I was taken to a very nice brunch early this afternoon at the Campfire restaurant in Milan, for Mother's Day --  the food was great and plentiful, and I enjoyed it a great deal. I also got to experience Bill's second driving lesson in a big, empty parking lot. He did quite well, other than having to learn to slow down when making sharp turns! He starts his driver's training next week, and will hopefully have his learner's permit by the time we leave for New Mexico. The we will have three drivers in our car, which will be very good on such a long trip! We also went to Sam's Club to check on all of the Wal-Mart gift certificates we found in Dad's house. I had given them many over the years, as that is the only national chain store there, and that way they could buy anything from groceries to things they needed for their house. They all had only a few dollars on them, which pleased me greatly, as I now know that they had at least used them.

The tick bite is worse again today. It is now a bright red puffy area about the size of my entire hand surrounding the scabs from the bite. It is hot to the touch. The painful itching is driving me up the wall. I showed it to the two pharmacists I was working with tonight, and they both said I need to go to the doctor tomorrow, as soon as I can get in to the office. They said it looks inflamed and infected, and that the doctor will probably have to open it up to get out the pus and whatever tick parts are still in there. Sounds like I will have an interesting day tomorrow...

Steven wasn't feeling well, but played soccer this morning. He isn't running a fever now, but you can tell he is a bit tired and run down. Bill played soccer tonight under the lights. He had a couple of good shots on goal and took out the opposing goalie. The guy sitting next to us said "Well ,that's the wrestler. Great hit!"  In his gane, Steven took out a much larger kid, who flipped in the air. Who says soccer is a tame sport?

I sort of took a day off and did quiet things like read and rest. The stupid tick bite I got in Arkansas is driving me nuts. It has a hurty itch, and its all I can do not to claw at it. The kids told me there is an area the size of the palm of Billy's hand that is red and angry looking surrounding the scabs. Sounds like its time to go to the doctor.

Tomorow is Mother's Day. So Happy Mother's Day out there to all mothers, sisters, and daughters.

Well, I certainly had good intentions of going car shopping today. But the middle school called and I had to go get Stevie. He was running a high fever. So I spent most of the day sitting on the couch, holding a sick and sleepy little boy in my lap. Watched some dvds while he was sleeping in his room...Down with Love and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. He was supposed to play soccer first thing in the morning down in Bedford, and it is our turn to bring treats...now I'm not sure what is going to happen with that...

Gave Jim his fireworks last night. His whole face lit up like a little kid on Christmas morning. He told me a great story about how when his nephew got married, they took pictures out in the parking lot after the recpetion with a bunch of fireworks. They had a big spinning one, like the one I got for him. It set a telephone poll on fire and they shook up their beers to try to spray on it to put the fire out.

Last night they had a meeting at the high school to announce the new wrestling coach. They hired the coach from the middle school of one of the premier wrestling programs in the state, from Dundee. Hopefully things will settle down now...

Two nights ago at about this time, the Red Wings were eliminated in the playoffs. Yzerman had been injured, and without the Good Captain, the team just wasn't able to rally. Its too bad -- he deserved better from his teammates. But, as a result, the ER was packed with patients getting banana bags last night...

Two nights ago, when I got home from work I took Max outside for his bedtime "business". It was a full moon, and I heard a coyote howling. At first I thought it might be a kid playing a prank, but then the rest of the pack joined in. I have seen and heard them out west before, but never around here -- though my friend Jim who lives out in Chelsea says he sees them all of the time out there.

Something must have gotten the robin eggs. When we got home from Arkansas, the nest was empty and deserted. Saddened us all.

I am so glad to be home. The last couple of hours of my shift I was getting shooting pains in my head. Yes, its allergy season in the Midwest again. Steven told me that he can't wait to get out to New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona so we can get away from the worst of the pollen. Or, at least, we are not allergic to the pollens they have in that part of the country. And we all love the mountains.

Friday I will have to spend the whole day car shopping...hopefully I can find a gently used vehicle that I really like.

TWO

When we come together, my awareness of the world fades away
There is your strong body against mine
Your arms enveloping me in protective warmth
Your heart beating against my cheek
Your eyes shining with masculine heat
Your hands against my back
And when our lips finally meet
Intermingled with your hot sweet breath
There is a dream of distant spring

At home alone...Dan is at work, kids are at school...Max is bugging me for a walk. I am sort of tired...worked last night, then stayed up to 3AM uploading pictures into my on-line albums over at webshots. To see them, just go to webshots, click on community, and search for my email address. I need to get some breakfast and some tea, then will probably feel a lot better. Not to mention taking Max out for his walk.It's still chilly, but the rain that lasted most of the weekend is over, and the sun is out.

I need to fit in some serious car shopping this week. I had dropped off my car at the garage before going to Arkansas, as it is 10 years old and has 140,000 miles on it, with original brakes, exhaust, etc. Well ,the estimate for needed repairs came in at $5,000, so I am now looking for a new or gently used vehicle...after driving the little truck back, I can really feel the mushiness of the brakes in my car!

I also need to find a kennel for Max to stay at when we got out to New Mexico. I have already arranged for the cats to be boarded at the vet's, but the vet doesn't board dogs...and that will be it to get ready for the trip other than packing and turning off the mail and newspaper. According to my friend John, it is less than 60 days now to the trip. He keeps a daily countdown on his computer desktop. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!

Last Thursday we left on our trip. We were supposed to leave in the early morning so we could have some time for the kids to swim at the hotel, and maybe go for a drive/walk around a great big lake in southern Illinois we always see from the freeway that looks very pretty (Rend Lake). But, as usual, Dan had a bunch of last second crises with his business, and we ended up leaving late afternoon. We always do this. I have warned him that this cannot happen on our next trip, because we have tickets to a baseball game in St. Louis that starts at 7PM.

We got to the hotel pretty late and tried to sleep. But there was a screaming couple with a little baby in a nearby room, so we sure didn't get much sleep. Since I had only gotten about three hours the night before, this was not a good thing.

We stopped off at a local landmark called Boomland in Missouri for gas (they had the cheapest gas I have seen anywhere in months) and ice cream. It was a fun place. Not just fireworks, but room after room of all sorts of stuff for sale...the kids added to their Beanie Baby collection.

We got to Arkansas late afternoon. It was raining cats and dogs. My oldest sister and the realtor were at the house when we dropped in, so we stayed for awhile and cleaned. My third sister and her husband arrived with pizzas, and that made a nice dinner. Then we drove throug hthe pouring rain to our rental condo in Mountain Home. It was very nice, at a place called Teal Point Resort. It had two bedrooms, 1 1/2 baths, a huge fireplace, a fully equipped kitchen, cable tv....it was on a huge, huge lake well known for its fishing, called Lake Norfork. Unfortunately, there were thunderstorms all night long, and again, we got very little sleep.

In the morning we went out in the cold, pouring rain in search of breakfast. We found a little diner not too far from the condos. It was called Brenda's Country Kitchen. We had the only out of state plates in the lot, and when we walked in the door everyone turned around and stared at us as if we were vampires or something! The food was simple, but well prepared and quite tasty.

We spent the day cleaning the house.All three of my sisters and my brothers-in-law were there. Thank God my brothers-in-law took care of the chicken that had been there for four months without the benefit of refrigeration.

That night we all met for dinner at a buffet in Mountain home. The dinner was pleasant and it was nice seeing everyone.

In the morning we all went to services at Dad's church, the Church of Christ in Agnos. The people there were very friendly, very nice. After services two of my sisters and their husbands headed home. The rain had finally stoppped. The weather channel said there has been 12 inches in 48 hours. Everything was trying to flood. And this is where my little letter a couple of entries down begins, with Steven's adventure with the doggies...

The drive back seemed to take forever, as Dan and I could not help each other taking turns driving. He had the big truck and u-haul, I had the small truck. The main road in Arkansas had been completely blocked by a bad accident, so we had to take little country roads for quite a way to get around it. We stopped at Boomland for gas, dinner, and to buy fireworks for my friend Jim. They carry the biggest fireworks you can legally have without a special permit there. We got some smaller (much smaller) ones for ourselves, as well. We stopped for the night in Mount Vernon, Illinois, again. We made it home the following day, despite a bad accident involoving three large trucks on the Indiana Turnpike. They had both lanes closed and the police were directing everyone over to the shoulder. But we made it home, and boy, were we glad to get here!

Max came with us for the trip. He is getting old and stiff, poor doggy. He had trouble climbing in and out of the big Ram. I found it very touching when Bill started picking him up and lifting him in and out of the backseat. Bill was only in kndergarten when we got Max, and now he is nearly a junior in high school. For a few years, Max, at 70-80 pounds, outweighed Bill. Now Bill can just pick him up as gently as if Max were a tiny puppy instead of a big black lab.