A Drawing

Audrie draws a lot.  And while this isn't one of her better drawings it shows some personal growth.  The boy is our neighbor and the girl is her.  She tells me he is giving her a heart.  I think we have our first crush.

Burnt Bridge Creek

I thought we were going to take a longer walk.  Turns out I parked way too close to the playground.  We did get a small walk in though and saw interesting things.  Checked out some bugs, some fungus, some wishes and maple helicopters.  They got to play on the playground for about an hour which always is a plus.  Next time I park in my usual spot and we walk to the playground.  I really love the Burnt Bridge Creek trail.  It is so lovely paved.  I want to take our bikes down there and ride on it.

Out Again

Mike is out of jail again.  Said he will talk to the PO on Thursday about the transfer.  We shall see how that goes.  He had said something earlier about there being a time limit on the transfer.  There has to be enough time left on his probation for it to be worthwhile.  If there isn't enough time left they won't even start the transfer.  I just don't know what the limit is.  Anyway he said he got back in touch with the temp agency and plans on working while waiting.  Good plan.
The neighbor upstairs wanted to know if Mike was still in jail before he got out.  I said yes.  Then he went on about it being a long time and did I think Mike was back in the cycle again.  I just looked at him and said I wasn't going to speculate nor talk to him about Mike.  If Mike wants to share his life that is up to Mike.  The neighbor doesn't ask out of concern for us or Mike.  He asks because he is an addict who hopes Mike is in the cycle and coming here.  Mike can get him things that he just can't seem to get since he doesn't go anywhere.  That alone is almost a compelling reason to move.

Neverending

We spent the morning picking up and cleaning.  Got the living room all cleaned and then we did the carpet.  Looks so much better.  It is amazing how fast two little kids can get a carpet looking dingy.
Tomorrow may be tackle Nana's room. Or maybe we will play tomorrow.
Looking at our dining room table.  Boy that is the best investment made here at the apartment.  It has survived pens, pencils, paint pens, stickers, markers, crayons and paint.  The littles have done more art projects on it than I ever expected them to.  We have had birthday parties, family meals, solstice cocoas and just general eating.  It gets a lot of use on a daily basis.  What is amazing is how many of those things that occur on it seem to bug other people.  I remember Papa taking half an hour trying to get all the stickers off it.  He did a pretty good job even if he didn't get all the stickies.  I have had people give the littles the markers that only work on certain colorbooks so they wouldn't get crayons or markers on my table.  Things that so don't bother me.  It is our table and I would rather they mark it up before they start marking on walls.  Anyway it is all cleaned up again.

My Cat

I rescued her.  She now lives with us.  She is adapting to life inside.  She even let Connor pet her today.  She has been letting Audrie right from the get go.  She is just soaking up the love.  Poor thing is so starved for attention.
Got her a little box and she took right to it.  I like her having access 24/7 to fresh water and food.  I think she likes it too.  She isn't gorging.  She just eats.
I forgot about her and her eccentricities.  She attacks feet when you sleep.  Have to lay very still.  And she still loves to bite heads.  That is always a pleasant way to wake up.  NOT.  She will relearn not to.  Even so I love having her here.  Wish I would have known about the look the other way on cats before.  She would have come with us when we first moved.  That's all right though.  We did love the freedom of not having a pet.  At least cats still give you some leeway in plans.

Ash"a"lie

The title is the way Audrie pronounces her name.  She was one of the first big kids we met.  I never got a feel for where she lives but it is close to us.
So tonight Ashlie got a ride to the hospital in an ambulance.  Seems she way overimbibed on alcohol.  At least that is what the kids that were with her said she was on.  Time will tell on that but she was beyond messed up.
We watched this young man try and carry her up the street to her friends house.  She was like a rag doll.  One of the neighbors here went and asked about her.  The young man called the neighbor a bitch and to mind her own business.  That is when I called 911.  Then the neighbor ended up calling 911 after Ashlie's mom arrived.
Ashlie is 15 and I just knew she was going to have a bad day.  I saw her this morning skipping school with a couple of guys and I just had a feeling.
So here is sending her light and love because Audrie loves her.  Here is hoping she will be okay.  She probably is not going to be okay in that she will have some legal troubles now.  MIP.
Makes me wonder where her parents were all day.  Makes me think I should take the littles and find an island so we don't have to go through this.  The littles will not have hours at a time where I don't know where they are or what they are doing.

Mom's Birthday Family Dinner

So the whole group was over again.  We had lasagna with salad and garlic bread.  Then we had cake to honor Mom's birthday.  It was suppose to be a white cake with white frosting.  The frosting was white anyway.  We cut into it and it was a chocolate cake.  Trying not to give Tanya a migraine.  Hopefully her piece was small enough.  What was interesting is she doesn't get migraines from Red Velvet which is made with cocoa.  Maybe it's all in her head.  Ahahahahah.  Sometimes I can be sooo funny.
Pat forgot the switch for the disposal and the battery charger.  Seems Mom's car has a dead battery again.  Who knows.  Hopefully Pat can figure out why every few months that happens.  He bought Mom a new blu-ray player so now she needs a movie or two to watch after he gets her a HDMI cable.  Bummer that players don't just come with those anymore.
Elizabeth is still going to take her retest.  Guess she is doing it this week instead of last week.  Fingers crossed.
Next family dinner is postponed a week.  Think we will bbq that one.