Minion Me

The theme this year was Despicable Me 2. My great nephew turned four this week. My camera was in the car when he made his grand entrance to his birthday party in full Minion garb and goggles. The goggles did not say on long at all. So cute.

Little Girls

My family's cup runneth over. We are in the midst of a baby boom. To me this is a good thing. I love babies and small children. I do very well with school-age children but to me - the pre-schoolers are the most fun.

The above wee one? Sometimes she lets me hold her and sometimes she won't let me within 3 feet of her before she begins to pucker up. She is probably afraid I will try to hold her. I back away quickly and give her the space she needs. I can't stand those adults who grab the baby anyway and act like it is the baby's fault they are crying.

"What's wrong with you?!" 

"Nothing is wrong with me lady, I just don't know you very well and you are kind of freaking me out!"

Oh, but when they smile. Sweet sunshine!

This and That

Saturday we had two birthday parties to attend. The above little girl turned one, is my sister 1956's only grandchild. My sister is staying with me, now.

The other birthday was for a four year old boy - sister 1944's second grandchild. She has three boy grandchildren. They dressed him as a minion from Despicable Me 2. I did not get a photo of him in full costume (goggles) and all. To get an idea you only need to search for the word "minion" in Google, and then click images. He was adorable. We watched the movie while waiting for another nephew from out of town to arrive with his family. They showed me all the little extra things that go on in the background that are just as funny as the movie. Things only somebody who has had to watch a show dozens of times would see.

Twisted my neck (slept wrong, I guess) on Saturday night and still feeling the after effects.

I hate changing time - my inside clock gets all messed up. Was up at 2:30 yesterday and 2:00 a.m. today. Starting to feel groggy. After two cups of coffee I will crash in my TV chair until the alarm rings (cell phone) and probably re-twist my neck.

Work is going to get crazy.

Been reading. Missing planes, shooting through bathroom doors, quakes in CA, quakes in OH, airplane hitting a skydiver, mamas driving into the ocean, and landmines. My head spins.

I have to sign off now because soon I won't be making any sense at all. Must sleep.

Road trip!

My little road trip yesterday. Same thing today. Sa!t F0rk lodge.

Pink decorations

I took this photo while working at a school a week or so ago. The secretary told me that they had already taken down a lot of the decorations. I just think it is amazing that somebody can do this and actually get the decorations to stay attached.

I've never had much luck with decorating.

Note: I am NOT a creepy little school kid creeper. Well, not much. I do get the urge to cuddle, pinch, hug some little ones from time to time but I must resist the urge as I am a stranger.

A while back I was working at a school with the door to the tech room open when a line of little ones marched by. I smiled and waved. I heard one say to the other "Is that your grandmother?"

Wha...?!!!

Dejected

When I asked the other worker at the pizza shop for a photo of his hair, I noticed the other worker duck back into the kitchen looking dejected.

Before I left, I told him "Come on, I want a picture of your hair, too."  He was so pleased. He said "Did you get the curls?"  I said,   "I got those beautiful curls!"

Neon

This is what I do. I ask total strangers if I can get a picture of their hair. Yep. This is the second time I have done this. They don't mind a bit.

Not much

Not much posting going on around here. I am sharing the computer with my sister and since I bring my laptop  home from work, I use it - so she can have her time. She does a lot on facebook. I don't.

My neighbor told my daughter that a renter down the alley called the dog warden on his dog and ours. His neighbor told him that. But, they moved out - so all is well.

Something does not sound right to me. I will have to wait until I get the chance to talk to my neighbor myself to see his facial expression as he talks.

He said his neighbor (Heather) told him the renters had asked her for his phone number. The warden went to his house. He does not purchase dog licenses. He had to for his dog after that.

The warden called me. I always purchase dog licenses. I suppose that is how they got my telephone number, but the warden asked me if I had licenses for my dog. If she got my number from that record, she would already know that.

I may never know the entire story but something is not adding up in my book.

Just thinkin'

Just a pose of a little one. Yet another great niece.

All four

This is a photo of what it looks like when I take my dogs outside. I stand on the back porch (as does my daughter, her boyfriend and now my sister when they take them out).

Once in a while they wander around the side of the house and out of site. I call them back. If they do not come back straight away, I go after them.

They scurry back.

Somebody called the dog warden on us. I got the call yesterday and I am unclear what day or date the caller was upset with my "menace to the neighborhood" dogs.

I spoke with my sister/daughter/her beau - they cannot recall an incident where the dogs wandered into a neighbor's yard, let alone "menaced" anyone.

My neighbors to the left have a dog. Two elderly ladies to the right never walk out of their apartments (the back faces us).

Almost all of my neighbors have dogs.

There are two fairly new neighbors but I have spoken and introduced myself to both and asked them to please let me know if my dogs ever bothered them.

Four is a lot of dogs to have without a fence. I did not want an ugly fence in my yard.

I have had Sable for over 10 years. The others I have had for five years. Never once has there been a complaint lodged against them and I basically use the same technique.

The dog warden had my cell phone number, also. I disconnected my land line years ago.

Now, are they able to get the cell phone number or did the caller give them my cell phone number? If the caller gave them my number then that sort of narrows it down to who I gave my cell phone number to.

It matters to me WHO called because I want to take extra special care that my dogs do not go near their property again. The yards just blend into each other.

If it is a pooping issue, give me time to be able to get through the ice and snow to get it all picked up. I don't think that is the issue because the two older ladies never come outside to the back of their apartments.

All others who have a dog have been great friends over the years.

Sigh. Whatever.

Happy you know what

My grand/great nephew posing with a Mylar heart balloon.

I am still here. I am sharing my computer with my sister (1956) who is living with me at this time. You may see a lot of deleted comments on your posts. Well, that is me forgetting that my sister is logged into Google and it comments under her name. LOL!

Adjustment.  Heh.

Been super busy at work, too.

Been running almost every evening after work. Came down with a migraine last night. My body just quit. It said "Enough!"

I am going to try to sleep all day Sunday.

Have to work on Monday because so many schools are using this as a make-up day. I can work from  home, though.

Lots of happenings in family this month and next. SO many birthdays. So many dinners and cakes.

A big seven-oh for my oldest sister (1944) the other night. She held up well with the crazy get together of fifteen people.

Here she is with her husband and one of their three grandsons this past summer. He is the little tyke in the Mylar heart pictured above.

What's in your grocery cart?

The only experience I have with food stamps are listening to others.  I won't go into much detail about how they come about being eligible for food stamps.

I do, however, feel that the people I know who received them, misused them. I would hear things like, "I just buy what I want."  Most of the time they had high priced name brand products that I would not normally purchase. And it was one of those situations where they really missed them when they were gone. "I used to just throw things in the buggy and didn't care about how much it cost because I was using food stamps."

I can calculate to the dollar how much my groceries are going to come to at the check out counter and that is without a calculator or pen and paper. I want NO surprises.

In one circumstance one purchased a huge meat and cheese tray for a baby shower with food stamps. And I had NO idea you could purchase pop, candy, chips, donuts, cakes and pies with food stamps.

When visiting their house (no children, mind you) they had all kinds of snacks and goodies sitting around. Sitting in hog heaven, I'd say. At the time both adults were unemployed but staying with his in-laws who were very well to do. And getting $300 a month in food stamps.

I have never received one dollar in food stamps. I have at one point in my lifetime been able to put items in my grocery cart without thought of cost. Not these days; and I find myself resenting those remarks made by some folks who receive food stamps and their nonchalant attitude of just buying any old thing they want.

And (sigh) one more thing. I love this person but I cannot stand this act. Purchasing groceries with food stamps, using cash to buy beer, cigarettes, weed and lottery tickets. They are the ones who give all of this a really bad name. But alas, the situation has changed and this person receives nothing in aid from the government any longer. But that does not stop them from talking about how much they miss them while they scratch off yet another losing lottery ticket and smokes a cigarette.

On the other side of the coin, they did live a very fruitful life of working and paying taxes. Thirty years in a steel mill and never needing a hand out in all that time. I guess in some way they feel they deserve the handouts. They say they paid into it for years and years, now it is time to get some of it back. Is this the way it is supposed to work? I don't think so. They got their steel mill pension in one lump some and paid off their child's student loans. Now they only have social security to live on but for two years they did not have any income.

Sigh.  I went there.

My organization's modus operandi

So, you are the Manager of five people. Or, you are the Director of 22 people. You get an e-mail from a client (or in this case a Treasurer at a School district) praising an employee of yours.

Do you:

a. ignore it
b. send the employee a "good job!" message
c. share the "good job" message with all employees

There I was working my usual day. I got a call from a Treasurer I had not heard from in a while. I talked her through some issues over the telephone, got her working and we had a good chat.

The next day she sent me an e-mail which included a message she sent to my Manager and Director about what a wonderful job I had done and she really gave me a wonderful compliment. I thanked her profusely and it made me feel good inside.

That is the only "feel good" I am going to get. Knowing that the client "treasured" my work. Because my Manager and Director chose to totally ignore the e-mail. They have not said one word to me about it.

It just kind of makes you wonder if you received any other nice compliments from other school districts who just didn't tell you directly, but sent it on to the Manager/Director and they ignored those, too.

I will tell you this. If my Manager/Director gets an angry e-mail, I hear about that one plenty.

Crap

This acronym is all the buzzword around the education meetings these days. In Ohio, at least. Backwards is pretty much how I see it.

Technology is in an uproar because of all the demands the state is making on schools to be able to support the testing that is going to be coming our way. The idea is for thousands of students to take an on-line test at the same time and I know - school networks are unprepared to handle the load.

It is a serious sh!t-storm. The arguing back and forth is depressing to hear. The demands on school networks will be intense. I've read where one panel discussion at a PBS station almost needed to call security.

A statement from one state that has already tried it:  Thousands of students experienced slow loading times of test questions, students were closed out of testing in mid-answer, and some were unable to log in to the tests.

It can't be easy for education departments to make the rules and standards but 'wow'. This one seems to take the cake.

Little blockhead

It took me three tries, but I finally was able to get this picture to post.

My nephew tortures his little girl with pictures that will come back to haunt her in the future.

In my mind

When I was in my twenties, I thought it was pretty cut and dry. Decisions. How you chose to live your life, etc... I was confused and angry at women who remained in a violent environment.

As I grew older, became wiser (I hope) and read more, I came to understand a bit more about how the human mind works. About strength. I used to think that women who remained in this situation were weak until one day I thought "Maybe they are really, really strong!?"

I am so fortunate to have instilled inside my brain (as puny as it may be) the audacity to be independent and to stand up for my rights. Maybe not in everything all the time - but enough to matter.

My sister is a victim of verbal abuse. Fortunately, there is no physical (except one time many years ago). Verbal abuse is just as ugly and it tears away at your psyche on a daily basis until you don't know who you are any longer and you don't know up from down, night from day.

I believe it is a form of brain washing and victims are left so confused they no longer can make decisions for themselves. Especially when your genetic make-up was one where that was a weak area, anyway.

So, the above photo is lifted from the Internets, but it depicts pretty much how I feel when it comes to physical violence or verbal abuse in a relationship. I do not believe I know anyone (man or woman) who is the abuser (physical) in a relationship. I know they are out there, I am just glad I am not aware of it. I probably know plenty of verbal abusers and those who play mind games with their spouse. The subject seems to be taboo, whispered only with closest friends and trusted family members.

Don't even get me started on child or animal abuse. It will ruin my day for sure.

Barely here

I'm here. I'm just not posting, much. This little tyke above was surrounded by Christmas lights when his Mom snapped a photo. I added the dinosaur frame from picjoke.com - fun site.

I have a sister visiting and we are busy chatting, playing Words with Friends, watching movies and running around.

Stay warm out there.I may not post until February. I have a conference next week in Columbus (ugh). I hate staying away from home unless it is with my family.

Funny gag gift

First, let me apologize for the blurry photo. Taken with my cell phone at a work party and my hand was not very steady. (no alcohol involved, we ARE an education institution after all) but plenty of laughter and just plain jitters.

We were to purchase a "gag" gift for five dollars and take to the party. I thought this one was particularly creative. The gal opened her gift and it was a pack of batteries and as she moved the tissue paper aside on the bottom of the box it says "Gift not included."  Loved it!

I do not have any excuse for not posting very much. I guess I just have hit another dry spell. My posting is motivated by my need to put something down, so I guess I'll just have to wait for inspiration or until my feelings prompt me to write.

Wake me when it's over

Or when it's dinner time. Whichever comes first.  My cat seems to be  hiding from the cold spell. I would too, but duty calls. Yes, a lot of schools closed but most of them in my area released early on Monday, closed Tuesday and are starting late today.

We have a balmy 8º Fahrenheit this morning. That is outside. Hell, I remember when the kitchen in my house was a balmy 8º.  Not a lie. I was using the refrigerator thermometer on the kitchen counter. January 1983, I believe.

I have been reading books I received for Christmas and was shocked to find that I have not read my blog list in days! Yikes. So many are writing such thought-provoking posts, too. I don't have time to go over all of them this morning and I want to research what they are saying and reply but time has run out.

Even though the schools are on a delay this morning, I need to get into the office a.s.a.p. I have  a tech set up to call me at exactly 10 o'clock (our time).

One tech came to work on equipment at 2:30 Monday afternoon and did not leave until 6 p.m. That was the day the temperature dropped all day and it was 13º outside. I wanted to go home and stay there. I don't know what took him so long (he didn't say). Usually they only take an hour to do this job. Ugh!

No fanfare

Just a nice smooth transition into the new year. No fuss, no mess. No big expectations, just another new year. A few new faces this year. Nobody in dire straits. I have a few days off and am enjoying them. Being lazy but getting a bit antsy today. I have the hammer but cannot find the nail size I want. Will venture out to the garage to see if I can find some there. Watch out. May be some hammering going on.

All the men folk in the house run! Lady of the house has a hammer. This can't be good. They escape to the gym.