You know things "Rattle Around In My Head"  and since I haven't been able to post much lately, here are a few things that have been rattleing and I need to get out.

Once David and I went to an Elvis impersonator's competition (I know I know) held at a casino on the Mississippi side of Helena Arkansas.  We got off the elevator, took a left and walked a mile down a narrow hall, took another left, walked another mile to our room.  I looked at David and said, "this is a good place to hide from the mob."  From then on I have thought about hideouts. I was thinking about that the other day when I was snoozing in the recliner in my uncle's nursing home room.  It's at the end of a long hall...

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David's idea of putting up his clothes.  I swear there are 4 or 5 layers here.  Starting with his Sunday clothes, pajama pants, jeans, shirts etc.  I left them here just to see if he would ever put them up, of course he didn't until I mentioned it, then he piled them in the closet. Sigh

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I got stuck in our ex-neighbor's yard.  David had to pull me out and we made quite a mess that we had to fix.  I took my car to the car wash the next day because it was covered in mud.  Now I love the car wash, I love to sit in there with the radio turned up and watch the soap and water on the windows. ( I know--I have no life and I'm shallow.) So I pulled up, put my money in, turned on the radio all excited about the "show" and ready to enjoy myself.  And guess what was on the radio?? One of my all time favorite songs--Hamilton, Joe Frank and Reynold's song "Don't Pull Your Love Out."  One of them is a Mississippi boy--Joe Frank or Hamilton..oh well I can't remember.  But it's the simple things...

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I bought this knock off bag out of the back of a Lincoln.  I couldn't help myself, in my never ending quest for the perfect purse--it's red, large, had a lot of hardware, the imitation leather is very good--it's very soft and supple..I love it.  Then the guilt set in, because it's a knock off.  I apologized to the purse gods and promised I wouldn't do it again.  Until yesterday....she came back and there was this gorgeous black patent one...but I promise never ever again.
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Conversation with myself and the dogs after I got home from work today--got home let them out...CiCi came back...but where is GinGin?
Me:  GinGin!!!  Ginger Marie!!!  Puppy Dog--Mommy wants you go come inside!!! Puppy Tweet!!!
Where is she?  CiCi where is your sister?
Me:  Looking for the key to the 4-wheeler, can't find it...(going to ride around looking for her) calling David on the phone...where is the key??? Gosh where is my baby girl??? What if something has happened to her?  Where is she?  Where is that durn key?  Why won't David answer the phone?
Open the back door and see garbage sack torn open and then...
Me:  "GinGin give me that chicken bone!!! (as she runs in the back door and under the bed never dropping the chicken bone)
Sigh--puppy children...she was in the garage the whole time.......oh and I guess the bone is still under the bed...

Questions I'm Asking Myself

When are you going to get all the tax stuff together and take them to the accountant?
Deep sigh....I'm working on it, I'm working on it, I intended to work on 'em Sunday, but church and chicken and dressing at Bev's Cafe made me sleepy and I took a 3 hour nap after we got home, and then I was just too tired and I wanted to watch some TV and blah blah blah......
Why did you buy that crazy picture at the auction?
Uh, I don't really know, I thought that maybe he was an important photographer and I had found a treasure and somebody else bought the other one of the oxen.....and it had that really rustic frame, and it was signed and dedicated to Lori....and heck I don't know, it was $2.50....

Where do you think all those white socks go? (see the 7 below without their mates)
If I knew that I would be rich.

How do you know what kind of day you are going to have at work?
I just look at the new fire alarm system thing that was just installed at work just outside my door.  See what it says?  "The system is normal."  So that means that the "system" at work, at home, and in life in general is okay.  If I ever get to work and it says the system is abnormal...well I'll figure that out when the time comes.

CiCi And GinGin and Pizza

CiCi And GinGin:  Mommy, when are our neices and nephews coming back?
Me:  I don't know,  #5 will probably be here tonight.  Why?
Well, they are kinda fun, but they also tire us out.
What do you mean?
Well they like to play and #5 loves to chase us around the house, and #4 just plain loves us, but you know we need our space.
Oh.
Yeah, we are used to having the house and you and Daddy all to ourselves.
Oh.
But there is one good thing.
What.
They drop crumbs and stuff.
Yeah, did you (GinGin) enjoy that pizza that you grabbed out of #7's hand?
Yes, but I would have enjoyed it more if you and Daddy hadn't been hollering at me and poking at me under the bed with that broom.
What about you grabbing that corn dog that #6 dropped out in the yard?
Yeah...but yawl all ganged up on me, cornered me and managed to wrestle it out of my mouth....I never even got a bite.
The pizza was enough.  Yawl aren't supposed to eat people food.
What do you mean people food?
You are only supposed to eat what Daddy and I put in your puppy bowl.
Again, what do you mean by people food?  Don't you call us puppy girls?
It's hard to explain, your puppy girl tummies are more delicate that us big people's tummies.
Is that why #4 tells everybody that you are gassy?  What does that mean?
Sigh..........

The Wild Weekend Rumpas Or Bear With Me I Have A Lot To Tell You 2

It all started last Thursday, still feeling ill from a chest cold, I took off at noon to rest up/get ready for #4's birthday party to be held here.
I went home and went straight to bed...took a nap, woke up, ate, took a bath and went back to bed.
Friday morning dawned bright and early for me at noon, when I drug myself out of bed and began to clean the house.  Having your house clean/straight for yourself is one thing, clean/straight for friends and family is another and having it straight/clean for folks that don't know you is something different all together.
By around 5 or 6 I had it presentable.  Enter daughter and grandkids #4 and #5.  Goodie bags were made,cake was repaired from a slippage, garage was cleaned up and what couldn't be cleaned up was covered up.  #4 spends the night and goes to sleep around 11PM...

(The cupcakes were supposed to surround the cake,  but the cake slid to the left.....soooo we improvised)
Saturday the guest arrive, the jumpy slide thing is up, kids are sliding and jumping, pizza, cake and ice cream is consumed, pinata is busted, kids scramble for candy.....life is good.
Son and 4 of his 5 kids do not make it here in time for the party.....but I remind his daddy that he will be here when you see him coming....that's just the way it is.
Party is over, stuff is cleaned up and no kids had any injuries on the jumpy slide thing.  #4 had a great time and a wonderful birthday.  She got some dolls that I wanted......

That's the birthday girl on the jumpy slide thing......I admit that my daughter convinced me to get on it Sunday to the delight of all the grandchildren...there is a picture somewhere......
Saturday after the party #1 and I take a trip to the Dog Whisperer for dog food.....I asked the Dog Whisperer about CiCi and GinGin gaining weight...she told me to exercise them more and asked me did I not remember what she had taught us.   "Exercise, it will be good for them and you too."  I did not take offense, she is right and besides she is the only person on the face of this earth that I would trust CiCi and GinGin with other than my daughter.
#1 and I also went to the Salvation Army, which was a first for her. You should have seen the look on her face, "Nonna, this stuff is used!"  I bought her a paperback book and I bought myself some kind of cut glass thing..total 80 cents.
Saturday afternoon my son and the rest of his family arrive.......#s 2, 3, 6 and 7.  All are on the jumpy slide thing......then this happens to #3.

Which gets a trip to the local Emergency Department, Xray and a splint.
Then this happens...

...to #2 which gets ice and elevation.
Nothing much happens Saturday night except that I announce to my DIL and all that I have "hit the wall."  I go to bed and hear various sounds of bubble baths being given, blankets being pulled out of closets...etc.
Wake up Sunday morning and miss church....feel guilty....sigh...more kids on jumpy slide thing, sausage and biscuits....picking up around the house, washing/drying/folding of many towels etc. A little whining, crying, tattle telling, no major fights.
Then we notice that #3 is not moving and will not move his arm.  Elbow is swollen and tender...can't bend it...sigh...and it's cooler and paler than the other arm.  So back to the local ED.   And from there on to the University Medical Center Pedi ED....long story short, something may have compromised the circulation but after removing the splint and placing in a sling, by the time they got to UMC it was better...so no fracture could be seen, which is typical for pedi bones...got a soft cast and goes back in week. If a fracture is seen at that time will get a fiberglass cast.
During this time, #s7, 6 and 2 get a bubble bath, while #7 wails for one hour for his mama.  #1 has gone home to her mama, #s 4 and 5 have gone home to their mama.  DIL's mother drives down to help, because we didn't know if #3 was going to have to have surgery.
Now it is Monday night, many sippy cups, wet diapers, coloring books, play dough, laughs, tears, ice cream, cup cakes, balloons, misplaced socks, and Wii games later it is all over but these precious memories.  Did I stop and enjoy it enough?  Well I did better than I usually do,  I didn't worry so much about the dirty dishes and sticky floors.  They won't be this age much longer......sigh.
Oh and this is a conversation right before David went to bed.  I'm in the shower and he is running water for his tub bath.
Him:  "Is this a donut in the tub?"
Me:  "Yes."

Stuff To Show You and Share With You

I finally got my snow a couple of weeks ago.  David turned on the outside lights for me and I watched it snow as I dozed.  I think that the last time I looked outside was around 3 AM and it was just about stopped.  I got up early that morning and took my time getting ready for and going to work. I enjoyed the brief moments of snow....I stood outside on the deck, rolled down my car windows and opened the sun roof....smelled and felt the freshness of it.  By the time I got home from work, it was gone...and if it had never happened.  But I enjoyed it while it lasted.

This picture is of #4 taking a bubble bath, look at that pure joy on her face...

This a piece of Fire King cookware.  It is depression glass of the Philbe pattern.  It is a large mixing bowl.  I collect this and it was mine all mine at the auction for five bucks!!!

This funky silver plated bowl now holds QTips in my bathroom....bought at the auction--mine for $2.50.

Annndddd my Auction Buddy Judy got this Longaberger casserole with the basket for five bucks!!!  She showed it to me and dared me to bid against her...dared me.  It was hard, but I love her too much and besides I got my Fire King, so I was happy.

And of course a puppy dog picture.........

And last but not least the bus that brought my son home from Iraq to Germany, from Germany to Maine, from Maine to Biloxi and from Biloxi to Hattiesburg.......and tomorrow he will come by here on his way to his house.  Praise The Lord!!!

The Explanation Behind My Native American Name

 

Sometime last year the gang and I were at the Mexican restaurant and somehow we started talking about Dancing With Wolves.  Therefore we started giving each other Native American names.  For instance, "Much Loves Chicken" is Terri's name because her favorite place in the world is ChikFilA.  Janice is "Sister Hair Not Golden Enough" because she once said she needed to get her hair highlighted because it wasn't blonde enough...sigh.  Anyway, my Native American name is "Sleeps With Dogs."  

 

It all started with our first Chihuahua, Presley.  That's him below.  We got him about 13 years ago and he lived to be 10.  I didn't want a dog in the house, but David won out.  When we picked him up at the breeder, he weighed a pound and a half.  I really have never seen David so excited.  He was just on the moon about him.  When we got in the truck I was holding him and he crawled behind my neck and stayed there until we got home.

 

I fell instantly in love.  Presley eventually owned us, we didn't own him.  We lived in his house, sat on his furniture and slept in his bed.
The first night I made him a little snuggy bug bed and put it in the living room under the heater.  I put him in there and went to bed.  He may have stayed there 2 minutes.  I couldn't stand it.  I got the box and put it on the floor next to my side of the bed.  He may have stayed there 30 seconds.  It was too cold down there, he was away from his Mama from the first time etc.
But where was he going to sleep?  He was so little.  If I put him above my head next to the head board he would fall through.  He couldn't sleep between David and I, David would squish him when he turned over. (David is a flopper)  So, I put him in the crook of my arm and that is where he slept for months until he got a little bigger and began to sleep under the covers at our feet.  But he always started out sleeping in the crook of my arm.  After about an hour or so, he would make his way to the foot of the bed.  And in his later years, if we disturbed him, he would nip our toes.  I didn't care, I loved him too much.
When it was time to go to bed, I would ask him if he was ready to go night night puppy and if he snorted and wagged his tail, I would pick him up and off to bed we would go.  But if he growled at me, I knew he wasn't ready.  When he was ready to get in the bed with me, he would come to my side of the bed and snort and yip at me until I picked him up.  But here is the kicker.  He would rarely let me lean over pick him up.  I had to get up, follow him into the hall and pick him up.  Sometimes I would make him snort and bark for several minutes, but I always gave in.  I bought him stairs to get up in the bed, but he absolutely would not use them.
Presley spent his last night on the earth sleeping on my chest right over my heart....he had started to have seizures and probably had a stroke.  David called the vet at 4 AM, he met us at his office and put him to sleep while I held him in my arms.
David said, no more dogs.  I said oh no...I have to have a puppy dog.  So several months later we got Priscilla-or CiCi the blond in the second picture above.  She too was a fuzz ball that weighed about 2 pounds.
I made her a snuggy bug at the top of my head.  I put a pillow up there and rolled up a small blanket around it so that she wouldn't fall off the bed.  I also nestled her in the crook of my arm.  To this day she loves to sleep either at the top of my head or in the crook of my arm.  She usually gets in the bed and crawls to the top of the pillow and wraps herself around my head.
We got Ginger-GinGin about a year and a half after we got Priscilla.  (1st picture) Where was she going to sleep?  CiCi was sleeping on the top of my head...so I put GinGin who was 6 months old and weighed about 3 pounds, on my left shoulder.
So there I was in bed with David who was surrounded by his pillows,me flat on my back with my head up on 3 to 4 pillows because I have reflux, CiCi on top of my head and Ginger on my left shoulder.   And I was happy.
Now that they are bigger, they still start the night with CiCi at my head and GinGin on my left shoulder, and usually end up cuddled up one on one side of me and one on the other.
My friends know this...thus "Sleeps With Dogs."

Payback....Yep, It's Coming.

 David is always fussing about my snoring.  And he says that he doesn't snore.  Nope. Doesn't do it, he is way too cool to snore. So the other night, I recorded him snoring on my iPhone.  Now to his credit, it was light delicate even sweet snoring with a little "pooohhhh" sound on the end when he caught his breath.
But we have had this conversation:
Me:  David turn over you are snoring loud and rattling.  You are stopping breathing.  If you were one of your patients you would have put an airway or an endotrachael tube in them.  "A noisy airway is an obstructed airway."
David:  No I'm too comfortable, I'm not moving.
Me:  Okay, die then.
He turned on his side.
When I played the sound of him snoring, he didn't want  to believe that it was him, but who else would I record snoring at 3AM?
Soooo, yesterday morning, he and Dr. R. were in my office when he flipped open his phone and said, Doc, listen to this.  After a few seconds I said, "No you didn't!"  He had recorded me snoring and it was impressive.  Very impressive.  Loud.  And it seems that he had played it for the nurses on the Medical Unit, the nurses in the Emergency Department, the Pharmacist and who knows else.
But all I can say for him is "Be afraid,  be very afraid."

Was I Embarrassed?

I have been sitting in front of makeup mirrors for years, because I have been wearing makeup for years, because I have been working in a public setting for years.  And let's face it, sick people do not want to look at somebody that looks worse than they do.
I always paint up, pretty up, dress up to go to work.  So when the bulb in my lighted make up mirror burned out, I was perturbed.
David tried to replace the bulb with one we had here and I heard this sound...pizz shssss pop along with a bright arc of light.  So much for that bulb.  He looked all over town to find another replacement but couldn't.
I went to the local Wal Mart--no dice, Freds--no dice, Angel's beauty supply--no dice.  I traveled to a town 20 miles away to a super Wal Mart--no dice...sigh and from there I drove another 30 miles to a Salley's Beauty supply and at last--dice.
I brought it home plugged it's shiney little self in, removed the protective covering on the mirror on the regular side and it was was fine, buuutttt the magnified side had this blur to it.  I cleaned it with a little water--no dice, cleaned it with a little alcohol--no dice...durn...still blurry.
Okay this was the last one on the shelf.  I had kept the receipt and the box as the lady suggested 'cause you just never know,  I would have my $71.00, but I still wouldn't have my mirror and I just can't see well enough without it to look my gorgeous fairly decent self.  Hmmm maybe she would give me some of my money back and I would at least have a partial mirror.
No dag gum it, I was going to get my $71.00 back.  So Friday evening after work, David and I drove 30 miles back to Salley's beauty supply.  I had the box, the instructions, and of course the receipt.  I didn't put it in the box 'cause I didn't want to have to unbox it  to show the saleslady, she could just give me my $71.00 and put it back in the box herself.
I walked in and showed it to her and she said....hmmmm and pulled the protective covering off the blurry side and viola!! it was magic........it was perfect.  I was speechless standing there with my mouth hung open, yep I had not removed the film from that side.  But I was sooo happy, I just grinned and took my $71.00 lighted makeup mirror right back out that door. Sigh.