Wanton Waste

Here I am at work, and my house is empty. There are no children there. Unfortunately there is no me there either. I am here at work and the peace and quiet that is screaming through my house is falling on deaf ears. What a waste. There ought to be a law! I should be arrested for the wanton waste of peace and quiet. If my Grandma Zannini were alive she would tell you, "There are millions of parents out there who would die for some peace and quiet and here you are just wasting it!" Actually she worried more about those last little bits of soggy cereal and the banana you started eating out of desperation but could not finish because it really wasn't what you wanted to eat.

I sat here for a moment and thought seriously about pretending to vomit in the bathroom here at work. There would be no choice, I would have to go home. Maybe I can pretend to faint. If you pass out it is really bad form to stay at work, especially if you are supposed to help save people's lives. Most people prefer to be saved by conscious folks. At least that is what I hear.

Oh well. I will get off work and go home to a nice quiet house and maybe today I will actually sleep for six hours straight. That would be a real treat! My kids think that they are sneaky. Mallory will tiptoe into my room and get into my purse. She takes my car keys (no worries she isn't going to drive) and goes out to get my laptop. She brings it in my bedroom and sets it up-I hear none of this. Then she gets on the internet and plays music. She is a straight A student. Why she bothers to be quiet with the whole snatch and grab operation I will never understand. Once I raise my head up and look at her-guess what she does? She puts her hands across her eyes like a 3 year old as if she is preventing me from seeing her!!!!

I have a favorite saying. Kids-they just don't get it. And they don't. That is why mothers must put the curse on their children. If we don't tell them "You just wait until you have kids of your own" their kids will be born perfect and remain perfect for all time. We want better for our kids than what we have in every way but this. This is one time we want our kids to have it worse! That is what makes parenting worthwhile. Revenge. A dish best served cold!

Bye for now!

Welcome to the 21st Century

My sister Susan just got text messaging! Welcome to the world you technological virgin you! I can honestly say her talents don't lie with electronics. BUT she can play the guitar so that balances things out. Oh and she deals with sputum so she gets extra points for that.

I personally am enamored with electronics and technology. I love computers, stereos, mp3 players, walkie-talkies, tv's , VCR and DVD players. OH and DIGITAL CAMERAS!!!! I love them all! I like trying to figure out how to do stuff on them even though I am so retarded that I can't watch cable tv without the assistance of one of my kids. I am good with computers and horrible with the VCR/DVD situation mostly because of cable and the fact that one operates on one channel and then you have the whole ten remotes issue.

My son Zachary recently got an MP3 player which took me hours to get to work. Now that I sit here and write about electronics one might wonder why I like them because they are so challenging. I guess it is because when I finally figure them out I feel like I have done a jigsaw puzzle. 1,000 pieces all sky!!!!

I love to wander the aisles of Best Buy and Circuit City and the electronic section of any other department store just to see what they have come up with now! Here at my work, they have recently installed cameras all over the city through a homeland security grant. I can zoom in on a newspaper box and read the headlines from my little cubicle! How awesome is that! They have them all over and I can just sit back and do my job and watch what the city is doing!

I practically got divorced over a tv. Not really but I had you going! I bought a tv/vcr combo which I have to this day and my husband went ballistic. You would have thought I bought a new car. This from the man who gave me a shop vac for our anniversary. When we got divorced he tried to take it and I told him he must be smoking crack! All the yelling I had to endure made that tv mine and mine alone!

Bye for now!

Cat People

There are two kinds of people. Cat people and dog people. Meet Macy. She is the proverbial cat lady. Macy is one with cats. They follow her around like she has catnip on her hiney. It is the craziest thing you can imagine. Macy is pictured below, in her oneness with the cats she displays her cat like tendencies and shows her proud mama how she can do what Jimbob does. There is a basket on the soffit directly behind her in the photo which is Jimbob's ultimate destination. He sits in this perch until he feels the need to go to the backdoor and watch for any other cats. Jimbob is agoraphobic. She wants to go outside so bad but can't. Much like the scene in movie "Copycat"where Sigourney Weaver plays the agoraphobic and try as she might she can not get out the door to get away from the intruder. Toooo scared. Uh OH!



All cats are hers. Jimbob is really hers. I think Macy may have been involved in one of those alien abduction experiments. Meet Jimbob. She is psycho. She is afraid of other cats and will not go outside. IF she makes me mad and I throw her outside (see the Olympic event notation below) she heads straight for this one tree midway down the driveway and only Macy can get her down. She does some of that cat whispering stuff.
Jimbob is lying on Macy's bed, waiting for her to come home from school. If I don't leave her door open Jimbob has a fit until he I mean she can get in there. Jimbob is a she by the way. We have a disease in our family that keeps us from naming our cats gender appropriate names. I think it is something that Mallory has issue with because I named our dog, Jack and he is a boy. Anyway Jimbob waits for Macy to come home from school and then they play their daily game of tag. I swear. I would not lie. I would but not about something as important as this. Jimbob and Macy scamper about the house and Macy hides. Then Jimbob comes and finds her. They usually end up playing chase around the island in the kitchen. It is freaking like something out of a Steven King novel I tell ya!


Jimbob tree is the tree on the right, you see the corner of the electrical box sticking out? Right above is where Jimbob stays when he has been ejected from the household.



I am allergic to cats. This has not stopped two of them from taking up residency. O'Malley was a divorce gift from my ex-husband. I had come home from work one day to find that he had in his standard redneck fashion left the cat in my garage. O'Malley is also known as "Fat Cat" or Cougar as my friend Dana calls him. He bit her.
O'Malley. This photo does not do his obesity justice. I will find the one I am thinking of and post it later. You will call Jenny Craig immediately. Jenny (said in Forest Gump tone) why is O'Malley so fat?O'Malley had surgery on his left ear, now he looks handicapped. No more perky little ears for him but let's be honest-there ain't nothing perky about him



It is amazing to me how cats always want to snuggle with the ones that hate them the most. When I come home from work in the morning I literally make a beeline for my bed. There is no such thing as a bad nights sleep on third shift! I don't even turn the light on-I grope my way to the bathroom and brush my teeth (dental hygiene is very important-you shouldn't neglect your gums either!) and go straight to bed. If I do not shut my door tight the next thing you know there is a two ton, fat cat laying on my chest and staring me down. If cat tossing were an Olympic event I would make this country proud! But I am saving my strength for the trampoline event!

Meet the only cat I NEVER threw off of me. His name was Scuttle. I am not sure in all honesty if he was a he or a she. I get them mixed up sometimes-just ask the kids. BUT it was my favorite cat and I actually liked it. It was like a gremlin. One tiny little ball of fluff. But I found him 10-0 in a shoebox by my backdoor one morning and I have never wasted my love on another cat since. I was trying to give it a little good bye petting and it felt like he was so stiff from sleeping in the shoe box. Wait he was REALLY stiff. EEEEEEEWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

Well I am going to go to bed with the door securely shut and rest now. I may need to go practice on the trampoline later for the Olympics. Bye for now.

My Island

Sometimes it seems as if there is no light at the end of the tunnel. That the hits just keep on coming! Do you ever feel like you are standing on an island, all alone without Wilson or anyone and there is nothing for a million miles? The sun is shining and the waves are crashing but there you are, all alone.

The strange thing is I have a big family. I am one of six kids. I have a mother and a father both living. I have a grandmother who is still living. I have lots of family I guess is what I am trying to establish and yet there are days when I am almost certain that I am alone. Well, I always have God. Thank you God for always being there for me. Thank you for making the sun shine on my island because you know I hate rain.

I am really struggling with several things in my life right now. I try not to let it show but tonight I can just feel the solitude.

My sisters would read this and go into a litany of bullshit that would only serve to prove my point. I cannot remember the last time any of my sisters called me, except Mary. God Bless Mary. She chats with me on Facebook. She has a child's soul. My stress would collapse her in a single breath however so it is best to just keep the conversation to what she ate and how her cute babies are doing.

My mother has no idea I am having surgery and has no idea that she has forgotten two of my kids birthdays so far with a third forgotten child just around the corner. She doesn't know that one of my kids has moved from his Dad's house to my house. No one in my whole family knows that my kids are all taller than me now. Or that my daughter Mallory is suffering from hormonal sadness. Or that last week I got my hair colored and the lady turned it orange.

I guess one could say Laura, why don't you call them and tell them. They would listen. I know they would do that. Then they would go right back to their interconnected world that does not include me until I called again. I think I will just do like I always do, brush myself off, deal with the problems and be proud of the fact that I am able to take care of everything because it appears that my family is not around. They never have been. I will be 41 next week and I have done more by myself than any one woman should. Maybe I should thank them for ignoring my existence because I have become one incredibly strong woman. Thank you family!!!

I am not really as gloom and doom as I sound, this is a reality that surfaces whenever there is a tremendous amount of stress in my life and I wish that I had some backup. I look around and see no one. It just makes me wish I knew who my real parents were and why they put me up for adoption. :o) If you are missing a girl who is almost 41 and want to know where I am-HERE I AM!!!!

bye for now!

Hormones

One of the great things about having a partial hysterectomy is that you don't have to endure the monthly curse! One of the great things about having five kids is you are pregnant or breastfeeding for so long that you basically escape the better part of your adult life without having a period. So between the pregnancies, breastfeeding and surgery I have led a relatively good hormonal life!

I remember going into the hospital and telling the nurses that I was giving myself a birthday present. It was the gift that would keep on giving! No periods ever again. Of course, I am one of those really lucky people who never had bad periods. I never missed a day of school or had to take medication. It was all really more just the inconvenience of it all that I dreaded. One more thing to do. Not like my friend Amany. She has the periods that come straight from Hell. That is a post in and of itself.

I even got my bladder put back in its original location as an added bonus. This would be important later on if I decided I wanted to compete in the Olympics in the trampoline event. I never knew that if your uterus was pushing your bladder out that jumping would cause urine to leak!!! Who knows this stuff? Know how I found out?

Well I went to a cookout and all the kids were jumping on the trampoline and they wanted me to jump too. So I was all over it. I jumped and jumped and laughed. Just like a kid! Then it was my turn to sit out and I sat on the side and when I got up there was a wet spot. I wonder what I sat in? I looked around and there were no other spots on the trampoline. Hmmm...so I went into the bathroom to see if I got it on my clothes and there was this GINORMOUS wet spot. It looked like I sat in about a 3 foot wide section of something. So I had to pee and lo and behold when I got my britches down my undies were soaked. Lightening bolts struck and thunder clashed and I realized I had peed my pants!!!

Why am I talking about hormones? Because my beautiful daughter Mallory who does all things right except for once a month when she becomes Malaria. She can be a real pill. She cries and gives these looks that can turn you to stone if you are not careful! Once I was a Mom statue for almost a week! Thank God the curse was lifted and I was returned to flesh and blood. All the rest of the kids darn near starved!

I am making light of her pain. When in reality, when I started to write this post I was thinking about tucking her into bed. How nice it was when I sat on her bedside before she fell asleep and I stroked her hair and she told me she had a headache (probably from all the crying) and I asked her in my nicest mama voice if she had washed her face because I was concerned about the zit constellation that was forming in her cheek galaxy! She hadn't and so I suggested she might want to. Then I thought that as much as I was grateful for my hormonal free life, I would take all that pain and trouble every month for her if I could. She looked so defeated. Mascara smeared under her little bloodshot eyes. She has beautiful eyes.
I love you Mal-Mal! I love you Malaria! I wish I could take it all away for you.
Bye for now.

Me and My Boys

I have five kids as I have mentioned before. The oldest, Kenny lives with his Dad in Louisville. Kenny is 18. He knows everything. Just ask him. He lived with me until last year. He decided he didn't like my rules. I decided I didn't like that he didn't like following them. So off he went to live with his Dad.

Kenny is a lot like his Dad. Hot tempered, good looking, a pain in the neck. Just kidding. I am not kidding about his Dad, just Kenny. When I was pregnant with Kenny I gained 60 pounds! Which is amazing since the first three months or so the smell of food made me sick. He is my oldest but not always the wisest. He is extremely bright with an IQ of 145 plus so one will always wonder why he chooses so poorly. Can't blame the brain.


Joey is 17 and is the polar opposite of Kenny. Where I picture Kenny as a younger Albert Einstein complete with weird hair, Joey is laid back always well groomed, and mild mannered. Kenny is spastic with ADD and Joey is calm and OCD. I love them both despite the alphabet of disorders they have. Kenny will do any chore I ask him to, not always perfectly but he does it everytime I ask. Joey will do it flawlessly if you can get him to do it. Joey is also more athletic. Kenny loves to hunt.



Zachary is my youngest boy. He is 12 and is about to turn 13 in October. He has officially entered puberty, gotten hair on his privates which he felt compelled to show me. Not all just the top but it was still traumatic for me. I went off into a corner and rocked back and forth. The weird thing about Zachary is he went from a mama's boy to a sullen teen overnight. I must have slept too long. I will never do it again. Come back to mama Zachary. He is my sweet but passionate boy who worships me and loves to hang out with me. Well he used to.
Now he will even go to Gatlinburg without me! I love you baby! Come back. I loved holding them when they were just little babies. Then they became contrary toddlers. Now they are contrary teens. Ahhhhh the circle of life. They are all handsome and I am so grateful for the love they bring my life. I hope they don't terrorize women when they get older.

Bye for now.

Guilt

Why is guilt so powerful? I am wondering that. My daughter Mallory said something to me that made me feel guilty. My son Joey tried to make me feel guilty for grounding him. I can assure you he would have been better served to watch for pigs flying in the sky. I am sure the feeling of guilt is like a little pat on the shoulder letting you know you still have a conscience. But it sure has strength and reach.

I feel guilty about so many things but that is one of the benefits of being Catholic. Catholics have a market not much different than that of the Dow. It goes up constantly and the Church profits. You sinned and you can give more money to the church and feel a little less guilty!!!

Mother guilt is a guilt that has absolute power. You try and do what is right by your children and one minute you think you are making progress and then boom! You take the ham with you to work and you are likened to that of a mother who has left her children with a barren kitchen and taken the last five dollars to the family name and splurged on McDonalds by yourself. When in reality there was enough food to feed a small third world country. Mother guilt at its finest.

Can't Live With Em'

I wonder...I wa wa wa wa wonder.WHY? Why, why, why, why, why you went away...I love country music and music from the fifties. Nothing better to soothe your broken heart or make you want to run over your man in a pick up I declare. So my guy and I, that sounded kinda cool, had a falling out. It happens I know. I just wonder why. Why does it seem like men can take us or leave us?

I find that answer I will make millions.

Urban Myth Destroyed

Well anyone who knows me even slightly knows that I have this quirky habit of returning calls from the bathtub. (My sisters don't think it is quirky but we will get to that in a moment) As a busy mother of five, the only time I really sit down is when I am in the bathtub or the car. So it only stands to reason that a great time to give someone your devoted attention is when you are sitting still. Right? With me-good luck.

So one of the down sides to talking on the phone while soaking in a hot, bubbly bath is the steam. Great for the skin-bad for the phones. I say phones because I have gone through a myriad of cordless phones at an alarming rate. Let's just say that I have destroyed, single-handedly mind you the urban myth of what will happen to you if you drop your cordless in water. Here is what happens.....drum roll please.... Nothing. Oh, your phone is ruined. No grand electrocution-thank goodness just a broken phone. I know because I have dropped so many in the tub my kids don't even bat an eye.

What brings me to share this is I have just recently purchased a "Laura proof" phone! It is fully submersible and is a bright yellow and black color which makes it easy to spot under the bubbles. How do I know you wonder.....yes I tested it! Not on purpose of course. Never have dropped any of the eighteen million phones in the tub on purpose.

Here it is in all of it's waterproof glory. Made by Uniden and purchased at WalMart. What more could a woman want?

I personally like taking baths and my sisters all think I am weird. I have been known to watch a two hour movie in the bathtub -of course I have to reheat the water a few times. But hey-multi-tasking is a way of life for me. I work hard enough and I shouldn't have to stand to bathe. I deserve a break! Besides, my kids need help with their homework and I have calls to make. Thank you God for not putting cameras on these wonderful phones! Oh and thanks for bubbles too! Amen!
Bye for now!

Warm and Fuzzy

Whenever there is something stressful going on in your life, it sure makes you feel a little less stressed to know there are people who love and care for you. The absence of that is also remarkable.

I think as women we expect less care and concern than others. But it is nonethless disappointing when someone we care for forgets us. It is also amazing when someone you barely know takes the time to show care or concern.

I am really blessed with great friends. They are the family I didn't get to pick. My friend Amany sent me a text message today wishing me luck as I had an MRI scheduled. I was a little nervous but she reminded me to just relax and think of what I would do if I won the powerball. Random thought-It is always so important to focus on your goals and visualize them as if they happened!!! So no one that reads this will be shocked when I win the powerball!!!!

I am not as blessed with family that care as much as some of my friends and so I thank God for the substitutes! God always knows what we need! My friend Nicki at work had a birthday yesterday and her own mother didn't remember. I know how much that hurt her. So for all of you that have let a friend or relative slip out of your reach-go ahead and reach out-it is never too late! For those of you like Amany-bless you!!! We are so lucky to have you!
Bye for now!

Funerals-death does NOT become me!

When you die, trust me when I say this- You don't want me at your funeral. I just don't do funerals or airports well at all. The very first funeral I went to was my friend Mary Johnson's Great Grandmother from California. They flew the body in. Let me just tell you, I cried harder than anyone at that funeral and I didn't even know the lady. Never met her mind you. I mean not just a tear rolling down the cheek quietly but an embarrassing display of tears and mascara. Envision someone consoling the most inconsolable child. That was me. Nothing anyone said to me could make stop blubbering like an idiot. The question that has always plagued me with funerals is why? Why do I feel so badly for the people who pass when I never even knew them.

I found that if I don't get too close to anybody, including the deceased I usually can do okay. So if I can just stand like a statue in the room and not have to talk I can make it without crying. BUT, if anyone says so much as a word to me about anything to do with the very reason we are there, forget about it! You better have some kleenex on you.

It is the same way at the airport. I literally cannot look at anyone saying good bye in an airport or I feel myself getting choked up. I can first feel the sting in my nostrils. Then the burning in the back of my throat as I try to choke back tears. Eventually, one leaks. It rolls down my cheek and I try to catch it with my tongue. Then I give a good sniffle in hopes of sucking the sadness down my throat.

I guess I just don't like the idea of anyone losing someone in their life, even if it is just a business trip or a vacation. I know that the older people who have suffered are in a better place but I still cannot help but feel bad for all those left behind missing them dearly.

If you see me at the airport or a funeral, please, do us both a favor and don't talk to me!

Alpha Males

I am recovering from what I can only call an Alpha male nightmare. I work as a 911 dispatcher for a medium size police department. I dispatch for the fire department as well. I very seldom if ever, have any problems with the firefighters. The police officers, well I could blog just about the interactions with them and post daily.

I am a very hard worker and somewhat of a perfectionist. I am a Virgo and I hear that comes with the territory. I take pride in my work and I take the job very seriously. I have been on the radio when an officer was shot at and I have been on the phone with suicidal callers who ended their lives. Neither situation is one that you want to handle but you do.

Last night the platoon I work with went rogue. They were just indescribably rude, insensitive and unappreciative. I am not sure how to give 150 percent to a group of men that think collectively like a pack of wolves that they are perfect. I am not sure how to go back to my job and do not only what is required of me but the extra things I do.

I really love what I do. But more and more I find myself stressed over the way my coworkers are treated and the way I am treated. I get so angry when I hear the smart comments over the radio and see the snide remarks on our work messenger. If I could change one thing at my department this is what I would change: I would require all officers to be trained for one month in dispatch as part of his or her probationary training. This would allow the officers a perspective that is so badly needed. I personally have logged hundreds of hours in ride time with officers. I have taken classes that help me to understand the job and I know what they need sometimes before they do.

Too bad I work with a bunch of men who don't appreciate it. Bye for now.

A Few of My Favorite Things

Raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens....I do so love that song! I actually love the musical completely! I love lots of musicals. The Sound of Music is just one of many. I love to sing too! Now if you ask my sister Susan, and we aren't asking her, she will say that I cannot sing. However this is only because she believes she CAN sing. I hate to say it but she can. But so can I! I just don't sing like her. Isn't that why God made us all different? My friend Amany, whom I will refer to quite often, HATES when people sing around her! I try to refrain but every once in awhile I just can't help myself! My ex-husband always thought I sang well. (Maybe he was just being nice. I will have to make a point of calling him and asking!!! I will let you know the results)

I love a good book! One of the quirky things about me is that I read extremely fast. I have been reading voraciously since I was in the third grade. My first love was Nancy Drew. I read all of her books and even had my own detective kit. I always thought I would be a police officer which we will discuss later. When I was a kid I used to love to lift the fingerprints off the furniture with scotch tape. Lots of scotch tape in that kit! My Grandma Zannini made my little bag that housed all my detective wares! I really miss her.

I could recommend a good book or two! Some of my favorites are those written by Janet Evanovich. www.evanovich.com. She has this zany character that I know I could be in another life, Stephanie Plum. I love all things Plum. I have read every book cover to cover in one sitting. Of course, that is generally how I read most books. But I love her and I love Morelli more! Read her and you will too!

I love a good chick flick more than most. I am a sap through and through. My favorite website for anything to do with a movie is imdb.com. You can find any movie by searching by the name of the movie, a character, an actor etc. Plus the coolest thing about this website is that you find memorable quotes from the movie. You know, the lines you repeat for years after watching a movie you really love. Like me for instance. I LOVE "You've Got Mail" and it is because of one scene and one line. Greg Kinnear to Meg Ryan "So is there someone else?" to which Meg responds, "No, but there is the dream of someone else" and that line got me through my divorce.

I love stamping and scrap booking both. I love the company that I sell for-Stampin Up! That is another post all together! I love to create things-like this blog for instance! I love taking pictures and I cannot wait to get a camera I really love. Any suggestions? I love many other things but these are just a few to get us started.I love you for stopping by and reading! Bye for now!

Stupid People

I had fully intended to write about something more uplifting than stupid people tonight. BUT we all know how it is with stupid people! I am a 911 operator. For those of you who don't know, 911 is for emergencies! Not for parade times and not for trick or treat times.

When I answer 911 Where is your emergency? I honestly don't know why I am ever shocked but I am, each and every time when the caller responds "I don't really have an emergency" then WHY, why are you calling 911?

Another personal favorite is "I don't want to get involved" Okay, so why are you calling? I mean for me personally, if I don't want to be involved in something then my first instinct is to do nothing.

Tonight, I got a call from a man who didn't know who else to call so he chose me, the 911 operator to tell this emergency to: "Yes, I was just at the corner of Dumb and Dumber and I saw a deer standing in the middle of the roadway. He moved for me but then he went right back out into the middle of the road. Someone is going to hit him."

Let me just say this. HAVE YOU EVER HEARD OF THE CIRCLE OF LIFE? Have you not seen Bambi? It is safe to say that on a Saturday night of a holiday weekend there is a really good chance that someone may hit that deer. What would you like me to do to take care of this for you? I can go hit it with my car if you are tired of waiting? I can send an officer out to shoot it. Oh wait, you were concerned for his safety. Here is an idea, call someone who cares.

I just wonder why people think that the police can solve everything. It is not like they are superheros. Some of these officers have a difficult time remembering their car number. Throwing wild animals into the mix is just asking for trouble. I feel certain that if I had sent an officer out to check the welfare of the deer he would have hit it head on. Then he would have asked, "Radio advise me again what the nature of this run is." And I would have said "disregard" in my calmest voice.

Blogging Virgin

After I get this first post under my belt, what will I be then? See, these are the types of things that go through my mind. I have been following several blogs for awhile now and decided to join the blogging community. I am not sure why but I guess that should not matter now. So here I am ready to talk to all of you about whatever crosses my mind.

For instance, today I woke up at 3:38PM. Oh! Did I mention I work third shift? Well I do. I work third shift as a 911 dispatcher and oh the stories I could tell. This job makes me wonder all kinds of things. But anyway, I woke up and was amazed that I had slept so late.

Random thought-well it isn't really random but the reason I slept so late was because I have these joint pains...elbows, shoulders etc. So I was told by a friend that "Trigosamine" was this really great blend of glucosamine, chondroitin and hyaluronate. It is supposed to help with joint pain. So I am all over it because the pain is really bothersome. I had taken it for two days and just out of the blue I start itching all over. It started with my legs. Well I figured it was razor burn. So as I am eating breakfast I read the label of the box. GUESS WHAT! It contains shellfish. Hmmmm. Aren't I allergic to shellfish? Why yes I am. Probably should not take any more Trigosamine. So when I got off work yesterday morning I took a benedryl. THAT is why I slept until 3:38PM. The stuff knocks me out in to the netherworld of unconsciousness.

Which catches us back up to I slept until 3:38PM. I got out of bed and threw on some clothes which were conveniently located next to my bed. On the floor. I left them there because I just knew I would need them when I got up and I wanted to make sure I could find them. I unloaded my car and kissed my son Zachary hello. He had just climbed in the house through his bedroom window. Want to know why? Because his mother locked the door and slept until 3:38PM. The school bus drops him off at 3:30PM. I am not sure if he rang the doorbell or not but bless his heart if he did I slept right through it. Zachary..he is another post entirely.

I have five children by the way. Yes they all have the same Dad and yes I was raised Catholic. Now that also could be several posts. No, I am no longer married. We will get to all that later.

My friend Aimee was in town this week for a trial. She used to be a police officer in Louisville,KY. Her husband took a job in South Carolina and so she retired from the force and moved with her family to the Charleston area. She has been gone for a year but one of her cases she was working just now came up for trial. The wheels of justice move oh so slowly. So once I raced out of bed I ran some errands-did I mention I teach rubber stamping? Another post, another day. Those errands were stamping related just so you don't think I am suffering from severe ADD! I probably am though. I finished my errands and then took off for Tumbleweed down on the waterfront. The waterfront is located along the Ohio River. It can be on the Indiana side or the Kentucky side. We share it! isn't sharing great? We all learned that in kindergarten. But this Tumbleweed is in Kentucky. We don't have one on the Indiana waterfront. We have them in various other locations, just not on the waterfront. I will post some pictures to go with this opening blog later today....Bye for now!