I know, you can’t even read them all. I surely didn’t want Walters or Travis on here. ; )

I broke down and took Sudafed around 3. Sean had taken me out to run some errands (one was getting a new battery for the portable phone that has been dying for months). I made a chicken tenders recipes from the Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine which the guys liked.

Sean has been watching American Idol and I listen and look. I really looked when Ace came on tonight! What a hunk with his rosy cheeks. And he can sing and the camera loves him. Not one of you should say I am old enough to be his mom-so what? I can admire fine machinery when it is presented to me.

Gotta get to mom’s in about 12 hours! ; )

His name is Billy Currington and his birthday-Nov. 19th! (I looked him up).

He’s a pretty decent singer.

And he has eyes like my friend Chris. So Chris, you look like Billy, Steve Carell and Jeff Foxworthy. ; )

See what I mean? This is Chris and me taken in Dec. ’02 at his sister’s house.

We hadn’t seen each other since Sean was a baby.

Here is a ‘flexible’ person.

Here’s ‘Dr McHunky’ so I can look at him for a few days. ; )

Not much new. We aren’t millionaires for one thing. ; )
Glad it is still cold enough outside that I don’t mind doing inside work. Cleaning out a kitchen with over 19 yrs worth of stuff and finding room down the basement for it isn’t fun. I am finding stuff that I haven’t looked at in years. I should follow the example of the show ‘Clean Sweep’ and just ditch most of it. As mentioned earlier-I have too many baskets and cookie tins! I loaded up two big plastic bags with them to give away, but I still have too many. I ran across a rowing machine just plopped down in the middle of all that mess. What are Brian and Sean doing you ask? Not much except to carry the crates downstairs. Brian did run the vacuum for me where I cleaned. I couldn’t find a dust mask, so I used a long scarf which made the cat do a double take. I don’t know if it helped that much (no coughing attacks) as my whole face hurt last night.
I wonder who cleans out the houses on the Extreme Makeover:Home Edition? I guess if they have 50+ people doing it, then it’s not that bad. I guess they have a big storage unit for them. I wonder if they are truly surprised when the team comes to their house at the crack of dawn? Maybe they are told the producer or someone is coming to look at their house in person.
I better get back to work….soon.

Bri and I rolled out of bed at 9 am to go sign the papers for the home equity loan. We had to wait (remember we had to wait for the H&R Block lady on Monday)and finally it’s our turn. We sit down and Brian notices that they have him as ‘Senior’ on the paperwork which isn’t the case. They spelled my name incorrectly and omitted my middle initial. They have to reprint the paperwork! So that sets us back 3 days and we’re all scheduled to order the cabinets next Sunday. That is probably going to change now. Bummer.
Ok-that Powerball drawing is tonight. Brian only bought $5 worth of games, BUT one line has both an ’11’ and a ’19’ in it-my birthday! The machine picked it. Oh wouldn’t that be so nice to get a nibble of that jackpot.
Back to more junk and food sorting. Anyone on a jello kick? I have about 20 boxes of it!!

I was just down in the basement putting laundry in the washer. I decided to look around to see where I could put the crates and bags that are making there way down there from the kitchen. So I told you about the magazines-the next thing that has to sorted and mostly donated are baskets (mostly Easter) and tins (for cookies). Anyone need any? : )
I made a mistake of not having a dust mask on because my original purpose was not to move dusty things around. Well, I got overtaken with dust and almost had a panic attack! I had to call my mom afterwards to have her calm me down. I know I’m not going to choke, but it sure felt like I swallowed about 4 cottonballs. I have this great natural allergy medicine-BioAllers nasal spray which I highly recommend. I used some and it made me sneeze so I felt better. I think my nasal problem stems back from when I was having lots of nose bleeds as a kid and the doctor cauterized my nostrils. That was really painful. Now I think I am oversensitive to smells…and dust. Plus I fractured my nose in a car accident-wonder if that did anything?
I did find a folded up $10 bill! Woo hoo-I was broke too. ; )

BTW, the snow is almost all melted. I was shocked when I looked out the window this morning.

Q. Comment on your comments (giving and recieving): Do you love comments
or hate them? Do you check them every day, never check them, or find
them helpful? And finally, are you convinced no one is reading your
blog if you don’t get any?
Well…of course everyone loves nice comments. I appreciate them and also those that make me think. I’ve been a bit annoyed at the Jahari Window post (and I am sure I am being entertainment for some). I asked Abby if she knew everyone who had done that test on her blog and she didn’t know three of them-all of which left her the same kind of descriptive words that I got!
I like helpful comments too and will leave these myself.

I haven’t seen my mom for a few weeks. She can’t really drive here anymore because of her sciatica and shingles pain on the right side. She has some good days where she can go out and shop (which she loves) or she has days where she is in bed most of the day. She’s one of these seniors who is still living in her home because it’s the cheapest place she can live, but it’s really too big for her to take care of. She does have a boarder there, but he isn’t handy at all. He was only suppose to live at her house for a few days and it’s turned into almost 5 yrs. He is slowly moving his books and stuff into her house. He should go live with his sister in Texas instead of making all his problems my mom’s problems.
Now being her only daughter can be a challenge at times. I lend my ear and offer advice, mostly over the phone. If I had a big home (come on Powerball 2-18), I am sure I’d have an in-law suite for her. I can feel terribly sorry for her or I can get so mad at her I can’t talk to her for a few days (which doesn’t happen often). I try to take her out for a good meal when I do see her, because most times she doesn’t really eat right. I have two brothers who live near her but rarely see her. This hurts her and then she starts saying- ‘no one would care if I wasn’t around anymore’ . This pulls at my heart.
Does anyone out there get heel pain or problems? I have had pain off and on for over a year in my right heel. It’s been pretty good for the last few months. Tuesday night I put on these new boots that mom gave me for Christmas and I got a new heel problem-like a vibration in it! It’s the weirdest thing and has been going on now since Tuesday. Brian said it’s probably a nerve. It really doesn’t hurt-it’s more annoying.
Sean has to read a story to his speech class. He needs to change his vocal intonations, etc. He didn’t know what he was going to read. He was thinking of Dr Seuss or even a scary story. It occurred to me that I had a book I found at a sale called ‘Politically Correct Fairy Tales’. I gave it to him to check out and he picked out ‘Jack in the Beanstalk’! He’s going to practice over the weekend. I said to even tape himself reading it. He tends to talk really fast when he is reading, even bumping some words. This is one of his more demanding classes next to math. Wish him luck.