The last time I wrote, we had just installed Tara's cable modem and were having a BBQ at her place. The modem is working just fine. We even are letting her borrow one of my Sims, so she can see if she'll be playing TSO with Renee and I. She didn;t wanna buy it and not like it. As if that were possible. But stranger things have happened.

The BBQ and the rest of the weekend went well. Very well. I haven't had that awesome of a weekend in a looooooooong time.It was awesome to be with freinds and get a Daddy-Niece-Nephew fix all in the same weekend.

The most memorable part was during a quieter part of the day. the kids had exhausted all their energies on being kids, they were calmer and quite tired. So my niece curled up in my Dad's lap, and I curled up on the loveseat. My nephew has this thing he does, when he wants attention, he says, "I'm scared. You scared me" in a sweet, sing-song baby voice that melts my heart on the worst of days.

Well, he pulled that. So I pulled him into my lap. He laid there with his sippy cup as I read Pinocchio to him. He ended up falling asleep. My Dad and Cassie were asleep cuddled on the couch. And I just sat still as possible, watching My Daddy and my babies sleep.

How peaceful they all were. And at that very moment... I thanked God for the blessings he has given me. I had this precious, precious angel of a child in my arms, loving me even in his sleep. While he was off dreaming his baby dreams, I realized that that was my destiny.

How desperately I long to have a child or two or three. So much so that it hurts and my breath catches at the thought that Shawn and I may never be able to concieve. But right then, child or not, I had my sister's babies. Not quite the same, but in a wonderful way... enough.

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With My family gone back down state, the holiday come and gone. It was life as usual. Except that it looked like a cyclone had hit the inside of my house leaving only the walls and roof in tact. I still ahve yet to completely recover from the disaster left by the kids. But I have 2 days off work this weekend, so I preomised myself, I WILL get my house back in shape. I WILL get my laundry done, folded AND put away! And I WILL cook real meals that need more tending than the timer on the microwave. Ooh, I have big plans. provided my energy keeps up with my head!

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Work has been, up until tonight, been going well. Tonight has been a nightmare for me. Well, until I filled out my time card and hit the road. Everything was going well. Routine. Comfy cozy. Then my set-up guy (set-up = mechanic) changed a reamer on one of my machines. Well, i got up and went to gauge the hole. All was well. So I resumed with business as usual.

Well, turns out, the set I gauged was the set I had gauged earlier. The true set I needed hadn't been put out yet. ALmost 2 hours later, when I realized my mistake, I quickly gauged the parts assuming all would be okay. Right? Wrong. The one part was over sized. Panic set in. I stopped production down the line and started getting everyone involved. To make a long story short, we did get it all fixed, and none of the parts were junk. But I fucked up in a major way. That could have been uglier. I always prided myself on being careful. Guess we all slip up once in awhile. But damn. I still feel bad and haven't stopped kicking myself in the ass.

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It's only 2 weeks now until I age another year. 27 is coming up fast and furious, ready or not. Hell, I remember when 25 seemed prehistoric. I had huge plans for my b-day weekend, but due to financial issues, I had to push the weekend back a couple of weeks. But I swore to myself, I AM going home for a weekend. So I took the weekend of the 27th off.

I am Taking Tara, Renee, Shawn and Ray with me. We plan to paint the city red in a major way. My Dad and sisters seem excited. I know my niece is. I am glad my Dad got to meet "The Crew". He kept telling me over and over what a neat group of friends I have and how great it was to see us in action. The way we work as a team and are always looking out for the others.

It's true. That's us. The Crew. We do make a great team. And better yet, my crew mates all tell me that they thought my Dad was great too. Well, wait til they see him on his own turf. LOL

My 2 sisters flew to Missouri for the holiday weekend and had a blast. I was a bit jealous that they had a sisters weekend. Not that I'd have joined them. I don't fly. If God wanted this heifer to fly, he's have attached wings. Good sturdy, self-propelled ones. I don;t dig planes. Man made wings = potential for man-made error. No thanks. Y'all can fly. I'll enjoy the groung thank you.

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My gardens seem to be doing well. By that, I don't mean the plants have grown huge or budded or produced anything. But by some major miracle on God's part, I haven't killed them off yet. LOL. Last year, my garden did okay. I think I planted some things a bit late as when the cold hit, things were just starting to produce small veggies not big enough to pick yet. My tomatoes flourished. but I didn't have a hose to water them and had to haul buckets and 2 liter bottles of water out there by hand. I'm sure it made for quite a sight. And when my tomatoes grew, tghey grew all split open. I am told that the sporadic watering did that. And then, what didn;t grow, was eaten by bugs.

I am prepared to the max this year. My Dad installed a hose right off of my well pump that is 2 feet from my garden. He bought me pesticide AND miracle grow. hell, you can;t pry me from my garden anymore. I am always watering, feeding, weeding or just plain sitting near it and watching it grow. Therapeutic I tell ya.

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I'm back into the sims. I haven't made much time for it in the past few weeks. But man, I didn;t relaize how much I missed it. Ange started her own home. Man, it's awesome. Very relaxed setting and great company. Wh can ask for more. I upgraded my property a couple sizes then ran out of money redecorating here and there. They actually havea place on line where you can buy sim money for real american monies. But you have to have a credit card, so I am screwed.

Renee and I started sims in a new city called Test Server. Thats the city where anything beta starts there first. They're currently testing death and ghost status. It's cool. We did it because Tara wanted to play, well, we forced her into it really. And she didn;t wanna be shawn. So I made her a sim named Sasha to use there. I bought a property and we've been working on it since. Currently, Tara, Renee and I are simming there working on skills and making money as our funds are all but depleted.

I ahve the whole weekend off. And Im going to make use of my time wisely. Cooking, ckeaning and simming.

Relaxation at it's finest. So Im gonna cut this off now and get back to simming.

Til next time,

Simply-

Sara