Just the Two of Us

wolf cake

This cake is from last year's birthday for my daughter's 13th party. Last year wolves, this year Brad Pitt. Hmmm. Something about boys (men) and wolves. It happens so quickly sometimes.

My daughter's antics on the field trip to Washington D.C. were typical of the young teenagers of America. They were four to a motel room. Laughing, giggling running from room to room. The chaperones ended up putting a piece of duct tape across their room door. Not enough to make a fire hazard. (I was quick to quiz my daughter on this practice). She said no, just one strip across the door. I told her she should have listened to the adults and stayed put.

Not like the years before when the boys in one room decided they were going to smoke cigarettes. They dismantled the smoke alarm, but the sprinklers went off, thus flooding the entire hallway on that floor. I am surprised they still do the field trips. One boy jumped from one moving up escalator to the one moving down in another year's trip. Last year one boy became dehydrated and was rushed to the emergency room. The year of the terrorist attacks, they cancelled the trip.

My daughter said that the phones and t.v. were supposed to have been removed or disabled, not the case. They had access to both. And, HBO. (yikes).

Between Arlington cemetery, the Capitol building, the Smithsonian Institute, the Vietnam War Veterans Memorial, the Lincoln Memorial, the Washington Monument, National Archives (had to skip, security said NO), and Union Station; what was my daughters' favorite thing? The subway. That's right, the subway. She was so excited to ride the subway. We have nothing like that here in rural Ohio. We drive everywhere. Our town doesn't even have a bus terminal.

She said that she and her friend kept losing their balance. I myself, have never been on a subway train. I might get claustrophobic. My daughter said she did, a bit.

Coming from the speakers: Just the Two of Us by Bill Withers.

stuck in the middle

popcorn


Well, it was a very long day. I finished it up trying to fix some popcorn. This is why the instructions say to stay with the microwave while the bag is popping. Mine fell through the cracks and did not expand - thus, no popcorn. Nuts. I was too tired to fix another bag. My daughter had just come home, too. I sat and listened to her D.C. trip. Awesome.

Coming from the speakers: Stuck in the Middle With You by Stealer's Wheel.

Running on Empty

empty

It's going to be a long day. (sigh)

That's just the way it is

fuchsia

Some things will never change. That's just the way it is. Did you watch the Presidential speech tonight? I have some questions that I want to ask. Does anyone recall what his father said? "Read my lips! No new taxes!"

As far as Social Security goes - if you were born before 1950, you're in. You will get the full benefits. How sweet. It just so happens that George W. was born in 1946. Whew, made it! There's looking out for Number One!

Does the President pay into Social Security? Damn straight.

From Social Security Online:

All federal employees (including all members of Congress, the President and Vice President, Federal judges, and most political appointees) hired on or after January 1, 1984 are mandatorily covered under Social Security.

So, as I see it you pay into SS for thirty-odd years. You receive benefits for any years that you live past the set retirement age. It is still a crap shoot. If you paid for thirty years worth of Social Security, but pass away before you receive any benefits - Government won't have to pay back what you put in. (If you have no spouse).

If you live twenty years past retirement, (you paid for thirty, collect for twenty) the Government is ahead by ten years worth.

If you live five years past retirement, (you paid for thirty, collect for five) the Government is ahead by twenty-five years worth.

With the new plan, you can opt to pay into a personal savings account. What happens if you pass away before you withdraw it? Is it treated like a regular savings account? Will you have a beneficiary? Is it treated like an IRA? Will the interest be taxed?

And did it sound as if he was dissing Congress?

"Too often the temptation in Washington is to look at a major issue only in terms of whether it gives one political party an advantage over the other. Social Security is too important for politics as usual. "

and this one:

"So I'm not surprised that some are balking at doing hard work."

Ouch. That must have stung. As opposed to "slacking?"

Moving on to the price of gasoline:

"We will continue to encourage oil-producing nations to maximize their production."

How are we to do that? There is a question I would have liked to have asked. Will you threaten them? Bully them? Coerce them? Kick them where it hurts? Why are they holding back production anyway? Are they holding out for some good old American goodies?


Whatever.

Coming from the speakers: The Way it Is by Bruce Hornsby

Little fuzzy pups

yorkshire terrier

What a day I've had. I was thinking of skipping a day at the blog, but then I decided to do a "quickie". Besides sending my daughter off to D.C. for three days, I have been catching up on fixing old pc's for friends.

What a trip down memory lane! Fdisk, Format c: and Windows 98. The really funny thing was the monitor was old and the VGA was old and the screen icons and font were REALLY large. I didn't need my reading glasses. If you have done this kind of work before, you know what I mean when I parrot "Are you sure?" ARE YOU SURE?!!!! Yes, I am sure! Just delete the damn partition, would ya?

Then, I checked my personal email once more before retiring. Just in case a sibling needs some kind words or encouragement. Rough times for sisters and brothers. Too late to call and I don't want to force it. Gentle - slow. Let them adjust to the news. Meanwhile, research, research, research.

But, after that I got on the kick of reading about poor managers and poor management. Here is a comment from a manager from my past. Sitting at a meeting with mixed company and mixed representatives she said "I have only met one man smarter than me." And, I'll bet she was thinking that there wasn't a woman alive smarter than she.

Coming from the speakers: I Love by Tom T. Hall (little fuzzy pups)

Little abandoned houses

abandoned house

Along on my side road visit a couple of weeks ago, I came across this old abandoned house. I had to take it's picture. It seemed so forlorn. Perhaps it is indicative of the economy in the midwest. The parts that the politicians don't see. Or, maybe the family moved out because of all the land stripping that was going on all around it.

Too tired to experiment with any html on this blog site. I have my personal web page up and running. I have been throwing stuff out on it. Here is the URL if anyone wants to take a peek. Although it may be redundant for some of you: http://users.adelphia.net/~mgwine/

My daughter and the entire eighth grade class goes to Washington D.C. tomorrow. I have a 4:30 a.m. wake-up call. They have to be at the school between 5:15 and 5:30. Three days away from home. My niece has been spending a lot of time with her beau, so that means "me" time. I guess I will work on my new addiction. Mentioned above.

I am going to go off on a tangent here. Just some of my personal rambling thoughts. I don't want to complain, just state the facts and my personal opinion on the matter at hand. Being a woman and a single Mom, I try to be careful about taking time off and using my child as an excuse. We have at work what is the equivalent of an electronic "in-out" board. We log in and we can see where every co-worker is at any given time. If they keep the board updated. I see a couple of parents stating "Stephen is sick" if they are taking a sick day. Do they need to put that on there? Not in my opinion. A sick day is a sick day regardless of who needs to have the day off.

Now, when my daughter was young and did not need to be at school until 8:45 a.m. and I start work at 8:00 a.m., you bet your sweet bippy I went out and found me a caretaker that would make sure she got to school on time. I would drop her off at around 7:30 and get my ass to work. That is what I felt was my responsibility as a working human being.

I have a co-worker. He has it pre-arranged that he gets his kids on the school bus and comes in to work later. Now, it was never posted in any memo or what-not. I heard from a co-worker that this is the arrangement that he has. I would imagine that he makes up by working over some evenings, I don't know. I don't pay that much attention after hours. I do look at the in-out board in the mornings, so that I know if I need to call someone, if they are out sick or not. I have noticed that he posts In at @8:30 or something to that effect.

Granted, I never asked for any special privileges. How luxurious that would have been. I didn't feel that it was fair to my co-workers (some who are also single parents who began work at 7:30 a.m.) and never asked for any special handling. I also have this feeling that if a job sets your hours you abide by them. Now, if the job itself needed him to be there later in the evenings, I would completely understand. Not the case.

I don't think it is his special hours that bother me as much as the organization makes no mention of it to the fellow employees. Or any reasoning about it. Sometimes, I just wonder.

Coming from the speakers: Little Pink Houses by John (can we still say Cougar?) Mellencamp.

In the middle of the night

I had more than my usual number of dreams last night. I must have been trying to hash out a lot of anxiety and frustration.
What are dreams for, anyway? I have read some on it and I guess it is anybody's guess. Some resources say that dreams pull all of our days actions and feelings together and unravel them so that our brains can begin the next day anew.

Other resources state that it is a way for our brains to clean up what we have experienced or lived that day. Process things to memory or back it up to our hard drives. In a manner of speaking.

And, yet another said that it was a way for us to deal with our fears, anger and other emotions. Okay. I sure am glad I don't murder anyone in my dreams. I do a lot of yelling, though. Sometimes.

I am still experimenting with html. Is it padding or margin that I need to adjust for the text to back off from the edge of the image? I don't know that I care for this font, it must be difficult to read, so I'll end this post.

Coming from the speakers: River of Dreams by Billy Joel.

And I think it's gonna snow today

yellow tulips

I'll have to venture out sometime today to see how the above tulips are faring in the snow. Cold, wet, gray day. I fought with the Compose function of this blogsite so much yesterday, that I have to take a break today. But, I will be back. Once I rest and regroup.

As soon as I would fix the Mozilla/Netscape feature of the image overlapping the post below, I would lose the opacity in IE. I am running three browsers so that I can see how my post looks in each one. I don't have a Mac, so I can't see how it looks in that OS.

However, my very worldly nephew has shown me the new Beta Netscape. Download it and give it a spin. Wow! Here is the url. It is based on Firefox. Remember that it is still in the "beta" form.

I call my nephew "worldly" because this past year alone he has been to Phoenix, San Diego, Seattle, Minneapolis, and Toronto (twice) Canada. He is being trained for Oracle database Administrator. He is usually far more up to date on the newest, latest, greatest.

I found out this morning that the new body lotion I purchased is actually a tanning lotion. I saw the tell-tale signs of orange rust-like tint on my hands. WTF? I grabbed the lotion and read the "tiny" print. "subtly enhances skin tone & color" it says. Huh. I usually don't wear my reading glasses when I go to the store. Maybe I should start. I really liked the 'lotion' part, too. But, I really don't like to look orange. The color doesn't suit me.

Here is something kind of funny that I read about email. Pause for thought. Uh huh. Okay, but I never inhaled. Or, I got your email, but I don't remember what it said. Roll me another one, I mean 'send it again'. Oh, I could go on. But, mercifully, I won't.

Coming from the speakers: I Think It's Gonna Rain Today by Dusty Springfield

A blossom fell and touched two lips

twolips
Here I am practicing with CSS and opacity. Cascading Style Sheets. The Post page's Compose button and I have been sparring this morning. I am determined to beat it.

Anyway, the below picture(s) is two of my red/orange tulips. I liked this color best against the gray siding of my house. I did have to edit out the bird poop that appeared in the picture right behind the tulips. Something you don't notice until you zoom in on the picture. Wonderful.

Most of my learning has been at this wonderful site: www.mandarindesign.com. They are by far one of the best html tutors that I have found (so far). I do a lot of copy and paste and then change the images to mine. I don't like using other people's images when I have (last count) 10GB of my own jpg's to choose from.

I still have not heard from my Internet provider as to when I can start uploading my own web page. I am going to have to cut my jpg's down to the bare minimum, though. I will read up on how to post images in thumbnails because I will only be allowed 10MB of space. I want more, more more!

Well, I don't want to bore you with details. I am going to practice some more and play with more pictures. What a way to be creative. (sigh). Two lips - tulips.

Coming from the speakers: A Blossom Fell by Nat King Cole

You Could Touch the Moonlight

Mr. Blue Jay

Another great shot of the bird who was visiting on Sunday. My Mom always told me that blue jays were mean. I never got close enough to find out. I think she meant that when it comes to bird survival they are at the top of their game. I don't know. The robins were pretty courageous. The mourning doves were downright chicken.

I continue to work with html. I am not real happy with the large top margin with this box. I'll have to look into that. Too tired right now.

I have been working with opacity and mouseovers on my work web page the past couple of days. I have started the process of getting my own web page established through my cable/Internet provider. But, they didn't call me. I sent the email last night and I received and automatic response stating that someone would be in touch within 48 hours. So far, nothing.

That big moon outside Is getting pretty full. We have turned much colder, here in Ohio. We also have rain. I have been looking at vacation ideas for me and my daughter. I don't think we will want to go to the beach this year. I'll wager that she won't put on a swimsuit the entire summer.

There are some nice ideas. I always wanted to take a long train ride through the Canadian Rockies. There are a couple of Disney World packages that also look inviting. I was there in 1978 and 1984.

Coming from the speakers: Have you ever been in love by Celine Dion. (You could touch the moonlight)

God didn't make little green tomatoes...

(More work in progress)...

I am quite ready for the blooms that appear in the Spring, bringing all of their vibrant color to the Ohio Valley. Not the bees buzzing around nor the sneezing of allergies can stop me from enjoying the immense display of flowers in our neighborhood gardens. Whether you choose simple and bold tulips to line your paths or a more delicate design of phlox that will cover the ground, both go well with the backdrop of the bright green and shiny hostas that are pushing their strong, ready-to-burst shoots up through the ground. The birds are also a welcome sight as they are seen hopping along the freshly mowed lawns in search of the tasty morsel of a worm or insect. The sky begins to grow more azure and is a brilliant contrast against the budding of the flowering dogwoods in the area. And, who hasn't been awakened early on a Saturday or (whince) Sunday morning by the roar of a neighbor's lawn mower or leaf blower? Although, noise is one of the downsides of the coming warmer months, we can sit back on our newly purchased or freshly painted lawn chairs with a nice cool glass of iced tea or lemonade in the evenings and enjoy the extreme pleasure of manicured landscapes and well taken care of gardens in our beautiful countryside. So, after all your hard, back-breaking work is done, sit back, relax and take a deep, exhilarating breath and enjoy the wonderful aromas that begin to float on the breeze of a warm and long-awaited Spring evening.

I am quite ready for the blooms that appear in the Spring, bringing all of their vibrant color to the Ohio Valley. Not the bees buzzing around nor the sneezing of allergies can stop me from enjoying the immense display of flowers in our neighborhood gardens. Whether you choose simple and bold tulips to line your paths or a more delicate design of phlox that will cover the ground, both go well with the backdrop of the bright green and shiny hostas that are pushing their strong, ready-to-burst shoots up through the ground. The birds are also a welcome sight as they are seen hopping along the freshly mowed lawns in search of the tasty morsel of a worm or insect. The sky begins to grow more azure and is a brilliant contrast against the budding of the flowering dogwoods in the area. And, who hasn't been awakened early on a Saturday or (whince) Sunday morning by the roar of a neighbor's lawn mower or leaf blower? Although, noise is one of the downsides of the coming warmer months, we can sit back on our newly purchased or freshly painted lawn chairs with a nice cool glass of iced tea or lemonade in the evenings and enjoy the extreme pleasure of manicured landscapes and well taken care of gardens in our beautiful countryside. So, after all your hard, back-breaking work is done, sit back, relax and take a deep, exhilarating breath and enjoy the wonderful aromas that begin to float on the breeze of a warm and long-awaited Spring evening.

Everybody's workin' for the week-end

This is my work in progress.
I am learning pure html as I go.
My eyes are very sensitive to bright flashy things, hence you won't find much flash and neon colors on my blog site. I like the cool colors, such as green, blue and purple and their variants thereof. I learn better on my own reading from a text book and/or manual. I do not do very well in a classroom environment. I find that I get very self-conscious with others around me and I don't seem to fit into a group. Most of the technology I know and use on a daily basis, has involved me figuring it out on my own. I find that the Internet is an invaluable resource for learning on your own. I can't get enough of it.

Call me any, anytime

red tulips

My beautiful red tulips in bloom. Picture taken yesterday. I declared years ago that my favorite flower was the tulip. Simple yet beautiful. Bold but not fancy. And a very good friend said that was me.

Bold? - not always.

Simple? - sometimes complicated.

Beautiful? - not even close!

My pick of beautiful women: Brunette would be Emmylou Harris. Or Connie Selleca. For blonde I always liked Elizabeth Montgomery when she was Samantha Stevens.

Edit: 9:20 p.m. - I realize that I need a redhead in the mix of beauties. My votes goes to Ann Margret. Something good happened to me at work today. A couple of years ago, I created a work web site to help my schools out with tips and tricks I have picked up over the years I have been working with them.

Today a gentleman called me from Texas to thank me for one of the tips on my page. He had been trying to get a digital keyboard to work with Windows XP and my tips page had the answer he needed. It felt very good for me to be able to help someone who wasn't even affiliated with any of my schools. He could have just emailed me, but he called me at work. I was very flattered.

Coming from the speakers: Call Me by Blondie

They call me mellow yellow

yellow flower

Yeah, I am pretty sure this is not what I ordered when those two nice ladies came around selling flower bulbs. I would never order yellow flowers for my dark blue/gray house.

But this is what I have, and I will deal with it. They are bright, I will give them that. However, they just look like daffodils from a distance. Not that I don't like daffodils. It is just that yellow and dark gray? Horrors. Orange-red is what I wanted.

Suffering from an ear ache. I rarely get ear aches. The top of my head is sensitive and my throat hurts. Where is the aspirin? Then, on to work.

Coming from the speakers: Nothing. I am already out the door.

Katmandu

robin red breast

One robin says to the other robin:

"I don't know, Gus. Something about this place has cats written all over it."

Fortunately for the above fellows, my three cats are inside cats. They rarely even look out the back door anymore. Screened windows, yes. Backdoor, no.

I am thinking about looking for a new home for Precious. We have had her for one year. She has changed in the past three months. If I didn't know any better, I would say she was in heat. But, she is fixed. She is much more demanding in the affection area. She is sparring with our other two cats a lot more often than before. They all just don't get along. She acts possessed. I think if someone who is looking for a friendly and pretty cat, they would like her. We'll see. She is small but she is far from a kitten.

I must have looked in five stores today at lunch time and on the way home from work for a sun tea jar. One of those big glass jars that you fill with cold water, put about seven tea bags in and sit out in the sun. After a few hours you add sugar and ice and you have wonderfully sweet iced tea. I threw my other one away because it had a little spigot on the front that leaked.

At the school I was at today they had a fire drill. Of course. Any beautiful day in the spring, they pull a rehearsal drill. I didn't know it was coming and I was working in the wiring closet. Full of electrical equipment, Ethernet port lights flashing. I had just plugged a cable into a switch when the alarm began. I don't know if you have heard a school alarm lately, but they aren't like the ones I was used to in the seventies. This one was more like short fog horn bursts. I about jumped out of my skin. I know I cursed. Luckily there were no students in the room with me. Sheesh!

Coming from the speakers: Katmandu by Bob Seger

He's So Shy

black squirrel

Someone came to check out my work today. I had cleared out most of the tree debris that had accumulated in the far corner of my driveway today. Birds and squirrels came to investigate when I took a break. I looked out my window and immediately grabbed my camera. This was definitely going to be good. I got some good close-ups of a blue jay (Cyanocitta cristata) and a couple of robins, too.

I had to sit quietly for some time to get them to come back, but I had stirred up so many tasty centipedes, spiders and worms they could not resist.

My daughter helped a good bit. She is working off a haircoloring bill that she ran up yesterday. She wanted the ends of her hair tipped in bright blonde. Her good friend that stays here some week-ends has the prettiest light blond hair. And, my daughter's hair has been getting progressively darker as the years roll by. That was her looking like Cousin Itt in my post yesterday. Her hair especially gets dark during the winter months.

She has quite a bit more to work off. Coloring at the hair salon is quite an expensive ordeal. Ouch. She is happy with it, but not many people noticed. It is a slight change, I guess.

We go back to have another mole removed in early May. Not looking forward to that. Summer is coming and she is outside more (especially since she got her bike) and I have to keep reminding her to put her sunscreen on.

She was upset yesterday because her arms got a light burn on them. She said she wasn't allowed to get sunburnt. I said that it isn't that she is not allowed, she just has to be careful and to make sure she wears sunscreen.
I bought her a cute ball cap from Firefox, but she doesn't like it. I will keep trying. There has to be some kind of hat out there that she will like.

Coming from the speakers: He's So Shy by The Pointer Sisters.

Cousin Itt

cousin itt


Okay, I admit
I had an affair with Cousin Itt!

Kiss This!

chicken lips

Does a chicken have lips? Would you kiss a chicken on the lips? Read more about it here.

I may be in some real trouble, now. At my local drug store, I found the very delicious, very tempting, unavoidable chocolate candies that I love.


If you like chocolate and have not tried one of these, I sincerely suggest that you don't try one. Nope, don't do it. You have been warned.

I need to go and start my outside work. Rake, mow, pull, weed, sweep, trip to the drug store to get candy - Aaack! How'd that get in there?

Coming from the speakers: Whiter Shade of Pale by Procol Harem

On the road again

covered bridge

Today I had to travel to Columbiana county in Ohio. I remembered to take my camera - fully charged and ready to go. After my work was done, I stopped at a local pizzeria for lunch. While pulling into the parking lot, I noticed a huge basset hound next door sunning himself. I clicked a couple of pictures of him. I didn't notice that I had set my keys on my passenger car seat instead of in my purse. Click, the car door shut and I was locked out.

Triple-A to the rescue within half an hour, before I even finished my lunch. The locals had a good laugh at my expense. I didn't mind. This is why I have Triple-A.

So, on the way back to my home county, I slipped off the beaten path on a scenic excursion. I found the beautiful bridge shown above. I was completely alone back in this small scenic area. I have plenty of pictures to show, but just one for today. Until I have more time to write.

I did something today that I have never done in all my 29 years of working. I waited until today to file my taxes. Not only that, I waited until after 5:00 p.m. to even venture to the library to pick up my tax forms. How crazy is that? My library closed at 6 p.m. and I even had to make a second trip out because I had forgotten the Itemized Deduction form. I was so laughing at myself.

I remembered that there was this one post office staying open until 11:30 p.m. - it just happened to be in the town that my brother lived in. It took me a couple of hours, but I finished up my federal, state and city taxes, drove to the post office (they were so nice they had doughnuts and cookies) mailed my taxes out and stopped to visit with my brother and his wife for a couple of hours.

I still cannot believe that I am this unorganized this year. And, it isn't just taxes. I have to do some serious catching up and then restructure myself so that I can get back on track.

Maybe it is this blog thing that is taking up all of my time. Hmm. Interesting.

Coming from the speakers: Crimson and Clover by Tommy James and the Shondells.

Nuggets the mouse

nugget

Here is my daughter's mouse Nuggets. He is a tiny little fellow.
And here is his Taj-Mahal.

Quite roomy for a little critter such as he. My daughter said, that's okay, we would get another one. I took a few moments and explained the facts of life to her. Not the normal facts of life like Health class agenda. No, this one is more like "down on the farm" facts of life and wild animal abandonment.

She actually thinks that the pet store personnel would only sell us two of the same gender. Oh, to be young and naive again.

Coming from the speakers: Crazy by Patsy Cline