Goodbye, Little Man

Tonight I'm paying tribute to our fallen cat, Little Man. Patrick named him for us and he was a really good "kid" cat. He wasn't really that old, maybe a year, maybe more. He was just a wild kitten when he started hanging around, I like to think that I won him over, but it's probably the other way--he won me over! He would meet me at the deck stairs every night when I got home from work, then he'd roll over and purr ( boy, could he purr loudly) until I rubbed his belly. Well I noticed that he wasn't around on Monday morning (and he wasn't one to miss feeding time) and when Doyle got home from work he said that a cat had been run over on the 4 lane. Sure enough when I drove by there, it was Little Man. What a sad discovery! Doyle went and got him and buried him for me (thanks, honey). I tell myself every time "don't get attached" but he got to me. I guess I can blame this on him being a "tom" and having to "go out and roam", but it doesn't change the hurt I feel. There will never be another Little Man, I'm gonna miss him.

What a way to spend a Sunday afternoon!

Yes, there is a hell on earth--and it's called Chuck E Cheese on a Sunday afternoon!!! Brad and Chely had the great idea to take the kids to the Dickerson Park Zoo in Springfield and then out to Chuck E Cheese for food and fun. This would have been great to do say on a weekday but no they choose to do it on Sunday, when everybody else has the same idea. And to top it off they decided on the way to Springfield to flip flop the schedule--eat first, then go to the zoo. That puts us walking into Chuck E's at 12:30--I've never seen soooo many tables "reserved". So we ended up with part of the group in a booth by the window and the rest of us halfway across the room in another booth. Since this was for Patrick's 4th birthday he opened presents, then the kids ate some pizza, then it was off to the games. Honestly I think Brad played more games than the kids, but boy did they have the tickets to cash in!!! So after about 1 1/2 hours of this we finally got the kids up to the "prize" counter to claim their loot. Zoe and Emily ended up with some tattoos and some Hannah Montana paraphernalia. Next up--Patrick--he's got 100 points to "spend" what does he pick out? Five (yes 5) dumdum suckers. I get a bag of 360 dumdums at Sam's for under $10 and have almost a full bag in my cabinet right now because Patrick loves them so much. I guess I just never knew how much he loves them until I watched him scan the cases of trinkets at Chuck E's and all his eyes could see were the dumdums!!! By the way--I skipped the zoo, I didn't feel like being out in the wind (or maybe I just needed a little retail therapy after the trauma of that big grey mouse?).

I need to feel better!

I still basically feel like crap. I don't know what I have, but it is hanging on. Luckily it's not something that has kept me from work, but I just don't feel worth a darn. If I drank I would take a HUGE shot of Crown Royal to see if that would kick it, but since I swore off alcohol, I better stick to the Nyquil (which is about 10% alcohol). When it comes in the form of medicine, that makes it okay!! We had a little party for Patrick on Wednesday evening and I couldn't snuggle with him, that made me sad. It's hard to believe that he is 4 already. I feel like I have been neglecting my blog lately, so I promise that as soon as I get to feeling better, I will be a better blogger--I have lots of little thoughts rolling around in my head, just dying to be let loose.

About Time?

So Doyle and I have been toying around with the idea of having our mail delivered to our actual house---for the past 16+ years---and have finally decided to just take the plunge and do it!!! So Doyle went to town, bought the mailbox, put it in the ground, and then we waited..... Now you would think that since we live in a small rural community that this would not be a big deal, but then again it involves a government agency. So the first step was to go into the Post Office and tell them of our decision, then it was up to them to decide if they could (or would) amend the route to include us. Which really kinda pissed me off, don't I pay their salaries?? So that was decided, then the mail carrier came by and told us exactly where he would like the mailbox put, to make it easy for him of course. No problem, we did that--then we had to go back to the Post Office and fill out their forms so they could forward our mail. So I think good it's all done except a week goes by and no mail, now I don't know many people these days that get absolutely no mail in a week (I get a couple credit card offers at least) so I start to wonder.....So another trip to the Post Office and I find out that even tho they know where to send the mail, they can't start delivering it to the new address until our forward card comes back from Springfield. And we wonder why stamps are so expensive??

Back to Reality

Vacation is all but over, boy it flew by. I came home from the Casino's not with a load of cash but with a sore throat. At first I thought it was just from all the smoke, but after 2 days I still have it along with chest congestion. Must have picked up a bug somewhere along the line. I'm trying to kill it with Nyquil at night and some other cold meds during the day. Luckily I didn't have much planned to do today, spent most of my time catching up the laundry and housework. Took time out to watch some of the race and plan on watching some of the BB tourney tonight. Then it's back to work tomorrow. I do have some vacation stories to share, just don't feel like it tonight.

A Quick Post

Thought I would post a quick hello before I head off to Springfield today. My sister and family have been here since Monday afternoon and we've had a good visit. We're all heading to Springfield to stay the night with Kurt and Holly (and girls). We're eating at Hinode (our fav Japanese restaurant) for supper. Tomorrow Kurt and I will be paying the Indians in Oklahoma a little visit. On the way home from Osage Beach on Tuesday I bought a scratch-off ticket and won $25, hopefully my good luck will continue tomorrow.

Vacation is Here

Well as of 5:30pm this evening I am officially on vacation until 7:30am on the 23rd. YEAH!! I have a few days to veg-out before my sister & family get here. I plan on getting some things done around the house tomorrow. Chely's co-workers are having a baby shower for her this weekend. Holly will be here tomorrow night and will be going to the shower with me Saturday afternoon. Sounds like a three ring circus, doesn't it? I'm so excited to actually "have" company for once. Seems like we are always "the" company for other people (not saying that's a bad thing at all, it just seems to work out that way). Next week will be busy and I know that it will fly by, vacations always do!

One More Week

Just one more week of work, then I'm taking a week off. My sister (the English teacher) is on Spring break and will be visiting for the week. She's bringing her daughters and grandson along. We have some fun things planned for the week--a shopping trip to the Outlet Mall in Osage Beach, spending some time in Springfield, a great meal at the Japanese restaurant that we love, and lots of conversation. Also Kurt and I have a little visit to the Indians worked into the week.

We've had a great weekend. We visited with my Mom and brother on Saturday. Today has been filled with laundry and housework. I did manage to bake some cookies and muffins for Doyle today also. Now I'm trying to wind down so I'll be ready for bed when it's time. I hate when the time changes, it just takes me too long to adjust. The best thing about this time change is that it will still be light when I get home from work now. I would much rather drive to work in the dark than drive home in the dark.

Radio Pisses Me Off

This has got to be my biggest pet peeve right now. I have said numerous times that I am totally obsessed with my ipod and iTunes, so when I hear a song on the radio that I like I jot it down so I can download it. Well, I hate it when the deejay doesn't tell either the song title or the artist. Just give me one or the other!! So what I have to do is TRY and remember the chorus or a line from the song and google it for the title and artist. Problem is I'm old and I hate to say it but, my memory is not what it used to be. So for the past week or longer I've had this line from a song rolling around in my head and I still have not figured out what the title is or who sings it (and I've heard it played more than once during that time). The deejay used to tell you what was coming up or tell you what they just played, even if it was a few songs later. At least you could put it together, not now, they might play ten songs and never say who sang any of them. So as a consequence (like they're really gonna know or care) I am boycotting radio for a while. Today is my day off so I will be burning cd's from my iTunes for my listening pleasure. Take that Radio!!

Catch-up Post

Our "light" snow on Saturday turned into 6 1/2 inches. It just kept coming, guess that's what I get for bitching about a little snow coming our way! Thankfully it was sunny on Sunday and a lot of it melted. I ended up going to Springfield again last Saturday. Chely and the kids were going and wanted me to ride along. With the snow I didn't want Chely out on the roads by herself with the kids. They bought a different vehicle, and needed to go back to the dealer to finalize some things. Anyway we didn't get left until after noon and I ended up just going to Kurt & Holly's with the kids while Chely did her business. Emily & Patrick love to go to Zoe's and play so they had a blast. We enjoyed supper at Olive Garden and then headed back home. What usually takes about 1 hour 20 minutes took us well over 2 hours. The roads were good in places but not in others, it was hard to tell what was just wet and what was ice or even worse black ice. It was a stressful trip home.

Sunday I did the laundry and cleaned like a mad woman. Although it's not my favorite activity I clean my house all the time (because I have to--can't stand for my house to be dirty/messy--my own little OCD), but for some reason on Sunday I was just in the mood to clean. I usually space the cleaning out over the week and just do the extra jobs on the weekend, but not Sunday, I just kept finding more things to do. So I think I'm going to take tonight off, must of burnt myself out.