Sun April 30 2006: well I got 'skunked' this afternoon. My mother is having problems with an armadillo messing up her back yard. The city came out and left a trap. This morning, there was a skunk in the trap. We went up and laughed but stayed out of the way since the city won't come pick it up until Monday. We went out for Chinese food for lunch and then came back to change light bulbs, tighten down things, put up new hangers (all the things one does for mom when you visit). By the time we got ready to leave, the sun had moved and the skunk was in a really sunny place without any water. So I decided to be nice and put something over the sunny side so he wouldn't get so darn hot in the metal trap. HA! he got me....not bad but bad enough. My brother wanted me to ride in the back of the pickup on the way home but my sister-in-law (bless her heart) wouldn't let him do it. So we all got used to the smell until I got out of the car. The cat that was awake - Sam - didn't seem to mind it but I got on the internet anyway to look for ways to get rid of the odor. So a quick trip to the store (no one ran away screaming about the smell), got some baking soda and came home to make the 'get rid of that darn skunk odor' concoction (hydrogen perioxide, baking soda, detergent). it worked to some extent but I'm really not sure I'll be going to work tomorrow. My clothes are in the washer now so we'll see how they come out (my favorite jeans too!)

April 2: I love April Fool's Day. I always have to leave something in my brothers yard sometime on, before, after, around the time of April Fool's Day. Occasionally, I do it at Christmas (last Christmas it was flamingos with wool scarves that lined their driveway - of course I wanted until the Christmas when my niece brought home her new boyfriend!). This year I was just too tired so I went to bed instead. But I woke up this morning around 3 or 4am and decided it was as good of time as any. (I like to mix up exactly when he gets his AFD surprise!). So I go back the car out of the garage, run up into the attic and get the bag of huge plastic Easter eggs (Thank you again Wal*Mart - and yes, I buy stuff all year for this one event). I have a new motion-sensor light in the back so of course the driveway was lit up for a while (I'm sure my neighbors slept through it - well I hope so anyway) then I took off for my brothers house - he lives 2.5 miles away - with the windows down it was just so nice outside. Anyway, I took out all the big Easter eggs and threw them all over his front year (always do the front yard, it makes more of an impact to his neighbors!). He lives in a really really nice area that makes him clean up my shenanigans within 24 hours. But at least he knows I'm thinking about him!

I also finally got my pink phone yesterday. I've been in several Cingular stores recently and besides being rude, they didn't care about selling phones. I decided to try one more time and if I didn't get the phone from a real store (yes I know they carry it online but for heaven's sake, they have stores!!) I was going to transfer to another carrier that does want to sell phones. I went to the store by Collin Creek, had to wait awhile since it was crowded but they had one on display!. When they finally called my name, I said I wanted a pink phone, he said "ok sure let me go get it"; and then he really went and got it. I bought it, he explained about the battery and out I went! It was the first Cingular store I've ever walked out of happy!