Had my 3 month checkup with doctor yesterday - passed with flying colors - even lost 6 lbs! Have been trying to work in garden but not making much progress. Went to Wal-Mart yesterday and fell for the hostas again - bought 3 more. Have dug up some "volunteers" for Jane and anyone else who wants them - phlox, stella d'oro daylilies, cyprus spurge, phystogea (obedient plant), monarda, silver dollar plant, and some other things I can't remember the names of.

We had 2 1/2 inches of rain on Monday! It's absolutely gorgeous today - California weather! supposed to warm up by the weekend.

Glad Obama responded to Jeremiah Wrights big speech - as one commentator reports - Obama threw him under the bus, took the wheel and drove back and forth over him, yelling DO YOU HEAR ME NOW?!?!? lol.

Shepard's pie for dinner tonite and then a netflix movie.

lots of politics on this blog....

I just hope things will get better with gas and food prices.....how high can they go? Now that I have the time I can;t visit anyone cause of the cost of the fuel!
Bobby came to visit late saturday night, he got there about 1:30 am, his friend Marlon drove his car. I was nice to see him even though it was a very short visit.
I can't believe all the damage with the tornado, very rare for this area.
Mark had to go to work at midnight last night ..he is taking a load of meat to Quantico, then coke a cola to Fort Lee. Yeah he is working !!!!!

I talked to Beth's ( Marks ex wife) sister Pat, who is an RN and seems to be pretty nice. She doesn't know exactly what is wrong with beth besides the alcoholism, but there is something serious. Beth won't talk to Pat, because Pat tries to help, But Beth's boyfriend Larry calls Pat from time to time. I think when Adam comes home on his leave from A school we will have an Afternoon BBQ and I will invite them and anyother relatives on that side of his family, I think that will make Adam happy.

I have a little clean up to do in the yard, nothing more to plant right now ...till I get some $$ for fuel to go to moms.....and I will be going soon I hope....maybe I will ride with Nancy when she goes for Mothers day.

Have a great one everyone!
luv
jane

Beach Day

I must say today was a beautiful day. Nice weather, a little warm, but nothing we couldn't deal with. The boys - each w/a friend - and i all went to the boardwalk. There were all kinds of vehicles lined up on the boardwalk. I think Jamie was in car heaven. He had a great time - even managed to fool me into believeing he knows ALL of his cars, by year make and model. Only after being tested did i realize he was able to look at the anitque plate and rattle off the year, etc. We then rented one of the sureys and rode the board walk up and back about 3x. One end to the other. Then we hiked back to the car. I can attest to walking alone, over 2 miles for each of us - as i measured it driving when we left. Plus the bike riding, we had many near misses on that. Now that we are home - i'm pooped. FYI Joey brought Raven. She's very quiet, and she made the day brighter as the boys were somewhat nicer to each other...fighting still happened though.

Ok, going to play the game before i conk out. But - I have to say one thing first - Hillary and Obama should be bashing McCain- while trying to win states. However b/c the race is so close between them it's easy to see why they bash each other. I still think Hillary is the one who should win. And, I think she will be the one to make the changes, but we'll never know if who will do better at making this country better, because only one of them can win -- unless they decide to take the states by storm and one is prez and the other is vice prez. However - I don't get the feeling that will happen.

First of all, it is too late for us in Virginia to vote - we made our choice last month - Obama! Now we have to wait until the big one in November. In my not so humble opinion, changes in our government will NOT be made rapidly no matter who is elected, and if it is McCain, hardly any changes will be made. Furthermore, even if everyone in northern Virginia detests Clinton, it won't amount to much more than a hill of beans if they're not in Congress. All that being said, I hope that we will all lend our support to the Democratic candidate, be it Hillary or Obama.

clinton/obama

Well, if you like paying 5 bucks for milk (I'm sure wal-mart is cheaper, but the price has gone up), and you like paying over 4 bucks for gas (remember when it reached 2 and we were sooo upset?) then vote for McCain.

If you want things to change, vote Obama. If you want things to maybe change a little bit---slowly --vote Clinton. But remember that up here nere the beltway, Hillary is poison. They hate her -and that will mean getting anything through congress will be difficult at best. We have to look past some things and really do what we need to do to get our country back. We need to just do it, do what needs to be done.

I was going to NC this weekend to do door to door campaigning for Obama, but, with gas so high and time so precious, I've decided to do phone campaigning.

If you want to join me, let me know. Have a nice weekend everyone!

E.

Even though I voted for Hillary, in my opinion we have 2 excellent democratic candidates for president and if Obama is the one I will support him wholeheartedly! That being said, as time and primaries march on, I am becoming increasingly concerned about the outcome of this race. It seems to me that if Obama wins the popular vote, the delegate vote, and yet loses the nomination to Hillary on the strength of super delegates, we are in for some big trouble - civil unrest, rioting, etc. , not to mention a Republican victory. And all the while, McCain gets stronger - Hillary and Obama should be attacking him and not each other.

Anyhow, how did Jamie like his day at the office? Bet he loved it.

Slaved in the garden yesterday - how come I love gardening and work as hard as I can, yet detest housecleaning and ignore the mess inside? The peonies are budded, the bleeding heart is covered with blooms, dames rocket is out - I am just loving it. The snapdragons I planted last year all came back and are covered with buds, too. Columbine is still blooming.

Off to play literati. Adiodeeeeeee!

GO HILLARYGO GO GO...YOU SHOW EM

Hey Guys,

Since nobody did mention Hillary won PA- except for Mom, or Ellen? I will say GO Hillary--She's still the one, Still the one...for me!!! I think she will make some big GOOD changes for all of us in this country.

Anyhoo, nothing new on the home front here. Plan to take Jamie to the beach this w/end. There is a car show --and Jamie has made a point to remind me several times about it. CAN"T forget about it...otherwise i'll be on his xxxx list.

Tomorrow is national take your child to work day. Jamie gets to go with me. I think he is happy about it. But he really hasn't said much to me yet.

We shall see.....

Ok, all you folks be good and take it easy.

Toodles............

Sentimentality

I just stopped what I was doing to listen to Franz Schubert's Marche Militaire on NPR. Every time I hear it I think back to Marianne and James' wedding day. It is such a happy, lighthearted melody, perfectly suited to that lovely day! I have such nice memories from that day, adorable little Jaida walking down the aisle with her Mom, Christian looking so cute, gorgeous wedding dress on Marianne, all the beautiful bridesmaids in their pretty dresses, handsome James and handsome grandsons. I had a wonderful time that day - even chuckle when I remember Mark and I going for the wedding cake and Mark parking illegally (sort of). I was going to put all this in a email to Marianne and James, but decided, no - I want everyone to read it. I was a proud grandma that day and it's a memory I cherish!

Lump in the throat here!

it's gonna be a nice one!

Hey nobody mentioned the victory for Hillary.......she's still in!

I am in for the ride too Ellen, that would be a real blast!

I didn't go over to Nancy's yesterday..maybe today.

Mark talked to Matt at MDV, he has Marks back ground report in front of him but has not had a chance to review it yet...so we wait somemore...getting broker.

Mom don't over work yourself with all that mulch! I am digging a flower bed all around the house, hopefully it will make it look better after I get some plants in it.

Looks like it's gonna be a beautiful day outside! Sunny and around 65 degrees.
I also got my literati score back over 1900, I had been on a losing streak.
have a great day everyone!
luv
jane

hi everyone!

My feet hurt! (for more on Ellen's feet, read ellenville.ellenac.blogspot.com) School has been so hard lately, and I'm planning a blog post on my own about the woes of teaching in springtime (joy!)

I came home today after teaching the after school math group -- who are awesome kids who want to learn -- and ran some errands -- then spent 2 hours cleaning. I love my new vacuum. Jane would be soooo jealous.

By the way-- -Oxyclean -- well, not so much. It doesn't get out dirt from white grout. Especially if it has been ground in for several weeks and basically baked on.

Had my wine society dinner last night - -cold crabcakes and burnt prime rib!!! But washed down with a beautiful Pinot Noir from Sonoma. I really want to do a California wine tour - rent a convertible and drive up from Santa Barbara - Solvang - San Simeon - Big Sur - Carmel - Monterey - and leave from San Francisco. I guess I should start a collection and a sign up list for who wants to go. That was spurred on by the wine sommelier (sp?) last night who kept referring to tropical, sunny Monterey. I finally called him over and corrected him. So, who's in???!!!

Yes, Nancy - we are not the only ones on this blog. I just wonder if people realize that Big Mama is the collective Nancy, Mom (the real one) Jane (the trucking one) Catherine, Marianne, Zsuzsi, Catherine and me. Well, maybe they do now.

I heard from Kaiti and she is almost done with her first semester. She found a summer place to work/live-- a B&B where she works for rent!!! I am so proud of her and I miss her (finally!) I printed a picture of her to put up in my room at school.

I may be pursuing my graduate degree soon....We'll see. Travelling the world vs. paying tuition forever is the final decision maker.

hugs all!!!

E.

We have had lots of rain here in Farmville, too. Haven't measured it, but it's been raining off and on for 2 days. Hope this doesn't mean another summer-time drought.

Big news here is that yesterday I had delivered a truckload of mulch (be still my heart)! I found a new guy to buy it from - he has a sawmill and makes his own mulch but usually delivers to other distributors but business is slow this year. The guy I usually buy from is now charging $350 plus mileage - can you believe?!? Anyhow, the mulch I got is beautiful, fragrant cedar stuff. Notice I'm not telling how much I paid - it was a lot, but a lot less than $350.

In other news from the homefront - I managed to "bounce" a check! The bank paid it so it really didn't bounce. Quicken showed ample funds (more than ample) so there is a big mistake somewhere, but darned if I can find it. The same day our state tax refund came, so we won't be having bouncing problems this week.

No other big news to report - trying to be more economical with food - what I would have given Sandi before, I now either freeze or serve again. Ain't easy trying to stretch the food dollar and pleasing your father at the same time.

Speaking of which (whom), he has framed many pictures - and now it's up to me to find room to hang them. YIKES - we're out of wallspace here!

Have a good one everybody - oh yes - tonight on TV it's Family Jewels and New York housewives!!!

And that's why it's good to be me (said with a small smile and raised eyebrow)!

yep Nancy has a cold and I hope I don't catch it!

Well it's another rainy day! News said we got 3.5 inches yesterday, we were 4 inches low, I guess we will be caught up after today.
I may go over to Nancy's today to clean.
Mark is still waiting for MDV to call and we are still waiting to get our deposit back...they said they mailed it on saturday.....
We got the mulch from the dump, the yard looks much better now and I painted the mail box post...that looks better too.
Bobby seems to be doing ok.....everybody call him...he gets lonely quick, Jaida is with Shannon right now. Restaurant number is 434-973-5777, home is 434-990-9087.
Mark and I went over to Eric and Catherines place, a nice location, it's a little small but made nice with some items from ikea.
ok now need to see more bloggs!
luv
jane

Comments...........

Hey you guys ................

No NEW posts to read??? What's up???

I have another F............ cold, and feel crappy because of it.

Boys are off to school YAH!! Reports coming this week to a school Mom...should be very interesting.

And, Did you guys see the comment? Someone (us? outside world?) posted a comment...Flores??

Ok, NOW, i want to see more blogs!!

I had a terrific birthday!

Thank you everyone! It was great to go out with everyone - I had a wonderful time and the food was really good, and the chocolate fondue was to die for.
We are getting this house in order, Mark has gotten the grass cut and I planted mom's hydrangia, and also a victorian sage and a few mexican primroses, next will be painting the shutters and trim and sofetts(not sure about spelling) .
I thought the movie "Death at a funeral" was very funny, we watched it sunday morning after 3 shots of bailey's , 2 turtletini's and a vodka tonic hangover.
We need to get a kareoke set up too ...for the home.
I will try to blog more often and to read a book...I have an Ann Rule bood on my night stand "Worth more Dead" maybe I will read it soon.
It's a nice sunny day here - gonna be in the low 60's.
Everyone have a terrific day!
luv
jane

MOM!!!

Lay off the midnight tokin....(mom, that is a song lyric reference also referring to your last post).

Anywho...here is my post about the birthday weekend in VA Beach.

Don't let any of these pretty pictures fool you....these girls can kick your ass:
The first one (pictured above) was celebrating her birthday...49!!!!!!!!!!!!! Hey she looks pretty good for a grandma! Or, even not for a grandma....pretty good!!! Damn good.

And her spawn (one of the few) will also kick your ass with little effort:And then there were three:



Don't let those smiles fool you.

A brunette, a blonde, and a redhead. The trifecta of bitch. (Are you getting my humor?--all in fun, all in fun..)

And those in training:

pssssttt: I think they'll make it!
That was some seriously good chocolate..... if you're brave, you can find the original trucker sportin' the bumper sticker to end all bumper stickers....thankfully not on his "bumper" which I saw way too much of this weekend.

Good times!

Guess I am posting here for my sole benefit. Oh well, since I am the most interesting person I know, I will just continue on.

A small miracle happened last night - well a wee small miracle. And no, it was nothing of a carnal nature. I actually slept 9 whole hours! I only woke up once to make a potty run and smoke a you-know-what, and then back to beddy bye for another 6 hours. That hasn't happened in about 20 years. Of course when I get back into bed I have to make Sandi leave my warm spot - almost makes me sad enough to go park myself on the sofa - but not quite!

I am off to Barnes and Noble now to use one of my Christmas gift cards! I will pre-order the new Elizabeth George novel - ordering online gets a big discount, preordering gets another 5% off, and then with my membership I get a little bit more off - a good deal. I will also order the new Alan Pell Crawford book about Jefferson - Twilight at Monticello - since I loved his other book - Unwise Passion - (a true story which took place right here in Farmville) I'm hoping that this one will be equally good. Also on order is Mountain Madness, recommended by Aunt Joanne. It has to do with a young man, Scott Fischer, who led an ill-fated expedition up Mt. Everest. He is/was the son of very good friends of hers and I had met them along with their son several times when visiting Aunt Joanne. Previouosly I had read the Jon Krakauer book - Into Thin Air - about that expedition and just wondered at the mentality of those hardy souls foolish enough to risk that climb.

Okay goils - am off to B&N. Toodle ooooh.

Well, yesterday must have been my lucky day. First thing I stepped in dogdoo - it wasn't Fritz's, but Sandi's and you all know how big that can be! Did you know that stepping in dogdoo brings good luck! Yes indeedy. Not realizing that I had stepped in this mess, but thinking the aroma was quite a bit stronger today, I proceeded to Wal-Mart. As usual, I entered the garden center area first while sending your father into the bowels of the store with the shopping list. I spotted a lot of hostas (one of my favorites and of which I probably have 50 or 75) but the sign in front of them said "annuals - $2 each), but not one of these plants had a price tag on itand knowing that hostas are perennials I assumed the sign was in error. A salesperson was milling around so I asked her the price and was told "$2." Since my experience with Wal-Mart salespeople has very seldom been favorable I chose not to believe her, but loaded up anyway (6 very nice Elegans hostas) prepared to give checkout person an argument. Lo and behold - scanner showed price to be $2!!! Should I have gotten more? Well, if they're still there next time, I will, although I have just about run out of spots to plant them. In the meantime, as I am still pursued by this putrid dog odor, it is beginning to dawn on me that it is ME! The boots I was wearing having soles that look like rubber tires - ample protection from copperheads but lots of little/big grooves for nasty stuff to hide in. Now, do you think I should clean out these grooves or wear them as is today and hope for another day of good luck? Naw, I will save them as is for my next trip to Wal-Mart.

TICS!!! And I don't mean facial! Those nasty little critters are back! Just like that nasty little critter on Changing Rooms! They like to crawl up the body as far as they can go (bra strap or underpant elastic) and then latch on. They are so tiny as to be almost invisible. The only cure for a tic bite is to scratch until it bleeds. I have counted 6 bites on my body today - guess I'll be busy scratching. Must remember to buy some OFF. Wish I could put that dog stuff on me and have them stay away for 6 weeks.

I am thinking about my 3 daughters today - won't sleep a wink tonight with worry (not to mention itching). Guess my phone will be busy tomorrow with tales of adventure.

Be good girls, girls!

plans....foiled again

Well, after I taught all day, only one meeting this am, I had an after school class. Then, I made copies to start planning my elaborate tour around the classroom with Civil Rights History stations....I packed up a stack or ten of papers to deal with at home. Got home, cleaned Scott's dinner mess from last night, vacuumed and mopped, made a quiche and wrote a blog (see my other blog!! Click here!) I am just too damn tired to look at those papers! My life is sooooo exciting. I have nothing to wear tomorrow, and the kitchen is once again filthy- I cleaned up my quiche mess just in time for you-know-who to make fried cube steaks and mashed potatoes...yuck. So, the remainder of my evening will entail nagging and bitching until the kitchen is cleaned up again, and someone puts my clothes in the washer!

I'm coming down Friday night after work....plan on doing something fun on Saturday during the day....perhaps pedicures or something? and then partying on Saturday night!!! Who's in? Catherine? Zsuzsi? Marianne? Rumor has it someone will be turning 49 for the first time very soon.

And it aint me! LOL. :-)

Happy Sunday everyone

Hey cool pics Catherine, giant brocoli..neat.
The house is pretty much unpacked. Now I have the yard. Its rainy here today so I can't cut the grass.
I will be making a visit to Catherine and Erics place today, then Marianne has invited me over for dinner. Michael and Zsuzsi went to Bobby's with mr norge and spouse, they should be home this evening.
Nancy and Joey and Jamie we over here yesterday we did some errands and Nancy fixed beef stroganoff for dinner which was very good. (Nancy also brought about 10 loads of laundry).

I just finished mopping the kitchen floor and getting ready for a shower now.
Hope everyone has a great Sunday!
luv
jane

Hi Catherine - glad to hear about your Dad, but could not view pictures - tried twice.

I remember so well after my father's heart surgery how anxious he was to play golf and he finally did. He was a real golf "nut" - played after work every evening, all day Saturday and Sunday after church. I would sometimes play with him - and sometimes caddy for him. I chuckle when I think back at all his "gimmees". And, what's a mulligan" - can't remember, but it came up frequently when we played.

Having a chilly and rainy day here. Computer room is finally painted - now comes the hard part - putting it all back together!

Bought a new paperback book yesterday at the PX - The Gravedigger's Daughter by Joyce Carol Oates. It's a book on my list to read. I am almost finished with "The Blue Rose" by Anthony Eglin - mystery involving a Botany professor at Univ. of Edinburgh - very good, but with the new book staring me in the face I am having a hard time finishing.

Fritzy says hi everyone.

i hope this works...

my mom sent me these pictures and i thought they were neat i hope this link works so you can see them..

https://email.vccs.edu/wm/mail/genimage/message.rfc822?sessionid=g6e1fa1d81342b0b0267ff9ad1a7699fcejhlnpfkhl&uid=2352&off=3753&len=2613310&enc=0&type=MESSAGE&sub=RFC822&mbox=user.cgreen8017

well dad is doing good..He's so anxious to be able to get up and go do stuff again. I think the thing he misses most is being able to golf with my brother because after he got sick there wasn't too much of that going on and in the spring and summer they go almost every weekend. Except the past year he hasn't been able to and now its starting to warm up and i think they are both looking forward to that.

I started going back to the gym..Eric was usually the one pushing me to go but now I have to push him to go and he still doesn't.. I go anyways and yesterday I swam 1 mile..I cannot tell you how good it felt after I was done..then i sat in the sauna for about 10 minutes did some crunches and went home. I'm glad I went, I am always glad when I go but the hardest part is getting in my car and going. I need to stick to it and keep on going.

Well I hope that link works..

love,
catherine

BIG announcement

http://ellenville-ellenac6.blogspot.com/

That is my "real" blog! Please go check it out. Actually, the way this blogger thing works is, each person has their own blog, and then we use the comment feature to reply to each other. I do like the collective nature of stilltruckin and want to keep it, but I think we could also have our own individual blogs. Anywho, read my post on blogging, and maybe you'll agree.

Today's post was on torture-- I am doing a "history of" style blog. It is fun for me. Educational for you!

Raining and cold tonight. We went to Olive Garden ( I had the braised ribs - a secret item on the menu that no one gets - DlishUS!) then to the warehouse store. We were in and out in 20 minutes and I was able to get towels, cargo pants, wine and coffee! I did have to run a little to make sure I wasn't caught by the miser/husband.

TGIF!!!

Dad has finished painting here in the computer room - it is a tan color, with white trim. Looks good. Now, for all the junk! It is floor to ceiling and he won't let me throw anything away. College text books from 1950? old magazines, etc. I have fixed a box of computer stuff for Joey - photo paper, disc cleaner, etc. Ellen - do you want all the old records?

Last night we watched "Death at a Funeral" - hilarious. Highly recommended for lots of laughs.

Today we are going to Ft. Lee to pick up our prescriptions and make a commissary run. Thank goodness for Ft. Lee - if we had to pay for our own prescriptions (and there is a rumor afloat) we would have to do without a lot of them.

Worked in the garden all day yesterday. I swear the peonies are growing 4 or 5 inches a day. This is my favorite time of year but, oh my, the garden is an absolute mess. Lots of things coming up that I can't remember - time will tell I suppose.

I'm still unpackin

I thought I would be finished by now...lots of junk. I am working in the dining room today, lots of boxes to unpack.

Mark is on his way to NJ from WI, complaining about being out of smokes.

Well my neck hurts, my feet hurt, my hands hurts...I think every where hurts.................

luv ya
jane

As I was finishing the previous post, Dad flipped the lightswitch on the wall and turned off the computer = GRRRRRRR- so I am surprised to see it here. Perhaps Ellen "rescued" it? He then flipped light switch off and on several times - am surprised I have a computer left at all. I will tape over switch today so he will think twice about flipping it. Also turn off computer properly.

It's raining again today. Our rainy days are so few and far between that I don't mind.

Is anyone watching "Real Housewives of New York"? I am LOVING it! It's on Bravo - and they repeat it several times - watch so we can talk about it.

Also, new season of Family Jewels has started - love that show too. Every time Gene says "it's good to be me" i burst out laughing.

Stay dry everyone.

XXX