Things people say

"I have not had a drink in over a week. See, I can't be an alcoholic!"

Pixy Stix

Who didn't like the pixy stix? Everyone I know loves them. I also like their cousin Fun Dip.

I had an outrageously fun time with family last night celebrating 3 of our 8 March birthdays. We had 16 people at Red Lobster. We were loud and we made quite a mess. They had 4 servers to take care of us (shhhh... they really screwed stuff up, but it all worked out in the end).  I had a mango mai tai I am enchanted with the mango since I ate at an Indian restaurant about six years ago and fell in love with the mango lassi.  Anytime I see a drink with mango in it, I have to try it.

Although I quit drinking rum many, many moons ago - I gave this drink a whirl. Loved it! I always drink just one and then switch to water. Mostly because of the overpricing of alcoholic beverages in restaurants.

But the grande finale was the tops. My little grand nephew (who will be 5 next month) upchucked all over the sidewalk outside the restaurant. A huge mess. It was closing time and we were the last ones to leave so no other customers would see it before they ate. He started in the lobby with a little mess and my sister ran him outside. My family was howling. By the time I got outside they had the little tyke in the car. I hope he felt better.

He was so cute. He came down to our end of the table where my daughter, her boyfriend and another friend were drinking IBC rootbeer out of the bottle. My grand nephew thought they were drinking beer and he said "You can't drink beer!" They finally convinced him it was root beer and he drank bottle after bottle. He was swigging it like a seasoned drinker chugs beer. He stood at the end of the table and took a big swig, then waved his hands around and told us something funny. We were cracking up.

I think the biggest problem was the fact that it felt about 90 degrees Fahrenheit in the restaurant. It may have been a ploy to get us to leave. We asked them three times to cut the heat. It kept pouring out of the vents like there was no tomorrow. I think we all got a little sick with it being so warm.

Seamonkey

I started using this browser last week. It works very much like Firefox. There are a few quirks, like the apostrophe using my work e-mail account. I get around it by not using them. I discovered the browser while installing Ubuntu many times. 

I hope they don't mind my using their logo here. You can find and download the browser for yourself, here:

http://www.seamonkey-project.org/

I kept thinking that was a bird in the blue circle. Well, that is what it looks like. 

Too funny!

I went to post a comment on a blogger site where they were unhappy with Firefox. It was funny because my word verification was "sucks". 

I need any humor where I can get it these days. My sister is probably hours away from returning to her abusive husband. Wonder what excuse she will give us this time? Sigh.

You can't go back

Yes, suffice it to say that I want my sister's husband to disappear. I really don't care how.

I have no feelings for the animal that he is. I might have a sliver of conscience when it comes to my nephew (his son) - but other than that - I believe my sister and the entire world in general would be better without him in it.

She just wants him to return to the person he used to be, say 20 or 30 years ago. Dear sister - that ain't gonna happen.

He worked a full time job at a mill near the river and brought home a steady paycheck. For 30 years.

Drug use got him fired after 30 years of service. He had 3 chances to redeem himself and it is as though he wanted them to fire him.

They received a lump sum in his pension but then it was threatened that the system was going to take it back. They panicked and spent the money. All of it. Zip. Gone.

Now they are left struggling on her income. She was not "allowed" to work while he worked as he felt she should take care of him and the home and their son. So her experience will only get her a minimum wage job at best.

No benefits. No vacation. No sick days. No insurance.

The son struggles through job after job, quitting after a few months at each one. He has a college degree but cannot find work in the field he chose. Drugs and alcohol play a major part in his life and perhaps his lack of job commitment also.

The grandparents have a wonderful nest egg, but they are near invalids (in which my sister cares for them on a daily basis) in between her job, taking care of the household, and catering to her lump couch potato husband. He recently received a DUI and is still driving around. She needs to run him to court hearings - they are trying to get his license back. He refused a breathalyzer. I have heard that if you do that in the state of Ohio, it is an automatic suspension of your drivers license for one year. I don't know. 

The in-laws are constantly asking her to do things for them. Change their sheets. Wash their hair. Wash the curtains, sweep the carpet. Clean the bathroom. Get them groceries. Get their prescriptions filled. Clip their toenails.They have money coming out their ears and they refuse to hire help. They don't want a stranger in their house. They want my peasant sister to do everything for them. They rarely compensate her for the work she does.

She has been dealing with this 'major' stress for well over a year. Her husband slowly began showing signs of bi-polar personality disorder years ago. The manic episodes were few and went unrecognized. As the years passed and she talked to me more and more I started to wonder if he did indeed have this manic/depressive disease or was it the cannabis use that was taking it's toll on his brain function?

They had a friend of the family for a doctor and only went to him when they knew they could get only what they wanted and needed. This doctor (I knew his family and did not care for him one iota) would give them whatever they wanted and never advise them to see a regular doctor of their own.

She has been given many chances to leave. She stayed with me for three months after he started choking her one night in a fit of rage and the son had to intervene. He actually called the police on his son and he was nearly arrested. The police finally figured out that this was a nutcase situation and did not arrest anybody. She always goes back to him with a lame excuse such as "He doesn't have any cigarettes" or the very popular "He promises to change."

She has five major addictions. Cigarettes, alcohol, food, gambling, cannabis. She is my closest sister. She is my family. She is very dear to me. She is a very enabling soul. She works herself to death taking care of others, putting herself last. While some may think this is an admirable personality - it is lethal to her own health and well being. She has nothing left for herself and this might be the reason for the addictions. I am not trained in the psychology of the nature of the human brain, but quite a few of my family members are (it tends to be a natural draw for us) and I love to read about it.

The episodes are starting to get closer together. Previously it was a year or two between the violent outbursts where she would have to leave. Then it was every 8 months or so - now it is almost monthly. Do I keep dropping everything and running to help her? Drive her to a safe family member's house? Give her spending money? I fear that her mental state is at the stage where she does not realize the impact she is having on all the family around her. That we are constantly in fear for her while she parties it up - boozing it up with her mate. It turns ugly. It always turns ugly. She gets us all upset like this. She gets admitted to the hospital. She will be back with him within the week. All will be forgiven and they will begin to party. The alcohol will flow. The fighting will start. He will belittle her as he always does.

What kind of need brings forth this madness? What kind of life do people want to live? What ugly monster turned a sunny, cheerful sister into a shadow of herself?

Emotional Abuse

Emotional abuse is just as damaging at physical abuse. One turns into the other. Sister 1956 has been in a relationship of emotional (verbal) abuse from her husband for many years. It has finally turned into a physical problem for her. She is currently in the hospital for possible heart problems. What sounds to me like a panic attack from all her stress. Her BP was 171 over 100. I won't go into a lot of detail but my quiet week-end blew up in smoke when she called me from the hospital Friday night.

The frustrating part is that you cannot help the abused until they want help for themselves and make a move toward helping themselves. They will justify every move they or their abuser makes. Talking about it just seems to upset her more and we are trying hard to get her BP down. I'll be driving over 100 miles again today to visit her in the hospital and show my support.

There are many good articles on the Internet about emotional abuse and bi-polar disorder. Her husband was being tested for signs of bi-polar activity but they have no insurance and were being given the run around by our beautiful health system.

He will probably live to be  a  hundred.

TGIF

Excuse me while I do the happy dance. Not only am I glad it is Friday (it isn't payday), but I am done with my stress presentations! One was a super hit and one was a fiasco. Sigh. I got raves one day and had technical difficulties the next day. Aw man! 

Anyway, I am over the ordeal and ready to move on. So I'll do a little jig and finish the week off (hopefully with a stress-free Friday) and relax this week-end. It has been quite a ride.

Last week's snow

Here is Chong running in the snow. This snow fell Friday the 11th here in my part of Ohio. More was predicted but we did not get it. It was a wet, heavy snow. Very beautiful to look at. It did not last long.

Three of my dogs love it when it snows. The boxer - I am not sure if he likes it or if he just runs to get away from it. Hard to say.

Lotsa beans

You have to wonder what the checkout person thinks when I make my calico beans. I buy two large cans of baked beans, two cans of black beans, two cans of kidney beans, two of butter limas, two of green limas and two cans of baby green limas. This crock pot only has one can of each in it. The catsup and onion are hiding underneath all of those beans. I have not yet added the hamburger and bacon, yet.

It's a food day

Frying bacon in  a pan this morning. I got very little sleep last night again. As usual. I have a big day today. I am making calico beans and stuffed shells and taking them to a double birthday party.

That bacon smells wonderful! And, I don't care much for bacon. The pets are going insane with the smell. I wish I had lettuce and tomato.

The camera battery is charged. I will take pictures unless I get strapped for time and forget.

I did end up going to dinner Friday night. That makes an appt. Wednesday, dinner out with the girls from work on Thursday. Dinner with sisters on Friday, b'day party with my previous work place friends on Saturday. And a big double birthday party out of town today.

Linux? -  I'll catch ya later!

From the same cloth

Whoops. I must have created this photo in a biggie size. Oh, well. The two above are brothers. Four years apart. Yesterday was the first birthday of the one on the left. We are celebrating on Sunday with a big family get together.

Both different. Both adorable. Their poor Mother. My nephew's wife. She had a son from a previous relationship. He is just starting his troublesome teen years. And my nephew (her husband). All those boys in the house with no other female companionship. It would drive me nuts!

Sister 1949 has stayed at their house before due to inclement weather because she works close to where they live. She is not my nephew's mother. Well  not THIS nephew. She said she is so impressed with how he really  helps out around the house and with the boys. Washing clothes, bathing the boys. I can only imagine the amount of work that needs to be done in that household.

My dinner plans are canceled for this evening. Outside it looks as if we only got about 3 inches of a very wet snow. So far. We are due to get more. No schools have canceled,  yet. I have been awake since 2 a.m. I must stop the late afternoon caffeine fixes I have been treating myself with. Sigh.

I have a birthday party on Saturday and one on Sunday. I was hoping for a calamity day today so I could really sink myself into learning and developing my presentation. What will be, will be. I feel the headache starting. Maybe I can get back to sleep. I've already been drinking coffee. Nuts.

Chuckles

I remember this candy but I don't remember eating it. I never chose it. I don't know why. I sure would try it, now. I doubt that it had the "Fat Free Candy" remark on it back in the 60's. Maybe it should have. I was very young then and didn't have to worry about fat.We ran off any extra calories. We were outside moving, moving, moving. Sigh.

Nobody wants to go outside this week. It is still pouring buckets. I have water everywhere (but in my house, thank goodness!) I mean in my yard. The earth is but a sponge. It is like walking on a muddy sponge out there. The dogs are not happy, either. Now my sister tells me snow by tomorrow late afternoon - evening. We sisters were supposed to meet for dinner. We have about a 40 minute drive for us all to meet in a central location. Double drat!

My work presentation is a week away. My Linux one is Wednesday and my filter one is Thursday. I am not worried about the filter - I know that stuff pretty well. Linux (Ubuntu) - I am getting the hang of. My area is CUPS (Common Unix Print System). Not so familiar with that! I'm trying, though. Most of my spare time has me with my nose stuck inside a Linux Administration book or my eyes fixed onto an Ubuntu command line prompt or desktop screen. I did not anticipate so many work problems to crop up and I thought I would have more time to work on this at the office. Not to be! Best laid plans! All that jazz.

Oh, and 'best laid plans' from this poem by Robert Burns. For a better translation - go here.

sno-caps

I know these are still around. I still buy them from time to time. I like them and my daughter likes them. I pass them up anymore for something more - like something with peanut butter. I have not had sno-caps in ages. And, how about the big size ones? Not the package - the actual candy. The size of quarters with those snow sprinkles on top!

It is pouring rain here in Ohio, again. A cold, steel rain. My dogs stick their noses over the edge of the porch and give me an incredulous look. No way! Sigh. I could drag them around the yard, walk them up and down the alley. All I am doing is wasting my time.

Droopy

Sigh. This will be me today. I have been awake for an hour, now. That was 2:30 a.m. Did I retire too early? Maybe. Am I worried about the conference coming up where I give a presentation on something I know next to  nothing about? You betcha.

I'd like to say I've been honing my skills in Linux. That would not be true. The filter has kept me busy at work. We have outgrown it and there does not seem to be any money to update the poor server. I am doing what I can to take the load off Fanny, but Fanny put the load right back on me. I think I'll nickname my filter "Fanny" after the song The Weight. You can follow that link - it is kind of an interesting read if you know the song. I like it and I listen to it now and again. If you followed this paragraph, fine. If not, it is because I am a bit sleep deprived and am probably making no sense.

As I said, I would like to say there is a good reason for me not posting since, what has it been, Friday? There is not. I have been watching movies. Well, I guess that is spending time with my daughter and her beau - so that is a pretty good excuse. I should have been honing my skills. Ah, well.

Anyway, we watched "Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs".  This one is part 3 in a series. I think it is the best! I missed the second, so I can't say for certain it is the best, but I loved it. I had to watch it again the next morning. :)  If you have little ones... well, I don't know. I didn't have any little ones - but I hope they would like it.

Then we watched "Life as We Know It". Not my pick. It had some comedy. Bleh. And, "Easy A" - I would pass on. Also not my pick. What was my pick? Hey - I didn't get one this time around!

So, yep. I'd like to say I was off doing something productive, but no. At work I have been struggling to keep the filter running and at home I watched movies. Except for Sunday when I helped a family member with a computer problem. Got it fixed, but we took the long and hard way. When we resolved the issue it was so easy. If we had only tried that in the first place! Arrgghh!

Bubble Gun

Everybody should have one of these. My niece (who is 24) got one of these for her birthday. Here she is showing how the bubble gun operates. It does take batteries. It is a little messy.

When I went to look this device up on the Internet, I typed in bubble shooter instead. I found a game and quickly became addicted. Yeah, go on. You can play, too. ☺

Aw man!

The important thing is that my brother and his wife are okay. His wife banged up her knee pretty bad. They hit a sheet of ice while driving their EMT truck back from an EMT meeting Monday night.

Violet

I had never seen this candy before. Not that I can recall. After reading up on it, I want to tear into it and just smell the darn thing, now. I still have not opened or tried any of the candies from the 60's box (with the exception of the big, red, waxy lips of course).  I still wonder if the candy really is forty-some years old. Okay, now that's just silly. It has to be edible and it appears as if all this candy is still manufactured. I was really craving chocolate the other night and I thought about the candy in the box. I did not cave in, though.

I have to tell you. It is because of things like that that I do not get anything done. Reading the wiki post on Violet mints led me to read about Mel's Drive-In. After that, I had to read up on Mel's Diner.  And it could go on and on until I reach the end of the Internet or the last page of the Internet.