Rain, Thunder, Lightning... the works.

We were up at the cottage for a couple of days, expecting to get the delivery of the soil we need to fill in around the edges of the bulkhead. They couldn't deliver the soil on Friday... it had rained up there before then and turned everything muddy. They expected to deliver the truckload this morning, but it rained again. Rather than play this day by day, we just cancelled the delivery and set up a new one in a couple of weeks. But then, if it rains....

As slow as everything can get down here with work schedules, it can be a thousand times slower up in East Texas. When you're up there, you're on "country time," and that clock has its own master-- and it's not you. Rather than get crazy about every blessed thing, you just have to accept it the way it is. "And that's the way it is...."--- didn't Walter Cronkite say something like that as he said his goodnight years ago on the evening news?


My husband tried to get the boat out on Friday, while the sun was shining, but after trying for an hour or so, he found out that he really needs help with the mast and the sail. At least until he gets used to it all. I can help him hold up the mast while he fastens it down-- as long as the boat isn't in the water while all of that is happening. There is a boat ramp just a couple of streets down from our cottage, and that's where the catamaran will have to be launched. While we're up there, we can leave the boat tied up at our dock, but my husband doesn't want to just let it sit in the water when we're not there. Our boat house has a lift, but it wasn't meant for this kind of a sailboat, so he's saving that spot for whatever motorboat he gets along the way. So the sailboat is once again tucked away in the garage up there, waiting for its maiden voyage.

I spoke to my cousin R while we were up there, and she couldn't stop laughing when I told her that I was in no way going to get on that boat. I told her what happened when I was on the whale-watching boat in Maine, so now she finally understands just how afraid I am of boats in the middle of water. She has also been on whale-watching boats and she loved every minute of it. But she's a water-baby.... loves to swim, love boats, loves cruise-ships. She told me to tell my husband that he's got the wrong cousin if he needs a First Mate on that sailboat. I told her she's welcome to be the First Mate on that and any other boat he happens to get. I will be content to stay on the back porch and read my books or do crossword puzzles, or drive into town and look around the antique shops.


Still a nasty day out here..... lots of clouds that look like they can open up and pour down rain at any second. But at least it's warm... summer is here, rain showers and all.


The lawn guy whose telephone is unable to dial a zero has not called me back yet. Guess I will be crossing him off of my list. I've learned the hard way that if you have to chase after a worker before they start the job, then heaven help you in finding him after he's agreed to do the job. So right now, we've got the landscaper with the mega-buck ideas that was here last week, and the mystery landscaper who has promised to be here in two weeks. Let's see.... did I say this job would be done by Labor Day? Let's change that to Halloween.

"Out of Africa"

I am now reading "Out of Africa," by Isak Dinesen. I loved that movie with Meryl Streep and Robert Redford, and I must have seen it a dozen times. I had the movie soundtrack on a cassette tape, and I wore it out from the constant playing in the old Thunderbird that I used to have years ago.

I found a copy of "Out of Africa" at Half-Price books a while back, and it got buried in my pile of books-to-be-read. This isn't the first copy of "Out of Africa" that I have bought.... I had found a copy years ago and tried to read it, but for some reason I never got past the first chapter and I sold the book on eBay. When I spotted this copy of the book at the bookstore, I thought I would just try it again.

I'm so glad I did...... it's such a beautiful book, and so wonderfully written, that I find myself reading it slowly, and even re-reading parts of each chapter before going on to the next part of the story. Some paragraphs are positively poetic, to say the least.

I've been so inspired by reading this book that I have bought the movie soundtrack CD from eBay, and I even found a copy of the movie itself there. I tried the local stores first, but they didn't have either. When I finish reading the book, I will watch the movie. And the CD will go into my car, along with my Manilow CDs. The movie was breathtaking, the music is magical. I will need half a box of tissues for the movie.

Lawns R Us

All my hopes of getting the front flowerbeds re-done before Easter have flown out the window. We'll be lucky to get this done before Memorial Day, and a better bet would be the 4th of July.

The first landscaper got here yesterday, earlier than the appointment time, and he even called me to ask if he could come here sooner than planned (which gave him extra points in my book). Nice guy, very organized, and he came here with books filled with photographs of landscaping and flowerbeds. All very beautiful, from simple low-maintenance yards to over-the-top English gardens.

I showed him our boring front flowerbeds, then showed him the over-crowded backyard flowerbeds, and I suggested he take some of the larger plants out of the back and put them in the front, and add whatever else the front needed to make it look more dramatic. He took one look at the huge Live Oak tree in the corner of our backyard and said "Wow....That tree is a gift." (More extra points.)

Before leaving, he gave me a questionnaire to fill out, so he'd know better how to design the front flowerbeds for us. Once we fill that out, he will take pictures of our front and back yards, then get the designs drawn up. Very professional, and very expensive, I'm sure. But I've learned that you get what you pay for with landscaping. We learned that last year when I let our lawn guys replant the front flowerbeds for us. The beds are adequate, but they look too commercial, rather than residential.

All the other landscapers that I called two weeks ago never called back, so I tossed their names and numbers away. If they can't even return a first phone call, then I don't want to be doing business with them. My friend A gave me the number of a man who has done a lot of yards in Pearland where she lives. I called him yesterday afternoon and he took my name, address and phone number and told me that he would call me back later on that night. He said he was finishing up a job when I called him, and he was on his cell phone-- he couldn't call me back from his cell phone because he couldn't dial a zero from that phone. (What?!?) He said he'd call me last night from his home phone. I'm still waiting for that call. I had high hopes for this guy because my friend A only recommends great workers. This landscaper is currently working on a bunch of new townhouse properties by Reliant Center... it may just be that he's got too much work in the downtown area now to be bothered with the smaller communities.

I called one more landscaper today, recommended to us by the lady who gave us the name of the air-conditioning company who replaced the duct-work in the attic a few weeks ago. He sounded very professional over the phone, but he can't even get here for an estimate until the third week of April. I took the appointment with him, and told him if that didn't work out for us, I would call him back and cancel.

Of course, my gut is telling me to just go with the guy who came here with all the pictures and design layouts. His questionnaire is amazing.... he thought of everything, such as asking if we're allergic to certain plants, and if we have cats in the yard (so he will eliminate plants that could be toxic to them). He's a cat-lover, on top of being super-organized. ---And he asked me that question before he even walked into the house and saw that I did indeed have cats. (More extra points.)

But my husband will want to see other estimates. That's going to take time. Between just waiting for call-backs, then waiting for estimates, then waiting for the work to be done. Did I say this would get done before the 4th of July? Let's make that Labor Day... this way I won't be disappointed with the delay.

Give me a blessed break.

Manilow Radar

It's nice to know that my Manilow-ESP is still in good working order. I was in the middle of doing laundry this morning and the image of Manilow on television just flashed through my mind. Short walk from the laundry room to the kitchen, and I turned on the little TV and started flipping through the channels, starting with the local networks first.

And there was Barry, sitting on the set of the Rachel Ray show and just getting up to sing one of his songs from his "60s" CD. I misssed her interview with Barry, so the ESP is just a little off-kilter. I'm hoping that the lighting on RR's show was the cause of the blonde highlights in Barry's hair. I do wish that Manilow would just stick to his own salt-and-pepper hair, like he was doing a few years ago. Some stylist is probably telling him to "go blonde," and (in my humble opinion) it's just not right somehow.

But hair color aside, Manilow is still Manilow and that man can sing. I called our friend J at his antique shop and told him to turn on his little TV in the office in the shop so he could watch Barry... after that first song, Manilow came back at the end of the show. Sure made the laundry more fun than usual.


I'm waiting this morning for the landscaper to come by, to give us an estimate on the front flowerbeds. Looking at them again this morning, they really are in need of a make-over. I'm hoping the landscaper will find the perfect place for my palm tree that's growing in the backyard. I'd rather have it in the front yard, but it needs a good spot. We'll see what he says. Then we'll have to get some other estimates, I'm sure. Which hasn't been an easy thing... I've given up hoping that the half-dozen other landscape companies are going to call back.


Lots of errands yesterday... grocery shopping being one of them. The supermarket trips aren't that awful anymore... as long as I go to Kroger, not HEB. My husband and I went to the large HEB not too long ago and even Mr. Laid Back said that the atmosphere in that store wasn't conducive to a relaxed shopping experience. (Translation: that store sucks. -- And I hate that expression, but there's no better description.) My husband even went to the manager to complain about the rap music that was playing in the store while we were shopping. Rap music? Just who do they think is doing the grocery shopping? Fifteen-year-olds? Give me a blessed break. They switched the rap music to country/western tunes, which at least fits the area.

So Kroger it is, and will stay, unless The Grocery Powers That Be decide to open up a Whole Foods Market in this area. That would be the ultimate relaxed shopping experience, in my opinion. Now, if they can play Manilow's music CDs while I'm shopping, that wouldn't hurt either.


I just did a spell-check on what I wrote. Every mention of "Manilow" came out highlighted in yellow. This machine will recognize the words Kroger and HEB, but will dispute Manilow. Stupid computers.

The Boat has Left the Driveway

My husband's catamaran is now up at the lake in the garage instead of in our driveway here. It will be nice to be able to get my car out of the garage again tomorrow. Both the boat and the trailer fit into the garage up at the cottage, so that was a surprise. When we're up there for longer than just a few days, the boat can be kept in the boathouse on our dock, but for now, it's tucked away and out of the water till it's time for its first sailing.

Speaking of sailing.... my husband and I went yard-sale-ing on Saturday. There was a huge moving sale at one of the other subdivisions around the lake, and we were there first thing on Saturday morning and bought a car-load of stuff for Mayberry. The biggest item was a 27-inch color television, complete with a swivel-stand and antenna. We said we weren't going to have a TV up there, but when we're up there for more than just a few days, we do miss knowing what's going on in the rest of the world.

The people selling the TV offered to drive it in their truck to our house, since there was no way that the television would fit into our car. They wouldn't even take any money from us for the gas they used, so I gave them some cranberry muffins that I had baked the day before. We put the TV into the game room of the cottage, which we're now calling the TV room. We didn't want it in the living room because then it would become the focus of the room, and we don't want that. We plugged it in and we can get just two channels without being hooked up with the local cable company. I'm hoping that those two stations are the ones that carry "Oprah" and "The Office."

We also bought an extra life-vest, and a float for the lake, and I found two cute little wood stools--- a pretty vanity seat with a padded cushion for our bedroom, and one made of maple slats for the living room. While we were there this time, I rearranged the living room furniture and we like it better this way.... the love-seat is by the windows instead of in the middle of the room...... the room felt cut in half before and now it's opened up and looks as large as it really is. They were selling a ton of kitchen things at the yard sale, but I just bought I few things that I needed for the kitchen there... some extra serving/mixing bowls and a few decorative pieces.

We found two lamps there... one with a carved wood seagull as its base, and one that looks like a soccer-ball-sized clear light bulb. When you turn that one on, you can see multi-colored rays of light. There's a name for that thing, but I don't remember what it is.... we put it in the TV room up there and it's sure to become a conversation piece. My husband also bought some surprises for young Miss C, that she can use with the boat. We didn't tell her anything... my husband just propped her surprise up in her cabin and she'll see it when she gets up there next time.

The handyman came on Friday to do the repairs that we had arranged... a $300 job turned into a $600 job..... my husband wasn't happy, but we paid the man. The guy told us we needed more wood than he thought, and he stained everything for us after it went up. Lesson learned: get everything in writing. We'll probably be looking for another handyman in the future, unless my husband decides to do everything himself as it's needed. My husband replaced five or six of the roof shingles... up on the ladder, with tools that we already had along with a couple of borrowed ones. It took longer than he thought it would, but it looks professionally done. (And it didn't cost us $600.)

I have to laugh because we both do chores up at the cottage that we don't think of doing here. But it's easier to find help here than up at the lake, so that's one reason.


I came home to find all the eBay packages with the Harry Potter things that I had ordered. They're all wrapped up now and on a shelf in my closet, awaiting our party lunch for the last book of the Potter series. We also decided to have Easter Sunday dinner here, so I'll be getting things ready for that this week. I've already got everything I need for that, except for some Easter candy for the little individual gift baskets.

Summer is popping out all over here, and up at the lake as well. Lots of pink and red azaleas were blooming at the lake when we got there, so they were a nice surprise. The cardinals are still nesting in the ficus tree on the back porch, and I saw a bunch of bluebirds this weekend. All of the trees that lost their leaves during the winter "freeze" are now all bursting with green buds and leaves again. The temperature is rising, the sun is shining, the days are getting longer and hotter.

Boat Stuff and Party Stuff

We spent most of yesterday driving around to different stores, looking for things my husband needed for the sailboat. Just little things, like tie-downs for the mast when it's on the trailer, and extra wheels for the trailer (just in case), and (most important) life-vests. I tried on one of the life-vests in the store, figuring that if it fit me, it would be good for young Miss C. My husband laughed and said he wished he had a camera. I told him to take a good look, because he wouldn't be seeing me in a life-vest ever again.

We went from Academy (a sporting goods store) to Wal-Mart, with lunch at a Chinese restaurant inbetween. While we were in Academy, I browsed through the shoe department and found a pair of leopard-print flats. I thought they only had sports-type shoes in that store. Of course I had to buy them... they're good for around the house and around the neighborhood, but I don't think I'd go out with them. I'm too used to wearing heels when I dress up.

While we were in Wal-Mart, I found a bunch of stuff for Easter..... place card embellishments and little bunnies for individual candy baskets (small ones for each place setting). We're thinking of having Easter Sunday dinner here, with the same friends that we invited last year. Our friends K and B used to have an Easter Egg Hunt at their house every year, but they had to suspend that...... work is still being done on their house (it's being changed from a one-story to a two-story). For that reason, any sort of large party is just out of the question till everything there is finished.

We also had to stop at Hobby Lobby, and I found some pretty invitations there.... each card looks like a little flower-pot, complete with colorful flowers growing out of the pot. Cute for Easter, or for any Springtime lunch. I don't know when I'll use them, but they've been added to my stash of pretty invitations.

Seems like we're planning a bunch of get-togethers....... a Chili Cook-Off party, an Ice Cream Sundae lunch, the Harry Potter lunch, and I've been wanting to do a Tiara Tea Party since last year so I'm hoping to do that sometime after the Easter holiday.

I've already got everything I need for the Tiara Tea, and everything we'd need for the Ice Cream Sundae lunch, and I'm just now getting together party gifts and table settings for the Harry Potter lunch.... that one won't be till August or so, when we've all read the last book in the Potter series. I found a bunch of stuff on eBay, at cheap prices because the Harry Potter fuss hasn't begun yet. Just wait till the last book comes out.... all the merchandise will be much more expensive than it is now, which is why I've been buying that stuff now instead of later on in the summer.

I found all the things we need for the Ice Cream Sundae lunch..... that idea all began because I found vintage invitation cards with an "old fashioned" ice cream parlour on them. Then I found books on ice cream (one for each couple), and vintage ice cream glasses, and even blown-glass ice cream cone ornaments, all at ridiculously low prices. I thought it would be fun to have an ice cream sundae lunch (just ice cream and desserts) with each couple bringing their favorite ice cream toppings and a dessert. We'd get all the ice cream flavors, plus some gelato and frozen yogurt as well. On one of my trips to the Hallmark store, I found ice cream-themed napkins. (It's all in the details.)

I need to find Chili Cookbooks for the chili party....... I thought the books would make nice party-gifts for each couple. The Texas Store must have those....... I've already looked in Half-Price books for them. Barnes & Noble may have some, so I'll have to check there as well. The local college will be having their Chili Cook-Off in early April, I think, so we may coordinate our chili party with theirs.

All I can say is, I'm glad this house has so many walk-in closets and built-in cabinets. It's easy to keep everything organized for all of these get-togethers, and nothing gets "lost" along the way.

Soap Stuff

On the suggestion of the bone density technologist, I did slip a large white bar of soap between the bedsheets... and I do believe it helped a bit. Sounds crazy, but all I know is, I usually have little aches in my legs first thing in the morning when I bend down to clean out the cats' litter boxes on the screen-porch. Yesterday morning and this morning, no ache, no pain.... and I always clean those litter boxes first thing when I get up. I didn't even realize the absence of the achey-painy feeling until I was having breakfast. Usually, when I straighten up from cleaning the boxes, the cats hear me groaning a little bit and I tell them there "ought to be a better way."

My husband looked on the Internet, and there were some articles about putting a bar of soap between the sheets...... I read them the other day, and neither article discounted the soap theory. An old wives remedy, to be sure, but for some reason, it works. Not, of course, if you have broken bones, for goodness sake.

This Bone's For You

Went to a doctor's appointment today, to have a bone density test. Last time I did that was about five years ago, and our doctor suggested I have another one done. He makes suggestions carefully now, since he knows that I don't like unnecessary tests. Not that anyone really does, but there are some people who don't mind going through medical tests as long as their insurance company picks up the costs. Not me. I've got better ways to spend my time and I continue to hope that I don't have to go through "necessary" medical testing. I walk into any medical office knowing that if they don't call my name within thirty minutes of my appointment time, then I'm just walking out of the door.

Anyway, I expected the same kind of bone density test that I had five years ago--- you put your foot into a machine and within seconds, out comes a reading of the density of everything inside you that allows you to stand up straight. Today's testing machine was different.... I had to lie down on a long table while an X-ray machine of sorts moved above me, taking pictures of my spine and my hips. When the technician was done, she showed me the pictures and said that everything looked just fine and healthy, with no signs of arthritic conditions. The one "weak spot" on my spine is in my lower back, which is the same spot where both my dad and my Aunt Dolly have had problems. I have a little bit of back pain when I lift up litter boxes to clean them out, but other than that (unless I'm on my feet from morning till night) everything is just fine, in my opinion.

The technician got to talking about herself, saying she doesn't like doctors and medications either, and her mother, grandmother and great-grandmother are the same way. She said she doesn't even like to take aspirin, but at times her legs and her back hurts a bit just because she's on her feet so much every day. For that problem, she uses her great-grandmother's remedy--- a bar of soap. Pardon me? She told me that her great-grandmother always sleeps with a bar of soap in her bed.... a large bar of Ivory soap (or any other white soap) that she puts inbetween the bottom sheet and the top sheet.... at the bottom of the bed near her feet, so she doesn't kick it out of the side of the bed while she's sleeping.

The soap, for whatever reason, eliminates simple aches and pains from daily activities and chores. She said she didn't believe it at first, but tried it as a last resort (instead of taking aspirin). The effects of the soap will last a few months, then you just slip in a new bar of soap and use the other bar for the shower. She said it may be the lanolin in the soap... she really doesn't know. Now of course I've got to try this. Can't hurt anything, and my curiosity has gotten the best of me.

Going Postal

I had to go to the post office today to pick up all the mail that wasn't delivered while we were at the lake. We usually don't stop the mail, but this time we did. Big mistake. They stopped it on the right date, but they didn't resume delivery when we got back. No big deal, I thought... I gave the mailman an extra day, figuring he would bring everything the following day. Wrong again. One more day, and still no mail. The next day was Saturday, and our post office doesn't have counter service on Saturdays, so I had to wait till today.

We were up before dawn this morning, so I was at the post office when they opened at 7:30. I thought there wouldn't be very many people on line at that hour. Wrong once again. Not only was there a long line, but there was just one clerk behind the desk. Because of postal cutbacks, they're allowed to schedule just one clerk for the first two hours of counter service. Well, whose idea was that? A lot of people were dressed up for work on that line, planning to run into the post office before heading on to their jobs.

One clerk... seven people on line ahead of me, and at least fifteen people behind me. We could all see that the clerk was getting flustered, and everyone realized she couldn't go any faster. One clerk, one computer, and all of us.

The person in front of me was there picking up mail as well, and when she got to the counter to give the clerk her driver's license for identification, the clerk asked if anyone else on the line was picking up mail. There were seven of us.... we were all happy to walk to the counter and hand in our driver's licenses, hoping to just get our mail and be on our way.

Several minutes later, the clerk came out with bundles of mail. She handed back the driver's licenses and the mail bundles to the six other people, then she looked at me and said "Well honey, where's y'all's mail?" I resisted the urge to tell her that she would know the answer to that question better than me. Off she went to the back room, looking for my mail and my driver's license. I could hear the people on line sighing and shuffling their feet.

Before the clerk came back, one of the ladies who had gotten her mail and left the post office walked back into the door carrying a large bundle of mail. I knew that woman from seeing her at the local yard sales, and she walked straight over to me and gave me my driver's license and my bundle of mail, telling me that the clerk had put my mail underneath hers and forgot about it. Good thing she looked through her mail in her car, or she would've gone home with it all-- both hers and mine.

The clerk came out at that point, telling me that she just had no idea where my mail could be. I told her what happened with the other lady's mail, and I asked to speak to a supervisor. The clerk behind the desk knows me, and she also knows that I know about the recent cutbacks. She went in the back to call a supervisor to the desk, then started taking care of the rest of the people on the line.

And there I stood, waiting, and waiting... for seventeen minutes (according to one of the people on the line). Finally, a smiling supervisor came out to "make nice" and listen to my two-cents worth about the cutbacks and the ridiculous scheduling of just one clerk behind the desk. I put on my own happy-supervisor face, and I kept my voice calm and low, and I just kept smiling and smiling as I told her how flustered one clerk can get when faced with so many people on the line, and that's when mistakes are bound to happen, and it isn't the clerk's fault, but the responsibility of the Powers That Be to create an atmosphere where procedures can be carried out properly. And all the while, I just kept my best Crest-white smile aimed at that supervisor.

Of course I know that nothing will change there... they keep cutting back on staff, they keep changing mail carriers on the routes, and the service just keeps getting worse. We used to get our mail delivered by noon-time. Now we're lucky if the mail gets in the box before Oprah comes on in the late afternoon. Our long-time mailman has been replaced with a succession of mail carriers who aren't here long enough to get to know the names and house numbers of the people on this route. I used to give cakes and cookies from our parties to our "old" mailman. I haven't done that since he left.... in a week's time, we can have three different mail carriers here.


The boat is in the driveway..... my husband picked it up this morning. The seller spent a few hours with him, going over every little thing from back to front, side to side. Bow to stern? Whatever, as Miss C says. Speaking of Miss C.... I picked her up after school this afternoon and brought her into the house through the front door instead of the back so she wouldn't see the boat at the end of the driveway. Into the front door we went... and out the back door she walked with my husband... and she positively squealed and screamed when he surprised her with the boat. Her feet probably haven't touched the floor yet.

My husband showed her everything on the boat, and I'm sure he'll be teaching her how to use it when she comes up to the lake. (Only with a life-vest, I told her.... never without a life-vest.) Before C left here this afternoon, she signed our guest book to make the boat-buying day "official." She signed her name, then wrote in big letters: "WE GOT A BOAT!" She also drew a little picture of a sailboat with two stick figures in it... a tall one for my husband, a shorter one for herself. She literally pranced and skipped from one end of this house to the other, then she danced and bounced from my car to her front door when I brought her home. Seeing C's reaction to the boat just made the silliness of the post office disappear into the universe.

A Four-Hour Lunch....

Great group today for our St. Patty's Day lunch....... as our friend B said this afternoon-- it's more difficult to put together a small group of people around a dinner-table than a large group of people for a party. But the seven of us today were a good match...... and we found out that our newest friend and neighbor J has read all of the Harry Potter books and is anxiously awaiting the 7th, as the rest of us are. Well, that sealed it--- we're definitely having a Harry Potter lunch after we all read the last book that is due out in late July.

Menu today was great....... we started off with K and B's tossed salad, which had everything under the sun in it-- all kinds of greens, pine nuts, tomatoes, cranberries, broccoli and cauliflower bits, cheese, shredded cabbage....... a delicious salad. We followed that with appetizers...... J brought little bundles of green beans wrapped up in slices of turkey bacon and sitting in an Oriental soy sauce. I had made my Greek spinach pie mixture and put it into bite-sized phyllo-dough cups..... those were nice and easy to make, giving my usual spanakopita recipe a little twist.

Main course was my casserole of green beans, broccoli, artichoke hearts and eggplant, served with the green rice that R and C brought. C also brought pesto sauce and gourmet crackers, which everyone munched on in the living room before we even got into the dining room for lunch. Instead of baking some bread or rolls, I had thin breadsticks sitting in St. Patty's Day mugs... cute shamrocks on the mugs, as well as little green leprechauns perched on the handles---- great eBay purchases that I will use again next year.

Dessert was fun....... chocolate truffles, the ice cream in the coconut-rimmed green sherbet glasses, and my shamrock-shaped cinnamon cake was over-the-top cute. I made two of them, one for each end of the table, and there was precious little left of both of them.

Good conversations throughout the lunch.... we took our time between each of the courses and because everything served was mainly vegetables, it wasn't a heavy meal. The weather was sunny and warm and beautiful outside, so the cats and Gracie were all happy to be out on the screen-porch for the afternoon.

The Harry Potter lunch will be fun... everyone is already talking about it, and R suggested we all come dressed up as one of the characters in the book. (Only in Texas....) I don't think I'd go quite that far myself....... but a magic wand at each place setting maybe, and a wizard's hat for each of us.... I guess that wouldn't be too over-the-top (not for Texas...).

But that's not going to be planned till August, I would imagine, to give us all time to read the last Potter book. Before then, we may do a chili cook-off lunch........ my husband reminded me that the chili cook-off at the local college is coming up soon, and I told him that it may be fun to have our own chili cook-off lunch right here, with maybe five or six couples. Everyone can bring their own pot of chili and the chili-lovers can vote on their favorite recipe. I'm not a chili-lover, so I will make the cornbread and salad, and come up with some sort of dessert that wouldn't compete with the chili.

Another party, another lunch.... more plans for another day. This hostess has just about had it for the night.

Shamrock Cake

I was going to use a recipe today for an "easy" Mardi Gras braided cake...... the recipe came from an eBay seller... she tucked a copy of it into a package of St. Patty's Day pins that I had bought from her.

The recipe calls for Pillsbury cinnamon rolls...... you unroll each of the pre-sliced buns and take two of them and twist them together, making a round shape as you go, attaching each of the braided rolls, and you end up with a large circle of braided dough. After it bakes, you spread on the white icing they give you, then sprinkle colored sugar on top of that (Mardi Gras colors of green, purple and yellow).

I took that idea and tweaked it.... I made the braids with the dough, but I shaped the circles into shamrock leaves, and a smaller piece of the braid for the stem. So right now on a large cookie sheet, I have two shamrocks waiting to go into the oven in a little while. When they come out, I will spread on that white icing, then sprinkle green sugar on the top. Now if that isn't the perfect dessert for a St. Patty's Day lunch, I don't know what is.

Plus, I've got my green glass dessert cups rimmed with shredded coconut and sitting in the fridge, and we bought two flavors of ice cream to serve in the cups.... Irish cream and mint chocolate chip. The dessert table is going to look as green and as festive as the lunch table.

Spring has sprung here..... the trees that lost their leaves in January are full of buds now..... the azaleas are in bloom and the roses are ready to burst. We've got to get hold of a landscaper to get the front flowerbeds in some kind of order. I'd like that done before Easter weekend. I'm still waiting for call-backs from those that I called last week. Can they all be that busy? So hard to get a bunch of estimates... you spend so much time just waiting for people to call you and set up an appointment.

While I was getting the cinnamon dough shaped into shamrocks, I was watching a real estate program on the Home & Garden channel. They said if you want the "island feel" of Hawaii without the super-high prices and the far-away location, then Savannah, Georgia is the place to live. I can believe that..... when we were in Savannah, everything was as slow and as easy and as relaxed as Hawaii. There's lots of riverfront there, as well as oceanfront properties. And Tybee Island... true laid-back island living. Only thing is, you don't get the perfect Hawaiian weather all year long. But it would be easier to get a dog a three cats to Savannah than Hawaii.

Crawfish Boil

Six-thirty as I'm typing here, and I'm just back from V & B's St. Patty's Day crawfish boil next door....... they boiled up about fifty pounds of crawfish, along with sausage, corn-on-the-cob, potatoes, whole onions, whole garlic bulbs... plus all those Louisiana Cajun spices.

Because of the heavy rains we had here last week, they couldn't set up a table out on their backyard lawn, so a table was set up in the shade of their garage, and the boiler was set down on the driveway. Pot after pot of boiled crawfish and vegetables.... four pots in all, I think it was. While the crawfish were waiting for their turn in the pot, they got to swim around in a plastic kiddie-pool, which was funny in itself. The ones that died before they got boiled ended up being tossed into the trash. "Never eat a dead crawfish" is the Louisiana rule, we were told.

I had to smile at the table that was set up for the crawfish eating--- a long board set up on sawhorses, covered with newspaper (pages of The Wall Street Journal-- B said that was the most he's done with his free issues of that newspaper). V and B told us that the crawfish boil was casual, and that's exactly what it was. When the crawfish was ready to be eaten, B just picked up the basket out of the boiling water, let it drain a little bit, then turned the basketful of crawfish and vegetables out into the middle of the newspaper-covered table. No one even bothered to sit down... we all just stood up and ate the crawfish. (You break off the head of the crawfish, then either bite out the meat from the tail, or pull it out with your fingers. I used my fingers so I wouldn't get lipstick on the crawfish.)

I've bought frozen crawfish at Kroger many times, which I've used to make my crawfish bisque, but I've never boiled live crawfish before. Nor do I intend to start now. If I'm going to go to all of that trouble to boil shellfish, then I want to get more out of the shell than just a teaspoonful of meat. And that's just about all there is to eat in just one crawfish--- an inch-long comma-shaped piece of fish. I didn't taste the sausage (because I don't eat sausage), I didn't taste the potatoes (I'm not a white-potato fan), I didn't try the corn (I don't bite into corn-on-the-cob.... I do eat it, but I cut the kernels off with a knife and then eat the corn with a fork--- and if I ever did that in front of V, I wouldn't ever hear the end of it). But the crawfish were good, and it was indeed nice to be the invitee instead of the inviter, for a change. (Is that a word? Inviter? As in one who invites.)

My husband is still over there, talking to the guys and waiting for the last pot of crawfish to be boiled up and ready. I was just tired of standing around the garage and the driveway, and trying to stay in the sun instead of the shade. Plus I've just been busy all morning and all afternoon, and I'm ready to turn off the social-conversation button for the day and just relax till our company gets here tomorrow for our own St. Patty's Day celebration.

When I left V's house and said thank you and goodbye to everyone, the last thing I saw was their wooden table covered with crawfish-juiced pages of The Wall Street Journal. When I came here to our house, I walked into our dining room and looked at our table which took me nearly two hours to set and dress this afternoon.... ivory damask tablecloth, green and ivory china, the good silverware, crystal glasses sitting on green shamrock coasters, shamrocks on ivory napkins, a vintage green glass biscuit jar for a centerpiece, surrounded by green shamrock candles and candy dishes. Green glass shamrocks are hanging down from the crystal chandelier, and the sideboard in the dining room is filled with green votive candles and my shamrock-covered topiary.

Such a difference, from one St. Patty's Day celebration to the next. And when I think of the hours that have gone into the fixing of the food for our lunch tomorrow, plus the hours spent on decorating the dining room and dressing the table, shopping for the gifts in the favor bags.... well, having a simple crawfish boil with newspaper on the table with a roll of paper towels at each end doesn't seem like a bad idea.

But will I do a crawfish boil next year? Not likely.

Boats R Us

No, I take that back.... boats are not us.... I'm not a boat person-- far from it. But my husband is, and we just got back from looking at (and buying) a boat. A catamaran, actually. (So I guess this should be "Boats R Him.") Nice looking catamaran with a beautiful sail, but nothing that I would get on, that's for sure, but my husband liked it.... the price was right, and the condition was excellent. Now he's got to get it from the seller's storage garage to here, then from here to the lake. Which should be an easy thing to do, once we get a trailer hitch installed on the back of his car. The price of the boat included the trailer, so it was even more of an excellent deal.

We were driving home and my husband was trying to remember the name of a movie with a particular boat in it. He was driving along saying Now what was the name of that movie? I said "Titanic?" (Not exactly what he was thinking, but funny just the same.)

Whether it's a small catamaran or a large sailing ship, you won't find me on it. Our little adventure last summer on the whale-watching boat in Maine only cemented the fact that I wasn't born to be on a boat. No way, no how, not in the ocean, not on a lake.


The weather here has cleared up to warm and sunny again..... the pouring rains (along with hail, for goodness sake) has found other places to fall. We drove through all that rain and hail on our way back from the lake on Wednesday. Awful weather... it was a sunny day when we left the lake, but once we got twenty miles away from the lake, the sky opened up with the rain and it poured all the way home. But that's just a memory now, and it has been summer-warm with blue skies again.

I spent most of today cleaning the house and getting ready for Sunday's St. Patty's Day lunch. All I have left to do is to get the dining room table set and decorated, and prepare some of the food. I plan to do that tomorrow, so all I will have to do on Sunday morning is get dressed in something green and pop the baking dishes into the oven.

Our neighbor V is having a crawfish boil tomorrow afternoon... a "real" Louisiana crawfish boil, with corn and potatoes boiled in the same pot as the crawfish. She called today to invite us to come over tomorrow. V reminded me that it's St. Patty's Day-- and that's what they do in Louisiana for St. Patty's Day-- have a down-home crawfish boil. I told her we'd love to come over, as long as I get everything done that I need to do for Sunday. Now, of course, what we can do tomorrow also depends on my husband being able to get the car in to have the trailer-hitch connection attached to the back of his car so he can tow the boat-trailer up to the lake. So we'll see if we have time for V's crawfish boil.

I told V that we were having a St. Patty's Day lunch here on Sunday... and she of course told me that St. Patty's Day was tomorrow, not Sunday. "How can you celebrate the 17th day of March on the 18th, for goodness sake?" The same way we have a Valentine's Day party on the weekend before Valentine's Day.... the same way we have a big Halloween party before the 31st of October.


We had dinner with young Miss C last night.... she is still using her birthday coupons that I gave her for last year's birthday. She had called twice during the day yesterday to ask if she could come over here, but we were busy with haircuts, errands, and grocery shopping. Her mom was able to drive her over here late yesterday afternoon on the way back from their own errands and we took her to the local Chinese buffet restaurant for dinner. C filled us in on everything she's been doing during her Spring Break weekend... Color Guard practice at the high school is taking up much of her time, and her uncle and aunt visited from up north while we were at the lake (so we didn't get to meet them).

C hasn't been up to the lake in a couple of months now, and she misses it terribly. With all of her Color Guard practices on the weekends, her time is limited for that. But summer is just around the corner, and she'll have more time then. Wait till my husband tells her about the boat... she'll have her lake-bag packed in a heartbeat, I'm sure. Instead of coming with me to the antique shops up there, she'll be out on that boat with my husband. With that in mind, we need to add life-vests to the "must-buy" list.

Country Dog

We've just returned from the lake..... took the cats and our dog and off we went last week. Our dog Gracie loves the lake house and the property up there so much that she wouldn't get into the car to come home this afternoon. She just plopped herself right down in the driveway and wouldn't move when we told her to get into the car. My husband even sat behind the wheel and called her to get into the back seat and she didn't move a paw to jump in. Finally got her in there, by practically pushing her through the car door.

The cats are getting used to the city-house, country-house routine now as well...... just a few little meows when we get them into the car, but they soon settle down in their carriers and just go to sleep till the ride is over. They seem to be more secure up there now... a few catnip toys this trip helped, plus they're watching all the birds and ducks now when they're out on the porch. Only Mickey Kitty is afraid to be on the porch when all the egrets are settled into the trees and are screeching... that happens just before dinner time every night, and Mickey won't go on the porch then they all fly away for the night.

The weather was warm and summery for most of our days there. A couple of rainstorms on two of the days, but those were early on in the mornings and cleared up before noon-time. We drove to one of the little towns up there...... Coldspring, population 646. Cute little town, with a couple of "vintage" downtown streets filled with cafes and antique shops. We had lunch in one of the cafes, country-down-home cooking (lots of meats with gravy) but they had a nice salad bar with good choices there, plus homemade cornbread.

I'd like to drive back into Coldspring on a Saturday when the little shops are open... they all looked interesting, and I know there will be good things in them for the cottage. We did stop at a few antique shops along the way there (ones that we hadn't seen before). There was one little store called "J's Resale," owned by a quiet man who lives in a small house next to his shop. We just walked into the shop when we drove up, and within minutes, that man was walking in the door telling us to make ourselves at home and look around. He left us in the store while he went outside to rearrange some furniture on the grass outside.

I bought a brown-painted rattan chair in there, which is now on the screen-porch of the cottage. Nice vintage chair, complete with cushion, for just twenty dollars. The man also sold us a little birdhouse in the shape of a Japanese pagoda, similar to ones we had seen in Hawaii. Poor little pagoda was wobbly in some places, but it was beautifully made and looked very old. Just two dollars for it... I put it on the sideboard in the living room of the cottage... it wouldn't last much longer out in the sun and the rain, so it's going to stay inside the house.

We got some chores done on this trip.... we weeded the flowerbeds (and have some fire-ant bites to prove it). My husband put down bags and bags of fire-ant killer, so hopefully, we won't have fire-ant mounds this summer. We also found a handyman up there to fix some old boards underneath the overhang of the roof around the porch. And we talked to the man who does our lawn up there... he will take care of trimming the trees and getting some topsoil delivered to fill in the spots around the bulkhead that got washed away in the big storm we had this past winter. We thought of doing that ourselves.... having the soil delivered, buying a wheelbarrow and a couple of shovels. Then our lawn man told us how much dirt we needed, and the number of wheelbarrow-trips seemed overwhelming, so we're just paying him to do it for us. He doesn't use a wheelbarrow... he has some attachment that hooks up to his tractor-mower. State of the country art.

My husband also bought some wood lattice to close in the area underneath the back porch and the side porch.... no sense in keeping that space open to whatever wildlife wants to get under there and make themselves at home. He took care of that chore this morning... while he was cutting the lattice, a pair of white ducks were walking around the backyard and watching him as he worked. I guess Gracie is getting used to the ducks up there because she didn't bark at them to chase them away this time.

The cardinals are back in the ficus tree on the porch... they didn't build a new nest this time-- the female has settled into one of her old ones. She sits on the eggs in the nest and just chirps away and seems very content. Mickey Kitty discovered her in the nest and he sits on the kitchen windowsill and watches her. The bird doesn't seem to mind... she chirps every few seconds whether Mickey is watching her or not.

Our neighbor G asked us this time if we owned a gun. "A what?" She looked at me and arranged the fingers of her right hand into a gun-shape and repeated: "A gun, girl, a GUN!" I told her that we didn't own a gun, nor did we plan to get one, then I asked her why she wanted one. She told me that she had seen a snake in her yard the day before. "And you know how snakes are, girl.... if there's one, there's more, and I need to find someone to shoot the dang things." Oh goodie.

That was all I had to hear... I spent all the rest of the days there looking up into the trees and watching every inch of the ground I was walking on. I knew there were snakes up there in those woods... we even found the skin of a snake near our pier before the holidays, and it was at least three feet long, which means the snake who left it there is even bigger than that by now. When you've got a country house, you have to expect the wildlife. While we were driving out of the property one day, we saw two deer grazing in a yard not far away from ours. Nice quiet deer.... much nicer to see than snakes.

My husband spent three evenings fishing with G next door.... they caught a basket-full of fish (perch, or croppie as it's called). G is teaching my husband everything he needs to know about the fish up in that lake... their habits and their swimming paths.... and she got him to fishing with a cane-pole now, rather than a rod and reel. He was skeptical at first, but got to believing her when the fish started to fill up that basket. They cleaned the fish they caught and we had it for dinner one night... delicious fish, I must say. We had enough to put some in the freezer, which I did. G fixed up the fillets in a freezer-bag for me... she filled it three-quarters of the way with water... she said that if you freeze the fish in cold water, it won't be dried out when you defrost it. She's the fisher-woman up there, so whatever she says goes. I asked her if that would work with the fish I buy from Kroger and she laughed at me and said she had never bought fish in a store in her life so she didn't know.

Country dogs, country fisher-woman, country sunsets.... everything is different once you drive away from the city limits. Best part of the trip... I won a few Scrabble games.

For the birds...

As I type this, there's a female cardinal on the windowsill of my sitting room window. She's been either at this window or at the dining room windows every day for weeks now. The bird will peck at the window glass, which alerts the cats that she's there. Right now, Mickey Kitty has just raced up to the window to try and catch the cardinal. The only thing he accomplishes is hitting his little nose up against the window. The bird flies away as soon as that happens, but then comes back to the glass minutes later. Makes me wonder if the bird is teasing the cats, then laughing as their noses hit the window.

We must have a nest of cardinals in the yard because they're here all day, every day. At the lake house, we have a ficus tree on the back porch, left there from the previous owners because a family of cardinals have been nesting in that tree for years. The tree is underneath the porch roof, so the baby birds are protected from the wind and the rain, and there are four little nests in that tree. Neat and tidy nests, very sturdy and compact with lots of tiny twigs and even some bits of string.

My Aunt Dolly has always loved cardinals... her favorite birds, for as long as I can remember. She says they are elegant without being too showy. To this day, she feeds the birds every morning, and she's been doing that for as long as I can remember. Both of my grandmothers fed the birds every day as well... bits of bread crusts, leftover bread and cookie crumbs. Nothing was thrown away.... when a loaf of Italian bread was sliced, all those crumbs were saved in a little cup for the birds, the crumbs scattered on the lawn underneath the birdbath. Unlike the Italian bread we get here in Texas, a "real" loaf of Italian bread in New York has a crusty outside, so you get lots of teeny crumbs with each slice.

My grandmother (my dad's mother) loved the bluebirds. On a good Spring day, there would be more than a few in her yard when I was a kid. Petite little birds with baby-blue feathers and a touch of a buff-color on their chests. Before Kennedy Airport was enlarged and re-named, it was called Idlewild Airport... a much smaller airport with huge search-lights that could be seen from my grandmother's attic. When the airport was made bigger and got busier, there were less and less bluebirds in my grandmother's yard. The cardinals still came every day, as did the sparrows and the doves, but seeing a bluebird was very rare.

On a summer day, my grandmother used to sit in the shade of the big apple tree in her yard so she could see the birdbath underneath the peach tree in the side yard near the kitchen window. She would sit quietly, either snapping green beans or crocheting doilies and shawls. She would watch the birdbath , searching for her favorite bluebirds. If a plane went overhead, she'd look up into the sky, not understanding how something so huge could get up that high and stay up. She blamed the planes for chasing away the bluebirds.

When we were up at the lake after the holidays, I saw a bluebird in the backyard. I looked twice, just to make sure. But a bluebird it was... gorgeous little thing. I swear, the last bluebird I saw, I must have been in my freshman year of high school. I distinctly remember my grandmother pointing a bluebird out to me as she sat in her yard. "See the birds... see the bluebird...." Then she told me to go into the kitchen and get the cup of bread crumbs from the kitchen counter and sprinkle them on the grass.

"Feed the birds... it warms the heart." She would always say that, but in Italian, not English. I don't know how to say it in Italian. But whatever language the words are spoken, it is so true. Feeding the birds does warm the heart. And there are some days when your heart really needs some extra warmth.

"Wild Hogs"

We went to the movies this morning... first showing of "Wild Hogs," with John Travolta. Three other main guys in the movie, but Travolta is my favorite. Excellent movie, lots of laugh-out-loud moments. Funniest part was the audience.... filled with middle-aged couples. And there were so many motorcycles parked out in front of the theatre.

Oprah had all the stars of this movie on her show last week, so I'm sure that's going to help the ticket sales for this one. Some of the previews for movies coming out in the next couple of months were downright awful... who makes up the scripts for these violence-ridden films? No wonder "Wild Hogs" had such a packed audience-- it was just plain fun.

Went to "Hot Wok" for lunch... came home with more leftovers to add to the to-go boxes from last night's Italian dinner. Stopped in at Half-Price Books after that... found more books to add to my pile of books-to-be-read. That pile isn't as high as it used to be, but it's high enough. As always, I can buy books quicker than I can read them, but who can resist brand new books for just a dollar each.

Gorgeous day today... lots of sun and blue-blue sky, breeze blowing in from the Gulf... but it just wasn't quite as warm as it had been. Still a pretty day.... summer can't be too far off now.

16th Birthday Dinner for Miss C

Nearly 11:30 p.m. as I type.... we just got back from a birthday dinner celebration for our Young Miss C, who will be Sweet Sixteen this coming week. We told C that she could invite one of her friends to have dinner with us, and she picked her best friend L. Those two girls do most everything together, and it's fun just to listen to them giggle over the usual teen-aged girl stuff.

Off to Babbo Bruno's we went for dinner, C's favorite place. We've taken her there for her 13th, 14th, and 15th birthday dinner also. Come to think of it, the first time we took her there was for her 13th birthday, and it's been her favorite place ever since. C is so attuned to that restaurant that she can tell whether her meal has been prepared by Stefano or by one of his assistants. She ordered spinach-stuffed ravioli tonight, and as soon as we saw the plate, we knew Stefano had fixed it for her. Not so with the mussels in pesto that we all shared as an appetizer.... as soon as we tasted the sauce, we knew that someone else had taken care of that order, so we asked K to bring it back to the kitchen for Stefano's special touch.

We all enjoyed every minute of the dinner tonight... we were there for over three hours, having "birthday moments" (opening presents) between the courses. As always, C was thrilled with the gifts we gave her. She took all the ribbons and tied them into her hair as she opened each package, and even made an impromptu hat out of pink and leopard-print tissue paper. Her joy is pure and simple, and everyone in our corner of the restaurant was sharing in her birthday.

Her gifts.... I bought her a Houston Astros charm bracelet (Danbury Mint issue) that she squealed over, and my husband used his photo-shop magic to print out a glossy picture of Craig Biggio (her precious favorite)--- Craig was holding a pink banner-sized Sweet Sixteen birthday card for her in the picture... that was the hit of the night for C, I'm sure. I also found a book in the Young Adult section of the bookstore at the library with C's name in the title, which she just loved, plus a book on getting ready for the Junior and Senior Proms, and also one of the "Sweet Valley High" teen books. Then there's the sign for her room that I had found in one of the shops in League City--- it's made of painted metal (pink, green and yellow) and it spells out C's favorite phrase: "Whatever!" -- She just loved that and I'm sure she'll be asking her dad to hang that up in her room right away. I also gave C something from my jewelry box... a gold ring with little emeralds in it. She had seen that last year and tried it on and loved the green color, so I took it out of my jewelry box the next day and brought it to the jeweler to be polished up and put into a fancy new ring box. It had been sitting in C's birthday gift bag ever since, waiting for tonight. She just loved it when she opened it tonight, as I knew she would.

I also had a party favor-bag for L, filled with chocolates, cookies, a "Sweet Valley High" book, a purse-shaped notepad and pretty pink-rhinestone pen, and a black-cat pin studded with tiny rhinestones. L's birthday is in April-- her 16th as well. The girls were talking about jewelry and jewelry boxes at dinner tonight, and L said that she didn't have her own jewelry box. So that's what I will buy for L for her Sweet Sixteenth gift.

Nice night... delicious dinner.... and having K working at the restaurant tonight was the perfect touch. C loves K, and asked us right away if she could be our waitress tonight, which is what we had arranged when we made the reservations. The look on K's face was priceless tonight as she watched C decorating her hair with the ribbons, and making that little hat out of the tissue paper. I don't think that K had an easy childhood, as C has had, but that hasn't stopped K from enjoying C's enthusiasm, both at the restaurant for dinners and here at our home for parties.

Sweet Sixteen. This child has been in our lives since she was in the second grade. Her joy is endless and spontaneous, her kindness is genuine. And over the years, she has given us far more than we could ever give her in return.

Litter Boxes R Me

No wonder my cats love me.... they all must think I'm a cat myself. As I sit here in black capris, and a black top with a beaded white cat on the front of it. My sister would be appalled at this top, but I only wear it around the house. Although, I did have it on when I went to the local PetCo store this morning. This beaded cat on my top didn't look out of place there at all.

PetCo.... once again in search of the perfect litter boxes for three male cats. I never had litter box problems with my female cat years ago. One litter box, not three, and it didn't matter what size it was because she never made any sort of mess outside of the edge of the box. Females are smaller than males, so that alone means you need a bigger box for male cats. Also, females will crouch down to the litter so nothing sprays over the edges. Not so with male cats, depending on their mood. Particularly with AngelBoy, who wouldn't even consider lowering his prissy, fluffy gray-white fur too close to that litter. And ShadowBaby, who has been practically standing up on all fours in that litter box of his, as if he's outside peeing up against a fence.

Which is why I went to PetCo this morning.... I have scrubbed and washed the far corner of the screen-porch for the last time, I swear. Yesterday, my husband cut the sides of two plastic storage bins that I had found in Target. We thought the sides would be high enough to eliminate the over-the-edge problem. Well, think again. Plus, the bins were clear, see-through plastic--- I just cannot describe the look of disgust on AngelBoy's face yesterday when he inspected those "home-made" litter boxes for the first time. Only people who have seen this cat will believe the expressions his prissy little blue-eyed face can conjure up. Everything from pure cat-joy to the ultimate kitty-disgust has been seen on AngelBoy's face.

PetCo had a huge assortment of boxes, everything from pretty pink ones decorated with hearts (I kid you not. Or should that be I "kit" you not.) If we had a cute little female cat, I probably would've bought one of those. I can just imagine AngelBoy crinkling up his little nose at that one..... "Pink? You expect me to use pink? Not in these nine lifetimes."

They also had round litter boxes with spiral steps going up into the box. Whoever designed that one didn't have large male cats in mind because as the cat goes up those steps, his head is bound to hit the top of the box. Then when the cat finally gets to the litter-box part, that space isn't very big at all because most of the inside is taken up by those silly steps. Give me a break.

I bought three new boxes... "Jumbo Deluxe" size. All covered, all deep and high, with a front opening that they have to walk through to get into the box. Two in blue, one in burgundy. AngelBoy will claim one of the blue ones... that's his color, with everything from food dishes to litter boxes to blankets. Believe me, that cat knows blue. And he won't go near anything that's dark green or dark gray or brown.... we found that out years ago when I replaced his blue litter boxes with a green one and a gray one. The carpet-cleaning guy had us on a monthly schedule till we figured that one out, with the help of Sonia Fitzpatrick. She was the television "pet physic" who lived in Houston. We were at our wits end with AngelBoy and his "accidents" so we called Sonia. First thing she said about AngelBoy was "He's upset because you tossed out his blue litter boxes... he doesn't like the brown and green ones." Now laugh if you want to, but that's the honest truth. She knew nothing, not a thing, about anything that was happening here. My opening line to her was that we were "having problems with AngelBoy." That was all I told her... I nearly fell out of my chair when she told me his "problems" were of my doing, and the reasons why.

She also told us more things about all of our pets, all of which were true... and she had never met us, nor had she ever seen our pets before. She did that little "reading" over the phone, looking at close-up photos that I had mailed to her... pictures of each of our cats and our dog--- nothing in the backgrounds of those photos to give anything away, such as color schemes or furniture or anything else. That little adventure cost us $150 but it was worth every blessed penny. Soon after that, my husband and I went to a taping of her television show in downtown Houston. After the program, I asked her to sign my copy of her book. I told her my name and she remembered me as "AngelBoy's mommy."

I can only imagine how much money I've spent on litter boxes over the years. They don't last forever, and after so many scrubbings, you've just got to replace them because the plastic just gets worn from the washings. These "jumbo deluxe" boxes came with free plastic liners, so I'm trying those out as well. It will make cleaning easier, and the boxes won't have to be replaced so soon. Free liners. Nothing is free. Those boxes cost $24 each, so the cost of those liners is in there as well, I'm sure.

"AngelBoy's mommy." Jeez. Guilty as charged.

Ducts R Us

The guys from the air-conditioning company have been here since 9:00 this morning. They pulled out all of the old duct work, which was in a sorry state, and measured for the new ducts. While these two guys went to lunch at a nearby Denny's, two other guys from the company loaded another truck and drove here with everything they needed.

There's a pull-down staircase in the hallway, for access to the attic on one side of the house, and also a small door in the ceiling of my walk-in closet, which gives access to the other side of the attic. Just as I had thought, they needed to get to the attic from both sides. Oh goodie. That meant I had to take everything out of my closet. Clothes, purses, shoes, boots.... the bed is covered with clothes, the little sofa in the bedroom is covered with sweaters and jackets, and boxes of shoes are all over the bedroom. I'm waiting for my husband to walk into the bedroom when he gets home from work and ask "How many pairs of shoes do you need for just two feet?" (It's a given rule that men just don't understand shoes. And do they understand purses?)

The two workmen are now installing the new duct work. I asked them to start on the other side of the house, so they can close up the access door in the ceiling of my closet and I can run the vacuum in there and get all my stuff back where it belongs. While I'm doing that, I may just look closely at everything I'm putting back. I'm sure there are things in there that can go into yet another donation bag. (Who bought all those clothes anyway?)

We thought this was going to be a one-day job, but these guys have already said they would need to come back tomorrow morning to finish up. They also told me that the guy who was here yesterday to give us the estimate and the contract didn't realize what a big job this was. We're paying just one thousand dollars.... one of the guys today told me that our thousand dollars is just about paying for the duct work needed for the fifteen air-conditioning registers in this house. "This here should've been a twenty-two hundred-dollar job," said the one guy here who seems to be in charge. "You're getting a good deal here... but we don't make no never-mind as to their price because we're getting paid either way, whether they make a profit or not."

Well, we signed the contract yesterday for one thousand dollars, and they plan to stick to that price. As for the guy who wrote up the estimate--- I would imagine they're going to re-school him in figuring out the costs of material, labor and (most important to them)-- profit.