If I only had a Brain

Sticky post till Congress and Senate get back to work, new content further down


Rumor has it that Nancy has changed her mind. I highly doubt it but we will see how long of her paid vacation it will take her to truly make up her mind to get back to work. You may be ready to go to school, you may have no vacation time but Nancy hasn't even used up half of her paid vacation! And you are paying the bill my reader!


I have decided to keep a post of Nancy and Harry until they get back to work. There is no reason for any government official to be off on a paid vacation for five weeks while every American is suffering because they refuse to do what they were elected to do. All the people are wanting is a vote, not a done deal, not a debate a vote.

Nancy what you seem to skip right over is NO ONE person wrote the constitution, it was a group of men called together for the greater good of the group. Nancy you are not a Queen. You are an elected official. I do know my rights, and the two people that have violated them are You and Harry. Past time to do something about it, you have pushed Americans too far for too long.




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A New Day

I feel like a new woman! My Bunn coffee maker went kaput. For twenty-four hours I sat in a funk, wondering the cheapest way for me to get a pot of coffee. When you live out Starbucks is a special treat when you go to the big town with a Wal-Mart. There is a new great bistro downtown in my small town, but I could drink eight cups so fast. They don’t have wireless yet, it is on the way though. Then you add the cost and my lack of a working laptop, just no way for me to get my caffeine fix while I am on a computer.

Finally, like a bolt of lightening I remembered Mom had a coffee pot in her storage unit. Eureka, I was almost home free, I only had to find it and clean it. It is not a Bunn, but I have coffee! Yesterday I was so desperate I was trying to do a homemade brewing setup. It did not work. There is no substitute for hot brewed coffee! Today I feel like a rich queen with a pot of brewed coffee at my disposal.

My life is still full of changes, and I guess it will be until my body adjusts to Dunk being gone. We are packing him up, moving him out tomorrow. The same day Gator has a scrimmage, while Hubby is working out of town. If we can swing it, all I will be mother of the year, if not Dad maybe can pinch hit if he is off work when the game starts. If the game is during the day, we will both miss it, a first for Gator and us.

There is a part of me relieved that so much is taken care of for Dunk, and a part of me still worried can he handle his life with his life without me. I am confident he can, okay I pretend I am confident. When I explain repeatedly about his loan, I have inklings of doubt. He is going to open up a new account in the college town, and get a new ATM card. It will be his first ATM, you cannot have one until you turn eighteen. With the bank charges, there is no use to have an ATM from our bank, when this bank has ATMs on campus. A financial decision without us is a new one for Hubby and me. God knows we have tried to teach him financial good policies, but everyone makes mistakes.

I just never expected this day would come so fast. Tonight is his last night at home before college; he is ready to fly away. There is a trepidation moment in him from time to time, but overall we all know he wants to go and is ready to get there. I am not a smothering mom, never have been. I have raised my kids to be independent beings, because I know first hand when you over smother them it is hard transition. My kids know when they need us we are there in a heartbeat, but we have tried to put confidence in them that they know they don’t always need them.

When I think back, I know Dunk will learn what he is made of. He will find out how much I did for him, how much he can do, how strong he can be. How great his family is, and yes how great our wonderful little home is. A place with free room and board, soon it will seem perfect in every way. He fed the goats and cows last night, I am sure he will feed them tonight again. I wonder if he will stop and look for a moment. He has put off going to see Granny. He wants her not to cry. I told him that was not an option. He will have to deal with Granny crying, it is her nature.

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Really Unspectacular

Original Grits
and Patricia over at Communication Exchange revealed six really unspectacular quirks about themselves and has challenged me and several other bloggers to do the same. So here is my window into me! I am thrilled to be singled out by two great bloggers!

Here are the rules:

1. Link the person who tagged you.
2. Mention the rules
3. Tell six unspectacular quirks of yours.
4. Tag six bloggers by linking.
5. Leave a comment for each blogger.

Keeping my list to only six seems hard to me. So here goes!

1. I sleep in complete darkness, one light one makes me so uncomfortable I cannot think of sleep at all.

2. I call myself a Texan and I am but I went to six different grade school and three junior highs, and finally one high school.

3. Swore several times I would never marry a farmer, yes I said those exact words. Our love story is a long one but I do plan to blog about it.

4. My first cow was a Holstein, yet we have no dairy cows. She was an abandoned bottle baby we bought at an auction. From that day I loved cows.

5.I am a dual type of driver, out in our small town or the country I drive normal. But when I get to Austin or Dallas I become a competitive driver just like the rest.

6. I love highway driving, small country roads make a trip so long to me. Even though Hubby will drive every small road he finds, I head for a highway as soon I know one is near. I still have a lot of my big city girl ways I guess.

Okay to my nominations!

1. The Sustainable Backyard

2.A Rose By Name

3. It is Nap Time

4. According to Nessa

5. Charmaine Zoe

6. Alive Blog

Please visit these blogs I think you will find something unique about each one. I truly love to see each of these each day!

A Look Back at Last Year

Every day I am conquering something new. Tomorrow I hope to conquer my highlighting dilemma. I don’t have the funds to go to the best colorist I have ever been with, so I will attempt my own highlighting. I bought a kit with a cap, if it doesn’t work out my hair grows fast. Just like when I started cutting my own hair, there is a curve involved.

I am working on getting a schedule to work at home. This will allow me to homeschool, and gain some income at the same time. This income will help Sconicle and I do some special things that last year with lack of time, and funds were not possible. He needs more time with kids that are home schooled, since we live in a small town we have to drive farther to get to those kids. I think if we schedule it around errands, and other things we can make it. In some ways without Dunk around this year should be easier. It was very distracting, having Dunk coming home in the middle of the day. It was not a good schedule for our family. Our hardest balance issue is figuring out the best for everyone. Having two public schooled and one home schooled is not easy but you can make it work when you figure out how best to manage time.

I try to balance my time with each kid, with Dunk gone I hope my time will be easier to balance. I have cut back all most of my wasted times, when I volunteer and am not paid. I would love to volunteer all the time, but it is not a good idea when we need the income.

So as I expect Sconicle to get more serious, as he goes up in grades, I have to challenge myself to get more serious about time management. Gator is independent, and in home schooling it has been my greatest input for Sconicle to become independent working and a self starter. I do admit one thing I babied Dunk for far too long, those days are gone. Unfortunately the more babying you do the more you regret doing it. I was not as bad as some moms were. I did over help and over compensate for Dunk. Gator will have it harder up front sooner. Sink or swim that is my goal by his senior year. The other thing I did wrong was not handle his GPA on a daily basis, Gator will perform or else. I expect Sconicle to, and Gator can do it.

Each year we re evaluate what we did wrong during the school year and what we did right. I think I have a handle on what I need to change. Change can be good, especially when you get results. I am looking forward to next week when my theories will be put in place.

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Some Great songs!

Got a new source. I am linking a great video. All about Home.



Here is a behind the scenes video of a great song.




Finally the real Video! And Yes that is George doing his own stunts, he and his son Bubba do team roping competitions.



George Strait - Troubadour
Music Videos at www.yallwire.com

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Country Music Good Music!

This song reminds me of my Dunk. He is just a simple kid, God knows he has enough exposure and talent to write a great country song if he desires to.




I love Blake Shelton, his girlfriend is spunky as well. He loves a Texas girl, so even if he is from Oklahoma I like him.



Okay I have tried and tried to find a legal copy of this song to post. Gosh don't these guys know we need Weekend Eye Candy Videos!

Here is a link to Alan's Small Town's Southern Man.

Here is another great video that I cannot find the copy where I can put it here. Here is a link to Amarillo Sky, written by John Rich and sung by Jason Aldean. If only I controlled these stupid video rights!

Last and by no means least is the latest from John Rich! I am a big fan, and I am pleased to showcase his latest video.



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Elder Abuse Happens Often

My experience with Elder Abuse is not just one situation. I would love to say that the one daughter that I saw mistreat her mom was the only one I know about but I have seen so much.

Another neighbor was a nice couple, they are not from here but they moved here. At first, they seemed odd but committed to Texas. Then I found out the husband is committed to die in Texas his wife not so much. Fast forward a few years she develops Alzheimer’s and he is well not any more normal, you know the type they start out as eccentric but as they age there are no more adjectives left. Since she was always quiet and spoke broken English, I did not know she had Alzheimer’s. I just thought she was a bit tired, or confused from being in the Texas heat so long. Once I actually got into a situation where he was stuck on the floor unable to get up and she expected me to get him up. I realized she was far gone, it was a sad situation. He was refusing to allow medical treatment for himself. She was unable to care for herself or him. I was refusing to help him out mainly because we have helped him a few too many times. As well as other neighbors, there comes a time when you need real medical care. He pushed me too far.

My mom is safe and well cared for. I can sleep at night and know she is okay. My neighbor did agree to go to the local hospital. I found his wife had walked home close to dark. I called their daughter up north. She said her mother would be fine alone. This woman could not tell me the day, the time of day or even my own name. With the falling ordeal, I realized she had told the new neighbor her own wrong name. It is so sad to see a physically fit woman in her seventies with advanced Alzheimer’s. You add on top of her diagnosis the unwillingness for her family to come down and help her I was livid. She has four kids none of which seemed to be as concerned as her neighbors were. I know she was a fantastic mom, God knows she was a fabulous neighbor.

I found out a lot during this situation what you do, as a concerned citizen or neighbor. If you suspect a person is in trouble call 911, document it. The poor law enforcement came out and was expecting a little elderly small woman, whom they found was a tall physically fit woman in her seventies not her nineties. Once they spoke with her they came to the same conclusion that I did she needed help, and should never be left alone. It took several months for the family to come down and take her home. She longed for her home she had known for decades. The husband stayed here, he has health care workers come in. I guess dying in Texas means more than she does to him.

Never said it has a happy ending but at least the wife is a place that is safe and familiar for her.

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Budget Cutting Ideas

Time for me to fess up, this post is about money or the lack there of. Tomorrow Sconicle, Gator and I will round up all the cans we can find. I have gone through the process of pay per post, so I will have that possibility. Other than selling my kids or myself, I have to look at anything or anyway I can make some change.

The gas prices is still killing our budget, oh yeah it is lower but a year ago I never dreamed I would think $3.55 was a cheap price for gas. Hubby has to drive a long way to work, there is no other option, and the only jobs are not close by. With the animals, and the farm you have to stay close to the farm. This is the part of being a farm family that no matter what happens you can’t move land to be close to you.

I am sure I am one of millions of families trying to scribble a new budget trying to find the extra money for gas and all the other things up from a year ago. Misery loves company, and it seems to me there is enough misery to go around. Certain numbers I cannot seem to find a way around, auto insurance for us with an 18 yr old male is sky high. In the past, we could always cut out a few things and it would be a good fix. Right now, I just cannot see enough places to cut.

Here is where you come in I would like any ideas you have that could help my budget as well as any reader reading this. Great ideas are born from a need. My basic budget is mortgage, groceries, phone (land line no frills bottom-line), internet, satellite TV(not changeable unless we have no income), utilities (electric I am on a 2 year contract at a low rate, gas I barely use any, water just went up but what can I do?), auto insurance, cell phone but part of it is farm related.

So get to posting and let everyone know your expertise!

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Work Lessons

Tonight I thought I would write about my life BMK (before Marriage and Kids). I think some younger people think you were born boring, but no this has been a journey getting this boring.

When I was single, I was living in a suburb of Dallas. As I stated my family is from Dallas, and in so many ways, it will always be where I came from. I never seemed to work near my home, God knows I would try but I worked in Dallas during the Savings and Loan crashes. I had more companies on my resume that no longer existed than Carter had pills. It was not uncommon for me to work for a company six months before knowing they were shutting the doors. My friends that worked in government jobs I thought had it easy. You couldn’t shut down the government. It was a very common theme, we are “restructuring”, “re-organizing”, “doing a complete re-valufication”. They all meant one thing eventually the doors would close and I would be unemployed. No matter what new adjective they used, going out of business still hurt every time I experienced it. Each company would look so good on paper but the money was not there. The good thing about being a lower worker is you have no idea how solvent a company is, the bad thing is you have no idea how unsecured your job is. I did get good at picking myself up. I had the experience at it. What I wanted most was to find the perfect company and stay there. I felt like I was a woman continually picking a bad husband repeatedly. This was not unique to me, it happened all over Dallas and the southwest. It was a time where you don’t want to visit again.

I had a routine. I would come in take my suits to the cleaners, pick up a paper and start circling jobs. I got a job each time I looked for one. It taught me perseverance. I was stubborn for Dallas. I knew eventually I would end up on my feet employed for more than a few months and I did end up at a place I never thought I would be.

Where did I end up? I ended up doing a collection job at a psychiatric group of doctors. We had in-patient and out patient. I worked the phones during the lunch hour. I met and observed fascinating people, some celebrities even. I talked to addicts, many with serious psych problems and I loved it. I felt happy there, it was a job that I could have worked at until today. I had great bosses, my job changed responsibilities depending on the day of the week. Some days I would meet with clients, some days I would watch for security to make sure everyone was safe. No two days were completely alike, which made it exciting. My survival skills helped me identify with the patients, and my competitive nature made me want to collect more and more money. Had I not re-met Hubby I would still be working for the group I hope. I think back now and am grateful for all the lessons I learned through my work experience.

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