I Ate A Bug

Yes, I did. I ate a bug. Eww. But, more on that later in this blog!

Saturday, Ron and I had an adventure day. We started our day heading down to Barberton Ohio, Ron's hometown, to meet up with two of my favorite people! Ron's cousin Tom and Tom's wife Margie. I've said it before and I'll say it again - these people are a party looking to happen! We met up at Hopocan Gardens, one of the chicken houses in Barberton. Here is Tom and Ron and then a reluctant Margie! Thanks for finally relenting to the picture!



In case no one knows, Barberton is the fried chicken capital of the world! They make what is known as Barberton Chicken. We met up at Hopocan Gardens to chow down on some chicken. I wish I'd have taken a picture of the food but to be honest, it was wolfed down so fast, I didn't have a chance.

Let me tell you, we all left fat and happy after that meal. For real, if you're ever in or near Barberton, find one of the chicken houses. You won't regret it.

After we had lunch and caught up, Ron and I headed over to another of my favorite places in Barberton, Lake Anna.


This place is just gorgeous. Every time we make it to Barberton, we try to walk around the lake. Here are just a few views of what is at Lake Anna.




I'm not lying, this place is just gorgeous. There are many activities available at the park. People are out walking, fishing, playing. In the summertime, bands play there for free. It's such a asset to this community.




The city also rents swans for the lake. The city brings them to the lake in the spring and takes them back in the fall. They are such beautiful birds, these pictures won't do them justice.




The lake was playing host to so many ducks and Canadian geese, I couldn't count them all. However, I counted five swans, and there was definitely some love in the air between two of them. This swan dance was awesome to see.



Now, here is the bad part. As we were walking around the lake and checking out what there was to see, a bug flew in my mouth and down my throat. At first, you're like "what??" Then as soon as you start thinking about the fact that you just ate a bug, the gag reflex starts! Eww! I'm standing there, in the middle of this beautiful park, hacking away, trying not to throw up my recently eaten Barberton Chicken! Yeah, how's that for a visual! But, it all ended up staying down and I went on with the day like the trooper that I am. Bonus protein!

After the lake we went and saw a few more sights and then ended the day with a trip to my favorite ice cream place, Sweet Henrie's in Norton. Holy crap, their stuff is awesome! I hear they also serve food but all we've ever gotten there is dessert. It's worth the trip, let me tell you. Although, one bad thing did happen while we were here. In the midst of my double scoop of rainbow sherbet it happened. Brain freeze behind my right eye! Dang that hurt! The sherbet was well worth it, but c'mon now. When is the last time you had brain freeze?

We decided to take the scenic route home and man am I glad we did! Memories of Dad just jumped into my head as we passed this farm full of sheep! I asked Ron to pull over and I jumped out and started snapping pictures. I am my father's daughter. Well, if Dad were here, he'd have walked up to the fence and called the sheep over to give them a little scratch behind the ear, but I was happy with a few photos. This made for the perfect ride in the country experience.



Like I said, it was just a great day all around, in spite of eating a bug and getting brain freeze. Another successful Saturday adventure.

And, in the end, a few pictures of us enjoying Lake Anna.

It Looked Like My Garbage

I am anal about so many things.

Friday morning is our garbage pick up day and I do my best to recycle what I can. I buy those big 30 gallon blue bags from Sam's Club and it will take us a couple of weeks to fill them up.

Friday night when the three of us left for dinner, I saw a 30 gallon blue bag on the side of the road a couple of blocks from my house. In this blue bag was a jug of Clorox. I knew I threw out a jug of Clorox this week! Holy crap! Is this my blue bag of garbage??? I couldn't wrap my mind around why MY bag of recycles would be on the tree line a few blocks from my house but doggone it, it sure looked like my garbage.

I'm not afraid of anyone seeing in our recycle bag since it's the normal household recycle items. Soda bottles, maybe a liquor bottle or two, spaghetti sauce jars etc and of course, my Clorox! But this really bothered me that MY bag could be littering up the street. We passed it a couple of times Friday night and it just really bothered me.

I went out Saturday morning and the first place I headed to was that damn garbage bag. I was obsessed with it. I thought I'm going to throw it in my trunk, put it on the side of my house with the rest of the garbage and put it back out next Friday morning. Then perhaps I could quit obsessing about it.

I actually pulled over and looked closer at the bag. Yeah, not my garbage! I saw an egg carton in the blue bag and I know for sure I didn't throw out an egg carton in the last couple of weeks! Plus, there were some juice bottles in there that I know I don't buy! Whew! Mystery solved!

I guess in my small mind, I couldn't imagine that someone else in this neighborhood actually bought 30 gallon blue bags and emptied out a Clorox bottle this week. I know, I need a life.

Where this bag was sitting, there was a bunch of other garbage all around. A regular garbage bag was sitting up the block, there were tons of soda cans and bottles, fast food bags, etc. I do live in a messy neighborhood. While I did leave the recycle bag where it was with all of that other garbage, I couldn't believe what a mess was left in the park.

I gotta give some kudos to the city and I surely don't say THAT often. When I came back eight hours or so later, the park was cleaned up! The garbage bag, the recycle bag and a ton of loose litter had been picked up. Way to go, City Department! Great job!

Not To Worry, It's Just A Small Fire

You ever just have one of those days? One of those days that you wanted to throw your alarm clock across the room. One of those days when you hit every snooze your alarm clock had and still didn't want to get up? I guess I didn't sleep well last night and I just didn't have any oomph today.

But, I was up, washed, dressed and out the door on time. I am at my desk, working away when I decided I wanted breakfast. For real, we have a ton of food in the office! Or, at least I do.

I have an assortment of yogurts in the fridge along with those cups of ruby red grapefruit. I also have some Pop Tarts in my drawer. You have to understand my love affair with Pop Tarts. I think they are the perfect food! My personal favorite is Unfrosted Strawberry Pop Tarts. Trust me, I could live on them! Once in awhile though, I do buy a box of S'mores Pop Tarts. What can a tell you, sometimes a girl just needs chocolate for breakfast.

Ever since I saw that the office had a little toaster oven on top of the microwave, I knew I'd be stocked up on Pop Tarts.

So, this morning I grabbed a couple of S'mores Pop Tarts and threw them in the toaster oven. When I heard the "ding" I knew breakfast was ready. I grabbed a half sheet of paper towel and went to the toaster oven.

Now, here is where you need to be talented. We have no hot pads or anything silly like that. Usually, I take a fingernail and grab a hold of the top of one of the tarts and slide it off of the rack and on to my paper towel. I got up close, reached in and suddenly . . . I saw smoke! I pulled back a little and realized that the paper towel was on FIRE! CRAP!

The door of the toaster oven lays down flat so it's sort of like a little table. I put the paper towel on the open door of the toaster and whacked the crap out of it to put the fire out. Who said all I do is panic! So, the fire is out, the smoke is clearing. I thought I can't hide this one and Mike should have heard/smelled something going on. To allay his fears, I just said out loud "not to worry, it's just a small fire". Poor guy. He really doesn't stand a chance. If his family doesn't drive him over the edge, I just might!

So I took the paper towel with my Pop Tarts and showed him what I did. Of course, I also added "there's a blog in this! I need to take the paper towel home and take pictures!!" Mike beat me to the punch. He took the picture right then and there. He thought we needed the Pop Tarts in the photo!


I know I got lucky this time. So just in case, I have taken note of where the nearest fire extinguisher is to my office. You never know.

Only Five? Where Am I??

This afternoon, Michael was looking through his desk drawer and came across some old family pictures. We took a few moments to take a nice nostalgic trip down memory lane. However, one of the pictures REALLY seems to bother me. This one here. Now, keep in mind . . . I am the youngest of six children. Go ahead. Count the kids in this picture. Go ahead. I'll meet you below the picture.


So? Did you count? Aren't they one short? Where am I??? The infant in Mom's lap is my brother Jim. And, Jim is five years older than I am so I am absolutely no where in the picture, not even an inkling!

I'm not so narcissistic to think that life couldn't have happened without me. I guess what I can't wrap my mind around is that is a picture of a family; a picture of MY family. They were a complete family unit. Without me. I guess I can't explain it, I just can't seem to get my mind around this fact!

In case you haven't had the pleasure to meet all of us, from left to right starting with the bottom row, there is: Michael, Jim, Cathie. Middle row: Dad, Mom. Back row: Philip, Barbara.

Ok, wrap your mind around THIS!! That was Philip way back in about 1958. Here is Philip in about 2008! Nice, huh?


In the same group of pictures was this gem. We are guessing this was Cathie's fourth birthday. In case anyone is trying to place the faces with names in this picture, I'll list everyone in the picture below the picture. Take your time!

Bottom row, left to right, starting with Cathie in the middle: Cathie, Cousin Donny, Cousin Bill. Back row: Cousin Nick (can't you tell from that grin!?! He still has it!!), Cousin Marty, Michael, Barbara, Philip. What a crew, huh? One thing I noticed in these pictures is that my sister Barbara just didn't look happy. What's that about?

And, last but not least, where it all started. Grandma and Grandpa. Unfortunately, Grandpa died before I was born, so I didn't have the honor of meeting him. But Grandma was most definitely near and dear to my heart.

A few Grandma stories. Every year on your birthday, one of my Aunts would make sure Grandma would call us on our birthdays. Grandma spoke with a heavy accent, so she'd sing her happy birthday wishes to us with her accent. The best part was when it got to "happy birthday dear (insert your name), sometimes Grandma would get confused. After all, she had a gazillion grandkids! So, here is how Grandma would sing. You just have to imagine her accent here. "heppy bertday to you, heppy bertday to you, heppy bertday dear, um, which one am I calling? (you'd hear Aunt Aggie say CATHIE or whoever) oh yeah, heppy bertday dear Catherine, heppy bertday to yoooouu!!"

Go Grandma! I do my best Grandma imitation every year for Jim and Cathie for their birthdays.

Grandma making dough. Anyone that knows my grandma is right now picturing my Grandma kneading that dough on the kitchen table. That poor little old lady put her whole self into that kneading process. And, boy was it worth it! When they were making home made noodles, the best part was Grandma cutting off the ends of the dough and slipping them to us for a treat. Raw dough. Mom would argue with Grandma to quit that! I think that was just for our benefit to make this seem like a huge treat for us. Because believe me, this felt like a huge treat! Every time I work with dough now, I snitch a piece of raw dough and remember Grandma sneaking them to us.

I just love looking at old pictures. Today was a nice good day of warm fuzzies. Maybe next time I can find some with ME in them! Bonus!!

Call Jerry Springer. I Think We're Ready

If you know me, you know I come from a weird family. Our family motto is "we put the fun in dysfunctional.

Perhaps you also know I now work for one of my brothers. This is an interesting dynamic, to say the least. It's hard to blog about work when your boss very possibly could read what you write. I really have to edit myself here.

But, I can tell one story. Keep in mind, this is a very small company I work for. That means that everyone wears many hats. In one day, I could do Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable and scrub a toilet. They still won't let me near a jitney yet, but I still hold out hope!

My brother, one of the owners, in one day can go from doing his administrative work to loading or unloading a truck, or getting down and dirty and actually working the production floor.

Our normal dress code in the office is very casual. Jeans, sweatshirts, flannel shirts, t-shirts and of course, my safety shoes. I swear I'm gonna blog about them shoes yet! WITH pictures! Y'all gonna love it! Anyway, Mike will come to work in his street clothes and if he needs to work in production, he changes to a work uniform and his steel toed boots.

It is a small office and I am the first woman working there. So, when Mike needs to change clothes, he just does it right in his office. His office is right next to mine and I am in and out of his office all day. I need the big printer in there, or I need his help, or various supplies housed in his office. To make sure I don't walk in on him when I shouldn't, he gives me a warning. I will hear "I'm getting naked" or something to that effect. Anytime you hear a man say those words should be a good thing. Then you remember it's your brother! Yeah, Jerry Springer time! Then, I get the blow by blow "important parts are now covered" or "ok, I'm done now". It's hysterical! But I SO appreciate the warning. There's something I never want to walk in on. As if I didn't need enough therapy!

So, today, Mike is changed into his work clothes and he's out on the shop floor. Unfortunately, I had to go out a bunch of times with questions for him. One time I'm out there, and Mike tells me to reach in his pocket and grab his phone. He just got a text message and his hands are filthy and sticky and icky (that's a technical term!). Um, I don't know if I want to reach into his pants for money, let alone his phone!

Luckily, the phone was in his shirt pocket, but still! Ok, it was a work text but for crying out loud, isn't this a bit over and above the call of duty? I found out it's actually in my job description. It's in that fine print that detailed out my duties and then added "or anything else I need you to do". Damn that fine print!

So, in order to get a couple of questions answered today, I had to take Mike's phone out of his pocket, show him the text message and then text his reply back. You need something done, I'm your girl.

It's not just a job - it's an adventure!

I Want To Challenge Myself. If It's Not Too Hard. Maybe.

As we all know, I have an obsessive/compulsive personality. I don't do anything part way.

When I smoked, I smoked three packs of cigarettes a day. When I eat, I eat. I would be an alcoholic if only drinking alcohol didn't make me throw up. Yeah, not pretty. When I start a new hobby (all about this in a blog soon!) I don't do it half way, I jump in with two feet and go over the top with it. When I watch TV, I watch way too damn much TV.

Of course, my personal favorite is reality TV. Hey, when I'm watching about someone else's misery, I'm forgetting about my own. I admit it, I am a reality TV junkie. There are not enough hours in a day to fill the void in my soul!

Anyway, one of the shows I like to watch is American Idol. Let me just go off on a little tangent here. Four judges? For real? That is just way too much. Who cares what Ellen DeGeneres has to say about this? I have nothing against Ellen, I just don't think she belongs as a judge on American Idol. And Kara? If she calls one more person "honey" I'm gonna spit. And what's up with Simon? Is he on anti-depressants all of a sudden? He's one of the reasons to watch the show! I love an opinionated person. If a singer sucks, they should be told they suck. Period. Hey, my family and friends love me enough to tell me every time I try to sing that I suck at it. Fine, so I don't try out for the show. Too many people obviously don't have the friends and family that care enough about them. So, here's Simon, a bland, washed out version of himself. And, what's with the wink this year? He's winking at freakin' everyone. What's that about? For real, the show has gone down hill so far. But I still can't look away. I do love a good train wreck!

After all that rambling, one of the contestants on this year's American Idol, a young guy named Casey, was interviewed on the show about the fact that previous to being on the show, he's never seen the show American Idol. Hello?? What's that about? Casey explained that when he was seven years old, lightning struck and blew up their television. The family never replaced the TV and as he got older he never felt the need for a TV.

That just spoke to me! I was so in awe of this guy. Not for his singing talent, but because he doesn't even own a TV! I so wanted to be like him! How much could I get accomplished in my life if I quit watching TV!! This was a challenge I wanted to undertake. I thought about it for a few weeks. I wanted to give up TV and start accomplishing things like scrubbing this house like I want to. Maybe I could finish that afghan that I started for Maura and John that was supposed to be their Christmas present in 2009!! Hey, they saw it about half way done and now I only have about 20 rows to do! I can DO it! I just need to buckle down and focus. No more TV!

I told this new idea of mine to Ron. Once he stopped laughing and caught his breath, he suggested maybe I start slow and perhaps just give up TV one night a week. Ok, that made sense. We all need to walk before we run.

I could do Mondays. No, Mondays don't work. There was The Bachelor (I told you I loved train wrecks. This is the MOTHER of train wrecks.) There is Chuck (how could you not love Chuck!) and How I Met Your Mother. Yeah, good thing I have a DVR.

I could do Tuesdays. No, Tuesdays don't work. First there is NCIS (Michael Weatherly. Need I say more?) and of course, American Idol.

Maybe Wednesday? No, Wednesdays have America's Next Top Model (Don't judge me. I told you I have a sickness.) and again, American Idol.

How about Thursday? This is the Superbowl of reality TV. Survivor, American Idol, Kitchen Nightmares, Project Runway, Models of the Runway, The Real Housewives series (Ok, the Real Housewives of the OC sucked. But, New York just started again! Between New York and New Jersey? That is what I call must see TV!), LA Ink. Ahh. Have I mentioned that I actually have two DVRs?? Yes, it's a sickness.

Fridays and Saturdays are for catching up on everything I've taped during the week on my DVRs. And, I haven't even mentioned the daytime television that I have to tape. There is Judge Judy (I LOVE her!), The People's Court, and my new thing, Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. Some weekends, there are just not enough hours in the days.

How about Sunday? No, I can't forget about the Amazing Race! Holy Crap! Thank heavens they changed the time to 8:00 pm instead of 10:00 pm! I need that extra two hours to get my heart beat back to normal after some of the stuff they do!

These are just shows on TV now. Wait! There are so many more that I can't miss! Big Brother, Tabatha's Salon Takeover, Deadliest Catch, After the Catch, Top Chef, Hell's Kitchen, Saving Grace, Raising the Bar, to name just a few.

On top of all of this, it's almost baseball season again! I haven't seen my beloved Cubs, my boys in blue, since October. As of right now, there are only 25 days, 17 hours and 16 minutes until the Cubs' opening day!!! I'm freakin' counting down to it, I don't think I could actually miss it. I NEED to watch baseball.

Give up TV? I don't think I could do it. Man, I do have a problem. I need to get off the junk: the TV junk. Does anyone know of a 12 step program? Or just how I could get a life?

Adventure Saturday

Saturday found us out and about for an adventure. The three of us along with our friends, Larry and Linda, were meeting up with Ron's brother Wes and his wife Bev over in Tremont at Sokolowski's University Inn.

We have been hearing about this place for a long time and we finally made it. I don't know if the words that I type can truly justify this place.

First off, there was a line at the door waiting to get in before the place even opened at 4:00 pm. The line never went down. We were probably 100 people back when we got there and there was at least that many people still in line when we left two hours later. Was the food worth it? You betcha!

There was so much memorabilia and just stuff all over the walls that the wait seemed like nothing. There was so much to look at and take it that you almost wanted the line to go slower so you could catch up. Once you finally got to the top of the stairs where the food was, it was almost overwhelming.

This is cafeteria style. So you grab a tray, grab some silverware, and like any great restaurant, you start with dessert! Hey, I appreciate a restaurant that puts their best foot forward from the get go. Who am I to pass up some strawberry cheesecake? Of course I grabbed one. Then on to the real food. At the end of the line were rolls for the taking and they gave you a salad plate to take to the salad bar! C'mon now, if you left this place hungry, it was your own fault.

There was a choice of a handful of daily specials. Good Polish food for sure. Being Slovak, this was right up my alley. Here was my dinner of stuffed cabbage with a side of pierogis and green beans. Please note my strawberry cheesecake at the top left. Holy crap, that was good! Ok, it was ALL good! This wasn't Mom's stuffed cabbage but it was fantastic anyway.



Ron chose a pan seared red snapper with a side of pierogis and green beans. His dessert choice was a key lime cheesecake. The fish was cooked to order so it wasn't sitting on a steam table. Ron thought that it was fabulous!


Phil chose one of his favorite meals, the baked meatloaf. Unfortunately, I didn't think to take pictures fast enough and obviously, Phil loved his dinner! This is what was left of his meatloaf! I think his sides were pierogies (do you see a pattern here?) and sauerkraut.


Like I said, we had a great group of family and friends around the table. For as busy as the restaurant was, there were still empty tables so we didn't feel rushed to get out of there and free up the table. We sat, we talked, we caught up, we goofed around, we just enjoyed the afternoon.

Going around the table, we had Larry in the shadows, me and Ron.


Ron and Phil:


Phil and Wes:


Wes and Bev:


Bev and Linda:


Me, Larry and the Pope!


After dinner, we headed outside for photo opportunities. From where I was standing to take the first photo of this blog, I turned around and this is what I saw - downtown Cleveland over the Inner Belt Bridge.

Keep in mind, the Inner Belt Bridge was inspected after the Interstate 35W bridge in Minneapolis Minnesota collapsed in 2007, killing 13 people and injuring 145. The Inner Belt Bridge in Cleveland was found to have the exact same defect as the Interstate 35W and is in need of rebuilding. They have detoured truck traffic around the bridge, but I guess those of us in passenger vehicles are expected to take our chances on that bridge until it is torn down and rebuilt. I hate going over that bridge, but I digress.


Another shot of the Inner Belt Bridge. You could see the bumper of a car on the bottom left of this picture. This is also part of the parking area for Sokolowski's.


Looking up the Cuyahoga River and a closer look at the birds on the River. Well, I tried to get a closer look at the birds anyway. Work with me!



When all was said and done, we stood under the sign for a group photo opportunity. Another family was leaving at about the same time and the guy was hysterical! He said he loved photos and he wanted to be in it too! I tried to get his whole family in the picture, but they were too chicken to join in! So, thank you total stranger, for jumping in and being part of our family for a moment! You definitely made our day!!

From left to right, Total Stranger/New Family Member, Wes, Bev, Ron, Phil and me! It was a great Saturday in my world.

Someone Is Trying To Kill Me!

For real!

I've mentioned at least once, twice, a dozen times, that I hate being out in public any more. I hate driving, being in the car, traveling anywhere.

Today was the perfect example as to why. And, this is just TWO instances during my 25 minute ride home from work!

I even drive the long way to and from work, just to choose a route with less traffic. I figure the fewer people I see, the better off I'm going to be. Tonight, coming home from work, I was stopped at a red light with my left turn signal on. Um, in case anyone wasn't sure, yes, I planned on turning left shortly after my light turns green.

Alas, the light changed green, I inched up a little, still with my left turn signal on, and was waiting for the car coming at me, who was also stopped while waiting for the same red light, to go by so that I could turn behind her. Suddenly, this big ass pick up truck (and yes, it was a Ford!) drives around me, in front of oncoming traffic and just TURNS left! WTF? He almost hit the oncoming car head on, and actually, she swerved close to me to avoid eating his freakin front grill! I mean for real. What purpose could this idiot have to justify what he did? I'm in an intersection for crying out loud, waiting for traffic to clear so that I could turn! I can't tell you the terror I felt in that five seconds of my life.

So, I am trying to calm down for the rest of my ride home. I am now on a rural two lane road. I see a car coming at me. The longer I watch, I realize he's really coming AT me. Something looked funny and it took me a second to realize he was in MY LANE! With deep ditches on both sides of the road, there was no where I could go.

I slammed on my brakes and laid on my horn. This idiot finally looked up and realized he had drifted and he moved into his own damn lane in enough time to give me a few gray hairs but not quite the heart attack I'm waiting for.

C'mon now, these two were within five miles of each other. And that wasn't even the end of my nightmare drive home! The route I take is about 14 miles one way. Numerous people tried to do me serious bodily harm in that 14 miles today. I swear I'm going to die in that car.

By the time I got the car in my garage, I was ready to kneel down and kiss the driveway. I couldn't get into the house fast enough, and was met by Ron who was ready to go out for dinner. Crap. Why couldn't I just crawl into bed, pull the covers up over my head and stay there?

Ugh. I changed out of my work boots (there's a blog right there one of these days!) and put my sneakers on and the three of us headed out the door to dinner. What did Ron find when he opened the door to leave? My keys still in the door! At least I remembered to shut and lock the door from the inside! So what if my keys were in the door for anyone to use to get right in! Major brain burp.

So now I'm home, safe and sound. I'm in my jammies and I'm ready to go to bed. Hopefully I won't fall out of bed and crack my head open! That would just be the end to a perfect day.

Not Exactly How I Planned It

Anyone that knows me, knows I'm not an animal person.

I don't have anything against them per se, as long as they just stay away from me. I'm not one that will kick a dog or set a cat on fire, but I can't imagine having an animal in my house. Ok, other than my fish!

Our weather has been so horrible around here lately that I really have been feeling for our local animals.

I've always had a bird feeder outside which I supplement from time to time with some suet in the winter time. Also, any stale bread will get broken up and thrown to the birds.

We have some feral cats in the neighborhood that I've had a few rows with, but only because they were getting into our garbage cans and carrying bones and whatever over to where the guys park their vans. That's just gross to have to clean that up.

Anyway, I've been seeing little cat prints in the snow on our front porch. I gotta tell you, that got me right here. I may be losing my mind, but I went out and bought some cat food. Granted, it was cheap cat food, but I figured those little beggars can't be choosers!

I grabbed a bowl, put some cat food in it and set it out for my little visitors. I'd leave the bowl out there all day and then take it in at night. After all, I have no intention of feeding any neighborhood rats, skunks, possums, or anything else that's not a cat. This was my cat feeding bowl, don't you know. Birds fed over there, cats fed over here. Anyone can see that, right?

It took a few days but the cats found the cat food bowl. I put the bowl just outside of the front door, to the right. I could look through the window and see the little orange tabby out there enjoying my cheap cat food! I feel like I was doing a good job.

Then, one day last week, I came home and the guys told me that there were a ton of birds on the front porch,enjoying the cat food! There was even like four of five cardinals at a time at the food bowl! While that is cool, that is CAT food! WTF! Bird food is over by the BIRD feeder!

I'm not saying that I thought the guys were lying, but c'mon now, this just didn't sound right. Then Sunday afternoon, I was in the office and I was looking out of the window. Just outside of the window is a maple tree and the tree was FULL of birds. And, you may not believe this, but they were all looking in the window at ME! I almost felt like I was in an Alfred Hitchcock movie. Then it hit me. They were on the look out for the damn birds that were raiding the cat food bowl on the front porch!

I ran downstairs and sure enough, the cat food bowl was empty. To add insult to injury, the front porch is full of bird shit! Now c'mon! I don't mind feeding the birds, but crap in the grass, not on my front porch! Yeah, I kinda have issues when it comes to bird shit on my porch. All I want to do is grab a bucket of soapy water and go out there and scrub it down, snow or no snow!

So, here I am. My heart is in the right place, but my execution sucks. I'm just torn as to what to try next. I guess I'm ok with the birds stealing the cat food. I mean if they beat the cats to the food, all is fair in war and lunch. But I want the shitting on my porch to stop.

I gotta come up with a plan B here. I don't know what that is yet, but I'll figure it out! It's so cold out there, my poor neighborhood cats need some love!

TGIMITF!

Thank God I Made It Through Friday!

Last week was not one of my better weeks. I missed almost a half of a week of work due to a bug that got a hold of me hard. I should own some stock in Puffs Plus (thank heavens for that lotion!) but I made it through. I was taking one day at a time to try to make it to the weekend.

Friday finally came and with it came another freakin' blizzard.

I could live the rest of my life without ever getting in another car. I do what I have to do but I don't have to like it. Let me tell you, I am liking it even less in bad weather. I drove white knuckled all the way to work on Friday and that was just during the middle of the blizzard. It continued to snow all day long.

Well, I made it to work, a little late, but I made it. All the way there, I could only think that I was going to have to do it again at the end of the day. Holy crap, how was I going to get home?

Then it hit me. Why do I have to go home? I took a hot pocket to work with me for lunch. There are four boxes of Wheat Thins as well as some Pop Tarts in the snack cupboard (hey, we LIKE our afternoon snacks!), I had three bottles of Diet Pepsi in the fridge and there was more tea than I could possibly drink. I had my book and I had an Internet connection. For real, why would I have to go home? I could just spend the weekend at the office and just be the first one at work on Monday.

Who needs clean underwear or a toothbrush? For real!

My brother, I mean my boss, came through for me. He gave me a ride home Friday so I could have my eyes closed for most of the ride home and just pretend I was anywhere but in a car. Thanks, my brother!

Ron and I grabbed a couple of shovels this afternoon and headed out to break my car out of what I expected was a snow pile. While the snow plow driver did plow the parking lot around my car, once we got my car brushed off, I was able to get out of the spot without shoveling. Bonus!

So, I made it through Friday and now I'm getting ready to start it all over again. I'm finally feeling like a human being so things are definitely looking up!

I can't wait until I start bitching that it's too hot out there!

So, What's New?

I came down with something Thursday night. I had a horrible night and Friday was no better.

I got up Saturday feeling a little better, but still nothing to write home about. The weather finally had warmed up a little bit, so Ron and I went out to get a little taste of over freezing temperatures. We headed to one of our favorite spots, Lakeview Park.

As you can see from these pictures,


the weather finally felt a lot better than it looked. The sun was shining bright, and while the snow and the frozen lake is still a good reminder that we are still in winter, it was a good day to be outside for a change. We took our little ride and then came home to rest up.

About a month ago, our neighbor sold us a couple of tickets to a benefit dinner being held for a friend of his. The man had passed away from cancer leaving a wife and small children behind. Never ones to say no to a good cause, Ron and I scooped up a couple of tickets and decided last night to at least go for the dinner since we paid for it already.

We went in and walked around a little looking at the prizes for the Chinese auction. Hey, I am a sucker for a good Chinese auction!! Since I've never had a mani-pedi in my life, I put a BUNCH of tickets in on that one! One ticket went into the Harley Davidson lamp with promises from Ron that we wouldn't to display it in the living room, a basket of chocolate, some jewelry (that I never wear!) and assorted other stuff. They had a good array of gifts and I thought I placed my tickets wisely. So far, I haven't heard anything, so I am assuming I didn't win anything. Oh well, it was fun to play!

The tables were all set for eight people. We chose a table that already had a couple seated, who were around our age, maybe a little older. They said that another couple was with them, but we were welcome to join as well. I gotta tell you, we picked a great table! By the end of the night, we had eight people at our table and we had a ball!

The food was fantastic (luckily my stomach calmed down by now and I totally got to enjoy dinner) with some pulled pork, lemon chicken, ravioli with meatballs, Italian wedding soup, rice and beans, pasta salad, tossed salad, scalloped potatoes and I'm sure a bunch of other things I just can't remember now. Everything was truly delicious and made by friends of the family. There are some great cooks in this town!

A DJ was playing and people were up dancing and having a good time. Our ticket into the festivities got you four drinks as well from the bar. I'm telling you, we got our money's worth and I sure hope they made some money off of this benefit. They did a great job putting it together, for sure.

Unfortunately, you know you're old when I finally said to Ron "we need to go, it's getting too loud in here for me!" Yeah, I'm getting old.

We came home, my ears were ringing and I had lost my voice again from trying to talk to the people at our table and be heard about the noise of the DJ. Loud is one thing but this was crazy loud.

Maybe I over did it a bit by going last night, since I feel good for nothing today. So, I am planning a nice lazy day today. I've already thrown a bunch of stuff in the crock pot that we're going to call dinner and I'm staying in my jammies today.

It's been a pretty good weekend. Now a day of rest and we start all over again tomorrow.

He Does Have A Mean Streak

If anyone knows Ron, you know he is my exact opposite.

For as over the top, gregarious, loud and obnoxious as I am, Ron is everything but. He is so laid back, so calm, the glass is always half full kinda guy. Like I said, my total opposite. While I am ready to fly off of a handle, he is like whatever. So, that is Ron's temperament, in a nutshell. Most days, he keeps me sane, and probably out of trouble.

A little background. Ron is in the computer service industry. For one of his customers, he's on call 24/7. He's gotten called out of the house in the middle of the night more than once.

The company he works for is based out of California. There are other guys that also have accounts that have 24/7 coverage. So, between five or six guys in the company, nationwide, they take turns being on call for the whole company for after hours calls.

Once the corporate office shuts down at 5:00 pm Pacific time, their calls roll over to their answering service. If a call comes in, the answering service will route it to the person on call to triage the call. When Ron has been on corporate on call, Ron has been known to talk someone through a repair right over the phone. Other times, he will just schedule their local rep to be on site during business hours. And, for certain customers that need immediate assistance, he will push the call up the ladder with his company to get the appropriate person out of bed and on to the road.

When the corporate office turns the phones over to the answering service at 5:00 pm California time which is 8:00 pm Ohio time, you can almost set your clock on the week that Ron is on corporate on call that a phone call will come in from the answering service every night just to remind Ron that he is on call for the overnight hours. Yeah, no kidding, he got the memo.

I mean c'mon. Maybe a phone call on the night that you start on call just to remind you in case you didn't look at the schedule, but every night for a week??

The last on call week Ron had he was feeling a little punk one night. Shortly after dinner, he just went to bed. I was sitting in the office upstairs just before 8:00 when I actually thought about going into the bedroom and confiscating his phone so it wouldn't wake him up when it rang at 8:00. But, i didn't. Right on time, the phone rang, Ron answered it and just went off on the poor operator! I heard him yelling from out here!

How dare they call him so late! Didn't they realize that not everyone lives in California? He is in Ohio for crying out loud and it is LATE here! Now, remember, it was only 8:00 pm here! But, being woken out of a sound sleep, poor Ron was in the middle of his night. The operator must have thought he was nuts, but he apologized and hung up.

When Ron shook the cobwebs out of his head a little later that night, he realized what time it was even though his body felt it was the middle of the night. A case of regret washed over him and he just felt terrible.

He notified his corporate office about what happened, so if they got a complaint on him, he told corporate he deserved it. He was just not feeling well and he was out of it.

So, what happened for our mild tempered guy? The answering service changed their ways!! When he is on call now, they call him at 6:00 pm OUR time! They are not even on the clock yet in California, but they call him at 6:00 to remind him that he's on call.

Yeah, he doesn't get riled very often, but when he does, you remember it!! And you listen! I wanna grow up to be like him!

Here I Am!

Remember, my world has changed considerable lately! Being back to work finally, I am having a little trouble keeping up with everything and one of the things that has fallen through the cracks is blogging.

I will try to do better, but no guarantees!

For real, how do people do it? Up and at 'em to work every day, then come home and keep up with a house and still keep in touch with all the family and friends. Dang, it's hard working for a living! I don't know how I used to do it before, especially with all of the travel on top of that. I keep telling myself I'm just out of practice and that it will come easier. Yeah, I'm ready for that easier part. Any day now.

So, what have we been up to? I do have a few happenings in my life that I thought were blog worthy. Here is one of them to try to get me back to real time.

A few weekends ago, our part of Ohio got dumped on. Phil was smart enough to get out of Dodge and go visit Erie for a week, right before the snow hit. That left Ron and I here. Personally, it wouldn't have bothered me in the least to be snowed in at the house for awhile. We had just been to the grocery store the night before so we were stocked on real food and snacks. We also had stocked up on beer and tequila so honestly, what did we need to leave the house for? Ron being the practical one reminded me that he is always on call and has to be ready to be somewhere within two hours so it might be a good idea to get dug out. Phht, I said. I didn't have to be anywhere in two hours! But, I was a trooper and decided to help him in spite of my reluctance. What a mistake.

We do have our riding lawn mower that has the plow attachment, but this snow was so deep and so heavy, there was only so much that poor plow could do. Plus, the plow was in the garage, which meant we had to get my car out of the garage to get the plow out. With a three foot drift in front of the garage, there was some serious shoveling to be done before we could even think about using the plow.

Ron started at the garage and I went down the driveway about 10 feet. We both started to shovel until we met in the middle. Finally, making enough room to back my car out and get the plow out, Ron jumped on the plow and got started while I kept up with the shovel working on the small stuff like our front porch. When he was almost done, we decided it was about time that I learned how to plow some snow. Just like cutting the grass, there were a few screams from me along with my fair share of giggles while I was driving. This time though, the snow drifts were so high, I think the neighbors didn't get a good line of sight to enjoy a good show. I was a little freer this time with my hooting and hollering!

Even with wheel weights and snow chains on the plow, I got the plow stuck a few times trying to push snow farther back to make room for more snow. Ron told me to use my own weight, and jump up and down on the seat to work myself out. If nothing else, I follow directions well! I bounced up and down for all I was worth. Yes, the neighbors really missed a good show!

It took us all afternoon, but we finally had the driveway dug out and Ron was able to get his van out of his parking spot. What a mess. Of course, since my acupuncture, I'm feeling better, so I totally over did it. My shoulders hurt so freakin' bad that I couldn't lift my arms at all for over a week. Even trying to raise a cup of coffee to my mouth was too much. It was a miserable week. But, I had to do what I had to do.

I know this is Ohio and I know this is winter time and I know my dream home is in Montana, but I'm telling you, I'm done with snow this year. I am struggling with the dichotomy of wanting to be in Montana and wanting to be done with snow!

So here is my return to blogging after a short absence. A story like everyone else has a story about too damn much snow. But, I do have more stories in me about more than just snow. I just need to make myself sit here and type them out.

I got a doozy coming up about Ron! Stay tuned!

Paperless Billing - Now With Paper

Isn't paperless billing supposed to be paperless? Well, not according to Capital One it's not.

I've had my Capital One card for years and for years I've chosen the paperless billing route. There's never much on my credit card. I go in every month and see if I have a charge; if I do, I set up the payment. Easy, right?

This month, I got a paper statement in the mail! Hello?? Paperless billing? I'm kinda pissed about this. Not only is my full name and address on my statement, but so is the entire credit card number. Now there is one more document I need to shred.

I called Capital One last night to express my dissatisfaction with the whole statement issue. I was transferred to another country to talk to a representative. He couldn't understand why this was an issue with me. After all, Capital One has a new statement format and they wanted everyone to see it. I tried to explain that I don't care about their new format since I never looked at their old one. I did NOT want a statement coming to my house. Ever.

Again, he said it was just this month to show off the new statements. I asked did they plan on mailing them now and again just to surprise me? He stated that yes, Capital One very well could mail statements now and again when they felt like it. Gee, I was getting no where. He couldn't understand why a little piece of paper was bothering me.

I started to think about that very thing last night. Why was it bothering me? Is it the fact that in my neighborhood, or any neighborhood, I don't want a piece of paper sitting outside unlocked with my credit card number on it? Is it because for years, I have not seen a statement come in the mail and suddenly there it is? Or have there been other statements that just didn't make it all the way to me? Does someone out there have my credit card number from a stolen statement that I wasn't expecting?

Have I been too indoctrinated into protecting my identity? When the bank sends you your ATM card, they always send your password under separate cover. Shouldn't I expect as much from my credit card company to not put all of my information on one piece of paper and mail it to me? Should I just say no big deal and move on? Am I over reacting?

Kudos To Target in Amherst

Ok, those aren't words that come out of my mouth often!

I'm not anti-Target, but I'm not exactly pro-Target either. K-mart is much closer, but Target is a bright clean lovely store. But, I've had an issue where they didn't stand behind their brand of items. That said, on the other hand, I LOVE some of their Archer Farms snacks. If you're ever at Target, the highest three highest recommendations I have are:

• Macadamia Nut Carmel Clusters
• Spinach and Artichoke Tortilla Chips
• Honey Mustard Savory Pretzels

I'm telling you, their snacks are good but these three are outstanding! RUN to your nearest Target and try them. They're a little pricey but I think these tidbits are worth it.

Now back to topic.

We were at Target on Saturday with a small list of stuff I wanted. One of the things was an accessory for our Wii, the Wii Motion Sensor. Damn Wii Sports Resorts game makes you spend more money for accessories. If I'd only known. But, I digress.

Like most stores, a lot of the gaming stuff is kept behind locks. If you go to Wal-Mart or K-mart, you have to hunt down an employee with a key to get your item. Target was different. There is a button at the end of the aisles that you can press to call for assistance. I pressed said button and was greeted with an electronic voice that stated something like they acknowledge that I need assistance and an associate would be with me in less than 60 seconds!

C'mon now, that's a bold promise for anyone to make! Being the smart ass I am, I timed the guy. If he wasn't there in 60 seconds, he was going to hear me give him a ration of crap over broken promises! Timer is going. I'm looking around. Ron is laughing. Work with me here, it looks like I was syncing up my watch for something important! Suddenly, I see an employee coming my way. That has to be coincidence! He can't be there because I called him! Sure enough, in 59 seconds since I pressed the button, he walked right up to me and asked "may I help you?" HA! He was extremely friendly and got a laugh out of the thought of me thinking Target was lying to me about him being there in under 60 seconds! I told him I was totally impressed with him on that, as well as impressed with Target. They definitely got Kudos from me for that.

We checked out of the store through a line with another great employee of Target's. She was personable, joked with us and was extremely pleasant while also being professional and helpful. Again, good for Target for hiring quality employees! It was just a great shopping experience at Target.

As we're walking out of the store, we hear someone shout out to us. What? We don't know than many people in Ohio! Who could know us at Target in Amherst? It was one of our neighbors from across the street! Even living just across the street, most times the most contact we have with him is waving at each other as one of us drives by. Well, the three of us stepped outside and shot the breeze for awhile. That was a nice catch up with him.

From Target we headed home. We did run another errand later to pick up some food at a new restaurant in town (I'm not ready to critique that one yet. I think we need one more try before I mention a name) then back home to eat a late lunch. It was now hours since we left the house for the first time and suddenly Ron realized that his work phone is missing! Not just the phone but the holster for it and everything! CRAP! This is not good. It's bad enough if you lose your personal phone but your work phone? Especially since Ron is on call 24/7. We both went into a panic mode.

First stop, outside. We had been in both of our vehicles yesterday, so Ron ran to his van, I ran to my car, and I called his phone, hoping one of us would hear it. His voice mail finally picked up but we heard no ringing. Maybe he lost it in the house!

We ran into the house and I called his phone again as we were sweeping each floor of the house. Suddenly, I hear "hello?" What????? My mind went blank. Finally I said, "um, we lost our phone today. Where is it?" to which she answered "it's here at the Target Store in Amherst!" Wow! She confirmed that she was in customer service and I said we'd be right there!

Sure enough, customer service had Ron's phone and his holster. We figured when he took his heavy jacket off in the store, he must have knocked the holster right out from his belt and we just never heard the dang thing fall. We asked if someone left a name when they took the phone to customer service, but no, they just dropped the phone off.

So, a huge THANK YOU to the person who handed Ron's phone in so that we could get it back in one piece. And, kudos to Target in Amherst. I may just have to change my overall opinion about you and start handing some more of my business over your way. Our experience with Target this week was definitely all good.

I Could Live Without It

When Phil has other plans and is not having dinner with us, we like to do something that Phil would not like. For instance, we'll have seafood or ethnic food. Monday night when he had other plans, Ron and I decided to go for Mexican food.

Since our favorite Mexican place closed up about a year or so ago, and the restaurant that replaced it made both of us sick, we only have one Mexican restaurant that we really like but it's in Vermilion. Monday night we wanted to stay closer to home than that.

There is a chain restaurant, Don Tequila, in our area on Cooper Foster Road. We had been there probably three years ago. We weren't overly impressed with the food, however we did have a great time with the people sitting at the table next to us! You all know how I love to talk to strangers!

But, since the food was just mediocre, we never had any strong desire to return to Don Tequila. However, they have closed down their old restaurant on Cooper Foster Road and built a brand spanking new one over on Kresge by the Giant Eagle. We've been watching the construction and for some reason, I thought I wanted to try it again after it re-opened. Monday was our opportunity.

First let me say, the place is absolutely beautiful. I love the decor in there and I couldn't even explain to you the booth backs and the chair backs. Each one was different and you have to see them to appreciate them; gorgeous! We had a very nice server who offered suggestions and helped us through the menu. Now, here is my critique.

I'm not that crazy about authentic Mexican food. I was spoiled with the Tex Mex in Texas. I could eat that all day. But authentic Mexican, bleh. Not my favorite. Usually the margaritas are what make the dinner experience worthwhile. So, let's start there.

Even though we ordered the top shelf margaritas, they sucked. They were way too sour. Lime margaritas should be a little on the sour side but these were ridiculous. We had ordered a half of a pitcher to split between the two of us and we did NOT empty the pitcher. That alone could have made this blog appear in the pages of "That's Just Wrong!".

The food I usually order in Mexican restaurants is fajitas. You can't go wrong with some sliced steak, some onions and peppers, a little salad, guacamole and sour cream all wrapped up in a soft tortilla shell. This was a horrible representation of a fajita! Well, perhaps if you liked really spicy it might be good. I don't like spicy. My freakin' mouth was burning by the time I was done! Yeah, too much for me.

So, even though they seriously upgraded the building, I still didn't care for the food or drink. Yeah, I am crossing that one off of the list of restaurants to go to in our area. It's back to Vermilion to hit a good Mexican restaurant, Tijuana Grill. Now that's good eats.

Buzz Kill

Ok, here I go, bitching about my job already.

You know, the day to day stuff, I'm ok with. If anything comes up I don't know about, I email Mike about it and he answers via email or video chat. So far, so good.

But what happened today really came out of left field. Then again, maybe I was warned that this could happen during one of my talks with my brother/boss that first week.

I was sitting in my office, minding my own business, working on paperwork. The guy that works in the shop came in and we were chatting a bit. We started talking about family. We talked siblings, and he asked about my husband. I was dumb enough to tell him that Ron and I aren't married, just living together.

Holy crap, did I open the flood gates!

I have learned this afternoon that I am a horrible person and I am going straight to HELL. I do not pass Go, I do NOT collect $200. Straight to HELL. I've been lectured on the evils of fornication (obviously he's been doing it wrong) for way too long this afternoon.

Keep in mind, there are only four people that work in this building, and that includes me and my brother. That sure does keep the options low for people to talk to during the day. Besides, I have to deal with him every day on a business level. So, I tried to be the bigger person; I ignored him. I kept working away all the while trying to tune out talk of the second coming, the Antichrist, passages from the bible, the rapture, how people like me will not be saved. Oh, the horror.

I believe in live and let live. I have my own set of beliefs that I refuse to shove down your throat and I expect the same level of respect from you. You ARE entitled to your opinion and I wish you a long and happy life within your beliefs. I just don't want to be lectured about them and have them forced upon me.

Like I said, I tried to just ignore him and let him rant and rave and go on with his lecture. Whatever. Until he crossed the line.

When he got to the point that the people in Haiti were getting what they deserved because there is so much voodoo there, that went over the line. And, at that point, he was lucky my fat ass didn't come across my desk and punch him right in the nose.

I took the wuss way out. I texted Ron via the internet and said it was an emergency to please call me and keep me on the phone for awhile. A few seconds later, my cell rang and of course, I answered it. Poor Ron was trying to think fast on his feet to keep me talking about nothing for the next five minutes. Luckily, bozo took the hint and didn't wait around any longer and went back to work.

I need to grow a set of nads and figure out a way to tell this idiot to F-off while maintaining a working relationship with him the next time he tries to start this conversation again. With the small number of us, I definitely can't have any animosity in the work place. But I'll be damned (or so I've been told) that I'm going to take that crap from any punk.

So, F him. No one should have to live through what the Haitian people are living through. I don't care if you pray to God, Allah, Jesus, Mohammad, a tree, Buddha or not at all. The people of Haiti need all of the help they can get.

Please give to the Red Cross or to the charity of your choice.

My Week In Review

In case anyone missed it, I am employed once again!

I have finished my first week of work and what a week it was.

It is so difficult to try to wrap my mind around concepts that I haven't thought about in over a year. Some of it is coming back easier than other parts of it. Heaven help my brother, he had a tough week of trying to teach me what I need to know while trying to get everything he had to do while getting ready to leave the country for 2-1/2 weeks. I think after this past week we both have a few more gray hairs!

We went through a lot of information every day. I came home every night with brain cramps! I was exhausted mentally and physically even though I sat most of the day. I'll tell you one thing, I slept like a log every night this week!

Brother Michael and I are trying to get used to working together. We are learning each others idiosyncrasies. For example, when he gives me "the look" over his glasses, I know I'm in trouble! I've either put a mental block against something he's trying to teach me or else I've gone over the line on something. Hey, I have definitely learned "the look" this week! It's all good though; we'll get there.

One thing about this job though is that it has really put me in a nostalgic mood.

My first job ever was when I was 15 years old and my sister Barbara was the office manager at the Erie Cab Company. Actually, the name of the company at the time could have been a number of things. The business changed names back then more often than some people change their underwear. But, I digress.

A little background: I grew up in the days of Twin Tech. My high school was split into two sessions, one session beginning the school year going 8-5 Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays. The other session would start school 8-5 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. In the middle of the school year, each session would switch. Granted, you ended up for half of the year going to school on Saturdays, but you only went three days a week. For four hours of the day you would have the normal academic studies of math, English, chemistry, whatever. The other four hours would be in a particular field of study. My choice at the time was medical assistant. Some of the other choices were diesel mechanics, business, cosmetology, welding and a bunch of others. Supposedly we would be ready for life after school! Anyway, you went three days a week with the idea that in your junior and senior years you would be out in the world working on the days you weren't in school.

While I didn't originally get a job in medical assisting while in school, my sister Barb hired me. She hired me at age 15 to do her grunt work. Keep in mind, this was in the days before having computers at work; everything was done by hand. (If you read my last post, you know I AM old!) I could never explain to you the crappy job of typing by HAND all of the 1099s and W2s with the five carbon papers put in between the copies. Holy crap. At the end of January, I'd work with carbon papers so much, my fingertips would be constantly black. What a mess. I had to keep drivers records by hand, payroll was done by hand.

The first computer we got took up half of the room and was loud. I did progress from grunt to accounts receivable. I got to take it over by the age of 18 and run with it. How crazy is that? I learned so much from Barbara throughout those years. I learned all about how business works and accounting overall. And, we did it all on hand ledgers. Those were the days.

Now working for my brother, the comparisons are sometimes so strong they come up and smack me right in the face. Working for a sibling in a building that is very reminiscent of the Erie Cab Company. Ahh, those were the days. I have been so nostalgic this week that I can't tell you how often I've picked up the phone wanting to talk to her and tell her just how much she is on my mind.

Anyway, on to bigger and better things. I am learning my new job. Not as quickly as I'd hoped, but I'm learning. My big test came on Friday when I was alone in the office for most of the day as Michael have left in the morning for his trip to China. I was so nervous, I was throwing up in the morning! But, I put on my big girl pants and went on to work. I may not have done everything perfectly or even correctly, but I didn't kill any one and I didn't burn the building down. All in all, I'd say that was a pretty successful day.

The good news about this job is that we have decided that there will be no TPS reports. They have been deemed unnecessary! A silver lining in every cloud!

January 16, 1963, 11:25 a.m.

Holy crap! It's my birthday!

If you know me, you know that my birthday is the most important day of the year for me. It's one day that is just for ME!

Let the emails, phone calls, smoke signals, text messages and happy thoughts begin!

Happy Birthday to me!!!!

I AM EMPLOYED!!

Yes, read that again. Finally, I am once again a contributing member of society. I have an honest to goodness, income generating, tax paying, job. And, I started it on Saturday.

After countless resumes sent out, I finally received and accepted an offer on Saturday morning. I walked into the office, hugged my new boss, accepted the offer and we started working. Hugged my new boss? Yes, hugged him. Ok, he's my brother!

I am not above a bit of nepotism. I've done it before. I used to work for my sister Barb for almost 10 years. She's who taught me most of what I know. But, on to my brother.

He is one of the owners of a manufacturing company here in the area. A position has opened up in his organization and he was crazy enough to think I was right for the position! Hey, all of my family has a few loose screws, but I think that's why we all get along so well.

There are a handful of good news/bad news about this position.

Good news: I have a real job with real income.
Bad news: I now have to go back to setting an alarm to get up in the morning.

Good news: It's good to get back to work since my brain has been going to mush from not having to think about too much.
Bad news: I think I've forgotten most of what I used to know.

Good news: I already started my new job on Saturday. I got the tour of the place, I got to drive a jitney (SHH! Don't tell anyone! That's supposed to be a secret!), I learned about relieving raw material inventory while building finished goods inventory, I posted the Accounts Receivable and made the daily deposit, I posted an Accounts Payable ACH payment and even got a shipment ready to go out on Monday. I think there was even more that I did, but that's off the top of my head.
Bad news: My brother is going back to China on Friday for a few weeks so I have a limited time to learn what I need to learn before he's gone and I am working without his side by side help. Yeah, that scares me a little bit!

Good news: I love to blog.
Bad news: It's impossible to blog about your boss being an asshole when he reads your blog! I love you, my brother! I'm sure we'll have our bad days, but I won't be able to just call him by a pseudonym and vent here. That's ok though. I'm sure we'll be able to work through any major problems and as long as he doesn't have PMS on the same weeks that I do, all should be manageable in our worlds.

So there you go. I am finally working again. One of the things that I do love about this position is that I will have my fingers in a lot of different things. That makes for much more interesting days. When all you do is one thing in a day, life can be boring. But when I'm doing receivables, payables, shipping, receiving, purchasing, cleaning the toilet, whatever needs done, that makes for some good days.

I have my own office, my own bathroom. That's moving up in the world!

To celebrate my first day of work, Michael even brought donuts into work. C'mon now, any job is about the perks! Donuts are a freakin' perk! Even better than that, he bought dinner. We had planned on hitting a great Chinese restaurant by his house and have Ron and Phil meet up with us at his house for family dinner and new job celebration. Here is what my fortune cookie said:

The hard times will begin to fade. Joy will take their place.

Amen to that. People, I am EMPLOYED! Let the joy begin!