Labor Day Weekend, 2007

I had a day off to pack so I wouldn't be rushed and feel overwhelmed for our trip. I mailed off my postcards for the swap. Luckily I received two more before we left for Indy! I received a beautiful one from Erika Rae in Minnesota. I'd seen some of her work before via Susannah's blog. Erika drew a blonde curly haired lady with green eyes which reminded me of myself. Was she trying to draw me? Luzie of http://luziesnotes.wordpress.com sent the second one all the way from Berlin, Germany. Her artistic endeavor had my name upon it & and a lovely poem on the back. I was excited about all of them. They were a nice going away gift.

Don said I had way too much stuff to take so I eliminated one piece of excess baggage. So I did not take any snacks or anything to be artistic with except my Minolta with black and white film which I didn't use at all and the new digi camera. Rhett & I had to share a pillow.

We attempted to eat on the way to Opelika, but went on further into town to a McDonald's which wasn't the greatest of meals. Then the kids had to go. It literally flooded on us in Birmingham. It was raining so hard I just knew we were going to pull over, but we did not. We were only traveling 45 mph. I am quite sure there was a tornado somewhere by with all the lightning flashing. Thankfully we made it through the storm.

With Elisa driving I was pretty relaxed and eventually fell asleep. I cannot do this with Don's driving because he might fall asleep at the wheel. It all stems from a trip to Indy with Elisa in the back seat with Tatum. I fell asleep and woke up to bright brake lights coming towards me way too close for my comfort. I screamed, but not the bloody murder kind of scream from a nightmare or a scarey movie. I have not been the same since then. I'd explained it to other lady friends from church who seemed to understand.

Later into the early morning, Don did drive and I slept through many of those miles much to my surprise. Either I am getting too old and just can't stay awake in the wee hours of the morning. He always drives that last leg as if it is some unwritten law that he must be the one to pull into his folk's driveway. We arrived at 5 am to much cooler weather than we came from. My feet were frozen in my sandals. All the windows upstairs were wide open. I was the one to close them all. I had to borrow a pair of socks from Don to wear to bed. We slept about five hours which wasn't nearly long enough. Still felt pretty rough when the three of us arose. Lisa slept longer than any of us.

We had a very good lunch as always consisting of fresh yellow tomatoes (which I took a picture of & hope upload later...) and cream corn were my favorites. Then Shelby's birthday party was at 3 pm where there would be MORE food.

We had to stop in town so Lisa could get a gift card for Austin since we were not really sure if they were combining both birthdays. Tatum only brought her lavendar bedroom mules so she had to have a pair of shoes to wear. She got a pair of flip flops on sale for 53 cents! So we had yet another tale to tell explaining our lateness. I let Lisa tell it since it was really her story to tell.

Shelby looked absolutely beautiful in her pink ballerina costume. I did get some good pictures of her and others besides the ususal Shelby hiding her face pictures. There was one of her sitting on the outside stairs that was just perfect to me. She looks so sad with her hands on her face contemplating her birthday party. As I stated before in another post, Don bought her gifts. The pink dress he bought looked like it was big enough to swallow her little body whole. Later Kristina changed her from her ballerina outfit into the dress and it was just perfect. Don did good. I'll probably never hear the end of it. Shelby was gifted with two beagle puppies; one male and one female. Possible Katie & Petey. No one liked the name Petey. The grown ups came up with all sorts of name like Sonny & Cher and others I can't recall now.

Wesley and Shelby played dress up later in Shelby's room. Wesley had on one of Shelby's costumes which Kristina ordered on line from a lady who sold her daughter's old dancing costumes. It was a red, white & blue one. The outfit looked like it was made for Wesley. We all took pictures. Later Wesley added a sailor type cap with it, but by then we were tired and pictured out.

It was so sad to see Tyler's face broken out in the worst case of acne I have ever seen. It looked like he'd had plastic surgery and it had not healed properly.

After most of the party-goers left, except for family, we all walked out into Jason's woods or his own personal hunting land where ragweed was rampant and surrounded us. Lisa and myself looked as if we were crying from it.

I took two gorgeous Indiana sunsets. I am usually lucky at snapping them while there. Later we order pizza. We stayed til midnight.

Sunday we went to church, came home to another good meal. I had a hamburger, more corn and tomatoes. Afterwards I helped Helen with the dishes while everyone talked in the living room. Lisa brought her laptop but did not bring the right cords to print pictures of Helen's 80th birthday. Her Kodak digital had stopped working and Best Buy lost it, but replaced it with another more expensive type camera so we were both fledglings with our new digi cameras.

Late afternoon we all went to Bass Pro Shop which is becoming a new family tradition. The battery went out on my camera while we were there. Then we went to Walmart to get Wesley some OTC medicine. For once I only needed to buy something to drink. They had no caffeine free Pepsi. I could NOT live there!

As we went back to Jason's house, we traveled a new and different path. We always do something different when we visit. We didn't stay long because we were leaving early in the morning. Back at Grandma's we ate leftovers. I had a tomato sandwich, but the red tomatoes tasted too overly ripe. I worried they would make me sick. I had more cream corn also.

We shared pictures. Lisa of her mission trip and when she and Nate went to Niagra Falls. A second time for her. This time she had her camera down ON the ferry boat that takes you so near the falls you get wet. I shared my postcards I'd brought with me. I painted Tatum's nails with white and purple polish because she was begging Granbe (me) "When are you going to paint my nails?"

It was much warmer upstairs that night. I had to turn the ceiling fan on. Their new window must really be good or else I was too tired because I did not hear the roosters crowing the previous night. This night the fowl and crickets kept me from sleeping. I used Rhett's sound machine to help drown them out. I listened to waves crashing on the beach which relaxed me, but then I had to get up in the middle of the night and to go downstairs to the potty! I didn't listen anymore. Maybe I should have; maybe I would have slept better if I had.

That morning we left I had a case of the runs and felt really yucky. I had little recourse, but to take liquid Pepto. I went to the bathroom five times before we departed. I prayed most of the way that I wouldn't have an accident. Luckily I made it accident free. I slept some, but got choked and woke myself up. It felt like I only slept a minute. I asked Lisa if I snored. She said only a little. A woman doesn't like to be told she snores!

We arrived home early around 8 pm instead of our usual 11 or midnight. There were no postcards waiting for me much to my disappointment.

I didn't got to work the next day. I woke up going from freezing to hot and vice versa. I called in sick at work. I could just hear the supervisor's comments... I took Rhett on to school, came home and slept til about 10. The phone rang waking me up. I was dreaming it was 3 pm and I was late picking Rhett up from school! Tanika was calling about over time due today. Actually it was requested on Friday, but I was not present. I explained to her how to put it in the system.

Later I began reading A Girl's Guide to Vampires by Katie MacAlister. At least it was one book I could get into and did just that. I'd read almost half the book by the time to go pick up Rhett. After I fixed him a snack, I watched "General Hospital" then took a shower. Because we had a lot of left over biscuits from the Cracker Barrel, I fixed sausage and baked beans for supper so I wouldn't have to slave over a hot stove. I almost melted the honey jar in the microwave & dropped it on one of my throw rugs. Luckily the rug was there otherwise I would have been cleaning up the floor!

I received a beautiful picture postcard entitled "Sparkle" by Claire Harnett (aka BB) from England and www.becomingamethyst.blogspot.com. It made me feel cool on this hot summer day. I'd seen the picture on her blog before. The toes reminded me of my own. Similar Souls perhaps? My initials used to be BB. More commonalities we have.

This was one of those evening where Rhett took forever to do his homework which brought back reminders of the other time. Later Don and I watched some funny tv programs. One was a candid camera type. I'm sure it is filmed in Canada of maybe France. I just get that impression. Then we watched "I Caught". They ended the show with homemade videos of people holding or showing only 3 words. It made me think... what 3 words would I use...?

KEEP ON CREATING

You would have thought since I slept til 10, I wouldn't be sleepy, but I was so we went to bed early or it was early for me.

I went back to work the next day not feeling my best; not feeling like me. The crackers I bought along the journey home were stale. There were papers all over my desk. It felt like it took me a month and a half to get things in order. Later in the afternoon I noticed where I keep last year's time rosters stacked had been plundered through and replaced haphazzardly. Copies were all bent and random. When I began straightening them, it looked like they'd been dropped and thrown on the shelf. I was mad. I found out the supervisor had been through them looking for the over time. Obviously these were NOT the over time and she knew perfectly well they were not such. In fact, she almost told them we did not have an over time which would have went over well enough to cause the officers to riot! Eventually I got over my madness. I do not do her office like that when I am in there. Why should she treat mine like she did? Why is it what I wouldn't do to others, they do to me? This is not a feeling sorry myself statemen; just stating a fact of my life.

Hope you had a good Labor Day weekend.