I have more than my share of water issues!!

Remember David the water man? He's baaaaaaaaaaaack! Which would explain why early Saturday evening I was standing barefoot in the rain, wearing only a giant robe (commando at last), talking to David on my cell phone and listening to a rock! Definitely no picture with this post, the visual is bad enough!

Explanation: In case my never-at-home neighbors were actually home, or you worry I have lost even more of my mind!!

I was about 60 seconds into my shower when the water stopped. I draw water from the lake and I could see there was still plenty out there! Obviously I called David, who so far still answers my calls 24/7. In an effort to diagnose the problem, he asked me to check if the pump was running. Said pump is under a faux rock in my back yard, and was indeed running! And that explains it.

David instructed me on which breaker to turn off and promised he would be out in the morning. I always confuse the breakers for the water and septic system; could be bad!

Problem resolved Sunday as I was in mass fervently praying for water. Water restored thirty minutes before my two 88 year old church lady friends came over for lunch! And speaking of them, they kick ass at Scrabble!

David tried to explain but it made no sense at all.........really I will just call!

There is no one like mom!

Mom
Next to Mom is my favorite ornament that hung on our Christmas tree while I was growing up. She gave it to me when I left home.

Needlepoint stockings she made. Every grandchild has one!

Ceramic nativity Mom made for me in 1979!

I miss my mom every day, but if possible, I miss her more at Christmas. She loved Christmas! She loved to shop, decorate, and host all of us, especially the grand kids. Mom would wait on them tirelessly hand and foot, she was so proud of them. Nothing made her happier than having the whole group together.

Mom always had a hard time making decisions. That is probably an understatement, she agonized over every decision she had to make. Sometimes this drove me nuts, but never at Christmas! Because..........when she couldn't make a definite decision about a gift, she bought two, or three spares. A regular event of our gift opening (we are a one-at-a-time family) was mom scurrying off exclaiming "wait, I have another____ under my bed"....color, size, whatever was the root of her indecision!

And at the end of it all , she always exclaimed "I'd say we all had a nice Christmas!!"

We still say it of course, and my Dad does a great job of keeping her spirit alive, decorating the house, waiting on the grand kids, etc but.... well, there is no one like Mom.

The three men I admire most (after the Father, Son and Holy Ghost)

Lee, Sam & David

OK, not RIGHT after The Father, Son and Holy Ghost (who can name that song btw??) Of course right after F,S & HG would be the awesome men in my family and wonderful guy friends (who are married to my wonderful girlfriends); but these men are high on my list!!

Lee (the bug man), Sam (the yard man), and David (the water man).

When one lives alone and wrestles seemingly constantly with man issues (not of the dating kind) you must have some professionals to call upon, lest you wear out family and friends. These three guys have been helping me out for 20, 15, and 12 years, respectively. All three are in my cell phone! All three know I am apt to call at any time! I can pretty much fit any "issue" into one of their three areas of expertise. I know it is a stretch, they know it is stretch, but it has been working......... until now!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sam is leaving me, for a bunch of bees!! He is getting out of the landscaping business so he can focus full-time on bee keeping. It feels like a divorce all over again, maybe even worse, Sam and I get along great!! OK, not worse.

He promised I could continue to call him, he just won't take care of my yard anymore!! He tried to make me feel better by saying if he kept just one yard, it would be mine. Didn't help!

Not only do I need a new yard man, this could strain my relationship with David and Lee; I will now have to fit everything into only two categories!! Oh my!!

Name that song answer: American Pie

And the three men I admire most:
The father, son, and the holy ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast
(and took Sam with them)
The day the music died.

And we were singing,
Bye Bye Miss American Pie,
Drove my Chevy to the levy...................

God is crafty indeed!!!! Happy Sunday!!

The heavens declare the glory of God,
the sky proclaims its builder's craft.
Psalm 19:2

What happens when you eat asparagus? And I LOVE Google!!!!

I don't eat a lot of asparagus, but when I do it does odd things to my body. If it does the same to yours, then you know EXACTLY what I am talking about here. But, if you have no clue, you are missing either the gene to break asparagus down to it's, uh smelly components, or you don't have the gene to recognize (smell) this urine phenomenon. Apparently I have been blessed with both; lucky me!!!

Seriously, who knew?? I love Google because I knew there was something going on here!!!

Read more: How Does Asparagus Make Urine Smell? | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4586963_asparagus-urine-smell.html#ixzz17jurWlER

Merry Christmas...Take all the HOT showers you want

Yes, I have a new water heater. So this Christmas, showers on me! All the hot showers you want in fact. Long story short: Plumber who installed is (shock) no longer in business. Store where water heater purchased no longer carries that brand (warranty issues -- go figure) and so... I own a new water heater (different brand, different installer). But the hot showers are oh so nice, Merry Christmas !!! Trust me, I know it could be worse, I am not complaining............. really!

God does have a sense of humor....I guess!!!!

I went to let Ellie out this morning and noticed water pouring out of the "water room" in the back of my garage. Bad expletives, lots of bad expletives; this was definitely not good!! Went into total panic mode, called the water guy immediately, because thankfully his number is on the water tank!! HELP!! Yes, I really said that, he knows me!

Well, David informed me it probably was my water heater (it is all of three years old of course), since it is a piece of crap! What?????????????

He calmly told me to turn off the water system AND the water heater and he would be out in about an hour. He said "of course you are probably on your way to work".

NO, I am off today!! Hellooooooo....... it is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception!! Love my job on these days!!!!!!!!!!

Good thing I am off so I can deal with this today, Happy Holy Day everyone!

And FYI: I turned off so many breakers it is crazy, anything that had the words, pump, water, heater, station, well (which I don't even have btw, but turned if off too??? ). My memory being what it is (or is not) I decided to be productive (while waiting for David) and do a couple dirty dishes in my sink. I still had water, AND it was HOT!! I don't even want to know how that is possible, can someone please explain that to me!!

I will keep you posted (ha ha no pun intended) and let you know how this little drama ends!

Ho Ho Ho alright, I will just sit here a look at my lovely tree and think about how much this will cost!!!

What a difference a day makes....

Not sure what this stuff if, but it came out of my "unshaken" tree! Gross

An opportunity to pull out my new shop-vac. Who knew these things don't even come put together? Well, just added a little more joy to my tree trimming festivities!!

Looking more like a Christmas tree, or one without purple tags!! Notice a couple branches from the bottom of the tree moved up the corporate tree ladder.

Note the purple tag is still there............ just a gentle reminder!!

My tree is topless!

So, I decided Sunday to put up my Christmas tree. Figured (naively) I could handle this solo, even though I have a perfectly able son who could assist. I knew he had finals all week so figured I would attempt this on my own (my first as I usually recruit a son or a Bob).

I borrowed a truck from a neighbor and headed up to the tree farm in Chapin. As an aside, I really like driving trucks!! Power baby! Even had the foresight to take my tree stand and have the tree folks help me out there. So all I had to do was carry it into the house and decorate! Oh if only..............

First please note that purple tag on the tree?? Apparently that purple screams "Challenged Tree". I requested a small tree ($$$) and the only one they had left was still wrapped up. Note to self; never do this again, not only can you not see if it is actually shaped like a tree, but "shaking out" before bringing tree in house is very wise indeed!!

So the tree lady reduced the price even more after noting "Oh, it has a purple tag"! In my gay Christmas mood I assumed she 1. Was being kind and generous. or 2. It was a really small tree. WRONG!! IT IS CHALLENGED, IT HAS NO TOP? Oh well, I will get creative!! But for now, this is what I have!

Oh yea, and a big mess since my poor little tree had not been "shook" before coming home with me!! OH my!!

Oh those Woebegone Gamecocks!!!

Please let them win so I NEVER, EVER have to hear how they can NOT win big games. Gone with the woebegone attitude and let a new Gamecock era begin! I don't ever want to hear "if you have been a fan as long as I have.....", "you just don't understand, we NEVER win", "wait until the second half, we ALWAYS lose", and on and on and on!

Below is a quote from an article in The State a while back, sums it up well.

"Despite the endless, loud cheers game after game, supporters never expected big wins; they anticipated letdowns, defeat and disappointment. For the past several years, Coach Spurrier has pushed for a change in culture and worked to get his football team to adopt a winning attitude."

I am not a big Spurrier fan because I think he is usually too negative and woebegone, but hey if it is working, so be it. Just seems a little like the pot calling the kettle black to me.

Please WIN the SEC Championship

and LOSE the 'TUDE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

GO GAMECOCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Read more: http://www.thestate.com/2010/11/16/1563659/why-not-usc-why-not-the-state.html#storylink=omni_popular#ixzz15TZH2z41

What about Bob??

So, I guess it is time for a post about the occasional 'adventure' of dating at my age.

First off, I have decided to call all past, present and future dates Bob, because really there are so (not) many. Simplifies it and lets everyone remain anonymous. So all future references to Bob, are in no way, shape or form referring to the original Bob. Original Bob constitutes half the gene pool for three awesome kids, who wants to complain about that?

But let's face it, there are a lot of Bobs. I realize there are a lot of Marys too, so if any single guy out there chooses to call all his p,p & f dates Mary I will not take offense. In fact, when I was half of the Original Bob & Mary, we had not one, but two other Bob & Mary friends. So we just added an adjective. We had Big Bob & Mary (both were over 6 ' tall) and Anne's Bob & Mary (they were my friend Anne's relatives). Adjectives are after all so descriptive! So...........

Meet Frugal Bob

In all fairness (and I am a fair person), FB was/is a great guy: smart, well educated (as in Harvard), kind, good shoes (don't know why, but this is always an important factor for me). But this guy wrote the book on frugal! First, lets not confuse frugal with cheap, that is a whole other issue (and a whole other guy, Cheap Bob).

Early on with FB, I was in his kitchen trying to impress with my culinary skills. Although in all honesty, that was super easy because he only ate tuna from a can and Hot Pockets anyway. I was making dinner and needed a strainer, as no dinner is complete w/o pasta. I looked in the pantry......

And found........ nothing and I swear nothing, but toilet paper and coffee!! What????????? Well, turns out FB traveled a lot for his job and apparently NEVER left his hotel room without copping the TP and coffee. It's free, right? Actually double free, the company picks up the hotel tab. Rolls and rolls of individually wrapped TP and mountains of individual coffee packets! Not only coffee packets, but millions, ok thousands, of artificial sweeteners, sugars, fake creamers, stirrers, the whole deal. Now I have been known to take an occasional shampoo or lotion, but this seemed a bit excessive! Especially when FB himself drank his coffee with milk only! There are many more examples of this er frugality, but you get the idea.

FB is actually still a good friend but we no longer date; he lives out of town and well, you know, gas is expensive!

This baby smiles ALL the time!!!!!!!!

Little Meg Meg is one smiley, chunky monkey. She is pleasant ALL the time and loves to smile at anyone, anytime. Aunt Patsis kept calling her our "little butterball Thanksgiving girl" with good reason. We love this baby, how could we not??