I can't believe we are getting even MORE flood producing rains this week.  Over 3 inches yesterday morning and another soaking all night long with more expected later today and tonight!  Major streets were closed around the city this morning because the water was so deep and dangerous.  Our lakes are finally full from the past 2 years of drought.

Marcus is adjusting well to his life here and the girls enjoy having him in our home.  He and Jesse didn't work yesterday or today (thanks to the rains).  They and the older girls are running errands while I stay home to pay bills and have some "quiet" time (wink! wink!).

Can't remember if I wrote that our cockatiel "Chip" had a heart attack and died in my hands last Thursday morning.  It all happened so quickly, she was gone in less than 60 seconds.  We had a full viewing of of the body (a cardboard box with paper towel "covers") on the kitchen bar for the rest of Thursday.  Thursday evening, we had a Christian bird funeral with proper burial under a bush in our backyard.  I made Rissy vow she wouldn't try to dig her up.  She's my trench digger!  We picked out another bird on Thursday afternoon and picked her up Friday evening.  I have NEVER replaced a pet so quickly in my entire 54 years.  This time, it seemed like the right thing to do after the older two girls watched Chip die.  The new bird is a pied cockatiel which means mottled gray and yellow body with a yellow head and yellow crown and orange patches on her cheeks.  We've named her Tangi Tango after my dear friend Tangi, whose heart was touched to have a pet named after her.  We are mainly calling her "Tango" right now, but, "Pretty bird, Tangi," is also heard frequently!!!  She is quickly becoming part of our home.  She's super talkative (mimics every bird she's ever heard) and only a few months old, making her easy to train.  She should live at least 20 years.

Jesse bought a new plasma tv last night - marked waaaay down at Wal-Mart.  A 42" HDTV, to be exact!  Jesse's trying to pass it off as an early Mother's Day gift, but I'm passing it off as a "boy toy" and a VERY early Father's Day gift!  The cable box isn't compatible and needs to be exchanged (which Jesse is doing today) and I think we will add some family channels to our cable package at the same time.  Also, we will need to purchase a new tv stand.  The current stand (too small) was mine leftover from the old days.  Glass and brass and purchased in 1983.  It has served it's purpose well!  It will be moved to the room Marcus is using and still receive many more years of appreciation!  It was even used as a night stand for a few years after we were first married!  One of those "timeless" pieces of furniture.  I think we'll purchase the tv stand that matches our other cherry stained furniture in the den.  The only thing I dread is putting the new stand together.  After the assembly of two bookcases with doors, shelving unit, and tv armoire (with HUGE doors!!!) purchased 4 years ago, I vowed I'd never put together another piece of furniture.  But, you gotta do whatcha gotta do!

I'm grasping at straws to think of something new and interesting to write today, but it seems the bird purchase, the tv purchase, the new cable package purchase, and the pending tv stand purchase are the only points of interest I can fish out of my memory pond!

No news is good news.  The bills are paid.  The family is all healthy.  The mattress on our bed just got turned (hooray!).  The cars are running.  The rains are making the grass grow, which extends Jesse's mowing season.  I have no complaints - just praises that things are on an even keel.

Guess I'll get to the girls' laundry next and enjoy the rest of my quiet day.

Another rainy day in Oklahoma, but I'm not complaining.  Every bit of this rain is a much needed replenishing from the drought we experienced last year (and the year before).  It's also good for Jesse's business - more rain, more grass to cut.  I don't know what's on the slate for today.  Jesse and Marcus won't be able to work due to the wet lawns.  When Jesse stays home, it changes my entire routine.  Like right now . . . everyone is sleeping (except for my early bird, Luci) and I'm having to be very quiet.  Normally, I'm banging pots around at 8am!  I got up early, took a shower, cleaned the bathtub, got dressed, and (except for my hair) I'm ready to go.  I just don't have anywhere TO go! 

The only thing I have to do today is a attend to the large laundry basket of "whites" needing to be folded.  I put the basket in the den last night, but the "folding fairy" didn't come in the middle of the night!  Much to my dismay, it was sitting, untouched, in the same place I left it last night.  I tried to use the basket as a foot rest this morning, but my feet kept falling into the basket.  It's become painfully obvious, the only thing left to do is to fold the entire mess.  Folding "whites" is one of my least favorite household tasks.  Probably because there are so many pieces.  Imagine, 3 little girls, 6 socks a day, times 7 days, which comes to 42 socks.  Then Jesse's socks.  Then the the girlie cotton underwear and the white washcloths I use in the kitchen . . .  I save it all up so I can run the washer once a week with bleach.  Economical and efficient, but a horrible job when it comes to folding.

I rank folding the "whites" right up there with making a tossed salad.  It's easier now that I've sprung for the fancier lettuces that are prepackaged, but I remember the "days" when I had to tear the lettuces and slice the carrots, etc. to make a salad.  The whole procedure has always irritated me, for some reason.  Salads were one of my assigned childhood jobs while living at home.  Even to this day, when there is a potluck and someone asks me to make a salad, I always "redirect them" and ask if there's something else they need!

Then there's the chore of collecting and taking out the trash.  I'm so glad to have a male in the house who rarely leaves that job for me!  That was another one of my weekly childhood jobs, when I was growing up.  I think I dumped enough garbage, by the time I was 18, to count for the rest of my life.  It isn't the smelliness or the thought of things being dirty, I just detest collecting it, taking it all to the big trash can, and taking THAT to the curb.  Of course, then the can has to be brought back in and all waste baskets have to be relined.  Writing about it even sets me sideways inside!  Such a bother!

The only other detestable job I can think of is emptying the dishwasher.  Shouldn't I be grateful that I HAVE a dishwasher?  I am; but, I put off emptying it every single day of the week.  I timed myself one time and it took less than 3 minutes to empty it and put everything away!  So, what's the problem?  Before I set out to do the task, it seems like a monumental chore looming ahead of me.   Every day, I have to force myself to empty the thing and then I wonder, afterwards, why I stalled for such a long time!

At least my dishwasher doesn't have to be emptied this morning, the trash cans aren't overflowing, and I'm not having a tossed salad for dinner.  Guess my only cross to bear is my "whites" needing to be folded!