Winners For Effort

Dylan's game today was a complete blow out. They played the #1 team. Last year they played this undefeated team in their Superbowl and won. No such luck today. I have to give them a "A" for effort. It seemed in some cases they may have been intimidated by the size of these kids. This is a 3rd and 4th grade league. I'm almost positive that some of the opposing team members may have flunked a grade or two. The heat couldn't have been doing them much good either. At one point we were all under the impression that this was their last game. However they go on to the playoffs next weekend.

Sitting (or should I say pacing) out there brought back memories of last year when my parents were in town. My dad was able to make two games. I recall sitting there drinking hot chocolate and wearing a winter jacket. What a difference today. I was swatting at the bee's so much it must have looked like I had some uncontrollable jerking disease. Of course if one un-named husband of mine would have stood farther away from me while consuming his hamburger I may have avoided this issue. Thanks to Jodi for coming out and supporting the team.

In honor of Gambino's little ditty she posted yesterday I felt compelled to join my friends at the local watering hole. There is truth in Stb's statements that one can consume and not spend a whole heck of money. I have a collection of tickets in addition to not a big dent in my wallet. I'm still confused (?) at buying a round for 7 and getting $12.00 back from a $20.00. Once again and enjoyable time. Good company...good friends and plenty to chuckle about. I did come to the conclusion upon arriving home a little hungry and making a peanut butter sandwich that it was time to hit the grocery store.

While composing my blog I am currently listening to the sound of the nail gun that I purchased for my husband in Christmas of 05. It is being put to use on the roof right now. I pulled up from grocery shopping and saw my brother on the roof. I immediatly yelled for him to get off my roof as I cannot be responsible if he should fall. Of course the homeowners is paid but I would not be able to bear the guilt if something would happen. Now my husband is up there. I don't want to be out there, nor do I think I'm welcome out there. I guess as long as I hear the nails being fired that all is well. I did go check the color of the shingles just to assure myself that they were not some discounted funky color. They are black. That is about the extent of my involvement in this project.

Magnet For Rudeness

We started three shifts at work a few weeks ago and I was fortunate enough to stay on first shift. We also went back to 8 hours shifts, unless you want to stick around and help out the next shift. I've been exiting any where from 3:15 to 4. It just seems so weird. There should have been a gradual decrease from 10 plus hours down to 8. One's body and brain cannot comprehend this change. It's been nice though. I can now complete any errands I have and be home before I was usually leaving work. I finally feel somewhat normal. I'm sure this will change without much notice soon.

On my way home today I decided to stop at the local Walmart. I needed a few things that are less costly there then other stores. As I was walking in the cheaters door (lawn & garden doors rock) a middle aged couple must not have seen me and banged their cart into me. I managed to mumble an excuse me and went along my merry way. I would run into this couple several times more during my trip. Each time it would be that one of us was exiting an aisle and the other would nearly bump into them. I was polite enough to continue saying the thing that you say when you get in someones way. They opted for the rude person's way. Say nothing and carry on.

When my purchases were complete I headed for the cheater's check-out (once again Lawn & Garden area). Low and behold who should be right in front of me. It was my big chance...I could ram my cart right into rude lady's very large behind. By accident of course. They had 3 things in their cart. He argued every price with the cashier. The other check-out opened and I tried to get around her to get to that aisle. I said "excuse me" 3 or 4 times. Then I nudged her. She whipped around and gave me the glare that your mother would give if you cut up in church or something. I politely explained that I was trying to get to the other aisle and asked her several times. "hmmmmphft" was all I got from her. By the time she moved her fat ass the line had other customers. They were done by this time anyway. I did my thing, walked out to my car only to find they were parked right next to me. He tried to leave his cart in back of my truck until I pointed out to him where the cart coral was. I dared not make any more stops on my way home for fear of confirming the fact that I was being followed or tested.

Stowin Away The Weekend Home

This weekend marked the last camping trip of the season. Hard to believe 5 months went by so quickly. The camper is now parked in the driveway, soon to be cleaned out and necessary repairs made and it will retire to it's winter resting spot. Toward the end of April it will be pulled out and put into use for hopefully one more year. My husband promised that he'd so some work on it as it is starting to show it's age. Plans are in the works for a new camper but it may be postponed another year. Unless of course, we should happen upon some extra $$. We did have a pleasant, low key weekend. Some good friends were absent but we did manage to have a decent fire and the TiKi torches were filled. The food as always was good and provided one lovely woman with enough gas to just about propel her from her chair several times. A side trip to the Dog Track cost me more money then I won as usual.

It was back to work this morning only to walk into a mess, or I should say several mess's. Once I got one thing straightened out we tried to work on the second problem. I knew this was serious when our Engineer was out on the line pretty much all day. I left at 3:30 and the problem still was not resolved nor did we have any production for the day so far. I called around 6pm only to find out the issue was still not resolved and he was still there. A little "joke" was going around between him and another Engineer about sending out their resumes. This issue has been holding us up for several weeks now and should have been looked at long ago. Now that we didn't make a shipment it seems to become serious. This is not entirely any one's fault as we are a little short handed in Production Support and these guys are doing more than their share of work. They are constantly in meetings and trying to juggle around a heavy work load. As operators, we can only do so much on our own and it gets extremely frustrating for us to be at work for 8-10 hours and not come close to making a production goal. But enough of that.....

Too bad for the Brewers, however they did have a winning season and provided us all with 6 months of excitement. There's always next year.
Another great Packer game yesterday. 4-0. Next week it's bring on the Bears. This could be an exciting game also. I should start getting emails any day now from my nephew the one and only Bears fan that I know. He can talk all the smack he wants to. It's not my fault he was raised corrupt.

In The Dark

Wednesday afternoon brought an out of the blue power outage for much of the South Side of Milwaukee. A power outage is never convenient, but this put a damper on my night. I had planned to get everything ready for our weekend camping trip. Instead I watched the battery operated television and lite many candles. Our power was expected back on my 8pm. Apparently the area we live in was the last to go on. From what I can figure it was around 1am. As much as I cursed out my husbands new alarm clock, the battery back-up functioned correctly. Having a power outage is live rough camping but inside your house. We found that the generator we purchased a few years ago served its purpose. We found that we are not prepared for an emergency. The generator is in the garage. I was never issued a garage key. (Man's world out there) and husband could not located the key ring with the garage key on it. We then found out how easy it is (was) to break into our garage. This has not been corrected. Then of course the brand new, never been used generator would not start. I left the area at that time. I'm no dummy.

On to Thursday...I left work to a flooded parking lot and pouring rain most of the way home. I got about a 1/2 mile from home and saw what appeared to be snow on the ground. 27th street going south was flooded, and there were small piles of white stuff all over. We had some accumulation of hail. Of course do you think I could find a camera to snap a picture. One had dead batteries and the other was out of film. The dog was a little skeptical about walking her little princess paws through the pile of hail on the deck.

It's off for the last weekend of camping this year. The weather seems promising. Hopefully the bee's will have left the area already. I seem to have caught my husbands cold so I may just plop my self in a lawn chair and let the sun take over.

Crappy Day

Why does one have to have a bad day? Is it just to off-set the good days you have? I know everything can't always be peaches & cream but come on now, what's wrong with a streak of good luck?

Yesterday for example was a good day. We did the Save the Boob's walk. The weather was good, the company was good and the Packer Game, refreshments and company after the walk was good. My hurting feet were okay after an hour or so and when we got home I did a few things around the house and actually sat down and watched some television.

Today was a different story. It started out okay, until I got to work. It was like I was being tested for just how much I could take before I blew. We all know that it's takes a little to yank my chain, and yank it they did today. I first off remembered that a girl who originally started on 1st and then went to 3rd was coming back to 1st today. I had trained her on 1st and she is hard to train. She kept asking all of us to be patient with her and apparently I was the only one who could be as I kept having to work with her. After a few hours today it hit me...she is not much further along then she was when she left our shift originally. She still asks the same questions and still has to show me every roll that she has a question on. My nerves were frayed within 2 hours.

On our schedule it stated that 1st shift was to do a change-over this morning. When I came in I inquired about this and it was confirmed that the changeover would be taking place. This required about 2 hours of switching materials and dies. Not a big deal when everyone takes a task and does it. Nooo....not today. There were only two of us that knew what had to be done. It was bogged down by having to train others. This is not a bad thing, as people need to learn this equipment. But when you have a higher up questioning your every move it can be a little tense. When you have parts of the equipment that do not function correctly it can be tense. About 3/4 of the way through the change-over the big boss comes in and is pissed that we're changing over (he wants answers as to why) as we didn't make the order we were supposed to. I stood there holding material that I was webbing through the machine, just waiting for him to tell me to change back. He mumbled something about the communication sucking around this place and left. Nothing went good. The entire work day was shit! I need to learn not to take things like that so personal, but when I have a crappy day there it bothers me. I'm constantly thinking of what I could have done differently, to make it better. After much thought today I came up with the answer. I should have stayed home.

A Day With Dylan

I was called upon today for Grandma duty. When Dylan was a baby I had him at least 5 times a week for 4 or 5 hours a day. It started to dwindle off as he got older. We had a bond. There were things we did together and memories we made. We stayed very involved in his sports activities and have a "grand kids spend the night" about once a month. Today I was asked to pick him up at his coach's house and my son would meet us back at home to pick him up. As we were having my daughter's birthday tonight I opted to keep him around until then.

I went to pick him up and realized that he's not that little baby anymore. It was around 8 years old that my son stopped giving me a kiss goodbye when I dropped him off at school. It was as we were driving up, but not in front of his friends. I walked into the coach's yard and Dylan came up to me and we walked to the truck. As we were getting into the truck without asking I got my hug and kiss. I had to make a stop at Kohls (big sale STB) and taking Dylan to the store used to entail him asking for something. Nothing...not so much as a book or toy. No complaining that I was taking to long, no heavy sighing..just idle talk. On we went to Culver's. He wanted to know if I minded if he also got a sundae.

When we got home I started thinking about how bored I used to get at my grandparents house. My Grandpa would always take us for a walk to the park, but if he wasn't home Grandma was not very entertaining. He pretty much amuses himself. We played a few games on the computer and a card game or two. Around the time my daughter and family were scheduled to arrive he went outside and sat on the front steps. This got to me as I remember when he would sit on the steps and wait for Arnie to come home from work. I went outside and sat with him and told him about how he'd wait for Grandpa to come home. As we were sitting there he leaned his head on my arm and simply said " I love you Grandma". Not to much could have made my day any better.

Tomorrow is the Race for The Cure walk. Ms. Gambino informed me tonight that she intends to sprint the last 3 blocks. I'll be the one trying to catch up to her. There's still time to donate to this cause!

What Is A Friend?

A few times a week I will receive emails with all this stuff about being friends. At the end of these email is always the message "If you are my friend I will get this back". They're all cute and say meaningful things but chances are if you send me one you will get my standard reply. "I do not have to prove I'm you're friend by sending this back to you". That to me proves I put more effort into the friendship then just clicking and forwarding back. I received one today which really got me thinking. What is a friend? Am I a worthy friend? I came up with some thoughts about the friends I have and why I care for them:

I'll do the mushy ones first. You hurt when your friends hurt. You can talk to your friends about anything. You can laugh and cry with your friends. You care enough about your friends to inquire as to the state of their spouse, children and parents. You can joke about misfortunes but yet realize the seriousness of them. You can be a sounding board and a listener. You will go out of your way to hook up with them. You will fill their Ti Ki torches. You will give it your all on you first pudgy pie cooking experience. You will make sure your friends are warm and have enough to drink. You do not lie to your friends. You will not let harm come to your friends or someone will be in the doghouse. You will accept phone calls at any time and under any conditions from your friends. Even though you don't care for their favorite team you find joy in their celebration of victory. You don't have to talk to them everyday to know your friendship in intact. You don't hurt them. You can tell when your friend has had a bad day and can usually talk them through it. You appreciate the friend that talks you through it. You all like the same drunken songs( or at least you pretend to). You have similar morals. You pick out the same clothes from catalogs. You can pass on shopping tips.

And that my friends is all I got!

Woke Up...Fell Out Of Bed

This song was in my head all day (no points for the artist as I'm on it). The story is simple...Around 1am this morning I heard a loud thud and a groan. Yes folks, once again my husband took a tumble. As I try not to laugh while writing this, I remember rolling over and seeing him on the floor flat on his face. I did not laugh!. I had concern as he didn't move for a moment. He then made a hasty run to the bathroom. He came out moments later with a nice gash right on his eyebrow line. The man was injured. I still did not laugh ( I was a bit groggy which could explain that). I inquired as to whether or not the ER was in need. He said he'd let me know in the morning. There wasn't really any blood, just a nice gash. Morning rolled around and at first I didn't remember it. That is until I was in the shower and immediately started chuckling to myself. When I got out and woke him up I could tell he was in a little bit of pain, so I had to compose myself. I also expressed my concern in him going and having this checked out, which I knew was falling on deaf ears. Upon my arrival home tonight I noticed that it was not taken care of. Some Neosporin was blobbed on it. This is a good thing. I was told that no doctor visit was in order...."It will heal". I then noticed a large rip in his pants. He had a bad day!

My drive to work found me switching radio stations as usual. I held up through the long commercial break only to be amused by the Beatles much fitting for the day song. I haven't figured out how to tell him that yet. Not sure he's in that kind of mood. I'm also not real sure how to pad the floor and night stand next to the bed to prevent this from happening again.

Who Turned The Heat Off?

Yes folks, it was cold. We've camped in mid-September before but this was late October weather. On the way out there I discovered that I had brought along the wrong tennis shoes. Hey we were meeting up at Cousins and how convenient that Kohls was a few doors down. I sent the hubbie in for the subs and made a bee-line for the store. I got a great deal on the shoes and while walking to the check-out saw an entire rack of thermal shirts on sale also. Picked up two which totally came in handy for the frigid weekend. A bargain was had.

Friday night was nippy, but with good company and a nice roaring fire I managed to stay warm. The heat was turned on in the camper and I had my crocheted blanket from my mommy. I'm sure I looked like a mummy as my hood from my sweatshirt was up and the blanket was covering my face. I sleep the furthest from the heater on the outside wall of the camper so I'm always the coldest. Sometime you gotta take one for the team.

Saturday we were joined by P & K and we hit the picnic area. Sweatshirts came off as the sun was warm and boche ball was played. R & I took the win. I must again apologize to K for the bobbled throwing of the Palino. Hope she's healing well! Somehow I managed to get a little sunburn on my face despite the cold. It wasn't as chilly Saturday night due to no wind and again a roaring fire. We must have all had our share of fresh air as everyone pooped out early. The mosquitoes were out for awhile but the bees were annoying. Once again, good friends, good food and a good time.

Next camping trip is planned for the last weekend in September. Hopefully it won't be snowing by then. The only thing that could have made this one bad would have been rain. Cold and rain don't mix well when camping. You just get the "never can get warm again" feeling.

Don't forget the run/walk Race for the Cure this weekend. A group of us are walking with my sister-in-law Gambino and in support of many others. You can donate to this cause by visiting

Komen Milwaukee Race for the Cure® . We registered and picked up our shirts today. I chuckled when the woman asked me if I wanted to be timed. I shall walk with my friend and try to keep the pace. There's a Packer Game to be watched by noon so that will get me
motivated to keep my ass moving.

Other than that it's back to work tomorrow. I'm still wondering how weekends can go by so fast.

The Possum Has Left The Yard

I'm pretty much thinking that the trap can be returned. It's pretty obvious that the possum has either left, is way to damn smart for that trap or different bait needs to be used. There in my driveway sits one big old empty lonely trap.

Had a pretty busy weekend. I just know that when my alarm went off at 5am this morning I wanted to throw it. My drunken Omega dinner did not sit well. Someone neglected to hang the phone up on the charger all the way and it kept beeping every 1/2 hour or so. Rather than reach over and fix it, someone just moaned every time it beeped.

I think we need to train Sadie to handle a few things around this house. Kind of like earning her keep. This laying around all day long crap has got to end. She needs a purpose in life, a goal, something to do all day. I seriously thought about setting up a video camera just to see what she does. She is in the same spot when I get home that she was when I left in the morning. There's nothing chewed or out of place and she'd pretty much penned in the same three rooms everyday. Our bedroom is off limits as she thinks she owns the bed. What cracks me up is when she gets up and moves from one area to another, lays down and lets out this huge sigh. Is it boredom, is she depressed? I also can't figure out how they say that a dog will forget what they did within a few minutes, but yet she will sit by the basement door and cry until we open it. Down she goes and retrieves the bone she left down there the day before.

Good weekend in sports except for Dylan's game. They lost 31-20. The coaches forfeited in the 4th quarter as three of the players were injured. Not seriously, but enough that they didn't want them to play. All that matters is that the kids had fun. I'm not quite sure I'm going to make it through the season listening to the step-grandfather trying to call all the shots from the sidelines. I'll just have to do a lot of walking up and down the sidelines so as not to hear his big dumb ass mouth. He is the equal of the annoying fan in the stands minus the beer.

Lean & the 5 S's

We are going through some changes in our manufacturing practices at work. At first, I was a little doubting that this would work. I still am. Don't get me wrong, I am all for finding a way to make things run smoother because Lord knows I am getting tired of the overtime. When I started my working career it was as a papergirl. My own boss I was. If I didn't get my ass out to collect I didn't have money. If I didn't treat my customers nicely, I didn't get tips. Things were good for a short time until I wanted more money and all my friends worked at the local Arthur Treacher's. I joined the team. For 1 1/2 years I was the smiling girl behind the counter. I reeked of fried fish and found that my life would not be in the fast food industry. I then went on to work at a Hardware Store. That was short lived as the manager of the store was a fucking pig and hit on everyone that worked there. I don't think there were many laws supporting sexual harassment back then or I know my dad would have had this guys ass in jail. I took a little break , graduated High School and went to work full time the day after my graduation as a secretary. Seven years. I did like that job but the company was going downhill. Had second child and went on to work in the manufacturing industry.

I can't say I don't like this industry as I do. I more so enjoy the R&D part of it. I'm into wanting to know how things work and trying to get them to run more smoothly and efficiently. I have learned that this is not possible without the support of everyone involved. When I worked at ET they would constantly implement new programs only to have them wash away within a month or so. As Production Leaders we were constantly required to attend self-improvement meetings/class's only to have that all wash away also. So at times I may go into something with not such a positive attitude. Yesterday I saw this negative attitude from one of my co-worker/friends.

We have a fairly new Process Engineer who was given the job of trying to make some sense of our new line. I like the guy, but he needs to assert his authority rather than shrink back. I like the fact that he is all for input from the operators and does listen to us. He has his butt out on the line and is known to help out. We run several different products on this line and yesterday we were changing products. He had a plan. His plan came from a book. I was also given this book to read and read it I did (Lean Manufacturing & the 5 S'S). My co-worker was also given the book, claims she read it but I have my doubts. I could see what he was attempting to do and I went along with it. She fought it tooth and nail. He came to me a little upset and expressed his anger toward her not wanting to cooperate. No one else but her had a problem with his plan. I told him that if he could get this change over more organized and down to 1/2 half the time it was taking us that he should consider it a success for now. My attempt to explain to her to just go along with it and if it does not work it's not our fault, fell on deaf ears. I'm thinking that she may has just been having some major PMS issues or that this was a power struggle. At any rate I was out of there at 3pm yesterday and things were still moving slowly. I guess on Monday at the changeover process meeting I will be filled in on all the details.

Speaking of mosquittos...I think had I stood in the Applebee's parking lot for one more minute they may have carried me away. Holy Crap! Next weekend is a camping weekend. I'm hoping for a frost before that. The weather is supposed to cool down a bit and stay dry. I was told today that the requirements of each camper is one can of Yard Guard. The little bastards are so hungry that I doubt it'll help.

Dylan has his first football game of the season today, grandma must go cheer.

The Trap Is Set

I had some crappy hours today. 9am to 7pm. The day went by fast as we're short-handed and a little busy. Actually the last hour dragged by. That's the point when we're all stocked up and just waiting for the next shift to come in at 6:59. Then of course you have to go through the events of the day and hear some boring chit-chat before you can leave. I got myself a little extra ot by not actually punching out until 7:20. I was immediately attacked when I walked out the door by the giant blood thirsty mosquito's. That's pretty much the topic around Milwaukee and outlying areas this past few days.
I managed to get myself behind a sheriff pretty much the entire way home. I was fine with that as he was cruising between 65-70 most of the way. I just chuckle at the brake lights when people see a cop. It just says "I was speeding" all over it.
I was informed when I got home tonight that the "trap has been set". I need to "stay away from it" when I got out in the morning. If I hear hissing or squealing I should just ignore it. Between us...I have not intention of messing with the trap or what's in it. It's baited with the neighbors tomato's as they figure that the possum is the creature eating all their tomato's. Duh..why should he go to the trap for them when they're right out in the open. I'm not sure what's to become of the ugly rat but I'm sure it will make it's way back eventually. It's probably out there right now sitting on top of the trap, legs crossed and munching down some delicious tomato's fresh from the garden.
It appears that we have vandals in the hood. Two cars on our street had their windshields smashed last night. This isn't the first time. It seems every couple years someone goes on a little window smashing spree. They don't take anything, just cause you the inconvience of shattered glass, calling the travling glass man to fix it, and your loss of work or $$. Some people have to get their rocks off in different ways!

Booing the Boys

Does a die-hard baseball fan boo at their team? Do we boo because of a bad decision a manager made or is it at the actual players? I could see if they were standing in the outfield counting the blades of grass or staring at the girls ta-ta's in the stands( that job is for STB and his friend) but these guys seem pretty intent in winning a game. While watching the game Monday I was a little angered at the booing after the game. What kind of fans does Milwaukee have? It's actually disrespectful and down right rude. I'll admit I booed in the past for players on other teams, but I've never stood with my hands around my mouth booing my own team. How rude! Good game tonight.

So who wants to wager on how long the possum will take to get back to our house once it is trapped and let loose elsewhere? I was chatting with someone at work today that told me that they had trapped a raccoon once and first took it 1 mile away, then about 2 1/2 and the third and final time took it over 5 miles away. He claims he knew it was the same one. They all look the same to me. (no pun intended) So maybe this weekend when the great possum hunter sets out the trap and then wonders what the mess to do with the hissing animal the next morning I should just stand back and not say I told you so. Somehow I picture him running past the window several times with this thing stuck to his body. Here's to you Mr. Excuse Me But Can You Get This Possum Off My Back Man.

Baseball It Is

I can't even say it was a dilemma. Pre-season football vs. the Brewers playing the Cubs. I choose the Brewers. I tuned into the game at the end of the first quarter, checked the score, saw that Rogers was in and switched back to the Brewer game. Not a big fan of #12. There's money involved in the football game but not much excitement in watching it.

The wonderful people I work for were so gracious as to let us out at 3pm today. That's twice this week. I am so rushed when working until 5 that I didn't know how to handle getting out 2 hours early. My first thought was to do some shopping. That was short lived as I can squeeze that in this weekend. Second thought was go home and read an Operators Manual that was given to me at work. That went down the tubes. I opted to catch Dylan's football practice.

I found myself seated on my lawn chair in between my son and his current girlfriend and Dylan's mom and her husband. They all get along well but the subject of who gets Dylan on what days for Christmas came up. This is a hassle that I went through for years with my ex also. After listening to them for awhile my head started to hurt. I thought to myself...this is 4 months away, let's let it go for another few months. She has a large family that needs to understand the Dylan can't be at every one's house. My family understands. But when her husband busted in with "My parents and grandparents want to see him on Christmas also" I snapped inside. I have natural grandparent rights. There are a lot of times that I back off as I don't want Dylan to feel this pressure. He's a kid and shouldn't have to. But if you tell me that I have to step aside so a step-grandparent is not unhappy it jerks my chain. My son's girlfriend has the right idea-she takes him to her families home a day or two before the holiday so as not to add anymore visits to the boy's already full plate. The final outcome was to find out who's doing what and when and talk about it at a later date. Let's focus on the reason we came to the football practice. We then switched to the bickering over who he was going home with after practice. It seems he's been with his dad for the past 4 days and mom wanted him to come to her house before she turned his bedroom into a den. As we were leaving I decided to settle the whole thing and told him to hop in my car. His plan was that I'd take the day off tomorrow and we'd go fishing. It was tempting. In the end the torn between his parents child went home with Mom. His parting words to his dad "Pick me up at 7am tomorrow Dad". Ahhhh the memories.

Buy A Truck!

I had to make a stop at the local garden center after work today. During my shopping I happened to notice a couple purchasing a large tree. The thing was hanging out of a shopping cart. I wondered why as the store has several wagon type carts that they could have stood the tree up in. As I was loading my four bags of wood chips into my truck (I am so glad I'm not a girlie girl and can hoist these things up) I saw the couple attempting to load the large tree into the back of some type of hatch back car. It wasn't going to happen. They were arguing quite loudly. She wanted to call someone, he was sure they could get this thing home. I overheard her say they had to go all the way to Highway 100 and Morgan. Ding!! There is a Steins Garden Center on Highway 100 and Beloit. I thought of mentioning that to them but I figured why add fuel to the fire.

I've come to the conclusion that all the weathermen should say on a daily basis is : A chance of rain. That would cover their ass. I watched the weather this morning and heard nothing about rain today. I listened to the weather on the way to work and heard "chance of rain tomorrow". It sure did rain. I'm not sure what was going on but the weather radio at work was going nuts around 11 am. Obviously there was no need to take cover or someone would have run out and told us.

The camping trip was a good time. The hot firemen at Muster Fest were pleasant to the eye. A fan may have come in handy a few times (to keep the bees away). I found the Grumpy Troll Bar to be a little stuffy. I found the dive bar to be fun. Thankfully we only had rain upon our arrival, the rest of the weekend was great weather. I had doubts that raccoons still existed as we hadn't seen any evidence of them so far this year. They made a little visit to us on Saturday night. Ken was able to save the cake but the little rats made off with a bag of Doritos (we never found them) and a bag of bad peanuts (which we found a few feet into the woods). I partially blame this on us for leaving the stuff out in the first place. See what happens when E doesn't come and Ken goes to bed early. There is no one on food patrol.

I have found my Bible and highliter and will be reading and highlighting all the "knows" in the Good Book. I found that bit of trivia to be quite interesting and amusing. I must though share one verse I have found so far: Genesis Chapter 4 vs 1- And Adam knew Eve his wife: and she conceived, and bare Cain. This is as much as I read today

L

No cook, no cleaning person, no gardener, no pool boy, flat out no win. I am a looser once again in the Powerball drawing.

The other day I was browsing and read some stories about previous lottery winners. These stories make want you buy tickets so you can prove statistics wrong. There was a story about a woman who won twice and is now living in a trailer park. Apparently she gave a lot of money to family and now they're all living it up while and won't help her. After further investigation (another article on her) it is revealed that she gambled away a large portion of her winnings. What the articles fail to tell you is how these people got into these situations. Take for instance the man who suddenly became a cocaine dealer. He was shot. Hello?? On the lighter side, the Mormon people in Utah that won built a house across the street from their old home, still have the same friends and live a little better. Their big thing is to take a family trip every Christmas. They all looked pretty happy. So for now, I'll just continue to spend my measly two dollars on Powerball tickets. I'm 0 for 245 now. How bad can it be?

Off to camping tomorrow. Hopefully we won't need to take a pontoon boat to our site. I'm a little nervous about the amount of mosquito's we may encounter. So far this year it hasn't been bad. There's some prime breeding ground for the little bastards now. We will certainly miss our friend E who won't be joining us this time. I feel a song coming on. Something to do with Spam, filling torches and gas.

Hey Noah!

I had bad timing today. I turned on my niceness and stayed a little past 5 to help out our Process Engineer with something he wanted to run. I could hear the weather radio going off and figured I had time before the mess hit Wauwatosa. At 5:20 as I was walking toward the exit door I saw that is was very dark outside. For one moment I had a flashback of working 2nd shift. Of course today I was loaded down with not only my purse and lunch bag but a box with Kringles that came today. As I part-ran, part-swam across Bostik Lake to my car my only thought was to protect the $7.50 soccer (I hate soccer) fund raiser Kringles. To my fellow campers you will be happy to know they made it home safe and sound and not even soggy.

I opted to take Highway 100 home verses the freeway as I could see traffic was moving very slow. This is where driving a truck may have been a good thing. Many cars were having great difficulty in the lakes that had formed on H100. In some areas the water was up to the curb. The closer I got to home the less severe the weather was. As I pulled onto our street I was a little shocked to see tree branches laying in the road. Hubbie confirmed that our area got hit pretty hard in about a 10 minute span. According to weather man Vince...there is more to come and it may be worse. (why or why am I so responsible that I just put new batteries in my alarm clock in case of a power outage).

Saturday's weather looks good for camping. We're hoping that we miss Friday's rain. It sucks setting up camping gear in the rain. Although the nice little sports bar near by would make a good waiting area.

A Little to Much of The Boxer, Joe

We've had this college kid working with us for the summer. This is a fairly new program that was started this year in the production area. He's been with us since early June. Since early June I have seen his boxers hanging out of his pants every day. I could tell you that he has 4 different pair and hopefully duplicates or he does his laundry often. The boy is tall and needs to possible wear a tall size tee shirt. Today marked the first day that someone mentioned the showing of his drawers. One of the guys on the line mentioned that he may want to wear a belt or hoist up his pants as we were all getting tired of looking at his drawers. He turned a little red and actually came over and apologized to me. He has two more days of work left. I kept telling my female co-worker that it could be worse, it could be butt crack.

I've come to the conclusion that I hate working until 5pm. By the time I get home it's 530-545 depending on traffic. I'm usually hungry when I get out of work, and will plan out what to make for dinner. By the time I get home, it's all down the drain. I walk up the drive way in complete hope that maybe, just maybe my wonderful husband either took pity upon me or is so hungry that he made something. Tonight there is nothing. So I have consumed to a piece of salami and cheese. He is at his other job and probably ate something quick. I see no evidence of cooking.

I'm beginning to think that the first thing I may do when winning tomorrow night's Powerball is hire a cook.

Soggy Lambeau

The trip to Lambeau to see the Packers in preseason was actually quite fun. The nasty misting rain only lasted until the middle of the first quarter of the game. My trusty Totes raincoat kept me dry except for my arms. That I could not figure out and it was annoying as hell. I was warm except for the wet soggy arms on the shirt under my raincoat.

I find Lambeau very interesting. It doesn't matter how many times I go but when I walk into the stadium I still get the chills. Kind of like at Miller Park. It was my friend's first trip to Lambeau and she mentioned the same thing. We had some slight nose-bleed seats but had a great time. The ride back to Manitowoc was a little long and frustrating. I guess we haven't been there enough to know all the little short cuts yet. I do need to mention that when I got to the game my sub-sandwich was safe and sound in my cooler.

I don't want to steal anyone else's post but I need to second the motion that Milwaukee radio sucks. On my way home the other day I was switching between 3 stations at 5pm. This is when a lot of people are getting out of work and just don't want to hear 6-8 commercials in a row, then the weather, then the traffic and continuous promises of commercial free music. It was truly 12 minutes between songs and then one song and back to about 5 more minutes of commercials. We drove up to Green Bay and picked up radio station right before Sheboygan which had two commercial breaks for about 2 minutes in over two hours. They also played some good music. What is the problem in Milwaukee?

I forgot to mention the tailgaters we were next to. Two guys in their early 20's that were cooking these burgers that had to be 6 to 8 inches thick. One guy kept complaining that these things were taking forever to cook. He had to yell to the other guy over their blasting Iron Maiden music. Sweet!

Tis The Season

Yes, it is upon us again. In February it seemed so far off. We couldn't figure out what we were going to do on Sundays or Mondays nights for the next 6 1/2 to 7 months. Well my time was filled up pretty good but once again Football is upon us.

Dylan had his first practice last week. In fact he has 3-2 hour practices for the next several weeks. Tonight was the first practice in pads. Those boys just want to hit someone and hit them good. The coach was explaining that it's okay to do so as they're all padded up. There were a few skeptical kids but once they did the initial hit they were enjoying every second of it.
It may sound kind of goofy but this year again I get this feeling when he comes running over, helmet in hand for his 2 minute break. Little sweaty head and covered in muck and grass stains. He loves it and I'm glad for him. He will be in the full-back and rotating half-back position. The little tank should be able to carry the ball well. He did get signaled out for his half-assed pushups. There is a little practice needed in that area.

We're taking a trip to Green Bay tomorrow for a pre-season game. I was a little hesitant at first but figured that this may be our only chance for tickets this year. Hopefully we won't get to wet.

Kicked Out of The Club

I spent the last two weeks being just a little nervous. I received a phone call the day after my initial boob squashing asking me to return for more scans. Of course it took two weeks to get in as they wanted me to come when the doctor was there also so he could immediately review the new scans.

I had plenty of conversations with J during the past two weeks and believe me I tried to put the whole mess out of my head. Going away with the grandkids for a few days helped a lot but the issue was still in the back of my head. I must have been completely tired out from the camping trip as I can't say I lost any sleep over it last night. In fact I didn't really break down until this morning. Had my 5 second cry and went on my way.

"Don't be scared" must be the standard issue comment made by all screening personnel. Either that or I don't hide it well. After 3 very intense squashes I was told to have a seat and the doctor would be in. In what seemed to be eternity he came in and gave me the all clear. It appears that whatever they saw two weeks ago was either a shadow or now gone. This didn't convince me quite fully so I asked a lot of questions. I will now be returning in 6 months for another repeat flattening of the boob.

In my call after the results to J she sounded relieved that another Kasinski girl would not be honing in on her title. Guess my mom got the exclusive invite. I mentioned that I tried to have my own hip club but my brother butted in on that one. I can handle just being a non-member of any club for now. This was a big enough ordeal for me.

I do have to say that being nosey while J went through all this did give me some education on the subject of breast cancer. One just is never prepared for the outcome. J and I were discussing why all of a sudden it seems that almost everyone we know has had to go back for additional screenings. Is it because they are being so careful? Is it because so many of the films are bad? She wants answers....so do I.

Splash

We have survived the camping trip with the grandkids! They were very good and not to demanding. I was a little shocked at how afraid the girls were of a little spider, yet would crash through the woods to catch a frog.
Our fishing escapade proved to be a little scary for a moment. Dylan has no problem putting worms on a hook and was willing to do it for the girls. I let it be known that he could show them the first time and then if they wanted to fish they'd have to put their own worms on. One of the girls lost her worm on her first cast. We then had to have "casting " instruction. She was casting like she was throwing a football. After assuring that she was now doing okay I went back to fishing. Then there was a little tangling of the hook problem. I got that all fixed and adjusted her bober. I turned my back to pick up my rod and heard this giant splash. There she was in the water, arms thrashing around with a look of sheer panic on her face. I had to do a quick rescue. After a second of grabbing her arms, I reminded her that she was in 3 feet of water. She then was screaming about the fish that were going to bite her. I had to remind her that we weren't catching any fish. Gramps then came and aided in the rescue. It was then that we noticed my fishing rod floating away. She had enough time during her rescue to grab on to her pole and hand it to me, but mine was pretty much floating away. Dylan just simply jumped off the pier and grabbed it. The next hysterical scream was let out when it was discovered that her flip-flops were also floating away. They were to far for Dylan to save. I could do nothing at that point but sit on the pier and laugh. We all did, even "splash". A couple of people came over to see what all the commotion was about and she had no problem telling them she took a dive. The flip-flops were rescued by a couple on jet ski's and all was good. This ended our 1 hour fishing expedition.

The weather held up pretty good until 1am Tuesday morning. We got pounded pretty good. There wasn't much concern from the kids. I saw their heads pop up when a loud thunder boomer and lightening show lit up the sky. That was it, heads bob up, right back to sleep.

Let it be known that the farting contests are not just for the adult camping trips. Those kids were just as bad as the menfolk.

We were all ready to be kept up until at least midnight and woke up by 6am. These kids were sleeping by 10:30 and not awake until 9am. There was an attempt by Dylan to get up at 6am to go fishing. He made it as far as waking up, heading to the bathroom and coming back only to climb back in bed for another few hours.

In all the places we've camped I have to say that Kegonsa has the weirdest bugs. I saw them all this weekend. Those lime green grasshopper things were all over the bathroom door. Had it not been for my trusty flashlight and that I looked at the ground I may have stepped on a snake. Little bastard had teeth! I do believe it was a milk snake. Not one I want to encounter again. Not a single raccoon or skunk in site but a crane and babies walking through the campground. I'm pretty sure we were one of ten campsites that were occupied. Camping during the week could be a new option. No rangers, no shower lines, clean bathrooms and quiet.

We're Outta Here

Gramps and I are taking the 3 grand kids camping until Tuesday. I'm hoping their parents have somewhat "trained" them in this area. I think Dylan will be okay as he's a seasoned camper. The twins...well they may be girly girls, but that will come to an abrupt end. I think we planned this out pretty well so they won't remember this as being a horrible trip.
I got a list of food from all three of them which had me chuckle a bit. It was all snack foods with some pancakes thrown in. The drink choices were all soda which I know their parents don't let them drink. I had to change some things up a little or gramps and I would be awake all night trying to settle down the sugar rush kids.
The weather looks promising. The beach is open, water is not contaminated and we're hoping the bee's stay put for the weekend.
All in all I think it could be a good time. Gramps mentioned to me yesterday while getting things ready that he was leaving the "booze box" behind. Taking the bottle of rum though. That in itself should free up some space in the truck.

It's Days Are Numbered

I made a huge mistake. I'm thinking I may be able to plead temporary insanity. Back in the birthday month of my husband I had asked him what he wanted for his birthday. I had already purchased a grill for him which was already put together and used by his birthday. I just thought it would be nice if he had something to open on his birthday. "An alarm clock" was his reply. A few days later I stopped at the local Target and began the search for a new alarm clock. I'm pretty sure I wrote about this in a previous post, but let it be now noted that I didn't just purchase any old alarm clock. I went for top of the line complete with weather alert. I think the only thing it doesn't do is reach over and give you a nudge. Along with this clock came a user's manual that must be the size of a paperback book. It kept him busy for a few hours.

I am not that complicated of a person. I want to buy something, bring it home, plug it in and have it work. I hate that something requires hours of reading to figure out. Simplicity is the key to my heart and pocketbook. This is where my mistake comes into play. I don't think he can figure out how to turn the alarm off. Every morning at 5:10 am this annoying sounding alarm goes off. I can time myself in the bathroom every morning . First alarm...get in the shower/10 minutes later (snooze) be out and drying off/10 minutes later be dressed and exiting the bathroom. This has become a routine. After the 4th time hitting the snooze I calmly walk into the bedroom to sweetly say "time to get up love". (not in those exact words-I may be stretching it). The man does not work on Fridays so this morning when I left at 610 the snooze was once again hit. If I were a betting person I'd say this continued until 8 or 9 when he got up.

I'm done asking him if he knows how to reset the thing. I remarked about the annoying sound on the alarm (perhaps I should have checked that out before buying it) and he chuckled and told me that he was wrong when he thought his old alarm clock was broken. It was something that went haywire with the radio on it. I offered to take this one back and find a different one. Well no, he's getting used to it now. I'm not... God forbid I should touch it or try to figure the thing out for fear I'd screw it up more. It's rough to live in this high tech world and feel like an idiot.

Twelve Hours of Fair

My company picnic was held at the State Fair yesterday and I must say it was a wise choice. We arrived at the fairgrounds around 9:00 am after a nice tour of West Allis by my husband. Apparently his mission was to avoid the traffic lights on Greenfield Avenue. As we all know it was smoking hot Sunday and humid. My first beer was consumed around 10:30 a.m. It just wasn't sitting right. Too early or too hot was my reasoning. Water was going down great. We walked around a bit, went through the animal areas before it got to hot and headed for the air conditioned Expo building. We ran into P & K and I must say P is looking quite well for a man of shingles. As K put it "they were there to eat".
The company had some good food and door prizes (I have a big "L" as usual). After this was over we headed back out. Different foods were consumed. Deep fried cheese curds were yummy, R & J' s deep fried oreos were a little on the sweet side. By that time the beer started to go down a bit better. We found a spot inside the Miller Sports Bar to catch the end of the Brewers disaster and met up with another guy and his family from work. Couple more beers and we headed over to catch Pat McIplayateveryfairand festival. Quite a funny little number about South Dakota. Cream Puff was consumed, not recommended with beer.
Then it happenend...my husband vanished..I was afraid of what he'd come back with. We all look and see this man grinning from ear to ear carrying a little cardboard tray with something deep fried. I knew there was trouble when I heard R chortle. Fricken DEEP FRIED SAUERKRAUT!!! "This can't be happening" was my first thought. "Shit! We are so out of air freshener"
He ate it. He claims it was "quite tasty". The effects were taking place as we were walking to the car after our 12 hours at the fair. He was nice enough to not gas me out on the way home. Tonight he was telling my niece about it and explaining how it was made. There will be no making of the DFSK while camping. This is not something that our already gaseous group of friends should consume while camping. Open air or not!

Squish and Ouch

Today was the day for the annual squishing. My women friends will probably all agree with my comments. Actually when I arrived there I was a little shocked to find out it's been 1 1/2 years. I shamed myself for that one. For a woman, as much as this test can be life saving it is degrading. Not as much as an anal probe I'm sure but close.
My appointment was at 7pm and I arrived 15 minutes early as instructed. The place was empty. There was a note at the desk to have a seat and someone would be with me shortly. Shortly turned into 20 minutes. I read some article about Kristie Alley's weight loss. It did not really inspire me. I was half way through the "How to Tell If Your Spouse Is Cheating" article when the tech showed up and explained that she was all alone and would be right with me. Here's a robe, remove everything from the waist up and have a seat in this chair.
Ten minutes later I was being lead down the looonnnngggg hallway to doom. This woman talked more that anyone I know. It didn't take me long to figure out why she was so behind. When I'm nervous constant chatter does nothing to calm me down. So for the next 25 minutes I was "sweetie and honey". At least the flopping tray and her hands were warm. Her parting words after the ordeal were "Hopefully we won't see you until next year. If there's anything wrong we'll notify you by Friday". This is not true. I had to go back once before and it was over 10 days when they called. I thought I was in the clear that time. Enough said.

On my way home I made a stop at Walgreens as they had an item in the cosmetics department on sale I wished to purchase. This required me having to stand at the cosmetics counter and await help. The girl arrived, I asked about the item. Just then this crabby looking man walks up to the counter with a loaf of bread. I was one second away from asking the clerk to check him out first rather than look for my item when he says "Could I just pay for my loaf of bread before you start going through the entire store looking for what she wants". My first instinct was to reply "Duh...isn't that what the cosmetics counter is for" but I held my tongue and instead I turned toward him and smiled. She checked him out and as he was leaving he looked at me and said "I'm sorry miss, I didn't have to be that rude". I smiled again. He said " Don't smile, you're making me feel worse". I never uttered a word. Just smiled. Bet he thought I was some deaf mute. I prided myself in not lowering myself to combat his rudeness.

The Birthday Is Officially Over

I have called an end to the birthday month that my husband usually celebrates. We had the kids and grand kids over for dinner and cake for his birthday tonight. End.

The best part is that my son bought the main part of the dinner. I admire his knowledge of cooking and wonder where it came from. Granted I can cook but he is always trying new things. He made some rib eye's that were the best I've ever had. At first when he told me he marinated them in Italian dressing I was a little skeptical but they rocked. I love a good Rib eye and this is the way I'll be preparing them from now on. I think I may have mastered E's shrimp salad. Of course no one will ever be able to make it as well as E, but I'm close. I freaked my husband out by asking if E put pea's in his. The man hates peas!

It's always a blast to have the grand kids over. This is my turn to watch my kids reactions when they say or do certain things. It's pay back time in my eyes. I love the fact that these 3 are polite 95% of the time. I have to remind the parents that they are kids. We had a good game of ladder golf going and it got better when I told them about the heckling rule. Of course this didn't apply to me. Our dog has tennis balls that she plays with and she was a little confused about the two tied together for ladder golf. It was funny watching her chase our thrown balls until she got mine in mid-air. I'm pretty sure she took the winning point away from me.

It's hard to believe my weekend is over. I managed to get a lot done, but need another day to rest. I am not ready for another 50 hour week. I am sincerely hoping that the AC guy shows up tomorrow at work to get our AC working properly in our area. If not it will be a long hot week. One lousy fan doesn't do much. The weather outlook for the week has be a little scared. 91 by Thursday. I can only hope for a change.

The Perfect Shopper

I know I've said this before, but I hate shopping. The only thing worse is shopping with someone else. I wanted to make a quick run to the "Super Saturday Sale" at Kohls to purchase some much needed new pillows. I tried to make a hasty exit only to be asked where I'd be going. Maybe I should have lied and said to the nail salon or something, but I told the truth. I then had to wait for the garage to be closed up and the bathroom run to be made. I'm a freak about where I park in store parking lots. I know the store well. I go in a certain door and have my path planned way in advance. My husband becomes a little upset with me when I point out a spot that is convenient to the door I plan on going in. I'm not in to finding the closest spot. He was in search of new tennies and socks. We entered the store and I started out on my way. I then noticed him following. I nicely told him to go find his shoes and off he went. I'm pretty sure he felt somewhat relieved as this got him off the hook of going through the intimates area. Hint to women...want to loose the guy, take a hasty turn into that area.

After securing what I went for I went in search of shoe man. I found him walking along with new shoes tucked under his arm. I was in awe. Nice shoes and on sale. We then had the sock dilemma. He had checked them out already and needed my approval. It was actually a very legit question. He thought the price of the socks was a little high. I asked him when the last time he purchased his own socks was. I'm pretty sure it was prior to our marriage.

On to the grocery store. Rather than visit our usual P & S we went to one on our way home from Oak Creek. The atmosphere is totally different. I always feel like I'm in Stepford in this certain P&S. There are no rude people, there are no crying children and the cashiers and baggers are all smiling. This on a Saturday afternoon is frightening to me. Something is amiss at this store. Employees walk past you and ask if you're finding everything okay. They offer to take the groceries to your car. They are all either paid extremely well or all criminals on work release.

The trip was completed without any arguments. I stick with the fact that I just hate shopping. I especially don't like shopping with anyone that lolly gags along or follows me. I have a few friends who are the perfect shopping companions for me. We get to a store and don't see each other again until it's check-out time.

Meatloaf & Famly

After four days together and a 2 1/2 hour car ride both ways my husband meekly asked me around 3:30 yesterday if I'd heard from his sister. "Duh" I reply. "What about?". He then goes on to tell me that he talked to her a few days ago and she mentioned having a little get together for her daughter's 21st Birthday. In his eyes she said she was thinking about having something. I never heard a word from her. Around 5:30 I get a phone call inquiring as to our where abouts. They're waiting for us. I nicely explain to her that her brother does not pass on messages very well. This is a little known fact but they keep trying. I go on to explain that he said she told him "she was thinking about having something". I then tell her that he will call upon his arrival home from the gas station. He does, and declines.
I talked to my sister-in-law later in the evening and although I feel bad for his niece about not going I'm a little glad we didn't. There's a bit of a family feud going on. This may be why my husband declined. He has nothing to do with it, but avoids drama in any way. In my eyes, you go for the person and put your personal indifference's behind for an hour or so. I have learned my lesson and now stay out of any confrontations and no longer take sides. Life is just too short. Plus I will not be a hypocrite and talk about that person and then smile and be all good to them. Like the saying my dad stole from Thumper "If you can't say something nice, then say nothing at all.
Speaking of meatloaf......My husband prepared a yummy meatloaf tonight. Now I don't want you all to get the wrong idea. He received his training for the meatloaf via cell phone. My ride home consisted of walking him through it. (for all of you cell phone driver haters-I had my earpiece in). A hour or so after eating the meatloaf I came to the conclusion that there will be no meatloaf at camping. I understand that we are in open air, but some people can knock birds from trees with their flatulence. Plus I'm sure there would be some sort of contest and Richard may loose his title of most visits to the john. Sometimes I wonder what I'm thinking by serving these types of food to my husband. But then again I think air makes him gassy.

What Happens While Camping.......

We were fortunate to have yet another great weekend. The weather cooperated, the bugs (except for daddy long legs) were absent and we were not bothered by raccoons. Once again we had way to much food and the drink was plentiful. I may be on to something here...in the past my fellow campers have instituted the rule that the Jack comes out when the rain comes. They have become a little lax in this rule by going as far as saying they get credits when they are planning the trip and it rains. I have never joined in the drinking of the Jack, but this time said I would if it rained. Not a drop. Could this be the claim to future rain free weekends or will I need to grit my teeth and drink this in the future? We shall see in a month if this will work again.

I enjoy camping at few state parks. I'm prone to liking the ones that are not to crowded. Some state parks have up to 300 or so sites with half of them being very open. Somewhat like camping in an open field. We have found a few parks that we like and will return to. I think next year we'll be adding another one or two into the mix. We do tend to stay within an hour or two from home as no one likes to spend 4 to 5 hours driving to a park on a Friday night after work. When I was younger it was nothing to hop in the car on Friday and drive 5 hours, set up in the dark for just a weekend. Plus with the cost of gas now it takes away from other things you could be indulging in on the weekend.

So tomorrow it's back to work. Hopefully we'll still be cut back to 10 hours a day. This is still a long day but a little more manageable then 12.

Here's to a good week to all!

A Much Needed Vacation

On my way home from work last night I had to make a quick stop at Target to purchase a birthday gift for my husband. (it's his Birthday Month). Our south side Target is usually void of any riff-raff and a quick in and out. Last night must have been white trash night. First I see this woman who seemed to be in her 40's struggling to make her way to the check-out with two lawn chairs. The around 15 year old boy walking with her was trying to juggle some balls. I wondered why he would have such little respect for his mother. But then again he could have been an oaf and she feared he'd bump into everything therefore costing her more money.
In the card department I witnessed a woman with several children. She was looking at card, her kids were whipping out cards and throwing them on the floor. It was obvious that she was not paying attention to them. These kids were probably between the age of 6 and 10.
A few aisles down I came upon a family with two kids in the cart. The parents were looking at radios, the kids were just about falling out of the cart. Once again, not paying attention. As I walked past the little girl just about took a dive. I put my arm out and said "Careful there, you could fall". The mother glanced over at me and said nothing. Whatever lady...I suppose the kid would have received a smack if she fell.
Then I came upon something that made my heart melt. A little girl around 5 or 6 with her grandparents. Grandpa wandered off and the little girl was very shaken. She kept telling the Grandma that she thought maybe Grandpa was lost and they should go look for him. Grandma kept assuring her that Gramps wasn't lost. He'd find them. She then said "Grandma, he can't always be the hero. Sometimes we have to help him". She then told Grandma that her mother would be very upset if they lost her dad. This is what makes us forget the bad things we see.
I saw them at the check-out and she very proudly told me that they found Gramps.

I have started a much needed mini-vacation. Well, it doesn't seem like it right now as I'm waiting for the last load of laundry to dry and I've managed to pack. But just knowing that I don't have to drive to work in the morning makes it all seem worth it.

Aging

One more day of work this week and I will be on my merry little way to a long and very needed weekend. I don't even care if it rains. I may even partake in a Jack & Coke if it rains. I will do my best to put aside every thing else and just have a great time with my friends. My friend and I from work came very close to stopping off tonight but I had this fear that I would then over-indulge therefore becoming hung over. What could be worse than working 12 hours with a hangover. I'm not a young lass anymore and I'm not sure I could handle it.

I was thinking about that this morning...about how in my younger years it didn't even phase me to stay out until bar closing and make it to work by 7:30 am the next morning. I'm pretty sure there was a day in there that I just came home and plopped. I do remember pretty much going out every night. I worked for a Home Medical Supply Company and did office work. We didn't have to many customers that came to the office, mostly phone work and a lot of clerical. That was back in the day where data entry wasn't on a computer. I'm showing my age now for sure.

We hired some college kids for the summer and one in particular was coming in a 7am every morning obviously hung over. This kid could barely move throughout the day. He was trying to be impressive by telling us how he'd be out until 3am and get 2 to 3 hours of sleep. I have to hand it to him he was never late nor called in. He was just useless and I could tell that everything I tried to teach him was lost in his foggy hung over mind.

In my time at my current place of work I went to work once very severely hung over. It was one of the infamous drunken Sundays. I figured we'd go out for the noon game and be home by 6 or so. Wrong!! At 9:30 my husband reminded my that I had to work at 5am. I think we left around 11 pm (I had to catch the singing of Afternoon Delight). I got up with no problem and I remember it hit me on my way to work. I must admit I was in a fog until around noon. In the future I would make sure I was home early enough to sleep most of it off. Like I said...showing my age.

To Much Noise in the Hood

Our neighborhood is drastically spinning out of control. What was once a quiet, mind your own business place is now noisy and spews nosiness everywhere. This morning I woke up to some shrill barking dog and small child yelling. The child was next door, the dog across the street. This dog would continue to bark all day. It's a small dog that looks like if it grew would be a doberman. It just hasn't grown since they got it. They tie the poor thing up in the middle of the yard. It's fine if no one is outside. If the kids come out it starts and doesn't stop. I heard the wife tell the husband to quiet the dog down and he replied that it needs to learn.

At one time the neighborhood consisted of all families with kids and dogs. It was a little noisy, but in a good way. Kids playing in the yard, or in the pool. Fun noise that didn't annoy people. My kids were noisy but it was stuff like "Marco Polo, basketball games, swing set or playing in the pool noise. Not some kid standing in the middle of his yard screaming his fool head off while his parents ignore him hoping he'll stop. That is the child that you take in the house and let them know that when they can act civilized they may join the rest of the family.

After dinner tonight the hubbie and I were sitting on the porch and all was quiet. Within in 10 minutes it started up again. The Arab people next door have 4 children. They are under control. They play in their yard and may yell once in awhile but dad has control on the noise. The Mexican people across the street are the noisy ones. Trouble is going to brew as the man next to them who has been here for 40 years walked out and stood in his front yard just staring at this dog. I was watering my flowers and we exchanged glances. He shook his head and returned inside. He has got to be steaming mad. This guy is Archie Bunker times 10. I'm waiting for the wall to go up between the two houses or the dog to be let free.

Choices

I had a tough decision to make this morning. Which tee shirt to wear to work. I have plenty of just plain tee's but today I felt like making some kind of statement. At times we have upper management coming through our line so we have to be somewhat respectable about what we wear. I had already worn the "I'm really excited to be here shirt" and had some sarcastic comments on it. I figured the Betty Ford or I hear Voices shirts wouldn't be a good choice either. The newly purchased Bong shirt wasn't going to fly as I didn't want it getting all full of crap from work. I made my decision when I saw it hanging in the closet. I would wear my "Miller Lite" shirt. I'm already being accused of being an drinker so why not let more rumors fly. One of the first comments made by my co-worker friend was "Crap, you know we have to work 12 hours...what were you thinking dangling that in every one's face". From the departing 3rd shifters I heard "That's where we are headed". Through out the day as I looked in the mirror in the rest room I sighed when seeing the reflection of my shirt. I actually thought about calling home and having the hubbie meet me for a beer because I knew if I went home first I'd stay there. This plan seemed to be rolling until the last two hours of work when everything kind of went to hell. We were short one person and running a new part of the line.

The three of us took a break around 5 and headed out to the picnic table outside. Never has a picnic table bench looked so inviting to me. As we were sitting there I kept imagining myself just laying down on the bench and going to sleep. My body wanted to, but my stupid brain got the best of me and forced me back into an upright position chugging in for the last two hours.

The ride home was pretty smooth until the Hale where Mr. Sheriff was standing outside his car with his radar gun. Like STB's post, one should never hit the brakes, just take your foot off the gas. Well the chain reaction started with the first guy and caused a little bit of a traffic jam. I made a hasty exit one ramp early without incident.

Upon my arrival home I prayed I wouldn't enter the house and find my husband sleeping. That might have been the last straw in my week. Instead I found him watching tv on the porch and after a quick hello and a quick entrance to the house to get my shoes off I saw that the nice guy had actually cooked a dinner. Not a casserole or burger...but chicken breasts, potato's and corn. A real dinner. Either I am really loved or the poor guy was just plain sick of his wife not cooking. I think I shall now go join him on the porch with a beer.

Polish Festival

I have come to the conclusion that my husband is a festival junkie. We went to what is possibly the smallest church festival in Milwaukee tonight and this guy maybe sat with us for 5 minutes. The rest of the time was spent walking from one booth to another purchasing tickets for raffle's. It was freaking hot and we found a table with somewhat of a breeze. Had to drink the beer fast as it was getting warmer. I switched to wine coolers as at least they had ice and stayed cold.
My dad won a ham within minutes of arriving at the festival and then a cheap bottle of wine. I thought my mom was going to blow when my dad gave my brother the ticket for the ham. My brother is single and has no use for an 8 lb ham and gave the ticket back to dad. Then he won his own. Mom & Dad are taking the ham & 10 lb. salami home on the plane with them (she won that).
I think we may have seen the man with the biggest nose in history. He could have just about put Pinocchio to shame. There was a man with what appeared to be one single tooth in the front of his mouth and he must have been damn proud of it because he kept on smiling. Of course this was a Polka Fest so the mixture of people is weird. The older couples that know it's Polka Music only and are out there dancing, the people like us that just go because it's in the neighborhood and usually win stuff, and the people that look really shocked when they find out it's only one band and all Polka music.
The entire time we were there I kept seeing my husband just strolling around. He'd then come back to the table for a minute or two, look through his wallet for tickets he purchased and then head back out. Pretty soon my dad started following his pattern. I knew when he came back to the table and stayed that he was either broke, or won his fill. One ham, one large salami and one bottle of cheap ass wine.

Hot, Hot, Hot

The day was hot. Unlike my sunburned friends, I managed to just add a little touch of pink. I think my skin is done with sunburn for the year. I suggested to KM that she tan naked in her backyard so as not to glow every time she's out in the sun.
Taking the bus is great. We had a pretty empty bus on the way down and also on the way back. The little girl with the fake dog seemed to have taken a liking to STB, not to mention that she totally took my seat. I'm pretty sure it was so she could get closer to her man. I think Momma had a plan. We did however forget to stop for our Martini.
Spent the day with Mom & Dad & K&J yesterday at our local Casino. I've been there for Bingo and only partook in the slots once for as long as my $20.00 lasted. Yesterday was a different story. I couldn't loose. Mind you it was on a nickle machine but it kept paying me off. I walked out 225.00 ahead. At one point after cashing in Mom and I were debating moving to another area but then she hit and I stuck another $20.00 in and just went up from there. I quit before greed got the best of me.
The family is joining us again tonight for some Chinese food and maybe a fire if it's not to hot yet after dinner. We've decided to make use of our deck this year rather than let it sit idle.
Tomorrow will be a trip to K & J's with a walk over to their local church festival. It's small and they play only Polka music but we always manage to have a good time. Besides, I think my husband needs to stock up on beer and salami.

Sauce Saga

Yesterday the family descended upon our home for Mom's Spaghetti and Meatballs. The preparation for this began with mom making 52 meatballs at my house on Friday afternoon. I think she was a little nervous about leaving the giant bowl of meatballs unattended by her until Saturday when they would be placed into Mom's sauce. But they were all there.
Mom gets a little freaky about large meals and will always think she's not going to have enough. She came with 4 large jars of sauce and her other "special" added things and began brewing up this sauce around 230. I stepped away for a moment and returned to find Dad missing. She sent him for more sauce. As I opened my cupboard and showed her two jars I had and explained that she could have just used them she then remarked that she thought she had enough and would just send Dad back to the store to return the sauce. This was just plain silly to me. I assured her that I would be able to use the extra jar by it's expiration date. I could bet all of you money that she will inquire between now and Jul 08 if I have used that sauce yet.

When the sauce was complete and the water for the pasta ready I made the mistake of questioning why she was making 5 lbs. of pasta. I was shushed. I dropped the subject as I could see here sending my poor father back to the store with one box of pasta. Needless to say when all the troops were fed we had around 2 lbs. of pasta left and 3 lonely meatballs. We also had a side of J's Italian sausage & green peppers which has an abundance of left overs also. There's something I could use that sauce in.

It was nice to have the entire family (one missing) together and without fighting. The weather was great and I had a lot of help from dishpan hand J. Mom did put a damper on things by saying this was the last spaghetti dinner she was having. Later it came out that it was because of lack of room. For this delight I guess we can all make the effort to suck it in a little to make room for mom's dinner.

Another Good Trip

This weekend held yet another good camping trip. Good friends, way to much food and good weather. We saw a little rain on Friday evening but not enough to put a damper on anything. We were bothered by mosquito's a little upon arrival, but it seemed that once you had repellent on they left you alone. Or so I thought until my ankles started itching like crazy and I found some bites. My husband overindulged in Ken & E's ribs and had a bit of a stomach ache going on. I think he ate for 1/2 hour non-stop. Poor guy can't hold what he used to. He's blaming it on the walk we took after dinner. Claiming it upset his stomach more.

Mom & Dad arrived safely from Arizona and have settled in. She's got the spaghetti dinner planned for Saturday night at my house. Last count 3o people. I'm hoping it's not 90 degrees out. Our air conditioner will be earning it's keep if it is. I can see her now standing in my kitchen stirring her sauce, with one hand on her hip, just bitching about how hot it is.

I spotted the cat walker again last night. There are two of them in the stroller and the woman pushing the stroller just prods along with this huge smile on her face. The foot soaking Arab has been replaced by a guy sitting on top of the pile of stones (no turban but of the same descent) . He may just be the look-out for the next water main break. With this heat, right about now it doesn't sound like such a bad idea. Maybe I'll get that pool yet.

The Sausage Race

The Brewers sausages made an appearance at Dylan's All-Star game tonight. It was a little humorous when the Brewers Van drove up with a tarp trying to cover the side of the van. The racing sausages appeared moments later and were trampled by kids. We didn't realize that they planned to play nine innings and around 10:30 they were in the bottom of the 8th and called the game due to lightening. It was a blow out anyway (20-9) and I think it boosted his moral to play on a team that won. He sat out 1 of the 8 innings and played 3rd, 2nd and right field for the rest of the game. He hates being in the outfield as there is no action. He didn't get to play catcher which I think bummed him out a little, but from the smile on his face you could tell he had a great time. Big mouth Grandpa kept pretty quiet. It may have been the warning glance his wife shot at him early on. I love that Dylan is into sports and is actually active and attentive when he's playing.
During the game I got a call from R & J who headed out for camping a day early. He said the Ranger had just rode by and warned them of a severe thunderstorm warning. R was partaking in the Jack & Coke as it was already raining. I called him back two hours later and got no answer so they either blew away, were sleeping or headed for shelter.
We'll be heading out early in the morning. I'm actually ready now but don't care to set up in the middle of the night. Now see, a nice hard side would be so convenient as we'd just have to pull in and save the rest for the morning. One can dream!
Work completly sucked this week. I need to find a girl job. It is supposed to be cool in our line but with all the machines running and heated units it gets pretty warm. Right now things are very disorganized and need to be taken care of. This would be possible if everyone wasn't torn in twenty directions. For the longest time we looked for work to do and had just enough operators..we suddenly grew and each need another few sets of arms & legs. I need this weekend because things have been so hetic. Besides, I need to rest up for Mom & Dad's upcomming visit.

People are Odd

Today must have been weird day. As we were leaving for Dylan's game tonight I saw this older woman pushing a baby stroller down the street. I noticed that in the stroller were two cats. I made a mental note to purchase a stroller for my sister-in-law J so she can take her girls for a walk every once in awhile.
About two blocks later we came upon a broken water main on 13th street and saw the Arab man standing in the water with his pants hiked up. I commented that I didn't think he was trying to stop the water with his toe. I think he was taking advantage of a foot soaking.

I finally made a game where Dylan playing the catcher position. I think he found a position that he likes to play and has fun. I just need to get his grandfather from his mom's side to shut up and let the kid play. About half way through the game I asked him if he'd feel better if he was out there. Dylan does a good job and I don't think he constantly needs to be told where the ball is. It's his job as a catcher to find it. I made the comment to the other Grandfather that all he hears out there is Charlie Brown's teachers voice. He did manage to change his tune and offer some encouragement. Dylan made the All-Star team and it's being played tomorrow night. It should be a good time. I just have to make sure I don't sit right in front of the heckling Grandpa.

The Annoying Fan

Last nights Brewers game was a good time. My husband gets good seats (10 rows behind the Brewers dugout) from a temp service he hires from. We've sat in these seats before and never really see the same people so I'm guessing they're all perk seats. The problem last night was the row in front of us. Those people just could not get their beer runs together. There was a group of about 6 men that must have been pretty cheap as they'd go get a beer and went they got back the next guy would go. The entire game was constant up and down for these guys. Then they'd bring a guest back with them and one would vacate for a few minutes while the guest remarked over the great seats. We had a family with two little boys next to us that got up once in 7 innings.
Then there was the annoying fan. You know, the guy who thinks he knows all the Brewers personally so he has to yell out to them. He then will cuss them out when they don't get to base or yell out "that's my man" when he does. Oh yes, he knows them all and spent the whole game bragging about knowing all their stats.
Apparently Milwaukee has no love for Barry Bonds. Big mouth fan pretty much had a handle on letting him know how the entire city felt about him. I didn't find any "failures to remove the hat during the National Anthem guys". I think they're finally feeling the pressure from others.
At any rate it was a good game. The tickets were free and we didn't get too wet running to the car after the game.

HorseShoe Ass

I have given my husband a new name. At the local festival yesterday he won on every paddle game he played. We raked in a grand total of 7 boxes of brats, 2 bottles of cheap brandy & whiskey, 4 bottles of wine (surely to be a White Elephant gift this year) and 4 summer sausages. I was one part in the total. I won three dollars on $10.00 worth of pull tabs. It was an okay time. The beer wasn't as cold as it should have been but it was a little warm outside also. The band was okay. We didn't see a lot of people we knew. As usual the highlight of the night was sitting on my mother in-law's front lawn watching people try to find their cars. We did see several young men get hauled away in cuffs. I'm sure they're just as innocent as Michael McGee.

The boarder brothers former room is now clean and not rentable. This also means the spare room that was housing all the stuff from that room is now clean and also not rentable. I have to say it was quite a chore, especially to be doing when it's so hot out.

I'm going to my first Brewer game of the year tomorrow. Being that I need to be at work at 4am tomorrow it may be a chore for me to stay awake. I think a short nap may be in order when I get home from work. I've been pretty tired all weekend so I'm thinking I need a good day of catch up sleep. My mind wants to go a million ways but my body is saying slow down! My parents are coming in town this weekend so that means a little extra TLC around the house. She's using my house to cook a spaghetti dinner for the entire family. Have to get that utensil drawer someone organized so she can find the necessary tools for her task. I was trying to talk her into a cookout instead as eating spaghetti and meatballs when it's so hot doesn't sound like fun to me. She didn't budge.

The Fat Lady Sang

I sang as I punched out at 3pm today. I can sum it up in one word...bad! This will describe my week at work. It started out shitty on Monday and by yesterday afternoon I thought there was hope. Upon arriving today I found that to be totally untrue. We attempted to run a line that hasn't been run in several weeks. Some people believe that starting up a dead line should be like flipping a switch. It takes a lot of work and is so frustrating. I also had a crew of people who have zero experience on this line. I did get maintenance support and "I feel bad for you looks " from some management persons. The sad thing is that 3rd shift started out Sunday night and we first ran product Thursday afternoon. The line was running good by 5pm and we thought it was safe to say that third shift could come in, fire the line up and go. Well if there wouldn't have been a small electrical fire that blew out a control panel they probably could have. I was met by the entrance door this morning by a few 3rd shifters and at that point I should have exited and just made believe I never came in.
The electrical mess was cleaned up and back on track around 1pm. So I spent my day prepping for Monday when we can start all over again. I heard the maintenance guy volunteer me to come in at 4am on Monday to assure the line is running by 5. By the look on my face I could tell he felt the pressure of my foot in is ass. After my initial shock I not so willingly agreed to this nutty plan of his and thought that since he was such a great help to me (that is his job) that I'd show up. Unless I forget to reset my alarm clock. An early trip to camping next weekend may just be in store.

Every Step I Take

Ouch....is the best way to describe it. The other night I stubbed my toe on the edge of my dresser. I cried... that's how bad it hurt. I woke up several times that night to a throbbing toe but never thought to look at it. The next morning the little guy was all sorts of pretty colors, and I couldn't move it. I've broken my toe before and know that the only thing the doctor's do is tape it to your next toe. I can do that myself. The problem is that if I have my work shoes on it doesn't hurt until around 1/2 through the day. When I get home and discard the shoes the thing is hurting like a bitch. The old Croc's are about the most comfortable things I can work. I don't think they make those in steel toes. So beside being super crabby at work this week so far due to not being able to run a line, my freaking toe is nagging at me. Today I just wanted to find the nearest wall and bang my head on it (thank goodness we wear protective head gear). Not to mention that weather-wise this happens to be the best stretch of good weather we've had in a long time. Who wants to be at work in a hot room with sweaty people when it's this nice outside? I tried to talk everyone into just chucking it in for the day and sitting around at some outside patio bar for a few hours, but I had no takers. I think I asked the wrong people.

Good Time

We had a very fun and relaxing weekend camping. Good friends, good food (the boys did a great job on the potato packs) and excellent weather. You can't ask for better sleeping weather either. No pesky mosquito's or bees and not a raccoon in site. The only thing missing was "What's his name" who opted for Vegas rather than camping. We did manage to have a stand-in although he wasn't good at tending the fire. I guess you could say he would have baked if doing so. Poor little fellow was tossed prior to us going home.

Once again Kim proved that she can beat all our butts at a game she claims she's never played before. Luckily she also had a good partner. The UV may have clouded her a little by about her 20th game.

A new introduction to the menu this time was corned beef hash. I find it to look a lot like Alpo and it appeared to bring on some gas issues with certain people. Nothing was less appetizing then seeing that blob of crap on a sheet of foil on the tripod sizzling away over the fire.

The award was once again won by "E" with A coming in close. I'm sure if Vegas boy would have been around he may have given him a run for his money. E looked so proud.

Momma Connie took it easy this weekend. She only downed one beer (by mistake) and went on to once again hog the bottle of Hot Sex. Seeing as she is such a nice wife she also woke before Richard and rushed out to make the morning coffee.

There must be a new ranger in the park as he stopped by our site on Saturday night and made the comment that if we became disruptive to others we'd have to get on our own sites by 11pm. We must be used to the newbies who want to flex their power as no one commented, however you could just look around and read everyone's facial expressions. Never heard of that rule before. Kind of like a curfew if you ask me.

All in all it was a good weekend. We all received a little sunburn and J seems to have welcomed a mother spider into her hair as once she removed it she found a baby. I'm sure by now they've all took off.

Without my dog home the rabbits wreaked havoc on my flowers in the back yard. Off I went yesterday afternoon to my local garden center to purchase some crap to keep the rabbits out. Our yard seems to have become the host of much wildlife. The possum is also back. I'm a little nervous leaving for work when it seems to be returning to it's sleeping quarters. They are one hell of an ugly animal. I don't think anything less then a pellet is going to get rid of that thing.

Water girl

Sometime in March my friend and I signed up for a Water Aerobics class at a local High School. The class's started tonight. Twice a week for one hour I am a slave to the water along with 10 other women. Beside on other girl, my friend and I are the youngest women in the class. She's taken a class before so this was all new to me. After walking around for 10 minutes trying to locate the pool we changed and headed out. The class is one full hour with 1/2 hour of it working with weights. The class had been recommended to me by my surgeon rather than the usual aerobics classes. He had said for the first two years after my surgery to try this as there's much less stress on the hip. The class turned out to be fun. Or should I say funny. It's always less tiring to exercise in water but there is some resistance there. Once the weights came into play there was a lot of splashing as ten women tried to stay balanced. I almost did a somersault while holding the weights under water and pulling my knees up to my chin. Thank goodness for shallow water. Once the class was over and we hit the locker room I could have sworn I was in some sub zero weather. Cold would be putting it mildly. It was like the shower at 9am on the first camping weekend. You kind of stand there and want to get in the water but you hesitate because you know it's going to be cold. The pool was warm and the joke was made about the toddler class that was right before ours. I made sure to keep my mouth out of the water. All in all it was fun and I'm glad we did the two times a week thing. No we did not stop for ice cream on the way home.
Our group camp set for this weekend has now turned into just camp. Several people have dropped out but it should still be a good time. The weather promises to be nice. Hopefully J will be at the Saturday night campfire. We'll have to raise a toast to S who opted for Vegas. We'll miss the sliced cheese but I'm thinking we don't have anything that calls for that item on the menu. Hopefully his blistered finger will not hamper his card playing.
A big welcome home to K & J. I thinkmy husband was lost without his friend. Maybe if he would have been home he could have put some dynomite under his ass to get him moving on some projects. Once again he has too many things started at one time. This makes him look busy but nothing gets completed. The boarder brothers vacant room still has the sander sitting in the middle of the floor where it's been since Saturday. I suppose having this room in shambles prevents anyone from moving in. Maybe he's got the ticket after all.

Greening Up

I drove to work last night in what you would have thought was the biggest snowstorm ever to hit Milwaukee. No kidding, people were driving 25 mph on the freeway in the rain. There was no standing water, the wind was mild, it was just raining. We did need the rain though. It's been awhile.
Coming down my street this morning I noticed how green everything is now. This is about my most favorite time of the year. When everything comes out of hibernation (even those freaking chipmunks). Right now all the trees and grass look so healthy. Hopefully the 2 days I spent weeding and planting stuff will pan out and not die out.
I am now banned from any of Dylan's baseball games. The first two I went to they lost. I missed last week and they won both games. I returned this week and they once again lost both games. At one point when he was next at bat he looked over at me and I said to my son " You think he wants me to go" He answered "No, but I do". Then the teasing began...other people sitting around us told me to leave. Their team never has practices. They're not together on anything. You have 5 or 6 kids that are really into the game and batting well and fielding well, and then you have the rest that just are out there like it's a chore. It's supposed to be fun. Last nite the 17 year old ref was having a hard time with the count. This angered the coach. I know pretty much about baseball so I'm pretty sure that if the pitch hits home plate on the way in that it is not a strike. The also play that after 4 balls it's a soft toss. I have mixed feelings on that. You deserve the base but you also deserve the chance to get further with the soft toss (if you can actually hit it). Anyway he's spending the night by us tonight, so I'm sure that I'll get the "Grandma, stay home from my games okay" talk.

This is It

Tonight will be my last night on yet another stint on 3rd shift. In fact as far as I'm concerned tonight will be my last night ever on 3rd shift. Like I said in previous posts, I am to old for this crap. Despite the fact that I have probably slept 3 hours a day for the past 4 days I am remaining cordial to everyone at work. I want to reason with that by saying they're all in the same boat as I am, but that's not true. They all want to work 3rd. This was true of me about 20 years ago when my kids were in school and finances were a little tight to pay day care. I worked mega overtime and had a very nice shift premium. Not so true where I am now. We receive a 35 cent premium. Not worth it to me.

Update on the chipmunks.....As I sit writing this post there just so happens to be a little varmint sitting on the window ledge. It is one of the front yard tenants. The backyard boys have not been in sight since Sadie scared them on Tuesday. I would like to thing that the crap I spent $16.00 on worked but I can't. Yes, our yard is chuck full of nature this summer. The cardinals are back, the rabbits have nested in the front yard and both my birdhouses have occupants. The possum was spotted coming up the driveway the other night also. I tend to think that the flowers I spent hours planting are not going to last very long. All I did was provide food for them. There may be a trip to Sam's Club today for the giant tub of Cayenne pepper.

Everyone enjoy their Friday night. I know where I'll be..