September's Girl

Still Alive!!

2009-11-23T17:26:00.000-08:00

Yikes
It's been 3 months since I posted.
In that time...
I turned 49....yikes
My daughter painted the bathroom. 3 walls baby poo caramel and the 4th wall blood clot red.
As you can tell I am NOT happy with her color choices.
My son landed a part time retail job.
I celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving.
Three people at work lost parents, and I wasn't one of them.
Thankful for that.
My husband had the shingles, but went to work anyway.
My niece and her fiance became proud parents of a baby girl.
I got to hold her when she was just 3 1/2 hours old.
She is my bald little friend. LOL
Sparky hasn't quit yet.
Extreme Home makeover came to town and did someone's house.
They redid a whole street in Nickel City, hopefully the gangs won't rob the people and trash the neighborhood.
I went back to my roots.
My hair roots.
More white/gray than blond now.
Tired of putting harsh chemicals on my head.
Too close to my brain.
I have to work Black Friday.
But at least I don't have to be to work at 4:45 am like my son.
My daughter went to Atlanta for Thanksgiving week.
Not happy about it.
Might be my Father's last Thanksgiving.
My college roommate had a tumor the size of a baby's head (2.5 lbs worth) removed from the outside of her uterus...along with her uterus.
The frigging check engine light came on in my car!
Haven't gotten the flu shot or the flu yet.
Hopefully I didn't just jinx myself!
I have been reading all my favorite blogs.
Stop by Coffeepot's to see a freaky tattoo.
Been on facebook a lot.
Damn Yoville, Farmville and Mafia wars!!!
Have a Happy Thanksgiving.
I am making the Turkey, stuffing and gravy.
Have an apple pie made already
Dinner will be at my folks house.
Take care Peeps!

Under 30 crowd

2009-08-19T16:09:00.000-07:00

I got this e-mail from a friend at work who is younger than me!!!

THE SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!
When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears
with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were. When they were growing
up; what with walking Twenty-five miles to school every morning

Uphill...
barefoot...
BOTH ways
Yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,
there was no way in hell I was going to lay
a bunch of cap. like that on kids about how hard I
had it and how easy they've got it!

But now that...
I'm over the ripe old age of thirty, I can't help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You've got it so easy! I mean, compared to my childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!

And I hate to say it but you kids today you don't know how good you've got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn't have The Internet. If we wanted to know
something, We had to go to the damn library and look it up ourselves, in the card catalogue!!

There was no email!! We had to actually write somebody a letter, with a pen!

Then you had to walk all the way across the street and put it in the mailbox and it
would take like a week to get there! Stamps were 10 cents!

Child Protective Services didn't care if our parents beat us. As a matter of fact, the parents of all my friends also had permission to kick our a$$! No where was safe!

There were no M3' s or Tapsters! You wanted to steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!

Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ'd usually talk over the beginning and @#*% it all up!

There were no CD players! We had tape decks in our car. We'd play our favorite tape and "eject" it when finished and the tape would come undone. cause that's how we rolled dig?

We didn't have fancy crap. like Call Waiting! If you were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that's it!

And we didn't have fancy Caller ID either!

When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was! It could be your school, your
mom, your boss, your Bookie, your drug dealer, a collections agent, you just didn't know!!! You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn't have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics! We had the Atari 2600! With games like 'Space Invaders' and 'asteroids'. Your guy was a little square! You actually had to use your imagination!! And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win. The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died! Just like LIFE!

You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on! You were screwed when it came to channel surfing! You had to get off your a$$ and walk over to the TV to change the channel! There was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons
on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I'm saying!?! We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

TV stations actually went off the air after midnight. If you couldn't sleep we had these things called novels to read.

And we didn't have microwaves, if we wanted to heat something up we had to use the stove ... Imagine that!

That's exactly what I'm talking about! You kids today have got it too easy.
You're spoiled. You guys wouldn't have lasted five minutes back in 1980 or before!

Regards,

The over 30 Crowd

RAin part 2

2009-08-13T17:51:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm a day or 2 late with this, but I'm sure ya'll had enough other stuff to keep you busy. :-)

So...Hubby came home Monday and went up into the attic space through a hole in the garage. It was 85 degrees all day so it was a sweat box up there.
He was just coming out of the attic when I arrived home from work.
Sweat was pouring off his face and his t-shirt was plastered to his back.
Poor guy.
Turns out there wasn't a hole in the roof.
Blonde Goddess & I had the same problem with the wind swirling and whipping the rain up under the eaves and through the vents in the soffits
.

At least my house is still on it's foundation and I didn't end up with a pond in my back yard.
So I should be thankful that all we had to suffer through was a bit of water dripping from the light fixture and a sweat puppy hubby.

The photo of the guy with the pink crocs on is a relative of one of the girls from work.
They showed it on the news! It was his neighbors back yard.

Dad is doing well.
He actually drove to the store by himself.
He "snuck"out while Mom was at a senior citizen meeting.
He's back to using just a cane.

Now if the kids could just find jobs!!!
PEace people.

Rain RAin go away..

2009-08-10T19:11:00.000-07:00

We have had enough rain in this area of the country.
Last night we had a storm so bad that it flooded out trailer parks and hospitals....and people's basements.
Of course my kids were driving home from NY City and hit every storm along the way. They called around 9 pm and said that they had 2 hours more to drive before getting home.
Hubby asked where they were and I told him about 3 hours away.
Experience taught me that if I told him 2 hours he would be asking where they were in exactly 2 hours, so considering the storm and his worrying I said 3 hours, but probably longer because of the torrential downpours.

THe thunderstorm was very violent.
I tried to go to bed at 11:00, but couldn't fall asleep because the kids weren't home.
Quarter to midnight, I was just about to fall into the nice sleep listening to the thunder, when Hubby got up to go to the bathroom.
Five minutes later he comes back into the bedroom, turns on the light and says...You'll never guess what is happening!
Well if he didn't turn off the sticking light he wouldn't want to know what would be happening to him!
Anyway...
He said that the roof was leaking.
The new roof he just put on in May.
How can this be?
It had rained before and never leaked.
I asked where it was leaking and it was in the kitchen.
I threw on my glasses and flipflops and trudged my way to the kitchen.
Sure enough, water was dripping out of the kitchen light fixture.
Seems Hubby stepped into a puddle on the floor when he went to get a drink of water...and since we don't have a dog ...he knew something was wrong.
He was rather upset that the roof would be leaking.
I told him that the winds were pretty strong maybe part of the ridge vent blew off or something hit the house again.
(He slept through most of the storm)
"Well I'm not going out on the roof to see what's going on now" he grumbled as thunder rumbled and lightning flashed and the rain pounded against the windows on every side of the house.
"that's right, you're not"
So I went back to bed.
10 minutes later the kids were home and I could hear him telling them what was going on to the sound of the water dripping off the light fixture into a pan on the floor.
I popped out said glad you made it back and good night and went to sleep.

TIme for bed...I'll tell you the rest of the story tomorrow
Peace and stay dry!!

where have I been?

2009-07-08T18:43:00.001-07:00

Where have I been?
Hubby and I took a mini vacation trip to Niagara Falls NY.

Didn't go to Canada as I don't have a passport or enhanced Drivers license...yet
We left on his birthday.
As we approached Niagara falls..the sky got darker and darker and by the time we got there it was a torrential down pour.
Somehow we found our way to the hotel parking lot and waited till it was just raining normally till we ventured out of the car to check in.
We stayed at the Comfort Inn at the Pointe, which is right out side the park entrance and close to the Hard Rock Cafe.
After parking the car we didn't move it till we left 2 days later.
We walked everywhere.
The USA side of Niagara Fall is beautiful and park like.
Everyone says to go to Canada, but I think the view is just as nice from this side...except for all the tall buildings and Ferris wheels that are in the background over in Canada.

We had fun.
It was nice getting away from the neighborhood.
We checked out the Seneca Niagara Casino.
I lost $6.00 on the nickel machines.
Wanted to treat Hubby to the buffet at lunch, but it was too pricey.
$19.95 for a lunch Buffet?? Are they serious??
You would have to be pretty hungry to get your money's worth/

Apparently gone are the days of the cheap casino buffets.
I remember getting Surf & Turf in Vegas for $9.99

Two of my friends lost their fathers lately.
One died 2 days before fathers day.
He had brain cancer.
The other had a heart attack mowing his lawn.

His wife looked out the window and saw him on the ground next to the running lawn mower. The ambulance called and after being gone for 11 minutes, brought him back, only to be put on life support and never regain consciousness.
The last time my friend visited with her dad was on Father's day.
They took him off life support the other day.
These things usually come in threes.

I had a good fourth of July.
Hubby got some steaks and I made steaks and shrimp on the barbie, baked potatoes, grilled chicken, salad and corn on the cob for the 4 of us and my parents.
It was yummy.
I haven't seen my Dad eat that much in a long time.

I've been spending too much time on spacey face book page.
Dang Yoville and Farm town!! haven't played Mafia wars, don't intend to start.
Did find an old friend from AZ on it and got back in touch with her.

So I still am alive.
Go to the Gyno tomorrow for a checkup.
Appointment is at 8, so must get up earlier than usual.
so good night y'all
Peace

Tired Ramblings

2009-06-15T18:33:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am tired, but decided to post anyway...so this should be interesting or really weird.

My daughter went to Bonnaroo this past weekend down in Tennessee.
She left Thurs night and we didn't hear from her till this afternoon, on;ly because we left messages on her cell phone to see if she was still alive.
She said there wasn't a cell tower near the field where the concerts were held.
I told her that they have these old fashioned things called payphones which she could have used.
But anyway...
She said she had fun.
Except that Bruce Springsteen was playing there and when his concert was going on , no other concert was allowed to play during it...there were 4 other stages... Google searched Bonnaroo and you will see how big this event is...I never heard of it before.
But anyway ...apparently her generation are not big fans of "The Boss" like my generation was/is.
SO half way thru his concert, he said that he was going to p;ay requests and pulled out a big paper Santa Claus and sang "Santa Claus is coming to TOwn" which apparently at the concerts that are probably mostly attended by my generation where he is the headliner, this is one song that they always request..
But when he started singing it for this crowd, about a fourth of them got up and left.

I'm sure she had other adventures that I will never hear about and probably don't really want to know.

Me, i went to the Allentown art festival in beautiful downtown Buffalo NY. (Read all about it here and here
There were over 400 artists.
I went with Elly.
WE were there from 10 am to 2:30 pm walking around and seeing all the arts and crafts.
Here is a good article about the show.
There was some really nice stuff there, but most of it was out of our price range.
People watching was fun.
I commented to Elly at one point that it looked like they let out one big group home as some of the people were rather odd looking.
Luckily it wasn't hot out or we would have been subjected to more exposed flesh that you really want to see.
Why huge fat women think that the bra less look is attractive on them I will never know..
If you are standing next to them you have to hope they don't turn too fast and get hit with one of those swinging watermelon sized pendulums of flesh.
Elly saw on large woman wearing a tube top which she said was revolting.
Some of the tattoos were cool that people had.
Some I couldn't tell what the heck they were supposed to be...bad tattoos.
Sparky was there too, but we never ran into her.
I really liked this artist Elaine Lanoue
I almost bought this print "Love Birds"
Her use of color and simplistic picasso like design really caught my eye.
Quite a contast to the realistic watercolor paintings my dad paints.
I love color.
Elly liked her style also ...and liked this painting as it has yellow in it and it would have matched her bedroom!
Yeah...she's one who buys art to match ehr wall coloring.
But I don't hold that agaiinst her.

Now I am inspired to create great works of art.
I usually don't like to go to art and craft shows because I get depressed as I don't have time to create great works of art or crafts.
Must work :-(
8:30 to 5 pm....
Some lady on the "Judge Judy" TV show was out on disability because she had a nervous breakdown.
Hmmm, I was close to one of those myself not to long ago, didn't know you could get out of working because of it.

"No Problem Mon"
by Michelle Spiziri

Yes sirree, I could dye my hair green and purple and put it in dreadlocks and start speaking with a Jamaican accent...it will go nicely with my pale sun starved skin. And answer the phone "yes Mon, ow kin we 'elp ya".....

My Dad was felling better.
I dropped him on my way to work last Tuesday to have breakfast with all his retired friends,
He is walking better.
But now....he had to go to the doctor today as he has a painful rash.
They told him he has shingles.
Two steps forward, three steps back.
He said that it hurts to touch his skin.
He really didn't need that.

My niece is getting over Mono.
She stayed away from her grandfather when she got sick and was diagnosed.
Hopefully she will be able to catch up with all her courses and graduate high school in 2 weeks.

Well time for bed.
Hope everything is well in your part of the world.
Peace people....

2009-06-09T15:47:00.000-07:00

A song from the past.....

Talk, you can talk, but if you ask me take
All your big words and put them together
What good will they do when the long day is through
Does anybody love you?
Do you think that anybody's in love with
You can dress up or dress down as you
Gaze in the mirror, hung up on your body
What good can it be when there's no one there to see
You're so lovely, so wise
You could make Venus crawl
But love between the ugly is the most beautiful love of all.

Can you name the artist and song name?

Snap shots my world

2009-06-06T16:36:00.000-07:00

As Elly and I, past weight watchers members, both gained a bit of weight, we decided that some exercise was desperately needed by us both.
Tight dress slacks are not a flattering look, if they are tight because you gained weight.

Elly asked me if after work Friday I wanted to go to the playground at the elementary school down the road from her and we could walk around while her kids "played". She said to meet her there.
Yeah....I could see it now...as I am waiting / loitering alone at the playground waiting for her and her children, who always make her late, a cruiser pulls up and asks me what the heck I am doing hanging out at a playground.....nope, not gonna happen.

I suggested that we go to the nearby marina instead and walk along the break wall/boat docks and beach.
It was a beautiful sunny day, but as it was after 6 it was starting to cool off.
Her children, on hearing that we were going to the beach, wanted to put on their swim suits.
"But we are NOT going swimming, the water is too cold"
Her son, said that her wanted to change out of his good school pants and put on his swimsuit so as not to get his pants dirty.
Didn't matter that he's been playing outside wearing them already!
So Elly told him that he had 3 minutes.

Her daughter who is in kindergarten, ran into the house too and came out in her bathing suit.
And the battle began between strong willed 5 year old and exhausted Mom.
I said that maybe her daughter should put a shirt on over the swimsuit as it was kinda cold. So they went into the house and the yelling started...
10 minutes later, the little girl emerges out of the house in shorts, shirt and hoodie with her arms crossed in front of her chest, and the most defiant mean look you'd ever seen on a 5 year old. Damn I wish I would have had my camera out.

We arrived at the Marina and Elly asked the kids if they wanted their treats first from the concession stand. They himmed and hawed and we saw that the line was really long so decided to walk aroung the pier first and look at the boat and fish in the water.
Instead of going to get a treat after that, they made a bee-line for the beach.
Which lead to taking off their flip flops and seeing how cold the water was...to wading in to their knees ... to oops I fell in... and then, watch me swim.
They didn't mind their Mom very well.
The photo is of the 2 darlings in the lake..which was 55 degrees.

The girl, not listening to her mom when told to walk on the sand, insisted on walking in the water and fell on a rock and her knee started bleeding and blood was pouring down her leg as fast as the tears were streaming down her cheeks and the screams were coming out of her mouth.

So the boy finally came out of the water and asked me what happened and I said she got hurt because she didn't listen to her mother when she was told not to do something.

No treats for them.
"You aren't getting a treat because you are hurt and we are going home"
"Lindi, I wish they had drive thrus that served alcohol...I'm not kidding I could use a drink"
"Elly, I know you aren't kidding."

Lost- One beach towel
Lesson- Never suggest going to the beach unless it is summer as kids don't care how cold the water is and will want to go swimming.

Looking back on when my kids used to go there, they were content to look for shells and interesting drift wood and rocks...maybe get there toes wet, but never dive in with there clothes.

Elly and I always have adventures.

So, this is why Elly was laughing at work....

2009-06-06T15:48:00.000-07:00

Elly was cracking up laughing during the middle of work.
As her cubicle is directly opposite my loverly dirty blue cubicle wall, I couldn't see what she was doing...
Then this e-mail popped up on my computer from her and I thought I would share...nice of me, huh.
=============================
"THE IS VERY FUNNY TO ME LOL"

When girls don't put out!!

This was written by a guy...it's pretty damn smart.

Girls -- Please have a sense of humor!

I never quite figured out why the sexual urge of men and women differ
so much. And I never have figured out the whole Venus and Mars thing.. I
have never figured out why men think with their head and women with
their heart.

FOR EXAMPLE:

One evening last week, my girlfriend and I were getting into bed.
Well, the passion starts to heat up, and she eventually says, 'I don't
feel like it, I just want you to hold me.'

I said, 'WHAT??!! What was that?!'

So she says the words that every boyfriend on the planet dreads to
hear...

'You're just not in touch with my emotional needs as a woman enough for
me to satisfy your physical needs as a man.'

She responded to my puzzled look by saying, 'Can't you just love me for
who I am and not what I do for you in the bedroom?'

Realizing that nothing was going to happen that night, I went to
sleep.

The very next day I opted to take the day off of work to spend time
with her. We went out to a nice lunch and then went shopping at a big,
big unnamed department store. I walked around with her while she tried
on several different very expensive outfit s. She couldn't decide which
one to take, so I told her we'd just buy them all. She wanted new shoes
to compliment her new clothes, so I said, 'Lets get a pair for each
outfit.'

We went on to the jewelry department where she picked out a pair of
diamond earrings.. Let me tell you... she was so excited. She must have
thought I was one wave short of a shipwreck. I started to think she was
testing me because she asked for a tennis bracelet when she doesn't even
know how to play tennis

I think I threw her for a loop when I said, 'That's fine, honey.' She
was almost nearing sexual satisfaction from all of the excitement.
Smiling with excited anticipation, she finally said, 'I think this is
all
dear, let's go to the cashier.'

I could hardly contain myself when I blurted out, 'No honey, I don't
feel like it.'

Her face just went completely blank as her jaw dropped with a baffled,
'WHAT?'

I then said, 'Honey! I just want you to HOLD this stuff for a while.
You're just not in touch with my financial needs as a man enough for me
to satisfy your shopping needs as a woman.'

And just when she had this look like she was going to kill me, I added,
'Why can't you just love me for who I am and not for the things I buy
you?'

Apparently I'm not having sex tonight either.....but at least that
bitch knows I'm smarter than her.

==========

All are graduated....

2009-05-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

Woke up at the crack of dawn Saturday to get ready for the journey to Son's college for the graduation ceremony.
Of course it was humid and the forecast called for thunder showers.
It was sprinkling here when we left for the 2 hour drive.
15 minutes prior to leaving I went into Daughter's room and told her that we were leaving in 15 minutes, so if she was coming she best be ready by then.
Then I gave her a 10 minute warning.
We had to be at the college prior to 9 am as we had to meet son to get the tickets.
We borrowed my parent's van as we still had to move him out of the dorm.

The sun was still shining in the College's town.
We were early enough to get a decent parking spot in the lot closest to his dorm.
WE met him out side the dorm and walked together to the arena.
He looked rather studious in his cap and gown, and I could see the look of pride in Hubby's eyes.

The seating was bleachers.
We took seats on the top row so we didn't have anyone behind us.
As I am tall, it was very uncomfortable.
My legs/knees extended over the bleacher seat in front of me and when an older man tried to sit in front of me he got poked in the back by my knees when he sat back.
Not a pleasant experience for either of us.
I apologized for my long legs and luckily he moved.
2 petite ladies took his spot and I had enough room to turn my legs sideways and face the stage.
I wasn't about to sit with my legs spread apart for 3 hours...even though I was wearing slacks.
To make it more uncomfortable, It was hot and humid in the arena.
It was so crowded.
They had baskets of hand sanitizing wipes at all the enterances.
I was glad I wore comfortable flat shoes when I saw the women in dresses and heels trying to maneuver around on the bleachers.
Surprisingly no one fell although an older gentleman almost did right next to where Hubby was sitting.
The introduction to the guest speaker took longer than the guest speaker's speech.
Daughter commented that she was expecting the announcer to pull out a small box and drop to one knee.
The speeches and introductions actually took longer than the actaul calling of the graduates across the stage.
There was no rhyme or reason to how they went across stage.
They were not seated in alphabetical order or by major.
So we had to pay attention as we didn't know when Son's name would be called.
He graduated with honors. :-)
The graduates were called by 2 announcers from both ends of the stage and the graduates exited down the center so it went a lot faster than the usual one at time.
It didn't allow for a lot of time for the families and friends to get to rowdy
Half way through the graduates, it got rather loud in there.
I thought that it was people talking until I looked out the open door and saw that it was pouring rain.
We were prepared with rain coats and umbrellas.
After an hour or more of pouring, it let up by the time everyone had to leave.
We went to the reception afterward and had some cookies and tea.
Then it was off to the dorm to move out the stuff.
Thankfully my Son lived in a dorm with an elevator.
We loaded up a trolley and made 3 trips on the elevator to the van.
I was glad that we had the van as all of his stuff would have never fit into my car.
No one wanted to stop anywhere nice for lunch as we were all tired and sweaty so we just went to Wendy's on the way home.

So both Kids are home again and the job hunt begins.
Hopefully they won't have to move too far away.
I gave Son a GPS for his car for graduation so he can find his way to job interviews etc..

My parents would have liked to have gone to the graduation, but it would have been very hard on my Dad, and Mom wasn't about to leave him alone. We would have had to take 2 vehicles because of the space we needed for all of Son's stuff.

And so ends the college tuition chapter of our lives.
YIPEE!!!!

Peace

WIld Week

2009-05-12T15:27:00.000-07:00

Things have finally calmed down.
It was pretty hectic and stressful this past week and a half.

Dad ended up bedridden for about 3 days after the trip to the emergency room when they discovered the fracture in his hip/pelvis.
He would only get out of bed to go to the bathroom.
Even with the walker he could barely get around as he was in severe pain.
You could see it in his eyes that he was in a lot of pain.

My mother's cousin was visiting the day after the ER day and kept telling my sister and I how upset and stressed out my mother was.
Well DUH!!
All she was doing was stressing us out by saying...oh, your poor mother doesn't know how she is going to get him to his Dr's appointment Mon as he can't walk...
I told my sister if he couldn't get out of bed Mon that she should call the ambulance to get him to the hospital to get his pain medication regulated.
The appointment was at 3pm, so I asked my mother if she wanted me to go with her and my sister to the Dr as between the 2 of us we should be able to get him out of the house and into the car...maybe.
So I left work early Monday.
The Bulldog (my supervisor) didn't say anything, we basically communicate via e-mail as she seems to not like talking to me directly if she doesn't have to...and the feeling is mutual.
BTW, she hasn't yet asked me how my Dad was doing or how I was doing.
WE made it to the Dr's office and luckily they had a wheelchair that we could use.

He saw the surgeon who was putting in the Chemo port.
HE was the same Dr who took out both parent's gall bladders.

Tues I was late for work as I had to go see my Dr. as they wouldn't give me a refill on my high blood pressure medication without seeing her first.
I ended up with 2 scripts.
The blood pressure meds and an anti anxiety/depression pill.
The feeling like all I want to do is cry is gone.

My Dad finally went to see a pain management Dr, who gave him pain patches and another drug to relieve the fracture pain.

I took Friday off from work to go with my mother to take my Dad in for the port insertion surgery.
My BIL drove us all to the hospital.
While he did a lap around the parking area, I ran in to get a wheel chair.
The surgery took 15 minutes, but we were in the hospital for 6 hours.
We had a heck of a time getting him in and out of the car and up 3 steps into the house.as the pain medication wore off and he could barely walk.

Yesterday was day 1 of Chemo, and he is doing well.
The pain is under control.
He has a schedule of what drugs he takes when and is walking without pain.
My mother said that he walked by himself up the ramp into the Chemo place with his walker.
He looks a lot better too.

Today he had many visitors, so he is in good spirits and got out to sit in the sun and get some fresh air.

Mother's day was ok.
Son is still at college till he graduates Saturday, but he did call me.
Daughter gave me a card and said that she and her brother were going to take me out for dinner and a movie when he gets home from college.
Hubby got me a card and lottery tickets..I won $4.
also got a Gnome on a stick for the garden.
My sister, Daughter , 2 nieces, my mother and I went out for dinner to Roby Tuesdays.
Hubby and my BIL kept my Dad company.
I picked up the bill and paid it which seemed to bother my sister...which is why I did it....I usually end up paying more that my share anyway so I figured I would just pay for the whole thing and she left the 20% tip.
After dinner, daughter went to the store and made us hot fudge brownie sundaes...Yummy.

Looking forward to the graduation Sat.
He is in the 1st group so we have to be at the college by 9am
No sleeping in for me as it takes 2 hours or so to get there...argh!!!
I'm not a morning person and they are expecting thunderstorms.
After graduation we have to move out all his stuff from the dorm.
I won't be wearing a dress that's for sure.
Maybe some Khakis and a nice sweater set.

Finally ....NO MORE COLLEGE TUITION BILLS!!!!!!
YIPEE!!!
Now all they need are jobs that pay enough so they can go out on their own.

Happy DAys are here again...for a little while anyway...

Post interupted

2009-05-03T08:15:00.000-07:00

My last post was cut short .
The phone rang and it was my Mom.
"We have to take your Dad to the emergency room as he is in severe pain and the pain medication doesn't seem to be working....can you go with us?"
They called the doctor, but he couldn't prescribe anything stronger over the phone and told him he had to go to the emergency room.
I told her I would be over in a few minutes as I wasn't dressed yet.
She said that would be fine as she had to get dressed herself.

I asked Hubby to go over to see if my Dad needed help getting ready and to distract him from thinking about his pain.
After taking a quick bath and getting dressed, I walked over and took the keys from my Mom, who was relieved not to have to drive and off we went to the emergency room.
Driving as carefully as possible I tried to avoid the potholes and braked slowly as to not jar his back and cause him more agony.
We chatted about everything and anything just to keep him from focusing on what was hurting...at least that was my goal.

Emergency room waiting rooms are interesting places. you see the whole spectrum of illness...from a bump on the head of a pudgy toddler to a possible broken collarbone of a pale teenage boy dressed in black.
Stupidly, I forgot to bring something to read or do....so I just had to watch people for amusement while I waited and waited...
3 hours or so later...
They discovered after x-rays that he has a hairline fracture in his pelvis/hip.
Nothing they can do for that...
Gave him a prescription for pain medication.
Which turned out to have the same generic name as the generic name of the pain medication he already has....but the numbers after it are different...so I told them it must be a different concentration..
ARGHHH!!!
I should have went into the exam room with him too.
Hopefully I am right in thinking that the pills are stronger.

Dad is soooo depressed.
He just had bone scans and x-rays a few days prior and this wasn't on them. "How could this have happened so fast???"
He basically spent the rest of Sat. in bed, just getting up to use the washroom.

We think he over did it Friday.
My parents have their washer and dryer in the basement.
With mom's knees being so bad, it is difficult for her to go up and down the stairs carrying laundry.
So, after much convincing, they finally decided to get a new washer and dryer and put them in the family room as connections could be made to the water and gas lines from there.
That way, no one would break their backs trying to carry the old appliances up the basement stairs.
My BIL decided to do the installation that Friday as the appliances arrived a few days prior.
Well, Dad being Dad, felt he had to get in on the fun and went up and down the basement stairs several times...
I asked him how the heck did he do that ......and he said that he just held on to the rails on the stairs....of course all I could think of was what if he would have fell... then come to find out that he went down there while my Mom was out grocery shopping...
Friday, he also went to the doctor and for blood work and to the hardware store.
I can just picture him hobbling around the hardware store with his walker....
It's got to be difficult wanting to do stuff, still having your mind as sharp as ever and having your body fall apart.
Unfortunately, I think he learned the hard painful way that there are things that he can no longer do, or ever do again....

Peace People.....

The results are in...

2009-05-02T06:24:00.001-07:00

and they are not good. :-(
My Dad has bone cancer.
It has spread to his hip, ribs, leg and arm and is still in his spine.
So it's Chemo time.
Which they told him has a 50% chance of working.

He wants me to shave his head next week.
Which should be quick considering he is balding anyway.
I asked him if he was going to shave his beard/goatee.
no, just going to let it fall out...
well maybe it won't fall out.
But it says in the brochure that all my hair is going to fall out along with my eyebrows and eye lashes...

May is going to be a crazy month.
Son graduates from college...finally.
He has an associates from a 2 year community college.
And now will have his bachelors...3 years at a state college (SUNY)
Graduation is in 2 weeks.
He is staying there till graduation.
We are going tomorrow to get some of his stuff so we won't have to try and move a lot of stuff after graduation ceremony.

I bought my father's old car for him for a graduation, he needs a car anyway present.
My daughter is having a fit.
We gave her a car when she was in her 2-3 year of college and signed it over to her when she was 21.
He never has had a car...and he is 23.
But in her mind he is getting a newer car than her and it's not fair...
OMG!!!
Let's see....
He lived off campus during his first 2 years at the community college which was 2 hours away from home and had to walk everywhere including the grocery store.
A 23 year old guy needs a car...

Clap your hands stomp your feet...

2009-04-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

Clap your hands, Stomp your feet...
(can you guess the next line?)
Polka music can't be beat.

But polka music at the dentist's office?
While getting a deep cleaning on all your teeth?
"Roll out the barrel, we've got a barrel of fun
It's called Novocaine and it will make you numb"

Yeah...polka music while getting tortured.
Apparently one of the dental hygienists is from Porto Rico
and had never before heard polka/polish music.
(So she had been fortunate up until then?)
So one of the dentists decided that she had to hear it...during work.
Can't just loan her the CD.
Nope, must play for all at the office to hear.

Luckily, it was only the music and no singing.
I have nothing against polka music.
I've danced the polka at weddings before. It's fun...
But didn't appreciate it at the dentist.
Especially when they turned off a good radio station to put on the CD.

I told the gal cleaning my teeth that every time I hear polka music that I will now remember this moment.
As she was having a bad day, I told her that at least she is at the good end of the dental tools.
Must keep them happy when they are working on your teeth.
Nothing worse than someone having a bad day taking it out on your teeth....wasn't about to let that happen.

Very informative! The Human Body

2009-04-11T12:00:00.000-07:00

It takes your food seven seconds to get from your mouth to your stomach.
One human hair can support 3 kg (6.6 lb).

The average man's penis is three times the length of his thumb.

Human thighbones are stronger than concrete.

A woman's heart beats faster than a man's.

There are about one trillion bacteria on each of your feet.

Women blink twice as often as men.

The average person's skin weighs twice as much as the brain.

Your body uses 300 muscles to balance itself when you are standing still.

If saliva cannot dissolve something, you cannot taste it.

Women reading this will be f inished now.

Men are still busy checking their thumbs.

The alphabet meme.

2009-04-08T19:08:00.000-07:00

I borrowed this from "Just Eat Your Cupcake" Maria. It took an hour to write...Enjoy...

A.

Age: Older than the internet, younger than plastic, not as old as Walker

Annoyance: People who think they are better than everyone and feel that they should be treated as such

Allergic: Possibly cats

Animal: must be, as I’m not a vegetable or mineral

Actor: No favorite, I like Mel Gibson, The actor that plays Wolverine, THe guy from LOTR...Veggio something or other

B

Beer: Occasionally, if it’s ice cold and CANADIAN Although Magic Hat from Vermont is good too

Best Friend: Died, But Marly & Elly are my 2 best buds now

Best feeling in the world: Feeling loved and appreciated

Best weather: 75-80 degrees, sunny with a slight breeze and a few whispy clouds

Been in love? Yes a couple of times

Been bitched out? A lot lately at work, just because my boss feels she can....not really, but I feel like it

Been on stage? Yes, graduation ceremonies

Believe in life on other planets? Yes....sometimes I think I am from another planet

Believe in miracles? Yes, there is always hope

Believe in magic? No

Believe in God? Yes, a higher power, something has to be responsible for creating this place we call earth..

Believe in Satan? For every Yin there’s a yang, so yes, we have seen his work through terrorists

Believe in ghosts? Yes, I’ve seen one

C

Car: yes, at least 10-12 people in my area have the same car in the same color...I think I should start a club, 3 of us parked next to each other in the supermarket’s parking lot ...it was funny.

Candy: mmmm Chocolate

Color: I love most colors, blues, greens, Sky blue pink, depends on what the color is on

Cried in school? Yes...more than once. In 5th grade because during the Christmas gift exchange, who ever had my name didn’t get me a gift. The teacher gave me one of hers.

Chinese or Mexican food? Mexican, as the Chinese restaurants around here are iffy

Cake or pie? Both

Countries to visit: Australia, Germany, England, Ireland, Scotland

D

Day or night? Day, I have trouble seeing at night

Dream vehicle: Don’t have one at the moment, but it would have to run on something other than gas, have lots of head & leg room, a good stereo CD player, Lumbar support seats

Dance in the rain? Yes, only in the summer

Dance in the middle of the street? Yes

E

Eggs? Scrambled, Fried, deviled

Eyes: 2 myopic hazel green

Everyone has: a good side and a bad side and a story

Ever failed a class? NO

F

First crush: In 2nd grade a boy named Roger

First thought waking up: I don’t want to go to work, what am I going to wear.

Food: Love food, and it shows. Love to cook food when I have time...mmmm food

G

Greatest fear: Being very old, sickly and alone

Gum; The old fashioned sugary kind, Wrigley’s Winterfresh. (Artificial sweeteners in gum give me the shits, only chew when constipated )

Get along with parents? Yes

Good luck charms: no, nothing would help my crappy luck

H

Hair color: Blonde, grey and dark blonde....going ECO, stopped dying my hair to stop putting chemicals on my head and in the waste water

Height: 5' 10.5

Happy? Trying to be happy in spite of my self

Holidays? Celebrate the traditional Christian holidays

Health freak? No, too lazy

I

Ice cream: mmm ice cream, too many favs to name

Instrument: no musical instruments for me.

J

Jewelry: not a jewelry person

Job: Work at a financial Institution/Corp. Peon

K

Kids: 2, one of each

Keep a journal? No

L

Longest car ride? Arizona to somewhere in New York State... 2nd longest=NY to Florida

Love: my hubby, kids, parents, siblings, friends ......... the usual people

Laughed so hard you cried: yes, Marly can testify to that

Love at first sight? No, lust maybe, love no

M

Milk flavor: Chocolate of course- 2%

Movie: a good romantic comedy or Science Fiction or Epic drama (I’m a Star Wars/Star Trek Lord of the Rings Fan,,,I know, rare for a girl )

Mooned anyone? No....

Marriage? Still married to my 1st husband

Motion sickness? Some, have been known to feed the fishes if I go sailing with a migraine

N

Number of siblings: 2

Number of piercings: 2

Number 5

O

Overused phrases: OMG, Really?, I’m sorry, What?,

One wish: To win the lottery and never HAVE to work again.

One phobia: Driving in traffic, DC traffic, not knowing where I am going

P

Place you'd like to live: Hawaii

Pepsi or coke? Used to be Pepsi, before I gave up soda pop
Q

Quail? No, never shot or ate one, but did hit one with my car

R

Reason to cry: Someone I loved is very sick or has died

Reality tv? Yes, I like “Survivor” and “Big Brother” and “Hell’s Kitchen” and “Project Runway”

Radio station: Easy Rock

Roll your tongue in a circle? yes I can ;-)

S

Song? “Hero” by Nickelback

Sushi? No, too chicken to try

Skipped school? No

Slept outside? Yes, in a home made tent when I was a kid...hated it, felt achy and cold in the morning

Seen a dead body? Yes, been to wakes...but I don't see dead people

Skinny dipped? No

Shower daily? Of course unless I am in bed sick then I may go a day without

Sing well? Hell no

Sing in the shower? Nope

Swear? Rarely, only when I am bloody well pissed off

Strawberries or blueberries? Both, fresh locally grown

Scientists need to invent: A CURE for all Cancer, and AIDS, and all diseases, especially those that strike children

T

Time for bed: 10 pm ish

Thunderstorms? Love a good thunderstorm as long as the power doesn’t go out and I am safe at home

U

Unpredictable? Yes, sometimes, always expect the unexpected, but not too often

Under the influence: of what? no illegal drugs or alcohol...maybe that's what i need!!

V

Vegetable you hate: Lima Beans, brussel sprouts

Vegetable you love: does anyone actually LOVE vegetables...really? I like fresh asparagus and corn on the cob

Vacation spot: Someplace other than here, warm, would love to go to Hawaii or Arizona

W

Weakness: No will power when It comes to dieting

Which one of your friends acts the most like you? None of them, otherwise I wouldn’t hang around them

Who makes you laugh the most? My husband, my kids and Elly

Worst feeling: That I lost something, like my purse, or hurt someone accidentally

Wanted to be a model? No

Where do we go when we die? The morgue, funeral home...at least our bodies do, our spirits go on to another dimension whether you call it heaven or hell is your choice

Worst weather: Cold, Windy Blizzard

Walk with a book on your head? Not usually

X

x-rays? Yes, want to see them? I have some lovely lower GI ones

Y

Yellow: actually I am wearing a yellow sweater and yellow LLBean cardigan....but I ain’t yeller

Yesterday: All my troubles seemed so far away....

Z

Zoo animals. Make me sad as they are not free,

Zodiac sign? Virgo...duh ..September's girl

So, now you know way too much information about me. And hopefully you didn't dose off.

Thanks for the prayers for my Dad.
His spirits are up as he is looking forward to my brother's visit and seeing his other 2 grandkiddies.

Happy Easter.

Back...

2009-04-03T15:48:00.000-07:00

I'm baaacck.
Did ya touch my stuff?
Did ya miss me?
Yeah ...right
Why the tombstone in the last post?
I thought it was funny.
I have a strange sense of humor.
After I am gone, my husband will probably immediately have a yard/garage/tag sale and sell all my stuff for a fraction of it's true value.
I've stopped buying stuff.
I've accumulated enough stuff for one person.
Too many knick knacks.

Dad Update:
Cancer is back.
MRI showed a new tumor.
Tumor is in the exact spot that his back hurts.
They sent him directly to get Radiation.
No passing Go.
Dr told him that if he did nothing he would be paralyzed in a month or so.
Therefore, doing nothing is not an option.
So, he has 14 more rounds of radiation and possible Chemo.
I knew it was back when his progress stopped and he started going backwards, but I had hoped I was wrong.
His original Dr appointment was for the end of the month.
I told him it was a good thing that he went early, before too much damage was done to his spine/nerves.

Trying to keep a positive upbeat attitude around him.
Today I started crying at work.
I never cry at work.
But between the stress at work
and the news of my father,
I think my nerves are shot.

2009-03-30T16:09:00.000-07:00

spring break

2009-03-26T17:23:00.000-07:00

Spring is finally here.
Although there aren't any outward signs like flowers yet, it's still nice to know that the hard winter is over.

Haven't posted lately as I've been depressed.

One of the VP's where I work died unexpectedly.
He had surgery, a partial hip replacement.
Was home from the hospital a little more than a week.
Watched a Hockey game on a Saturday night with his wife and son
said he didn;'t feel well
stood up to go to bed
collapsed
Son gave him CPR
Never came to
Dead at 55
They think it was either a blood clot or an aneurysm.

He was a good guy
Actually cared about his customers and not just their money.

His family had the wake and memorial service at the town he grew up in which is 2 hours from where I work.
It was last Thurs & Friday.
As I don't work in the same department as he did, I wasn't given the option to go to it during work even though I worked with him also.
Kinda sucked...
I didn't even ask to take the time off either as I took Weds off as my son was home on spring break.

My son turned 23 while he was home on spring break.
I feel old.
My baby boy is 23.

My Dad isn't doing too well.
He was walking with a cane for about a week.
Now lately he says that his good leg bothers him when he walks with the cane.
He is also having more pain in his back.
He can't sit comfortably in his recliner as when he leans back on his back, it hurts.
Not good
So to watch TV he sits at the dining room table and leans forward on the table.
Luckily they have a TV in the Dining room, no satellite, but at least he gets the basic area's stations.

I am very worried about him because he says at night a few times it felt like his back was on fire and was in a lot of pain.
My mother put cold towels on his back, which he said helped a little.

My father isn't one to complain when he is sick or hurt, so this must be painful as he is actually saying something.

He has 3 doctor appointments next Tues the 31st.
Hubby is taking the day off to take him as it is difficult for my mom to try to help him.

My sister and I contacted our brother who lives outside of DC and let him know what was going on.
They changed their travel plans and are coming up here instead of to my sister-in-law's brother's place for Easter weekend.
Hopefully it will cheer up my Dad.

Happy Spring

Two Irish Women

2009-03-18T12:48:00.000-07:00

Two women were sitting next to each other at a bar.
After awhile, one looks at the other and says,
'I can't help but think, you're from Ireland .'

The other woman responds proudly, 'Yes, that I am!'

The first one says, 'So am I! And where from Ireland might you be'?

The other woman answers, 'I'm from Dublin, I am.'
The first one responds, 'So, am I
and what street did you live on in
Dublin?'

The other woman says, 'A lovely little area it was ,
on McCleary Street in the old part of town.'
The first one says, 'Tis a small world. So did I!
And to what school would you have been going?'

The other woman answers,
'Well now, I went to St. Mary's, of course.'

The first one gets really excited and says, 'And so did I.
Tell me, what year did you graduate?'
The other woman answers,
'Well, now, I graduated in 1964 .

The first woman exclaims, 'The Good Lord must be
smiling down upon us!
I can hardly believe our good luck at winding up in the same pub
tonight.
Can you believe it, I graduated from St. Mary's in 1964!!!'

About this time, Vicky, the bartender' s wife,
walks in, sits down and orders a beer.
Brian, the bartender, walks over to Vicky, shaking
his head and mutters,
'It's going to be a long night tonight.'

Vicky asks, ' Why do you say that, Brian?'

Brian answers, 'The McLaughlin twins are drunk again.'
==========================================
Hope yourselves had a wonderful St Patrick's Day.
My husband is half Irish, so it can be said that I have a bit of the Irish in me from time to time.!

Random stuff

2009-03-04T16:37:00.000-08:00

Why is it that the majority of the women in the office building I work in feel that they must wear black all the time?
I feel like I am at a funeral.
Then on Friday they wear Khaki pants.
I like to shake things up and wear green slacks and navy slacks.
At the last employee meeting it was a sea of black and grey.
But there were a few of us colorful people.

Hubby asked me if he looked as old as the man in the commercial where the guy says that he is 52 and had a heart attack.
Hubby is a few years older.
Being the loving wife that I am..... I told him that he did not look as old as the guy in the commercial.
but I didn't say that he didn't look as young as the guy in the commercial either.....
It's all in the wording.....

Note to self...
Do NOT wash work clothes after you wash throw rugs again.
Because all the clothes are now covered with sand like silty junk from the rugs...ARGH!!

Penguin woman was spotted on the way to work.
She was walking in the road even though there is a 3 feet shoulder on the side of the road.
Had to swerve to avoid her.

Meme:

"Your ship has sunk.
You have, of course, been stranded on a deserted island.
You have salvaged a copy of the King James Version of the Bible and a copy of the complete works of Shakespeare.
Nothing else.
“The very next day you find one of those Arabian Lamps in the sand.
Of course, you rub it and, of course, a rather grumpy Genie appears. “‘Let’s get this straight - there is a recession going on.
There are restrictions on the three wishes now.
I don’t do water or air transport now so no boats, planes or magic carpets.
As for electronics, forget it.
There isn’t the infrastructure on this island.
“‘I can let you have one book and I mean one VOLUME, one essential item and one luxury item.
Now hurry up and make your choices, I have to get to those five other islands you are going nominate. "

The one book I would chose would be a guide to surviving on a deserted island.
The one essential item I would chose would be a lifetime supply of waterproof matches to start fire to keep warm.
The luxury item I would chose would be my box of art supplies, something to keep me busy while I'm sitting by the fire and not reading all those Shakespeare books.

Anyone who wants to do this meme, can consider themselves tagged. I only have a couple of people who read this, and I 'd rather not alienate them...so to do, or not to do, that is your option.

On my way to work if I time it just right I get stopped my school buses traveling in the opposite direction, but stopped to pick up children.
One such bus stops on the other side of a 4 lane highway so it ties up traffic during "rush" hour.
Lucky me, I timed it so I got to stop for the bus.
I sit in my cold car and watch as a pink and purple clad moppet saunters up her driveway after the bus has stopped for what seems like an hour already.
She just lolly gags along, oblivious to the lineup of traffic that is stopped in both directions.
Turning around she looks back at the house and we are all probably thinking the same thing, you better not be turning around to got get something you have forgotten!
But she just waves to the shadow in the picture window.
She seems not to mind the freezing 8 degree temperature as she merrily strolls along, with her knapsack on her back.
Three songs play on the radio and the little blond bomber finally gets in the bus.
But, we can't go yet because the bus driver has to wait till she meanders back to a seat before the bus can move....and leaves the red lights flashing....because bus drivers can, they have the power to control traffic like that.
I got to thinking...how nice it must be to be a child and not feel rushed to get anywhere.
The bus will always wait for you, no matter how long you take, and so will all those people on their way to work, who have to try to get in to work on time.
Then I thought, maybe there is a reason she doesn't want to get on the bus.
Maybe some of the other children are mean to her on the bus or she loves it at home so much that she doesn't want to go to school....or her teacher is a crab.
Or maybe she is just an inconsiderate little twit who likes to see all the cars stopped on the highway...

Peace people

No snow here :-)

2009-03-01T15:00:00.000-08:00

I heard Georgia got snow :-)
We didn't :-D
It was sunny here all day yesterday and today.
Daughter showed me phone picture from someone in Atlanta of the snow.
My father had his last treatment radiation treatment Thursday.
They gave him a diploma saying congratulations you made it through treatment or something to that effect.
I saw the x-ray of all the rods and pins they put in his back.
Quite impressive.
The rods are at least 6 inches long.
He is still in pain, but refuses to take pain medication other than when he goes to bed at night.
He says that it helps him sleep.
He still is using the walker but the physical therapist says that he can start using the cane.
If it weren't for his leg going wonky & numb I wonder if he would have gone to the doctor about his back..

A friend of Hubby's was at the crash site of 3407 for about 4 hours during the clean up. He described what he saw even though I told him we really didn't want to hear it as he was pretty graphic in describing what he saw.
I won't repeat it here as I was nauseous after hearing his story and as you can imagine he saw things that no one should ever see they were so horrific.
But as with a car crash, where even though you don't want to look you do anyway, I didn't leave the room but stayed to listen like a fool.
I just hope that the families never hear some of the stuff.

I saw a mouse run across the room the other night. SO Hubby put out one of the new mouse cube traps that I bought. Within 5 minutes we had the little bugger...in a plastic cube...still alive....now what...what do you do with a live mouse in a plastic cube? Did I go and look at it..NO!!, Daughter did and said that it had beady little eyes...
I could hear the thing scratching the plastic so he put it out side to freeze it and the wind blew it and the end opened up and it escaped.
He put a cube in the garage and caught another one...maybe the same stupid one.
This one was drownded in a bucket of water.
I hate mice!!

2009-02-25T16:01:00.000-08:00

My daughter flew back in to town Saturday.
I was a little anxious about her flying.
She called us after she boarded her plane, so we could time it when we would need to leave to pick her up.
But, my husband being the clever fellow he is, decided that we would go to the Denny's restaurant down the road from the airport and wait for her to call us when her plane ended.
Even though her plane was scheduled to land at 4pmish, we would still eat dinner at Denny's.
My daughter thought that this was a silly idea and that we should just drive around the airport till she called after the plane landed.....and probably get stopped by airport security for driving around the air port 20 times and looking suspicious.....because that is what she wanted us to do.
So being adults, we decided to go to Denny's.
It was a clear somewhat sunny day.
No snow.
So I felt better about her flying.
We got to Denny's and the place was mostly empty as we beat the lunch rush and were early for the dinner crowd.
I did notice that there the majority of the few people in there were senior citizens....and Hubby did qualify as one as he is over 55!
We were seated quickly...
I looked around the restaurant as I like to look to see who else is around...in case I know someone...even though it would be highly likely that I would know anyone there...but one never knows.
Off in the corner of the restaurant in a booth, sat a man with his back towards us. He was wearing a hooded sweatshirt, with the hood up and when he turned around...I noticed that he was wearing large dark glasses and looked like the unibomber.
And he was talking shit about the government.
Creepy
I pointed him out to Hubby, who had to turn around to look at him.
Just as he turned back from looking at him, the smoke alarm went off in the restaurant and I nearly jumped out of the booth.
The waitress came around and assured everyone that Denny's wasn't on fire.....I told Hubby that it must mean that our food was ready.
Which it wasn't
And we had to wait longer
And here's how thrilled my hubby always looks when we are out to eat.

And I was only half way finished eating my western burger when the daughter called to say she landed...early.
So I told her we would be there in 10 minutes or so to wait outside for us....
She wanted to know where we were and I told her Denny's.
"WHY are you at Denny's!!"
"Because everyone has to be somewhere"
"AUGHH!!!"
"See you in a few minutes"
So I got a to go box and we paid the bill.
We made it to the airport and I doubt if she had to wait more than 5 minutes.
On the way home, we weren't on the road for more than 10 minutes when it started snowing very heavily, near white out conditions as the wind picked up. I was thankful that she chose the flight that she did as if she waited till the next one she would have had to fly through that shit.

Fire & Ice

2009-02-15T08:03:00.000-08:00

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Robert Frost

To those souls unlucky enough to board flight 3407, their worlds were ended by both fire and ice.
My deepest condolences go out to the families and friends of those who lost their lives.

My daughter flew out of Buffalo Thursday on her way to Atlanta. I texted her during the day and didn't get a response.
I went to bed early Thursday night.
Friday morning I awoke to the clock radio telling me to stay tuned for an update on the horrific plane crash.
What plane?, where? Why hadn't I heard from my daughter?
I was relieved to hear that it wasn't my daughter's plane and deeply saddened at the same time to hear that the plane crashed 6 miles from Buffalo in Clarence center.
Everyone was killed that was aboard the plane and one of the people in the house also died.
I know people who live in that area...some of my husband's cousins and their families live in Clarence.
I've been to Clarence.
My cousin used to take his children to a day care center .25 miles from the site where the plane went down.

A family was home just doing their own thing when a plane fell out of the sky and on to their house and exploded.
Amazingly 2 people escaped from the house.
Can you imagine being living in one of the houses next to the house that got hit?
Just last month we had a plane land on the Hudson river and everyone walked away, the pilot proclaimed a hero.
Friday the 13th eve, different story.

Would you rebuild your house in the same spot if you were those people?
Would they even be allowed to build in the same spot?
Why would anyone even want to rebuild in the same spot where 50 people died?
Hopefully they will decide to put a monument on the spot.

We used to live in the flight path of Griffith Air Force Base, and some of the planes would fly over the house rather low. One day I was outside with my kids, who were 2 & 4 at the time, and a plane flew so low I could read the numbers on the plane. It was kind of creepy when the shadow of the plane would appear on the lawn as it flew by.
I had many nightmares about planes flying into my house.
So glad that we moved out of that area.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mamma Mia was fantastic!!
We laughed, we cried, we fought the urge to sing along.
Our seats were awesome, we could see the costumes and the actors faces perfectly.
We went out to a BBQ place afterwards.
I would go see Mamma Mia again...much better than the movie by far.
They could have made the movie so much better by getting actors that could actually sing.

I didn't buy any Valentines this year.
normally it would bother me if my hubby didn't get me flowers or a card, but this year, it was just another day.
He did buy us a special heart shaped cake which we took over my parents and shared.
I didn't even send my son a card at college.....but he didn't send us one either so it doesn't matter.
Hope everyone had a nice Valentines Day.

(see comments for update)

Out and About

2009-02-08T08:47:00.000-08:00

Did a lot of stuff yesterday.
Got up early and Elly picked me up and we went to breakfast at Tim Horton's on our way into Nickel City.
We were the first ones in the theater on Saturday to get our tickets to see Mama Mia.
They were just about sold out for next weekend and the only seats together were either in the front row of the orchestra , or in the 3rd row of the balcony.
So we have 3rd row balcony seats and will be able to see everything.
We were joking around that people will think we are a lesbian couple as we are going on Valentines day and also going out to dinner together too.
Her husband will be out of town and mine seems relieved not to have to think about venturing out on Valentine's day as he hates crowded places.

We walked around the city for a while and went into some small shops.
I got a pair of wild reading glasses.
Top part is tortoise brown and bottom half is turquoise.
Elly says that they are totally me.
My daughter actually thought they were cool looking too.

One of the churches on the Ave we happened to be on had a wine tasting /Farmer's market.
I purchased a bottle of Cranberry Wine from Niagara Landing Wine Cellars. I'm usually not into wine, but this tasted so good I had to buy a bottle. It will be opened up next time we have a turkey diner...or sooner.
Hopefully I will be able to find it sold in a liquor store near my house.
I also bought a loaf of Apple brown Betty bread and sampled Rabbit sausage, which was really good.

I got home after noon and had a piece of the bread for lunch.
It was so good.
My daughter said that she was bored and wanted to go somewhere.
She suggested the mall and my husband said we needed milk.
I called my parents to see if they needed anything from the store and they wanted oranges and hamburger buns.
So off we went in daughter's little car.
WE went to the mall first.
Having lost weight, she wanted to get a coat just like the one she has only in a smaller size.
It is a light weight fleece North Face jacket.
We ended up looking in a sporting goods store.
They had one exactly like her old one, but she wanted it in a different color, but at least she knew what size to get if she ordered it on line.
We walked from one end of the mall to the other and all I bought was a crossword puzzle book from Barnes and Noble.
I really had little interest in looking at clothes.

Both of us were hungry as it was 4:30 and she hadn't eaten lunch and all I had was the apple bread. We pulled into the parking lot at Olive Garden, but after not finding a parking spot, we declared it too crowded and went to a non-chain restaurant.
Which turned out to be a very good choice.
We were seated right away.
I ordered a chicken dish called Santa Fae Dirty Rice. When it arrived it looked like a sun as the chicken, rice mixture was in the center with the homemade tortillas sticking out from the center like the rays of the sun. Very nice presentation and it tasted as good as it looked.
I took half of it home and hubby enjoyed it. (Maybe I can get him to take me to this restaurant now that he's tasted the food)

On the way home we we driving behind this wildly painted van. It was a small older mini van which was painted black, the windows were black and it had white zebra like stripes all over it.
Over the back bumper it said "BLAZIN N AMAZIN" .
I was thinking that I would rather take a bus then ever be caught riding in that thing.
Well daughter says that she has to pass Blazing and Amazing because they are driving too slow.
As we pass the van, I see that it says "PUNK d" in white mixed in with the white stripes on the side and on the hood of the van is a silver skull, not painted on the hood, but an actual 3D skull sticking out of the hood.
I commented that maybe it was a band or something and that they will be lucky if they are not pulled over for having the windows blackened out.
Also the 3 first letters of the license plate were DYE followed by 4 numbers. Pretty bizarre!!

We turn off the main road and make our way to the super market to get the groceries. Daughter found a parking spot where she could do a pull through. We get the stuff and head out to the parking lot.
Parked right behind us is the Blazing N Amazing van. Music is blaring out of it.
We both look at each other as we are putting the stuff in the trunk and start to laugh then she says OMG he followed me here. It was a strange coincidence that that van would end up at the same store as us parked right behind us considering all the different streets we turned down to get there.
I looked into the front window of the van and all I could see was a pale hand on the steering wheel.
The van backed up and went in the lane to get out of the parking lot.
Daughter asked me which way they went and we went the other way.
Kind of creeped me out when I couldn't see the guy's face.
We tried to speculate who of the people we say in the store it could have been.
I wondered if it was the guy with the nail like piercing though the top of his ear, but other than that he looked normal.
She though it might be the guy with the 12 bottles of lemonade store brand soda, but we left before him.
We may never know...actually I hope we never meet up with that van again as it was CREEPY!!

It was great to be out yesterday.
It got up to 50 degrees.
Even though it was windy, it was nice.
A break from the snow is always appreciated.
I went to bed at 9:30 because I was so tired from all the walking & fresh air.
Peace People

2009-02-06T18:13:00.000-08:00

I got the blues.
The no bonus blues.
We got the news
No bonuses for yous.
No new dishwasher can I buy,
no new clothes will I try,
We all want to cry.
As we watch the economy die.
I'm lucky to have a job.
Even though it makes me regularly sob.
Now we are just hoping for a raise in our pay.
That would make up for the bad news we got today.
but what can we say.
Hopefully the things will improve along the way.

Brain frozen Twit

2009-01-31T18:32:00.000-08:00

This is what my commute to work looked like the other day....actually the visibility in this photo is better than it was for me that morning.
I turned off the main drag on to a country road and was being followed by a Big Ass Snow Plow.
The speed limit on the road is 45 mph, but I was only able to do 30 mph with out sliding all over the road.
The road is only 2 lanes and winds around.
THere is a woman that, when the weather is good rides her bicycle in the morning. She must be on her way somewhere as she has a back pack.
And she rides her bike against traffic.
Now that it is snowing, she is walking.
She looks like a penquin as she swings her arms from side to side.
So here I come down the road with the B.A.S.P. behind me and what do I see ahead...is her silhouette in the distance walking towards me.
I slowed down as a car was coming in the opposite direction and I couldn't go around her...and I noticed in the past that even as a car approaches her she doesn't move over....
So I slowed down to a near stop.
I was concerned about the B.A.S.P. behind me being able to see her in the blizzard like conditions.
So I stopped right before driveway, thinking that if it were me, and I was walking down that road in those conditions and I saw a B.A.S.P coming at me, I would duck into the driveway.
But no.
As I crept past her, I looked in my rear view mirror and saw her continue walking.
The Plow had stopped completely.
She walked right along side the plow and stopped ...
The plow driver had to lift his side plow so she could walk by.
WTF!!!
You have got to be kidding me.....this lady is nuts!!! Or maybe her brain is completely frozen.
I'm sure the plow driver was thrilled.

Today my neighbor was riding a bike down the snowy street.
My daughter even said he was nuts.
THis photo is what southerners think of when they imagine snow.
Blue skies and pretty scenery. But in reality, us northerners know better
!
Makes your back hurt just looking at that picture.......

And it's always swell to come out of work to your car buried under a foot of snow....
Keep warm

home

2009-01-28T04:44:00.000-08:00

Dad is home from the hospital as of Sunday afternoon.
Mom almost immediately came down with the flu.
I was more worried Monday about Mom than Dad.
Seems that even though you may have gotten a flu shot this season, you can still get the flu as they didn't guess right with the flu vaccine.

Always fun to hold the bucket for someone, when you still feel like you need the bucket to barf in yourself.

Must go out into the wild white wonder and get to work.
Hopefully the snow estimates are as wrong as the flu vaccine...but the way it's snowing...they may have under estimated...

Is it me or has this been an awfully brutal winter weather wise???

Noah today

2009-01-25T14:08:00.001-08:00

NOAH TODAY

In the year 2008, the Lord came unto Noah,

who was now living in the United States, and said:
"Once again, the earth has become wicked and over
-populated, and I see the end of all flesh before me."

"Build another Ark and save 2 of every living thing
along with a few good humans."

He gave Noah the blueprints, saying:
"You have 6 months to build the Ark before I will
start the unending rain for 40 days and 40 nights."

Six months later, the Lord looked down and saw Noah
weeping in his yard - but no Ark.

"Noah!," He roared, "I'm about to start the rain!
Where is the Ark?"

"Forgive me, Lord," begged Noah, "but things have changed."

"I needed a building permit."

"I've been arguing with the inspector
about the need for a sprinkler system."

"My neighbors claim that I've violated the
neighborhood zoning laws by building the Ark in my
yard and exceeding the height limitations. We had to
go to the Development Appeal Board for a decision."

"Then the Department of Transportation demanded a
bond be posted for the future costs of moving power
lines and other overhead obstructions, to clear the
passage for the Ark's move to the sea. I told them
that the sea would be coming to us, but they would
hear nothing of it."

"Getting the wood was another problem. There's a ban
on cutting local trees in order to save the spotted owl."

"I tried to convince the environmentalists that I
needed the wood to save the owls - but no go!"

"When I started gathering the animals, an animal
rights group sued me. They insisted that I was
confining wild animals against their will. They
argued the accommodations were too restrictive, and
it was cruel and inhumane to put so many animals in
a confined space."

"Then the EPA ruled that I couldn't build the Ark
until they'd conducted an environmental impact study
on your proposed flood."

"I'm still trying to resolve a complaint with the
Human Rights Commission on how many minorities I'm
supposed to hire for my building crew."

"Immigration and Naturalization are checking the
green-card status of most of the people who want to work."

"The trades unions say I can't use my sons. They
insist I have to hire only Union workers with
Ark-building experience."

"To make matters worse, the IRS seized all my assets,
claiming I'm trying to leave the country illegally
with endangered species."

"So, forgive me, Lord, but it would take at least 10
years for me to finish this Ark."

"Suddenly the skies cleared, the sun began to shine,
and a rainbow stretched across the sky."

Noah looked up in wonder and asked,
"You mean you're not going to destroy the world?"

"No," said the Lord.
"The GOVERNMENT beat me to it."

At least it's NOT snowing...

2009-01-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

What a beautiful sunny day.
And guess who has the stomach flu...yep, me!
I woke up with it.
At first I thought it was just a migraine, but knew it wasn't when I realized that I usually don't have a fever with a migraine.
The sun light was actually hurting my eyes.

Dad is still in the hospital.
HE was scheduled to be released Friday or today.
But he lost a lot of blood and they finally realized that...gee...maybe he needs a transfusion....on Friday!!!
I was going to go in to visit him today... :-(
But the stomach flu is the last thing he needs right now.

Friday I got my evaluation at work.
If the economy was better I would be definitely looking for a different job.
I will have to be patient for a little while.
I had to argue with her to raise up some of the scores....
which she did... so I'm thinking that she marked me poorly because she didn't think I would protest it.
I asked her if Sparky was complaining about me...as she complains about everyone and anything.
She didn't answer.
So I told her who it was that f---ed up 2 customer's accounts that I had to spend 2 hours correcting....actually I said that it wasn't my handwriting on the order....and I have a copy of it if she would like to see it.
And that I have to fix a lot of her mistakes...but it's not in my personality to run into her everytime some one makes a boo boo....
ARGH!!!!
Don't ya love it when you bend over backwards to help someone and they shit on you.

I'm going back to bed.
The computer screen is starting to bug my eyes.
I'm the only one home as Hubby took my mother in to see my Dad.

Day 2 at the hospital.....
"I have to fart, but I think there is more to it than that"
My daughter said that that was the funniest thing she has heard her grandpa say in a long time.
Our response was, "Maybe you better call the nurse".

All I could see was white

2009-01-21T09:11:00.000-08:00

All I could see was white...and I thought I was dead.
These are the words that were uttered by my daughter after driving home last Friday in a bad snow storm.
The route she takes to work, she passes many open fields, so she got to experience whiteouts for the first time as a driver.
She then got stuck twice.....
in our driveway.
So her and her brother shoveled and snow blowed out the driveway so it was nice and clear when Hubby & I got home.
It was very much appreciated!!

Saturday I made a turkey dinner and took it over my parents house.
Sort of a goodbye to my son who left to go back to college on SUnday and as a treat for my Dad before surgery.
I even made his favorite homemade Tapioca pudding.

While my husband was driving my son back to college, i made turkey soup Sunday.
Turkey and Stars soup
I shared that with my parents also

Monday, hubby got up at 3:30 am and started snow blowing.
First he did our driveway then my folks across the street.
He cleared off my dad's van and got it ready.
HE was going to wait till 4 am to start but said that it's lucky that he didn't as the snow was deeper than he thought and took him longer.
We left for the hospital at 5:15 am.
My sister went too and complained that she had to wade through snow to get next door to my parents house.
I felt like telling her that she should have gotten her husband out of bed to clear her a path.
But to keep peace I held my tongue...like always.
Hubby drove to the hospital.
My mother was too nervous to drive as were my sister and I and Dad couldn't drive.
Why the heck they make someone who is having surgery at 7:30 come in at 6 am is a mystery to me.
6:30 maybe...
I'm not a morning person.

The surgery was supposed to take 3 hours.
It took close to 4.
So my mother was a nervous wreck by the time the surgeon came to talk to us.
The surgery was a success as far as saving the nerve in his leg.
But, the neurosurgeon said that he couldn't get all the tumor out and it looked like it was in & on the bones.:-(
So my sister freaks out my mother further and asks what stage cancer was it.
The poor guy, who was about 6'7", looked like he was going to run away as obviously this wasn't his specialty...and his job was to remove the tumor to save the leg.
He did say that the tumor migrated from the prostrate tumor that he had that he was taking drugs for since 3 years ago to shrink.
And that he will have to discuss treatment for this with his urologist and family doctor.
So step one is done.
Now we have to concentrate on getting his leg strengthened back up so he can walk.
When he came out of recovery, he asked if we talked to the surgeon.
No one said any thing after we said yeas..
So before my sister could say anything, I told him that the surgeon said that he was able to get the tumor from the nerve and that the surgery went well and he should be up walking again.
I figured, let him rest with happy thoughts for a while and the Dr. can give him the other news.
He doesn't need to be depressed right away and it could wait a day, as this was a lot for him to handle already.
Besides, I want to be in denial for a little while anyway!!!

Thank you all for your well wishes.
My bulldog supervisor at work has yet to ask me how my father is doing...what a heartless bitch!

Hospital Times

2009-01-15T16:39:00.000-08:00

My Dad's back Doctor told him he has a tumor on/in his spine/vertebrates.
It is pressing on his nerve for his left side/leg.
They could shrink it with radiation, but the Dr. fears that by the time they shrink it his nerve will be completely destroyed, and he will lose use of his leg, so they are going in to remove it surgically.
They have to remove those fin like things that stick out from the sides of the discs to get at it and then he will have to have 2 rods put in after they remove the tumor.
His surgery is Monday.
Martin Luther King Day. (note the irony)
I told them I have the day off so I will be going with them...he has to be there at 6 am....arghhhh....he is first under the knife as he is most critical. Hubby is coming too.
Didn't ask if the tumor was cancerous.
Don't want to know...
He said that they told him he will be home in 3-5 days.... unless he needs rehab or something.
Don't want to be there when he tells my sister as she always has a doom & gloom attitude and will probably convince herself of the worst case scenario.
I'd rather not hear it.
I told my dad that at least they can operate and "fix" it.
He has an upbeat attitude...so far....but he hasn't talked to my sister yet!
Not a nice way to spend my day off from work...but at least I don't have to take a sick day....yet.
I offered to take off Tuesday if my mother needed me.
Hopefully the weather will improve.
I hate hospitals.

And we all just keep getting older...

2009-01-14T17:30:00.000-08:00

My parents seem to be falling apart lately.
My mom with her knee problems.
My dad with his back.
My dad's back has been bothering him since before X-mas and seems to be getting worse.
It has finally gotten so bad that he gave up snow blowing...which he shouldn't have been doing to begin with, but he's a stubborn old guy.
While walking in the parking lot at the bank last week, his leg/knee gave out and he fell into some lady's car. She was in the car at the time and got out to see if he was alright.
He put a dent in her car, but she told him not to worry about it as it was an old car. He's a big guy, 6'2" before he started shrinking!
A couple of days ago he went for an MRI.
While he was in the waiting room, he had to use the men's room.
On the way back to his seat, just 3 feet from it his leg gave out again and he landed flat on his back.
A couple of people helped him up.
They happened to be black.
So he now realized that not all black people are bad.
When I was growing up he was never a racist, but I think hanging around my BIL (sister's husband), who is a racist/Bigot has rubbed off on him...but that's another whole post...
He said that his leg goes numb.
I asked which leg...thinking that maybe he shouldn't be driving.
He said that it is always his left leg.
Tomorrow he takes his MRI test results and goes to a back Dr.
The Bigot BIL is taking him.

Hallelujah, my niece did my mother's grocery shopping!
So my mother bought her and her sister and her mother (my sister) subs for dinner....um...HEY
Wait a minute!!!!...
All I got was attacked by donuts...no dinner for me!!!
And my sister had the day off from work.
She should have made my parents dinner.

Daughter & son went out in the bitter cold across the street to see how they are today. My son just got back and said that they are watching American Idol...

My daughter wanted to know what was going to happen to grandpa if he keeps falling down. She is worried about her grandparents as I am about my parents.
Seems like I just got my children raised and half out of the nest and now I may have to start taking care of my parents.
But you gotta do what ya gotta do.
I'm just glad that we live close by and can check up on them.
My brother lives out of state and I really should e-mail him what is going on...after all why should my sister and I be the only ones worrying!!

2009-01-11T10:47:00.000-08:00

I'm writing this post from my son's computer in his room as my husband is playing Diablo...again on the "family" computer.
I haven't posted in a while because of this reason and that I've been enjoying the x-mas gift from Santa that was for the whole family...a Wii.
I'm getting to be quite the Wii bowler and dart player. My Wii bowling average is a lot higher than my regular bowling average...and it's nice to bowl sitting in one's lounge chair as opposed to a smoke filled loud bowling alley.
My son is getting quite the work out with the Clone Wars game doing great light saber battles...with the light saber attachment that lights up...every Star Wars fan's dream come true to own a light saber....We just can't be near him as we may get whacked with the light saber...which lights up red..

The holidays were interesting.
I enjoyed having the week of Christmas off.
Christmas eve I made a huge Lasagna, with home made meat balls and garlic bread.
My parents and my sister and her family and my niece's boyfriend came over for dinner. We had Cheesecake (regular and Godiva triple chocolate) from the Cheesecake factory for dessert and home made cherry pie....
My sister brought the wine.
My kids and niece and the boyfriend started making their own concoctions with the bottles of booze my daughter won at a fund raiser auction.
I ended up with the niece's boyfriend passed out under the Christmas tree.
I have a photo.
Will post it later when I'm back to my own computer.
He was tired as he worked outside all day...
Luckily we were able to wake him so my niece could drive him back to their apartment and we didn't have an over night guest...passed out under the tree.
I was afraid that he would roll over and knock down the tree and get pelted with glass ornaments. He has enough scars on his face already from the head on snow mobile accident he was in several years ago.....

There has been enough snow around here.
Hubby was out this morning snow blowing out our driveway plus 4 others.
(my parents and sisters plus 2 of the neighbors)
He's a good neighbor.
My dad and brother in law do our driveway too....
but the other neighbors rarely do anything for us...
At least gas is still fairly cheap.

My mother has arthritis very bad in her knees.
Lately the one knee is so bad that she can barely walk.
Last Saturday night I was at my parents house and she asked me what I was doing Sunday morning.
I answered "sleeping"......(pause)......"why?"
"Would you be able to do my grocery shopping for me?" she asked.
Being a smartass, I told her that I could take her and she could ride around in one of those motorized carts they have for the handicapped.
And I thought to myself...hmmm...you have another daughter next door who only works 2 1/2 days a week and doesn't work on Monday...yet you are asking me the one that works full time...hmmmm...why is that? I pondered....
So I said..."Of course I will do your grocery shopping for you. Just make out the list"
Well, she had the list made out already...in tiny handwriting...and gave me money.
I couldn't even read the list.
The handwriting was so small.
I asked her if she could have writen it any smaller...and she said let me see it and decided that yes it was small and offered to rewrite it. I just told her I would have to wear my glasses to see it.

Sunday it was off to the grocery store...oh joy!
I wore my glasses with the bifocal lenses so I could see the list instead of my contacts.
I had a small list of sale stuff so I decided to just do all my shopping first and cash out.
I was done in about 15 minutes, cashed out and put the stuff in the car.
It was still fidgid out so I didn't have to worry about the frozen stuff.
Then I went back in to do my mother's shopping.
A few customers looked at me and my now empty cart kind of funny.
I was doing fine until I came to getting the doughnuts.
The donuts that my father likes were on the top tray in a glass doored display case.
Using my left leg I propped open the heavy galss door while holding the bag in my left hand and reaching up and getting the donuts with my right.
Luckily I'm tall as I can't see how short little old ladies would be able to get these donuts...which may be why there were still some left.
About half of the tray of sourcream frycakes gone already so I was glad to see that there would be enough for my mother as she wanted six.
I reached in and grabbed two.
The tray started sliding towards me.
I pushed the tray back and forth several times before it would stay in place and put the donuts in the bag.
Reaching back into the case, I grabbed two more from the back of the tray and the tray slid backwards like a teeter-totter and hit the tray below, which hit the tray below that and all the way down till I had chocolate covered donuts with sprinkles flying out of the case and hitting me in the groin....and landing on my boots and floor.
Oh shoot!!! (had to keep it clean as there were children around in the store)
Still holding the door open with my leg and the bag in my hand I peered around to see if there was anyone in the bakery.
They would have had to hear that!!
A lady customer came over and started picking donuts off the floor.
Then it was OMG I only have 4 donuts and she wanted 6.
So I reached into the case and found 2 donuts of the kind she wanted on one of the shelves below and grabbed them and put them in the bag. That god they didn't hit the floor!!!!
A bakery worker came over and told the lady customer that she would take care of the donuts on the floor and said that that happens because CUSTOMERS don't get the donuts off the trays correctly.... ummm...could it be that the tray system sucks??
I thanked the lady customer for helping me, said I was sorry to the bakery troll, brushed the sprinkles off the crotch of my jeans and I took my bag of donuts and fled to the dairy section.
Normally I would walk back again by the bakery to get to the checkouts, but went the back way around and avoided the bakery.....
Hopefully they won't recognise me in the future....as I was wearing my glasses.
Two and a half hours later I dropped off the groceries and told my mother about getting attacked by donuts.
She said that she has the same trouble with those trays...but never to that extent.
As they say...No good deed goes unpunished so I should be happy that it was only donuts attacking!

Christmas is almost here...yikes

2008-12-20T04:17:00.000-08:00

My son is home from college. :-)
On his first day home Weds, he put up the Christmas Tree.
Normally the tree would have been up at least a week ago, but my hubby decided to shampoo the carpet in the living room.
The carpet was too wet last weekend to put up the tree.
I'm happy that he did the carpet, but I would have preferred that he clean them at a different time other than 2 weeks before Christmas.
Messed up my time table of things I need to do before Christmas.
But the carpet does look a heck of a lot better.
So I should just be happy.

Thursday, I took off my last 4 hours of personal time from work.
I had one day left so I divided it into 2 half days so Sparky my co-worker wouldn't get too stressed out. The other half day was the Friday before last.
My son & I went out for lunch to Ruby Tuesdays.
I asked him if it felt weird being home again.
He replied that the atmosphere and energy at college is very different than at home. Home, he said, seemed to have too much negative energy.
Ok, hubby and I do tend to get depressed.
Hubby especially around the holidays...Christmas has become to commercialized for him...he's right......but lets not be a glum bum and drag everyone down.
Sometimes I wish I could move away from here too.
We finished lunch and did some Christmas shopping.
He tried on a fedora and it looked real cool.
There weren't any mirrors in the men's department so he could see what he looked like so we had to go over to the ladies dept as there are always mirrors over there. May explain why some men wear clothes that do nothing for them because they can't hold the garment up to them to see how it looks before buying.
Son liked the hat so I bought it for him as one of his Christmas gifts.
He said that he will definitely wear it around campus.

Remember when all the men used to wear hats.
The pews in churches even had clips so that men could hang up their hats during service.
I think it was JFK that made it fashionable for men to not wear hats....which put a lot of hat makers out of business....Milliners, made women's hats, but did they also make men's? or where they called something different?
Glad to see hats slowly making a come back. There are a lot of bald heads out there that need covering.

Yesterday's morning commute was fine. They predicted that the winter storm coming from the mid states would arrive at 8 am.
10 minutes to eight it started snowing...and snowing ...and didn't stop till 4 pm.
The ride home took twice as long. But the disability was pretty good. The president of the place where I work called around 4 and said the roads were getting icy and if anyone wanted to leave early they could.
You didn't have to ask me twice.
I clocked out at 4:15...After going to the bathroom (why pee on your own time when you can get paid for it) and getting my boots on and long winter down hooded jacket ( I looked like an LLBean ad)
It took me 20 minutes to get the car cleaned off and drive able.
The front had a foot of snow on the hood and I was glad that I remembered to put the little snow shovel in my car before i left in the morning. I just scooped it all off. The rear didn't get very much snow...must have been the way the wind was blowing.
But it was coated on both sides with ice.
I let it thaw out with the defrosters going full blast for a while as I went and scooped snow off the front of Elly's and Spark's cars.
(Sparky decided to stay and let her best bud Bambi the receptionist leave early as she had a longer commute and Sparky didn't want to get home before her husband as she would have to snow blow the driveway then)
Elly came over had helped me chip off some of the ice.
Everyone helped each other.

When I got home the drive way was shoveled. Daughter and son worked together and my father did the end of the driveway with his snow blower.
(Did I ever mention that my folks live across the street)

My daughter had the day off yesterday so she finished decorating the tree and the living room. (snow day for all the area schools and she is a long term substitute teacher)

I was happy to see all that my children had done. I would have been highly disappointed if they hadn't done the drive way and left it for hubby to do . Hubby has a 44 mile commute (one way) and after driving in the snow I knew that he would be exhausted. I was tired and I only had to drive 12 miles in it, so I can imagine how he must feel after that drive.
He was thinking of taking the day off, but then his co-worker, an older woman whose husband died this year asked him for a ride. So he, being the nice guy that he is, picked her up at a convenience store about half way into his commute. She is a nervous nelly about driving in the snow, so at least hubby had company on the trek ....and extra weight in the car!

Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday...whether it be Christmas, Hanuka, or Kwanzaa.
Let there be peace on earth and let it begin with you.

a different view

2008-12-20T04:14:00.000-08:00

‘Twas the Night before Christmas                            
                           (a different view)                               
                                                                            
                “Twas the night before Christmas                            
                and all through the town                                    
                not a sign of Baby Jesus                                    
                was anywhere to be found.                                   
                                                                            
                The people were all busy                                    
                with Christmas time chores                                  
                Like decorating, and baking,                                
                and shopping in stores.                                     
                                                                            
                No one sang "Away in a manger,                            
 
                no crib for a bed".                                       
 
                Instead, they sang of Santa                                 
                dressed-up in bright red.                                   
                                                                            
                Mama watched Martha Stewart,                                
                Papa drank beer from a tap.                                 
                As hour upon hour                                           
                the presents they'd wrap.                                  

                                                                            
                When what from the T.V.                                     
                did they suddenly hear?                                     
                'Cept an ad.. which told                                   

                of a big sale at Sears.                                     
                                                                            
                So away to the mall                                         
                they all flew like a flash...                               
                Buying things on credit...                                  
                and others with cash!                                       
                                                                            
                And, as they made their way home                            
                From their trip to the mall,                                
                Did they think about Jesus?                                 
                Oh, no... not at all.                                       
                                                                            
                Their lives were so busy                                    
                with their Christmas time things                            
                No time to remember                                         
                Christ Jesus, the King.                                     
                                                                            
                There were presents to wrap                                 
                and cookies to bake.                                        
                How could they stop and remember                            
                who died for their sake?                                    
                                                                            
                To pray to the Savior...                                    
                they had no time to stop.                                   
                Because they needed more time                               
                to "Shop til they dropped!"                          
      
                                                                            
                On Wal-Mart! On K-mart!                                     
                On Target! On Penney's!                                    

                On Hallmark! On Zales!                                      
                A quick lunch at Denny's                                   

                                                                            
                From the big stores downtown                                
                to the stores at the mall                                   
                They would dash away, dash away,                            
                and visit them all!                                         
                                                                            
                And up on the roof,                                         
                there arose such a clatter                                  
                As grandpa hung icicle lights                               
                up on his brand new step ladder.                            
                                                                            
                He hung lights that would flash.                            
                He hung lights that would twirl.                            
                Yet, he never once prayed to Jesus...                       
                Light of the World.                                         
                                                                            
                Christ's eyes... how they twinkle!                         

                Christ's Spirit... how merry!                              

                Christ's love... how enormous!                             

                All our burdens... He'll carry!                            

                                                                            
                So instead of being busy,                                   
                overworked, and uptight                                     
                Let's put Christ back in                                   

                Christmas and enjoy                                         
                some good nights!                                           
                                                                            
                Merry Christmas to all!

Twenty-five

2008-11-30T14:37:00.000-08:00

I've been officially married for 25 years...
That's more than half my life.
I think I deserve a medal or something....
oh wait...you don't know my husband, but if you did you would probably agree that I deserve something other than a card and six red roses....
Ok, he did want to go out for dinner but we both were sickly on the actual anniversary day...he had to be close to the rest room and I couldn't smell anything and my nose & eyes wouldn't stop running...doesn't make for a pleasant evening out.
We will go out soon...someplace with real cloth napkins (serviettes for you Canadians) and good food.

But...I am a bit disappointed in the whole 25th anniversary thing as I took the Monday off before Veteran's Day...told him a month & a half before that I had the day off...He said that that would be a good time to go away for the weekend..Sun - Tues, not far, maybe 2 hours from our house to a nice hotel with a jacuzzi possibly...
BUT...he procrastinated and waited till the Thursday before the weekend to ask for the Monday off and too many others had already asked for the day off!!!
Now you wouldn't think that I would have had to remind him.
I would have thought that if it was important to him he would have remembered to ask for the day off earlier.
So the Monday before Veteran's day he comes home from work and says that other people weren't at work because they called in sick....ARGH!!!

Flash back to our 10th wedding anniversary.
We went to Toronto.
We saw the musical "Show Boat"
We went out for dinner.
I made the hotel reservations and paid for the hotel.
I ordered the tickets and paid for the tickets.
The day before we were to leave for our trip to Toronto, he jumps down the last 2 steps to the basement and screws up his back, so he was on pain medication for the trip...
SO he wasn't much fun.
Kind of puts a damper on things when someone's back hurts.

We went out to a restaurant for Thanksgiving.
My parents treated us.
I was glad not to have to cook as I was sickly with this sinus/eye virus/cold or what ever it is.
But it is kinda weird not having leftovers.
My son was home from college and I felt a little bad as I wasn't up to making him a homemade dinner.
So today I made him a big lunch before he left. Homemade stuffed shells and turkey meatballs and sauce and garlic bread. For dessert, homemade chocolate chip Toll house cookies...most of which he took back to college with him.
I just hope he doesn't get this virus/cold as he will be taking his finals in a week or so.

I bought a Wii for the family for Christmas...shhh it's a surprise.
Amazingly when I was shopping last Monday, the store I was in actually had some in stock...the bundles that come with 4 games and stuff. So I smoked my charge card and got it.
Now I need to find Wii fit...or maybe the starwars game that you duel with light sabers....
I am looking into getting a laptop for myself.
My husband is addicted to playing Diablo II Lord of Destruction on the computer so I rarely get a chance to blog...only when he's not home.
Dell has some nice ones on sale.
My daughter says to get an Apple one, but I am used to using Dell computers at work and home...

Hope everyone had a nice Thanksgiving.....

2008-11-20T16:21:00.000-08:00

I "borrowed" this from Jon at "Kick in the pants" blog

1. Do you like blue cheese salad dressing? Only with Chicken Wings
2. Favorite late night snack? Ice cream, Cookies (Hubby's ear)
3. Do you own a gun? No
4. What’s your favorite drink at Starbucks or other specialty coffee shop? Hot Chocolate
5. Do you get nervous before doctor appointments? Yes.
6. What do you think of hot dogs? I don't think...only grilled
7. Favorite Christmas song? "O Holy Night"
8. What do you prefer to drink in the morning? Iced Tea or Juice
9. Can you do push-ups? Bras???
10. What’s your favorite piece of jewelry? Not into Jewelry
11. Favorite hobby? Drawing, Painting, Reading
12. Do you have A.D.D.? No.
13. What’s one trait that you hate about yourself? Procrastination.
14. The last disease you contracted? Sinus & Ear infections
15. Name 3 thoughts at this exact moment. I don't want to work anymore, How much Judge Judy can one man watch in one night, Will anyone actually read this
16. Name 3 drinks you regularly drink? Ice Tea, Water, Lemonade
17. Current worry right now? Finances in my future.
18. Current hate right now? My Supervisor aka "the Bull Dawg"
19. Favorite place to be? Home
20. How did you ring in the New Year? Home alone with hubby snoring
21. Like to travel? Yes, but don't do it often enough.
22. What is your favorite candy? Chocolate...Good Chocolate
23. Do you own slippers? Yes, LLBean Wicked good Moose hide slippers
24. What color shirt are you wearing? Navy blue cable sweater
25. Do you like sleeping on satin sheets? No, too slippery.
26. Can you whistle? standard lips pursed.
27. Favorite singer/band? I have many favorites
28. Could you ever make it 39 days on the show Survivor? No, I doubt it, too many health issues
29. What songs do you sing in the shower? Don't sing in the shower
30. Favorite girl’s names? Don't have one
31. Favorite boy’s name? Thomas
32. What’s in your pocket right now? 3 dollars
33. Last thing that made you laugh? Coffepot's Blog Jokes
34. Like your job? I like parts of my job, but not my supervisor.
36. Do you love where you live? Most of the time.
37. How many TVs do you have in your house? That work? 2
38. Who is your loudest friend? Amanda
39. Do you drive the speed limit or speed? Rarely speed, only 5 MPH over the speed limit
40. Does someone have a crush on you? I Doubt it
41. What is your favorite book? Don't have one
42. Favorite Sports Team? I'm a girl who doesn't watch sports...USA Olympic teams...does that count?
43. What were you doing 12 AM last night? I'm taking the 5th on that one ;)
44. What was the first thing you thought of when you woke up today? Got to go to get an ultrsound and it snowed so I have to leave earlier than planned..Shit!

Deer photo

2008-11-15T19:53:00.000-08:00

I finally figured out how to download photos from my camera. It helps to have the correct cable....which I found in my daughter's room after she told me she didn't have it and that it was still in the box....ARGH!!!
SO here is a photo of 4 of the 6 deer that were in my back yard as mentioned in one of my previous posts. Not too bad considering that the picture was shot through a sliding glass door on an angle.
If I ever get a photo of myself I will have to add it to my profile...
I looked through all the photos in my daughter's photo albums on the computer and there are not any photos of me.... weird considering that I am her mother...she has many photos of herself...LOL

Funerals and crap

2008-11-15T11:28:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday I went with my father to a funeral for his cousin.
The Cousin was 76 and died in bed.
His son, who lived with him, found him in the morning. His feet were on the floor and it looked like he sat up and fell back down on the bed.
His wife had passed away 3 months earlier from cancer and he had some health issues also.
I felt horrible for the 2 "children" left behind and their families.
Imagining what it would be like to lose both parents in such a short time I started crying at the funeral.
Even though I didn't really know the man that well, I was crying at his funeral because I could imagine what his children, who are my age, must be going through.
People who were at the funeral, who knew him all there lives were probably wondering who I was.
I saw my fathers other cousins who I haven't seen since my parents 50th wedding anniversary party and some others I haven't seen in over 20 years.
My mother didn't attend the wake or the funeral because she had a touch of the intestinal flu..and my father just told people she wasn't feeling well so they were all concerned.
One of the cousins said he was having a bad day the day before and said that he felt like climbing in next to the deceased cousin to join him...right in front of the deceased cousin's brother.
So they all started wondering, aloud, who would be the next to go, eying each other up and down, hoping that it would not be them next time in the coffin.
The funeral luncheon was in the downstairs of a banquet place.
It was cold and damp and the beamed ceiling seemed low which made the room dark and cave like.
My cousin Gee, who is my age and mildly mentally retarded, was all excited that there was a buffet and announced that she was going to go up as many times as she wanted to get more food. The luncheon was her major reason for being there as the food was probably better than what she usually gets at the group home.
She tends to get rather loud and obnoxious and tries to dominate the conversation so my father & I tried to sit at a different table than her and my uncle. But as luck would have it all the other tables filled up so we ended up sitting at the same table as them.
Gee wasn't too bad during the luncheon as she was busy stuffing her face with food...and she did go up for another plate full. My uncle also went up for seconds and he had the equivalent of another full dinner when he came back. Some of the cousins made comments to him about the amount of food he had on his plates, but he didn't seem to care. I figured that he just ate my mother's lunch for her.
We had the usual buffet fair, antipasto salad, fruit salad, baby red potatoes, corn, rolls, roast beef and turkey. The turkey was so tender and moist.
Before we left I went to use the Ladies room as it would be about an hours ride home. Gee asked me where I was going and decided that sounded like a good idea and that she would go there too.
Luckily we were the only ones in there so we both were able to find an empty stall. I went about my business and suddenly became aware of loud grunting and groaning noises coming from Gee's stall.
OMG.... I stifled the laughter which was rising in me and quickly finished what I was doing, washed up and got the heck out of there. I didn't know if I should have asked her if everything was alright or told her to keep down the noise or what.
Ignoring it was probably the best thing to do.
A few days later I was out shopping with my daughter and had to use the ladies room. As I went in a teenage girl was washing up and quickly hurried out of there and I knew why...the smell was horrendous ...
I had to go and didn't think it would be wise to wait as I didn't want to wet myself so I went into the first empty stall and put my turtle neck up over my nose, put half a roll of toilet paper over the seat and set about my business....then I heard it!
From the next stall came grunts and groans and heavy breathing...WTF!! can't people take a dump lately without making noise. I then wondered if there was someone else in the stall with the grunter...but it only sounded like one grunter so it wasn't a case of hanky panky but poopy goopy.
SO it wasn't the teenage girl but whoever it was in the last stall that stunk up the place... I got the heck out of there as fast as I could.
My daughter decided that she had to use the restroom..I told her good luck.
Ok, so is it normal for people to grunt and groan when they are taking a crap...or am I, and my family abnormal for not making noise?

Funerals always make me think about my life and how little time we actually have on this earth. The people we take for granted that will always be there and that we depend upon could be taken from us in a matter of moments. Life is fragile.
My daughter and my father are like oil and water, they argue about everything. I try to tell her that she should be nicer to her grandfather because someday she may regret how she talks to him....
totally without respect...
she can be nasty.
My father's health isn't that great and he is 75, so you never know...he could live to be 100 or die tomorrow.
I know it bothers him that she is so disrespectful. They are actually quite alike, both temperamental artists who both think they are right.

She will have to learn the hard way that sometimes it is better to be kind than to be right.

What Tarot Card are You?

2008-11-02T08:39:00.000-08:00

You are The Hermit

Prudence, Caution, Deliberation.

The Hermit points to all things hidden, such as knowledge and inspiration,hidden enemies. The illumination is from within, and retirement from participation in current events.

The Hermit is a card of introspection, analysis and, well, virginity. You do not desire to socialize; the card indicates, instead, a desire for peace and solitude. You prefer to take the time to think, organize, ruminate, take stock. There may be feelings of frustration and discontent but these feelings eventually lead to enlightenment, illumination, clarity.

The Hermit represents a wise, inspirational person, friend, teacher, therapist. This a person who can shine a light on things that were previously mysterious and confusing.

What Tarot Card are You?
http://www.flarn.com/~warlock/tarot/

yep a hermit.... My friend Elly would agree with this as she says I need to get out more!!
I should go back to college to become a teacher or therapist. My Hermititness is being wasted at my current job.

It's a sunny day

2008-11-01T06:36:00.000-07:00

It's the 1st of November
We lucked out in this area and have no snow.
It snowed near here
but no snow here

The sun is out today
The house is quiet.
Hubby is off doing his Sat. paper delivery
Daughter is still sleeping after a late night at a Halloween party.
My parents live across the street and there is no sign of activity.
Their newspaper is still in the box.

You know when you are no longer a child when you think...less than 2 months before Christmas...must start shopping etc.
A child thinks....there are almost 2 whole months before Christmas...it's a LONG time away...we still have to go through Thanksgiving..
Stores seem to skip right from Halloween to Christmas and skip the Thanksgiving holiday all together.

My supervisor at work, (who Elly has nicknamed the Bull Dog, cause she is built like and looks like a bull dog), in her infinite wisdom decided that the last day of the month would be a swell day for Sparky & I to move all the contents of our cubicles to the 2nd floor cubicles.
The end of the month and first couple days of the month are VERY busy for us as we are trying to get all the month end stuff done and our accounts balanced and reporting done the first few days of the month.
There is no elevator in the building...
There was no way that I was going to be carrying heavy boxes up the stairs as my knees and back are bad. I told Sparky if I had to do that I would probably end up out of commission for a week....she graciously volunteered to help carry the boxes.
The maintenance man and the IT guy also helped and my friend Cee from the other dept.
Everything was moved up by noon.
Then I had to try to find a place for all the stuff.
The "new" cubicle is smaller and doesn't have 2 overhead locking cabinets like the one down stairs.
The Bull Dog came around and said to make sure everything was put away neat and tidy as the CEO likes it that way...Bull$hit..she likes it that way.
( I can't help it if I am cursed with being somewhat of a packrat and I have to keep a lot of paperwork just for CYA purposes)
I still have 4 boxes of stuff to try to find a place for.
And I had to get all my regular month end work done...
Now I have a special project that someone from the other dept needs ma to get done ASAP Monday ...along with my account balancing & reporting (govt) and unpacking...ARGH!!

I think the Bull Dog was trying to see if she could push me over the edge as I've told her numerous times that the last day and first 3 days of the month are the most hectic for me.

All the files I use on a daily basis are in the file room downstairs and the people I talk to the most about job related stuff are on the 1st floor. The dept I belong to is on the 2nd floor and the Bull dog said that to make it more efficient, as she is always looking to make things more efficient, that Sparky & I have to be moved to the 2nd floor as that is where her office is.
The only person for whom this move will be more efficient is HER!!!
It bothered her that she couldn't keep a constant watch over us.
I told her if I'm not at my desk I will probably be downstairs, and as I need to be down stairs a lot, I probably won't be at my desk a lot.

I need to get out of that place.
It is having an adverse effect on my health.
Good thing I took all my plants home as I have no room to put them. :-(
And I loved having a lot of plants around me.
My new cubicle is not next to the window, like the old one.
I cannot see the outdoors or feel the sun when it shines in through the windows.
All I see now is the dirty blue fabric that lines the cubicle walls.
And my little sign that reads:
"A Cubicle is just a padded cell without a door"
wonder how long it will be before the Bull dog makes me take it down.

On the bright side...on the other side of my cubicle is my friend Elly.
I told her I will be throwing my stress ball at her occasionally...when the Bull dog isn't patrolling the area!

Hope y'all had a wonderful Halloween.
We had about 10 trick or treaters.
My favorite was a 5 year old little girl who was dressed up as Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz...complete with the ruby red shoes.

The three meme

2008-11-01T06:29:00.000-07:00

I found this on my old blog...and have found most of my answers to still be the same.
So I thought I would re-post it with a few small changes

The three meme

1. Three things that scare me:
~The thought of something bad happening to one of my kids or my family
~Getting an incurable disease
~war

2. Three people that make me laugh
~my 2 kids & husband

3. Three things I hate the most
~people who think they are better or more important
than everyone else
~Driving in a snow storm
~Having Dental work done & colonoscopies

4. Three things I don't understand
~Hatred for someone who is racially different
~men
~any language other than English

5. Three things I'm doing right now
~Drinking water
~Wishing I wasn't feeling so depressed and tired
~trying to think of answers for this thing!

6. Three things I want to do before I die
~Go on a long vacation, somewhere nice & not have to worry about money or time
~Win the lottery so I can do the above
~Buy the car that I really want and not just the one I can afford.

7. Three things I can do
~Make a wonderful Turkey dinner all by myself (done so many a Thanksgiving!!)
~bake an apple pie from scratch (homemade crust, fresh apples)
~wouldn't you like to know ;-)

8. Three ways to describe my personality
~Introspective
~Passionate/sensitive
~Utterly loyal

9. Three things I can't do
~Jump out of bed as soon as I wake up
~Be unfaithful
~Lie convincingly

10. Three things you should listen to
~the little voice inside your head
~The sound of the waves and the seagulls at the beach
~your favorite songs on the way to work

11. Three things you should never listen to
~People who don't get you
~Liars
~Prejudice people/Bigots

12. Three things I'd like to learn
~not take everything so deeply personally
~ to feel okay, every day
~to like myself more

13. Three favourite foods
~Chocolate
~Ice cream
~Strawberries

14. Three beverages I drink regularly
~Tea
~Water
~Juice

15. Three shows I watched as a kid
~Happy Days
~MASH
~The Partidge Family

16...Three people I'm tagging (to do this)
~anyone is welcome to do this...

Nov 4th can't come quick enough!

2008-10-29T17:28:00.000-07:00

Oh lord...I can't wait for this election crap to be over with.
I will get up early Tuesday and stop on my way to work to vote like a good little American.
I like to get it over with as it is crowded on the way home.

Now for something totally disgusting and a true story...you may never want to eat in a Chinese restaurant again.

Dead deer carved inside Hamburg NY restaurant

Story Published: Oct 25, 2008 at 7:39 PM EDT

Story Updated: Oct 25, 2008 at 7:39 PM EDT

By Jenny Rizzo (wkbw.com)

A shocking story tonight out of Hamburg NY involving the carcass of a dead deer ending up in the kitchen of a local restaurant. Investigators with the Erie County Health Department got a tip Friday morning that roadkill was spotted being dragged inside the China King restaurant. When investigators arrived for an unannounced inspection, they did indeed find a dead deer being carved inside the kitchen. As you can imagine, that is a serious public health violation.

Outside the restaurant, there is a trail of red blood droplets that lead to the China King's side door. Erie County Health Commissioner immediately issued an order closing the restaurant when he heard about the gruesome discovery. "My understanding is that it was the whole deer," said Erie County Health Commissioner Dr. Anthony Billittier.

The Health Department will now launch an investigation into this case to find out where the deer came from and what the employees of the restaurant intended to use it for. "In New York State, we have laws like you can't butcher a wild deer and sell it because we want to make sure the meat is safe, obviously," said Billittier.

Only raw meat purchased from a licensed vendor is allowed to be brought inside a restaurant where it can be prepared and then served.

Some of China King's regular customers were shocked and disgusted when they heard about what happened. "I was shocked... People don't do that! Its disgusting, I mean, you don't know what kind of parasites were on that deer," said Kathy Sitek.

"I think they should be out of business. I think its wrong to feed that to people," said customer Sara MacAllister.

There will be a hearing next week at the Health Department, which is the China King owner's chance to present his side of the story. The ultimate decision on whether or not to shut down the restaurant permanently rests with Health Commissioner, Dr. Anthony Billittier.

yeah....road kill ...yum...can I have mine with garlic sauce!!
I heard people on a radio station talking about this and the people calling in to the station were telling that they heard that they shoot pigeons and seagulls also and someone else said that they lived near the restaurant and the people from the restaurant were in their yard picking mushrooms off their lawn...

The Erie County Health Department immediately shut down China King in Hamburg NY Friday after they got a tip call that an employee brought a deer that had been struck by car into the restaurant.

"I watched him drag it though the parking lot and he dragged it through the front door of the China King Restaurant. And I said this is just not right, so I reported it to the Hamburg Police and reported it."

News 4 requested Health Department records for China King on that day and for the last five years and found some interesting results.

On the day in question the inspector found the deer on the floor of the kitchen, with it legs cut off and placed in the sink. There were blood drag marks on the floor leading from the front door, through the front area into the kitchen.

The inspector also found a refrigerator was too warm. And all of this food, pounds of ribs, chicken, eggs- all had to be thrown out because it wasn't safe.

The restaurant has a history of cooling problems stemming back to 2003. In 2005, cited again, for cooked chicken cooling at room temperature. It was 113 degrees. It must be kept 140 degrees or above or 45 degrees or below.

It doesn't stop there. In 2007 the store sought help from a pest control company for a cockroach problem.

The health department found dozens of sanitary problems in the last five years.

The Erie County Health Commissioner will decide what comes next after a hearing Tuesday.

Story by Melissa Holmes, WIVB

China King must be a chain as there is one near where I live.... Don't think I will be eating Chinese from there EVER!!!

Fun and Games

2008-10-25T17:05:00.000-07:00

It's been a crazy week.
The girl I work with, who replaced my friend Marly who retired this spring, has been threatening to quit almost since day one.
I wish she would already as it is very stressful working with someone who complains about the job she was hired for.
Granted there are parts of my job I dislike, but I do them anyway.
All the energy & time she commits to complaining to anyone who will listen, she could have the tasks completed.
She's hyperactive and in constant motion as her leg is constantly swinging and her had is never still on the mouse.
Try sitting next to a hyper person all day....
I have nicknamed her Sparky as she reminds me of a hyper little dog.

I took the Friday before and Tuesday after Columbus Day/CA Thanksgiving Day as my BIL was in town with a cousin from Canada, and as my BIL would be out of the country for the USA Thanksgiving, and my in-laws were Canadian, we decided to celebrate Thanksgiving the Sunday before Columbus Day.
So that day I made 4 homemade pies, 2 apple and 2 pumpkin...from scratch, homemade crust...not from a mix...real apples etc..
And we had the traditional Turkey dinner as I was lucky enough to find a fresh one at the local supermarket as my Hubby who said that he would get one for $.99 a pound at a place he knew, forgot.
So I ended up paying $1.69 /lb for a fresh Honeysuckle White Turkey, one of the 2 non-frozen turkeys they had in the whole store.
It was well worth it.
It turned out so tender and moist.
Everyone enjoyed the dinner.
My daughter invited her friend over and told her that it was an official Canadian Thanksgiving as we had an actual Canadian there for dinner.
My son was home for the weekend from college.
I took him back to college Tuesday as I had the day off and Hubby took his brother to the airport on his way to work.
My mother went with us as it is a 2 hour drive each way and she came to keep me company on the ride back. We went to Wendy's for lunch once we got to the college's town.
Although the weekend started off rough with the CT scan, it turned out nice.

Well that left Sparky to fend for herself for 2 whole days at work.
Rumor has it she was throwing files down on her desk and swearing a lot.
She actually took home all her personal stuff off her desk.
When I came back to work Weds, she was crabby and complaining about the job and threatening to quit. I just told her "You have to do what makes you happy".
I'm not about to try to talk her out of doing something that would make her happy.
As a person, I like her. She does have a good heart.
She just needs to get some medication for her hyperactivity.
And I think she feels guilty and stressed out about working as she has children in school.

When my 2 children were little I stayed home till my oldest was in school. Then I went back to work part-time nights/weekends 12-16 hours per week. I was there to put them on the bus and home to get them off the bus.
We only had one car, which was always a used car.
We didn't have cable TV, still don't, and didn't have the Internet.
The kids didn't know the difference.
I didn't start full time till 10 years ago when the oldest was old enough to watch themselves.
I wish that i would have stayed part-time sometimes.

So I decided that I too would take all my personal stuff home...on the day Sparky left early to go to the dentist...this past Thursday.
I had a lot of stuff and 5 plants...took 3 trips to the car.
They are reorganizing where everyone sits, so Sparky & I are on the list of people to be moved to a different cubicle.
Not knowing where I was going to be working and some of the cubicles are smaller than the one I am in now and have no natural lighting, I decided to take my plants home before it started to get freezing out and snowing.
At least that was what I told people so they didn't think I was fired.
(That's how we know someone got fired as they get called into HR at 5pm, then the next day all their stuff is gone from the cubicle and no one says anything)
Actually I thought I would freak Sparky out a little.
(Yeah, I have a bit of a nasty side....but she deserved it after all the shit I've put up with from her for the past 6 months)
I came in a little late Friday.
Took the far driveway into the parking lot as the one I usually take goes by our windows.
She wasn't at her desk.
She was in talking to our supervisor.
Not a word was said when she came back to her desk about all my stuff being gone.
I didn't mention it either.
But, man, she was overly happy to see me!!!

I went over my friend Elly's house last night.
Her husband was working the night shift.
After she got her 2 little ones to bed, we watched "Sex in the City"...no...make that "Sex and the City" .
We both agreed after the movie;
that we could have written a better movie as it was kinda depressing at times,
we both need to color more, and
we eat so we don't cheat..that's why we are a little over weight.
She is such a good friend to me and came into my life when I really needed one.

It's coming up on the 13th anniversary of my best friend's death. Every fall I think of her. She was only 34 when she died from congestive heart failure. As a nurse, she should have known to take better care of herself and not smoke and she should have recognized her symptoms as something serious, but she was in denial.
She was to go to the doctor the next day as her mother set up the appointment and told her she would pay for it as she was on disability and her health insurance lapsed.
Her brother found her on the floor dead.
I never realized how ill she actually was.
She called me 3 days before she died.
I wasn't home.
My husband never gave me the message till after she died.
It took me a while to forgive him for that.
I was friends with her since our diaper days.
Our families were friends.

About a month after she died, I remembered something that she told me a friend of hers had gotten her from Mexico as a joke.
It was a marble, life size, larger than average size penis.
I never saw it but she said it even had veins carved on it...
It was an OMG moment...as I knew I had better tell her mother that SHE didn't buy it for herself, that someone had gotten it for her as a joke.
When I told her mother, she said that she was wondering about that as she had found it and didn't know what to think.
What ever made me think of that.
She only mentioned it to me once.
It was almost like she sent me a message from the spirit world so her mother wouldn't think she was some kind of marble dildo loving freak.

Her death had a very huge impact on my life.
I was subconsciously afraid to get too close to anyone after that.
I can't tell you what the exact date it was that she died as I have blocked it from my memory. I remember her birthday.
My mother-in-law always remembered the dates of the deaths of her relatives.
She would say, oh so and so died today upteen years ago.
I asked her one day after she made such a remark what was their birthdate and she couldn't remember their birthday.
My husband said that his mother always loved a funeral.
Well..she was Irish...Catholic ...and Canadian.
After someone she knew passed away, she would cross their name off in her address book.

My daughter went to a Halloween party tonight.
Her costume is this:

She's the sexy candy Corn witch.
But she has on black glittery tights and a black shirt on underneath a the place where the party is isn't heated. Being the mother that I am, when i was with her at the store I suggested that she get something a little warmer.
I must admit that she did look cute in it and I'm glad that she had to wear the shirt underneath it.And she is wearing black converse sneakers instead of heels.
When I was 24 I was too shy to wear something like that in public.
And when I was 24 I was married and she was a baby.

To help me get in the Halloween spirit she painted my nails midnight blue.
I may go goth all next week to work.....have to find all my black clothes.
Have a happy Halloween!
Carve your own pumpkin
Check this out:
http://www.coasttocoastam.com/timages/page/pumpkin_sim.html

Body Maintainance

2008-10-18T11:19:00.000-07:00

Anyone over 40 can relate to all the body maintenance, doctor appointments, tests and procedures that must be performed at an increasing frequency as we get older.
Women start with the yearly pap test, then in our 30s we start with the yearly mammogram, then if you are one of the chosen ones to have a family history of colon cancer you get the every 3 years colonoscopy.
And of course all the blood tests, stress tests, electrocardio thingys, ultrasounds, x-rays and if you really baffle your doctor, CT scans and MRIs.
This of course if you are lucky enough to have health insurance.

And the CT Scan test results are........ (drum roll)
I knew they wouldn't be devastatingly horrible as I had to call the doctor's office to find out...
.....2 kidney stones (one in each kidney) and a huge cyst on my ovary...
whew!!! no mystery tumors ...
But I am back to where I was before.
I had 2 lipthotripsies, one on each side already
and already had surgery last year for an orange sized cyst ...same side, same place.
I should be depressed about this...
I'm not depressed about this...
what I AM depressed about is...

I went to the eye doctor today to get new contacts and new glasses...
My vision got a little worse...which I can deal with, BUT
when he told me that I have a cataract starting on my one eye...WTF I'm too young for that!!
I'm not even out of my 40s yet!!
I knew my vision in that eye was getting worse...but a CATARACT!!

ARGH!! It was bad enough when I was 38 and was in the waiting room of the Cancer Hospital's colon/rectal clinic with all the seniors...after my pencil eraser sized cancerous tumor was removed from my colon... the people in the waiting room looked at me like why the heck is she here...must be waiting for someone. And at the urologists office with all the older gentlemen in the waiting room...although there were a few other women my age.

So now I get to add my eye to the list of things that need to be checked every year.

My husband is fit as a fiddle.
No complaints
and he's 8 years older than me
He will most likely out live me
He is a blood donor
He has given approx 6 gallons of blood already
He has all the T-Shirts to prove it.

The fall leaves are absolutely beautiful this year.
People don't need to travel all the way to Vermont, just come to NY state.
We have apples, pretty leaves, and we also make maple sugar.
The Adirondack mountains are breathtakingly beautiful in the fall.
Not that Vermont isn't nice too...I've been there...it reminds me of home.

I am always startled by the wild life that wanders into my back yard.
Recently there were 4 does in the yard, one only about 10 feet away from the house, just munching away on the grass.
Then 2 more of their friends showed up...half a dozen deer..
I tried to take their photo, but having to look through a window on an angle to get the picture didn't quite turn out so clear...kept getting "Photo is blurry...Delete?"
I don't dare tell some of the neighbors as they will want to come and kill them. :-(
Usually it is the turkey I see.
they are funny birds.
They walk single file according to height.
The baby ones bringing up the rear.
Hysterically funny to see them fly.
One year one of the turkeys didn't quite get enough altitude and flew into my neighbors roof.
There are over 30 turkeys that wander the neighborhood together.
If I had the stomach to hunt, we could be livin' high off the land.
My father said that we should try trapping a turkey.
I told my father that if I caught a turkey, I wouldn't be able to clean it as I wouldn't know how.
He offered to do it if I trapped one.
Haven't taken him up on the offer.
With my luck, I would trap a skunk or rapid raccoon.

That's enough rambling for one day...
Hopefully I didn't put y'all to sleep.
The dryer has stopped...time to fold the laundry!

Medical Tests

2008-10-10T07:58:00.001-07:00

I took a vacation day today...away from the funny farm I work for.
Thought a nice long weekend would be nice.
But what do I do?
I schedule a CT scan at 8:30 am..
Sometimes I am my own worst enemy.
I get there on time.
Checked in and they gave me a cup of this foul tasting stuff to drink.
Told me that I would have to wait an hour or so for the stuff to get through out my system....
But what they failed to mention, was that the stuff they gave me to drink could cause diarrhea, especially if you drink it all at once...which is what I did because it tastes so bad....
Luckily there was a constant turn around of people in the waiting room or they would have wondered why I kept disappearing & reappearing..... I had to sit away from people as the rumbling from the great disturbance in the lower GI region would have caused them to move away from me!!
After 4 trips to the ladies room, I finally got called for the test.
The CT scan took 10 minutes if even that and most of that time was spent changing clothes.
I was going to go to the mall after the test and do some shopping before I met my retired friend MArly for lunch...but I decided to go home and relax for awhile first...
yeah.......
Actually I wanted to be close to my own bathroom!!

50 Years ...is a long time

2008-10-07T19:37:00.000-07:00

This past Saturday afternoon, we went to one of Hubby's cousin's 50th wedding anniversary parties.
His side of the family is huge, his dad was one of 13 and his mom one of 10 children.
He is actually one of the youngest of the cousins.
And I am closer in age to the cousin's children.
(Yes I married an older man...by 8 years...my daughter thinks the age difference is just disgusting...LOL)
His cousin "L" and her husband "R" are fun loving people with 6 children.
They all gave speeches of course and then "L" thanked all the children for throwing such a wonderful party.
"L" told us how she came to meet "R" at a friend's wedding reception.
"L" said that when she first saw "R" standing by the bar, she told her sister that that was the man she was going to marry. She hadn't even met him, but thought he was handsome and he happened to be carrying a keg of beer at the time.

It was a nice party.
My siblings & I threw a surprise 50th wedding anniversary party last year for my parents.
Time seems to fly by so fast.
I remember talking with "L" before our wedding and her telling me that they had just celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary...and I remember thinking that that was a long time to be married...now next month I will hit the 25 year mark.
I'm too young to be married that long....I've been married the majority of my life.
Although lately I wonder if we will make it to 50 years....let alone 30

2008-10-07T18:21:00.000-07:00

The Layers of Lindi lou

Layer One: On the Outside
Name: Lindi, Sept girl,
Birthday:September
Current Location: Livingroom
Eye Color: Green-ish... Hazel
Hair Color: Caramel blonde
Righty or Lefty: Righty,
Zodiac Sign: Virgo

Layer Two: Just Below the Surface
Your Weakness: I'm a wimp, I avoid confrontation,passive aggressive
Your Goal: Survive
Your Fears: Something happening to my family..accident or illness

Layer Three: Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow
Your thoughts first waking up: I don't want to go to work
Your bedtime: When I fall asleep watching TV
Your most missed memory: My grandparents, there are a lot of questions I would ask them if I could and the days at the beach as a child

Layer Four: Your Pick
Pepsi or Coke: used to be Pepsi, now water
McDonald's or Burger King: Subway
Single or Group dates: Both
Adidas or Nike: Whatever fits better
Lipton Tea or Nestea: Homemade iced tea
Chocolate or Vanilla: Both
Cappuccino or Coffee: not a coffee drinker

Layer Five: Do You?
Smoke: No
Have a crush: no
Think you've been in love: Yes twice at least
Want to get married: Am Married
Believe in yourself: Sometimes
Think you're a health freak: Not as much as I should be

Layer Six: In the Past Month
Drank alcohol: yes, maybe once
Gone to the mall: yes
Eaten Sushi: no, can't get up the nerve to try, but it was in the shopping cart last night for my daughter
Gone skating: not for a hell of a long time
Dyed your hair: yes

Layer Seven: Have You Ever?
Played a stripping game: No
Gotten beaten up: mentally yes...physically-no, but felt as if I were sometimes
Changed who you were to fit in: a little, some friends I can tell really dirty jokes to some I can't

Layer Eight: Getting Old
Age you’re hoping to be married: Was married the year I graduated from College
Plastic Surgery or Wrap: Can't afford it
Buried or Cremated: Cremated.

Layer Nine: Perfect Mate
Best Eye Color: Blue
Best Hair Color: brown
Short or Long Hair: Doesn't matter, just take care of it.

Layer Ten: What were you doing...
1 HOUR AGO: Reading blogs
1 WEEK AGO: Starting my on-line course
1 MONTH AGO: Extremely stressed out by work
1 YEAR AGO: Happier at work

Layer Eleven: Finish the Sentence
I LOVE: My my kids
I HATE: Bullies, Bigots, Pediphiles, and Cheaters
I HIDE: In my home and in the file room at work
I MISS: My husband
I NEED: Exercise more and eat more veggies & fruit

Beauty amoungst Chaos

2008-10-03T20:08:00.000-07:00

I looked out into the back yard this morning and saw nature at it's best.
Four small deer
eating apples under the neighbor's apple tree.
they were probably adolescents,
past the cute baby stage
they were on their own
No large adult deer around
I would have loved to take their picture
But the angle I had to look out of the sliding french door made it difficult to get a good shot.
Opening the door would have scared them away.

I continued getting ready for work and heard the neighbors dogs barking
and pictured in my mind the deer darting away into the woods.

There must be something about white SUVs and vans.
Coming home from work yesterday, waiting at a stop sign at the end of the road
waiting to make a left on to the road
I started to pull out and had to slam on the brakes
as a white van was coming from the right
WTF...
It was dreary and rainy and all the other vehicles had their lights on
except the white van of course.
I was only about 6 feet past the stop sign
It was only 1/2 a mile from home, in the "sticks"
the driver probably thought it was just a Boston Fake

One of the last entries in my old blog (Warped Doodler)...I said that sometimes I felt like turning into traffic...but would never do it because I wouldn't want to ruin someone else's day...
I wonder if the few people that read the thing actually thought I did finally do it as I stopped writing in it...forgot the password....I am such a dork!!

Let’s Play Four

A) Four Places That I Go To Over And Over:
Work, Parent's house, Super Market, Subway restaurant

B) Four People Who E-mail Me Regularly:
At work, my boss sends me at least 10 e-mails a day (doesn't like human interaction apparently)
Marlene, Nancy & Nancy

C) Four Of My Food Favorites:
Chocolate, Lobster & Shrimp, Ice cream, Steak-Bloody steak :)

D) Four Things I’d Like To Do:
Win the Lottery, so I can quit my job
Travel to Australia
Take a cruise to Alaska
Quit my job and concentrate on my art

E) Four People I Think Will Respond: To What?

F) Four Things I Did Yesterday:
Dragged my sorry ass out of bed and went to work
Put up with annoying co-worker(s)
Went to the Family Dollar store and bought a Swiffer and cleaning products
Did a load of laundry before I went to work

G.Four Things I would buy if I had a million dollars:
A new Volkswagen..something
New living room furniture
An eight foot stockade fence between my house and the neighbors from deliverance
An art/weaving studio for me!!

I'm supposed to pick 4 people to do this... but it's up to you, gentle reader, if you decide to do it...

September's Last day my First Post

2008-09-30T16:08:00.000-07:00

Here I go again... starting another blog.
My life is in a state of chaos..just like the current state of the economy.
Do I stay in a job I like but am surrounded by people I don't like
.. or do I seek out another job with a potentially longer commute.. I .like the 12 minute commute I have now.. I don't know what to do so I am paralyzed and do nothing.
How do I work for a manager who has admitted she doesn't like me.
I've been at the Co. 11 years longer than her, but she is well liked by upper management.....
I am in a bad spot.

I'd really love to just stop working and concentrate on my art work & weaving which I haven't have any time to do lately. Maybe sell some art stuff on the internet...

This job is not in the field that I have my college degree in.

Yesterday....I went to apply for a job 3 minutes from my house. I pulled into the parking lot and spotted a parking spot. Don't know if I was so focused on the parking spot,,,but I didn't see this huge white SUV that almost hit me as I turned towards the parking spot right in front of it....OMG...I mouthed the word "SORRY" ..the lady seemed ok, she didn't give me the finger or anything...I still can't figure out where the heck she came from.....oh, and the job had already been filled and it was at an Opticians!!

Wish I could have slept through September......