Things That Go Bump In The Night

I miss my honey! He's in Florida without me. It's 95 degrees there by the way. He's been doin a lot of fishing with the good 'ol boys. He caught a Tarpon. I'm not sure how big the one he caught was, but they can get pretty big and put up one hell of a fight. I would have loved to have seen that!

I've been sleeping with someone else since Joe's been gone. I have already confessed to Joe and he's ok with it. They are his friends too; Smith and Wesson. I usually don't get scared by myself, but I let my mind get the best of me and I was convinced that someone was going to come in my house and get me. I make sure all the doors are locked and I have all of the outside lights on. I used to feel comforted in the fact that Bear was here. He was a great watch dog and protector in his day. Not so much anymore. He's partially blind and stone cold deaf. I am however going to have to double check the outside of the door before I lock it from the inside. Last night I left the key in the outside lock. Brilliant!

I told Joe about my insecurities and he was a little amused. He was surprised that I was scared. He says: "Even if I was there, how am I going to protect you? I'm a wimp. Or do you just want me there so you can push me in front so you can get away?"
Good point! He may not protect me, but I know that if anyone ever broke into the house while he was there he would do whatever it took to protect........Ellie. So, as long as I remained behind him and Ellie I would be ok too.

Happy Birthday

Happy Birthday Lisa!!!! I haven't been on my blog in a few days. I'm behind in my birthday wishes. I hope you had a wonderful birthday! I Love You!

Wildlife Control

I've been doing a little wildlife management lately. A family of red squirrels decided my newly sided barn was the perfect place to hole up for the winter. I had other ideas. For a week or so I've been hearin a lot of scampering in the barn rafters and gnawing of wood. Tapping on the walls didn't seem to deter them. They kept on gnawing and scampering. The red squirrels are much more rodent like than the regular squirrels and probably more destructive. I put out a live trap and within 2 days I had my first capture. I put him in the back of my truck. I had to go to a house to pick up some items that I bought at auction. The house was on 20 some wooded acres so Bryan and I decided that we would just let him out there. He was happy to be free and scurried away. Two days later I had another squirrel. I figured I'd let him out at the same place so he could find his friend. It was evening and I decided to take Ellie with me for the ride. I had to put the squirrel in the car with me because my truck is broken. That was a big mistake. As soon as Ellie realized there was another animal in the car she went nuts! Ellie was growling and the squirrel was chattering and running back and forth in the cage. I thought for sure the squirrel was going to get out and be running around my car. I had a heck of a time trying to keep Ellie back while I tried to let the squirrel go. One day later I captured my third squirrel and again I took him to the same place to release him. I didn't take Ellie this time. I have the trap set again. We'll see what happens tonight.

Does The Meaning Fit?

Amanda and I were talking about names and what they mean. Patricia for instance means Noblewoman. That pretty much fits me; I can live with that! I found that description by googling "meaning of names" and I went to this site. Then I googled just my name; Patti. Kind of wish I hadn't done that. I looked on Wikipedia and found that In one language in India, dogs are called Patti. In New Jersey (USA) they refer to sea cows as Patti. I prefer the Noblewoman thing to the sea cow reference.

What does your name mean?

Happy Anniversary

Happy Anniversary Brad & Kim and Lauren & Kenny. Sorry I'm a few days late. I hope you all had a romantic time....not all together of course. I love you all!

I Survived The Process

If you've seen my comments on facebook, then you know I have finally succeeded in securing Medicade for my Mom. What an interesting process! After all of my phone calls ended in more confusing information or no information at all I decided to take matters into my own hands and show up at the office of Family and Social Services. I chose to go to a rural office instead of the one in downtown Fort Wayne. I had been told by more than one person that the rural office would be less busy. In front of me in the parking lot was an elderly couple. They were hunting for parking spot. I assumed they were going to the Social Services office too. I figured I could totally out run them and get ahead of them in line. I parked really quickly and went around to the passenger side to retrieve all of my paperwork. In my haste things fell out of the car and papers started flying around. I quickly gathered the fallen items, grabbed my purse and briefcase and took off for the door. Even with my little mishap at the car I was still way ahead of them. I turned around to see where they were and saw them walking into the grocery store. I laughed a little to myself and then hoped that I didn't screw up my good Karma by being so selfish. There was only one other person in the waiting room when I walked in, and she was working on a computer. A lady came out right away when the door buzzer sounded.
I informed her that I needed to talk to someone about my Mom's case. She looked at me kind of puzzled, like this was an unusual occurrence. She says: "did someone tell you to come here?" I say: "yes, my psychic." No, I didn't really say that but I thought it was a weird question. Then she tells me that there is a phone on the desk here that is a direct line to the 1-800# for the office in Indy. Really???? I didn't just drive 20 miles so that I could use your phone. I remained calm and tried to explain my problem the best I could while standing in the middle of the waiting room. The issues I have are not things that I can explain in a sentence or two. I rattled off the entire story. Then I heard it.....the voice coming from behind the screen asking me questions. Actually the voice from behind the screen was asking the worker to ask me questions ( like I couldn't hear her). I decided to bypass the worker standing in front of me and just talk to the screen. The screen seemed to have more authority. The screen asked me if I had any paperwork with me. I asked her which volume she wanted. The worker took my paperwork to the voice behind the screen. I could hear whispers behind the screen and a lot of computer work, while I sat in the lobby cleaning out my purse and writing my grocery list. Finally the screen invited me in. She was smaller than I thought she would be, kind of like the wizard of OZ. She didn't look at me much and I could tell that it was best I didn't try to talk to her, just answer her questions as she asked them. Things were not working out for her and she had to go ask someone else behind another screen what to do. When she finally came back, she and the other screen had everything figured out. She fixed the mistakes that other workers had made and says: "Ok, she's approved starting with July." What????? That's it?????? Done???? I went in there expecting to get some answers to my questions, but that was it. I was ecstatic to find out that this process was finally done. Wellllll....I'm 99.9% sure it's done. I have her Medicaid card number, but I don't have the actual card in my hot little hands yet.

Although this process was long and frustrating, my experience with the workers I encountered was not that bad. Everyone I talked to was nice (even though they gave me wrong information). Maybe they were nice to me because I was nice to them and appreciative of their help. I'm sure their job is not that pleasant. A lady came into the lobby while I was behind the screen and I heard her entire sob story. I could tell by her voice she was frustrated and about at the end of her rope. They must hear stuff like that all day long. No wonder they don't want to deal with anyone in person. That lady was calm, but I'm sure they get more than their fair share of hot heads. I actually thought while I was sitting there that I hoped no one came in with a gun and started shooting the place up.

Anyone out there need any help with this kind of thing, let me know. I can at least tell you what not to do.

Now Where Is That....?

I think I have mentioned before that I can be a little obsessive. I'm better than I used to be, but none the less my anal retentiveness shows up occasionally. My issue is with not having all of the pieces or parts that go with a particular item. For example: my drill. I better have the drill, bits, and batteries. If I am missing one little drill bit it drives me crazy.

My ongoing obsession with missing pieces has spilled over into the toy area. I have a playroom set up for the grand kids. It's stocked with all kinds of toys with lots of pieces. My biggest obsession is with the 6 coins from a cash register. When I am putting toys away, there better be 6 gray plastic coins in the cash drawer or I am immediately stressed. I know it's dumb and irrational but I can't help it. If any are missing, I know they have to be in the house so I look for them until I find them. One time 3 coins were missing. I knew that Julian and Nicholas were the last ones to play with it so I called Bryan to see if they took them home with them. Sick I know! Sicker yet, I found out that Bryan hid them from me. I didn't care as long as I got them back. I have gone so far as to remove the coins from the cash register drawer before the kids played with it so they wouldn't loose them. I need help!

I currently have all of the coins, however; I am missing a blue ball from the popper, a stuffed kitty from the vet hospital and 1 piece of the 162 piece Lincoln Log set (I know because I counted them). If you have them or know where they are, please return them (no questions asked). My sanity is at stake here!

Do You Know The Shepawitz?

It was a busy weekend. The Shepawitz came to visit. "Who are the Shepawitz?" you ask. The Shepawitz aka the triplets. Nicholas still has a hard time with his "T's". Very funny and cute. Nicholas says Addy is his girlfriend. We're not sure how that will pan out. Technically she could be his girlfriend since they are not "blood" related, but both Julie and I think that we will try and discourage that relationship. Auntie Lorrie was here too! We had a good time just chillin. Our big outing for the weekend was going to Target. We all watched more than our share of Dora The Explorer. I'm a bad Nanu because when they asked for more Dora I told them she went on vacation. I didn't care what other cartoon we watched as long as it wasn't Dora. Again we were limited in our TV choices because guess what??????? Our Dish DVR wasn't working. We are now on DVR receiver #4. When the guys came out today they actually did some work outside on the lines which I think has been the problem the entire time. He supposedly upgraded our DVR with a different model. He said the one we had was a piece of junk. How reassuring. So far it's working. I'm a little bit happier too because I called and got a month's credit on my bill. I figured that was the least they could do.

Everything is quiet here now. I'm not sure what to do with myself. Julie is on the road back home. I hope the kids are cooperating for her. They were a little out of sorts when they left. I know how they feel though. It's always hard to travel and be away from your own bed.

I'm looking forward to going to Zumba, my pj's, a few glasses of wine and relaxing in front of the TV. The only thing that will be missing is the Shepawitz all sitting on my lap!