Much Ado About Nothing

Feeling a bit blahzay this morning. Since my hysterectomy last fall, I just have days like that. For no particular reason at all. Just no oomph. Like my got up and go got up and went. That's me today. Five loads of laundry, my weekly housework day is today. Most days I can grin and bear it. Today, not so sure. One of my favorite daily reads, Leigh has got the best music playing on her blog. After I read her daily post, I just let her playlist play through. I enjoy it so much. Leigh, if you happen to read this, thanks so much!

Gotta go to the vet today and get Bandit's flea stuff -- what's it called -- Advantage? Is that it? Whatever it is. She's out of hers and heaven knows we don't want a flea. I itch enough without any help from critters.

The green lagoon (pool) is looking better. I've babied it like a newborn. It has responded nicely. The sod finally came last night about 8:30. Jeff's good friend Eric was over getting a playbook for football, so he and Cam helped him lay one pallet. When he gets home today, I'm sure he'll start on the other one. Doubt he'll finish before he leaves for practice.

I ordered a shirt from one of my daily reads and it came yesterday. If y'all want to go over and look at what she's got, go here. It was so cute. I ordered it Sunday and it came yesterday. Not bad. I like buying things online. It's so much fun getting stuff in the mail besides junk or bills.

Till tomorrow, or later if my keylime yogurt is fantastic, good Thursday to ya!

Two in One

Two posts in one day. Crazy, huh? I just had this cup of yogurt for lunch. And OMGosh, it was so good! I just had to tell y'all about it. Chances are you've already tried it. It's Yoplait Light Thick & Creamy Cherry Cobbler (in case you can't see the picture). I swear I licked the carton. It was really, really good. I actually fooled myself a little, too, by adding a little low-fat granola on top. That actually made me think I was eating a crumb topping on the cobbler. So good.

Try it. You'll like it. 100 calories. Fat free. If there's something bad with it, like too many carbs or too much sodium or too much something else, don't tell me. I don't want to know. I won't believe you. I'll call you a liar. I'm in love with this yogurt.

I Do. I Don't.

Nine o'clock a.m. and it's 61 degrees on April 29th. It's predicted to go up to 81 today and for the next several days. Mr. Sunshine will be out, with just the slight threat of Ms. Thunderstorm. Not bad for springtime weather.

Warm temps and sunshine have put me to thinking about all the things I do and, oh, yes, all the things I don't like about summer, which is just around the corner. Thought I'd share a few with y'all. We'll start with the Things I Like:

1. Going barefoot.
2. The smell of suntan lotion around a pool or beach. Or anywhere for that matter.
3. Eating fresh Silver Queen corn with butter dripping off of it from my daddy's garden.
4. Riding with the top down. Not my top down. The top down on the car. Sillies.
5. Watching hummingbirds.
6. Fresh tomatoes from Jeff's garden. And cucumbers. And squash.
7. Sitting on the deck at LaParilla and watching the sun go down.
8. Long days. Short nights.
9. Watching my big boys fish off the pier at Tybee.
10. Color. Everywhere. Color.

Things I Don't Like:

1. The way my feet are so rough they could be used in place of sandpaper.
2. Having to fill up the hummingbird feeders. Such an easy task, but such a pain.
3. The mess the fresh veggies make when you bring them inside. Dirt everywhere. Y'all know I don't DOOO dirt.
4. Having a To Do List that is so long that you'll never get it all done.
5. Mosquitoes.
6. Flies. I hate, hate, hate flies. And every time I open the door, as Nan would say, every bug in Henry County comes in!
7. Wearing ladies undergarments. A/K/A a bra. Most uncomfortable in Georgia heat.
8. Humidity. And hair in humidity. And makeup in humidity.
9. Feeling dirty/sweaty/sticky.
10. Being stuck inside having to work when I want to be outside. :0)

Do y'all have things you do and don't like about the warmer weather? Leave me a comment or post on your blog and let me know. Curious minds want to know. . .

Till tomorrow.

What We Have Here. . .

Do any of you ever have that problem with your hubby? I'm not complaining about my Sugar. He's beyond good to me. He works far harder around this house than any man should ever work. Heaven knows he puts up with me and for that I know he's a saint. We're just not exactly communicating about the house and yard stuff very well right now.

For example, as y'all know, we've opened the pool up. We had to put lots of stuff in it a couple of weeks ago, including 16 bags of salt. Well. . . he thought I had turned the mineral system on. I assumed he had turned it on. Neither of us turned it on. Yesterday the pool looked like something the Loch Ness Monster would be swimming in.

I need the water hose. He needs the water hose. When I need it, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the backyard at the garden. I'm sure when he needs it, it's waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay in the front yard. We have more than one hose, but only one faucet on that side of the house.

The front porch needed a washing this morning. I had a hose, but no sprayer. Couldn't find it. Anywhere. I have no clue where he used it. Probably waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the garden. I'm going today and buy a his and hers sprayer. I guess my mama didn't teach me to share very well.

The list goes on and on. It's not complaints, mind you. I would never do that. I'm just saying that what we have here is a good, old-fashioned failure to communicate.

Till tomorrow, Happy Tuesday!

What We Have Here. . .

Is a failure to co

The Queen of Much

Well, y'all, it's time to add another jewel to my crown. I've officially mastered the art of boiling an egg. And, yes, they were all the way done. And, yes, I then deviled them. And, yes, ALL BY MYSELF! Now, if that doesn't qualify for a jewel, then I don't know what does. Aren't they pretty?
Since my kids weren't here to lick the spoon, but Bandit sure wanted to, I let her have at it. I do believe she'd have eaten it, too, if she could've.

I hosted the Sunday night supper last night. Jeff grilled burgers and hot dogs. I made pasta salad, baked beans, cole slaw and, of course, the deviled eggs. It gave my mom and dad a break. Here they are enjoying their break.

For dessert, we had ice cream cones with cookie dough, cookies and cream and butter pecan ice cream. I think the kids were in heaven. Here's why. . .

They enjoyed the first swim of the season and the second swim of the season in my new pool liner. Cam and his GF got in on Saturday. The water is up to 75 degrees. Still a bit chilly for me. I guess kids don't mind. Anyway, they all wanted me to make their pictures doing something off the diving board. So here they are. Above is Joseph. Below is Reid.

Here is Betty Boop -- I mean Alayna.

This is Ethan. I think I made the most pictures of him. With the digital cameras, do your kids always want to see their pictures after you make them? Every time I made Ethan and Alayna's picture, they wanted to see them. If they weren't what they imagined they'd be, they wanted a do-over.

And last, but not least, Eli. If you click on the picture and enlarge it, you can see the smile on his face. He was having sooo much fun. This is the reason I work my booty off. Well, that and in a few more weeks when I'll be on a float with a cold diet coke in my hand. But mainly for a night like last night to share with these kids that I love so much. Ross didn't get in and Cam wasn't here, so that's why no pictures of those two.

Today's a work at home day for me. Got lots of office work to catch up on. Then tonight Jeff's got two pallets of sod to get down. We need about 38 pallets more. Just kidding on the number. But seriously, we need some grass y'all. At this point, I think I'd settle for some weeds. Anything green will work. Anything but dirt.

And BTW, A Girl Named Kelly Kelly has a beach trip planned for Memorial Day weekend. This time my hubby's going with me. We're going with Ronnie and Nan. The countdown is on. I'm going to open my 30 day Shred video today. Maybe.

Till tomorrow, hugs!

Just Married?

Cam's been at the Georgia FFA Convention in Macon since Thursday morning. He left his truck at the school. We were going to pick it up and then take it back today so that he'd have it when they get back this afternoon, but we never got around to it.

He sent me this picture with his phone this morning. The picture is dark and I was dead asleep, so I couldn't tell much about it. At first I thought the truck had been dented in. I panicked and sent him a text to find out what was going on. Well, he was in a meeting at the convention, so he couldn't talk. He said Ross had seen it and to call him. Ross was on the lake, so I shook the sleep out of my eyes and called him. He said evidently one of Cam's buddies had decorated his truck with crape paper and painted "Just Married" on his window! They did the same thing to his GF's truck too. She's in FFA and is also at the convention. I was just so thankful it wasn't vandalized. All I could think was oh, great, there goes our insurance!

Yesterday was a strange day. It had all the makings of a really bad day. First the Parks family dog. I woke up and still had a lingering headache. Then problems with a mean attorney. Two things you don't mess with me on. One, my kids (even though clearly they can take care of themselves, I still rule with an iron fist!) Two, my sisters. Sometimes people can be so rude. Attorneys especially. Sometimes they just think they're all that and a bag of chips, you know! She had someone trying to push her around with an issue that she was in the right on. I had to step in with my iron fist and give her some big sis guidance. Needless to say, as of now, she got the last word.

Then my Aunties stopped by for a visit. I was still in my PJs at 1 o'clock in the afternoon! That's how bad the day had been going! I changed and went and we sat by the pool for a couple of hours and chatted. It was nice to get out of the house and away from everything and let my blood pressure come back to normal. HA! Now I have some heirloom flowers from Auntie Theresa to plant. I'll probably do that today.

I've still got this headache. It's definitely a migraine. It will NOT go away. I've tried all the tricks I usually try. It's mild right now. If I can keep it that way I can function. Pray it stays that way.

Jeff's coaching a game this afternoon. Two undefeated teams.

Till tomorrow, Happy Saturday!

Yeller the Mountain Cur

I don't have a picture to go with my post today. The reason is because my post is dedicated to Yeller the Mountain Cur that belonged to Suz, Jason and the kids. He passed away during the night last night.

Alayna had played with him on Wednesday and he was fine, but when Jason went to feed him yesterday, he was not well. Wouldn't eat, wouldn't stand up, panting, etc. He took him to the animal emergency room and they gave him some fluids and a shot, but he was too sick. The doctor's best "guess" was that he had gotten into some poison. That's not likely because Suz and Jason live out in the woods away from anyone and they haven't used any poison on anything. The doctor then said that with all the rain we've had there are a lot of wild mushrooms growing that are poisonous and that he may have eaten one of those. We'll never know.

Yeller was a squirrel dog. Jason got him to take him to the hunting land to hunt. He really ended up being the family pet. Although, as the old saying goes, that dog could hunt. And that dog could run. And run. And run. And run. I'm not kidding when I tell you that he could run for miles. When we would go to the hunting land and ride the four-wheelers, Yeller would follow the riders. He'd run every step of the way, really no matter how far it was. Occasionally, one of us would bring him back from a long ride on the front of one of the four-wheelers, but that was not very often. He would rather run than ride. He was so playful too. I saw him when I went for Eli's birthday last week. Eli and I were out blowing bubbles and Yeller caught a glimpse of the bubbles and he wanted to chase them too. When Reid went to feed him, he'd much rather play than eat. He always appeared to me to be such a humble dog. Not proud or cocky of what he knew his talents were. I know that sounds kinda funny. I can't really explain what I mean. It's amazing the way animals tug on your heart strings.

The Parks are sad today. I'm sad too. I think I'll pay Bandit (my Jack Russell) a little extra attention.

Call the Doctor, Call the Nurse

Call the Lady with the Alligator Purse 'cause a Girl Named Kelly Kelly can hardly move this morning. My hubby and I worked ourselves half to death yesterday afternoon. First of all, I spray painted all these pool chairs. They were kinda scratched and banged up and needed freshening up. It took four cans of spray paint and I need a couple more. I had to bend and twist and turn and stand on my head to get in the nooks and crannies. Reason number one I can't move.
Meet my Mickey Mouse pressure washer. I'm only kidding. He's not really a Mickey Mouse brand. We paid less than $100 for him two or three years ago. We've so gotten our money's worth out of him. He just doesn't seem to have the oomph he did when he was young and spry. In other words, you have to hold the nozzle very close to what you're cleaning and you can't make very broad strokes. I'm cleaning the concrete around the pool. I'm almost half done. Jeff did a little bit of it, but I've done the majority. I think we need a newer, high-powered pressure washer. I like to wash things, you know. I told Suz the other day that I'm gonna put a sign on the pool fence this summer asking everyone to please remove their flip flops before walking on the concrete. You think I joke. I'm not. Mickey Mouse pressure washer is reason number two I can't move.

After we worked outside till we could go no longer, we came inside and had a barbeque sandwich (homemade I might add). That gave us about an ounce more of energy, so. . . being the OCD fanatic that I am, we cleaned the entire house, top to bottom. We finished at 10:00.

My back, my arms, my legs, my everything hurt! I was so tired and achy that I could hardly sleep. Jeff got up at 4:00 for something and nearly bounced me out of the bed when he got back in, so then I was reminded again how miserable I was. It took forever for me to fall back asleep.

He's working from home today, and I am too. Literally. We're both doing work-work for our jobs and looky, looky what else this maniac has for us to do.

I bought these yesterday at the lawn and garden center. It's a whole flat of flowers, plus about 10 other plants.

And his brother Ronnie always starts our tomato plants from seeds, so they're ready and it's time to get those planted in the garden. He's doing that today, too. After he goes to Lowe's and gets the fertilizer and my potting soil.

So if any of you see the doctor, the nurse or the lady with the alligator purse, send her over, please. We're gonna need her. And tell her to bring a margarita. Or two.

Till tomorrow, ciao.

Heirloom Flowers

My Auntie Theresa had a post this week of the plants in her yard. I enjoyed it so much, so I decided to copy her and take y'all on a little tour of mine. These are all flowers and plants that have been given to me by people in my family or that I've grown up with. Most of them were given to me by my MaMa Kimball. She had the greenest thumb of any woman I've ever known. She lived on a farm, so it was hard for her to keep her flowers, with all the farm equipment and critters, but she did and they were her pride and joy. She especially loved her lilies, verbena and petunias that just grew wild everywhere on the farm. Even in a cow pasture. As a little girl, I especially loved the verbena. It's still a favorite of mine, but they don't grow it like she did. I'd get clippings of it from her, but I could never get it to grow. It just liked that good, rich farm soil I guess. I miss her soooooo much. She was every woman's woman. She could cook. She could garden. She could sew. She would get her hair done every Saturday and look so pretty on Sunday morning, but she could use what she called a "grubbing hoe" better than any man ever could. And best of all, she NEVER said an unkind word about anyone and was humble as the day is long. My mom's a lot like her.
These little dolls are from her. They are called oxalis. The leaves look like clover and they have the cutest pink flowers that bloom from spring all through the summer. They don't like the really hot afternoon Georgia sun though. They get a little weepy sometimes.
This is one of my few remaining lamb's ear that I got from her too. I had dozens and dozens of them. The varmints around here have eaten the rest of them. I've got tons of seed and have been tossing them about hoping they'll come up. Just keeping my fingers crossed on that one. They have a very pretty silvery, furry green leaf with a hot pink flower. They get pretty tall. MaMa really liked these too. She had lots of them. The birds, I think, must get the seed and drop them because they grow in the strangest places.
These are called obedient flowers. They're obedient because they keep their shape so well and are great to use in cut flower arrangements. They have white flowers and honey, they multiply like rabbits. I got these from my Aunt Libby who lives in South Georgia.
This is one of my very favorite flowers. It's a hydrangea bush. Some years the blooms are blue. Others they are pink. Sadly, one year the frost got the blooms and they were no color at all. This bush came from my daddy's Aunt Louise, who passed away several years ago. It was very, very small when she gave it to me. Actually, it wasn't much bigger than a twig. That's something my MaMa Kimball taught me was how to take a clipping from another plant and make it grow. Even if it doesn't have any roots.
This is a very delicate rose bush that I got a little stick of from MaMa. You won't even believe how old the original bush is. My grandparents got this bush as a wedding gift. The bush this one came from is 70 years old! It's still in their front yard at their old homeplace. I'm so happy and thankful I got a piece of it and that it's alive and blooming. It's actually got hundreds of blooms and will bloom more than once a year.
These are yellow cana lilys. They came from MaMa, too. They also multiply like crazy. They are just beginning to come up, and will show their color in the summer. Unfortunately, the Japanese beetles like to eat them, which totally tick me off!
This is an oak leaf hydrangea bush given to me by the a sweet lady I grew up living next door to,
Ms. Roberts. She's 98 years old. She still lives next door to my mom and dad. My mom and dad check in on her a lot and my dad takes care of the maintenance and stuff around her house. He's real sweet and does that kind of thing for elderly people. These have white flowers and also look gorgeous in a cut flower arrangement.
This is a picture of some ivy that my mom gave me after I had a little surgery a few years ago. It was one little pot of ivy. I set it out underneath the swing because a very special bed and breakfast Jeff and I go for my birthday in the North Georgia mountains has a swing that is surrounded with ivy. I thought I'd give it a try with ours and I'm sure glad I did. Evidently, ivy likes swings.
Another sweet treat from MaMa. In fact, this one's called "sweet shrub". It smells fruity, sorta like Juicy Fruit chewing gum. Once the smelly blooms are gone it's just a green shrub. I would like to move it. I don't really like where it is at my back deck. It needs to be in a more open spot. Besides underneath my deck isn't a good backdrop for anything!
What's left of my hostas. Jeff's mom gave me these. She gave me a big clump and I separated them. Of course, they also multiply. But. . . last year, Jeff put this net up around his garden to keep the deer out. It worked great. They stayed out of the garden and ate almost all of my hostas. I need to separate this clump and a couple of others and start over. I know the deer will be back again soon though.
This is a vintage rose bush that came from MaMa Kimball's. She actually got it from PaPa's mother, so it came from a clipping that she got from my great-grandmother. It's not a very well groomed rose bush, but that's okay. I still love it. I notice that an acorn has taken root and a small tree is trying to grow up through it. I'm gonna have to get my "grubbing hoe" out there and dig that up.
This is one that is really special to me. It came from MaMa and PaPa Howell's house. It's a tiny camellia. As tiny as it is now, you wouldn't believe how small it was when I got it. The reason it is so special to me is because when my daddy was in high school he planted the camellia bush that this clipping came from. Even though my grandparents are gone now, that camellia bush is still big and strong at their old homeplace. Daddy got me this clipping and said I should keep it in a pot until it was big enough to make it on its own. I think I'm going to keep it in the pot a couple of more years. It's right outside my front door. I see it every day.

Azaleas from MaMa Kimball. So pretty when they bloom. I wish they'd bloom longer. Pink, green and brown are my favorite colors, so naturally, I love that shrub.

Well, that's it for my heirloom flowers. I've always told Jeff that we could never move from this house because of my flowers. My heart would break to leave them. I'm excited because Friday I'm going to be getting some clippings from my Auntie Theresa's yard! I think it's really true that some of the best things in life are FREE.

Till tomorrow, hope you're blooming where you're planted.

Newlywed Chickie Pie

Y'all have probably figured out by now that cooking is not part of my divadom. I mean, I consider myself somewhat of a domestic diva. I love to clean. I love to work in the yard and I love, love to take care of our pool. But when it comes to cooking, it just ain't happening. I want to like it. I collect aprons. I collect cookbooks. I love to read cooking magazines and rarely go to the store without buying the latest issue of one of my favorites. And I'm usually a pretty good cook WHEN I cook. It just makes me really tired to do it.

Last night I felt like making something that is one of Jeff's all-time favorites. It's a chicken pot pie recipe that I've been making for him ever since we've been married. In fact, it's the oldest recipe I've got. It's handwritten by me and got several spills on it. I don't even remember where I got it from 22 years ago. I've done some fine tuning on it over the years, but it's mostly the same.

I call it Newlywed Chickie Pie

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken or 4-7 chicken breast. Cook the chicken and let cool. Line your dish with shredded chicken.
Heat one can cream of celery, cream of chicken or cream of mushroom soup and 1 1/4 cup of the chicken broth where you boiled the chicken (you can use bought broth if you like). Whisk together and pour over the layer of chicken.

One large can Veg-All, drained. Pour the can of Veg-All over the soup and chicken mixture. I like to use my hands for this because it seems like all the vegetables like to hang out together with their like vegetables in the can. I separate them with my hands and put them in the dish.

Next comes the batter. Sift together 1 cup all-purpose flour, 1/2 teaspoon pepper, 2 teaspoons baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt.

This sifter belonged to my great-grandmother Kimball. It's lovely, don't you think?

After sifting your dry ingredients, pour in one stick melted butter, slowly adding 1 cup of milk.

Whisk your batter up very well and pour over everything in the dish. DO NOT STIR. This is how your chickie pie will look just before going into the 425 degree preheated oven.

Cook for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on your oven.

This is how your chickie pie will look when it comes out of the oven. . .

IF YOU FORGET TO PUT THE BAKING SODA IN!!!!!!

See how part of it is cooked an dry and part is runny? Yeah, well, it's not supposed to look like that. It's supposed to have a nice crust that rises up through the whole thing. I think I ended up cooking that darned chicken pie for at least an hour. I kept wondering why in the world it was staying so runny. Then I remembered. Ah ha. I forgot the 2 teaspoons of baking soda.

Oh, well, you can't be good at everything. Jeff ate it anyway. Ross did too. Cam doesn't like chickie pie. I had cereal.

I wanted to show y'all what I bought myself yesterday for -- well, just because they were sooooo gorgeous.

Do you ever stop by the floral department at your grocery store? I always do to see if they have any flowers that they have marked down. They had these beauties marked down to $4.99. $4.99 for a dozen roses. Wow! They even smell good too. Better than the last ones Jeff sent to me, which had absolutely no smell.

I sat through a 6-hour Korean translator depo today. Can you say torture? I'm not cooking tonight. I know you're shocked, aren't you? We're going out to Mellow Mushroom when Jeff's done with football practice.

Till tomorrow, y'all have a good evening!

Stick a Fork In Me

Because at 12:27 a.m. EST, I'm FINALLY DONE!!! The picture above represents hours and hours and hours of work. It's printed, in binders, and it's ready to go to the post office first thing in the morning. Hallelujah! I took a break to go to my mom and dad's for supper, but other than that, nothing else. I thought seriously about taking a nap because my eyes felt like they were on fire from staring at the computer screen, but I didn't even do that. I was a woman on a mission. I had to get that monkey off my back. And honey, let me tell you, it feels
G-R-E-A-T. I can breathe again. Ahhhh.

Happy Monday everyone!

Stuck in My Office Again

I'm gonna get me a pair of these flip flops for days and weeks just like today and the week I've got coming up. I'm either going to be in depos or working in my office getting depos out. My feet aren't going to touch anything other than the carpet all week. Ugh! I've made myself a promise that I'm not coming out of this office today until I get this 245 page transcript finished. It has been a monkey on my back for two weeks now.

Went to Eli's b'day party last night. He got a new scooter from Suz and Jason, and he can fly down their driveway faster than the speed of sound. There were about 30 people at the party. It's so nice to go to a birthday party when you're the guest and not the mom. Wow! Those things are so much work. And there's always at least one kid that gets on your ever-loving last good nerve. Suz made an amazing chocolate cake with gummy worms oozing out of the top. Eli made a request for a "worm party." He's kinda into worms and frogs right now.

Well, I'm back to work and I'm not coming out till I'm done.

Till tomorrow.

My Hubby and Me

Leigh over at Bloggeritaville played this game yesterday on her blog. I thought it would be fun, so Jeff and I played this morning. It was funny to see how close some of our answers were. One in particular. I surely do love my Sugar!

1. What is something your husband always says to you? Chill Out. Jeff said you ask me, or I'm not seeing it here Llyod. (he misspelled Lloyd)
2. What makes your husband happy? $$$ in the bank, lots of loving from moi. Jeff said not having to make decisions.
3. What makes your husband sad? Me being sad. When his team, Cam's team or UGA lose a game. Coming home from vacation. Jeff said argueing/fighting. (he misspelled arguing)
4. What was your husband like as a teen? Very athletic and good at all sports. Modest. Smart. Liked by everyone. All things he is now. Jeff said unresponsible. (it's irresponsible)
5. How old is your husband ? 47. Jeff said 47. Duh. If he got that wrong, I'd be worried.
6. What is his favorite thing to do? Coach football. Jeff said coach football. Duh again.
7. What does your hubby do when you're not around? Work outside, watch sports on TV, laundry. Jeff said work outside.
8. If your husband becomes famous, what will it be for?Writing a book about coaching youth football. Jeff said won't become famous. You would think he could've been a little more imaginative, but that's Jeff for you.
9. What is your husband really good at?Lots of stuff. He knows so much about football. He's good with the computer, but he doesn't like it, since that's what he does for a living. Hanging pictures. Packing the car. He once packed luggage in airplanes, so he can get an amazing amount of luggage in the car, which is good cause I have a whole suitcase of shoes for a trip. Arguing. (He should've been an attorney.) Whistling. Finding things that are lost or misplaced. Jeff said sports - playing, coaching, watching.
10. What is your husband not very good at? Cooking (not much experience), planning stuff for us to do, fixing stuff around the house. Finding things that are right in front of his face. Jeff said spelling/grammer. (see, he didn't spell grammar correctly either) That's why spell check was created by some genius computer programmer! HA HA!
11. What does your husband do for a job? Writes computer programs for Emory University Hospital. Jeff said programmer/technical analyst.
12. What is your husband's favorite food? Rice and gravy. Jeff said chicken.
13. What makes you proud of your husband? I love to watch him interact with the kids when he's coaching. I'm proud of the respect that he gets from that. I'm proud he's such a happy-go-lucky guy that takes pride in everything he does and does his best at whatever he's doing. Jeff said friendly, well liked by most people.
14. If your husband were a cartoon character, who would he be?George Jetson. He works with computers like George does too. Coincidence? I don't think so. Jeff said George Jetson. He chose George Jetson too! Can you believe that?

If you decide to play along, leave me a comment so I can check out your blog and see how well you did.

Too much testosterone around the house this morning. The boys were laying around snorting and sniffing and breaking wind and just generally grossing me out. I had to disburse of that real quicklike. Ross just left for the lake down the street and Cam's gone to Meaghan's to grab some lunch.

Big birthday party tonight for Eli. I've got his gift all wrapped and ready to go. Can't wait. We're picking my mom and dad up for the long trip to Buford. Remember last time we all went we looked like the Clampetts all packed in the car. Ross and Cam will drive separately.

Thursday I ripped up my Community Survey from the census people and threw it away like so many people had told me they would do. Well, you'll never believe what was in my mailbox yesterday. Another American Community Survey. WTHeck? I think there was a microchip in the one I ripped up that told the census people so they sent me another one.

Antsing to plant some flowers, but it's still a little chilly. Think I'll wait another week or so. Maybe by then I'll be caught up on my work. Kinda doubtful as my ADD/OCD and any other acronym disorder there is in high gear.

Till tomorrow, enjoy your Saturday!

Heads or Tails

Imagine working with your sister. Okay, now imagine working with your sister when you're the oldest sister. Suz and I have worked together for years. In fact, whenever I make a career move, I usually test the waters first and if they are 85 and calm, then she usually follows. I tease her and say that I drag her along with me like my little teddy bear.

We have the most fun working together that you can have, considering that you're still working. Each year we have to take continuing ed classes that we always plan a little girls weekend around. We work with the same attorneys, so we can share the same laughs and complaints and so forth. She calls me for help. I call her for help.

We have to renew our license each year in January, although we have until March 31st before it expires. We get these cards that we have to carry with us when we're working to show that we're a bona fide certified court reporter. (Cindy, you probably remember us joking about those cards when we were at the hospital with my dad) January wasn't a very good month for me and Jeff's family. His brother Mike died January 24th, and he was really sick the whole month before he died. I was really preoccupied.

Well. . . Wednesday, Suz calls me practically in tears because she got a certified letter explaining that her license was suspended for failure to renew her license. Now, with me being the oldest sister and just generally being a bossy butt, I'm usually the one who keeps up with that stuff. I was so surprised that I had let that one get past me. That's not me. At all. I was so sure I had paid mine. I kept looking and looking for a receipt, looking at my bank statement, looking at my credit card statement. Nothing. It was true. I had forgotten. Neither of us could find anything the Board had sent us as reminders. I guess they notify you once and that's it. After that, tough. After Suz's hysterics had passed, she jokingly informed me that she wasn't going to let me be responsible for her license again. HA! HA! I know better though. Next January I'll be reminding her once again. Or maybe not. It cost both of us an extra $75 to renew it.

Whenever there is a decision to be made workwise, we settle it the diplomatic way. We try not to whine or pinch or pull hair too much. We flip for it. Usually it's a decision such as who's gonna cover a translator deposition, who's gonna cover one for a particularly longwinded attorney, who's doing the accident reconstructionist who uses words that are no less than 30 letters long , or who's gonna be downtown on Friday afternoon. Occasionally, though, it's for something good. Like who's gonna get to cover the one with multiple attorneys, which gives us the chance to make more money.

This is serious stuff people. I mean, I get butterflies when we flip. This is our life. For months on end, I lost the coin toss almost every time. Lately, my luck has turned around and I've been winning more than losing. We had to flip last night to see who got to cover the job at 10 versus who had to cover the job at 1 and 3 o'clock downtown. I won the toss and get to cover the 10 o'clock.

Being the very defensive older sister though, I don't like to see my baby sister (even though I'm 43 and she's 35) lose. It makes me sad. For a minute, I usually want to give in and let her win. Fortunately, it only lasts a minute.

Till tomorrow,