Rick left this morning for Springfield, IL. He'll Come home Friday and then fly out again to Springfield on Sunday. The hard part is that the second week he gets home on Thursday and we fly out Friday to Orlando and Disney World.
Speaking of Disney, I am immersed in my Unofficial Guide to Disney. Despite graduating from Mickey's College of Knowledge (seriously, that is the name of it.), so much has changed that I feel as if I have no prior knowledge. However, one thing I do remember is to not go to Disney without a plan. You can be anal and plan down to the minute or do a more flexible plan. Regardless, without a plan you will be overwhelmed and miss so much of Disney. A couple months back Rick had called WDW-Dine and made "reservations" for various popular sit-down restaurants, so I needed to make an Excel spreadsheet calendar to keep everything straight. This will be our first family vacation. We have traveled a lot as a family, but it has been typically to visit family or tag along on Rick's business trips. Rick seriously needs a true vacation. A vacation where he is removed from work and the missile base. Unfortunately, it will not be a relax and kick back vacation, but it will be good to leave the "To Do' lists at home.
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I totally misunderstood Rick the other night when he came upon a rattlesnake. I thought he didn't kill it, but he had and not with the usual one shot. He had to shoot it a few times, which is so not like Eagle Eye Rick. When Rick encountered the snake he was on our ag. land. He was over there because he saw two loose calves. He thought they were owned by the people that rent acres from us to use as pasture land. Rick couldn't get the calves in the fence, so I had to call our tenants and they rushed over. They had a shovel in the truck, so Rick further killed the snake with the shovel. After the poor shots, he wanted to make sure it was dead, dead, dead. So our rattlesnake count for 2011 is 1 and it technically wasn't on the land we consider our yard. (Only in Texas is 14 acres a yard!)
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Today I talked on the phone with my sister Linda. Nick and she are at my mom and dad's. They leave for home (Florida) tomorrow. She said that they have had a good time. My mom is doing the same, which is a positive. At least the medication has slowed the progression of her Alzheimer's. Here's a shocker. My dad is driving again. After he had his stroke, he did not drive. Now my mom does not drive because of the injury to her shoulder that she suffered back in November. With Dad being a typical Finlander (they all have sisu) he started driving again. He just didn't like depending on anyone for transportation to the doctor or to the store. They don't go very far and dad only drives 30 mph, which is the speed limit in town, but I imagine it must feel good to be driving again. He has made amazing progress these last five years and it's sisu that has made that happen. For the non-Finlanders, sisu is a Finnish world that has no English equivalent. It is a combination of determination, stubbornness, strength of will, perseverance, the ability to keep going despite the odds, getting the job done without complaints even when it is hard work or near impossible.
So I am tired, tired, tired. Katie was up last night chasing the cat. Of course Cody started his polite whining when he saw Katie moving around. By 3:30 pm, she finally remained in her bed but Cody didn't settle down until 4 am. I would just fall asleep when I would hear Katie running around, so I would get out of bed, put her back in her bed, tell Cody to be quiet then sleep for another 20 minutes before it started all over.
I described Cody's whining as polite. When it is morning and he needs to go out, he whines these short little whines and barks suppressed barks. He knows he is not supposed to be barking or whining, so he tones it down a bit. He also talks to me out of frustration. He wants to bark but knows not to so he starts making this real guttural sound. It almost sounds like the noise that escapes when one yawns. He will also bite his front paw when he is fighting the urge to bite me. Other than those few things, he is still not the brightest bulb in the box. We have a trellis at the end of our sidewalk. There is a gate in the archway of the trellis and when Katie closes it behind her, Cody can't figure out how to get to Katie. All he would have to do is walk 3' around the trellis and he would be on the same side as Katie. Instead he sits there and barks and barks. Last week Cody fell into the pool and it was confirmed that he is the only Lab that does not like water. The muzzle that I ordered was too small for him but because of the return shipping costs, I would only get a few dollars back so I kept it. I did order a new one for him from Dean & Tyler. It is leather and has an additional strap that goes down the forehead. The first muzzle did not have it and he could slip the muzzle off of his nose. I don't necessarily like muzzling him, but we have at least six more months of his chewing. When I let him roam around the house I have to follow him because he pointedly looks for something to chew. Yesterday, Katie and Rick were in the pool and I was hemming Rick's pants, so I let Cody out of the kitchen. Bing, bam, boom he ate one of Katie's hard plastic head bands. I didn't even see him take it. I am undecided about what to do with Cody while we are at Disney. We can leave him home and our neighbors will come over twice a day to take care of him; he could stay at the neighbor's house or we can kennel him. If he stays here, he will be alone a good part of the day and he would go batty. I can see him eating a cabinet or knocking the gate down and chewing most of the contents in our house. The neighbors have three, large dogs so if he goes there, we would have to arrange a recon play date to see if the dogs get along. I am also concerned about what he will chew if he stays at the neighbors. So right now, the kennel is looking as the best option.
Katie has been acting up this past week. She has the eye roll and the snottiness of a teenager. I hope she likes the taste of Irish Spring because there will be a bar in her mouth if she keeps it up. Katie is looking forward to school and I am anxious to witness the much talked about change that we will see in her. I am pretty sure that Katie will like school. She likes going out into the world and being around people. She also likes to learn and is a bit of a teacher pleaser. Of course she doesn't strive as hard to please us. If she doesn't like school we, Rick and I, will be in for thirteen years of power struggles with Katie. Please pray for us. Katie is also becoming a little, high-maintenance fashionista. It drives me up the wall. Before we go to the store she has to pretty herself up i.e. comb her hair, put lip gloss on. Often I end up waiting for her to finish primping and preening. For Pete's sake we are going to Wal-Mart not a swanky boutique on Rodeo Drive. She also likes eye make-up and I have put it on her when I knew we were staying home. Unfortunately I have created a monster. She thinks she should wear it all of the time. I have stressed, stressed and stressed to her that she is actually prettier without the eye make-up. It is disturbing to me to witness her mature interest in clothing and make up. Perhaps it is just a phase. She is still at that age where she wants to be just like me.(I should enjoy it because once she hits her teens she will do a 180 and despise me.) She even wants wrinkles, eyeglasses and to be lactose-intolerant just like her mama. It's rather comical when she scourers her body to find a wrinkle.
Ever since moving to Texas, my feet are no longer soft. I am getting those cracked heels. I figure it is because up North I wore shoes and socks that kept my feet moisturized as opposed to down here where I run around in flip flops in this arid climate. I discovered the other day that my feet are also starting to crack around my toes. For years my dad has had the same problem with his hands. He would develop deep cracks on his palms. He always had white medical tape on his hands keeping the cracks closed. When I was a child I developed those deep cracks on the bottom of my feet and here it is 40 years later and they have reappeared. The freaky thing is the cracks develop not on dry areas, but on the balls of my feet and in the creases around my toes, places that are well moisturized and not dry. I need to Google this phenomenon and hopefully find a remedy. Other health news, my lactose intolerance is gotten really bad. I used to be able to sneak a spoon full of ice cream when I was fixing a bowl for Katie or Rick. However, lately I cannot do that without a severe reaction. It could be all part of getting old. I am sure doing that.
Well, it's time to retire to the master suite. (Aren't I fancy?!) Perhaps pictures tomorrow. Ciao!
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