Aug 21 Tuesday...

[sassygirl01]

good morning everyone..
Rise and shine...
I am making right now ..Chili....It grow...Lucky i have big pot..
A lot of tomato...I am done...
I think it is good day for it..Another rainy day...

[Paula A]

Good morning, sassy and all who are typing now!
That chili sounds good especially with someone else making it! I bet your house smells good!
My sense of smell leads the way for me! Last night Becky was saying she does not like the cat litter I bought while she was gone. It was a different brand in a smaller container that I could easily get and bring in. I thought it works fine...last night I heard the cat scratching around in the box and then woke and thought, Yuck! It doesn't take care of the smell...then woke up all the way and thought: Ugh. Not my cat. That is a skunk and that smell sure covers everything! I closed the bedroom window for awhile ...I hate that skunk odor..

Sorry for the yucky opening, everyone. Hope you are all smelling flowers right ow. Or rain. That is such a great smell to wake to.

Not much else for today. It sure is a different daycare when the older ones are gone. My one 4 year old wasn't here yesterday and I thought he was going to be. The mom may be having a hard time telling me she is putting him in Head Start or something. I doubt that, but it could be someone in the family is taking him. You never know how jobs and income change for families.

I have laundry started and need to clean a floor or two. My friend's townhome where I stayed in Utah did not seem so claustrophobic this visit. But it did show me how tings can get in the way of living. They have bought so many extra book cases and shelving units for stuff that Linda admitted no one uses. I have the same situation just enough space to keep them in place, but if I got rid of things I am not using It would be like a remodel and gaining space. Nice empty space! Something I realize I want more than things on a shelf.

I hope you all have a good day and good scents and kind words in your life!

[maxie]

Morning Paula...skunk smell, have not smelled one in a long time. They used to walk through our backyard when i was a kid and their odor lingered just strolling by. I am not even seeing them as road kill around here. Hope your skunk was just passing through and not a regular!

[bethina]

Morning..on my way home

[maxie]

It is a rainy day here also Sassy...funny but my son has been asking for chili and I keep telling him it is to hot outside. Actually chili is not a favorite of mine and I only make it for the guys. I am going to put on a big pot of spaghetti sauce so looks like tomatoes are the fruit of the day.

Today is Andrew's 12th birthday...these grands are making me old. His boots are still on back order so do not know when he will get his birthday gift from me. I see a card on the table from his dad and I will swing through DQ and pick up an ice cream pizza for his cake. His first day of school was uneventful and boring. Sierra starts class this afternoon so everyone is back to normal. Yesterday I got her tuition paid, her books picked up, she got her bangs cut and then wanted lunch. It was like being with a kindergartner. My credit card got a workout anyway! Andrew just flies in and starts eating whatever he can cram into his mouth. I did not have anything finished because the first few days the buses run late and true to form he was 30 minutes late last night. Bus drivers have a crappy job with kids behavior now a days. Then they have to maneuver road construction and weather...Jon called the bus shed one day when our crossing was torn up to commend the driver and tell them the awful conditions she was trying to turn around in. They were shocked that someone was saying something nice about the driver! I saw a parent verbally fight with the driver one day and hold up all the kids getting off because the driver would not drop the kid at a different stop without a note. They are attacked for protecting your kids? I cannot say enough nice things about a school bus driver...just wish they would get it together faster when school starts.

Do not know where that side trip of bus driver praise came from but it was certainly a side trip this morning! Today I am getting a haircut...yay! Tomorrow is lunch with the school chums. Since I know where they are meeting and can drive there without much trouble I am guessing I will go. If I get anymore antisocial you would have to look for me on top of a mountain..with a helicopter. Have a pot of spaghetti sauce with meatballs cooking and the gas company is here bright and early putting some type of an update on their gas meter. Probably something to make us use more gas! They were here this summer to update the electric meter and we have had the highest bills ever...never mind that this has been a hot summer because there is certainly something in it for the company to update. Bus drivers I respect. The utility companies not so much!

Busy day around here so should get it started. A pile of laundry is a given. Cardinals are on the west coast and I went to sleep before we won with a walkoff..had to see it this morning on the news. No sense even thinking I can stay up tonight. I would do better if they started the games in the middle of the night cuz then I'm awake! Have a great day each of you...

[JoGee]

Good morning.
looks like we had some rain last night....and more expected later today. E took the trash out last night, said the ground was dry but the car had raindrops on it. All I know for sure is that it is muggy, icky, but we do need the moisture.

i have PT this morning. Nothing else on the agenda. Next week I have a major medical appt....labs, followup, and see if there’s need for a blood infusion.
told my DD that it feels odd that Aretha Franklin passed away at age 76......my age right now. Makes one think. Especially with my BFF’s husband died last week, buried yesterday. My DD said not to worry, I’ve survived everything that life has thrown at me since 1989, that health problems should be trying very hard to avoid ME! Lol. I’ve been very lucky.

Paula, I don’t cringe when I smell skunk. Never did. To me it’s like when teenage boys used to “burn rubber” skidding their cars. Never worse than that. As for cat litter, try putting baking soda under the cat litter in its box. People swear by it.
I tried the scented cat litter for my cats once. They refused to step in it, and would run for the door to go outside.

Sassy, the chili sounds good. But it’s still too hot here for that.

Where are Cookie and Janet these days? They haven’t been posting.

Well, I hope Sharon is doing better now, and did Maxi get that shot to reduce the pain?

wishing you all a great day!

[sassygirl01]

JoGee,Thank-you..I believe it..It cool here...

[JoGee]

Oh, got a thank you note from grandson who just turned 16. His parents live about 1,000+ miles away now, due to his step-dad’s job. He’s staying with my son and his wife for now, as he is being home schooled by his grandma and his aunt (who has a job in the school district offices). His mom has her hands full with the two younger boys who are hyper and nearly uncontrollable. I’m surprised that for his age, the 66-yr-old’s printing is very elementary and not in a straight line. So he has learned very little about writing, punctuation or grammar. Aren’t home schooled kids ever checked on what they’re learning, or not learning? I wonder about his math and other subjects, and what level he really is at.

Well, gotta go get cleaned up and dressed. It’s getting late.

[maxie]

Jo I do not know anything about home schooling but I do know they are teaching kids different than when we were in school or even from our kids. Andrew has a terrible handwriting and does not spell but he uses the computer and has had an ipad for years. They do not even teach cursive writing around here anymore. His grammar I correct and he is getting better. I have always been a grammar nazi! I think it is a great show of good manners from the adults around him that he sent a thank you note. Someone is doing a good job!

[boffler]

Just passing through....Paula I detest that skunk smell it gets in your nostrils and take forever...if I see a dead one coming up on the road I hold my breath until I am past it, then blow out before returning to normal breathing.. get them floor all cleaned...with having children in your home you are held to a higher standard..

Maxie in your house it just like still having kids in school.. I don't think I could handle that...Happy Birthday to Andrew I know you feel bad about the boots, but you sure did give it a good try.

I am baking a homemade lemon pie, one of our favorites, been a long time since I made one and it just sounded good today...been a rainy day all day long...so soup beans and cornbread for supper..

Time to put the meringue on, took advantage of a no canning day...tomorrow two Dr. appts.

[maxie]

The main reason I moved here was to be closer to my grands. Sierra I raised and evidently did not do a very good job by the way she is acting now but Andrew I barely knew. He only came a couple of times a month with his dad for a few hours. Now I see him every day and know his moods by the look on his face. Plus I still get to glump around on my own schedule mornings and only have to feed him supper at night then he goes home. It ain't a bad job!

[Paula A]

you hit it right on the head, Sharon! Kids bring in dirt and sand after being outside and ceiling fans just keep all the dust bunnies herding around.
I just saw a text from the mom who is bringing her child back tomorrow .
she wanted to bring him for a little play time this morning...I need to know ahead of time but didn’t even see the text because we were playing and noisy!
so, I told her they could come around 3:45 today.
Maxie, I saw Andrew’s birthday on Facebook. Handsome boy!
your dinner sounds great, Sharon!
Hope all is going well.
Jo, our cat is so finicky about his box and food.

[JoGee]

Paula, my cat Pickles was finicky, too. She would only eat Meow Mix kibbles, and still she would carefully pick out the fish shaped ones and drop them in a beat pile next to her bowl. Then eat her fill of the rest. Fortunately, her step-brotherTeddy Bear was not finicky. He would eat the pile of fish kibbles, plus whatever Pickles had left in the bowl.

Maxie, I do give that grandson credit for sending the card at all. His printing is a combination of upper and lower case printing, mixed up, and all letters are almost the same size and unevenly spaced, and might run into each other. Not one line is straight. Some lines wiggle, some go just upward, some a bit downward. He uses very short words so he doesn’t abbreviate, does not put a $ in the right place. A real teacher would give him a D- on neatness.
That aside, he doesn’t have a very large vocabulary.
Frankly, I know the grandparents do not have the intelligence to teach, nor his Mom, and I question his step-dad’s ability as well. The aunt working for the School District put her kids in a Monsanto school, and probably isn’t wasting much of her precious time teaching the boy anything. She is the granddaughter who has not sent a thank you card (or any greeting card) in 4 at least years, and barely says a word to me if I do see her (it has been that long!).....she makes herself scarce and calls that “busy”. So I have finally written off her family this year for any gift at all. Anyway, I think the boy will suffer most in the end. He would do better in an on-line school, if anyone would take the time to just guide him, but they are afraid he will lose his religion, teach ideas the family has, etc. I think it’s very sad. He will be lost when he gets out in the real world.