Happy Birthday to Cousin Mike

Yeppers, Mike turned 35 today.....and if he is feeling blue about that, all he has to do is remember that I am a year older than him. So if he is feeling old, imagine how I must feel. lol, but I rarely feel old. Anyway, I Mike, I hope you have a lovely birthday and lots of cake. Birthday cake doesn't have calories for the birthday boy or girl....EVERYONE knows that, right!

Happy Birthday to Tami!

Heck, don't let the sky be your limit on your birthday! Oh yeah, if you want your present...its at my parents house, top shelf in the guest bedroom. Just stop by and pick it up. I'm sorry I forgot it when I saw you. Have a wonderful birthday and make sure the kids let you have the first slice of YOUR birthday cake. It is YOUR birthday afterall!

You Are Strawberry Ice Cream

A bit shy and sensitive, you are sweet to the core. You often find yourself on the outside looking in. Insightful and pensive, you really understand how the world works. You are most compatible with chocolate chip ice cream.

What Flavor Ice Cream Are You?

That is just soooo wrong.

I just took a bite out of a cinnamon raisin bagel. It tasted like garlic. I like garlic, but not on my cinnamon raisin bagel. Gag, its just wrong on so many levels.

Cut me off...I've had enough!

This post has nothing to do with the picture I posted. I just realized that it has been a long time since I announced to the world that squirrels are evil. They are, you know it, I know it...they even know it. Yep, that is why the are already plotting to eat the face out of my jack o'lantern this Halloween. MAN that torks me off! OK, enough of that. What I really set out to write about is the fact that I have had way to much caffeine today. I have been wolfing down diet Pepsi for hours. I can't help myself, they just taste so darn good, plus I am thirsty. Yeah, I could drink water or flavored water...which I usually do but for some crazy reason I wasn't touching the stuff this afternoon. I was hitting the old diet caffeine and hitting it hard. The result of my over indulgence has been my crazy comment mode going into overdrive. I swear people must think I am nutty...OK, nuttier that normal. Please hold off on sending the guys in little white coats....just wait for the caffeine effect to go away and I will be fine. This is worse that when I was home and drank about 15 HUGE glasses of Mom's super strong ice tea. (Shhhh, I think she is still trying to figure out why the pitcher was basically empty every time she went to get a glass for herself and a refill for me. ) On to another topic. Who ordered the cat food for me? I received a free 3 oz can of gourmet cat food yesterday. It's OK, I'm going to give it to Raine's kitties this weekend if she says its OK. I'm kitty sitting on the Upper East Side if we are lucky, perhaps I will take some interesting pictures. You never know.
OK, here is the other thing that has been going through my mind. Have you guys seen the Soft Soap containers that have the little critters hanging on the inside tube? OK, I discovered that when the soap is gone, the animal easily pops off the pump. It seems like such a waste to just toss the critters in the trash. I really feel the need to come up with a useful craft project to make with it. I could make a Christmas ornament with it. Earrings,lol, perhaps... uhhhh... yeah, I have no idea. I'm going to keep it in the back of my head and if I think of something to make...you will be the second to know about it.

My neighbor the idiot

Ray is a dingbat. I mean it! A total, top of the line goofus. Alright, here is the latest story. It was dead low tide and he pulled his boat out but instead of heading to the north toward the canal where the water is deeper, he heads out across the sandbar to get to the channel. OMG, picture time. So I click a picture of him giving it some gas and getting stuck. He killed the engine and restarted the boat. He killed it again because basically he is sucking in massive amounts of mud. Then he decides to look at the back to see what the problem is. Then he starts walking around his boat like he didn't know what to do. I put down the camera and went outside. I thought I would look like I was doing yard work and if he needed help he would say something. Nope, he didn't so I walked out to the bulkhead and yelled to him to see if he was stuck and needed some help. He Just sucked on his cig and gave me the thumbs up sigh, then yelled he was good. So I goofed around in the yard incase he changed his mind. That is when it started to thunder and I went inside and watched Ray snap part of the tarp over his boat. Eventually the tide was high enough that he could back off the sandbar....and then he parked it. He's very entertaining. Seriously, that is how he ruined his jet boat, sucking up crap from the bottom of the bay while stuck on a sandbar. He's lived her two years now....you'd think he'd learn.

Vickie is the winner!

Aunt Vickie guessed what my mystery close up fuzzy picture was of. She wins a prize. Don't worry, it won't be like the last prize that Uncle Gary won....hehehe...maybe. I bought Mom a fly catcher for the back yard and this was the yield after 2 full days. Not bad huh! Flies are so stupid, they fly in and then they can't figure out how to get back out.

Atleast someone was workin'

I helped Dad haul off the branch pile that property owner next door had piled up while he was back from Colorado to fix up the house to use as a rental property. He wasn't able to get to the tree dump because they have specific hours and dates of operation. Dad told him he would haul it off for him if he let my dad park his boat in his back yard while we sealed the driveway. So, I told Dad I would help him haul that stuff off or he could do it himself at a later date. Of course he jumped at some help. It took us about three hours to move it all down to the dump and unload it. We made 5 trips. The tree dump is opened and watched over by one guys so that there is no dumping of anything that is not plant life that can be burned easily. When we got down there we noticed several City workers taking it easy in the shade with the operator who was planted under the tree in a lawn chair. It said on the bank that the temp was 103 degrees. After several trips, Dad and I had a conversation in which I mentioned that I thought the City boys had it pretty easy. They never really look like they are doing much on any given day. You should see them when their is a water break or something. One guy is in the hole working and the rest are standing around watching and gossiping. Seriously, I have always secretly wished I could follow them around all day and see how much of their day is spent working vs pretending to work. I think the city could cut some fat out of their budget by getting those guys do something or cutting them loose. I'd have them mowing the City parks and doing beautification projects. HELL, just make them pick up garbage or better yet...when they clean the streets with the street cleaner, actually put water in the machine and set the brushes so they actually clean the street instead of fanning the dirt around. Can you tell this is a sore subject for me. I know they just don't want to clean the tank or the brushes when they are done. Anyway, after my third trip down to the dump....and far over a break time limit, they were still there doing nothing. That is when I pulled out my camera and took a picture of them relaxing. On our next trip, they had disappeared. I don't know if they got bored, if I scared them, or if they were getting ready to quit for the day anyway. I prefer to think I scared them...that thought makes my day.
Anyway, back at home, while Dad and I are getting scratched up and sweating buckets, Mom was relaxing with Tisha on the back patio. I had to take a picture of them and of course my sister flipped me the bird. Can you believe that. Ofcourse it may have had something to do with my comment that any time the rest of us are working she is sitting in a chair supervising...funny how that works. In her defense, she is usually getting ready to go to work or just got off....but still! lol. 

Hey, its Nebraska...you see dead critters

Oh yeah, I almost forgot. While on one of our trips to the tree dump, Pop took us down the back road pass the Vet Clinic. I thought he was just going to go pass the Live Stock Yard but suddenly he swerved down a side road and said, "Lookie there! There is a picture for your site." All I could say was "Ewwwww" after all the thing was swarming with flies and the temp was 103. I rolled down the window to take a pic and the stentch got me. Man if I was one of the neighbors down wind of that Mama Cow, I would have been on the phone every ten minutes, until they either hauled it off or did whatever they had to do to it. From the looks of her, she was giving birth when she died and they calf didn't make it either. I refused to take a better picture of that..it was bad enough I still have a mental picture of it. GAG. Anyway, After that I noticed I was seeing a lot of roadkill. If I would have stopped to take pictures we would of had birds, deer, coons, possoms....you name it. I was joking that in Nebraska we don't eat roadkill, we leave it for the State guys to pick up and turn into glue or for the other critters to feast on. Yuck, its time for lunch now....maybe I should go on a diet.

My Mothers new garage floor...

OK, one of the projects I did for my Mother while I was home was taking care of the floor in the garage. It had been painted years ago but most of the paint was worn off. All it really needed was days worth of TLC and that is exactly what it gone, damn it! **Note to self: Never give your Mother a homemade gift certificate for help around the house for Mothers Day because you don't know what to get her. She will pull that sucker out two years later and put your ass to work. You know, I really should have been more specific in the type of work I was looking to do for her. For example: I would have gladly tried out her lazy boy recliner and drank all of her sun tea and not refilled the ice cube trays. I would have supervised her when she was cooking and reminded her that I don't like as much spice as she does. I would have even thrown in yelling at Pop for making a mess around the house for free, but NOOOO, she took this certificate seriously. Next time I am putting an expiration date on it. Better yet, I am not going to be so concerned with getting her something she really wants or needs. Nope, next time she is getting a Chia Pet, oil for the car, garbage bags, salt for the water softener in the basement and I will even carry the bags down for her. I'm liking this already.
Anyway, back to the garage floor. We had to do a tape check on the paint that was still on the floor. You score an "X" on the floor, stick a piece of duct tape over it and pull it up right away. If any of the pain comes up, your butt will be down on all fours scraping that stuff up. Knee pads are a plus! Once that is done...and it takes foreverrrrrrrrr....you must sweep up the mess and then clean that floor really well by hosing it down and scrubbing it. They give you special cleaner to use on it and then that leaves the floor sticky if you didn't wash it all off...so then you have to hose and scrub again. We actually had to use a wet vac to help pull the water up because of the way the house settled. Let it dry really well. That part of the process took 2 days....and then on the third day you have to wait until the humidity is below 75%. When you wake up to 98% humidity, its not a good sign. So you go back to bed and wait some more....keep checking the stupid humidity and FINALLY its at 72%, so you have to work fast. The Epoxy paint is in two parts. One is the color part and the smaller container has the clear epoxy that you have to pour in and stir for 3 minutes. Since the temperature is way over 85 degrees you have about ten minutes to trim the boarder of the room before you have to start rolling the mixture out. You have about 1 hour of rolling time before it sets up. I trimmed because I have better luck with that kind of thing. While I did that, Mom rolling in the area where I just trimmed. You do 4x4 areas at a time and then you have to toss on the flakes so it will be slip resistant. Once I was done trimming, I took over rolling and Mom did the flake tossing. I figured she was good at dealing with Pop so a couple more flakes on her hands wouldn't make much of a difference. lol. The floor looks lovely, don't you think.

Ladies and Gentleman.....

OK, I came across this picture of Cousin Mike and I showed it to his Niece, Danielle ...and that is when I about spit my soda all over the computer screen

Danielle : Mike looks like Billy Ray Cyrus
Nett: LOL...Billy Ray
Nett: OMG
Danielle: lol
Nett: but B.R.C.....oh poor Mike
Danielle Lyons: lol
Danielle Lyons: he would kill me if he heard that
Nett: yeah, perhaps he would

If Dani turns up missing....the cops now know who to question first. First Shrek, now Billy Ray....for the record, I think Shrek is a much better way to go. Luckily the Mullet is gone so Mike has that going for him. You know, if I turn up missing, perhaps the cops should speak with Mike too....ofcourse there is a very long list for me. I guess that means I am doing something right.

A trip to the library

While I was home, Mom and I made a special trip to the Pawnee City Nebraska Public Library. This place held a lot of special memories for me because I spent a lot of time in there as a little girl. I checked out the books that they had for sale and found a book that I remember quite fondly. It was about a grey cat that was everywhere....so I bought it for 25 cents. I can still remember Mom sitting on the from porch of the house reading me that book and a ton of others. I think my years in that house across from the library were some of my happiest, they must be, my memories from that time are so extremely strong. We lived in the house across the street at the time which is shown here and this is the view of it from the steps of the library. Anyway, Mom wanted to look up some birth announcements from the local papers which are now on micro film at the library. While we were messing around in the pre 1965 archives we were told that the post 1965 papers were still in the library but were going to be sent out to be converted to micro film. They were stacked in the basement on some of the old tables that sat upstairs when my Mom was a kid. We really didn't need anything from those papers but I was getting restless and my mind started spinning. I figured my birth announcement would be in them for 1970 and my sisters for 1973 and ofcourse they were. On the top of one of the stacks they showed a kindergarten class for 1970 and I started thinking about when I was a kindergartener myself. I remembered being lined up for a class picture for the paper so we looked in the 1970 August papers and found the picture. I remembered all the children in that class except one. I kind of feel bad for not remembering her because Mom said she knew I played with her. The poor thing was not very memorable, I guess and I have a great memory for people from when I was quite young. Oh well!

Prize time!

 OK, everyone keeps asking me when I am going to offer up a prize. Here you go: This quiz is open to anyone that has commented on MY site within the last 30 days. What is this picture of? Yeah, its a tough on. 

It's a small world...

I went to see Mamma Mia on Braodway today with Sam, his Mom and his Grandparents. While I was standing, waiting to get three programs from the usher I heard someone say, "Annette Kaster?"..in a very surprised way. I turn and it took me a second to realize it was one of my High School classmates. Now if you figure that my graduating class consisted of 29 students total...that is kind of interesting. It's not the first time I have ran into her....once I spotted her in the St Louis Airport. It turned out that we were both on the same flight to NYC and were delayed for 4 hours, but that was years ago. Anyway, Joni and I chatted for bit. She was taking her niece to her first show and will be heading back to Nebraska on Friday. She said that she was going to be visiting Heather, who just built a new house in Lincoln. Boog will probably come up from KC to visit. I'm sure she will have fun. She has two kids now, a girl Claire and a boy that is 1...but I can't pull his name out of my head, it starts with a "P". Dang it, I hate it when that happens. We chatted through the intermission and exchanged info by using our programs as memo pads. Maybe we will get together, who knows. She's not working now, staying home with the kids...so maybe we can work something out since she is living in Purchase NY.

It really is a small world.

Behold!

I had to get a shot of Uncle Lonnie and Pops doing the dishes. Don't be fooled, just because they know how to scrub some big pots doesn't mean that they are going to start doing that in the kitchen to help their wives out. PEOPLE, they have fishing to do! This was one of those freak events, don't expect to see it repeated anytime soon.

Don't be fooled, he'll get you!

My friend Amy's little boy is a cutie. He has those big apple cheeks and a sweet smile, he plays with babies, he puts on enough sunblock that his Mom will never worry about his tummy getting burnt. Yep, he's a cutie....but watch out. Put him in a pool and stick your leg over the edge to cool off in the 100 plus degree temps and see what happens. "Get in!", that is what he will say. "I won't get you wet, I won't splash you or nothin'. You can just stand in here and hold your shorts up so they don't get wet and you can get cool too." You will start to fall for his trap. He seems so sweet afterall and it is HOT standing in the sun, watching the kids swim. So, you fall for it. You step in the pool and spin Meredith on the floatie. He waits, he lets you relax and trust that he is no threat. Slowly he gets closer to you....slowly he makes his way within jumping distance....then he pounces with a laugh. You try to hop out before he can get ahold of you but that little devil is quick and strong. You get one leg out but he has ahold of the other one and you stumble to keep your balance. Ah ha! You break free and his plot to pull you down in the pool is spoiled. However, your shorts are wet to your belly button so we will have to call it a tie. Man, I love the way Cody operates! 

The difference between boys and girls...

There really is a difference in the way boys and girls play. Take this lounge chair for example, Meredith created a house with its perfectly sloped roof. Hayden created a disaster of mammoth proportions. They are so cute! 

We are Kaster's and we can't help ourselves!

It's genetic. It must be. We have an evil streak a mile wide and it runs twice as deep. the worst part about it is that we are all instigators....and half of us are dumb enough to do what the others put us up to doing. Please note the picture as proof to our madness. That is Cousin Billy, kicking back for a little snooze in the chair. Truth be told he was probably passed out after a long day of fishing and drinking. Those skinny arms attached to the Cheese Whiz container would be Zach, Billy's little brother and my Cousin/Godson. I'm not sure what happened after Billy woke from his slumber smelling of cheddar, but I can only guess he got even during the course of the weekend. I swear, we are not safe to be around. 

Mom was hitting the sauce!

LOL...just kidding! That isn't booze, it's ice tea...no, not Long Island Ice Tea, its sun tea brewed in Moms back yard. I just love the picture of her licking her chomps but the one that cracks me up is the one where she looks crazy eyed. LOL, its just the combination of her glasses and the drinking glass. She will probably kill me for posting it but lets face it...I have far worse pictures I could have posted and she knows it. Cheers! 

Well, atleast she isn't flipping me off!

This is my only sibling...my little sister Tisha. She's giving me that look...the "what do you think you are doing" look, but she seems to be in a good mood. You'd know it if she wasn't. Oh yes you would! We are like night and day. Seriously, we have very little in common. Deep down she is very sweet and caring but she doesn't always come across like that. She's a great gal and one tough cookie. Everything will be peachy keen until you try messing with her. Don't even think about it. She will open a can of Whoop-Ass on you and you will still be sitting there three days later, trying to figure out what happened. She doesn't let anyone intimidate her. Case in point. About a month ago she was driving home from work very late at night. She met a car on the highway and they didn't dim their lights like they are supposed to do. They were blinding her so she quickly flipped her high beam on and off one time to let them know that they had not dimmed their lights as they approached her. It is legal to do that once in Nebraska, it is the norm and considered a courtesy flash. Well, the other car was a State Trooper who turned around and pulled her over. She initially thought maybe he was trying to get her for speeding but she had her cruise control on. She didn't shut off her car so if she had to she could have him hit resume to prove that she was going under the limit. He walked up to her door and asked her to step to the back of her car. Now the strange part of this is that he didn't ask for her license or registration. He had his flashing lights on which meant that everything was being taped and she knew it. He started giving her a hard time about flashing him and she told him that if he had dimmed his lights she would not have had to do it. She said she knew it was legal to do so and that his headlights were blinding her. He was being a real jerk and trying to intimidate her. He then asked her if she was married, to which she replied that she was married and that NO, she wasn't wearing her ring because she was coming home form work and she never wears her ring to work because she doesn't want to lose the diamond and she flatly told him that it really wasn't any of his business anyway. She then demanded to know how her marital status pertained to the current circumstance. He started taking a step toward her and she took a step back. After all, this was late at night on a deserted highway in rural Nebraska and the guy was not being professional at all. He'd take another step toward her and she would take another step back. The whole time she is asking him to explain himself. I mean he was really messing with her. He was trying to intimidate her and when his advances didn't work he put his hand on his gun. Now, Tisha is quite chummy with several State troopers because they come into her place of work, she also knows a lot about how they operate. She knew she had not done anything to give him just cause to reach for his weapon and she had taken just about enough of his crap. He kept stepping toward her and she kept taking one step back, to the point that she was almost in the ditch. This is when she told him to take his hand off his weapon or pull his gun. And he yelled at her, "What did you say to me?!" Once again she told him to to take his hand off his weapon or pull his gun. Again he yelled and asked her what she had said to him. She told him that she had not done anything to warrant his actions and she yelled right back at the top of her lungs, "Take your hand off the weapon or pull the f#%$ing gun!" He stared her down and she glared right back at him and didn't flinch. He then removed his hand and she yelled, "Are we done here?!" He said, Yes" and she drove home.
Now she was really pissed off. She spoke to her trooper pals who told her that she had not done anything out of line. The next day she called in a complaint on the guy and told another officer what had happened. He asked if the lights were on and she said yes, so he told her that they would review the tape and get back to her. Later she received a call letting her know that the tape was viewed by a panel of 5 officers and a lawyer. The officer in question was being removed from the road and put on desk duty. He had to complete an anger management course and pass with flying colors or he would be banned from law enforcement for life. At some point he has to write her a letter of apology. The lawyer that spoke to her said that if he had been in her situation he would have felt very intimidated and that the officers actions were very aggressive and not at all justified. He also told her that there were several other complaints against that particular officer. Let's face it, most women on a deserted highway, late at night would not have reacted like my Sister did. She really doesn't allow anyone to mess with her. You show her respect and you might receive it but whatever you do, don't think for one minute that she will take any crap from you if she doesn't deserve it. I really do admire that about her. 

Caution: May cause nightmares!

I showed this picture to my Pop and he said he could have gone his whole life without seeing that. The best part of it is that the plumber crack shown belongs to Pop. Well, he was a plumber once, hence the crack. I don't know what is worse, seeing his plumbers crack or yelling for him to pull up his pants when we stopped at the gas station. He had a good 4 inches of tighty whities sticking out above the waistband. Oy Vey! 

Typical!

Isn't this just a typical picture. The fish fry will start in a few hours and the guys are milling around and the ladies are washing off tables. Yep, that is what usually happens. It's just typical...sheesh! 

I'd rather be allergic to ice cream.

Isn't that lovely?! This is what happens to me when I spend to much time in the sun. I get a rash. No, it isn't a heat rash. I never get it under my clothing, it only appears where the sun hits my skin. It's gross. It gets worse the more I am outside. If I stay out of the sun for a few days the color will go away pretty quick and the bumps will stick around for a while. If I go outside again before the bumps are gone the color comes right back. Sometimes it itches, sometimes it doesn't. It always starts out on the top of my hands and fore arms. If I am not careful it will spread to my legs and neck, but not under my clothing. It also makes me feel icky. Seriously, I love ice cream, but I would gladly switch a sun allergy for an ice cream allergy.

Where should I start?

Three weeks without a single post is a loooong time. So much happened in those three weeks that I have probably forgotten half of the good stuff. Dang it! I know I said, "Oh MAN, that would make a great blog entry," more than a dozen times. Now I just don't know where to start. I guess I will just click into my pictures and post about the first one I see.

Here we go:It's a known fact that a little information in the hands of one of our Uncles turns into a little fun. That is Uncle Lonnie, beer in hand, confronting Cousin Shannon with the little tidbit he had just heard. It seems the rumor around town is that Shannons friend Justin Wagner is more than just a friend, hence the reference "Mrs Wagner" and that isn't all....it seems rumor has it that Shannon is preggers. Well, don't worry, she isn't pregnant, she isn't dating Justin, she is getting married, nope, but that doesn't stop our Uncles from having a little fun with that info.
My Father had his fun too. He had heard me talking about my Cousin Cindy's daughter...his great niece. Danielle had been a fan of sport bras and when Cindy finally got her talked into trying a real bra on, Danielle had said they made her look like she had cleavage. Anyway, poor Danielle was standing in the garage at the fish fry and my father walked up to her and gave her some quick advice and strolled off. He told her that those sports bras pancake you and to stick to real bras. LOL, I just missed this whole thing, but I walked into the garage just in time to see my Dad walk out the other end and to see Cindy laughing her butt off, swearing she didn't tell him anything about it. Then she pointed at me and said, I bet she was the one who told him. When I asked Danielle what he said to her, she just shook her head, mouth moving but nothing coming out. All she managed to say is that she was speechless. Yep, in my family a little information in the wrong hands could mean a good laugh for everyone.

I'm back!

Yep after three weeks in Nebraskie...its back to the suburban sprawl for me. My flight from St Paul arrived at LGA a half an hour early. NICE! Then we hit traffic on the way home.....so basically I arrived at the house about the same time I would of if I had arrived on time and traffic was moving well.
I have lots of strange pictures from my trip. Quite a few are the kind of pictures that I can't post....for fear of being attacked. My neck and shoulders are killing me today. I received a sunburn while sealing my parents driveway and it was hot yesterday but it didn't hurt like it does today. There must be a two day rule of pain when it comes to sunburns.

So, I came home to an empty house....goodie! However now that it is light out, I noticed that...ONCE AGAIN....nobody bothered to water the flowers and the sprinkler system must have reset because by the looks of the yard, it has only been running 5 minutes a night. Everything is brown, my impatients are just stems, and I have no idea why nobody would notice this?! On a good note, the house is not the complete and total pit that I thought it would be. Actually, I am happily surprised that it is in a half way decent condition.

I'm full of tons of stories from my vacation but I have a funny feeling most of them will seem boring unless you have my animated story telling to go along with it. Oh, I will be posting a few things, just so I can make a few people nervous about what I may post.

Is it just me or was it hotter than H. E. Double hockey sticks for the last three weeks?! It sounded like it was really warm everywhere. I know Nebraskie had some lovely hot humid weather. Yep, way to many days of 100-105, high humidity, heat index soaring over 115 degrees......please note that I am NOT the kind of nut that likes the weather hot. I melt. It is not a pleasant experience to watch me melt....take my word for it.

I'll be visiting your blogs soon. Give me time to get unpacked and situated.