Be my guest

basement bar


Twenty-eight hours and counting. My list is long, but I am making headway. Crossing them off one by one. I have help on the way. Yeah! My daughter is making up the yard signs. Graduation Party! And the guest of honor? Still looking for that un-findable outfit. Sheesh! She better get her butt in gear.

Since I still can't find my camera battery charger I have posted a picture of my basement bar as it used to look before another party. A birthday party for my niece. Although this one is hopefully going to be mostly outside, I have the basement ready just in case it rains. It looks like it is going to be cooler. In the low seventies.

Coming from the speakers: Sea Cruise by Sha Na Na.

Memory bouquet

memory bouquet


Over the past thirty years I have worked ten jobs. One was two years on week-ends after school. Three of them were summer jobs between high school years. Three lasted more than three years, one lasted seven years and this most recent, ten years. What makes a worker say the following?

"This, this and this is explained in the manual. If you have any questions, read the manual! And if you still have questions, read the manual!"

Sounds to me like someone got saddled with a job that they don't want. So comforting.

~~~~~~~~~~~ No bitching about the job (not allowed) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have a 20 x 20 tent in my back yard. Forty chairs and six tables underneath. They are folded, stacked and ready to go. I am a bit of a nervous wreck. I can't find my blasted battery charger for my camera! What is this? Every time I have an important event it goes missing!

Coming from the speakers: Pieces of April by Three Dog Night

Remembering Ohio

ohio hills


The sky stretches out blue and beyond where they meet
the hills. How green was my valley.

March blue sky

blue_sky

Wave the flag

flag day


I am sorry to say that this may be the only picture of a flag that I have in my collection. Rather, the closest image to a flag. I must remedy that. It was not taken at my house but at a relative's house. I don't think she realized that there is a made in China logo on the upper left corner. On the other side. My images are taken very large and I resize them down. I noticed it right away when I pulled the picture up.

Her husband works in one of the Ohio River steel mills. They are well known for their disdain of anything made outside of the U.S.A. My sister and her husband tend to be more laid back. His father, however, is a real knee-jerk, fist-shaking, turn blue in the face type of personality. Several heart attacks have slowed him down some. He still gets pretty riled up about things. Very opinionated. He was the type who worked a full time job at the steel mill and came home and farmed until night and on the week-ends. Rarely saw his family. Was always working.

Coming from the speakers: Grand Ole Flag by George M. Cohan.

Goodnight, goodnight...

berries


It must have been ninety degrees Fahrenheit where I was working in today. Maybe even hotter. The humidity was extreme. My hair just melted. Well, the bangs did, I wear the back of it up in a bun. It was very hard to concentrate and troubleshoot. I gave up and moved on to the other end of the line. Where the wiring closet is air conditioned. That was where I fixed the problem, anyway. I bounced the interface.

Well, it was nice to come home for lunch to a cool house and cool, fresh berries. I do have a weakness, though. Fruit dip. When I was little I hated marshmallows. I still do. But, I love marshmallow cream mixed with cream cheese for a delicious fruit dip. I also put the berries in vanilla pudding. Very nice addition to a bland treat. I love vanilla. It is my favorite pudding. The kids like banana, chocolate and lemon. Just give me vanilla, and french vanilla and sometimes I like the cheesecake pudding. Instant.

I mowed today, so it can rain, now. I also watched Troy over the week-end. Eh - not so good. I despise war movies of this sort. Couldn't stand Braveheart. Just not my kind of entertainment. I was interested in the history, though. To see how closely they followed it.

My Mom had the books The Iliad and The Odyssey in her extensive library. They weren't the ones I read, though. My Mom was always reading four or five books at a time. Sci-fi and historical ones were her favorites. I like biography and psychology. I like to study people and their behaviors.

We always had plenty of magazines, too. Before the Internet, I enjoyed signing out encyclopedias and reading them. I still would if I could find the time. I should make time. One more party to plan for June and one for the fourth of July and then maybe I can settle into some me "reading" time.

Coming from the speakers: Goodnight, goodnight by Hot Hot Heat (my daughter's favorite new band).

To see a better day

green trees


Beautiful green Ohio trees along the interstate.

Well, my daughter and I may argue a lot, but I put things into perspective. As uncomfortable as it is having her in my face yelling at me, and even disobeying me; it beats the hell out of sitting around waiting and not knowing if she is alive or dead.

And, this one just beats all. What was this mother thinking? How about putting the dog in the basement?! What if a fire had broken out? Stupidity at it's finest, folks. And, her statement? "I guess it was his time to go." Somebody hold me back!

I have four T-bones waiting in marinade for me to grill them. Or, maybe that is the kids waiting for me to grill them. Four baked potatoes, butter and sour cream, a corn medley and steak sauce. Sweetened iced tea with lemons on the side and banana pudding for dessert. This is one beautiful Sunday. I think I will go and enjoy my family. They are only here for a short while.

Coming from the speakers: Oh Very Young by Cat Stevens.

(Sigh) I don't want to know

surprise raccoon


I don't want to know the reasons why my daughter felt she had to sneak out at night to see her boyfriend. I had an out-of-town baby shower to go to and she asked to spend the night at a girlfriend's house. Just so happened that while I was home on lunch, I was surfing around on the web and started to read my daughter's friend's xanga journals. The friend that she chose to spend the night with had put on her xanga "Friend (my daughter) is spending the night. We are going to go swimming at T's (daughter's boyfriend) house and he better keep his mouth shut!"

Hmmm. I didn't do anything right away. My daughter and a couple of her friends were in the next room. I had just brought them lunch. Once I returned to work, I called T's Mom. As I began to tell her what happened, she stated "That explains why T has been cleaning the house all morning. He never cleans without me asking him to." Mmmm Hmmm. Turns out that T's Mom is a very nice lady and she said that my daughter was welcome any time and that she and her husband were on vacation and maybe they would build a campfire outside Friday night and see what happens.

I chose not to say anything to my daughter. There was a chance (although very slight) that my daughter wouldn't do this. Now, why do they say "Fat chance" when it is slight? Strange English language.

On the way back from the shower I could not get a signal on my cell phone. When I finally was able to reach T's Mother, she said that "Yes, they have about eight kids around the campfire and they had been swimming. Her son had told her about the event."

I would have liked to have seen the look of surprise on my daughter's face when she found out I was coming to T's house. I am not sure if anyone forewarned her or not or if she only found out when she saw my car pull up in the driveway. I would think T would have warned her. Maybe she looked as surprised as the raccoon in the picture above.

I went to their house. I pulled my daughter aside and let her explain. Lame-o excuses. It basically boiled down to the fact that T's mom would have let them, B's father (friend she was staying with) would have let them - B lived about six houses down from T. She knew I would not allow her because it would be after ten o'clock. She is correct. Although, I may have allowed her to go for an hour or so (after I met T's parents). This was the first I was meeting them.

She asked me not to embarrass her in front of her friends. I concurred. They were having a good time. The parents were sitting outside with them, albeit a few feet away. It did look like a nice summer campfire. After talking to T's Mom for about an hour, I went home.

I will pick her up today from B's house. What to do? Talk things out? Punishment? The grounding isn't working very well. How many days for which truant behavior? If she misses her curfew by one hour, do I ground her for one day, two days?

What can I do next for punishment? She gets mad because she states that none of her friend's ever get grounded or punished. Most of them don't have chores. I write her a list of chores every day while I am at work and she is at home for summer vacation. She grumbles, but they get done. They aren't perfect, but she makes an effort. Her grades came up. Final grades were all A's and B's. No C's. They were showing up a little too much for my comfort the past two semesters, causing some arguing between us. This girl never brings a book home. Once in a while, her pre-algebra book, but that was all.

Sigh. Sometimes it is true. I just don't want to know. But, I will tackle it again today.

Coming from the speakers: I Don't Want To Know by Fleetwood Mac.

Why can't we be friends

raccoon


I had an interesting evening. I made some new friends. :)

tgif

sun_burst


Have a good Friday, everybody!

Just who do you think you are

lake_park


This is the park today in my small Ohio town. We are very fortunate to have this park where there is a small amusement park, a swimming pool, a lake for fishing, multiple playgrounds, tennis, basketball and a bocci court. Batting cages, amphitheater, track, ballfields, and shelter houses. It isn't New York City, but it'll do. Probably better in many ways.

I have continued to clean house. As in the blogs that I read. I have them narrowed down to about nine, now. One blogger made it real easy. This certain blogger has been dishing people lately. Not anyone they know, because their blog is so popular they can't dish anyone they know anymore. Their blog has been published in a magazine or two, I guess. This blog they were insulting a tourist. A fifteen-year-old girl tourist. It sounded to me like the blogger had more issues with the girl being blond and fifteen than with what they said about New York city. Indeed.

In a previous blog they dissed someone by saying "This is why you are forty-something and still single!" I guess the forty-something didn't like the way this blogger set their alarm clock. Actually, I do the same with my alarm clock. But still, ouch. I am forty-something and still single. Some may find it hard to believe, but I kind of like it that way.

Forward and onward. Onward and forward. Something is working for me, because I have been damn happy at work.

Coming from the speakers: Mr. Big Stuff (Who Do You Think You Are?) by Jean Knight.

Brilliant in the morning

pink peony


My peonies have finally bloomed. After three long years of living at this house, the peonies I planted when we first moved in have bloomed! Yeah. The ferns died. Mental note: Not good with ferns. I have one plant on the west side of the house and one on the east side. This is one from the west. East side is growing much slower.

This pic was taken this morning before my drive. It was pretty warm today, so I didn't feel like stopping and getting out of the air-conditioned car to take more pictures. I took some of the sky and the land from the car. They are okay, not great like some of the others from the spring.

My daughter and her friend stayed in the house all day and by the time I came home they were stir crazy. They were grounded from keeping me up too late last night. I understand now what I was mostly hearing was the dog jumping up on the couch and my nephew pushing her back off because the girls were scaring her with balloons.

They can make up for it tomorrow. Pool all day and "open mike" night at the local Park Plaza.

I let the girls get a couple of movies. Since they love Johnny Depp I introduced them to "What's Eating Gilbert Grape?" I had seen the actual video years ago, but in the past few years I have only caught parts of it on T.V. I felt as if I were watching most of the movie for the first time. There were so many parts I had not remembered seeing. The other movie was "Crossworlds" - a sci-fi feature. It was okay.

During the Gilbert movie, I was thinking 'Johnny Depp has to have some native American blood in him.' I looked it up on imdb.com and finally found that he is part Navajo.

I think that the girls enjoyed the movie. (swoon) As for me, I thought that Leonardo DiCaprio was pretty convincing in the role he played. And, of course I loved it when mama went to town.

Coming from the speakers: Foolish Games by Jewel.

I'm going back someday

black palm


I feel as though everyone is on vacation, except me. There are about four people out from work on vacation, my nephew is here for some "visiting with family time" vacation. My daughter and her friends are on summer vacation, and I have to get up for work tomorrow morning. They are out in the living room having a blast. I did put a stop to the sucking helium out of the balloons. I can only imagine what consequences that would have on them. My daughter was the worst offender.

We have helium left over from another nephew's graduation party and we are supposed to be saving it for my niece's party, but I doubt that it will make it that long.

So the picture above is from a vacation two years ago. Traveling back through the southern states from Florida we spent a night near Savannah, Georgia. While the others swam in the pool, I took advantage of the setting sun and the beautiful palm trees. Ahh, I can still go there in my mind.

What in the world did people do before photographs were around to take them back in time? This is why I said some women just kept having babies. They forget what their children were like when they were small so they had another one to remind them. Not really, but why else would someone be nuts enough to keep having them? Oh, it could be that women didn't have a choice! I suppose that looking at baby pictures might even make some of them want to have another one, so pictures may in fact, contribute to more children. I love my pictures of my daughter when she was young. Before the arguing, before the attitude, before the sassing, in your face confrontations. Have another one? I'll pass.

Coming from the speakers: Blue Bayou by Linda Ronstadt.

Edit 1:05 a.m. (Wednesday, June 8th). Guess who had to go and get said daughter and bring her into my room? Now, guess who is sleeping on Mom's bed, while Mom is wide awake on the computer? I think the helium made her hyperactive. Guess who is tired and cranky and just grounded her daughter from swimming tomorrow? I had asked them to quiet down three times.

When darkness falls early

sunset reflection


I think someday I would like to find out if I can really hear a "hiss" when the big ball of sun hits the water. This is another one from the May 7th evening at the Springwood Lake campsite. (Soon to be sold) :(

Coming from the speakers: In a New York Minute by The Eagles.

Up with the sun

spanish moss


Figures. I couldn't find my camera battery/charger yesterday. My brother let me use his 35mm camera. The sun was merciless. Nobody passed out that I could see.

My nephew's party was grand. There was the outside group in the shelter house with the d.j. and the alcohol. There was the inside group in the air conditioning with the food and the soft drinks. We call it pop here in Eastern Ohio. "Want a can of pop?" "I'm gonna go get a can of pop." "Buy some pop." Now, that I look at it, it does look funny.

Since I don't have any recent pics, I have posted another from my nephew's trip to Louisiana last month. He did the sunshine through the tree branches because he knows I like those.

I was awoken by the sun streaming through my bedroom windows this morning. I thought someone had turned my light on. This must be the time of year that the sunshine sneaks through the curtains on my bedroom side of the house.

Well, now there is thunder from the skies and my lights are flickering. Gotta go!

Coming from the speakers: Travelin' Man by Bob Seger

Now, as the years roll on

schipperke


What an annoying little dog. Okay, sorry. My sister's/niece's dog. I suppose the little thing is lovable to them, but I found it's nature hyper and snappish. She nips, she barks, she runs around like a crazed psycho. I like a quiet, good-mannered, laid-back dog. Give me my Sable.

I have my niece's graduation ceremony today. It will be close to ninety degrees and they are having it outside. If it doesn't rain. It doesn't look like it is going to. Because of the recent lousy weather, few people have had any sun exposure. I can see a disaster in the making, here. I'll bet more than one person passes out today.

My niece had to purchase a new dress. The girls have to wear dresses. Oh, really? And do the boys have to wear dresses too? She said no, but they aren't allowed to wear sneakers. Mmmm, hmm. I feel that the girl should have a choice. If she doesn't want to wear a dress, she shouldn't have to. I don't think my daughter would. Four years. We'll find out what the rules are in four years. They can't really make a girl wear a dress. And, I don't think they can deny her walking in the ceremony for not wearing a dress. The gown should cover most everything anyway. As hot as it is, she might wish she were wearing a dress, though.

After the ceremony, we go to my nephew's party. His ceremony was a couple of weeks ago. (Different school.) His party starts at noon and is at a park where there is alcohol allowed. My brother is divorced from my nephew's mother, he advised them against the alcohol for a graduation party. He is the fireman/EMT. He has scraped a lot of drunks off the roadways. Literally. Decapitation, major ugly scenes.

I will not have alcohol when my niece has her party. Some may call me a hypocrite, because that was all I did when I graduated. Went from party to party looking for the booze. That was twenty-seven years ago and I was completely irresponsible. In fact, the local bars served me. And, no one told me not to. In fact, no one told me anything at all. Another lifetime ago. I lived about twenty-five miles from the West Virginia state line where you only had to be eighteen to purchase hard liquor. Of course they had a liquor store right next to the state line. They aren't stupid. Just drove over and purchased all the booze I wanted.

I can have a party with alcohol anytime. This time is for my niece and her friends and the recognition that they are closing one chapter in their life and starting a new one.

My brother will be here in an hour, and I must keep moving. Must find my camera and make sure the battery is charged.

Coming form the speakers: Reminiscing by The Little River Band

Dance along the light of day

day_break


Picture above is of the sun setting in the west, but it could also look like daybreak. This is how the sky looked near the end of May in Ohio. I had to crop out the roof edge of my neighbor's house. I have a grocery store that I go to and sometimes I see the most awesome sky from their parking lot. I need to get on a rooftop somewhere around there, though. Because of all the telephone and electrical wires. Don't think that will happen anytime soon.

During the carpet scrubbing, their vacuum machine in the van broke down. So my carpet got to sit for over an hour with the detergent and the deodorizer on it. Could only help it, I guess. I forgot how sensitive I am to strong odors, the deodorizer made me feel pretty ill. At least I didn't get a migraine. I did have to wait an extra long time though, stuck in my bedroom. One of the scrubbers had sucked up a cleaning rag in the hose. I was hoping it was a cat. (No, not really!) Sigh.

My dog, Sable wasn't very happy. She was penned up in the little nook off of the kitchen. Because the carpet was wet and it was mostly dog hair that I swept up. And, I broke my sweeper yesterday morning. I heard a click and the thing just stopped sucking up the dirt and dog hairs. The bag wasn't full, but the attachment worked so I finished sucking up dog hairs with it. Sable did manage to break down her barrier during the night and there she was wagging her tail sheepishly this morning when I walked out of my bedroom.

The carpet seems to be dry enough. Oh, and it looks beautiful. They were able to get out all of the pet stains except for two. The two I had used Resolve on. Scrubber guy said to never use store-bought products. It only bleached the carpet out.

That was the same as the plumber who told me to never use store-bought products to clean my drains. He said to just call a plumber and have the drains cleaned professionally. Hmmm.

Well, it looks like it is going to be a sunny day. I need to go get gas for the mower and cut the grass. The bunnies are really starting to hang out in my yard because the clover is so thick. Guess I'll charge the camera battery and see if I can't get some cute shots.

Probably will hang my terracotta clock/thermometer combination today. It is heavy, so I need to think about where and how to hang it.

Coffee cup is empty. Time for a refill.

Coming from the speakers: Drops of Jupiter by Train.

Edit: 9:53 a.m. - I just realized that I duplicated the above song. I originally posted Drops of Jupiter on March 28th. My apologizes. Need to check my list more often.

Laughing to the sky

stormy sky


Have the day off today. I have carpet scrubbers coming. Been moving excess furniture out of living room. Whew. Daughter helped. She got a new swimsuit out of it. She doesn't mind the scars on her back - says her hair covers them. Good. New suit has a skirt. Maybe she will start wearing real skirts - nah. Not a chance.

Graduation is Sunday. Free day tomorrow. Will try to catch up on outside yard work. Unless it rains. Haven't watched the weather channel in a while. I have a new terracotta clock and thermometer to hang outside on my patio. Very heavy. I still have patio lights that I purchased two years ago that I need to get up. My patio has that vinyl siding around the inside of the roof, thought. It makes it hard to hang stuff. Can't put a nail in it, can't glue anything to it. Hmmm. Must work on this.

I did catch MXC last night. They have really changed the format to the show. It isn't like it used to be. I barely laughed last night. Bring back the old events and leave out all that in-between stuff where they are trying too hard to be funny. I think these were all shot a couple of years ago, anyway. The show isn't even current.

Well, I have more stuff to move so I had better get crackin'. You know how some people clean before the maid comes, I need to sweep the carpet before the carpet scrubbers come. But, that's just me.

Coming from the speakers: Dog and Butterfly by Heart.

Neither rain, nor sleet...

old_mail_jeep


Found an old mail jeep down in the fields behind my sister's house. What is that saying? Neither rain nor sleet nor broken down jeep? Well, something like that. Notice the keg in the back seat.

In the leaves on the trees

Ohio_Green


The summer of 1982 I lived in El Paso, Texas. I was hungry for adventure and had a bad case of wanderlust. Besides family and friends I missed the greens of Ohio. Maybe I should visit Ireland.

The picture above is from my sister's house out in the boondocks. She lives so far out she has been invaded by the Amish. Yesiree. Imagine the Amish discovering virgin territory. Well, when they first moved out there, everyone on the ridge was thinking "The Amish. How bad can they be? They won't disrupt the ridge. They are a quiet, peaceful people." WRONG! They couldn't have been more wrong. Lumber yard. The Amish get up at the crack of dawn, remember. Saws grinding at 5:30 in the morning is not a pleasant sound. The Amish don't drive semi tractor trailers, but they sell their lumber to people that do. They now have pot holes in their little one lane road that I about lost my car in.

So, if you live in a remote area and hear about the Amish coming to live next door. Move, run and hide. The kids are really cute, though. Oh, and their horses get loose every other week or so. Big, gigantic, Pershing horses. Their hoof prints are as big as my car. Well, almost. My sister's peaceful ridge is now a distant memory. Who would have thunk it?


I think I did the impossible today. I could easily imagine that no one has ever done this before. I made an employee of the DMV laugh. Yes, I did! Her face may have cracked, but she laughed, none the less. My apologies to any readers who are, have been, plan to be, or are related to, any employee of the DMV, BMV or equivalent in any state thereof. I couldn't help myself.

Regardless, I did my annual duty. My vehicle is legal again for another year. And, what is this renewal for two years thing? I saw it on the wall as I was paying. I can get a sticker for two years, now? I only have to visit this Nazi camp once every other year? Yeehaw! I'll sign up for that option next year, you betcha!

As I walked in, I took my number from the red round dispenser at the door. Heaven knows, you don't want to try to get in line without a number. Picture the line at the soup Nazi on Seinfeld. I picked number 91 and the counter on the wall said 87. Not too bad. I was on my lunch break. But there were only three people and they were all already at the counter. Where were 88, 89 and 90?

She called out number 88. She looked at me. "What number do you have?" I told her 91. I was certain I had done something wrong and would have to suffer their wrath. Is that what happened to 88, 89 and 90? Were they in the back getting tortured? Maybe they were being forced to peel off annual vehicle stickers, or worse read the drivers test study guide. I couldn't hear any screaming.

She just changed the marker to 91 and motioned me up to the counter. Forty dollars later and a good snicker from her and I was out the door with my vehicle sticker. She didn't even let me know that I was late. Overdue. Well, that's just me. Whew, made it in time to get back to work before my lunch hour was up.


Coming from the speakers: Top of the World by The Carpenters