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.

Dear?

I read a letter to Dear Abby the other day from a woman who was engaged to be married soon. She states that her other half never calls her by her given name. He'll use her middle name or a pet name for her. She said she doesn't think he's called her by her real name since shortly after they began dating. So I've also noticed that my husband very rarely calls me by my name. I am "Dear" or just plain "my wife". Several times over the last day or so he's needed to find me in the house somewhere and just calls out "Hey Dear". A few weeks ago at a wedding I was introduced as "my wife". He's done that in the past only to have someone inquire as to whether or not I had a name. I totally expected him to say "yes, it's Dear". I wonder when he call's work for me if he asks for "Dear". I'm thinking that maybe to cure him of this habit I should come up with a really dorky pet name for him and use it until he get's the hint that I do have a name. Maybe Snookems, Schmokie or Honeybuns. I'll have to ponder this for awhile. I'm not really upset over the whole thing. When we first started dating he called me "Sugar" one time only. Never again after I told him you can't use a name on your new girlfriend that you used on a past girlfriend. That should be the dating rule. If you feel it's necessary to use a pet name you cannot re-use a name.
Dylan's team won today. It was a good, muddy game. I noticed through half of the first quarter that he was not muddy at all and told him that if he was working hard he'd have some mud. Guess I should have volunteered to wash his pants after that comment because he was coated. He played hard.
Is there any hope for the Packers tomorrow??

Clutter

My immediate plan for today just didn't pan out. I spent much of my week thinking about how I needed to get out into the yard and do some major cleaning up. The flowers are somewhat still good but it's time to start pulling out the dead ones. I had one thing left to paint so I wanted to get it done before the snow flies. I guess Mother Nature had some different thoughts. The fact that the sky opened up and it poured for much of the morning put a major damper on anything I was going to do outside. Plan B took effect. Clean the house. Every few months I got through this thing where I cannot stand clutter. Even hidden clutter. 8 hours, 6 hefty bags and three large boxes later I was done. I had all the stuff either in the garbage or loaded in my truck to go to Goodwill.
One thing I found to be very interesting was when I tackeled the "tupperware" cabinet. I'm sure we all have one of those and I'm sure we all cuss Tupperware out. I sat on my kitchen floor and put a lid on every fricken plastic type container I have. I ran out of bowls before the lids. Where the hell did the bowls go? Are bowls like socks? I threw out every single extra lid.
When A got home and saw all the stuff I had in the car he got this sick look on his face. I had to assure him that I touched nothing of his. This man is a pack rat from the get go. Pretty much the entire basement is "his" except for this little tiny area I am allowed to have to do laundry. The funny thing is I pick on him for keeping every scrap of wood and screw, nut and whatever, but boy if you need something in haste he's got it. It may take him awhile to remember which bin or box he shoved it in but he'll come through. He transported everything to Goodwill, or so I think he did. I wouldn't be suprised to find it in the back of his truck.
So all in all I do feel quite accomplished today. Later on it the day I wondered what brought this cleaning frenzy on and it came to me: My mother is coming to town in 3 weeks. Enough said.

Simple Rules of Camping

I know we have some die hard campers out there so let's go through this list and see if you can add to them. They're just plain and simple rules of camping made up just to make all of our camping experiences just a little more pleasant.

#1) If you are a smoker then please be kind enough to deposit your butts into the firepit or your car ashtray. Do not make of trail of them to the bathroom either. Put them out and flush them in the toilet. Most campgrounds have ashtrays outside the bathrooms.

#2). If you bring your pet..bring a bag and pick up their droppings. Plain and simple and enough said about that one.

#3). Invest in a car charger for your cell phone. You got there in a car. Spend the $20.00 and buy a charger rather than charging your phone in the bathroom and then standing in front of the sink guarding it.

#4). Lawn chairs are for outside...not to sit on in the bathroom and watch your phone charge.

#5). Invest in a dish pan and wash your dishes at your camp site , not in the bathroom sink.

#6). If you feel the need to make blended drinks in the bathroom at least offer one to those also using the bathroom or get an electrical site, or leave your blender at home.

#7). Dispose of your own trash. Don't leave it for the next camper. Don't hide it in the bushes. Haul it to the dumpster and then throw it in. Don't lay it by the dumpster or throw it from your car on the way past.

#8) Don't go for a drunken walk at midnight and shine your flashlight into someones eyes. Don't call attention to yourself by talking in a high pitched stupid chippie girl voice.

#9). DO NOT COME INTO SOMEONE ELSE'S campsite asking for smokes. Buy your own. Take your car and drive to the store or quit!.

#10). Do Not Come into someone else's campsite after you've already been told there are not smokes to be found. Did you think we went and bought them for you?

#11). 3PM is check-out time. That means be out, not come out of your camper, stretch and begin to pick up your crap and pack up.

#12). No! you cannot park on my site. If you have too many cars on your site and I am not camping with you then you should have gotten two sites, or use the overflow lot.

#13). The most important rule of camping in my eye: WHAT IS ON MY SITE BELONGS TO ME AND THE PEOPLE I AM WITH. Do not come onto my site and steal anything from me or my fellow campers. Buy your own food, beer or whatever it is that your nasty ass can't buy yourself.

These are just some of my observations from the past camping season. Feel free to add.

Giving Blood!

When we got to the Ranger Station to check into our site for this weekend's camping the ranger did this little chuckle and said "I hope your prepared for the mosquito's as they are bad". They've had quite a bit of rain out there which could somewhat explain that. We pulled our camper into our site and proceeded to start setting up only to look like we had some sort of jerking disorder from swatting at the little bastards. They were vicious. Of course all the bug spray was in the camper. Where else would one keep it? Connie saved the day by having a packet of lotion which the four of us shared which was enough to get by until we could pop the camper and get to the bug spray. We spent the entire weekend smoothered in various types of insect repellent. You had your of anything from floral scented for the ladies to deep woods Hunters type for the men. Of course if you broke any kind of sweat you would be reapplying. If you washed your hands you would be reapplying. Both nights they seemed to die down around 8pm or so. I guess if I would have sprayed my head then I wouldn't have a billion bites in my scalp right now.
Our group was a little smaller this time due to the lack of J who was ill, and the Wilson's. One went to the Packer Game and we do believe Jo just wanted a weekend at home without the hubbie. We did not do justice to the two usual full garbage bags of cans and bottles but Connie managed to kill a bottle of Hot Sex and Awesome Orange. I'm a little shocked that she shared with us. I also came home with 3/4 of the brownies I made. All in all it was an okay weekend. I was feeling a little faint for the amount of blood I gave to those nasty buggers. Did you know that they bark? STB can take credit for that one.

Purple Pimp

Apparently yesterday after work I wasn't too attentive. The report I got this morning from 2 co-workers was that standing by the bus stop on Watertown Plank Road near the freeway enterance was a man dressed quite fancy. I guess he was all decked out in a purple suit complete with top hat and walking stick. So I payed closer attention today while driving past and happen to catch who I believe to be the same man. Today he was in black and white and had a walking stick and top hat. I now have something to look forward too every day after work. Maybe we can play "Guess the Color of the Pimp's Clothing Today".
Tonight's football game was a win. Dylan was lined up against a kid that kept pulling on his jersey. After the third time Dylan chopped his arm away, grabbed the kid's jersey and sent him flying. There was some applause from the sideline. Guess he had enough. We have a problem though. One should not wear Spongebob briefs under their white football pants. He insists on wearing his "lucky" underwear. His parents are more upset about it then I am. I think it's funny. My son can't bring himself to go purchase tidie whities for his boy and has tried to get me to do it. I can't get it through his head that this Grandma does not purchase underwear for her grandchildren. Back in the day that must have been a standard gift from Grandparents because it seemed like every birthday and Christmas we got underwear. Yippeee!
Someday when I'm laying on the couch that may be one of the supressed things that come out.

Have a great weekend everyone! I just have to figure out how to keep the wasps out of my beer at camping.

Have I Got Some Beef Sticks For You!

For all you that are going camping with us this weekend be prepared to eat a lot of beef and pepperoni sticks. Seems my husband and I don't communicate well (imagine that). We both went to Ray's Butcher Shoppe today and bought a pound of each. All I can say is they'll be real good in Bloody Mary's.
For once I wished I would have saved a bunch of vacation. We just got told at work today that we will be running no production on our line for the next week or so. There are things to do but not at a busy pace so the days drag. Ten hours a day is long enough in the first place. Guess we'll just have to enjoy the break as we'll be gearing up soon for a new line that's coming in.
I think it may have finally stopped raining, or at least the heavy down pours are over. I was next to some guy driving on Highway 100 yesterday who seemed to take joy in driving in the far right lane so he could drench every person who was walking by driving through every bit of standing water he could. I did feel a little sorry for the walkers as they were wet enough already. Pretty sure there wouldn't be much to talk about without all the jerks in this world.
Did I mention how ready I am for a weekend away?? Although we don't have as big of group as we usually do (I guess going to Green Bay excuses someone) we should have a good time. My latern filler is coming so we're pretty much set.
Here's to hoping J makes a full recovery by Friday.

Burn it out J

We just got over an extremly busy weekend. My grandson's first football game was Saturday. They played their hearts out but ended up loosing by one point (missed the extra point on a touchdown. One injury throughout the entire game. One boy lost his tooth. Guess the tooth fairy will be extra good to him. The best part was having their coach tell them how proud he was of them for playing hard and playing like a team. Next game..Thursday night.
My nephew got married on Sunday. Yep, Sunday. But the boy is a good thinker and had tv's set up on the bar for the Packer Fans. The first half of the game saw many people around the tv. The second half saw the crowd thining. I did win a pool though. I thought I was going to go through the whole year donating to the Packer Pool like I did last year. The wedding had a few hiccups but turned out nice. I did embarrass myself a little but it was excused. I had this little battery operated tv on the table in front of me and my nephew got up to make a little speech right at the point of an interception and I had said a little loud "You have got to be kidding". OOPS. I did turn a little red but he saw what I was doing at the time. At least it wasn't when he was commenting on his beautiful bride or something.
I am so looking forward to camping this weekend. The weather is supposed to clear up and be nice. The Miller Lite may go down good. Hopefully J will be better by then, and I won't catch what she has. We were at the wedding and one minute she was fine and she came over to tell me they were leaving and she was all plugged up and not looking to good. She's been down with it since then. I recommended she try STBs remedy for a cold. Don't think she'll take me up on that one. Here's wishing her well. Who will read our camping trivia if she's not better?

The Reason I have an EX

We went with my son and grandson tonight to the final practice before the football games start. Interesting how so many kids were a no show. On Tuesday the coach went over the importance of them all being there tonight as game day jersey's were being given out and money was being collected for pictures. Through-out all the practices the coaches were pounding teamwork into their little noggins (loud enough for the parents to hear also), so it was a little disheartening to see so many no shows.
The team that Dylan plays on is Tampa Bay and while we were sitting there I mentioned to my son that maybe I would go in search of a Tampa Bay tee shirt in the morning. Got a chuckle out of him and then he proceeded to tell me that his father (my ex) had told him the day before that he needed to stop living vicarously through Dylan. I felt my blood begin to boil and told my son that I was quite proud of the fact that he has been at every practice and was also at every baseball game this season. He works with him a lot and it shows. He said all he wanted to do was let him go for the sports he wanted to and enjoy them. My ex showed up for one baseball game and has not yet shown up for football. It interfers with his after work social hour. When our kids were little A & I were the ones that took them to all the sports programs they were in. He'd sign them up for things and show up once in awhile. Usually long enough to be critical of the kids. I'd chuckle when my son would hit (he either struck out or got a home run every time he was at bat) he'd do the "that's my boy" thing. When he'd strike out he'd yell at him. No support there.
He also made the comment that Dylan would never make it into professional sports. He's seven! Whether he does or not, he enjoys what he's doing ,he's learning and I enjoy watching him. I asked him the other day what his favorite sport was and of course he answered football. His least favorite is soccer (he's got my genes I guess).

So tomorrow morning I will be doing something I never thought I'd do..Cheering for Tampa Bay.

Sadie the Guard Dog??

We seem to have aquired a little family of chipmunks in our yard. Actually they have been spotted in the front yard under the sidewalk and in the back under the deck. Apparently my dog does not feel the need to get up and do her job. This afternoon she was basking in the sun while I was watering some flowers and the little chipmunk came out on the deck. I looked over at her, a little nervous that she would eat it, but low and behold she did not move a muscle. Just layed there and looked at it. So I took matters into my own hands and sprayed the little creature with the hose. It was kind of funny as I actually moved it into the air for a moment. Then Sadie got up , stretched and came walking over slowly. I thought then she'd go after it but no, she proceeded to get herself a little drink from the hose.
Later in the day I'm outside on the deck with Sadie close by and a large, fat, white cat comes walking into our yard. I literally had to point this out to her. Nothing. I chased it out. Ten minutes later the cat is in the neighbors yard and Sadie goes nuts. She's running along the fence barking her fool head off and foaming at the mouth from being so riled up. Wrong yard you foolish dog.
So if anyone has any unwanted wildlife just bring it on over here. She'll guard it all for you. I can't promise that I won't spray them though.

Living with Two Boys

My life is always very interesting living with the "excuse" boys. Yesterday we were gone most of the day and when we got home I went into the basement and found 4 lights on and the chest freezer hanging wide open. Luckily I didn't have to much in there so it was still frozen. When I asked A about it he said he had gotten some ice out of there but was sure he closed it. I think he had a senior moment. Later on I found a package of light bulbs in the kitchen cabinet. Apparently they were left on the counter by A and when my brother went to put his cereal away also put the lightbulbs away. He admitted to it. The old lightbulb that A changed was in the kitchen sink, but he swears he threw it away. All this time I thought these misplaced things were all my doing, but I don't drink milk so why would I put it in the cupboard, I don't drink coffee so why would I put the coffee filter holder in the garbage and I don't usually keep sandwich bags in the fridge unless they have something in them. I must say they keep my on my toes.
For some stupid reason I stopped at Walmart after work today. Walmart has cheaper prices on some things but I ask myself everytime I go there why I do. I won't go near there after 7 at night or on the weekends at all. Today I stopped at 2pm and was drawn in by the lack of cars in the parking lot. Had to get a few things. Every fricking aisle I tried to go down was either full of browsers or had a pallet of stock in it. I think 80% of the people in the store were somewhat pitfully stupid. General rule of thumb when shopping is you move your cart over to the side if you need to look at a product and you do not dead stop in the middle of an aisle. I am the worlds most impatient shopper but having to be in the same store with these people just adds to my impatience. I always go throught the garden center checkout as it's quicker and I thought less people knew about it. Not so true today. 5 items and 25 minutes later I was free of the shopping trip from hell. The only thing that made it good was not running into my ex-sister-in-law.

Litterbug!

We were driving over to a friends house this morning to pick them up for a Brewer Game when I noticed my husband rolling a little piece of Kleenex around in his fingers. A few moments later I saw him throw it out the window. I have a problem with people littering! I am behind people on the freeway daily that feel that the freeway is where you clean out your car. I nicely remarked to him that he was a litterbug and how much it irks me when people do that. Here's the answer I got "Want me to go back and pick it up?" "It's only about the size of a spitball". I knew he never would if I said yes, so I gave him the little short lecture about if everyone threw a spitball out the window we'd be driving through them right now. For a guy who's front seat of his car looks like someone lives in it I was a little shocked that he tossed it. Guess he didn't want to mess up my car.
Good Brewer Game today. Great Seats thanks to my husbands workplace. Roof was closed due to rain and the crowd was thin.
Let's all welcome J & K back from their trip. I'm over the fact that I didn't go, but I won't pass it up again.

Hmmmm...

While driving home last night A and I were commenting on the downward spiral of gas prices. We had passed these stations earlier and noticed the prices had dropped 10 to 12 cents per gallon. On one corner we saw gas 13 cents cheaper than the station across the street, yet the higher priced station had at least 8 cars there while the lower priced station had one lonely car. Why? Maybe that's their regular station and they felt loyal. Hell, if I was at my regular station and saw the guy across the street selling for that much cheaper I'd beeline it across the street. Kind of like at State Fair where you walk a little further for a cheaper priced beer. Must be something about "name brand" vs "generic". Is there generic gas?

The news this morning had the explaination for the difference in prices between stations. Independently owned vs. Corporate owned.

I'm still brooding over not having gone to Arizona especially since they stopped at the best Mexican Resturant ever on Friday and were having the best pizza ever last night. None of them came out of the Casino's ready to retire but they had a good time.

It Was A 10

Had a little bonding today. It was the first day in quite sometime that my daughter had off on the same day as me and didn't have a million things to do. We made the plan last night to hit the zoo with her two girls and the grandson. He is one percise little guy. I told him last night to call me when he woke up but not before 9am. 9am my phone rang. One of the better deals Milwaukee has is the Zoo Pass. (I should get a kick-back for this advertising). This is my 3rd trip this year for quite a savings by buying the pass. I took some cash with me totally expecting to be dragged into the gift shop and to every food stand in the place. No gift shop was visited and we made it through the zoo with only purchasing one bag of popcorn and 3 sodas. It was the lunch afterwards at Oscars that was the most expensive part. All three of them had eyes bigger than their stomachs. This was probably one of the best times I've had with them . Very relaxing, no fighting just all around a perfect day.
Did I mention that it was senior day at the Zoo and my grandson asked if we could get any deals with me being along. I love his sincere honesty and the look on his face when my daughter told him I wasn't quite 65 yet. When I dropped him off he told me he was sorry and that I must not be very old, as he slept all the way home and I was still going.
Way to go again Packers!