had just paid for parking and realized that if we wanted to eat lunch we were going to have to pay for parking again because Hubby couldn't walk far. I got in the far right lane on the main street and couldn't get in the left to avoid being forced to turn down 231. So we drove on just to see what we could see and found this little restaurant. There was nobody there. no lines. It couldn't be too bad. We ordered a medium pizza. It was huge and loaded with fresh vegetables. It was every bit as good as the Mellow Mushroom chain. Check it out.

Statue outside the aquarium. There's a little chipmunk in this pic.
You can click on the pic to make it bigger.

This is so wrong. Seafood buffet at the aquarium.

Now this guy was upside down and sideways, spinning around and everything but never stopped wiping the glass. Never has window washing ever looked so exciting, so enticing, alluring even, a bit erotic, definitely wet. . .Oh stop, this is a family kind of blog.

Sunday morning we drove through the state park. The mountains were quite pleasant and beautiful as ever.

Beautiful Gatlinburg, TN

Mama Mia!

Fetuccini Alfredo!

Zoe!

Oh gosh, Sarah's been watching ads in the paper for puppies for quite some time even though she lives in a no pets apartment. She asked me if I would keep a puppy for her until she moved in August if she should happen to find one she wanted. Well, like the good sweet perfect mommy that I am, I said sure. I didn't realize she was hell bent on finding one the very next day. Of course she did find one the very next day. Nearly $300 for a non-registered mix breed. Gee wiz.

Meet Zoe

Isn't she cute?

Warren loves her already.

But there's not going to be any more of this napping business on my tables.

Funky Tree

Ok now, where were we. . .

Oh yes, the Funky Tree. The class was a lot of fun. Canvases , brushes, and paints all included in the cost of the class ranging from $25-40.

It was nearly a full class that night.

Pat disappeared but here's her Funky Tree.

Sarah

Me

Laura

Since then I have been practicing by copying pictures online and elsewhere. I painted a sunset from a snapshot I took in Puerto Rico last year.




An a couple others copied from the Wendy Lovoy site.

This was actually a painting on a window. I modified it slightly to put it on canvas for Sarah.

Painting class!

I've always like to play at painting. I'm not very good but it's fun and relaxing and sometimes I even come up with something cute. I painted pictures for my grandmother to hang on the walls in the nursing home. Sweet little girly pictures like bears and skunks. I loved helping my chindren with school projects especially if there was painting involved. I even painted a seascape with a lighthouse for a friend's birthday. This wasn't any ordinary lighthouse. If you looked closely at the hills above the sea wall and the lighthouse and landscaping below, you might see a well built man with a delightful, delighfully impressive, erection (that being the lighthouse). I was very proud of my creation. Wonder what ever became of it. Let me see if I can dig some samples up. . .



When my older daughter was in college she took a drawing class. She was instructed to draw. . .er. . . . um. . . I'm not sure exactly what it was called but it had to be something creative, like a fish in a martini. That's what this is. Kind of cute, eh?

This self portrait is from several years ago. I know, most people paint their faces but I'm not most. I call this piece "pumpkins".

So I was very excited when my sister invited my daughters and me to a painting class in Birmingham at the studio of Wendy Lovoy. The class is called Sips n Strokes. The sips being of wine or your choice of whatever loosens you up to have fun. We went Friday April 20th. By the way, am I the only person in the world that doesn't know what April 20th is? If you don't know, send me a comment on this blog so I don't feel so bad. Now what were we talking. . . .oh yeah, the art class. We painted "Funky Tree".

To be continued. . . .

Sarah's Birthday Party

Remember friends when I said there would never be another birthday party for Sarah in this house? It was the 12 year old's birthday from hell.

Because I had allowed Laura to have a sweet sixteen birthday party I felt like I should allow Sarah to have her friends over for her birthday too. Laura's friends hung out at the house frequently and were usually neat and polite. They were a real pleasure to have around. Sarah's friends were different. I had only brief encounters with them in passing. When they came to the house it was only to pick up Sarah or get something left behind. They tended not to linger so I couldn't really get to know them. But anyway, I digress, Sarah's friends were DIFFERENT.

Laura's friends

Sarah's friends

Laura's friends

Sarah's friends

The night of the party they were rude to me, loud, obnoxious (not all of them, just most), there were three times as many as Sarah and I had discussed inviting. At the time our house might have been a whole whopping 1200 square feet so you see how this could be a problem. But wait, they did spend a lot of time outside being loud and obnoxious. Our poor neighbors. I would have called the police if this were happening next door. I was ready to send everybody home by 7:00! But no, the girls were invited to spend the night. I don't remember when the boys left, just that it was really late and I wanted to go to bed hoping to awake the next morning to find it was but a nightmare and everything was ok. But it wasn't.

The girls snuck in and (is snuck a word? well it is now) out of the house all night. Seems that one or two had a bad crush on a little hottie a couple of doors down who was about 2 or 3 years older then these kids and really soon now should be going to jail on drug related crimes according to the Decatur Daily. Not a real winner. They should have just left him alone.

The deal was, the next morning I was to get up and go to church and while I was gone, the little ladies left behind were to tidy up a bit and disappear before I came home. Most were gone but there was one little girl that kept lying about not being able to locate her dad and nobody was home and she didn't have a key so she had to stay at the house with us. Late in the afternoon, when I am ready to tie her to the train track at the end of the street, her dad calls worried that she has not been in touch with him. She was supposed to call his cell phone when she needed him to pick her up. Little bitch. She was staying as long as possible so she could flirt with that boy.

Apparently they forgot the tidy up part. When I returned Sunday morning I found food on the furniture, shelves, and the floor in every room in the house! One of the little monsters (and it's blamed on the little girl that would not leave) placed her piece of cake, less the plate, on the floor in my daycare room, sat on the rocking horse, and smushed it into the rug! Ooooh I was irate!

I remember it as if it happened only last week. No more birthday parties for Sarah at this house! But I gave in. Eight years later I allowed Sarah, and all new but still strange friends, to throw a party. I've found that though the names have changed, Sarah's friends are still much the same. Only this time they were not rude or obnoxious, at least not to or in front of me, just intoxicated.

Sarah's 20th

Easter!

Easter was fun! Rick's brother's family, sister's family, dad, and his aunt all came to our home because we had the coolest Easter egg hunting back yard in the family. Four kids hunted over 200 eggs. Lucky chickies!

Pookie enlists help

Crank it up Papa

Hey, there's something in here!

Mmmm

Hey, where's all the candy?

Now, I wanna know who took the pic of Kayla's boobs. Laura?

Graduation!

Ricky graduated boot camp in South Carolina in Late March. Sarah, Warren, Sarah's grandfather, and several members of Ricky's family were there to celebrate with him. Mr. Dubbs couldn't get off work that week so He and I didn't get to go. We are so sorry we missed it but we are so proud of Ricky. It's off to Arizona now for 17 more weeks of training then who knows where. Sarah remains here in Decatur in her apartment until the end of July when Ricky will come home to move his family to a base somewhere. I will be so lonely when Warren moves away. That little boy owns my heart.

Gone to the birds

My husband's aunt had a pair of cockatiels that were sort of hand-me-down. She could no longer care for them so she passed them along to me. The male is a real talker. He calls out "whatchadoin" regularly and says his own name, Pretty Boy. I didn't name him. The female's name is Cutie Pie. I didn't name her either. Pretty boy whistles the familiar dog command and clicks his tongue to get attention. He also whistles bits of the Andy Griffith theme. They are nice company at times. annoyingly loud at others. I think we'll keep them a little while.

Warren really enjoys them.

Pretty Boy on the left, Cutie Pie on the right

Ice cream!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream!

New Year Update

In late December, my mother-in-law who was already suffering late stage liver disease and awaiting a transplant, fell and broke her hip as she walked up the steps to her doctor's office. This was follwed by much pain as she already had a couple of broken ribs and vertebra from previous falls. This trauma likely caused the liver to fail and it was downhill, very slowly, from there. Eventually Mary won a bed in UAB's ICU and we had great hope that they could help her but finally the family was called into that room where the doctors ask the family to make a life support decision. It was time and Mary had suffered way more than anyone ever should. Saturday January 6, 2007 the choice was made to remove the respirator and let Mary rest. And she did, in a room filled with her children and grandchildren fluffing her pillows and holding her hands, just as she would have wanted it to be.

The folowing Monday my new son-in-law left to join the Army. We were so busy with funeral arrangements and stuff that I didn't get to see him that weekend before he left. I didn't get to tell him how proud I was of him. I hope he knows. My husband was not crazy about the idea when Sarah first told us that Ricky was thinking about the Army and I think Ricky knew that. I had to convince Rick that Ricky and Sarah had to make their own life now even if it meant moving away, probably a long way away. I'm so glad we never had to tell Mary. This news would have broken her heart (and likely done her in if the fall had not). Sarah and her grandmother were so very close and Mary adored her greatgrandson. Thank goodness for small blessings.

Tuesday night visitation was held. All of Mary's brothers and sisters, and there were 6, from all over the country were there. The funeral home scheduled 2 hours from 6:00-8:00pm but it was well after 9:00 before the line out the door tapered off. Mary was well loved in our home, in her church, and in this community.

Wednesday the funeral was held early in the afternoon. Though Mary and I were never really close, she was a loving everpresence in our family and I knew better than to where mascara today. At the graveside service doves were released. I haven't ever seen that before, not that I go to a lot of funerals. This was neat. One dove lingered and had to be shewed in order to get it to fly off. Richard, my father-in-law remarked, "That was Mary! She always wanted to stay just a little longer to visit." That indeed was Mary.

Bye Mary. I'll miss you.