Well , I guess the big news is my accident last Monday night. I'm Ok, I just got a little shook up. My car wasn't so lucky. It all happened so fast, I was driving down the parkway to go home. As I was crossing an intersection, a car pulls out and hits my car in the side. That impact pushed me into the next lane and another car got me in the right rear fender and tail light, and that sent me across the median strip. Thank Heavens there wasn't any traffic coming or I might not be typing this right now. I didn't even realize that a third car was involved until the police arrived and put it all together. The second car went off into some trees. I don't know how much damage the other cars had, but mine has about $5000.00 worth of damage. I hope they don't find anything else wrong with it. I should have it back in a couple of weeks. In the mean time, I have a rental car.

In other news, we finally got some winter weather. A couple of inches of snow fell the other day, and we had flurries today.  I'm kind of happy about that. I like the seasons to be "seasonable." I hope to see some more snow.

I've written so many entries to my journal in my head, but never transferred them them to the computer. I'm recovering from my third cold this season. I'm so tired of feeling bad. I started taking a vitamin and mineral supplement, I hope that will help.

About a month ago, Rick and I went to the National Theater in DC to see Movin Out, the play that is set to Billy Joel songs. It was great! There is no dialogue in the entire play. The music and lyrics carry the story along. The band was so good, and the actors were wonderful. If you like Billy Joel's music, and get an opportunity to see it, you should. I was hoping that BJ himself would make an appearance, but alas, it didn't happen.

Christmas was Ok, we had a nice day together. Dad was alittle sad, but we all kept our spirits up. The day after, we left for the farm in NC. Dad went with us, and we had a good week, exploring the area, and getting to know some neighbors better. We tore down the kitchen of the old house, and now only the 2 story section remains. We found a bunch of old bottles under the house. A nehi bottle, Pepsi, Coca Cola, and an old (glass) bleach bottle, and a small bottle of Sloan's ointment. I also kept some porcelain light fixtures from the old kitchen. I think it's pretty cool, and I hope to use some of this stuff in the new house when we build it. That old house was there for 200 years!

Oh, and we also saw a picture of the house in it's hey-day. It was a nice looking place back then. The kitchen had a porch that was gone when we bought it. There's a horse and buggy in the front yard, along with goats and chickens. A rather large family lived there by the looks of things. I hope to get a copy of the picture.

Well, today was nice. My husband was able to get two tickets to the Redskins game, and he and my dad went to the game. They had a great time inspite of the Redskins loss to Atlanta.  Yesterday they were able to go on a tour of Fed Ex Field. The walked down the field, and saw the team's locke r room. My son went with them on the tour. They really had a great time.

I spent some time getting shopping done. More and more I'm shopping online. I go to the stores, get frustrated by the traffic, parking, and crowded stores, and then get even more frustrated when I can't find what I'm looking for.  So I go home and find it online, and have all the stuff come to ME. Maybe it's because of My mom's death last year, but I just don't want to be stressed over the holiday's. If that's all a person experiences during the season, then what's the point? We really need to remember the real reason of Christmas- take some time to reflect on what's truly important. If you have your family with you,  is it really so important what's under the tree?

Speaking of trees, we decorated our tree in blue lights this year , in rememberance if my mom. Remember my blue light story? I think of my mom everyday. I guess it's because it's Christmas.

It's been a busy time since Halloween. There doesn't seem to be enough hours in the day. I can't believe Thanksgiving is past, maybe because I didn't have to cook this year. We had a wonderful dinner at my brother-in-law's house. I spent the day with one of those Ben-gay patches on my neck, I don't know what I did, but I had a terrible pain and stiffness. I missed a few Jazzercise classes because of it, and I wasn't too happy about that. i ate too many goodies to be missing exercise! As a result, I gained a few pounds. And the holiday season is just starting! I think I'm in trouble.

Thank you all for your kind words, it's comforting to know that people understand about losing a pet. Lady was a member of the family for almost 20 years. She came to us as a stray one October night in 1987, and I'm guessing she was about a year old then. it seemed fitting that she left us in October. We saw her declining over the last few months, being less active and interested in her surroundings. She seemed to shrink, getting smaller and losing weight, even though she was eating, drinking, and doing everything else ok. Tuesday night she had a seizure, and we took her to an all-night veternary clinic near our home. The doctor thought that she had some heart faliure, fluid around her lungs, and an enlarged spleen. It was with the greatest saddness that Rick and I made the decision to put her down. I just couldn't bear the thought of her suffering. The people at the clinic were very comforting. I got to say goodbye to Lady, and they made an impression of her paw on a heartshaped piece of clay, that I could take home and bake in the oven to harden it. I wrote her name on it before I baked it. We took Lady home in a box and buried her in the backyard. I want to get a little marker for the grave. I miss her so much, she used to lay on my bed, and I would say goodbye when I left for work every morning, now there's no one there to say goodbye to when I turn out the light and leave in the morning.

Well, I guess I've poured out enough feelings for now.

  Lady

My beautiful, wonderful calico cat, Lady

1986(?)- 2006

I will miss you.

I feel awful. I have a terrible head cold. My husband gave it to me. If I could just take off my head, I'd  feel fine. I blame the roller- coaster tempertures around here. One day it's 50 and the next day it's 80 degrees.

I hope it's nice on Sunday, we're going to the Renaissance Festival.  What fun! I always have a good time when I go. I don't dress up in a costume though, but I love to see what other people are wearing. 

Something strange- I tried to post at the Ponderosa Brand, but I kept getting an error message about flood control. It looks likes no one has posted all day. Very strange, I hope everything is OK. It's like everything on the board is frozen.

I cleaned out 2 closets last weekend. That's something I have been wanting to do. I have three more to do, and I want to paint my son's room. He's going to move back home. He wants to buy a house. He'll have to save, the cost of housing here is nuts!

All's well and quiet in my world, one day just melts into the next. I get up, get ready for work, do my job for 8 hours, go home, and make dinner, cleanup, and maybe get in a jazzercise class or some time on my stationary bike. Then I go to bed and start the whole process over again. *yawn*

A bright spot- the Redskins won their game!It was my dad's birthday, so that was a nice birthday present for him. He's a big fan. After the game we took him out for dinner.It was a nice time.

Speaking of winning, my son's little league baseball team won their first game this year. They had such a rough spring. Compared to some of the other teams, they were younger, and now that they've grown some and gotten some more experience playing on a larger field, things are coming together for them.

That's a funny thing about the morning glories, Jeanie. I guess I would feel the same way as the farmers if the flowers were growing in my crops. A weed is simply a plant that grows where it's not wanted.

Here's a picture I took of the pond on our place:

I didn't mean to neglect my journal so much. It just happened. I want to start posting more regularly.  Nothing much has changed, same old same old, as the saying goes.

 We went down to NC over the Labor Day weekend. My dad came with us. He really liked it there. We had good weather, although Ernesto had dumped 8 inches of rain right before we got there. The road to our place was flooded in places, and the creek and the pond were out of their banks. I felt sorry for some of the people because some o fthe yards were under water. I'm guessing that they had flooded basements. The water was beginning to recede when we left.Our trailer was fine. We had attached anchors to keep it steady in strong winds. I'm glad we did that.

I got a chance to walk around and snap some pictures. We have alot of quail in the fields, and rabbits,and(YIPES)  snakes! There are also some beautiful flowers growing alond the wire fence. The morning glories were my favorites. Most of them were blue, with white ones here and there.

There's still alot more to explore, but the bugs are a deterrent. Maybe in the fall months, that won't be so much of a problem.

At home things are going ok. My youngest son is back in school, and fall ball is back in "swing".

Work is very hectic, this being our busiest season of the year, with seeding going full speed. A few more weeks and then we can take a winter break.