Ok, got my last of three loads of laundry started for tonight, now I can sit for a few minutes and post something.

Friday night I came home from work with the intention that I would barbeque a pork chop on my Smokey Joe. Unfortunately, when I opened it up, I found what I believe were nesting materials that may or may not have been used by an animal. It was a big ball of feathers and dryer lint. I attempted to clean the Smokey Joe, but after seeing how rusty both grates were, I decided it would not be a good idea, and that I would be much better off just buying a new one. And I figured I got a lot of good use out of the old one, I'd had it since 1989 after all!

So Saturday afternoon, I drove to Target and picked up a new one for $30. After putting it together, I started some coals, put a pork chop in a container with some marinade I bought, then cooked it, so it would be ready in time to give me a chance to eat it before NTT started. Mmmmm, it was delicious!

(The only bad thing about Spring when the weather is nice, is I have neighbors that like to talk on the phone outside, and with my windows open, I hear everything. It's very annoying when I'm trying to think of what to talk about here, lol.)

Today, I drove out to see my aunt and go to a movie. She made me one of my favorite meals...pot roast! After that, we went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. It was good. Better than the second movie, but still not as good as the first. I read afterwards in Sci Fi Magazine that Pirates of the Caribbean is a trilogy, so all three movies intended to be made have been released. And apparently, this third one was supposed to give us some closure with some characters. My opinion was, it still left the door open for further adventures, especially if you watch a clip that is shown at the tail end of the credits. Even if another movie is not made, I'm not disappointed by this series. I'm not sure if I'd want to own it, to watch over and over again (like Harry Potter for instance), but still a good series of movies to see at the theatre. I guess I'm particular about what movies I purchase for keeps, lol.

I love the warmer weather, because I get to wear all my summer outfits, which gives me a change from my winter outfits. However, being inside the air conditioning all day, I get cold. I end up wearing a sweater by afternoon, because of the goosebumps. I wear bulky sweaters in the winter and I'm still cold, I wear short sleeves in the summer and I'm cold. Why do I always have to be cold?? I want to work someplace where I'm not freezing cold, but not sweating profusely. Is that much to ask?? LOL

Speaking of movies, I watched most of The Wizard of Oz tonight. Or Wizard Of The Boz as a great-niece once called it, lol. I still enjoy watching that movie, it was always a big event in my house growing up, we'd all get together in the den to watch it, my dad would make popcorn...a nice memory I have. The only part of the movie that I tune out is where the Lion sings about courage before they go in to see the wizard. For whatever reason that part is boring to me, and I either walk away during it, or I turn the channel, lol.

One of the things I did, as part of my "less clutter is good" decisions, was buy a plastic record case. It's sorta like a box, but made of this corrugated plastic, and it will hold my 33rpm records that had been sitting in a stack under the bed in the 2nd bedroom. It's better they be upright that laying flat, and I want them protected just in case I have another water problem that I'm not here to deal with. It arrived in the mail this week, I put it together, so I'm going to go put the records in it tonight before bed. Slowly but surely, I'm getting things taken care of. I'm doing a little each week, instead of trying to get it all done in one weekend, spreading my expenses out.

I also have my old computer that I want to recycle, but I'm trying to decide if I should wipe the hard drive clean before I give it to them. I remember taking off anything that would have been important, but I also know that even deleted files can still be accessed if you know how. I'm not really looking forward to hooking up the old computer, but if wiping the hard drive isn't too hard, then I'll deal with that, to ensure the computer is free of my information before recycling it.

Ok, think I've posted enough for tonight, lol.

It's Friday! It's Friday! Friday Friday Friday!!!


Can you tell I'm happy?? It's finally Friday, and I finally got my cable back last night! I was SO happy! I watched CSI, then a very interesting documentary about North Korea.

Tonight I'm going out to dinner and a movie with a girlfriend! We're going to see Glory Road, definitely NOT a chick flick, but it's one we both want to see and have no one to go with, except each other. Should be a fun night!

Wednesday is over, the weekend's almost here!


This will be short since I'm posting from work. I had a dentist appt last night, went very well. No Cavaties! Got there early and chatted with the receptionist, a very nice lady. I was planning on hanging out at the local Hallmark store to pass the time, but when I got there I found out it was GONE! I haven't been there in quite a few months, but it was disappointing to see it gone. I know the owner by name, and I remember when he opened it back in maybe 1996/97? The lady at the dentist's office thinks some of the Hallmark stores are closing because more and more people are buying their cards from Target/Wal Mart or when they are at their local grocery store. They all carry cards of every kind, so it's more convenient than running out separately to a Hallmark store. Still sad to see the business leave Warrenville. I think that was the only Hallmark store in town.

So I got home and my cable was STILL out. No DooL to watch, no AI, nuttin. So I caught up on my emails, played more Chicken Invaders on the computer (lol), then watched Notting Hill again! I LOVE that movie.

No Cable In My Entire Complex


Wow, is it only Tuesday? Today went by very quickly, was very busy at work today, trying to get everything done that I didn't get done yesterday. I succeeded! On the way home I was going to stop at Target and do some shopping, but I changed my mind. I decided to do it tomorrow night after my dentist appt. Just a cleaning, so I'll be out of there in 20 minutes.

Got home, with the plan of watching American Idol. Lo and behold, no cable. I put in the tape that was supposed to have taped Days of Our Lives this afternoon from 1-2pm, and nothing but snow. So my cable has been out since before 1pm. As of right now, it's still out. I called the cable company, but they were already aware of the outage and supposedly are working on it. They said it's out in Country Lakes (me) and Greens of Naperville (some buildings that were G of N, but are now part of Country Lakes). So apparently, something major must have happened. Someone must have cut a cable when they were digging, or something. Otherwise, why would half the street be out?

So with no tv to watch tonight, I played on the computer for a bit. I've gotten hooked on a game you can play online through MSN, probably Yahoo too. It's called Chicken Invaders. It's a variation of the old Space Invaders, but instead of invading ships, there are invading chickens that you have to shoot. They fly down, they parachute down, they come down as hatching eggs, it's quite entertaining, lmao. After playing that for about an hour, I decided to watch a movie until bedtime.

Over the weekend, a couple of cable channels were playing some Julia Roberts movies, TBS was showing Erin Brockovich, and another channel was showing Pretty Woman. Well that got me in the mood to see another Julia Roberts movie, one of my absolute favorites of all time, Notting Hill. So I took the opportunity to watch it tonight. Every time I watch it, I get teary eyed, my heart breaks every time they say goodbye, even though I know they'll be together at the end. I loved it so much, I wanted to watch it again as soon as it was over. My favorite line from the movie is: I'm just a girl, standing in front of a boy, asking him to love me.

That makes my heart break every time I hear it. It is so romantic! I'm still waiting for someone to say something like that to me. One day, maybe...

It Shore Is Monday


This past weekend? Uneventful. I saw the movie Munich. It was very good, but long. Three hours to be exact. Watched football, Da Bears lost, which I kind of figured they would. Pittsburgh won, so that was cool! Hard to believe the football season is almost over. Pretty soon spring training will be starting, and I'll be getting into the baseball spirit, lol.

Another slow day at work today, more of the same. Oh how I wish traffic could everyday be like it was today. There were just enough fewer cars on the road to make my commute very easy. It's very unusual for me to make it home in less than 45 minutes. Tomorrow will be back to normal, I'm sure.

Normalcy at last!


Well, things are getting back to normal at work. Karen is back from her six month maternity leave, which means the one big account I was handling for her is going back to her, as of today. So...now I will have time to continue getting caught up on all the file folders I need to make, and all the filing that has piled up for four months. It will take me awhile, but I'll eventually get it all done. Then what will I do? Only the shadow knows! (Sorry, that was a line from an old time radio show called The Shadow).

Watched a movie tonight that I haven't watched in years, a Stephen King movie called Duel. There's not much to it, just a guy in a car trying to go home, and a trucker that keeps trying to kill him. Eventually he gets the better of the truck by forcing it off a cliff into a quarry. Very strange movie, but I have memories of watching it in high school with a neighbor of mine. He and I used to have a lot of fun hanging out all summer doing stuff together.

By the way, does anyone reading this know how to keep nail polish from peeling off the nail two days after they've been polished? It makes it kind of hard to strengthen and grow my nails when the stuff comes loose on the edges and starts peeling off. Any suggestions would be helpful, as long as they don't cost too much, lol.

Wow, what a nice long weekend I had!


I took a vacation day on Wednesday, went and did some Christmas shopping before the rush started. I went to Wal Mart and Borders and came home with a trunkful of stuff, lol And still MORE shopping to do! That will happen during the week in the evenings, I will almost avoid all the stores on the weekends for the next month. It's not worth it to fight the crowds. I really have started hating all the commercialism around Christmas these days.

Thursday was Thanksgiving! Yummy turkey and stuffing and cranberry sauce and sweet potatoes and green bean casserole (yuck) and corn and rolls and pumpkin pie and sweet potato pie! I was stuffed, brought some turkey, stuffing and gravy home. Everything else was about gone, lol 20 pound turkey for 5 people and there was not much left over. Another tradition on Thanksgiving is the Dallas football game. Unfortunately this year, they lost. But they had a chance to take the lead and missed an easy 34 yard fieldgoal. That left the score tied, into overtime they went, and Denver pulled out a win. Oh well! The NY Giants lost on Sunday, so we're still tied with them for the division lead!

Saturday I slept in and did nothing all day, LOL. Sunday I went to see Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It was good, but seeing as the book is 700 plus pages, there was so much stuff that had to be skipped over or ignored, to me the movie was missing something. I still liked it, but it wasn't my favorite of the four movies so far. I still have not read the newest book, hopefully I'll be able to borrow it from someone eventually and read it.

Today was back to work Monday, busy busy busy. And the emails from Kerry!!! OMG is all I can say! Sorta makes me glad I'm homeless, LOL I have a candle party to go to Wednesday night at 7pm, so will miss Kerry's stream :( I'm sure she'll play some awesome Christmas music! Then Friday night is our "Holiday Dinner" for work. Originally, I said I was not going to go. The reason? Where they are having it, is 45 miles away, and with the weather in December being so unpredictable, I didn't want to chance having to drive that far in potentially bad weather. Around here, 45 miles could take you an hour or more to drive. Well, I come into work this morning, and what do I have but an email from my boss. He was talking with our president, who wants those of us who declined to go to the dinner to "reconsider" but not to feel obligated to do so. I'm sorry, but sending an email like that MAKES me feel obligated to go. Since I didn't really have a good excuse other than potential weather for not going, I told him I'd go. My dinner will be Filet Mignon, because my other option was stuffed chicken with mushrooms. You don't think I'd eat that, do you???? Dinner is 6-9pm, and by going to the dinner we get out of work at 2pm or when business allows you. In other words, if you're really busy, you stay until you can leave. If you're not so busy, you leave at 2pm, LOL. I dropped a couple pairs of pants off at the cleaners tonight, one to get cleaned, the other to be hemmed, so I have a couple options for outfits on Friday.

That should get everyone caught up on my life for now!

Sunday Night

Tomorrow is Monday, time to go back to work. And it just might have been the last nice day we'll have here for awhile, relatively speaking.

Today I woke up and almost forgot about the time change. Then I remembered that my alarm clock, my computer, my vcr and my cell phone all change on their own. So that left: my watches, my microwave, two wall clocks, my stereo, my answering machine, and my car. I got all those changed after I got dressed. I went to the store because today was the last day of a sale they were having for diet coke. Buy 4-12 packs for $10.00, get one free. I had a few other things to pick up too, so my shopping is done for the next few days. I also got some cash for the movie today.

I went to see Zorro today with Darlene and her sister. We also went to Wal-Mart so they could buy the personal toiletries I use, to be wrapped and put in my Christmas sock. Yes, I said Christmas. My aunt is now done wrapping all her Christmas presents. I haven't bought one single present yet. Makes me sick, lol

I streamed again tonight, after being off for almost two weeks. I'm still not convinced I want to continue, but I'm being told that we should have better crowds once winter sets in. We'll see if I can wait that long.

Anyway, time to go figure out what I'm going to wear tomorrow and get to bed. With the time change, it feels like 11pm, not 10pm, lol.