Here's To You

In a little less than 9 hours I will be with friends ringing in the New Year. This is if I survive the "Drinko" game that someone is bringing. The past few New Year's celebrations have been mild. I guess I can contribute that to getting older and a little more sensible. I can also say a big part of it is when we have to drive home on New Years Eve, we tend to take it a little easier.

In the past we used to head up to Door County for New Years Eve/Day and seeing that there was no driving involved we would not worry to much about the drinking part. We had stayed in a Condo a few years in a row and walking from the "Party Room" to our condo usually was without incident unless of course we count the time that A took everyone on the lakefront tour back to the condo. Or the time my brothers though giving their sister a 1 am face wash in the snow covered parking lot would be funny.

Most of my funny New Years involve my husband. A few years ago we stayed home New Years Eve for a party at the bar but headed up to Green Bay the next morning. A was in rough shape and sat in the passenger seat moaning most of the way. We are no longer welcome in the Manitowoc Hardees due to him overflowing their toilet.

Then there's the New Years from Hell when we were in Door County on the Eve and headed to Green Bay the next morning. To kill time we stopped at a Winery for some tasting and a little purchase of wine (5.99). We left only to find that we we're leaving. One dead truck. One very expensive weekend. The guys got the truck running the next morning only to find out the freeways were closed due to a massive snow storm and we weren't going anywhere. All totaled my $5.99 bottle of wine cost us over $600.00. We must also include my loss of Holiday pay for being stranded.

How about the New Years in Reedsburg where J cleared the gift shop of any unwanted riff-raff ( and us) and Randy made some new friends that could win the "wierd couple of the year award". The totally drunken Packer Game at the bowling alley next door to the hotel, followed by a dinner of chared Ribeye steak. The one bite almost ruined my taste for Ribeye's forever.

All in all there have been some great New Years Celebrations. Barring a few minor issues this has been a good year. I feel fortunate that all my friends and family are safe and in good health.

Here's to wishing you all a Safe and Happy New Year.

Now What?

Last night K&J and A& I were able to take our parents out to dinner. We were able to pre-arrange the bill to be given to us and pay it, rather than them. There was the usual bickering over the fact that they should pay but in the end the kids won the battle. This should be a noted date on my calendar as we usually loose. I don't think Pop's was on the ball last night. He will usually fake a bathroom trip and seek out the waitress.

We then went back to our house for a few hours of Poker. Connie took all our money! A gave her one tough battle but she held on. I am done playing Hold em with my husband. I have discovered that if he has "the Hand" that will beat me, he has this shifty eye thing going on. Ken has the quiver lip and A has the shifty eye. Pocket Aces mean squat to me when playing with him.

Mom & Dad caught their flight home at 730 this morning. It was nice to have them home and once again sad to see them go. As I walked around my house last night looking at all the preparations made for the holiday, I got a little sad as it's all over to quick. Sure, there's New Years Eve left but that's been low key for us for a few years. I'm not ready to pack it all up yet, so little by little I'll work on it.

Every year after Christmas I get this doom and gloom feeling that we are now entering the loonnngg winter. I'll be going to Arizona in April but that's still 4 months away. Camping is 5-6 months away. I have come to the conclusion that I need a hobby. So for the next several weeks I will be looking into several options. Who knows, by next year for Christmas everyone could receive a special gift crafted by me.

1 More Day

Why is it that when you have a short week at work it seems to take longer than working a normal work week? I'm working 5am-1pm this week and it's just dragging. We're all trying to make the best of it as it's pretty clear that it is the calm before the storm. Our new line is set to start up around the 3rd week in January. We had a little meeting the other day where the entire year was mapped out. It always looks good on paper. The problem is we are about 12 people short. By June or so they want to be on 3 shifts. Being one of the lowest in seniority I see myself once again going to an off shift. Hopefully the training of the new employees will go smoothly enough to be back to first shift within a few months. While my wonderful boss was explaining all this to me I could only let my mind wander back to my former employeer and how I asked for so many years to get off 3rd shift. It took quitting to get to first. I've become very comfortable where I am now and don't mind working an off shift once in awhile. I like the people I work with. At my former place there weren't to many people I liked. It was very political there. "Each for his own" would describe it perfectly.
At some point today I may venture out to Kohls to return someting. I've been told the stores are not bad. Right now I'm waiting for the receipt which boarder brother has. Something tells me that it may be lost and gone forever which sucks. I'm holding out for the weekend for the grocery store. I just need to get some things for New Years. I sent A for the shrimp today so hopefully that won't be gone by NYE. Speaking of fishy....I work right down the street from Empire Fish. These people need to resturcture their parking lot enterance situation. Trying to get across Watertown Plank Road when these fools are all flocking the store for the "King Crab legs or Catfish" is crazy. I don't think they're open on Saturday so by 1pm tomorrow they'll probably have the Wauwatosa Police Dept. out there directing traffic. I may take my video camera along tomorrow to get a shot at this cluster crazies.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho!

Today is my last day off of work for the Holiday Season. 61/2 days flew by way to quick for me. We're only working 8 hours the rest of the week so it shouldn't be to bad. After work it's back to the doctor for the toe check. Look's fine to me but I guess they need to get another $20.00 co-pay out of me.
Isn't today "Boxing Day". I spent my day cleaning up a lot of stuff. I always like the day after Christmas as it prompts some good cleaning to get the new stuff in. This prompts a box to start for Goodwill or a hope chest for boarder brother. Since he lost just about every household item he had in the storage locker heist I started a pile for him. I got new dishes for Christmas, he got my old ones. I got new coffee cups, he got the old ones. I feel a little bad as there was quite a bit taken. I may start to stock up on some t.p., paper towels and things like that for him. Everything I buy may bring him one step closer to moving. A lottery windfall could be just the right answer now.
So, in all honesty I want to know what is the funkiest gift you received? And what is the best gift you received. Beside the fact that my family was all here, which was the best gift.....I received a beautiful "A" ornament from J which she has hidden on my tree. Eventually I will find it. I think she may have been upset that I was going to wear it on my shirt like Laverne.

Tonight is off to celebrate the birthday of A's neice who was born the day after Christmas. His sister managed to keep her pregnancy a secret right up until she went into labor and didn't make it to the hospital. She turns 13 today. Seems like yesterday when I got a phone call at 6am the day after Christmas from the sister-in-law who delivered her. Never a dull moment I tell you.

It was A good Day

The day was good. We started out with our kids and grandkids and a huge pile of gifts, some happy kids and nothing that has to go back. My son had put a guitar on his list and although I thought he was joking I did buy him one. There was a confused look on his face when he opened it, however when I gave him the receipt he didn't take it, saying he was going to watch the instructional tape that came with it and check it out. Maybe by next year him and A can have some little keyboard, guitar concert. We had gotten Dylan a hover craft that is supposed to work in the snow. I bought it when we had the blizzard thinking that it'd be fun on Christmas Day to take it outside, but being the dork I am I forgot to charge the battery. My dad played Santa and did a good job of fooling the little ones. There were doubts from the 8 and over kids. I think he may have had J fooled for a second or two.
There was way to much food and about 100 desserts. I'm pretty sure the rumbling stomachs came from the Polish Sausage and baked beans. It was really good to have my parents here, but hard to keep mom out of the kitchen so she could visit with her family. Thanks to J my dishes were done,and you'll all be happy to know that she did eat first. I'm just so glad that all went well and everyone left full and happy.
I need to mention that I did not get the Magic Bullet......I got the Rocket. Not the bullet from the sex party...the one from television that makes the smoothies and sauces. Boarder brother was eyeing it up thinking that he's going to create all kinds of smoothies and shakes when I'm not home.
Hope everyone had a joyous Christmas. I'm just so happy that I do not need to hit a store for returns or exchanges.

Merry Christmas

The Eve of Christmas was good. After a full day of preparing food for tomorrow we went to A's sister's house for their family Christmas. It was a nice time. She makes some kick butt cookies which I received a plate of and will be serving tomorrow. I don't think I'll be able to pass them off as mine. Stopped at the bar for a cocktail which is a first for us. There was quite a crowd there. We had to leave as A had polish sausage belly. I'm thinking he didn't want to pull a fast one and leave his deposit in the bar restroom.
So I'm off to bed so I can awaken early and start all over again. Tomorrow will be a full day.

Merry Christmas to everyone! stb please don't forget to leave Pumpkin well stocked on food. Just in case. We'll be checking on you tomorrow.

Countdown

48 hours from now my house will be filled to the brim with my family. There will be two people missing, both nieces. Otherwise it would have been kind of fun to get a full group photo. The problem is I think we would have had to stand outside in the driveway to get everyone in. There will be the usual loud screeching of the kids when opening their gifts, (some adults also). My parents may have to step upstairs and it's been a few years since they have witnessed the craziness involved in the gift opening. Of course we'll have to keep the wrapping paper garbage for a few days for those lost gift cards and small peices of something or other. The preparation of some of the food has started. I somehow have to keep the nibbling of the Polish Sausage by A and brother under control.
Tomorrow night my husbands family is having a little get together. We really haven't had anything with them all together for a few years now. It was getting kind of rough on me to have one family one day and one the next. No one in his family seems to want to have Christmas. It's hard for his Mom to do it alone and things haven't been to well over at their house, so it'll be nice to see everyone at his sisters house this year.
I am finally starting to see the light. Gifts are all wrapped, food is bought, basement is cleaned and waiting. I was listening to some dumb lady on the radio yesterday who said that it's not necessary to clean your house for Christmas guest. They are interested in the food and gifts and company only, not what your home looks like. I wonder how they'd feel about peeing in some gross toilet or trying to find an uncluttered spot to sit in your living room or having to dig through a pile of dirty dishes to find a plate to eat on. Hmmm. What was she thinking? Not that you need to call in the Merry Maids or something but one could at least put forth some effort to make sure the dirty underwear are not laying on the bathroom floor or the garbage is not overflowing.
Tonight is out with friends. Should be a good time. I'm glad I got a lot of this stuff done ahead of time. I may want to sleep in tomorrow.

Ouch

The past few weeks I've noticed that my big toe seemed to be a little tender and hurt upon touch. In looking at it I couldn't see anything. There was no discoloration or marks of anything. At first I just thought it was from my steel-toed shoes. I looked on MD online and it didn't look anything like the ingrown toenail pictures they show in the pictures. But I thought I'd get it checked out. So I went to Dr. Louie Lapow my favorite doctor. Had to prepare myself mentally for this as I hate feet and I hate people touching my feet, but he's a good doctor and has some humor. I went yesterday. Dr. Louie confirmed that it was indeed an ingrown and prepared to "fix" it. The worst part was the numbing of the toe. I had to sit there for a few minutes to allow the shot to take effect and found it humerous that almost all his patients are 80 and over, coming in just to get their toenails cut. Apparently Medicare covers a once a month visit for that. I must keep that in mind for the future.
As the numbing was taking place the nurse was setting out several instruments. I still was not to nervouse. How much could this hurt? They kept my foot covered up while performing this simple procedure and I could feel a little pressure. Everything was going well until Dr. Louie held up this chunk of ugly nail and said "That was a nice sized chunk stuck in there". Blahhhh. I almost lost my orange I had for breakfast. He then wrapped this toe up and wrapped what looked like 50 feet of guaze on it. He was explaining that I'd need to soak it twice a day which brought me to laughter. He wanted an explaination on the laughter. I had to tell him that a few years back K & J's daughter had a boyfriend that was not quite right. He was soaking his feet for some reason and they discovered after he had done it a few times that he was using their dishpan. It's been a little standing joke for a few years. K will cringe when we mention it. So Dr. Louie had completed his procedure and asked me if I was going right home. I told him I had to run to Target and get a soaking bucket and he said "Just ask your brother if you can use his". Funny man I tell you. He assured me that I'd be okay but just to eleavate my foot for an hour or so when I got home. I did my Target thing and got home, took my shoe off to find the entire toe section of my sock a little soaked with blood. I may have spent a little more time at Target then he mentioned spending. There was a little cleanup needed.
By 4pm yesterday the numbing med's wore off and I was blessed with a throbbing member. Not like one in a romance novel. I guess I should say throbbing digit instead. Today the bandaid comes off and the soaking begins. I am remaining with my thoughts all along. "Feet are gross".

The Calm Before The Storm

I took 1/2 day of vacation time today and the full day tomorrow. I needed to have a little time to gear up for the arrival of Mom. The parents are flying in tomorrow and will spend Christmas with us for the first time since 1993. Ever since I can remember Christmas was a big thing in our family. The only bad memory I have is being around 8 years old and getting the Barbie Doll Dream House I hoped for. I had it all set up in our downstairs rec room and was playing away when my dream was shattered. My two brothers were fighting and flipped over the couch right smack dab on top of it. It was trashed. I don't think any 8 year old child could have cried any harder. My dad then made me a wooden one. It wasn't the same, but it lasted forever. Most of my friends know that thanks to J I was presented with a replacement Dream House a few years back. I have since forgiven my brothers for this tragic day. Other than that it's only good that I remember. No family fights, no coming at a different time then someone else because you can't stand them, and only one Uncle who usually passed out on my parents bed.
Back to Mom. She is a loving caring person, if you are on her good side. She can be a bit sarcastic and overbearing. As my dad puts it "There is only Mom's way". My mom will not be able to sit down and enjoy Christmas as she should. She will be checking to see if I cooked the Polish Sausage right, and if the ham is being overcooked. She will start washing the dishes before we're done eating and want to put everything away. In my heart I know she means well and she wants to be needed. In my mind , she did her duty and should now let someone else take over. Believe me, within the next few years there will be Polish Sausage cooking training going on as I'm not cooking this stuff forever. She will also ask me for the one thing that I don't have. Last time she was here she asked if I had any orange marmalade. If I were to go to the store tomorrow and get some just in case, and I would let her know I had it she would say "What the hell do I want that crap for".
I figure if I start to pump her with wine when she gets here Christmas Day that within an hour or so she'll be pretty lit and relaxed.
Mom-in-law dropped off our annual plate of Christmas cookies tonight. Her cookies are like something out of a magazine. Being the wonderful daughter-in-law that I am, I borrowed her my cookie pans this year. Her's were shot and she wasn't paying $15.00 each for new ones. I had some that don't fit in my oven. I took them back when she was done so I can be the good daughter-in-law again next year. Now I have hidden the cookies as boarder brother will consume the entire plate if I leave them out. I have all the cookies that I baked in tins out on our screen porch. I haven't seen any lids popped open so I'm hoping he hasn't hit them yet. Imagine my shock on Christmas Day when I go to open them and find all the Peanut Butter Balls gone.

Best Buy Sucks

I left work at 3:oo today but didn't get home until 4:45. I had one gift to purchase and one other stop to make. I hope A appreciates that fact that I was stupid enough to stop at Best Buy. There is no good time to go there. Their parking lot sucks! But he want's a new video camera and some film editing software. I could find no one to help me and I could not locate the software which he swears they have. He will receive a gift card. I walked out of there at 415 and made my way to Walgreens for some cookie trays which he claims he saw there the other day. I hate that I am stupid enough to go look for things in stores that people claim they saw. I did locate 2 plate like trays of which the rim of the plates were cracked. I put them down, and was nice enough to tell the woman that picked them up after me that they were cracked. She didn't seem to care. I guess I'll splurge and take a trip to the nice dollar store tomorrow.

One of my co-workers and I were sitting in my boss's office today going through some work instructions when this guy who works for us walked by with a very girlie like Southwestern shirt on. I happened to comment to my co-worker on the shirt and got a raised eyebrow from boss man. A few minutes later another guy from a visiting company walked through and I commented that he looked like Pogo from the comic strip. So out of R's mouth comes the comment that he never is critical of others. (stop laughing now Jo). His blah, blah, comments went on for a few minutes. I had to leave for fear my feet would sink into the shit that he was trying so hard to sell to us.

I am done with work until the 27th as of 11am tomorrow morning. I am going to miss the luncheon they are getting for us on Thursday. I just need some time to chill a little before the hustle of my parents coming and Christmas comes. I need to dig out my house. I need to get to the grocery store before the mad rush of last minute shoppers arrive. On Saturday I plan to get just about everything done so Saturday night I can relax with my friends and tie one on! It's been a long time.

My Shadow

I seem to have aquired a shadow. It's smaller than me but follows me everywhere around my house a few times a week. She's eight years old. My brother's daughter. For the first couple hours it's okay as we're usually talking about her week and school stuff. Then it starts to get annoying. I will go from one room to another and am constantly asked what I'm doing. It's become almost a game as I'll be folding laundry and she'll ask and I make up something totally off the wall. I think she's just bored. Last night I was a little short on patience and I told her a few times to go find her dad. He can't be far, our house isn't that big. I found him in the living room sleeping. In my ever patient voice I explained to him that this is not my child. Although I like to spend time with her, he needs to do something with her and not just the older one. I already had them for 4 hours yesterday at my sisters baking cookies. A and my brother went to a Bucks game last night which I had declined as I wanted to get some things done. J and I were planning on going out and meeting up with them later. Never made it. By 9 pm I got so sick of my shadow that I opted to go to bed, thinking I'd catch up on some things I taped and watch a movie that was borrowed to me months ago. Not so true. I probably was out by 930. I guess that's the reason that I was up at 530 this morning. I was at Walmart by 745. Excellent time to shop at Walmart by the way.
I got home around 9 only to have a repeat of yesterday. My shadow was awake and ready for more Auntie A tracking. The best part of the morning was when she asked me what I was going to do when her dad moved out. Trying not to laugh or jump for joy I simply said, "Well I guess I'll miss you". I told her I'd have to come and stay overnight at their new house so I wouldn't miss her so much. Going back to the mind of an eight year old I'm thinking that when the time comes I may have to make up some excuse. As much as she gets on my nerves I've always been a little partial to her as she does have some special needs. They left around 1030 this morning and then my chocolate coating helpers arrived. J provided us with musical from her rumbling tummy. If she could only get it in sync with some Christmas Music she'd be doing great.

"A Nice Family Christmas"

My parents are coming home for Christmas this year. They left for Arizona in January of 1993 and have been home for other occassions but not for Christmas. We've tried to get them to come but my mom has always said it's to cold. She must have broke down this year and finally said yes to Dad. This is a good feeling as they send the most presents and now they can witness the gift opening. The sad part about it is when I asked my Dad what made them change their minds this year he said "Well we probably don't have to many Christmas's left, so while we're still somewhat healthy and coherent we thought we'd come."
I received a card from my mom & dad yesterday and inside she wrote "Looking forward to a nice family Christmas". She underlined Nice. I tried to think back as to whether we'd ever had a "not nice" family Christmas. Couldn't think of one. As much as we may bicker about each other or have a little squabble, nothings lasted or ruined a Holiday or Birthday. We don't have any of this one person won't come if the other one's there thing going on. I'm glad for that. I know people who haven't talked to one of their siblings in years and just can't remember why because it's been so long. When my renter brother was married we weren't all that fond of his wife but we tolerated her for the kids and him. I think my lips still hurt from forcing a smile. They did fight on every Holiday. Maybe that's why he finally let the divorce thing go through. He finally saw what a Holiday was without her. So, at Mom's request we'll have a nice family Christmas. I think she may be a little shocked or overwhelmed at the gift opening. There is no structure in that. We just let them go wild. We suffer for it later hunting through all the wrapping paper for the little parts and gift cards.
I need to get moving today. I see stb is ahead of me. I have the tree up and the lights on it. Today may be the day to decorate it.

Jolly?

So I always though this time of the year was supposed to be cheerful. It's around the time of the year that you're supposed to look at those around you and give thanks for what you have , so on and so forth. Not that you shouldn't do that all year round but Christmas is supposed to bring out the best in people. Not so true. I have encountered way to many crabby people today. I may not always be the most cheerful person but I do try not to take my problems out on other people. I leave the home crap at home and leave the work crap at work. I bitch about my 25 minute ride home sometimes but if I didn't have that time to unwind poor A would take a lot more from me than he does. We had some crab ass people at work today. Then I went for gas on the way home and some crab ass guy was bitching at some woman next to him pumping gas. Then I go to the bank and some dumb broad is bitching at the teller. Went to Sentry for some "on Sale" ham only to be told that I needed to spend $25.00 to get the sale price. Doesn't say that in the ad. So the teller get's all snippy with me and calls the manager, only to find out that she was looking at the wrong ham in the ad. I shocked myself at staying calm through-out the whole thing. It was no skin off my bones. I would have put the stupid ham back and went to another store. I thought I was clear of crabbiness after that, but I did listen to A on the way home bitching about stupid people at his work. I tried to pay attention as he usually doesn't talk about work, but man he did not shut up from 76th and Rawson to 23rd and Grange.
So, I'm done with all these crab ass people. It's just not worth it to wallow in your crap and think that everyone else should join your parade.
(not that I didn't just sound like one in this post)

She Deserved A Break Today

Nope, she didn't go to McDonalds. She (J) got the best news from her doctor today!. There will be no more cutting and the tissue samples showed "squat". I knew this had been a stressful couple of weeks, but didn't catch the brunt of it until this afternoon when she broke the news to me. I have never been so happy to hear someone's voice sound so happy. I have to admit the tears started to flow. So God heard us all. What better gift could one ask for. I shall not forget to thank Him either.

Whew!

It's been a very busy weekend. A lot has been accomplished in this house. First off, our basement which somehow always manages to be a dumping ground has been cleaned. I have a small area in the basement behind the washer & dryer where I have a cabinet to store all the extra kitchen things that are not in every day use. If you count that and the laundry area of which I am allowed about a 10X8 area that's not much space in the basement. The rest of the entire basement has been taken over by my husband. Yesterday he went down to start the cleaning for Christmas project. For the past week or so he's had crap spread all over the basement having to do with outdoor decorating. I went downstairs and found him sitting by the bar just staring at the piles of stuff laying around. I'm all about cleaning as you go and putting things away when I'm done using them. We couldn't be more opposite in that way. I kind of looked at him for a few seconds and could just see the lines of stress on his face. He commented that he was just overwhelmed. I guess just sitting in that stool staring isn't going to make it all go away was my comment back. Some time later I hear some moving around and numerous trips outside to the garbage. I figured this was no where for me to be involved. He was on a roll and I wasn't stopping him. I went back down a few hours later and thought I was in someone else's basement. The pool table, which is to big for the area we have , was gone. That's been talked about for some time now. While he was upstairs I looked in the workshop area and the spare room just to see if everything got piled in there. All the rooms were clean. I complimented him on a nice job. He said there's just too much junk down here. I can't get blamed for that as the only thing I bring down is stuff for the freezer and laudry. I had to remind him that he seems to be the collecter of useless items. Some have come in handy, but I'm a firm believer that if you haven't used it in a year, get rid of it. Now I'm just afraid to look in the garage as I'm worried that it's all stacked in there.

Wonder Woman??

I came to the conclusion today that I am not Wonder Woman. I'm just very stubborn and have never wanted to rely on anyone for help. Hence my trip to the attic today. We keep all our Christmas things up there. Today I was ready to set up my Christmas village. So rather than wait for A to come home from work I decided to do it alone. How hard could it be? So I put the dog in the basement as she has some crazy fetish about the attic. I'm not sure if she wants to go up there or just plant herself at the bottom of the attic steps. Up I went. Sorted through some bins until I found the correctly labeled ones and started backing down the stairs with the first one. Not bad. Round two. I went back up and started pulling the second one toward me. This one was heavy, but I figured if I leaned it toward me while backing down the steps it'd be no problem. I got about 4 steps down and felt the weight of bin number two. Crap, it was heavy. So I stood on the steps for a few seconds pondering whether to go back up or come down. I didn't want to bang it on the steps coming down as it was all glass stuff. This was my most extreme thought. If I drop this crap I'm going to be really pissed at myself. So I tried to get it back up and figured I'd wait. It wasn't budging. I started to picture myself laying at the bottom of the steps with this bin on top of me and A coming home. Beside the fact that it'd be freezing in the house he may not come into the house toward the attic. He'd probably figure I wasn't home and go downstairs. He wouldn't find me until he had to pee. Then I knew I'd get bitched at for going it alone. So once again I tried to push it back up. Nope, not going anywhere. So very slowly I took the next few steps down while holding my arms up to support this jumbo bin of breakable Christmas items. I felt the bottom step and was able to master getting this thing to the ground. Once I got over this event I thought "What the heck, I'll go back up for the rest of the stuff". My good senses took over and I promptly folded up the steps and closed the attic opening. No splattered wife on the floor to come home too.

Round 2

Yesterday J went back to the hospital for another round of surgery. Seems when examining the first tissue they removed they found another type of cancer. The most common, yet least life threatening. The little trooper was a little less troopie yesterday. The doctor did take about twice as much as the first surgery and they also had her on morphine which they didn't the first time. She was proud of obtaining her second pair of free socks from the hospital, but did remark that it was a lot to go through for a pair of socks. On Monday she should have the results of the tissue they removed and move onward from there. She needs a break. This has all happenend so fast that I don't think she's had time to breathe.
The other day J posted an email regarding her surgery and mentioned in it that I had wanted to start a pool on how many times she'd have to go in before they got it all. This had brought some comments by people thinking I was unsympathetic toward the situation. Well, that couldn't be more from the truth. I've had enough doom and gloom in my life that it's just not worth it to sit around dwell on all the bad. There is a bright side out there and if you can find it you should. In a previous post I had an Ode to Dad. He is the one who tried to get us to always find the good. He's 72 and doesn't seem to have gotten tired of looking. Believe me, the reality of the bad is still there but it can easily be dealt with by having a good outlook. "It helps in the healing process".
Yesterday while we were sitting in J's room after the surgery her mom was telling me about past Christmas's where they ate in shifts. We thought J was sleeping as there was a little snorage going on. All of a sudden she pipes in with "I get to eat first this year cause I have cancer". We couldn't do anything but laugh. I can so picture her pushing her way to the front of the line. Pushing some little cousin out of the way. I do know that she would let Grandma in before her though.
You all have a great day!

A Fashion Don't

I may not be the most stylish person but I do credit myself with know a major fashion no-no. Take today for instance when I was driving through a major Mall parking lot and couldn't help but see the slightly plump girl with pink sweat pants on. Along with the pink sweat pants were some ugly big clunky shoes. That's not the worst part. The floral granny panties that showed through the pink sweat pants. I'm thinking the panties were about three sizes two big for the girl. I'm thinking she was around 18-20 and should have known better. If that wasn't enough as I'm walking through the mall I see a very large woman with white sweatpants showing every bulge in her ass and legs. Once again the underwear could be seen through the garment. Ladies, Ladies, Ladies....it's not that hard to find a pair of undergarments that do not show through your light colored clothing. I can't see that these women purposely did this. There is nothing at the mall that is so important that you can't stop and do a check prior to leaving the house.
Although I have been known (on one occassion only) to wear two different shoes (mind you they were the same color and style) and I do know others that once in awhile will wear a sweater inside out, these things are not done on purpose or out of pure laziness. These girls just did not have friends who cared enough not to let them go out like that.
I went to Dylans "Winter Play" today and was a little shocked that there was nothing in the play regarding Christmas. What the mess has happened here? I'm sitting there waiting for some cute little Christmas songs...nothing. Last year at least they did something on different cultures for Christmas. Nada. I get to frustrated with the politics of this holiday, so I guess I will keep my thoughts to myself as I could be opening a large can of worms.

Holy Headache

I woke up at 1 a.m. today with the worst possible headache one could have without their head actually exploding. First I was mad as I woke from a pretty sound sleep with this pain. Then I was mad because it hurt so fricken bad and I only had two hours to go before I had to get up for work. My first though was that A was for some reason squeezing my head. Once in awhile he must think I'm the dog or something because he'll rub my head in the middle of the night. Ticks me off as he usually gets his fingers all stuck in my hair and then pulls. What can I say, the man has some weird dreams. I took some asprin and tried to go back to sleep. Did the cold rag on the eyes thing and tossed and turned for two hours. At 3:15 I finally got up and tried to start my daily ritual of getting ready for work. I mananged to turn the shower on, before I called it quits and made the phone call. I then went back to bed. I managed a chuckle when A woke up and discovered I was still there. The look on his face was priceless. I've never overslept before so he was a little shocked, then looked okay when I told him I called in. I don't take sick days very often so in his sympathetic voice he asked me if he should call anyone. I slept for a few more hours and finally got up as this wasn't getting any better. I pondered taking the pain pills I have left from my surgery and went negative on that one.
I went to the front door to get the paper and was immediatly blinded by the sun on the white snow. No paper. I need to call those Journal people. This was worse than any hangover. The problem was, I wasn't hung over. We went to watch the game yesterday and in a 3 1/2 hour span I had 2 Bloody Mary's, 1 beer and two diet cokes. We went shopping after that and went home and did things around the house.
Now I have that dull ache that comes after a headache. My stomach has also been a little jumpy today. I'm pretty sure the worst is over, or at least I hope so. I have a vacation day tomorrow to go see the grandkids in their Christmas Concerts and a dentist appointment.
If anyone's interested Dylan showed me the Santa website yesterday. www.emailSanta.com and you can write him a letter (it's kind of a fill in the blank thing). You can also find out if you're on the naughty list. He wanted to fill one out for me and when the age part came up he looked at me and said "you're about 35 right Grandma". I love him so much.

Chocolate Beer is Not For Me

After reading my friend stbs blog and his review and a few comments on the Miller Chocolate Beer I went in search of it today. It wasn't really a long search. I finally got to Pick & Save at 9am this morning. They welcomed me as I entered the store. At least they could have shoveled my parking spot and the lot for that matter. After my really needed items I took a stroll through the liquor department and could not locate the chocolate beer. I asked the woman in the dept. who was busy dusting off bottles and was told they don't carry it.
Later in the afternoon I stopped at the Wilson Park Liquor Store. That's the one that has the two little old ladies working that have not aged in 30 years. My husband thinks they're aliens. That store usually has anything you're looking for, but they didn't have the Chocolate Beer yet. She could take my name down and call me when it came in. I then stopped at another liquor store and the nice Iranian (?) man said "we no have". I was starting to feel desperate. I had a few more errands to run and then stopped at a new liquor store and it was found. On a shelf and chilled. The new owner was like my personal shopper. He showed me around the entire store. Nice store, nice guy. Nicely wrapped in a brown paper sack.
After dinner tonight I removed a bottle from the fridge and poured it into a glass. I took stb's advice so as not to be a heathen and drink right from the bottle. I let the foam settle a little, lifted the glass and smelled................coffee. I hate coffee. I hate anything with coffee in it and the smell of coffee. You will never find me in a coffee shop even to buy a fruit drink. I didn't let that stop me though. I took a sip. There was a slight hint of chocolate but more of a bitter taste like coffee. I was trying to be fair and I tried again. Nope. This was going nowhere but down the drain. Now I don't want anyone to think I have a closed mind as last week I did drink a few Corona's and enjoyed them. Not that it's a premium beer or anything. I just like Miller Lite. I have tried other beers and can have maybe one then it's back to the Miller. I tried to have an open mind, but why drink something that I don't enjoy.
So sitting in my fridge now are 3 bottles of Miller Chocolate beer. That may make a good White Elephant gift.

For Sale-3 snowblowers, 1 snowmobile,1 husband

Yep, you read it right. 3 Snowblowers. I have been observing my husband out in the garage trying to get his 3 snowblowers running. So far I have seen him using the small one that's good for about a 8 inch path. I then saw him using the larger one for about 5 minutes. Now I see him and my boarder brother looking at the 3rd one in the garage. About a month ago I asked if they were running and was told he didn't know...it wasn't snowing yet. We have friends who fix these things for a living. That is called stubborn. Guess if he can't fix it himself, then no one can. So I will now sit in my warm home and watch him shovel.
To my utter disbelief I also witnessed boarder brother with a shovel this morning. Actually using it to clear the sidewalks. This guy went through all last year without picking up a shovel. I'm thinking this is supposed to soften my heart a little about booting him out soon. He even removed his wet boots when he came in rather than tromp through my house.
The subject of the snowmobile is a sore one. I think some day I'm just going to drag it to the curb and I'm sure the Mexican junk man will pick it up in a flash. Then I'm sure A won't notice. It's been with him longer than I have but we have dragged it to 4 different homes in 22 years. Kind of just like he's dragged me around.
Why is the husband for sale you ask? Because in some way I will get blamed for these things not working. At any time now he will walk in the house with a shit ass look on his face, glare at me, and say "Don't even fucking say a word". At that time I will gracefully turn away , leave the room and hide my laughter from him.
Well to all of you who took a snow day today have a great day. I was off anyway so to me it's just a day where I delayed in the running around I have to do. Pick & Save will have to wait for me just a little longer.
Could very well be a beer night. I figure by 6 or 7 the roads should be clear!

22 Years of Wedded Bliss!

First of all, I know it's Hmong, but as I explained to someone else, if I'm Crawcasion, they're Mong. I probably should have written that yesterday. Thanks for the further education though JoGoggle.
Today marks 22 years of wedded bliss for A and I. I think we picked a bad date as we've never really done much to really celebrate. It falls when everyone is wrapped up with Christmas, including us. We always plan to go to dinner but it usually falls through somehow. Being in the candy business this is a busy time of the year for him at work. I can't exactly remember how he even got off to get married. My hours are usually screwed up this time of the year also. All in all I guess it really doesn't matter as we seem to have a pretty good marriage. I guess if you don't see each other very much that it keeps things healthy. I'm very fortunate to be married to someone who is very understanding and caring. So what if he nods off in the middle of a conversation once in awhile. One thing that I found quite interesting is that he has recently started to do laundry. I was a little scared at first but he's doing a great job. Things are put away in the right place and nothings turned pink yet. The poor guy probably figures if he wants clothes he better wash them. If I could just get him to cook it'd be great.
That reminds me of another thing..I have not been to the grocery store in almost two weeks now. I was wondering why there was an excess in the checking account. I haven't paid my dues to Pick & Save in awhile. Seeing as I was forced to bring a PB&J sandwich to work the other day as there was no lunch meat or soup left I should probably get my butt there. I'm shocked that they haven't called me yet to see if I switched stores or something. I'lll have to buck up and go shopping with the elderly people tomorrow morning.

12 hours of Education

I came to the conclusion this week that you can learn a lot in conversation by working twelve hour days. It's actually hard to stand next to someone and not talk for any length of time. A good conversation can make the time go by a little faster. But you have to engage in a conversation with those who can actually talk and work at the same time, not someone who pauses and holds you up while gabbing away. Of course at 5am the conversation starts out light as everyone's tired. By mid-afternoon it turns silly as everyone's overtired. Today we learned all about mong's. There are only 18 different last names in the Mong culture. (I retained that). We also learned that they have no real land. This was learned when we were bored of trivial conversation such as "What'd you do last night, and "Hey, it's supposed to snow tomorrow".
There was about an hour long topic on our mothers. Some good, some bad. I guess I really appreciate my mother now. The silly one was calling the maintenance guy Don Juan and seeing the blank look on his face. He had never heard of Don, and was persistant I tell him who he was. The reason we called him this is that he is always hanging around the ladies. The problem is if you want something fixed you have to get him away from the most recent one he's talking to. So I told him to go look up Don and see what he found. 1/2 hour later he returns and recites this whole little story. I think he may have gotten the picture.
There was some bodily functions topics in there and a little conversation about vibrating slippers and the Happy Feet commercial. There was a great idea for manufacturing steel-toed slippers so one's feet would never hurt while standing all day.
The best topic (or it seemed so at the time) was about falling on the ice when walking thru the parking lot. A few years ago we had a girl who fell and was out of work for a week or so. Since this incident our company has come up with a policy for winter parking and safe walking through the parking lot. We make light of it sometimes by warning everyone to walk safe. It is a serious subject, but very repetitive at times. We ended up with a saga of not seeing each other spralled out on the ground and one by one running each other over. We figured they'd be all up in arms on who to give the 3 day suspensions to. Seems like a lot to go through to get a day or two off.
I'm working with the same people tomorrow, so I can only hope that one of us has something of some interest to talk about that will make the time go a little faster.
In the meantime I'm going to rest my aching, sore feet.

Last Day Off

Today is the last of my 5 days off. I sure was busy for not getting much done. Like right now, I'm supposed to be wrapping some presents to get them out of the spare room and here I am blogging. It'll get done.
I've been observing A putting out Christmas lights. He's working pretty hard as a matter of fact. So far there have only been two trips to the store but he's looking mighty grumpy. Guess I shouldn't have mentioned putting them up today to get a jump on things. It always seems like he's out there two days before Christmas getting the lights up. But, behold, this is not an afternoon project. This guy actually has a plan. I stay completly out of this and learned so years ago. I just watch the dial on the meter go nuts when he plugs everything in. I will then get the lecture on how it's once a year and to stop being a miser. So be it..
We had a little birthday gathering to attend last year for my friend I've known since we were 10. Her parents live up the street from us and she now lives up north. We don't see each other often but stay in touch. It was a little funny how I walked into her parents house and all these memories came back. Her mom was always kind of blind to things that were going on so we did get away with a lot. My mom knew instantly when something was amiss. I usually got in trouble but my parents never were one's to call the other parents so she never got caught. Last night her mom brought up the fact that it seemed like I was always grounded. Barb told her that she probably should have been grounded also. Her mom wanted no part of true confessions at that point in her life.
We had received another drunken phone call last night, however I think someone was thrown for a loop as A answered the phone instead of me. We thought about stopping for one after the party but it was 10:30 and we figured the phone call masters would be long gone.
Sorry I missed OMW on his 45th birthday. wish I could have seen his attempt of riding the broken bike home with a pizza. His blog www.myemptyglass.blogspot.com gives a good review of it. Must have been like a laugh in rerun.

Hmm. Not to Bad

Thanksgiving at my home turned out to be a much smaller group than usual. Although there were some key people missing (K & J) my daughter was in awe as she got a seat at the adult table after 26 years. She did mention that her joy was not all well meant as she did miss her favorite Uncle and Aunt being there. I managed to save them enough side-dishes to bring over yesterday.
It's always been kind of an annual thing for my two sister-in-laws and I to shop on Black Friday. In the past we've been crazy enough to go to the Craft Fair and Southridge. One year we stupidly carted our kids to Best Buy at 6am for a tv which was sold out by 6:02. Of course they only had 5 in the store. One year we also went to Target at 6 a.m. for the "hard to get" Cabbage Patch Dolls, only to find them in abundance. So we quit the early thing, stayed away from Malls and just kind of go whenever. Yesterday we met for breakfast at 7:30 and planned on only going to two stores. The crowds weren't bad. We never had more than two people in line in front of us. Kohls on Howell was the worst. Of course their Early Bird Special went until noon. I walked out of there with two items that were not even on my list. I then sat outside with sister-in-law one and we people watched while waiting for sister-in-law two. That was probably the most fun. As it was nearing noon, we were able to catch the people rushing in to get the goods before the price went up. The hot item seemed to be a DVD player which they had plenty of.
We parted ways at a little after 12 and I ended up hitting a few more stores. I am glad to say that my shopping is 80% complete. Trying to get suggestions from my father is alway a joke, and as usual this year my mother gave me a list for him. The hankerchiefs were not on there this year. This year was a hand held Monopoly game. I have never seen that but she swears that a few years ago my brother bought him one. So, like a dope I searched a few stores and got some interesting looks when I inquired about them. I finally broke down and called my brother who cannot recall ever buying him one. We then came to the conclusion that it was either Yatzee or Scrabble. I then asked my mother again and now she's not so sure...so she yell's out to my dad to inquire and he, in his patient answer to my mother, tells her that he never had a hand held Monopoly game.."what the hell are you talking about, you silly old woman". So ends my search.
I went to visit J last night. She's doing very well. Looking a little tired but she's in great spirits.
After a long day, and feeling quite beat I went home and just wanted to veg out and maybe view a little tv. I came home to my brother and his children who have overtaken my living room and were watching a movie themsleves. I then opted for the bedroom tv and found my husband spralled across the bed searching desperatly for the station that Vegas was on. My next option was the tv in the basement or the garage. No DVD players in either area. I felt completly homeless for a second. My homeless wonder was interupted by a drunken phone call from someone. For one small second I pondered getting back in the car and venturing out. I ended up going to bed by 10 with the man who was still desperatly searching for his show.

A Day at the Hospital

"She's looking good. I'm very happy with the surgery and am very confident that we got it all." Of course she'll need some follow up but she made a wise decision for treatment and I'm happy that she chose the option that she did". The words of J's doctor last night.
It's been a rough few weeks for her but the little trooper held up. I commend my brother also for his strength. While sitting in the waiting room for a few hours last night, I could just see the strain and worry showing on his face and in his actions. Jiggly boy was nearly shaking the entire room. After the doctor came out and talked to us, his entire face just changed. The tension lines went away. He fired questions at the doctor and I'm pretty sure he wanted to hug her. When they came and told us we could see her I swear he ran. I started to tear up a little at that point because I realized how much he loves her. And rightfully so.
So on this Thanksgiving Day I plan on giving a lot of thanks, because this day isn't just about who got who's land and who ate dinner with who. It's about giving Thanks. Not that we should only Thank Him once a year on a certain date, but this day reminds us of what we should be doing everyday. I know that she would want to extend a huge Thanks to her family, K's family and all her friends for their prayers and support through-out these past few weeks.
Tomorrow, instead of shopping, I think I may have scared J a little by telling her I'm coming to her house to lay on her bed with her and watch movies all day.
We are providing meals on wheels for her and K today. Complete with pumpkin pie. I'm pretty sure she's getting a double dose of that today as her parents were also planning a meal run.
Wishing you all a good day! Don't eat to much.

Power Outage!!!

We were humming along just fine at work last night when all of a sudden...poof. No power! Now usually a person would welcome a power outage, but to us it meant just plain "crap". I have been blessed to work with people who like to keep busy. Time seems to go buy a little quicker. At the time I was in the warehouse carting out some boxes and if it wasn't for the lights on the forklift I would have been totally in the dark (more than I usually am). This happened at 11pm. By 1:00 the lights were back on, however then we lost our server and data logger and could do nothing machine wise. So cleaning it was.
My mind really wasn't on work anyways. My mind was on my friend-a.k.a. Gambino. My mind was on trying to figure out why bad things happen to good people. Is this something we'll all find out someday? In my heart I know she'll be okay. She just has too. She's a very strong person, but even strong people need to break sometimes. We both broke the other night. I knew it was just a matter of time before we both shed the tears. What got to me the most is my husband hugging her. He is not one to share his feelings but he truely cares for her and is shaken by the past months events with her. So I have to ask all of you who read this to take a few minutes today and send some messages up above asking HIM to watch over our friend. I know he'll listen. Then tomorrow we'll all have more to be really Thankful for.

Fa La La La La

After a rather hetic weekend I decided to top it off by starting some Christmas shopping this morning. I had a plan : Walmart 9a.m/Southridge 10 a.m-12:30 ish and home by 1 to take a little nap before my 5pm to 5am shift today. Walmart went as planned. I whisked through the store without incident and right through the check-out. I was shocked that there were three open lanes with no one waiting. Three cashiers standing at the front of their checkout lanes calling customers over. I should have seen who would give the largest discount if I came to their lane. I left Walmart at 9:50 and made my way to Southridge. This had to be carefully planned out as I had several stores to go into. I managed to get a parking spot right outside of Penneys. This store was my biggest holdup. I had all my purchases on the upper level made within 1/2 hour. Let's add the time on the checkout, with no one in front of me (15 minutes). I wanted to scream, but kept my cheery composure. Took two large bags out to my car and went back in. Lower level at the same store. Ten minutes for selections-18 minutes on the checkout. Two people in front of me. Off to Hallmark-no problem. On to Vickies- no problem except for the saleswomen that wanted to sell me some stupid gift box for $10.00. Kohls, in and out, no problem. I saved the store I knew would take the longest for last as it's a collectibles store. If the woman would have taken every number off every item I wanted and went to the back room all at once it would have made sense. She got the picture after her second trip back.
This brings me to 12:30. Still not bad. I made one last quick stop at Quality Candy to purchase this years MACCStar.I suggest this to anyone looking for a small gift for someone. It's for a worthy cause and they're only $10.00. To sum it all up I was home 20 minutes later than I planned. (might have been that stop at McDonalds). Now, if I were a secret shopper I would have to rate Penney's the lowest on my scale of shopping today. The cashiers and not friendly and are very slow. I would have to rate Quality Candy (I'm not being partial toward A's work) the highest as the ladies were friendly and gave me a chocolate covered pretzel.
I have no plan of going near any store on Friday. I may drag the hubbie to finish some things up on Sunday.

That's Crap!

Pretty much says how I feel today. I'm usually a pretty up person and try to keep my darker feelings to myself so as not to drag anyone else down with me. This past couple days I've had my mind on my sister-in-law /great friend. She was diagnosed with breast cancer after undergoing several tests and frustration of waiting for results and calls from her doctor. Right now I am so proud of her for her positive attitude. I also feel very positive about this whole thing, as we made a pact several years ago when she married my brother. I could never have asked for a better sister-in-law and friend. Prior to her coming into our lives I had to bear the brunt of spending many nights at the bar with my husband and brother. Although I had some great times with them something was missing. Fate brought them together (actually darts, but fate sounds so much more interesting). When I found out she camped and wasn't a whimp things really started shaping up. I was fortunate enough to take the two week trip by car out to Vegas to make sure they really did get married (she wasn't getting out of this), and several other vacations which always end up to be a blast. She has made my brother very happy.
Enough of the mushy stuff. All I can say is that she's going to be okay. Like I said...we had a deal!. Who else it going to tell me I have my shoes on the wrong feet or my lipstick is not on my lips or my sweater is buttoned wrong or my wig is on backwards, when I'm senile. Yeah, that's right Gambino/aka Julie our Cruise Director..it will be you. We love youu!!!

Winter Storm

I left Pewaukee yesterday around 4pm into the crappiest weather conditions I've driven in for some time. I thought the lightening show was quite beautiful, but he could have left out the large hail balls that were pounding my truck.
I got to my own driveway around 515 and when I stepped down from my truck I discovered that the driveway was a nice thick sheet of ice. I proceeded to do the shuffle up the driveway. I'm still a little nervous about the hip.
Of course being lately being the last minute person for everything, I hadn't done any grocery shopping or gone to the bank. This pretty much had to be done last night or at 5am this morning and that wasn't happening. To make things fair, I took the hubby with me. He complained about the weather, the traffic, the people in the store and having to walk through the rain and pack the groceries in the car. "Welcome to my world" wasn't exactly the response he was looking for. I then made him stop at McDonalds. I am a avid fan of the McRib sandwich. I know it's only some pressed riblet with sauce but I will partake in them when they are back for a limited time only. I'm sure if it was a regular menu item I would probably not bother with it so much.
Monday is back to work at the shop. It's been an interesting two weeks out in Pewaukee, and I'm glad I got to go. The group I worked with made it fun instead of stressful and the ride was worth it in the end. It was an huge learning experience. Once this whole line gets set up at our shop it should be somewhat exciting yet messy.
Well, we're off to Keshena. Guess I'll have to make a donation.

So sick of Pizza

I'm not a huge fan of pizza in the first place, but I have to say if I see another slice of pizza in the near future I may scream. During the past two weeks a few of us from work have been working at a company that is building a machine for us. We've alternated lunch between Cousins or Pizza. Cousins at least can give you some variety, but they continue to order the same pizza selection every time. I know I really shouldn't complain as they're buying it for us. Today I had actually packed a lunch but forgot it in my haste to leave this morning. I was hoping that I wouldn't come home from work today and find that my husband made a pizza. Poor guy hasn't had a decent home cooked meal in about 3 weeks with the hours I've been working, but hey, the freezer is full and the cupboards are stocked with items that he can easily make. Besides that I am plain bored with cooking. I find no excitement in it. It's more of a chore to me than anything else. Maybe it's from so many years of doing it, that I just am cooking burnt out. I envy my friend as her husband does all the cooking and prepares these nice healthy home made meals daily. My trade for having a cooking husband would be cleaning up the kitchen afterwards. I don't mind the dishes it's getting the spaghetti sauce off the ceiling that I have a problem with.
We're going to Keshena this weekend with friends. I'm using it more as a get away and relax weekend. Haven't had one of those in awhile. Maybe I'll put a few bucks into a slot machine and see what happens.

$25.00 Richer= 1 loss

I won a Packer Pool today but I have to say it wasn't worth the loss. I'm still stunned but not shocked by them passing the ball rather than running it in on their last play. Chalk another botched game. Other than that I had a good time with friends. That's all that really matters.

We've been so spoiled at work with a 4-10 hour day work week that it's hard to get back to working Fridays. I feel as if I'm being robbed of my weekend. Don't get me wrong, the overtime is good but the feeling of not getting much accomplished is starting to take over. The part I hate the most is grocery shopping on Saturday mornings. There is no easy way to get in and out of the store in less than 45 minutes, and believe me I do not linger. Yesterday I was behind elderly man "Harold" and his wife in the baking goods aisle when Harold let one loose. His wife gave him Holy Hell for that one. "Harold, you stinky man!" I personally would have used the word bastard just to show how annoyed I was. She then told him to say sorry to the lady. I assured him that I also had a husband who does that but then quickly runs to the next aisle so it appears that I have done the nasty deed.
Did anyone catch the rubber floor Bud commercial during the game? I vote that the winner for the week.

It May Just Be Miller Time

I'm thinking that by the time I get done with work tomorrow I will be completly exhausted. Two weeks of 12 plus hours a day is taking it's toll on me. At least this week it was not 3rd shift. I've been spending a few hours at our shop and they off to Pewaukee to a company that is building a new machine for us. This is to run trials and be at our Process Engineers beck and call. Today my co-worker and I refered to ourselves as his "clean up bitches". It's been an interesting few days working closely with him and others on getting this whole thing together. It's also been a killer ride home each evening. Coming from Pewaukee at 530 pm is not a good thing.
The thought is in my head to hit a drinking establishment tomorrow night. My fear is that I will have one or two and my head will slowly sink into my glass or bottle. Do I want to stay home and catch up on everything that's been neglected (poor A hasn't had a home cooked meal all week), nah...that's what Saturday is for. I'm thinking if I do this tomorrow night it'll be out of my system, therefore I won't over do it at the Packer Party on Sunday and be hung over MOnday for the start of another 12 hour a day work week. I think I will call that Alcohol Prep and Planning. I'm sure one would say "there's no planning in drinking".

Oh Boy

My very expensive vacuum cleaner took a bad turn yesterday and I am sitting here now listening to my husband attempt to fix it. I have a feeling that it's just the beater bar that is jammed with something. He just turned it on and it sounds worse than it did before. I want to know why all of a sudden everything is taking a dump on us. We have shelled out a lot of money in repairs lately. How much do we want to bet that our 23 year old microwave will be the next thing to go. Guess I can't complain about that one.
So the one show that I have faithfully watched this fall has now been switched to Monday nights opposite MNF. The show (Friday Night Lights) is not doing to good in the ratings anyway, so why put it up against MNF? Guess I'll have to make use of the VCR (no dvr in this house). I seem to tape things and never watch them. Bad habit of mine.
A friend of mine at work has started a blog if anyone's interested check it out at www.universalmindset.blogspot.com . I guess I'll have to be careful of what I write about work now. Geeze...can't write about the boss, can't write about work. I'll have to rack my little pea brain for things to write about.
Chow for now.

Normal

Some people would question me about being normal, but I am back to normal hours this week. I no longer have to live the life of a vampire. The hour set back in time gave me one extra hour of sleep last night. I would like to say straight through but apparently my bladder can't last 10 hours at a time.
Good Packer game. Best commerical I saw was the Southwest Airlines bank commercial. Stupidist announcer comment I heard was "Al Harris just pulled that one right out of his...pocket." It was a little funny watching Brett attempt the leap. And I won in the pool at work. All is good now.
I found a use for my boarder today. He handed out candy. I watched the game. A and I went to my sisters afterwards to walk with her girls and our two granddaughters for Trick or Treating. Their subdivision goes all out for Halloween. As I kid I remember leaving the house at the designated time and returning once to empty my bag and going out again. These kids were done after an hour. Not that they need all that candy, but it was more like a chore to some of the kids we saw along the way. Like the parents were forcing them to go up to the houses. It seems weird that people now go all out to decorate and the kids just are not getting into it.
Happy Halloween to you all!

58.5=Done

We weren't so lucky today. We ended up working until 1am. I'm so tired I didn't want to stop for a beer. Yes, you read that correctly. The thought was there but then I started thinking about all the things I need to get done and I came home. Tonight dragged by.
When I came home Friday a.m. the light bulb in the dining room was burnt out. It's some funky ceiling fan light fixture that I won't mess with, but I wondered if it was out earlier and someone just didn't want to replace it. So today before I left for work I hung a box of lightbulbs off the chain for the fixture. Low and behold when I got home tonight the bulb was changed. I made a comment to A about getting the hint and my boarder brother brilliantly says" Next time you want pork chops A just hang them off the oven door". So I chuckled a tad and A said to him " David, why do you mess with her. You just love to live in danger". So I now have this great idea to hang the "for rent" section of the newspaper on his bedroom door in the morning.
Well I am now free for the next 52 hours (clock back). Next week shouldn't be so bad as I'm back on days and am only scheduled to be on a line for one day. If all works out I will be going to the company that is making our new line for training the remainder of the week.
I now intend to go and get some much needed sleep.

48 down/10 ?? TO GO

I cannot believe that I stood on my feet for 48 hours this week so far. In all honesty it's gone by much faster than I thought it would. The boys were entertaining to say the least. Apparently if we finish up tonight we can go home. At our shift start yesterday they figured we'd be done by around 9 ish. I tend not to count my chickens before they hatch, so while one guy was all excited about getting out at nine the other one and myself said we'd be there until 1 tonight. I could easily be convinced to leave at 11 or so if we're done. The thought of stopping for a beer is appealing, however I'm afraid I'd fall asleep in it.
I have eaten nothing but sandwiches this week. I'm so sick of bread and ham or balony I could puke! I did manage to make what I'd like to think of as quick spaghetti yesterday. It tasted good, so it either means I was really hungry or my cold is somewhat gone and I can taste things again. I bet one of Cookie Mikes cookies would have tasted really good.

36 Down/22 To Go

At least the down number is now larger than the to go number. I'm finding that it's not bad if I stay completly busy. Any lull in the action causes numbness. The ride home is a killer. I cannot have it warm in my car. Once I'm home it's okay.
I have one thing to say to STB in closing..Kiss my ass with how good your beer was tasting last night!!

24 Down/34 to Go

Doesn't make sense does it? My hours grew overnight. A ten hour Friday has been added to our work schedule. That Miller Lite Friday has now turned into a Miller Lite Saturday. I work until 1 a.m. Friday. You know when you see cartoons and they have that little dream bubble that pops? That was me today when we were told about the Friday. I felt part of a team today as the look on everyone else's face was the same as mine. I felt a little sorry for the bearer of the bad news, but we all expected it and we all have brains enough to figure out why.
I'm sitting here typing this sooo wanting to go to bed but someone has not removed himself from the bed yet. I have already listened to his alarm clock go off twice. Now I have to wait for the morning preparation of going to work so it doesn't even pay to go in there until he leaves. Our bedroom wall butts up to the bathroom so the shower sound will keep me awake.

On a more depressing note, my boarder may be with us a bit longer now. He had all his household belongings in a Public Storage and it seems it was broken into and someone furnished their home with his things. The storage place called him yesterday to let him know the lock was cut and he went down to check it out and found that he no longer needs a 8 x10 unit. He can now downsize as they took all his furniture and big screen t.v. They asked him if he had homeowners to cover it. Duh! If your furniture is in storage why the f would you have homeowners insurance. They are now telling him they have no way to track who may have stolen his stuff. They also assured him that if he kept his things in another unit it would be secure. Whatever! I think they'd be able to track by who ever scanned in. The police are involved now so maybe there's some hope.

12 Down/36 to Go

One of four twelve hour days is now complete. I must admit except for the idioit that came in from 7pm until 3am all went well. The other day we received a little pep talk about working together and how QC would be expected to help out where ever we needed them. This guy does exactly what he's supposed to and then heads for the smoke room. He needs to take two samples an hour and thats what he does if we remind him. He took off on the forklift tonight and I could hear it beeping which means either the battery is dead or he's driving with the parking brake on. I asked him what was beeping and he said he thought the battery was dead but didn't know how to read the guage. It's pretty simple..it flashes at you when it's low. So he continues on into the warehouse and then comes back to tell me it's dead. Of course he's to dumb to change it. He is a walking disaster.
I held up pretty good until I walked outside and had to scrape my windows. You would think that the cold air would be a blast to your system and wake you up a little, but it did the opposite to me. I got that familiar groggy feeling that I haven't had since I left my old 3rd shift job. The problem is that now I drive 20 minutes home where that was a 7 minute ride. I always hated that "not fully awake" feeling. I don't want to slam a coke or mountain dew right before I leave as then I won't be able to sleep, which I think I will need to do now before I start typing like OMW.

$147.99

The cost of the repair of the oven. I guess it's better than $700.00 for a new oven, which is what the repair man pointed out to me. It ended up being the main electrical wire that comes into the oven itself. Guess that gives me no excuse not to cook now except that I just don't want too.
A came home when the guy got here and I found it amusing that they were both more interested in the going's on of "Divorce Court" then fixing my oven. Ahhh..daytime t.v.
A made the comment that since I'm "off" this week I can catch up on Little House on the Prarie. Catch up on what? Off? I exclaim. First of all working 5pm to 5am does not mean you're "off". It simply means your week is fucked, plain and simple. It means "don't call me at noon to see what I'm doing" and don't come home for lunch, and don't give me errands to run during the day when everyone else is at work. It means "see ya Friday dear". It means Friday=cold Miller Lite
That's all I got to say about that.

Meals On Wheels?

The oven is a non working item in our home now. I think it wants to work as it keeps sparking when it's turned on. It's not what A thought it was so we have sunk to call in a repair service. Of course that call cannot be made until tomorrow when they're open so it could be days until they show up. We're screwed either way as the oven is a drop in and ten years ago when we bought this one we waited 2 weeks for it and it cost over $700.00 back then. Believe me it's not any top of the line oven. Just expensive as it's a drop in. At that time we discussed purchasing a normal stand alone oven but it would have required removing a cabinet.
Yesterday my dear sister-in-law was kind enough to let me come to her house and cook some things I needed for today. I'm looking into Meals on Wheels for A for the next few weeks. You can only eat so long out of a microwave and slow cooker. I guess if I just procrasinated the whole thing I'd get out of cooking for awhile. Hmmmm. Then there's always the pizza oven and George Foreman grill. This could go on for a time.
I start my week on 3rd shift tomorrow. I could lie and say it won't be bad. I could keep telling myself. I'm planning on just blocking the entire week off my calendar and out of my mind. Just hoping it goes by really fast. I'm also trying to figure out how I'm going to stay awake until 5am. Good thing there are no windows in the room we work in.
Everyone have a good week.

Champs

Dylan's team won their "SuperBowl" game today (13-6). They played hard and were right on it for pretty much the whole game with the exception of the one that got away. When those boys were coming off the field after the win, the looks on all their faces was priceless. It matched the looks on the parents faces. I have to say I was proud for all of them. They played like a team and they celebrated like a team. I came home and took my Tums as my stomach was churning. I know it's just a game (as I've been told) but it was a fun season and I'm glad I dedicated myself enough to go through the whole thing with him. He's such a fun kid and gets so much joy out of sports, and I get joy out of him. Enough with the mushy stuff...
I left my husband at home last night as he seems to have caught my cold. I get a chuckle over how dramatic he is when he's sick. (I think that's why I left as it drives me nuts). I went to a baby shower and then met some friends at the bar for a much deserved beer or two, or three. Had a good time. When I got home our oven was taken apart and there was a large note instructing "No One" to use the oven. He claims he put a pizza in last night and it the oven started smoking and sparking. Pretty sure the heating element went. So this morning I asked him to put it back together so I could use the range top. Nope...it's locked out. He's off cutting somebodys tree down and will look at it when he gets home. In the mean time we have a family thing at our house tomorrow and I need to cook some food. Maybe I'll get the Coleman stove out of the garage and set it up on the porch to boil the noodles I need. I know there's nothing wrong with the top of the stove. He tends to be a little dramatic about some things. Either that or he just doesn't want to deal with it. Maybe I shouldn't care...I don't have to cook.

On a horribly ugly note, I work nights next week. We got a big order at work that needs to get done by next week so we went to two- 12 hour shifts. I have the 5pm-5am shift. I am working with three guys that could quality for the 3 Stooges. I figure if I spend my week as the 3 Blind Mice I'll be okay. One stinks, One is just a dork and the third one just drives me nuts. I have to spend 48 hours with these guys. I'm hoping the week goes by fast.
Happy Sweetest Day Everyone!!

Oil Please

Apparently when you have a milestone birthday things begin to fall apart. My hip was prior to that but it could have been the start. Yesterday at work I was doing my job and needed to squat down and pick some material we ran off the floor. When I stood up "pop" I felt this pain in my knee. So I was limpy Lucy the rest of the day. This morning when I got out of bed it wasn't any better. We make a popular heated knee wrap at work and luckily our boss had a finished product one that I was able to wear all day. I must say, I'm impressed as it held the heat for 8 full hours. So what's going to be the next thing to fall apart? I'm think that maybe if I just go in for an oil change they can take care of all the loose or squeaky parts.
I'm also still fighting this cold. It's been over a week now. Like a good girl I have been taking my vitamins and trying to eat very healthy (when I'm hungry). I'm thinking that if it's not gone by this weekend I may just take STB's advice.
Well we're finally getting some overtime at work. You know that infamous expression "Careful what you ask for?" I am working second shift next week. Full blown 3-1am. We knew it was coming and I volunteered for the first week to get it over with. I knew two of the people I'd be working with and then found out the 3rd one. I should be a basket case by next Friday. Maybe I'll go with the "It'll all be okay attitude". I'll have to catch up on the daytime t.v. shows. It's been awhile since we've worked two shifts.

SuperBowl

Being the dedicated grandparent that I am, at 8:15 this morning I was at Dylan's playoff game. They won their game and now are off to the Superbowl next weekend. They will be playing the best team in the league. Their coach told us this morning the he's going to have to purchase more Pepto & Tums for this game. We got a good laugh hearing from his wife about how he got up at 4am this morning and started downing the Pepto. I think we may have heard the last of the loudest screaming parent on the opposing team. Two weeks ago she lost her voice in the 4th quarter. This week she was screaming her head off until the end. At one point she started screaming to her "Cowboys" to sack the quarterback. The Cowboys had the ball. Got a good chuckle out of that one.
We went to a very interesting wedding last night. It was Latino/white. Quite a mixture of food, too bad I couldn't taste anything. I thought for sure they would have had chips & Salsa on the tables, but no. When the band started they did the traditional garter, bouquet thing, bridal dance and other traditional things. Then they started the regular music/dancing part of the evening. One Latino dance, one whatever, one latino, one whatever...for the remainder of the time we were there. For a minute I felt like we were watching West Side Story. "Hey white boy, don't come on the floor for our music". But of course you always have the one drunk white guy that thinks he can dance to anything. Then there's my brother-in-law who was out there for one dance and came back and announced to his wife and I that he thinks he has wasted his time learning other dances...Latino dancing is his thing he says. I contained myself very well.
We were home by 10. I couldn't taste my beer so it wasn't worth drinking.

OMW seems to think he was very funny this morning and left as many comments on my blog as he does on his own blog. He thought it would make me feel really popular. At least I could understand them.

Bad Week-Boring Friday Night

From Monday of this week the thought was in my head to maybe go out for a few on Friday night. I didn't expect to get hit with this cold. Despite the cold, I've been going like crazy all week with different things. My parents made it in okay, I felt a little bad for them as it's so cold, but they'll toughen up in a few days. My brother made it through his hospital stay and is not in the hands of Mom & Dad. I'm sure he'll recover quickly.
Yesterday at work my boss, also friend mentioned going out Friday night. I told him to call me when J & him got to the bar and we'd join them. The more he talked about it , the more it sounded good. Something happened though. It all sounded sooooo good. I got home from helping my parents around 4, did some chores, and sat down on the couch, covered up with my nice warm blanket and took a little snooze. K & A went to check out some tree they are going to cut down (I guess we need more wood). they got back and it actually sounded like A wanted to go out. I did make an effort. I felt like crap.
So here's a helpful hint...My husband had a taste for a fishfry. He decided to go over to Jewel as they have carryout. Nasty, is all I can say. He called it hockey-puck fish.
So needless to say we never got out. I guess my cold out witted my urge for a beer. Oh yeah, and I never got that call either!

I Knew It Was Coming

Yep, sure as hell I have contacted quite the cold. I've been feeling a little crummy for the past week or so and have had a bit of an itchy throat and earache. Yesterday it hit bit. Took some NyQuil last night and I was out. I love that stuff. Got up this morning and felt a little better until I walked outside and saw the snow on my car. Of course I couldn't find my scrapper so the windshield wipers had to do. During the course of the day it just got worse and worse. I now have a hideous red nose (we have cheap kleenex at work) a massive sore throat and a million things to do. (Oh, and I smell like Hall's cherry cough drops).
My parents are coming tonight and I need to pick them up and deliver them to their home away from home. I thought I'd be nice and made them some shredded beef which I can't even taste right now. I guess I'll know the outcome by the looks on their faces when they eat it.
I plan on getting rid of this thing within a day or so. Hoping it doesn't turn into that nasty hacking cough cold. Or the one where your nose gets so sore it peels and looks crusty.
I see OMW must have had a hooting time at bucket night last night as he's deleted again. I did see his post this morning.
I should try STB's trick and burn this cold out, but with my luck I'd wake up and still be sick and have a hangover on top of it. Hmmmm...I still have the 40 ouncer left from camping.

Grrrrrrr....

Well, it's my turn to rag about stupid drivers today. Are people so wrapped up in getting somewhere that they just plain don't pay attention. Are people so stupid that they don't have some idea that they meant to turn into Target's parking lot. I opted for Highway 100 on my way home today as I had a few stops to make. My first close call was the jerk who just pulled out right in front on me to get into Menards Parking lot. I'm not quite sure he even saw me. I can say that I'm happy with my brakes and glad the person behind me was paying attention also. My second call was the knob that was in the middle lane and I was in the left and he felt the urge all of a sudden to go check out the new Target. Is there something wrong with going a little farther up the road and making a U turn rather than cutting in front of someone? It's not like it was the last chance to get to Target. My last one of the day, I should have just slammed into to prove a point. I had some stuff for Goodwill (I was on a good will mission) and I was in the right lane and some shit head pulled from two lanes over in front of me and proceeded to slam on his brakes to make a turn into Ashley Furniture. Maybe the turban on his head blocked his blind spot. Or maybe he felt he owned something besides the doughnut shop or gas station. I should have hit him.
So STB if you read this my suggestion is to get a big truck. Something that you can just roll over other cars with. Something intimidating to other jerks on the road.
Guess I'm a little crabby. Got no lunch today at work.

Bam! There it goes

What else can you say about the Packers loss today! They had it right there. Maybe, just maybe they'll come back a little stronger after their Bye week.
On a lighter note Dylan's team made the play-offs. No comments were made by grandma this week during his kick. So I guess if I want to really watch a good football game, then I go to his games.
I think A may be almost done with the siding. As much as it drove me nuts to sit here all weekend, I knew it had to get done. Didn't think it would be really fair to go out for the game and leave him home pounding away, so being the dedicated wife I am, I stayed home. I did manage to get a lot of things done around the house. This is a good thing as Mom is coming next week. My younger brother is having hip replacement surgery Tuesday (runs in the family I guess) and my parents are coming to help him out. He's kind of a loner, so I'm betting that he'll be pulling out what's left of his hair as soon as he weans off the pain medication. All in all I'm sure he will appreciate their help as much as I did. I'm taking him to the hospital on Tuesday so I'll get to see it from the other side. I kept this goofy log from my first several weeks after my surgery and other than being uncomfortable at night and not able to sleep, I mostly talked about being bored. I was talking to him today and he relayed a story about going to this 1 hour class they have you take prior to the surgery. Either I didn't have this part or I just totally blocked it out, but he said they told him to get a pair of salad tongs. I asked him why, and I'm sorry I did.
They suggested that he wrap tp around them as he may have problems reaching back to wipe. The poor guy was convinced that this would have to happen. I assured him that his arm would reach without assistance from salad tongs. I did end the conversation in telling him that he should be sure to dispose of the tongs if he had to use them. Got a chuckle out of him.

Everyone have a great remainder of the day.

5 Million Nails

Today I took on the task of painting our living room. One wall in our livingroom was paneled. It wasn't a bad color and it was in good shape but it was outdated and time to go. So I worked on the other three walls and waited for A to get home and take it down. It was put up by my father and as I found out today also my ex-husband. That shocked me as I have no memory of him ever helping my dad with anything. I must have blocked that one out. My boarder brother was around to help with this and also give us the history of installation day. He's got quite a memory and probably should write a family journal. Anyways we start to take down this paneling and find it is put up with nails on the end seam of each panel, but every fricken 6 inches apart. I guess he meant it to be there forever. I called Dad in the midst of this and told him we were calling a truck to haul away the nails. The bad part was then patching all the nail holes. They were little, but they would show if not patched. As we were taking this down I gave instruction to take it all to the garbage. We have no use what-so-ever for this paneling.
It is now 10 pm and I started this at 9am this morning. I did stop for about an hour to prepare a yummy dinner for A. Lassagne was good. I haven't made it for a long time and the poor guys eye's just lit up when he saw it.
The last brush has now been washed. Beside the fact that my house is in a shambles right now and I'm dead tired I really want a beer. So I think I am going to take a hike downstairs and see what A is up to and sit at his bar and have me a beer. I bet he snuck that paneling back in the house and has some crafty plan for it.

5 Million Nails

Today I took on the task of painting our living room. One wall in our livingroom was paneled. It wasn't a bad color and it was in good shape but it was outdated and time to go. So I worked on the other three walls and waited for A to get home and take it down. It was put up by my father and as I found out today also my ex-husband. That shocked me as I have no memory of him ever helping my dad with anything. I must have blocked that one out. My boarder brother was around to help with this and also give us the history of installation day. He's got quite a memory and probably should write a family journal. Anyways we start to take down this paneling and find it is put up with nails on the end seam of each panel, but every fricken 6 inches apart. I guess he meant it to be there forever. I called Dad in the midst of this and told him we were calling a truck to haul away the nails. The bad part was then patching all the nail holes. They were little, but they would show if not patched. As we were taking this down I gave instruction to take it all to the garbage. We have no use what-so-ever for this paneling.
It is now 10 pm and I started this at 9am this morning. I did stop for about an hour to prepare a yummy dinner for A. Lassagne was good. I haven't made it for a long time and the poor guys eye's just lit up when he saw it.
The last brush has now been washed. Beside the fact that my house is in a shambles right now and I'm dead tired I really want a beer. So I think I am going to take a hike downstairs and see what A is up to and sit at his bar and have me a beer. I bet he snuck that paneling back in the house and has some crafty plan for it.

Jerry..Jerry...Jerry

First of all I am not a fan of the Jerry Springer show. To me it's right up there with Cops. Just a bunch of red-neck, white trash people trying to make a buck. I am also not a fan or reality TV and rarely watch contest shows. (except a few game shows). Somehow I managed to get hooked on "Dancing With The Stars" these past few weeks. I was mainly watching for Sarah Evans but then became interested in Jerry. Apparently he came on the show because his daughter is getting married soon and he wanted to learn to Waltz. A few shows ago he got a horrible rating from the judges and if not for the fans calling in (I did NOT) he would not have made it to this week. He came out and did the Waltz last night and received a very good score. Sarah Evans did not. Both they're both on again, and depending on the fan vote she could be gone this week.
Then I found out today that I missed "Friday Night Lights" which I was told was very good. For some odd reason I thought it was on Friday (duh). Guess I should spend some time reading the Channel guide. It's just that television is not my top priority. I'm just so used to working messed up hours that I never got hooked on any one show. Thank God for reruns. I can look like a dork and talk about shows that you all saw months ago. I wouldn't even think of getting a DVR service as I probably have 500 hours of unwatched VHS tapes from shows I wanted to watch and taped.
Maybe I'll hole up this winter and watch some quality reruns.

Escape Artist

We boarded our dog this past weekend just as we usually do when we go camping. It'd be easier to leave her home if our boarder could be trusted to care for her. She seems to enjoy going as she's usually crying at the door while we're packing. We tried to figure out this time what actually triggers her knowledge that she's going. We made several trips to the truck packing but it seems that what did it was the cooler. She seems to love the vet so there's no hesitation when she gets there. Usually she spends the entire day she comes home sleeping. But not today.
A picked her up earlier today and when I got home she was sitting by the door. I had taken some things in the house and went back out to my truck. I thought I heard her collar (it jingles) but looked across the street and saw the neighbors dog was out. I got back in and was looking around for her and she was not in the house or back yard. I then heard her dog barking. I walked to the front yard and there she was, dumb as an ox, sitting in the middle of the road barking at a car. This is a first. Sadie has never left the yard on her own. I gave her a little credit as she came right to me when I called her. Needless to say she got a little bit of a scoulding from me and then for the first time ever I heard A raise his voice to her. What I thought was funny is the neighbor across the street looked a little shocked to see me dragging this dog home. Apparently she must be so good that no one noticed we had a dog. Well duh...she doesn't bark at intruders and especially at any midnight lawn services.
Going to watch some of the Packer Game tonight. Hopefully they'll do something, like score or win. Hopefully our power won't go out as it's flickered several times. What's up with all the storms? This is October not May or April.

Not to Bad

While camping this weekend we thought back and discovered that we have not been on one camping trip this year where it hasn't rained. We haven't had any bad storms but we've had rain. Saturday afternoon A & I drove in to Oak Creek for Dylan's football game and it rained a little there. When we got back we heard stories of hail at the campsite. Later in the afternoon there was this lovely black cloud that shed some rain on us for a few minutes. That one had us under the canopy for a few minutes. I have to say that besides that the weather was nice. Today was tee shirt day. Maybe next year we should stay a few Sunday nights as the weather is usually picture perfect on Sunday.
There was Spam on the tripod this morning. Grossed me out as usual but the boys were happy. There was a Hawk circling over which I was sure was thinking there was a dead animal on our site but then must have spotted the Spam cooking. So yes, I against Pabst and Spam (DJW).
Once again we did not do justice to the two garbage bags. But then again the 40 ouncers seemed to be going down pretty good with the guys. Mine is unopened still. I don't think J drank her's either, but Connie was going to town on the Awesome Orange.
We had a good time, missed the people who weren't with us but there's still one more trip this year and there's always next year.

I've Been Told

I've been told that I'm going camping this weekend. I did try to get out of it by saying it was supposed to be a little nippy out this weekend and was called a whimp. I was told there was heat in the camper so I wouldn't be cold at night. I was told it would be okay during the day. I was told to pack warmer clothes but he doubted I'd need them. This is the same guy who will probably be shivering and curled up by the fire in two sweatshirts and his winter jacket.
On a lighter note I was told that it's 40 ounce weekend. The scary thing is I was also told that the 40 ouncers will be going into a cooler with a number on them and you'll then pick a number and drink that corresponding numbered bottle. I'm all about sticking with the Miller Lite. There's a little rumor that some people are not as predictable as me. Good Lord if it's Pabst I will be faking some kind of headach and early retreat. Maybe I'll smuggle a bottle of drinkable liquid into the camper prior to my retreat. I'll just have to hold the bladder until everyone goes to sleep.
So how cold do you supposed the bathroom/showers will be at 8 or 9 in the morning. Nothing like taking a shower when you're so fricking cold that the soap doesn't suds up. At least they do have hot water. I'll have to do the trick and wait until a lot of people have come and gone from the shower so you know the bathrooms nice and steamy.
Here's to everyone having a great weekend. Here's to the fellow campers who bombed out this weekend.

What???

Can anyone explain to me how someone gets toothpaste on the ceiling? Big blob on my bathroom ceiling and it's not my brand (mine's red, this is green). Comes from the boarder. Weird but stupid things occur with him. Part of it is just plain stupidity and part is just lazy. He probably knows he did it but either doesn't care or didn't know how to wipe it off.
Did STB's favorite thing today after work. Went to the grocery store. I totally forgot that it was double coupon day. I had to go get chili fixings for camping this weekend, otherwise I'm sure there would have not been a trip this week. Every bitchy elderly person was in that store. Every aisle I went down had what appeared to be a meeting of some kind. It's not so hard to pull off to the side. I did not see any dirty white tee shirts and sweat pants , I think that comes after 5pm. I was at the deli and this little old man asked for ham. When the clerk inquired as to what kind he got all mean and said "just give me some ham". I think I would have given him the most expensive, but she did her job well and assisted him with a smile on her face.
Well I'm off to remove some toothpaste from my ceiling now. Everyone have a great evening. Happy bucket night.

Rickety old Piece of Crap

No, my title isn't me I'm talking about. Yesterday when I got home from work I discovered that A took a half day and was working on the siding (nope it's not done yet). He's trying very hard to get it completed before it gets to cold. One more side left to go. I did some chores around the house and went out to brush our shedding dog.Hey, it's either brush her or vacuum twice a day. While doing this chore I noticed that the grass in our yard was very long. Being the nice wife that I am I though I'd cut the grass. Now, this is where a man's thinking comes in. We have two lawn mowers. I went to find one only to have to dig it out of the garage. I did need assistance to start it as the handle appears to be broken. When I inquired about this I was told to use that one and he "clamped" the handle up for me. Within 5 minutes of mowing the handle kept slipping lower and lower. I felt like a fricken midget cutting the grass. Not to mention that it also is not the mulcher and the bag is no where to be found so I was getting beat in the face with grass. I am totally convinced that this man has the other perfectly fine mower hiding somewhere. He just probably wants a new mower and now I'm supposed to feel sorry for him when he cuts the grass. I have a brother-in-law that does repairs so guess where this mower is going.
I think that some day when he's not home I'm going to have a little yard sale. In in will be 2 of the 3 snowblowers we own, 1 broken down lawn mower and 1 Classic (so he says) 1970 something Artic Cat snowmobile. Yes that's right. We have hauled this snowmobile to 3 different locations in 22 years. In 22 years I have never seen this snowmobile run. It is so classic that this summer it had weeds growing out of it.
Gearing up for the camping weekend. It's supposed to be a little chilly. Nothing like waking up to ice in your coffee pot and frost on the ground.