I’M IN LOVE!!!

I’M IN LOVE!!!, originally uploaded by hockamama.

mid-october, I hit a deer coming home from the grocery store, less than a quarter mile from home. it was dark, and when I saw him, I veered left of center, but he came out into the road and hit my front passenger fender. it cracked the fiberglass front in several places, ripped off the flare on the fender and left many dents. but worst of all, the deer was dead. I sat and bawled for what seemed like forever before I called for help.

I couldn’t reach rich, so my daddy and brother came to help. daddy informed me that I hit an 8 point buck. woo hoo. the thought of killing that animal made me so sad.

so, stella, my jeep needed to go to the shop for repairs. the good news is that she would finally be rid of that spot where jessica drove up under the farm truck…the one I had been putting off getting fixed because it was gonna cost me $200. the bad news is that now it would cost $500 for my deductible. oh, well. when I picked her up yesterday, she looked so beautiful, they had given her a bath and vacuumed the inside.

but, in the meantime, this beauty above is what I was loaned to drive. OMG, that was the coolest car I’ve ever driven! (can you say sheltered? or poor? maybe both) it was so much fun, too much probably. before I realized it, I caught myself going 85 a couple of times. I think I could probably get into some serious trouble if I had one of my own! plus, it almost didn’t fit in the garage; it had about 8 inches to spare in the back and about 6 in the front. but it sure was fun while it lasted.

now stella is back home where she belongs, queen of the garage, keeper of the midgets. I don’t want to make her jealous, but someday, when she’s gone, I just may cut my eyes in the direction of a magnum….

 

mimi! mimi! (sob, sob) mimi!!!!

WTF?  the terrible twos are supposed to hit at 2, right?  we’ll we’re starting to see them a little early, I believe.  I have got a biter on my hands, friends.  yesterday, I took maddie to cheerleading practice, and tony walked emma around for awhile.  when he tired of that and went to hang out with some friends, I made her sit with me.  OMG, what a struggle!

she started with the ‘mimi’ (excuse me), when that didn’t make me turn her loose (it was kinda cute and funny, so I may have laughed at her, which I’m sure did not help the situation), she pinched me.  when that failed to earn her release, she took a nibble of my hand.  I flicked her cheek and told her no.  that set her off all over again.  when she finished crying, she appeared to be tired out, (never ever fall for the ‘tired toddler’ act!) and just fell against me for several minutes.

when she felt my grip relax just enough, she made a break for it.  ugh….

this morning I was told that she bit maddie hard enough to draw blood.  she spent a few minutes in her time out chair, screaming her little lungs out.  thank god she goes home every day.  jeez, I love that little heathen.

on a side note, my better half is in ohio until monday.  this week is his birthday and the anniversary of his daddy’s passing, so he spends it with his guys.  I always miss him more than I think I will.  someday, I’ll be prepared for the depth of my despair.  (do I sound suitably miserable?  good)  I do miss him, though.  alot.

and, and and and… my cousin had her grandbaby this morning.  well, her daughter had the baby, but that’s beside the point.  my 41 year old cousin, who swears she can’t possibly be a grandma because she has a 3 year old son, is indeed a grandma.  her daughter (who is 17 and a senior this year, with a tough road ahead of her now) had gestational diabetes, and some complications near the end, so they did an emergency c section.  but baby and mama are fine and carson weighed in at 6 lb, 15 oz and 20″ .

and, lastly, I am addicted to tony’s new wii game he got for his birthday, (I can’t believe that my baby is 11 already).  it’s called deblob, and it’s soo much fun.  you play a paint blob who’s been charged with restoring color to the town and overthrowing the inkies.  I’m gonna go play right now!

 

F.Y.I.

I don’t care what your poo looks like!! just sayin’.

if you’ve never told me about your poo, then obviously this post isn’t referring to you. just ignore.

 

swap fever

I just mailed out a bag of fabric scraps for a swap on craftster. my package went to the UK at a cost of $34! man, I had no idea it cost so much to ship international. it only weighed a little under 4 pounds. I don’t even want to think about it being any heavier.

this was my third swap. I’ve always wanted to join them, but I always felt inadequate in my crafting to actually participate. so, when the chance came to join a raffle type swap, I jumped on it. that way I only had to craft something that I was comfortable with, and send it to whomever’s name was drawn. the first one went okay, the person whose name I drew turned out to be a non-drinker, so the wine bag I had made didn’t go over so well. the second time around lots of people wanted my owl bag, so that was better.

this last swap was really easy, because all I had to do was box up a bunch of fabric scraps. in turn, I’ll get a bunch of someone else’s scraps; I’m so excited! there’s nothing like new fabric to brighten my day, even scraps.

I’ve gone ahead and entered a couple more swaps, one of which I’m nervous about and now wish I hadn’t been quite so impulsive. it’s a book lover’s swap. that’s what drew me in, because I love love love me a good book. but I’m just not sure what to make for my partner, that’s the part that makes me nervous. the other swap will be cool, it’s just stuffing a box with craft supplies (junk) and swapping for someone else’s junk.

ah, well. atleast I have some time to figure it all out.

 

first day of school

today, my babies go back to school. tony’s in 5th grade, maddie’s in 4th. this year, they were both separated from their nemeses for the first time since kindergarten. alex was tony’s friend until last year, when tony started realizing (FINALLY) that friends are actually nice to each other; unfortunately, it took a fist fight for that realization to fully sink in. since early last year, he’s been trying to maintain his distance, but with alex in the same class, he wasn’t having much success. summer helped, and now they aren’t in the same class, thankfully. this is tony’s last year in his elementary, and I hope it’s a great one. he really loved last year’s teacher and this one seems pretty nice.

maddie’s little friend megan is a little girl who seems to be on the lookout for a best friend who wants to cater to her. she found one last year, and made maddie’s 3rd grade year miserable. this year they have separate teachers, so maddie can make new friends, hopefully.

they were both excited this morning, which surprised me, atleast where tony’s concerned. I hope that excitement stays with them for awhile.

it was bittersweet, watching them roll out of the driveway, but I get to look forward to picking them up this afternoon.

 

of close calls, near misses and many thanks

a few sundays ago, we had a covered dish dinner after church, to visit with laura’s parents, who were, in turn, visiting our little village.

I made a crock pot of barbecue, an italian cream cake, and a lemon cheesecake which turned out very tart. unfortunately, I didn’t eat any of them. I have this very ugly habit of eating fast, and not chewing well. I think it developed when I worked at the school and only had about 15 minutes to scarf down my lunch; when I realize it, I slow down and count my chews to make sure I don’t inhale it. most of the time, though, I don’t realize it until I’m sitting and waiting for everyone else to finish.

on this day, however, I took the first bite of my bbq sandwich, chewed it a couple of times, and suddenly became aware that it was stuck. I tried to make it unstuck, but pretty quickly realized I couldn’t do it on my own. I jumped up from the table and got rich’s attention, then I ran outside. ~I had the presence of mind to think that when that the chunk came up, I didn’t want to gross everyone out~ so, rich and bobby followed me out. my loving husband gave me the heimlich and beat the hell out of my back. after a few gasping breaths, I was back on track, but my stomach hurt too bad to eat anything.

while the same loving husband was petting me and comforting me, he swatted away a japanese hornet. after he swatted it the third time, it landed on his hand. when he swiped at it again, it stung him…right on that vein that runs on the top of your hand. we went back inside and to different conversations. he sat down with bobby (the unofficial ‘father’ of the church-he’s the one everybody goes to with concerns-he’s also on the fire department) and showed him the sting. while he was sitting there, he started to feel warm.

bobby ran home (not even a quarter of a mile from church) to get some benadryl. in the meantime, rich was turning red and getting warmer. soon after, his breathing became more shallow, and he quit communicating. a couple of guys pulled him off the chair onto the floor. bobby came back with the pills, but there was no way rich was going to be able to swallow them. he ran upstairs and called 911, and right after he came downstairs rich started shaking, in anaphylactic shock. he had guys on each arm and leg, and someone fanning his face. they were all telling him it was gonna be okay, he was gonna be fine. meanwhile, I’m standing there crying and watching all of this. I’ve got a woman on each side of me sobbing and holding on to me for dear life. I just knew that I was watching my husband die and there was nothing any of us could do.

FINALLY the first responders got there with oxygen, which helped revived him just enough that we could see his chest rising. the ambulance came close behind and in short order had him iv’d and medicated. bobby drove me to the hospital and I stayed with rich. we were there for a little over 4 hours, while they dosed him with steroids and anti-allergins. he had huge, quarter sized blisters all over his torso and arms, which slowly faded to hives, then disappeared altogether.

he was released on his own recognizance that evening, and we decided to go grab some food, since we had abused our lunch hour with our antics. I chewed my food good and slow, and he ate like a man back from the dead.

things have settled back down, now. he carries an epi-pen with him, and he even got stung a few days ago, but nothing happened. it was just a little honeybee feeding on the hummingbird nectar, and thought rich’s knee looked like a nice spot to park his butt. the area swelled but he had no other affects, which proved my theory that he’s not really allergic, it’s just that those japanese hornets are bad bad news…especially if they get your blood vein.

we’ve had a few of them up around the porch and I swat the piss out of them, while rich runs inside. he’s not taking any chances now.

it’s funny ~not funny ha-ha, but funny ironic~ rich has been seeing a therapist for a couple of months now, is on a great medication, and he’s been like a new man. our relationship is great, almost like new again. and now this episode has made him even more grateful, thankful, appreciative of life. he truly is not the man I married, but newer, better than before. he’s my six million dollar man.

 

what is LTR?

the other day jessica brought home this little local paper, ‘yes weekly’. it is definitely aimed at her age group, but I found some interesting bits in it. I like to read dating ads, to see what people are looking for these days.

one of the ads read,

CATTLE
COUNTY
DWM, 52, 5’11”, 185lbs,
homeowner, honest, employed.
Looking for LTR. I enjoy
mountains, beach, flea markets, etc.

could it be ‘loves to rock’, little tiny redhead’ ?

I have figured out most terms, SWM and SWF are pretty self explanatory, but I just don’t know what LTR, PBM, and HM are. although, honestly, I don’t reckon I need to know, now, do I?  after all, I’m a HMWF.

 

cripes, how did I get to be this old?

awhile ago, on friday the 13th, I turned 41.  oh, man, how in the world can I be 41 already?  some days my body feels it, but my mind never does.  it seems like just a couple of years ago that I graduated high school, not 23!

when I was a kid, I loved the birthday attention, but over the last few years (decades) the novelty has worn off.  however, my daughter has inherited my love of celebrations, so she started my birthday off with a bang, literally.

a little after midnight, my bedroom lights came on.  while I was processing this, and trying to figure out what in the world was going on, the smell of gunpowder and loud shots woke me the rest of the way.  I ducked under the covers and apparently said some not nice things ~so they tell me~ and worked up the nerve to open my eyes in the now daylight-bright room.  there, in my cozy little nest, were jessica and rich, pullin’ on party poppers. then they both jumped on me, kissing the fool out of me.

strangely enough, I had difficulty getting back to sleep, and was forced to lay there, reflecting on the last 41 years.  well, there are some foggy ones back in the 80’s that I couldn’t quite pull up, but most of them haven’t been too bad overall.  I can honestly say the last couple have been the best, so I reckon it’s not so awful getting old.  to coin a cliche, it beats the alternative.

I refuse, however, to go lightly into the night.  I’m planning a midlife crisis which may or may not include:  more body ink, a motorcyle, a pool boy, a dodge charger…the list changes frequently.  I’m thinkin’ it’ll hit somewhere around 45. hmm…

 

apparently I’m a lesbian now

the other day my neighbor, patsy, was over visiting. we were discussing her boyfriend ~she’s in her 60’s and he’s got to be 75, so it seems weird to think of him as a boyfriend, but I don’t know what else to call him~ and she was telling me about his daughter. she just left her husband for a woman. apparently patsy knew all along that she was g-a-y because of her appearance.

she went on to say that the daughter always wore jeans, t-shirts and tennis shoes…oh, and she kept her hair in a pony tail all the time. after a brief spell, I looked at rich and he was looking at me. he asked me if I was gonna leave him for a woman. patsy looked a little confused, until rich rich pointed out to her that she had just described me. because, my default setting is jeans and t-shirt. now, I do wear flip flops, not tennis shoes ~unless I’m feeling masochistic and am going for a walk~ but I always have my hair up. it’s just too hot to leave it down.

when I looked at patsy, she just shrugged her shoulders and said, ‘well…’

 

why I have trouble getting work done

this is exactly what I meant by overrun