Friday, September 22, 2006

Happy Birthday To ME!

Sorry, Jenny! I'm not trying to rain on your parade; I know my birthday isn't until January! And, happy belated birthday by the way! I was thinking of you on the 20th, even though I was a slacker and didn't even e-mail proper birthday wishes.

Ron came back from California tonight. As is custom when he picks me up from the airport, tonight when I picked HIM up, he got to choose what he wanted for dinner. He had a hankering for Mexican food, so we settled on a restaurant close to home.

It was starting to not be one of our best dinner experiences. We were seated immediately, but we didn't see a waitress for quite awhile. We had chips and salsa, but with no drinks, we couldn't eat any of it.

There were some people but I didn't think it was too busy. But we weren't in a hurry so we did our best to be patient. Finally, the margaritas arrived and all was right with my world.

When we're almost finished with dinner, suddenly, the staff is all assembled coming through the dining room clapping and hooting and hollering. They were carrying a very large black sombrero complete with all of the sequins and glitter and all that good fluff. They placed the sombrero on a gentleman a few tables over and they all clapped and sang happy birthday in Spanish. You know I love birthdays! So we clapped and hooted and hollered along with them.

As the servers were leaving the area, the one girl stopped by our table and I said, "geez, had I known you went all out like this for birthdays, I'd have celebrated mine here! I'm definitely coming for my next birthday!"

We had a language barrier for sure. She understood "my birthday" and unfortunately, not a whole lot else! Or, fortunately. A few minutes later, the staff was once again assembled, carrying a PINK sombrero and headed straight at me! You know I eat this stuff up! They all clapped and hooted and hollered and sang happy birthday to me in Spanish and all was really good in my world.

The best part came when our waitress came to the table with a free shot of tequila for me, the birthday girl! Damn I love birthdays! Especially my own! I sure did make out today. Ron did try to capture my moment with his camera phone but unfortunately it was too dark for much to come out.

Again, happy belated birthday, Jenny! I sure did celebrate for you tonight!

Thursday, September 21, 2006

That's Just Wrong, Page 7

As stated previously, on Monday, Ron dropped some ties off at the local dry cleaners. Big sign on a pole, about 10 feet high states: "IN BY 10, OUT BY 5".

What are the store hours? Monday through Friday, 8 am to 3pm; Saturday 8 am to 2pm.

Think about it. How the hell am I supposed to pick something up by 5 pm?????

I wanted to get a picture of that today, but the shade of the afternoon was not cooperating. I'll try to add this later.

So, as of Monday afternoon, the ties are at the dry cleaners. (Did you know it costs $4.50 PER TIE to dry clean them?!? What the heck is up with THAT? It's a little piece of material for crying out loud.) He was told they'd be ready on Tuesday after 2 pm. Since we didn't know that they closed at 3, he was not able to pick them up since he didn't get there until close to 5.

I was off today, so I said I would pick them up for him. Too late to take on his trip, but at least now some of his ties are cleaned. I showed up at the dry cleaners around 11 am. I was told they are not ready! Can you believe it?? I asked why if they were supposed to be ready on Tuesday, how could I show up almost 48 hours late and they still not be ready?

I was told "one of the gray ones had a stain so he kept it out to work on it. We don't do anything on Wednesdays so I didn't go back to it until today." Can you believe it? I did turn around to look at the door to see if they were open on Wednesdays and they are. I can't explain what the heck is meant by "we don't do anything on Wednesdays". Once again, the magic hour of 2 pm was mentioned as a time the ties would now be ready. Smart aleck me asked on which 2 pm they'd be ready.

I got wild and headed back there at 2:30 this afternoon and sure enough they were ready. Lucky for them. I was in a mood. I haven't had anyone to argue with since Ron left yesterday morning! I didn't want to have to get dressed for nothing today.

Good advertising slogan though, huh? In by 10, out by 5. Just close early every day you're good to go. That's just wrong.

This And That

We are on vacation!

Well, I am anyway. Ron may be in California, but it is a work trip. He was called to the mother ship (aka the corporate office) for a few days. Since I had a few vacation days to use up, and we can't seem to go anywhere since he doesn't have any vacation days accrued yet, I decided to take these two days off to revel in peace and quiet at home.

Last night, I ordered my favorite pizza (Donato's thin crust pepperoni lovers), not a favorite of someone else I could name, and chowed down. Life is good! Tonight's fare will be fried cabbage and noodles. Fried cabbage is always best eaten alone, as the after effects could be quite noxious. Again, go me!

On to another subject, yesterday I stopped at Kohl's on my way home. Something about Kohl's, I love 90% of the stuff in there. I spent a long time walking up and down aisles I don't usually walk down, looking and touching and experiencing all kinds of fru fru stuff. I've never been a fru fru type person, but lately, I feel like I want to be.

If that doesn't make sense, here's what I'm talking about. I like the minimalist way. Maybe I've gone too far overboard with it though.

I have no pictures hanging on my walls. I think I want some. My problem is, what kind? What do I like? I looked at pictures at Kohl's. Didn't know which ones to buy so I didn't buy any.

On to table cloths. Some people keep table cloths on their tables all the time. I like that! I want one too! So I looked at table cloths. Couldn't decide what I wanted, so I didn't buy any. Why can't I be a fru fru kind of girl? Why is this so difficult for me? I really do think I'm challenged in this area. My DNA must be missing a few crucial strands. I need help here. Any shopping helper volunteers, please apply here. I also need window treatments, wall colors and well, just about everything else.

On to another shopping excursion I had. Well, sort of a shopping excursion. Ron dropped some ties off before he went on his trip to a local dry cleaners. This dry cleaner needs to be a blog unto themselves. And, I have a feeling they will be. Anyway, Ron's ties were supposed to be cleaned by 2:00 pm on Tuesday. Unfortunately, Ron got there to pick them up after they were closed, so I said I would take care of that errand on my vacation. I will have to post the results of that little piece of fun later today.

For now, I think I want lunch. I think it will be a bowl of cereal, eaten right over the sink! I love vacation!

Saturday, September 09, 2006

Bats In Our Belfry


Well, I don't exactly have a belfry in the house, instead I have an attic. So, to be truthful, I have bats in my attic. At least one bat anyway.

Ron is really good about not smoking in the living areas of the house. One of his smoking sections is the attic. Thursday night, he went upstairs to have a smoke and came back down rather quickly. I guess our freeloading visitor bat was not happy with cigarette smoke and made sure that Ron knew that.

First thing Friday morning, I called a professional who specializes in wildlife removal. Well, that's what his website said anyway. He was so professional that the voicemail I left him early Friday morning as of now has not been returned. So much for that idea.

Until I could get ahold of someone else, we decided that our third floor smoking area is closed for now. Poor Ron has either run down to the basement or outside. At night, I'm brave when I say that in the day light we need to search upstairs for the bat. Unfortunately, when day light comes, I think of every excuse there is as to why we shouldn't go upstairs!

Tonight Ron finally decided to go up and have a cigarette again. So far, so good. No bats.

Either our freeloader found his way out or else he had an unhappy ending in my attic. Now I'm going to have to think of excuses why I can't go upstairs and look for a dead body before it starts decomposing. Ugh.

Anyone wanna come over and go looking up in my attic?

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Labor Day Party!

Ok, I know, I’m running behind in postings.

Monday, we had the honor and the pleasure of having a little get together at our house. Jim was nice enough to bring Dad to Ohio for the day, and Mike and Mary Jane were also able to attend.

The meal was a bit eclectic. Ron wanted regular cook out fair, so we had brats on the grill. To go along with the cook out theme was the corn on the cob. Whenever Dad and Jim make it to our house, I like to serve something they don’t get on a regular basis. This time I chose Mom’s potato pancakes.

Anyone that knows Mom’s potato pancakes knows that they are worth all of the work that goes into them. I didn’t tell anyone I was making them, so all were happily surprised. Luckily, they even came out just like Mom’s!

Dad and Jim served as “taste testers”. The pancakes just have to be spot tested while you’re frying them just to ensure quality control. As the cook, I generally reserve this duty for myself. Sometimes, by the time they’re ready, I’m no longer hungry! Yes, taste testing can be serious business. But this time, the honor went to Dad and Jim. As long as I kept hearing mmm mmm sounds coming from them, I knew dinner would be a winner.

I was responsible for one bad thing that day. I know that Mom’s potato pancakes are one of brother Philip’s favorite things. Whenever I make them for Ron and me, I usually end up text messaging Philip or calling him, sort of just to rub it in that we’re having pancakes! I know; I’m mean.

Since I had willing accomplices at the house, I used them. I planted a bug in Jim’s ear to bust Phil’s chops and had him send the text message! We all went back and forth for awhile and after things calmed down, Mike got into the act and gave Phil his opinion of the fare! Yes, we are mean, but it was all in fun. Not to worry, Phil. Next time you’re in Ohio, I owe you a big batch just for you!

All the food was good and the company was even better on Monday. We celebrated well the end of summer, had a lot of laughs, a lot of food and a lot of hugs.

Thanks to everyone for coming over!

Monday, September 04, 2006

Crikey!


Steve Irwin, famed Crocodile Hunter from Australia died today.

I guess I'm not surprised he died young; I'm surprised it wasn't a crocodile accident.

Rest in peace, Steve.

Bye, Summer

Can you believe we are into September?

I'm not the biggest fan of summer. Mainly because I absolutely hate the heat. I will skimp in other areas of my life in order to keep paying for my air conditioning. I just turned it off for the first time in two months on Thursday. I hate to be hot. Just wait until menopause gets here. It will not be safe in Lorain, I'm sure.

The heat may have gone and with it came a summer bug for me. I'm talking myself out of feeling badly since we're having company tomorrow for the holiday. So, my sinuses really aren't full, and my sore throat is just my imagination. I'm sure of it!

Yesterday, Ron and I were running errands in the rain. As an incentive for being responsible and running needed errands, we went to lunch at Qdoba (owned by Jack in the Box). One of my new favoritest places! I'm a HUGE fan of Chipotle's (believe it or not, owned by McDonald's) and Qdoba is a close second to it. Qdoba's are not as good as Chipotle's, but they are much closer to home. Some days you gotta do what you gotta do.

With Ron's eye surgeries, his biggest precaution has been to keep everything out of his eyes. Whenever he leaves the house, he has his big sunglasses on to protect his eyes. One of the points mentioned was no gardening, to make sure no dirt got in his eyes. Well, the grass has been growing, especially after all the rain we had. Our yard was looking like a jungle out there! As a side point, when the grass gets long enough, you realize how much really isn't grass but weeds! Interesting. Oh well. At least they are green and when kept to a reasonable length can fool most people that it's actually grass. Had me going for almost three years!

This afternoon, the sky was getting black and we really thought we were just in between rain storms. I offered to help with the yard work so that we could get it cut down before the next deluge. I took the hand mower duties, since we figured that was a worse choice for Ron. He stayed on the riding mower with his sunglass protection in place.

I don't mind helping with the yard I guess. All I had to do was go around everything with the hand mower since the riding mower can't cut everywhere. That sounded easy. After five trees, one telephone pole, two water shut off valves and one road sign pole, I was one dizzy broad! I couldn't walk a straight line if I had to and I realized I was done for the day. I took the hand mower back to the garage and just watched Ron finish the rest. I think I'm much better suited for a supervisory position than actual manual labor.

There is my exciting weekend so far. Tomorrow will be a cook out with Dad and Jim and maybe a few surprise guests. Lucky for everyone, Ron is cooking so all should be ok in our world!

May everyone have a safe and happy holiday.