I am currently at Tara's house. We're having a Turkey Deep Fry-a-thon here, and for about a month now- she has had a cable modem but could not get it installed. So Shawn has been working on it, being the computer geek genius that he is. (And we all love him for it, of course) and today, she had all of the things she needed to have it installed. Needless to say, here I am. Online. Experiencing for the first time, what it is to have a cable modem because, being poor white trailer trash out in hicksville- we cannot get cable modems or anything of the sort where Shawn and I live. I am currently rethinking my cozy comfy country life to trade in for big city comforts such as the cable modem. Ain;t this a bitch?

A bitch I tell ya!!! So is Tara for that matter. Damn, I'm jealous. Can you tell?!

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Yesterday was a great day. My Dad and the babies showed up at 8 a.m. I got up to welcome them, then prompty went back to bed for a couple of hours more sleep.

When I woke up, we loaded up the car and headed into the city. We were searching for a nursery. Now, one would think this to be nothing out of the ordinary. I grew up in Saginaw, a bigger city where nurseries were quite common. Well, up here in the Northern part of the state, the only nurseries that we could find were strictly for landscaping. Go figure. People up here care about their lush lawns and their orchards... to hell with gardening. But, that's the life of the rich and prissy I guess. money to blow and burn. Hell, I think even if I had the money to not worry about cutting corners... I would still plant veggies and fruits. Home grown is just much better. not only healthier, but hell, all your hard work in edible form. Mmmm, yummy!

After that we went to the Hofbrau. It's a local Tavern with some of the best food I have ever eaten. So I took my Dad and the kids there since it was on the way home. Dad and I got large nachos. The kids got chicken tenders baskets. Dad and I had nice conversation in a relaxed enviornment. It was nice. It's been forever since my daddy and I just sat down and talked as adults. the kids were very well behaved.

After dinner, we headed home, dug up the dirt for the garden. But that's all we did. My brother stopped over for a bit, and after a screaming match, I managed to bathe the kids and myself and get them settled in for the night. They were out by 8 p.m. And for the first time since I was tehir age, I was in bed and asleep before 10 p.m.

But... Tara called and woke me from my peaceful sleep leaving a message on my machine that Ray had locked her in the car at the bar and she needed help. She sounded near hysterics... In a panic I raced for the phone but she had hung up. So I grabbed the phone and made my way back to bed and tried calling her back to no avail. For a couple hours, I laid in bed reading, just waiting for her to call me back. I must have dozed off. And THEN she calls back.

Did I mention Tara can be a bitch?! (ha!ha!)

She told me that she got cutt off at the bar because she tried to pick up broken glass from a beer bottle she dropped and that Ray had abandoned her at the bar. I was... shocked. And tired. So I found out that renee had picked her up and she was safe and then let her go to get back to sleep.

I crawled out of bed at 9:30 a.m. and got showered and dressed. then my dad, the kids and I all headed outside to work on the garden. We planted the fruits and veggies until 1 p.m. I am currently a garden owner. WAHOO! I have big boy tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, cabbage, onions, potatoes, jalapenos, green peppers, watermellon, cukes, zucchini and pumpkin. Oooh, and strawberries. I probably won;t get it all to grow. But damn it, one of these years, I will have a full garden of successful produce. I long to have a green thumb. It's therapeutic and oh so yummy. until then, I just try, try and try. Like the steam engine that could. I think I can, I think I can....

Now, we're at Tara's. I found out once I got here that Ray did not abandon Tara. That she had asked to go home, so he started driving, then she had a fit so they went back. But she did get cut off. She dropped a full beer on the floor and shattered it. then tried to clean up the glass bare handed. So Ray told her to sit ion the car if that's where she wanted to be, but new she was drunk enough to be suseptible to drunk men. So told her not to unlock the door to strange guys. (At which she called me) Then she called Renee who picked her up. So, in fact, she abandoned Ray.

Anyhow, we're getting the food ready, so to not be as rude as I'm feeling. I will sign off for now, and try not to be so damn jealous about this modem and go have some fun.

Oh! My sisters made it to St. Louis. they're safe and having a blast. Although, they're dorks. I'll fill ya in on that later.

Til then, muchos amor, mis amigos y amigas!

Simply,

Sara