One Third

There are things on my mind that I prefer to not write about, so I'm not going to.

$100

Ed and I went to the Sands today for brunch. We both had sort of a weird assortment of food. He had shrimp, cheese, salmon, hashbrowns and I don't know what else. I had pot roast, a baked stuffed half potato, a roll, and sausage. We both started with the New England clam chowder, which was quite good. And, we both had fruit and two kinds of cake for dessert.

After brunch, we played the machines a while. I won 400 quarters for hitting 4 deuces on a deuces wild machine. Not bad! Net-net when we left, my winnings were more like $40 rather than $100, but I'll take it.

I'm making a new casserole dish out of the huge yellow squash that Ed brought home. We are also having grilled chicken tonight. The weather is really nice today, and it will be pleasant to sit out on the patio.

Mani Pedi

Well, I finally got to the nail salon. It was almost disasterous, though. The girl assigned to me royally screwed up my pedicure. First of all, she cut my nails way too short, and in an effort to free a toe nail that was starting to in grow, she left it all uneven and dug it out so much that I was bleeding.

Things went from bad to worse when she started on the polish. I selected a very deep burgundy shade, and I could see she was painting my nails, then painting around the edges with acetone to clean up her mistakes. Because the color was so dark, her acetone brush was literally painting all over my TOES with a lovely shade of pink. I finally had to stop her, and I got the other girl to redo my nails. She apologized profusely....and said "she cut too short!". No kidding!

I'm half watching NBC news, and there are lots of people waiting at the capitol building to see dead Ted Kennedy. I don't get all the media frenzy, but I suppose he deserves it more than Michael Jackson.

Kodachrome

My mom mentioned this evening on our phone conversation that she couldn't find this book of my dad's and she wondered if he had given it to me. It turned out to be a book called "America in Kodachrome", and my dad had responded to an ad and sent in a bunch of family photos way back when, and one that he submitted was used in the book.

I did a little internet search and found the pictures. The picture in the book from our family photos is a picture of my youngest sister at my grandmother's house in Ohio. I think she had just turned five, and she is holding her brand new Barbie doll. It's slide 10 of 32 here:

http://www.rosegallery.net/index.php#mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=0&p=0&a=34&at=2

I love Kodachrome photos. The color was so brilliant and unreal.

I Could Have Predicted It

My sister reported to my mother that my nephew (with Down Syndrome) didn't like the bench. It was probably more like my sister didn't like it...was jealous I bought it for my mom, etc. etc. Whatever, whatever! I am so glad I've pretty much severed ties with both of my sisters, because I can't stand either one of them.

My mother's theory is since she was an only child she didn't know how to raise siblings properly. She thinks we should have been left to our own devices to settle squabbles when we were little, rather than her always trying to stop the fights. I really disagree. I have nothing in common with either one of them and never did. One of them is just plain crazy, and the other one is just evil. In any case, I have no use for either one.

Amber and Finger Food

Amber seems to bark much more at dinner time if the food is something we pick up with our fingers. Corn, ribs, chicken wings, pizza...they all seem to have the same excessive reaction.

Tonight was ribs, mac salad, and corn on the cob. The guest blogger cooked it all himself, and it was all very yummy. He even garnished the mac salad with a couple of home grown nasturtiums.

Hot and Sweaty

I'm tired of this weather. Blah....

Getting Sick? I Hope Not

Right now I have a temperature of 100.4. I'm achy, have the chills...no idea why. I laid down from 7:15 tonight until 8:40. I was under the covers in bed and still shivering. I know I dozed off a bit.

Welcome to the fall shipping season. I cannot afford to get sick and miss any work.

Cement

We purchased a cement garden bench for my father's grave site. It's in three pieces, the two base legs and a top, and it's very heavy duty. I think my mom was surprised, and I also think she likes it. In fact, I know she likes it. By the time she walks out to grave, she is too tired to stand long, and now she can sit with Daddy.

I miss him so much. That will forever be cemented in my heart.

Tired and Cranky

I'm totally exhausted. Seven hours of training for a job I've been doing for five years. It was very, very boring and unnecessary. Of course, the golden girl from South Jersey was spared attending. So unfair!

I have a flank steak marinating, and we'll have a nice salad and baked potatoes with...hope it turns out good!

Rita's

Rita's Mistos are the best. I have mango tonight, but lemon is my favorite.

Watching the premiere of "Project Runway".

Yes, I should have Twitter...that is what this entry sounds like.

When It Rains It Pours

We had way too many goodies at work today. First the Ward rep came in to drop off our tarriff and brought a huge box pastries. Then, another trucking rep who is trying to get our business brought in two dozen Dunkin Donuts, and finally we had the Dutch birthday cake.

I was sick in the middle of the night for some reason, so I limited myself to just trying half a pastry and I tasted the Dutch cake, which was .... Eh...

We went from an empty parking lot to a full one overnight. 12 temps started working today.

Sweets and employees....when it rains it pours.

Homework

I'm not sure how frequently I'll be able to update here. Work is definitely BUSY with a capital B. K. and I finished our training homework together, while the boss was at our South Jersey location. It was a good day to do that...without her looking over our shoulders. Training is this Saturday. Oh, joy.

Boss lady's birthday is tomorrow. She will be 40 years old, and her plan to "lose 40 by 40" has not worked out. (40 lbs. lost by the time she turns 40). I special ordered her a self-inking stamp that says "REJECTED" since she has verbally expressed a desire for such a stamp. She will use it on orders that are submitted up to her standards. Her mom brought a special cake back from Holland for her precious daughter. It will probably taste overly sweet and dry like most of the "Dutch treats" I've sampled.

In entertainment news, Big Brother was great last night. It's getting very interesting!

Punishment

My co-worker, K., is being punished by our boss since she committed the unforgivable sin of taking a vacation in August. It says in our contracts, no vacations from August-November due to the seasonal nature of our business. K. had an opportunity to go on a family reunion camping vacation in Maine, and the only time the whole family could get together was the first week in August. She was granted permission, but all week long since getting back, the boss has been ragging her relentlessly. I told K. that I bet she would think twice about doing that again.

I'm sitting here waiting to hear from Ed. He had a couple deliveries to do at work, and dinner plans are sort of up in the air until I hear from him. Time enough for a couple of Bubbleshooter games while I wait, I suppose.

Post Hendrick's Gin: The Forgotten Episode

The weather was absolutely horrible today: mid 90's and humid. Even Amber didn't want to go out tonight. (Yes, this is the "guest blogger" writing tonight. Readers, not to worry, the main author is fine, I think.)

Mad Men's 3rd season started last night. Not that the blog owner remembered! We ran out of our favorite beverage last night, thus the re-introduction of J's favorite gin: Hendrick's. This stuff is custom blended with all the right herbs, tastes vaguely like a medicial product, and produces some strange effects. The owner was astounded to discover that she couldn't remember any of the 1 hour long episode, blame it on the Hendrick's. Anyway, she is back to normal tonight.

Dinner at Celebrations tonight. Again, a pleasant surprise: potatoe wrapped shrimp, delicate and absolutely delicious. Signing off, the "guest blogger". See you soon.

Five Guys

It's been a pretty lazy Sunday afternoon. We did go out briefly to get a new propane tank for the grill, and we stopped at the new Five Guys Burgers. It was not really ALL THAT. I mean, it was a good burger and fries, but nothing I would race across town to get again. In fact, we've found a pretty good frozen burger that we like to cook ourselves called Bubba burgers. They are pure Angus beef and quite tasty.

I've watching trashy Lifetime movies most of the afternoon and playing that awful addicting game, Bubbleshooter. I'm looking forward to seeing Big Brother this evening...lots of drama going on. Then it's the premiere of my very fave show, Madmen!

Forty Years Ago

There was an interesting show on VH1 last night about Woodstock. It's a subject I find fascinating, because I wish I'd been there. Unfortunately, I was only 13 years old at the time....

Peace Out!


HeHeHe. The "guest blogger" was. Rain, drugs, mud and rock 'n roll. Didn't find the car back to Massachusetts for a day. But had fun. Fun? So far from the stage, no food, lots of booze, stoned and wet. A lifetime experience. Where else is a moment in time a real moment in time. Listening to the Woodstock Channel at work for the past two days, I did catch a couple of the tunes heard. But 40 years later, it was just an experience in your life: one that I was lucky enough to have taken.

And So It Begins

I was very busy at work today. Since we are a seasonal business, this is pretty much when the "season" begins. Somehow I managed to lose a few packing slips that I had just printed today. I even knew after doing a shipment summary report which ones I was looking for. I retraced my steps, checked every printer, when through all files, and I still have no idea where they are. I made sure I told my boss, since I wouldn't put it past her to have taken them in the first place to see how I would react.

Last night, the guest blogger managed to break our coffee carafe. He had it perched precariously in the dish drainer, and as he was walking downstairs, the vibrations kicked it out of the dish drainer (or maybe my dad did it?). Anyway, he hears breaking glass, and rather than investigate, he comes back to the bedroom and tells me there has been an "explosion". So, of course, I go with him downstairs to the kitchen, and there is the carafe in a million pieces. Nice...ask me to go confront a potential intruder!

I went shopping at Wegmans after work, so that task is done. Maybe I'll go get a mani-pedi tomorrow. I won't have too many free Saturdays once the overtime kicks in.

It's Gonna Be Crowded

I talked with my mom tonight. She called me on my way home from work, and we talked the whole drive home, and then more once I got inside. I guess it's official. My nephew and his wife will be moving in with her once their lease is up in October. My mom said they were over at her house stripping the wallpaper off the upstairs bathroom and my sister's former bedroom.

On the one hand, I'm glad my mom will have someone living there with her, but on the other hand, I don't have much to do with my sibling or her offspring...

Returns

It just started pouring rain at work. I just spoke with Ed, and he’s not getting the rain across town. He’s had quite the frustrating retail day…I think I will turn this over to him tonight to describe the fun times!

Go for it, Guest Blogger: There were no fun times today. Let's start with the downstairs PC: J. said that it wouldn't connect at all on Tuesday. Well, the guest blogger went off to Best Buy's Geek Squad to see what the problem was. Turned out it really wasn't anything more than the password was "lost" somehow. The kid was very helpful though, and just in case, if was a hardware problem, he recommended Netgear's USB port. Bought one. Well, then I found the password, and we're up and running. Have to return the port on Friday.

Next comes the new bedspread adventure. We saw one at The Christmas Tree Shops on Sunday, but it was a king, and somehow, we felt that it was too large. Needless to say, J. mother said "it's only 6 inches bigger". Well, I bought it. After stripping the bed, flipping the matress, and sheeting and everything, I put the new spread on. Guess what, it not only covered the bed, and the hope chest, and fell on the floor on the sides. Reverse everything and put the old one back on. Like I needed the "bed change" exercise. Went back and returned the package.

Thus, the guest blogger's day off was spent running around. Now on to USA vs. Mexico soccer, and the laundry. Something has to go right. Oh yeah, I finally tried Sports Barber Shop on Union Blvd: quite the place, got a great haircut.

Dead Beats

Ack! I hate making collection calls. I don't quite understand why I feel like my boss is blaming me for the A/R being as high as it is. There is not much else I can do about it, short of getting a baseball bat and personally visiting the offending accounts.

It's rather lonely in my corner at work this week. My co-worker, K., is on vacation in Maine this week. She is camping with a large family group near Bar Harbor. As much as I'm envious of vacations in Maine, the camping part turns me right off. I haven't been camping since my late twenties. I think I'm too old for it now. I expect a clean bed, linens, a private bathroom... Yes, I do believe my camping days are over.

The Aftermath

Day 1 of no surfing at work went okay. I really don’t have a problem with it, because I don’t goof off on the job much anyway…I’m way too busy most of the time. I did notice that places like Facebook and other entertainment and game sites are blocked. I can still get to all the sites I legitimately need to use, like trucking company websites, Switchboard, etc. My one co-worker is bent out shape that she can’t check her bank balance from work anymore. I also tested and tried to get to blocked sites from anonymizer.com and from Google, and no go. So, the system they are using is fairly sophisticated.

I was looking forward to being able to go back to parking on my street again. As predicted "Dipshit" was parked more in front of our house than his, sticking out a foot and crooked. I squeezed in behind him and should have boxed him in really good. Musikfest is over, and our peaceful little neighborhood returns. Okay, it’s not exactly quiet and peaceful, but at least it’s just the few random Trans Bridge buses speeding up and down the street, and not a constant stream of “fester cars”.

Casino

We went to the casino today and had a great brunch, and then lost some money. The restaurant with the brunch had everything imaginable available. The creamed chipped beef was very good, the fruit was excellent, and Ed enjoyed the peel and eat shrimp.

When we got home I turned on the A/C. It looks to be a couple of hot and muggy days ahead. Musikfest concludes this evening. Thank goodness! We get our street parking back. Good riddance festers!

Perm

I finally got my hair cut and permed today. It was way overdue, but I just wasn't able to fit it in until today. I really liked the girl that did it. My regular girl was doing a color job, so I just took a risk on the new person.

We are grilling a whole chicken tonight. I have had it brining in salt-brown sugar-fresh herbs since this morning. The herbs came right out of my garden...sage, tarragon and rosemary

Overall, it's been a nice relaxing day. I think I will continue my new routine of going grocery shopping on Friday night rather than Saturday. The store is less crowded on Friday, and why should I take up time on day off doing this chore?

Internet Usage

So, the boss has blocked certain sites on the internet. I was too busy to see what exactly was blocked, but C., who is the most excessive offender, was the first to discover it this morning. I guess we are like kindergarten children and can't be trusted.

More of the Same

“Big Brother” is on tonight, and it conflicts with the two-hour finale of “So You Think You Can Dance”. I think I’ll DVR “Big Brother”. I’m most anxious to see who wins on the dance show. My money is on Kayla.

Today was the start of the craziness at work. I had to scramble to put some orders on hold and make phone calls, because some of the customers are in very bad shape with their accounts. I feel like I’m holding their iris orders hostage.

Musikfest is still going on. I can’t wait until it’s over this Sunday. We may even not make it down there this year, since the weather has been either rainy or hot and humid. Ed commented last night how the first year we attended, which was years ago, we ran around from platz to platz not being bothered by the heat at all, and it was very hot that year. I guess we were younger and skinnier then. That might have something to do with it!

Murder Death Kill

What a shocking story in the news about that Pittsburgh gun shooter at the LA Fitness Center. He killed three women and injured a bunch of others. It turns out he kept a blog. It is so clear from reading his blog that he hated all women and had no respect for anybody, including his immediate family. He was a real loner, and surely fit the profile of a psychopathic murderer.

Whenever I read stories like this, the first thing I think about is how random these types of killings are. It could happen to anyone, anywhere. He supposedly had an ex-girlfriend attending an aerobics class there, but judging from his blog, it was probably just someone he maybe dated once. This guy had NO real relationships with any women. That was his problem.

My dad has been gone 8 months today. I can’t believe it’s been that long. I miss him so much.

Parking

As I had mentioned before in an earlier entry, we have this neighbor who is a rather clueless parallel parker. This morning, I noticed that he had put out two lawn chairs in the street to “save” his parking space. First of all, this is never done during Musikfest. The street is for public parking, and Dipshit should know better.

In the winter, it’s a different story. It’s sort of an unwritten rule that if there is a major snow storm and you have spent the time to dig out your car and the parking space, it’s okay to reserve that space with a chair or a crate or what have you.

So, getting back to Dipshit, if the cars that park in front and behind the chairs park too close, he’ll never be able to get in the spot anyway. I would hope that during the day someone took the initiative to just move the chairs.

Cleaning Supplies

Before I left home this morning, the cleaning lady gave me a bunch of directives about new supplies that she needs. I’m thinking she wants to go the more disposable route, since she specified that she wants a new micro fiber mop and an extendable Swiffer. If it makes her clean any better, I’m all for it.

Everyone is still talking about Teacher’s Pet’s behavior on Saturday. So, it wasn’t just my imagination. The girl truly is a nasty bitch. The phones are getting busier, so it’s not quite as boring today as it has been for the last few weeks. In a couple weeks, I won’t even have time to think.

Flood

We are back from a visit to South Jersey to see my mom. What an adventure. It took almost 2-1/2 hours to get there due to flooding from heavy rains all over the area. It was smooth sailing on the way back, though.

We had a surprisingly good dinner at Ponzio's. Ed loved his prime rib, my pork roast was excellent, and we have leftovers.

All in all, a frustrating travel day, but I'm always happy to see my mom.

Training

Today we had training at work from 8 am until 2 pm. First, I hate working Saturdays, secondly it's very boring to get training on what you already know. This training program will ultimately be for new hires, so our group were guinea pigs, I suppose.

The most gratifying event of the session was to point out a major grammatical error on the cover page/mission statement. The whole document had supposedly been proofed by Teacher's Pet (co-worker I don't get along with) and there was a glaring disagreement between subject and verb in the first sentence of the cover page. Oh, the evil eye and daggers I got. She was sitting directly across the table from me.

The best things about the day were Panera souffles for breakfast, pizza for lunch, and time and a half pay.

Oh, and word up to the Trainer Lady...you may think that scilla is pronounced SKILL-UH because you are told "that's the way the Dutch pronounce it", but Webster's dictionary says it's SILL-UH. So, since I'm American...Boss is not going to be getting me to change my pronunciation anytime soon.

As seen at dictionary.com:

Scilla 
/ˈsɪlə; It. ˈʃillɑ/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [sil-uh; It. sheel-lah] Show IPA
Use scilla in a Sentence
–noun
modern name of Scylla.