Outrageous water bills??

Are your water bills too high? THIS could be the reason. (Pet lovers will enjoy this one!)

Hello everyone! Hope you all had a great summer. I haven't posted in forever - between moving & trying to get the aliens registered in a new school district, it's been a little busy at my house.

I'm now 20 minutes from work/campus, not an hour and the aliens have gone from being in one of the worst school districts in the state to one of the best. The aliens started back to school last week, it was my turn this week. University classes started up full swing yesterday and I'm on day two of classes and already I can feel the sleep deprivation kicking in!

I managed to help both aliens get their homework finished off last night but by the time the dinner mess was cleaned up & they were asleep, I was ready to drop. It didn't help that alien #2 is breaking out with hives of a mysterious origin which prompted a run to the ER (no urgent care facilities around here) to get something better than Benedryl to help clear it up. We get to the ER & my choices are steroids (NOT) or Benedryl. So I choose the Benedryl. The Doc also gave my little alien something unexpected - Pepcid! It seems that it has antihistime properties that "work on a different level than Benedryl" as the Doc puts it. So....... the Rx he wrote is for Pepcid & Zyrtec (a heavenly allergy medicine - doesn't make you sleepy). Hopefully this will keep the itchies & scratchies at bay until we can find the cause of the problem.

Alien #1 is growing again - well, at least his feet are. He turned 12 in July and his feet are now a mens size 11! The scary part is the doctor keeps telling me he'll "grow into" his feet. What does this mean? A 7'3" kid????? YIKES!!!

The resident cats, Holly and Charlotte "Twinkles" are enjoying their new, more spacious home. We are having problems with Charlotte refusing to use the litter box. If anyone has any tips or tricks to fix this problem, I'm open to suggestions...... actually, I'm begging for help on this one. I'm using an all-natural plant extract solution in their water to alleviate anxiety (due to the move) and the pet soils cleaner from the pet store to clean where she is doing her messes. I don't know what else to try - help! I don't want to have to get rid of alien #2's new kitten.

I hope everyone out there in blogger-land is doing well & with summer winding down, I hope to catch up on all your blogs soon.

10 Words

I saw this over at Burfica's blog Don't Eat the Tomatoes. She gave me a letter and I'm supposed to come up with ten words that start with that letter & a short explanation of what that word means to me & how it relates to my life. So.... Burfica gave me the letter "D" and I thought about it for a few days and here's what I came up with. Here we go.....

1. Divorce - I think this one is self explanatory.

2. Delusional - I actually believe that one day my children will see the carpet in their room again when they clean it.

3. Dependable - If I'm nothing else, I am dependable. This could explain why everyone always wants to ask me to do things (bake sale, watch kids, etc) because they know if I say 'yes' they can count on me not retracting it.

4. Decadent - Referring to chocolate here - need I say more?

5. Demanding - Sometimes I feel life as a single mom is way too demanding. However, with lots of prayer & a little help from my friends, I muddle through.

6. Deadly - Ask any deer, me & my old Buick are a deadly combination. I'll admit, I haven't hit one in a long time but the three hits in three months still seems to qualify me as deadly when it comes to the deer.

7. Doughnuts - This sounds so silly but every time I smell fresh-made doughnuts I am reminded of when I was working a part time job at a bakery when Alien #1 was just old enough to start talking. I had come home from my 3am - noon shift & picked him up to go run some errands. I didn't bring home any doughnuts that day. The whole time Alien #1 kept saying, "Mama doughnuts" to which I kept replying, "No, sweetie. Mama didn't bring home any today." Finally at a long stoplight I turned around to look him in the eye and tell him one last time that NO I did NOT have any doughnuts (a little frustrated by this time). When I said my piece, he again said, "*sigh* Mama (big sniff like he's smelling something), doughnuts!" Ahhh... Mama finally understood - I SMELLED like doughnuts! Well, the way I remember it was cute, guess you had to be there.

8. Dirt - I love having a garden. Planting the seeds or plants into the ground and smelling the fresh warm dirt & feeling in my hands is one of life's' simple pleasures for me.

9. Dandelions - Call them weeds if you will but their sunny little faces are much welcome after the drab grey melting of the snow. I still pick them when they've gone to seed and make a wish before blowing the seeds into the wind. My boys call them wishing flowers.

10. Desire - There is a tremendous desire for my family and I to draw closer to the Lord daily. The stress going through a terrible divorce, my 3 car accidents, losing one family friend after another (5 in all) and then Grandma B, two near fatal accidents for my father, raising two children alone while working and going to school full time. If I didn't have God in my life, I simply wouldn't have made it through any of this. I'm not saying my life is any harder than anyone else's, as a matter of fact, by comparison my life is a lot easier than some people I know. I just have a tremendous desire for us to draw as close to God as we can, it's the glue that holds us together, mind, body & soul.

Finals are done!

Wow! It's been almost an entire month since I've posted! First off, HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!! With this last month full of studying & finals, it's been hard to post, but the semester is done! Finals are over!!! YEAH! Not to brag, but....... (here comes the bragging) I aced every class, ha! not bad for an old lady. ;) In all honesty, after being through such a bad marriage & with things being really rough trying to raise two kids on my own, I really felt I had to prove to myself I could do it. Now that I know I can, life somehow just seems a little brighter. I can raise two kids alone while working two part time jobs and attending college full time and still make the grade. I had to prove to myself I could make it.

Now, I'm packing to move. I found an apartment closer to school & work so the next month is going to be busy with weeding out the garbage, having a rummage sale & packing to move. Our new place is so much closer to the university & my work. I'm going from an hour drive to about 20 minutes each way - big difference. I'll also be so much closer to my friends which is great. The aliens will have a much better school district too so we all are better off.

So, I'll try to keep my blog updated a little better but no promises........ Hope everyone is doing well.

Happy Easter!!

Happy Easter Everyone! We had a lovely day, will post more about our international holiday in a day or so. I pray everyone had a blessed day, I sure did. God Bless

I Wanna Rock 'n Roll All Night............

Charlotte Twinkle-toes

Welcome the newest addition to our family, Charlotte Twinkle-toes. She's a 6 month old kitten from a local animal rescue shelter called "Tails" - they're awesome. She's got a short tail if you look at the pictures really close you can see it. We don't know if she lost it or was born that way. It seems she was born that way. Alien #2 picked her out as a late birthday present. She's a really love-bug but still is quite the active kitty too.

I'm glad we brought her home, she helped soften the blow of Mr. Kibbles passing on. I can't keep a hammie alive to save my soul. Thank the Lord cats are easier to keep alive! Anyway, Welcome to your new home Twinkle-toes!!!

The Pig Sty

This is what the aliens consider "liveable". Somewhere under there I know there used to be carpet.

Aliens

This is proof that my children are aliens. Meet Belly Bill & Belly Bob.

The older alien has his "girlfriend's" name tattooed in ink on his fanny. Guess who did it - Alien #2. The image of one alien bent over writing on the other one's bare bum is more than any mother should have to bear.

This is so wrong.

Taxes are done!

WooHoo! Finally done with taxes for another year. I would've been done much sooner but.....

School had me so busy I didn't get my taxes filed, figured I'd do it over spring break (love TurboTax online). No problem, until you get to the part where you have to enter your AGI from last year to file electronically. I couldn't find last year's return & the info was on my computer. No biggie except that Computer Guy was upgrading my PC & HE had my tax info! ARGGGG!

So... Get the PC back & then school is in full swing again for the last half of the semester and I couldn't get to it until tonight.

The best news of all - I get money back!!!! Yeah! There are advantages to being a single mom & college student rolled into one.

Holly & Soft Paws

My order of soft paws arrived in the mail and without too much trouble, we got them on the kitty last night. It's been 24 hours & she doesn't seem to mind them a bit. I didn't get scratched with "happy feet" last night either... nice.

90 years young

Happy 90th Birthday Grammy!! I love you!

Soft Claws

Soft Paws - Aren't these the coolest things? They're colored caps to put on your kitties' claws to keep them from scratching things. It's a painless and rather inexpensive alternative to declawing.

Spring Break is here!

Thanks to everyone for your support. I'm doing better since my last post. Your kind words meant the world to me.

I missed both of my mid-term exams because alien #2 was sick but was able to make-up both exams before we went on break so that's a good thing.

I'm such a geek - I'm spending my break setting up a web site for one class and reading to write a report for another. I just don't want to be so stressed & overly busy the second half of the semester.

Mr. Kibbles goes AWOL

Well, the hammies are at it again, escaping from the cage & running wild through the apartment. Four days of Alien #2 crying, whining and in general carrying on as if the world was coming to an end. I still couldn't catch that little bugger.

So, Saturday afternoon I run over to the local Ace Hardware & get a package of live mouse traps. We get home, set the traps & I lay down on the sofa to veg out while the aliens are playing outdoors. I no more start to doze off in the middle of my afternoon movie when I hear little scratching noises coming from the kitchen. HA! Success!!

I walk in, look at the traps and they haven't moved. Nothing. Still, I hear the tell-tale noises of small feeties scratching around on discarded something-or-another behind the trash can. Slowly, I move the trash can & there she is, Mr. Kibbles. I swoop down on her with a plastic cup and deposit her safely back into her cage.

Success.

What's your walk??

Your walk is: Crazy Take this quiz at QuizGalaxy.com

New Element Discovered - October 2005

New Element Discovered October 2005

The recent hurricane and gasoline issues helped prove existence of a new element. In early October [2005] a major research institution announced discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science. The new element has been named "Governmentium."

Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton like particles called peons. Since Gv has no electrons, it is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.

A minute amount of Gv causes one reaction to take over four days to complete, when it would normally take less than a second!

Gv has a normal half-life of 4 years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Gv is formed whenever morons reach a certain quantity in concentration.

This hypothetical quantity is referred to as "Critical Morass". When catalyzed with money, Gv becomes "Administratium" (Am) - an element which radiates just as much energy as Gv since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

Where's Waldo?

Cool pic isn't it? Would you believe this was found on a microchip? Yep! Click on the picture to read the story. Once there, click on that picture - it will take you to a page where you can view 10 of the over 300 images that have been found on microchips and a little ditty about the image found. There are more sites to view chip art and read a little more about it HERE, HERE, and HERE. Have fun!

Happy New Year from Mr. Kibbles & Suzie Snowflake

I hope you all had a very safe and happy New Year's Eve/New Year's Day celebration.

We awoke to a minor tragedy December 31st, Sparky (the hamster) had passed away in the night. It was her time, so I wasn't surprised when it happened. The aliens mourned for a couple of hours, went and took their grief out on the video games that the neighbor kid got for Christmas and when they arrived home mid-afternoon, we went to make a couple exchanges on Christmas items.

Once we were in the "big city", they decided they wanted to spend part of their Christmas money from Great-Granny on a new hamster each. Hamsters were very popular this season. In a town with a population of 150,000 there were only 2 female Siberian dwarf hamsters to be found - both at different pet stores about 30 minutes apart. Of course, I drove all over to collect the two little beasties and we were off for home. (I had NOTHING to do with the names. )

So, without further ado, I introduce you to Mr. Kibbles and Suzie Snowflake!