Love Buzzard’s Crafts & Life

Thought I would write about my mission trip tonight but am still tired from the thousand mile bus trip home from South Dakota that was completed yesterday evening.  Going to bed early again tonight and hopefully will be caught up on my sleep by tomorrow morning.  Today was the start of our week long revival at church.  We have an excellent minister bringing the messages for the week.  Tonight after church there was a get together in the Family Life Center with ice cream and all the trimmings for any kind of sundae one might desire.  There was also a table with cakes and cookies.  Plenty of calories and sweets to make anyone happy.

I am off to bed for tomorrow will be a busy day with all my clothes from the trip to be washed and also want to get back to work on the quilt for Mignon.  There will be supper at church tomorrow night for the senior adults and anyone  young at heart.  Will be interesting to see what people come for the meal.  There will also be meals for the entire church on Wednesday and Friday nights.  And I am happy that they are not potluck but will be catered.

Went to bed this morning at five and was awakened by the phone a little after noon. The phone call was from a friend in one of my groups and we are going to meet for dinner when the group stops in Springdale, Arkansas on the way home.  Still have not been able to get in touch with my sister-in-law in Kansas City.  Tomorrow night we will be staying in Lees Summit and was hoping that we could get together.  She has a brand new granddaughter that I would love to see and also a granddaughter who is about two that I have never seen either.  Going to keep trying to get her up until tomorrow afternoon. I have also tried to reach two cousins and had no luck there either. Actually they are Don’s cousins but I claim them as mine. Maybe tomorrow one or all three will call me and we can get together.

My alarm was set for twelve forty-five so I got up after the phone call and showered, dressed, and left for my hair appointment and now I no longer look like a shaggy dog.  Before I went to bed this morning I had everything  out and ready to be put into the suitcases except for the air mattress and bedding but I was sleeping on those.  When I got home from the hair dresser I did some laundry for I did not want to leave anything in the laundry basket and possibly provide a feast for ants.  Now everything is in the car except my purse and me.  Just sitting here reading a book and waiting for three o’clock so that I can leave for church.   Going to get on that bus, put my pillow against the window, cover up with my blanket, and sleep until we stop for breakfast which will probably be Little Rock.

Got out of bed about one this afternoon and started right in to see if the MP3 player would work.  Called tech support for the second time, first time for today, and again got a guy that I could not understand.  Did what I think he told me to do and thanked him and hung up.  Still did not work so I made my third call to tech support.  The third guy had me format the player and told me some different things to do and I did them.  Still had the same problem.  Made another call and this guy really seemed to know how to fix the problem.  He stayed online with me for a while and after hanging up still had the problem.  At this point I was ready to throw the player through the nearest window.  But I called tech support for the fourth time today but fifth call in all.  The fifth guy had me do the same thing the one before had me do.  Finally after hanging up with the last tech support guy, I just started playing around and decided to clear the player and re sync my books.  I pulled the first one over to sync and left to take my shower.  When I got out it was finished and I went to the player to see if it would finally work.  Would you believe that all ten of the books were back on the player and now they are working just fine.  Hallelujah!!!  Now I do not have to make a trip to Ruston to return it and try another.   Since I have over one hundred hours of books recorded I started listening to them on the way to church tonight.

I am finally one happy camper.  Well I was happy until I got home and came into the studio to put my supper on the table beside my computer.  I had stopped at Sonic and my drink was the quart size cherry limeade.  You probably know what happened.  I had several things in my arms and hands so I put the drink on the table first and then Miss Graceful hit the table with the piece of luggage I was carrying and over went the drink.  Soaked the seat of my computer chair, and then covered a wide area of the floor.  I don’t know which made me the most unhappy, losing my limeade or having to mop up all the liquid on the floor.  Just last night I bumped the table and spilled about half a cup of water and a few ice cubes.  Things seem to come in threes so I am not going to bring any drinks in here tomorrow.

I have been going to bed in the wee hours of the morning this week so that I can stay up tomorrow night and not be too sleepy to drive to the church at three in the morning.  Now I need to get off the computer and get my clothes and all the other stuff together and then will put in the suitcase tomorrow.  Finally found out that most people take snacks so I have a bunch of granola bars and bottles of water.   I also bought some chocolate candy to take but I left it in the kitchen and it got so hot it melted together.  I no longer have peanut clusters but one big peanut and chocolate glob for I put it in the refrigerator to cool down and of course it got hard as a rock.  Maybe I will just go with the granola bars and forget the candy.  Also had chocolate covered raisins but they are also one big hunk of chocolate with raisins.  Guess I could buy new packages and keep them in the studio where it is cool.  And then bite size Tootsie Rolls would even be better for they will not melt and are individually wrapped.  Love those little Tootsie Rolls.  They are one thing that still tastes as good as it did when I was a kid.

This evening I attended a class for election poll workers and my name is now on the list of commissioners to be called to work at the polls when there is an election.  The names are randomly chosen so I am not counting on being chosen but if I am it will mean two hundred dollars in my bank account.  The Clerk of Court did tell me that workers were needed in my Precinct.   There is one thing that I really do not like but it will not keep me from working if chosen.  Poll workers have to be at the voting place at FIVE THIRTY in the MORNING.  But hey, for two hundred dollars I can be there at five thirty and stay until eight at night.  I was really surprised at all that is involved with being a commissioner.  I thought selected people just showed up and checked to be sure a person was registered, looked at their drivers license, and then had the voter sign his/her name.  Much more involved and now I know why there are five or six people at each voting place.   There is an election coming up on September 6, October 4, and then the presidential election in November.  Hope I am chosen to work all three.  I really cannot believe I did this for I am very apolitical.   I hate to admit it but I am doing it for the money.  :O)

I returned the MP3 player this afternoon and fortunately Wal-Mart had another red one.  When I got home I plugged it up to the computer to charge and when I got home from the class the battery was full.  About an hour later I was going to transfer my audio books to the player and the battery was showing empty.  I tried it two or three times and always empty.  So I called the tech support at SanDisk and of course I got someone who was not in the USA.  He told me several things to do and none worked.  He finally told me to plug the USB cord into the back of the computer.  Had to call Scott to ask if I had extra ports on the back.  He assured me I did and then after performing acrobatic moves to reach the back of the computer I could not plug the cord in for the USB port in the back takes a different kind of plug.  So I came back to the front of the computer and plugged it into the top port and it is now charging fine.   Now the test will be to see if it stays charged.  If it doesn’t then I am going to return this one too and just forget about having a MP3 player.  I changed ports because I found out that my camera will only work in the bottom port.  I don’t understand why but I tried it in the top and nothing.  I bought a four plug USB port but have not gotten it plugged up yet.  Will be interesting to see if I still have to plug the camera into the bottom slot.

I was in a war all morning using my hands to kill a few hundred ants and a few of them fought back.  I have three or four bites but fortunately I grabbed the ants just as they started to bite so no itch so far.  For some reason ants have decided that the place to be is in my laundry basket.   I had the same problem earlier in the year and thought I was safe again.  This morning I grabbed the laundry basket to sort the clothes for washing and saw that the basket was crawling with ants.  Having to get rid of them is bad enough but the little devils eat holes in my clothes.  Fortunately I did not find any holes in my new pants and shirts but my brand new underwear was not so lucky.    I had the basket near my bed until last night when I moved to the other end of the room and I don’t think there were any ants at that time.   They marched in during the night and had a feast.  Think I will get a hanging laundry bag and see if that will keep them away.  I have also been fighting ants on the sink and cabinet most of the summer.  What they find so appetizing on stainless steel I will never know.

I went to Wal-Mart this afternoon to get an adapter for the MP3 player.  On the way to Ruston I was listening to a book on the MP3 player through the tape player in the car and it was working just fine and then all at once it just switched from one book to another.  I assumed it was the recording but then tonight I was going to put all the books I have downloaded on the player and it just went off and it will not turn on again.  So, now I have to drive to Ruston again so that I can return the player.   If they do not have another red one then I will go to Radio Shack and get a red one there for I know they have two on the rack and I doubt they have sold both since the last time I was in the store.    A black one would be all right but the markings are easier to see on the red.  I am beginning to think that I am not supposed to own a MP3 player.

Yesterday when I was in Wal-Mart I bought something that really took me back to memories of junior high and high school trips.  At the time my mother was taking me to the dermatologist and of course in those days the doctors believed that chocolate caused acne.  So I had to give up chocolate and that was painful.  When we would go on school trips we would all have candy and other junk to eat and while everyone on the bus was eating chocolate, I sat there eating orange slices.  What I bought tonight was a container of orange slices.  I ate three and thought I was going to have sugar overload.  When I was young I would eat them like popcorn.  I still like sugar but some things have become sweeter over the years or my tastes have changed.  I think the latter is the correct assumption.

Today was a gorgeous day but the temperature was in the three-digits.  When I got in my car after church, the steering wheel was almost too hot to touch.  This is the first Sunday in ages that I have not gone out to eat for lunch.  I started downloaded  eAudiobooks when I got home from church and then about two o’clock I realized that I was hungry and had not eaten.  So I just had a turkey sandwich and kept on downloading.  I now have ten books downloaded and tomorrow will get the last eight transferred to the MP3 player.   Now that I think about it I really do not need to transfer all ten but just enough to keep me listening for four days on the road.  All ten are over one hundred hours and I know I will not be listening for that long.  Besides the battery is only good for twenty-four hours.  I am going to get an adapter to take with me for it also charges the battery.  And it may end up that I will sit and talk with someone for the entire trip, except when I am sleeping.  I am pretty sure that I will spend at least the first half of the first day sleeping since I will not have been to bed at all before leaving.  And speaking of bed, I am getting sleepy so going to bed now and it is not even midnight.  I have lots to get done before I leave on Friday.

After yesterday, my days had to get better.  This morning I was having trouble with three different computer programs but I kept plugging along and finally got them solved.  I also kept playing with the MP3 player until I finally figured it out also.  The problems with the computer also concerned the MP3 player.  For some reason one book was in the audio book folder and the other was in the music folder.  The one in the audio book folder would not play so I moved it to music and now it plays perfectly.  Weird.  Earlier when I was having trouble figuring how and what to do on the player, I had about decided to just return it and use my old CD player on the trip which is in two parts but still works.  Then I tried the player in the car and it works with the adapter so that settled it and I am keeping it.  My car has a tape player that I have used for nine years and on a lot of tapes the voices come out sounding like Donald Duck.  Now I can just put audio books on my little player, plug it into the tape slot, and listen with great sound.  One thing that I really like about the player is that when I turn it back on after pausing and turning it off for a while,  the book starts right where it left off.  Had to pay twice as much to get that option but it was worth it.

I have spent most of the evening downloading eAudiobooks from the Ouachita Parish Library.  They have approximately 2500 now and are adding new ones every week.  Of course there are a few hundred that I have no desire to read.  Just the Christian novels and the mysteries will keep me listening for quite a while.

Today was definitely not a favorite day of mine.  I actually got out of bed today before noon, however, it was only thirty minutes before.  I did some more work on getting programs back on the computer and then about three I left to go to Ruston to return the MP3 player.  Since I had not eaten at home, I stopped at Taco Bell and had lunch and sat there reading for about an hour.  Wonder if I could multi-task by reading one book while listening to another?  I left there and drove to Office Depot and returned the MP3 player.  I walked to my car, got in and put the key in the ingition and that is when my day went quickly downhill.  I turned the key and not a sound.  Of course I tried two or three more times but still dead silence.  It was probably one hundred and twenty degrees in the car so I put the two front windows down and noticed that they were going down very slowly so I thought I better get them back up and I think they went up even slower than they went down.  I knew the problem just had to be the battery.  I thought about calling Brian but knew that he really could not do anything but hold my hand.

I went back into Office Depot and asked to see their phone directory.  Someone there recommended Auto Zone but also said that they would not bring a battery to me.  I thought of the place where I have the alignment done so I called them and the lady told me that they did put in batteries but they bought them usually at Auto Zone.  I thanked her and hung up and was wondering what I was going to do when my phone rang.  It was the lady I had just talked too and she said that she passed by Office Depot on her way home and she would be happy to bring the battery pack from work and give me a boost.  She alos said that Wal-Mart would be the closest place to get a battery.  I thanked her and told her what kind of car I had and then also told her I had on a bright yellow top, I did not want her to miss me.   I went back outside and sat in the car while I called Wal-Mart to see if they had a battery that would fit my car.  Took the lady a couple of minutes to find out and then she came back on the phone and started to tell me that the battery for my car would cost sixty-five dollars and I laughed and said I don’t care about the cost just make sure you hold that battery for me.   I then decided that I should probably stand where the lady could see me.  It was probably only about five minutes before she pulled up right beside by car.  She put the cables on the battery, I turned the key, and voila the car would run again.  I offered to pay and she refused and said no trouble for she was going right by where I was anyway.  Just proves there are still good and generous people in the world.

When I got to Wal-Mart I drove into the area where one goes to tell the person what you need done to your car.  I told the guy that I had called and they had a battery for me and since I was there I would get the oil changed too.  He told me it would be probably two hours before they could get to the battery and then he suggested that I got to Auto Zone.  I really did not know where it was located and did not want to get stranded again so I told him I would wait since I had some shopping to do and that I also had a book with me.  I went inside and told the lady at the desk that I was the one who called about the battery and I wanted to be sure they had it.  She went over to the shelves and took one behind the desk just for me.  It was then fifteen minutes before six and the service area closes at seven but the lady assured me that they would stay until my car was finished.  I had two or three things I needed besides than the MP3 player so I did my shopping and then went back to the waiting area and only read about four pages before my name was called.  I only had to wait for an hour and fifteen minues.  I must say that when I got in my car and the engine came to life, it was a great sound.  Silence is nice but not in a battery.

It is almost midnight and I am wiating for the MP3 played to get the battery charged.  Oh I just looked and it is finally fully charged.  Now to load an audio book on the player and see if it will work.  This brand of player is one that was recommended by the library.  Actually this model I have is a newer one but it should work.

WordPress did it to me again.  Most of the time WP is two hours behind my time but just let me be posting after midnight and they will only be one hour behind.  I wrote this Thursday night NOT Friday.

With both boys around a lot of the time I did not get to my blog each night as I like to do.  Saturday morning I got to sleep late for Scott and Brian had a brother’s day planned.  They went to the movie and had lunch out.  After the movie and doing what ever they did, they called me and I drove to Ruston and met them at  Cane’s for supper.  Cane’s is somewhat of a fast food restaurant but they serve only fried chicken fingers, coleslaw, French fries, and toasted bread.  Their claim to fame is their sauce which is good but not my favorite.  And one thing I really like is that they have SWEET tea which is my favorite drink.  Their chicken is very good and is cooked with a very thin coating so one is getting all chicken with just a little crunch.

Sunday morning we were up early so we could get to church on time.  After church, Scott and I went back to Cane’s for lunch and then we went to Wal-mart to get Brian’s birthday present.  Said I was not getting him an I-Pod but we decided to get one and split the cost in half.  Later I told Scott to just keep his half and it could be a late birthday present since what I gave him was a book which was supposed to have been for the previous Christmas.  I am definitely a push-over when it comes to my kids.

Scott sang and played the guitar for the special music at church Sunday night.  Good thing that I had on a loose fitting blouse or I would have popped all my buttons.  We got home about eight and he brought his air mattress and sleeping bag in from the porch to the cool studio and went straight to bed.  He had a terrible headache so I went into the kitchen so that the studio could be dark and quiet. After I finished eating I sat at the computer and worked on getting everything on the computer backed up so that Scott could start the reformat the next morning.

On Monday Scott started reformatting my computer.  He convinced me that he should partition the hard drive and put Linux on part and Windows on the other part.  I told him that would be fine.  One way to get him to reformat for me.  He was working on other things on his laptop so the job was only started when we left to meet Brian and Christy in Ruston and then go on to Shreveport for Brian’s birthday dinner.  I really did not want to drive for nearly an hour and a half to eat and then that far back home.  When we got to our meeting place in the library parking  lot, Brian asked if we would like to just go to Chili’s in Ruston.  I was overjoyed.  Found out it had been Scott that was pushing to go to Shreveport.  Had a great meal and a very enjoyable time.

Tuesday Scott did more work on my computer.  Brian came down to have lunch with us and left Christy in bed asleep. Mid-afternoon, Brian left to go home to get Christy and come back for his second birthday dinner which was home cooked by me, his dear old mom.  I spent the afternoon baking a birthday cake and making two trips to the grocery store.  I hate it when I forget an important ingredient for a recipe.  Dinner was Fettuccine Alfredo   with chicken, Caesar salad which is Brian’s favorite, and hot rolls with honey butter.  If you want a very good recipe for honey butter I have one that I will share.  In fact it is supposedly the one that is used at the restaurant that we originally planned to go to in Shreveport Monday night.  After we finished eating Brian opened his present and was one happy twenty-seven year old.  After Brian played with his present for a while,  we had birthday cake with ice cream.  Certainly was glad that Christy was around to help with the cleanup and I sent most of the leftovers home with her and Brian.

Wednesday was the day Scott was leaving to go home to Texas.  He was up early and finished what he had to do on my computer.  He was meeting Brian for lunch and they decided to include me.  Wonder if they did that so good old mom would pay.  No, they would not do that.  We had a very good lunch at Applebee’s and then Brian went back to work, Scott started home, and I  came home to work on getting the reformatting of  the computer finished.  Was almost late for church for was not paying attention to the time.  Started working on the computer again when I got home from church and did not go to bed until three in the morning.

I did not get up until almost noon today and then spent the afternoon working on the computer.  I bought a MP3 player yesterday and then today I loaded an audio book onto the player and then it would not play.  After having all kinds of problems with the computer and the MP3 player I took off about seven this evening to return the player.  Found out the one I bought would not play WMP files.  I had continued my bad day for I arrived at the store with all the different parts of the player and package in a bag and then I  realized that the USB cord was still at home connected to my computer.  I had printed off information from the library about players that did work with the audiobooks.  Any that would work were not available at Office Depot so I left telling the guy I would be back tomorrow with all the parts for the return.  I was going to go to Wal-mart for they carry two of the brands of players that were recommended by the library.  As I walked to my car I realized that Radio Shack was just four doors down so I went in there.  They had one of the players on the list and that is also highly rated on Cnet and in Consumer Reports. Also told that guy I would be back tomorrow after I did some more research.  One reason I was so happy with the player from Office Depot was because with the store sale price and a rebate I was getting an expensive player for fifty dollars.  Oh well.

I think I have made up for not writing for a few days and I need to do some more MP3 research.  I have started staying up each night until at least two for a week from tomorrow when we leave on the mission trip we will leave at four in the morning.  I do not want to go to bed at midnight and then get up two hours later so just going to stay up and then will sleep on the bus.

Scott finally came through the door at one thirty this morning. I had called him at eleven and he said he sat in traffic not moving for at least thirty minutes after the call. It was a cool night so he decided to sleep on the screened in porch. I have thought about doing that but it was in the cool spring or fall, not the middle of summer. I will stick with the air-conditioned bedroom thank you. I asked if he would like to have pancakes for breakfast and his answer was yes as I knew it would be. As he headed to bed I told him to wake me when he got up and was ready for breakfast. I was hoping that he would sleep until at least ten since it was two when we were heading to bed. This morning I was deep in sleep and he walks in and says, “Mom.” I asked what time it was with my eyes still closed and he informed me that it was eight thirty. I asked if I could sleep at least another hour. He then told me that he wanted to get to Brian’s office at the university for he had some work he needed to finish. So, I got out of bed and groped my way to the kitchen where I prepared pancakes and bacon for my first-born son. When he left for Ruston, I went back to bed and slept until noon.

I am at the library now and was bored so decided to write on my blog. I just talked with Scott and Brian and they will be home for dinner tonight. Christy is at her folks and Brian though that he would be driving down to get her and Scott would go with him but she is staying another night so will have my two loves for dinner. They had a big lunch today so tonight we are having sandwiches. I talked with Scott and he ordered turkey pastrami and provolone cheese on sub rolls. So now I am off to the grocery store to get the food. After talking with Scott, Brian came back on the phone and asked me to pick up a jar of pesto. He says it is good on sandwiches. We shall see. The one time I had pesto I did not care for it. But of course I will buy it for my second born.

When I got home from the grocery store, Scott was already here and had been for about an hour.  When Scott left the university to come home, Brian said he had to go home and feed the cats and then he would be down for supper.  Scott and I waited, and waited, and waited some more.  Finally Brian came in a few minutes after eight.  Needless to say we were eating in about five minutes.  Scott and I especially were hungry.  I found that I really like the pesto on a sandwich.  Gives it a different kick.

Brian left to go home a few minutes ago and will probably be back tomorrow for lunch and then he and Christy will be here for dinner.  Tomorrow Scott is going to the grocery with me to pick out what he would like to eat.  If he likes it then Brian will too.  Unfortunately I like lots of foods that they will not eat and that is why he is going with me to the grocery.  And while we are out tomorrow I am going to buy two or three electronic items that I want his help in choosing which to buy.  Almost forgot that I also have to buy a birthday present for Brian.  When I asked him what he wants he said an I-Pod but he will just have to want for not spending that much money.  Then he did mention an MP3 player so might go for that.