Great and Grand

I looked it up. Grand Nephew is just the same as a great nephew. So, I was right all along.

My party is Saturday. My annual July celebration. I have it on whatever day my town is setting off their fireworks. They have a festival in the park (just over the hill from me) for about 3 or 4 days during this long week-end. It is a great time. Sometimes I don't get the chance to get over there, but when I do - I am never disappointed.

So far on the menu, sweet Italian sausage, hot dogs, hamburgs, calico beans, macaroni salad, potato salad, vegetable tray w/dip, cheese ball and cheese tray (I just remembered I need crackers), strawberry frozen, peanut butter fudge, pineapple pudding cake, lemonade, iced tea, pop and beer. Sister 1956 won't be able to make it this year. Drat! She and I just went to a party Saturday so that is okay. She could only go to one or the other (because of her job).

Sister 1954 is excited because there will be some family members she has not seen yet since her release from prison.

I didn't have my party last year because I had my daughter's high school graduation party (remember the sumo wrestling?). That was only one year ago? Good grief!

My daughter's new beau will get the full exposure to family and I think she might be nervous about it. I don't know. She got mad at me last night. I guess I embarrassed her in front of him by telling her to "chill out." She called me on it and accused me of getting an attitude each time company was over. She was stomping around the house trying to force one of the puppies to poop outside. He was so scared he ran and jumped into my lap shaking. (The pup, not the boyfriend).

I think stress is getting the best of her. New job, new beau and all. Me? I bit my tongue with her. I know how hard it is to be the new love interest in some one's home and I refused to make her new beau feel uncomfortable by arguing with her. I let it pass.

I bought my first bag less sweeper. I got the Bissell Healthy Home model. I really like the bag less feature. It was so easy to snap it in and out and to empty it. Once I figured out that I kept putting it back into "brush" mode and that was the reason I was not picking anything up, I was okay. It is much lighter than my previous models.

I am going to focus on outside mowing and landscaping today. I hope. I need energy. My head hurt as soon as I got up this morning. I went to bed too late (vacation days from work) and I suppose that might be the reason. The dogs don't care that I went to bed late, they want to go out at 6 or 6:30. Sooner if they can. I also got myself a brand new hedge trimmer. I have never used one before. I guess you have to supply your own electrical cord? Good thing I have one. My friends spoke of how they cut the cord while they trim. Sounds like it happens a lot. I suppose I will do it, too. I chose the lightest model they had. My arms will be sore enough.

I hate, hate, hate waking up with a headache.

Dog days of summer

Picture from last year in July. Sable watches the new arrivals.

I wonder if she had any idea the chaos that would ensue with the arrival of these two. And then that boxer a month later. Sable's world was about to be turned upside down. Poor girl. She just has not been the same since. Some good, some bad.

She gets to walk more. That is good. She gets to play more. That is good. She had to learn to share. Not so good. She had to put up with a lot this past year. She rebelled by choosing NOT to listen to us from time to time while we are outside. I know she hears me because she gives me the sidelong glance. As if to say "I hear you, but I am going to do what I want to do. So there!" She is testing our limits. Even my daughter says "Sable doesn't listen to me anymore." I know. She is rebelling.

The long days of summer are upon us. My saving grace is that work gets cut short an hour early at the end of the day. I get a head start on things around the house. Especially where the mowing is concerned.

I have not let the daughter's new beau mow yet. He offered to. That is his job at a golf course. To mow and landscape. I figure he does that all day long, he doesn't want to come to our house and mow, too. Daughter has started her job as cashier at a local grocery store. (I had to shake my head in disbelief when she complained about her hours). I cannot believe this girl! They are working her three days a week with 7 1/2 hour shifts. She is outraged. She wanted five days of five hour days or something like that. What! I have three words for her. GET OVER IT! And, I told her so. Grumble, grumble. I am so shocked by her attitude I cannot put it all into words, yet.

Moving on. For some bizarre reason every June (or July) my mother lode computer decides to pass out. An electrical storm shut it off on Tuesday and I have not been able to get it back since. I know that the battery or something has been acting up for a couple of years because each time that the system is shut down unexpectedly it defaults back to the year 2004 and the settings default back to the factory settings of SATA Raid drives. Well, I changed that a year or so ago and it takes a few tweaks but I can usually get things back. Sigh. I believe another hard drive has bit the dust. Good grief.

I am sweeping my floor with my Shop Vac. Slow going. I needed bags, so I went out last evening to purchase some. They cost me $150.00! What?! Ha, ha! Okay, there is a grocery store next to the Ace Hardware. I had not purchased groceries in a few weeks. I was out of everything!

I get a little nostalgic in an Ace Hardware. My first job out of high school was working in an office at an Ace Hardware and Automotive store. I worked six days a week. I was the entire office staff. When the other girl left to get married, they didn't hire another, I just absorbed her work, too. Yeah, young and naive.

OMG! Speaking of nostalgic. Let me tell you something about my personality or nature. I was raised as the youngest of 8 children. I was chubby cheeked and tend to get along with everybody. To say the least I was a favorite and I was spoiled a bit. I guess. That's what one sister never fails to remind me. My retort is "It wasn't MY fault!"

Anyway, I was given the demeaning label of "being a big baby". I guess I cried to Mom or an older sibling each time I was picked on. Pecking order, you know. And the older sibling of whom I was a favorite would retaliate and punch or punish the non-favorite one who had picked on me. Into my teen years I had a couple of siblings that scoffed and laughed at me if I got my car stuck in the snow or something similar. I was teased a lot. I grew up mean. Guess what? Older siblings leave the nest and then you have to fend for yourself. Yeah. I got real mean.

You tease a puppy enough and they turn into one mean bitch. Well, that's my excuse anyway. I hardened my shell quite a bit. Maybe too much. I stopped crying. A long time ago. Crying was a form of weakness and got me called "baby". I vowed that I would never cry.

All is well until the pre-menopause cycle slips in. Again, OMG! I swear it all started the day I received my AARP membership card. It did! If you have not experienced it, you can google the symptoms to see what I am speaking of. I may have to resort to something like taking black cohosh. I was driving to my home office on Tuesday and out of the blue I started crying. And I cried all the way (a little over an hour). I don't mean nose blowing sobs. Just weepy and enough so that your throat hurts and you have to keep wiping your eyes.

I did what I needed to do at the office and then started the drive home again. Again! I cried almost the entire way. It may have been the song sets playing on my CD also. It was so bizarre and out of character for me.

I got home and mowed the grass. I could always blame the watery, red eyes on the grass clippings. By the time I was done mowing my mood had passed and things were back to normal. Huh! I really could do without days like that!

On the movie scene we watched "The Messenger." There was some "t&a" I could have lived without, (it can easily be cut out for the general audience viewing) but the emotional aspect was very good. I thought that B Foster had really come into his own with this picture. A far cry from the first movie I'd seen him in: "Big Trouble". Although I did feel that S Morton acted uncomfortable during the film. She made me feel uneasy. At first I thought maybe she was an inexperienced actor, but upon research - that isn't the case at all.

Roar

I didn't think anything could choke out these babies, but it looks as if my tiger lilies may be taking a back burner compared to my western salsify. I will need to get a handle on this situation before it gets out of control.

I am trying to stick with the orange flowers in the front yard. So far, so good.

I may have killed my mower last evening. I was finishing up and I have a tree in the front by my sidewalk with many roots and bumps. I lowered my mower at the beginning of this year (if you remember my daughter's old boyfriend mowed last year and come to find out he had the blade up very high). Well, I hit a stump and the mower choked and died. Smoke began pouring out of the engine and I stopped. I had enough anyway. I was whipped. Since the blade is lower I have been using the bagger and I had filled four huge leaf and lawn bags full of clippings. I used the biodegradable ones this time. They tear and don't seem to hold as much but I feel better knowing that I am not putting 55 gallon 1.3 ml plastic bags into the landfill. And for some stupid reason my bagger decided to keep falling off the mower near the end of my job. I guess it had enough, too.

If you've mown with a bagger in the back of your mower and it falls off, you know that you get a face full of grass dust. I was a mess by the end of the evening. I don't think I have allergies but I was a mess with runny nose, itchy eyes and coughing. I think it is a normal reaction to all the grass clippings and dust.

I already wear big race car type headphones and a wet cloth on my head, leather gloves along with yellow safety glasses. If I start wearing a mask over my nose and mouth my neighbors are just going to call the funny farm on me, I swear! Not a one of them wear safety glasses, or head phones. Not a one! Not even the older lady across the street who mows with an electric mower. I feel like such a wuss.

My daughter landed a job as a cashier in a local grocery store here in town. They call it seasonal but we have hope it will turn into something more permanent with benefits. Regardless, her self esteem with be boosted and she will feel so much better. And, it's my favorite grocery store.