i've said it before, i'll say it again...

it is never EVER dull.
Never.
Ever.

to prove my point...
this week, back to school.
i told you hubby has had to work late.
mother in law had surgery on monday
which leaves me to shuttle all kids to and from school
keeping in mind that i drop two off (locally) at 7:50AM, pick one up at 10:45AM and then drive all the way into dallas (1 hour one way) to pick up another at 3:10PM.
then pick up third child at neighbor's house because i could not get home in time to meet her at our house off the bus.

so first thing this week, hubby's aunt - here from mississippi to help out with ma-in-law after surgery falls down the stairs before they leave for the hospital and breaks her back. at least that's what we were told at first. come to find out, she missed the bottom three or so steps and only crushed a vertebra. ONLY. so ma-in-law and aunt-in-law end up in the same hospital. both are home now and mending beautifully.
you cannot make this stuff up.

not only has hubby worked late, he has gone next door every day since the accident to help out the neighbors feed up all their animals. (and i am THRILLED and proud he does this to help them)

in the mean time, i have done battle with all three kids by myself every afternoon and evening. that means homework with an ADHD child whilst two siblings are doing their dead level best to tear the house down around us. preparing dinner, feeding, bathing, reading, refereeing, meds and bed time - MEMEMEMEME.

please do keep in mind that my three kids do not play well together. and when they are getting along - and not fighting - it is most often because they are tearing something up. i.e. holes in walls, closet doors ripped down...

and then yesterday i get a call that they want to show my house b/t 4:30 and 6:30. oh please people - i have three small school age kids. you kick me out at that time for that long - you better buy this damn house and pay extra. i rush to clean up the house before i have to leave to pick up Sam in town.

so i had to drive all the way into Dallas to pick up Sam, return home to retrieve Savvy from the neighbors and was then back on my way to town to feed kids dinner at McDonald's.

was. did not make it that far. on the way, savvy asked sam to pass her a book. sam, in her adhd stupor was not paying attention and hit savvy in the eye with the book.
you would have thought savvy had a seven foot metal spear embedded in her eye the way she carried on. i pulled off the road. did my dr. mom act.

no spear, but there was a cut running up and down on the surface of the eye.
called hubby at work. dropped off Sam and Smith with him on the way to the ER with Savvy. it's after 5 and there are no dr's offices open now. of course.

four hours later, eye drops in hand and $100 ER co-pay poorer, we head home. only to be told by hubby that whilst he was feeding up, Smith picked a fight with a peacock. twice. and lost. both times.
"how bad is it?"
"pretty bad."

and indeed it looks pretty gross. bright red angry scratches across the back of his neck. a few smaller ones on his back. am ready to kill hubby. my last words to him were "watch them - keep them safe" - as i always get paranoid about the other two when one is injured....

icing on the cake - looking for sam's brand new stride rite NOT CHEAP school shoes this morning. "They are soaking wet by the back door."

i don't want to know...

politically incorrect...

i have opinions.

i own them.

the following is a collection of my opinions on katrina and the aftermath...

what's all the fuss about New Orleans and Katrina damage?

Katrina did NOT damage NOLA. Hello people.

fraud and corruption for the last 100 years in NOLA government damaged the big easy.

If the money designated for levies and flood control had been utilized appropriately - GUESS WHAT - NOLA would not have flooded.

They did not have hurricane damage. They had flood damage. misery of their own making...

I am sick to death of hearing about poor 'ole New Orleans. those poor, poor people.
Those poor people elected their officials. They tolerated the political mayhem.

and now they are reaping what they sowed.

Now those poor, poor people from New Orleans are misplaced around the country. many still walking around with their hands held out. poor pitiful me. where's my next hand out coming from? The welfare mentality lives on.

it makes me sick. especially those that are over-running my small home town in south mississippi. and sapping it of all it's resources.

and if you are from new orleans and are out there working your tail end off to rebuild and move on, I AM NOT TALKING TO YOU.

The twin span bridge over lake Pontchartrain was taken out during katrina. This bridge was the main connector of new orleans with south mississippi. there is a common sentiment in south mississippi about the bridge going out. THANK GOD the bridge was damaged or WE would have gotten all the riff-raff from new orleans. sad, but true. instead, with the bridge out, these folks had to go west.

i guess i am a little angry about all this mess. have been for awhile. and not because i think my people (in Mississippi) are so much better than the folks from New Orleans. We got riff-raff too.

i just wish the media would quit making New Orleans and her people out to be some huge victim here. They are not.

i wish the media would quit overlooking the devastation that Katrina brought on South Mississippi. my home state has been treated as an afterthought in the katrina saga. and that just pisses me off.

what else pisses me off? hmmm, let's see - oh yeah, while i'm on a rant -
Can you believe that people actually had the audacity to say TO ME that folks should not live that close to the water? that they got what they deserved. First off, my family is 45 miles inland and they were without power for almost four weeks.

but seriously - with that train of thought, let's clear out california for fear of earthquakes, texas and kansas because of tornadoes and make certain there is a five mile building ban on both sides of the Mississippi river from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico in case it overflows it's banks.

mother nature is immune to prejudice. she cares not where you live, how much insurance you have, what color your skin is or how much you paid for your mobile home, mansion or farm house.

stupid people.

and another thing - not really an opinion - just an awakening.

be prepared people. for anything. do NOT assume that FEMA, the red cross, national guard or the local police will always be there to help you. i was blind before Katrina to this reality. i pay my taxes. everything I own is insured. same for my family in Mississippi. surely someone will come rescue me (them).

YOU WILL DIE WAITING ON HELP. hundreds did. be prepared to take care of yourself, your family and your neighbors - if you are so inclined.

the eye of katrina went over my parents house on monday around noon. my husband and his brother got to my parent's neighborhood in the wee hours of wednesday morning. and they were FIRST RESPONDERS in that neighborhood. that means they beat the local police, red cross, FEMA and the churches there. my family and their neighbors cut the trees out of the road so they could get out of the neighborhood and my hubby and his brother cut their way through the roads of mississippi to my family with chain saws. they drove from TEXAS with two pick-up trucks and two trailers filled with supplies. and they were the FIRST ONES THERE. family taking care of family.

i used to think that those 'survivalist' that kept cellars full of food, water and supplies were nut cases. i used to scoff at the people who raided the grocery stores before a big storm. but guess what - they're the ones that got it right. they are the ones that can survive a catastrophe.

and they are NOT the poor people walking around after the fact with their hands out waiting for someone else to come save them...

party at my house

the kids went back to school today.

even smith is in a half day preschool program for 3 year olds! (Praise God for that grant money!)

i didn't cry (till i picked up my son and i could see how terribly glad he was to see me).

savvy didn't even give me a hug or a kiss.

DO WHAT?!

And Sam got up in a good mood - ready to get dressed and without fighting.

my kids have been replaced by stepford children...

I'm really going to miss them...

unnecessary excitement

last night
early evening.
already put kids in bed
sitting in my bed with my nose in a book
i hear a noise outside.
i am the queen of tuning things out when i am reading...
but after a few minutes, i suggest to hubby that he go and find out what is generating the noise.
as he reaches the end of the hall, near son's room and right before the front door, i hear my son say, "you see that airplane, Daddy?!"
okay, NOW i am paying attention.

then hear hubby open door.

noise is HUGE.
hear hubby yell, "t_cole, come here now! Hurry!"
my feet hit the floor in a run.
i pause briefly at the front door to see the firetruck and ambulance at my neighbor's house. i see the CareFlight helicopter above my house.

post-pause, i continue running out the door, across the drive way, through the yard along the front of the fence (between the pasture and the road) that runs between our house and the neighbor's house.

i don't mean jogging, i don't mean walking fast, i mean hauling-ass running. good thing i sleep in a sports bra. no shoes. barefoot - did i mention that?

through uncut grass as high as my knees. jumping over downed branches. through spider webs. through briars. running. did not slow down. did not stop till i was in the neighbor's yard.

my neighbor's husband - D had been unloading and putting up hay. those 5-6 foot round bales. One rolled down on top of him and another one on top of that. so he had been pinned under two bales of hay. He had walked away from the incident but as time went by, he began to hurt more and more. It got to where he could not even get up and walk to the truck so his wife, M called 911 to come help her load him into the truck. (she tells me all this this morning) She said five minutes after calling 911, the ambulance was there, then the firetruck, 20 paramedics and before she knew it CareFlight was on the way.

shortly after i got in the yard and found out what had happened, someone points out that CareFlight is landing in my front yard. Oh wow!

They had tried to load D in the pasture between our houses.
The cows and horses said "Hell, No!" So the ambulance drove him to our house and they loaded him into CareFlight in our front yard.

my daughter slept through the entire thing. my son ran (also barefoot) in his diaper along the fence the same way I came.

We got the call from the hospital later last night that D is fine. no broken bones, no internal injuries. just going to be VERY VERY VERY sore for quite a few days. and that he is.

my hubby tells me it is about 1/8th of a mile from our front door to the neighbor's front yard. it felt like 89 miles. my fat ass has not run that far in the past 20 years. and i don't run for just anyone. nope. my kids can be screaming bloody murder at the other end of the house - or even outside, and unless I can smell blood or seriously suspect murder, i walk. running ain't my thing.

but i gotta tell ya - when you have care flight flying over your house and an ambulance and firetruck at your neighbor's house - neighbors you love and adore and would do ANYTHING for, you run.
you run like hell.
not knowing if you can help or if you even need to be there.
you still run

there's no place like home

but good gawd is it hot in mississippi right now.
my fingernails were perspiring.

just got back from a quick weekend trip to visit the folks in south mississippi - couple of in laws are turning 50 and we attended a surprise birthday party.

good time was had by all and i am officially a karaoke whore.

what else....
was almost too hot to swim.
seriously. it's that hot.

went four wheeling through the piney woods for an hour and while it was HUGELY enjoyable and you can't beat the scenery, i sweat more in that one hour than i have in the past three years combined. i tried real hard not to bitch about it - but please don't question the hubby or the brother on this...

and most importantly, boiled peanuts rock.
they are a true southern delicacy.
pair them with an ice cold beer and you have yourself a right fine meal.

my Dad is so awesome - he had a big bowl ready for me when we got there. then boiled more and sent me home with a small ice chest full.

nothing spells love like an ice chest full of boiled peanuts...

who knew?

apparently i am a Rockin' Girl Blogger.

so sayeth Buddha Girl.

cool.

ummmm...

i have no idea what makes someone a Rockin' Girl Blogger

but if it has to do with speaking your mind, calling it like you see it and not really giving a flying fart when someone suggests you should be ashamed of the things your write on your blog - then by all means, i qualify.

thanks BG!

i henceforth name Pissy, E and Jenn as Rockin' Girl Bloggers -

Three blog chics (of many) that encourage, entertain and inspire me.

Rock On Girls!