Slipping Time

Time has slipped away from me

I had two training sessions at work this week. I mowed the grass (for the first time this year). I've been doing this and doing that. The week slipped away from me.

On a positive note, my bad mood seems to have lifted. I had a few deadlines this week and now that they are past, I can focus again on a handful of issues instead of that mountain I was facing for a month or so.

Equal Opportunity

Here are the black olives from Easter dinner.

Sigh. Yesterday got much, much worse. I was out with the dogs in the fresh air and I realized that this headache was not going away with OTC meds. Drat! Another imitrex? Or, generic imitrex, rather.

Yes. If I wanted to get to that birthday party. I tried the very, very hot shower. I moved slow. I lay back down after the shower. My pets hovered around me. "What are you doing?" I dozed on and off. I told my sister I would probably be late. She told me to stay home (in a nice way, LOL!) if I had a migraine. She gets them, too.

My daughter was coming over to watch the dogs for me. She had one hell of a night fighting with her boyfriend. It was all dramatic and tense. It set my headache flying again. She was crying. I listened. Finally, my head hurt too bad and I left for the party. It was breaking my heart to watch her.

I stopped at a store (not walletmart, yeah!) to get myself a new coffee pot. A migraine exacerbates little pet peeves. For starters, I hate shopping. I do like people, as most of you know from my previous posts, I will talk and joke with just about anybody.

This trip was much different. It started in traffic. Everybody was getting on my nerves. While turning into a parking lane, some lady was just sitting in her car (I think she was texting) - not in a parking space, but parked in the lane where everyone had to drive around her (once they made sure nobody was coming from the other direction). She is one of these drivers that makes me want to park my car. Get out and go up and bang on her window and scream 'What the f#&* are you doing?!' But, I didn't.

The lights were excruciating. I grabbed a buggy and it was buggy Nascar in there. You ever have one of those encounters where you are wheeling your buggy down an aisle and there is another shopper coming straight at you? I always try to steer to the right. I did. They steered to their left. I switched and so did they, again - and again! By this time we were getting pretty close to one another. We missed each other but I heard him make a remark to his wife. I was giving no eye contact and no response. Usually I would have smiled and joked about it. NOT today.

Of course I could not find the coffee pots. The only help I could find was a cashier at the very front of the store. And as typical of a horror story, the moment I ask her a question "Where can I find the coffee pots?" somebody (some idiot new employee with butter fingers, I am certain) decided to drop a metal pipe that must have been forty feet long onto the concrete floor of this massive home construction store. It echoed through the entire four counties all three times that I tried to repeat myself to the cashier." Where can I find the coffee pots?"

"I'm sorry, I couldn't hear you."

"Where can I find the coffee pots?"

"Sorry." She gave me a bewildered look.

"Where can I find the coffee pots?" The echos were still resounding through the store. I sighed.

She motioned towards the sound. "Can't hear you."

Sigh. Finally, she was able to answer me. Of course! The coffee pots were all the way in the BACK of the store. So, back I go. Then there are the people who block an entire aisle. When I stop to browse or read something, I pull my cart in as close to my area as I can, thus leaving room for another buggy to get by. Not most people. Every aisle I tried to go down, had one or two people on one side of the aisle looking at something and their buggy would be stretched out (at an angled position) blocking the entire, frickin' aisle! I was livid. I was fuming. See? I despise migraines for doing this to me! It is no wonder older people can be so cranky. If they are always in pain, that is. And, I think most of them are.

And, that isn't the worst of it. If you are defeated and actually have to wheel up one of the blocked aisles, they don't notice you. I make as much motion and noise as I can before I get to them so that they have plenty of warning. I cannot believe people are so oblivious to their surroundings that they cannot see another shopper standing less than 2 feet away from them with a buggy, trying to pass. I REALLY have a hard time believing that people are this clueless to their surroundings. What must they be like on the roadways? I fidget and ahem. Then just say "Excuse me! May I pass?" Then they act like they are being inconvenienced. Arrgghh!

They were lucky I had a migraine and was moving slow that day. Or, I would have plowed into their buggy like some crazed snow plow driver that had worked two too many shifts and was pushed way over the edge! I can see it now. Purses and merchandise would go flying up into the air (heaven forbid they have a toddler sitting in the front of the buggy) and the silver buggy (that never had a chance against me and my demon buggy - buggy Nascar, I tell ya) wouldn't know what hit it as it goes skittering across the store's waxed floor. The people would stand there mouth agape, in shock. I would nod as I passed them and say "That's right! Get the hell out of my way next time! Idiots!"

They are fortunate I don't get physically sick much anymore with these monster headaches, or I would have to vomit on their shoes as I pass them. You can bet your sweet arse they would get out of my way, then! Again, I do not like the monster that I become.

Ah, yes. So, the next time you witness one of these crazy lady buggy drivers in a store, try to remember. We do not want to be there. Sometimes we do not have a choice. I only shopped because I absolutely HAD to get a coffee pot or I was going to go insane with caffeine withdrawal. Migraines make us monsters! Beware, and please forgive. In retrospect I should have waited and shopped at a small drug store. Whew!

And if you do ever read in the newspaper about some lady in Ohio that went berserk at a store or while driving, remember that I am not always like this. It is the migraine monkey coming out in me that tortures me.

Green or black?

Are you a green olive person or a black olive person?

I like (and eat) both, but I prefer the green ones. I love salt! I put the black ones on all Mexican dishes that I make. I am making a seven-layer taco dip for a birthday party today.

I've probably posted the recipe before.

I use a pan or dish with a lip on it because the sheer weight of the ingredients pushes the bottom layers down so that they ooze out.

First layer is (1) refried beans.

I mix (2) sour cream and (3) small curd cottage cheese together and spread that over the beans.

Next is (4) salsa. (I use mild or medium).

Then (5) shredded lettuce.

Then finely (6) shredded mild cheddar cheese.

Then (7) sliced black olives.

We dip tortilla chips into the mixture and eat it up.

You guys are probably SO tired of hearing about my headaches. I had one yesterday. I even had to take a second pill. AND my coffee pot died on me! I had to drive to Mickey D's to get a cup. It was awful! Just awful. The taste of their coffee has really deteriorated. I am drinking hot tea this morning to get my caffeine fix. Funny how I only like creamer in my coffee (no sugar, blah!) but for my hot tea it is no cream and two teaspoons of sugar. Weird.

What really irks me is that we had a beautiful day yesterday and I could do nothing. NOTHING! I slept most of the day. Bending over to put the harness on the dogs was pure torture. Everything makes too much noise. The tea kettle this morning pierced my head like a high powered cross bow shooting an arrow into my skull. A dog bark will send me into a raging fit of anger.

Sigh. It has abated today. I am still taking the OTC meds like generic ibuprofen and generic acetaminophen. Huh. I guess I AM on meds! That lady at the G Corral last month guessed right.

Talking to my nephew last night he said that when he looked at the weather, it said that the indices were high for aches and pains like migraine, arthritis and sinus sufferers. Well, then.

With any luck I will be able to get through today on the generic OTC alone. I hope I can find a good cup of coffee. And, I suppose I will leave early for the party so I can shop for a new coffee pot.

One very nice thing happened yesterday. I had our old faithful dog Sable and the ever so rambunctious boxer out in the front yard. No leashes or harness on either, though I was carrying the boxer's harness and leash in my hand. The lady across the street was mowing and had sat down to take a break. We waved at one another. She hollered "Is that one of those puppies?" That was all the boxer needed. He bounded across the street and right up to her. I was following close behind telling her that he was friendly.

Thank God no cars were passing. I mentally kick myself. Dogs are so unpredictable.

She fussed over him a bit (he is a big marshmallow) and I told her that the two pups were inside and I had also found this dog. She said "You have four dogs?" I said "Yeah, just shoot me now." My standard response when somebody asks or points that out.

She and I proceeded to talk for about half an hour. I had the harness and the leash on the boxer by that time and dear Sable just plopped down in some grass and waited. We talked of the economy, we talked of movies, we talked of what I do for work. We told each other our names for the umpteenth time and laughed how neither one of us could remember. I think we will now.

She is a great lady and I have always admired how she gets out there with her electric lawn mower and mows away. She looks to have ten years or more on me. She has health problems (pain in her legs) but does her best.

It was a very nice visit and I didn't want to overstay my welcome. I went back home and she returned to her mowing.

The blues have it

I browsed the pictures at DQ and decided on this puppy image to put on my daughter's ice cream cake. It was delicious! I used to hate the taste of grainy sugar in my mouth, but the flowers were so soft and melted very quickly. Yum!

Yes, it is 4:30 a.m. I have been up for over and hour. I can't sleep yet, again. I am not drinking any caffeine in the evenings. Well, I did drink an extra cup of coffee at a meeting yesterday after lunch. Maybe?

I am dizzy when walking the dogs. It is stress-induced, I am sure. I have to sign a retirement paper and it is affecting me so deeply. It is like jumping off a cliff into the unknown. All I see down below is pure darkness.

I do not have any 'faith in' or 'respect for' the people (person) who are (is) deciding my work fate.

Yikes!

19 today. This photo is an old one (of course). We actually do not have a lampshade on the floor. My daughter was standing on the back of the sofa. She loved the rubber rats and spiders of the Halloween holiday.

I can remember every night giving her a bath and putting those cute pajamas on her. Then I would comb out her long, blond hair. It was a ritual and one that I wish I could still do today.

Take me back, oh time machine. Take me back.

A simpler place and time

I so want one of these light up toys. I found them at the Tractor Supply store and gave them out to the kids. Now, I want one for myself.

My co-workers backed out of the legal endeavor. Whatever. What will be, will be.

I find myself mentally (and physically) exhausted these days. I'm sure it is stress (as my migraines have increased quite a bit) and my insomnia is kicking in. Two of the jobs I wanted to apply for were already filled. The third is much more complex and I must re-structure my resume to fit it better. There are a few things on the qualifications list that I have covered and a few things that I don't. I'll give it a go. Of course if I wait any longer, I'll let it slip through my fingers as I so easily do.

I can barely get the trash out and the sink cleared out let alone find the mental energy to come up with a fresh and professional looking resume. There is a song out by Matchbox 20 ( a couple of years old, actually) that is called "Push". I changed some of the lyrics to fit my present condition:

I don't know if I'm up for an interview, I'm a little bit rusty,
And I think my head is cavin' in.
And, I don't know if I have a future with this job, it's a little uncertain,
And I feel the walls are closin' in. And, I'm a little bit angry.

So don't stand there, sayin' nice things to me.
I've been cheated, I've been wronged.
You don't know me.

Yeah, yeah. I've been singing it nonstop for two weeks, now. Now my head is really starting to hurt. I can go along just fine for an hour or two and then "wham!" just out of the blue I get a real bad pain. I'm sure it is from getting up too early this morning, and it only lasts for about 30 seconds or so.

But hey! I have not had any foot pain for a long time. I'd do the happy dance, but there is the headache and ... oh, you know.

I've been drinking lots of water because the weather here in Ohio is unbelievable! We marched straight into summer, skipped the spring cool air altogether. I've had the air conditioner on for about four days now. My office at work is hotter than an oven. The building was arranged poorly and they moved the server equipment room so a brand new air conditioner had to be put there to keep it all cool. Well, in the room next door to the server room is the thermostat that controls my temperature in my room. Since that A/C cools the equipment down so well that thermostat barely kicks on. I swelter.

But, I can't say anything because I don't pay any rent! I just roost there from some arrangement that was made in 1995 between a retired superintendent and one who has passed away. Nobody really knows what to do with me.

With the changes coming up at work, I'll probably have to drive to the home office every day. That is 60 miles one way. I will be an "at will" employee. I know, I know. Just be glad I have a job, right? Right. Be glad I have insurance, be glad I have dental coverage. Be glad I get sick days and vacation days. Remember my mantra. Just do the best you can and hold your head high. All well enough until that headache zaps me again.

Oh, and I was SO disappointed in "The Men Who Stare at Goats".

Age of Innocence

Before the world and life affects you. Sleep a peaceful sleep.

It's gettin' ugly out here. They predicted a cold rain for Monday this week. That's why I said last week I didn't mind working today. I got cheated! It was a beautiful, sunny day. Big deal. Boo Hoo. I had a migraine anyway. I took medicine at about noon and it was gone by 3. Fun city.

I've been asked to head up a team for legal issues concerning my tabu subject. The subject of where I should watch what I say. I'm not sure we are going to get five to approve the action. We are hesitant as to who we trust.

My work history:

Cook (summer of 74 and 75)
waitress (summer of 76)
Ice cream parlor (summer of 77)
animal cage care (fall/winter of 77)
office secretary (78 - 81)
data entry operator(83 - 85)
office manager (85 - 88)
data entry operator (88 - 91)
PC Specialist (91 - 95)
network technician (95 - present)

I have three jobs lined up that I am going to apply for this week. Big breath. With this economy and there are still reports of hundreds of applicants for one job, we'll see if I get any calls.

Sigh. I'm either nuts or very, very desperate. You will probably notice the gap between 81 and 83. I spent the summer of 82 in El Paso caring for my nephew while my sister was in the army and then I spent a year writing poetry and floating and finding myself. I became a semi-recluse.

Well, the ham is in the oven. It was so funny. When I unwrapped it and was putting it into it's baking pan I looked behind me. The three (newer) dogs were sitting in the kitchen lined up as if to say "What are you COOKING? And, can we have some?"

Sable? She knows better. She was lying in her usual place by the back door, acting oblivious to everything. But if I give one little treat to any of the pets, she knows it. She isn't all that oblivious to what is going on around her. She knows.

Watching Shrek

I babysat for this little tyke last Saturday. He is the son of my nephew's girlfriend. We watched Shrek and an Elmo video (that had to be repeated no less than three times). I had not seen Shrek in a couple of years (perhaps longer). It was interesting to hear about onions and layers and building walls to keep people out.

I repaired the computer that was in my sister's home. A song had been downloaded from the dreaded "Limewire" program that carried a virus. It took a while to clean up the system and perform all the updates. At one point I found a complete and unopened box of an anti-virus program which I proceeded to load onto the unit. They should be good to go. Of course they got a little lecture from me about downloading from this dreaded site (Limewire) and I told them about a program that I use at mp3panda where the songs are a nickel each. Yes, that's right: a nickel apiece.

Edit: I just logged into the site. Songs are now ten cents each and albums are no longer 99 cents but $1.14. BOO! I can see where this is going. In a few months they will be a quarter each and before you know it they will be a dollar each. Sigh. It never ends.

You must have a credit card or some way of starting out though, and that can be tough to come by for this younger generation who do not have any credit established.

Meanwhile, we are off to a wonderful week-end here in the Peruby household. It is full of people during this Easter holiday. I am going to kick into "Mom" mode and start to cook and bake and feed people. 'Cause that's what I do best. Besides fix computers, that is.

Open wide

I have kept this photo in it's original size (2592 x 1944). Still using my 5.1 mp camera from 2003. If you care to look at this sort of thing click the photo to see deep inside the mouth of this massive muskellunge fish. A.K.A. "muskie".

Note: You may want to set your browser to "NOT" re-size the photo automatically. For some reason when I download the photo (before I changed the browser settings so that it did NOT re-size the photo automatically) it saved it in a 400 x 300 pixel size. Boo!

In Internet Explorer, choose Tools. Choose Internet Options. Choose Advanced. Scroll down to the Multimedia selections. Remove the check mark from "Enable Automatic Image Resizing" and click Apply and click OK. You can view the photo in it's large format, now. You can return the browser to it's previous settings by going back through the steps and checking the box for "Enable Automatic Image Resizing."

In Firefox, choose View. Choose Page Style and select "No style". Warning: Your page format will change. Click on the photo to view the larger format. When you are finished viewing the photo, return the browser to it's Basic Page Style setting by choosing View. Choose Page Style and select "Basic Page Style."

My nephew (1984, I think) caught it last year or two years ago. They are just now getting it back from the taxidermist.

I can't sleep this morning. I awoke about an hour ago with a headache. I took some acetaminophen and am drinking a cup of java and reading blogs. The dogs are a bit confused. The cats are just angry that I have not fed them, yet.

I work today and am off tomorrow. That is all for the Easter break. Back to work on Monday. I am not minding so much because the weather forecast for early next week is lousy. Beautiful today and tomorrow. It may be tough getting through today. I am thinking of going to my little home town this evening for a benefit dinner. With not much sleep, I don't know how I will be feeling. I usually get a little "manic" when I am sleep deprived. Sigh. I suppose somebody will ask my daughter (if she goes) if I am on meds again. LOL!

Oh, and no April Fools' joke from me today. I love that Google changed their name to Topeka for the day. Of course they are trying to appear as if they changed it (as in for good) as an April Fools' joke. I know better.

Not welcome here

About a month or so ago outside the kitchen window of sister 54's home.

She said it was eating her bushes. I would have chased it away. I didn't use to feel this way about deer. Anymore I am like "Get out of here! Go away! You are not welcome here!"

Maybe I'll return to a person who loves to watch them and is in awe of them, but for now - no thanks.

I have some company in the house last night and today. I've taken the morning off from work. I have a nephew moving in with me for a while. Problems at home. That is okay. It will be nice to have a big strong guy around for a while.

I felt a bit sorry for him at first though. The dogs are relentless. Even my big black cat Casper was trying to get into his lap.

The horns sounded

The trumpets blared and I Peruby, after more than a year- walked into a walletmart today.

My intent? To purchase one item and one item only. A DVD of "State of Play" for the measly price of less than $14. My video store would have charged me $30 because my boxer chewed the movie up. That is not a photo of it up there. In fact, that is a CD he chewed a couple of days ago. I was sick. Not because of the CD. Hell, I don't even know what was on it. It might have been blank for all I know. There was nothing written on it. I was sick because what would happen to my dog? I checked his tongue and gums for bleeding. Nothing. He seems to be having no major issues with what he chewed.

As for the movie, it wasn't actually chewed up. There were a couple of teeth puncture marks on it and we tried to play it, it stopped in the middle and that was all she wrote, folks. The case was chewed beyond repair.

The case stated that it retailed for $29.99. That is how much my video store would have charged me, I believe. So off to walletmart I went and bought one for half the price. I returned the damaged case to the video store, and they said "No problem."

And, a little extra. When I purchased the DVD it had a movie attached. Two for one price. It was "The Good Shepherd." I think this is one I missed watching, so I'll watch it someday.

I'll also have to re-rent "State of Play" because we watched part of it and it was pretty good and now we want to know how it ends and who killed the girl. More than likely when I re-rent the movie, it will be the one I purchased. How funny is that?

And, hey. Don't think I can't live without walletmart. If I had a Target within 10 miles of me, I would have purchased the movie there. They had it advertised for only $13.00 instead of $13.96. I may not have received the extra movie, but big deal. If only Meijer would get with it and build a store in my area! They probably aren't any better than walletmart. But, I would shop there.

No idea

Not sure why this tyke opened wide when I snapped this photo.

Too much food

You have to understand. I get out and about. Quite a lot, actually. I like to eat at restaurants. I don't have to cook and clean up and usually the restaurants fix better food than I can. I am not a shy person. I used to be. But, not anymore.

I think this may have been my third or fourth trip to the Golden C (in my life). I went last year. I don't go often enough to remember how it is set up. The photo above is off the Internet, not my photo. I downed two iced teas (sweetened) by the time we went to get food. It MUST have been a sugar rush.

I was like "Look at that chicken!" "Look at all this fish!" "Look at the desserts!"

There were 12 of us. I was jacked up. My head was spinning as I tried to talk to everybody.

My poor daughter. During one trip, I looked around the corner and blurted out "Ice Cream!" and trotted back to the table.

A lady turned and asked my daughter "Has she been here before?" My daughter said "Yes." The lady then asked, "Is she on medication?"

My family got a good laugh out of that one when my daughter relayed the story.

That about matched an earlier incident. I told sister '49 - "Look, WHOLE chickens!" A nice looking gentlemen to my right laughed and said "Want to split one?" I laughed. I get this a lot.

My daughter thought the cook at the steak counter was really enchanted with me. He kept telling me story after story while I was getting some food on my plate. I laughed and chatted back to him. I do this all the time.

Hey, life's too short, man. I just have a good time. I get jacked up, I crash. I am not bi-polar. Honest.

On a more serious and solemn note, my niece who just had the baby was admitted to the hospital this evening with pre-eclampsia. Her blood pressure diastolic reading (bottom number) was over 100. They are working on getting her blood pressure down and relieving the headaches.

They almost sent her back home because she did not have an unusually high amount of protein in her urine, but they decided she did have the pre-eclampsia after all.

This didn't stop my nephew from bringing the baby to the buffet. The (full head of hair) baby slept through the entire meal. My nephew then bundled him up and he and the 12-year-old went off back to the hospital. He said his wife was just sleeping anyway. She wasn't up for much of a visit. The four-year-old went back to Grandma's house where he has been staying the past couple of days.

When we left the restaurant it was snowing. What?! Arrgghh! Enough, already!

Pink Lemonade

Very watered down pink lemonade at that.

Sister '54 called this evening. They just got back from Sin City. Six days out there in the desert. She was ready to come back. First time flying for both she and her husband. He was very nervous, she did okay.

Sister '49 is very sick. She lost her voice and is coughing a lot. I go to a birthday dinner tomorrow evening out of town. Golden Corral. (Not my pick - birthday boy's pick). Humph.

Should I Stay or Should I Go

Another toy from the shower used as a table center piece.

I watched "The Blind Side". I really wanted to see this one and I really liked it. It was very touching and very poignant in places. Of course (most of you know) that I have been waiting for S Bullock to break out of her cookie-cutter preppy, cheer leader-type role that she plays in each and every movie. Gag.

In this movie? At least she changed her hair color. I think she looks great as a blond and with bangs. It softens her looks a lot. Kudos to her. I liked Bullock in the role. I thought the husband character was a bit of a pushover. Then again, a lot of people are.

I have liked McGraw in "The Kingdom" and he was okay in this one. J Head was annoying as I am sure he was supposed to be.

Nothing of this post has to do with the Title. Which pertains to work and I am not going to elaborate on this situation. Well, of course I am! I talked with a co-worker over my lunch hour. Many, many ugly things she had to say. It just makes me very glad that I work in a branch office miles away from the central office. Whew.

Rainy days and Mondays

It is raining buckets outside. The pups and Sable didn't seem to mind but the boxer pranced around like "What? Are you kidding?" After walking down the alley and patiently waiting while they did nothing, and as soon as I gave the signal the boxer was off for the back porch like being shot out of a cannon. Baby.

The above photo was from a centerpiece on the table at the baby shower we had about a month ago. Time keeps on slipping, slipping, slipping into the future.

Spring is here and my back hurts from bending over and cleaning up flower beds and raking oak leaves out of the corners of my yard. We have so many oak trees in the neighborhood that keep their leaves all winter long. UGH! Super UGH! They blow around and make a mess in the spring. I have one full garbage can of old, yucky, brown oak leaves.

I read this about why they don't lose their leaves in the fall:

  In young oak trees, however, for reasons that are
 unclear, abscission cells form but do not complete
 their work. Therefore, oak leaves often stay
 connected to the twig until pushed off by new leaf
 and twig growth in the spring.

Yeah well, whatever.

Tryin' to keep it all together

Met up with family last evening for some good food and good talkin'. This morning I thought I would break a couple of eggs open and fry them up with toast. Hmmm. I can usually expect one double-yolk in a dozen, but will each one be like this? I always buy the "jumbo" size. Maybe I need to back off to the "extra large" size.

Anyway, the family get together brought me out of my funk for a couple of hours. I laughed and pushed my problems to the back of my mind. But, as expected they came roaring back as the evening closed and they were there to greet me with the rising sun. Uh, the problems - not my family. Good grief!

Bursts of cleaning mixed with little walking trips (dogs) outside today. All the while the painful reminder of time ticking away until I resign and re-sign. What? That is weird. Resign and re-sign. The English language. Huh.

Things are getting ugly

Not like this beautiful photo of some honeysuckle I found in May of 2006 near my house. I talked with some co-workers yesterday and today that I don't see very often because they are located in the home office. There are some angry people. Very, very angry people. Stories came out that I had never heard before.

Headed for disaster? Oh, I think so. Hang on, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

As for the presentation. I didn't give one. I got the company that sells the product to send an engineer. Big mistake. Nobody liked him. (Not even my coworkers). Yikes. They complained and wanted what I did last year. Okay. I hear you. I'll make it up to them with some training sessions over the next few months. No problem. I had no idea he was going to be so difficult to follow. He didn't seem to know the material. I at least figured he would call me and brainstorm with me. Not so. I had sent him my presentation from last year and the password to our system so he could look inside and see what our techs were doing. I looked at the logs. He never logged in once. Lesson learned.

I learned a few things, though. :D

I wonder

This was from a YMCA outing six years ago. My sister worked with inner-city children and brought them to the park near my house back in 2004. I wonder where these kids are now.

The bright orange shirts were for the more difficult children. They all loved getting their pictures taken. I tried to be fair and take pictures of all of them, which meant aiming for the shyer ones that kept getting pushed aside by the bolder and more aggressive ones.

I have a presentation today. I am just not in the mood for it. I am in day five of the realization that I am going to lose my tenure at my job. After 15 years. I have another 15 years (give or take) to go. That will be on a year to year contract.

Curious

Chong wonders what the future holds and so do I.

2 flies

There is a fly on the seat and possibly one on the handle. Not doing much today. Don't feel well. Not a migraine for once. I am working hard on not saying anything about work. Changes are coming. My organization is going to lose our continuing contracts. Ugh.

It really stunk that I happened to watch "Up in the Air" after getting news like that at work. It was an "okay" movie. Not a big Clooney fan. I was very, very disappointed in "2012". The special effects were so hokey it was laughable. No problem with J Cusak and A Peet. Have always liked the two of them.

The baby is here

My second grand nephew, (I have one grand niece). I have to ask my brother if he is certain that these are "grand" nephews and nieces. Since my sisters are the "grand" mothers, that makes them my grand nephews and nieces he said. Sigh. Just sounds weird to me.

I almost ripped my cable television box out of the entertainment center and sent it sailing across the room this evening. Then I couldn't stand the noise my computer was making so I got the bright idea to take it all apart again and clean it out (fans and all). I barely got it put back together (I really should take pictures before I go and remove fans and pieces and parts) and had a heck of a time getting it back up and running (blue screen of death and all). That battery must really be going bad.

I almost put my foot through it. It is still making a god-awful noise. I removed each hard drive one at a time and then started the PC without any hard drives and it still made the same scratchy noise. Must be one of the 6 fans in the sucker.

Grrrrr.

Anyway, ain't that some head of hair? The mama had a harder time with this one. This is her third boy and this is the last one. She has one 12 (from another relationship) and one four (with my nephew) and this one (with my nephew). I may go visit on Friday if they are up for company. I think she will still be in the hospital, I don't know.

Books: "Inside of a Dog" by Alexandra Horowitz. Finished the other one I mentioned the other day.

I know why I am probably in such a sour mood. With all the snow melting I have one really bad spot on my sidewalk where the water lays. I literally dug a huge ditch in front of my patio (where my flower bed usually is). I could care less about the hosta plants - they are all getting out of hand anyway and the moonflowers I can replant. The hydrangeas are too far away and I stopped when I got to them.

I've been digging a ditch. It is about four feet wide and about a foot deep. It is full of muddy water. I am angry that I can't do better. Grrrr.

This was too creepy and funny. I came home at lunch yesterday to take the dogs out. I stepped out of the car and dropped my cell phone onto my cement driveway. The back flew off. Oh no, I sighed. I put it back together and it looked okay. I got a text message as soon as I walked into the house. It was from my carrier. "Do you need a new phone?" the text began.

Absolutely true story.

For the shower we used baby toys and items as table centerpieces. This little lamb was too cute.

I didn't fully realize until this week-end how particular I am about the creamer in my coffee. I was too lazy to go to the store (because creamer was the ONLY thing I was out of) and used milk in my coffee. I HATE milk in my coffee. I was even too lazy to poke around my cupboards for canned milk. That MAY have made the coffee drinkable.

After two days of drinking gray, murky coffee, I called my daughter Sunday afternoon and told her to go to the store - get me some creamer and come home to take care of these dogs for a few hours and give me a BREAK! I was in the throse of a monumental migraine.

She came right over. She brought creamer for my coffee (that I am enjoying as I type this). She took care of everything for me. It was great! She took care of the dogs, even taking them out at 1:30 a.m. so there were no accidents for me this morning to attend to. She even told me I should have called her sooner. Stupid migraines! I hate them.

It was probably my own fault. I had cleaned a little too much Sunday morning and sprayed too much air freshener. I knew it was a mistake almost as soon as I did it. I harnessed up the dogs and we took a walk and sat outside for a spell, while I left fans running in the house.

I've been reading a lot. I borrowed "His Oldest Friend" from the library. Written by Sonny Kleinfield. It is about a young boy who visits and befriends an elderly woman in a retirement home. You know how I love biographies.

More babies

This tyke above (photo taken four years ago) has a little brother due any day. Maybe as I am typing? And, AND - another sister has just informed me that she will be a grandmother. Her son and his girlfriend are expecting. Babies, babies everywhere!

And here I am, stuck with all these hounds. I won't be getting any babies from them. They are all fixed. Every cat is fixed. No babies here. My daughter better wait to have babies. She still can barely fix toast, let alone care for a child. She hates fixing food and she hates the kitchen.

Wait. The fish had babies. Or, so I was told. I don't look at them. Sometimes I feed them, but I don't look at them. I think it is because of my headaches. People with migraines do not like to look at that blurry, distorted image of an aquarium.

I had extra pinwheel stuff left over from the shower so I took the batches (pictures I posted Thursday) into work and people loved them. They all wanted the recipe. The all agreed. You can't eat just one. Once you pop one into your mouth, you can try to walk away, but eventually you will walk back to that tray. Just one more. Pop! Into the mouth it goes.

In the movie arena, I am sorry, but I really, really dislike "West Side Story." I have tried to watch it a couple of times over the years. I have looked up reviews on the accent from N Wood. Most say she hit it spot on, but it is so painful for me to listen to, I cannot watch the movie.

Come to think of it, I have not seen one N Wood movie. As an adult. I have seen "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" and "Miracle on 34th Street." Maybe I should watch a few more N Wood movies to get a better idea as to what kind of actress she was.

I stumbled upon a couple of episodes of the first season of "Bewitched" the other day. I always admired E Montgomery. I think it was her looks, since I don't know her personality at all. I loved this show. I think mostly because I always wanted to be able to twitch my nose and the house would be clean. Nothing else she did with the magic impressed me. Just the house cleaning. And I certainly did not care for her bumbling husband (regardless of which character he was played by). The one episode I saw had Adam West in it. I don't even want to mention the 2005 movie of the same name. Whoops, just did. UGH!

Pepperoni Pinwheels

I start out with the two ingredients that I use to make my ever popular cheese ball. I let them come to room temperature. Well, the cream cheese, that is. The jarred cheese was never refrigerated.

I picked these flour tortillas because they were huge.

I mix the two cheeses together in a bowl.

Yes, I have broken spatulas mixing them together. I think this is also part of the reason I am developing tendinitis in my forearm. Computer work, fixing my hair, putting on make-up, writing, drawing, and much, much more causes pain in my right forearm.

I pick up mild banana peppers.

I let them dry a little bit on a paper towel.

I spread the cheese mixture onto the flour tortilla.

I add sandwich-sized pepperoni. I really loaded this one up.

I break the peppers into a line so that it will roll up more uniformly.

Then, I roll the flour tortilla up.

I refrigerate for an hour or two (at least) so that it slices easier.

Pretty in Pink

My Grand Niece at the baby shower on Sunday.

Sugar overdose

My niece brought the above cupcakes to the baby shower. I vacillated between the vanilla cream cheese with raspberry and the chocolate with caramel filling. The caramel filling won. It was like eating pure sugar.

In this circumstance. You CAN eat just one.

I should have brought a few home to sample today. I was so overdosed on the sugar though, I couldn't even fathom eating another one any time soon.

She said she bought them in Hartville, Ohio.

Tortilla wrap/pinwheels

The above wraps are made with pepperoni and my mix of cream cheese/Kraft Old English cheese and a few banana peppers in the mix. They were okay. The next batch I made, I nixed the Kraft OE Cheese and in half of the pinwheels I used salami instead of pepperoni. I also used a lot more cream cheese per wrap.

I met some friends last evening for a birthday get together. I hit another deer on the way home. I can't believe it! I saw her coming and I'm saying "No, no! Don't do it! Stop!" while I was inching my car left of center and stopping. I nipped her left buttock and she kept on going. So did I. When I got home I checked for damage. Not even a hair on my car. I didn't like the idea of that deer running around hurt, but there wasn't much I could do. It was eleven p.m. and on a dark two lane highway with no place to pull over. What would I have done anyway? Chased the deer into the river?

I am going to try to stop driving at night. I guess. For a while at least. What else can I do? It isn't like I can stick to the Interstate. That's where I hit my first deer.

The baby shower was a blast. I had a migraine earlier in the morning. I took my medicine. I looked washed out and wan, but I did okay hosting the games. I had fun. I hope everybody else did, too.

Guess this celebrity!

It is a trick question. It is the father of the baby for the shower we are having Sunday. One of the games I cooked up was "Guess the Celebrity Baby" and we threw this one is as a trick question. It will be fun to see what celebrity they attribute to my nephew.

We had a blast with the games. My daughter did most of the work. Let's see if she will help me in getting up in front of 30 to 40 people. She might, I don't know. Me? I got over my fears a long time ago. Well, there still is a little bit of anxiety when it is work-related. But women at a baby shower - no problem-o!

We are still getting snow. I broke down and purchased a new shovel last evening. Just in time. I tried it out last evening and everything is covered again this morning. It feels a little loose, so I'll have to look into tightening the screws that hold it together. It was the last one of this type. Light when I picked it up, and it felt right when I pretended to shovel snow in the store. They had a couple of metal designs - much too heavy. Then there is the almost U-shaped scoop on the end. I don't get those at all. I scrape almost as much as I shovel, so they don't look like they would work for me.

I have a party to go to tonight. I am going to try my salami wraps on my friends to see if they like them. Then I will make them for the shower. I also have the ingredients to make pepperoni-flavored wraps. Some recipes call them tortilla pinwheels. I am going to experiment with a few different ideas.

And, I am making a fruit pizza. The last one I made, I ended up putting way too much fruit on the top. It was overloaded. This time, I will try to scale back but sometimes I only know one regimen when it comes to food. The more the better! That probably stems from growing up the youngest in a large family. I had to be quick and grab the food and eat it fast. Because if you blinked, it was gone!

Sigh. My boxer seems to have regressed a little bit in the chewing department. He was doing so well. The pups are caged now when I am gone from the house, so it had to be him. He chewed up a plastic basket. It was a cheap thing, but that wasn't the issue. His safety is the issue. He may have ended up swallowing some of the bits of plastic. It was a mess. He gave me his best Eeyore look when I scolded him.

This morning I found a tiny cord to a 12-in one multi-card reader. I am upset, but I had purchased the incorrect reader as it was. I got it for my daughter for Christmas but she found out the other day that it won't read her camera card. It was useless to us and I was going to give it to a family member who had the memory sticks it would read. I don't know who chewed it up. Whether it be the boxer or the pups. They all gave me guilty looks this morning. I have no idea how they found the cord. I check stuff before I retire. They have a way.

Go Green!

My daughter has decided it is time to "go green" with a vehicle choice. We left this store yesterday evening about 5:30 p.m. My sisters and I. It took me over an hour to get back to my house after that because of the dizzy snowfall and not being able to see the lines on the Interstate.

My daughter still has not arrived home yet in her "green" car. Hmmm. That may take a while. :D

Random

Here are some of the icicles I took down over the back porch. They were hanging down over where we step off the porch, and I didn't want to get clunked in the head one day. I am still getting dripped on each time I walk off, though.

More of them kept forming each day, so I would knock them down. I didn't bother with the ones higher on the house. The gutters are mostly one big ice tube. The roof/gutter repair business should be booming this spring. What a mess.

On a good note, my niece did have insurance on her electronics this time. Who knows? Maybe the insurance companies pay thugs to randomly steal stuff to improve their business. Hey, I'm just shootin' off random thoughts this morning.

I took a vacation day today. My daughter and I are meeting two of my sisters to wrap up some loose ends on a baby shower we are throwing this week-end. I love babies. I love people having babies. I wish I had more babies. I am more than happy to take a grand niece or nephew for a few hours a day, though. I'll settle for that.

Besides. My four dogs keep me plenty busy with responsibilities as it is. I'll tell you this much. I don't sit around in my pajamas in the morning. Not since I got the extra three hounds this past summer. It is outside at around 5:30 every morning. Rain, shine or snow. Sick, headache or pain. My daughter did help out a lot after I had surgery. I have a routine. The coffee pot and the computer get turned on and then the dogs go outside. It takes me anywhere from 20 minutes to half an hour to take them all out to do their business.

When we come back inside, I feed them. I get myself a cup of coffee and I sit down to read e-mail, blogs and facebook. Facebook is hard for me to get used to. I don't really like the layout, but almost everybody I know uses it and it is an "okay" way to keep in touch. I do not like the games. I "HIDE" all notices of games so I don't have to read the updates on who got what fish in their aquarium or who built what fence on their farm.

It was funny. My daughter got her last paycheck from Toys R Us yesterday. It was dated December 31st. It is void after 90 days so I guess the store thought they better mail it out since it didn't look like she was going to come and get it. She was expecting $70, it was almost $300. She was in heaven. What a nut!

I try hard to remember what it was like at 18. I was so naive it was painful. Painful, I tell you. Painful to remember some of the stuff I did not know and how I stumbled through life learning the hard knocks. I was fortunate to have older sisters to help out with things now and again.

My boxer is funny. Just now one of the pups chewed on the area rug. They know they are not allowed to do this. As soon as the boxer heard the noise he sat up quick and had this "I didn't do it!" look on his face. He does this almost each time I yell or scold the dogs. He quickly sits up and tries to look innocent or good. What a clown!

Adagio

It took most of the week-end, but I was able to re-install Windows on my "big" computer. I lost the data that was not backed up. (About two weeks worth). I purchased this mammoth in 2003, so there were plenty of updates. I should have purchased Windows 7 instead of re-loading XP, but I didn't feel like it. The refresher course in re-loading the OS was enough for my brain as it is.

Most of my programs have been restored. I do take snapshots of my desktop from time to time and I had an image of that to go by. I detailed in my notebook each step that I take for record keeping. We'll see how this goes. I don't have that second hard drive in place yet. The one I purchased just a month ago.

Have a baby shower to prepare for this week-end. That is a nice break from technology. My daughter and I are in charge of the games. We are doing the normal baby-oriented word scramble. We are adding "Guess that celebrity baby" into the mix and the game of "Guess that baby name of the animal".

We also are making a fruit pizza and some little finger foods. I'll take pictures if the food comes out looking decent enough. :D

On a sour note, my nephew called last night to say that my niece (his sister) was robbed yet again. This is the third time in two years. All technology stuff. We are beginning to suspect it to be somebody she knows. This time a window was unlocked that is supposed to be locked. As if somebody unlocked it on purpose when they were visiting. Laptop, ipod, camera, GPS, dvd player. All technology stuff. For the third time! It does not seem to matter if she lives alone or with a group of friends. I'm not positive if she got insurance after the last time. I really wish she would move back to be close to family instead of two to four hours away from all of us.

No Dice

Troubleshooting sometimes reminds me of the movies where the characters are in a cave and faced with many different tunnels to choose from. You go down one tunnel, it's a dead end and you have to come back and go down another one.

It is time consuming. I am persistent. If my system is recoverable, I'll find a way to recover it. I don't think it is so much the few photos or data that I have lost. It's more of a challenge, now. I'll have to wait until the week-end to continue the work. My actual job is getting in the way, now that the snow days are over. I went yesterday to a job, ended up with a massive migraine and had to call off sick the latter half of the day. I had blood work taken in the morning and this meant no coffee or food until after the appointment. My system did not like that and retaliated.

Watched "The Time Traveler's Wife" on one of the snow days. I liked it. My daughter liked it. They were SO sly using real life sisters to play the same Alba at different times.

I tried to get the book at the library last week, but it didn't even come up in the search files. It must be too new. Then as I was standing there at the library computer, I began typing in titles of the books I saw displayed on the shelves. Those books didn't come up in the search, either. So, there you have it. What a system!

I shoveled snow so much I broke my old snow shovel. I will have to try to find a new one this week-end as I hear we are getting more snow. First my car, then my computer and now the snow shovel. Sigh. I hope that is all for the broken stuff.

Oh, my!

I apologize for the graphic nature of this photo. I was browsing the web for baby shower stuff when I came across this shower curtain for sale. I was horrified at the time, but now I chuckle. What kind of sick-o would hang this in their bathroom? They must have a bizarre sense of humor. And how about the person who thought it up? I can see them sitting around a table tossing out samples (and drawings) of their latest ideas.

One mother of three proudly shows off her new frog-on-a-lily-pad design for a shower curtain. One single mother suggests a jungle theme complete with colorful birds. Another shows his drawing of cute little ducks splashing in the puddles. Then there is Norman in the corner. With his greasy hair and crooked smile. He slowly slides his drawing to the middle of the conference table. They all just stare in silence. Since nobody can say anything his idea gets elected and the picture is on it's way to the art department.

Norman eats his lunch alone.

Sad Boxer

Nobody likes me, everybody hates me, I'm goin' to the garden to eat worms, yum, yum!

The Soloist

I finished reading this one yesterday. Ack! Wikipedia changed the format of their web page. The book was very good. I also liked the movie. I could imagine how hard it was for Mr. Lopez to keep working with this homeless man. And I can't help wonder what would have become of this musician if Mr. Lopez had not discovered him playing music.

What a story. Most of us are uncomfortable around mentally ill people. I know I am because I am not familiar with it. I try to be compassionate or empathetic when I do get a tiny little bit of exposure to one, but conversing or seeing one such being is very rare in my life.

To hear about the conditions of how these people live in a large city completely boggles my mind. I have NO concept of what that would be like. Growing up in my tiny little town, we knew nobody like this. I live in a slightly larger town, now and I hear of homeless people but I rarely see any.

While I was browsing the library I came into contact with some folks who were very smelly, had layers of coats on and looked as if they were homeless. I imagine the library is a place to come in and get warm. It still boggles my mind.

Meanwhile, my troubleshooting continues with my computer. I am running certain diagnostic tests on it now. I found some Dell manufacturer CDs in my stash and am putting the system through a series of tests, now. The memory march tests are next. Whoopee! It's gonna be a long day.

I'm supposed to meet some sisters for lunch. There is a winter advisory but I am not sure how bad it will get. It doesn't look too bad to me, but I guess we are better safe than sorry.

I am getting real tired of trying to type on the wrong keyboard since I have both systems side by side so that I can watch the diagnostics while I work on this backup system. What a dork. Sigh. It is time consuming and takes a lot of patience and perseverance. I have a few more books that I am going to be reading. I just did it again. Tried to type on the wrong keyboard. (silent scream).

The books are:

"When Battered Women Kill" by Angela Browne. I have never, ever been hit (let alone battered) by a man or woman for that matter. I think my Mom smacked my behind when I was little, but I was too little to remember. I was the good kid. (Boring!) Anyway, with this book I am always interested in empowering women. Or the weak in general for that matter. I cannot fathom women in this type of situation, so I try by reading books like this.

"Climate Change" by Robert Henson and "The Suicidal Planet" by Mayer Hillman with Tina Fawcett and Sudhir Chella Rajan. Wow, there's a mouthful. I like to educate myself on current events. I cannot stand those who preach and rant about subjects they know nothing about. Or, they think they know something about it when they have not researched it. I like to be informed. I like to listen to both sides. I like to keep an open mind.

So, my computer can run tests all day. If I come up with a solution, fine. If not, I'll just keep on reading. I have five computers in this house right now - all with Internet access. Well, except my main one. I think I have enough to keep me busy on this cold (very cold) winter, blustery President's day. Which is not until NEXT Monday by the way. Or, did they change that, too? Is it now the 3rd Monday of February? Wouldn't surprise me. Huh, yep. Looks like they did make it the 3rd Monday of the month. Whatevuh! Loco!

The Horror!

Pups in August, one month after we got them.

The pups are the only pics I have without accessing the external backup hard drive that I have. Horror of horrors my PC may have died. I am using a backup machine that work gave me, I don't think it has a working cooling fan. It is so quiet, I do not hear any fan running. Whatever.

Saturday morning I decided it would be a good time to call Norton AV and work with a tech on why my live updates were not working. It took an hour and they were swift, they were great and they got things fixed, gave me a free update to 2010 and an extra 30 days on the subscription. I shut my machine down Saturday night before retiring.

I got up this morning and Windows won't boot up. (Silent scream). What? I do not have an XP recovery disk. Heaven only knows what the heck happened to it. I probably didn't have one shipped with the system but that is unlike me.

I worked with it for a while and then pulled out the spare machine I am working on now. I only had one folder of pictures on it. It was the pups in August of 2009. Sigh. Maybe there were many signs. The one hard drive failing, Norton AV live update not completing. I don't know. Coincidence all? Maybe.

Time to bite the bullet and purchase Windows 7 and install it? Harrumph!

The kids ordered "Couples Retreat" on pay per view. It has some funny parts in it. I got a better laugh from watching "The Graduate". I had not seen it in years. My favorites were when Benjamin was attempting to get a room and the hotel check-in attendant rang the bell, then Benjamin put his hand over the bell, and the attendant hit his hand. That brought a chuckle and the next part was when Benjamin told his parents he was going to Berkeley to ask Elaine to marry him and he storms out the door, and as they stand there with bewildered looks on their faces the toast pops up in the toaster and they look at it like "What the heck?"

Classic.

In case this ever comes up in Trivial Pursuit, the woman who plays Ben's mother is the same lady who plays Roz in "Nine to Five".

I have tomorrow off from work. Will I work on my seven year old machine some more? Probably. I may be playing taps by the end of the day. I think my last backup was about a month or so ago. So any pictures or files I have saved since then are "poof" - gone. Wah.

Yikes

Is this what they mean when they say "He gave me the ole stink eye!" ?

Covered

How in the world do they drive like this?