texting

I  am grateful for a good many things.  One of the things may seem a bit sarcastic, but I am grateful that it occurred at Walmart of all places.  We all know about the "people of Walmart" and we've all seen some interesting folks at Walmart so the fact that this event happened at Walmart makes it a little less out of the ordinary.
I am not quite up to the technilogical speed of my children, but I do text from time to time.  If I text, its usually one of two people.... my BFF or my son.  I don't have a wide social network that I spend hours texting to.
However, this does not involve me texting my BFF or my son.
My husband and I were going to the store to pick some things up.  I had texted myself the list.  My husband was in a hurry and so when we got in Walmart he thought we might divide and conquer.  I got my phone out and was searching for my text message for myself.  My husband kept saying "what do you need?"  I said "Just a minute and I'll tell you."  to which my husband said "Can you stop texting long enough to tell me what you need?"  WELL.... that REALLLY pissed me off.  It doesn't help that I have PMS either.  I took my cell phone with the list I had just found and literally shoved it in his face and said in a raised voice "The list is right here.  I'm not texting anybody!  I was looking for the list that I had texted myself.  Back off!"
Like I said.  I'm grateful that this happened at Walmart and not someplace else.

a vacation full of grateful

While I was on vacation, I knew I would not be able to post my daily "five things".  That does not mean, however, that I did not scribble them down on a piece of paper on a daily basis.  The beach is not necessarily my favorite place.  I do not enjoy sand in my netherregions.  So it did me good to remind myself of things I was grateful for.  I brought them all back.  The entire week's worth to be shared with whoever might be amused.  And here it is:

Monday:  arrived safely, I got to hold Callie the whole trip, a yummy supper, great camp site, Steven's thermal invention for the camper
Tuesday:  no major fights among family members, nobody got sunburned, the showers remind me of my grandmother's house, Steven walking the dogs with me, the little blue lights that hang around our camp
Wednesday:  supper at Toucan's, lots of reading time, Avery got to spend time with her grandmother, my kindle finally downloaded a new book, spf50
Thursday:  walks with the dogs, allergy meds, shower got unclogged, I found my book, oversized PJ's
Friday:  bacon, the opportunity to read a good trilogy, no major family altercations, time out in a cool movie theater, my husband taking the shih tzus for their morning walk
Saturday:  watching sunsets on the beach, nobody got sunburned this year, a chance to take a long nap, that the dogs are washable, that I got some cool bumper stickers to "hippy-up" my car
Sunday:  we are home, we had a safe trip, there were no dead rodent presents from the cats, there were no piles of :revenge poop" from TingTing, my talented kid gets to go to Julliard camp in the morning.

the chipmunk loose in my house

There is a chipmunk loose in my house.  I am grateful he is alive.  There are 4 cats, 2 shih tzus (who think they are secret killer ninja shih tzus but they're not) and a 70 pound dog who has a record of killing a guinea pig, a chicken, and a baby bunny.  fortunately at first, the chipmunk was contained to my son's room.  The kids and I speculate that he came in through a hole leading to the attic but my husband insists that one of the cats brought the chipmunk in.
My husband and I went looking for him last night so we could save him from the evil clutches of the cats.  The chicken killing dog had gone to spend the week at a friend's house (and most probably kill yet another one of their chickens) while we go on vacation. We were unable to locate the poor creature and gave up on the search after a while.
I had fallen asleep on the couch last night and this morning I heard my girl shih tzu barking at something incessantly.  It could only be one thing.  The chipmunk.  She was barking at the floor speaker in the corner of our family room, so I knew she couldn't get to the little guy.  Half asleep I went and got a box so that I could attempt to scoop the chipmunk into it and return him to the much safer environment of outside.  I moved the box.  He's a quick little fellow.  He ran to behind something else on the floor and hid behind it.  *sigh*.  My husband is still asleep and its probably not the best idea to wake him up to engage him in a game of chipmunk chase.  the shih tzus keep running around and looking under the couch, under a table, in the fireplace (one of my shih tzus is not the sharpest tool in the shed but we love him dearly).  Right now the cats seem oblivious.  My cat that likes to bring me dead things is asleep upstairs and only one cat seems to be up and awake and she is mewing at me to give her kitty treats (no she's not hungry.  She has a bowl full of food.  She wants kitty treats.  She thinks she is royalty and I am her lady in waiting.  I am sure she has fired me several times over for not meeting her demands and is puzzled why I still keep showing up for work).
So, we will see what becomes of the chipmunk saga.  I hope we get him out of the house before we leave for vacation.  He is a brave soul to venture into the Dukes household.  Namaste, little chippy.

there's got to be a morning after

Today is the day after the supposed rapture was supposed to occur.  I admit that I was outside at 5:55pm and did send a text to my son telling him that I love him.  At 6:01pm it appeared that nobody had left the planet with the exception of my cell phone charger.  So perhaps there was a special rapture yesterday for cell phone chargers and certain electrical devices.  You might want to check and see if all of your remotes are still present and accounted for.
Even in the event of the Rapture, I'm not one of the ones going anywhere.  I happen to live by Buddhist principals so technically I'll be left here on the big blue marble.  I guess my curiosity was such that if there was indeed a Rapture, who was actually going and who was going to still be here with me.
So today is just another day.  I'll be doing laundry and hopefully working on a painting I'm doing for our remodeled family room and going about life as we now sit and wait to see what fate befalls us on  Dec 21, 2012.

hump day

Today is over the hump day.  This also means that none of the evening TV shows that I am addicted to are on tonight.  My hubby gets home from D.C. today but he won't be home until somewhere around 9pm so I guess it will be me and a book this evening (and the shih tzus and a cat or two).
In just a matter of days, however, it will be me and Captain Jack Sparrow.  YUM!  Ok, my husband knows that I have a thing for Johnny Depp and I probably have a thing for Johnny Depp even more as Jack Sparrow.  I've tried to convince him (my husband, not Johnny Depp) to put a few beads in his beard and take on the whole Captain Jack Sparrow persona and maybe we could have some fun, but he's not humored me yet.  No sense of fun.
On another note, a couple of the dogs I helped to groom yesterday were exceptionally sweet.  It was hard to come up with my "dog of the day".  One was a rescued shih tzu from an abused background.  One was a terrier mix that had been found abandoned under some of the plastic sheeting they put up when they are marking off barriers.  And one was a spoiled rotten 5 month old shih-poo.  The last one was a bundle of fluff and energy and puppy kisses.  We had several more but those were the ones that stole my heart and where I had to keep reminding myself that I was not their mommy.
Ok.  Time to get out of bed and see if I can make the shih tzus clean up around here. (not likely)  I guess I'll have to do it and in that case I'm going to need a cup of coffee.

must wash dogs

Its really a good thing that dogs are washable.  The shih tzus took a romp through the back yard this morning and they are no longer these snowy white fluffy puppies.  They look like they've been mining for coal, or perhaps like they are orphan children from Oliver Twist.  *sigh*.  Washing to dogs was not on my to-do list today but I guess I'm going to have to work it in.  I AM grateful that they can be washed.  I don't know that I would attempt to do to my cats what I am going to do to them.  Perhaps if I have enough coffee with cinnamon vanilla creamer it will take the edge off of the experience.
I was actually looking forward to working on some paintings that will go in our newly renovated family room.  Its not quite finished but its near enough to completion that I should probably get on the ball with it.  I really need to be in a clear frame of mind to paint so I'm going to have to scrub the dogs before I tackle the painting.  My boys were helpful yesterday in removing some of the items in the family room and helping me sweep and mop the floor.  There's still some electrical and carpentry work that Steven needs to do.  I am sure I would short circuit the house and electrocute myself if I tried anything and since that is not my preferred method of suicide I'll wait for Steven to get home from D.C.
We're getting some rain.  And while it does contribute to my dogs looking (and smelling) disgusting, I am hoping that it will wash away some of the pollen so that I can quit working on perfecting the nose tampon.

Sunday

The weekend is almost over and so far there haven't been any major screaming and yelling matches which I am indeed grateful for.  Also, nobody has caused themselves or another any major bodily harm so that always helps as well.
I squeezed in some time last night to give Callie a much needed bath.  She's such a pretty little dog but she get dirty and stinky in a heartbeat.  She now looks like a cute little princess which I'm  hoping will last at least until about noon today.
TCBY last night was not only yummy but it also felt great on my sore/scratchy throat.  Maybe I need a solo visit again today. haha.  You don't think I'd actually get away with that, now do you?
Our golf cart is being repaired so we are currently without a golf cart.  that is a serious bummer here in PTC.  It sure would be nice to put the kids and the puppies on the golf cart and go for a drive around the lake this evening, but it looks like we won't be getting it back until next week.  I'm sure when we get it back it will make my grateful list.  Then the kids will be able to take themselves to school and get themselves around a bit more, relieving me of my chauffering duties.