Thursday, September 29, 2011

What a Mess!

Radar likes to go after moles.  He catches them, too.  This results in a yard full of holes.  I asked Kevin to go to Dad's and get a load of dirt.  My plan was to have dad dump the bucket load of dirt onto a tarp in Kevin's truck, and then I could easily transfer it into the little cart that pulls behind the lawn tractor.  Brilliant!

I got home on Tuesday and his truck was backed into the drive with a load of dirt on a tarp.  Perfect.  Monica's truck was gone, however.  I came in the house and asked Natalie if they'd gone driving and she said that they were at Grandpa's house.  OK, I'll get started on my own.

I opened the shed to push the lawn tractor out and it had a flat tire.  CRAP!  I checked the air tank.  Empty.  *sigh*  Calling Kevin's phone number resulted in Monica answering.  I asked her to have him bring Grandpa's air tank home, and she said they were working on her truck.  It had been making a noise.  Fine.  I'll go out there and fill OUR tank.

Kevin and Dad were working on the back wheel of her truck when I got there.  The emergency brake had an issue...or something.  I should really listen better.  Anyway, after coming home and airing up the tire and pushing the mower out of the shed, I found out it wouldn't start.  WHAT?  I'm not an idiot.  I know how to start the tractor.  It just had no plans to start.

About that time, Kevin and Monica got home, and he tried.  It wouldn't start for him either, so after ALL of that, we were stuck using a wheelbarrow!  Kevin pushed the load around the yard and I filled the holes.  We got done after dark.  Next time, I'm doing this on the weekend and starting in the morning!

Thursday, September 22, 2011

I'm a Criminal

I stopped at QT after work for fuel.  I don't like to go over 300 miles on a tank, and I was at 340.  I put in my Pump Start card (it's a card that you use at QT so you don't have to prepay.)  The pump said, "See attendant."  OK.  I go inside and he swipes the card and says, "This card has been deactivated."  Weird.  I paid with a different method and pumped my gas.

They had given me the printout of the deactivation message, and there was an 800 number on it, so I called.  The lady asked if I remembered getting $24 worth of fuel at QT last Thursday.  I said, "Yeah.  Was it the Oak Grove location?"  It was.  Oh NO!  I got other stuff that day!  What if I forgot to tell them about the fuel, paid for the other stuff, and drove away?  I'm a delinquent!

I called Kevin and asked him to check the bank account online.  He found where I had written a check to QT that day for an amount that sounds like plenty to have paid for $24 worth of gas.  Cool.  I stopped by the bank and asked for a printout, and then went to the Oak Grove QT.  I explained the situation and he started looking into it.

After a few questions were asked, he was able to pull up the transaction and get a copy of the itemized receipt.  I didn't remember that last Thursday was the day that I bought breakfast, lunch, snacks for my snack stash at work, and a few other things.  What wasn't on that receipt?  The FUEL!  How embarrassing!  I told him that I felt like such a rebel.

He said, "A rebel doesn't usually come back to pay for their gas."  LOL  I paid for it and he said that my pump start card will be reactivated by 2:00 tomorrow afternoon.  What an airhead!  I'm just glad that I didn't go in there with attitude and accuse them of doing something wrong.  Thanks to my buddy Brooke for warning me, "May want to check the attitude" when I was complaining to her about it, on the way to take care of it.

Friday, September 16, 2011

Two Awesome Kameron Stories

OK, I've been super busy with work.  So SUE me!  Anyway, I have a story from last weekend, and one from this weekend, that just CRACK me up:

Story One:
Jon came up last weekend to go to a concert, and he took Monica and Natalie with him.  He has to get rid of his dog because he's working full time AND going to college and she's not getting enough attention.  I couldn't stand the thought, since he'll want her back in a year or two, so we said we'd take her.  She cute, fun, housebroken, and fine.

He got here, picked the girls up from school, put Susie (the dog) in her kennel and left her here, all while I was at work.  He was to meet Kevin in Blue Springs so Kevin could give the girls some spending money.  After meeting, Jon got less than a block, and his wheel locked up.  He called Kevin.  Kevin went back, gave them his truck to go to the concert and called me.

I picked Kevin up after work, we picked up Kami, and came home.  Kevin left again to go get the broken car.  (Shout out to Friend 1 with the trailer and Friend 2 with a truck) and Kami and I came inside.  We let Susie out to see how she'd do.  She didn't know us, and didn't know where her person (Jon) was.  I decided to take her out to potty, and Kami came along.  Susie went potty and came back in with us.

I was on the phone, talking to Grammy (Kevin's mom) when I heard the door open and close.  I peeked around the corner to see Kami going onto the front porch.  I opened the door, told her she needed to come inside, and kept talking to Grammy.  After a minute or 2, I hung up the phone.  Kami said, "Hey gramma?  Let's find Susie!"  She said it in a sing-song voice like we were going to play a great game.

I said, "Find her?  Ummm, where IS she?"  Kami answered, "Outside!"  CRAP!  OH NO!  I ran to the front door, opened it, and peered outside.  Susie was over in the driveway sniffing around.  I said, "Susie?" with a question in my tone, because I didn't know what she'd do.  She came right to me and came inside.  Crisis averted.  LOL

Story Two:

Tonight, Kevin and the girls are at the high school football game.  I decided it was a bit too cool for Kami (and me) and we stayed home.  She settled in for a bit of Sponge Bob.  Something was said on the show (I have NO idea what it was) and I thought I heard her say "That's what your momma says."  We do "Your Mom" jokes at work all the time, so I thought it was funny, but wasn't sure if that's really what I heard, so I didn't react.

Two minutes later, I said something to the dog.  Kami said, "That's what your momma says."  I laughed, and then regained my composure.  I asked her, seriously, "Who taught you that?  Who says 'that's what you're momma says?'"  She looked me straight in the eye and said, "Your momma."

Holy Hannah.  I haven't laughed that hard long in a LONG time.  After this week, I needed that.  Sheesh, I love this kid.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Like Another Hole in the Head

Yes.  I understand that I'm out of my ever-lovin' mind.  That is NOT news to anyone.  If you go into this knowing that, it'll make more sense.

Jon has this dog.  She's half Jack Russell, and half Chihuahua.  We had another pup of that same mix a few years back, and we loved her personality.  Jon is working full time and going to college, and he feels like it isn't fair to have a dog, since she doesn't get much attention.

You know where this is going, right?  I told Kevin that, now that we have Radar, we can't all go anywhere.  Hawkeye can just stay with my parents if we want to go away, but with another dog, those days are gone.  If one of us has to stay close to home for one dog, why not two?

I also think, when Jon gets to a better place in a year or so, he'll wish he had his dog back.  If she's with us, that can happen.  If she goes to someone else, she's gone forever.  She fully housebroken, kennel trained, and sweet as can be.

Yeah.  If you wonder how bad I need another dog, just see the title of this post.

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Wednesday

If every day is going to be like yesterday, I'm glad it's a short week.  Wow.  Tuesday jumped out of the alley at me with a billy club and beat the crap out of me.  Rude.  I hope Wednesday is more kind.

I came home last night and announced that I'd like to spend the evening in the Mom Cave.  That's my room, after I take in my computer, snacks and a drink.  Usually, my cave time is alone, and I go to sleep super early.  Last night, though, the girls wanted to hang out, so I let them.  I got to veg out, anyway.

This weekend will be crazy.  Jon and his girlfriend are coming up to take my girls to a concert on Friday night.  They'll be here tomorrow night through Saturday morning.  Brian and Heather are talking about coming up for the Renaissance Festival.  Not sure if they'd come up Friday night or Saturday morning, but we'll have a lot of people running around.

We may as well add Kami to the mix!  I guess I'll give her mom a call.  

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

Back to Work

I often feel like holiday weekends fly by too fast, and almost feel cheated when it's time to go back to work.  This time, though, I feel like I got a full three days of fun out of the weekend.  It's nice.  We got to see my St. Louis aunt and her husband, and Brian surprised us by driving up on Sunday morning!

Kevin did a lot to the cars, changing Monica's transmission fluid and oil, changing my oil and fixing the speaker in my passenger door.  I watched a lot.  We also BBQ'd on Saturday, which had Kevin standing in the pouring rain grilling, at one point.  That was different.

The girls and I went to the mall (ick) and Kevin got to go to a gun show.  Even with all of that going on, I feel like I had a lot of time to relax.  I woke up super early on Monday and watched a couple of movies.  Yup.  I certainly got my money's worth out of this weekend.

Now, it's time to go back to work.  Lots to do before the phones come on this morning, so I better get headed that way.  These cool mornings are wonderful, and it even makes my coffee taste better.  How is that possible?

Friday, September 2, 2011

Staying Cool

We still don't allow Radar the run of the house at night.  He never has accidents, but I'm afraid he'd chew on cords or something.  That means, he sleeps on the floor of our room, until 3 in the morning or so, when he asks to go outside.

It's been around 100 degrees lately, which is miserable, in case you didn't know.  When Kevin goes to bed, he has to position the fan so it hits him.  It's a round fan that sits on the floor, but you can swivel it up.  It's like this:

Sometimes, Kevin will wake up and realize that he can hear the fan, but not feel it.  That is when Radar has tilted the fan down toward him.  We always get a laugh out of that.  Wednesday night, he did a new one that still has me laughing.

Kevin woke up and could hear the fan, but not feel it.  He grabbed his cell phone and hit a button to create some light.  Sure enough, the fan was pointing down at Radar.  The difference was Radar's position.  He was lying on his back, his head under the bed, back legs spread eagle, with the fan blowing right across his junk!

I guess that's ONE way to stay cool.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Traffic Dangers

I was on the way to work yesterday, when traffic came to a screeching halt.  At the hour I go in, traffic is seldom heavy, and when there is a slowdown, it's near the city.  This was in Blue Springs, barely 5 minutes into the Interstate part of my trip.  I sat in the slow lane wondering what the heck was going on.

Before I could even think about what I was seeing, a wheel bounced out of nowhere and hit the SUV in the fast lane, tearing the side mirror off and banging off the side before bouncing into more traffic.  It had to be inflated, because it bounced like a super ball.  I was shocked beyond belief.  Traffic started to move.

As we gained speed again, I was looking around for a car without a wheel.  Nothing.  Nobody pulled over.  Nothing.  That made it an even bigger mystery!  I don't know if that wheel was on a trailer or in the bed of someone's truck or what.  Very bizarre.  Made me worried all the rest of the way in.  A wheel falling from the sky could do a LOT of damage to a Neon.

Traffic Dangers

I was on the way to work yesterday, when traffic came to a screeching halt.  At the hour I go in, traffic is seldom heavy, and when there is a slowdown, it's near the city.  This was in Blue Springs, barely 5 minutes into the Interstate part of my trip.  I sat in the slow lane wondering what the heck was going on.

Before I could even think about what I was seeing, a wheel bounced out of nowhere and hit the SUV in the fast lane, tearing the side mirror off and banging off the side before bouncing into more traffic.  It had to be inflated, because it bounced like a super ball.  I was shocked beyond belief.  Traffic started to move.

As we gained speed again, I was looking around for a car without a wheel.  Nothing.  Nobody pulled over.  Nothing.  That made it an even bigger mystery!  I don't know if that wheel was on a trailer or in the bed of someone's truck or what.  Very bizarre.  Made me worried all the rest of the way in.  A wheel falling from the sky could do a LOT of damage to a Neon.