Couch potatoes

We are minus 2 step great-grand children and one great grand baby girl, and there is one little boy still in the oven.  The rest of my family's baby boom are shown here on the couch.

Soon to be released out into the wild world, come what may. No, it won't be long at all until they are working, learning, driving, voting and running the world. God help us all.

The "smoking" road not taken

I found this picture on the Internet and I thought it funny. Of course, smoking is not funny. Neither is high sodium content soup.

I don't think about smoking very much. I was one of the fortunate ones and did not begin in my teens or my twenties. I have no desire to start. I did smoke a cig or two at a bar but I don't think I ever inhaled. I know that sounds funny given the comment from Clinton, but I imagine if I ever inhaled I would have coughed my lungs up.

I think a lot about smoking now that my sister is with us. I think back in the day she and her husband smoked Belair or something like that. Today it is the cheapest she can find - Sonoma Light 100s or something.

My Mom and Dad rolled their own. They purchased Bugler tobacco and my Mom had a cigarette rolling machine. My Dad rolled by hand. When she would go out to a store or restaurant she would smoke Pall Mall.

My brother smoked Camel, I think. He has since stopped. He had a nodule removed from his throat and he switched to cherry cigars and it took a little while but he was able to stop altogether. His companion (who is 17 years his senior) still smokes a lot.

My daughter told her boyfriend he was going to smoke an E-cig and she purchased one for him for Christmas. She told him if she caught him smoking cigarettes it was a relationship breaker. She and I both despise tobacco smoke. It gives us headaches. My sister smokes outside.


This year I have been lucky. Knock on wood. I did not get that awful flu bug that a lot of family got and I did not get strep throat and I did not get that nasty cough. I am in the bout of a misery of headaches because of certain triggers (that I cannot control) but other than that - I am feeling great.

Well, not great. As great as can be expected for my self-inflicted lifestyle.

My brother and his wife have been dealt a serious life threatening situation and I am sharply reminded that life is a fragile blessed thing that I sometimes take for granted.  They found a tumor in my SIL's stomach and removed it. It is cancerous and she is developing blood clots and it is all so awful and scary. They think there is more in there and at first they wanted to go back in as soon as she heals from this surgery, now with the clots they decide to wait six months maybe longer.

They have a long road ahead of them and the incident has all of us sitting up and taking notice of how precious our health and life really are.

Is there a doctor in the family?

As most of you know sister 1956 has been staying with me on and off since January. She does travel back to our home town so she can help watch her granddaughter and then she stays with my brother if she needs to.

She is a heavy smoker and of course being in the middle of a life crisis her immune system is run down. She has had one of the worst coughing bouts for over two weeks. It seriously sounds like she is going to cough up a lung. It is brutal.

My Sister-in-law (married to brother 1953) is in the hospital currently for some medical issues that I may talk about in another post. His son became a doctor last summer. He was visiting also - he works at two different hospitals and this one happened to be one of them. We all settled into the small hospital room and we chatted about things. Listened to each other tell stories - you know - regular family visits.

Sister 1956 left for a while, not sure if she went to the bathroom or just needed to walk around (it was much too far to walk to have a smoke). I was telling my brother about my sister and her cough. I was trying to get her into stat care to get medicine, but she didn't have money. She recently signed up for Obamacare but her doctor visit ended up being $182 and she is to pay $92 out of pocket. She was a bit dismayed about that. We may look for another doctor.

We were not paying much attention to my nephew as he was on his cell phone texting or reading etc...When my sister came back in we chatted some more.

My nephew sat up, asked my sister a couple of questions about her cough and proceeded to phone her in a prescription. His half sister is a Pharmacist in my town. (His sister is a mortician. Not a practicing one but she graduated from the school).

Lickety split. Just like that. My sister had her medicine. A z-pak, cough medicine and a steroid.  She has no regular doctor. She recently started a new one in my town so she could continue her high blood pressure medicine. I did remind my nephew about her high blood pressure. Before this she was getting prescriptions at a free clinic and it was a hit and miss episode as she is not well known for keeping up with taking care of herself. Letting her prescription run out etc...

She has the family curse. Take care of everybody else and some strangers before even thinking about ourselves. Hopefully now she will get well and nip this horrible cough in the bud.

Did I mention that my daughter has a severe case of strep throat and laryngitis? Yeah. She said the doctor is probably going to say they need to come out on Thursday. Wha..?

Mama needs to sit down.

Sake

I had my first "intentional" sake last evening. When a group of us went a couple of years ago, the performing chefs squirted some in our wide open mouths with a squeeze bottle. Hell, could have been water they were squirting at us for all I know.

I liked the immediate "punch" feeling that it gave me. The atmosphere was right. I was with other women from work. I had an empty stomach. The air was full of friendship, laughter and gossip. The first little tiny cup of sake went down quickly and "bang", I was buzzed.

As with all alcohol, after you eat a meal - that same little cup of sake has no effect. Or not near as much. I long remember the days where I had to keep that buzz going and food was forfeited and in return I was blessed with a long, painful hangover the next morning. Ah, those were the days. (NOT!)

Just a "J"

I am on a tech list serve and today the entire list received a message with just the letter "J" in it. Well, most of them did, anyway.

Do folks who use Outlook (Express) even realize that their smiley icons show up as just the letter "J" if the receiver does not use their brand of e-mail application?

I have received several "J"s in my e-mails.  ☺

Enuresis

So there I am working on the network equipment in a little elementary building. I am sitting in the nurses' office because that is where the equipment is. There is a little desk with a telephone that the teachers use to call parents, etc..

While working along I hear an irate teacher. She is screaming and she is dragging a little boy into the nurses office and dialing the telephone. I don't give it much notice but with being only a couple of  feet away I can hear everything.

The first thing that catches my attention is the teacher screaming at the little boy (my best guess is 8 years old) that she is going to call Mrs. Somebody and tell her what he did. She never did say "his mother" so I don't know what was up with that.

She proceeded to dial a number and scream into the phone "Johnny did 'you-know-what' in his pants again today!" And on and on she went. She tried to force the kid to speak into the phone himself , I guess because I heard her say "Well, he doesn't want to say what he did on the machine.."  So I am thinking she got an answering machine.

I did hear her say that "Johnny was too busy playing to take the time to go to the bathroom, again!"

She sure did a lot of yelling and she sure wasn't shy about it. Here I am - a complete stranger to her and she was quite brutal in my opinion. The principal was not at her office, but the teacher sure did try to drag him in there. The regular secretary was at lunch, so there was a teacher from another classroom covering for her.

She made the boy sit in the office for the rest of the recess and screamed at him that he was to sit in the office for the rest of the week during recess.

Well, I at least hope they let the poor boy go to the bathroom during his time out.

I managed a peek at the boy later and he did not seem to be the least disturbed by the event. He was squirming in his chair and when I caught his eye, there was no shame. Just a little boy who wanted to be somewhere else.

I brought the subject up with some of the women I work with and some thought perhaps the boy may be on the edge of the spectrum, which is referring to Asbrgr's syndrome or Aut!sm. The other teacher heard this teacher and later this teacher told the regular secretary why the boy was there. Nobody questioned the boy or the teacher. The principal didn't even seem to notice.

We wonder.

Crush

Sometimes a picture is worth a thousand words. Heck, I may as well make this my family photo album blog. I have been negligent lately. I have stories, but just have not put them into the blog.

The boy is the son of my nephew's wife from another relationship. He has Asbrgr syndrome. (Vowels omitted on purpose).  I need to be careful when teasing him (I like to tease children in good fun). He is so wonderful and special.

And, he is clearly smitten with this girl in the photo. She seems to know he is following her and is playing the flirt card very well.

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.