There's a Snake in the Basement

It's Tuesday evening and I am home alone. Murray and Emma are helping a lady from church clean her yard. So I am working on some exam forms for the doctor I work for. Just reformatting them in Excel.

The phone rings and it's my neighbor, Barb, asking if Murray is home. I told her no, he's not. She proceeded to tell me that she was standing in her basement on a phone call with her son and she saw a snake in the corner of her basement. She didn't have her glasses therefore, could not see what kind it was. She ended the phone call with her son and grabbed a rake from the garage and pushed the snake into the bedroom, shut the door and stuffed the gap at the bottom with towels.

I looked out my window and saw my neighbor on the opposite side in his garage. I called Rich and asked if he had a moment to help Barb. Without hesitation he was happy to help. He came over with a flashlight, bucket and garden rake. The slippery corn snake put up a good fight. All the time I'm saying "just kill it, just kill it". Rich's reply was, "No, this is a good snake, he will eat mice". Finally the slippery devil was caught in a cardboard box and dumped way out in the farm field behind Barb's house.

For those who are wondering how this fits into the title of my blog, I have fantastic neighbors. We are all busy with our families and jobs, but always take time to help one another. When we need a helping hand or shoulder to lean on, we only need to look out our front door and help is all around us.

We Are Back With da Island Hangover

We are home from a fantastic week on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Mark and Cathy invited us to spend a week at their time-share with them and it was everything we thought it would be.

Beautiful blue water, temperature in the low 80's and a slow pace of island life. We did many fun things which I will post about this week.

We are experiencing what I call "island hangover" or sometimes known as vaca hangover. Our reality isn't that bad but we're trying to get our mojo back. We came home to a yard that needs major attention, laundry that needs to be dealt with and an empty refrigerator. Not too bad, we can handle it because we are all together again. Murray, Me, Emma and the $#%*! dog, Rusty. There really is love at home.

More details to follow.

Mah Jongg With The Girls

Once a month I play Mah Jongg with Ruth, Barb and Kathy. These ladies are my friends. We are each in different stages of life but still manage to have a night of laughter, silliness and a serious game of Mah Jongg.

Without making their last names know all over the internet, I can tell you Ruth's husband left her last year after 35 years of marriage. Barb's husband passed away at home while she was in California visiting family and friends last year. Cathy's husband has been unemployed and searching for a job for over a year.

We talk about our children, our yards and the latest landscaper to hit our neighborhood. Barb told us about the snake living in the flower bed that we share between our driveways. Needless to say I will be walking home from her house down her driveway and then up my own driveway(no cutting through the flower bed for this sissy). Ruth's VW Bug convertible top is broken, it won't raise or lower and it will cost her $2,000 to fix. Cathy's son is living and working in Monterey, California. He is an engineer and called his mom for help deciding whether or not to lease an apartment or continue to live in the Navy base housing provided for him as a contract worker. They ask about my daughters and we talk about the boys Alaina dates and laugh about the fact that the same kind of guys were around when we were dating. You know the type.

These girls are 57, 62 and 52 years old. Now that I put it in writing, I realize I'm not that far behind them. Maybe the gap between us is alot smaller than I originally thought. :)

Girls Day Out

Emma and I made yesterday, Saturday, April 6, 2008, our girl's day out. It started with a quick stop at the ATM. I gave Emma a predetermined amount of cash to spend on the school clothes of her choice. Our next stop was the mall with stops at Macy's, Papaya, Aerie, American Eagle, and back to Macy's for a second look. By now Emma was broke and penniless. Welcome to my life sweetie.

We decided to go to Red Lobster for lunch. As we were waiting for our table Emma leaned over to me and said, "that looks like a Bognar girl". As I was squinting to look across the lobby and see what she pointed to, a lady with a diaper bag came and squished on the 2 person bench next to us. Imagine my suprise when I recognized it was my good friend, Benny Bognar, trying to take me by surprise. How I love this sister. Have you ever met someone that you felt a kinship with? Benny is like that for me. She is a kind, humble woman. We first met at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. Then we were stationed at Fort Hood, Texas at the same time. Now 10 years later we are in the same Stake here in the east. Our husbands are both civilians now which makes it all the more wonderful that we are living close again.

When we both lived at Fort Hood, Texas, Benny babysat Emma while I worked for a financial planner. Benny had three daughters then which she home schooled. Emma loves Benny like a second mother. I think there may be days that she wishes I were the second mother and Benny her real Mom.

We ended up having lunch at the same table and reminiscing about the girls' earlier years. The girls never stopped talking and laughing during the meal. See the two girls standing next to one another in the photo? Jennifer and Emma used to fight like crazy when they were 3 yrs old. By the way Emma reacted to stumbling upon the Bognar girls in town I know lunch at Red Lobster was the highlight of her day.

Survivor - Micronesia Fans vs. Favorites

I am now a fan of the Survivor show on the CBS network. Why, you wonder. My next-door neighbor, Tracy, has been one of the "fans" this season. She is an amazing woman and a truly great friend and neighbor.

I was aware she was going through the audition/application process; even emailed some pics of Tracy to casting. (She told CBS she was using our computer.) Long story, but broadband connection was down at Tracy's home and ours was running. It was the neighborly thing to do.

When she disappeared for 6 weeks last fall, I suspected she made the final cut and was somewhere far away filming the show. I was so excited for her, but also incredulous. I could only imagine what it would be like to live with no running water, soap, food, electricity, deoderant etc. What a risk taker she is!

Each episode has been more real for me because I know Tracy. I just wonder what the challenges were really like. So much is edited out by the the producers. As viewers at home, we get to see the coniving and manipulation that goes on between the players because the cameras are everywhere on the island filming simultaneously.

I visited with Tracy today and snapped this pic of her and asked tons of questions regarding the show. What was Exile Island like, does Ozzy really have the immunity idol, does he make it to the end? Who is the best on the show? How many days between challenges? Is Chet really the sissy he's seems to be? BTW, when Chet's foot became infected, his liver became swollen. Now I understand why Chet wanted to drop out early and go home.

Tracy didn't tell me much due to her contractual obligations of "no comment". Sorry, there's no juicy insider news to pass on. She did admit to craving a Snickers candy bar and said she would do Survivor again in a heartbeat.

If I ever need to know how to start a fire without matches or dig a potty hole in my back yard I know who I can call on.

On Our Way to Atlantis

I was in town today running errands and my cell phone rang. It was Cathy, one of my favorite friends. She asked "Are you up for a little vacation?" My reply was something like "You know me, I'm always up for a vacation, what ya got in mind?"

She and her husband, Mark, are scheduling their time-share vacation for the year and are going to the Atlantis in Nassau, Bahamas and invited Murray and I to join them.

Oh, yes!! I quickly called Murray on his cell, good timing because he just landed in Phoenix. I passed the details by him. He quickly entered the trip on his work schedule, so this means the trip to Nassau will trump anything else that may come up. :) I am already so excited, we have never been on a vacation like this. It will be like the honeymoon we never had. Yes, we will have a seperate room from Mark and Cathy. But, having great friends like them makes trips like this very fun.

More details to follow I promise.