The Dirt Nazi

I swear......if the next door neighbor doesn't go away soon.........

I know most people have a neighbor like this........old and crotchety, with nothing better to do than make your life hell. She makes my family so much more important than I want us to be.I think she stands by her door just waiting for us to do something that she can complain about.

Last week the neighbor on our right bought some dirt to fill in the holes between his seawall and the yard.  He had asked hubby if he wanted any dirt because there would be plenty left over. He said whatever was left could go to the yard guy.

Hubby decides to get a few wheelbarrows full just to have something to do (since he is always so bored).

The next thing you know The Dirt Nazi comes running out of her house asking if we were granted permission to take the dirt. Hubby says sure he was given permission. The bitch  Dirt Nazi starts telling hubby that the yard guy is suppose to have the dirt. She rambles on and on that the dirt isn't for just anyone. Well.....that pissed hubby off sooooo he proceeded to take even more than we really needed.

Yet he didn't put a dent in the pile.
There was plenty left to go around.

I wonder what she would have done if I had taken the water hose to it and let it all go down the sewer drain???

Hopefully when I get old, (old is someone 15 years older than you are.... hum.....) I will have more to do in life than bitch at the neighbors.

Lucy's Mind at Work

My first thought was to write about Baby who is my 3 year old granddaughter. I've raised 4 kids and for the moment I'm  raising her. I feel much like WC Fields when he said???....hum......what did he say???

so this is how it happens.......... 

Lucy's Mind at Work

I google famous quotes about children.

First I see Groucho Marx and I think maybe I got the wrong guy but the only thing about kids that he has is...."I've got the brain of a four year old. I'll bet he was glad to be rid of it." I think that is lame......I'd love to have the brain of a 4 year old.....even a 4 year old can stay on task longer than I can.

 Then I see on the sidebar... if I like Groucho check out George Carlin. I LOVE George Carlin!!! The quote that catches my attention is ....."One tequila, two tequila, three tequila, floor." That reminds me that I'm not drinking. This in turn reminds me of Al-Anon and what a lady said in there........ "If you have one foot in the future and the other in the past, then your peeing all over today".  I begin to wonder if that was her actual quote or if someone else said it first. I go back to the quote section and begin a search.

 I find this quote by Albert Einstein, "The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion". What ever the hell that means? When I click that quote, it takes me to his quote of  "Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". I think that is kind of funny since today in tennis I kept trying to hit this same drop shot over and over and it was NOT working..... did I change my plan?? NOOO....I guess I play insane tennis. But for real, they say that quote in Al-Anon a lot......strange huh?

This, in turn, makes me think about Baby's mom who is busy rehabbing. She is in a half way house now.......I want her rehabilitated........I DO NOT want to raise Baby forever.

I wonder what the success rate for recover is?

 I start searching for the rates of success. It's confusing to find these statistics since each rehab center rates success differently. Some just rate the success based on those who complete the 30/60/90 day program. The days depend on the place. TQ was  in a center that goes for 30 days. She has succeeded  as far as that rehab is concerned. She stayed clean while she was there. She attended the required meetings. She saw a counselor weekly. She stayed open minded and followed all suggestions. She took her medicine as required. The 1/2 way house that she is in now seems to be a good place.....but.........Oh wait.........this was not where I was going with this blog.

I was looking for WC Fields quote about kids........I love my grand girls but I REALLY would like to be grandma just for a day.

Finally! I find WC Fields but one quote says " I love kids....fried"  the other says "I love kids......cooked properly".

That is not the quote I'm looking for since they are so much better battered ...with a little assault and pepper.......ahem......a little joke there.

Later I will look to see if I made that up or if it was done by someone famous...........right now....I'm tired

Beach Time USA

I've just gotten back from a 2 week vacation in the Outer Banks located on the north eastern shores of  North Carolina.
  
The Saga Begins
Usually when I travel there I stop at my brother's house to break up the trip. This year was different. As we (I had my oldest grand daughter with me LL for Lemon Lady) neared the Rocky Mount exit, I get a phone call from my sis-in-law. She says, "Don't bother to stop by. Your brother has fallen off the roof!" I say, "WHAT?????" She says "yeah, the ambulance has got him and I'm following. I think he is conscious but I think his leg and back are broken and he did hit his head pretty hard!!!" I say (in a suspicious voice), "Was he drinking?" She says, "Noooo".  She keeps repeating "I told him not to go up there but he never listens to me". I hang up and I am Wowing to myself over and over..........
Later we get a call telling us that his ankle is broken and he will get pins in it on Monday.......WOW

Here is a picture of that..... It looks really painful. I know the doc gave him some strong pain meds. Hopefully he doesn't become like The Queen (my daughter) My sis-in-law says the doc says he can't drink either........but.........???

 um....back to the story......


My biggest fear is driving at night on the beach road to our cottage. Sand is on both sides and there are no lights to shine on the darkened roads. My only guide to find the cottage after dark will be the anchor covered in blue lights in the front yard..........still hard to see at night

So here I am wondering what we're going to do for dinner and if we are going to get to the cottage before night fall. I'm thinking.....I'm not hungry as we near the town where my sister lives ... my mom is few minutes down the road so we could stop there. I don't bother to call my sister because she is usually out and about doing stuff with her family but I do I call my mom to see if she is home.........she is not. I remember that it is Saturday and (come hell or high water)she does grocery shopping after eating out. I think this is actually a good thing since she burns most everything she cooks......we decide to continue on.

My old stomping grounds are about 45 minutes from the beach. Where I come from the measurement does not go in miles it goes in time.

LL is a bit hungry as we near the beach. I see a fruit stand and pull in. $34 later.......we leave with a handful of fresh cherries, 2 cantaloupes, 2 beautiful home grown tomatoes,and a bucket full of red potatoes. (What cost $34 I'll never know. Tourist Trap)

Traffic is heavy on a Saturday and when I say heavy, I mean heavy.

We are stuck in traffic but we have cherries that we devour while waiting. We spend time commenting on how wonderful the weather is (mid 70's) and wondering how long it will take before traffic moves again.  We contemplate the wonders of the universe. We listen to the only radio station on the Outer Banks that is broadcasting half way decent music (104 http://www.classichits1049.com/index.html) We ruminate about life. We begin to grow old.............
.......what would have normally be a 45 minute drive turns into stop and go traffic that takes a little over 2 hours to accomplish.

Finally we arrive........you can smell the ocean breeze and there is a crispness in the air. We rummage up some sandwiches, make our beds and grab some blankets. It's gonna be a cool one!

the front porch






and back porch of our modest beach side cottage



LL and I spend the next 4 days loving the beach with no interruptions from anyone. We do what we want, when we want. The days are clear and the beach is awesome.

LL meets a young man from Maryland. She wonders if she should flirt since she has a beau back home. I tell her........what happens at the beach........stays at the beach!!

 This is what we call Beach Time. We have no clock. We have no heat. We have no washer or dryer. We have no phone. We have no TV. We have no A/C.


What we do have is.......

A lot of food including fresh seafood.
A closet full of games.One radio station on the Boom Box. The sound and the smell of the ocean at our back door. A plethora of family members, friends,and animals coming in and out to visit.This year we had an extraordinary amount of easterly breezes, which kept me from wanting to go home early.



My sister and her family came to visit on Monday. That broke up the day pretty good. I don't swim so that also gave LL some swim time. My niece brought her boyfriend. A little romance beach side.

LL spent time tanning, reading, and boy watching. She celebrated her 15th birthday with us. She was very white when we arrived. She left a little less white!
Tuesday night all the rest of the crew arrived. TE, TQ and Baby and PIT (tween grand daughter, Princess in Training) bringing all thoughts of quietness to an sudden halt.





PIT spent most of her time laying about and texting.....(the one thing I couldn't get rid of....cell phones)




 

TE and Baby spent a lot of time in the surf.......










TQ went to a lot of meetings. Mostly AA. Bob (who chose to stay home this year) was absolutely right when he said that TQ acted out before drugs and that that was a part of her personality. He didn't think her being sober would matter much with her Diva attitude.........He was right it did not change......sigh.....yes.....it IS all about her. The Queen rules with an iron fist and all us little ole co-dependent peons 'hop right to it'.

She stayed sober up until the night before we left. She took a hand full of my Lortab.  I thought they were hidden but I guess not good enough.  This pill doesn't give her the high of Roxie's but I guess for that night they served her purpose. Her attitude was good for the most part but I think that was because we peons did what we were told without any hesitation. Can't complain though......we made it through with a better than usual vacation.

As for me.......I spent most of my waking hours reading, visiting and cooking. All things that I love to do.
My reading list included :
The Post Mistress by Sarah Blake
The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard (my favorite)
The Help by Kathryn Stockett (loved the story)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson (bit too much with the computer hacker jargon)
The 9th Judgment by James Patterson (He never writes a bad book)
and
The Language of Letting Go by Melody Beattie (for my co-dependency)

Family, friends, books and food make my world a happy place!