When Animals Attack

I have been known to have some crazy dreams. Lately, it seems the animal kingdom (and not the good two legged kind) has been invading my dreams.

A few weeks back I dreamed that an elephant was loose in my house. I've mentioned recently that I am terrified of elephants. I won't even go to the circus. So for this beast to be chasing me in my house is beyond ridiculous. Before the logical ones out there point out that an elephant couldn't possibly get in my house, I'm telling you, this huge thing was not only in there but chasing me through the house!

Finally, I was able to run out of the back door to get away from the crazed elephant. However, in my dream it wasn't my back door but my Aunt Aggie's back door I was running out of. I know, weird, huh?

Then just last week, in my dream I was in a field that had a rail road track running through it. What is on the track? A circus train! It was a train like this one, only not a cartoon!

Just one animal per car kinda thing, with bars to you can see who's in each car. Anyway, I'm standing there, watching the train go by and what's in the last car? An elephant. In my dream I'm even thinking to myself "oh great, a freakin' elephant!". No sooner does that thought cross my mind when that last car carrying the elephant jumps the track, comes undone from the rest of the train and is sitting there askew on the track. I am starting to panic!

Then, the car directly in front of the elephant's car also jumps the track and is also left behind by the train. In this second car is a huge tiger! The tiger jumps up to place his paws on the side of the cage/train car which tips the car over. Once the car is on its side, the tiger just walks out of what was the top of the car! And there I am, with nothing between me and the tiger and he sees me as dinner!

I can feel the absolute terror and panic in my dream. I also feel my mortality as I am telling myself that there is no way I can get out of this one alive. I run like mad with the tiger right behind me. Luckily I didn't stay in that dream to see the tiger catch me.

Then there was last night! UGH!

Last night's dream had to do with my fish tank. You'd think that would be a peaceful dream, right? Not!

In my dream, my plecostomus, Fred, climbs out of the fish tank and falls onto the floor. I know perfectly well what Fred really looks like, but in my dream he was in a lizard form. Don't ask me why. Well, I pick Fred up and am checking him over for injuries he sustained falling out of the tank all the while trying to stop Fred from biting me. Fred has never bitten me, even when I chase him around the tank when I clean it. Anyway, in dream land, Fred is a lizard and he's a little injured. Somehow I'm on the phone with an "expert" who is telling me that Fred needs to be put back into the tank immediately as he won't live outside of the tank! Fine, whatever.

As I raise the lid on the tank to put Fred back in, what do I see swimming at me? A HUGE freakin' SNAKE! The head alone on this snake is every bit as long as my hand. I slam the lid down and look in the tank to see what has to be the biggest snake I've ever seen floating at the top of the water in the fish tank. The snake is all tied up in a huge knot since he's too big for the tank. I am again in a panic because first of all, A SNAKE! And second of all, I'm worried about Fred being out of the fish tank but even more worried about putting him in there with the damn snake.

In my dream, Ron said that the snake was in the fish tank because my brother Jim found it in the back yard and asked us to keep it for him in the tank. First thing this morning when I got up, I'm yelling at Ron that if Jim EVER asks Ron to keep a snake for him, he should say NO! Is it any wonder that Ron doesn't have me committed? How would you like to wake up to that conversation?

So, am I the queen of weird dreams or what? And what's with all of the animals lately? Do I need to worry about Freddy Kruger the Elephant or Tiger or Dog in my next dream? Why won't my mind settle down when I'm sleeping? No wonder I'm more tired in the morning than I was when I went to bed at night. And who's to say what was in that tank last night. I know I woke up this morning to a dead fish floating in the tank.

I need to start drinking again. If Bruce Willis isn't going to be in my dreams, I don't want any dreams.

Special Delivery

One day last week, I was sitting at work when FedEx showed up with a delivery. That's not unusual, we ship and receive stuff all day long. What was unusual was the fact that this delivery was for ME! Other than Staples Office Supplies, I never get deliveries. And, this one was from FTD. Bonus!

I got the flowers and they were gorgeous! The vase they came in however, was smashed. Into a thousand little pieces no less. But, my dozen gerber daisies were healthy and unscathed and beautiful!

Ron said he sent the flowers just for the heck of it. I guess I'm not a trusting person as I interrogated him as to why he sent flowers to work! He said he didn't do anything wrong, he didn't break anything and nothing was up! Hmm. I'm still not sure I believe it but I was thrilled with my posies. Too bad about the vase though.

I took my flowers home that night where they now sit beautifying my office at home.

Then yesterday, again FedEx shows up at work with another box from FTD! The exact same flower arrangement, only this time, with an intact vase!


Is that vase too cute or what! And, it looks wonderful on my credenza in my work office.

Ron contacted FTD and had told them about the broken vase. FTD immediately said they'd send a new arrangement. Ron explained that the flowers were gorgeous and I was tickled with them and if I could only get that vase, I'd be happy.

FTD stated they were replacing the entire arrangement and that I should just enjoy getting the extra flowers! That's a no brainer! I AM enjoying it! Hats off to you, FTD. You went above and beyond making this customer happy.

So, I have happy gerber daisies at home to enjoy and I have the above arrangement in my office at work to enjoy.

Damn, either Ron was a very bad boy or I was a very, very good girl. Either way, I'm jiggy with it.

Where's My Sock?

Monday after work I went to Erie PA for a few hours.

I took a change of clothes to work and before I left, discarded the jeans, sweatshirt, socks and safety shoes for dress pants, sweater, panty hose (ugh) and heels (bigger ugh). Since my brother is still out, I used his office for my changing room. I gathered my clothes, folded them neatly and put them in my car.

Then on to Erie. Before heading back to Ohio, my brother Jim and I went and had a late dinner together. We went to Applebee's on upper Peach Street. Now, I used to be a huge fan of Applebee's but everything I've loved on their menu they have taken off. What's that about? The Applebee's by me never seemed to get your order right anyway so what was the point in going? But, the Applebee's in Erie was much better than our local one.

First off, we had an awesome server. If you go to this Applebee's, ask for Ryan (even though I kept calling him Joe. Hey, he looked like a Joe to me!) This kid was a hoot! And, tip him well, he works hard putting up with people like me.

Good dinner and great company aside, I thought a cup of coffee before my drive home would be in order. Ryan kept my cup full and even filled my travel mug that was in the car for me. Bonus! I was wired as all get out driving home but what the heck! I got there!

I forgot how much I loved to drive at night. It's quieter, aside from my blaring stereo, and much less traffic. Plus, I think the traffic that is out there is naturally slower in the dark. At least it seemed like I was passed by much fewer people coming home. It was a peaceful drive home, for that I am thankful.

I did get home at almost midnight last night. I had a small case of the shakes from the coffee but other than that I was good. Ron and I talked for a bit then I went upstairs to get out of those blasted panty hose and get my dirty clothes in the dirty clothes bin.

Sweatshirt - check. Jeans - check. Socks - um one out of two. No check!

I looked around the bedroom and even reshook out my clothes. No second sock. I told Ron my dilemma and that I was too tired to look too far for my wayward sock. He was nice enough to check my route backwards from the bedroom, to the office, to the bathroom, down the stairs, through the living room, dining room, kitchen, side stairs. No sock. It was a mystery.

This morning when I went to leave for work, I opened the garage door and taa daa! There was my sock on the ground in the garage. Then it hit me. Gone are the days of coming home with my underwear in my pocket and now I'm reduced to just looking for my missing sock. Oh the good old days. I miss them.

I Shopped 'Til I Dropped

That doesn't take much for me. I was soooo born without the shopping gene that most women have. I hate to go out there and look and decide and choose what I want. And, there is the money thing. I hate spending it. I know, I'm not normal.

Some things I'm ok with spending. I don't get ill when I buy groceries or the like. But I remember at the closing on my house I threw up. Same thing when buying the refrigerator and the stove. That's a lot of freakin' money passing through my fingers too quickly! Ugh, the horrors of it! Yeah, I don't spend money well.

So you know the other week actually sucked since my dryer broke as well as my dehumidifier in the basement. Not a good week.

The dehumidifier has been going for about a month now. It's not smoking yet but it's close. As long as I was out spending too much money, I just tacked that on to my list. It's like taking off a band aid. If you're going to spend money, do it all at once. Dripping it out a little here and a little there just hurts more.

I have been looking in person and on line and chose the dryer I wanted from Home Depot. It's a Maytag and my favorite part is the large drum capacity. I bought a front load washing machine when I had to replace my old machine three or four years ago. The sales guy told me that if I could shut the door on the machine I didn't have too many clothes in there! What he didn't tell me was that just because it fit in the washing machine, did NOT mean it was all going to fit in the dryer. Who knew? So, that was on my wish list when I had to buy a dryer.

Now I have a 7.4 cubic foot dryer and over the weekend I even dried the comforter from my bed in there! Queen sized comforter, no longer having to go to the Laundromat to use the industrial dryer, no longer hanging it for a couple of days on a line in the basement! Just over one hour and that puppy was totally dry! Awesome.

So, I started at Home Depot and even had Ron push a waste basket near me, just in case. My stomach may have been rolling, but I kept it all inside. I looked at their dehumidifiers and they were running $50 more than other places we'd looked. Yeah, you're not getting me on that one.

We stayed in the same plaza and went to the new WalMart and got it there. Bigger than the one at Home Depot and cheaper. See why I hate shopping?

That was two big items off of my list. Now, I really need an interim pair of jeans. I don't want a top of the line pair of jeans, just something to wear for now as my weight is in between what it was and what's it's going to be. As long as we were at WalMart, I looked there at jeans.

Even after the weight loss, I am not a small women. Who's bright idea was it to make jeans in MY size that are hip huggers? Hello? Do you know what's above my hips? If I wore jeans that only came up to my hips, a whole lotta ME would be hanging over said jeans. That's just wrong in any one's book. Just because you CAN make fat jeans in hip hugger style doesn't mean you SHOULD, for crying out loud.

Maybe WalMart wasn't the place I should be shopping for jeans. Ok, I'll spend a couple of more dollars, head next door and check out Kohl's. Guess what. Same thing. C'mon people! NO! These jeans should all be taken out of the stores and burned! Holy crap, if I ruled the world for just one day!

So, I spent some money and was trying to spend a little more but couldn't. Let's review:

• Maytag dryer - I am a happy camper. This should last me at least for the next 10 years.

• Dehumidifier - It's ok, I don't like the new bucket in the front design but that's all they had. If this one lasts for seven years like the last one, I'll be happy.

• Jeans - not happening in this life time. I'm going back to Ron's sweat pants!

PhotoPhun Challenge: Happy Halloween!!

What a fun challenge this was! Lisa came up with Halloween as a challenge. Her idea was to show your holiday decorations. Well, I don't decorate. Anything. Any time. I still don't have curtains on all of my windows for crying out loud! So, I had to live vicarously through other people.

I go by a house on East Avenue in Elyria most days on my way home from work. I absolutely love the decorations they have up! I've been meaning to stop on my way home from work all week to get some pictures but this has not been a good week. But, I digress.

So, Saturday, Ron and I went on an adventure looking to take some pictures for this PhotoPhun Challenge. I started with this house in Elyria that belongs to Tanya and her family. How do I know? Because Tanya was nice enough to come outside and give us a personal tour of her masterpiece when she saw me out there snapping pictures! We had a lovely talk in front of her fabulous decorations. So, thank you to Tanya for taking the time to speak with us and tell us her story. If you go by here, give her a beep and a wave and tell her I sent you!

Here is their front yard. The more I looked, the more great stuff I saw. The very first thing that caught my eye was the wrong turn sign. Story of my life!


One thing in their yard was better than the next.




This is Michael Jackson and Lisa Marie Presley! Priceless!


And my two personal favorites. Bad Santa and the dog from hell.



Since I explained to Tanya what I was doing, she suggested another house on Middle Avenue in Elyria that had some great stuff up. We headed right over there to check it out. There were actually two houses, side by side with some awesome stuff up! Again, camera in hand, I was out of the car snapping pictures. More people with so much talent!


I fell in love with this skeleton!


And, what's Halloween without a good witch?


The house next door was just as decked out.



And I loved the attention to detail over here as well. The raven to the left of the cross just tickled me!


And, lastly, the ghost rider in the horseless carriage found on Lake Avenue in Elyria.


What a fun challenge! I think I'm saying that every week but I mean it. I am having way too much fun with this. Check out Lisa and Mark and see how much fun they had this week as well!

Mutant Monster Bug

One of my duties at work while Michael is in China is to water the plants. That sounds like an easy duty, right? Yeah, you'd think so, but this is me we're talking about.

The other day, I went to the front lobby to water the plants and I see our one good healthy plant got way too top heavy and sort of fell over! It's a beautiful, lush, vibrant plant, but the top is just too heavy for the trunk to hold up. It fell, but it's still blooming and gorgeous.


This poor tree used to be over six feet tall and now with the bend in the trunk it's about four feet tall. Healthy other than that little problem!

Then there is the plant next to it. Here is what I see on the floor as I go to check out the next plant.


Hey! No dying on my watch! That is NOT allowed! I'm in charge of watering, dammit! I took this responsibility seriously! I not only water, but I talk to them every morning when I come in! Um, maybe I should have just typed that part in my head and not on the blog. Oh well.

I don't know much about plants but I know that when all of their stuff falls to the floor that's not a good thing. At least that's what I thought. Then I looked closer at this little tree and I see new buds of growth everywhere!




How bad can all of those dead leaves be when they are followed by all of that new growth? I think I should be in the clear for killing this plant. I think it's just playing a joke on me.

So, plants watered, pictures taken for the blog, only thing left is to sweep up the floor. I am the only one at work that believes in doing that, to the point that I went out and bought my own broom and dust pan! After I swept up all of the dead leaves and other debris on the floor, I was getting ready to put my stuff away and get back to work. Then I saw something on the floor that I must have missed. I grabbed my broom and dust pan and THIS is what I saw:


It was a good inch long and I think it was dead. Holy crap, what is this? It has too many legs to be a spider but not enough to be a centipede. The two leggy looking things coming off the top of his head seemed to be in a fighting stance. If this f-er would have started moving while I was taking this picture, you would have heard me in California screaming! This thing actually made a splash in the toilet when I dropped him in. I not only flushed a few times, but I stood there and made sure he wasn't coming back up.

I'm telling you, Mike and I so need to have a talk about the working conditions around here! I need to inspect the toilet before I go in there as I have visions of this thing coming back up through the pipes to get me! How can I be expected to work with a mutant monster bug?

How Did I Get Lost Again?

Two days in a row no less!

My brothers are known for going the long way around things to avoid a light or a stop sign. I'm usually all for the shortest distance is a straight line sort of driving route.

Well, my brother Mike talked me into going a different way he thought was faster. Albeit it's 1/2 mile longer but it's faster time wise. Ok, fine. I tried it. His way is going over East River Road in Elyria instead of going through downtown Elyria. I know downtown sucks because of all of the turns going through town and all of the lights, but c'mon. It's 1/2 mile shorter going through the lights!

A few months back, I tried his way and the construction had just gotten under way on East River Road. This road is totally torn up with new sewers going in on both sides of the road and I'm assuming a new road once the sewer work is done.

For whatever reason one morning, I had gone this way. They were allowing north bound traffic to come down but they had those of us that were south bound stopped and after waiting for what seemed like 10 minutes, people were just turning left at a road right there which I now know is Calann Drive. If you find it on this map, you see if you turn on Calann Drive you are in no man's land! You can get in to the subdivision but good luck finding your way back out again.




Finally, I quit waiting for nothing and turned left on Calann Drive. The two cars behind me decided to follow suit. I always assume cities/towns are laid out logically. That is one of the reasons I get lost a lot!

So, that day a few months ago, we had three of us trying to find our way around this construction tie up. The two behind me seemed very confident that I knew what I was doing! Little did they know!

I turned right, left, right, turned around. My two little buddies stuck with me. Finally, I put my hands up in surrender and pulled over, hoping one of them knew where they were. They BOTH pulled over behind me and threw their hands up too. No one was willing to take the lead! I finally remembered I had the Garmin in the car so I dug that out and booted it up. After driving aimlessly while it found the satellites, I finally found my way out and to a main road. I got a couple of beeps and waves from my fellow lost passengers and we all went on our merry way. What horse crap that neighborhood is!

I've been trying to stay away from the area, especially with the construction going on. But, once in awhile a girl is running late for work and we all know what a task master her boss is! Sometimes a girl has to do what a girl has to do!

Yesterday morning it happened to me again! I cut over East River Road. The north bound lane is totally closed and they are detoured around. But, the south bound lane seemed to be clear the entire way up. Big mistake. It wasn't.

Again, no damn signs warning a girl that the freakin' road is closed! They would let you sit there all day if you were dumb enough to do it! I am like four or five cars back in line stopped dead. I have no idea what's going on. Finally, one at a time, the other cars turn around and go north. I know they can't go far, they need to turn into that blasted subdivision with no exit and I do NOT want to do that. However, as soon as they move, I see the back hoe in the north bound lane DIGGING into the south bound lane. For real? This isn't considered a road closed? C'mon people! And all those union guys lolly gagging around never once thinking about letting people know they are not opening the road today. THAT is so frustrating.

So, I finally gave in and ended up turning on my road from hell, Calann Drive. I'm sure you people that live on Calann Drive are wonderful people! You just live in a very difficult subdivision!

Well, I drove in as far as the first stop sign. No one was behind me so I just stayed right there until I got my Garmin out and got it booted and linked up. When it finally tells me which way to turn, a car is coming in the distance. Now it's degrees of lateness, so I decided to just wait for him to go by before turning into the cross street. He goes by, I get behind him and I follow him.

I assume he knows where's he's going because every right, left, right, turnaround turn he took is exactly what the Garmin was telling me to do. Suddenly, he pulls to the right, bangs both hands on the steering wheel, throws his hands in the air with the universal "I have no idea what I'm doing" sign and waves me around! HA! I know that feeling! But, I have my Garmin on!

I motion for him to follow me and as I go by he gets in line behind me. Only a half a dozen or so more turns and we're back out onto a main road. I get another beep and wave and he goes one way as I go another.

You'd think this would be enough to cure me, wouldn't you? Being a glutton for punishment, I try it again this morning. This time, it's blocked WAY before the usual problem area. No way I'm fighting that again! I turned around and came back the way I came! As a side note, when you're going around the block, once you make three left turns, you should turn right to be back on the road you started on. As a public service announcement, if you make FOUR left turns, you need to go back around the same damn block you just went around. 'Nuff said.

Really. Someone needs to save me because I should not be allowed out on the streets by myself. For every one's own good, save me!
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Saturday In Erie

I went and spent the day in Erie on Saturday, trying to catch up with some family and some friends. Mission: Accomplished!

I made the drive by myself this time. It was a great day for travel as the weather was close to perfect and the colors were awe inspiring along I-90. What I could have done without was the construction, but as we all know in this part of the country, it's one of our seasons: Winter, spring and construction.

Just before I hit the PA line, I saw signs for the next construction zone. I do try to be a law abiding citizen, so when the signs started to tell me to slow down due to upcoming construction, I actually slow down. I guess the car behind me wasn't happy with that because he got into the left lane and blew my doors in going around me. By the way, he chose to pass me just after that sign that said "Do Not Pass". Whatever.

Before I could get indignant over the pass, I hear sirens! The Catholic guilt in me immediately thought he must be after me! I slowed even more, the Conneaut Police passed me, and then proceeded to pull over the guy that just blew by me! Bonus! Bad day for him but it made me smile!

Once I got into Pennsylvania, I had to stop at the rest stop. I don't think my bladder knows how to go past this rest stop without stopping! So, I went in, marked my territory and went to pull back out. First, I saw this gorgeous tree! I know it's lame to take pictures at a road side rest, but I had to stop and grab a picture!


From the rest stop, the first place I went to was Calvary Cemetery down on West 8th Street. My brother, Jim, met me here so that we could pay our respects to our Mom, and then we were headed for lunch. It was a warm day but I guess the geese were needing a rest on the warm pavement! I actually had to proceed with caution so as not to have goose guts all over my car! Dang things did not want to move!


Jim and I had a nice lunch somewhere out on West 26th Street, west of the airport. I don't remember the name of the place but the food was very good and the staff was excellent! Especially when a couple of the servers helped me gang up on Jim! Girl power! You're never too old to argue with your siblings!

Then we headed home. Jim said he'd follow me (what is up with that?!) as he didn't think I could get lost going straight across 26th Street. Well, I might not have gotten lost, but between trying to see all of the sights along the way (not much is the way I remember it!) I got in the wrong lane a few times. Luckily, Jim had my back and would leave a hole in front of himself for when I'd quit daydreaming and realize I'm in a turn lane when I shouldn't be. Dang, I used to know that town like nothing, including which lane I should be in. Not any more!

One of the main reasons for heading into town was to see my Aunt Mary. Aunt Mary is my Mom's sister and she was our second Mother. Friday, October 29th is Aunt Mary's birthday, so I wanted to go in and celebrate with her. I hit the trifecta as two of her other sisters had also stopped over to play cards with Aunt Mary! I don't know who was winning, but they did put the cards down for awhile to visit. That is HUGE in this family!

First, my darling Aunt Mary, who really didn't want her picture taken!


How can you not want your picture taken when you're that cute? From Aunt Mary, I just went around the table for a photo op. Luckily, Jim was there to take our pictures! Thanks, bro. First up, Aunt Helen:


Next, my Aunt, Sister Margaret. (we dressed like twins that day!)


I had a great visit, catching up with the Aunts, some family stories and rehashing the past. Good times. And, in goofing off, I tried another long arm shot of me and Jim. I think I got a great shot of up my nose!


I also had plans to catch up with my friends, Ruth and Jeff, from Ripley New York! We have been friends for more years than I am going to admit here in public. But trust me when I say it's been YEARS!

Way back when, a few lifetimes ago, when I lived in Erie, Ruth and I would make plans to do lunch once a month. Without fail, the first Wednesday of the month, Ruth and I would meet at Ponderosa on Buffalo Road, under the light! We'd meet at 11:00 am, just when they opened, and we'd each park under the light pole in their parking lot. Hey, it was our thing. I remember that the State Police were often in there as well for lunch and we (at least I would!) ogle the guys in uniform! We loved our Wednesday lunches at Ponderosa! But, I digress.

We had decided to meet Saturday night at Ponderosa. I got there first and since we're there for dinner, our usually parking spots are taken. I went down the row and took the first available which was next to a big pick up truck. So I could watch for them to come in, I had backed into the spot. Usually I am MUCH better at that, but Saturday night I sucked at backing in!

Once my car was parked, I realized that the pick up stuck out so far, I couldn't see anyone coming in and I was sure they'd never see me. So I got out of my car and was going to stand by the door to wait. As soon as I got out of my car, I saw how bad my park job was. I was crooked and over the line! I hate it when people do that! I can't believe I didn't straighten out my car, but I didn't.

So, I'm standing at the door waiting. Before I know it, Ruth and Jeff pull in! They end up parking right next to me, and Jeff backed in like I did. At first, he backed in properly. You know, straight and between the lines. Then Ruth looked at how I was parked and I know she had to say something to Jeff that since I don't know how to park, she's not going to be able to get out of her door! So, Jeff pulled forward, and then backed in again. He was a little crooked and he was over the line on his side! Sweet! Just like me!!

There were huge hugs right there in the parking lot. Both Ruth and Jeff are much taller than I am. When we got done hugging, my good friend Ruth says to me "wow, you are really getting gray on top!" Thanks for noticing! Yes, it takes a lot of love for someone to take that comment in stride! How could I be mad though? She's right! I AM getting very gray on top! She's just one of the few people that can see it!

We three went into our old haunt and chowed like the old days. There is so much talking to be done that I dare you to eat a meal there in under an hour! Ruth and Jeff both ordered dinners and they actually were brought to the table before our first trip to the salad bar! Ruth and I always had the same problem on our first Wednesday lunches too! So much to gab about, so little time.

Here is me and Jeff:


And then I moved to the other side of the table so he could get me and Ruth!


We got our server to try to get a group shot. She was a much better server than she was a photographer! But she did it with gusto!


It was all good. We had a ball.

When we finally gave up our table and headed out, I had to laugh. There in the middle of Pennsylvania, our cars from Ohio and New York, were the only ones in the parking lot that didn't know how to freakin' park! Ouch! Good thing we're cute!

Ruth asked if I could find my way home or if they needed to lead me to I-90. Hey! In spite of the fact that I had to ask Jim how to find Lawrence Park, I thought I knew how to find my way home! Besides, I had my Garmin in the car, I was jiggy.

We hugged good bye, I got in the car and turned the Garmin on, just in case. It's a darn good thing I did too! When Nagle Road ended at Station Road, that came back to me. I knew I needed to turn left, I still thought I was ok. Then the damn Garmin said something about turning onto the Bayfront extension or something like that. What the hell is that? THAT road was never there when I lived there! Yeah, ok, so I needed the Garmin to find my way home. But at least I did find my way home.

Thanks to brother Jim for carving out some of the day for me and for Ruth and Jeff for agreeing to dinner plans with very little notice. I had a great day!

PhotoPhun Challenge: Looking Into The Past

Great job to Mark and Lisa for coming up with this idea! This was a lot of fun!

The challenge was to take an old picture and to go where that picture was taken and take a new picture showing the then and now of the scene. I went through all of my pictures, but I only found two that I wanted to work with. But I think they are good ones!

The first one I took in Erie PA yesterday. This is my home town and this picture is even at the house I grew up in! You can see the poles my Mom used to run the ropes to hang laundry out are still there, but the garage is new as is the tulip tree. The yard is totally different from what it used to be back then. Then again, so am I!


And then this one is of my actual house here in Lorain! The back of the house used to have a small outside porch. When Larry remodeled the house, he enclosed this porch and it now is the home to my refrigerator as well as a pantry and more cupboards! Bonus!


If you also notice on the top left of the old picture, there is a door that went out onto the roof of this porch. Well, that door is no longer there and I have nice shelving in my bathroom where that door used to be.

So, that is what I came up with for this week. Make sure you check out Lisa and Mark's blog, as well as our newcomer, Kalin! I'm know everyone found some great stuff this week!

Target On My Back

Yesterday was not my day. Some days it seems like not much goes right.

It started on my way to work. There I was, minding my own business, getting ready to turn left into the parking lot at work. The road I work on is a two lane road, one lane southbound and one lane northbound. There I am, turn signal on, slowed way down ready to make my left turn.

Movement to my left caught my eye (thank heavens!) and what do I see in my side mirror? Some moron zipping up the oncoming traffic lane to PASS me while I was trying to turn! For real! Wasn't that damn turn signal a give away that I was turning? I straightened out the car, watched this bozo fly by me and then I turned safely into the parking lot. Where I immediately checked how clean my undies were! Holy crap, for real. I did have to sit in the parking lot and get my heart rate back down a bit. Wow.

Later in the day, I was sitting at my desk, again minding my own business! Suddenly, someone is walking over my head! I've blogged before that we have problems with critters. However, this does NOT sound like a raccoon, it sounds big with two feet!

I go running out into the warehouse to check on the guy out there. He's calm, just working away without a care in the world. Me? I'm freaking out telling him that someone is on the roof! He says yeah, the maintenance guy is up there, working on a couple of holes in the roof. No big deal!

No big deal? Tell a girl, huh? I don't know what I freaked out so much over that, but I did.

Lastly, even the spirits in my house had it in for me. After dinner, I was in the basement getting a load of clothes out of the dryer. I was bent over, reaching into the dryer when BAM! The door to the furnace had come off and smacked me in the ass! C'mon now, what did I do to deserve that?!!

I really was thinking it was my imagination, but for the life of me, I can't figure out how or why that door came off. I had a heck of a time getting the door back on. Tonight, I took Ron down to the basement and we tried to reenact the door coming off. Ron even tried banging the dryer door into the furnace to get the door to pop off and it wouldn't happen. From where I was standing, for the furnace door to come that far and hit me, it's a head scratcher.

So there. One of those days under a dark cloud. Today I tried to have a quieter day. I kept my nose clean and tried to stay off of every one's radar. And, just in case, I wouldn't let myself be alone in the basement! Poor Ron got roped into doing laundry with me. Hey, finally a bright spot! Hmm, kind of curious though that he wouldn't stand too close to me in the basement.

Turn Left! No, Right! No, LEFT! Right?

Anyone that knows me, knows I don't know my east from my west from my north from my south. How in the hell I survived without a Garmin is mind boggling!

Well, life has been interesting here at work lately. Brother Michael is happy over in China eating his DimSun, fish eyes and whatever else they throw at him. But with him gone, that leaves a huge hole at work!

One of Mike's many jobs here is that if any driver needs to know where we are, he tells them. He does great directions! I will hunt him down, no matter where he is, and make him take those calls. Recently, as I was sitting in my office next to his, I hear him giving another driver directions. Something came over me and I started taking notes. Step by step, turn by turn, I listened how he told the driver how to get here. It's not the way I'd do it, but whatever. I can't find my way out of a wet paper bag so what do I know!

When he was done with his call, I took my notes over and we went over them with Google Maps (as if that would help me!) so I could see the directions he was giving. Ok, whatever. I kept my notes in the hopes that I would never have to use them.

Then, first thing yesterday morning it happened. A driver wanted to deliver and he didn't know how to get here. Holy CRAP! I was the only one here! I dug out my notes, and tried to talk like I knew what I was talking about. English wasn't his first language and it's barely mine. Somehow I got through my list of instructions, he said ok, and we hung up.

I was talking to my friend Jeff yesterday (ok, emailing back and forth almost counts as talking!) and I told him the story. He was nice enough to tell me that I am good at telling people where to go so I shouldn't worry, the driver will find his way! Thanks, Jeff! I know that was said with all the love in your heart!!

Well, he was right. The driver did find his way in just the amount of time it should have taken him from where he was! Go me!

But for real, people. In this day and age, if you drive for a living, invest in some kind of GPS! They are everywhere! Garmins, Tom Toms, Magellans, IPhones, most cell phones and a ton of other stuff I probably just don't know about. You should NEVER depend on me knowing how to get YOU anywhere!

Surprises In My Window

Ok, I'm almost embarrassed to post these pictures after the picture Lisa put on her blog last week about this very thing! But, I gotta tell you this story, so overlook the bad picture!

We only live a couple of miles from Lake Erie. I know that the closer you get to the Lake, the bigger and badder icky stuff gets, like spiders, bugs, rats, etc. I don't know whether to blame the Lake on this year's spider infestation or if there is some other reason I should be attributing all of my unwelcome guests.

I am a huge believer that if a spider is inside my house, Ron should whack him. That's just the way it is. However, outside should be their territory and I really try not to mess with them in their own territory. I'll give them a wide berth and live and let live. I seem to have broken my own rule about this though.

They are everywhere, surrounding my house. At night, it is a horror movie waiting to happen. I look at a side of my house and I can't count how many spiders are on the side of my house. Then, when I think I've never seen a bigger spider, I look again and the next spider six inches away is even bigger! EWW! Like I said, I try to give them a wide berth.

But they have had my doors surrounded. I can't live with that. I will not walk through spider webs to get into and out of my door, plus having these dang things drop on you as you walk through a door way. I have taken to spraying spider spray around my doorways just to get them to back off. Ok, and around my mailbox. Nothing is worse than reaching into your mailbox to get your mail and bringing out a huge spider along with the bills! NO! I will not put up with it. I am so getting the heebie jeebies over here just thinking about it!

I know, you're saying that I should just leave the bills inside of the mailbox and be done with that part. But, I never know when my next sweepstakes win will come in so I have to check my mailbox!

Now, to my story. I have two side by side windows in the kitchen over my sink. I have to be careful about opening these windows in the summer time because invariably, the inside sills to these windows are covered with dead little gnat like thingies. I just assumed these things are so small, they get in through the screen and then get stopped by the window. If I'm opening these windows, I need to bring my vacuum in first to suck up these dead bugs and take a wet paper towel to clean up in there. It's really gross. I've stopped using these windows for the most part because I'm tired of cleaning up dead bugs!

Then, recently, this is what was in the right side window! INSIDE as in between the freakin' screen and the glass!


Ok, I don't know exactly what it is, but it's dead and it's wrapped in a cocoon of spider web. Oh, the horrors that were happening right inside of my kitchen! Or at least inside of my kitchen windows. I am so grossed out by this I can't even tell you. I know nature and all that but eww! I wish I could go back to my naive days of thinking all of those bug carcasses on the window sill were just unfortunate bugs that starved to death after getting stuck in there. I don't want to think that I've been cleaning up after this spider's meals for a long time now. O M G.

A day or so after this little present was found in my window (which by the way, I've left there!) this little beauty showed up in the left side window. I was downstairs sometime in the early evening and this guy was looking in the window at me.


Sorry, but this is too close to INSIDE of my house for my comfort. I closed the blind so I wouldn't have to look at him, but I was going to be damned if I was going to open the window to do anything about him.

What did I do? I cried to Ron, of course!

The next day the first package in the right side was cleaned up by Ron. (thank you, honey!) He said he tried to find the spider but he must have been hiding so as far as I know he is still alive and well in my window. It's a good thing that it's almost winter because I'm ready to nail that window shut.

Some days, I hate nature.

PhotoPhun Challenge: Textures

Yes, I picked the challenge for this week. Textures. I know, I know, it's a lot like the macro challenge we just did. I can't help it! I got a new toy (Lisa showed me the macro button) and all I want to do is play with it!

Ok, there is another reason. Lisa and I actually got together after work for a cup of coffee recently. We were supposed to talk about our cameras, but 2-1/2 hours later and that we just didn't have time to hit THAT subject too! But, one of the stories I told her was that my house was remodeled just before I bought it. Our friend, Larry, had done most of the work. I have all new drywall throughout the house and all of my ceilings were newly textured. In the seven years since I've been here, I have looked and looked at these ceilings and I keep seeing images in them. Lisa wanted to see that, so I called the challenge of textures, because I could never figure out a way to work my ceilings into a blog! And, I think Ron was hoping I'd never figure out how to work this into a blog! But, here they are. Pictures of my ceilings. Enjoy!

The first two pictures are from my dining room ceiling.



And these two are from my bedroom ceiling!



Ok, mind out of the gutter. Now that I've got that out of my system, here is what else I looked at.

This is a leaf on my curtain in the living room.


This was my new colander in the sink after I got done rinsing my grapes.


A lamp shade in the living room.


When I was young, my Mom had done all of the cooking. Our heritage is all Slovak and Mom cooked her share of Slovak food for us. One staple was halushki, which is a dumpling made from flour and egg, and are similar to Hungarian spaetzel. You plop a bunch of dough on a pallet or plate and you spoon small gobs of it into boiling water to make the dumpling. My Mom used this board exclusively just for making halushki. I believe my Uncle John made the board for her. It's worth nothing but a lifetime of memories.

After my Mom passed away, I was at my Dad's and found this in the cupboard. Its days of holding dough for halushki were long gone but the memories remained. The board is unusable and cracked, but it hangs above my sink.


Just so you get an idea, it's not a texture picture, but this is what the whole board looks like.


Another week's challenges in the books! This is just so much fun!! Please make sure you check out the other PhotoPhuners, Lisa and Mark, and see what fun textures they found as well.

Where Do I Buy One?

I was driving to work the other day and I noticed that there was an ambulance in front of me. No big deal; there were no lights and sirens going, just the ambulance in traffic.


I did notice however, that the lights on this ambulance were pretty cool. When the brakes were applied, the back lights would flash a little, then turn to brake lights. When the turn signal was activated, instead of just flashing on and off, they were running lights, running in the direction of the turn. Ok, I was fascinated by the shiny lights!

And, speaking of shiny, this ambulance had to be the shiniest and whitest thing I've ever seen. Like it was just off of the show room floor. Then I noticed it:


Dealer plates! For real!

I guess I just assumed that these things had to be special ordered. Who knew they came off of a show room floor at the dealership?

What dealership around here sells brand spanking new ambulances? I want to know. I NEED to know. I want to take this puppy for a test drive!

I know from experience that the back of these things are NOT the most comfortable thing to ride in. C'mon people, invest in some shock absorbers, huh? But I digress. I don't want to ride in the back again, I want to drive this in traffic with full lights flashing and sirens blaring. That would be kinda awesome.

If anyone sees these in a car lot somewhere, call me. I feel the need for speed!

Kiwi Berries

Last week I was doing my weekly shopping at Sam's Club. While walking through the produce, I saw a lady standing in front of a display with an odd look on her face. Yes, I'm nosy. Anything that can elicit that kind of face on someone, I wanna know what it's about. I copied her face and I asked her what's up!

You know I do love to talk to strangers! This lady was looking at kiwi berries. We both talked about how was it possible that these tasted anything like a kiwi fruit! Were we going to have to peel these little gems like you do a regular kiwi fruit? We finally decided that if she was willing to take a chance and try them, so would I! We wiped the odd looks off of our faces and each grabbed a clam shell of kiwi berries and we were off!

A strange looking fruit, similar to a grape. Here are the kiwi berries.



And, the kiwi berries next to a bunch of red grapes. Similar in size, kinda in color too.


Before I popped one in my mouth, I cut one of the berries in half. It sure did look like a kiwi fruit, even if it didn't have a fuzzy skin!


The jury is still out on whether I'd buy them again or not. They are not as sweet as kiwi fruit as these berries have a little sourness to them. They taste like a cross between a kiwi and a grape! Not terrible, just took some getting used to.

If you see them (I've never seen them before this!), pick some up and let me know what you think of them!