What's On Your Amazon Wish List?

I am a sucker for Amazon.com. Not only do I do most of my Christmas shopping via people’s Amazon Wish Lists (thanks Jenny and JoBeth!) but I’m not afraid to indulge myself with a little Amazon goodness as well.

When the last Harry Potter book came out, I was able to pre order the book through Amazon.com. That way, the day the book was released, it was delivered right to my door! It’s hard to beat a deal like that. The only bad thing about that was I was the first person I knew to read that book. There were a lot of exciting things happening in that book. As soon as I finished the book, all I wanted to do was talk about what happened in the book with someone. Anyone! That was hard. But, it was still worth the kick to have the book fresh off the presses without having to wait in any horrible lines.

There are few books I am that passionate about. Another one happens to be a series by Dean Koontz. The first book was named after the title character in the book; Odd Thomas. Yes, the guy’s name was Odd Thomas. The book really took me on a roller coaster ride. I remembered breaking down into absolute sobs at the end of the book. It was gut wrenching. That’s not always a good thing, but I thought the book was just so awesome, it was worth the cry.

Then came the follow up book, Forever Odd. Ron was nice enough to supply me with this one. It didn’t make me cry like the first, but I still thought it was an awesome book. Last night, I just found out that book number three, Brother Odd is due out on November 28th. How could I not know this???

I immediately pointed my browser to Amazon.com and once again pre-ordered the book. I know, I could have put it on my wish list and hoped someone bought it for me. I mean, after all, there is Christmas and my birthday coming up. But why take the chance that everyone would pass up this gem of a gift? No, I couldn’t leave it to chance. I dusted off my credit card and bought it myself. Now to only count the days until November 28th!

So as not to worry anyone, I still have a lot of other items listed on my Amazon Wish List. Please feel free to buy me that plasma flat screen television I have on there, another gem of a gift. I promise to act surprised and not to be disappointed!

That's Just Wrong, Page 8

I’ve been thinking since yesterday if this story is blog-worthy. I know that not all blogs are winners; you should read some of the ones I’ve passed over on posting! The more I thought about this one however, the more I thought that what happened was just wrong.

There is a really nice cafeteria here on site. Breakfast (bagel and orange juice) can be had for about $1.50 and our lunches run around $3.00 each. And, they’re not bad. There are different areas that you go to for different sorts of items. It just so happened that the bagel I got for breakfast yesterday came from the same station from which I picked up my turkey and swiss sandwich for lunch.

The kid manning the counter at breakfast was talkative. That’s no big deal. I’m guessing he’s somewhere in the area of fresh out of high school. I ordered a bagel yesterday, toasted. While it’s toasting, we were chatting.

Every morning, the receptionist prints out name tags for us. She had our business cards, so our name tags have our name, then our company name, and the words “Audit Specialists” under our company name, which she got from our business cards. They are peal and stick labels that go right on our clothes.

While I’m waiting for my bagel to toast, the guy is reading my name tag. He commented that I’m an audit specialist (big whoop) and he kept saying my name over and over. Ok, I started to get a little freaked out. Finally, the bagel was ready, and I got to walk away.

Lunch time came and I wasn’t that hungry. All I wanted was a sandwich. Hence, why I got back in the same line at that counter, instead of one of the lines for some of the cooked food items. Big mistake. As soon as it was my turn and I got up to the counter, he said “hi, Ann Marie! I remember getting your breakfast for you this morning”! Ok, what do you say to that? It was the most perfectly toasted bagel I ever had, thank you??

While he was slapping together my turkey and swiss, he commented that he remembered my name because he had looked so carefully at my name tag that morning. After all, he can’t just look at a person’s face the whole time, he has to look other places. This guy actually said that! How was I supposed to take that? As an insult that he couldn’t look at my face for the two minutes it took to toast my bagel or as a compliment that he’d rather look at my boob for two minutes??

Either way, that was just wrong.

See What's Playing

Last Saturday night, Ron and I went out with some friends of ours, David and Edna. We went for dinner and then to see a movie.

The movie was The Prestige. To be honest, this was not a movie I would have picked out, but majority ruled and that’s what we went to see. I am so glad we did! The movie was awesome! I wish I could write reviews more like other people, but I have no clue as to directors, producers, cinematography or anything like that. I know I enjoyed the movie from beginning to end. Besides, looking at Hugh Jackman for two and a half hours is just a good thing!

This movie did have its share of twists and turns. Usually, my mind needs a little help grasping things like that. I usually need someone explaining some of the twists and turns before I’m up to speed and able to understand a movie! Sad, but true. However, this time, I GOT IT! I can’t believe it! I never get it. I never guess who done it, and I can never see something obvious coming. But not so this time.

After the movie, Edna and I made a stop in the ladies’ room. We’re standing there, washing our hands, when two other ladies in the room were discussing the movie we just saw and they totally didn’t get it. I know I have a big mouth and generally speaking, can’t keep it shut. They were going back and forth asking each other “why this” or “what was that” and I actually KNEW! So, of course, I had to start spouting off.

The four of us stood in that ladies’ room for what seemed like a long time, rehashing the movie. We could have picked a better room, but it was still fun! I never get to be the one to explain anything! The ladies left the room totally getting the movie. I left the room doing a happy dance because I knew the answers to their questions. Edna? Well, she pretty much just shook her head that I’d stand there so long talking to total strangers! Hey, what can I say? I never learned that do not talk to strangers rule.

So, if anyone goes to see The Prestige with Michael Caine and of course, Hugh Jackman, and you have any questions, call me. I got it!!

Phone Call

Most of my days at work are spent arguing with people. Since I audit payments made, I am always arguing about money. On that topic, people tend to argue fiercely. No one wants to pay back money no matter what the reason.

Today was an exception.

I was in a meeting this morning. When I returned to my desk, I saw my work cell phone had a voice mail. Crap. Who wants to argue with me now? So I listened to the voicemail. Here is about how that voicemail sounded that was left on my phone.

“Uh, hi, Ann Marie. My name is Mike and I’m from XYZ Company. I am returning your call from oh . . . about a month ago. I’m not really sure what it is you wanted from me, so maybe you could give me a call today and refresh my memory. I’m in California, where by the way our weather is really lousy right now. It’s cold and rainy. But I guess you don’t want to hear about that. So, um, I know you needed something from me, I just don’t remember what. Again, this is Mike from XYZ Company, phone number 555-555-5555. Give me a call.”

Interesting, huh? I definitely had to call Mike back! Here is kinda how that went.

Riiiiing

Mike: This is Mike.
Me: Hi, Mike. This is Ann Marie with ABC Company.
Mike: Oh, HI! Thanks for calling me back! Some weather, huh?
Me: Laughing. Well, Mike, to be honest, when you tell me you’re from California, I really have a hard time getting my sympathy juices working for you when I’m sitting here in Ohio. You wanna talk weather, we can talk weather!
Mike: Laughing. Yeah, I guess it’s hard for you to care it’s not perfect here, huh?
Me: No, sorry.
Mike: Um, I remember you left me a message awhile ago . . . do you remember why?
Me: Hmm. Was it at least in 2006?
Mike: YEAH!! I’m not that far behind on returning phone calls!
Me: Excellent! Well, hang on then, I’ll look it up! I must have it right here if it’s that current!
(me typing some keys, trying to find his issue in my laptop)
Me: Yep, here it is. I sent you a couple of faxes. I need you to sign one of them and fax it over to me. That’s it.
Mike: Yeah, I got your two faxes, I just wasn’t sure what to do with them.
Me: Sign it and fax it. Simple.
Mike: Yeah, that’s good. I can do that.
Me: Thanks
Mike: So, you’re in Ohio, huh?
Me: Yes, right on Lake Erie.
Mike: So, what are lake effect snows? You ever get any of them?
Me: Oh yeah, we get them. (I tried to explain them, although to be honest, I know what the end effect of a lake effect snow is, but I’m not sure I know exactly what causes it. So, I blabbered a bit about snow.)
Mike: I love snow. From where I’m at, I can see snow up on the mountains. It looks really cool. So pretty and all. You like the snow?
Me: Well, from where I am at, it’s a lot closer than just looking at it on the mountains. I have to shovel it, plow it, and brush it off my car. When it comes to that, it ain’t so pretty anymore!
Mike: Well, I really liked talking with you! Thanks for returning my call and helping me out with your faxes.
Me: Mike, the pleasure was all mine. In fact, I enjoyed our conversation SO much, I’m keeping your number! The next time I’m depressed, I’m calling you for a laugh!
Mike: YEAH! Please do! We can talk about the weather or something!

Ok, neither one of us are rocket scientists, but I liked the guy anyway. I still don’t feel sorry for his “bad” weather in California, but hey, if he signs that paper and faxes it back to be, it’s money in the bank. It’s hard for me to not like anyone that in effect hands over money to me.

All my phone calls should be that easy.

Be On The Look Out

Look closely. Is it me, or does the artist's drawing of the rapist look familiar??

What Will They Think Of Me?

My skin seems to be dryer than normal when I stay in hotels. Whether it’s dirty air filters for all of the circulated air or just the ultra soft water in the showers, I have a hard time with my skin on the road.

One of my rituals before going to bed it taking the little bottle of complimentary body lotion and giving my hands, feet, arms and legs a good dose of some lotion. Last night, when I was done, I left the bottle of lotion on the night side table.

Remember, I have this terrible cold. I also put a lot of tissues on the night side table and some cough drops to get me through the night.

Here is what I saw in the morning on the night table in my hotel room before I left for work:

> Half empty bottle of hand lotion
> A ton of wadded up dirty tissues

Some things are just wrong to think about. The scenario going through my mind of what that could look like was just too much for me. I did not want housekeeping to say “ewww” or heaven forbid, booby trap my room in some way for leaving that “mess” for them. I definitely had to throw out my own tissues and put the lotion back in the bathroom before I left for work.

Too Good To Be True

Other than my cold still kicking my butt, not much to report from yesterday. Last night, I would have paid a drug dealer on the street for some cough syrup with codeine. I’m sure whoever was in the room next to me was not happy with me. I am betting I kept them awake most of the night as well. Sorry!

We did take a little ride around to look at a few other areas. We thought we were getting a good deal at the hotel we are staying at, but later found out about all of the hidden charges they forgot to mention when reservations were made.

For example:

You want to park a car? It’s going to cost $18.00 a day. We have two cars here.
You want high speed internet access? That will be another $9.95 per day.
You want the paper delivered in the morning? $0.75 per day. (Normally the USA Today is delivered for free when you’re a Hilton Honors member)
You want a warm cookie after work when you get back to the hotel? $1.00 per cookie. Again, most hotels offer this as a nice little perk, while supplies last, in the evenings.

Ok the cookie and the newspaper are little issues, but the parking and high speed internet is definitely adding up for two of us. I know it’s a company expense and not my expense, but the company is not exactly running in the black right now, so we are trying to do what we can to not cause the problem to get any worse.

Looks like next week it will be a new adventure of a new hotel. I have a feeling it’s not going to be anywhere near as awesome as this one. It was nice looking out the window and seeing the river across the street or just the hoopla of downtown activity. Then again, who needs those traffic problems early in the morning?

Life On The Road

Yesterday, my drive was mostly uneventful. Trying to cut down the miles on my car, I chose a more direct route down here other than the smart way of taking the freeway all the way. I drove part of the way on a two lane road and then part of the way on a road that wishes it was a two lane road before I finally got to the freeway.

The road that wishes it were a two lane road was CR601. Any road that has country road, aka CR in the road name, I should have figured wasn’t going to be a thoroughfare. I am darn happy I found the road since it had the smallest of signs announcing it.

The best part of this road was I got to drive through when all of the local Amish children happened to be walking to school. The atrocities of the recent shootings in Pennsylvania fresh in my mind, I looked at these innocent beautiful children and just wanted to cry. Most of them seemed so happy to see someone on the road with them, and they waved good morning to me! Ok, that was pretty cool. They are a testament to the “life goes on” theory I guess. It gave me warm fuzzies in my heart for the rest of my drive.

Believe it or not, I found my way to the audit site with only one missed turn. For me, this is a darn good day.

Our hotel is right smack in the middle of downtown. Now I got to tell you, I’ve stayed in some nice hotel rooms before but this one definitely has to be the best of the bunch so far. This is what I love about traveling! All of the rooms in this hotel are suites, not just rooms. This suite I swear is larger than some apartments I’ve had. I could live in this suite with no problem.

You walk in and there is a counter to the left with a microwave, a wet bar and a refrigerator. After that there is a little stone topped table with two chairs. I guess this is the kitchen area. There is an over stuffed chair and ottoman, a sofa and coffee table, a desk and chair and a television. That’s just my living area! Go to the right through some French doors and there are two double beds, a dresser with another TV. Then on the other side of this room is a dressing room, a closet and the bathroom. On the wall next to the beds in the bedroom and on the wall by the desk in the living area are huge picture windows. Did I mention I’m on the 10th floor overlooking downtown? I’m telling you this is way too cool!

When we got to the hotel last night about 6:00 pm, I was standing in the window sort of giggling at even being there. Right across the street from me is an office building. While I was standing in my window looking out, some guy in an office across from me but a couple of floors down was at his window looking up at me. Hey! What’s that about? He kept looking so I finally gave him something to look at. That should cure him of peeping into the hotel across the street for sure. Poor guy probably needs therapy about now. What the heck, he’s never going to see me again and I doubt he could pick me out of a line up anyway!

The only down side of the evening was dinner last night. After I unpacked and relaxed a bit, my boss and I met up for dinner. We got a couple of suggestions from the front desk on where to go for dinner and started walking. We headed for an Italian restaurant about three blocks away.

Nice place, even though it was kind of dark in there. It was really hard to read the menu. But I finally decided on wild mushroom stuffed ravioli in a mushroom sauce. Doesn’t that sound good? It was so awful, it was inedible. It was so salty that even I couldn’t eat it, and I love salt. The waitress wanted to know if I wanted it boxed up and I explained that there is no way I could eat it whether I took it with me or forced it down at the restaurant.

She apologized and sent the manager over. The manager offered to have another meal prepared for me. I didn’t want to start eating now that my boss was done eating, nor did I want to take it back to the hotel. He offered me free dessert which is an offer I usually jump at, but with the bad taste left in my mouth from dinner I didn’t think I could eat that either. So, he did take the offensive meal off of the bill and we called it a night. Oh well, here’s hoping tonight’s fare will be better.

All in all, aside from dinner, it was a good day. I’m still coughing and hacking and blowing my nose which I’m sure all around me are thrilled about. I keep swigging on my cough medicine and hoping for the best.

So much for day one. I’ve been told that I will be traveling for at least the next three months straight. If nothing else, this should be good for the blog. I do love to tell a good story.

Here We Go Again

It's Sunday night and I haven't started packing yet.

Yes, starting tomorrow, I am back on the road. Phht.

This time I am only heading about 2-1/2 hours to the south of me. I even get to stay in the same state, same time zone. The bad news is I have to drive all by myself. If anyone is going to start a pool on how many time I will get lost, I want in on it. I know I'll be lost at least once this week.

From my last post, I caught a bug. I've been trying my best to get as well as I can so that I can make this trip tomorrow. Ron has truly done his best to help out.

Yesterday is a blur as I spent most of it in bed. Ron woke me for lunch and then again for dinner. Yeah, exciting Saturday. The best part was lunch. Ron made some home made chicken noodle soup! I'm telling you, nothing sits better in your tummy when you're not feeling well than chicken noodle soup, especially home made. I know that played a huge part in my making any progress on my road to recovery.

Today he was nice enough to catch up on the laundry while I stayed wrapped up in blankets on the couch all day.

Now it's time to pack some clean clothes, and a bunch of tissues. I have a feeling there may be a few posts in the near future about my exciting life back on the road. Yeah, it could happen.

Stay tuned for the next post from wild and crazy Columbus!

Ghosts That Go "Chirp" In The Night

I had a bad night last night. Some kind of bug decided to make its home with me for awhile and trust me, it took hold.

I woke just before 2:00 a.m. and was just miserable. I couldn't breathe, I couldn't swallow, my body hurt, I was tired and now I'm awake. Instead of laying there tossing and turning and waking Ron, I went down to the living room and planted myself on the recliner, wrapped up in my comforter. This wasn't too bad. I could make it through the night here.

Picture this. I have all of the lights off downstairs. It's very quiet. It's 2:00 in the morning for crying out loud. Then I hear it. "Chirp!" Naw, it was my imagination. A minute later, another "chirp". The first thing I did was grabbed my phone to see if it was chirping that I have a missed call. Nope. No one had wanted to talk to me. So, back to my chair. Sure enough, again, a chirp. Now it's coming to me, it sounds like a battery going on a smoke alarm. Ok, I can fix this. I just need to figure out which smoke alarm.

I have a thing about fire. I do the best I can with preventing it from happening. I have smoke alarms and fire extinguishers on every floor of my house. At least one of each. Overkill is better than not enough. I even enlisted the consulting services of Jeff in New York, a real live hero, a fireman, to decide where to put all of the smoke alarms and fire extinguishers.

I started with looking at the alarm at the top of the basement steps. I grabbed the alarm, and pulled out the battery. I no sooner did that when I heard the chirp again. Crap. It sounded like it came from downstairs in the basement. The only smoke alarm down there, from what I was told when we got the house, was that alarm was powered by electricity. I didn't think there was even a battery in it.

Well here I am, freezing in my jammies standing barefoot in the basement in the middle of the night trying to figure out where the chirping is coming from. Now that I'm typing this, I really AM brave (or maybe stupid!) as I don't usually go in the basement alone after dark! Anyway, as I'm standing there, I hear the chirp and decide it really is coming from the smoke alarm that's supposedly electrically powered. I was able to figure out how to take it from the ceiling, and then I noticed a door on the back for a battery. It had a battery back up! That's the good news. The bad news is that since I didn't know it had a battery back up, this battery was never changed with the other smoke alarms. That battery had been in there since at least November 2003 when we moved into the house.

I brought the smoke alarm upstairs into the kitchen to try to figure out how to open the battery door. Using a trusty butter knife, I pried the door open and removed the battery.

Then it happened.

It chirped.

In my hand.

I had the battery in one hand, and the smoke alarm in the other, not hooked to anything and with NO battery installed. And it's still chirping at me. Ok, I did freak out a little bit. I pushed the reset button a couple of times and all that did was make it chirp again. The little red light on the front would flash every minute, which according to the directions on the back, meant it was powered on and working. In my hand, no electricity and no battery. Yet it had . . . power.

Was this something I should wake Ron for? I decided maybe this wasn't life threatening even if it was a ghostly encounter. I put the battery on the counter, then wrapped the smoke alarm in a couple of kitchen towels and then in my coat just for good measure. I was hoping it would at least muffle the sound and let me try to sleep.

So I turned on a few lights in the living room, turned the TV on and crawled back under my comforter where the rest of my night was a little quieter.

With Any Luck, I Can Hear You Now

I've been with Verizon Wireless since I first bought a cell phone. The feature that sucked me into their plan was the fact that after a two year contract, they gave you up to $100 towards a new phone. I do love free. I think so far, I've gotten three free phones thanks to Verizon.

I was up for another free phone and kept procrastinating shopping for one. The closest Verizon Wireless store is perpetually understaffed. I will not wait for a half an hour to spend money in that store. Then I figured that I could pick out a phone ON line instead of waiting IN line at the store. The only downside to that was I didn't have an employee standing in front of me explaining all of the buttons.

I've said it before, I'll say it again. Anything with an O.N./O.F.F button, I can usually work that part. Anything beyond that and I'm lost. I didn't want a lot of bells and whistles so I took one of the easiest phones I could find. Or, so I thought.

One upgrade this phone has is a speaker phone. I did like that part. The night I got my phone, I called my good friend Maura to tell her all about it. I told her about the speaker phone feature and she wanted to hear how that sounded. I moved the phone from my ear and turned it this way and that, looking for the button that would make it happen. I couldn't find it. What did happen though was in turning the phone this way and that, I dropped the phone. Luckily, it fell on the dining room rug.

A surprising thing happened. The speaker phone was turned on during the fall! Go me! What a cool feature. So Maura and I finished our chat and I closed the flip part of the phone to hang it up. Life was good in my eyes.

A few hours later, brother Jim called me. I lifted the flip of the phone to answer the call only to find out the phone was still on speaker phone! Dang, that's not good! Do you have any idea how big the freakin' book is that came with the phone? I will never read through that big book, so I was hoping for user friendly.

I finished my conversation with Jim on speaker phone then handed it over to Ron to figure out how to shut that feature off. I think I have that part figured out now.

Every night I am transferring phone numbers over to the new phone. I didn't realize I knew that many people. It seems to be taking me forever. I'm hoping by the end of this week to have that task finished.

If anyone decides to call me in the near future, bear with me. I have answering the phone down pretty well. I can make a call if the number is programmed in ok, but anything else is not going so well. If you leave a voicemail and I don't call you back by the end of the day, you better call me again. There is probably some kind of technical difficulties on my end.

Can you hear me now?

Just For Fun

Dang, I suck.

I used to be a good speller. But with the invention of spell checker, I rarely have to worry about my spelling. As the saying goes, if you don't use it, you lose it.

Check out this website. I am ashamed to say I didn't do as well as I thought I would. I really expected to ace all of them! HA! I did better than the average, but I'm really disappointed in myself. I guess now I know why I didn't get to go to Washington D.C. for the National Spelling Bee!

Idiot

I'm no spring chicken. I've been around for awhile. Most of my years, except for a few years of insanity that was spent in the south, I've lived in the northern climate. It's the end of October. Without looking, any northerner could probably tell you that the end of October will be chilly at best, cold at worst.

Do you think I should know that after all these years?

I got up this morning, and took a hot shower. After my shower, I was running around; downstairs making coffee and then putting a lunch together to take with me to work. I ran back upstairs, stuffed myself into pantyhose, slacks and a sweater. Yes, I am warm. Even a little sweaty.

I grabbed my laptop and headed out the door, down the driveway to the garage and off to work. No big deal. Part way to work, I hear the traffic report. It's snowing on the east side of town. (I am on the far west side.) There are numerous accidents on one freeway heading into downtown due to ice on the road. Hello? Cold in October? Who'd have thought. Where is my coat? On the hook in my hallway at home, where it belongs.

This afternoon, I watched the snow fall outside my office window, wondering just where the heck my brain was today. At least the weather-casters had good news for me for my way home. It did warm up to the low 40s today!

I am an idiot. Achoo!

I Love Country Life

I wrote recently about the long drive to my last audit site. Most of this drive happened over long country roads. It was not uncommon to be in the middle of cornfields or fields of alpacas or cows or shetland ponies. In the daylight, it was really a nice drive.

Yesterday was my last day at this site. We finished a little early and called it a day. On my drive home I came across a road side stand that you actually had to pull in someone's driveway to get to it. The signs said "Pumpkins - $2.00" or "Mums - $2.00". How can anyone resist a deal like this?

The Mums were absolutely gorgeous. The picture at the top is the bunch I bought yesterday. The best part about this country road side stand? No one was manning it. There was a box on a bale of hay that said "please place money in here". Can you believe it? So I grabbed $2.00 out of my wallet, put it in the box and put the Mums in my car. I love country life!

Left In My Hour Of Need

I realize I've been away from blogging for awhile, so I am trying to catch up!

Last Saturday, Ron and I spent the day playing with Susan and Georgia. We had a great time! We spent a part of the day at the Botanical Gardens. It was awesome!

They were having an herb fair at the Botanical Gardens that day, and Ron bought me some Marjoram. Don't ask. That may be another blog. We won absolutely nothing on the Chinese auction but I did buy a picture for the house. Hey, we've only been here three years next month and we finally bought a picture for the walls. Go us! The picture is now sitting on our dining room table as we can't decide on where to hang it, but at least we have one ready to go up. Life is good.

I do have to write about something serious that happened to us last Saturday. In my true hour of need, when strangers should come to your aid, I was left alone to fend for myself. I still can't believe it happened. What happened to compassion? To giving? To community? To saving my butt??

The four of us walked to the Hershey's Children's Garden, a part of the Botanical Gardens. Anyone with children should really check it out. The place was amazing and made me want to be a kid again. Very interactive and scaled to kids. A truly great place. Ron and I truly got into the spirit. We were reliving our childhoods. There were fountains aplenty as well as drinking fountains and even a pond. With all that water, all we could think of was to have a water fight! What else?

I admit, I got him with some water. Not a drenching, but I definitely drew first blood. He for some reason thought he should retaliate. As soon as I saw him go for a handful of water, I did what I had to do. I ran behind a couple that I never met before, figuring that they'd protect me in my hour of need. Do you want to know what they did? They looked at Ron, they looked at me, and realizing what was going to happen, they said "NO WAY" and moved quickly to their left. That left me in direct line of fire for Ron. Not good. Luckily I was wearing nothing that was dry clean only, so I was ok. A little damp, a little cold, but ok.

I can't believe those two strangers wouldn't protect me in my hour of need. What has this world come to?

Look Out For Tuesday The 17th

Some people were worried about Friday the 13th. I wasn’t one of them.

I may be a lot of things, but I don’t think I’m superstitious. Black cats, broken mirrors, bring ‘em on. Friday should have been just another day, maybe a little better than some since it was a pay day. Other than that, it should have been no big deal.

My Friday the 13th started off with me getting almost all the way to work before realizing that I have neither one of my cell phones on me. I’m not as worried about my personal cell phone, but while at work, my work cell is utilized a lot. Let’s just say I’m happy I’m not paying that bill every month.

So that was my big faux pas. Was it Friday the 13th bad luck or was it just me not awake in the morning when I’m leaving for work. I think it was just me not awake yet.

Since I pretty much breezed through Friday, with only the phone incident, I should be set for the week, right? I wish. My horrible bad day came on Tuesday the 17th. It was a very bad day. I’m marking that day on the calendar from now on.

It started with a lot of rain. I was awakened many times during the night to the sound of the storm coming through. In the morning, it was still raining hard.

I have a long drive to work. I am literally in the middle of nowhere and to get here, I take a two lane Podunk road in the middle of nowhere to get to the middle of nowhere. This is a two lane blacktop road that hasn’t seen fresh paint on the lines at least since I was a little kid. At the side of the road is either a ditch or a bunch of trees. Absolutely no where to pull over if my life depended on it, and believe me, my life depended on it.

So, it’s raining cats and dogs, it’s dark and I can’t see where the road stops and the ditch begins. To top that off, there is so much water on the road, I’m hydroplaning on top of the water more than my tires are touching blacktop. And to make matters even worse, every time a semi truck drives in the opposite direction of me (I seem to be the only one heading south, the only other cars I encounter are northbound) it splashes so much water up on to my windshield that I am literally blinded for a few seconds while the wipers make a couple of swipes. It was absolutely terrifying.

It was just such a helpless feeling. I can’t see, I’m afraid to try to turn around as I’m not sure I can find a place to turn around, nor do I really know where I am in relationship to home. I know if I keep following this road, I end up where I need to be. But, I would have little to no hope of finding an alternate route home.

Then I had enough. I called my boss to complain about the road conditions and to state that we are both nuts. Him for making me drive this drive and me for driving it! It was one of those rare occasions that he actually agreed with me. He was faring no better on the road he was on than I was. So he decided that we should give up on our plan to head to the audit site and instead just head for our office. Good in theory. My problem was that I had little to no clue how to change my game plan of going from point “A” to now point “C”.

So, I called Ron. I was nice enough to wake him up and everything! I gave a crying version of my dilemma and asked him to look on a map on the internet and help me get to the office from where I am at. Of course, Ron asked me where I was. Me replying “I don’t know” was not helping him help me in the least! Finally, I found a cross road with a route number. As soon as I mentioned the route number, Ron knew sort of where I was. I was told to head left on that road, and I would come out somewhere that I would know. Good thing I believed him because sure enough, I came across a road that I did know and was able to take it right back to the office.

So there I was, stuck in the middle of nowhere in the rain, not wanting to drive any more.

If I ever win the lottery, the first thing I’m buying is a chauffer. Trust me, I would give up my driver’s license in a heartbeat if I could. And, pooh on Friday the 13th. Beware of Tuesday the 17th!

Where Is Steve Irwin When We Need Him

It sucks to be the people in this parking lot. Check out this video.

However, since Steve is gone, I happen to have my very own hero living right here in this house!

This morning, I was in the bathroom doing whatever it is people do in the bathroom first thing in the morning. When I finished, I was standing at the sink washing my hands. As I was lathering up, I looked up into the mirror and what do I see? A HUGE spider on my face! Ok, he wasn't really "on" my face, but he was on my face that was in the mirror. I was not a happy camper.

I wasn't in charge of all of my faculties yet so I did what I do best. I screamed. Loudly.

Poor Ron came running and once his heartbeat slowed down when he figured out I wasn't dying at the moment, he took care of my hazardous situation. It may not have been a nine foot alligator, but it was just as life threatening in my mind. My hero saved me!

Bomb Squad Knocking

I knew that Mike and Mary Jane were having company this weekend. Their gang from Meadville, Mike, Jenny, Evan and Grady, were coming for a visit.

That's why I was quite surprised when brother Mike called about 9:30 tonight and asked if we were dressed! He said it was an emergency, and their whole gang was on their way over. Hey, who was I to argue! Ron and I got dressed, turned the outside lights on and we were ready. Sure enough, the whole gang comes over!

I thought my neighbors were nuts. Mike wins on the crazy neighbor contest. You know how your Mom always said "it's all fun and games until someone pokes an eye out". Well, for Mike's neighbor, it was all fun and games until he almost blew his arm off. So much for playing with explosives!

The ambulance came to take him away and the bomb squad came to secure the neighborhood. Mike's was just one of the houses that was evacuated while the bomb squad secured the neighbor's garage. So where did they pack up and go to? Our house!

Now really, how cool is this? Poor Grady decided to sleep through the whole party, but the rest of us hooted and hollered and sang along with Evan playing the piano. Then he found the treadmill!

First, he has to make sure Papa is right behind him, just in case.



Then, Papa had the bright idea to teach Evan how to push the buttons!



Then, it's time for Evan and Papa to go for a long walk!



I'm telling you, when you're this cute, you can get away with anything!



So, sorry that you guys were evacuated by the bomb squad, but I'm glad you decided to come be safe with us! The police captain did call an hour or so later to give the all clear and my group was back on the road.

Now this may be my true calling . . . emergency shelter!

As a side note to Jenny - no, my tree is not up and decorated already. It's just not been taken down from last year! So no Christmas pickle prize yet! :)

Dance With Me

One of my sicknesses is reality television. I’m ok with that, I could have worse habits.

One of my new favorite shows is Dancing With The Stars. You take a dozen or so celebrities and pair them with real champion ballroom dancers and call it a show. The celebrities have to learn all of the ballroom dances from their partner and each week they dance. There are usually two different dances done each week, with half of the dancers doing one dance and the other half doing the other. A panel of three professional ballroom dance judges gives them scores from one to ten with a top possible score of thirty. That score combined with a public vote via cell phone or internet rates the dancers and the dance team with the lowest score goes home.

I’ve learned a whole lot of new terms watching this show. I know about holding your form, about staying on your toes, head back, the Tango, the Mamba, the Jive, The Waltz, etc. Yes, I love this show. It scares Ron because now I get a crazy idea that WE need to take dance lessons! I think he’s rather eat razor blades followed by drinking unsweetened lemonade before dancing, but a girl can hope.

One of the contestants is none other than talk show host Jerry Springer. He’s not the best hoofer out there, but he’s having a ball and that makes him fun to watch. When the show started, he said that he couldn’t dance. His goal was to last long enough on the show to learn the Waltz. His daughter is getting married soon, and he really wants to Waltz with her at her wedding.

Last night, was his chance. He ended up dancing a Waltz with his partner. Was it the best Waltz I’ve ever seen? No, but being a Daddy’s girl myself, watching him break from his dance partner at the end of the number and go right to his daughter and hug her for all he’s worth left me in tears. I wasn’t the only one left without a dry eye. His dance partner, his daughter, and half of the other dancers were also in tears, as well as a judge or two.

I am a sucker for a good cry.

Now for my prediction for tonight's show – Sarah Evans, you got to go, girl. Dancing is not your forte.

So, what’s new?

Let’s see. Ron was in California recently for some training at the corporate office. The company, in my opinion, spent a lot of money for nothing. The day they were to spend training, his boss, the trainer, ended up in the hospital. He tested positive for the e-coli virus thought to come from eating fresh spinach. Not good.

As a side note, I TOLD my Mom years ago that spinach could kill a person. She didn’t believe me then and made me eat it. Finally, I get to say “I told you so”! Now if someone would just prove it about peas, I’d truly be vindicated.

Since he’s been back, I’ve been working an audit that is a long drive every day. It takes me about one hour and 15 minutes each way, and that’s with no accidents. I am out of the house by 6:30 in the morning and I’m happy if I’m back home by that time of the evening. This is too many hours in a car each day. Unfortunately, the next audit will be just as long if not longer. Bummer.

Last week was brother Michael’s birthday. He and Mary Jane bestowed on us the honor of celebrating with them. It’s tougher to celebrate once you hit that over 50 mark, huh, Mike? I know he said something about wishing this was happening on the weekend and not on a school night. He couldn’t handle his tequila as well on a Thursday night as he could have on a Friday night! And, the party pooper wouldn’t let me call the waiter for the customary birthday sombrero! C’mon now! What’s a birthday with out that?!! Happy birthday, my brother!

We went to a clam back this past Saturday. I learned something there. I learned that I don’t like clams. Nor do I care for mussels. Glad I paid to go to a clam bake, huh? Actually, Ron paid, but still! At least I had back up food. The cost of the ticket really did buy a bonanza. You started with a small salad, roll and butter, baked sweet potato, corn, then for the entrees - a steak, a chicken leg and thigh, then the dozen clams and dozen mussels. Even without the seafood, I was stuffed. The food was good and Ron got extra clams and mussels, so he’s not complaining!

See? A whole lotta nothing to report here.

I’m ready for the fall. I think this is my favorite time of year. I love the weather getting cooler even if it means my heating bills go higher. I did turn the furnace on for a few hours over the weekend. It was almost a necessity. It was a bit chilly here in the mornings, but once we got by that, it warmed up nicely. That puts me in the mood for fall food.

We went for groceries over the weekend, and I went nuts in the gourd aisle. I have an acorn squash that I’m not sure when I’m going to cook it. I got a spaghetti squash that will be baked and mixed with butter, onion and garlic tonight, with an added veal patty and we’re calling it dinner! Ron’s never had spaghetti squash before so I’m excited about making it for him. To top off my gourd excursion, I also have a butternut squash that I have the perfect recipe (I hope) for an awesome butternut squash roasted garlic bisque. Should be some interesting dinners this week at our house. Now if we don’t come down with e-coli or botulism or something fun like that after a week of my cooking, all will be right with the world.