That's Just Wrong, Page 2

Here's another page from the book I should write, titled "That's Just Wrong".

Parking is at a real premium here where we are. On street parking near anywhere you wanna be is almost unheard of. Besides, most street parking requires a certain parking pass. No pass, and you will be towed. Anyway, so we do a lot of walking. We drive to a nearby parking lot, and then it's not uncommon to walk two or three blocks back where we want to be.

That said, today for lunch we headed to a nice little area we recently found. There are a handful of restaurants in a couple block radius, so we have choices. We were walking up and down the street, trying to decide on where to have lunch while I was also window shopping in some quaint shops along the way.

What did I come across? A dad on his day with the kids. That should be a nice sight. But here's the quality of dad I was looking at. Dad had his two kids in a double stroller. It's like really wide and the two kids are sitting side by side. The stroller is parked by a door to a shop with both kids in the stroller. Go ahead. Guess where dad is. IN the store. IN THE STORE. Kids outside. Alone. In a stroller. They had to both be under three years of age. I was so angry with this guy. He came strolling out of the shop like he didn't have a care in the world.

That's just wrong.

I Am Stuffed Like a Pizza

The best part about traveling for work is the food. Dang, we do eat well on the road.

And, being someplace new is all about discovering new places to eat. The heck with the Applebee's or Papa John's you can get anywhere. I want something new and exciting. It is our mission to boldly go where few Clevelanders have gone before! We live for our dinner!

This week alone has been a winner every night. Monday started with Wolfgang Puck's. I had a pretty good chicken and pasta dish. Tuesday we found a great Irish pub by accident, the Celtic Knot. It was awesome! We each picked one of the specialties of the place. I went with fish and chips while my boss went for the Sheppard's pie. Hard to know which one of us did better they were both fantastic.

Tonight though, we went for authentic deep dish stuffed Chicago-style pizza. Holy Cow! We ordered a medium pizza and between two of us, we couldn't finish it. It wasn't for the lack of trying though. I can't tell you how full I am! If anyone has the opportunity to try some real Chicago-style pizza, I strongly recommend it. It's not like anything you'll ever get at Pizza Hut or Donatos or whatever your favorite joint happens to be.

I have about one and a half pieces leftover. I don't know why I brought them back to the hotel with me, but I did! Who knows, maybe I'll wake in the middle of the night and want to abuse my tummy. It's happened before.

So much for my diet!

Update to yesterday's blog . . . I am feeling much better today!

Deja Vu

I am having a really, really bad day today.

I know we all joke about deja vu, but I don't know what else to call it. It's happened four times today, the last being a few minutes ago as we were pulling into the parking garage.

I just suddenly get a "feeling". I'm seeing something in my mind's eye which feels like a memory. Like I know what's going to happen in this other reality, or memory, or vision or whatever. It is so hard to put into words. All I can say is when I start thinking about what I'm "remembering" I start to feel like a wave of panic is washing over me and I suddenly feel very nauseous. Ugh. One of them today felt like I was afraid of the snow that was falling in my "memory". Just a little bit ago, it had to do with finding a parking spot while holding a book on my lap. It doesn't make sense.

I'm telling you, it's the absolute weirdest feeling. What's happening? There are no drugs in my system, not even alcohol. Right now my heart is pounding and I'm still shaking. I remember feeling this way once before when I lived in Houston. I can remember quite clearly that I was working at cost accounting, and when this feeling hit me before. The panicking is the worst. Here's hoping it will be another five or six years before it happens again.

Maybe I'll just turn on all the lights, pull the covers over my head and wait for tomorrow to come.

I need a hug.

Where's There's Fire, There's Firemen!

It's one of those good news/bad news things.

The good news is that I saw firemen! In full gear! Carrying armloads of cool stuff. Like axes and picks and long pokey things. Dang, that's a great sight.

The bad news is they came out of the fire truck and the hook and ladder truck that was parked in front of my hotel as I was checking in tonight! Yeah, that's bad.

The good news is that they said it was a false alarm in a stairwell, but they had to check it out anyway.

The bad news is that they left after they decided the stair well wasn't on fire. Rats.

This is how my week is starting. As much as I love telling stories, here's hoping that the rest of the week will be a little more quiet.

Monday Sucks

I had an entire weekend of goofing off and do you think I could update my blog? Oh heck no. I was too busy holding the couch down.

We made it home ok on Friday in spite of the storm that was blowing rapidly into Chicago. We were happy just to make it out of Chicago Friday night, as they were expecting things were not going to go well for all scheduled flights. We were delayed an hour, and it was like riding a bucking bronco, but our flight made it home safe and sound.

Now we're back to Monday already. Gee, where did the weekend go? Today was a much smoother flight, even if we did come back to the snow country. I wish I would have packed my boots!

I've been up since 4:00 a.m. and believe me, I'm ready for a nap. If I can just make it through the rest of today, the rest of the week should go by smoothly. Maybe I'll even get an adventure or two in before the week is up. Here's hoping!

Location, Location, Location

I need to write a book. This book will be titled "That's Just Wrong". A page from this book would be on what I saw last night.

We took a ride around looking for somewhere new to go for dinner. We headed over to Skokie. Don't ask why, that's just where we went. Anyway, we passed a Chinese restaurant. In the same building as this restaurant was an animal hospital.

Think about it.

That's just wrong.

Welcome to the Windy City

Yes, dear friends, I am in Chicago. So much going on and no internet access! Aargh!

As most of you know, I am extremely challenged in many areas, technology just being one of them. Our hotel has wireless, but my laptop isn't set up for wireless. So, I get a bridge, most hotels offer them for free. Some are easy to use, some are beyond me.

This hotel's is beyond me. I tried on the one bridge, and the disk they included with the driver I just couldn't get to work. So, I walked it down to the front desk last night and asked for another one. Found out my problem is all OE. (operator error) Yes, the second bridge didn't work any better than the first. Crap. Now all I have to do in the hotel in the evenings is actually work. How wrong is that. This is seriously cutting down on my goofing off time. How does my boss expect me to keep up my blog let alone get any quality Pogo playing done? My life is so sad, huh?

One story for now about my trip out here. We had the ditzyest (if that's even a word) flight attendant I've ever seen. I swear I'd bet a paycheck that she would not have passed a sobriety test. And, this was the 7:30 a.m. flight. You have to work hard to be that looped still at 7:30 in the morning.

A few bloopers could be forgiven. Like she kept insisting that this flight was the non stop flight from Houston to Chicago. Even after a plane load of people kept correcting her that we were the non stop Cleveland to Chicago flight. In her world, she was leaving from Houston. Then we got a 10 minute lecture on "if you left your bags at the jetway, you need to pick your bags up back at the jetway when we reach Chicago. If you go to baggage claim you will be waiting there for a long time. By the time you make it back to this gate, the plane will no longer be here. Also, any luggage left on the jetway will be returned to the plane. Then where will you be? You packed your bags for a reason, didn't you? I don't suppose you would have packed if you didn't need what was in your bags. Maybe you have medicine in there, or your glasses or something else important. Now how would you feel if your bags ended up back in Houston without you while you are in Chicago?" I swear, she went on and on like that for 10 minutes! Some people were really laughing. Others like me where a bit frightened. She is supposed to be there for our safety after all. Yeah, right. I could go on and on about that one hour flight, but I guess I should get back to work.

I'll update when I can. This trip should be good for some stories if nothing else.

Stay tuned!

"Now Just Relax . . . "

I swear these are the worst words in the world to hear. Well, in the right circumstance, they are the worst words to hear. Imagine my scenario - laying flat on my back, feet up in stirrups, doc is bringing the stool in close while adjusting the spot light in what is not my most flattering side. "Now Just Relax . . . " Are you freakin' kidding me???

Yes, today was THE day. The day of the year that most women hate. As a side note, when picking out someone who is going to climb up into your hoo haw up to their elbows, pick a man doctor. I never thought I was a sexist but trust me. Men doctors are much more gentle in this area. Women have been there, done that. They want to you suck it up and get it over with. The only thing a man has to liken the experience to is a prostate exam. With that in mind, they tend to be a LOT more gentle in the nether regions. But, that's not what this blog is about today. That is just a small public service announcement.

That done, let me tell you about my day.

As stated, today was my yearly exam. Not only am I poked, prodded, humiliated and humbled, we have now reached a new level.

Part of the appointment is spent talking about where I am and where I need to be. As a woman over 40 (yikes!) I am told to watch my weight, watch my salt intake, exercise, eat right. That's all the normal stuff. Also in the normal column is the yearly blood work prescription and well as my appointment to get my boobs slammed between two glass tables. Now in the "you gotta be freakin' kidding me" column we now have:

Testing For Colon Cancer.

No joke.

She's serious.

She's crazy, but she's serious.

I received a packet of my very own to take home with me. This packet will enable me to test myself. Get this. I have a card and some poop sticks. Read that again, I am not lying here.

Upon experiencing a bowel movement, I am supposed to turn around and admire it. After that, I take one of the poop sticks and take a little piece of poop and wipe it on the card. Then, pick another piece of poop, take another little piece of it and wipe that on another place on the card. I am supposed to do this for three consecutive bowel movements. Oh the horrors.

First of all, does anyone take three consecutive dumps at home? Am I supposed to take my poop card to work with me? How does one sneak a poop card and poop stick into the ladies' room? And then....what if....could it happen? Can you imagine??

Me: "um, excuse me! I dropped my poop stick and it rolled into your stall! Would you please roll it back?"

Oh, I think not.

To make it worse, once my poop card is filled up with the six samples, I am supposed to send it via US Mail to the doctor's office! For what? So they can admire it?

Mail it. In the mail. Ew. Isn't this against the law? If not, it should be. Where is homeland security when I need it?

I need to take another hot bath.

Office Party

Last night was our office Christmas party. Yes, I know it was January 6, but that was really the first opportunity we had to get together since the holidays.

Ron, me, my boss, his wife and our regional sales manager met last night at 6:00 p.m. at Buca di Beppo's. Surprisingly, we had a great time. For a dinner that started at 6:00 p.m., we never walked out of the restaurant last night until 9:30 p.m. Holy cow!

We had a great waiter, who was willing to let us take our time and just ordered one course at a time. And boy, did we order courses.

Everyone has had good Italian food, so I'm not going to give a run down of everything we had. But I do want to mention a few things I had that really surprised me that I liked them as much as I did.

One of the salads we ordered was called the Warm Tomato and Spinach Salad with balsamic dressing, goat cheese and roasted pecans. I highly recommend this if anyone goes to Buca Di Beppo's. I could have done without the goat cheese but the rest of it was the bomb. I didn't know before last night how much I liked raw spinach.

One other dish I want to mention was one of our entrees. Veal Saltimbocca. Wow! This is something I've never even heard of before. Words just can't describe how good this was. It was thin slices of veal and it had a little lemony flavor, there were capers and artichoke hearts on here as well. Who'd have thought it would be something I'd eat. But I seriously scarfed it down.

This restaurant is all family style. That means they bring out all the food on platters for the table to share, from the salads to the desserts. There are no "individual" servings. As they take courses off of the table, the pack up whatever is left into to go containers. Somehow, when you're all done, this bag full of food appears on the table. There was a little bit of almost everything. No one wanted to take the leftovers home. My boss said since I don't cook, we should take the leftovers home with us. Hey, who am I to argue with this man?

We have a ton of leftovers in our fridge. I know we don't have any of the spinach salad left, but I think we have some of every other food we had last night. We could easily feed about four more people! Anyone in the neighborhood and hungry, c'mon over! We'll share!

My Verdict Is In . . . I Don't Like Him

I hate admitting this in public, but it's true. I am a fan of Howard Stern.

I'm not going to say I agree with everything that he does or says. When even I find him offensive, I have no problem changing the channel. But when I was able to listen to his show, usually the first hour of it, I think he's a gas. He makes me laugh.

The guy is intelligent, he argues well, and really mixes it up with those around him. He cast and crew are a whole other story. Anyway, I wasn't intending for this to be a Howard Stern tribute, I'm just saying that my drive to work has always been made better by him.

Now that he's made his move to satellite radio, I am left to find another way to help me get to work in the morning. I have nothing against people paying for satellite radio. Heaven knows I pay enough for cable TV. But, I watch a lot of cable TV. The only time I listen to the radio is in the car. That's not enough for me to pay more for the satellite radio. Big bummer.

Anyway, Howard's replacement in our market is David Lee Roth, former front man for Van Halen. I didn't want to be one of those people that just automatically decided not to like him without giving him a chance. Well, I gave him a chance. Three chances. There aren't words strong enough to express just how much he sucks.

I listened on three separate days, at most for three minutes each day. Here is what happened in the random times I tuned in.

Tuesday: David Lee Roth was just picking up a phone call. The caller said how much she loved David Lee Roth as a performer, and she was very excited that he made this career move. She had many questions for David Lee, that she felt had never been answered before and that a lot of his fans might want the answers as well. David Lee assured her that she could ask anything she wanted and he would answer. This was like the "David Lee Roth Reality Show" and he would hold nothing back. So, the caller asked her question. She stated that she had heard that David Lee had recently married. She wanted to know if it was true, and if he had any little David Lee Jr's running around. I thought that sounded like an easy question. He immediately bristled at the question. Hey! That was personal! He wasn't answering any personal questions, don't ya know! He didn't want to mix his personal life with his public life! No, he would NOT be answering that question! HA!

Wednesday: When I tuned in on Wednesday, David Lee was going on and on about Americans losing valuable jobs to people coming across our borders and taking our jobs! For example, he said how about the Mexicans coming over the border taking our jobs. And, what about them Canadians coming over the border taking our jobs. He said it must stop! Oh where do I begin to comment on this 30 second blurb I heard come out of his mouth. I guess the only thing I'm going to say is I musta missed reading the paper the day it was announced that it was a problem all them Canadians coming south to take our high paying jobs. Yeah, that's it.

Thursday: Today I again tuned in, I thought he's just having opening jitters. It HAS to get better. Well, I think I was wrong. He was talking about a girlfriend of sorts that he had for awhile a few years back. I guess she wasn't too personal to talk about. Turns out, she was one of Heidi Fleiss' girls even. Well, he'd start telling his story and then he'd tell one of his side kicks to turn up the music, because he had to tell them something. So, up came the music, which drowned out his story, a few seconds later the music went down and everyone was laughing. I guess it musta been funny. Then it happened again! He said to turn up the music because he had one more thing to add! Music up, no David Lee, music down, laughter all around.

Ok, maybe I have it all wrong. You're a radio talk show host, I guess you should be talking to the radio audience. If he wants to sit around talking only to his homeys, perhaps he should stay home.

Yeah, that's it. Do us all a favor. Quit your day job.

Happy New Year

Here's hoping everyone has had a safe and happy new year so far. Hard to believe we're actually in 2006 already. What happened to 2005? Heck, for that matter, what happened to 2004, 2003, and 2002?

Anyway, here in our household, we are not off to the greatest start.

New Year's Eve found Ron and I enjoying a nice early dinner at one of our favorite places, Carrabba's. http://carrabbas.com This absolutely is one of my favorite Italian restaurants. The dinner bill will not be on the cheap side, but truly worth it.

That was the good part of night.

Well, I have been dealing with a headache since Tuesday night. It came on me suddenly Tuesday and I haven't been able to get rid of it since. It feels like it's coming from the right side of my neck, and it has been getting worse every day. We've tried a lot of home remedies, from the numerous Aleve tablets to a muscle rub, to Ron even going out and buying some new stuff he's seen on commercials. It's called "Head On" and you rub it on your forehead. Well, I've done it all with no relief.

By the time we were done with dinner Saturday night, I was having trouble holding my head up, my neck hurt so much. I figured the longer we waited, the worse it would be in the ER, and I didn't think I could wait until my doctor's office opened on Tuesday. At 7:30 p.m. New Year's Eve, we headed for our local emergency room.

Joke was on us. The closest hospital to us is about five or six blocks away. We walked in and the emergency room was closed. Hmmm, this is not looking good for me. There was a sign though, that directed us to the next nearest hospital a few miles to the west. At least they were open!

The service at this hospital was really awesome. They took us right in. A doctor came in and did an exam. I explained how it seemed to come from my neck. He traced a muscle that came out of my neck, showing where one part of it went on top of my shoulder while the other part of this muscle went down to the right of my spine and under my shoulder blade. When he traced this muscle, I was like YES! YES! That's exactly where the pain starts! He immediately said he thought it was a muscular problem causing my headache. He asked me if I was under any new stress or having any problems. I couldn't think of anything that has changed recently, so I'm at a loss of why I'm this tensed up.

To be on the safe side, he did send me for a CAT scan which came back normal. They set me up with an IV and pumped me full of some happy juice. They let me lay there awhile with a great buzz. When he came back to check on me, unfortunately I still had my headache. I had a great buzz, but still a headache. Next they gave me a little orange pill. And we waited again. Well, Ron waited, I napped. When Dr. Paul came to check once again, I still had my headache. I said it was a little less intense, but still there. And a great buzz!

Again, he said he felt it was a muscular problem. He sent me home with a prescription for some purple capsules that are made specifically for tension headaches. Who knew they made such a thing! We got the prescription filled and headed home.

Once we got home, I took one of these pills on top of everything else I had in the ER and I was finally feeling no pain. We were home before 10:30, Ron made us some sandwiches, and I was trying to stay awake until midnight. I think I made it until about 11:30 when I was about ready to collapse. I headed to bed and didn't even make it to my side of the bed! I took over poor Ron's side of the bed and forced him to my side. (thanks, honey!) I know he did wake me up long enough to watch the ball drop and to get my New Year's kiss, but then I was back out into oblivion. As a matter of fact, I was out for about 14 hours.

Now, it's two days later. I still have a headache. You'd think a trip to the ER would at least fix the problem, wouldn't ya?

Changes In The Neighborhood

There is a house, two doors to the north of us, that has been empty since we moved in here.

The word in the neighborhood is that the house has actually been empty for 15 years or so. A lady owns it, doesn't live there, but for some reason, refuses to sell it or fix it up and rent it. The neglect that this house has gone through shows.

There are broken windows, missing screen doors, a roof caving in, the grass doesn't get mowed more than two or three times a year. And that's only after enough complaints to the city from the neighbors when the grass gets knee high.

The house was posted about a year ago as "uninhabitable". No kidding. So, this is the eyesore of our neighborhood.

Well, finally, there is good news! The weekend before Thanksgiving, Ron told me he saw about four or five different people going into the house. Hmm, what could this be? Is this the city finally inspecting the house prior to demolition? No, it was even better.

Soon came the BFI dumpster! Oh YES! That can only mean good things! It was a huge dumpster, like the size of a semi truck. I came home from work and I could see the dumpster in place. I believe I even did a happy dance in my driveway!

We found out that somehow the house was indeed finally sold. I don't know what happened to facilitate this decision, but I'm not complaining. I believe the new owners just plan on owning it long enough to fix it up and then plan on reselling it.

I don't remember the exact day, but shortly after Thanksgiving a crew showed up. They started filling up that dumpster. I never realized that the house was still full of furniture. We saw couches and chairs sticking up out of the dumpster. They seemed to have spent a few days just on the emptying process.

It is just so exciting to see such a wonderful change in the neighborhood. The house now has new windows and a fresh dumpster to fill up. Makes me wanna get my cup of coffee, sit on the front porch, and become a real neighborhood busybody watching all the cool stuff happening in our world. I'll let you know how it turns out!

Christmas Past

Tonight I was telling Ron what Christmas was like in our house when I was growing up.

Christmas Eve was THE night. Everyone would be over on Christmas Eve. Mom would go nuts making sure all the food would be ready and that the house would be clean. It was a frantic day for sure. But oh so worth it.

I told him stories of how the house would be full of people, and the table would be full of the good Slovak food. The fried perch, sweet rice, bubulki (both sauerkraut and poppy seed) and of course the lentil soup. Try explaining bubulki to someone who's never had it.

After dinner, time for dishes. As soon as the dishes were done, it was time to open presents! I swear I was never so happy to do dishes as I was on Christmas Eve! After presents, it seemed like it was time for Midnight Mass.

Tonight we were eating our Christmas Eve dinner, leftover Chinese food and leftover barbecue. Weird combination, but extremely tasty! Anyway, we're just finishing dinner when Ron kept asking me if the dishes were done yet. Why is he obsessing about the dang dishes? It's no one's "job" to do the dishes. I think we pretty much share in the dish doing responsibilities. So why does he keep asking me that?

Finally feeling like I've heard that enough, I finally ask him "why do you keep asking me that? If it bugs you, do the dishes!"

Of course, the joke was on me. Since telling him the story of my Christmas Past, he figured as soon as dishes were done we could open OUR presents! You never saw me move so fast, and Ron was right at my heels. The dishes were packed into the dishwasher, and the dishwasher was set to wash. Then we got to business.

Let me tell you, I musta been a very, very good girl! Santa treated me right!

May we all have a very Merry Christmas!

Decking Our Halls

I didn't want anyone thinking we were a couple of scrooges. So, here is a picture of how we decked our halls.

And, I took Santa's advise to heart, and I've really tried to clean up my act this week. I tried to be the best me I can be.

C'mon Christmas! I think we're ready!

The Good Got Better

Someone once told me that if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything. So, I've been quiet over here. It's not an easy time for a lot of people, me included. 'Nuff said.

On to a brighter note - Ron took me out to dinner tonight. It is Friday after all! You can almost bet that on Friday at least we go out to dinner. I like that - nice way to finish off the work week.

Tonight's first choice, Taqueria Mexico, was closed already for the Holiday. They don't reopen now until Tuesday. Go figure! Our second choice was a Chinese Restaurant that we really like. It's a sit down restaurant instead of a buffet and one of the things we like the most about it is that you can always get a seat. It's not that they are not busy, I just think over half of their business is take out for some reason.

They have a soup on the appetizer list that has been highly recommended to us, so tonight we thought we'd try it. It was something like shredded chicken and corn soup and it was soup for two. That's all the description there was for the soup. We got a nice little tureen and two bowls. As soon as Ron looked at it, he said it looks like there is egg drop in there. As most of you know, eating eggs makes me extremely ill. We called the waitress back over to verify. She checked with the cook and unfortunately, the answer was not what I wanted to hear. It did indeed have some egg in it. Ron told her I was allergic to eggs and how sick they made me. That was good for Ron though, because he said the soup was excellent and he ended up polishing off almost the whole thing!

For dinner I had ordered Pork Fried Rice. I know that has egg in it, but it's usually not a lot, and I sit and pick it out. I love fried rice, but I don't order it often because it is a pain in the butt to keep picking out pieces. But once in awhile, I'm willing to do just that. When the waitress heard I was allergic to egg, she went back and told the cook about it. Come to find out, my rice was almost done by now, and the cook started it all over again, this time without eggs!

Ok, call me silly, but in all my years, I never thought to ask for it without eggs. Duh! Our waitress thought I'd appreciate not having to pick all that out and boy was she right! My dinner was awesome!

And of course, Ron left a very nice tip. The service we received tonight absolutely made a good meal great.

A View From the Top

Taa Daa! I finally remembered to take my camera to work!

Yes, folks, this is the view from my office at the moment. Unfortunately, I didn't get the greatest picture, but it's should at least give you a feel. I am facing east and on the left you can even see the lake. Directly in front of the lake is a small airport. That isn't quite distinguishable in the pictures unfortunately. I tried to get one picture of a helicopter taking off this morning and it just didn't come out. Too bad.

The hard thing about a view like this is concentrating! Too much to look at. Especially on a clear day when you can even see the waves crashing. Yep, I could get used to this.

I tried to be brave and take a picture looking as straight down as I could. Unfortunately, the window glare played a big part in this picture. At least you can see the courtyard across the street I mentioned in yesterday's post. Too bad I didn't get a picture of that building. You can see part of the atrium in the picture, but this doesn't do it justice. Oh well, I'm still learning.

So, welcome to my world. Beats the heck out of the dirty, dusty, windowless basements I've been in or the unheated portable storage facilities. And they even pay me to be there!

One Of Them Days

Yesterday, I had one of them days.

It wasn't a really bad day. I mean, it could have been much worse. But, there were a whole lotta little things that were just bad enough to be really irritating.

It started just after 6:00 a.m. as I headed out to work. I need to make sure I'm more awake before getting behind the wheel of my car. Right now, I am working right in the midst of downtown. That means I take the freeway straight from here to there. I started out on the right freeway. Suddenly, I guess my car had a mind of its own and before I knew what happened, I was fixin' to get on the turnpike. Bad, very bad.

Luckily, before I went through the booth to grab my ticket, I was able to do a U-turn and head back north to the freeway. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Ok, little brain fart, I can overcome.

A few minutes later, I am back on the freeway and headed for downtown. Next on the list comes the parking garage.

I find me a good parking spot in the parking garage. Now work with me here. I walk to the elevator, take elevator downstairs, exit garage, through building, outside into the cold, walk through the courtyard, passed a panhandler, across the street, into another panhandler, into my building . . . only to discover . . . I left my badge to get into the building in my car. Grrr. Again, nothing really bad, just really inconvenient.

So, past the panhandler, across the street, another panhandler, through the courtyard, into and through the building, into the parking garage, up the elevator, to my car. Got my badge. All was good with my world.

Let's skip ahead to lunchtime. This was one of the few days I didn't pack my lunch. That shouldn't have been a big deal. Eating downtown can be a little pricey, but there are a lot of places to eat within walking distance.

My boss and I usually have lunch together. He chose to forego the sandwich he brought for lunch opting for lunch out as well. We decided to head to the Galleria. The Galleria does have a couple of restaurants, but more importantly, it has a food court. Gotta love a food court! Something for everyone.

We bundled up against the cold and headed out. Once we walked into the Galleria, what do I see between me and the food court? Dogs. Lots and lots of dogs. Some were sort of penned inside of portable two-foot high fences. Some were on leashes, and I'm not all that sure that some weren't just running loose. Those of you that know me, know that dogs terrify me probably more than spiders do. To say that I wanted to cry and bolt out of there is an understatement. I started to shake and seriously my life past before my eyes. Here, they were having some sort of pet adoption thing happening at the Galleria. Had I known, I'd have skipped lunch.

So as to show as little weakness as possible to the boss so as not to give him ammunition to use against me at a later time, I took the long way around and got past the dogs. I still just wanted to hide and cry, but I made it by them. I grabbed a sandwich, and made sure I sat with my back to the pooches. I figured what I couldn't see couldn't kill me! It was all good until it was time to go. Again, some fancy footwork kept as much space and as many people between me and the dogs. I lived through the experience.

Now we move to my drive home. I got on the right freeway and headed home! Closer to home, the freeway goes from three lanes down to two lanes. It was in the two lane part, at the exit just before my exit. This is a very busy exit and entrance. There always seems to be a steady stream of cars entering the freeway here, so I like to try to get in the left lane to give traffic room to merge onto the freeway. Again, it's only two lanes here. Well, there seemed to be more cars than usual getting on here. I kept looking for a hole to move back into the right lane. I foolishly passed a couple of holes I could have made, looking at a big one up ahead. Just as I was reaching this hole, the car in front of me stepped on the brakes and slowed waaaay down. He chose to move over into my hole! The way he slowed down and the time he took moving over, the hole closed. No room for me and my Honda. Dang it! I get so angry when someone cuts me off, I can't do it knowingly to other people. So, since I waited too long, now I missed my exit.

I blurted out a few expletives at myself and kept going to the next exit and doubled back to the house.

Now, it's been kinda a bad day. Nothing terrible, but just really, really irritating. Ron, being the great guy he is, said he'd take me out to dinner since I had such a poopy day. WOO HOO! Things are looking up!

I decided I had a hankering for Ponderosa. And, being difficult, I wanted the Ponderosa in the next town. That one seems to be to be much nicer, cleaner, food is better and the service is tops! It's worth the extra 10 minutes to get there.

We pulled into Ponderosa and saw the sign. Santa Claus was at Ponderosa last night, and kids got a free picture with Santa! Hey, I may not technically be a kid, but I had enough kid in me. I didn't want to hurt the guy by sitting on his lap, but I did want to go over and say howdy!

Santa shook my hand and I said "hey Santa! I've been a very good girl this year, so I'm expecting good things from you!"

With the signature twinkle in his eye, he replied "Who are you kidding? Remember, I have a list and I've checked it twice. You have a week to clean up your act or nothing from Santa!"

HELLO???? Dissed by Santa??? Oh the horror!

The guy had me laughing, but c'mon. What a way to end my day. Dissed by Santa. And only a week to clean up my act? I better not even think of leaving the house and I may have a chance. Wish me luck!

I Heart Shopping

Last night, Ron and I hit the roads to do some shopping.

First, you have to know, I hate shopping. I really do. In spite of the title of this post. Especially at Christmas time. You'd think some sort of Christian spirit would be with people. Isn't that what this whole time of year is supposed to be about?

Unfortunately, the only spirit filling people is the spirit of "Me First" and I think a little of "Kill or Be Killed". Since when did K-mart shopping become a kamikaze mission?

Our purpose for being out in the battle zone wasn't even really any Christmas shopping. We needed survival stuff. We were in serious need of some Ice Melt for the ice in the driveway, and vacuum bags. My vacuum bag was so full, it wouldn't accept one more spec of dust! Knowing me, y'all can probably pretty much guess where this story is going.

We came home with almost everything . . . except . . . the Ice Melt and the vacuum bags.

In our defense, we looked more than one place and could not find a vacuum bag size J for an upright Eureka vacuum. We could find a size J belt and a size J hepa filter but no dang bags. The Ice Melt however, was totally overlooked until we got home and we slipped in the driveway unloading the van. Go figure.

The only good that came out of last night was we just about completed our Christmas shopping. I did need to stop today for a few last items, but the bulk of it was done last night.

As a side note to the Christmas shopping, I did have one moment of desperation at K-Mart. I actually stopped a young Hispanic couple with a cart full of toys to ask them if they knew any four year old girls. Just before they screamed for security, I added the fact that we had to buy for a four year old girl and we knew pretty much nothing about what a four year old girl would want! With their fears calmed, they gave us some good ideas of things that would work. So as not to tempt anyone into telling Ron's great-niece what we ended up getting her, I'm not telling here what it was!

I have one more gift to get, something for Dad. I know what I'm getting, I just haven't gone to the Dad's Gift Store yet to pick it up. And, before you ask, I'm not telling what this is either! I don't want anyone telling him before hand! It's gonna be a surprise. I will tell you, I know he'll love it!

Women Are From Venus, Men Are From The Hardware Store

We had one heck of an exciting day at our house. Well, actually it started last night.

Ron and I after dinner headed to one of the chain hardware type stores. Our big plan for this weekend was to get some insulation blown into the attic floor. We are all about trying to save some cash this year with the heating bills. This is something we've talked about doing since we moved in. This project really moved up on our priority list!

Ron figured out how much insulation he thought we'd need, and we grabbed a few more bags, just in case. As long as you bought ten bags of insulation, the rental of the blower was free. We had 30 bags. Free rental right here!

One bag of insulation is about one foot square by two feet long. We filled up two flat bed carts with our 30 bags. On top of that is the blower, and add to that two huge garbage cans that held the 100' of hose. At this hardware store we have me, my car, Ron and his van. There was no way in heck we were fitting in all I just mentioned even into both of our vehicles. What do we do? We called our friend Larry! It's great to know someone with a truck!

Even though it was after 8:00 p.m., Larry said he'd come help us. He met us right away. We loaded up his truck, the guys tied it all down, and we had a convoy over to our house. After loading up two flat bed carts, then unloading them into the truck, I didn't relish the thought of unloading them again that night into the garage. We had Larry back up his truck right into the garage. Since he had the plow on front of the truck, we couldn't close the garage door. We had to cross our fingers and hope like heck no one was going to steal anything. I think we got lucky on that end!

Larry went home with my car and promised to be back at 8:00 a.m. to help Ron with this project. In return, he asked for breakfast. That worked for me! I had Mom's waffles and sausage links ready around 8:00 a.m. We all had breakfast and then the guys got to work.

The most amazing thing to me is what is in a guy's DNA that is not in most women. They just "know" stuff. They may not know why the sky is blue or why water is wet, but the important stuff, they just KNOW. The blower machine came with no instruction booklet. But yet the guys KNEW how to work it. Neither one of them had ever blown insulation before, but somehow they just KNEW what to do. That amazes me. I wouldn't have figured this out had my life depended on it.

Luckily my job was just to run tools up and down and to fix meals. There were serious meetings up in the attic then down in the driveway, but eventually the guys got their system down. A few hours later, it was DONE! I can't believe it!!!

Ron and Larry ran the blower back, took back seven extra bags of insulation, Ron put the attic windows back in (we had the hose coming in the attic window) and we were done.

Now, it may be my imagination, but I swear it is so much warmer up here. The first floor of the house was good about holding the heat or the air conditioning. This second floor was another story. For example, right here where I sit at my computer, I have a blanket on the back of the chair and a heating pad on my desk. On the really cold nights, I have the blanket around me and the heating pad on me somewhere. Socks aren't enough on my feet, some nights I have to put my shoes back on.

Tonight though...I took a long hot bath, and came to my chair. That was a couple of hours ago. I am still barefoot! The floor feels warmer, heck the entire room is warmer! And the temp outside is only 27 degrees.

I know I'm rambling, but I am just so excited! These guys worked really really hard today. They made a slight mess out of the house, but by golly, it's warm in here! This is the first winter night in the two years we've been here that I can say that! Is it just my imagination? Can it be true?? I am warm!!

Thanks to both Ron and Larry for the hard work today. I am truly grateful. You guys are awesome!

Stuff

Ugh, I'm still sick.

My nose has stopped running like a faucet, now I'm just contending with a cough. But what a cough. I think I've even coughed up part of a lung. And, I think I might have a brain aneurysm. Yeah, that's it. I'm coughing that hard.

For the record, Rite Aid's Tussin CF is the bomb! $5.99 of liquid gold. Unfortunately (or fortunately) it gives me a little buzz, so it's no good for day time use. However, since starting on my CF, I've had very restful nights with no coughs. Amen.

I think Ron is finally on the mend as well. We're still a couple of hacking wheezing coughing fools, but less so every day! Can y'all get a visual yet?

Let's see what's happening since I last wrote:

I had to get a new driver's license! Unlike Texas who just slaps your old picture on a new piece of paper, Ohio makes you take your picture again. It was very wrong of me to go to the license bureau the day before my hair cut! In Texas, I'd never age. Here I look like poop! Stuffy nose, puffy eyes, she at least took the picture in between coughing fits. That's talent! The good thing is that I had my good coat on! So, if you don't look at my face it's all good!

Speaking of my good coat, Ron and I did a little early Christmas shopping. I wanted some nice black dress gloves to go with my good coat. Which, is black. I realized all of my gloves are blue. Go figure. You'd think it was my favorite color or something! Anyway, I wanted to be more color coordinated. We had a night of all about me.

It started at A.J. Wright. I saw nothing there that tickled my fancy. Down the plaza to PayLess Shoes! Hey, how can you NOT find something in there to tickle ya! Ok, I picked up two new pairs of shoes. C'mon...cut a girl some slack. It's been at least a year since I've bought a new shoe! So, now I have some new black dress shoes and a nice pair of brown loafers. A good shoe day, I must say. From PayLess to K-mart, the glove store. Yep, a good shopping night for me!

See why I haven't written lately? Here's the highlight of my life right now. PayLess Shoes and black gloves.

Ok, that's it for now. I need a dose of my CF.