BRATFARM-SOUTH
 Well, here we are again.  A new spot to make home.  This one is much easier to work with but I still have to explore it and find my niche.  In the meantime, I will be talking about all the usual things....the Beast, Chewlee, Bratfink, our garden, frustrations, etc.  I hope you will stick with me until it all feels like *our* place.

Chewlee didn't get an A+ on her spelling test this past Friday.  She seems to have a hard time with the word *they*.  I don't know why because she reads it with no problem but she can't make the transition because of the *A* sound in  *they*.  I'm going to make her write it this weekend because she will be doing another sleepover today (she stayed on Thursday and we DID make the bus but just barely).  It seems Chewlee left her flip-flops at a neighbors house and we didn't realize it until it came time for her to put her shoes on Friday morning.  

She ended up wearing her Sunday shoes and she took her time putting on her socks because she MUST wear them with those shoes.  She had barely put on the shoes before I saw the bus.  She panicked because she didn't know where her backpack was but I pointed to it for her.  She had been sitting down with it at her back.  She smacked her forehead when she saw it and made me laugh.  I waved to the bus driver who waited patiently for her.  She wouldn't run in her shoes so she was ambling casually down the driveway while the driver sat there with the door open, waiting.  There are times she makes me want to smack her backside. 

When she got home from school, she told me she was tired.  That lasted all of 5 minutes because she saw Sam playing outside.  Off she ran after asking if she could go and play with him.  She played with him until he had to go inside  to eat.  She then went over to another neighbors to play with their kids.  That's where she left her flip-flops on Thursday but do you think she thought to bring them home.  Of course not.  But I am going to make her do that today.

When Chewlee got home at dinner time, I had a surprise for her AFTER she ate.  She had a couple hot dogs along with tortilla chips and salsa.  I then handed her two of the little pickles (gherkins?) and her face lit up with a big smile.  She had no idea we had any dill pickles in the house but I had bought two jars of them last week and I hid the second jar so she WOULDN'T know.  I can be a stinker, too, when I feel like it.

I made stew for dinner and it smells wonderful.  I cooked it in the slow cooker and there's actually enough for several meals.  However, I am going to send some home with the Princess and Tara, too, if she stops by like I hope she does.  I put it on to cook last night and every time I got up to use the bathroom, I added another ingredient.  You know....add the carrots to the beef and onion, then later, add the little potatoes and last of all the peas.  It's just NOT a stew to me without peas.  That's the way Mom made it and it makes a difference in the taste if you don't have them.  I sometimes add some stewed tomatoes to it because that's what HIS mom did and he will ask me to do it.  It's not bad so I don't mind, now and then.

I'm going to close this now and go to Xanga and let everyone know to come here and the name of my blog now.  Believe it or not, my blog name on Xanga wasn't available here.  But we'll get used to the new name.  I called it Bratfarm-South because we live in *The South* (Alabama is truly *The South*).  Hope you get used to it and have no problems.

Love you all.  Dress appropriately for your weather, wherever you are.  Be careful driving.  Have a little fun this weekend and think of me.  I'll be babysitting Chewlee until Sunday evening.