My sisters are crazy

I have a couple of crazy sisters. The oldest, Teresa, has been crazy the longest. She once stood in her kitchen one cold, wintry weekend morning and did a pretend cooking show. All by herself. One of her kids found her describing what she was doing and then cut to a pretend commercial break. When her kids were little, they didn't want to help clean the house, so she told them that the people from "House Beautiful" magazine were coming and everything needed to be spotless. They got right to their chores. I think that only worked once. So you see what I'm dealing with here. Certifiable.

Jenny (the middle child) exhibits her craziness a little differently than Teresa. She yells at her kids (it's her favorite hobby) and she is the shopaholic of the family. Don't get me wrong. All of us (females anyway) like to shop. But Jenny tires of it less easily than the rest of us. We've been known to call her The Energizer Bunny because she keeps going and going and going. My Dad has named us (my Mom, sisters and I) the Wheel Gang because we'll go anywhere for any reason, especially bargains.

This past weekend when the weather was gearing up for a winter blast, Jenny decided she was going to drive to Wichita (almost a 4-hour trip one way) to do her Christmas shopping. None of us was really surprised. Her husband, Fred, opted to stay home with the kids. I joined her for shopping Saturday evening and a Sam's run Sunday morning, but other than that she was on her own.

The good news is that she got almost all of her shopping done and what she has left can be done easily before Christmas. The weather did get bad overnight Saturday, but by the time she left Sunday morning, the roads were fairly clear and she got home about 4 and a half hours after she left. We all breathed a sigh of relief that she was home safely. But we know she'll do this again someday.

90 degrees in September? Ugh.

Well, I'm not sure I like the forecast for this week. It's supposed to be hot and windy. Both of which make me cranky. When September hits, I like the cool to come right along with it. And the wind? Well, I've been having satellite interference with my local channels caused by my neighbor's tree, and it is a lost cause when it's windy. Which means the season premiere of "Prison Break" tonight will probably be an hour of dead air on my TiVo. Nice. I'll probably end up watching it on my computer since I won't be home to watch it live.

On a more positive note: my parents are coming for a visit later this week. My Mom is in a couple of china painting clubs here in town since her local group went defunct earlier this year. She'll be at one group on Thursday and the other on Friday. They meet once a month except in the summer. As an extra bonus this time, my Dad's coming along with her. He'll be running errands (buying exciting things like hydraulic oil and frequenting places like Knight Machine) for his business. He's a welder, by the way. He has owned his own business for as long as I can remember, but he's been a welder now for over 49 years. He says he's going to retire next fall when he turns 68. We'll see. Rumor also has it that he'll be shopping for a new (to him) pickup to replace his current heap.