Dusty markers

My office marker and pen holder

Looks like things are a bit dusty at work. Not been using the hi-liters all that much, probably because most of what I read is on the computer. And the big black markers are dusty, too.

I was bit by some nasty little bug yesterday. I threw up for the first time in ages without the cause being a migraine headache. I had heartburn from not eating and when I tried to eat some toast, that resulted in a huge stomach ache. Most of my day was spent with a cold, wet wash cloth over my face and bravely trying some Advil. I did succumb to a migraine pill later in the day and by midnight I was feeling much better. My sister and I watched "Witches of Eastwick". She had not seen it before. She is a big Cher fan. (movies, not music). We laughed at Jack Nicholson.

I am slowly recovering today. Working an hour and taking a break for an hour. Every time I get up and move around (sweeping, scooping kitty litter) my stomach begins to gurgle and ache. I did eat some scrambled eggs earlier. I am going to try to make some rigatoni and sloppy jo's later. Requests by kids and sister. She will make them if I ask. She has volunteered. But, my kitchen needs cleaned up anyway.

Last week my daughter cleaned our refrigerator out. She said she feared for her food. It took her two long hours. I helped her put the food outside in a cooler and I left. Went to my brother's house. When I came home, I had one clean and sparkling refrigerator. I told her, "Hey. If it were up to me, I would just throw the refrigerator out and get a new one. It's the American way!"

I have a family get together planned for New Year's Eve. No alcohol (my sister is trying very hard). We are getting together with my brother and his wife. They always remain sober because they are part of the fire department and EMT squad in a small village. They say you can count on one run every New Year's eve. We are going to play Left, Center, Right and Tripoley. Nickels only. No big gambling, here. I took Left, Center, Right to our gathering on Christmas day and it was a huge hit. My nieces and nephews loved it. I had the most fun when we let my grand nephew roll the dice. What a ham!

Okay. My rest time is up. To the kitchen.

Boxed Titten

I went through my December photos on this blog and told myself "No more cat photos!" My nephew sent me this one and I couldn't resist. It is one of their Christmas gifts opened on Christmas eve. We got a huge laugh when my daughter opened it. It had a yellow caution tape on it and it "popped" open and startled my daughter.

Titten started vomiting foam and acting lethargic Christmas day. It continued yesterday. When my daughter told me she was vomiting again this morning, I thought to myself 'Time to call the vet.' I went to get the little thing and picked her up. She had sleepy eyes. I gave her a wadded up piece of foil to play with and she began playing. My daughter said she ate 'like a hog' this morning. That is normal for her. And, just now she attacked her brother (playfully). We call them brother and sister because they came together, but he is definitely a couple of months older than she is - so they probably are not from the same litter.

We are off today on an excursion today. I am meeting a friend at an Indian restaurant. I get to eat here about once a year and this is a treat. I talked my daughter into going. I want to make sure that the little kitten is healthy before we leave, though. I will cancel to take her to the vet's office. Whoops, never mind. The two newest kittens just bounded into my room knocking my trash can over. I chided Mr. Tibbs to be gentle with her. She is still in recovery. She is playful.

The garbage men have just picked my tree up off the curb. No lingering holiday for me this year. Hah!

Temptation

Somehow I managed to resist this dessert yesterday. There was a huge cheesecake sitting next to it, also. That I also missed out on. I was not in the least bit hungry. We ate dinner at about 4 p.m. and I didn't touch another thing after that except for a few salted peanuts. And plenty of ice water.

There were about 25 of us at my sister's house. My brother brought his favorite gift (a remote controlled fart machine - NO lie!) and we were merciless. We taped it to the bottom of the most sat in chair and as various victims came and went we tortured them with the device. What a blast!

A bunch of us played Left, Center Right (with nickels) after dinner. Almost everybody won the Center bowl of coins on each play. It was a nice, fair night. A few members of the family could not make it (my daughter spent the day with her beau's family) but we had a bunch, anyway. My niece made eggnog jello shots. I did not touch them. I heard they were a bit rubbery.

Sugarplums

While visions of sugar plums danced in their heads.

Glad it's over?

Santa and Frosty atop the organ

I didn't notice when I took the picture, that the little wooden snowman was laying there. It looks like he is dead. He is just relaxing.

Is anyone else glad that Christmas is over? Well, we open our gifts on Christmas eve and everybody is whipped. Kids are playing Xbox 360. The food is put away, the dishes are either clean or in the dish washer. Candles have been blown out. Beds are made. My sister, nephew and niece were able to make it here for the holiday.

We all go tomorrow to my eldest sister's house for Christmas dinner and another gift exchange. That isn't as hectic as tonight is. We didn't go overboard in gift buying this year and we were done opening by 9 p.m. There were some duplicates, but I keep all my receipts so I will be the one exchanging them.

We had BBQ ham, creamed chicken sandwiches, appetizer meatballs, nacho dip, olives, salted mixed nuts, pickles, cheese, chocolate, peanut butter and chocolate and more chocolate.

Wow, I am beat.

A Christmas from long, long ago

1970

I was ten years old. It was the year of the Kent State shooting. I was in the fifth grade. I had one of my favorite teachers, Mrs. Slates. She went to Hawaii every year and we had a luau theme party. She gave us stars for reciting things like "My Country 'Tis of Thee". She introduced me to Don Ho's "Tiny Bubbles" and "Pearly Shells". She made me want to be a better person.

Teachers like Mrs. Slates change lives.

Marmalade

We have a huge pet bed we purchased for our huge dog, Sable. She doesn't use it. The cats love it. Here is Titten (I like to call her Marmalade) stretched out. I placed the bed in front of the heater and it is a big hit.

I usually have my alarm set for 6:15 a.m. I try not to hit the snooze, but you know how it is. The other night I said "Enough" and moved the minutes to :55. I was going to start getting up at 5 minutes BEFORE six a.m. and get a head start on things. Guess who forgot to change the hour?

I snapped the alarm off and got up feeling very refreshed. Huh, I thought. This won't be so bad. I come out of my bedroom to see my daughter already in the bathroom getting ready for school. What? She decided to get up early, too? "Do you know what time it is? It's almost seven o'clock!" I realized what I had done. Ah, well. At least I am going to remember to change it before I go to bed tonight. Right? Right.

The candle is burning

My candle. Both ends.

Me = chicken. My head is off and I am running, running, running.

I drove to Columbus yesterday to go with my nephew to his cardiologist meeting. He explained the procedure to us. Words are floating through my head, such as Cardiopulmonary Bypass surgery, right atrium, short circuit, freezing, homograft aortic valve replacement, bovine valve, cadaver valve, hybrid, scar tissue... and this Internet thing is wonderful. Just a few clicks and I am reading all about what that guy said.

It was funny. When we left I told my nephew, "Well, these aren't your parents' doctors." The doctor included in one of his sentences, "pissed off" and his assistant said in one of her sentences "that sucks" and called my nephew a "smart ass" in a joking manner. LOL!

My cards from this year

Above are the cards I sent out this year. Co-workers received the green ones. Family and friends (depending on their likes) received the kitten or Ralphie in the bunny costume. Is there anybody who has not seen "A Christmas Story" with Ralphie and the Red Ryder BB gun? My co-worker had not even heard of it. It boggles my mind that with all the hoopla about the leg lamp, fragilie, and "You'll shoot your eye out!" she has never heard of the movie.

Someone told me that Bob Barker (of television fame) is the owner of the company that sells supplies to most all of the jails in the states. I just looked it up. It is Bob Barker Company, but my research tells me that it is a businessman in North Carolina. Not "Bob come on down! Barker". We were talking about this because we can only send my sister money orders. Inmates have to purchase their own toothpaste, toothbrushes, toiletries etc... I suppose there are some that are provided, but you still need a candy bar every now and then.

If you get the chance, I recommend that you try your hand playing Left, Center Right. Fun stuff.

I am off to Columbus tomorrow to meet with my nephew and his team of doctors for a Q. and A. session. I will visit a mall in the morning and my nephew and I will visit one in the afternoon. This snow storm had better be history by then!

Buttons and more

When I tour the trees on display at a museum in a town near to me, I always try and stop in to give respect to the Missus. While her husband was busy in the knife making and train carving area of business, she was an artist herself. You can read about her here.

I have a "free" day today. One where I am not obligated to be anywhere. Today is promised to no one. I can hopefully get my decorations up. My spirit has been low the last week or so. I do not have any decorations put up, save for two bright snowflake lights on our living room wall. I moved the organ to make more room and this corner is so dark. The holiday snowflake lights did the trick.

Now, I have to drink my coffee and gear up for today. So much to do. I am just not that "into" it this year. Family woes. So many are unhappy. So many are struggling. The entire economy is depressed. All co-workers and friends are feeling monetary woes this year. My sister will not be joining me for the holidays. She will be alone in a cold, dark cell. I know, I know. She brings it on herself. So everybody tells me over and over again. I know this. But, that old saying keeps going through my mind. "There but for the grace of God, go I."

We all have choices. We get up. We make the choice. I believe this with all my heart. However, I also believe that some of us live in a state of mind where we have tuned our inside voices out. Or, we no longer hear them. The little voice that is telling us to do the right thing or not do the wrong thing is no longer heard. For whatever reason we no longer listen, or we cannot listen. I believe that is where my sister is. I could be wrong.

We watched Deck the Halls last evening. Not great, not horrible. Matthew Broderick looks so different, I didn't even recognize him in some of the scenes until after he turned. When a scene changed and this guy walked out, I'd be like "Who is that?" Oh, that's Matthew. Or, maybe I am just not used to seeing him in a movie. The electricity and the light displays were a little over the top. I'll tell you one thing. Kristin Chenoweth needs to sing a lot more. That is one sweet voice.

There is no secret in the fact that I have had some difficulty with my co-worker. Most of you have heard me speak of how tedious she can be from time to time. She had a nervous breakdown and is out until the first of the year. Some folks say she will be out longer. She is addicted to pain meds although she will not admit that. She had enough drugs (oh, sorry - medication) in her on a daily basis to knock a horse out. Many people kept saying that this was going to happen.

I don't know enough about this type of medicine to know what to expect of recovery or withdrawal. Most folks are saying she is going to need rehabilitation. The only thing I know is that she had isolated her family. She did this before the medication.

In March of 2005 she did something to me so dastardly that I did not speak to her about anything but work-related topics for an entire year. I have no use for people like that. I may have had to share an office with her, but I sure as hell didn't have to acknowledge that she even existed outside of that office. I am the strong and silent type. She needs people and communication. You could say she went a little crazy. She would leave the office for hours at a time, roaming the halls looking for somebody anybody that would listen to her chat away. I was relieved. Somebody else was enduring her endless stories and diarrhea of the mouth.

She had created a life where she was in her own little world. If you didn't share her beliefs she shunned you. This is how she ended up so alone and with no support. She has bemoaned to me the fact that her daughter does not even call to see how she is doing.

Her pain began two years ago. Shortly after I stopped speaking to her. After about 12 months, I felt sorry enough for her to listen to her go on and on about her problems. She told anybody and everybody that would listen. She bragged about her pain meds. People began talking behind her back, calling her "whack-o". I saw her falling asleep at her desk. I saw how many times she left the office to pick up her meds, go to the chiropractor, go to the physical therapist, go home and sleep. She abused her work time because my managers (in our home office)never check up on us. Not on a regular basis, anyway.

I had a previous co-worker that abused the time at work, and when I mentioned it to the managers at our home office nothing happened. He was in fact, given a huge raise. I believe that I was marked as the "squealer". So, this time I figured "To hell with all of you. I am going to sit here and do my work and keep to myself." Nobody at the home office ever caught on. If they did, they never said anything to me. Nobody asked me how things were going. My co-worker was left unbridled for over two years.

Old sayings kept going through my head. "Give them enough rope and they will hang themselves". I am a wise person. Sometimes I forget and make mistakes, but for the most part I know what is coming down the pike. This will sound cold hearted, but maybe some people actually do get what they deserve. A lot of times in my life, I didn't get to see it firsthand. Just desserts, come-uppance, coup-de-grace. Whatever you want to call it. Although I know it is not healthy or proper to relish in somebody else's discomfort, I am a human being and I had about as much of her crap as any one person could take. I have sympathy for her ex-husband and can understand why he walked out.

Atypical

Before the wild hair change

We went to the family doctor and spoke with her about my daughter getting more moles excised. The doctor looked at them and agreed that they need to come out. She did agree with the dermatologist that perhaps we need to look into seeing a plastic surgeon for the job, now. Our dermatologist does not do anything fancy, she is trying to save lives.

Dysplastic nevus. Atypical. My daughter and I were wondering just how many more moles have to be removed. I read today that usually the patient has 100 or more on their body. Groan. Has hers just started? Nobody knows for sure. Another article stated that a person with dyplastic nevi has a higher risk of getting other kinds of cancer. There are certain chemicals still on the market today that can cause cancer and to stay away from them. No list was given.

Maybe there is no scientific evidence. But with the way we have been mislead before in areas were greed are concerned, it will not surprise me in the least if our products are killing us.

Weird and random

Peruby is distorted

Tabor tagged me for a Meme.

The Rules are as follows:

* Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

* Share 7 random and or weird things about yourself.

Well, here goes:

1. When I look at a digital clock, I have to add the numbers together. For example, if it is 4:21, in my head I say "7". If the end result is "7", I consider it a sign of good luck. I am almost out of this stage because I am not by nature a superstitious person. It is hell in the middle of the night.

2. I speak baby-talk to all my animals. They respond very well to it.


3. I am extremely inept at housecleaning.


4. I hate marshmallow, but will eat it if covered with enough chocolate. :)


5. I am a tough sell.


6. I stayed in a house overnight where the temperature dipped to 8 degrees Fahrenheit.


7. I will inadvertently burst into song. My daughter hates this.

I must think about whether or not I am going to tag anyone, myself.

My family had a holiday get together last evening. Sixteen of us showed and there are at least 14 more of the immediate family that could have shown up. We were loud. They put us into a back banquet room. We laughed. We drank (very little) and we ate.

Today we are cleaning the living room to make room for the tree. I also fixed up two batches of cookie dough for baking later. I like to refrigerate the dough for a bit before baking. It makes it easier to work with. Christmas music is playing throughout the house. Even my daughter is tapping her toes.

I will have visitors over the Christmas break. This makes me happy. Well, I think I will have my sister. She will find out on the 11th if she gets to come home for the holiday. I don't have to worry about her imbibing because she will be wearing one of these.

I did some shopping on-line this morning. I have made quite a bit of progress. This is surprising for me this early into the month. Yesterday, on the radio, I heard the announcer say "And if you are out and about doing some last minute shopping...." Last minute? It was the 8th of December for crying out loud. Some folks don't even start shopping by that date.

If my recent order is complete and arrives on time, then this pretty much wraps it up for me. This is also dangerous because I happen to be the kind of person who will keep on buying gifts even though I am "done." I just like to give gifts. If I see something I think somebody will like, I will pick it up. It is like a fever. Everyone else in the stores are buying, I want to join in. If I can stay out of the stores, I might be okay. This is going to be hard.

I do have to get my hair done. Color and cut. I might go to a new place that is not in the mall. This way, I won't be tempted to venture out to the other stores. Hmmm.

Toweling Mr. Tibbs

Mr. Tibbs in my towel drawer

Fresh out of the dryer, folded, soft and still warm. Mr. Tibbs decides this is his little piece of heaven. Last week, I had to take all the towels out and let Titten and Mr. Tibbs play in the drawer. Titten would crawl into it, and Mr. Tibbs would jump up on the drawer from the floor and push it closed, shutting Titten in. Titten didn't mind. She continued to play with the super ball that was left in there. These two are easily amused.

I've spent the last few evenings at my brother's house adding RAM to his PC and trying to get his Word Perfect working. It just quit. It displays the splash screen, and will run in Safe mode, but in Normal mode - nothing. I have un-installed and re-installed. I have tried adding the updates for Word Perfect from the Internet. The first update went without a hitch, but the other two wouldn't load. The PC only had 256MB RAM, and the downloads were moving slow, this is why I put in 1 Gig of RAM today. Word Perfect still won't work. It came in a Corel package with Quatro Pro. QP works like a charm.

I gave them a temporary fix for now (word pad), but I have some research to do on the Internet to try and figure out what the heck is going on.

Orange on pink

Titten in the tub

I don't care for my pink fixtures in my upstairs bathroom. Someday, I'll replace them. Since we shower downstairs, the tub has become a sort of play place for the new kittens. Give them a half dozen super balls and they are entertained for hours. Except at night. They make such a racket, we have to close the door (once we make sure they aren't in there).

We had a snow day today. I baked cookies, played Christmas music and cleaned up a bit. During my cleaning I found my 4 gig Sony micro vault. Yay!

Last but not least, I shoveled snow. Ugh.

Two cats on a bed

Mr. Tibbs and Titten with red ribbon

Tis the Season. Red shiny ribbons and receipts. Cats are curious and playful. Well, the newer kittens are. My older cats are grumpy, and very sedate.

Spinning

My life is kind of spinning right now. I can't believe when I log onto blogger, that it has been days since I posted. Life can be this way at times, and I guess it's my turn. Crazy, crazy days!

Wacky Wednesday is gone

The Migraine Monkey was nice enough to wipe out a Wednesday of my life. I tried to get up and go to work. The headache said "This is not to be." Ugh. I slept most of the morning and when I finally was able to drag myself out of bed, I decided to rest and watch T.V. I caught the old movie "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" from 1947. I remember watching the T.V. version in the '60s with Hope Lange. The movie was in black and white. I also decided to clean my living room and re-arrange furniture for the tree while I watched the movie. I just feel so guilty not doing anything during the day. So much for rest. I took many breaks, but my leg muscles were sore from pushing heavy furniture around. Sigh.

Today was not much better. I finally caved in and took another migraine pill at 3:00 p.m. I was at work, but I don't know how much work I was actually able to do. This evening I felt much better. My daughter and I watched "The Fountain". Do yourself a favor and skip it.

Another tree ornament

A copper red tree was beautiful

Here is another tree from the museum display. There were so many trees and so much talent. The taller trees sold for over $800 and the smaller displays for around $400. They are out of my league, but I do like to look.

So. My apologies to Lois Gibson. For starters, it is difficult to make a sketch of a little girl with nothing to go on but a face bone. And next, I am thinking that if you are going into forensic science, art was not your major. Or, the other way around? She has been praised for her image she created and the little girl was recognized quickly.

I just thought it a little vulgar. But then again, so is the whole horrid story.

It is far beyond my comprehension and I hope that it always is. I don't say "What is the world coming to?" I believe this type of behavior has gone on forever and always. How can I wrap my mind around the fact that there is some little one being hurt right now? "There's no such things as monsters." Uh. Yes, there are. To be beaten and/or tortured by a stranger is one thing, but at the hands of your parent? My brain remains boggled. It refuses to accept that these things can happen. I cringe that I may know a child beater. That I might work with one or that my car repairman is one. They walk amongst us, these monsters. Oh, such a chilling thought.

My grand niece (with the golden hair) is only two years old. It turns my blood cold to think of anyone harming a hair on her beautiful head. Who is to say that little girl was to be born to that horrible monster of a mother and perish in such an awful ... words do not even enter my brain that can describe the incident. I have nothing in my mind that can fathom what words to use to describe such a horrible, horrible murder. I am beyond words. I am beyond sick.

The bird is in the oven!

The bird is in and the pets are just lovin' it! They sit in the kitchen in pure wide eyed amazement. Well, okay. I do not bake that often. They cannot believe that there are such aromatic odors coming from my kitchen. They look in their empty food bowls and look up at me. They don't understand.

About a year ago the Petz Place in our town moved to the southside of town. I did not follow them there. I purchase my kitty litter and food at Wal-Mart. Cringe. It isn't that I could not find them (I never looked) but the working guys there creeped me out. You just get a feel about something and I listen to my instincts.

The other day, I decided to drop in to see what their "bigger" store was like. Wow. The good thing is I didn't see the creepy guys who own the place. There were two female workers and two, young male workers. They were very polite and helpful and they didn't creep me out. The bad thing was they had 12 puppies for sale. I must never take my daughter there. Never, ever.

The second bad thing is their prices were about 20% higher than Wal-Mart. I still might switch to purchasing it there. I just want to stop my dependence on Wal-Mart. Target and K-Mart are over forty miles away from me.

And, on a completely unrelated topic, who in the hell drew the sketch of Baby Grace? Good grief!

Methinks I'll Bethink

Grand Nephew on Thanksgiving day

This little tyke is a hard one to pin down for a photograph. He tries to grab the camera out of your hand. He carries his parent's car keys around with him. And, he sets the alarm off many times. My sister (his grandmother) tells me he knows very well the difference between a toy (or dead) cell phone and the real deal. He wants nothing to do with fake imitations. This guy likes to push buttons. He is a gadget guy.

At dinner last evening my grand niece pulled my cell phone out of my purse and called my neighbor. She began jabbering away on the phone and when I got hold of it, I could hear an answering machine. I'll explain things to them the next time I see them. I am pretty sure they don't recognize my number.

I sit here this morning (my daughter and I have the day off, yeah!) and heave a big sigh at how quickly the long week-end went. It just zoomed by. The little dog arrived yesterday for us to dogsit. She is as big as our cats. The new kittens are really curious about her.

The baby (I call her Marmalade) is getting much better in the litter box area. She does miss once in a while, but it is close to the box. I check twice a day for her mistakes, but lately that has been nil.

I am cooking the bird today. As it turns out, I'll be freezing most of it. People came and went. I ran here and there. The huge bird was frozen solid and I messed up on a visiting day and so the bird awaits me. That is okay by me. I have all day. A sister and her husband may drive up for a bite. He just retired and she does not work today. I baked the pies yesterday and one is gone. I sent half of it home with a sister ( we didn't eat it all! LOL!).

I was hoping to get down to Oglebay to see the lights this year. I am going to try, but time and money do have a habit of getting in the way of plans.

Well, I am being pawed and clawed to death (cats and little visitor dog), so I am off to the kitchen to feed and water them and make myself some coffee. Oh, and drag that huge carcass out of the refrigerator, pull it's guts out and begin to prepare it. If I get adventurous, I'll charge my camera battery and take some pictures. Good grief. I need a life. Oops. The last time I sad that (out loud) I got pregnant. LOL!

Golden locks of hair

My Grand Niece

No curlers. No hair dye. This is just plain natural. This is just plain unfair. Two years old. This coming from someone who grew up with stringy, brown hair. Fine hair, they called it. I called it thin. Here is my Grand Niece at two years old. Already with hair that you might only find on Malibu Barbie.

Her Mother wanted to play the games I brought. We started with Tripoly. Nobody brought dimes and nickels so we played with chips. They all said they would bring their change on Christmas day. Same place. We moved on to electronic Catch Phrase. My head felt as though it would explode from laughing so hard.

Ten of us would plays games. Ten sat around and talked. I ate a piece of pecan pie. My first ever. When I was young somebody bought me a butter pecan flavored ice cream cone. I hated it. For forty years I've told myself I hate pecans. The pie was good, but I can live without it. I guess I am a Yankee.

Ack!

Silvery Pink Tree

Another tree from the museum. Ho Hum.

It is getting to be the time of year when the grocery store is packed, malls are packed and most of all my calendar is getting packed. Okay, not really. But, packed by my standards. I like my free time. I like a clean calendar. No doctor appointments, no animal appointments, no this, no that.

Every week-end is taken between now and Christmas. Ugh. A party here, a dinner there. I know. I should embrace it and really I do (deep down inside) but I need my breathing space. I feel like I am climbing that big, steep hill up to the holidays. Where you shop til you drop, eat til you puke and run, run, run. Sigh.

Bake, clean, clean, bake. Visitors here, company there. Clean sheets on the beds, scoop the litter boxes, wash the towels. Move, move, move!

Just unloading the groceries out of the car today sent my back into a numb tingle. Pack the refrigerator, empty the old Popsicles out of the freezer and the year old sherbet. Make room, make room!

I am getting so nervous! I work tomorrow, but then I am off until Tuesday. (Off from my paying job, that is!) Heh, heh. I'll be working aplenty. And, tell me why is it that I purchased a 20lb turkey? Why!? What was I thinking? And, a ham. The ham isn't very big. Potatoes, noodles (bag), sweet potatoes (can), stuffing (homemade), cranberry sauce (jellied and whole), pumpkin pies (store shells and Libby's canned), frozen green beans and corn.

That is just for my house (I am expecting my nephew and niece). I suppose I'll make that meal Friday or Saturday. For Thursday I go to my eldest sister's house. All the family does. I am taking a cheese ball/tray with crackers and cupcakes. I'll make and arrange that stuff Wednesday night and Thursday morning.

The nice thing is, I have all the groceries purchased. I can stay home tomorrow evening and bake cupcakes, whip up a cheese ball and cut cheese! Woot! My nephew will be here. He is coming in from Boston/Buffalo. I have not seen him since his heart catheterization in early October.

Friends, Krishna and a theme tree

I think this was a Children's themed tree

I believe that is a pink pacifier near the top of the photo. If I recall, this tree was decorated in a child's theme. I have to be careful that I don't get so involved in getting photos and actually stop, take a look around me and actually enjoy the trees (or the scenery) I am taking pictures of. Warther's museum in Dover, Ohio.

Watching a movie last night "Mind the Gap" I heard this haunting song that I fell in love with. I got busy afterwards and tracked it down. It was not easy. It appears that there may be a British band titled "Mind the Gap" and when you try to look up the soundtrack for the movie, it became tedious.

I did find a You Tube with the song. Just Google "You Tube Mere Gurudev" and you should get a couple videos. I actually like the song (chant). I believe the videos lean more to those who smoke some wacky tobaccy.

And, no. You are not about to see me at an airport near you, wearing a long robe and selling paper flowers. I have listened to other chants by Krishna Das and I don't care for them.

If you have seen both the movies "Crash" and "Mind the Gap" do you see a similarity? Although, I liked both movies "Mind the Gap" was a bit grittier. It used real-looking people instead of pretty actors. No offense to the cast of MTG. I just related better to MTG. I know parts were a bit odd and out there, but they had a much tighter budget.

I'm off today to visit a very dear friend. My sister will be joining us later, also. My friend's health is not very good. She cared for her Mother for six years. Her Mother was wheel-chair bound. My friend became very ill and was admitted to the hospital. While there her Mother died. My friend was not able to make it to the funeral. It has been hard on her. She is still very ill.

Tropical Christmas Tree

Palm Holidays

This one was my daughter's favorite tree display at the museum. They had real sand and I am not sure what is in the cooler shown there. It was a very festive contrast to the warm and cozy displays of the other trees.

I received my new hard drive today. It is a Western Digital and a 500 gig (instead of 400). I ran Intel's Application Accelerator and after about 2 hours, I had my system back. Hopefully, I won't get the "Ati2diag stuck in an infinite loop" error any more. I think they may be two separate problems, but who knows? I also ran a quick fix for the diag that I found online (go Google!).

2007 Trees

Splashy orange display

We went to visit the Warther's museum trees decorated this evening. Since it is only available for a small amount of time, I wanted to make sure we got there this year. I remembered to take my camera.

I got bored so I began moving the camera as it took the photo. I was able to record some colorful (albeit blurry) shots using this technique. If you can call it a technique. Most people try NOT to move the camera.

One of my hard drives has failed and since I have RAID 1 setup, my computer crashes every once in a while, so I am typing quickly. Heh, heh. I re-boot and it comes back, but I never know when it is just going to go completely dark on me, and give me the BSOD. (Blue Screen of Death). RAID 1 is where I have two 400 gig hard drives and one mirrors the other exactly, so when one drives fails, I can still have my system - just no safety net. The tech guy said this really does not work if it is Windows that fails.

I have had my Dell since May 2004 and this is the second time a hard drive has failed. Windows has not failed once - except that time I blew it out of the water. My own fault. Stupid hacker book!

I had not backed up anything since the end of September. I didn't have much. I quickly copied it to my external hard drive. I'll receive the new hard drive in the mail in a few days and pop it in.

Whoops. The system died on me before I could post. I let it rest, and rebooted. I hate this not knowing when it is going to crap out on me again.

Keep the obey in the vows

I love her, but I never wanted to marry her

So, did you hear about the guy in India who married a dog? Yeah. Seems he stoned a couple of dogs 15 years ago and has bad luck ever since. So, he heard that if he marries a dog his luck will change. Honor and obey, hey? Nothing like a good loyal dog.

Well, if that is the case, I can't wait to see what happens to M Vick.

Both my new kittens are home. All fixed and quiet. I was able to pick up Mr. Tibbs yesterday and he walked around the house with a mournful meow most all of the night. Could have been from missing Titten, could have been pain and/or trauma. I picked up Titten today. The ordeal has barely slowed her down. She is still pretty frisky. They are both sleeping peacefully, this evening.

Veterans Day

11:11:11 To those of you lost, to those of you here, to those of you there. We salute you.

No more toys from China

The above photo was sent to me in an e-mail, that said "Another recall for a toy sent from China". It was meant to be funny. However,it is getting close to being a little bit too real if you ask me. It was before I read this:

Aqua dot beads are being recalled because it has been discovered that they are coated with a poisonous chemical coating. I am stunned.

Things are getting messy

Raging rain storm in a small town

As the holidays approach I find myself upset. Not only am I facing a drought in the financial area, it is determined that my daughter is in need of having four more moles removed. In a delicate area of her body. She was upset to say the least.

The financial drought is temporary. I was (am) very good at saving money and had a very nice sum set aside for rainy days or (heaven forbid) a loss of work. That stash has been dented. One thing after another.

Of course insurance is going to pay for the surgeries, but it is the mental burden here. Does she really need them removed? She has had about 8 removed from her back and each one has come back with the results of benign and mild. Not malignant and not melanoma. The dermatologist says "Oh!" when she sees the moles in the private areas. She said they need to come off and the sooner the better. My daughter was in tears when we left the office. (She was laughing by the time we got home - forty-five minutes later).

I can tell she is upset. I am making an appointment with our family physician and asking her opinion as to if we should keep up this body mutilation or do we take the chance of taking a break for a year or so, or do we just chuck this mole removal altogether? My Mom had a mole in her private area (I never saw it of course) but she had no problems. Is it better safe than sorry? My daughter does NOT want to be cut down there.

What is a Mother to do? I understand her frustration because I am frustrated and exasperated that each time we think "This is the last one!" more need to be removed and each time the results of the lab work are "It was a mild and benign one." Don't other people just live with their moles?

But, on the other hand Mother does NOT want her daughter to get melanoma. Or anything else for that matter! I just want to scream! Stop, Stop, Stop! This madness! This has been going on for over 2 years, now. Another one, cut, cut, cut. Snip, snip, snip! More scars.

We try to look at things in a more positive light. We are not dealing with cancer, we are not dealing with the loss of a limb, we are not dealing with burns over half of her body, etc... we do try to be thankful that we don't have anything more serious to deal with. I don't say this in front of her, I keep those thoughts to myself. In her world this is disastrous enough. She did mention that she is thankful it isn't anything worse, but she is devastated by it all. Tired of it all.

And, then there is my nephew. Is he going to have his open-heart surgery? Is it going to be this year? I am going to corner him next week while he is off on vacation. When, when, when? So I can plan. His Mother is back in prison so that leaves me to be the Maternal one. I don't care to go into detail about her, believe me it does not deserve the blog space. She is a lost cause, we sort of wrote her off years ago. She can't handle pressure so she kind of drops out of society and this is her way of doing it. As close as I can guess.

Now, what will I take for Thanksgiving dinner? Where will the money come from for Christmas shopping? Back to the little things. The daily grind. Things are indeed messy. Gray sky and stormy weather. We'll ride out the storm. We have been here before.

Just to clarify, I do not qualify for Share-A-Christmas or anything like that. I have plenty of money to pay the bills and buy groceries and get Christmas gifts. I don't mean to sound pathetic. I am just saying the savings account ain't what it used to be. Financial woes are a big stress factor and that is one of two or three I am facing this holiday season. I like to have the money before I spend it, you know what I mean? I am able to pay my charge cards off each and every month, that is how careful I am. I know that some folks are in debt up to their eyeballs, and I am thankful that I am not. I'm just not used to having such a thin safety net.

The Galoot

Sable relaxing in the grass

This photo shows the side of my dog (the big galoot) that has hair loss. The veterinarians were never concerned with it. The first one said it was hard to say what may have happened to her. She has some allergies where her skin gets dry, but this isn't spreading. It is completely contained. We always tell people we cleaned our paintbrushes off on her after painting our white fence.

Sable has been playing with the kittens. Our Casper plays with the kittens, too. They get fixed next week. The male can come home the same day, but they will keep the female overnight. I hope it isn't too hard on them. I just can't imagine having a family pet for 20 years and having to let them go like my sister and her daughter went through yesterday. 20 years has to earn some sort of family member status. I think my bird has turned 10 years old. I can't remember exactly what year we got her. It was in November, though. She had been born in late August, I believe. I think it was 1997.

The sky has turned gray in Ohio, now. My daughter and I saw spitting snow today. We are not close enough to Lake Erie to get any lake effect snow. My daughter went to the doctor for her knee. She has been complaining about it for some time. She thought the doctor would prescribe her a brace of some sort. I knew better. I figured the doctor would tell her how to exercise the knee. That is exactly what she did. I'll nag my daughter about it, but chances are that she won't do not even one set of exercises. She wants an easy and instant fix. She gets her stitches out tomorrow from the mole removal. I have been using a tooth pick to scratch under the stitches every night. The doctor leaves some long stiff points sticking out from the stitches that poke my daughter's skin and it itches like crazy.

I just realized something. Our veterinarian is female. Our general family physician is female and my daughter's skin doctor is female. Interesting.

Long, dark road

The Hollies had a song out, about 1972 called "The Long Dark Road". It was somebodies 45 in my household. It was played a lot. It haunts me sometimes.

My sister's cat died today. They had the cat since February 1988. When she sent me the photo, which I put on my web page, I was thinking "Where was I in February of 1988? Another lifetime ago. Long, dark roads.

I finished the book "Don't Leave Me This Way". It appears that the cold medicine she took a few moments before her stroke, may have been the culprit. That was 1997. They FDA didn't pull the drug off the shelves until 2000. (I think). Phenylpropanolamine.

Last month

My nephew's computer room

A month ago I was staying at my nephew's house. This is one of his rooms where he keeps his computer, stereo. The room has french sliding glass doors that open outside onto a deck. Definitely a bachelor pad. The rich browns are very nice, I think.

No word on his heart operation. He did tell me that he is planning a vacation from work in a week. Last week-end he drove to Tennessee. Just got in his car and drove. That is what he used to do about a dozen years ago. He has been all over.

The time is flying by. Thanksgiving is planned and Christmas is lurking around the corner. Have I started my shopping, yet? Hell, no. Well, yes. I did purchase one gift so far. Ugh.

Some early thanks giving

Front yard clover from the summer

I sit here this morning looking at the day ahead. I have a list of things I would like to accomplish today. First on the list is paying bills and getting insurance papers turned in for reimbursement. I look at the bills and I look at my checkbook. Yes, I can swing the bills - but it gets harder each month in 2007. I read the word recession in the newspaper the other day.

Sigh. I sit and think. I signed out more books yesterday at the library. I like biographies. I began reading one called "Don't Leave Me This Way" by Julia Fox Garrison. And I begin to realize that I am rolling in clover compared to the struggles that some people may be facing today. I don't have to learn to walk all over again. I don't have to have somebody wipe my rear end when I use the toilet.

So, I will pay my bills, clean my house and mow my grass. Grateful in the fact that this is the most challenging my day will get today. With luck on my side, that is. Because we never know what lurks around the next turn or what tomorrow will bring. Do we?

New digs for Earl

Earl got a new house, not a friend

I've mentioned Earl before in my blog. He is a little beagle that lives with a family in a house on a back alley behind my office building. Sometimes I drive past or walk past to see how he is doing. He got some new digs. It looks like a new friend moved in, but no. I am not real sure the reason the owner kept Earl's old house there. Maybe so Earl could adjust, or maybe it is attached to the house and would leave an ugly spot if he removed it.

I am kind of excited about tomorrow. I have a free Saturday for the first time in six weeks. I plan to get some work done around the house. Maybe. I went to the library and got a fresh batch of books. Oh, boy. I must stay motivated. Heh.

Wee bit of color

County back road

I took a little drive after work today. Mostly because I have not had the chance to drive around this past month very much. I did most of my work from my desktop computer. Ugh.

I found a wee bit of color on the hills of a back road. The sun was shining and the sky was a glorious blue. There were a lot of yellow leaves and brown. Sing with me "All the leaves are brown..." But the sky was not gray. Not yet.

I watched Mr. Brooks last week-end. It was pretty good. I fell in love with Kevin Costner back in the day when he was in Fandango, Silverado and American Flyers. Until I saw him on a talk show and I about threw up. He was so full of himself and fake I could barely stand to watch. There were some movies I didn't care for that he was in, especially those made from 1993 to 2005. He seems to be getting his grove back, though.

Spooky

I have had my nose stuck in some library books and just have let time slip away from me.

New chains

A closeup of the swing set

The above photo was taken at one of the little schools near me during the summer. I was out there installing a new router and the tech had forgotten the keys to the building, so I meandered around snapping pictures until he returned.

All is well in the Peruby household again. My daughter and I had a spat and last night we smoothed things over so Mama Bear could take care of the stitches and put a new bandage on the incision. More of same today. She took a pillow with her to sit in the hard school chairs because this one was low on the back. It had changed drastically. Dysplastic nevus.

I met a sister for lunch today. Afterward we went walking back to her workplace and I felt a raindrop. Well, I thought it was a raindrop. I said "It's starting to rain" and I looked up. There was an ornery pigeon on the building roof looking down at me. I said "You little sh**!" I looked all over and my sister looked me over but we saw no "raindrops". She was laughing pretty hard. I have not checked inside my purse yet, as it was hanging open as I walked along. Nice.

Leftovers

This sits in my bedroom.

Well, I used to have my niece living here and my daughter is 16. I can't just leave this stuff out in the kitchen. I must keep it hidden, I guess. I can also safely say I am not an alcoholic. There but for the grace of God... and all that stuff.

Actually, I am seething with frustration. Years ago, booze is where I would turn. Now, I blog. I guess. Well, even before blogging, I stopped the boozing.

Even so, I want to kick, scream, bite, claw and tear somebody apart. I am not sure who. I would love to have access to a really, really bad person. Somebody who writes a virus, maybe.

My daughter had another mole cut out of her back this evening. I was a softie and bought her a new A&F hoodie, new tee and CD to the tune of $100. Anything to make my little girl feel better after an ordeal like that. Then, we got in a fight on the way home. We had been doing so well, too. Arrgghh. I want to cut myself, too. But of course, I won't! I feel like it. As her Mother, I want to take her pain away, but I can't.

So, no alcohol. No hurting myself. How else can I punish myself? Turning my anger inside. The new kittens are hiding under the basement steps. Yeah, they are safer there. Why do they curl around my feet when I am trying to walk? Why?! Do they have a death wish?

Big breath. Fresh air. All better, now.

Big bat

Flying bat seen from the festival

I have not taken any pictures since the WV trip. And, only about 5 were decent. The festival at the beginning of the month only brought a dozen or so pictures. That could have been because of the extreme heat. I did not take any this past week-end.

I am in a bit of a dry spell. Busy at work. At home - been reading a lot.

Running on empty

Time to refuel

Nothing much, tonight. I am tired from my late night last night. Moving slow and thinking even slower. Need sleep. Hopefully I won't sleep a few hours and then awaken at three or four in the morning and can't get back to sleep. I hate when that happens.

I am hoping to get out this week-end and get some good photos of the little bit of color out there on them Ohio hills. I do have a 75th surprise birthday party to go to. Other than that, maybe I can catch up on my yard work. It looks like we will have about five pumpkins from our surprise patch. I mowed around the vines this time. The pumpkin is more important that the grass underneath it. For now. I have not been in the mood to do any fall or Halloween decorating. Hell, my patio still has red, white and silver stars on it from the July 4th cook-out. Good grief!

A rowdy bunch

Fall crowd at the Fall Festival

We were a rowdy bunch at the bar in the motel room when we went to Wild and Wonderful WV, Friday night. Three sisters, one brother. Two in-laws. Three grandchildren. My daughter is a minor, they didn't say a word to us. The Long Islands kept coming and the laughter kept flowing. The place was hoppin'. Of course my daughter didn't drink alcohol. She had a coke along with my niece and sister-in-law.

We used to try to make it to WV every year. As time went on, the trips became less and less frequent. This year it has been seven years since we had been down. And, the first year without our Mother. Ugh. Out of five that we normally visit, one had passed on and the other has moved to Columbus for an operation. We plan to catch up with her there. It is one of those situations where they don't inform you of what is going on, you have to either call or write. They don't write anymore because their hands shake so much you couldn't read it. No computers, no e-mail.

My eldest brother has given me a new Family Tree file to update my records. I am going to do that as soon as I am finished here. I am anxious to see who he has added. In some circumstances he goes back to the 1600's in New York. I can't even imagine. But, the branches become so entwined and tangled, I can't even comprehend how they know this stuff. He has done an enormous amount of work on the project. In reality our relatives come from many different places. Austria, Wales, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain. Here in the states, New York and Virginia. Surnames include Potts, Williams, Haymond, Conrad, Currence, Friend, Skidmore, Caldwell, Train, Nichols, and Turner. That is just a smidgen of the names. I hope in some small way I am related to J.M.William Turner.

Exhausted

The Cemetery

More and more our visits to the cemetery get longer and longer when we make the trip to visit relatives. Less and less are the visits to real live people. Sigh.

I am exhausted. I did not get very many pictures at all. We completely bombed on the foliage. It was still pretty green down there. Poor timing this year.

Discombobulated

Halloween display at the festival

It was close to 90 degrees Fahrenheit when I took the above photo. Today reached a high of 51 degrees Fahrenheit, I think. That's all. The one thing I really dislike about being busy and stretched too thin is no "me" time. I don't get time to think and sort my thoughts out. That is something I need a lot of. Down time. I get irritated and cranky when I don't get my time. Grrr.

Roaming

Near Salineville, Ohio

My travels today took me to the Eastern side of the state. I was on a back road to Lisbon and needed to stop in at a school near Salineville. It was cool out and the sun was not shining very brightly, the photo is a little on the gray side. Later in the afternoon, the sun didn't shine at all so I didn't even bother with pictures.

This drive brought back some memories for me. I used to drive around in the evenings on back roads listening to music. Back when gasoline was not very expensive and I had plenty of time on my 19-year-old hands. When family got busy with their own lives and their small children and my high school friends had married or gone on to college. I liked to be alone. I still do.

Helga the witch

Helga was quiet this year

I carried on a conversation with her last year. There was somebody hidden in the camper and they corresponded with the people walking around. It was fun. We had a little crowd and we kept up the jabber and banter back and forth. I told her my name was Helga, too. This year, nothing. No words, no movement. Must be a bad spell cast upon her.

As I mentioned before, early October is too busy for me. I like things quiet, but I have to grab life where I can. We have been running every evening and in a couple of days we are off to Wild, Wonderful West Virginia. Camera is ready!

My nephew is not the best at communicating what is going on in his life medically. He would much rather talk about computers, gadgets, cars and movies. I grabbed papers and copied them when I was there this past week-end. Now, I can better understand what is going on. I am learning about zpulmonary zvalve zreplacement, zTOF (zTetralogy of zFallot), zstenosis, and zpulmonary zregurgitation. (Kindly remove the z in front of each word - I am attempting to foil family searches on this information, thus leading to this blog). I am in the dark no more. I can't ask the doctor. They are sworn to secrecy now-a-days. And with the Internet, I don't have to spend time in the library or try to find a medical dictionary.

A forbidden (purple) passion

Flower display at the festival

I knew I was going to get yelled at. I was told "Hey! No picture taking!" Oops. I managed one decent photo. I looked for the 'no pictures' sign and didn't see any. I slipped the camera slyly out of my tote and just when I was ready to snap it, the lady in front of me, who had been bending over, stood up. Darn it! With Canon's notorious pause between picture taking, the booth owner had time to spot my shiny black contraption. I just managed to squeeze another quickie when he saw me and barked at me. I said "Oops, sorry." And went on my way.

I made it to the Fall festival for their last day. It was so blessed hot. Very few folks were purchasing anything more than water and lemonade. Two hours and we were spent. I was very dizzy and nauseous. I was more than ready to retreat to the air conditioned car. I didn't get many photos of the campers decorated for Halloween either. Nor did I get any of the beautiful cars that covered the hillside in colorful, antique glory.

It was just too hot. And, now I am going to head to my favorite silk flower store and purchase just those colors and just that basket and make my own forbidden purple passions. Or, maybe not. I'm kind of just happy to look at it. I think it is beautiful. It does not match a thing in my house.

Sable, the meanderer

Our dog at her dog sitter's house

When one is away from home, under duress and worried about a loved one, it is very comforting to know that their children and pets are safe and being well taken care of. The fact that my daughter was with me and is very close to her cousin and not home alone was an immeasurable relief. The cats and bird are pretty independent. That left the dog.

Well, not to worry. My eldest sister, her husband and my eldest brother are three wonderful retired folks living in a big house. They are all pet lovers. They had a black dog for years who was very much a part of their family. When they dog sit Sable they say it is just like have Rex back in the house. It is a great load off my mind to have her so very well taken care of. Sable even gets company while there. My niece and her husband bring her dog treats from the pet store that rival anything I give her. A doggy pretzel and cupcake! (Both made especially for dogs, not people food). I hear that Sable gobbled them up and even rolled over for one. (Not such an easy feat for her barrel-shaped body).

Next week-end when we go to WV, my eldest sister and her husband are going along. My brother says that he is more than happy to watch our dog, Sable. My sister has told me that the two meander around the yard watching chipmunks and nudging toads near the pond. However, I think that Sable does more than watch sometimes. She has much more land to explore at their house. A wooded section and a pond. New sights, smells and sounds. A regular smorgasbord of sensory experiences.

This morning, I am slowly recovering from a migraine. I drove home last evening and picked Sable up. The closer I got to our house, the worse the headache got. I managed to get an Imitrex in me on the road, but by the time I arrived the headache was in full swing. It was expected. Two days in a strange bed, very little sleep, sitting in a hospital all day, driving hours on end, driving Columbus traffic, driving a strange car. It just adds up to one super migraine. Once the pressure is off and my body/brain saw home on the horizon it began to react to all of the stress.

Of course I am partial to my nephew because I love him, but he is quite extraordinary with his knowledge of gadgets and he is (and many non-family members will attest to this also) a computer genius. His car has a GPS, of course. A radar detector and satellite radio. He has also installed a DVD player that flips out of his CD player with a small 7" screen. They make this device so that it does not play when the car is running, but he has re-wired it so that it does. I really hope that he does this only for the passenger to watch movies, really I do!

I used "Jill" (the GPS) for the first time. In Columbus traffic on a Friday night while driving a strange car. Imagine if you will a SNL skit. If you are familiar with this device, you probably can relate better to what I am about to say. I really must mention that when you first purchase this device, you practice at home with streets that you know first. This will help you with some of the terminology that is being used, also. In fact, I would imagine that the manual recommends this. If it does not, it should.

Back to the skit. Imagine if you will, travelling 70 mph through four lanes of mad Columbus traffic. According to Allstate, Columbus is the worst city to drive in Ohio. This device on my dash board is telling me "Endpoint five miles." What the hell? My nephew's house is miles away, yet! I am nowhere near the end point of my trip! And, just what in the hell is Main Saint East? When did the word street become Saint? I think Jill was trying to insinuate something, here.

Jill is colorful if she is anything. Her display shows yellow lines and fuchsia lines and bright red lines. I guess I am the blue square on the fuchsia line. Jill is also nice enough to factor in the time it will take to reach our destination. Mine went from an arrival time of 8:45 p.m. to nowhere in the next 25 years.

Poor Jill. She had a time with me. I swear the girl sighs before she says "recalculating." And, she did say that quite a bit. I even heard "please stay on the intended route!" Though I can't be certain about that one. And, Jill may be able to read tiny little street names forty miles ahead of the fact, but my 47 year old eyes can only read them when I am five feet in front of them in the dark! "Turn left onto Hillsborough Street... turn left onto Hillsborough Street... turn left onto... SIGH.... "recalculating".

I admit it. I yelled back at Jill. "A little late on that one, eh Jill? When were you going to tell me about that off ramp? Sorry, Jill! There are 78 cars behind me and I can't just slip over into the left split for 270 North! Thanks a lot Jill!" Of course in the SNL skit, my language would be a bit more colorful.

She stayed silent when I needed her the most, just in an attempt to get back at me. I know it. She is a sensitive bit... contraption, that Jill. No begging, pleading or cajoling was going to get her to talk to me. I even offered her chocolate! No dice.

Now, this didn't happen to me, but I think it would be great in the skit. What would Jill say if I had driven the wrong way on a one-way street? "Please do a 180... turn around... you are going the wrong way....that does not compute....do you need me to call an ambulance?" Yeah, I can imagine what she would say.

In the skit, I can imagine Jill trying to calmly say turn left or right or this or that and recalculating, but after time she becomes more and more agitated and curses under her breath and goes into mini rampages. Stuff like that. I can even imagine the entire GPS just blowing up. I wondered if any of them have blown up from the chaos that some drivers put them through. And, just what does it way when you drive over a bank and into a ditch? Does it say recalculating? That would be a bit sarcastic, don't you think? Or what if you have an accident? The sound of metal and glass smashing and in the eerie silence afterwards...."sigh..recalculating.." How rude! What a great SNL skit.

Anyway, I made it to my nephew's house eventually. I did want to turn the GPS off a couple of times and just use my common sense. I suppose over time we may all lose that as we begin to rely more and more on this type of gadget. Oh, and Endpoint was not actually endpoint. It was a pause between the words In point.... five miles. As in "in half of a mile turn here" In .5 miles. Me sighing this time as I got out of the car. I do believe I saw Jill smoking a cigarette as I went into the house. Either that or the gadget's electronic circuitry was fried and that was the smoke I was seeing. And, I swear there were two less Advils in the bottle that I left in the car.

Note: This may be a great money-making scheme. Sell T-shirts that read "Recalculating" on the front of them. They are guaranteed to be a big seller.