Family Time

What a way to welcome spring!

The past two days have been fantastic -and not just because the weather was extremely cooperative but because I had the opportunity to have my older daughter and her son, my Prince Alex grandson, here Saturday and through today! Then, later this afternoon, my son, Clate, along with his girlfriend, Betty and her daughter, Rachel, were here for a visit and supper.

Last night though we all attended our school drama club's presentation for this year. This is always a big event in our area as the lady who is in charge of our Drama Club always manages to find something really terrific for the kids to present.

This year it was "Willie Wonka and The Chocolate Factory" and the kids really, REALLY outdid themselves! They always do kick butt with their performances every year but this year, well I was especially proud because one of the leading parts was played by a cousin of mine! And another lead role was played by the great-grandson of the people who lived beside me when I was a child -and who were like another set of parents to me back in those days!

My cousin -Jamison "Jamers" Monela was the character Charley Bucket and Jeremiah Dobo portrayed Grandpa Bucket. Both these young men did an awesome job in their parts and for that matter, so did every single one of the rest of the kids in the cast along with the crew who did all the behind the scenes work too!

The director also just so happens to be my next-door neighbor -Deb Young Moriarity -and as she has always done, she came through again this year with a big winner of a production!

Here's a couple of pictures, not too great I'm afraid as my camera doesn't have a high speed setting so in the lower light conditions, by the time the click took effect, some of the people being photographed moved and well, you can see for yourself. Trust me though, the play was great, the thought of trying to get a shot and preserve a little "history" was there too, ya know!
The cast member in the red dress walking off stage here is the daughter of the director and our next-door neighbor -Kylie Moriarity! She was terrific in the role of the really spoiled rotten little girl!
This is Jeremiah Dobo, son of Steve and Cindy Dobo, grandson of Paul and Lillian Little Dobo and great-grandson of my neighbors from my childhood, Cyril and Catherine Rothrock Little, in the role of Grandpa Bucket!
And here, standing next to Jeremiah Dobo is my cousin, Jamison "Jamers" Monela -son of Paul and Ellen Weaver Monela and grandson of Jack and Margaret Anne Hill Weaver. I don't know offhand how many of the school productions Jamers has been in to date, but between his appearances over the past so many years in the school's plays plus his acting in productions in the Summer Youth Theatre Group in Philipsburg, he's going to have a whole long list of credits to his name by the time he's ready to go to college! Both these young fellows have a lot of talent and are getting a whole lot of great exposure too in this small rural area!

And just so I don't forget to post a few other pics too, here's one of my daughter (Carrie) and her son, my Prince, Alex (yes, Alex -you're always gonna be Grammie's Prince) that I took last night as Carrie was doing her last minute dress routine to get ready to leave for the play.
(Isn't he just the most handsome young man though? I don't think my Grandma's pride is overdone in feeling that way about him, do you?)

And finally, here's the latest pictures of the kittens and their Mamas! Mandy got out one of the pac'n'play units we have here, set it up in the kitchen and parked all nine of the kittens in it. It's really funny to watch both the mama cats and the kittens as the mamas pay no attention to whether it is their own kittens or the others that they are nursing!

The only kittens I know for sure which Mama cat they belong to are the two buff/orange kittens and the dark colored calico shown here -which are Nina's babies (Nina is the orange cat.) The other kittens are all in various shades of grey stripes and I can't tell which one belongs to which cat's litter at all any more!

And finally -here's poor lonely little Sammy -feeling every bit the outcast in the house because both Nina and Chino still give him a really hard road to hoe!
And now, since Spring is officially here, lets hope Mother Nature doesn't decide to lambast us again this month with some trashy weather.

I've really become quite spoiled the past four-five days in a row with nice weather, lovely sunshine and a touch of warmth all of which came together in a great way for me to welcome Spring with family and fellowship!

Peace.

On the Job...

I've been on a bit of a mission, of sorts, for the past almost three months now.

Over the past 18 months, I've been a busy little beaver doing all kinds of embroidery projects as you may recall. The objective initially in those projects was that I had the items I made in mind to be used as Christmas gifts for my kids -kind of a way to give them something they would be able to keep -and yes, use too -over the years that would be something tangible, from me to them, for long after I have gone on to my just rewards, ya know.

Well, since last fall I have been giving a lot of consideration to perhaps trying to find a way to post the items I have made online and offer them for sale. I've found a couple of places too where I can, in essence, set up a web presence to have my own little venture there then.

Although I have no idea at all if this would actually be something of a most successful home based business type venture of not but sometime in the near future, it is going to be something I have decided I'm going to give a try at any rate.

The problem for me right now is the length of time it takes me to create a finished product of the embroidery items I love to make! I really enjoy making the table toppers -a small tablecloth that measures usually anywhere from 31x31 inches square to 36x36 inches square. Sometimes, I can find one I like and can get it done in under a week. Then there are others -such as the one I am working on now -that take a long time to get them finished! The one I'm doing now is cross stitched (not counted, oh no, no, no, never would I tackle an item this size in counted cross stitch as I would never live long enough to see it completed or I would really go blind in very short order, I'm sure) but anyway, this project involves a lot of stitching and I've been working on it for almost three weeks now. Yeah, I am getting close to finishing it but I don't see anyway I can possibly put a piece like this on a website and offer it for sale as the amount of time I have invested in it, would make it impossible to determine a fair price then for the item.

So, I'm thinking because this particular piece consists of a cardinal (the bird, not a ball player) in each corner, with a bit of greens around it, and because a very dear, good friend of mine dearly loves anything to do with cardinals and also because she has a birthday coming up at the end of this month, I'm considering that this item will never see the "for sale" pile of stuff I have done!

Just as I don't feel I can put a price on this item, I know too that I also can never put a price on the value of the friendship I have with her and I know this is something when I get it done that she would understand the time element involved, she would also know too that I opted to give this to her not just because I know how much she loves cardinals but also, as a way to remember her Mother too -who also loved cardinals so very much.

There will surely be other projects that don't require quite as much time to complete them that I can do and put in my "for sale" stash, don't you agree?

On My Mind....

If you've been reading my blog for any length of time, you probably are aware by now that anytime I post a title such as this one, it's most likely gonna be a bit on the convoluted side.

And if you think that, tonight you most certainly would be right!

So many things on my mind today.

Mandy left yesterday. She and Deb (her boss-lady/friend) drove to Pittsburgh, got a motel room there and spent the night so that Thursday a.m., they could take the shuttle from the motel to the airport, leaving Deb's truck at the motel, and eliminating having to pay parking fees at the airport that way. Then, when they return next week, just hop the shuttle back to the motel, grab the pickup and ferry themselves on home!

I talked to Mandy around 11 a.m. and they had finished checking in then -just waiting to board the plan and take off around 1 p.m. for Phoenix. She called this evening about 7:30 or so -was with her Dad then and they were about to head out to start their run to Laughlin but were gonna get a motel room for tonight -as they were both pretty well exhausted. Bill talked to her a little later at which time she told him they were someplace in Phoenix but were lost cause her Dad had made a wrong turn when she told him to go one way and he went the other but her Dad was saying it was just the opposite that he'd made a correct turn but Mandy had told him to go in the other direction -something like that. (I'd love to have been a fly on the ceiling of his truck to have been able then to hear them arguing over who was right, who was wrong, on the directions. She is SOOOOOO Very much his daughter!

Maya is staying with Mandy's best friend, Jenn and her family till next Tuesday evening -when Mandy comes home so I am left to watch over Kurtis. This isn't that bad to manage with just him as in most problem areas here with the kids, Maya is just enough older (and wiser, maybe smarter then because of that) than Kurtis and tends to be the troublemaker. She either leads him astray or if she can't do that, she beats him up! Nothing like sibling love, is there?

This week, after after received the news from my doctor that I now need to have a hysterectomy because I have a virus-type infection in the cervix that is considered to be CIN2 (kind of like Stage 2 of the cancer stages is how I understand it) and since I will have to have surgery and they will have my "belly" open (as my OB/GYN dr. puts it) she thinks it would be highly advisable for me to have the hernia I have fixed at the same time.

Now, this is where things get confusing I guess.

My OB/GYN Doctor is a local physician and the doctor who did the last surgery on me is on staff at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and I need to contact him and get his opinion on whether he advises having the hernia repaired then.

Things get a bit more convoluted here now too. Those who have followed my blog since my beginning days may remember that the last surgery I had (in 2006) was to have a colostomy and the hernia I have is, apparently, in the stoma (which is the opening of the colostomy.)

None of the local surgeons here want to mess with this hernia repair because they aren't exactly familiar with how the surgeon in Pittsburgh performed and looped and what not, the colon when he did the colostomy so they think the hernia repair, if it is to be done now, should be done by the UPMC surgeon. Which is pretty much okay with me except I don't know then if he would also do the Hysterectomy because he is an internal medical surgeon, specializing mostly in oncology type patients/colo-rectal stuff, etc. So would this mean I would then also have to be referred to a surgeon on staff in Pittsburgh who specializes in OB/GYN stuff?

So, yes -that stuff is weighing on my mind a good bit right now.

But what really is bothering me more than anything else is the worry about the prep stuff I will have to take prior to the surgery, regardless of where it is done or who does what?

If you've ever had any kind of abdominal surgery, you know what prep stuff I am talking about there then, don't you? YEah, drinking that horrible stuff -either magnesium-sulfate in a pint bottle, or some stuff in a big gallon jug or just a teeny-tiny bottle of the magnesium-sulfate pretty much like taking a straight shot of rot-gut whiskey, but the reaction of one's body to the intake of this stuff -no matter how you take it -is that it then gives you the nastiest case ever of the "Runs" -or Montezuma's Revenge or whatever name you want to call it.

And I have had to drink this crapola (to make me do just that you know) enough times that I can't even stand the thought of drinking that stuff ever again. Just the mere thought of it makes my mouth pucker and my stomach begins to roll and churn making me feel like I need to go throw up, ya know.

What I'd really like to know is it possible for a person needing to do a "clean-out" number on their intestines -for purely medical purposes -to use maybe a colon cleansing pill in place of drinking that vile and very disgusting other stuff?

And regardless of what one has to ingest, my other concern then is how many boxes of colostomy bags should I invest in and have stacked in the bathroom when I do have to do this prep for the surgery anyway?

And, by doing that, what risk am I putting myself in then that all that extra flow might just cause the darned intestines to get overworked, overwraught and rupture someplace else in the process then too?

Yeah, that's the dilemma that really has be bugged very much right now.

I've been trying now since Tuesday to get in touch with the Pittsburgh surgeon but to no avail. Can't even get through to his physician's assistant to explain what's going on here now and why I need to at least talk to him, maybe will have to go see him in advance of having any surgery done.

I'm seriously thinking of telling the OB/GYN doctor here to just to the hysterectomy and I'll worry about the hernia stuff later if it does in fact become a necessity. But I do see her logic in the idea of tending to the hernia while the getting at it is good and wouldn't necessitate then another abdominal surgery somewhere down the line and having to go through the damned prep problem all over again then too!

And, when one's mind is as convoluted as mine does tend to be under the most normal of conditions -well, you can see then what a bunch of confusion this does pose for me, can't 'cha?

The Volcano!

Last Thursday, it was such a nice, truly beautiful day, when I took good old Sammy out for a walk, we very much extended our stroll to include walking on some roads that weren't all level, as is the road in front of my house that we normally walk most every day.

All winter, on our walks, I have kept to just the one street -this street -going as far up as our Cluster Mail Boxes and returning home -a walk that doesn't involve any climbing of any hills -and hills are one thing that are in abundance around these parts!

But last week, we walked and walked and I took pictures -and more pictures -that show some of the ways my home town has changed over the past 6 decades.

We made a loop around the village and when we came down the big hill on the backside of town, at the foot of that hill, we took a dirt road to the left and walked probably a mile (at least) on that road, climbing up the steep incline to the top of the hill in the vicinity referred to here as "Cooper Two."

Cooper is the name of the township here so often there are references about the town and other villages that include that in the name -street, area, whatever. But the section we visited last week -"Cooper Two" comes from the Township and the "Two" has to do with the mines in the vicinity.

From the start of our walk along that dirt road, I kept trying to look past the trees for familiar landmarks along the way and for one specific thing that was the hallmark of this part of our region.

The Boney Pile! (When I was a kid it had several other names besides the boney pile. Some referred to it as the Tipple, others as the Slate Dump or the Slag Pile. My children's generation I have since learned called it the "Volcano.")

Back in the 50s, my older aunt's husband used to love to go up behind the Boney Pile and wander around amidst the rubble of the long-ago, abandoned then at least 20 years, coal mining history. He would point to various items and then try to explain to me what place this or that piece had in connection with the mining of the coal that had once been the lifeblood of this little village as well as most every other little town dotted across the county.

And one of the things he and I would usually do on these visits was to climb up to the top of the Boney Pile and from there, we could see all across the valley, such as it is, where my home village is located. From our vantage point, to our left, we could see down into the ghost town of Peale and beyond that, we could see the forest as it grew along the hillside going up to the old train station in Peale, to the coal strippings that were running hot and heavy 50 plus years ago in the region referred to here as "Tunnelside" and beyond that, to another tiny stop on the old railroad line -Gorton.

I kept looking and looking for a glimpse of the Boney Pile but couldn't find it! I couldn't even find the old path that as kids, my friends and I often walked back to the base of the boney pile too.

Now that Boney Pile or Tipple -or as my kids refer to it -"The Volcano" was something that my Grandmother as well as my Mom too, both hated! To them, it was just a huge, huge pile of slag, cinders, rocks and such -the useless stuff of the coal mining industry. And it was reputed too that back when I was a kid, the Boney Pile was still smoldering away, deep in the center which thus would give my kids and their pals the idea I suppose to call this thing "The Volcano." My Grandmother always worried about the aspect that the boney pile was still on fire and that one of these days, as she would say to my uncle and to me, "Someone's gonna climb to the top of that big, ugly and smelly thing and it's going to erupt and swallow those people up, alive!"

Hearing her say that did put a teensy bit of fear into me but not quite enough to stop me from exploring down there with my uncle.

But last week, as we walked and I took snapshot after snapshot along the road, I was disappointed in that I couldn't find, couldn't see the Boney Pile.

Then, we came upon this sign:
And on both sides of the dirt road, along the mountainside, we saw these sights then too.




The last photo there is looking out and over the approximate area where that Boney Pile I knew throughout my childhood used to be as it is gone now, plowed over in the reclamation of the area through a very large, ongoing job to reclaim the land to its former glory.

However, it struck me as also being something -dare I say it -very sad too as I lost a large part of my history in the covering over of the Boney Pile, "The Volcano."

Now if my Grandma were alive and were to hear me voice something like that last sentence, she would probably tell me -or you -that I must have lost all my marbles or some such. She so hated that part of the topography of this little town I'm sure she would regard it as being akin to hemorrhoids treatments of the highest magnitude!

While I can understand her opinion that this was just a huge, dirty old eyesore, it also was a part of my childhood, my youthful years and the fun of the excursions up there with my uncle are vivid parts of my memories.

And now, that big landmark is also a part of my memories too, isn't it?

Back in 1970, when the company I worked for sent me out to work in Phoenix, AZ for the month of July and again, for the month of October that year, we were working outside of Phoenix, off the Black Canyon Freeway and I recall my Mom asking me what the landscape was like out there -if there were mountains and if so, were they high, like the Rockies or what?

And the closest thing I could think of to describe the mountains behind the range where we were working was that they reminded me of the old Boney Pile in a very pretty way.

And today, since I can't locate any old photos showing what The Volcano"/Boney Pile actually looked like, you're just gonna have to take my word for it when I say Grandma was wrong.

The Boney Pile really was quite a beautiful place!

More Changing Scenery

The other day, I did a post about the postal system in the village where I live. In that post I had a photo of what is believed to have been the first post office in town, along with a photos of the last two locations of a physical post office here, ending with a photo of the "Cluster mailboxes" we have today.

The purpose of that post was to document how things were to how they are now and was my way of illustrating the history as well as how the town has lost a social venue when the physical building for a post office was removed from us.

Today, I'm going to show you some other things that have changed too over the years. These are all things that have been damaged and the loss is irreplaceable.

This little bungalow type residence was once upon a time the home of the "Company Doctor." It is said that it was one of those mail-order homes -from Sears-Roebuck or one of those places. When I was a child, it was definitely one of the better homes in town -very well-kept, always was enticing to me. I always wished I could see what the inside of the house looked like back then.

That idea will never come to pass -to see the inside of it -as it burned a year or so back and it has been condemned, not enough of the house left standing that it can ever be fixed, returned to its former place of honor and beauty.
The above house shown here also went up in flames about a year or so ago. It didn't have the history behind it as did the former Doctor's house, as it was an old home but it had been remodeled quite extensively in the 50s and 60s and was for a good number of years a very nice residence. I won't go into detail here on the cause of the fire and a side story about that other than to say that two people are awaiting trial because of the fire.
Located directly across the road from the house pictured above is this place. The family who owned it moved away from here back in the late 50s, perhaps early 60s -mainly because the children in the family had to leave to move to the "big city" in order to find gainful employment and then, the parents opted to follow the children there too. To my knowledge, no one has lived in this place since the elders of the family left here and thus, the house was left to just kind of die a slow passing into oblivion.
And here, just up the street and around the bend from the last two former homes is this -the rubble left behind of what once was a house -a home to some family -that has finished its descent into the depths of rubble.

Seeing these places -as well as several others with similar appearances, circumstances, etc. -it makes me think that something should be done to either find a way to restore, if at all possible, some of these homes and if that can't be done, then find a way to eradicate them -kind of like one would do if you had acne and used acne scar removal to make the surface -or the skin -of the village look presentable again.

Kind of like this place now is:
If you could have seen this house the way I saw it when I was a child, it is something that has seen a remarkable transformation!

Back then, it was very run-down, dilapidated and occupied by one old man. From what I have learned about the early history of this village, the family who once owned this place were quite well-to-do but as time moved on, so again did the children, leaving the father to live out his last days alone and unable to tend to the needs of the old house.

Some years after his death, a young couple dared to purchase this place -ramshackle as it was -and they went to work on it, lovingly restoring it to its former beauty.

And yes, it is that today -a beauty! Almost looks like it could a medium sized mansion type home from the Civil War era. The couple who bought it and restored it to look like this really should give and be given too, a big pat on the back for a job very well done.

Seeing the old homes fade away -either because they were flat out abandoned, or by fire or simply just reduced to rubble is something that saddens me very much to see this occur. Each of these places has a history -a family or perhaps even several families -who lived there, enjoyed the warmth and comfort the place had to offer and now, all that's left are memories.

On The Horizon...

A week ago -on Monday, March 8th -I had an outpatient procedure performed -a cone biopsy.

This is a biopsy done on the cervix but in this procedure, the innermost tissues of the cervix are scraped and examined. It was done because for the past two years, I have had abnormal results in my annual Pap tests.

Yesterday (March 15th) I had an appointment with the OB/GYN doctor who did the Cone Biopsy to learn the results of this test -as well as what recommendations she has for me too.

The upshot of the biopsy is that I have pre-cancerous tissue present and her recommendation is that I have a hysterectomy.

On the surface, this sounds pretty cut and dried, doesn't it? And in essence, it is that except in my case there are other circumstances.

First off, I had a colon resection done almost seven years ago to remove a malignant tumor in my colon. Then, two years after that, I had a blockage in my right urinary tract which was "corrected" by having sort of the equivalent of the colon resection except this time, it was to reroute the urinary tract around the blockage.

Then, a year after that -because of issues occurring in the colon -beginning with an infection in the outer lining of the colon at the site of the colon resection surgery - a colostomy was the recommended procedure.

About two years ago now, I learned I have a hernia too -in the area of the colostomy.

Wonnerful, wonnerful, huh?

The surgeon who did the colostomy felt surgery to correct the hernia was not a good thing as he said often it weakens the area of the surgery and creates a sort of fertile ground for yet another hernia and could then lead to even more abdominal surgery.

So today, when the OB/GYN doctor was discussing the necessary hysterectomy, she suggested that perhaps -since they would obviously have the abdomen opened up and since I've already had three major abdominal surgeries (the two mentioned above plus 29 years ago, I also had my gall bladder and appendix removed), plus the colostomy -that correcting the hernia might be a feasible thing to consider in connection with the hysterectomy.

Now, the problem with this is that the local surgeon here isn't keen on doing the hernia repair because he wasn't the surgeon who did the colostomy and it is his belief that my doctor in Pittsburgh -who did the colostomy -should be the one to do the hernia repair. And if they were to do that and the hysterectomy simultaneously, then I would have to go to Pittsburgh (136 miles from here) to have that done which would then also entail engaging a new OB/GYN doctor in that vicinity who practices at UPMC as does the surgeon I had before for the colostomy.

So now I have to contact the surgeon in Pittsburgh, talk this problem over with him and get his opinion on how to proceed with the upcoming removal of these things!

Ideally, if I have to have these things done, I would prefer to have the OB/GYN doctor I have here to do the hysterectomy but I would also prefer that my previous surgeon in Pittsburgh be the one to do the hernia repair. However, that just ain't gonna work, folks!

I'd prefer to have the surgery done, if possible, at the local hospital as for openers, it would be much more feasible for my family if I am only "incarcerated" (shall we say) for five to seven days in an institution that is a mere 22-23 miles from my home as opposed to traveling 136 miles, one way, to spend that amount of time that far away from my family!

Ah, decisions, decisions! Sure would be nice if the decisions I have to make of late didn't involved cutting into my gut again!

But unfortunately, that's not the case.

So it's gonna mean a bit of phone tag I suppose to reach my surgeon in Pittsburgh, possibly a trip or two down there for preliminary examinations, consultations, etc. And then, figuring out from what he says, what route to take.

Frankly, aside from the distance and travel required -plus the prep I would imagine that would be needed too for abdominal surgery (same drill as one has before having a colonoscopy and in that case, the prep stuff is really worse than the procedure) -but I really like the surgeon in Pittsburgh -very, VERY, nice eye candy ya know, plus he is just a sweetheart to deal with. Best bedside manner I've ever encountered over the years! So at least, the fact I like that particular doctor -a lot (and so do my daughters for that matter -tee hee) does help to make the trip and all that crapola a bit more enticing.

So tell me -what would you do anyway?

Looks like this spring and/or summer is gonna be one of me recuperating -again, or maybe I should say, as usual, huh?

Scardy. Scardy.

Those words in my title -"Scardy. Scardy." spoken by little Kurtis, in his pronunciation simply means "Scary. Scary." And boy, he has had the things he's been afraid of too over the past year, for sure.

Just when we think we have it pretty well in check, know which items will trip his trigger and set him off, crying -no sometimes screaming in his panic-stricken voice (which means it's loud, very, very loud) something else comes along that frightens him and we have to figure that item then into the mix when we go someplace.

Case in point: Tonight, we went to a benefit spaghetti dinner, organized as a senior class project by a young girl my daughter knows through her step-daughter. The beneficiary of this dinner though -now that person we know quite well, as it is the daughter of a couple who are among Mandy's bestest friends ever.

This would be the infamous couple -Jenn-Jenn and her husband, Nick-Nick -and their three children -all who are at the top of Maya (and Kurt's too) list of most favorite people they know. Their youngest daughter, Emily, was diagnosed a little over a year ago with Transverse Myelitis and I'm not even going to try to explain this illness here but suffice it to say it is a very serious condition to hit on a kid Emmy's age -or at any age for that matter.

Mandy, the kids and I went to this dinner. Maya actually was pretty well-behaved, which is always nice when that happens. Kurtis though -well he had a bit of a meltdown caused by something the people at the table in front of us had with them.

Prior to the wife (of the couple) sitting down, she had been roaming all around the cafeteria with a nice big fat movie camera perched on her shoulder. She was photographing (filming) everyone and everything, or so it seemed. Kurt, I think, saw her in action but had no reaction to her or the camera then.

Not until she put the video camera on the table with the lens pointed virtually directly at Kurtis and then, boy did the crap hit the fans with him! The poor kid was absolutely terrified! Crying, screaming, words all jumbled up so we couldn't make out what he was trying to say and for a good while, all we could make out was him saying the "Scardy, scardy" over and over again.

Finally, Mandy figured out that it was this video camera that was putting the fear of God into his poor little self so she got up, walked over to the man seated at the table and asked him if he would mind moving the camera to his right side and pointing it in another direction.

He did that and as soon as that camera was out of Kurt's sight, he calmed down right away!

I won't go so far as to say that he was as good as gold then but at least he did quit screaming and that's all that was ultimately important for us so we could have a semi-peaceful meal then!

Changing Scenes!

Gosh, but it's nice today! Beautiful day in Pennsylvania -and probably around a good bit of the country as well. Sunny, bright, warm -snow melting down quickly and a little of the mud is even beginning to dry up too, thanks to no rain, snow and yuckiness over the past few days.

So, in conjunction with my ongoing exercise and diet (that's not been being observed too much of late), Sammy and I went for our fairly regular walk. I even took my camera along to try to take a couple of pictures that I could post here as well -and use them, if need be, to prove to my doctor perhaps that yes, I have been out and at least doing a little bit of walking as my exercise program.

I had a little idea when we left the house of what I wanted to photograph and post here to show you but I got so many pictures by the time I was done that you might think -if I were to post them all today -that maybe I'd been away, enjoying one of those Branson vacation packages or something along those lines at any rate.

My original idea for my post today was to show you a bit of history from this little village, mainly pertaining to the U.S. Postal Service as it was over the years and is today, available to those of us who live here.

So, beginning here with the earliest photo I've come across to date of what once upon a time -probably way, way before my time even -was perhaps the first post office in Grassflat. I think this photo was sent to me by my good friend (and long-distance historian of this region), Jeff Feldmeier, from Allen Park, Michigan. He wasn't sure where this building was located but near as I can figure out, based on the church steeple nearby, I think this was the house that stood beside the old Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Church that was in the upper end, known as "Pleasant Hill" section of the town. (That church burned to the ground either in the fall of 1966 or 1967 -can't find anyone who is 100% sure of which year that happened.) Anyway, neither Jeff nor I have a clue as to what year this photo of the old post office was taken either.

I think, the place I knew as the post office while I was a child and until my early teen-age years was located from probably the early 1920s until the late 50s in a building that was added on to the homestead of the Lakin family from town. When I was a kid, the postmistress was Miss Ethel Lakin and her home was at that time, considered to be one of the finer houses in the village. Sadly, after her death, the place suffered greatly and about 18 months ago, was sold for the grand sum of $4,500 -if you can imagine buying a house for a price like that in today's age!

Here's what's left of that house today -which will probably explain why the price was so low too!
The addition to the house that housed the post office of my younger days was located where you see the triangular outline of something that obviously has been torn away. And thank goodness it was torn off too as the roof was caving in, windows broken and well, just in a big mess of disarray.
After Ethel Lakin, the long-time postmistress here retired, the guy who took her place as postmaster (Tom Janosky) also moved the post office to a building that had at one time been a little store in town and which Tom owned. That building has since been torn down as has the remains of a big general store that was owned and operated by the Mike Humenik and his son, Johnny, for many years. It was referred to often as the old "Company Store" because before Mike took it over, the building had belonged to, of course, the Coal Company that pretty much ran the town for many, many years. This is what is now on the land that formerly was the post office during the 60s and up until 1994 when our post office was permanently closed and the old general -or Humenik's- store.

And this my friends, is where I get my mail delivered today!
Since the summer of 1994, when Tom retired (our last postmaster), the post office decided not to use the building they rented from Tom as it needed a lot of upgrades to make it handicapped accessible, provide adequate parking and such, and apparently it was felt it would be too difficult and costly to do that, so they shut the post office in town down then.

My great friend, the late "Uncle Joe Benny" Nadzom, (He and his wife are not related to me but my kids and I always refer to them as "Uncle Joe Benny" or "Aunt Helen Ann".) tried and tried to keep the post office from closing on us but it was a useless battle. So today, the residents of town either get their mail delivered directly to their home if they were on the old Rural delivery route system or they have a box in one of the three "cluster" boxes that are strategically located within the village.

This group -where I pick up my mail -is almost dead-center in town, a bit below where the last post office once stood and the buildings that occupied this site when I was a kid were what was left of the Westberg's Garage and the old "nick" -short for Nickolodeon or the movie theater owned by the Isaac Kolivosky family. Yes, this little village at one time, clear up into the very early 50s, had a functioning movie theater here! I even remember going to see two movies there too as a child -"Snow White" and the last movie I think ever shown at the old theater, "Miracle of Fatima."

I took several other photos (several, being a bit of an understatement) but will do a couple other posts using some of those pictures in connection with the them here of the way the scenes in my hometown, this little village, used to be and how they are today.

As to the loss of our post office, this is something I miss very much, not having a building to go into and pick up my mail there. It was the town's focal point for keeping up with the news around the village -true stuff or just plain gossip, ya know. It was where one learned that this person was ailing, another had died, someone else got engaged or married, new babies that were born were celebrated in that old establishment too for many, many years. Today, the only establishments in town where one can sort of "catch up" on local news is either The Moose or the town's remaining pub, Cooper's Bar and Grill. Well, the Catholic folks can still learn a little via their church built atop the hill in town in the 60s but that still leaves the Protestant population kind of out in the cold, ya know.

It was how people related to each other and now, ask anyone who has lived here for a long time and they will tell you -as I often say -about how, way back when, I knew almost everyone in the village and in some instances, knew their family trees almost as well as I knew my own!

How things have changed to today where none of us can say that about our neighbors and the village as a whole any more because in many cases, we have neighbors who aren't exactly new but may as well have just moved in on our respective streets because we no longer know the names of those who are our neighbors.

And that is something I do, truly miss!

Eight Days To Go!

Yep - the time is drawing nigh and in eight more days, my baby girl, along with her boss and good friend, Deb, will be landing in the sunny and dry climes of Phoenix, Arizona!

A little bit of much needed R&R for both of them, for sure!

The initial plan was that my son, Clate, would drive them down to Pittsburgh next Thursday for them to catch their flight out of there but those plans have been changed a couple of times and now, the game plan is that they will leave here on Wednesday -St. Patrick's Day, no less -and Mandy will drive Deb's truck to Pittsburgh and they will stay in a motel near the airport Wednesday night and then, take the shuttle from the motel to the airport then Thursday a.m. This way, they can park Deb's truck there while they are gone and not have to worry about it and also, not have to pay for parking either!

Once they land in Phoenix, Deb will be visiting with a good friend of hers who she hasn't seen in a long time and Mandy's step-mother will drive down from Laughlin, Nevada to meet her at the airport and then, they will get a room Thursday night and stay in the Phoenix area that night and drive up to Laughlin then on Friday -March 19th -so Mandy can then spend a couple of days of quality time visiting with her Dad.

Now, when the plans were just beginning to be formulated, I made a suggestion to Mandy that maybe she could -while out in the Phoenix area -make arrangements to meet one, possibly two of my friends from the blogger and facebook community too. Actually, Mandy -who has facebook -also has had one of these friends on her facebook for sometime as does my son, Clate, and she has heard me talk of my other friend too from time to time over the past almost three years since I first met them via my blog in the beginning and now, communicate with them on Facebook too.

Those friends, Keith and Debo Blue, were then contacted and asked if they would be interested too in meeting Mandy while she is out in and around their fair city and both of them said they would love to try to make arrangements to meet her during her brief visit.

At first, it seemed that Mandy would be staying the whole time in the Phoenix area as it had apparently been her Dad's idea that he and his wife would drive down in their "home" -yes, they live in an RV! But then, Mandy figured if they did that, she wouldn't be able to visit with a lady she met when she was out there 11 years ago this spring so the plan was changed that she would be met at the airport and from there, they would head up to Laughlin.

She's talked a couple of times about this online with Keith and then, he sent me a message the other day saying he would meet up with Mandy at the airport when she arrives, have time for a little bit of a visit and then, let her go on her way to spend as much time as she can then with her Dad. All that remained was for us to try to sew up loose ends so she could also meet Debo while there but that has some complications too as Debo is leaving this Friday for a nice cruise in the Caribbean and she won't be back to Arizona then until the 21st of March. That will leave them to having only either the 22nd or, early morning of the 23rd, before her plan leaves, to try to connect with Debo.

This afternoon though, I got a really great surprise when I answered the phone and saw a name and number I didn't recognize immediately and I didn't know the voice either until the lady identified herself as Debo Blue from her blog!

WOW! Now that phone call -surprise that it was, for openers -really made my day!

Now, I can say that I have "met" two of my blogger friends on the phone and one of those friends and her husband, I have even met in person when they stopped by my house to visit on their way back to their home in Michigan. (That would be "Skittles" (Barb) and her husband. Mike!)

Debo called with the express purpose being to give me her phone number that I can pass on to Mandy then so that when Mandy's time schedule is firmed up as to her return to Phoenix to come home, she can contact Debo and see if it will be possible for them to meet, perhaps at the airport or someplace nearby before she takes off to fly back north and home again!

And I have to tell you all too that on the phone, Debo sounded just like I imagined she would! Can you believe that? Well, you better, because she did! And it was just so great to hear her voice and to pick up on the nuances in her physical voice that come through too in the way she writes. Warm and friendly!

Now, ya know because nothing ever runs smooth as glass around these hills, there always seems to have to be some little thing or other that crops up and tries to but a damper on big plans and this trip has had something happen this week that had the potential to really put the screws to the trip.

Yesterday morning -Tuesday, that is -Mandy got up and came down to me, complaining that she was having this terrible pain in the center of her back and that it was radiating out on both sides and making it difficult and very painful for her to breathe -made her feel, she said, like something was just squeezing her body as hard as it possibly could do that.

Listening to her list her issues there, I thought about these symptoms a bit and told her I thought it would be a good idea for her to contact our family doctor right away and see if she could get in to see her yesterday sometime. Which she did and the doctor was able to see her that afternoon.

I also told Mandy in my opinion, it sounded to me like she had a good old-fashioned case of pleuresy! (Can't spell medical names worth you know what) I had a go-round with that lovely (NOT) stuff back in the fall of 1998 and her description sounded exactly the way I remembered it feeling to me. So Mandy told the Doctor what Mom had said she suspected and the doctor concurred with my diagnosis too! She was still feeling pretty rough around the edges most of today but finally, the meds are starting to kick in and working to kick the bug and inflammation out of her!

Glad it happened this week -if it was gonna come around -and not next week, which would really have been a bummer!

And, before I sign off this for the night, I just have to tell you a little story about Kurtis that happened this Wednesday morning.

He was dressed and ready to go as soon as his van pulled up except for one thing. I didn't have his coat on him and wouldn't you just know, the driver showed up about 8 minutes earlier than normal so I had to hustle to get Kurt's coat on him then.

Because the weather has been really nice (yes, temps in the 40s are very nice to us in these parts after having had most days for the past two months that were all well below 32 degrees outside), once I got his coat on him, I figured it was warm enough today outside that I didn't have to take time to zip it up and fasten him in his coat completely for him to walk from the house out to the van.

Boy, was I wrong about that idea though!

As I was putting him in the van, he began to fuss and complain, half-crying and his words coming out all jumbled up so it took me a while before I picked up a word he was repeating.

"Zipper. Zipper!" Over and over he was jabbering something to me about his zipper and wouldn't settle down it turned out until I stopped trying to fasten him in to his car seat and took the time to zip his jacket up! Now this particular jacket has two -yes two -zippers plus the coat also snaps closed too over the zippers so I had to zip up the inner jacket, the zip up the outer jacket and then, snap the overlap across the zippers in place too! Once I got that done, he calmed right down, patting his coat very contented and let me finish fastening his seatbelt on the car seat on him then.

Once all that was done, he leaned towards me and gave me some big hugs and kisses and told me "Bye, bye Gram" followed by saying "Be good boy!"

You betcha, my sweet little guy! You be the "Good boy" for sure, baby!

Gotta love it though when a three-year-old obsesses about making sure his jacket is all zipped up, nice, neat and tidy, don't 'cha?

Light In, Light Out.

Just a couple of things on my mind tonight -nothing spectacular, just niggling things I guess.

Yesterday, one of my neighbors came over to ask us if we'd by any chance seen anyone around his car late Saturday night. Seems that someone got in his car, drove off with it and then, brought it back, parked it out front of their house but not quite the same way it had been parked before. And he thought maybe we'd seen something.

Hmmm. Maybe he thinks because we have no blinds for window treatment in the living room that we can see people moving about in the dark, dark of night.

Well, obviously we can't because we don't. Does that make sense?

The whole thing about his issue with his car though really makes no sense whatsoever.

I told him that because of the hours he keeps -works all kinds of different hours, no set shift, day after day, and because his car has a very distinctive sound upon being fired up too, we don't so much "see" him come and go as we hear him. And, because of those off-the-wall hours he keeps, if we'd hear his car starting up late at night, we wouldn't pay any attention to it then anyway.

But here's the funny part of this story.

Whoever took his car and then returned it, apparently had a bit to drink while using it because he said when he got in it to go to work early in the morning yesterday, it reeked of alcohol.

Then too there was something else to this whole matter that is a bit puzzling.

When he came over and talked to me yesterday to inquire about if we'd seen anything, he had in is hands a radio/dvd/mp3 player that he said whoever took the car apparently left behind as it was on the seat of the car but he didn't notice it until he finished work and came out to his car in the daylight and saw it laying there on the seat.

He wanted to know if maybe this unit might belong to me or Mandy or to the son-in-law.

Now that really made me laugh because that item -all nice and shiny and sparkling with that "new" kind of look ya know -well, my jeep hasn't seen anything that new probably since the day it came off the assembly lines about 14 years or so ago! Not that I would mind having something in the jeep that worked -new or used -but nope, nothing like that in my car, nor Mandy's and not in the SIL's pickup truck either.

Have you ever heard tell of anyone "borrowing" someone's car like that, returning it smelling of booze and then, leaving behind some piece of equipment like that to boot?

I suppose stranger things than this have happened but not to me, not on this street anyway.

Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth!

I thought I got a fairly decent night's sleep last night -went to bed about3:00 a.m. and woke up a little before 9 this morning. Made coffee, checked e-mail, glanced at Facebook and found I was still really tired -couldn't keep my eyes open, plus my back was aching and so was my upper left arm. The muscle in the arm was sore and I figure I may have slept on that arm -way longer than I normally would -so it was a bit stiff and sore.

My remedy -sit down in the recliner, push it into reclining status, close my eyes and get a bit more shut-eye.

After a little nap in the old chair, when I woke up I felt a bit more civilized, had a little energy and ready to do a few things here then. Mandy is working this afternoon, older daughter and her fiance, plus the older grandson -my Prince Alex -are coming up for supper this evening and I got a roast in the oven to get it partially cooked -will finish it up closer to when supper will actually be served ya know. Dishes done too and I figured okay -I can take a little time now to sit down and do some stuff at the computer before I go clean up the kitchen/dining room a bit. I figured I could probably get by with just a good sweep job -wouldn't have to mop the rooms cause they weren't all that bad.

However, that idea came crashing to a swift halt! All because two small children decided they were going to help me clean! Unfortunately, their version of helping actually increased what I had to do because they got the dishcloths and sponges from the kitchen sink, dumped dishwashing liquid onto those things and began to use them to do their version of cleaning the kitchen floor as well as the woodwork and even expanded their efforts to the glass in the front door too. Nice work, guys. Well not exactly but I know the thought was there, right?

So, I thought if they want to clean, to put them to work on something they could handle -like picking up their toys, their messes in the living room. That effort there lasted oh, maybe 3 minutes tops before the interest level waned to nothing.

From there on out, there was a whole lot of wailing, yes -from them and from me. A good bit of gnashing of the teeth too as I was struggling to keep my voice low- screaming just entices more of the same ya know -and trying to keep them on task. Of course, during any episode where you want to keep Maya on target, she ALWAYS has to go to the bathroom -never fails. Which would be fine if all she did was go in there, do her business and return to the project at hand. That means no stopping to see how the kittens -all 9 of 'em -and their respective Mamas are doing too. And that also means no removing any of the kittens from their respective beds and placing them in the litter box in there either, Maya! Yeah -when I went to check up on her, that's what I found -Chino's four kittens -all of 13 days old, in the litter box! I asked her why she put them in there and she informed me that they wanted to poop. Don't know exactly how she came to that conclusion unless maybe she's able to communicate with them.

So at the rate I'm going here -raking my fingernails (such as they are) over my face, pulling my hair out one strand at a time too -I'm gonna look really very much in need of some good acne face wash -as well as some kind of cream to cover those self-inflicted scratches before this day is over I do believe.

Oh well, I know -this is just another day that I should remember to take pleasure in the fact that these two kids are actually here with me and be happy that they can do the things they do -even when it does mean a bit of extra work, a lot of messes at times too.

All too quickly, they'll be grown and who knows how long I'll be here to enjoy the good days as well as the kind of bad ones with them too, ya know.

The Race (and Chase) Scene

I've mentioned on several occasions in the past on my blog about how Sammy (the dog) and Fluff-Nuts (the tom-kitten) finally made up and became friends. I've posted some pictures of the two of them sleeping together as well as several shots I took of them when they were cavorting around. But those were still shots and don't really show the full depth of their playtime.

The other night, Mandy took this little video of the two of 'em doing their thing!


I have to say one thing here and now though. Considering the way Sammy "nudges" Fluff-Nuts along, I think he definitely would benefit from a bit of a quick trim fast cleanse after having had his nose shoved pretty much up Fluff-Nuts' behind, don't you agree?

I know too that after seeing these two little beasties playing around like this -and considering how Sammy loves to come around and wants to lick people -right in the face, no less -I've tried to explain to him that "No tongue that has been where his has been shall ever be found kissing me!"

Somehow or other though, he just doesn't seem to understand my policies in that aspect!

Ready to Party!

Thanks to fellow blogger -Gene Bach (Turning the Pages of Life) I got the information I did have but apparently misplaced and which I needed to know how to put a YouTube video in here on my blog!

So, with no further adieu, here's the video of Maya and Kurtis -singing, swaying and just plain bouncing away to a song they both really enjoy listening to.

My apologies for the stiff neck you may get near the end -where Mandy turned the camera so she could film Maya AND her fancy boots. Gotta love that kid's tastes in apparel though, don't 'cha?

Newsflash!!!

Anyone who knows me very well knows that I have, in the past anyway, always been an avid reader. The reading has kind of taken a back seat of late -okay for roughly 18 months now almost -to the passion for doing embroidery projects but I do still love books.

Both Mandy and I are AVID fans of the author, Jodi Picoult. And we have a copy of every single book she has written too. That also includes her newest book which was scheduled to be released this week.

Mandy happened to notice the last time she was at Barnes and Noble that you could pre-order the newest book and it would be shipped so that it would arrive on the release date. Which then explains how and why two days ago the UPS guy stopped here and placed our copy of the book -"House Rules" in between the storm door and the inside door on the front of our house.

I snagged that book up immediately and began reading it. I knew if I didn't do that, I'd then have to wait for Mandy to read it and well, I was very much looking forward to this book -maybe even a tad more than she was.

And today -two days later -yes I have read the book -just finished it maybe an hour ago now.

I will tell nothing here of what the book is about -other than to state that one of the main characters is a young man with Asperger's Syndrome and it is, as are many of Ms. Picoult's books, a mystery.

And let me tell you this much though, Mandy and I both have problems with Eczema and by the time I finished this book, I thought I was going to have a hole dug through my little finger from scratching -sheer nerves -and definitely, if this book has the same affect on Mandy as it did on me, we're really gonna need a refill of the eczema treatment prescription we have here someplace!

Yes, it was THAT good, that interesting, and yes -I loved it!

But then too -probably to the chagrin of a few of my readers -neither Mandy or I have come across a Jodi Picoult book yet that we didn't love.

And to blogger friend, Terri-Terri -up in Minneapolis -hope you run right out and get your copy ASAP too now!

Hear That Music?

The other night, Mandy was trying to get the counter and island area cleared off. Somehow everything and its brother manages to get thrown on either of those places and before you know it, the place looks even more than usual like it's gonna get up and walk away. (And a person then really does want it to do just that too.)

Anyway -while she was sorting through old mail and papers and such, Maya put in a cd on the "boom box" there -one that Mandy says was found in my jeep and that had apparently been left behind, overlooked or some such, by the previous owners. It's a mix of songs that had been hits of the 70s and it seems that both Maya and Kurtis really like the music -cause Maya keeps playing it over and over, every chance she gets.

I have the video Mandy had done uploaded to my facebook but can't figure out how to transfer it here to my blog. I tried to upload the video to this post -using Blogger's good old video upload setup -but after almost four hours of waiting and waiting and waiting for the darned thing to upload, I gave up on it. I used to have instructions from Dr. Sardonicus on how to embed a video from YouTube but be darned if I can get to that e-mail to open it and get those instructions. So any of you reading this who knows how to either put the video in her via my Facebook or to upload it from YouTube, please let me know via e-mail. Your help in this matter would be greatly appreciated and your reward -well, getting to see the video, of course.

The way these two kids are bouncing around on the stools, then Kurtis chasing around a good bit, it kind of makes a person wonder if they have found some diet pills with ephedra or some kind of good "speed" type stuff.

Or, considering the way that Sammy, the mutt and Fluff-Nuts, the Tom-kitten race and chase each other around -zooming into the living room, virtually flying across the room to the sofa, up on the back of the sofa and down to the floor and smashing at full speed into the recliner -heaven forbid if there would be someone sitting in the recliner when they do their merry chase cause I think it might knock that person out cold -that I wonder if there's something in their specific dog/cat food too that gives them all this whiz-bang energy and if maybe the kids have been dipping into that too!

Yesterday, when I had Maya accompany me on my walk with Sammy, I tried to engage her in conversation, asking her about her day at school. Now getting her to answer any questions is sometimes like pulling teeth cause odds are her standard answer to anything an adult might consider important to know, her answer is generally going to be the same thing. "I don't know."
So one has to try to find ways to ask a question that will inspire her to tell about her day, the kids in her class, her teacher, what they are studying, etc.

So I was trying to prod her to talk to me about her classes yesterday and getting no where fast. At one point, I asked her if she'd been good and got the standard answer so I inquired as to whether or not her teacher had said anything to her and she said "NO." Not much as answers go, but it was a different answer from her norm so I tried to pursue it a little. "What do you mean she didn't talk to you today? She didn't say ANYTHING to you? Nothing at all?" And again, Maya repeated her earlier answer of "No." So I gave up on that topic then and let her ramble and giggle as Sammy as he meandered along the road.

Later, after we got home though and I was going through her backpack, looking for papers that indicated homework, other things along those lines, I saw a paper Maya had completed but had no checkmark, stars or stickers on it -all indicators of a paper she'd turned in and it had been approved by her teacher. So I questioned Maya about that paper and if she had forgotten to turn it in or something. She told me no, that a substitute had done it. What was that again, Maya and she said again that a substitute had done it. So I asked then if they'd had a substitute teacher yesterday and she said yes. And then I said, "So Mrs. K. wasn't there then, huh?" And when she told me No to that question then her consistent answers that Mrs. K hadn't said anything to her all day yesterday made sense!

Pretty hard to talk to your student isn't it, when you aren't there, I guess!

For us, about the only time this place is relatively calm, a bit quiet is between 11:30 a.m. and 3:30 p.m., Monday thru Friday and usually, if we are lucky, after 9 or 9:30ish at night -provided of course there are no meltdowns on the way to bed and that Kurtis sleeps through the night then until -hopefully -7:30 a.m. when it's time for Maya to get up and ready for school. Any child awake though between 10 p.m. and 7 a.m. is definitely not a good sign, nor a good start for the day.

Never a dull moment otherwise, that much is for sure!

Plugging Away!

This has indeed been a week from Hell in many ways here.

Not only for me but really, especially for my daughter here. It's been horrendous.

I'm not going to go into major details about the cause of many of the problems, but trust me when I tell you this, it's been kind of like being on a treadmill -where you are walking and walking and walking some more and yet, never going anyplace that appears to be making changes on a positive nature.

We've had a phone call from the state police -initiated by a family member of the SIL -checking on his welfare. Yes, he's fine -alive and still kicking. The day after the phone call, we had a visit by the local township police -initiated by a relative of two of the SIL's children -about his welfare. This after my daughter had talked to the party who placed the call the night before and she had been told then all the information that my daughter had to that point. And yet, she felt it necessary the very next day to sic the local john-laws on us. Incredible!

And yesterday -well, suffice it to say that it was quite the day with what seemed to be one problem on top of yet another.

Starting with the minor meltdown Maya provided at 7:30 a.m. in trying to decide what to wear to school. She was giving Mandy a royal hard time about her clothes to the point where Mandy threw her hands up and yelled for me to please come and try to help Maya select something appropriate to wear to school because her patience had just run out. It took a bit of cajoling but eventually she did find a nice pair of dark blue tights along with a really cute blue striped smock top and looked quite spiffy when she went out the door to hop on the bus and head off to school.

Kurtis was a tad on the crabby side when he got up too but thankfully, no full meltdown there and he too, got on his van and off to school then with no major problems.

Then, after he left -because my back was aching like toothache -must be another storm brewing to come dump more white stuff on us sometime in the near future -I decided to take a little rest and lay down on the sofa for a while. I woke up to the UPS delivery guy dropping off a package and knowing what Mandy had ordered, I thought -Ah ha! My life is about to take a good turn as I knew it was the copy of Jodi Picoult's newest book -"House Rules" that he had left in our doorway. And I was right -that's what it was. And I was ecstatic that I could get my hands on the book first and thereby read it as quickly as possible too! (Which I am trying to do now, btw.)

Then it was time for the kids to return home and that's when things took a downhill turn for me.

I decided I would wait till Maya got home to take Sammy for our afternoon stroll and that in doing so, I would extend the walk a tiny bit and get the mail at the same time. My thought was that Maya -who often wants to go for a walk -would enjoy this little outing with me and Sammy. It was cold, yes -but not bitter cold, not snowing, not raining or anything like that so, that was my game plan. Plus, I figured if we left as soon as she got home from school, we would be back in time to get Kurtis off his van and well, it would be a good time for all -along with good timing.

That plan quickly went down the tubes though as Maya decided as soon as she got inside that she didn't want to go back outside. She had absolutely no interest whatsoever in going for a walk -with or without Sammy!

The thing here was that by that time, Sammy not just wanted to go out for a walk, but I knew he needed to do that -probably drastically needed the walk, ya know! And it took me twenty -yes 20 -minutes of talking to, arguing with and cajoling Maya until finally I was able to bribe her into going on the walk by telling her yes, she could take her little water bottle -filled with water, including of course, two ice cubes in there too! However, by that time, we had to cut the walk a tiny bit short so we would be back home when Kurtis arrived in his van.

Kurtis was another thorn in my side when he arrived home in the van as he was really upset to see me getting him off the van and not his Mommy. So that took a bit of a struggle with him to get him unfastened, out of the vehicle and into the house.

From there on then there were the normal squabbles between the two kids -caused mainly because Maya has this overwhelming urge to totally be in control of each and every action and reaction of her brother to her demands! Yeah, a whole lot of screaming and crying going on -none of which was conducive in the least to allowing me to read the new book either I might add.

Then Maya decided she wanted to get out a garbage bag and that she was going to clean up papers and bits of stuff off the floor. Now what could be wrong with a plan like that? It was a shocker to my system initially because this is the child who is always "too tired" to help do any type of clean up under normal circumstances but I thought -foolish old lady that I am -that she had had a change of heart perhaps and far be it from me to turn her away when she is making even the tiniest suggestion of cleaning up anything, ya know.

So, she began to busy herself with her "clean-up" and then, out of the corner of my eye, I saw her going from the dining room to the sunporch dragging what appeared to be a very FULL garbage bag and that set of some major alarms in my mind. I knew there had been some papers and a few odd things on the floor but not near enough mess to fill a garbage bag! So I called to her and asked her what she had in the bag and her answer was "Garbage." And being a bit of a pessimist then I told her to please bring the bag into the living room so I could see just what all she had in there.

To my surprise, she had a very full bag full of yes, garbage! She was right about that but where the heck did all this stuff come from anyway I asked her because there was stuff in there that I knew hadn't been in the dining room or the kitchen -empty detergent containers for openers and then, I noticed too that from her dragging the bag, a whole had developed on the bottom and from that hole, there was this black dirt-type stuff on the floor that had fallen out from said hole. Initially I thought it was cigarette butts and ashes from our having emptied ashtrays into the garbage bag but that theory proved to be incorrect.

As I was checking out the garbage bag and having seen the hole, I asked Maya to bring me a new bag so I could then ease this full bag into a new bag with a bottom that had no leaky hole, ya see. It was about that time that Mandy called home from work to see how things were going and I told her the latest development with the garbage bag.

Mandy then apologized to me for having forgotten to take the trash out before she left but I kept thinking that there was no way Maya could have lifted the garbage bag out of the trash can and such so this had to be other trash she had acquired some how. It was about that time then that Mandy informed me that she had put some kitty litter in the trash bag in the can -yes, nasty kitty litter -and that's when I realized the dirt I had initially thought to be cigarette ashes was, yes, you guessed it, some yucky kitty litter!

I also saw then that the kitty litter had been "leaking" out of said garbage bag on not just the living room floor but on the dining room floor and also -a great big bit of leakage had occurred in the sun porch as well.

And yes, I was then saying "OH, Wonnerful, Wonnerful!" -with a whole lot of curse words interspersed between each "wonnerful" too!

After cleaning those messes up -more cursing of course -I finally settled back into my recliner to begin reading again. This time my reading was interrupted by Kurtis crying and I called to Maya to ask why he was upset only to get the response "Kurtis just spilled peppermint bubble bath on the dining room table."

WTF! Where in blazes did he find any container of peppermint bubble bath anyway? I had no idea any such item even existed in the house much less that it might have been in a place where his little fingers could get hold of it. But I was wrong. There had, it seems, been one of those little trial-size bottles of the stuff on the shelf of the cookbook bookcase on the dining room wall. Now how had he managed to get up there and get it because I have to really stretch to reach the shelf it had been on and I'm quite sure he can't do that. But Maya informed me he had used the wooden train my cousin had labored over to make and send to Maya when she was about 18 months old, or therabouts. But I also saw that the train was no where near the dining room and I knew I hadn't heard the squeaky wheels of it anytime thus far yesterday so that told me he hadn't gotten the bubble bath down but his sneaky big sister was the culprit in that aspect of this mess. Yes, he was the one who had dumped it on the table -all over the table, as a matter of fact -but if she hadn't got it down to begin with ... Well, the peppermint bubble bath debacle was then blamed on her because she initiated it!

That mess cleaned up and back to the chair to resume reading and Katie is heard in the dining room asking "What's this stuff all over the table -all black?" Hmmm. That wasn't bubble bath, that I knew for sure because that stuff had been pink. So out to the dining room to check on this issue and I see Kurtis has managed to find a black marker pen and used it to "color" a very large portion of the dining room table. Between Kate and I we did get that "mess" cleaned up without too many problems and both kids were then put in time out -which of course, opened up another can of worms for me in that I had to listen then to Maya whimpering and whining and complaining about why did she have to be in time out because she hadn't been a bad girl.

Yeah, right! Her version of bad and mine don't quite jive ya know.

By that time, I had to forget reading an cook supper.

My game plan for last night's meal was to fix salmon cakes. I was a bit concerned on how I would get that item to pass muster and into either -or both kids -systems because I knew if I told them what this really was, they would both throw major hissy fits and refuse to eat it.

I also planned to heat up the large container of buttered noodles leftover from Tuesday night's supper when Maya refused to eat the noodles because they were "buttered." Only on the reheat version -since her complain Tuesday was that the noodles had no "cheese" once they were well warmed up, I sprinkled a good bit of shredded cheddar cheese on them, figuring that would make them doable to suit Her Majesty's taste buds!

Supper on the table and the question is asked -by Maya -of the salmon cakes. "What's these, Gram?" And I decided to not be fully honest about the fare, simply stating they are "cakes" and left it at that. Maya took a look at them and must have decided it looked like chicken because she then started calling the salmon cakes, chicken patties and that was fine by me. I put a dabble of Ranch dressing on both their plates for them to dip the "chicken" patties in -since they both love to dip stuff in Ranch dressing -and that worked fine for Maya as she ate first half a salmon pattie and asked for more of said substance then too. Kurt took a bite or two of his but then ended up dipping his buttered-cheese noodles in the ranch dressing and polished off two helpings of the noodles in that way. Maya -as noted above -ate the salmon with no complaints at all but the noodles -not so much as she could still see traces of the damned butter there from the night before.

Go figure!

Then, time to get ready for bed -for the kids anyway. I told Maya that she didn't need a bath last night so to go get her pullup on and her jammies but that Kurtis needed to get a little wash-up since he still had black fingers and hands from the black marker episode. Well, that was a controversial thing there because Maya had a fit that she needed to be washed too and why did Kurtis get to be washed and she didn't. Okay, fine! I announced we would all go in the bathroom and all get washed and dressed ready for bed. The only thing that went peacefully about that was that we went into the bathroom. Then Maya decided she didn't want to be washed after all.

Sheesh! Make up my mind already, will ya! There was -after both were cleaned up and dressed for bed, yet another little outburst about going up to bed as she insisted she be allowed to lay down on the loveseat instead and I gave into that request as long as she did that was was QUIET!

By 9 p.m., both kids were however, sound asleep -her on the loveseat, Kurtis on the sofa!

And by then, my eyes were wanting to go shut too so no reading followed the end of yesterday for me.

Here's hoping today is a much quieter, calmer, meltdown and mess free day though!

It could happen, ya know.

Sorry, Wrong Number!

The son-in-law is away for a while -at an "undisclosed location" - a term Curmudgeon likes to use to describe his office/workplace. SIL is not on vacation but I am not at liberty to disclose any more than that.

However, this a.m. Mandy got a phone call from where he is, and the caller said they needed to get in touch with Mandy ASAP! Mandy at that time was with Kurtis who was getting his regular "Play" therapy and after that, she would drop him off at the school center. So I told the caller I would contact Mandy and give her the message right away -via of course, the good old cell phone she has.

Mandy has had her cell phone for what -oh about 3 years now I think it may be. Could even be longer but I'm thinking not -three years or slightly less than that perhaps. So anyway, I mention that so you will know and understand her number is one I've had memorized for quite a long time anyway.

I went to call her and my brain just up and died completely on me! I could not for the life of me think of what her cell phone number is! Finally, I thought of a number that I thought might be right, but just wasn't quite sure. But how else to know unless one dials that number -right?

So I did that and the other phone began to ring -the normal ringing one usually hears when placing a phone call. That was a trigger to me then, for sure that I had the wrong number and when a woman answered the phone, I KNEW it wasn't Mandy's phone, not her voice, so I apologized and hung up.

I knew my problem was with the first three digits of her number and I thought about who I could call who could give me her number. I could call my son-except that his phone starts with the same three numbers and if I wasn't remembering them for Mandy's number, then I sure as heck wasn't remembering them for his either. Older daughter would have the number but I didn't know if she was working today or not so couldn't call her either then.

Finally, I thought about the phone log we now have available on my phone (the house phone, ya know -cause I don't have a cell phone, since we get no reception down in the gully where we live, I figured a cell would be pointless for me to have.)

About a week ago you see, I changed my telephone service over so that it is now through our TV cable and high speed internet connection -one bill for all three services. In doing making that move, it increased my cable bill about $13 a month but because I did that it also eliminated my Verizon bill and THAT will save me $50 a month! A good trade-off there, don't you agree?

So I looked on the phone log and there I saw we'd had an incoming call the other day from my son which gave me then the first three digits of Mandy's number and thankfully, I was then able to call her and give her the message.

Shortly after that, the delivery man showed up with Mandy's latest Avon order. I brought it in and opened the box because I was anxious to get to an item I had ordered on this particular campaign.

I had decided to purchase one of those "Curves" scales! Not because I felt I really needed it for all the stuff they say you can program into it that will aid and abet your diet/exercise program though. No, I wanted it just so I would have a scale that would give me a correct reading ALL the time, unlike the old piece of crap scale we've currently been using.

So, I get the scale out of the packaging and the booklet about how to set it up, etc.

It says on the scale -on a bright red label in the center of the scale -"1. Tap Here; 2. Wait for 0.0 and 3. Step On."

So I tap the scale with my hand -not hard, rather lightly as I don't know how much force is necessary here and don't want to break it.

Nothing happens.

So I flip the scale over to check for any hidden on/off switch or some such and I see the little compartment that holds the battery. And right under that compartment lid I can see there is this red label thing sticking out that says to remove it from the battery compartment.

Okay -how hard can that be to do? Plenty!

For openers, neither Mandy or I could get the little plastic cover over the battery to budge! Couldn't get that to open then to remove that little red tag there.

So, I got out the booklet and called Conair's (the manufacturer) customer service number.

The lady on the other end said to open that thing over the battery -use a key! Fine. We got a key, (no specific key, just a key) slipped it in the little slot and presto-magic, the lid came off and we got the tag removed.

So then, I try to tap the top of the scale again -and still nothing happens.

Again, back to calling the customer service area and this time, a guy is my cr. I explain what's going on and he says to tap the scale with the heel of your foot -rather hard too, he says -and that will activate the whole thing.

I do that and yes, I see 0:0 on there and I step on the scale only to see the little LTD screen say "ERR."

And I curse a bit!

WTF is with this darned thing anyway. Out with the booklet again and I read about how to set up the scale for up to 10 users with each one having their personal data stored there and such. Wonnerful, wonnerful, ya know. But I only need my personal data so I start trying to enter it.

I get as far as setting up that my user name is PS1 and according to the instruction booklet, the screen should then take me to put in my height and I get that screen -which must have been pre-programed to read 4 ft 7 but when I try to enter my height, it doesn't take the numbers but move to the next screen -which is for age and when I try to enter that, it stays put and is showing 20 -for my age (I may wish that were true, but it is only off by oh, about 45 years ya know.

I've tried several times now to get this sucker programmed. One time I did get it to show me the 0:0 thing which is what it is supposed to show if you are going to weigh yourself. Only this time it did show a weight -one that was 3 pounds more than I weighed yesterday at the doctor's office.

And as quickly as that weight showed on the screen, the scale then tripped again and said "ERR!"

You better believe it is!

Wrong numbers are apparently my thing to have to deal with for today!