Buhba

Here we have Buhba's Butt Blaster. It appears that most of the sauces tend to advertise the sauce's after effects more than the taste of the product. This goofy fellow is sitting in an outhouse with smoke coming out of his ears, his eyes bulging out of his head and his tongue hanging out onto the floor. Not an attractive image.

Unusual

There is a small greasy spoon located in the back of a bulk general store that I visit once in a while. I always commented to family and friends on the selection of hot sauces that they carry. This is only one side of the display rack. The other side was almost as full. The day I was there I asked if I could take pictures and I was granted the privilege.

My intent was to show the wide range of selection and a couple of bottles with the "f" word on the label to share a laugh with family. I did not know there were far more "colorful" labels to be seen until I shot a couple of close ups.

I may show some of the individual bottles. Some are funny. Most have the "f" word and there are two that I probably will NOT show. They border on pornographic (and I use the word "border" ambivalently). This is a public place. It has been around for years. The area is NOT blocked off so any innocent child can stumble across the colorful label just as I did. The more risque labels were NOT placed high on the shelf. I think they are about mid-way and can be viewed by almost any age group.

You can find the place  yourself. Here is their link:

http://www.theunusualjunction.com/ 

Located next to this dress shop:

http://www.universebridalandprom.com/ 

Another comical aspect to this story is the fact that they push the deli products that they sell as "Amish" cheese and meats. I just wonder if any innocent unsuspecting Amish person browsed the hot sauces and were like "WTF?" You know  -  just wondering.

For the record I have never seen any Amish in the place.

Apropos

I usually call my episode the Migraine Monkey, so how appropriate that I find this picture on the Internets. I have had one since Saturday morning. I told myself "Get moving, Peruby. You have company coming in at 4. You have birthday balloons and the big cookie to pick up. You have a big family get together at seven."

Nothing. My personal favorite expression is:  "I felt like a limp dish cloth."  My Mom always liked the thin dish cloths when we washed dishes. You could fit them into glasses, etc. I washed many dishes in my day and when finished I wrung out the dish cloth and set it on the sink to dry. It looked rather pathetic all wet and skimpy.

That is pretty much how I feel when I have a migraine. No strength whatsoever. Totally washed out.

The medicine worked enough to get me through the events of the week-end. By yesterday afternoon I was down. Sitting and could not do much. My company left (they are family and my sister is so wonderful, she tries to wait on me hand and foot).

I went to bed late. I notice when I have a migraine I put things off as long as I can. You would thing falling into bed is easy, but I have a lot of prep work. So I went to bed later than I should have. Not good. Dogs have to be taken out. My daughter was wonderful and massaged my head for me, the pain abated; but as soon as I stepped outside in the frosty air - bang. That headache hit me like a semi. Son of a bitch! I should have taken more medicine but I was stubborn. I went to bed. Each time I woke up, yep -still there. This morning I knew. I needed more Imitrex.

I took an imitrex, two advil and posted at work that I would be in late today. I rested my eyes. It is bearable now, but I can never think straight or move very quickly. I must take things slow. It affects my balance, my thinking. Friends would laugh at me when I talked during a migraine. They called it my verbal dyslexia. Words come out all wrong.

One thing I notice when I am "getting" a migraine is what I call "running away from it."  I move very quickly. I rush and do things so fast. It is so I do not focus on what is coming. You can feel a migraine coming sometimes a mile away and when  I get the feeling I am scrambling around. It is a symptom of migraine, yet but I always consider it my "running away" from it. Trying to avoid the inevitable.

The medicine is working. My limbs are weak. I will take a very hot shower. That helps the medicine. Move slow. Breathe. Take it easy. Work will wait. Sip coffee. So relieved the nausea is gone.

Countdown

Yesterday she posted on her facebook - 14 days ♥. Wah! Somebody's keeping a countdown and it is not me. I want the time to stop, slow down. Sigh. All little birdies must leave the nest. My daughter is taking steps to an adventure. I encourge her to go. I had wanderlust when I was twenty. I want her to experience the world, to do things - go places. See how other people live. Learn, see, watch, grow. My stomach hurts.

Settled Down

I was never a BIG fan of Hank,Jr. Even less so after I saw him make an ass of himself when he berated his crew in concert. One song phrase does pass through my mind quite often. "All my rowdy friends have settled down."  How lonely one must be out there in the bar trying to get loud and drunk with the younger set. Leave it to the younger set. I have settled down. I despise the bar scene. The lights, the noise. Back then (the smoke). I do not miss it one iota.

The photo above is from a set my nephews did. One nephew sings, the other controls the audio mix. They get a gig every once in a while. The singing nephew is mixing it up with two different bands these days. They don't practice much. They just get out there and howl. I have not heard them. Photo courtesy of nephew 1977.

I can still remember the day I first heard my nephew sing. (not with a band, just himself). I almost fell off of my chair. I just wish he would sing words one could understand instead of the screaming and howling. But that is what they want these days I guess.

Watched "Immortals" with the daughter. Her choice of movie, not mine. I fell asleep during the movie. I am thinking I need more sleep. Seems like I am falling asleep during a lot of movies. You cannot tell much in the movie but Cavill is one handsome dude. From what I read, somebody wanted him to act the Edward role in the Twilight series. (I am NOT a Twilight fan). The thought of watching the series makes me cringe. I am not certain if it is the vampire thing or the fact I think it is insipid.

I scoffed at the Immortals movie when I pointed out to my daughter that I did not feel they should have such nice, feathered (or razored) haircuts - the men. The movie is fantasy/fiction I know but some of the other men had horrible, ugly hair. I do not think anybody or anything can make Rourke uglier than he is. He is the epitome of ugly - but he does it very well.

Close call

Well, the picture probably tells it all, eh? Along with the title of the post tells you I was close but I did not get a spray. Neither did my dogs - thank God! Throughout the month of February I have experienced the very strong odor of skunk spray when I take the dogs out. Ugh, is always my reaction. My reaction to the smell, for sure; but mostly my fear of my dogs getting it.

While out this morning, the boxer became tangled around a bush. It was dark out. I sighed and said "Oh, Slade!" I unbuckled the leash and he pranced up to me a couple of times but when he realized I was not going to re-buckle him he danced off into the little empty lot where I take he and Sable to do their business.

I stand in the alley near some bushes (I do not want neighbors to think for one second that I may be a lurker). I tend to stare at the stars or watch my dogs wander through the little lot. I can only imagine somebody looking out their window at 4 or 5 a.m. and see me standing in the alley with no dog. 

Anyway, while standing there I heard a rustle off to my left. My first thought was that the neighbor had let their dog out (fenced in yard). She always runs up to me to the corner of her yard hoping for a treat that I sometimes carry for her. No dog.

I saw a movement and I immediately backed up two steps. I saw the flash of white on black. Skunk! My movement startled him/her and he retreated back into the high weeds in  a flash. I was in the alley and the fenced in  yard was between me and the critter, but now my dogs would have to walk past that same spot to get to me.

I called them (not loud because it IS pre-dawn). Whistle, call, call. The boxer came galloping to me. Just before he got to me he pivoted when he caught a scent of something. "NO!" I hissed. He stopped in his tracks and came right to me and I quickly buckled his leash.

Sable is another matter. I love that dog. I give her medicine daily for her arthritic joints. I called and called her in my best whisper panic voice. She knew it was urgent and she waddled to me as fast as she could. She did not hesitate. We beat a hasty retreat back to the house to safety.

Whew. My range to walk my dogs is gettting smaller and smaller. Pretty soon I won't even be able to go off my back porch. Skunks. Ew!

Licking his chops

Chong wants to know - what's for dinner?

Love. Sigh.

Cool, tall, dark, rich, full-bodied, sweet...I think I am in love with this wine.  :)

Going here today

IX Center.

Can you repeat that, please?

True Story.

At my job, most of you know I work with keeping p0rn0gr@phy out of the schools.

One day I was working at a school far, far away with their Network guy, a co-worker of mine and a technician on the telephone who represented the filter company.

We had to make changes and then test the filter over and over again.

Each time we would make a change, we tested to ensure the filter was still blocking properly.

Since we know that p0rn is an absolute no-no, the filter company devised two test pages that come back blocked with the reason being p0rn0gr@phy so that schools can test without actually attempting to go to an unsavory sight - and get a nasty surprise.

Well, we used the first test page and all worked okay - the filter was working.

We made another change and tested the filter using the 2nd test page. Still good.

We made another change and instead of going in and clearing out the browser's cache which can be time consuming, the tech on the phone suggested I type in p!ayb0y.com.  I did and it came up blocked. The filter was still working.

We made another change, and to test the filter I chose p!aygir!.com.  You know, being a girl and all. It came up blocked - filter was still working.

We made another change, and the network guy at the school suggested we test with $ex.com. Still blocked.

We made another change and my co-worker said to test with hust!er.com.  Still blocked. All was good.

We made another change and there was a pause. The tech on the telephone said "I'm all out of suggestions."

Nobody else said anything and I recalled a site a friend had asked me to look into. She had caught her step son on a p0rn page and wanted me to look and see how much he could see before the site made him use a credit card. The answer was plenty.

Anyway, I blurted out the site's name - pinkp0rn!

There was an awkward silence. The tech on the telephone said "What?"

I got uncomfortable. Did I look and sound like some kind of pervert?  Had I said too much?

Before I could say anything in my defense, the tech on the telephone asked "Pig p0rn?"

Yeah. We didn't get much done after that.

Rescue Team

I mentioned a few weeks back that I was stuck in traffic on the Interstate for over an hour. That was the morning that I had not eaten anything and drank way too much coffee and wondered what the heck I was going to do if I had to wait very much longer. When I heard the firetruck coming up, I had my phone camera ready to snap a shot.

The ambulance a few minutes before this one was being driven by my S-I-L. Of course she did not know I was in traffic until I texted my brother.

Reel Time:

A movie I watched a couple of months ago: "A Lonely Place to Die".  I had not heard of any of the actors. It has some startling scenes in it that just make you jump right out of your chair. It does have some blood - mostly suspense.

A group of mountain climbers stumble upon a girl that is buried underground. A pipe had been inserted for her to breath and they heard her cries for help. She was foreign and they could not communicate with her. They felt that they needed to get her back to safety - a town that was quite a ways off. They quickly realized that whoever buried the girl there was keeping her for a ransom or something and they wanted the girl back and they were prepared to kill each and every one of the climbers to do it.

A lot of outdoor scenery and shots. A lot of action in the outdoors. A ton of surprise and suspense.

Okay in my book. Not fantastic but I'd watch it again. As long as I could remember where the startling places were so that I did not jump out of my skin all over again.

I talk to socks and I pet pillows

Okay. This photo was lifted off the Internets. I "googled" socks and pillows and found this. Not at all related to my post but the picture made me go "What the heck?"  The story behind this picture is about a lady who liked to bury her feet in her pillows to keep them warm. So, she just found a way to put socks into a pillow. Ooooo-kay!

Now, on to my post. I DO talk to socks. I DO pet pillows. Not out of sheer insanity. When you have as many pets as I do and you are a migraine sufferer - you may find yourself doing this too. I do not turn many lights on in the wee hours of the morning because of photo sensitivity. It hurts. It causes headaches. Most of the time I find my way through the house in the dark.

As I pass by a cat sleeping on the arm of a chair, I will reach out and give it a soft pet as I go by. Well, sometimes in the wee hours of the morning (or even in the evening) I will reach out to give a soft pet to....yep. A pillow. Rats!

The other day I left my bedroom door open and as I walked in to do something, I saw (what I thought was) a cat's tail peeking out behind my door, and snapped "Get OUT of my room!"  The black sock did not budge. It just looked up at me and seemed to say "Make me."

Yep. There you have it. A snapshot for you of life in my zoo.

Oops

I was supposed to pick my daughter up at the airport last night. She called and said that the person who booked the flight did not realize it was for Tuesday the 14th. She was already at the airport, had gone through security, her ride had left.

Yep. It has been THAT kind of a week.

Repercussion

We've all done it I suppose. Come to a point where you are so fed up you let someone have it with both barrels. I did this at work. Not to a co-worker. An application I work with and the company that manufactures it. Sigh. I was totally fed up.

Now, come the repercussions. They are falling over themselves trying to fix something - anything. I have to work with an engineer today from their organization. He will try to "fix" things for me. Whatever. I was so angry on Friday I was spitting nails.

Today the anger has dissipated. Today I am just numb. I will try to get my dander back up so that my mind is sharp and I can work with him to resolve the issue. It takes so much darn energy!

A Moose

Once in a while when I sit in my TV chair to watch a show or a movie, a cat will sit up by my head on the back of the chair. Usually there is one on the right arm of the chair and another on the left arm. 

When Moose sits up on the back of my chair, she smacks me in the head with her tail. Constantly. Besides being a heavy tail and the "whack" feeling, she creates a pretty cold breeze with her fluffy tail.

Not really sure if she is mad, perturbed or just trying to get my goat. One thing is for certain. She makes her presence known.

Do you have any pets that "talk" to you?

Where bananas come from

Big bananas have little bananas, see?

Operation Spring Breeze

I use Secret deodorant in the "Spring Breeze" scent. I hope I can still use it after I have watched the movie "Sarah's Key."  The young girl in the film (Sarah) kept hold of this key during the round-up because she needed desperately to get back to her home in Paris and retrieve what she had left locked in a hidden closet there.

I am thinking the smell of the breeze was not so great after the French police round-up of 1942 (code named Operation Spring Breeze) imprisoned several hundred thousand victims in that arena with no fresh air. It had a glass top for crying out loud. It was July. They kept them there for five days before moving them on to internment (concentration) camps.

The United States had internment (or rather, an early form of concentration) camps. Can you figure out when? There was a round up of victims in the U.S. long before Europe decided to "reduce the Jewish population".

In a few days I will come back to the comments and let you know when the U.S. had this type of camp and what it was in the closet that Sarah so desperately needed to get back to. If you already know the answers, go ahead and post them in the comments. I won't mind a bit.

What would you think?

 

I met some family for dinner last evening. Back in the early 90's I lived with my brother. He was divorced but he had his two children often. I grew very attached to them. The youngest turned 25 yesterday. His sister - 30 in April. Sigh. I do not get to see them as often as I would like to.

The rain was relentless. I was in a foreign area. It was dark. I could not see anything. There was fog. I got lost. My daughter still has my GPS even though she got her own for Christmas. Grrr! I never use my phone for finding places.

Anyway! I was late. There was a huge accident right before I arrived that blocked my way. I turned left while the policeman was digging in his trunk. He had traffic stopped coming the other way and they did not know where to go - and I was not waiting any longer.  This was a huge intersection and there were about ten firetrucks and emergency vehicles. Chaos. I just wanted the hell out of there. Sheesh! What a mess the night was. 

I arrived at the upscale restaurant. I had been there before in 2006. Someone else drove, and it had been daylight when we arrived.

The above photo was on the menu. It was not me ordering this. The girl was young. From Pakistan. She was a friend of my nephew. She was expecting a grilled cheese sandwich! It was not until I looked at the menu again that I saw "two fabulous soups". LOL!

 

This is what was brought to the table. Oh my gosh, it was funny. She was so confused. She sent it back and ordered something else. She said she cannot stand nacho cheese dip or anything like that.She does like a grilled cheese SANDWICH, though. Can you eat cheese like this? No bread - no crackers - no chips. The waiter said she should have tried it. It was delicious. I don't know.  I told her it looked a little bit like squash soup. I guess it was cheese soup. It looked cool, though - so I snapped a picture.

It was a delightful evening - regardless of the horrible weather.

Insert loud shrill sound here.

Well. Sigh. You know I love a good comedy. I like to laugh. I also like to learn. I like to be informed. Now, what I do with that information can change my life or way of thinking.

War is ugly. Reality is ugly. Mostly I use movies to escape. Sitting at a desk or in a wiring closet with my hands elbow-deep inside the guts of technology can be somewhat boring and tedious.

Movies can take me away.

I hate movies that make me want to vomit. But, I need to be informed.

This movie informs as well as makes you sick.

I would hope it disturbs you, even if you do not have a daughter.

Whistles are meant to get somebody's attention. A loud, shrill sound.

The Whistleblower.

K Bolkovac.

Not a very nice company.

Kathryn.

Ben also blew the whistle before K.

You can read for yourself. You may want to skip it and remain oblivious. It's like you know it is out there but you don't have the time, resources or energy to do anything about it. That's okay. I'm not certain I am going to do anything, yet. I am not positive what I can do. Yet. I need to absorb. I need to buck up. I need to be stronger than I am right now. It scares me. It bothers me.

The Internet is great. I can start right here at home.

In Ohio.   The state that I live in.   Right here.   In my own backyard.

A little sunshine

Here is a little bit of sunshine to hold you over until I get back into the habit of blogging. This is one of my great/grand nephews.

We did get the snow. Friday night. Big beautiful white fluffy stuff that was quite light to shovel. It was heavy and wet by  yesterday and mostly gone this morning. And here comes the rain.

Sigh, I guess we need it.

I will finally wish for snow. It is SO ugly outside. This photo is from last year. January is plodding along. It has been a wet and messy one. I don't know if I want snow (because of the shoveling), but the dogs do like to run and play in it and that always lifts my spirits. 

I especially like the snows that cancel school. For some reason that makes me feel all warm and cozy inside. To stay home on a "school day". I always feel like cooking a nice thick soup or a big meal and making the house all warm and cozy and smelling good. Sigh. I'm not sure we will use ANY snow days this year. The powers that be will probably go back to "we only need 3 calamity days" again.

The rain yesterday caused a lot of aches in my arms and wrists yesterday. Mostly on the right side. For some reason I did not want to take any Advil (I take so much), so I spent all day rubbing my wrist and upper arm. Then the winds came. I was half afraid to take the smaller dogs outside. They are quite funny, though. Cheech took off after a plastic bag that was blowing down the alley. He must have thought it was some strange and dangerous critter. I laughed and told him to "Get it, Cheech! Get it!" He gets all excited and jumps towards it but is never brave enough to actually go right up to it. The boxer? He's clueless.

Tinkering

Tinker, Tailor,

Soldier, Sailor,

Rich Man, Poor Man,

Beggar Man, Thief.

Somebody shoot me if I ever have to sit through another showing of "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy".

I'm still here

Just floating around in a bubble. This looks like I am drunk, but I have not imbibed for some time. And I certainly did not get inebriated when I did.

I guess my only excuse is laziness. I have been busy at work but not so much at home. Sigh. Not certain what I have been doing. Regardless, the time certainly did slip away from me.

Not much to report. No movies. The boxer took a hissy fit for a couple of days and kept running off from me. He must have had a grudge against me about something. We got a bit of snow and the dogs are loving it. I do not care for shoveling the stuff, but I am glad to see a change from the rain.

Since blogger is determined to let me know that "hissy" is not spelled correctly, I had to go and look up the phrase. I read that it may have derived from the word hysterical or it may be that the one having the fit hisses. That made me smile.

Where did she go?

There once was a lady who wrapped gifts like this. Where did she go?

Some big discussions in technology in educ@tion today. BY0T (Bring your 0wn technology). Symbols placed on purpose to thwart search engines. Do you have children/grandchildren in sch00l? Almost every child over the age of fourteen (perhaps younger) has a cellular phone. Most have a "smart" phone.

It is true that the sch00l network can block them from access, but most have G3/G4 for connecting. What do you do then? Most of us know that we do not need wireless to gain access to e-mail with our phones. How do tea@chers handle this in the cl@ssr00m? It is kind of a mixed bag right now. You have some who sit back and say "I don't worry about it. They signed an AUP (acceptable user p0licy)."  Does that really cover it, though? Others are fraught with worry. Some are creating an entirely new AUP just to cover the new technology.

Then there are devices such as my n00k. It is small enough (even with the case) to fit in my purse. Most of the schools are issuing netb00ks to $tudents to use. Much cheaper than iPads.

And why does my manager keep posting his "cel phone" number when he is out of the office? It is not a celluloid device. It is a cellular device! Cel is a short name for celluloid. Sigh. Oh, dear. I think I am getting cranky. Time to find my pillow.

Wait! I watched War Horse. Very good. My daughter watched it with me, she said the book went into much more detail and emotions that were not captured in the film.  Did you like the book/movie Black Beauty? The book War Horse is told from the point of view of the horse. (Not certain the entire book is, though). I liked the movie. I did not need tissues.

Educated Idiots

This article speaks for itself. You can have an education, but you can still be an idiot.

Movies:

50/50 - I really liked this one. Except for Rogen. I do not like Rogen. In anything. Oh, crap. I have to take that back. He did the voice of Paul. I liked Paul. Grrrr.

Yikes!

I think this photo was taken at the zoo gift shop in Pittsburgh back in '07. Not certain. Oh, that is my daughter in that snake's mouth. 

Speaking of teeth. We were, weren't we? I had a molar pulled Thursday. I have not had a tooth extraction since the late 70's when I had my wisdom teeth pulled out. In the chair. That's right sissies. No nitrous oxide for us back in those days. The dentist used a C-clamp and pliers. My mouth remained swollen as if I had a wad of chewing tobacco in there for a week.

I was a bit nervous with not knowing what to expect. Psshh! It was nothing! Two things bothered me. The first was the sound as they pulled it out. Talk about fingernails on a chalkboard. Grrr! And about three hours later was the intense itching as the Novocaine wore off. That did not last long and I barely needed Advil. I took it more as a precaution than as a pain reliever. I had no pain to speak of.

I am a tad bit worried about the sinus cavity that the tooth root was close to. The dentist told me not to blow my nose for two days. Okay. The dental instructions said not to swish for two days. Can I brush?! How can you brush without swishing a bit of water around up there?

Eh, I made it through. Other than that "weird" empty feeling - things are fine. It is healing quickly and I am hoping that this resolves a lot of (what I hope were related to this tooth) problems over the past years. That upper right region of my sinus/gums/ear has had it's share of misery.

The finger is healing. The tooth (or, rather gum) is healing. My body must be in some kind of "what the hell is happening to us" mode. It must be working overtime healing my wounds.  That is a lot of stuff going on in the body. I think I need to rest all week-end and take it easy and let my body heal. Movies are waiting. Also hovering  ominously close is :   Angry Birds - yes...dammit! I have become slightly addicted. I keep picking the Nook up and playing "ONE.MORE.LEVEL."!!!  OMG! There is a web site titled "one more level". Oh, God. Don't go there.

I requested and received one of these for Christmas. Drat. I just realized I got a silver one. I love this blue. It works just like it says. I did knock it over on my desk and I have to admit a little drop of coffee did appear on the desk, but not like the usual splash or flood of coffee. Yes, I spill my coffee a lot. I knock things over on my desk a lot because I am not organized and I heap things onto my desk and after this many years I doubt that I am going to change.

The other day I had this coffee mug with me returning from a doctor appointment out of town. It was full of luke warm coffee since it was after my appointment. I had an early one so I had not eaten anything and the coffee went down pretty well. I texted my daughter (before leaving the doctor) to meet me for breakfast. She agreed.

I passed an exit and it was a good 8 to ten miles until the next one when BAM! Traffic stopped on the interstate. Both lanes. Ah, I figured. An accident. I had seen one on the way to the doctor and I figured the roads were slippery because of some snowfall.

I placed the car in park and looked around. Ugly scenery. Ugly trucks all around me. A GMC in front of me, a huge Ford in back of me. A huge semi on the right side of me. Sigh.

I texted my daughter that I was stopped in traffic and "may" be late.

I played music. I sang. I looked down. Hmm... there is some coffee left, I think. I took a big swig. Not hot, but it tasted fine. I took another. Something solid entered my mouth and went down with the coffee before I had a chance to think.

I about threw up. WTF was THAT!??

I gagged. I coughed. I think I may have spit. I rolled my window down and dumped what was left of the coffee out.

The only thing I can deduce is that perhaps some creamer clogged in the cup's lid. It is a massive lid with just little tiny openings so that it is spill proof. I am supposed to rinse the lid out thoroughly after each use. Well, who has time for that? I am starting to get sick as I type this. And, guess what? I AM drinking coffee. Not out of that mug, though. That is a "to go " mug and I am sitting at home on the computer.

I recovered. I sat in that traffic one hour and fifteen minutes. I want to tell you sitting there on an empty stomach, drinking all that coffee....well, you know. I REALLY had to pee. What in the hell was I going to do? I was getting uncomfortable. I saw two people take their dogs out. Who are all these people driving around at ten o'clock on a week day morning with their dogs? Wow.

What do the people do who sit in traffic for over four to five hours? I guess you just get out, go over the guard rail and into the bushes. Typing this makes me have to pee.

The accident itself was not too bad - injury wise. One person with minor injuries. I am not completely certain why it took so long for them to clear the two lane road. A semi was involved, perhaps he was turned sideways. I saw the van that the semi hit from behind. Smashed his rear end ALL the way up TO the front seat. It looked to be a working van (Not a family van) so it was just equipment that got smashed in the back. It looked horrible.

My sister-in-law was on the scene. She told me later a dog ran out in front of one of the vehicles. Of course I asked about the dog but they were unclear. She thinks it ran on. I told her I think she was the one ambulance that almost hit me. Emergency vehicles had to drive the berm to get around traffic and get to the scene. She laughed and said she did hit the mirror of one truck, but you have to keep going. Tough luck Mr. Truck driver.

I counted at least seven state highway patrol vehicles that passed by on the berm. Two ambulances, one fire truck and one ODOT truck. I told the people at work that vehicle probably had to pick up the dog. They were horrified. I said "Well, a state patrolman isn't going to put the dog in his trunk."  This was before my SIL told me the dog had run on because they didn't see any dog. Maybe she just said that to make me feel better.

When traffic moved I was able to take the next exit and stop in at a Fast Food place and use their restroom. It was 11:30 by this time and I grabbed some food to go and went straight to the office. I missed brunch with my daughter.

My Mom had so many little sayings over the years. Sitting there in that traffic jam brings back one she always said that was a favorite of mine. In the manner of pondering how much easier it is for a guy to go to the bathroom outside than a girl, she would say,  "Handy thing to have on a picnic!" I love you Mom.

Bratz

I told my daughter she looks like one of those "Bratz" dolls in this photo. There was some controversy I recall about the Bratz dolls. Mostly it was how they were not setting a good example for girls.  I also read an article recently written in late 2008 that production would stop because it was actually a Mattel product. The makers of the infamous Barbie doll.

I have no idea if they did stop making them. I no longer have to look for them on the toy shelf. I am not certain that my daughter ever did have a Bratz doll. I recall purchasing one Barbie for her. "Teacher Barbie". Drat! Now I come to find out that version is rare because they sold that doll without panties. Gasp! A teacher with no panties. LOL!

A face.....

....  only a Mother could love. I do. :)

Warmer weather

We received a dusting of snow last night. It is on my daughters' car. Mine is safely tucked away in the garage. Her side of the garage is filled with junk. Don't I hear about that?! Yah. I'll get to it, when I get to it. If you want to park in the garage - YOU clean out that side.

Anyways....I wanted to show a warm picture. From this past summer.

I watched "Robin Hood". The version with R Crowe in it. I liked this version.

If I were the Queen Mother I would have had to smack my youngest son (Prince (King) John) upside the head, though. Then again, I suppose she would have gone to prison. Royalty did not raise their children - servants did. So he was probably a stranger to her, thus she had little control over him.

Ugly feet

My new tablet

I received a card that turns my Nook into a Droid tablet. Works very well. Now, I have a tablet and I can download an app to e-read. Sweet! I am going to be using this device a lot more than I used to. I could never find the time to read a book. Now, I can take the tablet with me to meetings and have access to my messages, the web and the office documents. I could do all that on my phone, but that screen is small.

Oh, and games. My nephew mentioned Angry Birds and since I have never played, I thought I would download and give it a try. It reminds of lobbing bananas at a Gorilla on a city building. An old DOS game that came with Nibbles. That was my favorite. Did not care for Gorilla and I do not care for Angry Birds. I tired of it quickly.

I fell asleep during "Hugo".  Sorry. It rates high up there in the ratings, but I was bored. It could also be that I am not getting enough shut eye. I did have company in and out this past week-end and I fixed a LOT of food. I think I peeled 20 pounds of potatoes. No wonder my wrist hurts.

The relish tray

My niece and her fiance's version of the "relish tray" at Christmas.  Funny!

The movie "A Better Life" made me cry. It may help if you know some Spanish (Of course I took French in high school). The movie did not sub-title the conversations in Spanish.

Things around here have been quiet. Not as quiet as when I lived alone for six months. My daughter is twenty. She should be active and moving around and coming and going. That is what you do at twenty. The dogs are pushing me, but I figure they need an adjustment period, too.

I have lots of work to do to keep me busy. I am supposed to be going through totes and sorting/pitching and organizing "stuff".  A friend had two computer issues. One I resolved already the other one I have waiting on the piano bench. 

See? Again, I will do anything to get out of "house" work like the sorting of "stuff" I should be doing. Heh. Grocery store today. I need almost everything. Since I was by myself for six months not much got used up. This holiday tore through that. (Flour, sugar, detergents etc...). Dog food. Always dog food. You know, I gotta keep them dogs pooping. I have cut their food down a good bit and am thinking about cutting down more. They are all very plump. But,  you should see them play when I take them outside. Now I am back to thinking fence. Sigh. Money, money, money.

Hello...Nice to meet you...here - have some germs.

I watched Contagion.  Fishburne's character brought up a very ironic fact. In the old days - the gesture of shaking hands was to show the person we were meeting that we held no weapons that would harm them.

As all of us now know, we have the unseen killer. The minuscule germs. And, I still shake people's hands. Can we bring in the elbow rub or the fist bump?

The movie was good in a way that it brought attention to the way a disease such as SARS can get out into the world and spread rapidly. I was astounded at Winslet's character's remark about the average person touches their face 3 to 4 thousand (yes, thousand) times a day!

Can you hear me, now?

Did I mention that my nephew has to have the TV volume up to ear piercing levels? LOL! I love him no matter what. Santa delivered this sound bar to my house to go with the TV Santa brought me last year. It is like being in the theater, now.

I had a horrible dream last night. I dreamt that I had a German Shepherd dog and he took off one day and did not come back. I called him and called him. I kept him in the basement (this basement in my dream was the one at my Mom's house where I grew up).

One day I needed to go to the basement and I saw a movement. I was praying as hard as I could "Please don't let him have been down here all this time, please!"

There he was. Blind, no hair and half dead. But walking.

It was one of the worst dreams. Then I tried to keep it secret from everybody but they knew anyway and I was crying so hard in my dream that I had not meant to neglect him.

My daughter had a German Shepherd with her boyfriend (she broke up with just a few weeks ago) and this beautiful dog stayed in a crate in the basement when they would leave.

Maybe it has some significance to real life.

The Shower Head

Okay, it is not the Commando 450, but my new shower head is fantastic. This is not a picture of mine either, it is a photo I lifted from the Internets. I guess my nephew grew tired of my old one. LOL! Hey, come to think of it - he shopped with me when I got the last one, too. This is one of his many Christmas gifts. Santa came to my house and he looked an awful lot like my nephew.

But again, the greatest gift was the laughter and merriment we shared.

Bleary-eyed

Sitting here bleary-eyed this morning. I have the day off from work. I worked until Friday last week and did not have much time to store away any energy. After my niece came in to help Thursday night, her Mother was like a mini tornado ripping around helping me over the week-end. My nephew assembled my (new to me) 7 foot prelit tree. I bought it from a friend of the family. Two strands of lights are out but he said that can be fixed easily. I need to get a bulb and go through each light one at a time to see what one is causing the entire strand to go dark. He made this 360 Panorama with his iPhone. They are my extended family and I am ever so thankful for them.

Remember how I said we "do lists" every year? There are always surprises and this year was NO exception. I am one happy camper. The absolute sweetest gift was the laughter. My niece's fiance had all his teeth pulled a week or so ago and the poor guy has been in total misery. He kept holding his face in his hands and moaning "Stop! Quit making me laugh!"

Oh my dogs, did we laugh.

What is missing from this photo? Dogs! I had them barricaded in the kitchen and you never heard such mournful crying. Poor babies.

Peeking

A photo my daughter took of herself at the family Christmas party on the 17th. This is my daughter but it is not my daughter. Does that make any sense? I raised a girl with beautiful blond hair. Everybody wants to go brunette these days. I blame "Tangled". LOL!

I am still not ready. We open gifts tonight. That I am prepared for. I have a few more food items to purchase for tomorrow. 

Family came in from out of town last night. The spirits are high this year. Everyone is upbeat. This is a good sign. I found some great gifts yesterday that jumped out at me in the stores. That was a pleasant surprise.

The weather looks good for anybody traveling the roads. I am sorry that I do not wish for a white Christmas but I worry about those on the roads.

What is residing in your living room furniture?

This is my nephew's cat and chair. Not mine. I loved this photo.

The ear ache started yesterday. Advil helps the best. The rain is pouring. I know "You don't have to shovel rain", but I am not sure I would shovel the snow either. I would just walk and drive right over it. Big whoop. It's snow. It's natural. Leave it alone.

I also am getting a sore throat. I woke up at 1:30 a.m. after going to bed at 10:30. WTF?! I am on my second cup of coffee and just about ready to go back to bed. It is 3:40 a.m.

Should I take the antibiotics the dentist prescribed for me? Is an infection of the tooth that is splitting causing the ear ache? Should I wait two days to see if the ear ache goes away on its own? Hah! Then it is Christmas day and I could possibly spend the day in misery.

Decisions, decisions.

On a side note. I work in an office where some of the employees are school psychologists. One guy told me that the way to test to see if you have ADHD is if you do not respond to caffeine. My second cup of coffee and I think I can sleep better than without it. Huh. Who knew?

Tryin'

I be tryin' hard today to get into the spirit. My beautiful little niece came over last night and helped me clean. Or, should I say I helped her clean? She is a tiny thing and she drank a Red Bull and it was full steam ahead. I quit to fix dinner. I needed a rest. LOL!

Split like the Great Continental Divide

This photo is one of a dental tool used in the past. I am not so certain today's tools are all that different.

I lost a filling or part of a filling Saturday night leaving a huge hole in my top left molar.  Not unusual really for work that was performed in 1970 or so. I waited for the pain but none came. I cautiously drank my coffee the next morning. No pain. I ate breakfast. The hole filled with food but no pain. I brushed immediately afterwards until I could feel that empty abyss. I made an appointment with my dentist as soon as I could.

The tooth has to come out. It split in two. How I wish the dentist could have seen that when I first began having this issue in August. It would all be over with by now. I was NOT in pain. I chose to remove it in January. He was busy and I certainly did not want to spend the day with a bleeding socket when I have so much to do.

The assistant quipped "Remember the holidays are coming up".  Like I can forget that? What do I look like? I know she meant that they will be closed. The dentist wrote me a prescription for an antibiotic just in case it gets infected.

I can still remember my older sister driving all of us kids to the dentist during my childhood. I am not certain of the specifics (perhaps I will ask her) but I do know this was a welfare case and I am not even sure I was told to brush my teeth when I was little. I must have had ten fillings over those couple of  years. I recall how I dreaded the visits. I hated the Novocaine shot so much, when the dentist said he could fill my teeth with out numbing the gum, I chose that path. Only one time did he hit a nerve and I was not numb. I jumped almost out of the chair and he had another dentist with him. I can remember them laughing (with relief). Water went everywhere. The dental care stopped after a couple of years. I am not certain as to why.

To say I was traumatized is an understatement. I did not return to a dentist until I was nineteen and had to have my wisdom teeth pulled. Dental care was sketchy after that (only when in pain did I go). Until I finally reached this last job that pays for dental insurance and I am finally tethered to one area for more than a couple of years. Care has been nonstop for over 15 years, now. My daughter has had care all her life.

I am luckier than my siblings. Since I am the youngest my dental care started much earlier than theirs. All but two of us have partials or full dentures. Sister 1954 and I.

Chester

A.K.A. Cheech

That is over with

The weather turned  lousy. It poured snow down all day and we had a little bit on the roads. People travelled miles to get to the dinner and some got lost. It was a new location this year out in the middle of nowhere. My car and the two following me had to detour around a wreck, an SUV had slid off the road.

It was too hot in the banquet room. The food was so-so and nobody could hear. I had to shout in my loudest voice to be heard above the din. I had a royal headache by the end of the night. The six kids that did show up got showered with gifts and I hope they had fun.

I was rotten this year and sent all kids home with a can of Silly String. Not to be used in the car on the way home, I told them. 

Not sure if we will have it at this location next year or not.

I was tired and had a bad  headache all the next day. I drank only iced tea. I had the mild cod with mashed potato and vegetables. 

My daughter had a new beau. I have nothing to say. I have to adjust.

I do not have one piece of decoration up. I do not have a tree up. I did get the tree delivered Friday night. A pre-owned seven foot tall pre-lit artificial tree. Zoinks!

My living room is full of totes from my daughter's back bedroom (where I stored all my stuff when I had my new floor put in) and her totes from her boyfriend's house. 

My two smaller dogs, Cheech and Chong are back.

My beautiful boxer decided that his territory was not properly marked and proceeded to leave his urine all over every tote in the living room.

I have to find the energy and back muscle to move all the totes into the basement and then get the tree inside the house and put up. My back starts to vibrate like a tuning fork after lifting and moving about two totes. This  is from helping my daughter move her bed and computers and desk and chest of drawers back into the house. Her ex boyfriend dumped everything into our garage. I am thankful he brought her stuff back at all. He could have tossed it out into the yard.

My daughter has wanted out of her relationship for a long time. She always gave the excuse that nobody was there to help him with his new German Shepherd puppy. His cousin and partner are moving in next week.

I really liked her ex boyfriend but I was also torn because both of them are so young. She is twenty and he is twenty-one. They have been dating for 18 months. They are so young to be so serious. He wanted to start a family, she is not ready.

Meanwhile I have to finish shopping, wrapping and fixing food. I work all week.

I am tired and am going to bed. My finger is stinging. For the most part my headache is gone but I recognize a four day migraine when I feel one. It is all just part of the routine. Second verse, same as the first. This ain't my first rodeo.

Blends right in

I thought it was cute how he blended right into the couch.

I am so freaking far behind in everything. My finger is finally to the point where I can go without a band-aid and people will not freak out when they see it. I have been protecting this digit since November 21st! I am tired of it. It still will not bend completely. I still am very, very careful when I wash my hands. Which is like seven times a day!

All the dead skin has fallen off leaving tender and sensitive new skin underneath. I have applied the Vitamin E as the doctor instructed. They said not too much Neosporin as that makes it too soft. They actually used a  medical term but I figured it out. :)

Sleeping Santa

Nestled under the tree with the other presents. 

I don't have much these days. What as compared to the trivial slop I serve up the other days? Ha, ha! Just trying to stay one step ahead of the game and focusing on what ever event is coming up next. What do I need to do this week? Do not worry about next week. Just get through this week.

Movies? Let's see."Dolphin Tale" reminded me a bit of "Free Willy". It does have it's basis in a real story, I always like that. He is still adorable but somebody please tell Harry Connick Jr. to get a haircut!

Charge!

I'd like to say my life has been too busy to post. Maybe it has. I don't know. Too busy to think about it. While charging ordering gifts on-line I went ahead and ordered myself a new charger for my big camera. The battery is inside the camera, so the charger and spare battery are floating around this earth somewhere. Hopefully in my house.

So,  I will charge ahead into the holidays as each gift arrives on my doorstep. What fun to open gifts up twice, though my act is not actually opening them. :)

Finger is healing ever so slowly, work is steady and daughter moves back the end of the week. Get ready for stories about Cheech and Chong again!

Sleeping Babies

Can't we all relate to this photo if we have had little ones in our lives? That lack of sleep that causes us to drop off whenever we can catch a catnap.

My nephew (pictured here) was the first grandchild in my immediate family and he has long waited to hold his own baby and now has his chance.

But I remember holding him when he was this size. Sigh.

Really?!

My small circle of the family exchange gifts. We have taken the magic out and just given lists. We have even fine tuned it so that we send pictures and links to show the gift giver exactly what we want. No surprises. Except there is an occasional surprise and always one that brings out a good laugh.

This is a time for us to browse and just pick things that we usually would not buy for ourselves or some items we can never seem to remember to get.

Included in my list, I chose a cell phone charger organizer. At one time or another the family that stays over usually needs to charge their electronics at some point during their stay. Cords and chargers often get left behind as they usually pick an electrical outlet located behind a couch, stand or chair.

I came across the above item. This is definitely a gift you would not want to give cat owners. My cats would either a) try to eat the grass or (worse)  b) pee in it. Probably both.

As I was browsing Amazon for possible selections, I checked the technical details of the one pictured above.  I think they have the wrong product.

Technical Details

• Features -
• Create your Scenes - Use powerful tools with thousands of stickers, brushes, textures, elements, animating objects, and more to create each scene any way you like; dynamic tools bring your scene to life
• Unlock a World of Play - In a game powered by your imagination that rewards you for being creative, unlock new tools, objects, fun challenges, and more
• Experiment with Fun Challenges - Over 100 challenges to spark your imagination; use your creativity in each scene to power-up your play and unlock new hidden areas; experiment with objects and effects to create simple, challenging, or even crazy solutions
• Fun for the Whole Family - A unique experience that's fun and easy for anyone to pick up and play

LOL!

By the way, my fog lifted as soon as I published yesterday's post. Just writing that stuff down seemed to purge it out of me and I was pretty good the rest of the day.

Some minor aches this morning, but nothing like yesterday. Perhaps I can put off seeing the doctor for another month or two.  ;)

Well, the fog lifted until my cats knocked something over just before I started this post and when I turned to see what happened, I spilled my coffee. It is nice to know that if I ever need to, I can use coffee to clean my wood floor. It gives it a nice, shiny sheen. Groan.