Mental Health Day

Ok, don't tell anyone, but I played hooky yesterday. I took what I like to call a "Mental Health Day" or "Dammit, I Feel Too Good To Go To Work Today" day.

I woke up ok. Even had some cereal for breakfast. That's as far as it went. I remained in my recliner, with the remote control in hand. There has to be some way I can make a living just doing this. I ran up all the channels, I ran down all the channels. Next thing I knew, it was ten minutes to eight! I have a 45 minute drive to work in the morning, so I figured there was no way I was making it in on time. I called in to tell my boss I was a little under the weather. I said if I could only lay down for a little while longer, I was sure I'd be feeling better. I said I'd be in between 10 and 10:30. Yes, I was that delusional to think that I was going to get a spurt of energy and actually hit the shower, pull on the pantyhose and get dressed and drive my 45 minutes to go to work. Part of me thought I'd just go in late.

Well....then I finally made my way upstairs and started playing Pogo. Damn that website. There I was, looking all cute in my new night shirt, hair pulled back in a pony tail, and I figured this was it for me today. I turned on some trash TV and played Pogo. Just before my expected due to work time rolled around for the second time, this time I chickened out and e-mailed my boss. Told him I wasn't feeling any better after all, and I wouldn't be in. I figured I couldn't out and out lie to him twice in one day.

I stayed in my night shirt (did I mention I was looking really cute in it??) and absolutely goofed off all day long. It was WONDERFUL! I was so bad, that Ron even let me beg off worrying about dinner. He handled everything, and let me tell you, it was a feast fit for a queen. The hardest thing I had to do all day was to refill my coffee cup.

If you have never done this, or even if you have and it's been awhile, I highly recommend it. I still feel the same way about my job, but at least my goof off day yesterday is making it a little more palatable today.

TGIF!

Speaking of Ron

He may be great at picking out night shirts, but poor guy has not been himself lately.

His left shoulder has really been bothering him for over a month now. It was cause for concern since he couldn't lift his arm over his head without pain. That's never a good sign. I suggested that since he finally has insurance, perhaps it would be a good time to try it out.

His doctor appointment was last Monday. The doctor felt both of his shoulders and even said that his left shoulder was warmer than his right one. That led the doctor to believe that his pain was caused by inflamed tendons and ligaments. The doctor also stated that this could be from more than just one injury since Ron really couldn't pinpoint when it happened. Sort of like one little injury after another after another would also get him to where he is.

The first course of action is meds. Ron is on an anti-inflammatory and a muscle relaxant. Now, I've been thinking for a couple of days how to put into words what that combination comes to. Anti-inflammatory + muscle relaxant + Ron = one mellow dude!

Monday night he took his first dose, then three more doses on Tuesday. By the time I came home Tuesday, Ron was best propped up in the corner of the sofa watching tv. Yep, his shoulder may still hurt, but I don't think he cares as much!

So, two weeks of this. After two weeks, if he still hurts, he goes back to the doctor. If he's better, he can cancel his appointment. So far, he says he does feel better. It's not perfect, but better. I hope that's not just the meds talking!

I'll keep everyone informed on his progress.

I'm CUTE!

Oh my goodness, I must have been a very good girl!

I blogged recently about losing my old and dear night shirt. I've looked around in a few stores for a suitable replacement, but alas, with no luck. I had about given up hope.

Then....

One bright day....

I came home from work and Ron told me he bought me something! A new nightshirt!!!!

I know this sounds silly, but I had a lot of requirements for the perfect replacement. I do believe he found them all. It's a big, blue (my favorite color!), cotton oversized shirt. To top it all off, it says "Reebock" on the front. That was an added bonus! After all...what does "REE"bock start with?!! Get it??

If anyone wants to see just how darn cute I look in my new nightshirt, y'all will have to come over. We are accepting reservations for accommodations in our spare room! Just bring you own night shirts.

And Baby Makes Four

Congrats to JoBeth and her husband Brad who welcomed baby Noah to join his big brother Isaiah today! I am so happy for your growing family!!

Welcome to the world, Noah!

Speechless No More

Ok, I blog that I have nothing to say. Then the flood gates open. Now I have a few things to yak about! Tonight though, I'll just start with one topic.

I try not to talk too much about work, but today was a doozy of a day.

The building we work in is on a very busy and crazy five lane street. The traffic is horrendous and some days just getting out of the parking lot is a test of driving skill. I hate going there.

Today, about 1:30 in the afternoon, we heard screeching tires followed by a little thud followed by a huge CRASH. Of course,we all ran to the windows to see the carnage. Turned out, the joke was on us.

Two of the people in our office, namely my boss and our regional sales manager, had their cars totaled in our parking lot. Yes, totaled.

The street in front of our building goes east and west. The parking spots are in front of our building, our cars facing the street, parked facing north and south. An SUV was heading east on our street, and the 18 year old driver wasn't paying attention and also going approximately 70 mph in a 35 mph zone. He bumped up against a semi, causing the semi to slam on his brakes. While trying to get his car under control, he bumped into the semi again, causing his SUV to veer out of control, hit the curb and go airborne. His landing strip was my boss' car and our sales manager's car. Their two cars which were facing north and south ended up facing east and west and moved a good five feet. It was unbelievable.

Luckily, no one was hurt. The driver walked out of his vehicle under his own power. Four vehicles involved, the semi drove away when all was said and done, and three other vehicles were totaled and had to be towed away.

I said before I've been in a funk. This might have knocked me out of it. Where my boss was parked, was where I usually park. But, I got there before he did this morning, so I took his parking spot and he ended up in mine. That could have been my car totaled. I was right next to them, but luckily untouched. Woulda, coulda, shoulda. If only. Five minutes sooner. About 20 minutes before the accident, the sales manager and I walked through the parking lot to go for a little walk. We could have been standing right there. If only.

The bright spot of this was one of the rubberneckers that was trying to catch all of the gory details in our parking lot, decided not to watch where he was going and failed to notice the traffic light 200 feet away from our building had turned red. He ran right into the back end of a car stopped at the redlight. Dumbass. Oh well. Police were on the scene anyway, so one of them just walked to the corner and filled out another report.

And how was your Friday??!!

Speechless

I know, for someone who has an opinion on everything, I haven't had much to say lately.

I've just been in a funk for the last couple of weeks and can't seem to snap out of it. I don't wanna just bitch and complain in here so I've been quiet. Hey people. Enjoy the quiet while you can!

Ron and I have some plans for this weekend, so hopefully I'll get back into the swing of things and let you know all about our new adventures. You know how wild we can be.

In the meantime, happy Friday, y'all!

Maybe I Do Need Saved

Um, maybe I am going to hell.

This actually made me laugh.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11822960/

I am bad. Very bad.

Get Off Of Me!

Static. I absolutely hate it. And it is taking over my world.

I don't know what to do anymore. I have a humidifier running at the house. I switched to dryer sheets instead of liquid fabric softener. Right now, my sweater is stuck to me like a second skin. My pants are no different. The hair from my head is stuck to the side of my face! I know I am quite a site!

So, how do I fix this? Is it something in my house? Is it my coat? Is it because I wear pantyhose? Is it something IN me? Ron shocks me often at the house when he walks by me, but other than that, I don't feel it as much at home as I do when I'm out.

Help! I need a static busting solution quick!

In All Its HD Goodness

My nephew, Mike, has written in his blog about the goodness of HD TV. While I am addicted to regular TV, I really didn't think that HD could really be that different to go on and on about it.

Mike....I was wrong!

Saturday, Ron and I stopped at Best Buy. We've been in the market for a new VCR since ours blew up. I know the technology is on the way out, but we have a lot of family videos still in this format and weren't ready to give up the option of watching them. But, we did make a decision that along with a VCR, we wanted one of the dual units that had the VCR and a recording DVD player. We have been pricing them for awhile.

The unit that Ron decided on, of course was out of stock. But for a discount, they offered us the display model. We were good with that. The bad thing is that they had to go searching for the "stuff" that went with it. While they searched, my poor back decided it had enough. I went in search of a place to sit.

What did I find? An extremely comfy couch right there in front of all of the plasma HD TVs. Ok, I know absolutely nothing about nothing and even I could tell that the one TV in front of me priced at almost $2,100 was worth every penny. Holy CRAP! I swear I could reach out and touch the wild life on TV; I could smell the aftershave on the actors.

I am now a believer. A plasma HD TV is absolutely the way to go. How many soda cans do I have to cash in to get me one of them? This is definitely gonna be added on to my Amazon wishlist.

# 100!!

Woo Hoo! This is post # 100!!

I thought and thought how to celebrate such an auspicious occasion. I mean after all, who'd have thought I could ramble on and on through 99 previous posts.

I have thought a lot about what I'd do for post # 100. Should I be wise? Philosophical? Humorous? Thoughtful? Pensive? Clairvoyant about the next 100 posts?

Nah. I decided just to mark this occasion with a thank you to those that read this. And a wish that I can come up with at least another 100 points or opinions to share. Let's just hope they are not about lost luggage!

Thanks, everyone!

Somebody Save Me, Please

Do I have "heathen" written on my forehead?

The God-squad seems to be after me lately. Almost every weekend we have Jehovah's Witnesses knocking on our door. There is no way I can clean up my language enough to say what I feel about that. To make matters worse, when I answered the door last weekend in my heathen bathrobe, the witness at my door didn't even want to talk to ME! He insisted on talking to the man of the house. I kept asking him if I could help him, and he kept asking for the man of the house. I finally just shut the door and went back to my day.

If that's not bad enough, Friday, I went to lunch with someone from our office. Who'd have thought a fish sandwich at McDonald's could have been so stressful?

She and I were sitting there catching up when this lunatic walks up to the two of us and said "I'll bet you a million dollars that the two of you are not saved". He then went on to tell us how he wanted to witness for us so he can help us find heaven and stop being heathens. For once, I showed restraint, and let Karen do the talking. Being in sales, she was good at responding to him in a non threatening way that seemed to assuage him and send him on his way. grrr People like that give religion a bad name.

Hey! How can I collect my share of that million dollars?

R.I.P.

I am an emotionally needy person.

That probably comes as no surprise to most of you. I need a lot of emotional comfort and I get it in many ways. I can attach myself to most anything if it will bring me a modicum of comfort.

One of my most favorite comfort objects is this blue nightshirt I have. It's just this big, oversized, soft, comfy shirt; the greatest thing. I would wear it when we have company for that nighttime trip to the bathroom. Or, nothing could beat it for lounging around the house on a Saturday afternoon.

I have had my blue nightshirt for more years than I can even remember. It's been washed so many times that it is softer than the softest cashmere. I am getting weepy here people!

I was getting laundry together tonight to throw in a couple of loads. I have been describing my blue nightshirt in the nicest possible light. The truth is, it's been washed so much that there really isn't much left other than the holes. I swear, if it went through one more washing, all I'd get out of the dryer would be a string. The sad day had come to realize that my favorite piece of clothing, my nightshirt, must be put to rest. (insert sad music here)

I made Ron come to the kitchen for my throwing away ceremony. I said a nice eulogy, bowed my head, and went to drop my nightshirt into the garbage. For some reason, my hand would not let it go. Maybe I wasn't ready yet.

Then Ron spoke up with his brilliant idea. (Yes he really does humor me way too much sometimes!) He said if I just cut a swatch from my nightshirt, I could have it with me for whenever I needed some comfort. Is he a great guy or what?!! Out came the scissors. I cut me a swatch about 3" x 3". That made it so much easier to throw the rest of it away. I think I got the last of any "fabric" that was left to it!

For anyone wishing visiting hours with my comfort swatch, it is now pinned up to the bulletin board here by my computer.

R.I.P., old friend. You served me well.

One For The Win Column

Last night, Ron and I headed to the Quicken Arena (the "Q") in downtown Cleveland to see a basketball game. What a game! Ok, when the team you're rooting for wins, it's always a good game.

The sporting world is trying to take a page out of the airline world when it comes to security. As bad as airline security is, the "Q" Arena was even worse.

They make you walk through a metal detector. Women that go through with a purses will have their purses searched. Ron walking through the detector set off the alarm. They had him to to the side while they went over him with the wand. The wand beeped when passed over his right hand pocket. Keep in mind, he's wearing his leather bomber jacket which has about a million pockets. One of them is beeping! He checked his outer pocket a couple of times and said that there is nothing in there. The security guard asked him about an inside pocket. So, he reached in and pulled out a pack of cigarettes. He said that's it! Well, the security guard, obviously on top of her game, said "oh, ok" and passed him through.

Now, I know the tin foil in a cigarette pack can set off the detectors. But after the smokes were held up, she never patted him down or anything to see if anything else was in there! He could have been carrying a gun and as long as he held up his smokes, she would have let him through. Yeah, I felt pretty safe after that!

The arena was packed literally to the rafters. I didn't see an empty seat in the place. One of the best things about being there is seeing the camera guys put some of the signs that people bring in to the arena on the jumbotron. Some signs are just too predictable. You have your average "Go Cavs" or "I love LeBron". Some people in the Cleveland area are pretty darn clever though. On the clever side were "Camera guys are hot" (Hey that got her on the jumbotron a BUNCH of times) and my personal favorite "The guy behind me can't see". When they showed her the first time, the guy behind her was looking a bit peeved at this big ass sign being held up in front of him, but when he saw it on the jumbotron, you could tell he appreciated the joke.

It was a late night and I'm hoarse from yelling and my hands hurt from clapping. But it was a good night as the Cavs beat the Bulls 91-72.

Thanks again to Mike for the tickets!

Duh!

I was trying to decide if this story rated a page in my "That's Just Wrong" book. Unfortunately, I may need to start a new book. "I'm just a dumbass". Another bestseller in the making!

Ron and I were spending the day together just bumming. We were going to Best Buy, Walmart, Sam's Club and Giant Eagle, with lunch thrown in there somewhere. Some things we needed, some we wanted and some we just wanted to price.

List? I don't need no stinkin' list! We are two relatively intelligent adults. We can remember what we need as long as we just head up and down the aisles during our shopping excursion. We talked all morning about our mental "list". We knew what we were doing . . . we were on a mission.

Off we went. We shopped, we looked, we bought. (A new four slice toaster is one of the things we bought by the way! Woo hoo! I have hit the big time now!) We came home, unloaded the car and put away the booty.

That's when it happened. A "crap" here. A "rats" there. Suddenly a "shoot" or something similar to it. Yes, we forgot to get half the things on our damn list! Now I finally took pen to paper and actually wrote down the stuff we originally went shopping for and forgot to get.

Now you know what we have planned for tomorrow. We need to go back out there and buy all the crap we went out to get today! A girl's gotta have her hairspray you know.

Hi, Honey! I'm Home!

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I am home.

Yesterday was actually a good day, too. I've finished a lot of audits in the last 2-1/2 years I've been with this company. The last day onsite is usually hectic as can be, making sure everything is finished and packed up. Few things seem to go right that day and like I said, it's just hectic.

We talked about finishing up this audit. I said we should stay as late as we needed to on Thursday to finish up as much as possible so that Friday would be an easy day. Once we're offsite, we can't exactly say "oh wait! One more thing!"

Thursday went easier than expected, and we finished up about 6:00 p.m. packing up a lot of our files and equipment to take back to the hotel to pack into our suitcases. We joked that we wondered what time earlier flights left that we may actually be done early! I looked on Continental's website and saw that there was a 12:05 p.m. flight and a 1:40 p.m. flight before our regular 4:05 p.m. flight. We though, nah. We'll never make either of those.

Come Friday, checked out of the hotel and headed onsite at 7:00 a.m. We putzed around and suddenly realized, hey! We really are DONE! We boxed up the rest of the files to check onto our flight, we checked the website again and found there were eight seats left open on the 12:05 p.m. flight! No way! We thought if we made sure we got there early enough, we might be able to grab a couple of those seats!

We finished up, said our good byes and even got some hugs. And we were off. Things don't always go the way I hope, so I was afraid to get too excited about getting on an early flight. I called Ron to let him know there might be a change of plans, and to be ready just in case!

Sure enough, we get to the ticket counter, and the ticket counter gods gave us a great ticket agent. Since the earlier flight was a higher priced fare, the ticket agent had to do some magic in order to let us sneak on for the same price as our original ticket! I do love Continental employees!

I called Ron and let him know we were on board the early flight, due into Cleveland at 2:20 p.m. How sweet is that? We took off on time, had a smooth flight and a smooth landing. We must have had a great tail wind because we pulled into the gate 25 minutes early! That almost never happens! My luggage came off that flight in one piece, as did our box of files. Yes, all in all, a great day.

Ron and I went and had a nice late lunch together then a quiet night at home. And let me tell you, like the line in the movie, there's no place like home.

One Last Time

This is our last week here in Chicago. The weather made sure that our last flight out here on Monday would be memorable.

When Ron took me to the airport, it was snowing pretty heavily. That did not thrill me to say the least. While I am much better about flying than I was before, I’m still not the seasoned traveler that some in my family are. I still get nervous, especially in bad weather.

We boarded on time and even pushed back from the gate on time. Because of the snow, before hitting the runway we headed over to the de-icing area. This process only takes a few minutes. Once de-iced, we started taxiing for our runway.

When you taxi out, you reach the point where you make a big turn and as soon as you turn, you are lined up for take off. That’s when the jets really start humming and you’re thrown back into your seat during acceleration. (Ok, that has nothing to do with my story here today, it just happens to be my favorite part of the flight so I wanted to mention it!) We are getting very close to that turning point, and I can finally see airplanes ahead of us, making that turn. I know our turn is close at hand.

Suddenly, two fire trucks and an ambulance come rushing down the taxi way next to us. They pull up just short of where the runway actually is and waited there. A minute or so later, a plane came in for a landing on this same runway and as soon as it was down, the emergency vehicles went tearing out after it. Hmm. At least it wasn’t our plane! I did look at the plane coming in, and I didn’t notice any flames shooting out of the back, so I’m not sure what the issue was.

Anyway, the next plane then makes the turn and takes off. Only one more plane before it is our turn. Suddenly, instead of following the plane ahead of us to make the left hand turn to take off, we turn right! HEY! Even in my challenged directional state, I know we just turned the wrong way to leave. I hate it when that happens. We taxied for a little while and then pulled over. The pilot then announced that we were just given a new flight plan to Chicago and if we take this flight plan we will need more fuel. They needed to clear a gate area for us to refuel. So, we sat. And sat. And sat. Finally we started moving. We pulled up to a gate, and the refueling began.

I should note that I have been up since 4:00 a.m. If I’m lucky, I end up napping for the hour flight and feel a little bit better about having to work all day. The delays on the ground waiting for the gate to come back to and the refueling did afford me ample time for a good TWO hour nap! This was the best Monday I’ve had here!

After refueling, we headed over do go through the de-icing process once again. After that, we were given priority status on a runway and off we were. This is one of the few flights I was actually awake for!

As a side note, I had my camera with me on the plane. As most of you know, Dad has recently added into his reality the fact that he has actually been on a plane and flown. When I ask him about what he saw out the window, he couldn’t tell me. Obviously because he’s never been in a plane! In my mind, that has to make it hard for him. He believes he has flown, but he can’t picture what he would have seen. So my idea was to get as many pictures as I could out of my window for him. I snapped during take off, during the flight, during a steep bank to my side of the plane and during the landing. Maybe I can fill in a few holes in his “memory”.

Anyway, once airborne it really was a smooth flight over here. Now my only problem was I had to pee. If anyone has ever been in an airplane bathroom before, you know it’s really not a place you want to be. But it was getting to be an emergency with me. I didn’t think I’d make it the rest of the flight. Darn the bottle of water I took with me to drink at the airport. I wasn’t the only one in this state either. I think most of the people on this flight ended up back in the bathroom. Due to the long delay, I think no one could hold their coffee.

Finally, I gathered my courage and my full bladder and unbuckled and headed in. The bathroom isn’t much bigger than I am. I can’t tell you how hard I prayed for no turbulence while I was finishing my business. I had visuals of the turbulence sucking my butt right into the toilet and those emergency crews having to be summoned to pull my happy ass out of there. Yes, I have an overactive imagination. But I digress.

Things came out just as they should have. I finished up, made it back to my seat and got buckled back in. Life was back to normal.

Our one hour flight ended up being over three hours. And the worst part was that our new flight plan didn’t take us over Wrigley Field! That was one picture I definitely wanted to get for Dad! Oh well. At least we got here in one piece. We landed in beautiful warm sunny weather here in Chicago! What’s up with that? I left Cleveland, a town where the snowplows were all over the runways to come to Chicago where the weather was clear. Something is wrong with that picture!

After seven fun filled weeks, there are only two more wake ups and I’m home for awhile. I am ready.

Friends In High Places

It ain't Cheers, but we are regulars in a few neighborhood places.

Friday night on the way home from the airport, it's a usual practice for Ron and I to go to dinner. It's not anywhere fancy, since it is Friday night around 7:00 p.m. and I'm pretty beat by then. But we like to stop somewhere local, have dinner and sit and chat and catch up on the week.

This week, we chose an oldie but a goodie. There is a family style restaurant that we like to go to. They have the best soups and believe it or not but they have cole slaw to rival Aunt Mary's! We aren't there every week, but when we do go, we always ask for Nancy to be our waitress. If Nancy sees us first, she'll always make sure she grabs us for one of her tables.

Nancy is an older lady with an awesome attitude. She is always very nice, always has a smile on her face and will always keep our coffee cups filled. It's a win-win situation. She gives us awesome service and we leave an awesome tip.

So, Friday, we are sitting at Nancy's table, enjoying our dinner and chit chatting. Neither of us are in much of a hurry; the place isn't that busy so we're really not holding up a table. Nancy as always asks if we want dessert, naming a few of the scrumptious things available that night. As usual, we decline. The dinners are so filling, you did something wrong if you have room for dessert. We said we'd take the bill and that would be it for us.

Nancy came back in a few minutes with our bill, and a to go container. Inside of the to go container was a huge piece of chocolate layered cake! She said that the dessert was on her and since we were full we were to take it home with us and enjoy it later. C'mon now. How can you beat service like that? I love being a regular! And, it helps to have friends with connections to chocolate cake.

Sitting Duck

Yesterday was a bit of a stressful day. My boss left on Thursday, so that left me all alone on Friday to find my own way back to the airport! And, to do all the weekly reports that are due on Friday. Top that with the fact that Friday is a short day due to flying out, and there aren't enough hours in a Friday to do it all.Oh well. At least it goes by quickly.

So, Friday, I'm busting a hump to get it all out. There really was no time for lunch. I was thinking I know I pass a Wendy's on the way to the airport, I thought I'd just stop there for a burger and call it good.

There are usually two windows at most drive thrus. The first window, you pay for your food, then pull up to the second window to pick up that food. Well, in between window #1 and window #2 there was a duck walking around! A duck! A mallard even! Waddling around like he owned the place. So, I waited until the duck moved then pulled up to get my food. I pulled around and parked across from where the drive thru windows were so I could eat my lunch before trying to follow the directions to the airport.

I notice my friendly duck still waddling around the parking lot, as if looking for leftovers. Then I noticed someone at the drive thru window throwing ice at the duck. Now that pissed me off! While I'm not a great animal lover, I can't stand to see anyone being cruel to one either. So, I'm parked. To my left are a couple of empty spots, then a parked car. By now, the duck is on the other side of that parked car.

I grabbed a french fry, ripped it in half, and threw it back behind the other parked car, hoping the duck would see it. Sure enough, he came waddling out and woofed it down. Believe it or not, the duck actually looked around as if to see where this manna from heaven came from! He sees me there, window down, looking back at him. He waddles up right NEXT to my car! I swear, if I had been lower to the ground, I could have reached out and grabbed him!

Now I'm thinking of can a duck hurt me if he decided to fly into the car! So I figured I'm gonna keep my new friend happy and hopefully keep him out of my car. I'd try to throw the food away from my car so he'd back up a bit, and then when he was done and wanted more, he would waddle right back next to my window and look up at me. How can I resist that?? When all was said and done, he ate about a quarter of my burger and about half of my fries. Then he turns and just walks off! How rude! Loved me and left me.

Actually, those fries are pretty salty. So, the duck went to where the ice was thrown at him to drink up the water from the ice melting. I knew how he felt! I finished my soda, then dumped the ice next to the car for my new little friend.

I know it's a silly story, but it really made me smile. I've fed seagulls and pigeons before, but this was my first begging duck! And, he made me smile. That alone was worth part of my lunch on a hectic day.

Stuff

Nothing too noteworthy going on over here. We've been busting our humps trying to get done by next week. That's about it. If we only work 12 hours in a day, it's a short day! Hey, it beats extending this trip by another week or two.

So, I'll just write about a few miscellaneous things that happened this week.

I wrote in recent post how another branch manager was in the area auditing. He drove here to meet with us last week and the three of us hooked up for a nice dinner. This week, we thought it would be the neighborly thing for us to drive to them! So, Tuesday night, we left a little early (6:00 p.m.) and headed to Wisconsin to see the guys. We met up with the other branch manager and his auditor. I hate to admit it, but I really had a good time. Like I said, it's nice to commiserate with other people in the same boat; working long hours, and away from home, fighting similar politics in the company etc. Plus, it's nice to see new faces across the dinner table for a change! I've been eating two meals a day, five days a week with my boss. We both need something new to look at! We hit a Mexican restaurant that we all like (we all worked on that audit they are on a couple of years ago). We stayed until they shut the TV off and turned on the lights! That's a good hint that we've worn out our welcome.

Last night, we were looking for something new. When you eat out two meals a day, trust me, it gets really difficult to try to decide what you want to eat each meal. Last night we both decided we wanted to try someplace we'd never been before. Boy did we find a great place! I think it was called The Flatiron Grill.

They show you to your table, where in the middle of your place setting is a little wooden paddle with your table number on it. You are handed a pencil and asked to write your name on the paddle. After a few instructions from our waitress, I grabbed a recipe card sitting on the table and headed to the line.

You start by grabbing your bowl. It had a name, but I'll be darned if I remember what it was. After you grab a bowl, you start with white rice, brown rice, or Chinese noodles. After you've filled your bowl with as much of the aforementioned as you want, you move to the next station, veggies. A plethora of items are now before you. To name a few, onions, mushrooms, bean sprouts, pea pods, white and green asparagus, and probably 15 or 20 more items. From the veggies you move to sauces. There have to be at least 20 bowls of sauces. They suggest a full bowl of food needs at least four to five ladles of sauce. The recipe card gave ideas of some mixtures of one ladle of this, two of that, one of this, etc. I thought I'd start with something tried and true. From the sauce, you move on to the protein. You grab a small bowl for your raw meat. There is chicken, pork, beef and mussels sitting there. From there you move to the end with spices and sticks.

Spices were dried and powdered assortments, too many to mention. Probably everything but salt and pepper! A lot of curry concoctions for sure. The colored sticks each signify something as well. Food allergies (like me) you add a white stick. Then, they will grill your food in a wok instead of on the main flat iron grill they do everything else on. Another color means that you want your meal turned into a soup, another into a wrap. Still others mean that you want shrimp, scallops or mahi mahi added to the top. It was awesome!

After all items are in your bowls and you are satisfied with your spices, sauces and sticks, you put your protein bowl on top of your other bowl, add your wooden paddle and hand it to the chef. When it's done, someone will bring it to you at your table.

I ended up having two bowls of stuff, the second of which I did without benefit of a recipe card! I just winged it. I'm telling you, if I could have fit another bowl into me, I would have! It was really good. And, dining was a fun experience to boot. I could so see having a large party there. When the waitress asked how us "rookies" were doing, I told her I didn't know I could cook so well! Now, if only I could get over my naivete and actually work the chop sticks so I don't have to be the idiot that asks for a fork, I'd be ok!

The only bad thing I can add here to my stories is that lately we've been working so late, we aren't getting back to the hotel in time to enjoy a nice, warm, delicious, gooey cookie that are available in the lobby! mmmm No warm, soft peanut butter. No awesome white chocolate macadamia nut. Oh my goodness, no chocolate chunk! AARGH the inhumanity!

Luckily, my boss once again headed back to Cleveland early. So, I'm on my own tonight. Just to ensure I get a cookie, I may have to head to the hotel as soon as I get out of here and order a pizza to be delivered! I know, not too imaginative. But, I could sure use an early night. And a night of eating pizza in my jammies is sounding pretty exciting to me.

Wake Up!

For those of you following the saga, I did not win the Mega Millions last night. So, I am back to the grind.

Last night I had two dates for Valentine's day. Unfortunately, neither one of them were my honey. Another branch manager was in the Chicago area doing an audit, so we decided since we're less than an hour apart, we'd hook up for dinner. He was nice enough to accept the driving, so he met us here.

That was a nice diversion from the norm, and nice to be able to look at a new face across the dinner table. We all exchanged war stories about being on the job, some high points and some low points. It was good to hear that other people have some of the same stories in other cities. Makes me feel not as lonely.

We just sat talking until the restaurant finally gave us the hint that they'd like to close. It was after 10:30 p.m. local time by the time we got back to the hotel. Now I'm keyed up and had a hard time winding down. I called and talked to Ron for awhile, and thought I should try to get to bed. My eyes were wide open though. I tried a hot shower, then curled up in the chair and read the newspaper from that morning. Before I knew it, it was midnight and I was still up. Hate it when that happens.

I probably fell asleep somewhere around 12:30 a.m. I could have been ok going to my 6:00 a.m. wake up call. (We leave before 7:00 a.m.) However, the fire alarm started blaring at 5:00 a.m.! Let me tell you, that is one of the rudest sounds I have ever heard! I never jumped out of bed so fast like I did this morning. I know what they teach you in school. The fire alarm goes off, you calmly exit the building. However, they never practice this when you're naked and half asleep. I stood there wondering if I was about to die in a fire.

What do you do? Grab the covers off of the bed to wrap around me and run? Put on yesterday's clothes? Put on clean clothes? Do I grab my laptop? My wallet? My glasses? WHAT?!? I stood there and a minute later, the alarm stopped. No announcement that we should run or go back to bed. My room happened to be over the front door of the hotel, and from our first check in, I know that's where the fire trucks park when called. So, I looked out the window to see if there was any activity out there. Nothing. I decided to try to go back to bed. Unfortunately, my heart still felt like it wanted to jump out of my chest. I just said the heck with it and got up and put the coffee on.

It's gonna be a long day. I need a nap!

I Have Luggage!

It's been a really long day. My luggage finally arrived just after 7:30 p.m. We had just returned from dinner and I was checking at the front desk for my bag. After being told there were no deliveries, I waited for my boss to get in the building from parking the car. As I was waiting, the messenger arrive with my bag!!

As far as I can tell, all of my underwear, pantyhose, clothes, CDs, and most dear to my heart right now....my COAT, were present and accounted for! The regional jets I take from here to there have such limited storage space, it sounded like such a good idea to me to pack my coat, thus freeing up some room and saving me from lugging my coat around. I may need to rethink that.

We went to a great place for dinner called Joy Yee's Noodles. This has quickly become one of our favorite places here. The menu includes pictures of every dish. http://www.joyyee.com Anyway, after dinner I got my fortune cookie.

The cookie states: your luck has completely changed today

Listen, after the luck I'm having, I need to take this fortune cookie seriously. After dinner, we headed to a local grocery store so that I could buy my Diet Pepsi for the hotel room. As long as I was there, I saw a lottery machine. I took my change from my DP and walked over to the lottery person. I asked for $3.00 on the Mega Million, my boss snickering behind me. I told him though. I said when one of my tickets wins on Tuesday, I am outta here first thing Wednesday. He said good luck. I don't think he meant it.

From buying the lottery tickets to my bag being delivered while I was waiting downstairs. It's starting to look up.

Right now, I have taken a couple of aspirin for the pounding headache I developed today. I'm going to take a long hot shower and go to bed. Keep your collective fingers crossed on the lottery drawing tomorrow. I'll remember all of you when I'm rich and famous!

I love my job. Especially the traveling part.

The Saga Continues

I had a bad week last week.

Here's to Monday of the new week. Let's review.

I am in Chicago. My luggage is in Manchester New Hampshire. My coat is in my luggage.

Three statements that basically mean I'm screwed. And cold.

The word from Continental is that they found my bag in Manchester, and they are putting it on a United flight that is due at O'Hare at 1:30 p.m. They promised to take my bag to my hotel for me.

That's what they say anyway. The way my last week has gone, I'm not getting my hopes up.

I Lied

I love my job! I'm good at my job! I keep thinking if I say that often enough or to enough people, I will start believing it. Maybe it will even come true. For now though, it's a big fat lie and it's been that way for well over a year now.

Let me tell you about my last week on the job. Have I mentioned lately that I love my job?

I was on this audit by myself this week. That means I had to fly to Chicago, pick up the rental car, and find my way around, alone. All week. Backing up just a little, I am also responsible for making my own airline reservations and my own hotel reservations. We have a person at corporate to take care of those kinds of things, but my boss wants us to put these charges on our own credit cards, because it comes out cheaper, thus keeping our branch's expenses down. Yeah. Ok. Works for me.

Anyway, I'm not going in to how many times I was lost this week. Lost, turned around, misplaced, I don't care what you call it. I was rarely where I was supposed to be, or where I thought I was.

Let's go now to this past Friday. Before I left the hotel in the morning, I packed up my hotel room and checked out. Everything I have is now in the back of my rental car, which is scheduled to be turned in by 2:00 p.m. The first thing I do when I get on site on Friday is check my e-mail. In my in box should be an e-mail from Continental Airlines, stating that I could check in for my flight at anytime over the internet. Guess what. There was no e-mail from Continental.

So, I figured this was an oversight on their part. After all, my flight is in about eight hours, and I can check in anytime within 24 hours. It's all good. I went to Continental.com and put in my confirmation number, and clicked the button that says "check in". An error message popped up. What did it say, you ask? It said that this is not a valid instruction since my flight is more than 24 hours away. Um, excuse me? It's about 8:00 a.m. and my flight is at 3:55 p.m. That is WELL inside of the 24 hour rule. What's up with that?

I dug through my bag for my receipt from when I purchased my ticket two weeks prior. I tried to have Ron scan my receipt to add to this blog, but for some reason, when I upload it, it's so small it's not legible. Yeah, another one of my awesome qualities. I'm also a dumbass. But I digress. If I could upload a legible receipt, it would show:

Leaving Cleveland to O'Hare - Mon 06FEB06
Returning O'Hare to Cleveland - Fri 10MAR06

Anyone see a problem with that? Now I don't know my February from my March. So here I am, all alone, no hotel room, and 337.59 miles away from home. This was way more than I could take.

I found an empty office and called Continental. I kept pressing buttons, following the the automated attendant's directions to reach a "specialist in domestic travel reservations". Luckily, I reached Sharon in Florida. I explained to her that I am a dumbass, I told her what I did, and I begged her to help me find my way home, and not make me wait a month. Then I did what I do best. I started to cry. My new best friend, Sharon, not only told me she would get me home, but she promised to get me home that same day. Somehow, on the same flight I take every week, on the same flight that is full every single week, she found me a seat. To top it all off, she only charged me an additional $14.50 to change my ticket. No extra fee for flying out the same day. No customary $100.00 change fee. $14.50 and I came home on the same flight I should have, if I wasn't such an idiot.

Now, barring winning the lottery or having a cement truck run me over, I have to go back on Monday and do it all over again.

I love my job! I'm really good at it! And you know what? Traveling is my absolute favorite part!

That's Just Wrong, Page 3

I was driving to lunch today, when I saw the largest dog I've ever seen in my life.

Given my fear of dogs, most of you would think that's what I had in mind for my "That's Just Wrong" book. Fooled you!

This dog was so large, the owner almost had to reach up to grab the dog's collar. He had to weigh 200 pounds, if he weighed an ounce. The dog almost reminded me of a Saint Bernard, and perhaps had some of that in it, but I don't think he was a pure bred. The wrong part is that this dog was wearing a doggie sweater.

If a dog is large enough to sever your leg with one bite, I don't think he needs a doggie sweater. That just has to mess with his sense of "macho".

Where would one go to buy such a big sweater for a dog? Perhaps a size large from Old Navy?

That's Just Wrong.

Thirty-Twenty

Ain't it nifty...
Cathie is FIFTY!!!!!

Ok, during a birthday call today to my sissy, it has been decided that she indeed did NOT turn 50. Instead, she is a young chickie of a mere thirty-twenty. I like that. That means I myself am only thirty-thirteen!

Happy birthday, sissy. No matter what the age, you are still the best!

D-28

Not that I'm a seasoned traveler just yet, but even I know when they change your departure gate at the airport to D-28, you're screwed.

Not only is it 89-1/2 miles from where you walked into the airport, it's the only gate that does not use a jetway. It's such a flash back in time to when the airplanes still had propellers. Ugh.

This morning, I checked into the airport around 5:30 a.m. That is rude enough. However, the boarding pass I printed off last night had a departure gate of D-8. The agent told me the good news. We'd been changed to D-28. Oh the horrors. Picture this if you can...

Four airplanes on the tarmac at the same time. When it's time to go, it is time to go for all four planes. No boarding by rows, by height or by hair color. Nothing. Here's what you get:

"Attention passengers. We are now boarding the following flights: Chicago O'Hare, keep to the right, Baltimore, keep to the left, New York, to the middle, also in the middle, XYZ city (the one destination I forgot). C'mon people, let's move."

You hand your boarding pass to one of the harried agents. They take your pass and send the passengers for all four planes through the same door. Through that door, you walk down two flights of steps, carrying all of your crap. Then outside into the elements. Hopefully there are at least a couple of the grounds crew out there, pointing your way to one of four airplanes sitting out on the tarmac. With trepidation, you walk up the right stairs, and keeping your fingers crossed, into the correct airplane. This is way too taxing so freakin' early in the morning!

Ok, I'm heading to the correct plane. In front of me heading up the steps is a nice, clean cut younger guy. Once up the steps, he takes off his jacket and I see he's the captain! Nice! I like to get a good look at the person that has my life in his hands. I wanna know if he's hung over, didn't have enough sleep or is bright eyed and bushy tailed. He was one of the more bushy tailed kinda guys. Since he's there, and I'm there, I ask him how he's feeling while I try to sniff him to see if I smell alcohol. He informs me that he's feeling "fantastic"! This is a good start. Then he adds that his 12 cups of coffee are finally kicking in.

The smart ass streak in me had to respond. I told him that I hope he didn't think he was going to pull the plane over once we were airborne so that he could go pee! Happily, he assured me that he could definitely hold it until we got to Chicago. aaah. I felt much better about the whole thing!

So, he has a bit of a smart ass streak in him too. Gotta like that in a pilot. But, I'll give the guy his props. This had to be the best landing I've ever been a part of. Well, it's true that any landing you walk away from is a good landing. However, this one landed so softly, I didn't even realize the wheels touched down. On my way out, I had to poke my head into the cockpit to congratulate him on a great landing, AND on his bladder control. That was one strange look on the co-pilot's face! Hey, let the pilot explain that one to him.

Brain Fart

When I first started thinking of having to travel for this audit we are doing, I had visions of being able to blog daily and keep y'all updated on all of my adventures! Yeah! How's that working out for me? As you can tell, not as well as I hoped.

I forgot about the long days when you're on the road. We're on site from 7:00 a.m. until 6:30 or 7:00 p.m. By the time we finish dinner, it's usually 9:00 or so by the time we hit the hotel. By then I'm pooped. It's time for a shower and hit the uncomfortable bed.

I do have a few stories about the past week. My biggest stories seem to be food related. That seems to be all I write about anymore! Keep in mind, the highlight of our morning is discussing where we're going to lunch. As soon as we're on our way back to work after lunch, we're talking about where to go for dinner. Yes, you can tell what's important to us.

I have tried to be out of the box on this trip. I could never take a page out of Michael's book and eat fish head soup, but I have tried a myriad of new and exciting things. I ate Indian and Nepalese food for the first time, and even Japanese and Korean food. We do a lot of walking since parking is at a minimum. In our walks, we see a restaurant that looks good or smells good walking by, we're willing to give it a shot. So far, we have had no regrets in any areas other than price! Not a bad record.

It's been a nerve wracking week though. I am on this audit with my boss. He takes care of the driving duties, and my job is to print out mapquest directions of anywhere in particular we want to go and I navigate.

My boss had a meeting here in town on Friday, so he was flying out early on Thursday. I'd finish up the week and fly out as usual on Friday. And, he has more commitments next week, so he's staying at the local office all week, and I'll be ALONE in Chicago all next week as well.

To get me ready for this huge undertaking, I did the driving all week to make sure I could find my way around. Ugh. I'm ok with to and from the airport. I have troubles in town, like in finding all the areas that house the restaurants we like to go to. And, from there, finding the hotel again. I can go from the hotel to work and back again, no problem. It's any side trips I have issues with.

All week long, the boss showed me how to get to some of our favorite areas. I even had to parallel park the car into a parking spot, of which was successful two out of three times. The third time I said the heck with it and went down a few more blocks to a parking lot. Some days it's easier to walk than to fight into a spot. I thought all was going to be well in my world while on my own. Yesterday was my first solo day, and of course, I got lost on my way to lunch. Dang, it's going to be a long week next week.

So here we are. I am home safe and sound and trying to block out the fact that I go back again on Monday morning! I think I'm ok getting in and out of the airport. But once I'm on site, it will be another story.

You know, they can implant a microchips in your pet's neck. So, if your pet is lost, they scan the chip through the neck and get your info in order to return the pet safe and sound. Do you think I can get one of those implanted in my neck? Maybe when I'm lost, I can go to a some scan station and have them scan me and tell me which way to go to get home. It's either that or I need me a nice pair of size 10 ruby slippers.

That's Just Wrong, Page 2

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

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

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

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

That's just wrong.

I Am Stuffed Like a Pizza

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

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

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

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

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

So much for my diet!

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

Deja Vu

I am having a really, really bad day today.

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

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

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

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

I need a hug.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Monday Sucks

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

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

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

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

Location, Location, Location

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

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

Think about it.

That's just wrong.

Welcome to the Windy City

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stay tuned!

"Now Just Relax . . . "

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

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

That done, let me tell you about my day.

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

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

Testing For Colon Cancer.

No joke.

She's serious.

She's crazy, but she's serious.

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

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

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

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

Oh, I think not.

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

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

I need to take another hot bath.

Office Party

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Happy New Year

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

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

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

That was the good part of night.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Changes In The Neighborhood

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Christmas Past

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

May we all have a very Merry Christmas!

Decking Our Halls

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

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

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

The Good Got Better

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A View From the Top

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

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

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

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

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

One Of Them Days

Yesterday, I had one of them days.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

I Heart Shopping

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Women Are From Venus, Men Are From The Hardware Store

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Stuff

Ugh, I'm still sick.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

It's Been A Long Road

Anyone know what today is?

Four years ago today, I stepped foot into Ohio as a new resident. Four years ago, brother Michael brought me bag and baggage back to the north. We had to cross the Mississippi River three times to get here from Texas, but by golly, we got here. (Hey, I was navigating. I keep telling you I'm directionally challenged.

I thought I'd take this opportunity to take stock of myself and see what has happened to me in the last four years. Here's the good, the bad and the ugly, in no particular order.

In four years, I have:

• Moved three times
• Bought my first house
• Had two surgeries
• Got lost numerous times
• Got found numerous times
• Learned I'm stronger than I give myself credit for
• Found a job, lost a job, found another job
• Traveled for work, something I swore I'd never do. I've been to Atlanta, Topeka, Chicago, Harrisburg, Columbus to name a few
• Found Ron (Dang lucky find, I might add!)
• Got to be here for the new additions to our family, my two great-nephews, plus here to hear that two more are on the way! (However, I still say that one of them is having a girl this time!)
• Bought a new car
• Heard and dealt with things that go bump in my night
• Got a new bad habit called Club Pogo
• Got another new bad habit called my DVR
• Learned how to mow the grass and how to plow the driveway
• Searched for inner peace
• Searched for my faith
• Found great new friends
• Held on to old and dear friends

Four years. So much has changed in four years. I really don't think I am the same person I was four years ago. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing. I know I've grown. I think I've matured. I am definitely wiser about a lot of things than I was when I got here.

So, my friends, what now. Who knows? Will there be another house? Another move? Another car? Another job? I guess we'll have to go through it one day at a time. Keep checking back here for updates. I have a feeling that the next four years will be exciting!