Tired of Winter...I'm a Weather Sissy

Just got home from work again...seems like I always am. When I work these long work weeks (14 days) I try to sleep until I have to get up to get ready for work. I don't get much done around the house during the day but I feel better and have more energy to do house work when I get home. I am sure the kids are tired of hearing the vacuum cleaner running at midnight but when they wake up the dishes are done and the dog hair is off the carpets.

Of course I squeeze in blogging first (priorities) so they have to put up with me rambling around the downstairs like the "Cleaning Troll." I have the dogs to keep me company and they haven't complained once about the late night cleaning so I'm sticking to my current schedule.

Work was crazy. Now I remember why I quit working Saturday nights. I went in at 1:30 and worked til 10:00. Most everyone I waited on was nice but it was in such rapid fire motion that I began lose track of not only time but my mind and patience.

There is one couple that comes in several times a week. If I am there they ask for my table and then the fun begins. (NOT)

Something is always wrong or not to their liking. I mean, if I ate at a restaurant that always got it wrong I think I would go elsewhere. Not them ! They feed on the attention they get from the managers...who bend over backwards to kow tow to them. I realize that they spend a great deal of money in our store, but half the time the gripes are unfounded and they still get treated like we are in the wrong and owe them something when in fact we don't.

If they would just smile every once in a while it would make it a lot easier to take. They come in looking like they just lost their best friend and even when everything is perfect they act the same. Kind of a pitiful way to live your life if you ask me. They were my only negative table though and I got to wait on several regulars that I haven't seen since I quit working Saturdays.

I banked and even though it was an almost ten hour shift it all worked out to my advantage.

My manager asked me if I would be willing to work overtime on Valentine week...they hound me every week about my hours but when they need extra help they act like they are doing me a favor when in fact I am helping THEM!

I told him of course I would and started plotting right then and there.

Since management OK'd overtime for me that week, I am going to pick up every available shift I can. Heck...I bet I can squeeze 80 hours into that week if I try hard enough. I can make the house note and pay some of Massey's band dues off and maybe even have some money left to buy me some new underwear. If I got in car wreck and the paramedics had to strip me down to my underwear ...I would die of embarrassment, not the injuries!

I remember when I was little , my mom always told me to wear good underwear in case something happened. I guess she was looking out for her good name as my mother, but I have that tidbit of info stored in my brain and think of that every time I pull on a ratty pair of panties and get in my car to go to work. It makes me drive all that more carefully.

Isn't it weird the things you remember your mother taught you as a kid? I never cross my eyes anymore or even swallow chewing gum. You'll never catch ME sitting too close to the TV set or driving less than three car links behind a car going thirty miles per hour.

Thank goodness my mom died before cell phones were invented...she would already have me at the Neurologist's checking for that brain tumor.

It has been a dismal past year for us, but things are looking up and I am ready for Spring. I am ready to work in the yards and get that sun that my mother also warned me about.

I am so crazy anyway that she is probably already rolling over in her grave thinking "How is she going to survive without me?"

I have been wondering that SAME thing for almost 34 years.

Til next time...

COTTON

The Long and Winding Road...With Speed Bumps

Zach isn't home tonight so I decided to write about him without the worry of him coming in and seeing that I was exposing him to the "Blog" world.
He has traveled a long and winding road in his 17 years.

The first picture is when he was still a sweet little toddler..not ashamed of the fact that he was not only wearing Barney sneakers but holding Barney as well... astride a Batman bike with training wheels. Oh if they could only remain in that stage til they moved out!

Then comes the Halloween picture as a tough Mortal Combat character...with his Snow Princess sister by his side. I don't think he's stood that close to Massey since this picture was taken. I loved that age as well. He was just starting to grow up but was still comfortable enough with me putting finger nail polish on his chigger bites on his privates in the summer when he got infested in the woods behind our house or the time he was so sick with the stomach flu that he wandered into my room and said "Will you put that medicine up my butt again to make me stop throwing up?" (You can't raise kids without suppositories on hand.)

Then we move onto the tough phase when they first hit middle school and think they know EVERYTHING...Really, They DO (NOT)

He grew his hair out so long that he made Cousin "It" on the Addams family look like a preppy. The more I encouraged a hair cut the longer he wanted it. Finally one summer day a girl at the pool told him he would be cute if he had shorter hair...the next day he asked me to take him to get a hair cut!

Since he was a "Man" now I stayed in the car and let him go in on his own. BIG MISTAKE !

He came out styling a Mohawk with liberty spikes.

We let him keep it and for the first time he got up an hour early for school every day just to glue his spikes up and make sure his "Coif" was perfect.

No wonder I have so many lines on my face.

He is now seventeen...somewhat better and somewhat worse.

He has finally come into his own and started to realize his potential as an academic. He is the brightest kid I have and has refused til now to use his potential to his advantage...fighting authority figures and teachers every step of his skinny way .

He has had ups and downs...he has been in trouble a couple of times but has worked his own way back to normalcy (for a 17 year old boy.)

I once again enjoy being around him and take comfort in the fact that he ends every cell phone call to me with "I love you."

What more could you want from a child that has grown into young adulthood than still having them not only love you but TELL you every day?

Okay...two down and one to go.

UH OH !! The last one is a female.

God help me...

Til next time...COTTON

Be sure to click on each photo...

Three Kids Asleep...Three Kids Still Up

Just walked in from work. Didn't think tonight would ever end! At least the kids were all in bed and the house is nice and quiet. My OTHER three kids were still awake and waiting right by the kitchen door for Mama to come in and give them some loving.

The tipping Gods smiled upon me tonight...it seemed they were just throwing money at me and thank goodness I am a pretty good "Catcher On The Fly." (little shout out to JD Salinger.)


Every table I had was nice ...only one guy left me $5 on a $48 tab. Hey! Not bad all in all. You know what they say "One bad apple."

I was so tired when I went in at four that I almost asked to go home. I've worked the past seven days and have seven more to go. Once it starts getting busy though I am alright...just takes a while for this ole woman to get her engine running sometimes. I work with mostly all young people in their early twenties...well "I" work...mostly they complain and hide in the bathroom with their cell phone texting their friends about how awful it is to have to be at work on Karaoke night. They probably add those little musical notes in their text (where do they find those? I've often wondered.) It took me forever to just learn how to make smiley faces with punctuation marks.

I was glad I hung in there ... made better money than I have made all week, so the back ache and twisted ankle I have been limping on for three days felt better til I went to the back of the kitchen to check out and stepped in a huge puddle of water that soaked both my feet and made the rode home cold and damp.

Once in the house the dogs couldn't seem to stay away from my shoes...they could care less if it is kitchen slop, just smells like steak to them and I had to put my shoes in the garage for them to settle down for their "blog picture."

Tim had an interview today WOO HOO ! I was long gone to work when he got back and now he is at Wally World stocking shelves so I won't talk to him til morning. I hope it went well. The other night when I rolled the trash out to the street I saw a beautiful falling star and made a wish for Tim. I think it was God telling me to hang in there just a bit longer and wanted to send me a sign that he was still looking out for us.

Time to go iron a shirt for tomorrow...if I iron a shirt the night before and take a bath...it gives me thirty more minutes in the bed in the morning . I have myself on a strict 20 minute schedule from wake up to walking out the door for work. With my low maintenance hair and a pre ironed shirt sometimes I can make it out the door in 15 minutes. I've thought about shaving my head like Britney Spears did and sleeping in my car with my cell phone as an alarm clock and I can knock it down to 10 minutes EASY!

Tomorrow is a day shift (my favorite kind) and I can spend the entire night with the kids and cook them an actual meal that doesn't involve a microwave.

It is such a relief to at least have Tim back to work even if it is part time (I know it is a HUGE relief for him) and I have three great kids that haven't complained once in the past year.

I think my dogs are secretly trying to teach each other how to speak English so they can bitch...but they are dummies and will never master it (I hope.) Thank goodness they say English is the hardest language to learn!

Thanks to everyone that reads my blog, helps me out and prays for me. Your prayers are so important to me and I can feel the tide changing.

Just pray it's not a tsunami!

Til next time...An older, tired but hopeful COTTON

Parent Paranoia Will Destroy Ya...

Massey's friend is coming tonight to join our crazy family for a week while her parents go to Michigan to find a house for their transfer of employment for the dad.

Thank goodness they have no clue about my blog or they would have the plane turned around on the tarmac.

I got home from work just in time to take Massey to guard practice. It was all worked out...I would let Tim sleep til time to go pick Massey up @ nine and they would swing by and pick up her friend, and bring her home to stay with us for a week.

I went to the store after taking Massey to practice and bought some junk food, nutritious food and some water bottles that were on sale.

I came back home and began to tackle Massey's room that ALWAYS looks like Katrina has just roared through .

It took two hours just to go through her dresser and sort the clothes...putting the summer clothes she had sworn she had put in the garage actually IN the garage... and throwing away so much "crap" off the floor I knew she would never miss.

In the last drawer of her dresser I found a VCR tape labeled "Paradise in Paris." My heart fell to my feet. It wasn't in a box and I couldn't see a rating on the tape. It was buried beneath what was her underwear drawer ... visions of when TJ turned sixteen and I found his printed off(color) copy of Pamela Lee Anderson totally nude that had used half of my color ink cartridge from my printer came to mind...that was the day the computer was moved into the dining room.

I asked my husband if he had seen the "PARIS" tape before and he said no. I couldn't read the side of the VCR tape because it was old and so are my eyes.

I took it downstairs with a heart so heavy ... wondering which friends were fixing to be banned not only from her phone but from her Facebook.

I got into my kitchen... with that horrible florescent lighting and put on my granny glasses.

The side of the tape read "Mary Kate and Ashley Go to Paris."

It was one of her old Olsen twins movies that she was so hooked on in elementary school.

She wasn't going to the kinky side...she is just extremely lazy on cleaning out her dresser.

I didn't even tell her what had happened...I make myself look stupid enough on my own without admitting to mistakes she doesn't know about!

I was truly relieved... and my husband is still laughing at me.

HEY!! With teens you have to be on top of them before they snow you under.

Luckily my girl gets away this time with just being a slob...a mess and a terrible cleaner.

On top of that...her friend had a lot of homework tonight and won't be coming to our house til tomorrow after school... by THAT time Massey's room will be a wreck again...minus one "Paradise in Paris" video.

God bless Massey...her mom is a KOOK!

RAIN RAIN GO AWAY !!!

"It rained for forty days and forty nights." Well maybe not THAT long but it sure feels like it. Went into work early and got off late...it was raining before I went in and still raining when I left.

Just letting the dogs go outside is a major ordeal. Once the back door is opened they all three take off like a shot trying to beat the other one to NO WHERE. Mud is all on their underside, especially the bull dog who sits so close to the ground I should have named him "Low Rider."

The female boxer has talons where her claws should be and it's like wiping the feet of a hawk who has been using Sally Hansen's growth formula.

The male boxer isn't quite so bad but when I let them in one at a time to wipe their paws, instead of standing on the beach towel like the other two..he lays down immediately on the towel. No getting under that belly or even being able to wipe his feet as the 100 pounds lays solidly on the towel like "See...I'm the GOOD one."

All three of them follow me from room to room. All day and all night. If I make a move so do all three of them. Maybe I should start living in the garage til this monsoon ends.

I've used more beach towels this winter than I did all summer...and still have paw prints on my once semi white kitchen floor.

I love them though...they are the only ones that don't complain or ask for something from me.

I have to get my male boxer a girlfriend though. He is at that age where he is humping ready. He's proven to be hetero...doesn't show much interest in the bull dog but every once in a while goes crazy over Rosie, my female boxer (and she's fixed for Pete's sake.) Not to mention that Rosie is his AUNT!!

When he starts his desperate attempts at wooing Rosie, my husband says "Ham is after his "Aunt Girlfriend again."

Such is the life in a household with three mutts...but I could do with the rain going away for more than three days at a time.

At least I am off of work finally. I had a couple that came in thirty minutes before closing to sit and make out at the table for over an hour and then tried to pay with a gift card from Outback Steakhouse. I went back to the table and said nicely "This is an Outback gift card" and said he "I know...it was a gift. Cool, huh?"

I told him he wasn't at Outback but yes it WAS a cool gift.

Then five minutes before closing an older couple came strolling in to eat as well. Just wasn't my night. At least the older couple ordered right off the bat and ate quickly while watching my other table slobber all other each other.

The older couple tipped me well...probably for the free peep show. The younger make out marathoners left me five bucks on a $60 tab. I guess being able to see the depth of their love for each other was part of my compensation.

I was just glad to get out of there and head home to let the dogs out and wipe their paws again when they tramped back in.

As you can see they are all once again snuggled around the table where I type on the computer. They don't tip...but they show their love.

Tim is at work til in the morning so I will head up to bed to let them follow me up the steps . The bulldog goes under the king size bed like a troll..his back two digits always sticking out just to let me know he is there. The female boxer goes back downstairs eventually to curl up on the sofa and Ham jumps up on my king size bed to sleep back to back against me (he is so stinkin warm) with his head on Tim's pillow snoring loudly away like Homer Simpson.

When Tim comes through the downstairs door at 7:30 in the morning Ham jumps off the bed like "uh oh...Daddy's home" and I simply turn Tim's pillow over before he gets up the steps and say "Hey honey...how was work?"

How long can I keep up this routine? Pretty long if I just wash his pillow case three times a week.

Til next time "A sneaky wife" AKA Coniving Cotton

Guard Season Crankin' Up Again

Just got home from Massey's first Winter Guard competition. My sister went with me and we left for Harrison High School with about "NO" minutes to spare. The school is 60 miles away and Massey's performance was at 6:34. We left Newnan at 5:20 and screeched onto the Interstate praying that traffic was light and the directions were right!

Of course Massey had called me about thirty minutes before making sure I had left in plenty of time to get there (Yeah...RIGHT)

I'll have to hand it to Google..the directions were perfect (sometimes they are WAY off the mark.)

As we approached the last mile of the journey we had ten minutes til she took the floor in competition. As I shot my car into the parking lot of the school it was was packed so I jumped out at the front door and left my sister to park the car and meet me inside.

I got into the gym as the girls were rolling out their tarp to perform on...no sign of my sister yet and scrambled to the far end of the packed gym to get a seat.

When a group performs the doors are shut to the gym and no one can enter or leave til the performance is over. As the gym doors were swinging shut my sister slid through sideways and made it in!

The above picture is of them right before they started their performance (one minute after I ran through the gym doors.)

Two tickets for a four minute performance $16.... Gas for the ride there and back $15....Smile on my daughter's face when she knew not only her Mom but her Aunt were there to see her..PRICELESS.

I seem to have God in my corner every time I race to one of these events. Like an idiot I never leave with any time to spare and told my sister I haven't seen Massey perform once without still sweating from the race from my car to the arena and haven't caught my breath until her performance is over.

After they performed I met back up with my sister who had slipped in under the wire at the other end of the gym and we went to wait on Massey to change and come back .

We stayed to watch about about six or seven other groups perform surrounded by Massey and her guard team on the less crowded visitors side of the gym. When the first group started to perform my sister was whispering something in my ear and Massey immediately said "Mama...shh."

There is a strict unwritten rule that you give every guard team the respect and attention you would give your own (Guess I missed that one in the handbook.)

After that my sister and I behaved properly and had a really good time sitting with Massey's team in the stands watching the others perform.

It is a great group she is a part of and the friendship and camaraderie always makes me smile. To see teens having not only a good time together but respecting other teams and bonding with other guards as well makes me happy that she has chosen this group to join.

On the way home...thank goodness we weren't under 'time' pressure...a girl in the car in front of us on Cobb Parkway (a really busy highway) not only had her interior light on but was applying mascara as she drove in the fog and drizzle. She probably had a blue tooth too and was chatting as she drove and applied her make up on a busy road in the dark and the rain.

She obviously was more of a professional driver than me...she made the turn onto the highway and I missed it..stinkin young kids think they are SO smart...hey... maybe they are!

Next competition is in two weeks in Tennessee. I had better leave REALLY early for that one!!

Til next time Cruising COTTON

When Life is in the crapper...Suck it UP

As if we haven't had it hard enough...our septic tank is backed up. I don't mean my financial or emotional tank but our actual septic tank. Although my emotional and financial tanks are gurgling as I type...the septic tank is telling me "S--- happens."


A week ago I noticed some funky activity in the downstairs toilet. Just a random 'glug glug' sound from the toilet on the bottom floor of our house. When I would go in to investigate it appeared that my toilet was burping bubbles for no apparent reason. I bought some rid x and poured it down the john and flushed.



Next day I thought my problems had been flushed away. BOY was I wrong! The laundry room is right across the hall from the bathroom and when I washed my sheets and comforter I heard water running and walked into the bathroom to discover two inches of warm soapy water on my bathroom floor... all coming out of the toilet and pouring onto my bathroom floor.



HOORAY!! One more thing going wrong at the wrong time.



At least it wasn't "Dooky" but simply the washer emptying up through my toilet and flooding my bathroom floor. After using every towel in my house to sop up the mess I turned the water off behind the toilet and simply went to bed hoping it would just be a bad dream in the morning.

NOT SO...

My sister came over and ran a snake through the washer pipe and came up with some lint but seemed there was nothing else blocking the way.

I tried flushing the toilet again and at first thought we had success.

NOT SO...AGAIN.

Two minutes later I heard the gurgling sound and went to get more towels before the water started pouring out once again.

GEEZ LOUISE.... give me a break!

We determined when talking to a septic company (after my sister came back over and smelled sewage in my front yard area) that we needed our septic tank pumped.



If that ain't some S*#%!!!

Once again more Angels appeared in our lives. After putting my family on their prayer list at my sister's church, some wonderful people got together and told her they were mailing me a check to have my septic tank pumped. I was struggling to pay our mortgage and barely had $$ left to put gas in my car.



They are coming to pump my septic tank and we will be able to not only relieve ourselves without worry of a "crap shoot" but will be able to wash clothes again as well.

While I was at work today working a ten hour shift, my sister came over and cleaned my house...took home my laundry to wash and left dinner simmering in a crock pot on my counter.

One thing I have learned is that Zach "Plunges" like a girl. When I was sopping up water and asked him to use the plunger to try and make the oncoming tsunami smaller he put his fore finger on top of the plunger handle and pushed slowly "up, down, up, down." I snatched it out of his hand as the water hit the top of the bowl and began furiously jamming the plunger fast and as hard as I could. He asked me if I was mad and I told him no...that is just the way you are supposed to use a plunger.

When the septic people pumped out our tank they said the filter cap was missing and we still needed our lines snaked...$150 for the cap and $185 for the snake. We declined their generous offer. I suppose we will have to have the cap replaced but that goes on my "To Do-Do" list. At least I can wash clothes again and flush the toilet after peeing without a plunger between my legs.

Massey called me at work tonight (the kids ALWAYS call between 6 and 7... like that is my slow time at the restaurant) to ask if a good friend of hers can stay with us for a week while her parents fly to Michigan to look for a new house to relocate to. For Pete's sake...if I am having trouble feeding five family members and three dogs...what's one more teen age girl?

She has a lot of family issues and is a dear sweet girl just trying to have a happy time being a teen...so I said yes (like an idiot.)

Maybe she will know how to use a plunger properly ! If not, I can teach her.

Work has picked up some and I have resigned myself to be happy to have a job and have put leaving my place of employment on the back burner. I still plan on finding a new job, but would be crazy (er) to leave a paycheck that is certain most of the time for the unknown...especially in this economy. Now that I have another mouth to feed coming on board for a week (I hope she likes Kibbles and Bits) my strategy has to adapt to the new situation.

I told Massey that so many people have helped us out...it is time to start helping others. At least this girl is extremely sweet and seems to LOVE being with us (much stress relief for her.)

So my "Crap" has been sucked up and paid for by Angels... work is going okay...and Tim picked up a third part time job (Thank goodness since our family just grew by one for a week.)

One thing I can say is that life is never dull in our house. It is a house constantly filled with teens (a good thing in my book) and a place that they seem to enjoy.

Thanks to my sister and brother and the many other people that have helped in so many ways... in the words of the wise Dr. King...

WE SHALL OVERCOME !!

Til next time... "Flushin' Freely" COTTON

Return of "The Girls"

Went into work yesterday and about noon the walkers and wheelchairs came clanking through the doors of the restaurant..."The Girls" were back for another visit!

Same two care givers were with them and they had a couple of new faces with them. It takes them forever and a day just to get everyone seated and settled in.

They had a hot little firecracker from Ireland with them that was cracking me up. She wanted hot tea...and two minutes after we set her mug of steaming water in front of her she hollered (quite loudly) at me "Hey...this water is Luke warm at best!" I went to pick the mug up and it was hot, but I told her I would be right back with a new cup of hot water. I told the cooks to nuke the water in the microwave and took her back a cup that could burn off finger prints. She haughtily said "That's more like it" and was satisfied for another two minutes. She had taken her dinner napkin and spread it out under her dinner plate like a table cloth and was buttering a piece of bread with the small ramekin of butter that comes with the bread baskets. As I walked by her she said "I need another wee pot of butter for my bread." I came back with her "Wee Pot" of butter and by then of course her water was Luke warm again and had to replaced for the second time in a five minute span. This didn't bother me in the least.

I love waiting on these delightful ladies every time they come into our store ... they can boss me around all they want and I will hurry back to the table for more directions and requests.

They had a"Dapper Dan" with them on this trip and a lovely couple (he was in a wheel chair) his wife sat by him the entire time holding and rubbing his hand and the look in her eyes said that this was the most important man in her life and she was proud to still have him beside her...even if it was in a wheel chair and he had to be told what to do and helped through the entire eating process.

Ole "Dapper Dan" was on his own (swinging bachelor) and wandered off a couple of times from the table. At one point when every one was finishing their lunch he wandered back to the kitchen area to announce that he was with the big group but he was leaving. The girl who was waiting on them with me gently took him by the hand and suggested that they go back out to the dining room to wait for the others.

One of the care givers told me that after their last visit she had read my blog about them. We both had a good laugh and it made my day that she had read my blog about waiting on these wonderful seniors and that she had read how much it means to me to be a small part of their last days . Unfortunately with Alzheimer's it may not be days but years that they live in this state...but being able to wait on them, make their demands seem like nothing and get a smile out of one or two of them is enough to make my week.

One of the women had ordered the pork chop (after a LONG conversation and much debate.)
When I went back to check on them after the food arrived her chop sat untouched on the plate. She said she couldn't even cut it. I told her I would get a steak knife and cut it up for her. She got testy with me and said she didn't WANT me to cut it. She asked if I could just get her a ground beef patty cooked and put it in a box to go and she would give the pork chop to her dog. I told her of course I would and went to the kitchen to tell the cooks to put me a hamburger patty cooked in a box to go (I didn't ring it up.)

When I went back to the table one of the care givers called me over to ask me what was going on. I explained it all to her and she said "My goodness, she doesn't even HAVE a dog." I told I her I had wondered about that but it just seemed to make her happy so I didn't mind getting it for her. When I brought the hamburger patty back in a box the woman looked at it for a good thirty seconds and seemed so pleased that it made my day.

If these women had any memory left, they would ask for me every time they came in! Actually though one of them DID say "I remember you from last time." Whether she did or didn't doesn't matter. What matters is that I remember them .

As they scattered back to their walkers and shuffled their way out the door...my day was immediately brighter. On a high note, I don't think any of them stole any dishes this time!!

Til next time...Cotton

Still Reeling From My Fall...

At least my lip has healed past the point of looking like the biggest cold sore on the planet. My temple is still so sore that it hurts to put gel in my hair.

I went to Home Depot a couple of days ago to buy some weather stripping for my doors that send in cold air like it was sent an invitation. The guy told me to take the door off of the hinges to replace the bottom sweep I had bought. I thought about it and decided I would keep the beach towels in place for a couple more days. I just couldn't see taking my front door off the hinges while I replaced the bottom weather strip. For Pete's sake... the house would be down to forty degrees inside before I could get the door back on. At least I have all the materials and if it warms up in the next day or two I will get it done then.

Work blessed me once again with a good shift and I am getting closer to my house note...due this week and being drafted out of my already "Drafty" checking account. I picked up a double shift tomorrow and if I can pick up one more I think I will make it.

This new year has been a blessing...just to see the old one go away has been an incentive to feel better.

The kids don't have to go to school til 10:30 on Monday because of the Arctic freeze that has invaded us and they are both happy about that. Zach cooked Italian sausages with peppers and onions on hoagie rolls (rolls compliments of work) when I got home and now the kids are all fed and snuggled in bed.

The dogs are fed and laying at my feet ...ready to go join me on the king size bed while Tim is at work. Laundry is almost caught up...house is semi clean and after a quick run through with the vacuum downstairs I am headed to bed to watch some "Investigation Discovery" and be back to work in the AM.

Tim had an interview last week for a VERY promising job as a transportation manager and will hear about it this week . Keep your fingers crossed...this could be the break that makes!!!


Glad that the cold is going away...glad my scars are going away and hoping for some good news tomorrow.

Night night !!

Til next time COTTON

Slip Sliding Away...Literally

The first picture is of my busted upper lip. Trust me it looks ten times better than it did yesterday. Last night I went out back to let the dogs out. Their water bowl was frozen solid so I dumped out the dome of frozen liquid and went inside to get them a fresh bowl. Everything here has been frozen solid for days. The good thing is that they don't track mud in... the bad thing is that the water freezes in their bowls in no time.

When I went back out with a fresh bowl... I forgot I had dumped the frozen water right by the door. (mistake number one.)

I know my back porch so well I didn't bother to turn the light on (mistake number two.)

By the time my foot hit the frozen block of water everything turned into slow motion. The water bowl flew out of my hands as I went face first into the edge of my glass patio table. I grabbed for a chair to try and cushion the blow only to have it turn and smack me squarely in the temple and collar bone. I can't even sleep with the left side of my head on the pillow it hurts so bad. I can only open my mouth halfway the pain is so intense. Tim fixed me a bologna sandwich today and I had to smash it as flat as I could so it could fit in my mouth without having to scream.

Tim went out back and removed all the ice and we put out some salt .

Today the snow came... The dogs are fascinated with it. I shot this short video of them when I let them out when I got home from work tonight. (With the porch light turned ON.)

Even Zach has gotten out his winter hat...granted he still has on shorts but has covered his scrawny head.

I have to be back at work in the morning...not looking forward to THAT drive, but I'll take it slow and will make it I am sure.

Hopefully I didn't break any bones in my face...If I still can't open my mouth open more than two inches in a week I'll go see the dog's vet and see if they'll give me a deal on an ex ray.

The snow is pretty and it brings out genuine excitement in us southern folks. It is such a blanket of calmness and quiet. It's kind of a nice...every once in a while.

Til next time...Trying to Heal Cotton

Something to Smile About...

Finally over the holidays and stress. Finally over the terrible flu that rampaged through the house. After taking two days off just to sleep sleep sleep, I feel better.

Back to work (yuck.)

The corporate axe has fallen once again...this time on a dear friend and co worker. She got a bad shop from a secret shopper and they fired her on the spot. You know, in these bad economic times...write her up...suspend her for a week or make her go through training again. To fire someone that is ALWAYS early, always ready to do anything you ask is a slap in the face. Unfortunately it is corporate doing the slapping and "Big Brother" always has the last word.

As servers we are SO over this take over of our company. What used to be a great store is now part of a tremendously large corporation that could give a "Rat's ass" about us...our life or our problems.

The managers are under such immense pressure from the higher ups and the pressure comes right down on our underling heads. I hate it that she is gone, I hate it that she is fired (Happy New Year) but once the corporate axe falls the heads have rolled.

I went into work today, lucky to still have a job but still full of venom for the oblivious "A" holes we work for.

There is one manager (the ONLY one I haven't blogged about) that is kind of like a cartoon character. If "Pepe LePew" was a person this would be him. The only manager with a full head of hair left...jet black with a stripe of white right in front. He 's a chubby sort..if you watch "Curb Your Enthusiasm" he IS Jeff Green. A happy go lucky guy that seems to avoid the heavy corporate thumb...probably because he is a kitchen manager and comes in at 5 AM when the trucks roll in with stock and is in the back most of the time doing what it takes for us to roll product out of the front of the house. He has always liked me and is the only one that actually knows how much harder I work than most of the idiots (not all idiots...just most of the newbies) I work with. He is a stickler for S.O.P (standard operating procedure) like I am. I am one of the only people that use the right glass for the right drink... no matter if it means I have to refill it twice as often. It if calls for parsley sprinkled on top...I would go to the back and chop more if we were out before running it to a table without the garnish.

He has been sick as of late (I probably passed on my germs to him) and when I came into work today he was blowing his nose with a brown paper towel we use to wash and dry our hands with.. I told him I could go in the kitchen and get him a stainless steel scourer pad to blow his nose on if he really wanted to draw blood around his nostrils.

I think what I really like most about him is that he always laughs at my jokes...and I am "full" of them.

After the line up today...when the managers supposedly pump us up and send us out with an "Amway" type message to go out and conquer the masses with our knowledge and professionalism... It came to me like a vision.

I told him that we had taken an unofficial poll and he was the manager we hated the least. Bless his heart...as he blew his snot into another rough brown paper towel his face lit up and he said "Really?" I think his next remark was "That's awesome."

Used to be when I first started twelve years ago the talk was "Who's your favorite manager?" Now it is "Who do you hate the least?"

What does that say about being bought out by a huge corporation that is making oodles of money for themselves while the people that suffer are the ones that seem to be the only ones actually out there making THEIR money FOR them ?

I told my manager that we were counting votes on a shift by shift basis and that if he gave more than a sub par performance grilling our butts relentlessly he could move up the poll and lose his rating . I think I saw him leave the building with his fingers crossed.

Til Next time...COTTON

Ready to Bust Out...2010...So Excited

I know my friend Lisa will like this pic and video being the dog lover she is (NOT) but my pups are so cute I had to include them. I even threw in the video of my nephew's pup that came to visit on Christmas day.
The one of the dogs looking through the fence is thanks to the bulldog trying to chew his way through the gate (idiot.) The funny thing is, when he chewed this gap between the gates and got out of the back yard...all he did was come sit on the front porch and look in the window waiting for someone to let him in. Not the sharpest tool in the shed but we love him anyway.

Christmas and New Year's is over. The kids have one more day of winter break and then it's back to the grindstone (or millstone in Zach's case.) It's been nice having them home. I never understand parents that dread school holidays. Of course if you raise your kids to be little snots you get what you deserve. I think I must have done pretty well because I adore being around my kids!!

Massey sent me at LEAST five texts while I was at work today. She was at a 9 to 9 practice at the high school and her last one was a request for me to bring her dinner at five. I got off work and went to make a bank deposit and took her some dinner to the school. She said she thought they might get out early and I told her I was going to the grocery store ..."Just let me know and I will come get you."

I left and headed to the grocery store. I got one mile away from the school and heard that little tone on my cell...a text from Massey.


"Come get me."

For Pete's sake...could they have not ended the practice while I was sitting on the gym floor watching her for ten minutes? The world of being a guard parent has no rhyme or reason I have quickly learned so I turned my car around and went back to the school to pick her up.

We came home and I heated up some left over spaghetti (left over spag is the BEST.)

It is so cold outside that even the dogs hate going out. The GOOD thing is that the ground is frozen so solid that the mud around my back door doesn't come in with the twelve paws anymore. I have used my beach towels more this Winter than I did all Summer wiping their feet every time I let them in. It has rained so much that my dogs have made a mud track around my back patio that is thick enough to have half naked women wrestle in (there's an idea for extra money.)

We are all snug in our house, dinner was easy and I have brownies baking in the oven (cake like...3 eggs.)

Hard to believe that it is 2010 but I am happy a New Year is here.

Love my kids, love the fact that they are all like me...high strung and always wantin' something. I love my pups who never want anything but a pat on the head and a bowl of water and some dog food.

Love my life...my crazy always changing life.

Every one have a great 2010... I plan on it!

Til next time..COTTON


PS excuse the language in the movie playing on the video...Zach and TJ rented it (note to self...never send them to get a video without being specific.) THAT'S MY BOYS

Be sure to click on the photo of my pups they are so cute up close!! (especially YOU Lisa)

A New Year...Is That You I See ?

A New Year has arrived...Thank the Lord.

The old year is behind me, like the dimples on the back of my thighs....and just as easily forgotten.

My husband is working three part time jobs and for some unknown reason I have hung on to my one.

The weather is so cold that I think my nipples may be permanently hard and my feet may never warm up again.

I have been sick for the last four months but after sleeping twelve hours on Friday and fourteen on Saturday I felt much better today when I went to work. It is true what they say about sleep helping... maybe a doctor visit might help but I feel 100% better and know now that I HAVE to take care of myself before I can expect to be able to take care of my family.

That dastardly year had gone away and I feel relief in the air. I have been blessed beyond my wildest imagination by friends and family and owe more than Bernie Madoff does to all of them (slight exaggeration.)

WE MADE IT !!!

2010 will be a new start...a new year and a new path to go down. I look forward to it with optimism and hope. I look forward to it because so many people have helped us through the last year and have made the hope possible.

All I ask for is for is for God to turn the heat back on in the South....my nipples are embarrassingly small !

I hope that every one is blessed to have wonderful family and friends...they are what get you through times of desperation and despair. If you don't have that advantage, be sure to call out for help...someone will be your Angel....it may even be me, and I will do my best to help you any way I can.

Til next time....a STRONGER Cotton

Once in a Blue Moon...

Tonight is New Year's Eve...Thank the Lord this year is almost over. It is a "Blue Moon." The only thing that really means is that we have a full moon twice in one month, but it still seemed pretty cool so I went out back and took a picture.

The old Dickens's novel comes to mind when I think of this past year. "It was the best of times and it was the worst of times."

It was the worst of times because we had such a stressful and unfortunate year. It was the best of times because I have family and friends that have helped us through .

Work was a mad house. In the server world we call it "Amateur Night." People that don't normally go out but come out and don't have a clue as to how to treat a server. My first tip was $1.35 on a $60.00 tab. Next was $4 on a fifty dollar tab....and so on and so on.

Of course I had some really nice tips and as it usually seems to do...I came out on the good end of the average.

I was just glad to be at home when midnight rang in the New Year. Tim is at work, I am home with my two youngest kids...an extra teen thrown in that I love (Massey's best friend) and my three pups.

This year is over. This year is done.

I have a new year to look forward to and will make the most of it.

I am almost fifty and have only had one really bad year...I think I am doing pretty good.

The fireworks are going off outside and I am warm and snug in my home with my kids and dogs and couldn't imagine wanting to be any where else.

"Once in a blue moon" you will have a bad year...and I had that.

As Forest Gump said "Shit happens" and as Scarlett said "There is always tomorrow."

I am just grateful to be alive to see them both through.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you and 'Thank You' for loving and getting me through to the other side.

2010...HERE I COME !!!

Til next time...COTTON

Christmas Revisited

So now that everyone has recovered from the Flu bomb dropped on my house I finally down loaded pics and videos from my camera and decided to post them on my blog. The first picture is of Knox... the puppy my nephew and his girlfriend brought over on Christmas day. As you can tell he is worn out completely. He romped all over the house and as you can tell from the picture of my dogs peeking through their gate in the back yard...they were NOT too happy about it. The third picture is of Knox's proud parents...Casey and Eli holding that sweet little pup.
In the third picture the Flu bug begins to bite. Zach is on the sofa having been sick since early morning and making his way down stairs for a visit sitting by his brother and Dad. Massey is on the stairs... she is taking a turn for the worse and can't even manage to get down the steps. The next picture of her and my sister was taken earlier when she felt good and they were surfing the net on the computer before the "Bug" hit her.

The last is a video that I had to include. My downstairs door to the bath room was screwed up and my nephew tried to fix it. His fix didn't work so I just told him we would leave the door open. I forgot to tell everyone else. When my other nephew's girlfriend went downstairs to use the rest room she got locked in. No one even noticed she was gone and several minutes later we heard a knock. TJ yelled over his shoulder from the couch upstairs..."Come in" thinking it was someone at the kitchen door coming in the house from the garage. No one came in and the knocking continued. After a couple of minutes we figured out that Shanna was missing and went downstairs to investigate the knocking. Bless her heart she had been in the bath room for ten minutes trying to get out. TJ took the door knob off and still no luck. Her boyfriend (my nephew) went out to the breaker box and cut the power off so she was trapped in the dark (tee hee) that lasted about two seconds before she yelled "THAT'S NOT FUNNY."

Finally we had to take the door off the hinges so she could escape her prison.

I have to say ...things are rarely dull at my house and at least she came out laughing!

Zach put a new door knob on last night...but at least we got a good video and I got a blog out of it !!

Till Next time....COTTON

The Eighties...What Were We Thinking?

Yesterday while still in the recovery period from our bout with the stomach flu, Massey and I were laying in bed bundled up together watching VH1 "classic videos"from the eighties. Massey's first comment was "Ya'll had some BIG hair, my hair would have fit right in." She also commented that it wasn't just the girls...she asked me why every guy had a mullet and I told her they all worked really hard to achieve them, using blow dryers and plenty of hair spray. A video of "New Edition" came on and I told her the little guy with the red "members only " jacket was Bobby Brown, Whitney Houston's ex husband.

She actually Laughed at Huey Lewis and the News (how dare her) and wanted to know why John Cougar wore chaps when he wasn't on a horse or a motorcycle?

When a video of Poison came on she said the guys wore more make up than the girls. Thank goodness they didn't show a "Queen" video while we were watching.

She was very intrigued by the early Madonna and Cyndi Lauper videos and commented that they looked cool. I told her to remind me to rent "Desperately Seeking Susan" for her and she would be in Heaven. The blast from the past that even jolted MY memory bank was the video of the boys group from Kingston "Pass the deuchtie on the left hand side." Do you remember THAT one?

I dug up these pictures and just HAD to post them . The first ones are from girl's trips to Fort Walton back in the early eighties and parties that we had when I was working for Johnny's Pizza on Virginia Ave , when there were only two stores (compared to the 100 some odd stores they have now.)

We progress to right after I first met Tim and TJ was around three. Tim had a pretty impressive mullet so I decided to drag him into this with me. Why just embarrass myself when I can make fun of my husband too?

What really amazes me is that even after Zach was born...I was still clinging to that eighties look . The look on my father's face says it all. He probably said "Hand me a basket ball to hold so I won't have to stare in in embarrassment at what my daughter is wearing." I wish you could see the bottom of the picture...I had on orange combat boots.

The silky sequin dresses..the huge hair (at least I didn't dye mine platinum blonde) and how about that denim dress that I can actually remember paying a butt load of money for??

WHAT IN THE HELL WERE WE THINKING??

The eighties were a time that everyone was trying to out shock the other person, and if they did...they would be a trend setter. The eighties were the years of my wild rebellious youth. They are years I am grateful for...they are behind me now but at least I had them when I WAS twenty.

Kids sometimes try to grow up too quickly, get married and act like they are adults...only to try and re-live their youth twenty years later when it is too late and people are laughing behind their backs at their hideous toupee or sequin tank top barely covering their sagging breasts that have fed a family of five.

At least I was young and stupid when I WAS young and stupid.

Either way, it's still fun to look back at what I thought looked cool and you know what? In twenty years...these pictures will most probably be the "IN" fashion again. Thank God by then I will be sitting in my rascal covered with a crocheted quilt saying to my grand kids "I had that dress first! Now give me my Jitterbug I need to call your daddy about my subscription to "Oprah as a Senior."

Till next time... Continually Aging Cotton

PS remember to click on the photos so you can laugh at me in full size...that is the way I laugh at myself every day!

The Gift That Keeps on Giving...Stomach Flu

The children asleep...all snug in their beds, til oodles of vomit rolled out of their head.

Christmas Eve started out good. Had a huge turkey thawing that a dear friend gave us, all my food ready for the big Christmas dinner and I climbed into bed for a nice winter nap. But what to my wandering eye did appear but Zach by my bed looking ghostly with fear.

He didn't quit make it to the toilet and woke me up to say he had "ralphed" in the bathroom floor. This was about 3:00 Christmas morning. We rolled up the bathroom rugs and cleaned up best we could that late at night and I sent him back to bed with a trash can by his side.

Christmas morning he didn't even want to get up to open his present but we forced him downstairs and made him as comfortable as we could on the couch while we opened gifts. He immediately went back to bed and stayed there til after three in the afternoon. Massey started feeling ill by 1:00 and stayed in her room most of the day. My family came over for the feast and Zach finally came down and ate a little around 4:00. I hated them being sick on Christmas but what are you going to do besides make them as comfortable as possible and tell them it will be okay ? Not much!

We had 12 people over for dinner and other than the "sick bay" I had going on upstairs we all had a great time. The last of the bunch left around 6 or 7. I cleaned up the kitchen and the living room and made myself a huge plate of all my favorites (love that broccoli and rice casserole) and settled in for hopefully another nice winter's nap.

About 2 in the morning I woke with a start. It felt like Rudolph was banging his hoofs on my heart. My stomach didn't feel so hot either so remembering Zach's short shot last night I headed to the downstairs bathroom just in case. Not one minute later...here came my (formerly favorite now) broccoli casserole back up through the pipes. Once it comes out your nose it immediately moves down your "favorites" list. I didn't think it would ever stop and was just glad I was downstairs so as not to wake up anyone else . Thirty minutes later when I felt I had expelled all the internal organs in my weak little body I crawled across the hall to the laundry room and got a wash cloth out of a load of clean clothes and curled up on the tile floor by my porcelain microphone and slept in a fetal position til the dry heaves finally went away. I'd say this was around 5 AM.

When I got the courage to get off the tile floor (cold tile feels really good to the side of your face after hurling for what seems like a week) I dragged myself into my oldest son's room, he had gone to Acworth to spend the night after everyone left on Christmas.

Massey woke me up late... with my wash cloth still on my forehead mid morning to tell my that Daddy was upstairs locked in the bath room with his own set of problems.

Ole TJ was smart to run off to Acworth!! He hasn't been home since and is probably waiting for the "All Clear" from the CDC.

All of us have slept for hours on end...that seems to be the only thing that helps. We have a refrigerator full of great food that no one can keep down but have gone through a case of ginger ale and a case of toilet paper.

I slept til after 2 today and wouldn't have gotten up then but I had to be at work by 3. I called work and told them I would be thirty minutes late just to get an extra half hour of face time with my pillow. I didn't get off of work til 11:30 tonight and felt like I had been run through a wringer.

Hopefully it has run its course in our house and tomorrow we can start eating all the wonderful food we have left over from Christmas.

Bah hum "BUG."

Til next...a now even skinnier COTTON

The True Meaning of Christmas

We had a Christmas party at Frances' house last night. If you read my blog you know how much this dear woman has come to mean to me and my family. She has overcome in less than a year what most people would consider a fatal blow. She had a botched catheter which sent her not only straight to open heart surgery but a nursing home for rehabilitation. That in it's self would have most probably sent me knocking on the pearly gates begging for admittance citing all my good deeds versus evil ones hoping the gates would swing open in pity.

This woman never once complained or acted like a grandma (she is of that age) but acted like it was simply a task she had to take on and conquer. She not only became the mascot of the nursing home but the mascot of our family.

She gave us an appreciation Christmas party last night to thank all of us for helping her through her adversities.

Her niece was there...a hoot that I have come to love as dearly as Frances. They both cooked a fabulous dinner for us. Pork roast, meatballs and pigs in the blanket. There were so many side dishes that my stomach hurt from the unusual full feeling it had!

She showed off a beautiful cape with leopard trim that her aide had given her for Christmas. A wonderful woman that comes several times a week to help her and treats her like family not an employer.

I was supposed to leave early and take Massey to practice but just couldn't. Being with family is the one thing I CAN afford this Christmas and not having much spare time in my current life just wanted to stay and enjoy the love and friendship that means so much to me . It was my first and only Christmas party and one of the best times I have had in months. Even Zach got into the spirit of things having his picture taken with Frances with both of them wearing their "Hoodies." Frances gave us all presents and presented each one with why she was grateful for that person...it was truly a touching thing.

I think I may have gotten Massey into trouble with her guard coach...but for Pete's sake, I want to enjoy my Christmas too and making Frances happy makes me happy. If that is wrong, find me guilty!!

Got home and I fell into bed. I have been running a fever for two days and it makes you feel like crap. I went to bed by ten and slept til noon. I woke feeling a little better and went out to scope out if I could afford anything they had left to buy. I found a couple of things I may be able to get the kids if I make a butt load of money on Christmas Eve. I did get a ham pretty cheap at BJ's (they take a week to process a check...MY kind of store) and went into work to work a mad shift.

It is always crazy right before Christmas (a good thing) and when I walked through the door one of the servers told me to come out into a side room we have for parties. This friend of mine had gone out and bought us a turkey for Christmas, made a pan of dressing had two packs of dinner rolls and even cranberry sauce for my family.

Dang...I never knew I had so many tears in my ducts, but they just seem to be working overtime.

My family, my friends...where would I be without them?

I was worried that my ham may not be enough...now I can invite others that don't have anywhere to go.

I decided the other day that my mantra would be "Maybe life sucks...but doesn't that mean at least I am breathing?"

Now I know the true meaning of Christmas is real.

People love you if you love them.

The golden rule has come to mean so much more to me in the last year that it has in the 49 years I have been alive.

"Do unto others as you would have then do unto you."

I have plenty of food and plenty of love to throw around at my house on Christmas day...come on over if you need some.

Merry Christmas and Thank you...those sayings should go hand in hand.

A blessed...slightly sick but happy COTTON

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Santa's Getting Close...

I've had a rough couple of days. Working for a large corporation just isn't my cup of tea...I'll leave it at that.

I am glued to the radio station waiting for that magic song to play twice in a row. I have my sister listening now too. We have a network going...between me my three kids and my sister and her husband we are bound to have some advantage. I will admit that some of the songs are beginning to wear on my nerves but it is a small price to pay for a chance at five grand. The one that kills me is Elvis Presley singing "I'll Be Home For Christmas." The way he pronounces "MISS- ILL -TOW" instead of just singing "Mistletoe" drives me nuts. Listen next time you hear him singing it and you'll see what I mean.

Massey is all on board...I could tie her to an elf for a year and she still would love Christmas and all the music and trimmings.

She is so upbeat about everything she makes Richard Simmons seemed depressed. It's great to have a kid like her. She wears me out but is my best friend and keeps me going when I want to throw in the towel. We made cookies and cheese straws last night and had a wonderful time together. My cheese straws didn't turn out as good as I had hoped for...obviously there is a difference between ground red pepper and Cayenne Pepper. I bought some Cayenne pepper tonight at the store and will try it one more time. Massey is at practice and Zach is upstairs wearing his thumbs out on a game controller. TJ is on his way home from work and Tim is on his way to work.

Our tree looks beautiful and makes me feel better everytime I look at it. I finally finished my Christmas cards and will drop them off on my way to work in the morning. As Christmas rushes towards us at amazing speed, I have gotten into it more than I would have thought I would.

Things are still so tight you could strum a tune on them but we are finally making some headway and I have faith that next year will be a MUCH better year...if only I can make it ten more days and win that stinkin money from the radio station !!

Til Next time...COTTON BELL ROCK

PS Be sure to click on the pic of Santa...it's a good one!

Tree Decorated..."CHECK"

All happy on the home front. Massey and I just finished decorating the tree
with Zach on the couch watching "Elf." At least we were all in the same mode. Sometimes (all the time with me) it is hard to bring a seventeen year old into what you are doing and make them feel like being a part of it.

Massey was a willing participant for the photos and Zach made me have to use a curse word to get him off the couch and in front of the tree...no wonder he looks so happy.

But what matters to me is that " I " am happy. My husband is working, once again my friends have come through and it is looking like the greatest Christmas I could ever hope for.

Everything that I learned about Christmas as a child has come back to me as a fifty year old woman.

We are happy and secure...we are together and taken care of by God , our family and our friends .

Though you can't tell it from Zach's face...we are happy. The look on Massey's face says it all.

Yeah, I'm a dummy for being a pup lover...but look how happy THEY look. They know a good deal when they smell one.

What goes around comes around.

The earth has finally finished it's rotation and I feel like the luckiest person in the world.

I am at home decorating the tree, my husband just left for work and thanks to the goodness shown to me by too many to mention in one post...we are enjoying Christmas.

I may weigh 95 pounds but feel like a big fat woman... with so much gratitude in my heart for friends and family. The year is almost over and a new one is on the horizon.

Going to work tomorrow and just know that it will be another blessing ...the peeps have finally come out to celebrate and I will be there to hopefully make their visit a good one.

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!

P.S. Be sure to click on the photos...Priceless!!