Pretty in Pink

Oh, yes! I did! I had me some baby time with this sweet pink baby yesterday. My sister let me hog her all day. As much as I wanted. (My sister is the grandmother).  I told her she has another grand baby coming in December and I have none. All my sisters have little ones to snuggle as grand parents and I have none.

The guilt trip worked. Along with the fact that I growled at my sister each time she came near me while I was holding this sweet pink fluff of joy.

She was 8 days old yesterday. The only time she opened her eyes was to glance at my boob. Completely covered in clothing sweet baby. Kitchen is closed. She grimaced and back to sleep she went. Ugh. Not the mama!

Blech!

I did not like the movie Passion. At all. 

I'll use my favorite word this month for it. Vapid.

Do not confuse this title with Passion of the Christ. I would only watch that movie because JC stars in it and I don't mean Jesus Christ. Then again I would not watch it because I heard it is full of violence. I'll pass.

Anyway, back to the movie I am speaking of. Passion. Vapid. Very, very vapid. There are a few people that I mentioned I cannot look at. Or, I am uncomfortable looking at. N00mi is one of them. I hope she never reads this (and I am not vain enough to think she ever will - Just sayin')because I don't like to hurt others feelings.

However, I will admit. I had a hard time looking at D0ris Y0unane on McLeod's Daughters at first - and now I think she is rather striking looking. So maybe I just need to get used to certain faces.

Cousins

Photo courtesy of sister 1944. I just adore this photo. I just have to wonder what the little tyke is thinking here. My first thought was he is thinking "Isn't this just the greatest fun?"  Or, how about "Don't you just love wearing orange?",   or even  "I am so glad I am not the only one who wore orange today!"

Both boys are the sons of two of my nephews (brothers). It touches me somehow in my "family-oriented" pleasure in life. I love family and I have a strong bond to my family.

I was aghast when I ventured out into the real world and saw siblings fighting and hating one another. Most of them were from 'well-to-do' upbringings.

You have to wonder.

The beginning of vacation

A suspension of work. Well, work I get paid for. I "hope" to be doing plenty of other work. Around the house. I start today with recycling. The trunk of my car is loaded with old technology equipment. Two big old ugly monitors (before the flat screens) and a bunch of other stuff. I am headed to the basement after this post to see what else I can throw in the car.

I have a plastic coffee container full of used batteries. Most double-AA. It is heavy! I did not realize how heavy batteries are.

I had 3.5 vacation days that I was going to lose if I did not use them. Never in my life did I dream such a thing could happen (to me). My one co-worker is always taking his vacation days this time of year because he has a risk of losing them.

Our year ends June 30th and starts over July 1st (for vacation days). School schedule, I guess. So I took this week off.

It is kind of a bummer because I have plans in July and August to go with different family members on vacation. I will be using up a quick 14 days by the time August ends.

My daughter and I will be joining my sister and her granddaughter to see The Lion King. Our second viewing. We went in April 2007 to see it in Cincinnati. Then we are going to an aquarium nearby.

In August it is another trip to Niagara Falls. Not my choice of destination but a branch of family are going and I told my sister I would go this year. My daughter does not know it yet, but she is staying home and taking care of the dogs this trip.

Sigh. But this week is a work week. Hopefully, outside work. If my back, arms and legs hold up. I am just coming off of a bad week of coughing, sneezing, an ear ache and sinus pressure. Not certain if it is a bad cold or allergies or both. Regardless, it was not fun. I am still a bit short of breath when walking the dogs.

My daughter went to stat care and was diagnosed with an ear infection. sinusitis and pharyngitis. I became sick a few days after she did, but not nearly as bad.

I have gift cards for Lowe's (thanks to my friends) - so flowers, mulch, potting soil, shovel, spade - here I come!

Oh, did I mention that my daughter's current beau took landscaping in school? Peruby gives a very devious and mischievous grin. Heh, heh, heh. Rubbing my hands together. Now, where IS that never before used hedge trimmer? Want a before and after shot? Okay, but promise not to laugh! I don't profess to be a yard expert (or any expert for that matter)! LOL!

The hinge

 Here is a picture of the long hinge. There was no getting this sucker off even if I did have the right tools for it. When the door  is closed, the hinge is invisible.

 Here are the three stalls showing how the door goes all the way to the floor

This is the wall on the other side. I got up to the top of that wall, but hesitated to swing over and drop myself down on the other side. I could have done it but I was using that as a last resort because I figured I would have hurt myself someway.

They put another latch on the third door - the same latch that the other two have and all is working again. Good timing because we had two in services where there were more than fifty women in the building yesterday. That was one busy bathroom.

Under or over

Seriously. I would not have been able to crawl out from underneath these doors. This photo is lifted off the Internets. I may take photos of our buildings bathroom this coming week. Since I have to take my phone with me every time I go, now. Or, maybe I will spare you. LOL!

Up and over. Yeah. I could easily get UP there. It was coming DOWN on the other side I was worried about. The stall I was in just happened to have the handicap bars on the side and I was able to get good leverage by standing on them to get UP. The other side had nothing but two toilet roll paper holders and it was a long way down until I reach the toilet seat. Hopefully, the back of the tank would have been easier. We may never know. :()

Anyway, a few have asked about the door removal and its hinges. I tried to find a picture on line that showed a door hinge that is well over three feet long. It is the normal hinge you see on a door (usually builders will use three of them) but whoever built these put a three(or four)-foot long hinge that ran the entire length of the door. If I had anything, I was unable to reach the screws that held the door fast. The door would need to be open for me to reach the screws.

And - the custodian may just leave over this incident. Our custodian is a great guy. In my opinion. He and I hit it off very well! We joke, we laugh, we talk. We tell stories. We agree to disagree on politics. I think a great deal of him.

He never professed to be a great handy man.He is part time. He cleans our garbage, he cleans the bathrooms and he mows the grass. He is great at lifting, delivering etc.. He is a retired postal worker. He does not profess to be a fix it guy. He was the one that replaced the handle on this stall a while back. He probably went to the hardware store and bought a handle and installed it. It worked for a long time. It was probably a cheap model that gave out over time. Our other two stalls unlock automatically when you push the handle down (when inside). This new handle, you had to turn the button on the knob to un-lock it. Several times it was jammed down (when it was locked) with people thinking it worked the same as the other two stalls,  and this probably hastened it giving out sooner than usual.

He seems to be bothered by this incident because everybody is talking about how "This should have been done, or that should be done, or somebody should do something!" I think he feels responsible.

He told me that he was done in December of this year anyway, something about his medical will go another year if he waits until December or something will be extended. He told me but I don't remember. A few of the ladies there cannot stand him. I am trying to figure out why.They are the ones whispering that something should have been done or something was not done correctly, blah, blah, blah. The custodian can get irritated and mad and if somebody does that - he is indifferent to them. He seems to hold a grudge against the ones who are cold and do not appreciate him. For the ladies he likes, he bends over backwards for.

The guy did something right. He has two daughters. Both with masters degrees and very successful occupations.

Busted

Ack! This photo I found looks so much like the broken door handle after I pulled/pushed it off the door. The lock mechanism held fast. They were able to open from the outside by inserting a screw driver/knife into the mechanism and turning it.

The day after I was locked in, another lady got locked in. She was from China (our area teaches Mandarin-Chinese) and was attending a workshop at our location. The door was standing wide open so she did not see the sign.

Now, why somebody would use a stall with no door handle/knob is beyond me (but look what I did, I can't talk) but somebody else said "Well, maybe in China this is normal."  Yep. Could be.

Why don't we just get it fixed? LOL! Exactly. The excuse I heard was we cannot purchase anything until after July 1st because they are closing out the books. That is righteous! And we do not have anybody that can fix it. We are an office of about 30 women and 5 men. I know of two guys in the office that could do it. (Heck, the one guy is the one that got me out). They have done plenty of building walls, hanging doors around this office building so I don't know what the heck is going on and why they were not tapped to fix it.

One of the women - her husband built the stalls so I don't know why they don't tap him, but I guess the real issue is the Treasurer. She won't spend the money. It is all political bullsh!t or it is a power struggle or maybe there is a very good reason why.

I am not privy to that type of information, the only thing I know is that it made wonderful conversation fodder for the better part of the week around the office. So much laughter, I love it!

Well....

In my Samantha (Bewitched) voice:  "Wellll?"  Sort of a question, sort of a statement of "What can I say?"

And why I have a picture of a bathroom stall door at work is even a bigger question but we won't go there.

Do you ever have one of those times where you ignore the warnings? The sign? You get the "It won't happen to me" thought in your head. It wasn't exactly like that.

We have three bathroom stalls at work for 30 women. On any given day there may be 20 women in the office. More on training days.

The stall doors go all the way to the floor. If the door is closed it usually means the stall is in use. We have cheap doors made of plywood that somebody built. Not the metal doors as most bathrooms have.

For two weeks there has been a sign on one of the stall doors that explains the handle is broken and you may get locked in.

This day (yesterday) I went to use the bathroom. The two "working" stall doors were closed. The third stood wide open and available. I played with the handle. Huh. Seems shaky, I just won't lock it.

And I went in. I did my business. I heard somebody leave. The other stall was empty - somebody had closed the door. Sigh.

I could not get out. There was nobody about. I jiggled. I jostled. I pulled. I pushed. I banged. Nothing. After was seemed like forever (but was probably two minutes) I attempted the over one side of the brick stall into the other stall. I could get up there but I was certain I would fall when I attempted to scale down the other side (having no upper body strength). I figure I would use that as a last resort.

I waited some more. Tick tock. Tick tock. I jiggled the handle some more. It was very loose. I began to bend it. I broke it clean off. On my side. The door latch held fast. I pushed the other side of the knob out and onto the floor outside the stall. The latch held fast. I poked, I prodded. My fingers became oily.

Finally somebody came in. She tried to help me. She could not, so she went to get one of the guys. This office closes early during the summer hours (I don't) and I was lucky there were still people in the offices. She found one of the "guys" who knew about locks and he picked up the handle on the other side, inserted into the latch and click - it opened.

Now, why with all her pushing, turning and this and that didn't it open for her? He explained a bit to us about how locks work and I could tell he was uncomfortable being in the ladies bathroom. I washed my hands and called him my hero and thanked him profusely.

Ah, such is the life of Peruby. Nobody can get stuck in that stall now. I made certain of that. I ripped that sucker right off the door. Granted they were wee tiny little screws holding it into the plywood.

I laughed about it and joked about it to everybody. It is a fun story to tell. I tell them all I was traumatized and thought I would have to stay in there all night. Not a bad place to be if you are stuck overnight (better than an elevator).

Maybe they will get that lock fixed right this time. And for Pete's sake. When you build bathroom doors, leave a foot or so at the bottom so we can peek under them to see feet, okay? Or, worst case scenario, so Peruby can (unladylike) crawl out the bottom when she gets stuck again in one. Sheesh!

My big boy

I see that I have not posted a photo of my big boy since I got him back. He was gone for a year. A year! He came back and it was just like the day after he left. No changes in him and everybody remembered and loved him. And he loved everybody. He carries on with my other three dogs (well, Sable will only tolerate so much). He is the clown and he is the one who gets everybody outside running around.

He is big and beautiful. Once you get past the mug, that is. When I first brought him home in 2009, my daughter said he was the ugliest dog she had ever seen. He really grows on you.

My floor is taking a beating because he won't stop marking his territory at night. I must get a big cage! (Mentally kicking myself).

He was in a fight a couple of weeks ago. We have some renters about three houses away from us. A duplex and both have a boxer. One boxer just came running into our yard one day when I had all the dogs out. He decided that he did not like the looks of Slade and they went at it with lots of (encouragement?) from the other dogs. My neighbors' dog was out as was a friend of his who was visiting - his dog was out.

It was noisy. I was attempting to get my boxer before they confronted each other but I was too late and all I could do was just try to get out of the way. Everything happened in a blur, but I think our little Cheech got the other boxer's attention because all of a sudden he went after Cheech and Cheech ran and started to yelp.

That seemed to end it all. My neighbor got his and his friends dog in their garage. I got my four in the house and the neighbor lady (who drove her car over) tried to retrieve her boxer. She was not having any luck. He had a collar but they did not have a leash. She had left a young boy in charge of the boxer and he (I think it was a he) could not control him. I gave her a leash and she finally got the boxer into her car.

I checked my dogs over. Lots of slobber but not blood and no cuts. She came back to apologize and she said the same of her boxer. No blood. We got lucky.

The next day I drove past their duplex and the boxer was tied outside stretched all the way to the end of his rope with a cat laying about four feet away just swishing his tail taunting him. The boxer was going nuts.

To be fair, a while back when I let my dogs outside one morning to do their business they spotted that boxer in our yard and they chased him all the way home. I had to go get them. That was early morning and I know it must have awoken all the neighbors. I was half asleep at the time. Now, I check carefully before I let the dogs out (spotted deer two mornings ago in the alley) because of other critters and it creates less chaos this way.

Yep. Still a zoo around here. But you know what. I feel as though I am getting too old for this sh!t.

Log home

My Mom was born in this log cabin 93 years ago today. Her Mother was unwed, which was very unusual at the time and my Mom was mostly raised by her maternal grandparents. This photo has been enhanced a good bit.

Finger grasp

Did I say kids were just the best? How about Grandmas are just the best. (And Grandpas!). Check out that finger grasp!

Mmmmm....pineapple

I think this little one ate at least 15 pieces of pineapple and strawberries. He kept going back for more. Then one time I was over there and he held up a blueberry and told me to try one - "They are good!"

I went to a big family get together on Sunday. The migraine hit while I was holding a sweet little tiny baby girl and I refused to give her up (she was sleeping) to take any medicine. Lucky for me I have a sister who will wait on me hand and foot. She got me my medicine and some water.

It was too late. I was miserable and even had to take another pill the next day. It was Tuesday before I felt like myself again.

I no longer go to bed when I have a migraine. Laying flat slays me. I have to use my TV chair and nap. My head has to be in an upright position any more. I have no less than four U-shaped neck pillows and one is almost always within arms reach.

Ugh. I didn't want this to be yet another headache post.

So back to it. Kids are just the best!

In memory of my Mom

My mom had several peony flower plants around our house. Mom, this one's for you.

Poppies

You know by now my memorial tribute to the fallen.
 The poppies in Flanders field.

OOPS

I always see "OOPS" when I see these markings on the roadway. And, I see a lot of them. Now, I have one in front of my house.

This is what the street department left me with after they cut one of my trees down. I believe this tree to have been the obvious reason that my sewer pipe became clogged with roots.

The street department will not touch the root under the sidewalk until I get the sidewalk repaired.

I have called for an estimate. The city has a program that will pay half of the sidewalk if we choose one of four companies. I called two. Never received a call back from the one and the other said the deadline for funding for a sidewalk is June first and he would be out Saturday, May 25th to give me an estimate. I waited all day. He never came.

He also mentioned that the city is having money problems.

I have to do something, so I guess I will pay for it out of pocket.

From what I understand though, is once I get that sidewalk removed, the city will come in and cut out the rest of the root. Since it was their tree (and not mine). That is - between the sidewalk and the roadway. They planted it years ago.

But, what a mess, eh?  At least they left me a cone so that I can alert walkers. As if that crater needs a cone.

Oh, and OUPS is Ohio Utility Protection Services.

Balanced

The girl in the middle is my great niece. She is also the one in the dance photo I posted a week or so ago. So along with her pretty dance routines, she plays some softball or whatever it is they play. Those pants do not flatter anybody!

I hope that is a sun repellent on  her eyes and not make-up. Sheesh!

Anyways, seems like a good balance. I did a lot of sports until puberty. That is when my body betrayed me and I lost most of my ability to run or perform anything athletic.

I still don't have much to drivel on about these days. Being lame.

Smooch

I think this one is going to like the little girls. Looks like he is starting to learn how to be quite the charmer.

Ta da!

I don't know guys. I am uncomfortable with this type of activity. My great niece is in this photo and of course she loves performing. She is a darling sweetie. She is only seven.

It just makes me feel uneasy. I never did care for this sort of exposure - ever. If that is what we can call it.

I have always found that little girls who participate in this sort of activity turn up shallow and treat others (who are not like them) with disdain and prejudice.

But, maybe that is just my experience.

Go ask Alice

Go ask Alice. Except Alice doesn't live here anymore. She went to the Alice in Chains concert with Alice Cooper and they are off in Wonderland somewhere.

Wow. I am so glad my name is not Alice. I stewed on this post for a while. I vacillated about the subject for a long time.

Finally, I just decided to post it and let you decide for yourself.

ALICE

What is A.L.I.C.E.?

 

   A.L.I.C.E. is a program that will be used by the District to enhance, not replace the

 

current " LOCKDOWN" procedures used frequently in our educational

 

institutions. It involves education on options in crisis and situational awareness.

 

A.L.I.C.E. will provide staff and students with an increased chance of survival if there

 

is a surprise attack by an Active Shooter.

I was at a card making party last week and the sister of the lady who demonstrates the craft works in a school district north of us. She told us about their ALICE training. She was told by the firemen running the demonstration to tell the children to throw things at the intruder. Books, bookbags, chairs, etc...

ALICE is an acronym for Alert, Lockdown,Inform,Counter, Evacuate.

Here is another acronym for you. WTF?!

I may post more about what she told us but for now my head really hurts. Not because of this subject, it's probably seasonal allergies (which I have never had any problems with until the past couple of years). Yay me.

Oh, just one more note. Technology is phasing out the text books. So - forget them throwing books at the intruder. So, there you have it. Throw you iPad, kid.

Sunday School never prepared me for THIS!

I had a strange day at work Friday. Circumstances late Thursday afternoon had me creating a list of keywords that I blocked in our filter for the school districts.  Words that we do not want students to be able to search for.

You know. If you search for images of a 'foot' you will see images of a foot. You can imagine the rest of the body parts or actions etc...

One letter combination that comes up is 'vk'. Go ahead search the images in bing or google search and scroll around a bit. I'll wait.

Yep. They were appearing at the schools also. Why? Because the letter combination 'vk' has never been associated with pictures of that nature. What is next 'oo'?  How can we block every letter combination. Pretty soon all searching will be blocked. 

Egads! Of course our filter company scours the Internets and blocks all the p0rn0 sites it can find. I just hope they have a machine that does that and not actual humans. Yuck!

The issue with the photos from this certain letter combination is vk is like fb (facebook) but in Russia. Our filter company had it listed as an online community (as facebook). Our US facebook appears to be monitored much better and it keeps out the ugly. This vk one does not.

So, 'vk' was listed in the vulgar words the same as 'you can imagine dirty word here'.  This list can get pretty long. I cannot include medical terms for body parts - they are legitimate and certain high schools and vocational schools that teach nursing etc... may need to search for them due to research. Not images, mind you but research.

So there you have it. Sunday school did not prepare me for this. My Mom would be rolling over in her grave and I was so ill with having to isolate the source of the images (you can't do without clicking on the images) I kept my trash can handy because I really felt as if I was going to vomit.

My saving grace was when I went back to an office with some wonderful ladies. I told them I needed a reality check. I told them what I was doing (we are all Moms) and they helped me get through this sickening job with humor and stories. Yes, we laugh at p0rn and are disgusted by it at the same time.

But really. Never in my life would I have imagined I would be creating a list of vulgar words and sharing that list with 40 other people. Then I realized that this is all about change. The world is changing. I don't like getting body scanned or taking my shoes off at an airport either, but it is what it is.