No drooping

Well, you can't really droop and climb these steps. That is what I had to do yesterday. I met the tech at the Admin office which is a building across the street to this school. The wiring closet in this school had the tech equipment I needed to work on.

Sigh. And, they were not as bad as I thought. The tech was a slim lady. Older than me (maybe, I can't tell any more) but very slim. She had trouble unlocking the doors so that gave me a chance to catch my breath.

Once inside I had to squeeze past a desk area that was about seven inches wide. Fortunately just my legs had to do the squeezing. And at the same time try not to snag any cables on my body and unplug something. (I got stuck in this closet area once before and did not want a repeat.)

I got the job done - so glad. A lot of techs like to perform upgrades and changes when there are no students and staff in the building.

My back hurt me all during the night and this morning. Not certain if the steps were the reason or not. I did no heavy lifting that I can think of. Usually I have to carry very heavy technology equipment into the building and doing that with those steps would have really done me in. I had nothing yesterday except for pen and paper and my car keys. Didn't even take my cell phone in.

Dragging

It is off to work for me this morning. Dragging.

My dry erase board

My daughter drew the red part months ago and I drew the green picture right afterwards. It has remained on the dry erase board but does not look as fresh.

It will help me on days like then when I have to go in to work. I will probably be alone in there as the office I work out of - they are closed. I also work on Friday. Grumble, grumble.

There are no schools in session - well, one vocational school that I am traveling to today to switch them over to an upgrade. I hope it goes smoothly.

It just works out like this sometimes.

A sunset

This one was taken in October. When we went to the winery for the pumpkin chunkin and the T-Rex that ate cars. People kind of look like zombies just walking around the big field carrying their small children.

On my way out to another busy day today.

What the heck?

So there I am last Saturday after the family party. I plug my phone into my computer (as I have for a couple of years) to pull the pictures off of the SD card. What? The computer no longer recognizes my phone. Kaput. Nothing. I mess with it for a while and then I just open the phone, pull out that tiny SD card and plug it into a multi-port card reader that I had purchased a while back. I got the pictures that way.

The next day, I am thinking - I am going to fix my phone. I work with it. I fiddle with this, with that. I google the problem. I followed one post's advice. Something about changing the phone Settings from Mass storage to Media Sync.

It didn't happen right away. In fact I think it took 12  hours. But lo and behold, I started getting e-mail messages from 2012. A slew of them. There were old 2012 messages that went to co-workers, friends and family. What the hell?

A few who did not read the date were confused. They contacted me and said "What is going on?" I sent a mass e-mail to all my contacts explaining what had happened and to "ignore" any old messages they may get from me.

But, what I got was another story. I can recall a time when I would take pictures with my phone and share (send) it to my e-mail account. I have one in gmail and my regular roadrunner accounts. I never received them so I would send them different ways. Nothing. I finally was able to share some through facebook, others I had to wait until I got home to my PC and pull them off my phone that way.

I must have received twenty old images. It made me smile. The above photo is one such image. Remember a while back when I did the hot sauce episode (for about a month?). I looked it up, it was March 2012. If you click on the "hotsauce" label you can read all my posts about hotsauce.

 At one point I went back to the same store and snagged more photos. The one posted above is from that trip.

Some interesting reading on hot sauces:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scoville_scale

http://www.chilliworld.com/factfile/scoville_scale.asp

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hot_sauce

A warm holiday glow

The restaurant knows how to decorate, I'll give it that. We had our annual family dinner last evening. The weather caused a few concerns, but all showed plus two extra. Wow. I had called the restaurant earlier stating that we may have some cancellations so they cut our table size down to twenty. I then had 23 adults, 5 children and 3 tiny babies show up. It got crowded - again.

The games were kind of sloppy. I was not organized at all. There were fewer gifts (lack of funds). The kids wanted more, more, more and I felt inadequate. 

And the chicken was rubber. I should have ordered the steak.

But I got to see all the little tiny ones. From 7 down to one month old. Two brothers did not show. They spent the evening with their fire department/town hall Christmas parties.

The roads were a mess. I had put two brand new tires on my car that morning. I had been to that restaurant last week (just to check it out) and driving home was quite a feat with two bald, front tires. I was  more prepared yesterday. Much better. My pocket book did not need the extra expense this close before the holiday but when does a car care about that? Never.

A little warmth

Picking a photo with some heat in it today. Naturally, this photo is from this past summer. This is my grand nephew. (or, great nephew - depending on which you prefer to use).  As his daddy says "Keep him out of the sun, his skin is translucent."

I have the family Christmas dinner this evening. Only 26 are coming. About ten fewer than last year. I can't find my games. I think they are on my computer at work. I saw my work desk this week for five minutes maybe.

Wednesday and Thursday I spent with a tech from California. Ugh. Every minute together almost (for the work day). My head was ready to explode with a migraine by Thursday afternoon. It took me all of Friday (a vacation day) to recover. I call this having to stay "turned on" - as in my brain. Riding in the car together, having lunch together both days - with no other co-worker to help me keep up the conversation. I know a ton of stuff about his family and friends.

He is a tech trying to sell me on this new appliance for our network. I just don't like to spend that much time with a "stranger". Trying not to offend in my conversations, etc... It was a serious drain on my brain. Fortunately, I kissed the blarney stone at one point in my life (not literally, I have not been to Ireland). But all that chatter and thinking give me a fitful headache.

Edit:  YAY! I just remembered my "older" laptop is in the trunk of my car and I think my Christmas games are on it. :)

Well, heck.

I guess I've been too busy to post. Ah, wait. I know what it is.Work is busy, my brain is drained and by the time I get home I have lost any sense of making any sense to put anything into words. I have been off now for three days and I am starting to climb back up and out of that dark hole.

Here is a photo of my nephew's little baby. Almost six months old. And the apple of his eye by far.

Somali Piracy

I watched the movie "Captain Phillips".  T Hanks comes through as usual. Wonderful actor, just wonderful. I was crying at the end (or teared up anyway).

Of course I had to research the real story.

Spoiler Alert! Not a lot, but a bit.

Two things. Captain Phillips (to me) neglected to heed the warning of keeping his ship 600 miles from the coast of Somalia. He was 240 miles when they were overtaken by the pirates. All ships were advised to stay 600 miles away. Perhaps the pirate ships were not capable of going that far out to sea. Hence - some crew members are suing.

Second - me thinks that the pirate (Muse) has a much better life in a federal prison in the United States than he would have - had he stayed and lived in Somalia. Photo above is lifted from the Internets - typical family conditions in Somalia.

I guess I'll add another tidbit of information. It appears to have escalated (the piracy) when big tankers dumped waste into the waters killing the fish and the local fishermen had no way to make a living so they turned to piracy. As usual, things got out of hand quickly when greed takes over.

Free Lunch

Sorry this photo became skewed. I lifted it off the Internets. Anyway, the photo is the closest I could find to the lunch plates that were used when I was in grade school.

I am having a hard time deciding if I am going to post about this topic or not. Thirty, twenty and even ten years ago I would never have considered it. I try not to talk about these things.

For many reason. First and foremost is - I don't want pity. I don't want people to think I want pity, either. That bothers me beyond belief.

But, I read a post today that got me to thinking.

Free lunches, free breakfasts in schools.

So many people say it is a great idea - how nice to help the needy.

Today's kids are different than we were back in the 50's and 60's. In that era it was a SHAME to get a free lunch. Breakfasts were not even considered, yet. My Mom told me that when our brother (1953) signed up for free lunches the teacher would write their names on the chalkboard. That is right. The entire list of students who were to get a free lunch written for all the world to see. The "haves" had a field day teasing the "have nots".

Since that time my Mom never let us sign up for free anything again. She lined up five brown bags (at that time five of us were in school) every morning and we ate a bologna sandwich, one small orange and about three cookies every day. It was twenty years before I could touch bologna again. To this day I won't eat it with mayonnaise.  In high school I just did not eat lunch.

And, every time I eat a sandwich or an orange, my stomach wants those three damn cookies. Well, okay - my brain wants the three damn cookies. Funny thing, I never seem to want the orange. My brain is completely satisfied skipping the orange but never the cookies. Sigh.

Anyway, for those that think it is a wonderful idea - it is. But consider this. It ain't so wonderful for the child who gets ridiculed by other students and teachers (OH YES THEY DO) when you are getting something free. There is always a teacher or two who believe she is paying for your lunch right out of her pocket and she wants to make certain that you are aware of where that money (lunch) is coming from.

A co-worker told me a story her daughter shared about just such an incident. This incident (which I hope my co-worker reported to the school superintendent) was about her daughter sitting with a friend at lunch. The friend had chosen a salad for lunch. A teacher came up behind the child and snapped "You better eat ALL that salad because I paid for it! Why didn't you get a peanut butter sandwich or something?"  TRUE!  As if to say that the free loaders need only have a bland sandwich and were not entitled to a more healthy fresh salad as privileged children are. My friend's daughter was confused. She asked her Mom why the teacher paid for her friends' lunches. I don't recall  how my co-worker handled the question. She is a wonderful and bright lady, so I am certain her daughter learned something valuable that day.

2013 folks. It is alive and well in our schools today. Shame on the children of the lousy free loaders!

In the post I read I came across the word discrete. The free food is given to the students in need discretely. Really? Does a machine give them the food? Because if there is a human handing out that free food there is always going to be talk. That human tells another human who gets the free lunches. Really - they do. They can't seem to help themselves. Pretty soon a dozen people now know who gets free hand outs. And if even one person has a chip on their shoulder about a family getting free stuff because the father is no good (must be his wife's fault) then it all comes pouring out.

My older sister and brother tell me stories of their youth. Before they became old enough to help the family begin to stand on our own and not rely on hand outs. My father was a drunk. There, I said it. He barely worked. My Mom had 8 children. She was not able to work outside the home, although she did get flack from the welfare agency as to why she thought she could not work and provide for her family and of course they made her feel like it was her fault that my dad was a drunk, etc..

That stopped the welfare. My Mom refused to go back. My older brother joined the Air Force and began sending money home. My older sister put herself through college, worked two jobs and paid the bills with the help from my older brother. They are still close today and live together and help each other. And they still hand money out to the siblings that just keep asking for it. Sigh. I don't know why. It is ingrained in them, I suppose.

Enough of that. It makes me want to vomit just re-reading what I wrote. If you do comment, please do not comment about that. Thanks.

Back to discrete and human nature. I worked as a data entry operator in the early 80's. The business was food distribution to schools, hospitals, nursing homes, bars and diners. At one point a saleslady came up to me with an order and she said "This order is for the shelter for abused and battered women."  She said "You know where it is, don't you?"  And before I could utter no or any other word she proceeded to tell me where this shelter was. I did NOT need to know. I was not the driver or delivery person. Sheesh. Why couldn't she have kept her mouth shut? Then I began thinking about all the people who actually knew where the shelter is physically located - and then how safe is that? Every policeman would know. The fire department would know. The creepy truck drivers we employed would know. The sleazy salesmen we have would all have know. Discrete my ass. Sorry. No such thing.

Naughty list

Yeah, well - somebody is on the naughty list this year.  According to the telco when all was said and done they blamed it on beavers (or groundhogs).

"It appears that either a ground hog or a beaver has dug holes and chewed the cable."

Whatever. Over 30 hours again.

I don't usually speak of the TV shows that I watch but I just have to rant about this one.  Really, Patrick? Do you really think that Red J0hn is dead? Why the hell didn't you drag him into the lake and drown him to make certain?  You know that he would find a way to fake dying in a choke hold.

Gawd. It still isn't over. He will re-surface and torture all of us again. And we all know that woman from the chapel followed you and will go and resuscitate him.  Gawd!

Okay, rant over.

I'm ranting today

It is getting ridiculous. The is the sixteenth time our school district's fiber has been down this year. Yes, part of it is my organization's fault. We do have a fail-over (another telco) but not those in my area code. My area code contains about 10 school districts. We have been trying for months to get this area code over on to the fail over telco but we are caught up in red tape with the state. Arrgghh!

The schools are LIVID.  And we have been trying for months to get rid of this telco altogether. We had to wait until our five year contract expired first. Then it is red tape with the state. The state is married to this telco. The telco monolith is not a stupid empire.

Another fiber cut. I am trying to educate myself on what happens when the fiber gets cut out in the field. We have to drag information out of the telco as to what happened. They do not give up any information willingly. This time the cut is in a manhole.

This cut happened yesterday about 1:00 p.m. On a Sunday. It is in a manhole somewhere. Who in the hell was working on a Sunday? And in a manhole? And get this! The latest report is that the technicians had to leave the manhole for safety reasons.

What? Is there some sort of mutant alligator down there? Did the Monday morning showers and flushes of  the sewer systems threaten to wash one of them away? I don't know! We don't even get details like "where" this manhole is.

One tech at a vocational school expressed his frustration to my manager. He has several people coming this morning to do some testing at his location. Some are driving 2 1/2 hours (not certain I believe this, but okay).  He needs to call them and let them know there is no Internet before they get on the road. Well, as of 7 o'clock this morning - still nothing.

This same area lost connectivity for about 36 hours a week ago today. It is not pretty out there. Most understand it is not my fault. They need to vent their frustration on somebody since the home office is 60 miles away (and they rarely - if ever) answer their telephones. The anger and frustration just loses something when you leave a voice mail.

So, I get it. I always answer my phone. I can't tell you how many times I get "I know you can't do anything about it, but I call you because at least you answer your telephone."

Anyway, here was an interesting read on fiber cuts. Two that affected me and schools in my area are listed in March 2012. And I lifted the photo above. I can only imagine having to take that equipment down into a man hole in below freezing weather where sewer is running around your ankles. Or, can they bring the cable up and out of the manhole and repair it? Sheesh. I don't know. How in the hell did it get cut down there? What the hell are people putting down into their sewer systems? We never really get the entire story and are left wondering.

http://www.ecessa.com/coverage/internet-outages-happen-every-day/

Deep frying the turkey

The "guys" busy at work frying the turkey. Every year the office I work out of has a Thanksgiving lunch where everybody brings a covered dish. We have a wonderful lady who brings a roaster full of turkey with delicious juices. We usually run out and it is too much for her so we decided to supplement with a second turkey. I think they were nervous that the meat be a true 165º that it was a bit dry, but hey - it was delicious! And we had plenty of gravy.

Of course wouldn't you know that the main guy doing the frying is a volunteer fireman. If you are related to -  or a friend of a fireman then you know they are the most dangerous! LOL! I finally talked him into having a fire extinguisher on hand. They are just so daring because 'They've seen it all!'

This year I brought the jiffy cornbread cream corn pudding. I had doubled the batch and it was so creamy when I mixed it I was worried about it being done in the middle. So I cooked it too long and it was dry. Some recipes called for sugar and some did not so I was nervous about the sugar so I added very little. Another mistake. Next time (and there WILL be a next time) I am adding more sugar and not baking it as long.

I battled my headache all day. We were all running around getting our covered dishes ready, many dishes were in and out of the oven all morning in our office kitchen. I had to run back home to get crackers since I had forgotten them. I also take hot pepper jelly with cream cheese for folks to nibble on during the morning as they try to wait until the food is ready and lunch time. With all the fantastic smells we are all just walking around drooling.

We did not have fun and games (I am usually the one who creates the trivia and a game or two) but I told them about my migraine and I just could not do any more. The big laugh though was the fact that I had put my top on inside-out. The office secretary came up to me in the food line and whispered that fact to me. I laughed and said "I wondered why it looked so light today. I just thought perhaps I had goofed and washed it with a load of whites and bleached it!"

It got a good laugh from everybody and I loved it! I finished getting my food, set my plate down and proceeded to the restroom to turn my top inside-right. I quipped "You are all lucky I even managed to put a top ON today, with the way I feel!"

After lunch, I had time to sit quietly and just work. My headache finally subsided enough. But, I had a hair appointment. The good thing about that is somebody is scrubbing my head (always makes my headache feel better) but I was getting the roots colored so the smell was going to be an issue. Waiting for the dye to finish setting I literally fell asleep twice in the chair.

I have no appointments or events this week-end so I can lay low and just chill out. Give my body time to rest and if I want to take a nap, I will.

Until I read sister 1944's e-mail. She is very depressed. Me (being me) told her to give me a day and time and I would be there to listen and to paint love all over her. Because that is what family does and that is what sisters are for. I truly believe that those raised with nothing and in poverty conditions have a much stronger and beautiful bond with their siblings. And I truly believe it is more precious than any amount of money and you better believe that I am humbly grateful that I was fortunate enough to be born into such a family. My cup runneth over this Thanksgiving.

Hey...what? Runneth is not a word, blogger?  Aw - shame on you!  Alright - dictionary.com says it is not a word, either. Too bad. I am using it and I am keeping it because I heard it a lot growing up!

Two dollars

Is this not the cutest thing? I have a co-worker who made this at the dinner we went to Wednesday evening. I had very new crisp dollar bills and she showed off her skill. She said her husband is very good at it and kids just surround him to watch him work if he is out in public and doing this.

I have been slammed the past few days. Day and night. Of course a migraine started to creep up on me yesterday. I overslept. Had no memory of turning off my alarm. I was scheduled to drive to a little tiny school 55 miles away in a cow pasture. Just to arrive and find out the tech did not know to try turning the equipment off and then back on. That was all that was needed. I blame myself for part of it because he is new and when I told him to check to see that the equipment had power, they usually turn it off and back on and I neglected to detail that fact.

I was literally falling asleep on the long drive back. I picked a spot halfway and parked the car. I literally crashed for an hour. In the car! Of course it was not a good sleep as I chose Roscoe Village and there were many slamming car doors and the sun had started to come out and I was using my coat as a pillow (must wash coat!) and it smelled.

So, that was my lunch hour. I fired the car back up and went on to the next scheduled stop. This is the juvenile center for wayward young adults. The building is brand spanking new and next to the county prison. The last visit I had there was not a pleasant one. I had many complications getting in and getting co-operation.

This time I must have done something right. I had called and arranged my visit before hand with the right person. I was not given any grief whatsoever - people were as nice as can be. I didn't fix the problem but it was a nice visit. Except for the fact that the wiring closet has no shelf,  no table, nothing to balance my laptop on. Did you know that a lap does not exist until one sits down? Hah!

I had to plop on the very cold cement floor in what I would guess to be a three feet by three foot room. It was freezing in there. I spent about an hour. I moved around a good bit and got up several times.I had to stand outside in the hall with the door propped open to get cell phone service to call the telco to help troubleshoot. If the door closed, I was not getting back in until I went to find an employee. Few and far between. If I stepped back inside the closet the network went dead and I would lose my very precious call to the telco. You can imagine what steps you have to go through to get back into the queue and actually get a human on the other end of the telephone.

Sometimes when you have to deal with conditions like this and then the people at the site are nasty and mean - you just want to chuck it all and go back to your warm office with the fake leather chair and relax. Sometimes it just sucks to spend so much time being this uncomfortable and you just throw in the towel for the day. The only problem with this action is that you know you have to come back out here at some point and try again.

And the stupid headache does not help. It is hard to think in this condition. The day finally ended and I moved on to the grocery store where I needed to get a few supplies to make a dish for the office luncheon we are having today.

I signed up to bring in the creamy corn pudding made with jiffy cornbread.  I don't know why I keep choosing recipes I have never tried before. Sigh.

Baby cooties

I stayed with my nephew while I went Northwest to visit while my niece had her little bambino. That means I was exposed to an enormous amount of baby cooties while spending time with this one. She is five months old.

I was covered in cooties. I didn't mind a bit. I think my daughter was a bit put out though when I posted a picture of the above bambino on my facebook and mentioned that I was in heaven.

She made a remark to me when I got home about it. Oops.

Four by four

My niece had a four by four baby. Four pounds four ounces. The hospital will not let him go home until he is "properly" fitted into a car seat. Sigh. This is our best try. I left before they inspected the seat.

I drove up on Saturday (my sister had told me her daughter's water broke and they were in the hospital on Friday). I missed the birth by one hour. I would have been able to see it. Three people were allowed in the room. My sister (grandmother) was there and her husband. They said it was awesome, but so scary because he was so tiny. They were not permitted to film the event. My niece's husband threw a fit. He is so....he is such a.... he's complicated. There.

No rest here

I knew that the tech would not be happy. Yesterday I was scheduled out on the road to go to two schools to upgrade their fiber. I was trying to check e-mails via my cell phone because I knew there would be issues with this guy.

Sure enough. He had a list of complaints a mile long. And some were so silly it just showed what a true jerk he really is. I shared them with the engineer at the new filter company and I can only imagine what he thinks.

For the most part, I finally got time in the late afternoon to address the problems and began to knock them out. What does it take? Common sense. Something so rare and valuable in some people you would think it could be traded on the stock exchange.

Yep. Complainers gonna complain and haters gonna hate.

Hold on

The ride has begun. I put the first school on the filter we are evaluating. Here comes the plunge. It would be exciting for me except I am too damn tired to enjoy it. Where's the prednisone, now?!

I am not a chef

Yah. I'd like to meet the sick S.O.B. who thought it might be a great idea to take hot cabbage leaves and attempt to roll loose ground beef, sausage and rice in it?  Really? Seriously?  I must have used every damn toothpick in the house!

I swear - I nearly needed therapy when I was finished with this mess.

Ah....but it tasted divine!

Could have been the prednisone.  :)

Keeping my cool

Isn't this photo just lovely? I lifted it, sorry. I was looking for calm, peace, serenity and came across this and it was exactly what I was looking for.

Yesterday got ugly at work. The new installation fell flat on it's face and the two schools that have been crying so much for me to test drive a new device screamed bloody murder. Of course I had added them on to the new unit first because they were my biggest complainers about the old device and when the new device went belly up (because we are human and learning) they were outraged.

In hindsight it is kind of amusing, or pathetic. Whichever way you want to look at it, I kind of sway back and forth on it. Here we are trying to satisfy them and when we make that attempt, they criticize yet again. And, I am telling you what. I struggled to get it working right for them yesterday. I seriously struggled hard to fix things.

It was all so new - three of us were scrambling trying to get them switched around. I called the tech in California so many times. He was patient but I usually pride myself on figuring things out before I have to call for help. I learn more that way. In this case, it was panic mode and there is no time for Peruby to learn the product, get the engineer to find out what is configured incorrectly - pronto!

We found the problem,  but not until 3:30 in the afternoon (when schools are closing for the day). So kids had problems getting to YouTube for a day. They did get there, just sometimes they didn't. We did come to find out that some of the reasons were the fact that they were searching for unsavory subjects in YouTube, but the tech couldn't see that until we shipped him the report that this new product provides for us. YAY! Take that!

Ah, well. The day is over with  now. My manager stood by me completely. He handled everything. I didn't have to answer the scathing e-mail that was sent out to all my techs in the school from this angry tech. Not only did he say he needed to create a help desk ticket to complain about what we did (or did not do) when we put the new device in line, he felt the need to share his pain and complaint with a large group of tech guys in the other school districts. He spit out a whining complaint message to the masses about how inept we were at this switch over.

Again, in hindsight it makes him look like  a big, whiny baby. And other techs are calling him that. They just shake their heads and say "Oh, grow up already!"

Seriously, we are all doing the best that we can. He said that he does not get results when he calls us or tries to get help from us, so he decides to chastise  us in an e-mail to all his co-workers in all area school districts.

I find inner peace within myself for knowing I did my best. I wonder how he feels about himself? Or, do they have any conscience at all?

It is getting warm in here

I have a new toy at work. I am evaluating a new filtering system. First time out of the gate, my horses just fell over one another. One big jumbled mess. I immediately had to scoop them up and place them back behind the starting line so I could clear the track obstacles.

Yep, the heat is on.

Update on the ear infection:  Much better! I was feeling good on Saturday, better on Sunday and almost great on Monday. Until somebody turned the heat on. Whew. Glad I got my energy back before this monstrosity hit. LOL!

And what is up with Prednisone?! Really! I feel like a Langolier,  I want to eat the furniture!

Anguish

My grand nephew's face seems to depict the anguish I felt when I became overwhelmed with all the names on The Wall. To all those who have served, to all those who currently are serving - may we all find peace from the struggles.

Owie

I have an owie. I think my ear pain started Tuesday night. I can't recall. The ear swelled completely shut making it hard to hear. It was very sensitive to the touch and the pain was radiating to my teeth and to my throat.

I went to the doctor yesterday and she almost sent me to the ER. She did not want the infection to travel to my brain. I said no because I thought they would lance the ear or something. She said "No" it was just to give me antibiotics with an IV - quicker.

She let me go with a strong anti-biotic, prednisone and ear drops. I was in so much pain. At the pharmacy I had to wait for one hour for them to fill the prescription. The pharmacist was concerned since I was allergic to penicillin; he remarked that this anti-biotic was a distant, distant cousin of that medication.

I explained to him that my "allergic reaction" to penicillin way back in 1979 was because I was ignorant of the fact that you don't take old medication. It was over six months old and sitting in our medicine cabinet. I broke out in hives and my face swelled up like I had the mumps. Since then I have had to tell every doctor that I am allergic to penicillin. Sigh.

He suggested that I have Benadryl handy just in case. I purchased a box. What a salesman!

I went home with my heating pad, meds and Advil. I was finally feeling much better by the evening.

Two hours after my pharmacy visit, I received a call from the pharmacist. He wanted to make certain that I was okay. He phrased it "I wanted to make sure you were still with us."  That made me laugh. I told him I was fine and he said he was just checking up on me. I thanked him. I told my daughter's boyfriend I was going to marry my pharmacist. LOL!

I am still in pain and swelled up. My daughter is putting the drops in for me. I found it funny that one of my meds said to take twice a day and the other said take every 12 hours. Uh....isn't that the same thing? Anyway, if the Advil works it's magic I will go into work. I have no plans this week-end and I can wrap up in my heating pad and blankets all day Saturday/Sunday.

Little lady bug

I don't think I've ever seen a lady bug costume this dressy before. My grand niece.

Mundane

The 1960 version of Little Shop was mundane compared to the '86 version. The older one was not a musical. The plot was a bit different.  At the end when the little flowers opened up the faces of the people the plant ate were on the them. Kind of ghastly.

Dragnet (the 50's version) must have been very popular - as they used a few references to Joe Friday's vernacular lingo. Seymour's  mother played a big part in the older version, also. The dentist was not Audrey's girlfriend and Seymour called the plant Audrey Junior instead of Audrey (two) II.

Oh, and I can't write this post without a little shout out to J Nicholson from the '60 version playing the pain-loving patient of the dentist. Not as dramatic as Murray's role in the '86 version but strange in his own "Jack" way. 

Baby shower .....done!

The photo above is my grand niece on the right and a family friend on the left. I captioned this one in Facebook as the one in pink saying "Dahling....where did you get that beautiful dress? It's divine!" or something like that.

Babies, babies, babies. My niece is now much more prepared for her baby than she was. The shower was a success. We had it at The Wilderness Center.  The only drawback is the fact that my niece and her husband have been nomads the past couple of years and their friends are spread all over the state and country.  Only a handful of friends could make it because of the distance, but my family more than makes up for it. All sisters were there - YAY!

The only OTHER drawback was the heat. We had an upstairs room and I was roasting. When you are hosting (grinning because of the rhyme) you get over heated quickly because you are stressing and running around doing this and doing that.

I had been dealing with a migraine. It had actually been going on all week. Sunday was a bad one. I took the medicine in the morning and with the time change and the hour of saved time I was able to get all done that I needed to. While brushing my teeth I began gagging. If you have ever taken some strong medicine you know how it can make you nauseous at times. In the car going to the shower my daughter said she got SO worried when she heard me gagging. I was like "How sweet." Until she finished her thought. She said she was worried that SHE would have to take over hosting the shower and playing the games and talking to the group of people. Now I can say it sarcastically "How sweet!"

Twooie

I saw a stage rendition of "Little Shop of  Horrors" last night. It was fantastic. The talent of some people just stop you dead in your tracks and makes you wonder why some people leave for the west coast or NYC and some stay in their home area. They seem content to wow their little home audiences and do not venture out for the super star status. Are they any less talented? Not in my book. The performers I saw last night were fantastic.

I was introduced to this comedy via the 1986 version with R Moranis and E Greene. I see now that there is a 1960 version. I may try to get a copy of that version to watch and of course I need to watch the more recent one to revisit scenes that last night's production reminded me that I had forgotten.

I think that Seymour kept calling the plant "Twooie" in last night's production. (Audrey II). At least that is what it sounded like to me.

My nephew...

...went and got himself married yesterday. Did not tell anybody until after it was all done. He said they will plan a ceremony and reception next year.

This is the nephew that used to come to our house every other week-end or so. He and I talked about computers, cars etc.. He fixed little things around my house. Do I miss him? You betcha! Am I jealous? Not one iota! This guy deserves all the happiness that life can offer and then some. I am so glad he found this beautiful lady. They fit together so well.

I am so happy for them.

Dragging today

Am feeling very low and down today. I had a very rough day yesterday. I won't go into detail but it all has to do with my age and the process we deal with when we reach a certain age. This also ties in with why my week-end was a wash after what felt like a migraine coming on. I could not function very well on Monday either  - I went home sick from work and went to bed.

I had to be in a certain training for two days (these guys flew in from California) so we had a small window of time and I could not call in sick or go home sick or excuse myself. I was in our home office which is 60 miles away from my home. I couldn't just "run home for lunch". They insisted on taking me to lunch and I had no co-worker available to go with us and I had to keep up the chatter by myself.

I was drained. I feel like I don't even remember anything after lunch yesterday. There were two trainers (one was training the new guy) and my head was spinning from both of them showing me this product we are evaluating. Of course with this aging process comes insomnia so I had awoken yesterday morning at 3:30 a.m. and never got back to sleep. I was not hitting on all cylinders and my brain was so weak.

I am behind on some planning for the baby shower and I had 14 trick or treaters come to the door last night. (I fixed my porch light.) They don't stop unless the porch light is on. This is after I told our new neighbor lady that we get no trick or treaters in this neighborhood.

I guess that is changing. I wish I had more energy and I wish I had asked them if I could grab a few camera shots. The dogs were being, well - the dogs were being dogs. They barked and wanted to meet and greet every single kid that came to our door.

And, of course we had two "older" kids come around. One is a "little person" and I knew him from a few years ago. He wasn't even dressed up (that I could tell) and his friend looked to be an older teen. I said "Hi Larry (not his real name)". He said hi back. Sigh. I don't care. As long as it does not get out of hand. I don't mind a teen sneaking in here and there (actually I am fairly certain that Larry is in his twenties). He was always very nice to me.

I know this tired "episode" will pass. I hope it goes quickly as I want to be at my best when I host the shower on Sunday.

Before being shot

His mama said he did NOT look like this after his shot. By the way, this is the "school bus" room at the pediatrician's office. Cute!  Third grandson of sister 1944.

I have not had taken the time to post recently, so this is a quick kid shot to hold you over until I can bore you with mundane details about my job.     ☺

Warmth

(Photo lifted from the tavern's web page)

It was a cold, blustery day when we headed out after work. Eight of us in three different vehicles. We drove for over an hour and we braved the brisk air to scurry inside a beautiful, warm and glowing barn-like building. Full of good smells and decorations. The hostess walked us past table after table of smiling diners. As we walked the age-old wooden floor beams we passed fireplace after fireplace.

Winding our way through the rooms and hallways, we finally ended our journey in a room next to the kitchen. With no fireplace. Zilch. None. Boo! My face fell. Ah, well.

We were still in for a treat. I had prepared myself for the sticker shock by looking the menu up on line and the gal who arranged this night out warned us also. Pricey. Indeed, it is. You can see the menu yourself. It is really no different than some of the wineries I have been to, though.

I usually save a few dollars by refusing to order anything to drink (table water is fine), refusing to order an appetizer and skipping dessert. Those three items can cost as much as the entrée. I heard one of the gals say she did not bring near enough money. She ordered the house salad and an appetizer. I saw the appetizer when it came. What a disappointment. It was so tiny. She had ordered the pasta pinwheels. It was no bigger than a skinny hot dog bun. Actually since I didn't want to stare it may have been smaller than that.

I ordered filet. I was prepared for the cost. I was not disappointed, nor were any of the others (as far as I know) - except the poor gal who ordered the appetizer. She raved about the salad dressing on her salad, though. I should have been more daring and ordered a dish that raved about the toppings and sauces that sounded so delicious. My steak was good but not the best I have ever eaten. The baked potato was just that - a baked potato. The vegetables were cooked correctly, but no great sauce or taste accompanied them. There was no salad with the meal - salads were extra. The bread was warm and very good - it was complimentary. They were out of duck. I have never eaten duck. I did not want to order lamb (my mom never fixed lamb - she raised baby lambs and had to live through them being slaughtered and refused to eat them and she passed that on to her children),  and I don't eat veal .

My niece used to work here. I do know that Reagan dined here and I have heard that Quayle stayed overnight here. This is a tourist sort of place, but there are no malls, no metropolis for miles, it is out in the middle of nowhere.

I have wanted to dine here for years, and now I can finally say "Been there! It was great!"

Just Do It.

I don't know. I think they  may have a case. They can blame N!ke. N!ke made me (us) do it. How appropriate for Halloween. Very scary stuff!

She's Hollywood all the way!

My grand niece enjoying the tire climbing at Maize Valley Winery. She had a blast and crashed that evening. I am very comfortable with this kind of day. Reminds me of when I took my daughter to all sorts of activities, museums and such.

If I had a granddaughter, I would be broke for sure. Very thankful (for now) my daughter says she does not want children, but we know how that goes, right?

Heart breaker

His grandma said he kept moving his head to try to see what the painter was touching his face with. His Mom said he is a heart breaker. I thought it was a strawberry.  :D

Movie review - R.I.P.D.

The above photo is lifted from the Internets. I think she is freaking adorable, this little girl. She has a fantastic future ahead of her - just check out her photos.

She plays a teeny, tiny part in R.I.P.D.  The movie?  OMG. A "Men in Black" clone? Although, the movie is based on a comic book, I think.

I struggle with listening to J Bridges speak in this movie. Is it part of the character or is the guy having real problems? IDK, but seriously - he speaks as if his mouth is full of marbles or something. After reading some background on the movie, I am glad that J Bridges got the part and NOT Zach G. UGH!

The comedy left a lot to be desired.

And ML Parker? I think she over-tweaked her last surgery. She is starting to look like a pixie. I (myself) prefer actors to look like human beings. Cute/pixie-like is for school girls. Maybe it was the hair and the role. IDK.

Overall, I would not recommend this movie. But, everybody is different. I rarely agree with the "critics" so - don't take my word for it. Maybe I should change my line to read 'I would not recommend spending a lot of money watching this movie.'  How's that? Better?

Been busy planning

I am giving my niece a baby shower. My sisters are helping decorate,etc..

I have news that another niece is pregnant, again.

And I feel that another is trying for a second.

Let the babies keep coming. This is a good thing.

Fire!

The cars before he ate them. And this is why they have a fire truck standing by. Two years ago - only a fire truck. This year, a fire truck and an ambulance. I hope it is just thinking safely and not because something happened before. A piece did fly off from one of the cars but we are sectioned off  by a caution tape and the distance must be okay because nobody was hit by the flying pieces.

And.....she's OUT!

All day at the festivities and she is out like a light. We came home and I fixed grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup for everyone. This one ate four. Okay, let me repeat that - FOUR!

She was watching the movie WALL-E and I was busy on the computer, my daughter came through with her dirty dishes and said "She's out."  I said "huh?"  My daughter pointed and repeated "She's out!"

Yes, she was. LOL!

Here is the video of the creature eating the cars. Yet again, I found myself with a full memory card by the time I was needing to make a video and after kicking myself in the rear end (mentally) I remembered my trusty cell phone and pulled it out of my purse to make this video. It is over 8 minutes long and I had YouTube stabilize it for me (shaky hand).

The people noise you hear is not my crew. The little girl (above me) did not make one peep during the entire episode. You can hear me say a few lines, such as "That was close", "He is coming over to us" , "That's rude" and "What's he doing?"

Our other family members were somewhere else in the crowd as we all got separated for a bit.

The event is a sight to see and I highly recommend it for children and grand children. It looks as though this was their last event for 2013, but here is their web site.  http://www.megasaurus.com/. You can read about his history and photos and hopefully they will post the 2014 schedule soon.

Fun week-end planned

I get to have this one for the week-end. This photo was taken April 2012. She is my grand(great) niece. We are going here on Saturday. We are aiming to see the 'Megasaurus eat the cars' event. I don't like reading about them closing the gates if the crowd gets too large. That makes me a tad nervous that we may be turned away.

My sister wants me to pick her up at noon - first Megasaurus show is at 2:00 p.m. I am afraid the crowd will be too large to let us in. Drat! I don't want to disappoint. We are meeting about 8 other family members there who have family coming from New York state for the event.

It is a sight to behold. I saw it two years ago and I was in total awe.

Get your popcorn!

A week ago I had to go to a very small elementary building. A storm had taken their Internet connection out and "fried" a port on a switch I maintained. That is my best guess. As soon as I moved the Internet connection to another port they worked fine.

I will "babysit" the connection at times because you know what happens when the tech walks out the door. The Internet goes "out" again. So, I set up my laptop and made myself comfortable. A lot of my work I can do anywhere - just give me an Internet connection. I can answer e-mails and handle help desk tickets and manage equipment remotely.

As I sat there "babysitting" I looked around. There was a popcorn machine, a sno-cone machine and the huge bags of popcorn you see pictured above. Wow. I would love it when it was popcorn day. The smell of popcorn is scrumptious!

On a more sober note - I have worked with this guy - http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2013/10/10/it-worker-pleads-not-guilty-to-tampering.html

I admit I do not have much respect for the guy from our working days together, and if he is guilty, I don't want him to "get away with anything".  I am thinking they started with him because they want the bigger fish. The "fat" and foul fish that stink up our world thinking that they are above the law. I hope he squealed like a pig and gave the investigators names, dates and as much information as they need to nail the guilty rats to the wall.

Then (yes, I will say it) I want them to learn what "rape" really means while they are in prison.

The rainy and wet festival

This picture is from a few years ago at the Fall Festival. I went Saturday and wish I had not. I was miserable. It rained in the morning, then the sun came out. The weather said cloudy the rest of the day. I went to the festival. Big mistake.

It poured. And it poured. And then everything was a muddy mess.

Sigh.

Movies

It has been a long time since I posted any movie reviews. July in fact. I have watched a slew of them. I looked back over the ones I watched (yes, I keep a list) and one in particular was my favorite. Not everyone will agree, I am certain. The Heat with S Bullock and M McCarthy.

If you are offended by the "F" word, they you won't care for this movie. I think it is used in Melissa's conversation in every other word.

My favorite parts are where Sandra's character mistakes Melissa's for being a prisoner waiting to be questioned. Another is where Melissa kicks the door down on a woman using the toilet (thinking a criminal is hiding in there) and she is pointing a gun at her. As Sandra's character attempts to drag her away, Melissa asks "Who closes the 'effin door when they are taking a sh!t?"  Sandra replies "Humans do."

Another one I found funny in parts (but raunchy in others) was "We're the Millers".

I'll give a quick shout out to "Admission" with T Fey and P Rudd. I liked this one.

Morning line up

My blog posts have been kind of depressing for the past few weeks, so I am going for something a little lighter. This photo was taken a couple of weeks ago. I brought them outside and they just lined up like you see above. I don't know what they are doing or waiting for.

My neighbor did get a new puppy so maybe they are waiting to see if she is out.

Anyway, left to right - Sable, Cheech, Chong and Slade.

Shambles

The first half of the house.

A side view of the destruction.

A lot of people said the house could have been saved.

It would have taken a lot of money.

White House Down Finale

Beginning to middle....

...to the very end.

The Operator

Here is my niece's husband (my nephew by marriage). He did a wonderful job. As somebody in the group said "This ain't his first rodeo."  The guy knew what he was doing. He started out hesitantly because he had not taken down a structure of this size and my sister had a lot of money invested in that machine he was operating. Okay - it is an excavator.

After the first twenty minutes or so he had relaxed and boy did he go to town.

It was not a sad day. I had family there and we bonded even more. There were stories told that my niece had not heard before.

White House Down

It is a big house. From the back you can see the basement level, first floor and upstairs, then the attic. From the front - the sidewalk is just a little lower than the road and walks right into the front porch on the first floor. The house was built on a slope. This is about how the house looked back in the late 60's or early 70's.

The furnace was installed in 1968 or so. It is still there. An oil furnace. The only bathroom is the little window at the top in the middle. I never once remember the toilet overflowing or not flushing. Never once did we have a stopped up sink that I can recall. I guess gravity may be the best thing when dealing with that stuff because it all flows downhill, right?

The back porch on the right was rebuilt with new steps, etc. The wrap-around porch - you can see partly on the left had to all go and we were left with only a porch on the front of the house. My brother  re-roofed and re-floored the front porch. I helped him. He is an S.O.B. to work with. We laugh about it now, but back then he was not a pleasant person. I refused to work with him on anything, ever again. He is very loving towards me always hugging me etc. We have a good relationship, now.

Today is going to be a very, very emotional time. And we are going to be right out in the street almost for all the neighbors to witness this White House Down event. There is going to be some crying, I know. It will probably be me. I don't care. There was a lot of love in that house. A lot of strength. Like my older sister said - "It is like my Mom dying all over again."  This was HER house. She is buried a few hundred yards from this house.

This was the first house she ever felt "at home" in because she was finally safe. No more getting kicked out because my dad didn't pay the rent or the house was being condemned. Oh, yes. Many of the houses we lived in were condemned when my family left. Fortunately for me, I came along late in life and this was my third house by six years old and this one was purchased by my older sister. My Mom had a home for life, now.

We just neglected it. A few touch ups here and there, but then nothing. It fell apart. Especially since my Mom passed in 2000. It has set empty except for a few raccoons and squirrels, I guess. A neighbor called the county inspector and they are making us take it down. Sigh.

It is true that we have abandoned the house after 13 years. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. It is one of those things where you want to have a piece of your past to go back to. Even if it is an empty shell. It is filled with memories.

I gotta go. I have to load up my car with gloves, a chair, rakes and a broom. Some goodies for the workers to snack on. Beer for the neighbor letting us sit on his property to record the event and watch.

I am sick, I tell you. Just sick.