Happy Mother's Day

I talked my mom into taking these pictures a few years ago for my birthday. They are the only pictures I have of her. (yes, I realize I only have one of them here - time constraints) When I asked her if she would do it I said, "I want something for my birthday so you can't turn me down."

"What is it," she asked suspiciously.

"I want pictures of you and I together. We don't have any because my whole life you have been waiting to get skinny before you took a picture. If you die, I won't have even one picture of you."

Thankfully she concented. I also had pictures of my dad and I made that year. Since they are divorced that is the closest I could get to a family portrait.

Isn't my mom pretty?

One time I asked my mom, "why did you have 3 kids in 4 years and then stop?"

My truck is a glorified wheelchair

I remembered I have free towing through my insurance today. I had it towed to a shop I use and can trust. Since I didn't pay my rent I will use my rent money to fix it if it is something inexpensive (everybody seems to think it is my alternator).

I will have to pay a late fee for my rent and play catch up but it will be worth it if that is all that is wrong. If it is something more I will cross that bridge when I come to it.

I got lucky today. I walked a couple of blocks to the bus stop to go check on my truck. My friend, Maggie came by. She picked me up. We were having a citywide yardsale and while she did her yardsalin', I stayed in the car and watched her baby. Not my forte but at least I had a ride. I almost had a panic attack when the kid woke up but she didn't yell too much. She was mostly confused by my presence more than anything. I kind of enjoyed the silly music Maggie had playing for her too.

Then Maggie took me to my truck. While I waited on the tow truck she went to see her parents. Then she came back and took me to the store and home. I have enough groceries that I won't need to leave the house for a week or so.

Thank you to Maggie for her help.

Now it's Thank God for City Boys

Apparently something else besides the battery is wrong with my truck. I broke down again yesterday in the middle of a very busy intersection right in the middle of town. I knew if I didn't get my truck out of the way the first policeman that came along would just call a tow truck and I didn't want to deal with that.

I had been there less than a minute when I saw a young man and a girl pull up and motion to me to see if I needed help. He jumped out of his truck and pushed my truck out of the way. The girl was a nurses aide and she panicked when she saw my oxygen tank. I told her I had a bad heart and the first thing she said was "you can't be in this heat." I told her I knew that but I had no choice at the moment.

Her boyfriend tried to jump my truck. It didn't work. He was probably a landscaper or something from looking at the stuff in the back of his truck. He pulled out a chain and hooked it to my truck and started trying to pull my truck. We were on a little hill and he was going in reverse and didn't have quite enough power when all of a sudden a man pulled behind me in his truck and gave us enough of a push that we were able to get my truck to a parking space so I didn't have to worry about being towed away.

Then the young couple took me home and refused any money for gas or their time. I am grateful to city boys today. I guess I have to eat my words from the other blog I did. I don't mind.

If you wish it, it will come

Of course I only wish for weird stuff but it has worked once again. I am babysitting 2 parakeets. I was kind of wishing for some birds but I know they are a lot of work. This way I will get it out of my system. I'll probably be sick of them in a week when the owner comes back.

Right now I am enjoying their incessant whistling and chirping and fluttering around the cage. Fatty Catty is reliving her mighty hunter days. It is quite amusing to watch her stalk across the floor to the cages knowing full well that there is absolutely no way on earth she can possibly harm little Billy and Whitey. Eddie is preaching at me because I already don't feel good and I took the birds in. I had to tell him to stop or he could leave until they are gone because I just want to enjoy them. He just shook his head but he knows I need an animal fix every now and then.

Today he is cooking out some ribs. He is a barbeque conisseur. I have had his ribs before and they are delectable. All of y'all should be real jealous right now. I am off to make some mashed potatoes (his request) with gravy and half runners and deviled eggs (a surprise for him). I also made a lovely fruit salad and we will watch movies for the rest of the evening.

Enjoy the Sunshine. I know I am (from inside anyway)

That Black Stain that has Followed Me For My Whole Life

I was recently reminded of the black stain. For as long as I can remember there has been a black stain on anything that I touch. If you don't believe me just ask my mom.

I gave her a patio set a few weeks ago. I gave it to her because of the decrepit condition of her wicker patio set which belonged to my grandmother. I had a patio set that had never been outside and my apartment was too crowded so I thought it would make a wonderful mother's day/birthday present. I even offered to haul her blackened wicker chairs to the dump they look so bad, but she turned me down.

She was very pleased with the patio set and I was happy that she was happy. I called her about a week later and she happened to mention that she had hired someone to "get the black stain" off of the cushions. She was so happy that it was almost gone. That's the thing about the black stain. It never goes away, no matter how much you scrub. I am finally realizing that the stain is not anything to do with me. It is my mom's problem.

A couple of years ago I loaned her my "Pam and Rhonda" Christmas dolls which she loved. She was sitting there admiring them when she blurted out. "Oh no! There is a black stain across Pam's face!" I couldn't see it but she insisted it was there. The next day it had mysteriously disappeared.

When we were kids I would clean the bathroom tub sometimes 7 or 8 times before the "black stain" would go away. I never did see it. I would just go back and scrub the tub over and over from top to bottom until she was satisfied. That black stain has caused me more misery than I want to think about.

With age comes understanding, I guess. I think I finally understand that the black stain is within her - it is NOT a tangible thing.

Thank God for Country Boys

Sunday I went to dollar tree. Apparently I accidentally turned my car lights on before I went in. Unfortunately my battery went dead. It was the heat of the day and the way I was parked nobody could get to the front of my car except for the one beside of me and who knows where they were enjoying their day. (it was a mall)

I waited around for about 20 minutes hoping the people would come back to their car and if they did hoping they would give me a jump. It has been years since I was in this kind of prediciament but I know from experience that city people are not likely to give you a jump if you need one. They usually mutter something about messing their cars up and go on their merry way. I knew I needed a country boy to help me out.

The good thing about country boys is they can't resist a broken down vehicle and the chance to fix it. If it turns out your car needs more than a jump they will stay right there until they get it running. I finally spied a man I thought would help me. I asked for help and he said he would be glad to but my cables wouldn't reach his truck.

Then I hit him up for the BIG FAVOR. "If you just give my truck a little push we can back it up to where you can get to it to jump it."

"Sure," he told me,"we can do that."

He got right out of his truck and pushed me back about 20 feet and I got my jump and I gave him a big thank you and he went on his merry way. In the old days I would have pushed my truck myself but I can't do it anymore because of my heart. Unfortunately I was in the heat too long (and tired and stressed to boot). I guess this was enough to mess my heart up again. I have been in bed for two days,unable to get off my oxygen and I'm having a hard time even walking across the room.

I seem to be a little stronger today but I know I have to take it easy. Even easier than usual that is.

(sigh)