Updates - tiny kittens and exhaustion

I'm struggling with some major problems with my hands and arms and don't type much any longer.  Yes, a writer that can't type or write.  Not good.  I'm attempting to work with voice recognition software but its difficult in that I don't like to talk much. LOL - I'll figure it out yet.  I haven't heard from my doctor about x-rays I had taken last week yet.  We'll see if there's anything that can be done besides icy/hot cream and braces.

We're doing okay on this end, actually.  Our youngest cousin left last Monday for Navy bootcamp.  He's entered into a six year contract and will be working with computers on really high levels.  He came to stay with us last September and weighed 270 lbs.  Within six months he was at 200 lbs and had trimmed down nicely.  He worked very hard on his swimming (taught by former Navy Seals) and exercise to build up his endurance.  He also worked hard at part time jobs that quickly became full time jobs and helped out around the house.  

I got to "corrupt" him a little - I took him to see Alice Cooper in Birmingham a couple of months ago and he loved it.  No one puts on a show like Alice, that's for certain!  We educated each other about various music and groups the other might like and he turned me on to an instructional "game" for learning the guitar.  It looks like a video game but is very detailed and works with your levels from - here's how you pick up a guitar to "let's master this extremely difficult lead guitar, ready?" levels.  I think it'll help get past some of the memory issues I have with learning guitar (or foreign languages). 

The yard looks like a jungle and they tell us we're in a drought here and conserve water.  We do take that serious even though it's been raining for almost 3 weeks straight with just a few days of relief.  Our driveway is escaping onto the street!  With Nick here we tackled some major house projects - the kid insulated the garage in one day and night and worked on applying masonary sealant onto the cinder blocks.  He built a fire pit for us and chopped down some trees about to cause problems with our roof - with an axe, he wanted to work on building some muscles - LOL.  Jackie has been working hard at painting the kitchen cabinets and drawers.  The walls are a brick red and the cabinets were a chocolate dark brown.  She painted the drawers and doors a cream color and will highlight them with some red in the detail work to pull it all together.  It looks so much brighter in there and is losing it's "cave" feeling.  We're also working in the bathroom to fix the horrible paint jobs previous tenants attempted.  I swear that they were either blind or stoned or both when they painted some of the rooms!

Jackie and I are a bit tired, I'll admit.  Our disabled neighbor came up 2 weeks ago in his wheelchair and asked if we could take care of a newborn kitten he found.  We figure mama cat was moving kittens and he startled her.  It was too hot to leave him out with the hope she would come back.  We haven't even seen a pregnant cat here so we have no idea if she is a stray or a pet.  Of course we know how to deal with newborns - we just forgot how much work they are.  Jackie has the day shift starting at 4:30-5:30 am and I have the night shift.  He's getting bigger but can still fit in my small hand.  A cute little gray thing that we've named Mouse.  I'll be glad when I can sleep 6 hours with unbroken sleep. 

Miss you, Mom