Week in review

I had a busy, hectic week last week!  Now that the weather is starting to get nice everyone is thinking about getting outside & working in the yard & inevitably that leads them to where I work & makes us busy!  Its been such a slow couple of months w/ all the snow & cold weather so I'm not ready to get this busy yet...but it does make the day go fast!  I went to Brian & Shauna's daughters choir concert on Monday night, on Tuesday night we had a meeting at Brian & Lora's house about farm financial stuff (EEEK!) & Wednesday my dad was in the hospital (more on that in a minute...).  Thursday & Friday night I came home from work & took naps even before I made supper!  

B-rad is getting ready for his next competitive shoot this weekend in Alabama.  Between running to the barn each night & working his day job he's been busy shooting 3D animals in our backyard.  (Which I lovingly refer to as 'wild kingdom'.)

On Saturday I went to see "The Lion King" at the Kentucky Center for the Arts.  I saw it when it was here a few years ago (I think its been 7 years?).  Everyone was doom & gloom about parking & traffic because of the flooding & suggested getting there early.  Ya'll know my love for being early so that was no problem for me but because of all the warnings I decided to get there even earlier than normal 'Jaime' early.  The road was closed just beyond the Kentucky Center's parking garage.  

The show started at 2:00 & I was walking off the elevator into the lobby around 12:45.  I would say I'm ashamed of myself but I'm not...  I was much happier 'people watching' than I would've been in the car not being able to get there & getting seriously pissed off.   

It was a good show & I would totally suggest you see it...BUT if you don't have tickets already you might be out of luck because I've heard it's sold out!

My friend, Rose, recently converted to the sunny side of cell phones & got an iPhone.  She had a TON of questions for the iPhone expert so we used that as an opportunity to get together for lunch on Sunday.  Debbie has had an iPhone but she still has much to learn...

Learning how to attach pictures to contacts requires updated pics & another lesson on how to 'quick launch' the camera.

 Ya'll know I love to boss people around help people learn their iPhones & I crammed a TON of stuff into our time together.  Debbie is a teacher & true to my other teacher friends she was the worst student.   No worries, I chastised her about it.

 I always tell the girls about Sonny laying on the quilt I made & Debbie seemed to think that maybe he laid on it because he got 'too hot' on the couch.   I tried an experiment - I put the quilt on the couch along w/ another blanket to see what he'd do...  UHM... (I know it's dark & hard to see since he's black) but he's on my quilt...

Ok - so what's going on w/ dad.... I struggled w/ including this because he's in politics & I think he thinks people view illnesses as a sign of weakness.  (Probably because he's guilty of doing that to other politicians...) But some of you know dad & it is what it is & I have a big mouth.  Obviously I'm not a private person (& neither is HE -  where do you think I get that big mouth?! {But it's ok for him to tell anyone he wants, but if it gets around because of me I will get in trouble. See how that works? ;)})  I won't go into full detail here because he would KILL me if he even knew what a blog was & that it was 'on the internet!'  Plus I figure a few extra prayers can't hurt (especially for my mom - she has to deal with him!

(He always wants me to 'punch in such & such' {Like famous people} so he can read if they're dead & when they died & what movies they were in blah blah blah.  Normally I let NO ONE touch my 'i' devices but he was especially irritating me this day so I said, "HERE!  YOU do it!")

  

  After a recent illness, his hospital stay & some tests, they removed a cancerous polyp from his colon.  The doctor said it was small, they caught it very early & he is optimistic that dad will be A-OK.  He will have to have another surgery to remove the area of his colon where they found the polyp in the coming weeks.  So, like I said - pray for mom!

But here's a funny story from when I visited him in the hospital.  

(Ya'll know I can't keep this all sad...)

We were never close to dad's family when we were young...I don't know why - we just weren't.  I 'know' some of my aunts, uncles & cousins now as an adult but some I wouldn't recognize if they walked in the room.  Example A: my Aunt Clara Faye (dad's sister)

She was quite the wild child from what I understand & even left this area for YEARS & no one knew where she was.  She has recently moved back & dad mentions her every so often.  She had 2 girls & the oldest, Jenny, is 1 year younger than me.  I have seen pictures of Grandma Smith (wondering why her last name was Smith & I was a Brown?  Lordy that's a whole other blog post...) holding Jenny & I but other than that I've got nothing...

So dad is all excited because Clara Faye is coming to the hospital & of course we hug & all that & discuss how its literally been like 30 years since I've potentially seen them.  I don't remember seeing them that many years ago but I'm sure I saw them at Christmas or something.  I don't 'know' Jenny or Aunt Clara so I don't know their personalities so I tried to be reserved at first.  You know - don't wanna unleash the crazy right away.  Well, I got the sense that Aunt Clara was a fun gal.  She was joking around & stuff & Jenny would pipe in every so often so I thought, 'ok, they seem cool.'  THEN I showed her (Aunt Clara) a picture of Butterfly & she said he was 'HOT'.  
She then proceeded to find it was hysterical that I was appalled that she thinks my brother is hot.  (And it's not appalling because she's our aunt - it's because he's my dumb kid brother...)

Dad complimented Jenny on a sparkly ring she was wearing (on her left ring finger) & she said that she couldn't wear her wedding bands because she had gained too much weight.  Mom mentioned that she could have them re-sized & she said, "No - I can't - John had them engraved." (Again, I have no knowledge of this girl but the super sleuth in me things this John person is her hubby...) so me being all, 'I'm a funny gal & I like to joke around & want to break up some of the tension of all the older people talking about the people they knew when they were young that have DIED' I said, "Oh - time for an upgrade!" & she just kinda looked at me.  Like blank stare.  

Uh oh.  

Then she looked at her mother.

I looked at Aunt Clara & I'm thinking, 'Shit - they're divorced...way to go dumbass.  But why would she wear the rings if they are divorced?' & Aunt Clara said, "Uhm, no - he's not WITH us anymore." (like in a weird, sarcastic way that he was a loser & not 'around' anymore)  I said, "OHHHH..well trade them in for something else!"  And then like a small child that has to have it spelled out for them- Jenny replied, "No, he passed away 4 years ago."  

SHIT.  

I said, "Oh - I'm sorry - I didn't know..."  

Open mouth.

Insert foot.

BLOCK HEAD.

Our nephew, Brady, got accepted into a prestigious program for heavy machinery operation.  (At least it's prestigious in the 'heavy machinery' world.) From a group of 40 applicants they selected 11 for the program so we're super proud of him.  It's like a school/work program thing.  He'll go to school for 8 weeks (in Illinois) & then work (in Louisville) for 8 weeks for 2 years total.  Brian & Lora had to take him to Illinois on Monday for some placement testing & since Cole had school, he stayed the night w/ B-rad & I.   He fits in fine around here...watching tv & playing on our phones.

 I did something I've never EVER done before - got a kid ready for school.  Granted he's 12 & all I really had to do was tell him stuff & he did it - DETAILS SCHMETAILS.  What's important is that I got him to the bus on time & I kept him alive for 2 days w/ no tears from me.

I try to do something plain & boring after I have funky nails.  Don't ask me why - I just DO.   My nail guy wouldn't allow me to JUST get pink nails so he did a design.  (He said, "Why no purple?"  Man does he know me or WHAT?)   He even put a hint of glitter on my ring finger...

In closing, I wanted to mention that I'm taking a break from Facebook.  It's not over any one person or any one stupid vague post, I just need a break from it for my psyche.  It has changed SO much since I joined many years ago when Alicia sent me a request back in her college days.   I don't want to be dramatic about it or anything & I didn't 'announce' it on there or anything dumb like that.   I only wanted to mention it here because many of you are my 'close acquaintances' & I don't want anyone to think I'm ignoring them or not 'liking' their stuff.  I have missed not seeing some things - like B-rad's cousins having their babies!  (I only know that because Alicia texted me!) 

I'm sure my need for nosiness will win out & it will suck me back in soon...     

But in the meantime if anything important happens - for Gods sake - TEXT ME!!!!