Tommy was here this weekend and Chad came down after school and they hung out all the evening riding scooters and eating and later watching TV. Then he and Rachel spent the night.

Sat. morning I got up at my usual time and read the paper, straightened up a little, got dressed and when they got up, I fixed them breakfast. I had to go to the grocery store, so they decided to go with me. I went to the new Piggly Wiggly which is in Nor Dan shopping center where Winn Dixie used to be.

Piggly Wiggly opened the end of August, but had their "Grand Opening" the latter part of this week. We had gone in and was walking around when we heard this funny sound behind us; sorta plat, plat, plat. I heard Tommy say, "Oh, my God". I asked him if he was praying, (he knows I don't like him saying that) and he said "Don't look, but there's a big pig following us"! I did look and it was the store mascot.....a big, pink pig and he/she came up and shook our hands. Tommy and Chad very gingerly offered their hands for a shake and made it short and quick. But, the pig did go and get them both helium balloons. He then sorta followed us around the store, Good thing I only had 5 or 6 items to pick up. He was kinda creepy.

Finally, Friday evening. I didn't have Brittany today altho Kerri came by and brought her for a while. Actually, she was off today and was gonna babysit her step sister's lil girl today and they decided that Brandi would drop Belle off here. I must be centrally located or something.

After I ate Tommy called and wanted to know if I wanted to go to yardsales in the morning. Of course I do and he promised to bring me homemade soup for lunch tomorrow.

I checked to see if I had any personal e-mails. You know, answers to letters and such. I sent Cindy a really good recipe for truffles and am waiting to see if she's tried them yet. I was talking to Sharon today and was telling her about them and she said she can make them because she can get all the ingredients needed. Actually, only three. Oreo cookies, cream cheese and chocolate for dipping. And they are good. I bought the ingredients, but haven't made them yet, but Linda did and brought me some.

After a nice few weeks, we had a doozy of a storm last night about bedtime and then it came back again about 2AM. I've never seen it rain so hard for so long in a long time. It was so heavy you couldn't see across the street to the church. And it's rained on and off all day today. And gotten much cooler. I hope the rain will stop by morning.

I'm in the mood to cook something; I just don't know what. I'm sorta thinking on the lines of chicken and dumplings. Today would have been a good day for them. I didn't have chicken so I baked steak with potatoes and carrots. It was pretty good and there was a little left. Maybe I'll get some chicken tomorrow and make dumplings for Sunday.

Well, I'm sitting here watching the playoffs. Of course, my team finished right at the bottom of their division, so I had to pick a team to root for.

I've never liked the Yankees, so anybody who plays them is the team I'm for. This time the Detroit Tigers beat them in their playoffs, so I'm pulling for them. Right now they're ahead of Oakland 5 to 0, but Oakland has 2 men on. Go, Tigers, Go! Good, the Detroit pitcher struck out the batter for the 3rd out, so it's still 5 to 0.

Speaking of TV, my favorite show, House, won't be on again until the World Series is over. Unless, of course, they decide to air a re-run like they did last week. Boston Legal, my 3rd favorite will be on at 10 tonight and my second favorite, Gray's Anatomy will be on Thursday. I would like to see all of Bones sometimes, but that comes on before I get home from church on Wed. night, so all I ever get to see is the end of it.

Sunday I cooked some chicken and took the water and made some dumplings. Sarah and Chad ate dinner with me and to my surprise, they both loved dumplings. I counted as I cut them and I cut out 48 and then rolled the dough and cut that with a knife so I wouldn't have any left over scraps of dough. Imagine my surprise when I got ready to eat some after church Sunday, and there was nothing left but a few scraps! I saved the broth and made some more Monday evening and gave Kerri a few and I ate all I wanted, so I probably won't make any more until I get the craving again.

Saturday I went to yard sales with Richard and Tommy as wet and breezy as it was. Of course, we went to a lot of church sales which were inside, so the weather didn't matter too much. At one church sale I found the cutest lil puppy that you could record and play back messages. I asked the girl how much and it was only a quarter. I looked some more and found another one, only a different color so I bought that one too. In the car I got Richard to record a message on each. One said "Leave me alone, Brittany" and the other said something similar. When Brittany came Monday morning and I showed them to her, she was captivated by them and when I pushed the play button, she really was tickled. After she played with them for a while, I showed her how to record and play back and she spent the rest of the day playing with them. She named one Toby cause she said it looked like their Toby. I let her take it home with her and Kerri said she played with it all the way home. She brought it back today and played with it all day again.

One day week before last, Tommy came by and had a lottery book that was supposed to help you pick "the Numbers" for you to play. He got a pad of paper and asked me all these questions and figured out my winning numbers and told me to play them on the following Friday and I would win. That is, according to the book. I don't really play, so I was telling Linda about the numbers and she said she would play them for me. Well, I really need the money, so I was willing. However, I didn't win any thing! Not nothing!! No how!!!

Some years back, Fara introduced me to a writer named Rosamunde Pilcher. Last week at church the pastor's wife told me she had some books in her car for me (I read and give her books and she reads and gives me books). When I looked through them, there were 3 by Pilcher. I had read one...it was the one Fara had sent me...but the other two, I hadn't read. One was Winter Solstice and the other is Coming Home. This lady writes really good books and I can't wait to start them. However, it will probably be after the weekend, because Tommy and Rebecca will be here and you don't do a lot of reading with the house full of teens and lil boys.

Well, I think I'm about out of stuff. Can't think of anything the least bit interesting, so Good Night.....parting is such sweet sorrow!

Linda had sent me some truffles that the girls had made using a recipe in a monthly book that Kraft Foods puts out.They were really good and only use 3 ingredients: oreo cookies, cream cheese and chocolate for dipping.

I had bought the makings a couple of weeks ago, but had put off making them. Today I asked Brittany if she wanted to help me make candy and of course she did. I did the mixing and formed most of the balls, but I saved enough of the mixture for her to make six balls. (After she washed her hands)! After I dipped a few I let her sprinkle the extra crumbs on them. She was busy as could be when her Gigi came by to get her. But she told me to save one for her mama, one for her daddy, one for her Gigi and one or two for her. So I did.

I took Emily, Rachel and Sarah one each and a couple to Bobby and Teresa and took some to Margaret, my friend from church. I ate one just now and they taste OK, but not as good as the ones Linda brought me. Wonder why?

Today was kinda an alone day. Brittany came about nine and Kerri went to work and Susan left for school. I straightened up and Brittany ate, I got some winter clothes out to wash, Brittany ate again.

I was told by my great granddaughter that she had watched a "really good, scary show" on TV last night and would I find her one to watch at my house. Well, we went through all the dvds and vcr movies, but I couldn't really find an adult one that she could watch that she would understand, so I put in The Flintstones, "A Haunted House is not a Home" and she watched that.

Then she was hungry again, so she ate again. By then I was thinking about what to cook for supper cause I was getting hungry. So I grated some potatoes and made my own confetti with peppers, onions, wieners and cheese. Then I cooked my mountain cabbage and made some slaw to go along with it and made some Green Pepper Hash. I know, it sounds like a weird combination, but it was good.

I saw some cars across the street at the church and thought Tommy and Richard might be over there and left a message on Tommy's phone to come get their truffles. A few minutes later they called and came by and stayed for about an hour and Richard and I discussed the Craig coat of arms that we had gotten from Gloria via an e-mail the other day. That lead to a discussion about Daddy's uncles and that lead to Banny Hall(our maternal G'ma)whom Richard didn't get to know, but had heard about all his life. Anyway, we had a nice visit and after they left I ate the miniature eclairs they had brought me. Well, only three of them.

Then I watched Gray's Anatomy and part of 6 Degrees before I took a lil snooze on the sofa. Now, it's bedtime and I'm wide awake!

Well, after a couple of rainy, dreary days "they" say it's gonna clear up and also warm up. It was so cold Sat. morning that we had to wear lots of layers to yard sales. It almost felt like winter.

I guess I like yardsales so much because I can take a few quarters and buy a few things and I'm as happy as if I'd gone shopping at the mall and spent a lot of money.

Sat. I was looking for a scooter for Brittany because she loves to ride the big boy's scooters. I was looking for a 3 wheeled one and we found one at the first sale we went to which happened to be a church sale. Tommy S. spied it first and by the time he got to it, a fat lady grabbed it up and hung on to it the whole time we were there. Then we saw 2 more, but the lady wanted $5 each for them and that was too much. Finally at another yardsale, a lil boy had one for sale and he was asking a dollar. I think I had 3 quarters left and Richard gave me another one so I bought it.

On the way to the north side, Tommy had to make a detour by a bicycle place because he'd decided that Brittany needed new grips on the handle bars. He took the scooter in and found some that fit, got the boy to replace the old ones to the tune of $7.95. I told him he could have bought the $5 scooter and saved money, but he said Brittany would like the "real" scooter better. She did. She rides through the house as fast as she can. If the rain ever stops, I'm gonna take her out back and let her ride. Maybe Wed. I hope.

Today Brittany and I went to the grocery store because I was running low on milk and actually, I just wanted to get out of the house for a while. Coming back from the store, she asked me if I was too old to work. I told her I was probably too old to get a job out in public, but babysitting her was a job. Then she wanted to know if I'd ever worked and I told her that I had worked at Belks, Advance Auto, Hylton Hall and at Schoolfield school. I told her that I stopped working at school to babysit Rachel and then I had babysat Corey Scruggs, Sarah Bradford, Alexandra Marlowe, Anna, her and Savannah. And now she was the only one left. Then she said "Well, I'm glad my mommy is not too old to work like you. I'm glad she's new." I guess that makes sense to a four year old. Old, new, as in old toy, new toy.

Brittany is a great conversationalist and can talk on many subjects. For instance, she said to me while we were putting clothes in the dryer, "My daddy does a good dry wall." I asked her what exactly was "dry wall" and she looked at me in an exasperated fashion and said, "Well, G'ma, there's dry wall and then there's wet wall. My daddy knows all about it."

Rachel came by after school and Brittany was so glad to see her. Now she had somebody to play with. In no time at all she had Rachel laying on the lil sofa in the den working on her........oxygen, shots, blood pressure, bandaids, the whole doctor bit. And Rachel gracefully suffered thru it all. Rachel is not very tall, so I guess Brittany thought she'd found a contemporary. For a 14 year old, Rachel was very gracious and patient with her. The other girls won't play with her. They're "too old."

Kerri said that last night Chad was out helping a friend put a railing on his porch and she and Brittany were at home watching TV in the bedroom. Kerri had to go to another room for a minute and while she was there the phone rang and it was Chad. He asked who was on messing with his police radio/scanner. She said nobody was, but he insisted that someone was because the police station had called his cell phone and asked if everything was alright. She tried to tell him again that nobody was on it when all of a sudden he said listen and this little voice came thru "Tell that policeman that I want to talk to my daddy." Seems like Brittany was learning how to be a dispatcher.