Tuesday

Tonight is the night that our garbage goes out and I'm going to make Leon, my neighbor, sweat it out again! I never said anything to him about last week's phone call because i've avoided him all week so that I wouldn't, and really, he's a nice man and means well, but he's got to back off. The garbage truck comes around noon on Wednesday, so i'll take the garbage out around, oh, say 11:30! I crack myself up sometimes!

Walter & I finished putting the swing together tonight and we love it!!! We still need to buy a dock box to store the cushions and cover in, so we tried the swing out and then put it all away! It is really cute and comfy and we will really be able to enjoy it.

Cathy called tonight to ask me why the river was all red, so I went and looked outside, but the river here was brown, green, & murky like always! After a while she figured out that somebody (Department of Wildlife & Fisheries??) is doing a test of the water flow of the river and put dye in it. So far, it hasn't flowed down our way, but I guess it's something to look forward to!

The 2nd day of the training was interesting today and I'm glad I went. I heard the guy who was presenting the material telling my supervisor about a more in depth training that she should consider having a few key people participate in so that they could work to teach the program to others in the school system and she came and asked me if I was really interested in learning about the program! I said yes, cause I am, and I hope she is considering me to do the extra training. A lot of what the guy taught us made a lot of sense as far as teaching kids replacement behaviors, including teaching them social skills they don't have as well as finding help for them academically when they are misbehaving to prevent having to do work that they are not capable of doing. However, it's easier said than done to go to a teacher and explain that a student needs to go back and have some easier work to build up missing skills, or even to change the classroom environment to support the student's needs, but it's food for thought.

No fever yesterday or today, so I think i'm over it. I have felt a little light headed today, but that is probably because I haven't done much for the last week and then was running around yesterday & today. I plan to sleep late and relax tomorrow. I am having lunch with some friends in Baton Rouge, and then maybe i'll come home and clean the house or something. Facebook took away my Scrabulous game due to some LAWSUIT with Hasbro!! Wahhhh!!! What do they think I'm supposed to do without it? I think I had 15 games going lol.

Cameron is going with us to Atlanta this weekend, so i'm excited about that. I will pick him up sometime Thursday. Stacy and I talked about the boys' trouble again last night and are not bringing them to talk to anyone because the 3rd boy corrected the extra trouble he had caused, so the 2 boys are going to be punished at home. So far, Cameron is not allowed to go to the 3rd boys house anymore, ever, period, plus he isn't spending the night away from home AT LEAST until the end of the year, and no peer functions unless it's at the school. He obviously is going to give in to peer pressure and is not capable of making positive decisions when left alone with peers, so, he can earn the privilege to be alone with them. And he's really a good kid. Lawdy be. It's so hard to know if you're doing the right thing with them.

Have a great night!!

Sunday

Mr. Wizard finished the pier/dock yesterday and it really came out great! He is going to stain the wood at some point, probably a grayish color, but he's still working on picking the right look for it. Here are some pictures of the completed job.




So, we went back to Home Depot today to decide about the really cool swing we saw there. It was on sale for $350 and we both really liked it. It was very comfortable, lays down into a bed (now why would I need a bed on the river?), and is made of very sturdy aluminum that shouldn't rust. We also saw some swings for $75 & $80 but they weren't nearly as nice or comfy, so we bit the bullet and got it. It is still in a box in the back of Walter's truck (hoping some nice neighbor will volunteer to help get it out!!!), but here is a picture from Home Depot's website.
There was a lot of commotion out on the river yesterday. Someone drowned about a mile down from us trying to save a friend, according to the news. There are usually some drinking related drownings that happen each summer, but I haven't heard yet if alcohol is suspected in the accident. Drinking is a hobby out here and it's for exactly that reason that I worry a lot about people and what they decide to do on boats and in the water.

I am running fever again and plan to call my doctor tomorrow and see what she thinks. I have to go to a training at work, so hopefully I can get an appointment after that. It's just such a pain to drive to Baton Rouge (40 minutes + traffic) just for her tell me to let it run its course, but then again, maybe there is something she can do.

With the month of July almost over, I am SO proud of my budgetting project! We stayed within our budget on nearly everything this month, especially eating out! We had been spending between $400 - $600 A MONTH eating out! How crazy is that? This month we've spent $200, and that is a huge change to me. We really enjoy eating out, but we need to plan better and look at what we're actually spending, and what we were spending was ridiculous.

Questions & Comments:

Chelle asked if I put Nadda (cat) on anxiety medicine. Yes, the vet suggested it when I brought him in for a checkup. I can tell a big difference on the days he takes it and on the days I forget to give it to him. When we moved to the new house, he got to where he never came out of the closet at all, for months, and the 1st day he took the medicine, that night, he just came walking downstairs and into the living room like it was nothing. He'll still do that now, but if anyone gets up or moves much at all, he takes off.

Tam commented on how much Elizabeth looks like me. I hear that from some people, but when I see us together, I really don't see it. I think our cheeks are the same, but it's hard for me to see the resemblence. Landen, however, is a carbon copy of me at his age.

Kim asked if I remember telling her daughter, Kayli, that I would have named Elizabeth "Jennifer" if I had decided to name her. I do remember that, and Jennifer was always my favorite name when I was little. A funny story about naming Elizabeth - I decided when she was born that I didn't want to name her. The adoptive parents would have a new birth certificate made and would rename her anyway, so I just didn't want to feel attached to her or give her a name, so I didn't. When you don't name a baby, the hospital will put "Baby Girl Smith" or "Baby Boy Smith" (depending on your own last name of course, and no, mine wasn't Smith - it's an example), so they put "Baby Girl Smith" as her name on her original birth certificate, and then that one is sealed away forever. Anyway, Elizabeth's boyfriend calls her "baby girl" sometimes and after hearing that a few times, it just really cracked me up and I told her the birth certificate story and how that is REALLY her name - Baby Girl! She thinks that is hilarious and loves to tell the story to people.

Happy Birthday to my Elizabeth!

Today is Elizabeth's birthday!! She is 26 years old today and I am always so very excited to be able to pick up the phone and call to tell her happy birthday!! Until I reunited with Elizabeth, my mom would send me a birthday card every year on Elizabeth's birthday, just to let me know that she'd never forget her and hope that we would be able to know her someday. I don't get the cards anymore, Elizabeth does, and I'm ok with that!!! She is such a big part of my life now and it still amazes me how things turned out and that's just one more thing that I know God has done for me. I called Elizabeth this morning & left her a message letting her know that I have some birthday money for her. She LOVES having money to spend, so unless she has something specific that she wants for her birthday, I usually give her $100 to do what she wants with.

It's kind of nice to have nothing planned for the weekend! I have put myself on the sofa for the entire day with my laptop and a book (still reading A Good Yarn), and hopefully my mystery fever will leave me forever! It's been going away during the day and then sneaking back in the evenings. I'm not feeling bad at all and I don't think I have the stomach virus, so here I am, just resting and hanging out.

Walter is working on the pier today and it looks like he is pretty much finished with it. He is so incredibly smart and talented and i'm glad I have Mr. Wizard (as we affectionately call him) as my very own. He wants to build a covered deck next that will come off of the back porch so that we can move the bbq grill out there and have some more room for entertaining.

I will be leaving on Friday (if i'm cured of the mystery fever) for a weekend in Atlanta for my niece, Daphne's, 1st birthday. I'm going to ride with my mom & step-dad, and Cameron is possibly coming too. That isn't my week with him, so he's supposed to be deciding what he wants to do. It's about an 8 hour drive from here, so it isn't too bad. We will be staying at my cousin's house on Lake Lanier, so i'm excited about that, as well as seeing my cute little niece! I have only seen her once when she was about a month old.

I do appreciate the kind comments about JP and his situation. It is an uncomfortable topic for many people to talk about, but it is my reality and it helps me to talk about it, so hearing positive comments is really helpful to me, so thank you to my commenters!

Questions & Comments:

Chelle asked if Nadda (cat) meows when he's up to his nightly antics. No. And to be honest, he lives his life in "stealth mode" and only comes out of his closet bed if I'm home alone. Lately, he is able to come downstairs when Walter is home and due to the nightly sharing of pudding, they have bonded a little, but otherwise Nadda will freak out and run (picture back claws skidding across the wood floors until he makes it through the house & up the stairs.) Have I mentioned that he is on anxiety medicine? Another interesting thing is that he has JUST started to meow at all in the last few months. Cats learn to meow when they are communicating with people, and he never learned to speak up because he was a feral (wild) cat for the first 5 months of his life. If you don't tame a kitten in the first 8 - 10 weeks of their lives, chances are that their "window is closed" for making friends with people, and in the case like Nadda, where they are still able to make friends, they typically only bond with one person. Recently, I let him go outside with me and now he's started meowing at the door to go back out. He has the FUNNIEST meow i've ever heard, and now that he has learned to do it, he is starting to meow a lot!

Friday

I don't think i've mentioned that i've had a low grade fever off and on since Monday, but nothing much really and no other symptoms. I noticed it Tuesday evening, but then realized that while I was up 3 times Monday night with foot cramps and was having chills, that I must have had fever then. So, I've been resting, taking Advil, and feeling ok until last night. I could not fall asleep for anything, and I never have a problem with that. I was freezing and got up to get an extra blanket and 2am and decided to check my temperature and it was 102. Yikes. That is unusual for me, so I took some Advil and figured I'd better call the doctor when I woke up this morning, but then I woke up at 9:30 and no fever at all! Even now at 5pm! Weird! I hope it doesn't come back and I have a sneaky suspicision that it may be a stomach virus because my tummy isn't 100% happy, but hopefully it wont be anything too bad. I was going to have dinner with some of my graduate school friends tonight, but don't want to infect anyone, so I let them know that I will be staying home. Wahhhhh!!!

Walter & I went to look at some patio furniture at Home Depot today (he bribed me with lunch, so I drug myself out of bed) and saw a few sets that we like for the porch. We also found a really cute swing for the pier, but have to make sure it isn't too big. It is covered and really comfy. We went to Brewbachers for lunch and I had a grilled shrimp cobb salad. I have done good on my diet and am only within 2 lbs. of getting back to where I was when I cheated last Saturday. We did have a great dinner last night at Hilltop, although I could tell my stomach wasn't as happy as I was about eating, so I didn't eat a lot. It was delicious though!

I've been following the story about the 2 year old little girl, Caylee Anthony, who is missing in Florida. How sad is that story? It seems pretty clear that the mom knows where Caylee is and she probably isn't going to be found alive. The mother & grandmother have mental problems and it's sickening to watch them lie and cover up important details to protect themselves when the little girl is still missing. If you haven't read the detective's statement about all the mom's lies, you should! It is scary to think that someone could lie so easily and so often.

Not too much happening here today, especially with my self-inflicted bed rest (and mandatory Scrabulous game time on Facebook!!), so Walter & I will just be hanging out at home tonight. I hope you have a restful Friday night too!!

Questions & Comments:

Kim asked me if Nadda (the cat) does his silly little antics every day. I would say that most days he has done something, but they aren't always as funny as finding my sandal in his food bowl or socks in the toilet. This morning he went into the garbage can (or maybe it was on the floor next to the garbage?) and got the wrapper to the Listerine bottle and put it in the food bowl, but that wasn't anything big. He has actually dragged my shoes all the way up the stairs to get them to the food bowl!

Lesley asked how JJ (our gigantic cat) is doing. He is great and is in love with the screened in porch! He tries to jump into REALLY high windows in the house that Nadda can easily jump into, so he's a little frustrated lately, because he's entirely too big for most of that!!!

And Lesley wantedto know how I can "not pass out" when things happen with JP. I guess it comes from going through all that I have with him over the years. His drug addiction has made his life so unpredictable and you learn to anticipate a shock with every phone call from him or anyone calling about him, or in the case of being in jail, just learning that there is absolutely nothing you can do about anything - all that makes you learn to sit and wait. And honestly, I know that he will be okay because about a month before this nightmare started, I started to pray for God to work His will with JP (instead of the things i'd been praying for - keeping him safe, making sure he had food, etc.) and in no time, JP was "plucked" out of the lifestyle that he'd gotten too deeply into to get out and was put in jail where he is safe, has food, has a bed, has electricity, and I can see, talk, and write to him. I honestly believe if this hadn't happened, he would have been found dead by now. He refused to go back to treatment or do anything to change his lifestyle, so I had pretty much let go of him. He's been in jail for 17 months and is doing better than he's done in 10 years. He's drug free, mentally stable, and is learning serious lessons in life. There is really nothing I can do but offer emotional support and commissary money for snacks and writing supplies (he made a budget of $20/week, so I am fine with sending that - most inmates get nothing), and I can offer support if/when he gets out, IF he is willing to get help with his drug addiction, which he currently says he is. Currently, the DA's lowest offer for a plea deal for JP is 40 years! I am choosing God's plan because I know that he did not save JP from himself just to have him spend the rest of his life (and mine) in jail. So, I worry some, try not to think about it some, pray about it often, and wait and write! I will email you his address again and he did ask me the other day to see if other people would write to him, so if you're intersted, just give me your email address.