Goodbye Mrs. Johnson, you self-righteous bitty. I don't need your loud mouth and I don't need your pity.

WOW! Alot has changed in the few days that I was away. My husband's parents have decided to move to Greenville to be closer to their doctors. I am not against the idea of them moving, but Greenville in not my ideal for them as a place to live. There is something wrong when I stop in a town to use the restroom at the "Welcome Center" at night and the security guard warns me since that I was a white woman traveling alone, after dark, with out of state vehicle tags, that I was a target in Greenville, Mississippi. Well, so much for an apropiate welcome. That guy was nice and he was playing Sade, so I hung out there about a half hour and chatted before heading over to the Boat Store to wait for hubby's boat come in.

It seems that my church building may be put up on the market soon, also. The church is that far behind on the mortage. That kind of makes me sad, but when something comes to an end, there must be a new begining. That excites me. Perhaps a new location with visability to different folks can make things fresh again.

Riverboat gambling is in the news again. The council in re-visiting an idea that the public voted down a few years back. Frankly, I think having a riverboat casino downtown would revitalize the area and provide some desparately needed jobs around here. Not everyone shares my views however. See for yourself.

http://www.thenewsstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060428/OPINION03/604280309&SearchID=73242947768027

Excuse me, but have not this man knowledge of discretion? Does he not know that he can simply choose not to go there? One other thing, Jesus chose to go slummin'. He was hanging out with the wrong crowd i.e. tax collectors and gentiles and those persons are presently known as the 12 apostles and if memory serves me correctly, most of those folks are canonized individuals.

One would almost think that an entire army of Sunday School teachers would absolutely LOVE to have a casino nearby, as there would be plenty of sinnin' souls to save in a centralized location in order to reap that heavenly reward, but I suppose that I am wrong.

They make the best kinda pet, Baby, Baby, Snakes.

We are back from our vacation to the lake. The weather was absolutely beautful. This picture was the view from our cabin. All was not lost in paradise however, we were without air conditioning in our cabin for most of the first day. We also got some video footage of a red-headed woodpecker (I've heard that they are rare) and of a cottantail happily eating tall grasses. :) Well, I guess that peace and quiet makes one pooped and I am ready for bed!

They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.

Guess what! This year is the first year that I have heard the term "Earth Day" in several years and after a long sabitcal, Captain Planet is back on the telly. Speaking of Earth Day, be sure to look for the Go Organic for Earth Day coupon book. Silk Soy Milk has a great $1 coupon availible on their site for printing too. As far as recycling goes, I will more than likely pick up the several garbage bags of empty Moutain Dew cans from my dad's house and deliver them to my Father's house, for a fundage opportunity that even the LORD will be proud of. I will also spend part of the day baking carrot cupcakes with my step-daughter. This Earth Day for me will be more than saving mother nature, but also my family's health and my checkbook as well.

You know it's you Babe. Whenever I get weary and I've had enough, feel like giving up.

It has come to my knowledge that my house is in close proximity to River Styx. Ironically, one must cross this river to arrive at Moon Lake, a place that has been rumored to the rites of devil worship. The devil worshipers at Moon Lake were always a urban legend, but I knew people who took it all too seriously.

I had one friend who would call years ago and leave messages such as, "It's Friday Night, Nikki, I hope you refuse to deliver pizzas to Moon Lake Marina, like you have carelessly done so in the past. I know you don't believe that the devil worshipers are out there, but believe me, I have seen their hut! They will slit your throat and turn you into one fattened calf burnt offering!"

This alleged "hut" is nothing more than a hunting blind. Little to my knowledge back then, the River Styx was nearby to suck my sacrificed soul into Hades, just in case something were to go awry. I suppose it's a good thing that I do not believe that those devil worshipers are there doing their thing nor in Greek Mythology.

Just sit right back and you'll hear a tale, a tale of a fateful trip. That started from this tropic port, aboard this tiny ship.

David figured that I really wanted to go to Chicago with him. So, I took the liberty of checking out some Gray Line tours, that I can occupy my time with while he is busy schooling. I must admit, there is something that reeks senior citizen when I think of a bus tour. Most of them are kind of lame, where the tourist merely rides around and literally drives by the sites without stopping. Frankly, that sounds a little boring to me. Why on earth would I go to a place like Chicago just to ride a bus. I found one tour that sounded promising on a streamliner yacht, but that one only has one stop. It seems that only stops that most of these tours take is to eat, drink, shop or to snap a pic. I mean really, I could eat, drink, shop, take pictures and ride the MTS here at home and have a very different tour than any Gray Line could provide.

This one does sound like fun though.

http://www.etix.com/travel/servlet/onlineSale?action=viewTourDescription&route_id=12343&franchise_id=24

This way it seems that my sense of adventure would be satisfied. I could come and go as and where I pleased, and obviously the two day pass is the way to go. Best of all, that would make my husband nuts, knowing that I am purposefully roaming about alone in a big bad dangerous city. Heh. Heh. (evil grin)

Freaks on the left and freaks on the right, grab your partner, hold him tight.

I wanted to learn how to make a playlist link from rhapsody and post in ye olde blog. It's not that hard after all.

http://rhaplinks.real.com/rhaplink?type=playlist&rhapid=1531836&from=rhapweb&ref=im&title=blah-blah%20bluegrass

This is more for me, but if you must listen, please feel free.

Banana-fanana-fo-fanana, me, my, mo-manna.

I am happy to annouce that I only have 200 unread pages remaining in The Power of One. It's amazing how a little boy capable of such amazing feats never, ever suffers from a swollen ego. Sadly, my eye is still spasmodic in it's socket.

I surrendered Big Fat Fern into the care of Jean. She was taking a turn for the worst. Jean's confidence in nursing Big Fat back to health left me reassured. Big Fat needs to be repotted, since I broke the plastic hanging basket I brought her home in by way of backing over her with Sir Monty. Jean also told me that Big Fat was also in dire need of being divided. Apparently, there is such a thing as too much Fern. So, when Big Fat is halved, I suppose they will then need to be renamed as simply Fern and perhaps, Vern. I dunno.

Last week, I was considering naming the house. I generally call it "The Homestead", but I was thinking something more grand, like how plantations are named and such. I suppose "The Spartan House" would be appropiate. I remembered some white trash whe had suddenly come into some money, and built a real ugly but huge house they named "Grooveland". I still cringe at the sites and sounds of "Grooveland". There is nothing particularly groovy about it.

Good morning America, How are you? Don't you know me, I'm your native son.

I suddenly realized that I am very jealous of my husband's travel opportunity to Chicago mainly because I have never been there. I am even more envious of the thought of him traveling cross-country by rail, especially on a train made legendary by a very cool Arlo Guthrie song. The rates were pretty low, so I might have to make a reservation for myself in the process.

I also took the trouble of checking an airfare from Jackson. I found that the prices were even less expensive than rail and the non-stop flight takes about 2 hours into Chicago-Midway. Granted, at this point a plane sounds much faster and cheaper at this point, but it certainly lacks the enchanting notion of having intimacy with the scenic countryside via a constantly changing panaramic view, not to mention the fun of hopping from the club car to the dining car and so forth.

Perhaps, I have overly romanced this train ideal.

Well, Hello there, Country Bumpkin. How's the frost out on the pumpkin?

I finally got some sleep last night. Since my husband came home I have not got much rest at all. We went to the drag races Saturday night and I stayed up till 2 Sunday morning doing laundry and getting his suitcase packed to go to Firefighting School.

He also has to attend an EMD school in Chicago sometime this summer, in which I was a bit concerned about his mode of travel. He despises to drive long distances or in metropolitan areas. He has also never flown commercial. I can just see my husband in a major airport hub trying to change gates or even terminals. HA! He knows absolutely nothing about layovers or those standby flights the airlines love you to get on only to have your luggage arrive when you were really suppose to get there. He is not a seasoned traveler. He gets so easily distracted and intimidated by things especially if there is many people or automobiles, in a busy place. I have never known anyone actually admitting to getting lost on a freeway exit ramp, except for my husband.

I thought about Amtrak. He could get on the City of New Orleans in Greenwood, MS and arrive in Chicago 13 hours later. There would be no layovers or gate changes either, just a straight shot there and back. The rates seem rather affordable too. Just how exactly he would get from Union Station to the school or hotel is a different story.

Speaking of stories, I did not get much reading done this weekend, being I had to keep the kids entertained, so I got us some fuzzy posters, while hubby washed the siding and painted the porch. I am however about halfway finished with my book. Perhaps, I will go by Books-A-Million and get Joyce to order Tandia for me on Wednesday.

We also planted a small garden on the south side of the house this weekend. David requested that I should pick up a few squash, zucchini and pepper plants. I suppose bought way too many, being I got 6 of each. It looks that I am in the market for a Veg-o-matic thingy to be able to slice this large quantity of incoming produce. I can freeze it all by using the vacuum sealer.

The wild dogs cry out in the night, as they grow restless longing for some solitary company.

Okay. I have given this Tandia predicament some serious thought. I remembered how many years ago my cousin (not the one at Super1) was employed is he A/V department at the library. She is still employed by the library, but when on to get her chauffeurs license as she now drives from what I gather from the information that I have recieived, the special outreach large print bookmobile that specifically visits nursing homes, assisted living homes and subsidized elderly housing. I remembered how I knew all her department co-workers, but they have all when on to bigger and better things. Yo-Yo now went on to teach school and Angela finished her computer training and is in parts unknown. I would have requested that they might order Tandia on disk, or try to locate one with the bookswap program they particpate in with the other libraries in neighboring parishes, which works kind of like a reverse version of the trailblaizer library card. Since I do not really know anyone in A/V now, I would feel uncomfortable in making my request.

Then I remembered Joyce. She is not only employed by the library but also Books-A-Million. I just saw here there last night. I can not believe that woman works 3 jobs. Her real job is a school teacher at the magnet school, along with my pastor's wife. When I ran into Joyce, yesterday, she was definetly checking out my D.I. official's t-shirt that I was wearing. "Oh, so you are still judging D.I. for Nancy, huh?" she asked along with "Have you been to church lately?" I replied that I had not been in about a month or so. She reminded me that they (the folks at church) were looking for me.

Now, I know that Joyce would not have a problem with ordering Tandia on disk for me. She would it in a heartbeat providing that I pay the over $200 price tag for the disks beforehand per the BAM! website. It looks like I will just have to order it in print after all. Maybe I could purchase it in large print, ha ha. Tandia is already over 900 pages before the writing gets big. It's a shame that the library does not even shelve that book, in large print ideally, because I would definetly get my cousin to hold it for me. So, I have no choice but to shell out some clams and cope with one fiercely twitching eye in order to complete the journey of little Peekay.

I've got your drinking money, tune up your dobro.

Last night I actually did a little shopping for me for a change. I bought some undergardies, a skort and a book. It's been several years since I have read any fiction, but the other night I watched part of a movie that I was really into. My husband was channel surfing and saw Morgan Freeman. My husband is a huge fan of Morgan Freeman, firstly because he is a great actor and secondly, Mr Freeman hails from the same area as my husband, the Mississippi Delta Region. Their respective small towns are about 40 miles apart. Morgan Freeman still lives in the Delta, when he is not on his boat in the Carribean and owns/operates a blues club in Clarksdale. When Morgan Freeman's chracter was killed so was the movie in the eyes of my husband and the channel was changed.

I did a little research about the movie, and all the reviews stated that the movie didn't hold a candle to the book. So, I bought the book last night and started reading after got home from my shopping and a round of walking through the neighborhood. That was about at 8 p.m. At 1 a.m. this morning, I finally put the book down because I really needed to get some sleep. This has always been a problem with fiction and I. I become so engrossed in the story that time sort of flies by and the next thing I know is that I am living on about 4 hours of sleep. Non-fiction has more mercy upon me in it's ability to allow me to read a chapter or two, and then I can make my escape. Oh, but the above is not not true for fiction and certainly not so for The Power of One. That little Peekay just stole my heart. It's really sad that I can not read more fiction, but I must attempt to care for myself. This morning, I am paying for my midnite adventure in South Africa as my right eye, the one with astigmatism, is twitching badly.

There is a part two of this book, Tandia. I was hoping to locate an audio copy of it at the public library to bring my eyes and my wallet some grace, but no such luck. They do not have Tandia in print, most less on disk. Pfft!

A working class hero is something to be.

I bypassed my usual weekly shopping trip to Brookshire's last weekend, by instead getting groceries at Brookshire's less yuppy/healthy and more urban/ethnic counterpart, Super 1. My cousin who has worked for Brookshire's for 20+ years was recently transferred to Super 1 as a store director. They were having some kind of crazy sale. Since my husband and I help out his parents with their groceries also, I decided to participate in the savings at my cuz's location. That place was nuts! The good thing about this place is that they sell more authentic Mexican products, like my favorite salsa, tamarindo soda (which I do treat myself to occasionally) and mole'. If one wants to buy big candles representing their favorite patron saint, this is where to go! My favorite candle that is no longer carried was simply blue with large white letters "LAW-AWAY!" petitioning the police to stay at bay. The bad thing about going there, is well, their meat department is lacking, not that I am buying that much meat, mind you. There is only so many times that I can pass packages of tripe, chicken feet and neckbones before feeling very disturbed.

On a lighter note, I did locate something at Brookshire's last night while stocking up on produce, a new malt alcohol and 100% natural fruit juice beverage called Peels with no presevatives. I picked up a 4-pack of cranberry-peach "beer" and tried it out. I liked it. I think Peels taste more fruity and tart and less kool-aidy and sweet opposed to certain wine coolers. I probably buy it again. There is no Peels website as of yet but, I did find a newspaper article.

http://www.adweek.com/progressivegrocer/profitguides/beer/v2/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002275744

Jim Dandy to the rescue. Go, Jim Dandy. Go Jim Dandy.

My husband came home Sunday night. I was so glad to see him. It's a shame that he will be leaving next week to go to first aid, CPR and firefighting school in Paducah, KY. He brought back the most amazing piece of driftwood with him from the river. It's so cool! It has rocks imbedded in it and a crook at one end.

Last night, we got the rosary hung on the wall and did a little decorating on top of the computer hutch with the piece of driftwood with some tealight holders we got as wedding gifts. I am starting to think that it is beginning to look a bit cluttered up there, and maybe that I should simplfy the arrangement a little. I will get it figured out.

Last night, hubby and I also ate those darned ole vegan chili dogs! They were great. The Amy's organic vegan chili is what really made it work. That is some good stuff. My husband loved them! The smart dogs receive an above average passing grade. A- I cooked them on the George Foreman grill, which I believe was a spendid idea. However, I somewhat regret not getting those Rudi's buns and I am still waiting on those Vidalia onions to make it to the store, but we enjoyed them with corn and buckwheat tortilla chips and salsa. Yes, there will be an encore performance of Smart Dogs soon.

Down in the alley, just you and me. We’re going bowlin’ till half past three

This afternoon I took off work a couple of hours early and went over to Antique Alley for a little while. I stopped by Jean's office, but she wasn't there. I called her cell, and she was about two blocks away at a shop. I told her where I would be, at my favorite vintage clothing store, and to catch up with me if when she came back that way. While I was there, I found this most fantastic OVERSIZED terra cotta rosary. In this picture, I have it draped over the back of the sofa, just to give my readers a general idea of the HUGE size of this thing.

The most bizarre thing about this rosary was that it kept ending up in my hands, even though I put it back at least 3 times. I would just look down and I would be carrying it. So, I bought it. Jean found me as the man was bagging it up. We got back to her office and I showed her. She was floored at the rosary's awesomeness! I am thinking about wearing it to Maundy Thursday service. I think it shall be the most perfect accessory to wear to pre-death Jesus Passover Seder night! Woo Hoo!

We'll have some fun now, with me and all the gang. Learning from each other, while we do our thing.

I believe I'm getting warmer to what I was looking for with a lower price. I'm not sure as to what is a better quality. "Contempoary" or "One" To me, it's all non-stick and anything beats T-fal from K-mart. I think that "One" is that fancy non-stick infused cookware.

http://www.dillards.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=301&langId=-1&storeId=301&productId=500915507&No=20&overallOffset=5&N=1000919+2010050&searchUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dillards.com%2Fendeca%2FEndecaStartServlet%3FNo%3D20%26overallOffset%3D5%26N%3D1000919%2B2010050&R=HWP108

Holy Cow! Will you just look at the size of that link!

Gold lion's gonna tell me where the light is, take our hands out of control.

I was talking to my mother-in-law last night, when I asked her if she liked her Calphalon Contemporary Sauteuse that my husband and I got her got last Christmas. She stated that pot makes the best beans ever. In fact she likes it so much that she displays it on her gas stovetop at all times and would like “A pot just like it to cook turnip greens in”. So, I priced this lovely as a Christmas possible gift for this Christmas.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000936JV/ref=pd_rhf_p_2/002-0131058-8668023?%5Fencoding=UTF8&v=glance&n=284507

Excuse me, but I have a real problem with paying $165 for one stockpot, especially when I purchased my entire Calphalon Commercial Cookware set for maybe $35 more for the cost of this piece alone. There are two different cookware sets that do include this same stockpot. One is an 8 piece for $300 and the other is a 10 piece for $400. Now this is really where I start seeing red because the only difference between the two sets is that the $400 set includes the 3-quart saucepan with a lid. I refuse to pay $100 for one saucepan. This makes no sense because I paid only $50 for the 3-quart sauteuse that she currently has. Does Amazon think that I am a total idiot? Bed Bath and Beyond has it marked for $129. Maybe when I am bored one weekend afternoon, I will browse Dillard’s, Belch, oops, I mean Belk, and Tuesday Morning. Christmas is 8 months away, after all. I’m in no hurry.

I am apparently a klutz with my car. Not only did I manage to run over little India Opal, my deaf puppy that died a few months ago, but I also ran over Big Fat Fern, the hanging basket plant that lived on my porch. Poor Opal was scared of Buster and ran under the car while I was going down the driveway. Big Fat Fern was entirely my fault. I put her in the driveway because I thought it was going to rain, but it never did. I just forgot all about Big Fat Fern and backed over her. She got hung up on the exhaust so I had to drag her a bit to get her from underneath the car. Big Fat Fern is not looking too good these days but she’s not dead yet. This makes me very uncomfortable because there are loads of kids on bicycles in my neighborhood, so I will just have to be extra careful.

By the way, what is up with the one kid on a bike who shows up at my house when I get home from work, while I’m getting out the car and asks me “Do I have a Popsicle for him?” Well no. I’m not used to this neighborhood thing. So, what do I do? Do I go buy Popsicles for the kids? Would that rumor ME into a life of a pedophile? Where exactly is that ice cream truck playing that sick-o quacky duck music when a girl really needs one? Those things run year around here. Heck, I didn’t even know the kid nor have I seen him since. Thankfully.

Ground control to Major Tom.

What on earth in going on with Whitney Houston these days? Why would anyone choose to stay locked up in the bathroom for days, freebasing, talking to the devil, while often loosing her $6,000 dentures and pleasuring herself with adult toys with no regards to hygiene? What is going on with her sister-in-law and former drug buddy taking pictures of the crack-john and selling them and that whole nasty story to the National Enquirer? Is this just a ploy for the gang to get more drug money or something?! Oh, one other thing, who's booty is Bobby pulling a turd from right now while all this shit is going on?

Okay, everybody, into the paddy wagon you go! You don't have to go home but you can't stay here.

Well, you give me all your loving and your turtle dovin', all your hugs and kisses and your money too.

I just found out that my husband was awarded a promotion today. We are still until as to exactly when he moves up to his new position, but it will be soon. More than likely, this will happen in a month or so. I am so proud of him!

He sent me this picture last night using his phone cam, and I turned into black and white. It is of the Mississippi River Bridge at Cape Girardeau, Missouri. One is being built just like it in Greenville, Mississippi. I have been keeping an eye on the the construction of the new bridge everytime I cross the river from Lake Village, Arkansas to Greenville for the last 18 months or so.

I will be so happy when the new 4-lane bridge opens because I really dread taking that terribly old narrow 2-lane span across, especially in bad weather. Not to mention that when that one opens, I will not be caught waiting for the state police to reopen to general traffic when there are tractors or a mobile home crossing it.

Some one wrote "April Fools" with black letters on a dead end sign.

This weekend was well, pretty damn fruitless. I spent most of it relaxing with friends. Jean’s brother-in-law was in from Minnesota for the week, and I did shoot copies of some recipes that I thought he would like, since he is also interested in nutrition. Friday night, Jean and I made a bison meatloaf. Bob brought the bison with him on the plane all the way from MN, I provided the recipe and ingredients and Jean provided the hand mixing and the oven. The meatloaf went over well. I thought the texture of the meatloaf was a bit crumbly, but overall it was moist and tasty. It sounds strange to me to say that I participated in cooking a bison meatloaf. Frankly, I feel anything involving bison, especially at somebody’s house sounds bizarre.

I was dealing with some very painful back spasms early Saturday morning. One of them woke me up from a dream in which I had checked into a “cooperative motel”. I checked into this “motel” by writing all the stupid information that everybody seems to need while sitting in a booth in a diner. Along with discounted rate of my room, I had to baby sit an infant. So infant and I went to our room, which was a pigsty. I mean this place was a dump. The infant belonged to whoever else lived in this room because there was a picture on the wall of the baby with its “father?” Kevin Federline. This place was a youth hostel gone seriously bad. The bunk beds were tore up, no sheets on the beds and no clean linen in sight. There were stains on the carpet and the filth was unbelievable. I remember thinking how I really did not want to stay there, and how sad it was for this baby to be literally raised by strangers and that this child’s father? Kevin Federline seemed to be a stranger himself. What a nightmare! Then, suddenly, I woke up tensed and straight as a board, thank god. Being in pain of that caliber was much better than staying in that hellhole.

Mostly, the rest of my weekend was spent loafing about. I did make time to go to the grocery store, a short trip by the mall for a little facial waxing work, and strolled the neighborhood a couple of times for a little exercise. Last night, I totally veged out by watching some silly Mexican version of “Dancing with the stars” on Univision. The Spanish name translates into basically “Dancing by a Dream”.

http://www.univision.com/content/channel.jhtml?chid=6&schid=1363&secid=11917

One of the contestants had broken her leg earlier in the week and was dancing in a wheelchair to a song about a man who had no hair. In fact, her partner had shaved his head for the occasion and was wearing a rather girly wig, which got snatched off during their routine. Those judges sure did have a lot to talk about, and they seem to talk the most when it was their turn to keep things in suspence by declaring a mystery score. Shoot, I guess I will have to tune in next week to see who gets the boot. You know what? I will not lose any sleep if I miss that episode.