Our Animal Karma

This morning my dad killed a opossum with Cody's baseball bat and this afternoon my mom ran over a turtle with the lawnmower. I almost feel like I need to make today's entry about some kind of conservationist, hug a manatee schmoozing, just to right our karma with nature.

The opossum, I must say, had it coming. Thinking he could take advantage of the dogless/catless household by sneaking up on poor Pop while he was in the middle of his dinner (or snack). Pop tried setting a trap and when that wouldn't work, Cody's baseball bat did. And if you're keeping score this is opossum number two that has been slain by this particular piece of sports equipment.

The turtle, on the other hand, was just enjoying a sunny afternoon in the tall grass and... well, that was that.

However, I have to believe our animal karma is good because we have three dogs and three cats in this house and all their assorted wastes to dispose of. Just managing the litter boxes and the poop pen is a full time job.

Of course... after getting hooked last week my mom was already feeling guilty and tenderhearted toward the fishes she has caught over the years now that she realizes how painful it is.

You would think that being single, with no kids at home, not working and living in a fairly rural area that I would run out of things to blog about. Not as long as my family keeps living. These blog entries, they write themselves.

I just figured out today that my second cousin, Alisha, is pregnant with baby girl number three. Her grandmother is my grandmother's sister - the two ladies I refer to as My Steel Magnolias. Aunt Bette (Alisha's Gram) had six kids and my Grandma only had three so there's lots more babies in the Stallings clan than there are in the Gant clan. Now that I think about it, Alisha has mentioned several things pregnancy related this Summer and I never caught on. She's due very soon. The baby is breech so they may be making a decision about version or c-section very soon. I haven't seen Alisha in six years, since her Aunt Leslie's funeral but I feel close to her from the many conversations we've had along the way. I love my extended family as much as my immediate family and am blessed to have dozens and dozens of cousins.

From the other side of the family, my Cousin Christie was excited today because her older son, Cole, prayed for a sick little boy in his class and her younger son, Trent, pooped in the potty. I mean... that's pretty much a gold star day for a stay at home mom.

Here at the Retirement Home... we didn't get a lot of gold stars today. I still haven't gotten my inaugural pound cake baked. We didn't go back to Lowe's to pick up the porch paint. I haven't gotten my hair cut yet - although I really want to soon. I wanted to go ahead with the Christmas shopping because I'm not going to have any more money at Christmas than I do now and even though I'm not doing much financially, I'm going to *try* to do a few crafty things that will take me between now and the 12th day of Christmas at the rate I'm going.

We also still need to have the wet carpet hauled away (it's out of the house but smells bad)... need to clean the furniture that I'm back on the fence about salvaging. We need to order carpet squares so we can start putting some kind of floor down there but. . . . after ten days of no rain there is still some water seeping in from the bottom of the wall. So I'm not sure what the next stage of repair will be. I'm just appreciative for my cozy attic bedroom and the additional sound insulation I get by running a box fan all night.

The boys came by today (they're having a "mom's out of town" celebration at Logan's house) to cut the grass. Austin was cutting grass at someone else's house on Monday and dropped a lawnmower on his foot. He's got a cut - not a bad one - and a pretty deep bruise but it's not broken. It is, however, painful to walk on. So although the boys came by with the intention of doing Austin's lawn chores here... the fact that my mom ran over a turtle with the lawnmower should give you a hint at how thorough his job was.

I may not be accomplishing much in the real world but my Farmville2 farm is moving right along. I'm reading three different books currently. I'm kicking butt on sudoku. The eye crud has cleaned up on my right eye. I mean, life ain't great but every day there's a reason to get up.

Hope you're having a great week and that you have awesome, exciting weekend plans and if you want to... you can share them with me since I live vicariously through others. Happy Thursday, y'all. Love and hugs!