Mama had a grand time at the cemetery last Friday. I won't go into the reason we were there, that would be a whole you by itself! She must have given hugs and kisses to everyone there at least five times. We were comparing lipstick marks on our cheeks; most of us had two on each cheek.

We have always said a blessing before each meal. The one we used most often was "Lord make us thankful for all our blessings. In Jesus name we pray. Amen" A while back Mama started praying, "Dear God and Jesus Christ, thank you for our food. Amen." Now she says, "Dear God and (pause) two of us are here. We will eat. Amen." She will whisper count to make sure she gets the correct number of people.

Last night our school board held a meal to show appreciation for all school district employees and retirees. I took Mama with me. She wanted to go with me, but she did not want to eat there. She hugged and kissed her way through crowds of people. Someone commented on how strong she was because she grabbed their hand and pulled them down for a cheek kiss. They had no choice. I said, "Welcome to my world." I fixed her a plate and she scarfed it all down. The whole time telling me it was time to go home. I should have known better than to interrupt her normal schedule. We got home around 8:30 and she went to bed. Then she "heard" someone so she got up. No one was there so she went back to bed. A minute later she was up because she "heard" someone who wanted her cookie crumbs. No one was there. She went back to bed. She heard someone so she got up. This went on until at least 3:00 A.M. After I went to bed, she began to try to unlock the dead bolt. I caught her using the following "keys": knife (we have hidden all the sharp ones), spoon, fork, ballpoint pen--then I was so tired I didn't even look at what she had; I just stumbled out of bed and tried to direct her back to her room. She would say, "Aren't you going to slip?" I replied, "I would go to slip if you would quit getting up." She said, "Go to slip. I love you." kiss kiss. I tried to just ignore her, but she made so much noise digging through drawers looking for a "key" that I had to get up to make sure she didn't find something that would hurt her.

I am a bit groggy this morning. My students are working on a practice sheet for next week's state test. AAAAAAHHHHHHHH, yelled the teacher as she went over the edge. Like my life doesn't have enough stress, let's add in a test. But since almost all of the children passed the TAAS, they changed to the TAKS so it would be Harder. Now it will look like teachers are not doing a good job.