Job Hunting and Summer School

My son lost his job yesterday. He is in the automotive industry and with the price of gas people are not getting thier cars fixed. It's bad enough to lose your job but he has a week old baby. He lives in an area that is not heavily populated and with the old job he was driving 50 miles one way to work. As you probably figured out, his wife is off on maturity leave and is not workimg right now either.

What do you say to him? I'm sorry son. Something will come up....maybe. I am so glad hubby and I have something to fall back on(he draws his SSI)if we should lose our jobs. That is how we ended up here...me and hubby both lost our jobs. Times were better then than now.....

It just seems like everytime he gets it together...something knocks him back down. How much bad luck can one person have? He has a tendancy to get depressed...hope he can work his way thorugh this one.

I am really worried about him......it's tough being a parent...even to a 40 yr. old.


My daughter has started her summer semester at school. Second day and she hates it all ready. She has not had a break since she started because she is trying to finish her degree before son-in-law gets sent somewhere else for his job (like Baltimore).
She is so deep into her degree she cannot transfer and if she did she would basically lose a whole year.....yeah..not seeing that happen.

Anyway, second day and she has 2 pop quizs...second day!!! This is the summer and you would think it would be a little less intense. Of course these are upper level classes so maybe not!!!

The cost of gas is effecting them also. With only one income,she has to drive 40 miles everyday....like having a job with no money coming in..things can get tight.

They will be OK...she is working a big 6 hrs a week at Bath and Body and they are really good with money....better than me or her Dad.

Cremes, lotions and Body stuff

Number 1 daughter(only daughter)went to work for Bath and Body Works.....
Grandson # 1 needs braces and you could buy a small country for the cost of Trevor's braces.

Anyway , she gets discount at Bath and Body Works and also Victoria's Secret..one owns the other......no sure which way....

Now a discount at B & B is bad enough..love smelly good stuff and all the girly things that have..foamy soap for your HANDS...Mother, you do not bathe with foamy soap..it is for your hands....my bad....no wonder the lather did not last on my new body brush...who knew?????

She always get a discount at Victoria Secret......do they make OVER THE SHOULDER BOLDER HOLDERS??? I mean, I know thay have all these skinny little model with the push up boobs but do they have the BIG GIRLS BRA'S????? I'd like a 38D in that little number please....what ??? None that big huh?????

The girls need some assistance and the little push up thingy just does not fill the bill.....

How about some new panties.....those are panties...if I pay extra do I get more...it's string......

Maybe I just need to stick with the foo-foo stuff.......

This is my Mama

This is my Mama......she was tall and beautiful and she took care of all us girls. She was a stay at home Mom with stair step for kids, me(the oldest),Sarah(11 month younger than me)and Bobby Sue(13 months younger than Sarah). Three kids in 3 years basically...can you imagine?? No disposable diapers or bottles, no baby wipes to put in a little warmer....no washer or dryer!!!!!!!

She washed diapers in the bath tub and hung them on the clothes line. My dad was a private in the Air Force and made about $ 40 a month. Mama never cursed or drank but has smoked for 60 years..still smokes at the age of 83.

She was a horrible cook but make the best pies, cookies and cakes I ever tasted. Her biscuits could have been weapon of war. We ate lots of chicken, meat loaf and roast...she did not tuck us in at night and read us a story (probably to tired) but she made most of our clothes and was always there when we needed her.

She would tear us up in minute if we did not mind and taught us to respect all people..with no thought to color, religion or position in life. That was not easy to do in the Military because back then things were not as equal as they are now....officers had thier place, the NCO's (Pop was a Sqt by then) had thier place and the Airmen had thiers.

There was always young men that worked with Pop at the house for holdiays and cook outs....young men away from home.....Mama took care of everybody....

She laid my Dad's clothes out for him to wear everyday until the day he died.....she fixed his plate everyday of his life...he adored her.....

She has had problems with her nerves for as long as I can remember and fought what I know now to be depression but never let it effect her to the point she could not take care of us kids.....

She was and is amazing.......even at the age of 83

HAPPY MOTHER' S DAY MAMA

Alabama Education---or not ?????

Although I moved to the South when I was 16, I was for the most part not educated in the South. Being from a military background, I was educated all over the USA and the world. When I moved to Alabama 26 years ago, I was concerned about the education my daughter would get.....although Louisiana is not great by any stretch of the imagination...the school Stephie attended was ranked very high in the US.

When Stephie finished high school, all student were required to take and pass the Alabama High School Graduation Exam. It has 5 parts and all 5 have to be passed. They start taking this thier JR year and took it until they passed all 5 parts....

Unfortunately, this test is given on an 8th grade level..graduting from high school....AM I MISSING SOMETHING HERE.....if you are a High School graduate you shouldn't you function on a high school level......

They did compensate the good students by having 2 diploma's....1 general for students that are not functioning on a high school level and 1 academic for kids that took higher level classes. Makes sense..but if you apply for a job and cannot fill out the application properly...all they see is a diploma from Alabama......

Now for my point.....the state of Alabama is considering lowering the requirement for graduation to only 3 parts of the exam--2 to include Math and Reading.....WHAT????

Let me repeat ...8th grade level...............


Currently Alabama is 62 points below the national average (only Mississippi is higher than we are).

Jobs are more competitive and cost of living is getting higher and higher...even in the South. Companies down here are bring in people from other parts of the country because our people cannot fill the postion available...no reading or math skills....

MY POOR GRANDCHILDREN.

Yard Work-not exactly...weed control

This is the time of year when everybody's thought turns to thier yard and flowers. The house we live in has one of the ugliest yard in the world. It was let go for 7 years and half the backyard is briars and pine straw at least 6 inches thick. You cannot even get a mower through it because it is so thick. The only way to cut it is with a weedeater or hedge trimmers. So I decided to get in the yard last weekend and get rid of as much as I could. It drives me crazy.


Anyway,the weedeater ate my lunch. Both legs are cut. I have a blue spot on my knees where the tree got me and the yard looks a little better......no good by any stretch of the imagination. LOOKING PRETTY BAD THERE..BOO BOO!!!!!!! I tried to kill it last year with vinegar and salt, that what the power line people use sometimes, but it only worked for about a month and then it was back.



Our front yard is even worse...dirts with a few scraggly trees..fix it you say...not my house and the land lord does not care. All they want is the rent we pay each month.

We would buy one down here but not planning on staying and since Katrina and Ivan , if you can get home owners insurance...it has gone up an average of 300%. There are people loosing thier homes because they cannot pay thier insurance on thier house.

Planted my little garden...3 tomato plants in planter on the patio...also ugly..so we can at least have fresh tomatoes this summer......one day will have a really nice yard and a bigger garden......maybe

Falls, Balls and Friends

Arrived in Detroit on Saturday. Did not see much in the Detroit area but the bowling alley and the hotel. The city that the tournament was held in had organizations paint bowling pins along the path going to the center but discovered when we had the pictures developed...no one got a picture of any of them. I was the driver so was a little difficult for me. We did get to see all the professional womens bowlers..those you see on TV every once in a while. That was pretty cool...they bowl the Queens Tournamnent on the Friday we left to come back. This is me and my doubles partner..I am the one with the red hair(gift from my Dad) and a bowler named Trish Johnson. Love, love... mine and Violetta (vi-O- lee-ta) bowling shirts.....they are Mickey Mouse and have our names on the front....bowling shirts are cool....

Can't take pictures during the tournament but this is practice. Form is pretty good but bowling was not great.....still had fun.



Went to Niagara Falls and it was one of the most spectacular sites I have seem. We stayed in a motel right across from the Falls so you could see them out our window. Had a balcony with iron grates across it so you could open the door and look out. WOW...we left the door opened all night so we could hear the falls (11th floor) and turned the heater on in the room because it was in the 30's at night.

Could not ride the Maid of the Mist ( the boat that takes you do right next to the Horsehoe Falls) because it did not run until May 15th. We did get to go under the falls through a tunnel and look out......so very cool ( literally). The temp dropped probably 5-10 degrees by the water.


Rode a 30 ft ferris wheel-enclosed- that gave you a bird eye view of Niagara and Buffalo, NY..right across the lake.


Ate in the Rain Forest Cafe with our Safaria Guide and the creatures. Had to try on the local hatters goods and thought we struck quite a pose. Had to coach some of the girls but like I told them...we will never see these people again and the kids that took the pictures got a big kick out of it. Food was excellent.....




Our next stop was the CN Tower in Toronto. It is the tallest free standing building in the world. It is 447 meters tall...that's 147 stories. About 345 meters up they have a restaurant ..in the round part of the tower..but we could not eat there cause 2 of the ladies would not go up.

About 130 stories they have a glass floor that you can look down and see the ground. I was the first to venture out and coaxed the other 3....two of them are afraid of highs...hey it is only 130 stories...beside the fall will not hurt you...it is that sudden stop at the bottom.......no humor!!!!!!!!
The elevator that takes you down the 137 stories is on the outside of the building and takes only 58 seconds to get to the bottom floor.
All in all we had a great trip ...on the way back me and Violetta ungraded to Business class which was really cool for only $ 40. So well worth the money to set up there with the big boys and not in the cheap seats.....plane was full so we each had a big seat for the flight home......RENO HEAR WE COME......APRIL 2009