Howling Dogs & Solicitors

I woke up at 4 am this morning with a throbbing headache. This was some sort of allergy symptom at it's finest. By 5 am the steaming shower and allergy relief tablets were not helping. I decided to make the call and stay home. I had the funny feeling that staying home wasn't going to be much better and I was correct. I had given in to the idea of any sleep until after 6:30 when Barney leaves for work. I knew his alarm clock would go off at least 3 times before he finally decided to start his day. I give him credit as he was pretty quiet. I think I finally dozed off around 7am. But not for long! At 8:20 my cell phone began to ring. I ignored a few calls and because of it being persistent finally got up and checked it out. Two from work which I called back and took care of, three relating to my mother-in-law. This is still going on and way to much to go into.

With that under belt I attempted to just laze on the couch. Took two more cold tablets and felt something must be breaking up as I'm doing a whole lot of nose blowing. Door bell rings...As the door was open and I was laying on the couch I couldn't very well ignore it. I figured I'd be fetching a ball. No, it was a girl selling carpet cleaning services. I pointed out the "No Soliciting" sign on the door and she tried to apologize in Spanish. "No" seemed to work just fine and she was on her way. Then off in the distance I heard a siren. So did the dog across the street as he began his howling. This continued on for about 10 minutes when his owner finally came out and brought him in the house.

I took a few more "mom" related calls and figured I'd give up on any more sleep. My headache turned into more of a frustration headache by now. Another ring of the door bell. There stands some buy who also, by the looks of him, could not read English. "No, I do not want any magazines". How do you send people out to sell things that cannot speak a word of English except "Please , look". I pointed to the sign again. He no speak English. I simply refuse to buy an additional sign for my door "No Solicitar". Maybe when I've finally had enough I will just hand write signs in various languages and post them up my front lawn like the old Burma Shave signs. I should be able to have my front door open.

50 Came & Went

My husband usually has a month long birthday celebration, but he's done now. Last week I had a 50th for him at our house for family. I figured he'd think it strange that none of our friends were there. He never asked so I felt no need to explain. Ben, Nannette and I had been planning a party for him with all our friends. He claims he didn't know but suspected something was up when he didn't receive a birthday card in the mail from a certain couple. I had to tell a few white lies this week in able to make things happen, but I have been forgiven.

The party went well. A big thanks to Ben & Nannette for the use of their house and all the hard work and effort they put into it. You guys are great! Also to everyone who attended and made this special to him. In his drunkenness (all the way home mind you) he said over and over again how perfect it was. How he got to see people that really mattered to him. Between the slurring I was able to make out that he really had a great time.

I'm going to jump on this and talk about the Watermelon. Nannette had received a phone call earlier in the day from an invitee that was going to be a little late. She had also mentioned that she'd been really busy and was going to bring a watermelon. Nannette got off the phone and repeated the conversation to me. We both commented that we hope she was going to cut it up first. When you have a crowd of people and a stock of food out for them your kitchen space is pretty well taken up . Now a bowl of cut up watermelon would have been great. No rind mess, no sloppy mess in the kitchen to clean up. We had enough to worry about. So when this couple appeared we saw no melon. I saw no bowl of cut up melon. I just figured she decided not to bring it. Little did we know until later that the whole melon had been deposited on her couch. By the time we saw it they were already gone. Nannette commented how the melon was left on her couch. We're wondering if she will be calling to come by and claim her melon.

All in all good party, great friends and a big thanks to all of you who made it happen. Slurry is doing good today. He slept until noonish and got up and consumed his big bowl of "build your own nachos".

There's Always Got to Be One......

Bitch in the crowd. Did I mention how happy I am to have landed this QC job? The grass is greener for now. Part of this job entails doing in-process checks of products run. The former QC girls would sit in the lab until someone called them. We do inspections after each pallet. Being that I am a former operator I know how it takes to produce a pallet therefore will usually be out on the line by the time the pallet is complete. If not I get a page. From nine out of 10 operators. From the operators that are aware of whats going on.

Then we have space cadet. Unaware or just not caring? I'd like to think that after being employed somewhere for 2 1/2 years you'd know the drill. The operators have to do a sample also and then hand it over to me. I'll go out for a sample and she will look at me like I'm crazy. I'll look at the operators inspection sheet and see that she's done her part and then will ask for the sample and be told "Oops, I think I tossed it". I refuse to dig through the garbage so will go get another sample only to get an eye roll and dirty look from her. Seriously, this girl thinks I'm going to dig for this. This is a case of stubborn meets stubborn . Today I'd had enough and told her that according to our SOP I should put the pallet on hold and she'd have to go through it roll by roll and make sure that all is well from my last inspection until the most recent sample. "Hmphhh" was what I got. She then tries to blame it on the rest of the people on the line by saying "They're not telling me we're on the last roll of the pallet". The pallet is 5 feet away from her. I couldn't stand there and not say anything that would have caused a ruckus so I walked away. I just wish I would have had a door to slam in her face.

All I keep saying over and over to myself is "Good things come to those who wait".

0-3

Made it through the family 50th Birthday party for my husband. Went off pretty well. I had quite a stock of beer and was a little surprised this morning when emptying the coolers. They made a dent, but we ended up with enough beer left over for a few camping trips. The 30 can case of Pabst was gone, the case & 12 pack of GD was gone, had 1 case of Miller Lite left (thanks guys) and 12 Miller 64's left. Also left was the full 12 pack of Berryweise, and 3 bottles of Smirnoff variety pack. Mike's was gone. Also gone was most of the food and two birthday cakes. Thanks to Nannette, there was one piece of cheesecake made by Bonnie tucked away in the fridge for Barney. And Elvis is still standing proudly on our front lawn.

Seeing as this was day two of his birthday celebration (he takes a month) we met my daughter and three grandchildren at the driving range this morning. Note to self: take golf lessons. We spent about over an hour there and had a good time. The kids enjoy it and Barney got some practice in with his new clubs. I need work. I can hit far enough, just need to straighten it out a little. Maybe I should work on that so when I retire I can take to the courses instead of sitting home baking varieties of cookies.

On to the 0-3. I have now eaten at Red Robin 3 times. Why I go back to someplace I don't like is beyond me. The first time was right after they opened and beside being crowded (expected) my food was okay. The service is terrible. The second time Barney wanted to try it out so we did. Food was not good, service was okay. I think she knew the service was bad and tried to make up for it. Today we went because the kids wanted to go. I cannot stand going to a restaurant and having a wait staff person continuously apologize for being busy. Don't you want your restaurant to be busy? Doesn't busy mean money? Maybe you shouldn't have sent people home because you had a 1/2 hour lull in business. Our waiter, who had to be in his early 40's was rude as hell to the kids. He stops by the table to ask if everything is OK, the kids tell the guy it's their grandpa's birthday and he continues walking and says" Well it's still going to be his birthday when I come back". I found it rude. I could tell it made the kids uncomfortable and made the "maybe their really busy excuse". 5 minutes later the wait staff is singing away to some guy 5 tables away. I'm sure Barney was happy not to have attention called to himself, but it made the kids feel bad. I'm sure they're over it by now as the guy brought over an ice cream and plopped it down on the table. Oh, yeah and the food was not good.

Accepting Responsibility?

I seem to recall a conversation started by the campfire this weekend regarding people accepting responsibility for their own actions. Great conversation but what made it greater was all the people sitting around and agreeing with each other. It makes me feel good to know that my friends have morals and are all good people.

A conversation started in the lunchroom today regarding the article this week about the girl who fell into the open manhole cover while texting. One of the guys reading the article blurted out " People need to start taking responsibility for their own actions". Everyone agreed and of course comments were made and people broke into their own little conversations. Here's an instance where the city claims to be somewhat at fault as they didn't immediately place cones out to mark the open hole. Missy comes walking along and it texting rather than paying attention to where she's going and falls into a hole with of course, raw sewage. Accepting responsibility for your own actions. Yes the hole should have been marked, more so if it's a busy area. The workers claim they turned around to get the cones and she fell in. Well, maybe one of them should have stood guard while the other got the cones. Accepting responsibility/teamwork. What really took the cake on the story was having the mother quoted as saying it was embarrassing to her daughter to fall in raw sewage and "we still haven't found her other shoe". They're suing. My guess is, that they will win. This should be a 50/50 split. No damages were done so she should not receive any settlement. However the city workers should also be held somewhat accountable.

Here's my next beef. Shouldn't the Police Chief's wife be the one dragging his butt into court for his little "fling". This Harris jerk needs to butt his nose out of it and keep the city's money intact and not wasted on a court case because he has a beef with the Chief. He did wrong. He did wrong in his personal life. Harris thinks he may have had financial gain from the story the "flingee" did on him. This does not belong in the Milwaukee Court system. Let Mrs. Chief or the woman's husband do what they feel needs to be done. Adultery is still a crime in Milwaukee? Wish my lawyer would have told me that 27 years ago. Maybe I could have gotten my ex-husbands employer to foot the bill for my lawyer and court fees.

Another Cut

Not sure if I'll be safe this time or not, but they cut the hourly people down to 32 hours starting the week of the 20th. Not a good thing when the boss waits for everyone by the time clock. What was worse was him signaling me out to hang for a second. He's not sure if this affects me or not as I'm salaried and of course we couldn't find my boss to ask.

If the truth was told back in April, then I am not. Just wondering how boring it may be from 5 am until 7 when the operators come in. I'm not real big on the "you'll probably find out by the end of the week" statement, although what's the difference? I'm hoping he doesn't put me on Monday through Friday. As always, I'm sure it'll all work out in the end. Of course winning the lottery would be a better option.

My fat, old body is a little sore. I just spent a total of about 8 hours in two days over at my mother-in-laws house weeding and planting for her. I decided I was sick of listening to her complain about her grand kids that live downstairs, and sick of other people making excuses on why they can't help out. The bottom line is she needs help. It appears that everyone wants to point the finger at the other person for not helping out and in the end no one helps. I also feel that it's horrible for her to be treated this way. I knew my husband's father since I was 14 years old. Hard working, kind man that I would imagine is just fuming at whats going on.

The 3 children (22,20 & 15) that live downstairs have no direction. Part of the issue is there is so much to do around there that I believe they are overwhelmed. Several things are started and off they go on to something else. My biggest bitch the other day was seeing that "yes, the hedges were trimmed, however the trimmings were never picked up". When I questioned that I got "blah, blah, was supposed to do that". Just like the shovel of dog crap that he left sitting next to the kennel as he didn't have a bag. He didn't like it to much when I showed him the effects of leaving a pile of crap in the hot sun for a day. Had to go inside and get sick.

Anybody want a turtle? They have one that someone got from the park. It's in a tank, with filthy water and they're complaining because they didn't know you had to change the water every two days. So now it sits outside on the patio in a filthy tank. I was going to dump the tank on it's side and let the thing go last night, but another sister-in-law said she was going to take it to the park today and set it free.

Off that subject. I may develop heartburn from thinking about the situation. The porch is almost done. The carpet is in and I see that there are just a few nail holes to patch and paint. I'm impressed at how much Barney did today. Good thing Ben didn't get a hold of him early this morning for a trip to the Casino. Maybe that's what he's gearing up for.

My Head May Explode

Not from being full of any useless knowledge, but on a scale of 1-10 I have to rate this headache as an 8 or 9. I get little nagging headaches every so often which I can attribute to "the girl thing" or sitting in front of the computer to long. This one woke me up at 4a.m. Part of it seems to be a sinus thing which I also find odd. I feel fine except for the pounding above my eyes. I went right for the allergy relief medication.

My topic today, since I was in the medicine cabinet, is pills. In my medicine cabinet I have, aspirin, Benadryl, some expired antibiotics, a bottle containing pain pills (also expired and now flushed)some allergy medication and some cold tablets. Not a big hit for someone looking for drugs in this house. I was having a discussion with my daughter last night about the ease in obtaining medication from some doctors. I must see doctor's from a different mold, as besides my limited pain medication after my hip surgery (now flushed) I have never been offered any type of medication. She was telling me about how her doctor offered her three to four "answers to her problems" in pill form. She declined them, as she's already frustrated and trying to manage pain from two back surgeries in a different way. We went on to discuss the number of people her age that she knows that are on multiple medications.

Don't get me wrong, as I know there are ailments that require or can be better controlled with medication. There are instances where anti-depressants may be of assistance to someone for a short period of time. My mother took them while awaiting a cancer diagnosis for two weeks. She may have had worse issues without them. What I don't understand is why a 20 year old needs anti depressants to help them through a tough spot. Why a doctor isn't saying "Buck it up, find a job, get off the booze, and straighten yourself out. If they "need" this medication at 20, then what happens when the real world hits them? Does taking the medication make you better able to cope with these problems, or does it mask them so one just doesn't care? Does it make you get up in the morning and go look for a job? Does it deter you from stealing money from someone to go out and drink? What exactly does it do?

When I was in my mid-twenties I went through a lot of crap. There were days I didn't want to get out of bed, but my two children needed tending to. There were no pills to help me. I will admit that my father played a huge roll in leading me in the right direction, but the final outcome was me telling myself that things had to change. At first I looked at where I wanted to be and it looked like a long way off. Little steps get you far. You just have to keep going, and when you stumble get up. I think the saying is "Where there's a will, there's a way".

I guess I just have a chip on my shoulder when everything in society is treated with a pill. It's no wonder kids think this is a way of life. Headache seems to be letting up a little.

What to do...What to do...

After a second of thought I decided to take a vacation day today. Beside the fact that had I gone to work I would have been the only non-management person there. One by one yesterday they were dropping like flies. With no production running people were assigned to cleaning. Part way through yesterday there were 3 out of 8 people left. I was plugging away at work needing to be done for ISO certification. I can't understand why no one wanted to help me. After getting a good chunk of it done and then finding out that there will be no production Monday or Tuesday I figured I could take today and finish the rest Monday.

I feel good having a 4 day weekend. Then I started thinking about all the things I can do around here. I made a list in my head but now can't seem to remember much of it, so there must not have been to much that was important. The things I do remember : laundry, grocery shopping, painting trim for the final steps of the porch, finish putting mulch down, find a new lawn mower for my husband. I think I may need to enlist the help of my brother for this one. See, I know that Barn will balk about buying a new one. In a previous post I had described our ghetto lawn mower. Yes, it functions. It has no bag so when mowing it is necessary to garb yourself in combat gear complete with safety glass's to prevent getting hit by lawn shrapnel. And then the clean up of the sidewalks and driveway afterward is necessary. I say, "Why make something two steps, when it can be done in one". This may be a purchase that angers my husband but I can always say I bought it for myself. We were discussing the lawn mower last night and I found out that he paid 50 cents for it. Got it at a rummage sale. I think he's lying about the cost, but I think he shouldn't feel to bad when I buy the new one and put this one on the curb. At any rate, my decision has been made to purchase a new mower.