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.