I Survived and so did Dianne

I had lunch at Mazzios. I survived. I was afraid I would break down. No Drama. No one got hurt. I didn't stamped the buffet.

I had salad.

My sister-in-law, Dianne, risked her life, to have lunch with me. She ATE off the buffet. She ORDERED an Alfredo pizza. I was good. I warned her, she could get "forked".

I was good.

I do love Tim. He's got to get the rules down. He can not bring DR. PEPPER into our house. I can handle Pepsi or Coke in the house. Dr. Pepper is like a drug for me. I talked with him and I hope that he understands.

Ice Storm, Water Leaks, and Diabetic Updates

I've known for a week about the diabetes for one week. Life so far is consumed with checking my sugar and my blood pressure.

This is nothing compared to what some of the people who mean the most to me in my life are going through. Not only are we all wading through a horrible economy, now the weather has decided that we needed just a little more drama.

We were lucky enough to get our electric back on yesterday, but this morning, Tim calls and says, you are not going to believe this Kaye, we have another water leak, at the meter. HALLELUJAH. Every time I get my kitchen clean and all the dishes washed, the dang water springs a leak. Oh, well, I'm starving and don't need to use the dishes anyway. Maybe I'll be less tempted to make macaroni and cheese since I can't wash the dang pan.

My Dad, Scott and his family, who lives in the Harrison, Arkansas area, are having a rough time right now. The electric in his neck of the woods will be down for 3 to 4 weeks. Yesterday, Tim (hope he knows how much I appreciates all he did) hurried around, got our generator tuned up, loaded up gas, I went and got drinking water, he bought plugs for the generator, loaded up with butane bottles, and drove to the half way point to meet Dad with the supplies. Dad is on well water, that is run by an electric pump, and their house is all electric. Bet he's wishing he installed that wood heater like he had planned. Charlene (stepmom) said that they have closed off the entire upstairs and are all camping out downstairs in the living room and kitchen. She said that their trees look like a tornado has ripped through and destroyed everything. We plan on meeting up with them again Saturday or Sunday and take them the extra heater we have that we completely forgot about having. If your wondering why we are meeting half way, it is a four hour trip without ice from here to there. It's taking them twice the time to drive their half.

Tim, if I forget, Dad says that he's glad that you are his favorite son-in-law and he's glad he's the only father-in-law you like. (Is there some kind of secret I need to be in on, "the only father-in-law you like"???) ha ha.

Now, I need to give a couple of Thank Yous to some great people who are encouraging me to starve diet.

Mayor Nichols stopped by personally to talk to me about his personal experience and lend his support and to his wife, Pat, who I know is rooting for me too. Thank you.

Dianne, *snif, snif*, I luuuuv you girl, thank you for all your help, the glucose meter, straightening me out, reading my awful txt messages, and laughing with me.

Dianna, *snif, snif*, I luuvv you too girl. Your encouragements everyday, help me. I haven't attacked one Dr. Pepper delivery guy, yet, and I owe it all to you. I think it's safe to let the Mountain Dew Delivery guy out, I know you've been hiding him. I'll be good, hmmmm.

To my husband Tim, who raises his eyebrows at me and says, Do you want a Dr. Pepper? Oh, you can't have one. I love you. He buys cool whip when I asked for miracle whip. What can I do with the cool whip?*?

To the girls, YARM13YOL and Taylor, who let me know every minute that one cookie, one tiny candy bar, one sweet tea, or Dr. Pepper, one tiny mistake, could send me to Kernodle's and they would get all my jewelry. They are really a joy to have around. YARM13YOL can hardly raise her voice at me and there is sweet Taylor, right on top of things.."Shut up, you are killing her, her blood pressure is going up, she'll be dead, dead. Who will cook our dinner then?" My heart just sings, then I realized, Taylor will go hungry.

Aunt Ann has offered her support, Carrissa over at Good and Crazy, Emma, thank you all for your encouraging words.

And finally, to my new friend Jackie, who has the funniest blog ever at Dysfunctional Housewife, she has jumped in with both feet with encouragement and a list of No No Foods and I Can Eat This Food (which includes collards...I won't be touching that!) Jackie may not know this, but YARM13YOL will be 14 in a few weeks, so I'm gonna want some 14 year old tips, hopefully 14 is better than 13!!!!


Thanks to everyone. Did I mention it's been 6 days with no DR. PEPPER. I should could use one right now.

The Plan

The Plan...
For Type 2 Diabetes
For the next 3 weeks I am to follow a diet plan that Dr. Jacobs recommended. At the end of 3 weeks, I go and give MORE blood and see what the results are then. At that time it will be decided medicine or diet. I check my sugar everyday myself and keep a little log. The sugar has registered everywhere,(at doc ofc 293 on Friday) 153, 101, 188, 193,and 188. Ugh. I should point out that the 101 was yesterday afternoon at 4PM. I had eaten JUST SALAD at lunch. That's it. Last night I ate at 7PM, a hamburger PLAIN and a small salad, I'm talking small and it was 188 this morning. So basically, I should just not eat. (Kidding)

Blood Pressure
The doc added a second medicine. I started it on Saturday. HALLELUJAH AMEN BROTHER its 144/98 this morning. I know the bottom number is way to high, but look at that top number. 2 weeks that top number has been anywhere between 170 and 190, the highest being that ugly 200+. I am to try adding one more of the lisinopril to the mix and see if I can get that bottom number down.

Now, to the funny part. I waltzed into Wal-Mart to buy more strips for the sugar tester thingy, because I've been checking my sugar like a mad woman, 3, 4 times a day. I found the one I needed, twist that stupid little safety knob to make it drop out of the cabinet and low and behold the price was finally visible. $55.99, just for the strips. Seriously. I almost had a heart attack right then and there.
I want a do-over.
I didn't mean to be diabetic.
I take it back.
I did not realize that it cost so much! Taylor was walking beside me, encouraging me to buy not one but you know maybe two or three packs. "You could spend $150 right now if you wanted to" she says excitedly. "Wouldn't that be fun??" NO. On Sunday, grocery shopping, I was a good girl and bought substitute stuff and healthy foods, fruits, etc. My grocery bill doubled. Taylor was just amazed that I spent that kind of money on groceries, she was all OMG, that was fun! She so needs a reality check.

That's it for now. Tonight, if the roads aren't iced over, we travel to West Memphis to watch YARM13YOL play ball. I have ruined YARM13YOL life this week, I can tell, the stare downs I'm getting are AWESOME, and the stomping down the hall is LOUD. I just haven't figured out what I've done yet, I'm betting it will be AWESOME when I find out just what I have done.

Good News - Bad News

As you know, I have had some problems with my blood pressure. My pressure is staying within a ten point range up and down...but still to high. 170/100 Friday morning. The good doctor is not happy with that. I now am trying a second medicine.

I'm sitting, listening to the doctor explain stuff (right now its sleeting outside) and he says, are you in a hurry? I said I guess not (to myself I've already been here an hour to get my pressure taken). He would like to run a few test. He walks out the door and says to one nurse "Hey, I want some of Kaye's blood, go get it." Gees, I feel loved.

10 minutes pass and here comes the nurse. I did NOT LOOK at the needle. I'm sure she took way too much blood, but she was very gentle doing it. Doc comes back to the room and asks how long has it been since you've had anything to eat? 2.5 hours.
Oh, the look on his face was not a nice one. My sugar was 293. Apparently that's not good. He says come back in the morning, eat nothing after midnight.

8am the next day me and the three girls (I had Alyssa) take a trip to the doctors office. Now, they all knew that KAYE had the appointment, as soon as we pulled Taylor's throat and foot hurt, Mary Margaret's ankle hurt, and Alyssa's belly and fever hurt. Yes, her fever hurt. They were very good. Doctor Jacobs confirmed that Taylor's throat was okay, foot is great, MM's ankle looks great, Alyssa's belly and fever should recover and Kaye is diabetic and has high blood pressure.

So that pretty much sums up the visit to the doctor.

Now for the GOOD NEWS....

I SCORED A WII FIT AT THE FORREST CITY WALMART! YES! The good doc did mention a little something about shedding a few pounds, so, I'm going to Wii my way to a skinnier me. I may join the gym too...

I like the Wii fit. I am not good a Yoga, as a matter of fact, the Wii called me unbalanced and unstable. I love the Hula Hoop, tight rope, and the step aerobics!!!! The Step aerobics are awesome. RUNNING IN PLACE is not fun. I don't care how much your partner turns to you and waves and says, Keep it Up, You are doing Great. I want to slap my partner, Elvis, down. Shut Up. The Wii Board is a comedian...it says things like Ouch when you step on. I had the pleasure of watching Taylor this morning, she is too funny. I took my turn early this morning for 40 min!
I also like that you can lock your results, no one can look at my stuff!!!

So, that's what I've been up to, what about you guys?

Mary Margaret's 1 Point

Last week, there was one point scored by Mary Margaret, a free throw, to read all about it check out WNBA or Olympic Hopeful post. I finally got my "hick" sounding voice edited off so you could all watch. I really have to learn to keep this mouth of mine shut while filming. Seriously. In one video I answered my cell phone, talking to Dianna and FORTHELOVEOFPEANUTBUTTER I sound like a country bumpkin.

Now it is time to eat a little, no a enormous amount of crow. As you all know, there was a big throw down between YARM13YOL and myself regarding the BAD grades and the fact that Basketball will not exist in the same world as her BAD grades. Here is where I eat crow..

Some of the teachers had not posted ALL grades just some. There were postings every once in a while. The work done in class work was not posted, some homework was not posted and a couple of tests. Yesterday when I checked EDLINE, there was a whole new batch of grades posted that totally changed every grade. All C's. I decided to let her continue basketball, she only missed one practice, the first one she's missed all season, there are only 3 games left.

I will miss the first away game this season, tonight is parent visitation at the school. I nervous about her being out so late and riding the bus back home. I need to grow up. I let her take her phone and ipod with her, promises of not taking it out a school were made. She's not good at keeping those promises, so I may be one ipod and cell phone richer tonight.<

Movie Recomendation

Swing Vote - Kevin Costner

This movie kept me and the girls laughing through the whole thing! It's worth your time.

I Can Not Think of A Title

I've pulled a blank card. I couldn't think of a title. This is just random junk I guess.

Last night, I wanted to read the last few chapters of New Moon and Tim wanted to turn the lights off and watch Swing Vote. Tim yells for Taylor to come turn the light off. I say to her DON'T, I feed you he doesn't. Tim says but, I'm your favorite. I say to her DON'T, I control what you eat. Tim says, do it Taylor, you love me.

Just at that moment, Mary Margaret (YARM13YOL) steps around the corner into our room and says "Taylor, if you turn that light off, Kaye Kaye will make you eat sloppy joes from now until your birthday." At that moment, we all witnessed Mary Margaret's one chance to be smart for the day and boy was it good. I applauded. I said girl, you must have been saving up for that one all day long. She said...I was.

The light stayed on.

Taylor hates sloppy joes with a passion, which is unusual because she loves FOOD.

I have to give a shout out to Jana at In My World, she's having a baby. I have a feeling that I missed something somewhere, because I was surprised to find out she's having another one. She left me a comment on Neglected that tipped me off...

SO CONGRATULATIONS TO JANA and the rest of her family!

Also, my pressure is still high, just not one foot in the grave high. YARM13YOL is still not going to play basketball anymore, our cat came home, he's been missing for weeks, all the water is working, it's still cold, and the Wii is still kicking my butt.

I was going to give ya'll some links, but the internet or this site is crazy today. Sorry.

Change

Change.
Change can be good or bad.

There are some things changing around The Butler Diaries, for the better and for the worse.

I mentioned in a previous post, Neglected, that my blood pressure is slightly elevated.

The first step in change, the teenagers no longer will run this ol' girls life anymore. Wednesday, I decided that since my pressure had been so high that we would not stay in town for church. I wanted to rest. I knew the battle would be hard when I broke the news to YARM13YOL. She told me that I was going to make HER look like a liar to her friends because she had told them all she would be at church. It doesn't bother her to lie to me. I've decided to hold my own Bible Study at The Butler Diaries kitchen table when I feel bad and want to be home, that way neither kid will miss the Bible Study on Wednesday, this would be compromise don't you think?

The next change is that I'm putting my foot down on SUPER STAR YARM13YOL's basketball career. She played her last game on Thursday. She was told the only reason she could play ball was for the grades to come up. The grades haven't come up and one of them actually went down. You can only imagine how fun that was, telling her that I am actually enforcing what I've telling her for almost 3 months now. Some statements made by YARM13YOL...
Fine! I'll go to school and tell everyone I have to quit because I made bad grades, that will be embarrassing. How do you like that?
Won't embarrass me, I didn't push the pencil and make the bad grade.
I won't quit. I'll find a ride home.
She doesn't have any friends that DRIVE at 13.
I've got too much stuff in my head all the time.
What kind of stuff?
School stuff.
Then freaking write it down so you can study.
I can't, I'm only smart once a day.
Do what? I think my ears aren't working, did I hear that right?
You ruin everything.
My pleasure.

You all know that I'm not her mom. That's always thrown in for good measure.

Taylor is not innocent. She does her share of whining, on the upside right now she is not smart mouthing me yet. I have problems getting her to do things for me, the usual "I don't want to" whines, which sometimes get unbearable, to where she won't do the chore and gets grounded. She tattles WAY TO MUCH. She touches or looks at YARM13YOL on PURPOSE and starts fights. She breathes and starts fights. Because our world revolves around what Mary Margaret wants to do, things that Taylor wants to do gets pushed to the back burner. I've even canceled her piano lessons so that we could attend YARM13YOL's ball games.

One more thing I can't stand is for the girls to mean to each other. That drives me crazy. Why be nicer to your friend and complete strangers than your own sister? YARM13YOL tells Taylor every chance she gets, how everybody at school hates her and can't stand her. AND she seems to do this in front of people. These people are supposed to be YARM13YOL's friends, its like she chooses them over her sister. Are these people really her friends? No. If they were real friends, they would realize that this kind of talk could hurt someone. Will those people be there in the hard times? I don't think so. I'm grown, I know. When this kind of stuff happens, I know I have failed and what I'm saying is not sinking in and that is embarrassing.

I also don't like lies. I detest lies. I seem to get a lot of lies. I get lies about stuff that there is NO NEED TO LIE ABOUT. And that is why people stay grounded.

To anyone who graduated from Wynne High School, the bottom photo is of the boys gym...it hasn't changed at all.

This is the last game she attended, the team still has 3 more. She warmed the metal chair (no bench) the whole game. She has 30 days to get her grades up in order to run track.

Potato Bug

For Sandy.

Sandy, may I introduce you to the Potato Bug. Sandy says that she has never seen a potato bug. This bug is very, very deceptive. This sly little bug disguises itself as a lady bug. Lady bugs are so cute with their little red wings and polka dots. Potato Bugs are just as cute but so much more irritating. During the winter they invade my home. Three years in a row, we had thousands of them. This year we decided to share our wealth and herded some of them up to Clayton and Dianne's house, why should we have all the fun?

They hide in crevices and attack (not really, just feels like it) at any time, no warning. Right now as I type, there are 5 of them marching around the top of my lamp, and I have already vacuumed all I could see this morning.

Last night, one particular potato bug, lost its mind and landed on a picture frame on the end table between Tim's chair and mine. Tim and I watched this little fellow walk across the top of the picture frame for a few minutes. As it walked, each step was harder to take...the dust was sticking to its legs a little more each time. Poor thing couldn't move after awhile, then I chose my weapon, turned on the power and sucked it up with the vacuum. Some people in this house take them outside and set them free...not me. I dare the potato bug lovers to try to stop me.

My favorite thing to do, forget to vacuum the ceiling fan before you turn it on. It's like a war zone opens fire at you, and the weapon, flying potato bugs in every direction. They target the facial area, creating one hoooo-larious looking dance. Oh, and lets not forget, after you have finally fallen asleep, and just beginning to dream wonderful dreams of beaches and what not, the evil little bugs decide, hey her nose looks like fun, lets play with it.

I'll be happy to box some up and send them to anyone who thinks their life is dull and really want a piece of mine. Just let me know.
Below is a picture of potato bugs on the lamp between our chairs in the living room. I've never seen any in the bathroom, or the laundry room, I wonder why.

Paper Clips

Paper Clips might seem like a dull subject to most people.

If paper clips bore you, please, by all means, stop reading now and check out one of my addictions listed over at the side. Emma has a post about Stinky Pee that is sure to have you rolling on the floor laughing. Maybe, Jenni's husband fishing in the toilet will cause snickers and make you lend her moral support, she has two kids and a TEENAGER, she needs support.

The brave, who are not scared of boredom, keep reading...

I would like to dedicate this post to Sandy, it would not be possible without her.

A little history to begin. The funeral home I work at was established in Wynne in 1927. It is now ran by the founders children, one in his 80's and the other in his 70's. They are very good to me and we, my whole family, love them, so this is all in fun and quirkiness. So, this post might only be funny to the people who LIVE this daily.

They both have little quirks, as I'm sure we all do, that drive some to the edge of balancing on "Do I Jump or Do I not Jump off the cliff." My name gets called thousands of times a day, much like a little kid calls the parent to do little things that could have been done without help. One boss is irritated by the other's ability to spend money, it is safe to say that it blows all of our minds, the stuff he buys and won't buy. In an office, paper clips are necessary. His paper clip cup is always full and ours always empty. He absolutely hates to order paper clips and detests the paper clips I buy at Wal-Mart. They are not smooth he says, which ensues a lecture on how the paper clip was invented, when his dad bought the first paper clip, and whole bunch of other stuff that confuses me and I usually walk away thinking...I just wanted to get a paper clip.

He will buy more envelopes than you can use in a life time. Point...opened up a box of envelopes yesterday and he told us, the glue on the envelope has gone bad, we will have to be careful mailing stuff. He said, I don't know why. BECAUSE HE BOUGHT THOUSANDS IN 1990.
He will not buy paper clips.
He will buy whiteout by the cases and wonder why it drys up (one reason, he has the best secretaries ever and we don't have to use the whiteout)
He will not buy paper clips.
He will buy 3 gallons of rubber cement (for me to pour all over the laptop, yes I did)
He will not buy paper clips.
He will buy hundreds of 8 X 10 picture frames
He will not buy paper clips.
He will buy a walk behind mower for the cemetery for roughly 3,000 that no one can use
He will not buy a .30 box of paper clips
He will buy enough rock salt to salt all of New York, because WE have so much snow
He will not buy paper clips.
He will buy tons of copy paper and make me guess the weight of the paper
He will not buy paper clips.
He will buy mole poison and NOT use it
He will not buy paper clips, and I'm sure we could use them.

Told you it was boring.

Neglected

I've been joking around with the Wii and other stuff lately. No jokes this time. I have neglected something. Me.

Wednesday morning my blood pressure was off the chart. 206/117. I honestly thought that, after I get to work and settle down, it will get better. Nope. I felt worse about 11AM and my face felt tight under my eye on the left side. That scared me. I decided that maybe I should take the advice of all my friends and go to the doctor.

The nurse looks at me and says..."Kaye, I don't think I have to ask, but I will, what's the problem?" "I think my blood pressure is a little high". She knows that my idea of a little high is a lot high. It's been two years since I saw the doc. And yes, I never went back to get my medicine refilled, and yes, I know better. Both my grandfathers had heart problems and pressure problems, so yes, I know better.

YARM13YOL claims that she is only smart ONCE a day (yes there will be a post about it). If that is the case, Im using her excuse for being stupid and neglecting myself. If I'm only smart once a day, I use up all my smartness just getting out of bed.

Lets look back...
I crawled through a van that I thought was iced over, when really I just didn't unlock it;
I was making tea Monday night and macaroni at the same time. I dumped the boiling tea in the macaroni;
I told YARM13YOL to get her bath towel out of the refrigerator
I've put things in strange places at home and at work
and that my friends is just the tip of the iceberg.

I don't think that I need to state that I might be a little stressed.

I will be going back in a week. Dr. Jacobs says he'll come get me if I don't. I'm trying to be a good girl and try not to neglect ME anymore, which is easier said than done.

WNBA or Olympic Basketball Team

WNBA or Olympic Basketball Team, hard decision to make.

Wynne vs. Annie Camp at Jonesboro, the pressure is on and #25 takes the floor. Its the first quarter, the score is 0-0. #25 is quick, ducking in and out, taking the ball down the court,the crowd cheers her on, "shoot, shoot, shoot" the crowd chants, out of nowhere comes this full grown woman child, fouls #25 for a 2 shot free throw.

Well, maybe it didn't quite go that beautifully and maybe she's not being scouted for the WNBA and the Olympic dream may not come true, unless the add the TALKS A LOT CATEGORY, but MY BABY did get fouled, by a normal size kid, for a 2 shot free throw. She lined herself up, dribbled the ball, and shot. The ball flew threw the air and bounced off the backboard. She lines herself up for the second shot, dribbled the ball and shot, nothing but net. The whole visitor side is cheering and screaming, Mary Margaret, #25, is jumping up and down cheering for herself, while her team mates run to the other end of the court to continue the game.

This is a picture of the Olympic hopefuls first point EVER!


The home team, Annie Camp's fans, probably thought we were crazy. The first game, 12 to 6, we lost, but that's the most point's they've scored all season. The second game, the one where Mary Margaret scored 1/3 of the points for Wynne, we lost, 6to3.
Previous games the scores were 47 to 0, 26 to 2, 27 to 1, so you see, they have greatly improved!

Way to go LADY JACKETS!!!!

Is Rehab In My Future?

The first step is to admit you have an addiction.
Okay...
I have an addiction.
It is an addiction that kept Nicole (sisterinlaw who suffers from the same addiction) and I in the same room with only 2 bathroom runs for, 4, hours today. (I think she was feeding her addiction most of the day Saturday too.)
Hi, my name is Kaye and I am a Wiiaholic. I am not alone. Nicole is a Wiiaholic, she refuses to admit it right now.

She may look all nice, smiley, sweet, and innocent, she uses the kid as a cover.
Wii is a drug. Very addictive. It entices you with cute little Wii Mii's, you can even make your own. It flaunts offers of bronze, silver and gold medals. Congratulation mail arrives in your Wii Mii's mail box. The anticipation of the camaraderie, laughing and all the loads of fun to be had, sucks you in and its hard to put the Wii away.
Nicole wanted to win so badly at tennis, she began to devise plans to take me out, the one that worked was the shot to my elbow with her Wii controller that almost brought me to my knees and sent Nicole to her knees laughing and trying not to pee. Two can play at that game...I used my brain instead of my brawn, I distracted her during bowling, causing her to lean too much to the right and do the walking stumble , eventually leading to her demise, she fell into my ottoman stool/floor.

We are not good at golf. We stink at golf, which just reaffirms my belief that golf is STUPID and Air Hockey is stupid too.

We are good at TANKS. We worked well as a team playing Tanks. We passed on dressing for the event, we both thought that baths were not appropriate, so our battle uniforms were PJ's and no war paint. We were both suicide bombers, and we "had each other's backs", and we both laughed until we cried when Nicole had finally had enough of those opposing tanks and let the bullets rip screaming "This is for STELLLLLAAAAA". 90+ games of Tanks and we decided it was finally time for lunch, threw on some clothes, headed to town for food. (See we are not totally wasted, we did remember the important stuff, food, not showers.)

I sit here back in my PJ's wondering, "Am I headed for rehab?" I say no, no, no. I'm a Wiiaholic and I'm loving it.

Update on minor important goings on at Butler Family Diaries...

The water lines are fixed and covered up. There is a teeny, tiny problem, almost not worth mentioning. All the water works...

except...

The cold water to the bathtub. This poses a small problem come time to shower.

Lesson Learned

I'll start this post with a funny...the rest not so funny.

YARM13YOL, being her usual self, notices the cat that has been dead on our road for several days now...she says...

Well, that cat is still dead.

Oh, yes she did.

I'm sure that with all the texting going on we have all worried a little about where those text messages end up that the other party never got.

I found out this week. My text should have gone to my husband, but it went somewhere else, to the person it was about. It was not anything untrue, just should never have sent it, should have kept my opinion to myself, because I'm not allowed to have an opinion and VOICE it. I really try hard to set a good example, I am a stressed out human and make mistakes. I have apologized (which seemed to make things worse) and really don't know what else to do. So, I have learned my lesson and will pay very close attention to who and what I send. I'll pay for this for many months, maybe years.

Tim calls me SUPER TXTR now. He thinks he's funny.

He is still at home working on the water.

Exciting....

More Excitement?
No thanks, I have all I can handle right now...

This week started out busy. I have said this before, I am so busy at the funeral home, I caught myself walking between the offices today, twice, with nothing in my hands, thinking...WHAT fortheloveofpeanutbutter AM I DOING OR WAS GOING TO DO.

Last week was just as busy. We had ice last week. I have to tell off on myself...at least someone will get a laugh out of this story... I walk out to my van at the end of the day and it was covered with thick ice. I unlock the door and it doesn't budge. I try the sides, no dice. I unlock the back hatch and IT OPENS. Yahoo. I climb through (I should mention that there is a bank with a drive through window within plain view of the parking lot and I SAW THE BANK WOMEN STARING at me...this hoo-larious woman climbing through the back of the van...) I have to put the seats down to climb to the front...that was fun. I get to the driver's seat, start the van, and try the door...I noticed...darn it...the doors are LOCKED. I unlocked them with the electric lock and by golly the door opens...maybe I should have turned the key in the opposite direction...hum...

This morning I get a call from Cross County Rural Water, Connie (who is now my friend and do not know her last name) calls to tell me that she's pulled my bill and wanted me to know that we had used 27,000 gallons of water and that my bill would $275. OMG moment...

Tim finds the water leak and gives the the bad news...the price of what all it will cost to fix it. Wonderful.

So, while Tim works on the water all day and night, we head to the basketball game, where the Wynne 7th Grade Lady Jackets played the MacArthur Cyclones. She got to play more this time and got the ball a couple of times. The team has learned better defense, now they need to shoot the ball. The score...37 to 1 (not sure about the 37) The one point was scored by Madison Bunch, a free throw...she did great.
MM is number 25.

Tim had a bunch of help with the water, I hope they all know how much we appreciated it. Sadly, the water could not be completed, so I'm typing this from the comfort of the Days Inn in Wynne, hotel with paper thin walls and tiny tiny beds, and weeble wobble toliets. The girls have to share a bed, not good. Taylor had to study, so YARM13YOL feel asleep before the fighting could start...by the way, the beds are maybe one foot bigger than a twin size bed and I should have brought extra pillows.
The picture below is of the trench at the top of our hill...notice the trench has to go through the driveway and around the house.

This is Tim's backhole at the bottom of our driveway. The water line that was put down before the house was built is paper thin, which has caused all the water leaks, Tim is replacing the pipe from the meter all the way up and around to the house. Hopefully this will stop those leaks.

This shot is headed up the drive. Lots of work to be done.

I'm Still Here!!!!

Don't give up on me, I'm still here.

I've just been extremely busy the last few days. I feel like I missed Christmas again this year...the funeral home has been busy. Business always picks up around the holidays. Last year at Christmas we had 3 funerals on the same day (day after Christmas). We haven't had 3 in one day this year, but it has been a steady flow.

The weather has been amazing here. For those of you who are not living in the south (Arkansas) let me explain. 70 degrees one day and freezing rain the next. Saturday at the funeral home, we ran the air conditioner. Sunday night the heater was on and today...ICE. Welcome to Arkansas in the Winter.

I had an interesting and unexpected lunch date today. Johnathon, my nephew that was in Iraq stopped by Lenny's where I was having lunch with Dianne. Johnathon seems to be coming back around to his old self. I enjoyed talking to him, it still seems strange for him to be all grown up. A few questions he answered:
Q: When did you say "Hey, I'm not in Arkansas anymore?"
A: In the First sandstorm. I've never seen anything like it.
Q: What kind of wildlife did you see?
A: Jack Rabbits, coyotes, tons of crows
Q: Were you under fire alot?
A: A little. One bomb was close enough to rattle the pictures in our rooms, but nothing to be worried about. A car exploded right before we got there once. There was always a constant gun fire close or in the distance. We were fired at once by the Ugandans...they are our allies...they did not realize who they were shooting at.
Q: Did you ever kill anyone?
A: Never. I never fired my gun. I almost did, but didn't. I was there as an engineer.
Q: What was the land like?
A: Not a lot of asphalt, the base was all chat gravel. We have woods of oak trees, they have woods of Palm trees. I was in the middle of the Tigress and Euphrates Rivers. The Crescent Land. Everything is drying up because Husein built the dam that is keeping the water out.
Dianne: You were in the Garden of Eden.
John: That's right.

He's out looking for a job right now and I'm going to help him with his Resume. He wants to work at the Federal Prison in Forrest City or the Wynne Police Department and I think he was told WPD was not hiring right now... It has to be hard coming home and making adjustments.

I know that jobs are scarce right now. I hope he finds one.

Happy New Year

MY HATS OFF TO JENNI & LEN GEORGE, THE SNYDERS AND THE JARRETS...they were brave and hosted the New Years Eve party last night...

We made it! Yay! Whoop Whoop.

Tim went duck hunting this morning, the girls slept until 8, and now the girls and I are at the funeral home, I'm working just a short time this morning and then it's off for the day!!!!!

There was just a little drama last night with the two partiers, thats to be expected with sisters. Mary Margaret danced the night away with every single boy. She even danced with the 5th graders that were there. So...this caused worry with Taylor (or maybe she was just being mean to her sister which is happening alot here lately.) Taylor apparently told Mary Margaret (in front of MM's friends) that all those boys wanted was her butt and that was WRONG. I wasn't there. That drama didn't involve me.

Drama that did involve me...

When I picked them up at 12:10...

Mary Margaret and her friends met me at the door (parents were standing around to watch YARM13YOL in all her head bobbing, eye rolling, finger pointing, getting all up in my face, glory.) Shesh...

ME: Hello, how was the party?
YARM13YOL: Fine, except, Taylor ruined it for me. (finger pointing and head bobbing)
ME: (this is where I get stupid) How did she ruin it for you? (see, pure stupidity)
YARM13YOL: (extreme finger pointing, head jerking, loud voice) She told me in front of all my friends that all those boys that I was dancing with wanted nothing but my butt and I had better not give it to them. She ruins everything. You can ask all my friends. She doesn't know if they want my butt
I INTERRUPT: That's enough. Don't talk to me this way in front of all these adults.
YARM13YOL: Sorrrreeeee.

She hugs her friends and we are out of there. She put on a good show.

I really don't think it was all that dramatic when it happened. They seem to have had a great time and they looked beautiful.

Mary Margaret in her party clothes

Taylor in her party clothes

Mary Margaret & Taylor

We had to settle for the girls dressing just alike. We could not find Taylor anything that SHE LIKED and I LIKED. Mary Margaret gave us permisson to buy her the same outfit!