A Gift For You...

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I saw Demetrius do this, aka slayerbarbie, and I thought, how cool! With all the crap that's happened in the past two days, I need to bring some fun and happiness into my life. This will do it. It's a gift meme.

If you want to get a little bag of goodies from me, leave me a PM with your address. It might take awhile, because I will be searching for just the right little trinkets that remind me of you. I'm so excited, this will be fun!

And no, YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO THIS IN RETURN!! This is just something I want to do, giving makes me happy...:)

Now for the crap...

Two days ago, after my trip, I got in my little Saturn to run up to the store. As I get around the corner of house I hear this huge bang! I freaked and drove back to my house hearing an awful noise under the car. Turns out my muffler in dragging on the street. Sheesh.. I call my husband and he tells me he'll have to come home and tie it up and take it to a muffler shop. In the meantime, take the van to the store.

I drive to the store down the street, get my groceries, and start to drive back. All of a sudden, the van stops, right in the middle of the street. I coast over to the side of the road and wait. WTH is going on? I know there's gas in the car. I wait, start the car again and drive. I go a few feet and the van stops again. I coast over to the side of the street again! This goes on for a bit as the car keeps starting each time and I want to get as close to home as possible because of the food I bought.

Finally, I get around the corner from my house and the van quits for good. It wouldn't even start again. I make several trips back and forth between the van and my home carrying the groceries. Call a tow truck and have it taken to a service repair shop. This sucks. What are the odds, both cars breaking down the same day?

Good news is that fixing the muffler only cost me $45.00! That service guy worked on it for two hours and that's all he charged, is that awesome or what?

Bad news is that they don't know what's wrong with the van. I think it has something to do with the fuel pump, maybe it's clogged or something, but they keep coming up with all this other stuff that it could be. I think they're going to try and rip me off. Well, they don't know me, HA! Let them try, LOL.

10:22 AM - 8/16/2008 - Postcomment {35}

I'm back! Like you really missed me, lol

The trip went great. It was really nice to see my husband hanging with cousins and Aunts and Uncles he hadn't seen in years. He was so relaxed and happy!

The mother-in-law drove me crazy of course, that was to be expected, LOL. We actually got into it once. My father-in-law has Alzheimer's and she got frustrated with him to the point that she would yell at him. I finally told her to knock it off, it wasn't his fault that he couldn't remember the things she was asking him and she needed to quit testing him, it only got him frustrated and sad. We went a whole day without speaking, but she finally
broke down and we had a long talk about her situation.

On the way to Cloudcroft New Mexico, my mother-in-law wanted to take a shortcut through Las Cruces. Right away I thought of our fellow blogger, Cam. But, I thought, what are the odds of actually going down the street that his store is on? Well, that's exactly what we did and we went right by it, Coyote Traders. I mentioned that I knew someone from my blog that works there and that's all I said. Now you have to understand that I'm really shy, and there was no way that I was going to stop!

Well, we continued down the street for about a mile and stopped at the McDonald's for a bathroom break. While there, I was struggling with the fact that I didn't ask anyone if we could stop so I could say hi. I was quite angry with myself for being such a wimp! I mean what are the odds that I would go through another state, right on the same street with a blogger I've been speaking to for almost 4 years? Would it ever happen again?

My husband could see I was struggling with it and finally said, "Why don't we go back down the street and you can run in the store and say hi."

Ok, lets do it. Grow up Laurie, what would be the worst thing that could happen? Would he run in horror? Would he be pissed because you stopped by unannounced? No he would never do those things, I knew that much about him, LOL.

We drove back and I saw him leaving the store to walk to his truck. I'd seen enough pics of him to pick him out, haha.

My husband raced to the next stop light and we did a u-turn. He was still in his truck parked in the lot.

My mother-in-law screams out the window, "You can't leave yet, there's someone who wants to meet you!"

Ok, let me die of embarrassment right now...

I walk up to his truck, I could tell from the look on his face he thought I was another customer wanting him to open the store back up. LOL.

I told him who I was and it was pretty easy from there....:)

He is even cuter in person, looks wise and personality wise. I felt comfortable right away and that doesn't come easy for me! Thanks Cam for making it easy for me, I'm so glad I met you!

Here's a couple of pics of that crazy guy in his store!

8:22 AM - 8/14/2008 - Postcomment {41}

See Ya!

I'll be heading out early tomorrow, or I should say this morning to New Mexico. My husbands side of the family is having a family reunion. This is going to be a fast trip! Tomorrow we will stop in AZ to see my son and spend the night and in the morning continue on to Cloudcroft New Mexico. Or maybe it's in Las Cruces, I'm not sure! The reunion is Saturday and Sunday and we leave on Monday to come back home. It's not exactly my idea of a vacation, but oh well, you do what you have to do, LOL.

Last week I saw John Mellencamp in concert, he was awesome! Then on Friday I saw the Doobie Brothers. They sound exactly the way they did years ago, fantastic concert! Then on Monday, my husband calls me right as I got home from work. "be ready to go in 10 minutes, I want to go see the Beach Boys." So, back to the fair we went and they didn't disappoint, that's for sure!
Sorry Lisa, it was spur of the moment kind of thing. You never would have gotten here in time.

So, the couple I take care of have been stressing out all week about me going away this weekend. They have a replacement, but they are not happy with that at all. They both actually had tears in their eyes when I left. Talk about feeling guilty! Dang!

Pray for me, for the next two days I have to sit with my mother-in-law in the back seat of their car. GAAAAA!

12:42 AM - 8/7/2008 - Postcomment {20}

I won!!!!!

I bought a Mega Lotto ticket on Friday. I ran up to the deli like I always do the next day after the drawings. I put my ticket in the machine and waited. I'm use to seeing the message, "sorry, not a winner at this time" and waited for it.

But, much to my surprise, for the first time in about 4 years, I saw "congratulations, you are a winner!" At least that's what I think it said, I was so excited I only remember congratulations!

All these thoughts quickly ran through my mind.....Pay off debts, Pay off my sons medical school loans, Get a new car...

Woohoo!!!!!!! I was so dang excited, my heart was beating super fast, my face heated up, I'm sure it was beat red, and I almost started hyperventilating, lol.

Ok, Laurie, look down and see just how much you won.....

Are you ready! Are you excited for me? Maybe I can help out some in need, I'd love to do that...

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I WON ........$3.00

WTH??

This is the Mega! The big lotto! My chances of getting anything are almost 0. And what do I win? A lousy $3.00. And you just know that took away my chances of winning anything bigger forever..

Mann, the guy who runs the place, even gave me this "I'm so sorry" look.

That's ok Mann, your percentage of that will be about, oh maybe 1 cent?

LOL

Oh well, my fame was fleeting and lasted a total of 3 seconds. Then reality kicked in..........Again.....

2:33 PM - 7/26/2008 - Postcomment {34}

Something strange is happening...

This is very odd and it's driving me crazy.........My nose is peeling. It started 4 days ago. I wear sunscreen, and I haven't gotten a sunburn. I haven't changed lotions, soaps, or anything else for that matter.

I can sit here and literally peel skin off my nose. I appear to be shedding, LOL.

This isn't right.. Maybe I'm having some kind of food allergy. ~sigh~ There goes 50 bucks to go to my dermatologist. He'll probably tell me to relax, it will go away. Whatever it is...

I got sent to a new Lady today. Just filling in for her other caregiver. Her house is amazing!! It's up in the hills, an older house with tons of character.

It had four bedrooms, two baths, a huge kitchen, large breakfast nook, large dining room and large living room. Sound good?

Well, you open this door off the kitchen and you go up a flight of stairs into a huge sun room. It was amazing! Bright, cheery, a great room to use for a game room and party room! Still sound good?

You go down a flight of stairs off of that room and downstairs are two more large rooms with a sliding door to the patio and backyard. You go back up the stairs, through the sun room, down the stairs and back through the kitchen. Still sounding good?

From there are a flight of stairs going down again. (I swear, I got lost and almost panicked) At the bottom is a suite of rooms, rather like a small apartment. A bedroom, shower, a sitting room with fireplace, and another room you could use for an office or 2nd bedroom. Another sliding door to the backyard. Think I'm done?

In the backyard, were about 15 fruit trees. Oranges, lemons, apples, avocados, tangerines, plums, grapefruit, grapes, tomatoes, and blackberries. The view overlooked the entire city (small city, lol).

I know I'm going to dream about this house tonight. With my son and his wife moving home after medical school, and my other son still at home, this house would have been perfect. I could have set both boys up in the downstairs, and Paul. and I could have the top. Woohoo!

Oh well, it is fun to think about "what if". The reality though, is that we are going to be packed like sardines in our house, LOL.

11:09 PM - 7/24/2008 - Postcomment {25}

Gaaaa!

I'm not a pink kind of person! I must get rid of this design.

My eyes are burning...

6:30 PM - 7/20/2008 - Postcomment {32}

For all the community leaders.....

I want to acknowledge all the community leaders for all their hard work in trying to get this place to come back up. You guys are the ones that have saved this place time and time again. Your dedication is much appreciated!! Granted this may be a short fix, but it was enough to put the smiles back on all our faces, if only for a short time.

Please, everyone go over to the Community Resource page, ( click up at the upper right hand side of your control page), and give everyone the praise they deserve. If not for them, you wouldn't be able to read this post right now.

9:57 AM - 7/19/2008 - Postcomment {11}

Let me tell you about "True Love"

I have gone from Child Care to Adult Care. They are both extremely rewarding and I'm enjoying my new job a lot. It was really hard to go back to work after almost 4 years, but now that I'm back, it's working out really well.

At the moment, I have two clients I'm taking care of. The first is a couple, the man is 96 and the woman is 94. I fix them dinner and take them for a walk around their neighborhood, shop for them and take them to their doctor appointments. I have never seen anything like this couple. It is almost unbelievable. Before either of them does anything, they consult the other and ask that their significant other go first. With everything! They call each other Honey and sweetie. They, each of them, want the other to have the best piece of cake, the first drink of water, etc. The woman, as tiny and frail as she is, insist that she be the one to help him out of the chair. She does this by bracing herself and pulling until he stands up. Each time he stands up, he gives her a kiss and says.."Thank you love of my life." She says.."Yes darling, always."

Gaaaa! They have brought me to tears several times..

On Tuesdays, I take care of a man in his late 80"s. I water his orchard and wash his clothes. He won't let me do anything else. He mostly wants companionship. He will have me sit for almost the entire time I'm there sometimes, to listen to his stories. He is very intelligent and is a Scientist who invented several inventions. He's not making this up, I've seen the proof. He is a Millionaire and lives by the country club in my town.

He is also somewhat of a Mafia Guy. He grew up in New York, hung out with several sorts and went to all the clubs like the Copacabana. He hung out with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin. He cusses like crazy and he is really a character.

This was our conversation today, and I'm not sugar coating it, LOL.



John---Dear, what are you doing?

Me---I'm cleaning up a little in your kitchen John.

John---Well stop and get your ass in here!

Me---I'm almost done, do you need something?

John---Yeah, I need you to get your ass in here.

Me---Ok, here I am, what do you need?

John---Nothing, sit down, I want to tell you a story.

Me--Ok, go ahead. (hoping he doesn't quiz me like he did after the last story)

John---I was married to the most wonderful woman, did I tell you she was a fashion Model with the top Modeling agency in New York?

Me---You sure did..

John---Well, after receiving money from my inventions, we moved out here and started our family. With our first child, I bought her a Mink coat. With the second child, a set of Waterford crystal. With the third child, this house, the Country Club and her Cadillac. Nothing and I mean nothing was too good for her. I would have bought her the Moon if I could.

Me---That's really nice John, she was a very beautiful woman. (She was gorgeous!)

John---You better believe it. Has your husband bought you any Waterford?

Me--No, not yet.

John---You tell him I'm gonna kick his ass if I ever come across him.

Me---Ah, it's ok John, that type of stuff really isn't important to me.

John---God Dam*#it, it doesn't matter, that jackass should still shower you with gifts like that, God Dam*#it!

Me---Do you need a drink of water John?

John---Has he ever given you a mink coat?

Me---(err, almost afraid to tell him no, a hit man might show up at my front door) No John, but I never wanted one.

John---Well, isn't that a bunch of Fu*#ing crap! What the hell kind of asshole is your husband? Go in my wifes closet and pick yourself out a Mink.

Me---No, that needs to go to your kids!

John---They've already come in here and done their picking, I'll do whatever the hell I want to with the rest, now get your ass in there and pick one out.

OMG......

The phone rings and he forgets what he asked, haha, I mean ordered me to do. Thank God.

He then proceeds to instruct me on how to can plums. He sat there and showed me step by step. I canned almost 6 freakin jars.

He also mentioned I must drive my asshole husband crazy because I had to keep asking questions. He wanted to know what my level of education was, hahahaha.

I just love this man, LOL

12:26 AM - 7/2/2008 - Postcomment {24}

A day of celebration and odds and ends...

Happy Birthday to my sister, Lisalisabobisa!
It sucks that you have to work today and tonight, but we'll all celebrate on another day...:) Oh yeah, I got you a cute present, you'll love it...:)


Well, we got done with the one bathroom. A few days ago, we started on the other bathroom. We took a couple of tiles off to see what if any damage there was and what a surprise! We wound up ripping off all the tiles to find it was all wet, down to the wood. Grrr, the builder of these homes is a jerk. All they had behind there was a cheap, thin piece of green board.

So, today was putting new insulation in there, black tarp, and concrete board. We only did one wall and have to have a plummer come out tomorrow to change out the pipes, before we can continue.
We can't afford to pay someone to redo the shower, so we are doing it ourselves. (Except for the plummer, thank goodness for credit cards) My husband has been practicing on a fake wall in the garage, putting up tiles. So far so good.

I swear, owning a house, nope I think it's the other way around, the house owns you, LOL. Soon as you fix one thing, something else needs to be fixed. It's a constant battle. We should just sell and rent an apartment. No, on second thought, out here the rent for an apartment is almost as much as the mortgage on our house! Might as well pay this sucker off in 11 years.:rolleyes:

The weather here has been awful! It's been so hot and humid, it sucks all the energy out of you. I wish we had air conditioning...:( Oh well, tomorrow is suppose to be a little cooler, yay!

On a sad note, George Carlin died. It's a sad day, I just loved him...

1:15 AM - 6/23/2008 - Postcomment {26}

No rest for the wicked, LOL

Well, I made it through this cold. Barely. This is the first day that I feel really good, so I'm taking full advantage of that! Thanks for all the well wishes guys...:)

Now I have to concentrate on all the activities coming up. I have a dance recital to go to tonight for my niece. This always last almost 4 hrs. Uggg! Oh well, I need to put on my happy face.

Next weekend is my sister-in-laws 50th birthday bash. The weekend after that is my brothers wife's Baby Shower. It will be at my house, so I will be busy preparing for that. Here a few of the items I've bought and made for it so far.

THIS IS ONE OF THE FAVOR BAGS.


INSIDE, WILL BE A HANDMADE SOAP AND A TRUFFLE BOXED UP BY "SEE'S CANDIES"




WE ALREADY KNOW IT WILL BE A GIRL, SO BOUGHT THESE PLATES.


I HAD THESE FROM ANOTHER SHOWER, SO I'LL PUT THESE AROUND WITH MINTS IN THEM.



EASY SHOWER GAME..



I'LL FILL THIS BOTTLE WITH JELLY BEANS AND THEY CAN GUESS HOW MANY ARE IN THERE.


The games have to be pretty simple, her grasp of the English language still isn't that great, so I thought these would be easy enough to explain.

If anyone can come up with any good shower munchies, let me know...:)
Aso, any other good ideas for a baby shower, pass them on!

1:20 PM - 6/17/2008 - Postcomment {26}