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.