Happy Birthday, Man of my Dreams

That's right! Today is the Evil Twin's 53rd birthday. Boy, I bet my mother in law feels old (he's her first born) :-).

I've known the Evil Twin since he was 33 and I was 23, so the years have just flown by.

2 houses, 2 kids, several pets along the way and we manage to stay busy. I appreciate that he is willing to do anything for our children and even though he has a temper, he does try to deal with my faults and defects of character. I think I do a better job of dealing with his faults, but that's just the way our personalities are.

Evil Twin - I do love you. I know I screw up all the time, but I'm working on it. Rome wasn't built in a day.

Love,

That Time of the Year

The start of the new school year is upon us. Our first day is August 17. I'm sure that day will be quick to get here. It always is when I am least prepared.

We have one newly entering High School (and I'm really not old enough to have a kid in High School), and one entering 1st grade.

We sent Buddy to a private Catholic school and spent a fortune on his education....He did better at the local public middle school.

Sissy has been at the public school all her teeny tiny little life. And, I.LOVE.IT.

The staff has been friendlier and more accessible - and we are out NO money - than the pricey private school. Our kids are both gifted in the smarts department.

School starts on a Friday! Sooooo stupid. Why not start on a Wednesday or something?

Anyway, it's looming large. I'm always a little nervous at the beginning of the year, but typically, it turns out fine.

I must say the families at the public schools are MUCH friendlier than the uptight bunch at the private school.

I went to a baby shower this past weekend for a mom whose son was in Sissy's kindergarten class. Everyone there was super nice and I was being my usual goofy self. They even laughed at my jokes - at the private school, I would have been looked at like I had a dick growing off my forehead for saying the same things.

Example: Mom at private school: "I've got 5 bottles of wine in my Nissan." Mom #2: "We just got back from wine country for our anniversary. I have 4 cases of wine in my Volvo." Me: "Well, I have a box o' wine in my fridge." Not even a snicker...They could have at least given me a pity laugh! Beyotches. (Actually, I like Volvo mom - She's uppity, I recognize her as such, but I also respect her. The other one just got on my last nerve, plus, she wasn't friendly to the children).

I guess what I'm trying to get at here is that I really like the public schools (the ones in our district at least).

I meant to post this yesterday, so I hope y'all had a happy Monday and I wish you a happy Tuesday as well. I miss my hooligans and can't wait to get this stupid cast off so I can type the "regular" way (as opposed to the slow hunt n' peck.)

Love,

Just Call Me Grace

I went to the Mart on Monday - just to pick up a prescription and some cat food. It was just me n Sissy.

We had just walked into the front doors, but before the 2nd glass doors where the carts are.

Suddenly, I was plunged ass over tits, the entire contents of my handbag tumbling out. I had on my Croc flops (my Croc flip flops I bought at Disney World - they have cute Mickey Mouse heads on them ).... Anyhoodle, I guess the rubbery sole stuck to the floor and I went down.

Because my handbag was on my left arm, I held out my right to break my fall. All it did was break my wrist.

Like the little trooper I am, I completed my shopping despite the excruciating pain. I mean, I was already there.... I wasn't wasting gas just to go back home empty (but still broken) handed.

I went for an xray that evening and was called on Tuesday to confirm my suspicions and got an an appointment for the orthopedic doc on Wednesday.

The day after my fall, my hand looked like this:

By mid day Wednesday, I left the docs office sporting this purple cast:

Yes, I am right handed and because I had two little breaks, they had to set the cast with my thumb immobilized and all jacked up out to the side. At least I still have a career as a hitchhiker. I can do some tasks with my first finger and cast in stone thumb, but writing isn't one of them.

I can still type, albeit slowly. So, my posting promises to be even more sporadic than usual.

I broke this wrist in the same place when I was 10 and wore the cast (without the jacked up thumb setting) for 6 weeks.

I have an appointment to go back in 3 weeks to get another xray...I'm hoping that means I have a chance to get this sucker off earlier than 6 weeks. I know it's going to be stinky, withered and weak, but maybe I can get a week-ish to recover before school starts on August 17th.

Ironically, just when I have loads of stuff to share, I may have to pace myself since even typing is time consuming for me. Bad for me, good for you? Debatable. I guess it depends on if you need some mediocre reading material on any given day or not.....Lucky you!!! It'll be like the mystery grab bag at the dicey beach mystore on The Strand. Only cheaper. :-)

And,that's it, my hooligans. Enjoy your Friday and weekend. Try doing chores with your non-dominant hand for a day and get a glimpse into ETW world. To experience the pain, I recommend a hammer to the wrist. Otherwise, just go for the one hand thing.

I'm sorry to seem like I'm whining - but, really, I'm just trying to make light of it. Some people are born without limbs or lose them entirely later in life. You learn to make the best of it and learn new ways to function. I have always had the utmost respect for those who won't be "the same" in 6 weeks or whatever. They gallantly overcome many challenges and live amazing lives. Now, my respect is really brought back to the forefront.

That's my story of shopping at the Mart and eventually getting a purple cast. Anyone want to swing by and help with re-doing the color in a week or so? You can see me *naked*. LOL.

Love,

Staycation

The Evil Twin had last week off work. We're still trying to recover from the power outage. We were able to do a bit of work - calling the insurance to make a claim, The Evil Twin and Sissy spent a long time in the yard picking up debris. You know, that sort of thing.

We also got some relaxing in, so that was nice.

I'm glad to be back in my regular routine, though.

That means laundry, y'all. Lots of it. Hot laundry on hot days is really not much fun.

During our nearly weeklong plunge into darkness, we contemplated washing undies in the utility sink and then in a true white trash fashion, hanging them out back on a line. Thank goodness I had some items in the dryer (already dried, but not removed) that I'd been working on before the no power debacle and I was able to find enough clean items to cover us for a few days (while we desperately said prayers for electricity).

We did not have to resort to the back yard line with undies hanging on it. Whew! I think I would have just driven to the nearest open store and bought new packs of undies for the crew. Although the Evil Twin doesn't like to wear things until they've been washed, I suppose he would have sucked it up and worn brand new ones.

Ah well, back to my boring regular life...not having to think about ways to provide food that didn't involve electricity. We actually bought sterno and would have been out on the patio like a bunch of hobos if necessary. Luckily we only had to endure "Little House on the Prairie" inconveniences and not those that would have made us look like hobos.

Happy Monday, hooligans!!

Love,

In The Dark

Since Friday, June 30th - about 7:30pm - until Friday, July 6 around 4:30pm, we didn't have any power in the house. We had some big storms roll through the area which left about 500,000 people without electricity. Some people are STILL without power.

It stunk big time. We did the best we could. Almost all the restaurants lost power, grocery stores, gas stations and NO ONE had any ice.

Since we had no power, we had no way to charge our cell phones and no access to internet service. The Evil Twin was able to charge our phones in his car on his way in and out of work, so when mine did have a charge, I would try to check the news channels and let people what was going on and why they couldn't reach me.

Of course, this had to happen on some of the hottest days we've had this year. It didn't take long for the house to become sauna-like. Luckily, we had our lower level, which is mostly underground and stays cool year-round.

Unfortunately, by day 3, we had to toss out everything from the freezer and fridge. I had been shopping not long before and most of the food we tossed hadn't even been opened yet.

The Evil Twin had arranged to take the Thursday and Friday after July 4th off work, so he could enjoy a long weekend. However, since we didn't have power, AC, food, etc., he decided to just go in those 2 days and take this week off instead.

I am not even going to jinx us by saying anything more about the power. Maybe just to say I was born in the right time period. There is no way I could live like that every day. We did have water (some people didn't) and our water tank is gas heated, so at least we got decent showers. I just couldn't use my hair dryer, which resulted in some interesting ponytail looks.

I missed you guys and my internets a whole bunch and I hope you missed me too. I didn't fall off the face of the earth, just had to live like a pioneer woman for a few days. LOL.

Hope all my hooligans have a great Monday! (with electricity):-)

Love,