My decorating skills stink.

Yesterday, the fluorescent light in my kitchen suddenly failed. Both bulbs simultaneously became very dim. We know it wasn't the bulbs because Mr. K just changed them in the past three months. He fiddled with them for a while last night, and we concluded we needed a new light fixture.

I went to Lowe's today and bought a replacement incandescent light fixture. Not surprisingly, I picked one I hate now that Mr. K has rigged it into place (the anchoring, not the wiring, he wired it properly). I think it looks like a big breast with a nipple. That's not the problem. The problem is the glass on the fixture is more of an amber than white. I never noticed. I just struggled for a long time to find one that used three bulbs instead of two, wanting more light in the kitchen. The light is a sickly yellow, and it's pretty dim considering I put in compact fluorescent light bulbs since we tend to leave that light on a lot. Mr. K had such trouble putting it up, I don't dare tell him to take it down when I find one with white glass I like better.

Instead, I just keep complaining about how ugly the light is. It is ugly, and it's dim, even with three bulbs. I'm hoping Mr. K will offer to change it if I buy another one with white glass. If I can't get used to it, I may get desperate and try to change it myself. I get dizzy just climbing on a chair so using a ladder to reach the fixture makes me feel nauseas. So does the lighting in the kitchen, though, too.

I never pick out the right colors. My Pergo (laminate) flooring is red oak, and while I love the material, I think it's too pink. I picked out the color of Mr. K's paint on his office building. Once painted, I thought it looked like light pumpkin. Fortunately, he likes it. I think it's really ugly, but it is fading to a better shade.

I stick with white appliances whenever I can. Then it's harder to screw up.

None

My mom called me yesterday morning and told me she saw in the obituaries that the sister of a friend of mine from high school had just died. My friend was the oldest of four girls. Her mom died of cancer while she was in college, and her dad remarried shortly after that.

Her sister, who was 29, died yesterday. I knew she was ill. She had been living in a Hospice. She developed aggressive brain cancer of some sort last summer. I think she had her birthday in the past couple months. My friend would drive home to Lansing from the Detroit area (about 1 1/2 hours away) every week or so. She had taken over keeping her sisters fingernails looking good. She told me her sister would have wanted them kept even if she had been able to say so or do it herself. Her nails were not fancy. Simply tidy and even.

Before her illness, she was a classical musician, opera coach, and other such musical things and had been teaching at the University of Tennessee. She could play piano and organ and many other things I can only dream of (can't carry a tune or read music).

I need to send my friend a card and another to her dad and stepmom and then make a donation in her sisters name to the Hospice. I grew up in the same neighborhood with my friend and her family. I remember sitting in my yard and watching her mom out pushing the stroller with the latest baby in it and a couple girls dragging behind (my friend and her sister who is my brother's age) past my house as we were growing up. It was stunning to have her mom die so young, but now her sister has died at a much younger age.

Once I babysat for the two younger sisters, and while I was there, I taught the little girls how to flip over the Fisher Price little people slide and use it to catapult the little people around the room (no surprise I never was asked back--but to be fair to myself, they had two older girls old enough to watch the younger ones).

I haven't said anything about this to my friend because I think it would be rude and would serve no purpose, but I wonder if my friend is concerned about her own health. I would think it was genetic to have fatal cancer at young and younger ages in one's family. This family didn't drink, smoke, etc. They were proud members (and strict) of a local Baptist church.

Good thing I have no psychic ability

Nothing in the U.S. was blown up over the holiday weekend. As always, thank goodness, my premonitions are worthless.

K is napping, and the kids just got home from school and are watching Dukes of Hazzard on DVD. I fell asleep shortly after K did and didn't wake up until it was almost time for N and J to get home. Unfortunately, I should have put the roast in the oven before I fell asleep. Now dinner will be very late, and it's all my fault. It's a damp, cold day, and falling asleep just seemed like a great idea at the time.

K and I hit the dollar store (a direct pipeline to China) and I got some invitations for J's birthday party. Surprisingly enough, they were made in the U.S.A. They are sort of ugly so I wonder if they aren't really old or something and just wouldn't sell. Even my Christmas cards from the bookstore (not so cheap) were made in China. When I realized I'd need a few more, I figured I might as well just spend $1 and get them at the dollar store since I was funding China anyway.

Last day of the holiday weekend

I'm relieved that the kids go back to school tomorrow. It's been a long weekend. They fight so much when they are together.

I took N to the mall today and got him a new pair of jeans and two new shirts. We spent hours there, and that's all we could find that fit and that he was willing to wear. He's very picky about what he will wear as a shirt. He rules out all shirts with stripes. I ruled out ones that had skulls without even getting his opinion.

Mr. K made a big leaf pile and let the kids climb a ladder and jump in it. We have pictures up Mr. K's family's web site. If any one has any interest in seeing them, let me know, and I'll e-mail the link.

We finally made it to church. We've missed most Sundays this month because at least one of us was too sick to go.

I discovered why K has been so fussy. I popped opened her mouth and discovered she's cutting at least six teeth at once, and two of them are molars. Yikes! I'd fuss, too. I've noticed her chewing on her hands and thumb a lot lately, too. I hope she'll be able to chew her food better soon, once she has both top and bottom molars.

Happy Thanksgiving photo

It's K with a dreamy look on her face as she enjoys her pumpkin pie with whipped cream at he end of her meal. Mr. K ended up cooking the venison on the grill, but we were almost out of charcoal briquettes so he had to use some oak firewood, too. The steaks were actually sort of good. They were a bit salty, but they tasted a lot like beef jerky, which I like.

Happy Thanksgiving

We're all here and reasonably healthy. K's tummy spots are getting better. Here is a picture from yesterday. The rash hasn't gone completely away yet. I still think it's nothing--just connected to the fever.

J got me up twice in the night because her tummy hurt. Mine hurt, too, so I had gone to bed with the hot water bottle. I had to give it to her. Then after trying to sleep without one, I got up and scrounged through the closet for the other one so I could get my stomach pain to abate.

I'm not sure if we've just got one little bug or several running through our house, but I imagine it is all viral an will go away.

J has been sent to her room for a long time. Mr. K had been out with the archery stuff and the kids. Yesterday he drew them a picture of a turkey on a piece of corrugated plastic to shoot at. I had him come in because I was having trouble with the venison. He brought in K but let J and N outside. N came in and told us J had pointed the bow and arrow at him.

J refused to come in when N told her to and when I went out and told her to. I had to haul her in (good thing I go to the gym) to speak to her father. She's in a lot of trouble for her safety violation (absolutely cannot point the bow at people) and for not coming in when told to.

I needed Mr. K because the meat stumped me. I was trying to make a pot roast recipe, but I couldn't brown the roast as the recipe said because the chunk was way to big to fit in the pan. I had wanted Mr. K to run to the store and get me a huge oven bag. Finally I decided to just try to make it in my large skillet. At that point Mr. K came in and said he would cut it into steaks. He did. There was plenty left over so he cut it into stew meat, which I bagged and froze. It should be enough for stew twice. Mr. K went to our neighbor's house (the guy with the beer in one hand and the cigarette in the other--I should just call him Scott) to get some Allegro marinade for the steaks. Scott showed it to us yesterday. His sister got it for him from Food Lion. Scott is the person who gave us the venison. He got it from his brother-in-law, who hunts.

Anyway, the steaks are sitting in this nasty smoke-scented marinade. I haven't told Mr. K how much I hate smoke flavoring. My stomach isn't up to eating venison anyway so it really doesn't matter. The steaks certainly needed a tenderizing marinade. They are shoulder blade steaks, and will be very tough. Also, they have to be cooked quite hot--probably around 170 °F or 180 °F since they are venison and could have parasites. I'm afraid they'll be dried out like shoe leather. I'm planning to survive on the pumpkin pie.

Not feeling well for Thanksgiving

The Excedrin worked last night, and Mr. K's fever came down pretty quickly. He still felt horrid, but was ready to eat something. I asked if he wanted stew. He said no, that he wanted Doritos. I asked him if we had any. He said no. I asked him if he wanted me to go out and get some. He said yes.

So I made a Food Lion run (supermarket one mile from my house) just before 10 p.m. last night. Mr. K got out of bed and ate Doritos.

I'm not feeling so well today. My stomach is churning and I have little appetite. Mr. K's having the same problem. K's broken out in a rash from her diaper area to all over her tummy. I'm guessing an enterovirus. I got sick long ago of going to the pediatrician over each fever and rash and hearing they were probably enterovirus or coxsachievirus (something like that), and there really wasn't anything to do but treat the fever and keep full of fluids. Unless someone comes down with a new and exciting symptom, we will not bother the doctor nor part with our $15 per visit co-pay just to hear it's a virus. (But you can only imagine my terror the first time N's tummy burst out in a rash.)

Mr. K is assisting N and J in putting together our pumpkin pie from the recipe on the label of canned pumpkin. I bought a frozen crust, so it shouldn't be too hard.

I'm not in the mood at all for venison. I feel like barfing just thinking of meat. I picked up dinner rolls today, along with salad greens, green beans, and a very small bouquet of flowers.

Last year I got the horrid 24-hr stomach bug the day after Thanksgiving. K had it first and threw up on Thanksgiving a few times. I threw up all the next night, barfing literally every 45 minutes or sooner. I got no sleep. It turned to horrid diarrhea and a massive headache from dehydration by morning. I don't feel that ill now. This is minor compared to that.

I think N and J are okay except for colds, but I couldn't swear to it.

K got me up once in the night, and J got me up twice. J had bad dreams. As a result, I'm very sleepy today. I need to go see what's going on in the kitchen, and I might make some pumpkin spice instant pudding I saw at Food Lion last night. I think I could get that down (no meat). So far an apple has been my dinner.

Sick Mr. K

Mr. K is huddled up in bed under the covers. He had me bring him his jacket (which he is now wearing, water, and two Excedrin, which is a mixture of Tylenol (panadol?), aspirin, and caffeine. He says he hurts all over and it's the sickest he's ever been (I've heard that before so I'm hoping it's just that his memory is bad.). I'd love to get his temperature, but he'd probably just get mad for my trying and he's already taking fever reducers. If we knew what number to attach to him, I don't know what we'd do with it unless it was high enough to call the doctor. I'm not sure what that would be, but I'm thinking around 104 °F on an adult might be high enough. So, as I said, I don't even know what number I should get all excited about.

I wonder if Mr. K got this fever from letting K drink out of everyone's straws at dinner. I hear she didn't like what I had (diet caffeine-free Coke). I didn't like it, either. I would have preferred water, but the pop came as part of the meal. I would have had root beer, but it was Barq's, and theirs has caffeine. I don't consume it so close to bed time.

I was the only one in the house who ate the stew. Mr. K had no appetite and just sat with his head down most of the time while he had a mug of coffee. N and J didn't bother to show up. K tasted hers and spit it out. Mine was fine, and I had seconds. I'll have it for breakfast tomorrow.

Not much

I'm working on a stew in the crock pot. I'm not exactly following a recipe; I'm using several as guidelines. I'm using the crock pot because I have to go to J's school at 4:30 p.m. to see the last half of her final gymnastics class. The kids are putting on a performance for the parents. It's hard to make dinner and be gone around that time without using the crock pot or having something easy like hot dogs.

Mr. K is in our room, asleep. He thinks he's got some bug his office person had last week. Hopefully it won't last long. J's been complaining about being tired a lot this past week. K's done some extra napping, but I thought that was just her cold. If Mr. K and I are both ill on Thanksgiving, perhaps N and J can make themselves and K Easy Mac for Thanksgiving dinner. N knows how to make it in the microwave.

I've got a funny feeling in the pit of my stomach that we're due in for another terrorist attack before the weekend is over, but I'm always wrong about these things. I did make sure I have a full tank of gas in my car, though.

I've got no evidence. I just recall a story a few couple weeks ago about Al Qaeda going after malls, the government didn't make a big deal about it, and it disappeared very quickly in the news, leaving me the feeling that someone was lying or trying to hide something. We know we're weaker as a country because of the drop in the dollar, and the traditional "biggest shopping day of the year" (although it's not anymore) is the day after Thanksgiving. What a time to hit our economy. Scare us too much to go out for Christmas shopping. (I think it will encourage on-line shopping, though, if people don't get too tight with their money.)

My suspicions were raised because the government didn't raise the terror level color (not that anyone cares or even knows what the colors are) this time. I think the government didn't dare do it for fear of scaring off shoppers right when people are poised to spend money. For a while we were getting the color raised a lot with nothing happening (thank goodness).

Dinner at Chick-Fil-A

At J's request, we all had dinner at Chick-Fil-A tonight since it is the kids' school's monthly PTA fundraising night there. I've never gone to one of these things. I guess N didn't beg enough when he was the only one in school (plus I was either pregnant or had a small baby then, too, so I was less likely to go out to dinner). I saw some people I know. Mr. K ran into N's Cub Scout den leader, and they spoke for a couple minutes. Mr. K is even more antisocial than I am, so I was glad he found someone to talk to.

I figured we'd just go this once, and it would be such a madhouse, we'd never go again. Mr. K said it wasn't as bad as he expected, so we can probably go next month.

The excitement (plus her cold) really wore out J. We did the baths as soon as we got home, and then we got J in bed. She fell asleep very quickly.

K wouldn't eat, but she sipped all our beverage through our straws. When we got home, I noticed she's still warm to the touch so her fever hasn't left. So fever girl was sucking on everyone's straw. I wonder who will get a fever next.

I moved some venison from the freezer to our refrigerator. That's what we're planning to have for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. I need to get it to thaw, though. I might also thaw a turkey breast to have for dinner the next day.

Wednesday I'll go to the store (which will be very busy) to get the finishing touches for my Thanksgiving dinner.

Mr. K has to work for a little bit in the morning on Thanksgiving, but not for long. I hope to go to Books-A-Million in the afternoon. I see they have a couple cookbooks on sale that I'd at least like to look at.

None

K's had a fever. I think she's doing better. She was at 101.5 °F last night and 101.6 °F this afternoon. I wondered why, when I got home from the supermarket, she was wearing her pajamas, shoes and socks, and a sweater. Mr. K told me she insisted on having the shoes and sweater on. She must have felt cold. She doesn't speak English yet (she speaks Kate), so it's hard to describe how she insists on things, but she does.

I had forgotten, but Thanksgiving is this week. N and J have only half a day of school on Wednesday, and then they have off Thursday and Friday.

The friend I sometimes have lunch with gave me 50 tulip bulbs for a birthday present in September. I went out and planted them today. I think the weather is cool enough that they won't rot. Tulips do very poorly here. Usually, one is lucky to get them to bloom just one year. I think they often rot or squirrels eat them, and they have trouble re-blooming because it isn't cold enough to give them a proper chill most winters.

Kids are finally in bed

I finally got the kids in bed! N had a Cub Scout pack meeting tonight. We usually all go to pack meetings, but J and K took a nap this afternoon and woke up shortly before the time for the meeting. J didn't feel up to going, and she was eating dinner when it was time to go anyway.

Last night N had a Cub Scout den meeting. Usually they don't fall in the same week. They used hand tools and put together little wooden tool boxes from a kit. Mr. K took him. J, K and I went to J's school for a Girl Scout recruitment meeting. J is now on a waiting list for a Daisy troop in the area to have an opening. Apparently there are long lists of girls waiting for openings in a troop because there aren't enough leaders. I was a Girl Scout leader when I finished college and lived (unmarried) in New York and Michigan. Now I don't have time or ability to be a leader since I don't have anyone who can watch the kids while I do the training and meetings. Also, I am not free to go on camping trips or stuff like that anymore. Perhaps N can be the babysitter when K is old enough to be a Daisy, but he's still too young now.

N has a birthday party to attend tomorrow afternoon at an arcade near here. I don't even know who the kid is who invited him, but I'll just have to drop him off because I'll have J and K to watch, and they can't crash this kid's party. Mr. K has to go to our first rental house (the one with tenants who actually pay the rent) and fix the rotted bathroom floor. Apparently when the plumber tried to put on a new toilet today, he couldn't because the floor was so rotted. My guess is there's been a water leak for quite a while. We called a plumber because the toilet was running and the cold water in the tub was not shutting off completely. I'm wondering how long these problems have been going on because I've noticed the water bills gradually increasing from $144 per month to now $180 per month. I hope when we get the problems solved, it will make a noticeable dent in the water bills.

With respect to the rental it took us forever to fill and also the one we bought in mid-October, we received no rent for November. Mr. K sent the "Pay or Quits." We still go no money in the five days allowed. Mr. K went to the court Thursday and began the eviction process. His court date is December 6. The amazing thing is that neither tenant even called us to try to explain where their rent was and why we shouldn't evict them. If they don't bother to show up at court on December 6, and Mr. K does, he will immediately get something like a "writ of possession" which he takes to the sheriff and schedules a time for the eviction. Usually it takes a couple weeks or so to get an appointment with the sheriff. The sheriff will hang around while Mr. K and whomever he brings take all the tenant's belongings out of the house and put them in the front yard (in the case of the place that took us forever to rent, there is no yard so the stuff will go on the sidewalk). The tenant has 24 hours to claim her things (if no one steals them, and Mr. K had a doormat stolen from that place), and then they belong to Mr. K, which means he needs to clean them up immediately. If he sells them, any money made has to go to what the tenant owes him. If he just dumps the stuff (likely after it's picked over by the thieving neighborhood), he owes the tenant nothing for it. Probably if anything is worth a darn, he'll donate it to charity since we don't have an easy way to sell someone's junk. I suppose we could try a pawn shop.

Hopefully the people will move out on their own, and there will be nothing left when the sheriff shows up. Unfortunately, the evictions could end up at Christmas, so we will look like the Grinch, even though our having to make the mortgage payments (and the utilities in the case of the lady at the place that took us forever to rent who neglected to put the gas/water/sewer/trash bill in her name) with no rental income to cover it right at Christmas, along with the expense of an eviction right while we are trying to afford Christmas. But, yes, we still have a place to live, and those people won't.

We haven't received a dime at the place that was so hard to rent other than the money she gave Mr. K to sign the lease. I don't personally see the difference between that and shoplifting at a store, but our government considers the first a civil matter and the second criminal. Personally, I consider it theft.

I stink

I just got home from visiting my neighbor, the one with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other. Mr. K was over there, as was the neighbor's landlord (and friend). K wanted to see her dad (Yah-yah she calls him) so we went over for a visit. Now I smell very strongly like cigarette smoke. I can always tell when Mr. K has been over there by his smell. Right now my hair stinks, my shirt stinks, my jacket stinks, and poor little K stinks. Eventually, it will air out. I had a lovely time discussing politics and world issues with my neighbor's landlord. He's a hoot. I just hope he's pulling my leg with a lot that he says, but you never know. Among other things, he thinks our own government was behind the blowing up of the Oklahoma City federal building.

I was going to continue, but I won't since it wasn't going to be kind to Hillary Clinton, and Moon Spinner reads this blog sometimes, and she has the great courtesy to make a separate controversial blog so as to not have political fighting on the regular blog about the most important stuff--life and family. I'm not so wound up about politics right now that I can't control myself to keep from writing something others probably find offensive. Some days I just can't help myself, but today's not one of them. Maybe someday I'll want a controversial blog myself, but probably I'd be the only one to read it, and I don't feel like writing about the stuff the gets my blood boiling very often so mostly it would languish.

We are having fish tonight. I forgot to get to the store to buy fresh meat today, and fish is something that I tend to keep in my freezer that thaws in minutes in water in the sink so I can make it on the spur of the moment. I can't find the ambition to make it fancy so it will just be broiled with butter or olive oil, and some pepper and salt, perhaps a little garlic powder, and a squirt of lemon juice.

I'm baking a sweet potato in the oven for the vegetable, and we have leftover plain linguine in the refrigerator I'll butter and reheat as the side dish. I also might have material to assemble small salads. Sounds good to me.

Happy Veteran's Day

N wore his Cub Scout uniform to school today because his den and the Girl Scouts at his school did the Veteran's Day flag ceremony outdoors at the flagpole for the school. K and I drove to the school to see the ceremony before we went to the gym. N's shirt was even tucked in for once! His den leader got N's neckerchief properly into place, too. I seldom can figure out how to do it right. I did spend some time yesterday with my sewing machine, adding a "1" to N's pack number on his uniform because his pack number just changed this year from a three-digit number to the same number, but four digits, starting with a "1."

While we watched the news, I kept trying to find a recipe for something good and easy and chocolately. I failed, but I asked Mr. K if he would make me a chocolate cream pie. I was joking. He said, no, but he'd go buy me one. He's off right now looking for a pie for me at the supermarket. I'm guessing he'll find a frozen one we need to thaw. I love a couple brands of frozen pies. Anyway, I was darned surprised since Mr. K seldom runs to the supermarket at my whim. He must be hungry for pie, too, or he needs something else, or I'm just naturally suspicious. In any case, I'm delighted he's off looking for pie because I'd really like some.

More fun with tenants

I took another letter to the post office today. This time it was a pay or quit for the tenant in the house we purchased in mid-October because we haven't seen the rent for November yet. Mr. K was at her house last weekend fixing some things, and she said the check was in the mail. We gave her an extra day just in case the check really was in the mail. It wasn't. Next week Mr. K will go to the courthouse and begin the filings to evict both tenants if we don't get the rent within five days of receipt of those letters. I spend $5.25 to send each letter priority mail with proof of delivery. I'm not using certified mail because the tenants could refuse to accept the letters. This way I have proof of exactly when the post office delivered the letters. I suppose they could still write "REFUSED" on the unopened letters and leave them in the box for the mailman to bring them back to me, but I think the judge would agree with me that the notice had been provided.

I had my sewing machine out yesterday, fixing some huge rips along the seams of a pair of my (ugly but warm) flannel nightgowns. Hopefully they will remain fixed because I don't have a lot of warm clothing to wear to bed. A couple nights ago I wore purple sweat pants and a gray sweatshirt. I need to get the machine out again and fill it with red thread to add a number to N's cub scout uniform pack number. They've added a digit to his pack number this year.

K is napping. We went to the gym, the post office, and the supermarket. I picked up some cold fried chicken at the supermarket. Mr. K was home using the computer to work on a proposal for work, and he had chicken with us before he returned to work. He's been busy on the computer a lot lately.

I'm worried about the dropping value of the U.S. dollar, but I can't think of a thing to do about it except perhaps invest in Euros. I don't know how stable that currency is, though, either.

Election Day

We went to vote this morning. Since it is election day, and the schools are used as polling locations, the kids don't go to school on election day. I happen to vote in the community association building for the neighborhood next to where I live and not in a school.

I told the kids if they were good while I voted, we would go to Club Mom at the mall for breakfast. They were, and we did. There wasn't much wait at the polls because this is just a state and local election. Turnout is expected to be mediocre. This was the election for the state delegate for which we've given money and for which K and I went to the political fundraising luncheon, so it was an exciting election for me.

Club Mom went fine. We got chicken biscuit sandwiches and drinks at Chick-Fil-A. I ate most of K's sandwich because she didn't like it. She liked the hash brown rounds, though. Breakfast was free, which was nice because I wouldn't pay to take the kids out for fast food unless my power was out or something. They all got a helium balloon apiece, so their quite happy. Those were free, too.

I'm hoping Mr. K will have some time between appointments today to watch the kids because I must go to the post office today to send the "pay or quit" letter to our tenant. It will be much easier if I don't need to bring all the kids. Most of the time at the post office is spent waiting in a line with nothing to do. I'll probably wait until K wakes up from her nap, and if he isn't here yet, I'll just drag them all along.

K was up a lot in the night with her new cold. Mr. K got up the first time. I got up the next time. She cried for the next hour. I finally gave in and gave her a little Benadryl, even though it's not supposed to be for babies any more. I have successfully given it to her numerous times before, and I've used it with N and J with success when they were babies. She was much better after the Benadryl, and remained quiet for the rest of the night. I was very careful to keep the dose on the low side of what she used to be allowed since the very few babies who have died from cold medicine since 1969 were mostly given too much (which brought about the voluntary recall for the product for babies). If K gets much worse, though, I'll take her to the doctors office to find out what I'm actually supposed to be giving her for a cold since the manufacturers are no longer suggesting it's use for kids under two, and are considering pulling it for kids under six. I may just call them to find out.

No school

We had no school today. I think the teachers are having a work day. Tomorrow is election day, so the kids are off then, too.

We were supposed to meet some friends at the zoo this morning, but they canceled because J's coughing with a cold so much, and N and I have it, too. It turned out to be good since K has come down with the cold, too. She started a barky cough after waking up from her nap this afternoon. They were smart to avoid our germs.

I went to the gym this morning instead, as I usually do on Mondays. Then we went to the zoo by ourselves.

I've put up some animal pictures in this post. I've got a prairie dog, American alligators, an emu, a bactrian camel, and a pair of zebras "kissing.

When we got home, we found a set of keys and a note from Mr. K. The keys belonged to our neighbor (the one with a beer in one hand and a cigarette in the other). Around noon, he had called an ambulance for him because he was afraid he was having a heart attack.

He called Mr. K at dinner time to get picked back up. He wasn't having a heart attack, but he had a bit of a blood sugar problem and a low temperature (95 °F). He told me on the phone he thought they were getting rid of him before they had to feed him dinner; I told him he was probably right. I sent over a plate of our dinner (not very tasty but adequate--meatloaf, roasted squash, and plain pasta) so he'd have something for dinner when he got home.

Our neighbor has no money, no income, and no health insurance. If you looked at him, you'd probably think he was a homeless person. He only has a place to live because his friend is kind to him. I'm sure the hospital merely made sure he wasn't in an emergency situation and then released them. Regardless of ability to pay, they have to treat all emergencies until the person is stable for release.

I'm sure Mr. K will drop in and check on him tomorrow if not tonight. I would, but he doesn't need our cough (although we may have caught it from him originally).

Tomorrow we were going to go to Club Mom at the mall and get free breakfasts at Chik-fil-a (can't spell it). If K's cold/cough is too bad, I may keep her home. Now with the recall of cold/cough medicines for kids under 2 years old, if she's not well tomorrow, we may have to take K to the doctor to see what we can give her since the over-the-counter stuff isn't supposed to be used on babies any more.

Also, we didn't get any rent from our the tenant who didn't put the gas/water/trash bill in her name, so I need to go to the post office and send her a priority mail, delivery confirmation "pay or quit" notice. If she fails to pay within five days, we can begin eviction proceedings.

We also didn't get any rent from the tenant whose house we purchased mid-October, but Mr. K was there fixing stuff this weekend, and she said, "the check is in the mail." If it doesn't arrive in tomorrow's mail, we need to do a "pay or quit" for her, too.

Catching up

These are the costumes the kids wore to N's Cub Scout pack meeting Friday night. I forgot N's scar on his forehead. I'm quite embarrassed since that is so critical in being Harry Potter. How could I forget one of the most important aspects of Harry is beyond me.

The kids were supposed to wear those costumes for trick-or-treating on Halloween. J and K did. N somehow lost his Harry Potter robes (for which I spent $20 so I'm angry). He just can't keep his stuff together. Fortunately, his costume he wore the past two years, Superman, was hanging in his closet all together because I put it away. He wore that instead. I notice he left the suit, belt, and cape in three different places on the floor around the house after trick-or-treating. We were in so much of a hurry because of the screwing around trying to find the Harry costume that there wasn't time for pictures on Halloween night.

J's been up a good portion of the night the last couple nights, coughing. She's got a bad cold. N and have coughs, too, but not as bad as J's.

I have a conference with N's teacher this afternoon. I imagine we'll mostly discuss his behavior since I think that's where he needs the most work. I think he's doing well academically. His behavior stinks, though.

We're supposed to have closing on the duplex we are buying today. K is down for a nap right now, but when she gets up, we need to go to the bank to get a cashier's check to use at closing. I need to squeeze that in before closing. I'm sort of hoping Mr. K will have time between appointments today to keep an eye on K for me. She gets very bored at the bank. I'd rather not take her to conferences, either.